21 Kylian

This was my fault. It was on me. I was the one who had been sure everything would fine. The one who had assured her it would be quick. Instead I may have just forced her hand. She may now be forced to take a male she does not want. A male who she will have to bare a cub for and likely die in the process. That cub would still be a better hope than if she had no heirs. It would mean that her line would continue.

Dimatri and Amiri went to pet her hair and she swatted both of them away. Sorrel was glaring at me with a look that promised he would hand me over to the IPU if she could not be healed. Misha did not wait. He slammed me hard into the floor. The Princess looked at me and opened her mouth. She looked at me. I could see it there. I had broken what trust we had. She closed her mouth and looked away. What did she want to say? Had she thought to defend me?

"I figured it out!" The little Nephit Medic cried. The Prince walked over the screens. He looked over the Medic's shoulder.

"Then explain what happened."

"I thought about it when Kylian told us her skull is bone. That she was a royal. The way she said it implied that her skull was different. So I took a closer look at her bone structure. We knew she had dense bones but not why. I mean she is here moving around Udariri like this is fine for her. So why is her bone density so much different from ours and the Leoc'ain. Her bones are designed to take the hit. Literally. Look here." The Medic zoomed in on the bone where the communicator had tried to get to her brain through her ear.

"What are we looking at?" Amiri asked stepping closer.

"It is growing," I said.

"Exactly!" The Medic said. "And the growth is spreading. It is maker her bones denser as we speak. So when she said you cannot get through her skull I think she meant it. Unless something hits her bones hard and fast enough to penetrate it in one go it will not get through."

"Because her bones will just keep matching it blow for blow if it is going slow," I said.

"Essentially, yes. It raises another problem with it. Her bones have grown together through shared blows. So putting a hole anywhere in her skull would make a much weaker spot."

"It would make her natural defenses weaker," the Prince said.

"Yes, my Prince. Very much so. It would only take one lucky blow from any enemy and she would die."

"Is there no good news you can give me Cas've?" The Prince was upset. As he should be. His potential mate had been on his planet as a guest less than a sun's turn and was already hurt and at risk of death.

"There is good news my Prince. The first being we can repair the damage to her inner ear. Other than the surface damage the communicator did her little harm. It is likely her reaction was due to how close it was the this bunch of nerves. Her head is covered in them. If I had to guess they serve as an warning system. They also seem to be attached to each strand of her fur. Meaning she can feel through them.

As I was saying the bleeding seems to be due to her body trying to fix the wound but being unable to. From her file that we were given access to, I being this may be due to her change in diet or the fact that she is experiencing hormone changes from her upcoming breeding cycle. Either way a shot of booster and gin should have her patched up and fully healed before the representative arrives."

"Good do it. We will not be responsible for harming a female."

"At once, my Prince." Cas've was quick to mix the solution and prep the medgun. I wondered if I should warn him but Amiri stepped forward to grab her. She looked at him clearly confused but I saw her body tense as the Medic approached. Misha had shared with us that she had an extremely good sense of smell. Good enough to know when we were in a room with her. I had no doubt that even if she wasn't looking she could smell someone getting to close. I saw the instant flash of recognition when she felt the medgun on her skin. The spee still hit her system but it condensed on her ear and at that extra organ in her chest. What was it? Her body did not recognize it as foreign. Still it did not seem to fit the with the rest of her anatomy.

She jerked and hissed as the Medic who backed off fast enough. As she settled Amiri released her. Already the medgun solution had started to work. The blood was slowing better than it had been on its own. I found it odd to see pure red blood.

"I have more good news as well, my Prince." My attention once again turned to Prince Rithô and Cas've.

"What?"

"I believe there is a way for us to implant the communicator."

"Explain. I will not have her hurt again Cas've."

"Of course, my Prince. I have no desire to see any female harmed. That the Princess was, will stay will me until the end of my time. The Princess has a implant in her leg. It seems to be tapped into her nervous system, as she called it. If I am right we could do something similar not far from her own human tech. I believe by recreating the tie in to her nerves instead of directly to her brain it will not only cause her less pain but heal faster."

"The idea seems sure enough. One of you ask the Princess if she is even willing to try again. Make she knows it will be in her leg this time."

'The Medic thinks the communicator could be safely implanted in your leg, Princess,' Amiri said. He really wanted back in her good graces. We all did. 'He believes that he can tie it in with the nerves of your other implant.'

'And if it fails? If I end up with nerve damage? Or this brakes my storage bracelet? No. See if he can do it on the other leg but I will not put Mira's home at risk nor her food supplies.'

Misha's face darkened. That creature had eaten more than triple what a single Navang would and it had food supplies the whole time. Maybe it was not awear the Princess had food for it.

Amiri relayed the question easily enough. "It should not be a problem to do it on the other leg. Also if any nerve damage did occur the injection she recently received would repair it."

Amiri was happy to give her good news and she accepted it. She rolled over onto her stomach and tried to relax. 'I was asleep when they did this back home,' she said. 'I do not think I will be this time.' The scans updated her flip and it showed a whole new image at her anatomy. The marks on her back followed the concentration of her nerves. The scans lit up along her shoulders in a brilliant display. Oddly enough the largest nerve clusters were under bone. Like the rest of her bones they were unusually dense but this bone as even more so.

It resembled armor plating down her spine and on the center left of her spine. The additional bone plate was protecting her heart should someone come at her from behind. Her ribs had muscles wrapped around them in such a way I could not imagine the purpose of them. Then my eyes were shocked by what I saw. A tail bone. A small single bone at the base of her spine. The shape was unmistakably a tail bone like so many others had. The only difference was hers was internal. I was able to see the two organs that held her eggs as well.

As we had not gotten the scans of her back on the ship these were the first ones. The systems immediately flagged one of her egg organs. Apparently it was inflamed. Her body levels indicated it was fine but the system had flagged it as an unknown occurrence. Cas've told the system it was fine. She had told us her breeding cycle would be starting soon so it was expected for her reproductive organs to react occasionally. All of these were different from anything else we had ever seen.

Most of these files would never even join the IPU systems. This was a royal female of breeding age. No one outside of those who were seeing to her would have access to them. Once she left this planet all her files here would be returned to me and wiped from their system. 'Princess are you okay?' Amiri asked her.

'I am still tired. I just want this over so I can get so sleep.'

'Soon Princess.'

Amiri was quick to inform the Medic. That her sleepiness hit her soon after the hormone change was detected told us she had not been completely honest with us. Her body wanted her to sleep for more than one reason. I watched still pinned under Misha as Cas've placed a nerve block at her knee. It would stop the pain from reaching her brain until after she healed. He cut open her leg and more of that deep red blood pour from her. Iron she said. Her blood smelled of metals. Metals that her people and the animals of her planet had found a way to consume.

"I am a bit concerned about the Princess's condition," Cas've said as he worked. "She seems to be tapping into her fat stores already."

Dimatri stared at the rest of us. 'Have any of you fed her?' It hit me then he had been the only one of us feeding her. He had only fed her twice in the two sleep cycles we had with her on the ship. No wonder she was tired. She was doing what she could to conserve energy and we had done nothing to help her. How much of that vital energy storage had she burned through to move us? She had likely sought us out at the time to get food.

"Mira..." I heard her say. It had never occurred to me the creature's name sounded the same verbally as it did telepathically.

'I will get her for you Princess.' Sorrel peeled himself from the wall and walked back towards the ship. If she wanted her beast nearby we had no right to deny her.

No one questioned him. Sorrel often wondered off on his own. The procedure was quick enough that Cas've was sealing the wound with Flad oil as they came in. The beast had grown again. At best guess it would be up to the Princess's waist by now. It released a sound my communicator said should be words but had no file on. The Princess did not even turn her head as she lifted and arm. Mira, as she called the creature jumped from Sorrel's arms and spread its wings. Wings we had been blissful unaware of until now.