Page 40 of Treasured By the Hunter

“Mina, this is Zoey. Can you say Zoey?”

Mina tried. “Zo-wee!”

“Hey, that’s great!” Zoey said, clapping lightly.

“Zoey. Zoey. Zoey.” Every time Mina learned a new word, the entire camp knew. She repeated it again and again ad nauseam for at least a day or two. I was told this was normal.

Many Xarc’n mixed children matured and hit their milestones faster than fully human children, but Mina seemed to be an exception. She was right on time with all her development to date. In other words, if you ignored the horns sprouting from her head, skin color, and other physical features, she was a healthy and very normal human youngster. Wholly unremarkable but perfect in every way.

Which, according to Mary, was exactly how she liked it. It made the offspring-raising guides she had found more relevant.

Mina waddled over to a stuffed animal on a chair and picked it up. It was a furry and anatomically incorrect version of the animal the humans called an octopus. Octopuses did not have fur, and also did not have a smile. The mouth parts should be at the center, where all the appendages join. I was told that this misrepresentation of their planet’s fauna was also normal.

Little Mina waddled back over and handed Zoey the deformed stuffed animal. “Tepuss!”

“Why, thank you, Mina.” Zoey grinned. “Yes. That’s an octopus!”

Seeing Zoey interacting with Mina made me envy Lok’n’s relationship with his mate. When they’d first gotten together, I’d worried that the female had brainwashed my fellow hunter. He’d acted so strangely around her and still did. It was like she’d stolen his ability to be logical and replaced it with thoughts of her.

We’d been told all our lives that we only had one ultimate shared goal: to destroy the scourge. But for Lok’n, that goal had changed.

At first, I’d thought he’d lost his way. But that was many years ago, and now I see what they had and wanted it for myself. I wanted someone waiting for me after every hunt. I wanted someone to hold in my arms through the cold winter nights. I wanted a family.

But more importantly—and this took me much longer to realize—I wanted a purpose other than the one given to me by some creator I’d never met. It was true the scourge needed to be wiped out, but I was sick of it being my only objective. It had been a worthwhile goal once, but that was before we’d found Earth. Before I’d seen hunters with their mates.

Back then, I didn’t care if I lived or died, as long as I took down as many scourge as possible. I’d been to other planets, but none had entranced me like Earth. Even before we’d found out that humans were genetically compatible with us, I found Earth to be excruciatingly beautiful.

Out here on the Great Plains where my group and I had been stationed, there wasn’t much to look at. But other hunters around the planet started sharing images and recordings of the biomes they’d been sent to. I was enthralled by the dense jungles, snowy mountain peaks, sandy beaches, and everything else in between. I even started seeing the beauty of these never-ending fields, especially in the spring, when they were covered in colorful blooms.

There was so much beauty here, and it reminded me of the recordings our Xarc’n creators had programmed into our shuttles so we could have a taste of home. Except Xarc wasn’t really my home. I’d never been there.

It was Mina trying to headbutt Zoey’s leg that shoved me out of my thoughts.

“No, Mina,” Mary chided. “You know you’re not supposed to do that. I’m sorry. We’re still trying to kick that habit.”

“It’s okay. It didn’t hurt.”

“It doesn’t hurt now because her horns are teeny tiny, but as they get bigger, it will. We nip this habit in the bud now. Apparently, growing Xarc’n children are quite destructive. At least that’s what Louisa told me.”

“I think I met her briefly before the movie.”

“She came with the others from New Franklin. I was one of the original Great Plainers with Lok’n, Haax’l, and Harb’k. I used to joke that we were the GreatCom-Plainers because they hadn’t sent enough hunters to the area to manage the nests here. Anyway, Louisa was an early childhood development specialist from before the bugs. She helped raise the mixed kids over there, and now that they’re a little older, she came to help out with Mina. She’s gathering as much information as possible so she can write the definitive guide on raising mixed Xarc’n/human children.”

“It must be hard with so little information.”

“Yeah, it is. But I know I have support from everyone here. And Lok’n is a great dad.”

Mina started to fuss, and Lok’n bent to pick her up.

“It's her bedtime, so she's extra cranky,” Mary explained before glaring at her mate. “Your growling didn’t help. You know how she takes hints off us. Now how are we going to get her to relax again?”

“I will tell her a bedtime story,” Lok’n said resolutely.

“Nothing too violent,” Mary said. She turned to Zoey and rolled her eyes. “These guys think gory, violent tales of past battles make good bedtime stories. Enjoy the rest of your tour. And I'm sorry again for what happened.”

I made a mental note that detailed accounts of past battles did not make good bedtime stories. We said good night, and the family of three returned to their room.

Chapter 19: Zoey

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