Kiunyki worried a lot more nowadays when her mother was out of sight. Ever since Kaalnia had been hurt by the Ice man, Kiunyki found it much easier to imagine terrible things happening to her. It could happen any time, any where, and so it was that when Kiunyki could not follow her mother, she sat and waited for her to come home, and didn't do much more than that.

This made things very easy for those who watched her – in this case, her uncle Votzhem. Kiki wished that someone else had been put in charge of watching her. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he wove on his loom – something he did often when he watched her, to keep his attention from wavering. At least, that was what he had told Kiki.

But Kiki didn't believe him. She didn't trust him anymore, not completely. He was a hybrid, his skin color and hair color all wrong. That hadn't bothered Kiki before, until the Ice man had come and cut her mother down. Now, she saw the truth. Votzhem's face, scrunched up in concentration as it was over his weaving, was the same as the Ice man's. They bore the same face. They were the same race.

Thus, it was clear to Kiunyki: Votzhem was a traitor. He would hurt her Mama too, just like the other man had done. She told no one this – no one but her pet Illo. Mama would have objected. Votzhem would have protested. She didn't want either to be angry with her. She didn't want either – not even Votzhem – to leave her, as others had done. Then she would be alone.

“Hey, Ki!” Kiunyki perked up at the familiar voice, looking towards the roots below her. A young Alkidike, with a few others with her, stared back up at her, grinning and waving. Kiki waved back, a flicker of a smile brightening her serious face. They were her friends – Banhani, Lasseren, and Piruka. “Wanna play?”

Kiki looked over at Votzhem, warily. He waved her off, smiling. Of course she could go play with her friends – she needed to get out and play with people, after all.

Good.

Kiki waved goodbye to him politely and joined her friends as they moved to their usual play spot, a clearing nearby, where they could play without interference but still run for a grown up if they needed it.

“So, Ki.” said Lasseren, smirking, “You still have to ask permission from the hybrid?”

“Mhmm.” Kiki said, picking up a stick and swishing it – it would make a good spear, or fishing pole, or whatever she wanted it to be for whatever today's game was. “He's watching me, so I have to.”

“Why do you have a hybrid watching you, anyway?” asked Banhani, juggling a few rounded stones briefly before settling on one, a nice disk-shaped stone that would do well as a skipping stone.

“Stupid. Her mama's a hybrid lover.” retorted Piruka, “Everybody knows that.”

Kiki frowned, “No, she's not.”

“My mama says she sleeps with them. Mama says its bad.” Banhani put down the stone and thoughtfully began inspecting a rounded fruit. “I don't know, though. Everybody sleeps. What's wrong with that?”

Kiki looked away uncomfortably, remembering when she had come home to find her Mama with other women. “... Its a different kind of sleep.” she said quietly. Her Mama had explained it all the first time, and always let Kiki know when she would have company. And, moreover, would always tell said company to leave if Kiki asked. Mama was a good person... but the women she brought home were often hybrids. Mama called them exotic. Kiki didn't know what that meant.

“Oh.” Banhani tossed the fruit to Kiunyki, who caught it and tossed it to Piruka, who giggled as she caught the fruit. “Well, either way, Mama says its bad.”

Piruka tossed the fruit back to Kiki. “I heard my sister talking about kicking out all the hybrids and earthlings. She said that they're hurting Aisha!”

Lassaren huffed, holding her hands out for the fruit, which Kiki dutifully threw to her. “Nothing can hurt Aisha! Aisha's a goddess!”

Piruka stuck her tongue out. “Well, that's what my sister said! She said that some of her friends and her were going out to chase them away.”

Banhani frowned. “Why? They're not doing anything.” Lassaren threw the fruit at her, hitting her in the shoulder. “Ow, hey!”

Lassaren crossed her arms. “My sister said it too, and she's probably right! Even if they're not hurting Aisha, they don't belong here!”

Banhani glared at her, “But what about Kiebwi? She's a hybrid, and she's nice! She's lived here forever, too...”

“So?!”

“So she kind of belongs here!” protested Banhani.

“No she doesn't! All right, she's nice and all, but she's a hybrid. They don't belong. They just don't.”

Piruka nodded. “Right!”

“You're all idiots.” Banhani said, kicking the fruit. It split under her kick, splattering both her and Kiki with soft pulp. Banhani turned and left, storming out. Kiki watched her go.

Piruka frowned. “What's got into her?”

Lassaren shrugged. “I don't know.”

Piruka laughed grinned, “Oh! I've got a great idea!”

“What, a new game?”

“Yeah! My sister said she'd be doing something in the center of town. She always does fun, grown-up things!”

Kiki kicked off the fruit pulp from her feet. “What sort of fun things?” she asked, curious. Like any youngling, she wanted to do grown up things.

“Uh...” Piruka frowned, thinking, “I don't know. She said something about hybrids, but she's always fun! We should go see if she'll play with us!”

“Sure” said Lassaren, “Your sis is always fun!” she turned to Kiki, “Coming, Ki?”

Well, if the other two were going... where else would Kiunyki go? Home? No, of course not. “Sure!” she said, following them to the marketplace. Piruka made her way through the Alkidike shoppers, calling out to a tall warrior with a bow standing by a jewelery stall with a group of sour-looking young adults.

“Hey! Sis!”

The tall warrior grinned, and the dark looks on the other's faces lightened. “Hey, Piro!” she said, giving the little girl a hug and picking her up off the ground, “What're you doing here?”

Piruki gave her sister a kiss on the cheek. “We want to play with you!”

Her sister laughed. “What? You? And your friends?”

One of the others shifted a little. “This isn't a matter for younglings. Go and play elsewhere...”

Piruki's sister shook her head. “No, sure, they can come with us. They'll get the right idea about the world early...”

Kiunyki frowned. “Uh... What are you doing, though?”

The sister smirked. “We're taking back what's ours, kid.”

“Ugh. Look.” One of the others pointed, “Theres one now. How disgusting.”

Kiunyki followed their gesture, but all she could see was someone, clearly not a full Alkidike, purchasing something at a stall. She looked back at the others, puzzled.

The Sister put Piruki down. “All right, lets move. You three can come with us if you want, but you have to stay out of our way, understand?”

Piruki nodded, joining Lassaren and Kiunyki. “Come on. Lets follow a little behind them.”

Kiki hesitated, uncertain, but she wasn't leaving her friends. Not now, when she had followed them this far.

The group of older sisters moved towards the hybrid, one of them putting a hand on their shoulder and the rest guiding them, like a pack of Radaku, to a less populated part of the market.

“What is this?!” the Hybrid protested. She was half shifter, her hybrid blood obvious in her white skin and dreads and the crystals that speckled her face. “What is going on? You have no right...”

“Of course we do, you filthy halfbreed. You eat our food, you take our goods...” one of the Sisters shoved her, “We've every right to take something back, don't we.”

There were nods of assent.

“No you d...” The Hybrid choked on her words as one of the sisters punched her in the stomach.

“No one asked you.” they said, as they began to beat her with their bare hands and feet.

“C'mon!” said Piruki excitedly, picking up a small stone from the town's forested floor, “Let's help out.”

Lassaren nodded, “Yeah!”

The two young Alkidikes began to throw stones into the fray, the hard objects bouncing off of bruising skin and eliciting yelps of pain. Kiunyki watched, uncomfortable.

This didn't look... right.

“Come on, Kiunyki!” siad Piruki, offering her a stone, “Join in!”

“She won't.” said Lassaren, giving Kiki a disapproving look, “She's a hybrid lover.”

“No I'm not.” said Kiki, staring at the stone. Hurting others was wrong – that was what her mother had said, and this definitely felt wrong. But...

What if it wasn't? What if the Hybrids really were bad? What if the Earthlings were bad? The Ice man had hurt her mother, and Votzhem looked just like him... and was sleeping with an earthling too! He was bad. They were bad... and Kiki had to do something about it.

“No, I'm not.” she said, snatching the stone and throwing it as hard as she could at the hybrid. They yelped, bleeding from the shallow cut that the stone made. Hybrids were bad. Kiki picked up another stone and threw it.