"Jahkonu is his name," one of the Hyena kin said, his raspy voice cutting the cold air in the courtroom. "Son of Jelno and Kahkaln."

"Brought before us...?" Asked the judge, who was a large Badger kin. He sat wearing a traditional black robe, while the hyena guard wore dark red. Jahkonu was draped in a white gown which he shifted around in uncomfortably.

"Another of his pranks gone bad," said the Hyena. "And, he's been suspected of," here he paused, uncomfortable himself for some reason. "He's a deviant, your honor, he's come off on the sensors."

"So now we're trusting the deviants to tell the truth about him now, are we?" Asked the Badger. The Hyena didn't quite know what to say. So Jahkonu said it for him.

"Of course they know," he said sharply. "I told them the moment I knew I could contact them." His dark denim-blue eyes burned up at the Badger, who narrowed his own dark colored orbs to slits. As though he might sense how hateful the young Kin was toward his court. That much was obvious from the start.

"I see." The Badger said. "Well. We have little choice but to offer you up to the Deviant Handlers then." He seemed to cast about for something to shuffle, found a paper, and gazed at it without thought. Jahkonu remained icy and angrily still.

"Your Honor?" The Hyena asked carefully.

"Yes, take him away. File whatever paperwork we need. If he's admitted it, he's not our problem at this point. Pranks or no - there is nothing that you could do to bring this woman's livestock back to her, is there." The Judge didn't bother to look at Jahkonu's sneer. "So. Tell the Handlers that we've got to replace three herd-animals of twenty kilos a piece to settle the damages incurred during his retrieval. They can send them straight to the prosecuting party."

Jahkonu felt the heavy weight of the Hyena's hand on his shoulder, and was moved along almost as though the Hyena didn't want to touch him.

The Cheetah Kin was only around eight, his powers having just barely started to surface. But he had been trouble for three years before that. His father was often unable to explain how the young boy had learned all his lessons so quickly, Jahkonu was extremely intelligent. Perhaps that was a power, more likely it was just the way he was born and brought up. His parents didn't want to give him up - but Jahk had other plans. He wanted nothing to do with the xenophobic bunch of hypocrites on this planet.

Planet Eight - Savvorda, a world of lush rivers and wide grasslands where Kin like himself were told to believe they were herders instead of predators. Hunters like himself could only get in trouble. Constantly.

***

"Please - can't I even see him? I want to say good bye to my son!" Jahk's mother Konni cried. He could hear her on the other side of the wall, see her shadow in the crack of the door. But the door remained locked, guarded on both sides.

Mother, be calm - Some day you'll hear about me. He sent to her. He was positive she could recieve thoughts, he'd deduced that his brain power came almost exclusively from her side of the family. His father gave him his pale looks and his strength. But that was perhaps not all. It gave him a bit of a rebellious streak too. He'd always heard his uncles talking about how Hajuno and their gang would raid farms or scare herds into trampling gardens.

Jahkonu didn't want to just scare the animals. He wanted to hunt them.

And he'd heard about the Humans who would be on the other side of the door - the Deviant Handlers. He wanted to hunt them too.

His mother's sobbing voice brought Jahk back to reality. It had changed tone, and that told Jahkonu that he'd succeeded in connecting with her mind. "I ... I understand... I just... He's my youngest son... Please?"

But her voice became quieter as the guards escorted her away. Jahkonu stood and one of the tall antelope guards moved to protect the door. "I'm just - my mom, you know." He tossed his head up at the door but the Antelope did not move. Jahkonu glared at him, but wasn't really interested in making trouble exactly.

He was more interested in what just happened to the door handle and lock mechanism. It'd just melted together as though the heat of a forge had touched it.

***

Jahkonu spent only a short time in the hands of the Deviant Handlers. They mistrusted him - they weren't sure how a kid this young could be so deadly smart, so angry, or so willing to join up with others and cause mischief. The planet they went to for holding loomed, and it was a good thing too. There was one Ferret Kin girl that had almost collapsed on the way there in the prison ship. Her mind was fragile, but so sensitive that when they left Savvorda she nearly went mad from the isolation.

Others comforted her. He was willing to try, but he preferred the company of other boys - he was barely nine, after all, and boys will be like that. But he did his best. He had no other siblings younger than he, so he was somewhat spoiled by his mother. He and the Ferret girl sat in a dimly lit room and Jahk tried to keep her mind occupied.

Do you wonder what the place will look like? When we get to our new home?

"It's not a home," she sobbed verbally, her mind's anguish was too much for most Kin to bear. "It's a prison. And it's not our final home... It's merely the transfer place."

Jahkonu paused, and then gave a little grin. "Then now I wonder, what will our final home look like? I know it's a prison. But a whole planet for us? That's pretty generous."

The girl gave a check in her soft sobbing. Her big black eyes turned up, blinking. It was as though a light came back on in them. "You're right... It is I guess."

They continued to discuss this, what she might do when she finds some people to run with. She was immensely powerful already, but her sensing and telepathy were all she could do, apparently. Jahkonu told her about his own experiences. "It's not consistant. Just a few times, once or twice... I melted the door lock on the way out of the Handling facility, no one could get back into that room until they'd sawed the door down off the frame."

The girl laughed for the first time in weeks, and Jahk smoothed back her short wiry grey-blond hair. "It'll be okay, Mylla, you'll keep track of everyone for us. That's a pretty important job, isn't it?" She nodded, and he continued, "and if there's a problem, you can warn people, can't you?"

"I ... I think so. I guess. I don't know if I can speak all the way around the world."

"Then it looks like that's a goal for you, isn't it?" Jahkonu said, with a conspiratorial nod.

***

The Planet Twenty landing party that Jahkonu wound up with was a good Cheetah-heavy one. From at least three different worlds they came, along with the refuse of others and criminally powered Kin. It was apparent to Jahkonu at least, that some day people would have to stop sending their "Kin Witches" to this world - they were going to be breeding them all the time, and one could hardly support a population if they kept sending their children away.

And of course it would overpopulate this world. This beautiful, wide world. Jahkonu bid Mylla farewell earlier, they would drop a couple loads here and there just to spice things up. Jahkonu's hatred and resentment of Humans grew for that.

They 'landed', and immediately their problems began. Laka - another very powerful young empath - would need caring for. Jahkonu and the other younger male Eqahkali took care of her for the times she needed them, others it would be the slightly older Cuhsoyi and Etehmaro.

It was when they were captured by the Lions that everything went to hell.

***

Jahkonu's metal shaping power came into its own while they were Slaves of the Lion pride. It at least gave Jahk time to be with Laka, to keep her calm. The nullifying powers of the Master were terrifying to both of them, but since they were crafters of metal and plant matter they could work it out. Jahk did, anyway. He would occupy his mind with things, symbols and logical things, while he was made to shape a vase or a rod or even a weapon at times. His work became better and better, as did Laka's, but there were never rewards for their hard work.

The only reward, Jahk realized, would be when they were free again, and if it were up to the Lions of course that day would never come. So Jahk needed to accellerate the process.

The Lion's caravan brought trade goods, clothing, beads, woven fabrics, and raw materials to the Village where they lived full time. Most of the Pride would go out on the caravan, but certain folks were always left behind: pregnant and nursing Lionesses, the very elderly (which there were a couple, nearly toothless things who were so mentally powerful that one just didn't want to mess with them), and the young children. And, the Master Maker. He rarely went out, but when he did, there was another in charge of keeping the powers under control.

In those rare times, Jahkonu would be able to work his powers on a private project. It was a short, 10 inch blade. Flat, razor thin. It didn't take much in the way of raw materials, but it took a long while to collect what was not used in other projects. The Lions did notice such discrepancies - food missing? Beat the slaves. A bead out of place? Beat the slaves.

Everything was attributed to the slaves. Jahkonu wanted to bring up that they might have gone in and worked with pleasure and done better work from the start, if they were actually given a place IN the pride, instead of under it's thumbs. Of course, if he mentioned that the whole group of young teenaged Lions would just rip him a whole new set of orifices.

Well, they'd have to learn that you don't fuck with a metal shaper with a brain the size of his.

***

The aftermath of the fight, the wounds to be nursed, the pain and mental anguish to be had... Jahkonu relished every moment. Because when he'd killed the Master, he'd finally succeeded in doing something that was a goal of his for more than two years. The resentment and the fear, the anger and the pain... It was all gone in a moment of resistance between vertibrae. He pushed it in, and suddenly the world brightened.

Laka's mind would be delicate, of course, he knew that. She was not nearly as strong for distance as Mylla was, but she might be close. Perhaps he would suggest they find each other. Later. The burning smell from the Village and the blood that was all over the Spotted Hand needed taking care of.

They bathed, carefully and quickly. They then set off across the plains and into the jungles again, the forest where the Elephants resided. While it looked as though everyone got along with the 'Phant population - it was more like every one including the Lions really feared them entirely. They were big, very big, and old - they seemed so old that they might pre-date the whole colony. Jahkonu didn't know how long the powered Kin had been sent to Planet Twenty - but he did surmise that the Elephants were among the first to come here.

"You do not fear us," commented one middle-aged male. He was one of the few males around, Jahk noticed. The 'phants probably went into a musk now and again, and to a civilized people, fighting to death over a female was kind of stupid. This one was missing one tusk, and half an ear.

"I do fear you, but only because you're really big and we're right up close," Jahkonu told him truthfully. "And any one of you could squish me or Laka without even realizing it."

"We would know, little spot. We would. If we meant to do so, we would. I have done so, in the past. The fool Tiger who did this to me," he indicated the old wounds on his ear with his battered trunk, "one of them."

"Then that's good reason for me to keep clear of your feet, sir," Jahkonu said. "But I'm not afraid of you just because you're you. I'm not stupid. We're not enemies for any reason at all."

"No, we are not. But you have made powerful ones in the Lions."

"Screw the Lions," Jahkonu said with an amount of pride equal to the bloated ego he sported at just twelve years old. "They're tough but they're not always aware of themselves."

The 'phant sat in silence, his gaze looking past the exterior of the young Cheetah, and into his deep mind. Jahk felt this, but did nothing. He knew that the elephant was not searching for any malicious reasons.

"You know very little fear, child of the Spotted Hand. But you should remember that fear does have its place..." He said and stood. Jahkonu feared that this big behemoth would trip and fall on him. Absently, though, and distantly, Jahkonu wondered what he meant really. What should he fear?

Jahk didn't bother to work it out, surely not then. They had places to be, people to meet.

Dragons to bond. But that would be later... Much later.

***

The beach was brilliantly white, and Laka gave off a squealing giggle when the spray and foam of the tide brought itself up around her ankles. She tried to sprint away, but could hardly lift her small feet out of the wet sand.

"How can you stand that?" Jahkonu said, watching her from the dry boulders nearby.

"It's fun! It's a wonderful place! Miles of sand, just warm and ripe for basking on!" Laka said. She was only two years younger than Jahkonu, which did make a difference, but he knew that she would be his one day. She still had the big crush on Etehmaro, though.

That would be something that he could actually work to his advantage, of course, when the time was right. Etehmaro knew she was in love with him, but she was only fourteen at the time, and he was years older than she. Vital years. So he waited. Laka's bright white hair was the same color as the sea foam, and almost the same turbulant mess too.

"Come on out of there, we've got to get back eventually." Jahkonu reminded her. While Laka was apt to lead herself away, he was usually sent to retrieve her. They shared a bit more of a youthful bond than she and Eqahkali did, even though he was fiercely protective of her. Jahk waved his hand, and finally Laka came out of the water.

She smelled of brine, of the warm sand. She smelled of a young female almost ready - now if only she'd know who would be best for her.

They would come to the beach, either singly or together or even with the group - because Laka was so happy there. When she was happy, obviously, everyone was happy for her. When she felt down, everyone was snippy or moody.

So it was their job to keep her happy at least while they could. But when she needed her privacy, this was often where she went. It would be days or even more than a week sometimes, before they would look for her. Mostly to give her the time to get there. It was a good three day walk to the beach, and she wanted the alone-time because of her extreme sense ability. It cleared her head, and gave the rest of the tribe the time to be actually in private with one another.

They would have to censor themselves a bit, around her. Jahk didn't feel like doing that, usually, but he went along with it because ... well, because she would have to know someday, that Etehmaro didn't want her the way she wanted him...

That day came.