Nameh - Male, age 27

While Nameh's build is not as huge or muscular as a Jaguar or Lion, his strength is quite superior to most of the other Kin in his Tribe. His choice of mallets and hammers to strike hard blows often lead him on hunts with the other danger-lovers, as prey needing that sort of weapon is often large and very hard to hurt. Nameh often practices holding his weapons with but one hand, lifting heavy weights comes easy for him.

In contrast to his strength, Nameh's powers are somewhat weak. He is an adequate telepath, though his range is limited to sight or about 2 miles. Where his powers excell however is in locating prey. He can sense life in detail nearby, and rarely needs to worry about how small his range is for purposes of hunting. He is called in when there is prey out there - hiding.

Omaciyu called for an emergency meeting - stirring up everything. Nameh sat on his low pile of pillows. It didn't seem much like an emergency to hear Oma talk about it now.

Something had come during the night. A ship, which perked up Nameh's interest. And something else, which only served to make him wonder if the older Kin was seeing things.

It was when Hala spoke up quietly, that he'd seen something in a dream just like this odd flying lizard, that everyone got all quiet.

"A flying lizard?" Asked Nameh. "Where could it have come from? And why is it here?"

"Is it friendly," asked Ihnala, "that's my question."

"If we try and contact it, it might be able to attack us," Hocayi added.

"But it didn't attack already, and it flew almost directly overhead," Temih warned. Her voice carried in the cavern - the males had all but forgotten about her heat and their contests. She would never be impressed by him - Nameh decided that if she hadn't been watching him already, she'd hardly pay any attention to him now.

Not now that there was a ... flying lizard in the air. Flying lizards. What were they rolling in? Nameh watched the tip of his tail, as the council went on. Their heated words went to silence several times, punctuated by question after question.

"Do you think we could at least try and see it, if it comes near again?" Nameh asked, "I mean, if it is hostile, we can kill it. If it is friendly, well... What have we got to lose?"

Temih turned, and nudged Omaciyu. "We have always adopted a 'wait and see' attitude," Temih said. "Who wishes to make contact with it, for good or ill?"

Most of the tribe showed their tails, offering their support of the idea. Only a couple didn't want to bother with it at all. So it was decided that if the creature could be contacted, mentally or physically, they would attempt to be neutral toward it. If it attacked, they would certainly tear it apart. Powers and weapons both, nothing could stand up against those for long.

Nameh took up a spot next to Dijo outside. He stared at the southern plains, and spotted the glimmer of the ship which had come in early that morning too.

"Do you think they have any other Kin on board that ship, or are they Humans?"

"I don't know," Dijo said, "I can't reach that far - but if they start approaching we'll know. Oma thinks it's Humans."

"And what about this other thing?"

"This dragon thing? I don't know. Dragons don't even exist for real, at least not in human worlds. Maybe..."

"Maybe they're somewhere out there? And one has come here?" Nameh sighed. "Why'd they want to do that?"

"Maybe they are waiting for the ship to do something. Like us," Dijo said.

Nameh nodded, and went out to get something to drink. He brought Dijo back a cup of water, and headed back inside.

He looked at Temih, as she stood gracefully beside Omaciyu. She was strong, capable. Maybe he was just at that age where she wasn't going to be attracted to him no matter what? Obviously she thought of Oma - as many of the younglings did - as a father. But to Nameh? A big brother?

He sighed. Maybe that ship wasn't a Human space ship after all. Maybe it was another Deported Kin load. He almost said something to that effect, hoping that someone else would come to alleve their problems.

Fortunately, Nameh kept his tongue and didn't make a mess of things. It didn't much matter what he thought - it would always be the female who decided, and if Temih wasn't interested he wasn't going to get anywhere worrying about it.

As the others also started to split up for the day, Nameh climbed to the top of his particular favorite area of the plateau. From there, he could see almost entirely nothing - nothing but sky and a bit of the grey-tan horizon. He could remember things clearly up there. As his memory served him, he'd been dumped out of the ship about two hundred miles north of this place - right in the middle of Lion territory.

Not a great place to be, for a six year old Cheetah.

But he also could remember the good things. Being given his first small hammer toy - smashing something with it and being extremely happy with the results. Then, meeting up with the Warthog Kin and seeing their forge. He was amazed that these smelly people could create such amazing works of metal. They gave him some work, now and again, and he'd often be asked to run items to another tribe when no one of their own was available. He enjoyed carrying things, it gave him quite the work out.

Perhaps he'd be doing something new with this strength of his. When something came into his mental perception, and it wasn't an animal and it wasn't Kin, he bristled all over.

He raced down into the cavern again, and chirped loudly - trying to get the rest of the tribe back to safety.

"A Human comes!" he yelled, but no one was there.

Pacing about, Nameh grabbed the larger of his hammers, lugging it along with both hands, and tried to climb back up to his perch with it. It would make him feel slightly safer.

But he didn't really have to do that. Several of the others had located the Human - it had walked from somewhere south? Nameh sought out the nearest mind he could find - it was Utori.

What is happening? Have they caught it? He asked.

Distantly, Utori responded by thinking hard.

I think we are asking it questions. But it seems friendly and it is alone. It said it is not from the ship above.

"Then... if it's not from there, and it's alone... Where did it come from?"

Nameh bolted down the plateau and onto the flat plains, where he quickly caught up with the rest of the tribe who were on the south edge.