Radiance Ch. 122

Blaming Seven and his people for the actions of others would like be blaming her and her hive for every life lost to a feral Cazador, it simply wasn't right or fair.

Vizzy climbed to her feet again and as she drew the curtains back she looked down into another yard where everyone was working, she saw Thundertail hard at work at an anvil beating panels into shape for use in the Gatorclaw armour that they were all now hard at work producing.

The words of the big Gatorclaw girl swam into her mind and the power behind them, of how proud she was of her attraction to the human race and how unashamed of it she was.

"If she is unashamed then why should I be? None of the other non-humans here is ashamed to love outside of their own race and if my very own brother can find love in the arms of one of theirs then why not me?" she said and no sooner had the words left her lips than the shame vanished and in its place was a fire like determination.

Vizzy balled two of her fists defiantly and buzzed her wings with the same defiance.

"I will find a man to love me and look at me the way that Varrel looks at Eve, I will be his hive queen and he will be MY king," she said translating that fire into words and with that, she flung her door open and marched her oval rear off down to join the others in the yard.

No sooner had she reappeared in the yard than she was greeted by Vess who had been leaning on the corner of the tree so silently that Vizzy hadn't even noticed the giant Alpha Claw.

"Find what you were looking for?" Vess said softly and Vizzy buzzed her wings in alarm before looking at her curiously.

"W-What do you mean?" she asked quickly and the big female claw gave her a fang-filled grin.

"Oh you don't need to be coy or evasive with me child, I know exactly where you went and exactly what you saw when you went there, what I am wondering however was if you found what you needed in what you saw?" Vess said pushing her large frame off the tree and walking up to stand next to her.

The huge female Alpha claw towered over Vizzy and she had to crane her neck to look up at her but the look in her eye told her that she knew and was not going to let up for being fooled by evasiveness.

Vizzy sighed and nodded.

"Yeah I think so," she said.

"Look I get it ok?" Vess said placing a surprisingly motherly hand on her back which made Vizzy jump in surprise but oddly not pull away from her.

"Get it?" Vizzy said in confusion.

"You are trying to justify and in part sabotage your own feelings for their kind, firstly you were worried for your kin that he would be somehow harmed or was being deceived by Eve but instead you witnessed something that you never expected to see didn't you?" Vess said.

"How did you.......?" Vizzy began and Vess's grin grew even wider.

"Because its something I too learned in that way, it shocked me to my core when I first learned that my niece and my nephew both loved humans, the very race that had persecuted and tortured us but after I got over my shock I realised that it was not these humans that did those vile things, infact these humans stood against those ones with everything they had and had risked their very lives to free us and fight against their own kind for me and my children if that does not mark them of worthy of us then what does?" Vess said and her words rang true in Vizzy's head.

"But still I was curious but not sure of them or their intentions until I saw them with my own eyes, what I did see shook me to my very core, I saw true passion and love in their rawest form, I saw a human male love a female claw with such vigour but then care for her afterwards with such tenderness that I could not deny their love, hell if anything it drove me to yearn for it myself," Vess said.

Vizzy looked up at her in surprise and buzzed her wings to show it.

"T-Thats how I feel!" she exclaimed and Vess nodded.

"I thought as much, they truly are confusing little creatures, capable of such feats of destruction and evil but at the same time of such love and kindness, I do believe now that judging them all for the actions of a few is wrong, but the actions of a beautiful few can also change your heart and mind for the better, take me as an example," Vess said and Vizzy buzzed her wings to get her to continue.

"I was tortured and imprisoned by the Humans we call the Enclave, they experimented on me and my children, they attached vile devices to our heads which took from us our very free will and autonomy and made us into puppets made of scale and meat, they wanted us as weapons nothing more, it mattered not one single shit to them that we were proud and noble claws, sentient as they were and capable of the same range of emotions as they, all they saw were our claws and our teeth and they enslaved us for them, but then there came Seven and his people, they fought tooth and claw to free us and to heal those wounds both visible and invisible that had been done to us and over time they showed us the truth, that the measure of a human is the same as any other by their actions, it was thanks to that lesson that I was able to look past my own inhibitions and misgivings and now look at me, I am every bit the proud and noble Alpha Matriarch claw that I was and I have the most beautiful human life mate to share it with, his is my pride and my love as I am his," she said shooting a loving look towards Chris as he worked at the Keval loom.

Vizzy nodded her head in understanding and made her antennae swish and bob.

"Yeah that was kind of the realisation I reached too," she said and Vess gave her a grin.

"Then it seems I have nothing left to teach you young one, all I can do now is wish you well on your own hunt and I pray that it be a fruitful and rewarding one," she said clapping her on the back and making Vizzy smile before she waved and carried on her way.

As Vizzy looked around the compound where everyone was hard at work she couldn't help but smile to herself, the way Seven and his people had set this place up it was kinda like a hive.

Everyone worked closely together and everyone had a job so no one felt left out or useless, plus he seemed to have been very deliberate in his placement of people to maximise the exposure the humans had to the friendly non-humans in a very obvious attempt to break down the barriers of fear and mistrust between them and it seemed to be working very well.

As she watched she saw Gatorclaws lifting and carrying heavy loads while humans performed the more intricate and fiddly jobs like welding and wiring but there were some crossovers like at the farm where both Claws and humans worked together performing the same tasks.

Though to be fair the Claws were far better at ploughing than the humans were while the humans were far better at the intricate spacing and planting than the Claws were but both worked perfectly together.

Varrel had been right when he had said that this was the world that their queen had envisioned that they would one day be a part of and it formed a pit of sadness in her heart that she had never lived to see it happen.

Vizzy sighed heavily as she thought about how thrilled her queen would have been to have met Seven and his people and to have welcomed them into her hive.

She imagined the celebrations the hive would have thrown for them to welcome their new friends and the great things they could have achieved with Seven acting as their human ambassador to the greater human world at large.

But sadly that was never to be and as far as she knew only she and her brother remained of the hybrid Cazador race so now it fell to them to be the ambassadors to the human world and maybe if the great ethereal hive permitted it the progenitors of a new stronger hive or maybe even hives.

A slight shiver of both want and anticipation flickered through her as the image of her becoming a hive queen with a human king at her side passed through Vizzy's mindscape though she did wonder what such a thing would look like and how would their children look.

Would they be more Cazador than human or the reverse?

Or thanks to her already hybrid DNA would they come out more or less like her?

These were questions she would love to answer though she did worry that a human would not be ready to take on such a pivotal role and one that carried such heavy responsibility as that of a hive king.

"Now that is the face of someone lost in the deepest of thoughts and given that you've been staring at that young human's arse for about ten minutes solid now I'm getting the feeling this may be a worry that I might be qualified to aid you with," A deep gravely voice said from behind her causing her to buzz her wings in alarm before spinning on the spot to find Visa stood there towering over her.

This was the second time in half an hour that a massive Claw had managed to sneak up on her, she really was going to have to start paying more attention to her surroundings or any dreams she had of making a new hive were going to end in the jaws of some unseen predator.

Though more at the forefront of her mind now was the embarrassment of the realization that she had indeed been inadvertantly staring at the tail end of a young human male who was working on the farm though she hadn't meant to or indeed known she was as she had been lost in her own mind.

"Well, I err umm Visa do you think humans and non-humans can bear children together and how would you handle it? Do you think a human is either capable or indeed ready to take on a hive?" she blurted out in rapid succession making the big Alpha Claw raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh my these are heavy questions indeed little one, come walk with me," Visa said gesturing with her large hand to one side.

Vizzy fell in step with the large female Claw as they began to walk the perimeter of the town as Visa carried out a security check on their walls to ensure that nothing or no one had breached their sanctity during the night or indeed day.

"In answer to the first question I honestly do not know but it is indeed my hope that the power of mother nature can find a way for such a wonderful thing to occur, it may be the case that the two species in question are just too different for them to be blessed by such a miracle but for my part I truly hope that it may be a dream of mine that one day I will have a true pack of my own, with my beloved male stood right there at my side to help me lead them forwards into the future plus I think he'd make a great patriarch, though to be fair he probably is the only human I know who would be strong enough to handle a whole pack of rampaging juvenile Claws or Claw human hybrids as the case may be," Visa said with a chuckle that kinda made Vizzy smile as she had the mental image of Seven using his powers to contain and capture a whole pack of baby Claws scampering off in every direction possible.

"In answer to the second question I think that will depend entirely on the human in question, they are incredibly individualistic, now while Claws are obviously individuals too we tend to have a more scripted reaction to certain scenarios, but if you take a hundred different humans and give them the same task you'll get a hundred different methods to solve it, its kinda one of their biggest assets and charms in my opinion, no two are alike at all, now in the case of my Seven yes I do believe he could handle raising a pack and as istated it is my distinct hope and dream that one day I will be able to give him one, but in the same breath if such a thing never happens I will still be happy because I will have lived my life where I belong, at the side of the one I love most in this world," Visa siad proudly.

Vizzy thought on this for a few moments and then it really did hit her, Visa was right, if she truly loved the man and he loved her in the same way then it didn't really matter if they were able to start a hive just as long as they were together because if it did happen then they would deal with it as they dealt with everything that came their way, together as one.

"Ahh I see that the answer has come to you has it not little one?" Visa said and Vizzy smiled up at her.

"Yeah it has, it doesn't matter if I can or can't as long as I give my all to the one I love as he should to me and if it does happen then we can face it together," she said and Visa nodded.

"Exactly, now come along young one we have to plan an ambush and a hive to avenge while we aniliate raider scum, should be a fun day out I think," she said giving her a fang-filled grin.

Vizzy baled her fists and pounded them into the palms of her opposite open hands, "Sounds good to me, we're gonna burn those fuckers like they burned my brothers and sisters, so the 'Boss' is gonna know exactly how I and Varrel felt watching our hive burn to the ground when we burn her fucking little phiphdom to ashes before her eyes and I'm gonna show her what goes around comes around by letting her see exactly who did it before I run my stinger right through her cold fucking heart!" Vizzy snarled.

"Well said young one, well said, when we are done your entire hive will rest easy knowing their blood has been avenged and by one of their own no less," Visa snarled before clapping Vizzy on the back and leading her towards Seven's forge, the time was close at hand now, it was time to take the fight to them for once.