"So... what's with the outfit, JaKaelath?" JaLena asked, her voice harsher than JaKaelath was used to from the quiet member of their group. She looked at the pink suit peeking out from under JaKaelath's pants and jacket, her eyes holding a plea for an answer that might null out the contempt building inside of her. "Why are you still wearing it?"

"Gotta admit, it's a little strange." Joric added, "All those stories you told us... about what they did to you, the tests. It makes someone wonder if they changed you, or if ....maybe you were one of them all along, and are now spying on us."

"That's not fair!" another friend, a girl named JaMaya, interjected, stepping forward. She looked at JaKaelath with genuine concern in her eyes. "Joric, stop it. She's been our friend her whole life. Besides, that would be pretty stupid if she were spying for them to wear their uniform. Say whatever about JaKaelath, she's quick-tempered, too blunt sometimes, but she's not stupid." She turned to JaKaelath with a concerned look. "JaKaelath, we're just worried about you. Are you... are you okay? You haven't been the same since you got back."

JaKaelath felt a wave of conflicting emotions wash over her. Their questions, their fear, their quiet anger... it all felt deserved. She took a deep breath; the moment of truth was finally here. She had to tell them. All of it.

Better to get this out in the open now. They were her friends after all, and deserved the truth. 

"I have something to tell you," she said, her voice cracking a bit. She reached down into herself to summon her courage, and then she began to remove her scavenger clothes. She pulled off her jacket, then unbuckled her jeans, letting them fall to the ground. She stood before them in her full Ponu-suit. She took a step forward, "I have to tell you all something."

Just then, the flap of Kallian's tent swung open. He walked out, his eyes sweeping over the group, a cruel smirk on his face. His gaze landed on JaKaelath, standing in the suit. "Well, well," he said, his voice low and rough. "Looks like you're finally embracing what nature made you. It's about time."

JaKaelath's blood ran cold. She knew, in that instant, that a single wrong word would seal her fate. 

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, JaMaya grabbed her arm. "She was just showing us how uncomfortable the suit is!" JaMaya said. "She was saying how she can't even stand to wear it for more than a minute, it's so horrible."

JaKaelath nodded, her throat tight. It felt like a lie, not just to Kallian, but to herself. She quickly bent down, pulling her clothes back on, feeling the roughness of the scavenger fabric like a punishment.

She avoided looking at Kallian as he turned away with a grunt of displeasure. Her friends, now leaving, gave her a wide berth. All except one. As Joric passed, he looked her in the eyes and said, with an unconcealed coldness in his voice, "So long, Ponu."

The evening sun began to give way to torch lights in the camp. They lit up the scavenger arena, which was really just a circle of ground ringed by eager scavengers.  

JaKaelath stood across from Joric, with the familiar chanting of the crowd echoing in her ears. This was a ritual, a friendly fight meant to sharpen skills and entertain the masses. But today, the air between them was thick with a new tension. Joric's stare was cold, and his recent words, "So long, Ponu," echoed in her mind.

The fight began at a slower, deliberate pace. Joric, relying on his brute strength, moved with controlled anger. Each swing of his fists was a powerful but calculated blow. The combatants in these contests could be males, females or a mix, with the only stipulation being that no one was to receive strikes to the groin area, and females were not to receive strikes to the area of their upper chest. Everything else was fair game, including the face. This was the perfect high-stakes crucible to forge their warriors. JaKaelath, in her layered scavenger clothes, dodged and weaved, the pink of her Ponu-suit still hidden underneath. It was a part of her she did not want to remove. She met his attacks with a speed and grace born of her enhanced physiology, but his sheer power was a relentless force. He caught her with a solid punch to her shoulder that sent her staggering back, her body absorbing the impact with a durability that would have shattered a normal human.

A roar erupted from the crowd. "Demolish her!" a voice yelled.

More erupted, "Break her!" 

Standing in the open flap of his tent, Kallian watched with a smug grin on his face. JaKaelath saw him, and then she saw the look on Kragon's face. Kragon, standing on the periphery, had a look of pity, of "there's always next time." In that moment, something inside her snapped. The insults, the suspicion, the constant need to hide. She was done.

With a roar of frustration, she began to shed her scavenger clothes. The jacket, the pants, the boots, they all fell to the dirt, leaving her standing in the arena clad only in her tight, pink Ponu-suit. The crowd's roar died down almost instantly. Now, only silence remained and the sound of Kaela's anger. Joric, caught off guard by her sudden transformation, hesitated, his eyes wide with confusion.

She charged, her body moving with unexpected quickness, her feet bare on the cool ground. She easily dodged his clumsy, bewildered swing; her movements were fluid and impossibly fast. She was behind him in an instant, a ghost in a pink suit. She delivered a series of rapid, precise blows to his back and head. He staggered forward.

He swung again, with a blow that could have taken out even Kragon, but she easily dodged him. Then she delivered another rapid series of blows to pressure points that continued to leave the much larger scavenger unable to have time to think of a counter. By now, he was desperately aiming and firing, hoping anything connected, but it was too late; she had shown her fighting superiority, and now all that was left was the finale, for the crowd.

With fury, she delivered a blow that seemed to knock him out standing. His knees buckled, and then he fell on his back, defeated.

Kaela stood over him, panting, her chest rising and falling. The crowd was stunned and in disbelief. She looked at them, then placed her bare foot down on his chest, pinning him as she scanned the crowd. The symbolism was unmistakable. It was a final declaration, not only of her victory, but of her dominance. The cheers she was accustomed to after a win were absent, replaced by fear.

After a long, stunned silence, the crowd began to stir. They talked in low voices filled with fear. No one moved. Kaela, still standing over a defeated Joric, felt the weight of their stares. The victory she had just won was not the triumph she had envisioned. It was now a clear, unmistakable line drawn between her and the people she had once called her own.

She looked down and removed her foot from the chest of the pinned scavenger. Joric slowly pushed himself up, his face filled with shame and fury. He said nothing, simply got to his feet and walked away, disappearing into the crowd. One by one, the other scavengers began to disperse. Their whispers and uneasy glances felt like a heavy weight on Kaela's shoulders.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and quickly turned to see Kragon. His face was pale, his eyes wide with fear. "What was that?" he whispered with concern.

Kaela didn't answer. She didn't have to. The truth was written on the crowd's faces and on Joric's retreat. She bent down, retrieving her scavenger clothes from the dirt, but she didn't put them on. She just held them in her arms, walking back to their tent. She glanced back at Kragon, who snapped out of the stupor he was in and followed her.

From Janeda's tent, the sound of anger and fury prevailed. Kallian demanded JaKaelath be handed over to him right now, this night.

Janeda's stance was clear. She said, "There is no way in hell I am giving that child to you. I helped raise her. 

What did she do, win a fight, wearing the outfit that you gave her in the first place. You've been pushing that girl because you can't let go of the past."

Kallian looked at her with fury. "If you don't hand her over, you'll be failing in your duty as local camp leader. You know our people's rules. I can bring people from the other camps to help remove you, then remove her." 

Things had escalated. "Yes, I know our people's rules, I know that unless you can bring me solid, unmistakable proof that she is an enemy of our people, that she is a Ponu, then she is still a member of this local camp and my responsibility". 

Kallian had had enough and moved to leave the tent with one last parting shot, "It won't be long before I have proof, and when I do, you'll have to hand her over. And you'll be sorry for standing in my way like this old woman."