It had not been long since Mar'nakth had moved in with the chakat calling hirself Snowrose: little under a year had passed since he had felt the urge set in to return to work after having voluntarily resigned from the Glass Swords as a Steam-ranked Ghost Valkyrie. In the 9 years of service up until he had met his beloved Suu'lea-dd-bala, he had never considered having a child as he was more enamored with the prospect of healing people's wounds, keeping his fellow comrades alive to fight another day to preserve & protect the peace of the people of Onladas, in the name of the Firstborn God Vhen'ag-arr! However, he was convinced a year later and the two wound up having a beautiful baby daughter; disaster struck 4 years later when they would find themselves hiking in a nature preserve around Lake Dhiel-suu when the hottest day of Manse'duf that year, in combination with a persistent drought, had summoned the perfect conditions with which to unleash the perfect forest fire: the worst in years, even. Mar'nakth, Suu'lea, and their daughter, Kyu'dar, made it out alive, but Suu'lea was on the verge of death; Mar'nakth had an emergency airlift called and they would take it to the nearest hospital to have her operated on. Much to his dismay, the fire had damaged his wife's vocal cords, her oxygen intake was significantly decreased, and she was horribly disfigured with third-degree burns; he had saved his wife, and she was forever grateful, but something in her had snapped that forced his hand: when he was forced to leave for another tour of service, she forbade him to leave and violently threatened him that if he tried to leave she would kill him. Year 16, nigh-on 3 years of physical and mental abuse, and he had had enough. The once jovial, jocular, and proud medic had slowly grown cold, austere, and bitter. He had to leave...for his own safety and the safety of all involved...but what would become of Kyu'dar, he worried? He decided, Vhen'ag-arr be merciful for what he was about to do, with a heavy heart it was not his battle to fight any more, and with that he would resign from the Glass Swords (much to the chagrin and myriad protests of his close comrades) and leave Onladas, the planet of which he once called home, after a glimmer of hope for a brighter future shimmered on the horizon in the form of the Stellar Federation, a faction from beyond the Orthelakt Star System, even the Aprakhet Quadrant of which the Ebony Empire occupied, that offered itself unto the Empire in a historic negotiation of ceasefire after which the "Brynhild Incident" was ultimately deemed a misunderstanding between alien races. Upon arriving at the Onladas Star Harbor, Mar'nakth had begun studying new venues of exploration within newly-updated Federation charts and had heard from hearsay at one of the primary boarding terminal's pubs of a planet called "Chakona"; upon studying the brochure, he was more than a little intrigued and enthralled and felt his explorer's urge rising, so he would then-after board the next Radiant Infinity Merchants Cruiseliner out (splurging for not only an expensive cruise ship, and in first class, no less, not only because he had nothing to lose, but because he wanted to start a new life on the right hoof, as it were) and set his sights on Chakona. It wasn't long after he landed in a city called Berdoovia on the Flinders Continent that he would meet one of the 'taur-form feline creatures referred to as "chakats" at a local art museum: Chakat Snowrose, daughter of Galesong and Frostfoot, shi referred to hirself. It wasn't long before he found himself staying with them after informing hir and hir family of his unfortunate circumstances, leaving matters vague at first before finally opening up in earnest; he found himself becoming very quickly attached to Snowrose and shared himself with hir Lifemate, Halostar, the three quickly falling in love as Snow & Star helped pick up the pieces of a once-broken man. Nearly two years pass, and having witnessed the birth of two new additions to the family, Mar'nakth felt his place was firmly set with Snowrose's Family; he would share in the family's duties and keep the little ones safe and happy and educate them on the wonders of the Ebony Empire (at least, whenever he was home.) Snowrose, heavy with child that was sired by Kanrod, a humanoid alien being referred to as a Stavoyan, would casually stroll with Mar'nakth in the park one day when his former wife and child confront him, threatening him to return home where he belonged. Snowrose, recognizing her as being the hussy who destroyed him physically & mentally (not to mention being a pregnant mother-to-be being threatened by a knife-brandishing crazed X'hyrok-hh woman) took up a violently intimidating stance that Mar'nakth had not seen before or since, but in this instance he cared not and planted his feet firmly in the ground, making his stance with a terse response that rattled Suu'lea to her core: in summation, Chakona is his home now, his place is with Snowrose, and she [Suu'lea] is dead to him after the way she abused him...though he regrets leaving Kyu'dar with her, he does not regret thinking of his own safety. Suu'lea is later arrested and she and her daughter are deported from Federation Space and banned from all flights off of Onladas until further notice.
Mar'nakth has found it easier to keep his mind off of the whole ordeal with Suu'lea's & Kyu'dar's spontaneous appearance by getting stuck back in to his former line of work as a medic, though this time having chosen to operate aboard the very same starship Snowrose would be called in to service on, the F.S.S. Eurydice, more as an excuse to be there for hir whenever shi WAS called on for an assignment, but also because the Science Vessel saw traffic to rather dangerous frontier worlds that required experienced doctors to be on standby. Thankfully, he had studied the anatomy of a wide variety of creatures before, during, and after his service in the Glass Swords, even adding to his lexicon of knowledge from Federation databases, so he was more than qualified for the job...albeit three fingers meant that some tools had to be adapted exclusively for him, but it wasn't much of a challenge all things considered, as the Ebony Empire was all too eager to accommodate, and conduct business for, X'hyrok-aa in Federation territories in the years that followed the treaty's signing. Despite the pride and accomplishments he was making, he still felt a persistent, nagging feeling; though he had a Lifemate in the form of Snowrose, he still felt an empty spot in his heart that only a child could fill, but he was not about to go back to Suu'lea, not even to save Kyu'dar; he could only hope that Kyu'dar had found a better home since the incident. No...he felt the need to start again and sire a new child, but he could not do so with Snowrose, despite shi having done the supposedly-impossible with Kanrod with Undaraan medical science: he would not ask of Kanrod that much...it most likely wouldn't be so easy to get a formula replicated...plus it wouldn't feel natural or right to him. He felt he was defeated and resigned himself to his fate...until...he met her...the one patient whose scars cried out to him to be healed...the perfect X'hyrok-hh woman... "Ms. Trr'alv-fein?" The two locked eyes; she recognized him from their passing in the hallway, though she did not know him...she would not...not until now. They knew. In that very instant, they knew...and silently thanked Sarr'hing-thas.

Mar'nakth-dd-shul, Suu'lea-dd-bala, Kyu'dar-dd-bala, the X'hyrok-hh Race, and the Ebony Empire are all copyright me,  Chakat_Snowrose!
Chakats Snowrose & Halostar are both copyright me,  Chakat_Snowrose!
Kanrod and the Stavoyan & Undaraan Races are copyright  KanrodStavoyan!
Chakats are copyright  Goldfur!
Lastly, this wonderful piece was done by the incredibly-talented  Araivis-Edelveys! I love the elegant simplicity in this piece! Thank you ever so much! =^.^=