Note: Okay, I tried to fix this up, so it is hopefully easier to read. Halee (hay-lee) is Peter's niece...and yeah. I haven't got too far on the plot, but, this is just kind of a prologue for what happens next. And...well..yeah. For those of you who don't know, this is a fanfic for Ben Jeapes' "the Ark" and "the Xenocide Mission".
ÒIÕm afraid I donÕt understand,Ó came Air MerryÕs voice through the translator.
ÒLook, how confusing can it get? Just...hold this,Ó his human companion muttered, holding the case out to the young Rustie, who obidiently took hold of it with his graspers. Deftly the young woman raised one of the colored pencils sheÕd take from the case Air Merry was now holding.
ÒOkay, see this?Ó she asked him, smiling as he nodded. ÒOkay. Pretend this fingerÓÐÐshe wrapped her index finger around the pencilÐÐÓis one of your graspers. Now, watch carefully.Ó
Slowly she wrote with the blue-hued pencil ÔHaleeÕ, then stood back, offering to take the pencil case from the little Rustie. ÒCan you copy that?Ó She asked him.
ÒI think so,Ó he replied, and dropped the case into ÒHaleeÕsÓ open hand, and stretched a grasper to grasp the pencil. "I copy that?"
"Yup."
"Can you help?" The Rustie's big, round, childlike eyes peered up at Halee. She wincedÐÐnot only at their innocence, but the thought of touching a Rustie grasper...eww!
"Uh...sure," she decided meekly, and placed two fingers on the upper half of the pencil, avoiding the grasper best she could, but still near the little alien's grasper. "Move it like I do, okay? Or try."
"Okay." He replied, and moved the pencil shakily along with her light guidance. They did that a few times on the paper, before Air Merry insisted he do it himself. Halee watched proudly as the little Rustie shakily, but somewhat elegantly, wrote her name. "What does it say?"
"It says 'Halee'," she told him happily.
"Your name," he concluded, and she nodded. "Did I spell it right? Did I do it right?"
"Yes!" She laughed. She could pick out Air Merry's expressions better than most could through his translatpr because she had been staying with the Pride since his naming ceremony. With the rest of the Pride, particularily Air Merry's mother, she was helping raise him, teaching him a few extra things.
"Can I say your name?"
"Sure," Halee laughed, then stopped when she heard the little guy meekly ask: "Can you help me turn off the translator for a moment?"
"Umm...alright..." she moved over and pressed the button, wondering what idea had creeped into his extraterrestrial mind. The next thing she heard was a soft hissing-sound, that sounded roughly like "ssschau-nnnzkhep". When it stopped, he nodded, and she pressed the translator's button so it glowed green again. "Ha-lee," Air Merry confirmed through the translator. "Say it!"
"Ssschau-nnnzkhep," Halee tried.
Air Merry made a Rustie's expression of amusementÐÐsome sort of blank stare, mixed with a chirrring sound that the translator didn't bother with, making Halee guess it was an amused sound.
Abruptly, he stopped, and turned his head, flicking an ear to a faint noise. Looking in on them quietly, with that blank/amused stare was Air Quiet, and another, somewhat larger Rustie.
"Wood Merry!" Exclaimed Air Merry and leaped forward, leaving a smiling, proud, but fuddled Halee. The other Rustie and little Air Merry exchanged a few Rustie bits of language, mutually it appeared, as Air Quiet approached Halee.
"Greetings, Ms. Kirton. I see you have been spending today with Air Merry again?"
Halee nodded, and collected her things. "I'll, um, go back to Julia's now though."
"Oh, yes. Do tell her and your uncle I said 'hello'." Air Quiet gave a Rustie's smile, then turned way from her to son and quickener. Halee managed a smile at the Rustie's back, and exited quietly, strolling down the Rustie lane, towards her friend Julia's house. BesidesÐÐJulia was expecting her to help prepare dinner this evening. Maybe she could bring Air Merry over tomorrow afternoon, and show him how to prepare human food.