After the brutal fight off the ship, and seeing the savagery in De'aro when he had fought with the guy in the club, she was skeptical about going to meet any more yautjas. She set the iguana back down on the bed, and he dragged her out into the halls, and then to a narby door. She eyed him strangely as he did not touch his wrist controls, and did not knock.
"What are we doing?"
"Rude to open door ooman. We wait."
"...And how the hell do they even know we are here waiting? Shouldn't we knock?"
"No. Weight sensor in front of door. Lets know visitor there." Just as he said that, a yautja opened the door and De'aro switched to his alien tongue to greet and talk to the yautja. They must have been invited inside, as De'aro tugged her past the doorway with him.
The door shut on its own behind them, and De'aro said, "Greet him properly."
She was property of the entire plan, and as property, she was supposed to bow to her owners. Since the yautja in front of her was clan member, he was her owner. Liana swept her hand infront of her stomach and bowed like she'd seen on movies of kings and knights. De'aro growled, and began to manhandle her into the position he wanted.
He moved her arms straight at her sides, palms facing the yautja, and he grabbed her neck to make her bow down, saying, "Like this. No eye contact."
The other yautja said something, and De'aro let her stand up straight again. They talked more, and then De'aro said to her, "He wishes to touch you. You give consent?"
"Do I have to?"
"No. You female, permission required to touch."
She hesitated, but realized that she needed to make friends here, and not enemies, and said, "Ok."
"Tell him then, but no english. Foreign language never spoken, seen as insult to those who no speak it."
"How do I say yes?"
"Bow again, or say the word, sie-i. Means yes."
She turned more to face the yautja, unsure whether or not to have eye contact or not so she didn't look and she said, "Sei-i."
He stepped closer, and his hand immediately went to her hair. She tried not to look at his eyes, but since he was so close she was inspecting him as well. The more she saw them, the easier it was to tell the difference between males and females. Females had more stripping, while males had more blotching. Females also seemed to have a tinge of brighter colors to their bodies while males were almost always earth tones. She let him poke around at her body, only swatting his hand away when his fingers pushed down her shirt.
Liana quickly shied away then, afraid that the yautja would get angry, or that she had done something wrong, "De'aro, should I say sorry?"
He grunted in amusement and said, "Any touch you no like, you may shove away. Politer to say no though. Come, we introduce you to others of clan." He spoke to the yautja again, and then they showed themselves out.
Down the hall, they ran into a different yautja, another male, and De'aro stopped to speak to him. After a minute, De'aro then said again, "Greet."
Liana bowed the way she had been taught, hands down, palms facing the yautja but her mistake came when she tried to sit up too soon. De'aro's hand went to her neck, firmly holding her back down, and growled, "Not until allowed."
The yautja said something, and she focused on trying to catch the word this time, "Om-raa."
As pressure left her neck, she asked, "De'aro, what does Om-raa mean?"
"It is hello, and the greeting means you're presence has been acknowledged, so you may stand. Never before it's said."
The yautja was watching her, and she avoided eye contact, but when he stepped closer and said, "Beautiful." She couldn't help but meet his eyes.
Of course, De'aro growled, and smacked her arm, "No eye contact. No smile."
She whirled to face De'aro, "I'm not supposed to smile?"
"No. Not all will recognize ooman gesture. Teeth shown is anger, is threat."
"But he called me beautiful! How do I say thank you?"
The other yautja butted in, his voice so much less rough than De'aro's, "I do speak english quite well, but there is no need to thank me."
Liana sort of blushed, unsure of what to say then. She thought about asking his name, but De'aro and him began to speak to each other, and then De'aro ushered her along. He brought her room to room, explaining the symbols on the doors, and making her greet each of them. No one else seemed to speak English. Some of them wanted to touch her, usually going to her hair first. Some of them did not seem to like her or want to interact with her.
She was starting to get the hang of it when she made another mistake. De'aro stopped her in front of a yautja in the hall again, and after they stopped talking she bowed, without being told. De'aro growled at her and yanked her upright.
"Now what did I do wrong?" She winned, feeling like she was a dog being potty trained or something. All of this was no fun.
"Not clan, guest. No bow."
"Oh, well how am I supposed to tell the difference?"
He growled again, like she was being incompetent, "Koros bands in hair, front, color and symbol obvious."
"The beads?" She looked at the yautjas hair, at all the beads and even a section of vertebra in his hair, "What does the clan symbol look like?" The yautja was at least two feet over her head, and she could hardly even make out the symbols.
De'aro must have seen her difficulty, as he lifted her up into his arms, one arm holding her under her ass and his other hand touched a bead in his hair. She examined the brass-colored bead, and the symbol on the front of it. On the back though, it had a different symbol. She looked to compare it to the other yautjas bead, which had a completly different symbol.
She tried to memorize De'aro's, and then asked, "What does the symbol on the other side mean?"
"Rank within clan."
"What is your rank?" De'aro brushed off her question, addressing the other yautja, probably thanking him for his time. She watched him walk down the hall and disappear, and then she asked again, "What is your rank?"
"Not important."
It was obvious he was not proud of his rank, but by the way he had handled that yautja in the club, she didn't think he would be be of the lowest status. "Well, what do the other beads mean?"
"Important title. Parents names. Skill, kills made. Mates, kids. Age…" It seemed like he was going to go on, but she just had to interrupt him.
"How old are you?" She chirped.
"Not important."
"De'aro!" She scolded, trying to squirm out of his grip, "Why aren't my questions important?"
He gently set her down, "Questions important. Answers not."
"That doesn't make any sense, why won't you just tell me your age? It doesnt matter what it is, I'm just curious."
"...Males usually with older females. That how it goes...Is odd that you are older."
"I'm older, huh? I'm about to kick your ass for bossing me around." She said playfully.
He turned his head away, apparently not feeling playful, "Not older in actual time, but older in lifespan."
"I'm confused." she admitted.
All of the lights in the house dimmed, and Liana froze, thinking of the club at first. De'aro began to walk away, but glanced behind him to make sure she was following. They came back to his room, and walked inside. The room was dimly lit as well, and as De'aro began to undress, setting his jewelry on the dresser she began to think that the entire house was on a timer. It was probably dark outside, but without windows, you'd never be able to tell, and so the house lights dimmed. He went to the bed, rolled up the iguana in a fur, and carelessly tossed the fur and the animal to the ground.
She was glaring at him for it, but he walked right up to her and began to undress her as well. In the bedroom, with the door closed, she allowed him to do it. He carried her into the bed, and layed her down on the furs. She tried to get comfy, but without a blanket or even a pillow, she was lost. De'aro laid on his back beside her, his eyes closing. She tried to do the same, but after only a few seconds she decided that was not going to work.
She shifted her position to her side, and slid some of the furs out from under her to try and curl herself under them.
"Trying make nest?" He teased.
Her eyes flickered to him, a smile on her lips, and she got an idea. Liana scootched close to him, grabbing his arm and positioning it around her back so that his bicep was a pillow, and she wrapped her leg around one of his. Her hand traced down his chest, and she tried to sleep. She could feel his eyes on her though, and looked up at him.
"What?" She asked.
"Would be around forty five in Earth years...but considered younger than you in our years, considering life span."
She was still sort of confused, but he explained the whole thing. It was sort of like dog or cat years, where a dog may be fifteen years old, young, but considered an old dog. Apparently the yautja lived well into three hundred year old or more, while a hundred was more the limit for humans. He was technically older than her in time, but in his life he was just hitting his twenties. He wasn't that much younger than her then really, but he acted like yautja males usually find mates with older females, not younger. Older was more desirable, as he told her that they do not age like humans. She fell asleep next to him, wondering what this would mean for her as she grew old and he entered his prime.