Loren grinned, picking up a handful of leaves and throwing them in the air. Watching the leaves flutter back to the ground, Loren got a sudden burst of mischievous inspiration. Giggling, Loren scooped up another handful of leaves and held them behind her back. Walking back over to Elfangor, Loren smothered her giggles with some effort.
"Hey Elfangor!"
Yes, Loren? Elfangor turned to look at her and saw that she was smiling brightly. Elfangor wondered if he should ask her now.
"Catch!" Loren shouted, flinging her handful of leaves at him.
What? Elfangor, caught by surprise, barely had time to register the fact that there were about thirty or so small objects flying at him, before they hit.
Grabbing one, Elfangor saw that it was a dead leaf. Why would Loren be throwing dead leaves at him? Before Elfangor could begin to wonder about the reason, he was hit by another handful of dead leaves. Watching as Loren giggled and bent to scoop up another handful of dead leaves, Elfangor realized that she was just happy to be home. He could recall doing some pretty silly things himself when he'd been young and happy.
Elfangor decided that it couldn't hurt to play with Loren for a little while, since she would probably lose interest in the game if given enough time. Bending awkwardly, Elfangor scooped up a handful of dead leaves and throwing them back at Loren. Most of them missed, since Andalite hands weren't really suited for throwing.
Loren laughed anyway, loving the feel of being back on her own native soil. Be it ever so humble… Loren chuckled, You know, I never thought I'd be quoting some old song in my head. Oh well, I guess homesickness does funny things to your head. Out of the corner of her left eye, Loren saw Elfangor getting ready to throw another handful of leaves at her. Well, try to at least.
Loren had seen Elfangor throw before, most of the leaves had gone way wide, leaving only a few to land at her feet. Apparently, Andalite hands weren't much good when it came to throwing stuff. That was really too bad, for him. Loren grinned, scooping up some more leaves and throwing them at Elfangor.
Elfangor dodged, and most of Loren's leaves went flying over his back. Now Elfangor was getting into the game, pelting Loren with as many dead leaves as his weaker hands could gather. They were both laughing, running around and pelting the other with as many leaves as they could get. Elfangor's aim was even starting to improve somewhat.
At last, Loren got tired of the game and plopped down on the leaf-strewn ground to rest. She was exhausted, but it was a happy kind of exhausted. Elfangor looked like he felt the same way, since he was smiling at her with those deep green eyes. Loren always felt warm inside whenever he looked at her like that.
"So," Loren began, jerking her thumb back at the Time Matrix. "What do we do with that thing?"
That is the question I was going to ask you, Loren.
"Well, what can you think of to do with it?"
I… was thinking that we could bury it somewhere. Like those other humans did in that desert area. Without the giant pyramid over it, of course.
"This thing was buried in Egypt?"
Is that what the desolate, sandy area with the giant pyramids is called?
"Yeah."
Then, yes. The Time Matrix was buried in Egypt.
"Wow. You think you know a place… Well then, let's get burying, shall we?"
Yes, Elfangor agreed, long since accustomed to the fact that Loren liked to talk to herself.
They walked back to the Time Matrix, and Loren began to wonder just how long it would take them to dig a hole deep enough to bury a ten-foot tall sphere when neither of them had any tools. Well, we'll find a way.
"How about we put it over by those trees?" Loren asked, pointing to a small stand of young oaks that would obscure the area from above.
Yes, that would work. But it would be better if we were to dig the hole before we moved the Time Matrix.
"That was just what I was hoping you wouldn't say."
Why?
"Because, the only things I have to dig with are my hands. And I don't think your hands would do much good here."
Elfangor looked at his slender, seven-fingered hands. He had to admit that Loren was right; his hands were several times weaker than hers.
What do you think we should do?
"I think we should hide it in those trees. Then we should go get some shovels from my mom. She'll understand if we ask her to keep the Time Matrix a secret, and she'll probably want to help us bury it."
That might work. But Loren, are you sure that you want to tell her about the Time Matrix?
"Don't worry, Elfangor. Mom won't tell a soul if we tell her what it can be used for. She isn't too fond of weapons."
Oh.
There wasn't really much that Elfangor thought he could say beyond that, and so they proceeded to roll the Time Matrix under the minor protection of the oaks' thick canopy of leaves. Both careful to keep their minds as blank as possible, since they didn't want to somehow activate the thing again.
After they had finished with this rather awkward task, Elfangor and Loren rested for a few minutes before setting off for Loren's home. Loren was glad that she had made plans with her mom to be picked up after she had finished her walk in the woods. Then, Loren remembered that she had a rather large alien with her.
She smiled. I'm sure mom will like him just as much as I do when she meets him. He's… he's really easy to get along with. Loren came up beside Elfangor and put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it gently as she walked. After what seemed like a long time, they came to the edge of the forest.
They got there just in time to see Maureen's car pulling into the parking lot that formed both the end and the beginning of this particular hiking trail. Maureen coasted to a stop as close to the edge of the hiking trail as she could get, coming out of her car to meet Loren halfway.
Loren waved to her mother, as Maureen hugged her close.
"Hey, Loren! How's my favorite little girl?"
"Mo-om," Loren said, smiling with mock exasperation in her voice. "I happen to be your only little girl."
Maureen grinned, giving Loren a quick, sideways hug and ruffling her hair. That was when she caught sight of Elfangor, Maureen's eyes widened, knowing that he definitely wasn't from Earth.
"Loren? Is - is that an alien?"
"Mom, this is Elfangor. He's my friend. And yes, he's also an alien."
Maureen smiled kindly, reaching out a hand to touch Elfangor's left shoulder.
"Well, Elfangor, it's an honor to meet you."
It is also an honor to meet you, Loren's mother.
Maureen chuckled softly. "Well, I am Loren's mother. But my name is Maureen Abernathy."
Then, it is an honor to meet you, Maureen Abernathy.
"Thank you, Elfangor," Maureen said, turning back to Loren. "So, how come you never told me you've been hanging out with aliens?" She asked teasingly.
"Cause I only met him an hour ago," Loren teased.
She had almost said that she met Elfangor last week, but that would have taken too long to explain. And, they still had the Time Matrix to deal with.
"Mom, how about we talk about this on the way home?"
"All right, Loren, but how is Elfangor going to fit in the car?"
They were walking as they talked, and by now they had reached Maureen's silver-blue Toyota Sienna. It was a four-door, but there was no way it was going to fit even a half-grown Andalite like Elfangor.
"Oh," Loren sighed, putting her hand on her chin in a typical thinking pose. "That is going to be a problem."
It will not be any problem, Loren. I will be able to manage.
"How?" Maureen asked bluntly. "Is there some way you can shrink to fit in the back?"
Simply put, yes.
"All right then," Loren said, not sure if she believed him or not. "Let's go home."
Home. That word had a new meaning for Elfangor now. It had once referred to the Andalite world, but now that he had decided to stay with Loren, home meant wherever Loren stayed. Elfangor started to morph the Kafit bird, since it was the smallest morph he had. As he lost his fur and gained feathers, Elfangor couldn't help but shoot a look over his quickly shrinking shoulder.
Both Loren and Maureen were staring at him with nearly identical expressions of shock. But they didn't seem to be disgusted or frightened by the transformation, even though Elfangor knew that he was not an estreen by any stretch of the imagination. Once he was finished, Loren swept him up and cradled him in her strong human arms.
"That was completely amazing, Elfangor," Loren said, gently kissing the top of the six-winged bird's head.
Thank you, Loren.
"How did you do that?" Maureen asked.
It is a technology that we Andalites have developed.
"Wow. So, you Andalites can shape-shift into anything you want to?"
Almost. We can become any creature whose DNA pattern we sample through physical contact. The process itself is referred to as morphing.
"Morphing, huh? That sounds interesting. Does it hurt?"
Not at all. But, there are times that it is quite… disconcerting.
"Well, I'd expect that, since you do have to do some pretty drastic shape-shifting to get from being a big Andalite to being a little bird. Could anyone do it?"
When Maureen asked him that, Elfangor was faced with a bit of a dilemma. To reveal anything more might constitute a violation of the law of Seerow's Kindness. But, since Elfangor no longer considered himself a member of the Andalite species, and taking into account the fact that as soon as he was able he would abandon his Andalite body, perhaps that did not matter anymore.
It is possible to transfer the technology to a person that doesn't possess it. But no Andalite has ever done that before.
"Why not?" Loren asked, speaking up for the first time since they had gotten in the car.
It is against one of our laws to transfer technology to other species.
"Why is that?" Maureen asked.
Because once, long ago, we gave our technology and with it our trust to another species. They betrayed that trust, and since that time we have never trusted another species with our knowledge or our science.
"That's too bad," Maureen said.
The rest of the trip was in silence, as the three inside the car all sat and mulled over the turns that this day had taken. Loren, for her part, had never thought when she woke up in the morning - a few hours or seven days ago, depending on how you looked at it - that she would have fallen so hard for an alien, or would end up two years older than she had been when she had started her hike.
Elfangor was wondering just how long the trip to Loren's house would take, since he did not want to end up trapped in his morph as a Kafit bird. The back of Maureen's car was not large enough to hold an Andalite in any kind of comfort, but after two hours he would be forced to demorph, room or no room.
Maureen was just glad to on her way home, since she was eager to sit down and have a long talk with her daughter and Elfangor about their adventures. She got the feeling that they hadn't told her everything there was to know about what had happened. Which was understandable, since Loren was obviously very eager to get back home.
Once they had arrived at the Abernathy residence, Maureen made sure that the garage door was securely closed behind them. Elfangor was already starting to demorph, even though he had at least thirty minutes left on his two hour deadline. Loren was checking to make sure that nobody was in the kitchen, since it was directly connected to the garage through the side door.
Once she knew that the kitchen was completely empty, Loren came back into the garage.
"It's all clear. Dad either hasn't gotten home yet, or he's off somewhere else."
"Good," Maureen said.
It wasn't that John Abernathy was a bad man, or closed-minded. It was just that neither of them wanted to dump the fact that they were bringing a real, live alien home on him. He was still a little shaken from being in the war, and they didn't know how he would react to something this strange.
I will need to acquire a human morph if I am going to stay here.
Maureen nodded, since she knew that it would be easier to hide the fact that they had an Andalite in the house if he could become human whenever he wanted to. Loren led Elfangor though the kitchen, which Elfangor recalled from Loren's time in the universe that they had created with the Time Matrix.
There, Loren had been confused and afraid, but now she was calm and confident. Elfangor marveled at the change, but he was not as surprised as he would have been if he had not known Loren for a week. Humans seemed to be a remarkably adaptable species, given how readily Loren's mother accepted his presence.
When Elfangor came to the stairs, he shook his head. He would never understand the human fascination with squares and rectangular objects. Or maybe he would, considering that he was going to spend the rest of his life as a human. Either way, he would enjoy learning about Loren's species as he spent time with her.