(I am Prince Balat-Astroph-Illium, are you Doctor Silas Herman Krakow and Doctor Christine Fatima Malloy?) The Andalite asked as soon as the three humans emerged from the ship. The man he believed was in the prime of his life was thin blonde hair and large blue colored eyes that he wore glass covers in front of. He was a little taller than himself with a slightly protruding stomach. The female was much younger, a young adult with red colored hair that fell from only one point at the back of her head to her shoulders. Her eyes were the same color of his own species, and she held pages of paper with a writing apparatus in her hand. Amazingly primitive. The other, an older female, had black hair, darker skin than the other two and brown eyes, she too was plumper than the younger female, and he wondered if age in humans was signified by more body fat.
"Yes, but you can call me Dr. Krakow if you like. This is my daughter Katarina," he said placing his hand on the young female's shoulder.
"Call me Kate," she answered with a nod.
"And me Christine," the other female said grimacing and showing her teeth. An expression he didn't know what to make of, but he assumed it was positive.
(It pleases to meet you all, I understand it is polite on your planet to offer food after a journey?) The Prince asked, his own assistant bringing forth a plate of cinnabons.
"Kate, write this down!" Dr. Krakow whispered to his daughter, and she quickly scribbled down the event. Balat was unsure exactly what this custom meant but he did not question it.
"Thank you," Christine said and took one off the plate. From the rumors she'd heard she knew she'd probably be eating a lot of these while she was here.
"Yes, this is most gracious of you," the other Doctor agreed taking one for himself and his daughter who upraised her thumb at him for some reason. He began feeling as if perhaps he should consider taking the course.
(You are welcome.) The Prince answered. He gestured to a small skimmer ship, (We shall now journey to your host's homes and meet with the board of advisors of the University.)
"You vill come vith us. Ve shall haff cake and ice cream. It vill be magnificent." Kate parodied Prince Balat. He'd set himself up after all.
He looked at her for a few seconds, absolutely confused by the random statement, while Christine laughed, and Dr. Krakow grimaced.
(Pardon?) He finally asked.
"Just ignore her." Dr. Krakow advised while stepping on Kate's foot making her cry out in pain briefly. Balat took the advice and took the place next to his assistant who would drive the ship. Humans were a strange people indeed, strangest he'd encountered so far in his career as third assistant to the head ambassador.
The humans took their cue in his lead and stood behind him on the spacious platform of the ship. Despite what Kate expected, there was no rude jolt when the ship lifted up and took off, indeed, she only felt the wind whipping across her as they skimmed along the Andalite landscape as they left the nesting cradles and landing ships behind. She looked out across at asparagus shaped trees, tress that looked a lot like cedars, and trees that looked more like vines knotted together with various undergrowth beneath them whip by; the ground beneath a collage of blue, green and red grass that brushed across the bottom of the ship with a gentle sloshing sound.
"Oh my, what is that?" Christine asked as she pointed up in the sky. Kate looked up with the others and spied what looked like a black hawk with six wings highlighted in a warm purple.
(That is a Kafit bird, a common species of our planet, indeed it can be found mostly everywhere.) Prince Balat informed them.
"Its just lovely," Christine said.
"Hey!" Kate cried at a jolt in the side from her father breaking her attention away from the alien bird's unique locomotion.
"You're not note-taking," he told her in a tone he'd use when she wasn't trying at the piano.
"What's there to note? Seating arrangements in common Andalite vehicles?" She asked.
"No, the Kafit bird."
"I thought we were studying the culture not the animal life." She pointed out.
"Both, our journals will be one of the first documentations of this planet after all," he father told her in an important air.
Kate simpered, and started taking notes again. She'd make sure he'd be the one paying the doctor bill when she got carpal tunnel syndrome.
(And when are they due to arrive?) Norwith asked his wife.
(At the fourteenth hour my love,) she answered, on the other side of their scoop making a last few arrangements on their possessions. She liked to entertain, and she was perhaps the one in the family who looked on their government issued mission with the most pleasure. It would be quite a challenge to her hospitality skills to entertain an alien species. Her husband felt slightly bothered, but was curious. His son was indifferent for the most part, and his daughter had been mostly silent on the subject.
Estrid was watching her mother, feeling a loving condescension towards her. Wondering how long her nerves last against a species as high strung and aggressive as humans were. Of course her parents had no idea she'd ever been to Earth, much less that her absence had been nothing more than an exploratory mission gone wrong. She had sometimes wondered why she'd been suffered to live; after all it would have been so easy for the Electorate to say she'd just perished along with Arbat. Maybe they knew if she did talk, no one believe her anyway, not that she did.
However this sudden assignment for the government made her suspicious, why her family of all the families on the planet? Her father was a scientist, her brother an exhibitionist fighter, none of them well connected to the government. Maybe that was the point though, to show the humans what an average Andalite family looked like, or maybe it had just been a random lottery. She didn't know, and felt a slight fear for her family, but what could she do? Just wait, that was all, just wait.
Soon, a skimmer came into view in the distance, and brought their charges to their scoop. The announcement had said they were a father and a daughter, the father being the expert human anthropologist. They did indeed look to be, the female looking like she was only on the cusp of adulthood while the father looked like he was old enough to have sired her. Another adult female hung back in the skimmer, but she obviously was not apart of their group. Estrid wondered where she was going, if it was to another family with a less than favorable stance with the council.
The father walked forward to greet them. He was wearing what she recognized as formal clothing, though his daughter was wearing casual clothes. In her brief experience on Earth she'd learn that clothes communicated a lot between humans, she wondered what the clashing signals meant.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Silas Krakow, and this is my daughter Katarina, and we are very pleased to meet you." He said, holding out his hand. The Andalites stared at it for a bit before he grabbed Norwith's hand and shook it.
"See? This is a handshake, its how we greet people when we wish to show people friendship," he explained.
(I see, what a….useful gesture.) Norwith said, wondering how such a thing had developed.
"Should I note they don't know how to handshake Dad?" Kate asked after they'd all shook hands in turn.
"Yes." He replied in a stiff tone, showing he knew what she was about.
(Well,) said Prince Balat interrupting, (we should continue on to Dr. Christine's host family then onto the board of advisor's meeting. Their things will be dropped by shortly.)
"Ciao," Kate said with a brief touch to her forehead before swaggering back to the skimmer.
Krakow tarried a few second before saying lowly, "Listen, if you happen to find any boxes like these ones in my daughter's possessions," he showed them the cigarette pack, "please destroy them."
(Why?) asked Estrid.
"Because they're bad for her despite what she thinks." He told them.
"Shake that grove thang, Asphalt doesn't have all day!" Kate called to her father.
(Balat) he corrected her.
"Sure, so hurry up!" she added.
"Until later," he excused himself and joined the rest on the skimmer before disappearing into the distance.
(Well, they seem like a very interesting species.) her mother was the first to comment.
(She's not very respectful to her father at all,) Norwith observed.
(That may be their way,) his wife replied.
(They walk most interestingly, swing one foot out to catch another.) Ajhat interjected. (I wonder if many species on their planet do the same.)
Estrid remained silent, she was fearful she would somehow give herself away. Her family did not notice, lost in their own conjectures. They idled away the time during which the luggage arrived, but in politeness did not move, nor look into the boxes. It was only a few hours later when the humans arrived back from their meeting with the university head board.
(How did your meeting go?) The matron asked upon their return.
"Oh you know it was the usual, don't so this, do that, bull shit." Kate answered before her father could.
"What she means to say, it was informative," he clarified.
"Yeah, real informative," she said dryly as she opened one of the boxes and grinned when she found a pack of cigarettes.
(Your father said those were bad for you,) Estrid told her.
"So is breathing, what's your point?" Kate asked as she put the cigarette in her mouth and fumbled for a lighter.
(How could breathing possibly be bad for you?) Estrid asked incredulously.
"Chemicals in the air, ya know pollution."
(We have no pollution) Estrid told her.
"Well for you, but for all we know your atmosphere is slowly poisoning us. How much has it been studied?"
(It is very doubtful.)
"That doesn't mean it's not true. Don't believe the believable!" Kate cried thrusting an arm into the air.
(You must be a very foolish type of person) Estrid said, not quite sure what she was talking about but she knew she found it annoying. They were such argumentive creatures.
"Bite me!" Kate replied, and then her father intervened.
"Listen Kate, why don't you help me unpack while you have a smoke?" he asked, not denying it to her now, since he felt that her lack of nicotine was the reason she was getting snippy. She did as she was told finding the activity oddly calming. Though she was cursing Andalite arrogance in the back of her head the whole time.
A few miles away, Christine was unpacking as well. For the most part her reception had been warm from the family, indeed the youngest daughter was happily helping her unpack while asking her plenty of questions in the process about the objects.
(What is this?) Jilat asked.
"That is a book." Christine answered as she set up her camp bed.
(What does it do?) she asked as she held it upside down.
"It has information written on the pages, see?" she said as she took the book and put it right side up for the young female Andalite to see.
(I do.) Jilat said as she looked over the strange symbols that meant nothing to her. (What is this book for? What does it say?)
"Its actually a book of poetry, 'The Rubaiyat' of Omar Khayyam in Farsi. It's a great work of Eastern literature, and one of my favorites." Christine explained. She turned to the first page and read, "'Awake! for morning in the bowl of night Has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight: And lo! the hunter of the east has caught The sultan's turret in a noose of light.' Ah, it is such a beautiful work."
(I hope one day then, I'll be able to enjoy it as well,) Jilat said, caught more by Christine's nostalgia then the pull of the words, for she did know the meaning of half of them.
Before Christine could answer, Jilat's mother, Jahar, joined them. (Daughter, I do not think Dr. Christine enjoys this pestering, why don't you allow her to unpack in peace?)
"No, no, that's all right Jahar, Jilat is only eager to learn and as a teacher I cannot deny her. Though Dr. Krakow, as I am sure she will find tomorrow, is much more eloquent than me at discussing human culture than me though my forte is language itself."
Jahar smiled a bit, (Very well then, but after you finish do join me and Alloran in a sharing of illispar root.)
"Of course" Christine answered, though after she did finish she found to her chagrin she couldn't exactly grind the root beneath her feet to enjoy it like her hosts. However after chewing on it and finding it tasted a bit like licorice, she did enjoy it.
A/N: So now that we're into this I guess I should warn you that the pg-13 rating is because of more sexual things than because of violence (eventually) along with possible homosexual undertones, so if you don't like that stuff, I suggest you stop reading after this point. Oh yeah and review anyway of course.