Last we left off, my dear, dear friend Aldaris had decided the best thing to do was teleport both me and himself down to North Korea. This, despite my insistence that the appearance of a foreigner put the locals in danger, and despite Aldaris' own supposed unwillingness to appear on Earth. But here he was, standing there amidst a cluster of dirty shacks. Aldaris' maroon robes were fancy even by Western standards, despite being just whatever her felt like bumming around in on his ship, and in the squalor they made him stand out like a king.

His yellow stare ran over the crowd of bewildered onlookers. There wasn't many at first, just a few people before us and some faces peering out of windows before ducking away long enough to tell someone else; where one face disappeared, two returned.

Aldaris focused mostly on three guys - idiots, by the looks of them. One of them had hold of Cheonha's arm. I didn't need to do anything. Aldaris' arrival had surprised them to the point of stupefaction, and none resisted when Cheonha pulled her arm away. They didn't even do anything when Cheonha snatched back her grocery bags and shoved her way past them. The guy in the center, the tallest of the three (dude barely made it up to my shoulders), weakly called to Cheonha and half-said something. He didn't finish his sentence, not daring to turn his back on the alien. Instead, the three of them backed away until they managed to get behind one of the houses.

Other people came out nonetheless. Despite those three guys, nobody else freaked out. They kept their distance and formed a crowd of quiet chatter, but just stared at us the whole time. Any time Aldaris looked at them, they suddenly fell silent. For his part, Charlie was just inspecting the crowd, with all the stern dignity a general over his troops.

Don't say a word. I thought at him, adding a scowl. Don't let them know you speak english. No clue why you thought it was such a good idea to come down here, but you might as well be on your best behavior now.

Aldaris answered me only with a raised eyebrow.

I snorted and turned away, trying to look as though we weren't communicating. Oh, so you've got no excuses for yourself, then?

I tire of hiding, as though I feared humanity. Aldaris answered, I think in a way that only I could hear. If not, then that's another thing I'm adding to the list of things I need to yell at him for. I wish to see for myself the retrograde of this culture.

Aaaand you can't do that from Cheonha's perspective? I looked back when I asked this, only to notice that Aldaris was walking away, apparently continuing his little tour.

These people clearly lack recording devices, and likely any form of weaponry. Now be silent and remain composed. I will not allow them to arrest you.

I shook my head. Oh, me and you are going to have words later, young man.

Seeing that I am neither young nor one of mankind, it would appear that your statement contains three falsehoods.

There was no point, so I stopped pestering him. Aldaris moved somewhere to the right, over on the edge of the village where cornfields began. I didn't follow him. Besides not wanting to appear too closely associated, I wanted to find Cheonha. It was a silly idea because she was already out of sight. Not to mention that now that as my best good buddy was doing his own thing, the locals didn't feel the need to keep as far a distance. I'm clearly not as scary as a giant gingerbread man with evil eyes.

But they didn't do anything more than stare. A few glared at me with suspicion, but I just kept moving. I didn't know where Cheonha had gone, and asking somebody was clearly out of the question. Fortunately some noise caught my attention from one of the larger houses. Cheonha was inside; I could hear her voice, as well as the voice of another woman, someone probably older. Judging from the sort of angry sound of it, the person talking probably wasn't Cheonha's mom.

In the meantime, some of the villagers followed me. I looked around for some authority figure, but they were all more or less dressed alike, and none showed signs of being in charge. They only watched from as near as they dared, an inscrutable look on their faces. I don't think I need mention how scrawny they were, or how short. Only the favored in North Korea get privileges, and clearly these guys were left out. This sort of thing...it's hard to talk about. Being healthy in a place where everyone else isn't...there's no words for this. You can read about it as much as you want, but seeing it is another matter. So I won't attempt to put into words the horrors starvation can bring. It seems wrong, somehow.

As I was deciding whether or not to go inside the building, Aldaris walked up from behind me, clearly done with his tour.

Cheonha's in there. I thought out at him.

I am aware. Go inside-

A couple of other guys, different ones than from before, made their way to the front of the crowd. These ones actually did look angry, and two of them carried large sticks. They said something that sounded rude, I think some kind of command to leave, as the word 가 got bandied about.

"Nolli-ji maseyo." I retorted, trying to look all important and official-like. I then gestured over to Aldaris. "Ee-pun...Ee-pun Sun Yushik-imneedah. Chonkyong hashimshiyo."

That made them...I dunno, kinda back off. As much as they seemed to want us to go, well, they're as stumped by the random appearance of an alien as anyone would be, I guess.

Cheonha's sad, tear-covered face suddenly peeped out of the door, and she saw us standing outside. She gestured to me, and I followed her inside. For the sake of manners, I won't say how bad it smelled in that house. The inhabitants clearly tried to keep it clean; fresh broom marks scarred the dirt floor, and the old crates that made up the table (chairs?) were neatly set against the flimsy wall. A dirty curtain separated the front room from whatever was in the back, and before we reached it, another woman opened it from the other side. She flung it aside casually, but froze the instant she saw me.

"No..." she gasped. "No-nun Miguk saramieyo?"

She said it quickly, but I did understand. I didn't answer. While I'm down here, I have no country to get in trouble. In any case, the room behind had four or five pallets in the back, each occupied by other women in various states of waking up. Nobody said anything to me, but oh did they stare. I didn't stare back. I just followed Cheonha until she got all the way to the back, to the last pallet and woman. On this pile of cornstalks lay an older woman, wrinkled and thinner than the rest. She looked as near to death as anyone I'd ever seen, except for her eyes. Tears shone on them, despite the dark circles raccooning under them.

Pellagra... I remembered a hunger-related disease from a book. She needs to eat some kind of meat.

"Uri Ommaniseyo?" I asked.

"Ne." Cheonha nodded, starting to cry again.

Charlie, we found her. Please tell me you're ready to go.

"Yes. What is the state of Cheonha's mother?"

Bad, but I think she'll make it. Nothing some good treatment can't fix.

"We shall take her to a hospital then?"

No, it'd be better if we just take her to Cheonha's place. She can rest, and when she's gained weight, it'll look like she's been through China, instead of, y'know, been rescued by an alien.

"Very well."

A collective gasp sounded from outside, as well as some frightened cries. Aldaris' teleporter. He'd have to go first, as he's the only one with one of those teleporter crystal thingies, and somebody has to work the controls to get us women-folk up there. Some of the women in the house ran outside to see what the commotion was, but me and Cheonha ignored them. Cheonha had a blanket with her, and we carefully placed Omma on it, then wrapped it around her like a sling, so that if we each took the corners, we could carry her mom. ...It's not like she weighed all that much.

We didn't have to, for the time being. Up went the blue lights, and the sound of shocked onlookers faded away. We appeared on the bridge of Aldaris' ship again. He turned to us, but whatever he'd meant to say never came out. He gaped at the poor woman in the blanket then scowled at me.

"Did you not claim she was well?"

"She's as good as she was going to be. Pellagra is a starvation related disease. Not contagious, more or less easily dealt with." I replied, folding my arms. "Now instead of scolding me, let's talk about someone else's misbehavior, shall we?"

"We shall not." Aldaris turned back to the controls. "You return with Cheonha and help her with her mother. I shall retrieve you at a later time."

"Cheonha..."

It was the first thing she said. Cheonha's mom, despite her condition, she seemed almost lively, and the sight of the golden ship and the tall Protoss only seemed to enliven her more. She said something else to Cheonha, and I recognised "who" and the formal word for "person" - pun, like I'd said before. Cheonha answered with words too fast and complicated for me. I caught an "Aldaris" or two, but other than that her gentle words escaped me. Most amazing of all, Omma wasn't freaked out. She, completely unprepared, seemed no more frightened of her unusual circumstances than she was of the North Korean countryside.

Omma smiled faintly at Aldaris, but I wasn't standing at the right angle to see his reaction. Didn't have a chance to move, either, as the next few seconds saw another round of teleporter light, and we were there in the middle of an apartment, which I could only assume was Cheonha's.

"Bethany," Cheonha tugged at my sleeve. "Help me, Omma."

"Ne," I answered, reaching for the corners of the blanket. "Where are we taking her?"

\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

- I tried my best, but of course not that many people know about life in North Korea. Likewise, something that happens a lot with survivors of tyrannies is that they happen to be people who are most likely to make it through hard times - that is, the comparatively well-off. Cheonha isn't from a well-off family. What I've written here is what little I know on North Korea, plus some stuff I've read about other nations under the worst of communism. Each communist nation turns out its own way, but they tend to have certain things in common. Just know that this scene is an amalgamation of what I know on the topic.

- LIkewise, don't take my written korean too seriously either. The struggle in writing it with Roman letters is that I can't convey the proper sounds in a way that makes sense to non-korean speakers. The translation for what I said will be in the next chapter.

Author's Notes New:

- I didn't change too much in this chapter from its original posting. The next chapter, however? I gotta completely rewrite it. However, next week I will be visiting my sister, so I don't know whether or not I'll be able to upload it. Probably I will be able to, as I imagine she has internet, but I don't want to make any promises. I'm going to a writer's convention next week, so there will probably be delays.