I've got so many ideas! It's hard to get them all down! Sorry it took me so long, I've been studying and writing research papers for classes. Hope this is up to your expectations!

Apologies for any mistakes!

-[12]-

"We're almost there."

Wide brown eyes stared out at the approaching figure, it was a mass of what looked like trees. They were enormous trees that resembled the baobabs of Africa. They had to be at least sixty feet tall, and the small branches were all the way towards the top. Small dark violet leaves decorated the top, they looked like small black dots from down inside the carrier ship.

The howling wind blew the powdery snow into the sides of the trees. The large trunks blocked the gusts and as they entered the spacious forest. They were in silent awe at the tranquility of the forest, the only sound was the rumble of the hover carriers engines. The small ship easily maneuvered between the large trunks of the trees, leading them deeper into the winter wonderland. There seemed to be very little vegetation on the ground from what Ellie could tell, it looked like just snow and trees.

"Where are you taking me?"

She said softly, her eyes scanning the landscape ahead of her in search of life. A low metallic voice responded to her,

"You'll see."

That evasive response made her feel a twinge of frustration, he was a bit aloof in his words. It was almost bothersome, but definitely kept her on her toes. He had more personality than she had expected.

The Engineer moved some controls, and made the engines slow down. The doctor shifted around and observed him as he stopped the small hovering vessel. There was a small rumble as the ship lowered and landed in the snow. That nervous feeling came back a little as the ship halted and Zarek spoke to her,

"You can breathe here, are you ready?"

"Ready to go outside you mean?"

"Yes."

The woman excitedly nodded her head and observed him as he unlocked the side door to his left. She mirrored his actions and popped open the locks to her side door. As soon as she opened the door and stepped down onto the ground, her feet crunched into the deep snow. For a moment, the wind blew around her in an ethereal sort of way; her hair waved around her face and tickled her.

Frigid air made her cheeks feel bitten by the wind, her eyes gazed around the wintry scene. The snowflakes fell so daintily around them here. The wind was blocked by most of the enormous trees around them. The air felt dry in her mouth and lungs as she looked straight up at the towering treetops. The branches were so far above her, and little snow flakes rained down on her gently.

The sound of footsteps in the deep snow made her glance back down and to her right. Zarek walked toward her, his huge steps making giant holes in the perfect white powder. He held something out to her, a small object with a strap. The woman held it up and observed the small gas mask looking contraption, it looked very high tech.

"It is a breathing apparatus, please, put it on. It will protect your lungs in this cold."

"Oh, Thank you."

The doctor then moved the straps around her head, clipping it on in the back. The small steel front seemed to meld to her face, and cover her nose and mouth. As soon as she had it on, the alien began walking in the direction they had been traveling.

Ellie practically had to hop though the snow because it was at kneecap level for her. The two continued walking for a while, in utter silence. It wasn't awkward though, it was a comfortable silence. It felt like the nature of this place was swallowing them up.

After a couple minutes of treading through the icy powder, the depth of the snow seemed to shrink. There were fewer and fewer trees until they dissipated completely. The ground became a sandy-grey colored stone, and a large clearing came into view. The air even felt warmer in this clearing, making the doctor look to the back of the alien walking ahead of her. The Engineer's pace slowed bit, and he motioned for her to come up beside him. As soon as she moved up beside him, she gasped in awe.

It looked like a small pond, or spring, and the top edges of it were vibrant colors. A thin layer of steam came off the surface, and floated up into the air around the clearing. The shallowest edge was a light red, and it faded through the colors of the rainbow, and the center of the pond was a rich deep blue and looked like the water source went into the ground. It looked almost fake because of the bright colors. It was the most color she had seen since she had been out in space.

"It's a prismatic spring."

Zarek informed her, looking down at the woman to his right. She cooed in amazement, looking back up to his dark eyes.

"It's incredible… We have some like this on Earth, but they're so rare. The colors are caused by the mineral content in the water. I've only seen photos of them until now…"

Her words trailed off as she turned back to look at the rest of the clearing. It looked like it was a spring in the middle of an enormous forest. The trees must have been using the underground water source. The snow around the spring was like a white canvas, and the colored spring looked like a rainbow that had fallen from the sky and collapsed in the middle of this clearing.

The doctor carefully brought her hands to her face and pulled the mask off, exhaling a puff of smoke into the cool air. Zarek protested her actions,

"You should leave that on."

"I'll be fine… You worry too much."

The alien looked down at her with a crease in his forehead from the sarcastic glance he was giving her. Her eyes had a playful gleam as she forced herself to look away from him. His emotions were so slight, but made her think he was that much more handsome. This connection between them was hard to hide.

Another small occurrence made the scene before them that much more magical. Tiny flakes of snow began to fall from the opening in the canopy above the small spring. The entire scene reminded her of a fairy tale, it was something she could only imagine in a book. The Engineer's planet wasn't all desolate tundra, these forests had beautiful hidden treasures.

"You should put the mask back on."

Zarek's words were not as stern as before, he seemed to be letting down his guard. This made her feel that much more comfortable with him.

"Maybe we could go swimming sometime."

Her joke made him look over at her in a condescending sort of way, his expression made her smile wide. A chuckle escaped the doctor's throat as she continued looking around the clearing. She saw no movement, it didn't look like there were any organisms here. They stood in quiet admiration at the scene for what felt like hours.

After a long while, Zarek got her attention and turned back away from the spring, making his way back toward the carrier ship. She knew he probably wanted to get back soon, the days were a bit shorter here than on Earth; the sun would be setting soon.

…

Once they were back at their lab, Morsani greeted them and informed them of a transmission she received while they were gone. The Elder council had called for Ellie to come meet with them. They required Zarek to bring her to them immediately upon their return to the lab. This sudden demand from the council made the doctor nervous. She wasn't sure what to expect from them.

The low metallic hum of the teleportation platform made her tense up as they switched places; appearing in that same throne room from before. The hum echoed in the tall building, it made the two armored guards turn toward the three of them. David was quiet, he had learned to stay silent around the Engineers since they didn't care for his presence. He was considered a mockery of life, and they didn't want him piping in on conversations in which he didn't belong.

Zarek's heavy footsteps were the only sound as he stepped out ahead of them. The android and the woman were like toddlers following a parent, just quiet as they made their way over to the staircase. As they reached the base of the stairs in the blinding room, the Engineer spoke in passing to the synthetic human,

"Stay here droid."

Simply calling him a droid was almost offensive, but David complied. He wished the doctor luck as she sheepishly smiled back to him to reassure him everything would be fine. The synthetic just watched with the phony smile on his face as the other two made their way up to the top of the staircase. Two pairs of dark eyes were on him as he took a couple steps back; trying not to offend the guards by being too close to the staircase.

There were thirteen filled chairs surrounding them as they came upon the main section of the throne room. About fifteen feet from the top of the stairs, there was a step back down, into a slightly lower section in front of the throne chairs. Ellie felt her heart pound out of control as she stepped down in front of all of the Elder Engineers. Many sets of eyes honed in on them as they walked in front of the thrones. Zarek slowly dropped to on knee in front of them, and the doctor quickly caught on and did the same. Her eyes looked from face to face, taking in what they each looked like. Each Elder Engineer wore a different colored collar on their long robes, the collars were tall and stuck up around their heads around ear level. The first to speak was the one with the same color collar as she and Zarek, his voice was raspy and kind,

"Officer Zarek, please introduce this human to us."

Zarek's voice boomed out in the half rounded room, his body slowly lifting into a standing position.

"Her name is Ellie, she is an inhabitant of Earth that freed me from my stasis module on planet Umarak."

The name stuck out to her. Umarak. She had been calling the planet LV-223 for so long, it sounded strange for it to suddenly have a name. One of the Elder Engineers suddenly leaned forward in his throne, his tone far more ferocious sounding than the blue collared alien's,

"And you dare bring that atrocity here to our home planet with you?"

"Excuse my insolence sir, but as far as I was aware; if one's life is saved by another we do not pay that individual back with death or abandonment. Or has that changed since I've been around?"

Being called an atrocity made the woman feel small, she stood up shyly behind her friend. She didn't want to speak, or make anyone anymore upset with her presence. The orange collared space jockey shifted in his seat in a fluster, his huge hand pointed at Zarek directly,

"You wretched-"

"Your judgement is resolute Officer. We only ask, what do you wish us to do with this woman?"

A green collared alien interrupted the rude Engineer, she was a bit younger than the others. Her eyes were kind, and she couldn't have been more than ten years older than the doctor. The male to the right of the green collared Engineer shot a glare at her for interrupting him. Zarek looked at her directly as he answered her,

"Nothing. There is-"

"Well we cannot send her home to Earth! That much is absolute! She has seen our world, and it would be troublesome if the humans learned of our home planet's location. It would cause unnecessary conflict between our worlds."

It was an ancient looking male Engineer that cut off her friend, his collar was a bright yellow. Zarek looked over at him, he nodded and spoke in response to the curt space jockey,

"I agree, I made no such plans sir."

The green collared female smiled and looked at Zarek with an overly friendly expression in her eyes, it made Ellie uncomfortable. Her eyes showed some sort of desire, that much she could read. The doctor shifted uncomfortably by her Engineer's side, the immature part of her wanted to grab him and let the female Engineer know he was taken. But she wasn't even sure if that's how she should look at it. Zarek technically wasn't hers, but their situation wasn't exactly normal. It was too complicated to think about while in front of the council.

The female council member eyed him as she commented once again,

"Then you plan on keeping her, Officer Zarek?"

This question made the humans brown eyes look over to the tall Engineer beside her, he kept his eyes on the council members as he responded.

"Yes, that was indeed my plan Lady Mian."

Chills ran up the doctor's spine, she felt some mixture of happiness and fear. She was happy because Zarek didn't plan on getting rid of her, but at the same token; afraid because she would live here her whole life. It made her feel silly as well for being fearful, it wasn't like she planned on leaving once she got her answers. However, she hadn't really thought this far into her plan. She only hoped that she wouldn't be treated as a second class citizen.

"I must ask… What makes her deserve a royal status?"

The interjection came from the orange collared Elder Engineer, his eyes were narrow and back on Ellie. The royal Engineer with the same colored collar as Zarek responded to the question, a kind smile on his face,

"If she did not wear the color, she could not reside in our family's district, Crayyik."

A sharp glare came from Crayyik, he scoffed and moved about in his chair like he was getting comfortable. To his left, Mian, she waved a hand and chimed back into the conversation,

"We just wanted to meet our visitor first hand. I can't imagine that there is any other issue, as long as she doesn't cause anymore trouble in the market place."

A cold chill settled in on Ellie's skin when the female Engineer called her out on the scuffle she had gotten into. Her friend beside her nodded and spoke calmly,

"I will do my best to make sure she does not cause anymore trouble."

Cause trouble? The doctor wanted to laugh; that male was the one to cause the trouble in the bazaar. A genuine smile appeared on her face,

"Thank you all, I appreciate your acceptance."

Some of the Elder Engineers returned her smile, but she also received a glare from the orange and yellow collared males. She expected to not be necessarily accepted by everyone. The nervous fear that had shaken her before was now gone, she felt welcome now. It was a huge relief to have them somewhat legitimize her existence here. Crayyik tugged at his orange collar as he glared at her,

"Don't think you're equal by any means. You are not a citizen here, nor are you a member of any royal family. You should remain a ghost, because you are not to intervene in public matters, you have no rights."

Even with his bitter statement, the sheepish smile remained on the doctor's face. The royal blue collared male turned toward Crayyik, his brow lowered in a half assed glare,

"As far as I was aware Crayyik; she does not wear your family color, and therefore is not obliged to follow your word."

The kind elder space jockey turned his gaze back to Ellie, a small smile appearing on his face,

"You are welcome to remain in our family, Ellie. You are our guest, and we shall treat you as such."

A wide smile appeared on the woman's face, she nodded and responded sweetly,

"Thank you so much, that means more to me than I can express."

The overly friendly female Engineer waved her hand and dismissed them in a lordly manner,

"You two are dismissed. Please, take care of your new friend Officer Zarek."

…

Instead of going back to their home, Zarek took the woman to a different area of the same building. In the area they appeared, the halls were darker and ribbed. The ribbing came up the left wall, and hung over their heads, and the ceiling was solid. There were doors on the left wall occasionally, but they passed them all as they strode down the curved walkway. The right wall, was very different; it was all glass. The doctor's eyes were glued to her right side as they followed the curved hall to the left. She wasn't sure where Zarek was taking her, but she just followed without question.

Something seemed off about this great hall, there snow fell down outside, and kept going. There seemed to be no ground for the snow to pile up on. It didn't seem like it was build like a skyscraper, but she couldn't be sure. Her curiosity got the best of her as she trotted after the fast walking Engineer,

"Zarek… How tall is this building?"

The space jockey didn't even turn his head as he responded to her,

"It's three levels."

The woman walked closer to the glass when he finished his statement, looking down as best she could through the heavy couldn't see anything but white. Her eyebrows furrowed together in slight confusion, she piped up again with a question for her friend,

"I can't see the ground though… Where are we?"

His stern looking face turned down to his right as he responded to her,

"It is the Elder's floating palace, it's inside the largest city on our planet."

"Floating palace?"

Her eyes were wide as she stared up at her friend, disbelief painted her features. Zarek almost looked amused at her reaction, she didn't look like she believed him. He nodded in response to her question,

"Yes. This is the Palace for the Elder Council members. It holds their conference room, throne room, and a base for the officers of this particular city. "

"That's amazing, I have never seen a floating palace before."

The hall seemed to narrow and there was a large doorway at the end, he motioned for him to follow him as the doors opened upon his approach. Once inside, she noticed it was an elliptical shaped armory of some sort. It reminded her of the old ship on LV-223 with the ribbed walls and huge ceilings. There were tiny rectangular windows on the right side; allowing only a bit of light to come in. Tiny lights lined the walkway into the room, they had an orange tint to them. On the walls, there were a plethora of weapons. Huge spears with some sort of carvings on them, and mechanical appendages. Armor plated suits were strung up beside what looked like different kinds of guns. Her eyes explored the room as they walked in, her words were quiet in the huge room,

"It's an armory…"

The space jockey ahead of her then made a quick right, and moved up to the wall under one of the small windows. There was a small plated suit on the wall, and many weapons decorated the walls around it. He began tinkering around with the suit, and unclipping some clasps. A small feeling of panic crawled up Ellie's spine,

"What are we doing in an armory?"

Her tone was a bit more demanding, and it made the alien glance back at her briefly before responding,

"You are small. I want you to be able to protect yourself in my absence."

"So you're giving me a gun to carry around? No thank you, I don't want to be seen as dangerous. I want to be accepted, not a gun slinging-"

Zarek made her trail off as he turned back to her and held out a small metal object. The woman stared at his hands, trying to figure out what he was holding. His low voice made her gaze up at him,

"Please give me your hand."

"Which one?"

"Doesn't matter."

Instinctively, she held out her right arm, the hand she wrote with. A huge hand softly took hers, and held her hand palm up. His free hand took the small metallic looking cuff and slid it around her small wrist and clapped it shut. Her eyebrows moved together as she eyed the strange looking arm cuff, it was about three inches long, and was a silver color. There was a small blue jewel looking stone on the inside of her wrist, below her palm. Zarek held up a finger to get her attention, and she hesitantly looked up at him.

"Watch carefully."

Her eyes fell to the metal band on her arm as he touched the blue jewel and a little rounded crease on the back of her wrist. He slid them both up, making little plated metal strips connected by small joints appear from under where his fingers were. He moved the blue jewel to the middle of her palm, and the other small plate slid over the back of her hand right behind her knuckles. Something felt magnetic between them, and the jewel pressed into her palm and pulled the top metal plate into her hand gently. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it felt strange. It looked like the wrist of a gauntlet, and small creases and raised edges gave it a slightly decorative look. It was almost beautiful, for an armored bracelet.

Glassy brown eyes looked up at the towering Engineer, and she tilted her head as she spoke to her friend.

"What is this?"

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Again, sorry for any mistakes, and for taking so long. I'm still trying to get through finals at my University. Hope this was what everyone wanted!

By the way, the "Prismatic Springs" are actual natural occurrences here on Earth. Rainbow and all. Please google them, they're freaking gorgeous! :D

Thanks guys! Can't wait to read the feedback!