Current time. Later.
Lily was aware of all the risks of inviting this tall alien with a huge gun to her place even though he seemed really tactful and polite. His humanoid looks surprised her, she was stealthily glancing at him from time to time. How would she know to what degree he was telling the truth about Charleston and the intergalactic war? Or maybe his species prefer to kill not right away but while torturing the victims? ''Maybe you're being too suspicious, Lily'', she thought to herself, ''but well, you might finally learn about some other aliens. Hasn't it been your dream since childhood?'' The long-term curiosity, however, outweighed the precaution. Fascinated, she kept on listening to Cochise's smooth deep voice.
Finally they approached a small house, or it could be even called a cabin, standing on the bank of some small river. There was some sort of shed near the cabin. They got inside just when it started to rain pretty bad. Cochise looked around the interior. There was only one room with two small windows in there. A table, two sofas, some chairs and shelves with different objects on. The alien noticed the things human called books like he saw in the room where he had meetings with Tom Mason and other generals. There was a metal thing in the corner looking like a barrel where the humans used to light up the fire for warming and cooking, it only had a door and a pipe going to the ceiling. The condition Lily lived in seemed much more descent than the fighters lived in when they were on the road. Not to mention she looked cleaner than the 2nd Mass members during the battle trips. Cochise turned to Lily,
''So is it the place you've been living all alone since the invasion?'
Lily picked Lizzie from the floor and Cochise saw a mournful expression in her eyes for a moment, ''Well, actually the cabin belonged to the man, Russell, who saved me on the invasion day. It took us some time to get to here. He...expected his son to join him in here but...he never did. Russell... died soon,too. They had built it before so they had a place to hunt or spend the vacations close to nature. As we figured out, it serves perfectly as a hideout place, since it's quite deep in forest.''
''But Lily...you realize no place can be entirely safe, don't you?''
''I guess so. I usually try to keep a low profile when scavenging and wear a camouflage jacket in the forest. I sometimes see those alien planes flying above. There are some settlements away from the forest or recreation areas, I haven't seen other people so far...fortunately.''
''Fortunately? I thought you would be glad to encounter some help and maybe comrades to survive together.''
Lily looked at him with a grin, then hesitated and sighed, ''You see Cochise, there are some types of people you should avoid in the situation like that. They can murder you over some food or ammo or just...do other things you won't be happy about. Sometimes it's better to be on your own, safer you know...''
She kept stroking her gray animal who was purring again, and Cochise could not help noticing,
''I've never seen this animal before. There were some other species in Charleston, they called them goats and those birds,...chickens. This one is not dangerous, is it?''
Lily smiled and rubbed her nose over Lizzie's head, ''Nope, she is a domestic cat. This planet has other animals similar to her, the felines, but they mostly live in the wild nature. Man got many animals domesticated during the evolution, they mostly served a purpose like guarding the place or giving milk or meat. The cats like Lizzie were supposed to catch rodents that can destroy your food. With the time, most of those animals turned into the pets, we humans have them just to be as a friend or a family member''. The young woman suddenly looked at the Volm and sighed, ''Sorry, it's so impolite of me! Please take a seat, you're probably all tired. Gosh, I think being on my own by myself for all that time ruined all my social skills that were poor enough! Do you...wanna anything to drink? Hot tea of coffee maybe? I've just run out of food but there are snacks''.
Cochise sat onto one of the sofa noticing it was pretty comfortable, especially after the conditions he has lived lately. ''Actually, I have never tried any of those things. I saw the other humans having it on cold days''.
The young woman slightly opened her mouth and froze, ''Wait-wait, do ya wanna say NO ONE has ever treated you with some goodies like that?! You said there were several thousands people in there and NO ONE...EVER?!''
''I ...I did not quite expect anyone to be really friendly, nor had I even my hopes high about the total mission''. He noticed some excitement in Lily, and she replied with a wide smile,
''Then we're totally having this tea party!''