Chapter 119: Cultural Exchange Part 1
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, November 30th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"...and so we have accepted your offer. We will send a delegation consisting of three representatives of the Asgard High Council to visit your planet and examine your civilisation in depth at your earliest convenience."
Adora smiled as she listened to the recording of Thor's voice. This was great! "They've accepted our offer!"
"Yes." Glimmer's reaction was a bit more subdued than Adora had expected. Although she probably had seen the recording before - Adora had just returned from an inspection of the Alliance training camp in the Scorpion Kingdom.
Still, she better made sure everything was alright. "Is something wrong?" Something she could fix?
"No." Glimmer shook her head.
"Not wrong per se," Bow added. "But we're not quite as ready for their visit as we hoped to be."
"I thought everything was being prepared," Adora said, frowning.
"That was the plan, yes," Bow said. "But it's taking longer than we planned."
Catra cocked her head to the side. "Really? What's the problem? Is Princess Sweet Bee making noises about her lack of relevance again? Or are your people striking?"
"No." Glimmer shook her head with a snort. "Sweet Bee hasn't contacted us since her last complaint." With a frown aimed at Catra, she added: "Although once she hears about this, she'll show up at once. And Prince Peekablue will notice this. Also, my people aren't striking - quite the opposite."
Huh? "What do you mean?" Adora asked.
"They are very enthusiastic," Bow explained while Glimmer grimaced. "We have far too many volunteers - and from outside Bright Moon as well. A lot of people want to meet the humans."
"And that is the problem. Part of it, at least - it seems everyone is fired up about meeting the humans." Glimmer pouted. "We don't have as many volunteers for the Asgard visit."
"So?" Catra shrugged. "As long as they are still doing what you tell them to do, where's the problem?"
"We want to make the best impression on the Asgard," Glimmer replied. "But if everyone is talking about the humans when the Asgard are here, that won't leave a good impression."
"That seems a bit far-fetched," Catra objected. "Besides, you don't need a lot of servants to handle three Asgard."
"It's not about the servants. It's about the scholars, musicians, artisans and sorceresses of Etheria," Glimmer said. "Most of them are eager to meet their human counterparts."
"Well, my Dads also want to meet the Asgard." Bow smiled.
But Glimmer didn't. "Because they want to ask them about the First Ones they might have met."
"Well, yes - but that's not any worse than wanting to meet the humans behind your favourite TV show," Bow retorted.
"Which your Dads also want." Glimmer sighed. "And Mermista and Frosta are still not fully on board. They'll receive the Asgard, but I don't know if they'll be very welcoming."
Adora winced. Frosta had a temper, and Mermista could be very mean when she didn't like you. "We need to talk to them."
"And to several scholars and artists," Glimmer said. "And we need to do it quickly, or the Asgard will get impatient."
"And we need to prepare for the visit from Earth as well - people are getting impatient already about meeting their favourite actors and musicians," Bow added.
Oh. Adora grimaced. She shouldn't have gone inspect a training camp - she should have worked on this!
"It's not your fault, you idiot," Catra said with a scoff as if she had read Adora's thoughts. "You didn't suggest this."
"But I didn't contradict Daniel, either," Adora objected. And she had agreed with his plan. It was a good plan, anyway, even if they had hit a bit of snag. They just needed a plan to pull this off. "Let's make a plan!"
"How to hype the Asgard?" Catra asked.
"Yes?" Adora smiled when Catra grumbled. "We need to make people enthusiastic about meeting the Asgard. Honestly enthusiastic."
"We know nothing about the culture of the Asgard," Glimmer pointed out.
"We can ask Loki about that. He probably has a huge collection of Asgard movies, songs and TV shows," Adora said."There's bound to be things that will interest people!"
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, December 1st, 1999 (Earth Time)
Adora stared at the screen for a few seconds after the recording had ended. "How many were those?" she asked.
"That was the fifteenth," Bow replied. He sounded far too happy for what they were doing.
"Don't tell me you actually like that stuff. Watching paint dry would be more interesting," Catra complained from Adora's lap, where she had rested her head halfway through the recording.
"It's… interesting. It offers us insight into a completely different culture," Bow replied.
"A completely boring culture," Catra retorted. "I think we should reconsider saving the Asgard. The universe won't miss them."
Adora frowned at her lover. She knew Catra was joking, but that wasn't a laughing matter. "They have great scientific knowledge," she said.
"And the worst entertainment I've ever seen. Don't tell me you liked any of the recordings we checked."
Adora winced. Finding anything about the Asgard to catch the interest of the Etherian people was a bit harder than she had thought. Though this was probably Loki's fault - they only had his favourite media to examine, after all. And he was hardly a representative member of his species.
Space Lab, Earth Orbit, Solar System, December 1st, 1999 (Earth Time)
"...so, apparently, Asgard culture is boring. At least the things Loki likes. I don't understand it - I didn't enjoy the songs or the epics, as he called them, but I also don't enjoy some of the Earth media we collected, yet others like them. Very much, actually, so much they really want to meet the creators and actors, which actually is the problem we have with the Asgard since people don't want to see the Asgard creators. Which would be a little hard, anyway, since even with their cloning technology, most of the creators are dead, so that would be a dead end anyway."
Samantha Carter nodded as Entrapta rambled while her hair manipulated the latest experiment. So, the Etherians found the Asgard culture boring but were fans of Earth media.
"I do not think Loki is a good example for the taste of the average Asgard," Hordak added, looking up from his console. "He is, according to their High Council and himself, a renegade. As such, he obviously doesn't share the opinions of the majority of his people, or he would have mentioned that in an attempt to get Earth to support him in a potential populist coup against the High Council."
That was… a very peculiar view of Loki's motivations. But Sam couldn't honestly claim that Hordak was completely off base - painting the High Council of the Asgard as some oligarchy oppressing the common people would have rang a note with certain human politicians. Although Loki might not have realised that since he primarily interacted with Etherians, who had a quite different take on ruling systems, and his contact with humans hadn't been entirely positive.
She sighed. As Daniel had often mentioned in the last few days, they simply didn't know enough about the Asgard to tell. "He might have lied about that anyway," she pointed out. Most revolutionaries tended to overestimate their popular support.
"Which supports my deduction," Hordak said in a smug voice.
"But you can't assume that a difference in political views also means a difference in entertainment," Sam retorted.
"In a society as hide-bound as the Asgard's?" Hordak shook his head. "I do not think I am wrong."
You don't think that often anyway, Sam added silently.
"So, it could be that the Asgard have other media that would appeal to us!" Entrapta smiled. "Although that's not helpful to getting a better welcome for the delegation since we can't get their media until we have decent relations. Unless we manage to get a spy bot into the range of their transmissions and can download their media that way," she added with a smile.
That idea was problematic on several levels, Sam knew that. "I think they would see an attempt by us to find and infiltrate their systems as a hostile act," she pointed out. "And copying their media is also a bit questionable." Not to mention illegal in many places on Earth.
"Copying freely broadcasted transmissions is not illegal on Earth," Hordak retorted.
"But redistributing them is," Sam told him.
"On Earth." Hordak's mouth twisted into a thin smile.
"It's stupid anyway," Entrapta chimed in. "Information should be free!"
"Within limits," Hordak disagreed. "Military information is obviously exempt from that, but certain scientific knowledge is also best kept from those who would abuse it."
Sam nodded. She didn't like it, but she had to agree with Hordak. "Yes. But there's also the problem of reimbursing the creator of copied media. They spent time and effort, and often money, on their work. Others should not be able to take it for free."
"But didn't they get paid for it already?" Entrapta looked confused. "Most of the artists - and the scientists - on Earth are employed, right? So, they got paid for their work already."
"Yes, but their employer wasn't," Sam said.
"But they're not the actual creator!" Entrapta protested. "They're just the sponsor."
"Patron," Hordak added. "And often, it's the government financing the work, like at your universities."
Sam winced. Trying to explain how Earth copyright and patent law worked wasn't something she wanted to do any more than she wanted to go into the details of academic research.
"And for science, sharing of research is essential! We can achieve a lot more working together and building upon each other's results than working alone in secret!" Entrapta nodded emphatically. "We've proven that on Etheria!"
But Etheria wasn't Earth. "A lot of research on Earth is privately funded," Sam explained. "As is most of the entertainment. And those who grant the funding want to make a profit from their investment."
"That doesn't sound like a very effective way to do science," Entrapta said, frowning. "And if they don't want to share their entertainment media, why broadcast it where everyone with a receiver can pick it up?"
Sam sighed again."They usually only do that once they have shown the media in theatres. Or they get reimbursed by subscription payments or advertising money."
"That doesn't sound like they care a lot about their work," Entrapta said. "And that doesn't work for science anyway."
"I have to concur," Hordak said. "This system seems prone to abuses and unintended consequences through the incentives it creates."
Daniel would love debating this, Sam thought. And he would love talking about what such debates reveal about us - and to us. But she wasn't Daniel. She was a scientist and wanted to focus on that. "So far, it has worked on Earth," she said. Not perfectly, but well enough. No system was perfect.
"Well, we do things differently on Etheria," Entrapta said. "And it has worked for us."
But would they be able to work together? That was the question. And Sam didn't think she had an answer.
Gate Area, Near Bright Moon, Etheria, December 2nd, 1999 (Earth Time)
"We should have waited another day. Prepared some more. Maybe we would have found a song or epic that isn't boring, weird, or both."
Catra rolled her eyes at Adora's fretting. "Do you really believe that? We went through far too many of Loki's recordings, and they were all bad. Even Bow admitted that." And Bow was far too nice to say that lightly, even if it was true.
"Well…" Adora trailed off, pouting. "I just think we could have done more."
"You always think that." Catra snorted. "You'd think you could have done more, done better, no matter how well something went."
"Complacency breeds failure," Adora replied - and froze a moment later, looking guilty.
Catra clenched her teeth together for a second. That had been one of Shadow Weaver's lessons. Adora was still suffering from the effects of having been raised by that woman. So was Catra, of course, but she was handling it. And ignoring it. "I think we did what we could, given what we know," she said.
Adora slowly nodded. "Hopefully." Then she checked the time. "Shouldn't be long now. They already arrived at the temporary base."
It wouldn't be long, indeed - unless the scans at the base detected something amongst the Asgard delegation. That would delay things. And probably cause a diplomatic crisis or a war, depending on what it was.
But no alert came from the comm nearby, connected to the spy bot network. Catra still checked the comm personally when the request to open the gate arrived - trust, but verify. That lesson hadn't been one of Shadow Weaver's; the woman had never trusted anyone. Or deserved any trust herself.
But the signs, countersigns and codes matched. "It checks out," Catra told Adora - and Glimmer, who was hurrying over to their spot from where she had been checking the uniforms of the gate guards.
"Raise the Gate!" Glimmer ordered, and the Gate smoothly rose out of its pit into a standing position.
As soon as it was ready, Catra gave the all-clear on the comm. A moment later, the Stargate activated. Cutting it a bit close, she thought - they would have started dialling before they got her message to be that fast. Were they trying to impress the Asgard with speed and efficiency? She wouldn't put it past the soldiers stationed there, but Netossa and Spinnerella should be less reckless.
The vortex collapsed, and the wormhole stabilised. A few seconds passed, then two guards in Bright Moon uniform stepped through, followed by three Asgard. Thor, Freyr and Penegal. She briefly wondered if the fact that they were meeting with the same three Asgard would tell them something about the species's culture. Focus, she reminded herself as she followed Adora to meet the Asgard at the foot of the ramp.
"Welcome to Bright Moon." Gimmer nodded at them.
"And Welcome to Etheria!" Adora added with a bright smile.
Catra had to suppress the urge to add a smart-ass comment. This was an important diplomatic meeting.
The Asgard looked around. "Are there no representatives from Earth?" Freyr asked.
"They'll join us later," Glimmer told them with a diplomatic smile. "This is about showing you Etherian culture."
Alliance culture, Catra silently corrected her. If they showed the Asgard the culture of the Crimson Waste, they would probably consider it an act of war. Both the Asgard and the Crimson Waste.
She had to suppress a snort at that thought as they walked past the lines of guards standing at attention to the skiffs that would take them to Glimmer's palace.
"Are those ceremonial weapons?" Penegal asked, eyeing the spears with open curiosity.
"No," Glimmer told them. "They are also still in use where melee combat is expected."
Or crowd control, but that worked out the same, Catra added to herself. They were pretty useless, though - and the less said about the proposal to replace them with an Etherian version of the Goa'uld staff weapons, the better. Catra would have expected better sense from the Princess Alliance - they had used any Horde laser rifles they could get their hands on quite effectively during the war.
Freyr nodded, though it wasn't clear what he thought about that. Well, he'd see different soldiers when they visited the Scorpion Kingdom.
Thor and Penegal looked at the skiffs with interest as well. "Magitech," Penegal said. "Is that in common use?"
"Etheria never lost its magic," Glimmer reminded them. "The skiff itself is relatively common, but most people use at least some magitech in their daily lives."
"Ah." Thor nodded. "You said that you are descendants of the Gate Builders - the Ancients - who used Etheria for their experiments."
Glimmer kept smiling. Very diplomatic. "Yes."
"Yet, your technology is not very similar to theirs." Penegal cocked his head sideways.
"We built our own," Glimmer said.
"George - my Dad, one of my Dads - wrote an essay about the development of magitech on Etheria, if you're interested," Bow added.
"I am." Penegal nodded.
Bow beamed at him and started fiddling with his tablet while the Asgard climbed into the first skiff, together with Glimmer and Adora.
Catra followed them. That was pushing the skiff's carrying capacity a bit, but they'd be fine - the Asgard didn't weigh too much.
Besides, someone had to pilot it, and having the Queen of Bright Moon or the Supreme Commander of the Alliance doing it probably wouldn't really impress their guests - it would look far too forced. At least in Catra's opinion.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, Earth, December 2nd, 1999 (Earth Time)
"I would have never expected to be able to travel to another planet in my lifetime!"
"What? Not even after First Contact? It won't cost a lot to step through a portal!"
"It's called a Stargate, not a portal."
"What's the difference?
"A portal is science fiction or fantasy; a Stargate is real!"
Jack O'Neill glanced at Carter and grinned. His second-in-command had the expression she usually showed when she was struggling not to correct a superior who was using imprecise or plain wrong technical terms. All polite, but her eyes just had that 'why me?' expression shining through.
Granted, none of the actors and artists gathered in the room next door - unaware that they could observe them - was actually her superior. No matter what some of the arrogant idiots clearly thought. But their orders were to be polite to their guests anyway. At least until they found an excuse to boot the worst of them.
"Anyway, I expected space tourism to start much sooner."
"Really? We're at war with a galactic empire, and you want to play tourist?"
"We didn't stop travel on Earth so why shouldn't we travel the galaxy?
"Because the Stargate is vital for the war effort?"
Someone amongst the bunch has a little common sense, Jack thought.
"It's not a spaceship - you just step through it, and whoosh! You're on another planet. That's not going to take a lot of time at all."
"Besides, if it were so vital, they wouldn't let us travel to another planet, would they? Back in World War II, they had rationing. We don't have that now, so things can't really be that bad."
"They still won't let me buy a space shuttle!"
I got a personal stealth shuttle, Jack thought with a grin.
"Why would they let you have a shuttle?"
"I've got money."
"Shuttles are vital for the war effort."
"One shuttle more or less won't make a difference."
"And we're also vital for the war effort, or we wouldn't be here!"
"Someone has a high opinion of themselves," Jack commented.
"All of them are famous artists, Jack." Daniel shook his head. "And they've just been told that they are so popular on Etheria that the Alliance requested their participation in the upcoming cultural exchange program. Of course, they'll feel important - they are important."
"But not as important as they think they are," Jack retorted with a snort.
"Indeed." Teal'c nodded.
His friend was hard to read, but Jack thought Teal'c was a bit annoyed as well - and he should be. He should be with his family, not meeting a bunch of overpaid actors and musicians so the shrinks and spooks could judge how they would react to Etherians.
"Well, I think we've let them wait long enough to spot the first problem children," Jack said.
"Yes." Daniel pointed at the most arrogant actor in the next room. "I don't think the Etherians will react well to his sense of entitlement and his lack of care about the war, but I'll still need to talk to him in person."
"And try to find out if his sense of entitlement extends to sex," Jack reminded him. The last thing they needed was an actor hitting on a princess and not taking no for an answer. No, he corrected himself a moment later, the last thing we need is an asshole seducing a princess and ending up their prince-consort or whatever the term was. "Yeah, let's go and talk to our future cultural ambassadors. Try not to murder them, folks!"
"Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, but Jack was already moving to the door to the meeting room.
"Hello, everyone!" he said as soon as he stepped inside. "I am General Jack O'Neill, and this is my team. Dr Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter and Teal'c. We're going to brief you about Etheria."
"Finally!" Mr 'I want a personal space shuttle' cried out, almost spilling his drink. "We've been waiting for hours!"
Half an hour, tops. But Jack smiled anyway. "Sorry about that," he lied. "Things came up. We're fighting a war. Anyway, you're here because we're going to launch a cultural exchange program with Etheria, and you're potential members of our delegation."
"I thought the Etherians specifically requested us?" a singer asked. Jack didn't know her or her music, but according to Daniel, she was one of the artists who wrote their own songs, which was supposed to vibe well with the Etherians.
She was polite as well, so Jack nodded. "They gave us a list of artists who are popular on their world. But we still have to vet all of you."
"'Vet'?" Another guy, already a bit into his cups, or so it looked, asked.
"Check if you are a security risk," Jack told him with a toothy smile. "We don't want a diplomatic incident. You're going to meet and greet a lot of powerful people, and we'd rather not have to smooth out things if you end up in a duel after insulting a princess. Or dead." He shrugged.
"Dead?" The man blinked, lowering his drink. "But… they're our allies, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are. They are also a totally different culture, and they've been through a decades-long war that only ended a year or two ago." Jack grinned again.
"But… duels?"
They were paying attention now, Jack noted with satisfaction. He nodded at Daniel.
His friend took a step forward and cleared his throat. "Well, it's not as if Etheria has a formal duelling culture, like Earth had in the past, but it's a world divided into individual kingdoms ruled by absolute monarchs - who all have magic powers and are generally expected to personally fight in a war to defend their people, so their first impulse is not to call for the police, but to settle matters personally. That doesn't mean they'll react violently to a misunderstanding, but depending on the situation, things could escalate rather quickly, and so …"
Bright Moon, Etheria, December 2nd, 1999 (Earth Time)
"...and this is Bright Moon."
Adora watched the Asgard's reaction to Glimmer's announcement. There was no awe, no wonder, just polite - probably - interest as they studied the city ahead of them. It was completely unlike her own reaction years ago. Or SG-1's.
"What purpose serves the artificial waterfall?" Freyr asked.
"It is nice to look at," Glimmer replied in her 'I am being polite but I wish I didn't have to' voice.
"Ah." Freyr nodded as if that was a profound piece of knowledge. Maybe it was for the Asgard - they would have been raised very differently than Adora or anyone else she knew.
"You mentioned a war on this planet before the invasion by Horde Prime. Was the city ever attacked?" Thor looked around as they entered the gate.
Was he trying to spot defences? Or battle damage? And was she starting to think a bit too much like Catra - or Jack?
"Yes, a few times, but the shield held," Glimmer explained.
Although only barely, Adora knew. Catra's first attack had almost shattered it, and Horde Prime could have destroyed it from orbit easily if he had focused on it.
"Is it a magitech shield?" Penegal asked.
"Yes." Glimmer didn't add 'of course', but Adora heard it anyway.
"You have an eclectic mix of technologies," the Asgard went on as they passed a floating wagon drawn by a horse.
Oh - Ketro and Jesa were on the wagon, probably transporting their produce to the market. She waved at them, and the two farmers waved back.
"It works for us," Glimmer said. "And people are used to it."
"So, it's tradition? And not a result of your war?" Freyr cut in.
"Mostly tradition," Glimmer admitted. "The Horde War caused a lot of changes, but most of them were limited to the military."
"And horses are great," Adora added. "A skiff doesn't have a personality."
"According to the tech pool in the Horde, some vehicles had a nasty personality," Catra cut in as she steered the skiff towards the palace gates. "Not as bad as Swift Wind, of course."
"Catra!" Adora frowned at her lover. Swift Wind was a great friend!
"Did someone say Swift Wind?" And there he was, swooping down from the sky to land next to them. "Hello!"
The Asgard stared. "Hello," Freyr said after a moment.
"Are you flying thanks to an innate magical power, or do you have anti-gravity implants?" Penegal asked. "Your wings are not large enough to lift your body - unless it's much lighter than a horse's."
That sounded a little rude to Adora. But they were obviously surprised by her friend, so that excused it. Partially, at least. Or maybe that wasn't rude by their standards - Loki acted the same if something interested him, after all.
And Swift Wind wasn't offended. "Oh, it's magic! When Adora created me, she granted me a part of her power! A sign of the sacred bond that links us!"
And now all of the Asgard were staring at her, Adora noticed. "Uh… I was new to my power and was experimenting," she explained.
They were still staring. Harder, even, or so it seemed. Oh! She blushed. "I wasn't trying to create Swift Wind, or anything - I was just trying to, ah, unlock my sword's power."
"And you accidentally created a new sapient life form?" Adora could clearly hear Thor's sarcasm.
She still nodded. "Yes." That was the truth, after all.
"That's Adora for you," Catra added. "Creating flying unicorns and space plants by accident."
"Space plants?" Penegal cocked his head to the side.
"I turned Horde Prime's flagship into a plant. In space," Adora explained. "There was the power of the Heart of Ethera, all the magic the First Ones had been collecting, and I had to send it somewhere…"
The three Asgard didn't look like they believed her. Even if it was the truth again.
"You can see it from here when its orbit takes it above Bright Moon," Glimmer said. "We can also take you up in a shuttle if you want a closer look."
"I think we would like a closer look at this 'space plant', yes," Thor said.
"Does it grow in space? Spread?" Freyr asked.
Oh, no. "It's harmless," Adora assured them. "Perfuma checked, and she is the greatest expert on plants on Etheria - she can control any plant. Even cactuses. The space plant just absorbs sunlight and, well, exists."
Unfortunately, it didn't seem as if the Asgard believed her about that either.
The cultural exchange wasn't up to a good start, and it was all her fault.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, Earth, December 2nd, 1999 (Earth Time)
"...and that's a brief overview of the Etherian social and economic structure."
Samantha Carter suppressed a smile when Daniel finished his lecture. Her friend was an academic at heart, and it always showed when he was briefing people. And, she added to herself when she looked at the assembled actors and artists in the room, those people are, by and large, not academics, and it shows.
"So… basically medieval kings and queens?" an actor Sam wouldn't have recognised without her own briefing since she wasn't a fan of his movies asked.
Daniel blinked. "No, as I just said, the similarities are only superficial. There is no feudal system, for one. The absolute monarchs of the Renaissance would be a better comparison, especially those championing Enlightenment, but even there, we have critical differences in the social and political structure, for example, the general lack of an entrenched noble class. In fact, the princesses, despite being defined so by their inherited power, both magical and legal, are remarkably free of class or caste biases when choosing their partners or consorts."
"So, they're like Walt Disney princesses," an actress who had played in Disney movies joked, and most of the room chuckled.
"Walt Disney princesses in a Tarantino movie," the General's remark cut through the fading laughter. "They went through a bloody war against a literal evil Horde, and they fought in the trenches." He pointed at the group picture of the Princess Alliance displayed on the screen behind Daniel. "See that little girl in front? She can freeze you into a solid block of ice. And she isn't some comic superhero who won't kill - she's fought and killed enemies despite her age."
The actors looked quite taken aback at that. "But she's a teenager!" another actress protested. "She looks like she's barely in high school!"
"Etheria doesn't have the same values and customs as we have," Daniel spoke up again. "They are more liberal than most countries on Earth in some areas, such as gay marriage, but that doesn't mean that they share everything that we Americans would consider liberal values."
"Aren't they all about forgiveness and rehabilitating? Even their former enemies." An actor with the biggest ego of anyone Sam had ever met, and that included both generals and politicians of the highest ranks, shook his head. "That sounds very liberal to me. We would have nailed those bastards to the wall."
Daniel frowned and pushed his glasses up. "That's another misconception. This Etherian policy - custom would be more precise - is rooted as much or more in what we would call pragmatism or realpolitik as it is in personal views and ideals. By sparing the leaders of an enemy kingdom, they ensure that wars aren't prolonged unnecessarily because the losing side is fighting for their ranks, freedom or even life - which also means they can expect the same should they lose."
"They aren't some naive girls who only see the good in people," the General added. "They are veterans."
Sam nodded in agreement. Of course, some of them might seem a bit naive, such as Perfuma and Scorpia. But for all their sweet tempers, they were terrifying in combat.
"They are honourable warriors," Teal'c said.
"Does that mean they will challenge us to a duel if they feel their honour was insulted?" That came from an actor who had a reputation as a womaniser. Although he, like everyone else present, had already passed a background check, so there was nothing unsavoury about it. Or shouldn't be - nobody was perfect. And the way he had checked out Sam when they had introduced themselves had felt uncomfortably familiar.
"They might do that - or they might just attack you or punish you," Daniel said. "Remember: They have a different culture, and they are absolute rulers of their country."
"And the US government won't be able to bail you out if you piss them off too badly." The General grinned.
A few of the actors and singers seemed to have second thoughts about this 'tour'. Unfortunately, the ones with the biggest egos didn't seem to be amongst them.
Fifteen minutes later, they were 'mingling' with their guests, and what fear of Etheria Daniel inadvertently and the General deliberately had induced in the artists was fading again.
"So, Major Carter - Carter was it, right? - You've been talking about princesses all day. Aren't there any princes?" The lead actress of a sitcom Sam was not familiar with asked.
"There are princes - like Prince Peekablue," she replied, "but the majority of the rulers are female, and when people say 'princesses' on Etheria, they mean both female and male rulers."
"Sounds like a feminist dreamland!" The arrogant actor that they had listened to before entering the room chuckled.
"They have a remarkably egalitarian view of genders," Sam said with a slight frown.
"For absolute monarchs, I suppose." The man shrugged. "People in power always have more privileges.
The actress frowned. "Is that true?"
"It permeates their entire society," Sam reassured her. "Men and women are equal on Etheria - at least in the kingdoms we visited."
"Ah."
"And yet, there are more princesses than princes!" The man snorted. "That doesn't sound very equal to me."
Sam schooled her features. "That might be a result of how magic powers are inherited. We don't know too much about how their society came to be and how magic talents are passed on."
"Speaking of magic talents…" An actress who played teenagers in TV shows smiled at Sam over a drink she wouldn't be allowed to have in the USA. "Can we get a test for magic talent on Etheria?"
Sam blinked. They hadn't thought about that. "I am not sure," she said. "Magic is generally handled by Mystacor, and they are a bit isolationist."
"What? We can't visit the flying magic academy?" The woman looked shocked.
"You will meet sorceresses," Sam told her. "Both male and female ones," she added with a side glance at the arrogant actor.
The man snorted again, and Sam made a mental note to bring up his attitude at the debriefing - he might be a potential problem on Etheria.
Unfortunately, he was not the only one with such an attitude by far.
Bright Moon, Etheria, December 2nd, 1999 (Earth Time)
"Say… are there horses on your planet?"
Catra was really tempted to 'accidentally' steer the skiff into Swift Wind. The stupid horse was about to ruin this event with his thoughtless chatter.
"No. We don't have horses. We stopped using draft animals long before we achieved faster-than-light travel," Freyr explained - in a tone that told Catra that he wasn't impressed with the fact that Etheria still used them.
At least, that was her impression. They might just be wary of what they saw as another biological experiment. It was hard to read the Asgard, even with her experience working under Hordak. The Asgard were not like the clones. Fortunately, they also were nothing like Horde Prime. Though Loki had some similarities, if you thought about it…
"Oh? That's a very enlightened attitude!" Swift Wind beamed at them. "I'm still working on freeing my fellow horses from bondage - here and on Earth. Could you tell me how you managed to convince your species to stop using draft animals?"
"Ah…" Adora winced. She must have picked up on the implications of Freyr's comment.
"They were too inefficient compared to more advanced technology," Freyr said.
"Oh. Then I don't understand why Etheria and Earth are still forcing horses to work - both planets have advanced transport technology!" Swift Wind complained. "And they aren't as traditional as you are."
"I am sorry to say that we cannot be of any help here - we do not know much about either planet's culture," Thor said. "We are here to learn more about Etheria's culture."
And that was a polite 'get lost' if Catra had heard any before.
"Oh. That's too bad."
Not that Swift Wind would get it, of course.
Catra glanced at Glimmer - Adora wouldn't send Swift Wind away, and the Asgard couldn't - but it seemed that the queen didn't mind their guests being bothered by a pushy horse. Probably still annoyed at their attitude and being petty about it.
Whatever, it was no skin off Catra's butt. Thanks to excellent timing, they had reached the palace gates, so she focused on parking the skiff while more guards lined up to welcome the queen and her friends and guests.
Swift Wind flew off with some cheery goodbye as they disembarked. Catra used the opportunity to check a suspicion. "You don't have former draft animals living free on your planet, do you?" she asked, bending slightly towards the three Asgard.
Thor looked at her. "You are correct."
Catra nodded.
Adora frowned. "How did that happen?"
"They had long since domesticated and had lost the ability to survive in the wild. Once the Asgard stopped caring for them, they logically died out," Freyr said.
"But…" Adora shook her head. "Couldn't you have kept them alive?"
"We could have, but why should we have? Their time had passed." Freyr tilted his head slightly to the left.
"Couldn't you have… bred them back into wild animals?" Adora asked.
"Why would we have done that? Their wild ancestors had died out already, and their ecological niche had been filled again." Freyr shook his head. "It was much more appropriate to let them die out."
"I take it you're not very sentimental about pets," Catra said in a dry voice.
"I'm not gonna let them near Luna," she heard Adora mutter.
Catra snorted. She didn't think the Asgard would hurt Luna. But their attitude was… weird. She was tempted to ask if they ever thought that the Asgard's time was passing as well, but that would have been rude. Probably.
It would explain their stance towards Loki's experiments, though.
"Welcome to the Royal Palace!" Glimmer interrupted her thoughts. "These are my father, King Micah, and my aunt, Castaspella, the Head Sorceress of Mystacore."
If the Asgard had cat ears, they would have twitched with excitement, Catra was sure. They focused on Castaspella.
And wasn't that interesting?