They had planned this. When the omnivator door dinged, they were ready.

There wasn't room in the foyer for the entire staff of the embassy, but of course Ambassador Li had to be first to greet their esteemed guest. So did Laura, because she'd set up this meeting, and Koen because it was his skill she had sold to the Pick. Also, she still felt safer when he was around.

"Koen?"

"Yes?" He and Laura bracketed Ambassador Li. Koen had to lean back so that Laura could see him pasther boss. Did Koen look all right? He did. But…

"Where's your new translator?"

"Oh. Yes." Koen reached under his apron and into his pocket.

"Don't keep it in there. Just let it fly around you. They work better that way."

The three humans watched numbers climb on the omnivator display, one sanguine, one curious, and one anxious.

"Koen?" Laura leaned backward again to bring him into view. "What have you been able to find out about these dinosaurs?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? 'Dinosaur' is probably giving you the wrong impression. Technically – "

Laura, whose blood pressure had spiked at that 'didn't I tell you?' gave Koen a look.

"Ah." He cleared his throat. "They're most closely related to ravens."

"Yes," said Ambassador Li, as if he'd known all along. "Ravens."

Laura checked with her translator to make sure she had the right word. "Alright. At least we don't have to worry about General Graa being too big to pass through the door."

Koen spread his arms, as if he were about to hug Ambassador Li. "Wingspan about two meters. Food preferences more or less the same as humans, from what I could find, although I stopped short of fermented meats and maggot cultures."

Laura decided to stop listening. She would just be happy to be somewhat prepared for this meeting.

She wasn't. She wouldn't be.

Ding!

"Turn around!" Laura hissed. "Face forward."

The three humans bared their teeth in a signal of non-threat.

The omnivator doors slid open, and little man inside smiled back at them.

Laura's first reaction was Thank god it's somebody new to talk to! Her second, more conscious thought was, Where is the bird? How the hell could another human show up on this version of earth without her knowing about it?

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Hello," said Ambassador Li. "Welcome to the United Nations Embassy to the Convention of Sophonts!" He didn't care what was in the omnivator. He just knew it had to be greeted.

"General Graa." That was Koen, speaking out of turn. "I would love to get you something to eat."

General Graa? From her angle, all Laura could see was a chubby little man wearing a simple sarong, big, golden shoulder pads, and a hat with a ridiculously wide brim. On Laura's side, the brim extended as far as his shoulder pad, but on the other side it had been pinned up, giving room for something dark and brooding. Behind that hat, on the man's opposite shoulder, a pair of wide, black wings spread and flapped.

The air of the foyer filled with the scent of old jerky, and there rose a long, rasping call.

"Qwoooork!"

"I am hungry and anxious," said Laura's translator, and she understood. "Cattle," her callers from the Pick embassy had called her. "Beast."

General Graa leaned out over the shoulder of his steed, outstretched neck dangling with iridescent ribbons, ropes of jewels, and heavy disks of gold. Light slid across a short, pointed beak, enameled with swirls of purple, blue, and red. Notches, grooves, and serrations had been cut into its edges. One such held a sharp, silver needle, curved like an ice-pick. A cafe-au-lait eye fixed Laura. Then, with a twitch of the head and a rattle of jewelry, the other.

The head twitched again, and stroked the curve of the needle against the chubby man's cheek.

The Pick that Administers Direction.

The steed caught his breath and turned to bring Laura into better view for his rider.

That face! The steed was not a man at all. The brows were too heavy, the cheeks too broad. The nose was a fleshy lump on the upper slope of a domed muzzle. This pulled back as Koen watched, revealing enormous flat teeth.

Laura felt her own lips twitch in sympathy.

The raven shook its head and cawed. "Speak!" said the translator.

"Yes!" Laura barked. She had memorized the name…"May I introduce His Excellency, General Barrel-roll Graa of the Vancouver Island Graas, ambassador and high commander of the Pick mission to the Convention of Sophonts. Your Excellency, this is Li Xuanlian, United Nations ambassador to the Convention of Sophonts. And this is Koenraad Robbert Ruis, our cook."

Koen smiled and nodded, wondering whether the translator bugs had rendered his name as whimsically as they had the Pick's. "A pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency."

General Barrel-roll Graa of the Vancouver Island Graas launched into his song. Probably a song. To Koen, it sounded like a flock of starlings imprisoned in a whiskey barrel, furious that this whiskey barrel was being beating like a drum while they were inside it.

"Grumble-twitter-bang-bang-bang-gurgle-gong!" said the Pick ambassador, and the translator bug spoke in its older-man voice:

"Koen, you have blue eyes and your mouth is pink. Therefore, I feel superior to you. I will be patronizing."

"Thank you?" Koen said.

"Forgive my impoliteness." General Graa stuck up the feathers along the center line of his head, forming a black-ridged crest. He showed this to Koen and Laura as if bowing, and clack-gurgled. "You are low and small, while I am large and high! Give me all your valuables! I am happy."

Koen looked to Laura for help, but she was still staring at the hominid the Pick ambassador used for a mount. No, Koen could classify it more closely than that. Chimps were hominids, but this creature's upright stance suggested something closer to genus Homo.

Ambassador Li cleared his throat. "Please," he said. "Come in."

"I will steal whatever food I can," said General Graa, and spurred his steed into the foyer with a jab to the skin behind its ear. The steed hooted softly at Koen.