“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m hoping you will spontaneously combust”

Vree’s ears perked up at the words. Those were Very Bad words when it was Human-Amir saying them. Sometimes things he looked at actually burst into flame and then nobody was happy.

Well, sometimes Human-Amir was happy. But usually nobody else.

Sure enough, when he looked over it was to the sight of his humans, both of them irritated and verging on angry.

The reason became immediately clear. A spine covered Rowl sat across from them wearing a very superior expression.

“Rowl are strong,” the creature, whose name was Mikket, If Vree remembered right, said, and looked down his snout at the two humans. “We are fast and train from hatching in combat. I do not see why your pink species is so feared.”

The Rowl were from a far-edge planet in the alliance. They didn’t meet many humans.

Vree hurried to repair the damage before Human-Amir got annoyed enough to actually light the offending creature on fire. Usually he was a reliable diplomat, but humans tended to be unreasonable about their apparent helplessness and, as Human-Amir sometimes said, ‘had no chill at all’.

Vree was dubious about the translation, but took it to mean that his humans could, and would, fight absolutely anything that seemed to need fighting.

“Rowl-Mikket,” he said just as Human-Amir opened his mouth, a decidedly evil gleam in his eyes. “I am very well-versed in human customs. Would you join me at my table?”

Human-Nerea giggled and the tones of her laugh reverberated over each other. She was just as angry as Human-Amir, but she showed it differently.

“We promise not to kill him, Vree,” she said soothingly, with a sweet smile that promised all sorts of unpleasant things. Vree was not soothed and didn’t believe her for a moment. “He asked a question. Curiosity is a good thing, is it not?”

Not when it got one of his humans mad enough to start fires in a pressurized ship it didn’t, but she knew that perfectly well.

Probably they wouldn’t kill him. Murder was bad for alliances, and the Human Galactic Empire gave every appearance of encouraging their fledgling alliance.

Of course, they might get into the ship’s wiring, make sure his environmental settings were never correct and shoot all his laundry out the airlock. Vree was still doing damage control for the poor engineer who made the mistake of explaining very clearly how humans simply did not have the intelligence required to handle Ha’reeti technology.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Human-Nerea’s teasing comment, combined with her odd voice, and Vree’s alarm, seemed to clue the Rowl into his danger.

He looked between the two humans, bristling (Human-Amir) and smiling (Human-Nerea), and stood with every air of casual disinterest. Vree would believe it, except the Rowl stank of sudden alarm.

“Curiosity is a good thing,” he said carefully and nodded to Vree. “I would enjoy seeing your research.”

“Not going to hear it from the source?” That was Human-Amir at his most troublesome. “No, no don’t let us stop you. Go read papers on us. Come back when you have better questions.”

Rowl-Mikket straightened in offense, but Vree dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder. The hint of claws suggested strongly that the conversation was entirely over.

A stern glare did little to silence his humans, but that was fine as long as they behaved.

“They seem like nothing much,” Rowl-Mikket commented as Vree propelled him towards a table on the other side of the room. “Small and soft. No spines. Not even claws like your people.”

Vree just poured a mug of spicy liquor and slid it over to him. The Rowl raised a brow, but took the drink.

“Humans have very little visible weaponry, it’s true,” Vree said carefully. Now was not the time to muddy the waters with offense, but Rowl-Mikket needed to understand. “You are familiar with the Yritti?”

“In passing.”

“You know of their mental talents?”

Yritti had a wide verity of surprising abilities that were difficult to judge at a glance. Mostly the more warlike races left them alone, as they were also very fond of brutally murdering anyone who offended them.

Rowl-Mikket cocked his head and nodded Vree onward. Vree poured his own drink. Sooner or later people would realize how scary humans were, but that day was not this one.

“Human-Amir is pyrokinetic,” he explained calmly. It wasn’t the most complete term, but it would do. “Human-Nerea is a shapeshifter with sonic abilities. You heard some of them when she laughed, earlier. Some humans are not human at all, but merely appear human. Never assume anything about them.”

He still dreamed of a mountain of black scales and the heat of a dragon’s flame.

Lord Petros left a very lingering impression. Vree sincerely hoped to never meet the dragon, or any other dragon, ever again.

Rowl-Mikket considered that in silence for a while.

“Shapeshifters?” he asked slowly and eyed Human-Nerea. She was joking with one of Vree’s scientists and seemed unbothered by the incident. Human-Amir was watching him and winked when he caught Vree’s eye. He also flashed his teeth in a clear threat display towards Rowl-Mikket. “They have psionic abilities, and other tricks?”

“More than I can easily explain. We still have no complete list of what they can or cannot do. They all have both insatiable curiosity, and a truly astonishing ability to survive what should kill them.”

Vree adored his humans, but he spent a great deal of time pulling them out of situations mostly of their own making and frequently dangerous.

These days, he was happy if all they did was light something on fire. Last solar week, it was pirates.

The pirates learned how dangerous humans were. Not that many of them were still around to tell the story.

“Thank you for the warning,” Rowl-Mikket said at last. Vree could tell he had made an impression and was glad. “One of my missions on this ship is to learn more about the humans. Will you supervise?”

“Of course. And you are welcome to see all of our public data on the matter as well.”

“My thanks, ...and thank you also for keeping Human-Amir from lighting me on fire.”