Memory transcription subject: Alvi, Venlil Citizen, Unemployed.

Date [standardized human time]: August 27th, 2136. Late evening

Maeve’s voice was tenor, and lilting; the walls of the cabin seemed to swallow the sound. It made her seem so much smaller than her form, a stark contrast that made me more confused than afraid. Valek’s tail still swayed slowly, clearly happy to hear us talking, and my own tail betrayed my curiosity.

“H-How do you know Valek?”

“We… We are part of the Exchange Program. We only just got back from the Meetup on Station 2.”

“Exchange? The Venlil-Human Exchange program?” Maeve and Valek signaled assent in their own ways, “So… So you're…”

“Human.” Valek finished.

Immediately my wool flared, my heart started racing again, but only for a moment. The knowledge that there was a human in the cabin didn’t register with what was in front of me, though I hadn't actually seen a human myself. One of my coworkers talked about joining the program, but backed out as soon as his human was assigned.

"What made you join the program Valek? I only know one who tried, and they didn't get far."

Valek's tail twitched excitement, his ears locked on me in focus, "Curiosity! This is the biggest event of our lifetime; even the Yotul didn't do anything like this! And the humans even invited civilians! No way I could miss this!"

"... You’re a braver Venlil than me. It hadn't even crossed my mind to try. I had work, and didn't give the news much attention." I deflated as my tail wrapped around me.

"You're braver than most, Alvi." Maeve added with an airy assurance in her voice. "Thank you for staying with us, and being ready to talk. This is going to be a long trip, what else is on your mind?"

I went back and forth with the pair for a long while. I learned about human diet, and teeth, and about their ancient pull to the stars. They told me about first contact, and their time in the program. They taught me what humans look like.

"Wait, you don't have tails? Or ears? How do you communicate with each other?"

Maeve took over this question, "Words make up our complex communication; you can't make a spreadsheet with tail flicks. But a lot of our subtle meaning is conveyed in our face. The Venlil have told us that you fear humans because of our forward-facing eyes, giving us a 'predatory' appearance. You're not wrong, we are predators in a way, but that's not why we have forward-facing eyes. Our eyes, and the area around them, evolved to convey, and perceive, a great deal of meaning; even in the smallest movements, which we call micro-expressions."

"Our faces have the most complex musculature on our whole body, able to contort itself to even look like other people, with enough practice. We combine this with more cultural influence, such as hand gestures, and even whole body movements. I can show you, if you would like to see?"

My body screamed my uncertainty, I wasn’t sure I was ready for this. Maeve had been so kind so far, but what if she was just waiting for this moment? Maeve had barely moved this whole conversation, but Valek had been a bundle of energy. Even now his ears and tail were united, encouraging me.

"O-Ok. I'll try."

Valek beamed pride and happiness. He switched sides, sitting across from Maeve, and I shifted over to allow it. With slow movements, Maeve lifted the cloak, the top half of a 2 piece garment, up to above her shoulders, and I saw the gleaming white skin of her neck. She halted there, and lifted one side, showing only half of her face. I kept my calm, though with no small outside anxiety, and signaled to continue. She lifted her veil entirely, laying it across the top of her head.

Maeve's skin was as white as a Sivkit, speckled with spots of light brown. Her green eyes shifted and shuddered, always hunting, but they kept coming back to Valek beside me. Seeing a predator locked onto its prey was chilling, but I was glad it wasn't me. Knowing Maeve was distracted, I asked my first question: "You said you 'change your face'. What does that mean?"

Maeve's mouth seemed to tense, like a Venlil muting their thoughts by flattening their ears, before she began, “Like this.” Still looking at Valek, Maeve pulled the corners of her mouth down, and scrunched her eyebrows together, sticking her tongue out and curving it up to touch her nose! The ridiculous display caused Valek to giggle beside me, but I was astounded! Her face changed again, her forward lips pursed open, revealing her wide teeth, her eyebrows arched high, and eyes whirling in wide circles. Maeve joined Valek’s laughter, nearly breathless now, but I had more questions:

“That’s incredible! What do those faces mean?!”

Maeve was caught up in laughing with Valek, trying to keep her own voice quiet for my benefit. “Those don’t mean anything. Early humans learned that sometimes, silly things can be fun, so we would use silly faces to entertain! But here’s an example of something with more meaning: when we are Surprised, we do this,” Maeve brought her eyebrows up, opened her eyes wide, and opened her mouth in a teeth-hiding circle. “Or Disgust,” Maeve closed her eyes, closed her mouth and contorted her lips down, pulling her whole head back, as if recoiling from a horrid sight. I started to join Valek’s laughter with my own giggling, before Maeve finished, “In fairness, I exaggerated those faces; you won't often see humans looking like that unless the trigger is especially strong. Most of the time the changes are much more subtle: a slightly raised eyebrow, looking at a specific thing or direction, or even the intentional lack of a visible reaction can be telling a story. I think by now, Valek has picked up on most of our body language?”

“I think so!” Valek chimed in between breathless laughter, “Right now you're feeling happy…” Maeve picked up her cheeks, squinting the corners of her eyes, and pulled her lips into her mouth. “and a little proud...” Maeve’s cheeks took on a berry color, and she looked away from Valek, “Flustered…” Maeve’s color deepened, and she leaned back to the bench, looking out the window, her cheeks pulling tighter up to her eyes. “Embarrassed…!”

“Ooook! That’s enough of that!” Maeve leaned forward again, fixing Valek with a predatory stare. “I'm still trying to learn Venlil Body language, but I know you use your tails and ears a lot?"

"Oh yeah!" Valek began, "Our field of view is much wider than yours, so we use a lot of large movements for general feelings; something that you can see a crowd of and get a sense of everyone."

Maeve asked, "And how do you do that? Are they used together? For different things?"

This is something I know! "W-" Maeve's eyes flicked to me, stopping me short, then locked back to Valek, who rotated his ear to focus on me, motioning to continue. "W-We use our ears to show focus or-or attention. If they're facing you, we recognize you, and are listening to what you say."

Maeve showed happiness again, her eyes still on Valek, "Thank you Alvi! And what does it mean when they're pressed down? Does the direction matter?"

After a moment to collect my thoughts, I answered while directing my ears as I described them, "When they're pressed down, it's like… we want to ignore or push away what's happening. Sometimes it's harmless; you're embarrassed, or shy, or even doing it on purpose to be playful! Other times it isn't; we get bad news, or someone yells at you, or you're afraid. Direction does matter, if they're flat to the side it's normally about yourself, like shame or embarrassment. If they're back, we are normally stuck, we want to get away but we can't. And our ears swivel when we are worried, or confused."

Maeve was silent while I finished, then started, "For us, all of that is conveyed with our eyes. Most especially, eye contact means we recognize you, and are listening. In fact, what I'm doing now," she used her hand to emphasize the eye contact she maintained with Valek, "this is seen as very rude, as if I'm ignoring you completely."

"I do appreciate it though," I replied, "it is a lot to be under the eyes of a predator. You used your hand there for something, what does that mean?"

Maeve answered, her eyes occasionally flashing to me, then back to Valek. "We use our hands to emphasize what the rest of our body says. What I was doing was pointing to my staring at Valek, so I wouldn't have to explain it. We point at what we are referring to, though it's considered rude to point at people."

"It's the same with us! We use our tails to address, and to give direction. We only use our paws to point at Things, so to point at a person demeans them, showing you think of them as Lesser."

Maeve continued, "That's actually different from us. We consider it rude because it separates the person from the group. It shows that you are not One of Us, you are One of Them. As family focused and social as we are, to exclude someone from your group is very rude; though sometimes needed."

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It's so similar, it's like their language developed for a herd! My tail was idly swaying with excitement, and I almost tripped over my next question, "How do humans welcome, or say Hello?

Maeve giggled at my question, answering, "There are hundreds of ways, in each of hundreds of cultures! In general, eye contact shows you see them, you recognize their existence. Though, this has the nasty side effect of it seeming rude, or even threatening, to not acknowledge someone after making eye contact; I want to emphasize this is not serious, no person of sound mind would act on this threat. Motioning in some way acknowledges them and shows you know they see you too. Where I come from, we would use head nods: a nod down," Maeve acted the gesture, "shows deferment. It used to be for people of lower class to show subservience to upper class, but has since expanded to some manner of 'I did not intend to change your day'; if someone has to move to allow passage, if you bump into someone you didn't notice, and so on."

"A nod up shows that you know that person and recognize them, but further interaction isn't necessary; you make eye contact with a coworker while you're shopping, you see your sibling while they're on a date, that kind of thing."

"Wow! We don't have that kind of detail. I can see why you need to though, having forward facing eyes means you could easily miss someone; our field of view allows us to assume they see us." I thought about all the times I saw a friend at the market. How many times had they noticed me? Or wanted to talk?

My mood was starting to turn dour, but Valek caught on and tried to distract me, "Our tails do most of the emotive work. It's… difficult to control, or define. But I guess you could break it down to how close or far they are, how fast they move, and the condition of the tuft." And Valek nudged me to pick up.

"Oh! Uh, yeah, well… our tails kind of respond to impulse. How fast, and how much of the tail is moving, shows how strong the emotion is. If we want to feel protected, we bring it close to our body; like affection, or despair, anytime we need to feel comforted. If we want to feel big, we bring it further away, like if we are angry, or scared and ready to run."

"Oh! I'm sorry for scaring you earlier, Alvi." Maeve said, sadness on her face and regret in her voice.

"It's ok. I think I'm feeling better now."

Brightening slightly, Maeve asked, "Your tail language sounds really complex, can you communicate with your tail alone?"

"Not exactly. We can communicate feelings, but sometimes, if you know someone well enough, you can say a lot with just those feelings. It's pretty common for close friends, family, siblings and so on, to make their own language and talk privately. Some Venlil can listen in, getting the broad strokes, but no one but the speakers will know everything."

"That’s so cool!" Maeve declared, eyes wide with excitement, Valek and I laughing together at her expressions. We continued talking for hours, more than half of the ride. The stress chemicals finally wearing off, I felt absolutely exhausted. Maeve and Valek were still deep in conversation, something about Human faces in art, so I took the opportunity to prop up my pack as a pillow and quickly fell asleep.

--

By the time I woke, the view out the window had moved from rolling plains to deep wood; our stop couldn’t be more than a quarter-claw away. I stretched the stiffness from my legs and arms, my tongue curling back and my ears shaking with a mighty yawn. A gentle tone drifted across me, “Good morning sleepyhead,”

That wasn’t Venlil. My eyes snapped open and I pressed my back against my pack, searching around me for the source of the noise. I saw a Venlil, sleeping in darkness.

“Ooook… It’s ok. Keep it down, Valek is still sleeping.”

My tired mind started to catch up to me. I was in a private cabin, with a Human and a Venlil, Maeve and Valek. Valek was laid up against Maeve’s chest, her arms wrapped around him, as he gripped her arm with his, and her leg with his tail. I held my mouth agape at the sight, never imagining a Venlil so comfortable around a predator.

“How are you feeling? Sleep well?” Maeve’s voice was quiet and gentle, betraying her own fatigue. I slowed my panic before answering,

“I… I did. I guess I was more tired than I thought, it’s been a long waking. How close are we?”

“There was just an announcement, we are less than a half-hour out.” I backed away from the human, finding my own comfort in the opposite corner. Their embrace looked so… natural. Like the two just fit together perfectly; but I couldn't think of any greater perversion. At any moment Maeve could dig her claws into his bel-

“I’m sorry if this is uncomfortable, I didn’t think you would wake up so soon. Valek was feeling tired, and before I knew it…” Maeve smiled with her cheeks while idly scratching Valek’s chest. “I can tell you’re stressed, it’s ok. What's on your mind?”

I didn't say anything. I sat silent, my ears searching for an exit. I thought about leaving the cabin, but something kept me rooted, something felt… comfortable around this human. My mind was screaming from separate mountains, one telling me to run, one to stay, to trust. Why did I feel this way? What was it about humans that made me feel… safe?

"Why do I trust you Maeve? Everything about you is screaming at me to run, but those same feelings are telling me to stay. What do you want with us?"

“You trust me, because I trust you. I don’t want to boast, but I have put a lot of effort into appearing as non-threatening to you as possible, and I’m glad it's mostly working. Speaking quietly, keeping distance; I’ve even tried very hard to avoid looking at you. It wasn’t easy, you’re very nice to look at.”

Maeve's eyes flashed to me, then back to the window with a smile on her lips. I-- wasn’t quite sure how to react to that. Did she just admit to wanting to eat me? Would she be so cruel as to make friends with her food before killing it? My ears fell flat against the back of my head, and my tail curled around my torso.

“W-What do you mean, Predator?”

Her smile vanished immediately, and her eyes grew sad, “I… I mean you have a very pretty coat. I can see you’ve taken good care of it, and I haven’t seen that pattern on a venlil before; though I haven’t seen many. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

My flat ears shifted forward, nearly in front of my face. My voice apologetic, “I’m… I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”

“It’s ok, I should have thought about what I was saying. I see now, how it …” her words trailed off. We watched the forest fade to venlil suburbia, and I broke the silence,

“You said you haven’t seen my pattern on a Venlil before; you’re not wrong, this pattern isn't common in this part of the world, but where else have you seen it?”

Maeve chuckled a moment before answering, “You won’t believe this, but it’s almost identical to a Gray Tabby, a cat my family took in when I was a kid. I haven’t seen stripes before on a Venlil, and that it is so close to something from earth; an earth carnivore? That is beautifully unique and awesomely badass.”

My wool fluffed in pride at that! It’s true, I took very good care of my wool, and I was glad to see that effort recognized, even if its from a human who can't have seen more than a dozen Venlil in their life. And the fact it was so similar to a predator! I quickly grew to enjoy this new human term ‘badass’.

But I could see Maeve’s eyes fall, and her lips drag downward. A heavy pause preceded her story.

"As to what we want from the Venlil… Before we met the Venlil, we didn't know there were any other sapient species. We were the only ones on our planet, and based on everything we saw in our solar system, in asteroids, and even what we could see of other planets around other stars, everything told us: Life was rare. The question was: how rare? We believed we were using the cutting edge of science and technology to watch and listen to the stars."

"But we saw only emptiness. As we pushed further, it became more and more likely that we were a fluke. A unique mistake on a universal scale. We were alone, in an empty, dead universe. Some humans never lost hope, and they sought and found what conditions life requires; liquid water, gaseous oxygen, specific range of temperature… We used this to better look at other worlds, and we found hope! Thousands of worlds! That had what we thought was needed to support life; barely a grain of sand on the scale of a universe, but enough."

"But we hadn't discovered FTL yet. Even moving at what we thought was the fastest speed that our universe could allow, it would take thousands of years to get to any of them. So now we might’ve not been alone, but couldn’t meet because of the incomprehensible vastness of space. Then we had a breakthrough: we discovered Faster Than Light Travel! The first thing, the First Thing we did was put it in a tin can with a couple humans, and throw it at the closest, best candidate to support life."

"Venlil Prime." I breathed, barely a sigh against the whisper of the train. Maeve nodded with a smile before continuing.

"We discovered we weren't alone; there was life in the stars! We honestly thought it would be simple life, pools of bacteria, some algae; imagine our surprise when we saw fully sapient, large mammals, already with their own FTL! We had finally found a friend!" Maeve was quietly beaming, her sheer joy written plainly on her face. "What we want from the Venlil is just that: a friend."

Valek's snout lifted up to press under Maeve's chin; an expression so intimate, I bloomed and looked away.

Maeve's face coloring red, she gripped Valek tighter for a moment before asking, "Look who's being sneaky! How long have you been awake?"

Valek's tail twitched playfully, as his mouth cracked an imitation of a human grin, "Somewhere around 'good morning sleepy head', but I didn't want to interrupt." Opening up for a yawn, Valek leaned away from Maeve, coming to his own sitting position. "We can't be more than a few minutes out, we should get our stuff, and you should cover up, Maeve."

Taking her cloak, Maeve met my eye, and quickly looked away, "Alvi, you can join us, if you like. We plan to go straight to the shuttle; we want to get to the Grove as soon as possible." She didn't wait for an answer, allowing me to consider while she donned her veil.

I had to admit, my comfort around the pair was quickly growing. I didn’t have a reason to linger in the next city, but I had planned to just hitch with the next farmer heading to The Grove. No, I didn't want to impose on them.

"I would like that, but I don't have a ticket; besides, I was already planning to hitch a ride with someone heading back after market." There we go, a polite refusal.

"We can spot you!" Damnit. "Our tickets were already paid for, so we can afford one more. It's better and safer to travel together anyway." Valek signaled an invitation with his tail,

"I insist!"