"Lack the what? Where are you looking?"

Instead of answering, Nadine did a strange gesture, laying one finger on her mouth, before pointing deeper into the forest. Following her gaze, he at first saw nothing, but after a moment, something moved between the trees. Shortly after, a tall animal came into view maybe 300 lynes away from them. It walked on six legs, the body thin on each end with a wide midsection. Its broad head sat on an elongated throat, which he used to reach a low-hanging twig and gnaw off some leaves. Kiyrtin couldn't remember ever seeing this type of animal, but that didn't mean much. He had only been taught about those which were of economic importance to his people. Was that a... how had Nadine called it? Cariyca?

"Is that the one you were looking for?"

"Psht!"

"Sorry, what?"

"PSHT!"

"Why are you hissing?"

Suddenly, the cariyca jerked its head around. Spotting the four of them, it then turned around and ran away. A moment of silence followed before Nadine took a deep breath.

"I wasn't "hissing" Kiyrtin, I was telling you to be quiet."

"Hissing means "be quiet"?"

"It's not hiss- yes, that's what it means."

"How am I supposed to know that?"

The alien girl sighed.

"True, I guess you couldn't have known that, but you still could've been quiet by yourself."

"Why though?"

As he finished the question, Nadine's eyes opened a bit farther as she stared at him. She then quietly turned her head, looking at the point where the cariyca had stood. Then back at him, and back into the forest again.

"THAT'S why!"

"Animals run away when you talk?" Now he was even more confused. Sure, technically, the cariyca had been right to run away, they were trying to kill it after all. But it didn't know that, it was just an animal.

"They run away when they get startled. And talking loudly is usually a good way to achieve that."

"The onrics in the stables never did that!" While he hadn't seen many animals in person, he was sure that was something he would've remembered.

"Yes, because domesticated animals know they are safe. Not to mention you can't exactly run away when you are locked in a stable."

Oh, right. Makes sense.

"Well, no point in crying over spilled milk. Just remember to be quiet the next time we see it. We are not familiar with this forest, so I'd prefer not to do persistence hunting."

She then turned to the two guards.

"Do you have anything we could mark the trees with? I'd like to avoid getting lost."

The guards seemed to think for a moment before firing a few shots into the nearest tree trunk.

"What is the thing you just said?" Kiyrtin wondered. "The thing you wanna avoid?"

"Persistence hunting? That's basically the oldest hunting method in the book. The idea is simple: intentionally make your prey run away and then chase it until it collapses."

What? That's it?

"That sounds dumb! What if you collapse first?"

"Well, that's exactly the trick. You see, we humans can regulate our temperature more effectively than other species, which gives us increased endurance. Because of that, we outlast most animals."

"Still sounds dumb!"

"Oh, does it now?"

Suddenly, Nadine turned towards him and closed the distance between them in an instant. Startled, Kiyrtin tried to step backward, but his back hit the wide trunk of a large tree.

"Then why don't you try to get away from me?" she asked, looming over him. Well, not literally over him, he was still half a head taller than her, but the presence she radiated made it feel like that was reversed.

"But I must warn you," she continued. She was now leaning against the tree behind him, her hands left and right of him pushing against the trunk.

"Running away from a human rarely ends well."

The size difference was no longer just a feeling, somehow, her head was literally above his.

"Even if you outspeed me, I will always catch up."

Stolen novel; please report.

She angled her arms, getting her even closer.

"Even if you shake me off, you will always leave tracks I can trace."

Her face was now directly in front of him, and he could feel the warmth of her body. A warmth that had previously been giving him a gentle, soothing feeling, but was now almost suffocating him. Even the shimmering gemstones that were her eyes somehow looked menacing now.

"And even if you hide, I will always find you, because..."

Her mouth was now directly next to his auditory hole, and as she opened it again, no voice came out. She didn't talk, just exhaled. Yet somehow, he could hear her say words within that exhalation.

"...I can hear you breathe."

What was going on? He very well knew that she was just teasing him - again - but why was it so different this time? Why couldn't he move? Why was his heart beating so fast? Why was she suddenly taller than him?

With a burst of laughter, the alien girl stepped away from him, and by doing so, pulled him out of his stupor.

"I'm, sorry. That was a bit much."

Only now did Kiyrtin realize that he was sitting at the tree's foot. At some point, his knees had seemingly given in without him noticing.

"What did you do at the end there?" he asked after he had pulled himself together. "How can you speak without voice?"

"It's called "whispering". Humans do it if they want to speak without getting heard by others. I guess Vanaery form words differently than humans do considering you don't have lips, so I'd guess you can't do it. Would that even work?"

She then moved her mouth without saying anything. When he gave her a confused look, she nodded.

"Yup, thought so. Your hearing isn't good enough, just now you probably wouldn't have heard me either had I not been right next to your head. Alright, let's see if I can do tracking!"

He watched as Nadine began looking at the ground for some reason. Oh, she was probably looking for tracks. Still, it was difficult to forget the feeling from just now. Just how many more surprises did Nadine have in store for him?

----------------------------------------

Silgvani straightened her posture as the servant placed the next plate on the table. It was the last dish planned for this day, a single set of knvietas. These peculiar fruits often grew in pairs that would end up intertwined with each other, but not conjoined. The name literally translated "embracing fruit", and they were a holy symbol of the Goddess's love as she embraced her creation.

That was at least what the Tystrie believed. As far as Silgvani was concerned, she was simply glad that their tradition only dictated that they had to share it on the first day of their meeting. Knvietas were an absolute pain to store, and even if one did everything right they would still spoil very quickly. Even freezing them didn't help, on the contrary, it made them inedible. Well, inedible for a Tystrie at least, a Vaneary couldn't eat them in either state. For that reason, what was now in the middle of the table wasn't an actual pair of knvietas. Instead, it was just a single one. Its partner had been removed and replaced with an artificial one, molded from a hardened dough and made to look like the real thing. Refusing to share the fruit with the ambassador would've not only been considered a grave insult but could in the worst case be interpreted as the princess mocking or even renouncing the peace between them. Thankfully, even the devout Tystrie agreed that the symbolic meaning of the imitation was enough.

However, that wasn't the only thing she needed to look out for. As the Tystrie had a different culture and valued different things, sentences that seemed normal or harmless in a vacuum could end up being understood completely differently. For example, if her guest had been a noble of her own country, she would have by now asked whether or not everything was to their satisfaction or something like that. After all, it was expected from a host to make sure the guests were tended to. However, would she have given the ambassador the same question, it would have carried a very different meaning. In Tystrie culture, a host didn't ask if anything was alright. They knew it was. Or, if it wasn't, they wouldn't need to ask, because they already knew that there was a problem and would work to fix it instead of asking. As such, in asking the ambassador if everything was alright, Silgvani would effectively say that she didn't trust her abilities as a host.

Similar problems could arise with certain smalltalks. Asking "Did you have a pleasant journey?" would either mean that she doubted the comfort - which, since the ambassador had arrived on her own ship, would express that she questioned the Tystrie's ability to build proper ships - or the security - which, since the Vanaery were the ones safeguarding that route, would express that she questioned the abilities of her own soldiers. Things would be different were a third, not present party involved; however, since Hohmiy and Eroas had a direct hyperlane connection, that wasn't the case.

All of this was a result of a central belief: if someone's steps were guided by the Goddess, they had the confidence not to question themself. If they weren't, they shouldn't make decisions in the first place. As such, someone who showed doubt was considered to walk the wrong path.

Of course, Silgvani had no obligation to put up with this. It was the Tystrie who had offered to enter negotiations for a new treaty, and she would have had any right to refuse. In fact, many had advised her to do exactly that. They said the chances for a treaty that was worth the effort were too low, that they didn't have enough to gain. And they were right. But Silgvani hadn't told them - or anyone, really - the true reason why she had agreed to the negotiations. The reason was the very thing that came to everyone's mind first when they thought of the Tystrie: titanium. The metal was used in many things, and the Tystrie sat on an entire planet full of it. They had been selling it to basically everyone in the alliance, and the Vanaery couldn't have created their great fleet so easily without it. But over the course of two generations, things had suddenly changed. The Tystrie had become more and more reluctant to sell their ore, slowly letting their trade agreements run out without renewing them. It hadn't been obvious from the get-go. Communication past the Hyperlanes was difficult, so most races thought another one had struck a better deal. And when it finally came out they blocked all questions, simply stating that "it was their decision what happened with their resources." While that was certainly true, it was also very suspicious. The fact that they completely refused to let any outsider visit them didn't help. Various rumors followed, many voices accusing them of secretly building up an army or other ulterior motives.

The princess herself wasn't sure what to make of this. Why the secrecy? Threats like the Kiroscha were a valid reason to bolster up one's forces, there was no reason to hide it. However, they were clearly hiding SOMETHING. If not, why cut off the main source of their wealth? And why then keep trying to get treaties that aren't even close to being as beneficial as the old ones for either side? That was what Silgvani was after. The ideal scenario would be to get the ambassador in a situation where she had to admit the truth. Or, to be precise, the IDEAL situation would be to get a new deal for metal shipments on top of that. But even if that couldn't be done, she needed to at least know whether or not the Tystrie's secrecy hid something that could be a threat to her people. That information was definitely worth the stress and troubles she had gone through for this meeting.

"May the Goddess's love embrace us," Ambassador Kykla started the traditional phrase and picked up the real half of the knvietas pair, pointing the fake one at the princess.

"And may her light shine upon us, so we may meet in harmony and without discord," Silgvani finished before both of them simultaneously took a bite.