---Chieftainess---

---Votd’s perspective---

“That’s not good enough!” snarls the gigantic fire haired Terran below me, as I crawl through the ‘air vents’ in the ‘ambassadorial habitat’.

“Victor, I understand your position and I promise that Sknz’h, Thaïs and the medical team are working on the feasibility of a nonfatal surgical intervention for their childbirth as we speak… but we just don’t have it yet!” soothes the silver streak “The Twigg would be one thing… They’re warmblooded, mammalian omnivores whose physiology is so closely comparable to ours that performing a caesarean on them would be no great technical feat (if slightly fiddly, given their diminutive stature)! The Vrakhand are unlike any other species anyone has ever attempted medical intervention on!… You remember how Khr’kowan woke up, despite all the computer models assuring us that the cocktail of drugs we were putting in her would keep her sedated? Imagine if something like that happened that cost the lives of not just a mother but an entire brood of children? Can you conceive of what a blow that would be to them? How much they would resent us for it? The second we have something, we’ll take it to them!”

“The longer you wait to let ’em know they’re the only species with a 100% rate of maternal mortality, the more resentment you stand to instil that way!” retorts the biggest Terran “You didn’t have a problem terrifyin’ ’em with your little carnival o’ horrors the other day! You trusted ’em to understand that!… You not think that trustin’ ’em to get it if we say ‘this might be possible’ and it turns out it ain’t is somethin’ you owe ’em at this point?!”

“Mr Taylor…” says the large man with the orange eyes, whose lack of a nose makes him speak like he’s permanently stuffed up “…your compassion for the Vrakhand is evident and admirable!… However…”

At this point I lose interest in the conversation I was spying on and start back crawling through the vent.

I reach a metal cover and look through.

Seeing who I was seeking, I push a hand against it.

It swings open from the top, the bottom having metal hinges… like nothing I’ve ever seen that didn’t come from the stars!

These people have the power to fly in ‘space’ (which they explain to us has no air to breathe), they spin clean houses out of mud in a matter of hours, they make fire in the hand, conjure images of things that were, things that might have been, things that never were and never could have been and (in sheer weight) most of the stuff they’ve brought to this world has been smooth, solid metal… and still they claim it’s no magic.

They claim it’s ‘science’ and that they’re going to teach it to us!

I’m not worried about any of that right now, though…

I drop down five or six times my height and land on the smooth metal floor.

I cross the room to where the pale blue woman lies.

I give her a push and she wakes and starts away from me.

Wide blue eyes scan me, then over me to the open vent at the ceiling…

Qulnak starts to breathe slower as she says “There is a door you know, girl…(!)”

“I know…” I shrug “…door wasn’t opening and you still being [jet lagged] meant we were burning daylight so I found a way around.”

She chuckles “You Southerners really don’t know what privacy means, do you!”

“Yes we do:…” I grin “…Being a greedy for space(!)”

She sighs and pushes me away to get out of the too big bed.

“You know, you could have just asked the door to tell me you were out there… That probably would have woken me up!”

“Thought you Northerners were all about romance!… That doesn’t sound very romantic!”

“Yes… because nothing says ‘romance’ quite like slithering into my room like a [dragonsnake](!)”

She reaches for a bottle and squirts a gloopy white liquid into the hands which she begins to rub onto every patch of skin not covered by the light (but absurdly modest) clothing they made for her.

“What’s that?” I ask, indicating the bottle.

“[Sunscreen].” shrugs the older woman.

“What’s it for?”

“It’s for screening skin from the sun.”

I frown “Why do you need skin to be screened from the sun?”

She stops and cocks an eyebrow at me “Have you… never been sunburned?”

I laugh “You’re joking!… Sun… burns you!?”

“Not normally, no… but normally I live far to the North, where the sun is much weaker, so, there, it’s something I only have to worry about on the hottest, brightest days of Summer!”

“What, so… if you don’t put that on you’ll catch fire…(?)” I ask, sceptically.

She rolls a set of blue eyes “I won’t catch fire, it’ll just feel like I’ve had someone rub rough bark all over me until the skin’s all raw and inflamed, then sewn me into tight clothing filled with sharp pebbles!”

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“Hmm…” I frown “…why has this never happened to me?”

“Well… the Giants tell me that Southern skin is so green because of a… dye?… You have something in it that protects you from sun damage… you’re effectively always wearing sunscreen.”

“I’ve got ‘dye’ in my skin?”

She gestures ‘no’ and says “That’s not the word they used, no… but it’s the closest to the idea.”

“And if I didn’t have this dye I’d be pale like you?”

“No… I’ve got some, just much less than you do… When I spend a lot of time out in the sun I go a little greener.”

I frown at the skin on me.

Something about me being ‘dyed’ this colour makes me uncomfortable but… I’m not sure why!

“Alright… you want to lead the way?” smiles the pale skinned Northern woman.

---Qulnak’s perspective---

Two fangs crack a piece of flesh off of the large, juicy, alien fruit that is my breakfast.

I crunch the [apple] into a fine mash before swallowing it down.

As we walk, my eyes drift downward to rest on the bare legs the slim, green skinned, Southern girl walks on.

It really is incredible the extent to which these Folk are happy to just wander around mostly nude!

I know it’s hot down here in the South but… still!

Half of an arse is just hanging out of the bottom of the clothes she wears!… Not that I’m complaining…(!)

A slender green tail swishes back and forth, hypnotically, behind her…

A [second] too late, I realise she’s twisted to look back at me…

I look up to see her grinning…

She caught me staring… and she’s happy about it!

Damn! Where were all these sexed up boys and girls when I was that age!?

I guess… they were all down here in the Southlands and I was most of a world away in the North! More’s the pity!

Hard not to be jealous of just how carefree these Southerners are… or seem to be at least!

We walk out into the Main Hall of this metal building and see Folk from all over the world lounging and milling around.

Greenish yellow Westlanders, light green Centrelanders, a few of my own Northlanders and, of course, many medium to dark green Southlanders.

There are no Ravagers (or ‘Monsters’ as the Southlanders call them, or ‘Vrakhand’ as they apparently call themselves in their own tongue). When the Giants need to bring them here, they say they will ask us to either leave or remain in the quarters they have assigned us.

Entering the building come three Southern girls who share one face.

“Yor, Lor, Mor!” greets the girl I’m on a date with, happily (causing a tiny pang of jealousy, the flipside of sexual openness) “How’s it going girls? You met this sexy mama?”

Votd gestures to me, proudly, snuffing that spark of jealousy as quickly as she kindled it.

The triplets and I make introductions before the one who introduced herself as ‘Yor’ asks “Have you seen Niyol around, Votd?”

“Who?” she frowns, as unfamiliar with the name as I am.

“One of the two who always dresses in red and white… the healer… the one with the long black plait!” explains Mor, excitedly.

“Oh… no, not seen him… but I did overhear something about all the healers needing to work on something together, earlier. Sounded important… don’t think he’s around…” reveals Votd.

All three girls groan and look crestfallen.

“Why… do you want him…?” I query, eyebrow raised.

“*Kuh*!… Why d’ya think!?” scoffs Lor, the one of the three who makes the face they share look the craziest by the expression she wears.

“Wait… all three of you?!” I ask in horror.

The unhinged looking triplet smirks “You’ve seen the size of these guys, right?… Enough to share, we reckon!”

At that point, Yor, the most dignified triplet, smiles “Alright… I think we’ve taken enough of your time… Have a nice date, you two…” and the three girls turn to leave.

Once they’re almost out of earshot, Votd turns to look at me and immediately bursts into a fit of laughter.

When she’s partly recovered she does an unflattering impression of the expression I was wearing, a mix of horror and disgust, cracking herself up again.

The girl’s laughing so hard that it’s difficult not to laugh along with her… even if it’s at my expense(!)

“Spirits!…*hehehehe*… How can you be…*hehehehe*… so sexy and…*hehehehe*… such a prude!” she giggles.

“Hey now!” I chide, mirthfully “You wouldn’t like it if I turned the reverse accusation on you!… Your ways are strange to me is all!”

“I will admit that was…*hehehehe*… a bit much to expect someone who gets offended by a face lick to deal with(!)” she answers.

I roll my eyes and gesture for her to lead on.

Still recovering from the giggling, she walks out of the [habitat] ahead of me.

Am I imagining it or is she swaying the hips more than she was before?

A wall of heat hits me as I exit the building and I instantly start sweating, despite the lightness and looseness of the clothes I wear!

Squinting against the bright sunlight, I make out the buildings in the wide clearing of the [embassy] compound, one of which I watched a building [machine] [print] in mere hours!

We come upon one of the Giants, sat on a log, this one with pale beige skin, light yellow hair and blue eyes like mine (apart from having round pupils).

In one hand, he bears a polished wooden box with a neck sticking out of one end and tight metal strings along the top, in the other he holds a bow but one that looks completely unlike the ones the Ravagers use… useless for shooting!

A group of Folk are gathered around him, expectantly.

He brings the strings of the bow to lay them across the strings on the box and starts making sawing motions.

Music like nothing I’ve ever heard trills out from the action.

Excitedly, all the Folk begin to cheer and then to dance as the Giant sings.

f♫ Almost Heaven, West Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River

Life is old there, older than the trees

Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze!

Country roooads, take me hooome

To the plaaace I belooong♫f

One of the local girls apparently finds the excitement so overwhelming that she’s unable to control herself.

She pounces on the young boy next to her… a young boy I recognise…

Nroluq seems to be quite enjoying the attention as the girl licks him on the face repeatedly while he laughs and splutters… that is until he spots me.

“Chieftaness… I…” he starts, looking terrified.

“Pay me no mind, boy…” I reassure him, wryly “…you are at liberty to have fun while you’re here… Just be sensible… and don’t do anything that would make your mother cry(!)”

He hesitates.

He became a man so recently that he clearly still expects to be scolded like a child(!)

Then, he smiles “OK, Chieftainess…!” and turns attention back to the admirer.

Votd and I continue walking past the dancing Folk and the musical Giant.

She turns to me and asks “What’s a [Chieftainess]…”

I shrug “A tribe leader…”

“What? Like you say where to go when travelling?”

It’s my turn to frown “I mean… I might… but that’s not really what it means though… More like… I tell Folk what to do when they don’t know and I tell Folk to stop doing things when they’re doing something wrong or stupid…”

“O…K… I think I understand?”

“Southerners don’t have leaders?” I ask, curious.

“Uhh… no… If we don’t know what to do, we ask whoever’s nearest… if they don’t know, we find someone who does… If someone’s doing something wrong or stupid whoever sees them tells them to stop… If they argue about whether it’s stupid or not… then they wait for others to come and weigh in on it!… It’s weird that you’ve got a person who’s the only one who gets to tell people what to do! What stops you telling Folk to do things that are good for you and not for them?”

I laugh “I wouldn’t be Chieftainess for very long if I did that(!)”

“Alright… that makes sense!” she says as we cross the boundary of the compound “One more question… what’s a [mother]?”