27-43

e a r t h (Noun.)

currently a dying husk of a planet, abandoned by the inhabitants that doomed it

Brotte stood before either of us did. Honestly, it startled her. She was so focused on the disbandment of the ceremony, that she hadn't seen the native getting antsy. When both of them looked up to him, he motioned for them to follow him again. Selcouth grumbled, standing up with Elain. She giggled at his antics, patting the slimy back to try and get the beast to calm down. It was obvious that Selcouth didn't enjoy staying underground. If the food they had now wasn't their only rations for a while, she would give him a treat once they got back. He only came with to protect them and that was commendable. Extra head scratches it was.

Brotte led them down to the floor and to where Meylaani continued to stand. He didn't force them to kneel before the ruler, rather kneeled himself. Elain followed the movement and Milo hesitated before also mimicking the movement.

"Ees tsum yeht yhw dnatsrednu uoy od? Nos, lautir eht fo trap a eb t'ndluoc uoy taht ezigolopa i," Meylaani spoke, allowing the leaf to catch water before he poured it over Brotte's nodding head. The crowned native turned his gaze to Elain and laughed loudly.

Her dazzled expression must have been what did it, because Meylaani didn't hesitate. He scooped up another batch of water and let it flood over her. Brotte let out a displeased sound, though his leader simply waved away the reaction. The water froze her to the bone. Simultaneously it put an exciting chill through her veins and recharged any of the energy she may have lost on the trek to their nest. It was empowering, really, but she didn't know how to put it into words. How very unscientific of her. Having been through the experience, she should be able to have something to explain the phenomenon. Her wide pupils wavered from Meylaani and went down to her arms. Her palms face up with the spiderwebs of veins bared to her this way. Her veins were now far more visible, like her skin had cleared slightly.

When she turned Milo, the biologist realized he didn't get splashed by this miracle substance. Her brow furrowed and turned back to the two natives before her, ignoring the droplets that stayed on her glasses and made it difficult to see clearly. "What about Milo?" Brotte and Meylaani were staring down at her forearms as well.

"Siht tuoba em llet ton did uoy?" Meylaani seemed to ignore her words, rather turned towards Brotte. "Naem sgnikram eseht tahw wonk uoy od?"

Elain hated not understanding what was being said around her. That was why she tried to learn all she could back on Earth. Was there a concept foreign to her? Not anymore. She discovered the basic gist of it and more. Was there a language spoken around her by some of her colleagues that she didn't know? An odd scenario, because a lot of the language barriers were abandoned due to the decline in persons on Earth, but it wasn't impossible. She would take time to figure out most of the basic conversations, as to not leave anyone out of anything. Now? Elain couldn't use any mobile app to understand them. Her only teacher was Brotte. Brotte didn't seem like a patient teacher.

Speak of the devil, Brotte didn't turn away from her visible veins. It made her skin crawl in the slightest bit. She remembered the first time he could see the faint spiderwebs and that ended up with her having bruises. The bruises that were still visible on her wrist too. She looked to Milo, but he was turned to her with the same panic.

"Llaf ot nageb niar eht litnu meht tuoba wonk ton did i." He looked like he had to struggle to pull his gaze away from her forearm. A hard look staring up at his leader. "Ynomerec eht no desucof oot raf erew uoy, kcab tog uoy nehw."

"Yawa meht trocse yam uoy." Meylaani scoffed at something Brotte had done or said. Whether it was his disrespectful look or his words, Elain was unsure. What she did know was that the sentence said was dismissal. "Wquilha eht sa skram emas eht evah ot El'on rof nosaer a eb ot sah ereht. Sredle ruo htiw pu siht gnirb lliw i."

Brotte pushed off from the floor and pressured the other two to follow him for the hundredth time. Once they were safely in the tunnels, Elain squealed. It must have been too loud for the humanoid, who grimaced at her, but she gave all of her attention to Milo. "Do you understand any of what just happened?" She didn't even give Milo time to respond to the rhetorical question, while she sighed wistfully. "I have no idea, but I am so excited!"

"What if that was a bad thing? What if your body can't handle whatever they put on you?" Her assistant groaned, probably feeling like he was the only one that had any semblance of sanity left. "Oh, we are so screwed!" Elain laughed, turning to Selcouth who never stopped acting like her own personal tail. She eagerly pats the head of the large creature, who happily gave into the woman's good mood. "What if you were just brought into their circle of people?"

Elain switched back to him with a grin. "Would that not be cool, though? Think about it, Milo. If I become one of their people, I would be able to study them closely. Not just on occasions like this." Then she paused her ramblings and turned to him with furrowed brows. "What I don't understand is why you were left without your own shower. You should have felt it, Milo. It was indescribable."

"Magic brainwashing water," Milo muttered under his breath, to which he got a sharp glance in return.

She sighed, moving to walk between Milo and Brotte rather than her spot beside Selcouth. The beast whimpered at the loss. "Should I have been more careful? Yes. I didn't know that following Brotte's lead would end up with me becoming a small part of their ceremony. Every other time we were forced to kneel, so I simply went along with it." The human boy still looked conflicted, so she placed her wet hand lightly to his clothed shoulder. She wasn't going to let the liquid soak through and get him wet just in case something did happen. Her grin becoming more solemn in that moment. "But what's done is done, you need to calm down. If I am to die, there is nothing we can do now. Nothing except document it, so no one else will do something similar."

Milo attempted to crack a grin, but it appeared wobbly instead. "I don't think anyone is stupid enough to even step towards the king of random alien people, let alone take a shower with his magically leaves."

The biologist laughed, pulling her hand away from the boy. Her gaze turned forward, "Stupid? I'd call it brave." She sucked in a breath to have her chest puff out in mock pride. Finally, Milo's smile was stable again. She turned to Brotte after deflating, giving the being a grin. "Thank you for allowing us to join the arelleane eht, Brotte. It means a lot."

Brotte watched her closely for a few moments, then decide to lead the way a few feet ahead of them. His broad shoulders were slouched, and he stalked more than he walked. Similar to him sulking about something. The humans both shared a look, but inevitably let the cold shoulder go. He didn't understand them, so it would have been rude to expect an answer anyway. That and nothing could take out the skip in Elain's step.

The journey home was otherwise quiet. There wasn't much else to say, even between her and her assistant. Milo expected her to be dead within twenty-four hours, so he was off in his own head. The humanoid was focused on staying far ahead of them to keep clear of their presence. Even her and Selcouth were focused on watching the veins on her arms fade away into their normal coloration, hidden behind layers of olive skin. What they weren't expecting were the piles of notifications as their community was plunging into darkness.