After another few hours of rest, Azdrei’in awoke during what he guessed was probably late morning, if the day cycles on the Earth were anything like the ones that his people had simulated on their ship. He sat up, a little groggy, and exposed his sharp fanged teeth in a yawn. Taking in the room, he marveled again at how strange his experience on this new planet was already turning out to be. When he’d been assigned to join the Yihai, he had expected to spend his time exploring unfamiliar terrain, exterminating threats and finding prey to hunt, then returning to his personal craft to sleep whenever he needed to rest. Instead, he was practically living with an Earthling while his commanders discussed what to do with her on the mothership.
Orders were orders though, and he wasn’t unhappy with his new task of keeping watch over the human he’d found. She was eager enough to communicate with him and had exhibited no violent tendencies, even when he’d actively hooked his claws around her throat. Coupled with his own interest in what her species was like before they had been all but killed off, he doubted he would get bored of spending most of his time in her company. Now that he’d found a way to better learn her language, he was hopeful that they would cover more ground if they conversed again too. His word bank had improved decently overnight, and he felt like he grasped the structure of the sentences.
Too tired to bother washing off the remnants of his hunt before he’d fallen asleep, he noticed that there was some dried blood stuck to his clothes and hands and jaw, so he first went into the adjoining room—bathroom, as he’d since learned from the little screen—to use the water from the shower to rinse off his face and scrub the dark red stains from his palms. If he’d had another set of clothes to change into, he would have stripped off the dirtied garments too, but unfortunately, this was all he’d taken with him. He would just have to learn to be cleaner the next time he went hunting, so he wouldn’t stain the white top more than he already had.
Satisfied with his reflection in the mirror, he strode out of the bedroom Artemis had lent to him and made his way out to the common area, where he could hear the low sound of voices. For a second, he wondered if there were other humans with her now, but he didn’t sense any other creatures in the room large enough to be Earthlings, so he cast the thought aside. It seemed that she was just watching another video by herself.
As he stepped into the room, Azdrei’in spotted Artemis sitting at the tall counter with a recently finished bowl, her attention fixed on a screen that was playing something that looked like a recording. She had changed clothes, no longer wearing the shirt and pants that she’d had on before she had gone to sleep. He observed her quietly, taking the opportunity to study her exotic features before she’d noticed his presence.
Her coloration was the most interesting detail to him. It felt peculiar to look at a being that so closely resembled his own people but had delicate, pinkish skin, orange-red hair and bright green eyes. Everything about her was more fragile than a Lunvalgan female too. She was like a babe of his own kind, lacking the fangs and claws they developed when they achieved adulthood. The missing built-in weapons made her seem weak, but he knew better than to assume she was incapable of protecting herself. After all, she had hit him over the head when he’d tried to track her down the first time. What she lacked in sharp ends, she made up for with a quick wit. The faint ache in the back of his skull was a reminder of that that he wouldn’t soon forget.
Crossing the rest of the distance between them, he approached her from behind and leaned over the table next to her, folding his arms on the surface as he fixed his gaze on the same screen she was watching. At first, he’d thought she was looking at a recording, but he quickly assessed that it was another fictional story, since the humans and other creatures on the screen were in outer space. His commanders had told him that Earthlings didn’t seem to have achieved the ability to explore the cosmos like his people had, so the video was probably fake.
He turned away from the screen to look at her instead, deciding to test out his communicative abilities now that he’d memorized more of her language. “Good morning, Artemis,” he greeted her first, using the words he’d learned that humans used after they woke up. His speech was still accented, since he couldn’t quite mimic the way her kind spoke, but he was much more articulate than before. “I talked to my leader at night. She is waiting, and I am waiting to be told what to do with you; but it is agreed I should not kill you.”
Orders were orders though, and he wasn’t unhappy with his new task of keeping watch over the human he’d found. She was eager enough to communicate with him and had exhibited no violent tendencies, even when he’d actively hooked his claws around her throat. Coupled with his own interest in what her species was like before they had been all but killed off, he doubted he would get bored of spending most of his time in her company. Now that he’d found a way to better learn her language, he was hopeful that they would cover more ground if they conversed again too. His word bank had improved decently overnight, and he felt like he grasped the structure of the sentences.
Too tired to bother washing off the remnants of his hunt before he’d fallen asleep, he noticed that there was some dried blood stuck to his clothes and hands and jaw, so he first went into the adjoining room—bathroom, as he’d since learned from the little screen—to use the water from the shower to rinse off his face and scrub the dark red stains from his palms. If he’d had another set of clothes to change into, he would have stripped off the dirtied garments too, but unfortunately, this was all he’d taken with him. He would just have to learn to be cleaner the next time he went hunting, so he wouldn’t stain the white top more than he already had.
Satisfied with his reflection in the mirror, he strode out of the bedroom Artemis had lent to him and made his way out to the common area, where he could hear the low sound of voices. For a second, he wondered if there were other humans with her now, but he didn’t sense any other creatures in the room large enough to be Earthlings, so he cast the thought aside. It seemed that she was just watching another video by herself.
As he stepped into the room, Azdrei’in spotted Artemis sitting at the tall counter with a recently finished bowl, her attention fixed on a screen that was playing something that looked like a recording. She had changed clothes, no longer wearing the shirt and pants that she’d had on before she had gone to sleep. He observed her quietly, taking the opportunity to study her exotic features before she’d noticed his presence.
Her coloration was the most interesting detail to him. It felt peculiar to look at a being that so closely resembled his own people but had delicate, pinkish skin, orange-red hair and bright green eyes. Everything about her was more fragile than a Lunvalgan female too. She was like a babe of his own kind, lacking the fangs and claws they developed when they achieved adulthood. The missing built-in weapons made her seem weak, but he knew better than to assume she was incapable of protecting herself. After all, she had hit him over the head when he’d tried to track her down the first time. What she lacked in sharp ends, she made up for with a quick wit. The faint ache in the back of his skull was a reminder of that that he wouldn’t soon forget.
Crossing the rest of the distance between them, he approached her from behind and leaned over the table next to her, folding his arms on the surface as he fixed his gaze on the same screen she was watching. At first, he’d thought she was looking at a recording, but he quickly assessed that it was another fictional story, since the humans and other creatures on the screen were in outer space. His commanders had told him that Earthlings didn’t seem to have achieved the ability to explore the cosmos like his people had, so the video was probably fake.
He turned away from the screen to look at her instead, deciding to test out his communicative abilities now that he’d memorized more of her language. “Good morning, Artemis,” he greeted her first, using the words he’d learned that humans used after they woke up. His speech was still accented, since he couldn’t quite mimic the way her kind spoke, but he was much more articulate than before. “I talked to my leader at night. She is waiting, and I am waiting to be told what to do with you; but it is agreed I should not kill you.”