The New Terran council had heard and understood Lyra's concerns, regarding the galaxy at large. Without some kind of guidance, she couldn't find the belief in the rest of civilized space to not repeat its mistakes and shortcomings of an age past. For all the same reasons as before, life would be toppled, perhaps with no recovery to be made the second time around. However, before they could reach out to the rest of the galaxy, they needed the resources and manpower to do so. They also needed to secure their own space against the remnants of ancient evil still lurking amongst the stars, and the evils of civilization against itself. Evil would weaken their overall strength by turning that strength and dedication against others.
The powers of Terra watched the cosmos with a new material that powered a new way of life. A crystal formed from hardened, crystalized energy; the substance responded to the presence and the will of life, absorbing the ambient energies of life to grow. Some of the few satellites still in orbit from the old days were modified with crystalline arrays. These arrays, as they carefully scanned the sky, detected a voice come into being. The stellar seers on Terra traced the voice back to a planet in a nearby system that showed energy traces consistent with early civilization, so the decision was made to send Terra's yet burgeoning fleet to the area.
The primary objective would be to establish contact with the civilization on the planet in question, as well as update the fleet and Terra with local information. The name of their planet and other cultural information regarding nearby celestial bodies would be especially valued for navigational purposes; local culture itself would be interesting, but ultimately unimportant, unless major philosophical differences forced an issue. Hopefully, the operation to establish contact would be able to see agreeable local politics flourish to a leadership position. Their criteria were not strict; enable freedom, respect life, embrace diversity.

"So, basically, be chill." Lyra looked over the list Jesse had brought to her attention. Her finger flicked across a hologram display, dragging lines of a briefing summary across the display like one of those license agreements from some of Jesse's old games. She hadn't removed them to preserve authenticity, which Lyra could understand. "Don't culture shock them, don't be obnoxious, blah blah blah. Did they forget I have a tail, am I supposed to blend in? Maybe that's the point…" she knew she could handle herself, especially now, but it still irked her to get treated like an extra variable. "Jesse, would you remind me to drill the mission director about this later?" She received a positive chime in response.
Lyra's landing craft came in low over the ocean. She was supposed to land overnight, in the forest by the foot of the mountains. They'd traced the voice to a lake in the mountains, she was to hike her way through the mountains to find the source, likely in a settlement. The continent she was landing on had a temperate disposition, filled with plains, forests, and mountains, without any desert or tundra regions, though certain extreme mountain heights saw snow.
The craft itself was a large mass of energy crystal interwoven with living wood and some bits of old era ship, like the cockpit Lyra sat in. A lot of the old systems had been replaced with new equipment, but it felt familiar to look at, at least. The propulsion came from a flared crystal formation at the back of either side of the ship. Crystal grew over the metal nose of the cockpit, coming to a point at the front. The craft was a blend of old technology and this new crystal wizardry. She wasn't sure what to make of it herself, but Jesse understood the new stuff pretty well.
The combination of crystal, metal, and wood touched down in its predesignated forest clearing and began to undergo changes. It began working the large crystal mass into the ground, even as Lyra disembarked. Slowly, carefully. The living wood crawled over the surface of the crystal and into the ground, manipulating the dirt to guide the semi-translucent blue mass down into the roots below.
"That's pretty cool…" Lyra took a moment to appreciate the enchantments at work. The ship had been engineered specifically to plant a certain kind of tree in the location it landed. Afterward, there would be a personal craft left over for her to use. "Jesse." Certain branches had formed a descent ramp for Lyra, she turned and waited for her fairy companion to emerge from the crystal and join her as she descended them. She wore her denim sundress with her "summer cut" flight suit underneath, as well as one of the light tactical display visors she'd been provided. She had been given a certain amount of equipment she could share with a small group, if necessary, but she was supposed to avoid that. The single flight pack she'd been provided also sat on her back. It was a decently small, white, very rounded box with seams of exposed Aevon. The sides would open up and extend as rigid wings, feathered with crystalline channels for thrust.

"You're sure there's nobody around who's gonna shoot at me…?" Lyra folded her arms, someone back home had warned her about going into no-fly zones. Jesse conferred with the sensors in the ship, and the crystal it was still connected to, before giving Lyra HUD a thumbs up. "Cool."
Without further ado, the flight pack opened and the crystal feathers glowed before carrying Lyra up through a gap in the trees and toward the mountain. Jesse maintained a navigational waypoint for her, guiding her on her bounding path. She didn't want to push the pack too hard, they weren't engineered for someone past a metamorphosis. They were still figuring out how to engineer higher capacity.

She crested a mountain pass and found herself overlooking the lake in question. Her wing pack folded back up as she started descending into the valley, wondering how she was going to go about introducing herself to the local populace. "I can't just ask them 'hey, who's got one of these', can I?"
Unlikely.
Right. People were probably a little more guarded than that. She flicked her large fennec ears idly as she thought. They were fun to flick and flop around, and she felt really cute doing it…
You're having fun.
"Maybe, so what?" Lyra huffed playfully at Jesse, turning her chin up in mock scorn. "You're just jealous I'm so adorable now."
Jesse jingled bemusedly in response, sitting herself in the dusty brown fur of her companion.

Zarah Jameson was 19 and beloved by her family and her Tribe. How could she not be? She was intelligent, bright, kind, and nice to everyone! She willingly helped out on her family farm and around the town. She was bright smile and cheerful laughter that was so genuine that when she spoke for one brief moment you had to believe that nothing in the world, in all the galaxy, could possibly go wrong. Yes, she was still young. Yes, she was a scatterbrained chatterbox. Yes, she could constantly be found have run off to yet another Old Tech site. Yet she was so eager and so optimistic that you wanted to do everything you could to protect her, to protect her wide smile. This was all before you knew what she could do. Once you knew that you had to do everything you could to protect her.

The Jameson family and the Mountain Lake Tribe valued Zarah’s skill as a Mechanic, which was why, over the years, her running off to the Old Tech sites became less annoying and more essential. Zarah got all of the Old Tech she touched to work. She had come back from one journey with a device that allowed the blacksmith to control and know exactly what temperature his forge was at. Another trip yielded a pair of flying things history said was called drones to help herd the cattle and find dear in the forest. There was the scale that helped Mikala Jameson with her baking, the device that had been a wedding present for Jacob and Lilla Jameson that would sew a straight line in practically no time at all, the kettle that boiled water for you that every member of the Tribe took turns using. While the Mountain Lake Tribe didn’t want more power, Zarah’s skill with Old Tech was going to bring them stability and safety.

Which was why Zarah didn’t know how to tell the Elders of the Tribe or her mother that she wanted to travel Trazie. She wanted to see the twin points up north. She wanted to see Canterpoint Volcano and Rainforest Island. She wanted to visit all six of Trazie’s lakes. She wanted to see how high she could make it up Centerpoint Mountain. She wanted to go diving off the Cliffs of Insanity. She wanted to walk the coastlines and swim near Bracket Reef. But most importantly, Zarah want to scour the continent for lost Old Tech Sites. She wanted to find the lost Administration Building or get the Chairlifts working again. She wanted stories of Zarah Jameson and her Mechanical genius to spread across Trazie like a blaze. Somehow, she didn’t think her mother would be okay with that.

Luckily Zarah had Zigma on her side. Zarah wasn’t sure what Zigma was. Zigma wasn’t sure what Zigma was. Once, when she was ten, Zarah had found a geode after tripping over a tree branch on her way back home from a nearby Old Tech Site. She wasn’t sure why, but she kept it even though it looked ordinary. After that wherever Zarah went the geode went too. Though every scrape and every adventure and every, well, every everything, the geode was there. Then one day it broke and out came Zigma. At first Zarah had freaked out. Zigma was a glowing ball of neon green light. Who wouldn’t be freaked out? Then, slowly but surely, Zigma and Zarah were always together. Zigma’s earliest memories were of Zarah freaking out over her broken geode, but he knew his name and he knew that he loved Zarah just as much as she loved him. Soon he was just as much a member of the Mountain Lake Tribe as anyone else. The Elders scowled and called him a prankster, but at least he could be counted on to listen to Zarah chatter so she would leave others alone.

Which brought them today. Zarah was nineteen, which made her an adult. While it was true that she was a baby adult, she was still an adult. She didn’t want to live in her parents’ house forever. Granted, no one expected her to leave home for another year or two, but she wasn’t going to find the Administration Building while helping to water crops. Not that watering crops was a bad thing. She liked being to eat, but Zarah was a Mechanic. She wanted to be doing Mechanic things. Though everyone in the Tribe supported her desire to do Mechanic things, but they rather her stay close and help support the Tribe. And it wasn’t that she didn’t love her family and Tribe. She would totally bring all her really good finds home and she wasn’t going to find anything really good if the longest she was allowed to be gone was 2 months. Zarah nodded as she decided that was how she was going to word it to her mother tonight. Tomorrow. W-Day at the latest. She stood up from wear she had been sitting on the edge of the bed. With that decided it was time to get ready for the day.

“Zarah?”

Zarah’s head snapped around to look at Zigma where he was hovering by the screened window, “What? Is everything okay?”

One of the things that she and Zigma could do was communicate telepathically with each other. While Zigma wasn’t doing that now she still got a vague sense of unease from him, “I don’t know. I’m being pulled towards something near mountains east of here. I don’t know what it is.”

Thanks to the telepathic bond Zarah immediately knew what Zigma wanted to do and he immediately knew she was on board, “Let me get packed.”

It wasn’t long before Zarah was dressed in her linen pants with the leather kneepads sewn in. Her leather vest was tied tight over her undyed shirt and the pockets in her sleeves were stuffed full of crackers and small screwdrivers. Her boots were laced up and had wood wrapped charcoal stuffed in the side. As an aside she desperately needed new ones. The soles were getting thin. Zarah double checked her bag for her small blowtorch, wrenches, bigger screwdrivers, her spanner, her Old Tech tablet, her journal, and other tools before swinging it on her back. She made a trip to the kitchen to grab her lunch kit to stuff with a sandwich from the pile her mother had made earlier and to fill her metal water bottle that wasn’t technically Old Tech but had come from an Old Tech Site. Both the lunch kit and the water bottle clipped to the bottom. of her bag and would bump her shins as she walked and hiked. Zarah readjusted the bandana over her hair before putting her goggles on her forehead to pull down if she needed to. Then she grabbed the walking stick her youngest brother had made her for her last birthday and she and Zigma were out the door and on their way.

It was easy enough to get to the mountains east of the Mountain Lake Tribe’s town. They were technically part of the Circle Range, but the Tribe just called them the “mountains east of here.” Once there Zarah started hiking, following Zigma as he led the way. Occasionally he seemed to forget he was leading Zarah and he bobbed too far ahead only to come back when Zarah mentally called to him. It wasn’t long before the sun started to rise. It almost the end of Nov and sunlight didn’t last long in winter on Trazie. Most people got up before dawn just because they had to. Zarah was no exception.

Suddenly Zigma mentally called, “Zarah! Look!”

Zarah looked in the direction Zigma indicated, which was down a shallow ravine, to see a person. That in an of itself was not unusual. What was unusual was the woman’s ears. They looked like fox ears on the top of her head and if Zarah looked close enough she could tell that the woman had a tail as well. In just their few seconds of observation Zigma and Zarah could tell that she had some sort of control of these appendages. A few more seconds told them that the technology pack that she was using to bounce from rock to rock was not Old Tech, but they didn’t know what else it could be. The last thing they realized was that the strange woman was with a bird sized woman that hovered the same way Zigma did.

Zarah whispered, “They’re not from around here. She then repeated it loud enough for the woman to hear.“You’re not from Trazie, are you? She scrabbled down the steep path only to stop right in front of the stranger with a look of manic glee on her face, “Are you from space? Do you have a spaceship? Can we see your spaceship? Can we touch your spaceship? Can we learn how your spaceship works?” She then paused to take a breath, “Sorry! Sorry. That was rude.” She then used her palm to tap her chest, ”I’m Zarah.” She jerk at thumb towards Zigma who had followed her down, “That’s Zigma.” She held out a hand for a hand shake, ““It’s nice to meet you.”

This was incredible! This was so exciting! Now that Zarah was closer she could see that the woman’s technology was based on some sort of crystal. She had never seen anything like that! If the woman wasn’t from space, Zarah would have to go to wherever on Trazie was making it. She wondered if she could make it work the way she made Old Tech work, that magic way that she and Zigma seemed to be able to do together. She wanted to be this woman’s friend. Zarah lived for tech. Well, she lived for Old Tech, but that was only because she didn’t realize other kinds existed. She had to know more!

"This planet is so different from Terra. I suppose I've seen a few ruins, glancing around, but you couldn't throw a stone without hitting some old apartment building or something back home." Lyra had really been enjoying her flight up, and now she was taking her time to enjoy the serene mountain landscape. It was beautiful, almost as though the land had been untouched… almost. Something about this place felt strange. Jesse agreed with her about that, so she wasn't imagining it, but neither of them could really pick out what it was. "Though, as nice as it is here, I'm definitely glad The Embrace was able to hone in on where we were looking to go, specifically. I could have spent weeks running around without a solid lead."

It was a good thing we found that salvage for them when we did. Without that scanning array- oh.

Just as Lyra heard something nearby - a voice? - Jesse felt something nearby and gave her a notification on her visor. An unassociated Aeva, their objective, was nearby. Lyra's vulpine ear swiveled around to search for whatever she'd heard, just in time to catch the question repeated for her to hear. She turned to see a girl and - hey, the Aeva she was looking for! That was easy, though she had hoped to meet on her own terms. Though… that didn't matter, she was basically here to make friends, right? This was just fine.

Make friends and introduce an entire planet's population to the wonders of the Aeva and civilization in space, without causing their society to melt down. No pressure or anything.

The girl, absolutely ecstatic to see her, stopped right in front of her and rattled off a series of very informative questions. This girl was aware of space travel? Well, if the young lady was going to be so informative, Lyra should be courteous. "Zarah and Zigma. Ooh, what pretty names," she liked the way they sounded in her sensitive ears. "I'm Lyra. Jessica's currently hiding in my tail. Jesse~, come say hi, babe," she cooed, coaxing her light blue friend out from the fluff. Jessica chimed softly before ducking back into her fuzzy abode. "Haha, oh, fine," a shake of her head and Lyra's attention came back to Zarah and Zigma. "Sorry, she's shy these days."

Now, how to respond to those questions of hers. Lying wouldn't get her far, not since they both had Aeva, and she didn't like it anyway; made things complicated. She'd probably have to correct misconceptions later, too, so better to just be honest or avoid questions that might be problematic in the public. Whatever "public" meant around here, she simply didn't know enough to make a spectacle of herself just yet. Spectacular as she might be to locals (tail, ears, Aeva, tech), she had to be cautious. Not everyone would be as receptive as Zarah.

The girl had asked something else, as she came skittering down the slope to meet her. Perhaps she would leave the questions about her spaceship for now. "Trazie? Is that what you call the world?" She'd dance the line between being an offworlder and being from, say, across the sea until she felt confident she wouldn't be sparking something nasty by admitting she's an alien from Terra.

Zarah wasn’t surprised that the little person hid in the woman’s tail. If a strange person came rushing towards her with a stranger ball of light Zarah would be inclined to hide to. Of course, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t curious about the small woman or the ears on the larger woman. Was it some sort of genetic adaptation? Zarah had seen a few pictures of humans from before all the Old Tech stopped working and knew that humans on Trazie now didn’t look much like them. It had been a thousand years since then, and it was generally agreed that humans had adapted to survive on Trazie better. Zarah wouldn’t be surprised if humans on other planets had done the same thing.

Zarah nodded in answer to the question, “Yep! This is Trazie. The planet of Trazie and the continent of Trazie.” She reached out a hand to touch the strange crystalline wings before remembering her manners and stopping herself, “I’ve never seen tech like yours. I sincerely doubt that it comes from this planet. Where are you from?” Her eyes lit up as she considered, “Are you from Terra?”

Terra was a mythical place. Well, myth was the wrong word. It was pretty much agreed that Terra had existed and probably still existed, but any information about Terra came from thousand-year-old stories and whatever Old Tech record keeping devices Mechanics could get to work. Zarah and Zigma both knew that Terra was the birthplace of humans and that people from Terra had made Trazie for some reason only for most people to leave suddenly about the same time that the Old Tech stopped working. That was all that most people knew. Why they left, why the Old Tech stopped working, why they had made Trazie in the first place. Those were all mysteries that rumor had could be solved if someone found the Administration Building. Administration Annexes had been found, but not the Building itself.

Suddenly Zigma called to Zarah’s mind, “Zarah, that Jessica. She’s like me.”

It was her turn to call mentally, “What? What do you mean? How can you tell?”

Zigma glowed brighter before diming, “I can feel it. I don’t think we are exactly the same, but close enough that she could tell me what I am.”

Well then, that changed things just a little bit. Not a lot. These two women still have information that Zarah and Zigma both wanted. It was just that finding out more about Zigma was more important then where they came from or how they got to Trazie. Zarah knew that she was human. She had a rough idea of her ancestors’ and planet’s history. She knew that space travel had been completely possible in the past and it wasn’t surprising that it was possible now. More information on that could wait. But Zigma had never known anything about himself or where he had come from. All he knew was Zarah and Mountian Lake Tribe. That was not at all ideal.

So, Zarah would be rude if it got her the answers they wanted, “Not to be rude, but what is Jessica? Like I totally understand humans growing ears to adapt to a planet better, but shrinking? That seems a little farfetched.”

Jesse was taking notes for their first report when Zarah mentioned Terra by name. In the brief moment she was stunned, Lyra recovered first and responded,
"Haha, wow. Can't hide anything from you, can I? Yeah, I'm from Terra. Can you do me a favor and keep it a secret for now? I don't plan on keeping it a secret forever, but, uh…" she paused to consider how to phrase her sentiment.
You're going to trust them, just like that?
Sure am, just a bit. Hey, I thought you trusted me?
"I don't want to start a war or anything, y'know? This is usually pretty big news, people can react in all kinds of ways. You seem pretty stoked, though, and I don't get anyyy… weird vibes off you," Lyra looked the young lady over once. Exploration equipment and other tools. What she didn't see was any form of crystal. No trinkets, no decorative effects on anything, nothing. Usually, where there were Aeva, there were more crystal deposits. Then again, there was only one Aeva here, that they'd heard. The Embrace hadn't heard any more, either. Had a shard fallen here from space? That would explain the lone Aeva and no Aevon. Whatever the case, speculation would get her nowhere.

"To answer your earlier question, yes, I have a ship. It'd take a while to get there, since I flew a fair bit of the way… s-" they asked about Jessica. She couldn't tell if they'd heard what she said just then. She supposed they did, but found this more important, and she didn't disagree. "Jessica. She's… I guess you could call her a kind of spirit. A new kind of spirit we call Aeva. Zigma is, as well. Usually, they're found with accompanying Aevon deposits, though. I suppose you don't know what that is, ah," she considered for a moment, "that blue crystal stuff he came out of. We don't think the Aeva have existed before, but we can't be sure. We haven't found any records regarding previous Aevon discoveries, at any rate."
"As for my ears, these are uniquely mine. The tail, too. We can talk about how I got them later, I'm not sure I even really understand it. _{Apparently I'm the first one,}" which was a really isolating thought, but she usually tried not to think about that too much. "Ah, hey, I think I saw- is that your settlement by the lake? This way, right?" She started walking toward the village or town she'd seen before, and that The Embrace had identified from a distance. The wings on her flight pack folded back in, so the pack itself resembled a smooth, white shell.
Lyra… you're not alone. The small, blue, woman-shaped light came out of hiding and moved up to perch on Lyra's shoulder. She jingled lightly, like wind chimes.
Wind chimes, her favorite. There was always something so soothing about the sound, and Jesse always had a way with making it so melodic and pleasing. "Thanks, Jess…" She smiled and turned to walk backwards, looking to see if Zarah had any other ideas. Hey, wait a minute. She stopped, looking up at where Zarah had come running down to meet her, "hmm… If you came from up there, is that way faster?"

Why didn’t Lyra want to tell people that she was from Terra? How in all the cosmos did she expect to hide that? She had ears! And this weird crystal Tech. It wasn’t like Trazie was that big. Did she think there was another continent? Was there another continent? To be honest Zarah didn’t think so, but she wouldn’t know for sure. She knew that Terra had made Trazie livable and no one said anything about another continent, but history could be forgotten. Zarah wasn’t sure how to prove it. She just knew that she wasn’t going to lie to her tribe and she was definitely telling her parents where her new friend came from.

She said that, “Going to be honest. I am not lying for you. I mean I just met you.” Zigma came over to her shoulder, and she turned her head to look at him, “I mean yeah. I would like to know more about Zigma and what these so called Aeva are. And I would like to be your friend, and no, I don’t really want a war. But I also don’t want to lie. Not if I can help it. And people are going to ask about where you are from unless you can hide your ears and tail.” She gestured at a path that wasn’t the one that she came from or the one that Lyra was attempting to take, “Days on Trazie are short. The fastest way isn’t the best way once the sun is down. If you keep going that way, you’ll wind up going an overlook. It comes up out of nowhere. We should go this way.”

Zarah led the way she needed to get home. To be honest, she was uneasy about taking Lyra and Jessica back to the Mountain Lake Tribe. Why had she come to Trazie? Terra had been an empire. Maybe she was here to make Trazie part of the empire and she didn’t want people to know to see if Trazie was a good fit. Maybe she was here to spy on Trazie to see how difficult it would be to conquer. Would Trazie get a choice in joining the empire. What would happen if they did? Would they be second class citizens? Zigma bobbed closer to her check in response to her mental distress and Zarah smiled tightly at him. She had let her excitement get the better of her. They both had. They knew nothing about Lyra or Jessica or what an Avea was supposed to be or what that backpack did. What if it was a weapon that could destroy all of Mountain Lake Tribe? Zarah didn’t want to lead an enemy back home. She was close to the infinity path in the forest. How long could Zigma and her led them on a merry chase before they found out what was going on? Could Zigma slip away enough to let the tribe leaders know what was going on? They might have to risk it. With that in mind Zarah veer slightly left to see if this crazy possibly dangerous plan could work.

Zigma slowly drifted away as he called to her, “Be careful Zarah. I’ll try to be back soon.”

"Yeah, that makes sense. That would be reckless of you. Hmm, well, can you let me tell them?" Lyra didn't really like lying to them, either, and creative truths were still deception, to some extent. She was surprised when Zarah suggested a third path, but decided it would be for the best. Zarah must know what she's talking about, after all. Certainly more than she would herself.
Yeah, people were definitely going to ask about her ears and tails. It would be difficult to disguise herself, unless Jesse had some trick. She might, Aeva powers were many, but at the same time, it was strange they sent someone so obviously different. She'd volunteered, so many that was why.

It didn't take her long at all to notice Zigma's absence from Zarah's side. Aeva don't normally wander off. "Zigma, if you start to feel funny at all, come straight back, hear?" There were some few cases of Aeva bring able to stray far from their bonded partner for extended periods. Zigma did seem like the sort to be able to do that, didn't he? Somewhere in her mind, she made a flimsy assumption.
It didn't take her too long to notice they'd turned away from their destination. Jesse's marker was behind them. And not much longer after that to realize she was being led in a circle. Hmm... Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut, after all. Well, can't back down from it now. How to gain the girl's trust... She liked tech, so maybe that other pack command sent her with.
"Once we get acquainted with your village, I'll run back to my ship and bring your gift. It's another one of the flight packs I'm wearing, I can show you how to use it later."

You invited yourself in the first place, y'know.

Ooh, she had, hadn't she. Now, how to step herself back. "Ah, mm..." She bit her lip gently, unsure of how to proceed smoothly. Her ears and tail were also wild giveaways of her emotions, her ears folded down to the sides, and her tail still. She'd been eager to trust, and expected the other party to trust her in return.
Actually, there was another thing she should be worried about, once she considered things. "Zarah, have you spent time away from Zigma before? What's the furthest you've been from him?" Zigma was clearly more independent than Jesse, but that didn't necessarily mean he could go very far for long. He'd have to reunite with Zarah eventually, she knew, "and, for how long?"

Gift? Or bribe? IT was tempting to head straight home so she could get the flight pack, but Zarah was sure that wasn’t wise. She looked back to see that Lyra seemed uneasy. Zarah wouldn’t be surprised if the stranger had figured out that they were going in a circle. Well, it wasn’t quite a circle. The infinity path was shaped more like figure eight or the infinity symbol. Zarah stopped at the point closest to the town, but hopefully Lyra and Jessica wouldn’t figure that out. She wanted to be as close as possible to where Zigma was to give him as much range as possible.

Because Lyra was right with what she was implying. Zigma could get pretty far away. The furthest he had ever gotten was about 1 and a half kilometers. The further away that he got the more he flickered and the more her head hurt. The longest they had ever managed it was about 45 minutes. Zarah had blacked out while Zigma had been as frantic as a ball of light could be and couldn’t talk to anyone. The edge of town was about a kilometer away, but who knew how far away and elder was. The town wasn’t small. Zarah was hoping that someone saw ZIgma and went to fetch an elder for him. She hoped it was soon. Her head was starting to hurt. Plus, she wouldn’t be able to keep Lyra here forever.

She ignored the question as she asked, “Why are you here Lyra? And I don’t mean here, here, though that would be nice to know too. I mean, why are you here, on Trazie? What in all the cosmos would interest someone from Terra enough to come to Trazie?”

Honestly, Zarah didn’t expect an honest answer. She just hoped that whatever answer she did get she would be able to send to Zigma telepathically. That was harder to do the more distance there was, but she could, and would, try. At least until she was dead. Because that was what Zarah figured was about to happen. If Lyra and Jessica were here to conquer or take over or cause problems for Trazie the last thing they would want would be for some nosy nineteen year old to ruin their plans by asking to many questions that they didn’t want to answer. Would her mother know that she had been murdered? Would Zigma?

What would happen to Zigma when she died? Zarah wasn’t sure. She hadn’t given it much thought before. They were connected. She had known that since she first found the strange geode with blue crystals. She had never been able to explain it, but she always had to have it with her. Once, her brother had stolen it for a prank with a few of his friends. She had had a flat-out panic attack when it had been missing for more than five minutes, not a temper tantum, a panic attack. Zigma was hers and she was Zigma’s. That’s all there really was to it.

And now they'd stopped, at a point with the village off to the side. The girl ignored Lyra's questions, which the older woman took to mean she was being regarded with distrust. And the question, what a good one she'd honed in on. "Why?" Lyra gazed at Zarah for a moment, then turned her eyes upward and stepped in a slow circle while Jesse fluttered around her in the opposite direction, "well, I suppose there's not any one reason that I'm here. I think the reason you're looking for, however, is that I'm here to meet you. And Zigma, of course. An Aeva, born without any outside influence to encourage its growth. It speaks volumes of something in your environment, to have nurtured a caring soul like yourself. Your parents, or perhaps your community, as a whole. Not just anyone can bring out an Aeva. They've been working on getting the guided meditations down for years now."

"The other reason, I will share with the gathered leaders of this continent's peoples, and the two of you. Until we can accomplish getting them together, you'll just have to be satisfied with this: the horror which came before will come again. We must be ready." And now she was thinking about the Scourge. Great.

"Besides, it's really pretty here. Terra's all clogged up with old ruins from before the fall. It's really interesting to see all the old buildings being taken over by plant life, but it's so wonderful to see a planet teemimg with life, the way it is here." She started walking, trying to wash her enemy's existence from her thoughts. She didn't particularly care if they were going towards the village or not at that moment, she wanted to change the subject and clear her head. Haaah, was this a bad way to take a vacation?
Clean scans, Lyra. There's nothing active here. Jesse perched herself in front of one of Lyra's ears and sang softly into it
I know, I know...
"So, ah, do you Zigma often separate? I don't usually meet scout-types, but they're always so independent. Lemme guess, he's a bit of a handful sometimes?" Aware that they might not necessarily actually going anywhere on the path they were on, Lyra started paying more attention to the flora around her. Mostly different plants than were in the forest at the foot of the mountain, naturally. "And while I'm thinking of it, where did you find him in the first place?"

That made no sense whatsoever. Why would anyone cross the vast distances of space just to see her and Zigma? Zarah could kind of understand coming to see Zigma, especially if it was rare to find just one Aeva, not that she had any more ideas as to what that was. Lyra was being maddingly unhelpful, dropping crumbs of information like that was enough to get Zarah to trust a stranger from the mythical Terra. Trazie was mostly peaceful. She didn’t want to be the reason why they were suddenly at war with Terra or whatever this “horror that came before” was. Honestly that sounded like a story designed to keep kids inside at night. Zarah wasn’t a kid anymore. She had enough real-life terrors like bandits of colds. Colds were terrible, the absolute worse.

Zigma popped back into telepathic range, “Zarah. Headman Kilpatrick says to bring the stranger down. Well, what he actually said was, “Have Zarah bring your guest in for the night,” but he looks all types of tense. He’s muttering about calling for a meeting of the clans.”

Zarah called back, “We’re on our way. And tell Headman Kilpatrick that that might not be a bad idea. I asked her why she was here and she mentioned some horror from before and said she would tell the leaders why she was here.” She paused for a moment, “ She also says she’s here because of you. Don’t tell the headman that.”

Zigma’s mental tone was one of mental disbelief, “Me? But that makes no sense.”

Zarah’s fist clenched tightly, “I know. We need to be careful. I’m on my way. I’ll meet you there.” Out loud she said, “You’ve been invited to Mountain Lake Tribe for the night by Headman Lu-Is Kilpatrick.” She pointed back down the path in the right direction this time, “The sun is about to set. We should hurry.”

Zarah walked in silence for the rest of the trip. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like this two people coming and ruining Trazie’s peace. She really didn’t like Lyra asking so many questions about Zigma. Zigma may not have been human, but he was still human, and he was Zarah’s best friend, practically family. He wasn’t some sort of experiment or curio to be observed. If Lyra and Jessica wanted to hurt him or take him a way, they would have to deal with her. Zarah wasn’t one hundred percent sure what she would be able to do about it, but hopefully at least the rest of the Jameson Family would help her.

When they got back to the town Headman Kilpatrick was there along with a few other important people: a handful of elders, the owners of important shops, respected adults. Zigma was there too, hovering behind Samuel Jameson, her father. He was standing a few feet behind Mikal Honestmen, the village blacksmith who was holding his forging hammer in a way that brokered no argument. Looking closely Zarah could see that this was no friendly welcoming party. There were no visible weapons except for Mr. Honestmen’s hammer and Mrs. Traveil’s kitchen knife, but then again there weren’t very many weapons just lying around in the Mountain Lake Tribe anyways.

Headman Kilpatrick spoke and his tone brokered no argument, “Ms. Jameson, to your family.” She quickly crossed to her father and Zigma as he continued speaking to Lyra, “Ms. Lyra of Terra, Ms. Jessica of Terra, Ms. Jameson and Mr. Zigma had informed me that you are seeking to summon and meeting of the various clan leaders, but aren’t explaining further. So, I ask you a simple question, are either of you, or Terra, a threat to the peace that Trazie has managed to acquire and keep?”

"Oh. Invited, are we... Well, yes, let's go. It's late."

She wasn't making very much headway like this, and it was understandably so. Headquarters were relying on their Aeva to handle negotiations, but that's wasn't exactly reasonable. Of course, the data she'd be bringing back from this first instance of contact would be invaluable to future missions, but that didn't make it any easier for her. Still no answer to any of her questions. She couldn't help but feel like she'd messed things up.
Lyra, you're doing great! You're doing a lot better than I would... Jesse jingled lightly, like the bells at a shop door, chiming in new opportunity.
"I know, Jesse..." Lyra spoke softly, though she wasn't used to trying to have a private conversation in front of someone else, "but, I dunno. I feel like things should be going a little differently. I didn't imagine it'd turn out like this... I dunno, I thought we'd go on a cute little adventure first, maybe, before following her home. Geh..."
That was your doing. Jesse gave short negative buzzer sound.
"Oh, hush..."
She didn't say anything about being led around in circles the whole time.

As they approached, Lyra couldn't help but appreciate her welcoming party. A hammer and a knife? Well, she supposed that must be the best they had ready. Their hunter was either in an advantageous position or out hunting. Or non-existent. The elder was quick to dismiss Zarah to her family. The elder gave her a simple question to answer, one which she had little reason to lie to. "A threat? I suppose I've been cryptic, but I'm just trying to be careful. Don't want to culture shock you or anything... But, it seems everyone here is familiar enough with your origins. Yes, I come from Terra. Terra, myself, and Jessica, are no threat to the peace you've developed here. No, we admire it; it's wonderful. But, there are things we have learned that," Lyra searched for the right words, bobbing side-to-side a bit as side considered things, "well, we know some things you should know. We would help you prepare to defend yourselves. I'm sorry, but a couple of artists armed with the most dangerous tools to their trade couldn't stop even just me. But, I shouldn't say too much... This is a peaceful place."
"Hey, Jesse. C'mon, now, it's no good to hide at a time like this..." There was a shy chiming from her tail, in response, before the blue light emerged and sat herself in Lyra's shoulder. "Jesse says hello. She isn't too keen on talking, you understand... Fair enough, I say, but I'll let her tell you about that, if she ever comes around to it."

Zarah's hand curled around Zigma as he hovered near her shoulder but didn't quite touch him. She knew that her father could see that she was as tight as sinew stretched to dry. Lyra's vehement assurances that she wasn't here to hurt Trazie did nothing to cause her to relax. Zigma's nerves were evident by the subtle pulsing that wasn't bright enough to be blinding, but frequent enough to be noticeable. Zarah wished she could calm down since she didn't want to alarm her Tribe, but just because Lyra wasn't a threat to Trazie didn't mean she wasn't a threat to Zigma.

Several people let out a gasp as Jessica appeared, but all Headman Kilpatrick did was draw himself up to display his full frame. He was massive and had worked as a quarryman his whole life. Normally it was difficult to break him out of his calm shell; he typically had a jovial demeanor, but right now he looked ready to break something. In response to his reaction to Jessica, Harper, the best archer Zarah's age, stood up from her crouch in the watchtower. She had an arrow nocked and ready to fly. Several people took steps to the side or forward to block the Jameson Family from view. Zigma and Zarah had thought the atmosphere of the crowd couldn't get worse. They had been wrong.

Headman Kilpatrick spoke in a low cool voice, "Let me ask another question. Are you a threat to Ms. Jameson or Zigma?

It seemed that the Headman had come to the same conclusion that Zarah had. Someone could be a threat to a person and not a threat to a planet. She was only slightly surprised by the Tribe's reaction to the potential threat. They had reached the same way to the wanderer that had been just a little bit too interested in the young boys, specifically seven-year-old Barden. They had also reacted to the man who had attempted to assault 24-year-old Frei. Mountain Lake Tribe protected its own. Yet, Lyra had said it herself. Could they hope to stand against the strange technology? Neither of them wanted to lose the whole Tribe in the foolish attempt to defend them.

Zigma frantically flashed faster, "Zarah! We need to do something! Or say something!

She was just as ready to react rashly, “What? What can we do? Don't you remember what happened the last time we attempted to argued with Headman Kilpatrick when he was like this, in this type of mood?"

That had been a long time ago. Zigma was new. Zarah had been 14. Every teenager tried arguing with Headman Kilpatrick at least once. It never ended well. They only tried it once. It was almost a rite of passage at this point. Zigma and Zarah had been trying to defend themselves and their successful prank. No one had been hurt and that had been the basis of their defense. They still had to clean up all the dye. Zarah had been scrubbing purple, blue, red, and green from her skin forever. She had been made at Zigma until her skin was normal again. It had been his idea and mostly his actions. This was not a dye prank. This was serious. Did they really want to face Headman Kilpatrick's wrath for someone that may want to hurt them? The answer was no. As such Zarah just took one step closer to her father as her hand curled tighter over Zigma. Her gaze never left Lyra or Jessica.

This was getting tiresome already. She felt Jesse's motions to calm her, even as impatience boiled below the surface. Yes, reacting off of that wouldn't do them any good.

Jesse caught the glimmer from the watchtower and flagged it in Lyra's HUD. Likely an archer. The villagers were on high alert, which was bad news for her. They seem to have accepted her answers, but maybe they didn't fully comprehend them. She said they admired the peace here, right? A mental sigh. They, too, were being cautious. It couldn't be helped.

Hardlight shield ready.

Not unless you have to.

She sighed heavily and had herself a seat on the ground, legs tucked together in front of her, "hope you don't mind, I'm older than I look." Maybe if she thoroughly lowered her guard, they'd have an easier time relaxing with her in front of them. This was stressful, anyway. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a white stick, tapered at each end. She stuck one end in the corner of her mouth and reached behind her, and as she did, one wing opened sightly and dropped a handle into her waiting hand. She brought it around in front of her and pointed it across her face, upward, before producing a flame and lighting up. She'd then return it, the handle floating back up into the pack. "I'm not a threat. To anyone. I've come here to meet our new friends, and I mean that. The old government was wiped out. We have no claim to you, and we don't want it. You've survived this long without aid, you deserve your autonomy. We only seek out allies, and ask to build the future together. Stronger."

Jesse began her windchimes again, sensing Lyra's nerves. The woman continued, "we come, seeking not to take, but to give. Now, if I were trying to pull a fast one on you, this is an awful strange way of doing it, right? I'm showing you all my cards. I even have a present for Zarah and Zigma, though I doubt you'd let me give it to them. I'd give you one, too, but they only gave me the one extra. You wouldn't get the full use out of it, anyway, and training to use one without an Aeva is rigorous and difficult. Anyway, whether you believe me or not, there's one thing you can't deny: I'm the only one that might know anything about Zigma. What he is. And I do, you'll just have to believe that."

She took the burning stick from her mouth and rested her hand with it on her leg. A thought occurred and she motioned to the elder with it. "Would you like some? This must be a fun day for you, you should relax a little."

Zarah could practically feel the judgement rolling off of Headman Kilpatrick as Lyra lit up something. She thought it might be drugs of some sort. It was certainly a relaxant of some as given the way that she offered some to the Headman. She cast another look at Headman Kilpatrick as she thought about what this meant. Zarah had a hard time thinking that Lyra was defenseless just because she was high, but she was an easier target. It was almost like the Terran wanted the people here to trust her and was willing to do whatever it took. Would anyone else see it that way or would they see it as a trap? Was it a trap? She wasn’t sure.

Headman Kilpatrick came to his own conclusions and spoke in a hard voice, “You may stay Lyra of Terra. However, you will keep that and whatever other drugs you may have away from our children and teenagers.” He pointed to Mrs. Traveil, “You will stay with the baker and her family. Tomorrow we will see about arranging for a meeting of Tribe leaders.”

He waved a hand and people started to disperse. Zarah let her father pull her away but she still looked over her shoulder at the sitting woman as they walked back home. She couldn’t decide if she was glad or not that she wouldn’t be staying with them. They had the room. Ever since Jacob had gotten married there was an empty room. That didn’t mean Zarah really wanted the woman that close to her. Though she didn’t really want the Terran in the center of the town so far away from them. The Jameson Family was one of the few farming families in Mountain Lake Tribe. Most people worked in the quarries. That meant their house was at the edge of town. It would be half an hour walk one way to talk to the woman. And Zarah desperately wanted to talk to her.

As soon as they were far enough away Samuel told his daughter, “I don’t want you going near her. I know you are going to, but I want you to know that I don’t want you too.”

Zigma spoke before she could, “She knows what I am. She called me an Aeva.”

Samuel stopped to look at the two of them, “And I understand wanting to know. And I’m not going to stop you. Just promise me that you won’t be alone with her, and not just the two of you, someone else as well, someone that can raise an alarm if she manages to do something to the two of you.”

That was reasonable so Zarah nodded, “Of course! We promise.”

Samuel pulled her into a hug, “Ah! My little Zarah. All grown up and causing drama.” He let her go, “What did she promise you?”

Zarah blushed, “Tech. One of those crystal packs.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “You turned down Tech in order to stay safe? Maybe you are growing up.” He started to walk again, “Come on. It’s getting late and we can tell your mom what happened.”

Lyra took another drag before stashing her left-handed cigarette away in a small cylinder, to be secreted away into her pocket. "Oh, give me some credit, please. We know enough not to introduce strange chemicals to developing minds. And Jesse wouldn't let me hear the end of it, she'd be livid."

Your... crazy gambit worked...

The baker, then. That was a fun hobby she'd dabbled in before, baking. Fruit breads were delicious, she wondered what kind of fruits were available here. As the crowd dispersed, Lyra slowly brought herself to her feet, turning herself out of her seated position onto one knee and continuing to turn and scan the horizon until she was on her feet and facing the baker and her family.

Best behavior, Lyra.

She raised a hand casually in greeting as she approached, "hello. I'm sure you caught my name, but I'm Lyra. I'll be your Terran envoy, pleasure to meet you. I promise not to be a burden while in your care." She pushed her heels together and offered a bow, smiling when she straightened back up and looking the woman in the eyes, "I've been baking before, do you need any extra hands?"

The woman threw around words like envoy and defense. Mrs. Travel wasn't thrilled, she eyed the woman wearily but the look of caution faded somewhat as Lyra introduced herself. She had impeccable manners now, but she'd been smoking some kind of drug just then. There were things about this woman that seemed at odds, but despite her mixed feelings, she was to play host. "Rachel Traviel," She tried not to let her tone betray her feelings regarding the matter. "This is my husband, Kenneth."

"Pleasure meeting you both." Lyra accompanied the pair back to their home, the bakery. Nestled right in the middle of the village; probably where it would be easiest to keep an eye on her. That was fine. The next day would come and Lyra would have more opportunities to earn the trust of these people.

---

The sun rose and Lyra came with it. She'd have to go get some other clothes from her ship before the next day. Or, perhaps, they had a tailor? She'd have to look into it, but for now, her sundress would have to do. When she emerged from the residential section of the home into the bakery, she found the family already at work, risen before the sun. She'd missed the chance to do much work for breakfast, but Mrs Traveil insisted it was fine.

While the two of them, and Zarah & Zigma could simply track each other by Aeva, Lyra thought it better to play by the rules, for now. Or at least leave any rule-breaking to Zarah or Zigma. No need for her to go upsetting anyone, everybody already looked at her sideways. Besides, this is where Zarah and Zigma would know to find her.

"This is tough work by hand..." Lyra's arm was burning from mixing batter, hair net keeping her locks on her head, and a thin hardlight net around her tail to guard against fluff getting in the baked goods. She understood it was for this afternoon. "Ugh, Jess." The Terran pulled her whisk from the sweet batter and, as though on command, glowing hardlight formed in the shape of a two mixer heads. "Thanks. It's so much easier to let you do it..." She could feel it was no great effort for Jessica. Just a hardlight construct and some torque, using Lyra as an anchor.

Jesse jingled briefly like a small silver bell, humored by Lyra's effort and exasperation. The fox-like woman didn't often give in like that. The matching blue hardlight spun in the middle of the air with no motor, only form, though Lyra did seem to react as though she were leaning in to some force. More blue hardlight formed and cleaned the whisk Lyra held before feeding the salvaged batter to her.

Really, Mrs Traveil was assessing her before putting her to work, but this was... Unexpected, to say the least.

The morning couldn’t come soon enough. As soon as it was reasonable possible Zarah and Zigma were out the door. They confirmed they wouldn’t be alone with Lyra or Jessica before running off towards town and the bakery. The early morning bustle was just getting started and they ducked and weaved though the crowd to get towards the bakery. It seemed like everybody in town knew what was going on as they eyed the two of them. Many called out words of warning. They were almost to their destination when they suddenly had to stop short to avoid crashing into Headman Kilpatrick. He just came out of nowhere and they stopped literally 1o centimeters from him.

Zarah exclaimed, “Headman Kilpatrick! We’ll be careful! I swear!”

He hummed in disbelief as he pulled out a boy from the shadows, “George will be spending the day with you. You will not argue.”

Why would Zarah argue about that. The day was shaping up to be a pretty good day. First there was another chance to get the Terran to show her the spaceship. Then there was the chance to find out more about Zigma. And now she got to spend the whole day with George. Zarah was a little curious about how he had gotten out of his apprentice duties for the day, but she didn’t care enough to complain. She liked George. She like liked George. She like liked Harper as well and honestly didn’t expect anything to come from either crush, but flirting was pretty nice. George seemed happy to be spending the day with them if the half wave and the smile might anything.

Zarah nodded, “Got it. Yes Sir. Can we go now?”

With that decided Headman Kilpatrick nodded. Zarah quickly grabbed George’s wrist to tug him along. They were almost there. They entered the bakery via the service entrance to see the visitor with some sort of contraption that was mixing the batter. Zarah dropped George’s wrist as her mouth dropped open. Whatever it was it was incredibly cool. Only the glare from Mrs. Traveil stopped Zarah from forgetting the rules. She quickly joined George in scrubbing her hands red at the sink before rushing to get a better look at the machine. It was glowing and there was no motor. Where had Lyra put it? There was no room in her pack, at least no room that Zarah could see.

Zarah began to speak rapidly, “That is so cool! What powers it? Can I touch it? Is it collapsible? What is it called? Can we go see your spaceship? What’s an Avea? Where did they come from?”

She said this all very fast and Zigma finally interrupted, “Zarah! Breath!” She sucked in the air at the command, “Forgive her. She’s excited.” He blinked slowly, “We both are. He moved to hover by George’s shoulder, “This is George Reasons. He will be joining us today.

George held out his hand with a warm smile on his face, “It’s nice to meet you Ms. Lyra. I hope it’s alright if I tag along.

Lyra looked up from the bowl she was holding steady for Jesse to spy Zarah, Zigma, and another villager. She waved as they washed up before turning back to the bowl and pitching it this way or that, to get all the scraps off the edges and into the mix. Zarah was, predictably, excited about seeing something new. The barrage of questions elicited a grin from the Terran, so charmed by Zarah's zest for unknown technology.

The Terran giggled, her tail flicking like a cat's, "I can tell; it's something that's so adorable about you." She gave Zarah a sweet smile and George a nod, before she turned back to their mixing, "it's a good thing Zigma's here to introduce me, ey?" She extended a hand to take George's, turning her head to look at him, "seems everyone knows my name already. Good meeting you, George. I don't mind if you tag along at all."

Once pleasantries were out of the way, she'd turn her mind to Zarah's questions, "let's see, in no particular order... It's powered by me, it's called hardlight, it's not collapsible, but it doesn't need to be. You want to touch it?" A sphere of the hard yet lightweight "material" formed in front of Zarah, "here." It was hard and smooth, like glass, but warm to the touch.

"No idea where they came from, but an Aeva is, simply put, a kind of spirit. I guess you could say they come from crystals, like the one you found, but I don't think that's what you were asking. The crystal you found was a material we call Aevon." She'd finished mixing the dry and wet ingredients together, and grabbed a loaf baking tin, to fill with batter and shove in the oven. She began to pour, "when you wore the crystal, you began to give to it. Eventually, you gave enough and the energies in the crystal mixed and reacted, forming Zigma."

If she wasn't careful, this one would ask questions and render the careful dance around the subject of the Scourge useless. They were a few layers of questions away, yet. It wasn't a pleasant topic, and was liable to scare poor George. And Zarah. And Zigma. And that wasn't condusive. Lyra would probably be better off throwing out a bunch of chaff, "sure, we can go see my ship. It's probably not what you're expecting, we don't build 'em like we used to. You know, Zigma can probably do hardlight, too. Most Aeva can, to some degree. Hardlight and holograms are pretty common. Have you tried it before, Zigma?" Lyra looked up from her pouring for a moment, only briefly.

When Lyra was done pouring, Jesse reformed the hardlight beaters into a vague scoop shape, scraping up the batter from the bowl and pushing most of it into the form. The rest went in Lyra's mouth again. The fox reached up to where Jesse was perched on her shoulder and rubbed her back carefully. After that little bit of affection, she'd take the bread form and pop it in to the oven at last.

"If you want to go see my ship, it's down the mountain face, in the forest. It'll be a bit of a trek, but I was planning on making a trip either today or tomorrow."

Adorable? That hadn't been a word used to describe Zarah frequently. Well, her grandmother had used it before she died, but that almost didn't count. Most people described her questions as pointless or interesting if they were being polite. If they weren't the most common word was annoying. Lyra's use of the word wiped the excited grin from Zarah's face. Was the Terran making fun of her? Zarah couldn't tell. She could never tell if someone was making fun of her. It was like something was wrong with her brain. She talked too fast and too loudly. She couldn’t sit still. She would go on and on about the one topic all the time. Was Lyra just humoring her like everyone else?

Zigma sensed his person's distress and bobbed from where he had been hovering near George to closer to Zarah. Honestly, Zigma liked being a glowing orb of light. There were a plethora of perks that came with this form. There were still times when he wished that he could touch or hug people. Good natured hugs seemed to be the easiest way to cheer people up. He wished he could do something more than blink reassuringly. That was one of the downfalls of not having hands. Or arms for that matter. Though it did mean people didn’t try to touch him except for Zarah. So, that was good.

He did telepathically ask, "Zarah? Are you alright?

She gave her head a minute jerk, "It's just more of the same. I can't tell if she's making fun of me or not.

Zigma hummed, "Well, she's answering your questions. Let's focus on that for now. We'll worry about the rest later."

That made logical sense so Zarah turned her attention from possible subtext and hidden meanings to the direct answers to her questions. The answers only created more questions in her mind, and it took more effort than she wanted to admit to not just start asking question after question without even pausing to breath. She wanted to know why Zigma was a ball of light and Jessica was more like a person. She wanted to know how Zigma could learn to make this hard light. As an aside, the hard-light ball felt incredibly cool, almost like it was alive. She didn’t want to be seen as annoying, so she didn’t ask. Zarah wanted Lyra to like her. She wasn't sure why.

Lyra finally answered all the question, but before Zarah could speak George beat her, "If we are going to see a spaceship, which would be awesome, we should go soonish, if not now. It will be light soon, and mountain climbing is safer while the sun is out."

Zarah was forced to agree, "Days on Trazie are short. Depending on how far we have to go we might have to walk home in the dark, so we should limit the time spent in the dark. She reached into her pocket to pull out her map and point at a spot, "This is where we found you." Her finger traced a path, "If I'm understanding you right this is about where your ship is.

George looked over her shoulder, "That is a trip and I am a little bit slower than Zarah when it comes to getting around the mountains. He looked up at Lyra, "Does Mrs. Traveil have a list of chores you need to get done? We can help you finish sooner.

Zarah nodded as she folded up her map. She had hoped that Lyra would say yes to going to see the spaceship, so she was packed much the same as she was yesterday. She would be more than willing to help out with any of Lyra's chores if it meant they go to the spaceship sooner. She really, really, really wanted to see the spaceship. She wanted to take it apart but wasn't sure she would be able to put it back together again. That would not be the ideal. She would have to be content with just looking, and hopefully touching it.

They were both eager to see her ship; the technophilia wasn't limited to just Zarah. She took that as a good sign, though she could feel Jessica's growing weariness. Her voice of caution, but Lyra had little to really fear from these people, that she'd seen. There was even a freely formed Aeva among these people. If they had more geodes, would they have formed more? Or was Zarah an interesting exception?

Lyra heard their complaints. Back by nightfall seemed to be the theme. At the very least, they preferred not to travel at night. There were plenty of illumination tools at her disposal, but they had the right idea. Once they got to her ship, maybe she could even provide them with some tools of their own.

"No list of chores today, but I can't imagine it will stay that way," Lyra gave a wave to madam baker, offering a pleasant smile. The mother seemed to be satisfied with Lyra's work.

She was listening in, too, though that was perfectly within her rights in her own home, with some stranger about, "no chores today, that's no way to treat a new guest. Sounds like the lot of you already have plenty on your plates, anyway." Mrs. Traveil eyed them wearily, most of her caution easily directed at Lyra. "If you must be off, then off with you."

"Oh, thank you." She hadn't expected the courtesy, but she'd have to repay it somehow. She turned to her forming party, "I'll get my gear. Mrs. Traveil, I'd take it out myself, but-" she stopped to a dismissive wave from the woman.

"Just go, you're wasting daylight."

"Yes, yes, moving," Lyra offered a short bow before ducking into the guest room she'd been permitted. She had an idea to discuss with her exploration party once they were off. No need to mention moving her ship places where that might raise tensions. Just to the top of the cliff, so they wouldn't have to climb down. Jesse could use the pack to reach out to it, from a certain distance. Line of sight helped greatly, so the top of the cliff would certainly be in range.

On her way out the door, Mrs Traveil stepped in front of her and deposited a basket of bread into her arms, before giving her a final push out the door before she could say any more. This one liked to take her time when they were already late to start traveling.

It isn't like you to hesitate.Well, if I were the elder, I'd probably get worried you
loaded them up and took them away, if I saw it.

When they were out of earshot from the village, and a little while after, Lyra turned to her companions while they walked, "so, question. I could bring my ship up to land on the cliff, once we get over there, but I think your elder, or anyone else that saw it, would probably freak out. Opinions? And did anyone bring jam? She may have even included some in here..." Lyra began to dig through the picnic basket, just a bit. She could fly back and source one, if needed, though Zarah might have more success there. Maybe Mrs Traveil included one...