"Is there something amiss?", Nathanial asked after a few moments.
Bastal sighed. "You have to excuse me if I stare. But you look ... different from what I expected and how you were described in the debriefings. This is your natural looks, I presume, and the away team saw a disguise?"
Nathanial looked at his own hand. The coloring had been washed off in the meantime, and Poisoned Claw used the headband as a compression bandage to stem his blood loss.
And she almost never left his side ever since. Even now he felt her shape in his back, giving him support where his propped up leg shifted him off-balance.
"Vendi Berries. Boiled and strained, the extract made for a rich blue colour. And this....", there he gestured to his ears, "... the headband covered parts of it, so they never guessed."
"Still it is eerie how similar you look like our males. Larger, sure, more muscular, alright. We have discovered a number of different species so far, all vastly different in their looks. Finding one that looks that close to us is definitely a first and will be the focus of quite some interest."
"Torimor Bastal...", Argent cut in, "Please be aware that his people have little to no technology to speak of, and a rather rudimentary understanding of astronomy - the idea of other sapient species is one of belonging into the realm of myth and legends."
"Truly?", Bastal was taken aback, measuring Nathanial with renewed surprise, "Please, do start at the beginning. Starting with the time you realized that you were not at home... or better, even before that. When you noticed that something was unusual."
Nathanial exchanged a look with Argent, one Bastal was sure was laced with sanzai.
I dearly hope they will come to trust me enough to drop that Lotai of theirs. It is disconcerting to see them all, and not sense them or their thoughts. No wonder the away team panicked, especially once he showed up with a pack of vicious animals in tow. Is that another ability of his, to command base animals to do his biddings?
"I am not sure if this is how it began. I was on a hunting trip away from my family's homestead, and a distant rumbling let me think of thunder, but now I'm not so sure if it hadn't been something different. I remember walking through some dense fog... and ending up in this strange land where nothing looked anything like what I remember", Nathanial summed it up.
A slight frown told everyone that Bastal might have expected more than this. "And then?"
"I was on my own. For... quite a long time. More than two tozons, by my counting. My provisions didn't last forever, so I had to learn everything from scratch. What I could eat and what gave me horrible stomach pains. I searched and searched, but there was nothing here that looked familiar to me. Trees, yes, grass, yes, but they looked different. And then, they happened to come across the clearing and the cabin I built for myself."
Argent hung her head, eyes lowered. "He tried to defend his home from an intruder, which, technically, I was."
"Imagine my shock on noticing that I injured a girl. That was nothing compared to when I realized that she was blue skinned, pointy eared and bleeding blue. For you this might be quite ordinary, but I had never seen suchlike so far."
Bastal tilted her head, eyebrow raised. She was sure there's much more to their tale, but both Natan and Argent were hestitant... ashamed, perhaps? ... to share it. But something else in his words clamored for her attention.
"Wait. More than two tozons, alone? By the time you should have succumbed to the Flames..."
Argent hastened to cut in. "Seems humans don't suffer from this. Please do not make the same mistake we did - we assumed that they are quite much like us, and in many things they are, but there still are some big differences."
"I see", Bastal relented, "this might be a topic for another time. But... try not to get annoyed when we ask questions about your people", she directed towards Nathanial, "you are as strange and curious to us than we might be to you, and every question we ask may tell us something about ourselves and would only lead to a better understanding. Yet the question remains, how you came here, or rather, what brought you here without you noticing?"
"This Soia ruin, you surmise." Nathanial supplied.
Bastal nodded. "The Soia were ... ancient people, coming long before us, and they ruled over a vast empire. But the nature with any government is, without decent transportation, an empire can only grow to a certain size until it starts to fray at the edges. And, the Soia Empire was larger than ... the modes of travel, as we know, would allow for. It should have collapsed on itself, but it didn't. And you being here in Deinar may be the proof of such a transportation system... something that had you take just a step to get from your planet ... what do you call it, by the way? ... on to Deinar."
Nathanial counted himself lucky to have had several glimpses into Argent's mind and knowledge, else Bastal would have surely lost him partway through her explanation. But even now he was sure that she redacted her words, for the sake of comprehension.
"Earth. We call it Earth. But ... if you are right, wouldn't that mean, that this transportation system is on Earth, too? Another set of Soia ruins? And that this Soia Empire included it as well?"
"Likely. But that's something we're intent to find out... and if we can discern the nature of this transportation system and if we can make use of it." Bastal admitted.
Argent swiftly met his gaze with her own, rather sorrowful one.
Of course his thoughts would turn towards the possibility of a way back. And it looks like our esteemed diral leader wouldn't be all too happy about this prospect. She seems to have become quite infatuated with this alien - she and this dark-haired initiate - Poisoned Claw? - who didn't let him go the whole time, and by the looks of it, the majority of this diral.
Is it just him being the first male they had extensive contact to? Sure, there is some rugged charm to him, but that can't be everything there is to that. Perhaps this is connected to how this diral is well-off even under adverse conditions, and this Lotai of theirs. Somehow he garnered their respect, and now I'm sure they'd react poorly on any attempt to separate them... it's either all of them or none of them.
"Then, how do we go from here?", Argent prompted.
"First, I would still like to have Listel Tozet Coral have a look at his wound. She deems it unlikely for an infection to set in, given his different biology, but if there is even just one way to accelerate the healing, I'd gladly take it. And, as said, without Nelonial's influence, she deeply regrets what she had done and would like to have the chance to atone for her transgressions."
"Especially Firebrand and Copperspike won't take it lightly if someone else butts into their work."
"Granted", Bastal relented, "have them double-check Tozet Coral's work if they feel inclined to. Since she's no Doranzer, perhaps she'd like to discuss treatments with them on her own volition as well. From what I see, your two initiates did do outstanding field medic work, given the circumstances."
"That was the first. What's next?", Argent followed up.
"We still wish to investigate the Soia ruins. Preferably together with Natan, if, and only if he can safely travel. 'We', that would include myself, Lennai Songbird, Tozet Coral and Ranzadi Neat - and, by your wish, yourself and some initates at your choosing. I'd offer you a lift to the ruins by shuttle as well, but I'd understand if you are hestitant to take me up on this offer and choose to travel by your own means."
"All this trouble because of these ruins", Argent groused.
"Not quite. Had Nelonial chosen to not to bother you with that message of hers but simply airdropped the team onto the ruins, we all might have been none the wiser... well, until perhaps you had chanced across the away team in search for more meteorite iron. But, I am sure we can turn this burning latrine into something that is beneficial to all of us."