Extraterrestrial Exploration

chapter 23

(Note: there's some female on female touching in this chapter but it's not going to turn into a Canon romantic relationship for this story! just as a heads up. im also curious if you guys would be interested in something like that, 🤔 never tried it before)

–Nala–

What should I do? my brain was struggling to come up with any kind of plan or explanation for what I was seeing.

Up until now I had only interacted  with Eiso and Eikan, and they were exactly what I would call a reliable source of knowledge.

they were the only two I had tried to communicate with and even that didn't get very far, I had only learned a handful of words, not nearly enough to communicate with.

Initially with how isolated Eiso and Eikan were I had thought that they were more solitary people who probably only got together when mating or keeping close family nearby but there's at least over a dozen natives here, their social hierarchy is no doubt different from the brothers and their way of life as well. things that I do now could easily upset one of them and I could end up a slave or dead body….if I wasn't already one…

I swallowed hard, keeping completely still as all the natives watched me with either curious or worrying gazes.

Their leader, the darker colored female, was watching me particularly carefully as the girl who had light green colorations and had entered the shelter with the bowl of water before, stood behind her.

After a tense moment of silence the masked woman spoke up, saying something in their language that drew everyone's attention. she swiped her hand through the air as if dismissing them all, before descending the stone steps before her to approach me along with the girl behind her.

a few of the other women quickly went on with their business while a handful of onlookers stuck around to watch and see what would happen.

The masked woman came within a few feet of me and stopped, tilting her head to the side as her eyes narrowed in my direction. she seemed to be concentrating on something but I couldn't tell what it was.

After a moment she turned her head to look at the lighter colored female who was noticeably younger, and nodded seemingly passing on an order to her as she perked up and quickly fled to do some unknown task.

This piqued my interest, as it reminded me of the way Eiso and Eikan often seemed to communicate to one another. before I thought it was just simple gestures and looks that they somehow understood but now I had a feeling there was something more to these natives.

The masked woman then turned her attention back to me and stepped even closer. I flinched back some as she reached for me with her free hand, and she suddenly stopped.

She watched me carefully, seemingly reading my reaction and body language. before speaking up.

I couldn't understand most of the things she said but there was one word that I did have some semblance of understanding. thanks to Eiso and Eikan.

safe.

Was she trying to reassure me? was she telling me I was safe here?

I relaxed a bit, looking towards her open hand and she slowly reached towards me again, watching my reactions carefully.

she touched my arm gently lifting it up to inspect the injury I had, then trailed her gaze over the faded and washed out paint markings across my body. as her fingers lightly traced the markings across my chest, her features twisted into a look of disdain and a distinct growl emanated from her throat.

Although her sudden anger did not seem directed towards me it still put me at unease.

moments later the light green female returned with a much older looking native woman dressed in all sorts of accessories. The masked lady took a step back as she and the old woman looked at one another, silently communicating before turning their focus on me.