In Alien Hands: Family Ties

Homecoming - Part 2

The flight wasn't terrible, though Holli was clearly testy. She wasted no time with trying to unbuckle herself, which I couldn't allow. My fellow passengers (the ones who didn't start at her like she was rabid, so mostly the dog-men) tried to distract her and give me a break, but she seemed determined to endanger herself. I finally lost my temper and held her hands in front of her, effectively forcing her to stop. She seemed upset by my actions, but she stopped trying to get loose. I felt bad, and resolved to distract her properly.

I had asked for several packages of crackers, as many as they could give me. They didn't want her loose and running around any more than I did, so they obliged. I handed her them one by one, hoping she'd eat them slowly and be distracted until we landed. she ate them very slowly, taking small nibbles. We had left at  midday, so it would be late when we landed.

With the ship finally touching down, we were instructed to get off the plane. I began trying to undo her buckles, struggling to avoid her injured arm. It seemed pretty sore, and I didn't want to hurt her. She started to interfere, I was happy to see that she stopped when I told her "no". She panicked for a moment after looking around the plane, I made sure to be visually calm and she calmed as well. Humans have less sensitive inner ears than dog-men, so she probably couldn't tell we had landed.

She refused to move from the stop, finally obliging after I tickled her under her arms. Several of my fellow passengers told me how cute she was, I thanked them before leading her out of the ship and onto the port. She was clearly tired now, her feet dragging and eyes drooping. I swear I saw her yawn at one point.

Grene was waiting for us in the terminal. He gave me a quick hug before offering Holli a drink, they hadn't offered her anything on the ship. She happily took it, taking a quick drink.

"How ya doin', Merlin?" Grene grinned at me, ruffling Holli's hair. I hated when he called me Merlin, my name was Merle. Lyndsey, his human, had called me Merlin as a joke when I first met her. I was still a teenager then, but the name stuck. Grene spoke English, the language of our humans. He had spent years learning the language, no one else in the family knew it.

"I'm doing fine. Ready to go home, finally." I was exhausted. Holli was slower than the two of us, so I lifted her up. She squeaked from surprise, but immediately calmed once she got her bearings . I carried her out to the van. It was specially designed to not require seatbelts, the inner compartments were crash proof. No matter how fast the van might have to stop, the riders wouldn't feel even a little deceleration. I tried to put her in the back and ride up front with Grene, but she wasn't having it. I settled and ride with her in an attempt to keep her happy.

Grene had put a few toys back there, so she'd cause a bit less trouble. She immediately went for one similar to the toy we played with together while she was being held in quarantine, we played it together for most of the ride.

She didn't even squeak when I lifted her to carry her inside the house. The humans would all be asleep, Father had a dog set up in my room for her. If we put her in the Human room tonight, they'd all wake up and wouldn't go back to sleep from the excitement of a new human.

"Has she eaten?" Vyelet whispered to me, trying not to wake the humans in the next room over. I shook my head no.

"I saved some of dinner, I'll put it in a bowl for her. Do you need some?" Pynke, my mother, whispered. I mouthed the words "thank you" before heading down to my room. Holli was clearly still awake, barely. I set her down on my reading chair, the lights were dimmed all the way down to keep her from being woken up the rest of the way.

My mother handed me the bowl of warm food. I handed it to her with a normal fork, eating my food while I made sure she took her time. I had missed my family's cooking, it was as delicious as ever. Holli seemed to be intentionally eating slower than she wanted to, which was fine by me. As long as she didn't choke scarfing down food, I was fine.

I took her food once she was done, setting it outside the door for Vyelet to take and wash. My goal was to get Holli to sleep now, before she woke herself up and tried to explore or meet the rest of the family. I gently changed her into her pajamas. This wasn't as important as it used to be, as she cooperated happily, usually I'd let her dress herself since she was tame. She didn't protest, letting me quickly switch her out of the dirty clothes.

She seemed happy to fall asleep immediately after I placed her into the bed, even before I had finished tucking her small form into the bed.

Published 11/09/18