Refuge: Point of View

Posted on 05 Mar 2022 @ 7:19pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant Theodore Winslow & Lieutenant Noah Khoroushi
Edited on on 01 Jul 2022 @ 12:37am

Mission: M2 - Sanctuary
Location: Planet Obsidian, Kalara City
Timeline: MD04 afternoon
1621 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Ayalou walked through the Kalaran market with her shoulders big.

She felt very grown up when her mother had asked her to 'please be a good little assistant' to her friend Theo for the day while she and her father went somewhere for help for her hurt uncle. Her uncle had been in somewhere called "critical care" ever since the terrifying day those people in black had attacked her family. Since spending the morning with Theo, she'd already forgotten her nightmares while being given 'important' tasks to sort equipment and man the front desk of the empty brig with the booking officer for a couple of hours. Theo had even let her play with the shuttle controls before they took off; even if she knew they were set on simulator mode, it was one of the most exciting things. She couldn't have imagined the day being anymore exciting until Theo had explained they were going to go to the planet and try to sort out getting her a home and that his friend Noah was good at talking to people to sort out misunderstandings like theirs. He was Dipper-matic.

Ayalou liked the warm air. It reminded her of summer on her planet, and she loved summer! "Will my new home have a swimming hole? There was a swimming hole at my old home. I remember it."

Theo glanced at the girl and shrugged. "I am not sure. Every home is different. My home did not have a swimming hole." He offered thinking back to the almost village in the forest he had grown up in.

She reached up and patted his arm. "It's okay. You can come and swim in mine, at my new home." She promised to console him.

"Thanks, Kid." The man answered with a soft smile as he got his head back to there here and now instead of a planet that was backwards and controlling. He needed to focus to outward instead of inward.

As she saw more and more of the dark skinned people, she thought them very strange. "Why are their faces triangles?" She asked out-loud to Noah, pointing at one of the men with particularly angular cheekbones and what seemed to Ayalou a very unnaturally sharp chin.

Noah raised a hand to wave to the cluster of men walking by, rolling his eyes slightly towards his small, outspoken travel companion. Kids, his expression said, and thankfully they moved on. "It's the way they're made," he offered to the girl. "If everyone looked the same, things would get pretty boring after a while."

"They've got big dresses." She said about their embroidered robes.

Theo was starting to think that it was not the brightest idea to have brought the child along who had a million questions to ask the world. He had been similar but he knew that the world would not beat it out of her like had happened to him. "They are all robes."

Robes. Dresses. the difference wasn't apparent to her. She continued to wonder out loud, with very little care about her volume in the open marketplace. "How do they use the toilet with all of their dresses on?" That was always a problem for her when she had to wear a ceremonial outfit. "Do they hold their skirts for each other?"

"And on that note you need food." Theo laughed amused by the looks around them as everyone tried to avoid looking at the child who was asking far too many intimate questions. Theo indicated the safest choice for her and quickly set about getting them all sweet bread.

Ayalou eyed the giant sweet bread and tried to wrap her teeth around it. She seemed entirely placated with the snack as she was passively protectively flanked by both of her friends.

"So what is our approach here?" Theo has come along as security but also to learn more about the culture and people on the planet.

It was a challenge to keep the smirk from his expression as Ayalou was slowly worming her way under Winslow's guard. It was a blessing to have the distraction. "We're wanting to get an audience with at least one member of the Kalaran council. Captain Dhow assured me some of his team would be here to liaise for us. It's just a matter of actually *finding* them in all of this mess."

Ayalou's eyes tracked some other people through the milling of the market attendees. Their faces seemed more like the races she was used to seeing and less so like these Ob-sid-er-nights, even if they did have similar dark skin. They stood out to her and it didn't occur to her that she and Noah and Theo were as obviously different as they. "Mrhe meh?" she tried to ask, who they were but her mouth was full of food.

Shirin noted the approach of the tall officer through the crowd and dug an elbow into her companion's side.

"What?" Dark eyes in an equally dark face glared down at her with no effect and Cyrus sighed. How Allah determined he was meant to be partnered with this hoyden, he would never know. Instead, he followed the course of her focus and smiled. "Khoroushi!" The call was a near bellow that cut across the market place to its desired effect. He waved the officer over to where they stood.

Hearing his name, Noah glanced up to catch sight of a familiar face. He waved in return, reaching down to catch hold of a sticky hand so as not to lose their tag-a-long in the morass. "That's Cyrus Alinejad, a captain on the El Aurian team Dhow had brought in to work with the Kalarans," he explained to Theo while working to cut a way through.

"Nice to put a face to the name," Theo said glancing down to see that Ayalou was being held so they did not lose her.

"The rest of the team is probably at the base working on the settlement." As they drew closer, Noah caught sight of a riot of dark hair barely contained about a sharp, expressive face that came just a fraction short of pugnacious. "And Shirin." Which likely explained their presence as she tended to handle most of the commercial tasks, being the language expert on the team.

Ayalou's jaws were busy with the chewy snack and she held it out the piece in her hands for a goat that asked for a bite. She listened to the adults say a lot of names.

"If you feed the wildlife, they'll likely follow you back to your base," Cyrus chuckled as the trio finally reached them. He nodded to Noah and added, "Glad to see you were able to make it through the quagmire; I wasn't expecting an entourage." He could sense Shirin measuring up the other man with a calculating eye.

"This is Lieutenant Theodore Winslow," Noah indicated his fellow officer. "As for Ayalou," he cast a curious glance at Winslow even as he ruffled the girl's hair. "Why is she with us again?"

Theo could have offered a bland explanation that he was looking after her but he truly had brought her along to sweeten anyone up to his attempt to get help. "I am looking to clear up a settlement grant that was retracted without explanation for her family and many others." He said truthfully. The truth was normally the better option.

“Right, I guess that makes her my attaché.” Noah grinned, unfazed by Shirin’s snort of laughter.

“Take what you can get; the Council is a bull in the mud on the best of days.” Eying the child, Shirin noted the flush of color starting to color her cheeks. Khoroushi was unaffected by the heat; but his companion should have thought better, what with his own burn-prone skin. Turning to a nearby stall, she pulled free a strip of fabric and draped it about the small head.

“Shirin’s not wrong,” Cyrus explained. “Something we’ve been dealing with on a daily basis is a tipping of allegiance between the nationalists and those supporting the Fleet’s interjection. It can all come down to one bad sale and everything shifts afresh.”

Theo did not let the frustration show on his face but he took the warning to heart. He smiled down at Ayalou reassuringly. "Thank you. I just want to get her and her people help and a home. Any advice on anyone with sympathies?" He asked.

Ayalou swayed and tilted, proud of the decorative gift and happy to see the swish of the lose ends of the knot and she turned, imagining she was quite beautiful like one of the grown ladies around her with the intricately embroidered or elaborately dyed scarves around their heads. "So pretty!" She bounced up and down and giggled, basking in the attention of Miss Shirin.

Pleased with the tuck and lie of the fabric, Shirin nodded to the small form as she regained her feet. “Talk to Councilman Jiran. He’s not a sure bet, but he has proven the most likely to at least hear you out before tossing out a no. Besides, he has small ones of his own, so your little emissary might wield some influence.” Her gaze met Winslow’s before adding. “That, or she can chatter him into at least offering a consideration.”

Theo nodded and made a quick note of the name so he could work out who he was and how to approach him with Noah's support. The refugees had so much to offer anyone who took them in. "Thank you." He said thankful that he was being given some guidance on who might be willing to help.