The Lost Secret of the Silver Sea

Chapter 21: The Intricacies of Humans

            Kaelonne winced as a small pain flashed in his lower leg, twisting to finally rest it on the wooden crate Hartley had specifically placed for him. Hartley had glared at him for a few seconds at his initial stubbornness to sit down, but after a few hyper gestures to all the things in his labs, he settled for allowing him to roam the large space with the promise to sit down within an hour.

            The young royal had been permitted to accompany both Hartley and his father to their place of work. He’d initially protested against it, not wanting to be a hassle or get in the way of things, but the two of them had ganged up with too many reasons on why it would be better than staying at home. As their boss was out on work for a while and Hartley now getting back to the job, the workload was not as high apparently.

            A few of those reasons he was enjoying now. He sighed happily as he leaned back on the chair next to the fellow working on the computer next to him, sipping on one of the drinks Ford had left for them. Said fellow to the side, had tirelessly answered every and any questions he’d had to the best of his ability without hesitation, Kaelonne had to admit that he was slightly amazed by the human’s patience.

            “Well, I’m happy you’re enjoying yourself.” Hartley turned to face him with a smirk, leaning on the handle of his chair. He had a white coat over his clothes, his safety goggles lopsided on his head.

            “There is just so much of this world to see.” Kaelonne looked at him with bright eyes, turning to lean his elbow on the back of the chair. As a prince, he was trained to act regal and consistently in command, but as he was currently not required to act as one, he allowed himself to act like a child, asking endless questions and poking at things that he probably shouldn’t have, though that last one seemed to be his normal attitude no matter where he was.

            “Much different from back home, I guess?” Hartley turned till his back was leaning to the table, head raised to the grey ceiling.

            “Hmm, for one, our ‘technology’ is much different.” Kaelonne hums as he copies the humans form, gazing blankly at the unpainted ceiling. “And the way of communication, most fascinating.”

            “This…” Kaelonne moved his head to face the human as his voice goes soft, “Having to learn all of this must have been hard, wasn’t it?”

            “Nah...” Kaelonne liked the broken slang, it made its use even better as Hartley glanced at him in surprise and huffed in laughter, “Honestly? I think I had it pretty easy.”

            “What makes you say that?”

            “I’m a researcher, we’re trained to work around unplanned situations. Though I must say, this is more that an unplanned situation…” Hartley laughed outright at the Mermatians exaggerated facial expressions and hand movements, “But it’s been more fascinating than harrowing, if you ask me.”         

            “Good thing I did.” Hartley grinned cheekily as he used one of Kaelonne’s own lines at him, granted this time, Hartley had asked.

            Coffee, tea, coke and so many other drinks with too much sugar. Hartley and Ford had successfully gotten him addicted to the caffeinated stuff. He would have felt more insulted to himself for falling for it, but he couldn’t bring himself to be the regal prince who wanted for nothing.

            Coffee was the most fascinating and horrifying concept yet. Humans willingly drank something that was considered poisonous simply to wake them up or for recreation. That was the explanation that solidified that humans, despite their fragile appearance, were the apex of land, either that or completely crazy… he was betting on the second one but wasn’t really willing to explain that to Hartley.

            ‘Fast food’ was apparently not healthy in any way, shape, or form. Why humans still ate it, he wasn’t really excited to ask. That was his thoughts until Ford bought for them with a raised eyebrow, clearly adding ‘Never eaten junk food’ to his unknown mental list. The Mermatian had balked at first but wasn’t happy about Hartley’s challenging grin as he ate without worry. Fast food was something quickly gaining the second spot on his list, beneath sweetened drinks, of ‘Things of the human world he liked.’

            More often than not, he would find himself looking at things Hartley pulled up for him on the computer, videos that thought him about the world and its capabilities. He learned of the stars, planets, and the universe. The entire idea had sent him into shock initially, his mind not comprehending just what he was learning, Hartley had dragged him away from the computer to give him time to process before calling it a day and taking him to his home with a short explanation from Ford.

            After that, Hartley was pretty cautious on what he showed him, but that had lasted for all of two days as Kaelonne slammed a pile of books he’d squandered from the human’s room and determinedly told him ‘It is either I read this and take every out of context or you show me.’ Probably not his best idea, but he repaid the miffed human with the tales and intricacies of his home.

            History… was a mess. It was all he had to say on the matter, Mermatians had their tales a little more straight forward, but that might only be because they were such a small group of beings. The most harrowing thing to note was that humans spoke several different languages, it was difficult enough to try and learn one, but there were humans that spoke others? Hartley tried to reassure him that he, like many, only spoke one of the languages, but that only served to worry him more.

            “What would happen in times of danger?” Kaelonne questioned, running his fingers over the foreign language that he had no hopes of translating without study.

            “Danger?” Hartley glanced at him over the pile of papers he had on his desk.

            “Yes, what is two people were in a situation and both of then talked a different language?”

            “Oh, you’re still on that. Well, most of the time, people find ways to get by.” Hartley shrugged as if the concept of not being able to communicate with another human did not bother him. “You might not be able to hold a proper, normal conversation, but in the case of an emergency, people usually find a way to get around it.”

            “This is still disturbing.”

            “Okay, think of it this way.” Hartley finally raises his head from where it was buried in his papers, “You speak a different language, there are still a lot of words you do not understand, right?”

            “I don’t see how this is relevant, I still know enough of the language to warn of danger or hold an entire conversation.” Kaelonne raises his eyebrow, curious as to where this conversation was going. Hartley had had the most interesting way of explaining things, weaving references in such a way that the young royal was able to recall things easily.

            “Yes, true, but what did you do to get what you were trying to say across?”

            “…Wild gestures that honestly make no sense to anyone.”

            “Well, yes, in your case, it would have been odd gestures, but humans had a series of simple gestures that generally convey what they are trying to say.”

            “You mean like humming?”

            “Humming?”

            “Yes, it’s something I’ve noticed humans do to convey a number of different things. A confirmation, a denial, a consideration. Mermatians use whistles in place of this.”

            “Yes!” Hartley grinned and waved his hands in excitement, “Much like that, with a language barrier, humans more often than not rely on a mix of facial expressions and gestures to get the message across. It’s not perfect, but it works in a pinch.”

            Barter and jobs was another thing that Hartley took some time to explain to him. Instead of the exchange of items for another, they exchanged money for it, all was well and good until Hartley tried to show him how money from different countries had different value.

            “We need to stop hitting these snags so hard.” The young human deadpanned as he watched the Mermatian paced - that is limp haphazardly with his still healing leg - the width of his lab with one hand resting on the bridge of his nose, the other resting on his hip. “Like, a gentle prod would work to you know.”

            “But how is that making sense?”

            “Which part, buddy, ‘cause I’ve got a lot of grievances about money too.”

            “Okay, I get that some things are worth less value than others, that is because of ability to get materials and to make it and so on, but for the one constant to be worth different values?”

            “Yep, it depends on the ability of the country and the bank itself.”

            “The ability of the country?”

            “Economic performance and a whole lot of boring things that I’ll find a video on for you.”

            “Okay, but doesn’t that mean that some countries have an advantage over others?”

            “Yep.” Hartley leaned back on his chair, hands folded on his lap nonchalantly.

            “And those that don’t, would have to pay more for the same things?”

            “Yep.”

            “But then that would mean that they would not be as well off as the other countries.”

            “Yep.”

            “Shouldn’t humans be trying to help those that can’t to get to the level of the others?”

            “Yep.”

            “You’re not going to be helpful at all, are you?”

            “Nope.”

            The hardest ordeal of the entire week was his leg that refused to heal. He didn’t expect it to fully heal in such a short time, but the scratches did not show any chances of improvement either. It smarted and burned despite the careful care Kaelonne took to it, much more than he had with any other injury he’d ever received.

            Hartley fretted over it as soon as he realised that that the pain seemed to grow worse by the day instead of easing. Kaelonne had been protestant against a doctor, so Ford had chosen to take a look at it. The older human face had been grim at the wound itself, silently wanting to ask how the wound were claw marks, but at Kaelonne uncomfortable face, he’d professionally taken a look at it with nimble hands. He’d been baffled to note that there was no infections and no sight that the injury had any sort of debris in it but made them promise that they would call him if anything were to get worse.

            The inevitable happened hardly two days after. Ford had taken a late night at the station and gave them the heads-up that he would leave when they showed up. That meant Hartley, despite his many reluctances, had to drive them to his place of work.

            Kaelonne had just gone down the stairs to wait for the human as he pulled together some loose papers of a case when the first spike of pain struck. It was enough for him to lose his balance on the steps and grip the bannister tightly. He clutched tightly at the bandages, expecting to find it burning hurt, but he cursed at how cold the skin just above the wrappings were. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell what. His entire body was suddenly overheated, muscles shaky as he tried to get himself to his feet.           

            “Hay, got everything, lets… Kaelonne!” Hartley clattered down the stairs next to him, dropping whatever he had on the higher steps. He grabbed one of the Mermatian’s shaky hands and guided him to the floor again. “What’s going on?”

            “I don’t know, my leg…” Kaelonne winced as he stretched out the offending limb, grunting as Hartley pulled up the pant leg and prodded at the clean bandage, most likely looking for the non-existent heat.

            “I’ll have to take these off.” The human doesn’t wait for permission before he pulls the wrappings off gently, and cursing, “We… have a problem.”

            “Problem?” Kaelonne took a glance at the wound, echoing Hartley’s expletives in agreement. Another stab of pain races up his leg as he registers the solid black veins moving up from the unhealed injury, the wound itself, an angry red.

               “We need to get you to the car.” Despite his lanky appearance, Hartley wraps the injury hastily and swings one of Kaelonne arms over his shoulders, easily pulling him to his feet and dragging him out to the car in the driveway.