Everyone fell silent. I watched as my alien went to stand beside the C'Riel who'd come onto the stage. I looked between them, back and forth and realised they could be related. Father and son, perhaps. Though the C'Riel near my alien didn't show any sign of having aged, he looked...elder somehow.

My eyes tried to take in as much as it could, as more C'Riel assembled behind them in a straight line facing us. A female C'Riel came to stand beside my alien's maybe-father.

My alien's mother?

They had the same hair colour, so it was possible.

His father was however blonde/golden haired. They all shared the same eye colour though.

When he spoke, all of us stilled.

His voice held a note of threat that wasn't hidden in the least.

"You are here as a mark of our good will. You will work for a living unless you are ten years or less. You will work for the time allotted to you. You will eat the food given to you, not a single morsel is to be thrown out. You will be given exactly the amount of nutrition you need. No more or less. You will be given communication devices that will be monitored. Your consumption of any resource will be limited and monitored strictly. Your education will not be interfered with, but we will add on necessary knowledge to yours. You will be split into areas to work and study. You will be employed in areas we see fit. And finally, you will not do anything to jeopardise our planet. Do not take this lightly, for we are threatening you."

Silence prevailed after he stopped speaking. The elder waited for sometime as if to see if any of us would object, but when none of us did, he nodded curtly and turned on his heel, said a few words to the C'Riel behind him and to my alien.

Then he walked out with his (possibly) wife.

I sighed and looked at Ren, who threw me a wry grin.

"At least they aren't hiding the fact that they're threatening us." He murmured.

I nodded my head at him.

"Optimism shall keep us alive." I said, winking at him.

When we saw movement in front on the stage, we all looked up.

They held what looked like sleek data pads in their hands, I couldn't exactly tell because these data pads seemed transparent.

They were calling out names. The people's whose names they called out, quietly shuffled towards the C'Riel that called them and stood in a line.

I watched as a dark haired C'Riel called Ren's name and my eyes widened. He threw me a regretful glance and walked towards the line that stood in front of the C'Riel who called his name.

I sighed and dad and I waited for our names to be called. Kylee and Jasmine were called and she squeezed my hand and walked towards the line in front of her. When I looked up to see who'd called her, I stilled. It was my alien.

I have to stop calling him-

"Gerald and Amour Hills," his voice called out and I stilled. My eyes flashed up to look at him and I knew he was looking at me despite having a long-ish line in front of me.

I followed my father and stood in line. My alien nodded his head and turned around indicating that we follow him.

"That was not.." My father murmured something under his breath and I looked at him.

"What?" I asked, looking at him.

He met my eyes and his eyebrows furrowed.

"We were the last to be called." He murmured to me.

I nodded slowly, unsure what he was talking about.

He met my eyes as we walked along and shook his head, a small smile lifting his lips. He patted my head.

"Nothing, Amour." He said.

I hated it when he did that! Why wouldn't he just tell me?

I huffed out a breath, stirring the strands of hair that had curled near my lips. I ran my fingers through my hair, pushing it back from my face.

I was about to open my mouth and ask my dad what he was talking about when Kylee chose that moment to wrap her free hand around me.

"I'm so glad we're together." She whispered, while Jasmine made baby noises.

"Yeah," I said, looking at her, "I'm glad too."

We were called to attention by another C'Riel who looked older, with blonde hair, who came to stand with my alien.

He asked the humans who were above twenty five years of age to follow him. Dad threw me a worried look, squeezed my hand once, leaned over to press a kiss to my temple and murmured, "Be careful, Amour. Everything is not what it seems," before following his instructions.

What did that mean?

For the first time as I watched my father walk away from me, I felt a spike of unadulterated fear rip through me. This was the first time my father and I were being separated.

"The others, follow me." A curt, now familiar voice spoke. I turned to follow my alien out the back exit of the building. Automatic sliding doors slid into the walls for us to exit. I was the last to exit the door so I turned to watch the wall close in on itself, absolutely no crease seen.

Whoa.

I pressed a finger to the wall, attempting to see if there was any raised area near the door.

"Nanotechnology." A voice said behind me.

I turned to meet eyes of fire.

I raised my eyebrows in a silent question. His arms were crossed across his chest. He tilted his head towards the wall/door in front of me to indicate what he was talking about.

"I believe that's what you call it on Earth." He explained.

I raised my eyebrows.

"You have a nanomites fusing the door to the wall?" I asked, turning to look at the wall/door again.

When I turned back, he had a speculative expression on his face.

It was at that minute that I realised how tall he was. The top of my head came to his chest, the centre of his sternum.

I took in his features. From his high cheekbones, to his perfectly ruffled dark hair that accentuated his black and amber eyes. His tall, broad shoulder build, with his arms crossed across his chest and his feet spread apart.

He had the stance of a soldier.

"We could stay here and speak about doors, or I could take you to your new home."

Both sound equally tempting, I thought. But I didn't say anything. I just nodded my head once and when he turned, I silently followed.

I stilled when I realised that there was a large...vehicle of sort hovering a feet off the ground, into which people were getting in. The vehicle looked like a pearl coloured smooth edged rectangle with strips of transparent material seamlessly bedded into the sides and at the front to act as windows.

My alien placed his hand to a small darkened rectangle (biometric system?) on the vehicle, which lit up blue and like the walls/doors, a 'door' of the vehicle slid open on the outer surface of the vehicle.

More nanomites.

I moved to get in without any prompting, and realised what when I got too close to him (because he was standing right next to the door), my alien inconspicuously shifted away so that I wouldn't touch him.

Interesting.

Aversion to humans? Or aversion to touch?

When I stepped in, I met Kylee's eyes as she looked relieved. The chairs inside the bus had a round base and a short erect back to lean on with a single thinning structure that extended from the bottom side of the base to the floor of the vehicle for support.

Frankly it didn't look too comfortable. But I wasn't going to complain. So I settled in the chair next to Kylee.

I stilled when, like in the Spaceship, the seat contorted and retracted until it was spooned perfectly around me. The base even stretched against my sides to cup my in the middle and give me space to keep my arms at the sides on top of it. The back lengthened to support my spine and I was so comfortable I felt like I'd never have to move.

My feet rested on the floor of the vehicle when my alien came to stand in the middle of the aisle.

"As we are below twenty five years, we are assigned to one district. The district is where we work, attend educational institutions and stay. Both human and C'Riel will cohabit together. But you will not be in the same room. The female residents and the male residents are separated by a floor, which is called the Common Cabin."

He then turned to knock on the door behind him, which I assumed separated the driver's pit from ours. The door opened and a smiling C'Riel walked out.

Her hair was long and a colour lighter than honey. Her eyes were a blend of blue and white. Like the sky and its clouds had decided to reside in them.

She, like my alien, was wearing a black bodysuit and was also tall. She came to his shoulder.

What was with this species and their heights?

She stepped forward with a large smile on her face.

"This is Anya." He introduced as Anya nodded her head at us, a smile still on her face.

My eyes flicked back and forth between them, curious. They were standing a little closer than any C'Riel I'd seen. But they still didn't touch, or hug, or give each other a kiss.

Curiouser and curiouser.

"All the men will be under and report to me," my alien said, before tilting his head to Anya, "All the women to her."

"What's your name?" a girl behind me asked.

My alien, who's eyes had been trained to the window, like he was looking at something, turned to narrow his eyes at the girl sitting behind me.

"You would not be able to pronounce it," he said, smirking at her before turning away to enter the driver's room behind him.

I almost sniggered as I heard the girl behind me sigh in frustration.

Anya shook her head with a small smile on her face. Then she blinked, her head moving to look at the closed door behind her, her brows furrowed. Then her head whipped towards us, and her eyes landed on me, narrowing.

Wondering what I'd done, I met her stare, my own eyes narrowing at her. She blinked before smiling again, and walking down the aisle. I turned to see what she was up to and realised she, unlike the 'anti-social one' presently inside the driver's pit, was introducing herself to the people at the back. Laughing at their jokes and nodding when they spoke. She kept advancing towards the front section and I waited as she came towards Kylee and me.

"Hello, I'm Anya." She introduced herself, but since she didn't give her hand for a shake, we refrained from doing so as well.

"Amour." I said, nodding at her, suspicion still pricking at me.

"Kylee," the excited ball of a girl sitting next to me said.

Little Jasmine leans forward, to look at Anya.

Anya bent a little too, her hands on her knees.

"And who is this?" She asked smiling at Jasmine.

"Jasmine." Kylee said, adjusting the now excited baby in her arms.

"Daughter?" She asked flicking her eyes between me and Kylee, a little confused.

Kylee shook her head, no.

"My niece." She replied.

Anya opened her mouth to say something when, the door opened and my alien stepped out.

He and Anya shared something over a glance and Anya straightened.

"We are here." Anya said.

When all of us started to shift to get up, my alien held a hand up and we stilled.

When the vehicle came to a complete stop, he put his hand down.

"Never stand until the Hover has stopped." He instructed.

I had the ridiculous urge to say 'Sir, yes, sir!' and slap a salute. I thought of how his face would look if I did that and it brought a grin to my lips.

His eyes that had been sweeping over everyone stopped at my face, dropping to my lips and attempting to scrutinise my amused expression.

He then tilted his head and instructed us to follow him. Kylee stood up, with a fussy Jasmine she wasn't able to control.

"Jasmine, stop it." Kylee muttered, but Jasmine kept trying to wiggle out of her arms and the smaller girl wasn't able to hold her.

I sighed not knowing why I was offering this, because for the life of me I didn't know how to handle a fussy child.

"Shall I?" I asked, as Kylee handed over Jasmine to me with a small annoyed frown for her niece's benefit.

When the child came to me, she got instantly distracted by my hair. Her hand (that had been God knows where) immediately caught a few strands and wrapped them around her fingers as she played with them.

I just prayed that it didn't go into her mouth.

When I looked up I realised that we were the last few left in the 'Hover' as my alien had called it.

By the time I stepped out onto the grassy ground, I realised something. One, I was basically the absolute last person to exit the Hover and two, the colour of the grass here was leaning more towards purple than green. It had a tinges of both. Weird. But pretty.

Also, I realised a large group had moved forward with Anya in the lead as she gave an introduction about basically everything. I could hear her voice but couldn't decipher what she was saying.

Kylee stood a few feet in front of me, debating if she should catch up with the group or not, while Jasmine realised she needed to touch the grassy ground.

I shooed Kylee away, figuring that if at least one of us learned our way around we'd be able to teach the other.

Kylee bit her lip, "Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes. Go!" I said, bending to place Jasmine down before she got too angry and decided to yank on the locks of my hair she had wrapped around her fingers.

As soon as I placed her down, she dropped to her bum. I kneeled beside her, curious as to why she wanted to sit on the ground.

She finally let go of my hair and pressed her hand to the purple/green grass on the ground and curled her fingers around it.

She looked at me and made her baby noises.

I nodded, "Yes. That's grass."

When she started to lift her hand, I caught her plump fingers and said, "No. You mustn't pull it."

I slowly pried her fingers from the possibly super-human grip on the grass and held her arms as I lifted her to her feet. Her small squeaky shoes makes noises as she wobbled on them and clutched tighter at me so she didn't fall.

When a shadow fell on us, I looked up.

"This is becoming a habit," he stated as he stood above us, a dark figure with the sun streaming down behind him, which both darkened and lightened his hair.

I held up a finger, "This time, it wasn't my fault." I stated.

His eyes slid to the little girl in front of me, who'd become quiet and innocent eyed as a deer and was staring up at him.

His eyes slid back to me, raked over my features, before going to her.

"You do not have any resemblance with each other. Unlike you and your father. So this is your..?" He trailed off, as I stood up and dusted my knees and picked up Jasmine who came quietly and sucked her hand.

I pulled her hand out from her mouth quickly because it had just been in the grass. And my hair.

"She's my no one." I said shrugging.

I could see that I had befuddled him, because though his expression didn't exactly change, a small furrow appeared between his brows. His long dark lashes flicked up as he considered me with eyes that were dark and light at the same time.

I started to walk as Jasmine turned to look where we were going, her arms blissfully by her sides and not in her mouth.

"I do not understand." He said, his long strides easily catching up to me.

Yeah, neither do I. I thought.

I finally took in my surroundings and realised...we were in a forest.

We were genuinely in a forest.

I looked back and realised that we hadn't even followed a road. There were no roads. Whoa.

I looked at the sturdy building that was perfectly clean and pearly white and large enough to to make me feel like an ant. Like the Hover, this building was smooth around the edges. But it just looked like a large curve-edged box.

We were going to live here?

Also, I realised that creepers had beautifully curled themselves around the structure giving it colour naturally and trees shaded it even as the right amount of light lit it up.

"Amour."

I blinked out of my stupor and realised that both Jasmine and my alien were looking at me.

"Yes?" I said.

"I do not understand." He repeated, his face finally showing that he did not like not understanding.

"Well, how about this? You tell me your name, I'll tell you about me and Jasmine." I said.

He stopped walking and turned to face me. I did the same, hitching Jasmine higher on my hips.

"You will not be able to pronounce it." He said.

I smirked at him.

"Try me." I challenged.

His eyes narrowed at the direct challenge in my words.

He opened his mouth and spoke.

I blinked.

Okay, I genuinely can't pronounce that. In fact, I can't even spell it.

"Say it again." I demanded.

His lips tipped up in a smile, like he knew he'd already won. This time when he spoke, I was ready.

"A...Rafe...s" he said.

Okay, that's basically how it sounded to me. There were obviously words in the middle that I possibly could not put into human letters.

But I did catch one word that I could use.

I nodded. "Rafe." I said, "Got it."

His brows furrowed, "My name is-"

I waved a hand in the air, "Potato, tomato, potato, tomato." I said.

He continued to look at me.

Okay he probably didn't understand that.

"It's a nick name." I explained, "Your name is too large for me to say. So I'll call you Rafe." I said.

He continued to stare at me as if waiting for something.

"Oh, right. Kylee is sort of my friend. So Jasmine is sort of my....friend." I said.

Rafe shook his head, "Your reasoning does not make sense."

"It's the best I have." I said.

Rafe looked at my face longer, like he was trying to figure something out. Before he looked away towards the building.

"Let's go," he said and walks ahead expecting me to follow.

And I did.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I hope you liked that! So finally a name huh?

Until next time Unicorns!

Comment and Vote. I would really appreciate it! ❤️