[Old ch`Rihan....]
As the sun gets higher, it's gets rather hot for the boys on their hike. A lot of the grass around them is dead and dry. Rylan had slowed his footsteps a bit, and ponders all the dead grass with a slight worried expression. "Um...." he begins, then decides better of it, and falls silent instead.
DT turns to look at Rylan, "What's wrong? It's just grass." then adds trying to cover the smile, "I'm sure it didn't feel a thing, Rylan."
Ry nods, "I *know* it didn't DT." his tone turns more contemplative and still mulling his own thoughts over in his head adds without meaning to, "Au being a city-boy, I didn't' think au would understand...." he looks at all the dead grass again.
"Au know I'm into biology." D`Tarik smirks, "I *do* notice dead things right away, even plants."
he pauses a moment, then looks at Rylan curiously, "And au are na a 'city-boy'?"
Ry continues his footsteps, but still looks slightly bothered, "Either the farmers here don't take very good care of their land.... or there's a sever drought. Either way, it makes for less then happy people to deal with." he pauses a moment as DT's words catch up to him, and smirks, "Ie...I lived near a city. Spent a lot of time there, too. But I grew up on the vineyards."
"I see." D`Tarik nods, not having known this about Rylan before. With tr`Tuhmek's attitude, he had just assumed he had grown up in a major city before. "Well...ie, I did grow up in the city, but I didn't spend much time there." he explains cryptically, "Too many crowds...."
"Crowds bother au, DT?" Ry asks curiously, still walking and looking for any other signs of the people they were headed towards.
"Ie, they do..." D`Tarik admits, then looks around at the undeveloped area around them and smiles, "But this is nice."
Ry only shrugs at that, "It's quiet, that's what it is." he pauses to look up at the sun's position in the sky a moment, then adds, "If this *is* a farm, they should be out here working on something." he raises a brow at D`Tarik, "Are we headed in the right direction, DT?"
"Ie, look." tr`Rekkohan points off to the distance ahead of them, "There's the rooftops of a couple buildings. Maybe they are doing other things, or the crops are on the other side of the farm." he shrugs, "This just seems to be grass...."
Ry looks at him as if DT went suddenly dense, "But it's still their land!" he nods off in the direction of the structures, then scoffs as he continues on, "Obviously *some* people got off easy when it came to care-taking." he trails off and doesn't talk for awhile.
"Well, I guess they're bad farmers then." D`Tarik shrugs, "Don't we have more important things to worry about?"
Ry nods at that, and turns to the smaller boy, "That's what I *am* worried about - What kind of people they are." he stops a moment, then shrugs it off, "Maybe it's just the fvadt farm creeping me out." he mumbles, "I hate fvadt farms!"
"Settle down, Rylan...." D`Tarik tries to smile reassuringly, "This is na ninte farm. Plus, this is a bit different then the io au grew up on. This one's really..low tech." DT offers, hoping that would settle the agitated taller boy down.
"Oh, it's different!" Ry nods at that, "This isn't a vineyard. They probably grow grain of some sort here..." he kicks the dead grass he walks on, sending up a small cloud of dust.
"Ie, well...I think I see the locals." D`Tarik warns, snapping the taller boy back to the present situation, "How do we hide from them? We're in the middle of an open field?"
Ry had suddenly lifted his head up to look at the faint figures of the locals that D`Tarik had mentioned, then crouches down low, hoping they hadn't seen them as yet. "Hrm...that's a good question..." he looks down at his uniform, then removes the jacket and rolls it up. "Take ninte jacket off. That's a good start. The pants and undershirt aren't that off key for here...I hope!"
"I'm na taking off my lab coat..." tr`Rekkohan protests with a shake of his head.
Rylan looks up at the boy, then pulls him down until tr`Rekkohan was crouching down beside him. Pointing at the lab coat, Ry nods, "That thing is *bright* DT. It screams. Au know what it screams? 'I'm na from around here!' -- that's what!" he cast a look over his shoulder in the direction they had spotted the locals, "And from what I remember of the history books... these people didn't take too kindly to strangers."
"So..." DT shrugs, "We are na from around here. Anyway we can say we are havran? Au see...these people are probably out of touch." he offers with a knowing nod, "We can say we're from the larger cities."
Ry nods again, "Ie, we can say were havran, but...." he pauses and frowns slightly, trying to remember what it was in the history books about the early days. Not being able to remember it he shrugs, "Oh well, we'll try it ninte way. Ready?" he stands.
"Rylan...." DT adds, slightly worried,
"What?" Rylan's already standing figure looks down at the still crouching boy, "Ready or na?"
"I just remembered something..." D`Tarik pauses, "Saying we are havran could be bad. Didn't au read history? In the early days people used to war with each other a lot, and the clan wars sprang up where Houses slaughtered Houses...."
Rylan sinks back down, and nods, "Ie...that was the thing I was trying to remember." he casts a sheepish grin. "Hann`yyo." he thinks about it for a moment, "Try the tricorder again...see if au can get a positioning of them all. Maybe we can sneak around them somehow."
"Umm..Rylan," DT points in the direction of the farmers, "There are four males, two about our age, one a child, the other an elder, with somesort of equipment or weapons, about a hundred feet away."
"Okay." Ry nods, thinking their situation over, then suddenly grins, "Well, I'm na from a House! I have na-thing to worry about then!" he stands up and walks in their direction.
"Well, I'm technically the last member of my House..." DT adds, wondering what that had to do with anything, "So...okay..." he stands up as well and follows Rylan.
Ry shakes his head and says quietly, "And how do au know ninte House wasn't part of the Clan Wars, then?" he shakes his head, "Au don't come from a House, either!" he stops a distance away from the locals who had turned to watch them, and waits patiently for the elder to approach.
The elder, dressed in a simple, long, earth-colored, and well-worn robe, steps forward. The two older boys by his side, the child peeking curiously at DT and Ry from behind the safety of one of the older local boys. The elder stops in front of the pair of officers, and asks gravely, "Did au come from that thing that fell from the sky last night?"
At first, the Arrain-a look to each other in slight surprise, then breath a small sigh of relief as their translators immediately changed the elder's ancient Vulcan-variant into words that they could readily understand. Thinking fast, Ry bows politely then shakes his head, "Um..na rekkhai. We
came from the city. We camped nearby last night, and investigated the crash. It appeared to be debris from the um..." he hesitates a moment to remember, then says in a hopeful tone, "The Far-Travel ships?" he shrugs slightly, "Must've been in orbit around ch`Rihan awhile to have finally fallen."
"I see." the elder nods, "Why are au na going back to the city then?" he adds suspiciously, "Au are walking away from it."
Ry glances at DT then offers hopefully, "My brother and I are ...traveling...rekkhai." he shrugs again. "Na much work in the city. Thought we'd find more use for ourselves as...um... farmhands."
The elder raises an eye brow, "So au just thought au could come out here, and au city boys could just work on the local farm?" he pauses to look over the smaller boy, then points to DT's coat, "Au sure are dressed funny...."
Thinking to gain entrance to the elder's storage unit to obtain the ladder, Ry stands a little straighter, "I've a strong back, rekkhai...I can work a farm." he pauses, then figures D`Tarik could check over whatever livestock the elder kept, and nods over at DT's slightly bewildered expression, "And he has other talents. He's skilled with medicine."
"This is an old family farm." the elder shakes his head, giving the boys a stern look. "Au are na the first from the city to come out here, and au will na be the last I send away."
Ry bows his head in respect, "There's sure to be work further on then. Jolan`tru, rekkhai." he steps forward to walk passed, but is halted as the elder raises his staff to bar the path in front of him.
"We are na completely without Mnhei'sahe here." the elder states in a proud tone, "Au can stay here for the day and spend the night. Then it's off with au."
Ry bows his head again, and replies in a grateful tone, "Hann`yyo, rekkhai." and notes the look from one of the local boys about his own age, and makes a mental note to stay away from that one. Still directing his words to the elder, he offers, "To repay ninte hospitality, rekkahi, what work can we do for au?"
The elder points the staff at DT, before settling it's end down on the ground again, "Ninte brother who doesn't talk... he will look at my ill daughter. I think she's okay, but my wife thinks otherwise."
D`Tarik stands a little straighter, and ignoring the look from Rylan, nods. "Of course, rekkhai. I would be more than happy to help au." he smiles as kindly as he can, "Au better take me to her. If she has na been seen by a doctor yet, she could be bad off."
Knowing that he couldn't say anything in front of the locals, Rylan bites back a warning to DT about not altering the timeline by saving a life. Trying to distract the elder instead, he interrupts, "And me, rekkhai? What would au have me do?"
The elder passes a cool eye over to Rylan, "Just let ninte brother do his work. That's all we ask. Now, let's go. After au...." he extends his hand out, motioning for the boys to walk ahead of him.
"Okay..." D`Tarik nods, and starts ahead.
Passing a curious eye over the other two males near his own age, Ry shakes his head as he follows DT, and thinks silently to himself, *All this for a fvadt ladder...*
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