The Princess and the Human

"What's that?" Kiyrtin asked intrigued as Nadine placed the large box on the floor of the shuttle's passenger space. He had no idea where they were heading but it was a nice coincidence that Nadine was going on a trip. Actually, why hadn't she asked him to come with her from the beginning?

"That's a freezer," the alien answered.

A freezer? Weren't those heavy? He had heard that Nadine was a fair bit stronger than a Vanaery, but he didn't know by how much. Then again, he also didn't know how much freezers weighed, "heavy" could mean a lot of things after all. Also, weren't there portable freezers? Maybe it was one of those. But it was pretty big.

"Oh, you brought food?"

If she was bringing that much with her, maybe she planned to go for a few days? In that case, he probably should've told one of the maids he was going somewhere.

Whatever, Sis told me to stay away from the palace today, and that's what I'm doing! Wait, where could we possibly go to where there wouldn't be food? She mentioned a forest, but she isn't planning on sleeping in the shuttle, right?

Now that he thought about it, something about his sister had been odd today. Sure, she had been strict as ever, but the way she talked had been somewhat... different.

"It's not for food. Err, no, I mean, it is for food, but not to bring food with me. I'm out to... well, get some."

"Huh? So, what, you are just going to buy groceries?" That revelation kind of killed his excitement. "Why not just send some attendants?"

"Because I'm not going to buy it, I... the thing is..."

Nadine hesitated, seemingly looking for the right words for whatever she was trying to convey.

"... do you know the term "carnivore"?"

"No, what's that?"

"It is... it describes an animal that eats other animals."

"Oh, you mean meat-eater?"

The alien girl blinked a few times at his statement before turning to one of her guards.

"Does it get translated when I say carnivore?"

"It sounds like a word of our language," one of the guards answered, "but I don't know the term either. I also know them as meat-eaters. But I'm no biologist, so I don't know the jargon."

After hearing this, Nadine seemed strangely puzzled for a moment, although Kiyrtin didn't understand why.

"Okay, well, anyway, my kind - humans - are what is called omnivores. Our diet is extensive, but it includes meat."

"You're a meat-eater?" That was certainly a strange thought. Kiyrtin had seen dead animals before, they were always super smelly. Did Nadine really eat that? And shouldn't her room smell like that if she did?

"Not exactly," she retorted. "As I said, I'm an omniv... everything-eater. That means I can eat both meat and plants. And you have some pretty good ones. Especially those weird sweet lemons, the guthra fruits. And I'm still convinced that I can do something with those tubers that taste like flour, erm... tikro! Anyway, my point is that there are certain things my body needs that are most easily obtained through meat. I don't have to eat meat, in fact, one can do completely without if they know what they are doing. The problem is that I don't know what I'm doing because I'm on an alien planet. And Doc also doesn't know everything. So, meat it is."

"Everything-eater, huh?" Kiyrtin had never heard of that before. "Okay, but what does that have to do with going to the Suam Forest?"

"Well, since I can't just go and buy some ham in your stores, Doc went through the local fauna and came to the conclusion that the best candidate is an animal called cariyca. They live there. In other words..." She took a deep breath. "In other words, I'm gonna go hunting," she said with a noticeable shaking in her voice. Something the guards seemed to have picked up on as well.

"If you are uncomfortable, Milady, we can take it out for you if you wish. Just give us the order," one of them offered while tapping his gun. But Nadine shook her head.

"I can't ask you to do that, you don't even eat meat. I mean, isn't me eating meat repulsive to you? I'm ordering you to answer that honestly by the way."

"...well," the other guard said after a delay. "I will agree that the thought is... bizarre, but it's not like we Vanaery are beyond killing animals for our gain. Sure, to us they are resources for materials rather than food, but that's honestly not much of a difference if you ask me, Milady."

Nadine nodded.

"I see. Still, I'll do it myself. After what happened..." She raised her shaking hand, clenching it into a fist in an attempt to control it. "I just... feel like I have to do this, to take responsibility. Not just for the hunt, but also... I... I..."

Her shoulders rose and fell as if her breathing was growing heavier. Her eyes opened wide as she grabbed her forehead, before throwing a punch with the ball of her fist at the encasing of the passenger space. The impact was followed by the ringing of vibrating metal that made the young prince flinch. Interestingly, Nadine's hand didn't seem injured. Kiyrtin had climbed - and fallen - often enough to know that metal was normally not very kind when it stopped something in motion.

"Everything alright back there?" their pilot asked through the speaker.

"Yes, don't worry Liyzo!" With that, Nadine leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Sorry guys, I'd like to leave it at that."

Kiyrtin was curious what all of that was about, but it was clear that she didn't want to talk about it.

The rest of their flight was not exactly exciting. It would take a while to reach their destination, and since there was nothing to do, it didn't take long before Kiyrtin was bored. The only thing he had with him was his datapad, and that mainly contained his study material. Time would show when he would be bored enough to look at that. Not to mention that Nadine also looked like she could use some distraction. But how? Maybe she knew a story? Although he didn't really want to risk hearing another scary one. He could ask her things about her home world. But the last time he did that, it led to her explaining what a "wolf" was, which made him unsure if he even wanted to know more about a planet where a creature like that didn't only exist but wasn't something all too noteworthy.

Human cities must all look like fortresses.

After he cautiously voiced his boredom, Nadine offered a game called "I Spy". It sounded fun at first, but it became dull rather quickly once they realized they were way too fast and way too high up to point at things outside, and there wasn't exactly much inside the shuttle to see. It was followed by a few other ideas that all fell through for the same or similar reasons, like something called the "alphabet game" which didn't work through her translator. But in the end, each failed attempt bought some time, and after a few invas, they reached the forest.

"Are you not coming, Liyzo?" Nadine asked as they stepped onto the grassy ground. Kiyrtin had been in a variety of gardens so far, but this was the first time he was out in nature like this. In front of them, a tall, wide forest threw its shadows.

"I'd rather not leave the shuttle unguarded, Milady."

"I see. Makes sense, I guess."

Flanked by the two guards, they made their way through the trees. Some looked very old and great for climbing. Kiyrtin wasn't sure if he should try it though. They were actually quite a bit apart, so the terrain wasn't very difficult and they could see pretty far.

"How do you plan on hunting, anyway? Do you have a gun?" He at least assumed that's how one would hunt, most animals he knew were way too hard to catch otherwise.

"Your guns are too big for my hands, not to mention I never used one. I have this though," Nadine answered and pulled something from the scabbard on her back. It was a strange, curved object, that he recognized from the drawing in her room: a boomerang.

"There probably would be better options, but as far as weapons go, this is the only one I ever used, and I didn't want to start any experiments right now."

"Oh, right, you said that was a hunting weapon. Can I see?"

The alien girl nodded and gave it to him. It was actually heavier than he expected, but holding it was no problem if he used all four hands. However, as he examined it, he just grew more confused. There were no mechanisms, no discernable functions whatsoever. It was just a stick with a strange shape.

"How do you kill something with that?"

"Well, you throw it."

Throw? That was it? To test it, Kiyrtin threw the object forward, and with a thud!, it hit the forest's floor in front of him in the most unspectacular fashion imaginable.

Well, I guess you can knock something out if that hits the head. It's probably meant to be dropped from a certain height. Maybe I'm finally going to see her climb, we wanted to do that anyway. But why then is the shape so important that she needed to make a mechanical drawing?

"Kiyrtin," Nadine said, cocking her head. "I thought you were supposed to be a prince, not a court jester."

"What? What's that supposed to mean? You said to throw it!"

"Yes, throw. Not drop."

"Well, then how am I supposed to do it?"

To that, she thought for a moment.

"Hm, I actually don't know if you are strong enough... well, no harm in trying. Okay, first, hold it in just one hand... or since you have four, two might also work. But hold it just with the arms on one side of your body."

Following her instruction, he held the boomerang in his two right hands. There was no way he could do that with just one.

"No, you need to hold it the other way. No, the other other way."

"Could you be a bit clearer?"

"Here, this side up, curve in that direction."

She stepped behind him and gently encased one of his hands with her own, her torso touching his back. It was the first time Kiyrtin was so close to her, and he just now realized how warm she was. It felt strangely nice how her warmth embraced him from behind. She then slowly moved, carefully guiding his arms.

"No move it like this. Make sure to stay horizontal. Slice the horizon, and then let go."

"Why horizontal?"

"If you don't stay level, it'll curve. Sometimes you want that, but you need a lot of training before you can hit curve throws, that's no beginner stuff. ...yes, like that. Now do that as fast as you can, then let go."

And so, he did. The boomerang spun two times, then hit the floor a few lynes away from him.

"Yeah, as expected," Nadine commented as she picked it up.

"What do you mean? I did exactly what you said!"

"Mhm, your form looked good. But you simply lack the..." Suddenly, she stopped talking, and her gaze seemed to fixate on something further into the forest.