You're unsure how a wave would be cheerful, considering in your society it's usually used as a call to war or a somewhat rude way of summoning someone.
You do take the opportunity to take a breather and set course for the Aliens Crater Camp. On the way you'll have to ford a river, and so you do, using it as an opportunity to wash up. The Aliens wash as well, though they do not disrobe, for some reason. They instead ford in their fine clothes (shouldn't the water unravel even the finest woven grasses?) and wash the blood of their freind from their clothes. They don't seem threatened by your group, but even you can tell they've been shaken, despite the differences in body language.
One is scratching strange drawings in the sand with a stick.
First he draws a large circle, then he draws out a line from the center, far past the edge of the circle. On the line he draws a small circle, then a medium-sized one, another of about the same size but slightly larger, then another small one, then a group of sharp holes, then one that is large, but not as large as the first, then a slightly smaller one still magnitudes larger than the first ones, then some other large ones, then finally a smaller pair on top of each other.
He draws a even larger circle around the whole thing, then draws a line and makes a shaky line, with each sharp turn emphasized by a dot. More dots surround it, and you begin to see it looks like the night sky... It is the night sky! You recognize a constellation!
You grab the stick from him and begin filling out more. When you look to him for confirmation, he shakes his head vertically, which helps you understand absolutely nothing.
With a loud breath, he takes the stick back and draws two large circles, then a smaller circle, then...
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After an hour, you make little headway with understanding their odd system of firm grunts and hisses and throaty, indescribable noises. Copycatting is fruitless, through possible enough that you belive you will be able to speak their language once you learn it. However, what does get across is amazing in it's revelations.
The aliens are not just from the sky, they are from a star, a star you can point to and identify, or could if it were night out. Your people call it Ushae, the Foot of Us, for it makes the tip of the foot of a larger constellation. But the Aliens call it Sol, and it's the first word you learn of their language.
Due to the pictographic nature of your communication, you doubt you can continue trying to converse with them while on the move. The people you brought with you are already growing restless, many without mat to sleep on. The dry twigs and rotting leaves of the forest are unappealing, and the lack of easy fire is also an issue. You can continue to attempt to communicate for about an hour without too much issue, but it will require you to walk through sundown, and reach the Alien Camp during the night. If they have any sense, they'll be rightfully paranoid; the forest is not a place for the light-hearted, at least not after sundown. Many creatures are harmless, but Judging from the softness of their bodies and the damage simply walking through the forest has done to the bottoms of the feet of those who lost their shoes, the Aliens are not equipped for this environment.
Will you continue walking immediately, and arrive before suns' set? Or will you attempt to learn more of this odd language?
Poll
6 (31.6%)
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Topic: The Starborn [Xenofiction?] (Read 73487 times)