I stepped backwards, towards the dune, trying to get to higher ground in case of an attack, but my leg gave way beneath me. I fell to the ground and my vision began to dim.
Laying on the sand, I tried to blink my vision back. My eyes weren’t having any of it, though, and, what’s more, I started to feel like I was going to throw up.
I felt the sand move around me as the Arellian approached.
It was at this point that I realised just how much trouble I was in. I was weak, collapsed, and the only people who could possibly help were the local barbarian population.
My head was searing with pain now. I could no longer think straight.
I glimpsed the Arellian standing over me, wide blue eyes staring down.
My fate was in their hands.
‘Fuck,’ I uttered one last time - before I vomited and passed out.
6
Te’rnu
When I awoke, an Arellian was fanning me with a dry, browned leaf. I was in a small hut, lying on a bed, with a good number of other Arellians standing around me, staring in fascination with their wide, blue eyes.
‘Give them space,’ one of the wastelanders told the others, and all but the one cooling me stepped backwards.
The Arellian who seemed to be in charge looked around at them with exasperated eyes.
‘I mean for you to leave,’ they reiterated. The group dissipated, leaving me with just the two of these strange folk. As I blinked my vision back into focus, I recognised the Arellian with the leaf as the one who had been escorted out the stronghold earlier in the day.
‘I…,’ I started to speak, but found my throat dry, little noise escaping from it.
One of the remaining Arellians put a small bowl to my mouth, filled with a red-brown liquid.
‘Drink,’ they instructed. I sipped at the medicine, taking only a small mouthful at first.
‘You were poisoned,’ the Arellian told me. They were looking at me with kind eyes, concerned eyes - not the sort of eyes I would have expected to see on a so-called barbarian.
‘Was it the Iyr?’ the other wastelander asked, wide eyes looking up at me.
‘Poisoned?’ I asked, voice hoarse. ‘No… I wasn’t poisoned… I was just… drinking…’
‘Drinking?’
‘You know… like, alcohol,’ I explained.
The two Arellians looked at each other with blank faces. I waved dismissively.
‘For fun? Tastes good, takes the edge off?’ I added.
They still both looked lost. ‘What is “the edge”?’
I shook my head. ‘It doesn’t matter. It was just the heat getting to me, anyway, I think.’
‘You come from a cold place?’ asked the one in charge.
‘Yeah, I…,’ and then I trailed off, instead asking, ‘Do you have water?’
The leader nodded, turned to the other Arellian, and said, ‘Te’rnu, get this one water. Much of it.’
‘Yes, Elder.’
Was that a name or a title?
Te’rnu rushed out, and it was just the two of us now.
‘That one saved you, you know. They had been away - who knows where they had gone this time - and found you as they returned to us. Carried you here.’
‘Yeah? I’ll make sure to say thanks.’
‘Do. They need to feel valued, that one.’
Te’rnu came rushed back into the hut, clasping a bowl of water in their hands. I drank at it hungrily, finishing the whole thing before I even stopped for a breath.
They continued to stare, eyes wide.
‘What is it? Do I have something on my face, or…?’ I asked.
‘No,’ the Elder replied, ‘It is just that we have never seen a creature like you before. Like you… but different. You are… a spaceman?’
I smiled. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am.’
I’d never been the first Terran someone had seen before.
‘What do we call you?’ Te’rnu asked.
‘You mean… my name, or my species?’
‘Both! Everything! Tell us all that is out there!’ they answered.
‘Hush, Te’rnu,’ the other Arellian interrupted. ‘Don’t bother them. They need rest. There will be time for this later.’
They put a hand on my shoulder, gently instructing me to lean back to the bed again.
‘Relax,’ the Elder whispered. ‘There is no rush.’
I soon fell asleep once again.
It wasn’t until the sun was low in the sky once again that I awoke. Between staying up all night drinking and suffering from heatstroke, maybe my broken sleep schedule shouldn’t really have been a surprise.
I sat up, slowly, testing how painful moving was going to be. Short of a headache and some achy muscles, I didn’t feel too bad - whatever medicine the Arellians had given me had worked.
In the corner of the room, wide blue eyes stared at me.
‘Hello, Te’rnu.’
‘Hello. How do you feel? Can I ask you questions? Have y-,’ they started, only to be interrupted by the Elder returning to the room.
‘I see you are awake. Has Te’rnu been bothering you?’ the Elder asked.
‘No, not at all, he-,’ I caught myself. Was Te’rnu a he? I decided to bite the bullet. ‘I’m sorry, is it “he”?’
Te’rnu looked confused, so the Elder stepped in to help him out. ‘We do not have such concepts. We all act as one.’
‘Oh! Erm, so… in terms of…,’ I began to ask, trying to feel out whether this question would be deemed as offensive.
This time, it was Te’rnu who helped me out. ‘“He” is fine. For me, at least.’
He flashed me a smile.
The Elder continued, ‘The others typically use “they”, but I would doubt they would care, if I am to be honest with you.’
‘What… what would I say if I were to describe you, then?’ Te’rnu asked.
‘“She”,’ I told him.
Te’rnu smiled again, the concept amusing to him, and began to try the word out. ‘She. I like that! She is here. She is good.’
‘She is!’ I confirmed.
The Elder flashed me a look, and I remembered what she had told me during the brief time that I was conscious earlier in the day - that Te’rnu had been the one to save me.
‘Hey, erm, Te’rnu…,’ I started, and
