All That Glitters Ch. 57

"The children seemed to glow when they touched the monitor screen," Kad-Hal Kumir-Sai-Rai, the head of the Kumir-Rai explained from Pod-Saar.

"We will have to treat this carefully. This could be a significant breakthrough for empaths if we can confirm this is something that is fact and we can learn how to do it." Junelliya added.

"Hanalei, would it be possible to pick us up?" Petronellaya asked. "I would like to spend a few days with you and the children if possible."

"We are going to AsocAR for a week or so. Would you like to come along?" Junelliya asked.

The look on the faces of the two Councillors reminded Hanalei of the look on the children's faces when they entered the first boulangerie on Liramor Prime only a day ago...

Imperial Shuttle Port, The >Clot<, Asoc Shall, AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

It was three day's after the Asoc's joyful reunion with her own clutch that PV The Trine and the PSNV Kumar Resestess settled at the shuttle port, disgorging two very different families into the humid air of Ascon Shall.

Having been to Denders Resort at the height of summer, the children did not mind the heat and humidity. While just as humid, the heat was much milder than Denders had been, thus making things more comfortable despite the conditions.

The Asoc greeted the two families as they left customs, with the children and the brood running up to her for hugs and kisses.

"Do you know, the actions of both your clutches saved my sanity on more than one occasion during the crisis," the Asoc told her friends Fayad, Hanalei, Junelliya, and the Kumar-Pair.

"We did notice that they had a calming effect on you," Fayad assured her with an Asocan smile (the showing of teeth is considered a threat action by Asocans, the Pod-Drran, and the Maha-Rrin).

"Well, allow me to act as the gracious host and show your families around the >Clot< and my Shall," the Asoc said. "And if the children want hugs and kisses at anytime, that will be acceptable."

That brought smiles to all of the adults in the group and welcoming giggles from all five of the children.

The Asoc took them around to show off her city and it was a grand city covering so much ground that transportation had to be provided for her and her friends, which was fine by the children as they got to sit with the Asoc and the Asost.

The city was a marvel and the Asoc was a very knowledgeable host, telling many tails about the different parts of the city, the statues, the ornamentations, and the history. The children took in a city half built into nature, with giant trees hollowed out to be used as residences and offices.

"Some of these trees are more than 3,000 years old and have been used as homes and offices for most of that time," the Asost told them, pointing out the various trees that formed apartments and even residences for large Mutt lines and their administrations.

The children in particular, thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the amazing items pointed out to them. The things they saw were so much different than how their own respective people lived.

About two hours into the tour, the children heard something interesting. "Asoc, hear music," Zarreniya told them, cocking an ear to the South-West.

"Ahh, that would be the Sandekk," the Asoc told them. "They are the other intelligent species on AsocAR. Would you like to meet them?"

The children were excited to meet another race and perhaps learn a new language, especially Ikekiya and Zarreniya. That brought laughter from the Asoc. Truth was, she had been back at the >Clot< for several days now and had not been to the Imperial Arl to see her friend, Shusshhttookkann, the Sandekk Elder.

She had the drivers divert the carts toward the Arl, stopping just outside the structure.

"Who are the Sandekk, Asoc?" Hanalei asked.

"They are the other intelligent people on AsocAR," she answered. "They are very long lived, some exceeding 2,500 stellar cycles. However, while they are intelligent, they have not decided to make a civilization of their own, choosing instead to share ours. They do have their own language and social structures though."

Now that they were closer to the Arl, all could hear the rather forlorn sound of Sandekk singing.

"It sad, mommy," Zarreniya told them unnecessarily, getting nods from all the adults.

************

Shusshhttookkann lay in her personal Arl, listening to the Sandekk sing for her. She was in pain, with a great, badly infected lesion between her toes where Unaayel had hurt her. Unaayel's dirty Damate and the swamp had not been kind to her foot. Her eyes closed; she took in the plaintive sound of the other Sandekk. They were lined up behind her at the edge of the swamp singing of her pain and the potential passing of Shusshhttookkann, the Sandekk Elder.

She heard an odd sound at the entrance to her personal Arl and opened her eyes to the strangest creatures she had ever seen!

"Oooohhh! Pretty!" said a tiny voice that drew Shusshhttookkann's eyes to the little creature. It looked like a small Ultar, but it was red in colour and HAD NO TAIL!! Strangely enough, the creature was speaking in heavily accented Asocan.

There were five very small creatures that looked like miniature versions of what Shusshhttookkann assumed were the adults, standing near the entrance with...

">CATAL!! You hafffe rrreturrrned!" Shusshhttookkann trumpeted.

"I am sorry, Shusshhttookkann, that I could not come to see you earlier," the Asoc replied, amused by her friend's reaction. "There was much that I needed to tend to. I promise that I will not leave you alone again." That got a nod of acceptance from Shusshhttookkann.

"What arrre thessse ssstrrrange little beassstsss that you hafffe brrrought me, >Catal?" Shusshhttookkann asked. "Arrre they tasssty?" she teased, licking her lips, getting giggles from the two little red ones, while many of the adults of gold/green colour reached for their strange weapons.

Three of the small ones came rushing across the Arl and approached Shusshhttookkann, showing absolutely no fear. Riding on their shoulders were incredibly tiny creatures that bobbed up and down in greetings to the great beast. Their lack of fear surprised Shusshhttookkann. Large as she was, little ones were usually quite shy around her and took some time to understand that she would not actually harm them.

The three came to her left paw, the injured one, and started hugging the great foot. Shusshhttookkann cried out in pain, trying to draw her foot back without hurting the little beasts.

"Eeewww! Smell bad," said one of them. Then the three screamed.

"Heyya! She hawt. She need hewp!" one of them suddenly said. It surprised Shusshhttookkann as she was speaking in another language but there was constant translation coming from...somewhere...

"I do no know if I can help her, Zarreniya," the one Shusshhttookkann assumed was 'Heyya' replied. "I know nothing of Sandekk physiology."

"She have fection, Heyya, you clean," the little one replied.

Shusshhttookkann closed her foot into a fist and drew it back but the little one slapped the sore foot causing Shusshhttookkann to hiss in pain and bare her teeth. She looked down at the little beast, her intent to snap at her and taste her flesh, only to find the little one wagging a tiny digit at her.

"You be good, let Heyya look. She fix," she said rather imperiously, catching the attention of all the Sandekk. To say that the Sandekk Elder was shocked was an understatement and that shock rippled through the other Sandekk of the Imperial Arl.

"We hewp," said the imperious one, and all three of the little creatures suddenly began to glow! The Elder Sandekk was even more surprised when the tiny creatures riding on the little beast's shoulders also began to glow. The trio touched the Elder Sandekk and relief from the pain suddenly flooded through her.

How do they do that? Shusshhttookkann wondered, surprised at the relief she felt.

The one called Heyya stepped forward, followed by an Asocan with a medical rune on her cloak. While the pain had not disappeared, it had diminished substantially, so Shusshhttookkann allowed them to inspect the injury.

"This looks bad, >Gorlat," Heyya commented.

"You would be surprised at how fast these kinds of injuries can heal on a Sandekk, or on an Asocan for that matter," >Gorlat assured the other. "We will have to excise and clean the wound, but we can use some of your spray skin to cover it to relieve the pain and protect it afterwards."

The staff of the Arl came forward with a large, round stand that Shusshhttookkann could put her foot on to allow further inspection. The little ones coaxed her to put her foot up and let the doctors look at it.

They are quite persuasive for such small beasts, Shusshhttookkann thought.

She placed her injured foot gently on the stand and waited for the inevitable probing by the two doctors. While one of the doctors had red skin, the fur on her head was very different from some of the others. It looked almost like the plumes of some of the wildlife of AsocAR while the others of her species had long, straight fur.

One of the ones with straight fur came forward.

"Do you need help?" she asked the little ones.

"No, mommy, we good," one of them replied.

"You know that when you are grouping your power, it works best when you touch each other," the 'mommy' advised.

The looks of surprise on the faces of the three little ones was almost comical. They shifted to touch each other and the glow amped up appreciably. Shusshhttookkann was surprised.

"You are Shusshhttookkann?" the mommy asked, stumbling a little over the unfamiliar name. She looked up with no apprehension on her face. "I am Junelliya. The little one on the left is my eldest daughter, Ikekiya, while the other one is my youngest daughter, Zarreniya. The third little one is the Daughter of the Kumar-Pair. She is a Pod-Drran. Her name is Prakeshya."

"Djunellliiiyyyaaa, Ikekkiiiyyyaa, Ssshhharrreniiiyyyaa, and Prrrakessshhhyyyaaa," Shusshhttookkann replied, attempting to say the names. "They sssound like good Sssandekk namesss."

The four smiled up at her, the little ones giggling. "You say names funny," the one called Ssshhharrreniiiyyyaa said.

"I sssussspect that isss trrrue," Shusshhttookkann answered. "We Sssandekk have prrroblemsss sssaying Asssocan worrrdsss because our sssnoutsss arrre much longerrr than thossse of the Asssocansss."

She leaned down and whispered, "But their ssshhhorrrt sssnoutsss are ssso cute," she told them conspiratorially giving a broad wink of her eye to the children, getting giggles in return.

"I am about to cut into the rotten flesh," Heyya told her, looking into her eyes. "It will hurt."

"You need not worrry about the pain," Shusshhttookkann assured them. "We Sssandekk have high tollllerrrance for sssuch."

"Do not kid yourself, this is not going to be pleasant but it must be done to save the foot and probably to save your life," >Gorlat answered for Heyya.

The two had opened a pack from a bag they had carried with them and placed a number of medical instruments ready for use. They quickly sprayed the injured area with an antiseptic that stung and then started to cut away the upper portion of the damage.

"Sssee, it doesssn't hurrrt," Shusshhttookkann told them.

"That is because we are cutting away dead flesh," >Gorlat replied. "Once we get a little deeper, you will begin to feel it."

>Gorlat's warning proved prescient as a few moments later Shusshhttookkann began to feel the pain as they cut away some of the good flesh along with the rotten.

Feeling her discomfort, the children amped up their power, bringing instant relief to the Elder Sandekk.

Not long after, Heyya rinsed out the wound with a saline solution and >Gorlat added a powder that impeded the growth of microbes in Asocan wounds. The powder worked equally effectively in the Sandekk. They then began to stitch up the wound. It didn't take long to complete the task. Heyya pulled the webbing between the toes together and stitched that to itself. The foot was looking close to normal now.

Heyya grabbed a can and sprayed a layer of 'Instant Skin' over the injury, closing it off from the outside air. The children eased off their power and Shusshhttookkann was happy to note that it didn't hurt anywhere near what it had before they began.

"Do not move your foot for five minutes," Heyya explained, the translator working to interpret the time into something that Shusshhttookkann could understand.

"You do good!" Ikekiya told her, reaching both her hands over her head. The other two giggled and reached up as well. Perplexed, Shusshhttookkann looked to >Catal who barked a laugh.

"They want you to bring your head down to them so they can give you hugs and kisses for being so good," >Catal explained.

Curious, Shusshhttookkann lowered her large head and all three children grabbed her face, rubbing their faces against hers and making strange sounds with their mouths.

That is a kiss? Shusshhttookkann asked herself. It feels...rather pleasant.

She felt familiar hands on her side and opened an eye to see >Catal there rubbing her. It felt good to have >Catal back. There was a small Asocan standing next to her. Shusshhttookkann saw that she was wearing a Damate and the colours of >Catal's Mutt line.

So, a Shamot then, Shusshhttookkann thought to herself. She nodded to >Catal. "And who do we hafffe herrre?" she asked of her friend.

"My newest daughter, Varren Mutt Herrtt é Salalta Semt. Varren, this is the Sandekk Elder, Shusshhttookkann, the leader of her people and of the Imperial Arl," >Catal explained to Varren.

"I am pleased to meet you, Elder," she said, giving a bow to Shusshhttookkann.

Shusshhttookkann rumbled her sibilant laughter. Here was a young one who acted within the norms of what she was used to. This one was properly impressed by and slightly worried about being so close to a large Sandekk for the first time.

"You will get used to her soon enough, Varren," >Catal informed her daughter. "We will exercise with Shusshhttookkann meaning we will ride upon her back."

The other children shrilled their surprise. "Oh, Oh, pwease Aunty >Catal, can we execise too?" Ikekiya asked.

>Catal laughed in surprise. "You hardly weigh anything. I am sure that Shusshhttookkann will allow you to ride on her. However, you will have to ask Shusshhttookkann, not me."

The tiny beasts looked up with hopeful expressions that caused Shusshhttookkann to laugh. "We shall see," was all she would say, not saying no was good enough for the little ones who jumped for joy, surprising the great beast.

"Right, your natural healing ability should repair that within a few days," >Gorlat stated. "Until then, stay out of the swamp. I know that will be hard for you but until you properly heal up, you will have to follow our instructions or you will simply re-infect the wound. That would not be good."

Shusshhttookkann nodded her great head. "I look forrrwarrrd to exersssisssing with you again sssoon, >Catal," Shusshhttookkann confided in her friend.

"While I am pleassssed that they came to sssee me, what made you brrring thessse ssstrrrange little beassstsss, my frrriend?" Shusshhttookkann asked.

"We hear music, come see," Zarreniya told the great beast without hesitation.

"We like music," Ikekiya explained for her and the others, getting nods from her sister and from Prakeshya. "We play instrrummm, instrummm, we play Ukulele," she explained, stuttering around the word instrument.

"Uke?" Shusshhttookkann began.

"We show!" Zarreniya said and the three suddenly ran back toward the entrance and grabbed two strange looking cases, while Prakeshya picked up an odd looking object that she held in her hand. They all ran back quickly to the Elder Sandekk and while the two pulled their instruments from their cases, Prakeshya began to tootle her instrument.

"Ukulele," Zarreniya explained, showing the Sandekk the devices, then began to tune them.

They were plucking at the strangest stringed instruments that Shusshhttookkann had ever seen, though the noises they made were pleasant. The third one, with the gold/green skin, was playing a wind instrument that made the strangest piping noises. It appeared to be made of ceramic.

The three discussed things in yet another language. Shusshhttookkann looked at her friend. "That isss at leassst thrrree languagesss that thessse little beassstsss ssspeak," she noted.

>Catal barked a laugh. "They live on the station that serves to hold the Interspecies Embassy. All of the embassy staff have brought them letter blocks in their own languages and taught the children to speak, read, and write them. There are twelve embassies on the station, plus, the human's have many different languages.

"They speak High Andanii, Anuuran, Standard, and French with some fluency, plus they speak many words from other human languages. When I told them there was another intelligent species on AsocAR, the children were exited to learn a new language. They will pester you for some time, my friend, until you teach them new words," the Asoc stated with a smile.

The children began to play their instruments and sing. While the singing was pleasant, Shusshhttookkann recognized that their sound was immature.

"How young arrre they?" she asked of >Catal.

"In our terms, they are first year Ultar, though there level of intelligence is that of an older Ultar moving toward the Shamot stage," >Catal informed her friend, surprising her greatly.

"That young? Isss thisss, norrrmal forrr, thisss ssspesssiiieeesss?" she demanded.

"These two clutches are anything but normal, Shusshhttookkann. You are blessed with having met them," >Catal replied.

The children were now playing different music that was obviously not their music. While some of it was discordant, none of it was unpleasant and it seemed to match the singing they did in other languages.

Shusshhttookkann heard the Imperial Arl come out of the swamp behind her. They wanted to be a little closer to the little beasts. Shusshhttookkann looked back and smiled at the surprised looks on the faces of the other members of the Arl. They shouldn't have been surprised as this was new and exceptional music despite the little one's immature voices.

The little beasts played for awhile then they began to stomp the ground in rhythmic fashion, Shusshhttookkann recognized the beginnings of an Asocan song. She was quite surprised as the little ones began to play a happy bar song that Shusshhttookkann had heard many times. What was more remarkable was that the Asocans in >Catal's entourage were joining in with singing the refrain of the song.

She laughed aloud as she watched the children lead them on. Finally, the little beasts leaned back and gave tiny screeches that the adult Asocans helped bring to full roar. Laughing, Shusshhttookkann and the members of the Imperial Arl lent their own voices to the roar.

The little beasts now looked up at Shusshhttookkann. "Pwease, pwease, can you make music for us?" the one called Ssshhharrreniiiyyyaa pleaded.

Shusshhttookkann marvelled at how the little beasts made her feel when they looked at her with such expressive faces. She gave a sibilant laugh and nodded her head.

Behind her, the other eleven members of the Arl began to sing. Their voices came together in an amazing harmony that was unlike anything that the children, or the non-Asocan adults, had ever heard. Little chins fell and mouths opened wide in surprise as the children listened intently to the song.

Junelliya analyzed the singing. It seemed to be a cross between a Gregorian Chant and a Slavic Folk Song, with plenty of difficult vocal harmonies and unique musical notes. While strange, it was quite pleasant to listen to, the harmonies folding back on themselves to become far more complex the longer they sang and the more voices that joined in. Junelliya had heard three part, four part, and even five part harmonies before. She had never heard of an eleven voice harmony with such complex patterns to it. Extra voices in human music simply added to the existing harmonies rather than bring new ones to the fore.