The Princess and the Human

The Queen’s insensitive question hung in the air for a few tiggs before receiving an answer.

“No, there is no correlation,” Nadine ultimately responded calmly, but from the corner of her eye, Silgvani could see that the small alien had balled her gloved hand into a fist that was shaking from exertion, and the princess could hardly blame her. No matter how much the young girl claimed to have a different view on things than the nobles Silgvani knew, no matter how aware Nadine was that the King and Queen weren’t doing this intentionally, it was still a blatant display of disrespect towards her. Silgvani couldn’t ask her to just ignore it. All she could do was hope for Nadine to be able to endure the comments and to see past them.

“In fact, my name is considered long by human standards as well,” she continued. “There are also humans notably taller than me, but few reach heights nearing the average Vanaery.”

There was a slight shaking in her voice as she spoke, but overall, she was hiding her agitation well. Hopefully, she would be able to keep this up.

“How interesting,” the King commented. “Then, Sil, Lady Nadine Valentina Esmeralda Anastasia von Klot, let us continue our talks elsewhere.”

I guess he assumed only the last part of her name was like a clan name, Silgvani wondered. However, as impressed as she was that her father had been able to memorize the entire name and pronounce each part correctly after merely hearing it once, it was hard to not hear mockery in the way he said it, even if it wasn’t intended.

A quiet, almost inaudible squeaking sound was heard from Nadine’s gloves as she clenched her fists even tighter. With a sideways glance, Silgvani noticed that Nadine’s facial features began to distort a little as if she was pressing her mouth tightly shut.

“There is no need to say all of my name, Your Majesty,” she managed to say. The shaking in her voice had gotten stronger.

First Ones, and these are just supposed to be friendly talks, the princess mentally sighed. It had been a while since she had witnessed her parents talk to somebody of rank, but they were just as bad at it as she remembered them to be. When they made contact with the human species properly, she needed to make sure they wouldn’t meet them.

None of Nadine’s reactions seemed to deter the king and queen. Although to be fair, this was the first time they were meeting the small alien, and they didn’t yet know how to read her non-verbal communication. While Silgvani was still fairly sure that it would stay that way no matter how much time they would spend with the Human, it at least for now was about the only aspect of this conversation she couldn’t hold against them.

“Ah, good. It was a bit of a chore to say, so was already trying to come up with a way to shorten it.”

“How should we call you then?” the queen added.

This time, Nadine had to take a few breaths before answering.

“I-it depends,” she answered, the dignified air around her starting to fade.

Well, no matter how unusual, no one wants to hear their own name being called a “chore”.

“In formal speech, the last name is used, though in my case, simply saying “von Klot” would suffice. First names - Nadine, in my case - are usually used in a more informal context, when exactly it is acceptable depends on the specific culture.”

It did? That was actually news to Silgvani as well. The thought was a bit strange though, why address someone as a member of their clan - or, the human equivalent - rather than as an individual? Nadine had introduced herself with her first name from the beginning, so the princess had assumed that was how humans did it. Had she been unintentionally disrespectful to her? Nadine had never voiced any form of displeasure, but then again, she had been quite wary of her rank during their early interactions. By now, she had no reservations about using Silgvani’s nickname, so it likely wasn’t an issue anymore, but at the beginning, she might have felt different about it.

The train of thought made the princess realize just how little she had actually learned about Humans. Nadine specifically, sure, but in hindsight, despite knowing her for a while now, they had never talked about Human culture. The only exceptions were some very specific details. She needed to rectify that once this was over.

“Ah, I see. Well, there isn’t really any reason to be overly formal right now, so please follow us, Nadine.”

No one told you to drop the honorific!

Unlike the Human’s still tightly-shut lips, the rest of her face had now started to gain color, being a bit more reddish in tone. As the king and queen turned around, Nadine swung her right fist and hit her own thigh. Was she trying to vent her anger?

Well, she had swallowed the insults well so far. Foreign diplomats in the same situation would’ve already needed to be appeased more than once at this point, one of the main reasons why trade deals from ten cycles ago had often been so disadvantageous. It was likely for the best to switch topics and allow the alien girl to calm down a little.

“By the way, I heard Kiyrtin finally had his first molting. A shame I missed it.”

“Yes, we rushed to him as soon as we heard about it,” her mother affirmed. They reached the conference room and the servant standing in attendance opened the door. “We tried to contact you as well, unfortunately, you had spontaneously gone off-world.”

And whose fault do you think that is?

They entered. Compared to the Star Palace, the Sky Palace’s conference room was smaller, but also a lot more packed with luxury items, artworks, and other trinkets. There was little inspiration taken from the styles of other alliance members as it was meant to embody the Vanaery’s pride.

No chairs stood at the table in the middle, instead there was a couch on each side. The king and queen both took a seat on one side, Silgvani sat across from them, and after a moment of hesitation, Nadine sat down next to the princess. Her dense body strained the furniture a bit, and the fact that only her head was above the tabletop didn’t help the situation as a whole. She would need to set up a special conference room meant for meeting Humans in the Star Palace.

“But the important thing is that he is on the way to recovery, even if it will still take a while,” she continued.

“Yes, it’s a relief to see him so energetic again,” Nadine agreed.

“Oh, did you meet him?” the king asked in surprise.

“We arrived a bit early since I had something else to do here,” Silgvani explained, “so Nadine decided to pay him a visit. I will do so as well later on.”

“I see. Your gesture is appreciated, Nadine.”

“Oh, that was a given. A-after… after what happened…”

“Sorry to interrupt you, but we would prefer not to mention it,” the queen interjected. "It is a thing of the past and the two of us want to put that matter behind us.”

Nadine blinked in surprise.

“Really?”

“Yes, so let us not speak about it anymore.”

As the only one present who knew that the two parties were grossly misunderstanding each other, Silgvani felt bad to not say anything. But right now was not a good time to come clear.

“We would rather talk about you for a bit,” Silgvani’s father said, shifting to a more cheerful tone.

“Oh, um… I-I would like to reiterate that my visiting Your Majesties is unofficial and must remain apolitical,” Nadine emphasized, sounding a bit startled.

“Don’t worry, knowing Sil, she already has that covered anyway. Still, we would’ve liked to at least hear the news.”

“A lot of things happened and we didn’t get the opportunity,” Silgvani quickly stated.

“Yes, we already heard about your deed. Without you, our daughter would’ve died, and we can’t express our thanks enough.”

Good, the princess thought, it seems like the conversation is on a decent track now.

“Your selflessness becomes all the more impressive when considering how unfit for survival your kind looks.”

Aaand we’re right back at it.

The rest of the conversation was thankfully not too long. There were, of course, a few more inappropriate remarks from the royal couple, but nothing major besides that. They didn’t probe for much information, and Nadine was again able to keep her anger well enough in check. The talks were cut short when duty called for the king and queen again. After telling them that a meal would be served soon - they had inquired in advance what to get for Nadine - as well as insisting on a promise that they would talk again, the two left them alone. For a few tiggs, Nadine and Silgvani sat there in silence. Then, when they were sure the king and queen couldn't hear them anymore, they spoke at the same time.

“I’m so sorry! …what?” the two said in unison.

“Why are you apologizing?” Silgvani asked, confused.

“Because I almost lost it! Did you not notice?”

“I did, but it’s not like I can blame you.”

“Sil, I know you said they are rather laid-back, but they’re still the king and queen! I can’t just laugh in their faces!”

The room fell quiet again as Silgvani needed a few moments to process the last sentence.

“...laugh?”

“Yeah, I was this close to laughing my ass off! Like when they said…” she started chuckling. “Oh crap, I can’t even think about iiit, hahahaha!”

The princess was at a loss for words. All this time, Nadine hadn’t held back her anger, but… her laughter?

“Is… is it normal for Humans to find entertainment in something like this?”

Nadine had to take multiple deep breaths before she was able to answer.

“Well, okay, to be fair: a real human dignitary probably would have felt insulted from being told… told…” The rest of her sentence was drowned in another wave of laughter.

“Phew!” Nadine called out once she had finally calmed down. “Wow, I really needed that. I… I don’t know why, but... somehow I feel a lot better now. Guess we eat and then it’s time to go?”

“Yes, let’s call for it,” Silgvani agreed as she stood up, still a bit perplexed. She opened the door and informed the servant who took a bow and left.

“By the way,” the princess asked as she returned inside. “What you mentioned about humans using their clan name…”

“Don’t you dare call me “Miss von Klot”, I’m at least ten cycles too young for that!”

Miss? Not Lady? I know she said she was closer to a commoner, but I never really asked to what degree. And why is it related to age?

She really had a lot to figure out about Humans.

"But I can't help but wonder if it's right to call your parents bad at communication."

"You did hear them just now, right?"

"That's not what I mean. I'm no expert, but maybe they just... see things a bit differently."

Silgvani cocked her head.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

“Well, it's difficult to explain if you don't know the context... forget that I said that, it was just a thought. But I’m surprised they’re so chill about Kiyrtin,” Nadine then pointed out. “From what you told me about them, I didn’t expect them to be so forgiving.”

“Right…”