"Are you ready, Hestia?" Mia asks.
Hestia nods eagerly and bounces up and down on the balls of her feet. "Mm!" She chirps excitedly.
Hestia looks up at Mia, her gaze wide and expectant. Mia grins back down at her and gives her an encouraging pat on the head. Then she turns to look at me. "...Ready?" Her tone is light, but her expression serious. She raises an eyebrow at me as she waits for my reply.
"Yeah." I answer simply and follow it with a small smile. "Yeah. Let's do this."
"Alright, let's go."
With a quick nod, Hestia skips off toward the entrance of the building, following closely behind Mia. I walk alongside them, watching their backs.
My eyes trail after their forms as they move forward. They both seem so determined, so focused on what lies ahead that I almost envy them for their resolve. They know exactly where they need to be, while I feel like I've been drifting through life aimlessly ever since arriving here.
No.
Since a long time before arriving here.
I shake my head slightly and force myself to focus. This isn't about me, this is about getting duties assigned, so I can at least try to help the rebellion.
I can't read or understand or eavesdrop on anything, but at least I can memorize routes and paths to take, and where certain things are. Assuming I know what the thing is.
Mia is here because...
Neither Hestia nor myself can get any hope of the aliens agreeing to give us some kinds of duties when we can't communicate.
I feel like it's already a long shot, especially for me, if I can't learn the language, but without Mia to translate I can't even try.
Hestia...
I think she understands.
I explained it to her a few nights ago - since she can't tell anyone, I don't see the harm in telling her so she can help however she feels able. Plus, it'll mean she'll be ready for it next year when it's time to move.
Which leads me right back to the fact that I'm the only one here that feels like a fish out of water. Someone who needs a translator just to offer menial labor.
Mia pushes the door to the room open and we step inside, closing it behind us.
We move down a short hallway into a larger space. There are tables scattered around with various items sitting atop them, but otherwise the area seems fairly empty. A couple of aliens glance up at our arrival, then return to whatever they were doing.
The room itself looks similar to many others within this facility—at least the ones meant for the aliens to live and work in. It has plain white walls with no decorations whatsoever, except for some shelves containing miscellaneous supplies such as books or papers or tools. On the far wall hangs a large screen displaying images from another part of the compound, showing people moving about.
There are three other aliens in the room, besides the two that have decided to ignore us, sitting at one table, chatting quietly amongst themselves while they work. One of them notices us enter and immediately gets up to greet us.
It's one of the grey fur-hair aliens. The ones who seem to be lower ranked than the orange-yellow bumpy ones. Maybe that's a good thing, because they're often nicer and more reasonable.
But I don't know. I don't speak to them, so that could be a wrong impression.
I'm not the only one who thinks that though.
This one smiles warmly at us and greets Mia in their own language. She replies back fluently, then turns to translate for me and Hestia. "He's asking what brings us here today." She glances over her shoulder at me and raises an eyebrow expectantly. "...So, Sarah? What should I say?"
Oh.
That's a he?
I was thinking the more delicate build meant female.
I cough.
That is. Not the point. "Um. Well. You know, I want..." My tongue feels thick in my mouth and my words sound awkward and clumsy even in my head. "...You know...I was thinking...uh..."
Mia places a hand on my head. "Now, don't just go and lose your English speaking ability too. Not allowed."
I grumble and swat her hand away. "You just...! Put me on the spot! That's all." I scowl at her, then look back to the alien.
"...Just tell him. We want to do jobs to help." I cross my arms. "...Something more than just pushing that rock."
It seems believable to me I'd choose to get any other jobs to avoid the rock pushing. It's not even really wrong.
It doesn't matter if I'm just making things up as I go, as long as it's believable enough, right?
Right.
Mia nods and relays my words back to the man in their language.
He tilts his head slightly and nods. His gaze moves from me, then to Hestia, and he says something to her. He has a curious look on his face, almost like he's asking her something. But Hestia's eyes widen, then she glances at me, clearly nervous to be spoken to by the alien.
us to be spoken to by the alien.
"Don't look at me, you know I can't talk to them."
Hestia bites her lip, and then nods.
Mia steps forward between us. She puts her hands together behind her back and tilts her head up to meet his gaze directly, speaking confidently.
The alien's gaze turns toward her instead now, his brow furrowed in thought before he responds with another question, then waits patiently as she translates his response back to us both again.
"...He wants to know what we can do." Mia translates.
I hesitate. "...I'm. Uh."
Mia holds up a hand and smiles, winking at me. "I'll cover you, Sarah."
"...You will?"
"Trust me."
I do, of course.
I'm pretty sure I've been trusting Mia since we met, now.
And that. Feels like an entire lifetime ago now.