Zerri

My subconscious was apparently working the entire time I was out, taking advantage of the connection I had made to Seth before I lost consciousness to try and figure out how to communicate. The mind that had been completely shut to me before was open enough for my more instinctive parts to worm their way in and absorb knowledge, apparently. In the end, I don't think it hurt that he fell asleep shortly after that, so my subconscious could take advantage of a mind lost in the dream world rather than one firmly grounded in the waking world.

I don't remember any of this, though. All I know is that when I regained consciousness the next morning and the native sitting watch over me spoke, I understood his words. My understanding wasn't perfect, but the fact that Seth was already awake by then allowed me to check the parts I didn't understand against him. I don't think he realized I was doing this... the natives, including him, seemed to have neither sensitivity nor awareness of outside influences on their minds.

"You with us now?"

I nodded without really realizing the impact of what that would do. Immediately I got an excited response, and I realized right away what I had done. I hadn't understood anything the day before... and now I was responding to them.

"...Do you actually understand me?"

"Yes, I do," I said, but as the words left my mouth, I saw a problem in the situation. I had responded in my own language, and I had no clue how to respond in his language. I could understand it... fairly well when I borrowed Seth's mind, but I didn't seem to have absorbed anything on how to produce it. Seeing the look of confusion on the native's face, I tried to give him an embarrassed smile, and then shrugged.

"Was that a yes?"

I nodded.

"So I take it you understand me now... but you can't speak so that I can understand you?"

I nodded again, and frustration clouded his features. I, of course, agreed with him completely, though at least the situation was a little better than it had been before. At least I could understand him now... Though that didn't really solve anything.

I fell to thinking, and before long an idea came to me. Seth was awake. I could get into his mind; I had been doing so to figure out what the other native was telling me. So, perhaps he would be able to sense me if I tried to communicate with him... After all, that sort of thought communication, while quite a bit easier with a common language, was possible without words, so should be mutually comprehensible despite the language barrier, provided we could both sense each other.

At that point, I decided that it couldn't hurt to try. If he couldn't "hear" me, that would be that. And if he could, perhaps I could tell him what I wanted to say, and he could express it in native words for me. It would be awkward, especially if we came across any terms that just didn't express well in the native language, but it would be better than not being able to explain myself at all.

Of course, there was also the fact that I wanted to try to communicate with my new mate. If this didn't work, it would be a long time before I could explain to him what had happened before I fell unconscious. And based on the way he seemed to remember the event, I didn't think his opinion of me would get any better until I could explain things. I don't blame him for that, but it still hurt just a little.

Taking a deep breath out of nervousness, I started my attempt...

"Seth?" I started with a simple thought, just his name, to call attention to me. I had never attempted communication like this with someone who had never been sensitive before, and I didn't want to frighten him too much.

"Huh? Wha-? What was that?" He responded, which was definitely a good sign, but there was a definite reverb to the "sound" of this thought that told me that he had responded out loud. To be expected of someone who had never used this sort of communication before, I realized, but still... Everyone I had ever communicated by thought with was trained in the act and knew how to do so without verbalizing unintentionally. The only reason I recognized the effect was because Mara had been of the opinion that it was a sign of respect and/or affection to talk out loud with someone at all times, even when separated by something that made verbal communication impossible.

"Do you recognize me?"

"Are you talking in my head?" He had ignored my question, but I could tell from his mental agitation that this was something he needed to straighten out before we could talk of anything else. So I answered him honestly.

"That I am."

"And you're not a figment of my imagination?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then why do you expect me to recognize you? And better yet, do you really expect me to think I'm not going crazy?"

"Would it help if I said my name is Zerri? I'm fairly sure I heard you repeat my name... whenever it was I was last awake."

"Zerri...? Are you saying you're that alien?"

"Alien?" I stumbled on that word for a moment, but only a moment. Shortly after the question came to mind, several images and a flood of information came to the top of his mind, and I was able to sift through those to get a meaning that made sense to me. "Ah... Yes, I believe that would be an appropriate term for me. Though I'm sure you realize that I do not look like this."

I picked out one of the images that had come across the strongest with the word, that of a being that I had never seen before, though it vaguely resembled a member of the Betan race, were the Betans a little more... humanoid. A body much like the natives of the world I was on at the time, only skin a sickly-looking greenish gray color. Large, tilted black eyes, slits for a nose, and a tiny mouth. That sort of image seemed to be his strongest link to the word "alien," and I sent it back to him.

He paused for a moment to take in the image, even though it had originally come from his mind. This was actually quite convenient for me, since the native at my bedside was trying to talk to me, and had been for a bit. Sighing, I turned my attention to him.

"Are you all right?" I nodded, and then held up my hand in what I hoped he would understand was a sign for "please wait - I'm busy."

"How do I know you're not really like that, but tricking us all?" Seth asked me just as I lifted up my hand.

"Even if I had the skill, which I don't, I'm afraid I didn't have the energy to do something like that before."

"But you had the energy to pounce on me and bite me?" The sarcastic tone to his words came across even stronger through mind to mind communication than it would have verbally.

"I would hardly say I pounced on you," I commented, chuckling self-consciously to myself even as I did so. "I barely had enough energy at that point to sit up. I fell on you more than anything else."

"But you still bit me."

"That had to be done. I would have either wasted away or gone crazy and jumped you anyway had I not done it then. However, I do apologize for not being able to explain myself to you at the time."

"You would have wasted away or gone crazy?"

"Yes."

"What are you, some kind of alien vampire?"

Another word that I didn't understand, and this time the images and thoughts in his mind didn't work to explain to me what he was talking about. I saw a pale faced, dark haired native with extended front incisors wearing a black cape and speaking (in what Seth's thoughts informed me was a "bad Transylvanian accent") about sucking blood. I saw several other similar images (with and without the bad accents), but at the same time his thoughts were telling me that none of these beings were real.

"Vampire? What is a "vampire"?"

"You know... Dracula and the whole "I vant to suck your blooooood!" thing?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Vampires bite people and suck their blood. They don't like crosses and garlic, and they burn up in the sun."

"...I am not a vampire."

"But you sucked my blood."

"Just a little bit. I needed life fluid to form the bond."

"The bond?"

"The mate-bond."

"Okaaaay... You're starting to creep me out a little now. Wait, no. You started creeping me out when you started nuzzling my neck and then bit me. Now you're really creeping me out."

"I apologize for that. I promise you I will explain as much as I can... later. For now I need your help."

"My help?" He laughed, and I detected a note of hysteria in that laugh. "I'm locked up because of you... and you want my help?"

"...I need you to interpret for me."

"Interpret?"

"I seem to have picked up some understanding of your language through you while I was unconscious. However, I can only understand, not produce."

"I understand you just fine."

"That's because we're communicating mind to mind, without language. Unfortunately, I can't reach most of your people's minds to do the same. When I established the bond between us, I opened up a channel between your mind and mine. Because of that, I need you to express my words in your language for me until I can start learning it."

"...I can't help you."

"Why not?"

"Didn't I mention it earlier? They locked me up in the training site jail... because of what happened last night."

I thought back a little. He hadn't gone into that much detail, but he had mentioned being locked up because of me. I wasn't quite sure why, perhaps because he had broken into the medical facility. Perhaps because I had fallen unconscious... Or perhaps for both reasons, come to think of it.

"Would you be willing to interpret for me if I managed to get you out of there?" I had an idea, though it was a bit of a stretch. The success of my plan depended on how badly the other native, who was still waiting for me to turn my attention back to him, wanted to understand what I had to say... and how much authority he had as well.

"How do you expect to do that if only I can understand you?"

"...You've never worked with someone who doesn't understand you, have you?"

"Never had the opportunity."

"There are more ways to make oneself understood than verbally and mentally, you know."

My mind was churning back to my training as a counselor. Because of our proximity to the largest space-port on the planet, many mate-less who got brought to our counseling station were from the colonies or even from outside of our system. Many of these clients were unable to understand the standard language that I spoke, but until we could get a more specialized counselor in, someone needed to deal with these poor souls, so we had all been trained in basic communication without language. It wouldn't do for communicating long or complicated messages, but basic ideas weren't difficult without words.

"If you're that good at making yourself understood, what do you need me for?"

"There are limitations to what I can convey without words. So, will you do it if I get you out?"

"You'll never be able to do it, so sure."

That was a challenge, of course. I would most likely have risen to it no matter whether I had to or not, but considering that I needed to establish some form of meaningful communication with the natives, I needed to be successful. With that in mind, I "smiled" at Seth mentally (which most likely surprised him more than a little), and then turned my attention back to the native at my bedside. I think he noticed that I was done, since he started speaking right away.

"What were you doing?"

"I was speaking with my new mate," I said, unable to suppress the happiness that filled me as I said those final words. I knew that he wouldn't be able to understand me, but reestablishing the fact that he couldn't understand me was part of my plan.

"...I still can't understand a word you're saying," he said, with a sad smile on his face. "Though you seem quite happy with yourself."

"That I am." Just a little more, I figured. Also, I wanted to gloat a little without him knowing that I was doing so.

"You are responding to what I'm saying, right?" he asked, sounding somewhat frustrated, which was my intent. "You're not just saying something random that happens to be timed right to be a response?"

I nodded.

"I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to allow me to understand you, do you?"

I smiled at him, the most open and inviting smile I could produce. Then I nodded.

"You do?"

I nodded again, and decided that it was time to use the one word that I hoped they would be able to understand coming from me.

"Seth." It wasn't the most eloquent thing I could have said, but I assumed that it would be easier to mistake the name for a similar word in my language if I mixed it into a sentence.

I watched the look of astonishment cross the native's face. If I was reading the expressions on his face correctly, it seemed that he didn't believe what he had heard for a few moments. Finally, with a not-quite-convinced look on his face, he spoke again.

"You didn't just say "Seth," did you?"

I nodded, and then repeated myself just to emphasize the point. "Seth."

""Seth" as in my son? The boy who was with you last night?" That was new information for me. Apparently this native was one of Seth's parents... which made him part of my new family as well. By all rights I should have given him a formal greeting right then, my first greeting as his child's new mate, but in light of the fact that he wouldn't be able to understand what was going on, I decided to do it later.

I nodded again.

"What does Seth have to do with this?"

I pointed at the floor. "Seth." Then I pointed at the door and moved my hand back toward myself, repeating the name again. I repeated this a few times.

It took several tries in the end. I wasn't expecting it to work right away, though I had hoped that it would be a little easier. Still, eventually the native seemed to understand.

"You want me to bring Seth here?"

I nodded as enthusiastically as I possibly could.

"You think he can help you make yourself understood?"

I nodded again.

"..."

He stayed silent for several moments, a thoughtful look on his face. Finally, he shrugged and smiled at me, bowing his head in defeat. "I guess it can't hurt to try it out, can it?"

I smiled back.

He then stood up and walked over to the door. After opening the door, he stuck his head outside and started speaking. He was speaking too softly for me to understand his words, but I realized then that there had been someone standing outside the door the entire time. A few moments later, he came back in to sit down next to the bed again.

"I've sent someone to get Seth. Hopefully he's awake now. If he's not, we'll have to wait a while."

I, of course, knew that he was awake, and waiting. I couldn't tell his parent that, though, so instead I just smiled. And with that, we proceeded to sit in silence, waiting for them to bring Seth. I can't help but admit that I wasn't just waiting to be able to make myself understood, but to see my new mate again... even if he still had no idea what was going on.