"I'm glad you were there to tell them it wouldn't be wise."

Eventually we hope for some kind of mutual defense arrangement. If Draak keep meeting aliens there will be a war eventually.

"It'd be a lot to hope for that everyone we ran into would be cooperatively inclined. I don't think there'll be any trouble about coming to your defense if you're attacked. We would like to prioritize trying to talk to whoever we find first, if possible, and we're willing to plan on being the first to try it if a situation seems dicey to the Draak."

At least trying for peace seems worthy. And if you believe that we have powerful weapons worthy of being called the Sun's Flames the spirit of their goal is fulfilled, so I will speak no more of those unpleasant things.

"We've gotten the picture about Draak opinions on lying! I wouldn't expect you to bluff about that."

Boasting is not quite the same as Lying. Draak will overstate their power and accomplishments sometimes. 'Powerful' can mean different things. But - good, I can stop thinking about them now.

...We performed a census! Admittedly we only did it because it seemed like a governmental thing to do and most Draak were already present for the Grand Moot, but having the numbers may come in handy.

"What did the census find?"

There are more Draak than we thought there were, almost sixty-seven thousand of us in total. The nigh-impassable jungle of the Great Green is full of thriving Emerald and Onyx Draak where we thought it sparsely populated. The mix of clans is approximately 30-30-25-15 of a hundred, Emerald-Sapphire-Ruby-Onyx. And there were over ten thousand eggs this year! It's currently winter at home, just after the time of creation. More of us than average were trying.

"In response to Amentan contact?"

In response to great change in general. Starships, government, budding permanent Moots styling themselves like universities... Which was all started by Amentan contact, admittedly.

"How long do the eggs take to hatch?"

They're laid in mid-autumn and incubate over winter. They are conscious by the time most people stop hibernating - if they're somewhere cold enough to hibernate and have the personal tendency to - and then they get taught lessons by whichever parent wanted to do that over the end of winter and early spring, and hatch in late spring or early summer. Our year is approximately a season long, of course, these aren't your seasons.

"Of course. It'd probably be good for public relations to have cute pictures of the babies."

Eggs are the closest any of us come to finding something cute, so we might not be good at getting them. They're precious and perfect gems of potential that have to be protected. Especially your own. I think the Seeker has cameras and other fancy electronics...

"If you just take lots of pictures of the babies I'm sure some of them will be cute."

Tail-swish. I suppose. 'Public relations' is a resource that can't be measured, touched, smelled, exchanged for specific benefits, or tasted, so we will not be eager to try very hard to get it, but pictures are pretty cheap to do. Maybe if I spin it into pride...? I will think about it.

"The benefits are admittedly not very specific."

While we wait for Lightsong to return with what passes for our radio, do you know when people from Voa will arrive?

"Let me look. ...Half an hour. Is there someone from Voa you're particularly hoping to talk to?"

Nobody specific, but they are the other nation with a good space presence and I want to get Shining Truth to rendezvous and dock with a Voan shuttle too if they're up for it. Our general plan was for Tapa and Voa to build ships that can attach to Draak vessels and be towed places while our peoples grow more comfortable with each other. Since both nations have a sizable space presence already. The Seeker mentioned Tapa and Voa more often than any other county. He also took a liking to Tuviri for some reason but they don't have much of a space program, I think.

"I don't know a lot about Tuviri, but I can get ahold of people who've been placed there if that would ever be useful."

Perhaps later. Other than the shuttle docking, we want to collaborate with Amentan scientists - not necessarily of only one country - to identify possibly habitable planets and go looking at them. You're a lot better at telescopes than we are. We don't want to commit to anything about ownership and so on of unoccupied planets yet but we're not intending to claim all of them or even most of them.

Her head tilts as the one she called Lightsong lands again, a bag secured around his neck hanging close to his chest. It seems we can talk to Shining Truth now, too.

They arrange a shuttle rendezvous.

Back at the Draak's landed ships, one of the aliens who stayed back to guard the place pads over towards the greys a bit further out.

"...Hey," says the grey. "What's up?"

They're a relatively little red and mostly-featherless one.

We're bored and I'm thinking of sparring with Flickerclaw and I thought, maybe you guards are bored too and want to watch.