Family Feast

"my goodness theres so much meat I don't know where to begin!" sienna said to her mother softly

she chuckled and put together a plate for her explaining each dish they were all Huassain dishes but very edible for humans

there was an assortment of meat pies made with various types of meat fragrant soups made

with vegetables and edible flowers and spicy stews and drinks of nectar from a certain type of lily plants

that sienna soon found herself pleasantly tipsy from its rich sweet flavor on top of her full stomach

she leaned on her mother's shoulder a bit who didn't mind in the least leaning on her amused husband

mother and daughter were so happy to be in each others company they ate and drank more

she discovered that Huassain people loved to eat

and drink and sing songs in the Huassain language that was very beautiful and tell old stories

and legends about Huassain it was their cultural way of welcoming others and sharing about themselves with others, it was very warm and friendly,

people did not hesitate to be affectionate with Sienna, often coming by her seat to pet her hug her nuzzling and touching her frequently in some way

they encouraged the children to sing and entertain and the kids were only too happy to oblige sharing stories of the things they

had gotten to experience while on Prylea even Rhakem

using the holo pc sienna had bought for him to put on a little show for the adults using holograms it was quite entertaining

after the meal when the icecream came out again it was hilarious to see the adults reaction to the treat

"I will order a big shipment of ice cream from the supply ships I want this in every merchant shop on Huassain," the king said

aunty Ae and Eric were amused "very well dad we will make sure to order a lot"

"get all the flavors" sadeska suggested "theres a lot of different flavors my favorite is chocolate"

"they even make milkshakes with it at Astroshack"

"what's Astroshack?" her mother asked her

"it's a restaurant that serves all kind of food from all over the galaxy, it's a lot of fun to eat there," Rhakem said

"and you play there too" Quin added "theres a big play park with lots of toys and all the children play together all day

I played lots of games with other kids on the big ship, we played pirates

with the other kids, there were two pirate teams and I was on Rhakems team

and they hid the treasure and we had a big battle against the other team

and we won and found all the treasure and they gave us a free cake as a reward

it was a really fun game the cake was really yummy too" he giggled telling his story

"Sounds like you had a great adventure," his dad said ruffling his hair amused "I'm so glad your home though"

he gave his sons cheek a gentle squeeze quin was giggling in delight as his parent showered affection on him

sienna was so happy as she looked around her only seeing happy children reunited with their parents she was only too happy

to be reunited with her own as her mother kept her arm around her often ruffling her hair playing with Ziya, feeding her things she had never tasted before,

Ziya was lying lazily next to her dad on a cushion chewing on a piece of meat held in her little hand quite contended watching everything with her big bright eyes

Daisuke and Miyong chatting pleasantly on either side of them it felt like a family meal sienna felt a peacefulness she hadn't felt in a long time as her worried heart settled down

mother and daughter chatting and enjoying themselves together after so long apart the feeling was wonderful

"Sienna you have done wonders for the children sadeska looks so lovely all well-groomed she is like a little lady now"

her mother said

"Rhakems looks like a decent young alpha very mature he's grown up a bit out there with you guys for just a few days"

his father said smiling pleased

"ah we just wanted to send them home looking nice for you" sienna replied

" it was no big deal we took them to the salon and bought them a few nice outfits it's just what we could do for them"

"where did you find the dresses for sadeska?" her mother asked

"I bought them at a special store they make customized clothing for humanoids sadeska told me

she wanted to wear dresses but she couldn't because of her tail but we were able to find a brand that makes them

as you can see she can now, and, it made her very happy, she looks very nice in a dress too doesnt she?

"yes she does" her mother agreed happily "it suits her very well"

"All the children look very nice," Quin's father said "even our mischievous boy thank you, it must have been difficult, did they give you all a lot of trouble?" he asked

sienna laughed

"let me just say that having the children with us for a few days was a wonderful experience,

I enjoyed it a great deal, getting to meet them and spend time with them, they made me think a lot about

wanting to have my own children in the future, and it made me learn a lot in a short time of what it

takes to raise such a special child because Huassain children are special and unique in the galaxy

and my mate is Huassain so I got to see first hand what the possibilities might be for us

how to care for a Huassain child, how are they different from myself who is an ordinary human,

what kinds of things do they need to be comfortable and happy, and most importantly how to help a child like them fit into the bigger world

things like do's and don'ts of interacting with other humanoid species and it goes both ways, how should other humanoids interact with a Huassain child, so that they get along well and safely together

I think your children will tell you they also learned a lot themselves,

I don't think I could have had such a chance otherwise it was a learning experience

for both sides, me learning from the children and they learned from us

but it wasn't hard to say it was difficult I loved all of it I wouldn't have missed this for anything

I would love to have them all back again with us anytime if we were not busy with our work"

"We must think about things like this for the children of Huassain," Aunty Ae said "we must create opportunities for our children,

to be able to meet and interact with other humanoid species, so they can learn as well how to interact and adapt to other Humanoids,

and be able to fit in with other people in the outside world

especially how to treat others when they meet them, as more outsiders might also come here as well

yes things like this must be taught in our schools sienna makes an excellent point

simple things like grooming and dressing well, go towards making good impressions, presenting ourselves well to others and not letting the outside world think we are all wild people" she said

"We have our own ways of producing clothing, but the quality does not measure up to how everyone else dresses

but kids these days can see so much because of the galactic web, they will want to dress nicer and look like other children out there in the galaxy,

if we want them to be able to adapt then we must provide the means to them, perhaps think about allowing some franchise stores to open here on Huassain,

"but the problem is that they might be expensive" Uncle Eric said

"why not open your own stores?" Sienna suggested, "are they not people on Huassain who would have skills to groom the children?"

"I think they would be even better than stores out there because we had to give the stylist at the saloon instructions how to be careful with their ears and such because they had never groomed Huassain children before,

but I'm sure that Huassain people would understand the technicalities of how to groom a Huassain child the best if you provide them the tools or equipment needed for grooming,

and the various treatment products to care for the hair and fur and provide maybe a few shop locations,

they could open their own shops here on Huassain as long as they were willing to work you could regulate the prices of groomings to make it affordable to your people

I'm guessing it would provide new jobs to skilled people"

"yes, we could!" Aunty Ae said "Sienna is right we have people here who know how to style hair I have seen kids wearing pretty braided hairstyles and such,

they like to put on beads and colorful things to make their hair or fur look pretty, there are young girls who know how especially teenagers and we have remedies

that are used to care for hair and fur mostly homemade from various herbs and such that grow locally they are used to keep away pest like fleas and keep the hair and fur nicely they are widely used by our people.."

"then you have your own product that's specially made by your own people with natural ingredients that are suitable for you" Sienna added

"if you establish your remedies and bottle them they can be sold in merchant shops, not just here on Huassain but if they really work and have good ingredients and results when used

they can sell outside as well, and you can ask for a high price for them, theres a thriving industry for beauty products out there the rarer the products, the more expensive they are especially if they have great quality and results"

"Sienna you are quite brilliant," the king said "Daisuke do you see? this is why we need you two

you know how things work out there and how we can do things that can improve everything, you two need to be officially crowned

so that you put forth your ideas to the senate of Huassain, you don't have to do anything else just share with us your ideas"

"but thats just basic entrepreneurial knowledge I learned it in high school," Sienna said

"for a planet like yours, if you want to develop it better, it would be best to employ your skilled people in jobs that suit the skills they have and try to find things

from your planet that you can market to the rest of the galaxy, things that no one else has, but you can make them,

that way Huassain will have a brand that they use for intergalactic trade a resource

that people will want that will be in demand, Huassain will hold the monopoly because it cant be sourced from anywhere else, once you can establish a steady trade, then money will come in

it improves the economy and the standard of living will go up because you have more money to do stuff you can further improve the production of whatever you are trading,

I just know basic stuff that everyone learns in school, I'm not some brilliant genius or anything" she denied I don't know how to begin running a business or anything because I have no experience"

"but this why the rest of galaxy is so advanced and progress much faster than us for you this is basic knowledge that everyone knows and learns as children in school,

for us, we are now beginning to understand such complexities," Uncle Eric said

"We have lived very simple lives here on Huassain until this recent era of interstellar travel that brought us into contact with the outside world we are still catching up,

people like you guys who are more educated and knowledgable, we need people like you on Huassain"

"all right we are getting ahead of ourselves," Mizuno said

"let's not put too much pressure on the kid's dear," Aunty Ae said patting her husband's shoulder

"but siennas ideas of letting the people open small salons and bottling our remedies we will bear

it in mind for the next senate meeting, we will look into it more on our own to understand it better,

what this tells us is that we must educate ourselves much more if we want to lead our people into the future well, not ask others to do it for us"

"you are always the wisest my dear," the king said nodding and smiling "come let's eat no more political talk with the kids eat please" he urged the pair