27-43

p r a y e r (Noun.)

a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship

Elain was so excited for whatever that was going to happen. She knew it had to do something with the waterfall at the center of the nest, because its name had come up when they were in front of the leader. Her blood raced under her skin and her heart thumped loudly in her ears in an attempt to keep up. It took a lot in her to stay still between Brotte and Milo.

Each of the natives below her had a created a single file line. It looked similar to a spiral that started next to the waterfall, where Meylaani stood with a large leaf, which was odd. They hadn't seen any plant on the surface that could have created a leaf like that. Perhaps they got it some other biome? If Elain stood next to it, there would be no doubt that it could cover all of her torso and her head. It was so odd to think of them as that big, but her eyes couldn't have been deceiving her.

From what she could remember of the leaves from earth, most could barely exceed the palm of her hand. It wasn't often that someone was allowed to be up close to an actual tree. Most were hidden within green houses, to keep them from the cruel air of the outside. Elain's last time seeing them was for a school field trip. Her school had snagged a tour under the pretenses of educating the students. In the end, one of her ten-year-classmates had an episode and ripped a branch from one of the growing ferns. The child was nearly sued, if Elain remembered correctly. Their family had to move away, though a lot of people say he was placed in juvenile detention. Ten-year-old gossip, she was sure.

She was nudged away from the faded memory by the hum of the humanoids below her. It started low, like a small buzz in the ear. Like the movies adding in a base-drop to give attention to the scene in the movies she used to watch. Then it grew louder, and she realized that Brotte had also joined them. He's probably upset that he wasn't down there with his people. The thought made guilt thread its way into her excitement. Unable to push it away, so she decided to apologize later.

When the song was loud enough, it turned into words. Of course, neither of the humans there could understand the foreign language, but they both could understand that whatever was being said was extremely important to them. Elain, always a sucker for music, swayed with the slow tune. Elders, who sat on the edge and weren't physically able to be a part of the ceremony, thumped their clawed feet against the floor. They were creating a beat in perfect sync as the younger generations. Even children stood within the spiral, though they only hummed rather than actually singing out the words.

That was when Elain realized they shouldn't be there. This was a ceremony of sorts. Something that she and Milo weren't meant to be a part of. She let her gaze shift up to the face of the native beside her, only to see that he was watching both of them. Pride shown in his eyes. No. They were meant to be here. Why were they showing aliens the inner workings of their people? It was strange, seeing how hostile they were when they first arrived.

Her eyes turned to Milo's before they could return to the floor level, but he was staring down at the singing people. He was just as entranced by them as she was, it seemed. It wasn't something they were ever going to be used to on Earth. People on Earth rarely did large gatherings and it showed in both of their awed expressions. She couldn't even remember the last time a sort of ceremony was performed, unless we were speaking about the inauguration of a new president. Even then, nobody went to watch such a thing in person, and it was something that only one person was focused to do something in.

When she turned to look back, the spiral of beings moved. In a synchronized sort of madness, every second person moved to the left while those in between went right. She could that they never moved into a mess, because when the two halves of the line collide they create the same line. It was mesmerizing. They had all stopped in perfect unison as well. Back in the same place they started at.

Meylaani said one word, "Emoc," and the singing stopped. She had heard the word before, so she thought that it was another cord they used to grab someone's attention. At least that's what she made of it. All of the unison was over as they all began their own conversations. Not with each other, though, but with nothing in particular. Their heads are raised to the ceiling with all pair of their eyes shut. It was like they were all praying to something. Even the native beside her turned up his head and mumble his own sort of saying. This only made Elain feel even worse about the situation.

By this point, only one male and Meylaani were still humming. They both held the large leaf with their top pair of arms. As the first being of the spiral moved forward, their arms moved in tandem. The way she would describe their movement would have been an arch or 'n' shape. It allowed for the leaf to gather the 'Arelleane eht,' as Brotte called it, then moved to dowse the native with it. At first Elain was shocked. If Brotte had such a bad reaction to it, then why would they force another to endure it? But the native seemed refreshed, even energized! Was it only an allergy that Brotte had? Another glance up at the being told her that he wanted to be in that one's shoes. So it was only dangerous before it reached the ground then? That was so odd.

One by one, they all were showered and their prayers (if that was what they actually were) quieted. Selcouth pulled at her clothes, trying to get her away from the edge. Due to his size, he achieved in moving her few inches, but Brotte caught on. The nine-foot humanoid took Selcouth by the bottom jaw and turned his attention to himself, baring his teeth. As if he was silently telling the creature behave itself. Selcouth whimpered, then pressed himself to her back again. When that was settled, she turned back to the ceremony happening before them.

When they were finished, they began to move again. They walked in ring, picking up the hum for the second time. "I'm so confused," Milo whispered to her. It took a lot of will power not to laugh at the statement, but she did nod in agreement.

As all of them were splashed with Arelleane, they sat in their spots in the ring. It was odd how their walking seemed like a jumbled mess, but when they were all sat it was in a checkered pattern. It was amazing how in sync they were without muttering a word to one another. This must have been something they did often for them to memorize the placements to well.

Meylaani and the male beside him raised their arms to the sky and only spoke a single sentence. Each word bouncing off the rounded cave walls, causing their voices to come from all over the place.

"Sreyarp ruo raeh! Ythgim 'o esaelp!"