Bridgebuilder

Laid Bare

Moving from the state where they were still separate entities to the shared place, where Alex and Carbon became a combination of each other was much smoother the second time around. He sort of slipped down into a different frame of mind this time, not the sharp jolt of their first mind link.

Carbon's part of their shared space crackled with nerves, unsure of where to start or if she even could. Alex smoothed himself out and tried to present a calming front for her. Trepidation that he was able to hide face-to-face showed through here, though he remained resolute in his desire to make things right. It seemed to help her a little, almost frantic energy dying down as she started to order the things she was to show him.

The first thing that she brought up was a collection of memories, snippets of school and conversations she had with her parents. It wasn't as personal as a single memory, whispered echoes of knowledge that filtered from one mind to another, but it carried much more information and gave him the background to understand concepts and events as she did. Baring your legs just wasn't something you did in casual company, and was often an invitation for a more intimate relationship. It didn't help that stout ankles and knees were attractive features to them. Alex, about a head taller than Carbon, had deliriously durable looking leg joints.

His assumption that the unnaturally pale skin of his freshly rebuilt legs and the rather abrupt way they just transitioned back into the original had been the thing that surprised her. It wouldn't be hard to avoid that in the future, but might make selling tropical vacations a bit hard.

The Carbon part flushed with embarrassment and fled that topic, bringing up another memory of a time with her father. Alex fell into her place again, far younger than the previous memory. In a large, cool room with a few other Tsla'o, Carbon waited with her father to meet an alien - a Human. She clutched her father's leg, face pressed into the fabric of his pants, partially hidden and afraid. She could feel the dense bone and sinew in his knee and knew he was strong. He'd protect her, she was sure of that. It didn't make her feel any less afraid, but it made her less nervous knowing he was there for her.

The alien they were there to meet came into the room. It was unimaginably tall, strangely colored, had weird rounded ears and only the top of its head had fur. The thing crouched and smiled and gave her a little wave and she squeezed her father's knee harder. It still felt strong and made her feel a little safer. Her father patted her shoulder and urged her to greet it as well. She managed a little wave back before she lost her nerves and fled the room, her father and the alien laughing politely behind her. She peeked around the doorway as they sat down at opposite sides of a table, both looking very amused.

The memory ended and he realized it had been tainted with later introspection. She had been four at the time and her father had brought her along to spend more time with her... but he also wanted to use her as a prop for the human representative. A precocious child running about, making the alien seem less alien. He'd kept her along for dealings with other Tsla'o as well, ever the family man. Alex got the impression he was actually some sort of bureaucrat.

They skipped forward. By the time she was ten she was still going along with her father on these business trips, but interactions were much more orchestrated. In a dark, ornately decorated side room, her aunt regarded her with cold eyes and coached her on what to say nothing and what to do sit still and look pleasant and interested in what is going on before ushering her out to some function. The memory ended abruptly, much more so than he was used to her memories ending. There was no trailing off here, just a jarring move to another thought. Whatever the function was, she didn't want him to see it.

Another meeting about trade deals a few years later, a long table with several Tsla'o and Humans at either end. She was bored with politics and Humans. She barely saw them as different now, just unusual. She still loved spending time with her father, but the political theater wasn't something she liked. It felt like too much dishonesty and backroom dealing, too much saying one thing while thinking another. Both her father and her aunt assured her she'd learn the ways of politics and fit in perfectly when she was older. That prospect frightened her.