I like Hermione a lot. She was very helpful during my move to New York City. It was clear that President Tapiwa and the other Council members didn't enjoy her presence here, but despite the hostile welcome she stayed cherry and semi-professional. I say semi because Hermione does this thing the Soenil Handbook refers to as "malicious compliance". It's an interesting concept that I found devilishly delightful, where Hermione would do as she was told but nothing more. If she was told to sign some papers limiting what she could or could not do during her stay with me she would sign them with nonsensical things. Like the name of famous peoples or randoms words. No one would notice until much later.
She was always kind to me. She constantly asked me how I was feeling, if I was hungry, if I wanted to do anything or not do something. It was... pleasant to be coddled in that way. My mother had died when I was only six Earth years old, which coincidentally was the same age Hermione was when mother had been taken. Captain Ki'rnne was close friends with my mother and had promised her to take me to my father on his homeworld. But when my family rejected me he decided he would simply care for me himself. He had, after all, fulfilled my mother's wish of bringing me to my father.
My childhood on the ship was a good one as far as I could tell, I had nothing to compare it too. I got along with the crew and saw more of the galaxy then any child of any other species could dare claim. But sometimes I wondered if I had been missing out on this, on family. Captain Ki'rnne and the crew were a sort of family to me but nothing like Hermione. Hermione didn't hold back praise like Captain Kiernan. Matter of fact she let me know a handful of times a day that she loved me and was happy I was here. It was strange being pack bonded to by a human, the love and loyalty was just as fierce as the Soenil Handbook had claimed.
"Iqi! Guess what?" I was pulled out of my thoughts by Hermione's cheerful voice.
I hesitated for a moment unsure if she truly wanted me to guess or if she was going to tell me in a moment.
She sat next to me on the sofa of our "condo". "Well go on guess!"
I wracked my brain. What could she be excited about? "Hot Pockets?" I asked.
She laughed. "No silly. You're finally gonna be introduced to the public!" There's gonna be an event sort of thing where people can come and meet you! Isn't that exciting?"
I didn't find that exciting at all. More like nerve wracking. I smiled widely. "Yes, it is!" I beamed.
"You're lying Iqi," Willoughby sang. She had a habit of singing some of the words she said. She also had a habit of always being able to tell when I was lying.
Hermione frowned. "What are you nervous or something?"
"A bit. I don't really know how I feel about meeting so many humans at once." I admitted.
Dr. Willoughby placed her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. There will be less than 200 people in attendance. But it will be televised so that the public can still see you at home."
"Yeah, and if you get tired of shaking hands and kissing ass we can just sneak out the back door," Hermione grinned.
I stared at her unsure if she was joking or not. Dr. Willoughby picked up on my confusion.
"Not kissing ass literally!" She laughed. "It's just a saying that means to flatter or perform favors excessively, especially to receive preferential treatment."
"Ah," I sighed glad that was cleared up. "I was wondering, could you teach me more about these "angels"? I'd like a better perspective on what the humans first impression of me is."
"You don't have to act like an angel Iqi," Hermione smiled. "Just be yourself. People will love you."
"I think he means more like he'd like to understand the culture around this idea that he looks like an angel. Everyone is definitely going to get that impression from him and it's important to know what people think of you," Dr. Willoughby said.
"Yes," I nodded. Dr. Willoughby was very clever, I liked that about her.
"Well, I'm not very religious so I doubt I'd be much help," Hermione said.
"Well, good thing I'm a Christian!" Dr. Willoughby smiled.
"Wait what! I thought you were a scientist. How can you be both?" Hermione said.
"The two aren't mutually exclusive. Knowing all the knowledge I know of the world and beyond how can I not believe there was a divine creator," Dr. Willoughby shrugged.
"But doesn't the existence of aliens kinda throw the Bible into a spin? Like the story of creation doesn't say anything about anything outside of Earth."
"I believe God told mankind exactly how much we needed to know. The rest was for us to figure out."
Hermione shook her head. "Alrighty, well you're still more of an expert than me."
Dr. Willoughby turned to me. "I'm going to go get my Bible Iqi. I'll show you some of the text then explain how modern people have come to interpret angels."
As soon as Dr. Willoughby walked off I turned to Hermione. "What's a Bible?"
~
It was a cold night in New York City, according to the Soenil... I mean humans. There was a lot of discussion on my outfit for the event. Should I dress like a human male with a suit and a tie? Should I wear something a little more... otherworldly? Should I dress warmly to fit in? How will they take my wings into account? There was an entire meeting held on my wardrobe for one night.
In the end they decided on a white suit with a grey shirt and maroon tie, tailored to keep my wings in mind. They also made me a grey jacket to wear outside. Hermione was concerned that it was too much white on white and they should have me wear a grey suit but her concerns fell on deaf ears. I liked my outfit very much. I felt very... human wearing them. I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom and opened and closed my wings enjoying my new outfit.
"Iqi we're leaving now. Ahh you look so handsome!" Hermione squealed stepping into my room.
"Thank you," I smiled shyly.
She was dressed in a shimmering white gown, wearing matching shoes that gave her height. Her hair was draped over her head to one side and fell in beautiful curls.I wondered absentmindedly if it was alright that once again I hadn't done anything to my hair.
"I was worried people might think you're a girl but the suit is very masculine. It's perfect!"
"Why would people think I'm female?" I asked.
"You have very feminine features to be honestly. Willoughby was going on about it being because you have no Y-chromosome or something but who cares about all the sciencey stuff, let's go!"
I did care about all the "sciencey" stuff as Hermione called it but decided not to argue with her. After all the preparation and planning I was beginning to feel excited about this event. I had what Hermione called "butterflies in my stomach". She had to show me a butterfly after that and explained how they start off as caterpillars, which lead me to explaining the Flct'aa, a similar non-sentient creature on the planet of Tei'cha.
Hermione and I headed down to the garage were our car awaited. Dr. Willoughby and our housekeeper Jasmine were to ride with us and a few bodyguards. I was surprised when I saw Dr. Willoughby and Jasmine. They both dressed in uniforms everyday so to see them wearing gowns as beautiful and eye catching as Hermione was stunning. I complimented them both when we entered the vehicle.
I sat uncomfortable as we were quickly briefed once more on protocol for the event. Cars I found, were not made for those with wings in mind. I had hoped this "limousine" to be more spacious as Hermione had promised but it was only more spacious for leg room but wings. It was Dr. Willoughby who picked up on my discomfort first.
"Iqi if you want you can spread your wings in here," she said.
"I don't want to take up too much space," I smiled.
"Nonsense," Hermione waved my concern off. She scooted forward. "Go on. Stretch them out behind me."
I hesitated, but my wings hurt too much to refuse. I tentatively stretch one wing behind Hermione and the other in the empty space beside me. It felt infinitely better.
"Thank you," I sighed.
"Of course." Hermione said sitting back gently against the wing behind her. "You don't have to suffer in silence Iqi. If you don't tell us if something is bothering you we won't know."
"I'll try to be more open next time," I nodded.
"We're here," one of the guards said.
I groaned inwardly. And just when I finally got comfortable.
"You know," Hermione whispered in my ear. "Once you're outside there's really nothing they can do to stop you from spreading your wings out."
I looked at her like she was crazy. That was against protocol.
She seemed to know what I was thinking. "Iqi, you'll find protocol is a lot more lax on Earth," she gave me a wink and followed the others out of the car. I was to be the last to emerge.
Perhaps spreading my wings would not be such a bad thing. The Council was concerned that it would frighten people, but from what Dr. Willoughby taught me most depictions of angels did have their wings spread. And I had learned quickly that I had a very attractive and child-like look to my facial features. Maybe the humans would even...
"Iqi is everything alright?" Peter, my personal bodyguard popped his head in to ask.
"Ah, yes. I'm just gathering my thoughts," I said shuffling my way out of the limo.
Peter smiled and stepped aside as I stepped out into the blinding lights. When I opened my wings it wasn't even voluntary. I'll never admit it but the sudden light and noise of the crowd had frightened me. My wings defensively went up, pointed at the sky as I blinked my confusion away. The crowd roared at the sight of me. Once my vision cleared I could see their faces were pictures of awe and excitement, not fear like the council had feared.
Hermione looped her arm into mine. "That was great Iqi!"
I smiled uneasily sudden shy from all the attention. Hermione gave my arm a squeeze of encouragement as our guard flaked us and followed the four of us into the building. People screamed my name, threw fragile flowers at me and held up posters that said things like "Welcome home!", "Welcome to Earth!" and "The End is Near!" It was exhilarating.
By the time we entered the building my wings had folded neatly behind me and an huge smile was on my face.
"Welcome Iqi," President Tapiwa was waiting inside for us. "I'm glad you made it here safely."
"Thank you for providing the safety President Tapiwa," I said remembering my manners.
"Of course," she smiled. "They're just about getting ready to introduce you so let's head inside."
We were lead upstairs to a curtain. President Tapiwa told me to wait for them to say "Please welcome, Iqi" before descending down the stairs. She and the others took my jacket for me and went to take their seats with a few words of encouragement.
I stood nervously with the two men standing by the curtain waiting to open it for me. Now that the excitement of the crowd had faded my doubt began to creep in again. What if I forgot my cue? What if I tripped on the stairs? What if these humans weren't as excited to see me as the ones outside? What if...
"Hey."
I looked up at the human holding the curtain who spoke. He had yellow hair and a nice smile.
"Don't be nervous okay. You'll be fine kid," he and the other one smiled encouragingly.
"Yeah," the other one said. "Everyone gets nervous behind this curtain don't worry about it."
"Thank you," I smiled uneasily. "I just don't know if I'll be good enough."
"Well," the yellow haired one said. "I guess that's the perk of being the only one of your kind. You're always the best one!"
He and the other laughed and even I had to crack a smile. But an ugly voice in the back of my mind whispered, that also means you're the worst of your kind.
Before I had the time to process that a booming voice said, "Now please welcome home, the son of Maia Floros! IQI!"
The crowd cheered and the curtains opened.