As Las'Tai lifted her head and looked at Eirik through half-slit eyes, it hit him with stunning force that this was HER enviroment. The enviroment where her people had thrived and become the apex predator of their planet. The damp humidity of the sauna was much like the swampy terrain her people had evolved from. She might look more asleep than awake, but it was deceptive. Only submerged in the bubbling hot water of the jacussi was she like a dead fish, but in the crushing humid heat of a sauna, she was in her natural element. Something that became extremely evident as she darted around him, settling a few feet away. "What kind of request, Captain?" Her voice had a sight hissing quality to it, as if her tounge was doing the lizard thing while speaking.

With a slight sigh, he continued "First, i want to know if you have made a choice between the station and the ship."

"I'm still here..." Her voice kept moving around the room, he hadn't heard her moving at all.

"Well then..I wish for you to accompany me when i go to settle my affairs with my family. I wish for them to be able to meet the person the gods have decided to mix into my life for the time being."

"I have been studying, as you suggested captain" She whispered in his ear, but as he turned in surprise, she was nowhere to be found.

"You come from a warrior people that valued peace and good times above all else, from what i have been able to gather.. A strange contradiction..."

Her voice continued travelling around the room, from steam cloud to steam cloud. "Conditions demanded we be warriors, yet, we hungered for an easy life. It's better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war " He defended himself.

"And how does fighting fit in to that little plan of yours. you seem to relish fighting above all else, yet, i would not call that an easy life." She had settled in her original spot, in the far corner from the door.

"For that, you will need to read about *Valhalla* and death. Reading about my gods would not hurt either as it would provide some context. Now, would you answer me?"

"Will it be safe for me?? Your family i mean. Even you seem hesitant about this. And what do you mean *settle your affairs*"

Eirik sighed deep, "I thought that much would be clear from your studies. I am about to enter a life or death battle and therefore i would like to have settled which parts of my accumulated wealth goes to whom. As for your safety, i give you my word, that as my guest, you will not suffer harm. Do be warned however, DO NOT INTERFERE in whatever happens when we first arrive."

"What will happen, since you feel the need to warn me?"

With a humorless laugh Eirik started listing things on his fingers, "My mom is gonna slap me like no one has been slapped before, some of my brother will most likely want to fight me and depending on my dad, they might be given permission to break the house peace with him in the front. My sister will kick me for sure and most likely have her dogs play attack me until SHE feels i have learned my lesson. Oh, and my uncle will want to have a drink with me, wishing me well in my travels."

".........I will come along" Las'Tai finally said.

Standing up again Eirik left the room with the words "Good, we land in 12 hours."

"12 HOURS?!!?" She called out after him, but the door was already closing behind him.

__________________________________

Almost 12 hours later they were landing near a field, the tall grain waving in the gentle breeze. Trees dotted the distance and a collection of buildings could be seen.

"Come Las'Tai. Better get this over with" Eirik said and started walking along the field, towards a small dirt road on running through he grain.

As they walked towards the buildings in the distance, Las'Tai took time to study their surroundings. She could hear the birds, see the lush greenery and even see some cattle grazing near the buildings. Everything pointed to prosperity and serenity. After a few minutes, they came to a wooden gate overlooking a courtyard between 3 buildings forming an open square. Eirik stopped at the gate and put his hand on it.

After a minute Las'Tai asked of him "What are we doing??"

"Letting ourselves be seen" Eirik said mysteriously.

Another minute passed before a door opened and a group of Terran's left what looked like the main building. Gathering up in front of the gate with the eldest taking lead, next to him, a man and a woman and all 3 of them dwarfed by their sons and daughters behind them. They all stopped 5 meters from the gate and the old man spoke.

"Come on in boy. I see you brought the reason for all the trouble. Now go say hello to your parents."

Eirik walked up to the man and woman waiting for him, Las'Tai right behind him. "Hi mo-"

*SLAP*

The sound of the womans hand connecting with the Eiriks cheek could be heard clearly across the courtyard and several of the people present, recoiled at the sound, Las'tai included.

Seeing the captain, a man she had come to know as an individual with very little tolerance for personal insult or injury, simply bow his head in front of the woman who had not even bothered to ball up her hand before striking him. Even as unfamiliar with Terran culture as she was, the sheer disrespect in the action was not lost on her.

So to see him capitulate without so much as a raised eyebrow made Las'Tai wonder. "Was human respect for their elders so absolute that a punishment fit for a small child, given to a grown male, is simply accepted without question???"

Her thoughts were cut short as the woman took a step sideways and let her mate stand in front of the captain.

____________________

Eirik's eyes were firmly fixated on the tip of his father's shoes. He hated this with every fiber in his being. He wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and never emerge. But going through this was the better option, considering what was to come in his near future. Finally came the dreaded words.

"Look at me son."

His father did not sound angry or mad. Not indifferent or overbearing. What hurt was the unending disappointment that filled his father's voice.

Eirik forced himself to look up and into the worried eyes of his father.

"Why would you do this Eirik. Which of the gods could possibly demand something like this from you?" His father voice was low but clearly audible.

"I asked the Allfather what to do after knocking her out" Eirik gestured to Las'Tai who got an acknowledging look from his father, "Leave her for execution in failing her duty, or take her prisoner until the Allfather decides we are to part ways again. For sake of ease, i proposed she join my crew instead of being locked up as a prisoner and she accepted. Now, her mother has accepted my challenge of personal combat, so i am here to write my final will."

After a moment, his father reached up and squeezed Eiriks shoulder hard. "We'll talk about it later. For now, go say hello to your brothers and sisters."

Putting an arm around his wife, he walked her away to Eiriks grandfather who had taken a seat in the shade with a beer in hand. Eirik turned to his brothers and sisters gathered in front of him, silently.

"Either hit me or hug me, just do something instead of looking like withered houseplants" He eventually said and the group burst out with laughter and surrounded him with hugs and pats to the back, some of his brothers quickly dragging him into a last man standing wrestling match.

Surprised at the accuracy of his prediction, Las'Tai was secretly happy that it had not all come true. She had yet to see him being chased by these *dogs* he mentioned. That's when she heard the whistling and turned her head. So did everyone else.

There, at the gate, stood a young woman with at least 15 carnivorous animals gathered around her, all of them looking at her as if for direction. She lifted a hand and pointed at Eirik who was slowly getting up, never breaking eye contact with the new arrival.

"PLAY!!!" She shouted and as one, the *dogs* (As Las'Tai was fairly certain these creatures were) lurged forward with a speed that made her jaw drop. When she turned her head to look at Eirik, he was already halfway up the roof in a desperate struggle to put as much distance between the animals and himself, all the while screaming off the top of his lungs for the newcomer, Annemette, to call back the *beastly hellhounds posing as family pets*.

The chase continued for a short while, but the many dogs and their use of pack hunting tactics quickly made Eirik disappear beneath a furry sea of moving bodies. "He must taste good to them, they are licking him all over" Las'Tai mused to herself during Eiriks desperate pleas for help and his family's complete lack of said help. Eventually the dogs was called back and she walked over to the captain, who was more or less covered in dog drool."Are you okay captain?"

"FINE!! let's go see my grandfather!" Eirik said in a voice that did not invite argument.

Shortly after they were standing next to the old man, sitting in the shade.

"I take it, this is the Kloxna in question??" The old man barked out when they came close.

"Yes sir, this is Las'Tai."

"What are your plans if you die" The question came out of the blue and caught them both off guard.

"Well.. I figured i would love you have full power over whatever i leave behind, to be split up fairly between the family. As for my ship, it goes to David."

"Good enough Eirik. You have a few hours to do help out around here before we eat. after that, i suggest going to the local bar with your brothers. The have taken a disliking to your father having his after work beer at his usual place after your stunt. Oh, and your cousins, the scrappers, wont make it. They are flying to reinforce Lasse at the station you took."

"The salvage scrappers?? They will work well with him and they are too grizzly for anyone to start shit with them around"

A quick kick to his shin had Eirik doing a little dance on the spot "You know my opinion on that kind of language" His granddad said flatly before looking around. "Grandma is sleeping. Give me your lighter" He whispered. Eirik complied and the old man took out a pipe and carefully lit it, drawing the smoke deep before sighing in pleasure. "I know she means well when she tells me to stop, but im old. I should be allowed to have control over my own body" His voice still low, he blinked at Las'Tai and Eirik. Taking it as a queue to leave, Eirik spent the next hour walking Las'Tai around the small farm and telling her about the animals. When she asked if they were a noble family he had laughed and asked why she would think that. When she told him that the variation in food, in her culture, would imply wealth and stature, he had looked shocked. Even more so when she talked about the slaves back home. Come to think of it, she had seen no slaves since coming along with the Terran.

"Eirik, Where are the slaves??" Las'Tai asked, breaking him off mid ramble. "Since joining up, i have not seen any. are they so good at their job?"

Catching his mouth before it hit the floor, Eirik looked at Las'Tai for a moment. "Las'Tai, Terran's do not keep slaves. In fact, we abhor the very concept."

The slow smile that grew on her face and the shine her eyes seemed to take on was confusing and unnnerving to him to say the least...