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Zixuan doesn't mean to be overly excited and, quite frankly, loud when they reach planetside and then lakeside and then— what can only be described as alienside, Zixuan catching a first shallow ripple on the surface of the glittery silver water before the Yunmeng delegation emerges. He doesn't mean to, but when the Yunmeng prince hoists himself up to the pontoon where Zixuan is standing, his long tail smoothly changing into legs, Zixuan cannot possibly contain his excitement.
"Prince Jiang Wanyin!" Zixuan exclaims. "I am delighted to be here and honored to meet you! I hope that my stay leads to a prosperous collaboration between our species!"
Jiang Wanyin scowls, fiddling with something on his wrist— ah, Zixuan thinks, that must be the translation device he's using. One of the first things that the Space Diplomacy Department had learned was that alien species were used to using such translation devices to communicate with one another. Zixuan figures that Jiang Wanyin must have just turned his on so that it can pick up Zixuan's words and seamlessly translate them through an advanced neural link. Zixuan is wearing a similar device, albeit much more bulkier: with the time and resources given, the best the Space Agency had been able to do was something akin to an early 1990s cellphone. A brick, to put it kindly.
"Pleasure to meet you as well, Professor Jin." Jiang Wanyin's reply comes to Zixuan through an earpiece.
While the Yunmeng planet had also expressed needing help with their, quote, reproduction efforts, unquote, Zixuan was part of the science contingent of the mission, devoted to learning more about anything and everything that could be learned or discovered. For Zixuan, this meant anything about the language spoken on Yunmeng, including improvements to translation devices to bypass the need for an earpiece.
"You can call me Zixuan, if you would prefer."
"I would rather not, as we have just met each other."
Zixuan worries that he's committed a diplomatic faux pas. Jiang Wanyin just turns on his heels, followed by what must be the rest of Zixuan's welcome committee: about half a dozen other Yunmeng aliens with bare human-like legs, sheer purple fabric covering the top half of their bodies. Zixuan finds himself transfixed by the patterns he sees in the fabrics. It looks like water, almost, waves and whirlpools and ripples spreading through the fabric, a feat that would only be somewhat replicable through projecting something on a white wall in Zixuan's world, making it even more mesmerizing to watch for him.
Zixuan starts to enquire about it, before he notices the winding path of decks and wooden bridges and quays ahead of them, a labyrinth of passageways through the calm, silver waters all around. The Yunmeng planet is 95% percent water, all of it fresh water, and while Zixuan had seen the pictures that had been sent to the Space Diplomacy Department, seeing it in person does not compare.
He starts to ask about the decks instead, how long they've been standing for, do the waters on Yunmeng rise with the weather, is there a lot of rainfall, are there any predators in the water, what is the biggest land mass on the planet, how many islands are—
"We have arrived." A voice that isn't Jiang Wanyin's comes through the earpiece. Zixuan sees that it comes from one of the women who had been following behind Jiang Wanyin. She gestures at the building they have just reached, an intricate mesh of wood and glass, impossibly sitting on the waters with no pillars or stilts in sight.
Zixuan searches for Jiang Wanyin's gaze but finds the prince looking away. He realizes suddenly that none of his questions had been answered, that he had just babbled away to himself for however long their walk had taken.
"I apologize if I have overwhelmed you with my questions."
Jiang Wanyin doesn't react and Zixuan sees the woman who had spoken to him just before spin around to tap on Jiang Wanyin's shoulder, getting his attention and whispering something that Zixuan's translator does not catch.
Jiang Wanyin looks down at his wrist and—
"Apologies." Jiang Wanyin's voice resonates in Zixuan's ears this time. "I must have turned it off accidentally." Jiang Wanyin turns his gaze away once more, and Zixuan is discomfited.
