Chapter 462 - Day MCMXXXVII, Part II

As soon as he got inside, we could actually see the interior. It was almost exclusively made out of stone. Stone big-ass table, with stone blocks as stools, and stone benches.

The room was a kitchen, but there were stairs on the right, spiraling along the wall to the second floor. The ceiling was around four meters high, so pretty far for us, humans.

Inside were two other Uhms. A miniature version of his, probably, father, and another creature, with a neck!

It seemed to be a female. She was very tall, a bit taller than her male counterparts, and more human in appearance. She had pale green skin, wavy dark green hair prominent cheekbones, but a more pointy, nose. Her lips were full, but not as puffy as males.

I also have to mention that she had big... perspectives. Two of them.

I'm not gonna lie. She was kinda hot, although definitely too tall for me.

We entered the home and were led to the table, where a giant jug and many mugs were already prepared.

Ooah sat on the stool and Humma on the bench. They both invited us with gestures and words, to sit with them. I translated everything, alongside Hailwic.

This whole place soon proved to be very uncomfortable to everybody except Martin, who was feeling great, because of his similarity with aliens size. For us, everything was just simply too high, too far, and too big, but since nobody wanted to hurt our hosts' feelings, we kept our mouths shut, and did our best to somehow manage in this strange environment.

They poured us all the full mugs of milk. The jug that was on the table was not enough, but they had more prepared.

It was very similar to normal cow milk but more creamy. 

We were even treated with their kind of bread. It was more like tortillas. Big, flat circles made out of some green stuff. Those were probably around a meter in diameter, and they brought a full stack of those on a big plate. It was called 'mahuu'. We shared this and the drink.

I noticed that Uhm's were dipping the torn parts of mahuu in their milk. I was not the only one. Soon everybody was doing it, just to try.

The taste wasn't anything special.

- It's a tradition to share mahuu and milk with guests - informed Humma. - It's the basic food we eat, and this gesture is supposed to show us, welcoming you among our people.

- Thank you for this gift of bread and milk - said Hailwic, putting her hands together.

Humma responded with the same gesture, and soon we all did it. Apparently, it was a tradition to respond in this way, and she knew it, unlike us.

- Now, when the tradition is fulfilled, I'll lead you to Naalaa, the elder. Head of the whole community - said Humma. - Take your time with everything, and come to me, when you are ready.

- Thank you - said Hailwic. - We need some time to pack our camp, and I think we can go.

She looked at everybody. I quickly translated for the rest of the people, and they started nodding. Shortly after we left the Ooah household, and went to prepare for departure.

Humma came with us, but he sat on the ground on the edge of the camp and waited, looking at us patiently. We needed a couple of minutes, especially for those people who pitched the tents, which were mostly the researchers.

Even Tihana was doing better than them, despite the fact, she was younger. She didn't mind sleeping outside.

Although Hailwic knew the way, Humma was still the one leading us. Uhms had a well-trodden path between their villages. All of them were apparently this small. From what our guide told me, they mostly focused on growing crops and breeding the Uuuun.

There were also other animals like Ahu, who were the ones producing the clay-like substance the aliens used to build their homes. The creatures were eating mycelium, and also the soil in the process, which was undergoing some chemical process in their bodies, and then discharged as some kind of mucus, they used to cool themselves.

Uhm's collected it and mixed it with ash, which was producing a substance which after drying up, was as hard as concrete. Then they layered it slowly, making the egg-shaped houses. 

As I found out, they didn't eat meat at all. Sometimes fish, caught in the rivers, but only on special occasions.

Their diet was mostly plants and mushrooms. They had a variety of the letter, and he kept telling me about that, but it was just too much for me. On the other hand, both Vladimir Fedorov and Jakub Kowalski were on cloud nine, as I kept translating everything that the guide told me.

They were recording everything and kept bugging me to translate their questions.

Eventually, we stopped, since it was impossible to reach our destination in one day, and set up again our camp on the edge of another village. We got welcomed again with milk and bread.

For the night Humma stayed with his people, and we returned to our camp, but that wasn't the end of our adventures for the day since the village chief visited us with their famous alcoholic beverage - Oa.

Oa was an alcoholic drink which the main ingredient was the flower from the tall flower plant.

I didn't go there, because I knew how this is going to end, with me working as a freaking translator for half of the night, so I just stayed away and left this job to Hailwic. I really wanted to try the drink, but it just wasn't worth it. I already had enough talking for a whole week.

At some point, the chief and a few more Uhms who came with him started singing, and it was amazing.

- It's like whales in the ocean - said Tihana, mesmerized by the song.

It was actually more than just singing because you could feel it with your whole body, vibrating on the low notes.. An incredible experience that finished our long day of travel.