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Chapter 5:

"I know you're standing right in front of me, but I think I misheard you. Could you please repeat that?"

"Why doesn't the suspect stay at my house?"

"It could, but-"

"Sir, it's a he. The Sangheili have genders, you know"

"Fine -HE could, but I'd have to have a guard assigned to your house if that were to happen"

"I can take care of him on my own, IF, he were to. Which he most likely won't"

The older human un-clips his weapons sheath from his belt and hands it to the female, Sam.

"Just keep a weapon at hand. Oh, and no offence to you, uh, what's your name, son?"

"Voro"

"Voro, please don't take offence to anything we just talked about. Probably should have asked that beforehand, but we have to take precautions for this type of thing. 4 and a half years isn't enough time for us to relax after a treaty"

Sam sighs, un-cuffs me and attach the cuffs to her belt.

"Alright, time to show you around"

After a 10 minute walk of awkward stares with people in the street and trying to avoid eye contact with everyone possible, we arrive at her house. Or as what is says outside, "Apartment 27B". We walk inside and she closes the door behind her, taking her coat off and key-belt. It's almost 7pm, and I'm suffering from hunger pain and a sore head.

"Do you know how to cook?"

"Pardon?"

"Do you know how to cook food? Stuff to eat?"

"No, We always had our food made for us. Always in a packet, for before bed or during battle"

"Shame. How about I teach you?"

"Depends on the size of the things I'll be using to cook. You humans have such little hands"

"You Sangheili have enormous hands"

I look at her hands, and look at mine. I guess it's different from someone else's point of view. I follow her into the kitchen, which is rather big, considering the size of the house.

"Can you read English?"

"Yes, just a little"

"Close enough. Here's a list of ingredients we need, you can find them in that cupboard over there"

I read the list, recognising most of the words, and start looking. I manage to get 4 of the 7 things she needed, most being dry, frozen products. After 30 minutes of watching how she makes the food, I finally see what she was cooking: Some kind of meat delicacy. She cuts it up into two equal serving, and then sits us down at a table.

"Go ahead and try it" She says, while chewing.

I grab a piece and roll it around on my teeth, licking all the flavour off with my tongue: I've never tasted it before, but it feels... nostalgic. Suddenly something in my head clicks, and I hear- wait... no. Not hear, see? See a voice: "HUNGRY.. THIS..". What? What do you mean?

"Voro? What do YOU mean?"

Oops. must of spoken out loud.

"Sorry, just doze off"

Taking another piece and chewing it, Sam gives me a strange look. "I.. don't think so.."

"Um, just... never mind"

I eat a few more pieces of this meal, savouring each piece slowly. The voice, or thing, or whatever it is, doesn't talk after that, but it's happy with this meal. Snack, would be a better word for it. It's not a very big meal. After finishing our dinner, we talk for at-least what seemed like an hour. It must have been more though, because after looking at her watch she was surprised.

"Wow, it's 10 o'clock already? I'd probably go to bed now. You can, um... sleep.. on the floor if you want to, just don't take too long falling asleep, because I have to go to a meeting tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay"

"Okay. Oh, and you can use some cushions from the couch if you want, just put them back when you wake up. Goodnight"

Sam leaves the room, turning off the light as she leaves. She walks down the hall to her room, closes the door behind her and goes to bed. I feel like I haven't slept in years, and yet it's still really hard to go to sleep. The voices speaks again: "Soft, comfy". Oh, well at-least this one made sense. It wants me to sleep on a cushion, even though I never slept on a real bed before. I grab a cushion and lay my head on it: The voice wasn't kidding, this thing helps... strangely. And it only takes one second, and I start sleeping.

I dream.

Not of the battlefield, but of home. Not home home, but, where my home is. Was.

Sangheilios.

I remember. A gathering. A court. I was the centre of attention here. For one day only.

I see snippets of it happening. Or, what happened.

I couldn't see what was happening directly, as it was blurry, but I could make something out:

I was being exiled. But for what?