Jean sat quietly, shaking his leg, staring at the floret standing on the scene next to their affini, giving some kind of lecture on the benefits and goals of domestication. They were saying something about happiness, health, comfort, and other things, but he wasn't really listening. Instead, he looked towards the entrance, anxiously waiting for his friend to show up. He brought out his mini-tablet. The last message from Gwyn was from 15 minutes ago, saying they were 'almost there'. Of course, he thought, typical. He closed the device and put it down in front of him. This sucked. He had asked them to come with him knowing exactly this would happen; he was both bored to death and anxious, feeling completely out of place.

He looked around himself again. This was not his element at all, unlike what he had been told. This wasn't a casual celebration, but rather looked like some kind of fancy banquet for rich people – except, there were no rich people anymore ever since the affini came, so it was just a fancy banquet for everyone. Dozens of different affini, more than he had ever seen in one place, were sitting and talking, along with an even greater number of humans. Some of the humans were wearing collars, or standing glued to an affini's side, indicating to everyone around that they were owned. Still, the majority appeared to be free ex-members of the Navy, spending time on their own or with other humans. Everyone was wearing some sort of formal attire, such as suits or longer, decorated dresses – not mentioning the occasional collar – which only served to make Jean feel even more inappropriate with his apparent "business casual" look of white t-shirt and jeans. With every passing second, he felt even more like the next few hours of pretending to be engaged was not going to be worth it.

He thought to himself, he should have expected this from the "Affini Conquest Celebratory Jubilee." He didn't want to be there, but he felt like he had to, out of respect for his sister. Unrest was tearing into him, so he stood up. Everything in the room was unfortunately affini-height, so he struggled to climb out of his high chair, the kind with a small ladder on one of the sides for humans to be able to get on and off. Once he was on the ground, he just left his table alone as he looked for someone to talk to, but he didn’t find anyone he knew, or anyone who seemed as uncomfortable as him. He was tired of this, so he just decided to step out and wait for Gwyn outside.

It was late in the evening, so the air was chilly and it was dark. The sound of people talking and celebrating still echoed from inside the hall, and Jean felt a chill on his back. He leaned back against the outside wall, sighing, and closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. He had only been invited because of his family's ties to the past military, but he had never agreed with it himself; he hated the Navy and everything it stood for. Still, even despite that, hearing the repentant speeches of all the former Navy members filled him with discomfort. He was just as happy as they were about the affini conquest, but he couldn’t bring himself to forgive the people there now, after everything had happened.

After a minute or two of meditating like this, he finally noticed he was feeling a little less weird. He opened his eyes again and realised that by the same wall, pretty much right next to him, stood an unfamiliar affini. He had not heard anyone coming, so he figured he must have simply not noticed her in his haze before. He glanced up at her.

She was tall, incredibly so, even for an affini, and she looked more like a tree than any other type of plant, with her body composed of a large trunk, arms and legs sticking out in the form of branches, all covered with patches of leaves and moss. Even so, those plant parts took on a feminine humanoid shape, with distinct thighs, legs, a chest and a head. She looked like a giant wooden sculpture of a human, overgrown, covered in tree bark. She was staring down into a tablet, tapping away at something, when she noticed him and glanced back, causing Jean to look away embarrassed. She turned the tablet off and hid it somewhere in her bark.

Jean took it as an acknowledgement or a sign that she wanted to engage with him, but rather than talking to him, she simply stared off into the distance. He understood it as her telling him he should start.

"Hey, so... this party sucks, right?" he started. He got no response, nor even a reaction. A few awkward and confusing seconds passed as he considered his next course of action. He decided to try again.

"Yeah, I'm not one for events like this, usually, but I was kind of forced to be here." He chuckled nervously. Again, no reaction. Jean began to worry that his advances might have been unappreciated.

"Hey, you want me to leave? I just thought, since we're both alone here, I mean..." He stopped, as he noticed the affini was finally looking at him, and went quiet.

"State your purpose, human," she ordered coldly.

Jean recoiled. "Purpose?" Immediately, he realised he had completely misunderstood the entire situation. He tried to compose himself, to find something else to say that wouldn't embarrass him further. "Didn't know I needed a purpose to talk to people now," was what he settled on. He felt almost hurt at this harsh rejection, but somehow, instead of stepping away, he stayed, now genuinely puzzled by the affini in front of him.

She squinted in response. "If you're one of Zia's florets, tell her that operations are running smoothly, but it isn't any of her business," she said, though it sounded more like a long, elaborate sigh than a sentence.

Jean took a step back instinctively, now even more confused and offended. "I'm no floret, lady!" he exclaimed. The affini rolled her eyes and began to walk off back inside the building, not paying him a second look.

Jean felt so stunned that he couldn't help but take off after her. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" She did not look back and simply kept walking until the two were inside again. The affini scanned the room, finding the same empty table Jean had just been sitting in, and pulled in an affini-sized chair underneath it. Jean climbed back up onto the tall human high-chair next to her. "This is my seat, you know," he said sarcastically. She didn't say anything more in response, so he proceeded to make himself comfortable and began staring her down.

She once again took out her tablet, ignoring him. "Alright then. What are you so secretive about? Are you on some kind of secret mission?" he questioned with a hint of irony, though he felt excited at the thought.

Without even looking at him, she sighed. "What makes you so interested in me, human?"

"Well, you were standing there, on your own, and so was I, so I thought hey, why not get to know you?" Jean chuckled, although internally, he realised he had already devoted too much time to this affini. She intrigued him, but he had no idea why. Facing a lack of reaction from her, he felt awkward and looked away. Another short silence followed. "If you really want to, I guess I could just leave you alone, though," he finally said.

The affini stopped typing on her tablet and stared down, battling with herself for a bit, as Jean looked at her, impatiently. Jean took a breadstick and put it in his mouth in its entirety, trying to kill the awkward silence. For a second, he thought he caught her smirking, but it was gone as soon as he took a second look.

"I do not mind company," she finally stated. Jean grinned, both at the chance to have something to do, and to meet this strange affini closer.

"Great!" he said, satisfied. He straightened himself and looked right at the affini's face. "I'm Jean, what's your name then?"

She stayed silent.

"Oh, well, we're back to that, then." Jean threw his arms down, annoyed.

"I do not introduce myself but to my florets and co-workers," she responded in her usual monotone. "Not to free sophonts, I'm afraid. They should not be trusted with my name."

Jean was overtaken by curiosity. "Why? Is it top secret? Does it make people lose their minds when they hear it or something?" She refused to respond again. Jean squinted at her. "Alright, if that's how it's gonna be, at least give me something to call you."

She stood there for a moment, seemingly frozen in thought. The thought crossed Jean's mind to poke her with a finger to bring her back to reality, but he figured it would only make her more annoyed. Eventually, with a long exhale, she stated, "What about... Tree."

The human burst out laughing. "It took you that long to come up with 'tree'?" he mocked. The affini tried not to show it, but disappointment formed on her face.

"What's wrong with 'tree'?" she asked, trying to hide the hint of embarrassment in her voice.

Jean giggled. "Nothing. You can be Tree if ya want. It's just funny." He paused, then smiled. "I mean, I named myself after the thing they make pants out of, so I guess I can't complain."

Tree raised her approximation of eyebrows. "I did not know it was customary for Terrans to choose their own names," she said, somewhat surprised.

"It's not," Jean explained. "When me and-- I mean, when I was born, my parents gave me a different name. And gender. But when I grew up, I ended up changing both of those!" he explained and laughed awkwardly.

"I see," Tree simply said in response.

She was leaning against the table, examining the room with careful eyes. It was hard for Jean to tell what exactly she was looking at, her eyes being simply a deep, confusing void of purple glow, but it seemed like she was scanning the area for something, occasionally stopping to stare at certain groups of humans. He tried to join in and watch too, though he didn't know what he was looking for. The presence of the affini next to him, though, was in itself weirdly nice to him, so the two just remained in silence. He caught a glance of her looking down at him with what seemed like worry, but she quickly turned away when he looked back.

Jean decided to break the silence. "So, Tree," he said, still holding in laughter at the name, "What brings you to this lame party?"

"Business," she responded coldly. "It is part of my job to be here. I had merely stepped out to organise my notes in peace."

"Your notes on... what? Standing in the corner and watching humans talk to each other from afar like a weirdo?" Jean asked, with a teasing smile.

To his amazement, Tree simply nodded. "Precisely." She then paused for a longer while before continuing, "This is a Compact event, with affini and their florets, as well as free humans, attending. I oversee floret integration, so it is crucial for me to see and take notes on how they behave near each other."

"Floret integration?" he repeated after her.

"The degree of the integration of florets into your society. It is crucial to maintain good relations and positive impressions between free sophonts and florets of the same species."

Jean paused, trying to understand what he just heard. "So you make sure free humans and florets are comfortable with each other, basically?" he explained back to her in simple terms.

The affini nodded in response. "Indeed. As we may not, and need not, domesticate every one of you, we need to ensure that those we do, can live in harmony with the rest."

"I don't think that's an issue." He smiled wide. "I haven't seen any hate against florets pretty much anywhere. Many of my friends are florets, actually!"

Tree looked down at him curiously. "Perhaps, then..." she muttered to herself. A tense minute of thinking followed, after which she lightly shook her head. "Never mind."

Jean froze. "What? What were you gonna say?"

"It was nothing important," she said and they both paused. Jean stared at her curiously, but with no response and nothing more to say, the two just remained in silence. He brought up his mini-tablet again. A new message from Gwyn stated "Sorry! I'll be there in 5 mins I SWEAR!!!". He giggled lightly.

He caught the affini looking at him again and noticed she was facing him with the same worry he had just seen a minute ago. He figured he should say something back now, but couldn't figure out what. "Uh, hey, my friend will get here soon, but maybe you'd like to--"

"It is better for you if we do not talk to each other more, now," she interrupted.

"What?" Jean asked with confusion. Before he could say anything else, the affini began to stand up.

"It was good to meet you. Goodbye." She began to walk away swiftly, not looking back.

Jean nearly fell down as he scrambled to get out of his seat. He ran after her, screaming. "Hey wait, what? Why shouldn't I talk to you?" The affini's size, in addition to her pace of walking, meant that he had to run to even barely catch up to her. People were staring at him, but he didn't care, as he pleaded with the affini to talk to him, all the way to the door.

Once outside, she finally turned back to him, if only for a brief moment. "I understand your concern. You did nothing wrong. But I must not converse with sophonts for too long," she said, took half a step forward, and paused. "I'm sorry." She walked away swiftly and Jean wanted to run after her again, but he stopped himself. Instead, he simply stood there for a minute, just watching her disappear.

In the corner of his eye, he finally saw Gwyn appear next to him. They stood there, sweating and breathing heavily, showing that they had just been running to get there on time. They looked about to say something, but noticing Jean staring off into the distance, they remained quiet.

After his confusion faded somewhat, Jean shook his head quickly. He turned around, with seemingly all the worry on his face gone, and looked right into Gwyn's eyes. "Hey dude, finally! What took you so long?"

"Sorry!" they exclaimed. "I really tried to get there as fast as I could, but the time blindness got me again and before I knew it I had to run." Jean laughed loudly and they chuckled back, though something else took their mind over now. They looked past him out into the street, but they didn't see anything. "Who did you run out like that after?"

Jean looked back too, but quickly turned his attention back to his friend. "No one. I'll tell you later." He sighed, looking back at the hall. Even from there, he could again hear some Affini voice talking through the microphone about how much they care about their sophonts, or something like that. He closed his eyes shut and paused for a second, thinking. "Hey, this place sucks, actually. Even for Sam, it's not worth it. Let's just go hit the mall or something instead, I'm sure she'll understand," he said, cracking a fake smile.

Gwyn nodded solemnly, though they showed a hint of worry, indicating they knew something was wrong. Jean paid that no mind and the two of them set off. Still, as he walked away, Jean caught himself looking back at the valley the affini disappeared into. He had no idea why, but he felt hope that he would see her again. Even as his attention was taken up by his friend, he still found it inexplicably difficult to get his mind off of her. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her?