"RAWR! I am a hungry human and I'm going to eat your face off and wear your skin as a coat!"

"No, stop, you're scaring me."

Footsteps and the older Tesraki chases her younger brother into the other room.

He is screaming "Stop! Stop! It's not funny."

She pulls to a stop but grins at him, an unnatural facial expression for a tesraki. He squirms away from her, "b-besides. H-Humans don't eat people."

She stalks forward, "Oh they don't do they. Because My teacher told us that humans are MADE to hunt and eat people. They have binocular vision so they can more easily POUNCE!" She lunged for him and he squealed rolling away.

"And they can smell too. They can detect chemicals in the air so like they can probably smell your ear." She stalked closer, and he backed away.

"No they can't." He whined

She held up her hands, "Oh yes they can, and they have razor sharp claws that they can use to RIP YOU OPEN!" She lunged at him again and he screamed running away.

"Stop."

She pulled to a halt, "Plus, humans are so fast and strong that they run their prey to death just to mess with them, so even if you try to run away from a human it wont work. And AND they always hunt in packs so you want to get away anyway." She leaned in closer, "And once they have you, they'll cut you into little chunks and then light your bits on fire before eating them. Then they'll take your skin and wear it."

"MOM!"

"Shhh! I am a human, so if you scream ill bite your throat out with these razor sharp bones that grow through the skin in my mouth." She raced after him again.

He kept screaming.

"Even if you manage to get away my bite is so dangerous, you'll get sick and die!" She skidded to a halt with him trapped in the corner, "Plus humans can breathe acid you know."

"No they can't, you're just making that up."

"No, I'm serious. Their bodies produce some of the strongest acid we know of, and they cant regurgitate it."

"Ewww, please stop."

She ignored him, "And with their predatory instincts, they don't hesitate to RIP YOUR HEAD CLEAN OFF!"

He screamed even louder.

"Paxi! What are you doing to your brother?"

She turned around her large ears drooping in guilt, "Nothing."

Her father pulled his ears back, "Paxi, stop telling scary stories to your brother. Humans aren't going to eat him."

Her ears pulled back, "But my teacher."

"Your teachers is a paranoid specialist. Need I remind you that it was humans that came in for disaster relief when the earthquake happened, They went into the wreckage and carried the injured out in their arms and on their backs. A lot of humans died that day to save members of our species."

She frowned and looked at her brother whispering, "They're strong enough to carry dad over their heads."

"Paxi stop that. Humans may be a predator species, but they don't eat aliens, and they certainly don't rip people open with their teeth. They are too advanced for that. Not to mention that humans are omnivores, which means they are likely to eat more plants and other products than they do meat." he walked over and picked up her little brother, "Why did you have to do this the day before we go into the city." He sighed, "honestly paxi, he is going to be scared the entire time."

She cocked her head, "Why."

Her father sighed, "Because sometimes humans come to visit the city for trade. The UNSC has a docking station there which means humans SOLDIERS."

She looked up at her brother, "That means the most dangerous humans."

He squealed and hid his face.

Her father sighed.

***

He glanced around nervously clutching his mother's hand. She dragged him along in frustration. He had been like this all day, hyper-vigilant and nervous looking for any sign of a human. Expecting one to pounce at them from the dark corners of an alley.

"Come on Timor. Try to keep up."

The walked into one of the shops, and he was momentarily distracted by some trinkets left out on the shelves. His sister had gone off with their dad to look at something. His mother sighed, "Alright Timor, just stay here and look at the toys while I go pay for this."

She walked off and he was left to happily look at the trinkets, when a voice rose up from beside him.

"Hey kid."

He turned his head confused to find another Tesraki standing close by, "Those are pretty expensive you know."

He sighed and wilted, "yeah, I know."

"You know there is a shop just down the way that sells those for really cheap. I bet you'd have enough to buy it yourself."

He lit up "Really!" he was proud of the idea, his parents would be so happy that he found a good deal.

"How far away is it?"

"Oh just around the corner, here, I'll show you." He motioned Timor closer, and the little tesraki followed.

It was just around the corner after all.

Of course about five corners later, and he –too late– figured out that he did not know how to get back .

"I thought you said it was just around the corner." He whined, growing more nervous by the second.

"Don't worry, it's just here." He turned a corner with Timor following, and froze as he found himself in a tight dark alley.

"But where?"

A shadow passed behind him, and he turned his head to see an Iotin standing over him, its long snakelike body blocking out the sun behind him, "Selling out your own species, Tesraki, that is a new low."

The tesraki snorted, "I'd sell my own mother for the kind of credits your boss is willing to pay. Those Prodigum have more hunger than they have sense."

He turned in a wide circle as a burg and some other Tesraki appeared from the shadows.

He was so scared, he tried to scream, but nothing came out. He tried to Run, But the Iotin caught him by the scruff and lifted him in one hand towards the sky.

"Don't go running off little Tesraki. You wouldn't want to spoil our pay, now would you. He tried to squeal again, but no sound came out.

The burg opened a large bag and began approaching.

That is when he heard a deafening roar.

The entire group yelled in surprise as a massive white and black shape leaped past them barreling the Burg to the ground.

The two of them went spinning across stone. When they came to a halt,the burg didn't move, but the human straightened up and turned to look at them. It blinked one large green eye at them and bared its teeth.

This time Timor did manage to scream as the Iotin dropped him and tried slithering away.

It didn't get far as it was hemmed in by another tall shape.

Large brown eyes narrowed.

Timor crawled to the side of the alley face hidden behind his hands.

Loud footsteps, and a massive blue shape appeared from around the corner end of the alley. The Drev held three Tesraki in her large arms throwing them flat to the cobbles.

"You should have stayed out of this human." The Iotin snarled raising a hand.

A rattling form above alerted Timor to at least ten other figures descending from above.

"Ten to five." The human said its voice strangely melodic. It made an eerie sort of revving sound deep in it's chest, "Those odds are almost laughable iotin."

And then the brawl began

Timor tried to scoot away, but a burg caught sight of him, and thinking he could use the little Tesraki as a hostage, he grabbed for him

And was clobbered right in the side of the head.

It took timor a moment to figure out that it had been a human foot that knocked the Burg in the head.

The human hit the ground rolled and jumped back up again rattling the stone around them.

Timor screamed as a large arm grabbed him about the middle and spirited him off the ground.

The human held him closer pressing the small body tight against his chest as he dodged to the side of another iotan returning the favor with a powerful elbow to the face. He leaped forward rolling and tucking the Timor closer to his chest.

Timor rode out the roll pressed against the human protected from impact by the powerful corded muscle in the human's chest and back, and the cage afforded to him by the creature's harder-than-steel bones.

The fight was over almost as soon as it had started.

The human pulled out of the roll in a skid three limbs on the ground, one curled up around Timor.

The blue Drev stood from a crouched position and dusted off her hands, "Well, that was almost laughably easy.

The human that held Timor stood up flexing the muscles in his back and neck, "A pity, I was just getting warmed up."

And that was when Timor started to cry – or the tesraki equivalent."

The human looked down at the little Tesraki large green eye relaxing from it's narrowed state, "hey, hey, it's alright."

"P-please d-don't e-e-eat me/"

To his surprise the human cocked his head in confusion, "Eat you, ew, no. Why Would I want to do that?"

He looked up at the human pulling back his large ears.

The other humans had gathered around them.

"B, but my sister s-said that-"

One of the other humans laughed, "Your sister was trolling you kid. We don't eat Tesraki."

The human bared its teeth again, and Timor shied away, "You're gonna rip my throat out with your face bones."

More weird noises from the humans. The one eyed human made a face, "Gross. Why would I want to do that. Human's don't bite unless it's a self defense kid." he opened his mouth, "See not razor sharp."

The tesraki peered up at him and was surprised to find that.... Yeah while the human's teeth were comparably sharp to other species, they were also....kind of lame."

He examined them a bit closer.

"So... you're not hunting for food?"

The human snorted, "Why hunt for food when Ican buy a bagel from a street cart." He motioned back to the groaning bodies." he motioned towards the groaning bodies on the ground, "We were hunting, but not for food."

"You aren't going to eat them."

The human made a face, "Not if you paid me. "Now where are your parents."

Timor began to cry again, "I don't know."

"Its ok,we'll help you find them." The human patted the tesraki on the head with his large hand." The gesture was actually very soothing, and the human was warm. If what he was saying was true, than he felt very safe.

No one was going to mess with him if he had a pack of humans.

"Sunny," He motioned to the Drev and then to the downed aliens, "Take out the trash will you." The Drev lifted her head with a nod.

Timor looked up at the human as they walked from the alley. "Do you breathe acid."

The human looked down at him with a bemused expression, "DoI do what? No.... well" he paused, "Not because I want to, and not in the fun way. Just.... No."

Timor looked at him confused, "Where are your claws? Did someone cut them off?"

The human shook his head and held up a hand, "Nope, all i've got are fingernails."

"Do you wear the skin of your enemies as clothing?"

"What! No I...." The human paused glancing down at the black jacket he was wearing. IT had a shiny sort of sheen to it.

Timor began to get very nervous.

The human shook his head, "No of course we don't do that."

He continued to ask questions, and was surprised to find that most of it wasn't true at all. The human was actually very nice and helpful and empathetic and concerned, and he let Timor sit on his shoulders so he could better see above the crowd, "See them yet?" The human asked. Timor stood halfway, holding onto the human's hair to get a better look.

The human tilted his head about the same time that Timor heard it.

"Timor! TIMOR! Where are you!"

"TIMOR!"

"That's them!" He exclaimed.

Before he could direct the human further, the creature turned and began following the noise.

The voices grew louder, and finally he saw them frantically pushing through the crowd and calling his name.

"i'M HERE." he shouted waving his hands and nearly falling before the human grabbed him.

"Timor!" His parents screamed in unison Pushing through the crowd and stopping dead in their tracks staring up at the human with wide eyes. HIs sister Paxi squealed and hid behind her parents.

He waved at them from his perch atop the human's shoulders.

"It's ok. He doesn't eat Tesraki."

The human lifted Timor from his shoulders and set him down allowing him to run to his parents.

His father worked his jaw for a moment before finding the words, "I suppose.... Thanks are in order.'

"Don't thank me,but I'll watch him a bit more closely. Looks like slaves had lured him away."

"Slavers!"

The human nodded gravely, "We caught them,and they are being detained, but I would still be careful."

Timor ignored the adult conversation and pointed to the human looking at his sister, "This is my human friend Adam, and if you are mean to me again, he's going to make you into boots."

The human turned and frowned having heard him, "No one is getting turned into boots." He turned back to Timor's parents, "Anyway I should get going. Keep an eye on him."

"Yes of course." As the human was turning, they held out a hand, "What's your name.... Who do we have to thank."

The human glanced over his shoulder and waved a hand, "Don't thank me. Thank the UNSC."

And then he vanished into the crowd.