Andrea was having a very good day, her encounter with the four members of the Protectorate expedition had shifted from a tense first contact meeting into an impromptu seminar discussion of apertures and related phenomena. Lin was frankly amazed at the shift, she could honestly say that a lively debate about physics was not within even her wildest possible expectations for how the meeting might go. This isn’t to say she wasn’t equally pleased, Andrea seemed to already be fitting right in as just another colleague among the group. Lin was actually a bit jealous, she was looking forward more and more to the point at which she could be introduced. It was frustrating to be forced to passively listen in on such a lively discussion particularly on a topic that she was as well qualified to discuss as Andrea.

  While Andrea was not going to share the complete details of all the knowledge and techniques that she was familiar with in regards to apertures, she was more than happy to openly discuss the underlying theories behind them. Her understanding and that of the Protectorate academic establishment approached apertures very differently but did bear striking points of commonality, though in matters of physics cultural perspective could only change so much as it interfaced with the mechanical realities underpinning the universe. That all being said, the strange phenomena that Andrea and Lin, largely at Andrea's insistence, had begun referring to as magic seemed to throw a significant wrench into their models of how the universe functioned. When Andrea confirmed that her people could indeed artificially create apertures and regularly used them to transport people and goods across vast distances the topic of 'magic' arose quite naturally. “We tend to open apertures of a large enough size that we can even pass ships through them. It is both expensive and time consuming to open new apertures and requires huge structures to help generate and then maintain the convergence of two different points in the universe. We have no records of any naturally occurring aperture, prior to the one that I passed through to get here. Though it is entirely possible that that aperture isn’t natural either, neither I nor my colleagues have spotted any signs of the sort of massive structures we generally associate with managing apertures. We have noticed some odd phenomena on this side of the aperture, which you must be more familiar with, and might explain this aperture’s existence. While we’re not sure what’s creating the aperture, we have noted it seems to cycle its connection, open and shut, over a roughly 5-year period." At those words Lori finally spoke up for the first time, having up till this point maintained their silence while listening with interest to the discussion. "I believe the 5-year cycle you mention is likely accurate, based on when you say the aperture disappeared after you came through recently and, assuming we are converting correctly between our understandings of date and time, it seems to have closed slightly more than 5 years after our detector array noted the last closure. Unfortunately we've been traveling for the past year to arrive here and will be unable to examine the findings from the detectors until we return. Considering the danger and expense involved it's highly unlikely our colleagues will not take the trouble to send a messenger with the latest readings. I am curious how you arrived at a determination of an approximately 5 year cycle. Have you been studying the other side of the aperture for an extended period before attempting traversal?" Andrea swept smooth a portion of the dirt where they'd been drawing and began to diagram the sediment deposition layers they'd noted from the water flow through the aperture. "This is very rough, you understand, but hopefully it gives you an idea of our approach to determining that cycle. We discovered the aperture very recently, in fact it was open on our end and letting through a stream of water from the end on your side that is actually submerged in a pool. It was this flow of water that allowed us to gain a rough estimate of the cyclical nature of the aperture based on the discrete layers of mineral deposits left behind by the water flowing through the aperture which were distinct from the local rock and soil composition that would lay down a thin layer of dust and contaminants between depositions of further minerals from the aperture." At this point Andrea's look turned a touch sheepish as she continued. "My colleagues and myself decided that that was a good enough basis for establishing that the aperture would eventually reopen and allow me to return. I will confess that much of that willingness was on my end and in my eagerness to explore I pushed for my trip through the aperture despite some of my more cautious colleagues clearly wanting to gather more data before risking anyone being permanently cut off. I'm sure you'll understand the desire to be the first person in on a new discovery, and if I'd waited for a cycle or two to pass and verify the pattern I would likely have missed my opportunity to come here."

  Orna laughed at Andrea's admission. "All of us, certainly understand, There were a number of our colleagues who were dubious about launching our expedition since we couldn't be sure that what we detected was actually an aperture, nor could we be sure that we would find anything of relevance to understanding apertures by traveling to a place where an aperture had been open in the past. It appears that it's our good fortune, that whatever its source, this aperture opens regularly." From there the discussion began to branch out touching on their lives, and their societies. Andrea described how the Imperial Authority was the final arbiter on the course her country took, the others were fascinated, but struggled to wrap their heads around how Andrea’s people were led by something that was both not a person at all and simultaneously many people at once. Andrea waved away their confusion for the time being. “We could spend days discussing just this one topic, at some point we can get into it more, but for now I’d love to hear how your own country is led.” The others, particularly Lori, seemed a bit disappointed to have the satisfaction of their insatiable curiosity pushed till later, but they were happy to explain their country to Andrea. Orna and Lori took the lead in describing how the Protectorate was loosely organized, with local rulers, councils, or what have you, running the day to day lives of citizens of the Protectorate. This did mean that laws and customs tended to vary a great deal as one traveled around the Protectorate, though some standards were consistent everywhere and enforced by the central government. Lori had some expertise in law and civics so they were well qualified to lay out for Andrea how the central government of the protectorate primarily reserved sole rights to run three institutions; the Protectorate Military, the Protectorate Higher Education System, and the Protectorate Bank. These three central institutions formed the main unifying forces of the Protectorate and gave the central government plenty of leverage to enforce cooperation between the sometimes very different cultures and interests that all called the Protectorate home. The central government itself was run by the advisor’s council; they'd originally been advisors to the monarch that had founded the Protectorate after the collapse of the Galyon empire. After a couple of generations the monarch’s powers became more and more vested in the group of advisors, and now generations later the largely hereditary passage of power among council members meant that six well established families held the reins of power and worked together to direct the Protectorate as a whole. Andrea was fascinated by this, it seemed like a system that was well suited to incorporating new members with minimal changes, allowing the powerful and wealthy in a new territory to largely retain that power and wealth, while offering opportunities for more. It seemed, on the face at least, like a good system for a multicultural empire. It was, in many ways, not too different from the organization of her own country, though Andrea was far happier with trusting ultimate leadership to the Imperial Authority, than she would be with some selection of six influential families who lucked into power. It was at this point that Lin pinged Andrea, then informed her that the people waiting at the bottom of the hill were starting to look a bit restless and those waiting back at the halted convoy even more so. Andrea thanked Lori for the in depth lesson on the Protectorate before gently nudging her new acquaintances by asking if they needed to let their companions in the convoy know everything was alright. Orna and the rest all looked surprised for a moment, before glancing at the position of the sun, as if only just now realizing that they’d been talking for over two hours and had yet to tell the rest of the convoy what was going on. Orna directed the others to return to the convoy and have them resume course before returning. Orna themselves offered to stay with Andrea but his companions objected to leaving the two of them alone, when the plain might have dangerous predators around. Andrea told Orna not to worry, her own colleague was keeping an eye out for danger. Orna waved his companions off. “You’ll be right back, if you’re really worried about it; leave Tirnii at the base of the hill with their living armor, they’ll be more than capable of watching for danger, for a couple of hours.” The others seemed mollified by Orna’s suggestion, and Andrea suddenly suspected that she knew what the strange collection of plant life in the truck might be. Orna sighed and shook their head fondly before turning back to Andrea. “You mentioned you have a companion here with you. May I meet them? The only thing better than meeting one alien is meeting a second, after all.” Andrea had decided to begin easing Orna into the concept of the form of Lin’s existence. While she’d known the members of the Protectorate expedition for far less time than Unla-Ela and their students, Andrea felt like she’d both hit it off far better with the Protectorate group, and that they seemed much more open to just experiencing the strange and new. She wasn’t totally certain what made her feel that way, but she’d always had a good instinct for these sorts of social cues, it was part of the reason why she was their duo’s designated lead on matters of first contact and diplomacy. “I’d be happy to introduce you to my colleague, however they look nothing like I do, so we both felt it best to ease our way into their introduction.” Orna nodded in understanding “I think I can follow what your reasoning must be. Appearing to strange and mysterious all at once can certainly provoke fear, and that’s never conducive to clear thinking or communication.” Andrea smiled at the demonstration of Orna’s insight. “You have it exactly Orna, while we ultimately know little about your people, we’re pretty confident that my colleague, who’s name is Lin, is an existence outside any paradigm you’re familiar with.” Orna’s eyes twinkled with excited curiosity “Well now I really have to meet this Lin, I don’t wish to push too hard, I’m sure you have something in mind, but I hope it won’t be too great a delay.” Andrea messaged Lin. “Just double checking, are you comfortable with me going ahead and explaining a little about what you are and then introducing you if that goes well?” Lin, who’d still been keeping a little bit of her attention on what Andrea was doing, replied quickly. “Just like we worked out while we were planning this expedition, and yes, I’m still totally fine with that approach. In fact hurry it up already, I’m getting pretty sick of only being able to listen in on all these conversations.”

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