Yuri and Laurel kissing was a moment that Winston would never forget, they were perfect together, and his son was so much more content then he was when he left U-leyla. This lovely young woman had changed him and brought him from the brink after all of these years. Seeing the man that he is now, instead of the broken nineteen year old, made him feel better and hopeful for the future of both mankind and the people of U-leyla.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" one of the men, Winston calls them "grunts," comes running and screaming across the yard, then more follow.

"What in the name of." Winston starts.

"FIRE! It burns!" 

"Fire? What fire?"

Laurel laughs, "I think you put hot peppers on your food. Didn't you?" Most of them nod, "I warned you about the heat, here," She hands them some sour cream, "This will cool it, but use it and the peppers in moderation."

"Ok."

"Take the peppers off, and put on some cucumbers!" She shouts at them, "Anything, just take off the peppers." 

"You would think that they would have learned by now." Vorn interjects.

"Can you not eat hot or spicy foods?"

"Some we can, others we cannot, it messes with our digestive tract." Vorn points to a pepper on his plate, "These are far too hot, even for me."

"To be honest, I do not like hot foods either, I do however like wasabi. It can get pretty hot, but I do enjoy it with my sushi."

"Sushi?" Vorn asks, "What is sushi?"

"Raw fish and rice, rolled up in seaweed and served with a variety of things." She shrugs,  "My favorite is tuna roll, with avocado."

"Avocado?"

"You are eating it right there," She points out. "It is very healthy."

"Oh, I see."

"What do you eat? On U-leyla, what kind of food do you eat?"

Winston offers her a seat, "Come and sit with us, we can talk as we eat, and get to know each other better."

"Thank you. So, do you have cows? Fish? Birds?"

"You never asked Yuri these questions?" Vorn inquires.

"No," She shakes her head and watches Yuri walk over to talk with Ivan and Alexi. "Honestly, you are older, and your memory of home would be stronger than theirs."

"That is true, and when your sons left, one was heavy in heart." Vorn looks at Winston.

"Bralyn, your talking about Bralyn."

Winston pauses his chomping to stare at Laurel, did Yuri tell her about Bralyn? If so, what exactly did he say? Did he even know about her body? He knew, but was that information given to Yuri? He never asked, in all of this time, he never even asked what they had told Yuri. Good God, what kind of father doesn't console his child and better yet, why did he not ask questions!

"Look, I can see your face," She glances away from them to look at the brothers, "He told me that she was found dead and that they thought it was a family member that did it. Someone who had not been allowed to jump here to Earth. A jealous rage kind of thing. Something about, she was a year away from being up for cross procreation."

"That is correct." Winston simply adds.

"That is sad, that even the people on your planet suffer from jealousy," Laurel remarks, "But people, no matter whom they are, always want something that they cannot have. One should always learn to accept and be happy with what they have."

"This is true." Vorn replies. "But what if they cannot find that happiness?"

"Then instead of taking it from someone else, they should find a way to make themselves happy that does not harm themselves or others." She patted at her pant legs and stared out into the yard.

"What makes you happy Laurel." Winston asks.

"Being out here, with Yuri," She glances at Winston and smiles, "working in my garden, or on those old cars. Just being with people, with the world."

"What the young people call, chilling." Vorn asks.

"There are many different words for it, but yes," She turns on them, "Now, what do you eat back home?"

Winston laughs, "You do not give up, do you?"

"Nope. So, do you have flying cows? Do you have rhinos?" She asked excitedly.

"No, but we do have a creature not far from the one that you call horse." Winston tells her, "Only they are huge compared to the horses that you have here."

"Has anyone tried to transplant animals from U-leyla to here?"

"Yes, we actually have an island off the coast that has a few of our horse like creatures on it, they are called Grah-na-it-lo. But we just tell people to call them horse."

"Do you have pictures?" She asks, "I mean I know you have phones, since your technology is not allowed in certain areas."

"No, but we can have one sent to us, " Vorn offers, "I will send a message to my brother and ask for one."

"So, that was something too." She looks confused, "You came to help us, and yet the governments of the world limit your technology. That makes no sense to me. Especially if you and your people could make our lives better. NOT easier, but better."

"That is why we have the exchange program," Winston clarifies, "We live here and some of your people live on U-leyla. It is going to be many many years before all of our technology can be implemented into your world, and honestly some of it should be used carefully." Winston warns, "Slowly even. If used in the wrong hands, it could mean the end of your world and ours."

"Oh, I see," She looked shocked, "But the things that you made today, that technology does not seem dangerous. I mean, you took metal and put it in that hand held gun looking thing and it popped out multiples of the same piece. How could that be so damaging?"

"If you were," Vorn begins, "For example, going to build a bomb, it could essentially build all of the stagnate parts for you. The chemical part, well, it cannot do that." He waves his hand as if to dismiss any other questions.

"That," She shuddered, "is horrific."

For the next hour or so, Winston and Vorn entertained Laurel and all of her many questions about U-leyla. They were impressed by her line of questioning and thought that perhaps she would be a good candidate for the exchange program. She would love the deep blue skies of their home world and the large oceans, she might not recover from the giant flying birds or the cat like creatures that are three times the size of a school bus, but she would fit in on their world.

"Here," Vorn hands her the phone, "This is what you would call a horse, here on Earth."

It was massive, nearly nine feet tall and stocky, with what may have been feathers. This one is a dark brown, it has  four eyes the size of saucers and instead of four legs, it has four legs and wings! She could not believe what she was seeing, this creature has wings! WINGS!

"It has wings!" She cried out suddenly. "I need to see one! I would so much love to see one up close!" 

"I am glad you said that, " Vorn tells her. 

"Why?" She asks.

"He will be here in a very short time," Vorn smiles, "They fly very fast, and when I told my brother where I am, he said that he could be here soon." He points towards a pair of men walking out into the yard. "They are setting up a beacon, my brother will use it to find us."

"How fast do they fly?"

"Your gravity is different here," Winston thinks and tries to clarify, "on U-leyla they were slow, heavy. Here they are fast like your planes, I imagine they could break the speed limit, if we allowed them to go that fast."

"The speed of sound?" She says slowly, "No fucking way."

"Yes, again, " Winston moves a fork through the air, trying to summon a diagram to show his thought process, "We are all very heavy back home, but here, we are light. That is why we are stronger here, why we are able to accomplish more here."

"Amazing. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Your tool, that you have been using," She pauses not knowing how to put it, "can anyone use it? Or?"

Winston squinted at her, he wondered what she would want it for, or better yet....use it for? "It is possible for some of your people to use it. Why do you ask?"

"I have, uh, all of these ideas in my head," she had grown quiet and was staring at her lap, "Things that I want to build, that I cannot do completely on my own. I was thinking perhaps."

"Perhaps one of our tools could help you." Vorn implies.

"Yes." She looks at them directly, "Yes. Not just that, but I think that you Vorn, might even be the man to help me figure out what the hell I am doing wrong."

Vorn and Winston look at one another just as another of Winston's grunts runs up and grabs a bowl of sour cream. The mans hands tilt the bowl straight to his lips and he pours the entire contents into his mouth and tried not to scream. His face the color of a red fire truck, he jumps around and then, just when you think he is fine, he hurls sour cream and mexican food everywhere. 

"That looks like a four alarm fire," Laurel shakes her head. "Time to put out the flames. Come on," She takes the poor guys arm, "No more peppers for you, let's get you something a little less spicy."