I looked up through my tears to see who had spoken. They were about 5’5 or 5’6 and wore a brown cloak, oh and they had scales! Their face would have looked not quite human even without the green scales partially covering it. They had yellow slitted eyes with black sclera and long black.. Hair? No, not hair, feathers, I think. Barely poking out of said hair were two feathery ears. Their facial structure looked almost draconic, but their face was human enough for me to see the concern written on it.

“Can you speak?” they said, lowering themself to my level. Their voice was deep but feminine, but I didn't want to assume anything.

“Y-yes, I can speak.” I said apprehensively, “I’d ask who you are but I’m worried I’m just going to teleport away again.”

“What?”

“This lantern keeps teleporting me places” I said as I held up the lantern, only to notice that it wasn’t in my hand. “Wait, it isn’t stuck! Does- does that mean it’s done?”

“were you not in control of it?” asked the alien.

“No, I touched it and it stuck to my hand and started teleporting me.”

“So you don’t know how to get back.” Why did they sound disappointed?

“N-no.” I looked to the ground. We sat there in silence for a few moments before I remembered what Alexander had given me. “Wait, I do have someone coming to get me! I just need to follow this.” I held up the GPS.

For a moment the alien’s face lit up, before they quickly turned and coughed. When they turned back, their face was devoid of the previous emotion. Did they think they were fooling me?

“Well, this planet is pretty dangerous, and I don't suppose you speak any other languages?” I shook my head. “I thought so. However, I would be willing to help you meet up with your benefactor,” they paused for dramatic effect, “for some of that food.”

I looked down and the bread and jerky that had fallen to the ground. There were about two slices of bread and four pieces of jerky. A small price to pay for salvation.

“Deal.” I stretched out my hand as I spoke. They quickly grasped my hand, shook it, and then basically inhaled the food. When they were done they asked, “Now that we will be traveling together, why don’t we introduce ourselves?”

“Oh, ok. My name is Amber.” They looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for something. When it was clear that I was done, they spoke.

“My name is Zgax Gorthak, I believe in your language my pronouns would be ‘she’ and ‘her’.'' She must have been waiting for pronouns, oops.

“Oh, I also use she/her pronouns, sorry.” It was nice to learn that aliens, this one at least, weren't transphobic. “Wait, how do you know English?”

“That is a good question. I didn’t know it a minute ago, but the knowledge of how to speak it was just in my mind just after you arrived.” She said it as if it was normal. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. “May I see the map”

Before I was able to consider the possibility that she might steal it, I had already given it to her. luckily, she didn’t. She looked at it for a few seconds before letting out a sigh of relief. “Is it close?”

“What? No, it’s across the planet. However, it is also that way.” as she said that she pointed behind me. It still looked like a wasteland. “If it were the other way, we would have to trudge through a highly radioactive wasteland.”

“Then why would it be that way? Alexander, the man who gave it to me, said it would find a safe location nearby.”

“Oh, of course.” Zgax looked a little guilty, was she hiding something?

“So do we set off now or…” I asked, I wanted to get home as soon as possible.

“No, I have been walking all day and it’s getting late. I’ll let you use my sleeping bag.” Zgax handed me a bag. It looked normal, I expected alien stuff to look… otherworldly. “You know, if we use that lantern we won’t need a fire. It’s just bright enough to see but not too bright to draw attention.”

Wait, what? The lantern is super bright, blinding even. But as I turned to look, it was more dim than a lot of ordinary lanterns. Every time I had seen it on TV, with its rightful owner, it was blinding enough to warrant putting a blanket over it. When did it change?

As I was thinking, Zgax put down the odd staff she was holding, placing it near the lantern. She then took off her cloak, revealing an ornate, expensive looking suit of armor. It was high-tech, but not in a sleek or tactical way. The metal on it was black with gold accents. Draped down the middle, over the metal, was some sort of purple cloth, that same purple continued to the leather pants, visible below the actual plates of armor on the legs. It was as if medieval armor were more mobile and made out of stronger metal. That was, except for the gun holster on her hip, which the armor had a built in place to attach it. As she started taking it off I also noticed the padding on the inside to make it more comfortable to wear. Wait a minute…

I realized that I was watching her undress, so I quickly turned away before getting in my sleeping bag just as fast. I shamefully pulled the bag over my face.

“Wow! You get ready for bed fast.” oh god she was looking at me.

‘I- I don’t have a suit of armor to take off, or anything for that matter. I only have one pair of clothes.”

“Hmm, we’ll need to change that,” she started, “You can’t be traveling in just that, you can wear my cloak until we get to town.” “Thank you, for everything.” I went to sleep shortly after that.