trading with you when you have so little to offer."
He stood up from the table, looking down on the human girl he had invited into the conversation with an almost sadistic look on his face. "I'm done for today, I need to focus my research elsewhere. If you want to be of some use to me you should forget about your silly human customs, the Guild has no need for them." He began to walk away from her, dismissing her presence and making it perfectly clear that he wouldn't deal with her obstinance if she were going to work for him.
"You're a very self-centered person, aren't you," she asserted.
Egrix stopped in his tracks. It seemed she was refusing to allow him the pleasure of thinking he held the power in their dynamic.
"Fine, I'll be going for today. If I come back, you should keep in mind that trade is between two parties. It doesn't matter how sure you are of your opinion, if you aren't willing to, at the very least, accept that people have the right to a different perspective you won't learn anything from us silly humans."
5
Cara sat up in bed, wrapping herself in the quilt her mom had made her when she became a part of the family. A yawn fell from her lips and she blinked, letting the memories from the day before flood her mind. She had stormed back to the mouth of the cavern, waited for her camera to finish, then packed it up after angrily leaving Egrix behind in his campsite then trekked back to her Jeep. It was just after dark and she was glad she remembered her flashlight as she made her way across the darkened sandy landscape. She couldn't wait to develop the hours of late sunlight she had been able to capture while in Egrix's cave. The image was going to be magical, she could feel it.
A twinge of concern sat in the back of her head after the way things had ended with the alien man. She wasn't sure if she should try to go back, but she definitely didn't want to think about it right then. She stood up, slipping some fuzzy, white slippers on her bare feet, and strolled out of her room toward the smell of breakfast.
The dining room was empty, save for a hot cup of coffee left abandoned on the table. Cara peeked her head around the kitchen door frame to find both of her parents hard at work on what was sure to be a magnificent breakfast. Her mom stood at the stove garnishing a small omelet in the pan in front of her. Next to her, her dad cut into a fresh loaf of bread, preparing to butter it. Cara watched the two make their simple toast and omelet breakfast with a huge smile on her face. She admired her parents immensely, feeling overwhelmingly grateful to be a part of their family.
"Good morning!" she sang, striding to the coffee pot to pour her morning dose of caffeine.
"Good morning, sweetheart!" her mother exclaimed brightly. "Are you hungry?"
Cara turned to lean her back against the kitchen counter, clasping her mug in her hands. "Starving! That smells so fantastic it woke me up."
"Well, there's plenty to go around," her father declared, pushing the lever on the toaster down. "Why don't you wait at the table, Cara Bear, we'll be done in just a minute, then we can have a nice morning gossip session," he said in a goofy accent.
The three chuckled at the ridiculous character he had emulated, then Cara left with her coffee to wait at the dining room table. The dark beverage reflected her gaze back to her as she contemplated what to do with her Saturday. The birds chirped outside the open bay window, flitting in and out of the trees that lined the driveway. She remembered sitting outside in the grass with her mother as she taught her to stitch. Her mom would sit Cara in her lap and wrap her arms round her to show her how to gently and methodically move the needle, layering her with praise whenever she was successful. The only thing she'd ever successfully made was a loosely threaded cat stuffed animal, but her mom had always cherished it.
Thinking about how hard her mom worked to do what she was passionate about, made Cara remember how determined she had been to become a photographer. She would go back to the beach later, she decided. She