Badlands

It was a peculiar world, so unlike Sanghelios. Vast, blue oceans and vast, green plains. The mountains were familiar, but not their snowy caps. Sprawling arctic tundra sent his mind reeling most, but in the midst of this confusing maelstrom were the badlands. An arid, barren desert, it reminded him so fondly of Sanghelios. Of home. It was here he touched down, gently placing his single-occupant craft down upon the dry earth.

When his booted feet struck the rock and sand it was almost like being back on Sanghelios. Pillars of stone rose into the air far from the cliff he landed on, and a magnificent natural arch shaded a winding path as it ascended up a nearby mountain. Near the cliff was its own path, winding down into depths unknown. Perhaps to the surface, perhaps to a cave, perhaps to a settlement. The Sangheili were no ignorants; it was a divine certainty that their universe held other intelligent life. The gifts of the Forerunners was proof alone of that.

But others?

There was a soft click as De'mah 'Tokam keyed the recorder built into the left gauntlet of his armored environment suit, and he brought his wrist up to his facemask. "It is day 28th of the Seventh Cycle, and I have touched down upon a world so much unlike Sanghelios. A vast desert covering not even a tenth of the world's surface is the only feature that reminds one of home, the rest dominated by trees and oceans, tundra and snow-capped mountains. That a magnificent world such as this could exist among the cosmos fills one with a sense of wonder and amazement. Were I a whelp, my mind would run away with the imaginings of what I will find. Instead, I will endeavor to discover the truth for myself, lest I fall to flights of fantasy" De'mah said, keying another button and ending the recording.

And so it was he began the trek down the winding path near his craft, the narrow path hemmed in by high walls of rock, the sounds of crunching sand echoing off the stone as he went. Though he was reminded visually of Sanghelios he had to admit the climate wasn't quite the same; it was much cooler, the air breezier. It created an unusual feeling for him, that the desert looked so much like Sanghelios but felt nothing like it. 'Alien' was the best way to put it, and certainly the most appropriate.

What's more is that it wasn't his first world. He'd been tasked by the elders of the state of 'Tokam with travelling the stars to find more of the Forerunners' blessings and inform said elders of their locations, so that they might be guarded against desecration by the greedy and ignorant. Sanghelios had never been visited by another species, save for the Forerunners, but it was common knowledge amongst their race that one did not tread upon the holy grounds of the Forerunners, lest one face their wrath*.

And so it was that De'mah had visited a dozen worlds across half that number of star systems, finding naught but barren and empty rocks and solemn gas giants. On each he'd found nothing more than exotic plant life and an all-encompassing silence that permeated their alien skies.

Unlike all of the others, though, this one held promise, for it looked nothing like all the other planets he'd seen. It was here, he was certain, that he'd find a land once graced by the majesty of the Forerunners, and with such a discovery he would return to Sanghelios, be given his suffix**, and be made a true elite of the 'Tokam state.

De'mah reached the bottom of the winding path and stared in awe at the wide expanse of the desert that stretched on unto the horizon far before him. Vast, arid plains went on without end, the countless sands interrupted only by the sparse cactus and desert bush. Finding anything of note in such a place would be a monumental task indeed.

Picking his direction De'mah stepped forward, intent on just heading straight out into the desert. A flock of unknown birds glided far above, but weren't worth noting. Surveying such a magnificent planet would take time, and De'mah knew he needed to make as much distance as he could to begin his expedition.

It would be a long day.

After several hours of walking De'mah was content to call it a day and hunker down for the night. He had his rations with him, so it'd just be a matter of finding a cave or burrow to bed down in. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the ground and an odd purple hue in the sky that De'mah found captivating in a way.

De'mah paused as his foot struck something hard, and he looked down. The sand had ended, or at least had been interrupted, by a narrow stretch of stones, running on beyond sight to both De'mah's left and right. A road? A natural phenomenom? It was hard to say. It'd be something worth walking the following day.

"Day 28 addendum. I have begun my trek across this wide desert, and have found a stone path, perhaps laid by intelligent life. The day has ended, and I will endeavor to follow this path the next day. I have no other observations, save for having seen some bird life. Tomorrow will bring more, I'm sure."

De'mah cast his gaze around until it settled on a rock near the road, the bulk of the rock buried in the sand. A flat shelf of it extended partially into the air, and there was a burrow underneath the shelf. A perfect place to bed down for the night. De'mah hopped up onto the rock and sat down, staring out down the stony road. The desert had grown cool and quiet; it was just him and the rocks. Alone on this world as equally as he'd been alone on the others. If the desert didn't pan out he'd head back to the ship and make way to one of the forested lands, or islands, and survey their rolling hills of green and tall trees.

Those snowy mountains were of note, as well. Suppress it as I might I cannot deny my curiosity. If this world has not been graced by the Forerunners then I shall simply take note of its natural splendor. The elders might have some interest in studying it themselves.

As he prepared to climb down the rock and into the burrow De'mah became aware of a glow on the horizon, and he perked up. It was a soft light, orange in color, and wide. Curious, he hopped down and began to walk down the road towards the light. As he neared it, he began to hear some sounds and noises, suggesting some manner of commotion or excitement, and he saw the source of the light as some lamps mounted up on some large wheeled carts. Wagons, if he had to guess. Three on each side of the road, with a gaggle of some unknown life forms clustered together on the road itself.

The sound of De'mah's footsteps caught the creatures' attention, and they all turned to look at him. There was six of them, all feathered and sporting modest beaks upon their avian faces. Quadrupedal, they lied on their sides, thin tails flicking in the night air. They regarded him with wide, orange and blue eyes, their alien conversations dying on their tongues as the sight of De'mah stole their voices.

De'mah watched as one of them slowly picked up what appeared to be a spear, but made no further move. Really it seemed the lot of them were awestruck by the sight of the Sangheili before them, and De'mah struggled to decide on what to say, if anything. It was nearly a certainty that they would not understand a word of his, nor he of them, and so they'd all be able to do little more than gesture and struggle to work their way through the language barrier.

In the end De'mah decided to let them make the first move, and so he stayed silent as they all stood up and approached him. Not a one of them was a unit taller than five***, and so they all had to crane their heads back to meet De'mah's gaze, obscured by the light tint of his helmet's faceplate. They spoke to each other, in a language De'mah did not know, as expected, and stayed a careful distance from him. One stepped forward and addressed him directly, and he merely shrugged, hoping they'd get the hint. One of them came around to De'mah's side and walked behind him, and his hand gingerly touched the handle of the energy sword mounted to his hip. Their body language seemed to indicate caution and hesitance, and so it was unlikely they'd attempt to attack him, but De'mah wasn't one to take unnecessary risks.

The one circling him completed his inspection without incident, and returned to staring at him along with the others. Another one of them climbed into one of their wagons and came out carrying some things, which he then offered to De'mah. He took one such offering in his hand, a cloth bag of some type, and opened it. Inside were metallic coins, depicting images and numbers, both meaningless to the Sangheili. Next was another bag of the same cloth, this one containing colored rocks. He handed both back to the quadrupedal aliens, their expressions confused. Another of the aliens went into another wagon, and this one produced a small crate containing some metallic daggers. De'mah returned this one to the alien, as well, unable to discern what exactly these offerings were meant to do. Bribes? Gifts? Who was to say.

Finally, the first alien returned from the wagon bearing a book, and at last De'mah was intrigued. He turned the tome over, studying the alien characters written upon it, before opening it and flipping through the pages. It was a lexicon, or codex, depicting innumerable words and their meanings. A dictionary, as it were. De'mah kept this offering, intent on studying it later.

"A useful gift. I thank you" De'mah said, and the aliens looked up at him. As expected, they did not understand him, but one ventured forward to try to speak with him again. It asked of him something he did not understand. At least, it sounded like a question.

"Name?" it asked. 'Nay-muh.' Nay-muh. What did it mean? De'mah opened the dictionary, but without knowing any of the characters or letters it was useless. He flipped the book back to the beginning and found, rather helpfully, an alphabet, complete with pronounciations.

"Aah, bee, see, dee, eee, eh... Ge-- Jee... Eyech... Aych? Ai, jay, k-- Kaya. Ell, emm, enn..." De'mah sounded out, studying the characters. "Nay-muh, nay-muh." After close to ten minutes of flipping back and forth, studying the alphabet and tracking down each of the words in the descriptions for 'nay-muh'(and tracking down the words in the description of the words in 'nay-muh's description), De'mah at last figured out the aliens were asking him his name.

"De'mah 'Tokam."

Instead of sleeping, De'mah spent that night making his way through his first conversation with an alien species.

Author's Note

*Prior to the Sangheili's first contact with the San'Shyuum, the Sangheili did not use, exploit, or reverse-engineer Forerunner technology, seeing it as an affront to the Forerunners' magnificence. First contact with the San'Shyuum, who did exploit and reverse-engineer Forerunner tech, saw the two species go to war over the matter. In the end, the Sangheili resorted to using Forerunner tech just to survive, rendering the war's point moot and leading to the founding of the Covenant. This story precedes the founding of the Covenant by about 100 years.

**In Sangheili culture, a suffix denotes one's station in life. -ee was for Covenant service, -ai for aristocracy(Vadam becomes Vadamee, for example, and returned to Vadam post-schism). De'mah was born to the 'Tokam state, and so upon fulfilling his mission will become De'mah 'Tokamai.

***For the purposes of this story, a Unit of Length is equivalent to one foot(twelve inches). The Griffons were all around 5' tall. De'mah is 7'9". A Cycle is equivalent to one month.