"I agree." replied Jahv.
The five youngsters slogged their way back to the pond. Keyro was still stuck in his boots, and the rest of his uniform, which weighted him down and caused him to stumble a few times. At one point, he managed to clean off one hand well enough to touch his older brother's relatively clean face, and through a brief telepathic contact picked up on the language. His first words in English were, "You people have the strangest terrain on this planet."
"Be grateful you didn't land on a pile of rocks." said Keith. "You came in pretty high."
Keyro looked at Jahv. "I didn't have time to double-check the coordinates. Mom and Dad almost caught me."
"Almost doesn't count in light years." said Jahv, putting his arm around his brother. "Glad you made it."
The group reached the pond, and Davy and Keith tossed Keyro in when he expressed some hesitation at getting so soaking wet with all his clothes on. Of course, once he was in the water, his clothes emerged from underwater even before he did. Jahv and Martin followed suit, Martin discarding his shorts once he was convinced they were clean, and Jahv's uniform went floating shortly thereafter. When Keyro finally did surface, his appearance presented a shock to the three boys, including Keith and Davy who were still on shore.
Given how tan the immediate region of water had turned, they figured it would be best to let the mud dissipate before washing. Keyro was not green. He had the same white hair, wide eyes, and antennae of Jahv. But his skin was a bright lavendar purple.
"Are you sure you got the right kid?" remarked Keith.
"Yes, of course!" said Jahv, giving his little brother an affectionate hug. "Why do you ask?"
"You're green and he's — purple!" said Keith.
"So?" answered Jahv. "Our mother is blue and our father is orange. Didn't I mention that we come in all sorts of different colors?"
"Must be an interesting planet." said Davy quietly.
"Colorful, anyway." added Keith.
Jahv was still talking. "And I have an aunt who's bright yellow, a cousin who's a very intense red, and a third great-aunt who's actually several colors of camouflage. There's always one freak in the family. Supposedly I've got a great-grandfather who was clear, but no one's seen him for years."
Even Davy, Keith, and Martin got that one, and winced.
"And my mother once told me about a multi-great uncle who was plaid, but I never saw any holographs of him, so I never quite believed that one…"
"Your thoughts?" asked Davy.
"I think we should've left them both in the mud." replied Keith.
"Well, WE can always go back there, now that we know it's safe." suggested Davy.
Keith grinned. "Race you!"
"Wait up!" called Martin, as the two older boys took off. He'd had enough of Jahv's family humor, as well.
"Hey, what did I say?" yelled Jahv.
"You hadda mention the 'clear grandfather' joke, didn't you?" said Keyro.
"Well, they wouldn't've gotten the one about the niffle-herder and the krax-farmer." replied Jahv.
Keyro groaned. "I think I'd rather get muddy again than listen to that! At least I won't get stuck this time." And the younger of the two aliens took off to follow the three running boys.
Finally, Jahv decided to give in and followed the others. And so, shortly thereafter, there were five boys playing in a previously, presumably haunted expanse of mud. As it happened, once of the boys was green, and another one was pale purple. But under a coating of mud, who can tell?
Part 4
Summer was wearing on, and Davy, Martin, and Keith were spending as much time as they could with their alien friends, Jahv and his little brother Keyro. Keyro and Martin, being the younger members of the group, had become close friends, and could generally be found either in the hidden pond near where Davy lived, or in the muddy expanse somewhat beyond that.
This particular day, Jahv, Davy, and Keith were indeed hanging around the cloaked tent-dome that was the aliens' home, while Martin and Keyro had made their way out to the muddy expanse to play. Keyro was, as usual, naked. Martin had decided to remove his clothing as well, before getting muddy. He wasn't really one for being naked around other people, but this muddy expanse, like the woods around it, was a well-hidden place, and this was a matter of practicality — it was a whole lot easier to wash oneself off in the lake nearby than wash one's clothes. And Keyro certainly didn't object. Frankly, the young alien almost seemed more uncomfortable when Martin and the others WERE wearing clothes.
Martin and Keyro had indulged in a bit of good-natured wrestling, pretty well splattering each other with the mud, and at this point were sitting cross-legged in a shallower area (still deep enough that they couldn't see their legs) and using some of the thicker mud nearby to build small structures. Martin was trying to build a mud castle with some success. Keyro seemed to be building a mud tent-dome, and seemed to be having a little trouble even being that creative. His antennae were twitching. Martin had been hanging around these two long enough to recognize this as a sign of annoyance.
Finally Keyro slapped his hands in the mud in frustration. "I am just no good at this. I can build many things out of technology, but I am not a — what was the word you used, Martin?"
"Sculptor." answered Martin. He was trying not to giggle. Keyro was acting so serious, and had a bit of a scowl on his face, but given that his face, as well as the rest of him, had a generous amount of mud on it, the resultant image was difficult to take seriously. Martin suspected he himself looked just as silly. Martin decided to change the subject. There were some questions he'd wanted to ask either of the aliens anyway. "May I ask you something?"
Keyro rolled over and flopped on his stomach, turning away from his attempted building to face Martin better. He propped his head up is his arms and smiled. "Certainly. I'd prefer conversation to further failure, anyway."
"Why did you and your brother run away?" asked Martin. "I mean, I know you said it was because your parents weren't treating you very well, but you two seem to know so much and are able to do so much. You're so smart, and everything, and you're able to survive out here on your own. How bad could it have been?"
Keyro adjusted himself into a sitting position so he could be eye level with Martin. "Martin, we seem to smart and strong to you, I suppose, but we're not that unusual for our people. We're kids, just like you. And I guess our adults are as different as your adults. We're a race that spends a lot of time traveling in space, and you have to know how to survive. I guess that's part of why we seem so smart to the rest of you."
"I guess," said Martin. "We've only ever gone to the moon in person, and sent robots to other planets. But that doesn't explain why you ran away."
Keyro paused before responding, trying to think of how he could explain how different the two cultures were. "Martin, do your parents love you? Do you know that they love you? Do they show you that they love you?"
Martin seemed surprised by the question. He had to think about it, which was something he'd never really had to do before. He thought about how, when he was feeling sad, his mom or dad knew about it, and would try to comfort him. He thought about how, when he was sick, his mom would take extra-special care of him. They worried when he was out later than he should be, which kind of annoyed him a little, but he didn't like to upset them, and he guessed that their concern was because they did love him and didn't want anything to happen to him. And they always had time for a kind word or a hug for him if he wanted it.
Was Keyro saying what Martin thought he was? "Yes." he finally answered. "But — why would you ask that?"