"Are you alright?" Rose asked as tears rolled down her aged face.

"You aren't hurt, are you?" She added, breaking the hug and holding Silv at arm's length to check her for injuries.

"I am fine. Well, I am better than fine now that I am with you," Silv said.

"I was worried about you," she added, looking deep into her grandmother's warm eyes.

"Isn't that just silly of you, to worry about me when you were the one who fell through a hole and into an underground base. Denis said you died from the fall..." Rose said, shifting uncomfortably, "...but I didn't believe you were dead. I would have felt it. I was researching about the base just now, trying to find the best way to get to you."

Silv could see how strong her grandmother was, even at a time when other people would have given up when Silv's mother had surely given up. It was that kind of strength and determination that Silv strived for.

"What happened?" Rose asked.

"I think we better go to the kitchen. We'll drink some tea, and I'll tell you all you need to know," Silv said, still worried about her grandmother's health.

Silv was not sure how much bad news the poor woman could take, and it felt right to comfort her with the taste of the 'good old days' that her grandmother had always missed so dearly.

"That doesn't sound good," Rose said as Silv led her through the automatic doors and into the average-looking kitchen.

The moment they entered the kitchen, the hum of machinery came to life. Soon enough, a familiar voice filled the room.

"My fair ladies, how may I be of service?" Arthur, the AI, asked.

It still brought a smile to Silv's face to hear the old-fashioned expressions from such a latest modernity such as were the AIs. Even after everything she had been through, she could not help but feel joy at the familiarity and comfort of it all.

"Two mugs of chamomile tea, please," Silv said.

"Two mugs of chamomile tea shall be served in thirty seconds," Arthur said.

"You are worrying me, my dear. The last time we had chamomile tea was when you told me about you failing the exam." Rose said.

As they took the steaming mugs from the beverage dispenser, they sat opposite each other, enjoying each other's company, inhaling the rich flavor of the rare treat that the tea had become since the world had changed. It was something they rarely indulged in, yet Rose could sense that it was something they both needed.

"Silv, tell me, please. It sounds more serious than I expected. What happened to you?" Rose asked reaching out to hold her granddaughter's hand in encouragement.

"Denis," Silv said, looking at their clasped hands, not daring to make eye contact with Rose afraid that she might break to pieces.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted that boy. No one can be that nice, that perfectly pleasant, all the time. Thank God you are okay." Rose said anger making her eyes more alive than Silv had seen them since her return.

"God?" Silv asked, curiously.

"Ah, sometimes I forget how incredibly young you are. It feels like you have always been here with me. I forget how little you know about the world of the past. God was what we believed in, in those old days before the ice age. It was believed to be a power that protected us all, something beyond us. Now, of course, talking about it is a taboo. Only the rare few remember." Rose said.

Silv was fascinated to learn something about the past that she was unable to get from any of the books, from any of the archives. She thanked her lucky stars that her grandmother had such a good memory, otherwise she would have never been able to truly engage with the world of the past.

"It was an alien life form?" Silv asked, confused.

"Something like that, a force beyond our comprehension. Anyway, what happened with Denis. What did that boy do? Should I go find him and beat the hell out of him?" Rose asked with a fierceness that was reminiscent of the old days, not the new world of balanced emotions.

"I found out something about the government that they didn't want me to know. I discovered what happened to the planet." Silv said.

Then she recounted everything that happened since the moment they left in the search of the base. Oftentimes, she made pauses drinking her hot tea, letting it warm her heart as well as her body, and urging her grandmother to do the same.

When she came to the part about Denis trying to kill her, Rose's mouth turned into a thin line while her eyes burned with rage.

"I am going to find that boy and murder him slowly while he begs his precious government to save him," Rose said, jumping abruptly from her chair, almost spilling the tea.

"No, no. That would only ruin my plans." Silv said.

"Your plans?" Rose asked.

"Yes. I am not only here to make sure that you are okay and let you know that I am alive. I am also on a mission." Silv said.

"What kind of mission?" Rose asked, slowly sitting down.

"I am getting there. Just calm down and drink some more tea." Silv said, worry coloring her voice.

"So, after I ran away from Denis, I ran into...well, aliens." Silv said.

"Excuse me?" Rose asked.

"Arthur, please show the camera feed from my room," Silv said.

"Playing video surveillance from your abode." Arthur confirmed as a huge screen appeared hovering over the table.

There was no need for Silv to zoom in, for Rose to see Wir Eis, his mere size was enough to make him easy to spot in the live footage.

"My dear, either my eye subscription has expired, or there is a huge creature lying in your bed." Rose said more composed than Silv expected her to be.

"You don't seem to be bothered by it," Silv said.

"Silv, honey, in my lifetime I have seen so many things, wonderful and terrifying alike. Life has taught me to be more open-minded and that nothing was impossible. It's not for nothing that I am hundreds of years old." Rose said.

"Would it be okay if he joined us? Then we will explain what we are here to do." Silv said, still measuring Rose's reaction.

"Sure, I am intrigued to meet my first alien in such a long life I've had," Rose said.

Shocked as Silv was by her grandmother's reaction to the news, she decided that her grandmother was right, that she wasn't a fragile granny but a warrior who happened to be her grandmother. She was capable of dealing with much more than Silv ever thought.

"Arthur, could you please open comms to my room?" Silv said.

"Wir Eis, we are ready for you. Can you join us in the kitchen? Third door on the left." Silv said to the alien.

She thought that her unexpected voice would startle him but the alien just stretched his long body while getting up seemingly hesitant to leave the comforts of the bed.

"Yes," Wir Eis said.

"Arthur, override the door commands in my room," Silv said.

"Overridden, my lady," Arthur said.

"Confirm voice command, open bedroom door." Silv went on to say.

"Confirmed, wise one," Arthur said as the door to Silv's room opened, and Wir Eis started walking towards them.

"'Wise one'?" Silv asked her grandmother, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

Rose shrugged her shoulders casually, smiling radiantly.

"I needed a confidence boost, so I thought to myself: "Why not?" We can always switch to formal settings if we have any guests." Rose said with a smile that could have only been described as mischievous.

Silv shook her head in disbelief but before she had the chance to comment on her grandmother's odd ways, Wir Eis walked through the door.

"Wir Eis, my grandmother Rose. Grandma, this is my alien friend, Wir Eis." Silv said.

"Well met." Wir Eis said, putting his hand to his heart and bowing slightly.

"Well met," Rose said, repeating the gesture.

"I like him. Much more than I ever liked that boring Denis guy." Rose said, and Silv smiled at how odd her grandmother could be.

She thought her grandmother would be terrified of the alien, but quite the contrary, she was handling it much better than Silv did.

"Alright then, catch me up with what we are supposed to do," Rose said.