Savann looked like a smaller version of Earth. There was a mix of browns and greens with a couple of decent sized blue areas and sections of white clouds.
Laruun summarized her planet, "After watching Earth videos for the past 10 years, Savann is an animal planet, with thousands of species of animals, but only 6 that are civilized. There was the feline species like she was, the equestrian species like Candy, the fairy species like T'Soona, a primate species, a canine species and an avian species."
Annabelle then felt compelled to ask, "What defines a species as civilized?"
Liyana answered, "The Federation adopted the Mazjik's definition of civilized, which means a species must meet four criteria... intelligence, dexterity, communication and sociability. Intelligence meaning they are capable of complex thoughts and construction, dexterity meaning they have the ability to build and use complex tools, communications meaning they can read, write and communicate in complex sentences, and sociability meaning they have some form of hierarchy, they work together to better their community and have sex for fun, not just to procreate."
Liyana decided to provide some additional information to Laruun's summary on the life forms on Savann, "You three left when Savann had first joined the Federation, quite a bit has changed in 10 years. There are in fact several settlements from other species on the planet now as well as numerous Federation services and amenities scattered around the planet."
Both Candy and Laruun began looking nervous at the prospect of returning home to something they may not recognize, after being away so long. Mark tried to calm them down by giving them both kisses and hugs. T'Soona seemed unfazed by the prospect of changes.
When Mark asked who's community they were going to first, the girls decided to rock, paper, scissors best two out of three. Laruun beat T'Soona and then Candy beat her, so Candy's community was first, then Laruun's as she had beat T'Soona.
Once the Poseidon and the Destroyer were in orbit around the planet, the group boarded the shuttle to deliver Candy and then Laruun to their tribes for today, and possibly T'Soona's if there was time. Then tomorrow morning then they were to meet at the senate for a press conference and to meet the 10 senators from the small, sparsely populated planet.
Candy gave Maren some coordinates so Maren guided them down close to the surface and slowed their speed down so everyone could watch the scenery through the windows. The area they were flying over looked very similar to Africa with endless plains, mountains and forests or rainforests in the distance. They saw herds of animals roaming the plains and they saw animals gathering around the watering holes.
Maren seemed to be following a large river until she turned the shuttle and did a loop around a settlement where two rivers met the big one they had been following. This was Candy's community.
Surrounding the village were grain fields and beyond that was open grasslands, with the mountains probably another 50 km away. Candy had tears running down her cheeks. The village had grown and changed quite a bit but they had stuck with their native designs.
All of the buildings in the town appeared to only be single level, with large doors and windows.
Candy made a call and her mom's hologram appeared. Both women were crying as Candy asked her where they lived now. Her mom said to land in the area in front of the houses on top of the west hill.
Maren turned the shuttle and found the hill. There was about ten buildings up on the hill and they were in the shape of crescent, so Maren landed them in the middle of the area.
Candy was the first one out of the shuttle of course, as her mom and dad came galloping across the landing area toward her. When they reached each other it was a big group hug, as the women cried.
Everyone else filed out of the shuttle and Mark was the last one out before Maren. When Candy's dad saw Mark he bowed and said, "Thank you, my King, for returning our girl."
Mark smiled and shook her dad's hand, "It was my duty and pleasure sir. She's a remarkable girl and my friend. There's no way I could not bring her home."
Several other people came out of their homes, most were centaurs, but there was a family of wolves and a human family.
Candy had stopped crying by now and introduced Mark and the rest of the group to her mom, Lydia and her dad, Meles and to everyone else there. A couple of the centaur families had known Candy since she was a little foal.
It was very warm outside with the temperature over 40C. Recognizing that the group wasn't used to the heat, Lydia invited them to the house for some tea. Their house was the second one from the left and from the outside it looked like a large single level barn.
Entering the house it did not look anything like a barn. The floor plan was very open with literally only a table for furniture. The only thing they had that could be considered a chair were these large brightly coloured sacks that resembled the old bean bag chairs from Earth.
Lydia pointed to the front closet and said there were chairs in there if anyone wanted one. Solara opened it and went in, then came out carrying 8 chairs.
Candy and her parents just sat on the floor, after her mom had placed a big pitcher of sun tea on the table along with a bucket of ice and a stack of glasses.
Mark loved sun tea so he eagerly took a glass, scooped some ice into it and then poured some tea. He gave it a sniff and then took a swig. It was just like the tea his grandma used to make in California.
Seeing Mark liked it, the rest followed suit and soon everyone was quenching their thirsts. The house was definitely cooler than it was outside, but it was still probably 28C or so in the house.
After everyone had quenched their thirsts Candy took them for a quick tour of the village. It definitely wasn't as advanced or refined as Atlanterra, but everyone they talked to seemed to be happy enough.
They got to meet Mayor Critias, who was insistent on getting his picture taken with the king.
Mark was curious, so he asked the mayor how much things had changed since joining the federation?
The mayor replied, "We were pretty steeped in tradition, but the land here can be harsh, droughts happen every few years, then you have extended periods of heavy rain that cause flooding and there is a lot of predatory animals out there. So lots of danger and inconsistent food and water supply.
Since joining the Federation, food and water are stable, we are healthy and have good homes. The children all attend school and we are protected from animal attacks, in the communities, by the security drones."
Mark then asked, "Were there any difficulties or trouble spots, when things started to change?"
The mayor replied, "Oh yes, there was a lot of traditionalists that didn't want to change anything. A year after we joined the Federation though, we had the worst drought we had experienced in hundreds of years. There literally was no water and food was scarce out on the grasslands. The Federation sent a couple of engineers out here and built these water generating devices near some of the watering holes, so the wildlife could drink.
Everyone else that had embraced the new housing from the Federation were not affected in the slightest. After that pretty much everyone was on board."
Mark smiled, "That is good to hear, if you need anything else, talk to your senator."
After more than an hour of touring around in the heat, everyone was wanting to move on.
They made their way back to Candy's parents place where they all said their goodbyes with kisses, hugs and more tears. With promises to write and call, they boarded the shuttle to move on.
Laruun sat up front with Maren and directed her to her home. It only took a few minutes of flying to reach her home which was on the edge of the savanna among a bunch of large trees. They landed on an open area and exited the shuttle. The weather was just as hot there as at Candy's place, but the knowledge that they would soon be under the shade of trees kept their minds at ease.
Laruun exited first and the rest followed, no one was immediately there to greet them, but there were people gathering at the edge of the shade.
A female tiger shouted "Laruun" and came running out of the trees, Laruun shouted "Marta" and opened her arms to welcome the running girl. They stopped and hugged, both with tears in their eyes, but Marta was sobbing so hard that she was having troubles talking. Laruun just held the weeping girl, waiting for her to calm down.
Finally a big male tiger walked out of the shade, looking solemn. He hugged both girls as he said, "Laruun, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your parents were killed last night."
Everyone gasped and then came over to include Laruun and Marta in a group hug.
Mark extricated himself from the group hug and asked, "What happened?"
