Chapter Text
Memory disfunction. That’s what Grace was told the little pebble had.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Rocky. Adrian. How serious is that condition?”
“Very serious”, Adrian answered, barely moving. Rocky also wasn’t doing much, sitting there with his mate and their first-born sleeping in the carrier around his ‘torso’.
It was a cute little pebble, shaped like Rocky and colored like Adrian. Gosh, Grace would love to hold little Terra in his hands. But for now, the Biodome’s classroom had to be enough.
“They won’t be able to integrate into society”, Rocky sighed, “they won’t be able to attend school. they won’t be able to live on their own. Won’t be able to find a proper mate.”
“I heard of many eridians with Memory disfunction who found a mate”, Adrian retorted.
Rocky leaned closer to Adrian, a habit he picked up from his human friend when he needed comfort, “never will be able to talk to Grace.”
“Now, now”, Grace interrupted Rocky’s dark thoughts, “I still can use my translator-“
“That’s not it”, Adrian gently cut in, “eridians with Memory disfunction are barely able to hold a proper conversation. They usually can only follow one conversation after another. Their ability to multitask is at a great disadvantage, making them unable to join a thrum. They will not be able to talk to us properly and to others and some end up mute and-!”
Adrian stood up and shook her carapace in despair. Rocky stood up as well, letting out a heart-breaking note as did Adrian.
Grace watched them sadly, yet wondered aloud.
“Do you think I’m disabled?” he asked, tapping his fist twice on the ground where he was sitting.
The eridians froze, quickly assuring him that, even though he could be viewed as disabled by Eridian standard, his ability to talk to them and hold a conversation was in no way seen as lesser than theirs. And his ability to learn their language was phenomenal, even if he needed more time to become fluid in it.
Grace smiled at them.
“That’s wonderful to hear. And Terra would love to hear it from you, too. Okay?”
Rocky and Adrian slowly sat down once more, seemingly calmer now after hearing that.
“You are right, Grace”, Rocky said, “Terra will make it. They’re a smart pebble.”
“They are”, Adrian agreed, “and so are we. We will figure it out.”
Grace couldn’t help but laugh as he saw his friends cheering for their little Terra as she kept pointing at each of them and calling them their respective roles.
“Parent Rocky!” Terra chirped, their little claw pointing at Rocky who shook his carapace happily.
“Parent Adrian!” They chirped, pointing at Adrian who did the jazz hands in joy.
Terra lowered their little claw to lift the other one closer to Grace, “Uncle Grace!”
Grace clapped his hands happily and began to play his notes on the keyboard, “yes, yes, yes! Uncle Grace!”
Terra wiggled and jumped, stumbling over her little feet and started to repeat her new learned words.
“How did they learn so fast? Usually pebbles like them need far more time to learn the correct words for their surroundings”, Adrian mused.
The happiness among the parents quickly died down when Rocky pointed at Terra, asking for her name.
Terra stood there silently, not knowing the answer to that.
Grace didn’t seem to notice the tension among his friends, answering for his little niece, “Terra!”
“Don’t answer for them, Grace”, Rocky reprimand, “they have to say it themselves.”
The human huffed and put his fists on his hips, “and how do you expect her to learn it if you only told her once? You said she has a condition.”
Rocky made an ugly chord, jumping over his now cowering pebble and slamming two of his five claws against the xenonite wall.
“Don’t say that in front of them!” he screeched, slamming his claws again and again at the wall.
Grace had flinched back, watching his friend cursing at him while Adrian hastily sung a sweet lullaby to their child. Terra seemed to already have forgotten her angry parent screaming at her uncle, happily singing along.
The human looked back at Rocky, slowly shuffling back to his old spot by the wall.
“Rocky, listen to me.”
“Don’t talk like that in front of them, understood?” Rocky hissed in return.
“Alright. I promise I will not say that ever again in front of her. But Rocky,” Grace leaned closer to him, knowing how stupid that gesture was with how good their hearing was, “Terra has this … thing. And by acting this way, you will teach her that something is wrong with her. Which is something I don’t want. I don’t want you or Adrian telling her that she is broken in some way.”
“But…” Rocky started, making Grace tap the wall between them to cut him off.
“No buts. Back on earth we have many people with many different disabilities. Even though they are in better places now than compared to centuries back, they still struggle to integrate into society because of behavior like this.”
Rocky stepped back in shock.
“Our architecture, our gadgets, our language changed simply to not exclude them anymore”, Grace explained, “and this is what I expect of you two. Got it? Make her feel normal. Make her feel that her difference is okay to have. And that this doesn't make her any less worthy than any other eridian. That’s all we want as humans and I assume it’s what you eridians want, too.”
Rocky made a nodding motion before returning to his pebble, humming softly when she cuddled up to her parent.
“Grace is right”, Adrian spoke up then, “I want them to feel normal about themselves. Not like an outsider.”
Adrien then asked Terra what her name was. When Terra once again couldn’t answer, Adrien answered for her, “Terra. Te-rra.”
Terra did her little jazz hands, though it took her some more eridian days to finally manage to say her name, pointing at herself.
“I have been thinking”, Grace spoke up six human months later, watching Adrian and Terra playing catch around the classroom while Rocky sat next to Grace at the front of his class.
“Bad, bad, bad”, Rocky joked. Grace childishly stuck out his tongue, earning himself another round of ‘disgust!’ from Rocky.
“No, but really”, he continued, “now that I know about her… condition… and what I know about the current social and living problems for such eridians here on Erid, I wonder if I could organize some special classes.”
“Stupid idea”, Rocky easily commented, “there were many special classes, not one worked efficiently enough. Currently, we eridians have private tutoring for our pebbles. Terra is also currently in one.”
“I see… and why is it stupid for me to attempt it?”
“You are a human. You don’t understand it fully. No offence.”
Grace crossed his arms, “Offence fully taken. As you know, I was a highly viewed biologist back on my home planet with a doctorate. All this while also having that, what you call a ‘condition’. If anything, I am the perfect candidate for this.”
Rocky made a sound that Grace knew was a snort.
“You don’t believe me?”
“You are a brilliant alien, Grace, but still an alien”, Rocky sighed.
Grace smiled at Terra stopping in front of him, shouting his rambling about the ‘monster’ (Adrian) that is about to catch her and how she needs to hide. Grace points at a corner of his class room where some of his students usually hide when they want to tease him. Terra thanked him and ran off again.
“And you have to be quiet! Otherwise, the monster gets you!” Rocky called after her, chuckling as Adrian stomped passed them dramatically.
“How about a bet? Tell me what a child her age should already know and be able to do and I will teach her for the next month. Human month.”
Rocky was about to call him stupid again for that last comment, Grace knew it. But he refrained from it as yet again, Terra came running towards them to hide under him, giggling.
They paused their conversation, watching Adrian ‘searching’ for Terra, stomping her leg and ‘roaring’ dramatically before Terra began running again with Adrian chasing her again.
Grace smiled at Rocky. Since their last talk, his friend called Grace stupid less and less, not wanting his child to think she was stupid too.
Grace was not complaining.
“Alright”, Rocky finally said, coming to a conclusion, “Terra should be able to do simple algebra and geometry. They should know the basics about their biology and also already be able to cite around 10 poems.”
“Deal.”
Not even a whole month passed and yet Rocky and Adrian already saw the first improvements. Terra kept repeating four different poems and already solved quite the few math problems correctly.
Their private tutor was also amazed at their sudden improvement, asking them how the parents managed such miracle.
When they explained that ‘savior’ Grace was giving their child extra lessons, the Tutor immediately requested to see the alien.