Everyone was at the edge of their seats that day. This meeting was being planned for months now, sure, but all the preparation in the world could not quell the anxiety rising within me. We had encountered a few sapient alien species before, but none were keen on becoming anything more than, let's say, long distance friends. As such, the chance to see these new creatures, emerged from the stardust, was one any exozoologist, such as myself, would kill for. Humans, they called themselves.

It was a secret, of course. A crowd of millions of curious eyes and excited voices was not exactly safe or easy to manage. That's what we were all there for. A group of experts in a variety of fields, from spokespeople to engineers (they even got a theologist), for the sole purpose of ensuring this first contact would go smoothly.

As we headed to the secluded canyon the meeting would take place in, the murmurs in the crowded transport grew.

In my hazy cloud of anxious thoughts I didn't catch much, just the theologist discussing the appropriate methods of worship with one of the linguists. Talking about something familiar helps with the anxiety, I guess.

"No, no, you're thinking of it wrong, young miss. The Twin Suns do not need our fires. They are the fire. To pray before the flames, it is simply a way to extend their beings, to bring them closer to us..."

My mind raced. There was so much to be know about these "humans" still. We knew they lived in a distant system, with only one star and their planet was a lot colder than ours. Biology wise, things were... weird. The descriptions were scarce, or rather, difficult to understand, but we managed to make a few educated guesses. They had only four limbs, and used two for locomotion, and two for tool manipulation. They also said something about having hair? And they talked about something they called endothermy, we have frankly no idea how it works, but it seems to make it difficult for them to endure the temperatures here? They communicate through sound, like us, so at least there' some common ground.

"...because long ago the Third Sun withered. But in the universe, nothing disappears, miss. A spark from the dying star landed on this very planet, and from it our kind made the first pyre. We took the spark and cared for it, tending and giving it life. The Suns had always shown us compassion, so it is natural that when the time came, we did, too. Fascinating isn't it? Such mutual kindness, between such fundamentally different beings.... truly a miracle..."

But part of me was still concerned they would turn out to be hostile... a friendly alien race just sounded to good to be true. Or maybe worse, maybe they were playing nice, waiting for the time to strike? I really shouldn't... I didn't have to concern myself with that. I wasn't a diplomat, I was just there to look at some cool aliens. Yes, that's it.

"It's like I said. Nothing ever truly disappears. We must only wait. The Third will not be gone forever. Likely not in my lifetime, nor in yours or you children's, but it will return. The little, humble spark we once fought to keep alive? It will grow. It will burn brighter and brighter. Through our will, our love, through the thousands of little flames within ourselves, The Third shall be set alight. And then we may once more bask in the radiance of the Three Siblings. Complete, unadultered light."

Just as I was done with that vain attempt to calm myself, the transport came to a halt. The priest's voice died, and the linguist quickly gave up on the answer she was about to mutter. The air grew heavy. It was the kind of fragile silence that blooms from uncertainty, and that no one dares to break. When the doors opened and light poured in, I was just relieved to get out of there. I looked up, said a prayer, and glanced ahead...

There they were.

Oddly intriguing, I think is the best I could describe them. Well, I couldn't actually see much of the creatures beneath all the fabric and equipment they had to wear. But the figure was odd. They stood tall, I guess we had been right about the limb thing.

Our group started walking forward, theirs did the same.

And soon we all stood face to face. The representatives from each side stepped forward. Ours was doing an honestly outstanding job at pretending to be calm and seeming professional. The human on the other side was too, i think? I had studied their body language as best as I could, but without actual field experience that wasn't much good. They exchanged some awkward greetings, and the conversation began.

If you asked me what they talked about, I really couldn't tell you. As interesting as intergalactic politics were, it wasn't really my concern. I just tried to make sense of these creatures the best I could, and note it all down. And to be fair, their anatomy is fascinating. We seemed to be getting along okay, though.

When we expressed interest in their engineering, namely their space travel technology, they were more than happy to explain it, even offered to give us a look. After all, if our calculations were right, they had come from several light years away. We didn't even think that was possible. And so we made our way to the place they kept the ships.

That's when things started feeling... wrong.

Even now, I just don't know why. I don't know why I felt that dread creeping upon me. And I don't know why everyone else felt it too. Everyone tried to hide it, brush it off, but everybody knew.

The humans seemed to notice, too. Silence was an universal sign of discomfort, apparently.

They asked what was wrong, if they could do anything to help, if...

I don't remeber what we answered. I don't remember if we answered.

Because then we saw it.

A metal colossus.

It hovered, glinting in the light of the Two Suns above us. The synthetic beast was larger than anything my kind had ever conceived.

At first I didn't understand what about the sight made me want to run.

Why wasn't it wonder? Wasn't it supposed to be awe that you feel in the presence of the technological marvel of the century? Wasn't...

No, no, it was none of that.

The metal was useless. An accessory. A husk to house what laid in its core.

"So" one of the humans spoke through the translator device, pointing. "that right there is the engine..." I saw it show it's teeth... a smile? This was fun to them? "It works on internal combustion, I'm sure you..."

It was smaller, weaker than it should have been, but... there it was. Bound in chains.

"...that, simply put, is how we harness its energy." The thing, the human just kept smiling. Was it... mocking us?

I didn't stay to find out. Most didn't. We just ran back.

They had brought us the Sun.

Most people don't know what the war is about. They think they do, of course, but they don't really. I think they made up some stuff about and attack to a village or something, I'm not sure.

But I'm glad. The truth getting out... I don't think that would be a good thing. That light... shackled and forced to serve a will other than its own, I... we can't just do nothing.

I still see that smile sometimes.

When I do, I don't just pray to the Suns. I pray for them.

Various dignitaries kept watch over the gathering to make sure things went peacefully, a think tank of two different species' first meeting. Several translators were nearby to ensure multiple interpretations were available at any time to limit misunderstanding, a brilliant idea from one of the human interns, as difficult as it is to find humans fluent in all seven Faytrang languages.

The scientists were discussing the different approach to discovering the secrets of the universe they'd both taken, a gaggle of military leaders puffed up their chests in front of each other to show how tough they were (funny how that of all things was one of the first similarities between our cultures), and a few representatives of a couple religious orders were hovering around the two buffet spreads, sampling what cuisine they safely could while recounting the stories and beliefs of their people. One of the Faytrang priests must've gotten bored, because a shout of terrified outrage blew up from near where the engineers had flocked.

"YOU DID WHAT TO CROSS THE GAP OF SPACE?!" was the closest human translators could say had been shouted, sounding like a mix of a kookaburra and thunder. The next one was much easier: "THEY HAVE ENSLAVED FIRE!"

What nobody at the conference had realized before this point was that "fire" had one definition for humans, but Faytrang had several, and besides the shared one they were all of religious significance equivalent to God. It was quickly apparent that something wasn't translating properly, and the dignitaries were struggling to keep everyone calm while things were explained.

"Fire is the creator! The Carer, the Warmer, the Father and Mother, the Beacon!" The priest who said this looked torn between throwing himself out the window and strangling the humans nearest his six clawed hands. "Fire is NOT A TOOL! Fire is... it's sacred!"

One of the engineers was quoted after the meeting as saying, "It was like we told them we'd knocked out God and chained him to a hamster wheel to power our ships because it was easier than bending space, which we kinda did, I guess."

The conference was saved from devolving into a fistfight (which would have been lost badly by the humans) by one of the human priests teaming up with a historian to explain how important fire was to humans in a slightly different way, and being extra careful to exclude the word "tool" or mention of anything close to it from the entire speech.

"Fire was the reason humans became what we are today," the historian began. "You call fire the Carer, the Beacon, the Warmer. For us, fire began as a danger on our world, spreading through forests and plains of grass as unstoppable death. Light striking down from the sky was a source of fire, and our ancestors likely attributed it to the wrath of a god they couldn't comprehend. When the fire passed, however, the things that burned nourished the soil and gave life back to the devastated areas."

The next part was tricky to word, because the Faytrang had only made mention of starting fires for warmth and worship. An archaeologist stepped in with a nervous gulp. "So much as we can tell, because in this time writing did not exist, ancient humans treated fire similarly to the Faytrang, as a powerful entity which gave light and heat. They had learned fear first, and so were wary of being near fire. But they knew that the animals around them feared it more, and tried to learn how they could gain the favor of fire, how to survive with fire.

"They learned that animals burned in the fire were easier to eat and did not give parasites," he continued. "They learned how to burn the plains regularly to lure in their prey with fresh grass. They learned how fire could help them become more than a somewhat intelligent animal. We were less reverential of fire, perhaps, but we respect it just as much for what it has done for us."

"To make no mention of the stories where fire has helped man, or been a way to speak with God," a priest interjected. "I can only speak on the religion I myself have studied and believe, but fire universally appears in every culture that is at least somewhat divine and ancient. Our legends tell how fire has helped man slay monsters, protected us while escaping from grave danger, and taken sacrifices of animals and grain to our gods. Fire is not as revered to us, but do not mistake that we mean disrespect to it."

Just when things were beginning to calm down and conversation was picking back up, one of the Faytrang priests spotted a security guard using a lighter for his cigarette and lost his shit, quickly followed by the rest of the delegation. This is how the war started.

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