He sits upon a seat on the balcony over-looking moonlit gardens. From behind a curtain, a young man comes, blade drawn, to take his life. Oddly enough, while there were some guards, he actually waved them away and asked the lad to come closer so he could have a talk with the young assassin.

"I currently rule as king amongst my people. We have the Cardinal Law, ensuring that no one, no matter how poor they are, is left without at least good, wholesome, food, clean water, and shelter, even if it must come out of the royal treasuries to pay for it. And no matter how wealthy or powerful a person is, they are forbidden to mistreat the ones that serve under them. They are not allowed to refuse to pay their fair share of taxes just like I, and everyone else, does. Yes, I do pay my taxes, that's only fair after all. We do everything we can to make life in these lands as pleasant as possible for our people. And yet even as you stand there with your blade in your hand threatening to end my life so another can take the crown, do you realize how little freedom this crown brings? The sacrifices a ruler must make lest their land fall to ruin? Where you must think of your people's health, safety, and well-being above all else, even your own happiness? Tell me... do you truly understand the cost of a crown?"

Humans have interesting pets. Sometimes small, even almost harmless even by havenworld standards, sometimes terrifying. This human had one that was at the terrifying end. As they came aboard a ship of saurians, across their shoulders was a snake that was as nearly long as their body and very heavy. It seemed, however, content to remain curled there while the person introduced them to "little slinky." A snake they'd raised from an egg.

A human's friend has been begging them for months to take them to Earth to a local event. Something that all humans could enjoy in one form or another. Something that was fun for all humans but didn't involve large explosions or things being destroyed. The human thought for a long moment and smiled, they had the most perfect idea. And that is how this level one havenworlder ended up sitting and trying deep fried cheese curds and onion rings for the first time, while sitting at a county fair. The human danced in a line dance, the havenworlder tried a merry-go-round, and there was fun and laughter late into the twilight hours.

A human had a poetry book that they took everywhere with them and enjoyed sitting and reading when they had time. Admittedly, time could be few and far between with their job. One poem she recited softly to herself from time to time had her liaison curious and he asked what it was she was muttering to herself. Her reply confused him because she stated it was a poem about nothing. But how could it be about nothing? All such works are about something... right?

A Poem About Nothing

This is a poem about nothing.
No flowing words about gardens or trees.
No tales of the birds and the bees,
Because, this is a poem of nothing.

This is a poem about nothing.
No winking stars in the evening skies.
No mysteries or lovely eyes,
No, this is truly about nothing.

This is a poem about something.
Of this, I truly now know.
It’s so very odd how things can go.
Because, this poem is something about nothing.

I'd like to know more about Human Gis and her discovery of the flower that helped ease, then cure, her bad cough and helped heal the scar tissue in her lungs. Did the kid get credit for her discovery? Maybe a bonus? And did her companion help her with her self-esteem?

It's from this story from back in May. https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02685-g128-little-yellow-different

I think this is the one your prompt is referring to? This sounds like a continuance of this story.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02650-g093-graduation-epiphany

They are preppers, but not the type people think of. They did have places of safety, yes. They did have a way to defend themselves, hunt, fish, and all the usual equipment, though instead of firearms they had crossbows and regular bows. And instead of tons of expensive fishing equipment, it was basic rods and reels, fishing lines, hooks, bobbers and sinkers, no expensive lures, nothing like that.

They did have some dried and canned foodstuffs, things that could be eaten and swapped out over time, but they also kept things such as heirloom seeds. They gathered books on pre-industrial cooking and preserving techniques, took classes on first aid and medical care, practiced woodland survival, water purification techniques, survival in arctic-like conditions, how to find supplies even in the food deserts that were so often seen in larger cities. Weaving, stitching, making cloth, how to make blankets and clothing out of that cloth, how to spin flax, cotton, and various types of wool into thread and yarn, and so forth. All in the name of survival.

They knew things were starting to go bad. They saw it in how their country was falling apart. In how people were turning on each other. They tried to warn people, they offered to teach people how to prepare as well. They tried to advise on supplies, what would be useful, what would not, and were rebuffed time and again. Then things got worse, just as they predicted, just as they'd warned. People began to go crazy, stealing from each other, raiding stores, stockpiling stupid things, and again, they offered to teach, to help with food crops, they were again, rebuffed despite begging people to reconsider their habits.

Then came the day those same crowds were banging at the door of their shelter demanding, not asking, to be helped. A part of their heart said "I offered before when it could've mattered, why should I care?" But the rest of their heart, as they reached for the radio to answer the crowds outside, spoke as well. "Because they're people too."

The human was moving slowly, very slowly, and doing deep breaths with each slow movement. They almost looked like moves one would do in combat, but these were too languid.. too.. relaxed. The saurian scientists aboard the ship were curious and a few even tried the movements, with varying degrees of success, and one asked the human as they paused a moment to watch their friends, what was that odd motion just now? The human smiled and said in a relaxed tone "Tai Chi".

The reasons for Tai Chi

Stress Management

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/tai-chi/art-20045184

Preventing Mental Health issues due to stress

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3917559/

Improving mobility and weight control.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-health-benefits-of-tai-chi

Physical health benefits

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4620402/

A new class of therapists are going through training and tonight's lecture is about human psychology, past and present, when it came to the sciences and medical treatment. They were to watch an info video on humans in the early 21st century and their reactions to life-prolonging measures such as getting vaccinations to prevent disease, and wearing masks to try to control viral spreads during pandemics. And this, then was compared to the behaviors seen in the modern day.

They had been sent in to rescue a high ranking official's daughter and had, erroneously, assumed she would be some weak, helpless, demanding, little flower that not only would be difficult to rescue, but would be a major headache, and pain in their rears, all the way through the escape and on the way back to the woman's home world. What they found, instead, was a strong, fierce, self-reliant individual who was as ready with a weapon as any of their team. Which was a good thing, because the way home was not going to be easy, nor would the unexpected reception when they finally returned her to her home.

I really loved the prompt and story with this one, could we see more about the two? The warrior maiden in a world where such are not well looked upon really has a great potential to me.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02736-g179-falling-flying