Yue

 21st January

17:31 GMT

I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't it.

A young thanagarian woman dressed in an even-more-impractical-than-normal rendition of the Thanagarian military uniform is currently singing her heart out to the obvious enjoyment of the thanagarian -and the suitably armigerous alien- great and good sitting at the surrounding tables. Her dancing is energetic, and incorporates her wings with both gestures and short aerial sections to emphasise her athleticism. I've got my rings recording the whole thing, and I… Think I'll send a copy to Ms Parish once I return to Earth.

The song itself… Personally, I found that hearing the words in English just messed up the rhyme schemes too much, so I instructed my ring to stop translating it. And then -because Quarish uses.. very different sounds to English- I was stuck listening to what sounds like the most metal screeching fit ever. I actually found myself chuckling because of the dissonance between the upbeat popular music instrumentals and the caterwauling coming from the singer. It's not unpleasant or anything, but as with a lot of alien things I'm finding it decidedly odd.

Ambassador Klus leans in as the performance comes to an end, his surviving eyebrow raised in a distinctly non-thanagarian gesture of enquiry.

"What do you think?"

The singer makes a thanagarian bow gesture, head and wings tilted back, as thanagarians and longer-serving aliens pound their tables. I give mine a couple of bangs too.

"I think that to appreciate the song I would need to understand the language far better than I do. To.. my ears, the lyrics and the music didn't quite… Match?"

The singer strikes her left palm with her right fist, then heads back off stage.

"Next, she's going to be performing a song.. inspired by the music of the aboriginal population of her homeworld, Havania. You might find that the tone matches your auditory range a little better." I nod. "Do you know the planet?"

"I haven't visited. I know it's.. one of Thanagar's 'old' colonies. Slightly unusual in that it's controlled by a hereditary aristocracy."

"That sort of thing wasn't too unusual back when it was founded, though we've moved to a more individualistic system since then." He sits back. "Thanagar itself is heavily militarised, but I don't want to give the impression that militarism is all there is to know of thanagarian society. Music is a far more palatable cultural touchstone for many of our alien guests."

"She didn't come all this way just for me, I hope?"

"No, she's touring Thanagar at the moment. If you'd been a hundred days later you would probably have missed her entirely."

"She's clearly quite talented. What's her name?"

"Bleez." He frowns as I start spasmodically blinking. "Have you.. heard of her?"

"Yes. Yes, I-" Bleez returns to the stage, her new costume even less conservative than the last, and her.. entire body painted pale blue. "-hhhhhave."

"I suppose that on your travels-."

"No. No. Um. You are aware that Earth has a good deal more magic use than…"

"'Any' would be more than Thanagar. If you're building up to claiming something you think that I will think is impossible, you needn't worry. I've been fully briefed."

"I'm a citizen of the country of Themyscira. We have an.. oracle. Some time ago I.. read a… Book. A winged woman named 'Bleez' with skin that colour featured."

"That's just a fashion statement. Quite popular on some of the colonies, though it's never caught on here. And what did this prophecy say about Bleez?"

She begins singing, notes starting low and having an almost hiccupy quality to them. Each is held and sustained at a perfect pitch for several seconds. There are no words, she's simply using her voice and lungs as an instrument. The 'aboriginal' inhabitants of Havania -read, the native population now marginalised by the dominant thanagarians- are raniform amphibians. If she's matching their vocal range-.

And then she starts dancing. The martial gestures of the thanagarian song are replaced with gentler, sinuous motions as she twists and bends and maintains the notes. I've got no idea how she's breathing.

"It mostly concerned how she behaved after some fairly traumatic experiences. Tell me, would you consider Havania well defended?"

"It's a mature colony. There's a defence network and a picket fleet. It's not up to Thanagar's standards and the locals have opposed further militarization. They have no need to fear raiders, though I suppose.. if there was a serious attack which took us by surprise..." He shifts in his seat as the.. astonishingly… Weirdly beautiful sound flows over us. "Illustres, if you know about a threat to the Thanagarian Empire or its citizens-."

"Sinestro. Thaal Sinestro. At some point -I don't know when- he takes a Lantern battlegroup there. The planet supposedly gets ransacked. Bleez is taken as a concubine by one of his men."

"Sinestro is no longer a Green Lantern."

I open my hands and draw his attention to my rings. "They come in several colours. Sinestro's followers supposedly will use yellow rings."

"I.. see."

"Though obviously we'd both rather prevent the issue ever coming up. To the best of my knowledge he's a Corps of one at the moment." Unless Dox has given him ideas. "Though just in case…" I take a card out of subspace, draw a yellow sigil on it and pass it over. "This symbol? Don't trust it."

"What does it represent?"

"Sinestro's Corps, Sinestro himself… And fear. According to what I read, Sinestro's initial line up will be comprised of psychotic criminals, the sort of people who delight in the fear of their victims."

I really hope none of that stuff happens. I take a moment to listen to a complicated series of note changes… I think I could grow to like this… And take a look at Ms Parker. She's… Frowning. Ah, she doesn't recognise any of the music. That's… Unfortunate. Hector, Kara and their minder have already left to do some sightseeing. I'll have to play a sample to Kara later and see what she makes of it.

"Do you know how reliable these prognostications are?"

"No. To date, most of them have been somewhat true. I've.. flown halfway across the galaxy and found someone exactly where I thought they'd be more than once. Other things are only accurate in broad swaths. And some are almost totally inaccurate, or just don't mention particular things."

"Is there anything else Thanagar needs to worry about?"

"The Seven Devils. Onimar Synn regaining corporeal form is very bad. I'm usually against state restrictions on religion, but I'll make an exception there."

"And the others?"

"I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with the others."

"I'm an atheistic materialist myself, but I read up on our mythology to prepare for this meeting. Ichthultu.. supposedly, taught our people how to farm. Thasaro was described as a violent scourge, but also as one who taught his followers the virtue of strength, and the militant ethos we embrace today. If such beings do exist, can you say for certain that it would be wrong to trade with them, as we do with alien races today?"

I shrug as the song comes to an end. "No. I've treated with strange beings before. And I worship the Olympian Goddess of Chaos. I suppose the only insight that I've got to offer is that it is exceedingly unwise to call up anything you can't put down. Or to make a pact with no way to enforce it."

Another round of table thumping, and as I actually liked this one I put a little more effort into it.

"Sound advice. Would you like to meet Bleez? That's the end of her set, but there are other-."

"Yes. Yes, I would, please."