Original From Beyond the Starlit Sky

"It's…" The frankness of it confounded Arzhela, though she took no more than an instant to find her footing back. "We have waited for such a long time for someone like you, for some proof we weren't alone. It is no surprise that people expected… more."

(written for the 2024 Original Work Opportunity, with the prompt "Ruler of colony planet unvisited for centuries/Diplomat sent to re-establish contact")