Blue popped up, her gaze wide and indignant. "Last night, I fell asleep in the middle of reconstructing a grav hook. Me! I never do that."
Kira couldn't help the chuckle. "Are they worse than me?"
Blue looked away, grumbling. "That was different. You were trying to prepare me for war in the event I ended up in the thick of things."
Kira arched an eyebrow wryly. "If you're better for the experience afterward, I'd say the momentary discomfort is worth it."
Blue's agreement was grudging as she sat up, wrapping her arms around her legs and looking out at sea. Distance crept into Blue's gaze as silence fell between them.
Kira waited patiently, figuring Blue would reveal the reason she'd sought Kira out eventually.
Kira was content to let the simple peace of lying there fill her. This was nice. She didn't often let herself exist in the moment, and she found it more restorative than a thousand treatments with Quillon.
"This place is interesting, isn't it?" Blue asked, pulling Kira out of the beginnings of her doze.
"How so?"
Blue considered it. "Their technology outstrips ours in a way I can barely fathom. In many ways, it's so advanced it resembles magic."
"That's not new," Kira pointed out. "The Haldeel are like that too."
Blue nodded. "You're right. Yet unlike the Haldeel, their society shares similarities to a feudal one with a warrior class and an almost military-like hierarchy. One might even say an oshota's duties resembles that of the knights of medieval Europe or the samurai of feudal Japan. The Overlords only answer to the emperor, and I'm not even sure he controls them."
Blue paused, her expression puzzled as she considered the different implications of such a conclusion.
Kira let her think. This was how Blue worked. She bounced her ideas off others, learning and adjusting based on their responses. Once, she'd done this regularly with Kira every time she had a problem she couldn't solve.
It was nostalgic being in this position again.
"Each House exists within an intricate network of alliances and grudges. The very fact that they have no homogeneous identity should make them chaotic and disorganized, almost unheard of in a society as advanced as theirs obviously is," Blue continued.
Kira suspected she could guess why. Graydon's revelation in the Hall of Ancestors provided answers Blue had no way of obtaining from her position as an outsider. Unfortunately, Kira couldn't give them to her, not until she understood for herself the full ramifications such knowledge would have.
"Then there's humanity's history," Blue trailed off.
"What are you talking about?"
"Myth and legend have long been how humans made sense of the world," Blue pondered. "Most are nonsense, their origins lost in history, but where there is fiction there is often a seed of truth hidden within. When you take these stories and then see certain patterns emerge across many cultures who would have had no opportunity to interact, it makes you question certain things."
Kira tried to follow what Blue was saying. "You're going to have to break this down, because I'm not following."
"What if the reason humans have so many different stories about strange, mythological creatures is because the inspiration for those creatures once visited Earth."
Kira sent her an unconvinced look. "You think the Tuann visited ancient Earth."
Blue’s excitement brimmed in her expression. "Why not? They have the technology for it. In Germanic mythology, elves were said to have pathways to other worlds. We’ve seen something very like that already. Who is to say the Tuann never used their world gates to visit? It would explain why we've seen human symbols here and why they're so dismissive of us as a race."
Kira's mouth opened in preparation for shooting Blue's theory down. She paused when she caught Finn looking at them with something approaching alarm.
His expression smoothed into one of hard implacability in the next instant, leaving Kira questioning whether she had seen what she thought she had.
She shook herself, bringing her attention to Blue who hadn't noticed Kira’s distraction.
"You're saying you think the wizards are the basis for myths of elves and fairies and the like," Kira guessed.
Blue nearly buzzed with enthusiasm. "I do. I think their history with humans goes back much further than anyone has guessed."
Kira hummed. "The Tuann are an ancient race, I suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility."
Kira rubbed a finger along her chin. Her knowledge of mythology was shaky. Such matters hadn't seemed as important as ones that might directly affect her survival. Kira seemed to remember stories of monstrous creatures whose only desire was to prey on humanity.
Take Blue's theory one step further and consider the Tsavitee. A race humans often compared to the demons of one of their main religions.
Perhaps the Tuann weren't the only ones who'd visited past Earth.
It opened up a whole world of possibilities that no one had likely considered.
"If you think about it, it makes sense," Blue pressed, her words passionate. "They could have come to Earth and stayed long enough to leave some of their influence behind."
"For what purpose? Why not conquer us?" Humanity, at that point in history, would have still been slinging rocks and sticks at each other. They wouldn't have put up much of a fight.
"I don't know," Blue confessed. "And we never will if we don't ask the questions."
Kira shook her head. So that's what this was about. As interesting as Blue's theory was, its real purpose wasn't determining if the Tuann had once visited Earth. All she wanted was an excuse to get closer to the world gate's technology.
Blue was a good soldier. Smart. Dedicated. She contained a curiosity that far surpassed most. She had a genius-level intellect and could extrapolate concepts Kira could never dream of. Once she got her teeth into something, it was damn hard getting her to leave it.
Kira had forgotten how much Blue tended to fixate.
She'd do anything—justify anything—if it served her purpose.
Kira sat up, dusting off her arms, and shook her head, unable to hide her disappointment. "A thousand different things on this planet, and you're focused on the one thing they've refused you.”
Blue leaned forward. "Do you know what a gate like that could do for us if the Tsavitee come back? Forget ships. We could be anywhere nearly instantly. Entire planets evacuated before they even hit the atmosphere. The ability to send reinforcements without worrying they'll be shot down before they ever touch down."
"So now you don't want just one gate; you want many," Kira observed.
"Why are you fighting me on this?" Blue asked, sounding exasperated. "You, more than anyone, understand what we're up against.”
"I could ask you why you’re fighting so hard for this," Kira shot back.
The Cur closed her mouth mutinously.
It wasn't hard to guess. Blue was here to absorb as much information about Tuann technology as she could. This joint training operation was another name for spying.
Kira was okay with that. She'd been prepared for it.
What the Tuann didn't understand was that humanity was at a constant disadvantage. They were the underdog of the galactic stage. It meant they sometimes had to get creative.