Jin wasn't a typical artificial intelligence. His metal body was more accident than anything else. He'd been a person once; flesh and blood like her. When he'd been hurt beyond healing, his soul had somehow ended up in that drone. While his outsides were metal, the thing driving him was as human as she was.
"He picked his name," Kira finally said. That was close enough to the truth without bringing up any sticky questions she'd prefer to avoid.
Graydon didn't say anything, turning his attention to Jin.
A small chittering sound from above caught Kira's attention when she would have joined Jin. She jerked as a small creature sailed from the branches to land on her shoulder.
"Easy," Graydon soothed. "It's a chaterling. It won't hurt you. It's just saying hi."
The chaterling stood on its hind legs and scolded her before settling down. The size of her palm, its fur was a light shade of blue with stripes of darker blue along its back and legs. Two mini horns curled away from its forehead, and long flat ears stuck out from its head.
Two pools of dark brown regarded her as it cocked its head, its tiny wings rising and then settling along its back. Its long tail whipped to circle her neck before it rubbed the side of its face against hers.
Kira held still, not wanting it to bite her. Who knew what sort of diseases it might be carrying.
Finished, it let out a high warble before springing from her shoulder, gliding the small distance to land on one of the azira aliri. The stalk containing the round bloom with the cat ears quivered, small bits of fluff burst from the center as the entire flower seemed to perk up.
The chaterling curled up on the top, settling its wings over its spine as it let out a high-pitched squeak. From the trees, others appeared, filling the air with small bodies as each found their own flower to perch on.
"There are so many of them," Kira said, impressed.
Graydon's chuckle was warm. "All of our ships carry pieces of home with us. To have a flock of chaterlings join your vessel is considered good luck and a sign of an auspicious voyage. Their presence helps keep the garden healthy which in turn keeps those traveling healthy."
It was a complete reversal from the ships Kira had known. Many had hydroponic gardens of some sort but unless you were part of the botany unit, you weren't allowed in. There was too much danger of a careless hand damaging the plants. Since most ships relied on them for oxygen in some small way, contact was kept to a minimum.
Those gardens had nothing on this. They were dim imitations of the real thing. Standing here almost felt like she was planetside again in a strange and old forest, wild but welcoming at the same time.
"We should get one for the Wanderer," Jin said enthusiastically, forgetting himself in the excitement of small, living creatures.
"Absolutely not." The Wanderer had no plants or garden for these creatures. It would be wrong to subject them to its sterile coldness.
"You never let me have what I want," Jin said sulkily.
Kira rolled her eyes as she bent to peer closer at the plants and their passengers. The wizards were strange. That was for sure.
*
Graydon watched the young woman intently. She was different than he expected. Much different.
She held a self-possession startling in one so young. He suspected it had been hard-won on many battlefields, something their own young wouldn't have any experience with. War had a way of changing you and it was almost impossible to escape its grasp unmarked in some way.
Her scars might not be on the surface, but they were there. It made him curious to know what had so shaped her.
What had she been like before all this? Had her smiles come faster? He saw glimpses of the person she'd once been when she engaged with him, but when she thought no one was watching, sadness and loss clung to her like a cloak.
When the humans had told him she'd been part of their military, he hadn't thought much of it. They preferred a type of warfare the Tuann disliked, shooting their enemy from great distances, the further the better. Unfortunately for them, their weapons were weaker than their enemies’ defenses.
However, the way she moved made him doubt his former beliefs. She'd taken down the war drone in less than two minutes. Rarely had he seen someone dispatch one so cleanly. It had been like watching moving art, unbearably beautiful and deliciously lethal. He suspected it only took that long because of her shock at its realism.
Yes, she was not as he believed. He'd do well to remember this lesson. Humans had proved deceptively capable in the past, and for all that she was Tuann, her time with the humans had left its stamp.
"Tell me about these people you claim are my family," Kira said, not lifting her gaze from the chaterling.
Graydon tilted his head. It was the first time she'd expressed interest in her people. Baran and Amila had kept him informed of her movements and any conversations she had. They'd said she avoided the subject of the Tuann any time they brought it up.
"They are your family," he said.
"Says you."
He arched an eyebrow. He was not used to such doubt in his word. "You bear their mark. Also, several of their children were taken many years ago."
Her head jerked toward him. "Taken?"
He hesitated, unsure how much of his people's private pain to share with her. It was a dark spot in their history that had affected many. That still affected them.
"Yes, around the time of what we suspect was your birth. We faced great betrayal. The young of many Houses were stolen, you among them. Until we found you, we assumed they'd all been killed." His voice was flat and unemotional as he relayed the information.
She blinked at him, her thoughts hidden and her expression guarded. She held his gaze for several long beats before she turned to the chaterling.
"It was a bloody period. Many died. Among them my friends and those I considered as close as family."
There was silence between them as they watched as one chaterling tackled another, both crashing off their perches to roll around on the ground as high-pitched squeaks filled the air.
"I'm sorry to hear of your loss," Kira said softly.
He inclined his head. "It was a long time ago."
"You believe I'm one of these children," Kira stated.
"We know you are. The mark on your forearm proclaims your birth House; there are no other marks like it."
"Are my parents alive?"
He hesitated, falling quiet for a moment. "I don't know. We know you are from that House, but your exact lineage is in doubt."
Her eyebrows climbed. "Can't you do a DNA test to find out?"
Graydon gritted his teeth. She didn't know what she was asking. He could forgive her, her ignorance. It wasn't her fault she'd grown up separated from them
"It's more difficult than you assume."
She looked taken aback, her mouth opening before shutting on her questions.
Graydon felt regret as she withdrew. He probably should have found a better way to put that.
"Each House safeguards the secrets locked in the blood of its members. For me to take yours even if it is to confirm your lineage would be considered a grave insult. Wars have been started for less," he said quietly, an apology in his voice. It was the easiest explanation he could think of without revealing too much of their history to her, a Tuann outsider with dangerous ties. "I'm sure your House will make confirming your familial relationship a priority when we arrive."