Kira hesitated but couldn't think of a way to politely decline. "It's your ship."
He could go where he wanted
"Indeed, it is," Graydon said, with a small smile Kira couldn't decipher.
Graydon followed her as she ducked around trees and under branches as Jin zipped through effortlessly, his smaller size and ability to ignore gravity allowing him to take advantage of passageways they could not.
It didn't take long until they were standing under a canopy of tree branches dotted with thousands of small lilac-colored flowers.
Jin lowered to several flowers growing from dead logs on the ground.
"Theazira aliri," Graydon murmured when it became clear what had so fascinated Jin. "I'm surprised he found them."
Jin crooned as he flitted from flower to flower like a giant hummingbird. He'd been right. They looked like cat's ears perched on round stamen, if one ignored the fact they were all bright orange and blue.
"They normally hide their faces when strangers near." Graydon’s shoulder brushed Kira's as he leaned forward. "They must not sense a threat from your machine."
"Jin has a way of putting people at ease," Kira said.
"You've named it?" Graydon asked.
Kira was silent for a long second as she debated the best response. It wasn't like she hid what Jin was, but she didn't advertise it either. Too many people had tried to call her a liar.
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 achaterling. It won't hurt you. It's just saying hi."
Thechaterlingstood 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 theazira 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.
Thechaterlingcurled 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 ofchaterlings 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 theWanderer," Jin said enthusiastically, forgetting himself in the excitement of small, living creatures.
"Absolutely not." TheWandererhad 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.
