Jin snort was derisive. "Of course, you are. You'd be lost and lonely without me."
Kira shook her head even as she smiled. She should have expected his response. His arrogance was nothing if not consistent.
Jin settled onto her bed. "Man, this place is strange. I thought I was short-circuiting when we first crossed over."
Kira's head tilted, a few things suddenly making sense. "That headache was from you, wasn't it?"
She should have suspected as much. The nature of Jin's making meant they were irreversibly linked. Most of the time, that didn't mean much. He could ride her senses when allowed, experience things the same way she did. Only in moments of extreme adversity did the other's feelings or pain bleed over, as was the case in this situation.
Jin hummed in agreement. "I thought my number was punched. If that's how you felt on Luatha, I feel sorry for you."
Kira glared at her friend, not moving.
Jin spun to face her. "What?"
The question made her snap.
She grabbed him and spiked him onto the bed. "This is why smuggling yourself in a bag was dumb. Don't ever scare me that way again."
Jin sputtered before righting himself, electricity buzzing along his casing so Kira couldn't repeat the throw.
"You're always so violent," he complained.
She bared her teeth. "I'm about to show you violence."
Jin made a tsking sound before spinning in place. "What do you think it means, though?"
Kira calmed, considering his question. "I suspect you were interacting with the Mea'Ave."
"But why here and not on Ta Da'an?"
That was a good question. Kira could only guess.
"Maybe this is where you were born," she mused. It was a wild supposition at most. "Perhaps because I'm descended from both Luatha and Roake, I reacted to both."
It was a thin theory and would require testing. If she planned to stay involved with the Tuann, she would have delved deeper. As it was, she didn't know, and there was no one to ask without revealing Jin's unique situation.
Jin floated toward the ceiling as he made an unimpressed sound, seemingly losing interest in the topic. He was like her. He'd never had questions about their origins, never strove to find the people they came from. Such concerns were for dreamers. They had been too occupied with surviving to entertain such fleeting fantasies.
Kira didn't push. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. Getting cleaned up and then rest were the first orders of business.
*
A knock sounded at the door two hours before the warning chime.
Kira paused where she was doing pushups and sent a significant glare at Jin.
"All right, all right," Jin muttered, heading toward the bed. "I'm going to remember this, you know. It's going to take twice as long to earn my forgiveness."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Kira waited until he was under the bed and out of sight before approaching the door.
She paused to adjust her clothes, a pair of simple pants that were surprisingly easy to move in, and a top that hugged her figure. She’d found the two items and many others in the wardrobe.
She wasn’t going to look a gift drawer in the mouth since the clothes she’d collected on Luatha were now gone—likely given to the sea if Makon was to be believed.
Finn waited on the threshold, his gaze darting to take in the room. Approval descended when he caught no sign of Jin. It was wiped away in the next second.
