Kira nodded at the sky. "They're still up there, you know. No one recovered the bodies."
They'd never even tried. Centcom had other worries after the battle. Salvaging their dead from the debris field during the height of a war wasn't among them.
Kira glanced at Graydon. "Do the Tuann bury their dead?"
"It varies by House. For Roake, if there are remains recovered, they inter them to the sea."
Somehow that didn't surprise Kira greatly. They'd built their fortress on a cliff overlooking the ocean. She didn't think that happened by accident. The fact they were the custodians of the lu-ong's spawning ground might also have something to do with that.
"The thing all Tuann have in common are their places of remembrance. For instance, the hall of heroes in House Roake."
Kira nodded, remembering the names written on fabric and plastered over a wall in their training facility. Some of those had been faded beyond recognition. While for others, the ink was still legible.
"For the Tuann, it's the memories we leave behind rather than what happens to our physical remains that we find meaning in," Graydon continued. "On rare occasions, such as when an event leaves a deep scar on the entirety of our race, an etheiri will form. It acts as a repository for our memories, allowing us to revisit important moments. It's the Mea'Ave's way of mourning with us. When the grief fades, the etheiri's form changes. We never forget, but the pain does lessen."
Kira had seen an etheiri on Ta Sa'Riel. The crystalline forest that had formed from the woven memories of those who'd tasted loss during the Sorrowing had been beautiful, if tragic.
She wondered if an etheiri would have formed for Rothchild if humanity had something equivalent.
She'd like to think so.
They’d saved an entire planet. A whole race, if you included the treaty the Haldeel signed with the Consortium after. That was the kind of thing that should be remembered.
Kira kept her gaze trained on the sky. "You know about the burst, don't you?"
He'd sent Baran to human territory to gather information on her. Even though the records regarding that ability of hers were considered top secret, she didn't think that would have stopped the oshota.
"We call it the Heaven's Wrath," Graydon said.
"What a busy little bee Baran's been."
Himoto would have killed for an agent with his investigatory abilities.
Kira finally looked at Graydon. "Is that ability from my heritage—or Jin's?"
Graydon didn't have to speak for her to read the answer on his face.
"Another thing I snatched from him," Kira whispered in defeat.
Graydon took her arm. "That he gave you willingly."
Kira looked away, knowing he had a point. She'd be spitting on Jin's sacrifice if she continued feeling this way.
"I still don't understand how things happened the way they did," Kira confessed.
By rights, it should be her soul bound to that drone. Not Jin's. She'd been the one mortally injured.
"I heard about Jarek reading your memories and think I have a theory to explain what happened," Graydon said.
Kira's attention swung back to him, her eyebrows climbing.
Graydon held up a small pebble, its color the deep blue of a sapphire. "Do you remember this?"
Kira took it, surprised when a sensation ran up her fingers. "Is this a testing stone? Where did you get this?"
She seemed to remember another stone like this. It had been part of a set in Quillon's possession that was meant to determine the affinity of a person's ki. Those traits and abilities that were naturally suited for their soul's breath.
For instance, Joule tested as Earth Class. A shielder, specifically.
