Well, well. Wasn't he just the understanding sort?
Lathan patted the lenacht absentmindedly. "I didn't expect to see you here so soon. I thought the meeting would take longer."
Kira’s body tensed. "You know about the forty three?"
His status as Pallas's yer'se was just barely within the realm of possibility. Just barely. She could picture Pallas picking up an apprentice from some back alley somewhere and taking him for his own.
To apprise him of matters pertaining to the forty three? No. Nuh uh.
If true, it would make Pallas the biggest hypocrite alive. All the shit he'd given her. The threats if she ever told the Curs about them. Then for him to turn around and bring a stranger to their super-secret meeting.
She'd kill him. Maybe not in reality. But in her head. Over and over again. In increasingly creative ways.
"Enough to not understand why you’re here, trying to steal this ship, rather than with your adoptive family."
Kira relaxed, lounging in the captain's chair as if it was her own. "Let's just say, my relationship with the forty three is a little complicated. We have history."
A long, fucked up history similar to that which biological siblings might have shared.
"You're angry with them," Lathan guessed, moving closer.
"You could say that."
She was also disappointed and hurt.
For some reason, she kept hoping that the forty three would act like the siblings they named themselves as. And every time they did something like this, she was reminded of how vast the chasm between them really was.
Kira was aware she wasn't being entirely rational or fair. After all, she still hadn't apprised them of Jin's predicament or what it could mean for Kira.
Maybe it would have mattered. Maybe it wouldn't have.
Damn it, Elena alone should have been enough to compel them to action. She shouldn't have to drag Jin's name into this to get them to see reason.
"Pallas advises me not to allow emotion to blind myself to reality," Lathan said.
She gave him a sardonic smile. "Does he now?"
How very ironic.
"How did you two meet, anyway?" Kira asked, curious.
"Is that relevant?"
"Not really."
Whatever the story was, it didn't seem like Lathan wanted to share. Kira's gaze dropped to the lenacht curled around his neck. Its wings fluttered at her attention. "Aren't you supposed to be finding this little one a home?"
"Lenacht roam until they find a place suitable for their needs. That could take decades. A century or more in some cases."
"I see," Kira said, staring at the lenacht.
It wasn't lost on her that she felt significantly better. Its very presence doing the same thing her garden oasis had. Offering her respite and healing simply by existing.
No wonder the Tsavitee's masters had wanted to get their hands on one. They were a valuable panacea that the masters would wish to exploit for their own purposes.
There was a clatter from under one of the consoles.
Kira and Lathan looked over to find the J1N caught underneath, struggling to find its way out despite the opening right next to him.
