Zevrath stared, dumbstruck, at the human that revealed himself. The Serennian that trailed him was surprising in itself, but not as surprising as the human. By all accounts they were a nightmarish bedtime story, a fable meant to scare children into behaving. Except there one stood, in the flesh, right in front of him. 

“This day just keeps getting weirder,” Zev commented. “This is not how I imagined this going at all. Pleasure’s mine, I guess. Call me Zev.”

Turning to look back at Kir, he stepped aside to give her space again now that he knew they were both safe, “I have so many questions starting with how did you end up shacking up with a broken enforcer.”

“You can ask me after we get off this station,” Kir pressed. 

“Good point,” Zev nodded, “I’m going to try to get us out of here without raising the alarm, but I suggest you find something to hang onto. It might get a little hairy.”

“Noted,” Kir said, stepping out of his way to give him space to return to the cockpit. Turning back to Harrison, she smiled, “I guess we’ve got a full house. Glad you made it. Your clothes are in my bag in the kitchen if you want to go change.”

Humans and X’hondrians were hauntingly similar biologically, though there were some key differences in how their bodies worked mechanically. For example, X’hondrians had four heart-like organs that cycled their blood through the circulatory system instead of a single four-chambered heart like humans. Giving her attention fully to the Serennian that had come with Harrison, Kir pressed her palm flat over her chest, rubbing a small circle in the same direction her blood flowed before extending it as if gathering her hearts and offering them to the Serennian. It was an old gesture the sister tribes had shared as a customary greeting to each other. She’d been away fifty years, and depending on how imperial control of Serenfolia had changed the culture, it may well have been a lost symbol if the Serennian was particularly young. Past the age of physical maturity, it became difficult to tell just how old a Serennian or X’hondrian actually was. There was a time before the empire took X’hondria where the two worlds and their people had been close, and she hoped that feeling of familial camaraderie hadn’t been totally lost.

“My heart to yours, Serennian,” Kir greeted warmly. “It is so good to meet you. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had the pleasure of Serennian company. I’m Kir a Ka’illit.”