"Well, if that's how you're going to be, I don't think I want to tell you about Skori anymore; so there!" Meri said, pouting cutely.
"That won't help, and you know it," Aldrec said with a sage grin. "And I also know that you want to understand how I knew of the connection between them, so you'll tell me."
"Well, since you put it that way," Mericlou began, letting out a defeated sigh, "Skori used to belong to a noblewoman who lived in Nibra. He never told us her name, 'out of respect for her memory,' he said. But anyway, she bought him to be her bodyguard.
"As a large part of Skori's programming was devoted to combat tactics and logistics, he was, shall we say, 'lacking' in the social graces … or at least that's the story he told us. But his mistress, rather than trading him in for a more socially adept model, trained him to become a gentleman. In my opinion, she was actually one of the few decent humans out there, because according to Skori, she treated him like … you know … like how Garen treats Noroa … as if he was no different than any human. I think that's a part of the reason she fell in love with him.
"However, Skori was a Linsk model, and wasn't too keen on the concept of love. But he said that he did feel a great deal of appreciation and affection for her, so he didn't say no when she … well … tempted him into her bed. I'll admit this kind of shocked me when Skori told me about it, because before I met him, I didn't think they built military models that were fully functional …" Mericlou gave a tiny shrug. "But I digress.
"Anyway, they were pretty happy together for several years, but since their relationship was before such things were commonplace, they had to be careful. Skori had no worries about other noblemen seeking her for children, even when the sterility crisis hit, because his mistress was already a mother of three, and reaching the end of her childbearing years.
"Even during the sterility crisis, if her kids ever knew about their relationship, they never told. But when the relations between the Republic and the other nations broke down, she began to worry for him. I think by that time, Skori was a bit keener on the love thing, and so the feeling was mutual. It was an uncertain time for the future of androids in the Republic, as you know, and so his mistress made arrangements with the Android Task force in Garushnit to take him to safety.