"So …" She trailed off, not sure where to start. Images from their first touch replayed themselves in her thoughts.
"Our people have suffered for fifteen sun-cycles," Talal added. "The mines have gone empty, and the women barren since the rightful dhjan bloodline has been cast from the land."
"You're cursed," Kiera said with a frown, thoughts on the dead planet from her vision.
"Is it not so in your home? A dhjan is bound to his planet. Should his blood and those who carry it be exiled, the planet dies."
"My world is nothing like that," she assured them. "How long do wars last here?"
"As long as they must, nishani," Ne'Rin said almost gently. She eyed him, not sure his patronizing tone wasn't meant to rile her. She took the high road and ignored him.
"The men here are training for battle?" she asked.
"When dhjan A'Ran calls for battles, we leave the moon and go to Anshan, where we have a small base."
"Does dhjan A'Ran fight?"
"My brother is the best warrior," Talal said proudly.
"Dhjan A'Ran endangers himself," Ne'Rin countered. He looked at the younger woman hard, and Talal apologized quietly. Uncomfortable, Kiera cleared her throat.
"Maybe you can convince him not to fight, and then convince him he's made a poor choice of a mate," she said. "Or maybe I can learn to fight and go with him, if there's no time limit to the war."
Talal gasped, and Ne'Rin studied her. When neither responded, she returned to a safe subject.
"What does Anshan mine?"
Ne'Rin's response was garbled.
"That didn't translate," she said, pointing to her translator.
"This material." Ne'Rin pulled a dark grey knife from his boot. "It is rare and native to Anshan. Every ship and weapon in the Five Galaxies is made from it."
"Wow. We just stay here until the war is over?" she asked.
A brisk nod.
"Do you have sketch pads here? Or pens?"
Both gave her blank looks, and she sighed, wondering how she'd be an artist in a world without even pencils.
"Do women have a part in the war effort?" she asked.
"To honor their men," Ne'Rin replied.
"That's what I thought."
"We had hoped Ne'Rin's sister would be made nishani," Talal said. "But my brother did not choose her."
"He did not feel the signs," Ne'Rin said with another sharp look. Kiera sensed his anger on the topic and said nothing. "When the suns fall into night, I'll speak to dhjan A'Ran over the communicator. You may come."