So Many Questions

Kaiel managed to remember to breathe, when Avi reassured him that no offense had been taken at his instinctive use of his Sirenn senses, to discover her nanotechnology.  He was exceedingly relieved that Avi had not even considered being offended, until he said something.  He smiled his gratitude, and took another long pull at his beverage, to try to settle suddenly frayed nerves.  He was further encouraged, when she moved on, resuming their former topic of conversation.

"Concerning the sihar, I think it must be similar to how dolphins experience their world.  I've read that they identify one another by their inner bodies as well as outer shape.  Is that true of the Sirenn?" Avi asked.

 "I have never met a dolphin, so I cannot draw accurate comparisons," Kaiel said.  "I would say Sirenn perceived others on various wavelengths.  This is not a singular notion.  Many species have some instinctual recognition of this, and even humans speak of picking up one another's 'vibes'.  I perceive an aura, for example, with both living creatures and inanimate objects.  With another Sirenn, I could also perceive their sihar and lidar waves.  These are as individual as retinal scans, or fingerprinting, and helps us recognize the person, as well as their general emotional state.  It is why we are strange to this whole naming process.  We rarely use words for individual identities.  But, this perception and recognition of wavelengths is natural to us.  it is part of our social fabric, part of personal interactions, and even part of our religion.  We have coined a term, which summarizes our philosophy: eimir.  It is an acronym, for energy, in motion, in relation.  We believe everything, including matter, is made up from varying bits of energy, which is always in motion, and which takes its shape, its identity, and its purpose, in relation to the other bits of energy about it.  That, too, could become a lengthy conversation.  But, it also serves to explain why cymatics, the study of waveforms, was my first scientific degree, and is still the basis of my scientific endeavors.  It is, if you will, a baseline for the majority of my perceptions and considerations of the world around me."

Kaiel was about to ask if Avi's people used their tiki for interpersonal relations, or perceptions.  But, he stopped short, as he noted a pattern of perception developing around him.  Odd pieces began to come together in a growing hunch that all was not well.

Eve Ordalani had excused herself, and departed.

Stephen April had watched her go, then, after some sort of inner debate, had quit the table.  He left the gathering in his honor, and followed Ordalani out of the replimat.

A woman, whose name Kaiel had heard was Mehera, seemed poised to rise and follow him.

Neria April spoke quietly but firmly to Mehera, and Mehera remained seated.  But, Neria April had stated Stephen needed to be alone, yet Stephen April had clearly gone to rendezvous with Ordalani.  That implied he would not be alone.

There was a great deal of emotional energy wafting about the room, and not all of it directly involved the honoring of two captains.

Kaiel paused, distracted.  None of the emotional matters were his concern, he told himself.  He was new, and he had no business eavesdropping on others' personal affairs.  He might be hasty in his conclusions, too.  Perhaps Eve had picked up on subtle signals from Stephen April, and had gone ahead to prepare his way for him.  Neria had expressed a "goodbye" which might indicate the hoverchair-bound captain was not going to return.  Kaiel thought it rude of Stephen, to simply duck out, but, perhaps he had become over-tired?  There were countless explanations, and Kaiel did not wish to spend the rest of the evening wrestling with probabilities.