"Setiel iš krovininis Soren neè Naťuscen iš Shurista. Her mother. Born to a scout boat, moved onto Shurista when she was young. Met my son Saliten when she was one hundred and sixty. They married, and Aliset was the only child either of them produced. Sali is infertile. Seti was wounded when she was young, uterine damage. She was the most beautiful irridescent, kind heart, with a temper like the smith's hammer. Green eyes that flashed in the starlight, hair like burned steel, and skin that would sparkle when she worked, or danced. She taught Ali to dance, and to play several instruments. Two hundred and sixty, died by exposure to deep space in an accident. Here."
Atteni laid the bundle out on the ground, propping her tablet against her knee as she navigated to the images associated with the bundles of ingots. The woman displayed was exactly as Atteni describerd her, her smile somewhere between maternal warmth and wicked mischeif, and a ferocity in her eyes as they seemed to change color with their angle to the light source, glittering flakes scattered throughout the vibrance. But for all that, the facial structure, and body language was identical to a woman he knew very well. He could easily see now where Aliset had been injured in the past, her skeleton twisted, her mother having no such injuries and looking so like her daughter. "Know now that these can never be owned. They are carried, as alive as we are, in their own way. In your choice, cherish that soul. Never force them to become something they are not. They may not speak to you, but there is power in them as in life. These people will carry the pair of you, the family you have joined and wish to build with her, into the future. Honor them. Direct them to the happiness of those you love and those she loves. You depend on her. She depends on you. You both depend on your unit, and they, the community around them. Everything you do has an effect. Make it positive that all may prosper. Or negative to put everyone you know and love at risk.
"I would figure peoples that give no steel would know this. But there is much evil to be burned away, and many innocents caught in the eventuality of an evil's consequences. Protecting those innocents and correcting, punishing and uprooting those evils is the reason the Senti have been so eager to join your militaries. All of the flotillas will soon follow Aliset's example. For better or worse, we are part of this community. And we must protect and improve it. Skydas will judge us for the evils our people will have to commit. I pray that Ali leads us in the right direction. The Council certainly thinks she will. They would not have moved the Flotilla so close to Jiyuun if not. These ancestors carry the will of all senti. You and Aliset, Nicol, and the dozens who have already claimed their place in Yamatai's Star Army, are all the harbingers of the future, with the mass and will of billions. Aliset can't do this alone. Promise me, for the Goddess and the Commanders who watch. Swear on something important that If'ni may hear you. Make her, and our people proud. Make her a home."
If and when he acknowledged the importance of the steel, the importance of himself and the family he was about to join, and what his family meant to an entire species, she would spend as long as he would allow her sharing stories of the family members that had passed on, how they had, and the humor and memories associated with them. A trend would emerge, as she rarely called them dead, and there was no sadness in their passing. Simply the knowledge of how they were in life, with the many names associated with them, the importance of those memories over their passing. These were not cremated remains, they were shards of a trusted friend, and family, explaining their polished crystalline shape.
