Posted by Civilian Ragna Idun McKenzie (Future Citizen) in Lunching with Lai

Posted by Civilian Lai Kitrian (Independent Operator) in Lunching with Lai

Posted by Civilian Ragna Idun McKenzie (Future Citizen) in Lunching with Lai
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Their brief conversation before had mentioned the clans and everyone setting up home here, but Lai really had no idea of the scale of it all. “How long do you think all the building take? And to be honest, I’m not quite sure what you’re building. I’m assuming homes?”

~Lai Kitrian

“Homes, meeting buildings, barns, sheds, pasture fences, silos, basically a whole town. 10,000 people. It’s a lot. Right now I’m trying to get a power and water grid put in place so we can build.”

Ragna

Her eyes went wide. “That many? Wow! That’s bigger than the village I was born in.” Even though the colony itself had far more people, it sounded like they were really craving out their own space here. “Why come all the way here with that many people?” She really had no context for the migration, so it didn’t make any sense in her head. Maybe they had been forced out? That seemed as likely as anything.

~Lai Kitrian

“Well my oldest sister, Revna, is the Chief of our clan. She married Michael, the chief of his. There was political upheaval within one of our joined clans at the time of our merging. Michael and Revna understand the value of our history, but also know that sometimes that history can hold us back. Our people are explorers. We enjoy the challenge of conquering challenges and testing our strength against them. There are members who chose to stay on Earth and care for our ancestral lands, but our chiefs felt a move to a new challenge to face together would help to solidify and start this new chapter of our history with a strong foundation that we can all face together. They chose Oed because Oed is facing many challenges and we have the knowledge and resources to help.”

Ragna

“Huh,” Kitrian said, surprise etched over her face. “I’ve never met people as a group that willingly picked up and went elsewhere. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around,” she said, with more honesty than she had expected.

~Lai Kitrian

“Historically, our peoples have always been explorers and adventurers. We were even pirates at one point many many centuries in the past,” Ragna laughed. “But adventure and challenges call to us as a culture.” She sipped at her glass, “I suppose it can be rare, until you consider how the galaxy was colonized. Lots of someones had to want to move and start over for various reasons.”

Ragna

“If you mean setting out to conquer whomever they could, sure,” she said, bitterness filling her mouth before Lai even realized what she had said. She stabbed a pepper and popped it in her mouth in the hopes that it covered her gaff.

~Lai Kitrian

Ragna nodded, “That’s certainly true of some people that go out. Some for the adventure, and some to escape. We aren’t all motivated by the same things.” Ragna paused at that. A moment of self-introspection. She ate quietly for a moment. “I’m sorry you had to experience something like that.”

Ragna

Her heart thudded in her chest and Lai kept her gaze down on her plate. There were no rules for any of this, other than she knew the authorities would not take kindly to her spreading the information around. Not that she ever would, but she didn’t know what lines existed here. How would she know if she crossed them. She shook her head and set her fork down, trying to force herself to breathe. “I didn’t,” she whispered. “Not the way you think.” How could she explain her dual life, her constant hiding so she might have the chance to just exist as she was.

She rose from the table and grabbed her glass. “Can I refill your water?”

~Lai Kitrian