She didn't know what to say to that, so Kira just walked, keeping her pace slow enough that Jason could gradually recover as he stayed beside her. Kira kept watching for any sign of pursuit, wondering if that trace of foresight her father said she had experienced would show up again to warn her of danger. But both her mother and father had always talked about how unreliable foresight was, and it certainly hadn't shown up on the train to warn of that former assassin. And she had to admit to herself that the idea of having foresight worried her. If her mother and father and their friends were all concerned about the impact of having both Mechanic skills and Mage skills might have on her, Kira had to respect that, even if she also shied away from the idea that it might cause serious problems.

The warmth of the sun was welcome as her clothes dried, but grew a bit hot as the afternoon waned. A light breeze rustled the tall grasses they were walking through, and birds swung by in dizzying acrobatics as they chased insects or each other.

Kira noticed Jason also looking around, his expression not concerned but pleased.

He spotted her watching and looked embarrassed. "What?"

"Nothing. You just seemed to be enjoying yourself."

He appeared startled by the idea, then shrugged. "It's kind of nice. I've never been any place so quiet."

There it was again, something that just sounded strange. "We're in the country. It's usually quiet here."

"I've always had music with me. Or chats or vids." Jason gazed around. "Always. This is…different. I recognize some of those bird species. Are there any native life forms here, or are all the plants and animals and fish and stuff from what the colony ship brought?"

Kira shrugged. "The librarians on Altis say the early descriptions they still have talk about the world being 'mostly barren,' but they don't know exactly what that meant. The founders of the Mechanics Guild destroyed any records that might have told us if any living things were here before the ship came."

"I'm sorry," Jason said.

"You didn't do it. Although," Kira couldn't help adding, "if the people on your ship helped us, we could identify anything that might not have come from Urth."

"They're looking for that sort of thing in their surveys," Jason said. "But they won't tell you whatever they find out. I know they're frustrated that they haven't seen any dragons here yet. I know your dragons are just sort of dinosaur knock-offs like some of the ones on Earth, but all anyone on Earth has seen so far of yours are low-res faxes of drawings."

Kira blinked, surprised. "You have dragons on Urth? I thought you didn't have any Mages."