Nura could hear them talking on the other side of her bedroom's pressure hatch. They talked about her. She didn't want them here, these strangers she only knew as names spoken by her mother and father. She hated them, but she didn't have the will nor the power to make them leave. Her only solace was in being alone.

Alone, save for Canas. He was the other half of Nura's soul, always there, always a part of her life. Born together, a brother and sister were at the heart of what it was to be a Threshpanian. The one truth of this day that somehow made it bearable was that at least Canas was still here alongside her. Her twin, and the only friend a young child needed or was allowed.

Her brother sat at the desk in their shared room, reading one of his adventure stories while idly rubbing his thumb over the plastic starfighter in his hands. He and that toy spaceship were rarely apart. When it wasn't in his hands, it was in a pocket or in the place of honor as the centerpiece of his shelves.

Nura watched his furred thumb stroking the bubble of the starfighter's canopy. Again and again. Nura longed to have a relic such as that one, but a toy starfighter wasn't a suitable plaything for a girl child.

The apartment that was home to Nura and her immediate family was aboard the Fanthara. She was a bulk freighter belonging to the greater family's company, Ganlera Materiel. Aboard a vessel of the Nomadic Fleet, space always came at a premium. As such, living quarters were always small. The room Canas and Nura shared had barely enough room in it for them both to stand up at the same time.

Their bunks were recessed into the bulkheads, and even the desk they shared folded down from the wall. A few shelves for their personal treasures and a tiny closet space were the only other features of a small room that was part of their family unit's suite.

Canas set aside his starfighter to change the datacard in his reading pad. Nura kept her eyes on the toy. A part of her wanted to run down from her place on her bunk and snatch it, but she couldn't bring herself to do that to Canas. He would let her keep it, she was sure, but Nura didn't think she could ever love anything half so much as Canas loved that simple piece of molded plastic.

Nura felt tears well up in her eyes. She only wished she could have a relic of their father, too.

A child must revere the parent. That was the tradition, and tradition was more binding than law within the Nomadic Fleet. A son revered the father, and a daughter revered the mother. Canas would do as their father had done, become a pilot for the Fleet Combat Air Group before joining the family's company. Nura, like her mother, would become an astrogator in the Confederation Service.

She was to be a soldier.

Nura's mother had taken her aside when she was much younger and told her how important it was to continue the parental line. Threshpanians were far fewer in number now than before the exodus from Pa'shara. A balance had to be maintained.

If no children stood to inherit the roles of the parents, the Nomadic Fleet couldn't survive another generation. Even a family as large and influential as the Ganlera needed its successive generations to do as needed. Freedom to forge one's own path was a luxury a Threshpanian couldn't afford— that the Fleet couldn't afford.

"Nura?"

She felt a hand take hers. Nura looked up into Canas' eyes. They were the same sea-foam green as her own. With a start, Nura realized she'd been sobbing. She threw herself into her brother's arms and clung to him as her weeping returned. "I want to forget," she managed to say through her tears. "I don't want to see it anymore."

Canas had been there and would know precisely what it was that Nura wanted to forget. Mother and Father were to return home today. They were coming back to the Fleet aboard the same ship, and Canas and Nura had gone to the docking ring to greet them as they stepped through the hardseal. Nura shut her eyes tight against the memory, but it was burned into the backs of her eyelids.

The spherical transport on fire and breaking apart. Pieces of debris falling from the breaches in the hull, people among them.

Had one of those bodies been Father? Or Mother? Nura didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't stop herself. Not with it still fresh in her memory.

The pressure door to their bedroom slid open with a quiet hiss. They hadn't knocked or asked permission to enter. Even for children that was a breach of propriety.

Nura's lips curled back over her tiny, sharp teeth and a low growl came from her throat. She glared furiously at the old woman with reddish fur who stood in the entryway, looking down on the two young whelps with a haughty look in her baggy eyes.

"Canas shi'Gan, Nura shi'Lera, the family elders have now all arrived. Come out. There are things you must be told." She turned from them and went back into the living room of the small apartment.

Canas shushed Nura's growls and helped her down from her bunk. Once she was on her feet, Canas made to pull away, but Nura clung to him tighter. She didn't care what that old hag wanted to say, but she would do as she was told.

Nura was sure the old woman was the family's matriarch, Vasya fas'Lera. Nura had never even seen the woman before today, but Mother had told her that Vasya was to be obeyed by all women in the Ganlera family. She held the fas, which meant she would be considered a wise elder by all Threshpanians.

Stepping into the living room, Nura balked when she saw how crowded the apartment had become. All three chairs were occupied. Two people stood by the hatch to the outside corridor, while the last— Vasya— kept herself in the center of it all. There were a half-dozen people here and Nura recognized a couple, but she couldn't remember their names or exactly how they were related.

Three of them were Gans, the men of the family, and the other three were Leras. All six watched the two whelps with expressions ranging from boredom to curiosity and to outright pity.

Vasya watched with something closer to tiredness, as if their parents' deaths were nothing but an inconvenience to her. She seemed resigned to play the martyr, the magnificent matriarch who would sacrifice of herself to see to the whelps no matter how hard it would be on her. Nura hated her immediately.

The matriarch opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by a large figure stepping between her and the two children. Nura looked up at the man, so impossibly huge that she could hardly believe he was real.

The man knelt in front of the two children and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm so sorry, young ones," he said. His amber eyes were bloodshot and the fur beneath them was damp from the shedding of tears.

Nura looked at the man's arms. They were thick with muscle, and though his hand was one of the gentlest touches she had ever felt, she could sense the strength within it. He must've been old; his fur was silver, and his fangs were long. He wore a gray uniform of the Confederation, and his shoulders were adorned with many jewels in every color she could imagine. Some were nothing but simple studs, but others had filigree metal-work or inlayed carvings within their faces.

Nura stared, even though she knew a girl shouldn't look so openly at a man she didn't know. She'd never met a Confed other than Mother before.

"There is not much time before the next undocking," Vasya said impatiently. "We should be getting this done with."

Nura felt the man's grip on her shoulder tighten by the smallest amount. He looked over his shoulder at Vasya. "Be silent, crone," he snarled. "These children have been orphans for no more than a few hours. Show some voiding respect!"

Nura gasped, as did all of the women. Nura had never heard a man knowingly swear in front of her. It just wasn't done.

The man turned away from Vasya and looked Canas in the eye. "Do you know me, boy?"

Canas meekly shook his head. "No, sir."

The man harrumphed. "That should be remedied. I am Vanta saj'Gan. I'm the patriarch of the Ganlera family. I expect you've at least heard of me."

Nura and Canas both nodded. Of course they knew of Vanta. The Fanthara was his vessel. Vanta was the head of Ganlera Materiel. He was Mother's half-brother and elder by many, many years. Nura had to squint to see the resemblance, but it was there. Vanta seemed old enough to be her grandfather, but she remembered that Mother had been born remarkably late in her grandparents' lives.

Admiral saj'Gan was a legend within the family and within the entire Fleet. Nura grew up with stories about her heroic uncle. He fought wilders and pirates on the frontier of the Confederation, and he even fought the Humans during the war with them eighty years ago.

Vanta's return to the Fanthara from his adventures came recently because he had just retired from the Service to take direct control of Ganlera Materiel. Nura remembered that Mother and Father were going to finally introduce their children to him the evening after their arrival. Mother had been so excited for that.

Their uncle held the saj. It was the highest honorific in the Nomadic Fleet. The saj was a title earned in battle— a leader and a hero— and meant that he saw to the education of a single protege, a daj, at a time. So few were chosen by a saj that being taught by one was the greatest achievement a young Threshpanian could aspire to.

It was an achievement Nura would never know. There were no saj among the Leras, and she couldn't imagine another family's saj offering to take her in.

"Vanta," Vasya said with a tone of warning, "it is past time. The tav I've called for are outside and ready. They will see to the childrens' possessions, so we must see to the children themselves in this time of grief."

The patriarch stood. He shot Vasya an angry look before returning a kinder one to Canas. "Your father was a good and brave man, boy. I would've given much to have a pilot such as him with me in Wild Space. After leaving the CAG, he was nothing less than a valuable asset to Ganlera Materiel. He'll be missed, and I can never hope to replace him. However, that's something I must attempt to do. Your guardianship passes to the patriarch of the family if your parents are unable to look after you anymore. Other family patriarchs would find you someone to care for you, but I'm not like them. You'll live with me from now on, boy."

Nura saw Canas' jaw tremble. "Are you taking me to Di Valos, sir?" he asked.

There was fear in her twin's voice. The Confederation's capital world was a place that seemed so far from home and family, even ones that traveled the stars in an endless voyage.

"No, boy," Vanta said kindly. "I'll be remaining with the Fleet from now on. My Trials were recently concluded, and I'm no longer an active admiral." He turned to the other adults present. "Who shall bear witness?"

There were a good many surprised noises from the elders. It was a moment before they began nodding their assent.

Nura held her breath, not knowing what to expect. Her heart began to palpitate wildly when Vanta was talking about taking care of Canas. She'd never known fear to be something physical, but it sank its claws into her all the same.

She clung tighter to her brother.

Vanta drew himself up to his full, impressive height. He looked down at Canas and intoned his next words in a clear voice that filled the room. "I give to you all of my knowledge. I give to you all of my experience. From this day until such a day as you no longer require my guidance, I shall give it to you willingly and freely. I ask no payment or recompense, only a willing ear and an open heart. I give to you the daj."

The witnesses spoke as one. "There is no will in the Nomadic Fleet or in Alsavon that can deny that your name is now Canas daj'Gan."

Vanta knelt in front of Canas and spoke in a whisper so the other adults couldn't hear. "I haven't taken a daj since your father, Canas. I loved him just as I loved my sister, your mother, and my heart soared the day they were joined by marriage and he became a Gan. Now, my heart breaks that they are taken from us. Later, you and I can honor them together, yes?"

Canas nodded and stood a little bit taller. He was smiling through his tears but then took on an expression of unease. "What about Nura?"

Vanta opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. His bright, amber eyes flickered to Nura, who still clung to her brother's arm.

Vasya stepped forward. "Nura shi'Lera's care passes to me. I already see to the upbringing of a number of Lera girls, so she'll be well looked after. You needn't think of your sister anymore."

Both Canas and Nura made distressed cries as they hugged each other closer. Vasya made an exasperated sound and came forward. She seized Nura by the arm and pulled at her, but she refused to let go. Nura bared her teeth, ready to bite.

Vasya chastised her and Canas harshly while a few of the other adults tried to soothe the twin whelps with empty platitudes.

"It is hard, but it is how it must be."

"You're lucky to be cared for by the matriarch herself."

"It's never a kindness to separate twins, especially ones so young, but it can't be any other way."

"That's enough, girl."

"Don't disgrace your mother so soon."

Tears ran down the fur of Nura's face. Mother and Father were gone, and now she had to leave her brother. It was too much, too fast. She couldn't accept it.

"Enough!" Vanta's roar was loud enough to hurt Nura's ears. Everyone quieted, even Vasya.

Nura sobbed. Vanta frightened her, and she didn't think she could be brave enough to resist if he told her to let Canas go.

Vanta gently lay his hands over both of hers where they clung to Canas' sleeves. "You're surely your mother's daughter, girl," he whispered. He removed her hands from Canas' shirt and held them in his. He glared at Vasya until the old woman released her clawed grip on Nura's arm.

"What's the meaning of this?" Vasya hissed. "She's a Lera! I am her rightful guardian!"

"She's my niece," Vanta answered. "You're Lera by marriage. You share no blood with this girl. I don't imagine an old crone like you can give her what she needs."

"She needs an education and a future!"

"She needs family!" Vanta pulled Nura to him and placed an arm around her shoulder. "Or have you forgotten what that means? She'll stay with her brother."

Vasya snarled and showed Vanta her teeth. "You dare? A man taking guardianship of a girl child? What will the other families think? It's unheard of. It's scandalous! It's unprecedented!"

Vanta wiped the tears from Nura's face with his thumb. "I despair at the education of our Leras if you don't know the meaning of 'unprecedented'. It's often fallen on past patriarchs to look after orphan girls."

"Not when the matriarch can!"

The other two Leras present came to Vasya's side and whispered in her ear. Vasya got an ugly look at what they were saying, just as she got an ugly look when the other two Gans stood behind Vanta to offer him their support.

"She's my niece," Vanta said again with finality. Nura realized that she was now clinging to him, rather than to Canas.

Vasya growled deep in her throat. "As you wish, Vanta, but if you think..."

"Who shall bear witness?" Vanta called again, interrupting whatever it was Vasya was going to say.

The stunned silence that fell over the apartment was as tangible as the bulkheads. Vanta pulled Nura from him and stood over her, but he didn't take his strong hands from her shoulders. "Do you want to come with me, girl?"

Nura's voice felt like it'd been asleep for weeks. She held her skirt in her fist and gripped them until her fingers ached. "I do, sir."

Vanta smiled down at her. Now, Nura could see the resemblance between him and Mother without squinting. "Well then. I give to you all of my knowledge. I give to you all of my experience. From this day until such a day as you no longer require my guidance, I shall give it to you willingly and freely. I ask no payment or recompense, only a willing ear and an open heart. I give to you the daj."

He couldn't do that! Two daj, and one a girl? If this happened in some other family, her parents would've discussed it for days while shaking their heads. Gods of Fire, people were going to be talking about her! Nura was mortified, but she was smiling anyway. She wasn't going to be alone.

Vanta glared around the room until his eyes settled on one of the other men. "Terlin? Your little cousin needs to hear you say something."

The man's ears began twitching wildly. "Patriarch, this is..." His voice trailed off, and he couldn't look Vanta in the eye.

"You recently had children, Terlin. If it was Vistel standing here instead of Nura, what would you have me do?"

Terlin swallowed as he nodded. He kept his eyes shut as he said the words. "There is no will in the Nomadic Fleet or in Alsavon that can deny that your name is now Nura daj'Lera."

Vanta took Canas and Nura's hands. They were his now, and he was theirs.

Nura's uncle looked at Vasya and gave her a wolfish grin. "Take note, crone. That is unprecedented."