Ryen nodded when Lazlo mentioned the slide regarding Seita’s qualifications. Yes, the girl was a street urchin and true, she had managed to slip past security measures on the Federation Stronghold and yes, the captain had instructed all of them to treat her like an adult, but that didn’t mean Seita [i]was[/i] an adult. By Syrae societal standards, Ryen was barley considered an adult herself.

Then Lazlo started in on what would happen to Seita if she were caught. It was a far cry away from what would happen on Syrae. If the person was young enough, and not deemed hazardous to society, they would receive different guardian, go to a correctional school, or if all else failed, be apprenticed in the mines. Ryen had a sudden flash of herself using an Ertug, digging away deep underground in the crystalline mines of Syrae. Assuming, of course, that she was caught and wasn’t executed instead after her trial and, of course, that she didn’t end up as some kind of lab rat instead. It was a good thing that no one knew that one of the most valuable and technologically advanced pieces of AI technology was currently making its way steadily towards deep space.

[b]”How do you know?”[/b] Ryen asked as she followed him back down the hallway to the main elevator.  At the mention of the word [i]murderers[/i] Ryen shot him a look. Was the captain talking about her charges or was he talking about something else? Ryen decided on the former being the most likely. Cautiously she rode with him down to the bottom floor of the ship. At first she thought they were headed to the medical bay, but they continued on past it. The room they stopped in front of was small and unoccupied. Ryen knew this much from the ship’s schematics she’d previously studied. 

The mechanic stepped inside. Everything had an old, worn look about it but the place was clear of dust. It felt like she was walking back in time, to a childhood she never got to experience. [b]”Now I see what you were up to when you weren’t captaining the ship.”[/b] she commented and walked over to investigate books on the nearest shelf. She reached for one and opened up the cover, touching the pages gently. Holoscreens were all good and well, but there was something comforting about a good tangible book.

[b]”My mother used…”[/b] Lazlo began. [b]”…Would you accept the responsibility of schooling Seita during your downtime?”[/b]

Ryen considered the offer, the praise, and all the implications that came with it. It was one thing to help the girl learn the emergency codes and quite another to be in charge of Seita’s entire education for possibly the next years.

[b]”My schooling was on Syrae.”[/b] Ryen said, turning away to continue browsing through the book selection, [b]”so it wasn’t through the Federation.”[/b] The selection was nice and varied. The books had bright pages and titles. Some even had large, colorful pictures. Some were even purely for entertainment. They were nothing compared to the heavy, dry, encyclopedic volumes she had to study as a child. Here were books for learning, not just memorization. What would that have been like?

[b]”I’ll tutor her if she’s willing,”[/b] Ryen acquiesced, [b]”but you should consider giving her the option to leave. She could live on a non-Federation run planet. Somewhere like Syrae. Somewhere where people are less likely to care about her past.”[/b] Then again, her father had said that Syrae was unique in that respect, a [i]'planet of forgiveness'[/i].