"Greetings of the Moonsea, fellow pilgrims," the Ekumian warrior-priest beamed with a soft smile hidden beneath her unwavering opal mask that was forever frowning. The light of the Harvest Dawn danced across her unblinking emerald eyes as she joined the others at the table. Efere whispered a prayer and reached out with a gloved hand, choosing a careful selection of fruits which she disappeared into her robe with a blurred motion of her fingers. Food did not nourish her as it did her organic companions, but appearances had to be maintained. Forgoing food would inevitably give rise to unwanted questions and predictable fears.

"My thanks for this wonderous feast, but ritual dictates that I continue my fast," Efere explained to the nearest villager who watched her with curiosity from beneath a heavy hood. "Without moonlight food will not nourish my soul and if my spirit cannot partake, then my body must likewise wait."

The village shrugged in reply, seemingly satisfied with her explanation. Most knew only the vaguest rituals of the priests of the Holy City and travelers with any wisdom preferred to avoid the lengthy explanations from the strange mystics that followed even the most innocent of questions.

Refocusing her attention on the expedition members, Efere felt her own gloved hands dance across the hilts of her Axe and Sputnik blade. Her companions did not strike her warriors. The smallest, the girl, had the makings of a huntress, but the others, the others appeared soft, squishy even. Beneath polite exchanges, Efere felt a kinship with the fungic member of the expedition. She suspected that sentient fungi were as rare as sentient sculptures and she was keen to learn what knowledge Starfield had discovered in his time among the meatbags. The True Kin researcher was a stranger to her, she knew little of the sky-bound True Kin and their ways. 

The two-headed racoon fascinated her endlessly, she had seen precious few mutants in the Holy City and none with such seemingly soft fur. The softness called to her and she had caught her hands straying dangerously to the soft bristles of fur when her mind wandered. She hoped that she could bridge the gulf of professionalism between them as they traveled onwards. Out of all the organics Alu appeared to be the most suspicious of her and she felt sure that he was measuring her with each passing moment.

Regardless of her private thoughts and reservations Alu had hired her to protect expedition. The safety of the less martially inclined members of the expedition were her responsibility. She suspected it would be a difficult job. The organics were such fragile things. They were prone to injury and death. They were so hard to repair. They were impulsive, short-lived creatures, but she adored them still. They were capable of so many things, both great and terrible. And there was still so much she had to learn from them about living.

Her creator, the True Kin scholar Lagaishin Umu, had left her with precious little to start with. Sentience, her sentience in particular, was a learning experience. She knew though that the organics valued reciprocity. It shaped their relationships and it allowed them to survive if not always thrive in the desolate lands that surrounded them. A gift of food and water would have to be repaid, at least symbolically.

"Allow me to offer this stone in gratitude of the precious food and water you have offered us, may it bring you peace in these troubled times," Efere loudly proclaimed, pointlessly smiling once again beneath her mask as she placed a strange banded rock that sparkled on the table in the morning light, sending patterns of gold dancing across the table.