Itxaro felt like a child, sitting cross-legged as she watched in awe as Shirik's fluid motions called forth more flames from the air. There was something about the manner in which it moved that suggested this was not just elaborate smoke and mirrors; each motion seemed practiced, intentional. She still could not discern the nature of his abilities, try as she might, but unlike the commander, she was satisfied to leave it be until their shared language expanded beyond a dozen words. 

[i]Mages.[/i]

Despite a herculean effort on Shirik's part with such a limited vocabulary, Itxaro was unable to fully grasp the foreign word's true meaning. "Commander, they call people who can perform these... These abilities, [i]mages[/i]." She'd wanted to use the word miracles, but had stopped herself short. Still, that was exactly what Shirik's image had described. "There's more than what we've seen here."

[i]Healing wounds. Manipulating fire and lightning. Telekinesis. Even translating?[/i] All, as Shirik's firey pictograms suggested, without the aid of technology. Just the [i]mage[/i] and their bodies, moving like water. Itxaro still doubted this, assuming Shirik was just as wary of humans as they were of the Kanth-Aremek natives. Hiding technology, like they were. Though these natives [i]seemed[/i] to be less advanced, with their plate armor and steel swords, Itxaro knew this meant nothing. Not every society would advance in the same ways humanity did; the natives may lag behind in some fields, while leaping far ahead in others. 

[i]Maybe they found a new field.[/i]

Shirk had taken Itxaro's message to heart, literally offering the flame in its hand to her. She gingerly reached her arm towards his, feeling her fingertips grow cool as they edged toward the fire. Itxaro closed her eyes for just a moment. She felt something, not heat, but [i]power[/i] pulsing out from inside her, like waves rolling into shore. The feeling crept up from her chest and out to her extended arm. Itxaro's mind could see the fire in her own palm, controlling it with a twist of her wrist. She opened her eyes and focused them on her outstretched hand. It bore no frigid flame like Shirik's. [i]Well, it was worth a shot.[/i]

Still, Shirik [i]wanted[/i] to teach her, or at least that's what she assumed; the Iriad had a great poker face to human eyes. Itxaro pulled back her arm, feeling slightly foolish, and listened to Shirik. This [i]skill[/i], and she was starting to believe it was skill rather than tech, could indeed be taught. But not for free.

"They want to know about the guns," Itxaro said flatly to whatever human ears were still listening. It'd been foolish to hide the concept from them after all, but had seemed like a good idea at the time; introducing firearms to a society that might not have even discovered gunpowder was a quick way to throw the entire continent into chaos and war. Still, they might not have a choice.

Itxaro had been so focused on Shirik that she'd hardly noticed the situation collapsing around her. The first hint was a trio of native birds that flew in through the hull breach; this behavior alone was odd enough to merit further observation, and when they began speaking what Itxaro recognized as the local language, she frantically whipped her head around to the other humans, as if to confirm they were seeing the same. 

A horn sounded in the distance.

Either the horn indicated reinforcements, or some new group. Itxaro was suddenly trying to recall if she'd remembered to load her revolver. She turned to Vigdis, who had also been working on the translation front judging from the stick figures the engineer had drawn. Her ears were just sharp enough to catch Nellara's explanation: [i]Not[/i] friends, humans [i]stay[/i]. Bad news.

Itxaro quickly set to work on the data pad for a final time, punching out a crude hologram. A human outline with a bow, firing arrow after arrow at another figure, who fell after being turned into a pin cushion. "Bow," Itxaro said quickly, pointing to the weapon before the hologram changed. Now, the human held a rifle, and soundlessly fired the weapon at a man in the distance. Smoke emitted from the rifle as an enlarged bullet slowly flew through the air, and the man crumpled after it passed clean through him. "Gun." If any humans objected to this, she'd tell them to fix the warp drive themselves. [i]If Darnell says anything, I might just give Shirik and Nellara a live-fire demonstration.[/i] Better their new friends know what the crew's armaments could do if push came to shove.

The hologram ended and Itxaro jammed the data pad into her pocket. She stood up sharply, a motion that shot a spike of fire through her injured leg as she let out a small yelp. [i]Stupid.[/i] Itxaro turned back to Shirik after gently rubbing the flesh around the wound. "Itxaro teach gun [i]later.[/i] Shirik teach... mage? Teach fire? [i]Later.[/i]" It wasn't what she wanted to say, but it was all their meager lexicon would allow. She pointed outside to where the commotion was and gave a shrug as if to say, "What the fuck is happening?" 

Itxaro crossed the few feet that separated the two and cautiously held her hand out to help the Iriad to its feet. "Just don't burn my hand off, alright Shirik?" Itxaro said with a ghost of a smile, knowing the Iriad had no way of understanding, but saying it nonetheless.