Apology and regret. I'm sorry for upsetting you.

I am already an abberation. A harpy. I have some hope my ancestors still watch over me despite this shameful work. We live in troubled times, there is precedent. But to break with tradition in a way that lasts is so much worse.

There's a feeling of conflict and pain. Not all traditions are good ones. I won't judge your people's though.

Kaiva gets stubborn. Indignant. Still slightly anxious.

The most venerated Mother Temples on my home planet are over forty thousand years old. They have survived countless wars and calamities that threatened the entire galaxy. The Morrigi have endured all of it because of our tradition and our ancestors' guidance. It is not my or your place to question them too much.

I don't intend to, tradition is a useful stabilizing force, a way of passing down wisdom. I only rejected those I was raised with after living for a time in a better more functional society. Even now I think there is some wisdom in those teachings, just not as much as my mother believed.

I don't know anything about your traditions. It could be that you are right to reject them, if they have not served your people well for dozens of millenia. Though it would seem that traditions have had a slightly similar effect on both of us.

So, staircase or one of the doors?

There are doors on either side of the staircase and another door opposite the one they came in through.

Doors. Perhaps we can use my squawker drone as a mapping tool.

Alright. Lacking a more specific direction she walks towards the door opposite the one they came in through.

As she passes the bar a Napkin appears. Written on it in small cursive script is the message: "Welcome to Milliways. I'm sure you have questions, but first, would you like something to drink? First one is on the house."

Sapphire conveys this to Kaiva. Then she hesitantly speaks aloud. "Hello. Can you hear me like this?"