"An infinite number of worlds, gone," Vlad said, reaching for another dumpling. "An infinite number of lives and species, gone. Anyone who wasn't on their homeworld when it happened lost the chance to ever go home. Unimaginable losses, and we did it all on accident. Anyway," he added, smiling rather wanly, "We're told that story in the cradle. It's our national shame. It's why Aetheri is so afraid of war."

"You seem a bit shell-shocked," Shinobu told Liya around a mouthful of food. "I suppose they don't tell you the part about genocide until you're older."

Liya had stared at Vlad while he spoke, and now looked down at the table. "I dunno," she said distantly. "I only went to school 'til I was ten. We got put out of school by a hurricane. An' then the fightin' started an' everyone who evacuated for the storm never came back. We used to take books from abandoned places...my brother Em made sure we read every day. But that ain't school, I guess."

She shrugged a bit, and then looked up, realizing that no one else was moving. Yoshi was looking quite fixedly away, covering his mouth; Shinobu and Vlad had both stopped mid-chew and were staring directly at her, the former looking a bit puzzled, the latter very slightly concerned.