Gaila has little concept of human social appropriateness, but in her blunt way she's very careful about asking permission -- to touch skin, to use personal names, to have sex -- at least until people make it into her inner circle; this takes Nyota an embarrassingly long time to realize because she's been inside since day one, when she tried out a few Orion phrases she'd looked up the moment she got her roommate assignment and somehow found herself with a best friend (and occasional lover) for life: a sister, as Gaila says.

Nyota has always assumed that's a mistranslation, since she's quite certain she's never been attracted to her blood sisters that way.

But now, as Gaila's fingers move strong and deft over Nyota's scalp, tugging her hair into an intricate crown of braids -- "Hey, fish around in my dresser and find my amber earrings; I want to use them as accents to match your dress and it'll look better if I weave them into the structure instead of jabbing them on after the fact," Gaila says -- Nyota blinks away old memories of laughter and lopsided childish masterpieces, and wonders if Gaila's choice of word has more layers than she'd thought.