"I am, or perhaps was, a commando. I was disciple and bodyguard to Matriarch Benezia for two hundred years, but, most recently..." Shiala sighs a little. "I've been helping the humans of Zhu's Hope rebuild their colony after the death of the Thorian."

She shuts her eyes. It's home, now, but the course that took her there isn't easy.

"They were infected. I was briefly absorbed by it. We are... linked, now. Or at least, we were before I came here."