"Aria...?" Kairo asked. "Never trained Aria." Kairo started to cycle through known operatives.
"Darian?"
There was a golden simmering in her eyes. "What? How the hell do you know him?"
"Lucan told me. Said he was one of the best tacticians in Ashfell."
This one was surprising to Hinari, but also confused her. Why would Lucan tell Kairo about him? What else did Lucan tell him before up and disappearing? Hinari then spoke, "Never trained Darian. Trained alongside him as a rookie and in the academy." Kairo then said a few more names, "Lucan...?" Hinari smirked as he said, "Bullshit." Hinari nodded, but before she said anything insightful, she said, "15 push-ups."
As Kairo started, "Lucan couldn't sense valence?" As he went down, Hinari sat on the log. "Not couldn't, can't." Then Kairo "completed" his push-ups. "That was only 12." Kairo went back down. Kairo then looked up to see the simmering in her eyes becoming brighter with every mention of Lucan, regardless of whether Hinari mentioned him or Kairo did.
"Did you try teaching Lucan?" As he went down and up, "Of course: blindfolds, visualisations, live drills, watching drills. Nothing worked. He was hopeless." She said with a small amount of fondness and a small smile, but Kairo caught it. "You liked training him." Hinari hesitated. "I never said that."
"You smiled."
"I smile."
"Not often." The eyes glowed dimly, and Kairo noticed immediately. "So how did Lucan pass your drills?" She thought about it, the smile getting slightly wider and the eyes glowing brighter. "He learned me. The way I moved, how much weight I put on each of my feet." Her eyes were glowing brighter. "He could tell when I looked at him, what my footsteps sounded like..." Then she stopped. "You loved training him."
She then stood up from the log, giving Kairo a good view of her eyes.
"They're glowing...?"
"Yeah..."
"You feel heavy?"
Her tail stopped moving.
Kairo took a step back. This was weird; he wasn't scared but more or less concerned. "Did Lucan know?" Kairo asked as he noticed her claws were visible- not fingernails; they almost extended out of her hand. "Yes, the lost little puppy knew." Kairo stopped; her eyes were glowing brightly.