Associates from my own world. Reyes wasn’t prepared for the hollow, unsettled chord that that sentence struck. He hadn’t met anyone yet from a spacefaring society, let alone his own, or who came from the Andromeda galaxy — but he wasn’t itching for it either. He wasn’t sure what sort of welcome he’d receive from the Pathfinder apart from a kind of fury, so for now, he was resigned to simply hoping it never came to pass, while also wishing it would.

The rest of Nida’s suggestion, however— “Well, that sounds incredibly promising! A peakitten, you say? What do they look like?” The man straightened slightly in his seat. “I’m accustomed to alien creatures, but I’m starting to think I need an illustrated bestiary.”