"Oh, it was," she replied, turning her teacup around in her hands. "Too small. Too...it wasn't even a town, really. More like a village." She hadn't been a good fit there much past childhood, especially not when she'd come out to her family. Two of her four sisters still spoke to her, though they were far-flung across the globe now, but her parents and youngest sibling hadn't had any contact with her since she'd left.

She'd initially tried to stay close, but Russian military expectations had not suited Andromache, nor had she suited them. So she'd ended up in Israel. "They were quite a bit like Gioia, honestly. They were working animals. But I loved riding them, and even doing the work for them. They...show appreciation better than most people do."