And for a moment, Kaede's voice fails her just as completely; she can only stare up at him, stricken, paralysed by the terror that he will make whatever connection he has not yet made at any moment. She needs to speak. She needs to smile, to shake her head, to offer whatever explanation will placate him -- she needs to lie, and she cannot, because he trusts her so completely and she will never be able to lie to him, knowing that.

"They're Grandfather's familiars," she manages at last, and attempts a smile that must look as forced, as contorted, as it feels. "That's all."