Her eyebrows go up at the explanation. That is definitely not like any of the symbionts she's familiar with. Not unless you count the friendly microbes that live on human skin, but they certainly don't form tattoos...

"Do you then have to stay on your host's skin for a while? Can you, um... can you sense what's going on around you when you're in two-dimensional form?" She pauses a moment before asking, "Does Chanath know about the Nexus?"

She shakes her head. "Not so soon after they occupied our settlement. There are a lot of hard feelings left over from that..." Remembering her coffee, she reaches for it, a small frown on her face. "I'm hoping that after we find Earth, we'll have a little more leverage against them, and we can have a real truce. As equals."