It was entirely possible that Ariel existed in the world this Liam was from, although an altered sequence of events meant she may still be on the Jaridian homeworld.

Liam nodded. “They were the same species, once,” he told her. “The Kaaluet. Ha’gel... gave them what he saw as a gift, the shaqarava, meant to help them on that evolutionary path,” he turned one small hand, and then the other, palm-up so that Verity could see the burn-like marks there. “But they could not agree about how to use this gift. Those that became the Jaridians embraced the violence, the desires it inspired in them. Those that became the Taelons were afraid, and sought to bury it.”