Star Trek Picard: Every Easter Egg & Hidden Reference From 'Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2'

Auntie Raffi, Rios, and Elnor sit around a fire outside the La Sirena and Narek tells them a literal campfire story aboard Ganmadan which Ramdha first mentioned all the way back in "Absolute Candor". Narek says that he doesn't believe the story of Gandmadan is a prophesy, he says it's history. This is similar to Ramdha's description of Romulan mythology as "the news" in "The End is the Beginning".

Narek also says the story dates all the way back to before his ancestors arrived on Vulcan. Prior to this episode, it had been indicated that the Romulan species originated on the planet Vulcan before they broke off and formed their own empire (see TOS' "Savage Curtain").

However we do know there were multiple off-shoots and Vulcanoid species throughout history. The TNG episode "Gambit, Part I" describes an extinct relative of the Romulans called the Debrune and Star Trek Nemesis is all about the Remans, a race that may or may not be mutated, cave dwelling Romulans. The TNG episode "Who Watches the Watchers" also introduced a species of "proto-Vulcans" called Mintakans. So Romulan / Vulcan history is... complicated.

As the scene ends, the blast shutters on the La Sirena's cockpit windows can be seen lowering. This is the first time we've seen the shutters actually engage, but they have periodically appeared and disappeared throughout the season, usually when the ship is at warp. Shutters like these were also installed in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's runabouts in the season two episode "Whispers", a cost saving measure so the producers wouldn't have to insert moving star fields into every scene.