She knew exactly how that type of existence went.
Khalzin stepped to her side. "Does it bother you? The height?"
She chuckled. "I cannot say that it bothers me as much as it feels very dreamlike. Well, certain aspects do, anyway."
"Such as?"
"Just being here. This high. Wondering about looking down on the others beneath me. Was it worth the work to get this high? Did I deserve to get here? Or was it just luck?"
"What do you think?"
She looked at him. "Well, it certainly wasn't work."
"How does that make you feel?"
"I don't know," she said.
It was true. Some part of her didn't think she deserved to be here, but already Khalzin showed her a kind of compassion that she rarely saw with higher elevation groups.
He touched her hand, and she laced her fingers with his. He leaned in closer, and she could smell that warm scent he had. "My instincts tell me there is more to that life than you want to admit."
Janae shook her head. "It isn't what you think."
"And what is it that I--"
She barely registered the attack.
Where the blast came from, she didn't know, only that it whizzed by her ear and fluttered her hair.
An odd thing to notice when blaster bolts fly by, but it was what she saw at first. It didn't register that it was an attack, even at all, just that something had flown by her.
Khalzin threw her to the ground, and he covered her.
His armor erupted, and suddenly he was fully protected, and he protected her.
Her instinct was to run. To dart to the nearest shelter, which would have been their transport. This open area didn’t have anywhere she could go. Not really.
Then she saw the others. Where they had come from, she didn't know. She didn't see any hiding spots, but they could have been anywhere waiting for them to arrive.
Khalzin stood, and from somewhere, he'd produced a weapon--not the long staff weapon he had in his apartment, this more of a sword-like one, but he looked just as lethal with it.
As was Stron.
"Come on," Adryel said, grabbing Janae's arm.
She pulled her backward across the platform, away from the coming attackers.
"Where are we going?" Janae asked.
"There's a hygiene booth over here," she said. "I saw it when we landed."
The two females raced toward the hygiene station because it was probably safe to hide from the incoming attack.
Where the attackers fired from, she didn't know. There was no sign of anyone in the distance, nor did she see or hear any drones. Though, they'd have to be close because the wind was enough to drown out most noises.
"We're almost there," Adryel said, ducking as another barrage of blaster fire came their way.
Almost to the door, but it swung open, and out came two Kantenans.
