The lodgings Meetra had secured had one room and a sorry excuse for a kitchen. There was no furniture, and overall the space was dusty, grey and in need of repair. Light filtered through the cracks in the boarded up windows, and around the edges of the door— washing the otherwise dim room in a golden haze.

The Exile was awake, her back to the wall, she listened halfheartedly to the chirping of birds outside. The rest of her focus was on the little boy that had managed to wrest the entirety of their sole blanket from her sometime during the night. The threadbare material was wrapped around his small frame, with his tiny booted feet hanging out of the bottom. He even had a bit wadded up under his head. The gentle rise and fall of his chest while he slept was the only thing that kept Meetra aware of him still being alive. He slept deeply, the sleep of someone with no worries.

Or someone too naive to be worried.

H'ratth wasn't one of the main focuses of the Sith fleet, but the Jedi Academy here hadn't been spared. It had been evident since the moment Meetra had stepped off the settlement's landing pad that the Sith had been there. She could smell the plasma in the air, and once she'd gotten her bearings it was impossible to miss the dark plume of smoke rising in the Eastern sky. Likely the praxeum hadn't even seen the attack coming. H'ratth was a remote world, and the Jedi that studied here were destined to be scholars and healers, not Knights. They wouldn't have stood a chance against the Sith.

The citizens had looked at her warily, and Meetra could sense the sorrow and tension in the people. On this planet, there had been a peaceful co-existence with the Jedi. The Masters on this world were gentle healers, whose knowledge of the Force had likely aided many a settler. Until the Sith had come.

Luckily for Meetra, anyone with eyes could see that her small ship was obviously not in any way affiliated with the Sith. If it's rusting, in much need of repair exterior was any indication.

To be quite frank, she wasn't sure the bucket of bolts would make it off planet. The entry into the atmosphere had been unreasonably rough, and it'd taken every trick she'd learned in the war to keep the thing from blowing up before landing. Getting off of H'ratth wasn't a problem she'd foreseen, but it was now an issue.

What was one more problem on the ever increasing list?

Watching the boy sleep, the Exile felt a wave of helplessness wash over her. She couldn't protect him. If the Sith found them, she was no match for even one lightsaber wielding Force user, let alone several. They'd kill her and take him, or worse— kill them both. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but the only option they had was to run.

Meetra had gotten good at running. From her past, from the Jedi, from the Sith. It didn't matter who she was running from- just that she could do it well, and fast.

"Hey Calin." She called softly, her lips quirking into a smile as the boy shifted and made a noise of protest. How he could sleep so comfortably on the hard floor was a mystery to her. One of the perks of youth, she supposed. "Calin." The woman tried again, a bit louder. They couldn't stay here, it had already been pushing it to spend the night. She had a few more repairs to do on the ship, repairs that had required daylight. It had been light for almost an hour, they needed to get moving.

The youngling groaned tiredly, slowly opening his gray eyes. They were blood shot and red rimmed, sending a pang of sadness through her. "Good morning." She chirped, swallowing the lump in her throat. The boy nodded tiredly, his eyes drooping closed again. Meetra sighed.

Alright. The hard way it was.

The woman began to quickly gather her small pack, making sure she had everything. She stripped out of the smoke blackened shirt she'd worn into the jungle yesterday, pulling another too-big garment on over her too-thin body. Impulsively she ran her fingers through her coppery hair, making the shoulder length mop all but stand on end. The former Jedi took a long moment to double check her weapons. Her blaster was the most expensive thing she owned, and the thing that had saved her life more times than she cared to admit. On her hip was a short vibrosword. It wouldn't last long against a lightsaber, but it was comforting to have the close combat blade, just in case.

Finally, when everything was in order, she turned back to the boy.

The Exile wasn't sure how old he was, but he didn't seem younger than three, and didn't look older than five. Not that she was the expert on all things child related, by any stretch of the imagination. "Calin, I'm going to pick you up." Meetra said, crouching down beside the boy and pushing his dark hair out of his face. He barely stirred. She grasped him under the shoulders, pulling his upper body up. With one hand under his knees and one on his back, the woman hoisted the boy into her arms.

He was way heavier than she'd first imagined.

With a grunt, Meetra adjusted the boy so that he was on her hip, his head resting on her shoulder. With her free hand she swung her pack up onto her opposite shoulder, before pushing open the door and stepping out into the sunlight.

It took longer than usual for her vision to adjust, the lack of sleep making her eyes bleary. Against her chest Calin groaned, shifting restlessly as his sleep was yet again disturbed. The Exile rubbed his back soothingly, blinking against the early morning sun. Still half blind, Meetra stepped into the quiet street- only to plow headlong into a solid figure outside her door.

She reeled back with a muttered curse—straightening Calin who had awoken again with a whimper.

"Apologies. I didn't see you there." The former Jedi supplied sincerely as she righted herself, blinking away the last of the sunshine and fatigue. She took a moment to pull the thin blanket tighter around the youngling in her arms, scrambling to hold him as he suddenly flailed and whimpered.

"Not at all." The figure replied in a perfectly cultured Talravin accent.

Meetra's blood ran cold.

"Not at all..."

The former Jedi gritted her teeth, her gaze snapping up to lock with the icy blue eyes of Bastila Shan.