Jeyna hid as she was instructed, beneath the gnarled roots of one of the larger trees. The dirt of Kashyyyk is dark and damp, and cools her legs where they are folded against the ground. She wonders how far they crashed from the intended landing zone, and if any of the comms systems were salvageable from the fire. They're undoubtedly going to need a new ride off the planet.

She's in disbelief over what has happened, remembering Ren stating the mission would be low visibility. There was nothing about a crash landing and fire fight in the jungle of Kashyyyk, with a village worth of Wookies, that seemed "low visibility". But how did they even notice the ship? With how small it was, and the radar shielding….

They had to have been actively looking for it, and known where it would be entering the atmosphere.

"You can come out now, scholar," Ren's mechanical voice startles her from her thoughts, and she jerks, thumping her already painful head on the root above her.

She crawls out, surprised to see that he is right outside her hiding place. Either she wasn't paying attention to the sounds around her, or he had crept up nearly silently. She is willing to bet the latter is the better explanation.

He's ditched his dark robes at some point, instead wearing only a black, ribbed combat suit and boots. He's got a pack on, which she is relieved to see looks like it might have supplies in it. Hers is empty, save for her datapad. She had never gotten a chance to load it up with anything.

"The others?" she asks hesitantly, straightening to her full height. The mask stares back at her silently. "…They're…They're all dead?"

"Yes," he confirms simply.

Jeyna thinks of the charming pilot who gave her the tracker bracelet, the first person to smile at her since she left Dantooine. She pushes away the accompanying sadness. She can't deal with it right now, and her life has trained her to push away the things she cannot handle for another time.

"There were too many of them. I don't even know how I got away. I think the pair chasing me just stopped following," she says, rambling to fill the silence.

"I put the suggestion in their head that they saw you run the other way," Ren explains. "We need to move, we crashed far from the landing site. And there are still a lot of hostiles not far from here."

"They knew we were coming," Jeyna blurts out.

"It would appear they did," Ren agrees, turning from her.

She follows his lead for a few moments, trying to walk as quietly as he does through the trees, but can't help her curiosity from running rampant. Someone leaked information to get them killed. And though Jeyna doesn't know many people in the First Order, she can't help the suspicion in her gut that Hux might be to blame. His poor relationship with Ren is obvious, providing motive, and something about the man just seems…weaselly.

Jeyna decides if he is to blame for all this, she'd really like to stomp her boot into his face. She can practically see the way his features would smoosh underfoot-

"You have…amusing thoughts," Ren says from ahead of her.

Jeyna hesitates, stumbling a bit on the uneven ground. "You saw that?"

"Yes." He continues on, not stopping. She picks up her pace to not fall behind.

"Do you always know my thoughts?" she asks, suddenly feeling a little alarmed over what he might have picked up on already.

"No. Only if I've…tuned in," Ren says. Her cheeks burn as she contemplates the lack of privacy inside her own brain. "I was curious what you were thinking. You are right, it was most likely Hux."

"Does he usually try to kill you?" Jeyna presses.

"Never so obviously," Ren replies.

Jeyna finds it odd he is so calm, considering their best theory is that his associate just tried to manipulate their deaths. Then again, perhaps rampaging through a clan of Wookies helped to dispel some of his anger. Or perhaps, like her, he's burying it down for the time being.

Several Hours Later

They stop by a stream, and Ren pulls two filtration canteens from the pack. While he is filling them, Jeyna sits on a root. Her head hurts, a dull throbbing ache, and she lightly touches her skull to feel the bump there. The light filtering through the trees is dim by now, the canopy having become too dense for any direct sunlight to pass through. It's like a perpetual dreary twilight on the ground in this part of the forest.

Ren kneels in front of her, surprising her when he reaches out to turn her face up towards his mask with the fingertips of one gloved hand. She swallows a little heavier than usual, her heart beating faster at his closeness. "You may have a mild concussion," he observes after a moment, letting his hand fall from her cheek. "Tell me if you feel dizzy or nauseous, before it becomes dangerous."

She nods wordlessly, watching as he sits a few feet away. He immediately pulls a comlink from the bag, examining it. She suspects it must be broken, judging by the way he's handling it. If they could get it repaired, they could arrange a pick up. Assuming Hux didn't attempt to block their communications and strand them.

"I'll bypass Hux," Ren answers her as if she's spoken aloud. "I'll need tools to repair it. We might find what I need at the outpost you mentioned in your report."

His reading her thoughts is getting very old, very quick for Jeyna.

"I'll try to stop," he says quietly, and she hears a buzz from the mask. It sounds like it's filtered out a noise, perhaps a sigh? She finds it odd he offers to stop. She had assumed he would tell her to grow used to it, claiming ownership of her thoughts as he'd already done with her theories in her datapad.

She scuffs her foot in the dirt for a moment, thinking. "Do we even know how far we are from the old Czerka outpost? The search area was on the east side of it, past the abandoned village."

"We crashed on the west side, unfortunately. We're at least a days walk from the outpost," he answers. She heaves a sigh. This is not a good situation. They are in the wilderness without cover or back up, with limited supplies, without a working communication device. Glancing at the commander as he stands, she's at least glad he is her company. Despite how intimidating he can be, he will be useful when it comes to the predators of this world.

Speaking of which… "We should find shelter soon, right? Everything comes out at night on Kashyyyk," Jeyna suggests.

"Yes," he confirms. "Are you well to travel again?"

She ignores the aching in her head. "Yes."

As the Sun Sets

"Do you think that's our best option?" Jeyna asks, craning her neck to survey what is barely more than a treehouse shack far up one of the wroshyr trees. Narrow steps nailed to the bark circle the trunk in a spiraling pattern.

"Unless you'd prefer to stay on the ground?" Ren asks, and she doesn't think she's imagining the irritation that leaks through the mask.

"Fine," Jeyna shrugs, pulling herself carefully up onto the first step. She is trying not to show her fear at the situation, but it is far from anything she's handled before. The planets she's travelled to before have always been more civilized, she's never been in a place with so many dangers and so little preparation.

She senses more than she hears Ren following up the steps, and she focuses on her own exerted breathing as they climb. She tries to not look down, not enjoying the heights they are reaching rapidly.

The light fades fast as they approach the top, and Jeyna hesitantly pulls herself onto the platform. The shelter is old, she can tell no one has occupied it for a long while. All the same, it has walls and a door, which is more than she can say about anything else they'd come across during their hike. She makes room for Ren, watching as he moves forward to open the door and disappears inside.

She wanders as close to the edge as she dares, peering down at the forest floor. She can barely make it out, it is almost entirely black beneath the platform. The forest is waking up, strange noises issuing from all around. It feels so much more alive than it did just an hour before, as animal life begins making itself known.

"You should stay away from the edge," Ren's voice advises her, and she obeys, backing up. He's watching her from the doorway, practically blending into the night quickly falling on them.

"Why did you want me to come?" she asks suddenly.

"I had a feeling I would need you," he says dismissively, turning and disappearing into the structure. She follows, not wanting to be exposed outside anymore. The space is small, dusty with age. It is empty, abandoned. The door protests as she pulls it back shut against the planet outside.

She sits against the side of the tree that constitutes the back wall, drinking from the canteen Ren gave her. It is growing chilly already, and she's relieved when he tosses her a blanket from the pack.

"You should try to get some sleep, scholar." She frowns at the informal title.

"You can just call me Jeyna," she suggests quietly.

"Not Torre?"

She frowns in his direction, assuming it to be the slightly darker mass in the shadows just a few feet away. "I don't like going by my last name," she explains.

"Why?"

Jeyna wants to snap at him suddenly, feeling interrogated. Their conversations thus far have been brief, related to what he needs from her and not much more. But she realizes she is not tired yet, and the only alternative to answering his questions is sitting in uncomfortable silence.

So she finally explains, "I'm the last of my name. I don't have any other family left."

He's silent for a minute, then two. She wonders if he's bored of her already. She supposes she probably is boring to someone like him. But then she hears a hissing noise, and something mechanical like moving gears.

When he speaks again, his voice is different. She immediately recognizes it as the voice in her head from earlier in the day. Still deep, but human and emotional as opposed to the machine induced drone of the mask. "And that bothers you?"

She squints in the dark, wishing she could see what he looks like beneath the mask now that he's taken it off. What would a man with so much power within the force look like? But she can't see anything, the darkness is so complete. He's lost in the black, just a voice that she finds surprisingly pleasant sounding.

"I guess," she says uncertainly. She can't bring herself to voice her real thoughts. That being the last of her family line feels like a burden. Oppressive in its finality.

"I understand," he says quietly. She can hear the sincerity in his tone. It is much easier to read the emotions in his voice without the mask, and she prefers it immensely.

"You said you'd try to stop reading my thoughts," Jeyna replied, choosing to deflect to a topic less personal.

"I'm sorry…The forest is very… distracting right now. It is easier for me to focus on you than all the life swarming beneath," he explains. She frowns at his unexpected apology, imagining what that must feel like. How does he sense the creatures below them? Does he hear their heartbeats, sense their footsteps, feel their instincts as they hunt?

"Yes." His single word confirms her thoughts, and she tries to imagine a world where there is so much sensory input. If animals are that distracting to him, to be surrounded by people must be exhausting. All of their emotions and thoughts and urges, constantly bombarding him. She can hardly blame him for trying to tune it out.

"That must be overwhelming," she says softly. He doesn't answer, and they fall into a surprisingly companionable silence. She pulls the blanket over herself, seeking some warmth before shivers set in. It is hard to get comfortable on the floor of the roughly built shelter, but she curls up on her side.

Sleep evades her for a while, as she listens to the sound of Kashyyyk's night. Jeyna tries not to picture the animals she read about in her research, hoping with any luck to avoid them during her stay on the planet. However, she must admit luck has not been on her side so far.