A startled cry punctures the air, sending a fresh wave of forest animals hurtling through the treetops in a chittering uproar. Kylo stills, ears straining to hear any further sounds over the thrumming of his pulse. Breathing deep, he tries again to tap into the Force; to pick up the binding thread of Rey's signature. But his efforts reach only into emptiness.

The fleeing animals have come from the direction he heads in. That's telling enough. With a boost of adrenaline, Kylo leaps one thick winding branch to the next; making his way from tree to tree as the harsh urgent words of someone who is not Rey carry across the forest like a damn homing beacon.

Rey recovers her feet with a well-practised roll, the moment she hits the ground. Drawing her staff from its carrier, she brings it up into the stomach of the tattooed man before cracking it down across the back of his head as he doubles over.

"Nah!" The child darts forward and tugs at the man's shoulders before giving up and throwing herself before him; her thin blue arms stretched wide towards Rey. "Nah! Tah's nah ch'itocet!"

The words are meaningless, but Rey understands the sentiment. The child is trying to protect the man, who is slowly regaining his feet; though he can't quite pull himself back to full height.

"Who are you people?" Rey tries to deliver the question with the same ferocity as her initial strike, but all the anger and indignation has ebbed from her as she watches the way the child fusses over her injured companion. Instead, she turns her attention to the willowy woman who has reappeared from the treeline to stand implacably to one side; her colourless eyes cool and assessing.

"Answer me," Rey demands. Adrenaline surges through her veins - even if the Force does not. "Who are you!"

A slow smile curls at the corners of the woman's thin lips. Rey feels something brush at the edge of her mind like an oily caress. She shudders, knowing all too well what the woman is trying to do. Stepping backwards, she raises the staff again in preparation for another strike.

Dropping into the edge of the clearing, Kylo stalks towards a small group of humanoids who stand with their backs to him. His hand goes to the belt at his waist out of habit before his fingers close upon nothing.

There's no need his lightsaber for this, he thinks as his scowl turns into a snarl. He'll destroy them with his bare hands.

"Tah carcir sah csah." The child grabs the tattooed hand of her companion and looks to something beyond him. Slowly the man straightens and turns.

Following their line of attention, Rey turns to see the cloaked form of Kylo Ren stepping out from the treeline. The look on his face puts her in mind of the snow-clad forest of Starkiller Base when he approached her with murder blazing hot in his eyes. This time the rage is not intended for her, but for a moment she is frozen by the striking power of his fury, all the same.

"Tah carcir sah csah."

Kylo's murderous stride remains unchecked as a blue-skinned child steps around the group and tugs the hand of a man who struggles to pull himself upright. It's only when his gaze falls upon Rey, uninjured and watching on with open-mouthed surprise, that he slows.

To his surprise, the child releases the man's hand and breaks free of the group, her red-eyed stare locked on Kylo as she extends an arm and points a finger in recognition. Kylo stops, his skin prickling with the uneasy sensation that she's been expecting him.

"Ch'acacah ch'ah told vah." The child says softly.

Rey steps forward.

As does the pale-eyed woman - who grabs Rey from behind and wraps an arm around her neck. With the press of something cold and sharp against her throat, Rey stops struggling and throws her energy into the Force.

Again, her efforts hit a blank wall.

"Let her go." There is slaughter in Kylo's voice. Cold and cruel and seething. "She's not yours to kill."

"Tarsh, what are you doing?" The man limps forward, only to stop when the piece of jagged metal presses harder against Rey's throat.

"She's our leverage," the woman hisses. "He means to kill us."

"Of course he's going to kill us! You're threatening his woman!"

Rey's fingers dig against the arm that holds the knife, "I'm not his wom-"

"Let her go now." There are spots of red rage slowly bursting behind Kylo's eyes. It twists his vision and courses through his blood until his body hums with electricity so raw and terrible, he can all but feel it throb at his fingertips. "I will destroy -"

Before he can finish his sentence, Rey makes a sudden defence move that leaves her captor staggering backwards as she spins away. It gives Kylo a direct path to the woman, and he stalks forward, intending to deliver the very promise he was uttering.

"Nah!" A small cool hand grasps at his own. Flinching back, he looks down to see the blue-skin child attempting to appease him. "Nah! Ch'acacah ch'ah told vah!"

There's something familiar to her language, but he can't pick out the words. No matter, he thinks and moves again towards the woman.

"Wait!"

Now it's the damn Jedi placing herself squarely before him. A palm upon his chest as she steps straight into his personal space. Her sudden intimacy surprises him and he hesitates, gaze flickering over the indentation pressed into the skin of her throat from the shiv. The small well of blood where the metal pierced.

"Ben, stop," Rey's voice is low and urgent, "think about this. They're clearly survivors - not captors. They're probably just scared and confused -"

Her words fall on deaf ears but for one. "Why are you calling me -"

"Ben," Rey stops him once more, her voice dropping to a hush as she leans up to whisper at the cusp of his ear, "consider it best to not let them know who you are."

"You're assuming I plan to let them live long enough to make introductions," he whispers back, dropping his head closer to add, "it's not that I care if you die… I just don't intend to let them kill you."

"Perhaps we can start this again," Rey says suddenly, turning away from Kylo but keeping herself planted before him. "I'm Rey, and this is Ben," his huff of annoyance ruffles across her hair as she continues, "we were onboard a transport bound for…"

Words cloy on Rey's tongue as her mind draws a blank. Aware of the air of expectancy that weighs between herself and those awaiting a conclusion to her sentence, she gapes, wordless and panicking as she tries to pick a location that won't require a complex backstory.

"Chandrila," Kylo interrupts, clapping his hands awkwardly upon Rey's shoulders, "we were on our way to visit my folks."

His fingers squeeze as the insinuation sinks in. A wave of heat rises to her cheeks. This is his revenge, she realises, for forcing him to take on the name he so despises.

"Well," she presses a smile to her lips, "best-laid plans, huh? Somehow our transport was compromised, and we woke up here."

No one stirs as Rey concludes what's possibly the weakest story she's offered since telling Unkar Plutt a happabore broke into her AT-AT and ate a whole day's worth of salvage.

Perhaps sensing the need to give their story some clout, Kylo relaxes his iron-clad grip, to stroke his hands across her shoulders in some semblance of affection. Rey stiffens, ignoring the goosebumps that have suddenly rippled along the path his fingertips have traced.

"So," she squeaks, fighting the urge to kick him in the shin, "what's your story?"

"Somewhat more believable than yours," the woman offers, before turning away to parcel a few meagre items into a large leaf.

It's the man who offers a smile. His gaze flicking from Rey to Kylo as if unsure which to settle on. "I'm Sef. My companions are Megunir," he points to the child who offers a hesitant wave, "Mos Wull," he indicates the unconscious one near the campfire before inclining his head towards the woman, "and Tarsh."

The pale-skinned woman glares in response before slinging her vine-bound package across a shoulder. "Enough pleasantries. Let's move." Without waiting for anyone else, she strides towards the treeline.

"We've been here for a couple of weeks now," Sef explains, edging backwards with a sidelong glance to Kylo before stooping to heft the unconscious and heavily armoured Mos Wull over his shoulder. "Long enough to have sourced a refuge that seems safe enough for the time being." He glances then to the blue-skinned girl, who nods a silent affirmation. "You're welcome to join us?"

Tarsh stops, half-turning at the edge of the clearing. "We could use him," she calls out, nodding towards Kylo before flicking her gaze over Rey. "The other - we'll use as bait."

"Ignore her. She doesn't mean it." Sef interrupts as Rey opens her mouth to argue. "Well, I'm sure she thinks of us all as bait for the Vornskyr."

"Bait for the what?" Rey and Kylo ask unanimously.

A troubled look crosses Seb's face as he glances down to rub absently at the interlocking diamonds tattooed on his left hand. "Look, why don't you accompany us to our camp. There, we'll tell you everything we know."

He turns away, leaving Rey and Kylo the space to discuss their options.

"I don't trust these people," Kylo is quick to growl as he releases Rey's shoulders from his iron-clad grip. "We need to go our own way."

"And where do you propose we go?" Rey hisses, massaging the muscles of her neck. "They've been here longer than us. Perhaps they know something of the Trandoshans' habits?"

"Or perhaps, as the pale one says, they're going to use us as bait."

"Are you afraid?" Rey gives an exaggerated gasp. "The mighty Kylo Ren - afraid?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Pulling himself taller, Kylo's doubts resolve themselves in the set of his face. "Let's go, before we lose them. We should at least find out where they camp."

As he guides them to their camp, Sef explains that there had been nine of them to start with. Each waking in cramped cages within a Trandoshan slaver ship with barely room to pull themselves upright. Unlike Rey and Kylo, the Trandoshans released them in a large clearing and gave them seconds to run for the treeline before they opened fire. Two of their group were shot down before they made it to the trees. The rest; picked off over a handful of days.

Rey peppers them with questions. Striving to understand the detailed schematics of their situation. To learn their patterns of movement. To map out a strategy for escape. Kylo walks silently at the rear; studying the dynamics of the group with a distrustful eye.

As they enter a denser region of forest, Tarsh leads them to traps she has set, cursing in frustration to find them empty - incredulous that she can be outwitted by tree-dwelling marsupials.

"She's just angry that they're smarter than her," Sef says under his breath. In silence, they continue on.

Refuge, when they reach it, is a cave-like hollow set within one of the forest's massive barrel-trunked trees. Its opening is deceivingly narrow and easy to miss behind the tangle of vines that drape down the trunk and conceal the oval slit of an entrance.

"How did you discover this?" Rey is in awe as they follow Sef into the dark cavern.

"Megunir led us to it," Sef answers, "after she found us."

"What do you mean, she found you?" Kylo asks.

"Take a seat," casting a hand towards the bare earthen floor to the right of the entrance, Sef lowers his unconscious companion to a makeshift bed of moss and soft undergrowth. "Mos was injured in an attack," he begins to explain, "we thought we could use his ability to -"

"We should've left him behind," Tarsh calls out sharply from beyond the entrance, "he's of no use to us now."

As Sef moves to continue their argument outside, Rey crosses to their fallen companion to look at his injuries. Mos Wull is not human, she realises with surprise as she looks upon what scaled green features she can see amidst his armouring. "What are his injuries?"

"He's Clawdite." Kylo observes as he moves to peer over her shoulder. "Great. Now I trust these people even less."

Rey elbows him sharply in the ribs, "you can't make a judgement on someone you've just met."

"Why not?" he snorts, "you seem to do it all the time."

"You were a special case, Ben," she hisses, "and your reputation preceded y-" She stops herself from saying anything further as Sef walks back in.

"He will recover. He just needs time." Sef moves to an area of the large hollow that forms an alcove and sits with his back to the entrance. In the shadowed light his yellow-tinged skin looks almost luminous. "Please sit, so we can talk."

Rey moves to oblige and, after a moment of reluctant hesitation, Kylo follows.

"What did you mean before, when you said the child found you?" Kylo asks, placing himself between them. "Did you not arrive here together?"

"The girl was here before us. A survivor from a previous hunt."

Rey and Kylo exchange glances. "How long has this been going on?" She breathes.

"Decades," Kylo growls. "The trandoshans have been hunting Wookies in this manner since before I was born. Chew-" he cuts himself off as Sef's eyes begin to widen. "I crewed with Wookie once. He told me about it."

"Where were you when you were taken?" Rey says quickly, in search of a subject change. "Do you remember any of it?"

"We were each abducted from various parts of the galaxy." Sef scrubs a hand through his grey-shot hair, ruffling it into tufts. "I am from Mirial. My last memory is of my homestead. Tarsh was taken from Umbara. The child… The child is a mystery to us."

"She's Chiss," Kylo said quietly. "Of the Unknown Regions."

"I have never heard of the Chiss." The Mirialan strokes a thumb across his chin. "What I do know is that the one thing we seem to have in common is -"

"Force-sensitivity." Kylo interrupts, his tone darkening.

"What?" Rey looks to Kylo in surprise. "How could you know?"

"An educated guess." Kylo holds Sef's eyes with a levelled stare. "Am I right?"

"Yes," The Umbrian's cocks his head as he considers his guests. "As are the two of you, I assume?"

Rey feels Kylo bristle beside her and, grasping for a subject change, she turns her attention to the various objects piled to one side of the alcove. "What's all this?"

"Things that were here before us. Things that we've found. All of it useful to us now." Turning away, Sef picks up a crudely made clay carafe and offers it to them.

Rey accepts first, taking a quick sniff of its contents before tilting it towards her lips.

"Wait," Kylo cautions, pushing the carafe away, "I don't think you should -"

"You need not worry for her," the Mirialan says wryly, "It's just water from a nearby spring."

Forcing a smile through grinding teeth, Rey says the first thing that comes into her head. "And here I was hoping for green milk."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you," Sef rises to his feet. "Now, I must take up my shift as sentry for this evening." He spreads his arms towards the scattered things, "feel free to make use of anything you need. When I return, we'll talk more of -"

"You say you were abducted." Kylo interrupts. "Did you see your assailants beforehand?"

"No. We each suffered memory loss from the events that surrounded our abduction. All we know is that every day, the hunters return. To pick us off as if we are their trophies. So when we hear them, we hide. It's the only way to survive."

"How do you know all of this?" Kylo shifts as if still trying to find a way to fit his large body into their confined space. "If you don't know who your assailants are, how can you know you're their trophies."

For a long moment, Sef is silent. "As I told you earlier, there used to be more of us."

"What's your problem?" Rey turns to Kylo as the Mirialan exits the hollow. "And don't you dare tell me you have a bad feeling! We know the Trandoshans have dropped us here to hunt us - it stands to reason they've figured that out too."

"Perhaps." Unfolding himself from the floor, Kylo moves to investigate the discarded items of previous captives.

"Seems to me we're better off working together," Rey persists, following him, "so why do you have to act as if everyone is your enemy?"

He stops then, turning to fix her with a deadpan stare.

"Of course," she smacks her palm to her forehead, "how could I have possibly forgotten I'm talking to the Lord of Darkness."

Turning on her heel she leaves him, stoic and suspicious, to pick over the belongings of dead people by himself.

CHAPTER END NOTE:

Thank you to those who've encouraged this fic with feedback and kudos. I really appreciate you!

Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter - I can handle it! (My essay was a trainwreck, the original story I submitted for another uni assessment was a dumpster fire... Please say nice things to me so I can stop wallowing in despair?! Wait, what I meant to say is um... I can absolutely handle critique - what doesn't kill me makes me stronger, right? Right?!)

I'm not used to dealing with more than just Kylo and Rey, so these new characters were probably as painful to read as they were to write. However their temporary addition to the story is going to provide some background info and conflict for a couple of chapters or so. While the new characters themselves are invented by me, their species/race and accompanying Force abilities are canon.

The next chapter will be up in a week. :)