Chapter 10

Kai didn't expect to feel like crap when she emerged from consciousness.

She actually didn't expect to emerge from consciousness at all when she last closed her eyes.

The teen still felt horribly feverish, but not on the verge of death, which she was thankful for. She didn't want to open her eyes, afraid of what she would see.

Was she really still safe in the forest? Or was she somewhere in a lab or a prisoner in a cell? How long had she been out anyway?

Wherever she was, Kai would have to find out sooner or later. With great difficulty, she opened up her eyes, relaxing a bit when she saw the trees that she had become familiar and comfortable with surrounding her. However, the two unfamiliar voices, speaking that strange and unknown language that she had been heard from the few encounters from the inhabitants could be heard and kept her from relaxing fully.

She was still out in the cold, but wrapped in a sleeping bag. Her shoulder was letting her know that it was still injured with a dull throb. Although, it appeared that her fever had lowered and her shoulder had been treated.

But by who?

Sitting up was difficult, having to clutch her shoulder as the pain continued to be felt. Kai glanced around at the camp that had been made around her. There was a fire that was still new, judging based on the fact of the small size, though there was enough heat coming from the flames that helped to beat back the chill that slowly becoming more prominent in the air. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dying light of day, and quickly landing on two beings sitting just outside the light of the fire. It was hard to make out their features, even with her eyesight.

"Meeadarl vaick canul." The younger looking of the two said in a joking tone. Gesturing to where she was sitting without turning around, he added, "Ceral keena voshiak. Mena voocah alrean!"

The older man, who sat with a strange hat next to him chuckled. "Myneral veecha garaxi loval. No talvaky wencha vexali."

Kai shifted, thinking that if she was sneaky enough, she could slip away from these men. However, she shifted, the sleeping bag that she was in shifted also. There was a rustling noise that in the near-quietness of the night sounded far too loud. Kai winced as she dared a glance back, freezing as she caught the two men looking at her. In their eyes, the Nautolan could see the fear and curiosity that no doubt was mirrored in her own.

The older man moved towards her, slowly with his hands held up in a placating gesture. Kai backed herself against a tree, feeling foolish for doing so. Her master warned her about backing herself into corners.

Of course, he would mean that in a metaphorical way, not in a literal way.

But he would warn her about it nonetheless.

Stupidly realizing that she didn't have her lightsaber, Kai worried about her safety when she noticed the younger man's pistol at his hip.

No matter, she thought setting her jaw. He'll have to be quicker than me. And no one is quicker than me in regards to the Force.

Her fingers curled into fists and she dipped her metaphysical form into the energy that surrounded everything. She was preparing to fight if it came down to it. Kai hoped it wouldn't, seeing how weak she still was but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

Another thing her master would say.

"Eachal vack." The man with the beard and the scruffy voice said. It was said in a tone that was normally used to calm down frightened animals. "Welark mainchur vearsl. Hurkal vesamart."

"Doc, juaalr araal maichak?"

Kai's eyes were going back and forth between the two men. She understood the context of the older man's words, sorta. Kai wasn't the best at picking up new languages but she had a feeling that the man was saying 'easy there, we're not going to hurt you'.

She tensed when the man crouched in front of her. Her hands were clenched and while she didn't cower completely, she wasn't defiant too much. There was exhaustion in her bones, greater than she had ever experienced before. Even on the battlefields, even without the comforts found on Coruscant worlds away, Kai had never felt such exhaustion, such hunger.

Kai figured that the fever had snapped what little strength she had. She could've dealt with the fatigue that accompanied hunger like an old friend had the infectious fever not snapped the strength she had left.

The teenager sagged against the tree as the man leaned closer, almost to an uncomfortable degree.

"Lexa tycell feacer bexceelant. Halow faxai moolare?"

She didn't have an answer for the question she didn't understand. Instead her eyes closed before she opened them back up. The man was smiling softly at her.

"Getabu moonari sleapki." He said. Kai took that as an order to go back to sleep. She immediately snuggled down back into the sleeping bag, curling herself up like a little slug. Her eyes, lingering on the man for a moment, before darting to the fire and staying there. The flames were hypnotizing, licking at the air and the little embers that flew upward like little stars falling in the opposite direction drew her attention more than anything.

Before she knew it, her lids were flicking shut. A deep breath of the smoke-filled air and with the crackle of the flames, Kai's eyes finally slid closed.