Cassian looked at the corpos in a stunned daze, both spread out on the soaked and dirty ground like huge and pathetic sacks of potatoes.

His gaze then turned to the big-eyed girl from the brothel, frozen in place with a truncheon in each hand. She was quite short and almost skinny, but her apparent frailty was evidently deceptive, as her impressive display of strength had just proved.

She had taken those uniformed thugs by surprise and knocked them out in a heartbeat while they were busy mocking and threatening him in that dark and empty street.

"Wow. Thank you," he managed to utter in a croaky voice, and ventured a slight smile. "Why have you helped me?" The question left his lips before he could think of it.

"I can't stand bullies," she answered, lowering her gaze and blushing. The pink hue on her pale cheeks was lovely. "And besides, I knew they would chase after you and wasn't able to dissuade them. Couldn't let them." She lifted her amazing eyes to him again. "We should hurry away from here before they regain consciousness. But before that, I'll take their weapons and search their pockets." And she proceed to, with a dexterity which showed that she was not new to plundering. "You want any of this?," she asked him a bit reluctantly, beginning to pocket her stolen earnings in her coat.

"Suit yourself," he answered with a wave of his hand and an amused expression.

Cassian felt suddenly very concerned for her wellbeing. He owed her his life, or at least his physical integrity, after all. "But what will you do now? You can't go back to the brothel. It's too risky after this."

She smiled sadly and sprang to action again, walking fast away from the crime scene. He strode after her.

"I'll manage," she answered, without slowing down her pace.

Up that close, she looked very young. He doubted she'd even reached adulthood, and if she had, her appearance didn't show it. Mobsters and perverts didn't care that their targets were underage. Many of them aimed precisely for minors, the scumbags.

Her dark hair was plastered to her forehead and cheeks. Her hood, like his, couldn't do much to prevent the heavy rain from pouring onto her exposed skin. "I could give you a ride to wherever you wish. My ship isn't far from here," he offered on impulse.

She turned her beautiful and wary face to him with a hesitant expression, appraising him carefully. He couldn't begrudge her her caution. But he truly wanted to help her. It was the least he could do. That had nothing to do with the pull he felt toward her, of course. And he ignored where that unbidden thought had come from.

He almost shook his head to rid himself of that uncomfortable certainty. She's just a girl. Forbidden territory.

Cassian had done quite a few questionable things in his life, but he never involved himself with minors or prostitutes. He'd never pay for sex because he wanted to do it with a willing partner who did it because she desired to, not as a transaction, or even worse, because she was being threatened by her pimps. He wouldn't ever become another notch in the net of sex traffic.

And if that girl walking beside him was a minor in addition to being a prostitute, then he had twice as many reasons to avoid any involvements with her.

But he'd try to help her in any capacity she allowed him to.

She bit her bottom lip, clearly struggling with herself. "I shouldn't accept your help. If I get on your ship, I'll be completely at your mercy."

Cassian didn't press. "I wouldn't ever harm you, but I understand that you don't trust my intentions. I wouldn't expect less. But at least let me accompany you to the nearest spaceport. I wouldn't stay on this planet for longer than strictly necessary if I were you."

She again fixed on him those mesmerizing eyes. "Then you should take your own advice," she retorted with a mischievous grin. "I don't think those morons with uniform are going to forget you soon."

He shrugged and waved his hand dismissively. "Meh. I can handle scum like that. Wouldn't be the first time."

Her irises were pale green, he'd just noticed. He felt drawn to their bottomless depths. "I'm sure it wouldn't be," she acquiesced. "Know what, I'll take up on your offer, what the hell. Wherever you're headed for is fine to me, as long as you don't go anywhere near Hutt space," she blurted out half teasingly.

Her reaction took Cassian by surprise. She'd surprised him twice already since meeting her little more than half an hour earlier. He replied in the same teasing tone. "I'm afraid I'm not very fond of Hutt space myself." She chuckled slightly. He liked that sound. "I'm headed for Ferrix, but seriously, you've earned yourself a new chauffeur for the destination of your choice."

"Then Ferrix would be fine, thanks. I don't want you to go out of your way," she decided determinedly. "And I have no place to go or to return to anyway, Morlana or not," she added with a touch of sadness under her light tone.

He had suspected as much. Something in the way she carried herself, as a person painfully used to care for herself, used to loneliness. The pull in his heart became stronger. He at least had Maarva and his friends. That girl most probably had no one. "Then it's settled. I'm Cassian, by the way," he introduced himself between strides.

"Kestrel," she offered. He was certain that she was using a fake name, as fake as her alias in the brothel, but he was okay with that. A smart girl like her wouldn't trust a stranger like him with sensible information about herself.

"Nice to meet you, Kestrel. Excuse me if I don't shake your hand, we don't have much time to lose. And my ship is right there." He pointed at the serviceable piece of junk he sometimes borrowed from Zorby's Western Shiplot thanks to his dealings with Pegla.

Kestrel's eyebrows lifted almost to her hairline at the hardly appealing vehicle. "You sure that wreck works?"

It was Cassian's turn to chuckle at her dry humor. "Let's check. Last time it worked just fine. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been here for you to save my pitiful ass."

He was glad to see her laugh once more.

"And just for your knowledge, because it's obvious you're wondering, I'm legal. I turned eighteen three months ago," she added breezily while walking the last steps to the ship.

That witty remark left him speechless, with his jaw comically dropped.

It was his third surprise of the night.