Private Thrill of the Hunt

[Asha Mataya]

Escaping the Sith
Unknown spaceport, Zonama Sekot
Sometime at night
Marakai Al'Orren

Loa
​

"Alright lass, that's yer stop. Good luck, ye better not have caused us any trouble back home."

With a wave of the captain's hand, Asha was gestured to walk the boarding ramp out of the ship. Despite his better judgment he had let the woman on board mere minutes before their departure; she most definitely had something to hide, but the promise of credits was enough for him to take the risk. He was in a tight enough spot already, and any bit of extra income was welcome. As far as he was concerned, the woman was simply more cargo.

For Asha, that ship was her only way out. She needed to get away, far away from Sith space. Zonama Sekot wasn't the best of destinations, but there was little choice. She'd figure out how to get off this planet later. At least she was out of the clutches of the Sith. For now.

"Thank you. I'll be out of your hair, now," Asha replied as she waved and walked off. With a deep sigh, she pulled the hood over her head and looked to slink into the shadows, sticking to walls as she moved. She had hoped that leaving Sith Empire space would give her some peace of mind, but in reality things were the complete opposite. She felt like she was being watched, hunted. As if the man who was, until now, her master knew exactly where she had gone. Being around all these people only fed that anxiety.

She needed to get out of the spaceport.

In an effort to calm her nerves until she was away from all the chaos and unrest, Asha reached for the flask that hung on her hip. She shook it a little, like she always did, and it told her it was nearly empty. She popped the lid anyway and took a sip, then quickly clasped it back. Thankfully, nobody nearby had noticed its contents, or at least she thought. Things would've only gotten worse. She continued pushing her way through the port, eventually making her way out.

The settlement the spaceport was a part of was small, to little of Asha's surprise. Thankfully, there were no suns to be seen in the sky, allowing the woman to move much more freely. Her vampiric nature, which she wasn't keen on revealing to anyone here, meant she was cursed to never see the sun again without heavy repercussions. Even so, it was a small price to pay in order to live. Without it, she would've died much too young. Being a vampire meant she required blood for sustenance, though, which was going to become an issue soon. Her flask was nearly empty, and so she needed to refill it.

She needed to hunt.

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

A hunt of a different kind
Unnamed spaceport, Zonama Sekot
Late in the evening
Asha Mataya

Canting her head to the side, her felinoid gaze glittered a brilliant gold in the dim light of the alleyway. Careful steps took her slowly towards the end, brightly lit as it let out across the street from the spaceport. Gaze adjusting, she paused, brow furrowed as she remained in the shadows. There was a strange scent in the air - one that she did not recognize from the time she’d spent on the living planet.

There had been a whole host of new fauna to hunt in the uncharted jungles, and she’d given herself the time to spend in her natural feline form. This was the first time in two weeks she’d shifted back to human, needing to check in with Stali via holo as he’d requested. Mara appreciated that in spite of how full and busy his life was, he still kept tabs on his wayward idiot cousin.

Blinking, her mind returned to the present, her felinoid half rumbling at the back of her mind.

//Different. Dangerous.//

//Possibly...but also reminds me of Nemesis, now that I think about it. We follow.//

Fingers bent unnaturally as her bones rearranged themselves, lengthening into something that was semi-clawed and appeared felinoid in nature. Amber eyes glittered gold as pupils lengthened into slits and Mara breathed deeply in her comfortable hybrid form, centering her mind and senses alike. The scent deepened, and the predator in her recognized the scent of blood. There was no tinge of pain associated with it that she could find, but it grew closer as she slipped from the alleyway to follow the figure that emerged from the spaceport’s side entrance.

Golden eyes narrowed as she tracked the woman’s movements. If she was trying to appear unsuspicious, she’d failed, but then again, only Mara had apparently noticed, and everyone else simply went about their business. She’d spent too long on the front lines, she mused, reaching back to draw her hood up over her head. It wouldn’t do to startle the people any more than necessary as she quietly kept pace with the woman, endeavoring to catch up her on the quiet outskirts.

 

[Asha Mataya]

Asha wasted little time navigating through the settlement, her growing hunger incentivizing to move quickly. She hated losing her grip on her urges more than anything and would do anything to avoid it. The longer she went without feeding, the more difficult it became to suppress the urge to sink her teeth in the being she came across, regardless of sentience. It had made her do horrible things before, things that were shrouded in a haze in her memories. Perhaps it was for the better that she couldn't remember what happened in those moments. Witnessing the aftermath alone was bad enough.

Then, something brushed against her senses.

Her heart dropped for just a moment, her mind immediately preparing for the worst. She reached out into the Force, for as much as she had learned to do so, but felt no Darkness. The senses that weren't grounded in the Force still warned her, however. Someone was watching her. The woman kept walking as though nothing bothered her, but as she approached the outskirts she took a turn into an alleyway. If she really was being followed, her stalker would have to take this route as well.

There's no way they found me this quickly, right? Anyone else I can take, probably. It's probably some thug trying to rob me.

While her lightsaber was still in her backpack, Asha still had a knife holstered to her belt. A bow was strapped to the outside of the backpack as well, her favored hunting tool. Hopefully it gave any common thug enough of a reason to think twice about trying to jump her. That, or her mind was playing tricks on her all along. She had half a mind to dismiss the nagging feeling and chalk it up to paranoia. Ever since being introduced to the Force and the Darkness that came with it, paranoia had become somewhat commonplace.

Marakai Al'Orren ​

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

//Hungry.//

//We’ve been glutting ourselves the last two weeks...are you...ohhhhh. I’m an idiot.//

//Only sometimes.//

Mara sighed, the sound emerging more as a discontented rumble from deep in her chest. Given that her scent trailed from within spaceport, and there were no lingering traces anywhere else in the village, the woman must have just arrived. Whatever provisions she’d managed for her journey were probably rapidly running out.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she gently shook her head at her initial assumption. Of course the woman was hungry...even she was nigh on starved when it came to the end of space travel. A glance toward the busy thoroughfare found her a lull in traffic long enough to slip through as she continued to follow the woman.

The darkened alleyway yawned between two shuttered warehouse-type buildings, and the figure slipped into the shadows. Mara’s eyes narrowed as she pushed her hood back and followed, a faint growl rumbling deep in her chest.

“Hunting in this tiny settlement would be a verrry bad idea.” the felinoid master purred, pitching her voice low enough to not be heard by any passersby, but laced with enough Force energy to reach the woman’s ears further down the alley. She stopped, standing in an errant shaft of reflected light, and waited.

Asha Mataya​

 

[Asha Mataya]

The voice reached Asha's ears, sending a shiver down her spine in shock. It was laced with the Force, as far as she could tell, and that only could've meant bad news. A silhouette turned into a woman, though she was entirely human. In an instant the white-haired woman felt cornered, her thoughts screaming out to move while her instincts froze her in place. This was most certainly not a common thug.

Though her connection to the Force was still a rough one, it wasn't difficult to sense she was hopelessly outmatched. If the stranger was looking to take her out, there was going to be little she could put up in the way of resistance. She struggled with merely thinking straight; she wasn't even going to be at her sharpest if it were to come to any kind of fight.

"I-I wasn't looking to," Asha replied, a tinge of fear weaved into her intonation, "No animal would just walk on in. I'd be waiting for a while." She wasn't looking for any sentient prey if she could help it, though she fully realized how her little detour looked suspicious. "I would've taken a more direct route out of the settlement if I didn't feel watched." That wasn't a lie. Hopefully the other party recognized that.

Asha sighed. It didn't matter. It had been a hopeless endeavor from the start.

"If you're here to kill me, just do it. I should've known I couldn't run."

An acceptance. Fate would find its way around, always.

Marakai Al'Orren ​

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

//Afraid. Hurting.//

Mara could feel the threads of both weaving their way to the surface, even as her other half had already put the sensations into words. She winced internally, and the feline fell silent at the back of her mind, purring rather amiably in spite of the predator standing some few feet away.

Predator she might have been, but she was in no condition to argue with either half of Mara's nature.

Her stance altered, and she hissed quietly as her hands cracked almost audibly and regained their human shape. Her eyes remained felinoid, however, letting her see in the near darkness with clarity. Mara's burnished gold gaze remained upon the woman's form as she stepped forward slowly, stopping a few feet away from her. There was no malice, no tinge of rage or anger. Just fear, exhaustion, hunger...all things she knew all too well.

//We help.//

Mara blinked at the suddenly firm tone that brooked no discussion at the back of her mind. It was...surprising, to say the least, but she'd learned to trust her feline half's judgement a long time ago.

"Forrr whateverrr it's worrrth, I'm sorrrry about that. I didn't anticipate sensing someone like you and followed mostly out of rrreflex." she purred softly, keeping her voice as warm and calm as she could. "The jungle outside the settlement is brrrimming with prey worrrrthy of a good hunt. Forrrgive me forrr saying it, but you feel weakened by yourrr hungerrr...would you accept help?"

Asha Mataya ​

 

[Asha Mataya]

For only a moment, the two stood before each other, only a small distance between them. To Asha, however, that moment lasted a lifetime. She was convinced that this was the end, that she would die in an alleyway on a strange planet with nobody around to miss her. She was too mentally strained to even pay attention to the fact the stranger's shape had shifted, or even notice the lack of hostility. She braced herself, and accepted what she thought would come next.

That thing didn't happen.

Instead, the woman spoke to her with a calm tone. She seemed friendly, even, and it was more than just confusing. Asha blinked, trying to keep her heart rate under control as the two locked eyes. The effort was quite frankly futile, though; the adrenaline in her system made sure her heart would continue beating out of her chest. There was one thing she was certain of, and that was the fact she was thankful for not being dead. "Y-you're fine," Asha muttered in response to the apology. She was too tired to be upset, anyway.

The offer that was made to her afterwards came as nothing but a relief. The woman wasn't a hunter, she was made to be one, and with her lack of experience she would've been at great risk on her own. It wasn't difficult to see that the stranger was very different from her in that regard, she was a hunter through and through. Not even the fact she was starving had gone unnoticed.

"I would, gladly even. With the state I'm in, I might just become the hunted out there," Asha answered with a nod. She could finally relax a little, causing the muscles in her shoulders to untense. Someone like her had no right to be too prideful to accept help, especially not now. Survival came before everything else.

"It would only be fair to introduce myself," the woman added, extending a hand to shake. "Name's Asha. It's- uh- it's nice to meet you." A weak smile accompanied the words.

Marakai Al'Orren ​

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

The woman moved forward with careful steps, intending to keep the ease with which Asha suddenly found herself. It was acceptance and some degree of relief that Mara recognized, and she wondered just what the poor woman had been through that got her to such a state of...despair and mistrust.

Well, mistrust she could understand with galactic politics breaking down and wars heating up again. It wouldn't be long before she was called back to the front, and that brought a whole host of memories and sensations she didn't want right then. Shoving them back into the deep recesses of her mind, Mara took Asha's proffered hand and shook it gently, mindful to keep her strength out of it.

"Pleased to meet you, Asha. I'm Marrrrakai, but everyone calls me Marrrra. Let's go this way..." she purred softly, a warm smile curling her features, hopefully softening the effect her obviously felinoid gaze tended to have on those unfamiliar with her.

Pointing behind Asha, she paused until the woman turned and walked at her side through what remained of the alley. They emerged into a darkened side street, quiet and devoid of the bustle closer to the spaceport even at this late hour. Leading the way through the remaining streets and pathways, Marra kept them to the shadows for Asha's comfort, slowing her pace to match when needed.

"Out of currrriosity, how did you find yourrrself herrre of all places? It's not exactly on the major destination list of most trrrravelerrrs." Marra uttered softly, a touch of energy in her voice as they made their way out of the settlement and into the beginnings of the wilds beyond.

Asha Mataya​

 

[Asha Mataya]

Wordlessly, Asha followed right behind her latest acquaintance. There was, perhaps, some amount of risk involved in going along with someone you had met only moments before, but there weren't many other people on this planet who'd even offer such a helping hand. The choices available to her weren't all too varied, either; she could go in alone and, with how vulnerable she was, risk losing her life, or take a chance on Mara. For some reason or another, the woman seemed trustworthy enough.

Whether Asha was confident enough to tell her how she got here, though, was a more difficult question.

"Is it okay if I come back to you about that later? It's, well, a long story," Asha mumbled. With the state she was in, she didn't trust herself to come up with a believable story that wasn't just the truth, and for now she really didn't feel the need to tell anyone where she had been before coming here. Anyone who disliked Sith just enough would have enough of a reason to turn hostile. As long as she was as much of a 'nothing' as possible, there was no reason to go for her throat.

The fact she was a vampire was going to reveal itself before the end of the night already, though. Asha supposed it was better to simply get that part out of the way. As the two set foot outside of the city's borders and into the wilderness, she drew Mara's attention with a silent "hmm," or at least she attempted to do so.

"I should probably tell you something, though," she remarked, "because I am not really just another human. I used to be, but I'm a sanguinius vampirika. Or, as most would say, a vampire- and yes, an animal's blood is more than good enough," she hastily added, hoping to stave off any tension.

Marakai Al'Orren ​

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

The woman nodded as they walked, gradually veering off the main path out of the settlement in favor of following one of the myriad of game paths toward the nearest source of water. "Fairrr enough. You don't have to answerrrr, honestly, but I'm happy to listen if you want to tell me at some point."

Mara paused, holding a hand up to Asha briefly before tilting her head back and breathing deeply. Her nose wrinkled slightly and her eyes glittered in the faint moonlight. "Nothing herrrre, we'll have to see if therrre is something nearrr the waterrr." she purred quietly, tilting her head to indicate the direction as they continued to move.

Asha spoke a moment later, and confirmed what Mara and her dual nature had begun to guess at earlier. Sanguinius vampirika...one who had been given the 'gift' as opposed to having been born to it. She had heard of it given her friendship with Nemesis, who herself was a different kind of vampire, and found herself trying to best figure out how to put Asha at ease with the truth she'd offered.

"Thank you forrr telling me. I...had guessed, to be honest. You're not the first vampirrrre I've met, though my friend Nemesis is what's called an enerrrgy vampirrre as I underrrrstand it. If you'rrre ever interrrested I could intrrrroduce you." Mara added after a few moments of companionable silence.

"In the interrrrest of honesty, then, I can tell you'rrrre also Forrrrce sensitive. My full name and title is Jedi Masterrr Marrrakai Al'Orrrren, but for love of the Forrrrce, don't hold that against me. The Light and I have had a rrrrratherrr contentious rrrrelationship overrr the yearrrrs." she half smiled, and shrugged her shoulders as she flicked her cloak off and carefully folded it up and tucked it into the slim pack on her back.

"But the otherrrrr detail. I'm not human in the least. I am a shapeshifterrrr of some rrrreally scrrrewed up lineage. Half Felacatian, the felinoid species frrrrom Felacat, and half Shi'ido. My Felacatian genes arrrre dominant and I have my 'otherrrr half' in my head...my feline half..." her voice trailed off after a few moments, and she took the time to fuss and rearrange the contents of her backpack. Why she felt comfortable telling someone about herself in such detail was a Force-be-damned mystery. Most of her friends didn't even know these details, people she'd known and trusted for years. Hell, Stali was the only one who knew all of it.

But there was something about Asha she simply couldn't put her finger on, and it elicited a startling level of honesty.

Which...Mara would need to overthink about at the earliest opportunity. The snort in the back of her mind told her exactly the tone that discussion was liable to take.

Right. Hunt. Asha needs to eat. Get your head back in the game, you idiot.

With a soft sigh, Mara adjusted the pack on her back and straightened. "I'm going to shift and you can take a moment to get used to me. Take as much time as you need." she added faintly, and then did precisely that. There was a brief cracking sound and she hissed softly as the pain flashed across her senses, bones breaking and realigning, tendons and muscles tearing and reattaching. In the woman's place soon stood a massive feline beast, dark fur that matched her sable locks, sabretooth fangs and teeth gleaming in the light, a matte silver chain around her neck.

//It's just me.// she sent gently to Asha's mind, settling herself a few paces away and waiting. Purring softly.

And hoping.

Asha Mataya​

 

[Asha Mataya]

Generally, people didn't take too well to Asha's vampirism. Reactions often ranged from fearful to hostile and lessons were quickly learned from those. She hid that part of her nature, which, although it came with its own set of challenges, had allowed her to at least experience flashes of a normal life. She still watched her back at all times, paranoia was a powerful thing, but she had gotten much better at making people believe she was just another woman.

When Asha then exposed herself to Mara, it left her feeling like her heart was racing. With shaky hands scratching the back of her neck she awaited the woman's response, but it wasn't the kind she had come to expect. Suddenly, she realized how tensed up her shoulders were.

"That's a relief," Asha muttered, followed by a sigh of relief. "I mean, the understanding. People generally don't react too well when they find out." She couldn't blame those people, but it was a problem nonetheless.

"And I wouldn't be against meeting people who I can be honest around. If time allows, who knows?"

The two continued on and as they did, Mara decided to return the act of honesty. When she revealed she was a Jedi, Asha did break out in a cold sweat for a second, but kept her cool. She wasn't a Sith anymore. It was a mistake, one she had learned from before it was too late. "It's funny actually. I only found out about my Force sensitivity about a year ago. I'm not particularly well-practiced."

Mara went even further, though, explaining she wasn't as human as she looked either. Asha had already seen some of her shapeshifting in that alleyway, but it turned out it went even further than that. "So I wasn't imagining things before," she joked. "Life can deal you a strange hand, sometimes."

Watching Mara shift, though, was stranger than Asha had expected. Within Sith Empire territory she'd heard of the most fantastical stories of mighty Sith taking various shapes, but those were stories, dramaticized retellings. Watching someone shift right in front of her eyes was a very different experience.

It's just her.

She nodded, giving Mara a half-smile.

Marakai Al'Orren ​

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

For a massive predator who had several different kinds of power in spades, the feline was nervous like a house cat in a room full of rocking chairs. She sat quietly instead of pacing, hindquarters on the ground, and paws arranged neatly with her tail wrapped around them. It was comfortable, and it would, for the moment, keep her tail from flicking back and forth erratically.

The matte silver chain around her neck was made of interwoven 'threads' of enchanted beskar that disappeared beneath her skin in her human form, but emerged when she shifted to her feline form. It was years of research and development with the aid of her sister, E'vi and others within the Mandalorian clan she tacitly belonged to. Identification at a glance on the battlefield was of supreme importance considering the amount of time she spent on the front lines, and it was something she'd now become almost infamous for.

She blinked slowly and rose once more to all four of her feet, giving herself a good shake to settle both her fur and the chain around her neck. She raised one huge paw to bat at her own ear briefly, before her feline half gently gave Mara a mental nudge. ///Alright, Asha...I...honestly have a ton of questions right now, but they can wait. You need to eat. There's a grazing beast resembling a massive deer that goes down to the riverside to drink at night. Let's go catch you one.///

Mara's mindvoice was warm and clear, a soft purring undertone seeking to offer reassurance. She padded forward silently to Asha's side, and waited for the woman to gather herself as the pair stalked forward.

Asha Mataya​

 

[Asha Mataya]

The riverside wasn't too far out and so it was only a short walk later that the duo would find themselves eying a deer-like creature drinking from the water that gently flowed by. Asha came to a halt, taking cover behind a tree as she took a moment to steady her breathing. She could almost feel the animal's heartbeat from where she was standing, but she needed to be calm and collected until it was time to strike.

The woman carefully put down her backpack onto the ground and took off the bow and quiver of arrows that were bound to the outside and slung the latter over her shoulder. One arrow was taken out, which she held in her left hand while holding the bow in her right.

"I will try to slow it down, a well-aimed arrow should cripple it," she whispered as she nocked the arrow and pulled it back. She was far from proficient enough in the Force to speak to Mara through it, which did embarrass her slightly. She dearly hoped she wouldn't make it any worse by missing her shot and scaring the beast away.

A deep breath in.

Asha lined up the shot, then aimed upwards slightly to compensate for the distance.

Her eyes closed. The voice in the back of her head told her she would hit. She let fly.

Only when the sound of a panicked beast reached her ears did she open her eyes again, and as she did she saw Mara fly past her from the corner of her eye. The beast's final moments had come.

Marakai Al'Orren ​

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

HUNT!

The voice of her feline half was loud and clear at the forefront of her mind as it always when she was shifted into her comfortable, natural form. She launched herself past Asha's slender form as it was caught up with the bow still held at the ready. The arrow flew straight and true, sinking deep into the grazing animal. Its panic and pain was palpable, and she felt it deeply as both a predator and one immersed in the Force. She chased after it, keeping to a wide circle in order to keep it herded in one small area.

It readied one last, final, frenzied leap towards what it perceived was freedom until her massive feline form charged through the undergrowth that remained and finally brought it down. It was nearly dead, and there was a difficult moment when she forced herself to pull away from tearing it's throat out with a shake of her head. She remained there, waiting for Asha to catch up, taking a few steps back and sprawling out in a patch of moonlight, her slitted pupils flicking back and forth from the treeline to the dying beast.

She did not think Asha had to have living blood, given the flask she'd seen, but she had little doubt it would taste better if she drew the creatures blood and last bit of life for herself. Perhaps Mara would have to ask her about it when the opportunity presented itself. For now, the feline caught her breath and savored the burn of her muscles after the extended chase.

It was good to be an apex predator.

Asha Mataya​

 

[Asha Mataya]

Though Asha was forced to become a hunter, she didn't like seeing her prey in pain. It made her uncomfortable, knowing that they were suffering. A quick and painless way to go would always be her preference. Still, she couldn't deny the invigorating feeling of drinking straight from the vein. It gave her the kind of rush that bottled blood simply didn't.

The woman walked towards the dying beast, a glance cast towards Marakai. She nodded to show her gratitude. "I feel a little awkward when I, you know," she mumbled. "I know it's a bit weird to ask, but could you give me a moment for this?" When she fed that way, she felt utterly vulnerable. She hated it. Hopefully one day she'd be able to move over that.

After being given the privacy she needed, she kneeled down by the beast's neck and pulled out a small knife. With it she carefully cut away a patch of fur and after putting the blade away again she sinked her teeth in.

Relief set in right after the first greedy gulp.

---

After some time, Asha rejoined her hunting partner, looking invigorated. The flask on her hip was filled to the brim, a weight on her hip that felt strangely good. In opposition to the half-smiles she had given before, Mara now received a toothy one. Asha thanked her lucky stars she still had some water on her to get the blood off of them.

"I haven't felt this refreshed in weeks," Asha beamed, "thanks to you. I'm in your debt."

Marakai Al'Orren ​

 

[Marakai Al'Orren]

She had nodded her head, and padded off into the tree line to give Asha her privacy. Wanting that moment to ones self was not something unknown to the woman, and she could well recall the reactions of those precious few who had seen her in that very moment. Some understood, some did not. With a faint rumble of contentment, she sprawled out on a patch of grass on the riverbank lazily lounging on her side.

The moonlight was bright and gilded the dense jungle in silver, and the sounds of nocturnal life slowly resumed. Shifting slightly, Mara sat up and resumed her human shape, brushing herself off and setting her slim backpack to her side. A few moments later, Asha joined her, looking invigorated and offering a brilliant smile that made her pause to admire what it did for her features.

Mara offered a smile of her own in return, gently patting the ground beside her in invitation. "You arrrre most welcome." she purred softly, leaning back on her hands. Canting her head to the side, she studied the slender blonde and gave her time to get settled before speaking again.

"Now that you've slaked yourrrr thirrrrst forrrr the time being, any idea wherrrre you'd like to go next? I was going to head back towarrrrds the Corrrre, and you'rrre morrrrre than welcome to join me. I can drrrrop you off wherrreverrr you'd like..."

///She comes with.///

///Only if she wishes it, dearheart. Otherwise, we help her find a transport.///

Her feline half rumbled softly at the back of her mind, partly with insistence, partly with...something she couldn't name. It was fleeting, however, and she simply purred contentedly at the back of her mind, a sound that Mara echoed softly aloud.

Asha Mataya​

 

[Asha Mataya]

The invitation to take a moment and sit down was gladly accepted. Asha put the backpack she had recovered down and sat down next to Marakai, taking a moment to stretch after doing so. Muscles finally untensed and with a deep breath, the woman could finally relax for a moment. Only now that she could peacefully look over the riverbank did she realize just how on edge she had been for the past number of days. She didn't know much about the Force, but meeting Mara had been nothing short of a blessing.

Asha wouldn't stay here forever, though. She was going to get off this planet somehow when she was ready to leave, but it seemed she didn't have to look for anyone to take her off-world this time. The Core seemed a much better place to be, too. A consistent lack of Sith around would do the soul good. An appreciative smile crept onto Asha's face.

"I would be happy to tag along," she responded as she turned her head towards Marakai. As paranoid as she had been lately, Asha felt none of that now. "I've been drifting around the galaxy, without any real destination. Basically, you're free to drop me off the moment you get tired of me." A chuckle escaped her lips as she rubbed her neck. "Or simply the next planet over. Whatever's more convenient for you," she quickly added, not wanting to ask too much. Especially not when she had barely met Mara and already received as much help as she had.

"I'll help out with anything you may need a hand with along the way, of course." Asha hated being a freeloader.

Marakai Al'Orren ​