Leicho didn’t think she’d been unconscious for very long, but long enough to be disoriented all over again when she woke in a dim, cramped space—inside the vehicle that had stopped? Her surroundings did carry a sense of motion, but perhaps that was her head…Who was driving the vehicle? Where were they taking her? It was probably irrational to be alarmed, since this was the outcome she’d hoped for when she found the road, but she couldn’t help stiffening and reaching for her stinger in its holster.
“Shhh, hold still,” said a voice—a child? Leicho craned her head. Yes, a child, a humanic child (on a seed world?). She was much paler than Leicho’s people, but had brown hair in two messy braids, just like any child of Auvik. Leicho found that strangely comforting.
“It’s all good,” the child s
