"I'm
fine, Miera." Arias said as she fussed over some scraps and cuts he had gained during his earlier fight. "It'll take more than a bunch of witless beasts to bring me down." He took a gulp of vegetable juice, which next to water was their only beverage.
"Maybe, but that was still very reckless of you." She looked down at Kal, who was busy answering questions about his encounter to a very inquisitive Adrial. "It's a good thing that Kal had good enough sense not to stop and fight those things. He wouldn't have lasted three seconds against even one of them."
"True enough, but his skills
are improving. He reminds me of myself when I was his age. But still, he shouldn't have had to face those things. It's very unusual for them to come this far south." Arias looked down the length of the community meal table at Jorran, who was being plagued by questions from small children. "Do you think the new arrivals have anything to do with that?"
"Unlikely though it may be, that
is a possibility."
"Have you asked him about the state of the galaxy?"
"No, he volunteered to tell me, but I said it would be best of you were with me when we heard the news."
"Hmm. The meat seems a little undercooked. Is Orran getting rusty?" Arias held up a strip of maslith meat that wasn't thoroughly cooked.
"Actually, Jorran helped out with the cooking. He wanted to do something to help out around the village, and I sent him to help out Orran."
"Apparently he wasn't properly trained as a chef." He held two strips of meat next to each other, one triple the thickness of the other.
Several places down the table, Jorran could hardly eat for all the questions that were being thrown at him.
"What was your spaceship like?"
"How old are you?"
"Where did you come from?"
"You smell funny."
"Can I have your shoes?"
"What's your name?"
"Your cloak is soft, can I have it?"
***
After working with the repulsorlift systems for several hours, Aasan has finished welding the cracks whole again. All that was left to do was to repair the wiring and do a systems check. Aasan found that he needed sleep, badly. If he went any further without rest, he guessed that he would fall asleep while splicing power feeds and electrocute himself. Kia could easily handle the finishing touches on her own, as he had taken care of the more critical, complicated components. If all went well, the repulsorlifts could be up and running with only a few more hours of repair work.
***
