Above the Stars ~ Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I felt the steady movement stop. I was welcomed with a white blindness that covered my masked face. The vale shielded most of the fallen flakes, but the rest found it’s way through the mask and clung to my skin. The temperature was frigid; maybe a couple of degrees lower. Streams of ice flew past, non-stopping, sticking to anything in it’s path. I had to hold onto the saddle with an unbreakable grip, the gale force of the wind was enough to almost knock me off balance. I unclenched one of my solid hands and reached behind, only to find that there wasn’t anyone there, certainly not who I expected to be there. Where was Gaius? I knew it was pointless to cry out for him, even if he did hear me over the terrible howling of the environment, there was no way I was able to hear his reply. My hood was the only thing that kept my head on and I wasn’t about to risk further paralysation any time soon. I had to believe that Gaius was leading us out of the storm, mainly due to the fact that the Owla seemed to be lead somewhere. I wished I could see, I wished I could have been more help but to be honest, I knew that if I tried there was a high possibility that I would end up a burden or make things worse.

We were driven to a small dark clearing just up ahead, the storm began to dwindle just enough for my eyes to reopen and adjust to their new surroundings. The nearer we got, the more of the place came into view. We were being guided into a cave, large enough to fit all three of us in and to shelter us. The cave was dark, no doubt about it, though tiny lines of light appeared through several ceiling cracks. I would have thought that the place would have been damp, but it seemed that the cave was pretty dry; shocking really, especially after the blizzard we just managed to survive through. As we advanced, I noticed that we were getting further into the cave, away from the entrance. The Owla unknowingly grounded to a holt; a covered hand grabbed my leg and pulled me down to his level. I couldn’t control my actions and ended up using his grip as a life-line. My lower body had no feeling, even when I tried to stand up properly; I relied on the man to stand. I heard several muffled coughs before he guided me to a small layout of rocks, allowing me to sit to regain my energy. I looked up and realised straight away who the man was and relaxed my muscles. I couldn’t help but watch as Gaius led the Owla to the left-hand side of me, just far enough to not make direct contact. The Owla agreeably folded it’s knees, lying on the ground. Gaius fiddled with one of the bags on the Owla’s back. After a few struggled moments he loosened the ropes and the bags fell to the floor with a thud. There were three large one’s in total, all dismounted and ready to be opened. Gaius flicked through each one; accept for mine, grabbing any equipment he could and setting it down in the middle of the path. During this time, the numbness started to subside and I was useful once more. I sat up, with trouble, and limped over to the bags, reorganising the items inside and taking out the necessitates. When I glanced back at what Gaius was doing, I almost fell back in shock. There was a small device, shaped in a rectangle, placed near him. The unusual part was that a huge fire resonated from microscopic holes that were on the top. The four walls were pulled out and four long thick metal sticks folded out. The ends of each one fixed together at the centre of the fire, creating a point. On top of the point was a thin metal plate that had a diamond shape cut through the middle so it could easily slot through the point and rest mid-way through the metal sticks, just below the fire. To be honest, it was a simple looking contraption that easily fit together. I went back to look through my bag to see what was packed in, since I didn’t pack it myself. Inside was a human-styled brush; a mirror that Faralda had with her in her bag, I smiled at that; two pairs of black dresses, identical to the one I already wore and two brown fur sheets wrapped in a bindle. I pulled the bindle out and began to untie them, knowing that I was going to need the fur sheets to stop the cold. Gaius moved over to the other bag and took out more rectangular containers, silver and metallic. It was only when Gaius opened the boxes that I realised that they stored food inside of them; ingenious portable mini refrigerators. There were also five leather containers that contained drinkable fluids (I wasn’t sure what the liquid was, though it had a minty aftertaste). He placed four pairs of white-coloured meat onto the metal slate above the already lit fire and began to roll out his bindle on the floor opposite mine. I made my way over to the fire, sat down and took off my hood and veil. I was thankful that I was able to breath properly again, the veil and snow-bitten nose didn’t help. After Gaius was done, he wondered over and sat next to me, undoing his hood.

“How are you feeling?” He asked quietly.
“F..fine...” I coughed. My voice was dry, mainly due to the cold. Gaius handed me one of the leather wraps containing some sort of fluid. I quickly slurped it down until I felt better. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” We sat in silence once more, the occasional snores of the now asleep Owla filling the void.
“So... what now?”
“We stay here until the blizzard has cleared, then we’ll travel towards the city.”
“How do you know where we’re going? Do you have a map?”
He took something out of his pocket and showed it to me. It was only when I took a closer look that I found that it was the teleporter he carried with him ever since we first met. He pressed one of the many buttons on the side and a holographic image of a map of the land appeared in a blue flash.
“Wow. I didn’t know your teleporter can do that!”
“It’s more than a teleporter, remember? I had it upgraded for this specific task; it should lead us to Arikira.”
“I hope your right. Good to see it’s working again.”
“It is.”
“Have you ever been to Arikira?”
“When I was younger, though... that was a long time ago.”
I didn’t want to intrude, but my curious nature didn’t stop there. “How long have you been on Alkalli? I thought you left when you were a baby.” I remembered the dream I had of his memory, the one where I first saw Alkalli. I found out a couple of days later that the baby was him and the couple where his parents. I wanted to understand what went on, I just hoped he was comfortable with telling me.
He sighed heavily. “It’s all in the past now, there’s no need to relive it.”
“Please. I’d like to know.”
“Why?”
“I’m curious.” I replied innocently. That rewarded me with a smirk before he gave in.
“You know that I left at a young age, what you don’t know is why.” His smirk fell and sadness evoked him. “A short time after my birth, my father was assigned to a scientific pursuit to discover new planets and life forms in the universe. It was his job to gain knowledge about these places, though it meant that he had to be away for several years. It was approaching my third birth year that he was called away once more. Cevenor was already a lot older and had matured more than I had by this time. I was still young, very young. My father found that my mother was dreadfully ill and would not survive. Since there was no one else to look after Cevenor and I, she insisted that my father take us with him, so we’d have someone to care for us when she finally passed. She knew that we would have been gone for a matter of time, and by the time we’d arrive back that she would have already died. My father agreed, though just barely. In his grief for the future, he left, as her will, with both of us. We arrived back at Alkalli years later, only to find that my mother had passed. My father stayed strong and brought us up the way the best he could, including frequent travels to different cities, one being Arikira, mainly due to business.” A sudden wave of guilt filled my soul. I learnt an answer to a question I shouldn’t have intruded on and the answer itself was heartbreaking. I wasn’t sure what to say; what could I say? It wasn’t the answer I was expecting and definitely didn’t want him to relive.
“I-I’m so sorry Gaius... I didn’t know...” I whispered.
“It doesn’t matter, it’s in the past.” He sighed once more, staring into the light fireplace in remembrance.
“What happened next?” I asked, breaking him from his trance.
“When he passed, Cevenor and I were more than capable of taking care of ourselves. I chose to take up my father’s place as a scientist, of sorts. I guess you would say I was ‘following in my father’s footsteps’, am I correct in that assumption?”
I nodded. “Are you alright?”
“Fine.” He muttered, looking at the ground.
I guiltily glanced back at the fire, only to gasp and scream “FIRE!” Gaius’ head shot up as one of the pieces of meat set aflame. He grabbed it with his hand, threw it on the floor and stamped on it until the fire went out. I sighed with relief. He picked the coal-like fragments of meat left.
“I’ll let you eat that one.” I laughed.
Gaius chuckled. “Really? What is the phrase on your planet? ‘Ladies first?’”
I tried to control my laughter, “Age before beauty!”
Gaius tilted his head to the side. “Aren’t you younger than me? Why would you suggest that I go last?”
“Oy! I meant me!” He rejoined me on the floor, I nudged his shoulder playfully.

The silence returned though it wasn’t as uncomfortable. Gaius served the meat and we ate while staring at the fire. I couldn’t help but think that the situation I was in now was pretty nice. Maybe being trapped in a cave wasn’t the best situation to be in but being with Gaius made me feel safe. I wasn’t on guard; I was relaxed and felt... at home with him around. It was complicated and yet it also wasn’t. It was moments like this that I cherished the most.

After we ate, I glanced back at my fur blankets that were beside the Owla.
“You should get some rest, it will be a tough day tomorrow, especially if we face another blizzard.”
“What about you?”
“That is none of your concern. I will stay awake to ensure that we’re safe.”
“I’ll stay up with you then.”
He sighed. “Elena...”
“It’s either you go to sleep or we both stay up.” He stared at me for a good long moment before giving in. He moved to towards his fur blankets that were neatly rolled on the floor, a few centimetres away from mine. Even as I tucked myself in, I couldn’t help but shiver. It was terribly cold and I knew it was going to be a long night. As if sensing my disturbance, Gaius rolled onto his back and faced me.
“Your cold.” He stated.
“Just a little bit.” I smiled.
His eyebrows narrowed until he came up with a decision. “Come here.”
I was taken back. “What.”
“Your going to freeze. Come here, if we share the covers and body warmth you’ll warm up quicker.”
“I don’t know...”
“Suit yourself.” With that, he turned back onto his side; back towards me.
The shivering was too much to handle and so I decided to give in. “Alright, alright!”
His smirk widened. “I thought you would.”
I playfully swatted his shoulder again before cuddling my back up against his as we both lay on our sides. He was right, I was immensely warmer. I felt strange, being so close to him, though it wasn’t a bad feeling, just unusual.
“Gaius.”
“Hmmm?” He questioned dreamily.
“Do you think my friends are still alive?” I choked at the end, not meaning to.
“I...believe that they are, yes.”
I nodded gently. “Goodnight.”
His head rose slightly. “Goodnight?”
“It’s just something humans say, comforting really.”
“Oh.”
We were silent once more. As my eyes drifted shut I was brought round by Gaius’ muted reply. “Goodnight...Elena.”
I smiled softly before turning back to sleep; it was going to be a long day tomorrow, who knew what it would entail.

..........................................................................................

I felt a firm hold on my waist, though it wasn’t enough to wake me up. I was too sleepy to complain; besides it was oddly comforting. Soft snores vibrated against the back of my neck, though I still didn’t take much notice. Unknowingly, I twisted my body to the left and pressed my face against something hard. My arms cuddled the spare fur sheets and I nuzzled whatever I was pressed against. The pressure that was applied to my waist led to my back and held me in place. A faint nod hit the top part of my forehead, stirring my sleep. However, the gentle snoring returned; tempting me back into deep unconsciousness. I mumbled incoherent speech as I tried to get comfortable, which was surprisingly easy. I was once again returned with similar incoherent speech, tiny disguisable movements here and there and the soft echoed breaths as the person tried to get comfortable. Wait a minute... person! My eyes shot open to see Gaius’ face mere millimetres away from mine. I gasped inaudibly while trying to get my head around where I was and who was holding me. Did he know he was doing this? I carefully moved my head to be able to view my waist; his arm was wrapped around it protectively. I gazed to his chest to find my hands were cuddled up against it. He was the person I was cuddling up against. If he woke up I was going to die from embarrassment. After some contemplating, I decided to try and go back to sleep. It was up to him on what to do, besides I couldn’t exactly move, he held me so tightly that it was practically impossible. In the end, if he woke up then he would only have himself to blame, mainly because he held me, not the other way around. I didn’t want him to not hold me though and that was the worrying part. I snapped my eyes shut when his body shifted and his chin lifted to the top of my head. Mine was pressed up against his chest. I was comforted by his steady heartbeat and the rise and fall of his chest. I couldn’t help but snuggle up closer to him; that was until I felt his muscles stiffen; he must have woken up. My body also stiffened, though I tried to relax my muscles in an attempt to appear asleep. The area of my head that had pressure disappeared and his arms loosened in a mere second. I was still touching his chest and he made no movement in denying it. His heartbeat escalated, this must have meant that it was a bit of a shock waking up like this; I knew how he felt. I thought that it would be less awkward if he thought I was still asleep, that way he could choose to leave at any given time and believe that I never knew. Instead, he readjusted his arm so that it was around my stomach, held me even closer and sighed just above my head. His lips caressed my forehead and I felt his heartbeat reduce. A slight wave of joy swept through me, though I wasn’t sure why. I began to drift back off into sleep when a loud squawk came from behind. I span my head in that direction and immediately backed into Gaius who now layup facing behind me. I calmed when I realised it was the Owla; brilliant timing. Though when I turned back I was met with Gaius’ face; unregistering that I was looking at him. He had a slight tormented look.
“Well...” I began, trying to lighten the mood. “That scared me.” I laughed.
Gaius didn’t respond; instead he got up and moved towards the Owla. “We should pack up; it won’t be long before we reach Arkira. We’ve already overslept, it is probably already daylight.”
“Oh ok...”
Why was he distant all of a sudden? Was he embarrassed? Either way I decided to not investigate further into his mood change as I began to pack the belongings. By the time I was done, Gaius reattached the bags onto the back of the Owla’s saddle and led us both out of the cave. We found that it was still snowing heavily, even when we were in the entrance of the cave. However, we had to carry on or else risk getting snowed in. Gaius helped lift me up on top of the saddle. It was a mystery how he was able to get up without any help; maybe his height was the key? His arm returned around my waist but this time he didn’t grab the reins.
“Why don’t you take the reins for a while?” He asked.
“Wait what! I don’t know where we’re going!”
“Well I’m going to teach you. Grab the reins, all you have to do is pull them to turn which way we’re heading.”
“So, it’s similar to horse-riding?” I learnt to ride a horse off a friend when I was younger, so if riding the Owla was similar then I was fine, if not then that was a different story
I felt his head shift to the side. “What is ‘horse-riding?’”
I laughed. “Never mind. Just tell me if we’re going in the wrong direction.”
“What if I don’t?”
“Then we’d get lost!”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry. We won’t.”

We spent most arguing about which way we were going. I wasn’t sure whether we were lost or not, though I was the one directing the Owla on where to go. Sometimes I thought the Owla had better directions then we did. The further we got, the more the blizzard picked up. It was, once again, getting hard to see anything. We were just at the point where my hands had frozen, even through the fur gloves. Gaius noticed and took the reins from me, allowing me to put my hands inside the cloak to keep warm. His head rested on my shoulder, mainly to keep the snow out of his face. It also helped because I was able to talk to him. His ear was directed just above mine so we could hear each other if need be.
“Gaius? What’s going to happen when we reach the city?” I asked in a high tone.
“I have a contact over there, she should help us get into the city. Have faith.”
“Can we trust her?”
He took sometime before answering. “Yes.”
“How do you know her?”
“That isn’t important.”
I wanted to reply, but found that there wasn’t any point to arguing. “What does the city look like? Will we know when we see it?”
“You’ve seen Ivera. Arikira isn’t much different accept that it rests in between two mountains. It has a clear dome around it, like Ivera, that is used as a shield to block out the weather.”
“Is that why spaceships can’t go there? Because of the location?”
“In some ways, yes. Though, it’s mainly due to the weather. There are always blizzards and because the terrain is closely packed together, it makes it much easier to crash against the mountainside.”
I gulped. “So, how are we getting in exactly? Does your friend have a plan?”
“There are passageways that lead from the bottom of the mountain to the city. They’re mainly used for supplies and traders. We’d pass by unnoticed.”
“Ok.” I agreed. I was at ease now that I knew the plan, I just hoped his friend was trustworthy.
“Does your friend know about me? That I’m human?”
He shook his head. “No. She believes that I hired you for the trip. She won’t know until I explain myself when we’re there. Don’t worry, she’ll understand. She doesn’t know about your friends or our plan to find them. All she knows is that I have a high interest in them and that I need to be able to see them without the family in charge knowing.”
“Wouldn’t she figure it out? I mean, your interested in the humans... she’s bound to realise that there’s a scheme involved.”
“It’s my job to examine and gain knowledge about new species, remember? She will think that I’m doing my job.”
I sighed. “I hope you know what your doing.”
He chuckled. “Trust me. Look there up ahead!”

Gaius pointed towards a rocky clearing. Tall pointed rocks were sided on the right, blocking most of the blizzard. The rocky clearing led to a stone wall.
“Keep going.”
“It’s a dead end!”
“Elena.” I huffed and carried on towards the wall. It was only when the Owla’s head vanished that I realised it was some sort of cloak or shield hiding the entrance. “Wow.” I mouthed as we slipped through. Inside was a large metal ramp that led to a boxed-off area. Giant crates littered the metal room. Gaius brought the Owla to a stop and waited. There were several workers managing and moving different crates. There were also people, who I guessed were traders, on their own Owla’s, unpacking supplies and machinery. We seemed to walk by unnoticed, as if this was normal and that they were oblivious to whom I was. Just as I took the whole sight in, I heard “Gaius” echo in front of us. There walking up to us was a very tall, slender woman; pale grey skin, orange eyes, shoulder-length light crème hair and the slight hint of indented freckles above her nose. She had a more pronounce forehead then the previous two women I saw and had the same distinct long-facial structure that all of their people had (at least the one’s I saw). She wore black attire with the insignia (spiral pattern) painted in blue on her shoulder. I remembered what Faralda told me, that those who wore blue were most likely lower-class individuals and that those who wore silver or gold were more important. I looked over at my shoulder and found I wore a golden insignia, why was that?  
“Sivera!” Sivera?
“Gaius si cieva ita!” That’s when I realised they were speaking their own language and that I wasn’t allowed to speak until we were alone.
Gaius jumped off of the Owla and marched up towards the woman who I guessed was called Sivera.  She wondered over to Gaius and pressed her forehead against his. I stared at them; what were they doing? She was just a bit smaller than Gaius, maybe by a centimetre. Still, they towered compared to myself, even with the heeled boots. I just hoped she thought that I was one of her race.

They carried on talking in their language before Gaius made his way over to the Owla I sat on and me. He held out a hand, one I gratefully took, and helped me slide down. I turned back to be faced with the very tall lady, a slight smile on her face.
“Qiu tia si cunara...?” I didn’t get everything she said, mainly due to the fact that she spoke too fast. Just before I answered, or at least tried to, Gaius interrupted.
“Cunara sia viviras minira.” She looked back towards me; eyes wide and mouth open slightly. She nodded towards Gaius before walking in the direction she came, Gaius behind. I got the idea that I was supposed to follow so I caught up with them both. We were led into one of three doors that were at the end of the trading docks. As we entered I recognised the interior, it was the same as the ship, so I presumed this was going to be another elevator. When the doors closed, the woman turned to me.
“So, she’s human?” I almost gaped at her. I thought her people didn’t know my language! How did she even know I was human?
“How do you know English and how do you know I’m human?”
“She’s not very intellectual Gaius; I don’t know what you see in her.” Well, I didn’t expect her to say that. “Not all my race know your language, but most do. We have had to learn it, as well as many other species languages; just in case of contact and what do you know... here you are.” She sneered. I felt worry creep up on me; there was no way we could trust her.
“Sivera, I suggest you treat her with the same courtesy as you would any member of our race.” Gaius warned.
“I don’t know why I should. She may look like one of our kind, but she clearly doesn’t have the mind of one. Besides... even with a different skin tone she still looks foreign.”
“Elena is more important than you know so I suggest you act as if she is one of us, or else you’ll have to deal with me.”
Her eyes lit up. “My my Gaius, haven’t we changed and become protective since the last time we... hah... met.” She spoke as if she had more than a friendship with him and that wasn’t something I wanted to think about, though I had to ask.
“How do you two know each other?” It was an innocent question, one that got Gaius to narrow his eyebrows and to get Sivera to smirk.
“Take a guess.” I really didn’t want to.
“I’m guessing your not just friends?”
“Friends? What do you mean by ‘friends’?”
“Err... like...” I wasn’t sure how to explain, luckily Gaius did in his own language, to which she understood.
“I see, yes we were more than ‘friends’; our relationship was much more... personal as well as mental. Maybe you can decipher that?” Even though this was the first time she had ever met a human, she did a good job at portraying his dislike for them.
“I... think I understand, thanks.” That’s when I thought back to the time when I asked Gaius about his family and previous relationships. Was this the woman he was talking about? The one he was with before all this happened? If so, I couldn’t understand why.
Gaius carried on, thankfully in my language. “Where are we going Sivera?”
She turned to meet his intense gaze. “Why don’t you think that I’m not going to report you to the guards?”
“Because I know you and that you wouldn’t do that.”
“Hah. You really do know me. Very well, I’m taking you through the city to my old room on the Northwest side; we can speak more about this then. I suggest your... companion stays close to us and doesn’t talk.”
“No worries, I don’t feel like talking anyways so you won’t have to worry.” I sarcastically mumbled. I didn’t know why, but ever since I found that Gaius and she had some sort of past relationship, I grew to dislike her. Was I jealous? I was jealous wasn’t I? I unconsciously kicked myself, why was I even jealous? Either way, if I was jealous I wasn’t going to act on it, it’d only make the situation worse and I’d most likely embarrass myself, something I wasn’t particularly fond of doing.

The back wall opened to show a large white light. I covered my eyes until they adjusted to the light difference. When I looked again I froze. The elevator led out onto an open stoned area with thousands of towered buildings on either side; a maze of passageways leading all over the city. Looking up, I found hover vehicles flying by without a care and some sort of long tube that ran to opposite ends of the city; the occasional train-like vehicle with darkened windows and in the shape of a snake passing by on top of it. A sea of energetic people with coloured grey and blue skin interlocked and swayed past each other while going by their daily routine. Gaius was right about the clear shielded dome that protected us from the weather; it also allowed the sun to light the city in front of us and just showed the mixed coloured sky. Sivera motioned for us to follow. I stayed right next to Gaius, afraid that I would end up lost as we pushed through the crowd. He seemed to notice that I was having trouble keeping up, which wasn’t my fault due to the fact that they had very long legs giving them longer strides, so he put his hand on my back, something I saw Sivera narrow her eyes at. Everyone that walked past was taller than me, even with the heeled boots on, I shrunk in comparison.  It was at least a mile before we made it to the tower where Sivera’s apartment was. We entered a small corridor that led to four doors. We took the second one from the left and entered another boxed off area that turned out to be yet another elevator. Instead this elevator had no control panel, Sivera waved her hand over the door and it began to move; how was that possible?
The elevator stopped near the top floor of the tower and we entered her room. I was surprised to find that the floor was black in colour with the bright gold insignia on the light brown – furred rug. She had several sofa-like furniture in the centre of the room; book cases in the far corners and a desk near her window just opposite the doorway.
“Alright, now explain yourself.” She said.
I glanced over at Gaius, I wasn’t sure what to say to her, either way I still didn’t trust her.
“I need to find the humans that were taken from the Elders. I heard that there is a high-ranking family in this city that has taken them as labourers until the Elders have decided what to do with them.”
“And why would you want to know their location?”
“Elena here is one of the humans captured. I am trying to-“
“Trying to take them back to Earth, is that it Gaius?” Sivera answered.
“Yes.”
“That is suicide, ci varas qia vinarac!” She ended in her language. “You can’t seriously expect me to help! Why would you help these... these... things? They aren’t even an intellectual species worthy of our study, why would you help these vermin?” Wow, she really didn’t like humans, or was it just me? I couldn’t tell. She reminded me of Nevos in that way, surely not all of Gaius’ people hated humans, Faralda and her father didn’t seem to. Not even the Elder’s seemed to have that strong of a hatred against us, only took action because they thought we were a threat.
“I’m helping her because she helped me in return. I was injured on her planet and she helped me recover, even after her people found out who I was. I owe her my life. My injury may not have been that severe, but our people never came back for me. It would have been likely that I would have died of starvation than anything else.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Is this true?” She asked me, her voice quiet.
I nodded.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, he needed help so I helped him, no big deal.”
“No big deal? What do you mean?”
“I didn’t think about it at the time. I just helped him.” To be honest, I really wasn’t thinking at the time. I think the main reason I trusted him as much as I did was because our sub-consciousnesses were linked, something that bound us together, even if it was from a failed experiment. I wasn’t going to tell her that though.
“Interesting.” She muttered before turning back to face Gaius. “The humans you are looking for are held at the East end of the city, in Saren Tower.”
“The Saren Family! That’s who has the humans? But... why? That makes no sense.” Gaius interrupted.
“Trust me when I say that their son has an uncanny fascination with them. When the Saren’s found out about the Elders dilemma, they decided to take the opportunity to take the humans. Their son was the main reason for taking them, as he is the heir to their fortune. Luckily for you, I happen to work as one of the servants in the Saren Tower and have unlimited access. I can easily smuggle both of you into the tower and to the humans.”
“Are they alright? Have you seen them?” I asked in excitement and worry.
“Yes. They have been used as labourers, sweeping up the halls and cleaning the Tower. It seems the Saren’s son has taken up quite an interest in one of the females.”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“She doesn’t work like the others, instead she sits in the corner of the Tower answering any questions the man has. He also speaks human and finds that the human is more cooperative.”
“Is that it though, just questions?”
“Of course.” I let out a sigh, at least she wasn’t in any danger.
“What does she look like?”
“I have only seen glimpses of her, as all you humans look alike to me. She had shoulder-length brown curled hair, brown eyes... slightly taller than you...” I knew who she was talking about.
“Annabel! The Saren son has Annabel!” I gasped.
“So you know her, well she hasn’t come to any harm I can assure you. However, the male and two of the females have begun to cause trouble.” I guessed that the two females where Leila and Blythe, they seemed to be the most unresponsive of the group when they were ordered to do something against their will.
Gaius decided to carry on the conversation. “It won’t be an easy task to get your friend away from the Saren’s son.”
Sivera smirked. “It won’t be too hard to convince him to go off for a few hours, leaving her behind with the rest of the humans.”
“Alright.”
“So, how do we get into the tower?” I questioned curiously.
“You both will need to change into servant attire, then we will simply walk through the back entrance of the Tower. From there I will give you directions to find the humans. I will meet up with you sometime later with clothes for the humans to wear in order to get them out undetected. Now, I suggest that you both eat and sleep. It won’t be long until I have to get back to the Tower, in which you’ll be accompanying me.” She said before strutting out of the door, leaving both of us alone in the room.

I sighed and sat on the nearest furred sofa. I was exhausted. Gaius went over to the left-hand door and went into the room. He came back with several pieces of, from what I could tell, fruit and metal goblets full of that minty-tasting liquid.
“Here.”
“Thank you.” I replied. I began to nibble on one of the strange looking fruits. “I hope my friends are alright.”
“You heard Sivera, I’m most than positive that they’re safe.”
“Gaius, they think I’m dead.”
He sighed in his goblet as he took a sip. “I know.”
“I think it’ll come to them as a bit of a shock to realise I’m stick walking around the place.” I chuckled.
“Perhaps.”
“So, you and Sivera were close?” I found myself asking, though immediately regretted it. Why did I say that? Why did I have to say that? I could have said a million of things and they wouldn’t have been as awkward as that.
I heard him shift in his place slightly. “Yes.”
“Are you still close?”
He looked back at me but my eyes were faced firmly at the ground. “No.”
“Right, ok...”
“Why do you ask?” He had to ask that question, didn’t he? Well done Elena, you’ve got yourself into yet another situation that you didn’t want to be in. What could be next?
“Just curious.”
“You always say that.”
“Well, I am.”
“Your curiosity cannot be the only reason you asked.” He stated calmly, though there was a hint of humour in his tone.
“Well, it is.” I smiled and took a large chunk out of the fruit.
He kept his eyes fixed on me for a few more brief moments before turning back to his food.

Before I knew it, Sivera entered the room once more. “Here.” She said as he chucked two piles of clothes to both Gaius and I. “Get some rest and then change into these. I will arrive in a while to collect you both.” With that she left again.
“How does she know this will fit me?” I found myself wondering out loud.
“She doesn’t.”
“Oh.” My cheeks flared up, I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud.

I walked into the bathroom which was on the right-hand side of the room, through a silver arched doorway, and began to get changed. I noticed that the facilities on this planet were more than similar to our own. They had a toilet, maybe a bit oddly shaped but was still recognisable. There was a bath and a sink, though the sink was a diamond shape at the bottom. I looked back at the mirror and still couldn’t help but notice how alien I looked. I liked and disliked my appearance. The light blue skin tone made my eyes stand out, but covered my pale skin, the one I was so accustomed to seeing. After I changed I found that I wore identical clothing to Sivera, a black dress with the dark blue insignia on the left shoulder. I walked out and found that Gaius was wearing similar robes with the exact same pattern. We waited for her return, panic evoking me as I worried over what could happen. What if we arrived too late to save them? What if we got caught? How would my friends and family react to seeing me alive? All I could do was hope and put my faith into an unknown stranger, one that I knew would lead us to the end of our journey, one that I knew I shouldn’t have trusted in the first place...