It's A Hollow Place (OPEN to two)

[I'nhalki]

The miqo'te squirms weakly inside the jacket, trying to flip herself around in the direction of the fish's scent. She becomes acutely aware of her cracked rib while doing so, growling at the reawakened pain. She hears the hyur and roegadyn begin to talk despite her swaddled ears. Scattered context trickles back to her in her dazed mind. She gives her head a quick shake and her ears a twitch.

 

Those two. Still here. I can't fight like this. How...? So hungry. Did I almost drown? I was on a ship... What is Khyran?

 

She winces and manages to tip herself over on her rather insistent belly. Before her the roegadyn and hyur are engaged in a conversation, and beyond them, the fish cooks over some fire crystals. Nhalki stares at the fish's bubbling and crackling skin. She tries to lift herself up, but remains unsuccessful. She knocks a few La Noscean oranges off the cart as she makes the attempt, sending them rolling toward the nearby pair.

[AeolianMode]

Khyran slumped a little once he realized no one was in immediate danger. The materia loosened in his grasp, but he did not drop it. Lifting his other hand, he ran it through his greasy hair and exhaled slowly. "...Twelve. You're okay. Good..." he whispered, ignoring her comments about his foolish behavior. "...I'm sorry. Is she alright? The... miqo'te..." He didn't seem to notice the state his arm is in, but he obviously has trouble lifting it.

 

His gaze trailed over to the orange as it bounced and rolled on the floor, then up at the girl. "Oi," He said. "Surely you don't plan on going around stabbing people without introducing yourself first..." 

 

Words out of the mouth of a man who hadn't *quite* introduced himself, either.

[Star Lin]

Kestlona turn a sharp eye on the hyur.  "Ah'm ok, kid might have bruise ribs...at least Ah hope it's only bruise ribs."  She points at his arm.  "Ya on the other hand needs to be seen ta."  Really she should call Papa but how in the heck was she going to explain this.  'Found the pair on the side of the road...can Ah keep them.'  She felt her lips tug into a smile.  "Ya didn't have to get involve.  Would have given her to Gil to buy her some food."  Maybe point her to her third eldest brother, maybe he would have taken her in as a student in blacksmithing.

 

It was then that she heard the crate of oranges trumble off the cart.  "Oi, oi," she said rushing over to jacket incase miqo'te.  "Watch yaself, or ya be hurting yaself worst then Ah did."  She unwrap the jacket enough to allow the other to get her hands free.  It was then that she notice the female was staring at the cook fishes.  She reach over,  grabbing the plate and shoving it into her hands.  "Ya eat while Ah check ya ribs."  She grab the other plate, scooting it over to the hyur.  "Ya eat too.  Going to need ya strength if Ah'm going to get ya both to Wineport and look at by a proper healer."

[I'nhalki]

"Oi," the hyur said.

 

"Surely you don't plan on going around stabbing people without introducing yourself first..."

 

I'nhalki looks to him, momentarily puzzled, then remembering the situation. Her tail bristles in panic when suddenly she finds a plate of fish thrust into her lap. She looks up to the roegadyn girl's face, squinting. There is a scratching there in her mind—the uneasiness that comes with the feeling of forgetting. The mixture of sternness and kindness on the girl's face reminds her of someone, but who?

 

None of this matters the moment the delicious smell of fish arrives. She begins to eat wolfishly, looking up mid-bite to see the hyur's cool but expectant expression. She remembers the question through the extreme relief of having a proper meal. She replies, looking away from the pair with shame.

 

"I'm I'nhalki."

 

She looks down at the fish, ears flat.

 

"Thank you for this." She mumbles. She looks back to them, anxious, before she continues to eat.

[I'nhalki]

((Updated—so sorry!))