For the second time in her life, Jocelyn was traversing through a sea of stars and distant planets, heading towards the great unknown.

She stared out the large bay windows of the Asrai ship and watched as Behyru disappeared completely from her line of sight.

During their exodus from the slave planet, they had separated Jocelyn from most of the other slaves. The larger population of survivors filed into a massive carrier ship, which was charted for a different destination from where she was going.

Any resistance was met with by a Pale Soldier’s blade.

A part of Jocelyn was relieved that she was leaving behind the extraction compound, the Slaves’ Nest, and all the horrors of the past seven years. It wasn’t the only thing she was leaving behind, however.

Jaks.

“He’s as good as dead anyway,” Octava had said, examining his wounds. “He’ll bleed out before the second night. You get your wish, girl. We won’t execute him, but we won’t save him either.”

Jocelyn had begged Octava to allow her to apply a tourniquet or at least seal his wound with fire. The Asrai General scoffed.

“When I grant you a favor, you accept it,” she said, snatching a blade from the closest Pale Soldier. She pressed the tip of it against Jaks’ neck. “Do you still want my generosity?”

“Yes,” Jocelyn said through the tears. “Yes.”

And so the Asrai left Jaks to die on a planet filled with corpses.

He was feverish when Jocelyn said goodbye. He kept muttering phrases in the old tongue, the language spoken by the Cymerians.

“I’m sorry,” were the last words Jocelyn had said. She was sorry for his impending death and sorry that he had fallen in love with her.

She was a curse to all those who cared about her.

“Why are you so sad?”

Jocelyn turned around to see Ariel holding a glass of water. Jocelyn’s first instinct was to grab the kid by the collar and shake the stupid out of her. If she was merciful and allowed Jaks to live, he would have joined the other guards Jocelyn had saved. He could have received medical treatment.

“Do you want some water?” Ariel asked as she offered Jocelyn a glass. “You seem very thirsty.”

The anger Jocelyn felt subsided and she let out a long, exasperated breath.

Jocelyn couldn’t blame Ariel. She was only a child. How could she understand mercy when no one had ever shown her any? Dead parents, oppressive childhood, abuse by figures of authority—it was a wonder this girl still had any warmth in her heart.

On Behyru, there was a quota on water—despite being an abundant resource on the planet. Every slave was allowed exactly four cups a day and not a single drop more.

For some slaves, who worked in the hot and stuffy mines, chipping away at the ore with pick axes, they lost a quarter of their body mass in water through sweat. To them, those four cups of water were precious.

Jocelyn had learned to live with three cups, usually giving away her fourth to a miner who needed it.

For Ariel to offer her water was an act of immense generosity, seeing as how precious it was to slaves.

Jocelyn reached out and accepted it. “I am thirsty,” she said, taking a small sip, “How about you?”

“I’m okay,” Ariel said. “Octava showed me where I could find water in this chamber. They have a lot of it here on this ship. We can drink all we want.”

Jocelyn took another generous gulp, allowing the cool liquid to soothe her throat and fill the rest of her body.

“We’re free,” Ariel giggled.

Free? Jocelyn’s eyes turned in the direction of the Pale Soldier standing a few feet away, arms crossed. His black eyes displayed the intensity of a solar flare, despite the rest of his face showing no emotion.

“No, we aren’t,” Jocelyn said as she tilted her head towards the Pale Soldier standing watch over them. “I’m starting to think that we’ll never be free.”

“Him?” Ariel asked. “Oh, that’s just Toby.”

“Toby?”

“Well, he looks like a Toby to me. That’s the name I’d want my brother to have, if I had one. Mom always said they’d wait and see. When things got better, they’d give me a sibling to play with, but not until then.” Ariel explained. “Well, things are better now, but mom and dad are no longer here. I can still have a brother though, right?”

She walked up to the grim-faced Pale Soldier and looked at him. “You want to be my brother, Toby?”

Jocelyn tried to pull Ariel back from the soldier. These monsters were dangerous. She saw first-hand how they killed with no remorse.

“Ariel,” Jocelyn said. “Come back here.”

The little girl ignored her. “Well, Toby? It’s rude not answering you know.”

To Ariel’s surprise, Toby nodded.

“Yes!” Ariel cheered. She raised a hand up, “High-five Toby.”

The Pale Soldier stared at the little girl’s hand, and shook his head.

“Geez,” Ariel said. “We’ll need to work on your communication.” She turned her attention back to Jocelyn. “You see; things are better here. We have water, and I have a brother. Octava has been really nice to me as well. Maybe she can adopt me.”

Jocelyn smiled sadly. It must be nice being oblivious to the reality of the situation. The only thing the Asrai offered was another form of captivity. Sure, they had water but at what expense? There was a price to pay for everything.

With Bulba Fyore and the Xaksu, at least she knew what the price was for a little bit of music: Eight vials of extracted Erobium a day, and her health.

The door to their chamber suddenly opened and in walked Octava. She had removed her helmet. Her long, white hair draped over her shoulders like silk curtains.

She looked at Ariel and smiled. “Do you like it here?” Octava asked.

“Yes,” Ariel said. “I like it here very much. The water is yummy.”

Octava brushed Ariel’s hair back from her eyes. “You can have as much water as you like.” The general turned her attention towards Jocelyn. “How about you, girl of mercy, do you like being on this ship?”

Jocelyn pursed her lips. “That depends. Am I here as the Asrai’s guest or as a prisoner?”

Octava laughed. “What do you think?”

“A prisoner, otherwise there’s no need for a guard to stand watch over us.”

Octava looked at Toby and waved her hand casually, gesturing for him to leave. He complied.

“Bye, Toby,” Ariel called out after him.

Octava turned to Ariel and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Are you tired?”

Ariel shook her head. “No. There’s still so much to see. There’s no way I can sleep.”

“Perhaps you should,” Octava said as she snapped her fingers. Immediately, Ariel’s body went limp, as if her muscles had turned into ribbons. Octava caught her before she fell to the ground and cradled her in her arms, like her own child.

“What did you do to her?” Jocelyn snapped.

“She’s sleeping,” Octava said as she walked over to one of the cots in the chamber and gently laid Ariel down to rest. She pulled the covers up to Ariel’s chin and tucked the blanket underneath her neatly.

“Just like that,” Jocelyn said. “At the snap of the fingers, you can render people unconscious.”

“She was very tired,” Octava suggested as she turned her attention to Jocelyn.

“Bull—”

Octava was quick to cut her off. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Jocelyn eyed her suspiciously. “Where to?”

“Does it matter?” Octava said. “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know where that’d be.”

“I’d still like to know.”

“The Hallows,” Octava sighed.

“I have no clue what that is.”

The general rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t. Now come, before I change my mind and decide to snap you to sleep also.”

Octava left through the chamber doors, leaving Jocelyn alone with Ariel in the room for a moment.

Jocelyn peered out the large windows again, staring deep into the darkness of space. She watched as the endless black void slowly chased away the stars.

It made her feel alone.

Jocelyn sighed, and followed Octava out into the hallways of the ship.

“I’m glad you’re here,” the general said. She was waiting at the end of the hallway, in front of an elevator. She pushed a button on the panel, opening its doors.

“After you,” she gestured.

Jocelyn knew she had no choice but to follow Octava. She was and always had been a puppet of fate.