Page 35

"I don't know. I've never met others of my kind," Nezka answered.

Elise's eyes widened, and she grew still with shock. How could someone have never met another of their kind? She thought about what he said before, about not remembering how he acquired his blades, and it started to click. "When you say 'they took you from a ship,' are you saying you were taken? Like..." Using the word abducted seemed wrong. "Like someone kidnapped you?"

Nezka didn't say anything for a moment. He picked up his canteen again and took another drink.

"I'm sorry," Elise said, thinking maybe it wasn't her place to ask. "It's none of my business."

Nezka's gaze fell to the fire. His eyes flickered against the flames as if they were made from the same source. "Or I was saved. I can't be certain," he said in a low voice. "But it was then I was brought to the city and..." His gaze directed back to her. "I was trained."

Elise thought over his words carefully. "Trained to be a bounty hunter?"

He lifted his hand, tapping at his ear.

"Does that mean yes?"

"Yes," he said.

"That explains...a lot, actually." She could still vividly remember the fight back at the pit.

"Does it?" He tilted his head.

"It certainly explains why you are such a good fighter and tracker and know the things you do," Elise said and blew out a short breath. "Guess I should have gone into bounty hunting instead. Maybe then I wouldn't have gotten my ass handed to me in that pit."

"You got a taste of what the training is like at least," Nezka replied indifferently.

Elise frowned. "They throw you in a pit and make you fight?"

"It was to weed out the strongest among the weak," Nezka said. "If you came out alive, you could continue on with your training."

"That's barbaric."

Nezka shrugged. "It works."

Elise thought that over and realized he was probably right. When your life was at stake, you learned to give it your all or die trying.

A light went off in her head with a crazy idea.

"Could you teach me?" she asked. "I mean to fight like you?"

She expected him to laugh but was surprised instead when he didn't. He gave her an inquiring stare then seemed to seriously consider it.

"You are in no position to train in your current state," he said, looking her over.

"Right, I get that," Elise said. "But when I am better I mean. I was trained to fight too and always considered myself pretty good at it. But after what happened in that pit and seeing you pretty much wipe the floor...I could afford to relearn some things."

He was quiet for a long moment, and Elise let him be. As he looked away from her to stare out one of the windows, Elise took the chance to study him better. To really see him. It was odd to think that this alien she believed she hated was now someone she was considering to be her teacher.

And maybe she didn't really hate him so much anymore. Sure, he had been a real jerk at first, but knowing what she knew now and realizing how alone he truly was, she was beginning to see him as just...a survivor. A lone wolf who had to fight to stay alive. And sometimes that really roughened up a person, made them hard and not always nice. He was violent and harsh because it was what he knew. But she had seen another side of him now, a side that was loyal and sincere, and that darker part was not the whole person. In a way, she could say maybe he wasn't so bad.

He turned from the window to gaze back at her, and for a moment, Elise felt a slow heat rise up her neck and face as if he might have heard her thoughts. The way he looked at her made her feel exposed.

He lifted his hand slowly and tapped his ear.

"Yes?"

"Yes," he said. "When you are recovered enough and ready."

Elise smiled and sat up a little straighter, feeling the swell of excitement building in her already. If she could learn to move like him, to strategically strike and dodge in a way no human had, she might actually have a chance at defending against these tougher aliens, have a chance at fighting her way to her team without having to worry about another bad break like in that pit. She wasn't always for violence, only when it was necessary. And something told her any chance of negotiating would be slim to none. So, if she had to fight, she'd do it with all the ferocity she had witnessed in Nezka. "This partnership may not be so bad after all," she confessed.