The Renegade's Lair
That much. No longer compelled to fight for her life, Lyla let herself drift, almost dead, dazed with exhaustion and pain, her limbs and lekku dangling limply, amidst a sea of bloody foam. She could lie here forever and just forget everything.
At last, Quantros caught up, catching her hand, and pulled her upwards. Finally, they broke the surface together and saw sky again. Unresisting, she let Jason haul her on board the speeder-raft, at last recovering her senses, gasping for air not through a filter. 'Ow, Goddess damn it!' she winced, seeing the bloody raking claw wounds she'd taken, shredding her dive-suit and orange skin beneath.
Over a blood-soaked arm, she glared at Quantros 'You didn't have to attack it— oh, never mind...' She was too weary to argue or explain. She leaned over the side of the raft, lifting a cupped handful of seawater. 'Goddess of the winds – well, currents here, I suppose – forgive me. That beast shouldn't have died today. But I had to rescue one of my clan, and I couldn't leave a wounded predator to roam in madness. The rest was self-defence. The currents brought us into conflict, may the currents carry us apart in peace.' She let the seawater trickle out of her hands, the droplets blowing away in the wind of the surging speeder-raft.