PHOENIX ━ dameron

074 | fire & ice

"Relax, Zorii," Poe said nonchalantly. "If we were gonna kill you, Lyra would have done it already."

Lyra glared. "You're not helping."

"I'm very helpful."

Zorii didn't find it at all humorous. "Just get the droid hooked up. I'm going out to check to make sure no one followed us, and then I'll be back."

"Where's Nascha?" Lyra wondered aloud as Babu hooked Threepio's head up to his main machine. Poe looked around the room, amazed at how fast the girl had melted into the shadows.

Finn was busy surveying a shelf of mechanical parts, examining each weapon and machine in turn. He gestured lazily to the far wall. "She went up that staircase."

"Where do the stairs go?" Lyra asked Poe.

"The roof. It's a perfect vantage point, you can see the whole city and no one can see you."

"I'd better go up there."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Poe asked without thinking.

She gave an amused smile and shook her head once. "I'll handle it. Keep an eye on Threepio, make sure he doesn't try to run," she looked over in the direction of the squirming droid. "He looks like he's going to bolt."

"I'll do my best."

Poe looked up and around the room, taking in the sight of it. For the years that had passed, there was one thing that hadn't changed. The foreboding stench of danger was as poignant as ever.

-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-

𝐔𝐏 on the roof, Kijimi City was a sight to behold. Wreathed in pale blue searchlights and First Order patrol ships, it was a crown jewel of decay. A horrifying omen, this was what all planets were likely to become without the light of the Resistance. Fear everywhere, radiating with fury even on the coldest night.

Lyra picked her way across the snowy roof to where Nascha was sitting, one knee pulled up towards her chest. The girl looked at ease with a wisp of a breeze flowing through her curly hair, dark eyes focused on the distant horizon.

"You fit in well with them," Nascha remarked, not even turning to face Lyra.

"Who?" Lyra sat down next to her. She willed the snow to melt at her touch, making a clean handprint in the drift. "The Spice Runners or the Resistance?"

"Somehow, both," Nascha answered. Her breath came out in a wisp of vapor.

"And what about you, Nascha?" Lyra asked. As soon as the question was out of her mouth, she understood what Nascha was about to propose. Somehow she hadn't anticipated this, the fact that they would diverge and move on their separate paths. For so long they had been the only true companion the other person had.

"I have a proposal for Zorii. This might be my ticket out of the Guild and into a more honest line of work."

Lyra almost laughed. "Dead bodies to running spice?"

At this, Nascha smiled. Not one of her chilling cold ones, but the soft honest one. The one from when they were younger. "We can't all be Resistance golden children."

"Not even the golden children are real gold."

Nascha looked over her shoulder. "I dunno, your Poe is pretty convincing at it."

She sighed, not bothering to correct her use of the word your. "He always has been."

Nascha stood and made a motion to go inside. "You could stay here too, you know. I hate being all soft about this, but we do make a good team." She gave a mock gag and shuddered. "Don't ever make me say that again."