Zeitooine had taught Dez a lot about poisons. The Zeit royalty were made up of treacherous houses, forever attempting to assassinate one another by elaborate means such as powders added to wineglasses or venoms smeared on pillowcases. Dez recognized the black streaks spreading across Affie’s skin even before she’d fully passed out.

“Come on,” he said, scooping her up in his arms. “A medpac will take care of this—but we’ve got to get it right away.”

Dez raced for the Vessel. Reath ran so fast he passed them, which was good; he could get the medpac ready. Already Affie’s skin had turned sallow, and the color had drained from her lips.

“I’ve got it!” Reath reached the airlock mere seconds before Dez would’ve run through it with Affie. Instead he kneeled down, bracing the girl. Within moments, Reath dashed back out with a medpac in hand.

Right behind him was Leox Gyasi. “Whoa, whoa, what’s wrong with Little Bit?”

“Nothing this won’t fix.” Dez pressed the antitox booster against her skin; that hiss and click had rarely been more welcome. Sure enough, after only a few moments, the dark streaks on her skin began fading, and Affie’s breaths deepened. Leox dropped to his knees in relief and put one hand on Affie’s head.

She stirred, opening her eyes. “What was that?”

“A vine scraped you,” Dez said. “Apparently it was poisonous.”

“Great,” Affie muttered. “That’s just what we needed on this station on top of everything else. Something poisonous.”

“The fun never stops.” Leox’s grin could’ve lit up any midnight. “C’mon, girl. Let’s get some Jedha tea in you.”

Dez let Leox take Affie back into the ship. Reath remained behind with him. “We should tag those vines, maybe.”

“I don’t see lots of them around, thankfully.” Dez stretched his arms above his head, grateful to move freely after the confines of the tunnel. “But yeah, that’s not a bad idea.”

Reath hesitated as though there was something he wanted to say to Dez—or maybe more like there was something he definitely didn’t want to say but couldn’t help thinking about.

“Hey,” Dez said gently. “Out with it.”

“Out with what?”

“Out with whatever’s been weighing you down since we met up at the spaceport.”

Reath leaned against one of the nearby trees, studying Dez with a startlingly adult expression. Or not so startling—Reath was nearly of age, even if Dez still thought of him as the youngling excited to have been chosen by Master Jora. Their friendship had to grow along with Reath, into something more equal and more meaningful.

“I can’t believe you chose to come to the frontier,” Reath finally said. “Of all the places you could’ve gone. Even Zeitooine—”