Brisa and Catlin talked for well over thirty minutes. Catlin was very entertaining, nice, and clever. She was apparently a world traveler. She had gone everywhere, at least to every major city. Traveling was one of Brisa’s dreams. Catlin had apparently done it for a long time.
Brisa named city after city, Catlin told her about one after another. With Catlin’s storytelling, Brisa was captivated learning about those exotic places. The stories never got boring. Catlin described the peoples, buildings, and food in such detail. Brisa felt that she had there. One day she would go, but that was for another day.
“Why are you going to West Drop?” Catlin asked. She then stared at Brisa waiting for the answer. The question broke into the flow of conversation. If Catlin’s voice wasn’t so cheerful and high pitched, she would have seemed suddenly aggressive. However, up to this point, they only talked about Catlin’s travels. It was only fair they talk about Brisa for a while.
“I’m on assignment,” Brisa said. She was honest but slightly hesitant to tell everything to someone she had just met.
“Assignment,” Catlin asked intrigued. She paused slightly then continued as though she may have stumbled onto some secret plot, “what kind?” Having already been told about Brisa being a reporter, she came up with the best answer before Brisa could say anything, “You’re following Jaquan aren’t you?”
“Well, not anymore exactly,” Brisa said in a defeated tone, “they’ve caught me. It was horrible!” Then Brisa told Catlin about the tragic event. Afterwards she said, “They told me to get lost and I’m going to do just that.”
“I’m sorry,” Catlin said genuine sadness.
“It’s alright, there’s nothing you could do. It took some ‘encouragement’ from my boss to get me on this shuttle.” Brisa felt relieved being able to share her worries with someone, even a stranger. It was nice to have someone concerned about her wellbeing. “After the next reporter comes from headquarters I can go home. It shouldn’t take that long.”
“Are you sure you want to stay in West Drop,” Catlin asked concerned again. “If you’re going to hang around a place like that for any amount of time, you don’t want to stand out at all,” she said reading Brisa’s confusion, “Locals in a lawless town can get a bit restless. They won’t want to be seen by someone that looks out of place.”
Brisa remembered what she read about West Drop. The city would have strong warriors. Warriors that would stay there probably have committed dishonorable acts other places. They would commit crimes anywhere they could get away with it, even West Drop. With her inability to fight, she would be unable to stop them in the slightest.
Catlin took a long look at Brisa. The look of youth and inexperience was apparent on Brisa’s face. That alone would make her a brilliant target. “You’ll need a hood,” Catlin said. “You’ll need some clothes too. We can get those from the shuttle shop.”
Brisa was relieved to get the help she just realized she needed but there was another problem, “If I leave the cabin, one of Jaquan’s crew will see me.”
“Don’t worry about BigBad,” Catlin said waving off Brisa’s worries, “I’ve learned about Jaquan. He’s the type to relax in the front to avoid unwanted attention. Besides, this shuttle is huge. There’s no chance you’ll be found.”
“Really?”
“Well, almost no chance.”