"She let go a' me," Liya said defensively, "An' if the fall hadn't broken her neck, she'd a' thought real hard before chasin' me again."

"Hm. That logic certainly explains some of your earlier behavior," the Cynn said dryly. Abruptly, he stood up. "Well, I've heard enough."

Liya started. Before she could stop herself, she asked, "Am I gonna be sent away?"

The Cynn actually seemed somewhat surprised by that, and by the sudden look of anxiety on her face. "Hm? No," he answered, eyebrows raised. "Of course not."

Both officers had started as well at the Cynn's motion to stand--the blonde one, Terrya, had advanced just behind Cynn Numair. They started to say something in Aetherian, lowly, brow knit.

Quite suddenly, the Cynn rounded on them, seeming to have lost his patience. "Officer," he snapped, showing his own long teeth in warning, "when speaking openly of one's fate, it's appropriate to speak a language they understand. As for your question, I will be most surprised if the Immigration Board reaches a different verdict than mine, using protocol that I wrote."

Terrya bowed very slightly, one hand over their chest--the Cynn had to look up quite a lot to meet their eyes, but didn't budge from his spot at the table, having now turned fully to stand between Terrya and Liya.

"Your protocol," Terrya said at last, nose wrinkling, "would allow this human�to remain free. It has killed once, what's to stop it from--"

"I din't mean to," Liya interrupted. They both turned to look at her. She looked between the Cynn and the officer, frowning worriedly. "I meant to hurt her bad enough that she'd back off. I din't know the fall would kill her--it din't kill me."

She jumped, then, because Helly had at some point gotten up, sidled across the room to her, and had now placed one crudely-formed wooden hand on her shoulder.

"But I'm glad she picked me up over someone else," she managed. "I can fight back, anyway. An' Helly told me what slavers do. So I guess I ain't as sorry as I should be," she admitted, finally. Helly finally spoke, seeming, for all the world, frustrated.

"Officer, Liya suffers tremendously from shell-shock," ne said. Terrya merely looked down their nose at them both. "She grew up in a culture that gave special disregard for her life."