The answer to her question came almost immediately. Not from Yiya, but from the stairs behind her as another young woman descended onto the platform with them and approached. Sasha watched them as they walked the length of the platform but didn’t say anything; she let Yiya handle the formalities, since this was her expedition and she was much better at it than she was regardless, and instead took the opportunity to examine them instead. They seemed dressed well enough for a tough journey, prepared, though the revolver at her waist was what caught her eye the most.

Was it like hers? Sasha had never met another person who could see the shadows like she could; not among the hunters at least and she didn’t really speak to anyone else if she could help it. She’d also never told anyone about why she always kept an unloaded revolver on her at all times, so she didn’t know if the things it could do were common. The sidearm wasn’t a hunting weapon that much was certain, which meant it was either meant for use against the shadows or for use against… people.

Sasha looked away from Toni.

The next person to arrive was also a young woman and though this one was not armed, she was very talkative. Sasha listened at first, long enough to learn their name, but quickly began to tune the other girl out as she continued to talk; she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, as she fought down the urge to leave and find a job with fewer people involved.

Before she could lose her nerve Yiya began to speak again, asking them to help her put things away. Sasha stood up and stepped off of the rug so it could be rolled up, then picked up the bowl that she was pointed to and carried it to the edge of the platform. She tipped the contents out onto the railbed, mostly ash from whatever it was Yiya was smoking, and held the empty bowl out for the machine, Echoh, to take. Thin, robotic arms shot out from the terrarium and snatched the bowl from between her fingers before she could react, surprising her enough that she didn’t notice where exactly it put the bowl afterwards.

She listened, then, as Yiya explained the purpose of her journey and her need for an escort. The plant the terrarium held was needed to cure her village of a Rue; the old woman didn’t mention any medicine, just that the plant itself would repel the Rue, which was strange. If the plant would protect her village, why would she need an escort to protect her from the Rue? Unless it only worked on that one kind of Rue? But then why did it sound like she expected it to draw other Rue to her to stop her from reaching her village?

Any further questions Sasha might have had were interrupted when one of the other girls, Toni, brought their attention to the rails, the approaching train and a shadowy figure in front of it. It was tall, even hunched over as it was, and thin. The way it stood, the way it began to spread its arms, it looked like it was going to try and stop the train in its tracks. Sasha didn’t know if it could, she had always been unsure how [i]real[/i] the shadows were, what they could do, but just in case…

A hand moved to the holster under her coat and Sasha pulled free her father’s revolver. Holding it with both hands she aimed it at the shadow’s back, held her breath and pulled the trigger. It kicked in her hands, despite holding no bullets and produced a gunshot that only she, so far, had been able to hear.