The Offer

LAIS

Thud!

My back lands on solid earth. On top of us, a portal closes.

"Ow ow ow ow ow," I say as I lay on the soil.

I turn to see Elen, who somehow managed to land on her feet. In fact, it looks like everyone had a graceful landing, which I suspect made my graceless landing all the more spectacular. Great. So much for good impressions with the hasrs.

"They are saying you humans have rather weak reflexes," Elen says, lending me a hand.

I take her hand, struggling to get up. Yup, gonna need a massage after this.

"Shut up, I'm not a superman like you people. And you could have given me a warning about our escape, you know," I reply.

"It was obvious that we were going to use a portal out of there. We caused quite the ruckus and were bound to have been hunted for interrogation. It is unthinkable to have walked out of there. Using a portal was the logical decision," she defends.