Turns out, Akirais new companion was in an oddly good shape for being attacked by the Red Scaraph Queen, not the she complained.
The Moth got basic first aid and was given back to her, she took her without hesitation and followed the soldiers out of the nest, the civilians were waiting outside and were more than happy about the news that the Raid would end prematurely, unsurprisingly.
It was already dark when they came out from within the nest, and so they set up camp, ate and went to bed.
The night was calm as Akirai awoke, the Moth still within her arms and seemingly content to remain there.
She sat up and looked around, the friendly soldier sat by a smokeless campfire and waved at her when he noticed she was awake, she got up, readjusting the Moth in her arms and went over, setteling on a tree stump across from him.
"Slept well?" He asked and she nodded. "The Moth is a good plushy." She said, holding up the moth, he chortled and shook his head.
"You know she won´t be around for long, yes?" He asked and she once again nodded. "Yeah, the Commander told me, remember?" She tilted her head to the side.
He nodded. "Just wanted to remind you." He said, poking the fire with a stick, then he looked up again. "Thank you little Moth, for saving our asses." He said with a chuckle, shaking his head a bit.
The Moth ignored him, and now it was Akirais turn to snort, what a prideful, little thing. "When are we going back?" She inquired and he looked at her again. "By daybreak." He replied.
And that was that, they sat there in a comfortable silence until a small alarm rang, rousing the soldiers, who then woke the civilians and told them to pack.
Akirai slung both bagpacks onto her back and followed the sodiers out of the forest, this trip had been a treasure trove of experience and she left, satisfied with her haul.
All the civilians got a cut from their kills and they too were satisfied, even Akirai got a few carcasses, even though she had already claimed the moth.
They met up with a platoon of soldiers at the fence and Akirai followed the civilians who went to a house near the fence.
They opened the door and went inside, it was bustling with people, Hunters most likely, and she noted that there were people already waiting there, so the civilians who went on the Raid were reunited with their friends in the hut, at the back there was a counter where some hefted the beetle corpses onto.
Ahh, Akirai thought, a lightbulb going off in her head, this was a trading center where they could trade and sell their spoils!
Akirai got in line and waited for her turn, it took a while as one of the men before her caused a ruckus about the price of his Beast, only to get told off because it wasn´t in good condition.
When it was Akirais turn, she politely said hello and unloaded her rucksack full of dismantled beetle parts and let them plop onto the prepared counter, the Moth in her arms protesting it´s comfortable resting spot moving, and Akirai chuckling before adjusting her hold on the ball of Moth and fluff.
The woman at the counter smiled sadly at the Moth before doing her job and calculating her haul.
It turned out to to be well worth her investment of 150 Credits as the final price was a whooping 7.000 Credits.
"Nice." She commented and thanked the woman at the counter for her time, the money was directly transferred to her Bank account through her watch, an all round thing.
She still marveled at the wonders of technology, as much as she puzzled over how to use the damn things.
She did ask the woman where she was suppposed to put the gear she rented, the woman only told her to hand it over and she´d take care of it, she smiled, thanked her and handed her one of the backpacks, stating the other belonged to her, the woman nodded and waved her off.
She turned an left the shack with a satisfied smile, this would last her for a good while.
She sighed softly as she made her way towards her shop.
She stopped in her tracks and looked at the Moth in her arms before letting a stunning smile take over her features, her own shop, she was free to run it as she liked, and while she had no idea how to name it for now, she was sure she´d find a fitting name.
She sped up her tempo and jogged over to her shop, it was far closer than the dingy Hotel she´d rented a room at.
She blinked as she reached her destination, and where her Shop was supposed to be at, she looked around again, but she saw no hide or hair of her old shop.
"Errm..." She said, unsure of what else to say as she heard loud laughter from next to her. "Can´t recognize your Shop, ey?" A man asked her, and she wracked her brain as to where she´d seen him before.
"Oh, It´s you! Yes I still don´t, you´re miracle workers, you know that?" She said to the construction worker she´d talked to before. "Didn´t you say you needed two days for this?" She asked looking at the new shop.
He was laughing at her, she just knew it. "No I said we needed a day and a half, it´s been done since yesterday evening." He said, she nodded, speechless. "Good job." She praised.
She didn´t want to talk right now, so she excused herself and unlocked her shop with her watch -ahh technology- and stepped inside.
It was very clean inside, empty- except for a counter on the right side of the door and spottless, she went upstairs and found that, it was empty too, but also spottless.
She called a Company to let them move the things into the shop and gave them the adress for the things she´d bought before, she also ordered some furniture for upstairs and payed them- 4000 Credits Total- she marveled at how expensive Beast rearing was and left to go back to her Hotel, petting the Moth all the while.
She noted that a lot of people where looking at her with pity in their eyes and she could guess why, these Moths didn´t live long afterall, and it wasn´t uncommon knowledge, she harumpht coldy and ignored them- she didn´t need their damn pity.