Despite her words, Aeris never removed her hand from his as she stared back at him, her eyes searching his and she tried to decide exactly what he was feeling, what he was thinking. The former wasn't too hard to figure out, as she could read his feelings like second nature, even in her present state. The latter, however, was more difficult. She felt a tinge of regret when he removed he broke the contact, pulling his hand back. She had essentially told him to do so, mostly because she didn't want to get her hopes up if it meant nothing, or if it didn't matter whatever it meant because he would always choose the Jedi. She let her hand drop to her side, averting her gaze when he apologized. She didn't answer, she didn't know how to. Instead she sat in silence for a moment, unconsciously fidgeting with the hand that now felt cold in the absence of his warmth.<br/><br/>"Yeah, sure." she replied when he said he was going down and that she could follow when he gave her the all clear. She watched him go down feet first, still wrestling with her own mind. No. She couldn't do this now. She needed to focus. There were more pressing issues right now. She couldn't let her emotions get the better of her. Who knew what kind of mess that would end up in if they didn't focus.<br/><br/>She moved close to the hole and sat down on the edge of it, taking the time to rest while he made his way down the hole. It took a few minutes for him to finally tell her she could come down. That was fine, though. It was more time for her to rest her body and prepare for what was to come. It was far from the rest she needed, but it would have to do for now. When he did finally tell her it was clear, she moved so that her feet dangled in the hole. "Okay. I'm coming down." she warned him before wriggling her way into the hole. She had a little space to move, so she took her time, managing to descend slowly at first. She was careful to hold on as she wriggled down, until the unstable walls of the hole gave way under the pressure of her arm. It messed up her balance making it so that she had to hold on with only one arm to keep from sliding down. It was no use, though. Her muscles were tired and this was more effort than it was worth. She was wasting energy. Dren was waiting at the bottom, right?<br/><br/>After a brief moment, she let go and let herself slide the remainder of the way down. Once she reached the bottom she slipped out landing on her feet, but unlike her usual graceful landing, her legs gave way beneath her and she fell forward, landing securely in Dren's arms. "Sorry." she immediately apologized, looking away to try to hide the hint of red that colored her cheeks. "Thanks." she proceeded to thank him for not letting her fall on her face. She slowly moved away, trying her best to calm her racing heart. She didn't know why she suddenly felt this way. It wasn't like he was holding her because he wanted to. It was just to keep her from falling. There was no need for her to feel embarrassed, or for her heart to run away like that.<br/><br/>She reminded herself of those things as she pulled herself away, guessing that he wouldn't want to her linger too long. She then looked around her, trying to distract herself. There was a hall that seemed mostly intact, with walls lined with statues, as was common in Sith temples. After all, Sith tended to be rather self-centered, so they rather liked their statues. "I guess we're going this way?" she glanced back at him. It was the only real choice they had. "I feel the presence of others not too far away. I don't want to push myself too much, so I don't know who they are or how many, but someone is alive, and it's not the Sith." she informed him, trying to give some small hope. She wondered, though, who they would find first, his companions or hers? And how would they respond? Would they attack whoever wasn't a part of their group? Or would they recognize that there was a greater threat facing them right now than each other? She supposed that only time would tell. She hoped they would be rational enough to see the benefit of working together, and the folly of fighting each other, but she wasn't sure that would be the case. Jedi and Sith tended to have a rather strong hatred of one another, and not everyone had the rationality to put that hatred aside for the greater good. Perhaps, though, they would do so for their own survival.