She led the two of them through a small maze of buildings and stalls, slinking with ease through alleyways, like a cat, until she made a quick drop onto a lower platform a few feet below. Aliyah was lithe and quick, a skill she had picked up with relative ease when it became necessary for her survival. Sometimes someone would recognize her despite the veil, and she would have to make a quick escape to keep from getting pushed into some altercation she didn't wish to be a part of. Other times she had to get away from a business situation when it had gone sour, particularly when the other found out what she was.
Most of the time, though, agility and nimbleness came as a necessity to getting out of tighter spots when she had to resort to getting what she needed without the ability to pay. Aliyah did not like to steal, regardless of what it was or who it was from, and whether it was a peculiar sense of honor or just sheer guilt, her casual thefts always became a double-mission when she would take it the first day and have to find a way to sneak the money she owed back later when she had procured it. At the very least, it kept any sort of conscience from nagging at her, and knowing she owed these people nothing made it easier for her to go about her business of trying to get her rightful life back.
It all came down to what she was. Aliyah couldn't help but fiddle with her veil again as she thought about it, a plight of necessity more than anything, and she ducked into a tiny little building that seemed to dip even further down, like a basement, though it remained open and lit by what light could shine through the door leading to the alley just above their heads.
"Come in, come in." It wasn't much. With no real decoration past the small hoarde of carvings in one corner, haphazardly piled as if she had recently gone digging through them, it bore little resemblance to a home and seemed more like a hideout than anything. The snoring, slobbering man in another corner didn't seem to help with the ambience, either. "Ignore him," Aliyah murmured, leading them in and waving off the filthy sleeper. She sat them on the ground again after having pulled out two well-mangled rugs for them to plant themselves down upon. No furniture, either. But! The room lent itself a nice cool sensation from the fact that it had the earth surrounding it, and she reckoned it might have been one of the cooler places in the desert at that particular time.
Without a second thought or any words, she was already busy fussing around again, bringing forth a canteen of water and offering it to the two of them. "You'll have to share, I'm sorry I don't have two. I have a few pieces of fruit, though, that I found while stone-searching last night! You are welcome to them!" Aliyah didn't wait for an answer before she had zipped off to another corner, scrounging around in a large blanket-covered mess to pull out the fruit she had been talking about.
