The Road Less Traveled [Collaborative Scene Thread]

[Echohawk]

Initially there was a degree of relief not seen in the Chiss’ eyes for some time. A vacation, somewhere that he wouldn’t be recognized, harried, harassed. As the grav lift helped to store the incoming supplies he oversaw while the vessel’s keeper was off managing other affairs prior to departure.

Valerius’ Ascension had more than enough amenities for the venture. Though he’d not been told of the initial destination. There were already lofty promises to give him a break from all the drama and chaos of the storm that was Viscara. It would be a matter of hours, just after local dusk that Kathea would finally return in some slightly less overbearing attire, still brooding in dark shades, but only that to be both practical and perhaps a degree less identifiable. After all, they were going to avoid attention if they could.

The Chiss had made a home of his quarters as well, having transferred enough material to ensure it was as good as home. He knew he could put up his feet while Kathea plugged in the appropriate coordinates. The starlines an easy comfort to ride along with the thrum of the ship’s engines and drives. She was a gracious host in ensuring his entertainment needs were met in the hours that passed, though the Sith remained entirely sober for a change as she refused to have even so much as a sip while manning the controls of the vessel.

Taking time to reflect on all they’d endured and witnessed, it was a breath of fresh air to simply be away from it all.

As the indicator sounded, the lines would fade as this temperate world would come into view. A few readouts emerging from the console to dictate local time, active seasons in various hemispheres. All various pips of information gathered from a standard relay as they engaged in subspace flight.

---

Lothal

---

With the usual ease and expert handling the voidborn spacer handled the Throne with a familiar ease as they settled down far and well away from any of the agricultural civilization or the archeological digs that brought most of the attention from the outside, limited as it was.

"I’m so glad we’re doing this."

Kathea would simply nod, ensuring all locks, security mechanisms were in place. They didn’t need their ship being stolen while they were off of it at any point. One of the various rules to follow as a spacer who’s gone planetside, never lose your ride. Her expression flinching in internal bemusement.

He had yearned for a time to rest and recover, which she’d technically granted him. But quietly she would wonder just how long it would take to realize this would be far more than a mere vacation…

[Sara]

Sara rolled over in bed with a shiver of apprehension as Kathea brought the ship into land at their destination, brushing a hand over his new silver datapad before switching it off. Reports had been few and far between since the incidents and it troubled him - but he’d made a promise to put all of that aside for now. This trip was to be about them. With a heavy sigh he jumped out of bed and dressed up in his trusty white dueling jacket, patched over in spots innumerable and a pair of polished black boots, sucking his teeth thoughtfully as his hand hovered over a collection of weapons and explosive devices he kept by his bedside, curling is digits around the grip out of a sleek vibroknife with a reserved nod to himself, stashing it within the folds of his coat before leaving the room.

He entered into the long hallway and crossed over into the makeshift pen Kathea had knocked up in preparation for their trip, his pride and joy bowed over chewing fodder as he approached and clapped the bantha’s thick mane.

"There you are girl… not so bad is it? The spacefaring life? We’ll let you out once we figure if it’s safe around here, how’s that sound, hmm?" He asked as if speaking to a toddler, ruffling the great beasts mane as it gave an affection moo before going back down into the feeding trough.

As he backed away he gave his bantha a tight-lipped smile, twisting to make his way up towards the cockpit, a warmer expression taking root on his hard features as he laid eyes upon a Kathea that more closely resembled the little picture he kept in his chest, her auburn locks returned yet with a slither of grey - though there was a tiredness in her eyes that he hadn’t quite seen before, perhaps there was one in his too, he couldn’t help but think. The weight of the responsibility she bore and the betrayals they both had suffered. He hooked a thumb into his belt as he leaned over to one side, leaning on the statue of a great mythical firebreathing drake or some such creature.

"I hope you selected one of the planets I marked bantha friendly." He remarked with a sly smirk.

"Yes, yes of course. You gave me your trust did you not? What would it say of me if I were to break it so quickly."

He just smiled and nodded towards the exit, walking over by her side as they lowered the ramp and descended out onto the plains of Lothal, the heat of the sun stinging his eyes as he lifted a hand to gently shield them, his boots crushing long, lush golden grasses as he panned from left to right, squinting at the horizon that seemed to stretch off in all directions, broken only by the great jutting humps of conical rock marked by a series of banded layers… and not much else at all.

"Kriff me, Kathea… couldn’t have landed somewhere with a cantina?"

[Echohawk]

His remark wasn’t all that surprising. A light roll of the eyes, a gentle flow of steps as she disembarked onto a new and alien planet. The act alone was both harrowing and sacred in a way for her, as for her entire childhood all such worlds were mere pictures out of holovids and series, clippings from learning packets she’d pilfered from unencrypted educators passing through her resident space station.

After the initial adjustment period she would follow Sararen’s steps down the ramp, reaching out to the untamed natural grasses that at points could reach their chest and shoulders. Pale, dry, no doubt hosting the plethora of insect life that had evolved in such a landscape bereft of sentient influence or exploitation.

"I’ve brought us enough drinks to keep us completely out of it for weeks if we so choose. But I thought if nothing else we might walk a bit."

She could almost picture the thrill in his features, this needn’t be a dry vacation after all. Besides Kathea had always been partial to drinking, particularly when something weighed on her. Or when something stressed her. Or even to endure just a conversation to dull her senses…

Perhaps she might have a problem, an issue for another day.

---

For now, just as their information prior to departure had indicated there seemed to be no issue or threat for his beloved beast of burden. “You might still want to tether her somehow, so she doesn’t wander too far off.” A degree of care as ever in all things, since her dedication to the Sith she’d endeavored to prepare for as much trouble as one could be able to. Not that all things could ever truly be accounted for.

For the moment while he decided on how to, or whether or not to, leash his beast she took the time to step away from the ship to one of the rocks that ascended out of the rolling landscape. Gathering a slightly better view of distant tree like structures, a small lake.

A true wilderness that reminded her of one piece of the Force she’d had to let go early on, at this distance she could let her mind wander back to that pure powerful essence that played with the spectrum of life. The hope it once all carried.

"Alice"

Reaching up she clawed away a bit of moisture from the corner of her eye, hating to show too much raw emotion without willing herself to permit it.

[Sara]

For him there was no such trepidation or reverend moment to be had stepping onto new soil for there had been many - Thearterra, Rentor, Sarvchi, Rhigar and Bogo Rai. Each time touching down as a conquering hero, and this world would be no different. New adventures to be had, for certain… especially given Kathea’s interesting choice of landing pad, but he would overcome them just as any other, especially in his present company.

He seemed gladdened to have secured the landing zone, leading his bantha out of the ship down the loading ramp by the reins and humming thoughtfully at Kathea’s suggestion before shaking his head, gazing out over the peaceful horizon, the sun still basking the landscape in a warm orange glow as a gentle breeze shook the fields for as far as the eye could see. He clicked his tongue, seeing nothing at all that gave him any cause for concern.

"No… I don’t believe in that, she can wander… I believe she’ll come back to us, or else it wasn’t meant to be. Besides, it seems safe enough around here." He said with a tight-lipped smile before leaving the bantha to graze, an affectionate slap on the flank as he went to join Kathea as she gazed from atop a rock. He lofted a hand and pointed out towards the lake that had clearly taken his companion’s attention, loudly announcing yesterday’s news. "There’s a lake over there." With a big grin aside. "Why don’t we go down for a look?"

Without waiting for her reply he went to grab her hand and jump down off the rock, moving briskly through the tall grasses, looking back over his shoulder at one point and failing to see Kathea at all before a head bobbed up right on his tail, a hearty chuckle escaping him as he pressed onwards. Once the got closer to the lake the terrain levelled out and the taller grasses gave way to an area with more larger shrubbery and a few handfuls of trees dotted around the body of water. The surface barely seemed to stir at all, it’s surface like a mirror that reflected the clear blue skies and the perky little clouds making their ways to and fro.

As they walked and explored some more he looked back at Kathea with a gentle smile.

"You know, I never named the bantha…"

[Echohawk]

Taken by the hand she was led, although between the poor fair skinned human and the ample azure of the Chiss it more looked like she was being slightly dragged. Endeavoring to keep up as her smaller stature and shorter legs had various batches of grass smacking her when her cowl was just out of the way and failing to protect her face. Wincing, blinking, she was brought into view before the lake.

A small moment needed to catch her breath, having station usually didn’t mean being manhandled. But this was a small infraction, and it wasn’t as though there were any other witnesses. A strange moment as if their prior lives were left behind, simply enduring the boisterousness of excitement and curiosity without consequence for a change.

"Well at least you didn’t name her after me… that would’ve irritated me." Came her answer. “Why, are you suggesting we come up for one now?” Quaint as such a prospect was, her attention was certainly split.

Looking along the edge of the grasses, it was clear at the lake’s edge the area had been shortened, the ground trampled. This was far from a stagnant oasis. Lowering her posture, she put her fingers to the softer soil to inspect the print left behind. A hoof, to be sure.

Yet it was their coming that seemed to draw in something else. A steady rustle as masses of brown forms cleaved their way through the grasses at a steady pace towards the bantha. Her features only more easily known with the great curled horns adorning her skull well above the land. There was that faint pit of worry as the unfamiliar shapes lumbered along, it just wasn’t the pace of a predator. Instead four of those same shapes diverted to their very position, breaking into the line of sight with downturned horns and smaller upturned ones to crown their heads.

"I think she’s going to have some nerf friends now by the looks of it." Her expression instantly easing as she looked on the herbivores coming to simply sate their thirst. Though as expected keeping something of an eye on these strange newcomers to their prairie.

For now it just all seemed strange to not have the constant need to look over one’s shoulder. A weight she’d worn that made her head and neck silently ache slowly being lifted as if an unseen strength had removed it for her harmlessly. Blinking slightly, she had thought to take a seat on what appeared to be stone. That is until one of the less careful juvenile nerfs came over and started to lick the salt.

For the moment all the Sith could do was shed a laugh.

[Sara]

His lips upturned into a broad smirk as he looked between the bantha and Kathea a few times with a quiet chuckle. "No… I’d never do that to you. But… now that you mention it… Banthea almost seems so obvious I should’ve gotten it sooner." He retorted with a devilish grin aside before he watched her crouch to inspect some tracks in the grass, straightening up as he took a look around, scanning their surroundings and spotting the telltale heat signatures of something moving through the tall grass, squinting as his stance lowered naturally in anticipation.

As the rustling gave way to a long, loud moo his shoulders sunk a few inches with a heavy sigh, laughing it off and he turned to look at Kathea whilst the nerfs poured in about the lake. "Told you we didn’t need to worry."

"You really did pick a good one, Kathea… but I wasn’t yearning for the jet juice when I mentioned the lack of a cantina, what are we going to do out here?" He asked, hovering next to her for a few moments as the nerfs came closer before finally sitting down on the other side of the stone, head tilted towards her slightly as he looked out over the mirror-like surface of the water.

[Echohawk]

The moment closed in, and while the thoughts of their purpose had lingered through their travel the smacking of the tongue of the nerf against the salt lick was catching her just a little off guard. Her exhales betrayed much of what she carried, even while far and away in such a remote experience it’s as if she could never put down anything.

"While I’d like to say we could simply relax and enjoy the scenery, perhaps have a few meals and do some other trivial survival acts like camping… fishing… scavenging or what have you, I know that there is something that you’ve lost.

And yes, I know we’ve talked exhaustively about this…" Fingers clawing and rubbing, some kind of movement to help align her own thinking it seemed. Keeping that built up energy that throbbed in her veins idle and occupied. "Your connection to the Force has been altered or severed. Such things I’ve only encountered once before, and I was the one healing the wound within. Though I was closing it to help heal someone who could not handle it, instead now you are closed and must see if there is any way to open it once more."

Her expression muted some, this handling of such delicate matters was something deeply individual, and it almost felt intimate to do so. Even with the dozens of students over the passing months of war she already knew no two experiences in the Force were all that alike. And with the dark side as he once aligned, then attempting to garner a new shade with the light side even she had to admit she wasn’t all that certain of how to proceed. But she knew at least she had to start from a beginning, determining if he would be Jedi, Sith, or anything else was all far too forward to assume or work towards now.

Here, on this world something was raw and untamed. Something she’d remember as a feeling from those early days on Viscara, that call from the cavern. The whispers of it carried on the wind even now, though she could not yet know where to begin looking. But for now the moment and momentum would lie with Sara for now.

[Sara]

He reclined as he listened to her speak her piece, a tight lipped smile in passing as he considered all the trivial things they might do to waste away the hours in the day before wetting his lips with a nod of understanding, glancing away over the plains before turning back to meet Kathea’s gaze with a pained expression, mouth slightly agape as if for once the Chiss with a mouth couldn’t find the words.

After letting it hang for a while he simply stated. "You’re right…" With a soft sigh, continuing on. "I thought I had it all planned out - a means to be free, become the protector of Viscara and then tackle all of this at my leisure but… it seems my hand has been rather forced." He explained with a contemplative hum before turning his burning crimson gaze once more across the lake.

"I’m worried that things might be the same as they once were, that I’ll fall into the darkness because of all of this… anger inside me, resentment for what has been done to me. I… don’t even know if it’s what I want. The force was a great tool, but a terrible burden." He growled out the last sentence as he turned back to Kathea and reached for her hand with a gentle squeeze, lips curling downwards into a slight frown as he looked upon her, a sight less fair than she had been even just before he went to prison a few months prior - a walking testament to the terrible burden that the Force can be. "I think of all the good I might do, but I can’t help but think about all I’ve learned this past year and ask myself… is it really worth it?"

A whistling breeze swept across the plains and down into the gently sloped lake basin, leaves rustling in the trees as the nerfs suddenly perked up and then scattered at a brisk pace, disappearing once more into the dense grass around them as a dark cloud ominously drifted across, shading their locale. The bantha, not electing to try and follow it’s smaller and much faster friends, still chewed relentlessly through the rich golden foliage. Sara never seemed to react either, but something in the peripheral of Kathea’s senses tingled…

[Echohawk]

"It might not be for everyone, of this I know. And yet to take away your choice-" The thought stopped abruptly.

Shifting uneasily, she hadn’t realized how quickly the day was descending into evening. The stirring of the herd and the sound that followed was something she couldn’t quite place, but with heightened senses she knew something wasn’t quite right. And the Force that whispered and gave hints suddenly seemed to have legs, and was running…

At a second thought she reached for her saber’s hilt, a reflex that would convey her tension wordlessly. Curling inwardly as her mind felt the elements surrounding them in a growing presence, an instinct to try and pick out a single target from the haze, but she found herself unable to.

Knowing the Chiss would quickly be alerted and on edge, she gave what assessment she could briskly under her breath. “I don’t know what’s around us… or what is coming. But we’re surrounded.” A flinch, she’d not anticipated attention like this. But at the same time she couldn’t fixate or find the usual traces of malicious intent that shadowed such aggressive advancement.

Hunter…
She is a predator…
He is lost, I cannot smell him…
Protect him.

Eyes widening, more voices. Something that had entranced her in youth had caused her senses to sharpen considerably. Four, even more? Too fast to be mere people, their words short, not meant for her to hear.

But there wasn’t time to ready a defense, not time to ready an attack, things were moving too quickly. And before her blade could even be ignited as her palm raised the presence came in a surge. Each of the two suddenly struck…

---

Darkness overtakes the vision, a pain lancing through the shoulder. Grabbed. Dragged. The presence of the many being severed, the presence of her companion lost.

Just where were they now?

[Sara]

No sooner had he gotten up to reach for his own blade before their attackers were upon them. Kathea fought, saber in hand and Sararen tried to dodge away from them - wolves, running in a pack lead by a great white wolf, that was easily as tall as the Chiss when it raised it’s head, with flecks of light grey through it’s shining coat. The last glimpse he caught of Kathea was her defending herself against three of them, circling her and keeping her at bay while as the rest corralled him away, snapping at his hands and feet until he was out of view, then, they pounced. Pinned down under the incredible weight of the pack leader as another two gripped his shoulders between their maws, dragging him off against his will as he protested now and again in his native tongue. Then, his vision simply began to fade, the fight drained out of him as if a numbing poison coursed through his veins.

---

He woke, eyes stung by the stab of a bright light peeking through a hole in the roof of the great, circular cavern he found himself in, blinking a few times as his eyes naturally adjusted to the darkness, nothing in the chamber with him, but just beyond in the next one he could see the faint outlines of something… lying down. He assumed a low stance and reached for his blade - a shiver running down his spine as he felt that it wasn’t there, groping around to see if it had shifted in all the commotion - but it was gone. His fangs flashed briefly as he crept up behind some jagged rocks.

A low, bestial snarl behind him made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he slowly panned around to face down a motley brown wolf, smaller than the leader, but nonetheless intimidating as it flashed it’s long, yellowed fangs at him between growls, it’s pale blue eyes glinting in the low light of the cavern. The Chiss backed into the wall behind him with a groan and lifted his hands as if surrendering, the hound’s countenance shifting to be a touch less threatening before it quietened entirely and sat down with a whimper, the little blue tufts of fur above it’s eyes seeming to quiver and shrink submissively as he heard the heavy padding gait of the pack leader approaching from his left, swallowing hard as he turned to face it.

Sara got a bit of a fright as he turned to find the wolf’s face inches from his own, nose twitching as it gave him a long sniff before turning towards another of the pack with a warbling chattering that was lost on him, though he could tell the creatures were intelligent enough, communicating with apparent subtleties in their language, facial cues, and of course he could perceive the fluctuations of heat below their fur at this distance - a pity he didn’t know more about dogs.

[Echohawk]

Pulled and dragged, gaining distance she couldn’t herself know how she was experiencing. Only as the felt the grass being violently dragged and shoved along her form as she was carried along made her aware they were still on solid ground. The gripping bite on her shoulder had one canine lodged partly into her flesh, the hold strong, painful.

At this speed the sudden release and tumble that followed after was disorienting, her form rolling along for several dozen feet before finally coming to an eventual halt. The grass compressed where her body had been discarded for the moment. In heated breaths her attention quickly rose to try and recalibrate her up from down, swiftly looking left and right as her cowl had since fallen and the auburn hairs whipped with the quick and fretful motion.

It would take a few breaths to notice that there was still daylight but a haze surrounded this area as the sun was setting behind her back. With twitching muscles she looked into the haze where she felt the three solidify, yet only one approached.

A haunted, primal expression reflecting in the gaze of it all, predatory eyes she’d known well in the depths of her own meditation. Coiling, unsteady as she was she reached for her saber hilts. But she’d grasp once, twice, again… one was missing.

The ancient weapon secured from the tomb had been removed, perhaps even dropped in the frenzy. While she was grateful to still keep hold of her master’s remade weapon, a grief still welled up in her chest that burned to her eyes. Yet before she could even ask or cry out…

Whatever opposed her let the plasma ignite across from her. They had taken the blade gifted by the spirit of Marka Ragnos, her grief quickly rolling into a boiling storm as the weapon was lifted against her.

Her eyes could only grow wide as the instinct to light her remaining saber followed, the shrill ignition becoming a second light in this dark shadow.

[Sara]

With some trepidation Sara reached out towards the wolf’s maw, the great creature opening its jowls to give him a big lick after he’d advanced a few inches, frightening him as he pulled back again with a short, nervous laugh, eyeing the rest of the beasts that had begun to gather. If they planned on eating him they were acting awfully suspiciously about it.

"What do you want…?" He murmured under is breath, more to himself than the wolves that circled him, though to his surprise the large one raised it’s head and barked something that almost sounded like a response.

"Lost one… come…" The white hound’s jaws flapped and the Chiss raised a brow in disbelief as it rose up off it’s haunches and spun around, wandering into another adjoining chamber. Before he had time to think, a head butted him in the rear, another of the pack encouraging him to do as he was told.

---

As he entered the chamber the he saw this room was bathed in an eerie light that slipped in through slanted cracks in the ceiling. The great wolf stopped before a wall and looked between the Chiss and it expectantly as Sara slowly moved forwards, still surrounded on all sides. He squinted as he beheld what they were trying to show him. The walls of the chamber he now found himself in were not blank, but covered in paintings… or carvings. He approached the wall and reached out to touch it, his finger tracing through the indentations of the marks before he backed up once more to take a more holistic look at it.

"Men came from the sky… and walked with you…" He thought aloud to a warbling ‘awoo’ from a nearby hound, circling to lie down by his feet as he inspected the depictions further.

His gaze tracked up towards the central figure - what appeared to be great stone carved with a interconnected pattern across it’s surface, waves or emanations of a sort seeming to come out from it across all of the other figures on the wall - nerfs, bats, cat-like creatures, the wolves themselves… and these men from the sky.

"Is this a place?" He asked in wonder, turning back to the wolf that he could’ve swore spoke to him earlier.

The beast reared it’s head as if it was like to respond, bear a piercing howl echoed through what must’ve been the entrance to the chamber - only blackness outside, must’ve been the middle of the night. At once, all of the wolves stood at attention, some rushed off out of the entryway whilst only a few remained with the Chiss. He remembered about Kathea - that they had been separated, a chill random down his spin as he felt goosebumps spread over his body.

"What about the one I came with? Where is Kathea?"

The pack leader merely offered a growl in response at the mention of her name.

[Echohawk]

Standing across from her, the saber with a gleam of golden-yellow was held assertively in a soresu position. But in this moment, in this haze the foe shined brightly. Certain, resolute.

Kathea faced… herself.

It can’t be possible. Some trick. The Sith left snarling as she tensed, feeling that breach in her shoulder leaking a bit of warmth inside of her robes. Every thread of thought, every beat of excess energy was her own, this was no other, there was no other.

The saber remained in poise, a breath before the storm as they stood on the cusp of blows in tense standing. A billowing wind letting the grass wilt and shiver with its passing, the haze remaining to enshroud them both.

"I will not let you harm him again." The tone came firmly into her mind. It was not another voice as it had been so many times before.

The act itself caused her to flinch, her voice, but not her own thoughts. A growl to follow, "Everyone assumes I’m only out to cause misery. No one else will ever understand me or that which I do!"

"You have been sick and tired for so very long, we have suffered enough. Let the boy be. Let him have the chances we were denied." We, it spoke inside and as her, yet the lips never moved. The tone resounding within her own head.

She had to toss her own head from side to side, the situation, the whole exchange numbing her head. "No, this is not something someone else gets to dictate to me. I stopped letting people hold me back when they took away what I would’ve died for."

"What you would’ve killed them all for." The counterpoint rang out.

Hissing at her bizarre mirror image, her grip adjusted on the hilt of her master’s repurposed saber, the damage to the casing left purposefully worn. "That’s not why I came. That’s not what we’re here for!"

"He’s the one who took her, wasn’t it?"

Even as they stood apart, there was a chill that ran down her arm, as if the energy and misery was bleeding from the hilt into her very blood. Ache, rage, mourning long deprived. Not realizing the fatal mistake she’d just made looking at the limb instead of focusing on her opponent, yet she was spared this moment. Though as her focus returned to the white robed variant of herself she noticed something clinging fearfully to her leg.

A boy. Just a sweet young soul that looked the spitting image of what she could’ve imagined to have been Solomon’s dedicated little heart. But the fear that reflected in his eyes, the running tears down his cheeks. He couldn’t be here too, he was far in the clutches of another, corrupted, broken surely so. This memory was only that.

“Kathea, I’m scared!”

But it was not her who he sought comfort in, shielding himself in this other. Cracking as ice her own expression broke as grief and rage choked her throat, the moisture rolling out without hiding, uncontrollable. Ugly.

"You do not know who you threaten, what you dabble in…"

The tone a threat that followed with a charge, all vision of protection and pause shattered just as her emotions were fleshed out raw. The howl of plasma eventually being struck and locking time and again, three strikes in succession brought the light of the combatant’s faces into view.

The descent into darkness, that wide eyed hateful glare, woe mixing with wrath.
A serene calm, surreal in speed and an ease. A pity spared, a gentle countenance while handling a weapon with such power and grace.

"The choice was made before. It could always change. Your fate is not yet sealed."

Confidence oozed from her tone, not of arrogance but in earnest offer. But this only made her arms stiffen and twitch as the control usually so acutely maintained started to fray and wane. Sucking in a shrill breath through her teeth, the hiss following the next flurry of blows.

"How could you understand. You haven’t been there! Where were they when I needed THEM! No! NO! You won’t distract me from what I came to do!"

Strikes turned into a continual exchange, the initial momentum lost in that opening streak as the clash became a matter of one always assaulting, the other always deflecting, always soaking the blows with her weapon.
Enduring all they could, the blows, the flicker of blade on blade was a wild storm out on these distant plains, stray strikes cutting into the high grass and cauterizing it into a smoldering burning line each time.

"Then tell us, why are you here." Speaking as if the trial hadn’t affected her, given that she might not be real perhaps she would not tire at all. Fighting like this might be little better than a means to tire her own self out. Kathea knew illusions before even if this one cut especially deep.

But this moment she seized all the same, breaking into a low sweep to catch herself off balance and forcing the guard low before bringing her weapon up into a set of overhead strikes. Using the momentum of the motion, the grasp of two hands to drive the weapon down harsher, with each subsequent swing. The shade of saber gradually shifting with each concussive blow.

"I came…"
Strike
"To give him a chance…"
Strike
"A chance that I never had!"
Strike
"A chance that was stolen from me!"
Strike

Frothing by this point, driving the opposition lower the saber was finally pushed out of the line of defense. Crushing blows had finally won out as the defenseless hand was lifted in that reflexive act to seek pity, to seek mercy.

Blinking, her eyes felt unfocused and hazy from the burning tears. But in that moment her vision started to shift.

From the one who held the saber, to the one now helplessly threatened beneath it…

[Sara]

Sararen balled a fist as he asked the snarling wolf again more sternly. "Where is she?"

"They… protect you." The great white Loth Wolf barked out.

The Chiss squinted and looked away for a moment as the words stung gently. "I don’t need protecting from her, she’s my…" He paused and shook his head a bit, the realisation that he was explaining himself to a talking dog creeping back up on him.

"She is… dark." It spoke again, fangs flashing as some of the other wolves growled.

Sara shook his head instinctively and opened his mouth to protest but stopped, feeling the slither of something creeping up the back of his neck, something he hadn’t felt for a long time. It hardly persisted for more than a split second, but nonetheless it left him with a bad feeling about whatever position his companion now found herself in as he turned back to the wolf more resolutely than before.

"She is… just as lost as I am." He lifted his good hand to point out the cave. "We must go to her." Sara went off without awaiting permission, hearing the heavy pad of footsteps behind him as the remaining wolves came along, one slipping ahead of him to show him the way through the dense grasses, forcing him to run to keep up with them as they dashed through the night.

---

It didn’t take long at all until the came upon the rest of the pack along with Kathea herself, lying down in a clearing of flattened grass, a whimpering and wounded hound licking it’s wounds as another member of the pack seemed to tend to them, the others surrounding Kathea with an intense, unbroken stare in silence, the woman reduced to a helpless state as she begged and pleaded for mercy to the air, both of her sabers strewn on the ground before her.

"What’s wrong with her? What have you done?" Sara asked frantically as they arrived and he took in the scene before him.

"Defended… her aggression!" The wounded wolf growled out with a fading whimper as it lay on it’s side across the clearing.

"No, no, no… we didn’t come here looking for a fight - that’s not it at all. She’s just scared…" He tried desperately to defend her actions to the pack.

[Echohawk]

It was one of those rousing from a time of supposed rest, that awful discomfort in parts of your body you weren’t aware you could make ache. Blinking slowly as the glossy haze from an unrequested rest was fading steadily away. The immediate sounds of growling and grumbling always a good sign to wake up to.

Feeling over her limbs, her face, she took a moment to account for everything. Everything where it should be earned the sigh of some release. Even the beast’s wounds were not that of a physical altercation, but an extreme mental one, the duress shared between them all.

"Yes. I’m capable of fear as well. For all I am… for all I do."

With uncertainty the beasts couldn’t help but continue to look to Sararen for the leads they should be taking, and only with his continued insistence on not trying to do any harm did they start to slowly ease. If only to a degree.

"It is your choice to trust this one. We do not pick our family, but we pick our pack."

While the moment was uneasy, Kathea reached out with a general awareness of her sabers. But in seeing even a little bit of struggle the Chiss was down near her helping to hand over the weapons back into her care. A grateful breath escaping her.

"I’ll hesitate on any comments that might make your new friends nervous." Flinching a smile, "Needless to say they’re good protectors, if nothing else."

Taking up his offered hand there was a brief lightness, no harm done for the moment at least. But she’d clear her throat, leaning on Sararen for the moment a bit while the haze still filtered out. "Did they take you somewhere else? I thought I’d lost you."

[Sara]

He returned the smile as he helped her to stand, tilting his head down as he inspected her for injuries, judging them to be no worse than the scrapes he’d taken getting dragged over the plains he couldn’t help but laugh a little bit, a reassuring pat on her lower back as his gaze turned towards the wolves that had arranged themselves all together nearby, still watching the duo intently.

"You won’t lose me that easily." He said coolly with most of his usual bravado before actually answering her question. "They did take me somewhere… maybe they’ll permit you to go there too?" He posed the statement questioningly even as he seemed to speak to Kathea rather than their observers, drawing a hand through the air to accentuate his next point. "A cave of a sort, covered in wonderous carvings, they depict… something." He shrugged a bit and lowered his hand. "Men from the sky who walked with the wolves, a great stone that seems to… throb."

He leaned in closer to whisper in Kathea’s ear with a hint of amusement in his tone. "But I don’t think they like you."

"We sense her intent."

"Cold, cold heart…"

"And yet he trusts her."

"More than trust…"

After a short amount of less perceptible warbling growls between the pack the white wolf turned to them once more, staring directly at Kathea.

"Guide the lost one…"

Without so much as another whimper the pack turned tail and began to make their way back to the cave, leaving a trail of flattened grass in the eerie twilight glow as both moons shone brightly in the clear night sky above them.

Sararen seemed surprised but eager to seize on the opportunity as he squeezed Kathea’s hand gently.

"Shall we?"

[Echohawk]

The prior comforts of being carried off were something being slightly missed as they walked. Led by the pack, and a little by the Chiss as they backtracked along his own journey. The risen cones of the stone structures gradually growing nearer. Keeping a grip on Sara, she didn’t need him as much to walk properly but to ensure she was going in the right direction, even as the Loth-wolves kept a vigilant eye.

"You didn’t have to go to all that trouble."

"Oh yes, you looked like you had it all well in hand." Tone teasing but still a breath of some relief escaping.

"Fine. It’s not like I blame them. Clearly they can sense what I am. They’re more capable and connected to the Force than I’ve seen in anything that wasn’t humanlike…" Her words coming a touch more cautiously as she revealed the detail regarding their nature, their abilities.

A lingering thought to be sure as they advanced into once of the cracked sides, Kathea’s head on something of a swivel as the dimming environment hid even the stars outside. Reflexively Sararen handled a simple hand torch to help illuminate the area. At first catching the mirror reflection of the Loth-wolf eyes before finding a mark on the wall.

Her hand reached for the shape, following the flow of it almost to the point of touching, but just short of it. "I can tell you… the archeologists are going to wish they could find things like this. These must be hundreds, even perhaps thousands of years old."

Reverently she traced around the shape as opposed to accidentally touching and ruining the figures illustrated. Pausing and moving through the figures as their path continued along within.

"Such stories written here from the past. Of people coming together." The beasts around them stirring while listening, their ear tips shivering while they too listened intently. “To heal… to commune.” Noting the illustrations of sentients near the depictions of the wolves, it was difficult to discern the meaning outright, as all she could gather were some of the feelings entangled in the artwork.

"This is a place where others have come, where the Force is present Sararen. Your selection of this world on your list was no mere accident, I believe you might’ve even been drawn to it." Something strangely said with a wonder and adoration from the lips of the Sith. It was beyond comfort to believe in a guided power given the events and so much hardship being endured. But power is power, even she could recognize such.

[Sara]

He stood back and let Kathea do her best archaeologist impression, arms folded, occasionally humming or nodding along with all that she said about the wolves, the illustrations. It had been a while since the concept of ‘fate’ or destiny had appealed to him, given all that had happened - but she might’ve been right. His lips curled upwards a touch as he gestured towards the one of the figures.

"That one looks like Master Vandar."

He stepped up alongside her and started to point out more specific parts of the mural.

"I get the impression that whatever we are looking for… might be on the banks of a river." He gestured to the wavy lines under the depicted group who appeared to ‘heal’ an individual. "And that there’s probably these distinctive stone markers in the area." He tapped the marked rocks that seemed to protrude from the ‘water’.

"Then there’s the… big one." He stood back slightly out of the way of the centerpiece of the whole artwork, the giant single stone at the middle of it all. A soft, withering sigh escaped his lips as he turned back to look down aside at her with a big smile.

"And here I thought we were just going to build a little house."

"You’d be so lucky." She retorted quickly with a quiet snort before continuing with a touch more sincerity. "You should go there."

The wolves had all been uncharacteristically silent as they allowed the duo peace to inspect and discuss the cave painting, before Sararen turned back towards them and simply asked outright.

"Is this a place? Do you know where it is?"

A few growls and snarls echoed between the members of the pack before the leader stepped forward and lifted it’s head, fangs flashing as it spoke in short bursts.

"It is… but we will not take her there." The creature said while staring directly at Kathea.

Sara’s heart sank a little bit as he turned around to look at Kathea standing next to him with a tight-lipped frown, letting his head tilt to the side slightly before shaking off a thought and turning back to the wolf.

"Then we’ll find it on our own."

"Be careful, Lost One… your companion twists Fate."

A brown wolf in the back let out a little whimper as the pack got up one at a time and began to depart deeper into the small cave network, skulking back into the darkness and leaving Sara and Kathea alone in their torchlight.

[Echohawk]

For now though, Kathea would reach out and grasp over the Chiss’ shoulder. "We’ll go in the morning. Right now it’s getting really dark and as much as I trust how much I can feel and sense, do you really think this is wisest?"

But he’d only shake his head with a dismissive laugh. "Between the two of us out here what can possibly be a threat to us? Those creatures won’t do us any further harm."

Relenting, well he was right after all. Besides nerf what more could there possibly be. It was probably best to cover as much ground to make this trip as short as they were able to. It was enough justification for her as they turned and started to make their way.

At worst they could stop and eat, take a rest out in the open as she’d finally practiced sleeping outside of four walls for a change. Admittedly it wasn’t her preferred way to sleep but she could muster enough courage to allow her body rest as it needed it.

A lone tree managed to punctuate the hills and valleys as they made their way, a local fauna called the spine tree. The evening breeze churned with the shifting temperature and open area, a beautiful haunting sound whistling past their ears as they continued to part the grass sea.

Eventually without anything too substantial to block their path the torch was turned off and they were able to walk with relative ease by light of the twin moons and stars. Easily hearing one another’s footfalls as she led him on.

Beyond his sight though, she found the rivers running through the ground as well as the sky, slowing her breaths to feel the pulses of flowing energy. It felt like it had almost been a year since she’d actually sat down and learned from a Jedi properly, and he’d not know how much his work had helped her navigate in times like these. Though she could imagine the sight would come easier to a Jedi, the path far less winding. Of course the Loth-wolves had to deny their aid, she could only scoff mildly under her breath.

"Kathea, did you sense something?"

Her head shook, though he might struggle to see it in the dim, "No, just thinking. Irritated."

"Oh? What about now. You’re not really going to let a bunch of animals get inside your head now are you?" That usual calm and determined demeanor piercing the cooling evening air.

She answered initially with a snort, rather bestial. "At one point you might’ve understood. But then again if we get your connection back you’ll probably feel it again anyway." Talking as they walked. "It doesn’t matter if you’re newly engrossed in the Force or if you’re a noted user of it, there’s always going to be some kind of fight. Some doubt, some instability to keep challenging it. I don’t know if it’s by design or just nature, but if one isn’t firmly rooted in their path, in the will of what they evoke it will continue to tug at you. Sometimes more harshly than others."

She might’ve seen his squint if she’d looked back to him, those red eyes standing out even in this low light, "You’re the most strong willed person I know. Or at least you’re in the top five."

A breathy sigh came, looking up and out to the distant systems as they glimmered in their natural and forlorn beauty. "Perhaps we must all struggle with it from time to time. Only one who has lost their humanity, their willingness to remain open and listen could be immune to it. And those that are like this… tend to be little better than husks. Powerful, but lacking any other purpose than to keep that power."

Their conversation carried as they went along. But it was in the shadow of night that something else stirred. A few soft chitters that could barely be heard, before near silent wings spread to melt into the night…

[Sara]

"And you certainly haven’t." He smiled aside as they walked. "Lost your humanity, that is… me? Well… the Jedi and the Republic took much from me-" What seemed like it might’ve been a spirited rhetoric was quickly silenced by a high-pitched shriek from high above, cutting him off and prompting him to look all around them. Kathea likewise stopped to scan the skies, but they could see nothing. A heavy, dark cloud cover had moved in across the clear sky, obscuring all but the dimming light of the twin moons that barely illuminated their path.

"That doesn’t sound very bantha friendly…" Sara remarked to his travelling companion as the colour drained from his cheeks slightly upon reaching into his jacket. "…The wolves never gave me back my blade."

"Kriff." She cursed under her breath as even then her senses were obscured - overpowered, perhaps, by the background thrum of the planet itself. Maybe it was because they were getting close, or maybe it was because they’d encountered another force sensitive creature - another that stalked them. Whatever the case… the only perception she had was of the constant, heavy flapping, the displacement of air high above them in the clouds, then again came the terrible bloodcurdling shriek, this time from behind.

Before either of them had time to fully turn around a large black creature flew directly into Kathea and attempted to hoist her up in a pair of gnarled claws about her shoulders, and might’ve succeeded were it not for the quick reactions of the Chiss, propelling himself upwards as he punched the creature right in it’s round belly, emitting a terrible scream as it faltered and fell to the ground writhing before recovering onto it’s spindly legs and taking flight quickly whilst Sara turned immediately to check the site of the injury, though she brushed him off, her gaze returning once more to the skies as she perceived not one or two of the creatures, but a swirling storm of chittering bats that had now been alerted to their presence.

"Run." She told him flatly, her turn to grab his arm and urge him onwards with great haste, the duo caught in an open field as they quickly broke into a desperate sprint. The Chiss huffed lightly, his legs carrying him as fast as they could whilst the Human no doubt called on her mastery over the force to force him to keep up.

"Kathea… I can’t-!"

"Shut up, run faster!"

The pair hurried along like their lives depended on as individuals far smaller and less able to lift them up began to swoop and dive bomb into them, yelps of surprise or injury as their exposed flesh was raked at by tiny claws or biting fangs, fabrics shredded and left in their wake as Sara lifted a finger, pointing dead ahead.

"There, a forest! We can find cover there!" He called out to Kathea breathlessly.

"Right, yes!" She answered briefly before a shrill shriek and a guttural groan as another bat whipped by her head and took off again into the blackness that swirled around them. Their pounding footsteps heavy upon the grassland as they made for what appeared to be an unfamiliar, clustered gathering of the local spine trees.