WriteHaven

The Sith did not seem happy. Though one rarely encountered a happy Sith. Rik Idannian sighed. This particular Sith was red-faced, yellow-eyed and in a furry. Though Rik couldn’t tell if the red face was due more to the black and red tattoos or his actual state of mind.

Look, like I told you before, I didn’t get your little hollow crown thingy cuz the dead guy in the basement, who was definitely not part of the bargain, by the way, screwed up the actual retrieval. What? Holocron, whatever. I found it for you, here’s the location. I will settle for a finder’s fee this once because ghosts and ghouls were not part of the original contract.

Darth Angry-face didn’t seem to like that answer. Rik ran a hand through his medium brown hair and put on a long-suffering expression. At the rate this is going I’m going to have to shoot him. The tirade of the Sith was becoming increasingly melodramatic with wide gestures and promises of pain, lots of pain. Yup, going to have to shoot him.

From the outside looking in, one couldn’t exactly tell who drew first. Was it the rouge with is large magnum caliber looking revolver strapped at his shoulder? Or was it the Darth Sinister in red and black with his crimson lightsaber? Rik Idannian definitely drew first. Call it preemptive self-defense if it makes you sleep better at night, but on a whole Rik was a pragmatist… and a man who very much enjoyed living.

The Sith was fast though. A heartbeat before Rik could pull the trigger Darth angry had his saber blade ignited and in the perfect position to deflect the blaster bolt that was going to pass though his head and did it all with a smug grin on his angry face. He died with that same smug expression, a smoking hole between the eyes.

Rik sighed again and walked over to the Sith’s corpse. He holstered his revolver and knelt down to go through the Sith’s robes. Not a blaster, Chief. It’s actually a slug thrower with full cortosis jacketed projectiles going twice the speed of sound and shrouded in plasma field. Looks kinda like a blaster bolt, I know, but it sips right thorough lightsabers as easily as skulls. Damn expensive ammunition though…

Just then the everything began to vibrate, first like a base note but then increasing in frequency until it was an ear-splitting, reality rending wave of ouch. Rik suddenly felt as if he were being yanked sidewise from where he stood and then he was falling, falling, falling…

Darkness surrounds. Fear, anger, suffering envelop like a fog. Thick, swirling, choking. Alone. Lost. It was a forest, unlike anything he had ever seen. Massive trees raised themselves up to form a canopy but, somehow, they were just wrong. Bent. Twisted. No healthy tree looked like that. Felt like that. Those looming beings had an aura of oily blackness. It seemed to ooze from the bark, drip from the leaves, and puddle at the roots. An unholy, self-perpetuating cycle of evil, fetid decay. It was a forest of death. And Rik was alone. Surrounded. Consumed by this insatiable, vile jungle.

Panic began to set in. It gnawed at his sanity and threatened to send him to his knees in desperate, hopeless abandon. Then he heard something. Voices. People? He shouted, ran in the direction of the sound. There was no one there. The voices, the whispers circled him, ensnaring his soul in another attack on the fabric of his being. No hope. No rescue. No salvation. Just evil surrounding, looking for an opening. Searching for soil ripe for the planting. Rik was their soil. His fears, regrets, sins, their nourishment.

Rik gripped his blaster at his hip. Drawing it he fired at something, anything, everything. It’s familiar report as he squeezed the trigger was a balm to his addled, embattled mind. It’s crimson fire lit that twisted jungle, dispersing the fog of fear, of doubt, of infection. It left a smoking hole in one of the leering trees whose depth began to weep evil onto the forest floor.

Well, that’s creepy, he thought regaining some of his levity. Using humor as a shield and his blaster as a sword, the beleaguered smuggler chose a direction and started walking. The looker-on would have seen a man, slightly crazy around the eyes for his experiences quipping rye comments at the darkness, firing his blaster at shadows but above all making progress in a direction. The right direction? That was yet to be seen. But at least it was a step forward.

As he walked he took stock. Blaster, two spare power packs. Revolver, five shots chambered, two spares. (I’ve been killing a lot of Sith lately…) light shirt, trousers, boots. Datapad. Coms.
What the heck?

Rik stopped dead in his tracks. There in front of him was a little girl. Not little exactly, taller but still carrying the slim build of youth. Dark hair, cloths that… are those robes? He immediately began to wonder why in the galaxy a girl would be wandering around… Then it came to him. She wasn’t real!

Alright figment. Go on. Get lost ghosty. I’ve had a really horrible time of it here and I don’t need some dreamed up kid to go and creep me out even more. I’ll shoot you! I’m not afraid to shoot a girl… Who am I kidding, I’m not going to shoot a little kid… *Sigh* What is it they say to kids? Run along now. Go, find your parents, and leave me alone. Ya.

And so he planted his hands on his hips and tried to affect the posture of a stern authority figure…doing so horribly.

Coruscant > Jedi Temple > Jonan-Li Quarters.
~231 ABY.

Nomi Joi Jonan. The twelve year old Padawan was on the tall side of her age group, lean, and quite agile. She’d just stepped onto the inner doormat of her parents’ home, crouching down to remove her boots when—

Similar to a snap-second ’Danger!’ warning of an impending attack — She felt a shadow of… just… power… rise up and slap against her an instant before it happened. But — there was no source! There was nothing to even think about dodging, or holding, or pushing against! Her brother Zhi froze up in the middle of telling them about wild varactyl habitats; she watched him press a hand against the side of his jaw and then reach down for their mother’s satchel.

—Something in the Force vibrated into a hum that felt like it jangled her bone marrow. Every instinctive sense in her body flared up at once. —

In the kitchen doorway, she registered her mother utter a faint gasping sound Nomi had never heard from her before. She glanced to see Kaytren pale and still as stone; obviously in pain. Her father stood up in concern; crossing the room in three strides.

—It felt like gnats had started buzzing in her ear. But the buzzing suddenly blurred into ringing and dizziness—like her eardrums were off balance suddenly from hitting her head too hard again. That sick buzz before a concussion was never her favorite feeling. She needed to—

Nomi jammed her heel back into her boot; springing to her feet. She made it about a step and a half closer towards Zhi, while reflexively checking her lightsabers. What did Pax just say he was getting? Her brown-black eyes darted to the stairs.

“Umm…!!”

Whatever she'd meant to say, she never finished it.


THE WORLD CHANGED.


Stickiness. Humidity. Putrid smell. Cries. Sounds. Gnats? Buzzing. Tinnitus. Blurred vision. Too dark. Concussion? Nomi weaved on her feet.

She was standing, but she felt like she'd lost consciousness and only just come back to it. She was falling... tripping? Pushed. Slammed. By what? Nothing?! Everything’s angle was wrong. Her footing wasn’t where her body had put it a second ago. Gravity. Physics slammed her towards a—

—Nomi threw her hands out in front of herself, reflexively mindful of her wrists. Her palms jerked to a stop against the sticky base of a massive black tree trunk, preventing the rest of her body from slamming into it. Oozing sap and tree rot squelched up between her fingers and tried to glue her there. What the... No! She pulsed a push from the Force sharply outwards from her hands yanked away from the trunk-tar. Nomi wiped her palms on her pants.

The girl’s brow creased in concentration while she tried to process whatever had just happened to her reality. She closed her eyes and counted down from five. Opened them again. It was DARK. In more ways than one. But she could peer further through it now. The air felt thick... Something different with atmosphere levels. But she could breathe it, obviously. Similar gravity. Humid, like Bakura could be. But clingier.

—And things Moved.—

She opened her mouth. “Zhi?! I—”

Nomi stopped abruptly when she realized that her voice wasn't the only one calling out at that exact moment. Where there were voices, there were ears. Suddenly there was a muffled clatter of talking and calls that echoed and bounced around in the dark stuffiness. She could tell some were familiar… but too far away. Much too far. Others were nearer and felt—very wrong.

(Zhi? You okay?)

The young twelve old bent down and tightened the boot she'd just been starting to take off by the doormat in her family's kitchen space… No outdoor shoes in the home. That was the rule. Home was a haven. Nomi felt deeply pleased that she hadn't finished taking hers off. See Mama…. Stuff like…. THIS(?!?) might happen. You never know! But what IS this?

Nomi's hand gravitated to her belt, deftly click-twisting the adjustment knobs on her lightsabers away from training defaults. The girl settled her primary hilt into its home in her hand, peering out into the dimness around her. Everything was misty black and shadows from huge trees... there must have been a canopy way up high, but—too high. Lots of roots. No low tree branches. It was like Panatha, but... more gigantic, and much more wrong. Where was this? Dagobah?

A sudden pre-shadow of a fanged, furred, 'thing' momentarily leaping onto her from atop an unseen.. something high... to the left behind her. Nomi whirled in reflexive reaction, an instant before her physical senses registered the realtime canine(?) lunging down at her from the foggy Black. For a split-second, she was reminded of Scruff. It was black like Scruff. It was big like Scruff. But this leaping wolf-thing was about to kill her.

The dropping thing snarled a fang-baring sound. The snarl was sliced to its end by the Snap-Hiss flash of a Guardian-blue lightsaber blade. The weapon snapped instantaneously on, severing front end of the furred thing that leapt into it, and flicked off. She gripped the unlit hilt in her palm. Nomi sucked a breath in through her nose and stared at the wolf thing. It was like Scruff. 400lbs maybe? But Scruff didn't have venom sacs. She'd never killed a wolf before. Her heart beat wildly in her chest. And Scruff probably wouldn't... steam? like that... if you killed him.

Nomi swiped the back of a hand across her forehead and stepped away in alarm. Vendaxa was a wilderness planet full of monsters. Was this Vendaxa? She'd heard about Vendaxa. Some cultures dropped you onto it with nothing but a knife for survival training. Was this a test? How would she have got here??

Zhi's mind found hers! (I'm fine, Nomi. Here; we're...)

Zhi said he was with Dad... Kinda.. that.. direction. Her brother gave her the sense of walking toward a fringe edge of the huge black jungle. The trees were petering out, and then abruptly there was some kind of prairie further ahead of him. He didn't say anything about wolf things.

(Pax...?)

Pax—wasn't. For the first time in her life, middle-triplet Nomi had zero sense of her older brother. Even when he'd gone to Panatha with Dad and she'd stayed on Coruscant, she'd still sensed Pax existing. Was he alive? He wasn't here.

Zhi said that Dad was. Mama...? She wasn't sure yet.

Things Moved.

Nomi needed to move.

It would have been nice if she had her backpack or her water bottle. Oh well. She had her boots; her clothes; everything that belonged on her belt. Time to go.

She breathed out, nostrils flared, heart still hammering. The unlit weapon in her grasp was at home there. She focused on the steady, familiar, feeling of the hilt beneath her fingers and tried to let the steadiness travel back up her arm. Her shaking stopped. Better. Nomi Joi scrambled her way over the first twisting root and began finding her way under the dark trees.


* * *


Three hours later, she followed a voice and found herself staring at a man.

Human? She wasn't sure how old, but adult anyway. He was armed: blaster in hand, at least one other firearm. Civilian clothes, basically.

He stared at her. She stared at him.

“Alright figment. Go on. Get lost ghosty. I’ve had a really horrible time of it here and I don’t need some dreamed up kid to go and creep me out even more. I’ll shoot you! I’m not afraid to shoot a girl… Who am I kidding, I’m not going to shoot a little kid…” Sigh. “What is it they say to kids? Run along now. Go, find your parents, and leave me alone. Ya.”

The copper-tan girl was only half-human technically. But Panathans were close enough to base human that mostly; she was just tall. Nomi's eyes narrowed in confusion at the man.

“Who are you? I am finding my parents. Don’t shoot at me. I don’t feel like it.”

What was she saying? When had she ever not felt like training? But—she didn't now. This didn't seem like training. If just Zhi had been here... maybe. But Zhi had made it feel like Dad was just as confused.

Nomi glanced around and then back at Rik. He'd been making more sounds than she was, and it seemed like nothing was in their immediate presence to attack them. He had his blaster out, so maybe things had been attacking him recently though. She frowned. He didn't seem very happy here either.

“Do you know if this is Vendaxa?”

So… not a ghost… Rik thought. In his experience, ghosts didn’t much care who you were. This was a new one. The spectral shadows he’d seen so far on this (haunted?) planet had been more sinister, flitty, less still, less…here? Though the girl with dark hair and coppery complexion was still it wasn’t quite Still. There was an energy about her, as if, even when she was perfectly still, she was still on the balls of her feet in a little springy motion. Even if I did want to shoot her I’m not sure I actually Could, he thought. He holstered his blaster.

Umm… I’m Rik? Rik Idannian. If you need something found I’m your guy. I do antiquities, weapons… why am I giving you my resume? Who are you?.... What do you mean? Your parents are nearby? No, I’m not going to shoot you…. What do you mean you don’t feel like it? What the heck kinda thing to say…

Vendaxa?

He looked up at the sky. Or what could be seen of the sky through the thick canopy of, why are those leaves moving, crawling…

No, the light’s not harsh enough for us to be on Vendaxa. I don’t even know how I got here. One minute I was smoking Darth Angry-face on Tatooine and then I was neck-deep in this creepy aaa… He glanced back at the little girl. …as…it could be, jungle. I mean have you seen these trees? Not exactly…

Just then something moved behind Nomi. It was as if the shadows coalesced and mingled with the oozing, puss-like tar of the twisted trees to form what looked like a twelve-foot-long salamander of darkness. It’s glowing red eyes pierced through the gloom and illuminated the vile fluid dripping from its shark-like teeth. It burst forward with at a speed no creature of that size and build should have been able to manage, straight for Nomi’s back. Rik simply reacted. His hand was a blur. With no verbal warning, just plain reflex, Rik sent five well-placed blaster bolts over the girl’s right shoulder. PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW! The creature’s momentum carried it forward as its legs went limp. It fell into a slide and came to a stop with it’s now crater of a face just bumping Nomi’s boot. Rik calmly walked up to the corpse… And emptied the rest of his blaster’s power pack into the beast’s head. He then took a deep breath and shouted, What in the ACTUAL FU… (realized the little girl was still right there)..UUuuungal undergrowth is going on here? Suggestion? Let’s go find your parents.

Rik’s eyes were locked to the creature. It exuded this, presence… it was only a feeling but… he thought it felt familiar, like the memory of a bad dream. His mind raced. This corruption. This vile, oily, Power that surrounded him, that had pooled and condensed into this slowly dissolving creature of darkness… he had felt it before. And he remembered where. It was there in the catacombs of the old temple, where he’d found the Sith’s holocron, it had been strong and wild in the ghost that he barely escaped from in that same place. It had been building to a fury in the same Sith Lord he had killed just hours before. And it was fundamentally WRONG. It was a twisted, evil, abhorrent, Powerful! And it was EVERYWHERE! I’ve got a baaaad feeling about this.

The girl frowned at a sickly-dim shaft of light from the tree canopy above, thinking about sun harshness and Vendaxa—Zhi would probably have known it wasn’t Vendaxa—and about this Rik Idannian: Civilian(?) Freelance Thing Finder… and possible Sith-smoker. Smoking as in ‘he shot an actual Sith with a weapon’? Smoking as in ‘This deathstick brand has a weird name?’ She looked the man up and down again, eyes still narrowed. He did have firearms...

She opened her mouth to comment something about blaster shooting, and maybe ask him to clarify about Darth Angryface, when—

Behind her—teeth—In front of her—faster than it shou—Rik’s trigger finger—PEW—towards her right—over her right shoulder—dripping—PEW—big—PEW—PEW—larger than the wolf-thing—reptillian?—PEW—Dead.

She would have whirled, but Rik was already firing within inches of her. He was quick. Freelance Force-User, apparently. Nomi’s thumb edged back to the activation plate on the steely-dark hilt in her hand. She turned her head towards the new oily Black thing and watched Rik's weapon’s energy bolts streak over her shoulder into the mess of a giant wet lizard. What was left of its head hit her foot. Nomi took a jerking step backwards, staring hard when Rik strode past her to shout and keep shooting straight into its liquifying head.

“Swear quietly!” she hissed with a glare, then belatedly added. “—Please.”

There was… So. Much. energy here… She was realizing that by the instant. These creatures didn’t seem normal at all… Everything was messed up. Was this a Sith planet? Was Rik a Sith? He really didn’t seem like a Sith… If he was, he was still helping her to not die for the moment.

“Okay… Yeah. You can come with. That’s prob’ly smart. But I don’t think Dad is that close. It could take a while.”

Nomi pressed her lips together and stepped closer to the lizard-thing, thinking hard…. It was almost… Dissolving? She turned her head over her shoulder and breathed in through her nose, careful not to inhale the creepy thing.

“This one looked… wet. We should see if there’s water where it came from. Like a… lake? or something… I don’t want to be dehydrated a day’s walk away from anything.”

Was that the way to do this? She had the filter in her pouch. If there was a lake, she could… use it… AH! And the water bag. She’d forgotten that was in there. This might be progress anyway.

She sighed and tried to gage Rik’s opinion and potential Sithness. This jungle was making her feel horrible. “I'm Nomi.”

Hi, Nomi. Nice to meet you. Sorry about the swearing, I’ll try to keep it under wraps. It’s been a day, ya know.

He noticed her hand… the dark tubular piece of metal looked familiar, distressingly familiar. Having come across his fair share of lightsaber-wielding maniacs who usually wanted him subjugated, enslaved, or just plain dead, Rik thought it better to ere on the side of caution.

Water seems like a solid choice… Say ah… this dad of yours… he doesn’t happen to favor red and black tattoos, does he? Great line, Idannian! Nice and subtle.

There was an awkward silent moment. His and didn’t quite twitch toward his revolver in its shoulder rig. But it was a near thing. He took a step to the side, just out of what he judged to be lightsaber range.

Screw subtle. Are you a Sith? Because if you are I’m not the joining type, I really don’t like tattoos, and I also enjoy free will and not enslaving or killing people for fun so if any of that doesn’t jive in that little head of yours I suggest we just part ways cuz I really don’t want to shoot you.

The twelve year old looked down at her brown garb and snorted. As for her dad… well technically… Dad actually was those colors, come to think of it. He wasn't half-human like she was. But she knew what Rik was getting at, and the only one with those tattoos in the family was Uncle Svo’k, Alex and Johnathon’s dad… Was Svo’k here too? She kind of hoped so. Allies would be great, and… maybe he’d know anything in the world about this place. Maybe? Or maybe not.

“Pshh! No! I guess that means you aren’t either. So what are you?”

Nomi rolled a cramp out of her neck and shoulder muscles before it could set in. It occurred to her belatedly that maybe she shouldn’t have told the questionable freelancer her name—and she wasn’t sure about telling him anything else sensitive. But what was he actually going to do with it? She was walking around in Jedi clothes with a lightsaber in her hand. Not very subtle, she figured.

“I’m not a Sith, I’m a Padawan. Free will is great. Dad is here somewhere. I think… a lot of them are. But I can’t feel my Master, or Mama for sure.” Pax definitely wasn't. She decided not to mention her younger brother yet, just in case Rik got sketchy. Nomi was very protective of Zhi.

“We were on Coruscant about to eat together. We do that sometimes if we're onworld. And then—it felt like another concussion, and I fell here. A goopy tree tried to glue me to it, and a slathering wolf-thing tried to eat me… And tree snakes… And then you. And the water lizard. I don’t think it’s a training exercise.”

A Pada-what? Rik thought. He gestured for Nomi to follow. What do you mean what am I? I’m just a human, ok? I’m definitely not a Sith. I don’t do the whole lightsaber and magic thing. Plus, I told you I just killed one of those psychos this morning… Is your dad one of these… pada-whatever’s too or is he normal like me? What does that even mean anyway?

Coruscant… Rik had never actually been in that deep coreward. Cities were alright, he supposed, but an entire planet covered in city? He preferred to be out a little bit, where the oppressive reach of the law had less sway over one’s every single decision. The Rim was perfect for him. It took skill to survive and one had to use their wits to keep breathing. And Rik was nothing if not witty… heh heh.

The oppressive nature of the jungle seemed to weigh on him like a lead blanket. There were distant howls of creatures whose vocal cords seemed a little larger than what natural biology usually could achieve. Rik was beginning to acutely feel his growing thirst and how if they didn’t find some water soon the strange creatures of this twisted jungle were going to be the least of their worries.

The big city huh? Why in the galaxy would you think this was a training exercise? What kinda training do they even put kids through as Pada…what was it again? Padawins?

They crested a ridge and there was no water on the other side. It seemed like they’d have to go a little further.

"Padawans are apprentices. Dad's a Master."

The preteen agilely trekked her way across the sticky forest floor a few yards behind Rik to his left; walking along fallen trunks or branches wherever possible. She was feeling frustrated with the situation—not to mention skeptical about her companion. He seemed like a civilian freelancer (Not that she'd actually met many of those!). He felt basically honest from what she could tell. But she was supposed to believe that he was a non-sensitive "normal" human who hated Sith and fought them in his spare time? While "finding" expensive rare stuff. With reflexes as quick as the ones he'd killed the lizard with? Yeah. Nomi thought not. Rik either wasn't "normal" or he wasn't human. Maybe not either.

She kept an eye on him just like she kept her eyes and ears on everything else around here. Frankly she wasn't sure if all the talking was a great idea for either safety or hydration purposes, but she shrugged it off and figured that she'd deal with the consequences if either turned into a problem. If they were going to be stranded together in an evil forest, they should probably have some kind of understanding so that she could get a handle on him. See? She could, too, use psychology! Nomi continued breathing through her nose whenever she wasn't talking. By the time they'd made it back to lower terrain on the opposite side of the ridge, she was thirsty and frustrated again. The closest thing she managed to locate was a large area of muckier-than-average black goo that behaved suspiciously like quicksand. How long since she'd slammed into the evil tree here? Maybe 4 hours. Her system wasn't in bad shape—not too much fatigue or lactate buildup yet, but her headache was getting worse and she didn't like pulling energy from the Force here. She could tell Rik thirsty, too. She had the capsules on her belt of course, but those were really only for emergencies.

"Kid younglings have core classes in everything." she was explaining. "Plus whatever your assigned solo work is and what you do in free time. By the time you're—snake—"

Nomi frowned and abruptly leapt closer to Rik. The vibrant blue beam flicked to life from the hilt in her palm, severing the body of a large serpent that had apparently planned to drop to the ground between them. Her lightsaber snapped off again. She stared at the steaming halves of the creature and swallowed. What had she been saying?

"Wh—when you're older it depends what your Master says or what you get them to teach you... This.. could have been a training thing... But— I think I'm doing something wrong with the water. It's humid... The air's full of water, the trees are prob'ly full of water, the muck has some water in it. How do you get it out of there? Do you know? "

She was sure Zhi must know how. Nomi could barely feel her brother though, and she couldn't sense anyone else at all besides vaguely.

Snakes were not cool. Usually, Rik was able to blindly charge through any sort of difficult situation with his upbeat attitude and a constant string of jokes. This jungle though, its trees with their oozing wounds, even the thick, oppressive atmosphere was beginning to wear on his consciousness. This is seriously not good. I haven’t been in this tight of a spot since… well ever. As he looked at the dead snake and thought about how casually Nomi had handled it… she didn’t even pause much in what she was saying. I’m starting to freak out but she seems… calm.

Well, I’m not a moisture farmer but if you wanted to get water out of the air you’d need a condenser unit. Trees can be a bit easier, especially in the jungle. Typically, all you need is a spile, hammer it into the tree, and out comes water. Rik looked wearily at the twisted trees around him. I don’t know about these things though. Even if we could figure a way to separate some water from this sludge I’m not sure we’d even be able to drink it without ill effects.

They continued on quietly for some time. Though talking was always Rik’s default he was beginning to think silence may be better for not drawing attention. Their course took them up another short rise and then down a long steady decline which sharpened considerably toward the end. But its the end...

Water! Rik breathed

A small stream ran through the bottom of a gully and emptied into a small pond maybe fifty meters across before continuing on its way. From the look of the stream it hadn’t rained for a while but it still looked clear with no signs of the foul goop they had seen prevalent throughout the rest of the jungle. There was even a small, broad-leafed tree on the opposite bank of the pond that looked fairly normal considering what surrounded it. But as amazing as that might seem Rik’s gaze was locked on the animal grazing nearby in a sunny spot not far away from the tree. It was a small hoofed animal resembling a nerf, and the first healthy-looking animal he had yet to see. It also meant food.

Rik signaled for Nomi’s silence and to not make any sudden movements as he slowly removed his blaster from its holster.

What was a spile exactly, and why didn’t she have one? Nomi frowned to herself, mentally adding new items and skills to the list of assets she intended to interrogate Rik about, or Zhi or her Master soon enough, and to keep on her person going forward. They just needed to live long enough—Which she wasn’t really worried about, really… This whole event was exactly the kind of thing she was supposed to be prepared for! She just intended to be even better at it going forward.

The dark-haired Padawan became still and silent beside Rik. He’d seen the water first, as well as the hooved mammal. Nomi glanced toward the man as his arm crept toward his blaster, and then she turned her focus back to the beast; and to whatever else might happen around here if he shot it suddenly.

‘Go for it,’ she mouthed.

Rik squeezed the trigger. His aim was true. Dinner.

Well in a bit. Rik drew a short vibro-blade out of his boot and gestured toward the kill. I'm going to go and get some food cut up for us. Feel up to finding us some fire wood? Between the water, meat, and how much time it will take to cook some and smoke the rest I think this is as good as a place as any to camp for the night. Not going to do your parents any good showing up half starved.

Rik set to his self appointed task, a skill set that he had picked up over a couple different adventures in the near past. The work was fairly routine, gutting, skinning, butchering, and otherwise preparing the animal to cook and eat as well as having the rest for however long they'd be in their current predicament. As he worked, Rik pondered his arrival on this strange planet, Nomi's similar account of being somewhere entirely different with no recollection of any intervening time nor of any obvious means of transportation. They were both, and from what he understood her parents and master as well, in the same boat so to speak. As night fell, the sounds of the jungle became stranger. Their fire was small but within it's sphere of light and the shadow of their one normal tree no creature seemed willing to come near. All their noises, growls, calls, howls, what have you, seemed at least a good ways off. All the while, Rik was still troubled.

Say, I know you're like seven and all, but how do you think we got here?

The preteen followed Rik to eye the kill at close range, and remained nearby for several minutes until she’d apparently decided that her companion wasn’t hiding any particularly exciting survival knowledge from her. Field dressing was a useful skill in present circumstances, but she recognized the gist of it and decided that she’d figure it out as needed in the future. After peppering Rik with a question or six, Nomi headed off to find firewood, fill the water containers, and contribute to camp as suggested.

Close to this bit of stream and the single broad-leafed tree, she felt safe enough. Nomi was deeply suspicious about it, but the weird bubble of safety seemed to hold its ground against all the twistedness beyond it. She couldn’t figure that out — if anything, she would have assumed there would be more monsters gathering near the drinking water… let alone after the blaster shot and the fire! Even the Force energy felt like it was less twisted right here. Nomi had no idea what to think about that or if it was useful, but she noticed it.

“I'm twelve.” She pointedly corrected Rik hours later. The Panathan girl was currently hanging from her knees on a branch in their 'good' tree, about three metres overhead. She'd found Zhi in the Force again, confirming that at least her younger brother and father were still safe enough. She was agitated about the others (Pax!? Mama? Her Master. Who else was here? Who wasn't, and were they okay?), but she didn't have a solution for that yet. Nomi frowned and rather grimly pulled up her torso, raising her forehead towards her knees, and then dropping down again. She repeated the curling motion.

“I don’t know. It wasn’t normal, so it was probably something with the Force… There’ve been people who can move stuff or themselves between sectors. But I think it's really rare. You said that you killed a Sith... this morning? Was it a real Sith?”

Pretty sure it was a Sith… Red and black tattoos covering his body, kinda depressing wardrobe, yellow eyes. Not to mention the red lightsaber and superiority complex… ya, pretty sure he was a Sith.

The Force. As soon as she mentioned it something stirred within him. It was deep down, like someone sticking their hand into your chest… then going down to their elbow into your very being and not yet finding the bottom… only less graphic and bloody… There was something to it. Like a remembered voice that you can’t place, or a smell that brings you back to your childhood. Rik knew he should know it, knowing that this Force thing had significance.

He leaned forward toward the fire, an intense frown on his face. It wasn’t a look of disquiet but of intense attention and focus. A look that said, I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. And he asked…

What’s the Force?

“That does sound pretty much like a Sith.”

Rik’s tone had turned serious. Nomi stopped her curl-ups and clambered to sit perched on her chosen tree branch eleven feet or so above him.

“The Force. Is…”

She frowned thoughtfully down at the man for a long moment or two. She leaned backwards until she hit the ‘edge’ of her equilibrium’s self preservation reflex — then she broke past the instinct and dropped headfirst towards the ground. It was a sudden motion, but an intentional one.

Her instincts flared to life in a snap-second of pure energy. Nomi grinned for herself alone. Her splayed fingertips and left palm made contact. She would have rebounded with just enough of a TK pulse to counteract impact to her wrist and spring upwards. However, the motion didn’t quite work as planned on this terrain, so she ended up recovering into an awkward (but successful) summersault with a small “oof!” sound. Nomi snorted and stood up, rolling her neck and brushing her hand on her pants. Oh well. The Padawan glanced quickly back to Rik anyway, her dark eyes curiously watching his reaction with an expression that was fully as grave and serious as his own. She joined him by the fire and sat down, trying to think about what her brother or teachers would say.

“Some people think it's just energy like a power cell. But it’s different. My… my parents, or.. Zhi, or Grandfather Jas, or.. my Master? Pretty-much any of them could explain it better. It's in every atom… There’s power in it. There’s Light in it. It’s ‘the energy woven into the universe.’ There’s… Power behind the energy, too. Jedi serve that. Some people call that the Living Force, or the Light, or the gods… or ‘The Ashla’… There's not a rule about what name to call it or exactly what to believe. It is a Jedi rule that you have to be a Guardian and servant for that power. The Force is in us. We feel it. We're protectors for the rest of the galaxy 'til we die.” She was dead serious and matter-of-fact about that. “That's Jedi. I'm Jedi.

Umm. Most people who are born in the galaxy can't feel the Force. So they barely know it exists? That's normal. You didn't know.... Even though you kill Sith... But if someone can feel it, they're Sensitive. They have faster instincts. They stay alive better. Maybe they can do other stuff. There’s a blood test that helps recognize Sensitivity signs if you’re born in some hospitals… But there's a bunch of more complicated stuff about that. But it just shows up in some people. They realize one day they have extra senses people don’t. Or they survive something they shouldn't have? They touch they energy. Or... the Force touches them? I don't know, but it happens. And then they can start learning.

People can use it for selfish things. Like they're the Power who can be a god with the energy. It's easy to do selfish stuff when you're stronger than everyone else? Don't do that. Being selfish with it corrupts stuff and people... Like your Sith... And like this jungle? There's something sick with the Force here. Darksiders have messed up planets and animals before. But I dunno if someone made it happen here, or if something else did. The Force is still here though.”

The girl fell silent and glanced down towards her feet and the fire, rolling her ankle just for the sake of motion. She looked back to Rik.

“Your turn. Questions?”

The Force is…

Nomi fell out of the tree… on purpose? Rik was surprised but tracked her fall easily enough. How’s she expect to catch herself with her fingers out like that? Good way to lose a finger in my book. But instead of broken bones, there was simply a smooth recovery, too smooth. It was all too… planned? Balanced? When she looked up there was an odd intensity to her expression, almost as if Nomi had been… Wait was this a test?

But as soon as she began her explanation, the feeling Rik had had, that sense of distant familiarity, of a forgotten face, or the sound of a loved one’s voice, deepened. There was something to it, especially near this tree. The light of the fire reflected off the canopy of leaves above as dark settled in. It was almost as if the tree was glowing. An island of life in a sea of death. And then he felt it, just a little. In the base of his gut, Rik felt as if a tiny spark from the fire had found something to catch on. It was still a small, fragile thing just as likely to go out as to continue to grow, but it was there.

Then Nomi continued about power, and it’s abuse. Darksiders. The forest, that twisted rotting thing just outside their canopy of light and warmth. Rik could… feel it. It was an immense, throbbing mass of jet black power. Cold. It was that hideous strength that twisted this jungle, (this planet?) into something out of a nightmare. He shivered at the thought but as soon as he did that little tiny spark, that infinitesimal warmth in his belly was no less present. And somehow more? As if the contrast showed its true nature. LIFE. Wholesome light of an unimaginable brightness and warmth! But just a glimpse, as if a promise yet to be fulfilled.

Rik cleared his throat and blinked the tear that had somehow come to his eye. So… a Jedi, huh? Don’t know much about them as I do this Force, Aslan thing you were talking about. I’ve known a fair share of Sith though. All of them were as dark and twisted as this jungle. And trust me you don’t have to have any special powers to be able to kill those wackjobs.

Rik proceeded to pull out his rather large revolver from its place under his left arm and take the next half an hour to explain its design, function, it’s superiority at killing lightsaber dependent individuals of varying mental instability, and the overall genius of its designing… himself. But then he fell silent. Pensive. He slowly put away his gun and met Nomi’s eyes. Young eyes, yes. But they were full of LIFE with an added depth to them that belied her age. And in them, that Life that he found, was the answer. For it was the very same life as that small small spark inside him. He looked down at his hands. Empty hands. He looked up at the light and warmth around them in this little pocket of normal, then back to Nomi.

Like I said, he said quietly, I don’t know much about all this energy, power, Aslan stuff. But I think I’d like to learn. And from the looks of things… He smiled at her… I seem to be a little behind.

“Ashla,” Nomi repeated the ancient name with a light grin. She was finding it oddly satisfying to know more history than someone else for a change; not that she expected it to last very long. “But I just call it The Force.”

For the next half hour, the girl was deeply focused on Rik’s revolver presentation, delighted with the usefulness and ingenious design on one hand, but simultaneously feeling perturbed. Nomi shifted so that she could see the weapon properly in the firelight, communicating her understanding at various points. She’d discussed projectile weapons with her master time and again, practiced in the training hall, chatted and helped clean them with her favorite troopers, and learned in classes. But Rik was right. The design on this one was something new to her. Even after he’d returned the slugthrower to its holster, the bridge of the girl’s nose was crinkled in grave thought while she made mental notes of ethics and equipment-related questions for Zhi or Master Silme.

Once Nomi had resurfaced from her own thoughts, she’d realized that Rik was searching her face. The Padawan watched the man in return for a minute or two, cocking her head slightly to one side, making an effort to stand still, and to see him. She returned his smile with a grave dip of her head; the shorthand version of a Jedi bow. So, now he knew.

The girl let his last words hang in the air for a while even after she stepped away to stare back out at the black trees. By the time she rejoined Rik, their meal was cooked enough. Nomi accepted some of the meat with a ‘thank you’, and began eating with the use of a small knife from her belt pouch. Logistically, she should probably confirm they were in agreement about who should sleep when and that sort of thing; but she was still thinking.

“Your revolver is smart... I want to ask questions. But I don’t know if it’s the time or if you’ll like them.”

Rik shrugged. Might as well ask while you can. I can't imagine we'll have much time for that sort of thing past tonight.

As Rik let Nomi think about how she wanted to word her next questions he busied himself with feeding the fire a bit more and ensuring the remaining meat was cooking up high away from the flames. His thoughts went to delicious smoked meats even though these would be a very primitive trail ration at best. They didn't even have any salt for goodness sake! So instead of worrying about what they didn't have, he took another bite of his own meal and enjoyed the juicy medium rare... whateveritistheywereeating...

The Padawan nodded, though she ate quietly for a few minutes longer, feeling immensely satisfied and relieved that they had nourishing food. Eventually, though, the twelve year old turned her eyes back to Rik.

“Okay. I thought your revolver was genius when you showed me. But then I had to stop. Because, um, I'm not happy about how excited I got about it. I want to know what Master'd say about it because we like bullets. Not ‘like’, but—actually yeah, he kind of loves them—They're useful! But… when you fire that revolver at a saber user, they move to block or redirect the slug with their blade. Right? Even if it’s a dumb instinct to have.”

Nomi’s dominant hand strayed across one of the clusters of faded scars scattered across her tanned forearm, and she grinned faintly at whatever the memory was.

“But with yours, now the cortosis jackets just slice through the beam…” Her wry smile had faded away as quickly as it came. “Right? That's wicked smart. But it's way too much for most cases! Like sniping. You can't just do that! Unless you're a good shot and capturing them... or I realized maybe it's fair when you had the handicap... But I would be like a Sith if I shot a Sith through their shield. I dunno. I want to ask one of the Masters about it now, but we have to find them first I guess. Ugh.”

She swiped a hand through her hair. “I'm sorry. I can help with the food, or go get some more water. Then one of us should sleep for a few hours... How do you know so much about just the worst kind of Sith anyway?”