A Beacon in the Storm

[Riamah]

There was a silence between them for a space of a few heartbeats, both with their own thoughts. His nod and then placement of his head, lead Ra to feel she wasn't the only one that was having these thoughts.

A slightly distant look crossed her face for just a moment before she spoke softly again.

"It does indeed."

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Before too long, the silence would be broken as the scramble of paws sounded through the canyon and the astral blue fur of Ace appeared. Help! Help! Help! Help! Appearing behind Ace would be a small bushy tailed creature, the Vjun fox. Its eyes were full of hunger and as fast as Ace was, it did seem uncomfortably close to the smaller wolf. "I gotcha, buddy." While one arm drifted around Ra's waist, laying just over his tail, the other reached out and plucked the fox from the ground despite fearful yelps of protest. "That wasn't too hard."

 

[Riamah]

Turning her head head when she heard the sounds of Ace and the fox coming their direction. The larger fox close on the heals of him. Ra could almost read the panic in the face and eyes of Ace. Vulpesen adjusted his arm around her and reached out to pluck Ace up and away from the danger on his heals.

Smiling at the scene, Ra looked at the running larger fox. Tilting her head to the side, she wondered if it was male or female, full grown or still growing. Not knowing anything about these animals, she wasn't sure.

She would allow Vulpesen to do whatever he needed to do to calm it down and remained silent.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen grinned and looked up at the creature, beckoning its floating form closer. Casting his gaze into the fox's eyes, he exerted his mind on its own. Almost instantly the creature would calm down, starting to go limp as it floated through the air. "That's it. Just stay calm. You can trust me." With a tone that was a hypnotic sort of calm, Vulpesen extended an arm and caught the fox, bringing its placated form against himself as it purred in contentness.

 

[Riamah]

Ra felt as best she could through the Force what Vulpesen did to the new fox. It was mental like she assumed it would be and the fox calmed down right away. It was lifted through the air and started to go limp under his gaze. He verbally spoke and told it to stay calm and to trust him.

As he said those words, they struck her as well. Even though they were intended for the fox, she smiled anyway and turned her head slightly to look up at him. In a mere whisper she spoke.

"Oh I do."

He caught the wild fox and hugged it to his chest. Like Shadow had done earlier, it purred against him as it was content to be there.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen's ear flicked towards Ra and he grinned as he turned to face her, his thumb running over the silky fur of this new creature. Below, he could feel Ace crawling up his trousers, attempting to reach his shoulder. "Well, what plans do you have now that we've got a new friend?" Careful not to drop his focus from keeping the vjun fox calm, he looked over to listen for Ra's response.

 

[Riamah]

When the fox had appeared, their embrace had ended and she hadn't even noticed during the capture of the new fox.

"May I pet it?"

Ra wondered if there was a way to know the gender without lifting up the tail and looking. If anybody would know it would be the beast tamer next to her. Not asking that out loud though, she did return his smile.

"As for plans, do you think it can be trained?"

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Turning, he held out the placated fox to Ra, smiling a bit. "Of course. And I could train him in probably a few weeks or less." As he handed off the Fox, he rose a hand to pet Ace's head. "Just a bit of time is all it'd take. Who knows, you might even learns something about working with animals through the force." He reached over with his free hand to start petting the fox as it curled up in Ra's arms.

 

[Riamah]

Vulpesen handed the fox over to her to hold and she proceeded to pet him. The question of gender answered as she had hoped.

"Apparently it takes less time to traing using the Force than it does through sheer stubborness."

That was how she had trained her nexu. Then again when she had aquired the kitten, she barely knew anything of the Force or had any training. That was obviously before it had been revealed to her.

"I am patience personified as well as a great mix of other things. I'd like that though."

His own hand reached out to pet the fox that curled up in her arms.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"I mean, it does help when you were raised by a man whose entire job was to capture and train animals. I've helped tame things far more dangerous than our little friend right here." His tail remained wrapped around Ra as he glanced between her and the fox. In his head, as usual, Ace was constantly chattering and speaking, something that Vulpesen did his best to ignore.

 

[Riamah]

"You make a good point. I wonder..."

The thought she did not give voice to was one she didn't want to finish. Not yet. Mentally rolling her eyes at the part of her that wanted to run, she subdued it again and looked a Vulpesen. His tail had remained around her and he looked between her and the fox.

"What do you think of Akata? It's odd to call something that is canine with a name that has cat in it."

She give him a wink of humor, but still wondered if he would like the name.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen thought for a moment, his head tilted as he mulled over the name before responding, "Seems like a good enough name to me. And as much as my people might not like to admit it, a fox is a fairly cat like canine." He smiled back at her wink and continued to pet the newly dubbed Akala who rested in her arms. With their quarry captured, Vulpesen started to turn and walk back to the canyon wall, an arm once more curling around Ra's waist. "Shall we head back to the castle?"

 

[Riamah]

A feeling of joy ran through her as he said he liked the name.

"Did you know my surname means panther? So now I have a fox with cat in the name and my surname that deals with a cat."

His arm and tail wrapped around her, Ra fell into step as she held the fox in her arms.

"Where's Ace? But yes, getting this guy settled in there will be nice. Do you think he'll like it?"

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"Wish I could say the same about my own name. Oddly enough, it occurs to me that I never asked about it. Zarro always said that he didn't have the faintest idea." He smiled a bit, suddenly remembering a plethora of times that Zarro had been confused. "Guess that kinda makes sense now that I know where I come from." As Ra asked about Ace, the Wolf's head popped out from besides Vulpesen's head.

 

[Riamah]

"If you want we can try and find a meaning to your name. There are records of things like this and meanings that have been attributed to words and names."

Her library may have that answer, if he was really interested. At the moment, it may not be something he was since there was now a new fox to help work with.

"Did you have a good adventure, Ace?"

Turning her eyes to look up at him as she spoke to him and smiled for both him and Vulpesen. She hadn't smiled this much is a very long time. Knowing inside where they were going down the long road, Ra figured this wasn't going to be the only time it happened.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"Considering it took me an army of extra minds, a force vision, and two months of solitude to even find out what I was, I doubt we'll find anything about my name. The zorrens took great care to hide themselves during the empire's purge of the jedi." As she asked Ace what he thought,t he fox gave a happy nod and leaped onto her shoulder, perching there once more. Fun until I almost got eaten. Oh shut up, you're fine. Now with their quest done, Vulpesen started to walk towards the edge of the canyon with Ra.

 

[Riamah]

"Some of my items go a long ways back. Besides, it isn't the race we would be looking up, but the meaning of the names. Doesn't hurt to check and the worst that happens is we fail."

What he said he went through made her wonder what would happen if she did that. While Ra didn't think she was anything but human, she didn't know.

"An army of extra minds? What do you mean?"

The rest of it she could understand. Though she couldn't put an arm around Vulpesen as they were holding the calmed fox, she did move in to walk as close to him as she could and nuzzled her head against Ace for just a moment.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen nodded slowly to her words and looked at the canyon wall for a moment before responding. "I suppose it comes in handy. And back on myrkr with Ace, I managed to connect myself to a sort of communal mind with the other ashlan wolves. It makes it hundreds of times easier to process information." As much as he hated to step away from Ra, he figured that the castle would be a far more comfortable than a desolate crevice. Thus, after reaching out with the force to find Shadow and alert her to his location, the Veran sprang into the air, starting to hop from ledge to ledge towards the top.

@Ra'a'mah

 

[Riamah]

"I wonder...what is it like to have that? Oh it would be quite useful I can imagine. Not sure if they would like my field of work though. Then again, I mostly stay in the shadows and people don't really notice me."

Technically she didn't have a position within the sith empire, but Ra still collected information from her previous intelligence lines. Filing it all away and keeping it in case anything interesting popped up.

When they got near the end of the canyon, Vulpesen had to let go of her and she watched as he leaping from ledge to ledge. With her holding the fox, she would have to wait for him to finish and then allow him to carry her up. As one being used to being on her own, it irritated her a little that she couldn't get up on her own. It wasn't at him, just the situation.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

About half way up the canyon, Vulpesen would reach down, and take a hold of Ra through the force. "Up we go." Lifting her up, he'd bring the woman to his level before climbing up once more to repeat the process at the top of the canyon, finally leaving the above the crevice while Shadow padded up from behind. "What do you know? Just in time." Smirking, he reached over to pet Shadow's head.