A Hunter's Curiosity

[Verana]

Calm before the storm didn’t feel like too loose of a description. Vera nodded at the plans to get ready and knelt down by the fire. She had water to purify and meats to cook and stow. But once that was done, she would be ready for pretty much anything the world could throw at them. Or rather, as ready as any kid could be. With the equipment to hold her water canister close enough to boil and with the meat on the side Vera began to look around the camp. It seemed time had passed and it wasn’t out of the question that in the end they were better off going in the morning.

Though that was Naya’s decision to make. Leaving as fast as possible was however a risk depending on the length one would have to go in darkness before they reached the village. Not to mention the risk of fatigue. If Vera’s estimation was correct she’d say she had been awake for a little more than a day. Mostly thanks to meditation, in part because sleep never came naturally in forests such as these and especially not when tracking a beast such as the Peltshredder.

By the time Naya came back Vera would have secured the fire. The warm glow starting to become more apparent in the setting sun.

“So what’s the plan?” Vera asked of Naya. “Do we leave now or should we maybe go in the morning?”

“I am fine with either.”

 

[Naya Everos]

"Now," she responded, a bit of steel to her tone that wasn't there before. Meeting Vera felt like waking up from a dream. Not only could she think and feel again, but she could breathe as well. The walk for herbs had done her good. It had not only given her space to think, but to grieve and to pull herself back together away from any prying gaze. Bits of her ego had found the space to exist inside of her again, and while she had no energy to expend on Vera's impression of her, she no longer would allow herself to be unnecessarily messy in front of the girl again.

She didn't operate like that.

She pulled some leaves from her pocket and held them out for the girl to take. "Here, suck on these. They will give you strength as we walk." She popped one into her mouth, chewing on it and wading it between her gum and lips. Since she possessed nothing to call her own in the clearing, she left Vera to pack up and prepare her things on her own. Naya had bathed, or the equivalent of it, and now damp leaves stuck to the worst of the burns on her skin. She seemed unhindered by the pain there at any rate as she frowned up at the sky peering through the foliage.

"We should get there before dawn, now that I can keep pace. If we wait until morning, it might be too late."

 

[Verana]

Vera grabbed the leaf and gave it a careful inspection in her hand. Not out of suspicion but rather because she had never seen it before. She gave it a sniff and one last look before she did as Naya said, popped it in her mouth and began to chew. Vera had seen a similar tradition back on Kiara, though it had been mostly banned since then. They had a leaf around there with vague ‘spice-like’ effects. It was processed, wettened and served in little bags one used to stick behind their upper lip. Supposedly it packed a fairly good punch. Although a lot of older people had their teeth discolored from it.

The ban was because of the hallucinogenic effects it had on the mind at greater doses, and in reality they needed to use their fields for growing crops and not recreational drugs. No matter how harmless they were. Still, the similarities made Vera hesitate.

Once her equipment was back on her pack again and she’d grabbed her rifle she stepped up to her friend again.

“As long as we rest at some point.” She said and stepped out into the forest, holding her arm up for Naya to take the lead towards the village. “I just need myself an hour or two at most in maybe… Four hours?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya nodded silently, unwilling to admit that she’d probably need that rest herself. The drive to get home was stronger than ever, her mind clear and focused on what she could do once she got there. She could only hope the fires that had overtaken their homes had not spread to the forest around them.

It would all be harder to salvage then.

The first half of the trek had been the hardest. Naya struggled to get herself on path. It wasn’t until the sun had fully set that she had been able to find the proper stars in the sky and adjust their direction. Her earlier wanderings before had knocked her more off path than she had anticipated. By the deepest time of the night she felt dead on her feet, her footsteps staggering as she pressed ever onwards. It was hard to call for a break when every step closer was one less to discover her villages fate. But she was in worse condition than Vera, and even she seemed exhausted.

Naya stalled, her breath haggard and rasping. “It’s further than I thought...”

 

[Verana]

For the first part of the journey Vera was fine. However once they started pushing against the clock she found that with each step she took the world seemed to grow heavier. She should have stopped to ask that they rest, but in the end Naya seemed to be in such a rush that Vera simply decided not to.

“Naya…” Vera whispered under her breath as she stepped up from behind and placed a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “We need to rest.”

It wasn’t much of a debate. With a heavy thud Vera slung the pack on her back off her shoulder and onto the ground. She wasn’t alone with the need for rest, and given where they were Vera figured something a bit more inventive was needed for shelter. After all, she had no idea what the predators around here were capable of. Glancing up at the trees they certainly seemed sturdy enough.

“Do you know how to climb?” Vera asked as she looked down from the tree and onto Naya. “We could build a shelter in the trees to keep unwanted guests from finding us all too easy.”

Vera glanced around them. It wasn’t a clearing. Heavy forestation, plenty of smaller trees that could be cut down to construct a temporary shelter. There were a few trees that stood out as good candidates for a small platform construct big enough for two.

“What do you say? We need to rest before we both collapse.”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya nearly resisted off of principal, but the girl’s hand on her shoulder grounded her, making her aware of her own body’s exertion. She slumped, swaying into the girl’s side. She nodded in silent consent, running a shaking hand through her hair. She frowned at the knots, looking up at the trees above.


“Just for an hour or two... ...There?” She pointed up to a good spot, questioning herself whether she was capable of making a climb like that currently. Not one to hesitate, she moved forward and reached for a handhold. It was clumsy business, and her burns ached as they were stretched in new ways. But she made it up to the branch, only shaking marginally at the effort. She reached down, thoughtlessly offering Vera a hand up.

 

[Verana]

Yeah, that rest was needed. It was hard to miss to the extent that Naya shook as she climbed, not to mention how much Vera would shake once it was her try. Perhaps she wasn’t as tired as Naya, but she needed the rest nonetheless. Taking her time to cut down a few lengths of wood she began hand it over to Naya, mistaking the girl’s extended hand for an offer to help. The platform was in reality just a means to help stabilize their position above the trees.

After all, few things said misfortune like breaking your neck from sleeping in a tree.

Construction wasn’t a hassle either when one of them had the force with them. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that one of them knew how to utilize it in such a way. As the platform slowly became a reality Vera would jump up to it with a practiced application of the force, too.

It wasn’t the sturdiest of platforms, but it also wasn’t meant to be anything permanent.

“I’d say we’re looking at maybe a little bit more than one or two at this point.” Vera said and took a seat by the edge of their platform made stable by the branches and logs put across like a bridge for them to rest on. “I doubt we need anyone on watch, but if it makes you feel better I can do that.”

Vera looked over her shoulder at Naya.

“You said we weren’t too far away from the village, right?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya gaped at her, clearly not over the sudden and impossible jump up into the tree Vera had just made. She didn’t respond for a moment, her mouth too busy hanging open for words. She swallowed hard and nodded, throughly uncomfortable.

“Should you really be... doing that? All time?” The words, while chastising, came out as an unconfident mumble. It dawned on Naya then that she didn’t actually know if Vera was sith or jedi. Not that it really matter in the end, but to a large degree it said a lot about the situation she had just put her in.

The rest of the conversation was discarded, pushed aside to this concern.

 

[Verana]

In some regards Vera was damaged like that, perhaps. The force had become very commonplace for her. It wasn’t in the start, but certainly had by now. To see someone leap from the ground into a tree wasn’t something people were all that used to , perhaps.

“Right.” She said and cleared her throat. “Sorry.”

Vera took her seat and let her feet dangle off the little platform for second.

“These things are more common where I usually go for training.” She said and glanced up towards the stars beyond the treetops. One of those stars, ever so visible on the sky, was Kashyyyk. Another was where Vera was from, and even yet another one where the Praxeum was.

“There is a planet out there called Kashyyyk. Has a lot of good people on it, call themselves the Silver Jedi. I was part of their organization for a while. Grew up with a smaller sect that I told you about before, the Peacekeepers we called them.”

“I guess to me it’s just part of life, like breathing.” Still, she frowned at the thought. “I can stop if you want, or try to.”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya swallowed hard, part of that story good to hear at least.

The peacekeeper part of it.

It would have sucked if Naya had just learned Vera was part of something more sinister, if just because she was gonna need help lifting wreckage soon enough. She took a shaky breath, trying to think past her prejudice to survey the girl. Gut instinct said yes. Yes, stop that. Immediately. It was wrong, so wrong. But it had not surpassed Naya that her life was owed to the girl and her use of the force. While her people were deeply prejudiced, they also had a thing or two about owing debts.

"Perhaps... just... never on me," she allotted, the compromise gritting out of her teeth.

And in a show of this gratitude, she sat next to the girl, a feat she would have never done with a force user a mere week ago. She crossed her arms over her chest, her feet dead in the air they hung over.

"You can sleep, I can keep watch."

 

[Verana]

Vera nodded. She could live with that compromise, hard as it was for Naya to reach it. The other girl took her seat and Vera looked out across the bushes beneath. There wasn’t much of a view unless one counted the branches reaching for the treetops which generally didn’t count. At least not for Vera.

“Are you sure?” Vera asked and gave Naya the raise of her brow. “You looked more spent than me.”

They both looked pretty spent. All in all, it most likely mattered little who took first and second watch.

“Just, want to make sure. I am a quick sleeper.”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya did not look at her, her throat growing tight with too many things she did not want to think about.

"I'm sure." She wasn't going to be able to sleep anyway.



Naya never woke Vera to switch, despite her exhaustion, she felt like she was running on fire in her veins. Even when she tried to make her body calm down and chill her shakings, the adrenaline burned strong. It would get her through to the morning, she was sure of it. She nudged Vera once the kiss of light hit the canopies. She wanted to already be at her village by now, but she knew that would have been impossible. She had needed the rest too, even of that had been her simply not moving. She didn't say anything after she nudged the girl. Her shoulders had grown more tense over the hours, and her expression was now pinched and grim. She began to ease herself down out of the tree, her limbs stiff.

Time to go.

 

[Verana]

But what about past the morning? Vera looked none too happy when she woke up, not one bit, at the sight of Naya and the morning sun. There should have been a change of guard. Naya had needed that rest, whether she would like to admit it or not. It jeopardized everything, it was incredibly irresponsible and if anything Vera should have seen that one coming.

“I should have taken first watch.” She said as she lowered herself out of the tree. “What were you thinking?”

The question was for Vera and Naya both. As Vera flung her pack over her shoulders and secured its straps she shook her head. She would have to be on her guard then, keep an ear out for threats for the both of them. Anger was plenty and good, but it didn’t do much if you weren’t awake enough to act on it. Not that you should, but if it was what got Naya to push through the day then by all means it was an asset in this very moment.

Not very jedi-like, but Vera also wasn’t exactly the most well-educated one around.

“The village has to be near.” She said, quite clearly worried by the situation. “Or you just-”

Frustrated sigh. “Naya, why?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya didn't see the danger, unable to look past her own nose. Of course raiders before meant there could still be raiders now. And while her village had had done a good job of keeping predators clear of their streets, with gates destroyed and the dead abound, any number of threats could be near.

Her gaze didn't seem present when she looked to Vera, a tortured edge screaming through the sheen that seemed to vibrate unexpressed pain. She struggled with her answer before confessing bluntly. "I can still hear them scream." And she turned and started walking, determination driving every footstep forward.

 

[Verana]

The frustration swept away for a second as Verana found herself taken aback. Though it came back in a smaller dose once the shock wore off. Grief or no, the fact remained that as a non-native Vera was counting on Naya to show her the way. To get back to the tracks and the Peltshredder at this point would take a day of tracking alone, a stupid mistake on her own behalf.

There wasn’t much she could say on the matter, and as such Vera resorted to simply following and keeping an eye and an ear out for trouble.

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya knew these grounds like the back of her hand. The village was never that far from civilization, a two days journey at most. It didn't do anyone well to be that far for medicine or trade, especially when the village had served as a post for those traveling to communities deeper in. Naya briefly worried about the other settlements, and the people she knew there. Her only solace was that she was told the raiders had all died that night. If any escaped, they'd have to be dealt with after her people.

Now that they were hours out, the trees around her were practically her back yard. She easily brought them onto a well worn path, where walking became easier. The smell of smoke tickled their noses, the first sign that they were close. The fire had not lasted long, the forest too wet to catch and carry flames very far. What had done them in was their dried, thatcher roofs. Naya's stumbles turned into clumsy running when the first out post came into sight. The form of a charred body, crumbled at what once was a threshold, greeted them. Many tried to escape, only to be shot in the back as they ran.

Naya went for the wreckage anyway, wildly trying to pull it up and search for the spouse that went to the body on the steps. No thoughts entered her mind, only a frantic need to salvage someone.

 

[Verana]

It was worse than that first mission. Vera felt the heaviness of the area weigh on her as she approached the burnt down outpost. It seemed that whoever had caused this wasn’t all that interested in keeping anyone alive. The scorch marks on the ground and the walls were evidence enough of that. The smell of death lingered in the air which was not to mention the darkness that permeated through the force.

The girl steeled herself. This was something she had been prepared for but that didn’t make the initial hit any less painful as it hit you over the head. Her heart pained for a second as it sunk to her stomach. Naya was frantically clawing her way into a transport. Not one to use the force, at her companion’s request no less, Vera approached the site with a frown.

“Naya…” She began but her voice quieted down, got drowned in the concern that seemed to spread across Vera’s face. They were dead, and Naya knew that.

 

[Naya Everos]

But there was more. Naya's head snapped up, her hands already covered in soot and ash from her pointless attempts to peel back the destroyed hut. Without a word she stood up, darting down a path that lead to the establishment itself. It was there that the real horror would be found.

Bodies laid strung about, some on top of each other in the streets, a pointless attempt to protect those underneath. Others were half out of buildings. If they were lucky, they were untouched by fire. If they weren't, they were unrecognizable. Naya ran deeper still, her unhealed lungs wheezing as she pushed them to the other side. The buildings had grown sparse again, some fifty in all left behind them, until they came upon another outpost. The collapsed hut looked no different than the rest. Neither did the body, pinned under a now degrading beam. The fire damage left it as unrecognizable as the rest. Naya stopped short, her body void of all emotions as she stared.

"Get him out," she ordered, her voice dead.

 

[Verana]

Vera was uncomfortable with the display. It was hard not to. Burnt corpses, a vile sense of dread lingering from the dead as Naya led Vera through the village trying to find anyone to help. They both seemed aware of just how unlikely it was, the difference being that one of them was a stranger and the other was a survivor of something Vera hadn’t hoped to see in a long while. Death on this scale was new, but the imagery of it was not. Perhaps in the end that was what got her through it where Naya clearly did not.

“Naya…” Vera said and approached the house that Naya wanted Vera to open. “I don’t know that I can.”

The boulder had been heavy enough, parts of a building was a different beast entirely. The girl frowned, let out a sigh and carefully put her hand on Naya’s shoulder.

“There is no-one here.” She said and tried her best to console the other girl. “I’m- I’m sorry, but I can’t feel the presence of anyone around here. Only death and…”

Vera frowned and looked back towards the village.

“Scavengers.” The birds, not the scum. “Are you looking for someone in particular? Anything I can help with?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya had held up the building off him. If just for a moment, she had done it.

She jerked her shoulder free of the girl's grasp, her face contorting in fury as she turned on her. "I said get him out!" The words echoed through the trees, causing a sharp squawk of bird ... and then an eeriy silence. Nothing moved in that clearing spare her own chest, heaving up an down with each pained breath.

She was oh so very tired of hearing that phrase. How was no one alive? How could she even know?