Dark Dunes

[Seo Linn]

Not yet ready to pull away and get the day started fully, she listened to what Mereel said and mouthed his words with a slight whisper. Seo knew enough Mandoa to get by on most worlds and quickly pieced together what he said. Nodding as she stood up, there was no more reason to really delay getting a move on. Once they were on their feet, he mentioned packing up the tent and eating on the way back.

"As long as you don't either."

Her tone was serious, but her look was playful.

"You set it up, I can take it down or we can work together and get this camp cleaned up that much quicker."

Still holding his hand, Seo started to move away and drag him with her. It seemed almost that she had changed. Having told him what she had done those years ago was a weight lifted off her. His acceptance and at least partial understanding really helped. Just before reaching the tent, she stopped for a moment, looked up at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you."

Letting go of his hand, Seo ducked into the tent and started throwing some of the things that were inside out so it could be folded together nicely.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel raised an eyebrow at her as she mouthed back the Mando'a saying to him, sounding out the word pronounciations with accuracy. She had first demonstrated a proficiency with the language to him on Glacies Domum, but her adeptness with the language was still something of a surprise to him.

"Family is more than blood." He echoed, this time in basic just in case she hadn't put together the meaning of the Mandalorian phrase 100% correctly.

Taking her words and facial expression to heart, Mereel gave her a warm smile. "Of course. I won't until you do. Besides, I prefer you seeing the effect you have on me."

Smiling the entire way, Mereel let Seo drag him along by the hand to the outside of the tent. Her peck on the cheek sent a wave of warmth through him, and he returned it with one of his own before she went into the tent.

As Seo began throwing things out, he began pulling the tent poles out of the sand. "What are you thanking me for?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

She had been able to piece the meaning of his words together, even if she had never spoken them before. The general knowledge she had really helped, but Seo appreciated him telling her the meaning.

"Is that like my sisters and brothers within the Jedi?"

Having left the name of the government out and keeping it generic, it was done on purpose. Chuckling when he said he wouldn't get dressed until she did, she actually went through cleaning up camp with business rather than flirting. Getting the items out of tent and backing out, she did provide Mereel a good view of her backside in the process.

"For understanding and accepting. You're everything I have ever wanted."

Moving over to the embers of the fire, Seo picked up some sand and smothered it. The sun was further up in the sky and there was a rising of the heat. Gathering up the edges of the tent, she would help fold it up to fit back into her bag. The other items were put on the speeder and everything but their clothes and some food were packed away.

Lifting up their clothes, Seo shook the sand out of hers easily and the pants Mereel had been given.

"Your shirt is going to be scratchy if you wear it."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

"You mean our sisters and .. You know what? You were right to just leave me out of that analogy. Last thing I want is to start viewing you as a sister, or for you to start treating me like a brother."

Mereel waited until she was out of the tent before removing the last of the stakes in the ground. As the tent began collapsing the rest of the way, it gave him a much better view of her behind and would give her a much better view of his front. Starting to stare, he resumed speaking with half of his attention.

"Anyway, aliit ori'shya tal'din means more than that. The Jedi Order, well, all of the Jedi Orders, are just organizations. You might be close to a few individuals in those organizations, but the groups as a whole aren't really your family. The people who are closest to you, the ones who are there for you when you fall and the people you make sacrifices for - that's your family."

Focusing his eyes back to the tent, he began folding the corners of the tent nearest him with his left hand. Slowing his breathing, his right hand extended and he began lifting the items that had been in the tent into the air with the Force, before moving them and dropping them into the landspeeder. What she said about him being everything she ever wanted put a warm feeling in his chest, and for a few seconds he didn't know how to respond.

"You don't have to thank me for that. You've given me something I haven't felt in a long, long time. I love you Seo Linn."

Sighing at her shirt comment, he shrugged his shoulders. "I won't wear it until we get close to your home then.

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

She couldn't help but chuckle at his response to her question. As she crawled out of the tent, his reaction wasn't missed and for just a moment Seo was tempted to do something about it. Something about Mereel made her want to, but logically she knew they needed to return home. Making a mental compromise with herself, she walked over to him and ran a hand along his torso to his hip. Stepping in close, she stopped within inches of him to whisper.

"I will never think of you in that manner."

Moving away unless he might stop her, she listened to what else he had to say on the Mandoa he had shared with her. Nodding with a greater understanding, she smiled when he also told her she didn't need to thank him.

"But I do. You don't know what it means to me."

Taking his hand and looking at him as she spoke her own words. She let go right after to gather up the clothes and handed him his shirt after doing her best to get the sand out of it.

"You'll get sunburned."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Having been caught in his blatantly indiscrete act of staring, a faint blush and a small smile appeared on Mereel's face. As Seo began walking towards him, the smile slowly began to leave his face as he started to focus more on her. His eyes were locked on hers when she stopped and reached out, and he bristled under the warmth of her fingers as they traced down from his chest to his hip.

What she whispered elicited a relieved sigh from him, and his whole body shifted closer to hers as a now familiar sensation of lust washed over him. He knew that they couldn't start again right now, or else they wouldn't be getting back to her village until sunset, but it was still an exciting thought. When she tried to pull away, his hands reached out for her hips in an attempt stop her, and he shifted his weight and leaned his head down so that he could lightly run his lips along her neck.

"And I'll never think of you in that way either."

Pulling back to say that, he loosed the grip that would be on her hips and let his hands sway back to his sides. It was a shame, but he had to do his part in making sure they wouldn't be here all morning. He gently squeezed her hand in response to her saying it meant a lot to her and grinned at one corner of his mouth.

When she let go, the grin faded, but it quickly came back as she returned with his shirt and the rest of the clothes. Taking the shirt from her, he didn't move to put it on her, and instead only slipped on his pants and underwear.

"I've never been sunburned before in my life. Think it might be overdue. Living in a durasteel shell doesn't give many opportunities for it or tanning in general."

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Their little embrace lasted only a few moments, but the delay was well worth it. His assurance he would not think of her in that manner either made Seo feel wonderful and that would be clear in how she moved. A small jaunt in her step and a coloring to her skin that wasn't there normally.

Getting in her clothes didn't take long and she just shook her head when Mereel said he was overdue for a sunburn.

"They aren't very fun to recover from. But as you wish."

It was her last bit of advice before they were on the speeder heading back to her parents home. She was pretty much lost in thought on the trip back. Arriving in the town at about lunch time, it was rather quiet as the people were mostly inside eating. On the chance he didn't remember the way, Seo would guide him if he started going the wrong way.

Arriving there, almost before the speeder had stopped, she had jumped off, grabbed her bag and was heading inside unless he called out to stop her. He would catch up, but her son needed to be talked to before anything else.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

In almost the same second that Mereel had parked, Seo had grabbed her bag and jumped speeder. Seo's decisive beeline for her house caught Mereel off guard, and he had to quickly decide whether or not to stop her to calm her down a bit first - or whether or not he even really wanted to calm her down in the first place.

With a short sigh, Mereel vaulted out of the driver's seat to go after her, haphazardly grabbing his shirt from his seat in the process.

"Fierfek. Wait. Wait!"

Jogging after her, he slipped his shirt over his burning, tomato-red skin.

Letting out an audible hiss through his teeth as the tight-fitting fabric clung to his sunburn, he half-commitedly mumbled out a reminder, "Aodhan could've shot me with something lethal, but he didn't. Just remember that when you're talking. I'm still here."

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

There wasn't much Seo wanted to say to Mereel at the moment, but she heard his comment. They had spent a great deal of time together to get this far, a simple motion with one of her hands told him she heard his words. The door slammed shut but was unlocked for him to enter after her.

When he did enter the house, he wouldn't really hear very much conversation going on. What he could hear were more guttural and see some of the kinetic languages of the people of Lorrd.

Four people were all conversing together. The only ones not present were her little sisters. Her mother glanced at him when he came in, said something quietly to Seo and moved to meet him before he got too far into the house. Placing a firm, but motherly hand on his wrist, she did not cause him any pain with his sunburn and started to guide him into one of the other rooms.

"You need to get that sunburn taken care of. She isn't going to kill him."

From time to time he would hear a spoken word, but no sounds of violence. Anger from Seo would permeate the house though and the atmosphere would almost feel like a bomb might go off any moment. As time progressed that feeling started to subside. Under that anger, though resentment would also be felt. Coming off her son and from what could be overheard, Mereel would gather just how much he resented their mutual ability to use the Force along with just how much his mother was absent from his life.

When most of the emotional storm appeared to have passed, Saraid nodded her head slightly and tipped it at Mereel.

"I think we can go back out."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel had completely missed her hand gesture response to him because his eyes were focused on his hands as he picked at his shirt to keep it from clinging to his sunburnt flesh. Instead of seeing or hearing any response from Seo, the next thing he heard was the sound of Seo opening and then forcefully slamming shut the house door.

Taken aback, Mereel felt his feet grind to a halt in the sand. "I don't particularly like you but I hope that the force is with you for your sake, Aodhan.." Mereel mumbled to himself before regaining his composure and entering the house.

Noticing the look Saraid gave him as soon as he walked in, Mereel wasn't at all surprised when she moved to block him from following her daughter. Letting out an unnecessary, small hiss when Saraid touched his burnt arm, Mereel begrudgingly let her lead into them into another room further away from the action.

"Oh I know they can both handle themselves, if I was a betting man though it'd be on her." He sarcastically responded to her comment about Aodhan not getting killed.

Mereel's breathing quickened as he felt a wave of heat flash into his sinuses. The force made it clear to him that the argument between Seo and Aodhan had started, and the feeling in his mind was only confirmed by the unnatural, charged quiet in the air.

"Sorry I didn't bring back any game for the family. Under better circumstances I would've, but.." But your grandson nearly killed me with poison and messed it all up? That would be far too crass for a first visit.

"I got a little too careless.."

Mereel felt the anger in the air slowly give way to resentment and he knew the arguement was resolving, although he didn't know just exactly why Aodhan felt that way outside of mental speculation. When Saraid nodded and said they could go, Mereel calmly sauntered back into the room where Seo, Aodhan and their father had been conversing. Ignoring everything else, Mereel stared blankly at Aodhan as he approached the group.

"Well, it's settled then." Mereel's eyes reflected the resentment he could feel in Aodhan in the force, but he knew he couldn't act on how he felt against the young man. A single hand slipping to his belt, Mereel forced a coy half-smile on his face as his other hand unclipped a bundle of beast tails before extending it to Aodhan.

"This is all I got to show for it, but it's done."

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

"Not careless."

The woman slowly attempted to ease the burn from Mereel if he allowed it as the two of them waited for the conversation in the other room to finish. Provided he allowed her to tend to the sunburn, he would feel the effects the actions quickly. The heat would subside and she handed him a bottle of what she had used.

"Make sure to put this on when the heat starts to return. You'll at least be able to wear your shirt without wincing in pain whenever you move."

She knew exactly what had happened out in the desert, but made no further comment on it. If he wanted to keep it between Seo, himself and Aodhan that was his choice. Once things settled down in the other room, she walked out and rejoined the others. Standing off to the side, her husband moved to join her.


There was a look on Aodhan's face that wasn't very common for him. If Mereel could read people, then he would know it was an honest look and the words that were spoken were really meant. Though he did not make eye contact as he spoke until the end, he did mean everything.

"I am sorry, Mister Vaun. What I did should not be forgiven, but I do ask that of you."

Looking down at the tails extended to him, he finally looked up at the man in front of him.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Having accepted Saraid's help with his burns before coming out into the room to confront Aodhan, Mereel was much less distracted now than when he had been following Seo into her house. His attention was unwaveringly honed in on Aodhan's body language and tone as the boy extended an apology. Mereel bit down hard on the left side of his lip as Aodhan called him 'Mr. Vaun', and a moment later his eyes coldlg narrowed as he collected his thoughts on the apology.

This was the first time Mereel had seen a break in Aodhan's demeanor. The boy's standoffish attitude that he had displayed previously was now nowhere to be found. Mereel knew he was often awful at hiding his own expressions without his helmet, but he was fairly decent at reading other people, and he genuinely believed that Aodhan was being sincere with his apology, for whatever that was worth for the people you could have killed.

A few seconds of silence passed before Mereel breathed a sigh through his nose. "Just call me Mereel from now on - even if you're writing a formal letter to me apologizing for culling an entire planet." The snark still rolled off Mereel's tongue naturally, but it lacked any of the good or nonchalant humor it usually carried with it. His eyes locked on Aodhan's as soon as the boy had looked up at him, and that's where they were trained even now.

"You didn't kill me, but those almost did." Mereel nodded down at the bundle of tails he was still holding out. "Before I can say I forgive you and mean it, I want a little information."

The cold in Mereel's eyes was replaced by a look of almost bored curiosity as he forced his brain to think through an older mindset. "You have a pretty good aim with whatever it was you used to poison me.. Tell me, have you ever used it to kill before?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Still properly put in his place by his grandfather and mother, Aodhan quietly listened to Mereel and what he said. A slight nod was given at the request to call him by his first name. The little humour almost brought a small smile from the teen, but the situation was tense and he knew it.

His eyes followed down to the tails and snapped back up at the question asked. An immediate answer was given and it was truthful.

"No, Sir Mereel. I have no killed another person or caused their death."

It was the truth, but not all of it. What he didn't mention were the actions he had taken in learning the correct doses to administer. How to make sure the doses in the darts did not kill a person.

"You can keep your trophies, Mereel."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]