Enemy Mine

[Ayda Elisantra]

She couldn't see the pattern Skye was seeing. It wasn't because she didn't understand, it was what at first seemed like traces of luminescence flickering from the walls...floor...ceiling... had eventually caught her attention.

She had stopped chewing on her portion of the energy bar, having resisting the impulse to just chomp it down quickly to cease her belly from crying. But she knew better than to do that. Rather, she had been slowly nibbling on it to make it last as long as possible. Now as famished as her body were, it seemed to stop dead in its track...midway through chewing.
The flicker of what she presumed to have been luminescence moss, minerals or even some form of minute insect were none of the latter.
They were the spirits of the life forms that had been put to trial...as Skye had suggested. And apparently she had been correct; this cave..this subterranean and elaborate structure had been once constructed and used for trials.
But had none ever made it out?

Skye's words had faded moments earlier, upon Ayda's own discovery of the spirits that now seemed to be drawn to her, filling their immediate area with many points of ghostly lights...only that they were obscured to the other woman. Ayda had never in her life or dreamed of being in the presence of so many lost spirits. And more and more seemed to be surfacing from the walls, the floor , the ceiling...all being drawn to her.

And she was agast...overwhelmed.

Ayda was aglow with so many lost souls all around...and so many of their voices seemed to be in harmony asking..looking for the way to the light. many had been ready for ancients...too many had completed penance and had somehow not been able to find the eternal light.
Ayda could hear, understand the many as their voices seemed to be one, while others were random..too random and melding with the others, it were nothing but song. Chorus of voices that she could not reply too if she wanted. It were best to not connect..not to reach out to any of one or two for then all would swarm.
Ayda despaired.
There were too many...too many wanting souls seeking the light.
And as she could sense...they all had seemed to have atoned more than hundreds of millennium pasts.

It were difficult to silence the choir of voices in her head as there were so, so many. Ayda must have seemed to appear incoherent to her companion who took notice of her silence. It must have been a few glances Ayda's way before Skye took to wonder about her and tried tried to get her attention to snap her out of whatever seemed to have immobilized her. But Ayda's temple seemed on lock-down.
There were so many spirits longing for that journey to the everlasting. They were for the most part purified for what deeds and crimes they had committed against their fellow beings that had gotten them entrapped here in the first place. Ayda got to wonder if such a door or lock to whatever held both living and these spirits now had ever been opened...or would open again.
It were those thoughts that lead her obrs over to the ancient locks, which in turn put her face to face with a rather concerned Skye. Her lips were moving, but Ayda couldn't hear her voice above the spirits. Her companion's eyes were deeply rooted, trying to pierce through the void between Ayda and her temple. Where for a moment Skye could have sworn to look into dead eyes, Ayda finally emerged.
Ayda had finally spotted her living friend..and were drawn back to her and into Skye's grip on her. Took a second..or two to realize she was being shaken.
The spirits around Ayda diminished in all their luminous light, bringing Ayda back to the present darkness of the chambers, back into Skye's hands.
Ayda was being shaken by Skye who had her by the shoulders, shouting for her to stay with her. Undoubtedly for a moment, Skye must have thought she held a lifeless body before her, not knowing why Ayda had gone comatose.
Had Ayda been bitten by a diseased Zernek?...or had she consumed poison mushrooms?..the same that both were pretty smeared from head to toe?

"Huh...what?..." It took a few to get her bearings again. The living world was on linear time and she took a moment to catch up to it. Her companion's words were clear...was she alright?...was anything wrong.?..had she gotten hurt..bitten?
"No... I mean yes...
....yes, I'm OK." Her bright orbs confirmed it.
"I was just... I just-...sigh... I'm sorry...I didn't mean to fade out like that." She cut mid sentence, looking over the elaborate lock mechanisms, behind Skye. It was so old. So, so old. Ayda stared at it, as she seemed to despair...her features dropping.
In doing so, it didn't at all help ease Skye's concern that she was spacing out again.

"Yes really, I'm Ok. I'm just...in despair over this...this ... impossible lock." Ayda put her hand on one of Skye's hand which were both still on her shoulder.
"Really....I'm Ok..." She repeated, lightly nudging Skye's arms that it was OK to let go of her. Naturally Skye's eyes looked didn't waver from her's, before she nodded and finally let go.
Skye then went on to repeat what she had tried to get across to Ayda several times before. Before she had realized Ayda had dropped away from reality. maybe Ayda was epileptic?...

Well, for the moment, Ayda was indeed alert and Skye went on to indicate she may have the locks figured out. Just that she needed Ayda to help her move and engage some levers in unison with her... in some sort of sequence she believed she had figured out.
"Yea?..." It more sounded like from someone who had little faith anything was going to work. Ayda had experienced countless spirits that had never seen the twilight day of Dagobah since they had been trapped inside, much like Ayda and Skye were.

"...I mean, yes..sure." Ayda replied, still with no real enthusiasm.
After all, so many souls had been entrapped in here for so long that only the Creator herself knew for how long. Ayda despaired for it was longer than she could imagine. Long before Dagobah became a planet of murky swamp....long before what civilization called this world home had expired.

"Has...." How was she to ask/explain to Skye?
"Sigh...do you know if this lock has ever...unlocked the door?" She then asked, looking at the ancient mechanism that even in its pristine days, had never been figured out, much less exercised. How or why could they...especially Skye come to believe that it could still function as it had once been designed?
And what if it had been designed to never really open? The countless souls had been here a near eternity. All of them seemed to have atoned for what they had originally been condemned here for. What if it was only designed as a false hope for those condemned? It were of a punishment only those of the living would design.

"I...sigh...
I can't explain it. But it seems it never unlocked what passage door to the outside it seems to be designed for. So many souls ...so many have never passed through the doors...so, so many..." her voice wavered, as she walked a few steps to the side of Skye, feeling the walls. Were they were just rock..stones? She couldn't be sure, as Ayda knew nothing in the universe that could block spirits from passing through. But somehow it had. And she didn't wish to chance disconnecting and leave her temple to see for herself, if she could pass through.
If Ayda did leave her temple to try, it would call on all the countless spirits to attach themselves to her own. And the possibility of returning to her temple could be hindered...could be made impossible. If that happened and she were away from her temple...it too would certainly die and she could not return to it...entrapping herself like the countless spirits here too.

No, Ayda had to remain among her living companion, and help her find a way out. But not only for them two now...but for the countless souls that had atoned...had been cleansed.
And it had been so long ago..that not even their bones remained...as the Zerneks through eons of time had gnawed even those to dust.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye turned towards Ayda with a nervous chuckle.

"What do you mean? Why would they have created this entire structure just to taunt the unfortunate few locked in here?", she asked. At first, her voice seemed normal enough under these circumstances, but the trained ear would detect a certain hint of hopelessness in it. They were running out of options, fast- and now Ayda was suggesting that their last option, the door, was no option at all. No... That couldn't be true.

Even as Skye tried to persuade Ayda into believing the door was real, just like Skye believed, she could still see in Ayda's eyes that whatever Skye said, the girl was not convinced of it. It wasn't that the girl was refusing to cooperate, no, Ayda was still offering to help, but that made no difference to Skye.

"Then don't believe me", she blurted out as she threw one of her hands in the air, turning away from Ayda. Without looking at the younger girl any longer, she stormed into one of the small room next to the door. These small rooms held most of the clockwork and the mechanics. She stormed into there with the excuse of being done with Ayda and her 'negative thoughts' and although that was true, it wasn't the all of it. Skye just had to get away from the younger girl for a small moment.

That... girl, that scum, the enemy. Yes, that was what she was, and Skye shouldn't forget that. It didn't matter what she did, how she acted, or how beautiful she was. This girl was the enemy. Skye closed her eyes and repeated it a few times in her head.

'She is the enemy. She is the enemy. She is the enemy.'

This was her way to try and put herself a bit further away from Ayda, as she was starting to... feel odd around the girl- which couldn't be allowed. Skye did her best to cover her heart with a layer of ice, so she could play the harsh captor towards Ayda once again. And she succeeded, she fueled her hatred slightly, but, as Skye walked over to the door and peeked at Ayda to see if she was still there, Skye could 'feel' the layer of ice melt within an instance. Annoyed Skye punched the wall and retreated from the door back into the small room.

As she looked around her eyes were fixated at the part of the structure which appeared to be in the best condition out of the whole thing. Even this part still consisted out of broken pieces of wood and missing gears. Around the room were also a lot of closed boxes, presumably holding more of the clockwork. She had tried to open the boxes before, but it appeared they were locked.
The sight of the old and broken mechanisms only drove Skye into more fear and more anger, so much so that she lashed out at one of the closed boxed, breaking its once-so-strong but now rotten case and revealing the insides. What Skye saw confused her even more. Inside was indeed another part of the clockwork, but the pieces inside...the way they were connected... It was never supposed to work. It COULDN'T work. The pieces didn't fit, the construction didn't make any sense. The boxes were closed because... because they hid the fact this mechanism was faulty.. erroneous.. impossible to complete!

That meant...that meant Ayda was right. But if Ayda was right that meant that there was no exit.

And that meant...

No.
There was a way to open those doors. Skye knew it, she could feel it. The doors were able to be operated, somehow. Just not by using this big, overly complicated and useless mechanism. It appeared this mechanism was no more than an endless incompleteable puzzle, designed to give the unfortunate few a false sense of hope. They would all have spent their last hours working on this devilish device, doomed to fail.

Feeling somewhat defeated Skye exited the room. She walked closer towards Ayda but she averted her gaze in an attempt to regain the anger and ability to act harsh against the woman.

"Forget the mechanism", she mumbled harshly. "It won't work."

"But there has to be another way, keep looking", she said as her tone became softer again.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

Darkness pitch is as variant as light is in its intensity.
Darkness of light not existing, makes the pitch.
Even one's eyes with the ability to capture starlight in its minute intensity to make out the forms of shapes and movement around them cannot do so without some form of light existing.
But akin to light as most have become, they forget their other senses which can also be called to see. Lest not that one forget the other senses. Like light reflecting off an object, so does sound...if one were keen on hearing it, one could even see with it.

There were numerous chambers to the right of what had looked like a promise door to freedom. But that door was false and the chambers that lay further in only got darker in pitch. To one who relied solely on their sight could become forever lost in such darkness.
Ayda could see it with her mind. The echos of sound indicated hollows within the chambers......like.....like they were not really chambers at all, but walls..... lots of walls maybe and with many doors.

Skye had returned from what they assumed was a chamber, and although Ayda had heard of what Skye said, Ayda had also listened. Further into that chamber, it seemed to be connected to the next, or others.
"Why so many doors?"...she asked herself silently, as Skye looked about around them for another means of finding a way out..
And the further one went, it became darker and darker, as it was with no light reflecting. Light also could not bend. Maybe the architects had designed it as such.
But Skye had stopped speaking to her and she could only hear her breathing. Where they were, there was just minute traces of light and they could see as their eyes had acclimated. But further on, there was less and less of any remnant of light whatsoever and the chambers kept going...she had heard what she could and no further. She'd have to go past that chamber that Skye had come from to sense another....opening in the wall. But there were more than one opening in every chamber.

"Gasp!" She finally realized. The door that so many had struggled to open and spent their lives on was just one of many distractions.

Ayda walked over to where Skye had come from..the very same chamber that the woman went into to gather her thoughts. Ayda had not heard her thoughts, no. She had heard her voice. Her words resonated against the walls and...and some of it was swallowed up to only resonate lower. It meant an opening in the wall and that sound got lost.
"Skye?!" She called on her quite loud and clear.

Naturally, she did get the woman's eyes on her when she called her name... Ayda could feel her eyes on her, even if she weren't facing Skye, but the chamber that the woman had come from.

"Skye." She then said again, this time stating it, without a question in her tone... and again quite clear.

"Skye." Ayda once more repeated, as she walked to where Skye had come from just a moment ago.

Of course by now the woman should have been wondering if Ayda was finally loosing her mind. But no she wasn't. Ayda had figured part of the puzzle out.

"I believe I know what we're in..." Ayda then said, turning to her when she got midway into the chamber that Skye had been a moment before. Now with a little tone of hope in her voice.

"Skye...the door is a distraction...there are maybe countless distractions in what is a labyrinth. These chambers are in reality a labyrinth. The way out does exists...only one way out in a maze and that is to find the end...I think we can can hear our way out. " She said, walking back toward Skye.

"Sound down here is more useful than eyes. We can hear sound bouncing off walls and sound being absorbed in openings. Sound can tell us dept and dead ends..."

She was meaning the chambers were too dark for anyone to see. But even if one would fashion a makeshift torch or candle, it would really be of little use. Sure you could see the openings...but how could you determine which ones led you back, to a dead end, or further closer to salvation?
Sound could resonate where light couldn't and enable one to sense further. And to Ayda's surprise, sounding off with 'Skye' had a better resonance than anything else. It were why she had called her name a few times to try it...and it sounded back fine.

"Have you ever played the game, Marco Polo?" She asked with a grin only a child could have, in anticipation of playing a favorite game.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye observed the girl rattle on about sound and eyes and listened with an annoyed look. The annoyance came from two reasons, with the first one being the fact that Ayda seemed to be coming up with a plan which was better than Skye's.

The second reason was that Skye had caught herself just staring at Ayda's pretty face without even listening to half the things she said.

"I haven't", Skye shortly replied before she held her hand in the air, indicating for Ayda to keep her trap shut. This wasn't the time to be speaking about stupid games, and definitely not about ones Skye knew nothing about. Even though Skye was annoyed, she still felt somewhat bad inside her for being rude to Ayda for some reason. Well, Skye knew about the reason, and because of that she quickly averted her eyes from the grin on Ayda's face. 'Cute' was the first word that popped up into Skye's mind, but she quickly shook her head as to throw the word out of her thoughts.
She scolded herself and muttered some words because of her own thoughts.

Skye proceeded to slowly step away from the door while taking her mask from her backpack. She then swiftly put the device on her face before she fiddled with the side of the mask. Then she just stared into the big, dark cavern behind them. There had to be something, there just had to be. She tried her best, but she couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary, which only irritated her even more. Apparently Ayda had a plan, one she came up with because Skye was failing to come up with one herself. It wouldn't do that Ayda, a rebellious piece of.... flesh, found how to get out of here instead of Skye. Feeling the need to stay on top as the obvious leader of the two, and while trying to suppress the strange wish to impress Ayda, Skye kept scanning far into the distance.

It was dark, and even with the vision the mask provided, Skye couldn't see far.

But neither did she have to.

Far off in the distance, so far back that she couldn't even distinguish the floor from the walls, she spotted a slight flash of light. Or did she? Skye fixated her eyes on the spot where she thought she had seen it, but that spot now stayed mysteriously and dangerously dark.

Skye slowly backed up again, whilst never letting her stare stray from the dark cavern.

Without looking behind her, she spoke to Ayda in that familiar harsh tone.

"Let us play this game of yours. Any rules I should be aware of?"

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

Why was Skye mad at her one minute, then not...then mad again? It was hard to read her. One minute they peaked, the next they dipped...Skye was an emotional roller coaster. Ayda preferred her companion the way she was when they had driven the horde of Zerneks away. But now, she was harsh towards her again. It was confusing to say the least...

"First, I don't understand why you are mad at me. I didn't run away from you, I jumped into this trap to help you when those Zerneks were swarming over you." She spoke up despite the look she got shot back from Skye. There was really no need for Ayda to bring this up, as Skye was willing to play her game.

Still, it was something troubling Ayda as to how could Skye be kind and then not the following minute.
"Talking down to me doesn't lessen the fact that we're in this together for the duration and we both need to work together if we are to get out of this" Ayda approached her, as Skye had put her mask back on.
Somehow or other that mask was really what was bothering to Ayda for some reason. It hid the human aspect of Skye and she disliked it...had always disliked those whom hid themselves for reasons as such. And she needn't feel through the force or whatever to know that it made Skye disconnect herself in a way from her own humanity.

"Fine..." She wasn't going to push it. Not with the mask between her and Skye. Without looking into Skye's eyes, Ayda couldn't begin to feel her..or know who she was really.
"Marco-Polo is a game one plays with their eyes closed....in water or anywhere really." She began...

"One calls out Marco and the other Polo. Following the direction of the voice leads one to the other...although the game calls for both parties to keep on the move. Its basically a tag game.
But its not the game I an referring for us to play, but the basis behind it. Sound and reflection.
I have experienced this phenomenon with those whom have lost their sight and do not wish cybernetics."

Then Ayda went on about how some people have attuned their other senses and feel vibrations in the same manner as light waves to the retina. That any sharp sound...a tap of a stick, a word even would generate sound waves like that of dropping a pebble in water. Ayda even went on to mention how Skye herself should have noticed the ripples in the pool when she washed herself. Sound, she repeated worked in the same manner. That a sound wave will travel continuously until it is broken or bounces back.
Of course, Skye just stood there, arms folded, fingers tapping away at her forearm waiting for Ayda to run out of air or plainly shut her mouth.

But no... Ayda was on a roll and best she finish before she'd get shut down by Skye, she figured.
"These...these caverns are stone and readily bounce these waves back..that is how we hear the echos.
You are a force user...sensitive to many things...maybe things you may not even be aware of yet.
You can hear..see these waves and where they break, fall out or bounce back if you set your mind and will to it, Skye.
Honestly, I see non-force users acquire this ability ..the blind. They can walk, navigate, feel these vibrations..the sound waves and in a way, see. Some animals use this all the time...they call it sonar." She continued, even though picking up what she believed was Skye's demeanor, loosing a lot of the patience she had allowed her at the moment. But despite feeling she was pushing it, Ayda just kept going. Even taking a step back, as apparently Ayda was getting a feeling that the girl was going to let loose a hand at her. But she had to say what she felt could help them.

"Skye, your name has an acute sound. It is quite sharp and I sounded it out as you heard. I felt..I envisioned the walls and the openings to a certain extent before the sound wave was too dissipated to hear.
But if we both work together and enter each chamber together, each sounding out an opening, we can exponentially increase our effort in navigating through this labyrinth. " She then momentarily stopped...seemingly taking a breath or two.

"Really... we need to work on this together or we will both die here. And I don't wish to die here, Skye. I can't die here." her voice was pleading...actually afraid of expiring in this place. And she was, for if those spirits who had been trapped in here couldn't get out..then possibly neither could hers.

"Please, just listen... take a moment to listen for yourself. You'll see... you'll feel what I am talking about.." She waved her hand toward the walls and the openings.

"Say, how's your memory recall?.." She then asked, remembering the symbols and ornate carvings that Skye had been studying when they thought the door was the key to getting out. Perhaps the murals weren't about the clockworks to the door at all, but a map of the labyrinth.

"Do you recall anything resembling...circuitry?" It was the best she could describe at what could be a a puzzle rendering of the labyrinth.

Naturally, and it was an instinctive reaction on her part when Skye came up to her... Ayda shut tight her eyes anticipating a slap to her face for not shutting her trap soon enough.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye stood in front of Ayda with her hand ready to give Ayda a slap to her face. How did she dare to talk to her like that? Someone should teach that little bratt a lesson! And that.. that someone was Skye! Yes, it was her. She needed to teach the girl. She deserved it. The little rat. She had brought Skye nothing but pain and misery. How could she not have seen this before? The very source of all of her problems was standing right in front of her.

And it was vulnerable.

Skye raised her hand high above her head, and with an extra wave of anger, balled her flat hand into a fist. A slap wouldn't be enough for Ayda. She deserved so much worse.
"You.. little...", she managed to blurt out in a tone even harsher than before. It was at this moment that Skye decided to strike down at Ayda's face, but stopped half way to it.

In a brief moment of clarification, brought to her by the frightened and innocent face of Ayda, Skye could see through the mask's influence. It lasted only a few seconds, and Skye knew it would, so she immediately threw the mask off her face and onto the ground before she'd slip away again.

'Power gained, is power taken. Nothing comes without cost'. These strange yet wise words, once spoken by the old man, now rung in Skye's head as she watched the mask lie on the ground, unscathed. Skye took a few seconds to fully let the hatred flow out of her again before she quickly picked it up, hid it in her backpack and returned her gaze towards Ayda, who had slightly jumped at the sound of the mask hitting the ground. The girl still had her eyes closed as Skye spoke to her, in a voice so calm and sweet it even surprised herself.

"That's a good idea. I'll quickly go see for myself before I take another quick glance at the door."

As Ayda opened her eyes again, with an expression on her face which screamed confusion, Skye gave her a quick yet lovely smile before she walked back into one of the rooms, leaving behind the confused girl.

While Skye knew the mask was a , she always found the moments after she managed to take it off to be the best ones. When removed, the mask seemed to take all of her hatred and annoyance with it: the hatred both caused by the mask and the one that was already there.

This results in the period after the mask is removed to be absolutely free of negative thoughts and it gives a state of mind so peaceful anyone would want to have.

Once inside a room, Skye looked around. She was slightly reluctant to say anything out loud, especially her name, but eventually she did so anyway.

"Skye", she called out.

She heard an echo, sure, but at first, that told Skye nothing about a maze or her own positioning. But after calling her own name out a few more times, she started to have the idea she felt something, although she wasn't sure. It was obvious to her that Ayda knew more about this, and it was even more obvious to her that she wasn't going to be able to do this alone.

Satisfied that Ayda's plan had a reasonable chance of working, Skye walked back towards the other girl, who still seemed to be slightly confused, although Skye couldn't exactly figure out why.

With another small smile, Skye moved past Ayda and made her way over to the door, so she could study its markings.

Skye must've sit there for at least 10 minutes before she finally allowed herself to take her eyes of of the many drawings and pictures. Now that Ayda mentioned it, the possibility of the wall giving hints as to the labyrinth exit was quite high. Skye found multiple murals likely to be clues and tried to memorized them all as best as she could. They didn't make any sense to her now, but perhaps they would as they moved through the labyrinth. For example, one mural depicted a certain oddly shaped doorway, with a skull and some scattered bones next to it. Skye memorized the shape, and instructed herself and Ayda to not go through a door looking like that.

Then a small rock could be heard falling in the distance. The sound disappeared as soon as it had appeared, but it lasted long enough for Skye to be reminded of the flash of light she saw when she wore the mask a good amount minutes ago. She quickly got up, looked over her shoulder into the darkness and then made her way over to Ayda.

Ayda stood not too far from her, for she too was observing the wall. She hadn't said anything to Skye yet, but the look of confusion had started to slowly disappear from her face. Skye's pace was fast, so fast that Ayda almost tripped when Skye grabbed her arm and pulled her along. Despite the protest Ayda had made earlier when Skye had dragged her along, Skye held Ayda's arm tightly.

"We need to move quickly", she whispered as she lead Ayda to one set of rooms bound to have an entrance point to this so called labyrinth. It was only when they were inside that Skye let go of Ayda.

"Come on, we need to move and we need to find an entrance... quick", she said as she quickly looked around. She then saw a study piece of wood and lifted it up. It was only when she saw Ayda's questioning face when she elaborated.

"We're going to need to block off our entrance behind us", she whispered. "We're not alone"

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

She had closed herself off from the horde of lost souls for the sake of them not attaching themselves to her that her sense of sight had for the most part been abated. She felt she could do them no justice if she couldn't find the passage out for herself...and Skye naturally. As harsh as the woman sometimes spoke to her, there were moments that she could almost feel the embrace of a friend. But there was conflict still in Skye. Too much of herself had been stained. not stained as it being of permanence, but wronged. The woman had been drilled to follow duty. And Ayda didn't need any insight to sense the conflict within Skye to know she was fighting within herself for her true identity and feelings.

And she were slowly, but cautiously finding it more often than not, to see Ayda as a companion, rather than her prisoner of war. And it weren't due to the fact that she was alone, for Ayda had felt her distance before they had gone subterranean. Skye had for the most part been on her own..surviving by adhering to her superiors commands and duty. That was what had stained an otherwise a kindred spirit. Ayda had no doubt that if circumstances had allowed the alignment that she had somehow befell upon, that Skye would be no different than her in so many ways. Only that Skye had been around too much corrupted thoughts...and they had not once originated from Skye but drilled into her. It would be inevitable for Skye to eventually see through all the fog. Ayda knew this somehow, but couldn't place as to how she knew or why. It was just something which kept her drawn to the older girl.

"S...Skye.." Ayda once more felt Skye's grip and pull as she was once more lead.

"Skye!...honestly, I can run on my own...and I'm not going to run away from you.." She implored her to stop dragging her along like she was some rag doll.
Of course, she didn't really resist, as the girl did have a big stick in her other hand and knowing how she flipped flopped with her emotional strains, she could very well use it on her. Hell that, sticks do hurt.

"Who... Skye?!...." Ayda tried asking as to who she thought was following them, for there were no real evidence of any life about in the passages. What was there was old dust and mold...the smell of old ghosts as some would say.
"Skye!..." she then tugged on her lead, almost coming to a dead stop if it wasn't for her feet sliding on the dirt. But it did bring about Skye's irrate attention. Of course she couldn't really see her face, but rather felt the heat radiating off her.

"Wrong turn!...Skye it's the other opening we just missed." Ayda tugged for Skye to go back a few steps.
"Skye!...see...." She stood in the opening for Skye to hear the resonance.
"You're going too fast sometimes-.....umf!" Before Ayda could finish Skye once more took off with her in tow. Only she did take the passage Ayda had retraced.

"Skye!..." Ayda kept echoing.
And for the most part, it was just that , that she was sounding...Skye's name. Somehow or other, since they had taken this course, it was Ayda who took to calling. It only came more natural for her to sound her companion's name than for Skye to call her own. But however it somehow got worked out on its own, it was working. Only that Skye just wasn't letting go of her. Not in this darkness and not in what they figured was a labyrinth.

"Skye, Skye wait!...pant, pant....honestly...I'm not just sounding... please stop a minute...pant..pant..." Ayda was running out of breath. It wasn't that she couldn't keep up. It was more that Skye had actual physical training..tracking...being quick on her feet and for extended periods of time. Ayda on the other hand was physically fit, only lacked that sort of strenuous capabilities. She was a trained doctor, not an operative..or soldier like Skye.

For a moment as she caught her breath, she, like Skye, kept her ears attuned to the darkness. And she kind of expected for some critters to be about these caverns. Like, weren't the horde of Zerneks from these caverns? They certainly would wander through. But the lack of feces, even of Zerneks indicated there wasn't much of anything around. Not anything that could sustain Zerneks or anything else for that matter. They were pretty much alone, them two...so far. Well, as far as the living were concerned. Ayda was certain that there were many lost spirits still wandering about..looking, searching for eternity end from these tombs.

"Skye...Skye!" Ayda finally sounded again.
"Hehe.." she gave out a little happy relief. "You have to be seeing what i'm seeing...the walls are like...transparent almost.
The resonating sound waves had a slight, however different tone that reverberated through and through the chambers and on to the next. And somehow the more they did what they did...it seemed they could see/hear further and further, enabling them to envision the walls and openings beyond the scope of chambers they at first had picked up on being able to envision.

"Skye!..."

There it was again...an even deeper kind of sound well that seemed to swallow any resounding echoes. Ayda could almost see through the walls..imagining the chambers beyond the one they were in by the sound bouncing back and not.
She suddenly felt getting tugged again as Skye pulled her along toward the opening to their right. She told Ayda to sound off again.

"Skye!..."

Then a few seconds later when that had all run its course.. "Skye!"

"Eeek... my arrrrrm....." Ayda almost lost her footing stumbling as Skye took off like a bat out of hell in the direction they had been sounding through.

"Skye!...slow down!..." Once more she almost lost her footing, which Skye quickly reacted in not letting her fall.
It was obvious to Skye at that point that Ayda was not as physically fit as she. Ayda wasn't trained at all for combat or survival..not to the extreme that Skye was. Ayda was after all, a medic...a doctor. Perhaps it was one reason Skye had such a hold on her. To chance Ayda keeping up on her own wasn't likely to be as efficient as her dragging her along. If anything was to be said, they had made for excellent time and apparently some good puzzle distant solving. They had to be close to its end...they just had to be. Besides avoiding some of the more obvious turns and doorways that Skye had earlier deciphered as dead ends, they had worked through what appeared and was feeling like some good clean through chambers. If anyone could have guessed, they had gone quite a few kilometers in what appeared to be one general overall direction.

One passage after passage...one opening after opening, they ran through, with Ayda being tugged most of the way. Seemed Ayda was good at sounding off and Skye getting better and better attuned to navigating with her newfound sonar capabilities. It were all a matter of practice really. That and their untapped force connection. Unbeknownst to them, they had picked up on what many force users never had really honed in to ever do. And that was to see using sound as deciphered and enhanced by the force and their connection to it. Somehow or other, they took to learning from one another...getting attuned better and better...seeing without their eyes, but ears, further and deeper than they had from the start. It was like they could see multi layers of chambers and opening way beyond them. They could see the dead ends and the false paths that would have them gone in circles. It was almost like they had x-ray vision.

"Skye...pant..pant..." Ayda kept sounding and Skye kept seeing ahead and through...

But Ayda was tripping now more than ever and quite laboring in trying to catch her breath. She couldn't go on much further...not without a breather.

" Pant..pant...Skye....pant...pant..."

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye wanted to ignore Ayda's hundredth request to take a little break, but she just couldn't find it in her heart to resist it again. With an irritated sigh she came to a stop in a small room.

"Sit then. Rest for a bit, but we can't stay here long. We need to get out of here soon, as we won't be finding food or water in these damned corridors."

She then let go of Ayda's arm, after which the younger girl immediately sunk to the ground. Skye's eyes eventually made their way to Ayda's face, and eventually she caught herself staring at the younger girl once again, much to her own annoyance.

"I, I will scout a bit. Stay here. I'll be close", she quickly muttered as she swiftly walked out of the room, not giving Ayda any time to react.

Skye walked through a few rooms, going in a straight line untill she sat in a room with only one entrance- a dead end. There she allowed herself to sit down. Her face was riddled with confusion and desperation as she ran both her hands through her hair.

"I..I can't. What is she doing to me", she stuttered to herself as she tried to make sense of it all. Skye was finding it increasingly harder to remain hateful towards Ayda, and although she would never admit it, she feared she was growing... fond of her- in a certain way.
"No. No. No. This cannot happen. It is not... okay. I need- I need to.. I can't. Her...", she murmured to herself as she tried to wrap her head around it.
"What is she doing to me", Skye asked with a shaky voice. She was being torn apart by two sides.
One of those two being her entire life, her beliefs, and her loyalty to the Order.
The other side was... was something she did not dare to think about. A feeling... for that rebel scum.

A tear ran down her cheek as she buried her face in her hands, muttering about the fact she didn't know what to do.

"I need to focus... I-I need strength. I cannot do this alone", she spoke weakly.

She was being torn apart, and the soft side was almost getting the better of her. But then her loyalty to her.. life and everything she knew made her do that which would help her decide... for now.

Which shaky hands she reached for her backpack, and not much later her hand came out again, now holding the mask. Skye held it in front of her face for a while, carefully observing the emotionless and dreadful look of it.

"Damn you", she whispered as she put the thing on in one smooth motion, effectively distancing herself from her troubles.

She knew who she was again.
What she had to do.
What she was going to do.


Skye barged into the room she had left Ayda in not too long ago, with the mask on her face. Ayda looked up at her with a confused- or maybe frightened?- expression as Skye grabbed her shoulder and pulled her on her feet.

"Move it. I won't waste time here because you aren't fit.", she scowled as she pushed Ayda forward.
"Yell", she ordered harshly. "Keep finding MY way out of here."

Ayda opened her little mouth- to protest, no doubt. But she wouldn't. Before any sound could leave the little girl, Skye slapped her face. "I said move it"

Even though she was once again filled with rage by now, she experienced a slight sense of peace inside her. The part in which she had feelings for Ayda had been completely pushed away by the mask.

Now there was only Skye.
The real Skye.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"Fine...sigh..pant, pant....yes, I'll be Ok..." She nodded, as Skye let go of her.

"...just need to catch my breath's all..." Ayda backed herself up against one of the walls, propping herself up bending over, her hands on her knees for support.

Wow, could that girl run, Ayda noted to herself. And she had thought herself physically fit. But she was no way as robust as Skye.

"Whew...pant, pant..." She dry swallowed. Yes, she was thirsty now...parched to say the least.She hadn't expected for them to have pushed so hard like they did. At least not running through the maze as such. Still, she knew they covered lots of good ground...it certainly felt so....at least the feeling that they were nearing the end. These chambers for the past hour had not seen any steps. It either meant they were deeply lost or near the end that so many could not find.

One minute...two minutes passed before she was able to righten herself up again, only to feel her knees buckling. Ayda looked around in the pitch of darkness. She couldn't see much at all, even with her sensitive eyes which seemed to work like daylight with starlight presence. But there were no such stars underground, let alone any visible light whatsoever...unless-
Skye had pushed as she did for she had been under the impression that they were not alone. What if they weren't? What if a spirit had somehow followed?

Ayda closed her eyes making the transition in reaching her center easier...her means of emerging in spirit form from her shell.
And there also was light now illuminating the chamber. Not visible light, but pure spiritual light that existed but not seen with the eyes of the living. Her bright orbs turned to the source of what was now giving her this sight. It was a spirit near one of the openings which she and Skye had come from. Perhaps it were the one in same that Skye had somehow managed to sense in a fleeting moment of clarity. She had after all been around the influence of Ayda's essence... her innocence. Like evil could stain a soul, so can purity cleans one.
And this sole spirit form were nearing her, being drawn to her own spirit peering out of her temple self.

"No...no I'm not lost..." Ayda replied through the essence of just pure thoughts to the spirit, for she was still reluctant in fully emerging from her temple to expose her own spirit in full. Ayda was between the two realms, one of her physical and that of her spiritual. Her physical was overtired to the point of exhaustion. Not a good time to leave it on its own for any length of time with no spirit. She experienced such temples in weakened battered states dying when their spirits emerged to meet hers. Ayda had never left her temple in such a state as it was now.

"It's not fear... I don't wish to leave my temple behind just yet....it is near spent at the moment.." Ayda could feel her physical self in a weakened state of exhaustion and dehydration.
"I wish to return to it quickly...
Can't let go for too long, lest life should expire..." Ayda replied to the spirit, as she held on to her temple. No, she couldn't step out of her physical body for long periods of time. And that were with a strong and vibrant temple. Now her temple was exhausted and she didn't know what stepping out would truly do between the realm of life and thereafter. And that thereafter if there was no way to be found would be an eternity of damnation. At least that what souls who had not found everlasting light felt.

"She is lost again...
And I must return now..." Ayda replied to the spirit's inquiry of Skye whom she could see with her spiritual eyes now. And Ayda saw the pain Skye felt.
Although Skye were distanced enough away in physical form to Ayda's body, she weren't to her pure spirit. It were then that Ayda knew they were connected...she had connected to Skye. It happened with all whom she got to know, whether she had sought it or not. It were inevitable that she connected to them when enough time were spent in each other's presence...good or bad. And this was Ayda's first conflicting connection. After all, she were still growing, learning and experiencing new things and aspects of her spiritual self sometimes for the first time... all the time.

With Skye echoing her physical form toward her, as she could feel her heavy boots pounding towards her...they didn't carry back the Skye whom had left a few moments before.
Ayda's spirit glow dulled a moment, as she retracted back whole into her physical form. She couldn't emerge and confront in spirit form what Skye had become afflicted with. It weren't her right to do so to a living being and it weren't anything natural either. But Ayda had felt Skye's pain in that flash moment before when she heard Skye's cry. Ayda knew what was coming toward her now and it were going to reverberate like the echos of their voices. Only what was heading toward her by the echoes of the footsteps were of a nature she didn't desire...not one bit...not from Skye, she didn't.

Ayda could no longer feel the same Skye...not the real Skye, but the shadow of what someone had made of the girl's spirit. And it was clear now that it had been forged in the mask.
"Yes...yes I wish to embrace her, but she is not ready to shed her fears..." Ayda's spirit replied to the one in her chamber, as she felt the darkness shadow of Skye nearing closer through the passages.

"We will find a way for you to reach everlasting light...but I must return to my temple now..." Ayda's spirit form receded back completely into her physical body. Of the spirit which had followed and made it's presence known; she was certain would continue to do so...continue to follow them. Ayda's physical eyes finally opened to the darkness swallowing up what had illuminated the existence around her a moment before. Her only sight now were of sound and it exposed Skye's form entering the chamber, coming up on her with fevered purpose.

As tired and exhausted as she were, Ayda's physical form nevertheless prepared for the inevitable. She had felt the conflict in Skye before she diverted her spirit away so as not to fully intrude on Skye...the Skye she had wished returned, but hadn't.
Ayda were once more grasped, pulled up on her feet. There was little she could do, as by the vigor of Skye's actions, there could be little compromise. All she could do at first as the harshness of Skye's words spat at her was nod.

"Skye...I'm up, you don't- SLAP! Ayda's words were nothing more than a mumble before she was shut down.
Gah!...." the slap on her face stung, but not as hard as her feelings.
This was as expected...Skye's alter self...the corrupted and misguided part of her which was the stain. It were too embedded still, to unwind like a weak thread in the fabric of Skye's soul. And it had little remorse for what it did...it had been too well rehearsed in Skye for it to litter it with compassion. That had come from years of training as a disciple of Ren. There seemed no compassion escaping the mask. It were somewhat like the labyrinth itself which entrapped so many souls... it masked the light...the pure light.

She was abruptly shaken and told to continue to sound off. Ayda looked into the shadow of darkness that had once been Skye..now an empty void that was mask. If she had the strength, she would have attempted to pull it off her. Only that Ayda knew that she'd only be able to raise her hand to Skye before being struck down.

"Skye.." Her only recourse were to sound off, despite her parched throat and tired body.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Ha!

Look at her face.
That little face... riddled with emotions. Bad ones-no doubt.
What did she expect? Mercy? Kindness? Friendship?

Love?

Ayda was a fool. There was no such things in Skye. There was only her purpose. Her purpose and her hatred.

"Keep going as we are. Stop, and I'll make you regret it", Skye ordered in the standard harsh tone as she walked behind Ayda, who was leading the way.

Skye found this part of the walk to be the nicest in a way. She didn't have to worry about any feelings or whatnot, she could just.. do what she had to do. Oh and what she had to do was more than clear to her.

They wandered for another few hours or so. Ayda had already fallen a few times by then, but everytime Skye had pulled her back to her feet, instructing her to continue moving forward.

Then, after what seemed like a few hours for Skye but probably an eternity for Ayda, after having walked for so long, having yelled for so long, at last, there it was, as they rounded one of the many corners they finally saw it.

..

A wall?

It took Skye a good few seconds to fully realise that they were now standing in front of a dead-end. Then it took her another two seconds to turn towards Ayda with pure hatred coming from the mask.
"A dead end..", she snarled. "You led me to a dead end!", she then yelled as she grabbed the girl's shoulders, pushing her against the wall.

Ayda protested, obviously. She rambled on about how it didn't make sense, about how it really sounded like this was the way out.
Whatever. It didn't matter now. They were both drying out and starving. They wouldn't have enough time to go back and find another route.
They would die here. Skye would die here.

But she would die last.
And Ayda would pay for her crimes, her betrayal, THIS betrayal. She would die first, but slowly, painfully. Yes, that was it. She'd suffer. And Skye would enjoy it.

At least that's what the mask made her think.

"You'll pay", she then spat out. "You led me down here to die. To rot! You never wanted to get us out of here! You just led me around here until I would starve. And then you would get out for real, and you'd return to your ship- and you'd go home. But no- no that wont happen anymore. You're done for. You hear me? You should have done a better job trying to get rid of me back in the woods, girl. You're going to regret it now"

During her ranting Skye was completely oblivious to anything Ayda said. Once she was done ranting, she leaned closer towards Ayda, so that her mask touched the younger girls skin.
"Let us begin", she whispered with malice in her voice as she retrieved a small knife from her backpack.
"This will hurt. A lot", she said as she stared through the lifeless visor of the mask.

Then, Ayda looked upwards. She seemed to have accepted her faith- she even seemed to be crying, but Skye couldn't quite see.

Then, just before the blade violated Ayda's skin, just before Skye'd do that which she would regret forever, Ayda made a sound. She started muttering and talking about looking upwards. Not wanting to fall for Ayda's tricks, Skye only glanced up for a split second.

But that was enough to see what Ayda meant. Right above them, there was... no roof? Or actually, there was, but it was a few meters higher than the rest. There was an exit.

They just needed to climb.

Skye put her blade back as she let go of Ayda. It appeared the younger girl was safe for now. But if things were to continue on like this, she wouldn't be for long.

Not at all.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

Her body ached like it never had before. Even when her legs gave out, she was hoisted back up and pushed..pushed to bounds she never knew her vessel could bear. But it did, for her life spirit was strong willed and refused to abandon her temple.

Ayda's feeble attempt at pointing out they were nearing fresh air and then the night sky above them, did little to abate the overbearing weight upon which Skye was bearing down on her and with a blade no less.
She had little strength left but tears, despite her near dehydration. She couldn't fight this woman now..not even for her life. There was no strength but to throw what looked like a pathetic form of dust that she mustered to throw at the woman's mask.

Skye was there somewhere behind that horrid mask and her spiteful words. Ayda's feeble attempts at getting through were useless. The woman's anger made no sense. Her thinking Ayda had trapped her here to die was unchallenged at best, but actually unheard of. It were a babble of a woman under some kind of illusion..under some kind of mad influence. The stain had been rooted deep and that mask amplified it. Ayda could only initially shake her head no.
No.
No, she hadn't done what Skye was angrily accusing her of. How could she think that with all that they had accomplished a day..maybe two ago in these caverns. How did Skye not see beyond the mask for the truth?

Ayda brushed enough of the dry fungi off what she could and threw it at the mask. It looked nothing more than perhaps a thimble of dried mushrooms...but it were mushroom nonetheless...now dry and almost forgotten by Skye.
But had the mask picked it up? It was after all some kind of scanner...
If anything, it picked up the feeble attempt of Ayda throwing what should have been a handful of dust. Perhaps if the woman hadn't been wearing a mask, such an act would have construed her trying to blind her. But that amount and it's composition didn't even make a sound, hitting the mask and what should of been optical sensors or whatever it did to see and analyse it's ambient surroundings.

And she had throw it almost at the very minute the woman suddenly realized that there was the Heavens looking down on them in what was a kind of pit. Only that perhaps many thousands of years ago, it was indeed the very last dead end as the walls were tall and narrow as the initial wall they had fallen or as Ayda had done; jump down from to reach the subterranean caverns.

But through the countless Millennia, Dagobah had slowly and meticulously had its life strangling vines reach over, down....take root to the walls and create a kind of living wall that this day and age, even a child could scale like a play-gym.

Skye had let go of her as she turned to gaze at the distant stars above. Sure, the pit was high and narrow...but there were plenty of strong roots that had taken to the walls all those thousands of years that had passed. What had once been the last dash of hope snuffed out, now was truly a way out. Something that the engineers had never expected...that they would see their own extinction before what they created to be a final last dead end become a stair way to the Heavens... as Ayda saw it, before she closed her eyes.

Ayda was just content, she was spared the blade and was on her back, tired as all can be as she gazed at the stars. ..the fading stars...as she gave in to exhaustion.
She was out cold, for this had been the only free moments that she wasn't shaken, pushed, shoved or shouted at. The few minutes of peace enveloped her like no sleep ever had. She was out cold..covered in remnants of dry mushroom in the light of the stars above.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye stared at the sky for good minute, admiring its beauty, admiring her exit. Of course, even now she realised her chances were slim to none existent, but they had just increased immensely nonetheless. Their most important obstacle had been overcome- again. They had made it out of the cave.

Or almost, at least.

What remained for the two now was a climbing exercise, but not an easy one. Judging by the size of the tiny square of sky she could see, the climb ahead of them was a long one. And whether Skye could make that, she doubted, as she now started to feel the immense exhaustion, even through the easing effects of the mask.

When Skye let her eyes flicker back down again, she suddenly saw Ayda lying on the floor.

"Get up. We're going to climb", she ordered dryly.

But she didn't. Ayda didn't move a single muscle, which was something that made the girl slightly uneasy.

"Ayda!", Skye then tried, quite a bit louder. "Get. Up."

No response.

The masked woman then kneeled down beside the younger girl, placing both hands on the girls shoulders, shaking them.
"Wake up, Ayda! Get up on your feet! Now!", she almost shouted. By now there was a slight hint of fear and possibly even concern through the hate fueled voice.

The mere sight of Ayda's body lying there without moving or responding filled Skye with dread.

Oh no..oh no no no...

Had she died? Had Skye accidentally killed the young redhead in her own blind rage? Had her own anger caused this? Her own actions?
Good, if she had died, that meant she was no longer a nuisance.
But she was useful, wasn't she? She already saved Skye once, and together they were stronger than alone, that's for sure.
Whatever, she was scum anyway. If she hadn't died here Skye'd just have to kill her later anyway.
But she... liked her. She... Ayda...

Now two separate conciousnessess were battling it out inside Skye's mind. There was the mask, pressing for Skye to push on and abandon the what was probably already a corpse, and then there was Skye, who was trying to properly check on the girl, and started to slowly become more open to what she felt at the time.

Then a thought crossed her mind which pushed her far enough to act on her own will. A thought, most likely brought on by the masks influence, told Skye to slit Ayda's throat, to be sure she really was dead.
This horrified Skye to such an extent that for a moment she could see what she was doing and what she had been doing to the poor girl.

Skye's lips moved and her hands shaked, but nothing seemed to be happening.
Until..

"I...I won't.... Please.... don't....leave..."

Before Skye could say anything else, a scream escaped from her lips as she forced her hands to rip the mask from her face in one desperate attempt.

She succeeded.

The mask, together with the ever present hatred it brought, were gone- out of her mind. In a sudden rush of exhaustion, fear for Ayda, regret, and so many more emotions, Skye's last sight was Ayda's face before the now unmasked girl fell down on top of the younger girl, unconscious.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"Umf..." The sudden weight of the girl collapsing on her diaphragm jarred her to awake.
"... wha-... "she regained her lost breath.

A moment..then two passed as she felt Sky's own breath rise and collapse in rhythm on top of her. Her mind were confused for a second; had the woman had fallen asleep on her? But what about-
Ayda's hand found its way to Skye's head, feeling the woman's raven hair. She had not felt the jagged hardness of Skye's mask on her features, but still prompted her to check nevertheless.
No, no mask....
"Sigh..." sighing a much sought relief, there was no mask.

Ayda let her hand then fall from the woman's hair. She was too tired, too exhausted to get her off at this point. Besides, her weight wasn't too overbearing...felt kind of welcomed... comforting even.
With that peaceful euphoria of found peace she gave in to sleep again.

~ ~ ~​

She sat up..her spirit sitting up midriff through Skye.
It felt...uncommon. She were in essence in direct relation to Skye's own spirit. She could feel it stirring also...it too had never felt another soul within it's own presence..in it's own temple for that manner.
But it were still under the full influence of Skye's center and did not know Ayda's spirit was actually sitting upright, right through it's own essence.

Ayda looked down upon Skye and her sprawled over her own temple. Currently, she were between the two realms of life and spiritual. Skye's spirit had not ever exercised itself as Ayda's had come to learn. They were...could be of the same and Ayda knew it. Only that the life experiences of Skye had kept her true self..her true spirit bottled up...tightly.

Then she turned. Turned to see a spirit of the cavern go pass. They looked upon one another and it smiled at her. It had been the same which had followed them throughout the labyrinth before. Only now it finally headed to everlasting light.
And it soon manifested as to why...

Ayda's spirit rejoice as those whom trailed after the one were rejoicing. That spirit which had followed them had gone back to lead the others the way Ayda and Skye had found. Thousands of spirits whom had been trapped for countless thousands..tens of thousands if not hundreds rejoice on their journey to the heavens..to everlasting light.
It were a sight to see and as they all emerged from the walls, the entire chamber was aglow. It were as bright as the light upon which bade them to follow...and then as quickly as it had become bright, it was dark around her once more...say for her own spirit form.

Ayda's spirit, aglow, sat there between her sleeping temple and through that of Skye resting on it. A strange kind of feeling which were brought upon the union of the two spirits as such made her meld back down again into her own sleeping form. She had never passed through a spirit as such before...that kind of contact had always come naturally as if they still had physical form. As thus, enabling the spirits to kind of hold hands or mimic touching like if they had mortal existence. But as she had been, Ayda's spirit had been sitting up through Skye's torso..hense the woman's own spirit center. It was more than touching...it had come to unify in a manner she could not quite understand.
Yet...yet it felt-
It were that strange first ever experience that had made Ayda's spirit recluse back fully into her own temple. And there not a millimeter or two away on top of her, Skye's spirit was there still.

~ ~ ~​

Still between the consciousness of mortal life and that of spiritual, she opened her self to once more peer at the spirit of Skye who was currently in the realm of the woman's dream.
As Ayda could see another mortal's spirit, she knew she were forbidden and possibly could not make contact with a spirit currently in a living temple. But the real of dreams were not so off limit somehow. She had yet to understand it all, but knew dreams were certainly something upon which spirits were able to share with the living.

Ayda herself once more awakened that moment, for her soul was in a way stirred. She opened her orbs once to again feel the weight of Skye's sleeping form on her. She could feel her heartbeat..her rhythmic breathing...her rapid eye movement on her person. And Ayda lay there still for awhile, not moving as Skye kept sleeping... dreaming in her own realm.
And Ayda knew why. Why she remained so and awake with Skye sleeping there on her. She preferred being near Skye when she was in a peaceful state.

Ayda finally gave in, and peered up into Skye's dream... It somehow had become difficult not too, as her hand once more reached up to Skye's raven dark hair.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye once more found herself standing on the beach she had spent so many dreams by now. She slowly walked over the sand in the direction of the sea, with the wind blowing through her hair.

It was peaceful here. Somehow, even more peaceful than it used to be at other times. Whether this was an effect of the fact she recently removed the mask, or whether this place had something else in store for her, she didn't know.

All she knew was that it was odd that she found herself here again, as these kind of dreams where she was aware and on this beach were quite rare- and this was the second time here on Dagobah, although Skye didn't really know how long they'd been here anymore.

As Skye walked towards the beach deep in thought, she eventually realised the water wasn't coming any closer towards her, no matter how far she walked.

'Right, of course', Skye thought to herself as she stopped moving. So this was part of the reason she was here. It had to be.

Every single time she had come here, something had happened. A memory, a warning, even a meeting of sorts. It almost seemed like she only came here when she was needed somehow.

And Skye didn't need long to figure out what she needed to do was reach the sea.

The only question was how.

As Skye started walking again, it took her a few minutes, or what felt like minutes, to realise she wasn't getting anywhere; the sea was retreating just as fast as she was walking.

So she tried running instead.

But that didn't help either. In fact, it only made things worse! The faster Skye moved, the faster the sea retreated. Only the sea seemed to be accelerating much faster than Skye was, so she quickly stopped running as the sea became almost nothing more than a blue line at the horizon.

"Then what do you want, eh?", Skye asked in a calm voice. Even now, while she couldn't do what she needed to do, she was at peace. That was the one thing this place could do well, bring peace.

What she did notice, however, what that she was now standing on wet sand, so the sea must've been here at one point. Perhaps that meant the solution to this would be on the dry sand? The place the sea never came?

Figuring she had nothing better to do than test that theory, Skye started jogging back towards the dry sand up ahead. Just before she reached it, however, she stopped in her tracks and turned around.
She heard water, she was sure of it.

And she was right, the water had come back, and now it was only about three meters behind her. 'Strange', Skye thought, but she didn't really think much of it. It was a dream after all. Looked like she solved the puzzle.

But, as could be expected, as Skye took a step to reach the water, it once again retreated. Seemed it was playing some kind of peekaboo.

So be it.
Skye turned around again, jogged a bit further and then the moment she felt dry sand, she turned around. There it was, the sea was now mere centimetres away from her feet. She had overcome this test, but for what reason?

Skye peered into the water to see her own reflection, even though she didn't know why she wanted to do that. But instead of her reflection. She saw a dark shadow, changing shape constantly. Normally, the sight would've filled Skye with dread, but not now, as she knew she was safe here.

The shadows then faded away as a the symbol of a red bird was shown. After a while that too faded away and was replaced with Skye reflection.

So that was what she needed to see. A warning, she was sure of it.

Then something familiar made its way to Skye's senses. It was there, but not quite. Merely lingering, watching, but not entering. Whether it couldn't or didn't want to, Skye didn't know.
All she knew was that now the purpose had been served, her remaining time here was limited. She could still spent some time here, however, untill she either drifted off or woke up, and she was going to spent that time figuring out what that familiar feeling was.

It felt... warm and kind.
Skye couldn't see what it was yet, but she extended her mind to it anyway, hoping it would accept the way in, even if it would be for a short time only.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

She dances with the sea...

Ayda had been here before.
It were perhaps a reoccurring memory in Skye's past? Ayda couldn't know the full reasons of one's dream-scape...only of it's outcome, if the will to have it play out remained. So were many dreams...a momentary inspiration or anxiety flashing out it's course.
Only this scene was familiar to Ayda, she had been here before, despite the shifting sands and landscape. Those Ayda knew were due to memories of the same beach as Skye recalled it from different points of view in time. But of what had not changed... remained the smell of the sea. There was where the connection lay. Skye and the sea.

And Ayda watched her dance...play tag with it for some time, if time was at all relevent in dreams. Ayda remained there like a fraction of the sunlight in Skye's eye, just sitting there on the sands, like she had sat up between their two temples before.
Of course she would not be noticed..even if Skye ran through her. Not when she were not in thought or in mind of that woman's spirit. She could although make herself known. But not this time. Not after what she experienced, which had left a curiosity to have her wanting for more. Ayda didn't know what it was she was wanting...just maybe to be here? Even if it were in a dream?
She definitely didn't know...

Then there, she felt the tug...a thought that somehow beckoned for her to be there. It had brushed up against her for but a flicker...much like the flicker of light that she was. But then it beckoned her again...it were a feeling like she was being sought...a wanting cal to be there as before.
If spirits had hearts, it would have been beating furiously. But outside their temple there was no need or use of physical aspiration, for spirits had something better...pure understanding of love.
But Ayda was not really here in a true spiritual sense..only an extension of her conscious self and her ability to enter the realm of other's dreams in the same form.

She stayed distant...a flickering ray of light in Skye's mind eye. Ayda lowered her gaze as Skye seemed to look over her changing landscape, but still holding fast to the scent of the sea. It kept her dream from fading...and that kept Ayda there too, although unseen by Skye's mind. But as Ayda still felt Skye's presence even with her head down, so was Skye seemingly feeling something distant familiar also, and one not of her dream's design.
Ayda kept dim, but not at all distant, running her fingers through the soft dry sand. It kept here there and then not. It was something she could not herself understand, but was unsure if she wanted to.
there was so much she had yet to know and understand. Being among the living didn't mean she understood it all. She, like all mortal spirits had to learn on their own. it were what made then complete.

No.
No she couldn't stay here much longer. What she could not understand was painful nevertheless somehow to her being. She felt it in her sleeping temple. The blue sky, water and sands quickly faded to become twilight, as Ayda awakened. The starry night above had passed. All that was there above through the towering foliage was the starlight of Dagobah's morning light, raying down on them like light rain.

Skye's hair despite the elements of their ordeal, felt soft between her fingers. Ayda then just realized she had been caressing Skye's hair as she was caressing the sands.
She let the sand fall away then between her fingers. Her hand came to rest again on the floor...

 

[Skye Achlys]

The sky, sand and water all slowly began to crumble around Skye. Who or whatever had just been here had left, as Skye couldn't feel anything anymore. Even though Skye was still slightly curious about what had been near her, she knew there was no way of finding out now, as she would only be here for a mere few seconds herself.

And so eventually, she too faded away, and everything became black.


Skye slowly came back to her senses, muttering a few incomprehensible words before opening her eyes. She couldn't see much at first, her hair was to blame for that. So with a soft sigh, the still half-sleeping girl brushed a few locks of hair out of her face. It was then that her eyes locked with Ayda's, and it was then that the girl realised what she was laying upon.

Hastily, or at least as fast as the confused girl could right now, Skye pushed herself up so she was sitting. It took her a while to find any words, but eventually she did.

"That- um....I....I'm...sorry", she said, although she was so unsure saying it that it almost sounded more like a question. Skye wanted to follow it up with something else, but much to her annoyance she could feel her cheeks starting to burn, so instead of saying anything she turned her head away in a uselet attempt to hide it. Not knowing what to do, she ran her hand through her hair multiple times.
The fact that she had slept nice and peacefully only embarrassed her more. The fact that she had felt at peace, safe and... warm. That embarrassed her.

Deep inside she knew the best way to do all of this away was to act harshly against Ayda again.
But she couldn't. She didn't want to. At least not now. Now, now she wanted other things, but Skye didn't dare think of such foolish things.

It took her a few minutes before she mustered the strength to look at Ayda again.
Funny how she could change. Where she would have almost strangled the girl a while ago, she now barely had the courage to look at her.

The moment Skye's eyes locked with Ayda's, her cheeks fired up again, but now Skye did her best to not look away.

"We should probably start climbing soon", she said in a soft, almost shy, voice.

She kept staring at the girl, and her beautiful young face. Her hair, her cheeks, her eyes. Skye could get lost in those eye-.

Stop.

Stop.

Skye repeated the word in her head over and over again. These thoughts did nothing but complicate things. Stop. Her thoughts would never be more than thoughts. Stop. She needed to just use the girl to get out, and then never see her again.

Never see her again.

But that voice...

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"Gasp!..." Ayda exclaimed, before rising to her feet.

The sky above.. the light had changed.
Ayda picked up that it no longer seemed like a distant starburst. It were now faint and bluish green...and misty.

"It's raining!..." Ayda said, turning to Skye whom was somehow still sitting on the floor.

"It's raining.....water, Skye..." She tried explaining it clearer, but by then a slight drizzle...a fine drizzle really, was coming down, making it's way to them like a gentle veil.

Most likely it was raining this early morning on the surface and the drops that were coming down the stack were first hitting the leaves, the ivy and foliage that had grown to line what had once been smooth walls. The rain drops were atomized by the time they came down to where they were...at least at first.
But it nevertheless was much wanted moisture and Ayda had her hands outstretched in the drizzle with her face pointed up...her mouth open. Her tongue was happily receiving what water condensed. And soon enough as the misty drizzle condensed on her features, drops formed and ran down to where she lapped it up with her tongue.

But fortunately, as the foliage became more and more saturated, the drizzle became more like rain...then a kind of downpour.
It were easier to lap up the trickle of water running off the leaves. Now they were cooking.
Getting just enough water and some sort of rehydration, Ayda started to jump up and down with joy...arms still outstretched. In no time, she were turning and spinning..then jumping and turning like she were dancing in the rain...all the while facing up at the falling rain..drinking what little fell in her mouth.

But it seemed to be a steady rain and she was getting plenty of water. maybe not quite enough yet, but enough to rejoice in getting water.

She kept dancing awhile before she turned to Skye whom was also taking in the water.
And of the grime and elements that they had picked up from their trek, it were all getting washed away. It felt good to shower in a way, even if it were in their clothes.
The raindrops kept falling and the girls kept welcoming it. It seemed to wash away all of the bad which the caverns had imposed on them...at least for Ayda.

After a while when she had drank enough free rain water, she paused in her little dance and looked over to Skye. It then occurred to her that the woman wasn't making eye contact with her. Actually Skye was avoiding to look over.
Ayda ran her hand over her wet hair, clumping it in a sort of way one would to make a pony tail. Only she didn't tie it up but did so more to keep her wet hair out of her face. She approached Skye who was still seemingly capturing rain running off the foliage..like little streams right into her mouth.
Ayda looked over her awhile, standing next to her, before doing the same. yes, she was getting quite more. But by now she had drank enough and took to standing by Skye again.

"If you didn't push us the way you did... we may not have made it to the end." She said.
Ok, so she kind of figured it sounded like she was trying to make Skye feel better. Maybe she had picked up on Skye's remorse in how she had treated her. But it weren't that...not entirely. Ayda could feel Skye's spirit. It did regret for what it did or was doing even now. To what extent, Ayda could read minds, but she could feel the sadness and remorse Skye's spirit was struggling with.

But Skye whether she heard her or not, didn't acknowledge her, but occasionally took more water along with brushing herself off, in a manner that was getting her outfit clean of all that she had picked up in the dark caverns.

"I don't hate you, you know." Ayda then said, lightly nudging Skye to get her to look at her.

"I just don't like you in the mask..."

 

[Skye Achlys]

Rain.

Water.

After having been in those caverns for what seemed to have been forever by now, even the tiny drops of rain felt like heaven. And it didn't stop there, the tiny drops became bigger and bigger untill steady streams off water were running down the hole.

Skye had quickly mimicked Ayda and, even though she was slightly afraid the water wouldn't be drinkable, the taste and probably cleanness surprised her. She found herself elated over the mere fact that they had rainwater to drink. Never had she thought she would ever be.

Skye had thrown Ayda a few quick glares as the girl danced around, a sight which made a smile appear on Skye's face. She didn't dare stare at the girl for too long, but she still looked often enough to see that she was still dancing. She enjoyed the sight. It was cute.

Skye had heard Ayda's remark, but whether or not the girl meant what she said, she wasn't sure. Because of this, Skye decided to act like she hadn't heard the girl. It was probably better that way.

Then, satisfied with the amount of water she had drunk, she did a quick rough check over her outfit, wiping some dirt off here and there. No need to run around dirty if there was a free shower overhead.

After Ayda's nudge, that which Skye had tried to prevent happened anyway, the girls made eye contact. She didn't hate her. A wave of relief washed over Skye. Ayda didn't hate her. That didn't mean she liked her, but she didn't hate her. Skye took a relieved breath as a small smile appeared on her face again.

The smile then saddened as Skye looked at the younger girl before she decided that it couldn't do any harm to trust this girl. At least a little bit. She almost died by its hands. She deserved to know a bit about what it was.

She took a deep breath.

"It gives and takes", she then said. "The mask. It gives the wearer, me, strength. But it return it takes a grip of your mind.. and the more power you use the more control it seizes", she sighed. "It's saved me multiple times but... it's also made me do horrible things- or almost made me do horrible things", she said as she gave Ayda an apologetic look, clearly meaning the fact she had almost killed the younger girl. "It's hard to resist.. I-I swear. And the more ground you give it, the longer you wear it, the weaker you are... the harder it is to take control back...to take it off. To stop yourself", her voice was almost no louder than a whisper by now.

Her eyes trailed off, but were quickly drawn back to Ayda's. The girl bit her lower lip unconsciously before she opened her mouth again.

"I-I don't hate you either", she admitted softly, slightly shyly.

Afraid and too shy to linger any longer on this subject (and she knew it wouldn't be long before her face turned bright red again), she quickly turned away.

"We-we should probably start climbing now", she stuttered, afraid that Ayda would probably pull her back.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

The mask then was more a crutch to her than an asset, Ayda figured...

It had by Skye's account saved her many times. Ayda fell silent a moment as she recalled the two men out of three that Skye had dispatched. The very same three that also killed her comrade coldbloodedly. Skye wasn't wearing the horrid mask then. But it weren't the time or place here to edge her to abandon what device had been given her that not only changed her, but according to Skye had the intention and purpose of totally controlling her.

Ayda looked over to where she had spotted the mask when she reveled in the rain. It had somehow found it's way near the wall, almost as if...it had been thrown.
And sure enough, as her role were to lend her an ear, Skye indicated just that. The mask would become difficult to remove the more one depended on it.
It meant that the only way it could have found itself near the wall, away from Skye was if Skye had pulled it off and discarded it.

Ayda felt that her role...what Skye needed was for her to hear her out and not a biased opinion as what to do with the mask. She nevertheless got a clearer understanding of it and it's hold, or rather, it's influence on the user. She swallowed hard, thinking of what it could or what it would do to her if she put it on.
"Brrrr..." She involuntarily let out a shudder thinking that.
it was by the way in tune with what Skye was also saying she knew about it and how difficult it were to resist it.

And no, she hadn't thought that. She felt that the Skye really didn't hate anyone, but an idea. The girl had been taught to hate those who had what she had perceived as wrong ideologies. What Skye had been primed for was one who kept the order...She had once said she were a disciple of Ren. It could only mean she were of an higher hierarchy in the First Order.

Again, Ayda had been given trust. Skye had opened up to her for her to hear her out. Ayda simply nodded her understanding not touching upon what she wished to tell her. tell her to destroy the mask. But that amount of trust and willpower, Skye had not yet put on Ayda...and may never do.
No, she couldn't give her biased opinion., for it would only bring Skye back to the dependency of the mask. And then she would loose the Skye she liked.

"Climb so soon?..." She said, more to let a minute or two pass, as she had felt the raindrops that had cascaded down the shaft slow considerably down. It had stopped raining surface side and all they were getting were remnants of raindrops coagulating and dropping off the leaves.
Skye had then noticed it too, just before Ayda spoke but had nevertheless begun to test the integrity of the vines.

"We could wait awhile..." Ayda too went over to feel the vines.
"...dry off a bit...let the vines stop dripping..." She tested them mimicking how Skye was doing it. They were strong enough. at least down where they were. This only meant the vines got thicker more dependable as they ascended. But yes, they were wet and quite slippery. And another thing...berries.

The vines..or some variety of vines had berries...food... neatly tucked away under the leaves.
They both looked at each other. It had been over two days since that energy bar they shared. And these berries not only looked ripe, but when Ayda put her nose to them...they smelled sweet.

"They should have plenty of fructose and other carbs...antioxidants..." Did she really say that? Ayda shook her head. this was no time to text book analyse what berries contained. They were for the most part sweet smelling and...
She plucked one and put the tip of her tongue on it. Then she bit it open and did the same.

"Oh...I don't really know..." She said, trying to feel if there was any tingling on her tongue.

"I'm not turning purple...am I?" Yes, she joked. She learned and had come to appreciate humor.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Even though wild berries were something Skye had never trusted, she remained silent as she watched Ayda place one on her tongue.

Skye let a soft chuckle escape her lips. "Of course you're not turning purple", she replied. "You're turning red, idiot", she then joked as she turned to grab a few berries of her own. At first she had been surprised by the fact they had only seen them now, but the berries were indeed hidden underneath some leaves. Good spot on Ayda's side.

Skye carefully observed the berries in her hand, shot Ayda another look, and then slowly placed one into her own mouth. It tasted... good? It wasn't much to still hunger on its own, but luckily there were a ton of berries here.
"Guess we're in luck", she mumbled as she ate a few more berries.

Skye glanced up at the hole before sighing.

"We could wait a while, but that would result in us having less daylight in the forests up above", she responded to Ayda. "I'll probably be able to make the climb with wet vines, but if you think you won't be able to, we could wait a bit longer"

It was then that guilt started to seep into Skye's mind. Had she not pushed the girl enough? Had she not almost killed her? A saddened expression appeared on Skye's face as she turned her back towards Ayda and her face towards the vines. She ran her hands along some, picking up some berries. Then she spotted a rarer kind of vine it seemed. It had a few beautiful purple flowers on it. An idea immediately popped into Skye's mind. She hadn't actually done this before herself, but she had seen it somewhere before.

She carefully picked one of the flowers and held it in her hand before she turned around again.

Her eyes immediately locked with Ayda's, whose eyed flickered between Skye's own and the flower in Skye's hand. Skye's cheeks started to burn again as the two stared at eachother. Whatever, if Ayda said something about it, Skye could always blame the berries!

Skye cleared her throat before she spoke.
"I-I uhm want to apologize. For almost killing you", she said softly. "I know that was wrong. Very wrong even. And I'm glad I didn't go through with it."

She took a deep breath. "Even though you're legally my enemy, you've brought us food and even risked your life to save mine, which is something I value a lot. So thank you. And I'm sorry. Once again."

"I'll try to be a better ashole from now on", she chuckled.

"So," she then said as she held up the flower, "here. I know it's kind of useless, but it's the thought that counts, right? Besides, I think it's kind of pretty", she shrugged.

She unconsciously bit her lower lip as she held the flower in front of her for Ayda to take. She was wondering what the girl would do. Accept it? Or would she refuse?