How Common are Vacations for Queens, Anyways?

[Kay-Larr]

Kay shook her head a little as [member="Serena Bouie"] asked about hiking. "Not really. At least nothing like climbing a mountain. But I brought the rope in case I needed to. Good thing too, in case we need to repel down."

The minerals in the area. That made sense as to why communication wasn't very good. Her guards always hated that, but she rather enjoyed the privacy. And it would do good to benefit her on this venture anyways.

"What else is there? We have one of the best Universities in the Galaxy, plenty of trade. And in the Valley of the Storm we have these fantastic flowers that change colours depending on the humidity. It's beautiful to watch them change, especially if there's a whole field of them. The colours move like a wave.....Where are you from?"

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

Ren looked around, "A good idea considering the slopes around here, or the" looking over to her right, "the drop offs" she smiled not that she was trying to incite mischief only that old saying what goes up must come down, and down a side of a mountain was a possibility.

Ren was use to many things took them as part of the circumstances no communications also meant if they got in trouble they'd have to get themselves out of it. Depending on the trouble death was a possibility.

The flowers sounded fascinating "I'd like to see that the flowers", but then she asked where she was from. That was different from where she came from so she asked herself quickly was it harmful to tell the truth right now.

"born on Kessel." Now that was a conversation wasn't it. She waited, would K ask? Or let it go?

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Serena Bouie"]

"Just be careful with our footing. And don't look down. Isn't that how the saying usually goes?"

Kay nodded as Ren asked to see the flowers. Most people do when they are told of them. The Valley of the Storm, where the flowers resided, was one of Commenor's top tourist attractions. The valley was as beautiful as it was dangerous. Much like these canyons.

"Born on Kessel? Do you still live there? Or just spend your days travelling?" Nothing wrong with a bit of small talk to pass the time. Kay's mind was also on other things, such as the flower that they were hunting down. A small smile fleeted across her features as she thought ahead, should their mission be successful.

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[member="Lady Kay"]

"Yes never look down it's supposed to frighten you, frankly the minute someone says don't do it I have this urge to run over and do it just to prove them wrong." She laughed then, remembering her friend that night on the beach. Another girl was standing on a cliff talking about jumping into the water, she had kept thinking do it already geez. And that's when Tara had pushed her off, if she hadn't she had been ready to.

She looked again to K she knew they weren't friends just having met but it had been a long time since she had spoken to someone and just talked about normal things.

"No I don't live there, I just travel around now. Wanderlust I guess." More like she didn't have a place to call home, she was still trying to figure out if she wanted a home, wanted...roots. "What about you, you live here on Commenor or just visiting?"

She couldn't help but get those sensations again, that empath wanted to be free but Ren couldn't let her free right now. Not yet. Maybe in time. Maybe.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay laughed a little. So [member="Serena Bouie"] was defiant like she was? That's bot entirely a bad thing. And she was a wanderer too. That wasn't a bad thing either.

Then the question on herself came up. "Oh I live here. I used to travel a lot too, but then Commenor just needed me. After I was taken away from it for a while, I discovered that I needed it too. Kind of odd, but that's just how it feels."

There wasn't much of a way for her to describe it without revealing herself. Kay just loved her secrets too much. They kept her on top.

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[member="Lady Kay"]

Ren was careful as they walked she didn't want to end up at the bottom of a gorge when K talked about living on Commenor she heard something in her voice, "I got taken away from everything for a while" Everything she supposed that was a way to put it.

Her memories gone after the Netherworld Event and that hippie Wren running around the galaxy doing every thing a wild child could do. Fool woman. Mythos and his darkness completed the task of pushing Serena and Wren into the fragments of her own mind with the Blade and the dark side. HK then worked to restore Serena after Atrisia and that was the problem now you see Serena wanted to be whole while Ren wanted to stay in charge. Putting Serena back together again was going to take time and practice.

Ren had to admit Serena's knowledge was what was helping now, nothing that Ren knew.

"Sometimes I feel like two different people" She smiled, "ever feel that way?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay chewed her cheek a little as she thought about it. Did she ever feel like two different people? That was a loaded question. And one that wasn't so easy to answer. In a way she did feel like it, but not in the same respects that [member="Serena Bouie"] might think. "It feels as though...I died...and was reborn as someone different." There were many reasons for that, of course. But there was only one man responsible for it, no matter how much he also liked to fit her with the blame.

Hopefully in time it will all be better and she will remember those that called her friend again.

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[member="Lady Kay"]

"Died and reborn" She whispered the words and considered them. Died and an old life reborn into a new one? Had she ever wanted that? Yes in those moments when HK told her that Adas was dead. That moment when she thought that her only child the one she had given life to was gone it had felt like dying then. It had felt like someone had reached in taken every emotion she had and tried ripping it from her.

She didn't want to think about that anymore. No none of the names that Ren/Serena went by could handle that pain. She still did not know if he lived or died but she was pushing on ward. She knew she would have to speak to [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] at some point, if he would speak with her and ask that question. Did he hold her son?

She looked back at K again. "At our current pace it will be about an hour and will be at a point where we can descend." Ren wasn't sure she wanted to talk anymore right now. She felt the sadness within her welling up and with it the anger at all that had happened, or had been lost. feth.

 

[Kay-Larr]

"Alright."

Kay could feel the sudden change in mood as [member="Serena Bouie"] went quiet. So she just observed their surroundings, occasionally turning around to view things from behind them. Environments were funny in that they could look completely different from another angle, and she didn't want to get lost on her way back. "In hindsight....we should have brought some chalk."

That gave her an idea. Kay stopped and gathered some stones, arranging them into a small circle in the pathway that clearly wasn't naturally forming. "There. That should help. We should make similar ones at different intervals. I know that you have a map, but what if for some reason we didn't have it anymore? It's best to have our butts covered just in case." She dusted off her hands and then continued on. At least it would give them something else to focus on.

A faint howl was heard in the distance, echoing off the canyon walls.

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

Ren watched as K built the circle of stones, "Glad you thought of that, course I thought you were going to say bread crumbs." She gave a quick smile, 'Yeah map may not be any good at some point somethings just don't show. But topography, cartography are satellite based I think. So we can see hills, and depressions but not surroundings really."

It should say here's a tree, or a path it was just squiggles of lines. She and K being on a path that helped otherwise it would be trudging through whatever.

Ren turned her head again, "Oh company may come for dinner." She missed Groom right now, course he never did listen to her. A familiar of her own might be nice but with all her moving around she didn't think it would survive.

"Chalk. Water could erase it. Something brush up against it, the stones are better." Ren looked at K again. "You sure you haven't done something like this before?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay laughed at the idea of using bread crumbs instead of rocks. "Using food to trace a trail? Not going to work. The wildlife would eat it. Rocks are better. As far as I know, they won't be eaten." Or so she thought anyways. Childhood stories of big monsters that ate rocks and boulders came to mind. But they were only stories...she hoped.

She stopped and looked around for a moment as she heard the howls. "We'll possibly have some company. They sound a bit off though in distance. Best to keep an ear out."

Kay continued on. [member="Serena Bouie"] asked her if she had done this before, and she shrugged a bit in response. "I was always a fan of mazes and labyrinths, puzzles in general. Doing little things like that to help is just a habit that I picked up. I figured that it was normal.....Isn't it?"

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

"Who really knows what normal is?" Ren's voice carried the question, she wasn't sure what normal was. She did not know many people who did. "Normal for me might not be normal for you." She looked at her companion thinking about mazes and labyrinths being fun she agreed, they really were a challenge.

"I once had to do this maze as a test. It was designed to be a cross between science and intuition. The science says one thing, but you get that dull feeling in your stomach that says no go there. It was one of the harder things accomplished" Ren smiled at the memory knowing full well it was Serena's. Course HK said that she might start to meld her personalities back together and become one.

Maybe this trip would yield things she had not thought of. Ren's blue eyes looked at K again, "I'm not opposed dinner guests, just as long as I'm not dinner." Serena began to walk up the trail again.

"I hear water nearby, I'm thirsty what about you?" Something else not on the maps she had, water.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

That was true enough. Her normal was probably abnormal to others. Especially now. There were new quirks to her personality that were probably viewed as being quite odd.

Kay smirked as [member="Serena Bouie"] commented on not being dinner. She don't know of anyone that woukd jump at the chance to be dinner, unless they had a death wish. Which was possible for some. There were many times during her captivity that she wanted to die, but she was denied that, along with everything else that she wanted. At least she had control over herself now.

She tilted her head to the side a bit to listen. There did seem to be some srream nearby, but she wasn't sure where. Sound echoed and bounced off the canyon walls, making pinpointing direction to be very difficult. "Do you mean to go find the source? Or just drink from what we brought?"

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[member="Lady Kay"]

"I mean to go where the water flows yes. It will be cold and I can refill my bottle, how about you?" She did not know if K had water or not but she knew over time that one did not pass up opportunity, and fresh water was opportunity.

"Where we are to begin descending is not far, and we do not know what we will find. Maybe there is a way into the bowl from there, I wouldn't mind walking in as opposed to descending on a rope. " She allowed the words to sink in, "what do you think?"

Course she thought it might bring us closer to being dinner to for even creatures of all kinds need water. And so do mysterious flowers. That was another reason to go. But she would let K decide. Then she smiled.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay stood there for a moment while she thought about it. She had her water bladder, especially for her tea, but perhaps more couldn't hurt. Better to be prepared than not.

"Sure. We'll do that then. Cold water sounds refreshing." She put together another circle of rocks. Looking at the pattern she created, she wondered if ran through a cave at all. There were plenty of them throughout and below the canyon. Water tends to cut through stone through the ages. Guess they'd find out.

She dusted her hands off and then gave [member="Serena Bouie"] a small nod. "Alright, let's go." Her mind turned to focus on the task ahead.

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

Ren nodded and then headed off she hoped for a trail made either by animal or man but so far she only had the sound to go by. She looked back at K noting that so far she seemed to move fairly well. "Besides maybe off the beaten path are where you find traces of your elusive flowers"

Ren grabbed a small sapling as she slid she held tightly until she stopped, "oh that was fun" she laughed, "ever go surfing?" Yes Serena loved the outdoors, water, surfing, diving, hiking all the things that involved absorbing the sun connecting to life. It seemed that the more they took part in things that Serena enjoyed the more Ren had to rely on Serena's personality and traits to get through. Perhaps it truly was possible to meld them all back into one person.

She could hear the water, "Listen to that, sounds inviting."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

From what little they had to go on, the flowers could be anywhere. As they were so sacred, little information was put out on them on purpose. But maybe they were extinct? That was a possibility too.

She watched as [member="Serena Bouie"] slid a short distance down. At least she was able to catch herself. Distance on a climb down were a bit hard to judge. Neither of them needed to sprain their ankles. That would make the walk out a long one.

The sound of the water became louder, no doubt it was amplified by the canyon walls around them. That was a dangerous thing, especially if the Yotes were nearby. "Surfing? Can't say that I have. I don't get a lot of spare time."

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

"Spare time, sometimes I think we just have to plan for it." She had spare time lately that was how she got here, spare time. Lots of spare time. She stood beside the stream the swirling currents the water running over the rocks.

She looked up, "We'll fill up and then head that way" She pointed the direction where the water flowed from. "course it could be down stream too but I've often just had luck looking towards the source."

Serena turned looking for K. "You make it down ok, K?"

[member="Lady Kay"]