Roots

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Choli Vyn"]

She had a point. One that he found slightly troubling. It wasn't the place of a Justicar to overrule local law. But what was he supposed to do if there wasn't any? The sith, by contrast, dispensed whatever justice they felt like. At the moment the rodian had called out about savages that ball of anger had almost forced his hand. Anger and shame.

“I didn't live here, but I'm sorry I ever thought, well, the way I viewed your people…” he let his voice trail off. His left hand gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. For a fraction of a second he thought he could feel just an echo of some of the emotions she was feeling.

Choli had obviously pushed on through whatever security protocols and authentication regimes they had in place. The time they had tried to escape a hospital, each oblivious to the others abilities, was a fond memory now. But he knew it would take a determined machine to keep Choli out.

“Turn them loose then?” He asked. He didn't want to think about what the other options were. If they had a speeder they would get back to a settlement at least. But would these three let loose cause more problems? They would have to take their weapons.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]“It’s fine.” Choli added. There wasn’t any use in going on about it right now. As it was, there was a an entire day before them until sundown. Most of the Tusken Raiders planned their raids at dusk or dawn. However, [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]if I managed to break the pumps…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]That would stop the diversion of the water and send it back to the oasis. Seeing it spill once again over that sunken well would draw attention. How fast? Well, that was entirely up to how well the sharpshooters were keeping an eye on it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“The stories are littered in fact and fiction. Doesn’t mean they don’t deserve their way of life.” she added, bringing up the schematics of the waterpumping system. [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Ah hah![/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“We can turn them loose.” how she ended that didn’t seem to suggest the Rogue was planning to do so in the nicest of fashions. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“The desert will judge them.” Choli said plainly. Her intent was to take their weapons, destroy the water pump, and then wreck this little bunker so they couldn’t go back to it. Odds were that would at the very lease impede any further attempts for the time being to regulate the water use of this particular oasis. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Turning towards him, those multicolored eyes swirled in a determined slate gray hue. “If their watch is switching in a hour or so, then they can handle the timeout in the surface.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Well that’s if they weren’t spotted by the Sand People before then. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan made a small, affirmative noise. That seemed to suit his ideal of following local law without doing anything against his principles. But when had Jedi principles become his? It concerned him at times. On one hand he felt as if he had fresh clarity of purpose. He was less prone to emotional outbursts and somber mood swings. Yet had he just adopted another set of rules that ultimately belonged to someone else?

The Sith had given him purpose once.

Perhaps it was good that he worried about that, he thought to himself. It would probably make it more difficult for anyone to take advantage of him again. How blind had he become when the Sith Masters had abandoned the temple and told the acolytes to fight to the end?

Principles could be bent. So could metal.

“Looks like you're getting somewhere…” he said as she ran through the schematics. “I can break things if you point me at the right bit. Just don't want to make this worse.”

Choli probably would have found his little mental juggling silly. Perhaps that was one reason he was drawn to her? She seemed to make up her mind quickly and press on with her plans.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]His hand might have been covered in a glove, but she still felt the warmth and pressure of it against her shoulder. Funny, even that small bit made her feel a little better. But even then, it was coming from someone who wasn’t really aware what the situation meant. Or maybe he did and only considered it with Jedi nativity. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Or he was simply letting her do what she will. Choli wasn’t sure what to make of it or Trextan. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Are you saying you are good at breaking things?” it was as much humor as Choli would provide the Jedi in the situation. There was already a few beads of sweat collecting over her brow, saturating into the scratchy fabric of her head shawl. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]That was when the humor came to an end. A glance up and her brow gave a furrow in deep concentration. Searching, considering. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I might take advantage of that later.” Choli added, the breathing mask hiding the bite of her lower lip. Only her eyes were visible for Trextan to see. Orbs that seemed to shift and change colors like the Rainbow Gems of Hapes. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Don’t let them talk you into leaving them weapons.” it was a word of caution. Trextan wasn’t familiar with these parts and how people worked. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I’ll finish up here.” [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

“No, I'd actually worked that one out on my own,” he said. “They'd just make themselves someone else's problem if I did.” It wasn't spoken as if he wanted a reward for actually figuring something out on his own, just as a matter of fact.

There was a little spark of anticipation deep down. It might just have been some of the urgency rubbing off from Choli. Everyone was always talking about control and precision to him. But a small mountain of durasteel machinery needed the sledgehammer, not the chisel.

“It's not often you get to let loose with everything,” he responded to match her last humorous comment. Unbridled, he wasn't even sure what he was fully capable. He just had to keep his emotions in check.

The Jedi stepped out of the control room and almost had Vee plough through his shoulder.

[No sign of a speeder.]

“Nowhere to go until the next shift arrives. Awful way to treat hired help. Even these scum. Come keep an eye whilst I do another check.”

Back in the hall they'd disabled the guard in Trextan found all three still bound and motionless.

“I know you're awake,” he called out to the heavy set human. “Move slowly now or I'll just stun you again.”

The man slowly opened both eyes, burning resentment into Trextan as he went about his business. He wanted to give them a final check for any weapons or tools before proceeding.

“Where do you keep your water?” He asked. He and Choli still had plenty but they would need some.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]A heavy snort was the guard’s reply.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Ain’t you seeing what’s around you?” a rather matter of fact tone that was laced with plenty of sarcasm. Common sense was clearly not a large factor in the heavy-set man’s books. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“This ‘ole place is pumped with water.” thank you for point out the obvious. Something that Choli was aiming to set straight. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Best let us go Jedi. Get on and leave us be. Why would you have them savages come over and take over the water now?” oh maybe there was some sense in him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“You realize how many of them raiders be picking off farmers left and right? We done be doing a service. How many farmers you think will have to life with their wife or child taken away to be gutted by the Sand People. They are a vicious lot. Kill with no mercy; raping and tearing people apart. The stories are all true! You know as well as I!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Dat be true. We’re the good ‘uns here.” the Rodian guard called out. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Keepin’ the safety and security of folk right and proper.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Now here was the kicker. What would Trextan believe?[/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

He fell silent and watched the three. They looked back expectantly. They weren't intelligent men, but they had survived in these conditions on keen instincts. They had seen the fire in the girl's eyes. They knew that nothing good was going to come of this if she was calling the shots.

“They let you drink as much as you want then?” Trextan asked.

“Long as we don't take more than one litre each,” he replied. He nodded towards a door further up inside the facility. Each of them had a flask on a strap. If Trextan were a betting man he'd put money on them each being exactly one litre.

“Guess you get a bonus litre today,” Trextan said as he gathered them up. He turned sharply on his heel and walked away. Just because he didn't have his eyes on them didn't mean he wasn't paying attention. As the big man rolled towards the Rodian he was stopped by an invisible hand. Then he was promptly rolled back to where he had been. “Stay there now,” Trextan called back over his shoulder.

He found an outlet easily enough and refilled their flasks. They played a little tune knocking together as he walked back.

The man firmly believed what he said about the sand people. But Trextan had firmly believed everything he has been told until he met Choli. It didn't make it true. He resigned himself to talking to Choli more about it, even if he felt bad that these guards would be the spark of that conversation. But they would get nothing.

“Vee?” He called out. The little drone has bobbed off. Likely following some perimeter checking routine.

[Sir?]

“It's not sir, but keep watch on these three please?”

[I already was. I don't need to use eyes like you.]

“Oh.” Was the tone because the droid didn't like being underestimated or because of the 'sir’ thing? Trextan left it be.



“How is it going?” He asked as he stepped back into the control room. Again he came with percussion as two clean flasks hung from one hand by their straps. He set them down on the counter and took one for himself. It was extra water so he didn't feel bad about taking a long swig. He hadn't realised quite how dry his mouth had become.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]Trextan had a knack for moving quietly, but even then Choli could feel the presence of the Justicar. Maybe it had to do something with the Force. Or maybe a lifetime of tracking and surviving out in the desert gave Choli the heightened senses to notice when another joined her in the small control room. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Her head barely gave a turn over towards Trextan before her hand came up and fingers gave a wave for him to draw near. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Yeah,” she began, forefinger rising to trace the image of the schematic on the monitor. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“There are four pumps located here, here,” her finger went from north, south, east and west. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“They pump the water from the nearby spring here. Then take it along this line to another underground reservoir. From here they end up being some sort of filling stations..”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Her voice was still coated with a metallic drone, but the decisiveness in her tone suggested she already had a plan. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Destroy the pumps and the reservoir and it should flood over…” back to the oasis. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]And maybe right into the very caverns, they stood in. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan narrowed his eyes as he looked at the map. He tried to find the shapes of corridors he knew to get his bearings. When he worked that out he managed to visualise his route to the first pump.

“Do you want to turn the brains trust back over the desert now? Then you can come and make sure I break the right bits,” he said. It looked from the schematics as if the pumps sat lower than the reservoir so if they did this right it would drain quickly.

“Oh, we'll need to take the overground route back to the bike?” He asked. That would mean taking the dunes on foot in the slowly increasing heat. It would be best to work quickly then, he thought to himself. He'd found the evening heat oppressive enough back at the town. The midday heat would probably melt him. He hoped it wasn't the case. It might just have been his own expectations in what a large volume of water was. For all he knew they were about to release fifty litre in a trickle underground. Would even that attract the rest of the womp rat packs? Trextan decided he wasn't all that keen on meeting then up close again.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]“Hope you brought your sunblock,” the young woman called out over her shoulder, the muslin headscarf shifting just a bit to show a glint of the metal of her breathing mask. Her eyes had hardened to a darker slate, a determination that could not be gleaned from the flex of her jaw was captured within the depths of those eyes. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“We’ll be taking a bit of a walk.” she added, confirming Trextan’s fears. However, Choli was on a one track mind now. A mirror to the force of nature she was with back at that Polis Massa medical facility. Nothing short of a clip of Trextan’s paddle beamer might stop her now, and even then, he’d likely see the lash back on his prosthetic quickly enough. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I can get the lower two if you think you can work your destructive magic at the upper pumps.” meaning, she was the one who was going to be at a higher risk if it were all to collapse on top of them. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“If we work fast… will be one way to start the day.”[/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

“It was always going to happen,” he said. He didn't add anything unnecessary. Not now. He did in fact recognise that same steely determination that he'd become swept up in back at Polis Massa.

“If you make a start, I'll go send that lot on their walk.”

Their paths diverged as she headed for her pumps. Trextan stopped off at a sideroom full of equipment he'd seen on the way past before arriving before their prisoners. He tossed them heavy cloaks and masks.

“Time for a walk.”



As they stepped out into the blinding sun he could feel the sense of dread building. They thought he was going to shoot them.

“Hope I don't see you again,” Trextan called out as he started to swing the reinforced door shut behind them.

“What do we do now?”

“Don't care,” Trextan admitted. The door slammed shut.



The vertical pipes ran from floor to ceiling. It disappeared into each through smooth and narrows shafts bored out of the rock. This must have been a serious operation to put in place given the level of infrastructure he'd seen on tatooine so far. Maybe even off-world equipment brought in.

Trextan closed his eyes and reached out towards the centre of the pipe. Through those thick durasteel sections beat the heart of the machinery. The noise reverberated through the rock as they siphoned away the lifeblood of the desert. As he concentrated he could feel it. There was life here. It wasn't obvious, it wasn't densely packed. But this machine had upset the natural order of things, broken a cycle which had continued on for hundred of thousands of years mostly undisturbed. A cycle Choli had been a part of. They weren't savages. They just had their place. Sometimes life could be savage. Sometimes it could be beautiful. With a new resolve he felt the Force shift easily to his whim.

Whenever Choli was she would feel a sudden tremor run through the rocks. Trextan opened his eyes. Where they had been a smooth pipe a hundred different components hovere in the air. Water trickled back down from the open pipe above. Back down to where it belonged.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]It was there before Choli felt the vibrations along her feet. Like a cresting wave rising higher and higher, the Force reverberating through that intangible fabric from Trextan to her. The Rogue might not have as much potential in the Force much like Trextan, but she could sense the younger Voidstalker as if he were standing right beside her. Feel the breadth of his pull and thrust in the Force. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]That still felt so strange...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Pushing that from her mind, Choli gave a flex of her jaw. Trextan did his part; time to do mine. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Rushing against the tremors that shook loose pebbles and debris overhead, Choli’s boots pounded a staccato beat to reach the first pump. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]A fine cloud of sand fell around her, thankfully filtered through her breathing mask. Not so much her eyes, prompting a quick tug and slide of her goggles for protection. Still had to see where she was going. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Finally reaching the first pump, Choli gave a little skid of her feet. There it was. Lines of pipe and electronics. While Trextan could dismantle through the use of telekinetic, Choli instead would focus on the mechanical nature of the construct. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Under her mask, the Rogue’s lips drew to a thin line of determination. Closing her eyes, Choli took a deep breath, digging deep. Where Trextan had found glimmers of life, Choli could sense paths of energy that powered the pump. She manipulated those settings, increasing them to a dangerous output that would eventually reach critical mass. It was a way to create a ticking bomb, allowing her to move to the next pump to do the same — because once they burst the backrush of water would once again fill these dry underground channels. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

With a determined look in his eyes he faced the second pump. Trextan wasn't quite as focussed as he reached out towards the second pipe. Instead of it being neatly disassembled he settled for roughly tearing it from the main pipe. The roar of water made him pick up his pace as he turned and left. He felt a slight shift in the Force as he slammed the door closed behind himself. Choli must have been manipulating it in some way.

Vee buzzed along to match his pace, staying to his left at shoulder height.

[I just interfaced with the systems here. Whilst the stream was small the tanks were holding quite a volume of water.]

“So...hurry up?”

[Indeed.]

Trextan didn't head for the metal bunker that jutted up from the landscape but instead rushed for the stairs down to the level Choli had gone down to. There he waited for her.

“Vee…”

Before he could answer the drone headed to check on her progress. It came second nature to the droid. He was used to being in war, sent into the most dangerous locations to find wounded stormtroopers.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]The trembles grew in strength, and Choli felt a rush that sent the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck stand on end. A warning. A sudden shift and dip of the ground made the Rogue stumble. One arm went snapping out, striking the sandstone wall with her hand to steady herself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Umph!” [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] She uttered a grunt, managing to find her balance. Eyes wide behind her goggles, Choli caught sight of the corridor that was her objective. [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Just around the corner, [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Choli told herself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]It wasn’t the sort of situation the Rogue thought she’d find herself in. Not on Tatooine. Part of her was still angry. Frustrated and upset that the oasis had been stripped of its water to be pumped and funneled for the profit of others. How many lives had it affected; her people, the creatures that depended on its access, the plants that had grown within and along the edges of this sanctuary. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]That emotion was the burning fuel that sang through her veins once she made it to the second pump. There it was. In the rear of her mind, the bigoted words from the guards rang to her ears and her eyes gave a flash of copper color. Emotion, as always, the driving tell that color shifted the hue of her eyes. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]A sudden thrust and shove of her will went hammering into the pump’s control mechanisms. Much like the other, Choli would push on its limitations to stress the system. A new set of alarms and warning bells joined the others. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Savages... “ every single one of them. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Over the noise, a humming sound grew louder. It was Vee Three. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Vee --”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][ We must leave the premises immediately. My sensors are picking up increasing weak junctures. A collapse could be imminent.][/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“You think?” she replied, already scrambling to come back through the corridor she came. She had to get back to the stairwell.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Did Trextan make it to the surface?” Choli asked, the droid zipping along by her head. She didn’t know that her answer would be given to her soon enough.[/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Choli Vyn"]

[No, he is...]



Trextan stopped half way down the stairwell and placed his hand to one wall. He could feel the layers of rocks that formed the facility and been dug into. Water pressure held back by metal was released, working between those layers.

Foundations shifted, everything was at a chaotic tipping point and needed to resettle. But even though they were small to that interaction he could feel Choli through it all. A core of single minded determination.

"Savages..." He echoed in whisper.

Taking his hand from the wall he bounded down the stairs three at a time. Knees bent to land lightly on the next level down. He couldn't see them and felt a little flare of panic. For once through he closed off walls he'd felt the anger and determination. He was worried she was too caught up in it all.

Before he could grow too concerned Vee sped around a corner.

[...right there.]

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]“Trextan!” his name shot out of Choli’s mouth in mild surprise. Not that he was there, but more that he hadn’t gone up to safety. Then again, maybe it [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]did[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] make sense. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Already the pressure was increasing at the two water pumps that Choli had rigged. Through the Force, she could feel that impending cry of warning.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Go! We need to move now!” she cried out, her voice echoing throughout the chamber with that metallic twang. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][ Follow me. ] Vee Three said, humming over both of the teenager’s head to zip up towards the ladder. If they could make it to the surface then they could hopefully avoid any potential collapse. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]A quick nod, and then Choli went bounding up the stairs, grabbing Trextan’s hand with a deft motion to tug him along.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Hurry!” came her commanding call. He was her responsibility out here after all. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I doubt being crushed into a Rodian pancake underground was part of the plan.” A sharp quip but one that cut the growing tensions of their precarious situation with a bit more of a lighthearted tone. Well, if one didn’t count her take charge manner at tugging Trextan along. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

There were no words to describe just how much that wasn't part of his plan. Whilst he probably should have let Vee scope out the situation and only come if needed it wasn't in his nature to stand about and wait. It hadn't been when the frustrated girl had started tearing needles from her arm and it still wasn't. Trextan saved his breath for bounding up the stairs and accelerating down the roughly been corridor.

He didn't know anything would collapse. What he had sensed was uncertainty and a great deal of weight shifting around. No amount of his strength could hold up that volume of rock so it wasn't worth waiting to find out.

[Door!] Vee called back to them insistently. Ahead of them was another thick metal door. The droid clearly had picked up on what the Force users were capable of. Rather than waste time with a saber he yanked at the handles when they were five metres away. Their silhouettes vanished into the bright light. A fraction of a second later he followed. The glare was temporarily blinding and he failed to account for the sudden change in terrain and stumbled onto the sand. He skidded several feet down the dune on baking hot sand.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]Trextan’s stumble was a domino effect. Their hands were still clasped together, so when the Justicar went sliding down the side of a sand dune, Choli was brought down as well. Arms gave a flail feebly for purchase, bumping against Trextan. She fell down, skidding a few feet. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Fierfek!” [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Choli swore. Just as she was about to get up the two water pumps she’d rigged reached the max pressure point. A loud BOOM made the ground underneath them shudder, prompting a small terrestrial shock wave that shook the ground and the pair attempting to get away. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]So much for a dignified exit. That was long gone as once again, Choli fell. This time right on top of Trextan in a tangle of arms and legs along side the unsteady dune landscape. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]At least VeeThree was safe, hovering along while underneath thousands of liters of water went pouring back through the tunnels to the parched oasis north. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan didn't try and stand up as the ground shook. He clasped his eyes tightly shut and kept an arm wrapped tightly around Choli. The air faintly shimmered around them as he prepares to form a barrier around them. It took him a lot more concentration to summon such a construct than it did his teachers still.

The ground trembled and a plume of sand was thrown up some distance away but the ground didn't try and swallow them up as he had feared. Choli pushed up off him and looked back up at the door they'd escaped from. It was now partially submerged in the dunes. That steel-gray colour remained in her eyes but their shape softened a touch. Green flecks turned to blue green.

Trextan wasn't sure quite what it was about the determination he'd seen and the satisfaction in her victory but it brought a smile to his face. Before she could fully disentangle herself he reached up and tugged her mask free such that it hung around her neck. She looked down at him with some shards of bright green bemusement.

“Come here,” he whispered and grasped the front of her robes and tugged her back towards him. It was a silly thing, done on an impulse. He didn't think that out here in the dangerous dunes trying to pull her in for an impulsive victory kiss might not be the brightest move.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

There was precious little time to really consider what was happening. All of a sudden Trextan had unsnapped her breathing mask and was tugging her close. That sense of gratification at putting a stop to illegal pumping of the oasis' water was suddenly caught in suspense and surprise. Trextan's lips were on hers before she knew it, the slightly chapped lips moving against hers in a sense of victory.

The rush of emotion, adrenaline and that knowledge of escaping with their lives was the fuel and Trextan's bold move the spark caught fire. At least, for a couple of seconds. Choli's hands went curling tight against Trextan's robes, pressing herself close to kiss him with heightened passion. Well, as much as one could do while riding the cresting wave of joy and exhilaration. There were a few grains of sand that got it the way and the Twin suns were already trying to bake them, but briefly, it was enough to linger upon.

At least until the distant yells of those men Trextan had kicked out onto the dunes came flying towards them. The guards were close. Alarm made Choli' break the kiss, eyes swirling a deep blue hue with glints of violet. In an instant, they melted into a copper color of alarm.

"We gotta go... now!" she emphasized, moving to untangle herself from Trextan's arms. Vee Three came whizzing over their heads, turning to scan towards the direction the voices were coming from.

[ They are about two hundred meters away. ]

"Yeah, need to get distance between them." Choli added, lips still tingling from the kiss as she got to her feet.