Private The Deep

[Rhemti Totriddiam]

The faith and confidence his masters had in him was enough to bring back that goofy grin. The young Nautolan nodded once, beaming at them before turning to his father, who reached out for him. They clasped hands, well, arms. Instead of a handshake they each took hold of the others forearm in their own sort of symbolic gesture.

"We'll check back in before we leave, to let you know everything's been settled, I mean." Rhemti shot a glance at Kahlil and Valery, hoping that would be okay with them, after all it was his family who had put in the request for help.

Whether Kahlil and Valery agreed or not, Baus just nodded, as if it was going to happen with or without their approval. Without another word the older Nautolan turned to start barking orders at his kids, half of which broke rank and sped off amongst the kelp, giggling. Mostly the younger ones.

Leaving his family to their business, Rhemti turned to Kahlil and Valery, determination clear in his gaze, even with that goofball grin on his face. "Come on. There's another gate on the opposite side of the farm, it will be faster than going out and around." He'd wave for the two to follow before turning to lead the way.

It was quite literally a gate, which Rhemti operated, pushing and holding it open for the two Jedi to come through before he let it go; it fell and slowly sank until it shut behind them again. Without someone grabbing hold and lifting up on the gate, it would be difficult for it to open; making it difficult for creatures to get inside.

The village his father spoke of was in the distance, barely visible, if only for the few lights that shone.

Valery Noble | Kahlil Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Glee Anselm

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Outfit: Underwater gear
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Kahlil Noble Rhemti Totriddiam

When Rhemti glanced their way, Valery offered an acknowledging nod. As a parent, she knew how important it was to be assured that the kids were safe. So to her, there was no problem about going back to Baus once it was all over, and she was sure that Kahlil would feel the same way.

Once Baus had barked orders to the other kids, and Rhemti had joined them again, Valery would follow. They passed through a gate he held open, and began to swim towards the village, which was still further up ahead. She could see the lights, and feel the people who lived there.

But she felt no sign of the beast just yet.

"Should we split up maybe? Position ourselves at three points around the village, so we might see it more easily." There was a risk to it, but there was also a chance they'd miss this creature if they stayed together. She didn't know how fast it was able to strike, or how well it could camouflage itself or not.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Splitting up would certainly give us the ability to cover the area." He glanced to Rhemti for a moment, then smiled. He trusted his Padawan, fully. Though Valery and himself wouldn't be able to get to his side very quick, not like he could reach them. That was the disadvantage of water for the pair of Jedi Masters. And all the more reason to trust him. He gave the Nautolan a thumbs up before looking towards his own destination.

"Be sure to call if you do see it, though. Alright?"

Valery Noble | Rhemti Totriddiam

 

[Rhemti Totriddiam]

The young Nautolan nodded, giving them a thumbs up. "Yes sir, Boss, sir!" He smiled at them, less goofball than normal, if only because he was a little worried. "I'll keep you two updated. Be careful, please." He waved, turning to swim off to the far side as they split the party.

Valery Noble | Kahlil Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Glee Anselm

​

Outfit: Underwater gear
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Kahlil Noble Rhemti Totriddiam

"Stay safe," Valery told them both before it was time to split up. Each Jedi took up a position somewhere along the perimeter of the village, so they formed a triangle together, and waited patiently. It was perhaps the first time during the rather exciting underwater journey that they could spend some time looking around.

Despite a beast lurking in the shadows somewhere, Glee Anselm always remained beautiful, and the almost weightless feeling underwater was something Valery could really enjoy.

Until she felt something approaching.

From a coral riff not far away, a large beast began to make its way to town. It was young and still growing, but already massive and it was hungry. Valery looked at it with widened eyes and tapped her comms unit.

<So...any ideas how we can stop that?> Without just cutting it down with a lightsaber, anyway.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

<Oh. Uh. Well. Remti, get over there. See if you can make a connection!>

He was already starting to blitz his way through the water to get by Valery. The sight of the large creature, he could see it from his side of the town. Big, hungry. At least it wasn't malicious. That was the only silver lining of Valery facing it down by herself. Rhemti was just faster, though.

<Just, keep it calm! Find out why it's here!>

Rhemti Totriddiam | Valery Noble

 

[Rhemti Totriddiam]

<Why its here? Boss; its a Ravinak. A sea predator. It's here to eat!>

Rhemti swam, quickly closing the distance between himself and Master Valery. Being a Nautolan gave him an advantage in the water, not just the ability to breathe underwater but easier maneuverability. A natural born swimmer made quick work of traveling through the water, as such he got to her side well before Kahlil did.

Now he had to connect with the beast; not an impossible feat, but the young male had never tried to connect with a sea creature before. Rhemti reached out despite this, head-tendrils floating about his head as he hung in the water, the force swirling around him lazily like a slow current then branched out, reaching to connect with the Ravinak, bringing with it waves of calm.

"Hey there." Rhemti smiled gently at the beast, watching and waiting to see how it would react.

Kahlil Noble | Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Glee Anselm

​

Outfit: Underwater gear
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Kahlil Noble Rhemti Totriddiam

Valery had never been particularly good at handling animals with use of the Force, and Kahlil knew this as well, so as the massive predator approached, she was fearing the worst — that she'd have to draw her weapon to defend herself. She felt Kahlil was approaching to help, but he wouldn't reach her in time.

But Rhemti was much faster.

She blinked as he suddenly appeared, and swam back a little to give him space. The idea of letting him expose himself just to try and calm the creature down wasn't an easy one to accept. She never liked putting Padawan's upfront to face danger, but she trusted Rhemti.

And as he sent waves of calmness like ripples through water, the beast suddenly turned. There was conflict within it, as its hunger needed to be satiated, but it no longer saw Valery or Rhemti as food.

Instead, it was coming around and began to swim toward Kahlil.

"Babe!" Valery called over comms to warn him.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil let out a sigh of relief as he felt Valery no longer in danger of becoming the large creature's snack. Which, in turn, meant he was now the snack. That reality settled in pretty quick as the massive creature turned towards his direction and started to swim over. But rather than panic, he raised a hand. The creature came all at once to a halt before him, it's mouth open, ready to just swallow him whole.

But there it stopped. Slowly closed it's mouth. The Jedi Master just kept a calm expression before he nodded once. The creature turned then, drifting off back towards the open waters.

"Something's wrong with their hunting grounds. They've had to move on, find a new place. We should go check out their grotto."

Valery Noble | Rhemti Totriddiam

 

[Rhemti Totriddiam]

Valery Noble | Kahlil Noble
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"Boss.." Rhemti sighed in relief, swimming out until he reached his Masters side. He looked after the Ravinak, a frown across his features as he tried to think about it all.

"How'd you know?" The Nautolan blinked up at his boss in confusion, perking one eye ridge. He'd move to swim alongside Kahlil, seeing as his Master probably knew the general direction of where to go. "About its hunting grounds?"

 

[Valery Noble]

Glee Anselm

​

Outfit: Underwater gear
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Kahlil Noble Rhemti Totriddiam

"How did you do that?" Valery asked, playfully jealous that he had managed to just calm the beast down like that. He had teased her before about being better with animals, but until now, she didn't realize just how much. Perhaps because of their first meeting, when she had to patch his wounded butt up after being clawed and bitten open by some New Cov predators.

So much has changed.

On the topic of the beast's hunting grounds, though, Valery began to think. "Either they depleted their own supply of food, or something else did." Other predators? People who live closer to the old hunting grounds? Valery didn't know but she began to swim in that direction.

"We should be careful, though. I have this feeling that something dangerous caused all of it."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Everything the Force touches has a voice within it. You just need to learn how to hear it." Kahlil chuckled, though mostly at the thoughts that went through Valery's head. When he was trapped at the Wellspring, he learned all manner of things about how to commune with the Force. Then, he shrugged.

"Not that they speak clearly. The Force can connect minds, but animals without higher thought still can't speak. All I know is somethings wrong at the hunting grounds, so, we'll go see the hunting grounds."

Valery Noble | Rhemti Totriddiam

 

[Rhemti Totriddiam]

"To the hunting grounds then." If helping the Ravinak helped the town, then that's what he'd do. Rhemti would follow the two Jedi Masters to the hunting grounds, making a mental checklist of all the training he'd have to do if he was going to catch up to his Master.

Kahlil Noble | Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Glee Anselm

​

Outfit: Underwater gear
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Kahlil Noble Rhemti Totriddiam

"I hear enough voices inside my head," Valery grumbled playfully but she was quick to follow after the others to reach the hunting grounds. On arrival, nothing really seemed off — it was as empty as you expected the open ocean to be, and there were even swarms of smaller fish that the Ravinak would normally eat.

So why wasn't it-

From the reefs, another beast appeared with its maw wide open to eat them all. This monster was much bigger than the Ravinak was — so big in fact, that it could easily eat a Ravinak if it wanted to.

There was always a bigger fish.

"I... don't think we're going to be able to ask that thing to leave nicely." But it did explain why the Ravinak had moved. Its hunting grounds had been taken over by a more dangerous creature

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil paused as they saw the creature in the distance. To see one in person was.. Impressive. If a bit alarming. They certainly weren't about to fight it. And, well. Kahlil still smiled. It wasn't what he expected, but it made their next task that much easier to plan out.

"We're not going to. Our duty as Jedi is to protect all life. Nature has lead to this creature coming here. It likely ate the parents of that young hunter, and why it came to your town, Rhemti. We're going to find it a new hunting ground, somewhere else on the world, away from people. This hunting ground now belongs to that Sando."

Rhemti Totriddiam | Valery Noble

 

[Rhemti Totriddiam]

"Uh.. How are we going to do that?" Rhemti perked an eyeridge curiously, swimming forward just slightly enough to look between the two masters. "Befriend the Ravinak and convince it to follow us until we find a suitable hunting ground for it? Or do you already have a place in mind? I don't think we should be swimming blind out there with such a large, carnivorous creature when we don't know where we're heading or what lurks in the depths."

Truth be told, Rhemti was all for this idea, but not without a well thought out plan; there were too many risk factors for him to feel comfortable with jumping off the deep end in this one.

Valery Noble | Kahlil Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Glee Anselm

​

Outfit: Underwater gear
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Kahlil Noble Rhemti Totriddiam

"I think we're drawing conclusions way too quickly, so let's take one step back," Valery interjected as she looked around and gave the situation some more thought. The plan made sense but there was something else she felt they should consider as well. "Ecosystems take hundreds, if not thousands of years to form, and something destabilized here. This hunting ground provided for the Ravinak, a large creature but not anything like that Sando," Valery explained, hoping it would get them to start thinking as well.

"We should consider where the Sando came from as well, and why it really left its original hunting grounds, rather than guess. This hunting ground could get completely depleted by a beast that big. You don't just drop fish at random in a tank either and expect it to work out - there has to be balance. What if poachers or something unnatural caused the Sando to come here? It might ruin this entire stretch of waters and move on to do the same somewhere else. Or what if it runs out of food and spots Rhemti's hometown? A Ravinak might not eat the people there, but this Sando easily can." Valery paused and spoke with that overprotective mother tone.

"Or what if children wander off too far? They are unpredictable and we shouldn't expect people to live with a curfew forever because a gigantic sea monster moved here for reasons we didn't even investigate." She sighed and turned to her husband and his Padawan.

"Both creatures should be where they belong and can live the way they should, with food but without causing trouble for the balance of the waters. You said it yourself, we have to protect all life. That includes the species of fish that could get completely eradicated, and that also includes the people of Rhemti's hometown."

"You two haven't forgotten that we're within swimming distance of the village still, right? Why we came here in the first place?"