The Desert never gives up its dead

[Cerys]

[SIZE=12pt]Cerys looked around it was a difficult decision to make stay with the children, or face the Hutts. The children could get better as Dallas said, but they could get worse. She could find them again, she hoped and check on them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]It was likely though they would go further out away from every one, even those of their kind. She looked over to Dallas he had come at the Enclave Master’s request.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]As much as she hated it, she would have to go with Dallas, “I’ll go with you” She would spend what moments she could with the children who said very little but understood change. They lived with it every day. Cerys did her best to comfort each of them before she was ready to go. She had very little to carry, the clothes she wore and a small pouch of herbs.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Looking around she had learned a lot in her time among them, and she hoped that they would learn that not everyone was like those that tried to kill them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Whenever you are ready Dallas, I’m ready” The sooner the better, to break that bond that felt like it was holding her here. Before she showed emotions in front of all of them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt][member="Dallas Taylor"][/SIZE]

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


Dallas knelt down by the fire with the tribal elders and drew a map in the sand with a small stick. To the young one who could understand his speech he said indicating a place on the map, “In this canyon you will find a good camp site and a small cave with clean water. The canyon entrance is guarded by a skeleton of a Krayt Dragon. You need not fear it, but, others will be wary and not follow you past it.”

It was an old Krayt Dallas had had to kill many years ago as it became weak and came down to the low country to scavenge for food endangering the locals and their livestock. The Jawas and most of the Tusken considered it Dallas’ canyon because of this and never entered it. Dallas believed it to be a safe place for them to establish a long-term camp and heal and recover. Whether they would do so or not was another question.

He had been following Cerys’ activity in the periphery of his vision; watching as she made the children comfortable and said her goodbyes. Her caring for these outcasts near broke his heart and endeared her to him that much more. These outcasts that he would have condemned to death at a different point in his life.

He turned to the young Tusken once more and said, “If you go to this place, we will come and see that you are good and your children are recovering. If you elsewhere the desert will hide you from us. It is your choice.”

Dallas was sure he could find them wherever they went, but, he wanted to let them know it would be their choice and he would honor their decision. Cerys, he thought with a grin, might go to the children wherever they are.

“Whenever you are ready Dallas, I’m ready”

Dallas could sense the tension in her voice and knew she was conflicted even though she had made a decision. He stood and put an arm around her offering her his comfort as she left the children she had grown to love.

“Then let’s be on our way. We should go by the enclave; it’s only slightly out of the way and we need to clean up and dress for the confrontation. One mustn’t go visit a Hutt Palace dressed like desert vagabonds,” he teased as they started their long walk.

 

[Cerys]

[SIZE=12pt]She accepted his arm around her and as they walked she buried her face one more into his chest to hide her tears from those that would see it as a weakness. She cried only a short time until she was able to look ahead to see where they walked.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“I have always preferred the vagabond look Dallas it is becoming” She tried to smile as she tried to make this funny. But in truth her heart did hurt for the children. She loved children, they had the potential to change everything and she hoped these would.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Did I hear you directing them to a place to go?” She thought she had heard him, she had seen him drawing in the sand but was not quite sure what he drew.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]She had not moved too far her cheek still rested upon Dallas’ chest as they walked. She was not certain what it was in his past, that one thing that Dom had said Dallas would have to tell her. She would ask it, but not right now.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Yes we should stop at the enclave everyone is most likely worried, and Dom sent you, so I know he has been concerned over where I was” She had been concerned to, not knowing what would happen.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]But now the Hutts, they would go outnumbered. A hutt’s place was deep, and dark holding many places that they could stuff a body and not remember it for weeks. Till the smell gave them that gentle reminder.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]They walked along pushing through the sand, each step required such effort and the wind would come behind them washing away their existence. She could have remained silent and walked back but out here where no one could hear them except the sand she would ask her question.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“What is your history with the raiders?” She knew there was some, but what it was she did not know.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt][member="Dallas Taylor"][/SIZE]​

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]



Dallas didn’t fail to notice that she remained close. Maybe she needed support. Maybe not. It really didn’t matter to the old jedi. He had no doubt that he found her touch to be much more desirable to him than his was to her.

“I was showing them a place I thought they could camp and be relatively safe. Plus it has a cave with a good fresh water supply. I told them that if that went there, we would come to see that they were all right and recovering.”

“I also told them that if they decided not to go there, I would honor their decision and not follow them.”

He chuckled when he felt her tense at that thought.

“I didn’t promise them that you wouldn’t come find them to check on the children. Besides,” he added after a moment’s thought, “I think they will be there waiting for us.”

Dallas merely grunted when she mentioned Dom would be worried. He was sure Dom was worried and that he would have an earful for the both of them; especially, if they strolled into the enclave arm-in-arm. Then she asked that question. Dallas was quiet for a long time; unsure exactly how to explain it to her. He appreciated her companionable silence while he pondered his response.

“Many years ago, I was a young jedi knight and even then I had the responsibility to be the Guardian for the entire Arkanis sector. I had others that helped of course, but, it was a big sector.”

A few more paces, slowing slightly as he recalled those days…

“One week my team was called to Vuzsa to deal with a gang that was hijacking fuel shipments. While we were away, a tribe of Tusken raided the Enclave. They killed everyone that didn’t escape to the safety of the depths of the cave where a defensive line could be established.”

More steps…

“So many were killed.”

More…

“One of them was my wife. She was killed… brutally… trying to get the young ones to safety.”

“When we returned from Vuzsa and found the Enclave in shambles and all those we cared about dead, wounded or in shock, my team wanted to hunt them down. I didn’t let them. I didn’t let my good jedi knights and padawans fall to the darkness of that horror.”

A long pause and a deep sigh, speaking softer as if afraid for the darkness to hear his confession…

“But no one could stop me. I found the tribe, saw them celebrating their thievery, and… I made Anakin look like a dove of peace. The only ones I spared were the children. After it was over, I took them to nearby clans that would adopt them.”

Dallas rarely, if ever, tired walking the desert. It was just a part of him and he could go for days if necessary. Telling Cerys his darkest secret however, exhausted him. He found an outcropping atop a rocky ridgeline and sat, leaving room for her to sit next to him.

He ended by saying, “Now you know why most of the Tuskan fear the Hooded Walker. They have good reason.”

 

[Cerys]

She had not moved she loved contact when one spent so much time alone and suddenly find themselves with someone who does not mind touching, she took advantage of it. And as long as Dallas did not mind she would not be far from him.

She smiled some, "thank you for showing them a safe place, you won't regret it" She half laughed when he said that he didn't say she wouldn't follow them. "I would try to find them again, but who knows. If they do not go, and they continue to see nothing but the evil that can be done they will not change. Kindness, understanding is help them to change. Perhaps, we are giving birth to a new baby Dallas, a new race of Raiders"

She was not one who particularly cared what appearances were, if she chose to walk into the enclave holding hands with Dallas what would Dom say. She laughed, oh she had an idea of what would be said. And what would be said behind closed doors. Dom was the leader but he also cared deeply for his friends, and charges.

The very air around them seemed to tense after she asked her question, out here alone where no one could hear was the place to ask.

He was thinking on what happen, it was there in his eyes, a great sadness that wore on him each day.

And then the source of it, the manner of death of his wife. But was it the manner of her death, or that he had not been there to save her. That one moment seemed to define him now, he held onto as the marker of evil, of his darkness.

He moved them toward a place to sit, and she sat down, next to him close to him so he could feel here there, not just her presence in the force but the warmth of her body. The subtle little breaths she took.

"I can see why they fear you." She reached over placing her hand on his cheek she turned him to face her. She tilted her head as she looked into his eyes.

"You had lost someone you loved. You saw them celebrating her death. Two strong emotions Dallas the control of the Jedi was drowning in those moments. What you did was not right, and it was a dark act. But Dallas, you are not evil you had a time of weakness. Your wife would not want you to beat yourself up for the rest of your life for loving her." She put her other hand to his face, she smiled at him, "Dallas its ok to forgive yourself it wasn't your fault she died."

She watched his eyes as the words she spoke sunk in, would he accept them, or pat her on the head like a small child and dismiss her words.

[member="Dallas Taylor"]

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


Dallas held Cerys’s gaze a moment before turning away to stare out into the darkness. “Intellectually I know and understand that. It’s in here…” he said tapping his hand on his chest over his heart, “that doesn’t seem to agree.”

He turned back and gave her a wan smile. “…but, thank you. I truly believe you understand and that means the world to me.” Despite himself, Dallas felt his spirits buoyed and his energy returning. “Lady Cerys,” he said standing, “I think you are good for me.”

He took her hand to give her what was undoubtedly unneeded help in rising.

“If we leave now, we can be in my favorite valley for the Mists. If you’ve never seen them, they are truly one of Tatooine’s gifts to its inhabitants. On a good night they are like walking through a cool cloud and so different from the rest of the Tatooine experience of heat and dehydration. Unfortunately they flee the suns’ rise just as a sane man should.”

He chuckled at the thought. He must truly be insane as long as he lived and walked the deserts and he knew it was because he loved the planet. He looked around as if surveying the night then added, “You know the ironic part of the Dallas Taylor/Tatooine love story? I was born on a water world and love oceans.”

He started towards the valley he wanted to show her at a slow pace, enjoying the night and added a final thought on the subject, “Go figure.”

 

[Cerys]

Cerys watched Dallas taken in the variation of emotions that she perceived within him. Sometimes all one needed was comfort, as he explained where the pain still lived within him, she reached over and put her hand over his heart.

"Because your love was so true Dallas that is why it still hurts. When you are ready to accept love again this pain will dull, it will never be gone, but it will allow you room for another" Cerys withdrew her hand.

The heart is delicate though the muscle is strong and beats steady and true, it is the pain that it endures through love, and loss that make it so easily broken. Cerys had never experienced a love that was felt so deeply, and treasured for so long. Perhaps one day she would be able to do more than give words that she hoped would comfort. One day she hoped she would be able to relate to the experience.

"The Morning Mists, well we shouldn't miss that, such a contrast the mists of water, hovering over the sands of a desert. I would like to see that" He helped her help, she nodded a thank you.

"So you are born of water, but wish to be born of the desert." She smiled, "What is it about Tattooine that makes you feel like it is home?" She looked down at her feet for a moment and then looked at Dallas.

Without waiting she kept talking, "Is it the way the morning suns glisten across the seas of sand, or the deep colors of amber, umbra, orange and reds of the canyons?" Cerys love of this world was seeping into her words, "Or is it the people, the expectation that all of them are reputed to only be looking out for themselves and you find that a lot of them are kind, gentle, and just making their own way?"

She kept pace with Dallas now letting him take in her babbling. She couldn't help but sense his calm perhaps this was another reason Dom thought she needed to meet Dallas, he possessed much of what she needed in someone, understanding, a history, and he understood those around him.

But were their hearts, and fears ready to let either of them closer together. Would they make a journey together to see if two could become one.

[member="Dallas Taylor"]

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


Dallas chuckled. “I actually hated it when I first arrived. It was so radically different from Naboo I thought I would die of dehydration every day I ventured out of the caves. But… it was never boring. There was always something that needed a guardian’s intervention.”

“Then I began walking the desert at night and I had my first experience under triple moons. The three slightly different colored lights striking the sands from three difference directions made the sand glisten like diamonds. Tatooine hides its beauty. You have to know where and when to look then it’s amazing.”

From high up on higher peaks that Dallas could visualize from memory the roar of a Krayt dragon echoed down to the lower dunes where they walked. It was far enough away to be no threat to them but near enough that they could clearly hear its territorial claims.

“Even those beasts are magnificent in their own way.”

The silence that followed the krayt’s roar was profound. Everything within hearing had stopped to see if the krayt was hunting and more specifically, hunting them. Shortly the sounds of desert night resumed and Dallas was cataloging what was in their vicinity based on the sounds they made communicating, moving through the sands, even breathing.

He took Cerys’s hand and stopped her, motioning for silence. He leaned close and whispered, “A hunting pack of anooba are working their way down that canyon.”

They watched in silence as the wolf-like predators entered the dunes and headed towards a different canyon seeking prey. A jakrab broke cover and bounded away with the hunters in fleet pursuit. The race disappeared up the canyon.

“Wonder if it got away,” Dallas asked and started their slow walk forward again.

 

[Cerys]

[member="Dallas Taylor"]

It made sense that he had hated it, what was there to see when you first arrive? Nothing but sand, and reputation. She could hear the build up in his voice how the place had grown on him how it had won him over with it's simplicity each day.

"I agree Tatooine hides its beauty" Yes this world of sand, and heat held vistas that could adorn the walls of the finest homes across the galaxy. Cerys paused to listen to the roar, from deep in the chest. Everything had stopped not a sound was heard, everything waited even Cerys waited until she felt Dallas take her hand stopping her completely where she stood. He was leaning close and whispering to her about a pack moving down the canyon.

Swift silent, efficient. She could see them moving now the alpha at the head his head swaying as if instructing the others on what he wanted them to do. The dynamics of a pack, survival of the pack. The weak died, the strong moved on. She jumped a bit when the jakrab took off she had not expected it she had been too busy watching the pack.

Dallas was still near his voice soft, tender whispered a thought she had had, Did it get away?

"On one hand I hope it did, on the other it probably didn't" She smiled again her canines showing her tongue ran over her teeth. A habit.

They continued to walk forward, "can you smell the changes in the air, water to our south. The steady hum of moisture farmers to our east." She looked northeast and there the bright lights of Mos Eisley lit the sky, "the cantina's are full tonight do you see how bright the skies look over the city?"

Cerys kept his hand with hers, "Dallas did Dom say anything about my father to you?"

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


"On one hand I hope it did, on the other it probably didn't"

Dallas simply nodded his understanding and agreement with her assessment. He stopped her again and picked up a small stone, throwing it into the area from which the jakrab first appeared. A smaller jakrab and three young ones flushed and hopped away in a direction away from the annoba. “If he didn’t, at least his mate and their young will live tonight.” The male had drawn the anooba away from its family, probably at the cost of its life.

Dallas sighed, thoughtful as they continued their trek. “The desert is a harsh master. It requires sacrifices and doesn’t promise that your sacrifice won’t be in vain.”

He smiled when she spoke of the changes in the night around them. ”And the desert treats all of your senses… the smell of approaching moisture, the sound of the farms, and the sights of the lights in the night.”

He pointed at a slowly increasing glow on the horizon. “Chenini is rising to join Guermessa. When they are both high in the night sky it can be bright enough to read on the sands. It’s no wonder the desert is most alive at night.”

He looked at her as she asked, "Dallas did Dom say anything about my father to you?"

A quip that she should have warned him about her father before they started walking the desert alone at night died on his lips when he sensed how serious she was in the question.

“No, Cerys. Dom only told me he needed help finding you. I guess he thought background could wait.”

He took her hand and squeezed it encouragingly adding, “I would like to know more about you and your family. Tell me about your father.”

 

[Cerys]

"It is life Dallas. The sacrafices we make so that others may live" She found contentment in knowing that the family lived to grow together, even if the father had died. It was hard to be angry knowing the cycles in which life went through.

The desert for all its beauty there was one thing that was never found, the dead. The Desert like the depths of the oceans of Spira never gave up its dead. It hid them away like treasures using them for whatever purpose it served within the balance of life.

"I had hoped "less Dom for trying to spare her that.

"My family is the Jedi, I was orphaned at age 3, and raised within the Jedi enclave. I feel like my father is the leader of the enclave I was raised in, I have no one but the Jedi Dallas." This was her hard subject and for a time she grew silent as they moved along. She wanted to think she was important to those that raised her, but it seemed the enclave here cared more.

"not a very long story of family, do you have other family?"

[member="Dallas Taylor"]

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


Dallas listened to her story sympathetically. He had personally found and brought any number of force sensitive orphans to the Tatooine enclave to be made a part of the extended family. Despite its reputation, Tatooine proved to be a wonderful place to raise children. The land itself required and taught a very jedi-like discipline for survival while the enclave provided a loving and nurturing environment for the younglings to grow and develop.

“I’m sorry you lost your parents at such a young age, Cerys. No one can raise and care for a child better than its own parents. That said, I’m happy an enclave found and adopted you into its community. I know all of our order’s enclaves are charged with caring for orphans; but, I like to think that the Tatooine enclave takes that responsibility as one of its core responsibilities. I found probably a dozen of the orphans we care for here in my travels over the years and many others have been more diligent searchers than I was. Anyway,” he said more softly, “I’m glad you are here now.”

The light from two moons now was making walking easier, but, he felt no need to hurry their pace. Arriving at the enclave meant this time alone together would end and Dallas was in no way looking forward to that.

“My family… I have one sister. She and her husband live on Dantooine where they raised three children – 2 sons and a daughter.” He wondered where Jon was secreted away and shrugged off his feeling of failing his nephew by not being there when he needed him most. He cleared the emotion from his throat and continued, “My parents…” Dallas chuckled at the memory, “…loved the oceans. They were both oceanographers and spent most of their lives in floating research habitats. I was born and raised on one until I was found and taken for training on Naboo.” He grinned as he continued his explanation, “Their deaths were the things from which legends arise.”

“As much as I mourn them, I know they couldn’t have scripted a more perfect end for two that loved the seas as much as they did. The habitat they were assigned was drifting on pelagic currents. One day it crossed into the territory of an ancient leviathan that was particularly possessive of his portion of the depths. It attacked and sank the habitat. Very few on board survived and they swore the beast swallowed any he found swimming in the water whole. My parent’s bodies were never recovered.”

They walked along awhile in silence, Cerys obviously speechless by the horror of the tale. When he couldn’t contain himself any longer, Dallas burst out laughing and admitted, “If you believed that tale, I have some swampland on the far side of the great dunes I can sell you cheap. My parents are retired and living on a houseboat on Spira.”

Dallas chuckled softly as they walked along, feeling that Cerys was no doubt plotting her revenge.

 

[Cerys]

She paused for a moment laughing in disbelief as she then playfully shoved him, "Here I was feeling sorry for you, Dallas you sithspawn" She chuckled again he had her she had fallen for the story hook line and sinker.

What a myriad of emotions and demeanor Dallas possessed she was not sure she had spent so much time with someone who was so. She was often alone, she found that others did not always have her appreciation of the things Tattooine offered. It made her odd, but then again try as hard as they could they were a bit taken back by her. She seemed a bit feral to them. Dallas was most certainly unique.

But Dallas seemed to enjoy her differences, that she saw the world from a different perspective.

It would take her some time to think of some way to repay him for such a kind story, but she knew she would find a time and a place to do so.

Cerys enjoyed the soft murmurings of the desert at night, she stopped again, holding Dallas back for a moment. Something was swishing on the sand, the slightest sound it made she looked over at Dallas. The sound was low it seemed to want to lull them to sleep with how soft. Perhaps a woodwind instrument. She loved classical music but this was an animal?

"Do you hear that" she softly whispered, "what is it, can you tell?"

[member="Dallas Taylor"]

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


"Do you hear that? What is it, can you tell?"

Dallas stopped and listened. He was perplexed. He doubted that any self respecting Zybahhod would allow the two of them to approach undetected as it played its udjudg. Likewise funnel flowers could produce an almost musical sound as they drew the warm air through themselves to harvest moisture, but, that wouldn’t explain the sounds of movement on the sand.

Generally, Dallas was cautious when encountering something new at night in the desert; especially anything that seemed to be luring them with musical sounds. If alone, he might have automatically skirted around the area and avoided possible contact with the mysterious source of the sounds they were hearing. Cerys seemed to be curious and he could tell she would want to investigate.

“I don’t know, Cerys,” Dallas admitted. “It’s nothing I’ve encountered before. Do you have any ideas as to what it might be?”

 

[Cerys]

[member="Dallas Taylor"]

She wished she could say she did, "maybe someone is actually playing an instrument. Maybe we are intruding on their alone time" It was unknown how many beings ventured into the desert at night, or why they would venture there. Certainly she and Dallas were not the only ones to find the desert to be a comfort.

He looked at Dallas he was very serious right now more than herself. She stayed close to him nonetheless to make sure that should anything or anyone decide to set upon them that it would be a formidable duo that they met.

"You know I will have to pay you back for your little tale right?" She wondered how long they could last in the desert. Certainly for a time considering Dallas' vast knowledge of how to survive there.

Cerys could still here the music it never got louder, but it never got softer. Was someone, or something trailing after them?

"When this is all settled Dallas, where will you go?"

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


Dallas used the force to try to sense what was behind them. That there was nothing specific that he could sense, much less identify, caused him more concern than knowing one of the desert’s night terrors was trailing them. Most of them didn’t play music however. None the less…

Dallas looked around to get his bearings and said “Let’s go this way awhile.” Soon they were approaching a familiar side canyon and Dallas’ old friend. Grinder was lying in the shadows waiting to see for certain who or what was approaching his den. When he smelled Dallas he moved forward silently, keeping Dallas between himself and Cerys. What he sensed in her Dallas couldn’t fathom other than the possibility that the simple nature of her being a Firrerreo that was confusing the massiff. Dallas took Cerys by the hand and pulled up next to him. “Cerys, this is an old friend of mine – Grinder.” He placed a hand on the massiff’s head and continued, “Grinder this is Cerys.”

The large reptile approached her cautiously and sniffed. It looked at Dallas as if for confirmation then seemed to relax, lying down before them with its tongue lolling out to the side of its mouth. “I guess that means you’re accepted,” Dallas quipped, his brows quirked in amusement.

Dallas turned back to face the direction they had last heard the music. “I was going to send Grinder out to try and tree our musician back there, but, he seems to have quit our serenade now that we have company.” That fact didn’t please Dallas. If the person was close enough to see Grinder in the depths of the canyons shadows he was much closer than Dallas had assumed… or he could sense things much better than Dallas could. Neither though was appealing, but, hopefully his spirit for the chase had waned.

“I think we’ll let Grinder accompany us for a while,” Dallas said as he led them out of the canyon. He saw no reaction from the massiff that would indicate that he sensed anything amiss in the area… but then neither had Dallas. “Scout, Grinder!” Dallas commanded and the beast began making steady circuits around them as they made their way towards the enclave.

 

[Cerys]

Cerys nodded as she followed Dallas’ direction this way was not familiar to Cerys. She had traveled many paths in the desert canyons relying upon a sense of direction, familiar landmarks, and a good guide. There was a ripple in the force telling her that something living was nearby it was an odd sensation to sense another life and not quite know who or what it could be. The steady drumming of a life force that was not your own that resonated through your own body could unnerve the unskilled. It could also provide confidence to the trained.


Within the shadows of the canyon walls there was something lounging, or stalking she was not yet sure. As Dallas drew closer to it Cerys held her emotions of fear in check. The creature had begun to move forward slowly as if testing their presence within its territory. When Dallas reached and pulled her closer she thought it was out of protection it turned out it was to give a greeting. “Dallas you keep some rather odd company”

She watched as Dallas reached out and touched the creatures head and calling it by a name. She could not help but blink in disbelief. “Grinder, a fitting name for a creature with so many sharp teeth” An audible sound of relief passed through Cerys’ lips she looked down at the massiff as it lay down. It now seemed no more dangerous than a house pet. “I am quite relieved to be accepted then” Yes quite relieved.

Cerys has stopped listening to the music at the sight of Grinder but it was true if the music had stopped when they no longer appeared to be helpless or alone. And odd behavior for certain. “So, how did you end up having a friend such as Grinder?”

The long life of any individual had many journeys and tales it was obvious that Dallas Taylor was not an exception to that rule.

[SIZE=12pt][member="Dallas Taylor"][/SIZE]

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


Dallas remembered the day he found Grinder like it was yesterday. The massiff was another one of the orphans he’d found and taken care of during his time in the desert. He took one last look behind them both visually and with the force wondering about their mysterious musician. He was more concerned that he couldn’t sense his presence than if he suddenly popped up in front of them. Shaking his head with frustration, he turned back and resumed their trek towards the enclave. If there was a living creature out there, Grinder would let them know.

He fell into step beside Cerys and said, “I found him when he was just a baby. His mother was killed by a canyon krayt and he was hiding under her body. He wasn’t at all pleased when I tried to pick him up and take him away from her. Eventually I got him back to the enclave and raised him. He walked with me whenever I ventured out on patrols. When we came across that canyon one day, he claimed it and it’s been his home ever since. I think it might have been where he was born. He’s still willing to walk with me anytime I come by to see him.”

They walked along in silence for several paces as Dallas listened to the sounds of the desert that surrounded them. He heard many things – normal things – but nothing musical. He smiled and asked, “Have you ever heard of something called a djinn?”

 

[Cerys]

[member="Dallas Taylor"]​

​

A wild animal conquered by kindness could it be that Grinder looked upon Dallas and saw a parent? It had been documented that baby animals could imprint upon a human, "How did you raise him, he with those teeth would be a carnivore and have to learn to hunt" She tilted her head, "Were you out here scrambling around with him showing him how to catch his dinner?"

An image of Dallas playing with Grinder as a baby, and then as a teen were two very different images. A baby could be playful, the teenager could be dangerous. Cerys asked herself djinn have I heard of this? She thought about all the things she did know but she could not find a memory of something called a djinn.

"No Dallas, what is a djinn?" Would this be another creature that Dallas had been able to win over.

Cerys considered the man beside her again and all the things she had learned in the last few hours. But then again Jedi were told to be peacekeepers a kind heart would keep the peace. A kind heart could be hurt easily. She had to be careful not to hurt him.

 

[Dallas Taylor]

[member="Cerys"]


“Grinder? Oh, I provided food for him until he was big enough to learn to hunt. Then I took him out and, when we had something suitable in sight, I used the force to place an image in his mind that this was food.” Dallas laughed at the memory, “When it came to food, he learned quickly enough.”

Dallas was still uneasy and constantly watching and listening. After a few more steps they took in silence as he surveyed their surroundings once again, he added, “Massiff are intelligent and learn quickly. You’ll find some tribes have trained them to guard their camps.”

Settling back into his place beside her as they walked, he answered her question about the djinn. “Djinn were mythical creatures of the desert. In some cultures they had connections to religion; in others they were simply part of the lore. Basically they were supernatural beings that could be good or evil in their intentions to mankind. Some tales had them luring men wandering the desert into traps with illusions of oasis or with inviting sounds such as the laughter of a harem or… music.”

Dallas gave her a challenging smile and asked, “Just what have you done to awaken a spirit of the desert, young lady?”