Private The Hunt

[rabidmutt]

---

In the foothills of the mighty Staghnauk Mountains, a vast, undisturbed layer of snow painted the landscape in an ethereal shade of white. The trees of the surrounding Akellor Forest stood tall and proud despite the snowfall weighing on their branches. Between them, a small, winding stream had gone completely still, transformed into solid ice by the harsh cold.

Roan found herself in the middle of it all, taking a moment to appreciate the majesty of the Staghnauk Mountains as they pierced the dense cloud cover that had rolled in a few short hours ago. It had been two days since she’d set out from Laamyc Morut, and with the descent behind her, she found herself grateful for the clouds that blotted out the sun. The foul weather could be a hindrance, sure, but it could also be a tool.

As she marched through the thick snow and across the small clearing toward the treeline with her game sled in tow, Roan scanned the area for any sign of wildlife. So far, she’d managed to catch two bearded jax, but those were hardly anything to write home about. Their meat would be just enough for her to sustain herself until she could secure something bigger.

It was easy to be patient for the right opportunity, especially with the beauty of the Akellor Forest all around her. The sights and sounds of nature brought a sort of peace that Roan was certain she would never find anywhere else. There was only her and the wilderness and the hunt. Nothing and no one else mattered, and her body went through the motions with little input from her mind.

Just beyond the edge of the forest, Roan unfastened her game sled from around her waist. She partially tucked it into a rocky alcove behind the cover of the trees before setting off in the opposite direction. As she trekked through the woods, a gentle snowfall began, and she found the corners of her lips pulling into a faint smile beneath the cover of her helmet.

 

[Capris Halcyon]

Capris's hate for the snow was an unflinching and bitter one.

Typically she'd pride herself on adaptability, but the snowy landscape here was too reminiscent of Pantora…and Pantora was too reminiscent a certain dark-haired, pretty-eyed conundrum she was rather intent on forgetting about. A bit miserably, Capris lifted the hood of her parka for more coverage and shuffled forward. Maybe she should've known better than to get involved with Mandalorians and their penchant for holding grudges, but Capris had been fairly careless with her life as of late. A trend which showed no promise of abating.

…So being chased out into Mandalore wilderness after a bounty fell through was no big surprise.

The girl continued on, in search of something she couldn't really put a finger on. It wasn't until the force whistled faintly in warning that she decided to exercise any amount of caution. The runes snaking up her arm blistered to life in anticipation of a fight, emitting a faint blue fire. Someone was close..

rabidmutt

 

[Roan Kir]

Roan hadn't ventured too far from her game sled when she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a figure moving through the woods. With only a brief glance, she had no idea what to expect. Something living, no doubt, but what? A beast of some sort?

The tiny hairs on the back of Roan's neck stood on end—not out of fear, but anticipation. A shiver threatened to run down her spine at the prospect of a hunt, and she quickly drew her energy bow from over her shoulder in the event that she needed it. Her footsteps were featherlight as she crept forward in an attempt to get a better look at her potential game.

Instead of a fearsome beast or an easy kill, she saw a person, and her brow abruptly furrowed. First, in disappointment. Then, in confusion. The face of the dark-haired girl was not one she recognized. It was immediately clear that she was not a member of Clan Kir, nor Clan Cra'tok.

Strangest of all, though, was the markings on her arm that flickered like the bright orange flames of the bonfires the Clan held before an expedition. Roan could hardly make sense of what she was seeing. Were her eyes playing tricks on her? Had she consumed bad meat?

She raised her energy bow, taking aim at the stranger and speaking firmly through her helmet. "Who are you?"

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

There it was.

Capris regarded the masked stranger, her body and mind immediately put on defense. A foot slid back in the snow, her one and only arm curved with intention to cause damage.

A moment passed before the girl seemed to tame her response, eyes thinning out to their usual level of vigilance. She straightened, cleared her throat, and let the runes on her arm fall silent almost as an unspoken apology. The bounty hunter had been strangely reactive as of late, always looking over her shoulder as if any moment she'd find a lightsaber poised to strike her down. This wasn't the warfront anymore, thoughts like that only served to unsteady her.

With a loaded sigh, Capris raised her one hand in an attempt to pacify. What little the younger woman could make of the Mandalorian's intentions came through the typical pokes and prods from the Force. The woman was cautious, rightly so, but not overtly hostile.

Capris intended to keep it that way.

"Not a threat for one." her head canted towards the bow in the woman's hand, "So I'd appreciate if you'd point that somewhere less lethal."

Roan cut an imposing figure, armor crested
with an outline of a snarling animal. Some form of identifier surely, but Capris was far too out of her depth here for that to mean much of anything.

"The name's Capris," she answered truthfully, "I'm just passing through."

Roan Kir

 

[Roan Kir]

There was no mistaking the fighting stance that the young woman was quick to take. It was a warning, a threat—one that very nearly made Roan release the energy arrow she had lined up with the stranger's chest. Yet, she was still fully capable of recognizing and appreciating that the individual before her was a warrior.

Anyone capable of adopting a defensive stance as quickly as she had surely had some level of combat experience. One well-placed arrow would likely fail to put her down before she could cause damage of her own. In addition, the glowing markings on her arm were an unknown variable. Roan knew better than to go putting arrows in things she didn't understand.

Fortunately for the both of them, the woman dropped the stance and lifted her hand in a placating manner. Roan listened closely as she spoke, informing her that she wasn't a threat. Judging by what she'd just seen, she very nearly begged to differ, but she kept it to herself in favor of gradually lowering her bow and giving Capris a cautious once-over.

"Just passing through?" Roan asked.

It was uncommon if not unheard of for people to "just pass through" the Staghnauk Mountains. They were remarkably far from any kind of civilization, and even farther still from anyplace that conducted business with things like credits. Those who were not born in the Staghnauks or the wilds surrounding them only made the journey to them for two reasons: to engage in an unforgettable, challenging hunt, or to disappear.

Roan was unsure which reason Capris had for coming here.

"Where are you headed?"

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

Yeahhh. Capris had known it was a piss-poor excuse the moment the words left her mouth. Wherever she was appeared to be an inhospitable stretch of white in every direction. She hadn't the slightest clue where she was or where she was headed. The only thing on her mind was escape, blindly hoping everything would fall into place after.

Capris stayed silent a moment, watching Roan as she watched her. She regarded the bow with intent, trying to draw her own conclusions. A skilled hunter, a loner, an unknown, a threat…. Or possibly a boon?

She decided she couldn't take the risk. Whoever this mandalorian was, she was undoubtedly a reserved, cautious individual. Intelligent enough to survive and steer her way through this hellscape with relative success. Alone no less. Capris couldn't fool her. And if she had any allegiance to whatever group the bounty hunter had managed to piss off, who's to say she wouldn't just hand her over?

Capris was an invader, an outsider, someone Roan owed nothing to.

The girl blinked, offering a nonchalant spin before gesturing to some vague point in the distance. "Uhh.. That way." She said dismissively as if that alone was sufficient information. "If that's alright with you." Capris didn't wait for confirmation of whether or not it was, in fact, alright. Instead she let her arm slip back into her cloak, seemingly intent on ending the interaction there.

Not that she really thought she'd be successful.

Roan Kir

 

[Roan Kir]

It wasn't until Capris turned in a small circle that Roan recognized the absence of her left arm. Were it not for the cloak wrapped around Capris's shoulders, she likely would have noticed it earlier. Even the passing glimpse she caught was enough for Roan's mind to conjure up a series of questions—most of which a more socialized individual might have thought better of asking.

How had she lost it? Had she even had one there to begin with? Why hadn't she replaced it with some kind of prosthetic? What if she'd lost her stand-in when she'd ended up in the area?

Before she could properly uncover more information, she watched as Capris pointed in another direction and started on her way. A few seconds passed as Roan considered whether she should tell the stranger that continuing in that direction would almost certainly lead her into clawcat territory. She was fairly confident that Capris could make use of her good arm to fight back against anything that threatened her, but she wasn't particularly enthused by the idea of Clan Kir's sacred beasts coming under fire from an aruetii.

So, she started after Capris, looking up at the fluffy snowflakes that fluttered through the air.

"You can call me Roan," she said as she mushed through the snow. "And you can tell me if you're lost, you know. Plenty of aruetiise have difficulty navigating the Staghnauks. I can help you find your way."

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

The goodwill of strangers was an unreliable thing, one Capris was cautious of putting her trust in. But what were her chances really? Keep wandering until karma caught up with her? Hopefully smuggle her way off of this glacial planet? Or swallow both her ego and distrust and use the tool at her disposal.

"Pretty name." Capris commented, mostly as a buffer while her mind worked through the deeper mechanics of this situation. Aruetiise. It wasn't a word she was familiar with, but context was a helpful substitute. She tried to wrack her brain for anything else she could remember of Mandalore and its culture, but her education as a padawan had been abnormally short. She'd never been the most attentive student either, seeing more of the battlefield than she ever did the classroom.

Capris exhaled and watched as her breath paled in the open air.

"I appreciate the offer, but I don't think you'd exactly want to get roped into my dilemma." She spoke carefully, finally regarding Roan anew. Capris felt overly perceived by the warrior- by the mask that kept her intentions so closely guarded.

With a small internal sigh, the girl shrugged. She was about to do something stupid.

"Or hell, maybe you do. Yeah, I'm lost, and also actively trying to avoid being sniped down by angry mandos."

The frankness was a bit purging.

"So if you have any suggestions on the quickest, least painful way to get off this iceberg, I'm all ears. You guys and your buckets scare me a bit if I'm being honest."

Roan Kir

 

[Roan Kir]

At Capris’s words, Roan cracked a grin beneath the cover of her buy’ce. Mandalorians did have a reputation for being rather difficult to read, if not for their faces being hidden by their helmets, then for their refusal to speak unless they had something worth saying. Roan knew well that she was guilty of both. Yet, her present offer was the most transparent she had been in a long while.

Initially, she was convinced that Capris would not take her for her word. For that, she couldn’t blame her. Roan would be equally skeptical of a stranger’s kindness in the middle of an unfamiliar world. There was no denying that such acts of good could occur, but members of Clan Kir knew better than to accept the risk anyhow.

Capris, for whatever reason, seemed to be in no position to deny help. Roan admired her willingness to divulge the truth of her situation–one which seemed particularly dire. There were few things in the galaxy more difficult than avoiding ending up in the crosshairs of a Mandalorian’s blaster. The fact that Capris had found herself in the sights of such capable warriors did not bode well for her.

Still, Roan had offered a hand, and she would not be made to go back on her word just because of the potential for danger.

“Follow me,” she instructed Capris as she picked up the pace and began setting off down the snowy slope at a slant. “We’ll cut through the woods. If anyone tries to take a shot at you, it’ll be difficult to get a clear one. Do you have a comlink? You may be able to get a signal once we’re further down the mountain.”

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

With no better options presenting Capris lagged a moment, watching Roan's back before falling in line behind her. She found it surprising that her admission had been so easily rewarded.

Roan then asked after a comlink, and Capris responded with a snort of amusement. It was a reasonable, informed suggestion, but Capris didn't exactly have anyone to phone home to. No one on her list who owed her favors, no one who could bail her out. She suddenly realized why all the self-imposed isolation may, in fact, have been bad for her. A flicker of hope materialized in the image of Talin, but that quickly burnt out into reality. There was no way she was going to ask that kid to drag her sorry ass to safety. If she could even get ahold of her in the first place.

"I don't think that's in the cards for me." Capris admitted. She lifted her one arm to reveal she had nothing of the sort on her. No comlink. No luggage. No weapons for that matter. Strangely she didn't seem all too perturbed by the notion.

The tattoos on her arm only flickered.

"I just need to sneak back into the city after things sufficiently cool down and find my ship." Sounded simple enough. Would most likely prove otherwise. Cuz’ Mandalorians.

The girl let her gaze fall back onto Roan.

"Why are you helping me?"

The question was sudden, but Capris rarely eased into things. Roan was sticking out her neck for her big time. A fact that didn't go unappreciated, but also couldn't go unexamined. Through her own series of mistakes, she'd hobbled onto foreign terrority like a ditzy tourist in need of a guide. And now she had one. Ashla knows she hadn't done anything in recent memory to deserve such a stroke of luck.

Roan Kir

 

[Roan Kir]

Capris's lack of a comlink would certainly prolong their little mission. Roan didn't particularly mind, though. It wasn't like she was dying to return to Laamyc Morut to receive an earful from her mother about her prolonged absence. She had departed with no warning, which had likely put both of her parents and a good chunk of her clan on high alert.

Roan couldn't be sure that was the case, but even if it was, it didn't matter. She had already given Capris her word. Going back on her word now would be only put Capris in just as much danger as she'd been in when they'd crossed paths. Plus, it would live in Roan's mind as indisputable proof that she wasn't reliable enough to be a leader for Clan Kir.

She was quiet for a moment as she mulled over what Capris had said. In order to find her ship, she needed to make it back to the nearest city. Roan wasn't even sure where that was, but she could lead Capris as far as she knew the way—although she couldn't deny that she was quite curious about the girl's starship.

The sound of Capris's voice was enough to pull Roan away from her thoughts of strange vehicles meant for flying through space, and a small grin played at her lips as she glanced over her shoulder. "I don't want to find your body on my mountain."

To Roan, it was very obviously a joke. However, it had come off every bit as dry as it was teasing. Such was the curse of possessing that notorious Clan Kir sense of humor.

"I'm kidding," Roan clarified with a bit of a laugh. "We have a saying in my clan. To live is not to seek happiness, but to seek honor and usefulness."

It was a sentiment drilled into even the youngest members of Clan Kir. There was nothing more important than being there for the clan and its allies. Roan had never gotten the opportunity to extend her aid to an outsider before, but she figured it wasn't any different. If she could successfully get Capris where she needed to go, then she would prove her usefulness.

"My turn. You have a starship?" Roan asked.

Capris Halcyon