Wind in My Sails

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Ad Yrá ‘Adder’ Kjormenkaur Traficit was a normal person.

To her credit, she only yelped when the massive fething bird landed before them. Most normal people would’ve screamed, gotten up, and run away flailing. It had looked huge against the cloud backdrop, and the intimate perspective did nothing to change that.

Except, maybe, to make it worse.

Her throat felt clogged with awe and fear as Adder craned her neck. Still, her efforts to capture the whole of the majestic creature – even with her artificial, augmented vision – proved in vain.

“This is amazing…”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

By their very nature Titavians weren't the most welcoming of species. The great Avians had a hanging concern about being hunted. Their huge skeletons and impressive feathers were sought after by collectors around the galaxy, and although the government of Naboo protected them, there were still hunters who would go after these massive beasts without much qualm.

It was not a fact Aela really liked to think about.

”Stay still.” It was all Aela could really manage to say, the strain in her voice more than evident as she tried to control the stream of consciousness coming from both herself and the massive bird.

Again and again she tried to reiterate one thing alone to the Titavian.

They were friends. It was an unbelievably difficult thing to actually do, expressing yourself to a degree where you could show a non-sentient creature you meant no harm. Aela pushed however, and after a few more minutes the Titavian slowly stepped closer.

 

[Adder]

”Stay still.”

Easier said than done when a bird the size of a corvette was looming over you. If it weren’t for extensive combat experience, Adder would’ve probably turned tail in that second. Somehow, she managed to stay still, trying to avoid imagining any scenario where the bird sat. Or moved. Or attacked.

Inexplicably, goosebumps pricked her skin.

Seconds trickled by, dragging their feet and stumbling all over like drunkards in a back alley. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Her palms were sweaty. And Aela— kark, she didn’t even want to think how it was in the head of a giant bird.

The ground shook as it lumbered forward, shifting the mass of a small vessel as it did. “Feth…” Adder breathed, leaning back as far as she could. “Is… is it safe now?”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"Kind of." Aela said quietly.

No matter how far one reached into the mind of a creature, no matter how well you knew them or how much you had trained them, they were still beasts.

It wasn't a disparaging term of course, but an accurate one. Titavians, Drexl, whatever you were raising or training they were still creatures and they still had extincts. Something could always go wrong, and even with Malfegor Aela had to be careful sometimes. No one was really ever safe, not when you were dealing with creatures four or five times your size. She frowned for a moment, looking at the Titavian before slowly pulling herself up to her feet.

"Slow." She said stepping forward. "Very slow."

For a second Aela paused, then looked at Adder. "And don't yell."

The Titavian slowly cocked it's head, glancing back and forth between the two women but not moving as Aela stepped closer.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

“I’m not yelling!” Adder hissed defensively.

With careful movements, she picked her limbs off the jagged rock. Her ass felt sore from sitting stock-still for so long, but she kept her mouth shut. Whatever got her out of this sticky jungle and off this damn island couldn’t come fast enough.

The redhead waited for Aela to move forward before she dared take a step. How the hell do birds even get so big was the only thing running through her head.

Her breath was shallow. Her heart was pounding. She wished she had her ship with her.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

For a brief moment Aela couldn't help but wonder what was wondering through the Titavians head. The creature was truly massive, bigger than she remembered them being. She caught glimpses of its thoughts of course, vague impressions and tiny snippets, but not everything she wanted. A slight frown pulled at her lips, eyes wandering up at the creature as she slowly approached it.

Her hand softly landed on its beak. "I think..."

The Titavian did not move for a moment, and then slowly leaned into Aela. It's touch was not harsh of course, but rather friendly. Slowly and gently it pressed against her palm, almost as if seeking to be pet. She frowned for just a moment more, then let out a slow, quiet sigh.

"We're okay." Her hand slowly stroked the creatures beak.

"Let's get down from here." She said carefully. "He'll follow us."

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

A red brow furrowed, and Adder averted her eyes from the giant bird for the first time in minutes. “What?”

Her hand paused mid-air – she’d been about to reach out, place a palm against its majestic beak – but now she was too busy staring at her friend. “Down? Weren’t we getting off this damn island?” She gestured towards the cliff edge with her chin, still as a statue. “That thing won’t ever fly down there.”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"We're going down the mountain." She told Adder with a slight grimace.

It was tough to talk and still maintain the tentative link she had with the Titavian. Doing so required siginificant effort, and she was feeling herself already get drained. She took a step forward, the Titavian slowly following behind her, almost as if it were curious.

"We need to get him." She gestured to the bird. "Away from the others."

Titavians generally liked staying in a flock. "We need to become...its new family for a lack of a better term."

For a little while at least.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Her mouth opened and closed a few times in mute protest. Adder flailed her arms – a bit. Quietly. Slowly.

“Aela,” she intoned, green eyes open wide. “We’re on a karkin’ cliff – there’s no away to get him except the damn jungle or the damn sea!”

Then it went from bad to worse. “Well— I’m— we’re both tiny compared to that… thing! And I can’t even talk to it!”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"It's going to follow us." She stated simply, same strain in her voice still. "Just walk."

It was all she could manage to say.

The force, unlike what many thought, wasn't something that just came at a whim. One had to concentrate, one had to feel and consciously attempt to control it. If this was going to succeed she needed to keep the bond between herself and the Titavian up and going, otherwise the bird would likely become somewhat angry and annoyed. Not something she wanted. "He'll tear down a few trees but its fine."

They would regrow.

"Come on." She urged Adder, beginning to wander down the exact way they had come.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

“... okay.”

Adder began the slow descent, glancing over her shoulder at the giant bird every two seconds. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, palms sweaty and brow furrowed. She’d rather be breath-diving to find the smashed bits of their ship to try and build a distress beacon.

No such luck.

The ground began to shake as the Titavian lumbered after the pair, giant feet grinding the pebbles under its weight.

What if it tripped? It’d smash them both into pancakes before either could jump out of the way.

Green eyes darted to the side.

Not that there was anywhere to jump out to, anyway. A hundred meter drop to the sea on her right, a thick, barely traversable jungle to the left.

If anything happened, they were screwed.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

The scene at this point must have looked more than a little bit comical.

The two women walked down the side of the mountain, a giant bird following after them. Surprisingly for Aela, the grand Titavian was actually rather calm. It followed after them without any coaxing or prodding. Perhaps it was driven by simple curiosity, or perhaps it was already taking a liking to them, but either way the huge avian continued to wander without even the slightest bit of encouragement.

"See?" She said quietly as they walked. "This isn't so bad."

There was a plateau half-way down the mountain that Aela figured would be far enough. Her eyes began to wander towards the different paths, watching the slight curve of the mountain to make sure they didn't miss where she wanted to go. "He's calm, we're calm."

Aela continued to speak in that gentle, soothing tone.

"Everything's okay." She wasn't entirely sure she wasn't convincing herself.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Wide green eyes turned to Aela in incredulity. “Calm?” Adder hissed so loud it was barely more than a squeal.

“You Jedi are mental, I swear. If I were any older I swear this’d give me a heart attack,” the cop shook her head, gluing her gaze to the unsteady footing.

Whatever effect the space magic seemed to have on the massive bird, it was all used up by the time Aela attempted her soothing tone on Adder. Nothing worked on the redhead. Perhaps she was too prone to worrying.

Perhaps it really was an absurd situation.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"It's fine." Aela told Adder as they continued to wander.

Behind them she could hear the Titavian begin to push against tree branches and the canopy of the forest. The grand Avian was finding it more difficult to move now, either breaking parts of the trees behind him or smashing into larger rocks. It squawked quietly, uncomfortably, but still followed along.

"We're okay." She continued to speak in that same tone. "Just picture that you're..."

Aela trailed off, what did Adder find relaxing? "You're wandering down a Coruscant street. Everything is good and okay, the thing behind you isn't actually a giant bird but instead just a droid that you're escorting."

That worked, right?

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

That… really, really didn’t work.

Adder sent her friend another wild look, staring at the blonde as if she’d suddenly grown a second head. “Have you ever walked down a Coruscant street, Aela?” The redhead didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, so she just gazed straight on ahead and tried to forget about the massive shadow crawling ahead of them.

And the sounds of creaking trees. And the grinding of cracking rock. And the flapping of giant win—

yeah, it wasn’t working.

“Just…” she puffed out an exasperated breath, “tell me something about Wroosti. Or Borleias.”

Coruscant was still a sore spot.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"No I have not." She stated plainly. "At least not when they were filled with other people."

Aela had been there during the Liberation, and the sack of Coruscant before that, but she figured that neither of those really counted for much of anything. The Jedi Master frowned slightly, thinking of exactly what she could tell Adder that might actually calm her down. Borleias was home, and home right now made her think of her parents who were gone which made her think of the fact that her father would never let her live this down.

Better to talk about Wroosti.

"It's small." She said quietly. "The Academy on Wroosti. It's nothing like the Temple back on Sullust, in comparison it's almost tiny."

She smiled. "The lessons are a bit closer too, there's only a handful of students so everyone gets attention and everyone can asks the questions they want. It's calm, peaceful."

She liked that.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

“Okay,” Adder stared beneath her feet now, because the incline was getting steeper and steeper and the last karkin’ thing she needed right now was to tumble the rest of the way downhill.

Or… was it?

It’d certainly save her the time she had to spend in the presence of this terrifying creature. She’d be down right quick, letting her breathe easy again.

If she survived.

Adder shook the stupid thoughts out of her head, chancing a glance at her friend. How was Aela so damn calm? She was even smiling. Crazy Jedi.

“I’m guessing it’s less military than Sullust too?” The Alliance had to train their Forcers to fight. First because of the One Sith – but now that those were ground into dust, they had the First Order to contend with to the west.

It was like playing a game of whack-a-mole.

For-fething-ever.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"There is no military." Which was in truth, Aela's favorite part of the whole thing. There was no fighting, no combat training, no soldiers trying to kill each other. There was peace and calm on Wroosti, to point where one could walk down the street without a care or worry in the world.

Crime was almost non-existent.

"It's nice." She said with a broad smile, forgetting momentarily about the giant bird trailing behind them. "Picture...typical quiet down, maybe you haven't experience that given you're from Coruscant but...it's just calm."

She'd said that a dozen times now, but Aela couldn't stress that fact enough. It was why she loved it. "You can come visit, my apartment has more than enough bedrooms."

Thanks to her parents money.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Momentarily, Adder was distracted from her worrying long enough to blink at Aela. “Bedrooms? Plural? Why’d you need more than one, girl?”

The redhead chuckled, shaking her head. “Yeah, alright. I might pop over. When the Alliance hasn’t got me on a tight leash with Wraith, at least…” she sighed, rubbing her brow. With hostilities escalating all the time on the border with the Order, she never knew when she’d be thrown out of bed in the middle of the night and rushed to her fighter.

Pretty stressful job at her age. Force knew she didn’t deserve it, either.

This was supposed to be a vacation for both of them. Instead… Adder glanced over her shoulder at the towering bird.

Yeah. Fat chance.

As usual, the universe came and kicked her in the arse.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

Wraith Squadron. Such an interesting place for Adder to end up. She supposed that it was only natural given her piloting skill, but the SIS...well she hadn't really ever pictured Adder landing there. Inwardly she shrugged, unconcerned about her friends decision.

"Well." Aela said. "I'm not going anywhere."

Not for the foreseeable future anyway. She liked Wroosti, she liked teaching there, and she liked spending time with the younglings. They were good kids and needed all the attention that she could give them. A small smile touched her lips, and then finally her concentration was drawn back to the massive Titavian that was still lumbering on behind them. It squawked loudly, shifting its weight and looking down at the two women as Aela half jumped into the air.

"Right!" She refocused herself.

"There is the plateau." Aela pointed to a stone outcropping then quickened her step. "We'll go from there."