Wind in My Sails

[Adder]

Adder’s face remained blank, which was to be expected when one’s conversation partner drops unknown names. “And… what’s the Rising Tide?” Another quirked eyebrow. She was feeling more and more stupid with every question. [member="Aela Talith"] reduced her to a constant flux of confusion, for more reasons than she cared to admit.

“But those things are huge!” She exclaimed, shaking her head in wonder even as her lips pulled up into a smile. “You still have that drexl baby? Though… it’s probably not a baby anymore, is it? Force.” Adder sighed, looking away from the Jedi and out to the sea.

Far too often, time slipped away between her fingers. Before she knew it, a year flew by, and then suddenly, it was five. Soon, it was going to be another decade of pains and bitterness, a new layer of unresolved issues and grief.

She looked down and carefully pried her white-knuckled grip off the rail. With sheer will alone, she called up the newer, brighter memories of Coruscant to the fore of her mind. The troops of the Alliance marching through familiar streets, banishing the entrenched darkness. Adder didn’t harbor any illusions; the battle to weed out the Sith presence was going to be uphill, long, and difficult – if not outright impossible – but at least now there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Sorry, drifted off a bit there,” she said and offered Aela an apologetic smile. “Should we get going?”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

Aela waited for just a moment, saying nothing as the ship drifted out deeper into the sea. "Malfegor."

She said finally.

"That's the Drexl's name." Aela had named him after an ancient myth that was prevalent in the outer rims. Malfegor had been a Demon that haunted the night times, not necessarily evil, but known for stealing livestock and making off with it. Aela had thought that the creature had likely been real at one point, probably some type of Arkanian Star Dragon, but she'd first heard of the legend in one of her books and had always enjoyed it quite a great deal. "He's back on Borleias right now, doesn't like the Temple."

Sullust was too small for the great beast. "And we're already going."

Aela made a gesture towards the water around them.

Sailboats didn't move very fast, at least not at first. They relied heavily on momentum and the push of the winds. It would get better once they were out on the ocean open, where the wind wasn't blocked by trees, buildings, and half a dozen other aspects that were so crowding here on Naboo.

 

[Adder]

“Malfegor,” Adder echoed after a small pause, brow furrowed. “Sounds ominous. Not really a name for a Jedi's dragon, is it?” She glanced over at Aela with a small smile curling her lips, softening the words to a good-natured jibe.

“Huh.”

So they were. The redhead leaned over the railing for a few moments, gazing into the foam below. The sprouts of white quickly faded back into blues and greens, skipping across the tops of the waves as their sleek sailboat cut across the surface. It was… smoother than what she’d anticipated. What little experience she had with conventional ships was limited at best, and even then confined to unusual conditions. Surreptitious meetings in the dead of night, far out on the tumultuous seas.

“This is nice,” she said after another quiet spell, turning around to face the blonde. As they picked up speed, the wind followed suit and grabbed at the hair now flitting across her face. She smoothed the strands aside with an irritated noise, ducking a bit lower as she leaned on the hull.

“Do you do it often? Sail your boat, I mean. On Borleias.”

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"He's not a Dragon." Aela insisted, and he really wasn't. Dragons were built differently. She'd seen a few of their species, and they were thinner, smaller, more streamlined. Drexl on the other hand were all muscle. Most of the creatures were intimidating on a good day, on a bad one they were downright terrifying. Malfegor was perhaps not a pretty name, but it was one that she liked.

History was a precious thing to Aela, especially poorly recorded histories.

They were the ones most often forgotten, the ones that people didn't like to speak of. To Aela it was they that deserved to be repeated the most. She frowned for a moment as she cast her gaze towards the distant horizon, spotting some storm clouds slowly brewing there. She turned the ship in the opposite direction, knowing that they would eventually have to make land somewhere if the storm caught up to them. Aela formed a mental note, then returned to speaking to Adder.

"He's a Drexl." Aela restated. "And his name is historical."

She nodded her head as if that was the end of it, then answered Adder. "No. I don't go home much anymore. Not enough time."

 

[Adder]

“What does it mean?” Malfegor wasn’t terribly nice on the ears, whatever Aela said. In her typical fashion, Adder remained a skeptic to the bitter end.

Her face fell a bit, and the redhead closed her eyes. It was always home, wasn’t it? Before they could reappear, Adder stifled the images of her home. Coruscant, for all it used to mean to her, wasn’t her home anymore. Not for a while now. The skies was where she lay her head down now, and Force willing, her apartment on Sulon. It was too small and too hot, but it was a bed to call her own, and that was enough.

She’d never been a greedy person. Life on the beat had taught her what it does to people, turned her away for good.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and meant it. A sad little smile twisted her lips, and Adder wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly it had gotten very cold.

“Being the good guy is a pretty thankless job.”

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"It doesn't mean anything." She said, then corrected herself a moment later. "At least that I know."

Aela frowned for a moment, trying to remember exactly where the stories originated. Eventually she gave up. "He's named after a story about a monster, not necessarily a bad monster, but one that was known all around Wild Space. Apparently this monster would fly around from planet to planet, scaring villages and occasionally eating bantha and such, but also protecting those villages from pirates and the like."

It was a myth of course, no telling if it was true, but Aela liked to believe.

Stories like that had always fascinated her. There was an odd duality to the 'character' of Malfegor. He had apparently been terrifying to behold, had preyed on the livestock of many villages, but had ultimately been the good guy in many tales. She found that intensely interesting, and oddly enough saw the resemblance between something like that and the roll that her father had played for so many billion in the Moross Crusade. Perhaps it was justification, but it helped her come to terms with it all.

"It's alright. It's not that bad." She said with a smile, actually meaning her words too.

 

[Adder]

“Protector of the weak, huh?” Adder drew her jacket tighter around herself as she chuckled. The winds were starting to pick up as they neared the open sea, and she was starting to regret not packing something warmer. She trampled down a shudder with a vengeance. Directed mostly at herself.

The indifferent If you say so had almost slipped off her tongue, but she’d caught herself. This wasn’t just anyone. This was Aela.

Adder sighed, dipping her head for a moment to worry her lip in secret.

“You sure?”

It might have been foolish on her part, assuming that anyone else shared the problems that burdened her. But for friends, she’d gladly suffer that small embarrassment rather than let them suffer in silence. She’d heard ‘alright’ and ‘fine’ often enough from people wrecked by guilt and doubt, and they’d never carried even half the load the Jedi did.

Adder pried her gaze off the brushed planks of the deck and met the blonde’s eyes. Her smile was barely there.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She shrugged. "I never minded."

That was oddly true in a way. She had never really thought about it actually. Going home was nice, but...well she liked what she did. She liked to think about the good that she had done, about the people she had saved, about the lives that she had made better. Aela genuinely enjoyed those thoughts, and when she got to meet some of the people that she had effected? Well she practically beamed with joy. It had always been that way, and although going home was great...well she preferred saving people.

That was something she'd gotten from her mother. Kira would always go above and beyond to save people.

"There aren't many people capable of doing what I am." That was simply true. Aela was incredibly talented in both the force and combat. "If I don't do what I do, then there won't be anyone else."

That was a bit egotistical, and not exactly true either. There were plenty of other Jedi, plenty of other good guys. Perhaps Aela simply felt like she belonged in the Jedi Order, that the front lines, the battles is where she did her best. "I mean...there are other Jedi...but..."

She trailed off.

 

[Adder]

“That—” Adder bit her tongue, a deep crease marring her forehead. What was she going to say? As the momentary wave of righteous anger in her chest settled, so did she. Closed her eyes, took in a few deep lungfuls of fresh sea on the air. Licked her dry lips.

“That’s… not true, Aela.” An edge had crept into her tone out of nowhere, surprising them both. “You shouldn’t have to bear so much pressure just because you’re good at something. It’s unfair.” The quick fury ebbed into world-weary sadness, and the frown drooped.

“At this pace, you’re going—,” Adder caught herself before her voice turned into a yell. Tried once more. “You’re going to burn out,."

"Force-damned hero-complex selfless frakking Jedi," she muttered under her breath, half-hearted.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She shrugged. "I know."

Admitting that was actually pretty easy.

"My dad told me the same thing." Soliael had never really been a proponent of what Aela was doing with the Alliance, in fact he'd been almost completely against it from the start. Her father had always argued that serving the Alliance, doing what she did, would lead to her being either burned out or dead. There had been a bitterness to his tone, not towards her, but to the Alliance. Soliael didn't like the thought of his daughter sacrificing herself for anyone.

Her mother had been somewhat of the same mind, though she had understood it better. The need to save, to rescue.

"I know I have to take it easy sometimes." She said with a slight frown. "That doesn't make it any easier."

Vacation was...well nearly impossible when it came to being a Jedi.

 

[Adder]

The urge to throw up her hands and yell ‘Bullshet’ was strong. Adder was stronger, if only by a narrow margin. She bit back the angry retort, knowing full-well she was furious more at herself than the blonde. Force knew she had the exact same problem.

Adder closed her eyes and sighed into the wind.

“Well,” she puffed out at length. “This is a start, right?” Uncrossing her arms, the redhead straightened her back and pushed off the rail. “Nether, it’s a great start. Look at us. Vacationing. Some bystander could mistake us for normal people!”

She laughed, green eyes sparkling with mirth. “Guess I’ll just have to drag you out to the sea more often, I suppose.” The deck swayed a bit beneath her feet as they cut through a large wave, and Adder caught herself against the wheel.

“Maybe next time you could show me that fancy ship of yours. And the islands. Solar sails, right?”

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"It's back on Sullust." Aela pointed out. The planet wasn't exactly Adder's favorite, even with the Jedi Temple sitting above the surface of the oddly volcanic world. Of course, The Rising Tide could easily meet her halfway somewhere else. The ship was designed to function on an almost entirely automatic basis. Aela of course couldn't fly the damned thing, so it had about two dozen droids that did that for her. The system wasn't perfect, the droids weren't as creative as human or alien pilots, but they did the job.

"But." She continued. "It's nice to take it through nebulas."

There was something oddly tantalizing about seeing the sails within the cosmic dust. "Provided you don't run into any giant monsters."

That was a surprising problem in the galaxy, and Aela wasn't really up to par when it came to taming creatures the size of Starships. Malfegor had been enough trouble for her when he had been just a larvae, she couldn't even imagining trying to tame something bigger...like an exogorth.

An odd shudder ran through her.

 

[Adder]

“I…” Adder closed her eyes again. She reached up with a hand to smooth the wrinkles in her brow, again.

“So, let me get this straight. Your fancy solar sails ship can… sail through water, but also space, and you fight giant monsters with it?” Her voice started climbing into dangerous octaves there at the end, green eyes just a tad too wide.

Then she snorted, shoulders sagging.

“Oh. Oh, I see. You’re pulling my leg, [member="Aela Talith"].” She shook her head, grin firmly back in place. “Well played, madam. Well. Played.”

Her, the Marshal, who could rout whole Sith armies but couldn’t pilot anything bigger than a speeder? Sailing an amphibious ship through space hunting exogorths? A likely story.

Still, Adder appreciated this newfound levity, evident in the tiny smile now caressing her features. The Jedi’s humor had always been stilted at best. Seems she was finally coming into her own.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She looked confused for a moment. "No..."

There really were monsters in space.

"Exogorths, Oswafts, half a dozen different creatures like to float around in space." Float wasn't really the right word for it. Some of them were predators, others...well others were a little bit more mysterious. Oswafts for instance were essentially peaceful, not really known for attacking ships of any sorts, but their reason for doing anything had never really been documented or discovered. Yet they were fairly well known throughout the galaxy. "Thats why certain trade routes are so dangerous."

She tapped her nose. "Oswaft's especially can get a bit finicky. They don't attack, pretty much ever, but they're big enough that even capital ships can sustain a lot of damage running into them."

Aela nodded as if confirming the information for herself.

Space wasn't exactly empty. A lot of it was barren of course, but life always found a way.

 

[Adder]

Aaaaand it was gone.

Adder sighed, but didn’t find it in her heart to elaborate on her statement. “I know there are monsters in space, Aela,” she said with a good-natured shake of the head.

Her mouth stretched into a lopsided, near-on impish grin. She leaned forward, long strands of red hair casting a burgundy shadow over her face. The emerald of her eyes sparkled. She wet her lips, then spoke in a conspiratorial murmur.

“I rode with Oswafts once.”

It was no lie either, and no tall tale. In those first years after she’d fled Coruscant, Adder had wandered far and wide, exploring the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Just her and her ship, two silent companions enjoying the solitude of the universe.

Much as the rocking of the ship underfoot was a balm for her long-frayed nerves, nothing could hold a candle to deep space exploration. How she’d turn the engine off and just let the solar winds cradle her gently while she stood against the viewport, soaking in the unearthly beauty of it all. She’d seen the births of stars, the dust they left behind as they died.

Nothing quite like it.

Adder pulled back. Grinned. Winked.

“I’ll show you ThonBoka one day. Just you wait.”

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

"I've seen it." Aela said with a wide smile. "My Sister and I went there once."

Maleah had always like animals, and Oswagts? Oh yes, they were in their own special department. There were few creatures in the galaxy that had the same allure as Oswafts. The massive creatures were something that most people thought could only exist in myth. As large and starship and crafted with an odd sort of grace that would make even the most talented dancer jealous. It was startling just how big the creatures were, not to mention how they looked. "It reminded me o-"

Aela cut off as something suddenly rocked the ship.

She frowned slightly, her hands tightening on the wheel as the sailing boat pressed back and forth, pushed from side to side not by waves, but by something completely unseen.

"What the..." Aela trailed off quietly, half standing on her tip-toes to peer over the side of the ship. "Did you see something?"

Something had touched the ship, rocked it, and it wasn't waves. The sea was surprisingly steady today, and the wind lulling the ocean waves back and forth and a very steady rate. Something else had pressed against the boat, something unseen.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Of course she did.

With a sigh, Adder pulled her best pout. “I never get to show you anything,” she muttered under her breath and wrapped her arms protectively around herself. Was the wind picking up agai--

A quick hand saved her from sprawling all over the deck. Immediately, her fingers went to the holster of her Westar, eyes wide.

“Maybe it’s just curious dolphins?” Maybe you should’ve looked up local fauna, stupid.

She mirrored Aela and carefully peeked over the other side. Cybernetics scanned the blue depths below, and found them empty. Sheeeeit.

“I don’t know! You’re the Jedi!”

That was definitely not panic creeping into her voice. And feth, she hated the non-panic. Why couldn’t something, anything go right for once? Just once?

Shet dammit.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

A frown pulled at her lips. She tried to remember all of the creatures within the oceans of Naboo, realizing that the only one she actually knew of was the Sando Aqua Monster, a creature that most definitely wasn't this close to the surface...she hoped. "I..."

The Jedi Marshall trailed off as the boat was once again suddenly rocked from side to side.

This time she nearly fell over with how much the boat shook from side to side. She barely managed to catch herself against the wheel, half falling forward as the sail became slightly tattered above her. She scowled, her eyes flicking over into the water. She barely caught sight of a massive black shadow that moved beneath the water, a hint of a red fin dipping beneath the waves just a dozen or so meters away from the ship. Her stomach dropped.

"We have to get to land." She said suddenly. "There should be a GPS...map...something."

A hint of panic touched her voice.

 

[Adder]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Oh, good. So the Jedi was panicking too.

Cold dread froze her blood for a precious second, mind screeching to a halt. She knew it well, like an old, abusive lover. Felt it a thousand times over while crawling through the trash of the Coruscant underworld, and all the underworlds that came after.

Then the body remembered all the times she’d made it out alive, and shook off the chains of fear.

“Alright. GPS.”

She pushed off the rail and practically flew down the stairs to the cabin. The door hissed open and Adder barged in, beelining for the navicomputer. Thanking some unknown entity for small miracles – or small technology, as the case may be – the redhead couldn’t turn on the autopilot fast enough.

“Done!” she yelled out.

The real question here was if they could get to land fast enough.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She tried to trace whatever it was that was swimming beneath the water, at the very least try to follow it so that she would know where it would next pop up. The shadow moved quickly however, disappearing deep beneath the waves one second and then reappearing just moments later. Every time it would either rock against the ship or just by it, revealing half a red fin but never a gaping maw. Was it waiting for something? Aela's lips thinned.

"Find us land!" She shouted towards Adder as the ship went rocking once more.

At the same time Aela went scrambling towards the center of the ship, pulling as taught lines and making sure that the secondary sail smoothly fell from the mast. There was a strong gust of wind and then the ship half surged forward as both sails caught it. The control wheel began to spin, sending them veering to the left, though Aela hardly cared.

They needed to get away.

Whatever that thing was it was big enough to rock the ship, likely big enough to capsize it.

The Marshall bounded back towards the wheel, grasping it and quickly swinging herself behind it once more to control the powerful veer towards the left. The wind picked up, the ship moved faster, and the shadow beneath the water followed.