[Jedi Mission] Dragons, Danger and Dunes, Oh My!

[Raif]

Owyn couldn't help but smile a bit as Aria rushed out of the tent. He too would have been embarrassed if he weren't so busy being so happy. Here was the girl he had fumbled and fawned over like a silly little boy for weeks now, and she had slept by his side through the entire night! That couldn't simply be her healing instincts, right? Some of it had to be that she felt for him what he was feeling for her.

Owyn basked in the feeling for a second, his arms folded behind his head in a look of pure contentment, until Tikk brought him back to real life with a vicious tug at his padawan braid.

"Ow! You blasted rat, I'm going to feed you to the next Dragon we find!"

Owyn laughed and chased Tikk good naturedly before pulling on his boots and clipping his training saber to his belt. Finally he stepped out into the early Tatooine sunlight, marveling for a moment at the twin suns rising from the horizon.

Looking around, Owyn saw three funny-looking beasts of burden nearby being loaded up for the day's travels. As much as he would love to go meet these creatures, however, Aria was of more importance to him. He quickly walked over to where she was standing, looking off away from the group. He reached his hand out and rested it on her shoulder, moving it down her back after a gentle squeeze. When she looked at him he grinned.

"Good morning. Are you alright?"

 

[AriaDran]

Aria smiled at Owyn, relaxing as she felt his hand lingering on her back. It wasn't nearly so awkward when Arrl wasn't around, at least. It almost felt normal even. She half expected him to kiss her, but then he was oepneing his mouth to ask if she was alright instead. She nodded slightly, looking away from Owyn again. He didn't really take a hint, did he?

"I'll be fine."

She spoke softly, bringing her saber over as she finished spoeaking, holding it out towards Owyn for him to take and put in that handy pocket of his. She had originally thought that would be enough of a hint - their Lightsaber was supposed to be their life, after all. But, she supposed it wasn't his fault he was so dense, as she knew he hadn't had much contact with females.

"Are you ready? Today's... probably going to be a lot harder then yesterday."

That there was a real risk of them all dieing she left unspoken, instead falling quiet and waiting to hear what he had to say.

 

[Raif]

Owyn reached his hand out as Aria extended her saber. Instead of grabbing the hilt, though, he rested his hand over hers, drawing her in a bit closer.

Ever since he had gotten away from the Jedi temple and out in the 'real world' he had felt like a whole new person. No more second-guessing himself, no more being unsure whether he was 'good enough.' He was a Jedi, and he liked this girl. Really liked her. This contact with Aria's hand only reinforced that, and he felt as if the Force itself was pushing him towards her. He leaned in, his lips approaching hers...

"I think we can do anything together. Don't you...?"

And once again, Arrl's impeccable timing interrupted the moment. The older man cleared his voice loudly and obnoxiously. He grinned widely as he spoke to his two companions.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something? Come on, guys, we've got some serious work to do."

 

[AriaDran]

Aria's breath caught as Owyn's hand came to rest on hers and as he leaned in her eyes would slowly close. She was just begining to lean back towards him when Arrl spoke, then cleared his throat. Her eyes slipped open and she looked over at him with a frown. He certainly did know how to ruin a moment. She moved her hand, shifting it out of Owyn's and placing the cold metal of her lightsaber into his hand instead.

She let it go and trusted him to be holding on to it, then turned and walked over to one of the smelly beasts. She picked one at random and mounted it, then looked back over at Arrl, masking her emotions behind an excellent poker face.

"Well, are we going or not?"

 

[Raif]

Owyn blinked for a few seconds, dumbfounded by the quick turn of events. He then shook his head as he tucked Aria's lightsaber in his pocket. Well, there was always next time...

As he walked by Arrl, the young padawan shot the older man a half-scolding, half-pleading look.

"Thanks a lot, Arrl."

"Ah, don't mention it my boy. Just trying to keep your eye on the prize. You two will have time enough for each other after we deal with what needs to be dealt with."

Owyn turned his gaze to Aria, who was by now seated on her Eeopie.

"I really hope so..."

He stopped speaking as he drew closer to the creature that would be his own mount for the day. Owyn reached out to the beast, both physically and through the Force:

Hello, friend. Thank you for helping us today. Would you mind if I rode with you?

In response, the normally less-than-friendly creature setttled down onto its knees, making it easier for Owyn to climb on. Tikk rushed ahead onto the beast, taking a spot right on the pommel of the saddle. Owyn patted the creature's neck in thanks, then had the beast stand and amble over to Aria and Arrl. He left the reins hooked around the pommel, trusting his own connection with his mount to provide all the guidance needed.

Arrl led the way as the three set off, shouting over his shoulder to be heard.

"Alright, here we go. The tracks lead north, just like I thought. Make sure to stay together and keep an eye out at all times. The Jundland Wastes may look empty, but there are plenty of dangers just waiting to take the unweary by surprise. And make sure to stay hydrated! This heat can be a real killer."

 

[AriaDran]

Aria mumbled to herself as she got her beast moving, waiting until both Owyn and Arrl had started moving. She kept her own beast a few feet back of them, out of talking range but close enough for either party to shout warning or important info between them. She was trying to make it clear that she wasn't in a talking mood. If either of them looked back at her during the journey, she would always be looking off in the distance, usually to the side but sometimes straight ahead, her face an expressionaless mask. Whatever she was thinking about seemed to be taking up most of her concentration.

 

[Raif]

The three marched on in relative silence for hours. Several times Owyn began slowing his mount in an attempt to engage Aria in conversation, but every time Tikk chattered angrily at him to stop. It seemed the small primate was more in tune with her feelings than Owyn was, for without Tikk's head's up the young padawan was completely oblivious that something seemed to be bothering her.

So he kept his mouth shut, gave her time to deal with her feelings, and kept his eyes scanning across...sand. And rock outcroppings. But mostly sand, sand, and more sand as far as the eye could see. It was as the day was approaching it's hottest point, with both suns almost directly overhead, that Arrl finally broke the monotony by pointing over a sand dune in the distance.

"Look! There, do you see it! Smoke, and a fair amount of it too!"

The older man looked over his shoulder to guage the reactions of his younger teammates. Maybe they had finally found what they had been searching for...

 

[AriaDran]

Aria broke out of her trance as Arrl shouted, her eyes focusing on him and then moving to where he was pointing. She brought her beast to a stop, jaw dropping at the sheer volume of smoke. something was burning, and from the look of it something big.

She reached for her canteen, slowly opening it and then taking a long drink as she studied the smoke and wondered what was burning. It was a hot enough day as it was, and would only get hotter when they were close to the fire. She had to make sure she wouldn't be dehydrated. She closed it up and put it away before looking over to Owyn.

"That's got to be where we're going."

She held a hand out towards him, silently asking for her lightsaber back. Might as well go in prepared this time.

"I'm ready when you are."

Any trace of whatever had been troubling her was gone, replaced by anxiety for what they were probably about to encounter. It wouldn't be a walk in the park.

 

[Raif]

Owyn immediately looked to where Arrl was pointing, using both his eyes and the Force.

"I sense...pain, and anger. Sounds like the Dark side to me."

As Aria pulled alongside and reached out for her saber, Owyn gave her a big smile as he handed it over, then hurried to follow Arrl. The older man was urging his Eopie up the mountain of a sand dune that stood between them and the source of the smoke.

As they neared the top, Arrl hopped down and motioned for the other two to follow on foot. Sneaking to the peak, he and the others glanced over and were greeted with a full view of what lay on the other side.

"By the Force..."

At the base of the sand hill lay a primitive looking settlement. Or rather, what used to be a settlement. All that remained was debris and smoking ruins. Simple animal-hide shelters were smashed to bits, and bodies littered the landscape like so many children's toys.

Another stream of curses left Arrl's mouth before he spoke up again.

"Tuskens. I hate the filthy savages, but this...I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemies."

~~~

Owyn was shocked at what he saw of the destroyed Tusken camp. The logical side of his brain, which told him that the Krayt they battled the night before must be the cause of this, was drowned out. The stench of death, both tangible and through the Force, was almost nauseating. Despite that, though, his training took over and he reached out again, more strongly this time, with the Force in the hope of maybe locating some survivors.

"I don't...I don't think there are any survivors down there, but..."

He was immediately hit with a sense of imminent danger, shrouded in anger and overwhelming pain. It was not coming from in front of them, the direction of the camp, however...

"Behind us!!"

Owyn whirled around and was greeted with the sight of 8 humanoids, wrapped in robes and cloths, screaming in an unknown dialect and waving oddly shaped metallic weapons of some kind. Obviously while Owyn, Aria and Arrl had been scoping out the camp, these Tuskens had encircled them.

Owyn's saber was in his hand, but for some reason it remained unlit. The Tuskens were not attacking, just screaming and yelling. On closer examination not one of them seemed to have escaped the fate of their camp without some form of injury - most with gashes covered in dried, crusty blood, but one with a leg sticking out at an unhealthy angle and what appeared to be its collarbone sticking out through its robes.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria set her beast to climbing the mountain as well after her lightsaber was in hand, then dismounted and moved up on foot, finally crawling to the top. She also gasped at the destruction, her eyes going wide. The Dragon was clearly evil to do something like, with so many innocent lives being lost. Even if they were Tusken Raiders, the women and children at the very least would be innocent.

She looked over at Owyn, and was about to open her mouth to agree when he shouted his warning. She spun quickly, her saber coming up but also not igniting right away. She gaped at the Tusken raiders, her eyes immediately going to their wounds, and a frown developed. These poor humanoids had barely escaped the destruction in their village, and had been badly wounded in the process.

She made up her mind quickly on what to do. She set her lightsaber down beside Owyn and stood up from the sand, then started walking towards the Tusken Raiders. She kept both hands up, palms forward so that they could see that she meant them no harm, and tried to speak to them in common, though she wasn't sure they would understand.

"We mean you no harm. Please, let me tend to your wounds. I can heal you."

 

[Raif]

"Aria! What the frak..."

Arrl's shouted warning died off as he realized what she intended. The little girl was brave, that was for sure, but she may be a bit barvy too. Ah well, they were outnumbered, so he would keep his voice down for now and be ready to act if he had to.

~~~

Owyn had to bite back his own warning when he saw Aria go forward. He was almost paralyzed with fear for a second, fear that something terrible would happen to her, but it passed quickly. She was well on her way to being a damn good Jedi, and as she had shown last night she knew a thing or two about healing, so he had to trust her.

"Let me know if you need me to do anything..."

As he spoke, he reached out through the Force towards the Sand People. He knew they weren't beasts, but he also knew they likely couldn't communicate with them either, and so he relied on what he knew best. Just like he had done thousands of times with dozens of different creatures in the past, Owyn poured positive, warm thoughts out into the Force.

We are friends. We can help.

He repeated this mantra over and over as Aria slowly stepped closer to the Tuskens. As she got within arm's reach he had to fight back the urge to tense up. If anything was going to happen, now would be the time...

~~~

As Aria stepped up to the most grievously injured Tusken, the other Raiders hooted and hollered even louder, gesticulating wildly with their gaderfii sticks. The hurt one, though, seemed to have no fight left in him. With a sad, low noise he dropped his weapon to the sand and lowered his hands to the side. He said something in his own language which was completely unintelligible, but he got the point across: if Aria could do anything to help him, she was welcome to try.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria smiled warmly as the Tusken Raiders didn't attack her. The badly injured one at the very least seemed to be content to let her try and heal him, which was a good start. She was sure the others would let her heal them after they saw her heal this one. Looking at his wounds, however, she wasn't sure how much she'd have left after healing him. She'd just have to do enough to heal him enough that the wounds closed and he could do the rest naturally, so she would have enough for all of them.

"Keep an eye out for the Dragon?"

She called out to Owyn, because she really didn't want a Dragon deciding to come eat them while she was concentrating on healing. Now, the first thing to do would be to set the bones. She considered for a moment, then decided to start with his collarbone. She brought her hands up to his shoulder, setting them around the break.

"Sorry, this is going to hurt."

She tried to sound as comforting as she could, but then she suddenly jerked the bone back into place. She cringed at the cry that would invariably be let out, but then shut it out and concentrated on the Force. She asked for its help and opened herself to it, then asked it to mend the wound. The bones started mending quickly, then the skin closed up around it, bringing with it some relief for the injured Tusken. She healed it to the point where it wouldn't bother him much, but it would be sore until he rested it for a few days.

She continued on with his legs, which took more then his collarbone had out of her, and then as she finished she looked up to the other Tusken Raiders. As she expected, they all had no problem with letting her come and heal their wounds. It took her most of an hour, but soon she was done - they would all live, though they would need a few days to be one hundred percent. She probably would too - at least a good night's rest, she figured, though it wasn't even close to night time and they still had a Dragon to fight.

She stood from the last Tusken Raider and walked slowly over to Owyn, then turned and plopped down next to where he was sitting. She leaned on him, head moving to rest on his shoulder, and was obviously exhausted.

 

[Raif]

Owyn watched as Aria worked. She was gutsy, that was for sure. Walking unarmed into a group of possibly hostile aliens was not something Owyn would likely have done.

But Aria was different. He grinned as he watched her work, her brow furrowed in concentration. She was cute- no, beautiful was the right word, even when she was elbow deep in Tusken blood.

He poured energy into her as she worked, hoping that he could possibly help reinforce her through the Force. By the time she was done, though, it was obvious a lot had been taken out of her. As she sat down next to him, Owyn looked up at Arrl.

"Sorry kids, but we can't stop for too long. Maybe thirty minutes, then we have to get back on the trail."

Owyn turned to look at Aria, bringing his hand up gently under her chin to bring her eyes level with his.

"How about you close your eyes and rest? I'll get the Eopies ready for the trek.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria smiled at Owyn as he gently guided her head to look at him, then nodded thankfully. A bit of a rest was just what she needed right now. She brought her hand up to pat his shoulder, once again glad that he was here.

"Alright. Thank you."

She sat up a bit so that he could stand without her falling over, then laid back onto the soft sand. After a moment she rolled over onto her stomach, an arm coming up for her head to rest on. The sun was simply too bright to be able to rest at all on her back.

She was fast asleep in a matter of moments, and when it was time to go Owyn or Arrl would have to wake up her. With how tired she felt, she wouldn't be waking up for quite a while without help from one of them.

 

[Raif]

Owyn walked off and made sure their beasts were ready for travel, then headed back to where he had left Aria. Tikk had stayed with her 'to protect her,' he said. Owyn stared down at her as she slept, then sat down next to her in the sand. He took a long pull from his water bottle, gently stroking her hair while she slumbered.

In what seemed way too short a period of time Arrl interjected with his trademark throat-clearing, and Owyn sighed. There was work to be done, after all. He reached down and gently nudged Aria's shoulder, hoping to wake her up without too much of a start.

"Wake up, Aria. Time to go."

 

[AriaDran]

Aria slept peacefully on the sand, despite the fact that when she woke up they'd be going to fight a dragon. Part of it was due to Owyn being close and stroking her hair, though she only noticed subconsciously, but most of it was due to how tired she was.

She stirred awake, slowly opening her eyes as Owyn nudged her shoulder. She took in a deep breath, then let it out in a sigh as she pushed herself up. She grabbed her lightsaber as she stood, then moved to her Eeopie and clambered up onto it. She reached for the reins, holding them in one hand and her lightsaber in the other. She looked to Owyn, still looking tired but at least a bit more rested, and smiled slightly.

"Alright. Let's get this over with so I can sleep, hey?"

She winked at him, then looked to Arrl and nodded, her face growing serious. She didn't want him to think she was taking this all as a joke.

 

[Raif]

Once they were all mounted and ready to go, they bid their Tusken 'friends' adieu and headed deeper into the Wastes. Arrl once again took point, his trained eye keeping them glued to the Krayt's tracks. Although, in all honesty, the mighty beast appeared to have barreled across the terrain at breakneck speed, leaving behind signs that a Kowakian monkey-lizard would have been able to follow.

Owyn didn't mind one bit that Arrl was preoccupied, however, for it gave him a chance to drop back and speak with Aria. He smiled warmly at her as his Eopie trundled along silently next to hers.

"You know, in all the craziness today I forgot to tell you how amazing you have been so far. First the Krayt, now the Tuskens; I am impressed! I had no idea I was with such a badass Jedi."

He said the words good-naturedly, but he really meant the compliment behind them. Aria had been great, tackling every hurdle that came their way with skill and confidence. Owyn's attraction to the girl was growing by the minute.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria smiled as Owyn dropped back to speak to her. She was in a talking mood now, even though she was still tired from doing so much healing. She looked slowly over at him, studying him and his posture as he complimented her. She read the compliment behind his words, looking away to the path ahead before letting a smile appear on her face.

"Don't thank me."

She fell silent, both to give him time to reflect on her words and to collect her thoughts. She thought back over what all had happened already on their mission, and it wasn't even over yet. Her smile grew as she looked back towards him, though she was too shy to meet his eyes.

"When I was hesitant, you firmed my resolve. When I was weak, you made me strong. And when I was scared, you made me feel safe. You've been my rock, keeping me on solid ground. So don't thank me. If you weren't here, I wouldn't have been able to do anything."

She finally brought her eyes to meet his, but only for a fleeting second as she finished speaking with three soft words.

"So, thank -you-."

 

[Raif]

Owyn grinned sheepishly as she responded. He wasn't used to praise, so he was a bit unsure how to respond. He didn't want her to deflect all of the credit onto him, though, that was for sure.

"Aria, don't sell yourself short. When I look at you, there's a sparkle that I can't help but notice; it's like a glimmer of something great inside of you, just waiting for a chance to get out. And I have seen it 'get out' twice now. You are going to be an amazing Jedi one day, probably one day soon. I mean, I think you're pretty amazing already.

Owyn was a bit embarrassed after he spoke; he wasn't exactly the most eloquent person under normal circumstances, yet here he was baring his feelings in the middle of the desert.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria continued smilling as Owyn spoke, and again his words were full of compliments. She considered what he said for a few moments, then guided her Eeopie closer to his. She reached a hand out and gingerly took one of his, her eyes returning to his. And then she put him on the spot with a personal question, one she wondered if he would even be able to answer.

"So what is it exactly about me that you find 'pretty amazing?"

She grinned after asking. It was always fun to watch him when she confronted him about personal things. He usually even turned red with embarassment, so she naturally would exploit it - it was fun for her, anyways, even if it weren't so fun for him.