Ask The Wayfarer: A Wrong Turn

[Darth Tiamat]

He seemed to have an idea on what he needed to do to keep them both safe as she readied to eject herself from the speeder, stuffing her holopad back into her bag. However, she felt her senses flare, cautioning her as Byron hit the breaks; she jerked forward and saw the creature fly off from the speeder. Her blue eyes were wide and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the she climbed out of the speeder, hearing Byron yell for her to go to the village. However, it was in her fashion to do what she felt best for her and even if she were to take off to the village, what wasn't to say the cat wouldn't give chase. They needed to stop the predator.

Tiamat stood her ground, throwing her pack onto her shoulders as she watched Byron take on the ice beast. The Force shifted, a drastic contrast to the light of Spintir as she extended her palms, feeling the beast in her grasp, having watched Byron, he needed a steady target to ensure the beast will know who is in charge.

However, she found herself stopping, her fingers and shoulders relaxing realizing the sheer brute display and the sudden urges she had to do the same to the beast. Pain rippled through her body as she was reminded of her own heavy handed display against Emryc; she felt herself inhale a shallow breath and stopped. Her fingers closed and she withdrew her fists to her chest as she watched the beast rise again. It shook its head, seeming shaken up, but still agitated enough to not back down.

The beast turned to Byron again, but Tiamat stood in silence, the Force extended from her again as she focused intently on the beast.

@Darasuum

 

[Orenth]

Both of Byron's arms were raised, hands out and ready but with palms open. He tried his best to sense its desires, why it was attacking them aside from the obvious. There was a hunger for food like any animal but a special animosity that pulled at the edges of the man's senses.

It growled, the snowy colored wolf snapped it's jaws and shifted in the ground as the Knight tried to take a step forward in a calm manner. Byron tried to make a connection with the beast. The cold, the hunger, Byron felt the truth of the ice wolf's circumstance. The man tried to bring those pleasant memories and moments of satisfaction to the forefront of the animals thoughts.

A moment would pass and the growling lessened. The posture of the animal was less hostile towards Byron, staring him down with its canine eyes. In the time it took for a cold breeze to shift the directions of the wind, the ice wolf turned from the Jedi and began to trot away in a new direction. After a dozen meters or so it stopped, looking over its shoulder and giving a few sniffs to the air and then continuing on until it was out of sight.


@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

The light of Spintir rewarded the Jedi Knight; Tiamat could feel the Force shift around her, its energies pulled from very life itself as it worked in harmony with Byron's technique. She lowed her own hands, watching as Byron took charge, the wolf at first resisting, but in a moment's time, it was as though he was able to connect with the animal before she could. The Force favored the Jedi here, and there was a hint of jealously as she exhaled; the wolf shook, the growling became less warning as the creature decided that these two were not the prey it would seek today.

Tiamat felt her shoulders slowly lower as she watched the creature climb back up the mountain's side. Her own senses subtly reached outward, looking for any immediate danger, but it appeared they were in the clear for now.

She stepped hesitantly toward Byron, but paused, feeling some conflicting inner resistance that she was not interested in exploring in fear it would reveal a reality she was not ready to accept. Instead she stood in place, adjusting her bag over her shoulder, a smile masking her true feelings appeared, "That was exciting...but now we're both without a lift." she stated flatly and with little enthusiasm; her gaze turned to the direction where he said she should go and then back to Byron, "How far is the nearest village again?" she frowned.

@Darasuum

 

[Orenth]

The Jedi kept his head up and posture alert as he came back towards the damaged speeder. Smoke and the smell of an electrical burn somewhere inside told Byron this would be a bit different from the bike he had fixed on felucia. Even with optimism, there was nothing he could do about the cracked repulsor engine. The man grumbled as he stared at the speeder. He would come back for it later rather than leave it to become part of the landscape.

"Not far...we can probably procure some beasts of burden at the village. They can take us the rest of the way to the capital." He had ridden them a few times and found the animals to be pleasant company. "Have you ever ridden an animal before?" The bearded man cleared his throat as he popped open the storage compartment in the damaged vehicle. Double checking to make sure he hadn't left anything, Byron slung the pack over his shoulders broad shoulders.

"We should get moving though. Icewolves stick to higher elevations in greater numbers." They got lucky there had not several of them. Byron wasn't confident enough in his connection with the planet or beasts to handle several predators at once let alone when he needed to protect Lyra.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

He reassured they would not have far to travel before reaching a village where they could get some form of transportation that she did not expect. "Like...?" she paused as he asked if she ever rode an animal, and the corner of her lip curled into a coy smirk, "Depends..." she giggled, but paused, her smile disappearing as quickly as it appeared as pain swelled in the center of her chest while her thoughts focused on Emryc.

"Depends, I took riding lessons when I was a kid..." she quickly shifted the focus of the topic but the pain was still there, waiting for the opening to widen and spill from her heart and deep from within her being. "Horses. I rode horses for a little while, but had to stop." she kept talking, her voice a bit more forceful as though she were trying to convince herself of this story. There was no lie in what she said, but she was finding it exhausting to keeping everything inside, hidden away from a world and with someone who if they knew her for who she was, she would be purged from this world and from this galaxy. Having watched Byron gather his belongings from the speeder, her gaze would drop to the ground as she grasped the straps of her bag tightly, heading in the direction they needed to go.

"I'm going to have two slices of pie when we get to the capital." she sighed shaking her head and caught up to follow beside Byron. The conflict roiled inside her; it was as agitated as it was on Tatooine, but she needed to find the control of her own being again. Everything had come down, fear drove her to lash out, hurt the one person she felt safe and loved, and now there were consequences, many that she did not feel she had the strength to face. While on top of it all, she was here...with a Jedi. Tiamat almost wondered if this was some cruel ironic punishment by the Force itself.

@Darasuum

 

[Orenth]

"packyderms maybe...I think." he answered with a shrug, though not entirely sure on the exact species. He doubted they were reptilian in nature. The man had seen the locals utilize the abundance of domesticated mammals and fill the void left by the limited technology of Spintir. The lewd thoughts that no doubt came to the young redhead's mind was not noticed by the Knight enough to warrant anything more than a raised eyebrow.

"Why'd you stop?" The Knight asked flat out. Byron knew that the two of them were still strangers by many standards. He knew very little about the young woman and she didn't really know much about him either. Still, he wanted to get to know her more. Perhaps without the speeder they would have more time.

Hearing her looking forward to the destination granted him a grinning response. "Going to get two of the same or try different flavors?" his own stomach growled a little as he began contemplating pie. The Knight had been training and trying to improve his connection with the force but the technique for sustaining himself was not the same as taking a bite of a sweet pastry.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Why'd you stop?

It was an easy question to answer, but it took her back years when she had to make her choice, "My parents said I had to choose." she replied, eyebrows raised as the soft conversation of her parents words floated through her mind. "It was either riding classes or dance. So, I chose dance. My parents were Rangers, so time was hard to spare for them." she shrugged and then giggled, "Kind of turned out to be a little of waste since it never amounted to what I thought I would become." she stated, but did not necessarily believe her own words. In fact, her ballet skills have been invaluable in helping her with her saber training and combat. Tiamat continued though, deciding if she continued the conversation, then she could somewhat control what he asked.

"I was on my way to be the prima, lead soloist in the Corellian Ballet." she felt herself drawn into the exhilaration of being on stage, and with a small jump, she stoop on top of a rock on their path, tilting ever so slightly onto her toe before letting gravity bring her down to the ground in one fluid motion. "I try to keep practicing though." she explained.

He asked about the pie and her choices for flavors and Tiamat took a moment to think on that decision; she would have thought it would be obvious, but the idea of other pie flavors were tempting, especially since she had yet eaten in a while.

"Maybe three slices, two dewberrry and one something else?" she raised her eyebrows; if she were honest with herself, she could probably eat an entire pie.

"How long have you been on Spintir?" she asked him, "Not since leaving leaving Felucia I hope?" she grimaced.

@Darasuum