Ask [Vaal] Across the Vaalian Trails

[Eyvone Usoara]

After dealing with space zombies in an enclosed, abandoned prison ship, Eyvone was extremely glad that her next assignment was far from that. She, along with the padawan learner Zana, had been assigned to help escort farmers across a trade route on Vaal. Eyvone was somewhat familiar with the blue-skinned Twi'lek girl as well, which helped to ease her nerves. Though the idea of heading off without Crix was anxiety-inducing, Zana had been friendly with her on Chandrila. For someone like Eyvone who was almost more worried about how she would be perceived by others than she was of her own well-being, it was reassuring.

Vaal was a neighbor to Yavin IV, so it did not take long to arrive at the grassy planet after the two departed. The small ship they took landed just outside a small settlement within a dusty clearing that appeared to have been cleared of the tall grasses specifically for this purpose. The settlement consisted of thirty huts at most, and the buildings were a strange mix of primitive structure and imported technology. As Eyvone descended down the ramp into the windy fresh air, she could not help but wear a face of confusion.

‘People live like this?’ With all the fantastical technology that existed within the galaxy, it was a surprise to the Nagai girl that places like this still existed. She had to remind herself that the Core worlds were much different than those close to or within the Outer Rim. Not that she had exactly grown up in a luxurious environment.

‘Growing up here would probably be better than a ship…’ A sad feeling weighed her down again, and it was reflected in her eyes and her stance as the pale girl pulled her Jedi robes tighter around her as if she could swallow herself up in them. It had been a few months since Crix had brought her to the Jedi; it had been a few months since her life had been flipped upside down and dumped all over the ground. Every day she was reminded of them. Some days it felt easier to manage, but it still hurt just the same. Just looking over this random, agricultural settlement reminded her of them. It was stupid. She was so tired of it.

Before she could grow too discontented with her thoughts and feelings, a group of three approached her and Zana at the ship. Two were female, one was male, all were human, and all were dressed in loose-fitting clothing and worn boots. If there was a stereotype for the way farmers looked on Vaal, they fit it to a tee.

“Howdy,” called out one from the group as they approached. The voice came from one of the women, who was much taller, much stronger-looking than Eyvone, and had bright blonde hair. A long piece of grass hung lazily from her pale lips and bounced up and down as she spoke. “I’m Kel. This is Maura-” Kel jutted her thumb towards the other woman who might’ve been a carbon copy of Kel if not for her jet black hair. “-and this is Torr.” She gestured to the only man in the group, who looked to be in his mid-forties. “Y’all the Jedi come to help us move the cattle?”

Instinctively, Eyvone glanced over to Zana, expecting that the other girl would take the lead in this. These farmers were definitely ready to get a move on with things.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Zana Ari]

“Wow, I literally don’t have any service here,” Zana said, her tone a mixture of shock and horror. She looked up at the sky, walking around Eyvone with her comlink raised high to find a bar. The twi’lek had been to a few backwater planets for missions, but she still had yet to experience even satellite signals not reaching her comlink. This put her in a sufficiently sour mood, especially as she didn’t have a Master to share a Force bond with to let them know when she was distressed.

“You doing okay?” Zana noticed the Nagai suddenly looking rather uncomfortable. The twi’lek had no idea what kind of trauma was resurfacing within her mind. Zana blinked a few times, looking at her expression of discomfort before speaking with her voice slightly lowered, “If you need to go to the bathroom, we may have a few minutes-”

Zana looked over as the farmers arrived. The twi’lek put her comlink away and smiled cheerfully in greeting, “Yes we are!” She pointed to herself, “I’m Zana and this is Eyvone!” She could tell right away her Nagai companion had little desire to do any talking, “Lead the way, m'am”

The farmers stared at the two girls for a moment before shrugging and beginning to walk. Zana fell into step beside Eyvone, golden eyes scanning all around them to take in sight of their surroundings. They arrived near a barn and the farmers told them to wait as they moved forth to bring the cattle out. The twi’lek grimaced at the smell, sniffing a few times.

“Ugh what is that?”

Maura, the black haired farmer crossed her arms over her chest and quirked a brow as she looked at Zana, “Tha’ll be the manure ya just stepped in, miss Jedi."

The twi’lek glanced down at her boot and suppressed the urge to vomit. She was despising this mission already.

@lizziie

 

[Eyvone Usoara]

Much to Eyvone's relief, Zana was quick to introduce the both of them and get right to the point. The Nagai watched with interest as the Twi'lek interacted with the farmers, taking note of the way Zana expressed herself. As they began to follow the three farmers, Eyvone decided that she quite liked the blue Twi'lek. Her bubbliness was bringing up her mood and Eyvone appreciated that, even if it was entirely unintentional.

The pale girl walked quietly alongside Zana, though her hands were all up in her hair for half the walk. It was incredibly windy, and she was struggling to get all of her hair in her hands. Only by the time they stopped in front of the barn was she able to wrestle it all into a messy bun at the base of her neck. When Zana let out a surprised sound, her eyes flicked her way, then down at the girl's feet when Maura gave her amused answer. Eyvone's eyes flicked back up to Zana's disgusted face, and then over to Maura's amused look. A second passed, and a pale hand slapped to her mouth as the Nagai stifled a chuckle.

"She ain't the only one, miss." Maura nodded a head down at Eyvone's feet, and the Nagai's face froze as she slowly lowered her eyes to see the same sticky brown substance stuck to her boots. Disgusted, Eyvone took a few steps back and moved her hand from her mouth to pinch her nose shut before the smell could reach her nose.

Just as Eyvone took her last step back, the barndoor was thrust open. The loud sound of wood creaking on rusty metal hinges was soon overtaken by the bellowing of the cattle as they were led out by Kel and Torr. Kel led a big one out by a lead, and Torr followed behind with a long-handled whip he swept across the group to keep the cattle moving forward.

"Alright, 'ere we are. This fella 'ere's Big Johnny. Boy's like a beacon--the rest of 'em will follow 'im wherever he goes, so we keep 'im in front." Kel gave Big Johnny, the creature she had on a lead, a solid scratch right on the forehead. She then cocked a thumb back at Torr. "Torr'll keep the rear. We use the whip to keep the cattle from fallin' behind. A little sweepin' of the dust keeps the cattle movin', as they say." Kel let out a laugh as Torr raised a hand and nodded his head to confirm what she had just informed the two of. Kel and Maura began to walk off, leaving Torr to gesture for Eyvone and Zana to follow once he began to pass by them.

"I dunno how much the both of y'all know about Vaal, so I'm gonn give y'all a quick run down," he began in a baritone voice. "There's been some sorta population boom in the predators that live 'ere, so we've been losin' more an' more cattle to 'em every time we move to the winter pastures." As Torr spoke, Eyvone fell in line beside him and Zana, listening attentively though her eyes searched the tall grasses that begun to wall-in the overgrown path. Though the vegetation varied, she could not see anything but the surface grasses. 'It'd be really easy for something to hide in there,' Eyvone thought to herself.

"Basically, if anythin' comes through them there grasses, just kill it before it kills the cattle. Y'all might not even need to; we've got the whole eight hour walk without seein' nothin' before." With a shrug, Torr increased his pace, leaving Eyvone and Zana to fall just slightly behind the group.

"Eight hours?" Eyvone tried to keep it from coming out as a groan, but she couldn't help it. The thought of having to walk all the way there and then all the way back did not sound appealing to her at all.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana didn’t miss Eyvone stifling a chuckle. Truthfully, she couldn’t blame the girl. However, the sight of the normally shy and serious girl cracking a smile drew out a smile of her own. It certainly took away the irritation she first had upon spotting the poodoo. However, when it was revealed that Eyvone also stepped in it, Zana couldn’t contain her laugh. She outright burst into a fit of giggles, though it was clear it was good natured instead of hostile.

The twi’lek was scraping the gunk off her boot when the barn doors opened. Zana was still awkwardly scraping the poop off loudly enough to where Kel paused talking for a second, glared at her, and continued to speak. Zana blinked a few times and stopped what she was doing, actually focusing on listening.

As they began to walk, she couldn’t help but notice that both the cattle and the grass around them were taller than her. How the hell was she supposed to see anything? Zana had a profound grumpy look on her face as she walked alongside Eyvone, considering all the ways a beast wider than she was tall could spring out from nowhere and maul her.

When 8 hours was mentioned, Zana simply sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked. The twi’lek glanced over at Eyvone, offering her a smile after they walked for a bit, “So you drew the short straw too, huh?” The smile widened, “Even so, I think I’d rather do this than another padawan potluck,” She wasn’t sure what the nagai’s opinions were on the infamous potlucks, but Zana had grown to detest them.

After a bit of walking, one of the cattle began to wander off to the side. Torr had walked further to the side to flank the other end, which mean the two padawans were the only ones close to this one getting away.

“Hey hey!” Zana called out, watching as the dumb beast happily escaped into the tall grass and out of sight. The twi’lek grumbled and quickly began to give chase.

@lizziie

 

[Eyvone Usoara]

Eyvone still couldn't decide if the idea of walking for eight hours or walking for eight hours was worse. Anyone could glance at the Nagai girl and see that she was far from in shape. Though her short-but-growing time at the temple had served to put a little bit of muscle on her, her lack of motivation had slowed any growth she could be making.

"No, unfortunately, I actually volunteered to come on this one," admitted the padawan sheepishly. Eyvone had been all over the galaxy to all sorts of different sectors, systems, and planets, but seldom had she had the chance to put two feet on the ground and explore them herself. Vaal was a planet she had never heard of, but with a little bit of research, she had decided that a warm planet chock-full of vast, grassy savannahs was interesting to her. As it turned out, helping to herd cattle along an eight-hour-long path fenced in by towering grasses that blocked her view was not-so-interesting.

"I've never been to any of the potlucks though," Eyvone added on after a moment or two of silence. She'd been informed of a couple, but she had never any desire to go. They sounded like a nightmare to the staunch introvert. Food was the only reason she might ever attend one, but the Nagai felt weird eating around others and she certainly felt weird just being among others she considered strangers.

"I dunno, I guess they just sound...boring." Zana didn't ask, but Eyvone felt compelled to lie about why she didn't like the idea of potlucks. She would much rather the Twi'lek have the impression that Eyvone didn't think potlucks would be fun rather than that she was just a nervous wreck in large groups.

'She probably already thinks that,' Eyvone mused negatively to herself. The Nagai shut up and began to walk in silence. Her gaze returned to the tall grasses and became hypnotized by the way the tops danced as the wind rolled overhead. Because she was distracted by the movement, Eyvone didn't notice right away that Zana had run off after one of the cattle until the sound of her shout and rustling grasses snatched her attention. The padawan turned her head just in time to see the ends of Zana's lekku disappearing into the tall grasses. For a moment Eyvone hesitated, only spurred to follow when she could no longer see Zana's bright blue skin.

"Wait, Zana!" The Nagai ran towards the grass, paused to look for an opening, then shook her head and pulled the grass apart herself. She moved forward as quickly as she could, trying to follow the sound of rustling grass from both Zana and the cattle she was following. Her natural agility and nimbleness helped her to dip and weave amongst the grass without too much trouble, but the speed at which she moved caused the grasses she passed by to drag along her exposed skin and leave microabrasions as she did so. The minuscule cuts began to itch, but Eyvone paid them no mind until she finally caught up to the other padawan learner.

The Nagai came to a stop, breathing a bit heavier than normal from the unexpected sprint, in a small clearing where she found Zana and the runaway cattle. She leaned over on her knees to take a breath, then straightened her back and looked around at the towering grasses around them, then looked back at Zana.

"Where are we?"

50/100 (barely a success) to find Zana
tag: @Sreeya

 

[Zana Ari]

“Really?” Zana asked about the potluck, surprised Eyvone had never been to one, “They can be boring, but they’re not bad if you want to meet some of the other padawans,” Though she couldn’t recall seeing Eyvone in any of her classes at the academy. Had she already graduated? And if so, what did she specialize in?

All of that was dashed when they were sent chasing after the stupid rogue cattle. By the time Eyvone found her, she would spot Zana looking alarmed and terrified. The cattle was lying dead on the ground, its neck slashed open. It was a gruesome sight, and the twi’lek was shocked at how quickly it all happened. Zana looked back at Eyvone, hearing her heavy breathing and question.

“Shhh!” Zana said in a panic, moving closer to the Nagai, “I think we might be surrounded,” She whispered. She couldn’t see nor hear anything, and they were surrounded by tall grass. Even through all that, there was that uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

There was no way for the farmers to know where they were, and they likely didn’t even realize that the two Jedi girls were missing. Zana heard the snap of a twig and quickly looked in that direction, sending a blast of the Force that way. She only heard a high pitched squeak as a squirrel was comically tossed back before it scurried up a tree.

“Great..” Zana grumbled, “Should we...try to slowly head back…?”

@lizziie