Ask Kalee Old Friends and New... Friends?

[Arla]

Arla continued to paw through the items within the nest before walking to the edge of the cliff and looking down. In the distance, she could see a variety of animals moving around, knowing that many grazers favored feeding in these dawn and dusk times. Among them, she saw several types of four-legged creatures that could have easily matched the bones that were within the nest.

She pondered this for a while when Ambrosia appeared again, declaring some luck with the explosives. Arla glanced back and gave a nod, looking at the couple of pieces of ordnance that they had available to them for a hunt.

We might be able to use those, she said with a nod before motioning to the valley to the other side.

The grazers are in the valley. We can go down in the early hours when they get up and compare against the bones in the nest. Particularly those, she said, motioning to a skeleton at the far end of the nest.

For now, I'm going to get some rest in an alcove at the other end of the cliff, she said, making her way over to said alcove. It was little more than a small cleft in the rocks with a small overhanging ledge and she plopped down to sit with her back against one of the walls whether Ambrosia joined her or not.

@lizziie

 

[Ambrosia]

Ambrosia briefly turned her head in the direction Arla was nodding toward before looking right back at the Dathomirian. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about, the Arkanian noted.

The woman did not join Arla right away, though she would eventually sit down under the same alcove as the woman. She took some time to meditate first, sitting in a quiet hum of the Dark for fifteen or so minutes. She still did not know Arla's name, and it would be her first inquiry after resting her own back against the stone.

"I don't think you ever gave me your name," she began softly, facing forward at first, then looking sideways at the Dathomirian. She figured it was only fair to ask, seeing as Arla had her own.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla settled into the seat, letting her mind slip into the cycle that was the Force. It seemed to swallow up her mind as she sat there, refreshing her in substitute for sleep.

She settled in to do that for the rest of the night when the Sith made her way over to the alcove as well. She queried Arla for her name, and the Dathomirian focused her gaze on the other woman, seeming to actually look at her for the first time.

Arla. And you are? she asked. It seemed to be the first time that Arla was fully focused on the pale woman since they had met rather than the mission. Perhaps it was curiosity or perhaps there was something more to it. It was difficult to say.

You are a Sith but you work for someone else. Why are you a Sith? she asked, deciding to go straight for the jugular of asking personal questions. She wasn't one who enjoyed "chit-chat" or even talking in many situations. She would rather get to the heart of an issue or not speak at all.

@lizziie

 

[Ambrosia]

"Ambrosia," she responded, her downturned doe eyes wide and almost unblinking in the dim light. She didn't react visually to Arla's direct question at first, but her gaze eventually became unfocused as the Sith considered Arla's words. 'Why are you a Sith?' It was a question no one had yet to ask her, even herself, so she was forced to consider those words deeply.

She knew the answer to that question much in the way a sunflower knew to face the sunlight, or how a baby knew to cry for its mother. But when her lips parted to speak, nothing fell from them. So she closed them and thought a moment longer before she was able to provide an answer.

"There are two answers to that question, I think," she began, clearly still chewing on her words. "I am Sith because I was brought to the Sith Order." To that answer, she was only Sith in name; she was only Sith because she was associated with a now-broken group.

The second question was of the more philosophical kind, and Ambrosia would be lying if she knew much about the sort. Her education within the Sith had been brief - a year and some of studies hampered by the fact that she lacked many skills she would've had with a different upbringing. Yet, she'd still saw it fit to consider herself an acolyte no longer.

"...but I am not sure if association alone is enough to be... Sith." It was a title, and Ambrosia had seen firsthand that many Sith - even the man who had overseen her training - were all too quick to abandon not only the name but the same code they'd preached to her in exchange for... peace.

Ambrosia looked away from Arla and into the darkening sky, relishing the cool temperate the night had brought. She'd known her path from the moment she'd emerged from that ship, blood splattered across her skin. She'd known it since she'd witnessed what the Force could become for her. She knew it every time she felt the intoxicating lull of the Force roll across her skin.

"To me, it is the only option."

Ambrosia looked back at Arla, a question on her mind as well. "You use... magick, right? Are you a Nightsister?" She'd heard of the Nightsisters, of course, though she knew little to nothing about them.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla gave no measured response to the answer that Ambrosia gave. She had been spending more and more time thinking about her place in the galaxy, and even what it meant to be Sith. Arla had left the Sith because she had no longer wanted to be bound to an organization that had shown itself to make questionable decisions. She had been left with more questions than answers.

Yes. I was with the Sith before the expulsion, she said. It wasn't unusual for the Nightsisters to send their hunters to the Sith and the Empire before the split. Now, they kept to themselves.

She settled back into her seat to meditate through the night. She wouldn't sleep in the wild and around someone who was unknown to her, but she was confident the morning would bring them success in their hunt and would bring her a re-secured alliance with the tribes she had worked with in the past.

---​

The morning came without issue, though in the night, Arla had thought she sensed their target close by. It wasn't sight or sound, but just a feeling that something was nearby. Something large and dangerous.

You don't have a lightsaber, do you? she asked. It would make things more difficult for the Sith, but Arla had confidence they would manage.

We catch one of the grazers, tie it up in an open area, and wait for the target to come in, she said, starting to make the climb down unless Ambrosia objected.

 

[Ambrosia]

The woman was with the Sith beforehand, and she was a Nightsister. 'So this is what a Nightsister looks like?' Or perhaps they were a cultural group more than an ethnic one. It was too soon to know, and Arla did not seem entirely keen on continuing the small talk. So Ambrosia relented and leaned back against the rock. Though her eyes closed, much like Arla, she had not fallen asleep.

---​

When morning came, Ambrosia felt the effects of not sleeping through the night. Her body yearned to yawn and she was certainly tired, but her meditation on the Force at least quelled the most severe effects of sleep deprivation. She rose, wishing she had brought a pack of food or perhaps even a change of clothes for the next day, and glanced toward Arla while she spoke.

"No, I do not," she answered honestly, her fingers brushing the stan baton at her hip. She had never gotten the chance to bleed her own, and she'd missed the opportunity to steal one as she fled the Empire. Still, she did not have a particular want for one in her hands. The Force allowed for a significant amount of creativity where weapons were involved.

Ambrosia did not object to the climb down, or Arla's instructions, though she was less than pleased at having to do the former. It was always more difficult to go down than up. So when the distance between her and the ground was not so large, the Arkanian offshoot opted to drop, billowing the Force at her feet to absorb the impact as she tucked and rolled off the rest of it. She then set her eyes on the herd of grazers off by the forest line.

"There," she said, her voice more hushed though it was unlikely the animals would spot them at this distance. "The one there - it appears to have a broken leg."

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla nodded in response to the declaration she didn't have a lightsaber. Strange that a Champion wouldn't have one, though... fine, Arla wasn't really one to talk. Despite having a lightsaber, she hadn't carried one for several years. She didn't care for them and always saw the power of the Shadow as far more potent than a little blade.

Arla joined Ambrosia in the climb down, scouting out the area as she spotted the animal that Ambrosia mentioned. There was probably a deep life lesson here about the cycle of life, the risks of weakness, and the unrelenting realities of life, but Arla wasn't here to teach and Ambrosia hadn't asked.

Good, we'll take that one, she said. Your preference for attack point? she asked. She liked to think of herself as adaptable, and her skills with the Shadow made it so she was quite capable of fulfilling a heavy-hitting role if someone else distracted the creature and put it in position. However, she could compensate with other techniques if need be.

@lizziie

 

[Ambrosia]

"I'll go in for the initial attack. I'll try to set you up for a follow-up."

With that, Ambrosia gripped her stun baton and headed stealthily toward the inured grazer. By happenstance, she was approaching downwind (the Arkanian would not even think of something like that otherwise), and it allowed her to get a lot closer before the herd noticed she was there. As soon as she was close enough she leapt forward, alerting and surprising the herd into a stampede as her arms swung the baton as hard as she could toward her target's legs.

The impact momentarily stunned the grazer's leg, causing it to stumble and giving Arla the chance to run in and complete the hunt.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla watched Ambrosia sneak to the herd and attack the grazing animal. Arla reached out and wrapped the creature up in the Force and dragged it to the ground, holding it in place for Ambrosia to tie it down.

In short order, the two of them had held the animal down, tied it up, and it was back to waiting.

Arla reached out through the Force, trying to summon the creature through the Force, and it did just that. She was actually pretty surprised that had worked. The creature swooped down with a screech, and she knew that the real fight was here.

She leapt to her feet and rolled away to avoid the creature's talons as they dug into the ground, its large tail whipping around in an attempt to catch Ambrosia and hurl her against a tree.

Its jaws snapped down again, close enough to Arla's face that she could feel its hot, rotting breath on her face. She reached down into herself, letting the fire and rage blast out from her palms in a burst of green flame that knocked the creature back slightly, staggering it.

Hit it! Arla shouted over the din of the battle.

 

[Ambrosia]

Taking down and tying up the grazer was the easy part. The hard part was still yet to come.

Ambrosia had no idea how the creature they were hunting arrived so quickly, but she had felt the Force weigh down around Arla not long before it arrived. She had her suspicions that the Nightsister had called the creature somehow, but there was zero time to ask questions.

The creature was fast, but Ambrosia was just fast enough. She dove out of the way but didn't avoid harm altogether. The creature's tail sliced open her shoulder, leaving a thin red line where its feathers had cut her skin. She rolled onto her feet just in time for Arla to shout.

Ambrosia tightened her grip on her stun baton, pulled the Force into herself, and advanced on the feathered creature. She ran for its legs and slammed her baton into one, trying to throw it off balance. Her free hand reached out and used the Force to tug down on its wing on the same side, hoping to bring it into the ground and leave it in a vulnerable position for ARla to follow up.'

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla watched Ambrosia mostly dodge the strike before grabbing a hold of the animal and opening it up for Arla to finish it off.

For the Nightsister's part, she reached down within herself, pulling up all the feelings of anger and frustration she felt before thrusting her hands outward. The creature's neck was exposed where Ambrosia held it, and Arla let the power pour out of her hands as a pillar of green energy slammed into the creature from the side. Flame and concussive force smashed into the creature's neck, snapping it to the side and slamming it into a tree and the scent of scorched flesh also filled the air.

And Arla didn't stop. Fire and concussion continued to blast into the creature until it finally stopped moving. Only then did the huntress finally relent.

You're bleeding. Here, she said, pulling a medpack out and handing it off, eyes not breaking from the creature until she was content that it was dead.

I'm going back to one of the tribes. You can follow me, she said. The Kaleesh were a relationship she had been working to grow for quite some time now, and helping them again would do a great deal to gain their trust. Her foot had been in the door, and now the rest of her would follow. She would find targets for them to hunt and in time perhaps they'd become the backbone of something more powerful for her.

 

[Ambrosia]

Ambrosia did not seem fully bothered by her wound. In fact, when the Nightsister handed her the medpack, she was rolling her shoulders, watching the blood roll down her skin and coagulate. But she accepted the medpack, thanked the woman, and went about patching it up. Infection was not ideal, and she had no idea how easy one would set in while romping around in a dirty jungle.

To Arla's words she nodded, handing her back what remained of the kit and gearing up to follow the woman. She had come here to find a Sith tribe, after all, but she wasn't so sure now whether or not she should interfere with the Nightsister's dealings.

"Lead the way," she said, masking the relief in her voice that they would be heading for civilization. Or, at least, the closest thing to it here. She didn't quite make a new friend - she wouldn't call it that - but perhaps she had made an important connection.

/ End thread
@Phoenix