Where Rivers We Cross

[Officiant]

Where Rivers We Cross​

The forests were heavily pined and incredibly dense, the sun merely providing light as the evergreen branches with their strong smelling leaves and conifers did not allow gaps in the forest canopy more than a few feet wide. The smell was saturated in the air and Grer had grown to resent it, associating it quite correctly with the lack of direct light and warmth that made the otherwise unimpressive, flat forest floor a bit foreboding. This particular stretch of land was typical of the "great" forests on the similarly dubiously named "outskirts" of Coronet city, which lay several hundred miles from the city itself. It was separated form the rest of the forest from a river, though it could be more aptly described as a brook, that formed the natural and ancient boundary between one estate from the other. There was another estate that bordered the forest in a far less dramatic and symbolic way with just simple signs and posts, which was near where Grer was, aimlessly wandering around the forest as he had taken to doing.

Corellia was nothing like Alsakan, and it had nothing to do with the shift between the halls of grand palaces and vast country estates where there was quite literally not a soul for miles. Other than Grer's large extended family that is, which was made only larger by the presence of not just the Empress Rhaella's relatives but also the inevitable parade of servants and courtiers that accompanied the Empress wherever she went. It was fortunate that the Emperor himself was not there for that would increase the stifling amount of people that would make even on such a large country home feel small and cramped. To escape the attentions of the court and to amuse himself, Grer had taken to wandering the grounds.

He had come to the forest often in his semi regular meandering walks, coming to the banks of the brook to sit and splash as aimlessly as he had walked. Today however, he pushed beyond past the brook and followed it down to the border with the other estate, a place he had henceforth never ventured close to. He had several reasons not to, chief among them being he would be much less easy to maintain the illusion he was alone. There security patrols both sentient and automated patrolled the borderlands in plain view and he would not be permitted to journey beyond the sentries. Suppose he saw something interesting over the border what then? It would only be another mark on his list of resentments directed towards the guided, directed nature of his life thus far. Still, there was the possibility that it was just land, like all others he had seen, so he decided, being the precocious child that he was, to brave, nigh expect, disappointment and journey to the border between one estate and the other, purely on an idle sulky whim.

Still, if Grer knew the eventual outcome of what, who he would find that day purely by chance, then he might have felt entirely differently.

 

[Valla Krass]

Valla Krass was an adventurous 9 year old girl. She was rebellious, and wild, and enjoyed being outside. the Krass's owned acres and acres of land, and very little of it was used, the rest being gardens and fields. She was in one of the rolling fields of the estate, where the house itself wasn't even visible. She had taken her miniature speeder, nothing more than a repulsor sled with a repulsor engine that kept it from getting dangerously fast, out across the estate as she liked to do. She took it until she couldn't see the house anymore, and then began exploring as she liked to do. Today she was pretending to be a spy, with her small set of macrobinoculars, and surveyed the rolling fields. The walls, as antique and formal as they seemed, could be energized should they need to, and there were rolling sentries patrolling. She observed all of this, sweeping her vision across the rolling hills. She saw motion, and then realized it was just a sentry. She was excited, for she had never been to this part of the field. Her dad had told her she wasn't allowed to venture out past the walls because there were rancors that would eat her. She half believed him, but was desperate to see what was beyond them. Perhaps had she known how the day would go she would be far more excited than she was scared.

Her eyes then caught on a flicker of movement, and she saw a small boy approaching one of the walls. She quickly darted away from where she had been standing, and stalked across the nearest wall that ran directly perpendicular into the wall that the boy was approaching. She was certain he didn't see her, as she was an excellent sleuth and spy. The day of not being caught by the totally (not) sentient sentry droids that were (not) searching for her. As she crept along the wall she reached the end, and stalked for another few hours (minutes) until she reached the boy's location. When she was certain he hadn't heard her, she jumped out at him,

"Who are you!?" She shouted, in accusation, but also hushed so that the sentries wouldn't find her, not that they were looking for her.

 

[Officiant]

Grer was startled, he jolted from the initial shock of the girls' voice shattering his quiet meditations but only slowly turned to meet her gaze. The girl was like fire incarnate, her red hair flowing freely about her while her pale skin served as the center of her flame, her face envisaged with all the determination and passion that her tone and appearance suggested.

"Grer." He said without thinking, as if that name would hold any meaning to her. "Grer Dorokohna my... Lady." He said tippidly and politely, the last word obviously tacked on as a courtesy but with the pause sounding something of an insult though Grer's respectful tone would not suggest it.

 

[Valla Krass]

Valla tilted her head up in pride and raised her shoulders a little, squaring her posture, my lady huh? I'm important. "You have a weird last name." she said, saying it again in her mind Dorokohuna.. Dorokoon.. Dorokohna? "It sounds funny." she said with a giggle, and then pressed herself against on of the brick pillars, to which the metal pols comprising the fence were attached, she leaned her head around the corner in a hushed whisper, "How did you survive the Rancors Green Door?"

 

[Officiant]

"The what?" Grer ignored the quip about his name for now though it felt oddly exhilarating to meet someone who rather than recognize his surname, felt obligated to mull over its sounds instead of its station and mock it. The girl's posture and tone suggested she knew something, and the look in her eye told Grer she was prepared to bolt at any moment on some flight of fanciful adventure. It was oddly comforting, her dominance, her brazenness.

 

[Valla Krass]

"The what?" Grer ignored the quip about his name for now though it felt oddly exhilarating to meet someone who rather than recognize his surname, felt obligated to mull over its sounds instead of its station and mock it. The girl's posture and tone suggested she knew something, and the look in her eye told Grer she was prepared to bolt at any moment on some flight of fanciful adventure. It was oddly comforting, her dominance, her brazenness.

"THE RANCORS!" she said in an excited whisper, "Don't tell me you didn't see them?! My dad says they're all over the forest!" She pressed herself flat against the column again, "C'mon Greenie! Get over here before they eat you!" she said, clearly concerned for the boy's health. Valla was exhilarated, and terrified, of the situation. She hadn't ever met anyone on her own like this, and doing so brought a new form of excitement she wasn't used to. At the same time, however, the boy was in immanent danger if he didn't get out of the way of the carnivorous beasts that roamed the forst.

 

[Officiant]

"There aren't any Rancors on Corellia." Grer replied back, though he complied just as well with the girl's suggestion that he press himself against the wall. Grer had a fantastic imagination but it was based on knowledge, richness and detail that he had gleamed from all the books he had read. Rancors were not indigenous to Corellia and surely one of his protective aunts would have warned him about such large, violent beasts roaming the forest. Surely. "Why would there be Rancors on Corellia?" Grer asked, changing his stance, showing he had not buried doubt about the girl's proclamations of beasts great and terrible in their midst.

 

[Valla Krass]

"There aren't any Rancors on Corellia." Grer replied back, though he complied just as well with the girl's suggestion that he press himself against the wall. Grer had a fantastic imagination but it was based on knowledge, richness and detail that he had gleamed from all the books he had read. Rancors were not indigenous to Corellia and surely one of his protective aunts would have warned him about such large, violent beasts roaming the forest. Surely. "Why would there be Rancors on Corellia?" Grer asked, changing his stance, showing he had not buried doubt about the girl's proclamations of beasts great and terrible in their midst.

Valla gave the boy an offended look as she motioned for him to venture between the bars of the fence, and enter into the estate, "Of course there are! My dad said that they're there to eat people!" She was quite confused about why the boy was not terrified for his life at the thought of Rancors, though Valla had never been offworld, nor had she studied enough, to know that Rancors would definitely not be on this world. "Now get over here!" She said, very urgent, but very hushed.

 

[Officiant]

Grer continued to hug the wall as the girl had previously instructed and slipped his slight, youthful frame through the bars of the fence. Her explination for her belief made a certain amount of sense. Of course it was standard "X told me so" but it made a certain amount of sense in Grer's mind to keep giant beasts as guards and sentries on the borders of one's lands. Certainly not if one raised lifestock but this was a heavily forested region. Yes, based on the information available it was possible that Rancors lurked here, though perhaps not here, here, no the forests were too dense. "So your dad keeps Rancors as pets?" Grer asked, pulling his foot through the bars.

 

[Valla Krass]

"No!" She said, indignant that he clearly didn't understand, "why would he do that?! They're there because they want to!"

How could this boy not understand that her dad wouldn't put Rancors in the forest. "My dad is Senator Aren Krass! He doesn't have Rancors." She rolled her eyes.

Seventeen Years Later...

Valla pounded her fist against Grer's door. It'd been four years since she'd seen him last, and since then she'd been through graduate school, earned her law degree, and then run away from home to explore the galaxy. The rain outside was beating against the top of her hair, plastering the reddish blonde hair against her head and face, and drenching through her clothes. She was grinning, had a carryall bag over her shoulder, and was wearing a simple white shirt with some light pink long pants that stretched down to her plain style boots.

"Come on Seven! Open up your door!" She said again, slamming her fist against the door.