Shadows of Bankor

Daunt slightly overslept, a rare occurrence despite the ever-present nightmares. Maybe they had been particularly bad this time. He didn't remember. But he was a bit antsy, and so had ridden his speeder like crazy to minimise lateness. So he enter their spot with roaring engine and parked it in a way that must have startled game and foul within a hundred metres radius.

Sacha was sitting on a rock, resting her helmet in her hands for the moment. She only looked up when she heard the sound of the speeder get very close. "Daunt."

"Sacha." He parked it, then hopped off. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. Bad morning." He reached to the speeder compartment and produced some fat cred chits. "Outstanding issues first. So how much you said you needed?"

"Yeah... Same jere," she agreed with a sigh, voice sounding a little raw. "Ah, 400."

He sided four longer bars and placed them in her hand. "Good crafting." He pocketed the rest. "Do we hunt today?"

She stared down at them in... Not quite surprise, but in some kind of shock, certainly. Still, she nodded and tucked them away. "Thank you, Daunt. I'll show you my work with it as soon as possible."

"Yes... Hunt first, talk afterward."

"Let's." He agreed, then led as usual. This time, however, it wouldn't be a regular hunt...

MM5. Hunt w/ Sacha.: 1eP+1eA+1eB+1eD 3 successes, 1 Triumph


...because instead of game, first thing they'd encounter was a high-pitched shriek that sounded desperate. Past the bushes, they'd see a baby Convor being the source of it, repeatedly trying to fly while it seemed obvious that it was trampling the ground precisely it had failed at flying before.

"Oh!" She resisted her first urge to hurry over, pausing instead a short distance away and making herself look smaller to the creature, and less of a threat. "Looks like it might've fallen and gotten hurt."

"It looks like it. It won't survive." Daunt remarked, watching Sacha's reaction.

"Not without help," she said, approaching the creature slowly.

"Do you think about keeping it?" He took a step into the clearing to take a better look of the convor.

"At least long enough to rehabilitate it... Though I don't think I should keep it for now," she replied, shaking her head. "Not with the Empire hanging over our head. It might get caught in the crossfire when they decide to strike."

"It's like saying you want me to take care of it." He chuckled nervously. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Hey, buddy... It's going to be okay," she said, speaking gently to soothe the creature as she checked it's injuries. "Provide it food and water. I wonder if Juri might know how to bind its wing? It looks like it might be broken."

Influence Basic (fluff): 1eF 2 Light Side


Making it feel relaxed and at ease.

"...I guess she'll know what to do." Daunt was perplexed. This was a situation out of his depth. And Sacha speaking to the animal and being effective - since the shrieking stopped - was only adding to it.

"Yeah. It doesn't look like it has any extra injury at least," she agreed, gathering up the much calmer bird and holding it carefully in a way to keep it as warm and still as she could to avoid aggravating the wing. "We should take it home for now."

"You mean..." He shrugged. Something about the circumstance repressed his penchant for cold-blooded cruelty. "I guess there goes the mystery of my lodge. Let's get back to the speeder."

"I do appreciate it," she replied, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

For a moment, he walked in silence, letting her take care of the convor on her own. Closer to the speeder, he spoke.

"I share my hunting lodge with Juri. For us, it's a shard of Dathomir and should be protected and respected as such."

"I can stay out, if you need," she replied quietly, nodding a little.

"In the end, it's your decision, Sacha Ordo. I am just alerting you to the significance of it. If you enter, I'll no longer treat you as a potential enemy, but as someone I can trust. Breaking that trust carries far worse consequences than never having it. Any conflict of commitment that can ever result from this is on you, and for you to resolve." He said quieter than usual.

"Any conflict? Including ones that arise because of your actions?" She questioned, helmet tilting. "I don't expect conflict with that from either of us, but..."

"All obligations are off if I betray you first, that much is obvious. But it is not you exposing your home to me that we are speaking of. If you think fo a bit what is left of my people after the separatist onslaught, you ca easily realise why I think of my small holdout the way I do. " He bit his tongue to not add anything more.

She nodded. "I can promise to respect your home. Both in terms of my behavior in it and keeping anything about it to myself."

"I understand a little bit, I think, all things considered. I won't claim completely. Our not being where we were born if from different circumstances, after all." She was idly scritching her fingers through the owlet's feathers.

"Two men on the opposite sides of the river, one with fuel the other with igniter, freezing, this is what our people used to be to each other. Then Maul decided to cross the river, and the fire burned for a moment, until they parted ways. Now we're all freezing, just mostly empty handed, because neither could keep what they had on their own." Daunt said in a quiet tone as he started the speeder, waiting for her to join him.