A Spiritual Journey

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Her hair still damp, Amilthi strolled into the cockpit just moments before the ship dropped out of hyperspace. She remained standing behind the co-pilot seat and watched as they neared the orange gas giant in she didn't know what system. She smiled briefly when Marina turned the ship around so that it came into full view above them. The swirls of different shades of orange and brown, mixed with the occasional tinge of purple even, were a beautiful sight.

Suddenly, a small spot glistened above the horizon of the planet, which moments later the sensors would reveal to be a ship. It wasn't huge, but slightly larger than the Mariner, and looked to be an armed freighter or gunboat of some sort. It must have been on the other side of the planet and was in a similar high orbit, but moving in the other direction, approaching rapidly.

Moments later, the ship hailed them. A voice spoke that sounded human. "This is border control. Stabilise your orbit and prepare to be boarded for inspection. We apologise for the inconvenience, but there have been a lot of smugglers lately."

Amilthi smirked scoffingly at this ridiculous ruse. She looked at Marina, still with amusement in her eyes.

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Marina had been a little too preoccupied at the console... seemingly overlooking their jump schedule to have noticed Almithi coming up behind her.

"Gah!..." she became startled a moment upon picking up a figure in her peripheral. Odd thing for her to do it seemed, for had she forgotten she had a passenger?

"Oh...I'm sorry.... " She replied, not turning from her console.
"i didn't think you were...er...up.." She spoke as calm as she could. But her attention wasn't really on her passenger at the moment
"...yet. Did you get coff-.... sorry, tea rather already?" Her ship had rolled over positioning the planet surface what appeared to be on top of them.

It could appear that perhaps marina was a bit inexperienced, locking her attention on the ship's controls and trajectory as she was. then she raised her index, just as they were being hailed.
"Oh...uhm...Ok... " She replied.

"I take it you are Inun port control...er, authority?"

That was an affirmative. And again the approaching ship relayed it's original message, urging...or rather be adamant on inspecting the Mariner IV.

"Copy that, Inun control...re-angling for a lower stable orbit...over." She replied, making a trajectory change by way of her nav comp.

Again the fast approaching craft now demanded she stabilize immediately at her current orbit.

"Copy that Inun control...Calamine III stabilizing-" And that was that.
It was all that the Mariner IV transmitted before popping out of the system.

"...my butt." Marina said as the star field erupted all around them again.

Marina sat back letting out a sigh of relief, before she composed herself and turned her seat facing her passenger.
"Sorry about that.... Inun patrol in an uninhabitable system...right." She then said, but still looking a bit off... drumming her index on the metal border of the console, as if she had some something else troubling her mind

"Hope you don't mind a slight detour around our detour... Looks like we're going to pop near Kessel." Marina apologetically said. "It's gona add a few extra hours to our flight...sorry." She then shrugged her shoulder.

Marina wasn't sure if her passenger picked up on the fact that they almost got nabbed by marauders, so she was playing it safe so as not to alarm the girl. They had after all made a slip. Unfortunately, the quickest jump she could calculate during that little dance number was near Kessel. She wondered if she'd have to explain that somehow too.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi was surprised and impressed by Marina's immediate reaction and, noticing this, scolded herself for having given the woman so little credit.

"That's quite alright. I was going to suggest asking them aboard", remarked the Jedi, "but they're probably having a better day this way." There was something ominous in the nonchalance with which she said this.

The way in which Amilthi experienced life was profoundly different from that of normal sentient beings, but particularly different from normal women who looked like her. Events that would spark fear in others, and not without reason, left her entirely cold, and not because she had mastered that fear, but simply because they didn't pose an appreciable threat to her. This, too, was part of the irremediable unfairness of the universe, filled as it was with positional goods. Some were much safer than others, but if everyone were able to access the Force, none at all would be safe.

Reflecting on this, she went around to the co-pilot's seat and settled into it, crossing her legs and adjusting her skirt.

"Does this sort of thing happen much to you?" At least this certainly wasn't the first time. It took some experience to be able not to be flustered and react so quickly and effectively. "It's probably rarer elsewhere..."

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"I've been through a few entanglements before..." Marina replied, now apparently catching somewhat of her breath. All the while Amilthi's jest as to have invited those marauders on board kept bouncing around in her head.
Sure Marina had seemed to have played it fairly cool on the outside. But that too was in consideration of not panicking her passenger. In truth, Marina's heart rate was just now coming back down to a normal rhythm.

Did she come close to panicking?...why certainly. Especially at that last moment when whoever they were, came close enough to fire. upon them. The anticipation of waiting for the nav comp to calculate a safe jump while the noose was tightening around them was near panic proportions. But Marina had been schooled through extensive repetitive training under the pressure of simulated scenarios as per her father's orders, were the terms of her family to allow her a ship.
Then came her real trials...out there on her own. The Underworld confrontations, the Independent States that had broken away from the former galactic Empire...

The galaxy was vast. Too vast for anyone no matter their affiliation or resources to discover all of what made it so diverse. One couldn't assume another had seen less or more, and that included experiences, interactions and such. This in a way balanced out everything and everyone. There was never a one knowing all. Everyone were connected and not just through the force. Each and every entity played a part in the vast galaxy.

"...and had a few bad experiences to boot. Been lucky for the most part, like those marauders who ever they were. But even so..each and every time I encounter difficulties, it's never something which has been played out before." Marina replied, while taking note that Amilthi hadn't been phased at all like her really.
Still, that comment about wanting to have invited them in...

" You weren't...worried?" She had to ask, now that her own heart rate had calmed down and she was thinking more clearly.
"You know...what if they had boarded?"

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi looked out into the swirl of hyperspace. From the inside of a ship, it always seemed oddly close, as if you could touch it if you just reached out the window. "I told you I'm good at dealing with people who try funny things", she said. She spoke seriously, gravely evenm and without the mischievous undertone that one might have expected to accompany such words. It was difficult to tell whether she was still being facetious on some level.

Amilthi's intention had not, of course, been to simply kill the pirates, though she hadn't lost the ability to see the appeal of this simple solution. But the awful fact of the matter was that bad things didn't become good just because they happened to bad people; bad people who weren't even all that responsible for the way they were, and who might be nudged in a different direction. It might have taken some time to do so, rather than just send them on their way, too, and Amilthi imagined with a twinge of amusement how Marina might have reacted to her sitting down and talking with would-be pirates after they would have given up their weapons apparently voluntarily.

After a second or two, she finally turned to Marina, smiling again. "Not to worry, I assure you I am quite sane."

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Oh...I'm not to make any judgements on people's dispositions..." She gave a little laugh, however bit shaky it were, as she had not fully come down from that adrenaline spike. But she was certainly containing her feelings as to what to come. She had after all, plotted as quickly as she could to the Kessel system. And although she had never been there before, she wasn't too fond of just dropping in on it. Although it would be near, not on Kessel. Still, what were a mere 85 million miles from the planet?.. a mere commercial break on the holo-network, when she would drop to sub-light. Sure, she could slow way below the algorythm curve of light speed, but then it would put them at a disadvantage if they weren't going at optimal sub-light that her engines were tuned to fly her.

"Well...Kessel is but another two hours jump..then we'll have to see if we can slip through that system to get our angle for Teth's jump." Marina somehow felt that Amilthy could take to share what she was up against. Or more to the truth, what she actually didn't know of the intimacies...the actual details of Kessel system and of the underworld, or worst; Imperial entanglements associated with that sector.

"Best I go over some optimal jump points open in that system that'll give us an advantage if we need to skedadle out of there in a bind.." Marina said, turning once more to her nav console. With what had just transpired, and the luck they had in her finding a quick exit out of Inun system, Marina was going to be better prepared when they dropped near Kessel. She was going to have some optimal jump coordinates at the ready. Although her aim was for Teth system, at best at the trajectory course she estimated upon entering Kessel...the emergency jump points were not Teth but other systems in that direction..sort of.

Marina had been taught to always be prepared. And when not, to prepare as best she could at a moment's notice. These were hard earned lessons. Many were drilled into her by very skilled pilots and the others were what she learned on her own facing many obstacles. Tie both together and you got a very good pilot bordering on the best. But without being conceded.
Marina learned quickly...it was one of her other strong points.

"Sigh..." she then looked over to her passenger.
"...I'll get you there, Amilthi. I'll get you there..." Marina more spoke for herself, coaxing her inner strength...her ability to maintain her disposition in the ability to keep herself and passenger safe.
But they just came out of a close one and her apprehension about the unknown were rapidly approaching in less than two hours.
She didn't like the idea of them jumping out of the frying pan and possibly into the fire itself.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"I don't doubt it. And old ruins on Teth are not about to run away", remarked Amilthi lightly. At one point, she would have to explain this to Marina, if only to get her to drop her off not at a spaceport in a populated area, but closer to a place she actually wanted to go.

"We probably won't have this sort of problem in the Kessel or Teth systems, people there tend to be busy with other concerns, but you're right, it's good to be prepared", she said as she got up from her seat again.

Without a further word, she walked into the back of the ship where they had first had tea half a day ago. Despite the fact that she had dealt with it perfectly, the situation seemed to have taken its toll on Marina. Stimcaf wasn't a good thing to subject already-frayed nerves to, but a cup of tea might just distract her enough to regain her calm. Not that this was the only, or even the most effective method - but for now it seemed better to let Marina busy herself with the calculations which would otherwise, unperformed, continue to loom in her mind.

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Kessel system was now just a short 20 minute countdown. Marina sat in her pilot chair drumming her fingers on the arm rest.
All the possible scenario emergency jump points had been pre-entered into the system with the primary being Teth system, over an hour ago. Her passenger had retired back into her cabin or had gone back to the galley again. The empty cup of tea that Amilthi had brought in for her an hour and a half ago had gone dry sitting there empty after Marina had readily welcomed it's soothing effects. But that was a while ago already and did little to speed up the slow ticking of waiting for time...
The longest part of the jump were always the last few minutes remaining. It was no different than watching a vessel of water coming to a boil over an open fire....and so her fingers drummed along to the beat of time taking its time....

The Mariner dropped out of hyperspace on the outskirt of Kessel system...about 85 million miles from the main body of the planet Kessel, as the jump comp had calculated.
Marina was at the helm of the Mariner IV guiding her to the predetermined jump point in the current system that would take them to Teth.
It were a short few minute flight in sub-light.

Many vessels in the system came up on her comp..freighters, frigates, automated barges and other crafts. All were going about in many different approaches. The comm airways were chattering with flight communications and such. marina was keeping track of mainly the crafts she would pass or were close enough in proximity to be cautious of. Everything, as complex as it were was flowing smoothly.

as she kept an eye out for anything out of the norm that broke from the complex, her jump point to Teth came up.
She punched it and the Mariner slipped back into hyperspace making a beeline for Teth.

She let out a much abated breath once in that tunnel of light again. The readied emergency jump points automatically cleared as they were out of that system and were useless at this point.

Marina sat there very relaxed now, clearing her mind...reaching Zen. It was long coming as the past few hours had been pressing heavily on her mind. Next stop..Teth...her mind relaxed....slipping her into sleep.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

The detour through the Kessel system went over uneventfully and provided no reason for Amilthi to interrupt her meditation. Most people would have found it torturous to spend so many hours in a row in a small cabin and would have moved around the ship on occasion, but Amilthi had spent many a day doing little more than sitting in a spot and meditating. It was only after some considerable time that her legs and back began to feel stiff, at which point she got up to forage for a meal. Marina appeared content in the cockpit, and Amilthi did not disturb her. Returned to her cabin, she enjoyed a few more hours of sleep.

Some time before their scheduled arrival, Amilthi reappeared, carrying a datapad. Finding Marina asleep in the pilot's chair, she quietly took the co-pilot's position and waited patiently.

"Good morning", she said softly when Marina's eyes finally opened again. "I hope you do not take this as an assault, but I think it may be time to tell you where on Teth I'm going. You will certainly want to land in a spaceport, but if you would drop me off in a certain... more remote place beforehand, I would be much obliged."

The Jedi took the datapad from her lap and conjured on it a depiction of the planet that had a number of locations marked on it, accompanied by coordinates. She touched one of them, which thereupon was highlighted, and showed the device to Marina. "The location is only approximate, but if the weather isn't too bad, I expect it will be precise enough for us to spot the structure from the air. It's going to be quite large, brown, and... generally roundish, I suppose."

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

It took a moment to get her bearings as to time and purpose, seeing Amilthi there.

Yea..." She started to straiten up, giving a slight stretch. "...good morning." She replied looking over the console before returning her attention to Amilthi.
Marina hadn't been aware as to how long she was out, but it was certainly overdue. Her brow lifted before turning her full attention to Amilthi, as Marina discovered she had slept pretty much throughout the entire jump....15 and a half hours. Long overdue, she realized.
Well, currently the nav comp was still counting down to the two hour alarm she had set. Which at this time she cancelled it, since she had slept long enough and it would have tripped soon enough anyway.

" No, not at all..." She replied to her passenger making a specific landing request. As far as Marina was concerned, it would have been something she would have asked of Amilthi once they dropped into Teth system. After all, there were more than one system port. Even desolate moon outposts had several landing zones, if not just put down on terrain.
"I was meaning to ask you that anyway..."

She looked over the holopad and like all such devices, it were touch activated. She found this one to have proximity sensors. just close hand gestures and it complied...
Marina scolled a bit to the north of the location then in and out zooming of the area to get a good idea as to the terrain and landscape.

"Sure, I don't see a problem... " she nodded before looking over to Amilthi.

"Someone...waiting there for you?..." it were just out of natural curiosity and had no bearing as to the request. Amilthi was a passenger and if she desired a remote drop off, it was no big deal. It wasn't like the Mariner was running on fumes. And as she thought this, she looked over to the ships power reserves. 78% was averaging throughout the entire scope of ship's operation and fuel. The Mariner could easily make a few long range jumps to and from the core before she needed refueling. There was really no need to stop and refuel. All of the ships functions that she had just glanced over were optimal.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"I hope not. It's supposed to be a deserted ruin." And if there were any occupants these days, they were unlikely to be friendly to visitors who wished to survey their home out of archaeological interest; but Amilthi didn't say that.

The B'Omarr monks had left their monasteries on Teth centuries ago - perhaps it had even been a millenium since then. That did not mean those roots were long forgotten. If what Amilthi had heard about the monks was true, it was possible that some of those who had seen Teth were even still alive in their disembodied forms now guarded on Tatooine, where they weathered all storms that swept through the galaxy.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to find out at the moment, because the monks appeared to refuse to talk to anyone from the outside - or at least to her. Amilthi wasn't quite sure what she was looking for on Teth, in any concrete terms, but she was hoping to find something that could help her persuade the monks on Tatooine to open their gates to her.

***​

As the ship descended into the atmosphere of Teth, the landscape they were approaching came into ever sharper relief. It was a remote, mountainous area in which the lush jungles that covered much of the planet's surface were broken by surprisingly bare, rocky heights. An early morning mist was rising from the treetops that sometimes concealed the green below entirely. Coupled with the faint, purple-tinged light of the dawn, the place had an uncanny and not entirely welcoming look about it.

Amilthi straightened up and leaned sideways and forwards to get the widest possible view through the windshields, here eyes darting around watchfully, scanning the ground for a structure as they were nearing the coordinates she had saved.

Suddenly, quite far off to their right, she spotted an unusual pattern in the ground, the rough rock suddenly appeared be become smoother in a roughly circular area. "I think there's something over there. Let's have a closer look", she alerted Marina to what she had found.

And indeed, as they came closer, a structure revealed itself, a large central dome flanked by two smaller, equally round buildings. The surface was crusted with dirt, but overall, the structure looked to be surprisingly intact. For a moment, Amilthi though she even saw light in one of the windows before realising that it had just been a reflection - but the very fact that there still were any windows was remarkable enough. The strange monks truly built for eternity.

"That would be it", the Jedi stated decisively.

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Yea, you sure something's there?" Marina replied, piloting her ship to where Amilthi indicated. The ship's long range scanners had not defined any structures up ahead...only rocky mountain terrain at this altitude.

As the Mariner IV quickly neared it, it was obvious as to why the scanners hadn't picked it up and rendered it as they appeared now as they approached them. The structures were most likely made from the natural rock which somehow fooled the ship's scanners at long range. Marina looked over to Amilthi, wondering how she could have picked them out when she did like that. After all, didn't the girl indicate she had never been here before? Then again, Marina was just piloting the ship, it weren't she whom had come here for a reason.

"Hmm...sure looks like they've been here awhile..." She then gave the immediate area a good look over. Her topical map rendition also showed no friendly spot to put the ship down close to it. The only viable landing area was a few hundred meters below the structures...if that could be called a good landing area. It wasn't anything close to one, but it read out as having enough adequate surface to put the ship down. It were nothing more than a descent cliff ledge. But enough to squeeze the ship in and have a meter or two to spare between rock and drop.

"You don't mind a little rock climbing do you?" Marina then asked before committing to setting the ship on that lean edge.
That natural ledge was just that, a natural abutment on that foreboding rocky terrain. The trail that had been somewhat visible on their flyover was also near close to a hundred meters up over that spot. But that lean edge was the closest landing area for her ship to put down on. Optimal landing areas were abundant a few kilometers below the structures, but that meant almost an entire day of trekking up the mountainous trails to the structures.
No, their best bet was to put down on that small narrow ledge and do some real mountain climbing up maybe a hundred meters before reaching what could be some carved out mountain trails leading possibly straight to those old structures.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"I'm not sure about anything", said Amilthi cheerfully. For while she did not commit to certainty, she was indeed quite confident that the deserted monastery would be empty, for her to explore at her leisure.

Amilthi scanned the terrain as the ship circled the rock on which the buildings stood, trying to discern the narrow path that had once led up to it. Remnants of it were to be seen in places, but in others it had completely disappeared, washed away by hundreds of years of rain, buried under fallen rocks, or itself broken away. It wouldn't be entirely trivial to get down to the ground to leave the place, but it would be even more bothersome to get up there.

For this reason, Amilthi was not entirely delighted when Marina suggested landing on a ledge that was separated from an extant piece of path by a good hundred metres, not of vertical rock, but of steep terrain that would have to be traversed scrambling and climbing.

"Can't you just hover the ship at the top and let me jump off?" asked Amilthi. "Unless, that is, you fancy a climb and a look at ancient ruins yourself." She looked at Marina with a curious and amused expression, her head slightly inclined to the side.

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Drop you?..." Marina looked at the tall structures and what little space existed between them and the outlying rocks of the peak.
"You want to get dropped?..." She then gave Amilthi quite a long look, as she hovered the ship above one of the structures.

Sure she could drop her...by harness or get some altitude and para jump her down. But this woman was ...was not sitting right with Marina. Not in a bad way, no. Just not sitting right feeling so isolated. Marina couldn't help but think of what was this woman to do if she were indeed just dropped off like she wanted. How much food and water rations did she have in that satchel. Not enough for a week at most, and that was with rationing, Marina calculated.
Ok, so Marina thought about dropping a sealed box of MRE's down...maybe a real good month's supply for the poor girl...that she would do in worst case scenarios.
But the very idea of just dropping her off like she suggested, and then what...jump out of the system never knowing if she left this poor girl on Teth to die of starvation or exposure?. It wasn't in her to do just that.

"Can I ask you something?..." she asked, but did not give the girl a chance to say yay or ney.
"How long do you expect to stay up this mountain?...You know that there is a couple of hard kilometers distance to get down to some patch of grass, let alone some edibles..." She was now slowly spinning the Mariner in a hover still, so that her passenger could take in a full 360 degree of their location.

"And yes, I had an tinge of curiosity about these old structures...can't quite put them as riuns... old, sure..but not deteriorated enough to be ruins, no." she continued to speak as she steadied the ship again.

"But look...if you want to be dropped first...I'll drop you. But then I'm making for that landing down there and will find my way up." Marina looked to her in all seriousness.
"So tell me now if you don't wish any company up here at all, Almithi.
Tell me now if i should just drop you off and leave you here alone... then I'll leave you at least a good month's supply of MRE's..."
Marina was certain she didn't have to elaborate to this girl what MRE's were. Most everyone she knew, knew they were military type Meals ready to eat which provided all the calories and essentials . A good month supply of MRE could be made to stretch for two..in emergency situations.
Two months worth wasn't a lot to spare, Marina figured. They would be enough for the girl to have her fill of solitude up this rock and enough reserves to make it to some settlement somewhere down the rocky mountain or to the lower valleys to maybe run into some settlement or something.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi gave her pilot a quizzical look. It was really quite heartwarming the way the woman was reacting, if unexpected. But Amilthi had not quite considered how outrageous it must seem for her to ask to simply be dropped, if from a low height, onto this barren rock far away from the next settlement.

"I'm not planning to stay there for long. A day, or at worst a handful, will suffice, I'm sure."

Marina's intention to land and climb up there herself put a stop to the idea of a quick parting. "Forgive me for saying so, but in that case I'll have to accompany you up the rock and see to it that you don't come to grief. And handle the rope for you to get back down. You have a rope, don't you? Climbing downwards is more dangerous than upwards."

"I'm going to have to change a bit for that", she remarked with a wry smile, tugging at her skirt.

***
​

Some minutes later, Amilthi, now wearing canvas trousers, was descending the ramp onto the ledge that Marina had landed her ship on. The air was damp, but not yet too hot, although not remotely as chilly as one might have expected in terrain of this sort. There was a cooling wind rising up from the depths, bringing with it wisps of fog. For some moments, the view from the ledge was entirely obstructed by a white wall, which soon frayed and dissolved again.

Amilthi still wasn't too cold when she took off her robe, folded it, and put it over the bag hanging around her shoulders, tying the sleeves so that it couldn't get lost.

"The rope goes around your belly", she stated firmly as she was standing there, looking upwards, scanning the rock they would have to traverse. A few metres above them, some way to the left, began a chimney, filled with rabble, that would allow the easiest ascent, though reaching it would not be entirely trivial.

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Marina wasn't one to question people's motives or what made them tick. But that feeling had been growing all throughout the trip here. She had that feeling that this poor girl was somehow lost, giving Marina a sense of hanging about...finding if she could use someone that could be considered 'friend'.
So when Amilthi announced a short stay..2-3 days up here at most, Marina had to question 'what then?'. Of course she didn't ask that per say, but it was in the way she inadvertently looked over to Amilthi that revealed her skepticism on the girl's motives. Marina bit her tongue and as difficult as it were, she didn't interject, but let Amilthi speak. Like, if she were to count the conversations they had in the past 2 days, it could be said they had kept to themselves.

Apparently the poor girl, as Marina figured; had been wandering about part of the Galaxy, trying to secure a passage to this system for quite some time and on her own. For whatever reason, it didn't quite concern Marina as to why, for she didn't get that itchy feeling that Amilthi were of questionable character. If Amilthi wanted a passage, then it was all that she should provide..right?
But the girl had hopped on one transport to another ever since Coruscant..as memory was recalled. And many times possibly laid up till the next transport was available.

So it came to reason that Marina looked over to Amilthi as such, for if she weren't going to stay here with her, when or how in Heaven's name was this girl going to get back to a more civilized system again? What if Marina had taken off after dropping her off? Sure, the girl's plan was maybe a 3 day exploration of the structures...but then what?

"Don't mind over me, Amilthi.." Marina finaly spoke when they came off the ship.
"I grew up in the Northern regions of Alderaan...the Aeiden mountains..." She buckled the waist strap of her pack.
"I think I can scramble up an ice-less steep Ok..." She nodded a gesture for Amilthi to take the lead. She wanted the lost girl ahead of her so that she could make sure there was somebody there watching her back should Amilthi not be so foot sure as she was leading on to be.

"The ramp, TK..." Marina spoke to her wrist crono. The Marine's ramp was still down, which was odd, since she and Amilthi had certainly cleared it. This made Marina look back, just as a few beeps which came across as the astro-mech droid being concerned were heard. Her astro-mech droid was at the top of the ramp apparently watching them.
"I'll be back...now get to your tasks and secure the ship!" Marina now didn't have to use her crono for it were within hearing range.

"Droids..." She then said under her breath, as she got back in following the girl. The ship's ramp retracted as she caught up to Amilthi.

"You're not one for conversations, huh?" It were typical of her to talk and hike. Even more so when rock climbing.... but if the girl needed peace and quiet to concentrate, then she'd certainly just keep a quiet eye on her and let her do her thing.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi smiled briefly, then adopted a serious expression again. "Not when it comes to jeopardising lives. You probably think that's what I'm doing, but I'm not. The next settlement is two or three days that way" - she pointed in the direction opposite to where they had come from - "if my map is not completely worthless. I'm quite confident I'll find it before the jungle manages to kill me, if it should even try."

The Jedi sighed. "Look", she said. "It's your life, and yours to risk. But you really ought to take a rope. I will not tie the rope around myself, so you will not be pulled down if I fall, which I will not. We also won't be switching, so you'll lose no time. None of the reasons for not taking a rope apply. Unless you're doing it for the thrill, in which case I can't stop you."

She hesitated for a moment, then turned away from Marina and towards the rock. "You see... The reason why I'm concerned is that you can't do... this."

At a moment's notice, the scope of her consciousness contracted to her feet as they felt on the ground, her legs as they bent in preparation, and the small plateau some five metres above at the lower end of the chimney she had spotted. As she jumped, the energy released was far greater than was possible for human legs. With seeming effortlessness she sailed up into the air, her arms rising to sustain her balance, and it was as though by lightly stepping out of the air that she gained safe ground higher up.

She turned around to look at Marina below with a fine smile.

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

What, there were like only thousands of force users in this Galaxy which was inhabited by tens of trillions of life forms and Marina had just run into another one.
What was she, a magnet of some kind to them?...Marina stood there thinking as she looked up at the force user.

Amilthi had leaped up the rocky steep, literally leaving Marina in the dust. And were she now gloating up there?...was she? Marina put her hand blocking out the sky to eye Amilthi out better. maybe not. But the girl did seem to have a snug expression on though. Marina shook her head and sighed.
" No!..." She then shouted, as the girl was up some distance. " No, I can't..." No she couldn't. But that didn't mean she couldn't scale that rock, no.

Marina couldn't leap like that..nor ever wished she could either. While maybe most dreamed of being Jedi or whatever; Marina dreamed of exploring space..the stars, it's jewels and flying. But being raised on Northern Alderaan, her backyard had been the Aeiden Mountains. And she, like most of her ancestors who overlooked that Mountain Providence were natural climbers. Mountain climbers who rarely ever used ropes or harnesses, for they in many ways could trek through those icy mountains like Northern steep goats.

"Just do me one favor.." She decided to shout up.
"Tone down that smirk and don't wait up for me. I'll see you in an hour...or so.." Yea..maybe two, she figured to self. No sense rushing up there to what....have the girl jugle some rocks over her head?

"Gah..." Marina shook her head as she stepped back and looked over the best way up. She had been set on following the girl to watch her back; but now she would have to see what the best optimal route would be. it were easier to asses from down below where she had a clearer wider view of her climb.

Adjusting her pack to even out the load, she began her ascent...and doing it on all girl power. Or so she kept telling herself as she climbed. then again, there was no girl other than herself that she could talk to..so it went on as she climbed and talked to herself.

It were difficult to say without her glancing at her crono when she propped herself on the crest how long it took her.
"Oh..Ok.." she continued to talk to herself with labored breath. Yes, she were catching her breath as she looked at her crono.
"43 minutes... Damn, I'm out of practice.." She said before looking over to the force user. She had climbed the entire 100 meters to the portion of the mountain that revealed the old, but very worn remnants of a trail that would lead to the structures.

"We're gona have to talk.." Marina then said as she unscrewed the top of the canteen she had pulled out.
She didn't mean it in any other way but to drop the silent secret mysterious thing that Amilthi was pulling. For one thing; they were both human and of the same gender. Or so Marina could assume. The drink was refreshing and overdue.
Then with a gesture, Marina offered Amilthi her canteen, extending it out to her

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi's smile gave way to a neutral expression as she shrugged and turned back to the rock. She had said all she could, and it was for Marina to make a decision. Amilthi hoped that she had a good reason for what she did - perhaps she had pushed the other woman too far and now she wanted to prove something? That was generally more of a danger with men, and she had somewhat neglected to consider the possibility in this instance.

She briefly screwed up her face, unhappy with herself, but then pulled her attention away from these thoughts and back into the moment, to her hand and feet, her sense of balance, and the rock itself. The Jedi continued her ascent through more conventional means, though with preternatural levity. It took her barely half as much time as Marina to reach the old path above.

She threw a glance down at the ship and over the landscape before sitting down cross-legged and turning her attention back inwards, to the feeling of her exerted muscles. It was as if the little stinging sensations that followed one another in rapid succession in different places sought to elude attention, and the more persistently Amilthi chased them, the more rarely they dared to pop into existence at all. By the time Marina's head came into view, her breath had reached its regular slowness and her limbs felt quite fresh again, and she stood up again.

"Thank you", said Amilthi as Marina handed her the water, simply and without a smile, but quite genuinely. She took a gulp of the refreshing liquid and then returned it.

"What about?" she asked innocently. "Now you know why many things don't make me afraid. Or are you wondering why I'm so keen on looking into old buildings in the middle of nowhere? You didn't ask."

[member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Well..." She put the canteen back in the side pouch of her pack, as she mustered herself to stand. Though she had not fully regained her normal heart beat, nor breath.
"...first off....you...you know..." Marina hesitated to ask, for she hoped she weren't wrong. Still, she had to know.

"You Jedi?" No way was she going to ask of the other. For all she knew, if Amilthi were a dark force user would she have waited for her like she did? Maybe she wanted her to come up so that-
Marina had to stop letting her mind run away like that. But nevertheless, she moved away from the ledge in case this was a sith and force push her off.

A tinge of anxiety may have given those thoughts away as she did that. It were an obvious move. Then again, Marina could only go by what she had picked up about dark force users. They treated those not connected in their fashion as sub-species...to do as they willed. Often, to just exercise their power over the force. The more lives they destroyed made them feel closer to that ever darkness they were after...a darkness whose pitch could never fully be attained but ever sought after. Or so some legends said.

"I mean...is this some mission or something you're on?" ...yes, the purpose of coming to Teth too. What was the reason for a force user to come here?...it wasn't for the vistas, as they were nothing to talk about.