But in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass.

[Taheera Sollo]

How much had she sunk into the muddy surface of Dagobah? A half inch? An inch? How long had the First Order Sith Lord left her to die? Had it only been hours? A day?

The master healer could feel her life slipping away, spilling into the wider, ragged rivers of the force. Bit by bit. She didn't have long. And she was terrified she'd essence transfer again. That pained her more than the vong poison rushing through her paralyzed body. More than the open and bleeding wound deep in her thigh, the gaping hole within her armor weave and clothing.

Lids to verdant pools of green were the only things she could move. Feel. But even those were getting heavier and heavier. The healer tried to focus on the upturned and rusting walker from the previous war. She saw the boot of the body Asharad had killed. Snapped the Alliance man's neck for no reason other than his nature. His orders and his blind hatred.

She wondered if she too, would become like the walker. Instead of rust, her body would rot. But maybe she'd finally be at peace. She was ready to rest. She'd followed the will of the force. And only the force could save her now.

Or dumb luck.

When she'd fallen, hip to ground, the comm along her belt released an SOS. A message to Maalik. And a message to [member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]. It had been built in a long time ago. Perhaps, even not to her knowledge by Maalik. Perhaps by Val as well. Or perhaps this too was the force.

Was it that two men in her life knew how stubborn the master healer was? Knew her nature to take sacrificial risks for the 'greater good?' Knew to build in a safety net?

Maybe she'd never find out.

Dagobah was fickle about signals coming through and going out. About equipment working. Tattooed cheeks couldn't even wince as another sharp stab of pain coursed through her body. Evidence of vong poison still splattered across her clothing and armorweave. But Taheera was trapped in a silent prison of agony. Waiting. Waiting for the end. There was always a chance another creature would come along and finish her sooner.

Dagobah was full of life, after all.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val had never been great with communicators.

They had them back home of course, they weren't a complete backwater, but a big complaint about him was that he'd never really carried his around. Most of the time he left the damn thing laying around somewhere, usually tossed onto the table or tucked under some pillow on the couch. It had always been one of her biggest complaints, had always been one of the reasons why she'd gotten mad at him when she was alive. Truth of it was he'd simply preferred the solitude.

He was of the opinion that not everyone needed to reach you all the time, that it was okay to be in the quiet and that sometimes, sometimes everyone just needed time away.

It was then, by pure chance of luck that Val got Taheera's message.

If he hadn't been eating dinner at the time, sitting quite literally just a few feet away from the sofa, he likely would never heard the trademark chirp that sounded out from between the couch cushions. Luck, fate, whatever it was, but he got the message. It was odd of course, there was no details and nothing to really tell him what it was about, but the trace that he figured out how to run pointed him to Dagobah. It wasn't a planet he'd ever visited before, but that didn't stop him.

A negotiation with a freighter pilot, a small bribe, and Val managed to get himself a small ship, a ship that really had no right to fly in any sky.

Much less Dagobah.

Nevertheless Val made his way towards the planet, and before long he found himself deep within the swamps.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Sleep. Awake. The master healer was lost between the two. Each seeming just as elusive. At times she saw Maalik's molten-gaze of warmth and that feeling he gave her when she caught him looking at her when he thought she wasn't aware. Did he too, know the looks she stole in his direction?

Maalik.

She would regret not seeing him before leaving for Dagobah. There hadn't been time. And he seemed to have disappeared.

Green and mud-caked form trembled.

It was strange to feel cold on Dagobah. The humidity had always been so pressing. Suffocating at times. Perhaps it was the vong poison coursing through her blood-system that was making her shiver. She could do nothing more than lay there. Waiting. Ears picked up the sound of flapping wings. Digging her way between the worlds of asleep and awake, she managed to focus on the sound. Heavily lidded gaze opened slightly. She was met with the smile of a Jubba bird. The bird's wings seemed like a burst of color within the mists.

Hello my old friend.

Even her mental voice seemed...tired. Fading.

Please don't pick at my flesh and bones yet.

Just not yet.

Comm continued to give off silent pings into the void.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Dagobah.

This planet was a mess.

That was really all he could think about as the ramp lowered onto the swampy earth, something that was made up more of tree roots and rotted swamp creatures more than actual ground. He frowned as the ground squished beneath him, clearly not very stable. For a moment he glanced back up the ship, wondering if the vessel would sink into the marsh while he was gone. A quick shake of his head and he took another step forward, reaching into his pocket to pull out his communicator.

Getting a signal here was rough, the canopy made things difficult and the Alliance hadn't exactly bothered to build up the infrastructure.

Dagobah wasn't the type of planet that someone actually wanted to live on, it was really more where you went to be forgotten. He frowned, looking down at his communicator and smacking the side of it to try and get a better signal. After a moment there was a silent ping, and then his dual colored eyes glanced up into the marsh.

A sigh escaped him. "The kark am I doing here."

Val asked himself quietly as he stalked forward.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Time was something foreign. A concept that was too hard to make sense of. The Jubba bird was gone but she could still hear his song. It was getting louder. Or was it a whole flock?

Frustration edged across her features. A slight quirk along her mouth. The smallest crease along a muddied brow. The twitching of fingers from an otherwise paralyzed body.

She wanted to see.

She wanted to move.

If she couldn't have that? She wanted it to be over. Be released in the eddy of the force she already felt tugging at her feet. Reminded her of being on the beach with Val. How the water tugged at limbs when sitting partially on the shore's edge. The current was strong and always threatened to claim one into the deeper waters.

Had First Order already retreated to lick their wounds? Was her unit searching for her now? Had any of them made it out alive or was this a First Order world now?

Time slipped away from her again. She could feel the slightest tremor in the earth and mud as though something or someone large was approaching.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val had no idea where he was going.

The communicator kept pinging, his eyes wandered the forest, and in truth he saw nowhere to go. The Marsh around him was so packed and dense that everything seemed to lead absolutely nowhere. He couldn't see his ship any longer and everything else seemed completely out of the way, but...he couldn't help but think that no matter which direction he went in he wouldn't find anything at all waiting for him. A frown settled on his lips and his head shook.

"This place is worse than I thought." He'd heard rumors of Dagobah, talk, but he'd never thought it would actually be this bad.

Back home was undeveloped, but this?

This world was downright ancient. The trees themselves seemed to be alive, crowing over him. He frowned for a moment, watching the edges of the marsh before he spotted something out of place. An odd scrap of blue within the marsh colors of green and brown. He frowned for a second, stalking forward before more of the blue appeared.

His walk became quicker, the snapping of branches below his feet could be heard as he approached Taheera's crumpled form.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Val had never been quiet. Or subtle. The healer remained stuck and un-moving in the poison's prison. The last reserves of her energy were quickly fading. Perhaps the sun had finally set. One eye lazily fought to open partially.

Just a bit.

Val?

She must be dreaming. About to leave the land of the living. Funny though. She always thought she'd see someone else before death's release. Digging deep, a grunt of confusion swirled from the bottom of her lungs and bubbled through her throat, leaving a pair of lips that barely parted.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val squatted down besides Taheera.

His eyes were filled with concern, though he said nothing as he looked at her. For a moment he wondered if she was even still alive, but then he spotted the gentle rise and fall of her back. He frowned for just a moment, then slowly lowered himself formed to gently nudge her onto her back.

"Careful." Val said quietly.

The wanderer had never been much for medical care, in fact he was probably one of the worst people in the galaxy to come for that sort of thing. His late wife had been a nurse, but...none of that had ever really rubbed off on him. He frowned as he glanced at Taheera's wounds. There was nothing he could do, nothing except for getting her out of this accursed swamp and somewhere warm.

Should he offer words of comfort?

He wasn't very good at this sort of thing, not at all. "Just hang on a little while longer."

Val said quietly as he reached beneath her and gently scooped her out of the mud.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

The poison, though more than a day old now, might burn along Val's skin if it made contact. Another tremble ran through her form as it was cradled by the giant. She couldn't feel him though. Couldn't even feel the mud that threatened to keep her from Val's grasp. Nothing beyond the pain of the vong poison in her system. Mud cached her form and hair like quickly drying cement.

Val.

One eye was open a slit. Fading and weary myrtle wished to look up into his face. Confirm she wasn't hallucinating. Confirm she wasn't just losing it from the poison.

Hang on.

Did he not know how much she pulled against the tides of death? Did he not know he was asking too much? He'd seen her die before. She hoped he wouldn't have to again.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

”You’ll be alright.” A musical confidence floated through his tone as he stepped through the swamp.

He made sure that every time his foot landed in the swampy ground it landed true, made sure that he would not get caught between the twisted branches or fall on the muddy ground. Taheera felt as light as a paperweight, but if he fell over and sent her flying back into the muck it was not likely she would survive.

Not for long anyway.

”I’ve been worse off than you are now.” He told her with a confident smile. ”And I managed to get through.”

Of course they both knew that his healing wasn’t exactly...standard, but that really didn’t matter at the moment. Val was talking to her to draw her back into consciousness, to anchor her. It was a practice that his wife had told him about, something most medical science didn’t really back up but...well human consciousness was a funny thing.

Real funny sometimes. ”Just don’t let me hear you complaining about the ship when we get there.”

Val told Taheera.

”I came a long way.” He glanced around for a moment, judging where they were before trudging on. ”And that thing was expensive.”

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

His voice was soothing. Familiar. The thread which held her to the living was becoming thinner and thinner. Even though the mirialan couldn't speak. Couldn't feel anything besides wave of poisonous pain, she imaged she was having a conversation back with the viking-like man.

Worse off. Liar.

Myrtle ellipses would narrow as she looked up to make eye-contact with his multi-colored eyes.

And flying.

She would snort.

I'll believe it when I see it. You hate it. You don't even know how. Your poor wife...

Another wave of pain wracked through her form.

Hurry Val. Hurry. I can't hang on much longer. The vong poison is almost to my heart. My organs. Yes, I'm a healer but nearly all my strength was used up on stopping a sith lord. You'd be proud. I think? I stopped him my way, Val. You might not understand but it's what the force wanted me to do. What I wanted to do.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val didn't hear any of it of course.

To the force he was as silent as a leaf falling in the middle of the forest. Still, he moved as quickly as he could, trudging through the swamps until eventually he caught sight of the barest outline of durasteel. A broad smile touched his lips, and quickly he moved through the last of the swampy mess of Dagobah. "Never coming back here."

He commented.

It took him a few minutes still, but eventually he managed to break into the clearing where he had set down with his ship. The vessel had luckily stayed on the ground and hadn't yet sunk into the swamp, something he was rather thankful for. Without a moment of hesitation Val boarded the ship, bringing Tahira to the small and meager med-bay that the shuttle came equipped with. He gently put her down on the table, knocking over a tray of something as he turned around.

"Somewhere..." He trailed off as he opened cabinets. "Ah ha!"

Val grabbed a small hydro-syringe, placing a vial inside of it and injecting Tahira arm. Then he did the same thing over, this time with another vial colored a bit more green than the other.

The first injection was simple bacta, the other was something that Vanir technologies had developed, an antidote to most, if not all, poisons in the galaxy.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Half-dream and half-awake state continued on with the conversation in her head. She wasn't with it enough to know what was real and what wasn't anymore. What was life and what was death. And for some reason in her nearly-dead state. She and the giant, Val, were having tea.

He cradled a tiny saucer in his massive hand.

Never coming back. She tsk'd and brought the hot steaming cup up to her lips. Never say never. Dagobah has a sense of mysticism. But maybe it's because I can feel the force. Did you know I saw Master Yoda. Just for a second. Before the fall...

There was a noise.

Did Val break his cup?

The healer's form remained unmoving on the table within the ship. Form was covered in mud, dirt, poison, blood, and shattered armorweave. It was a small mercy her smell didn't make Val's gag reflexes go off. That he was able to find her at all. Though there wasn't much response from his injections outwardly, beyond the slightest uncringing of her tattooed-cheeks, his antidote was working. And was given just in time.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

His medical knowledge didn't go much further than the injection.

Val had never really paid much attention when his late-wife had actually explained things to him, mostly because he simply hadn't the head for it. He had always been more of a bruiser, one to run in and take care of the problem with his fists more than anything else. He wasn't an idiot by any means, he enjoyed watching holo-documentaries and reading, but...well medicinal knowledge just wasn't something that really interested him. Now that seemed foolish.

"You'll be alright." Val said as he pulled a blanket over Taheera's tiny form.

He hoped so at least.

"Otherwise I made this trip for nothing." The Giant of a man sat himself down in a small chair besides the bed. "And that would be a shame."

Val shook his head slightly, staring at his friend.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

It would be a good six hours later until she finally stirred. After the bacta and antidote began working, her own body and natural skills in healing with the force came into play. It didn't mean she was back to normal. That would take at least a few more days rest. And some good food.

It meant she could finally come back to the land of the living. To consciousness.

Eyes stirred beneath lids of green. Throat burned. She was so thirsty. She hadn't had anything to drink or eat for a few days until Val found her.

And the rest of her body ached.

Myrtle-ellipses opened to the ship's lightning, confusion at her surroundings. Disorientation. Had everything been a dream? Or a nightmare?

"Val," weak-voice pushed from a pair of lips. Her green skin held a pale-sheen to it.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Ah, you're awake." Val said with a wide smile, still sitting in the chair that he had been occupying since he'd administered the medicine to her.

From what he understood the stuff was pretty fast acting, a combination of Bacta and...something else, he wasn't really sure. Either way it seemed to have worked, Taheera was looking slightly less...puke green and more her usual color.

Slowly the giant stood from his chair.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, squatting down so that he was eye level with her. "Why were you on Dagobah?"

He bombarded her with questions, once again forgetting all semblance of etiquette. "Who left you in the swamp?"

That last one had some heat in it.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Twin orbs of shifting emeralds watched the giant in the small confines of the ship. She could understand why he didn't like space travel. He could barely fit between the table she seems glued to and the far wall.

"Force, I thought I dreamed...," she murmured, eyes seemingly to look past her friend for a moment before refocusing. She felt so weary. She feared she'd never be able to sit up again and imagined even if she slept the next month straight, it wouldn't be enough.

What had he asked?

"I feel like I died," she managed with a crooked smile. He of all people, would get it. Eyes drifted closed and it would seem like he lost her again. Just to sleep. Except she began to speak.

"War. Always war. The First Order," eyes snapped open, alarm flaming within their mossy depths. "We have to leave. It's not safe."

Could she tell him about Asharad? The man, no, beast, she'd faced? She didn't have the strength to. Not now.

And besides. He wouldn't be a threat for awhile. She'd felt it. He no longer had the force. At least for now.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He looked around for a moment. "We're fine."

At least that was what Val assumed. They had been sitting in the swamp for what seemed like a few hours now, more if he added the time that he had spent searching for her. Dagobah was a planet of extreme vegetation. There was more plants here than on Kashyyyk, and that was saying something.

Even if someone were searching for them it would take weeks, maybe months, to even get a hint of their signal. Everything in the ship was powered down and the only trace of them ever being here was...well nothing. IN the chaos of war they were a blip of nothing, Val knew that. He'd been in this situation before almost five decades ago, though he wasn't about to say that to Taheera. Not right now anyway given the state that she was in. He patted Taheera on the head.

"Dagobah is on our side." He told her. "No one will find us."

He was more confident in that than anything else. "Relax, rest."

Even if the First Order had won the battle here it didn't really matter. The swamp would protect them.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Dagobah is on its own side," she smiled weakly. "But perhaps the force is on our side today." He'd found her. Against all odds. She was alive. Against all odds. And "you actually flew a ship. That's something."

Her tired smile widened for just a moment.

Green fingers reached for Val's hulking arm to use him as leverage to help herself up. She was still weak and healing. But she had to know what happened to the others. Those in her recovery unit. The rest of the alliance.

"Help me get to the cockpit? I need to see if I can pick up any transmissions."

She knew it would be hard. Nearly impossible to pick up any signals here. But there was a chance. And she had to try even as the room tilted a little as she rose from the cot.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"I didn't fly it." He said with a slight wag of his finger. "Not really anyway."

The auto-pilot had done most of the work for him on that, though he had done the other side of it. He smiled for a moment, then frowned and looked down at her. She wasn't really up for moving around yet, not with those injuries, and he doubted that she would be for some time.

Still, he would have done the same. "Sure."

Val made sure to move quickly, mostly because he didn't want Taheera moving on her own at all. He would take most of her weight even as she stood, knowing full well that anything less would likely see her crumple onto the floor in a pile. His arm slipped around her and he stooped himself low so that she would actually be able to lean on him well enough. Their height differential made that difficult of course, but somehow he managed it well enough.

Slowly as they made their way to the cockpit Val watched her.

"Not sure you'll get anything." He told her. "Dagobah sort of prevents that."