Her Legacy
Return to Kashyyyk
The forest had not forgotten.
#1
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- During the Neo-Crusader invasion, a wookie named Rroshak was part of a resistance cell Romi helped evacuate.
- He lost members of his clan during the attack.
- Foundation ships helped evacuate what civilians they could from the lower canopy settlements.
- Since then he's become a respected scout and liaison between different resistance groups.
- Most importantly: Rroshak belongs to -- or has kin ties to -- the crystal-cutting clan. A Wookiee clan on Kashyyyk that could cut an Upari stone so well, it could alter the effects of the crystal, making it more powerful. This gives him the authority to sponsor Romi's request.
Even however long later the scars were visible. Charred wroshyr still stood among younger growth, but the canopy had begun to knit itself back together. Some stretches of the upper platforms seemed to have been rebuilt, others looked abandoned entirely where fire and had once torn through.
Kashyyyk endured. The memory of strength had clung to this place; it was something it always had.
Romi paused along a narrow bridge grown from the living bark of a wroshyr tree; the structure swayed. The air here was thick like usual, but in certain places there was a faint bottom note of burned resin and old smoke.
Then there was a static in the air, something she felt him before she could see it, the frame of a towering silhouette moving between the vertical pathways above and behind her, and the sound of heavy claws on bark followed. A Wookie stepped down from some higher bridge.
Massive, his fur carried streaks of dark copper beneath the brown, one shoulder marked by a pale scar where the hair no longer grew, at least not evenly. Across his chest hung a bandolier of tools and field gear rather than a loadout of weapons.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Then the Wookie released a low rumbling growl, a sound that carried recognition more than challenge.
"Rroshak," Romi said quietly.
The name seemed to settle something in the air between them.
Rroshak stepped closer, towering over her where the bridge widened around the trunk of a tree. His deep amber eyes studied her face as though measuring the years between then and now.
Another low growl rolled from his chest, "I'm not here for supplies, or to exchange any new information..." she said quietly.
Another questioning rumble.
"This time I-," she added, "I have a favor...I need something only your people can make."
Rroshak studied her a moment longer.
Then he turned and began descending into the deeper forest, his massive frame moving with practiced ease along the living spiral.
After a brief pause, Romi followed.
The crystal-cutters of Kashyyyk did not meet outsiders, but if anyone could bring her to them...It would be one of the Wookiees who had survived the fires of the crusade.
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