Fantastic Beasts and Where to [Copyright]

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela watched quietly as Jamie moved through the nest, her silent footfalls quickly falling in the same path as her padawan’s. They moved atop the columns, coming to a stop only when Jamie felt she had reached her proper perch. For a moment the padawan simply sat there, watching the creature sprawled out atop the sarcophagus.

The Jedi Marshall said nothing.

The odd wave of the force still exuded from her, a gentle press that saw the other Boma slowly wander away from them. They were curious creatures by nature, and Aela had simply deflected that curiosity. She stood quietly, slowly sitting herself down on the length of the column as she waited for Jamie to be ready.

”Take your time.” Aela told Jamie. ”There’s no rush.”

There really wasn’t.

They had most of the day for Jamie to practice, and keeping the other Boma at bay was neither difficult nor taxing.

Her gaze slowly panned away from Jamie and towards the Alpha. The creature was still sprawled in place over the heavy stone, its tail lazily flicking from the right to the left with a gentle thud. The other Boma seemed to pay it no mind most of the time, though once or twice one of the smaller beasts gave the Alpha a quick, almost submissive, glance.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

A deep breath in, and out through her nose broke the silence surrounding the blonde as she began to concentrate on the large Boma, allowing herself to be surrounded inside and out with the Force. In an almost meditative trance Jamie allowed her state of being to traverse the distance between she and the Boma, embracing the mind of the creature as gently as could be. There was a firm resistance to her efforts, as if the particular animal had a more determined will than that of its' subordinates within the room. It was as if she had reached some sort of door that was locked, requiring the Padawan to search for an alternative means of entry to the mind of the animal.

The Boma stirred from its' spot, head lifting to glance around the room.

Jamie pressed harder, but the wall wouldn't budge. This was far more difficult than the others.

Some time would pass as she made concentrated efforts to influence and direct the animal with no success. Several times she felt so frustrated with the process that she nearly quit, which served only to drive her determination to succeed more in the next breath. Failure was something she hated more than anything to accept, and so she continued pushing where she could until at long last, some thirty or so minutes later, the animal stood up from its resting place, wandered to the base of the pillars where Jamie and Aela sat, and curled up once again at the base, it's head propped up by the stonework column.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela watched the entire thing in silence.

She made no comment or critique. What Jamie did the entire time was the right way of going about the situation, and thus there was no point in trying to influence her to do it another way. The Jedi Marshall simply sat, waiting and watching as her Padawan slowly progressed along the path. As time went on, the Boma slowly began to stir.

Aela perked an eyebrow with interest as the Alpha slowly, and almost slovenly, picked itself up from the ground and began to wander towards them. Her hand half slipped to her lightsaber in case she needed to defend them, but when the large Boma collapsed at the base of the pillar and laid itself down the palm quickly fluttered away.

”Good.” Aela said quietly.

Now it was time to get further.

”Try and stretch your control now.” She told Jamie. ”See if you can use it to get the other Boma out of the chamber.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde let out a puff of air between her lips, looking down at the Boma at the base of the column, then back to Aela as the woman spoke to her. Her eyes then shifted to the dozens of other animals within the room, which was when her lips thinned, cheeks puffed outwards, and a sigh pushed forth from the stored air tucked away in the pockets of her mouth.

"Okay."

Jamie rubbed her forehead several times over, before turning her body back to face the center of the chamber, looking out over the vast majority of lumbering reptiles as they sat, looked around, paced back and forth, and groomed one another. Her mindset shifted to that which Aela had suggested earlier, to more of an overarching blanket of sorts. The command was a rather simple one, just enough of a suggestion to hopefully get the idea across. Leave.

At first nothing happened. The animals continued about their business, wholly ignoring the influence Jamie attempted to lay over their consciousnesses. It wasn't for another several heartbeats that the first began to meander towards the opening in the room that some of the others followed. It was a painfully slow process, likely due to the her inexperience in the art, however one by one they slowly filed out, leaving only a few to remain after the passing of ten or so minutes.

Those ones seemed intent on remaining, laying about and enjoying the largely free area they now inhabited.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

”Good.” Aela repeated, then half smiled. ”Now influence the Alpha to get the rest out.”

That of course would require Jamie to take more direct control of the massive creature.

It would push her abilities, and the control she had over the creatures to the limit. There were only a dozen or so boma left, among them the Alpha. The ones remaining had a strong will, but they would bend knee to the creature that...well essentially ran their entire lives.

”Press its instincts.” She instructed simply.

The Boma would do all the hard work, Jamie would just have to get it actually do it.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Having to shift back and forth between the two approaches to this technique were taxing to say the least. It was a complete mindset change, and the largest of the Boma was difficult for Jamie to mentally influence enough to do much of anything. It had already taken her thirty or so minutes to make the pesky thing just get off of its rump and move it to another spot in the chamber. Convincing it that it wanted the others out? She wasn't sure how long that would take, or how effective she would be at achieving that goal.

Once again Jamie focused on the large Boma, settling into its' mind was a task of itself, which would take some time to achieve. Perhaps slightly less so, now that she was more acquainted with this particular boma than before. Nonetheless it still took the girl around twenty or so minutes to fully grasp the consciousness of the animal, finding that opening to the reptiles mind once more. As she did, she pressed the belief that the alpha wished for solitude, to force the others out and away from the nest for the time being.

There was a bit of hesitation within the animal, perhaps a number of the other boma were its' mates, or something to that affect, however with enough time and pressure the animal finally rose from the ground, growled and roared, stamped its' feet and wandered towards the others, prompting them to quickly retreat from the room where the others had gone. By the time this had been accomplished Jamie was thoroughly exhausted, nearly breaking into a sweat where she sat, before releasing the animal's mind to return to its' lazy slumber of before.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The chamber was now completely empty save for the two of them and the Alpha Boma. Aela smiled, looking around with a rather pleased expression. Jamie had done extremely well. The creatures were all gone, The Alpha was asleep, and...well she hadn’t even passed out. The Jedi Marshall slowly stood from her place and peered down at the remaining creature.

”Okay.” She placed a hand on Jamie’s shoulder. ”Take a break.”

She would need to after that.

”You did good.” Very good. Boma, unlike Cannoks, were not simpletons, and what Jamie had done just took quite a bit of effort, not to mention skill. She was learning very quickly, and more than a little bit of pride shone through Aela’s voice as she complemented the padawan.

The Alpha let out a loud snoring noise.

”We’ll let him sleep.” Aela said with a slight laugh. ”The others will return eventually but we have plenty of time.”

She wanted to make sure Jamie wasn’t rushed.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Nodding she turned back and slid her way down the column a bit back towards Aela more near the center, pulling her knees to her chest and securing them with her arms wrapped around them. Her forehead glistened a bit, though whether that was due entirely to the immense amount of focus she had been using to achieve success in this particular lesson, or because Dxun itself was a heat locker with no off switch was hard to tell. The girl blew a puff of air upwards in a vain attempt to cool herself down, sending small strands of hair up, before falling back down. Locks of hair partially covered a section of her left eye that Jamie was simply too exhausted or lazy to see to at that particular moment.

"Thanks." She said after a long silence between the two. "For everything really."

She gestured towards the room with her head rather than using her hands. "This, Bastion, taking me under your wing in general. The whole of it. I appreciate it."

After that she lingered in silence for a bit longer, eyes looking around at the ancient ruins, mind wandering off to a time where this was standing proud, wondering what exactly might have been the use for each of the rooms within.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela smiled at her padawan. ”We’re far from done.”

It was the truth.

There was still much for Jamie to learn, much that Aela could teach her. Beast Mastery was only one in a long list of things that her Padawan would study before they were finished with her training. A part of her looked forward to that. She looked around the room for a few more moments, then glanced towards the sarcophagus.

”There’s more to do here.” She told her. ”Malraas, Kath Hounds and especially Skreeve.”

The last one was most important. ”Skreeve take the most...intricate control.”

They were clever creatures.

”Especially when you’re flying them.” Which was of course the intention. By the time they left Dxun, Aela wanted Jamie to be able to control and influence most beasts without a second thought. They wouldn’t try their hands at Drexl of course, but the Skreeve would be the final test.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I assumed that." She said, half a smile painting her face. "There's always more."

Especially with Aela in charge.

"We should probably grab our packs though, before it's too late and one of those Boma find them and decide to run off with our stuff."

There was a perk of laughter for a second. "Even as terrible as that food is, I don't think they would complain about a free meal or two."

Taking another look over at the resting alpha she nodded, content with what she'd been able to accomplish this far without so much as a dizzy feeling in her head, or worse, another blackout. The later trials of course would test her limits more thoroughly, but she hoped that even if she failed to properly master a creature that she would at least remain conscious enough to see her failure through, rather than leave Aela to save the day again like back on Bastion. That embarrassment still lingered even now, despite the overall success of that mission.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Their trip back was a fast one. This time Aela was the one that kept the Boma at bay, and they made their way through the ruins of the city at a quicker pace. It was obvious that Jamie was still tired, and as they climbed up the pyramids steps and retrieved their packs Aela decided that at least for today, they would be done.

”Let’s head back to camp.” Hopefully everything was still there.

The Hike back to the plateau where they had set everything up was uneventful, at least mostly. A Drexl flew overhead once or twice, though Aela assumed that Jamie didn’t notice the odd gray splotch that floated across the sky. Eventually however they found their way back to their camp, the shield still droning silently with everything intact.

”Bit of good news.” Aela said with a smile. ”Let’s eat, rest for the night. We’ll start again tomorrow.”

Of course, Aela didn’t say what they would be starting.

Next would be taming Malraas. The creatures were...different.

They were intelligent, tricky, and downright mischievous. Unlike the Boma’s they weren’t just headstrong, but they would try to actively outwit you. Controlling them was difficult, more so because they moved in packs.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Alright." Time for more vacuum sealed sawdust food. One could see the expression on her face at her eagerness to eat this food again. In fact, she hadn't eaten the ration that they had prepared earlier in the day back in the ruins, and so forced herself to finish that. For all the training she'd done, eating that meal was by far the most challenging, at least she thought so. Her taste buds rejected it entirely, forcing the Padawan to chew the food using the sides of her mouth so that she needn't taste what she was eating. If Aela saw, it would be quite interesting to watch.

Nobility did have its' benefits, that was for sure.

Dusting off the sleeping bag and fluffing her pillow the girl undressed and slipped into the warm and moderately comfortable sleep sack, zippering it up from the inside to make a small cocoon out of herself. In retrospect it was likely not the smartest move to make, for if they needed to quickly escape she would be fumbling around like an infant trying to escape a swaddle. If that was how she died though, warm and comfortable in a sleeping back beneath the jaws of some predator, at least it was better than dying of starvation or something else.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

As they bedded down for the night Aela found herself wondering just how long this would take. She was more than prepared to stay here for several weeks, that was what they had planned, but in truth part of her hoped that it would take longer.

She found that to be an odd thought.

Perhaps what she had told Jacen was more true than she had thought at the time. Perhaps she was getting tired of fighting, tired of...well doing what she did. The sleeping bag wrapped a little tighter around her and Aela frowned for a moment more, closing her eyes as she tried to dispel the thoughts and instead think of something else.

Malraas were difficult to track down, they would have to lure a pack out. That was what she chose to think about as she drifted off to sleep, the sun setting and Onderon filling the sky as she and Jamie dozed off.

The next morning came with a startlingly loud roar that seemed to shake the very ground.

Aela’s eyes snapped open, her hand quickly surging towards one of her sabers as she jumped up and ignited the blade. She took two steps out of the cavern, head swiveling only to find a Drexl floating neatly above them heading towards the distant mountains.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The roaring and vibrations were certainly enough to rouse just about anyone from their dreams. It was frightening to say the least, that was for sure.

Jamie though? Nope. She heard the noise, felt the vibrations, but her subconscious was so disinterested with the reality of potential death that she merely mumbled the words "Force take me" before rolling back on her side and covering her head with the pillow, cheek resting on the bit of fabric from the top of the sleeping bag. Even with the activation of Aela's lightsaber and the girl's sudden rush out, Jamie made no attempt at moving. If this was the end, it was the end. If not, then she got to rest for a bit longer. It was a win-win for her.

When she didn't hear the sounds of battle, a crashing saber, or a scream, the smallest smirk formed on her face as she nestled back into her comfort zone and began to nod off once again.

Silly Aela. So jumpy. Need to relax more.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela watched the creature soaring above, a small smile settling on her lips as she straightened her back and shut off her lightsaber.

The Drexl paid no attention to the small encampment, nor did it particularly care about Aela and her lightsaber. Instead it simply flapped its wings and continued to steadily drift towards the mountains, likely returning to its nest there from a hunt. The Jedi Marshall shifted for a few moments, simply watching the creature before she finally returned her attention to Jamie.

She gave her padawan an unimpressed glare.

”Up.” Aela said as he palm flattened and shot out towards Jamie.

Her Padawan would feel a very sudden, and very forceful press of the force wash over her. A wave that would threaten to tear her blanket, pillow, and probably herself off of the cavern floor so they could start the day.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Wasn't there some rule about using your powers for good? Tearing an innocent girl from her bed was definitely in that book somewhere as not being okay. It had to be! So rude.

Jamie felt the wave of energy crash over her, forcing her to grab hold of her sleeping bag and pillow to prevent it from being torn away, though she and her belongings would slide about ten feet along the cavern floor back before coming to a stop, prompting a rather irritated groan to echo along the walls back to Aela in stark protest of the gesture and assault. "You know? Just once I wish you would sleep past the break of dawn!" She shouted, pulling back the flap of the blanket covering her, her head snapping back to look at Aela with a look of anger. "Not everyone likes to race the sun every day!"

Her hands rubbed the weariness from her eyes before she climbed out of the warmth, quickly dressing and pulling on her boots. While Dxun was hot, the cave was rather cold in the early morning, making it twice as hard for Jamie to justify getting up and out of the sleeping bag.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

”Maybe when we’re done here.” She told Jamie with a smile. ’When we’re not on a planet where everything wants to eat us.”

That was really kind of a pre-requisite for her sleeping a long time. Dxun made her uneasy to say the least, and while Jamie could apparently sleep almost anywhere, Aela wasn’t so lucky when it came to that sort of thing.

”Eat something.” She told her apprentice.

Today was going to be a long day. They had been able to find the Boma’s relatively easily, but today...well today they would need to hunt Malraas. Unfortunately for them, the only place that Aela knew for sure they gathered was high in the hills...at the tomb of a Sith Lord.

With any lucky they would be able to lure some out before they got to the tomb, but...well one never knew.

”We’ll be going to the tomb of Freedon Nadd.” Aela said. ”Or towards it anyway.”

She had no idea if Jamie knew who that was.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde rolled her eyes. She knew that was just a cop out for an actual answer. Aela would never sleep later, or as late as Jamie. She would forever be tormented with the elder girl's incessant need for waking up so darn early. Perhaps she could put some sleeping spice in her tea or something one night, then maybe she would understand the benefits of a full rest. And if not? Then at least Jamie would get one at long last. A plan for later!

Jamie wished she had packed some kind of non perishable snacks. These food rations were becoming tiresome. The bland, awful mush that served to sustain them was terrible. Maybe Dxun had some berries or some kind of fruit growing nearby that the Padawan could gather on their way to or from wherever it was they were headed to beneath the early morning sun.

"Freedon Who?" Jamie had no idea about these Jedi or Sith ancestors, conquerors, or figureheads. Naboo paid little mind to the antics of Jedi and Sith nowadays. It was hardly something she had studied in her classes for that matter. For all she knew they were going to some scholar's tomb that was long forgotten.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Another history lesson.

Goodie!

"Freedon Nadd was a Sith Lord." Aela began as she opened one of the cargo crates and pulled out a package of rations, tossing it in Jamie's direction before picking up another one with a slight smile. "He once ruled over Onderon millenia ago."

It had been a less pleasant place then. "He was revered by the people, incredibly powerful, and also cruel beyond measure. He began a dynasty here that reigned for a long time. There are rumors it survives, but my Grandmother says its a lie told by some of the nobles, nothing more."

She rolled her shoulders.

"His tomb was built here on Dxun." Which is where they would be going today.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Pulling open the ration pack her nose curled in mild disgust, unimpressed by what she found inside, instead turning her attention back to Aela as she listened to her speak.

"A Sith Lord? And we're going to his tomb? Here?"

She immediately found a bit more excitement, certainly more so than that ration provided. "Cruel? Even by Sith standards? He must have been pretty bad then, no?" She wondered what exactly his legacy was, and what this dynasty entailed. "How would it survive? He's long dead, isn't he? Does he have disciples or something that are trying to take over Onderon?"

Jamie was rather confused over that bit. How did a dynasty live on hundreds of years into the future if everything regarding that dynasty was dead and gone?

Tucking the ration pack under her arm the girl quickly set about packing her bag for the day, before sliding her arms through the straps and hoisting it up onto her shoulders. That was all the information she needed to know to get her butt into gear. "I can eat on the way. Let's go."

[member="Aela Talith"]