Private Held in the Currents of the Force

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra glanced up at him at that, the corner of her mouth lifting despite everything.

"That's… oddly reassuring," she said, the faintest hint of warmth threading through her voice. "I'll try not to make a habit of needing that."

Her hand remained against the stone for another second before she pushed off it, drawing herself upright again. The grounding helped. The breathing helped a little more, even if it was just that.

Her eyes followed his gaze upward, though where he saw far more, she saw only shadow, structure, and the faint suggestion of something carved rather than grown.

"Nothing above is good," she murmured, more to herself as she scanned the edges of the cave entrance. "Means we're not about to get dropped on."

A brief pause, then her attention shifted toward the darker tunnels beyond.

"Outside and in the smaller tunnels is less good," she added, her tone settling back into something practical.

Her fingers brushed lightly against the lightsaber at her side again, not drawing it, just… aware of it.

"So we go forward before it decides to circle back on us?"

She stepped a little closer to the entrance, stopping just short of the deeper shadow, her posture more ready now than hesitant.

"I'd rather not find out how patient something like that can be."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave a nod of his head as she moved and turned around. His hand coming out as he grabbed a spider on her back as it was crawling and squeezed it before tossing it away before she could notice hopefully and offering a nod of his head. "Yes nothing will get the drop on us but we will need to ascend. THe tunnels would likely be the best way to do it but finding one without something in it, that right size and going all the way through could take time. There is a risk of cutting through the floor of though as we don't know what is there. If there is a reservoir of water of there it might be stilled and full or parasites or just filled enough to flood the cave we are in right now."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra took another step forward, her attention on the darker passage ahead, completely unaware of what had just been removed from her back.

"I'm a pilot, not a swimmer…" she said, the words coming out a little tighter than she intended as she glanced toward the stone above them, then back to the tunnel.

Her nose wrinkled slightly.

"And I really hope it doesn't flood," she added under her breath.

She shifted her weight, testing the ground near the entrance with the toe of her boot before committing, her posture settling into something cautious yet forward-moving.

"Because between the spiders and the water," she continued, a faint thread of dry humor slipping back in despite the situation, "I feel like I'm losing this negotiation already."

Her eyes flicked briefly to him, then back ahead.

"Tunnels it is, then," she said, quieter now. "We just pick the least terrible option and keep moving."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He looked at her and gave a nod of his head. "Agreed." He wasn't going to say much but he was looking through the force into the tunnels and most narrowed. His hand going to the wall as he tapped and could see it as some went deeper into the ground and other wrapped around. SMall chambers where things could be. He didn't make a larger move towards the wall but stayed in a position to sense now that he had a scent for the spiders. The spice in the air something to deal with aas he felt a section of wall and came away. "We'll have to make the entrance larger but there is a tunnel that goes up to an areea at the side of it. It is likely avoided in case of storm and water coming through it."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra stepped in closer to the section of wall he had indicated, her eyes tracing the stone as if she might somehow see the path he was describing without needing the Force to guide her.

It all looked the same to her.

Rock. Moss. Shadow.

Still, she trusted the conclusion.

"Sounds logical," she said, giving a small nod as she shifted her weight and glanced back toward the cave entrance behind them.

Her gaze lingered there for a second, listening, measuring the quiet.

"Any storms coming?" she asked, looking back to him, her tone practical but carrying that same underlying concern.

Her fingers brushed the lightsaber at her side again, not drawing it yet, just preparing.

"Because I'd prefer not to be halfway through enlarging a tunnel when the mountain decides to test your theory."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"I have never practiced to sense weather." He said it but he was moving up and holding one hand on the rock to anchor himself when the snap-hiss came with a white blade. The grip adjusting only a little as he started to slice into the rocks with his voice coming out. "Cover me and then we will climb up and through." He said it while his senses remained. The scent of the saber as it was slicing into the rocks. Molten for a moment when it was cutting much better. His senses going to the spiders as he could sense them more and they were avoiding them for now. The fresh scent of one of their own keeping them away. The jedi master was checking on more of it as a section of the stone dropped away and smash when he kicked it into the wall.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra didn't argue.

The moment the blade ignited and bit into the stone, her posture shifted, attention snapping outward instead of inward as she stepped back just enough to give him space. Her hand moved immediately to the lightsaber at her side, not with confidence, but with intent, drawing it and holding it low rather than activating it.

Her eyes moved constantly.

Tunnel mouth. Ceiling. Floor. The edges of shadow where something might shift if it decided to stop being patient.

"Got it," she said quietly, her voice steady now that she had a task.

The sound of the blade cutting through rock set her teeth on edge, the smell of heated stone mixing with the faint, unpleasant trace of spice in the air. She adjusted her stance slightly, positioning herself where she could see both the entrance behind them and the darker edges of the tunnel.

Her grip tightened just a fraction.

"If your scent trick stops working," she added under her breath, not taking her eyes off the shadows, "I'd appreciate a little warning before I become part of the ecosystem."

A chunk of stone broke free and crashed, and her head snapped toward the sound instantly before she forced herself to settle again.

"So far, so good," she murmured, though her attention never stopped moving.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave only a nod as he finished slicing into it and made the tunnel larger. The stone going away as he dropped down and looked at her. Allowing the force to move but the sounds he was listening to resonating in some of the tunnels. ""If it makes you feel better, spice spiders only attack miners because they lay egg sacs in the tubes they use for air. The ionite n the mines messes with sensors and equipment so they have to use tubes, the spiders are just protecting their young that are being eaten." He said it and looked down but motioned with an arm for her to climb up as he would support her. "Most of the time we are too large for them to try and eat."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra looked at him for a long second after that explanation, somewhere between reassured and significantly more concerned than she had been before.

"You know," she said carefully, "the phrase 'most of the time' is doing an incredible amount of work in that sentence."

Still, she stepped closer when he motioned for her to climb, her attention flicking once toward the dark opening above them before settling back on him.

"I'm going to choose to believe there are not any large enough to reconsider us as a food source," she added dryly.

Her hand rested against his arm as she climbed, using the support without hesitation now, though her eyes continued scanning the tunnel walls with open suspicion.

"And if there are," she continued while pulling herself upward, "I'd really appreciate it if they stayed committed to the whole 'protective parent' angle and not the 'apex predator' one."

Once she found a stable footing above, she glanced back down toward him, still holding onto the edge of the opening.

"Also," she added quietly, "I'm trying very hard not to imagine egg sacs right now, so maybe no more spider facts unless absolutely necessary."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave her a look for a moment when she was up to the hole and offered a nod. "As you wish." He pulled himself up and slid the saber onto his belt as he was moving and the tunnel was tight but it was also smoother then jagged. The erosion from the water aiding them as he looked up and scented the air. Outside was there before the scent of webbing that was minimal. He moved up though but looked at Lyra as he offered only some reassurance. "I think we will be alright for now, in my experience the worse things come out at night when it is cooler." He said it but moved as hi boot dug into a side and then the other was his arm as he was climbing itself up there.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra followed after him through the narrow tunnel, one hand braced against the smoother stone as she climbed. The confined space forced them close again, their shoulders and knees brushing the rock as they worked upward through the passage carved by years of water erosion.

The scent of damp stone and faint webbing lingered unpleasantly in the air.

At his reassurance, she looked up toward him with immediate suspicion.

"How do we know this place even has a night?"

The question came far too quickly, as though her mind had already committed fully to the possibility that the jungle existed outside normal rules.

She continued climbing anyway, muttering under her breath as her boot searched for the next foothold.

"For all we know, this mountain just stays permanently damp and horrifying."

A few seconds later, she glanced upward again, her expression caught somewhere between genuine concern and dry disbelief.

"You realize every new thing you tell me somehow makes this place worse."

Still, despite the complaints, she kept pace with him as best she could, following the route he carved upward through the stone without hesitation now that they were committed to it.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"I thought it might have already been night. I never saw the sunrise." He said it but was looking at her while he moved and only slowed so that she could both catch up but also so he could look at her. "Then I will tell you something old, something true. I would not seek to frighten or put you in harms way Lyra." He said it and remained there as he was stilled though in the moment. Allowing the force to expand outwards and he gripped the stone with his hand as he hung there for just a moment. To free his other hand. Slowly bringing it up to only touch her shoulder. He looked up as he went back with his hand to pulling. "We will make it through this and I am going to get you back to the freedom of flying through the stars."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra slowed, her movements mirroring his as the tunnel seemed to shrink around them. In the sudden heavy silence, the distant drip of water echoed like a heartbeat from the depths below. She looked up at him, a dry remark already forming on her tongue, a practiced reflex to keep the encroaching fear at bay.

But the words died before they could clear her lips.

There was a weight to his voice that went beyond simple reassurance. It wasn't the hollow bravado of a soldier or the blind confidence of a fool; it was absolute, unshakeable certainty.

When his hand came to rest on her shoulder, the contact grounded her more effectively than the stone beneath her boots. The touch seemed to ripple through her, cutting through the damp chill of the mountain and the skittering unease of the dark. It reached a quiet, vaulted place inside her, a part of her soul usually kept safely locked away behind the roar of engines and the cold glass of a cockpit.

She believed him.

It wasn't because the path ahead had grown any safer, or because victory was a guarantee. It was simpler, and far more terrifying: she realized, with a clarity that hit harder than his words, that she trusted him completely.

Her throat tightened. She took a small, steadying breath and lowered her gaze, leaning into the rough wall for a moment to find her bearings.

"You really mean that," she said softly. It wasn't a question, but a quiet acknowledgment of a truth she was only just admitting to herself.

When she finally looked back up at him, the guarded sharpness in her eyes had melted into something softer, more vulnerable. "I know you would," she admitted, her voice barely a whisper in the narrow space. "And that's the strange part. Because I actually trust you to do it."

A faint smile touched her mouth, genuine, warm, and entirely out of place in such a bleak environment.

The confession seemed to lighten the air between them. She adjusted her grip on the jagged stone and began to climb again, staying closer to him this time, her movements more fluid now that the internal static had gone quiet.

"So alright," she murmured, that familiar thread of dry humor returning to her tone, though the sincerity remained just beneath the surface. "You get me through the horrible spider mountain in one piece, and I'll happily go back to flying us through the stars."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave a nod of his head as he spoke and continued to climb. TO get them up and through the hole. "And then I plan to kiss you again." He said it more straightforward as he ascended through the opening and came out on grass near the side of the building. "Careful it is narrow but we are able to move." He said it but was remaining there and to the side as he searched. Pushing the force into the foundation until he found an opening. The jedi masters movement going towards the opening with a crouch as he held one hand along the wall and the other was on his saber. Letting Lyrra be able to move after him until he found it and pushed them inside of the building. The scent coming to him first as he remained there. "It smells like fruit trees."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra very nearly lost her grip on the stone.

The words hit her with absolutely no warning, delivered with such calm certainty that for one disastrous second her mind simply stopped functioning. Heat rushed instantly into her face as she scrambled upward after him, suddenly far more aware of how close he was, how narrow the tunnel had become, and how catastrophically unfair it was for someone to say something like that in the middle of a climb through spider mountain.

Maker… Her pulse stumbled hard in her throat. He cannot just say things like that and keep climbing.

Worse still, beneath the shock and flustered panic blooming through her chest was a truth she could not suppress fast enough. I can't wait. The realization nearly did more damage than the comment itself.

"You…" she started breathlessly before stopping as she pulled herself through the opening after him. "…really like choosing the worst possible moments to say things."

The accusation had absolutely no force behind it.

She emerged onto the narrow stretch of grass beside the structure and immediately steadied herself against the wall, trying and failing to regain the composure she had possessed perhaps thirty seconds earlier. Her cheeks were still warm, and she was intensely grateful the dimmer light hid at least some of it.

"Careful," she muttered under her breath to herself rather than him. "Stay focused, Lyra. Ancient ruins. Spiders. Possible death. Very important priorities." None of it helped.

She followed after him anyway, closer than before, slipping through the opening he found in the foundation and into the building itself. The air changed immediately, softer somehow, carrying a scent so unexpectedly pleasant that it cut through the lingering dampness and sulfur.

Lyra blinked once, adjusting to the shift as her eyes moved through the dim interior.

"Fruit trees…" she repeated quietly.

The words sounded surreal after everything they had just crawled through. Her gaze drifted briefly toward him again before she quickly redirected it into the room ahead.

Maker, help me.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave a nod of his head while he was moving, his attention on it but he stayed close enough to cover her should something be there. His senses expanding outwards into the chambers they were in. "Yes... multiple." He said it and held a hand out as he held it for a moment before a ruby red fruit came to him. THe outer skin of it thick and hard as he was holding it and plunged a thumb into it with a crack. He scented it and spoke. "Jewel fruits." He said it but didn't eat it, he held it as he tore it into two pieces and was smelling it as well as searching with the force. "Something many would find tempting, the Ithorians swear it is one of the most amazing tastes in the galaxy."

He said it but didn't eat it while looking at the shell before he was sitting it down. "Be on your guard." He allowed his senses to follow more. Where it had come from and he walked. The chambers opening more to show other fruit trees around the room with water being channeled to it. He could hear something faint and spoke. "It is mechanical, the machinery is soft but there. It is." He touched it for a moment and raised an eyebrow. "Cold." He said it while watching more of it. "The surface is freezing, the air though it warm... I am going to guess the looks are like moisture farming equipment but converted for a garden like this instead of desert use."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra followed him into the chamber, her tension easing into a cautious, sharp fascination. After the sulfurous damp of the tunnels, the warmth and the scent of ripening fruit felt like a hallucination—a vibrant world tucked away in the mountain's corpse.

Her eyes tracked the ruby fruit as it cracked in his hands, its vivid core catching the dim light. "That looks dangerously convincing," she murmured, though she kept her hands to herself, heeding his warning.

She drifted toward the faint mechanical hum vibrating through the floor. This, she understood. The analytical rhythm of a pilot and mechanic took over, pushing aside her earlier flustered distraction. She leaned in, studying the frost blooming across the metal casing.

"You're right—it's the same tech," she said, her voice falling into a practiced, technical cadence. "If the casing is freezing but the room is warm, it's pulling heat to drive the system. Controlled condensation, or a high-end reclamation loop."

She stood slowly, scanning the irrigation channels and the thriving trees. The machinery wasn't just ancient; it was active.

"Which means someone has been maintaining this," she added softly, her gaze shifting toward the shadows of the inner passages. "Or something has."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"That can be a good thing if it is maintained." He said it more like a question. "I wasn't able to see if there was something that looked like a landing area but if someone or something in maintaining it. The parts would need to be cleaned or replaced." He was both stating it but also asking her as this was her place of knowledge more. "And if there is a need to come and replace parts." He said it looking at it but had a thought. "There would likely need to be something to monitor it maybe?" He wasn't certain though and couldn't see it but he wasn't eating the fruit. Focusing the force to cleanse it and make sure there was nothing in it foreign or tampered. "For the moment we can use it as a repreave."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra slowly nodded as she listened, her attention still partly fixed on the hidden machinery humming beneath the chamber. The more she looked at it, the less it felt abandoned, and the more it felt…dormant. Waiting.

"You're right," she said quietly. "Systems like this don't just keep running forever without intervention."

She crouched near one of the channels again, following the carved line of water with her eyes before glancing toward the colder machinery hidden deeper within the walls.

"Filters clog. Cooling systems fail. Components corrode. Even automated systems eventually break down if nobody maintains them."

Her gaze drifted upward toward the unseen levels above them.

"So either someone comes here…" she murmured thoughtfully, "…or something was designed to maintain itself for a very long time." Neither answer sat comfortably.

At his suggestion about monitoring equipment, she gave another small nod, slipping naturally into the technical rhythm of the conversation. "There would almost have to be," she agreed. "Control systems. Regulators. Maybe even a central hub somewhere higher in the structure."

That thought briefly pulled her attention back toward the interior passageways, curiosity flickering stronger than fear for a moment.

Then she noticed him still carefully cleansing the fruit rather than eating it outright, and despite herself, the corner of her mouth lifted faintly. "You really don't trust anything here," she observed softly.

Not criticism. Just understanding. She leaned back slightly against the stone near the water channel, letting herself breathe for the first time since entering the mountain.

"A reprieve sounds nice," she admitted after a moment.

Her eyes moved through the chamber again, lingering on the warm trees, the flowing water, and the soft mechanical hum hidden beneath ancient stone.

"Honestly, after the spiders, this almost feels civilized."
Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"I would much rather be overly cautious about it then risk them being some poisoned strain developed to take down politicians." He said it but moved as he was finding a smaller place in the center to sit with a nod of his head. "We have a little moment, If you are able to direct me. I can search but I do not know what to feel around for in this case. The electronics here are everywhere but it could just be the equipment itself." He was looking at her but finished with the piece of fruit while sitting in a meditative position with his own senses reaching out searching for anything that might be a threat or a danger to them. The feeling of the world was different from within here but he could see more of it now that he knew where to look for the cracks.