Mountainside

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]​

The cold winds swept through the canyon with an unwelcoming breeze. The sound of a nearby brook had followed the two Jedi along their trail towards the last known location of their lost compatriot in the mountains. It carved its way through the ground and shaped a small crack that seemed to split against the surface of the mountain. From the top to the very bottom where it had thinned out into a small lake. There was a steep fall to their right, and a steep climb to their left, yet the reports mentioned that this was the path that the knight that they were out looking for had taken on his pilgrimage.

Given the view it wasn’t hard to understand, but given the signs of wildlife that Vera had picked up all over the place since they had begun to scale this mountain it was also one of the dumbest things he could have done and she had made sure to point that out to Yula when the first few potential problems started showing. It was all there in the animal dropping, the leftovers of animal carcasses and the way they seemed to have been there for quite some time. Had he traveled in a group things might have been different, but when you traveled alone in territories such as this you were in danger.

Perhaps that was why they had sent her and Yula out then. Vera was certainly good in her field as a hunter and tracker, she would never let anyone tell her otherwise. And Yula from what Vera had seen was very capable. Together they would have no problem whatsoever finding this person and bringing them back

Coming up on the place indicated on their map, Vera took a look around.

“Well, I can’t see any trace of them here.” She said and frowned at their disposition. “Are you sure the map is correct?”

Eyes looked back down the ways that they had come from. “Because that was a long climb.”

 

[Yula Perl]

Fortunately for Yula, she loved scaling sharp cliff faces. The steeper the better. As much as she was eyeing that rigid climb to their left, it would be irresponsible to push them in that direction unless they absolutely had to. Which, so far, it didn’t look like their missing Jedi had been struck with the sudden urge to freehand his way up a rock wall.

Darn.

“Yes.” She asserted mildly before looking down at the piece of flimsi she was holding. “Probably. I hope.” Even so, Yula didn’t seem particularly concerned over whether the map was correct or not. She shrugged.

“Do you think he…you know.” Pointing one finger downward, she made a whistling noise. Not the most tactful among the Praxeum, but Yula had been raised on Zeltros, not among Jedi.

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Vera knelt down to poke at the ground to see if she could unravel some sort of clue by sheer happenstance, but there was no such luck. Her attention shifted towards Yula as she whistled to mimic a fall and Vera couldn’t quite help but perk her brow at that.

“It’s a possibility.” Vera said and shuffled closer towards the ledge to look over the edge. “It would make things easier, except worse.”

Would they have to carry his corpse back if he was dead? Vera was strong, but she wasn’t corpse-carrying strong. Perhaps that would be Yula’s responsibility then. Morbid as it was it was the other woman who had brought Vera onto this line of thought. She held her mind unaccountable for that.

“We should look around, see what we can find.” The girl said and rose from the ground to give the area a second glance. “He is bound to have left some kind of trail. It’s hard not to.”

“I wouldn’t count on footprints, but more like… Cuts and things like that. Look for things that seem out of the ordinary for… Nature, I guess.”

 

[Yula Perl]

“Footprints would make things too easy. Something tells me that this isn’t going to be a simple hike in the woods.” Yula was well acquainted with nature and handling varying topographies of land but she was no tracker. Still, she was not one to shy away from challenges. It helped that Verana seemed to know what she was doing.

Anything could have happened to their missing Jedi. They had yet to see anything that had indicated his presence on their path, no signs of struggle or trouble.

“Have you ever been to Ishin’s Repose?” As a relative newcomer to the Praxeum, Yula had not. “I wonder if it’s true what they say—that you can feel a sense of peace there.” The men and women of the Praxeum had come from different backgrounds, something she found exciting. Yula’s own education in the Force had less to do with ideology and more to do with how to harness its power in a controlled and humane manner. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t interested in the teachings of the Jedi.

Something caught her eye and she stopped, kneeling down carefully on the narrow path. A piece of cloth, no more than a shred had been caught on a particularly rough outcrop of stone. It blended in quite well being earth toned, but it stood out enough for her to catch.

“Well, this doesn’t look very natural.” She mused while rubbing the fabric between her fingers. It was course enough to be from a robe, typically the ones Jedi wore. Itchy, itchy things. Could also have been from another passing traveler, but it was something.

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]

“No, I’ve not had any reason to go.” Vera said and continued to glance around the area before she turned around to look at Yula. “I can’t imagine what that would be like. I thought the Praxeum itself was pretty peaceful.”

Yula seemed to walk ahead and Vera slowly followed behind while she kept an eye out for anything else of note. A brow perked at the mention of something not-very-natural. It was oddly unspecific, but it was curious nonetheless. She swept up from behind and looked down at the fabric.

“Then he ventured onward.” Vera squinted at the path ahead. It got steeper. Great. “Looks like it’s a climb then.”

She approached the incline. “Hope you brought your good boots.”

 

[Yula Perl]

“Oh. Aha, yeah.” She agreed, rubbing the back of her head with her hand as if to will away the sheepish feeling that came over her before rising swiftly. “It must be something special if people keep making pilgrimages there. Alone, no less.” The woman waved a rose tinted hand at the sheer cliff face beside them. “This isn’t exactly the most welcoming terrain.”

There were many places where one could slip and fall but so far the signs didn’t point to that. Besides, they’d already scoured the area beneath the more dangerous parts of the trail and had found no injured (or deceased) Jedi.

“That’s my secret; I’m always wearing good boots.” She grinned, perhaps a bit too flashy for the severity of the situation. But it was true—Yula tended to wear clothing that allowed her to move about freely and stand up to rougher landscapes.

Her muscles strained as they adjusted to the steeper incline, hands reaching out to steady herself every so often. It wasn’t the sort of thing they needed rope and a harness for but that didn’t lessen the fact that it would be decently challenging.

“You do a lot of tracking?” She wondered if it was a skill that Vera had brought from somewhere off-world of if it had been taught to her by the Jedi. As far as she was aware, there were a dozen or so orders of varying size scattered throughout the galaxy.

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]

“All my life.” Vera shrugged and grasped at a nearby rock for stability before the steep climb. “My mother used to say I knew how to shoot before I could even talk.”

She grunted and pulled herself up along the trail while keeping the conversation going, her words broken apart by the occasional grunt as she had to keep her balance or pull herself into a better position.

“I guess with the way this path seems to go, they chose it based on beauty rather than the safety or availability.” She pushed herself up on a cliff and looked out across the view. “I guess I can see why, but I would advise them to seek other paths. It is not worth it getting lost over the scenic beauty of a place.”

“For one,” Vera let out a huff of frustration. “It is a pain in the butt to track anyone on this path. Stone surfaces, old decayed animal corpses… Our best lead is a torn piece of a tunic, which doesn’t inspire faith.”

They reached the top of the climb eventually. Vera looked out across the view again and stared down on the treetops below.

“Not that natural beauty is to be underestimated, I guess.” A small smile crept on her lips as the cold air swept around them. “Think they can see us from the Praxeum up here?”

 

[Yula Perl]

The Zeltron mix quirked a brow. “Are you always this positive?” Granted, she understood the other woman’s frustration. Not exactly from a tracker’s point of view because Yula didn’t have that specific skillset, but she could appreciate the practicality of…not taking this trail.

Despite the fact that if it were her? She likely would have done the same thing. Though her muscles strained against the angling of the cliff, it was a good burn to her. Yula liked challenges, often to a fault. Sometimes it lead to poor decision making and choosing fun over safety.

“Maybe.” She smiled in appreciation for the view, shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand as she looked off the direction of the temple. Or where she thought it was, anyhow. “Maybe we sh—“

Something rustling off to the side of them caught her attention, whatever her next words were dying in her throat. Yula slowly half turned, eyes narrowed in time for a mountain goat, not unlike the ones seen on Endor come charging out of the bushes. Head lowered, the curved horns on the goat made haste for the pink tinted woman, causing her to quickly side-step out of the beast’s way.

Unfortunately, that was also a side-step off of the cliff. Thankfully, Yula didn’t go tumbling to her death(yet) as she’s managed to grasp a ledge a little ways down. Instead of hanging like dead weight, her feet instinctively went to find footholds.

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Vera laughed for a second at Yula’s comment. Yeah, maybe the people could see them from here. Then again, if they could they would probably have been more aware of where the man had gone. The sound of the rustling made Vera turn around on instinct. Clopping against stone, a charge… Had to be a- yep, mountain goat.

“Yula!” Vera cried out as the woman fell over the edge. The goat turned their attention towards Vera. While she was undoubtedly scared for the well-being of her friend Vera was also accutely aware of what a goat like this could do if allowed the chance.

“No, stop!” Vera said and held her hand out before her towards the goat. It began its charge towards her, yet mere inches away from her it seemed to have slowed down to a halt. “Good.”

The sounds of the grunts coming from down below and the trickle of loose rocks and gravel meant Yula was alive, and as such Vera knelt down to pet the mischievous goat behind the ear.

“That was very unkind of you.” She gave the goat a stern look and the goat leaned its head forward in shame. The girl shifted closer to the edge to look down at Yula.

“Need a hand?” She asked and gave the other girl a look of evident worry. “I can try to find a stick or something.”

The goat poked its head over the ledge and looked down at Yula too before it turned around and walked away from the two ladies and the situation it had put them in.

“That goat will think twice next time.” Vera muttered and laid down on her stomach to extend a hand towards her friend. “... I hope.”

 

[Yula Perl]

The sound of gravel trickling and a series of grunted curses would alert Vera to the fact that Yula was very much alive.

Startled by the sudden attack, the Zeltron mix had managed to cling to the sheer cliff face on instinct. Her muscles ached with the impact of doing something so suddenly, but still she managed to hold on. After finding her footing, the young woman carefully began to make her way back up the cliff. She hadn’t fallen very far at all, but the drop below her was very…very far.

Two faces peered over the edge—one human, one less so. Yula paused to stick her tongue out at the goat who seemed to be completely unconcerned with what it had just done.

“You—ungh—make another friend?” The comment was laden with both sarcasm and effort as she shifted one of her holds to something more steady. Vera’s hand breached the gap and Yula was pulled to safety, no worse for the wear aside from a few minor scrapes and bruises. And a burning wariness for anything vaguely goat-related.

“I hope we never see that goat again.” She commented back, brushing the loose dirt and debris from her clothes. “Were you talking nice to it?” A brow quirked up at Vera.

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Well that was harsh on the goat. It was doing what was in its nature to do when faced with such a situation. Yula got back up, brushed herself off from the dust and grime and Vera did much the same. Attention shifted back to the goat and whether or not Vera had been kind to it.

“... No?” Yes. “I was very stern with it.”

Though maybe that wasn’t saying much. Vera went turned the other way and began walking before Yula got the chance to complain. Defense mechanism, really. No way to catch a stern talking to of her own if she kept her mouth running and legs moving.

“Well, regardless, we are aware that he we was somewhere around here.” She began her rant. “Just keep looking, eyes scanning the ground and ears peeled, all that.”

“We found a torn piece of a robe and that climb was pretty steep, right? So if we just push forward towards the temple maybe we’re likely to meet him one way or the other, right?”

“Wouldn’t you say so?”

 

[Yula Perl]

“Whatever you say, goat whisperer.”

Animal friendship was not something that had been in Yula’s repertoire. Her primary teacher until now had been her mother who had very little experience with the skill herself. That didn’t mean that Yula didn’t respect nature itself—she was well aware that they were technically trespassing onto the goat’s territory. She was just a little salty about almost being gored.

“I would hope so.” She agreed, neck craned as her eyes scaled the length of the cliff above them. It was pretty steep but do-able if you had the right experience and equipment. Even then, missteps happened all the time.

“The Praxeum already sent scouting parties at the base of the mountain and no body was recovered. Hopefully he’s hiding out somewhere.” That would be the best scenario, not dead from starvation or being bitten by a venomous creature.

Both scenarios were unlikely, she hoped. Most Jedi seemed to be trained in wilderness survival and some could even purge poison from their bodies. Even then there were probably medicinal herbs to be found around here somewhere.

They started moving again, choosing their footsteps carefully as they navigated the rocky terrain. It wasn’t too difficult, but hands came into play as they would need to reach out and steady themselves from time to time. Might as well make some polite conversation.

“Where are you from, Vera?”

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Goat whisperer? Was that a bad thing? Because it totally didn’t feel like a bad thing.

“Well the scouting parties could have missed something, and hopefully yes, he is hiding.” She nodded as they continued to climb upwards. “I hope he is though, don’t get me wrong. I just have bad experiences from before.”

“I come from Kiara. It’s a very remote planet in… I think it’s called the outer rim?” Vera grunted as she continued to climb. “Overgrown and primitive according to some, but with a great natural beauty. We are a people who treasure nature,” Another grunt as a particularly tough climb forced her to exert herself. “And nature treasures us in return. I came from a hunting family. We lived in a small community with five other families a day away from the capital.”

“We hunted for food, grew our own food, built our own homes, and nursed one another back to health when we were sick.” Her mind entered the rose-tinted, nostalgic state she had grown so accustomed to over the last few years. “My mother was a seamstress, my father. My two youngest brothers are too young to pick up a trade, but my sister is going in my mother’s footsteps, and my oldest brother is doing the same as my father. Same as me, really.”

“So, I was raised to hunt. And sew. And survive. That is what I do, and that is what I am trying to keep on doing.”

 

[Yula Perl]

“Kiara, huh…” She smiled, not because it sounded like the particularly ideal lifestyle but from the wisps of nostalgia she caught wafting from Vera’s mind. It wasn’t that she’d tried to read the other woman’s thoughts, but catching glimpses of emotions came with the territory of being an empath. Plus, her mother taught her that intruding on someone’s thoughts was a rude thing to do. “It sounds nice.”

Home was home, no matter what it was or what it looked like to other people. Yula herself was more accustomed to urban living, something that perhaps Verana would not choose as her ideal home. But who knew?

“Those are always useful skills.” She grunted a bit with exertion as she pulled herself up and onto a minor ledge. The climb was rather inconsistent with the sloping of the rocks, but thankfully it wasn’t entirely sheer. “Makes me wish I put more effort into my own survival training.” A short chuckle slipped past her lips.

Still, there was one thought fluttering at the back of her mind. “Why the Jedi, then?”

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Home was where heart was at, or something like that. Vera smiled at Yula’s compliments and kept on climbing until finally they hit the question. Why the Jedi? Vera stopped for a second to consider her answer. She wasn’t quite sure herself to be honest, but perhaps it was a sense of responsibility. She knew that she had the ability to do good, and with the Jedi it wouldn’t be just for her own people.

“To help people.” She said and continued to climb. “I have a calling, and I didn’t want it to be spent with the Peacekeepers. There is a bigger world out there, many of them in fact.”

As if Yula didn’t know that, right?

“I guess I just wanted to feel important or like I could do something important.”

“What about you, why did you pick the Jedi?”

 

[Yula Perl]

Yula liked questioning people’s choices. Not because she wanted to give them a hard time or judge them, but it helped her paint a better picture rather than only what she’d seen on the outside.

Unfortunately it wasn’t always a socially polite thing to do, something she’d learned as a child. The circumstances that led someone to walk the path of the Jedi tended to be less of an intrusion. Sometimes.

Yula nodded slowly as she listened to Vera’s explanation, a small, genuine smile curling her lips.

“I understand.” She said in earnest. “There are things out here that are a lot bigger than us.”

When the question was bounced back to her, the Zeltron mix hummed in thought. Her thoughts surrounding this topic were a little complicated, but finally she settled on one answer. “My mother.” How could she condense these thoughts into something succinct? “She was one. Well, at one point. Er, sort of.” Yula waved a hand to the side as if to wave that technicality away. “I always liked hearing her stories of adventure and well, I’ve never exactly like staying in one place.”

She grinned. “Probably why I became a smuggler.” Too much info? Too much info.

[member="Verana"]