Private 'Neath A Golden Crown

[Colette]

Golden trees and a subtle breeze. It hadn't been Colette's intention to bring those words she had since obsessed over to life, and yet here they were. Autumn was always a special time of the year. It was the beginning of rebirth, the death of the past. Her eyes fixated on the golden-red crowns of the trees that arched above the duo.

"Seems we missed the rain by a few days." Colette noted and looked back down at her partner for the day. This was a setting that Colette felt more comfortable in and it showed. She wasn't smiling, but the ease was still there.

So was that kernel of awkward overthinking too, but far from as present as it was last time that she had met with Adelle. It had sprouted but hadn't yet pierced the earth. Mostly because it had taken some reassurance from the Mandalorian that it was in fact okay to head out and hunt when meeting someone for the first time and that, if anything, it was a pretty standard Mandalorian thing to do.

Colette shuffled the rifle on her shoulder and let in another deep breath.

"So, we never really got to know one another that well at the ball," She said and glanced over at her new… Friend? Acquaintance? Prospect? What was the word for this? That awkward little seedling grew an inch taller.

"I mean, I know that you can dance and that you're Mandalorian." She paused a moment before she tilted her head in recognition. "I also know that you seem to know people in high places on both Naboo and among the clans."

"So, I mean, I gotta say I feel at least a little out of place on the list of people you seem to know."

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Colette

“I know four people in high places,” Adelle said quietly, following after Colette and trying to stay mindful they were on a hunt. Trees towered over them in brilliant reds and ambers, golds and greens. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen such a beautiful autumn. Not that she expected to. A lot had been taken from her when she’d been given amnesia. “And I know of a fifth." Whills fething woman flirting while married. "Truth be told, I have no idea why. I am literally no one important. Although I wouldn't count the Mandalorians of rank on that list. It's . . . different in our culture.”

Colette, for her part, seemed far more relaxed here than she had at the ball. Once again, reminding her of Na’an. Adelle kept getting flickers of nervousness but after she’d explained that hunts were common for Mandalorians, most of it died away. Most of it.

She paused, adjusting the strap to her Firepuncher while Phantom clung to the other shoulder. Adelle had tried to leave the spukami behind on her ship, but there were times that nothing Adelle did or said through their bond worked. She’d been pleasantly surprised when Phantom hadn’t fought her on staying behind the night of the gala. Although that surprise was short-lived when Phantom explained, as best she could through impressions, that she didn’t want her tail stepped on or to get kicked.

“I’m going to apologize in advance,” Adelle said. “I haven’t gone on hunts a whole lot, and not since before Life Day. Things have been . . . busy.”

An understatement. Between her work in the hospital trying to fight the Wildfire spice epidemic now plaguing Mandalorian space, the preparations for their strike against the Diarchy, along with the attack itself, and playing advisor to the Mand’alor during the treaty talks with the High Republic, Adelle could count on one hand the amount of days she’d gotten to herself.

The quiet rustle of leaves in a forest still drying out felt like a much needed peace.

“What are we hunting?” she asked. “I can’t remember if you mentioned that.”

 

[Colette]

Adelle Bastiel

Four people were still sort of a lot in Colette's eyes. Most people knew maybe one at best.

Her eyes fell for what must have been the hundredth time already upon the feline companion Adelle had brought with her. Her brown eyes locked with its orange orbs and her heart melted all over again. She had to look away but the desire was just not there.

At least not until Adelle snapped her out of it.

"Huh?" Colette cleared her throat. "Right, uh, nothing too serious. One of the villages reported that a particularly big herd of about two or three dozen forest gallaze will migrate through the area and asked for help, so… I signed us up."

A distant gunshot could be heard in the distance almost as if on cue. By Colette's estimate it must have been at least a few kilometers to the north-northwest of where they were.

"That's one of ten taken then." She nodded and looked back at Adelle.

A small check in on the comms confirmed that much.

"And don't worry about the actual hunt. If we bag something, we bag something. If not, that's fine too." Her shoulders rose and sank. "Sometimes it's also just nice to enjoy the other parts of a hunt. The sun, the wind, the smells…"

And just like that she was back to looking at Phantom again.

"Is your friend going to be okay if we start shooting? Thinking about their hearing."