Private One for the Road

[Rin Taal]

Muad's exaggerated answer brushed across the connection between them with all the subtlety of a thrown brick, and Rin's smile deepened despite herself. She had expected some response after reminding him that his thoughts were not nearly as private as he seemed to have momentarily believed, but the drawn-out denial carried such deliberate innocence that it almost earned a laugh. Almost. Rin merely turned her head away again, leaving him with the curve at the corner of her mouth and the knowledge that she had heard every bit of it.

His later thoughts proved considerably more interesting. Rin had already begun studying the meadow when the faint impression reached her through the connection they had neglected to close, something involving wet leather, the view afforded by following her steps, and the belated conclusion that perhaps he ought to be paying more attention to where they would be going. Her head turned slowly enough to make the movement deliberate, and although the dark glareshades concealed her golden eyes, there was no mistaking the amusement that returned to her expression. I can still hear you, she reminded him again, this time with considerably more warmth woven through the thought, before offering him no further rescue from his own mind. She found it did not actually bother her.

Instead, Rin returned her attention to the open ground ahead, where amusement gave way naturally to concentration. She and Muad still stood beneath the shelter of the ancient trees at the edge of the meadow, exactly where they had remained throughout their reconnaissance, while the boulder formation waited some distance beyond the long grass as an uneven darkness against an already lightless horizon. Its shape was softened by mist and obscured beneath the relentless curtain of rain, but Rin knew what lay within those stones now. Eight people still believed four sentries guarded the approaches to their camp. Six slept. Two remained awake. Their communications equipment offered the greatest immediate danger, and every moment she and Muad remained undiscovered preserved the advantage they had so carefully gained.

The storm was already helping them, and Rin became aware of that fact in a way that went beyond simply feeling rain against her skin or hearing wind bend the meadow grass. Weather had accompanied her across enough worlds that she had learned to recognize its temperament much as she recognized the moods of animals or the slow responses of growing things. This storm had been building long before she and Muad left the caravan and entered the forest. Warmth had risen from saturated earth into colder air, clouds had gathered until they could carry no more, and now the entire sky seemed engaged in the long release of everything it had accumulated. Rin had no desire to change what Batuu was already doing. She merely wanted it to continue long enough to carry them unseen across the exposed ground ahead.

Without leaving the treeline, Rin allowed her awareness to broaden beyond the immediate lives surrounding them. This communion was different from reaching toward the consciousness of a tree or touching the simpler mind of an animal. There was no singular awareness waiting to meet her, nothing that could understand a request or choose whether to accept it. Weather existed through relationships rather than thought, through heat and cold, pressure and moisture, earth and sky constantly moving against and through one another. To influence it required less conversation than listening, finding the innumerable currents already flowing through the world and understanding where the slightest touch might encourage what nature had already begun.

Rain struck leaves high above her and gathered until their burden spilled in heavy cascades. Beyond the canopy it fell uninterrupted across the meadow, silver only where the faintest ambient light found it before disappearing into blackness again. Rin felt the moisture hanging thick within the air, the colder currents passing overhead and the warmer breath rising from sodden ground beneath them. The storm possessed momentum enough of its own and needed no strength from her, only the gentlest encouragement to continue following the path it had already chosen.

Her influence entered those existing patterns so gradually that there was no single moment when the weather could truly be said to have changed. The rain simply remained heavy where it might otherwise have begun to soften, mist collecting a little more densely above the soaked meadow until it crept low among the long grasses and blurred the base of the distant boulders. Wind continued its restless passage across the open ground, bending vegetation in broad waves whose constant movement would make two additional shadows considerably more difficult to distinguish. Above them, the clouds remained thick enough to deny even the moons a path toward the earth.

Lightning presented a different problem. It was sudden and violent, born from tensions too immense to simply hold indefinitely, and trying to suppress it outright would mean fighting the storm rather than moving with it. Rin attempted nothing so foolish. Instead, she felt for the charged currents moving somewhere beyond the canopy and encouraged the storm's restlessness elsewhere, nudging what she could toward the distant horizon so that any eventual flash might illuminate faraway clouds rather than the meadow they needed to cross. She could not guarantee the sky would obey every preference she offered, nor would she have tried to impose such absolute control upon something so vast, but sometimes a subtle change in where tension gathered was enough.

Batuu owed her nothing, and Rin would never have presumed otherwise. She merely asked the night to remain what it already was for a little longer.

The answer, if it could be called one, came with a sudden gust through the canopy overhead. Leaves shuddered beneath the passing wind and released the water they had been carrying in a single heavy cascade that struck Rin squarely across the head and shoulders, adding an almost insulting amount of water to clothing and hair already saturated beyond any reasonable hope of becoming wetter. For several seconds, she simply stood beneath it while water streamed from her light hair, traveled along the frames of her glareshades, and gathered briefly at her chin before falling. Even her fingerless gloves were thoroughly soaked, the dark leather fitted closely over her hands while leaving her fingers exposed to the rain.

She heard Muad's poorly concealed amusement nearby, and the slow turn of Rin's head toward him carried such perfect composure that it might have been threatening if not for the unmistakable twitch at one corner of her mouth. Not a word, she warned through their connection, although there was absolutely no severity behind the thought. The fact that Batuu itself had apparently chosen that exact moment to dump half the canopy upon her was unfortunate enough without giving Muad permission to memorialize the event.

Her long amber tail had suffered equally beneath the weather, its rain-heavy fur lying considerably closer to its natural shape than when dry, but whatever private amusement Muad might derive from that particular indignity would have to remain inside his head. Which, Rin immediately remembered, was presently not private at all, and the realization nearly drew the smile she was attempting to suppress fully into view.

His answer came across their connection soon afterward. You're the guide. I'll stay close. Cloud cover from above hasn't diminished, so our approach shouldn't be illuminated unless there's a flash of lightning.

Rin tipped her face briefly toward the concealed sky, listening more than looking as she felt the storm continue moving above them. The mist was deepening where she wanted it, the rain showed no immediate sign of weakening, and whatever electrical tension she could sense remained distant enough that she was willing to trust the next several minutes.

It should hold.

She offered no explanation beyond that. Muad had already watched trees answer her touch, animals respond to her guidance, and an unseen creature lend her its senses across the meadow. Perhaps he would notice what she had done with the weather as well. Perhaps he would simply add it to the steadily expanding list of reasons he seemed determined to regard her as some variety of witch, a suspicion Rin imagined she would eventually hear about whether she asked to or not.

For now, what waited ahead demanded more than amusement. Rin allowed the wider communion with the storm to recede until only the gentlest thread of awareness remained, enough to notice if the weather began changing unexpectedly without dividing her attention from the task before them. Her world narrowed again to the wet earth beneath her boots, the rhythmic hiss of rain striking meadow grass, Muad beside her beneath the trees, and the distant boulders waiting beyond the open ground. The information borrowed from the little creature within those rocks remained vivid in her memory, assembled into a mental map that would guide their approach once they finally left the shelter of the forest. Eight soldiers remained within, two awake while six slept, and one communications unit possessed the ability to transform a silent elimination into a warning reaching whatever corvette waited somewhere beyond the clouds.

The communicator came first.

Rin studied the route across the meadow one final time before glancing toward Muad. His amused Yes, ma'am lingered freshly enough in her memory that the smallest curve returned to her lips, and the look she gave him through the rain-streaked lenses of her glareshades suggested she had heard considerably more than merely the thoughts he intentionally shared. There was no need to torment him about that yet. The open meadow still separated them from eight armed men, and whatever commentary she might eventually have regarding his appreciation of wet leather could wait until neither of them was in danger of being shot.

Stay close, she repeated, practical intent threaded through the lingering amusement. And try to keep your thoughts on the mission.

She allowed him precisely enough time to understand the reference before turning toward the meadow and moving forward, only then leaving the shelter of the treeline.

The full force of the storm met Rin the moment she emerged from beneath the canopy, rain striking without leaves to interrupt its descent and streaming immediately across the lenses of her glareshades. Long grass bowed beneath the combined weight of wind and water, rising and falling in broad dark waves that transformed the meadow into something almost fluid beneath the night. Rin did not take the most direct route toward the boulders. Instead, she angled into one of the shallow depressions she had identified earlier, choosing the lower ground where vegetation stood tallest and the mist gathered most heavily, allowing the landscape itself to dictate the safest path forward.

She moved with the weather rather than against it, advancing whenever stronger gusts sent ripples through the grass and slowing whenever the wind briefly eased. Her boots sought firmer patches of earth beneath the vegetation, avoiding standing water and the deepest mud wherever possible, while her tail remained low enough not to rise visibly above the grass behind her. The storm erased much of what little evidence they left almost as quickly as they created it, rain softening impressions in the earth and wind restoring disturbed vegetation until the meadow seemed reluctant to remember their passage at all.

Rin never needed to look back to know Muad remained close. Their still-open connection carried a quiet awareness of his presence behind and slightly to one side, while years spent traveling dangerous roads had taught her how to recognize another person adjusting naturally to her rhythm. He did not crowd her steps or force her to compensate for him. When she slowed, he slowed, and when she used the cover of a violent gust to cross a more exposed stretch, he moved with her until their passage became another fleeting disturbance swallowed almost immediately by the storm.

For a time they were little more than two additional movements among hundreds already occurring across the meadow. Wind bent the grass, rain disturbed the earth, mist drifted unpredictably through every hollow, and Rin and Muad passed among all three without asking the night to hide anything that nature was not already concealing.

The boulder formation gradually grew larger through the mist, not because visibility had improved but because the distance between them was steadily disappearing. What had once been little more than a jagged darkness against the horizon became great masses of wet stone rising above the meadow, their irregular surfaces disappearing upward into rain and shadow. Narrow gaps began revealing themselves exactly where Rin remembered seeing them through borrowed eyes, and somewhere beyond one of those passages waited the first wakeful soldier and the communications equipment that had to be silenced before anything else could begin.

Rin slowed well before they reached the stones themselves, using the final stretch of tall grass as concealment rather than surrendering the advantage of the meadow too soon. One hand rose in a silent signal as she lowered her profile among the rain-heavy vegetation and studied the approach ahead. They had crossed the exposed ground without being noticed, but from this point forward the nature of the hunt changed. Every meter brought them closer to ears capable of catching a misplaced footfall, eyes that might notice an unnatural shadow, and hands that could reach the communicator before either of them crossed the remaining distance.

Her thoughts brushed Muad's again, quieter now, the playful warmth of their earlier exchange settling beneath the colder concentration of what came next.

The communicator first. The awake one nearest it goes with it.

Along with the thought came a brief impression of what she remembered through the little creature's senses, enough to orient him toward the narrow approach that would bring them nearest the communications unit while keeping the bulk of the stones between them and most of the camp. The second wakeful soldier remained farther within the formation, separated enough from the first that a clean and silent opening might leave him unaware for several precious seconds.

Several seconds could be enough.

Rin remained still for another moment, listening to the storm and watching the darkness between the stones while rain gathered along the edge of her glareshades and fell in slow droplets into the grass below. Somewhere within those boulders, six people slept with no knowledge that the sentries meant to protect them would never sound an alarm. Two remained awake, unaware that the darkness surrounding their camp had already yielded its secrets.

A faint curve touched Rin's lips as she glanced toward Muad one final time, amusement somehow surviving beneath the concentration of the coming fight.

Let's finish this quietly.

Then Rin slipped forward through the rain-heavy grass toward the narrow darkness between the stones, with Batuu's storm holding the night around them and Muad close behind.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

The first impression was purposeful and deliberate. But when Rin slowly turned her head and cast a pointed look, eyes hidden behind the tinted glareshades, he got the impression that his internal appreciation of her figure had drifted beyond his mind. Her mental words confirmed his presumption. Most intelligent beings would find chastisement or a sense of shame filling them. Muad merely shrugged and grinned wider, unapologetic that he was caught acknowledging the pleasing sight that was before him. Then there was the fact that while his thoughts were clear to her mind, her own were equally transparent. She didn't mind, and he felt her bemused state.

Both their attentions returned to the objective at hand: the boulders where enemy combatants waited. Six were asleep and two awake while the communication device resided within a narrow cleft in the stone. Their concern was not for the looming battle but for whether one of the alert soldiers would manage to send a message. That would be counterproductive to their cause and lent a measure of keen awareness to their actions. The device must not be activated, and that meant the two closest would need to be dealt with first.

As his thoughts dwelt on the concerning issue, Muad once again became aware of Rin's stillness. For what felt like the hundredth time, he felt her communion with the Force as she sought not to direct or command but to influence external events. His focus followed the tendrils of her consciousness, expecting yet more creatures or nonsentient life forms to be her ever goal. However, what he found was significantly more impressive.

Weather manipulation.

For most Force sensitives, this act was beyond their comprehension and understanding. Telekinesis could assist with controlling certain aspects of a storm, but such frivolous endeavors rarely swayed the grand scheme of nature. Instead, it took knowledge and understanding of how weather transcended a simple breeze and a covering of clouds into the dark, tumultuous force that lay pregnant with power, water, and raw will. Just like anything, it all boiled down to one simple concept—the allocation and distribution of energy. Charge a group of molecules, agitate a cluster of nuclei, reverse the magnetic polarity, and you could alter anything.

However, she was working on a much grander scale with a force of nature who followed the will, whim, and temperaments of unseen laws and attributes local to this specific biosphere. Each planet's ecosystems were fundamentally the same and yet radically distinct. The basic principles of how to exert influence over a weather phenomenon could, in theory, work on every planet. But he had personally seen this was not always the case.

For him, it would have probably worked despite not being familiar with the small intricacies that made this planet unique from others. However, the subtle distinctions and individuality of Batuu would have required brute force, as he was not informed of the exclusive parameters of weather patterns native here. Simple complications could come from reverse polarities, added elements from the periodic table, or something as benign as naturally occurring native microorganisms.

As a long-term resident of Batuu, Rin would be acutely aware of the delicate nature of the natural order of things. Earlier in the evening, she had spoken of watching babes grow to adulthood and then having children of their own. That required an extensive exposure to the planet. So he waited and watched as the ramifications of her actions subtly became apparent. Wind grew to typhoon-strength gusts and showers of rain increased to a downpour, further drenching them and saturating their clothes and belongings.

That was when the canopies above broke like a bow to send what felt like buckets of water slamming down to the earth. Thankfully, his positioning only left him in a large splash zone. Rin was not as fortunate. He wasn't sure if she would have gotten more wet if she had jumped into the ocean, given the staggering amount of water. But this was much more satisfying.

Especially considering the state of her tail, which dripped with undignified and hilarious effect. Her threatening words sent along their bond made his grin even wider. He tried to keep the laughter in with only partial success. A snort escaped as he smothered his face for several seconds before regaining his composure.

Afterward, they reached a shared consensus: the weather would hold. In the precipice of action, they both gathered themselves in preparation. Muad viewed the landscape as he allowed his breathing to settle. The windswept grass lay upon their neighbors due to the storm. His eyes roamed the direction they would travel, noting low spots that dotted the ground. There the grass would be longer, but the earth would be muddier as each low trench collected water. Several small knots would rise above the rest of the rolling meadow, spots to be avoided as they would raise them above the landscape and give their enemies a chance to catch a glimpse of their outlines. Their approach should be low.

As his breathing slowed, he tapped into the power of the Mandragora, which sharpened his already peak senses into an animalistic clarity. The muscles in his shoulders and chest rippled as a feral grin flashed; canines lengthened to twice their original size. The nails of his hands lengthened, their composition hardening into weapons that could carve durasteel. His pact on that long-ago night changed him in many ways. One of which allowed him to alter himself into a creature that no longer walked the planes of life. He didn't need such a transformation tonight, but he did embrace the emboldened senses and altered claws he now wielded.

Finally, it was time.

Rin led first, and Muad swung out from her flank, just behind and to her right—two predators on the prowl. When the grass swept around them, long strands parted in their path. In his crouch, he could taste the water swept from the foliage, which left a bittersweet aftertaste in his mouth. Beneath his feet, he felt the earth surrender several inches with each step, the already saturated soil giving beneath his weight. Every other step found gravel and stones long buried in the dirt, now found by the deep impressions his boots left. The tactile sensations were not unpleasant.

In the distance, dark clouds glowed with unseen lightning. A brief illumination that lacked the strength to reveal their forms crossing the meadow silently. The forest moaned from the force of the wind; old limbs swayed with a cracking resistance to the weather. Dead limbs and shriveled brown leaves skipped across the grass, lending additional movement that would conceal their advance. His sharpened hearing strained for the heartbeats concealed within the upthrust boulders to no avail. Too much ambient noise, which suited him just fine. If he couldn't hear them yet, then they certainly would have found no auditory cause for alarm.

As the ground leveled out on a short stretch, he dropped his upper body, allowing his right arm to bear part of his weight. His spine curved as he loped along in a semblance of a strangely shaped canine. However, his left arm remained poised near his side, keeping the bow from contact with the ground. His eyes caught the curve of Rin's tail, and for a moment he envied the traits of counterbalance it afforded her. Not enough to fully embrace a transformation into the beast he could be.

His senses were heightened. Eyesight already sharpened well beyond the best a human could attain now flickered between unnatural colors. A type of night vision where every light was enhanced, and even the bioelectric fields generated from life glowed with aura. Grass shone a light blue while the soil and stones emitted a deep purple. Rin, leading just ahead, shone with an amber hue. His mouth hung open, tasting and smelling his environment. Tangy sweat of men and the sharp stench of oiled weapons elicited a small growl in his chest. Even the energy within the electronics inside the formation gave him a burnt taste as they neared.

In the more animalistic state of predator, he embraced the emotions spurred on by the chemical reactions caused by his senses. The need to kill grew by his enhanced abilities. To tear with teeth and talons. Yet he lowered himself even more to the ground, feeling the importance of stealth at their current juncture. Images and intuition flooded from the bond between him and the zorren, reaffirming their need for a slow approach and stealth, especially with concern for the communication array.

The touch along their bond was almost his undoing.

Keenly, he drew in a breath of her feminine musk, the scent nearly altering his animalistic instincts. An altogether different kind of hunt overwhelmed his bloodlust as his eyes found the graceful curve of her neck within the cleft between jaw and shoulder. Her movements were smooth, finessed, and limber as she navigated the obstacles before her. Lithe form glowed with the strangely ethereal amber aura his bestial senses offered through his vision. Wet leather clung to her figure. A shiver shook his body as his eyes drank in her form. Imagery of tackling her to the wet bed of grass flashed in his mind. Then, just as his limbs prepared to launch him forward, his fangs raked his lower lip. Pain and the copper taste of his own blood wrenched the instincts back under his control while he created more distance between them.

Fierfek. What the feth …

Never had he ever felt that particular aspect of his leashed animalistic nature. Especially since he had almost lost control, no, that wasn't exactly right. He almost chose to surrender control. Even now his head swam drunkenly from her scent, her form tantalizing at the edge of his periphery. Another gnashing of his fangs brought him back fully reigned in and under control.

As they neared the boulders that both sheltered and hid the soldiers, he slowed, following the pathway into the stone ledge with his senses. There was a small hiccup in their plan of attack. The only passage in would require them to travel several meters in an enclosed stone corridor, then cross the expanse of the hollow, over the sleeping forms of the six men, and on to the two who remained awake, who also faced the only entrance in.

While the path in would allow a fully armored Mandalorian to enter, there would be no way for the two of them to go side by side. And all it would take would be an errant glance, small noise, or a sixth sense to alert the conscious soldiers to their presence. And the. The corridor would be a shooting gallery with Muad and Rin as targets—less than preferable.

The animalistic instincts that boiled his blood said to charge in. That would be foolhardy. But what if … Muad held up a hand to tell Rin to wait for a moment before branching off.

Slowly he circled the formation, each step taken with care to avoid any chance of making noise that could alert the soldiers. Twice he paused when his boot pressed down and felt a wet, rotten branch. Each time, he adjusted his steps. At the back of the boulders, he paused to flatten his form against the formation while a strong gust rustled the grass, almost whipping his soaked tunic, which would have made a foreign, flapping sound to those within.

Grunting with annoyance, he now found himself wishing he wore leathers like what adorned his friend opposite his position. The fabric of his shirt had lost all elasticity due to the thorough soaking. In his position, his eyes searched out the stone above him, and he found what he was searching for. Deep crevasses and cracks filled the surface of the enormous boulder. And an idea came to mind. Carefully, he prodded the bond.

What if we used their instincts against them? Fight or flight. I could climb the face of the boulder to the top as you slip through the passage. I could draw their attention above and startle them into action. Instinct would either see them attempt to put space between them and me, and in doing so, would send them farther from the communication device. Or, they grab their rifles and try to shoot me, which would keep their attention away from the device. Either way, they don't activate the comms and leave you with the tactical advantage of surprise at their rear.

And should the other soldiers wake, they will be disoriented initially until they see where the others are focused, again, seeing me and not you. One of us can be the diversion, and your list says healer, not mine. Thoughts, oh fearless leader?

He, of course, ended it with sarcasm, though there was enough humor coloring the internal tone to change the feel from snarky to teasing.

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

Rin remained where Muad had left her, low among the rain-heavy grass near the base of the boulder formation, watching his shadow disappear around the stone while his proposal settled through the connection between them. She did not dismiss it immediately. The approach they had planned had changed the moment they discovered the shape of the entrance, and the narrow passage ahead offered concealment only until someone committed to entering it. Beyond lay the hollow with six sleeping soldiers scattered between them and the two who mattered most, both awake and facing the only obvious way inside. Worse still, the communications device remained close enough to one of them that a single warning could transform a quiet elimination into something considerably larger.

Muad's idea solved part of that problem by giving those watchful eyes somewhere else to look.

It also required him to climb the outside of the formation and deliberately make himself the most interesting thing eight armed soldiers were likely to see all night.

Rin supposed she should have expected something like that eventually.

The faintest amusement touched her expression despite the circumstances, particularly when his teasing designation of fearless leader reached her through their connection. Less easily categorized was something else she had caught from him during their crossing of the meadow, a sudden intensity that had brushed against her mind with enough force to be unmistakable before disappearing almost as quickly beneath deliberate control. It had been sharp, strangely primal, and directed toward her in a way that had been difficult to misunderstand even if she could not have explained precisely what had caused it.

She had not turned to investigate it then, nor did she attempt to understand it now.

Whatever had passed through Muad belonged to him unless he chose to explain it, and Rin had no intention of prying through an open connection simply because circumstances had made some of his thoughts easier to hear than he might have preferred. There were six sleeping soldiers and two awake ones within the rocks ahead, a communications device capable of bringing considerably more trouble down upon them, and an entire corvette somewhere beyond Batuu's storm-darkened sky. Whatever precisely had happened behind her could wait until they were not crouched outside an enemy encampment contemplating the least disastrous way to enter it.

His plan deserved the same careful consideration she would have given any other.

It could work.

Her answer reached him without hesitation once she had traced the possibilities through her mind. Rin shifted slightly within the grass, studying what little she could see of the formation from her position while comparing it against the images she had borrowed earlier from the creature within. Muad had one thing unquestionably right. Instinct would govern the first few seconds after his appearance. The soldiers would react before they had time to think, and people tended to look toward whatever presented the greatest immediate threat.

A man suddenly appearing somewhere above a camp whose only entrance was supposedly being watched would qualify rather well.

The problem was what happened after those first few seconds.

Don't attack immediately.

There was no teasing in the thought now, but neither was it an order delivered simply because Muad had jokingly placed her in command. Rin sent the reasoning with it, allowing the shape of her idea to accompany the words.

If they only glimpse you moving above them, they won't know what they're looking at at first. Let them look. Let them decide you're the danger before you give them anything else to think about.

Fear was useful precisely because imagination did much of the work.

The soldiers inside had already spent a wet, miserable night on a world that was not theirs. Four of their companions had disappeared into the darkness without warning, though those sheltering within the rocks did not yet know their perimeter had been stripped away. The storm battered everything beyond their shelter, visibility had collapsed, and whatever confidence came from numbers depended upon believing the approaches remained secure. Muad did not need to throw himself immediately into the hollow to break that illusion.

He only needed to appear somewhere no enemy should have been able to reach.

Rin's attention settled upon the narrow passage ahead while the plan rearranged itself around that advantage.

When they turn toward you, I'll move.

Muad above. Rin below. Their enemies caught between two threats while initially knowing about only one.

She would not rush directly across the hollow unless circumstances forced her to. The sleeping soldiers were obstacles, but for the first precious moments they were also irrelevant. If Muad captured the attention of the two awake men, Rin could use that distraction to slip through the passage and move along the perimeter of the hollow rather than exposing herself unnecessarily through its center. The irregular walls of stone might offer enough shadow and broken ground to carry her closer without drawing attention away from Muad.

The communications device remained the priority.

Once she reached it, no frightened hand could send word beyond the camp regardless of how quickly the situation deteriorated afterward. Only then would the remaining soldiers become the immediate problem, and by then she and Muad would no longer need to preserve the same degree of silence.

A gust tore across the meadow behind her, driving rain almost sideways and sending the long grass into another violent ripple. Rin waited for the noise to crest before shifting closer to the entrance, not entering it yet but positioning herself where she could cross the threshold the instant Muad gave her the opening she needed. Water streamed from her hair and along the edges of her glareshades, collecting briefly beneath her chin before disappearing into clothing that had long since become incapable of growing any wetter.

Somewhere around the far side of the formation, Muad was preparing to climb, and his final remark returned to her then. Your list says healer, not mine. The smallest smile appeared as she answered, Yes. Which means I'd rather not have to practice on you again.

Warmth threaded beneath the dry humor, quiet enough that it might have gone unnoticed had their minds not still been joined so intimately. Rin had already found Muad nearly dead once. She had no particular desire to make a habit of putting him back together, especially when his proposed role in their plan involved deliberately presenting himself to armed men as the threat they needed to watch.

Still, she trusted him.

The realization came without ceremony, simple enough that Rin did not feel any need to examine it further. She trusted him to understand the danger. She trusted him to know his own capabilities better than she could after barely two days together, and perhaps most importantly, she trusted him to adapt if the soldiers reacted differently than either of them expected. Muad had survived too much for Rin to mistake recklessness for incompetence. There was calculation beneath the apparent madness, even if he seemed to derive considerable amusement from disguising one as the other.

Her thoughts reached for him again as she settled into position near the mouth of the passage.

Draw their eyes upward. Give me enough time to reach the communicator.

She paused, considering the sleeping men between the entrance and her objective. The plan did not require all six to remain asleep. It only required confusion to last longer than the distance she needed to cross. If one awakened to the commotion above, his first instinct would likely be the same as everyone else's: find the source. Muad intended to give them a very obvious one.

That left Rin free to become the one they did not know was there.

A brief pulse of amusement returned through the connection as his earlier fearless leader remark came back to mind.

And since you've apparently decided I'm in charge, try not to get shot before I get there.

She could almost imagine the grin that would answer her, and for one fleeting moment Rin wondered how the time had progressed from finding a nearly dead stranger beneath a tree to silently coordinating an assault with that same man while trading teasing remarks through an open mental connection. The thought should probably have seemed stranger than it did.

Instead, it felt remarkably natural.

Rin turned her attention fully toward the narrow darkness ahead, allowing the humor to settle beneath the stillness that always came before violence. Rain hammered the meadow behind them while wind tore through the grasses and distant thunder rolled beneath clouds she had gently encouraged to keep their secrets. The storm they had spent the last several minutes shaping into an ally now surrounded the boulder formation, swallowing small sounds and blurring anything beyond the immediate shelter of the rocks.

She listened.

Not merely with her ears.

The memory of what she had seen through borrowed senses remained clear enough to orient herself, but Rin did not attempt to reach through the little creature again. She had already asked enough of it, and circumstances within the hollow had not had time to change significantly. Six sleeping. Two awake. The communicator waiting beyond them. A narrow entrance watched by men who believed anything dangerous would have to come through it.

They were about to learn otherwise.

Rin lowered herself slightly, finding the balance that would allow her to move the instant the opportunity appeared. One hand rested lightly against the damp earth beside her, not for support so much as connection, feeling the faint vibration of rain striking stone and soil while the other remained free. Her tail settled low behind her, its soaked fur kept close to the ground where its movement would not betray her silhouette near the entrance.

Muad was somewhere above and behind those rocks now, or soon would be.

Rin did not need to know exactly how he intended to make the climb. That part belonged to him. Her responsibility began when the soldiers looked away from the entrance.

For several breaths she remained perfectly still, listening to the storm and waiting for the smallest change within the camp ahead. There was something almost familiar about the patience of it, the quiet interval between preparation and action when every possibility still existed and nothing had yet committed itself to becoming reality.

Then her thoughts touched Muad's one final time, light enough not to distract him from whatever handhold or foothold he might presently be finding upon the rain-slick stone.

On your move.

Rin waited in the darkness below, ready to become the danger no one inside the hollow knew was coming.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

The gusting wind grew with renewed fervor. Whistling swirled about the meadow, the wind playing a tune upon the wet grass that reminded him of Theed. Meadows in the lowlands were a constant source of cool breezes. He had sat on a hill, body nearly concealed by the long grass. It was the day before an assault on the city, and he had removed himself from his compatriots. Here he found a semblance of serenity. The warm sun baked his back despite the light tunic he wore. Sweat beaded his brow and ran in rivulets down his face.

Despite the heat, the cool wind whispered all around, and his perspiration cooled his skin. There wasn't a cloud in the blue sky, just the long expanse of deep blue from horizon to horizon. From his perch on the rolling hills, he watched a group of kids running through the meadow, their waists hidden in the depths. They plucked long strands of tan grass to place at their lips. When they blew, a high-pitched whistle escaped, and the children laughed in glee at the simple pleasure it gave them. Even he smirked at their joy.

His eyes blinked the stream of rain that flowed down his face. The memory brought a slight smile to his face as he listened to the whistling wind as it played the long grass of the meadow on Batuu without need for lips. Different-pitched tunes united in a low choir of whistles that sang across the landscape. Idly, he wondered who the first humanoid was to witness the music of nature and emulate it with a strand between their lips. Nature was the progenitor of many things that were eventually copied by so-called civilized people who claimed the discovery for themselves.

As the sounds whistled by him, Muad raised his head to watch the turbulent clouds above. Dim flashes could be witnessed in the depths of the heavens, but no flashes pierced the veil. Not yet. However, it was closing in. He felt Rin confirm his proposition, and he merely smiled. Time for action approached.

Pressed against the boulder, he slipped the beskad from his back and laid the sheathed blade beside the wall. Then he grabbed the hem of his tunic and pulled it over his head to tuck under the grounded weapon. It wouldn't do to have the wind flap his loose, wet clothing and deliver a strange noise before the trap was sprung. With a sigh, he placed his bow upon his discarded clothing. He would need both his hands for the climb.

His fingers with their newly grown talons trailed along the cold, hard surface of the stone before him. He searched for the fissures he spotted earlier. There, just above his head, was the first. Fingers delved deep as his eyes scanned for the next. Two feet above the first crack was another. His shoulders rolled, and his neck twitched side to side with the soft pop as he readied himself. He momentarily considered tossing his boots so he could use the flexibility of his feet and toes but decided against it. Instead, he would use his upper body to scale the wall.

Three quick exhalations, and his left arm pulled to raise his entire body from the ground. His right arm reached up, and he found a larger rendering in the stone. Fingers secured, and he scanned for the next to ascend to. It was a slow process. His talons mined every new handheld. Before transferring his weight, Muad tested the grip to ensure it could support his weight. Twice, his grip faltered in the weak stone.

And that is why you test it.

His amused grimace eased away at the next crevice. Halfway up the stone, the wind whipped across the meadow and tried to remove him from his tenuous perch. The muscles in his chest, arms, and back burned as he clung as tightly to the cold, wet stone. Despite the ferocity that blew around him, he maintained his hold while he twisted his body to the side. It would be perilous if the buckle of his gun belt were to make hard contact with the boulder. The peal of metal on rock would be heard within the formation, and that would prove problematic to their stealthy approach.

The winds settled, and he returned to his arduous climb. He was three-quarters of the way to the top and moved with much more care. The rain still drenched his flesh, and water streamed down the face of the boulder he climbed. The stone was chilled and slick against his bare chest as he continued his ascent. His hand reached for the next handhold, and he saw a flash of movement. A viper struck for his face, its grey-black scaled hide and two enormous fangs aimed at his cheek. He twisted, torquing his body around as his right hand struck with equal speed. He managed to grab the serpent just behind its head as he felt a drop of venom splatter against his wet cheek.

His left shoulder screamed in agony from the quick motion, but his grip held while he held the writhing snake before him. He briefly remembered Rin's gentle communion with the viper's brethren in the field below. The animalistic side Muad had released wanted its blood for daring to attack. But Muad did not require its death. Nor should he. Muad was the interloper who invaded its small home. Instead, he let the Force flow from him and into the serpent—a sense rather than words.

I am not a threat, ner vod. Sleep and wake when the storm has passed.

With great care, he returned the viper to his den, fingers softly easing the docile creature back into its home. Then he reached past the slight opening and found another grip to pull him past the creature. Three more clefts were found as he raised his body silently up the stone wall until his left found the ledge at the top. Slowly, he pulled himself up and over to lie on his stomach at the top.

Now he could see the fury of the storm above. Illuminated clouds blinked from the power it commanded. Only a small amount of time remained before nature released its constrained might. Which actually worked with his plan. He eased over near the interior ledge and brought his head only partway over. Just enough to allow his left eye to peek into the depths of the hollow of the boulders.

His eyes remained unfocused, not looking at any single thing. He did this because he knew some beings could feel when they were being watched. An extra sense from a time long past when man needed to know when a predator was near. Whether the soldiers below possessed such innate ability remained unknown. But why tempt fate now? He eased back, the scene below remaining much the same as it had. He allowed his thoughts to flow along to wherever his friend waited below. The view he shared was matched by his words.

The storm is about to break. With the first strike of lightning and thunder, I shall reveal myself. Don't worry about me; focus on that communication device, then pick them off. I have no intentions of needing your healing hand. Have fun.

He smirked as he visualized his cockeyed grin and a wink, an image he sent to Rin. Pulled back from the inner lip of the ledge, he placed his feet under him and crouched. The top of the boulder was uneven, dangerous footing. Even before the rain left pools in the uneven stone and the gale-force winds tried in vain to pluck him from the top. His hand pulled the glareshades from his face and slipped them away in his trousers while his opposite hand slipped the silver cylinder from its sheath at his belt.

They were expecting a man with glowing blue eyes. They would get him. And more. He peered up into the low-hanging clouds that released their torrential rain and wind. He felt the energy gathering within its depths, power uniting and swirling. Then he felt it; the catalyst had arrived.

He stood, the toes of his heavy boots at the edge. His arm raised above him while his thumb hovered over the button of the hilt of the lightsaber. A deep breath was drawn in as he tapped into both his fury and the fury of the storm above. His form leaned forward, and the lightning struck, the father of all lightning strikes. Blue-gold forks of energized plasma scorched the sky, the immediate thunder reverberating in the air and shaking the ground. The two soldiers below looked up, eyes drawn to the power the storm unleashed. That was when they saw him.

The silhouette of a man, held in stark relief by the lightning, stretched across the heavens. His glowing blue eyes were all that was visible in the figure above. They froze. And then a monstrous roar escaped the figure perched on the stone that was their protection. A blue blade of pure plasma sprang to life from the lightsaber emitter. And in the pent-up breath that roared from his lungs, Muad powered in his fury, rage, and thirst for chaos. His innate ability activated by emotion, instinct, and willful thought. Blue flames launched into the darkened skies, living on the exhaled thunderous outcry.

One of the soldiers froze in abject terror while the second stumbled back, away from the wall and communication device, to fall onto the forms of the startled sleeping soldiers. The group flopped on the ground, hands groping for weapons. The mud held most of them in its grip, their bodies sinking into their blankets into the mud. Muad knew that somewhere in the chaos below, Rin waited for the moment to act. And it was his job to keep them entertained with their complete attention.

The blue blade flashed down, scattering yellow sparks and shards of melted stone down into their midst. He roared again, his left hand raising as a blue orb of flame swirled into existence within the palm of his hand. The first soldier who remained frozen, gaze locked on the form of Muad Dib, was the first to taste death. However, it would take longer than the soldier would like. The fireball was thrown down into the well of the stone formation to strike the soldier, flames engulfing his form as hands beat to no avail against the blue flame that consumed his flesh.

Three of the soldiers found their rifles and blasters raised as chaotic streaks of crimson bolts lanced upward. Lightning shattered the sky, thunder shaking them all with its drumming rumble. The lightsaber flashed to return one of the bolts to the offender, his head rocked back and his body crumpled to the wet earth. Deep laughter rang out from Muad Dib, a demon from the darkest of dreams. He pointed to one of the armed soldiers before yanking his arm back. None of the soldiers saw the thin whipcord launch from his gauntlet to spear into the torso of the soldier and immediately reel in while aided by the forceful yank from Muad. All they saw was a blue-eyed demon of flame point to one of their number and beckon him in his upward travel to go flying beyond the boulders.

Two more soldiers found their mud-caked rifles and joined the firing upwards. Lightning flashed, flames flowed, the scent of burning flesh filled their abode, and the laughter echoed down the well until all they could see or hear was the mad man above them. Dismay wrenched their hearts as one blaster bolt struck the man above in the chest, and all he did was stagger a step before he launched another fireball into their number.

Never did they consider he was merely the distraction and that their death would come from behind.

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

The world held its breath.

Rin remained motionless beneath the shelter of the boulders while rain drummed against stone and earth alike. The storm had become something immense overhead, no longer simply weather but a living thing gathering strength beyond sight. She felt it in the subtle pressure of the air, in the restless stirring of leaves, in the way every creature nearby seemed to wait without understanding why. Even the wind had changed. It no longer wandered. It anticipated.

Then the heavens opened. Light exploded across the area.

For an instant the world ceased to possess shadows. Every blade of grass, every rivulet of rain, every jagged edge of stone stood revealed in blinding blue-white brilliance. The hollow below flashed into perfect clarity, the startled faces of the soldiers turning instinctively upward toward the impossible figure standing upon the rim of the formation. Thunder followed with enough force to shake the earth beneath Rin's hand, rolling through the stone until she felt it more than heard it.

She understood, in that single breathtaking moment, exactly what Muad intended. It was magnificent. He had not simply become a distraction. He had become a nightmare, and she found she liked it.

The silhouette against the lightning, the impossible blue eyes, the roar that echoed from the rocks, the living flame that answered his fury... for one heartbeat even Rin almost forgot to move. Had she not known the man behind the spectacle, she suspected she might have believed Batuu itself had birthed something ancient and terrible from the storm.

Then training overcame admiration.

While every gaze lifted toward the demon above them, Rin flowed through the entrance. She did not run. Running drew attention.

Instead she crossed the wet stone with deliberate speed, every step placed where blankets, discarded equipment, and men still groggy from sleep and waking to the impossible spectacle offered concealment or distraction rather than noise. Men shouted. Someone screamed. Fire blossomed overhead as Muad hurled living blue flame into the hollow, and the camp dissolved into panic exactly as they had hoped.

No one looked behind them, and Rin used that blindness without hesitation, slipping through the chaos until the communications unit appeared exactly where the creature's borrowed memories had shown her. Her blaster was already in her hand, steady despite the tremor of distant thunder, and with one quiet squeeze of the trigger she ended the transmission before it could ever begin.

The bolt crossed scarcely a few meters before striking the transmitter dead center. Metal burst outward in a shower of molten fragments and sparks, circuits vaporizing in an instant. The antenna toppled sideways, hissing where rain struck glowing metal.

No warning would leave this camp tonight.

Only then did the nearest soldier finally notice movement where none should have been. His attention snapped toward her too late, eyes widening in sudden alarm as recognition failed to become action. Rin was already inside his guard, closing the distance with quiet inevitability before he could even raise his weapon.

Her left hand caught his rifle before he could bring it to bear, twisting the barrel harmlessly aside. At the same instant, the fingerless glove upon her right hand offered no obstruction as razor-sharp claws extended naturally from her fingertips. They swept once across the exposed side of his throat.

He collapsed before the cry fully left his lips. Another soldier spun toward her, blaster only halfway drawn.

Rin pivoted with the movement rather than away from it. Her tail swept behind to keep her balance as her body turned, and her heel drove hard into his knee. Bone cracked beneath the impact. His leg folded violently, dropping him exactly into the path of her returning elbow, which struck beneath his jaw with enough force to send him sprawling backward into the mud.

She did not wait to see whether he rose again.

A third man had finally managed to shoulder his rifle, but the blaster in her hand spoke once, and he fell before he could ever fire.

Another stumbled free of his blankets, still trying to understand whether the greater danger stood above him or had somehow appeared within the camp itself. His indecision lasted only a heartbeat.

Rin fired again. The bolt struck squarely in his chest, carrying him backward onto his bedroll. Chaos consumed the hollow.

Lightning continued to tear across the sky in brilliant flashes while thunder drowned commands before they could become orders. Blue fire reflected from soaked stone. Crimson blaster bolts chased impossible targets through rain and smoke. Men who had been asleep moments earlier now spun between two enemies, each convinced the greater threat lay somewhere else.

Exactly as they had hoped. Rin did not look toward the rim of the boulders. She didn't need to.

Trust was a curious thing. It did not require certainty, only confidence that the other person would do what they had set out to accomplish. Muad had promised her a distraction, and the chaos consuming the hollow told her he was keeping that promise well enough.

Rather than pressing deeper into the open, Rin shifted toward the nearest sheltering stone, lowering herself behind it as another volley of blaster fire streaked overhead. The shattered communicator lay behind her, its purpose ended, while four soldiers no longer posed a threat. She steadied her breathing and raised her blaster once more, golden eyes calmly sweeping the confusion for anyone whose attention turned away from the demon above and toward the shadows below.

If someone found her, she would finish it.

If not...

The storm above had become more than weather, and somewhere within its fury Muad continued to hold the camp's attention. That was enough.

Rin remained where she was, patient and ready, allowing the surviving soldiers every opportunity to make the next mistake.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

Even as he acted above, he watched the slight form of Rin slip into the hollow and enact her plan. The communication array went first. And then she danced among the soldiers, a graceful ballet of death. Strikes and spins before her claws struck with lethal intent. His mind dipped to her hand on his chest within memory only last night. Her healing touch for him was death to the men below. His lightsaber wove in front of him, deflecting blaster bolts as she quickly moved, as silent as a reaper, carving and firing the end for the wet and muddied forms below. When she retreated, only a single soldier remained standing. But while Muad remained atop the stone formation, a specter of nightmarish intent, the man below bellowed and spun, his rifle searching for the ghost from within.

Mud splattered his black uniform as a blanket entangled his legs. He almost stumbled on the body of a fellow, vacant eyes staring up into the sky where rain already pooled in the recesses of his eye sockets to gather in diminutive pools of water. While Muad could not see where Rin had disappeared to, the man below did. The rifle turned in the direction he stared as his finger prepared to pull the trigger to strafe energy bolts in her direction.

Without conscious thought, he acted. One step forward to the edge of the ledge before he gathered his legs beneath him and leapt. Into the empty abyss of the hollow nearly four stories above the ground. As his body flew through the air, he spun and bent his legs as his boots hit the far wall, significantly lower, of the interior of the deep well. His thumb depressed the button to deactivate his lightsaber, and he kicked off the rain-slicked surface of the wall, arms extended downward. A snarling roar echoed in the recess of the stone walls as he drove himself toward the soldier below.

The motion from above drew the man's attention before his finger tightened on the trigger to see the spawn of hell flying down at him. In fear, he stumbled back, the ghostly form of Rin forgotten as a wraith descended with talons outstretched. His finger jerked the trigger, blaster bolts biting into the stone wall as he released a shriek of terror. Muad's talons tore into the man's torso, followed by all the force driving his descent as their bodies collided. The soldier's armored back hit the ground, cratering a hole in the mud as the two men slid across the muck and slammed into a boulder. By the time the two had ceased their momentum, it was already too late.

The claws that drove into the man's chest ripped and tore the flesh beneath as Muad's arms wove at the continued slashing attack until the blue-eyed man's face flashed forward and fangs tore at the exposed throat beneath. And then it was silent, save for the whistling wind, the downpour of rain from the heavens, and Muad's heaving chest, splattered with blood from the fallen. Rain washed over him as he stood, streams of water running down his face to where his bloody fangs were still bared in a growl. Adrenaline rushed through him as the glowing gaze moved between the dead bodies of the fallen. Only once he determined they would never rise in this life did he turn, eyes searching the shadow for Rin.

Once they found the curves of her body sequestered into a shallow recess, he moved toward her. Almost as though he was still on the hunt. Each careful step avoided the carnage that lay beneath his feet. Red pools swirled with water around the dead. He approached, chest still heaving as the rain washed the red blood to shades of pink from his flesh. A clawed hand reached out toward her body, pausing a hand's breath from making contact. Glowing eyes traveled down and up her figure as he studied her body. Fangs grinned within his face as his eyes reached her glowing amber ones.

"I see my fearless leader has sustained no wounds. As I expected."

His hand fell away as he turned. He moved a few places from her position as he wrestled with the instinctual animalistic nature pulsing through his body. He took a knee upon the muddled ground and found the silver hilt he discarded in his dive. With a shake, he rinsed the mud from the weapon before he slipped it back into the worn leather sheath. With conscious effort, he focused for a few moments and felt the sweet agony as fangs retreated into his jaw with a painful click. His enlarged talons, the thickened and sharp nails of his hands, would eventually soften before they broke off.

The beast was caged once more. His hands ran through his hair, scattering a spray of water from its length, before he swept his palms down his torso, erasing the last vestiges of the soldier's lifeblood from his chest. A grimace crossed his face as his legs pushed him to his feet again. Opposite the scar upon the right of his chest was a scorched burn where a blaster bolt struck him. Enough to hurt. His left arm rotated as he turned, and he acknowledged that, though it appeared grievous with the skin burned away to reveal the pink sheen of muscle tissue below and edges fried a dark black, he was still fully functional. He turned his head sideways to observe his friend.

"Looks like we can add another few titles to your list, eh?"

His smile was shared warmly. Then he turned and made his way to the ruined communication device. It was definitely inoperable—probably no chance to repair it either. But just to be sure, he drove his raised boot into the metal, shattering delicate electronics, until it resembled nothing but a ruin of parts. Satisfied, he walked through the mud, bodies lying where they fell, until he reached the narrow passage from the interior of the boulder formation.

"I'm going to retrieve my belongings. Then I'll meet you on the road. Keep the stones betwixt you and the other side. The guy I yanked and tossed over the wall is still alive. I think I'll leave him that way. He only saw me, so your involvement will not be reported. His legs are broken so that he won't be going anywhere."

He slipped through the narrow path, shoulders turned slightly as he carefully watched where his feet trod. The floor was uneven, stone chipped away by nature. Outside the entrance, he circled the formation as the wind shoved at his body. Another flash of lightning struck somewhere near. He could feel the vibration through the soles of his boots. At his small stash, he knelt and retrieved the sword to slip the strap of its sheath across his chest, allowing the beskad to settle comfortably on his back. The coarse fiber of the strap rubbed at the raw wound on his chest and elicited a small hiss through clenched teeth. The bow was in his left hand while his right tucked the soaking tunic into the belt around his waist. Then he turned to the distant form of the soldier who was trying to crawl away in vain.

His thumb activated the plasma converter in the energy bow, and the song steel string emitted a purple glow as he advanced on the wounded man with menace carved onto his face. Apparently, in the fall, the soldier had also broken an arm; the limb twisted in an unnatural angle at his back. Muad kicked the man over into the tall grass and placed his foot on the chest plate of the man, who cried out softly. He leaned down, bringing his face close with his glowing blue eyes and stayed that way for a moment. The soldier's body sank into the grass and mud from the added weight of Muad's boot.

"Tell Haymitch, he can run and live a little while longer. Or he can stay, and die sooner. Those are his choices. I know where he's going. I know what he wants. But all he'll find is his death at my hands. Tell him."

Muad kicked off from the body as the soldier let out another cry of pain riddled with fear. With a press of his thumb, he deactivated the energy bow. He made his way back to the road, noticing the journey felt much longer now that they weren't on the prowl. Wet grass lay in clumps that he avoided. This time he took the high path, avoiding the divots and ditches they used in their advance. As his boots climbed the slight incline to the hardened road, he glanced at Rin with a hooded look. They had shared a new experience—their capacity for violence and death. But a single moment didn't define this relationship between the man and woman. Merely another aspect of who they were and what they were capable of.

"Sorry about that back there. Sometimes, when I am using my less civilized instincts, the beast inside will follow any of my … lesser compulsions."

Even if I've never felt that particular desire in strength before …

His eyes followed the road, illuminated by another flash of the storm's fury, before he rolled his shoulders in a shrug, loosening the muscles he'd first used to walk, then growing back into the loping stride in the direction of where the caravan lay sleeping far in the distance.

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

Only after he had cleaned himself and the steady rhythm of their journey had settled around them once more did Rin speak again. The rain continued to fall in a patient curtain, washing blood into the earth and mud from their boots while distant lightning rolled across the darkened sky. Her gaze wandered over him with the same quiet attentiveness she had shown ever since they met, lingering first upon the scorched burn across his chest before finding the raw wound along his arm. Neither injury threatened his life, but both would remain long after the exhilaration of battle had faded.

"That burn is going to become considerably more uncomfortable once we stop moving," she observed gently. There was no criticism in her voice, only the simple assessment of someone accustomed to tending those who returned from dangerous places. Her golden eyes rose to meet his. "When we return to camp, if you'll permit it, I'd like to help."

A faint smile accompanied the offer, quiet and unassuming.

"Nature answers me in small ways. I cannot mend wounds as completely as some healers can, but I can encourage the body to remember what it already knows. Sometimes all living things need is a little guidance before they begin putting themselves back together."

Her gaze flickered once more toward the burn upon his chest before returning to his face.

"If you combine that with your own gifts, I imagine you'll recover far more quickly than either of us could accomplish alone."

The conversation drifted naturally toward lighter things when he mentioned adding still more titles to the ever-growing list he seemed determined to build for her. A quiet laugh escaped before she could stop it, warm despite the rain falling around them.

"Oh?" she asked, playful curiosity brightening her eyes. "And what new honors were you hoping to bestow upon me?" Tilting her head ever so slightly, she appeared to consider the matter with exaggerated seriousness. "I'll consider them." The smile lingering at the corners of her mouth suggested she already suspected whatever title he chose would be impossible to refuse.

For several more steps they walked in comfortable silence, broken only by the steady rain and the distant murmur of thunder. His apology settled between them without urgency, and Rin allowed it to remain there for a time before answering, turning the words over carefully until she understood what lay beneath them.

"You apologized," she said quietly, "as though I hadn't been standing there beside you." Her eyes found his beneath the grey sky, gentle with understanding rather than concern.

"Muad..." A small smile touched her lips. "You think I only saw the beast." She let the observation linger between them before giving the slightest shake of her head. "I didn't."

Her gaze wandered briefly toward the rain-soaked hollow disappearing behind them.

"I saw someone who chose to leap into danger because another life mattered more than his own. I saw someone who fought with every instinct he possessed to protect another person."

When she looked back at him, the warmth in her expression had only deepened.

"And afterward..." She smiled softly. "...I watched that same man gather himself back together again."

The words settled naturally into the quiet around them before she continued.

"I've taken lives before to protect others, and if those under my care leave me no other choice, I imagine I will again. I don't celebrate it, but neither do I pretend that protecting life has never required difficult choices."

Her gaze drifted toward the forests surrounding the road, watching rain collect upon leaves before falling back into the earth below.

"The forest has never taught me that life and death are enemies. They belong to one another. Every creature that falls nourishes something yet to grow. There is sorrow in that truth, but there is balance as well."

For another few moments she remained silent, remembering the instant she had seen the rifle turning toward her hiding place. There had been no time to move. No time to think. Then Muad had fallen from the heavens like the storm itself, and everything afterward had happened in the space of a heartbeat.

"I know what would have happened if you hadn't jumped," she said, the words carrying neither embarrassment nor reluctance. "You saved my life." Her smile softened into quiet gratitude. "Thank you."

The road stretched onward beneath the rain as they resumed their easy silence. When Rin spoke again, her voice was thoughtful, touched more by quiet admiration than anything else.

"I think I understand your beast a little better now."

Her golden eyes followed the winding road ahead.

"It isn't your enemy." She paused, allowing the rain and wind to fill the space between them. "It's simply another guardian."

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

It was the silence once again. If you could call nature silent. The rain continued falling in droves, fresh waves slamming into their moving forms. The wind swept across the whistling meadows, shoving them along the road, and entered the forest, which moaned in response. Thunder rumbled and shook the puddles before their feet splashed through. And the lightning arced through the skies, blue forks that reached for the horizon. And amidst it all, they moved swiftly in their quiet ruminations.

He felt her eyes on him, moving from wound to wound. There was no need for him to remark; he understood the injuries were bothersome, if not painful. Then her offer of assistance came, and he glanced her way to catch the remains of a smile. She spoke of nature and her own abilities before pointing out that if they worked together in union, there would be a quicker result.

His response was slow in coming. The events of the last dozen minutes were flipping through his mind's eye. It wasn't his actions that he scrutinized, but rather the ones he didn't act on. The primal urges he had barely controlled. Not just before the attack. The one that came after the battle was finished. As he approached Rin in the cleft, his concern for her well-being was only a portion. It made him consider the reasons behind it. She was quite easy on the eyes. Reserved and strong. Humorous in a quiet way. They were comfortable talking or not. There was no reason for him to have almost lost it. He ended up factoring it down to the primal lust for blood that shifted when he breathed in the perfume of her scent and the, admittedly, great rear that had been in front of his eyes. Surely, nothing more.

With that settled in his mind, he grunted acceptance of her offer. Only to speed the healing. Her laugh finally drew his eyes beside him as she questioned what new titles he would offer for her consideration. He chuckled as they sloshed through the water on the road.

"Huntress. Weather Whisperer. Gardener doesn't quite capture what I'd like to call you. Fighter. Witch."

The last one was spoken in jest, though he had certainly entertained the notion several times already. Perhaps she had put a spell on him. Or a curse. He smirked. Couldn't make things any worse for him. Then the image of her as she left the forest and eased into the meadow almost had him say temptress. But that had more to do with the beast inside. That was what he told himself. Then they fell into the comfortable silence once again.

They had made decent progress. And then another thing began to irritate him. Every step sloshed in his boots, socks rubbing with each motion. Every stride left his pants wanting to say, despite the belts around his waist. Every fiber of clothing on his body was completely saturated. For a moment, he considered tapping the Force and using his control of heat to dry his clothing. But he didn't. He knew his limitations. And after dying less than twenty-four hours earlier, then using the Force to accelerate his healing, he knew his reserves and control were low. He could still do it. Of course, there was the strong possibility he would burn every stitch of clothing from his body.

Now that would be a story that Rin would remember and tell for the rest of her life. And then he would be forced to jog along as naked as the day he was born. It would get rid of the chafing … He smirked and shook his head at the thought. The small motion reminded him that he was tired. It had been a long night, day, and night again. He just wanted to get somewhere dry so he could strip out of his soaked clothing and get some rest. He'd need it tomorrow.

Then, Rin brought up the apology. She didn't differentiate between the man and the beast. He almost opened his mouth, a rebuttal on his tongue, and then he snapped it shut. The primal instincts roared to tackle her form to the grass, to rake his fangs and talons … he shook his head free from the line of thought. Then his memories drifted to the speeder, to the forests, and he realized he had been admiring her shape well before he almost threw himself on her. There was no sense of a guilty conscience. He was merely enjoying the view of a woman he was physically attracted to, like how people would look at art, or a sunset. However, he couldn't remember the last time he set his gaze on a woman with that intent. It had been a long time.

He listened as she spoke slowly. Truly listened. He didn't agree with some of what she said, but he understood the sentiment. They rounded another curve in the road and in the distance he could make out the opening of the alcove where the caravan was pitched for the night. His pace slowed into a walk. In part so their splashing wouldn't wake any from a fitful sleep. In part because each raindrop that struck his chest was like a needle spearing into his wound. And there were many raindrops due to the storm. The strength of the clouds waned as lightning grew distant and the thunder merely grumbled. The downpour, however, continued.

"I doubt you truly needed my help. I've seen what you can do … and I do not know how many times I will be able to 'pull myself back together'. I think, one day, I won't. Be able to, or want to. You call this beast in me a guardian. You felt what I almost did back there in the meadow. And you don't know what beats in my heart. I told you, I'm not a good man. And you said that wasn't what you saw. You don't see the things I don't do, things I restrain myself from. Maybe this is the facade, the one the world sees."

His voice lowered in volume until it became a whisper. They approached the camp, tarps pulled taut against the wind, and only a handful of lanterns burned with a low orange flame. His boots slowed and stopped. Then he turned to Rin, a morose smirk etched in a dead man's face. His eyes still glowed blue, but there was a reservation within them.

"If the beast is a guardian, it's guarding the galaxy from Muad Dib. There's a reason I told you to remove your hand from me last night. I don't want to hurt you. Nothing good comes from being in my vicinity. Stay away for your own good."

He turned and moved to one of the wagons backed full of extra equipment. No family owned this rig; it was a communal storehouse for whatever needs existed. Within a box he pulled free a folded tarp and tossed it under the wagon while holding the edge. It unfurled before settling in the wet ground. Muad turned to look at Rin, his head tilting in a motion that she should leave him, before he squatted and began to toss his weapons beneath the wagon. Belts were unbuckled, boots unlaced, and he kicked them free before he bent and crawled beneath the wagon and removed the socks to be draped over one of the leaf springs beneath.

He spent several minutes on his weapons, trying to clean them as well as he could with the wet tunic before pulling his boots from the rain and setting them on the corner of the tarp. He lay down, his back on the coldness of the tarp, and closed his blue eyes. He still felt her presence, out there watching in his direction. He wished he could slip out of the sodden trousers, but they were the only clothing he had. And it wouldn't do to have the morning camp see all the weapons he was packing. He snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest. Then snarled at the contact with his wound. He closed his eyes and reviewed the evening times. It was probably only a little after midnight.

It was going to be a long night. The damp chill was in his bones, aided by the soaken trousers, and probing fingers felt the hot flesh of his wound. His head was a bit stuffy, probably from being out in the rain. As he wiped the water from his damp brow, he frowned at the heat burning from his forehead. Great. A fever. Just what he needed.

Fierfek

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

She watched him disappear beneath the wagon without calling after him. There was no hesitation in the movements that followed. He cleaned his weapons with practiced care, removed his boots, hung his soaked socks where they might dry despite the steady rain, and finally settled himself upon a tarp stretched over the wet ground. Every action carried the quiet efficiency of long habit, as though comfort had become such a foreign concept that he no longer recognized it when it was within reach.

The low snarl that escaped him reached her even through the rain. It wasn't anger, but pain.

For a few moments Rin remained where she was, listening to the steady rhythm of rain striking canvas, wood, and earth. The caravan had long since settled into silence, the conversations of the evening replaced by the soft patter of falling water and the occasional creak of a wagon shifting beneath the weight of the storm. Amber light spilled from the camp lanterns in muted pools across the muddy ground before fading into the darkness beyond the camp.

She drew a slow breath, the cool air carrying the scent of wet earth and rain-soaked wood, then quietly crossed the short distance between them. Careful where she placed each step, she avoided the deeper puddles before lowering herself beside the wagon. One knee settled into the softened ground as she leaned forward just enough to look beneath the axle.

He looked smaller somehow beneath the shelter of the wagon than he had standing in the rain—not diminished, but alone, and the thought never reached her lips as words; instead, she let the Force carry it to him with the same gentle familiarity they had shared before, You're being ridiculous. It was not a reprimand, but something softened by quiet amusement, with no trace of irritation behind it.

Leaning forward, she reached beneath the wagon and brushed the back of her fingers lightly across his forehead before withdrawing again. The touch lasted no more than a heartbeat, but it was long enough. Heat lingered against her skin despite the cold rain soaking everything around them. The fever had already begun to take hold.

You're wounded, exhausted, soaked through, and now you're running a fever. Sleeping beneath a wagon in wet clothes isn't likely to improve any of those things.

Her eyes drifted toward the pavilion standing a short distance away before returning to him. There's a pavilion nearby. It's dry, it will keep the rain off you, and no one is using it.

She let the thought settle naturally before offering the alternative with the same practical simplicity.

If you'd rather be alone, you can sleep in my speeder. I've been sleeping there since I bought it, so I know exactly how much room it has. It isn't comfortable by most standards, but it's warmer and drier than this.

She rested one hand lightly against the wagon's frame, the damp wood cool beneath her fingertips. She neither hurried him nor expected an answer right away. Whether he accepted either offer was entirely his decision.

You asked me to stay away because you don't want me to be the reason I get hurt. The thought carried no accusation, only quiet acknowledgment, steady and unshaken by the weight of what it meant. I heard you. A faint smile touched her lips, soft rather than defiant, as if the choice had already been made long before she spoke it into their shared connection. I'm choosing not to.

After a quiet moment, she continued. You can sleep beneath this wagon if that's truly what you decide. You can sleep in the pavilion. You can even take my speeder if you'd rather have walls around you.

Her expression softened just a little. I'd simply rather you make the decision before the fever makes it for you.

She made no attempt to pull him from beneath the wagon or argue with the things he believed about himself. Those burdens had not been gathered in a single day, and she doubted they could be laid aside in a single conversation. She had learned long ago that neither trust nor healing could be forced. They were offered, accepted only when someone was ready, and often grew through the smallest acts repeated over time.

So she remained where she was beside the wagon, saying nothing more. The rain continued its quiet rhythm around the camp while amber light reflected across the shallow puddles between the wheels. She had offered him warmth, shelter, and the freedom to refuse both without judgment.

Whether he accepted was, and always would be, his decision.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

His eyes remained closed. Hot and gritty, he grumbled under his breath at the opposite feeling of cold chills leeching his warmth from his lower half. That was when he heard Rin lean down beside the wagon and look in the little area beneath. He didn't need his eyes to see her. He could envision her eyes looking at him, a small lilt at the corner of her mouth. Then she began talking as though she wasn't still in the downpour and he wasn't being a stubborn di'kut under the wagon.

You're being ridiculous.

He gasped at the brief touch of her hand, chilled by the weather, on his brow. That, more than anything she said, told him he was using poor judgment. And yet, he wasn't free from her words that drifted through the bond they had established earlier without specific thought to connect themselves. It simply began. And now it continued. Though her words were gentle with a light hint of amusement, he was still resistant. It was as if he were a wild animal who suffered an injury, and Rin wanted to lend her assistance once the creature finally calmed and chose to accept it.

Not an inaccurate comparison.

A breeze whistled beneath the wagon and swept across his body. Torso, arms, and head trembled from the cold kiss while his lower body merely sank even further into freezing cold, due in large part to his saturated pants. Despite laying the tarp between himself and the hard ground, he felt the warmth leech from his body. Little streams of water crested the edges of the upturned tarp and traveled to the deep impressions his body made to pull around his form. Finally, he reached out with his thoughts.

You, ma'am, are a pain in the shebs. Has anyone told you that?

It took him a moment before he could roll onto his elbow. Then he reached out and slowly gathered his belongings, obviously begrudgingly, with a sullen expression on his face. Then he rose to stand. And cracked his head, with a resounding clang, against the axle of the wagon. His face turned crimson as he withheld a loud curse, not for Rin's benefit, but for the families sleeping nearby. Glowing blue eyes glared at Rin, mere feet away.

Not a fething word. At least I had sense not to stay in the rain …

With another grumble, he crawled from beneath his brief resting place and almost cursed aloud again. The rain pelted his fevered skin with no mercy as he stumbled towards the empty pavilion. Another biting glance at the woman forewarned her from lending assistance. His fury was obvious, but not the reason. As he waded through the flooded path to the large tent, he considered the source of his foul temper. It wasn't difficult to find. Again, in less than a day, he found he was needing assistance from the woman somewhere in the dark. And he hated it.

He dipped under the overhang and entered the pavilion once more. It remained largely unchanged. The massive table commanded the center with stools and benches around it. Other chairs spotted the tent, and the hearth still showed a few living embers. Along one wall was a cot, with several folded blankets at one end. Still filled with malcontent, he stumbled near the cot and knelt, stowing his gear beneath.

With only a sideways glance at Rin, his hands loosened his trousers, and he stepped out of the sodden clothing. Not caring if she watched or turned away, he pulled a sheet from the pile and wrapped it about his waist before tucking the ends at his hips. He retrieved the pants and looked at the latticework above before he draped them over one of the wooden rafters. The motion caused his wounds to scream and his fevered head to swoon before he caught himself on the cot and sat. His eyes sought out Rin's as he sighed, expelling the last of his aggravation as weariness claimed him.

"I … apologize for my … lack of manners. You were only trying to help. And I was being a shabuir. Thank you … again."

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

The apology lingered in the quiet between them for a moment before Rin smiled, warmth returning to her expression as though the last few minutes had never happened. Her eyes drifted over him almost automatically as she made certain he was steady on his feet. The fever still painted warmth across his skin, his wounds pulled tight with every movement, and with his trousers hanging from the rafters, little remained between her and the broad strength of his bare torso beyond the simple sheet secured about his waist. She had never considered herself the sort to stare, but she was only so disciplined. Her gaze lingered for the briefest moment, appreciating the powerful lines of his shoulders and the quiet confidence with which he seemed entirely unconcerned by his state of undress before reminding herself that she was supposed to be evaluating his health, not admiring the man standing before her. Amused with herself, she lifted her eyes to meet his once more.

A quiet laugh escaped her before she answered. "Many times." The words came without hesitation, accompanied by the faintest shake of her head. "Usually children." She allowed the thought to linger just long enough for him to picture exactly the sort of stubborn youngsters she meant before her smile softened into something warmer. "Or sick men." There was no judgment behind the observation. If anything, it carried the comfortable certainty of someone who had spent many years tending scraped knees, fevers, sprained ankles, and proud people who insisted they needed no help until they plainly did.

"You weren't angry with me." Her voice remained gentle, matter-of-fact rather than sympathetic. "You were angry that you needed help." She shrugged lightly, her gaze wandering for a moment toward the curtain of rain beyond the pavilion before returning to him. "I understand. No one enjoys feeling vulnerable, especially when they're used to standing on their own." She offered the words without trying to soften them further. Understanding did not require pity, and she suspected pity would only wound his pride more than the fever already had.

The corners of her mouth lifted again as the memory resurfaced. "For what it's worth, I was fully prepared to pretend I hadn't seen you introduce your head to that wagon." She folded her arms loosely across her chest, looking every bit as innocent as someone who was very much not innocent of the thought. "Then you glared at me." A small shrug followed, almost apologetic despite the laughter already dancing in her eyes. "At that point, I decided it was much funnier."

Her laughter was soft enough not to disturb anyone beyond the pavilion, affectionate rather than mocking. It faded naturally as she looked at him again, taking in the exhaustion behind his eyes now that his temper had finally burned itself away. Beneath the frustration, beneath the pride that had driven him under the wagon in the first place, she saw only a weary man who had spent far too much energy trying to prove he needed no one. It stirred something quietly protective within her, though she had no intention of smothering him with it.

Inclining her head toward the cot, she met his gaze with a smile that left little room for argument. "Now lie down before I decide that all warriors are equally impossible patients." The teasing warmth remained in her voice, but so did the expectation that this time he would listen. She had already won the battle beneath the wagon. There was no reason to fight the war twice.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

There, in the slightly unfocused gaze, he thought he might have seen an appreciation in his undressed state. There was no need for him to bring it up with a joke. Fair was fair. He had certainly enjoyed his own view of how her wet leathers clung to her womanly curves. And should the opportunity arise, he may do so again. But not now.

His weight forced the cot lower as he sat, the line of the sheet dipping enough to reveal the hard stomach adorned with pale scars. He glanced down as she spoke, amusement in how his body was a roadmap of past altercations. The wounds he now carried wouldn't scar, unlike the puckered flesh at his shoulder. Just another token on the road of life.

His eyes flashed up, wondering if she numbered him amongst children. Then her smile returned as she mentioned sick men. He wasn't entirely sure which list he preferred to be lumped in with. The fact that she had seen behind the walls he erected around him to know his anger wasn't for herself, but in his own weakness, disturbed him to great length. Here was this recent stranger turned friend who had somehow wormed herself past his defenses enough to recognize the simple fact. Few knew him well enough to gaze into the being that was Muad Dib. He'd just have to try harder.

Then she brought up the wagon. How she stood, feigning an innocence he was not buying, was almost provocative in a playful sense. His glance to his lap thanked him he was too tired to find the sultryness of her allure engaging. His head still ached. And in the moment, he realized he had mimed her own thoughts under the canopy of the forest when nature chose to dump a lake on her head.

Touche.

Her laughter swam in the ambiance of her presence, her figure outlined by the dying hearth and a few low-lit lanterns. Humor coursed through him, though the bone-chilling cold of the trip stripped him of the ability to chuckle. He shivered, which was becoming a habit here on Batuu. Oddly enough, the hue of his eyes seemed to have taken up residence in his lips. The wet evening air brought about an even more thorough shaking of his form as he felt ice in his bones and fire at his temples.

Then she commanded him to lie, and he felt a slight stirring within. "I'll lie down when I'm ready." He didn't know where the stubborn streak came from. Even though he saw the glint of humor in her eyes, he decided he would be obstinate. No way was he just going to lie down and submit. His body surrendered to gravity, and his back hit the cot. Weakly, he grinned. "I'm ready now."

Another shiver wracked his body as he nimbly turned his head to being Rin into his field of vision. "I know I make women want to play doctor. But twice in the span of a day. You should be ashamed." He chuckled with the last reserves of his energy and tossed her a slow and deliberate wink. "Take care now. I'm a paragon of virtue." His lips twitched in a weak impression of a smirk as he shivered harder, the cot shaking from the force of it. "Darlin', you mind throwing a blanket on me? If you can manage to keep your eyes off me." There wasn't a plan to mention it. So what, he lied. He wanted to fold his arms over his chest to help insulate himself from the ice flowing through his veins. But he didn't have the chance. Glowing pupils rolled up into the back of his head and his eyes closed as a single word was thought.

Witch

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

Rin watched his surrender to the cot with quiet satisfaction, her smile growing as his stubborn declaration lasted all of three seconds before gravity settled the argument for him. "Remarkably convenient timing," she observed, amusement warming her voice. "I'll be sure to remember that next time you insist on proving me wrong." His teasing earned nothing more scandalous than an affectionate roll of her eyes. "Doctor?" she echoed. "Hardly. I simply have a great deal of experience persuading impossible patients that they are, in fact, mortal."

She crossed to the stack of folded blankets beside the cot just as another violent shiver seized him. The humor left her expression immediately. Drawing one of the heavier blankets free, she unfolded it with practiced hands before laying it gently over him, taking care not to jostle the injuries that still needed time to heal. The blanket hardly settled before his eyes rolled back and closed. The single thought that brushed across her mind through the bond drew the smallest smile to her lips.

"I've been called worse."

She remained there for a long moment, watching the uneven rhythm of his breathing and the tremors that still worked their way through his body despite the blanket. Fever stole warmth as quickly as it created it. He needed rest, medicine, and until those could do their work, he needed heat.

Without another word, Rin loosened her boots and set them neatly beside the cot. She eased herself down onto the narrow mattress behind him, careful not to disturb him more than necessary, then drew the blanket over them both. One arm rested lightly around his middle, more to keep the blanket close than to hold him, while enough space remained between them that he could move freely if he woke. It was an old habit, one learned from cold nights on lonely roads where shared warmth often mattered more than comfort.

Only then did she realize how heavy her own eyelids had become. She could not remember the last time she had truly slept. The previous night had been spent beside the cot in Mara's tent, watching over him until dawn. The day that followed had been consumed by travel, soldiers, and everything that had come after. Somewhere along the way she had simply forgotten that she, too, needed rest.

Her head settled lightly against the pillow behind his, the steady rise and fall of his breathing replacing the sound of rain outside. "Goodnight, stubborn warrior," she murmured, the words scarcely louder than the dying crackle of the hearth. It was the last thing she remembered before exhaustion, patient at last, claimed her as completely as it had claimed him.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

"Up up, young man. Before more people begin to arrive."

His eyes opened slowly as he focused on the delicate ear peeking from between the pillow and a face—bronzed skin. Perfect eyebrows. A cute button of a nose. Tempting lips. And a jawline covered in loose hair that fell across her shoulder. Rin was sleeping on her side, facing him, while he lay on his back, head turned toward her. The blanket was raised to his chin and gently crested her shoulder, casting her face in shadow. However, there was enough predawn light for him to see her clearly.

She was breathtaking. Especially when she wasn't sending sharp verbal barbs of commands like she had last night. Though, truthfully, in the morning light, he admitted they were deserving even if there was no malicious intent in her delivery. He was just being ornery last night. He felt movement between his thighs as something stirred. With relief, he felt the same soft fur he had stroked in the speeder the day before. Her tail had wound over Rin and across his legs.

His mind went back to the night before and cataloged his physical state. Fever. Gone. Possible mild hypothermia. Definitely gone. Injury to his chest. His eyes dropped to see fresh pink skin, as if he'd just recovered from a bad sunburn. Mostly gone. His head turned subtly, looking back on the woman sharing his bed. She must have been exhausted. Watching over him the first night. Putting up with his antics during the day. Then fighting beside him, before and after a jog through the storm. Not to mention the feats of power and strength performed. His lips twitched in a small smile.

Witch …

There was a sudden warmth in his chest for everything she had done for him, a stranger. Even lending her body heat to a new friend. And he knew he was exhausted. He didn't remember giving his body any commands to heal while he slept. His eyes turned back to the angelic face next to his. Maybe … maybe it was her strength and abilities that had worked its magic on his flesh. He now smiled tenderly. No wonder she slept so peacefully. He whispered to the woman beside him.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Witch. Wake up, it's morning. Rin, open your eyes for me …" He didn't have the heart to rouse her. Instead, he waited for his words to bring her to consciousness. And then he became aware of someone else in the tent. His head raised, and he watched Mara stoking the fire in the hearth, a kettle already poised above it. Then, as he watched, she purposely strode across the pavilion. "Uh, wait, wait, wait …"

His words did not affect the older woman. "I said, up, up, young man." Both hands gripped the blankets at the foot of the bed, and she pulled them to reveal Rin lying in bed with a naked man. When she pulled the blanket, Mara's fingers had also gripped the sheet around his waist, and both were pulled freely from the bodies of Rin and a very naked Muad. "Oh my, OH MY!"

She glanced at the bare figure of Muad before recognizing Rin beside him, previously hidden in the folds of the blanket. She turned away after her exclamation, and Muad leapt from the bed, hands raised before his chest as he tried to explain. "It isn't what it looks like …" Mara's face turned back toward the cot before turning away with another, "Oh my", escaping her lips.

Muad shrugged and reached up for his trousers hanging from the rafters. Overnight they had dried, and he unhurriedly pulled one leg on before doing the same for the other leg. His fingers were clasping his pants closed as Kaio pushed the entrance tarp to the side, his eyes moving from Mara to the half-naked Muad, and finally to Rin, before they turned in a circle and repeated the same formula.

Muad raised his hands again, this time to the big man. "Nothing happened. I just slept with Rin, I mean, we slept together. No, what I meant to say was we were sleeping together. This isn't sounding right. Rin, help?"

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

A quiet, thoroughly unimpressed sound escaped from somewhere beneath the blankets.

"Mmm..."

The sleepy protest was little more than a grumble as Rin burrowed a fraction deeper into the pillow instead of obeying him. Morning could wait another few minutes. His voice reached her again, gentler this time, drifting through the pleasant haze that still clung stubbornly to her thoughts. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered Mara moving about the pavilion, but the knowledge wasn't important enough to pull her fully awake. A small smile found Rin's lips without her opening her eyes. Everything still felt peaceful. Safe. Warm.

Then the blankets disappeared.

Cool morning air swept over her, replacing the comforting warmth in an instant. Mara's horrified gasp followed immediately afterward, quickly drowned out by Muad's increasingly frantic attempts to explain himself. One golden eye cracked open, followed reluctantly by the other as she blinked several times, entirely unhurried, as though she had wandered into the middle of someone else's conversation instead of awakening inside it. It took her a few moments to piece together what had happened.

Mara stood near the foot of the bed, one hand pressed dramatically against her chest while making every effort to look anywhere except toward the cot. Muad had somehow progressed from peacefully asleep to standing gloriously and entirely naked in what could only have been the space of a heartbeat, and every sentence tumbling from his mouth seemed determined to sound considerably worse than the one before it. As if that were not enough, Kaio had appeared at the entrance and now seemed utterly incapable of deciding where his eyes were supposed to settle.

Rin remained perfectly still, content simply to watch the spectacle unfold for another few heartbeats before finally becoming aware of herself. Her boots were gone. So were her soaked trousers, tunic and cloak, replaced sometime before climbing into bed by a dry oversized T-shirt that hung comfortably to the tops of her thighs and a pair of fresh underwear. The memories returned gradually as the fog of sleep lifted. The freezing rain. Muad's dangerously cold skin. Hanging both of their clothes to dry before finally slipping beneath the blankets beside him once she was satisfied his fever had broken. It had never crossed her mind to do anything else. Sleeping in soaked clothes would have been foolish, and keeping him warm had mattered far more than how the situation might appear the following morning.

She had almost begun smiling again when Muad finally looked toward her with unmistakable desperation.

"Rin, help."

Her gaze wandered lazily from Muad...to Mara...then finally to Kaio before one shoulder rose in an easy shrug. The oversized shirt she wore covered considerably more than Muad's current attire, a fact she found difficult to overlook as she looked back toward him.

"He's considerably more naked than I am." The corners of her mouth twitched despite every effort to remain composed. Watching him explain himself deeper and deeper into trouble was becoming increasingly difficult not to enjoy. "Besides," she continued at last, deciding he had suffered long enough, "he had hypothermia and a fever."

Her attention shifted naturally back toward Mara, her tone calm and matter-of-fact despite the pandemonium surrounding them. "We were both soaked through after the storm, so our clothes were hung up to dry before we went to bed. His fever had only just broken, and I wasn't about to let him spend the night in wet clothes simply because someone might misunderstand it in the morning. The only thing that happened in this bed was sleeping."

Only after the explanation had settled over the pavilion did she look back toward Muad. Judging by his expression, he was still searching for words that might somehow improve the situation, and she had the distinct impression that anything else he said would accomplish precisely the opposite.

A warm smile finally escaped her.

"Though..." she said thoughtfully, giving him an entirely unhurried glance from head to toe before meeting his eyes once more, "I do seem to recall telling you to lie down."

The teasing lingered in her smile, gentle rather than merciless, as she finally gave in to a quiet laugh. It really was difficult to feel embarrassed when the entire misunderstanding had begun with nothing more scandalous than trying to keep an impossibly stubborn man alive through the night.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

He turned to look at Rin, his request for help completely forgotten as his gaze fell on her. The oversized T-shirt hung from one shoulder, the soft curve of her neck flowing into a bare shoulder. The hem rested against the top of her thighs, just a hair below her lower extremities. His mouth hung open slightly as he followed the natural curves of her thighs. He swallowed as he forced his eyes back to her face rather reluctantly.

Her words flowed matter-of-factly as a genuine statement of their situation. He felt heat flush his body as he stole another appreciative look at her figure. Osik. If he knew what lay beneath their covers, he might have taken that kiss. His head shook again.

When Rin looked at him, his expression revealed he didn't have words. Not for Mara and Kaio and the hilariously mortifying scenario playing out. For the picture of sultry beauty before him. A vague memory of a thigh overlapping his own leg brought another flush to his body as he merely shook his head and walked back toward the cot where the rest of his clothes lay hanging from the rafters. As he passed Rin, he paused, glowing blue eyes looking into her golden ones.

"I much prefer this look to the leathers", he teased as he allowed his eyes to travel down her body and up once more. A huge grin split his lips, and his teeth flashed. He went past her then and pulled down his tunic and socks before taking a seat to pull the shirt on first, and then the socks. Leaning over to retrieve his boots, his head turned, and one boot froze halfway on.

The view from behind was even more tantalizing. The hem of her shirt should have hovered just below the curves of her rear. But her tail swished back and forth, raising the hem enough for him to catch an eye full. Fierfek. His head turned away as he coughed lightly before pulling the boot on the rest of the way. The second boot followed suit, and he laced them right before tightening the buckles. He refused to look back. Despite that, his peripheral vision still gave him a nice image that was seared into memory.

His boots planted, and he stood to walk past Rin. "Your tail is revealing your … tail." His smirk bordered on maniacal as he walked to Mara to reclaim the sheet and blanket forgotten in her hands. "I'll take these." His hands began to fold them as he returned to the cot, but not without a whisper as he passed the witch. "Nice panties." With the blanket and sheet folded, he laid them back at the foot of the cots before he squatted to retrieve his weapons.

He didn't look back. There was no need. Two half moons of supple flesh still hovered in his mind, and he grinned. She'd make a man happy one day. And, more than likely, exhausted. A single chuckle escaped as he buckled on the gun belt and slung his sword to his back once more. He rose with the energy bow depowered in his left hand.

Moving back toward where Mara and Kaio were, he nodded as though the little scene was no longer an issue due, in large part, to Rin's simple explanation. "I think, when camp breaks, our paths will deviate. I need to travel into the forest, and I fear our paths will not converge again. Thank you for all that you've done. Both of you. I'll help with the camp before you go. And if you ever need anything, get word to the Siskeen system or Mandalorian space, and I'll get the message."

He slipped from the pavilion and headed for the small camps he lent aid to the previous night. Had it only been ten hours? It felt longer. Not in a negative way, though. He paused and turned to look back at the pavilion, thoughts and emotions in upheaval. Rin was still inside—a beautiful woman with strong principles of character and a soft heart. The need for him to complete his objective on Batuu had not diminished. But he wished it had. He wanted more time with the woman with the golden eyes. However, it was like she said. Sometimes travelers shared the road for years. Sometimes for only a day. He just wished the day had lasted a little bit longer.

With a shake of his head, he continued his walk across the clearing to lend his assistance to the families he had grown to like.

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

Muad Dib
For one wonderfully awkward heartbeat, Rin simply stood there.

She had expected embarrassment after Mara and Kaio's arrival. She had expected awkward explanations, reddened cheeks, and perhaps a few uncomfortable moments while everyone quietly pretended not to think about what they had interrupted. She had not expected Muad to look at her as though he had forgotten every coherent thought he'd possessed only moments earlier. Watching his attention drift from her face, to the oversized shirt, and then lower still before reluctantly climbing back again drew a warmth into her cheeks that no amount of composure could disguise. A smile escaped before she could stop it.

"My eyes are up here."

There wasn't the slightest reprimand in her voice. If anything, the gentle amusement there only betrayed how pleased she secretly was that she could leave the normally confident Mandalorian looking entirely at a loss for words. His compliment only deepened her smile until she found herself shaking her head, unable to resist teasing him in return.

"Careful," she replied as he moved toward the cot where his clothes had spent the night drying. "If you keep flattering me like that, I might decide the leathers have been overrated all along."

The teasing lingered only a moment before she turned her attention back toward Mara and Kaio, grateful enough that neither of them seemed interested in making the situation any more uncomfortable than it already was.

"Thank you for waking us," she said sincerely. "I imagine waking to find us like that probably raised more than a few questions."

Her smile softened into one of quiet gratitude as she glanced between the pair, hoping they understood there had never really been another choice.

"He was freezing, I was exhausted, and neither of us thought surviving the night was worth risking over appearances. It wasn't exactly the morning either of us planned, but I'm glad it worked."

Her gaze drifted briefly toward the growing activity outside the pavilion where the camp was steadily beginning to stir beneath the clear Batuu morning.

"How did everyone else fare once the storm passed? Did the shelters hold together?"

As Mara answered, Rin listened with the same quiet attention she always offered people, nodding thoughtfully while her tail swayed behind her with slow, easy movements born more from comfort than conscious thought. Muad had chosen that moment to sit and wrestle his boots into place, leaning forward with the sort of concentration only stubborn footwear seemed capable of demanding.

The tip of her tail drifted lazily through the air before curling, almost absentmindedly, against the back of his shoulder. It lingered there for only the briefest moment before trailing lightly along his arm as though exploring entirely of its own accord, finally slipping away again without the slightest hurry. Rin never looked toward him. She remained entirely focused on Mara, asking whether breakfast had already been started and if anyone still needed help before camp began to break.

His response came a moment later. *"Your tail is revealing your... tail." *For the first time since Mara and Kaio had entered, genuine mortification won.

Her eyes widened as she glanced over her shoulder, immediately discovering exactly what he meant. With remarkable speed for someone usually so composed, she reached back and guided the lightly prehensile appendage neatly around herself, where it settled with all the innocent obedience it had been lacking only moments before.

"You could have mentioned that sooner," she murmured, though whether she meant Muad or her own tail was impossible to say.

The answer arrived as he passed beside her. *"Nice panties." *She closed her eyes as a quiet, helpless laugh escaped despite every effort to contain it, forcing her to lower her head for a moment while she unsuccessfully attempted to recover what remained of her dignity. "Incorrigible," she said beneath her breath, unable to keep the smile from returning.

By the time Muad had gathered the last of his equipment, the conversation had naturally settled back into more practical matters. She listened as he thanked Mara and Kaio for everything they had done throughout the storm and explained that, once camp broke, he intended to head deeper into the forests while their own route would lead elsewhere.

Rin considered that quietly. The evening before, she had already walked Kaio through the route she believed offered the safest passage beyond the storm's wake. Nothing about that recommendation had changed overnight. Muad's destination, however, lay in another direction entirely, and while she still wasn't certain what choice she would make, she knew breakfast gave them all a little more time before anyone needed to decide.

Her thoughtful expression softened as she looked back toward Mara.

"Once everyone has eaten, I'd still recommend following the path we discussed last night. The flooding should have receded enough by now that it will be safer than trying to cut through the lower ground."

Only then did her gaze settle naturally on Muad once more, curiosity warming the smile that returned to her lips.

"As for you..." A small smile touched her lips once more. "I'd still like to hear what it is you're hoping to find out there before either of us decides which direction we're walking."

There was no pressure behind the words, only quiet curiosity. Breakfast still waited, as did the work of helping the camp recover from the storm and move on. There would be plenty of time to decide what came next once everyone had warm food in their hands.

By then, however, Muad had already slipped from the pavilion, carrying his weapons as he crossed the clearing toward the smaller shelters. Rin watched him for a quiet moment, her smile lingering as he greeted those already awake before setting himself to work without the slightest hesitation. It struck her that he simply seemed incapable of walking past someone in need without stopping to help, and she found herself admiring that quality more with every passing hour.

Only after he had disappeared among the growing activity of the camp did she turn back toward the cot. Her own clothes had dried enough to wear, and she gathered them down from the rafters before changing back into the familiar comfort of her leathers. By the time she had buckled the last strap and settled everything into place, the aroma of breakfast was beginning to drift through the pavilion on the morning air. Whatever decisions remained about forests, routes, or whether their roads would continue together could wait until everyone had something warm to eat. For now, she intended to help where she could, share breakfast with the others, and then discover exactly what it was that Muad hoped to find beneath Batuu's ancient canopy.

 

[Muad Dib]

The feel of her tail running along his back and down his arm was with him the entire time. As was the look on her face when she discovered the betrayal of her own tail. The look was more endearing than he could explain. He worked on autopilot, hands releasing the chords that he had pulled taut and secured the night before. The old potbellied stove he had worked on rolled freely to the wagon. Squatting, he gripped the beast and raised it to set into the wagon. He lightly leapt on the tongue of the wagon and pulled the stove to its place above the axle. As he helped fold tarps and stow belongings he heard two of the kids nearby whispering.

"Mama said they were in bed together. Do you think that means he's going to stay?" The boy looked to his older sister who only smiled shyly when his blue eyed gaze fell on them for a moment before turning back to work. He kept an ear turned in their direction so he could hear. "Don't you know? When two people sleep together they get married and have babies. Obviously he's going to stay."

He paused where he knelt, one knee resting on the wet ground with a wet stain on his pants that would take an hour to dry. The kids departed still talking about him staying. With the caravan. And with Rin. A bittersweet expression eased onto his features as he swiveled his head back to where the pavilion stood. Inside the entrance he could just make out Rin standing in her familiar leather. She and Kaio stood by the table, hands no doubt upon the giant map as they discussed the route for the day.

For a minute he just watched. She was sweet, kind, and strong. Sexy as hell, too. She deserved to be loved by a good man who would always treasure her. But it had already been established between them. He was not a good man. He blinked against the rising sun that blinded him. In the afterimage he could see the speeder. Rin behind the controls with her golden eyes flashing in humor at something he had said in the passenger seat. The speeder moved along slowly in the caravan. Two children, twins ran up to the door. Both had her pointed ears. And both had glowing blue eyes. As he blinked the vision faded from sight.

A pang echoed emptily within. It was nice. A life he could possibly want. To embrace. Rin was beautiful and mysterious. Every layer he pulled back only revealed another facet he was drawn to. It was a wonderful dream. But that's all it would be. When his job here was done he would leave them all behind. And the only time he would ever see Rin again would be in his memories. No. It was a dream. And she deserved a good man. And he wasn't that.

With a heart that felt oddly heavy, he moved to the next campsite continuing to help out where he could. Finally, nearly an hour later, it seemed all the tents were stowed away and belongings packed once more. Only the large fire pit smoked as breakfast was served. Even the pavilion had been taken down, the great table disassembled and the individual planks returned to separate wagons and speeders. The smell of the food made his stomach growl. With a smirk he began his trek to the source of the aroma in the air.

Soft footfalls sounded beside him, and he stopped to look at the child, Tavi, who looked up at him with an expression of hope. "Are you going to stay? Someone told me you are going to marry Ms. Rin." His glance away drew Muad's attention to his older sister who glared at Tavi for betraying her. Her face turned red and she scurried away, the small wooden flower attached to her belt by a leather thong. Muad sighed and knelt before the young boy.

"I can't stay, Tavi. I want to. But I have other responsibilities out there among the stars. You're a good lad, you'll be fine without me here. You have Mara, Kaio, your sister, and Rin. She'll look after you." The boy looked down for a moment before looking up at Muad. Tears flowed from his eyes as anger clouded his features. "FINE! Go away. Everybody always leaves anyway." The small wooden toy fell from his hand and he turned to walk away from him. Muad watched, seeing how his shoulders wracked with silent sobs.

Muad's head hung for a moment. Then he collected the tuk'ata from the mud and followed the boy. His much longer stride caught the youth in four steps and he grabbed the kid up in his arms to rest on his right hip. One hand gently wiped the tears from Tavi's eyes. "Listen ad'ika. Sometimes life hurts. We lose people. It happens. But then we meet new people who become friends. Some become family. I've got that out there. And you have that here, with the caravan."

The boy's chest shook with his exhale. Muad couldn't help himself. He hugged the youth to his chest. "How about this? I'll make you a deal. You look after Rin for me. Help her when she needs help. Do what she tells you. And I promise you, we will see each other again. It might take months. Maybe even a year. But I will return to see you. And I'll bring Traycn with me. My tuk'ata just like this one." He held up the wooden carving and the boy took it, clutching it to his chest. A small hiccup shook the child as red rimmed eyes looked into Muad's blue ones and through him.

"You promise?" Muad grinned as he nodded. "I promise. And I always keep my word." The boy threw his arms around Muad's neck, leaving a trail of salty tears on his neck. Then he leapt free and ran off to find his sister to tell that Muad would come back. He was close enough to the fire pit to see Mara dishing out plates heaped with steaming food. Her eyes regarded him for a moment before she gave him an appreciative nod. Kaio walked up and slapped his shoulder with a hand the size of a balinka. "I hope you spoke true to the boy."

Muad grinned and clasped his hand on the other man's shoulder, nearly a foot higher than his own. "I keep my word." Kaio merely looked into his eyes, gauging the truth of his words. Satisfied he nodded and gave Muad a gentle squeeze before releasing him. Before he turned away he leaned closer to Muad, voice lowered. "You're a good man, Muad Dib. I hope we meet again. You'll always have a spot with us. And if you're lucky, maybe in that old rust bucket of a speeder." His wide grin only grew wider when Muad flushed red. With another pat, Kaio walked away, already barking an order about how the communal wagon was being loaded incorrectly.

The big man walked away, and Muad did hope to see him again. He had a promise to keep after all. As he eased closer he accepted a plate of food and a mug filled to the brim with black caf. Only a few meters away was Rin, and he moved to join her. "To answer your earlier question, a red crystal. Of great power. In the wrong hands it would be a terrible weapon. And in the hands of a good person, it would drive them insane and corrupt them completely. Haymitch can't get a hold of it. That's why I'm here. I'm not a good person, I'm already insane, and I've already been corrupted long ago. So I'm good." He smiled over the brim of the mug before he took a sip of the steaming caf.

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

Rin had remained beside Kaio after Muad disappeared into the bustle of the waking camp, one hand resting against the great map spread across the heavy table while the other traced the familiar roads that wound through the forests ahead. Together they talked through the next three days of travel, marking places where streams would need to be crossed, where the wagons could safely circle for the night, and where fresh grazing waited for the caravan's animals. It was a route they both knew well enough to travel with their eyes closed, but habit and responsibility demanded they review it all the same.

When they had finished, the map was carefully rolled away before the pavilion itself began to disappear piece by piece. Rin worked alongside everyone else without ceremony, folding canvas still damp from the night's rain, loosening the ropes that had held the great shelter upright, and carrying poles back to the wagons where they were stacked with practiced efficiency. Before long the broad communal space that had sheltered laughter, meals, arguments, and stories the evening before existed only as neatly bundled canvas and timber lashed securely for the road ahead.

Only once everything had been packed away did she begin wandering through the camp, asking quietly whether anyone still needed another pair of hands. One elderly couple needed help securing a stubborn crate, another family appreciated an extra set of hands lifting supplies onto a wagon, and a nervous youngster received a reassuring smile after insisting he could tie a proper knot entirely by himself. By the time no one could think of another task for her, the camp had transformed back into a moving village ready to continue its journey.

Mara greeted her with a knowing smile as she accepted a plate piled generously with breakfast and a steaming mug of caf. Rin thanked her before stepping away from the fire, her gaze wandering over the caravan as it slowly came to life. Vehicles creaked into motion, speeders eased into line, children darted between adults carrying the last bundles of the morning, and near the front Kaio spoke with the lead drivers before sending them on their way. It was a scene she had watched countless times over the years, yet this morning it carried an unfamiliar weight. She knew the next three days by heart. She had just finished planning them. And for the first time, she wasn't entirely certain she would be there to walk them.

She looked up as Muad approached, listening without interruption while he finally answered the question she had asked earlier. A red crystal. As he explained what it was capable of, the warmth she had been carrying since inside the pavilion settled into thoughtful concern. She watched the faint smile he hid behind the rim of his mug, somehow making the search for a corrupting relic sound almost routine, until at last she shook her head with an amused smile.

"You really do have a remarkable talent for describing horrifying things as though they're perfectly reasonable."

She took another sip of her caf before glancing back toward the road.

"While you were helping everyone pack, Kaio and I went over the next three days. The route's straightforward from here. We know exactly where the caravan will stop each night, and barring something unexpected, they'll arrive at the valley on schedule."

A softer smile found her lips.

"I also spoke with Kaio."

The conversation had been remarkably brief. He had listened, looked across the camp toward Muad, then back at her with the sort of smile only someone who had watched her grow up could manage. When she had started explaining why she thought she ought to stay, he had simply chuckled, reminded her that the caravan had survived long before she was born and would continue doing so for another three days, then told her to go because she'd already made her decision before she'd come to ask him.

"He said I'd already made up my mind before I asked him." She smiled faintly into the steam rising from her mug, letting the warmth linger a moment longer before lifting her eyes back to Muad, the last traces of hesitation gone from her expression. "He wasn't wrong." There was no uncertainty left in her now, only the steady resolve that had been building since Batuu and had finally settled into place that morning. "I'd like to come with you."

She continued before he could answer, her tone gentle but leaving little doubt that she had already considered every practical reason to remain behind.

"Not because I think you need rescuing, and not because I imagine you'll suddenly become incapable of looking after yourself. Quite the opposite, actually. I suspect you're already thinking of several very convincing reasons why I should stay with the caravan."

A quiet laugh escaped her.

"But I'd rather help shoulder this with you than spend the day wondering whether you're facing it alone. The caravan doesn't need me for these last few days. They know the road every bit as well as I do, Kaio has everything in hand, and we know exactly where they'll be each evening. If we move quickly, we'll catch them tonight. If not, tomorrow. Either way, we'll rejoin them long before they reach the valley."

Her fingers settled a little more comfortably around the warm mug as she held his gaze, the smile she offered him smaller now, but somehow more vulnerable than before.

"So...if you'll have me, I'd like to help you find this crystal." she said, the words steady despite the quiet vulnerability still lingering beneath them, before a flicker of familiar mischief returned to her golden eyes and softened the moment almost immediately as she tilted her head slightly, as though daring him to argue. "Besides..." her smile widened just enough to become unmistakable, warmth and certainty threading through it in equal measure as she stepped a fraction closer, caf still in hand, "I rather think we make a good team."

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

He listened, somehow already knowing what she intended. To come with him on his excursion. The plans for the next several days were already prepared. Kaio and Rin at the table, hands tracing the map. Yeah, he figured as much. The little bit of time they had shared revealed to him she didn't shirk responsibility. And though Haymitch wasn't her problem, if he managed to get his hands on the crystal, he would be everyone's problem. But still, he hesitated before answering.

The mug was raised, and he took a large swig, more to give him a reason not to respond just yet. Her comment about wondering about him in the days to follow felt good. He couldn't remember the last time someone worried about his well-being, not just whether his mission had been completed. And he had his aliit. But they knew him as Alor, the Mad Master, and the one who always survived. And his track record only strengthened the mythos of Muad Dib.

But here she was, willing to go into danger yet again. The sheer audacity of the woman was only surpassed by her innate ability and strength. There was an unknown number of enemies, a crystal that was bad mojo, a Falleen with no conscience, and a Corvette somewhere in the skies, and still she was not just willing, but ready to face the unknown. Fierfek, she was quite a woman.

His head rolled side to side as he watched the camp slowly finish breakfast and prepare for the next leg of the journey. Already, wagons were packed and speeders loaded. All that remained were the people sharing a few more moments in front of the fire. They were good people, and they deserved their slice of happiness, which they wouldn't keep if Haymitch won. That was the persuading factor. Or at least, what he told himself.

"So, if you'll have me …" He didn't hide the grin on his face as he winked at her. "Oh, I'll definitely have you." Muad left the innuendo in the air between them for several breaths. "Can't have you wonder about me and worry yourself to death. But there's only one stipulation. Non-negotiable. You gotta bring those panties."

He stood and walked away before she could comment. A whistling tune came from between his pursed lips as he went to the wash trough and cleaned his plate and mug before surrendering them to one of the campers with a nod of thanks. On his way back, he was cut off. Tavi stood there with a sheepish grin, hands clutching something behind his back. "I made something for you. So you won't forget me … or your promise."

Muad knelt before him, a smile on his face. "I won't forget my promise, Tavi. I will return, at some point in the future. And I won't forget about you." The boy extended his arms to offer his gift in two hands. A rough-hewn figure lay there as he waited expectantly. There was no way Muad was going to be able to identify whatever it was. Until he saw two drops of blue paint diagonally on its face.

"It's me. Thank you ad'ika." Tavi rushed forward with another hug, his head lying on Muad's shoulder. He could see Rin standing only a meter away and ignored her. The kid needed this moment, and that was what the man was going to give him. "My daddy … he got hurt and went away. I don't want that to happen to you. Don't go. You can stay with us forever. I bet Ms Rin will still let you marry her too." Muad gently untangled the boy and held him out at arm's reach.

"You know I can't, son. But how about this? After I finish up with what I need to do, I'll say goodbye before I leave. I have to bring Rin back anyway. Nothing is going to happen to me. Others have tried and failed. Plus, Rin has her plans to watch my backside as closely as I watched hers this morning. Is that a deal?" He stretched his hand out for a shake, but Tavi came in for another hug. "Deal." They both grinned, and Muad swatted him away. "Go help out before you get in trouble."

His eyes followed the boy as he took off before rising to his feet again. The small carving in his hand was given the once-over before he pocketed it and moved over next to Rin. "You know there's a rumor going around the camp that you bedded me last night. Apparently they think I should stay with the caravan and you. And the idea is I should put a few whelps inside you. Lucky for you, you're smarter than that." He smirked without glancing at her.

Several buckets of water were tossed on the fire and feet kicked dirt over it before the last few people left for their rides. Kaio bellowed a command from his seat, and the wagon train unfurled from their circular formation. Slowly, the caravan began to make its way to the road and the beginning of its day.

"Well, Rin, here's your chance to go. I wouldn't fault you if you did. I would."

Rin Taal