Private Please Do Not Feed the Trees

[Ishani Dinn]

As she settled in with her bowl, she watched Arcturus out of the corner of her eye. The way he sat was prim and proper, but the way he ate was completely unconcerned with manners. The contrast was cute. He was very cute.

Oh wait, she was supposed to be eating too. She got to work on that, feeling a little self-conscious. Didn’t really know why, since they had been literally swapping spit a (very) hot minute ago.

She didn’t think they’d lose each other after this whole thing was over with. He was at the academy. In fact, she’d seen him around before, sharing a few classes with him. She just hadn’t known his name or who he was, and her tendency to avoid eye contact—to avoid looking at people in general—meant that she hadn’t truly met him before now. If this was what she had been missing out on, oh man, she really needed to stop doing that.

He asked her what they should do now. She swallowed before replying, “I haven’t the foggiest blue clue in seven hells. Where are we? Are there more hills to hopefully not die on? More caves?” She looked around. “Couldn’t we just stay here? Seems as good a place as any. Unless you saw somewhere on the way here... maybe we could follow the river?”

The hill hadn’t protected them from the three-eyed bear, a cave seemed too obvious a hiding spot, and there didn’t seem to be any killer trees in this part of the forest. She didn’t really care where they spent this trip or how they spent it, just as long as she didn’t wind up pregnant with red-haired twins at the end of it. Not that that was likely, given her condition, but she didn’t want to push her luck. Speaking of which, she should probably take her meds now...

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Yeah, why couldn't they just stay here?​

​

He glanced around, and pondered for a moment; they had spent a fair bit of the afternoon getting here. Who knew which way they had ventured, which way they had ultimately run from the trees, and which way they'd gone now they were in the forest? There was water close by, animals to hunt, the cover of the trees... Did they need to find some grand plateau in order to be safe?​

​

Certainly hadn't saved them from the bear.​

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"We could stay here, if you'd like?"​

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At least for tonight. Provided nothing else happened. Then tomorrow they could reassess the situation. Simple!​

​

"Without the tarp we won't have cover from the rain... Did you bring anything we could use? And do you still want a bone blade?" He'd quite forgotten the promise to make her a weapon, and though she had her belongings back now he didn't want to rescind that offer. It would give him something to do when the sun began to set. They would also need to check how much food they still had, he'd rather go hunting before they got too low than wait until it was utterly essential.​

​

But one thing at a time.​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

A pill on her tongue, she nodded, drinking water from the flask. Then, as he asked if she had anything to replace the tarp, she rifled around in her pack, producing a small box that fit in the palm of her hand.

“Look sharp,” she said, pressing a button before tossing the box. It rolled across the ground, then suddenly burst, forming a small tent. “It’s technically for one person only, but you can squeeze in there too.”

As for the bone blade… “I won’t be defenseless if you don’t, provided I don’t lose my bag again. But if you want to make it, that would be cool. I don’t really have any blades in here, just bows and arrows.” She shrugged. “Something to occupy your time. One of the biggest dangers out there is boredom, after all.”

She wiggled her eyebrows with a smirk that rapidly devolved into a laugh.

“Unless you want to get back to what we were doing earlier.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He shuffled back as she produced the device which soon enough became a fully fledged tent. Okay, fully fledged was a gross overstatement, because it was one of those tiny one-man-cocoon type things. But hey a tent was a tent. A smile formed over his lips, and he nodded in appreciation. "Even better than the tarp," he decided then and there, "Now we don't have to sleep in a wind tunnel."​

​

Blade wasn't required but also not unwanted. Good to know. A bow and arrow could only do so much when your target closed the ground between you and them, so he decided that it was required. Very much so. He'd get to work soon enough then.​

​

"I'm not worried about boredom," he stated with a grin, "But idle hands, and all that... It's nice to put them to use."​

​

Talk of what they had been doing brought that blush back to his cheeks. Oh, if only they weren't being watched... If only.​

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"Hey, why don't I show you how to make it?" The idea struck him all at once, as though a lightbulb had gone off in his brain. "It's honestly a really useful skill to learn if you're out in the middle of nowhere. It's not that difficult, either." A basic bone blade could be made rather swiftly if one really tried. This one was even better thanks to the poison it contained, but that did make it a little harder to handle too he supposed.​

​

Still who knew if she'd ever end up in a situation with no weapons to hand. Bones could be found scattered around most natural landscapes, knowing how to process them was useful indeed.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Wind tunnel bad. Tent good.”

She wiggled a little closer to him—they’d moved slightly apart while eating.

“Teach me, o great… weapons master.” This wasn’t metallurgy, after all.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Weaponsmaster?" he shook his head to that with a laugh and wrapped an arm around her. They had a little time to just relax before it became too close to night time, right?​

​

Truth be told it was hard to tell. He didn't even really know the day cycle of this world yet.​

​

"Alright, give me a few for my stomach to settle then we'll get to work." His eyes trained the nearby area, searching for some solid stones to make use of. Eventually his gaze fell upon exactly what he needed just nestled into the trees to their left. A fairly large, fairly flat boulder. That would do wonders.​

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Now they just need a bashing rock.​

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"I might have some terentatek leather left in my bag, too... Could make for a good hilt wrap."​

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After all it was slightly difficult to know just how the bone would fracture, and where sharp points would remain. Yeah, a wrap would be best in this case, short of hoping some sort of natural tang formed. Then they'd hunt down some wood. But he didn't have any whittling gear, so yeah... Wrap it was.​

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He turned his head, kissed her temple, and then slowly rose up with a groan. Best he go find a bashing rock then.​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

He kissed her then got up. She looked around in bewilderment.

“What… I… do I get the leather out? Where are you going? Arc, what do you want me to do?”

Silly boy had offered to teach her, then didn’t bother to tell her what she needed to do. He seemed to do that a lot—he’d learned self-sufficiency so well he didn’t even think of using other people’s help. He just did everything himself.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Sit and look pretty," he called over his shoulder, with a light chuckle, "I'll only be a second."​

​

Back toward the river he wandered, rivers which flowed so swiftly as the one they'd almost succumbed to had the best rocks, it was well known. So he waded into it slightly and reached down to pick up one that was hefty but not too large, just a good weight to it. Yep, ticked off his criteria.​

​

He returned soon after with the bottoms of his trousers slightly soggy, his boots squelching, and a smooth rock in his hand.​

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"Alright, grab my bag and bring it here..."​

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He stopped beside the large flat boulder, and set down the rock upon it. Anvil and hammer. Or something like that, anyway. Then he removed his knife from its sheath, it would work for cutting strips of leather he supposed. At least it wouldn't end up dulled.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

She sat with her chin propped on her hands, grumbling prettily.

He came back a little while later, a little wet and carrying a rock. She jumped up, grabbing his bag as bidden and followed him to the boulder. “Ah,” she murmured, starting to catch on. “You’re going to smash it between two rocks.”

In truth, she had no clue how he was going to make a bone knife. It seemed deceptively primitive, and perhaps way too simple. But he was the expert, and she was the learner, sitting eagerly at his side, watching to see what he would do...

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Nope," he said, eyeing the girl from the corner of his eye as she jumped over to him and set down his satchel. "You are. I'm going to make some leather straps to bind it."​

​

Leaning down he rummaged through the satchel, first pulling out the claw in question - okay, so not a bone, but it could still be used to the same effect - and then a little deeper to pull free some scraps of leather. He carried such things with him in the event he required just a little, the rest of the hide he hadn't yet used remained on Korriban where it was safe.​

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Leather scraps now on the boulder, claw set before Ish, he turned fully to face her. Then he handed her the river rock.​

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"You need to be careful. Even without poison within these things can splinter and send mini shards flying. I don't have gloves or goggles to offer, lift your head slightly when you bring the rock down and try not to veer your hand off course. I don't want you blinded by this, alright?"​

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He repositioned the claw in front of her, then eyed her for a second. "You'll want to strike around here..." he gestured to an area that was slightly more brittle than the rest, a point which could shatter it. "You're not looking to break it into a thousand pieces. You just want to split one side off so you end up with a sharp edge. Alright?"​

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If needs be he'd hover and show her the first few strikes with his hand over hers, but she was a smart one he reckoned.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Nope. You are.”

She clapped her hands like an excited child. “Yay! I love bashing things with rocks!”

Picking up the river stone, she listened intently to his instructions, then hesitated. He’d shown her where to hit, but she was still a little nervous. All that was at stake if she screwed this up was her eyesight, after all.

Her first blow was feather-light, more a test to make sure she’d gotten the angle right. The next was harder, and harder, and—on the fourth, it cracked. She flinched instinctively at the sound of brittle bone breaking, then cautiously peeked open one eye.

“Aw, man.”

She had shattered it. Not into a thousand pieces, but not in two, either. She looked at him sheepishly, wincing as she held out the rock. “Is it ruined?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He watched her tentatively as she made her first, very light strike. The region she hit wasn't a bad one, not perfect. He readjusted her slightly before she made her second, but mostly remained hands off. Allowed her to feel it out.​

​

From there, while keeping an eye on her, he began to lightly cut long lengths of the scrap leather, trying to get as much as he could from one strip before starting a second. It would be easier that way, as opposed to having to tie on new pieces. His dagger was ever-sharp, it made quick work of the leather.​

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And Ishani made quick work of the claw. It shattered, but she lifted her head as instructed so nothing got in her eye. Liquid began to pool out of the crevices, and if she didn't move her hands away he did so quickly before any of it touched her.​

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"Nothing's ever truly ruined, Ish. There's potential in everything, even ashes can be put to use."​

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Without touching any of it he eyed the various pieces. Some were bigger than others, some were tiny pieces of shrapnel. One was definitely a little larger than the rest, it held potential though it would be small. He rubbed his chin in thought, then nodded.​

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"Alright, it's not going to be a long blade but we're going for a dagger either way. Smaller isn't a bad thing, it means you can hide it on your person. Use it as a last defense."​

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He reached into his pack, taking out some of the ruined tarp from earlier that he'd saved when they left camp. Using it to keep his hands covered he tentatively pushed some of the shards away. The plastic did not melt, which was good. It meant it wouldn't burn on contact, it wasn't acidic, but if it got into an open wound it would still be effective. He stuck to using the plastic to move the pieces around, wrapped up the parts they weren't using right now in another bit of tarp, and then turned to her.​

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"Okay, now you need to decide how much you want the poison. We can clean this good and proper, get rid of the poison, or we can try and save the poison edge in which case we'll switch more toward using the Force. Up to you Ish."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Oh chit, the poison. She jerked her hands out of the way as it oozed out, watching Arc as he nudged the shards around with the tarp scrap as a barrier. That dangerous, huh?

“If it’s gonna be a tiny little dagger, the poison would certainly be a bonus,” she replied. “I… can try to use the Force.” But she didn’t sound all that certain. Yeeting a bear was one thing, but delicate work was another.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He smiled endearingly as she jerked away; even with the more mentor approach he was taking here he couldn't help but find himself slightly distracted by her. But no, he had to stay on track. This was poison they were dealing with after all.​

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She made her decision, and he nodded his head in appreciation to the choice. A fine choice in truth.​

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"Alright. Then that's what we'll do. This isn't quite as precise as the bashing should have been," he leaned on the rock, and positioned himself so he could look at both her and the fragment laying upon the flat-topped boulder. "If we had the resources we'd use files and sandpaper and whetstones... We don't have them. This is a survival knife for a reason. So this is going to be out sandpaper, so to speak," he gestured to the coarse flat top.​

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"So you see this longer edge here? It's got less fragments out of it?" he gestured, though did not touch, the side in question before continuing on, "That's going to be our blade edge. Right now it's sharp, but we can do better than that. You're going to rub both sides of that edge against this rock, try to make the motions quick but precise. You're building up an edge, smoothing out the rough spots."​

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Then he gestured toward the bottom half of the claw-fragment. "This is going to be your hilt, you'll probably want to smooth it out not sharpen it. For now make sure you're not drawing it this far down on the rock, alright? We'll work on smoothing it out later before we bind it."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Files and sandpaper and whetstones, oh my. Even rocks were preferable to lions and tigers and three-eyed bears, she supposed.

Following his instructions, she set about whittling away at the sliver of bone. It was rough; the jagged edge bit into her fingers, forcing her to adjust her grip. The last thing she needed was to get poisoned.

It was slow work, tedious, and she was still afraid of screwing up. She gnawed on her lower lip, occasionally pausing to glance up at Arc, making sure she was doing it right. Slowly but surely, the edge was sharpened, then at his prompting she smoothed the hilt. Her arms were sore afterwards, but it was done.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

At some point he went from leaning on the rock to outright sitting on it, a light whistle emanating from his lips as he worked the leather strips into something malleable. Attached them end to end to make one longer piece. ​

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He kept his eye on Ishani of course, gently correcting here and there and explaining why he was correcting her so that she could learn from it. When the edge began to truly sharpen he instructed her to switch to the Force, not her hands, which was a little harder given that she couldn't feel the amount of pressure used.​

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Slowly but surely though it worked. She sharpened the edge, smoothed the hilt, all without any real complaints.​

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Then he hopped down off the rock, and stood beside her marveling at it.​

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"Nicely done, Ishani Sibwarra," he coo'd, admiring the piece from where he stood. "Now we wrap it. Ordinarily we'd use some sort of adhesive to keep it in place, but for now pressure alone will have to do. Keep it tight as you wrap, alright? We could boil some of the scraps I suppose, if you wanted to try and glue it? It would make the wrap a more permanent feature..."​

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It would be a slightly longer process, glue wasn't a swift thing to make; ultimately it would be up to her. Either way he was proud that she hadn't given up.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Hearing him whistle, she paused long enough to narrow her eyes, then resume, whistling in competition with Arc. Anything to make it more fun.

Well, she whistled until she had to use the Force. Then her concentration narrowed down to a laser focus on the bone blade. Given how fickle her Force connection tended to be, she was rather astonished when she didn’t shatter it to a bajillion pieces under too much pressure. But it worked—and he seemed proud of her for it. “Arc, you must be a good luck charm. This shouldn’t have worked for me, not on my first try.”

Boiling pieces of bone to make adhesive? Sounded pretty metal. “Feth it. We have all the time in the world. Let’s make cavemen glue.”

While they were doing that, Ishani abruptly felt a familiar presence enter the periphery. Cold dread creeping up her spine, she immediately stopped and turned to face it.

The overseer, Darth Neferu, and her lackeys entered the clearing. The rays of the setting sun were swallowed up by the fathomless black of her armor. Her eyes swept over their makeshift camp with cold impassivity before her gaze settled on the two of them.

“Acolytes,” she said. “Your assignment here has been terminated. You’re to be brought in for questioning in the aggravated assault of Acolyte Florescu.”

For several moments, Ishani couldn’t speak. When her throat finally reopened, all she could squeak out was “Bendik?” Her mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusions. Had she hit him harder than she thought? Was he dead?

“He's not dead, merely in a coma. You slammed his body into a tree with enough force to fracture his spine,” Neferu replied matter-of-factly. “You’re lucky he didn’t hit the trunk head first, or he likely would have died—and you never would have left the scene of the crime. We allowed you to continue while we monitored his condition to see if he would survive.” Her lip curled. “He’s allergic to bacta. It has made treatment… difficult.”

“He attacked us!” Ishani argued. “They all did! Dinah stabbed Arcturus—he nearly bled out in front of me!”

“You think you ought to receive special treatment simply because you were provoked? It’s not as if she got off easy for wounding him. You responded to being punched in the nose by breaking your opponent’s back.”

She floundered, her heart beating wildly. Just how much trouble was she in? “This isn’t fair.”

Neferu’s only response to this was to roll her eyes heavenward. “Here I was thinking you were some kind of master manipulator, playing the part of the charming bumbler to fool everyone around you. But either you’re an exceptional actress, or you really are just an idiot, Acolyte Sibwarra.” Turning away from the befuddled Ishani to face Arcturus, she added, “Acolyte Thesh, I apologize for the interruption, but you are a witness. Now, both of you—come with me.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

A good luck charm?​

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He'd never been referred to as such before. That weird kid who was off in his own world, the one who tried to be friends with everyone as he grew some more, the one who didn't quite seem Sith enough to be a real Sith... Plenty of things. But not that. It brought a slight smile to his lips. He'd pocket that one for later.​

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"Maybe what you need is a little encouragement, and a gentle hand to show you the way. No pressure, no fear, just..." He shrugged, leaving that open ended. ​

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She opted for the glue-route. So be it. He took the pot from earlier, rinsed it out good, and then refilled it with water and the remnants of the claw and any mini pieces of bone lying in the bottom of his satchel. There was a surprising amount of small bone shards in the bottom of his satchel. It took quite some time to come to a boil, and more time still to actually be of any use. Eventually though the substance was reduced, and a not so refined form of glue remained.​

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It wasn't perfect, but it would do.​

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From there the hilt of the dagger was bound in leather... From there the piece was done.​

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Sadly there wasn't much time to admire her hard work. No sooner had they finished than their overseer arrived. And she did not look amused. Thesh remained quiet initially, but the more that was said the more unjust he found the whole situation.​

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"You've been watching this entire time, you saw what happened," he interjected, trying to keep his tone level and respectful though unable to keep some of the frustration out of it. "Ishani didn't intentionally hurt him, unlike how he intentionally hurt her. She was afraid, backed into a corner. I'm sorry, but punishing her for a mishap with the Force won't do her any good. You're just going to make it worse next time, don't you realize that?"​

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No doubt somewhere in there though he was stopped. No doubt he didn't get to say everything he wanted to say. But it wouldn't be the last he said as he too was taken off world and away from the task at hand to be questioned.​

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Little did he know that would be the last he'd see of Ishani Dinn for months to come...​