Private Secret Tunnel!

[Klar]

​

TYTHON​

Tython Wilderness | Xuko Pagoi ​

All things considered, Klar didn't have a LOT of experience with wilderness survival. Most of what she knew outside of the exceedingly basic training the Jedi had given her was osmosis from various hologames and films. The Codru-Ji, for better or worse, was a creature of the cities. She'd been born on Coruscant, she'd lived on a Pleasure Barge, she'd gone back to Courscant, and eventually she'd moved to Tython to train at the Jedi temple. That'd been her first encounter with trees that weren't safely tended in tiny, sterile parks. Animals that weren't urban vermin. Bugs.

It'd also been her first time seeing the night sky from a terrestrial location. She'd fallen in love immediately, and had been looking for more reasons to get out and see more of what the natural world had to offer.

Pouring over some survey data of the area some distance away from the Jedi temple had turned up some irregularities that suggested to Klar the presence of a fairly large cave system. That likely meant crystals - and lots of them. There were always uses for interesting crystals, but moreover? There might be ruins, and things worth bringing back to the surface. Klar spent days pouring over the data, planning her trip, reading up on what she'd need. She'd planned her bags, her route, her backup plans, her evacuation route. She'd then realized she knew almost nothing about how to survive in the wilderness past what was in the datapad she was planning to bring. And one of the first thing it'd suggested? Don't go alone. At the very least, you needed to have somebody around who could call for help or drag you to safety in an emergency.

Honestly? Only one option. And all of his stuff could fit on the speeder bike she'd borrowed from the garage!

"Basically!" Klar explained, raising her voice to be heard over the wind. "We'll get down into the valley, set up camp, and survey the area until we find the cave entrance. I have a good idea of where it is. But! The most recent geographic data in the area is seventy years old." As she spoke, the blonde wove the speeder bike lazily through trees and around obstacles, not pushing the engines out to a speed where hitting anything would be a real risk. She kept her eyes forward, talking with her lower hands as her uppers handled the steering - though the temptation to look over her shoulder to make eye contact with the Zabrak riding pillion was VERY tempting.

"At the rate we're going, we'll be there shortly - so if you see a good spot to set up camp, let me know!" Klar explained, still speaking over the wind. "I think there's a lake nearby! Or there WAS. I know water is very important!"

Everything Klar thought she'd need was stuffed into the saddlebags strapped to the back of the bike. A pup tent, some food and water, clothes, and a first aid kit. Archeological gear took up the bulk of the space, Klar's backpack strapped somewhat roughly to the rear spoiler along with the larger tools she thought they might need. Shovel, axe, satellite map of the area, her splitsabers.

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

Although many things had changed in his life since becoming a Jedi, one habit Xuko refused to give up was keeping a "go" bag packed and ready with essentials for at least a week of survival; assuming more or less normal environments. That wasn't to say that there hadn't been upgrades that had come with joining the Order- the water purifier was new and much more reliable, the tent was actually waterproof, and the food capsules were no longer expired- but it also meant that Xuko was ready to say yes whenever an adventure presented itself... and experience had quickly taught him that time spent with Klar was always an adventure.

Xuko, for his part, didn't mind riding pillion behind Klar. She provided constant commentary along the way, which helped pass the time, and once Xuko got used to seeing two hands not on the controls he was able to relax. The Codru-Ji flew safely, which allowed for some sightseeing along the way, and Xuko always appreciated time spent in green places such as the jungles of Tython. Furthermore, Klar's research had even uncovered that this area was in a place not known to be inhabited by fleshraiders, which added an extra incentive to go out and explore. That didn't mean that he wasn't prepared- his lightsaber tapped against his thigh along with the rhythm of the engines- but it probably contributed to two Padawans being granted license to explore in the first place.

"Water is important" Xuko echoed, smiling inwardly. He was pleased that Klar seemed to grasp the reality of their expedition. She had taken initiative and appeared more prepared than most for an adventure outside of the Temple. "It is possible one of the caves can serve as a campsite" he suggested, spotting one of the landmarks he'd committed to memory as the speeder eased its way across the terrain. He took one of his hands from where it was wrapped comfortably around Klar's waist to point out their next turn. "The cave entrance should be just up there."

Klar

 

[Klar]

"Camping inside the cave would be pretty nice!" Klar agreed cheerfully, driving the speeder bike on a gradual downward slope and then up a grassy bank, dipping lazily around a pair of trees. Had she been going faster, she might've missed the cave entrance entirely - the mouth of the cave came out of the back of the hill they'd just gone over. Nearly completely occluded by man-sized rocks, thick brush and bushes, the cave was a nearly straight drop from the surface. The kind of place a hiker might disappear into just by stepping down the hill the wrong way.

Klar canted the speeder back around to the entrance and climbed off, taking a moment to stretch her legs out and groan a little. Rubbing her lower back, she opened a map and spread it across the rear spoiler of the speeder. "This is the place, right?" She asked Xuko hopefully, grinning ear-to-ear. "Survey data shows that this entrance was much larger way back when. I think it might've had a bit of a landslide come down from that hill here, hiding the entrance." A lot could happen in seventy years. Klar didn't question it - she wasn't a geologist.

"It looks like it might be a pretty steep incline downwards. That means water at the bottom, right?" The blonde asked excitedly. "I hope we don't have to swim very far to progress deeper. We don't have much in the way of air, and I hear that cave diving is exceedingly dangerous..." Klar trailing off suggested that she was looking for Xuko to confirm or deny this, though she already knew. Her energy suggested that the danger wasn't necessarily a deal-breaker. And it wasn't! They had modest rebreathers, and she'd brought a swimsuit just in case.

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

Although the cave entrance was only a few hours away from the temple, Xuko could see how it had faded from the Jedi's collective knowledge. A rockslide or some similar event had camouflaged the entrance, ensuring that it was nearly impossible to find the caves from more than a few meters away.

Xuko winced as he stretched stiff muscles, taking a short walk around where the speeder was parked to get his land legs back underneath him and making a mental note of this unwelcome sensation for the future. If he'd had to fight immediately after dismounting, his mobility and potentially his balance would've been severely impacted. Better to learn this now than while under fire.

A quick glance at the map and Xuko confirmed with a nod of his head what Klar already knew- this was indeed the place she had scouted out. The Zabrak peered down into the mouth of the cave, and wasn't surprised to discover that he couldn't see the bottom due to the darkness within. "I have not been cave diving myself" he admitted. "Not enough water on Iridonia." Odd how he'd never considered the problem of having too much water.

Xuko found a stone about the size of a baseball and brought it to the edge of the cave. Holding a finger to his lips lest Klar start talking, he tossed it into the mouth of the cave and listened. After just over a second, he heart a splat, and nodded to Klar to let her know it was okay to speak again. "There is water at the bottom, but not enough to swim in- at least not right away. We can climb down and look. It should not be too far."

Klar

 

[Klar]

Klad waited with bated breath once the rock plunged down, counting visibly. Once she heard the telltale plonk of rock-on-water violence, she grinned and flashed Xuko a thumbs up. "Great plan!"

The Codru-Ji took a moment to stretch, then started suiting up. She hung a lantern off her belt, slipped on a vest with lots of pockets, and pulled a coil of rope out of the speeder's saddlebags. The speeder itself served as the anchor point for the rope - Klar pushed it closer to the mouth of the cave, then tied the rope securly to an eye on the back of the vehicle. Despite her lack of survival skills, Klar apparently had some fantastic experience with knots, weaving a skillful clove hitch in record time. She also took a moment to engage the emergency brake on the speeder bike.

"This rope's got sixty meters on it. I've got two more." The blonde explained proudly as she began stepping into a climbing harness. It fit a little goofy over shorts, but she didn't HATE the way it looked. "I actually did some rock climbing back on Coruscant! All indoor stuff, in gyms." She chirped. "I know it isn't the same, but at least I already had some of the equipment."

Another flashlight on her vest, a camera just in case, and a moment to tighten the laces on her boots. And then, her favorite part - the gloves. Klar pulled the fingerless gloves on with great relish. You always knew some real work was going to get done when you had to wear gloves to do it. "Ready-go! You wanna go down first, or should I?"

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

Xuko did some quick mental math to compare the length of the rope with the distance he'd estimated the descent to be- another reason for tossing the rock in. Of course, there was probably some type of technology which could easily and accurately have measured their descent, but the Zabrak was ignorant of it. Instead, he stuck to his tried and true method, using the tools he had around him. "Sixty meters should be more than enough for this descent" he decided.

The Zabrak himself had a pair of Grappling Spike launchers- one primary, one as a backup- which could be easily rewound once fired. Although these only had a 40-meter range, Xuko preferred them over traditional rope for their convenience. That didn't mean that Klar's knot-typing went unnoticed, however. "You are quite proficient with rope" he said, nodding towards the climbing harness Klar had made. Xuko knew a few knots, but Klar had him beat. "There is much I can learn from you in that area."

Unlike Klar, Xuko did not have fingerless gloves; his were more multipurpose; again, a fixture of convenience rather than specificity. While not as flexible or as breathable as Klar's, Xuko figured they would provide adequate protection while they climbed. Xuko did a quick once-over of Klar's equipment before nodding in approval. The Codru-Ji was ready, and Xuko could see no good reason to deny her.

"Go ahead" he said. "I will follow once you have reached the bottom."

Klar

 

[Klar]

Klar gave her climbing partner a playful salute as she wove the climbing rope through her harness. She approached the mouth of the cave, took a couple of experimental tugs on the rope, then began descending. The lip of the cave was not nearly as steep as it would be further down, but she was nevertheless cautious. "Rocks here a little slick!" Klar called up in warning.

Once past the lip, she could begin to descend a little quicker. Though she wasn't belaying at full speed, Klar maintained a good pace. Three hands helped her regulate her speed and control her descent, with a fourth she shone her lantern further down to have a look at where she was going. As she began nearing the bottom, the blonde woman slowed down. Not much light filtered down from above, but her lantern got her a good look around. Luckily, they had had enough rope to get to the bottom. It was a CONSIDERABLE way down.

Klar touched down in a bowl-shaped depression slightly more than five meters across, filled with old water. Said water had been gathering long enough to wear small grooves in the limestone lip of the 'bowl' flowing down deeper into the cave.

Klar flipped out a notebook once she was clear of Xuko's landing point. "Roughly 45 meter descent, you figure?" She speculated, drawing a rough approximation of the diagonal shaft they'd descended. "With the way this depression is shaped- I wonder if some big kinetic weapon or something hit here long ago, and that's what made the cave? It looks like it's almost a straight tube carved up to the surface from this angle, doesn't it?"

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

Once he was confident that everything topside was working as intended, Xuko watched Klar descend into the tunnel. He quickly found that he appreciated the lantern she carried; not only did it serve as a light source for Klar, it served as a barometer of sorts for Xuko. As long as he could track Klar's steady descent, using the gentle bob of the lantern light as she belayed, he knew that she was safe. As it was, he needn't have worried; Klar's experience climbing and four hands made quick work of the descent, and soon it was Xuko's turn.

The Zabrak played out some of his fibercord launcher, also using the speeder bike as an anchor point, before navigating the lip of the cave mouth. Like Klar said it was slippery, but as a result of her warning he was able to catch himself when one of his boots unexpectedly slid. He then belayed his way downwards, maintaining a steady descent by controlling how quickly the line played out. With about 7 meters to go he reached the end of his line, and had to resort to his second launcher to safely descend the final few meters. Still, with one button push the first line disengaged, allowing him to retract both launchers for later use should the need arise.

Once his boots sploshed down into water a few inches deep, Xuko took his bearings. The mouth of the cave was a tiny circle of light above them; a portal to the outside world that felt impossibly far away. Xuko suddenly found it much more difficult to breathe. The rocky cave walls around him seemed to press inwards, and the thought of moving further away from the surface sent a chill of fear through him. "Uh... yes" he said, his voice smaller than he remembered it. Despite his fear, he told himself that he had to forge onwards; Klar had seemed so excited about this trip, and he would not be the reason she did not get to do it. Vorr'kath Zhen.

"How far down does this cave go?"


Klar

 

[Klar]

Klar watched with mild bemusement as Xuko slowly, carefully descended his own rope. when he finally made it to the bottom, she couldn't help but note that he seemed a little tense. She opted to give him a friendly pat on the shoulder and chuckle. "No idea why you didn't just use MY rope, Xuko." The blonde pointed out teasingly. "But, it's fine. Maybe we'll need to get up in a hurry or something, like if there's a cave in. Then we'll be thankful we have two ropes to the entrance."

Her voice was swallowed by the cave around them, the fathomless billions of tons of sold stone, soil, and darkness. One might've thought that their voice would echo in a cave, but in one this small? It tended to have the opposite effect, muting everything like a sponge. The hushed silence of a crypt, complete with the stale, slightly damp air. "I have no clue how far down it goes. Maybe forever!" The blonde laughed. "That's what we're here to find out."

Speaking of. Klar put an air testing device on around her neck and shone her lantern about. There were two clear paths - one wet, a groove carved by the water spilling down from the little depression they were in. The other dry, relatively level with the bowl. A tall, narrow passageway they'd have to really squeeze into. Klar considered both.

"The water flows down. But if we're looking for a place to camp, let's check out the dry spots first?" She suggested cheerfully. Klar turned sideways and began slipping between the walls of the cave, a maneuver that forced her to contort herself a little awkwardly to get through. Not for the first or last time, she was annoyed with her build and envious of Xuko's. "I think there's an opening arounds five meters back!" She called out, straining a little. "C'mon!"

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

"You will have to teach me how to make one of those rope harnesses" Xuko said, almost grateful for the distraction that thought provided. Envisioning Klar teaching him different knots back in the temple meant a future in which he wasn't trapped down here, far from the surface. Unfortunately, Klar's next words did little to quell the steadily-growing panic he felt growing in his chest.

Xuko looked with trepidation as Klar chose the smaller of the two tunnels to explore first. The Zabrak could not think of a survival-based lie that might counteract the Codri-Ji's logic regarding camping spaces, and by the time he thought to voice his desire to camp up on the surface she had already made good headway into the narrow tunnel. The very narrow tunnel. "Are you sure..." Xuko felt even smaller as his voice was seemingly swallowed up by the massive, uncompromising wall of stone; the rest of his sentence dying in his throat as he realized that he risked losing sight of the Codru-Ji... and the thought of being down here alone finally galvanized him into action.

Xuko's hands shook as he began stepping slowly down the tunnel, several meters behind Klar. He was pretty sure that his heartbeat- wild and cacophonous in his own ears- was loud enough to be felt through the stone further down the tunnel. His breathing came faster, too, as he reached the spot where Klar had needed to twist and felt the stone pressing in on him from either side.

"Does it get wider..." he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut and inching himself forwards, then repeated himself loud enough for Klar to hear.

"Does it get wider?!"

Klar

 

[Klar]

Xuko was struggling, but Klar had no idea. The tightness of the crevasse was just on the border of being manageable, and at this point she was too far into the sun cost fallacy to abandon advancing without some sort of obstacle. So long as all she had to do was keep twisting and turning and wiggling sideways into the stone, she could keep moving forward. At least, until she hit a spot that was just a bit too much of a pinch for her, so would probably absolutely be too tight for Xuko. Klar wiggled a bit more, tried to see deeper, then sighed and took a moment to catch her breath.

"Does it get wider?!"

Klar managed to turn her head around and peer backwards, a little alarmed by Xuko's tone. In all the stone and rock entombing them, it was easy to lose track of each other's voice - apparently - but it was the alarm in his voice that really caught her off guard. The Zabrak didn't show emotions very readily, she'd gathered, especially not the big intense ones. But now he sounded downright flustered, and appeared to be breathing heavily. Klar's brow knit with concern.

She offered what she hoped was a compassionate view as Xuko came more clearly into view, still sandwiched between stone walls. "I think it's too tight to go further. We'll have to turn back" Klar apologized, wedged snugly in the stone. She lifted her lantern slightly, using a free hand to try and keep the light out of Xuko's eyes. "Take a moment. You okay, Xuko?" The blonde asked gently.

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

The tunnel did not get wider up ahead. Xuko wanted to collapse to his knees and curl up in the fetal position, and pretty much the only thing that kept him from doing so was the fact that it was physically impossible to do anything other than scoot a couple inches in either direction in the tunnel. And by dumb luck, or perhaps because the universe had a cruel sense of humor, Klar's words that they'd have to go back came just as Xuko navigated a particularly narrow point of the tunnel. The ensuing "widening" was in reality only a couple of centimeters, but Xuko had just gotten his hopes up; now, he was faced with retracing his steps though a passageway so narrow he couldn't even turn his head to see where he was going.

What he could see was Klar, now. That meant that he wasn't alone in this hell. Xuko marveled at the Codru-Ji's calm, even though she was more tightly stuck than he was. The Zabrak considered deflecting or ignoring Klar's question, but ultimately decided on honesty. "I am not doing well" he admitted, his breathing still irregular. "The walls are closing in on me and it is difficult to breathe and I am very afraid of dying down here and being squished to death and I think I just heard a voice that was not yours and I do not want to go back through the small space I just squeezed through and how are you so calm I do not want to die down here...". It was, quite possibly, the longest uninterrupted stream of dialogue he'd ever spoken, but it poured out of him like a waterfall.

Was he crying? He wasn't crying. It was perspiration.

Klar

 

[Klar]

Oh wow okay. Klar locked in on Xuko intently, blocking out the pressure on her ribs or the way a rock was jutting into her back, or the fact that she couldn't really move much at all. "Okay, Xuko? Xuko, I need you to listen to me." Klar spoke as gently and calmly as she could, wiggling a couple of steps closer. Close enough to reach out with one of her lower arms and gently grab his arm. "It's alright. We're okay. The rocks won't move. Focus on breathing." She coaxed softly, trying to talk him down the same way she might talk down one of the kids having an episode. The stakes were somewhat higher here, panic could mean getting stuck or twisting the wrong way and breaking something, and that'd just make things worse. If Xuko had an episode and got himself trapped, they'd probably both die. If he panicked and tried to carve some space with his lightsaber, he'd likely bring more rocks down on them.

Now HER heart was racing.

"Look at me, Xuko." Klar requested quietly. "It's alright to be scared. Let it flow through you and out of you. Find your peace." She instructed. "All you need to do is - slowly - start making your way backwards and focus on me. Focus on breathing. Focus on the Jedi code. Can you do that?" The blonde asked hopefully. "Just a couple meters backwards, and you're out. We can get to the surface in no time and we never have to come down here again. Okay? Calm breathing, small movements."

Klar gave his arm a small tug. "My eyes. Look at me. Let's go get some fresh air, okay?"

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

As Klar reached out and grabbed his arm, Xuko inhaled sharply and flinched; a fight-or-flight reaction that had nothing to do with the Codru-Ji. But as Klar held on, Xuko was able to convince his very nervous system that this was not a hostile touch, and a moment later his hand closed around Klar's wrist to seal the connection. He could still feel the shake in his hands, but it lessened somewhat by having someone to hold onto.

Slowly, gradually, with the help of Klar's words, Xuko began to regain some control over the panic that had set in. Although he personally found little comfort in the words of the Jedi Code- not when the very first line was directly at odds with the overwhelming emotion he was feeling right now- focusing on his breathing helped. Looking at Klar- difficult not to do, given that he couldn't turn his head- also gave some motivation; since he was between her and the exit, he was keeping both of them trapped in here.

"Don't let go" he said, barely whispering, his other hand groping along the wall in the direction of the exit. "I'm going to try..." Words trailed off as a fresh wave of fear washed over him; even moving a few inches was enough to nearly paralyze him again.

"Klar, tell me a story" he pleaded, remembering how envisioning different circumstances earlier had helped him with his initial fear. "Something to take my mind off of this." He resolved that once she started talking, he would try to move again towards the exit.

Klar

 

[Klar]

"Klar, tell me a story"

A grasping hand, a desire for connection. Klar nodded firmly, taking Xuko's hand. She didn't need to tell him she wasn't letting go - she was beginning to understand that while Xuko found the sound of her voice enjoyable for whatever reason, his default method of communication was action-based. She wouldn't let go, and she'd demonstrate this by not letting go.

"I was found by a Lepi, you know." Klar began quickly, her voice high and a little reedy with anxiety. "Master Chase. I was changing her sheets, tending to the room. I didn't know she was a Jedi master. I came in to turn the room over and I was halfway done before I realized she was sitting in the corner of the room, drinking caff and just watching me work. Scared me senseless." The blonde inched closer, moving every centimeter of progress right behind Xuko. "She asked me if I was happy where I was, and I told her I didn't know how to be anywhere else. She asked me if I wanted to go home, and I told her that this was home. Then she asked me if I was brave, and I said that I liked to think so but I didn't think I really was."

"Anyway, Master Chase decided to make me her problem. I didn't know it at the time, but she was there doing an investigation. She started teaching me how to read, played games with me, taught me Basic. It was... great. For months." Klar rambled. "When the GA authorities showed up, Master Chase handed them the keys to the whole operation, all the passwords and evidence, and then told them to take me to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant." The blonde continued. "And I've tried very hard to find her since then, but she doesn't seem to exist? There's no record of a Lepi Master with her name, nobody's ever heard of her, no Jedi Masters were assigned to bust up that pleasure yacht from what I can find. I want to find her and thank her, but I'm starting to worry that maybe she doesn't exist? Or maybe she was something else pretending to be a Jedi? And I worry that I'm forgetting what she sounded like or looks like, because I owe her so much."

Klar swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm worried that I made her up? I'm not sure. If that makes sense?"

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

They had only moved a couple of feet, but it felt to Xuko like miles. Inch by inch, crevice by crevice, the Zabrak slowly squeezed his way back out of the tunnel, feeling both the passageway widen and the pressure in his chest loosen as they made more progress. Questions about the story Klar was sharing jockeyed with the eddies of fear that swirled around in his brain; the fragments he knew of Klar's life before joining the Order frustratingly out of focus in his current state.

What was a Lepi? Had Klar tended rooms before or after cocooning? What kinds of games did Master Chase play with Klar? What had been Klar's first language, if it hadn't been Basic? How had Master Chase known to send Klar to the temple on Coruscant? And, in lockstep with Klar: why had the Lepi Jedi seemingly disappeared?

Suddenly, and without warning, Xuko's boot splashed into water as he stepped out of the tunnel and back into the cave entrance where they'd started. "Zhaqex!" The Zabrak nearly lost his balance as a result, but managed to catch himself without jolting Klar too much. He was still holding on to one of her lower hands, he realized, and she was still holding on to him. With a gentle squeeze that conveyed more thanks than he could verbally give, he slowly let go once Klar also exited the tunnel.

"I am in your debt" he said after a few more seconds had passed, his voice still shaky but less so now that they were in a place where he could see the sky. HIs breathing was beginning to normalize, and as the adrenaline wore off he began feeling the myriad of small cuts and contusions that inevitably come with wedging oneself between stone.

"Are you hurt?" he asked the Codru-Ji. He couldn't really begin to acknowledge her story, as much as he might want to- not until they were in a different space.

Klar

 

[Klar]

Klar stumbled out of the crevasse a moment behind Xuko. When he released her hand, she transferred one to his shoulder to help keep him - and her - steady. She braced her lower arms against her knees and caught her breath, managing a weak chuckle while shaking her head. "I'm okay, Xuko." She promised quietly, still trying to keep her energy muted, even and reliable in case he still needed her for that. "Probably just a couple brush-burns in places. Maybe one bruise." She promised, tentatively pressing a spot under her arms, along her ribs. A rock she'd slid past the first time hadn't been nearly as smooth going the other direction. It stung like a bruise at least. Mostly Klar was happy her fingers didn't come away red.

She gave Xuko's shoulder a pat before giving him his space. "Good job." The Codru-Ji complimented, meaning every word of it.

"If you're okay, we'll catch our breath and get out of here?" She suggested, dropping her therapy-voice in favor of her usual warmer tone. "Maybe post up by that lake nearby. If you're still okay with doing some camping. Salvage the trip, and all." The blonde proposed hopefully.

She wasn't about to abandon him because he'd tripped over a phobia. Hell, she didn't even think less of him for it. She was more upset with herself for taking so long to realize her friend was in crisis. "When you're ready." Klar promised.

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

"Good." Xuko managed a response as Klar checked herself for injuries and found no major ones. "And... thank you." Klar had spent weeks researching and planning the trip, and had been kind enough to invite Xuko along; as a result, her words went a long way in helping ease the shame he felt for preventing their spelunking adventures. As a result, Xuko jumped at the chance to still go camping; they would still do some of what Klar had planned, at least. "I may need a few minutes" he admitted, glancing up at the shaft they'd climbed down. At least the climb he could manage independently.

Once his breathing had returned to normal and the shake had completely left his hands, Xuko set about climbing his way back up the cave; using Klar's rope and a Codru-Ji-Approved climbing harness this time. Before long he was standing at the top, calling down that he was ready to toss the rope down to his friend for her ascent out of the cave.

Not his acquaintance, he realized; Klar's words and actions had transcended that threshold.

Klar was his friend.

Klar

 

[Klar]

Honestly, Klar was quite relieved to get out of the cave. While she had been looking forward to the adventure of it, it'd been a little more scary than she'd thought. Moreover, there were some things she'd realized she could do better next time. More rope. Better shoes. Maybe pants? Depending on how much she wanted to lose out on the flexibility of shorts. Headlamp. Stickers with little lights on them for tracking progress deeper in the cave.

As she clambered out of the cave and started packing up her climbing equipment, Klar reflected on the half-hidden hole in the ground and the secrets that potentially lay deeper within. She wasn't done with this place.

It only took a couple of minutes to pack up and get the speeder loaded, during which Klar kept conversation light and constant - comfortably filling any silence with idle chatter, stopping only to listen to Xuko when he felt the need to talk. A part of her felt she should hug him and let him know she didn't think less of him. A part of her didn't think that acknowledging the moment out loud would make him feel any better. The latter instinct won.

When they were ready, but comfortable and silent agreement, Xuko and Klar repositioned the speeder to the banks of the nearby mountain lake. It was easy enough to find a nice grassy spot near to the cool, tranquil water to park the speeder, after which point Klar was... a little clueless, admittedly!

She'd brought a pup tent, a bundle of sticks with some dryer lint for kindling, and a bedroll. Klar considered her camping supplies with a degree of apprehension, an off-the-shelf wilderness survival guide in one of her hands. She'd gone through it for the past week or so, bookmarking things that might be important. "Okay so it doesn't tell me how to put a tent up." Klar realized quietly. "We're supposed to make a circle of rocks for a fire? Do we break them up with a pickaxe, oooorr...?" The Codru-Ji trailed off, giving Xuko a mildly helpless look - before smiling.

Even if she felt dumb, she was having fun. As far as Klar was concerned, the trip wasn't a loss.

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

While he and Klar loaded up their speeder, Xuko's thoughts also stayed with the half-hidden hold in the ground. Given some separation from the claustrophobic feeling inside the caves, the Zabrak felt a strong desire to conquer this fear. Xuko thought it entirely possible that, given time and practice, he could build up his tolerance to enclosed spaces deep underground. And, if he was being honest with himself, he wanted a different outcome than being reduced to a panicked wreck in front of Klar.

The opportunity for some redemption presented itself later on when the two of them started setting up their campsite. Although Klar had clearly researched well, Xuko knew from experience that there were still some survival skills that did not translate well from the page to reality. So, quietly at first- his confidence still bruised, like his elbows and knees were- Xuko began explaining some basic camping principles to Klar.

"The purpose of a fire ring is primarily to keep the fire from spreading outside where we want it to be" he said. "If we build our fire on the sand" he said, pointing to the small beach adjacent to their campsite- "a fire ring is less important. It will also be easier to extinguish since we can just throw more sand on top of the flames." He showed her how to structure the firewood so that the kindling lit the larger branches. "Always use dry wood whenever you can" he said. "It will light easier, and will be less smoky." That was a newer piece of information he'd learned since leaving Iridonia, where all the wood was dry and Anooba dung was a much more common source of fuel. He decided to leave that bit of information out, however.

"Tents, on the other hand, are a mystery even to me" he confessed. "I will gladly help, but I cannot guarantee our success." His own tent was simple enough, so at worst they could share, but he hadn't gotten a good look at what Klar had brought. At least being able to focus on something productive- and to feel useful- was slowly easing his shame from earlier.

"We still have a few hours before we will need a fire for cooking or warmth" Xuko said, noting the position of the sun; they'd arrived partway through the day but the relative brevity of their spelunking expedition meant that it was still the middle of the afternoon. "What would you like to do in the meantime?" Perhaps there were things topside- such as hiking of swimming- that would be of interest to the Codru-Ji.

Klar