Private The Sound of Rain on Water

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre laughed as Muad's theatrical surrender dissolved into yet another volley of sand. One of his hurried throws bounced harmlessly off her shoulder before her own found its mark, sending him sprawling backward once more. She stood there for a moment, another sandball already resting in her hand, watching him collapse into exaggerated defeat.

"I think you've finally learned your lesson."

The words were accompanied by an amused shake of her head. She looked from the sandball in her hand to the man lying contentedly in the rain, then simply let the damp sphere crumble from her fingers. It fell apart as it struck the beach, returning to the shoreline it had come from.

As Muad spoke again, her smile softened. Following his suggestion, she tilted her head back and looked toward the sky. The storm had nearly passed. The clouds, once heavy and unbroken, had opened into broad windows that revealed an astonishing canopy above. Stars glittered beyond the fading rain, the moons hung serenely overhead, and distant ships traced silent paths across the heavens. It was breathtaking.

For several long moments, she said nothing at all, then finally murmured, "It is glorious." Her voice was little more than a quiet breath as she added, "I think...I would've missed it," smiling faintly to herself while still gazing upward, "if I'd stayed inside waiting for the storm to end." The thought lingered between them, no longer really about the weather anymore.

Instead of standing over him, she lowered herself onto the damp sand a comfortable distance away, drawing one knee up as she rested an arm across it. The rain no longer seemed worth noticing. For a while, she simply watched the stars emerge, content to let the conversation give way to the quiet sounds of waves, distant thunder, and two new friends sharing a peaceful end to an unexpected afternoon.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

Time in the moment possessed no power over them. Just two specks in an infinite universe. Two candles wait in the night until their time to shudder and whisk away. All to remain but a momentary vapor, then nothing. Stretched against the majesty of the heavens, did they deserve anything more?

He sat up, sand falling from his shoulders, and looked to where Iandre watched the heavens above. Was she another vapor in the saga of this galaxy? He didn't believe so. There resonated a quiet strength, kindness, and amusement within her. The will to be whimsical. More than a simple vapor.

His hands pushed him up to his feet, and he took several steps to the surf. Eyes looked out to watch the rhythmic waves as they washed forward, then receded. A constant cycle that danced to the lunar pull of the moons above. The water would encroach on the land, taking an advance that would creep up the beach until, finally, it would retreat.

A constant cycle. Much like what the galaxy experienced. Sith and Jedi, empires and republics. A never-ending cycle. He slipped out of his unbuttoned shirt and let it fall to the sand before walking out. The water was cool upon his legs. The gentle caress of the ocean washed the loose sand from his skin. Muad continued out, waist-deep, before allowing himself to sink beneath the surface. Hands ran through his hair and across his torso to free the more stubborn sand that clung to his flesh. His head broke the surface, and he let his body float, rocking with the gentle waves.

"You're welcome to join me. Again, I still won't bite. I don't see extenuating circumstances changing that."

He laughed as he shook his head, water spraying from his hair to the ocean. Perhaps they weren't flames but water. Droplets that for a moment had their own identity before once again joining the ocean. Not gone. Returning home. Like the force.

"Sometimes I grow weary. Do our actions really have permanence? Sometimes I wonder. But only for a moment. Every choice, every decision ripples outward. Just because we do not see the effects doesn't mean they do not exist."

Muad smirked at himself. Genuflection was an old man's game. And though he had crossed eras, existed in pocket dimensions, and walked through the Netherworld, he still had many more years left before he considered himself an old man.

"Even our loved ones are gone, but never forgotten. We are part of their ripple. All we have to do is remember, and they will live on. But just because we choose to cherish their memories, that doesn't mean we can die too. We live every day to the fullest. We honor their life by continuing to live our own and not merely exist."

"We Mandalorians have a saying, 'Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum. Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la.' I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal. Not gone, merely marching far away … they are like the sand rinsed from my flesh that goes to its new resting place but eternal in memory."

He floated in the arms of the ocean and allowed its cool embrace to soothe, not just his body but his fevered mind. Survivors' guilt was real, yet it was the first step. To survive, sometimes you had to say goodbye, until we meet again. And that was perhaps the most difficult of it all. To continue living. To move on. The words were not spoken externally, but thought with such conviction it would be easy enough to glean from the surface of his thoughts.

Iandre Athlea

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre watched him wade farther into the surf, her eyes following the slow, unhurried rhythm of his movements. The ocean accepted him without ceremony, washing away the last traces of sand until he floated effortlessly beneath the clearing sky. His invitation drifted back across the gentle waves, and she found herself smiling despite everything that had weighed upon her these past months.

"You know..." She looked down at the rain-darkened dress clinging comfortably against her before giving a small shrug. "Why not?"

There was no hesitation this time. She stepped into the water fully clothed, laughing quietly as the cool surf climbed from her ankles to her knees and finally settled around her waist. The warmth beneath the surface surprised her. She stopped several yards away from Muad, close enough to share the moment, comfortably distant enough that they remained simply two friends enjoying an unexpected afternoon. For the first time since Rellik's death, she realized she wasn't thinking about what she had lost every second. The ache was still there, but it no longer consumed every breath she took.

She closed her eyes as the gentle waves lifted and lowered her. The sea rocked her with a patient rhythm while the last of the rain fell softly against her face. Somewhere between the rain and the saltwater, a single tear escaped. She didn't wipe it away. It disappeared into the ocean as though it had always belonged there. Images of Rellik drifted through her mind, not of the ritual that had taken him, but of quiet evenings, easy laughter, shared meals, and the certainty that had once filled her life. She realized she had spent so long clutching those memories in fear that letting go meant losing him. Floating there now, she understood that wasn't true. She wasn't releasing Rellik. She was releasing the pain that had wrapped itself around his memory. There was room now to remember him with love instead of only grief.

When she opened her eyes again, they found Muad floating peacefully nearby beneath the clearing sky.

"In another life," she said softly, "the Mandalorians were my allies." A gentle smile followed. "You're far from an enemy, Muad." Her gaze wandered upward to the stars peeking through the broken clouds. "I think you're right. The people we love don't disappear simply because we can't see them anymore. They leave pieces of themselves behind...in the choices we make...in the people we become." She drew a slow breath as the water carried her effortlessly. "Rellik will always be part of me. But I don't think he'd want me to stop living because he had to."

For a long while, she simply floated, letting the ocean wash away the last grains of sand clinging to her skin. Somehow, it felt as though it was washing something else away as well. Not her memories. Never those. Only the weight she had insisted on carrying alone. When she finally looked at Muad, her smile was quiet, genuine, and lighter than it had been when the afternoon began.

"I'd like to see you again, my friend." The title came naturally. "I have a feeling we'll have some wonderful conversations and adventures." She looked once more toward the stars reflected upon the calm sea. For the first time since losing Rellik, the future no longer felt like something to fear. It was simply another horizon waiting to be explored.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

"In another life …"

He stood from his relaxed pose in the water. Hands swept his hair back from his face, and he chuckled. The best laid plans of womprats and men often go astray. This would be one of the more pleasurable days to go astray of plans. He did not regret it one moment. You could never have enough friends, especially in the turmoil the galaxy ever found itself in.

Muad smirked at the floating figure of Iandre. There were more questions he could ask. Like, what did she mean by 'training with lightsabers'? He had an inkling of what the reference meant. Jedi, Sith, or some other force user group that practiced space wizardry and played with glow sticks. But it didn't really matter. She was a friend, and that was the only title he cared about.

"In another life, and this one as well. I am Muad Dib. If you ever need to reach me for any reason, tell a Mandalorian you want to get a message to Muad'Dib, the Alor of Clan Farr. Or get a message to Siskeen space, anywhere in my space, and I'll get the message. Or send a message to the High Republic Senate to the Siskeeni delegation."

He began to wade free of the water, making his way to the beach lit by the last vestiges of the sun and the moons glowing bright in the night sky. Free of the waves, he collected his shirt and squatted to rinse it in the ebbing surf before standing.

"Oya, Iandre. Until we meet again. May it be filled with good times, better whiskey, and the best memories."

Iandre Athlea