The Talith Curse Strikes Again...

[Louise]

The Shadowlands, Kashyyyk

The Talith curse strikes again.

Not that it wasn't Maleah's fault...but it was totally Maleah's fault. It seemed ridiculous in concept, that members of their family couldn't fly ships without something catastrophic happening. Why? It's not a disease, it's not biological, how can curses be real? Upon reflection, in a Galaxy lead by the Force, that last thought was solely mistaken.

Five minutes in the pilot chair and there were alarm klaxons blaring. Kaili did say it was a bad idea, but she didn't do anything wrong! She didn't try to pull off some miraculous manoeuvre, no loop-de-loops or barrel rolls. The twin was simply in the chair, at the helm, hands on the controls.

Then boom, cataclysmic engine failure out of nowhere. Alarms. Panic. Possibly a fire somewhere. It wasn't her fault! It was a technical issue.

No, it was the curse, which thankfully didn't extend to escape pods, which in her technologically blind panic she had practically dragged her younger sister into. She wasn't taking any chances with rogue combustion-prone ships.

The landing had been rough to say the least.

There were several large impacts, likely the pod breaking through a few trees but eventually without the speed they were simply bounced around like a poor Talith-filled pinball. Talk about your whiplash.

Eventually the violent and jarring descent ended, and they had finally crash landed upon what was presumably the ground, hard to tell in the darkness. Hopefully it was the ground and the escape pod wasn't wedged precariously amongst the branches of impossibly tall trees.

A groan came from the Talith twin, a hand moving up to massage the back of her poor abused neck before she looked across the pod, to where her sibling should have been strapped in.

“You okay, Kails?”

 

[Kaili Talith]

It was happening again. The klaxons, the sound of engines giving way. People scattering away in terror and going for the escape pods. Another Talith was at the controls but the outcome would undoubtedly be the same. All Kaili had wanted was a nice trip to Kashyyyk, an opportunity to bond with the one sibling she had spent the least amount of time with as of late. Maleah and Kaili had their differences, none that got in the way of their friendship, but they had their differences nonetheless.

She had been dragged into a drop pod, one of the last few that remained from the ship that was already going down. There Kaili sat. Her eyes stared right in front of her with the same blank expression that she wore the first few weeks after the cataclysmic crash not too long ago. In this moment she was terrified, scared numb by the possible repetition of what had happened last time, of all the lives that could be lost. But it didn’t seem like it would be happening. Not today. The pod crashed into something. No, not just something, a lot of things. Kashyyyk never was a place she’d take for soft landings.

As the crash pod hit the ground Kaili allowed herself to rub at her neck. Hands clasping at the release mechanism she pulled herself free and with a thud she hit the ground. Or perhaps walls would be a more accurate way to describe it. She picked herself up on her hands and knees to look over at Maleah.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Kaili gasped as the terror slowly began to settle down. A short moment came to pass. Kaili coughed. “Son of a bi-” Woops! Mother told her not to use that word again. “-eeeeaaach. Beach. My neck hurts.”

Understatement.

“Are you okay, Mals? Can you move?”

[member="Maleah Talith"]

 

[Louise]

The young woman snorted as her sister nearly almost swore before making a quick save and for a small moment Maleah wondered what a son of a beach actually looked like. Not surprisingly she was pretty calm in the face of this danger, ever the joker she often tried might light of more serious situations. Sometimes it helped and sometimes Aela would shoot daggers at her that screamed 'inappropriate'.

“Hey, I won't tell her if you don't.”

Unclasping herself, Maleah thankfully didn't fall into the wall, as it was her side that was currently the floor of the pod. She felt the ache in her neck and some mild ringing in her ears as she moved to get off her back and onto her feet. Definitely whiplash.

“A little sore too,” she replied to her sister's concern, “I feel like a rancor has been sitting on my neck.”

Silently she was glad that Toofless wasn't with them for this venture, she wouldn't have been able to get the large nexu strapped into those seats and he would have gotten scrambled for sure. That unpleasant thought ceased as quickly as it came.

“...do these things have the emergency….uh… beep-boops…?”

The word she was searching for was beacon.

---

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Yeah, pull that lever.” Kaili misunderstood completely and pointed towards the emergency latch controls. “It should open the door for us and get us out of here.”

The youngest blinked. Her head hurt, her neck hurt, her entire body just hurt. A concussion wasn’t out of the question, but hopeful thinking had Kaili in denial of such things. She still felt dead inside, felt her body numb out the pain her entire body started to bruise up. She coughed once more, gasped for breath and finally got up from the ground. The whole ship was spinning, but at least she wasn’t dead. At least nobody else was dead.

“Mal, I-...” Kaili was taken aback by her own dizziness. “... I can’t see.”

The dim lights from the crashed vessel could have been why, of course.

Deep breath. Steady yourself, Kaili.

“Any idea where we might be? Like, before we even open that hatch?”

[member="Maleah Talith"]

 

[Louise]

Maleah had her hand on the level, ready to pull before she heard her sister concede that she couldn't see. Usually she would have just bounded out into the unknown, ever the wild explorer but now she had her little sister with her, a little sister she had just sent crash landing into a planet because she 'didn't believe in the curse'.

So he'd definitely have to reign in that reckless nature of hers somewhat.

That was a good question though, where exactly were they? Briefly she pondered it, hand still gripping the lever as if she were about to slam it down at any moment (she was a jokester, but not outright cruel).

“I'd say in an undergrowth somewhere,” Maleah answered, gingerly massaging the back of her neck with her other hand, “I think we hit a bunch of trees, bi-i-i-ig trees.”

Recalling where they were on the….giant space...map (she really was bad at the technological jargon) she mentally rattled through the possible planets that fit the description. There were a few, but one stuck out in her mind more than the others.

“...Kashyyyk? I'm not completely sure though, Kails.”

---

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Kashyyyk?” Kaili groaned. “That would explain the rough landing and the getting tossed around”

The cruising and the bruising too.

The young one, once more, rubbed at her own neck and stared at what she thought to be the emergency latch lever. If they were on Kashyyyk there was only one place that they could really have come to such a rough landing. She had read about it in one of the books she had borrowed from Aela, and if those books were anything to go by.

“The Shadowlands.” Kaili muttered. “Just like in Aela’s book.”

“So, uh, Maleah.” The kid raised her voice before swallowing air as the young one started reeking of nervosity. “Ha-...” Quick exhale, slow inhale. “Have you heard of something called a terentatek?” Could have seemed like the most stupid question ever when it came to this particular sister, but it had to be asked. “Because, those are a thing.”

Big. Scary. Monsters.

“Aela had books on them, and if we’re in the Shadowlands,” Kaili shook her head. “I don’t like where this might be going, sis. Not one bit.”

Quick on the assumptions. Kaili wasn’t an optimist.

[member="Maleah Talith"]

 

[Louise]

Never the type to be too worried, Maleah waggled her eyebrows at her younger sister as she began to remember some vital details of what lurked within the Shadowlands of Kashyyyk. If her dancing brows were anything to go by, the twin wasn't too worried by this prospect.

“'Course I've heard of terentateks, Kails,” she responded with an overly sweet tone of voice that only spoke of future trouble.

Giant hulking beasts of tusks, claws and deadly venom. Beasts that were renowned for devouring the flesh of Jedi, almost born from the dark side of the Force. Oh yeah, Maleah had definitely heard of terentateks but instead of feeling any sense of fear towards the creatures, she was given a sense of a challenge.

“...could you imagine if,” Maleah said slowly, lifting her hands up as if they would soothe her sister somewhat, “...and bear with me here...could you imagine...” It was almost cruel, dragging out her sentence would only further poor Kaili's anxiety of the situation.

“...if I tamed a terentatek?!”

---

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

There were moments when your life flashed in front of you. Most of the time it was because in that very moment you were faced with certain death or because you were pinned in a situation in which your death seemed inevitable. Images of childhood memories that you -- by all logical means -- should have forgotten a very long time ago.

This was one of those moments.

Kaili’s blood, expression, body and mind froze solid in place at the mention of taming a terentatek. As much as she loved her sister there was absolutely no chance that this plan was going to work. Much like there was no way that Kaili would be able to persuade her sister to realise it either.

Kaili swallowed air.

“I, uh, am not sure that will work your way, Mal.” The young one stammered. “I mean, rancors sure, but a terentatek? No.”

Kaili never had been the one with the animal husbandry ‘aspect’ of their heritage.

“I mean, do you have any idea how dangerous they are?” She was starting to sound more and more like Aela for each passing moment. “The claws, the poison, the fact that it will kill us? Why would you even- No, Maleah. No. We should find a safe place to rest, or anything that would let us regain our-...” Head pulse. Head pain. Ow. “Our senses.”

“Then we can try to tame a terentatek.”

Because in the end there really would be no way that Kaili would get out of this without having either of them at least trying to tame what would most likely kill them both. Kaili was ready for that sacrifice.

Kinda.

[member="Maleah Talith"]