First Reply Trading in Danger

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

He was getting the idea better and better each time... which was helpful to her. They could plan it all out and really work on his personality as the snow was flying.. he seemed to be preparing for something and she could see it for a brief moment. She moved in the higher snow for a moment and allowed herself to move to the side. Diving into the snow as her hand came out and slid between the flakes for a moment... then deeper as she could hear the impact of the snowball he had managed to create. She dove down... down and allowed the snow to go around her as she came up and was laughing. "You might be in your head but I work on reaction Yondir... don't think just act."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Was he doing it yet again? Thinking instead of acting? Getting stuck in his head? Yes. He guessed.
Truthfully, it wasn’t something he always did. Something had happened to him back in that cavern.
Usually, he does experience a kind of connection with his homeland. He was normal at that tavern.
Yet, this was different. Something shifted within him. Due to that witch. Who…was she even…dead?

No. He won’t think about this again. Don’t. Not her. That sorceress in a nexus was dead to begin with.
This Jedi Master, however, was alive. Living. There was so much life in Ikki Ike. So much proven power.
The kind he didn’t want for himself. But…did he…want her? Did Yondir want Ikki? He’d already shown it.
Quiet. She would tell him the same thing that moment. He blinked. Suddenly Ikki is covered in powder.

His shot had missed her. That didn’t matter. Suddenly, not even Mavin mattered. He is safe anyway.
Throwing snowballs at the walls. Pretending he was already a Knight. Already a Master. Like these.
Reaction... She gave him such a reaction. He just didn’t know how to translate what he was feeling.
“You are faster, Master Ike,” Yondir spoke simply as he walked over to her. “And stronger. I do say.”

He spoke in a tone as politely as possible as he approached.
Closer. He wanted her to know he was civil despite their jest.
Hands clasped behind back. Good manners. She has to know.
Few feet away. Act. Lifts his hand to plunge snow on her head.

Moonlight. It was trapped in his mind from homeland's lake.
In this moment, though, he sees no moon and sees no light.
Surely his attack won't miss only inches away from her face.
Whatever the case, he grins, he laughs, he has a good time.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She listened to the two of them in the force and gave a small nod as she was taking a little cover. Crouching a little sos he had a smaller profile she spoke. "Speed and strength are only part of it.. one should observe and think. Be int he moment and listen tot he force." She said it with a nod of her head though as she moved with more snow. Yondir was thinking to himself but he was moving... dweeling on things but at least he wasn't standing around and making her wonder where he was going. She moved around a little thoughh crouching lower. "THe moment is where you want to be.. thinking to far ahead does little same as thinking about the past... just allow the force to guide your actions and trust in it."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Uncertainty. What was he even thinking? Feeling? How had he ended up in this position to begin with?
Speed. Strength. Be in the moment. Listen to the Force. Yes, he already knows these things, he’s no idiot.
Yet, had he forgotten the basics? Had that really happened? Yondir couldn’t help but wonder after her words.
Admittedly, his words about strength and speed were just to distract her from his attack, but hers had worth.

“I trust…” The man began, blinking between Ikki and Mavin; the latter, a child, a boy content with playing.
Adults could engage in the same behavior, after Yondir’s observations, as he was doing currently, maybe.
Be in the moment. Don’t think too far. Allow the Force to guide. Yes. Of course. His spirit, his sword, his person.
What is happening? Between thinking, feeling, fading, gazing into a well behind his eyes, broken on the surface.

The Jedi, the Master and the Knight, danced with each other on the mountainside, but the dance was a lesson.
Maybe Ikki would pelt and pellet him, but even Yondir doubted that moment as he stood staring, motionless.
What are you telling me? Ikki. The Force. The light. The light. Perhaps that itself was the reminder. My only truth.
Mavin was building some snow creature, man or woman, as Yondir looked at Ikki, didn’t blink at her. “I trust you.”

He stepped forward toward her. His hands brandished before him, not hidden, if empty of snow.
“I do not trust me,” he admitted freely. There wasn’t any treachery in that statement or animosity.
They had played, they had trained, they had given Mavin a demonstration of how Jedi may treat.
It wasn’t all scrolls or meditation. Yondir observed that even Jedi had fun. Closer, he approached.

“Something happened to me, Ikki,” the Ranger of Rhunor said finally. “I don’t feel quite like…well…myself.”

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She listened... she felt... she was looking at the boy as when the battle ended she joined him in making a snowman. SHe was moving her hands when he approached her and raised an eyebrow listening to him speak while she was there. Allowing the force to guide her and carry her thoughts for the moment. SHe looked at him with a side eye for a moment as she listened and then turned to look at him. Offering a smile. "Well you did go through a traumatic possession by a force spirit seeking revenge, meet a girl and take in a child... you went from loner to papa in a matter of days." She said it looking up at him with her hands clasped in front of herself. "YOu are seeing the galaxy with a new perspective but Yondir... you spend so much time in your own thoughts and thinking it that we were able to build a snowman."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Ikki’s words had merit and credit, but she didn’t really appear to listen to him. She mentioned that he was seeing the galaxy with a new perspective and she wasn’t exactly wrong with that thought. Then again, against her better judgment and wisdom, she had not sensed the danger so close to her with this Yondir in her presence.

However, maybe that was for the best at the moment. Despite that she recognized his possession, something that surely had consequences for this man after the fact, perhaps what Ikki was really trying to do was offer Yondir peace in spite of his inner turmoil. If there was a quiet war waging within his spirit, sparked by that witch who might still exist in her pit, then maybe Ikki was simply her foil for him.

Traumatic possession. Yondir thought. Force spirit seeking revenge. He repeated in his head. I met a girl. I took in a child. Surely for the best. Yet, it was one thing to think, another to spend so much time in his own thoughts. So, instead, Yondir Fenn, as a Ranger and a Knight, decided to do something different.

He listened to the wild wind, he watched the white horizon in the distance, he considered his companion’s words over ‘loner’ and ‘papa’ and remembered that he had kissed her. Was that really him who had done it? Or some remnant of his possession? Whatever, this next moment was only him.

“Snowman,” Yondir spoke low, lowering himself to his knees before the creation of Mavin and Ikki. Something happened to him in these moments, as if what was once the rigid core of a Ranger of Rhunor had shifted, slid like snow down a slope, brought chaos to order beyond the light and darkness, Jedi and Sith.

“It’s missing something, Ikki,” he squinted, trying to pin it, and finally found it. He wanted to kiss her all over again but didn't. “Right.” Mavin had given this contraption eyes and lips. “What about this?” Yondir lifted a stick and stuck it in between those eyes and lips. “There we go. A nose.” He grinned.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

A nose.... perfect. She gave a nod of her head while she was working on it. With the boy she was able to get a small look while crossing her arms over her chest offering the smallest of smiles. "It does help." THe smile remained so that they would be able to check on it. She was checking on the snow around them.. they were making good enough time though stoppping often enough it seemed to contemplate. THe jedi master was checking on some other parts while she stood there. "All is going well enough but we might want to continue on... staying in the snow is not always the most advisable even if one is accustomed to it."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Lost. Alone. Home was gone. His mind never was, not really, despite his alien personality in a galaxy already filled with aliens. However, that witch, that wicked sorceress from the pit, had triggered something within him. Had she cursed Yondir? Was it really the remnant of possession? Maybe.

If there was some leftover essence from her in him, then was the way he gripped Ikki in that cave, in those ruins, not even his doing? When he placed his lips on hers, when he kissed her, was that even him? He didn’t know. He didn’t know anything at the moment. Only that snow was snow, like ice, Ikki was Ikki, eyes were eyes. You know nothing, Yondir.

However, what he did know was that he would no longer think about it, no longer worry over it. Yondir Fenn decided that he would simply exist one moment to the next, see what happened with his mysterious condition, for better or worse. One could be curious without focusing on doubt. One could be dangerous without endangering others. All he really wanted was to be here with Ikki Ike and the student in their presence.

Perhaps that was why his words were no longer so rigid.

“You are right, Master Ike.” They had already spent enough time on this mountain ridge. Distracted though they were, their purpose was to scout around the mountain, discover and ensure safe passage for the rest of the villagers, and teach Mavin along the way. So Yondir rose, his gaze on the snowman’s face. “This will be our mark that we leave,” he smiled at the child. “Until it melts and fades away like those birds. However, we shall move forward, always. The rest is kept in our memories.”

The moment is where you want to be… Yondir did let those words burn in his head as the three of them left. Ikki Ike had spoken them earlier. Thinking too far ahead does little, same as thinking about the past. The past was this man’s world as much as that sorceress. Neither mattered at this moment. I know I am a Jedi. A Knight. A Ranger. I am Yondir Fenn. No more, no less.

Three descended the path as one. The winds came upon them, heavy one moment, light the next, yet together they were stronger. Alone, who knows, maybe that's when Yondir would really be in danger. "Seems safe enough." The Knight turned to the Master. "Or should we continue further?" Behind her, he spotted a figure further away, beneath the cliff. From this distance he could make out a familiar shape if no face. "Is that..." Perhaps the orange cape gave the man away. "...My contact from the tavern..?"

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She looked at him for a moment as he spoke saying she was right... and then seemed to go back to thinking... and overthinking as she looked aat the boy. "See he says yes but stays at it. I really do wonder what is more entertaining then being here with me... I am like a fun sized jedi master you can pick up and put in a travel pack." SHe said it and got a snicker as Yondir came back giving them a moment as they were heading down. She walked and enjoyed herself reaching out with the force itself and taking her communicator from her belt when they had someone from the tavern they had met was coming. Ikki turning with her attention and standing there for a moment as she looked at the boy offering a bow of her head to the man as he was approaching and she spoke. "Hmmm this is Ikki, I managed to find one potential padawan and another jedi." She said it and put the communicator back as she debated using the field pack but first needed to see what the man was approaching them for.

 

[Yondir Fenn]

In retrospect, Ikki’s words sounded like a girl from Yondir’s past, certainly not the words he would expect of a master. Was he thinking too much given he had just come out of a possession? Was it overthinking to teach Mavin that he could keep his memories even if this snowman, a construct that this child was fond of, melted under sunlight? Perhaps, but that was not Yondir’s decision. At least Yondir Fenn was actually trying to teach this boy instead of completely ignoring him as if he didn’t even exist to begin with.

Yondir wasn’t here for entertainment. If his partner wanted to have fun then she had come to the wrong environment. He wasn’t here for Ikki Ike, despite his rather confusing feelings for her, and a fun-sized Jedi was not his priority by any means. That just sounded…weird.

Yet, what truly mattered to him at this moment wasn’t the past but the future. There he was, Yondir’s contact from the tavern, like a messenger sent by fate, maybe. Then again, that was probably folly. Coincidence happened as much as the Force could determine how events shifted from one moment to the next.

“Greetings again,” Yondir offered to the newcomer as the two parties crossed paths.

“Heyo!” The man in the orange cloak waved back. “I decided I’d come up here for myself. I’m no stranger to these mountains, hence the rumors I delivered, but as chance would have it here we are again.”

“We are searching for a safe route to the base of the mountains. Trying to avoid any storm where possible.” Yondir gestured. “Do you know the way?”

“Aye,” the man nodded. “I know the way.”

“Great.”

Whatever Ikki said next, Yondir Fenn was ready to get on with it.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She had a look and bowed her head as the man was able to lead the way. She stayed around and near Yondir and the boy while her communicator was going. Information coming to her when she brought up the overlay for herself as she was registering the boy. "Here use this." She said it and pulled a second device from her belt as she gave it to the boy. "A communicator and locator for anythhing that might be needed. It will also help explain some things should you need it. It has access to a full galactic database." She said it while walking with him and having a smile on her face when she was smaller then the others.. THe jedi master remained there while she was looking around. "We should be able to call in an extraction for us later."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Yondir kept his gaze forward as they marched. The terrain was as treacherous as ever, similar to the way it was when Yondir and Ikki had first ventured up these mountains. Now they were going downward. Was there symbology in there somewhere? To be honest, Yondir no longer cared. He just wanted to get from here to there.

He used his own communicator to alert the villagers, indeed Mavin’s own mother and father, of their status. They had kept in touch already for progress and such. The boy’s parents had not yet given their final goodbye in his service with the Jedi. They would explore, report back. This adventure was practice for him. For Yondir? A test. More a trial than a trial run. Whatever.

“This is the very same way I came,” man in the orange cape gestured. Snow fell heavier; a flurry of powder.

“It’s blurry,” Mavin offered.

“It curves and winds a bit down the mountainside but, stick close to the wall, and you won’t fall. That is a promise.” As were the man's words back in that tavern.

Promise. Yondir reflected. He did try to be a Jedi of good intentions. Yet what oaths had he broken that moment? Was that what plagued him? What gave emotions to a stoic?

“Are there any snowmen at the bottom?” Mavin asked the orange-caped man.

“Snowmen? Do you mean to say ice giants?” The two’s conversation got underway.

It might have been a curious exchange but, standing behind them and beside Master Ike, Knight Fenn used the moment to ask her his own question.

“Ikki…” He felt like an idiot. He didn’t want to feel vehemence. Neither violence. Whether because of his possession or just because something had awoken within him that felt so very alien. He didn’t want to feel anything, to be honest. “...Why…why did you...kiss me..?”

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She turned her head to look at him and raised an eyebrow as her hands clasped in front of herself.... her interest there while staying close to the wall of the path. "Why indeed... perhaps because it was the will of the force which like a woman is all encompassing and mysterious... unknowing." She said it and waited for a moment.. a small pause while her head turned forward but she smiled with a tight lipped smile that showed a gleam in her eyes. "Or maybe because you are cute, even if you spend more time in your head then talking. It is a benefit I imagine but overthinking every situation, everything can have a deeper meaning if you look at it long enough or things can be what they are."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

He stood there, wondering, watching, listening.
Mavin was talking to the man from the tavern.
Snow fell in droplets; snowflakes—glistening.
They mattered and they didn’t. Like his burn.

She answered his question, as expected. Ikki Ike, as Jedi Master as much as companion, had never failed to deliver entertainment alongside wisdom. What was this frustration within Yondir, however? Once such a stoic, so emotionless, suddenly given to defiance, to anger, to childish whims over emotion and fleshly desires.

That was not the Jedi way and, even if it was, whether it was the new way over the old, it was not the way of the Rangers of Rhunor. On his homeworld, with his people, one did not yield to feelings or distractions of romance.

And yet, as she stood here and they stood there, all he saw was her, all he glimpsed was the visage of Ikki Ike in his midst. She was smaller than him, obviously, nearly half his height. But she was beautiful too. She boasted a lithe figure against his muscular figure. Yet to assume she was weaker would be a grave mistake. The Master had proven otherwise to the Knight.

Will of the Force. Mysterious. That was her answer to his question. She was not wrong. Yet she also called him cute. Cute. Yondir Fenn grimaced at such an accusation. Cute…what is cute? Was she being rude?

Overthinking, she claimed he was being, and it might be that she was right. At least in this environment. Truly, ever since Knight Fenn had entered these mountains, something was amiss with his mind. Only he couldn’t pinpoint it until he found the void within. The witch.

She was dead, yes? If not, gone, at the very least? Surely her soul no longer had any hold on Yondir Fenn. Yet, if it did, may it explain the confusions within his emotions, the overthinking of everything within his brain? Maybe.

“Cute…” He repeated. He licked his lips, tasting the word, as though suddenly realizing he had mentioned it out loud.

“You call me cute.” Yondir stepped toward her, Ikki, feet away. She had a nimbler figure but her grace was never unmade. “I think, however…”

Trailing off, he stepped closer, shifted his gaze, eyes into eyes, and held her hips in either hand. “That is you.”

Then, in a second, before she could mention hesitation, before she could speak, Ikki would feel his lips on hers all over again.

It was gentler than their last encounter in the ruins, however. Passion did not burn within him unchallenged. It was simply a kiss, though his eyes were closed as his mind was open to the moment, as long as she did not resist his kiss; like time no longer mattered, neither did destiny, for it was only Yondir, only Ikki.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She listened to him for the moment and was about to speak when he surged forward... quicker and kissed her. Her eyes looking up at him while she breathed in and then out quietly through her nostrils and was able to maintain it. She pulled back eventually and smile looking up at him... her bangs out of the way and she brought a hand up to trace his jaw with her fingers. "Oh, I am not just cute... I am adorable." She had a smile looking up at him... allowing herself to back away a little though so there was enough distance that she could move and observe. She was allowing herself a moment of enjoyment. "NOt bad.... I'll see if you can get a little better and maybe a bath."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Snow. Wind. Gravel on the mountain beneath the powder under their feet. Nothing else mattered to Yondir Fenn but this moment with Ikki Ike. It didn’t matter that he was a Knight and she was a Master. To hell with everything else, even everyone, as long as this man could savor his moment with this woman, even if it went against his better judgment as a Jedi in the end.

They kissed. He relished it. She did too. He could tell it. Her breath escaped into his, in and out, gone like the wind, as Yondir kept his hands on her hips. Ikki breathed evenly, her nose inches from his own one moment, then pressed up against it as their heads turned into the moment. Her fingers teased his skin, tracing his jaw, as if beckoning him into his soul into her hold.

Breaking away, Ikki didn’t rip herself away from his grip, as if to resist his advances, yet even as the man within him was tempted to press forward, he resisted. Those emotions that roasted within him, threatened to break like a dam, or the rock upon a well, to swell and become a roar, well, perhaps they were kept back by the Force.

Adorable, she called herself, which did split a corner of Yondir’s lips. Ikki had that way about her, ever able to escape into the amusement of the moment, which never betrayed her character. She was a Jedi Master and, if she was jesting one second, she could just switch to being serious the next.

At the mention of a bath, at first Yondir blinked, perplexed, or maybe that was the feeling of embarrassment. Do I stink that bad? He didn’t dare ask. Then again, we have spent time in these mountains. The river we passed was frozen over. The lake I fell in was filled with the inky depths of that watcher in the water. The witch from the well who nearly dragged me under to her hell had…

Trailing off, even in thought, the Knight sighed. He thought no further on it. He watched only from the corner of his eye as Mavin and the guide from the tavern became the audience of this man and woman. He stepped closer toward Ikki, tracing his fingers over her jaw as she did to him, and spoke.

“Adorable. You are beautiful.” He studied her for a moment, not as a sculpture to ponder over, or just some other creature on the slope, not even as a Jedi Master, but as a woman named Ikki Ike, somebody who suddenly mattered more than most.

“I will go with you, Ikki. I will help you find your quarry. We will escort these villagers to safety and then I am yours to seek your prospects no matter the risk, as you did for me,” he promised. “We can consider it...trading in danger.”

Releasing his fingers from Ikki's cheek, Yondir lowered his hand, only to hold both of hers within his, as his eyes tried to peer into her soul. “From this moment forth, you have my sword.” For a Ranger of Rhunor, that was no simple offer, and more than a promise. It is my oath.

[EXIT YONDIR FENN]

Ikki Ike