Spelunking Gone Wild

[Dire Wolf]

The setting Ambrian sun was a beautiful thing; it colored the skies multiple hues of purples, blues, reds, and oranges. That was especially the case over the kilometer meditative canyon, one of the few great Force Nexus' in the universe. A black shape sat at the precipice of the crevasse, its features darkened by the setting sun. Multiple pebbles tracked slow orbits around it, rotating on a definite axis as if each one were its own stellar body. Bits and pieces of armor could barely be made out on the lithe form, occasionally glinting or shining as the sun hit it right.

A light smile graced the woman's lips as she sat at the edge of the Force nexus that was Ambria's great canyon. She reveled in the sunlight, and how it gently warmed her skin while the light breeze caressed the exposed skin at the back of her neck. This place was truly paradise, an oasis of peace and calm on a world where the Force is wild and untamed. Few times had Tali felt so at peace with herself and the universe, fewer still lately what with the veritable storm of swords raging around the galaxy. On one end the Mandalorians came from seemingly nowhere and began another crusade, on the other the Sith Empire was seeking to rule the planets that the republic calls its own, and brigands saw an opportunity to take advantage of a weakened republic inbetween.

Which was precisely why the Republic and the Jedi wanted to begin searching for something to help them win the war. Something that Master Thon, or anyone before him, may have left behind. Enter the Meditative Canyon on Ambria. Her extensive tunnel system had never been fully explored, and likely never would be without a small army of dedicated personnel. Yet, the Republic and her superiors in the Jedi Council believed that a lone cartographer and a single jedi knight could find any wondrous and mythical artifacts that could have been left behind.

Tali didn't believe that they would find anything but stalactites and maybe a few stalagmites down in the depths of the caves, and that would have even been with enough people to search them. Her job was to protect the cartographer while using her senses to ferret out any Force laden objects nearby. Even thinking about it wanted to make her curl up into a little ginger ball and fall to sleep.

Sighing heavily, the woman cast all of those useless thoughts from her mind and focused on the present. Serenity overtook her, and she found that time had no meaning to her while she sat on the edge. The pebbles that slowly circled her meant more, and no sooner did she think that than a few more were picked up by some incorporeal force. They to began to circle around her with the others as she waited for the cartographer to meet her. Late, early, on time, it didn't matter to the fiery headed Jedi.

She could have spent eternity sitting there, basking in the sun.

[Kella]

Naavechi dangled her feet over the edge of the cliff, swinging them. 'Sane' people would have been thinking about what would happen if they might chance to fall. Though, there was a certain kind of sanity in being so confident in your balance to be unafraid.

Rather, Naavechi was thinking about the sunset, which burned like a fire on the horizon. It burned across half the sky, where rosy purple blushed into twilight, painting a few lonely clouds. Naavechi leaned back against Rusty's chest, feeling the tide of his lungs.

"Do you think we'll ever find our 'true love'?"

Rusty turned his head to look at her, big gold eyes looking over a large ruddy beak. He rested his head on eagle-like talons, and thought for a moment.

"I don't know. But we'll always have each other, and that's enough love for me."

Naavechi smiled, and hugged Rusty's neck. She leaned her face against his scales and looked out over the canyon. "We'll visit Astrum again soon. Maybe find you a special someone."

His voice shrugged. "We Graarls literally do not know what we are missing until we find it. But your kind," there was tenderness in his tone, "are always searching."

Naavechi sighed wistfully.

"It is not better or worse," Rusty added thoughtfully, "Just different."

Naavechi was quiet for a moment. "Oh! I remembered what I was going to tell you."

"Hm?"

"I figured out why my triangulations were off. My ratios were upside-down."

"That shouldn't matter, though, if they're both upside down?"

"Well I was still multiplying them like they were right-side up."

"Ah, well, that would cause a problem."

Only a sliver of the sun remained, and twilight had advanced steadily across the dome of the sky.

"Hm, the canyon looks like a big, black lake," Naavechi said, "But with... with mystery instead of water."

"Very poetic. Though, I wonder why we're exploring at night, instead of in the day. You'd think having some sunlight to highlight potential ground-breaching tubes would be beneficial."

"I think it was something about water currents in a particular part of the caves... they're lower at night, and that's near where we're starting."

"Well that's quite sensible. Speaking of sensibility, we'd better be punctual as well."

Naavechi nodded. The last sliver of the sun was gone. "Oh, I can't wait!" she breathed. "Really a place nobody has explored before. Race you!"

Rusty was, of course, faster, but they both reached the appointed meeting place, a particular part of the cliff that lay just above a ledge and entrance.

"Knight Tahlia?" Rusty called, somewhat breathlessly, as they approached.

[Dire Wolf]

"Knight Tahlia?"

There it was. The two words that shattered the serenity that had fallen over the canyon with the setting of the sun. Tali had felt them drawing closer and closer since the girl took off in a sprint, and would have been upset about her time being cut short had she not been in such a state of oneness with the Force. All of the rocks and pebbles that had began to orbit around her fell to the ground, no longer under the control of any ethereal power, and her crimson eyes opened to reveal Ambria's twilight.

"That is me," she replied with a cool voice as she stood on her feet and turned to see the woman and her draconic companion. The former's heavily tattooed appearance topped by a pair of completely black eyes had Tali almost reach for her lightsaber, though it was obvious that they meant no harm.

That gentle breeze tossed the somewhat long crimson hair about, playing with the stray locks like an infant. Her battle garb could barely be called that. A full arm durasteel guantlet and pauldron protected her right arm from a moderate amount of damage, and greaves did the same for everything below her mid thigh. Other than that, a simple tunic and bottom clung to her form loosely, to allow movement.

Her voice was cold, with all of the stoicism one would expect from a Knight, "you two are the cartographers I'm supposed to guard, then?"

Most people took Tali's ineloquency and soft spoken tendencies for being rude. Nothing could be further from the case. She simply didn't speak much because she was ineloquent, and was probably ineloquent because she didn't speak much. A viscous cycle indeed. "Where do you intend," she stopped herself when she noticed that those tattoos weren't tattoos at all... they were as much of her skin as the main hue. While it was curious indeed, she continued, "sorry--intend to enter?"

Those eyes drifted over to the draconic creature at the Naavechi's side. After a few moments, Tali decided that it looked notably feminine, and would address it as such. "Nice Dragon. What's her name?" With a sigh, she couldn't help but note how she made yet another somewhat out of left field comment.

[Kella]

Naavechi hadn't noticed the cloud of pebbles until the fell abruptly. Her eyes widened slightly. She'd heard that the Jedi could make things float with her mind, but she'd never actually seen it.

"I am the cartographer," she replied warmly, moseying up to a conversational distance. Naavechi noticed the Jedi's eyes darting around. The colors of her skin were often off-putting to other humanoids. Naavechi could understand, she still wasn't used to most people being so bland and opaque. "We will be entering," she walked up to the cliff's edge, "Right down there. It won't take long to confirm the current records, then we can move on to the deeper areas."

"Nice Dragon. What's her name?" the Jedi asked.

"Nice Dragon," Rusty mocked, imitating Tahlia's voice perfectly, "What's her name?"

He huffed, puffing his chest out and shaking his wings, then said, in a very masculine voice, "He is not a dragon, he is a Graarl, His name is Rusty, and," his voice shifted from angry to insulted, "he could bite your head off. If he wanted to." Rusty primly settled his wings, and half-glared, half-pouted at the Jedi.

Naavechi was unphased. "This way, then." She peered over the edge, and, deciding it scalable, began to descend. Fifteen feet below, she stopped on a narrow ledge, onto which opened a man-sized crevice. In a shuffle of leather and talons, Rusty landed next to her, resettling the pack draped over his shoulders.

She looked to the crevice, then to the Knight. "Ready?"