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The ship does land in one piece. As she'd suspected from the moment she saw it, the stolen ship is a rare Imperial shuttle made for stealth. She leans easily into these controls, quietly whipping through space, even after it became apparent that the patrolling TIEs had been ordered to find the ship's escaped prisoners. Hera had dodged among them, evading their scopes and radars, as she flew the shuttle far out enough to make the jump to hyperspace. In the end, it was only one unfortunate fighter that managed to catch sight of her.

The shuttle's weapons systems are nothing special, she learned. But they did the job.

The jump to Batuu was only about three hours, even with the slightly roundabout route Hera decided to take. The girls, fortunately, seem to be accustomed to space travel. Occasionally they whisper to each other, but otherwise, they tend to stay quiet unless Hera speaks to them. About an hour in, Hera recommends that they get some sleep, and the girls don't object.

It's midafternoon at Black Spire when they reach the planet. Hera is careful on her approach, avoiding likely lanes of traffic – she doesn't want to run into questions about the stolen shuttle she's flying. But then, most who visit Batuu aren't the type to ask questions. But she still chooses to land the shuttle in a clearing, surrounded by dense forest, about five kliks downriver of the outpost.

As the shuttle touches down, she turns to the girls. "Are you all right?"

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"We'll each take one," Wrema says firmly, letting Sucasa go first, because she hopes it will make the younger girl feel better.

"And if we have to walk a long time, I can carry the backpack."

She's not sure for how long, but she'll try!

Sucasa, meanwhile, solemnly hands Wrema a bottle of water, and takes a second one for herself.

"Do you want one, Hera?" she asks. "I can carry it for you." Because Hera's already carrying a lot.

Edited 2019-04-10 02:20 (UTC)

"If you don't mind," she says, with another smile.

She waits for Sucasa to collect up another bottle, and then leads the way, out of the back of the shuttle. She closes the shuttle up after they've left, perhaps hoping it may still be here after she's found a way home for the girls. There may be more to learn from it, after all.

"All right," she says, taking a few steps toward the river. "You see those things in the distance?"

She points north, to what look like tall, black towers that rise above the forest. "That's Black Spire, where we're heading."

"I don't mind!" Wrema says firmly, because she doesn't. Then she takes Sucasa's hand in her free one -- because it's important not to get separated -- and follows Hera out of the shuttle, looking to where she's pointing and squinting quite a bit.

"Is that a city?"

Sucasa looks up, taking a deep breath, eyes gone a little wide. "I got lost in a city! Let's stay in the woods!"

"It's not as big as a city," Hera reassures them. "It's an old trading outpost. A lot of different kinds of people pass through it, so it's a good place to look for a way home for you.

"And we could get something to eat besides protein bars." She hopes that might help Sucasa feel braver.

Wrema squeezes the littler girl's hand, in case that helps. "Maybe they'll have something sweet we can have, too."

"Will they have milk?" Sucasa asks, swallowing hard. She takes a hesitant step forward, and then a second one.

"We're ready," Wrema says, and she tries to sound absolutely certain.

Hera nods, and turns to lead the way. Unlike before, she doesn't make the girls run to keep up with her - she sense them just behind her, and makes sure they stay there. So that she can easily reach for them if need be, and vice versa.

She also stays along the riverbank - as they leave the clearing, they have to forge a path through the trees, but the river stays to their left. Hera instinctively keeps her footsteps soft. Though she hasn't heard of predators being a serious problem in Batuu's forests, she'd feel exposed if she didn't keep quiet.

It doesn't take long for the trees to become thick enough that little sunlight reaches the ground around them, though they can still catch sight of it glinting off the river nearby.

The girls move along in her wake, though Sucasa keeps drifting toward the water, wanting to either dip her toes in or turn over some rocks and see what scuttles out. Wrema tugs her along, whispering, "Not now! We have to get where we're going, but maybe there will be a stream wherever we have to wait to get picked up!"

She doesn't like to assume, but it makes her feel better to talk as if their people are coming for them.

They're definitely not as good at moving quietly as Hera, but they do their best, and it's not terrible. Maybe because the Force is with them.

Abruptly, Hera stops.

She curls up against the closest tree, just wide enough for her to hide behind it, and she quickly gesture to the girls to come closer to her.

Because there's movement in the forest - and it's not something small. She doesn't see it first, but she can hear it, and feel its footsteps crackling leaves and pressing into the earth. She stays still, her lekku tense, as she tries to sense whether those footsteps are growing closer.

It's nearly a minute later when something moves to the east, like a shadow slipping along the already dark forest floor. It has six feet, and now Hera can hear its quick breath. She dares a look around the tree, and then darts back, trying to keep her own breath slow, and calm.

It's large, but not so large she couldn't tackle it if she needed to. It has dark fur, and the pointed face of some kind of large dog. Or a wolf. And it has bright red eyes, that catch what little light flares through the leaves above them.

Edited 2019-04-11 01:21 (UTC)

Sucasa sucks in her breath hard, and Wrema draws her own longer, quieter breath, even as they hurry toward Hera and the relative safety of the tree. Neither of them knows what's out there, but Sucasa, at least, can feel its pulse, its breath --

And its hunger.

Is it going to eat them? She doesn't know.

Her free hand creeps out to touch Hera's hip, holding on to a fold of the cloth. She's not sure where she put her water bottle, but she's definitely not worried about that, now.

Wrema is barely breathing, but is also tilting her head to peer around the tree, wanting to see whatever it is that is making Hera react like that.

"Oh," she says, very quietly.

It's beautiful.

Edited 2019-04-11 01:31 (UTC)

Hera glances at Wrema, surprised at the girl's expression. It might not be a lylek, but whatever kind of wolf this was, it looked more than capable of hurting them if it wanted to. Yet Wrema's look wasn't one of fear.

Hera took a few breaths, then made herself turn again, around the tree, to look out at the creature.

The wolf had gone still now. It's also clearly watching them, its red eyes so bright in the shade beneath the trees. Hera wonders if the wolf could sniff them in the air, was deciding whether they were prey, or worth any kind of pursuit.

At the same time, the longer she looked at the wolf's dark coat, red eyes, its paws tucked into the ground, she had a strange inkling, like she'd seen some creature like it somewhere before.

Before she had much time to consider this, the wolf finally moved. It turned from them, stepping back through the trees, deeper into the forest. Hera remains still until she's sure it's not coming back.

"All right," she says, softly. "Let's keep moving."

There is a long moment of silence before Wrema responds. "Okay," she says quietly. And, "Sucasa. You have to move away from the tree, now. It's okay. It's gone."

She's bewildered by her own longing to see it again, but that is a problem for another time. They have to get home.

Sucasa's eyes are a little damp, but she obediently pushes away from the tree after a second or two, sniffing and bending down to pick up her dropped water bottle.

"I'm sorry I got scared. We can go."

There's still a hush in the air, but any minute now the birdsong and insect hum will come back.

Surely.

"There's nothing wrong with being scared."

Well, Hera doesn't know what the Chiss teach their children. But that's not something she's going to think on too long right now.

"And it's good that you stayed quiet. We don't have that much farther to go now."

Once she's sure Sucasa is all right, she begins to walk ahead again, but still making sure never gets too far from them.

Wrema tries chivvying Sucasa to keep up, and it works for a little while. But then the smaller girl starts dragging her feet, looking up toward the distant treetops like she's waiting for something.

"Hera," Wrema starts to say, "Hera, I think there's something -- "

And that's when a small, brown bird with a long tail comes darting out of the trees and soars overhead. It flutters to a stop on a rock by the river, head tilting this way and that as it peers at them.

"Oh," says Wrema again, even as Sucasa wriggles her hand out of the older girl's grip and starts moving toward the bird.

"Be careful," Hera calls after Sucasa.

It is a small bird, and Hera's not tensing up the way she did before. But after all, you can't judge these things by their size.

The bird lets out a long, low trill. Sucasa smiles at the sweetness of that sound. But just as she is approaching close enough to see every detail of its feathers (and maybe touch it, if it stays still long enough) --

The branches of the trees rustle and snap, seeming to break apart into a flock of these selfsame birds, darting up, then down, and then passing low, low, low over the girls and Hera.

The littlest bird on the rock springs up to join them, giving its own close pass to Sucasa before it vanishes within the flock. The birds circle around the three humanoids one more time and then dart up into the blue of the sky the brightness of the sun --

And they're gone.

Sucasa is still smiling, her eyes wide and awed. Wrema just seems to be checking her clothes for droppings.

Hera supposes she's glad that the girls at least seem to be enjoying themselves a little. But she's ready to get out of this forest.

Fortunately, it doesn't take them that much longer. The trees begin to thin, and Hera lets them draw closer to the river. They begin to hear the sounds of speeders and swoop bikes, and above them, a ship swoops down, making its way to the small spaceport.

"We're almost there," she tells the girls. "Stay close to me once we reach the outpost."

She's wishing at the moment that she were wearing something different, she feels markedly alone in this woven dress. But the only other options had been a VAC suit or an Imperial officer's uniform. They'd have to get along.

Edited 2019-04-15 18:34 (UTC)

Sucasa gradually speeds up to keep pace with Hera, nearly hugging her side.

Wrema, however, tries to stride forward with confidence, because they have to show a united front.

Clearly.

"Do we -- are there things we shouldn't do? While we're there," Wrema asks instead, her voice only wobbling a very little. "In other people's company."

"I think," Hera says, slowly, thinking over her words as she speaks, "if we keep together, and aren't too loud, that should be okay."

She pauses, and then, "If you notice anything I should worry about..."

'Notice' isn't really the right word, but she thinks they'll understand.

Sucasa wraps her fingers more tightly around Hera's hand and nods, very seriously.

"I can do that."

She looks over to Wrema, as if to check that that's right.

"We can do that," Wrema corrects, gently. "It's going to be hard not to be . . . we're used to ships, not . . . this? So will it be bad if we stare?"

Hera's quiet for a few seconds.

"I don't think there are that many Chiss on Batuu," she says, quietly. "Most won't be paying attention, but some might get curious if they get a good enough look at you."

Wrema bites her lip. "We can take our hair down? And cover our faces with it."

She's not sure how convincing it will be, but it's something.

"We can wear shawls," Sucasa says hesitantly. "Or buy some."

"Maybe," Hera answers. She slows her steps a bit, eventually to the point that she stops, and turns back to them.

"I don't think you'll stand out that much," she says. "But your eyes might. When I don't want to draw attention to myself, I usually start by not looking at anyone for too long. Like I already know everything there is to see."

The clear thought of but I want to see everything passes over Sucasa's face, but she doesn't say anything.

"Okay," she says instead, very reluctantly. Wrema smiles at her and nudges her shoulder affectionately, saying, "We can do that. But don't just look at the ground?"

Edited 2019-04-17 02:11 (UTC)

"That's right," she says, smiling slightly. "It's better to look around than keep your eyes down. Just try not to let anything distract you."

Her eyes turn to Sucasa. "And you can always look at me or Wrema, if you need to."

Sucasa looks relieved at that news.

"Oh, good. Looking at nothing is boring, but I don't want to get us into trouble."

She really, really, really doesn't.

Wrema bites her lip again. "Should we hold hands again? Or is it better not to."

Maybe it looks weak.