Post by Marshall on May 2, 2019 7:46:36 GMT -5
It took some time. The walk from their patrol had been a long one. But eventually Ava and the Mandalorian Ra'aqi returned to Tal-Keb. She saw Dorara first. A hand raised in greeting to the Zabrak in greeting as she asked, "Has the team returned from the graveyard, yet?"
Dorara was taking a food break with four others. Tal-Kebii'tra was a tight fit, but where the Mandals had taken to gathering to eat, drink, and decompress was as far as they could get from those taking rest, so as to try not to disturb any of them. The zabrak was a slim warrior, even in her layers, and it was as hard to tell her coloring in the Red as it was to make out all other coloring in the Red. She had sharp dark eyes, though, and her attention was on Ava suddenly and fully. She straightened her spine and shook her head to the Jedi. "Not yet. Report."
Ra'aqi was right then unstrapping her pack. With limits on supplies, she'd restock the pack and hand it off to the next patrol. "No sign of invaders; we thought we saw some wakek scat out past the Overhang, but impossible to say for sure; no sign of the thief." Then the warrior looked to Ava, as if Ava either needed to add something, or she herself would have to.
Ava said nothing.
Not because she didn’t trust Dorara or the other Mandals. But she’d watch firsthand what could happen when information spread out before it was ready. What she saw would wait for Breis. Instead she, too, was unstrapping her pack and began restocking it. A glance over her shoulder went to where others rested as she tried to see if Jeryndi was there or not.
When Ava kept her silence, Ra'aqi was obliged to say: "Visibility opened up at the crater. The Jetii attempted to meditate and collapsed. I restored her with a pod. She spoke of an army."
Ava looked at Ra'aqi with an uncertainty. But, she'd spoken about what happened and... if she trusted her brothers to handle the information without Breis, then she would trust her instinct on it. "I don't know what their purpose is." She added. "But I know they're all Dreaming together…En masses."
The zabrak rose, ration pack forgotten in her hand. Her attention settled on Ava as she closed the distance. "When you say 'they,' do you include our vod?"
Ava didn't move forward to Dorara nor did she step back. She remained still as the zabrak came nearer. Her brows knitted together as she concentrated. Already some of the details felt like they were slipping away.
"No." Her answer was in a distant voice. It had only been a glimpse. A fleeting second before something else interfered. "But I think... whatever is keeping the Dreamers under... is also keeping us from locating your vod."
Dorara nodded. "I know funny business is your business, jetii, but patrol is patrol. Patrol keeps us alive. Don't. Bring. The. Weird."
Jeryndi was sitting on his bedroll... Sitting cross legged, hands on his ankles, elbows on his knees, shoulders hunched, head down, eyes closed... Behind him, Medren was perfectly still on his bedroll... Neither seemed to acknowledge Ava's presence or anyone else's.
"You're right." Ava agreed. "Patrol is patrol and it is vital. But... sometimes the weird can't be helped."
"What did you achieve?" Dorara asked. "We knew they were out there!"
Ava didn't flinch as her voice was raised.
"We have a better idea of what the Dreamers are being used for. It's more than just them being connected. They're being collected as an army."
Jeryndi lifted his head at the mention of that. "Wait, what?"
"You just said you didn't include our vod," Dorara said in frustration. "Our vod are dreamers."
Ra'aqi cleared her throat and nudged Ava gently, muttering, "Vod means 'brethren.'"
"It does?" She whispered back as her face paled.
Her throat quickly cleared.
"I owe you an apology, Dorara. My understanding of the question was... translated incorrectly. Um." She tried to recover. "Yes. It does include your vod."
Jeryndi stood up and walked closer to the group... "What about an army, Ava?" he asked.
"How does that add up?" Dorara asked. Other Mandals who'd been taking rations rose slowly. Their people. Collected as an army. Of course that would get their attention.
"I don't know yet." She answered honestly. "But at least we have some idea what they're being... prepared for."
"Prepared by the invaders?" Dorara was trying to be respectful, but in the end she had to hold up a hand, let her head droop and shake it. "This instead: Should we just wait for Breis?"
It was more questions that Ava didn't have answers to. Her eyes flickered to Ra'aqi before back to Dorara.
"I think so."
Dorara glanced around at the others, and it was a strange relief that filled her when she realized that in the eyes of all those wrapped or helmeted faces was just as much confusion and exasperation. "Great. Let's do that," she said. "Welcome back. --Ra'aqi: Ijano's out next."
Ra'aqi crouched to sort the pack with a nod.
He glanced between them. "Let's wait for Breis," he said softly. But then looked back to Ava. "How did you come to this conclusion?"
"We found a crater while we were on patrol." Ava said to him. "The mark I made there felt stronger than anything I'd felt before. We stopped there to allow me to meditate... and I began to fall into the Red. I would have become a Dreamer if it hadn't been for Ra'aqi."
He made a gesture for her to continue... His mind, that didn't scream a conclusion to building an Army.
"I don't have much details to give." She stated, knowing that there were those who would want answers. Who would want as much as she could offer and perhaps then some. There were many, many questions that had no answers as of yet. And Ava felt as if she was about to add to that list.
"Whatever is keeping the Dreamers is powerful." She explained. "Unlike anything I had ever felt before." The memory of the crushing weight had not been forgotten. It felt as if her bones still carried the memory of that ache. "I could sense the Dreamers... all of them collected together as they dreamed as one - as some ghostly army. It felt me... sensed me trying to get closer to the Dreamers and stopped me. There was this weight crashing over me... like being smashed against two unstoppable rocks..."
Her brows furrowed.
"It folds onto itself." She said. "I felt that meaning in my meditation... and I remember the Hapans saying the same thing when they tested Liv."
It folds onto itself.
But what did that mean?
"So it seems conscious on some level?" he asked.
"I don't know enough to give a definite answer." She said. "But... it folds onto itself.... something about that feels important."
He nodded. "The boy I rescued in Keldabe... That was all he could say... But he hadn't fallen into the Dreaming.'
"What do you think that means?"
"I don't know, but it's been a piece of this giant puzzle from the beginning" he said softly.
"It folds onto itself...." She repeated as her steps began to make a small pace in what little room she had. "It folds onto itself.... It folds...." She mumbled.
Her mind went back to what she'd experienced. The crushing weight. What had happened in that moment when her body snapped into distortion. Where she'd been bent and flipped and stretched....
It folds onto itself...
I fold upon myself.
"I fold upon myself." She said aloud before looking at Jeryndi. "At the edge of the crater... that is what I felt. I fold upon myself."
"Why the change in pronoun?" he asked. "Was it trying to... envelop you?"
"More like crushing me." She answered.
He was quiet for a long moment... His demeanor was grim. "Probably unrelated... But I dreamt about Moonrider and Sadhric," he told her gently. "You know that snap back to reality when we got kicked out? It felt kind of like that."
She looked at him. "What was the dream about?"
And then, quickly after. "If it's too personal, you don't have to answer."
"It wasn't much... Moonrider was watching me. Sadhric was just kind of... There. It didn't feel like the here and now. The Red didn't touch them."
"Did they say anything that felt important? Something that's stuck with you since the dream has passed?"
He thought about it... And then shook his head. "No, I don't think so... Ren slept through me waking up... I reached for Sadhric in the Force. When I did, it felt like falling into a black abyss until I snapped awake."
"I wasn't snapped out of this. Ra'aqi had to give me a pod. I was starting to fall into Dreaming."
He glanced back at his son... Who was still asleep on his bedroll, back turned to them. "I understand that... It may be a closer relationship to the Red and the Dreaming based on the location," he said, looking back go Ava
"Jeryndi... I'm starting to wonder if we can't wake the Dreamers. At least not right now. Whatever is keeping them under is incredibly powerful."
He nodded. "We owe it to them to try again... We had only the one time where we've made progress. We could potentially get further with more in the Meld. There are other things we haven't tried," he told her.
"What comes to mind?"
"Well, we tried to forcefully stop the cycle... Maybe we can try to protect them from it. Shield them from the explosion. Pull them out of the way? Try to replace them with ourselves? We used Brute force. There are other ways to try."
"We'd need to be careful." She said. "And we'd need someone to watch out for us... to make sure we didn't slip into dreaming." There was also the question of pods and whether or not there enough stock for an experiment like this.
"I think the best course of action right now, is to include more people in the Meld... It doesn't necessarily have to be people who are trained or Sensitive... Solomon would be a help, but so would Liv. Maybe someone else with great mental fortitude."
She quirked a brow. "You sound like you've already got someone in mind, Jeryndi."
"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "But I'm sure some Mandals have strong mental fortitude," he said softly.
"Jeryndi..." There was caution in her voice. "This thing... whatever it is... the power I felt coming off of it was..." her head shook. "It was unlike anything I've experienced before." And there'd been quite a bit of 'weird' she endured during the Buffton's War. "I don't know if it's safe to bring anyone else into this."
"I understand that," he said, nodding. "But it might help... All I'm saying is it's a possibility... Renda has been in and out of the Dreaming. There might be a lifeline there. Or a sense of familiarity for culture and mindset."
"I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of pulling more people into this." She said. "It's one thing for us to jeopardize our safety. Beyond that, it took a pod to pull me back. I don't know if they have the resources to spare for something like this."
"I know," he told her. "I'm just saying. It's a possibility... We don't have to do it. But it is something we -can- discuss with Breis and the others... Solomon didn't want to do the Meld, but he was okay with trying to wake up the other Dreamer... And I do need to apologize for breaking the Meld earlier. I'm sorry if it hurt you."
"It's okay." She said. "You're not the first person to jump out of a meld like that. But... can I ask what happened? You said you'd remembered something."
"Come walk with me," he said, giving a nod towards Dorara and the others to excuse himself. He reached for her arm to pull her away gently.
Her arm swiped out of reach. Not violently but just enough movement for him to miss the grab.
"I got a thing about being touched." She said apologetically. But, all the same, Ava fell in step with him to leave.
"I'm sorry," he said, genuinely apologetic. He walked away and once out of ear shot to the Mandals, he said, "It was a blank feeling... It was... I can't quite describe it... It was contradictory in feelings." His feet stopped. "and then... After the dream about Moonrider..." he trailed off.
"It's okay." It was a formal response but one that Ava felt necessary to speak.
She'd remain quiet even after they were out of earshot. Listening to what he said happened before nodding slowly. "Contradictory how?"
"It was a massive jumble of split second emotions... Sadness, joy, elation, grief, anger,, happiness, loneliness-- it all happened in like the time span of a second... And then when I went back to sleep.... I -remembered-."
"Remembered what?"
"How I died."
She nodded only once. Licking her lips, Ava took in a slow breath. "Yeah... I can see how that would impact the meld..." she said quietly.
He nodded. "I was afraid it might leave an impression upon you... I didn't want you to feel any of that. I'm sorry for hurting you if I did but i owed you an explanation... Don't tell Sol, please... I think he's under enough stress as it is. I think it'll just distract him from the task at hand to know that I remember."
"This is not my place to tell Solomon." She assured. "If, and when, you're ready for him to know... then it will come from you."
"Thank you," he said, nodding. "I remembered a lot of things... Not just my death... But it all came back at once so I'm still processing some of it."
"I can't... even begin to understand what you've gone through. But, if you need someone to talk to about it... I'm here to listen."
"Thank you," he said again. "Solomon and I are at odds most of the time... And I often wonder if his discovery of me upon my return has something to do with it."
"Well..." She breathed. "Hopefully we will all live through this and you two will have time to sort it out. Ya know," Ava smiled a little. "when it's all not so life and death."
He nodded. "I'm gonna go wake Medren," he told her, turning to go back the way they'd come. "and let me know when you're ready to try another Meld... Maybe convince Liv or Sol to participate this time?" he suggested.
"When they've returned." She nodded in agreement.
He nodded again. "I'll be over there if you need me" he told her. He walked back towards where his son was laying on the bedroll.
Dorara was taking a food break with four others. Tal-Kebii'tra was a tight fit, but where the Mandals had taken to gathering to eat, drink, and decompress was as far as they could get from those taking rest, so as to try not to disturb any of them. The zabrak was a slim warrior, even in her layers, and it was as hard to tell her coloring in the Red as it was to make out all other coloring in the Red. She had sharp dark eyes, though, and her attention was on Ava suddenly and fully. She straightened her spine and shook her head to the Jedi. "Not yet. Report."
Ra'aqi was right then unstrapping her pack. With limits on supplies, she'd restock the pack and hand it off to the next patrol. "No sign of invaders; we thought we saw some wakek scat out past the Overhang, but impossible to say for sure; no sign of the thief." Then the warrior looked to Ava, as if Ava either needed to add something, or she herself would have to.
Ava said nothing.
Not because she didn’t trust Dorara or the other Mandals. But she’d watch firsthand what could happen when information spread out before it was ready. What she saw would wait for Breis. Instead she, too, was unstrapping her pack and began restocking it. A glance over her shoulder went to where others rested as she tried to see if Jeryndi was there or not.
When Ava kept her silence, Ra'aqi was obliged to say: "Visibility opened up at the crater. The Jetii attempted to meditate and collapsed. I restored her with a pod. She spoke of an army."
Ava looked at Ra'aqi with an uncertainty. But, she'd spoken about what happened and... if she trusted her brothers to handle the information without Breis, then she would trust her instinct on it. "I don't know what their purpose is." She added. "But I know they're all Dreaming together…En masses."
The zabrak rose, ration pack forgotten in her hand. Her attention settled on Ava as she closed the distance. "When you say 'they,' do you include our vod?"
Ava didn't move forward to Dorara nor did she step back. She remained still as the zabrak came nearer. Her brows knitted together as she concentrated. Already some of the details felt like they were slipping away.
"No." Her answer was in a distant voice. It had only been a glimpse. A fleeting second before something else interfered. "But I think... whatever is keeping the Dreamers under... is also keeping us from locating your vod."
Dorara nodded. "I know funny business is your business, jetii, but patrol is patrol. Patrol keeps us alive. Don't. Bring. The. Weird."
Jeryndi was sitting on his bedroll... Sitting cross legged, hands on his ankles, elbows on his knees, shoulders hunched, head down, eyes closed... Behind him, Medren was perfectly still on his bedroll... Neither seemed to acknowledge Ava's presence or anyone else's.
"You're right." Ava agreed. "Patrol is patrol and it is vital. But... sometimes the weird can't be helped."
"What did you achieve?" Dorara asked. "We knew they were out there!"
Ava didn't flinch as her voice was raised.
"We have a better idea of what the Dreamers are being used for. It's more than just them being connected. They're being collected as an army."
Jeryndi lifted his head at the mention of that. "Wait, what?"
"You just said you didn't include our vod," Dorara said in frustration. "Our vod are dreamers."
Ra'aqi cleared her throat and nudged Ava gently, muttering, "Vod means 'brethren.'"
"It does?" She whispered back as her face paled.
Her throat quickly cleared.
"I owe you an apology, Dorara. My understanding of the question was... translated incorrectly. Um." She tried to recover. "Yes. It does include your vod."
Jeryndi stood up and walked closer to the group... "What about an army, Ava?" he asked.
"How does that add up?" Dorara asked. Other Mandals who'd been taking rations rose slowly. Their people. Collected as an army. Of course that would get their attention.
"I don't know yet." She answered honestly. "But at least we have some idea what they're being... prepared for."
"Prepared by the invaders?" Dorara was trying to be respectful, but in the end she had to hold up a hand, let her head droop and shake it. "This instead: Should we just wait for Breis?"
It was more questions that Ava didn't have answers to. Her eyes flickered to Ra'aqi before back to Dorara.
"I think so."
Dorara glanced around at the others, and it was a strange relief that filled her when she realized that in the eyes of all those wrapped or helmeted faces was just as much confusion and exasperation. "Great. Let's do that," she said. "Welcome back. --Ra'aqi: Ijano's out next."
Ra'aqi crouched to sort the pack with a nod.
He glanced between them. "Let's wait for Breis," he said softly. But then looked back to Ava. "How did you come to this conclusion?"
"We found a crater while we were on patrol." Ava said to him. "The mark I made there felt stronger than anything I'd felt before. We stopped there to allow me to meditate... and I began to fall into the Red. I would have become a Dreamer if it hadn't been for Ra'aqi."
He made a gesture for her to continue... His mind, that didn't scream a conclusion to building an Army.
"I don't have much details to give." She stated, knowing that there were those who would want answers. Who would want as much as she could offer and perhaps then some. There were many, many questions that had no answers as of yet. And Ava felt as if she was about to add to that list.
"Whatever is keeping the Dreamers is powerful." She explained. "Unlike anything I had ever felt before." The memory of the crushing weight had not been forgotten. It felt as if her bones still carried the memory of that ache. "I could sense the Dreamers... all of them collected together as they dreamed as one - as some ghostly army. It felt me... sensed me trying to get closer to the Dreamers and stopped me. There was this weight crashing over me... like being smashed against two unstoppable rocks..."
Her brows furrowed.
"It folds onto itself." She said. "I felt that meaning in my meditation... and I remember the Hapans saying the same thing when they tested Liv."
It folds onto itself.
But what did that mean?
"So it seems conscious on some level?" he asked.
"I don't know enough to give a definite answer." She said. "But... it folds onto itself.... something about that feels important."
He nodded. "The boy I rescued in Keldabe... That was all he could say... But he hadn't fallen into the Dreaming.'
"What do you think that means?"
"I don't know, but it's been a piece of this giant puzzle from the beginning" he said softly.
"It folds onto itself...." She repeated as her steps began to make a small pace in what little room she had. "It folds onto itself.... It folds...." She mumbled.
Her mind went back to what she'd experienced. The crushing weight. What had happened in that moment when her body snapped into distortion. Where she'd been bent and flipped and stretched....
It folds onto itself...
I fold upon myself.
"I fold upon myself." She said aloud before looking at Jeryndi. "At the edge of the crater... that is what I felt. I fold upon myself."
"Why the change in pronoun?" he asked. "Was it trying to... envelop you?"
"More like crushing me." She answered.
He was quiet for a long moment... His demeanor was grim. "Probably unrelated... But I dreamt about Moonrider and Sadhric," he told her gently. "You know that snap back to reality when we got kicked out? It felt kind of like that."
She looked at him. "What was the dream about?"
And then, quickly after. "If it's too personal, you don't have to answer."
"It wasn't much... Moonrider was watching me. Sadhric was just kind of... There. It didn't feel like the here and now. The Red didn't touch them."
"Did they say anything that felt important? Something that's stuck with you since the dream has passed?"
He thought about it... And then shook his head. "No, I don't think so... Ren slept through me waking up... I reached for Sadhric in the Force. When I did, it felt like falling into a black abyss until I snapped awake."
"I wasn't snapped out of this. Ra'aqi had to give me a pod. I was starting to fall into Dreaming."
He glanced back at his son... Who was still asleep on his bedroll, back turned to them. "I understand that... It may be a closer relationship to the Red and the Dreaming based on the location," he said, looking back go Ava
"Jeryndi... I'm starting to wonder if we can't wake the Dreamers. At least not right now. Whatever is keeping them under is incredibly powerful."
He nodded. "We owe it to them to try again... We had only the one time where we've made progress. We could potentially get further with more in the Meld. There are other things we haven't tried," he told her.
"What comes to mind?"
"Well, we tried to forcefully stop the cycle... Maybe we can try to protect them from it. Shield them from the explosion. Pull them out of the way? Try to replace them with ourselves? We used Brute force. There are other ways to try."
"We'd need to be careful." She said. "And we'd need someone to watch out for us... to make sure we didn't slip into dreaming." There was also the question of pods and whether or not there enough stock for an experiment like this.
"I think the best course of action right now, is to include more people in the Meld... It doesn't necessarily have to be people who are trained or Sensitive... Solomon would be a help, but so would Liv. Maybe someone else with great mental fortitude."
She quirked a brow. "You sound like you've already got someone in mind, Jeryndi."
"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "But I'm sure some Mandals have strong mental fortitude," he said softly.
"Jeryndi..." There was caution in her voice. "This thing... whatever it is... the power I felt coming off of it was..." her head shook. "It was unlike anything I've experienced before." And there'd been quite a bit of 'weird' she endured during the Buffton's War. "I don't know if it's safe to bring anyone else into this."
"I understand that," he said, nodding. "But it might help... All I'm saying is it's a possibility... Renda has been in and out of the Dreaming. There might be a lifeline there. Or a sense of familiarity for culture and mindset."
"I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of pulling more people into this." She said. "It's one thing for us to jeopardize our safety. Beyond that, it took a pod to pull me back. I don't know if they have the resources to spare for something like this."
"I know," he told her. "I'm just saying. It's a possibility... We don't have to do it. But it is something we -can- discuss with Breis and the others... Solomon didn't want to do the Meld, but he was okay with trying to wake up the other Dreamer... And I do need to apologize for breaking the Meld earlier. I'm sorry if it hurt you."
"It's okay." She said. "You're not the first person to jump out of a meld like that. But... can I ask what happened? You said you'd remembered something."
"Come walk with me," he said, giving a nod towards Dorara and the others to excuse himself. He reached for her arm to pull her away gently.
Her arm swiped out of reach. Not violently but just enough movement for him to miss the grab.
"I got a thing about being touched." She said apologetically. But, all the same, Ava fell in step with him to leave.
"I'm sorry," he said, genuinely apologetic. He walked away and once out of ear shot to the Mandals, he said, "It was a blank feeling... It was... I can't quite describe it... It was contradictory in feelings." His feet stopped. "and then... After the dream about Moonrider..." he trailed off.
"It's okay." It was a formal response but one that Ava felt necessary to speak.
She'd remain quiet even after they were out of earshot. Listening to what he said happened before nodding slowly. "Contradictory how?"
"It was a massive jumble of split second emotions... Sadness, joy, elation, grief, anger,, happiness, loneliness-- it all happened in like the time span of a second... And then when I went back to sleep.... I -remembered-."
"Remembered what?"
"How I died."
She nodded only once. Licking her lips, Ava took in a slow breath. "Yeah... I can see how that would impact the meld..." she said quietly.
He nodded. "I was afraid it might leave an impression upon you... I didn't want you to feel any of that. I'm sorry for hurting you if I did but i owed you an explanation... Don't tell Sol, please... I think he's under enough stress as it is. I think it'll just distract him from the task at hand to know that I remember."
"This is not my place to tell Solomon." She assured. "If, and when, you're ready for him to know... then it will come from you."
"Thank you," he said, nodding. "I remembered a lot of things... Not just my death... But it all came back at once so I'm still processing some of it."
"I can't... even begin to understand what you've gone through. But, if you need someone to talk to about it... I'm here to listen."
"Thank you," he said again. "Solomon and I are at odds most of the time... And I often wonder if his discovery of me upon my return has something to do with it."
"Well..." She breathed. "Hopefully we will all live through this and you two will have time to sort it out. Ya know," Ava smiled a little. "when it's all not so life and death."
He nodded. "I'm gonna go wake Medren," he told her, turning to go back the way they'd come. "and let me know when you're ready to try another Meld... Maybe convince Liv or Sol to participate this time?" he suggested.
"When they've returned." She nodded in agreement.
He nodded again. "I'll be over there if you need me" he told her. He walked back towards where his son was laying on the bedroll.