Pronunciation: Jusia(Jew sigh uh) Jenni(Gin I) Sinia(Sin I ah) Mak-bur(Mak burr) Haishai(Hey shay) Nocipt(No see pt) Jusia lept off the swampy Naboo trees with their huge roots,their twisted,narled trunks and branches.She brushed her hair away from her face,disgusted.It was entirely too long to be worth anything,always getting in her face. She sighed,pulled out her lightsaber,and flipped her hair over,slicing right through the scanty,brown hair that came down to her waist when it wasn't in a braid.She cut half of it off,even with her shoulders.Then she tied it back again, and looked behind her.
"Jenni!"she yelled."Come on,let's go!"
"Rrratfulmich raymuir."
"Yes,I know you're coming.Hurry up!"
"< Okay,okay,okay!Sorry!I'm just too big to fit through all this foilage! >"
"Don't worry."
The huge wolf,almost five feet at the shoulder,ten feet from nose to tail,with a wing spread two or three times longer,and a pair of long saber teeth,leapt over the impeding root of a tree that Jusia had just finished climbing over.The young Merliz was,despite what one would think,over a thousand years old already.She was quite muscular,and very agile,but the saber teeth impeded that, often dragging in the dirt or through a tree limb,spilling poisonous sap that threatened the young Jedi's alli's life more than once.
"< I'd trade in my size and teeth to be a tree-climber right now, >"Jenni sighed.
"I apologize,my friend,"Jusia said,wiping the dirt and sap off Jenni's teeth."I can't do anything about size,but retracting those teeth wouldn't be a bad idea."
Jenni nodded,and stretched her jaw as wide as she could, in a yawning posture.Slowly,the over sized canine teeth upon which Merliz were famed slid into her cavernous mouth,into little niches of skin just above the roof of her mouth,almost like a rattlesnake or cobra,except cobras didn't have a pair of real canines that,when the sabers retracted,came forward.Jenni finished quickly, grinding her teeth,which were still of a respectable size even without the over sized canines.and rolling her tongue around in her mouth.
"< I can never quite get used to that, >"she admitted.
"I'll go slower,promise,"Jusia grinned.
"< And I'll probably hunt a little on the way.Some of these avian types look rather tasty. >"
Jusia laughed."We're supposed to be some of the peacekeeping force protecting Naboo,remember?"
"< Ugh,we're females,Jusia.They only let you become a Jedi by sheer luck.I got in with luck,myself.I don't think they think we're capable of a bet- >" "Ssshhhhh.Can you feel that?"Jusia asked in a quiet whisper. Jenni searched through the force,sifting through a thousand force related beings.She was as strong with the force as her partner,but she relied on it less.There had to be a million things in this dispicable swamp that she could sense.It was circuitary overload.Then she felt it.A cold brush of darkness that came and went.The two looked at each other. They didn't even have to say what they both knew it was out loud. "Who's closest?" "< Sinia and Mak-bur,maybe Haishai and Nocipt. >" Jenni looked over,behind Jusia.There was a russling batch of leaves in the bushes behind her.
Danger!her nose screamed.Danger!Big,hungry, carnivorous,attacking...thing!
Jenni's teeth came out within seconds,and her eyes went from their normal blood-red irises to complete blackness, as dark as her fur coat,which doubled her visual accuity. Jusia noticed this,having an eye for small details.She backed up,spun around,and turned on her lightsaber,scanning the bushes Jenni was growling and snarling at.To put it basically, Jenni had become a terrifying demon.
The creature attacked with a speed too fast for Jusia to even sense its presense until it was there.It was a shade slower than Jenni,though,and Jenni was on the back of the creatures neck,the huge giant's neck,ripping the flesh all over it's neck and face.
"Rancour,"Jusia whispered."Their not natives to Naboo!"
Jusia was extremely glas that during her apprenticeship, she had taken pains to learn plenty of zoology and biology. At the time,it was foolish,but if one studied one's dangers, one lived longer.
Time to test that theory.
Jusia picked up her light saber from the dirt,switched it on. Jenni was scrabbling and kicking,her wings beating fiercely, hanging by the rancour's nostril.Her full lenth was the only thing saving her now,her claws on her back feet stuck in the rancour's chin,fighting the shaking of its head.She couldn't hold on much longer,so Jusia was quick to act.She grabbed her lightsaber higher up,like a javalin,aimed,and threw. "GGGGAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" the rancour screamed as it fell to its side,dead,a burnt hole of flesh through its neck.Jenni removed her deathlock, Merliz blood-sweat encrusting her.She was back to herself, her saber teeth were inside her mouth,her irises were blood red,normal.But she was shaking.She looked down at the ground around her,her endless spasms sending a bloody foam of Merliz blood-sweat all over.She knew this,the few times a Merliz blood-sweated,it had to be shaken off,and quickly,or the blood-sweater would die.Jusia was on the other side of the rancour,searching for her light saber.Jenni spread her wings and shook herself hard,until the blood-sweat was everywhere else, disolving into the ground.Jenni grimaced,and trotted toward Jusia, on the other side of the rancour.
"Rancour's aren't-"Jusia started.
"< I know.That curiosity got me in a blood sweat.Who's the leading Jedi official on this planet? >"
"Uh,I think hi name's Qua-Gon...no,that's not it..."
"< I thought you had an unfailable memory. >"
"I do,it's just shaken.Umm...Obi-Won.That's it.Just passed the trials last week.Has an apprentice...Anakin.Skywalker. That much I know.He should be in the capital."
"< Then that's where we're headed. >"
"Jenn,our land cruisar's a mess at a cliff face."
"< Nonsense, >"Jenni laughed."< I can be a land cruisar.Hop on. >"
Jusia stared at her friend for a moment,then laughed, hoping on Jenni's back like one would a horse.Jenni took a half trot until they reached the edge of the clearing,and sprung up on powerful legs into the sky, until she was so high as to be a black speck from the ground. Great wings took the pair at over 500 MPH.They'd reach the capital in no time.
Somehow,Jusia thought,Everything'll be alright.
And she believed that with the hope of a Jedi.
"Jenni!"she yelled."Come on,let's go!"
"Rrratfulmich raymuir."
"Yes,I know you're coming.Hurry up!"
"< Okay,okay,okay!Sorry!I'm just too big to fit through all this foilage! >"
"Don't worry."
The huge wolf,almost five feet at the shoulder,ten feet from nose to tail,with a wing spread two or three times longer,and a pair of long saber teeth,leapt over the impeding root of a tree that Jusia had just finished climbing over.The young Merliz was,despite what one would think,over a thousand years old already.She was quite muscular,and very agile,but the saber teeth impeded that, often dragging in the dirt or through a tree limb,spilling poisonous sap that threatened the young Jedi's alli's life more than once.
"< I'd trade in my size and teeth to be a tree-climber right now, >"Jenni sighed.
"I apologize,my friend,"Jusia said,wiping the dirt and sap off Jenni's teeth."I can't do anything about size,but retracting those teeth wouldn't be a bad idea."
Jenni nodded,and stretched her jaw as wide as she could, in a yawning posture.Slowly,the over sized canine teeth upon which Merliz were famed slid into her cavernous mouth,into little niches of skin just above the roof of her mouth,almost like a rattlesnake or cobra,except cobras didn't have a pair of real canines that,when the sabers retracted,came forward.Jenni finished quickly, grinding her teeth,which were still of a respectable size even without the over sized canines.and rolling her tongue around in her mouth.
"< I can never quite get used to that, >"she admitted.
"I'll go slower,promise,"Jusia grinned.
"< And I'll probably hunt a little on the way.Some of these avian types look rather tasty. >"
Jusia laughed."We're supposed to be some of the peacekeeping force protecting Naboo,remember?"
"< Ugh,we're females,Jusia.They only let you become a Jedi by sheer luck.I got in with luck,myself.I don't think they think we're capable of a bet- >" "Ssshhhhh.Can you feel that?"Jusia asked in a quiet whisper. Jenni searched through the force,sifting through a thousand force related beings.She was as strong with the force as her partner,but she relied on it less.There had to be a million things in this dispicable swamp that she could sense.It was circuitary overload.Then she felt it.A cold brush of darkness that came and went.The two looked at each other. They didn't even have to say what they both knew it was out loud. "Who's closest?" "< Sinia and Mak-bur,maybe Haishai and Nocipt. >" Jenni looked over,behind Jusia.There was a russling batch of leaves in the bushes behind her.
Danger!her nose screamed.Danger!Big,hungry, carnivorous,attacking...thing!
Jenni's teeth came out within seconds,and her eyes went from their normal blood-red irises to complete blackness, as dark as her fur coat,which doubled her visual accuity. Jusia noticed this,having an eye for small details.She backed up,spun around,and turned on her lightsaber,scanning the bushes Jenni was growling and snarling at.To put it basically, Jenni had become a terrifying demon.
The creature attacked with a speed too fast for Jusia to even sense its presense until it was there.It was a shade slower than Jenni,though,and Jenni was on the back of the creatures neck,the huge giant's neck,ripping the flesh all over it's neck and face.
"Rancour,"Jusia whispered."Their not natives to Naboo!"
Jusia was extremely glas that during her apprenticeship, she had taken pains to learn plenty of zoology and biology. At the time,it was foolish,but if one studied one's dangers, one lived longer.
Time to test that theory.
Jusia picked up her light saber from the dirt,switched it on. Jenni was scrabbling and kicking,her wings beating fiercely, hanging by the rancour's nostril.Her full lenth was the only thing saving her now,her claws on her back feet stuck in the rancour's chin,fighting the shaking of its head.She couldn't hold on much longer,so Jusia was quick to act.She grabbed her lightsaber higher up,like a javalin,aimed,and threw. "GGGGAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" the rancour screamed as it fell to its side,dead,a burnt hole of flesh through its neck.Jenni removed her deathlock, Merliz blood-sweat encrusting her.She was back to herself, her saber teeth were inside her mouth,her irises were blood red,normal.But she was shaking.She looked down at the ground around her,her endless spasms sending a bloody foam of Merliz blood-sweat all over.She knew this,the few times a Merliz blood-sweated,it had to be shaken off,and quickly,or the blood-sweater would die.Jusia was on the other side of the rancour,searching for her light saber.Jenni spread her wings and shook herself hard,until the blood-sweat was everywhere else, disolving into the ground.Jenni grimaced,and trotted toward Jusia, on the other side of the rancour.
"Rancour's aren't-"Jusia started.
"< I know.That curiosity got me in a blood sweat.Who's the leading Jedi official on this planet? >"
"Uh,I think hi name's Qua-Gon...no,that's not it..."
"< I thought you had an unfailable memory. >"
"I do,it's just shaken.Umm...Obi-Won.That's it.Just passed the trials last week.Has an apprentice...Anakin.Skywalker. That much I know.He should be in the capital."
"< Then that's where we're headed. >"
"Jenn,our land cruisar's a mess at a cliff face."
"< Nonsense, >"Jenni laughed."< I can be a land cruisar.Hop on. >"
Jusia stared at her friend for a moment,then laughed, hoping on Jenni's back like one would a horse.Jenni took a half trot until they reached the edge of the clearing,and sprung up on powerful legs into the sky, until she was so high as to be a black speck from the ground. Great wings took the pair at over 500 MPH.They'd reach the capital in no time.
Somehow,Jusia thought,Everything'll be alright.
And she believed that with the hope of a Jedi.
To be continued...