A/N: Almostinsane and Sarcasm Turtle, this chapter is for you. Thanks for reading and reviewing and adding alert. I hope that you like it.
"I live…" Whum. "In perpetual fear…" Whummm. "Of rejection." Whum-whum.
"Will you be quiet?" The Handmaiden snapped, brushing a stray branch out of the way.
"Aw, come on. It's Jasko Fiz'ra. Don't you ever listen to the greatest singer in the galaxy?" Atton glanced back and snorted. "Oh, yeah. I forgot that you lived your whole life on an icy hill with some old hag drilling proverbs into your skull."
With great restraint, the Handmaiden ran a hand through her short silver hair. "Could you at least stop swinging the lightsaber about?"
"…I thought you wanted me to clear a path through."
"Then stop waving it in time to your singing. It's annoying."
Grinding his teeth, the scoundrel whirled to face her, starting to formulate a reply. Her gray eyes glared back, her shoulders set and ready for a fight. For a moment, all that could be heard were the sounds of the jungle moon as they scowled at each other in silence. Then, Atton looked down and realized his blue saber was still lit and her hand was on hers at her belt. Women! he raged inwardly as he turned away and continued to hack a way through the dense brush.
For the next three minutes, both were silent. Handmaiden sighed, running over in her head what the Exile told them. In the Dxun forests near the Mandalorian camp, a zakheg had been sighted. Since the guard captain dubbed it worthy prey, prestige would go to the person who killed one.
Thus, Handmaiden was slogging through the jungle with a scoundrel who hummed badly and used his fighting sabers as synthesizers. When they at last found and killed the zakheg, the Exile was going to hear about this…
"Aha!" Atton cut away a large swath of growth and revealed a wide clearing. "Fancy a break in the Field of Dreams?"
Before she could reply, a roar sounded before them. Both gaped at the huge lizard-like creature that got to its feet on the other side of the clearing. Its head squashed back into its neck, making its large shoulders seem enormous. Sharp spines ran down its crimson skinned back and long tail. As the zakheg opened its mouth to roar again, Atton gulped at the sight of its many teeth.
Yet, it was not the spines, nor the teeth, nor the way it charged them that caused his jaw to drop. The sight of the Handmaiden bellowing an Echani warcry and sprinting to meet it drew that particular effect. For a moment, he couldn't move for the sheer absurdity of it.
Handmaiden and zakheg clashed, spurring the scoundrel to action. His blaster cleared holster and he snapped off a quick shot that impacted with the zakheg's eye.
"Watch it!" Unfortunately, the Handmaiden didn't appreciate the fact that the bolt missed her by two centimeters.
"Sorry!" yelled Atton, holstering his blaster and taking out his sabers. He leaped to her side and thrust both into the side of the zakheg, but the armored hide softened his stab. It bellowed and turned on him, tail lashing. The scoundrel dodged the zakeg's teeth and slashed its other eye out. Blinded, the beast backed up, moving its head this way and that. They saw its nostrils flare. It could still smell them.
Atton advanced, glancing up at an overhanging tree limb. Now…let's see… Just as the zakheg lunged again, the scoundrel leaped up to the branch. Not intent on letting its prey escape, the lizard reared up on its hind legs, struggling to reach him. Just as Atton had hoped, Handmaiden dove in, driving her saber into its soft belly and slaying it.
"Well," mused the scoundrel, flicking off his sabers and stowing them at his belt before jumping down, "That was easy." He turned and swore aloud as he almost impaled himself on Handmaiden's blade. "What the-" his voice trailed off at the fury of her gaze.
"You, Atton Rand, are the biggest fool in the galaxy! You could have killed me!"
Atton raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Whoa, look! It was an accident, all right? Calm down!"
After a few seconds more of holding her lightsaber point near his torso, she turned to the corpse. "Be more careful next time." She began to slice off the ears.
"Geeze…you wouldn't have been in so much danger if you'd've stayed back."
"You should have known I was going to attack with my lightsaber!" she retorted.
"Well, excuse me." Atton was rapidly becoming tired of her tone. "I usually work alone and not with over-exuberant schuttas." The insult led to a backflip from the scoundrel as the Handmaiden swung her blade at him. He landed on a fallen tree, both his sabers in his hands once more, one high, one low, a mocking glint in his brown eyes. Driven by the scorn, Handmaiden charged him. This time when he jumped, she leaped with him and swung. Surprised, he still managed to counter the move. They landed, she swung again, he blocked, catching the blade on his two. He grunted as she pushed on the crossed sabers.
Through the force, past the aggression and anger she felt toward him, a thread leaped in warning. Just as she reversed her force and brought the other end of her saber up to cleave through his unprotected stomach, Atton backflipped again, catching her chin a glancing blow with one of his feet.
Fighting off the sparks in her vision, Handmaiden smelled dirt and jungle loam. She was lying on her stomach, one arm pinned behind her, one of Atton's knees in her back, and her own lightsaber deactivated but digging into her neck. She spat out a bit of grass, angry at her failure to control her temper. "Do it, Sith."
Her heart raced as the saber handle pressed further into her throat. He bent down until she could feel the warmth of his breath on her ear.
"My past is past," he snarled. Then, the scoundrel arose and tugged her to her feet. Without another word, he strode off toward the Mandalorian camp.
A/N: Doesn't make much sense, does it? Oh well. It might look better from the last chapter...