Chapter 4
(Ahsoka: 17, Ashton: 27, Zaarla (Ashton and Olara's daughter): 1)
Ahsoka was hanging from a tree branch, trying to see how long she could hang on for without using her magic. News of the war had reached their tribe's ears last year, they were one of the most remote tribes. Almost half of their members had gone to join and news of fallen ones came back every day. Ahsoka's father had died two months ago so Ashton had gone instead, against Olara and Ahsoka's pleading but Ashton had just kissed Zaarla on the forehead, gathered his things and left. Olara was still very sad about it but Lii had it the worst out of them. Ahsoka wanted to try and help but she wasn't allowed, they needed someone to orchestrate the hunts and keep Lii and Olara from breaking down. Ahsoka met the 5 minute mark she was aiming for so did a backflip down and headed to Olara's house. Zaarla was crying. Ahsoka knocked on the door and Olara invited her in.
"Olara, Chief Kuza had asked me to start a hunt with all the able bodied people left. That includes you, you can strap Zaarla to your back if you wish but you have to come." Ahsoka said forcefully, "If you don't come in this one, you will be considered 'weak bodied' and left behind to join the endless circle of life and Zaarla will be left without a mother or a father."
Olara looked a wee bit stunned. Togrutan women were given almost a year to look after their newborn babies before they could join hunts again. The reason being; Togruta were naturally protective of family but a child was their first priority and the new mothers couldn't be trusted to not rush out and kill the first thing that was heading in the general direction of their camp. After a year they could control it enough to not kill everything so they were given 3 weeks to get back on the hunt, if they didn't by that time, they were left behind and considered 'weak'. "Ok, I will come and so will Zaarla, on my back." Olara said.
"Thank you Olara. Have you heard anything about Ashton?"
"No, sorry." Olara turned around, pulled out a blankety thing, put Zaarla on her back and tied her on. She climbed out of the house and headed to the platform with the other eligible Togruta. Ahsoka stood up and addressed the party "Right, remember, we are going out to hunt, not to kill. (A/N there is a difference, (according to this tribe (just go along with it)) a hunt is when you kill the animal (wild) with the idea of eating it. Kill is when to kill a domestic animal or you kill a wild one with no intention other than for sport.) We must only hunt what we need and get back in plenty time for the messengers."
The hunting party murmured slightly at the mention of 'messengers' but when Ahsoka gave them a hard glare they stopped it and followed her out of the jungle and to the grasslands where the best hunting was. Weaving there way elegantly through the trees, the grasslands were in sight. Ahsoka heard a scream from behind her and she turned abruptly. Olara's ankle was pulled in the air and she was hanging upside down.
"Olara!" Ahsoka whisper shouted, "stay calm, I'll get you down. The rest of you, stay alert." She. Ade her way towards where Olara was hanging. Grabbing on to her with her magic, she tried to pull her down but the rope around her ankle just tightened, so Ahsoka decided to try to loosen the knot. She heard another shout behind her and saw a cage made of a weird shiny material around the rest of the hunting party. Getting frantic, she tried to lift it off of them but another cage of the same material landed on her. A strange creature with hair, horns and triangular ears and sporting expensive robes came around the tree. She shot something into each of the members. They rolled back, head flopping. Then turned on Ahsoka. The dart came at her, hit her and everything went black. She was faintly aware of her being carried into something.
Jedi temple, Coruscant.
"Reports, we have had, from our messengers, that disappeared, a Togruta colony has." Master Yoda said sincerely.
Shaak Ti gasped, "Did he say which colony and where?" She asked worriedly.
"Yes." Obi-Wan Kenobi replied.
"Please tell." Shaak Ti feared that it was her own colony.
"The colony was located in the Aprata jungle and called themselves the 'Apratian' tribe. They were supposedly the most isolated tribe on Shili and only just found out about the war last year." Obi-Wan replied.
"Please, master Yoda, I must try to save them. My tribe was very close to the leader of the tribe after he rescued our leader. I owe him something." Shaak Ti asked pleadingly
"Go, you can. Take Skywalker as well, you must. Useful, he will be."
Shaak Ti bowed. "Yes, Thank you."
Shaak located Skywalker by means of the force, heading to the Aprata jungle on Shili.
"You must understand that we cannot afford mistakes, once we land on Shili we will have to land on the grassland, cross a stretch of sand that may have a very strong river, then work away through the jungle, which I will have the advantage over you, so you will have to listen to me. Also, the Apratian tribe doesn't like strangers, they view to Togruta colony on Kiros as 'traitors' and these Togruta train in fighting from a young age, be alert, even a 3 year old Apratian Togruta could be stronger than a ten year old human child, combined with immense speed and agility, you may not stand a chance." Shaak explained.
"What about you?" Anakin asked, annoyed to have been warned about a 3 year old.
"You forget, I am a Togruta from Shili, I am familiar with their ways and I am evenly matched."
Anakin snorted and set out, Shaak beside him, using her montrals to pick up any sign of the missing tribe. Reaching the sandy stretch, Anakin was disappointed to find that the river was non-existence.
"I can't go on." He said, turning to Shaak.
"Why? It's only a bit of sand. Surely the 'hero with no fear' can't be afraid of sand?"
"You don't know that." Anakin said, defending himself.
Shaak burst out laughing, "You are afraid of sand?" She gasped, clutching her stomach. Composing herself she stood up straight. "Fine, I shall levitate you with the force and send you across." She said, stepping out onto the sand. Anakin tried to not run away as Shaak levitated hi, dangerously close to the dreaded sand. Once Anakin was safely across, he could appreciate the seemingly endless jungle ahead of him.
"People live in that?" He asked incredulously.
"Oh yes. I used to live on the other side of the canyon that splits the jungle in two, although, because of where we here situated, it was easier for people to access our village so it became quite well known, the Apratian village, however, is damn near impossible to find unless you know where it is."
Shaak took a step into the jungle, then paused. She bent down and removed her shoes. Anakin gave her a questioning look.
"The Apratians disapprove of Togrutas with shoes on, they believe that if you wear shoes, you are abandoning the beliefs and so, you are a traitor."
"Wow, these people definitely have a lot of things you could be called a traitor for."
"They do, which is why, if some remain, we must be respectful, or else, well, we'll get to that later."
"Should I remove my shoes as well?"
"No, they'll view you as strange and they may be hurt because you are not a Togruta."
With everything covered, they made their way in their way in, Shaak's knowledge of the terrain guiding them through the thick jungle. Anakin was struggling slightly to keep up, he had never keen in such a dense jungle. He was just about to give up hope when Shaak motioned for them to stop she brushed away a very leafy branch to reveal several hanging pods made of branches, he could see several more hanging in the distance. A large-ish hexagonal building stood in the middle, an array of very sharp sticks lay outside. A flat, raised structure stood in a clearing a little off the building, beautifully sculpted figurines stood on a table-like thing towards the back of the platform. Anakin called out "Hello? Anyone there?" But Shaak just rolled her eyes.
"They don't speak Galactic Basic, dummy. Master Yoda said they hadn't heard about a war that has been raging for at least 2 1/2 years until last year, you think they would know Galactic Basic? No, they only speak Togruti, how about I call out? I know how to speak it." (A/N: from now on, any spoken Togruti will be in italics because I can't be bothered to make up a language then translate it.)
Shaak spoke in a strange sounding language full of guttural sounds compromised by sweet lulling ones. "Hello? My name is Shaak Ti and I am here with Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. We mean no harm but just want to see if you are all right, we have heard news of some of your people disappearing." Anakin looked at her incredulously. Shaak listened and heard no response so she stepped in further, being hit smack in the face by an amazingly strong presence in the force. "Anakin, come down to here." Anakin gave her a questioning look. "Just do it!" She whisper shouted. Anakin rolled his eyes but did it, buckling over slightly.
"What could leave this presence?" He asked.
"I don't know, let's follow it." And they did, past the platform and to a small-ish house.
"Who's house is this?" Anakin asked.
"I don't know, let's see." She opened the door and saw three carvings in the side wall with a few symbols underneath.
"What are those?" Anakin asked, pointing at the symbols.
"They are the facial marking of the family who live in this house, since each individual has different markings, it means you can't simply say that one house is yours."
"What if a child moves out or dies?"
"Then, if they move out, the symbol of the god of growth gets carved beside their name and if they die, the god of death."
"Ah, That makes sense, but what about the symbols underneath the markings?"
"Their names."
"So…."
"Well, this one with the yellow around is called… Ashton Tano. And he married… Olara Tano (née Te) And they have one child….. Zaarla Tano, the one with the red around it is Zaarla."
Anakin paused, "The signature doesn't stop here, it goes behind this house."
Shaak Ti nodded, picking it up as well. She crept around the side and jumped the the house behind it, discovering that the trail didn't stop there, and that it was empty as all the others had been, but this one didn't have any carvings on the wall.
"Is this where it ends?" Anakin asked, growing slightly impatient.
"No, I think it's farther up although it spends a lot of time here."
They had difficulty following it further because it lead them through an extremely dense part of jungle. They managed to break their way through to a larger house than they had just been to, once again, the house was empty but this time there were four facial markings on the wall, one of them was repeated on the last house.
"Ok, this is good. Let's see, the family who lives here is Tano. The father is called Hasaa and the mother Lii? I think I know Lii, she was the leader's sister when our leader was injured. Wait, oh no, Hasaa has the god of death beside his name. Shame, must've been in the war. Now, their oldest child is called…Ashton, he moved out, into the last house we looked around fully, so the only one left is their daughter, Ahsoka. The force presence is huge here and doesn't really lead to other houses, it also feels young, so now all we have to do is trace her and find the rest of the tribe." Shaak took off, Anakin's barely having time to register what she said.
They wove their way through the thick canopy and towards the clearing.
"Quickly!" Shaak whisper-shouted to Anakin as he landed.
Anakin's robe caught on something. Turning to un-snag it, he noticed a tuft of short, light brown fur. He picked it up and held it so that Shaak could see.
"Is it just me, or aren't Togruta nearly completely hairless?"
so there we go, chapter four! all done!
I hope this is easier to read than the previous chapter (sorry Ghost14lebi).
thank you for baring with me, I know this took a long time to put up!
please leave a review! it'll make my day!
thank you all!
