Hey guys! Thanks for the views! So happy XD sorry it took me so long to update... But finally : chapter 6 is here!
Chapter 6: Reasons and Reunions
"Chewbacca?", Zerah repeated. "You're Chewbacca?". Zerah couldn't believe her eyes. Her hero, part of the crew who destroyed the Death Stars and saved thousands of lives was nearly five feet away from her. She jumped down from the log and was about to take her helmet off. Zerah hesitated. Should she really take it off? What if that lady really knew her? What would happen if she didn't. "If Chewbacca is with them, I think it'll be fine.", she thought to herself. She laid her helmet on the tree log and shook her hair. Rey couldn't stop staring at Zerah. "How old are you?", she blurted out. Zerah looked at Rey. "Is that so important now?", she said, slightly annoyed.
"Are you really Chewbacca?". "Ahrrgrh!". "Yes? Wow! I've never thought I'd meet you one day!", Zerah said full of excitement. "So you really come in peace?". Zerah smiled.
Leia went towards Zerah and held it her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Leia, Resistance General Leia Organa. I think we've met before, or did we?" "Please to meet you, too. Can't remember but I guess so. I'm Zerah as you may know. Should we go to our village?", Zerah asked. They all nodded. "Not so frightening after all...", Finn whispered in Poe's ear. They both laughed. "You guys know I heard that.", Zerah said with a smile on her face, raising an eyebrow. They all laughed.
"So my village is up there.", Zerah told the others and pointed to the tree tops. They had already walked a few minutes, but above the Shadow Zone, of course. Kkando, his three wookie friends and Zerah often had to wait for the others. Leia, Finn and Poe weren't used to climb in the trees. But Rey actually was pretty fast. Definitely faster than Leia, Poe and Finn. Zerah had her helmet on again. She won't leave her helmet somewhere in the forest. Her bag was already gone for now.
"Are we there yet?", Poe asked. "Yes.", Zerah answered. Poe looked around, he even looked above him, but he didn't see a village. Zerah got her knives fro her wrist bags. "Woah.", Finn gaped. Zerah winked at him. Although he just barely saw her wink through the black glass, he still saw it. Zerah started climbing up the trees with her knives again. The four wookies climbed up the trees, too. Leia and her crew watched them all. Rey was first to climb up after them. She jumped from tree branch to tree branch. "Hey, she's doing good!", Finn noticed. "Your turn.", Poe said. "Me? Now?", Finn whispered, overwhelmed. He jumped to a nearby branch and pulled himself up. "Go Finn!", Poe yelled from below, laughing. He grunted. About ten feet above him, Rey was waiting. "Come on! They've already waited long enough up there.", she said, smiling.
In fact, Zerah and Kkando were waiting over ten minutes. They were both sitting at the edge of a bridge, way above the others. "Should we help them?", she asked Kkando. He nodded. They both stood up and went to their hut. Zerah opened a drawer and took out a long rope ladder. "This'll do...". They both went to the bridge again and tied the ladder to a wooden board. "Hey, down there!", she shouted. "Grab the ladder!".
Rey and Finn heard Zerah's words. "What ladder?", Finn asked. Suddenly, it came down next to them. "That ladder.", Rey told him and started to climb up.
Soon, they had all reached the top."You do this every day?", Poe asked Zerah thunderstruck. "Nah.", she smirked. "Three to five times a day... Anyhow. What exactly do you want, General?", Zerah asked, stressing the word 'General'. Leia looked around. "Any chance we could talk in privacy?".
"Um... Y-Yeah! Sure!", Zerah stuttered. She turned around and led them all to her and Kkando's hut. Chewbacca and Kkando were already deep in a conversation. About what they were talking, nobody knew. Nobody had the nerve to try and translate Shriiwook now. Climbing up the high tree was exhausting enough. Rey stopped walking and looked deep in the forest. Finn stopped, too."What are 'ya looking at?", he asked, leaning against the bridge rails. "Nothing.", Rey mumbled. After not talking for a few seconds, she started talking again. "It's just that I don't really think Leia's idea is helping us. We didn't really defeat Kylo Ren. He's still alive. The whole First Order is planning and building already. I think we can't keep up. I mean look at us! We're thousand feet above the ground, following a teenager to a hut for a tea party. If we were training and planning all our missions - okay! But here...". Rey sighed. "Hey, trust her.", Finn told her and smiled. She smiled right back at him, but she was still doubtful.
"So, this is our hut, welcome, I guess.", Zerah started and opened the door. "We don't have that much chairs, so you might have to sit on the floor.". Leia smiled. Before she went in, she looked around, making sure everyone was still there. "Rey, Finn! Hurry up!" "Coming!", Rey and Finn both yelled from about two bridges away.
After everyone had settled down and had found a place to sit, Leia began to talk. To tell a story, actually.
"Zerah. When I first saw you, you were only a child. About eight years old. You were living with a Rebel Group I'm still in contact with." "I remember!", Zerah interrupted. "The ship we were always flying from planet to planet with was called the 'Ghost'. I loved it. But I don't remember seeing you." Leia continued. "It was one short mission. The Ghost landed on my planet, and the first one I saw was you. You were the first one to come out of the ship. I introduced myself, and you did so, too. Then Kanan took over the talking. Hera brought you back inside. But after we successfully ended the mission, Hera and I talked, very long. She told me everything about you.". Zerah looked down at her helmet. She stoked over it's blue, curved lines. "What did she tell you?", she asked. "Enough to know that you could really help us out now.", Leia said mysteriously. "Show me your hand."
"What?", Zerah gasped. "What do you need my hand for?" She looked at both of her hands and looked for anything suspicious. She glanced at Leia, very untrusting. Then she looked at Kkando. What was the lady going to do? Was she going to far? Kkando nodded. "Right. Chewbacca is with them.", she thought to herself.
"You know what?", a voice said. "I just need to go outside for a moment. Be right back.". Rey pushed back the trunk she was sitting one and got up. "Oh, I can come with you!", Finn said, and they both left the hut.
Zerah put her hands out, showing them to the General. She had a crooked smile on her face, slightly worried. Leia took one of her hands and focused on the ring. The ring. Zerah looked up.
"Why did you go out?", Finn asked Rey. "It's just that... Leia is looking at a stranger's hand. I mean, she met her once! Oh yeah, and talked to her crew members. So now we're going to be able to save the galaxy? Geez.". "You know what, we could just take a short walk...?", Finn suggested. Rey agreed. Maybe it would be best to just explore and climb around a bit. Explore the village, make some new friends, practicing her Shriiwook.
"The ring?", Zerah asked. "Yes.", Leia whispered, and took off the dark grey ring. She looked at it closely for a while, then looked at Zerah. "The eagle", the General began. She got interrupted by the young girl: "the symbol of freedom. Freedom we fought for, but that was a long time ago. They're better without me. I caused way too much trouble. Trust me."
Leia was still examining the ring. Finally, she spoke up to get everyone's attention. "I think I got it!", she said. "Got what?", Poe asked interested. "It. It got it. The thing I was talking about earlier. Hope. This is our hope.".
The first one to break the silence was Zerah herself. "What's so special about the ring?". "This.", the General said and turned around the ring. "Chewie - hand me the metal stick I gave you back at the Falcon.". Chewbacca opened a small bag and gave her the metal tool just as she ordered. "Thanks". At the tip of the tool was a small and pointy carving. She looked closer and could decipher the same carving at the bottom surface of the ring. She attached the tool and turned it. Suddenly, the round eagle carving rose. The only one who wasn't shocked as much was Leia. Poe, Chewbacca, Kkando and Zerah were all staggered. Especially Zerah. She would have never thought that would be possible. "What is that?", she gasped. When the eagle stopped moving, Leia continued using the tool. This time a small compartment came out of the side of the small cylinder which had already elevated from the small ring. "This is what I'm looking for.", she whispered. Leia took a small card from the compartment and pushed the compartment back in. After the ring was back to normal, she gave it back to Zerah, who was still completely astonished.
"That's out hope?", Poe asked the General. "This little card contains information about the weaknesses of the Dark Side's weapons, whatever they call them now. Zerah's rebel friends got the information on a mission at the First Order's base. Because they didn't need them back then, they decided to safely store it away, somewhere when no one will look. Hera told me, so if somewhere in the future I would need them, I'd know where to get them.". She looked at the card with a big smile on her face. "Wow.", Zerah said. "I would never have thought that I have that kind of information." "By the way, do you know where Rey and Finn went earlier?", Poe asked General Organa.
Back outside of the hut, Rey and Finn had already headed to the forest. "Where is BB-8? Is he still down there?", Rey asked Finn, pointing to the ground. "I think he went back to the Falcon. No way he's up here...", he answered. "Wanna go back to the ship?" "No. Let's just climb towards it. If the General needs us, we still have to come back.". Even though now, she didn't really trust General Organa, Rey still wanted to be there in case anything happened.
They both went to the bridge were they had climbed up earlier. The rope ladder was still hanging there. "Back down again?", Finn grunted. He never felt safe in the darkness. Especially here, were any creature could just pop up right in front of his face. He didn't know what creatures were still hiding in this big forest.
"Look, back there!", Rey said. About fifty feet ahead of them, they could see light. Like there was some kind of other meadow they didn't notice before. "Want to find out what's behind those trees?", she laughed. "Only if you really need to. Don't want to get in trouble again.", Finn mumbled, and followed her.
They were already wailing about half a minute, when they heard a strange noise. "Oh no, not again...", Finn said out loud. Rey immediately told him to be quiet. She listened. There, there was that sound again. An animal. Or was it? She did not really know. But she did know one thing: it was coming closer, and the creature, what ever, or who ever that was, did not sound friendly.
Cliffhangarrrrrr ;) see ya soon! XD