Chapter 29

Whatever manner of creature it was that they had succeeded in preparing for their first true meal in an unknown and arduous amount of time, Tama admitted to Nuri that it proved quite delicious. The meat from the avians had been cooked overlong, charred along the edges, and no matter how small of bites the Twi'lek partook of, she could still feel the crispy edges sliding down her esophagus, as though she had just swallowed a mouthful of vibroblades. When the food settled in her stomach, her body seemed to initially regard it as a foreign or even poisonous substance, and her stomach roiled and protested so strongly, Tama almost regurgitated her entire meal. Yet, she forced herself to continue eating, taking her time in doing so, letting her body become accustomed to the sensation of sustenance again, and by the time she had eaten a third of her portion, her appetite had returned with a vengeance. It required all her focus to continue eating at a slow and steady pace, instead of ravenously consuming the rest of the meat allotted her, lest she make herself even more ill.

Most of the rest of her companions did not share the same compunctions. Nuri, Cyran, and Fenn had enough foresight in this regard to take time eating their meals and sipping from the scalding, flat water. But Farr snuffled down his meat as though he had completely forgotten the taste of food, and was beginning to turn a very unique and concerning shade of green as a result. Ossa did not seem to fare much better, for she had already wolfed down half her meal before she had to lean over and heave it back over the edge of the ridge. Ashla barely touched her food, taking miniscule nibbles from the edges and slowly slurping water, her eyes still vacant, focused on horrors only she could see and could not help but continue reliving in the vision of her memory. Vo-Yees and Vibak-Ol ate steadily but with gusto, their stomachs apparently unconcerned with the speed with which they consumed their food. When Nuri asked them if they were going to be okay, Vo-Yees explained in broken Basic that both he and the Gormak boy had been fortunate enough to find several caches of rations and barely-edible food during their harrowing stay in the ruined city, and had thus stayed regularly fed before meeting any of the rest of the children they sat with. Tama heard dark whispers through her ears as the Gran spoke, and a ghastly smell arose in her nostrils, all sensations from the Force. On such a tainted and ill world, she could not be certain of the source of these prickling warning senses, but she suspected that at least some of the supplies they had procured had been done so at the expenditure of another prisoner's blood.

The children huddling atop the ridge said little as they let the fire ebb to fading embers, exuding traces and wisps of smoke as the breeze began to increase its intensity to that of a stiff, moisture-laden wind. The air was thickening as time passed on and clouds began to gather in the atmosphere. Thunder could be heard rumbling through the sky, but the faint sounds of it suggested the storm creating the atmospheric disturbances remained kilometers from them. Tama could not see the storm, but she could see the darkening of the sky overhead, a combination of the fading sun and expanding storm clouds. The oppressive humidity and oncoming darkness had cast a pall upon the group's mood, despite their current fortunes and the food they had managed to procure for themselves.

In spite of these, Tama could not suppress her lifted spirits. For it had been many long moments that she had been in contact with Foyi for the first time in what felt like an eternity. After their telepathic communication had been inexplicably severed, Tama had continued to stretch out with her consciousness as far as it would go, hoping to find Foyi's mind once again in the Dark Side's malaise upon Felucia. But she gave it up for naught, for long-range mental communication, even with someone as close to her as her sister was, was not something she had utilized often, nor had she trained in it. She felt a modicum of her strength returning with the food and water she placed in her stomach, but the exhaustion that had worn on her for so long continued to debilitate her. She could not even determine if Foyi was actively trying to communicate with her over the unknown distance separating them, which would have helped her regain contact. Foyi may have even encountered predators or all manner of horrors lurking in the jungle, and could be actively hiding within the Force. If such was the case, Tama would not find her unless Foyi wished to be found, for her older sister was well-practiced in using the Force for stealth.

Even so, Tama had a general direction from whence she had encountered the brief and wondrous telepathic contact, the simultaneous stimulation of all her senses that had accompanied Foyi's mental cry. A direction in which she could be searching for her sister, or from whence Foyi would come to rescue her. Despite all that Tama and her compatriots had accomplished in order to free themselves, she felt as though she had been stretched beyond her limits far too often as of late, and part of her desperately wished to hide somewhere "the Savior" would not chance to look and await for her sister's imminent rescue. She was tired of pain, hunger, exhaustion, sleeplessness, and the nagging extrasensory perceptions at the very perimeters of her being, the unending whispers of the Dark Side and the telepathic search patterns of their kidnapper as he searched the jungle far and wide for those whom had escaped his clutches. For once, Tama was glad of the spiritual mire created by the Dark Side's taint on Felucia, as it undoubtedly made their captor's frantic searches for the escapees incredibly difficult.

Tama snapped out of her reverie when she felt bony fingers shaking her shoulder. Her eyes flickered rapidly as she shook herself from her stupor, then turned to see Nuri sitting beside her, her narrow hand clasped upon the Twi'lek girl's shoulder. "Hey! Galaxy to Tama! You still with us?"

Tama nodded wearily. "I...was concentrating. Trying to...reestablish communication."

Nuri pointed to her head quizzically. "With your mind?"

"With the Force."

A frightened look came to the Zabrak's face. "You're not talking to...him, are you?"

Tama could not suppress the smile that curved her lips. "Thank the Force, no. He's still out there...somewhere. Occasionally I get flashes of insight from him; he's angry and desperate and is still looking for us, but I don't think he has any idea where we've gone. No, I've just made contact with my sister...she's here to rescue me. To rescue us."

"From Yanibar?" Nuri asked. "She's come a long way."

"Of course. Once she sets her mind on something, she pursues it till its conclusion. It's really annoying at most times, but I'm not complaining that she's come all this way for me."

Nuri considered her words, her expression becoming more enthusiastic as she contemplated the presence of someone who had come from the far reaches of the Outer Rim to willingly plunge into the planet's hellish jungles. "And...she's here? That means she has to have a ship!"

Tama nodded. "That's why I said I knew how we would finally get off this mudhole. She must have gotten here by a ship, and considering she's close by, so is our ride out of this nightmare."

Nuri looked about in the growing darkness, peering into the jungle beyond and below the ridge upon which they sat, as though she could spot Foyi moving through the fronds and fungi toward them at that very moment. "How close is 'close by'?"

Tama massaged her temples, her lekku curling reflexively around her throat and shoulders in response to the ache in her head that shot through her teeth, her jaw, and down into her neck. "I don't know...a few klicks, maybe. We only 'spoke' for a few seconds, enough to give each other impressions of our locations and vague directions; the Force isn't an exact science, especially on this world."

"So...your sister's like you too? Is she as good with the Force as you are?"

Tama scoffed, thinking of how long it had taken her to complete the stone and ring exercise, how frustrated she had continually been with both herself and Foyi. "She's better. Way more advanced than me, having spent years in practice, whereas I'm still barely a student. Her student, actually. She is a fully-fledged Zeison Sha Warrior. If anyone can find us in these jungles and rescue us from 'the Savior', it would be her. She can do practically anything."

Nuri carefully ate the last bit of the meat allotted her, savoring every haphazardly cooked bite. "I feel better about our chances out in this jungle already. How do we find her?"

Tama's tchun shivered in irritation. "I've been trying to pin her down ever since I lost contact with her a few moments ago. I'm afraid...afraid that she ran into some trouble, and is trying to hide within the Force. Or maybe it's just this planet. Or how badly I suck at telepathy. It might be better if we wait for her to find us...she's the one who reached out to me, after all."

Nuri picked up the A280 Blaster Rifle lying beside her and checked the charge on the current power pack. "We might not have the luxury of waiting. From what little I know of Felucia, there are already plenty of scary as Sith predators wandering these jungles, and now that we brought down those ray shields, all the beasts that mudcrutch was keeping locked in with us are somewhere out here, probably looking for something youngling-sized to snack on. And if 'the Savior' has anymore battle droids, he'll have sent them out looking for us. If we stay here, we might find ourselves besieged up here, and I know you and I can handle ourselves, as long as we have the ammunition, but I'm not as confident in everyone here. Fenn, Farr, and Cyran all fought well against the droids in the courtyard, but I don't know enough about the rest of 'em." Nuri dropped her voice as she said this, her eyes wandering over the visages of everyone huddled around the glowering embers and swirling ashes as temperatures began to drop, the harbinger of the storm to come. Most were fully-engaged in consuming their sustenance, though Ossa still found time to have a one-sided conversation with the withdrawn Ashla, whose despondency seemed to slowly be evolving into aggravation at the Nautolan's insistent prattle. At least she appeared to be experiencing an emotion that was not sadness or fear.

Tama similarly dropped her voice. "They've survived so far."

"I got the impression from talking to them that they were just lucky enough to be near the edges of the ray shield when we destroyed it. And I don't think they did much fighting, mostly hiding and trying to stay alive."

Tama gave her a concerned look. "We can't blame them for doing that. It's not their fault that they were kidnapped and thrown into that den of droids and monsters."

"True. But that tells us nothing of what they might do or are capable of if it comes to a fight."

Tama gave a weary sigh. "Then we'll just have to fight for them. We can't let that madman take anymore lives."

Nuri smirked. "It'd probably help if we could get that rancor back on our side."

Tama shook her head, the memories of the rancor's pain and feelings of betrayal rising to the forefront of her mind in an unwanted and simmering sea of emotion. "I'm...not doing that again anytime soon. Ever, if I can help it. It was...too much for me to handle."

"You saved our lives with your abilities."

Tama looked away in embarrassment, her expression maudlin. "You can thank me when we're actually off this planet."

The Gormak boy, who had finished the portion of meat granted him, gave both the Twi'lek and Zabrak girls a look that seemed to indicate he was now contemplating eating them to satisfy his ravenous hunger. "Wot yo talky 'bout?"

Tama turned away from him, not wishing to meet the eerily intense gaze he levered her way. Nuri, not intimidated in the slightest, met the Gormak's stare with one of her own. Tama could feel the tension between the two like another layer of the atmosphere solidified by their locked regards. "Tama says she might have a way out of here, which presents us all with a choice."

"A way out?" Ossa exclaimed loud enough to make most around the dying fire wince at the volume.

"How? With your all-powerful Force?" Fenn asked suspiciously.

Foyi ignored his derision; if he remained skeptical of the Force's existence and power, despite all that he had seen and experienced on this day, there was nothing she could say to convince him otherwise. "I just discovered my sister has come here, to Felucia, looking for me. If we can meet up with her, we can get off this planet and escape in the ship she came in with."

"Sister owns ship?" Farr asked hopefully.

"You have a sister?" came Ossa's flurried response. "Is she all 'Forceful' like you?"

"How did you discover this?" Fenn also asked simultaneously.

Tama raised both of her palms outward to ward away further questions. "My sister can use the Force like I can, yes. She contacted me in much the same way 'the Savior' has been ever since we got here, and told me that she's here to rescue me." She gave Ossa a long-suffering glance. "'Forceful' isn't actually a word we use to describe...people like me."

"Only you?" Fenn asked.

Tama rubbed her forehead again; her migraine was only growing worse, and her stomach was feeling rather unsettled from the meat and water she had just put into it. "I'm sure she only knows about me, and of course she came across the galaxy for me. We're sisters. But if we find her, I know she will take everyone along. No, my sister doesn't own a ship, and I don't know how and when she got here. But you don't get to different planets without a ship, so if she's nearby, her ship can't be far from here."

Cyran asked a question, her visage contorted by what Tama assumed was the Duros' equivalent of a hopeful expression. Nuri listened intently, then turned back to the Twi'lek. "She wants to know how far your sister is."

"I don't know, exactly. A few kilometers, maybe? We only 'talked' for a moment, long enough to ensure each other that we're all alive. I think, if I focus long enough, I can find her, but I need...rest first."

"Convenient," Farr huffed.

"Shut your snout, barve face!" Ossa nearly shouted at the Rodian, who had the presence of mind to look abashed. " Forceful people need rest like everyone else!" She then gave the Twi'lek girl a sheepish glance. "Right?"

Tama forced herself not to sigh in exasperation. "I just said that..."

Nuri clapped her hands together to draw everyone's attention. "Tama says her sister's here, and if she's here, she's got a ship that'll get us the hell offworld. She's got the Force, just like Tama, only she's stronger; some kind of Zipper Shawl Warrior or something." Tama snorted in a weary chuckle, and Nuri allowed a tiny grin to quirk the corners of her mouth before continuing. "Chances are, if we get to her soon, we can all get out of this nightmare, and if the bastard who stole us from our homes comes after us, she'll be equipped with weapons and Force abilities to fight him off. That's an option that would require us venturing out into the forests and meeting up with her. Which means we would have to follow Tama until she has a more definite idea of where to meet her sister, or her sister contacts her again. But Tama also says her sister has a pretty good idea where we are, so if we wait here, it'll be easier for her to come to us. Though there's no guarantee that 'the Savior' and his clankers, or the other monsters out there, won't find us before she does. Which means if we remain here, we would have to be prepared to defend this position from enemies. And considering not all of us have blasters, and some of those blasters are low on ammo, I doubt our ability to withstand a siege for long."

"But other option would make us run through jungle, yeah?" Vo-Yees added for clarification.

"Neither option sounds good to me," Fenn huffed.

"We're in the middle of an uncharted jungle surrounding the prison we just escaped from, hunted by rancors, kell dragons, battle droids, and psychopaths," Nuri replied incredulously. "None of our options are good. That's why we all have to choose, and hope whatever we decide on is the lesser evil."

Fenn conceded the point with a flick of his ears and a shivering patch of fur on his cheeks. Nuri opened her mouth to speak again, but paused when a peal of thunder split the sky, close enough to set their ears ringing and their bodies shivering with the atmospheric vibrations. Reflexively, everyone looked up into the haze and dim light to see angry, dark clouds covering the sky, casting Felucia under a darkness impregnated with moisture both slick and oily that settled into their hair and skins. Rain was so imminent, it felt as though the charged atmosphere around them would suddenly exude droplets of rain and soak them through. For her part, Tama almost welcomed the idea of rain, as the tears of rain sure to fall might finally liberate her from the sensation of a suffocating layer of grime, sweat, and toxins lying between her epidermis and the thin rags that had once been her clothes.

Vibak-Ol was the first to speak after the atmospheric interruption. "No wet. Under trees, cover."

Nuri's brow rose in accordance with her question. "Are you saying you'd rather go looking for Tama's sister and the ship than stay here?"

Vibak-Ol bared his fearsome teeth. "If Tama can find, yes. If not, Vibak-Ol find. Huntin' good, ya."

Nuri shrugged, ignoring the brief flash of light accompanying a lightning strike down into the endless, undulating seas of mushrooms below. "There's one for searching the forests."

Farr gave Vibak-Ol a reproachful glance, then stood on shaky legs. "Rodian proud, bestest hunters. I will find her."

Tama shook her head at the Rodian's assertion, but appreciated the support for this option. She realized how dangerous the jungles were, and she could feel so many presences slinking through the forests, injured and tainted by the Dark Side. But now that she knew Foyi was out there, somewhere in the fungus and darkness, searching for her, she did not wish to stay in one place any longer. She needed rest and rejuvenation, but she did not even want to pause long enough for that. She just wanted to get to Foyi, to wrap her in an embrace and ask forgiveness for all the times she had been difficult, for all the times she had blamed her mistakes and shortcomings on her sister. Her sister, who only wished to protect her, to give her a proper education in the Force that had been denied Foyi and so many other prospective Zeison Sha by the Empire. She just wanted to feel the safety and spiritual completion that came with being with her only family. She licked her lips and said, "As long as I can rest for a little bit, I'm confident I can find my sister. If you're willing to follow me, we'll find her and she'll take us away from this planet."

Cyran gave a lengthy discourse in Durese, and those gathered turned to stare at Nuri for the translation. "Cyran says if Tama's sister is already looking for us, we would only be making it more difficult for her to find us if we're out wandering in the forests. Instead, we could hole up here, or find a place we can take shelter, and make it defensible. We've fought the battle droids before and came out on top, and we barely had any cover when we did so. She says that unless there are creatures on this planet taller than a rancor, no predators should be able to reach to the top of this ridge and grab us. That way, Tama could get some rest, and instead of using her power to lead us through the jungles, she could remain in one place and send a constant...Force beacon for her sister to find and follow." Nuri turned to Tama. "That...actually makes a lot of sense. I say we try something like that?"

"I thought you said we couldn't withstand a siege."

"I didn't say we couldn't. I said our chances were doubtful. But we've bested the odds through proper planning and teamwork before. And now we are so many more than we were; we could do it, if we work together. In tandem. Maybe."

Fenn raised the DL-44 that had been sitting in his lap. "I like that idea. I've gotten to be a pretty good shot with this thing, and I'm sure I could blast plenty of droids before they even got close enough to make us sweat."

Vo-Yees was already shaking his head as the Bothan spoke, his trio of eyes upon articulated stalks blinking rapidly. "We waitin' 'ere, we waitin' for to get blasted, yeah? We stay in one place, easier it being for Voice to find us, yeah? I'm sayin' we getting' outta here, as long as you can actually find your sister."

"I can," Tama replied, feigning confidence she did not feel.

"I'm with her!" Ossa exclaimed, indicating Tama with a wild gesture of her hand and a writhing shiver through her own headtails. "I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to. If Tama can lead us through the jungle to her sister and her ship, then I don't see any reason we have to sit around and wait. We did enough waiting in that fripping city, and there were still things trying to kill us. No matter what we do, there'll be things trying to kill us, and I'd rather be on the move, staying one step ahead of them, instead of sitting on my ass up here, just waiting for him and his droids or anymore dragons to come and kill us."

Tama nodded. It was not a particularly eloquent defense of her own opinion, but the Nautolan had brought up a valid point, one that coincided with Nuri's previous sentiments. Neither one of the options presented them were ideal, and both were fraught with unknowns. Tama was not comfortable with the fact that both were contingent on her Force abilities, and her capability of reestablishing telepathic contact with her sister. But since she had been trapped on this planet, she had reached far past her previous limits in the Force, accomplishing things she had not thought possible for one so relatively untrained as herself. She would just have to trust in the Force, and in the hope that when the time came, she would be up to the task presented her, and once again surpass her limits.

A crack of thunder made the very stone of the ridge beneath them rumble, causing most of the children gathered jump in momentary surprise. All eyes were instead drawn to the shivering Togruta girl, who sat the closest to the dying flames, and had not once looked up from the glowing ashes. Nuri leaned forward, scooting across the stone and moss to draw closer to the girl. "Ashla? What do you think we should do?"

The Togruta continued to stare into the ashes, but a slight twitch in her expression suggested that she was considering the question. This was not apparent to all present, however, for Ossa similarly leaned forward and nearly shouted, "Hey! She asked you a question."

Nuri jabbed a threatening finger at the Nautolan who had drawn far too close to both the Zabrak and the Togruta for Nuri's comfort. "If you don't stop yelling every word you speak and chill, I'm going to grab you by your headtails and throw you right over the edge."

While Ashla continued to shiver, Ossa shrank back from Nuri's rebuke, her large, dark eyes taking on a gleam that might have been shame, but could have also been anger. Nuri turned from her and back to Ashla, who had moved so close to the remains of the fire that she was practically kneeling in it. The Togruta girl's gaze finally lifted from her knees, but she did not quite meet anyone's eyes. "I...don't want to...stay here any longer. I don't want...to wait."

Nuri pursed her lips, but nodded her assent. "We've voted, and we've agreed on a verdict then. Tama will lead us through the jungles to find her sister. There are going to be untold numbers of dangers out there, so everyone has to remain alert and ready to flee or fight at a moment's notice. We have to keep an eye out for everyone, so we all stick together, right? Cover each others flanks, keep eyes out on everything around us. Those with blasters will guard the sides and bring up the rear; we're not letting anymore beasts get the drop on us. We keep low, we move fast, and we follow Tama's senses in the Force, because they're more acute than any of ours."

Farr made a wet snort. "Doubt it."

Nuri ignored him and continued speaking. "So we should get ourselves a little rest."

"After we make a shelter," Fenn suggested, self-consciously running a hand through his greasy, mud-slicked fur. "As much as I crave a good sanisteam, and that coming rain is probably the closest thing we'll get for awhile, I don't like the idea of catching some respiratory illness from getting too wet and cold."

"Good point," Nuri nodded. She scrambled to the edge of the ridge and looked down the slopes, gazing at several large species of fungi crowding the base of the cleft. "Let's see if we can detach one of those mushroom caps and bring it back up here for shelter." She slung her blaster rifle across her back and began to pick her way down the slopes. Without prompting, Fenn joined her, climbing slowly behind her. He was joined shortly by Vibak-Ol, who was grumbling something in his native language as he crawled over the edge of the ridge. Lightning flashed across the sky, chased by a truly terrifying shriek of thunder and the roar of the wind gaining speed. The storm that had been brewing and threatening to unleash its fury upon the tortured landscape of Felucia for the past few hours had finally arrived overhead, and it could be any amount of time before the rain lashed down with vengeance. Tama's eyes were drawn from the thunderheads as black as the void of space when she detected an intense stare upon her person, and her eyes met those of Ashla's.

"You...you can lead us? You can...get us away...from here?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"I'll do my best. I promise."

Ashla seemed slightly heartened by that, but her expression remained withdrawn and grim. She turned to look back into the embers and began to rock back and forth on her haunches. As she did so, the first drops of rain began to fall, and Tama hugged herself closer, awaiting the construction of a shelter that might allow her to gain some sleep. And with sleep, hopefully she would be able to draw upon the Force in the capacity that would be required, for more than her own life depended on her capabilities once again.

Tama let the rain slip down her lekku and neck and shivered, a reaction prompted not by the precipitation impacting with her skin, but rather by the prospect of being unable to find Foyi in the morass of mushrooms and the Dark Side.


The mushroom cap that Nuri, Fenn, and Vibak-Ol managed to lever atop the ridge proved to be more than adequate for keeping the children relatively free of the storm's ferocity. The cap of the mushroom was a hoary, slimy, roughly circular mass of fungal flesh that was surprising light despite its size, being a little under three meters in diameter, which made it incredibly awkward to lever back up to the top of the ridge. But Nuri, Fenn, and Vibak-Ol proved themselves to be up to the task, sliding it up the slope, balanced between them, until it was high enough that the children atop the cliff could seize its edges and pull it atop the ridge. From there, they pulled some of the scattered rocks and shattered shards of the cliffside ascending above them in small piles near the puddles of ashes and soot that had once been their fire. These piles of stone and lichens were used as supports for the severed mushroom's cap, which was propped up at an acute angle facing into the wind-lashed sheets of rain that were now falling from the turbulent skies above, the curved surface of the fungal material causing the rain to pour in rivulets and streams along the edges of the cap and down the ridge's sides. The former prisoners huddled together beneath the cap's inky shadows. Though they had all been thoroughly soaked by the rain, they were given the opportunity to let their oily, grungy skin and grimy, tattered clothes dry. And to catch what sleep they were able to, the food settling in their bellies and their continuing exhaustion lulling them into varying depths of sleep.

Tama's sleep was fitful, causing her to rise and descend from the depths of oblivious slumber, leaving her in a fugue state in which she remained for an unknown period of time. She had no dreams that she could remember, though she had flashes of images, of impressions beyond herself that may or may have not been real. She heard the sound of the rain drumming on the fungal shelter above her, saw the wavering silhouette of Nuri as she crouched near the edge of the shelter, the barrel of her blaster directed at the darkness beyond, the snores of one of the other children a guttural wheeze thick with phlegm. These sensations, if they even existed around her, blurred into the infrequent periods of darkness and loss of sensation that constituted sleep. These blissful moments became more frequent, and merged together into the closest thing to true sleep she had accomplished in as long as she could remember.

It was with reluctance that she awoke from her slumber, groggily turning over from where she had lain on her side to look into the furtive gazes of Nuri and Ossa, both of whom were leaning over her. Tama sat bolt upright in momentary fright, nearly slamming her forehead into Nuri's as she came upright. Nuri jumped back, almost toppling Ossa in the process. "Wha—Wha' do ya want?" Tama slurred as she furiously tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.

Nuri looked apologetic, but determined as well. "The rain's stopped...well, slowed, rather. It's just spitting now, and we're waking everyone up so we can get moving. I don't think anyone here wants to stay any longer than we have to, so we're gonna be ready to move...as long as you are."

Tama glanced at the Zabrak through her fingers. "I thought you voted to stay here."

Nuri bit her lower lip. "I was outvoted, remember? I've got a really bad feeling about walking through the jungle, but I trust in you and your abilities. If anyone can lead us out of here and to your sister, it'll be you."

Tama turned away so that Nuri could not see the grimace of apprehension she knew to be on her features, peering out from beneath the black shadows of the mushroom cap shelter. The ridge beyond their makeshift lean-to was decorated by lakes and rivers of water in microcosm, where the rain had filled in depressions and fractures in the ridge's surface. The water was so fervent in its erosive predilections that whole colonies of mold and lichens had sloughed off the lip of the ridge and into the dark, storm-tossed jungles below. It was still abysmally dark, and she could see the brief glimmers of rain drops falling through the sky to spatter the canopies below, as well as the sheen of moisture that seemed to permeate every surface, producing a strange, kaleidoscopic illumination in the faint glows of phosphorescent fungi. The jungles beautiful in a haunting way.

The others began to move around her as Ossa and Nuri woke them, accompanied by many groans and curses of protest. Tama ignored the distracting noises and tentatively reached out to the Force, letting it flow into her, enhancing her natural senses. She did not feel the overwhelming wave of fatigue she had feared upon touching it, suggesting that what little sleep she had acquired had had some positive effects upon her supernatural abilities. But with the Force's touch came Felucia's Dark Side affinity, and she grimaced as the whispers became loud, yammering voices in her ears. Reflexively, she clapped her hands to her ears and concentrated on looking past the oppressive Dark Side, searching for the familiar sounds, smells, and images that formed a bundle of existence that she thought of as her sister. She reached for untold kilometers over Felucia's surface, sending a klaxon in all directions, attempting to alert Foyi to her presence.

But Foyi did not answer. Or could not answer.

Tama suppressed the fear that that possibility inspired in her, threatening to strangle her. She already had an impression of the direction and location from whence Foyi's contact had been directed, and thus it was not difficult, after concentrated searching, to find the remnants of Foyi's presence. The images, smells, and sounds she had left behind in her passing, as though her sister had shouted within an expansive room and the echoes of that voice lingered still. It was not Foyi herself, but the Force remembered her presence, how she had drawn upon it to search for Tama. Such uses left distinct footprints within the limitless energy field, footprints that spurred memories and sensations of her sister unbidden, but not unwelcome.

Tama opened her eyes again, letting her senses recede from the Force, but still feeling that phantasm of Foyi's passage and presence, like a blip on her hazy mental radar that barely registered, and yet continued to draw her toward it in a vacuous, gravitic pull. She turned to the others, all of whom were awake once again, though few seemed happy about it. Farr's coloration had changed to a more natural hue, and he appeared to be feeling better after his momentary bout with whatever alien bacteria had been in the water he had so foolishly partaken of. Ashla was still downtrodden, and barely breathed as she gathered herself for their journey, though Tama could feel a spark of life in her, as if a flickering light that had been dimmed had awoken. In this way, she shared the same mix of enthusiasm and apprehension that they all felt at the prospect of venturing out into the deadly and dark jungles once again. Nuri turned from a brief conversation with Fenn, then faced Tama. "Do you have a course plotted for us, Tama?"

Tama mustered more courage and confidence in her life than she actually felt as she nodded. She could no longer be strong just for herself. "I do. I can feel my sister out there, and I'll lead us to her, and she'll take us all away on her ship."

Fenn's ears twitched forward in consternation. "What happens if she moves from where she is now?"

Tama kept her expression neutral as her eyes met the Bothan's gaze in the darkness beneath their shelter. "I can sense her wherever she goes on this planet, as long as I maintain my focus. It doesn't matter where she moves." While this was certainly true, Tama felt it best to leave out the fact that she could not currently sense Foyi's presence, and would be only able to follow a ghost of her existence until Foyi decided to open up to her once again. If she ever would. If she was still alive.

Tama scooped up the E-5 Blaster Rifle she had laid beside her as she slept, then slung it over her back and approached the edge of the ridge on stiff and sore legs. The aches in her limbs only grew as she began to climb down the wet slopes of that ridge, her fingers and toes struggling to maintain purchase on the slippery fractures and depressions she used to support herself, slipping in mud and thick tangles of fungi and moss. Obese tears of rain splattered the top of her head, dripping down her neck and spine, and sliding along her arms and legs. She concentrated on maintaining her balance and sticking to the ridge's nearly shear slope, and so focused upon safely lowering herself was she that she did not realize she had reached the ground until her toes found themselves submersed in mud. Tama dropped the rest of the way to the forest floor, then stood at the base of the slope and reached up, helping everyone who climbed down after her, until they had all reached the ground once more.

Tama unslung her blaster and gripped it tight as she peered into the shifting shadows, interspersed with phosphorescent plants and the glints of spurting raindrops catching and refracting those dim glows. The wind's howls were not as frightening or overwhelming beneath the fungal canopies, though the sounds of groans and creaks as the stalks, fronds, and mushrooms constituting the jungle submitted to the winds' power was deafening. It would be incredibly difficult to hear any predators or enemies lurking in the darkness nearby, and with her use of the Force almost exclusively focused upon following the traces left behind by her sister, it was unlikely she would be able to sense any approaching threats until it was too late. She turned to Nuri, and glanced at the other children huddled around, all of whom were peering into the jungle with fear and suspicion. "Keep an eye out. I probably won't be able to warn anyone in time if we run across any droids or monsters. Not if I have to concentrate on finding my sister first."

Nuri tightened her grip on her blaster rifle. "We'll cover you. You lead us." Her expression softened slightly. "You've got this, right?"

"We'll see." Without further words, Tama plunged into the jungle, leading the troupe of escaped prisoners on a trek through the darkness and fungus, clambering up and down ridges and through shallow gulleys, across raging streams that forced them to wade through, the water sometimes reaching up to their chests in height. The soaring canopies above them cast the jungles in darkness, though the phosphorescent illumination of the sickly plants created a strange twilight in which they walked, as though they were meandering through a dreary, dreamlike version of reality. Occasionally, they met random sheets of rain, where the spaces between the immense diameters of the towering mushrooms were large enough to admit the precipitation falling upon the planet below. Tama had little consideration for the terrain they were clambering and crawling over, leading their company in as straight of a path as she could, trying to cross the unknown distance between their current position and where she had last sensed Foyi.

Fortunately, the others kept up with the pace the Twi'lek set, despite all their aches and injuries, the hope that they would soon find themselves off this nightmare world sustaining them and granting them the stamina to keep moving. The occasional rustling and snaps in the underbrush not far from the path they forged also served as motivation for their hurried pace. Tama could sense the essences of other creatures as fleeting glimpses and faint whiffs of unique aromas as they passed, but her danger sense had yet to alert her of approaching foes. She did not focus too much on these other essences, for all those armed behind her kept their attention to the sides and behind their group, their blasters sweeping back and forth to cover the darkest regions from which new threats might jump.

Tama was unaware of exactly how much time they had already spent in the jungle. She concentrated on piercing the cloying, roiling strands of the Dark Side that endeavored to weave a web of temptation and confusion about her, using her connection to Foyi as the lifeline that kept her sane. She could still not sense Foyi herself, though the area in which she had detected traces of her presence was nearby now. The ground at their feet was becoming more difficult to navigate, the mud giving way to jagged shards of stone, covered and fractured by moss and lichens that stubbornly continued to break them apart in their erosive pursuits. The ground was sloping upward in several undulating hills and ridges, surrounded by slopes and gorges that sometimes dropped so sharply, their true depths were hidden in darkness, their slopes carved with the trails of water driven downward by Felucia's gravity. The jungle had grown thick, twisted, and gnarled here, so that there barely remained space for them to walk between the individual plants in single file.

Tama slipped between a pair of bulbous stalks swaying in the wind, her hands pressing against their slimy, moist sides in a vain effort to push them farther apart. She forced herself to continue further as quickly as she was able, for she could feel the specter of her sister nearby, so close now, she could practically taste a sweetness on her tongue that signified happier times for her. She looked back to see how close to her the others were, and found herself mildly disconcerted to find that it was Ossa who had slipped directly behind her. The Nautolan coughed after squeezing between the stalks, gasping for breath and managing to also block the passage of Nuri, who was trying to slip past directly behind her. "How...much further?" Ossa whined in between gasps.

Tama shook her head. "Not far. We've almost made it...I'm sure of it."

Nuri gave a frustrated groan and reached between the individual fungi, giving the Nautolan a shove forward. "Ossa, if you're going to walk in the front, quit standing in one flaming place all the time."

Ossa whirled around on quivering legs, anger suffusing her emaciated frame. "Quit pushing me around!" she shouted back, unnecessarily and frighteningly loud. Despite her anger, she stepped to the side to let the others push through the bulbous specimens, and as she planted her foot down on a large shard of smoothed and flattened rock, the rock slid out from under her weight, descending the sharply-angled slope on its opposite side as much of the mud that defined the ridge they stood upon began to give way. Nuri lost her balance immediately, but she fell between the two concentric stacks of transparent bulbs and stayed put. Farr cursed in Rodese as he fell on his side, and Cyran uttered a shriek of surprise as she took a tumble down the opposite side of the ridge, where she fell into a small depression and caught herself in a thicket of tubular fronds. The others managed to keep their feet, or dropped into crouches or on their bellies to remain atop the ridge. Tama surprised herself by simply bending her knees in a steady crouch as some of the mud fell away from her with a horrid slurping sound. She threw her arms out to regain her equilibrium, then looked back to make certain everyone remained whole.

She turned in time to see Ossa's feet lose their traction completely, flying out from under her, and sending the unfortunate girl tumbling along with the blanket of mud. With a shriek, she disappeared from sight, down the slope and into the inky blackness of a ravine to the side of the ridge.

Nuri cursed, wriggling from where she had been wedged between the large stalks and scrambling to the edge of the ravine, which was still weeping sheets of mud. "Ossa! Ossa!" she called frantically. "Ossa, answer me!"

"She dead," Vibak-Ol remarked from where he clung to the uppermost part of the ridge, his guttural tones sounding completely unconcerned.

From within the depths of rain-soaked darkness that was the ravine came a spluttering noise, followed by a splash. "I'm not dead, you bishwag! I just fell in alotta mud...stars, I'm all slimy now!"

Nuri rolled her eyes in such an exasperated manner, Tama could see the gesture clearly, despite the oppressive darkness. Fenn returned to a standing position, a smile quirking his lips. "I think she's alright..."

Tama strode carefully back to Nuri's side and crouched, letting her shoes sink into the mud to keep her in one place as she craned her neck forward in an attempt to peer into the complete darkness of the ravine beyond. She could sense Ossa's presence down there, but she could not see her. "Ossa! Can you climb out?!"

There came the sounds of struggle, a grunt, followed by a truly lurid string of expletives. "I don't think so! All the sides are made of mud, and there's water down here too! Maybe if it fills up a little more, I could swim my way out!"

"How full is it? Are you in danger of drowning?"

"Seriously?!" came the shrieking reply.

Tama gave Nuri a completely befuddled look, and the Zabrak did her best to hide her smile. "She's a Nautolan," she answered in a low tone. "They're amphibious, and breathe water."

"Oh," Tama replied self-consciously.

"Let's find somethin' ta pull up wit', yeah?" Vo-Yees suggested.

The others began to spread out down the more gentle slopes of the ridge, looking for something lengthy and pliable enough to be used like a rope or support that Ossa could grab upon and be hauled up by. Both Vibak-Ol and Farr grumbled about the irritating personality and clumsiness of the girl, but Cyran assaulted them both with such a stern and abrasive string of Durese, they did not have to understand the language to comprehend what she was trying to communicate. She was vehement enough in her rebuke that they both ceased their complaining and concentrated on finding something to help the unfortunate Nautolan. Tama briefly considered trying to reach out to the girl with the Force and lift her telekinetically from the pit, but she was even less confident in her stunted abilities with telekinesis than she was in her capability of locating Foyi. Plus she could not see Ossa, which presented almost an impossibility for her. She began searching the ridges, approaching the thicket of tubular fungi that Cyran had taken a fall into and gripping the base of one of those strands, pulling as hard as she could until the cylindrical and surprisingly flexible specimen was separated from its roots. She brought the fungal strand before her and pulled on both sides, only for the plant to pull apart in the middle and exude a splash of ichor in the mud. Well, that won't work.

"You guys had better not have left me down here!" came Ossa's frustrated and angered shout.

"I have an idea," Fenn announced, ignoring Ossa's continued grousing. "Why don't we detach the straps from our blasters, hook 'em together, and make a rope that way?"

It was simple and innovative, and the others nodded their agreement to the plan almost immediately, while Vo-Yees remarked with a grunt. "Stellar plan, yup." Those armed with blaster rifles detached the carrying straps from their weapons, crafted from tough nerf leather and fiber meshes, though some of the straps seemed circumspect in their ability to hold any significant weight due to their ages and the prevalence of frayed fibers along their edges. But when properly fastened together and yanked at both ends, the resulting length held its composition. Nuri took the length in her hands and crept to the edge of the pitch-black ravine, straining to see their trapped companion. "Ossa! Watch your headtails!" That was the only warning given as she tossed the length into the depths, the connections where the individual straps had been hooked together klinking as the makeshift rope slapped wetly against the slope of the ravine.

Tama, Fenn, and Vibak-Ol each grasped the opposite end of the coil, joining Nuri in bracing for the weight of the Nautolan they would have to haul up a sheer ravine's slope. They waited for the inevitable tug and Ossa's incessant vociferations...and continued waiting as a lengthy moment passed. Nuri cocked a concerned eyebrow, then leaned forward again in a vain attempt to see the girl below. "Ossa? You blind? We're waiting."

Tama tentatively reached out to the Force again, attempting to sense Ossa's presence in the ravine below. But her concentration was broken by a sudden, frenetic series of splashes from the gorge's depths, followed by something that sounded like a groan or a grunt. Those not actively holding onto the "rope" gathered at the edge of the lip of the slope, trying to pierce the darkness with their own gazes. Tama felt a growing feeling of dread in her gut, and the Dark Side's tireless whispers were becoming more exultant, harder to ignore. "Something's wrong..." she muttered, only partially aware of her physical surroundings anymore as Felucia's tainted essence threatened to crush her beneath its metaphysical weight.

Nuri sensed something was wrong as well, for she shouted louder this time. "Ossa! Can you hear us? Ossa! Answer me!"

The others began to call her name, but their shouts were cut short by the sounds of more splashing, followed by something that sounded like a strangled shriek or a wild animal. Nuri immediately dropped the length of the rope they had fashioned and ran to one of the larger stalks of mushrooms squatting atop the ridge, using the rusty old vibroknife to cut away a large section of its bole, which glowed an eerie blue, casting her features into a lurid, cerulean light. She ran past the other children and tossed the chunk of fungal flesh into the ravine, scooping up her A280 in the same motion. She shouldered the rifle and aimed it down the slope as the fungal slab plunged below, illuminating the contours of the slope, the "rope" dangling down to the mud-swirled water, before it splashed into the water, sending out blue-tinged ripples across the pool of mud and rainwater collected in the bottom of the gorge. Those ripples were almost immediately diverted when they caught upon a large, oblong object floating on the water's surface, and the light from the bobbing hunk of phosphorescence brought the contours of that shape into focus. There was a collective gasp of shock and fear as the children realized the floating object was Ossa, lying on her back, her large, dark eyes so wide they were practically bulging from their sockets, peering from a ghastly mask that had once been her face. Her malnourished body had become shockingly skeletal, as though all the remaining muscle, interior tissues and organs, had been excised entirely, leaving little more than a sack of skin stretched taut over protruding bones. Even her headtresses, splayed out from her cranium like limp hair, had diminished in width and length, looking more like scraggly tendrils barely affixed to her head. Tama did not have to reach out to her in the Force to know that Ossa was dead; the stench of future decay and a whisper of fear reached her nose and ears as she looked down upon the corpse.

"She dead!" Farr practically squealed, stating the obvious.

"Impossible!" Vo-Yees cried in denial. "She being Nautolan! No Nautolan drown!"

The sinking feeling in Tama's gut had become a weight of carbonite, constricting her breathing. Her danger sense was rising rapidly, all of her senses urging her to back away, to flee as fast and as far as her legs could carry her, to hide in the depths of the jungle and never emerge. The skin on her lekku was practically vibrating with the sensation that she was being watched by a presence that held only ill will toward her.

It came as no surprise then, as the children continued to stare at the remains of one of their own, that their captor's voice swam through the morass of their minds, cutting through their thoughts like a blaster bolt scything shimmersilk. You strive, you claw, you bite and scurry. Hurry hurry hurry run as fast as you can. It won't stop, it'll never stop, please save us save us it has to end somewhere. The Universe is hungry, it has been wronged. It sent us to shepherd and guide, to expose the darkness, the devilsquid's ink blotting the flimsiplast of your souls. Only through the exposure of light, of truth and realization can the Universe be satisfied. Your sins, our sins, my sins all sins must be cleansed. Let us do it. Make us stop. It happened, it happens again and again. Evil born anew, again and again; they won't stop breeding and the darkness doesn't ever go away. You thought you were clever, you thought you were pretty. But you are Barabels in the skins of Chadra-Fan, always pretending, putting on masks and hiding, grasping and holding the darkness close, the sins that make the Universe retch and boil. You can't escape yourselves, and we can't escape us. The Universe demands, reality must be balanced and remade. Sins must be taken, lest they fester and grow and drown all that is light in darkness. We're here. I'm here. The darkness within you must be cleansed, and we will help you find peace, find truth and rightness in death.

The voice was not so painful this time as it worked its way through their minds; indeed, it was barely a whisper compared to the Force-enhanced scream that had debilitated most of them and summarily killed Otar. But there was a cold quality to it, one that sent Tama into shivers, as though the passion and desperation for his twisted sense of morality had been abandoned completely. "The Savior" was out in the jungle with them, maybe following them the entire way they fled and trekked across the untamed forests, only to take advantage of one of their number being separated from the whole. And he had just killed Ossa with...something. Tama could not fathom what exactly this creature had done to end the Nautolan's life in such a way, but she was confident that some dark use of the Force was behind it. And if he was nearby, she was their only line of defense against such supernatural powers; she doubted her ability to fight another Force-user while healthy and hale, much less in her current condition. The Twi'lek peeled herself form the stupor the Voice had lain upon her mind like a shroud over her eyes, numbly hefting her weapon and forcing those nearest her back to their feet. "We have to run. Now!"

"Wha'?" Vibak-Ol gurgled loudly.

Tama was about to repeat herself more vehemently, hoping her raised voice would shock the others from their forced stupors, when Nuri suddenly stood up with her blaster raised and fired back indiscriminately over the ridge, in the direction from whence they had walked. Fenn cried out as two of those blaster bolts connected with his chest, and Cyran shrieked as another clipped her shoulder, evident by a blossom of blood spattering the mud at her feet. Farr yelped in surprise and raised his blaster, but his frantic shot went wide and whizzed past Nuri's face, close enough to raise blisters along her cheek and jaw. Tama shouted incoherently as she tackled the Zabrak from behind, nearly taking another bolt from Farr straight to the forehead, and instead feeling it slip millimeters past her tchun. She and Nuri hit the mud and rolled in a tangled heap, struggling over the blaster rifle, while Fenn continued to scream and Cyran whimpered. Tama rolled Nuri over and saw a pure grimace of uncontrollable fear on her face, though her eyes were locked on something distant, something only she could see.

Tama shoved the blaster rifle against the Zabrak's chest and slapped her across the face, hard enough to stun her. It was the most she could do in that instant, for she could feel the Force writhing around the unfortunate girl, somehow affecting her mind with abject fear and bewilderment. Nuri was babbling complete gibberish, which ceased suddenly when Tama struck her, and she began to come to again, her eyes refocusing and her death grip on her blaster relaxing. Tama leaned over her, locked gazes, and shouted, "Nuri! Whatever you're seeing, it's not real! Snap out of it!"

Nuri's gaze shifted, then met Tama's own, lingering bewilderment and horror drawing tears from her eyes. "Tama? Wha—?"

Whatever more she wanted to say, Fenn shrieked again, a scream so tortured and unnatural it was painful to hear. Everyone's regards were drawn to where the Bothan lay, only to see him drug across the ridge's mud, leaving a trail of indentations caused by his flailing limbs and bright smears of blood that reflected the phosphorescent light of the closest mushrooms. The way he moved, it appeared as though something was dragging him away into the deeper shadows, but nothing physical could be seen. Tama's eyes followed the invisible path suggested by the Bothan's flurried movements, and caught a glimpse of something vaguely humanoid lurking in the darkness beneath the fungal canopies. The insane whispers in her ears became a joyous clamor as the Dark Side was called upon by someone, or something, within a stone's throw of her, inevitably dragging Fenn from the group and into the shrouding darkness beneath the mushroom caps.

Tama hauled the nearly insensate Nuri to her feet and pushed her shoulders beneath her left armpit, supporting her as she turned away from the shape, from the dying Fenn's fearsome fate. "Run!" she screamed to the other children, most of whom had been shocked to a dead standstill. Her scream broke them from their reveries, from their locked gazes upon the ghastly fate about to befall the unfortunate Bothan boy. Ashla uncharacteristically sprang to her feet first, pulling Cyran up with her and supporting her as the two hobbled away from the presence of "the Savior". Farr still seemed determined to shoot Nuri dead, but his desire for personal survival overrode his desire for retaliation, and he accompanied Vibak-Ol in running past the hobbling pairs of girls to take the lead. Vo-Yees brought up the rear, aiming his blaster back into the forests' depths and firing randomly at the black shapes there which seemed to become amorphous shades of horror of their own volition. Fenn's cries became more frantic, and then devolved into a series of gasps, gurgles, and retching. The Dark Side warped and twisted further atop the ridge, and Tama hurried as quickly as she could, pulling the discombobulated Nuri along with her.

Farr gave a shout a few meters ahead, followed by a grunt and growl from Vibak-Ol, then a clattering of stone and broken fungi, as though many objects had been dislodged and were falling down a slope. Tama's curiosity as to the source of the noise was answered almost immediately, as her distracted focus caused her not to notice the ridge dropping away into a gradual but sudden slope deeper into the jungles. Both she and Nuri tumbled head over heels, their interlocked arms separating as they fell through mud and underbrush, before hitting more level ground, the impact softened by deep mud. Tama sprawled upon her belly, momentarily suffocated by the mud reaching up her nostrils and into her mouth. She pushed off the ground, her wrists sinking into the mire, spitting and sneezing the viscous dirt, water, and spores from her respiratory passages. Her right hand came up to smear the mud from her eyes, and her gaze found Nuri struggling to rise as well. Her face was contorted with a grimace of pain that went far beyond physical; she was horrified by what had occurred on the ridge. "I...I killed—Fenn...he's dead..."

Tama tossed her head back and forth, to see the other children picking themselves out of the mud, attempting to run as far and as fast as the treacherous ground would allow. From above them, carried by the shrill and indifferent wind, came a final, sobbing wail from Fenn. Tama pushed down the revulsion and fear she felt, seizing hold of Nuri's arm and hauling her back to her feet. "We run. We can't help him now."