Chapter 58

So, I was trying to see where I was, noticed more chapters that FanFiction had messed up the formatting for… noted some places that needed corrections or editing. No worries, I will finish this story before I do anymore of that. Here's the thing, the story has progressed so far that I am just going to skip some of the conversations you can have with Torian on the ship. It wouldn't really make sense to have those at this point.

Don't hate me. Chances are. Once the story is wrapped up I will add them in where they could fit appropriately into the narrative. More work for a later date.

As for now, my wish to you remains the same. Cheers and enjoy the read.

To everyone's joy, Skadge wasn't much for babysitting. Once they got to Rishi he went to the first tavern with his earnings and made it clear that his plans for their 3 day stay was to drink, fight and repeat. Mako and Torian reached out to Corridan and Co. about joining them and Blizz headed straight to the markets to see what junk he could salvage and turn into a new tool or piece of armor.

No one knew where Gault had gone, and they all knew better than to ask.

Raidre on the other hand was looking for any interesting hunting trips. After a look around Raider's Cove, she gathered that the only animals worth mentioning on land were Jungle Wampa's and Krak'jyas, but that the water had more to offer; Skar'klas!

"So-" she said as she caught up to Torian who was sitting at a table while Mako ordered them some food.

Torian looked up from his datapad. "Hmm?"

"Wanna go hunting?"

Torian put the pad away, eyes narrowed, face split with a grin. "What?"

"They have Skar'klas here, thought you might be interested."

Torian nodded. "We'll need water gear."

Raidre grinned back. "Oh! Can we go shopping for new toys?! Can we?!"

Torian laughed. Mako joined them with a platters piled high with food. "Oh, Raidre, good thing I grabbed extra. Wanna eat?"

The girls sat down around Torian as a red figure began running towards them. Torian frowned and the girl's followed his line of sight. Gault ran into the table grabbed two handfuls of food and kept running. No one said anything as a group of locals came in and ran after Gault. Raidre's mouth opened and closed like a drel out of water. Mako and Torian just followed the people as they ran without a word.

"Should we help him?"

"NO!" Torian and Mako said in unison to Raidre's query.

Raidre sighed and her shoulder slumped as she pouted. "Okay."

They ate in silence for a moment.

"So Mako. Any word from Corridan?"

Mako was jolted at the question, Raidre slowed down her eating pace in order to give their conversation her attention.

"Not yet, you?"

Torian had a frown he did, it was a very 'dad' face. His brows would crease a bit so that a single line would appear between them and he would press and purse his lips together. The look was utterly disapproving and he did that face now. Raidre chewed as quiet as she was able to.

"So, how long has this been going on?"

Raidre and Mako both stopped chewing. Mako cleared her throat. "Ah, a while now." Was all she could muster the courage to say.

Torian looked at her, brows brought down low on his eyes. "Define 'awhile'?"

Raidre sipped her caf in silence as she watched Mako squirm under Torian's scrutiny. Mako straightened up as she went a little pale.

"Maybe 4 or 5 months?"

Torian brought his drink down hard enough to shake the other cups. "You don't know?! Do you even know the date when it started?!"

Raidre covered her mouth to muffle any sound that might escape. Mako stared at Torian with wide eyed disbelief.

"Should I?"

Torian groaned as he let his palm slap his forehead. "Mako, what is this to you? Is this even serious? Because I don't want my vod to be hurt if it isn't."

Mako blinked, Raidre laughed silently in her palm and Torian just glared at her. For a while nothing was said. Mako cleared her throat again and frowned.

"So I should I be asking you what your intentions are with Raidre, then?"

Raidre laughed out loud as they began to glare at each other. They both turned to her with a slow deliberation that was synchronized. Raidre was in stitches. She got up.

"I'm sorry guys. I can't, this is.. " she wheezed and straightened her face up though her eyes still had tears from her previous laughter. "I'm going to get more caf, just signal when it's safe to come back."

Raidre sauntered off and Mako went back to her standoff with Torian. "No, really? Should I be asking you that?"

Torian snorted. "You know what my intentions are with Raidre, they have always been the same."

"Really?" she asked. "It's not like you've made it clear to anyone though."

Torian inhaled and exhaled and Mako continued to glare. She crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll go first. I like Corridan. Miss him when he's gone. It would be nice if we could all just work together on the same jobs, but for that we'd need a bigger ship. And that would be a lot to ask for… And we don't know each other that well yet, so I haven't asked!"

Torian sighed. "She's the only one for me."

Mako blinked. "Wait, what?"

Torian sighed. "Saw you two on Dromund Kass first. Couldn't stop thinking about her. Helped me with Jicoln and that meant a lot. And it's been tough this past year, she can be such a PAIN!"

Mako snickered. "Yea, I know. Trust me."

"But, she's all I want. And it hasn't changed."

Mako frowned as she blinked at him. "You know, there's a word for that-"

Torian put an open palm over her mouth to silence her. "No, don't."

Mako laughs was muffled by his palm, she nodded and he removed his palm. Mako smiled at Torian. "Glad your feelings are so clear about her."

Torian rolled her eyes. "Work in progress."

"Suuuuuuuuure it is." Mako laughed. "So, we done with this?"

"Yea, you're serious enough."

Mako sighed. "And is he serious?"

Torian frowned. "He hasn't made that obvious?"

Mako shrugged. "We keep meeting whenever someone gets hurt, so we haven't talked much about that kind of stuff."

"Ah." Torian said. "Guess we can call back Raidre, right?"

Mako laughed. "Yea, we can."

Torian signaled to Raidre who began to inch back. "I'm glad you two make each other happy though." Mako whispered.

Torian smiled and blushed. "Happy for you and Cor too."

Raidre sat down. "We good or do I have to mediate a duel now?"

Mako laughed. "Naw, we good."

Torian nodded. "You wanted to go hunting Skar'klas?"

"Yea! Shopping for snorkeling gear and underwater guns!"

Mako blinked with shock and surprise. "You're the only girl I know who could say those words with a straight face and be honest about it."

Torian sighed as he leaned on his right hand to rest his face in his palm. "Yea, she's the best."

Mako looked between Torian and Raidre and rolled her eyes. "Right, that's enough 3rd wheeling for me, guys."

Raidre frowned as Mako got up. "You two have fun, I'm going to browse some less lethal wares."

Without another word, Mako waved and walked away. Torian looked back at Raidre and noted the crease between her brows.

"You know she's just teasing us, right?"

Raidre met his gaze. "Are we 3rd wheeling her, though?"

Torian chuckled. "No, misses Cor though."

Raidre sighed and chugged the rest of her caf. "Alright, vacation mode. Let's go get us some underwater gear!"

Torian smiled at her. "That's my girl."

Aruetiise had a different idea of bathing suits were than Mandalorians did. Torian stared as he and Raidre walked along the beach, geared up and ready to go hunting. A lot of skin flashing and little left to the imagination. Torian stared ahead, Raidre still had those tight pants, once black now faded to grey. There was something to be said for mystery. He had stared at her backside for months wondering ridiculous things; did she have any birthmarks on her legs or cheeks? Was there a scar he hadn't seen yet? Now that he had seen her naked a few times, it just made it more maddening when she was in full kit.

"Torian?"

He shook his thoughts away at the sound of his voice. Raidre was turned to him, a brow quirked. Torian cleared his throat as he felt heat rise to his face.

"What I miss?"

Raidre laughed at his words. "You didn't hear a word, did you?"

Torian sighed and shook his head. "Must be deaf." He replied.

Raidre squinted and frowned at him. "Wait, you say that a lot."

Torian nodded. "Sure do."

A crooked grin split Raidre's face. "So is that your automatic reply when I catch you staring at my ass?"

Torian's face felt like it was on fire. He sighed and looked away as he scratched an invisible itch at the back of his head. "Maybe." Was all he could commit to.

Raidre laughed out loud but turned away. "Alright, let's hunt."

Torian grinned as he put his buy'ce on. "Oya!"

The water was clear and a light shade of turquoise. It was a bit heavy at first to wade in, but once they were at waist level, Raidre also but her buy'ce on. Their comm links synced up and Torian gave her a gauntleted thumbs up.

They dove and they began to swim.

Torian had been impressed with Raidre's ability to find hidden gems, much like Higgy's 'toy' shop on Nar Shadaa, Raidre had managed to find the one shop that had what they needed and knew better than to ask too many questions. They had bought jet packs for underwater, spear guns with adequate ammunition and blades that would be serviceable underwater. They had traded in their usual plates for mesh vests and Raidre had made sure their buy'ces, gauntlets and greaves would be waterproof. All in all it was a light packing, so Torian had insisted on a couple of survival essentials, such as an emergency med-pack and some emergency rations in case they got stuck somewhere.

"Why we going early? Skar'klas hunt at dusk and dawn?" Torian asked.

Raidre chuckled, but it sounded full of nerves rather than mirth. "Well… About that…"

Torian grunted at her to get on with it.

She sighed. "Well… I wanted to see the corals and the pretty fish." She admitted in a low voice.

Torian shrugged. She looked back at him. "Not gonna make fun of me?"

Torian frowned and remembered she couldn't see his face under water. "No, vacation. Want to look at pretty things? We can look at pretty things."

Raidre slowed down until they were swimming side by side. "But it's not very Mandalorian of me."

Torian chuckled. "We're hunting after. That makes up for it." He nudged her a bit and she giggled and nudged him back.

Torian followed her as they swam deeper and deeper into the ocean bay. The water was clear enough that they could still see without having to use their buy'ce lights. Corals lined the floors and aquatic plants swayed to the rhythm of the water. From noon to about 4 pm they swam and followed animals from one place to the other, rays, schools of fish even some whales. He had to admit that it was cute how excited she would get whenever she saw something bright or colourful.

They surfaced to replenishing their oxygen stores and for a quick meal before they proceeded to the real hunt. They picked an island that was uninhabited and close to the real shore. The water was shallow enough that they could still see clear through it to the ground, but deep enough that they needed to swim. It was a good lookout point.

Raidre took her buy'ce off and sighed as she got the breeze on her bare face. Torian smiled beneath his own buy'ce at her.

"Gonna get us supper." He said as he waved and left.

Raidre waved at him and began to set things up for a fire. Torian was barely gone for an hour before he came back with an orobird. The fire was crackling and already the embers were bright and white when Torian got back with his catch. They prepared their food without much chatter. Torian noted that Raidre spiced the krif out of the meat as she cooked it.

After cooking it on the braise they sat and ate.

"Urk!" Torian coughed. Raidre joined him in coughing.

"Shabla Haran! What is wrong with this?!" she cried out.

Torian coughed and grabbed the canteen of water. "Wow, that was… awful."

Raidre reached and Torian handed her the canteen. She took deep mouthfuls of the water and forced herself to swallow. She wiped her face. "Wow, that… I can't even explain how bad that was!"

Torian managed a chuckle as he threw his meal on the fire. "Stick to fish next time."

Raidre laughed with him. "Yea, birds here are just-bitter!"

They chuckled and ate the rations packs Torian had insisted on. Raidre sighed at the dry but tolerable taste of the rations packs after the foulness of the orobird meat.

"Man, am I glad you insisted on being prepared!" she said as she chewed.

Torian smiled and shrugged. "Had to. You're trouble. Safer to be ready for it."

Raidre exaggerated her gasp. "Torian! Why I never!"

Torian laughed at her fake indignation. "Know it. You're a magnet."

Raidre chuckled and sighed. "Yea, I guess I have been lately."

They sat in silence a moment and basked as the sun began to set. Torian looked at her as her hair glowed orange in the light of the fire and the sunset. He smiled and looked back to the water. "Mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Raidre looked at him, a smile tugged at the edges of her lips. "If I answer it, I get to ask you something personal." She shot back.

Torian nodded. "Fair enough. Are you seeing anyone?"

Raidre chewed on the inside of her cheek a bit, looking away a second and looking him in the eyes. "No, but I could be talked into it, by the right guy."

Torian looked away a moment as he tried not to let himself grin. He exhaled by his nostrils and looked back at her. "Really? I'll have to remember that. Guess it's only fair I let you ask one, too. Shoot."

"You're turn to tell me; you seeing anyone?"

Torian's eyes widened. "Not yet. Thinking about it, though."

They both looked away from each other. The sun was getting lower and lower. Torian stood and put his buy'ce back on. "We should get moving. "He said. "We can talk later."

Raidre stood and put her buy'ce back on too. She kicked the sand onto the fire until it was out. "Ready."

Torian nodded. "Good."

"What are those?!"

Torian looked where Raidre was pointing. His eyes widened as he saw the water glowing. Raidre had halted and Torian stopped beside her. "Florescent planktons."

Torian watched as Raidre just stared. He couldn't see her face under the buy'ce but he figured she was gaping at the herd of planktons as they floated close to them. The water brought the plankton towards them. Torian pulled Raidre in and touched his helmet to hers.

Raidre giggled through their comm. "This is strangely romantic."

Torian sighed. "Hmmm."

They had been dragged by the current and were surrounded by the planktons which twinkled blue. That's when he saw what looked like a had leather-like supple bark and leathery fronds marked with red-and-blue veins. He frowned as he noticed that they were floating right above it.

"Hmm?" Torian grunted.

And that is when Raidre's foot tapped on the branches of the tree.

As her boot touched a branch, it latched around her leg and pulled. He heard her gasp through their comm link as she was pulled fast bellow. He saw that whatever had gotten ahold of Raidre had begun to tighten its hold on her leg, bubbles began to come up from her as she was pulled to the ocean floor. Torian lunged with the aid of his jets after her.

He watched as where the roots of the tress should have been began to shift and shake. The sand became dislodged and began to float, obstructing his view as he caught up to her. He grabbed for her arm but it was not there.

However, he could now see what he had mistaken for a seatree; a Blossoming Gulper.