Chapter Twelve

Jaina couldn't sleep. The crackling of the fire--no, the sound of the wind whipping outside--no, she had to admit, her thoughts of Ganner--were keeping her awake. She simply lay there, staring at the ceiling of the cave, unable to sleep. Unable to do anything, for that matter, except think about him.

Jaina didn't know it, but directly across the fire from her, Ganner was having the same problem. He was more upset at himself than she was, though. He had told him self again and again not to fall for her, and he had so far succeeded...but he couldn't stop himself anymore. He was giving in, and he couldn't say he was all that mad about it in the end.

Ganner stood at the first light of day, and was shocked when Jaina also rose from the ground. He raised an eyebrow, and she simple shrugged. "Restless night," she mumbled.

They quickly put out the fire and packed their belongings back into their sacks. As Jaina pulled on her heavy cape, she sighed. It seemed that their entire journey had been like this--flirting and laughing one minute, completely silent the next.

They set out into the snow again, Jaina once again following behind Ganner. They cleared the ridge in an hour, and were down the other side by noon. Once again, the scenery changed.

Now the landscape was completely barren, simply orange-red rocks, cliffs, and gorges scattered along as far as the eye could see. This moon confused Jaina beyond belief--she'd never seen anyplace go from one extreme to the next so quickly.

The pair continued along the barren land, stopping every so often to take a breather. The air here was crisp and cool, with a light wind, but the air felt thinner, less breathable to the Jedi.

They were nearing the edge of another gorge when Ganner stopped suddenly, and Jaina nearly collided with him once again. She hadn't realized how close she'd been walking to the Jedi. "What is it?" she whispered.

"Look," he said, sweeping his hand out. Jaina peered over his shoulder and saw what had caused him to stop so suddenly.

"Oh my--" Jaina began, but Ganner held up a hand to silence her. She quickly stopped and communicated with him through the Force. 'What is that?'

'No idea,' Ganner thought back. 'Stay still.'

About a quarter of a mile in front of them lay the largest creature Jaina had ever seen. It looked like a giant snake with four legs. Its scaly skin was dark gray and its back had large spines sticking out of it. It was at least a hundred feet long, maybe more. The tail alone was five times bigger than Jaina.

'What do you want to do?' Jaina asked through the Force. The creature either hadn't spotted them yet, or was simply waiting to pounce. Jaina didn't want to stick around to see if the latter was true.

After a moment, Ganner began to speak again. "See those cliffs over there?" he whispered, and cocked his head to the right. Jaina looked slowly, and noticed that the land raised up a good half mile off in the distance. "I really don't want to see if we can get around this thing," he continued. "So it might be best to take a little detour."

Jaina silently agreed. "Crouch down," he mumbled, and they both slowly moved to their knees. Jaina began to crawl behind Ganner, trying as hard as she could to ignore the sharp rocks that were digging into her hands and she moved along the ground.

After a few minutes of this, Ganner stopped again. "Hang on," he whispered, and turned around. "It's moving."

Jaina looked over her shoulder and noticed the creature beginning to stand up onto its gigantic legs, which were larger than tree trunks. It slowly swung its body around, and began to walk. Jaina gasped--it was heading right towards them.

"Time to run," Ganner mumbled and sprang to his feet. Jaina followed suit, and sprinted off towards the cliff. They reached it in about ten minutes, but the creature was moving faster than they'd expected for something of that size. Ganner quickly looked for something to hold on to on the cliff, and pointed out the best path for climbing to Jaina. "You first," he commanded.

Jaina nodded and began to climb. The rocks were slicker than she thought they would be, and it was difficult for her to grab hold of them. She kept losing her footing, and was continuously looking back towards the creature. It was only a few hundred meters away now.

Ganner climbed effortlessly below her. Jaina silently thought about how in shape he was, and cursed herself for not working out her upper body more. Her arms were beginning to hurt, and she felt like she hadn't gotten anywhere. The top of the cliff still seemed so far away.

"Faster!" Ganner shouted, urging Jaina on. He was now climbing along side of her, and Jaina was slowing down. She just couldn't keep up. Jaina glanced back, and saw the creature closing in on the cliff. Thankfully, she imagined they were out of its reach now...

But she was mistaken. The animal reached the cliff and began pawing and the bottom, and whacking its head against the rocks. Jaina smiled at Ganner, happy that she was out of reach. She stopped smiling, however, as the creature began to rise to its hind legs.

"If it gets fully upright it will reach us!" she screamed, panicking. Ganner looked at her, horror in his eyes.

"We have to go faster!" he returned, but Jaina was having great difficulty moving up the cliff. "Here--get on my back."

Jaina looked at him for a moment, but realized that hesitation would lead to doom. Without questioning, she moved towards him, hooked his pack around her shoulders, and slid onto his back, hooking her legs around his waist and holding on to his strong shoulders. "Hang on."

Jaina pressed tight against Ganner's well-chiseled form as the Jedi struggled under the new weight on his back. But even with Jaina on his back, he moved quickly enough to make it to the top of the cliff before the monster was fully extended. Jaina thanked the Force he did--the creature's head nearly reached the top. But they were now out of its reach, safely on the top of cliff. All the creature could do was bellow at its missed prey. Judging from what Jaina had seen of the landscape, it didn't eat much.

"You can get down now," Ganner said, and Jaina quickly snapped to life.

"Oh!" Jaina said, letting go of him and landing on the ground. "Sorry."

"I know you were enjoying it," he said winking, and Jaina was confused yet again. The flirting Rhysode was back, but how long 'til he went away again?

"You know it," she replied, and was thinking to herself, 'And I'm not kidding about that.'

"What happened to your hands?" he questioned, and Jaina looked down at her palms. They were bloodied and bruised from crawling.

"Rocks," she answered, and looked at his hands. "How'd you survive?"

"My skin's tougher I suppose," he answered, and bent down to retrieve something from his pack. "Come here."

Jaina bent down next to him, and he took her hands in his. "We need to clean you up," he continued. Ganner applied some salve to her hands, and Jaina gasped at the burning that occurred. "Wimp," he smiled, and Jaina mock-glared at him. Ganner blew gently on her cuts to dry them, and Jaina's stomach flopped. He was being so gentle, so...wow. And she was more attracted to him than she'd ever been.

Ganner took a white undershirt from his bag and tore it in two. He wrapped the fabric around each of her hands, and she looked into his eyes the entire time. "There," he whispered.

"Thank you," she returned, just as quietly. She began to pull her hands away from his, but he didn't let hers go. The two Jedi stood for what felt like eternity, hand in hand, gazing into each other's eyes. Before Jaina knew what was happening, Ganner's face was moving towards hers.

But he didn't kiss her. He stopped short, and Jaina wanted to cry out but instead hid her emotions. "We should get going," he said, letting go of her hands and moving away. "We need to find a place for the night."