In order to survive I could not hold back. I found new ways in which to find strength, rooting myself in my fear and anger in order to use the Force with a great deal more power than I had ever managed before. I censured all sense of regret or hesitation, and composed myself into a being that knew only survival and perseverance. In truth, I spent a great deal of time plotting ways to better my hunters, learning from them, and developing upon the skills I had learned. I set traps for them, allowing them to be caught and killed in various ways as they continually hunted me, but I argued that it was the only way I could keep them from catching me.
Sometimes I would even see their chieftain hunting me down throughout the jungle, to which I now kept close to at night as I discovered that the acid pools kept the cold from overcoming the land, providing a certain degree of warmth which was why the feline race had built their community there. It put me closer to danger, but I needed rest and to be able to trust that I would wake in the morning and not be a frozen block of ice. During the lulls in the hunting game, I was able to return to the ship and continue my work, gathering my supplies and taking them to my base on the far side of the jungle in another area surrounded by acid pools where I could sleep safely, as I had found a huge tree with a large open knot high above the ground which was large enough for me to build a camp inside, whilst also able to protect it from the predators below and hide it from the sight of the felines.
I covered my scent trails, and as I grew older and stronger, I devised a means to raid their camp for food and supplies in desperate times. I would plant false trails for them to follow, as most of the males would go on the hunt and I learned that during midday when it was hottest, the clan would sleep in the protection of their homes, which were built on the ground and in the trees depending on status and age. It was then that I raided the chieftain's home, sneaking past his sleeping wives and children in order to steal several blasters and food, taking what I needed before disappearing without being caught, though it was close. One of the cubs stirred and looked at me, but was too young to understand what I was and I compelled him back to sleep with the Force.
Leaving that place, I returned to my own camp after circling around the jungle for several hours, waiting for the night as to not directly leave any possible trails back to my temporary home which I moved every few days. In the jungle where the cold did not rise so bitterly, I ran the risk of the felines hunting me at night which was when they were at their strongest, being proficient night-hunters. This I had first discovered only a few days after learning about the acid pools and their protection from the cold, as I had bedded myself down somewhere I had thought safe, only to awake with alarm to see a pair of luminous yellow eyes staring above me. Those eyes gave me such nightmares.
I'd screamed and had to launch myself from the tree branch before the feline had fallen upon me, the breath of their claws swiping at my back catching my hair before I was gone and once more being chased, having no choice but to leave the jungle and brave the wild lands beyond just to ensure that I lived. It had been close, too close, and since then I learned to move my camp every couple of days just to be certain, as well as find better ways to cover my scent. This ended up being a mixture of mud and a sap secreted from the trees which also proved an efficient bacteria killer, keeping my wounds and injuries from becoming infected, though it was sticky and took time to solidify. It meant that I was always covered in something, though the rich nutrients of the sap were rather beneficial to my skin and hair, with the mud protecting me from the strong sunlight. The twilight hours were the best time for me, as although any human would no doubt perish from the cold even at this time, my body was adjusted to colder temperatures, and I could function my best.
Unfortunately, it was also the time the felines hunted best, so it was a constant game of chase between us, occasionally switching where I would become the hunter and they my prey just to get them off my back and every time I was successful in capturing or killing one, they would back off for a time and I'd be left in peace. Now that I had gathered all I wanted from the ship, including the thermal generators, the distress beacon, as well as equipment to try and boost the signal. It helped when I eventually found the ship's manuals and data-logs to better understand what everything was, and I hoped that all together, I'd be able to build something of a booster to push the signal further. It had taken me so much time to get it all, as the tribespeople had placed an almost constant watch on the ship, so it was always a battle to get in and out without being caught, sometimes only managing to get away with one thing at a time and having to leave spaces of several days in between trips in order to avoid providing them with a pattern, having to expect me at every moment.
The work was exhausting, but now that I had everything, I intended to get as far away from these people as possible. There were some mountain ranges in the far distance, and I doubted they would peruse me so far away from their home. Once I was out of the jungle and night had fallen, they would be forced to turn back, and as long as I followed my plan, I should be able to get everything out of here and hide in the shelters that I had spent the last few months building far away from the jungle, avoiding the swamps, marshes, bogs, quicksand, carnivorous plants and other predators along the way. I couldn't wait for this constant nightmare to end.
The only way I could truly measure time now was by the length of my hair, letting it loose in order to see how much it had grown in comparison to when I had first arrived. I had to loosen and redo my padawan braid repeatedly, my lilac coloured hair having at first been level with my shoulders, was now halfway down my back. It was heart wrenching to see it grow so long, as I knew that one inch equated to at least one month standard time, and now I had a good seven or eight inches more. Eight months. I'd been gone for eight months. Why had my master not come back to check the crash site in all this time? It's what I would have done. I'd set up sensor markers to alert me if anything approached the ship, but usually it was just the felines.
My spirit was continually dwindling, and with still no luck in reactivating the beacon, I began to wonder if my life was now destined to be stuck on this planet for the rest of my life until I either die or get eaten by something. I wanted it to end, and not even being asleep relieved me of my reality as the night terrors plagued me. Still, I was determined to defeat this place and get out of here alive. When I returned to Coruscant, I'd be older, wiser, and more attuned to the Force. Perhaps Master Bondara will even think me ready to face my trials. After the horrors I've faced here, how hard could they be?