The silence was unnerving. Cherris didn't dare move as she listened to her surroundings, her heart beating erratically beneath her chest.
The rain was slowly subsiding; here and there she made out a dripping noise and the moonlight showed her a puddle or two in her vicinity.
But the wind was still vicious against her wet and cold skin. She was shivering all over and she knew she would soon need warmth.
She moved on, step by step to wherever her feet would take her. Occasionally she would look over her shoulder, hoping to see a dark silhouette of her Jedi savior behind her but her hopes were shattered each time and she walked on.
It seemed like hours when she caught sight of a single, large, oval boulder that would grant her protection from the icy winds. At least for one night, she thought glumly as she sat down on top of her backpack.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.
"What now?" she asked aloud as she rocked back and forth, "Where should I go?" Leaning back against the stone boulder, she gazed up to the darkened sky. Clouds still obscured her view to the stars but once and a while she caught sight of the brightest of them all, it seemed.
She thought back to her school days when being forced to take astronomy classes. At the time she had considered it to be extremely boring but as she matured she found space and everything about it to be vastly interesting and intriguing.
While reminiscing on the past and saving the future for later, the wind picked up and began singing a sad song and Cherris drifted off to sleep.
Her eyes suddenly flew open and she sat still, gazing left and right and to the front again. Something had woken her…
She got to her feet and hoisted her backpack over her shoulder, taking a shuddering breath. "Whereto?" she wondered aloud.
One part of her wanted to go back, to settle the growing curiosity as to what had happened to Kyp but another part wanted to obey his order and carry on. "But whereto?" her voice had a pleading edge to it, "I have no idea where the hell I am…"
She stood still as she heard a shuffling sound; the sound that had woken her.
Fear gripped her and although the inside voice screamed for her to run, her legs did not obey.
"Cherris?"
Letting her backpack drop back to the ground and her heart skipping a beat as she realized the soft voice belonging to Kyp, she let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"I'm here." She answered with a quivering voice.
And you're okay after all, she thought.
When he came closer, she saw that he was carrying something with him, a part of the thing scraping along the desert ground.
The clouds parted to show a vivid white moon, its light illuminating what was left of the beast that had decided to attack them.
Cherris arched an eyebrow and pointed to the overgrown dog with a shaky finger, "Your trophy?"
Kyp shook his head, "No. Food." He came to stand beside Cherris and for the first time she saw him flash a smile.
Oh, please do that again, she thought wistfully, make my stomach do another flip like that.
Cherris cleared her throat and took another look at the animal. "It doesn't seem very tasty."
Kyp shrugged as he let the animal drop to the ground with a thud, wiping his hands on his legs, "I don't care if it tastes like dried up bantha fodder, as long as it's nourishment enough. I'm done with rations."
The rain had completely subsided and the wind was nothing more than a soft breeze caressing Cherris' dirtied face. A few strands of her dark hair danced around her head, tickling her nose.
She watched Kyp plop onto the sandy ground with a wince, one hand going to his abdomen and Cherris was instantly alert. "You're hurt."
She knelt beside him, worry evident in her voice, "I have an aid kit in my back pack."
But Kyp waved the remark away, closing his eyes and leaning against the cold rock. Even with only the moon as her only source of light she could see that he wasn't doing too well. There were bruises on his face that hadn't been there before, dried up scratches running from his temple to his chin. And these were the injuries she could see. The way he was shielding his stomach, Cherris was pretty sure the injuries beneath his clothes were severe.
"What good will you do me if you're dead?" Cherris suddenly spat, irritated at the Jedi for putting his life on the line in the first place, "I don't feel like being stuck out here on my own and, like it or not, I need you to get me the hell off this rock. So cut the hard head crap and let me see if there's something I can do to help."
There was a slight frown on the man's face and anger in his dark eyes. Normally Cherris would have cringed away but with everything that had happened, with the cold biting away at the last fringes of her self control, she couldn't care less.
Without a word Kyp shifted his position and helped Cherris pull up his shirt. She grabbed for her backpack and rummaged for the aid kit. It was small and no doubt out of date; Cherris hoped that it at least entailed everything she might need.
She dug out a small flashlight and examined Kyp's abdomen. Dark bruises surfaced on his light skin and as she reached out to touch him he flinched away. Cherris handed him a pack of pain meds and he swallowed a few of them without complaint.
Kyp bit down and winced as Cherris felt her way around the rib cage, hoping she wasn't causing him too much pain. Satisfied that nothing was broken she took a deep breath, "Sorry about that." She whispered, one hand going through her hair.
Before Kyp covered himself again Cherris burned the image of his abs into her memory and suddenly felt a blush rise to her cheeks. She rolled her eyes and wondered why her thoughts would even wander that way in a situation like this…
"What else do you have in there?" Kyp asked in a husky voice, nodding to the first aid kit.
"Uh…mostly pain medication and antibiotics. Gauges and tape. The usual. Why?"
He shrugged, "Just curious." He closed his eyes and kept quiet for a very long time. Cherris watched him breathe, watched his chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm. Eventually he fell asleep and she let him have his well deserved rest.
She moved beside him, leaning against the cold boulder and shifted her gaze to the sky. It would only be another few hours before dawn and Cherris wondered what else was lying in wait for them, how long it would take for them to finally find civilization again.
Closing her eyes she listened to the wind as it brought back that sad song she had fallen asleep to the first time.
Well, Cherris thought as she opened her eyes, at least it stopped raining.
A beautiful white sun hung above them, the warm light cascading down onto the ground. The warmth felt wonderful on her skin, banishing the last remnants of cold that had tried to force itself onto her bones.
For the first time in days she actually felt good.
She shifted her gaze towards Kyp. He was still sleeping, leaning against the boulder with his arms hugging himself. His complexion was pale, the bruises under and around one eye, dark.
Cherris was honestly worried about her Jedi savior.
She thought about waking him but decided to let him sleep, knowing he'd need his strength when they continued on with their trek.
Instead her gaze shifted towards the dead thing lying a few feet away from her. She was appalled at the thought of cutting the thing up and devouring it but she had to admit, she was extraordinarily hungry.
There was a scalpel in her pack and she was pretty sure she could start up a fire. But she'd never actually cut up a dead animal before. Her stomach rebelled as revulsion hit but she kept telling herself it would be as if she were cooking at home in her warm apartment, only with crude appliances.
The thought of meat above an open fire was a wonderful one; she got up and first searched for weeds to get a fire started. It took longer than expected, since everything around her was still rather wet but after a while she got lucky.
With the fire going she turned around to the dead animal and was briefly tempted to wake Kyp. But as she gazed to his form, huddled together against the boulder, she took a deep breath, rummaged for the scalpel and began her work on the animal.
"This was so worth it." Cherris mumbled as the scent of roasted meat wafted into the air.
Her stomach felt horrible. She still felt queasy after having gagged up everything and nothing still inside of her, while working her way to the fine smelling meat now above the flames.
She had been kidding herself. Getting the food above the flames had been nothing like cooking at home.
To prop up the food she had used her examining tools from the pack, figuring that she wouldn't need them anymore anyway.
She jumped to her feet, walking towards Kyp and gently touching his arm. She shook him just a little and when he didn't respond she called his name. In a low voice at first, not wanting to startle him but it became clear that the Jedi was a deep sleeper.
"Kyp!" she called, shoving him a little harder and she grew annoyed as he mumbled something and slept on, "Wake up, dammit!" she called, punching his arm.
His green eyes fluttered open and he frowned, "What?"
"Smell that?"
He turned his head, watching as smoke twirled around in the air, rising above their heads and dissipating in the clouds. Kyp sat up and rubbed his eyes, "You did all this on your own?" he asked eyeing the contraption of her examining tools and their warm breakfast.
Cherris arched an eyebrow, "No. I had the little people help me. You know, the ones I have stashed in my pack with everything else?"
Kyp ignored the comment, stretching his aching muscles.
Cherris moved back to the fire, thinking that Kyp might need a few minutes of privacy. She heard him move around and after a moment he sat down cross legged next to her. "Thank you."
Cherris frowned, "For what?"
He cleared his throat. It seemed to her he wasn't used to the thank-you parts of life. "For helping me out last night. And for letting me sleep. The healing trance took care of most of the injuries."
"Ah." Cherris said, biting off a piece of the meat she had so delicately quartered. She had almost forgotten about the Jedi and their Force thing. "How does this healing trance work?" she asked as her curiosity spiked.
Kyp grabbed for one of the examining appliances that now functioned as a sort of knife and bit off a piece of the now darkened meat. He chewed in silence, his dark eyes scanning the desert plane around them.
Even Cherris thought that it was too quiet around them and involuntarily the thought of a calm before the storm surfaced.
"The Jedi use the Force to hurry along the healing process. That's actually all there is to it." He noticed the frown on Cherris' face and chuckled lightly, "Well, if you want the details you'll have to talk to one of our Healers."
"You have Healers?" Cherris asked in between swallowing.
Their food didn't even taste that bad, she thought. It was a bitter taste but not as dry as she had suspected it would be.
Kyp nodded, "Yeah. The media portray Jedi to be mostly warriors. But that's not entirely the case."
Cherris sighed and closed her eyes for just a moment. The wind around them picked up a notch and its breeze upon her face felt wonderful.
"The Jedi seem interesting."
Kyp smiled and shrugged, "Depends on who you ask."
They ate in silence and after Cherris felt like she would burst, she lay on the desert ground shielding her eyes with her arm. The sun's yellow glow was in no means merciful and Cherris knew the day would get hotter by the hour. Already beads of sweat were running down her temples.
She turned onto her side, pulling the backpack towards her outstretched arm and rummaged for one of the water bottles. When she grabbed it she was annoyed that it was only half full. Two more bottles were left unopened.
I hope we'll find a river or something, Cherris thought as she took a long gulp of the warm water, washing down the last bit of taste of the bitter meat. Her lips were dry from the warmth and her throat felt like sandpaper. But she decided to ration her water as best she could, a small hope in the back of her mind that they'd stumble across a waterbed.
"We should get moving." Kyp said getting to his feet and helping Cherris clean up. They packed most of the utensils back into the pack and Cherris was very surprised when Kyp volunteered to carry the it for a while.
"But you're hurt." She shook her head, "I've done fine up until now and I'll do fine the rest of the way." She moved passed him in a quick pace and she could have sworn she saw a smile surface on the Jedi's face.
They returned to the silent routine as they walked on. Side by side, taking one step after another, in complete and utter silence.
"I know you talk." Cherris said, shifting her gaze to the ground. The sun seemed harsher, hurting her eyes when she tried taking in her surroundings. After walking a little over an hour, all she could make out was a mountainous region a few kilometers in front of them. And she supposed that was where they were headed.
Once Kyp had caught sight of the region he had hurried on even more.
Raising a dark brow he gazed her way, "I do."
Cherris nodded, hooking her thumbs beneath the straps of the backpack, "So then why don't you?"
At first she thought he would ignore her again. It seemed when things got uncomfortable, if situations occurred he didn't feel like dealing with, he'd keep quiet, ignoring anything and everything. But he surprised her when he cleared his throat, "I just don't like talking too much."
Cherris sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead, "I'm annoyed by the silent treatment. Honestly, is your life so horrible that you compensate by being a silent monk?"
Kyp chuckled.
Ha! Gotcha.
But he kept quiet all the same. Cherris frowned and shook her head, a few strands of dark hair falling into her face, "How far until we reach the cache?"
She'd ask questions the entire way if she'd have to; she couldn't do with this quietness.
Kyp pointed to the mountainous region up ahead and shrugged, "I'm guessing only a few more hours."
"Oh, joy! Another few hours of walking without talking!" she rolled her eyes skyward, "Well, if things go according to whatever plan you hacked up, we might be off this planet by tonight then, right?"
The Jedi suddenly stopped and had a peculiar look on his face. Cherris wondered what he was thinking as he flashed a smile and walked on, shaking his head.
Oh, dammit! Stop doing that! Cherris thought as that flutter returned to her stomach. She liked it when the Jedi smiled. She liked it a lot.
But still he wouldn't talk and that fact just bugged the hell out of her.