"This is why you need beskar'gam," he bitched as they got to the top of the world and suddenly found out the mountain ended. He glanced behind him.

"Why?" she panted. "You think it would make me run faster?"

He looked over. "Can you get across that?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "With what?"

"The force."

She couldn't even see the other side.

"No, Vau. I can't jump that."

He could hear their pursuit getting closer. Looked over the other edge.

"Well. At least they won't be able to track us," he said.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You really can swim?"

"Swim, yes. Fly, no."

"Time to learn," he told her. Took a deep breath. Hyper extended his chest wall. Took another one. "I think the goal is to go in feet-first, then you swim out rather than up. Get out from under the falls."

"Knees locked or unlocked?" she asked, looking up at him.

He rocked his head to the side. "What?"

"Do you lock your knees on the way down? Or leave them loose."

"Do I look like I make a habit of doing this? How the fek should I know?"

There was a huge crash. A tree came down. They were chasing them with some kind of huge earth-clearing machine. Genius. Devastating for the environment, probably, but that was neither here nor there.

"Deep breath," he warned her. Backed up to get a running start. Jumped.

She forgot everything he'd told her the instant she was airborne. Defaulted to her youth and training and arched into a perfect diving form. Cut into the water and felt like she'd broken every cell in her body it was so cold. Her hands didn't even sting and it didn't occur to her that her lungs were screaming for air. It was just… freaking… cold. That was her only sense of awareness.

Walon Vau broke the surface clawing. Even free he couldn't draw breath. There was no instinct left in him, his seared nerve endings couldn't make any demands of his brain other than that he feel the intense, biting frigidity of the water they'd hit. He gasped. Roared her name. Went under again, dragged down by the weight of the armor he wore, the pack he still had strapped to his back, and the undertow beneath the churning surface.

N'Dara bobbed up, managing to get free of the water's downward catch. She rolled to her back, sucked in a lungful as she was hauled back down. Kicked and screamed. Saw the spots in front of her eyes again. Made the surface and heard just a wordless howl before she was under again.

Vau ripped his bucket off when he realized he shouldn't be drowning when he wasn't submerged. The water filled it faster than it drained when he got clear. He wondered vaguely if he'd fekked the electronics.

This time they both managed to surface at the same time, and finally facing the right direction to see each other. It was still long, exhausting, terrifying minutes before he could get close enough to her to reach for her. She caught at the back of his rucksack, hauled as hard as she could. Dug deep and pulled a log that had washed to shore toward them.

It hit them hard.

"Kriff!"

"Just hold on," she ordered.

"Where's Mird?"

"I haven't seen him. Will strills swim?"

He shook his head. Scanned the riverside. "Mirdalon!" he bellowed.

"He's a good hunter. He'll find us."

"Here Mird's just part of the food chain," he spat out. He was shivering uncontrollably. "Is your pack waterproof?"

"I'm sure it probably was. Like about a million years ago." The look she gave him left no doubt she thought he was an idiot.

"Maybe not one of my better ideas."

"Oops," she agreed.

"Oops," he echoed.

"Your suit not waterproof?"

"I killed my gloves in that tunnel. Turns out you need the whole thing to seal. And I'm pretty sure my vambrace isn't supposed to be completely immersed. There's a big gap between resistant even in rain and submersion proof."

"Plus your poor helmet."

"There was a second after I jumped that it occurred to me I should have put you in it. I'm so glad I didn't."

"Yeah. No kidding. It's probably heavy as fuck under the best of circumstances. Every person I've met who grew up in that stuff is short."

"Not Wad'e."

"Makes you wonder if he'd have been as hot as you if he'd grown up off-world."

He pointed. "Aim for that beach."

She kicked. Hard. She really tried. They abandoned the log and dragged themselves through the water as soon as they could touch. He looked up at the roiling grey sky. Jagged streaks of lightning were striking farther east of them. The clouds looked so heavy that it felt like a flashback to Kamino.

"Have I mentioned that I hate rain?"

"Once or twice," she told him. "If you rust I'll find a can opener and pry you out."

"Where you come from did people used to tell you that you're hilarious?"

She grinned at him. Her lips were the same color as her eyes and she was shivering so hard her belly hurt. "Not that I can remember."

"There's a clue to be had there."

"Want my coverall?"

He shuddered violently as he laughed. "Put it on anyway. You're going to get hypothermia."

"Can you start a fire in the rain?"

"I can start fire anywhere."

"I really don't want to cold camp tonight," she told him pitifully.

He held out his hand to help her over an embankment. "I'll make you something."

"I want a nuna casserole. With cream sauce."

He drew a deep breath. "Mirdalon!"

"Mirdy!" she echoed.

He pulled off his helmet and she saw how haggard his face looked. There was a spot on his brow where he'd hit something. His hand shook as he lifted it to his lips. The whistle he let out once he got his fingers in his mouth was loud and piercing.

No response was immediate. He kept it up, though, as they trudged along.

"Vau. I need to stop. Just for a minute."

He was shaking uncontrollably. Shook his head at her. She'd hated him a couple of times over the last year because of that black armor of his. It kept him dry in the rain and warm in the cold. He looked like hell now, though.

"Do you have dry clothes?" she asked him.

He shuddered. "If I take my pack off right now I'm not sure I'm going to get it back up."

There was a long-suffering sigh and she couldn't even frame a reply for a long while. Finally she nodded. "I'm there. I almost kind of hope they find us."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

She looked around. Unclasped the chestpiece and then waistbelt of her rucksack. Winced as it fell from her shoulders with a squelch.

"Not a good sign," he told her. Bent over his own.

"Here," he offered. His wasn't much better. The fabric of his tent was water repellant, though, and he'd rolled his bedroll into it when they broke camp two days previously.

"Oh. You're genius. I love you so much right now."

That had him laughing wetly. Which kicked off a series of shudders. "Can you set it up if I gather some wood?"

She nodded. "I can help, though."

"Get out of your wet sweater," he told her. "If you don't have anything dry I have-"

"I pack my spare things in a dry sack."

"Good girl," he cooed. Moved away from her. There was plenty of downed wood. He hated like all living osik to start a fire and announce where they'd made landfall. Started to put match to it and looked back over at her. Up at the sky.

She was still looking for Mird. Whistling much like he did, both her hands lifted to her lips as she tried to replicate that particular shrill he'd achieved at an early age.

The count, paragon of fatherly virtue, had taken a switch to his hands when he'd perfected that trick. Strapped him until the skin broke then made him flip his hands over and started again.

"N'Dara." He shook his head miserably. "Let it go, cyar'ika."

She came over to where he was standing and laid her brow on his heart. Shivered and shook. He cupped the back of her head. She'd pulled her hair up in some half-hearted bun. He wondered where her cap had ended up. He probably should have given her a few minutes to stow it before jumping in.

"We've got to get you dry," she told him.

"Both of us. Come here."

He threw his pack into the vestibule of the tent. His was larger and they'd been sharing it once the weather flipped. His fingers felt like they were cracking as he manipulated his plates off. The metal had never felt so cold to him before. He stripped all the way down. Pulled on dry shorts. Looked over at her. She'd done the same. Was pulling a fresh body glove over her head even as he watched. Already had out her spare leggings, too.

"Just come here," he told her. "We'll be warmer together."

He tented the blanket, let her crawl under it and curl up against his chest.

"I forgot to close the flap."

Her voice sounded so tremulous. Despairing.

"I'll get it."

"Wait," she stopped him. "Will it make that much difference… temperature-wise?"

"I don't think so. Not yet. Maybe tonight."

"Mird could get in if we leave it open?"

"Yeah. Yeah," he agreed. "I'll leave it for a little bit."

"Walon? I'm so sorry."

"Ohhh, I think this one is on me, daryc meshurok."

"I forgot what you said that one means. You should tell me again. In case we die."

"I nearly froze to death a couple years ago."

"Was it like this?"

"Couldn't tell you. I was unconscious at the time."

That made her laugh. Her breath was warm against his neck. Her nose felt like an ice cube melting into his throat. To say nothing of her hair against his arm. He thought about shaving her bald-headed.

Incongruously, he rubbed his hand over his own jaw. He couldn't remember if he'd shaved when they'd stopped for a comfort break overnight.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "If you die you'll meet your paegans nice and tidy," she bitched.

"I'd think you'd be appreciative of my hygiene habits right about now," he stuttered.

"Fair," she admitted.

"You can thank me tomorrow."

"Tomorrow I get my nuna noodles in cream sauce. No excuses."

Thunder shook the ground. Well. He hoped it was thunder. Might be another of those… Rangir! Even if it was one of the earth-clearing machines, at least being run over and chopped to bits wouldn't hurt so badly if they were numb from the cold.

Rain pattered. Then pounded.

He held the shivering woman in his arms and wondered if he'd consigned them both to the most miserable death imaginable. Certainly a miserable damned waste of a day. The sky darkened and he could appreciate that she'd followed his instructives to set up the tent so the flap was facing downhill. They wouldn't have made many miles in this deluge.

Suddenly the woman lurched up. Smiled and pushed away. Held the flap wide open, letting in more than a little of the wildly destructive storm.

He laughed when a thoroughly irritated Mirdalon came through. Neither of them even complained when the strill shook itself free of the droplets that soaked all those flaps of gold fur.

"Poor Mirdy," N'Dara cooed as she scuttled back to the bedroll. He petted the animal who laid down beside them, curling into a smelly ball of soggy musk.

"Sorry, Mird," he agreed. "I was out of options."

The beast didn't seem to object to their ministrations. And it offered a good bit of welcome body heat to the enclosed space. Vau reached past both of his bedpartners to jerk at the flap, only succeeding partially in his bid to seal them in and the weather out. His body quaked, his muscles almost spasmic, as he laid back down around them and prayed that if they were going to die for it to just be now.