Promontory

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Fourteen kilometers from Sanctuary to Miwú Shanma.

They say the first trip is always the hardest, and rest is muscle memory. They're mostly right about that. The first time Untaaura had taken the summit, it pushed her to her limit. The way down nearly broke her. None of that had stopped her from coming back. Again, and again, and again.

Where the saying went wrong was that the last trip is pretty hard too.

Untaaura paused on the path, breathing heavily as she stepped from the dirt road. Her skin shined with perspiration, which darkened her shirt in patches along the front and back. She swigged from her canteen, snapping it away as she continued to catch her breath. Stealing a glance further up the path, the Major considered resuming her ascent. She turned back again, finding herself a few paces from a rocky promontory that commanded the ascent and the entire Sanctuary valley.

She wasn't going all the way up this time.

Licking her dry lips, Untaaura carefully pushed aside a bough of spindly sagebrush, negotiating to the edge of the promontory. From here in every direction save the one she'd come from, it was clear sky to down below. The arid Ossus weather gave her a beautiful cloudless vista to survey it all. The Marine kicked away a little detritus at the edge, leaving a patch of dirt for her to ease into a cross-legged sitting position. She shrugged off her small pack, set aside her carbine blaster, and pulled up the pair of quadnocs she wore around her neck. Easing them to her eyes, Untaaura took her time to take everything in. The Jaani'sarri camp was almost completely disassembled. The last of her crews were stowing the remaining heavy machinery and bringing down the prefabricated palisades of the engineering camp. They'd leave behind ruts and disturbed earth, but nature would take back what was hers if the Jedi didn't have use for it. Verratoa smiled. They'd kept their word.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She hadn't Changed this time. In fact, she hadn't really Changed the last few times that Untaaura had made that fourteen kilometer run. A part of her had come to the realization that it was all well and good to make the trip on four legs, but there was something to be said of making sure that both forms were fit and able. It made sense to her, and therefor she'd huffed and puffed her way along. Her stamina was nowhere near as extensive as her Cizerack counterpart's, but she pushed on regardless. Determination fueled her, and the young Lupine had only just barely made it up to the very top of the trail on her first go. She'd been so out of breath that the two running partners had had to stop for a good hour to make sure she wasn't overtaxed or stricken with some sort of heat stroke. The next time had been marginally easier, but not by much. By the third time she was keeping up, at least. Always behind Untaurra, but still there.

But it was when the Cizerack encampment had begun to come down that a spark of desperation had set in, and Teagan was finding ways to be with the older woman - even if it meant helping her to pack. Which, that in itself was something that held a certain amount of sorrow for the girl.

On this last run, Teagan had not been at their normal meeting spot; instead having gone on by herself earlier. She'd wanted to be alone for the trip up. Or at least for some of the trip up. She'd not made it too far before the melancholy hit, and she'd veered away from the path to forge her own with a much slower and plodding pace.

The Cizerack were nearly finished with their work, and that meant that it wouldn't be long before Major Verratoa would be leaving with them.

The Lupine meandered her way through underbrush and over rocky escarpments to step out onto the beginnings of the promontory that the Major sat on. It was a beautiful view to be sure, but Teagan was focused only on the woman as she stepped lightly. Over the last month, the Major had been teaching her how to stalk; how to remain unseen and unheard. She'd said that they were valuable life-lessons, and Teagan had done her best to learn from the marine. Even though she shied away from sparring lessons with the Jedi, she had taken a particular shine to the grappling lessons that the Major had been giving her. The older woman had said that the fundamentals of hand-to-hand combat had to be learned first before anything involving a weapon, and Teagan had found herself agreeing with the notion.

Now though, she fell on her lessons heavily, remaining as still as possible, and only moving those parts of her body that needed to be moved.

One step. Then another. Her feet navigated the small rocks and pebbles to avoid crunching them beneath her boot's soles.

Of course, there was always something, and the young Lupine extended a leg slowly, her foot coming down on the smallest of sage twigs.

The snap it made was almost deafening compared to its' size, and Teagan immediately felt her shoulders sag as her eyes traveled to the sky as if to curse the fates.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

It was enough. The twitch in Untaaura's bobbed ear confirmed it. The Marine didn't lower her quadnocs, but when she spoke, it was for an unseen guest she already knew was there.

"Don't get jimpatjient."

She lowered her quadnocs, blue eyes adjusting to the change as she looked to Teagan.

"The lasst meterrss arre alwajyss the jimporrtant oness."

The Marine brushed aside more vegetation, clearing a spot for Teagan to sit with her. She unslung the quadnocs from her neck, and passed them on to the Lupine girl.

"Good vjiew frrom herre. Command of the whole vallejy."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

A sigh, and Teagan moved to the spot that the Major had cleared for her. With no small amount of self-impatience, she flopped down to sit, letting her legs out so that they peaked over the very edge. One hand took the quadnocs, and lifted them to her eyes so that she could stare out at the vista below. It was impressive to see everything in such a light, and quick shifts brought her view from the dormitories, to the lesson halls, to the sandwich shop, to the myriad of sprung-up stores and supply shops, to the ruins of the old library. And finally, to the rapidly emptying Cizerack quarter. It was not what she wanted to see, and Teagan let another long breath out as she lowered the quadnocs.

"Can see most everything," she agreed.

Handing the 'nocs back, she picked up a pebble with one hand.

"How big you think the place will get in a hundred years?"

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Untaaura sighted Sanctuary once again, this time moving her attention to the prefabricated dormitories. There was a sameness to the modular dwellings that didn't capture the imagination the way that gazing upon the old temple did. Of course, that wasn't the intent.

"jI don't know."

The Major eased the quadnocs down, drawing a crumpled pack of cigarettes. She fished one out with her lips, with her lighter already in hand.

"Guess jI've neverr thought about jit. About anjythjing ljike that. We'rre trrajined to bujild brrjidgess jin combat zoness. Barrackss forr a forrt. jI guesss that doessn't gjive much tjime to thjink about a legacjy."

Even without the aid of the quadnocs, the old temple loomed in the distance. Untaaura drew deep on her cigarette, staring at it's slightly washed contours in the distance.

"But the Jedji do thjink of thesse thjingss, don't thejy?"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Teagan let her eyes wander over the treetops, taking in the great kingwoods in the far distance as they melted into the tentative edges of the Jedi sanctuary. It was a strange transition that was halfway organic and halfway rough. There was no denying the hand of progress being stretched out from the center, but in a way it was also sad. How long would it be before the natural beauty was overtaken?

"They do, I guess."

The Major always had a way of turning her questions around on her, and each time the young Lupine had to consider her own queries.

"Though, I don't think it's a conscious thing. They seem more interested in making sure that there is a sort of harmony and balance to everything."

She gave a snort and a small shrug as she lobbed the pebble out into the air.

"It seems that way, at least. Everything I've been studying makes me think that that's the aim, anyway."

The gundark that was up there with them was purposefully ignored though, and Teagan avoided it out of a desperation born of the thinking that if they didn't talk about it, it wouldn't come to pass.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

There was something in the way that Teagan said this that was small and sad. Untaaura's head turned slightly to face her.

"And what do jyou beljieve?"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Untaaura knew what she was, and where she'd come from. The young Lupine had spent enough evenings telling the Major about Schwartzweld and the entirety of the Figaro system. Of the Lupines and where they came from, what they believed, how they lived their lives. There had been a large amount of enjoyment in telling those stories to the older Cizerack woman. Speaking of the history and ways of her people. Her answer was tempered by her memories, now.

"It's like how it was back home, on Schwartzweld. You can make these great and grand buildings and castles and manors, but when you're gone, does it really matter? Nature always swallows up your efforts without even really trying."

She looked down to her hands, fingers idly sifting through the thin layer of dust and scrabble.

"I believe the most difference a person can make is with other people. That's how we live. Well, how we should live."

[Untaaura Verratoa]

"But majybe thosse casstless and templess jinsspjirre people. Majybe therre'ss a magjic therre."

Untaaura blew out a breath of smoke, gesturing to the temple.

"jI djidn't thjink much of jit when jI came, but when jI closse mjy ejyess and jI ssleep...jI'm herre."

The marine shifted her sitting position drawing up her short legs to her chest, so that she propped a forearm along her knees.

"Kuurramaai would have loved thjiss vjiew."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"It is pretty," was the only agreement.

Silence fell between the two then, as Teagan wondered how long it would take before she had enough courage to look at that gundark and face it down.

Instead, she deflected once more, adamant to put off the inevitable.

"What was her favorite thing?"

[Untaaura Verratoa]

"We grrew up on Taltimant. jYou ssaw the pjicturress. The mountajinss, pjine trreess, the ssnow."

Untaaura's ears raised, as if expecting a cold wind to hit her in the face.

"Tall, tall mountajinss. Not a one of them sshe couldn't cljimb, ejitherr. We'd camp up the alpjine vjisstass, hjike above the trree ljine. Fjind the besst sspot to sskji down. jI followed herr everrjywherre, becausse jI'd be damned jif jI'd let herr and herr long legss get the besst of me."

The Major's eyes went slightly limpid.

"Becausse ssometjimess sshe could go wherre jI couldn't. And nothjing felt betterr than when sshe gave me a hand."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Teagan closed her eyes as the Major spoke, imagining Kuurramaai blazing a trail up through a snowy drift, pushing against a cold blast of air in stolid determination. And then, half-turning to regard the much shorter object of her affection and offer an outstretched hand. Instead of one, it was two. It was a pair of eager women intent on reaching the top and looking out over the land below like conquerors. Only, instead of trampling nature beneath them, they each appreciated what was offered to them. The views, the smells, the air all around. It had to have been wonderful to be perched atop a world such as Taltimant.

Teagan pulled in a long breath, imagining that it was a crisp breath of frigid, pure air. She let it back out after holding it in for a short time.

And when her eyes opened, she was looking at the Major with a quiet sort of expectant expression.

"I want to go to Taltimant."

[Untaaura Verratoa]

There was so much earnestness in Teagan's face. She'd begrudgingly allowed this child to spend so much time at her side that Untaaura had to admit that ending this chapter of her life was harder than she thought it would be.

"Well, then jyou wjill. One dajy."

Untaaura nodded authoritatively. She opened her canteen, offering the first sip to the girl.

"The Jedji go manjy placess. Whjy not Taltimant too?"

But she understood the subtext. I want to go to Taltimant - with you.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"Yeah but when."

It was one of those answers that really had no real response, and she knew it. Still though, the Major's assurance was enough to placate her for now. But it also cause her to finally stare down the gundark.

"I wish you didn't have to go."

There. She'd said it. The Major had become such a large part of her life, and Teagan was loathe to let her go. She'd had to let so many things go during her short life, and yet another of those things that she'd found herself not willing or wanting to relinquish was - like everything else - being wrenched from her grasp.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

I wish I didn't, either.

Unsaid and kept to herself. She wasn't prepared to face how this place had affected her. She scoffed at it in defense. Peaceful billets make for soft marines. And while she was no less committed to the Jaani'sarri, there was a part of Untaaura that wished for nothing more than a simple task to accomplish and a mountain to climb.

She snuffed her cigarette on a nearby rock, splashing the butt with a cap of water from her canteen before she flicked it over the edge. Turning back, she put a hand on Teagan's knee, perking her ears.

"Do jyou trrusst me?"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

There wasn't much thought she had to put into that question, and the young Lupine found herself nodding easily.

"I'd be stupid if I didn't."

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Stupid or fearless? Definitely fearless.

Untaaura gave a fulsome smile. She reached for her gearsling pack, ripping the double zipper open to retrieve the contents. She tossed something to Teagan. A set of straps from the look of it. No, that wasn't right. As she unbundled it, she could see triple reinforced polymer fabric and robust, chunky stitchwork. It was a harness. There were little loops of fabric, through which metal rings were firmly anchored, jingling as they jostled against carabiners.

"Put jit on."

Untaaura was already pulling out her own harness, sliding it over her shoulders and around her waist. She cinched the slack in places, testing it out by standing and pinwheeling her arms to ensure that there was just enough room to maneuver.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Not exactly what she was expecting, but certainly nothing that she couldn't adapt to. Rising to stand, Teagan navigated her way into the harness with not too much trouble, following the Major's lead and taking out the slack until the whole thing fit snugly to her gangly frame. It felt strange, and with an odd look painted onto her features, the young Lupine tested and inspected each bit like a curious lothcat. Fingers wormed into the spaces between nylon and body, testing, poking, and prodding. It was different to say the least. She'd never worn anything like this before, and couldn't help the feeling of sudden self-consciousness.

Her eyes went to the Major then, and she couldn't help reaching out to one of the straps at the other woman's side. Slender fingers hooked around the strong canvas secured around the Cizerack, giving it a firm shake. It didn't give much, and she pulled back once more, curiosity etched on her face. She was at least two inches taller than the Major, but felt infinitely smaller.

"Feels weird," she finally got out.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

"jIt doess."

Untaaura nodded, pausing to brace a hand against one of Teagan's shoulders as she gave the girl's left chest strap a firm pull, trussing her up even tighter.

"That'ss how jyou know..."

The marine worked both hands into Teagan's waist straps. Planting her feet and with her tail to counterbalance, Untaaura raised Teagan clear off the ground with a flat-footed snatch.

"...jit worrkss."

She eased Teagan back, giving the girl's rig a few more inspections. Maybe she was over-thorough, but it wasn't just her climbing today.

"That's waa'neirra aachi. Alpjine sstjyle. Thosse sstrrapss acrross the frront, jyou can hook up to a parrtnerr orr forr a rresscue. jYou don't fuck arround above the trreeljine."

The Marine didn't feel like she had to stow the loose talk. Teagan was a big girl.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"Waa'neirra aachi."

She rolled the Cizeri words over her tongue, doing her best to get a feel for how it felt. It was nothing like her own native speech, and the difference only fueled her curiosity more. She'd learned a lot of sayings in the Major's native language (some of which weren't best said in public), and it seemed that each day that passed she was becoming more and more fluent. Of course, there was always more that the Major seemed to teach her, and Teagan wondered just how much more there was to learn.

She couldn't help but try out a bit of her own home-learning.

<"Is good for that the high ones, yes?">

[Untaaura Verratoa]

"Waaa'neirra aachi. Waa'neirra. Ssee mjy ljipss, ljike thjiss."

A minor correction, though. Teagan seemed to be a natural mimic. She picked it up the second go just fine, and then went on to improvise. Untaaura smiled. The Lupine klutzed through the syntax and some of the word choice wasn't there, but she'd picked up a lot more by intuition.

"That'ss rrjight. On Taltimant, we'd ssajy Dauu'eai'rraak. Cloud pjierrcerr. Herre."

Another rummage through her pack, and Untaaura retrieved a pair of spiked metal frames, wrapped around thick strapping. She tossed each one down beside Teagan's feet.

"Overr the bootss. Tjight."

Meanwhile, the Major unlaced her own boots, pulling them free as well as the socks beneath. She wiggled bare toes against the rock, allowing her toe claws to extend and scratch lines along the foundation.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Again lowering herself to sit, Teagan picked through the metal frames, testing each spike with the poke of a finger. A moment later found her easing each one over her boots. They fit snugly to begin with, but it was easy to tell that the leather strapping was to ensure they stayed tight and unmoving. Like a set of claws, even.

"Dauu'eai'rraak," she repeated slowly while cinching the straps.

A moment of quiet as she inspected her handiwork, then she drew in a deep breath before rising to stand once more. Her feet felt strange, but it wasn't an unwelcome feeling.

A gesture to the Major's bare feet.

"Hope you don't break a nail," she couldn't help but joke.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

The Major laughed.

"When jI learrned to cljimb, thjiss jiss how jI djid jit. Not ljike a Carshoulis cjitjy ssoft-foot. We'd usse sspjikess jin the wjinterr orr above the ljine, but jI alwajyss loved to go barrefoot."

Untaaura ducked back into her pack, this time retrieving two spools of cable. She hooked one by carabiner over her shoulder, and tossed the other one for Teagan to hook in a similar way. Then, the Marine retrieved a boxy-looking pistol. She pressed the barrel into a uniform facet of rock and squeezed the trigger.

PCHOK

When she was finished, a durasteel piton was rooted deep into the rock surface. Untaaura hooked up, spooled out a limited amount of line, then walked back towards the road, pulling at it with all her strength.

It didnt budge an inch.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

And just like that there was a spark in her eyes that hadn't been there before. Something brought to life by a new and wholly fresh experience. Teagan gave a wide smile, her shoulders rolling in anticipation, feet practically stamping the ground in some sort of excited prance.

"Never let me be called a soft-foot then," she couldn't help but chirp out as she moved closer to the edge, craning her neck over the outcropping.

There was no mistaking the glint of excitement she now held.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Untaaura loaded another piton, slamming the anchor into the rock about six paces away. She walked to Teagan, pulling a carefully-doled length of line out, and hooked her companion up in a similar fashion.

"jYou'rre no ssoft foot. jYou'rre mountajin tough. Thosse forrda down therre?"

The Major pointed to the village.

"Thejy'd cljimb wjith a fjield generratorr. jYou don't need one."

She affixed the anchor gun to her waist with a carabiner, then slipped her blaster carbine back on as an afterthought. From there she took a few careful steps back with Teagan. She took another step back. Then another, until only the balls of her feet were resting on rock. Her heels kissed sky.

"Pussh off. Ssljide. Sswjing. Ssjimple asss sajoi."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

For a moment she hesitated, but it wasn't long before she mimicked the Major's own stance. There was a small bit of fearlessness that radiated from her in this moment, and the young Lupine nodded sagely as she listened to and digested the words spoken to her.

"Simple as sajoi," she repeated again, and with little more warning than that, Teagan let her leg muscles bunch for half a second before pushing off the edge. She felt weightless for a fraction of a second before gravity took over, and her body curved in the air on a downward trajectory. Both hands held the anchored line with a strong grip, and she let the corded rope slip through before constricting her hold. There was a moment of concern as she came to meet the rock wall, feet out to catch the face of it, but she more or less stuck her landing in a rather ungraceful way.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

"Aiiiy-haaa!!!"

Untaaura let out a wild belting as she pushed off the promontory. The cliff face rushed up and forward, but the felinoid was already holding her line fast as she rolled her back to present her bare feet to the rock. The tough balls of her feet slid, but only an instant as she angled just so that her claws could bite where they needed to find the mark. A few chalky scratch lines and she had set her footing.

She turned to look at Teagan with a big grin on her face, letting go of her hold on the line to swing free in the air.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Mouth open, Teagan watched the display in rapt fascination, her own foothold on the cliff face awkward and tenuous. It wasn't long though, before the Lupine felt her body respond, and her features melted into an expectant grin. She pushed away once more, feeling herself become like some celestial body, orbiting a stationary wall as gravity pulled at her. It was exhilarating and wondrous, and not a little bit dangerous. She had to wonder just what Zem would say to such a thing, but it was a fleeting thought that was swept away by the air rushing around her.

The cliff came back to meet her, and she braced her legs to catch it, though rather than allowing her metal toe-claws to take hold, Teagan used her momentum to launch herself at the Major.

Outstretched hands caught the Cizerack woman by the shoulders, using her to whip the both of them around in the air before letting go, like some swirling dance through the unseen eddies of air.

When her clawed feet found purchase on the rocks once more, Teagan turned a breathless look of joy to Untaaura.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

The grin didn't come off her face. They shared this mid-air dance. Defying death and gravity alike as each climber caromed gently into each other. Pushing away. Coming together. Untaaura slowed her trajectory, angling for a gentle meeting as Teagan came back again. They embraced, and remained suspended still for a moment. The Major brandished another carabiner, this time hooking them hip to hip, so they could remain together while hands free. From another pocket, she pulled a small holorecorder unit. One hand on the holo and the other hand around Teagan's shoulder, Untaaura leaned back so that the pair lay nearly flat in the air.

"Ssmjile."

She held the device at arm's length, turning it around so that she could catch them both in frame.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Unlike her mother, who often shied away from such things, Teagan was always more than happy to pose for the holocamera. She smiled wide, throwing both arms around the Major's shoulders as the two hung suspended.

And at the last moment, she leaned in to plant a kiss to Untaaura's cheek a split-second before the camera clicked.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

There wasn't enough time for surprise to register before the camera clicked. Afterward...Untaaura glanced at Teagan. The smile didn't go away. She was content to just rock and sway. The dry, slightly warm wind wicked away their exertions, and she wiggled her bare feet in the breeze.

"What wass that forr?"

She'd had the girl pegged as an old soul from the days she started loitering at the work site, but Untaaurra had to wonder how close Teagan was to those years where everything started to get truly complicated.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"I dunno."

Pulling back, the young Lupine let her eyes roam away; away from the Major and up to the sky and the trees below and the everything.

"It seemed the right thing."

A deep breath, and she let her body lean back to hinge on the carabiner that held them together.

"Because it's so beautiful and wonderful out here, and the birds are singing and everything is just so perfect. Because we're in the air," her arms want out then, stretching as far as they could as fingertips splayed to catch every bit of atmosphere as possible, "... and there's nothing to tell us that flying is wrong."

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Untaaura stared in wonderment. There's nothing to tell us that flying is wrong. A little thing to say, and it said so much. She mimicked the girl, making an angel pose in mid-air, letting nothing but the sun and the wind touch them.

"jI ljike that."

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"jI rrealljy do."

Was she in the moment? Was she remembering? This all felt so real, in the way things did when you lived them twice for good measure. Was it something Kuurramaai had said once?

This high up, only Saanjarra can see us. And you know, the sun is still shining.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Eyes closed, she felt the sun's warmth as it beat down upon her, knowing that the Major felt the same warmth. It was nourishing and invigorating, and Teagan felt her body renewed by the feeling. She cracked a single eye then, half-turning her head to look at Untaaura.

"Do you think that Saanjarra, you know, travels from star to star? Like, checking on her people to make sure they're happy?"

The Major had never really delved into her own beliefs, but Teagan had had enough exposure to Cizerack culture to familiarize herself with the pantheon.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

It was definitely something Untaaura had thought about. Probably plenty of other people who thought about it too, once they slipped the surly bonds of the home cluster. She nodded.

"jI do. Whjy would the Goddesss onljy be wjith one ssun orr thrree? Sshe'ss the Goddesss."

They began to slowly rotate on the line so that one of Ossus's suns came back into view. Untaaura raised up her hands, cupping them around the brightness to frame the light. She closed her eyes, a contented smile. Her mouth moved in small motions, forming words without sound.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Teagan watched, fascination on her face as she let her eyes wander from the sun's bright rays to the Major's display of honor and reverence. Her lips mouthed a prayer - or at least the Lupine figured it was a prayer, and she stared in silence, allowing the moment to transpire without interruption.

Eventually, she returned her arms to their position around the Major's shoulders, holding her close as her lips moved in to speak softly into her dear friend's ear.

"Teach me the prayer."

[Untaaura Verratoa]

That was a serious request, and Untaaura blinked as she looked back to Teagan. Sacraments to the Divine Pairing were a thing for the Cizer'a only. Or so the Priestesses said. There were concessions for the forrda subjects of the Pride. A small share of divine grace. Scraps from heaven's table. Maybe that was the Proper Way, but Untaaura didn't really know the details. Besides, if the heart was there, Saanjarra would probably hear it, right?

She wet parched lips with her tongue. When she spoke, it was low.

"When jyou sspeak to the Goddess orr the God, jyou make the Saiarra'nar'echa, the jinnerr temple. Wjith jyourr handss, asss jI djid, but onljy jin prrajyerr."

She wasn't demonstrating the gesture again. You did not do such a thing unless you were speaking to the Divine Pairing.

"jYou make jyourr handss a place wherre Thejy majy rresst wjithjin. When jyou sspeak to Them, that jiss between jyou and the Djivjine. jYou sspeak jyourr hearrt, but jyou make no ssound. jIt jiss a converrssatjion forr jyou onljy."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She took in what was spoken with the same reverence that the Major spoke of it in. There was no denying the seriousness of it all, and Teagan gave a sombre nod as she twisted her body to face fully upwards. Alongside the Major, suspended in the air, the young Lupine stared as close to the sun as she could. Her hands pulled away from Untaaura to frame the infinitely bright orb in the sky with the sort of honor that one would afford a living, breathing deity. And perhaps the sun was just that? A vehicle for Saanjarra to gaze upon her people and shower them with her warmth?

There, hung in the air with nothing but the trees to hear and the avians to bear witness, Teagan cupped the brilliance of the sun with her hands. She brought them close to her chest, eyes closing as she fully faced the brilliant rays, and in her own tongue, spoke a prayer, lips barely moving as she sent her missives to the One that Dwelled Beyond.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

In the silence of their moment above the world, Untaaura watched as Teagan made her temple and said her words. She'd watched plenty of people in the midst of their own private moment, but maybe she'd never taken the time to see. She didn't read the words on her lips, but instead watched her eyes, closed though they were. The way her brows drew down, and up. The tiny intimate tells of an emotional state of place.

Maybe it was for the Priestesses to say in which order Saanjarra received her prayers, and what she did with them. But to her? There ought to be no difference at all, so long as everyone came to that same place.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

There was a certain feeling of relief and exaltation that she felt at the end of her prayer, and Teagan let out a long breath, her features softening in the warmth of the sun's rays. It was invigorating and life-affirming in the sort of way that one was renewed by the simple energies of life. There was nothing so complicated as feelings or intricate emotions, just existence and the act of being in the now.

A slow, creeping smile pulled at her lips as she turned her head slowly towards the Major.

Her eyes cracked open. She smiled as if knowing something unspoken and her breathing had grown shallow, as if quieted by soothing words that only she had heard.

There was a moment of quiet between the two as she stared at Untaaura, and with a slow, deliberate movement, the Lupine wrapped her arms around the Major's neck in the sort of embrace that two friends shared when one realized the importance of the other.

"She wants us to learn more," came the whispered words, followed by an affirming crush of surprising strength.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

The Major returned the embrace, surprised at first by the urgency of it. But why was she surprised? Had she not seen? Was she so busy with the work that needed to be done to notice the full impact that it had on this young girl? It wasn't just a house that she'd raised. It wasn't just a village. The time that Teagan had taken to search her out.

As a friend.

A friend to someone like her? So lonely and bitter and heartbroken by it all. Someone who still made her temple and still said her prayers, but felt so desperately lonely for so long that she had to stop and remember when she didn't hurt.

Untaaura blinked tears out of her eyes, unseen. Her breath shook as she drew it in and out.

"jI want to learrn."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"Good."

Her hands gripped the Majors shoulders then, and Teagan pushed back so that the two were facing each other. She smiled the sort of hopeful, happy smile that two beings could share while suspended in the air.

She gave a barely contained laugh, her features brimming with excitement, yet tempered by the inevitability of what was to come. And in the next moment, the Lupine reached down to undo the carabiner that held them together. A simple move that resulted in the two bursting apart with Teagan's excited push-away. Like some brilliant explosion, she careened away into the open air, arms wide as she swept around the Major in a graceful arc.

"She wants us to be happy now, though," came the encouraging words, flitting through the air to the Major's ears.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Had she just felt guilty before for trying? For wanting to? Untaaura wasn't sure of that, but she could be certain that this was happiness. Moving through the air, feeling the warmth on her skin as they passed each other by, back and forth. Teagan laughed, and so did she. They passed, brushing hand against hand, coming around and around again.

She could spend forever here.

If only.



* * *

It seemed like an entire day, and honestly? Untaaura didn't care. They'd run the length of the escarpment up and down. They'd watched the little people below mill like ants. This was good. Every part of it. And Untaaura didn't feel the least bit guilty for treasuring it. She was grateful.

They finally made the climb back up to the promontory, taking a moment to rest on actual solid ground, each of them tired and giddy and living in the now.

"jI have ssomething...jI want to do."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

One last look over the edge, as though it was her last look at escaping freedom. It wasn't, really. But there was something that she'd be without from this point onwards. Teagan blinked, then stepped back from ethereal edge to look at the Major. She smiled bravely, stuffing her thumbs into the edges of her harness.

"What sort of something?"

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Untaaura sat up. She reached to her chest, feeling her hexagonal ident chit tag that was suspended from her neck by a chain. Her fingers curled on it briefly, then let it go. She reached up and into the collar of her shirt. A moment later, a second ident chit emerged. The Major stared at it thoughtfully, turning the metal tag over and over. At last, she wrapped her fingers around it and gave a firm tug. The chain was designed to give way in this fashion. With a pop, it came free.

"Kuurramaai'ss chjit. jI took jit off of her, when..."

The Major coughed, smokescreening a rising feeling. She nodded, looking back at the sun as it began its track down to the horizon.

"...when sshe wass kjilled. jIt'ss all jI have of herr. jI wassn't allowed to come home forr herr funerral. Herr motherr...sshe knew about uss. Knew what we werre. Thrreatened to tell mjy commandjing offjicerr, unlesss jI sstajyed awajy."

Untaaura swallowed heavily. She hurriedly pushed the damp out of her eyes, smiling almost in apology.

"jI'm ssorrjy. jI haven't told anjyone thjiss. jI can't tell anjyone elsse."

Her eyes turned back to the view below the promontory, and the Major finished drying her eyes. She smiled.

"jI know sshe would love thjiss place. jI know jit sso well jI can jusst ssee herr on that rrock face ljike sshe owned jit all."

Untaaura returned her attention to Teagan, and she squeezed the girl's hand.

"jI have to leave herre, and jI'm ssorrrjy that jI do, Teagan. jI trruljy am."

Her eyes traced down to the chit in her hand.

"But jI want Kuurramaai to sstajy. jIt'ss the besst thjing jI can gjive herr."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

The meaning was clear enough, and Teagan felt her chest swell in pride at what was unspoken. What was asked of her without words. She stood slightly taller, letting both hands come to rest over the Major's. Over weathered fingers that clutched something so dear and sacred.

"She'll always be here," came the whispered answer.

"And she'll be wherever you take her," slowly, gingerly almost, Teagan lifted one hand to lay it flat over the Major's chest, where her own heart lay nestled beneath flesh and bone and muscle and blood. It was a tangible, ever-living beat that sang with everything around them. The young Lupine held tight with her other hand, a grip that was unmoving and sure.

A single tear formed then, escaping past the boundaries of her left eye to cut a thin rivulet down her cheek.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

The Major nodded. Kuurramaai would never leave her heart. Maybe that's why she felt peace in leaving her chit behind here. Peace in knowing that Kuurramaai had both of these things, and nobody could take that away from her. Nobody could take that away from them.

Untaaura cleared Teagan's tear with a thumb. She leaned forward and kissed the girl's cheek, much as she'd done earlier.

"Let'ss fjind herr a good sspot."

Carefully, she evaluated the choices. Hung on a rocky outcropping? The wind might catch. Buried in the thin soil might be safe, but then could she see the view? There was a stunted tree growing, just at the back of the promontory. A squat, knurled thing that looked to be a generation old. Untaaura tested the branches, which were kinked, wiry, but very alive. Carefully, she threaded the chain around and through a cluster of branches. The last act was to clasp the chain together again.

Untaaura stepped back. The chit dangled from the branches of the tree, catching the sun's rays as it danced and glinted.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She looked at Kuurramaai's new home, held tightly in the squat branches of a sage tree. It seemed fitting, and right. It was the most honorable resting place she could think of to truly show the Major's love real respect.

There was a moment that her eyes lingered on the chit, and with a final sniff, Teagan wiped at her eyes once more while turning to the setting sun. It cast brilliant rays of red, purple, and gold across the valley below. You couldn't find such artistic beauty in any painting ever put to canvas, and the Lupine gestured to the horizon.

"Let's all watch the sun go down, yeah?"

She couldn't help her hand that reached out, taking the Major's own in a firm grip.

"All three of us."