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[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 5: The Clearing in the South

In all honesty, the fact that Cira and Cowan had gotten ‘stuck’ together was not a random occurrence. It was the fault of their two other training companions, who were getting sick of the infighting between the two humans and decided to disappear into the forest before they could even ask who would go with who. And they had also gone south, deeper into the forests and away from where most of the students went. An hour and they hadn’t been found, so it looked like the plan had worked out well enough.

“Is it normally so quiet out here?” Esah asked, using a fin-like hand to move a larger branch out of the way to keep up with Gant’s pace.

He shrugged, and said over his shoulder, “The wildlife generally likes to stay away. They are...close, but far enough away.”

“Ah...right,” she stepped over a root and looked around. She couldn’t actually see anything beyond trees, leaves, roots, and dirt. Not counting her Miraluka companion, of course. Reaching out with the Force, though, she could feel the creatures that were keeping their distance. And he could ‘see’ them. Esah smiled to herself as she thought about what that would be like before asking, “So where are we going, anyway?”

“Well, the only others I know of that went this direction as far as we’ve gone so far were those Solo kids,” Gant said as he ducked under a large tree branch.

She followed, bending farther to make sure not to hit her larger head, as she remembered the rumors that had been flying around the Academy in the last couple of weeks, “Right, right. Found some old TIE fighter, didn’t they?”

“Something like that.”

“Then why are we going this way...?” the Mon Calamari asked just as she started to notice that the trees were separating and becoming far less dense.

At her question, Gant actually stopped and turned his head to ‘look’ at her. Or rather, probably to show her the smile on his face, “Because no one else does.”

Esah laughed and nodded, but couldn’t help shaking the feeling that this was the ‘right’ direction to go. They continued on for another ten minutes in silence. All the while, the trees began to separate more and more until, finally, it opened up into a large clearing. Sure, they could still see trees on all sides, but any clearing at all was large on Yavin IV. They walked out into the clearing, and Esah couldn’t help looking up. The overbearing orange of the gas giant, Yavin, hung there, outshining most of the sky’s blue. It was...still something she was getting used to, but always a constant reminder that Yavin IV was a moon, and not an actual planet.

“What does it look like?”

The words surprised Esah. She even jumped slightly and looked down from the sky to where Gant stood. His head was turned up, ‘looking’ at the sky but definitely not seeing it like she did. After a moment, she looked back up and said quietly, “It looks beautiful...what does it look like to you?”

There was a pause, and it was obvious he was trying to find a way to describe it. Probably in the same way she had tried to figure out how to explain the scene without describing colours. He didn’t know what colours were...or did he? But Gant cut off her thoughts by saying, “It looks beautiful.”

She smiled and laughed slightly, “One day I want you to explain to me just how the world looks to you.”

“Only if you explain the same to me,” Gant said with a grin, finally turning back down. His mouth opened to say something else, but no sound escaped. He turned around and looked back towards the direction they had originally been going in.

Esah took a step to the side and looked the same direction, but only saw the tree line, “What is it?”

“Something...close. I can...see it like I see Master Skywalker.”

That took a moment to translate, but when she figured it out, the Mon Calamari girl didn’t like it, “Strong in the Force, you mean?”

“Not that strong...but not like you or the others,” Gant clarified before kneeling down and seeming to ‘look’ harder. She could feel him reaching out with the Force.

Deciding it was a bad idea to just stand around, Esah also did her best to stretch out and feel the nearby area. It was a basic task, but something she found difficult, for some reason. Perhaps it was the ‘clear your mind’ part that always got her. But that didn’t matter...it worked, and she could feel something.

“Predator?” she asked, having the sudden feeling that they had been tracked and watched the entire time.

But Gant shook his head, “There aren’t any Force Sensitive predators on the moon...or at least, there shouldn’t be.”

“Another student then,” that time, Esah didn’t ask. It was the obvious next logical step.

But again, Gant shook his head, “You can feel it, too, can’t you? It feels like...like a predator.”

Esah sighed and nodded. Not only did it feel like a predator, but it felt like a very dangerous thing. Something that was waiting for just the right time to strike. And she could feel that...feel the need to strike. It was almost terrifying.

“Should we go back...?” despite the watery quality to her voice, Esah was very good at expressing worry so that everyone around her, no matter what the species, would get the message clearly.

“What does a predator do if you turn your back on it?” Gant asked, though it was definitely a question that did not need to be answered. It attacked. Which left one option.

“Master Skywalker’s going to kill you when we get back,” she was suddenly whispering, but just as Gant was back on his feet and slowly creeping towards the presence, she was doing the same. She wasn’t about to let him charge into this alone...and besides, she was just as curious.

Gant nodded, but then pointed ahead to where they could both feel the presence, “Stay alert...and don’t get separated.”

Ahead of them, just against the tree line, something moved.