trans_9 | waves & sand

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waves & sand

Arha stood for a long, long moment, her eyes wide as she leaned up against the three person landspeeder she'd carefully driven out. It was not a difficult piece of machinery to tackle. It contained people well and there was enough room for baggage, should there be any. She had her funds (and as pleased with the amount) secured and was more than ready to follow her nose straight to the water's edge. The ration bags she had been alotted had been secured as of five minutes prior, which left her half-sitting against the front part of the vehicle with her nose in the air and her eyes half closed.

The breeze was warm and felt food after the stifling humidity of the ship. It smelled clean and good, with the tang of salt that meant the ocean was nearby. She was looking forward to this thing, perhaps most of all.

But, for the moment, she enjoyed the moment as it was and paused.

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"That could be everything I know from combat techniques to relaxation," Arha said, her voice pitched to roll softly over the sound of the waves. "I think, perhaps, you would benefit greatly from relaxation. You and I are not so different in that we press on without thinking of what the stress does until we are nearly falling apart."

She brushed her fingertips against his hairline and let her thumbs settle against his temples. The precise position of her hands and the slight circling motion cleared tension, as did the light whisper of the Force that found and released what her fingers could not.

"Such a thing," Arha said, "it means we need aid in letting tension go before it saps us of clarity. But still, I can teach you many things."

"I think I would too." Wedge agreed with a smile. There were so many things he had to think about (and thank whatever God might exist that he had Tycho to help him) running the squadron. But all the worry and tension from his problem pilots, his supply issues, integrating the new arrivals, everything he had to deal with when the went back aboard Stacy...It simply melted way as Arha gently nudged against him with fingers and the Force.

"I would like that a lot, actually." Wedge said simply before turning over in the water to face Arha again, mind returning to the lesson as the moment passed.

"How are you doing on treading water?"

"Then such will I teach," Arha said with a nod. "I have this water-treading. We may move on. I would watch you--such is example. I learn best this way." It was why she went over training simulations and watched Wedge fly, Tycho, too. She wondered if they knew she did such things. It helped her to watch them, as they were natural to the flight systems and crafts. To prove her point, Arha made the proper movements and kept her head above water.

That she had the technical aspects of it down did not lessen the strangeness of it, nor the odd feel of the water around her.

"Excellent!" She really did pick up on things quickly. It always amazed him how she could simply pick up something and learn without much (apparent) effort.

"So. Most basic stroke is really the breast stroke. You put your arms out in front of you like this--" He demonstrated. "And to make the most of it, you do a sort of kick with your legs." Again, he demonstrated.

"Pretty simple."

The first try was clumsy, the second better. By the fifth attempt, she had it down, and it felt natural (even if the desert rat in her was screaming that she would kill herself and that shore was a better option). It was the Bene Gesserit training that pushed her through the fright of it.

Putting her face in the water was fairly horrifying. Every last bit of her said it was water waste, which was absurd because there was enough water around to drown Arrakis.

"Good!" Wedge called from his position a few feet away. "You've pretty much got it. After this, it's really all variation on different strokes, but that's really not what you need to relax and enjoy the mater." He gave a kick and moved a bit closer, grinning.

"It's fun, isn't it?"

"Perhaps once I stop seeing it try to swallow me," Arha said, "it shall be more fun. All I see is water and I feel very small." She swam around for a bit, attempting to get herself used to it, and caught a flash of something in the water. Her eyes widened as she peered into the depths.

"Is that an oct-o-pooze?" She pointed. "There, by the rocks with the things that are called fish. It is making a lunch out of them, do you see?"

"It's the ocean. It can be just as dangerous as the desert, in its own ways. You just have to accept that you're taking the risk and relax a little." Wedge paddled alongside her, grinning at her sudden fascination with the sea creatures.

"It certainly looks like it. Another thing about the ocean: it holds so much life. If we have time, maybe we can go diving with some breathing equipment. Or rent a submersible or something. There's a whole other world down there."

Arha reached out with the Force to nudge the oct-o-pooze in curiosity. It was like her gauntlet in looks, but this was a truly living thing. It swiveled to stare at her and wriggled its tentacles. She wondered if she could hold onto herself long enough to go down and examine it.

"I would wish to do this diving thing," Arha said. "It is waving at me, no? Hello, oct-o-pooze!" It ate a fish and Arha disappeared from view as she disregarded her own flare of don't do that! to satisfy her own curiosity. It had eight arms and, as she rotated slightly as if she were in her X-Wing, she could see a beak that was good for eating fish-like things.

She sat a little way along the rock and used the fine control she had of her body to limit her need for oxygen so she could better observe the creature. It wandered her way as if curious, too, and curled a tentacle around her ankle. Arha tilted her head slightly and her hair billowed around her head. This was not so bad, perhaps. After all, it had oct-o-pooze and it was quiet under the water.

Wedge waited at the surface, patient. He wasn't really worried about Arha. She could take of herself, right? Even if she was a novice swimmer, she seemed fairly good at it. After a minute or so, though, he began to get worried.

"Arha...?" After another moment, he dove, kicking as he looked around for the woman. Spotting her, he made his way through the clear blue water to Arha, offering a confused and exaggerated shrug, arms akimbo under the water. Was she alright?

The oct-o-pooze liked her a bit much. At the moment, he had wrapped himself around her leg with all of his arms and Arha spotted Wedge incoming out of the corner of her eye. She flashed her thumbs up at him. It was a pretty pooze, its orange-red coloring was spotted with paler pinks. This, of course, was beautiful, but Arha knew she could not stay in a place with an oct-o-pooze. She reached out with the Force again. It was not an angry thing, it was curious and had found something it liked.

You may let go, I have to breathe the air. I cannot swim with you.

The oct-o-pooze squeezed its arms around her leg a little more and she nudged it again. They would have to come back with proper staying equipment. Even a Ben Gesserit needed to breathe, after all. She freed one arm and the tentacle flopped around as the oct-o-pooze tried to find purchase elsewhere.

Eat your fish, Mister Oct-o-pooze! He is getting away! Go find him. It was minutes that she had been thusly and, as the oct-o-pooze went back to hunting, Arha pushed off the rock (a little unsteadily), and toward Wedge. She should have waited for the equipment and remanded herself as she ignored the black spots dancing across her vision as she headed upward.

...even if it had been a pretty oct-o-pooze.

Wedge took Arha by the hand and led the way to the surface, gasping for breath as they came up amongst the waves. He pushed the hair from his face and glanced at Arha, a mild look of concern on his face. Staying under water that long couldn't be good for you, right?

"You okay? You were down there for a while, Arha."

She took her time replying and drew a breath long and carefully. There, the black at the edges of her vision was easing. It as a misadventure, but no harm was done.

"I underestimated an oct-o-pooze," she said with a frown, leaning into Wedge, her forehead against his shoulder. "I am well, though another moment, and I would not have been. I did not expect him to try to make me stay. I had to lean on him with the Force. He was a good oct-o-pooze, though."

She flashed him a small smile.

"The next time, there will be equipment involved, I think," Arha murmured.

"Yeah. Oxygen is pretty useful with this kind of thing." Wedge smirked. He paddled backwards a bit, stretching as his feet found relatively solid ground. He still had to be careful to not be taken off balance by the tug of the water, but he wasn't treading the stuff any longer.

"I hope the beach and the ocean are to your satisfaction."

"I am liking the animals better than the water," Arha said ruefully, paddling after him. "I may spend much time fish-watching. They are such small things!" She was grateful when she hit the firm and most solid surface and could walk normally beside Wedge--even if the water still hit the tops of her shoulders and set her off-balance.

"They're curious little things, true. Fun to watch as well." Wedge began to make his way back to shore, finding himself wanting a little bit of sun now. He reached out to gently take Arha by the arm to insure that she didn't lose her balance in the water.

"Such are many things fun to watch," Arha said with a slight sigh, accepting his aid with a lopsided smile, and looping her free arm around his waist. Such was exceedingly stable and Arha fit well against his side. "People are much like these fish."

People are...interesting. That's the best way I can think of to describe them." There was a faint blush as Arha settled against his side, but he didn't think much of it. Falling over in the shallow water would be awkward and embarrassing.

"They're capable of so much good. But at the same time, I've seen them do the cruelest things to each other."

"People are sentient, but retain their base elements that allow them to be unfortunately cruel. Some of this is left over from a primal stage where territory, power, influence, and dominance judged the survival of entire populations and species," Arha murmured thoughtfully. "The inherent cruelty that reigns over those lower drives can, in some cases, overrun the good in people. Sometimes it takes great effort to find the good in them and bring it out once more."

They were nearly to the sand when Arha nearly stepped on a crab, which in turn, unbalanced her as she tried to avoid it. That pitched her hard into Wedge at an awkward angle, seeing as she was only using one leg as the crab waved his pincers at her in ire.

Arha might have squeaked.

"True enough. I can't imagine though...I don't know how he can see good in Vader." One of Wedge's hands curled into a tight fist.

"The man vaped a lot of my friends and lots of innocent people besides. I know I should be more understanding, but I just--I can't think of him like that right now. It's--" Whatever else Wedge was going to say was swallowed by a sudden yelp of surprise that match Arha's maybe-squeal as the two overbalanced and fell flailing into the shallow water.

"Kriffing--!" Wedge spluttered as he tried to scramble to his hands and knees. A movement made more awkward by the Fremen that had fallen across him.

She had a reply on her lips as they went down, but that was shut down by the fact that she had (quite suddenly) found herself with her face planted on Wedge's thigh, which turned into a solid, head-ringing bounce on her way down as she hit the water and the sand. A Fremen should be faster, she thought, a bit perturbed as she shoved herself sideways so Wedge could get free.

Where was her Bene Gesserit grace this day? Left aboard the ship?!

Arha came up with grit along her cheek and in her hair, right along with torn seaweed plastered across part of her forehead. She looked entirely surprised by the whole deal, that and a little dazed as she eyed Wedge and then the crab.

"It is a little monster!" was all that came tumbling out. The crab scuttled back and forth, waving and pinching at the air as if trying to raise an army of some sort. Arha rubbed at the cheek she had banged and stared.

Wedge coughed, the sound turning into laughter as he stumbled to his feet, brushing damp hair from his forehead. He shook his head, watching the little crab.

"It's a crab. And I think it's upset we nearly stepped on it." He glanced at Arha, an eyebrow raised.

"You alright?"

"Aside from my dignity," Arha mumbled, not taking her eyes off the crab, "which is as bruised as my cheek, I believe I am fine. I do not blame the creature." The crab scuttled sideways, still irritated as it jabbed its claw in Arha's direction, and she blinked before bursting into laughter herself.

"It has great courage," she said a moment later. "Perhaps he should be Rogue Squadron's mascot." The last was said dryly, but she did admire the creature. Their squadron was meant to be the ship's defensive blades. Perhaps they were much like this crab. She nudged the creature with a tiny tendril of the Force and it calmed to the point where it indecisively scuttled back and forth, closer to Arha and then farther away.

"There, now," she murmured. "I am sorry for nearly stepping on you. I would not squish you." The crab's claw went up again and it waved.

Wedge chuckled, crouching to get a closer look. Of course he wasn't going to put his fingers anywhere near those claws. They looked a little painful.

"Maybe. He seems like a tenacious little thing." He glanced back up at Arha.

"I have no idea where we'd keep him though."

"I do not know, either. Nor would I know what a crab would eat. Certainly not the things that Stacy has prepared. My Shai-Hulud has all he needs, as do the sand trout--I believe that has been seen to, but this is crab." She looked thoughtful and stretched out her fingers, letting the crab scuttle itself into her palm. He did not drop his claw as she carefully brought him up for inspection.

He was a funny little creature, especially when he was less outraged, and his little appendages tickled as he moved about.

"I think he would need the sea," she said after a moment. The crab, with his pink and cream diamond patterned body and silly segmented legs was small enough to fit comfortably in her palm. She peered at him and he peered back his nubby eyes swiveling before he reached out to neatly (and not terribly hard) pinch her nose. "Pinching, this is not nice, crab. Withdraw."

The command, surprisingly (and with some help from the Force), worked and the little crustacean looked almost guilty as his claw withdrew, but he clacked it a few times just to make sure his rage was not to be doubted. With a laugh, Arha put the little crab down.

"Go raise your army, little man," she said, laughing all the more as she took Wedge's arm. "Come, what are we to do now that we have sent a militant crab off to war?"

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