trans_9 | (no subject)

Mara, in the same exact bikini (she had it first thank you very much!) stopped along side Vestara's towel of crazy and scowled.

"You have something severely wrong with you."

Ves looked up from the tibia she'd been cleaning with her teeth.

Mara Jade was upset. The Sith choked back her smile and turned it into a frown instead.

"Master Skywalker, I take your appraisal of character very seriously. Please describe whatever is currently unsatisfactory about me."

Mara gave her a deadpanned look. She wasn't stupid. And she had just done basically this same exact act to Vader a bit ago.

"Can't you do your bone picking else where? There are kids around."

Okay, Mara didn't see any kids but THERE COULD BE.

"There are other birds along these shores for the children, too," she stated, honestly not understanding. "Do not fret. Besides, it is good to learn about jealousy at a young age."

The fowl's giant, unblinking dead eyes were just as serious as hers.

"That's not--" Mara sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You're not teaching my son how to disassemble a bird, are you?"

"No!" She exclaimed. "I had a lesson plan in mind and everything, but I cannot even find Ben. Today has been disappointing."

Ves loved the feel of her toes in the sand. She sighed, curling them.

"Would you like you learn in place of your child? I have discovered much."

"I can't find him either." Mara muttered, looking out over the sand before glancing back down at Vestara's bird.

"No, I already know, thank you."

"Should we look? Or will he seek us out?" Vestara's pupils grew very large as her gaze bore into Mara's. "No. He is smart. Ben will not find himself in too much danger."

Her bikini top was sliding up too high. She pulled it back down.

"Yeah, he's smart." Mara agreed, her gaze not leaving Vestara's.

That would be a sign of weakness. And she had to win. She had to prove she deserved this bikini.

"And I would never take you along to find my son."

She didn't flinch.

"I am sure you wouldn't."

Her voice is sweet.

"Fortunately, I am an good tracker."

"Fantastic for you." Mara said dryly. "If I ever need someone dead, I'm sure I'll be coming to you."

Vestara's laugh was as musical as it was obnoxious.

"Good thing, too. I'd hate to see you get hurt in the line of duty."

Mara laughed as well, a short, angry bark.

And then she slammed her fist toward Vestara's pretty face.

Ves stumbled back and covered her nose with her fingers.

"I am bleeding," she sighed, examining them.

She picked up her boombox and swung it at Mara's skull.

Mara ducked and it caught her in the back of the head, sending her forward into the sand. She sputtered slightly before reaching for Vestara's legs, to bring that little bitch down.

"Nice to know you can bleed," Mara hissed. "I'm willing to see just how much blood you have."

"As least mine is still warm, you ancient sea nerf."

But Ves fell to her knees and clenched her jaw in anger. Her nails reached for Mara's face, now at the right height to scratch all of the old woman's gelatinous zones.

The music didn't stop playing.

Mara bit down on her lip to keep the screech from escaping her as Vestara's nails dragged down Mara's cheeks before she managed to wrench away. She got up on her knees and managed to drive an elbow toward Vestara's sternum.

The jolt caused her to double-over. Her vision and stomach swam, but her forehead unintentionally ricocheted off Mara's. Ves leapt and aimed a kick at the woman's middle.

Mara ducked it, still reeling from the forehead smash. She grabbed Vestara's foot and twisted her into the sand, aiming to push her face into the ground.

"Kriffing piece of--"

"That will be enough!" Obi-Wan cut in, coming upon them like a thunderstorm, still in his Jedi robes. He'd been shopping, ladies, and anyone who knew him, knew how rare and beautiful such a thing was for a stipend-restricted Old Republic Jedi.

More than that, they'd been so distracted with trying to scratch each other's eyes out that he'd been able to sneak right up to them.

It was all so stupid, indeed it was ridiculous enough that Obi-Wan did something he rarely had to: use the Force on living targets. He held out his hands, touched the Force, and flung them bodily apart with the naked power of his mind alone.

"Both of you are acting like children! You are better than this," He rounded on them both in turn, fixing each with a long, ice-shard stare, radiating determination in all directions, "You are, and don't argue with me. Not this time."

"Leave us alone," Vestara snarled. "This does not involve you."

Obi-Wan's Force grip was too strong for her to break through. All she could do was flick a few grains of sand at both him and Skywalker.

Even Mara wasn't so easily deterred by Obi-Wan Kenobi. At this point, he was simply in her way.

"I'm not arguing, Kenobi," Mara spat, struggling to get up. "But it doesn't stop the need to put this brat in her place."

Luke had been back at one of the shops getting something for Mara when he'd felt things kick up in the Force, and come running as fast as he could, grabbing her and wrapping his arms around her as he staggered backwards so she couldn't kick Vestara.

"Not this way, Mara!" he yelled, stopping and bracing himself for when she inevitably tried to fight her way back to Vestara's face. "Just calm down, this isn't worth it!"

"I'm afraid that anything you do involves everyone that has to put up with the repercussions," Obi-Wan informed Vestara coldly, and gave Mara a hearty Force-push to off-balance her properly into Luke's arms, as it should be, "You're acting like spoiled, mindless children, both of you, not trained Force-users and certainly nothing like the representatives of this crew that you should be."

He emphasized every other word with a careful increase in pressure. Neither of these ladies was going anywhere. Obi-Wan might not be Mace Windu, but he knew this trick better than anyone.

Vestara felt her muscles tightening, and rage built up over her lack of control and Luke Skywalker's words.

"Just calm down, this isn't worth it!"

She was a capable fighter, certainly worthy of being matched against Mara.

"My 'place' is one you cannot fathom."

Mara sagged against her husband, her hands on his that were tight against her waist. Her skin was being pinched slightly, but she just moved uncomfortably in his grip. "You're right."

It was loud enough to be heard by Vestara, and for her because Mara never took her eyes off the girl. "She isn't worth it."

Luke just dragged her back a little more and readied himself to call up a wall of Force at any moment--because undoubtedly a proud Sith like Vestara would have to retaliate against that kind of accusation.

"Obi-Wan's got a good point. Come on, Mara... I don't want to spend our vacation fighting with people. Let's just go somewhere else and cool down. There's plenty of room on this planet for all of us."

So his mother had beaten up a pretty Sith girl, which Ben assumed was what had sent the oh kriff danger sense time to take a sprinting detour to the beach and then a dead Clone Wars general had intervened, and there was his dad, and oh, right, the universe was gone. Just another day in the life of Ben Skywalker, belabored member of the craziest family in the former-galaxy.

"Wait," he said, skidding to a halt in the sand and turning off the obnoxious music. "What did I miss?"

Arh emerged from the water, popping up like a floaty-toy and flailing a little as she went from the waves to Mara and Luke, dripping saltwater and looking extremely concerned. She took in the rest of the Jed-Eye--and the one she had not met (the angry bloodied girl) and pieced the puzzle together from the sand and the emotion darting about.

Her eyebrows arched as she flicked a glance at Obi-Wan, then Ben, and back to the girl she did not know before her eyes found Mara's--and her scratches. She came in on the heels of Ben's question and frowned as she attempted to adjust the black crochet bikini. It was misbehaving as one strap kept falling. It made her look awkward.

"That is a good question," she said. "I was watching fish. You have scared them away with all of this anger." Arha's expression was definitely pouting. "And I could smell the blood. We are not supposed to be drawing each other's blood."

She crossed her arms.

"Who am I to heal first? The angry bird-picker? Or Mara?" The dead bird did not smell pleasant and it had nearly eclipsed the smell of blood.

"Skywalker needs far more care than me," Ves growled.

She turned to Ben. "We were discussing our plans for the afternoon when your mother viciously attacked me. Naturally, I fought back."

"You mean you got beat up," he said, stuffing his hands in the pockets of the nondescript summer-weight pants he'd picked up.

"I'm fine." Mara snapped, trying to get away from Luke. She wrenched her arms away (or tried). "Let me go, I'm not going to go after her, I just want to go away."

Away from all of them.

Hurt, Luke let her go. He was still ready to snatch her back with the Force if she made a lunge for Vestara, but his face fell. He could understand why, but he wished they could go together and just relax somewhere without starting an incident.

"Okay," he said. "You know how to get in touch with me if you want some company."

Arha blinked, her eyes wide, and if possible, even more blue as she looked between Mara and Luke and the spiteful girl-child (this was Sith, too, she saw). Her hands, which were starting to burn from the healing itch that had settled in them, dropped to her sides.

She had made Luke sad and that, in turn, made Arha wish to cry. Though her eyes prickled, she refused to shed water.

Arha nudged Mara gently with the Force, her chin tilting so a tangle of hair swung free.

"Let me fix...something," she murmured. "I wish to make it better."

Mara kept stepping back, her fingers clenched into fists as she shook her head erratically. "Luke, just, come with me."

Her voice was careful and controlled but those who knew her well (especially Luke) could have heard the waver when she said her husband's name.

"It's okay, Arha, I'll find you later."

She turned around, quickly, before she did lose her composure, hoping Luke would follow.

"Well, maybe a bit," Ves straightened, rolling her swollen, soon-to-be-black eyes.

She didn't feel guilty about Mara being upset. Not at all. The woman had attacked her. If Mara wasn't currently retreating with her tail between her legs, Ves would be running after her.

But it wouldn't be honorable.

"Mara--"

Luke turned to look at the assembled people, then quickly put a hand on Arha's arm, working to hide the tension in his expression and the hurt in his eyes; he'd felt how it had affected his friend. "Go ahead and take care of Vestara," he told her quietly. "Sith or not, she shouldn't be left injured. I'll go with Mara and we can all meet up later when people are calmed down."

Biting his lip, he turned and jogged off after his wife.

Vestara was pretty, smart, and likable, but his mother had died trying to take down Jacen for him, which gave her a pretty powerful upper hand in this situation. "Just stay away from her for a while," he murmured to Vestara, brushing past her on his way after his parents. "And next time, no entrail reading at the beach."

Then he took off after his mother.

Arha felt as if she were rooted to the spot and watched Mara, Luke, and Ben leave with an uncertain expression. She turned back to Vestara and the uncertainty became something akin to quiet curiosity and a healer's scrutiny. It was not so terrible.

Mara would, no doubt, prefer to leave the girl marked thusly. But, Arha was not Mara Jade Skywalker. She approached the girl and held out her hands, heat radiating from them. Through the Force, they looked as if gold light that was marked with the pale blue of the Force was welling from her palms. It was a mix of Force and her own ability.

Such was required for the healing of a Force user.

Even Vader's healing required the use of the Force.

"I am ready," Arha said, "if you are."

Vestara had expected Ben to deck her back for what she'd done to his mother. She looked on as he left, ~astonished~, and smirked good-humoredly.

She'd met Ahra once before.

"You're... trying to heal me." Ves lifted an eyebrow. "Go ahead, if you wish."

All of this selflessness, and the fact that no one was trying to execute her on the spot, made her feel very uncomfortable.

"I am a healer," Arha said and her own eyebrow quirked toward her hairline. "Such is what I do. I try at nothing."

She brushed her fingers over Vestara's face for a moment, then took the girl's hands to seal the connection. Everything blazed for a long moment as she worked her way in--Sith meant the Dark Side, yes? Upon contact, Arha blanched, and brushed any encroaching darkness away, then sought out the injuries. Broken blood vessels began repairing themselves at a rapid rate and Arha urged them on, drawing from her own energy. The damage to Vestara's nose was similarly repaired, only it took longer to fix.

The pain was, however, immediately gone, and the black rings that would have blossomed in the coming hours would not. The healing process was warm, soothing, and inherently Lightside, though it mixed with the raw power of a healing process that was decidedly alien. When she was satisfied, Arha let go and immediately sat down in the sand, a little breathlessly.

"Then hush and--"

Vestara immediately stopped talking as soon as Ahra took her hands.

The presence rushing into her mind was naively pure. She'd felt only a fraction of this lightness when feeling the other Jedi through the Force and now it felt as if a wall of white was pouring into her soul.

It felt revolting.

But the pressure building in her skull and sinus cavities from the injuries began to lessen. The crunched cartilage in her nose moved but didn't hurt at all.

She gently reached up to feel her face. There was no pain.

"You did your job well."

"Mm," Arha said after a moment. "I am pleased with the results, myself. Thank you. It will continue healing until all injuries are suitably repaired. I would recommend rest as I have used your own resources as well as mine to accelerate the healing process. In a moment, I shall need to eat to replace what I have just lost. You may join me if you wish."

She was now very sleepy as well, but that she could push off. The hunger, however, was not something to play with.

"I have bones of my bird left," Ves offered. "We can get nourishment from the marrow."

She was reluctant to give the carcass up, because she lebeled every organ yet, but she was very hungry.

"We may," Arha said, tilting her head slightly. "It will not be enough, but it should help for a moment. It is best to find more substantial foodstuffs. I have not yet tried the things they call fish. I have been told they are very good by the locals. I have seen them put on sticks and turned over a fire."

Vestara popped the beak into her mouth and offered a femur to Ahra.

"We have fish on Kesh," she chewed. "They are very rich in iron." Crunch, crunch.

Arha took it and snapped the bone in half, thoughtfully sucking the marrow out of each broken end. She had no fish on Arrakis. Not even little blind ones she had read about that lived in caves.

"I have just seen real fish," she said around her bone. "Such things my world did not have."

"They run from small to large. We should find the biggest," Ves nodded. "Should we catch them or find a vender?"

"A vendor would be best," Arha said solemnly. "I do not know the species well enough to avoid ones with poison. I could probably digest it well enough and my body would change the poison, but I do not know if yours would. I would not put you at risk."

It was an alien world, after all. Changing the poison into something harmless in another person was sometimes more difficult. Arha had come across such things in the database on Jed-Eye healing, but it was not always a successful thing. No, they were better off finding a local who knew what they were doing. That, and the spices used would be tried and true. She wished for something very spicy if it could be found.