trans_9 | there were nightblooms in the east

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there were nightblooms in the east

Arha found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling for far too long with the rush of her Mothers-Within all but quiet in the dead of night. As much as she commanded herself to sleep, it would not come, and she rose, slipping from her bed and pulling on the pale blue nightgown and robe she had purchased not five hours prior. Half way down the steps of the tiny beach hut she had found for sleeping, she paused, weaved and sat down. In her mind, she saw the face of Sana, the Fremen child she had watched die during the Ohm invasion. She let out a breath and stood, letting her robe puddle behind her as she strode across the sand.

Her bare feet, long used to sand fell into the Fremen style, slip-sliding, random but sure in the moonlight with the alien sound of water crashing to shore ringing in her ears. The moon was full-bellied in the sky and cast pale, silvery light that touched seafoam and washed out the world. She should have been resting, but she walked. There were no true footprints to follow, but she did not go too far before she found herself flowing into the hybrid fighting style that was Jed-Eye and Bene Gesserit both. Sana's face welled up in her mind's eye, fiercely Fremen, and in response, her movements jerked.

Her crysknives were out and she moved quickly as the wave of enemies swarmed. She blurred and cut down many, kept moving, always moving to protect the child who fought as well. Little Sana was fierce with her blade. Arha didn't pause even when she felt the stab of something sharp rip into her.

She sliced its stabbing arm off and in her detached state, she realized she had been stabbed clean through her midsection. The small cry that came from her left jerked her head around. Sana's fingers and torso were bloodied, her crysknife still gripped in her hand. Arha pushed herself up, fighting the dizzying waves of pain and nausea to slash at another creature and found herself unable. She watched the dust motes swirl and felt the heat of the rock beneath her cheek.

And she stared, bearing witness to Sana's death.

This was what came of telling Kyle that she was fine. She was not. No one could be fine after such a thing. No one could be.

[OOC: Open, new tags mean new threads.]

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The Doctor had been sitting on the beach for hours now, staring at the ocean and lost in thoughts of his own. The sound of footsteps on the sand caught his attention over the periodic crash of the waves, though, and he bounced automatically to his feet, clambering up to the top of the small dune he'd been sitting on to see who was on the other side.

He was an odd picture on a beach, wearing a brand new suit, and his coat on top of it despite the warm night. About the only part of him that seemed to belong on a beach was his bare feet, toes wiggling in the sand.

"Bit late for an evening stroll, isn't it?" he called to the woman. Was she from the ship, or one of the locals? He couldn't remember seeing her before, but... well, it was a big ship, after all. "Though I suppose I can't really talk, considering..."

She let the last blow of her move slice through the air and stilled, her head tilted slightly as the breeze ruffled her hair. This one she had not met and her blue-within-blue eyes snapped up to find his, the pale wash of moonlight giving them an almost eerie glow in the night.

"It is never late for one who cannot sleep," Arha replied, and her Fremen accent gave her words an exotic lilt that was neither one language or another, but a blend of many. "A walk, and a practice of routines, clears the mind--or so I hope."

Wedge jerked awake, hand grasping for the blaster that wasn't there on the nightstand. After a moment of confused and fuddled fumbling he came awake enough to remember where he was. The hotel. He slipped from the bed, tugging a pair of shorts on before he walked out into the main room of the little bungalow. He glanced into the dark and empty kitchen before noting the door to Arha's room was ajar. He frowned, then headed out the door and down the steps to the sand of the beach. There she was, practicing in the moonlight. He approached quietly, hands in his pockets and hair ruffled by the sea breeze. He watched for a quiet moment, then spoke.

"Couldn't sleep?"

His voice pulled her back from the sea of Ohm she had been picturing as she fought and she let out a long breath as she turned to face him. Her own hair tangled in the breeze and swept across her face as she raked it away, peering at him almost like a child caught doing something unfortunate. The expression smoothed into a soft smile.

"I could not," she said and the wind carried her carefully pitched voice to him as she eased the distance between him. "Perhaps it is a night for such a thing." After all, he had woken as well.

"Seems like it." He couldn't always get a good nights sleep himself. Memories and thoughts from his past haunted him at times. The faces of people he'd left behind.

"Are you alright?" His concern was only for his friend. No thought for his own issues. He laid a hand on her shoulder, watching Arha in the bright, stark light of the hanging moon.

"It will pass," she murmured, covering his hand with her own. She had not spoken of her memory, the one of the Ohm, the one she had taken into herself once more for Arrakis, for the Bene Gesserit. She peered up at Wedge for a long moment and offered a lopsided smile.

"I see the faces of the dead," Arha said, the words simple, but the weight on them heavy. She was certain she felt every single death in that battle and she had been powerless to aid them. It was a terrible thing.

Wedge felt a chill run through him at Arha's simple, heavy statement. It was something you had to deal with, after years of warfare, the faces of the comrades who had gone before. He nodded solemnly, face falling a bit.

"I do too, Arha." Wedge said quietly. The man glanced downwards, growing introspective for a moment.

"It's not easy."

"When it grows easy," she said, cupping his cheek with her free hand, her thumb brushing across his cheekbone as if to soothe a nightmare away, "a leader must step down and let one who still feels the loss lead. Remembering the faces of the dead is the duty of a leader to those who follow."

She took a breath as her throat tried to close and she shook her head lightly.

"I remember the battle and the courage of a child, Sana, who fought at my side," Arha said, her voice tight with grief. "Before I was taken from that place, I watched her die in front of me. I am a healer, a warrior, but there was nothing to do but watch in that moment. She was the face of my people and," her eyes closed, "as the light went out in her eyes, so my people died. In this place, I, alone, remain. I am the last of the Fremen unless there are more asleep within the pods."

Her eyes opened and there was a glimmer of joy in them, though it was obvious she wished to simply crumple in upon herself. Arha did not let herself, she was Fremen.

"Too, I am the first," she added. "For I am Jed-Eye and pilot. What I have lost, I have gained. It is joy and great sorrow all in a moment. I grieve while I rejoice and it is a frightening thing."

Edited 2010-06-19 15:59 (UTC)

"You're right. It shouldn't get easy." He found emotion welling up in his throat, reached up to touch the hand that was against his cheek.

"I don't know if I could get those memories back. If I want to. It's bad enough knowing they're gone, but I don't--I'm not sure I can just watch what happened without being involved--really involved, you know?" He rested a hand on her shoulder, a tight little smile on his lips.

"You'll always have a family with the squadron, Arha. And we're proud to have you. We're here for you--I'm here for you. For whatever support you need."

"There are others who would take on the memory of what happened," Arha said softly. "And you already have much to bear." She paused, trying to pull herself together, to keep it in the way a Bene Gesserit, a Fremen, a Jed-Eye was supposed to do. Arha felt Wedge's emotion rise and tilted her head to study him with eyes that were full to brimming with tears she refused to let fall. His tight smile forced her eyes closed.

"I would not wish you more pain," she whispered hoarsely. "I would take such a thing, take it all, if I could. But one must work through such things to become stronger. Such a thing is what Kalim would say to me over and over during my Bene Gesserit training." Kalim is dead and died long before the Ohm came. It was absurd the way that woman still lurked in her thoughts. A laugh escaped, though it was soft and sad. At the least, the old Bene Gesserit woman had not been killed by the Ohm.

Arha had been alone before Rogue Squadron, before Jed-Eye, before this ship. Arrakis had been harsh to her and sought to scour her with sand and time, but she had bested its deep deserts and had loved its people the way she loved everything. She had survived and learned to love everything in life, even the pain--pain meant you still yet lived.

"Without you, my squadron, my Jed-Eye, I would be lost. I would be lost and alone and I am--" Her words died as they came and she gestured as if that would fill in the words. "I am alive," she whispered, and the sentence was fierce, crackling with heat and deep meaning those words held for her.

Edited 2010-06-19 21:54 (UTC)

The sight of her eyes gave him pause, for just a moment - not a colour he'd seen before, and certainly not on this planet. Nor was the accent familiar or local. Almost definitely one of the crew, then.

The Doctor smiled slightly, starting down the side of the dune and toward her, hands in his pockets. "My mind is almost never clear, but if it helps you... well, I think I might be a bit jealous, actually."

His mind was a bit too big and full of stuff to be easily cleared; the best he could hope for most of the time was a distraction, and right now, apparently, that was her.

"My own mind is calmer than it was," Arha said with a bird-like tilt of her chin. "I am Bene Gesserit, Fremen, and now Jed-Eye in this place. My mind is a full thing but compartmentalized in its own fashion. I carry with me the genetic memory of my female ancestors. Oddly enough for me for reasons I cannot determine, that includes those who will be my descendants as well. I supposed that is a rare sort of clarity and filled to brimming. There are thousands of years of voices and memory. My Mothers-Within, they are quiet tonight. It is a night of reflection, I think."

Suddenly, a Neotank scuttled close by, the four legs easily maneuvering around in the sand, only slowly down when it noticed someone else was in the same area as itself. A small figure peaked from the top.

Lash gave the woman a wave, not knowing her name, but the memory of her hair and otherworldly eyes hard to miss. She didn't see many people out at this hour besides herself.

"Can't sleep?"

"It is a long night," Arha admitted, frowning at the tank for a long moment. "You are Lash and in Rogue Squadron, no?"

Oooh she knew her name! It kind almost made her feel a little bit guilty for not knowing hers. Almost.

"Yeap, that's me!" she beamed proudly, giving the tank a small knock. "What's your name?"

"Arha Masaari, Rogue Three," Arha murmured and then flashed a smile. She did take pride in being a pilot, as it was one of her favorite things now that she had been trained in the basics. Improvement would come in time, but she was always training, save for this week.

It made her feel more odd to not be training.

"Oh that's right you're a pilot too!" Lash grinned back, finally jumping out of the tank and into the sand, before trying to shake off the excess from her sandals. "I'm so excited to be part of the Rogue Squadron, it's going to be nice to shoot things in planes!"

Lash, your love of violence was showing again.

For all of the fun she was having, and she had been for the past few days, it had been a very long time since she'd seen the moon in its fullness. A feeling of joy came over her to know that not all aspects of her home were gone. She felt the power of the moon come over, and for a moment, she basked in it, a slow smile spreading to her face, when she felt the presence of another, a familiar person, on the beach. Without a word, she followed that feeling and came upon Arha. Her eyes missed nothing (it was Arha's training that had helped that): she was troubled, and likely it was the memory of the Reverend Mothers that was overwhelming her this night.

And here, quietly, Katara was glad. She had kept her own reservations and losses to herself in order to enjoy this vacation: the fact that the moon was here did nothing to quell the losses she felt, especially when it came to the emptiness in her heart and what she'd seen. The Ohm, ripping everything she knew and loved out of existence, the nagging loss of memory again that she kept to herself less she worried everyone again.

"Teacher." Her voice was low but clear, asking. "May I join you?"

"This is true, I am a pilot." Her expression shifted to very amused. "We will have much combat flight in the simulators before we hit anything outside of them, I think. But yet, eventually, we shall 'shoot things in planes'. I am pleased you find the unit acceptable. I am, too, excited about being a pilot."

"You may," Arha said quietly, letting her last imagined enemy fall with a finishing blow. She glanced at Katara for a long moment. "Company, always, is welcome. It must be a night for wandering."

The silvery glow of the moon played off her blue-within-blue eyes, giving them a strange glow as she sat with her hands on her knees.

"You are always welcome to join me, no matter the moment," she said and gestured to the space before her. "Tell me why you walk this night, mm?"

"Thank you," she said, giving her teacher a short bow. They may have been in a different world and it may have been a vacation, but that didn't mean Arha wasn't her teacher still.

"For one thing, it has been almost a year since I've been able to see the moon," Katara says, her eyes almost shining. "It may seem like a little thing to most people, but we waterbenders are the strongest when its full. It was during a full moon I utilized my powers against a foe for the first time...and it was also when I first learned I could bend the water in others. Not the best memeory, but the moon has always had a special significance for me."

Not that it was her only reason for being out here.

"But I also found myself having vivid nightmares about the Ohm in the past few weeks. I thought a night stroll might help me a little."

Arha was silent for a time, letting Katara's words settle and she nodded, her expression both serious but soft at the same time. Too, for her, it had been a long time since she had seen a moon, but hers was a double moon and decidedly different. Memory was a strong thing and pulled deeply when woken.

"The moon is a good thing for you as it is your strength, no matter what water you bend. I suppose bending the water in others, that is akin to the route one of the Jed-Eye Dark Side may take. It is good to know what one is able to do, though, even if such a thing is harmful. So, too, do I have my own facets. My healing ability has another side, one used for killing or hurting. I have only used it once, by request. Such a thing was used upon Shai-Hulud, who was dying. I hastened his death and lie half-dead for a week before I recovered." Arha looked contemplative for awhile then her expression shifted into something more than a little haunted before she controlled it.

"I, too, dream of Ohm. I dream of them and have waking visions of the child who fought beside me when the Ohm came to Arrakis and murdered each and every one of my Fremen. It was Sana's face that drove me from my bed this night."

She knew that there were few people she would have shared this with. She'd met a many people she could share a good time with, and that was all well and good, but the apprehension she'd been feeling with the things she'd seen the last few days she would share with only a precious few. With the moon out like this though, she did wish Sokka was here to see it.

"When I talked to Darth Vader, I could see that he was once a Jedi: no one could talk that badly about them without having his own experience there, and if he were always only the Dark Side, I doubt he would have bothered even discussing things like that with me. I could see that, but I could also see that he was imbalanced too. Part of me is still a little like that...it was that part that used blood bending to get revenge once upon a time. I'm glad you didn't succumb to your ability though, just like I didn't to mine."

Because the temptation to misuse the gifts she'd been given had come on her before she knew it, and at times she was always scared that there might be a time she would slip, and would fall to her crueler side.

And here, Katara lowered her head. Occasionally, she wondered sometimes if she were empathic though she didn't know that word: it was likely her exposure to Renne.

"I know what you mean. After that happened, I wondered if the people on my world made it. The only one with me in that memory was...Aang. And since we haven't seen him on the ship yet, I got really scared."

That was something she hadn't told anyone, and at the same time, something tore at her, a feeling that she couldn't understand.

"I never really got to fly back at home much," she explained. "I was a Commanding Officer and most of my time was spent ordering armies around and building weapons of mass destruction." She scratched the back of her neck before continuing. Tact wasn't her forte.

"I've been wondering, are those blue eyes something all the people on your planet get? Whatever planet that might be."

"They are the mark of a Fremen," Arha said quietly, "and indicative of total Spice Melange addiction. If you spend enough time on Arrakis without proper filters, you inhale the drug known as Spice, which is a powerful narcotic that is mind expanding. I was fed Spice as a child so that I would have the Fremen blue eyes that are so necessary to blend in among the natives. In a word, no. Not all on my planet have such eyes as mine. Only the Fremen."

"He survived, you must have faith in this. It is difficult, but it must be true. The ones you love most are surely in the pods. It is a frightening thing to think that they are not. But with such as the man you clearly love, one cannot lose hope." Arha brushed her fingers against Katara's hair.

"He is sleeping yet for a time. Perhaps it will be another pod-pop in which you shall see him. Cling to that, Katara. Do not let your fear control you."

Katara smiled, and linked her hand with her teacher a moment. "Thank you...I really do miss him. He was the kind of person that would jump at the chance to learn and do something different. It wasn't just him being an Avatar: he was also wise and innocent in his own way, caring so much about everything around him. When you meet someone like that, you don't let him go."

She sighed. "Maybe...I just feel lonely sometimes, I guess. There are days I wish he could be here, laughing with me, holding me. Its like some kind of quiet wish in my heart that has to keep burning, remembering. I know better than to let fear or cowardice take me now...my only real fear is going overboard one day."

"You must know yourself down to the smallest detail," Arha said. "Only then will you be able to master all parts of yourself. By becoming Bene Gesserit, you have already begun this process. Once you have mastered yourself in this manner, your fear at exceeding the limits you have placed upon yourself will vanish. I have faith in you that you know what is best for yourself. I cannot tell you where your path lies, but only give you the tools to walk it. You will master yourself, Katara. You have the strength to do so."

Katara let those words sink in for the moment and smiled to herself. "In these times, when I hear things like that, I usually think of Zuko's uncle Iroh, or one of the other members of the White Lotus clan in my world. They had been working together, older people of different nations, to help try and restore the exchanged peace and understanding between all of us. Truthfully, I joined the Bene Gesserit because I could see that in you, and I know you would help me get there. I know with your help, I will achieve the balance and strength to help others. I'm grateful for your help, Arha."

"I am pleased to be of aid," Arha said quietly. "It is not a difficult thing to give such when it is needed. Some of my kind would control you, but I am not them. I would have you set yourself free to be your best. It pleases me greatly to know that I will have a part in supporting your growth."

Katara nodded. "I know they would have tried. Before I joined, I read an awful lot in the media library. I ran through texts, muddied through what the Bene Gesserit were and what that involved. I knew that in the hands f one that wasn't out to make me a weapon, I would find a true teacher. I'm glad I was right."

She looked out into the ocean. "I know that you and I will both fight through what we saw. But I am glad to share my anxieties with you, and you back teacher. It gives me hope."

"There's enough for me, knowing that my home is gone, that the future of my universe has been taken from it--from us. I've spent my whole life fighting evil men and I'm not about to stop just because they're bigger and badder than before." His grip on her shoulder tightened just slightly, more emotion swelling in the man. This wasn't where he had seen himself as he had finished the Adumar mission. There had been a future there, just waiting. Iella and Corellia or where ever they'd wanted to go.... Another wave of emotion. Was she in the pods? Had she been saved? He couldn't dwell on it now.

"I'm glad you're with us Arha. And I'm glad we can all say at least that. We're alive and angry and the Ohm don't know what's going to hit them we come for them." Confidence he may or may not feel.

"I'm fortunate to have my friends and a squadron to occupy me. And I'm lucky to have made new friends. Like you."

"We will give the Ohm something to think about," Arha murmured. "I, too, find myself fortunate that I have made such rare and beautiful friends." She leaned up to kiss him gently on both cheeks as she brushed her fingers against the nape of his neck.

"I shall fight my best for your universe," she said, her expression softening slightly as her eyes found his. "For I have come to love its people fiercely."

Wedge hesitated a moment, then wrapped Arha in a warm embrace. THey were on vacation. Her position wasn't quite that of an inferior. Not in this hodge-podge squadron, thrown together from different realities. That was what he told himself.

"Thank you. I wish I could have known more of your people. If they were anything like you, I'm sure I would come to care for them just as deeply." A small, sad smile came to his features.

"We can fight for all of the universes that the Ohm have destroyed without reason and without justification. It's probably the best and noblest cause I've undertaken. That we've undertaken. We can't fail. Impossible is what Rogues do best, after all."

"You are welcome." She was silent for a long moment. "I carry my people with me," Arha murmured, burying herself into his hug as if it were the only warmth left. Her fingers curled against his hair as she hugged him back and stayed there, curled against him, her lips buried against the join between his shoulder and neck.

"We will not fail," she mumbled. "I will give everything, all I am." Arha's lips curved. "We are Rogue Squadron, always, and I am in your Wing. I am Jed-Eye, Bene Gesserit, Fremen, pilot--if ever there was an impossibility, I should be it. So. We will not fail, Wedge Antilles."

The Doctor tilted his own head to one side, curiosity sparking in his eyes. Genetic memory was common enough in several species, but actually fairly rare in humanoids, and genetic memory that included future members of the bloodline... That was even more unlikely.

The Doctor's fondness for "unlikely" was generally surpassed only by his love for "impossible."

"Really? I've got a few dead men's memories knocking around in my brain too - lucky for me they're quieter, or I'd drive myself mad." Bad enough having his Fifth around to annoy him on the ship - if his past selves were anything more than memory in his own mind... well, it wouldn't be pretty.

He shook his head after a moment, dismissing those thoughts, and his smile turned a bit apologetic. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. Didn't mean to interrupt your... practice."

"I am not...quite sure how I was able to acquire future memories. The spots where the memory should be are fuzzy as if someone does not wish me to remember. This is a frustrating thing. It was a life of much training to be able to master myself in such a manner that the process that enabled me to acquire the memories did not kill me outright. It was still a...difficult process." She shook her head slightly. "In any case, it is a good thing to have company. One appreciates it when the silences grow long," Arha said softly, extending her hand as was the custom of most species she had yet to encounter.

"I am Arha Masaari and am pleased to meet you, Doctor. Practice is practice, it can be resumed. The chance to meet a new face, such does not always continue."

"Well, there's not many people I know who could hold much more than their own lifetime's memories in their head without..." He trailed off for a moment, frowning. Burning up, is what he was going to say. Not that he had first hand experience or anything, not that the thought bothered him, except... okay, yes, it did, quite a bit. Not Arha's fault, though. He smiled anyway and went on, "Difficult process or no, it's a bit brilliant that you managed."

He shook her outstretched hand cheerfully. "Arha. Lovely name, and it's a pleasure to meet you as well. You are from the ship, aren't you? I haven't been there long, still haven't had the chance to meet everyone." And big ship and large crew or not, he did plan to get to know everyone, sooner or later. It made it much easier to stick his nose into their business, that way.

"Many die in the attempt," Arha said thoughtfully. "I faced the Water of Life alone save for the presence of a young Shai-Hulud, a small sand worm. Had I died, the desert would have reclaimed me, instead, I awoke on the ship, which yes, I am from. I am sure you shall meet many more by the end of this war that we fight."

Wedge leaned into the embrace, his eyes closed. Her fingers against him, the feel of her. It was almost a relief, relaxing and comforting. His mind reminded him of Iella, the woman he loved, who may be sleeping still in the pods. He sighed quietly, his fingers dug into her back just slightly.

"We can't fail. The thought that we might...I can't think that we will. We have to believe we'll succeed."

"I believe," she whispered, easing her fingers through his hair before letting them settle against the nape of his neck, where they rested warmly. "I will always believe." Arha would never doubt this thing, not even at their darkest hour and the certainty of her belief lie in the quiet firmness of her words.

"I will believe for you, too, should you falter," she said very softly.

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there were nightblooms in the east

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