Disney REBEL - Anthology / CLOSED

A Queen's Path by @Soulless_Echo

He remembered the cold grasp of a thousand 'hands' reaching out to drag him down.

He remembered the overwhelming fear and surprise as his ship was enveloped.

He remembered making peace with the thought of his own demise.

He remembered the world dissolving into a trillion shifting stars.

What he could not remember was how he had ended up discarded like trash amidst a riverbed, beneath a sea of pale stars.

"How strange..." Mitth'raw'nuruodo mused, allowing his mind a moment of bliss.

The moment passed.

A hundred painful sensations greeted his weary muscles as he rolled to his feet. His red eyes cautiously inspected his blue skin for injury. His white uniform was marred by wet earth, but he was intact.

Still, the first steps elicited explosions of pain across his body. Pain was good. It meant he was alive. This was unlikely to be some form of... afterlife. That thought both amused and disappointed...

"First priority, reconnaissance." Mitth'raw'nunuodo chuckled, his tone eerily calm as he turned his gaze heavenward.

The night sky was teeming with shooting stars. He sighed, aware of the implications. Disappointment and disaster were at times a warrior's closest confidants.

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Like lightning, a wave of excitement surged through Pocahontas as she darted between the trees, gleefully chasing the fallen pieces of the sky. She could FEEL the energy of the forest as it trembled under the steady assault from the heavens. It filled her with both wonder, and fear. She had been on her way to watch the 'english', when those emotions had consumed her.

Was it an omen, or gifts from the sky?

Leaping into a clearing near the eastern riverbank, Pocahontas slid against the loose rocks in surprise, narrowly avoiding a frigid plunge. She had lost track of Flit and Meeko in the excitement of the hunt. She wasn't worried.

"Are you spirits?" Pocahontas pondered, her dark black eyes mesmerized by the cascading night sky.

As if to answer, a thunderous chorus arose.

A large conflagration burst thru distant clouds, and Pocahontas squinted, her dark brown eyes unable to bear witness as the raging inferno smashed into the distant hillside. The horizon transformed in a blinding flash of light and searing heat, knocking her effortlessly into the raging river. Her once serene expression contorted into a mask of horror as she was sent tumbling against an onslaught of water and rock. The world somersaulted out of control in a festival of agony and confusion!

Fighting to stay afloat, Pocahontas choked on brief gasps of air. It brought no relief. The scolding hot winds assaulted her lungs and prickled her skin. The struggle dragged on, until she suddenly slammed into a wall of wood. Against her protest, her remaining air escaped in a horrifying gurgle. The darkness descended to claim her.

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Mitth'raw'nuruodo reacted on instinct, scarcely avoiding a hail of timber and torrential waters. He glared up at the falls, partly expecting to meet his Jedi nemesis. Fate was merciful... He did not see the adolescent rebel. All that remained atop the falls was a messy mix of mud, twigs... and a body: the body of a brown-skinned female.

Her body had been caught on a large log that hadn't been swept over the edge of the falls. He moved to investigate. The body might provide clues to the planet's inhabitants: their ideology, physiology, language, and most importantly, if they possessed the technology necessary to get back to the Empire.