The water beneath the surface of Kashyyyk was colder than the surface. Much colder. Especially in a place so dark as the Shadowlands. Countless types of wreckage littered the water, most of them from the Clone Wars when the Separatists had a firm grip on the planet. Ever since the war, Kashyyyk has been a battleground. The poor Wookiees had barely gotten a moment to breathe after the war ended, before the Empire came barreling in with the refineries and their stormtroopers. Even so, the Wookiees were far more resilient than most other speicies that Y/n had seen in her time. She had never seen them stop fighting.
Y/n shivered from the cold feeling as she followed Cal and BD through the caves and canyons. She neglected to wear the red poncho Cal had given her, considering the fact that Kashyyyk was boiling hot on its best days while stiflingly humid on its worst. Her arms were covered in goosebumps by the time they resurfaced, but they quickly disappeared once she hit the hot atmosphere of the planet.
She wasn't surprised to see stormtroopers when they climbed back up onto the solid ground. Although they were too busy fighting off a particularly angered pair of slyyygs to pay any notice of the two Imperial fugitives. Cal growled lowly, a noise that almost sounded foreign for him to be so angered. "Not even Tarfful could keep them out forever," he sneered to himself, his anger at the Empire showing through. "They won't stop until everyone's wiped out."
"They wouldn't stop on just the outskirts of the Shadowlands if they're searching for Tarfful," Y/n commented, touching his arm to calm him down. It seemed to work, but her words offered no sense of security to the future. "We'll probably be seeing a lot more of them along the way."
Bo-boop BD-1 spoke in agreement of their words.
They approached a nearby pool, Y/n letting out a sigh as she said, "Great. More swimming."
"What? Afraid to get wet?" Cal asked her, his foot standing right on the edge.
She struggled to keep her suggestive grin down. He looked at her in confusion, but she merely shook her head at him and sobered, saying, "No, I love swimming. But swimming on Kashyyyk is something else entirely. The water is freezing."
"If you want, you could borrow my poncho," Cal said, motioned to the colored cloth that decorated him. On his journey, he had managed to find many more of these articles, something Y/n found incredibly amusing.
"Oh, no, I would be remiss to take Cal Kestis' beloved poncho," Y/n smirked back at him as she stepped into the water, dropping down and waiting for him as she got her breather out. "You coming? Or are you too afraid to get your poncho wet?"
Cal shook his head with a laugh, saying, "I don't care that much about my ponchos." He jumped in behind her. "Why did that even start?"
"Because, Cal, you have so many ponchos," Y/n told him with a laugh. "Let's just get going. The less time your poncho and I are in the water, the better."
Their swim led them to a small tunnel, but as soon as they got to the end, they were once again climbing away from multiple savva gunning for their blood. "Those things give me the creeps," Cal mentioned, climbing downwards as Y/n carefully followed.
Boo-boop BD-1 agreed, Y/n too focused on trying not to fall to listen to him. But BD's sudden cursing snapped her out of her tense focus.
"Whoa, strong words coming from you," Cal said to the droid, jumping off to the edge of a branch to stand.
Y/n swung down the rest of the way on her grapple, and the two of them moved forward. After a few more long hours of swimming, fighting, and climbing, they reached what appeared to be a large vine that led up to a branch on the Origin Tree. They were getting close. Y/n looked back when she realized Cal wasn't climbing, letting go of the vine to say, "Cal, something's on your mind."
He grimaced, hesitating before saying, "Do you think the Empire would've come after Kashyyyk so hard if we hadn't intervened? If I hadn't been here?"
Be-beep BD said from beside him, Y/n nodding her agreement of the droid's words.
"Cal, you can't put all the blame on yourself."
"The Jedi are supposed to be symbols of hope, but..." he paused, disappointment in himself clear in his tone, "I led the Inquisition here. Mari and Tarfful put their trust in me. Did we endanger them again just by looking for them?"
"We can't think like that. Mari and Tarfful can take care of themselves," Y/n spoke pensively, while BD beeped along with her. "It's no one's fault that the Empire decided they wanted Kashyyyk, and it is not yours, or mine, or anyone's fault that the Inquisition came here. Don't put unnecessary guilt on your mind, Cal." She patted his arm gently, nodding her head to the vine. "Come on. I can see light up above. I think we're almost there."
True to her words, the sun hit their skin once more as they jumped onto a large branch of the Origin Tree. It wasn't much light, but Y/n was glad to feel the sun back on her once again. Her moment of bliss was quickly interrupted by waiting Imperial forces on a row of abandoned Wookiee huts. She fought off a Scout Trooper baton-to-baton, kicking him in the knees to bring him down before crashing the baton down onto his head. "He's here. Inform the Inquisitor," she heard a Purge Trooper say as he approached Cal. "I'll keep him busy."
Unfortunately for the Trooper, all it took was Cal pushing him over the edge of the platform to defeat him. It was rather humorous, actually.
"We're so close," Cal panted, quickly sheathing his lightsaber to run ahead through the huts.
Y/n followed with a grin as they reached the end of the platforms, seeing an easy jump ahead. That is, until they heard the familiar sound of an Imperial ship approaching. It lifted up right in front of them, and if the red line across the front was any indication, the ship belonged to an Inquisitor. The question was, which one?
Their question was answered when the ramp of the ship lowered while still in air and a large Dowutin woman dressed in black came down to see them. The red visor and lightsaber at her side told Y/n just what she was, but Cal had already seen her. He knew her from Bracca. She was the one who dropped him onto the doomed train. She was the Ninth Sister, and Cal knew immediately that he was in trouble.
"Y/n, stay behind me," Cal whispered, pushing her behind him with his hand.
"I might just listen to you this time," she replied with fear evident in her tone.
The Ninth Sister let out a sinister laugh upon seeing the two of them. It was low and deep from her chest before she took a deep breath and said, "What's this? A Bracca scrap rat playing Jedi, protecting his traitorous girlfriend?" Y/n's own anger started to bubble in her chest, but Cal kept his hand in front of her, protecting her and hindering her. The Ninth Sister scoffed, saying, "I told the Grand Inquisitor you wouldn't be stupid enough to show your face here again. Especially after we wiped out the feeble resistance." Sighing joyfully, she shook her head. "Love it when I'm wrong."
She retreated back into her ship, Cal putting a hand to his lightsaber in case of a fight. "Cal, I think we should move," Y/n managed to say, but before Cal even had a chance to respond, the Sister had fired upon the platform, shattering it under their feet. Cal grabbed Y/n's arm while she held tightly onto him when they fell onto a long mudslide. She could feel her grip slipping as more and more mud got caked onto their bodies as they slid down the muddy way. She let out a cry of surprise when the Sister started firing on the mudslide, splashing sludge up into the air.
"Y/n, don't let go!!" Cal shouted out, trying his hardest to keep their grip on each other. He saw the end incoming, but a large ravine was between them and their survival. "We're gonna have to jump!"
"Are you insane?!" she yelled back while attempting to keep the mud from her eyes.
"Trust me," he said, holding onto her hand. She took a deep breath, watching as the end came faster and faster. "Hold on tight, BD. Ready?"
"No, but I don't have a choice!" she fired back, readying her legs to spring over the ravine.
Cal waited for the opportune moment, and finally, when they were right on the edge, he called out, "Jump!!" as loud as he could without letting go of her hand. He used the Force to urge them both forward, and luckily, they managed to reach the other side of the ravine. Y/n wiped the mud from her eyes, but Cal wasn't doing much better. Even BD had to shake his head to get the mud out of his circuits. "We can't stop, she's still-"
Cal was cut off by the incoming raining fire that appeared around them. They ran and jumped across more jaw plants while dodging the bolts from the Imperial ship, trying their best not to slip on their mud covered boots. Unfortunately, they had to drop down into another mudslide, but the Ninth Sister's ship wouldn't relent. It found them wherever they went, firing relentless rain down on them. Y/n almost got a burn from one of the blasts, but Cal pulled her into him before it could reach her.
"We're never gonna make it out of this!" Y/n panicked, watching as the Ninth Sister's ship stopped ahead of them, starting it's firing once more. They prepared for the burn of the blast, until a cry echoed around the sky. Opening their eyes, they looked up to see a giant bird flying over them, spreading it's humongous claws right before it crashed into the ship. "Karking hell!" Y/n shouted out, BD-1 copying her use of language.
They watched as it pecked at the ship with it's thick beak, seeing the Ninth Sister go down in a whirl of fire and smoke. "What is that thing??" Cal asked in a panic.
Be-boop beep!! BD scrambled to say, but none of them could answer as the mudslide ended and they were plunged into a pool of water.
Y/n surfaced with a gasped, shaking her head slightly as she looked around their surrounding environment. She saw Cal beside her swimming to the edge of the pool, letting out a breath of relief as he collapsed onto the bank. He laid on his back, just glad to be away from the danger for a few moments. He heard Y/n drop down beside him, laying down just like he was. "Told you we'd be okay," Cal stated, opening his eyes for a moment to glance at her before closing again.
"You didn't say kark about us being okay," Y/n managed to say through her breathing. She wasn't a Jedi, and her endurance was already low, so she was struggling to catch her breath.
"Well, I meant to, but I was a little busy," Cal spoke, sitting up as he noticed the amount of mud on him. "Hey, BD, you got a stim?" The droid beeped and popped two stims from his compartment. "Thanks, little buddy."
He tossed one to Y/n, who opened her eyes and sat up as she stuck it in her arm. She felt her strength return, and stood to approach the water. "I don't care where we are. I'm washing this damn mud out of my hair," she said, Cal laughing as she dunked back under the water. Cal watched as she disappeared for a moment, before coming back up with a cleaner head of hair than before. She met his eyes, waving him in and saying, "Come on, Kestis. You look brunet, and it doesn't suit."
Bweep bo boop trill bzz beep. BD-1 said, making Cal look at him with slight offense.
"Wow, BD. That's rude." Cal spoke while shaking his head. "You don't look any better, you know."
BD looked down at himself before scurrying off Cal's shoulder and jumping into the water with a small plop. Y/n laughed aloud as she treaded deep into the pool, BD swimming around to remove the mud from his joints. Cal took off his poncho before walking into the pool, running his fingers over the fabric to remove the dirt before laying it on a nearby rock to jump in fully. Y/n watched as he disappeared beneath the water, waiting for him to come back up, until she felt something grab her legs from below. She let out a shout as he was lifted and tossed below the depths. From underwater, she could hear Cal's boisterous laughter before she resurfaced, gaping at him. Mud was running down his face before he dunked under again, hands running through his copper hair, and came back up with a clean face.
"Don't make me throw a ball of mud at you, Cal. Because I will for that," she threatened as she neared him in the water.
"I'm not afraid of getting dirty," he countered, swimming back and splashing water into her face. When she looked at him, he shrugged and said, "You still had some mud on your face."
"Oh? Cause you do too. Right there," she said, sending a large splash his way. He laughed, shaking his hair out like a dog before running a hand through it to push it out of it face. Now it was slicked back, one strand hanging rebelliously in front of his forehead.
"You asked for it, Novar," he replied, and jumped at her. She laughed as he swam with her against him, pushing them near shore. He grabbed her up, ignoring her shouts of protest, and threw her back into the water. BD trilled his own version of a laugh as he swam back up to shore, shaking himself free of the muck and water. When Y/n rose, Cal spoke with a gentle smile as he said, "Come on. We've still got a ways to go."
"You just don't want me pushing you back into the water," Y/n grumbled as she stood, wading out of the water as she wrung out her short hair.
Cal put his poncho back on, saying, "The Ninth Sister is still searching for us. I should call..." He stopped, Y/n catching his hesitation. She knew he was thinking about Cere. Shaking his head, he started again and said, "On second thought, she listens to their transmissions. Let her find out on her own."
Y/n shook her head, putting her comm up to her lips as she turned it on and said, "Cere, are you there?" Cal shot his head up to her with a look that said 'what the hell?'
"Y/n, I'm here. Good to hear your voice."
Cal shook his head in disapproval as Y/n continued talking. "The Ninth Sister managed to track us down. We've reached the Origin Tree but she located our position."
"Stay alert. I'll listen into their transmissions to make sure they don't find your coordinates."
"Thanks, Cere," Y/n said, and signed off.
Cal raised his eyebrow at her, his hands on his hips. "What'd you do that for?" he asked pointedly.
"Letting her know the details of the mission," Y/n fired back, and Cal had the decency to look down. "We might be fighting, but she is still the one looking out for us. I thought the Jedi didn't hold grudges?"
"Doesn't mean we can't still be upset for a while," Cal fought back.
Y/n sighed as she stepped past him towards the path. "Look, there is no time for this right now. We've found the Tree, let's just keep moving."
Cal reluctantly obliged, following her up the path that led directly to the Tree. Finally, they reached up inside the roots of the tree, climbing upwards. They were quiet for most of their journey, until a low growling tipped them off to the nearby fauna. Looking out between the roots of the Tree, they saw the giant bird that had aided them before. It was truly a sight, with horns on its head near its large black beak, a long wrinkled neck, and beautifully strange blue and transparent feathers. "Wow," Y/n whispered, stopping along the path as she looked up at the animal.
Beep boo trill boop? BD-1 asked, going to scan the animal, but Cal stopped him before he could.
"Shhh," Cal hushed the both of them, hiding behind the giant roots. "We don't know if it's friendly."
Be-be-beep! BD said, which roughly translated to, "Well, I don't care!"
"That's the animal that took down the Inquisitor's ship," Y/n commented. "It's really quite beautiful."
"Sometimes the most beautiful things are the most deadly," Cal stated as he gently took her arm. He had to lead her away from aweing at the bird, but there was truth to his statement. Not just for the fauna covering Kashyyyk. He had to remind himself of that fact every time he looked at her.
They continued forward out of the Tree's tunnel, seeing the bird land right in front of them. it let out a loud squawk before lifting itself from their path and flying away. Y/n watched as it soared away into the sky, before realizing that she could see the sky. "Oh, finally! The sun!" Y/n said to herself, closing her eyes to feel its welcoming beams of light. "I've never been so happy to see the sun. Well... except after I left Coruscant."
BD-1 had found a large translucent feather that was left behind when the creature landed in front of them. Scanning it, he found it to be called the Shyyyo Bird. Cordova's message told them how rare it was to see the animal, making Cal and Y/n turn to each other in amazement. This animal saved their lives, and even the Wookiees seldom saw it.
When Y/n grappled to their next point on BD-1's map, she looked back to see Cal standing on the edge of the branch, almost in a state like a trance. "Cal!" she called over the large ravine, worry starting to paint her mind. "Cal, what is it??"
Finally, she watched as he ran forward, jumping up onto a series of lung plants that bounced him in the air. When he reached the last stretch, Y/n panicked when she saw he was going to fall short of the branch she was on. Running forward, she meant to reach out her arm, until she watched as he did another jump mid-air and landed swiftly in front of her. At her questioning look, he grinned and said, "I'm finally back to where I was before the Purge. Before Master Tapal died."
"Cal, that's wonderful!" Y/n grinned, and he surprised her when he pulled her in for a hug in his joy. She laughed slightly, "You've healed your connection to the Force?"
"Fully," Cal nodded his head, grinning widely. In his excitement, his mind whispered to him. I could kiss her right now. The sudden burst of courage was gone as soon as that voice whispered it in his head. He couldn't possibly. Now was no time to do something so bold, especially since as a Jedi, he shouldn't be acting on his attachment to her.
They moved on, but just as they were feeling their journey to the center of the Tree was starting to be endless, the Shyyyo Bird crash landed ahead of them. Y/n was almost shaken off the branch they were on, mouth open wide in amazement of the animal. But her eyebrows furrowed as she looked upon it. It was screeching, not in fear, but in pain. "Cal, I think it's hurt," she told him, and he nodded his head.
"It's in pain. A lot of pain," he whispered, almost as if he could feel it himself. "Come on. You think we can help it?"
Boop boop BD said, offering his stims to aid. Before they could make a move to help the Shyyyo, it flew off in a flurry of blue once again.
Climbing up more vines and more of the Tree's branches, they reached what looked like a crash site in the tree. Vines held on to the ancient ship along with it's debris, swinging half-hazard in the air. Y/n feared she wouldn't be able to make the climb, even with her grapple on her blaster. But she reached the top, not without intense fear of the swinging platforms. Swinging on a vine, they made it to the trunk of the Tree, but their path still hadn't ended yet. They still couldn't find the familiar Zeffo tombs, however small it would be here.
Exiting a small tunnel, they jumped down a few branches before the Shyyyo bird came into their sights once again. This time, however, it was deeply breathing while laying on its stomach, almost unable to move. The injury seemed to be too much for the Bird now, for it did not fly away at their approach. Beep! Beep beep boop! BD excitedly buzzed.
"Yeah, we can help it, but we have to be careful. I don't wanna spook it," Cal whispered back to the droid, approaching the Bird carefully. "Hey!" It tried to shimmy away from them, but Cal spoke calmly. "It's okay. We're not here to hurt you. We're friends, understand? Friends."
Y/n stepped behind him, her eyes going to the wound on its wing while BD scanned it. Blue blood leaked out of the laceration, spilling beneath the Bird's feathers. "It's a piece of the Inquisitor's ship," she said, closing in on the injury. "It looks like its stuck in a joint. Cal, we need to get it out now."
"Okay. I'll pull it out, and you get it with the stim," Cal planned out, Y/n nodding her head as BD ejected a stim for her to catch. Cal turned back to the Shyyyo Bird, its big orange eyes bearing into the three of them. "This is gonna hurt, okay? I'm sorry." Y/n watched as he closed his eyes and lifted his hand to the shrapnel. It moved around slightly before Cal yanked it from the Bird as it let out a screech of agony. "Y/n, the stim!" he called, but she was already there.
She jammed the stim through the thick skin, looking up to see the Shyyyo Bird calming. She stepped away slowly so as not to spook it more, but watched with a grin as the Bird lifted itself from the nest. It looked from its wing, stretching it out to test it out before looking down in what Y/n hoped was gratefulness. "There you go," Y/n said, more to herself.
"Whoa," Cal let out in a breath, laughing as the Shyyyo Bird leaned its had down to the two of them in thanks. "It's the least we could do," he stated, his hand brushing against its thick beak.
Y/n grinned as she watched him handle the bird, before letting out a laugh as the Bird slightly nudged her in thanks. "Happy to help," she commented, the roughness of the beak surprising her.
The Shyyyo Bird lifted off into the air, but it didn't go far. They followed it down the side of a branch, and watched as it lay in wait for the three of them to follow. Cal shared a look of surprise with Y/n, asking the animal, "You're giving us a lift?" The Bird grunted, a signal they took as a yes. Cal hopped onto the back of the Bird first, feeling its soft feathers beneath his fingers. He looked back and motioned for Y/n to follow, which she hesitantly did. She was joyful for the ride, no doubt, but fearful of the heights they were about to be on. "I won't let you fall," Cal whispered to her, almost reading her mind. "Just hold on to me."
Y/n wrapped her arms around his torso as loosely as she could, but when the Shyyyo Bird lifted off, she had no choice but to tighten her grip on him. Cal put on hand over hers on his front, holding on tightly to the Bird with his other. BD trilled in joy on his shoulder as Cal turned to look behind him at Y/n, saying, "Here we go."