AU: Kid Ibani Field Trip!

[last_kallig]

They've been unreasonably lucky, and they haven't had to deal with the question of what to do with Ibani if a Jedi comes to the temple. But that luck couldn't last forever, and it finally runs out less than a week after her first sparring session.

The safest path is to go, to take Ibani out of the Temple and into the wilderness of Jedha for as long as the Jedi are in residence. The official story is that this trip is for survival training, hands on experience in the wild. Ibani's hardly going to complain about having her Dads all to herself for a while!

She's watching the last of the supplies they'll need be loaded as the cold Jedhan sun starts to rise.

Comments

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut his speaking under his breath, the words a steady rhythm as he checks the ropes holding their gear together.

In darkness, cold. In light, cold.

The knots are firm under his hands, the ropes taut and strong. He has his lightbow slung over one shoulder - there may be only few scattered predators native to Jedha, but there's always the chance of more exotic trouble.

The old sun brings no heat.

His staff is brought along as well, of course, though for the time being it can serve just as well as a walking stick, even if it is weighted for fighting.

But there is heat in breath and life.

[iprotectyou]

Baze is double- and triple-checking that their food and water is safely packed away. He doesn't know how much they'll need, but he prays to the Force that they won't run out. The Jedi rarely visit the Temple of the Kyber for very long, but while they're there, there's a risk of Ibani being taken by the Order for Padawan training, and Baze and Chirrut won't have that.

Hence the 'field trip.' It's a brilliant idea, one Baze wishes he thought of. He checks their food supplies again, and then looks around for Ibani.

[last_kallig]

Ibani jogs over to her Dads as if they had called her. "Are we ready to go?" she asks, hugging them both.

[idontneedluck]

"As we'll ever be. Baze?" He asks, since he knows Baze was worried about their supplies - if they need to make another kitchen run, there's time.

[iprotectyou]

"No, we should be fine," Baze says, closing his fingers around his canteen full of water on his belt. He shoulders a massive pack of food. "Let's go."

They start out passing through the market, toting their supplies, and Baze purchases hot rice balls for one last meal during the trip. Their little party soon exits the city, climbing down the mesa. By mid-day they're in the middle of the desert, where nothing grows except for a few stubborn shrubs.

"Ibani, are you thirsty?" Baze says, offering her the canteen.

[last_kallig]

"It's so quiet out here," Ibani says as they leave the city behind and climb down the mesa.

"Yes please," she says, taking the offered canteen. She's careful with how much she drinks, then passes it back to Baze.

"There's life here, but it hides. I can hear them in the Force."

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut is drinking from his own canteen, one that settles low on his hip when he lets it go.

"There is life that is native and shy, unwilling to risk everything to defend so little, and there is life that is not so native - that is what we must guard against, of the two."

[iprotectyou]

Baze wouldn't mind owning some of that non-native life right now--specifically, a bantha, to ride on and carry all of their stuff. He's not sure where they're going, or how long they'll be out there, but walking there is so uncivilized.

"Do you remember what we taught you about the rule of threes, Ibani?"

[last_kallig]

"Yes," Ibani answers, glad that she remembers the rule of threes.

"You can live three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food."

"If it wasn't summer we would have had to bundle up even more to stay out here, wouldn't we?"

[idontneedluck]

"So not a bit of skin was exposed." Chirrut agrees, solemnly.

Even though he's been known to go out in less, if only because the cold makes it so easy to know where he ends and the universe begins, the sharp bite of the winter air as deliniating as the rock under his feet. As if he has never been pulled off the walls after a guard shift and immediately been shunted off to the infirmary to treat impending frostbite.

He knows full well what he can get away with, versus what he hopes for his daughter.

[iprotectyou]

Baze knows that Chirrut often puts himself at risk when it comes to the cold. Knows, and heavily disapproves, and has never understood. He resolutely decides never to tell their daughter about this foolhardy testing of the elements, lest she gets it into her head that she's invincible, too.

Oh, Chirrut.

"And how would you construct a shelter in the desert, Ibani?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani struggles to remember the answer to that one, and only gets about half of it right.

She sighs, frustrated. "I know I missed some things there."

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut smiles as he continues on, picking his way around the rocks strewn across the path.

"Remember your first goal is warmth, then defense, then camouflage, if you can. Nothing else will do you any good if you freeze first."

[iprotectyou]

"And, if necessary, you have to make sure your shelter doesn't get in the way of signaling for help," Baze says, resting his hand on his water canteen. He doesn't need a drink. Not yet. Not when Ibani might need one.

"How do you start a fire without paste?" Baze says. They've brought plenty, just in case.

[last_kallig]

"You can rub sticks together, or hit the right kinds of rocks together to make sparks," Ibani answers. "But I don't know what the right kind of rocks are."

High overhead a hawk circles, riding a thermal. It calls out, its cry cutting through the silence.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut sits down on a rock, and waits for the pair of them to come to their senses. He figures it won't take too long, but...

Why not sit on a comfy rock while they stop courting dehydration?

[iprotectyou]

At first, Baze is confused as to why Chirrut has sat himself down. But Chirrut always sits on shit, this is nothing new.

Baze licks his dry lips. Oh. Ibani needs a drink. He sets his pack down, and digs out her canteen for her. "We'll show you which rocks you need to strike before this trip ends," he says, offering her the water.

[last_kallig]

"Thank you," Ibani says, drinking her water. "You should drink too, you're thirsty."

She cranes her neck up as the hawk makes another cry. "We don't want your territory, little sister," she calls up to the hawk, giggling. "We're just passing through."

[idontneedluck]

"Drink, Malbus. The Jedi are going to get a fine look at your dehydrated hide if you pass out on me." Chirrut grumbles, not shifting. Why is he being the logical one here? "We have water. Lots of water. Water that we packed. And I'm pretty sure you also managed to pack a back up to the moisture condenser that was originally packed."

[iprotectyou]

"We have one moisture condenser," Baze says, satisfied that Ibani has sipped some. He takes a drink of his own water--and bites back a groan. The drink is the same, twice-boiled lothcat piss that comes from the temple's tap, but to his dehydrated mouth, it tastes amazing. He didn't realize how bad it had gotten.

Baze takes another drink. "Should we set up camp?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani is happy when Baze finally drinks.

"Is this a good place to camp?" Ibani's not sure.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut stands, dusting off his robes.

"There's a rock-ring not too far from here, isn't there?" He asks Baze, having a decent idea where he is from previous trips out, but not so clear on the specifics.

[iprotectyou]

"There is, and we can set up our tarps there," Baze says, settling his canteen on his belt again. "There's a depression dug in the middle, but we should be able to huddle together for warmth."

The rock ring isn't far, which is good because the afternoon sun is high overhead by the time they get there. Baze settles his pack and his lightbow on the ground and unearths the moisture condenser. He sets it up quickly, making sure it pulls what water it can from the air. Then he unpacks their tarps and blankets.

"Don't wander too far, Ibani."

[last_kallig]

"I won't," she promises. "I just need to go pee."

Thankfully, there's an area down slope of the rock ring that will provide some privacy.

All she meant to do was go pee, honest! But when she got to the spot, there was a big mother animal there, and Ibani could feel the mother animal's anxiety about her baby being stuck in a crevasse. How could she NOT promise to help? But then she realized she's going to need her dads to help get the baby loose, and she's probably been gone so long that they're starting to worry, and....

Well, to Ibani's mind her choice makes perfect sense! However, it is unlikely that Baze or Chirrut are expecting a fully grown Desert Walker, the most dangerous native predator on Jedha, to come barreling into their camp with Ibani riding on its back.

The Desert Walker is big, hairy, with massive teeth and claws. There's the odor of musk as it draws closer and its enormous body makes plenty of noise at a run. "Dad! My friend needs help rescuing her baby!"

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut and Baze (or at least Chirrut) were having a very nice discussion about which dried-and-reconstituted meal they should have once they taught Ibani how to start a fire.

That was then.

Now Chirrut has his lightbow unfolded and primed without pausing for thought or breath. The terror he feels (and the rest of his emotions with it) have been shoved into a box and buried. He can't afford to let his hands shake now.

Not when he can hear his daughter somewhere up near the monstrous beast.