Kissed by Fire: Cal Kestis

Chapter 19

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."