Guardian | Obi-wan's new padawan

Chapter 2: Obi-wan Kenobi

I felt my surroundings. The usual culprits were bounding around of course, a group of Nantang was not too far off, and a Palulukan was lurking somewhere to my left. Better avoid those places.

And so I veered to the right, creeping through the underbrush. It didn't take long for me to find a large sturdy tree with many roots protruding from the ground. He wouldn't miss it if I took some.

I took out my knife and went to work, cutting off the smaller roots branching off the main ones, before binding them in the cloth after I checked their water content. These should last us for at least a couple of days, though I still needed some firewood...

I hacked off a couple more so that I could build a fire with them after I removed the water. It was a waste, but a necessary one.

Now, to find a sheltered area... I couldn't well start a fire out in the open, a Palulukan would pounce on me within seconds. After some searching, I found a large trunk of a tree that had fallen over a long time ago, surrounded by thick leaves and high-reaching bushes. That should work. The ground wasn't too wet either, so I set down and dug a hole. I then gathered some of the more withered roots and removed the excess water. That, together with the other dried roots I had been keeping at home made for a good kindling.

After some tries, I'd gotten the fire started, and skewered the Yerik meat on a wet skewer, hanging them over the fire. After adding some more moist pieces of wood to the fire, there was enough smoke to actually dry the meat and help preserve it.

I sat like that for a while, staring into the orange light, ears perked for any suspicious sounds. I enjoyed the warmth of fires, they reminded me of the few moments I'd spend with my parents, which mostly consisted of us sitting around a table as they told me grand stories of peacemakers and warriors. Of better times in the galaxy, where you didn't need to fear hunger or thirst. I huffed at the irony, poking the kindling with a stick, those were about the only things I worried about now. How long had it even been? Two years? I couldn't be sure, but I'd been here for a while for sure.

I looked up at the stars, dimmed by the light reflected by the huge planet that blanketed the sky and the glowing of the plants around me. My old home was up there somewhere. It was a strange idea, just going up into the sky and finding an almost infinite amount of worlds waiting for you, all of them inhabited by some kind of people or creatures. And now, one of those people was lying unconscious under the tree I called home.

Could he help me get off of this planet? His ship was wrecked, so probably not. But still, a small flicker of hope slithered its way into my heart. There was a chance I could go home again.

I branch snapped behind me, and I was on my feet in seconds, bow at the ready, frantically scanning the foliage. I spotted a pair of green eyes staring back at me from the dark, before a limping Nantang made its way out of the thicket, the ground glowing every time its paws hit the soil.

Two of its legs were injured, and its pack was nowhere to be found.

I sighed and lowered my bow, it wasn't rare to see a pack abandon an injured mate, and I felt my eyes soften. Life was hard without your family, I should know.

I sat back down and prodded the fire with the stick to heighten the flames, the Nantang slowly limping towards me and laying down by the fire. There wasn't much a lone and injured Nantang could do, so I let it be, sending some calm in its direction to ease its worries. All I got in return was its pain, but I didn't mind, it had probably been a rough night after all.

I shifted slightly, taking a piece of meat from over the flames, and leaning towards it. Its black antennae twitched, and it tried to get up, only for it to yelp and fall down once more. I tried to reassure it once more, and it relaxed visibly.