The Weaving Force: Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Chapter 7:

The wookies celebrated.

They had a right to celebrate. It made sense.

But Vicky didn’t feel like celebrating much at all honestly.

Yes they won, the slavers were beaten, she herself had helped and that felt good.

But never before had she really truly felt like she was so far from home. So very alone.

She wanted- needed to keep her distance from Taylor right now. She hadn’t asked. But the thought that she knew what she was doing. That she made those Trandoshans burn alive…

And the Wookies weren’t making it much better either!

Two of the biggest warriors hoisted Taylor onto their shoulders, roaring with weapons raised high. Apparently ‘Atlas two’ wasn’t just a fancy mount but a symbol of Victory and good omens for the wookies.

The fact that Taylor had rode one into battle, and the other bugs had risen up from the trees to fight at their side…

Well… The wookies certainly weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

They were celebrating her as much as they were the victory in general.

As a Hero; what happened wasn’t right, but you’d never think anything but the greatest most uplifting of honorable battles had just been concluded.

It did indeed make her feel very very alone.

Sitting in the chieftain’s grand hall, roaring fires kept them warm, Wookies brought out food and drink, some specially cut up and seasoned for human palates according to D4. The wookies thanked her and Taylor profusely even as they wondered just how they did it while others asked if they were ‘Jedi’; whatever that was.

The wookies began playing some sort of song; drums were beat, sticks cracked  together with heavy, rhythmic impacts, flutes were played and something that might be the lovechild of a cross and a guitar was strung and played.

The song was an upbeat one, and when the Wookies roared and growled in their language, they did so in sync, raising the volume and their vocals to a cacophonous roar in the Chieftain’s hall; the tune was upbeat- triumphant and though she couldn’t understand a word there was a primal sort of beauty in the voices and the sound.

She spotted Taylor slipping out of the hut in all the hubbub, some wookies politely clapping her on the shoulders as she walked past them. Their great big paws making her look even smaller with her rail thin frame.

Vicky thought about letting her go alone. Right now, with the state of her emotions, she wasn’t in a good spot to go talking to the silent villain. But staying here with the jubilant wookies wasn’t much more appealing given her state in comparison to theirs; Going to her room felt too much like running away and Vicky didn’t run away from anything.

So, with a deep breath she stood from her offered chair (which was actually surprisingly comfortable for a bunch of twisted little branches) and politely excused herself from the celebratory gathering.

Stepping outside, there were still wookies, of course, but they were much more spread out amongst the village, private talks, perhaps quiet moments with their spouses, nursing or showing off battle wounds. This; the outside felt much more like what she expected the end of a battle should feel like. Quieter.

Her head turned this way and that way, searching for Taylor, finding the bug girl sitting down on a Wookie  bench, head bowed, dark hair crating a curtain over her profile.

She looked… guilty.

Vicky took another deep breath stepping forward across the walkway to speak to the girl.

“Hey.” She called.

Taylor didn’t move.

Her irritation spiking, Vicky felt her aura flare off the rather tight leash she’d been holding over it for the last few days, not wanting to mess with the wookies or piss em off.

Taylor twitched, but otherwise didn’t respond

“What the fuck is your problem!” She screamed.

And Taylor jerked where she sat, her eyes going wide, limbs flailing wildly before she found handholds on the bench and backrest behind her.

Vicky reeled back, eyes wide- suddenly it clicked.

“W-were you asleep?”

Taylor’s breathing was rapid her eyes as wide as dinner plates;

Then she started to cry.

It wasn’t sobbing, it wasn’t a normal crying.

Tears simply started leaking from her eyes, and Taylor looked as if she wasn’t even registering them, even as her chest hitched and jerked with broken breaths.

“H-hey-” Vicky stuttered, trailing off as she didn’t know what to say. “Are you ok?” She finished lamely, inching forward, hands infront.

But Tay didn’t even look at her, instead she looked at her hand, fingers closing, opening then closing again.

Her other hand went around her wrist as though hugging her limb to her chest.

Vicky saw her lips moving, an inaudible whisper repeated over and over again as she hunched over, almost in the fetal position around her hand.

“H-hey.” She inched forward again; then thought better of touching her.

Kneeling instead, she was low enough that she could look up at the mumbling girls face.

She looked… horrible.

Vicky stared at the girl a creeping feeling crawling over her.

“Tay-” She began gently. “Have you slept at all since we got here?”

She didn’t need an answer, not really.

The paleness of her skin, how sickly she looked, the dark circles growing ever more prominent under her eyes.

Jesus Christ.

She reached forward, ready to drag the girl towards the bed in the hut- and knock her out if need be-

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” She shouted, a mixture of anger and genuine concern overtaking her.

But the second her hand grabbed hold of Taylor’s arm, she jerked back, fingers clutching at her own wrist as though she were afraid her arm was gonna get cut off or something.

The wookies were noticing the commotion now, and before long, D-4 was waddling over.

“Is something the matter miss!”

Vicky, oblivious to the panic overtaking Taylor’s face turned, staring at the droid. “She hasn’t slept in over a fucking week!” She screamed, damn near pointing an accusatory finger at Taylor.

“Oh my. That is troubling. I am no medical droid but I do know humans require daily rest. What’s caused this malady?”

Vicky opened her mouth, then clicked it shut.

She had no idea.

She turned back to Taylor, the quiet girl’s tears still kept leaking out of her eyes, now falling in silent droplets from her chin.

She grit her teeth, trying to rein in her temper

Why couldn’t she have shown up here with someone who wasn’t crazy? Like Amy?

…

Shit now she felt like an ass.

She stepped forward, ignoring some of the wookies who started to approach in their concern.

“Tay-” She began, hesitating in her fumbling attempts to get this fixed. “Tay. You have to go to sleep. I’m not a doctor but I know damn well this is unhealthy.”

Taylor shook her head, as though trying to shove the very idea out through the vertigo of the motion.

She reached, fumbling, grasping and Vicky realized she was looking for her tablet.

Spying it on the floor under the bench- it must have fallen out of Tay’s grip when she fell asleep -Vicky knelt down and picked it up; handing it to Tay, who took it with shaking fingers.

Taylor typed something out and shoved the tablet at Vicky like it was a bomb set to explode.

The heroine fumbled before grabbing hold of it, turning it around to read-

‘If I sleep, I see it. I see her. I see Gold Morning. I can’t get it out of my head.”

It was gibberish to her. ‘Her’ she could guess, Khepri. Whatever or whoever that was. But ‘it’ could be many things. And Gold Morning? For the first split second she thought it was a typo for ‘Good’

Her face was stone-like now eyes dead, features stiff and blank.And Vicky felt that creeping feeling coming up again.

Is that what happened when Tay was scared of falling asleep?

Vicky shook her head. Considerations, crisis now.

“Tay…” She urged gently. “Look- if it makes you feel better I’ll sit next to you and I promise to wake you up if you start dreaming. But you have to sleep.”

“I concur, miss.” D-4 put forward- she’d honestly forgotten he was even there.. “Unlike Miss Dallon, I do not require rest as humans do. I would be more than willing to monitor your rest and wake you should you experience another vision.”

“There, ya see.” She offered the girl a smile. “We’ll both make sure you don’t dream!”

But Tay didn’t look reassured, clearly she was terrified of her own dreams.

What did she think she was seeing?

Fumbling for an answer, Vicky realized one thing she could do, it’d worked before.

Releasing more of her Aura, she watched its effects take hold of Taylor, her stony visage cracking ever so slightly as she stared at Vicky, fixating on her, hanging on her every word.

“Please-” She hedged. “You have to sleep Tay.”

The villain still struggled with the choice. Even with Vicky asking with as much of her aura as she was comfortable releasing she was still hesitating.

These nightmares must have been… pretty bad.

But finally, after a long, interminable moment, Taylor nodded and Vicky breathed a sigh of relief.

Grabbing hold of Taylor to help her back to the hut, she felt her worry spike as Taylor’s legs nearly gave out under her; clearly, her body was about ready to shut down no matter what she herself may have wanted.

Before they were fully out of the way, with D-4 trailing after them Attichitcuk woofed as he approach, barking something in his language.

“The chieftain has heard of the troubles Miss Taylor is experiencing, and has expressed concern and an invitation for her to be taken to the Shamans.”

I think she’ll be ok.” Vicky said quickly, feeling Taylor stiffen beside her. “But if it gets bad we’ll think about it ok?” Best not close the doors.”

The chieftain nodded, his head tilting this way and that way as he looked at Taylor as though trying to see if she would indeed be fine through just a scrutinous look.

But he didn’t see anything, or at least he kept it to himself before they kept on going, making their way back towards the hut.

(X)(X)(X)

When Taylor’s body finally crashed, she crashed hard- she didn’t even make it back to the hut. Not really.

Almost as soon as she got through the door Vicky was damn near carrying her- she didn’t fall asleep so much as she simply passed out.

If that was an extreme response… well… They’d been here for ten days Vicky could barely fathom staying up past two days, let alone ten.

As promised however, Vicky stayed beside her for a time.

When sleep began to call on her as well, she left D4 to watch before she went to her room to grab some of her blankets and pillows, making herself a makeshift bed beside Taylor’s own on the floor.

She did consider staying in her bed, fairly sure Taylor’s brain was just too damn tired to dream at all- that was a thing right?

But the reality was… she felt bad for the villain. And Vicky had promised her that she would wake her if she were caught in a nightmare. How fucked up would it be, even for a villain, to have D-4 wake her up, only to realize Glory Girl, the Hero couldn’t be counted on to simply wake you up if you had a bad dream?

So, sleeping on the floor she went.

On the plus side, Wookie blankets doubled as really good bedding!

She needed to convince these guys to open up a shop on earth. It was her duty as Earth’s first diplomat in space!

The next morning, Tay didn’t wake up.

In fact, Tay didn’t wake up for nearly two whole days and even then it was more slipping in and out of consciousness, barely coherent for a moment before slipping back under.

Victoria still, by and large didn’t feel wholly comfortable leaving her alone, just incase she did infact wake up with only D-4 around, but after two days being cooped up in the hut- she kinda needed to see the sun again, for photosynthesis… or something.

So on the third day, with the high noon sun shining bright she stepped outside back into the wookie village.

The wookies happily greeted her, with their trilling growls and whuffs of sound. The little ones came right up to her, eager for more flying.

So she obliged.

Taking the wookie cubs two, or even three at a time when they were small enough, with two in her arms, the other on her shoulders, with his claws prickling at her scalp, she flew into the air, making loop-de-loops around Wooshyr branches, swooping dives from on high and spiralling barrel rolls through the misty clouds.

The kids were big fans. Though Vicky was getting the impression that a few of the parents might not be the biggest fans of her more extreme stunts.

At around her sixth flight or so, there was a break in the routine.

Chieftain Attichitcuk was in the village square. The chief was nice but he rarely had time specifically to look at their antics, trusting them and his people to play nice for the most part.

But here he was, staring right up at her.

And was that a garden gnome on his shoulder?

Curious, Vicky did one more loop-de-loop before swooping down towards the platform.

The wookie kids, having their fun cut short groaned and growled, with the littlest one on her head squirming on her shoulders.

The chieftain barked something and the parents quickly came over to gather their little ones.

The little gnome started climbing off Attichitcuk’s shoulder.

“Bye guys!” Vicky smiled, waving at the wookie cubs.

The green goblin gnome thing reached the floor, hobbling forward with a walking stick. “Hmmm… right you were, Attichitcuk, to call on me. Great disturbances I sense surrounding this one-”

“Uhhhh…” She blinked staring down at the little green thing. “Wait. You speak English?”

“Hmmm. The common tongue throughout the galaxy, this is.” The green toad smiled, a hidden joke there.

Well- that was good. Sure he talks a little backwards but she could understand the green garden ornament.

The gnome turned towards the wookie chief. “Thank you, my old friend”

The Chieftain’s head tilted this way and that way in the manner that Vicky had taken to be the equivalent of a wookie nod, or affection. Either or.

The chief offered the little alien a bow, gave Vicky another little shake of his head, turned and marched away.

Leaving Vicky and the green man alone.

Not knowing what else to say- so she shrugged. “Well. Here I am? Who are you?”

“Hmm, Yoda, I am called.” He said pleasantly. “Jedi Master. Friend to the Wookies.”

“Victoria ahhh, Daughter of Dallons?” Fancy Titles. Not her best think on your feet moment. So switch subjects. “You’re the one the chief thinks can help us?”

“Hmm.” The green gnome rubbed at his chin. “Willing to help I am.”

Oh, well that was good too- she smiled-

Then the little green man lifted up his walking stick- and whacked her on the shin!

“OW!” She jumped off her foot, surprised. “That hurt!?”

“Stop that!” The little green toad frowned. “Rude your insistence on my mind is!”

“What the hell are yo-Oh.” Her brain caught up to at least part of the situation.

She pulled her aura back.

Now about the physics breaking stick!

The little green man marched past her utterly unconcerned about punching a nice clean hole through Vicky’s world order-or at least he started to march past her, towards her and Tay’s diplomat hut.

He stopped.

A sudden, mournful pain took hold of his features.

He staggered back, and barely reacted to Vicky’s hasty ‘Hey- you ok?’ as his eyes closed and he seemed to weather a wave of whatever had hit him.

“Pain… terrible pain.” He bemoaned, then kept hobbling forward.

Vicky moved to follow after him-

He whacked her other foot!

“Stop that I said!”

Vicky cursed and grumbled, floating well out of the little toad’s reach as she yanked her aura even tighter around herself.

The little green man kept hobbling forward

Reaching the door, Vicky was surprised when he opened it with a mere wave of his hand. The ‘handle’ was like five times his height… Wookies built for tall people.

Regardless the heavy wood slid open with a smooth silence, allowing the little green man admittance into the hut.

Still marching forward, without a word Vicky saw him make a beeline straight for Taylor’s room.

“Hey wait!” She cried. “She’s sleeping, its been a rough few days for her!”

“In pain your friend is.” He answered, without looking back. “Sense it I do-”

Vicky felt the blood drain from her face.

Shit! Was she having a nightmare!

Where the fuck was D-4!?

She lunged for the door, floating over Green-bean’s head  as she yanked it open.

D-4 was right by Taylor’s bedside.

“Oh. Welcome back Ms. Dallon.”

Vicky’s eyes darted from the droid over to Taylor.

She didn’t move, but her brows were scrunched, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her eyelids.

“Shit! D-4 you were supposed to wake her up!” She chastised.

The Droid jerked as if he’d been hit by an electric current. “What? But Miss, she is resting and has given no sign of night terrors!”

Not obvious ones no, but she was dreaming and she doubted Taylor’s dreams had suddenly decided to switch tracks.

Before she could make it to the bed, the little jelly bean man hopped up onto Taylor’s bedside.

“Hey- Yoda Jedi man.” She fumbled on his names and titles. “I told her I’d wake her if she started having nightmares so I kinda need you to move before she wallops you in the eye or something when she wakes up.

“Peace-” The little man whispered, his hand held out towards Taylor’s head, little claws reaching to brush atthe locks of hair over her forehead.

Vicky tried not to roll her eyes.

Of course. The tribal wookie people had called in a “spiritualist” or something to help.

“Look buddy I-”

The words died in her throat when she saw the furrow in Taylor’s brow beginning to ease, and the fingers that had been slowly tightening into fists released their grip into a more natural relaxed state.

In contrast, green bean’s face scrunched up, his expression turning to a deep fathomless sorrow.

When he finished, his entire body seemed to sag, and Vicky was sure the little alien had aged ten years in ten seconds.

She wanted to ask him if he was ok, if Taylor was ok. If he was an actor running a con then he was a pretty good one.

But the first and most pressing question on her mind-

“Did you just Master her!?”