𝕮𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡
━━ 𝘽𝙊𝙍𝙉 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝙈𝙔𝙏𝙃𝙎

━━ 𝘊𝘙𝘠𝘓𝘓𝘌𝘚
𝟸𝟹 𝙱𝙱𝚈

The wind rustles the dry leaves spread on the palace garden's sandstone-paved paths as three pairs of boots walk softly upon them. The shadows cast by the reddish evening sun are eerie and long in this deserted garden, but Anakin, Selyn and Cleodys have decided to meet here nonetheless in order to discuss Cleodys' meeting with the queen and her advisors yesterday.

They pass flowerbeds filled with gnarly trees that carry thick leaves and colourful blossoms. Various cacti form mesmerizing patterns and a nearby fountain murmurs faintly. Finally, they find a little stone bench to sit on and Cleodys carefully ensures that no one is around.

Selyn is all too aware of Anakin's presence and its obvious effect on her. They haven't seen each other since yesterday evening, she has been more than relieved that her guard duty was with Cleodys today. She doubts that she would have been able to face Anakin on her own again.

It had taken exactly Cleodys five minutes to notice that something was wrong, despite Selyn's desperate, but futile attempt to appear composed.

She had taken her younger sister aside in a quieter alleyway.

"Spit it out," she had said, grey eyes searching Selyn's face. "What's bothering you?"

At first, it had been hard for her to open up, but in the end the worlds spilled out in a never-ending stream. Desperation and misery about her conflicted situation had sent tears streaming over her cheeks and Cleodys patiently listened, pulling her younger sister into a hug.

"It will be alright," she had promised, wiping Selyn's face. "We will figure something out, together." It had occurred to her in that moment that Cleodys must have the same protective feelings towards her as Selyn has them for Varielle.

"I just don't know what to do," Selyn had whispered. "I've never felt so conflicted in my entire life."

Cleodys had only smiled. "I think you know exactly what to do, Selyn. It's time you are brave enough to recognize it." She had taken Selyn's hands in hers, squeezing them tightly. "I think that since arriving on Crylles you have learned some crucial lessons. Because I believe you learned about the importance of love and having people you care for. You've reunited with your family and gained so much you would have never experienced if you strictly followed your order's code. Avoiding attachments won't work forever, for the spirit's sake, you're human, you need this love to grow and develop. And I think if you're being entirely truthful to yourself you've known that for a long time."

Her hands had cupped Selyn's face.

"So what are you afraid of? A little more love won't hurt. Seize it."

Selyn has turned her sisters words over and over in her head, they echo in her mind even now when they're sitting in this quiet garden.

Seize it.

Cleodys has just started to illustrate the queens reaction and the new information she's gained from what the advisors said as a shadow creeps along the high stone walls surrounding the garden.

At first, Selyn doesn't even notice it since it is dressed in robes that are the exact same colour as the surrounding stone, but then a second shadow follows. And a third.

At this point Cleodys and Anakin have noticed them, too. Two more hooded figures follow, jumping off the wall and landing softly and without a sound, like a cat. Selyn gestures the others to stay quiet. They are concealed by a large bush so there's a good chance that the attackers haven't seen them yet. They continue to make their way along the wall, in a crouched position, swiftly, their footfalls not to be heard.

Cleodys points to their left. There's a path, directly leading to the palace's entrance, but lined with enough plants that they would be concealed. It's a shortcut, and that way the three of them could reach the attackers before they were to enter the palace.

Anakin and Selyn follow Cleodys' lead.

"They must have waited for the guards to change," Cleodys mutters quietly. "Because about right now the entrance is the least protected. And in a few minutes the queen will leave the throne room to retreat to her private chambers. On the way there she will be accompanied by a minimum number of guards."

Selyn's stomach turns to ice. There must have been someone passing on information from inside the palace. This scheme gains in dimension at every turn.

They reach the end of the path just in time to see the attackers hurry towards the wide stone arches leading into the palace.

"Now!" Cleodys shouts, leaping forward, spear flashing faintly, deadly in the ceasing sunlight.

Anakin and Selyn follow side by side, activating their lightsabers, casting blue and yellow light onto their faces.

The assassins allow themselves to be surprised for a heartbeat, but then they are ready, drawing spears crackling with purple electricity from their backs. Electrostaffs, Selyn realizes with suprise.

She ducks just in time to avoid a blow, rolling over the ground in a swift movement and coming to a stand right behind her assailant. Her double blades hum angrily as she brings one end downward, but the man is ready, blocking her attack with such force that she stumbles backwards. His eyes, the only part of his face that is visible behind the beige cloth covering his head, are stern.

Selyn finds herself back-to-back with Anakin and Cleodys soon, their opponents in a circle around them, and together they engage in a deadly dance of attack and defence, their feet shuffling over the ground in well-known patterns.

Cleodys fights to her right, in fluid, elegant movements that are different to anything Selyn has ever seen in the order. She uses her spear to stab rather than to engage in longer dueling, evading her opponent's blade until she finds a crack in his defence. Then she charges forward swiftly, landing a blow, and retreats just as quickly. It reminds Selyn of a snake delivering the final bite to kill its prey.

Anakin's movements are familiar to her left, and soon they fall into their usual patterns. During their training fights they have gained an understanding for each other's fighting style and so they are able to anticipate their partner's next move, providing cover when needed and diving low to let the other launch an attack. They are a unit, no words needed to pass between them as they fight as one.

The rhythmical drumming of multiple feet hitting the ground echoes through the corridors leading into the palace as guards hurry towards them, alarmed by the sounds of fighting.

Selyn hears it with relief, and the next second the attackers notice it, too. A silent understanding seems to pass between them and in an instant two of them part from the group, sprinting towards the garden's walls. To get reinforcements or to notify their master, Selyn doesn't know. But they can't be allowed to get away.

"I'll hold them off," Cleodys shouts grimly over the clanging of metal hitting metal. Her armour flashes in the sun, she holds the spear firmly and something about her stance, so strong and fierce, makes Selyn realize that her sister has become a warrior. It makes her unbelievably proud.

"Go! Both of you!" she shouts, and Selyn and Anakin turn, chasing after the fleeing men. The other guards will be there in a moment, aiding Cleodys, but Selyn is more than confident that her sister is able to hold them off long enough.

Deactivating their lightsabers and securing them to their belts in a swift movement, Anakin and Selyn gather speed as they run past the flowerbeds and thick-leaved plants. The force thrums in her bones as they follow the hooded figures over the wall, jumping impossibly high, floating mid-air way too long to be considered normal.

They enter a busy street and for a moment she is disoriented by the loud noise and bustling crowds. But Anakin spots their targets to their right, mounting two of the numerous speeders waiting there.

The two of them start running again, reaching the speeders.

"Which one do we take?" Anakin shouts, stressed. "The green one is faster, but the yellow one is better to manoeuvre. And this one is a limited edition speeder class A-928!"

"I really couldn't care less right now," Selyn exclaims over the noise of the retreating speeders, hopping onto the one closest to her. "Come on!"

Anakin jumps on right behind her, shooting the other speeders a longing glance. As his arms are securely wrapped around her waist, Selyn hits the gas pedal, charging after the two speeders retreating into the chaos of Sol City.

The follow them for some time through a labyrinth of narrow alleys and backyards, the wind ripping on Selyn's hair and making her eyes water. But as it becomes apparent to the attackers that they can't seem to shake off their pursuers they steer out of the city and into the desert. The bleeding dunes, this area is called and Selyn finds the name rather fitting as fine red dust whirls up beneath their speeders whilst they race through this landscape of sand, dunes and the sky above them bleeding in red and orange, the sun a fiery ball of light shimmering at the horizon.

Selyn rounds a dune, the speeder tipping to the right in the narrow turn. She keeps her eyes fixated on the two speeders before her and does her best to keep her focus, but Anakin's steady arms around her waist seem to make this task an impossible one.

"Get your hands off of me," she grunts finally as she can't bear it any longer.

He immediately does so. "Why?" he taunts.

"Can't focus like that," she murmurs.

"What was that?" he asks. She can hear it in his voice that he is grinning. Idiot. "I don't think I heard you quite well."

Arrogant prick.

"You heard me fine," she snaps, pulling the speeder into a sharp turn. His laughter rings in her ears.

Suddenly the speeders in front dip lower, disappearing behind the edge. Selyn follows and in her stomach she has the sensation of falling as they go lower, now racing over dusty rocks towards a canyon.

It's entrance is a gaping mouth, ready to swallow them whole. Rough stone walls tower up to their left and right, striped in beige and orange.

Selyn feels Anakin grow impatient behind her as she narrowly grazes the canyon's wall. "Let me take over."

"Not a chance."

They are on a speeder anyway, racing with sickening speed. There's no way of him taking over now, and Selyn somehow doubts that the criminals will patiently wait for them whilst they stop and switch positions.

But Anakin doesn't give in. "I used to do pod racing on Tattooine. This is exactly what I trained for."

She feels him shift and before she can protest his arms go around her sides, his hands covering hers on the handles.

"Let go." He steers slightly to the left, starting a reckless manoeuvre around a formation of rocks.

"Fine," Selyn grumbles, giving in. But only because he has the unfair advantage of robbing her of the ability to form a coherent thought whenever he touches her.

"Duck," Anakin commands.

She obeys, making herself as small as possible as he slides forward a bit more, now fully taking over.

His chin is pressed to the side of her head, the impossible proximity of their bodies making her dizzy. She feels the alternating tightening of his arms around her shoulders as he guides the speeder right and left with dead precision.

Selyn closes her eyes as Anakin recklessly steers them through the canyon, gaining even more speed. Multiple times the rocks are so close she thinks she will die. She barely contains a scream and from then on resigns to shutting her eyes tightly.

Laughter rumbles in Anakin's chest as he notices, and he goes even faster.

But suddenly she feels the sun hitting her face again as the tight walls vanish, and they race into the open. The sudden change is unexpected, but what is even more concerning is the absence of the fleeing attackers.

"Where the hell did they go?" Selyn searches the horizon frantically. No sign of them.

A low rumble joins in on the engine's sound of their speeder now. It chills Selyn's blood and sends goosebumps all over her skin. It grows louder and louder, into a menacing growl, and some primal instinct sends her heartrate skyrocketing and cold sweat covering her forehead.

"Do you hear that?" she whispers.

Anakin nods worriedly. "Let's get out of here."

They turn sharply, retreating towards the canyon as the sand before them begins to move. It is stirring and swirling, bulging as if a dune was trying to raise from the desert, as if it were alive.

A figure mounts before them, sand trickling down its frame in great streams, slowly revealing the dirt-concealed features. An eye opens, huge and yellow and unmoving. Fixating their tiny figures with deadly intent. Then another, pupils in slits.

Selyn isn't even able to utter a word whilst Anakin swears wildly behind her. Fear has turned her blood to ice.

The dying sunlight seems to set the creature's eyes ablaze, it glints on golden scales and deadly spikes that grow on the sides of its head, giving the face a triangular shape. Two feet stomp on the ground as the creature rises even higher, both as huge as their speeder, covered in reddish scales and ending in vicious talons on Selyn's eye-level.

Such power. Such fury. Such destructiveness.

It takes her breath away.

A desert dragon, born from myths and a fiery goddess. And it's standing right before them.

It utters a deep growl, sending their hair flying in these stream of hot air escaping its flared nostrils.

"We woke it," Selyn whispers, terrified. The attackers must have known that and lead them into a trap.

"Then we let it go back to his fucking sleep," Anakin swears, bringing the speeder into a sharp right turn, hoping to be fast enough to round the dragon before it lashes out.

„Go sleep, go sleep, go back to fucking sleep," he mutters, bending forward and hitting gas.

They drive around it, but Selyn can't peel her eyes off this terrifying creature. So vicious, so deadly, so majestic. In this moment she doesn't doubt for a second that this dragon is made by Avaar, a creature brought to life by divine blood.

The dragon roars as it sees its prey escape, and a razor-sharp talon misses them by mere inches. Selyn whimpers and Anakin swears wildly.

Now the creature is out of her sight, but she can hear the massive body slither behind them in the sand as it gathers speed. She thanks the skies that these dragons were made without wings which would surely be their doom.

"Towards the canyon!" she yells against the wind. "The dragon won't fit in there!"

Anakin hears her and steers the speeder back towards the narrow canyon. For a moment Selyn is truly afraid that they won't make it, she can feel the hot breath on her neck, the deep growl sending her teeth vibrating inside her skull.

But then they are engulfed by shadows, racing through the protection of the high stone walls.

Anakin lets out a shaky breath. "Nice home planet you got there, Selyn."

She laughs, still jumpy. "Never said it wasn't dangerous."

✧･ﾟ:* 𝕬𝘜𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘙'𝘚 𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌 *:･ﾟ✧

ugh yes this was some sexcy ass action right there 🤌

they're such a power couple/trio hm yes yes

and yes I'd give anything to be sitting on that speeder, for all I care Anakin can even pick the speeder 🫡

also Selyn meeting the dragon for the first time ... wonder if that's gonna impact her and become an integral part of her personality and be a pivotal element of her character development...hm hm...we shall see huh 🤔

also wondering if Selyn and Anakin make it back to the capital in time or if they maybe have to stay in the desert that night... we will see, we will see 😙✌️

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