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It wasn’t the traditional way to dispose of a demon, and he knew that traditions were what they were for a reason, but he simply didn’t have the time!
Drown the demon. It was the most effective way. That had to be the most important part, right? He just needed to drown it before his absence was discovered, before his wife came to stop him.
She was compromised. The demon had wound its magic around her too tightly, she wouldn’t allow harm to come to it. So yes, he didn’t have the time to travel to the traditional pond dedicated solely to ridding Stewjon of the demons that were still born centuries after the Sith had cursed their people with their dark magic. The river that lazily flowed between the trees of the forest surrounding their town would simply have to do.
He reached its edge and stepped into the cool water, wading in until it reached his waist. More than deep enough to be sure the waters took the demon.
With a prayer denouncing the evil of the bundle in his hands, he lowered the blanket-swaddled demon into the water and let go.
The river wasn’t sentient, per se, but her waters flowed through a Force Nexus, which brought her a level of…awareness. And the Force flowed through her as easily as her waters flowed through the forest. It made her able to sense the creatures who lived within her waters, who visited her shore.
And she loved them.
But then, a visitor stepped into her waters, carrying a bundle of precious life that shone so brightly in the Force. The visitor then, to her horror, lowered the bundle into her waters and let go before leaving her.
She was horrified, and she drew upon the Force within her waters to wrap around the precious life gifted to her. It was a creature of the land, it couldn’t survive within her embrace, but she couldn’t let it drown, couldn’t bear to feel that life blink out.
She wasn’t sentient, but she still sent a prayer to the Force to save the precious life she was embracing with all she could.
And the Force answered her prayer.
Kal wasn’t sure this contract was worth it. He grumbled under his helmet as he yanked his rented land speeder over a large fallen tree blocking the path. It was too thick for the old speeder’s hover components to lift it over as he drove, and the so-called roads this deep in the forest clearly wasn’t tended to often enough.
The contract holder was in a small village deep in the Forest, far from the nearest city with actual space for ships to land.
But he had come this far, he might as well get paid for it.
He got the speeder over the fallen trunk and mounted it again, speeding off between the trees until he finally arrived at the village.
He slowed down to weave between the foot traffic of the locals, making his way over to the slightly larger hut in the center. He parked and dismounted, moving to the wooden door and rapping his knuckled against it.
The door opened and the town’s elder sized him up, running a hand down a white beard before nodding and calling over his shoulder in a language Kal was unfamiliar with.
A younger woman appeared and smiled, “You must be the hunter.” she said,her accent curving heavily around the Basic words, “We are grateful for your assistance.”
They both stepped back and gestured him inside “I am Sal-Jah. I’m the only one in the village that knows Galactic Basic and will be your translator and guide. This is Elder Dan-Wal, the one in charge of our village. It was his decision to call in an outside hunter.”
“I understand you have a…something that has been attacking your village?” Kal asked.
She hesitated and shook her head, “Not quite that, no. Our village’s main water source is a river that runs to the east of the village. It has become…a dangerous place to gather water at. For the past three years a river demon has been lurking within the waters. Many of our brave hunters have gone to try and slay it, but it persists.”
“They’ve all died?”
“It is a near thing, most of the time! The demon can control the waters of the river with its dark magics. Our hunters have all nearly drowned every time. All of them strong swimmers, only to be found wet and coughing up water on the banks as they drag themselves away to the safety of dry land,or clinging to the trees and rocks that have settled into the waters themselves downstream. Many have gone thirsty for fear of the river demon.”
Okay, so some sort of animal. Should be easy enough. After all, the claim of magic was likely an exaggeration from stories coming back from encounters with something unknown.
He nodded, “I’ll do my best to take care of it for you.”
She beamed and spoke the language of the Stewjoni people to the town Elder. He grinned and made a sweeping gesture with his hand before bringing it to his chest as he spoke again.
“He wishes blessings from the Gods upon you in your hunt, brave hunter.”
Sal-Jah guided Kal through the Forest towards the river, stopping only just when the waters were spotted in the distance. “This is where I leave you.” she said, clearly unwilling to venture closer to the river. “Will you be able to find the village again once you’re finished?”
“Yes.” he agreed. He really hadn’t needed her to show him the way to the river, but he appreciated how, along the way, she had pointed out what berries and mushrooms were edible or poisonous. It’d come in handy if he had to camp for a while before finding the so-called river demon. (Obi-Dem, as the locals called it in their own tongue). He had packed plenty of rations, but the availability of something more was always welcome.
“Alright, I’ll stay in the guest hut closest to the river until your return so you can find me once you’re done.” she said before turning back towards the village and leaving Kal alone to his hunt.
He turned towards the river and approached.
There was a new creature of the land wandering along her banks. A predator. One not looking for a sip of water to soothe its throat or a moment to bathe itself. It was hunting.
It was hunting her gift.
She knew that as it ignored the other creatures it happened across, just as the others who hunted her gift always did. She knew the feeling of it, well, and she protected her gift from them, raising her waters up to wash them far enough down stream to give her gift the time to get back to its hiding place.
But…
This predator also felt…different. It hunted her gift, yes, but it wasn’t a single-minded, bloodthirsty hunt. It shown in the Force in a way that spoke of care and protection.
The Force that flowed within her waters trusted it.
This was a creature that would protect her gift, and her gift deserved the chance to leave her waters and live as it was meant to.
This time, when her gift was found, she would wait and see how the predator reacts to her gift.
It took days, but finally, Kal spotted the so-called river demon. A flash of copper red behind some rocks in the shallows of the water. He pulled out his blaster and crept around, sticking to the treeline to avoid detection as he drew closer to finally get a good look—
And he froze.
He froze because that wasn’t a demon—that was an ik’aad. A tiny child with copper red hair and big blue eyes. Scales that matched their hair glittered over their body that sat in the water, though the scales seemed to shrink into a dusting of glittering freckled across pale skin as water dripped off chubby arms that splashed in and out of the water.
The ik’aad giggled and chirped, mimicking sounds of the wildlife Kal had grown used to as he traveled up and down the river over the past few days.
Kal scanned the river. No sign of a buir.
And, well, the villagers had only ever spoken as if there had been one ‘demon’ in the river…
The ik’aad was alone. Kal had no idea how they had survived the entirety of their life alone and being hunted.
He put his blaster away and removed his helmet, slowly moving towards the ik’aad so as not to scare them.
The toes of his boots were only just barely touching the water when the ik’aad finally took notice of him. They paused in their splashing and turned blue eyes on him. Up close the blue eyes seemed to shift darker, like reflections of a river in a storm.
Fear.
The water around the ik’aad suddenly grew deeper, moving up their body and bringing out more coppery scales. The feeling must have comforted them, because some of the fear eased away and their eyes brightened again. Not quite as blue as they had been before, but the watery pools seemed calmer.
Kal gave a gentle smile and knelt down so he wasn’t towering over them, “Hello there, ad’ika.”
They tilted their head at him and scrunched their nose—it was adorable—as if they had never heard sentient speech before.
They probably hadn’t. Not in any meaningful way, at least.
He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a couple of the berries he’d collected as he walked along the river, holding them out to the little ik’aad. They looked down at them and their face brightened, a grin breaking out across their face, showing off tiny but sharp teeth. They leaned in closer and took the offered treat in chubby hands before popping one in his mouth.
“Mmmmh!” they cooed, swaying happily as they enjoyed the treat. When they were done, they looked up at Kal and lifted both arms up towards him—the universal ad’ika gesture for ‘up’. Kal complied, reaching over to gently pluck them from the water.
As the water dropped off the ik’aad, what had clearly been a fish-like tail transformed into chubby freckled legs.
“You’re quite a special ik’aad, aren’t you?” Kal chuckled as he set them on his hip and scanned the water one last time for any sign of a buir. Still nothing. He sighed, “I really hope I’m not about to kidnap you.”
The waters suddenly grew deeper and his foot slipped, catching between a few rocks and getting stuck, as if he was being held in place by the river itself. He looked down into the water and suddenly it swirled and—
Well, Kal knew he was slightly kara-touched, but this was a completely new experience as he saw flashes of the ik’aad being abandoned in the river by what had to be a villager, flashes of the ad’iik growing up with only the river and the animals that visited it or lived within it as companions. And, as the visions faded, a whisper on the wind sounded in his ear, and he instantly understood.
Obi-Wan.
River’s gift.
The Kara itself were delivering the ik’aad to Kal’s care.
“Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Obi-Wan.” he muttered softly.
And the River released its hold on his foot, allowing him to carry his child onto the dry shore.
He made his way back to where he’d set up camp, and he packed it up, using the blanket from his bedroll to wrap around Obi-Wan’s naked form. Then he headed back towards the village. He didn’t care if they refused to pay him. He wouldn’t let them hurt his ad’iik, and he needed his rented speeder to get back to his ship.
They'd both be far away from Stewjon, soon.
-End-