Warrior ◊ Star Wars

chapter twenty; the stars sing

Mara kicked Dameron's boot, his head immediately perking back up as she told him, "Stay awake."

He groaned groggily, still leaning against the rock wall while she paced around, trying to think up some sort of plan to get off the planet. BB-8 kept randomly drilling holes into rock to pass free time, telling the two he was really searching for water. Both humans knew he was just bored.

Mara was fresh out of ideas besides that damn base, which she had no idea where it would be. So she took her pacing outside the camp, not that's it'd do much help besides give a slight change of scenery. So she tiredly sauntered outside the rock formation walk around in more circles.

It was midday, the sun reaching higher in the sky now. Mara let out a long breath, looking across the flat plains before them. Only a few land masses rose from the ground, unlike the maze they had to navigate to get away from their pursers. All there was was just sand and hot desert for miles on end.

Mara bit her chapped lips in frustration, but immediately regretted it once the pain came. She wished to see farther to know where they should go. Instead, she just saw the flat horizon with no hope of escape.

Did she feel hopeless? Yes. Was she going to stop looking for a way off anytime soon? No. If Mara's innate stubbornness ever came in handy, this would be the time. She wasn't going to just lie down and die among sand of all things, though at times it did slightly appeal to her.

So what was next? Trying to get to a place where she could see farther. The blonde turned her head back up to the topless cave she'd spent the night in, a perhaps crazy but possibly achievable idea forming.

Mara ran back inside, eyes scanning the walls carefully to find an easy way up. She looked over the camp, trying to find anything she could use. Nothing seemed to be of any use, so she pulled out her vibro-knife from her belt. A few more seconds of finding an adequate rock to use was all she needed before Mara began to try and climb.

"What are you...." Dameron's words traveled off as he realized the blonde's plan. He watched her attempt to stab her knife into the wall, first not succeeding as it only chipped rock off. Mara went after it again, lodging the blade into crevice where it would hopefully stay tight and secure.

She grabbed ahold of the handle, pulling on it to make sure it was stable. Next, she tried to fit her boot into divet in the wall. Her foot immediately slipped, and she groaned.

"Need any help?" He asked, not that the offer would do much good thanks to his current condition.

Mara sighed, setting her jaw type in a type of stubborn arrogance by not even facing him, "I'm capable of climbing a damn rock myself."

She lifted herself up by grabbing the handle of the knife with one hand and a crevice with the other. Her arms shook from weariness and dehydration as Mara tried to find a place to put her feet before she'd fall. She ended up hopping back down, giving another frustrated huff as she kept trying to get up.

Dameron shook his head at how she obviously was not skilled at rock climbing, "You sure?"

"I'm fine." Mara muttered begrudgingly, then jumping up to grab ahold of the knife again. Her feet kept slipping off the wall whilst she glanced down, waving her boots back between nooks to see if she could find support.

"Move your foot to my left, there's breakage there." He advised from his point of view while she dangled. She gave an angry groan, but moved her right foot around anyway.

Dameron shook his head, then realized she couldn't see his gestures, "No, no other foot."

"You didn't exactly tell me which one to move, now did you?" Mara seethed through gritted teeth, her arms shaking as they held her weight up. She moved her left foot to the right.