In the fraction of a second, Willow hit the ground hard. She tumbled several times before a hand grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. Everything happened so quickly that she didn't realize how they ended up sliding down a muddy, slippery slope together.

Cal held her hand firmly in his. Without his support, Willow would have surely tumbled again. Only now did she notice that the enemy ship was continuously firing at them as the two teenagers kept sliding down.
"Willow!" she heard Cal shouting beside her. She turned her head in his direction.
"On my signal, you have to jump! Do you trust me?"

She caught his gaze for a moment. In the deep green of his eyes, she found no reason not to trust him. So she nodded and gripped his hand tighter.
A moment later, his signal came: "Jump!"

She felt him launch into the air. With their hands still intertwined, Willow had little time to react but she managed to jump just in time.
Almost simultaneously, they landed on another slippery stretch. Over the ship's gunfire, Cal yelled to her: "Okay, one more time on my signal."
This slope was shorter, and the moment to jump came faster. At Cal's signal, she jumped as discussed, landing roughly on the ground once more.

Upon landing, she tumbled again. With a dull thud, she stopped against a fallen log. When she tried to get up, she groaned in pain. So much for avoiding further injuries. Willow didn't want to imagine how her body would look tonight.

Cal was by her side in a flash.
"Kriff, Lills. Are you okay?"

He extended his hand to help her up. Gratefully, she took it.
"Never been better," she muttered.

"No headache? You've got a pretty nasty wound on your temple," he said, his eyes already scanned her body for other injuries.

Confused, she touched her temple and indeed, on the right side, there was a small gash. She pressed her lips together and wiped her slighty bloody fingers on her pants. Cursing quietly, she rummaged in her bag and pulled out a phial of the bright green liquid. Willow shut her eyes tightly and downed the Wiggenweld potion.
"I'm okay," she assured him.

Suddenly, a loud bang sounded, and the ground beneath their feet vibrated briefly. Alarmed, Willow looked around and recognized the outlines of the Imperial ship through the foliage. She had almost forgotten that Cal and she were under attack. Together, they ran, fleeing from the deadly lasers.
"Who is that, Cal? What does she want from you?"

"That's the Ninth Sister," Cal explained, breathing heavily. "She already tried to kill me on Bracca."

Willow just nodded at the new information. Right now they had bigger problems. Maybe she would ask him more about it later, provided they survived this.

They came across another vine-covered wall. If not for the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she wouldn't have been able to climb another wall, she was sure of that.
Their path led them to one more slippery slope, but this round Willow was prepared.

Skillfully, she stayed on her feet, this time without Cal's help. The shots didn't stop, and several times she had to duck because it was a close call.
Near the end of the slope, which led to a small clearing, a huge, white-feathered bird flew over their heads. The student marveled at the beautiful creature before it dragged the Inquisitor's ship into the depths. The attacks ceased.

"What is that thing?" she heard Cal ask beside her, but his little friend seemed just as clueless.

They stumbled into the clearing and soon reached a more untouched part of the forest. However, it was occupied by Kashyyyk's aggressive fauna.
Exerting themselves, they fought their way up bit by bit. About a quarter of the way up, they saw the huge bird again. It clung to a tree trunk and climbed up laboriously.

BD-1 let out a few quiet beeps.
"We don't know if it's friendly. That's the thing that took down the Ninth Sister," the red-haired young Jedi responded quietly.

„It's majestic, that's for sure," Willow added in a whispering tone. Cal nodded approvingly.
A moment later, they arrived at a spot generously lit by the sun. Just then, the bird landed on the spot. It cried out upon landing before getting up and flying on.
Cal let out a surprised sound, and Willow could only agree.

They kept fighting their way up and soon found themselves on another clearing of the tree. The bird crashed again, letting out a pained cry.
"It's not moving away?" Willow asked, puzzled. "What's wrong with it?"

Curiously, they moved towards the creature, looking for an obvious source of pain.
"It's hurt. Think we can help it?"
Cal looked expectantly at his droid.

„Bee-boop-beeb!"

Just as BD-1 activated his scanner, the creature pushed itself into the air again. As far as Willow could tell, it kept flying higher and higher.
The trio had now reached the massive branches of the tree. From here, it was just a short leap to their desired destination, according to Tarfful's marker.

On a blunt platform of the tree, they found the weakened bird. It took up most of the space, that large was the creature. Its huge wings lay lifeless beside its body. But it was still breathing. It barely moved its head in Cal and Willow's direction as they cautiously approached.

"We can help, but we have to be careful. I don't wanna spook him," the redhead stated.

Willow understood immediately and stepped into the bird's field of view to give Cal time to examine it. She raised her hands soothingly.
"Hey, it's okay." The bird lifted its head slightly.
"We're not here to hurt you. We're friends, you know? Friends. It's okay."

Willow remembered that she always carried some food for Beasts in her bag. There were plenty of magical Beasts at home, and for the girl, it was like meditating when she took care of the small and large friends. With a quick sideways glance, she ensured BD-1 was still scanning before opening her bag.
With Accio! she pulled out some food and let it hover in front of the creature.

Soon, the little droid made some low noise. It seemed he had found the injured spot. Willow watched as Cal approached the creature's left wing.
"It's a piece of the Ninth Sister's ship. We'll need to remove it."
The Jedi glanced at Willow. She made sure the bird was still distracted with eating before she nodded at Cal.

"This is gonna hurt, okay? I'm sorry," he said to the creature.
He took a step back and closed his eyes. Cal stretched his hand out, aimed at the ship piece stuck in the wing. He took a deep breath, and a second later, the ship piece shot towards him.

The bird cried out again. Cal let the piece drop carelessly, hurried to the injured wing, and caught a small container that his droid threw at him. "Thanks, BD!"
Without hesitation, he injected the contents of the container near the injured spot. Judging by the creature's immediately calmer reaction, Willow assumed it was some kind of pain-relieving medicine that Cal had given it.

Soon after, the graceful creature rose. It lifted its left wing as if to test if everything was okay.
Gratefully, it stretched its head towards Cal.
"Here you go. Woah!" he laughed, stroking its head.
And Willow had to smile too. She regretted not being able to capture the moment. The sight was simply beautiful and warmed her heart.

"It's the least we could do," Cal said before the creature rose and came to a stop at the end of a branch.
Willow and Cal exchanged a glance. His green eyes sparkled with an excitement Willow had never seen before while he smiled broadly. In that moment, he seemed incredibly happy and carefree, and the girl couldn't help but beam at him. The joy he radiated was so contagious that she vowed to do anything to see his gorgeous smile just one more time.
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1.403 Words,

and with that, this is probably the shortest chapter I've written so far. But this part is just so wholesome, ending the chapter here felt just right. The next ones will be longer again, I promise.

Feel free to leave some feedback and if u've liked the story so far I'd be grateful if u'd like to click the little star <3
Hope u have a great day / night! Till next time,
~ Alice