Arx’s Sorasu desert was hot and scorching for anyone not accustomed to such an environment or without proper gear. For a Socorran tribal native it was just a regular Tuesday.
Helmet in hand at her side, Socorra basked in the sun for a long, quiet moment, her darkly bronzed face angled to the sky. She rarely was able to enjoy a natural sun nowadays. constantly on the go, stuck inside ships more than she cared to be and even a simulated star and heat onboard the larger ships were not close enough.
“Here,” Socorra said quietly, her alto voice and accented tongue rolling and clipping the word.
She turned to peer over to Zxyl. He had refused to remove his helmet since their trip to Mandalore, and there was a pang of sadness that he would not feel the sun the way that she did. Maybe privately, but when did the Armorer have time for that?
Unfortunately, there was only one desert-born kindred spirit and he was long, long gone according to Ashen. Those mistakes and missteps made her chest ache.
They had traveled in the desert for miles already, stopping here and there for seemingly nothing, because the woman was very picky.
“The Tailrings,” she interrupted her own thoughts. “They would thrive here.”
The Regent pulled his datapad from his pouch, firing it up and examining the data the area was presenting - though the desert’s heat was doing quite the number on the technology. She was right, though he wasn’t sure if he should outright say that.
The two had set off on this scouting expedition in search of a new sanctuary for the Tailrings after Socorra had insisted that the Dathomirian-Mandalorian procure some for the Brotherhood at large. Bes'uliik had initially objected, but the Socorran lady had been quite persuasive in her efforts.
The two Mandalorians had become close allies over the last few months, collaborating on several initiatives such as the procurement of gear for the Envoy Corps and Antei Combat Centre, as well as a whole new slate of equipment for the Grand Master’s Royal Guard. Now they were here.
“How do you know for certain? I do not wish to build a sanctuary in the wrong place,” each word in the Regent’s question included a dark, otherworldly echo.
He still wasn’t used to the change he had undergone on Dathomir. The Magick coursing through his body. It was a substantial change, even though his latent Force-sensitivity had been unlocked prior, and he was unsure of how he would deal with it or if he could ever accept it. He had such disdain for those who used the Force, although that dislike had subsided in recent times it was still there in the back of his mind
Her eye remained on him as his voice reminded her of that echo (made even more strange through helmet speech modulator) and his other changes of late. Changes that were obvious to one of the very few Elder Seekers in the Brotherhood. Not that Zxyl knew or she had let him know that she was capable of seeing all of it. Not yet.
“Because I know,” Socorra replied but then waved a flippant hand in the air. “Nothing can mimic the Black Sands. It encompass entire planet and harsher and unforgiving than this continent with shores and trees. Even no sanctuary, dragon should adapt well. They food motivated, so learn fast like dog. If we keep some around cantina, I bet they sell fast. Spacers love them because they hunt mynock that destroy ship and live through anything like space cockroach.”
She seemed to brighten suddenly, her pitch raising.
“Oh, could have mynock hunting tournies!”
There was enough evidence that this minor jaunt brought some form of good nostalgia. Socorra never spoke of her childhood, which, for most, usually indicated one not worth repeating.
The Regent nodded, tucking his datapad away. She had a point, and the female Mandalorian knew probably better than anyone else - given she was from Sorocco to begin with - what environment Tailrings, also known as Sorrocan Dragons - would thrive in.
The Dathomirian-Mandalorian didn’t see much of a point in the whole ordeal, but her persuasive tactics along with her well rounded.. theory, regarding the whole thing, meant that she had a point. And if more people wanted one? That would just boost their value, especially to the Regent.
“I wasn’t aware mynocks were fans of scorching deserts. But you have made several valid points.. and as we know, this is something you will not give up on. Fine. We will build here. Do you have something in mind, specifically, that would allow them to thrive yet serve as a protective boundary?”
The Dathomirian-Mandalorian was also concerned about the mini-shoulder-dragons leaving the area and possibly - though however unlikely - becoming a nuisance or terror to locations and people around Arx. He wasn’t super familiar with much fauna at all, which is what led him to ask.
“I no know if mynock fan of desert. Whatever, import for tourney, they dead anyway.”
She peered around and studied the terrain. “We can build some nesting area. Keep babies from predator. Maybe import cheap vermin for hunting and feeding area. Can shield gen keep them all in? Backward, like prison? They have to see it though, otherwise pancake.”
She smashed one hand into the other for emphasis.
Zxyl raised his eyebrows for a moment, before nodding. She knew what she was talking about. That was good enough for him, at least for now. Putting his left hand on his hip, he looked at her for a moment. Clearly he had made the right choice, at least for the Tailrings.
“Very well… lets go build up some design plans.”