Kamda

Varina lingered afterwards, doing the opposite of a dirtbag move and cleaning up after herself out here in the wild. She was a bit of a wild child herself; she couldn't deface her home.

"How's the arm?" she asked Raven. She had certainly asked this before but that wasn't going to stop her.

"It's... certainly been better." Raven didn't mind cleaning up. A clean camp was vital, and a cornerstone of the things she had learned from her parents.

"... What about you?" she asked as she took a break from the cleaning-chore to look at the younger Mandalorian. "You ok?"

"You see a doc about it?" she asked. She looked over towards the collapsed destroyer then idly back to her compatriot.

"I guess that depends on your definition of okay. I didn't take any blaster bolts, at least." A small smirk. "Nor stabs."

"Dredgen's good enough. It will be fine, just needs time to heal properly," she assured Varina, and seeming fully confident in her fellow Mandalorian's medical advice.

Stepping over to Varina, Raven put a hand on her shoulder. Gentle but firm. "That's not what I'm asking about though. You seemed... distraught, yesterday. I understand not all wounds are like this," she said, indicating her arm and her own bruises. "... You wanna talk about it?"

Varina shrugged. "What's there to talk about? You're a Mandalorian, a proper one." She smiled softly. "I don't think you'd get it at all." Then a small punch, more of a nudge, to Raven's good arm. "Much as I care about you."

"Try me," she smirked dryly at the punch. "My parents were part of the Protectors, loyal to Duchess Satine Kryze. I might be more than just a proper Mandalorian, you know."

Her voice was soft, with the sense of calm Raven had managed to find over the past weeks as she had connected more with her roots. Her family's ways. "Something troubles you, I can tell."

"Duchess Satine Kryze," Varina echoed. She looked down to her collected leftovers and then to Raven. "I used to despise her. I still think she was a bit of a coward but... maybe she wasn't so wrong after all."

"She wasn't," Raven sat down, indicated for Varina to join her. "Maybe the way she went about it was... but, many saw the good in her ideas, to protect our people - so that we wouldn't tear ourselves apart even more until there was nothing left of us."

"Wouldn't you say it's pretty tough to tell a bunch of fighters like our kind to stop it and think about preserving our culture, our history, and most of all the lives of our people?"

Varina nodded, taking a seat as indicated. "But what is our culture? I mean, I should have paid attention in class more," she admitted, scratching her head, "But even then, all that stuff I learned isn't what I saw here, on this planet.

"Felt like some of them were only fighting for the thrill of it, not for anything... good."

"Our culture is more than fighting, though it is a part of it. We are warriors first and foremost, but we're not mindless murderers." She pressed her lips together as she sighed. "I won't claim some moral high ground and say I always fight for some worthy cause... but, I try to be just. To be honorable. To be more than just a killer."

Raven wasn't sure at how well she did at that part herself, but it was one of the reasons why she held so tightly to the oaths. "But you probably should've paid attention in class more, yeah," she teased the younger woman. "What made you want to go out and join up here in the first place? Apart from defying your dad, that is."

"That may be the way of the Protectors. But is it the way of the others in the Enclave?" Varina shrugged and looked back out into the distance. "I thought I'd be happier working for that Vex lady. But I just felt like... no different from my sword."

On the subject of her arrival, she sighed. "I wanted to be cool... like my mother. But I really got to thinking: is my mom so cool if she abandoned her own daughter to fight?"

She gave a small shake of her head. "Not all of them, no, but if I leave, it will remain that way. If I stay, maybe I can change that - it's still a small group. A young group, so to speak. So it's not immune to change."

To be cool. It seemed like such an innocent goal, Raven thought as she considered her reply. "Maybe. Maybe not. It's the way of our people to fight for change, to protect our family. Perhaps to her, she believed she was protecting your future? But, you're not her. You get to make your own choices, and well... I think you're pretty cool, if that helps?"

"You have so much hope of changing it from the inside. But how can they change with a man like that in charge?" Varina spat to the side. "I had to tell him to help. What's the point of being able to fight if you only do it when someone is 'worthy' to oppose? It shouldn't be their toughness that decides that. It should be the worthiness of the cause."

Varina shrugged. "I don't know if I'll ever get to find that out. She didn't exactly leave a note." She gave a weak thumbs up with a smile to match. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, though."

"Hmmm..." Raven's lips pursed for a moment as she crossed her arms. "I don't think that's the issue. I mean, well, it kind of is, but... I've pushed for him to get more involved too. I think what holds him back is the size of the group - and what it would mean to openly begin to engage with the Empire."

She gave Varina curious look. "I won't hold it against you if you are going to go your own way though. You're still my Sister, Varina. Always will be."

"And yet, we have Manny a street magician, some crazy lady with bombs, and a librarian fighting," Varina countered, "If this ragtag bunch can fight, why can't a culture of warriors?"

The younger gal smirked. "Yeah, I guess this is my way of saying goodbye. Didn't really do that for my dad, nor can I now. He'd probably try to track me down." She scratched her head. "Probably going to try to find my mom."

"I'm not saying I'm disagreeing, but... well, I think there's more to it than at a glance. We have homes to reclaim from the Saxons - that is the main fight ahead of us. I think personally we should also be fighting the Empire, but I can also see the downside if we lose too many of our own in that fight and end up unable to defeat the Saxons." She sighed. "And well... I think that's going to be difficult too. It's a complicated mess back home alright."

Raven rubbed her neck. The more she thought about it, it was going to get messy anyway. It was the kind of mess that had given rise to the New Mandalorian-movement to begin with.

"Any idea where your mom could be?"

"But what if you had died last night because he didn't go in? Then we would be losing more people without being united."

Varina shook her head. "I honestly have no idea."

"As I said, I agree," Raven defensively held up a hand. "But... I chose to go on my own. Mand'alor knows this that I fight the battles I want to fight. Even if that means fighting alongside my friends who aren't Mando."

Letting the moment calm down a little, she put a hand on Varina's shoulder again. "I don't fear death, Varina. But I will stay, and keep pushing for us all to fight together. To stand with the others against the Empire."

"Why follow him?" Varina asked bluntly, "I asked that from the start. And still, I have not received a satisfactory answer myself."

"Because I believe in his strength to claim the title of Mand'alor. Because I can see by the quality of those who follow him that my faith is not misplaced, my faith that he will end the shame the Saxons have brought on our people." There was an edge to her voice as she spoke. For Raven, the matter of the Saxons was personal.

"The worlds of our people will be freed. I'm sure of it."