Different Forms, Same Being Walon Vau/???

Walon Vau, Skirata, and Mird belong to Karen Traviss

Ru'more's mine



"Where is he," someone boomed in the house of Kyrimount. Walon Vau had come back from a mission that he, unfortunately, had to leave his constant companion, Mird the strill, behind. He had just come back...and heard that something had happened to him.

As soon as he found out...that's when he raised his voice. Skirata felt his headache, that had immediately started after the accident, worsen.

"It's fine, Walon! Mird's FINE! Nothing terrible hap-," some tried to yell over him but was cut short

"WHERE IS HE," he boomed even louder making man in front of grit his teeth at the volume.

"QUIT YELLING AND I'LL TAKE YOU TO HIM," he yelled back over him. The tall man glared at him evilly, but fell quiet. Skirata took in a breath and crossed his arms. Vau never yelled. To be more precise, nobility never yelled. Just went to show how much Vau cared for the animal.

Skirata mentally winced.

"It's not very bad," he grumbled, scrubbing his head,"He's just not-"

Don't," Vau cut him off again, hissing dangerously,"Don't you DARE sugarcoat it, Skirata. What happened to Mird."

Skirata stared down at his boot, glaring at it as if it could fix everything but wouldn't. He sighed and looked back up to Vau's enraged face

"Follow me."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Mird," Vau said when he stepped inside of his own room. A few turns and corners and he knew where Skirata was leading him. He had arrived some long strides before him. He should've known if something went wrong, Mird would come here if he wasn't around.

The room was silent beside a small scuffle near the bed. Vau turned to it.

"Mird? Where are you? Come here, Mir'ika," he said a bit softer.

A small whimpering sound came around the bed and Vau kneeled down to call again,"Mir'ika, come here."

Skirata watched with him as something moved on the other side of the bed. He didn't blame the poor barve. This was something...well, he didn't know that it could REALLY happen.

A shift of movement after a moment of silence said the command was being obeyed. A wobbly hand appeared from the corner of the bed before a mess of long dirty blonde hair and a human body followed. More specifically, a FEMALE human body. The person crawled over, using her hands and feet, moving with the ease of one who had been doing it for a long time. She moved over and sat down at Vau's feet as if she were an animal sitting on its haunches. Vau stared down at the person before whirling around to look at Skirata.

"Ne shab'run'ii," he snarled. Skirata stared back grimly.

"I'm not messing with you, Walon," he said tiredly,"No joke. We were working on one of the girls, Mird scrambled in and got injected with one of their DNA...a few hours later..."

He gestured to the woman sitting at his comrade's feet, dressed in a shirt that could be counted as a dress on her. Vau turned back to look at her, still not believing what he was seeing.

"Mird," he asked quietly. The woman's head fell to the side a little before coming to the center again and slowly lifted up to look at him...

And fixed him with a bright golden gaze he'd know in any form

"Shab," was all Vau could breath as he crouched down to examine his faithful companion's new form,"Shab."

She wasn't...skinny like most women thought was pretty. She had curves, the most prominent in her hips than her top half. Slightly golden skin, what used to be golden fur, covered flexible bone but stronger and not so flexible ones looked to be in her arms and legs. Her face was squared, her nose small and sharp, lips thin and also small, matted dirty blonde hair trailed down to her back. And her eyes...

They were pitiful as they watched him. Absolute misery.

Vau stared at her some more before, with narrowed eyes at a sudden thought, dropping his jaw

The woman look a little perplexed at the look, wide eyed as her head moved around before mimicking him.

Vau frowned for a moment before baring his teeth and the woman's lips curled over her own. Four little teeth stood out in her mouth at points, but other than that they were all normal.

Not a beauty like Ru'more's girls but there was a definite...prettiness about her.

"Mird," he said again, more quietly this time in astonishment. She twitched and extended her face out slowly to his and nudge him under his chin with a hard bump.

"How," he asked in a hoarse voice as Mird nudged him again,"did this happen, exactly?"

"We were taking samples from one of the girls to test multiple solutions on the samples. One sample with a solution was put in a sticker to put a drop under a microscope. Mird ran in for some reason, skidded, and knocked it off into its skin," Skirata said, leaning on the door with a frown. Vau looked over to him.

"How...the fierfek...does a solution do this," he asked angrily standing to look down at him.

"I don't know, Walon," the shorter man said back irritably,"I'm not a scientist!"

"Then what the kriff was that explanation!"

"I just said what Mij said! And that was the simplified version!"

Both men went into a tense quiet for a while, then turned their eyes to the woman.

She was staring at her hands, frowning at them and looking them over with a critical eye. She curved them into claws before closing them al the way then slowly opening them back up again. She looked over her wrist and arms next that trailed to her shoulders then her chest. She flexed and opened her mouth a few times to curl her lips back from her shortened teeth and bit down on air a few times, making a dull thunk as they snapped together.

Vau paused before taking a hold on one of the woman's arm and slowly helped her up. She wobbled on two legs and ended up knocking her face against his armor and grasped at what she could to keep herself up. Walon tried to steady her, but whenever he let go, she'd wobble and fall over. Well, she was used to walking on six legs. Two was a major difference plus she had to support all her weight on her legs (though she didn't look like she had much).

Walon went to move forward and nearly stumbled over something at his feet. He looked down and saw that Mird has wrapped herself around his legs and was sitting on his boot, still staring up at him.

"Mird off," he said, swatting her away and went out the door calling,"I'm going to Mij to see if he can clean up this mess!"

Mird watched him leave with sad eyes. He didn't even ask her to come with him. Skirata looked at her sympathetically.

"I think," he said quietly,"he needs time to adjust to your new form. It is quite a shock."

Adjust? It made it sound like she wasn't Mird anymore. Mird's head lowered even further.

Not Mird anymore...

Her head bounced up and a gleam went through them.

She was still Mird! She just needed to show him she was still Mird. HIS Mird.

With a wind around Skirata's legs in thanks, she shot out the door and made her way to the outside, disappearing into the snow covered woods.

Vau's teeth grit down painfully behind his teeth as he glared at the Mandalorian doctor who stared back with his arms crossed.

"I'm sorry, Walon," Mij Gilmar said firmly,"But don't you think that as soon as it happened, I'd have given i...uh."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and corrected himself quickly,"HER something to make her change back so I could AVOID your wrath?"

Vau's teeth gritted down harder, making his jaw ache and he looked over the male doctor's shoulder over to the female doctor in the room, Uthan Qail.

"How the shab did that solution do that to Mird." he snapped,"And don't use your fancy words to confuse me!"

"I won't need to," she said smoothly as she made her way over,"Because the cause is unknown to me as well."

When no explanation was given and Vau looked like he was going to have apoplexy, Gilmar stepped back in.

"Vau, calm down! We'll deal with how this happened. You need to focus more on Mird right now," he said, blocking his path from Uthan.

"What about Mird," Vau seethed,"Some side effect I should know about! Is he going to die in the next twenty four hours! Give it to me now Doctor...so I can add it to how badly I will beat your shebs!"

Gilmar glared but ignored the beating comment,"I'm concerned about how SHE'LL handle her new body. Getting used to it, new restrictions, and having to deal with everything humans have that strills don't!"

"Including," Uthan said, quietly,"your own behavior towards her."

Vau stayed silent, his glare going down to his boot. The good doctor might be onto something there.

"This changes NOTHING with Mird," he finally said.

"Of course it changes," Gilmar said,"She's human now. A female human, I might add."

Vau's face got instantly murderous at the not so subtle hint.

"She's going to put two and two together," Gilmar continued, taking the look head on,"And I wonder what she'll think when she comes up with four."

"Is it going to take that long to find a cure," Vau hissed.

"I don't know, Vau," Uthan said, and the dark look as transfered to her,"I don't even know where to begin to find a solution to this mess."

"Are you sure YOU'LL stay the same," the Doctor said, eyeing him,"Just because she's in a different form doesn't mean she's any..."

"Nothing changes," Vau snorted crossing his arms, still looking very vexed. Gilmar raised an eyebrow and looked around Vau's being. Upon finding no hint of the strill-turned-woman, he glared at the usually attentive owner.

"Then where is Mird,"he asked quietly. Vau paused, paled, then whirled around to find Mird WASN'T there

XXXXX

The forest was silent in sound and cool in feel on her hot skin as she moved through the forest. Her own footsteps were muted as she walked slowly, listening intently for anything to move and lead her to it.

A cold wind blew and she lifted her head to take in a lungful of air. A scent, faint but there, was riding onto it and she stayed still. A soft crunching, some ways off came to her ears.

She grinned in triumph as she took off, and pursued her prey.

Nothing had changed

Nothing will ever change.

Though she was in this form, the pounding of her heart and the ice water in her veins gave her back the wings to fly across the ground and corner the prey. The prize.

She grinned fiercely at the creature as it roared out a challenge.

Now the fun began

XXXXX

"So," a voice said,"How'd he take it?"

Skirata sighed and said,"As good as we thought...maybe a little better, depending on the condition we next see Mij in."

Null-7, Mereel, stared up at his adoptive buir in amuesment,"Well, he has to admit...she does smell and look better."

His brother Null-5, Prudii, snorted and grinned at him,"Just don't try to add her to your harem, vod. I don't think Vau'll like that."

Mereel shuddered while A'den, Null-12, laughed at the idea. His brother glared.

"She's BETTER looking, I didn't say she was gorgeous or even pretty...not enough to die horribly for. I like my gette'se where they are, thank you very much."

"Again, don't let Vau catch you saying that."

Kal shook his head as his boys continued to bicker back and forth to each other and looked out to the tree line where he was sure Mird had disappeared into.

"What are you thinking," was all he could think of as he waited to see anything to indicate she was coming back soon.

XXXXX

Everyone scrambled out of the way as the former training sergeant went barreling down the hallways. If his speed wasn't an indicator, the look on his face gave away that he was obviously upset about something and getting more irritated as the minutes went by.

They were completely ignored. All Vau's thanoughts were bent on finding Mird.

She wasn't in his room

She wasn't in the kitchen

She wasn't with Skirata or anyone else

WHERE WAS SHE?

Outside," he thought to himself as he yanked the door open and got a face full of freezing cold air.

"Mird," he called as he stepped out of the house to scan the tree line.

Twigs broke and leaves moved. Vau tensed as he scanned the treeline, looking for any signs of a threat. A figure came out from behind a tree. Vau immediately had his blaster out and trained, ready to kill if it was something dangerous.

"Don't come any closer," he shouted as it got closer to the house. It stopped for a second before continuing towards him.

He opened fired