Startled, Yunyin landed on a low peak nearby.
It was unclear if it was scared by the sudden appearance of the mountain or by Hak's screaming.
Amir sensed Yunyin's confusion.
Ahsoka was also trying to comfort it.
"Your jammer! Amir! It lives in the mist; it can't rely only on its eyes. It must have other ways of navigating, most likely sonar. Your jammer wiped out the signal it sent out!"
Amir couldn't help but laugh sheepishly, patting Yunyin's feathers.
Yunyin received Amir's apology but seemed a little disappointed. This meant they couldn't travel together safely.
Amir suddenly remembered a Force technique recorded in the booklet he had stolen. It had certain similarities to Force persuasion but was more complex. Persuasion was about shoving one's own thoughts into someone else's mind to make them agree. This method, however, was about projecting one's sensory perception into another mind, sharing what one sensed with another creature. It required maintaining a real-time connection.
With this idea, Amir immediately put it into practice. Yunyin, already in a Force bond with him, began to feel sporadic information flowing from Amir—shapes, distances, the environment. Then, these things began to take form. It actually began to "see" images.
This was different from what it saw with its eyes, and also different from the echolocation it was used to. This "seeing" was more holistic. It saw outlines, it saw energy flow, it saw life...
When the images became continuous and smooth, Yunyin couldn't help but take flight again, soaring joyfully through the misty valley.
"Why is it flying again? No! Flying without being able to see is suicide!" Hak gripped Yunyin's feathers tightly, shouting with his eyes squeezed shut.
Ahsoka's eyes widened. She seemed to have realized what Amir was doing.
"How did you do that?" she asked in amazement. Clearly, Anakin had never taught her this specific application.
Amir hadn't expected to succeed so quickly either. He was a bit surprised himself as he explained the principle to Ahsoka.
"So that's how it is. Force projection... sensory sharing... That's truly an innovative method. Doing that is incredibly difficult. Your control of the Force has indeed become much stronger."
Amir hadn't felt much difficulty during the trial, so he shrugged. "Perhaps it's just obscure, and no one has tried it. It's actually not too hard."
Probably no one is idle enough to think of transmitting their Force-sensed images to a giant bird.
Without stopping the sensory sharing, Amir continued to use the Force to counteract a part of Yunyin's gravity load. For a moment, Yunyin's speed increased, but there was no turbulence. After adapting to this lighter weight, it flew even more stably.
Hak let out a sigh of relief, though his hands still white-knuckled the feathers.
Seeing Yunyin flying steadily, Veronica stood up at the very front near the neck, thoroughly enjoying the joy of flight. For a moment, Hak was dumbstruck by the sight!
Eee~
Yunyin cried out again, indicating they had arrived. Sure enough, in Amir's perception, there was a mountain peak ahead with significantly less life aura on it than the surrounding jungle.
Yunyin slowed down, circled the peak a few times, and slowly landed on a clearing near the summit. There was no place to land at the base due to the dense vegetation.
As they descended and got closer, Amir discovered that this mountaintop actually hosted a huge nest made of woven branches! Yunyin landed familiarly next to the nest, letting the group slide off.
"Is this your home?" Amir asked it.
Eee~
"This really is its nest. We're so lucky," Amir said with a smile.
"This mountaintop is flatter, at a moderate height, with less vegetation, and there happens to be a large tree to block the wind and rain. It is indeed an optimal location for a nest." Back on solid ground, Hak regained his calm and confident demeanor.
"You've even researched this?" Amir asked, impressed.
"Of course. I have a master's degree in xenobiology and ethology," Hak said, adjusting his glasses.
"Why study that?" Amir pressed.
"He has a doctorate in geology. The other master's degrees were just earned out of boredom," Ahsoka teased.
Tsk tsk, so he's a genius. Just as expected from someone I've taken a liking to.
"How do we get down?" Veronica asked, peering over the edge.
"There seem to be traces of human activity here." Amir looked at the surrounding rocks, which looked as if they had been quarried long ago.
"The temple is below. This place must have been active in ancient times, although we don't know why it's deserted now. Let's look around; we might find a path," Ahsoka suggested.
So the group began to search the stone peak.
Amir walked over to Yunyin and looked at its lonely nest.
He sensed Yunyin's solitude. This species probably wasn't just down to this one individual. If he saw others of its kind in the future, maybe he could reunite them.
Walking up to stroke Yunyin's beak, Amir suddenly noticed a carving on a rock beside the nest!
Getting closer, Amir found it was a mural.
"Is this a Yunyin?" Veronica came over. On the stone was the figure of a green bird, very similar to their friend.
"Maybe. Or maybe its ancestors." Amir ran his hand over it and found the stone wasn't just painted with green pigment, but also had carved-out grooves.
"This painting has some age to it." The pattern had been weathered and was very rough. The area around the grooves was also full of erosion marks.
"Perhaps it really is Yunyin's family. Its color isn't that green," Veronica judged. Whether in the tribe's records or the carving, this creature was depicted as emerald green, while Yunyin was mostly white with pale green tips.
"Maybe it's still young. It needs to grow a while longer to become more verdant," Amir guessed.
"There's another possibility." Hak, hearing their conversation, also walked over. "Their species might have previously lived in the lower jungle where the mist wasn't as thick. For some reason, after moving to the peaks, their bodies adapted to the environment, and their feathers gradually turned white to blend with the thick fog."
"There's a path here!" Ahsoka ignited her lightsaber, cleared away some messy shrubs, and shouted to them.
The group walked over and saw stone steps that were clearly man-made, cutting into the rock.
"Be careful." The steps were steep, and the area below was shrouded in mist and overgrown with messy plants.
Amir walked to the front with Ahsoka to clear the way. The peak wasn't too high from the plateau base. Before long, they reached the ground level.
"This place is pretty good. It's more open than I thought. We just need to clear the surroundings, and it can be used as a camp," Hak began to observe the environment with a critical eye.
"Indeed. It's practically a natural sanctuary," Ahsoka was also very satisfied.
Bleep-bloop-bzz~
BD-4 suddenly jumped down, ran to a stone wall covered in vines, and began scanning it.
"This is the entrance."
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