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Chapter Text

  Barriss Offee had the misfortune to be born amongst the last generation of a Golden Age. Ahsoka Tano was cursed to become the catalyst to its downfall. Political and religious unanimity provided by the Mandate had conquered most of the globe with stern ruthlessness and ruled with professed patriarchal tolerance. Yet cracks of resistance rend harmonious rule. The truth is the cracks were always there. The Mandate implemented a policy of mending them right form its inception. For the harmony of all. The advancement of all peoples sometimes required disadvantage or harm to some.

  Discoveries often led to upheaval. But these revelations could be managed, could be incorporated into doctrine and dogma. Unanimity was not a policy of close-mindedness after all. Ultimately is a policy of consensus. Consensus sometimes requires pressure.

  On occasion a disruption so unusual, all-encompassing, and undeniable comes along. Then it was time to scramble. Then it was time for urgent council meetings and the sharpening of magistrate weapons.

  Ahsoka Tano was in her element in the Hall of Blades. She had her skirts pulled up and her loins girded. They lent her a slim sword for her right hand and a shorter companion for her left. She eased the weight of her body from one leg to the other, bobbing her head. Her eyes alert. She was smiling. Showing off her sharp teeth.

  She could discern that the two attackers before her were to feint and parried the attack form behind. She wheeled around to push him back. All four of her sparring partners were upon her, carefully attempting strikes while not injuring each other. But Ahsoka’s defense was nimble, and she found many opportunities for counterattack.

  From a safe distance Adept Unduli evaluated her performance. At her side newly ascended Adept Offee admired the Togrutan Jedi. Ahsoka continued to amaze her. Barriss thought of combat as a necessary but unpleasant skill an Adept must master. Ahsoka had made it an artform. She could dance like a dervish fending off four combatants at once. This was combat she could admire. This was a woman who would keep her safe.

  Luminara retrieved a bow from the wall along with an arrow from a nearby quill. She notched the arrow and took careful aim. She let the arrow fly. Ahsoka tapped it with the side of a blade without even looking their direction. It bounced harmlessly off one of her lekku. Three Adepts thrust at once and the Jedi jumped clear of them somersaulting though the air, landing ready to advance upon them once more.

  “Barriss, destiny has provided you a fine romantic partner. She has the eyes of a spider and legs of a locust.” Luminara set her weapon aside. “I am only slightly saddened that I could not play matchmaker for you.” Prior to Barriss’ return the elder Adept imagined she would have to locate and provide some forlorn wounded patient to get the girl’s nose out of a book long enough to fall in love. She had been looking forward to selecting a perfect candidate. So it goes. As their scripture says, ‘Fortune presents gifts not according to the book’.

   “Thank you, teacher.” Barriss said, “I quite agree.”

  One of the mirialan sparring partners dropped to the ground nursing a knee the Jedi had struck with a kick. Ahsoka’s eyes went wide. She grimaced and froze. Adept Unduli decided this was probably enough of a demonstration.

  She clapped her hands twice, the sound echoing through the Hall of Blades.

  “That is sufficient. Jedi Ahsoka Tano, you have passed the fifth of our tests. It is clear you have mastery of the gifts. Though you are not associated with our religious order I recognize you as the equivalent of an Adept and due similar respect. You now have free access on chantry grounds.”

  Ahsoka bowed to Adept Unduli, then to all her sparring partners, especially low to the one she injured. “Apologies.”

  The Adept smiled. “No offense taken. You’ve taught me some new moves. That is a blessing.”

  Ahsoka returned her blades to a long table against the nearest wall. After accepting congratulations from Adepts and aspirants whose names she was struggling to remember she made her way over to Unduli and Offee.

  The Jedi wiped some sweat off her brow. “What now, Adept Unduli? Will you draft a letter of introduction to the Mandate telling them about me?”

  Luminara crossed her arms. “I shall, though I suspect it shall be redundant. You have been in the chantry for a night and a day. I suspect a messenger is already on its way. We like to think of ourselves as a harmonious family with respect travelling up the chain of seniority but there is always someone eager to win favors with the Mandate. Someone who is willing to publish our private matters. I shall prepare for your journey to Saminiyet Sehir. Congratulations on passing all our tests, Jedi Tano.” She looked over at Barriss. “Until supper, my child.”

  Barriss took Ahsoka’s hand. “Come, I want to show you where I live.”

  There was enough sunlight passing though the beveled glass window of Barriss’ cell as to not require a lamp. Ahsoka looked around admiring the tile work and the beautiful mosaic of a compass rose along the wall right above the bed. It was a little larger than her quarters at the Jedi temple. Brick and mortar, plaster finish and tile on the walls. High arched ceilings. Everything made of brick and stone and wood. The beautiful desk with its multiple bookstands and many drawers for calligraphy and illumination equipment. A bookcase completely full of neatly organized tomes. And Barriss’ essence was all over. She ran her hands over the furniture and the mosaics.

  “Barriss, it is beautiful.”

  She smiled demurely. “I am sure it is humble compared to what you are used to.”

  “It has so much…” She struggled for a word. “Feeling of a person?”

  “Personality?”

  “Yes. Everything made by hand. Care and art. Effort.”

  Ahsoka said the strangest things sometimes. “How else would one make something if not by hand?”

  The Jedi put her arm around the mirialan. “The Jedi…” She remembered they didn’t use the word ‘temple’ here. “chantry is very old. Much change has been done over lifetimes. This is very different.”

  How could she explain to Barriss that Coruscant had been built up, torn down, and remade so many times all of it was impersonal metal and duracrete and plastoid. Flat and curving walls, grey and beige. She liked visiting places where they still built things out of wood. It reminded her of her childhood on Shili.

  “I am going to miss this place. Now that I am an Adept it shall pass to another acolyte.”

  Ahsoka flopped down on the humble yet functional bed. “Maybe then before you go we should see what it takes to break this wood?” She tapped the frame.

  Barriss smiled and looked away shyly. “After sundown. I have evening prayers in a bit. Do you want to join me?”

  “No, that is your thing. I shall stay here and miss you.” She wanted to spend some quiet time in this room and imagine a young Barriss toiling away copying books at that desk. Imagine her looking out the window and daydreaming. She wanted to study that view that was so familiar to her lover so that she could hold that diorama in her mind. It was all she could manage without her holocamera.

  Barriss sat down on the bed and took Ahsoka’s hand. “Do you think we are doing the right thing?”

  The two of them and Adept Unduli had discussed all their options at length in that boathouse a few days previously. Introducing Ahsoka to mirialan society was risky, disruptive. Probably dangerous. But the two women never wished to part and Ahsoka was adamant that Barriss not be exiled for her sake. She should be allowed to become a healer after she had spent so many diligent years studying.

  Besides, hiding was not in Ahsoka’s nature. If she could go public and somehow help the people here then that was her obligation as a Jedi. She surrendered to the will of Ashla and put it into terms that would resonate for Barriss. “We shall see if your prayers shall be answered. What is to be our fate.”

  Barriss kissed Ahsoka’s knuckles. “I love you. I shall face anything with a glad heart if it means I remain by your side.”

  A few weeks later the two Adepts and lone Jedi made their way down the mountain by auzcart. Down winding alpine trails. Down to crumbling arroyos populated by patches of wildflowers and stumpy scrub bushes. Down to the canyonlands. Towering mesas. Wide expanses of playa. Ahsoka had never seen so many subtle variations of the color pink in her life. Mixed with oranges and greys and a multitude of other shades in long stacked sandstone lines marking geological ages. Down here where it was drier there were frequent dust storms. The horizon was tinged pink for all the particles suspended in the air and lack of precipitation.

  If she only had her holocamera.

  The journey was slow but not terribly difficult. Ahsoka wished they would go ahead and discover axel shocks already. She asked Luminara a lot of questions regarding the trip to ascertain the distance to Saminiyet Sehir in units of measurement that made sense to her. If they had a landspeeder it would have taken them hours. Ah, well. There were many changes to her life here on Mirial and she needed to learn to take her time.

  Their language lesions had evolved.

  Ahsoka finished the last curving line drawn in the sand and handed the stick to Barriss. “How is this?”

  “Much better, though the dots are a little off.” She mussed them away with her hand and demonstrated correct placement.

  “Your words are so elegant. Does everything on Mirial require art?”

  This was getting embarrassing. A Jedi is trained to at least be familiar in many skills, have humble talent in many areas. She was not the best student academically, but she picked up most of it without much problem. She studied many languages at the temple library, even long dead ones. It seemed like make-work at the time, but it really came in handy learning how to converse with Barriss over their year in seclusion.

  Ahsoka was no artist, though. It seemed like this calligraphy was more painting than literacy. Aurebesh had such clean lines. Typographers had designed it to be easy for alien cultures to learn and to be legible no matter how your species evolved eyesight. This, this was something else.

  Barriss looked over at her with an expression of reassurance. She couldn’t stay frustrated with Barriss looking at her like that. She was just so adorable. She would endure a million inconvenient moments for that smile. She wanted to kiss her face all over.

  “I know this is new and strange, but you need to at least know how to sign your name. No one will respect you if you cannot sign legal contracts.”

  Ahsoka nodded, erased her previous work, then tried again.

  Barriss leaned back against the cart and watched the sunset. She liked this time of day.

  “Are you alright, Ahsoka?”

  “I think. Why do you ask?”

  “You’ve been quiet the last few days. I haven’t been able to read you.”

  “You could use your gifts.” Ahsoka grumbled.

  “I would rather hear your words, love.” Barriss put a hand on her arm.

  Ahsoka looked up at the ever-darkening sky. “A year with just you. Getting to know you. Getting to know Mirial though you. Then the chantry. So many new people. At once. It was a little…” She wagged her hands in the air.

  “Overwhelming?” Barriss guessed.

  “Yes. And now I am to see some of the most significant officials from the Mandate. I worry. Am I ready? Do I speak well enough to sound convincing? I know I still have an accent. I am aware my story is… you know.”

  Barriss squeezed her arm. “Unprecedented.”

  “Yes. And I worry what they will see. Will they be alarmed by how I look? Call me ‘djinn’ like that bandit? To dismiss me as a young woman who is not well spoken would be enough. But as that thing and a monster? That would hurt.”

  “We’ve never seen a person such as you, Ahsoka. It is strange to meet an alien. It took me a moment.” She again squeezed the Jedi’s arm. “Almost at once I could see the person you were beyond your appearance. Let us hope they do as well.”

  “Strange? I looked strange to you?”

  Barriss smiled. “You looked fierce… Did you think I looked alarming when you first set eyes on me? I my form is very different than Togrudans.”

  Ahsoka laughed. “No!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because there are many planets with people who look very close to mirialans. My teacher was one of these, as were two of my closest friends outside of the Jedi Order.” Ahsoka harbored a secret theory that Mirial was perhaps a human or Pantoran colony world from the forgotten early days of hyperspace exploration. “One even had tattoos across her cheeks.” She tenderly touched the side of Barriss’ jaw, that incredibly soft spot where it met with her neck. Ahsoka knew right away they were tattoos when she met Barriss. She knew how to tell them apart from natural markings. On the other hand, she thought for the longest time Barriss was wearing black lipstick until it never seemed to wear off.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, but she was blue of skin. With golden eyes.”

  Barriss tilted her head and leaned closer. “That sounds very striking. Did you think she was beautiful?”

  “She was. But I could tell she did not look at girls the same way as I. There was no attraction. You know, she reminds me of you a bit.”

  “How so?”

  “Intelligent, and at first shy. Later she found courage when she needed to.”

  Barriss found her lover’s hand and laced their fingers together. “That is a very fortunate outcome. Let us seek to be bold in the days to come.”

  If she only had her holocamera.

  The setting sun like an angry copper coin painted Barriss’ face in breathtaking colors. The wind tugged at her scarf. She was looking out onto the horizon with an expression relating a mixture of emotions that just tugged at Ahsoka’s heart. She desperately wanted a hologram of this moment. And a hundred others. So that she could gaze upon it at all angles when she was older. Ahsoka was no artist. In the past she would just push a button to capture a moment. When she became stranded here she spent a lot of time just staring at Barriss trying to fix an event, an image, an expression in her memories. She longed for images she could maybe one day show her friends back home. Of these moments. So that they would know why and how deeply she fell in love with this woman.

  But no, she just had to stare. Like a weirdo. It must have made her seem all-the-more monstrous those first few days by the lake. And she didn’t have the language yet to explain why. Couldn’t relate her feelings to this stranger. She just had her actions. And everyone she knew from her old life kept telling her to be less impulsive. That 'strangers wouldn’t understand why she was doing such-and-such'. They’d think you were weird, lacked self-control, or whatever. That Barriss stuck around and put in the time with her just opened the path to her heart.

  How was she going to negotiate first contact with the leadership of Mirial when she couldn’t even fully express her heart to her girlfriend? Even explaining a simple thing like a turbolift took several minutes of negotiation. Ahsoka thinking of terms or concepts Barriss would understand. Knowing there were still gaps in her vocabulary. Trying to prompt the right word out of her companion. It was highly frustrating even after all this time.

  There was so much she wanted to relate but felt hesitant. She wasn’t ready to tell her about Anakin, Obi-Wan, or Padmé because she was trying her best not to think of them. To avoid that homesickness and sadness borne of separation. She wanted to tell her of miraculous technology but what would be the point? Mirial would not develop such wonders in their lifetimes. She wanted to tell her about the Jedi and their history, but she always felt she had to stop herself because she did not want to prosthelytize. These people had their own religion and relationship with Ashla that seemed to work for them, seemed to lean more towards the light than the dark. It was very much like Jedi beliefs but more mystical, more tied to deities and stories than to ideas and dogma. It was working for them, and more importantly it was working for Barriss. Who was she to mess with that?

  She knew she was curious but there should be a better sage to explain the Jedi to Barriss (and the Mandate) than Ahsoka Tano. In a more just galaxy there would be.

  A holocamera and a protocol droid. That’s all she wanted in the galaxy. And maybe a ship so she at least had the option of visiting home.

  So she just looked. She kept her eyes open and seared Barriss and this moment into her memories.

  They traveled until they came across a wide blue line cutting through the desert. This was one of Mirial’s municipal water canals. They also doubled as major caravan thoroughfares since they were regularly patrolled for security. They joined the lines of carts and riders along the flowing water, the path diverting to a raised bridge under an aqueduct when the ground occasionally fell away. The travelers seemed to be in at ease as they passed guard towers every few hours. Ahsoka wished she could go associate with these strangers and get to know more of the locals instead of remaining hooded and veiled in the back of their cart. She hated having to cover up like this, hearing the loud rustle of fabric whenever she turned her head.

  As they made their way through a broad valley, the walls of a canyon rising in the distance, the canal branched off providing irrigation to carefully planned plots of various crops. Grains, fruit trees, racks of vine vegetables, farmworkers packing up their tools at the end of their shifts.

  When they finally drew close their destination Ahsoka was saw Saminiyet through the open gates of the city wall. The city occupied a broad canyon. The Old Town districts were around the edges of the cliff walls with newer buildings steadily growing to fill in the space between.

  “Barriss, I thought you said three story buildings were the biggest!”

  “Free-standing buildings, I said. The brick and wood ones. The municipal and religious structures are much bigger, of course.”

  Ashoka nodded. “Clearly.”

  There were some large stone domes poking up along the skyline, perched atop even larger edifices with subordinate domes and buttresses. She could tell the chantries apart from the others because of the minarets, four standing at each compass point. Evening was underway. Already there was a glow along the avenues from the innumerable lamps and torches and candlelit windows. Overall, it wasn’t too different than the innumerable border world towns that Ahsoka had been spending time in the last stage of her Padawan education. Add some speeders and a spaceport and a portion of this city could be Port Haileap.

  Luminara’s credentials got them through the gates expeditiously. The two mirialans guiding the auzes calmly led them down the main thoroughfare while the Jedi newcomer looked all around taking in the sights. Barriss looked over her shoulder to check on her and noticed that she was holding her veil pressed up against her nose.

  “Do they not have beasts of burden in your cities?”

  Ahsoka glanced over at her. “Sometimes. Not enough to notice like this.”

  Many citizens, especially shopkeepers, had incense burners outside their establishments which only served to temporarily cover up the odors or merely add to the olfactory texture as a whole.

  Ahsoka pointed to a group of mirialans shoveling dung into a cart. “Who are they?”

  “Probably indentured servants contracted by the municipal league for city sanitation.”

  “Hmmm, so that’s what you call them…” She slumped against their cargo.

  Barriss let in a long intake of breath though her nose. Ahsoka could sense a swirling of emotions from her lover. “I never claimed we were a perfect society, Ahsoka. I’m sorry our alchemists cannot create metal men and enchant them to do the menial work. Yes, some of us get into financial trouble and must sell their labor for periods of time. Yes, it is exploitative. At least if they are sick they can walk into any hospital in the Mandate and receive assistance free of charge!”

  Ahsoka gave her a chagrined look but was too sullen to apologize, at least not now. That was another reason she didn’t tell her much about the Republic and her old way of life. It hurt to cause Barriss to feel inferior. Mirialans as a whole take a lot of pride in their accomplishments and Ahsoka was fated to trivialize everything they had done with comparison to even a newly founded Republic colony world.

  Way before Ahsoka could satiate her visual study of the city they arrived at their destination, one of the Saminiyet Sehir chantries. They let the staff unload their cart and were ushered through the main doors where there was room dominated by a pool where the women could remove their sandals and wash road grit off their feet. A helpful aspirant then led them to a nearby reception room where they were greeted by two senior staff, high priestesses of the goddesses.

  It didn’t take much guessing which was which and who was expert in which goddess. The tall one with masculine shoulders and a stern bird-of-prey expression introduced herself as Cyslin Myr. She looked Ahsoka over with a grave but far from hostile expression. The other was Ady Sun’Zee. She had a warm lavender complexion, constantly bemused eyes, and hips of such magnitude that one would unthinkingly give her a few extra inches of leeway if one passed her in a hallway. She smiled broadly at Barriss.

  Myr lightly guided Ahsoka by her arm. “We are delighted to host you for your visit. As you can imagine I have a thousand thousand questions for you which I shall place on hold until after your presentation to Mandate senior staff. It would ruffle many egos if it we were seen to have a head start on information. We shall save that for later. Firstly, let me direct you to the baths. I am sure you wish to wash off the fatigue of your journey.”

  Sun’Zee placed an arm around Barriss’ shoulders. “Oh! How darling you are! I am always happy to meet a brand-new Adept! And what an ascension you must have had! One for the history books. You know they wanted to assign you separate guest rooms, but I said ‘No! Are you mad?’ and had our best guest suite prepared for you. I hope it will be suitably cozy. Just let us know if you require anything and elsewise, we shall give you your privacy.”

  Myr’s gaze became sharp and discerning. “Your arrival, or perhaps knowledge of your mere existence has caused quite a stir. I hope we can be friends. I trust you have good intentions. You have convinced Adept Unduli. As she is one of the best of us, I shall cultivate patience and prepare goodwill celebrations until convinced otherwise.”

  Sun’Zee hugged her before the entryway to the baths. “Now, wash away your cares and get your appetite ready for supper, dear. We’ve prepared quite the spread so I hope you’re hungry!”

  Myr bowed without breaking her raptor-like gaze. “Jedi Tano, I hope our hospitality suits your standards.”

  “Goodbye for now, dear! Remember to leave room for dessert.”

  Ahsoka exhaled and let her shoulders slump.

  Barriss clasped her hands and smiled. “Well, she was lovely.”

  “Why do you get all the nice ones?”

Chapter Text

  Barriss was in heaven. Ady Sun’Zee was not exaggerating. To ease into a bed such as this after such a long journey was paradise. The mattress was just the right combination of firmness and softness. Freshly laundered sheets. She wanted to let herself sink in and get the most amazing nights’ sleep of her life. There was just one thing that bothered her. Her partner’s mental state buzzing away in the background.

  “Are you okay, Ahsoka?”

  “Yes… no.”

  She eased closer and put her hand on her cheek. “You should try to let yourself relax and get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.”

  Ahsoka gave her one of her sardonic half-smiles. “Why do you think I am having trouble relaxing?”

  Barriss gave her a look and spoke to her in a soft soothing voice. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

  Ahsoka lowered her voice by a half octave. “You can move close and put your back to me…”

  Barriss complied, turning, snuggling close. Ahsoka wrapped her up in her arms. She nuzzled Barriss’ ear. Ahsoka knew what she liked; what physical qualities she enticed her. It was her strong arms, it was her insistent hands grasping her, it was her sharp teeth.

  Ahsoka caressed Barriss’ softly padded belly. She adored how feminine she was.

  “I bet it would help me relax to hear you moan.” She whispered.

  Already Barriss was breathing slower and deeper. She couldn’t see her face, but she could tell she was smiling. Deep breaths taken though a partially open mouth across the teeth had certain auditory characteristics. Ashoka hadn’t have much experience with sex before meeting Barriss but what impressed her most was how utterly boundless she was. She felt when they made love Barriss could just take whatever she could give her, on and on, and never tire. She would look into her eyes. It was like looking into a whirlpool. She could just fall into her and never stop. It reminded her of a conversation she’d had many years ago.

  “It’s the shy girls you have to worry about, Tano.”

  It was to Rex she went to for The Talk. She just couldn’t write off her feelings anymore and she had to talk to someone. She didn’t want Jedi advice that would inevitably turn into a long debate about positive versus selfish attachment, and certainly not from Anakin. She went to Padmé for a lot of her life advice, but she absolutely didn’t want this to get back to her master. For this she wanted discretion. She just wanted advice from one of the guys. So, Rex it was. He insisted she be served her first beer before he started. And he said some interesting things.

  “Shy girls?”

  “Well, not all of them. Naturally. Most of them are just average everyday people. But some of them just don’t know what to do with their own feelings of attraction or sexuality so they put it all on the back burner and try to go about their day. Ignore it, like. And it just kind of sits at a low boil for years. But, when a guy- or a girl I guess, “ He tapped his beer can against hers. “Or whomever, does manage to get that particular shy girl out of her shell?” He let out a dramatic whistle and shook his head. “Watch out!”

  Ahsoka took a sip of her drink and wrinkled her nose. She was still a teenager, and she didn’t quite like the hoppy taste. “So, I should avoid shy girls. Got it.”

  Rex laughed. “I didn’t say that. I said you should watch out for them, because they can really throw your heart into a tailspin. They’ll get’cha! I say that from experience.”

  Ahsoka let that memory go and focused on the present. She clenched her arms getting her lover as close as possible. She eased her weight onto her body a little and ran a canine across her earlobe.

  “Can you do that for me tonight? Can you moan for me?”

  “Yesss…”

  Ahsoka was still infatuated with human and near-human hair, she had been since she was a youngling and had to be told it was rude to mess with it. But now she could bury her nose in Barriss’ hair, luxuriate in how it held perfumes and the signature smell of her. She loved the little whirls under her armpits. She loved the silky strands on her legs, and she loved having her fingertips travel down her belly through the little forest hiding her sex like a curtain. Her lover eased the weight of her body more onto her back, onto Ahsoka. She lifted one leg and hooked it over her body, urging further passage.

  “Moan for me Barrriss.” She rolled the Rs like she knew drove her wild.

  She complied. In abundance. To the delight of both.

  It was perhaps the finest meal Ahsoka had ever been served. A huge banquet of mirialan cuisine. She was glad that she had time to get used to their traditional spices. It was a pity she couldn’t quite enjoy it.

  This was due to the gravity of the environment. Barriss had explained the Mandate and how it worked to her many times. Mirial had sworn off the era of kings and warlords as being too destructive. The planet had been sectioned off into districts. The larger the district the poorer the land and its people, smaller districts were wealthy and urban. These were then overseen by the most prominent leaders, be that in business, the most trusted civic overseer, or a beloved prominent family representative. Disputes were often mediated by the church. Everyone was to share in scientific and technological discoveries for the benefit of all. That was how it was supposed to work.

  The messy machinations of it all were hidden behind the scenes. The public need not know exact details of dealmaking and skullduggery that affected their lives. The results spoke for themselves. So far it led to generations of peace since all the warfare was in the localized form of dealmaking and ladder scrambling of the powerful.

  Ahsoka did not feel it was her place to judge the system too closely. She was certain of just one thing, that this was definitely not her domain, and that she should be careful operating within it.

  She picked at her food, the roasted meats on beds of greens, the tangy bean paste, the soothing yogurt sauces, the wonderful fresh vegetables. She did not want to be too full for her presentation. She observed her hosts. Upon her initial welcome there had been some gasps, some leery stares. That was to be expected. Then these prominent citizens had come to greet and welcome her. Tight smiles. Most did not gawk at her, but many looked like they were trying very hard not to gawk at her.

  And now, like with any banquet, there was much conversation. These politicians exchanged familiar quips, tried to one-up each other in ongoing rivalries. Many learned sages from the House of Wisdom were invited to evaluate her claims about the galaxy. They had fallen in to debates over theory and academic policy that had nothing to do with Ahsoka. Quite a few leaders were vying for Ahsoka’s attention, asking her opinions, giving helpful advice. Probably to get on her good side. Ahsoka didn’t like it. With politics everything was murky and suffused with gamesmanship. She preferred going out on Jedi missions to settle disputes and relief operations. Those had clearcut goals and polarized good guys and bad guys. While she had friends in the Senate she was grateful that Jedi maintained cordial relationships there and did not sully themselves in the actual practice of governance. Well, beyond the Council and governance of their own.

  At least tonight whenever she felt overwhelmed she could look over at the seat opposite to her at the great table and there would be Barriss radiating reassurance. Ahsoka was doing this for her. She could get through this with her help. She made polite conversation as best she could. She answered questions. She complimented the food. And she did her best to not look overcome and out at sea.

  “Let us get the basics out of the way.”

  Ahsoka had asked for some visual aids. She was to address leadership of the Mandate in an indoor amphitheater as if she were performing surgery. Adepts Myr and Sun’Zee as well as three clergy representing other deities were seated in the middle, surrounded by secular leadership. The sages from the House of Wisdom lined the back row.

  Before Ahsoka was a low table with a black lacquered top. She picked up one of the sandbags from the pile next to the table, tugged a hole in the top, and poured pink sand into a mound in the center of the table. She deposited two bags full as such then radiated sand outward in curved lines, creating a sunburst with curved rays. Like a many-armed starfish spinning in the deep. She looked out at her audience. She felt Barriss’ presence from where she stood waiting in the wings, watching her. She’d practiced this speech many times with her, making sure she had the vocabulary correct. It was time to perform.

  “Each grain of sand represents as star. This is the shape of our galaxy.” She picked up her last prop, a long stick used by academics for pointing things out on an illustration or scroll of text. She indicated a spot far out on one of the spiral arms. “Mirial is here. That place in the night sky where there is an abundance of stars which you call ‘The Veil of Stars’ is the bulk of the galaxy and its core seen from Mirial at an acute angle. I was born on a planet named Shili, around here.” She indicated a spot far out on the Mid-Rim. “There is a loose government uniting many inhabited worlds called The Republic. Its capital is here, near the Core. The extent of Republic worlds is this area.” She skimmed the pointed across a curved trapezoid encompassing the Core and most of the Mid-Rim. “Of course, the Republic is most prominent here in the Core and diffuse the further out to the Colonies until it is nonexistent in presence, its political power theoretical.”

  There was a lot of murmuring in the seats. She paused for a bit.

  Someone asked, “How many stars have inhabited worlds?”

  “You see how many grains of sand there are on the table. Half of these stars have planets. A much smaller number of them have planets that support life. Smaller still those that have people. And those people do not all look like me or you, there is great variety.”

  “How do you know how the ‘galaxy’ is shaped if you are within it?”

  Ahsoka swallowed. Time for them to reconcile their place within a larger universe. “Because we have devices that can see very far away. Some of the stars you see at night are other galaxies. Very, very distant galaxies. We know the shape of our own by observing others.”

  Murmuring afflicted her audience once more. Adept Myr crossed her arms and looked pleased with herself.

  The Jedi took a deep breath. “I should relate how I came to Mirial. Most people live in and around the Core. They seek to expand outwards. You may have been told I arrived on a star-ship. That is true. Starships have two means of propulsion. One suitable for travel from planet to planet around one star. The other for navigating the vast distances between stars. One slow and one very, very fast. When you travel that fast you must be careful, to avoid hitting something. You cannot just go anywhere as you please. You must chart a course very carefully. There are people, prospectors, who chart safe passageways as a career.”

  “Prospectors? Are they looking for resources?” The woman looked alarmed. Ahsoka needed to assuage her.

  “No. It can be a very lucrative profession, but they are not looking for anything but safe routes. They then sell their maps. If a pathway they discover becomes a trade route that caravans cross they not only are paid for the maps but a small portion of tariffs on trade goods passing across it.”

  Someone in the crowd said, “Sounds familiar.” Another one of the leaders was elbowed by his seat mates and there was some laughter. Ahsoka remembered the man being introduced to her as Minister Merven Getter.

  “Pardon the interruption, Jedi Tano. They joke because I make my living maintaining roads though mountain passes in the North and charging tolls. Please continue.”

  Ahsoka cleared her throat. “Pathfinders often have Jedi travel with them for protection against unknown threats, as spiritual advisors, to ensure Republic law is observed. I was with such a group.” She paused, looking at her sand galaxy, lost in her memories for a bit.

  The Pathfinder team posing for a holo at Port Haileap. Everyone smiling. Everyone hopeful. Everyone excited to venture into the unknown.

  “We departed to extend a known trade route… at one point we were to make a turn… But our compass was faulty. We left facing the wrong direction. And something on the starship broke.”

  The ship was old, but it had just received a major refitting. Everything should have gone according to plan. There was a sudden cascade of failures. The navicomputer awash in logic loops. The hyperdrive engaged and could not be shut off. The critical errors froze them out of the entire system.

  “We couldn’t stop. We were off course and could not stop. The pilot managed to regain some steerage control so I… I utilized my gifts of prophesy to view the future. Whenever I saw us crashing and perishing, I made a slight correction. Some of us went back to make repairs…”

  The engineer and anyone with repair experience went back to shut down the hyperdrive manually. Ahsoka could pay only slight attention to the captain’s orders, she had to concentrate on keeping everyone alive. She had to remain a few seconds in the future at all times.

  “Then there was another accident. A chemical spill. All who went into the hold to help died… It was a few of us at the helm left after that. The only thing we could do was keep going until we ran out of fuel.”

  “Fuel?” One of the sages furrowed his brow.

  “Yes. I saw some cannons at the city gates, did I not?”

  There was agreement from her audience.

  “My starship was not like a boat it was more like your cannons. But without the ball. You have observed how cannons are pushed backwards when they are fired. Starships burn fuel like your gunpowder and streak off into the sky. I had no choice but to seek out a safe path, keep the few of us alive, until the cannon ceased firing.”

  It was exhausting. Then it was beyond exhausting. She’d never plumed possible futures at such a marathon pace before. The captain gave her sips of water, meal replacement pills, and the occasional stim to keep her awake. It could have been days. All she saw was that otherworldly swirl of hyperspace. Not the familiar blue and white, sickly shifting colors as the hyperdrive bellowed and misfired. It was more than surreal More than hyperreal. Seeing possibilities expand to more possibilities. It was like glimpsing beyond the shadows on the wall for just a moment. But that brief moment was forever.

  “What then?”

  “We came to a stop nearby to Mirial. Our ship had lifeboats. Since I was exhausted the remaining crew dragged me to one and unmoored it before they sought out their own escape. I was pushed off the portside of the ship but there was an explosion at starboard. We must have hit enough dust during our flight. It slowly tore the ship apart. I-I became the only survivor of the expedition. Eventually the celestial currents led me to your planet.”

  She was too exhausted to even morn. She was reacquainting herself to normal causality. Whatever part of her brain could still worry was worrying that she may never come back down to mundane perception ever again. She just eased herself into the seat without even getting in the restraints. Like a fool she unbuckled her belt as to be more comfortable. How could she know she would end up with the escape pod crashing into a lake leaving her scrambling to swim to the surface with a broken leg and no weapons or survival gear. That was not her best day. Until she met a stranger who showed her kindness.

  Minister Getter stood and cleared his throat. “Thank you for being so open regarding such a tragic experience. In a bit Adepts Myr and Sun’Zee shall question you regarding ecclesiastical implications to your arrival. These sages from the House of Wisdom wish you to visit later this week. I am sure the astronomers are practically champing at the bit for you to expand on what you have told us today. For now, though, it is up to me to posit questions of the secular and political.”

  “Alright.”

  “Is the Republic looking for you?”

  Ahsoka swallowed. Surely it would take a lot for Anakin to give up the search. She pointed to her sand model again. “I was supposed to be here, and I ended up here. Which is only a vague guess on where I am. This distance, it is unimaginable even for me. If they are still looking after all this time, it is in the wrong place.”

  The minister scratched his chin. “You said the Republic is expanding and that these prospectors are exploring their routes outward. Do you think they will eventually make it to Mirial?”

  Ahsoka shrugged. “Yes, especially if a trade route is charted nearby. But it could occur in years, and it could be centuries.”

  “What would happen if the Republic were to come to our shores?”

  “They would propose talks and see if you would want to join the larger galactic community. They would assess profitable trade. They would send ambassadors.”

  “They would not force us into an alliance? They would not demand our resources?”

  “No. You can either join or not. The Republic has laws against violating the rights of persons, even if they are not part of the Republic. As for resources… I do not mean to make light of your wealth, but I have seen nothing here on Mirial that the Republic does not have closer to home. Nothing worth going all the way out here and using arms to secure. What you have that is unique is cultural heritage, your art and music. Your religion. Your history and philosophy.”

  “I see.” The minister folds his arms. “Strange for you to come to us with news of exotic advanced civilizations but then say they are too far off for us to ever see or meet. And you have no proof of your words. Tales of a tantalizing but impossible to reach paradise.”

  Ahsoka tilted her head to the slide slightly. “You know what they say, ‘fortune presents gifts not according to the book’.” Barriss had had her memorize and recite that passage many times, Ahsoka hoped she got it right. Ady Sun’Zee smiled and nodded while Cyslin Myr appeared nonplussed. “You can either believe me or deny me. Those I have met and have come to know me can attest to truthfulness.”

  “You speak of trade routes and caravans. What of pirates? Wherever there are trade routes there is piracy.”

  Ahsoka nodded. “That is an issue. But not for you. Pirates are attracted to where there are goods to steal. A pirate would not go out into an uncharted desert with no reassurance a caravan or oasis.”

  There was a pause before the minister continued. “Thank you for your time, Jedi Tano. I think we have heard enough to inspire long debates into how we shall proceed. I trust you will remain close at hand as we discuss and digest what you told us? We are sure to have follow-up questions for you.”

  She bowed. “If it would please the Mandate.”

  “Very well.” Merven Getter took his place before the stands, presumably to mediate discussions amongst the audience.

  Ahsoka looked around and was glad to spot Barriss. Seeing her reassuring gaze and smile was only slightly dampened by the presence of Adept Myr and Adept Sun’Zee leading the couple off into other rooms of the expansive building.

  “You did amazing.” Barriss smiled at her. Then they were parted with Myr leading her off somewhere and Sun’Zee leading Barriss in another direction. Ahsoka could feel the phantom touch of her fingertips on her palm.

  Sun’Zee led Barriss to an atrium open to the sky with a square pool full of waterlilies. There were two comfortable chairs and hot and very sweet tea waiting for consumption to accompany their conversation.

  “Well, Miss Offee. I have been tasked with assessing what sort of person is this Ahsoka Tano. But as I prepared for that conversation, I continuously ran up against the wall of how I had no idea how to do so. I am a high priestess of a fertility goddess. I officiate weddings and bless fields before planting. I know nothing of aliens or the heavens. My thoughts kept straying to you, always by Ahsoka’s side. I may not understand that which is alien. But love, that is my specialty. I wish to see Ahsoka though your eyes so I could get to know her. Can you do that for me?”

  Barriss finished her first sip of tea and tried not to sputter. “Yes, I can manage that.”

  Cyslin Myr led Ahsoka down a long hallway to a floor to ceiling window. She opened a door and beaconed her out onto a balcony. Well, it was more of a terrace. It was the sort of promontory where you would place a nice planter box for decorative flowers. Barely a meter in depth with a shin-high decorative stone railing.

  Adept Myr closed the glass door.

  “There. Now we can be assured of total privacy and have a beautiful view of the city. Refreshing out here, isn’t it?”

  No, it seemed more a fiendish way to make her feel uncomfortable. Yes, the view was amazing. Yes, as a Jedi if she fell she could draw upon Ashla and land without injury. But there was that unevolved part of her brainstem that would be on alert the entire time. It would give her the slightest vertigo. And there was so little space up here it would seem like Myr could, without much effort, push the small of her back and send her ass over teakettle at any time. Ahsoka had to give it to her, perfect place for a friendly interrogation.

  “I must admit, Jedi Tano, your news that the heavens are far vaster than I could ever imagine is uplifting for a priestess of a celestial goddess such as myself. I am tempted to sit back and become drunken off the very idea. First, I have a job to do. You have questions to answer. I shall not tarry.”

  “I will answer as best I can, Adept Myr.”

  The older woman’s gaze became sharper. “You can lay off quoting scripture. That may endear you to an easily amused priest of the Silent One but not to me. It is said that djinn can quote passages as fluently as the sage.”

  Sun’Zee relaxed back into her chair. “What did you first think of her?”

  “At the sight of her?” Barriss took another sip.

  “Yes.”

  Barriss took a sip of her tea. “I was alarmed, and then I was intrigued. I took a moment to assess if I was seeing things.”

  The elder Adept leaned back in her chair. “And when you determined she was not an apparition, what then?”

  “She was injured. I am a healer. I decided to help.”

  “Regardless of her fierce appearance?”

   “Fierceness does not necessarily ensure danger, Adept Sun’Zee.”

  “Please, Barriss. Call me Ady.”

  “Alright, Ady. What I am trying to say is I could tell this was someone extraordinary and she required assistance. I was able to provide it.”

  “Her appearance did not frighten you?”

  “Maybe a little. But she had eyes such as me. She had these beautiful lips despite all the teeth. She had arms, legs, proportions such as I. I could tell she had emotion and concern for her safety. She looked lonely.”

  “And with you weeks into your hermitage you must have been lonely as well.”

  “Perhaps. More importantly she was had greater and more dire needs than I.”

  “What happened after you attended to her wounds?”

  “She was cold. And she wanted me near while she slept.”

  Ady Sun’Zee took another sip of tea. “For companionship or warmth?”

  Barriss tilted her head. “You know, I never asked her. By the time she was learning our language there were so many other questions to ask her.”

  “At what point did you begin to fall for her?”

  “Almost right away if I’m being honest with myself. When she reached for a weapon to meet my saber and the weapon wasn’t there. She looked so lost. I wanted in that moment to find her a home. To make one for her if needed.”

  “And your attraction to her. It is more than just excitement at the unknown and novel?”

  “Yes. Once I got to know her I fell in love with Ahsoka the person. Ahsoka the individual. She amazes me and centers me.”

  Adept Myr stood next to Ahsoka. She was so much taller than the Togruta.

  Before we speak of religion I have one question about the Republic. You gave us many reassurances they were not a threat to us. I want to know how vast is the power imbalance is between our peoples. Disregarding all the legal and ethical safeguards you say would make it improbable for them to harm us, could they harm us?”

  Ahsoka looked out across the city. This city of stone and brick and wood. A city protected with arrows and steel spears and chemical explosives powered cannons.

  “Yes. One military ship could dominate the planet. Not even a ship of the line either.”

  “Thank you for being honest and willing to give me an unpleasant answer, Jedi Tano.” She looked her over with those stern purple eyes. “As for religion, you say our gifts and your Ashla are essentially the same?”

  “Yes, they spring from the same source. There are many religious traditions that utilize Ashla with differing philosophies and deities. It is not just Mirialans and the Jedi. I hope one day you could visit Jedha. It is a planet where many people of many faiths come to learn and worship in harmony. You would be welcome there.”

  Myr nodded. “So your Jedi would not consider us heretics.”

  “Not at all. We would like to learn more about you, I am sure. See if you utilize your gifts for selfless service to others or selfish gain. That is important to us. From what I have seen our practices and beliefs could live side by side.”

  “So it was not a surprise to you when then acolyte Offee utilized her gifts before you?”

  “It was surprising but not a shock, no.”

  “The gifts are important to us, holy. Our goddesses are important to us. I hope you can stay for some time so we can talk at length. See what commonalities and differences we truly have. Or if there is something of our goddesses’ grace in your practices.”

  “That would be good. For both of us.”

  Myr closed her eyes and inhaled. “I sense nothing of ill will about you. I do not think you are an evil being sent to lead us astray. And if there is truth to your story there are many faiths out there. It would be foolish to lose composure when confronted with you, a lone woman who lost her way.”

  “I am glad you feel that way.” Ahsoka gave her a slight bow.

  Myr put her hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. “An important aspect of faith is being solid of conviction. Being brave when facing the unknown. If we were to panic what would that tell in our trust in the goddesses?”

  “I see your point.”

  “Come, let us go inside and relax for the evening.”

  They went to find Barriss and Ady. Ahsoka saw her from the doorway. She was leaning back in her chair, partially covering her smile with one hand. She was blushing and her the look in her eyes was full of emotion. Ahoska could tell she was talking about her, about how she felt about her. And it made heart swell all the more.

Chapter Text

  The curtains on the bedroom windows parted allowing sunlight to fall on Ahsoka’s eyelids, causing her to groan and retreat further into the blankets. Soft fingertips eased the protective barrier away from her face once more.

  “Wake up, my darling. The Sun has cast his judgement upon you, and you have promises to keep.”

  Barriss’ voice was airy and fully of gentleness. It almost shaped Ahsoka’s mood this morning. Almost.

“Just a little more.” She slurred.

  “My love, they are expecting you at the House of Wisdom soon. I thought you were enthusiastic about this?” Barriss pressed.

  Ahsoka squinted against the dawn glow. Sunlight was streaking though Barriss’ clothing illuminating the outline of her body.

“That was before I knew you would not be there to help translate.” Ahsoka grumbled.

  Barriss kissed her forehead. “I shall miss you too. My services are needed at the Academy Hospital today. We each have duties which call to us. I am sure the sages will take great care of you, and they shall be patient as they are wise.”

  Ahsoka grunted and sat up in bed. She hadn’t slept well the night before, the anxiety she felt before her debut had not abated. She was just an average student back home, how was she going to explain technological advances to the most learned mirialans of their entire civilization?

  It finally sunk in that Barriss was already fully dressed.

  “You bathed without me?” She pouted.

  “Yes, love. Some of us like advanced readiness for the day’s tasks. I was tempted to wake you, but I figured you needed a little extra sleep.”

  Ahsoka highly treasured their morning routine. She had since their first morning together. It hurt that Barriss did not wait for her. She reached out with both arms to capture her waist and tried to haul her onto the mattress. “I’ll make you all sweaty and you shall have to bathe with me a second time.”

  Barriss twisted in her grappling arms, then giggled. She kissed her once, twice, three times. “Learn your lesson and wake up earlier tomorrow, love. Now get up and make the bed. Be quick and you won’t miss your morning meal.”

  Ahsoka grumbled a bit more but allowed herself to be pulled along by fate if just to keep holding the hand of her companion for a few moments more before they were separated for the day.

  One of the chantry acolytes, named Mira or something, beaconed Ahsoka to the auzcart that would take her to the House of Wisdom. She found there were a few youglings loitering around the chantry gates who chased after her as they departed. Word of my arrival must have traveled outside high society.

  They were laughing and calling after her. Ahsoka took down her veil and gave them a toothy grin, causing most of the children to screech or erupt in nervous laughter and halt in their tracks. That lifted her spirits a bit. Maybe her further incorporation to mirialan society would go smoothly after all.

  The House of Wisdom was not bult as high as the chantry or the Mandate’s council chambers but the campus was certainly expansive. It was practically a college town surrounded by the city. Barriss told her the day previously it was more than an academy. It served as a grand library for the Mandate and housed many dormitories for visiting and resident sages. It’s grounds even boasted an observatory and its own small, dedicated chantry.

   Ahsoka found herself at yet another banquet in her honor. She savored the invigorating qualities of the fragrant and sweet-tasting tea and sampled some finger foods while being introduced to subject experts at a hectic pace. She expected the astronomers would want their first crack at her advanced knowledge of the universe, but instead she found herself ushered to an outdoor amphitheater. The heads of all the academy’s departments lined the sandstone seats before her.

  They were starting with the basics. Today’s subject was epistemology. Ahsoka found herself in a debate over the merits of deductive versus inductive reasoning. It honestly was a weight off her shoulders. This was stuff even a Jedi youngling had properly memorized.

  Her limited vocabulary slowed things down, as usual, but they assigned her a student who would patiently explain words to her as Barriss would have in their place. Andria was her name if she caught it correctly. To her relief they already had a good grasp on the scientific method. This was not a backward culture; they were just getting started on the right path to scientific radiance.

  She had been worried that these learned folk would be suspicious of her or be withdrawn due to her appearance but no, they hung on her every word and treated her with wary deference and but a certain respect. It seemed they reserved their ire for each other. Ahsoka frequently witnessed professors jeering each other once someone would ask her a question and many heated debates broke out amongst the crowd. But this seemed natural. It took a certain combative personality to rise to their position. It was sort of like she was a guest actor in a popular holodrama with all its previously established character clashes and rivalries.

  She had to enunciate and project her voice to be heard by everyone without a microphone. “In order for something to be established as scientific fact it must be reproducible by anyone under similar conditions. Be wary of experiments yielding positive results if they seem out of the ordinary, even if they confirm your personal theories. If they cannot be reproduced, they may lead to misunderstanding and false theories that shall need correction further down the road.”

  One of the sages stood up to address her. “How do we reproduce an experiment that exactly?”

  “You need to keep notes…” Ahsoka consulted with her translator. “Expansive notes! And you must share them with everyone. Keep no secrets in science if you wish it to prosper. Share as much as you can, even if it seems unimportant. With your rivals as well as your students and friends. A good experiment should prosper in sunlight, observable by all.”

  That led to a long discussion about scientific journals, the importance of publishing, sending letters to far-off colleagues as part of an ‘invisible college’ and so forth. Ahsoka witnessed the planning of academic collaboration right before her eyes.

  It went on and on. How to properly establish a scientific truth. The differing approaches of philosophy and the scientific method. The different ways one could separate areas of knowledge into subject areas and how to discover truths though interdisciplinary collaboration.

  It was a momentous day which passed all too quickly. Once the sun was low on the horizon she returned to the chantry. Some of the younglings had returned, awaiting her return so she had Mira take in the cart and she stayed to speak with them. Well, the bold ones. Some of the smaller ones stood in the back peeking from behind their midager siblings. Their parents were there to watch her warily this time. Some of them asked her questions on their children’s behalf.

  Ahsoka squatted on her heels and spoke in what she hoped was a soft and reassuring voice indulging their curiosity on who she was, where she came from, and what she was doing in the city. And that no, she wasn’t a monster of myth.

  Her empty stomach eventually got the better of her and she once again passed through the chantry gates and returned to her lodging to be reunited with her lover.

  She found Barriss at the writing table where she was using a quill to write with her usual beautifully flowing script.

  She brightened when Ahsoka entered. “Evening’s greetings, Jedi Tano! How did it go?”

  “It went very well, Barriss. Thank you for the encouragement this morning.” She ran her fingers though Barriss’ wavy brown hair and kissed her forehead. “What are you working on?”

  Her smile wavered a bit. “I’m writing to my mother. With all the excitement as of late it is overdue.”

  Ashoka quickly sought to suppress her surprise. “Your mother? You write to your mother?”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Yes. And the rest of my family by extension.”

  “You’ve told her about me?” Ahsoka moved behind her to massage her shoulders.

  “I have. Of course, I have.”

  “Are you going to…” She struggled briefly with the words. “show me to them?”

  “Introduce you?” She sighed. “I suppose I must, eventually.”

  “Do you think your mother will approve of me?”

  Barriss looked up at the celling. “I am sure she shall ingratiate herself to you, get on your good side. It would be another way she could influence me. She knew when I committed myself to a monastic life that I was being accepted into a wider family. Pursuing a calling that would lead me away from home irrevocably. Adepts give up things like familial inheritance in exchange for a life in service to the Gods and it means years away from their childhood homes, sometimes. Often, in fact. And while she is proud of me, she tries to strengthen my ties to the family as much as she can.”

  “You write and spend time with her?”

  Barriss shook her head slightly in exasperation. “Yes, of course I do.”

  Ahsoka nodded. “And you would in-tro-duce me to her?”

  Barriss tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Of course, I want to show you off. Mother has been on me to settle down and meet someone as I advanced closer to ascension as an Adept. Start a family.”

  Ashoka tilted her head. “A family? You can get married?”

  “Why, yes.” She did not understand why Ahsoka was so perplexed, but then again there was much about her home culture that she hid from her.

  “As an Adept?” Ahsoka’s big sky-blue eyes were wide.

  “Most of us can. Traditionally Adepts of the Sun god, He of the Illuminated Judgement, do not marry. They tend to be consorts to a married couple if they choose. And help raise the children communally.”

  Ahsoka smirked. “I bet that’s popular with husbands, having a second woman in the marriage bed.”

  Barriss shrugged. “Not really, most Adepts of the Sun are male.”

  Ahsoka raised her eyebrow markings. “Interesting. Why did not you mention this before?”

  She blushed and looked away. “A lady waits for her partner to bring it up.”

  “Am I not a lady?” Ahsoka half-grinned and studied her expression. It was always so adorable when Barriss got like this.

  “From my point of view, you are my valiant knight protector, and I am your lady.”

  Ahsoka gave her a toothy grin, then her smile fell a bit which did not go unnoticed by her companion.

  “Is something the matter, love?”

  “I just never thought about starting a family before. It is strongly discouraged by the Jedi.”

  “Oh…” Barriss puckered her lips. She turned her head away. She assumed the vision Ahsoka showed on Shili was of her family, perhaps she was mistaken. “I see. If it does not appeal to you, that is alright.” Ahsoka began to interrupt but Barriss put a fingertip at her sternum. “It is not a prospect to be taken lightly, anyhow. Having a pleasing relationship, even taking someone as a lover, is far different form a healthy marriage. And if you were raised to internally shun such a life choice, I shall not insist upon it.”

  Ahsoka reached out and placed two fingertips under Barriss’ chin so she could guide her back to eye contact. “Just because I was raised not to consider it does not mean it is out of questioning. The stars are high in the heavens and the Jedi Council is far away. Trillions of kilometers away. I could stick to my founding principles. Stubbornly cling to that sense of duty as a mere substitute for bliss. Or I could adapt to my new home and imitate your ways with you by my side.”

  Ahsoka could not tell if Barriss lightly nodded in response or if she was simply trembling. “Alright. J-just let me know once you have thought about it, I guess.”

  “I do not need to think about it, Barriss.” Her voice was low and serious.

  “Oh?” Her heart was pounding.

  Ahsoka got down on one knee, as she had seen people do in the holos.

  “Oh my goodness!” Barriss covered her mouth with one hand. She was trembling.

  “Barriss…”

  The low and sonorous way she pronounced the double R made it seem as if Barriss’ soul leapt out of her seat even though she was still in her chair. “Yes?”

  She took both her hands. “My lady, I do not wish to be parted form your side. Would you do me a high honor and be my bride?”

  Barriss blushed even further. She closed her eyes tight and nodded. “Once everything has calmed down, once the Mandate is satiated with your teachings and we have time to ourselves.” She swallowed. “I would very much like to be your bride.”

  Ahsoka leaned forward and kissed her deeply. Barriss was now well-practiced at being intimate with her alien fiancé that she need not worry about cutting her lips or tongue on Ahsoka’s sharp canines. They had kissed many times in the past, but this felt different. As if She of the Eyeless Face was looking down upon her from the heavens and smiling at their union, as if her fate and her future were becoming clearer.

  She couldn’t imagine being separated from Ahsoka’s side either.

  Later, when she had come down form her cloud, Barriss’ tendency to worry returned and she realized she had a lot of important additions to make to her letter.

  The following morning Ahsoka woke refreshed and with a spring in her step. It was as if her feet fell on pillars of air. She had a certainly that nothing bad could happen to her now. When she departed the chantry, the younglings were back as well as some of the nearby street vendors offering her sweet morning bread loaves and tea. She spoke with them for a time then had to beg their pardon for she had places to be. Obligations to meet. She noticed that the younglings had gotten a hold of some charcoal and drawn a large garish portrait of her smiling face and big eyes on a wall opposite the chantry gates.

  Today was her first spent with the learned astronomers, in an indoor lecture hall this time. There was a smattering of astrologers in attendance as well. From what Ahsoka had been told their field was deemed just as much a science as the former. Seemingly endless pots of tea were delivered to the hall as most in attendance were used to more nocturnal lifestyles. Ahsoka began by having a few of the elders come up and relate the state of their field. The men and women alike had crow’s feet wrinkles from squinting at the night sky. Everyone in attendance accepted the heliocentrism theory of their solar system. They proudly showed her a beautifully crafted brass astrolabe, temporarily borrowed from the campus observatory. Astronomers had charted the orbits and orbital resonances of all visible planets in the system. They understood concepts such as orbital eccentricity and declination. These sages had even estimated the diameter of the planet via simple experimentation.

  It was then her turn to teach. She started with the life cycle of stars. Some in the audience became melancholy when she said that Mirial’s sun would one day expand, cool, and burn out but she assured them it would not be for billions of years more. Their god would look after them and shine judgement upon them for quite some time. She related how planetary systems form out of disks of fiery dust and debris. She spoke of inner, rocky planets. Of gas giants hundreds of times larger than Mirial. Some much larger and hotter which orbit very close to their suns. She spoke of icy outer worlds. She related what she knew of comets, of meteors, asteroids, and far distant ice clouds. Solar wind, flares, and bow shock. The sages were mostly polite. They listened closely. They called for books to be retrieved if it touched upon a subject pertaining to the conversation. These were patient people after all. Watchers of the sky.

  During a lull as she struggled to gather her thoughts one of the sages, she didn’t remember his name, but he was one of the ones with a long white beard, cleared his throat politely and asked a question.

  “There is an obvious wide chasm between your knowledge base and our advancements. It staggers me, personally, that you know so much and are not even an astronomer by trade. You have traveled the very heavens we spend our lives studying. Now you tell us light has a fixed speed. That when we look up at our own moons they are as they appear a half-second in the past. And the planets are minutes and hours in the distance. That some stars we overserve have already burnt out or exploded. How do you suggest we bridge this gap without falling into despair at the magnitude of our shortcomings?”

  Ahsoka rubbed the tip of her left lek as she ruminated on this question. She’d been trying to come up with an expedited leap the mirialan scholars could make for quite some time.

  “Do you have specialists here in the science of vision? Of light and vision, in fact…” She struggled for the word in their language.

  “Optics?” Andria suggested.

  “Yes! Optics. If there be an expert, send for them.”

  Within half an hour a young man entered the room pushing a cart loaded with books. He apologized as he was merely the amanuensis for this world’s foremost expert on mirialan vision who had sadly recently passed of natural causes, though he was chosen for the role because he was a gifted student and the master mentored him for years.

  He presented the current research on his field and was elated when Ahsoka could affirm his master’s pet theory. For centuries it was thought the eye acted like a glowrod, that light was emitted by the eyes and that is what allowed people to see. His master thought, correctly, that the eye was an aperture device and she had invented a pinhole camera to demonstrate its workings in a mechanical manner, similar to how a dark room can project an upside-down image of the outdoors though a hole in curtains blocking a window.

  “You have seen inside an eye? Taken one carefully apart?”

  “You mean biological dissection? Yes.” The young man’s voice wavered a bit. He was clearly awestruck by this alien creature calling on him.

  “There is a structure to the eye, a clear beveled disk, yes?”

  “There is, a lens.”

  She put a hand on his shoulder. “My friend, you need to befriend the glassblowers. You need to make and test artificial lenses. Then give them to these honorable astronomers. They can… make images bigger.”

  She drew up a diagram of a simple telescope on a sheet of vellum. The youth nodded and the sages looked upwards with raised hands offering praise to their cosmic goddess. Soon they could commune with her on a far more intimate precipice thanks to the girl who fell from the stars.

  That evening the younglings were waiting for her, and their curious parents, especially now that they knew her routine. She smiled and tried to be approachable and non-threatening. Her mural was now painted in the colorful pigments favored by these people. An adult artist must have come by the touch it up.

  She was fatigued once she managed to drag herself to the communal dinner table. Even though this was by far the best day since she was introduced to society, she felt drained. Barriss noticed and squeezed her knee.

  “Is something wrong, love?”

  “It is a heavy burden, Barriss. To have these people of learning, these experts look to me. You know, where I come from, I was just a middling student on my best day. I may be a natural as a guardian, but I am no great scholar. Not like them.”

  It wasn’t just that. It was finding clever ways to help the sages along. To advance. To bridge that gap. She knew from history lessons the stage of civilization Miral was situated. Thousands of societies had discovered the principles of science on their own timetable. Finding digestible ways to ease them along to the next step was quite a struggle.

  “You could have fooled me.” Barriss responded. “To us, you are a wonder.”

  Ahsoka groaned and rubbed her temples.

  “To me, you are astonishing.” Barriss added with a smile.

  Ahsoka took her hand and squeezed it.

  “Thank you, cherished one. I would not be here putting in this effort if not for your assistance.”

  Medical experts and natural philosophers were next on the list. Ahsoka was grateful for this because Barriss was at her side all that day. Early in the day a student presented her with unfolded diagrams of the circulatory system that was stylized and crude but admirably accurate. It at least showed that they understood the underlying concepts, that the heart pumped blood though arteries and veins at high pressure to distribute nutrients though the body. They understood the deleterious effects of blood loss and vein blockage. No longer did experts think strokes were due to supernatural afflictions but via alements to blood vessels.

  The physicians elaborated on the four humors Barriss mentioned when Ahsoka was ill, as well as a similar theory relating to the four classical elements. The idea was that aspects of the body were in harmony if there was a balance of temperature and humidity. Certain aspects of the body were harmonious when cold and wet. Or hot and dry.

  Ahsoka asked if there were any outlying theories. A young woman spoke of a work from a sage penned nearly a century ago she had recently transcribed which postulated that there were invisible particles that could make people sick. She was astonished when Ahsoka told her that was the right track. Again, she referred them to the optics department and advised them to fund his experimentation on lenses as they would allow them to see the natural world up close and magnified.

  “It is better to drink clear waters from a swiftly running stream than from a darkened and stagnant pool. Do you not agree? Better for health. That is because the pool is a fine breeding ground for these tiny organisms which reproduce in the body and cause illness.”

  She tried a few allegories to describe bacteria and viruses. Luckily, they already understood the body could become infected due infections of funguses and certain yeasts. They understood tumors and cancer though they had few ways to combat them beyond surgery and dietary changes. Many discussions had to be postponed until later for lack of time, but Barriss and Andria kept copious notes, scribbling away while Ahsoka lectured.

  When the sun hung low in the west, and they called it a day, the sages stood and applauded. This group was much less staid than the astronomers and they were highly grateful they could utilize Ahsoka’s knowledge to save future lives.

  That night she and Barriss made love for hours with a singular vigor. Ahsoka felt herself reenergized every time she caused Barriss to passionately, breathlessly call out her name.

  So it went with the marooned Togruta Jedi meeting with various departments. She very much enjoyed her introduction to the Engineers who chose to meet her outside the campus on the causeway where they demonstrated waterwheel-powered automatons that floated on platforms moored in the aqueduct and played musical instruments. They were like very simple droids programmed with wooden pegs that interacted with cogs of various sizes all hidden away beneath the surface. It was quite a show.

  It was at the close of the week when she parleyed with the alchemists that everything took a turn for the worse.

  “You have made honorable progress.” Ahsoka tapped at an unwound scroll as she spoke to the audience. “You worked out for yourselves that all matter can be separated and isolated into…” She looked over at Andria for a prompt.

  “Elements.”

  “Yes! To indivisible elements such as metals and minerals. You understand states of matter, how water can be fluid and solid and a gas under various conditions. You have learned how to combine metals to make alloys and strong steel. But you cannot change one element to another.”

  A woman in the audience stood. Teela Kaarz, that was one name Ahsoka remembered due to how outspoken she had been.

  “You are certain it is impossible?”

  “No, it is possible but not reproducible by your hands. Look…” Ahsoka cleared her throat. How could she explain particle accelerators and fission power to a group to whom had only recently postulated the existence of the atom? “All the gold in the Galaxy originates from one process, the explosions at the hearts of huge stars! It can be done but requires replication of that awesome power. You cannot. You just can not turn lead into gold under any circumstances.”

  Kaarz produced an ingot from one of the pockets of her robes. “How do you explain this then?”

  Ahsoka’s shoulders slumped. She did not want to be doing this right now. She was mentally fatigued. Her voice was hoarse from all the talking and projecting she had been performing for the past few days. Her menstrual cramps were at their height and while the herbal remedies Barriss plied her with helped it wasn’t the same as the medication available back home. And now this.

  The Mandate and the House of Wisdom asked her to come here to offer some hard truths. And she did genuinely want to help them. She could let this slide and let Kaarz damage her reputation slightly in the minds of these sages.

  She closed her eyes. Truth. If you are to err, err on the side of truth.

  “If you are certain of your findings then perhaps we can send someone for a rock saw and we can all study a cross-section.” Ahsoka replied flatly.

  The older woman walked stiffly to the podium and looked Ahsoka in the eye for an uncomfortable moment before responding coldly. “How dare you…”

 She slammed the ingot on the counter before Ahsoka and stalked out the door.

  By that evening rumors spread back to the chantry regarding fallout caused by Ahsoka’s choice. Kaarz had gone directly to the House’s administration and resigned. She then collected up all her notes, from her entire career, in several boxes which she had porters take to a nearby causeway. She dumped them all into the aqueduct. The waters downstream ran grey for many hours afterwards as ink was stolen from the scrolls.

  She regretted running an elder’s reputation. Upon reflection Barriss proposed that she probably was working off grants from wealthy investors, influential individuals in the Mandate if she was attempting to turn lead into gold. In her desperation she was showing off gold-plated rocks demonstrating supposed progress to buy herself time.

  Ahsoka spent the week’s end relaxing at the chantry. She assisted the Adepts and acolytes prepare for their services. She rested her voice. And the generally allowed Barriss to soothe her. It was a task to which she was quite skilled. Ahsoka was eternally grateful for the healer’s great empathy and how she nearly always knew the right words to say. And her gratitude was stunning. She was so jubilant that Ahsoka was being brave in order to help her people.

  Maybe everything would be alright. Maybe she was making great progress and in time mirialan society would adapt to her revelations. The staff at the chantry did a fine job at making her feel small for a while. Just someone they knew with whom they gladly shared their shelter and their meals. Shared their laughter and their prayers. It was a brief holiday where everything was alright.

  At the start of the next work week Mira once more took her out the gats in the auzcart. A crowd was gathered, facing the mural. It had been repainted once more to look more garish. Montrals expanded into horns. Bloodshot eyes. Dripping sharp teeth. Teela Kaarz stood before the mural on a platform. She was gesticulating to her and speaking to all assembled. Her sage’s robes were torn, and her hair was wild. It seems she had given up alchemy for a new career as a street preacher. Despite her appearance she spoke like a skilled orator, impassioned but not crazed.

  “She finally graces us with her presence. This djinn. Speaker of lies. The one who has infected our great chantry and House of Wisdom. Beware citizens. Beware Mandate. Beware thee Adepts. This one shall be our undoing.”

  Elsewhere, far away and a few days previously, acolyte Thendys Noori was well into her year-and-a-day hermitage in the wetlands. For the first few weeks she had been in a state of religious bliss. It was as if the goddesses where clearly blessing her rite of passage. For it was only a few days after her arrival that she found a fine if crudely built home of clay brick built in the shelter of a sandstone overhang. Whomever had built it left furniture, storage space, even an oven! It would make a fine and warm home during the coming winter.

  But then the water level of the lake began to wane. Barely noticeable at first but the shore was now many cubits further than it should have been. Did She of the Flowing Waters deem her gratitude and penitence lacking?

  Noori abandoned her tasks and spent the majority of her days praying at the lake’s edge only to find the shore further away by the end of the day despite her efforts. Was her faith not enough? Was she cursed? Had the gods withdrawn their favors?

  It was then when hopelessness threatened to swallow her up when strangers arrived in the sacred wetlands. Men and women carrying surveying equipment. Well, most of them. Amongst the group was a fierce looking woman with an eyepatch and a ropey scar down her neck. She pointed to acolyte Noori’s shelter and exchanged rough speech with the man who seemed to be in charge. The man seemed pleased and patted her on the shoulder. He then approached the Noori.

  “You must be the one on hermitage this year.”

  “Yes, sir.” Her voice was scratchy from many recited prayers and psalms.

 “Please accept my apologies for disturbing you during your holy endeavors, but this is an emergency. I am Sallius Wen of the Mandate Engineering Corps.”

  She took his proffered hand and shook it. “Acolyte Thendys Noori…”

  “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am sure you have seen something is amiss. There were groundquakes further upstream, causing a blockage in major river tributaries and flooding. We are trying our best to return this sacred place to its natural state. Please forgive our intrusion.”

  “No, it is alright. I am reassured to hear the Mandate is working on restoration. I was worried.”

  Wen was doing his best to usher her to her temporary home so they could talk further. But Noori could not help looking over her shoulder. If they were working to repair a blockage upstream, why were they floating a barge with a partially disassembled crane down the diminished lake?

  “There is no need to worry anymore, miss.” Wen told her in a soothing voice. “The Mandate has arrived to set everything right.”

Chapter Text

  Ahsoka and Adepts Myr and Sun’Zee greeted Andria and one of the astronomers, a man named Eskel if Ahsoka remembered correctly, at the main entrance to the chantry where the visitors shed their shoes and washed their feet before entering. 

  The group then settled down for a reception under the arcade surrounding the chantry’s largest atrium. Ahsoka personally served their guests tea then set the kettle down upon the chimney of a metal brazier. They exchanged pleasantries and small talk for a while despite Ahsoka’s urgency to get down to business. But she understood mirialans held decorum and ceremony in high regard. She put her anxiousness to the back of her awareness. Besides, she really did enjoy the company of the sage and translator.

  When the conversation had wound down a bit Eskel cleared his throat. “Miss Tano, as a man of science I am accustomed to stating my observations plainly. I was not the poet in my family. I struggle, therefore, to earnestly impart how grateful I and my colleagues are, and shall remain, due to your efforts. We are in your great debt. Because of the few months you have been gracing us with your knowledge and guidance we have years ahead of us to process new ideas and make new discoveries. Particularly when we construct the far-seeing and magnifying devices you described. I thank you, Jedi Tano.”

  He and Andria bowed deeply. Ahsoka was gratified if slightly embarrassed by the attention. Andria then retrieved the lacquered box she carried with her when she arrived.

  “We wish to present to you a gift as a token of our great appreciation.” She said.

  Ahsoka took the box and released its latches. Resting inside was a folded sheet of illuminated papyrus with the stars of the northern and southern hemispheres carefully drawn and labeled on opposite sides. Beneath that were two finely crafted brass devices, each disc shaped. They were an astrolabe on the right and a compass on the left. Ahsoka removed them from their felt alcoves and admired them.

  “Perhaps, if you wish to visit your home one day, you can use these to chart your crossing.” Eskel said with a smile.

  The sentiment was there, though these would not allow her to chart hyperspace routes. Regadless of the fact that she had no ship. Ashoka ran a fingertip over the engraved characters on the compass. It was beautiful, highly illuminated. It was a gift with great practical and religious significance to the gift givers. Alien cultures along the frontier had sometimes presented her with gifts such as these which she was instructed to politely refuse. She could not guide her conscience to do so in this case. Maybe she could leave them for chantry use when she departed.

  “These are wonderful. Objects of great beauty. I thank you.”

  The sage tensed his lips into a tight line. “I am sure you have noticed that there has been some commotion by the House of Wisdom entrance as of late.”

  Ahsoka nodded. “It is hard to ignore.”

  “We held a convocation to discuss the matter. I am sure you understand, we sages do not wish to host a discordant public. Many wanted to call the magistrates to clear out the protesters, but others siting the highly flammable libraries on the campus did not welcome the violence which would result. I personally feel that the antidote to hot tempers is time and education. The majority agreed that we shall take a pause in your teachings to give us time to transcribe and disseminate your lessons, to test new hypotheses. The public, we feel, shall see that there is nothing to fear from your presence when they are presented with the fruits of your labor. After such, you are of course welcomed to return. And we shall greet you with open arms and glad hearts.”

  Ahsoka bowed. “I shall await that harmonious reunion.”

  Pretty words. She mused to herself. You’re getting more articulate with practice.

  That unpleasant let-down out of the way they could enjoy each other’s company and have a few more rounds of tea. Which Ahsoka enjoyed. She was a woman who preferred to be active. The more of the afternoon she could while away without being idle the better. When they walked the guests back to the entryway Andria gave her a tight hug, which was out of character for her.

  “I am going to miss you.” She whispered.

  A few hours later, Ashoka found herself drawn to the same entryway. It was late in the day and her fiancé had not yet returned. She paced like a caged nexu, mentally repeating Jedi koans to keep at least part of her mind distracted.

  Finally! Barriss opened the doorway just enough to slip in like a thief in the night. Then she looked guiltily over at Ahsoka.

  “Hello. Good evening…” she said.

  “I was so worried for you, did something happen?” Ahsoka advanced and placed her hands on Barriss’ arms. Then she drew up her upper lip and sniffed. “That smell. Is that manure?”

  “Yes, on my shoes. I trod on some on the way here.” Barriss used the toe of one of the offending shoes to ease out her opposite heel, then reached down to pluck off the other one. “I shall wash them tonight, so they are not ruined.”

  “Barriss, you look upset. What happened?”

  “Nothing, love. I went down the wrong alley. Do not worry yourself.”

  She gave Barriss a hurt look, it was enough to make her relent.

  Barriss sighed. “A group of men found me on my trip home. They were jeering at me. I had to make a hasty retreat.”

  Ahsoka’s eyes went wide. “What did they say?”

  “It doesn’t matter, love.”

  “Barriss…”

  The Adept frowned; her dark lips tightly compacted. “They…” She relaxed her shoulders, surrendering to the knowledge that her lover would not relent. “They called me ‘the djinn’s whore’ and said I was a traitor to unanimity.”

  Ahsoka grunted and stuck out her upper lip.

  “I see.”

  Then she knelt on the floor.

 “What are you doing, Ahsoka?”

  “You put yourself at risk to be my partner, my love. The least I can do is wash your feet after a long day’s work. Come to the basin.”

  “Alright…” That brought a smile to Barriss’ lips. She allowed her lover to gently and fastidiously bathed one foot, then the other. She tried to broadcast only reassuring emotions.

  The Jedi then gingerly collected her shoes, wary not to soil her fingers. “I shall wash these for you.” She gave Barriss a sideways glance. “Do you not find it strange?”

  “Find what strange?”

  “That some ruffians, strangers, would know about us?”

  “Oh.” Barriss chewed on her lower lip. “I guess I did not have time to think that over.”

  The Jedi let it slide for a moment as they made their way to their bedchamber. “There is something going on, I tell you. Something hidden. I was meditating on it today.”

  Barriss smiled. “Daydreaming, you mean?”

  Ahsoka rolled her eyes. She had joked about this many times. Meditation served the same purpose as prayer did to the Adepts. Even though Ahsla was not analogous to a god, the opening of one's perceptions to the wider universe had a similar intention.

  “I was thinking the matter over.” Ahsoka continued. “Do you not find it strange? That all this protest sprung up fast as the first shoots in spring? How it grows by the day? Follows me everywhere? And now it follows you, by people who should not know our intimate affairs?”

  Her lover slid a hand into the crook of her arm. “People gossip, Ahsoka. You’re the biggest news our people have had since… maybe forever.”

  “I suspect agitation.”

  Barriss tossed her head back. “You are my brave knight protector, and on high alert. A huntress sees the shadows move in the foliage when there are strange noises all about.”

  Ahsoka kept her jaw clenched shut and hummed to herself. She knew it would get her nowhere to protest further. It was her job to be aware and alert. It was Barriss’ job to soothe her. Maybe she should abandon the subject for now and allow herself to be soothed.

  After dinner in their bedchamber Ahsoka waited for Barriss to complete her evening prayers. She stood by the long bay windows, peering outside though the decorative latticework. She could spot the protestors though a gap between one of the buildings and a minaret. They lit cooking fires in the street for their supper, casting a flickering orange light over that hideous mural of her face.

  She heard the door open and Barriss’ light strides advancing toward her. Then the softness and warmth of her breasts and belly pressing into her back and her hands at either side of her ribs.

  “Come away from the window, love.”

  “I am worried, my precious one. Are you not?”

  “There shall come a time to worry. That time is not now. Now is the time to relax.” Barriss tugged at Ahsoka’s sari and led her by one of the bedposts. She began to languidly undress Ahsoka, her arms moving deliberately like a dancer. “Whatever fate has in store for us we should meet it well-rested.”

  Ahsoka relaxed her shoulders and looked up at the shadows cast upon the corner of the room by the low flickering lamplight.

  “Do you know how wonderful you are, Barriss?”

  She adopted a coy look as she eased the fabric down Ahsoka’s arms. “Perhaps. Why don’t you tell me?”

  “You are a good person. You have…” She closed her eyes in frustration for a second. “The skill of knowing how others feel?”

  “Empathy.”

  “You have great empathy. And you care for people. You care for me. You always seem to know what I am needing.”

  The mirialan put on a sly smile. “You are fortunate, then. You should ask me to marry you.” She drew close, pressing Ahsoka’s bare back against the bedpost. She kissed her softly. She cupped Ahsoka’s left breast and swiped across her nipple with the pad of her thumb. “I know right now what you require is a distraction. An affirmation of acceptance.”

  “Is that right?” Ahsoka initiated an unhurried kiss as well. She couldn’t imagine ever getting enough of the touch of Barriss’ lips. They were intoxicating. “And what is it you need?”

  Barriss tilted her head. “I’m thirsty, Ahsoka.”

  “I’ll get you a glass.” She had not moved a centimeter before Barriss pressed up against her again, causing the skin of her back to catch on the lacquered surface of the bedpost.

  “No.” She stepped away. Then lowered gracefully to her knees. “I want to sup waters from your fountain. Nectar from your flower.” Barriss leaned closer and nuzzled her chin on Ahsoka’s pubis, her dark eyes looking up at her with confidence.

  “Well, I would be a poor gallant if I did not give a lady what she- ahhhh!” Ahsoka could not resist the shudder that passed though her legs and spine due to Barriss slurping deeply along her cleft. She grasped the banister for her dear life.

  Barriss hummed happily at Ahsoka’s reaction to her attentions. She kissed her body a few times. Ahsoka stumbled as to part her legs further, so she ran the tip of her tongue along the silky crease where her inner thigh met her groin. She tilted her head to suck one of her lips into her mouth. She ran her tongue delicately along its top and bottom, then along its edge. She trapped it between her lips and drew back her head until it popped back into place engorged and puffier that its twin which did not receive such attention. The sounds Ahsoka was making excited her so. She got her elbow behind one of her knees and set her warm thigh onto her shoulder so she could have easier access to what she craved.

  Ahsoka’s body spasmed and she knocked a montral against the banister. “Oh, Great Huntress! How, Barriss? How did you get so good at that if I was your first?”

  Her lover paused her administrations and Ahsoka could sense a slight embarrassment blossom amongst her emotional landscape.

 “The same way I learned everything else I had not tried, love. I read some manuals.”

  Ahsoka could not suppress a laugh. “You did?”

  Barriss caressed the leg burdening her shoulder. “Nights get lonely for an acolyte, sometimes. And I had an insistent imagination that demanded placation.”

  Ahsoka eased her leg free. “Can we continue, but on the bed? I wish to keep going but I do not want to collapse on top of you boneless when I arrive.”

  Barriss giggled but did not correct her vocabulary. “Only if you undress me first.”

  She stood before Ahsoka and watched her carefully as the Togruta carefully removed her headdress and hairband, slowly removed her sari and her undergarments. The two lovers eased onto the bedsheets and entwined their limbs together, at ease and in no hurry.

  Let the fearful and jealous mob outside be rewarded only with their moans of pleasure, with their rebellious communion.

  There was the sound of a crash, then a persistent banging noise. That got Ahsoka sitting up in bed. She was almost to the bedchamber door when Barriss cleared her throat.

  “You may wish to dress first.” She said.

  When the couple made their way downstairs and to the chantry’s main entrance, they found several acolytes forming a line passing sandbags to set by the door. It took Ahsoka a moment to realize what they were doing. This was their fire suppressant system.

  Ady Sun-Zee made her way through the main door before bolting it behind her. She looked rather drawn and serious.

  “Adept Sun-Zee, what is going on?” Ahsoka asked her.

  She gave the Jedi a wavering smile. “Just a disagreement with our parishioners, Lady Tano. No need to fret.”

  “Are these sandbags to pour over a flame? Is there a fire?” Ahsoka asked.

  Ady held up a hand. “Those are just a precaution, my dear. Don’t you worry until there is a reason to worry. Adept Myr is out there talking some sense into the protesters. It will be over soon. They’re our people, after all. They shall listen to reason if it is stated plainly. Especially from her.”

  Ahsoka let out a low growl in frustration. “I should go out there. I should speak with them. This is all because of me.”

  Adept Sun-Zee relaxed her shoulders and did her best to broadcast a soothing aura. “Lady Tano, you are our guest. Though you may be the catalyst for this situation it is our sacred duty to keep you from harm. Though I am sure you excel at avoiding injury and promoting peace, perhaps your goodwill tour can wait until the immediate issue has resolved.”

  She took Ahsoka by the crook of her elbow. “Come, perhaps the ruckus has robbed you from further sleep but that does not mean I cannot serve you some tea. We can relax in the atrium.”

  Ahsoka wanted to go out and help, but denied that she relinquished her desire like a Jedi should and allowed herself to be led away. She sat on the edge of her chair and sipped her tea. When she looked over at Barriss she noticed her pained expression.

  “Is something wrong?” She asked.

  Barriss put her hand on Ahsoka’s knee. “I am worried how you must think of us. That we are closed minded and provincial compared to your cosmopolitan Republic.”

  Ahsoka placed her hand over Barriss’. “My love, no. I read manuals on first contact with isolated cultures before my first Pathfinder mission. It is to be expected. When a peoples find their… idea of the world?”

  “Worldview. Our axioms. That of which we were sure was true but is no longer.” Barriss volunteered.

  “Yes.” Ahsoka agreed. “When they find these shattered by an interstellar traveler it is to be expected that strife will result. For a time. Until there is to form a new… axiom?”

  “Yes, dear.” Barriss smiled. “You’ve had all that training; I wish things were easier for you.”

  “Well, usually I would have backup. I am not the right person for all this. I should be the person protecting the diplomat.”

  Senator Chuchi should be here in my stead. Ahsoka thought. She’d know what to do. She has experience doing this. And she would not appear intimidating like some spirit of legend.

  Barriss smiled and nodded. When she again gave Ahsoka eye contact she seemed surer of herself.

  When the sun set the Mandate sent Magistrates to relieve the Adepts on guard duty. The streets were empties of all but rubbish, and there was a quiet peace. One of the shopkeepers took the time to clean the mural off the wall.

  Two officials arrived as well. Administrator Voralla, the overseer of Saminiyet came to give apologies and seek some sort of solution to their problems. Merven Getter had apparently been staying with her and tagged along for the ride. Ahsoka did her best to keep track of conversation. The Mandate officials were obviously alarmed. To them Ahsoka was a state asset to be protected. Myr and Sun-Zee pushed their perspective. To the clerics Ahsoka was a beloved colleague of a far-off aesthetic order and due respect and hospitality. Barriss interjected with her personal feelings. Ahsoka did not think she could take much more of this. She felt like a ball being passed around between different teams.

  She stood from her chair. “I would like to go back to the chantry at Aeolis Mons, to stay with Adept Unduli.” Everyone stared at her. Ahsoka bowed to Myr and Sun-Zee. “Thank you for your hospitality these last few months, but I would be saddened if my presence here caused further damage to your beautiful chantry.” She bowed to the Mandate officials. “I shall return and continue my work when I can.”

  Barriss gave her a concerned look. “I am afraid that is not an option.”

  Ahsoka raised her brows. “Why not?”

  Spring is a while off; it shall take time for the mountain passes to open back up.”

  Ahsoka crossed her arms and looked off to the corner of the room. She sometimes forgot she was living in a land that had to accommodate for the weather.

  Merven Getter cleared his throat politely. “Perhaps I can be of service to you.”

  “How so?” Ahsoka asked.

  “I have an estate at the outskirts of the city. You are welcome to stay there, away from the public eye, until more permanent arrangements can be made.”

  Ahsoka looked over at Barriss who gave her a shrug in return.

  “That is very generous of you, Councilman Getter. We shall pack our things. I wish to be away from here as soon as possible so the Adepts can get back to their routine.”

  Getter nodded in response. “Of course.”

  Ahsoka looked sullenly out the window of the carriage as it made its way down Saminiyet’s winding streets. Barriss placed a hand on her bicep.

  “What troubles you, dear?”

  The Jedi looked over at her. “I want to be active. I want to choose my own fate instead of being run out of town by calamity.”

  Barriss squeezed her arm. “I’m sorry, my love. This is just a layover. Soon we shall be away and amongst friends.”

  “Do you trust this Getter, Barriss?”

  Her fiancé made a face. “Well, I’m from the North.”

  Ahsoka arched a brow. “Meaning?”

  “My family does not live in the district he administers, but we are naturally wary of our leadership since the old clan structure was dismantled.”

  Ahsoka smiled and reached over to squeeze her hand. “We shall keep our eyes open and see how this one behaves, eh?”

  Getter’s compound turned out to be a decommissioned Janissary fortress with high walls and a portcullis. Which was curious. Perhaps, Ahsoka mused, he was a man who valued his privacy.

  There was yet another banquet once they arrived. Ahsoka ate the delicious food and allowed others to take the lead in conversation. She was already a known quantity to most of high status mirialan society by now, so they did not pester her for the most part. She instead marveled at Barriss’ poise. For a shy girl she could hold court with the best of them with practiced politeness. At one point she caught Barriss blink and almost slump forward. She reached out to her, but Barriss patted her thigh and gave her a wavering smile of reassurance.

  “Do not worry, I am alright. Just tired.”

  Getter summoned musicians and dancers as post-meal entertainment. Which Ahsoka also found strange. As if they had expected company. Or maybe the administrator was the sort who had a stable of performers on hand for unexpected occasions.

  Barriss scooted her chair closer to her and whispered low. “Ahsoka, nod if you can hear me.”

  Ahsoka nodded as if appreciating the lead dancer’s form. The music was loud, but she could pick out her lover’s voice this close to her montrals.

  “I need you not to react to what I’m about to tell you. Okay?” Barriss sighed and swayed a bit in her chair. “I’ve been poisoned.”

 Ahsoka looked over at her in concern.

  “I told you not to react.” Barriss continued. “I shall be alright; my gifts can process the worst of it. But I am curious. I am going to feign injury so our host can show his hand. Understand?”

  Ahsoka nodded.

  “Keep your head about you, love. I can take care of myself. Remember that…”

  They sat watching the dancers for a few moments more. Then Barriss slumped to the floor in a faint. Ahsoka went to her side, pretending to be the alarmed and concerned partner. It wasn’t too far from how she felt if she was honest with herself. Getter called for the performers to cease their show and began ordering his servants around.

  “This is must unfortunate! I shall send for a doctor immediately, Master Jedi.” Getter reassured her.

  “Can we get her to a bed?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  He had a few of his retinue gently lift Barriss and they took her down one of the servant’s passageways. Ahsoka followed behind as close as she could, but there were staff heading in the opposite direction seeking to clear the plates and food away from their meal. Soon she could barely see Barriss ahead of her.

  After a labyrinth of corridors she exited a door and found herself in a courtyard opposite to the one they entered. She had her eyes set on the doorway across the way where she thought they took her lover, but then she paused and looked to her right.

  There was a large metallic object like two hexagonal cones fused to each other with exhaust cones sticking out the larger end. It rested on a large wooden cart. At its front was a transparisteel viewport and it had an open entry hatch on its side.

  It was her escape pod.

  There was a puddle underneath where lake water still leaked out of it.

  She turned to Merven Getter who remained by her side throughout all of this.

  “What is going on?”

  “This was to be my gift to you, a surprise ruined by this current tragedy. My apologies if you are startled, Master Jedi.”

  “Gift?” Ahsoka’s hackles were up. She could feel her upper lip curling.

  “You have been so generous, sharing your knowledge and your religious beliefs. Your culture.” Getter replied. “I thought an adequate compensation would be to raise up your star-ship so you could perhaps be reunited with your people.”

  Ahsoka blinked. “How did you find it?”

  “My new Captain of the Guard provided the location that fit with the story of your arrival.” A hard-faced woman stepped up, clad in armor. The eyepatch and scarred bite mark at her neck gave away her identity. “This is Captain Abediah Viess. I believe you have met.”

  “Indeed. What do you expect me to do?”

  “Pardon me, Master Jedi. Expect?”

  “You hauled it up from the muck and carted it all the way here, at great expense.” She closely studied Getter’s face and searched his feelings. “You want the Republic here.”

  “Who on Mirial would not want such an opportunity?”

  She narrowed her gaze. “Because you want to be the point of contact when it comes time to share their knowledge and technology. Controlling the flow. Like with your toll roads.”

  He made a self-deprecating hand wave. “Someone must serve such a role. I really thought you would be more excited. I have had our best engineers looking the vessel over. They can assist you in getting it space worthy again to ply the ether.”

  “And what do I do then?” Ashoka asked.

  “Surely you have some sort of signal fire you can set to get the Republic’s attention.”

  Ahsoka walked over to the vehicle. Its interior lights were dark. There was a long wooden table nearby on which were set detritus that had come loose off the vehicle. He must have employed divers to search for them.

  And there, in the middle, was her belt. The leather was warped from being submerged for so long. But her utility pouches were there, their contents no doubt sodden and ruined. But so was the leather scabbard. And her lightsaber.

  She grabbed hold of it and crushed the leather in her fists. She allowed fury to take hold of her for just a second before tamping it down to cold calculation. This man had manipulated her for his own selfish gain, that was clear. She could lop off his head so easily.

  Ahsoka, be patient.

  A fleeting voice in her head grounded her.

  “Take me to Adept Offee.”

  Barriss was reclining on a bed in a small guest bedroom highly decorated with works of art. Ahsoka knelt by her side. She looked pale. Ahsoka lifted one of her eyelids to find her iris dilated. She was either playing well at being in a stupor or had succumbed. Anger like a trail of flame broiled in her belly. Ahsoka wanted to let out her inner huntress and seek revenge. Getter had appointed two burly guards with long curved falchions at the head and foot of her bed ‘for her protection’. But their real purpose was clear.

  She closed her eyes and kissed Barriss’ knuckles. Barriss had told her to be patient, she must have a plan. And she trusted her. She placed Barriss’ hand back by her side and stood to address her host.

  “Have your engineers meet me in the morning. Do you have allies in the city guard?”

  He sputtered for a moment, caught off guard. “Yes. A few.”

  “Get me as much gunpowder as you can manage.”

  He frowned. “Gunpowder?”

  “Do you not remember what I told you at the debriefing? My ship is like a canon, it requires fuel. Get me gunpowder.”

  “That can be arranged.”

  She spent the rest of that night at Barriss’ bedside though she rarely was awake or reached coherence. The next day she pantomimed helping the engineers reassemble her escape pod. It was more a matter of gluing pieces on so that it looked complete. She spent most of her time tinkering with her saber; fully disassembling it, cleaning it. She hoped the terminals on the power cell were still operable.

  “Why are you spending so much time on that one component?” Getter was looking over her shoulder.

  “This is the key.” She grumbled. “This is what activates the vessel. It is useless without it.”

  That seemed to mollify his curiosity for a time.

  By the second day she had the last exhaust nozzle in place and the gunpowder was delivered. Barriss’ voice whispered in the back of her mind. Ahsoka, tonight…

  Administrator Getter was eager for a demonstration. Ahsoka had one last stall.

  “I want Barriss out here as well. So I can be sure she is alright.”

  ”Wouldn’t you say her condition makes her to delicate to move?” He responded.

  Ahsoka stared him down until he complied. Her two burly guards brought her out on a stretcher which Ahsoka made sure was set down a safe distance away. The Jedi reentered the life pod. It was strange being there. Last time she was too delirious to really take in her surroundings. Now, she had to be alert. She went forward to the crash seat. She studied the controls, then ducked her head under the dash to trace the cables and ascertain where the computer cores were located. When she stood back up, she could see Getter on the other side of the glass watching her from the ground level. She smiled at him, took her saber out of its holster, and ignited the blade. Hopefully her face was lit up from beneath with an eerie green glow.

  She kept the blade there, moving it around a little, until the controls were melted slag. She then repeated the process in other areas of the tiny craft that contained computer cores. She paused midships and studied the only part of the pod that remained active. The emergency beacon. In its hardened case it was designed to withstand collusion and remained active even after the year and a half.

  She reached out and flipped a switch. “Signal fire, off. So long, Anakin.”

  Ahsoka gripped her saber hilt tightly and prepared to reactivate the blade and skewer the thing, severing her ties to the Republic for good.

  And she hesitated.

  She wasn’t ready to take that step, yet.

  Instead, she removed the beacon from its housing and adjusted the nylon straps attached to the back so she would wear it like a backpack.

  Yes, this felt right.

  One by one she broke open a few of the wooden casks of gunpowder and scattered their contents around the interior. She carried a split cask with her as she exited the pod. Then she dropped it, activated her lightsaber to tap at the trail she left behind her, and leapt across the courtyard landing so she straddled Barriss’ prone body, beheading her two bodyguards before her feet touched the ground.

  Before Merven Getter could properly react there was a calamitous boom and the pod rocked on its wooden cart, both were engulfed in flame.

  “What have you done?” He shouted. “You’ve stranded yourself!”

  Ahsoka assumed a saber kata and pointed the tip of her weapon at him.

  “When I found myself on Mirial I was willing to share all I could! For the good of all! Isn’t that what the Mandate preaches? You wanted to personally benefit. You were willing to harm an Adept and endanger Unanimity in the act. That shows me you aren’t ready! You don’t yet deserve it.”

  Out of the corner of her eye Ahsoka spotted one of the guard’s fallen swords moving, its edge scraping along the dusty ground. Then a slight brush on her back. Barriss was guarding her flank.

  “You, call me selfish? When you are willing to combust all your technological secrets to keep them beyond our knowledge?” Getter clenched his hands into fists and glared at her.

  “I do not think you will ever be ready.”

  “Guards!” Getter gestured to his staff. “Shoot the Adept!”

  The Administrator’s security force was small, and many had been bowled over by the blast, but those who had their wits about them leveled bows and crossbows they had on hand and let their missiles fly. They all curved during their flight and wildly spiraled off, missing their targets. For Ahsoka it was trivial compared to diverting a blaster bolt with her saber. She could sense Barriss using her gifts to assist her.

  “Get in there and stab her, you fools!”

  “Ahsoka,” Barriss whispered to her. “Can you get us over the north wall?”

  “You got it.”

  Ahsoka scooped her up and over her shoulder. She parried all the swords set against them, severing their blades easily. There was a brick stairway set up against the wall. She sprinted up two steps at a time and hurled herself off the edge without hesitation.

  A familiar auz-drawn cart thundered towards them from behind a grove of trees. It was Adepts Myr and Sun-Zee.

  “Get in!” Ady Sun-Zee urged them. She snapped the leads, prompting the beasts pulling the cart off into the night. Cyslin Myr deflected the few arrows shot at them from the parapets.

  Ahsoka took a moment to make sure Barriss was unharmed, then slumped to her seat.

  “How did you know to rescue us?”

  “Barriss sent us a message.” Sun-Zee called over her shoulder.

  She put a hand on Barriss’ knee. “How did you manage that?”

  Barriss took a deep breath. She still looked a bit pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. “I gave instructions to my chambermaids when they were attending to my necessities in private. They don’t especially care for their master and were amenable.”

  “Thank you, Barriss. Are you airtight?”

  “With time I will be.” She swallowed and looked over at Myr. “Did you bring my apothecary bag?”

  “I brought everything you asked.” Myr plucked up the requested item and passed it over.

  Barriss dug around in its contents, suddenly very animated. She took out a brown glass bottle and clutched it tightly enough to make her knuckles white while closing her eyes. She passed it over to Ahsoka.

  “Offer this to me twice a day, at sunrise and sunset. Only on those times, no matter how awfully I berate you. Understand?”

  Ahsoka numbly took the bottle from her. She looked down at the label. It was the same one she offered her the first night they met to assuage the pain from her broken leg.

  “This is what he poisoned you with?”

  Barriss nodded, her eyes were a little glassy.

  “Turn the cart around! I want a word with Getter.”

  Barriss put a hand on her knee. “No, Ahsoka. I shall recover. I’ve treated many patients who were under the thrall of this medicine for far longer than I. I might get a fever, as if I had the flux. With time, and self-control, I shall be alright.”

  “It’s not alright what he did.” Ahsoka responded.

  “No, it is not. If you really want to hurt him, where it matters, we do not turn the cart around. We shall go north.”

  Ahsoka leaned closer to her love. “And do what?”

  Barriss’ gaze narrowed. “We shall travel along his precious roads and take apart his polling houses one by one.”

  Ahsoka’s eye widened. She had to remember to stay on Barriss’ good side.

  “Yes, Barriss. That sounds like a fine plan.”

  When the dawn’s light shown on the compound the next morning Getter’s staff was still collecting up pieces of the Jedi’s star-ship.

  It was in shambles. It was almost sundered in two. Merven was in a fowl mood and coldly directed his staff to salvage what they could.

  The arrogance of that Jedi. Perhaps she really was a djinn and all the rumors he spread were true. Getting the ship here had cost him plenty, as did hiring skilled agent’s provocateur. He preferred a steady cash flow rather than a high-risk, high-reward investment. But what could be more high-reward than contact with this Republic and metered access to interstellar technologies beyond everyone’s imagination. Getter fumed at the alien for ruining this golden opportunity.

  Then there was a prickling at the back of his neck. An unease shook him to the core. He turned to look over his shoulder. There was a strange woman in the courtyard. At least the figure had a feminine silhouette. It was hard to tell as she wore a black cloak with a fur collar stretching from shoulder to shoulder. The cloak had a peaked hood, and what parts of her face it did not cover were concealed behind slate grey widow’s weeds.

  “Who are you? How did you get in here?” he asked.

  “Are you Administrator Getter?” the stranger asked. Her voice was sonorous and seemed to reverberate in his mind. It made him more uneasy, but also more annoyed.

  “Yes.”

  “You’ve really cocked this whole situation up, haven’t you?”

  That was enough for him. “Guards, haul her off my property.” He gestured at her dismissably.

  Captain Viess herself took up a glaive and stomped over to make the arrest. The stranger swept her hand in a vertical line. Merven noticed the palms and underside of her gloves were made of red fabric. It was the only bright color she seemed to wear.

  “Shhhhh.”

  Viess fell to her knees in a stupor, her weapon clattering to the ground.

  The stranger then sauntered over to the ruined star-craft. Getter made his way over to her.

 “What do you think you’re doing?”

 The woman gestured nonchalantly at him. A sharp sensation of pain overtook his entire body. It was as if glass was scraping across his skin from the soles of his feet to tip of his scalp. He crumpled to the dusty ground, spasming and inadvertently soiling himself. It lasted only seconds, and when the pain ceased the relief was almost pleasurable.

  He lifted his head and found that the stranger was inspecting the interior of the craft. She seemed to have found something that interested her.

  Shortly thereafter she advanced upon him slowly. Getter groped for the fallen glaive and again agony wracked his body briefly.

  “Please be courteous.” She said casually. Almost sweetly. “Administrator Getter, you have ruined a prime opportunity. You have bungled something I want. Which way did the Jedi go?”

  “You’re after her?” Getter swallowed and tried to retain his wits. “I could hire you to find her.”

  The being laughed. It seemed to echo in his head. She reached into her hood and took down her veil.

  “Merven Getter, I shall not work for you. If our goals align, I may choose to use you to get what I want. Understand?”

  She smiled at him mockingly with her thin dark lips. Merven nodded as he could not summon words. At that moment he would agree to anything to get those terrible eyes away from him.

Chapter Text

  “You’re holding me too tightly, Ahsoka.”

  “Oh, sorry!” Ahsoka responded. Her arms went slack.

  Barriss snuggled closer to her chest. “Keep holding me, just not like that. Please.”

  “Alright…”

  Barriss looked off into the middle distance. There was a dust storm off to their left. Ady Sun-Zee was skirting the edge of the storm front as they traversed a dry lakebed so that it would cover their cart tracks once it moved to the East.

  She could tell Ahsoka was upset. She could dimly sense her guilt like it was an acid green wash of color that would periodically flood over her being. Her fiancé badly wanted to soothe her but did not know the method. Plus, she blamed herself for Barriss’ discomfort. She and Barriss had formed quite the bond during their time together. Barriss was used to sensing her emotions when Ahsoka was in her presence, she had become quite adept at teasing them out to understand what was bothering her. Now, though, the bond felt fuzzy. It should concern her greatly, but Barriss cannot afford the effort. She had to sort through her own troubles first. Ahsoka’s concern was touching, but it would not help her right now. The only thing that could help her was time.

  Ahsoka reached into a pocket on her belt and brought out a compass. She held it flat and watched the needle stabilize.

  “Is that the one the sages gave to you?” Barriss asked.

  “It is.”

  “That was kind of them. It is a holy thing to us. Give us a compass and a means of telling time and there is no need for a chantry. That is all we need to show our faith.”

  “And it’s practical too.” The Jedi added.

  “So is faith.” Barriss turned her head and closed her eyes. There was a throbbing warmth behind them displeased her. All her joints ached. She could feel every jolt of the axles. Her embroidered clothing was like rasps against her skin. At least this would not last long, at least the acute physical effects. The cravings would linger on for a long while. Perhaps to some extent for the rest of her life. Which would be a burden. She would need to carry similar medicines in her apothecary bag during her career as a healer. And she wouldn’t be quitting that lifestyle for anything. This yawning thirst for the medicine was hard to suppress. And that angered her. It was so tempting, to sink back into oblivion. But she dared not. She did not want that as a lifestyle. She sought to tune out the howling need.

  She wouldn’t let Getter do that to her.

  Barriss snuggled her alien girlfriend close. She would get through this.

  “Those birds are still here.” Ahsoka commented.

  She was huddled so close to her chest that Ahsoka’s voice thundered through her head. She was so tempted to snap at her out of anger. She trembled and resisted her impulses.

  “That is common, Star-Girl.” Ady Sun-Zee answered. “Scavenger birds often trail behind auzcarts, especially caravans. They know we will stop at sources of water, or maybe they can sup on our leftovers when we break camp.”

  Ahsoka nodded and caressed Barriss’ shoulder. The fabric scraped against her skin. All her nerve endings seemed to call out for medication. She thirsted for relief. Barriss closed her eyes as tight as she could, wishing she had somewhere else to divert her concentration.

  At dusk on the second day they reached their destination. Good. Barriss could not bear Ahsoka asking if they were close any longer. Ady had taken them to a location known only to a select few Adepts of She of the Flowing Waters. Fittingly, it was an oasis located amongst dusty foothills where a great escarpment of underground ice met with the surface. It was slowly melting and would continue as such for a thousand years or more. It was just a gully between two arroyos, but that was enough to hide the tips of the conifer trees from view unless you approached at a certain angle. The auzcart trundled up a well-maintained little trail and there were some living structures built into the sandstone exterior walls and a smooth green pool where the waters collected. Water weeds fluttered calmly in the current. The only sound was the pitter pat where the waters fell onto a flat rock and the rustling of the pines in the wind.

  Barriss pushed herself carefully off Ahsoka’s chest and made her way on wobbly travel-sore legs to the back of the cart. She eased herself to the ground and put a hand on Ady Sun-Zee’s shoulder.

  “Thank you, for taking us here. I think this is just what I need.”

  “Of course, child. You can attend to yourself. We shall make camp.” She replied.

  Barriss made her way to the trickle of water at the far end of the gully. She pulled off her head covering and began to strip out of her sari as she walked. Ahsoka followed behind her until Ady caught her by the arm.

  “She is going to want some alone time, dear. For prayer. That is the purpose of this place.”

  “Alright…” Ahsoka looked over at her yearning for reassurance.

  The elder Adept gave her a hug. “She’ll come to you when she’s ready, dear. Do not fret.”

  “Alright.” Ahsoka sought to release her worry and let Barriss attend to spiritual matters, like a Jedi should.

  Barriss tossed her bunched up clothing onto a dry part of the rock then unlaced her sandals. She then put her head under the water’s flow causing her to inadvertently gasp. It was cold and refreshing. She sat cross-legged under the trickle. She craned her neck to drink a bit of it down, to wash the travel dust out of her throat. Then she allowed it to pitter-pat on her scalp as she began a long recitation of prayers. She could see her companions unloading the cart, as well as the three blackbirds sipping at the water's edge. One of them turned to caw and croak at the other two, which took flight. The remaining bird chortled in victory, then watched Ahsoka and her two mirialan companions make camp.

   Animals can be so personable, sometimes. Barriss thought to herself. She then closed her eyes and devoted all her attention to her prayers.

  Once Ahsoka set down the last piece of baggage in the cart and Adept Sun-Zee was unharnessing the auz to graze, Cyslin Myr approached her.

  “Jedi Tano, may I steal a few moments?” she asked.

  Ahsoka stole a look over at Barriss, sitting naked at the far end of the gully, then she gave Myr her full attention.

  “Certainly. What can I help you with?” she asked.

  “I would like to transcribe a full affidavit of what happened to you and Adept Offee, so that we can present it to the Unanimity Counsel, and the Mandate leadership. I am sure you understand what a grave violation has occurred, apparent poisoning of an Adept by a Mandate administrator.” Myr said.

  “Yes.” Ashoka agreed. “Will it take long? I do not want to leave her alone for too long.”

  “Adept Sun-Zee shall watch over her as we work.” Myr replied. “She will be indisposed for a time.”

  “What is she doing?” Ahsoka asked.

  “She is appealing to her goddess. I imagine it is much like the trance-like states you attained back at the chantry. You know how to spell your name? You shall need to affirm your testimony.”

  Ahsoka winced. “Yes, I think I can manage that.”

  She followed Myr into one of the quaint wooden dwelling places which turned out to be mere fronts for larger caverns carved into the sandstone. Myr lit some oil lamps, retrieved a writing table, and they got to work.

  Alone, her eyes closed against the dimming sunset, with just the tricking of water for company, Barriss repeated prayers memorized since childhood. Again, and again until the words flowed together and only their meaning and intention remained. She had to release her fears and anxiety over the ritual failing. She had tried this kind of thing previous and in vain. But this time, this time, she must not fail.

  The world gradually fell away. Her sense of time fell away. Her anxiety calmed under repeated mantras. She eventually did not even notice the cold water or any noises of her surroundings. She did not sense anything at all. Until she felt a presence.

  She opened her eyes and there was just a vast empty blackness. Then a diffuse brown light coalesced before her. The colors shifted into a feminine mirialan form. Her long flowing hair was the deep blue of a lake. Her skin was a flowing mix of algae green and a muddy pink of a stilt-filled stream. Her clothing was icy white with frost embroidery. Her form was immense and curvy with a full pregnant belly and breasts ready for nursing. She seemed to grow paradoxically smaller as she approached but remained over three cubits tall at arm’s length.

  Finally, she spoke. Her voice was so gentle and full of maternal familiarity. “Adept Barriss Offee, my child. Do you come in faith?”

  Barriss shuddered, gasping lightly. She almost did not remember how to respond. “I come in faith and ask for your hand to guide me!”

  “What brings you to my side, my dear heart?” The goddess drew close enough to put her arm around Barriss though she felt insubstantial. The emotions were there, however. Barriss felt boundless comfort. An overwhelming maternal love. “I am afraid I cannot cure you of your unease. My waters flow through the sap of the poppy just as they do though the blood in your veins.”

  “I understand, my lady.” Barriss leaned in to her, she was smiling so broadly her lips might split.

  “Then what?” the goddess spoke softly. “I cannot foretell your future, that is my lover’s domain.”

  “Seeing you is enough. Being in your presence is enough. I was worried my faith was flagging.” Barriss responded.

  The goddess raised a blue eyebrow. “How so?”

  Barriss swallowed nervously. “I should have known something was up when my tea was so cloyingly sweet. I finished my cup out of politeness. Soon afterwards I could feel the drug take hold of me. I used my gifts to keep my senses about me. The gifts you provide me.” She looked up at her in reverence.

  “Quick thinking on your part.” said the goddess.

  “I perhaps should have pushed back at that point, instead of attempting subterfuge.” Barriss lamented.

  “You needed more information, my child.” The goddess told her. “You did not know until then that you were in an enemy compound. There would have been much violence if you had pushed back. And you were not in a state to take that on.”

  Barriss frowned. “But when they had taken me out of Ahsoka’s sight they put a tube down my throat and gave me enough of the tincture to down perhaps five grown men. I made a rash choice.”

  “You gave your enemy an opportunity to fully show his villainy. How were you to know that they knew you were a healer?”

  “I don’t blame myself for that.” Barriss said. “But once I was overcome, in that euphoric bliss, I didn’t care anymore.” She closed her eyes to keep back her tears. “I didn’t care about the trouble I was in, that I could have stopped breathing at any time. I didn’t care about Ahsoka, my love for her seemed so far away. Dimmed. Worst of all, I didn't care about you. I lost my faith for a time. Once I had regained a bit of my senses that scared me. I was ashamed.”

  “My sweet child.” She ran her hand through Barriss’ hair. “Would you say you lose your faith as you sleep?”

  “No.” Barriss answered. “Not when She of the Eyeless Face sends me dreams.”

  “Barriss, I was with you the entire time. Know that. You are dear to me whether you have your wits about you or not. Whether you are praying or in a stupor. I do not consider it an abandonment of faith if you were rendered senseless. That was a trick of the mind, not a deficiency of the soul. Do you understand?”

  Barriss nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”

  “Is there more that troubles you?”

  “I…” she paused. “I know that Ahsoka is troubled, but I was not ready to comfort her. She blames herself. For not protecting me. I do not have the strength to reassure her.”

  “I will not give you the strength to comfort your beloved, because you already have it, or will in your own time. I am asking you not to blame yourself for the evil others do unto you. Just tell her she should not as well, in your own words.”

  Barriss nodded. “Okay.”

  “Come here.” The goddess enveloped her in a tender hug. This being who brought the rain and the sleet and the snow, was here to reassure her faithful acolyte. “Now it is time for you to wake up, daughter of Mirial.”

  “Yes. Thank you.” Barriss mumbled.

   Wake up.

  Barriss felt herself swaying. She buoyed herself up with outstretched hands. It all came back. The gully was lit by moonlight. The cold. The water on her skin. The stable slick rock face underneath her. She gasped and nearly choked on droplets of water.

  She looked around in wonder. Had she really touched the divine? She surely felt the aftereffects and wonder as the real-world reappeared all around her. She then looked around. Ahsoka was nearby. She had laid out a bedroll and was fast asleep under a fur blanket. She had also been thoughtful enough to set out some towels for her lover.

  Barriss carefully got her weary feet under her and picked up the first towel. She ran it over her body, then tamped down her hair. For a while she looked up at the starry sky and moons above her and just luxuriated in the feeling of being skyclad and alive in a world of such magnificence. Then she padded over to where Ahsoka slept.

  Oh, her wondrous partner. Her djinn. The sight of her wielding a sword made of flaming green balefire bucked her right out of her stupor. She was a legend, surely one sent by the goddesses. And she was hers.

  She eased under the covers and put her head on the pillow. “Hey, scoot over.” she whispered.

  Ahsoka’s body tensed. “Barriss! Your skin is like ice!”

  Barriss snuggled up to the Togruta. “Warm me up, then.”

  “Alright.” Ahsoka’s eyes once more appeared sleepy after the initial shock wore off. “How do you feel?”

  Barriss sighed. “A bit more refreshed. I’ll need more rest, however… Ahsoka, thank you for rescuing me.”

  “You seemed to have everything in hand. You even had a sword in your grip. I just carried you out.” Ahsoka tucked a wet strand of hair behind her ear, then nuzzled her forehead against her lover’s. “I’m sorry, Barriss.”

  “I know. You don’t need to be, but thank you. It wasn’t any fault of yours, Ahsoka. Only one man is responsible for harming me.”

  “True.” Ahsoka closed her eyes and scooted as close as she could. She placed an arm around Barriss’ neck and a hand on her hip. “We shall bring him to justice, soon.”

  Barriss closed her eyes and allowed weariness to overtake her. She was far from recovery, but she was content for now safe in the arms of the girl who fell from the stars.

   Barriss signed her name with a flourish then looked up at Adept Myr. “Now that you have my affidavit, what now?”

  “Now Adept Sun-Zee and I shall take the cart back to Samysayet, starting a formal complaint against Getter. We shall send back supplies for your journey North.”

  “No!” 

  Everyone else turned to look at Barriss. She had been rather sedate since the escape and they all sensed her inner peace had improved since her ritual, but now her expression was set and fiery.

  “Ahsoka and I need to keep moving. We have four mounts. We abandon the cart here. You two ride back to society and file the charges. Ahsoka and I will head north.”

  Ahsoka grunted. “She’s right. We are both targets. The danger increases the longer we stay in one place. We need to get off the X on the map.”

  Myr nodded. “It will be uncomfortable without saddles, but I yield to your reasoning.” She smiled and it was one of the rare times her features shifted into complete and gentle affection. “I shall miss the two of you. We shall do what we can on our end. You two, be clever and quick.”

  Barriss bowed. “Thank you, honorable Adepts.”

  About an hour later Ahsoka was attempting to befriend the auz she was to ride for the next few days. In her adventures on the periphery of the Republic she had ridden many strange beasts such as these. She knew from experience that it took a while to bond, as if they could sense her apex predator ancestors in her genetic heritage.

  Auz were curious creatures. Ahsoka had wondered in all their cart and carriage rides why they would lash such beautiful beasts to such slow methods of transportation. They were clearly evolved for speed. They had long, skinny legs with taut muscles. Their rib cages were thin and deep and scallop-shaped trailing up to skinny waists. She placed the back of her hand near his muzzle and let him give her a few tentative sniffs.

  “Making friends?” Barriss asked. Ahsoka looked over at her. She secured her hair in a bun and then wrapped her scalp tightly in a headscarf to keep it secure.

  “I’m trying to. Which one do you get along with? That can be your mount.” Ahsoka replied.

  “We should load all the cargo onto the second auz. I don’t think I can remain upright for extended periods of time on my own. I shall ride with you, if that is alright.” She looked slightly embarrassed.

  “Of course, love.” She took her hand and kissed her knuckles, prompting a smile.

  Ahsoka guided them through valleys and canyons, then there was a huge expanse of rolling chaparral hills. She tried to skirt the edge of the desert here, or areas that wildfires had cleared out so they would not get hemmed in by the shrubs. Scraped by their thorns. She made note of the local flora and fauna as they went. She particularly took interest in the sand crabs. They had dome-like carapaces and many legs they used to sift the sands for food which led beautiful corrugated trails zigzagging across the landscape. 

  Barriss was quiet at first. Ahsoka assumed she was quietly praying and she gave her as much privacy as possible while still bracing her to her chest with one hand. When they stopped for a midday meal Ahsoka tossed some scraps to that blackbird that was still following them. It hopped in the air to snatch the food, its long tail trailing behind it. Some birds had little pinion fingers and talons on their wings and lizard-like tails.

  After their midday meal and Barriss’ prayers they got underway, leading their mount down a dry river bed. Ahsoka could tell that Barriss was despondent about something. She rubbed carefully where she held her in place just below her ribs.

  “How are you feeling?” Ahsoka asked.

  “Like I need a distraction.” She replied, and continued after a brief pause. “Ahsoka, you love me?”

  “I am devoted to you, as your sun is to providing light and heat.” She answered.

  “Would you do anything for me?” Barriss asked.

  “I would move mountains stone by stone, my love.” She answered.

  “You want to marry me.” This was more of a statement.

  “That I do.”

  Barriss leaned back against her more pronouncedly. Ahsoka could feel trepidation wriggling inside her being.

  “Then could you tell me about your childhood? I’ve told you so much about my family and my life here on Mirial, and I know hardly anything about your past. I want to learn everything about you, Ahsoka. Please?” 

  Ahsoka grumbled deep in her belly. She couldn’t help it.

  Barriss continued. “I understand it is a sore subject, my dear. I’ve tried to be patient. But I need to keep my mind active right now and I cannot defer my curiosity anymore.” She hesitated. “We are to be married, Ahsoka. In our belief that is alike to having your soul cleft in two and fuzed for all time. A little of you will be me, and a little of me will be you. Do you understand? I have clear eyes on who you are now. But I want to know where you have been. What you have seen. Who you were. Where fate found you and led you to here. Into my arms.”

  Ahsoka closed her eyes and just felt Barriss’ weight against her chest and the movement of the beast below her for a second. 

  “You are right, of course. I have been too indulgent of my grief. Now that I have accepted that Mirial will be my home, and now that I want it to be my home, I should accept that my past is in the past and it would be freeing to tell you. And more of a burden to keep it hidden.”

  Ahsoka’s keen hearing could pick up the slight clicking sound of Barriss smiling, the corners of her lips pulling back to show her teeth. 

  “Good. Could you please begin at the beginning?” She asked.

  “That is often the best place to start.” Ahsoka conceded. She took a deep breath. “My mother was a huntress. That is not just a career path for Togruta.”

  “Oh?” Barriss queried.

 “Especially in the small villages it is a sort of secular leadership position. The one who provides for the community is allotted extra weight in decision making. Equal to a shaman. But secular.” Ahsoka pursed her lips, struggling to remember vague memories.

  “Did you look up to her?” Barriss asked.

  “I think I did.”

   Think? Barriss wondered at the implications of that.

  “My father worked with his hands. With wood. I believe he was a carpenter or some such.” Ahsoka continued. 

  “You believe? You don’t remember?” Barriss’ worry started to compile.

  “I’ll get to that, dear.” Ahsoka rubbed her lover’s belly to hopefully reassure her. “Let me tell it as I need to.”

  “Alright. Go on.”

  Ahsoka took a moment to collect her emotions. “When I was a year old my mother took me on a hunt. It is tradition to teach the young the realities of life and death, and what it takes to keep the village fed. She felled a kybuck that day. A common game animal. She was preparing to dress the buck when a predator snuck up to claim her kill.”

  “Oh no.” Barriss exclaimed.

  “Yes. She had little time to react. She tried to scare it away. It was a raxshir, like a big cat. And kind of like a bear… anyway, when my mother fought back it left her and the kybuck but it took me away instead.”

  Barriss shifted to look up at her. “That’s terrible! She must have been horrified.”

  “She was. It was too fast for her to chase after. She was forced to go back to the village and assemble a party to find its lair. Everyone expected to find my remains. But, instead, before they could depart the beast came padding down the road to the village and I was on its back.”

  “Really?” Barriss asked breathlessly.

  “Yes, Barriss. And that was my parent’s first indication that I had a strong connection to Ahsla. That I would be a Jedi one day.”

  “What became of the beast?” Barriss asked.

  “It went back into the forest to nurse its wounds, I imagine.”

  “How did you persuade it to spare you?”

  Ahsoka shrugged. “I do not know, love. I was a year old. It was a bittersweet reunion for while I was still alive but my parents knew they would give me up one day.”

  Barriss once more turned to look up at her. The embroidered veil she wore over her hair brushed up against Ahsoka’s lekku. “Give you up?”

  “It was as you said about Adepts having to dedicate themselves to the church at the expense of their families. The Jedi feel they should have kinship to every being in the Galaxy, not just their families. They ask parents in the Republic to turn their younglings over to them after they are weaned but before they fully cement their relationship to their families. So that those who walk the path of the Jedi have a wider family of all living beings.”

  The very idea horrified Barriss. She could feel the tension and apprehension in her lover, her hesitancy to relate her lifestyle to her, her fear of being judged. It was, in a way, a more extreme measure but kin to how she was raised. She would have to accept that Ahsoka was brought up differently than she with diverging values and that wouldn’t change how she loved her.

  “Go on.” she prompted.

  “My parents informed the Jedi of my potential. I was almost four when they came to retrieve me. Their correspondence was intercepted, however. And a pretender arrived earlier than they expected. A slaver in disguise. Ahsla-gifted younglings are in high demand on illicit markets.”

  “Oh, Ahsoka…”

  She patted Barriss’ side. “Do not worry. I could sense his ill intent and clung to my mother’s side. My parents were disappointed in my hard-headedness, then alarmed when I persisted. They asked him for identification and the brigand fled. At the prescribed time Jedi Master Plo Kloon came to collect me and I was again frightened. He was a Kel-dor. They, uh, look very strange. And he was only the second alien I had met. He had long claws, and had to wear a mask because they do not breathe the same air as we do.”

  “What do they breathe?” Barriss asked.

  “Methane.”

  “Amazing. So it was like you thought he was a djinn there to take you away, like with the bandit captain?”

  “Heh. I suppose. In a way.” Ahsoka smiled at the memory. “But Master Kloon persisted. He was patient and when I calmed down I could sense he was kind. I remember him stopping and offering his hand. And I remember taking one of his long claws in my little hand. And then I went with him. I remember the songs of my village almost drowning out my mother’s sobs.”

  Barriss shifted her weight. “What became of your parents?”

  “I do not know, Barriss. I only know the story of the beast because I was sneaky and got into the temple record archives when I was older. My memories of Shili and my parents are very indistinct. I didn’t even remember their names until I read my file.”

  “Oh…” Barriss tried not to pass judgment and Ahsoka could sense her effort. She in turn wrestled with her shame. Barriss was astounded that Ahsoka did not try to reconnect with her family. “Did you have any siblings?”

  “I think so. I think my parents tried again, after they knew, to grow their family. I do not remember if it was a boy or a girl, and the archives did not record this.”

  “I see.” Barriss shivered. “What then?”

  “Master Kloon could sense I was skittish, a country girl, and perhaps not ready for life beyond my culture. He took me to a Togrutan community on a planet named Kiros. It was an artisan colony. I spent a lot of my formative years there. As it was a small undefended community and closer to Republic space. So they offered a plot of land to the Jedi, for a temple. They were just clearing its foundation when I arrived, supervised by Master Jora Malli. She was also Togruta. There were a few aliens in the community but I was raised by my people, and  my culture as well as the Jedi. Shili is my birthplace, but Kiros was my home. Why do you laugh, Barriss?”

  “You grew up in an artist colony? Like a retreat?”

  “Artisan, there were people of many professions there crafting goods. A famous vinery, for instance. On the frequent festivals the wine would flow freely. But many artists and architects, yes.”

  Barriss nuzzled up to her. “Then explain why you cannot draw a straight line.”

  Ahsoka chuckled. “You should see me with my lightsaber. I can carve out a perfect circle in a wall like that!” She snapped.

  Barriss made a face. A rectangle would be far more efficient if you needed access to a building’s interior. More like a doorway. “And what was it like there?”

  “It was beautiful Barriss. They had a fabulous method of architecture. The buildings either had domes like many of the chantries you have shown me, or were fluted and gracefully curved like a flower blossom. My village was built of wood, I had not seen metal buildings before, until Kiros.”

  Barriss’ body twitched. “Metal buildings? That would be so heavy!”

  “They found a way to engineer them, believe me. One building in the town square had a gently sloping roof that went all the way to the ground. I became obsessed with it. I would get a running start and propel myself, with Ashla’s help, all the way up to the gable. I would perch on the roof and I enjoyed watching the Togruta below go about their day. Eventually, that wasn’t exciting enough and I sought to maintain my velocity so I could vault from rooftop to rooftop. I wanted to see if I could make a complete circuit across the square.”

  “And did you?” Barriss asked.

  “My knees and elbows were always scuffed and scabby, and I had my arm in a cast for a while.” Ahsoka laughed. “They called me ‘Little Sparrow’ because I liked the rooftops so much.”

  “Did you get in trouble for that, Ahsoka?”

  “Master Malli would admonish me for the benefit of the property owner’s feelings. And she had me clean off the scuff marks. But I think deep down she admired my drive and abilities. And perhaps she was grateful I had an outlet for my youthful energy that did not pester her. It was a fine place to grow up, Barriss. The community was close-knit. Everyone valued living their dreams, putting their efforts into creative works. I would pose for sculptures or paintings sometimes. There weren’t many Jedi my age there so I was like their little mascot. I was saddened when I left at age eleven for the main temple at the Galactic Capitol. But that was short-lived. It was good to be sorted into a clan of initiates my age. Then my real training began and I had little time to be sad.”

  “Was Master Kloon there?”

  “Sometimes, Barriss. He also came to visit me a few times at Kiros. He taught a few of my courses.”

  “What was the capitol like?”

  Ahsoka hummed to herself before answering. “It started as a big city like Saminiyet Sehir. And it grew to cover the whole planet.”

  A third time Barriss turned to look at her. “The whole planet?”

  “Yes. Yes, Barriss.” She gave her some time to have that sink in. Even then, she had a feeling Barriss was imagining a city of brick and mortar. Where the ground was still visible. The steel and concrete reality was too extraordinary for one unaccustomed to high technology to fully understand.

  “How is the populace fed if the whole planet is a city?”

  “Some crops are grown on terraces, hothouses, but most are shipped in from nearby systems. The population and people’s tastes are very diverse. You can find almost anything in Coruscant shops.”

  “I see…” Ahsoka knew she didn’t truly understand, but had a glimmering of reality. “And that became your home?”

  “Until I was chosen as a Padawan, a rank comparable to an acolyte. Then I had one Master instead of many teachers.”

  “Who was that?”

  “A human named Anakin Skywalker. He looked a bit like a mirialan, but with a different skin and hair color. No tattoos. I was fortunate, he was a very powerful Jedi. You laugh at that, Barriss?”

  “Yes!” She covered her mouth and tried to contain her mirth. “Why did you name this auz ‘Anakin’?”

  Ahsoka smiled. “Because he is also stubborn and has a high opinion of himself.” She reached out to stroke the animal’s mane. “I clashed often with my new Master, but we came to respect each other. That is when I left the temple to go out on missions. All over the Galaxy. Often out to the frontier. There are many Pathfinders exploring new routes though the Outer Rim, and they all needed Jedi on their crews. Our home base was on Port Haileap, but we traveled often. Then we were waylaid for over a year providing security for relief missions to Eiram and E’ronoh who were locked in a brutal forever war with each other.”

  “Forever war?”

  “Yes, Barriss. It was a binary planetary system. Two planets orbiting each other as they both orbit their suns. With a little moon at the center of mass. They should be close, like siblings. But they were so disalike in climate and culture it seems like they were doomed by the gods to constantly feud. That was a hard time. I saw my first combat there. It was kind of inevitable with the fighting so fierce.”

  “I’m sorry, Ashoka.”

  “It is alright, Barriss. It is part of the Jedi’s destiny to be tested as such. It is the will of Ashla.”

  “When was…” Barriss worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “When was the first time you had feelings for another? As you do with me?”

  Ahsoka closed her eyes and smiled softly, reflecting on her memories. “Yes, there was someone. Padawan Rooper Nitani. She caught my eye. She accompanied us on a few missions with her teacher, Master Sho.”

  “What was she like?”

  “She had a craving for adventure, same as me. She had a very strong sense of duty, which I admired. We became close friends. I tried my best not to be awkward around her. But still get her attention. And she would often have to remind me to focus on the task at hand.”

  “Was she pretty?” There was a sweetness in Barriss’ voice that melted Ahsoka’s heart. There was no jealousy. Either the incomprehensible distance between her fiancé and this old flame was great enough to discount worry or she was just that confident that she firmly possessed Ahsoka’s heart that there was no need.

  “I thought she was. She had dark brown skin and these big brown eyes. I could get lost in them. It was more that I admired how she carried herself. Not really a confidence as an assurance in Ashla. That she would rise to the occasion. I wanted to feel that way about myself.”

  Barriss nodded. “Tell me more about Anakin.”

  “My master was powerful and everyone agreed had a great destiny laid upon his shoulders. You know when you meet someone you can sense they shall make the history books? He was like that. He was frustrating, though. There wasn’t a mission plan conceived that he would not discard at a moment’s notice for improvisation. He was just that confident he could spit in the face of danger and come through any obstacle. He had no concern for his own wellbeing, but great concern for those he cared for. A big heart. Strong as the core of a sun. He scared me sometimes. But he was my big brother. My thick-headed thin-skinned big brother. I would argue with him. His hugs were like salve on a wound. His love was overwhelming. His anger was alarming, but he could usually contain it.”

  “Usually?” Barriss asked.

  “Usually.” Asoka sighed.

  They spoke for hours, continuing when they stopped to break camp and have dinner. Ahsoka told her of her friendship with Senator Amidala, and the suspicious frequency she would accompany her and Anakin on diplomatic missions. She spoke of Aubadas and Gloam, of the dozens of planets she visited and the exciting adventures or dull routine she found there. She related her training exercises and Jedi pedagogy. She told Barriss inside jokes she would share with Anakin, how they would communicate and tease each other during stuffy formal meetings with alien cultures. Of the many experiences she had up until that last fateful solo mission where everything went wrong at once. 

  When Barriss snuggled against her on their bedroll under the stars, when the campfire was sputtering and the effects of her nightly tincture dose kicked in, she could sense that her lover was comforted by all this increased knowledge. Ahsoka also felt differently. She felt seen. Perceived more fully. And when she looked up at the veil of stars above they felt closer now that she had related those memories. As if Anakin and Padmé and the others were just an arms-reach away.

  A week passed. And then a second. Without incident. It was just the two women, their mounts, and that blasted mooching blackbird who continued to tail them.

  One night when they finally stopped to make camp Barriss sighed and sat on the hard packed ground. She allowed herself to feel boneless. Her thoughts went to the bottle of tincture, as it had most nights at sundown. And she decided she would forgo imbibing from it. She wanted it over. She wanted to assert authority over her cravings and hopefully she could make it through the night. At least she had company.

  She looked over. From her downcast view she spotted Ahsoka’s boots, splayed and turned slightly outward. She lifted her gaze up her legs. Ahsoka was flexing her calves and thighs to get her circulation back. Her back was arched, her hands pressed against the small of her back so she could puff out her chest. Barriss took a moment to admire her magnificent shoulders. And her back lek which reminded her of a thick drop of sap that never would fall from the trunk. Her elegantly curved montrals coming to twin points. So much like horns, though Ahsoka hated it when anyone made the comparison. Barriss could just make out the curve of her forehead as Ahsoka was arching her neck, looking up into the purple sky. She reached up to the sky with both hands, grasping in the air, pandiculating like a tooka. Then she lowered her arms and turned to smile at Barriss. Her sky blue eyes gleaming in the dim light. And Barriss could write sonnets on just the curves of Ahsoka’s lips. Volumes of them. 

  Barriss felt her heart opening up like a blossom. She could bear any hurt with Ahsoka at her side. Her love and adoration for her was simply overwhelming. And for some reason she loved her back just as intensely. Surely, the goddesses had blessed her, guiding her star-ship to crash at that secluded spot where only she could find her. Perhaps their destinies had aligned. Perhaps they were meant to from the start.

  “Do you feel that, Ahsoka?”

  They had been following a stream that day. Evergreen trees rose up at its banks until they were traversing a forest. It felt comforting at first, the branches giving them plenty of cover, the animal life keeping them company. Now their surroundings were starting to feel oppressive. And they felt observed. There was an ominous presence here, and they were drawing closer to it. The women felt an air of dread.

  “Of course I do… It is curious. I am trying to work it out. I have not felt something like this since…”

  “Since what?” Barriss asked.

  Ahsoka sighed. “Remember when we discussed the similarities between Adepts and Jedi? Remember how I said Ashla had two qualities, cosmic and living?”

  “Yes.” Barriss said.

  “There is another duality. We Jedi, everything we do is in service to the light. We strive towards altruism. What we do is in service to all living beings. We venerate compassion and justice. But some of us falter. Use their talents for selfish gain, become consumed with fear or anger or greed. We say they fall into darkness. They do not serve Ashla, but Bogan.”

  “Bogan?” Barriss asked.

  “Yes, Barriss. Ahsla’s dark opposite. Does this sound familiar? Do any adepts misuse their gifts?”

  “On occasion.” Barriss said.

  “What do you do, when that happens? When someone becomes a danger to themselves and others?” Ahsoka asked.

  “Well, we do not think of it in terms of light or dark, we see it as a matter of being in harmony of the goddess or falling from grace. We seek to isolate them from doing harm and bring them back towards grace and harmony. Forceful corrective instruction, if you will. If they cause harm, however. We dispense compensatory justice if it is deemed appropriate.”

  Ahsoka nodded. “You stop them.”

  Barriss frowned. “Sometimes you have to put down a rabid animal. An adept who misuses their divine gifts to do murder, for instance. If they are uncontrollable. It is regrettable, but one must do what they must.”

  “I understand.” Ahsoka looked out at the horizon, through the trees, all of her senses straining. “Is it possible one of them went rogue? Could have offered their services to Getter?”

  Barriss spoke softly and cautiously. “Unlikely, but I suppose possible.”

  “Do you think you could ride on your own? I would like to go on foot and scout ahead. In case there is trouble.”

  “Yes.” Barriss squeezed her hand. “But we should tie up the auzes and both go. I am feeling better. I could support you.”

  “You’re sure?” Ahsoka asked. She did not want to have to defend both herself and her love if things went sideways.

  “It is like you said, Ahsoka. I would go anywhere if it meant I would remain by your side.”

  Barriss dismounted first. She was a little unsteady on her feet at first, which alarmed her partner, but she relayed and retrieved the blade Adept Myr had loaned her. It was a thin and curved sword in the mirialan style. Ahsoka sought to steady her as she walked but was rebuffed.

  “I am alright, my dear. Just needed a moment from riding all day.” Barriss said.

  “If you are sure.” 

  Ahsoka looked her up and down. She certainly had gotten a bit of her color back in recent weeks. And her eyes did not look as shadowed. The two made their way towards the source of the disturbance. A smoldering beacon of negative emotions. A blackbird, perhaps their longtime companion, croaked at them and swept over Ahsoka’s shoulder. She cried out in surprise and nearly ignited her saber. The bird soared ahead of them, chortling all the way.

  Barriss squeezed Ahsoka’s arm. “Perhaps he is showing us the way?”

  “Maybe… Keep you guard up.”

  They walked over dry pine needles. At least they kept the underbrush down. They heard a rising din of bird calls as they progressed. Ahsoka sought to dispel her tension. To keep her attention on the present. On situational awareness. It was difficult to tell what was ahead with the thick grove of trees all around. 

  Finally they came to a spot where a lightning strike had caused a fire, perhaps years previously. It left a clearing with a blackened and bare trunk in the center. And all around it were many species of wild birds. Nocturnal, diurnal, and crepuscular species who had now natural business gathering like this. It just amplified the eeriness of the scene. They were all encircled around the trunk, with that damn blackbird perched on top. Watching them.

  Ahsoka squinted. The sun was setting in the distance making it difficult to get a clear view. 

  The trunk moved.

  The bird took flight, landing nearby.

  It wasn’t a blackened trunk at all, but a person standing on a stump. A slim woman in a dark cloak. She put her arms to her sides, palms facing towards the pair. The fabric of her gloves were black aside from the underside, and trailing up the sleeves, which were red. It gave the unsettling impression of slit wrists. 

  “Greetings, Jedi!” the figure said, her voice seeming to reverberate in Ahsoka’s head. “I am unarmed, and come in peace. I just want to talk .”

  The Togruta looked at the stranger dumbfounded for a few seconds, then she realized Barriss was tugging on her sleeve.

  “What did she say?” she asked her.

  That’s when she realized the stranger had spoken in Basic, a language she hadn’t heard from another person in nearly two years.

  “She said she wants to talk.” Ahsoka told her.

  “You’d better go talk to her, then. I can’t understand her.” Barriss replied.

  Ahsoka walked closer. The assemblance of birds parting in her path. Her lightsaber gripped tightly in her right hand.

  “Take off your cloak, then.” she replied in basic.

  The woman moved her arms slowly. She took down her hood and unclasped her cloak allowing it to flutter to the ground. She was small and slim, wearing a black wrap dress with dark leggings. Her hair was chopped short, boyish, but somehow it suited her. Her complexion was paler than Barriss. She had a sharp chin and thin yet feminine dark lips. What commanded most attention was her eyes. The whites of her eyes were dark, and her irises almost glowed yellow. It was almost what Ahsoka saw in her mind when Barriss told her of She of the Eyeless Face.

  The stranger smiled, which was most distressing. 

  “I am honored to finally meet you in person. I have traveled quite far to meet you.” she said.

  “Are you a Sith?” It was the first thing that popped into Ahsoka’s head, and she was one trust her instincts.

  The stranger smiled more broadly. “Yes.”

  “Why is a Sith here on Mirial? Why do you speak Basic?” Ahsoka asked her.

  She slowly lowered down to sit on the stump, one knee up and one leg stretched casually out on the nettles. 

  “You think only a Jedi could crashland on this planet? That’s rather arrogant of you. The progenitor of my line came here centuries ago. Then he did not make all the mistakes you have made and prospered. We used Basic as our own secret language.”

  “Mistakes?”

  The mirialan woman tilted her head, gave her a condescending look. “Revealing yourself to the locals. Trying to ‘help’. Rather foolish if you ask me.”

  “So what did he do that was so great? Why’d he come here?”

  “It was the final days of the war between your kind and mine. Sith were turning on each other. Darth Bane proposed the rule of two. The founder was a knowledgeable and mighty wielder of the dark. But he was no warrior. He knew his days were numbered. So, he collected up what he could and fled. As far as he could manage. Finding this place, he drowned his ship. Found an apprentice. The first mirialan Sith to pass on his wisdom. I am now the seventh of that line.”

  “What is your name?” Ahsoka could feel the sweat on her palm, her fingers gripping her saber tightly. Ready to defend herself at a moment’s notice.

  She tilted her head the other direction. “I gave up my name in my becoming. I was just ‘apprentice’, or Sister. It is just me now, so that makes things easier.”

  “And what do you want with me?” Ahsoka asked.

  The Seventh Sister inclined her head. “I think our goals might align. I wish an alliance.”

  Ahsoka frowned. “With a Jedi?”

  “The war is long over, Tano. And we are both marooned. It would be rather silly for us to be automatic enemies at this point, don’t you think?”

  Ahsoka growled at her. “And what is it you want?”

  “You had a beacon on that escape craft, did you not?”

  “Yes.” Ahsoka said cautiously.

  “I want you to activate it. Bring the Republic here.”

  “So you can exploit what they have to offer, like Getter? Don’t you think that would be unwise, bringing your ancient enemy here?”

  The Seventh Sister looked offended. “Please, do not compare me to that cretin. I will not disturb those who arrive here one bit. I just wish to stowaway on board when the first ship leaves.”

  That confused Ahsoka. “Why?”

  “This little world is too small for my ambitions. Little Mirial, off the back, to the side, and far away. I curse my progenitor daily for stranding himself, for his cowardice. I long to be out there amongst the stars, as you were recently.” She looked up at the sky. “Somewhere out there are two other Sith. And I wish to test my mettle against them. I want to see who is strongest.”

  “That’s it?” Ahsoka asked.

  “That’s it.”

  “Why haven’t you taken over Miral? Wouldn’t that be enough?”

  Anger flared across her face. “Who’s to say we haven’t in the past? The Fifth Brother assisted the Mandate in conquering the last of their opposition.” Her expression calmed. “But then what? Sith are not meant to rest on their laurels. What would be left but to live a life of decadence in some stronghold somewhere.” She laughed. “Not that I do not mind a bit of decadence every now and then, of course. Besides, with all the Ashla-aligned Adepts about, I would have to conceal my true nature constantly. I’m proud of what I have become. That would not suit me.”

  “So you want to help me out of my troubles?”

  “Yes. And in return you lure your allies here.” She smiled and scratched her chin placidly.

  “No deal.” Ahsoka answered her.

  “Cannot abide trusting in someone like me?”

  “No. I am a Jedi.”

  “I thought you would be so foolish.” Seventh Sister answered breathily. “A pity. I shall leave you unmolested as promised, for now. I shall come to you again with my offer. When you are at your lowest. And if you are wise you will accept it.”

  “Unlikely.”

  “To your detriment.”

  Ahsoka kept close watch on her. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, ready for anything.

  “Jedi Tano, I see you remain in my presence. I sense you are curious about something.”

  Ahsoka’s lip curled up. “I just never thought I would see a living Sith. Let alone talk to one. Have a polite conversation. No one has seen your kind in eight centuries.”

  “Is there something you want to ask me?” The Seventh Sister raised an eyebrow.

  “Why? Why did you join the Sith? I do not see the appeal.”

  Seventh sister gripped her bent knee and leaned back coquettishly. “You’ve probably been told a lot of lies about us. That we revel in evil. That we delight in suffering.”

  Ahsoka shrugged. “Don’t you?”

  “To me, what I am, is not about attaining personal power or selfishness. It was about transformation. I was not happy singing hosannas to distant goddesses that I felt did not care for me. My faith in the goddesses was thin. I wanted something different. I wanted something more personal. You probably think we torture recruits to coerce them, don’t you?”

  “And you don’t?”

  “It never occurred to you that someone may volunteer for such an experience?”

  Again Ahsoka recoiled. “Why?”

  “To push against your limits, Tano! To see what is the utmost upper limit of pain you can tolerate and push past that. To become stronger. To experience the worst and overcome it.” She bright her hands to her collarbone and mimicked a tearing motion. “To become Sith you must sluff off the skin of your old self and burn it away. And there you are someone, something new. Wet with blood with all your nerve endings alight. You are transformed in the flesh and in the spirit. That is what becoming Sith is to me, personally. Power is an aftereffect of that transformation. Living far beyond your previous limits. To fuck in the fire atop the ashes of your old self. And arise anew.” She bit her lower lip and smiled. “Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  “Sort of.” Ahsoka bared her teeth. “I still think you’re twisted.”

  “In the best way. If you do not wish to escape as I do, you remain marooned. Without support from your Jedi friends. Are you perhaps looking for a new master? Do you want another life for yourself? Push against your limitations?” She craned her neck and looked over at Barriss. “Do you find your Jedi ways confining in any way? I could take you on and you could take your place in the Great Below.”

  Ahsoka moved to the left to block her view and glared at her, which just amused the Sith. “I am fine as I am.”

  “Your loss.” 

The myriad of birds became unsettled. They took flight and began circling the clearing, coming closer and closer to the Sith. Ahsoka had to bring her saber arm up to protect her eyes from the fluttering of a multitude of wings.

  “My offer still stands,” said the Sith. “I’ll be seeing you.”

  And then she launched up into the air. It seemed as if the birds were carrying her away but Ahsoka surmised that she was leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk sinking her fingernails into them like some wild beast. Soon her dark presence was gone from the clearing, and the grove. The animals were gone too, leaving behind a few falling feathers.

  Barriss tugged at her arm. “What did she say, Ahsoka? Who was she and what did she say?”

Chapter Text

  “She was a Sith.” It was a statement rather than a question. She was restating information so she could get it straight in her head.

  “Yes, Barriss.” Ahsoka answered her as she scanned their surroundings. Every flock of birds taking flight now put her on edge.

  “And the Sith started as a breakaway sect of the Jedi long ago.”

  Ahsoka’s lekku twitched and she grumbled to herself. “Not really. There are some divergent sects of Jedi that remain mostly true to the Council. This was more… What is your word for someone who is raised religious but doesn’t just lose faith, they dedicate themselves to the... opposite of practice?”

  “A heresy?”

  “Yes. The Sith started as curious, wanting to use what you call gifts in new ways to draw strength and power. But to us, it went against Ashla. Jedi teach that Ashla serves the light. That Ashla is like the life energy, and cosmic energy that flows through us all and connects us all together. So, we serve Ahsla by serving all beings. You see?”

  “I see.” She had that studious look on her face that Ahsoka found so adorable. It was youthful. The look of a young scribe in a library who wanted to learn everything and was staring at a particularly hard text.

  “Jedi philosophy is that we use gifts as if Ashla flows through us and we channel that energy. Yes? Early Sith wanted to command. Wanted to wield that power. They turned to what we call Bogan. The dark. Instead of the flow it is the command, the will of that Sith. The power. They channel anger and hate. They torture and enslave…” Her voice trailed off.

  “What is wrong, love?” Barriss leaned towards her from atop the saddle. Ahsoka was guiding the auzes though a crumbling arroyo on foot.

  “It’s just that. It was new to me. Meeting a Sith. We thought they all died out in the war between the two religions. All we knew were old stories. I was taught Sith would kidnap Jedi and torture them until they turned evil somehow…”

  “Yes?” Ahsoka could feel Barriss’ big dark eyes upon her waiting for her to continue.

  “Seventh Sister had scars. I assume that her Sith master took her as Adept and tortured her. But she said she did it voluntarily. As a show of strength they torture each other to experience and conquer pain. I just… I have been hurt in battle and never thought that way. I see injury as unpleasant to get over so I could be healthy again. Not a thing of value to itself.”

  “As a healer I feel the same way. Pain of a patient is an misfortune to be eased as soon as possible.”

  “You would not think of causing pain for pain’s sake. Or seeking it.”

  “Precisely, Ahsoka.”

  “She was proud of it. And made an offer to me like it was a sacred ritual rather than a way to turn a prisoner.” Ahsoka shivered at how backwards it was to her own pedagogy. 

  Barriss was quiet for a time. “Like the tincture of poppy.”

  “Pardon?”

  Barriss cleared her throat. “Like the drug Getter used on me. I use it myself as a medicine to control a patient's pain. But I also know some seek it out for the euphoria. It becomes a kind of sacrament to them as well that takes over their lives. I would take it if injured, for the pain. But now I feel the cravings. Maybe this Sith came to crave the pain. The euphoria of sensation. I would not seek out all-consuming poppy stupor by choice.” She let her eyelids sag. She craved it still, to her annoyance. And not by choice.

  Ahsoka let out another grumble. “She was like an animal. Like kin to one of her wild birds than mirialan. Just as understandable to me. I can learn the nature of a bird, but it would be unnatural to think like one. I understood her words but did not understand wanting to be Sith. Wanting that pain, seeking it in ritual, or feeling pride from such.”

  “I love you as you are, Ahsoka.” Barriss said tenderly. “And she basically wanted the same as Getter?”

  “For me to call the Jedi. But not to take their cargo and knowledge. To escape Mirial so she could challenge other Sith for dominance.”

  “What a queer woman. I hope we do not see her again. But you said she threatened to come back?”

  “That she would make an offer again in time of need.”

  The two lovers traveled in quiet and caution after that, consumed by the same dreadful thought. As if we didn’t have enough problems.

  They traveled on to the north feeling as if the trail were a knife’s edge. But there were no more encounters. It was akin to their hermitage alone, when they first met, but mobile. With an ever changing scenery. Scaling ever heightening hills and plateaus. 

  As they traveled further north the atmosphere grew noticeably colder. Ahsoka retrieved a fur-lined cape with a hood, which helped a bit. During their winter alone when she became sick they only had one set of warm-weather clothes between them. At least this time they were prepared.

  They were passing through a narrow canyon when Ahsoka sniffed the air in a series of short bursts, her mouth slightly open and neck craned back.

  “What is it, dear?” Barriss asked her.

  “Someone has a fire going… and was about to cook a meal. We need to be on our guard.”

  “As if we were not before?”

  Ahsoka smiled and kissed the back of her head. She slackened the reins and urged the auz onwards, but frowning with her large eyes alert. Then they went around the bend and there was light ahead of them. It was, indeed, a slightly neglected campfire before a lone tent. It was, in fact, a pleasant flat spot perfect to bed down for the night. Ahsoka was suddenly very aware of the twilight’s gloom all around her. She slid off her mount and cautiously crept closer and could hear Barriss follow behind her.

  “Hello?” Barriss called out. The only response was a child’s laughter. 

  “Who’s there?” Ashoka asked the night.

  “Are you the one?” a youthful voice called out. “Are you the one foretold?”

  “Depends on who’s asking.” Ahsoka responded. Perhaps it was vanity, but she assumed the stranger was addressing her. No one was out looking for Barriss who was not also hunting for her.

  There was a whooshing and a whip crack sound. The tip of a bullwhip wrapped around a tree root jutting from the canyon wall, and a youthful mirialan swung down gripping the hilt. She then flicked her wrist, and the whip untangled itself and retreated back into a coil in her hand. That took some serious finesse using Ashla. 

  And indeed, the youth was dressed like many of the male Adepts Ahsoka had met at the chantries, though she was a girl of perhaps seventeen. Her purple-tinted hair was uncovered and worn in a simple ponytail. “Are you the one?”

  “The one who?”

  The girl’s eyes sparkled in the waning sunlight. “The one She of the Eyeless Face told me was coming. Only one way to find out.” She drew back her arm and the leather whip lashed out anew. It wound around her arms and torso leaving a painful welt where the end snapped against her bicep. 

  Ahsoka struggled against the binds for a bit, making the rookie mistake of taking a step backwards and making it tighter. The girl just held to the grip with both hands smiling placidly. Finally, she lost her patience and got ahold of her lightsaber. With a snap-hiss the blade erupted out and quickly sliced the whip in two. It fell limply off her body like a dead constrictor. She stepped in front of Barriss and struck a defensive stance.

  “You are as she foretold! The star-girl with the flaming sabre. Well met, and sorry for that. I had to be sure.”

  “You could have just asked!”

  Barriss put a hand on her shoulder. “You can put that away, she’s an Adept like me.”

  She turned the saber off but held on to it. “Who are you?”

  The girl tilted her head back and opened her mouth but Barriss beat her to the punch. “You’re Vernestra Rwoh, aren’t you?”

  Suddenly the youth was crestfallen. “I was hoping, just once, that I could introduce myself without my reputation preceding me. To a being from another planet at the least!”

  Barriss grimaced. “Sorry!”

  “It’s okay,” Vernestra reassured her. “Do you want to warm your bones by the fire? Have some tea?”

  Barriss gave Vernestra a warm and friendly smile, with a hint of chagrin at her previous gaff, and sat down with her. Leaving Ahsoka standing there feeling foolish. This girl tried to whip her, and she’s just supposed to forgive and forget? Ahsoka squatted down on her heels by the warmth of the fire and nursed her pride. “Why are you so well known?”

  Vernestra had busied herself with finding teacups for all three of them, seemingly more interested in mirialan hospitality than introductions. “Your friend seems aware of my renown, maybe she can tell you?”

  Barriss’s forehead wrinkled, again feeling embarrassed, then turned to her fiance. “She is perhaps the most gifted of us seen in generations. She made Adept by age fifteen! We all celebrated her accomplishment, even if we had not ever met her in person.” She accepted her teacup and leaned closer to Vernestra. “I haven’t heard anything about you since then, though. What have you been up to?”

  The youth poured tea for her interloping guests. “The Mandate sent me north on a long-term diplomatic mission to Pityusa Patera. I take it that’s where you are going as well? There is tension between the clans and Administrator Getter.”

  Barriss nodded. “So we heard.”

  “They sent me up there to get everyone at the negotiating table, hammer out differences.”

  “How’s it going?” Ahsoka asked.

  “Terribly. The clans are ready and willing to play pathka, having elected a representative long ago. They welcomed me when I arrived, and we drafted a few proposals to settle the dispute. But Getter will not show up. He hasn’t left his fortified estate in Samyet in ages, as far as I’ve heard.”

  “Yes, we just came from there.” Ahsoka brooded. “What is this dispute?”

  “Well, the administration of a province is not always the meritocracy that it should be ideally. Often it is a form of patronage, cronyism, or a way for a mentor to test a bureaucrat's quality of mind and spirit. The smaller, urban provinces are hotly sought-after and contested. They bring in a lot of prestige and tax revenue. But Pityusa is a mountainous region cut off from civilization by precarious mountain passes. Its land is good for little but sustenance farming, wool export, and cattle herding.”

  Barriss nodded and looked over at her lover. “My own homeland was as such.” 

  “Okay, so?” Ahsoka sipped her tea.

  Vernestra cleared her throat. “So, I imagine Getter saw less opportunity and more insult when he was offered his post at Pityusa Patera. But, he was clever and ruthless. He found one method to maximize his income and his status.”

  “The toll roads at the mountain passes?” Barriss guessed.

  “Yes. He raised their rates steadily, season by season, claiming he had inherited a decrepit system of washed-out paths. And while he has made improvements, it is far outside any reason or restraint.”

  Barriss took a long sip of tea. “I cannot imagine the clans were happy with his edicts.”

  “No. And were less so when he changed the granularity of his tolls. At first it was a flat fee, then he spread out pricing for heads of cattle and number of individuals in a caravan. The most recent outrage is the toll on pregnant individuals, a small fee for their expected child. Shepherds are a proud and private culture. It seems an intentional outrage for the magistrates to inspect bellies.”

  Barriss winced at the idea and Ahsoka nodded. “Why do not the people just use their own roads?”

  Vernestra turned away and frowned. “They tried that, only to have Getter insist his magistrates patrol every goat trail used for transport, to protect against ‘brigands’. The citizens consider them to be the brigands. No one steals from the populace quite like the toll-takers.”

  “I’m not surprised. Adept Rwoh, why did you not ask for help when you couldn’t bring Getter to come to a summit?”

  The young woman looked offended. “I did! Many times I wrote home. Only to be told to settle the matter. I began to think I was set up to fail. That while negotiation was the stated goal, the Mandate was hoping it would convince the clans to settle down. To give in and give up.” She huffed in indignation. “For all my fame and prowess with the goddess’ gifts I am a poor negotiator. Not by any fault of mine but my age. The Mandate just does not take me seriously. My mission was doomed before they sent me.”

  “Sounds like...” Ahsoka looked over at Barriss for support, “Uhh, worry beyond the real?”

  “Paranoia?”

  “Yes, Barriss. It sounds like that.”

  “I would agree,” Vernestra made a bitter face. “If I didn’t suspect the reasoning behind it all. Getter makes a lot of people money, and powerful people owe him favors.”

  The Togruta’s eyes went wide. “How so?”

  “What do you think happens when a family cannot afford their tolls? Someone must take a pledge of indenture for some span of time. The great cattle families are shrinking, since in order to get their herd to market sons and daughters, fathers and mothers must leave to work off their debts. Getter set up a market to sell off these indentures. Many powerful people in the Mandate are grateful for the flow of cheap labor. Meanwhile, families mourn and loneliness is epidemic. The great works of infrastructure all across the Mandate are being built by depleting the population of the north.”

  A fiery indignation boiled up in the young Jedi. She turned to her beloved. “And he wants me to summon the Republic so he can do the same to the entire planet!” Barriss nodded gravely in response. “Why did you seek me out, Adept Rwoh?”

  The young woman smiled. At first Ahsoka thought she seemed especially young having no tattoos on her face, but she later saw they were small evenly spaced dots at one temple. “You’re the key to my mission’s success! I prayed, long and hard, to She of the Eyeless Face for a solution, and she brought me a vision of the oranged and striped girl-from-the-stars with a flaming sword! It was worth coming here and ruining my second-favorite wip.”

  Ahsoka nodded, her affect serious. “You want for me to fight Getter’s magistrates?”

  Vernestra looked confused for a moment, then let out a blurt of laughter. “No! Oh, do you think you’re the mightiest warrior on Mirial now? Are you under a delusion that you’re some sort of ‘chosen one’? Oh mighty warrior from another planet, save us brutish and callow mirialans!” She laughed. “You’re the bait Ahsoka Tano! I want to bring Administrator Getter to the negotiation table, and Getter wants you. If you come with me, he is sure to follow.”

  Ahsoka could not suppress a grumble escaping the back of her throat. Let the girl laugh, but perhaps one day we shall see who is the superior warrior . “Alright.” She looked over at Barriss, who gave her a nod. “We were on our way to tear up his toll houses, anyhow. We shall continue in your company.”

  Vernestra smiled broadly and in her mirth looked all of her youthful seventeen years, and no more. “Great! I have a smuggler waiting for us a day or two from here who can get us past the magistrates undetected.”

  Ahsoka grunted and scooted closer to Barriss to bathe in her body heat in the evening’s chill. Young Vernestra gave them both an incredulous look and got busy preparing dinner for three. Ahsoka got the feeling that the youth would not appreciate further public displays of affection.

  But in private it was their prerogative. Ahsoka and Barriss pitched their tent that night and cuddled on their bedroll under layers of blankets and furs. Ahsoka carefully probed her beloved’s emotions, then asked her to put them into words. “How are you feeling tonight?”

  Barriss sighed. She snuggled closer and entwined her legs with the Togruta’s pair. It was a study in contrast. Ahsoka was built with the strong bones of a predator, her body was muscular and compact, yet still feminine in her own particular way. Plus, the way she would radiate body heat felt like home to her lover. And Barriss was all soft gentle curves. She was leaner, her touch accepting and captivating. 

  “I feel carried away.” Barriss answered her. “Like my life is nothing compared to the careful plans I made since I was a little girl. Ever since I met you.”

  She nuzzled Barriss’s cheek, her heart fell a bit. “I am regretful at causing such.”

  “Oh, darling! Don’t. I do not regret a minute since we met. You may have turned my life upside-down, as well as all of Mirial. But I do not regret a second of it! It is only my shadow self, that voice of defeat that has always whispered caution at the expense of truly living that laments this change. The rest of me, including all the love in my heart, drowns her out.”

  She adored Ahsoka, her wild girl from an advanced civilization. Warrior to her healer. She of sharp teeth and horns. The one she felt most safe with, but also had a dire need to protect from her world’s parochial prejudices. 

  She ran her dark purple lips across Ahsoka’s full brick red-brown pair and gave her a series of short kisses. “I take you, all of you and all of the turmoil that you have and may cause. Because you have opened up my heart to such possibilities. Know that I love you, dearly. Recklessly. I’ve never been reckless before. It was about time I changed… you changed me.”

  Ahsoka chuckled from deep in her lungs. “Stick with me. Reckless is how I navigate the galaxy.” And she wrapped her arms around Barriss and held her fiance close. The feel of her skin pressed against her own felt like safety, it felt right ang good. And while the powerful of Mirial might have been scheming against them at that very moment, at least in the confines of that tent, there was warmth, love, and contentment.

  They continued their journey in the morning, now a trio. Ahsoka remained wary regarding the Seventh Sister’s return. Having young Vernestra with them changed the dynamic a bit. Soon the two mirialans were teaching her folksongs and idly chatting with her regarding the cultural traditions of the north, and how they differed from the Mirial Ashoka had already experienced. It sounded like a nice life. It sounded like how she imagined her parents lived back on Shili. She decided that on the off chance she were able to make it off planet she should visit there and get reacquainted with her roots. Besides, it would be fair if her parents got to meet Barriss. Not to mention getting to know their long-lost daughter as an adult.

  As she traveled Ahsoka let her attention become diffuse. She directed her steed automatically as her mind wandered. She communed with Ashla. And marveled at her circumstances as Barriss had the evening before. The sheer amount of changes wrought upon her destiny in the recent months. A turn of colossal bad luck that unhinged her life from its comforting trajectory towards becoming a knight, bringing her here. She reflected on how her decisions had come back to bite her, decisions made in good faith at the spur of a moment. It’s funny how a simple choice made offhand can change your life forever. For good and bad.

  She had lost contact with her master and all her friends and allies. She no longer could serve on missions directed by the Jedi Order. But look at all she had gained. This cold little planet may have shrunk down her horizons, but there was so much wonder contained here as well.

  “Tell me about this Republic, Ahsoka?”

  Vernestra’s question shook her out of her ruminations. “Well, it’s big. It’s diverse. Really, society is much the same as here no matter where you go. It is the little differences when you stop and think that you can tell one person apart from the rest.”

  She smiled. “It’s kind of the same story here on Mirial. No two chantries are exactly the same, but we have the same religion. Even if our rituals vary. Our origin stories do not.”

  “How are people of the north different from where I have been so far?” she asked her.

  Barriss answered instead. “Respect is vital here. And keeping to one’s word. In the south the city folk rely more on contracts and legalism. Back home promises were your bond. And family. The circumstances of your birth matter more than which neighborhood you live in.”

  “I see.”

  “There is a patience you don’t find in the cities as well, in a land where everything is several days' travel away. Going to visit a friend is more of a big deal. You are expected to wait outside so they can adjust to your presence. Whereas in the south you can just walk up and knock on their door.”

  “Wait outside?” Ahsoka frowned. “For how long?”

  “Until your host has grown accustomed to having company that day, Ahsoka.” Barriss answered.

  Once they stopped for lunch that day Vernestra left them to hunt for firewood. Ahsoka clapped and rubbed her hands together for warmth. She let out a sharp exhale resulting in a billow of breath vapor. Barriss put her hand on Ahsoka’s shoulder. “So, what do you think of young Adept Rwoh?”

  “She is arrogant and self-confident. Rubs me a little incorrectly, but she seems good of heart.”

  Barriss smiled. “It’s because the two of you are so alike. Talented and powerful, driven in a way others can’t understand.” Barriss took a deep breath. “She may have a high opinion of herself but I’m sure she will grow into her boots in time. Maybe as an adult she will find challenges that humble her a bit. Those thorny tangled issues that make us pause. It’s what makes us mirialan.”

  Ahsoka huffed but did not argue the point. Sometimes Barriss could see her more clearly than she could see herself. Perhaps it was because she only observed her actions and heard her words free of the context from which she arrived here.

  The trio eventually reached the fringes of civilization again, a small trading post at the border of Pityusa Patera. Ahsoka once more wound a headscarf over her montrals and lekku and wore a veil to disguise herself. She was content to walk between the two mirialan women and let them do the talking.

  “You’ll have to sell your auzes,” Vernestra reminded Barriss. “We’ll be doing a lot of climbing and hiking soon. They’re nimble animals, but we’ll travel faster if we do not have to accommodate them.”

  “I understand.” 

  “Come, I told our guide we would meet at this tavern.”

  As they approached the drinking establishment in question one of the patrons was ejected, bodily, through its large storefront window. Barriss hurried over to help but before she could close the distance the woman laughed. She brushed her jawline-length hair out of her face and flexed her hands and toes as if reassuring herself that her limbs were still intact.

  A huge mountain of a man frowned down at her from inside the tavern. He stepped high to clear the jagged windowsill and grabbed the woman by her blouse, hauling her up. Like Vernestra, she was wearing unisex clothing including travel-worn leather pants. “Have you had enough?” the man asked her.

  Ahsoka tugged at Vernestra’s tunic and pointed to the brute. “Is that our smuggler?”

  “No,” she sighed and pointed to the woman. “ That is the smuggler queen Hylo Visz.”

  “Oh…”

  Visz nudged her assailant in his shoulder and got her feet under herself. “Not by a longshot, nephew. Just let me…” She brought up her fists, ready to restart the brawl, and nearly lost her balance, stumbling backwards. She laughed ruefully at herself and in an instant landed a solid punch to the brute’s torso. He frowned in response and answered the challenge with a punch of his own which she ducked under, then another she avoided by jumping out of range. She opened her mouth to mock him when a third landed right in her teeth. She staggered backwards and nearly fell again. “Okay! Okay, have it that way.” She had a low dusky voice for a woman, and it was full of bravado.

  A fifth mirialan woman exited the tavern and gave the two brawlers a wide berth making her way over to the travelers. She was a little older than Ahsoka, and was wearing traveler's clothes as well. She had magenta tinted skin, aquamarine eyes, and diamond tattoos like Barriss but lined up like an infantry battalion in an arrowhead formation descending from her hairline to the bridge of her nose. “Hello, Vernestra.”

  “Hi, Synara. Has she been like this long?”

  Synara rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders but could not shrug off how concerned she looked, or cover it with exasperation. “You know how easily Hylo gets bored. She’s just blowing off some steam.”

  Rwoh looked up and down the street. “And attracting a lot of attention.”

  “She likes to showboat when not on the job.” Synara worried her lower lip and watched the two crunch over the broken glass trading blows. 

  Visz got behind her nephew and managed a solid choke hold. “Say auntie!”

  The huge man pounded the ground with his mitt of a hand. “I yield.”

  Hylo Visz chuckled to herself and accepted the coins she’d won in the wager. She then kissed him on his cheek. “Go home and say hello to your mother for me.” She then measured out a greater sum from her purse, adding it to her spoils. She passed the coins to Synara. “Here, this should cover our tab as well as damages to the window and furniture.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  “Ah!” She noticed Vernestra for the first time. “The prodigy returns!” She smiled broadly. Visz was middle-aged and had a broad-cheeked face with an abundance of smile and laugh lines. Three rows of triangular tattoos stretched across her cheeks and down from the center of her forehead. She glanced over at Ahsoka. “Is this her?”

  “Yes.” Vernestra was quietly fuming at the smuggler. She took the crook of her elbow and marched her away from the tavern. “We need to get going, quietly and discreetly.”

  “Alright! Alright. Pleased to meet you all,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m Hylo Visz and that’s my associate Synara San.” She motioned to the harried assistant hurrying back from her errand.

  “I am Adept Barriss Offee and this is Ahsoka Tano.” Ahsoka was content to let Barriss speak for her. She nodded to the smuggler.

  “I’ve cooled my heels enough. Just a quick stop by the hostel to grab our gear and we can get underway.”

  “Are you sure you’re in a condition to travel right now?” Vernestra grumbled.

  “Yeah! No one knows the hidden trails like I do. I know them like the back of my hand.” She examined the back of her right hand and shook shards of broken glass off the appendage. Taking her attention off where she was walking caused her to stumble again, but young Vernestra helped keep her balance.

  Barriss hurried over to get in front of her. “Here, I think this is yours.” She held up a tooth. “If you open your mouth I can put it where it belongs.”

  Hylo complied and Barriss held two fingers to her gums. Her fingertips glowed softly with a pale blue light for a bit. Once she took her hand away Hylo ran her tongue over her teeth. “Thanks! I probably wouldn’t have missed it for some time.”

  Barriss smiled and curtseyed and the motley group resumed their journey. Ahsoka looked over at Visz, looked her up and down. “May I ask who is paying you? Barriss and I do not have any…” she searched for the right word. “Currency.”

  “Oh, I’m doing this one for charity, as a favor to Sister Rwoh here.”

  Ahsoka mulled that over for a bit. “But… You are a smuggler. Will not unseating Getter cut into your profits?”

  Hylo’s olive-green complexion grew a bit darker. She was wearing so much makeup around her eyes it was an easy illusion. “Yeah, Getter made me wealthy. He’s brought me so much work, people looking for a go-around from his toll roads. I’ve got more money that I can spend in my lifetime. Enough to set my whole extended family up right. I’m greedy, but I’m not a miser.” She sighed. “It’s time for it to end. It’s time for me to give some back and make things right. I don’t want to get paid from my people's pain anymore.” She looked curiously over at Ahsoka, her gaze a little glassy with drink. “So, it’s true? You’re from another planet?”

  Ahsoka glanced at both sides of the street before taking down her veil and showing Visz her muzzle and lekku.

  “Wow, I’ve seen a lot of things on this pink earth but not one of you!” She grinned. Her teeth were still slightly blood stained pink from her barfight. Ahsoka could see how she and Vernestra clashed, they each had a high opinion of herself but Hylo had a more playful adult confidence that must clash with Adept discipline. “I’ll get you to the tribal council, no problem. We shan't see a soul on our journey.”

  “Blessed be.” Vernestra muttered, as if trying to cut the conversation short.

  After a long hike outside town, they began ascending the huge cliffs that hemmed in the village. Ahsoka was no stranger to missions that required mountain climbing, but she missed her old equipment. She missed smart rope and professionally made harnesses. Visz had the skills as a guide to make up for her braggadocio, however. She kept a light banter going as they ascended, occasionally bracketed by comments from Synara as if the younger woman was apologizing for her boss’s behavior. Ahsoka tried to sort out the relationship between the two. Coworkers? Mentor and mentee? Were they lovers?

  She was still pondering that night at camp when Hylo offered her a mug of tea and satiated her own curiosity. “So, you and Barriss a couple?”

  She nodded and accepted the mug. “Yes, we plan to marry after all this is said and done.”

  “Well, control yourselves as long as you’re around Vern. She’s a bit of a prude.”

  “I am not!” Vernestra sputtered. “I have close friends and I don’t mind what they get up to around me. I just…” she made a face. “don’t feel the need to mash my body up against anyone else.”

  “To each their own!” Hylo clinked her cup against Ahsoka’s. “You two are cute together. Congratulations. Hope everything works out.”

  They traveled on though treacherous mountain passes, through sleet and wind. The elements tested their mettle and led to some terse conversations at times, but they worked past it. When they reached a long plateau Hylo took the lead, always on the alert for Getter’s forces. As the sun was beginning its descent to the horizon they came to a broad valley with a rain-basin lake at its center. Clustered around the water were tents of various size and make, as well as temporary fencing for cattle and auzes. One lone rider galloped out to greet them, their auz kicking up clumps of sod under its hooves.

  It was a young adult with long flowing hair wearing a cavalier shirt open at the chest. “Adept Rwoh, you returned!” They examined Barriss and Ahsoka for a beat. “You were successful?”

  “That I was.” Vernestra boasted. “Were there any doubts?”

  “And these are them?”

  “They are.”

  The rider dismounted and gave them a bow. “I’m Keo, Chieftain Droom’s companion. I can take you to him after you have time to recover from your journey.”

  Barriss curtseyed. “Pleased to meet you, Keo. Some time to bathe and relax would be appreciated, thank you. I am Barriss and this is Ahsoka.”

  “Barriss? Barriss Offee? You’ve got people waiting for you in camp. And I doubt I can hold them at bay.”

  “Oh?” She tilted her head. “Let us get going, then. The people looking for me… would you point them out if you see them?”

  “Oh, don’t you worry.” Keo smiled. “I’m sure they’ll find you. There was a certain insistence.”

  As she drew closer to camp Ahsoka’s keen sense of smell picked up the woodsmoke, the meals being prepared, the odor of manure underlying it all. Her stomach felt tight and she tried to throw off the anxiety that came with meeting new mirialans. She drew looks as she passed the northerners, but she hoped it was because they were gratified that Vernestra had succeeded in her mission, not due to her alien appearance. 

  Then she spied a vision of her future with Barriss. A matronly woman stood in their path, flanked by a young lady and tall and dashing young man. She wore simple, homespun clothing. But what really made her stand out was that she had the same strong nose, the same keen cobalt blue eyes, similar clusters of four diamond tattoos albeit in a different configuration as her beloved. The woman was giving Barriss an intense look. She then marched over to her and enveloped her in a tight hug.

  “Oh, my darling!” She held her at arms-length by the shoulders and looked her up and down. “Are you hurt?”

  She rolled her eyes and gave her an exasperated smile. “I am recovering, mother. Thank you. It’s good to see you.”

  She cradled Barriss’s cheek in one hand, then kissed her forehead. “Adept Unduli wrote to us. We anticipated the worst! But at least we knew where you were headed and intercept you.”

  The young girl stepped up and Barriss gasped. “Aylah! Look at how you’ve grown! Is this one of yours?” Barriss admired her fine clothing and lacy headscarf.

  “It is! And I must get your measurements, and that of your beloved, so I can get started on the wedding dresses.” She beamed with pride. She glanced over at Ahsoka. “I need to get to work right away to make so many outfits.”

  Ahsoka’s brow knit in confusion. “Do not we need just two?”

  “Oh no!” Aylah was aghast. “At least six.”

  “Six? Why?”

  “Because the ceremony will last three days and nights, minimum. Longer if you free the province from Getter’s influence.”

  “Three days?” Ahsoka suddenly felt short of breath.

  The matron seemed to realize Ahsoka was there for the first time. She affixed her with her steady gaze, walked over to her. She curiously inspected her lekku and montrals, then reached out to feel her upper arm and shoulders. She turned to speak to her younger daughter. “Heh, it is as I suspected. She reminds me of the woodcutter’s daughter.”

  The youth covered her mouth and giggled.

  “The who?” Ahsoka asked.

  “It’s okay! We can speak of it later.” Barriss looked a bit pale.

  Her future mother-in-law put her arm around Ahsoka’s shoulders and smiled warmly. “This one, after we moved to a new village, was so shy. She would look away from each new villager she met. Except the woodcutter’s daughter. She was a specimen! Could best most of the boys at sport or labor. Barriss eventually retreated to her room and tried to take up her quill, to write her a poem. To relate to her how she felt.”

  “Mother, please…” Barriss implored.

  “I had to clean up so many balled-up first drafts. Finally, her missave was completed. But she became so upset at the prospect of presenting it to the girl, she made herself sick. It was a few weeks later that she decided to join the convent.”

  Ahsoka raised her brows. “Really?”

  “I speak the truth.” She squeezed the Torguta’s shoulder and let go of her. “Do you make my daughter happy?”

  “She does.” Barriss answered for her.

  “I do.” Ahsoka glanced over at her, a bit abashed that Barriss would answer for her.

  “Good. Welcome to the Offee family.” Mrs. Offee took her daughter’s arm and led her deeper into the camp, updating her on how her relatives were doing. Her sister followed behind them.

  Ahsoka slowly exhaled. She had no preconceptions about meeting one’s in-laws beyond what she saw in comedy holos and had never anticipated she’d be in this situation. But it seems to have gone well. 

  “Hey,” The young man who was with her relatives finally spoke up. He smiled and seemed friendly. He must have been close to Ahoska’s age but his curly brown hair made him seem youthful. “I’m your cousin, Damir… That seems to have gone well, eh?”

  “Yeah!” She took his hand and shook it, smiling freely, letting the tension bleed off. “Is she always like that?”

  “Oh yes. Auntie Seren knows how to leave an impression. If she disapproved of you, you would know. Trust me.”

  Ahsoka laughed and gestured to the rest of the family retreating in the distance. “Shall we follow them?”

  “I don’t see why not.”

  She walked beside her new relation and caught her breath. “Is that true, about the woodsman’s daughter?”

  “Mostly. She left out the part about why she really left home.” Damir pursed his lips.

  “Why?”

  “They moved in with my mother because Barriss’s father passed away. The flux passed though the province, and he caught a fever that carried him away. She never said as much in words, but I suspect that is what drove her to study medicine.”

  “Oh… she hadn’t mentioned it.”

  “It’s a sensitive topic for her. She loved her father deeply.”

  Ahsoka chewed on the inside of her cheek and wondered what it was like to have a relationship with your parents that strong. “Thank you for telling me, Damir.”

  “No problem. I can insulate you from auntie if she becomes too much for you. Just let me know.”

  “You got it, cousin.”