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artyblogs · 6 years ago

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Across the Frozen Sea ch2

Star Wars the Clone Wars, Ahsoka/Barriss/Riyo

Across the Frozen Sea summary: Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo find themselves stranded in the Pantoran Taiga. They must get back to civilization, but the wilds are more dangerous than they realize. If the cold doesn’t get them, the locals will.

First Chapter : Previous Chapter : Next Chapter : Last Chapter

Chapter 2: Reindeer Ridge

Multi-colored ribbons of light arc across the night sky, partially obscuring the stream of stars. Riyo leads the way through the forest, her face upturned towards the sky. She’s using the stars to navigate to the coast because once they reach the coast, then they’ll find civilization, and once they find civilization, they can make their way back to Defiance, Pantora’s capitol city. Hopefully, it’s a solid enough plan to mollify Barriss, who has been exuding a quiet anxiety since they woke up out here.

Riyo has tied her suit jacket around her waist and wrapped her button-up shirt around her head to protect her hair and ears. This means that she’s essentially hiking in just a tank top and a skirt, but while it’s uncomfortable, it’s not unbearable. Her people are notorious for their metabolism, pumping out enough body heat to survive temperatures south of -50 degrees. Before she moved to Coruscant, her father would regularly take her and her sisters out camping in places like this, so this isn’t anything new. It’s just a little different, because of the Jedi.

There must be some Jedi thing that tells Barriss and Ahsoka that something is wrong, because they get despondent when they think no one’s looking, and they both sneak worried glances at each other. They reach out unprompted, but they refuse to talk about it when faced with an opportunity to do so. Take this hike for example. Riyo has listened to them go through this painful and delicate dance no less than five times while leading them through this forest, and every failed attempt to vent just riles her ire further. She’s going to go prematurely gray worrying about these Jedi. Watch.

But what infuriates her most of all, more than the tightly-contained angst, is her powerlessness. No matter how much Riyo may care for Ahsoka and Barriss, and no matter how much she may want to help them, she is an outsider and can do nothing but watch this war grind them to a pulp.

Within one minute of walking into a place, Ahsoka will have cased the area well enough to place herself in the most advantageous spot, where she can see all the entrances and exits. Riyo knows this because she sees Ahsoka’s eyes flicker the same way her army veteran uncle’s does. New people, new places, all of them are appraised. And whenever Riyo sees Barriss again, she always wonders if she’s eating. While Ahsoka has beefed up in her absence, Barriss has only gotten weedy.

If they asked, Riyo would help. To do what, she doesn’t know, but whatever it would be, she would do her best to fulfill it. Anything. Anything at all. Mother Moon knows they’d deserve it, and that Riyo would gladly provide it too.

Riyo takes another deep breath. This again. She shouldn’t conflate her will to be a good friend with…what she wants. It’s too dangerous.

To pass the time, Riyo asks them for rhyming words, and after a few minutes of this, Barriss asks,

“Can we hear what you’ve been working on?”

“It’s not ready yet,” Riyo says.

“Can we hear it anyway?” Ahsoka asks.

Riyo takes a deep breath and begins to speak.

Let me float Don’t call me home yet Let me float I’m not done here yet

We try to bail while You sink our ships We try to tread while in Your grip But You drag us down into the deep And put us all to sleep

Still, I keep to the tide as it ebbs and flows Even as the water laps at my toes I wade right in and swim ‘cause You take me away from the trouble I’m in

Keep me buoyant, keep me afloat Bring me fish and bring me a boat Take me to that destined port And never vex for sport

“It’s really short, but that’s the idea,” Riyo says.

“She used a lot of your suggestions, Barriss. You must be really good at it too,” Ahsoka says.

“Master Unduli insisted that I study the art. She was formally trained.” Barriss taps her chin. “That’s why she has tattoos here. But I’m not as inclined.”

Sure, Barriss, but Riyo doesn’t comment aloud. She pauses in a clearing and looks up at the brightening sky. The stars are fading, and she struggles to get her bearings one last time before the sun fully rises.

Barriss turns to Riyo. “Are you allowed to be so conflicted with your gods? I was under the impression that they would demand absolute reverence.”

Riyo thinks back to when she received her tattoos. To distract her from the thrumming of the needle, the priestess would tell her stories about the Gods and what they meant. “I’ve never thought about it like that, but no. It’s not like that at all. The Gods indulge us and we indulge Them because Mother Moon asks us to. What about you? Is the Force so needy?”

Both of the Jedi are silent, and Ahsoka’s face even screws up in thought. Riyo resists the urge to squirm and hopes that she hasn’t overstepped. For a minute, the only sound is the crunch of ice under their boots.

“Is it the Code? Is that how we worship the Force?” Ahsoka finally asks. “I feel like that isn’t really right. Where does it start?”

“You’d be correct,” Barriss finally says. Riyo releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and Ahsoka gives a small smile.

“I knew it! Because the Code had to come from somewhere.”

“We serve the Light Side of the Force by striving for peace. Peace within us and peace in the environment around us. That’s really what all of it boils down to. The Code was developed to guide us in how we should implement that peace, and therefore how we should worship the Force.” Barriss hesitates, then continues. “However, I’ve recently learned that for all of the reverence we hold for the Code, it’s really just a guideline.”

Ahsoka blinks and turns her head a little, as if struck. Barriss turns away, immediately ashamed. Riyo frowns, but doesn’t press further. Whatever just happened, they can always talk about it later.

Ahsoka looks off into the distance. “Do you hear that?”

Riyo could kiss her for the change of subject, awkward though it is. Barriss must feel the same way; her shoulders slump in relief.

Everyone stills and strains to listen. Barriss and Ahsoka step nearer to Riyo, as if shielding her.

The noise of deep grunts and heavy footfalls come nearer and nearer until out of the gloom come a herd of oversized elk. They’re enormous creatures, more than two meters tall at the shoulder, and shaggy with fur. Some of them have wide, sweeping antlers as long as Ahsoka is tall. They crush the undergrowth beneath their heavy hooves and the sharp points of their antlers scrape against the tree trunks and branches as they come through. Ahsoka grabs Barriss and Riyo and pulls them behind a wide tree to keep from getting trampled.

The three of them press against the trunk and hide their faces from the shower of broken twigs and pine needles while the herd passes. Hundreds of elk thunder past them, all huddled so close together they might be one mass, snorting and bugling and making the ground tremble. Riyo blindly gropes for Ahsoka’s hand and holds tight.

Eventually, the herd thins out until it’s only the odd straggler here and there. Ahsoka eases away from the tree and looks around it.

“They’re gone. Well, most of them anyway,” she says. She points at an oversized doe grazing what’s left of the meager grass.

“Eish! We could ride it to the coast,” Riyo says.

Ahsoka grins at them, then turns to the doe with her arms spread ride. “Hey,” she coos.

The doe starts, her large black eyes wide with terror.

“Woah! Whoa, whoa.” Ahsoka coos again. While the doe settles down, she still stays a little bit away and her ears stay flat against her skull.

“Are you using the Force to tame it? Is that a thing Jedi can do?” Riyo asks.

“I am using the Force. Why isn’t it working?” Ahsoka asks.

Barriss giggles, then covers her mouth with a hand and gives Ahsoka an apologetic look. “It’s probably because you’re an apex predator.”

Ahsoka’s mouth forms a silent ’o.’ “I guess there are some things the Force can’t do.”

“Let me,” Barriss says. Ahsoka nods and slowly retreats. Barriss takes a few careful steps towards the doe with outstretched hands.

The doe tosses her head and snorts, her breath coming out in a cloud of vapor, but doesn’t run. Barriss persists, murmuring, until the doe lowers her head and nuzzles her palm. Amazing.

“Good girl,” Barriss whispers. She strokes the doe’s large nose. “Will you let us ride you?” She beckons to Riyo and Ahsoka, who come forward. The doe steps back at the sight of Ahsoka, but Barriss soothes it again.

“Will she let us ride her?” Riyo asks.

Barriss is silent for a moment, then says, “yes, she will. Even, even the ‘Wolf.’” She gives Ahsoka another look. “She means you. It’s the closest equivalent she can find.”

Ahsoka shrugs. “If it means I don’t have to walk the rest of the way, then she can call me whatever she wants.”

The doe proceeds through the woods at an easy gait, which is good, because Barriss doesn’t think any of them know how to properly ride elk and would definitely fall off if it decided to go any faster. Riyo sits right behind her, with her arms around her waist. Now and then, she’ll even tell Barriss which way to go, and Barriss will use the Force to tell the doe. Behind Riyo sits Ahsoka, whose arms are long enough for her to reach Barriss’s shoulders.

This entire situation is…not unpleasant.

As they ride, the sky lightens shade by shade until the dark turns to deep purple. The trees thin out until they disappear completely, revealing a rocky ground and a quaint village in the distance. The houses are squat, with steep roofs to let the snow slide off more easily. They’re all crusted with snow and ice, and thin streams of smoke are already wafting from some of the chimneys.

From behind, Ahsoka takes a deep, audible breath and lets it out in a contented whoosh. “Salt,” she says.

Beyond the little village, hiding under a cracked sheet of ice, is the large expanse of the sea, and beyond that peaks the sunrise, throwing soft shades of pink into the sky. The three of them fall silent as they watch it, and even the doe slows down.

“Thank you, Friend,” Barriss says. “You may leave us here if you wish.”

The doe huffs.

“Should we walk from here?” Riyo asks.

“No, she wants to bring us into town,” Barriss says.

The doe snorts and makes her way down the hill and onto a dirt path that leads into the village.

Reindeer Ridge, a weathered wood sign says. There are a few villagers out already, opening up some of the shops and places along the main road. They’re rough; their clothes are worn, their hair is disheveled, and even their eyes are yellowed and glassy, but they smile and wave hello to them as they ride through. Some of them are strangely bloated. Ahsoka waves back before she slides off of the doe and helps Riyo and Barriss off. The doe dips down to nibble on a patch of grass just outside the general store.

A villager comes out of the store. His face is wrinkled and his tattoos have faded to a pale yellow. He talks to Riyo in Pantoran.

Riyo turns to him. “Ngentsasa ekuseni, uMalume. Ingaba uyasithetha Basic?”

“I do. Everyone does here.” The man thumps his cane on the wood walkway outside the store. “You early, neh?”

“Early?” Riyo asks. Her brows crinkle together. “I’m sorry, you must have us mistaken for someone else. We don’t have an appointment here. We’re actually just passing through.”

“Passing through? No, child. No one just leaves Reindeer Ridge.”

There’s something wrong with the man. Barriss’ practiced eye picks up signs of illness here and there from the way he moves, and from the blemishes in his skin. He’s very sick.

“Eish! You thieves!”

Everyone turns at the shout. A boy hardly younger than Ahsoka points at them from the middle of the road. He’s dressed in furs and he rides an elk buck. Behind him are a few other boys also riding bucks, and between them they lead a familiar herd of elk. This herd crowds the road until they can barely see the buildings on the other side of the street.

“We didn’t steal her, we found her in the forest,” Ahsoka says. She brings her shoulders back to stand at her full height, spooking a couple elk away.

“You stole her! She’s branded like the rest of them,” the boy says. The other villagers come out of their homes at his shout. Riyo turns around and sinks her small hands into the doe’s shaggy fur. She parts it, and there, on the doe’s rump, is a brand. They must have not seen it in the dark.

“Oh dear,” Riyo mutters.

“I’ve been looking for her the whole night!” The boy shouts again. The other villagers weave through the elk herd to see what all the commotion is about.

“Well here she is safe and whole,” Ahsoka says back. She crosses her arms over her chest as she glares up at the boy. “You can have her back and we can leave.”

“Leave? Leave Reindeer Ridge?” A villager asks.

“Who wants to leave?” Another says. The villagers begin to mutter amongst themselves.

Barriss steps closer to Riyo and places her hand on her shoulder. She can feel Ahsoka at her side, completing the triangle. Ahsoka tucks her hands under the hem of her parka, as if to draw her lightsabers.

“What do we do?” Ahsoka asks under her breath. “Should we fight them?”

“No, they’re all sick,” Barriss says. “Each and every one of them. Jedi don’t fight sick people, they help them.”

“Move! Move please!” someone else shouts from across the road. The villagers and even a few of the elk step out of the way of a tall, imposing woman. Her dark hair is long and plaited, and a shark teeth necklace hangs around her neck. A bandage is wrapped around what’s left of her hand; she is missing all of her fingers save the first two and the thumb of her right hand, which is covered in a leather work glove. At the sight of her, Barriss’s Force Sense squeals like a speaker emitting feedback. She winces and dials it back. Even Ahsoka shies away.

“What is going on?” The woman demands. “Why are you harassing these visitors?”

“They stole a doe, Chief,” the boy says. “They admitted it too.”

Everyone looks at the doe in question, who continues to graze as if nothing is amiss.

The woman looks down at them with deep and dark eyes. “You stole one of our elks?”

Barriss finds herself unable to talk under her gaze. It’s as if her tongue is made of lead. She gently nudges Riyo with an elbow.

Riyo has been staring at the woman’s hands, which is odd. It’s not like Riyo to be so rude. At Barriss’s nudge, she finally lifts her head, her face pale and solemn.

“We found the doe in the woods, Ma’am. We didn’t see the brand in the dark, and we only thought to ride her here. We just want to get home. We didn’t mean any harm.”

She says all this in a careful, subdued voice. Barriss has never heard her speak like this, and she shares a look of concern with Ahsoka over her head. The woman draws herself up and hums.

“You still took the doe,” she says. “And then you come into our village and cause a ruckus. You cannot just leave.”

Riyo’s fear spikes in the Force, and Ahsoka lowers a comforting hand onto her other shoulder.

The woman continues. “I am Chief Que-Malo. By the power entrusted to me by these good people, I find you three guilty of Theft. I find you guilty of Disturbing the Peace.”

Riyo’s jaw drops.

“And for these crimes, I sentence you…to a few hours of manual labor.”

“Oh. That’s it?” Riyo releases a sigh and wobbles a little, like her knees are going to give out. Ahsoka takes her hand and smiles down at her.

“That’s it! Okay, show’s over.” The woman, Chief Que-Malo, shoos everyone away. “Jimi, get these elk out of my town, neh? Stop being such a pest.”

The boy ducks his head and gestures to the others. They all start herding the elk through the village.

Despite technically being punished, and therefore criminals, the villagers offer them breakfast before they started working. In fact, they are so gracious and polite that Barriss forgets she is being punished. It’s like they’re guests instead.

Riyo gently turns them all down, then privately warns Barriss and Ahsoka not to eat anything.

“They’re all sick. Do you think it’s the food making them ill?” Barriss asks.

“No,” Riyo says, and refuses to explain further. The three of them follow Chief Que-Malo down to the shoreline, where the Chief leaves them to their work.

There are a pair of docks stretching out from the shore of the village and out over the sea. There are two fishing boats moored to these docks; the other two are far off in the distance, bobbing in the waves. They’re also marked by the flock of seabirds flying above them. Barriss, Ahsoka, and Riyo sit on the dock with a fishing net in piles around them. They begin to mend it.

The hours pass.

This fishing net is probably large enough to cover an entire grav-ball field, but between her, Ahsoka, and Riyo, they seem to be halfway through mending it already. They’ll be done before the day is through and then they can all go.

Barriss absently pinches sections of twine between her thumb and forefinger as she moves the shuttle over and under to make knots. Beside her, Ahsoka works with an easy air, but Riyo is tense. Her movements are stilted and slow, as if her mind is far away.

“This place could use a doctor,” Barriss says. “Have you noticed how many of them are injured? And the chief is missing most of her fingers.”

“All of her fingers,” Ahsoka says.

“Her right hand….”

“Prosthetics. You can’t fool these eyes.”

The three of them fall quiet once more. Barriss stares out at the ocean again. This village and the scene before her is so serene. So soothing. She can’t remember the last time she was in a place like this. Not even the Jedi Temple on Coruscant is this idyllic.

“The wars haven’t reached here,” Barriss says. “There isn’t anything to fight. No troopers. No droids.”

“No slavery either,” Ahsoka adds.

Riyo glances up at them. “Nothing like that here. Mother Moon would weep.”

“Maybe,” Barriss begins wistfully, but doesn’t continue. Riyo glances again.

“It is tempting, isn’t it? But we can’t stay here.”

Ahsoka clicks her tongue as her shuttle runs empty. She brushes the net off of her lap and gets to her feet. “Do you guys need more twine?”

“I still have a lot,” Riyo says.

“No, but could you get a couple extra anyway? We might run out before we’re done,” Barriss says. Ahsoka nods and makes her way down the dock and back to the village. Barriss waits until she’s out of hearing range, then turns to Riyo.

“She’s not herself, surely you’ve noticed by now. She’s not usually so…cold. Isn’t there some way we could help?”

Riyo lowers her shuttle and is silent for a long time. Barriss flexes the soreness out of her finger and thumb as she waits.

“What do you know about Ahsoka’s most recent mission? Did she tell you about it?” Riyo asks.

“She told me that she, Master Skywalker, and Master Kenobi were sent to Zygerria to turn the Zygerrian queen against the Separatists.”

Riyo winces, but Barriss can’t imagine why. Nothing she said was incorrect.

“Did…she tell you about her undercover role?” Riyo asks.

“She went as a slave.”

“Have you ever been a slave? Or even posed as one? Have you ever interacted with one on any of your missions? Or even a former slave?” Riyo asks.

“No.” Barriss has come across servants, and even indentured servants, but not slaves, and they aren’t comparable at all.

“Then it’ll be difficult for you—for both of us really—to understand. We can’t possibly fathom the depth of cruelty Ahsoka witnessed and experienced on her mission, but we can understand that it did hurt her and change her.”

“But she refuses healing.”

“Yes, she has been saying ’no’ a lot lately. I can imagine it’s a luxury she wasn’t afforded on Zygerria,” Riyo says dryly. Barriss cringes. She hadn’t thought about it that way.

“But with the power to say ’no’ comes the power to say ’yes’ too, neh?” Riyo continues. “All we can do is be there for her when she is ready to open up to us. It might not be what you wanted to hear, but that’s what I got.” She picks her shuttle back up and hooks her fingers into the mesh of the net.

Barriss tries to pick the work back up again, but finds it difficult. It really wasn’t what she wanted to hear at all, but it doesn’t mean it was wrong. If Ahsoka needs her to be patient, then patient she will be. But even as the worry for Ahsoka subsides, Barriss’ mind goes to a different problem that’s been bubbling for a long time now. She once tried to tell Master Unduli about it, but that ended poorly, and she advised Barriss to meditate on it. Meditate on it, and not talk about it. The Order is skittish about…disagreement. It wouldn’t do for Barriss to seek help only for it to backfire.

But not telling anyone about it hasn’t helped at all, and meditating on it only made it worse. If she doesn’t tell anyone, then what will she do?

“Riyo?” Barriss asks, the name coming from her mouth before she can stop herself. But after an initial pang of terror, she decides that this is okay. Riyo is not Jedi, and so she won’t report her to the Order. Above all, however, Riyo is her friend and if there is anyone who could help her sort out this mess, it’s her.

“When we talked yesterday about how this mission is ongoing, what if that wasn’t the real issue?”

“Then are you worried about how this is the mission? The one that sets the tone for the rest of your career?” Riyo asks.

“Not even that. My reputation is beyond reproach.” Out of anyone else’s mouth, that might be considered arrogance, but from Barriss it’s just the truth.

Riyo sets her shuttle aside and pushes the net off her lap. She scoots closer. “Then whatever you are worried about must be more serious than I thought. What’s bothering you, Barriss?”

“I’m not sure I understand it myself.”

“That’s all right. We’ll figure it out.”

Barriss hesitates. “I am a knight now. You know this.”

“Yes. Congratulations again, by the way. I don’t know if you got the card I sent you.”

“Thank you, it was very nice. But what if I don’t deserve it? The knighthood, I mean.” She rushes to explain at Riyo’s sudden scowl. “No one is saying I don’t deserve it; it’s quite the opposite. But what if I feel like I don’t deserve it?”

“Why do you feel this way?”

“Should I feel this way at all? So many people want this title. They work so hard for it and many of them never get it. How can I get a knighthood and then not want it?”

“So then because you don’t want the knighthood, you feel like you don’t deserve it?”

“Yes. It doesn’t make any sense. All my life I’ve wanted to be a knight and now here I am and everyone tells me I’m a knight, but I don’t feel like a knight. I should want this. I should want to train a padawan. I should feel some sort of vindication or completion, but I don’t. There must be something wrong with me.”

The weak link in the chain, remains unsaid.

“Is that normal?” Riyo asks. “Is there a shakedown period for new knights?”

“No. Anakin Skywalker took to knighthood like a Gungan to water and everyone else seems so assured. So confident in their purpose and their tasks. I don’t know how they do it.”

“But it’s not a question of skill; you’re perfectly capable of it.”

“Yes.” Barriss says.

Riyo tilts her head and watches Barriss with a slightly furrowed brow. “So then it’s something else. Forget about the other knights, forget about what they’d think; we’re talking about you. Why do you not want to be a knight anymore?”

Barriss stares out at the sea as she thinks. “When I was a youngling in the creche, I’d see these knights and masters and they’d be larger than life. They would go out into the galaxy and help people and they’d come back and say ’oh, I toppled a tyrant the other day.’ ’I solved a blood feud.’ ’I helped build a hydroelectric dam.’ Things like that. So I threw myself into my studies because I thought I’d be doing that.”

“Peacekeeping instead of fighting in a war,” Riyo softly says.

A maw of fear opens up in Barriss’s chest, wide and dark. She shouldn’t go further. This is wrong—it’s wrong! If she truly is as good a Jedi as everyone likes to say, then she needs to stop. She doesn’t know what exactly will happen if she continues along this vein, but she knows it’s bad. She won’t be able to return. It can’t be undone.

“Barriss?” Riyo takes Barriss’ hands in hers. “It’s all right, look at me. Breathe.” Riyo leads her through a slow, steady breath. Barriss’s lungs fill, hold, contract, and as this happens, the whirlwind in her mind quiets down.

“Better?” Riyo asks. Barriss nods her head. “Good. Do you want to keep talking about this?”

Barriss shakes her head no. “I should meditate on it.”

“Then it’ll keep. Would you mind telling me what you find? I’d like to help.”

“I don’t mind at all.”

It’s early afternoon when Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo finish mending the fishing net. They’re bundling the net in their arms and are about to carry it back to the village when Chief Que-Malo walks up the dock towards them, her heavy, weathered boots thumping against the dock.

“Thank you for your service! You are hereby released from duty. You can leave it there,” the Chief says.

The three of them drop the net back onto the dock and untangle themselves from it. Riyo steps out to meet her.

“Ma’am. I was wondering if there was a comlink in the village we could use.”

“There aren’t any comlinks here; no comlink towers either. This place is as isolated as it gets.” Chief Que-Malo gestures further down the coast with what remains of her right hand. “Bravado might have what you need. It’s the nearest city.”

“Brav-Bravado! I know that city! It’s near Defiance,” Riyo says. The Chief smiles down at her.

“That it is. Bravado is about a day’s walk from here, and Defiance is an extra day beyond that. But I must ask, are you sure you want to leave?”

“Yes,” Riyo says, to Barriss’ dismay.

“Then I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors. We’ll see each other again someday.” The Chief steps out of the way so that they can pass, then goes over to the fishing net and begins to drape it over her shoulders.

“Come on, let’s go.” Riyo sets a brisk walk down the dock, and Ahsoka and Barriss hurry behind her. Halfway down, they hear a splash. Barriss turns to see the Chief gone and the fishing net trailing from the end of the dock into the water.

“She just jumped into the sea? Isn’t the water too cold even for Pantorans? Wouldn’t that kill her?” Barriss asks.

“Yes, it is, and yes, it would, if she were a regular Pantoran.” Riyo walks even faster, if that’s possible. She looks ready to set off at a run at a moment’s notice. “Come on, Barriss!”

The three of them set off through the village, and while they put on smiles and wave goodbye to a few villagers, they don’t slow down one bit. It’s only when they’re firmly away, and the village is a tiny spot in the distance, that Riyo stops In her tracks, wheezing.

“Why did we run?” Barriss asks. She’s only breathing lightly. “We could have helped them! We need to help Chief Que-Malo out of the sea.”

“No, we don’t.” Riyo puts her hands on her hips to help her breathe better. Her face is flushed.

“Riyo, you’ve been pretty tense ever since you seen the Chief. Why?” Ahsoka asks.

“And the whole ‘don’t eat any of the food’ thing, was that just paranoia? We could have investigated if that was the cause of their illnesses,” Barriss says.

“They’re not sick, Barriss! None of the villagers were sick.” Riyo takes a deep calming breath and continues in a whisper. “They’re all dead.”

Both Barriss and Ahsoka freeze.

Riyo continues. “They’re already dead. They’re all corpses. The Chief would have needed our help if she were a regular Pantoran, but she’s not. You’re right, Ahsoka. I’ve been afraid of that place the instant I saw her.”

“You know who she is!” Ahsoka says.

“Who is she?” Barriss asks.

“The Sea Goddess, the Keeper of the Dead,” Riyo says. She gestures down the coast. “We should go.” She adjusts the shirt covering her head, then sets off. Ahsoka and Barriss give each other one last horrified look, then follow her.

Want to read them on Ao3 or on FF..net? Click here for the links.

#artillery writes #star wars: the clone wars #Ahsoka Tano #riyo chuchi #barriss offee #fanfiction

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