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Across the Frozen Sea ch7

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 7: The Moonlight Monastery

Snow begins to fall, dusting the ground and the trees in a thin coat of frost. Their boots crunch as they walk through the woods. Riyo has said nothing since they started their trek from that clearing. No murmuring. No humming of any kind. There is only the steady pace with which she leads them. Ahsoka frowns at Barriss, who shrugs.

It's unnerving to see Riyo dejected like this for no clear reason, and while they could just use the Force to read Riyo, Barriss would rather they didn't.

"Are you okay?" Ahsoka asks.

"Huh?"

"You seem a little down. Are you okay?" Ahsoka asks again.

"Yes," Riyo says unconvincingly. Ahsoka stops in her tracks and crosses her arms. Riyo sighs and turns around, exasperated.

"Ahsoka, we don't have time for this."

Barriss nervously looks back and forth between them. Ahsoka simply stares down at Riyo, whose eyes flash.

"We need to keep walking. Please keep walking?"

But when Ahsoka doesn't move, Riyo groans.

"What do you want me to say? That everything's all right? That I didn't unwittingly lead you two into every perilous situation we could feasibly come across? That I didn't put you two in danger? That I didn't put everyone on that ferry in danger just by buying our tickets? Because then I'd be lying!" Riyo shouts, but as she goes on, her voice turns more and more fragile.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ahsoka waves her hand. "How is the ferry attack your fault?"

"My new identichip has a special clearance. The Pantoran Assembly is alerted whenever identichips with this high clearance are created, so anyone with access to those records would be able to pinpoint where exactly the new identichip was made. They could then make an educated guess as to where I would go after that, and probably paid special attention to the Breede River. When I bought the ferry tickets, I had to run my identichip, and anyone who blanketed the Breede River would find me right away. Someone in the Assembly must have tipped the bounty hunters off as to where I'd be."

"Someone in the Assembly wants you dead," Ahsoka says.

Riyo nods. "I led them right to you, and to those innocent people."

"Did you hire those bounty hunters to kidnap us? Because then it would be your fault," Ahsoka says.

Riyo hangs her head and kicks at the snow. "No. I suppose you're right on that issue. But I'm supposed to know where we're going and I got us into so much trouble instead."

"How could you say that? This entire journey was brilliant!" Barriss says, surprising even herself. "We diverted a ferry attack. We returned a count to his rightful seat and saved an entire town from starvation! And we helped a pair of twins get their lives together!"

"And we mended a god's fishing net," Ahsoka says.

"Alleged god," Barriss corrects. "But my point is that this trip has been the most fun I have had in literal years!"

Both Ahsoka and Riyo turn to her, gaping.

"Barriss, you're smiling," Riyo whispers.

"Happiness looks good on you," Ahsoka says. Barriss' face grows hot.

"Thank you."

Riyo gives a weak smile. "It's very kind of you to say those things, Barriss, but you don't have to lie to me."

"But I wasn't lying, Riyo. This whole traveling around and solving problems, that's what Jedi are supposed to do. I haven't just been enjoying myself out here, but I've also felt fulfilled in a way that I haven't felt since I became a commander in the war." Barriss stops in her tracks, her words turning into ash in her mouth. Oh. Oh no. She shouldn't have said that. Even as Riyo's eyes light up and as Ahsoka grins at her, cold regret paints the insides of Barriss's ribs.

She's an awful Jedi.

But Riyo lights up like the sun and gives her a little hug. "Thank you for telling me, Barriss! I feel so much better." Riyo turns and continues down the road, but with more pep this time. "Follow me, you'll like this next place we're going to. Defiance was a ferry-ride away, but we jumped ship too early, so we've still got quite a ways to go. We might as well stop by."

Ahsoka and Barriss follow her, but at a more sedate pace. Barriss pulls her cloak tighter around herself.

"Uh, hey Barriss? Thanks for saying all that," Ahsoka says.

Barriss gives a nervous laugh. "Oh well, anything to cheer Riyo up, right?"

"Yeah, but it cheered me up too." Ahsoka can't meet Barriss's eye, but her aura is genuine. "I've kind of felt like that for a while too, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one."

Ahsoka quickens her pace until she catches up to Riyo, leaving Barriss with a growing sense of dread.

Oh no.

The road passes by a tall stone wall, and carved in the wall are large sigils. They're different than the other sigils they've seen around Pantora so far, and some of them are worn down. As they pass, Riyo reaches out and swipes across the worn parts with a hand.

Set within the wall is an open gate. The yellow painted posts are several meters tall, and they support a sloping tile roof. Riyo stops within the gate and dusts the snow off of her clothes, and Ahsoka and Barriss stop beside her.

Within the gate and the wall is a courtyard with a smooth, stone floor. In the middle of the courtyard is a gazebo, and kneeling in the entrance to the gazebo is a woman in yellow and gold robes, with her hands in her lap. Her eyes are closed and her shoulders rise and fall as she breathes deeply.

Barriss can feel her. Sense her aura. She's not as powerful as a Jedi, or even an initiate, but she's Force-Sensitive all the same.

There are other robed women walking through the courtyard, and Barriss can sense them too. She hasn't felt the Force flex this strongly through other people since she first stepped onto Pantora. Ahsoka turns to her with wide eyes.

"Barriss…."

"Yes, I feel it too. Riyo, what is this place?"

Riyo makes a grand, sweeping gesture over the sprawling buildings ringing the courtyard. "Welcome to the Moonlight Monastery, Master Jedi. The women who live within these walls have dedicated their lives to serving Mother Moon."

"Whoa. These are the people you keep saying are like Jedi?" Ahsoka asks.

"Eeh." Riyo makes a shaky motion with her hand. "It's not a perfect match, because they don't have laser swords…."

"Plasma swords," Barriss corrects.

"And they don't travel the galaxy, but they do have some mystical powers that they use to heal people," Riyo continues. "I actually wanted to be one when I was little, but there's a stringent selection process."

"Judging from what we feel, it might be Force-Sensitivity," Barriss says.

Riyo's eyebrows go up. "Really? Then that explains a lot." She smiles and waves to one of the robed women, who crosses the courtyard to them. She's short and stout, and she approaches Riyo with a warm smile with a tight hug.

"Riyo! Kuhle ukukubona kwakhona."

"Nceda wam umhlobo, kodwa nceda uthethe ngeBasic."

The woman pulls away and holds Riyo at arm's length to get a good look at her. "We were not expecting you for two more days."

"Yes, but my schedule got mixed around, so we're here a little early. I hope that's all right," Riyo says.

The woman nods. "Are these the Jedi guests you told us about?"

"Yes! These are my friends, Padawan Ahsoka Tano and Knight Barriss Offee."

"Hey." Ahsoka waves, but Barriss does a small curtsy.

"This is Priestess Kupun, we've known each other since we were children," Riyo says.

The woman, Kupun, laughs. "We're very good friends."

Under her tattoos, Riyo's cheeks turn the slightest indigo. "Yes."

Kupun beckons to them all and leads them into the courtyard. "The tour then. Like Riyo said, my name is Kupun, and I've been living here in the Moonlight Monastery for the past three years. I've recently completed my training and have taken vows, so that is why I wear these robes." She gestures to a couple of other women who pass by, and they wear robes of white and yellow. "Before then, I would wear robes like those."

The two initiates wave at them, and Kupun waves back. She leads them through the courtyard and into one of the buildings, where they find themselves in a wide, wood paneled hallway. Two men, not in robes, step by to let them pass, then step through the door together. There are a lot of laypeople in this monastery, some of them are escorted by priestesses, and others walk through the complex by themselves or in groups.

"The Moonlit Order worship Mother Moon by caring for Her creation. We run an orphanage, a sick bay, a shelter, and other services. We also serve as a safe stop for travelers. There are Mother Moon monasteries located all over Pantora, but this one in particular is especially famous for our baths. We're built directly over a hot spring, which is renown for its healing properties."

A cold chill runs down Barriss' spine, and she looks around for the danger. Ahsoka also turns to look behind them, but there isn't anything there.

"Ahsoka…."

"I felt it too," Ahsoka whispers. Her sharp, blue eyes scan the hallway.

"What was it?"

"What was what?" Kupun asks. She and Riyo watch them expectantly.

"Has there been anything odd happening here lately?" Barriss asks.

Kupun's face falls. "Well, there is…oh dear. I shouldn't say."

"What is it? Whatever it is, you can tell us," Riyo says.

"I shouldn't say. Not out here. Come." Kupun leads them down the hallway until they come to a nondescript door, then opens it and ushers them in. She closes the door behind them and whispers, "Our healers are some of the best in Pantora, but sometimes they can't heal the patients, so they die."

"It's always difficult to lose patients," Barriss says, but Kupun shakes her head.

"When we lose people, we prepare the remains for the drowning shipwright, who comes to pick them up. We can't hold drownings because death isn't our specialty. But lately, bodies have gone missing," Kupun whispers.

Ahsoka's eyebrow markings go up, and Riyo gasps. Kupun buries her face in her hands.

"Mother Estuuya and the other leadership have been investigating, but to no avail. They are at their wits end. I want to help, but I'm just a novice and this matter is strictly need-to-know."

Ahsoka and Barriss share a look, then Ahsoka nods. Barriss steps forward to Kupun. "Ahsoka and I volunteer to investigate the thefts, Priestess."

Kupun twists the hems of her sleeves in her hands. "Oh dear. It's not that I'm ungrateful, Master Jedi, but ah, you are guests in this place. It's unfair to ask this of you."

"That's okay. We're supposed to be doing this kind of thing," Ahsoka says. Kupun, unsure, looks at Riyo, who nods.

"Oh, thank you! Riyo, your friends are wonderful." Kupun reaches out and hugs Barriss and Ahsoka round the neck. They both stoop down from the hug and see Riyo over Kupun's shoulders.

Riyo smiles gently up at them. "Yes, they are."

Riyo had not seen Kupun in years, not since she elected to become a Mother Moon Priestess. The decision was a painful one, but not unexpected, and even after they parted—Kupun to the monastery, and Riyo to Coruscant—they kept in touch through letters. The room that Kupun led them to was in fact the suite that was assigned to them during their stay, and after Ahsoka and Barriss left to do…whatever it was that Jedi do, Kupun asked if Riyo would like to meet her mentor, Priestess Aguta.

"I'd be delighted," Riyo had said, so they left to wander the monastery.

"Priestess Aguta has been a wonderful teacher; her insight into the sacred texts is so thorough and thought-provoking. I think you'd like her." Kupun says in Pantoran.

Riyo smiles. Although it hurts, it's still nice to know that Kupun is happy here. The monastery looks good on her. She's never seen her smile so much.

"You have a type, eh Riyo?"

"Pardon?"

"The Jedi. I can sense that they're blessed too, and it is so obvious that they are very fond of you." Kupun giggles, and Riyo's ears burn hot.

"I don't follow."

"You don't need to be so coy with me! I'm actually relieved; I worried about you, you know."

"You worried about me?" Riyo asks in astonishment.

Kupun laughs. "Yes! I know how wrapped up you get in your work, and I knew that it would be so easy for you to shut yourself away while on Coruscant. I was worried that you'd be lonely, but I'm glad I was wrong. Do they make you happy, Riyo?"

This time, Riyo's entire face heats up. "Yes, they do."

This part of the monastery is dedicated to classrooms. Children of all ages are taught here by priestesses, and Priestess Aguta is one of these teachers. A few adults—parents and guardians—wait in front of a few of these classrooms. Some of them talk quietly amongst themselves, but most of them swipe and tap on their palm-sized data pads.

Riyo and Kupun peek into the open door of one of these classrooms to find old desks, a slate board hanging on the wall, and an Aurebesh banner pinned to the wall over the top. There are two rows on this banner; the top dedicated to the Pantoran Aurebesh, and the bottom one to the Basic equivalent. The rest of the walls are covered in children's art projects and brightly-colored posters. In the corner, upon a rug, is a group of small children. They're gathered around a priestess, who sits on a stool and holds a picture book on her lap so that they can all see. This must be Priestess Aguta. There's an dreamy quality about her, like her mind is far away.

Aguta reads aloud to the children, and Kupun and Riyo are content to wait and watch.

"And that is why we have four seasons: Summer for the Sea Goddess, Autumn for the Trickster Goddex, Winter for the Blizzard God, and Spring for Mother Moon. Each God has their place, and there is a place for each God."

Aguta's soft eyes flicker up at them, and she pauses. "Children, who can tell me what time it is? Remember our lesson earlier? Who can read the chrono?"

The children turn around to the chrono hanging on the wall opposite of the slate board. They all start shouting at the same time, all different numbers, and the corners of Aguta's mouth twitch up.

"Thank you, Koluwa! Yes, it's time to go. Collect your things."

There's a mad scramble as the children rush to the cubbies to get their bags. Riyo and Kupun move to the side to let them stampede past. Some of them go to the adults waiting outside, but most go to another priestess, who herds them away.

Inside the classroom, Aguta closes the book and puts it to the side, then rises and goes to the door to greet them. "Priestess Kupun, who is your friend?"

"Priestess Aguta, this is Senator Riyo Chuchi."

"The infamous Riyo Chuchi?" Aguta's smile widens into a grin.

"She talks about me?" Riyo asks.

"I don't think anyone within this monastery hasn't heard of you. Priestess Kupun has been such a pleasant asset to this Order. We must all thank you for her."

"Please, the least I could do was be supportive of her choice," Riyo says.

"Priestess, it is almost time for your walk around the monastery with High Priestess Estuuya," Kupun says.

"So it is. Priestess, Riyo, would you like to join us?"

Kupun gasps and her eyes light up. "Could we?"

The three of them make their way through the monastery until they reach the courtyard and the gazebo. Housed inside the gazebo is a statue about two meters tall that is exquisitely carved from yellow marble to form a standing woman. Her arms are outstretched and her hand-painted gaze is turned down to focus on the entrance of the gazebo, where one would kneel to pray. The stone at her back is carved into a flaring aurora that is gilded with streaks of gold, and upon the points of some of the rays hang woven flower chains in varying stages of dryness.

The base of the statue, and most of the floor of the gazebo in front of it, is obscured with bouquets of flowers, lit candles of every size, and a smattering of credit ingots. There are also holographs of Pantorans here and there, lying amongst the candles and ingots.

Kneeling upon a cushion set at the entrance of the gazebo, right where the statue would be looking and reaching towards, is an older woman dressed in yellow. Her facial tattoos circle around the bottom of her eyes like spectacles.

The woman draws a long breath in, and slowly lets it out.

Kupun lingers at a safe distance with Riyo and whispers, "The High Priestess, Mother Estuuya."

Aguta approaches the older woman, Estuuya, and leans down to whisper in her ear. Estuuya rises from the cushion and joins them.

"Welcome to our humble monastery, Senator," Estuuya says.

"Thank you, Reverend Mother," Riyo says.

They begin their walk through the grounds. It's stopped snowing, but a thin layer of white covers all of the trees, plants, and buildings. A couple priestesses and a few volunteers sweep the paths with brooms to clear them of ice.

"You said that there would be three people in your party, Senator. Where is your retinue?" Estuuya asks.

"My friends are exploring the premises on their own," Riyo says, but she's interrupted by Kupun's nervous cough.

"Reverend Mother, I must confess that I acted without permission."

Aguya's jaw drops. "Priestess Kupun, what have you done?"

"Riyo's friends are Jedi, and they asked to help us with the robbery issue we have in the Monastery," Kupun says.

Aguta freezes, her eyes wide. "What?"

"Ah yes, the Jedi. You are more well-connected than I expected, Senator." Estuuya's voice turns thoughtful.

"You know of the Jedi, Reverend Mother?" Riyo asks.

Estuuya nods. "They are mentioned in the ancient records. The Jedi used to come to this very monastery to recruit the more powerful priestesses for their order, but then they stopped. As of today, your friends are the first Jedi to step foot in this place in hundreds of years."

"They would poach priestesses? What is this Jedi Order?" Kupun asks.

"They are blessed with greater gifts to protect the greater galaxy. Very powerful. Mother Moon must have sent them here to help us with our problem." Here, Estuuya turns to address Kupun. "Thank you for your initiative, Priestess Kupun. We shall alert the rest of the monastery to the Jedi presence and encourage their cooperation with any of their requests and questions."

"Reverend Mother, is it wise to involve outsiders in our problems?" Aguta asks.

Estuuya turns to Riyo. "What do you think, Senator? Are your Jedi friends reliable?"

"I trust them with my life," Riyo says.

"Then it is settled."

Aguta opens her mouth to speak, but Estuuya holds up her hand.

"The issue has been decided. Priestess Kupun, please go inform the rest of the priestesses with my blessing."

Kupun bows her head. "Thank you, Reverend Mother."

The Temple of the Moon is one of the few buildings in the monastery that is built of stone. Candle chandeliers hang from the ceiling, lighting up the rows of pews and the artwork hanging on the walls. At the front of the temple is a large statue of a woman. Her arms are raised up above her head, and her legs are pressed together. She seems to be in the process of turning into a flowering tree.

Barriss knows that there is only the Force, and nothing else, but being in reverent places like this never fails to bring to her a quiet sense of awe. It doesn't matter who these places were built for, but why they are built. The Force takes on many faces as It manifests Itself across the galaxy.

Barriss is the only one in here, and yet despite the conspicuous lack of life, she doesn't feel alone at all. Every step that she makes echoes through the temple and she wonders…. She takes a deep breath and sings.

"There is no emotion, there is peace." She sings in Mirialan, starting out soft and rising in volume, drawing vowels and syllables out and letting the notes rise and fall. Her accent is off, and she's slightly pitchy, but she continues and only pauses to hear her voice cast through the temple. It's as if it's the Force singing back, and she smiles. Emboldened, she sings again.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.

Barriss lets her voice trail off in a whisper and listens to the remnants of her voice reverberate everywhere until it dissipates, leaving behind a quiet peace. She sighs, content. It's not bad at all, but the acoustics on Ilum are better.

"Whoa," someone whispers. Barriss whirls around to see Ahsoka standing at the door of the temple. She's staring at Barriss with open wonder, her mouth slightly open.

"That was you?"

Barriss would like to spontaneously combust right this instant. Please.

"Yes," she mumbles.

Ahsoka walks up to the aisle to her. "That was beautiful! What was it?"

"The Code."

"You were singing the Code? I didn't know it could be sung like that."

"It's not a Jedi thing, it's a Mirialan thing. It's how poets perform their pieces." Too late, Barriss covers her mouth with her hands to stop herself. Ahsoka gasps.

"Ooh, I knew you did it too! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it."

"Ahsoka." Barriss touches her arm, and Ahsoka stops to listen. "Please don't tell anyone."

"But…." Ahsoka's eyebrow markings scrunch together. "But you're really good at it."

No one has ever told her that before. Barriss pauses, lost for words, as warmth spreads through her body. Her fingers curl into the soft leather of Ahsoka's parka. "Thank you."

Ahsoka gives her a toothy grin. "No, thank you! But if it means so much to you, I'll keep your secret. Come on, I think I found their hospital." Ahsoka takes Barriss' hand and leads her out of the temple.

They walk down one of the wide walkways until they reach a frosted garden. Within the garden are a few visitors, including a man in a wheelchair being pushed by a priestess. Across from the garden, on the other side of the walkway, is a long, low building. Ahsoka and Barriss go inside to find a waiting room filled with families. Small children shriek as they play with toys on the carpet, and one of the parents rolls a stroller back and forth to soothe a crying baby to sleep. Barriss and Ahsoka make their way across the room to the receptionist, who greets them in Pantoran.

"Apologies, we don't speak the language," Barriss says.

The receptionist doesn't skip a beat. "That's all right. Are you here to make an appointment?"

"We're actually here to investigate the missing bodies," Barriss says. All of the color drains from the receptionist's face and she leans forward to whisper.

"Then you are the Jedi we were told to expect. My name is Lindiwe. I'm here to help you in any way I can."

Ahsoka and Barriss share a look.

"What happened to being sneaky?" Ahsoka asks.

"Well, whatever happened, I'm sure Riyo is behind it," Barriss says. She turns to Lindiwe. "Please take us to the last place the bodies were seen."

Lindiwe nods and stands up to let them in through the door, where they're blasted with the overpowering sickly-sweet smell of Bacta. She leads them down a corridor of examination rooms, then turns the corner. There are more rooms here, but it's more quiet. The air is still. The only other person is a priestess pushing a crash cart down the hall. Lindiwe goes to one of the rooms all the way at the other end of the hall, and opens the door. Within the room is an empty bed, a nightstand, and a chair in the corner.

"This is the room the body was stolen from," Lindiwe says. Barriss and Ahsoka step inside and begin to look around, but Lindiwe stays within the doorway and watches them work.

"Is this the hospice ward?" Barriss asks. Lindiwe shakes her head.

"There's no room for full wards here. This is the in-patient part of the medical bay."

So a patient who needed to stay here would be assigned to any room that happened to be free, regardless of the type of care they required. Barriss pulls open the curtains of the window to see the garden. The man in the wheelchair is still out there, but he's shakily getting to his feet with help from the priestess attending to him.

"How did the patients die?" Barriss asks.

"The first patient overdosed on spices, and was brought in for emergency treatment. We were unable to stabilize him. The other patient came in for a routine checkup, but she died from a sudden stroke. That one was especially hard on the staff, as she was only twelve years-old."

"What are the buildings next to this one?" Barriss asks.

"The Shelter is just beyond that door, and then the Cafeteria is behind." Lindiwe gasps. "By the Gods, you don't think…."

"We can't be sure of anything just yet," Barriss quickly says. Her stomach churns at the thought. "When were the bodies taken?"

"One was taken three days before, and the first was taken last week. The surviving families are very upset," Lindiwe says.

"I don't sense anything. Don't smell anything either except for the Bacta," Ahsoka says.

Barriss inspects the clasp of the window for any scratches or marks, but finds nothing.

"Who found, er, didn't find the bodies? Who discovered the theft?"

"I did. When I open the walk-in clinic in the morning, I also check in on all of the patients," Lindiwe says. "Three days ago, I opened the door expecting to find a body ready for the drowning shipwright, but it was gone!"

"And that's how you discovered that the first body was missing as well?" Barriss asks. Lindiwe nods.

Barriss and Ahsoka continue to question Lindiwe, but to no avail. There were no witnesses, no holocams, nothing else missing or out of place. None of the visitors or priestesses exhibited any troubling behavior whatsoever. (One of the regular patients is a young man who routinely injures himself in order to be treated by a specific nurse, but that's not relavent to their case.)

An hour later, Ahsoka and Barriss exit the medical bay through the side door and find themselves in a narrow alley between the medical bay and the shelter. What meager grass that has been able to grow in this place is already covered in snow.

Ahsoka groans.

"Frustrated already, Ahsoka?"

"Ugh, no. I mean, a little. Okay, so if the thief escaped using this door, then they wouldn't be using a gurney or a wheelchair."

"Because this alley's too narrow for that," Barriss says. Ahsoka nods.

"So if they didn't use any of those, then they must have carried the bodies. When you're dragging a body around…." Ahsoka pauses as if she's just realized how bad that sounds. Barriss can't help but giggle.

"Go on," Barriss says. Ahsoka smiles and rolls her eyes.

"When you're dragging a body around, and you're dragging it through dirt, you're gonna leave a trail."

"I see, but there's no dirt in this alleyway anymore. It's all covered in snow."

"It's all turned to mud! The trail is ruined," Ahsoka shouts. Barriss gives her arm a sympathetic pat.

"There, there. We'll find a different way."

Ahsoka takes a deep breath and lets it out in a slow stream. "Maybe I'm just cranky. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in days."

They both look up at the darkening sky. A flock of birds fly overhead, squawking.

"Do you remember the way back to our suite?" Barriss asks.

"Yeah. You're not coming with?"

"No." Barriss sniffs the collar of her hood and winces. "I still need that bath."

The bathhouse is hot and humid and full of people. Some are clothed, others wear temporary robes that are issued by the monastery. There are tattoos everywhere, in fact, the only ones who go unmarked are the children. Riyo has full tattoo sleeves of geometric patterns intertwining with patterns, woven over her skin like cloth. She put them on full display when she traipsed through the taiga in her tank top and they definitely drew Barriss' eye. Ahsoka's too. But they never asked what they might mean. They must mean something, because Barriss sees the same patterns repeating in other people's tattoos.

If Barriss has learned anything by walking through this bathhouse, it is that Pantorans are tattooed everywhere. The chest, the back, even the hands and feet. Some men have tattoos from their knees up, like pants, and some women have tattoos running up their legs, like boots.

Pantoran tattoos must mean something then, and thus must be vastly different from Mirialan tattoos. Barriss is very aware of her skin as it brushes against the material of her own temporary robe. She remembers how each mark itched as it scabbed over, from the lumen on her face, to the lumen on the backs of her hands and on her arms up to her elbows, and even the most recent spread of lumen running down her back.

Mirialan tattoos are rewards. Barriss received the ones on her face for becoming a padawan, and she got the ones on her arms and her hands for finishing her healer training. The tattoos on her back are for becoming a knight. According to the Ink Shaman, Master Unduli has a variation the same back tattoo, and her master before her and so on. It's supposed to represent the whole teaching line.

And in the future, should Barriss' Mirialan padawan be knighted, they would get a version of it too. Dismay fills Barriss's chest at the thought, quickly chased by guilt. If she were as good a Jedi as they say she is, then she wouldn't feel so negatively about that at all.

Barriss follows an attendant past the public area of the bathhouse to one of the private rooms. The attendant opens the door for her and stands to the side to let her in, saying, "This is the bath assigned for Senator Chuchi's use. Please enjoy."

It's a smaller room, with a built-in tub recessed into the stone floor. It's deep, and wide, and already full of bubbling, hot water. There's a short stool, a shower, and a cabinet full of supplies. The attendant leaves, shutting the door behind her. Barriss turns the lock, and the click sounds through the empty room.

"Uh, hey Barriss? Thanks for saying all that." Ahsoka voice comes unbidden from the back of Barriss' mind.

Barriss lathers a sponge and scrubs and scrubs and scrubs.

How can she be trusted to teach a padawan while she's harboring these thoughts about the Jedi Order? The day she became a knight was the day she received petitions from multiple younglings to be her padawan, and it ate her up inside that she had to turn them all away. She dreads the end of this mission, because when the mission ends, she'll have to return to the Jedi Temple, and when she returns to the Temple, then she'll have to ship out on another tour of duty. If Barriss has to serve another tour…something bad will happen. She doesn't know what exactly it will be, but she does know that she will vehemently dislike it.

The Jedi Council may think that the Clone Wars are necessary to bring peace and justice to the galaxy, and Barriss loathes to disagree with the Jedi Council, but she has learned that theory and practice can be two very different things. Through her role as a commander and a general, Barriss has wrought nothing but death and devastation despite her best efforts, and she is in no hurry to feel so impotent again.

Barriss scrubs until the water at her feet turns brown, until her skin goes raw, and yet she continues.

If she's not going to fight in this insipid war, then she'll have to do something else, but what? She cannot simply be a conscientious objector and sit idle in the Temple. She needs to be out here, traveling the galaxy and solving problems, like what she's been doing this past week. But the Jedi Council suspended all of those kinds of missions when the war started so that every Jedi could pull their weight in the war effort.

Peace within and peace without. That's what the Force ultimately wants. That's what the Code is for.

If Barriss wants the slightest chance at inner peace, she will need to leave the Jedi Order. Shame floods every nerve of her body. She was once the most promising padawan of her class and now look at her; couldn't even hack it as a knight for one mission. Life outside of the Order is also a terrifying blank. She has no plan, no inkling of what it would look like, but still prefers it to serving in this war. How could she think of doing that? How could she find comfort in leaving even now? What would Master Unduli think? What would she say?

Is that why Barriss is trying to flay herself alive?

Barriss throws the sponge down upon the floor, where it lands with a wet splat.

"I've kind of felt like that for a while too, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one."

That's what Ahsoka said. Whatever happened on Zygerria, it must have been truly awful, because the Ahsoka that left for that mission was markedly different than the one that came back. The whole Order talked about it, and Barriss heard that the Council was debating on whether or not to call Ahsoka in for an intervention. If Ahsoka continued in that path, it would lead right out the Temple door.

But Ahsoka could just be lashing out until she centers herself once more. It's not the first time a Jedi has come back to the Temple troubled, and she won't be the last. She's well-liked, and she's reliable. Everyone expects great things from her, and they expect her to rise above the turmoil she's quagmired in.

If Ahsoka is as resilient as her reputation says, she'll recover, and she'll stay, and one day she'll even be a Jedi Master.

Barriss dunks herself into the hot bath, splashing water everywhere.

It pains her to think it, but when she leaves the Order, she'll leave alone. She'll find a way to make it work. She has to.

Barriss emerges from the water, gasping and sputtering.

It is late in the evening by the time Barriss returns to the suite. Her clothes have been freshly washed, but she carries them under her arm and wears a set of the offered pajamas instead. Despite being indoors, the Pantoran winter cold has penetrated through the old walls of the monastery, and everyone still out at this late hour hurries down the halls to their own rooms, where it might be warm. Barriss closes the door behind her.

The suite is rather plain as befits the lifestyle of the monastery, with just a wardrobe, a dresser, a table, and a bed. The bed takes up most of the room, that's how wide it is, and it's draped in furs. A single ceiling lamp lights up the entire space. Ahsoka, already dressed in a sleep tank and shorts, is sitting up on one side of the bed, and Riyo is obscured by the open wardrobe door.

"But I don't know what else we could do," Ahsoka is in the middle of saying. She looks up. "Hey, Barriss. I was telling Riyo about what we—uh, what we didn't find today."

Barriss drapes her dress and cloak over a nearby chair. "We could possibly ask the High Priestess for a list of people who have access to the hospital. Anyone on that list is automatically a suspect."

"That's a good idea."

Riyo closes the door of the wardrobe with a small push to catch the latch. She's changed into a set of sleep clothes similar to the set Barriss wears, only they're a bit too big for her, so the sleeves cover her hands and pool around her feet. Her light purple hair tumbles down her back. "Not all locks are opened with keys. Since the monastery uses old, metal keys, I humbly suggest looking for any scratch marks around the keyholes. I also suggest requesting a list of guests specializing in locksmithing or theft."

"Theft," Barriss repeats. "They would knowingly house career thieves here?"

Riyo shrugs. "Mother Moon takes care of all of Her children, bad or otherwise."

Barriss goes back to the door and locks it, then pulls a chair under the handle to jam it closed.

"Right, time to sleep." Riyo climbs into the middle of the bed beside Ahsoka and makes herself comfortable. Ahsoka watches her with wide eyes.

"Uh…."

But Riyo looks at Barriss and pats the pillow beside her. "Barriss? There's plenty of room."

"If-if there's a couch…" Barriss begins, but Riyo hums and raises the furs in invitation.

"None of that. Pantoran families sleep in the same bed for warmth. I shared one with my sisters before I came to Coruscant, and we'll share one now, so come to bed. It's late."

"Oh. Then in that case…." Ahsoka gathers Riyo in her arms and nuzzles her ear. Riyo shrieks with delight, grinning.

"Ahsoka! Haha! That tickles."

Barriss turns away as her face grows hot and her stomach does a funny flip. She doesn't know why she's feeling so weirdly about this; she's shared beds with others before without issue. She turns out the lights, then feels her way to the side of the bed, but hesitates.

Ahsoka eases her hold on Riyo and looks up at Barriss. The Force between them is light and warm and it tugs on her chest.

"There's a lot of room," Ahsoka gently says. Barriss is hard-pressed to disagree. She yanks off her hood and climbs in, but despite the chill of the bed, she stays at the very edge, facing away. She pulls the furs up until they cover even her ears, and lays there as the sheets slowly sap the heat from her body. Barriss stays there until a warm hand presses against the middle of her back.

"You're shivering," Ahsoka whispers, and her hand smoothes up Barriss's spine until it settles between her shoulder blades.

But before Barriss can relax, Ahsoka's hand disappears, leaving behind a strange energy that coils in her belly. Barriss turns over to face them. She can barely make them out in the dark, but Ahsoka's eyes glow an unnatural green. According to her studies, the insides of Togruta eyes are coated with reflective cells to equip them to see better in the dark, but nothing in her medical data cards have truly prepared her for a practical example.

Barriss shivers again, but this time is has nothing to do with the temperature.

Perhaps it would not be such a bad thing to be close. Catching a cold would be incredibly inconvenient, and she was invited. Barriss scoots forward to lay against Riyo, who shifts to better accomodate her. Riyo drapes an arm over her waist and her cheek rests against Barriss's shoulder with a sigh.

And there, watching over the top of Riyo's head, is Ahsoka. After a long moment, her eyes shut, casting the room in darkness.

It's not unpleasant. It might even be nice. Barriss buries her face in the pillow to hide her burning face.

Barriss wakes up, dazed, feeling as if she has been submerged in icy water, and she gasps against the ominous pressure filling the entirety of the darkened room. Then, as Barriss's eyes adjust, Ahsoka comes into focus. She's already awake, and is gently rolling Riyo onto Barriss for safe keeping. Riyo sleeps on, oblivious to what is happening, but Barriss clutches at her all the same.

"What is that?" Barriss asks in a hushed voice. She cannot see the danger, but by the Force, whatever it is must be dealt with this instant. Either that, or they need to flee out the window.

Ahsoka retrieves one of her lightsabers from under her pillow and gets up.

"It's the Dark Side of the Force. Stay here," she whispers.

That's what's petrified Barriss? That's what's stealing the breath from her lungs? The Dark Side? Barriss watches, helpless, as Ahsoka sneaks her way to the door. The handle is jiggling and creaking and turning, and Barriss realizes: the lock is being picked.

The lock is being picked with the Force, not unlike how Barriss has been fiddling with those durasteel padlocks in her spare time. Apart from herself and Ahsoka, no one in this monastery should be powerful enough to do that. No one. Is the Dark Side boosting their power?

Ahsoka flattens herself against the wall next to the door and holds her lightsaber so that the emitter points across the doorway. She holds it at a height where if whoever it was on the other side burst through, and if Ahsoka turned the lightsaber on at that moment, the blade would go right through the intruder's head. Ahsoka waits.

The lock clicks open, and the doorknob turns.

THUD.

The door is blocked by the jammed chair.

Another thud, louder this time. Riyo stirs in Barriss's arms, but she tucks her face into Barriss's neck and falls back asleep with a sigh. She doesn't know how Riyo can sleep through the intrusion, let alone through the frantic beat of her loper heart.

The door closes with a click and is still. The air lightens until Barriss can breathe normally again, and Ahsoka relaxes and drops her arm to her side.

Barriss does not use profanity, as Jedi should strive to be as professional as possible at all times, but this event is seriously jeopardizing her stance on the subject.

Ahsoka locks the door again, then returns to bed. She settles back down with a long breath and tucks her lightsaber under her pillow. "I think we can get rid of the guests as suspects. The body snatcher must be a priestess."

"That was the Dark Side," Barriss whispers. She feels a little useless, now that the danger has passed. She should have been able to do something instead of cowering in bed.

"Yeah, it's pretty scary right?" Ahsoka whispers.

"You've felt it before?"

"Yeah, because I fight Asajj Ventress all the time. It took me a while to get used to it."

Barriss stares. "You fight Sith all the time?"

A pleased, but embarrassed twinge comes through their Force Bond. Ahsoka covers her face with her hands.

"It's not a big deal; I haven't won against her yet."

Now that she mentions it, Barriss remembers Luminara telling her about a duel she fought with Ahsoka against Ventress. She said that she personally should have done better, but Barriss now wonders if she couldn't do her best because she was struggling to overcome the sheer intimidation of the Dark Side.

"We'll talk about it in the morning. I'm tired," Ahsoka whispers.

With Riyo moved to Barriss' other side, there's more room for Ahsoka to come closer, and she does. She rearranges the furs around them, then nestles in against Barriss's side. Her hand closes over Barriss' hip, with her thumb resting along the razor of the bone.

Ahsoka smells of the clean pine of the Pantoran forest, and of the sharp electric of the lightsaber. Wild and powerful.

"Are you okay?" Ahsoka gently asks.

Ahsoka's arm is heavy over Barriss' stomach, and her breath brushes against her ear. Barriss is definitely more than okay, but that isn't an appropriate answer. "Yes," she whispers instead.

Morning is different. Bright sunlight streams in through the curtains as it's reflected off the layer of newly-fallen snow, and the only cold is the kind that comes from the weather, and not from the nature of a fellow creature.

When Ahsoka wakes, it's to find herself hopelessly tangled with Barriss. She took off her hood to sleep, and her shoulder-length, dark brown hair flares over the pillow. She's still asleep, with her cheek pressed against Ahsoka's lek.

On Barriss' other side is Riyo. She's already awake, but stays in bed with them and lazily scrolls through her data pad. Riyo's gold eyes flicker up at her, and she smiles.

"Good morning," Riyo softly says. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Ahsoka says. In fact, she hadn't slept so well in weeks, and she wonders if it's due to the company and not so much the mattress itself. It's nice, lounging like this. There is no urgency. No danger. She doesn't want to leave.

But to Ahsoka's dismay, Riyo nods and moves to get up. Ahsoka's hand moves, unbidden, to tug her back, but she clenches onto the sheets instead. Riyo goes to the wardrobe and pulls it open, and Ahsoka looks to Barriss.

Maybe they should get up.

Ahsoka smoothes a lock of hair from Barriss' face, and it's enough. Barriss stirs in Ahsoka's arms and blinks awake.

"Hey," Ahsoka whispers.

Barriss makes a face and pulls the furs over her head.

Eventually, they all get up, and change back into their snow gear, and as Barriss adjusts her hood over her hair, she asks, "would you like to join us for our investigation, Riyo? Not all of our suspects may speak Basic, and you could translate for us. And you have a cultural insight that Ahsoka and I lack."

Ahsoka is so relieved that Barriss has a plan. Despite her friendship with Master Tera Sinube, and despite his willingness to train her in the art of investigation, the war didn't give her any time to pursue it, and crime on Coruscant steadily worsened to the point where Master Sinube was swamped with cases.

When Barriss volunteered to investigate the body snatchers, Ahsoka didn't have the slightest clue of where to start and how to do it. In fact, she's pretty sure that Barriss hasn't taken any training for this either. But here she is, acting like she's done this multiple times before.

They'll find this guy…girl…whoever it is. They'll totally catch them, even if they're high on the power of the Dark Side and hiding their aura to escape detection.

"Of course," Riyo says. "What do we do first?"

"There is always the direct way of finding the suspect: whoever has the bodies is the thief," Barriss says.

"Okay, so where could we find the bodies?" Ahsoka asks.

"In order to answer that, we must think about what the bodies have been doing all this time; mainly what stage of decay are the bodies currently in," Barriss says.

Riyo's face scrunches up. "Decay."

"Yes, I had to study the process as part of my medical training. By now, the first stolen body would be putrefying, and so would be extremely difficult to hide," Barriss says.

"So we search any stinky places, even places that are supposed to stink, like the dumpsters, or a compost pile," Ahsoka says.

"And even though this isn't the cultural norm, we must consider the possibility of the bodies being buried."

"If the bodies were buried, I'll find them," Ahsoka says. Togruta don't have the best sense of smell, but it's way better than a Pantoran's or a Mirialan's.

"If the bodies are buried, then we will have to rope the entire monastery into combing the surrounding area, and I'd like to avoid that if possible. There is another possibility we should look into first," Barriss says.

"What is it?" Riyo asks.

"You won't like it. In order to keep the bodies from decaying, they'd have to be stored somewhere cool, like in the cafeteria conservator."

Riyo recoils. "Gross!"

For dinner yesterday, Ahsoka went to the cafeteria and had several cuts of 'pork.' They were delicious at the time, but now, Ahsoka's stomach heaves. She swallows the bile that rises in her throat.

"Are you all right?" Barriss asks.

"Ugh. What if I ate people?" Ahsoka asks. Barriss doesn't even blink.

"Technically, you and Riyo and I are all different species, so it isn't taboo for us. Riyo, however, would be a cannibal."

"You've thought about it a lot, huh?"

"Ever since the possibility came up yesterday. I suppose you could say that the scenario is…distasteful."

Silence. Barriss scoffs.

"Oh, so you two can crack jokes, but I can't. I see."

Riyo reaches out and touches Barriss' arm. "No, no, it was a good joke, but…cannibalism. Anyway, no one is being labeled a people-eater until there is evidence." Riyo grimaces and gathers the material of her coat in her fist, right at the level of her stomach. "Can we please investigate the cafeteria already?"

The cafeteria is busy with priestesses and guests and loud with the clink of cutlery against bowls. At the other end of the cafeteria, near the kitchen, is a large pot of hot cereal, a jug of milk, other toppings for the cereal, and a large basket full of dried cuts of fish. There's a long line of people waiting for the food, but Ahsoka and Riyo follow Barriss past them all to the kitchen.

There are only two priestesses beyond the double doors. They're wearing aprons, and the billowing sleeves of their robes are tied up so that they're out of the way. The priestesses turn to the three of them with surprise and say something to them in Pantoran.

"Mholo ngalentsasa. Uphi ifriji?" Riyo asks. The priestesses point to a large durasteel door on the other side of the kitchen.

"Thank you," Riyo says. "The conservator is just there."

Barriss walks to the durasteel door and opens it with ease, revealing a walk-in conservator full of boxes and bags of food. Ahsoka and Riyo follow her in, and Ahsoka kneels down to jam a wood wedge under the door to keep it from closing behind them. Barriss raises her hood against the chill of the conservator and regards the packaged cuts of meat with skepticism.

Outside, the two priestesses are joined by other priestesses and volunteers that follow them in from the dining area. They gather outside the door of the conservator and gossip in hushed voices.

"Don't let them in here," Barriss says, and they begin to search the conservator. Riyo goes to make sure their audience keeps a respectable distance.

The cuts of meat are looked at first. To the relief of everyone, Riyo, Ahsoka, and Barriss all agree that they come from actual beef and pork. These cuts are pulled off of the shelves and put to the side. The boxes and bags of other perishables are pulled off the shelves, identified as not Pantoran bodies, and are placed outside of the conservator in a pile. The crowd of onlookers grows, but stays well out of the way as the three girls work.

But before they can clean out the entire conservator, Ahsoka finds a mass of bundled plastoid sheets hiding behind a couple boxes of potatoes on the bottom shelf. She pauses, filled with dread. Even though the plastoid sheets are opaque, the Force is already warning her away. There isn't anything else it could be.

"Uh, you guys? I think this is it." Ahsoka points at the plastoid bundle. Barriss kneels down next to her, and Riyo comes over to look.

Barriss stares at the bundle with a determined scowl. "Perhaps you're right. Together?"

Ahsoka nods. "Together."

They reach out and grab the plastoid sheet, then pull it off the shelf. The bundle flops onto the floor of the conservator, and Barriss holds her hand out to Riyo.

"Your knife, please."

Riyo hands it over handle-first, and Barriss uses the tip of the blade to cut through the bungee chords holding the plastoid together. She also slices through the top layers of plastoid, making them crinkle, and when she's done, she gives the knife back. Barriss pulls the plastoid away to reveal the body of a young man.

HURK. Behind them, one of the onlookers turns away and vomits into a bucket. Riyo gasps and covers her mouth.

"Oh dear," Barriss whispers. She looks back to the shelf, and Ahsoka follows her gaze to a similar, smaller bundle of plastoid.

"That must be the other missing body," Ahsoka says.

The two bodies are put onto gurneys, which are then wheeled across to the hospital. The three of them are followed by a swelling crowd of onlookers, all chattering amongst themselves and straining to snap a holopic with their data pads. Riyo stays behind to turn them away at the door. Good. Ahsoka and Barriss aren't putting on a show for these people, they're trying to determine what happened.

The deceased deserve more respect than that.

Once they're safe and alone in the hospital room, Ahsoka steps off to the other side of the gurney to give Barriss room to inspect the bodies.

Barriss unbuttons her cuffs and rolls up her sleeves, revealing a neat grid of lumen on her forearms, then pulls on a pair of latex gloves. She also hands a pair of gloves to Ahsoka. "Please put these on."

"Sure thing, Master Offee," Ahsoka says. She pulls the gloves over her vambraces with a snap, and grins at the slight blush that graces Barriss' cheeks.

"I don't think I will ever get used to being addressed like that," Barriss mutters. She rolls the bodies up onto their sides for a cursory glance, then sets them back down on the gurneys and picks up a scalpel. "The good news is that both bodies are completely intact."

Ahsoka breathes a sigh of relief. "So they weren't harvested for meat."

"Our diet remains sentient-free," Barriss says. Ahsoka gives a weak smile.

"So what now? Are you gonna take them apart?"

"In a manner of speaking. In order to understand our thief, we must determine why they stole these bodies. If they didn't steal them for food, then they must have stolen them for some other purpose. I'll have to open them up to see if they stole them to hide any clues of foul play."

"Murder," Ahsoka says. Barriss nods.

"But if they were murdered, then wouldn't the murderer just dump the bodies in the woods instead? Wouldn't that be easier?"

The scalpel pauses over the man's chest, and Barriss looks up at her with her mouth open.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Ahsoka. That's a brilliant observation."

Ahsoka's stomach flips again, but for an entirely different reason this time. "Thanks."

"Perhaps our thief isn't as smart as they seem. We'll soon find out." Barriss leans over the corpse and draws a single smooth line along the bottom of the clavicle and down in an arc along the sternum and the belly. She does a similar cut for the other side of the chest until the lines meet in the middle of the sternum, then places the scalpel on a tray with the other tools.

Barriss pinches the slabs of flesh between her fingers and thumbs and peels them away. Easy. Riyo may have butchered that seal the other night, but this is entirely different. Elegant even.

"Kark," Ahsoka breathes. Barriss' eyes flicker up to meet hers before looking at the guts laid bare before them.

"It is a bit gruesome," Barriss says, mistaking Ahsoka's awe for something else entirely. She holds the flesh open with a set of locking forceps, then delves in with her hands and gingerly moves the organs around, sometimes prodding them to test the texture. Now and then she'll hum under her breath, but she doesn't explain what she's doing.

"Do you want to come with me when I leave the Jedi Order?" Ahsoka asks.

Barriss blanches and she leans back, absolutely scandalized. "What? Ahsoka, I'm wrist deep in this man! This is hardly the time."

"Phrasing."

"Ahsoka!"

"Okay, sorry. But I think this is the perfect time. We're alone, and you're kinda distracted." Ahsoka crosses her arms over her chest.

"I'd like to give an offer like that the attention and consideration it deserves."

"So you'd consider it? Not just say 'no' outright?"

Barriss pauses, then bows her head. "It's the only thing we've ever known. What would drive you away from that?"

Ahsoka takes a deep breath to steel herself and begins to talk.

"If there's anything I've learned on Zygerria, it's that a lot more people don't care about the war than the amount of people who do. It doesn't matter if the Republic or the Separatists win the war, because either way, people suffer as slaves. The Order had more than a thousand years to abolish slavery throughout the galaxy, and they didn't do it. They refused to do it, and they still refuse to do it even though they could if they pushed hard enough. They wouldn't do it even though slavery goes against the Code.

"Now that I know that this kind of thing is going on, I can't fight in the war, because I have to do something to end slavery. But the Council isn't going to greenlight a mission like that. I've asked. You probably know this. The entire Order must have heard about it by now."

Barriss gives a solemn nod. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is set in a worried frown.

"If I can't free slaves as a Jedi, then I'll have to do it as a civilian." Ahsoka falters, her throat going tight. She coughs into her elbow. "I-uh, I know that you have a really good thing going with the Order right now. Like you're one of the best healers in history, and everyone likes you, and they say that you're on the fast-track for a Master title even though you just got knighted, but I thought…. You know, the stuff you said yesterday?" Ahsoka looks down at the corpse without really seeing it, because she can't bear to look at Barriss. She must be so disgusted. Yeah, Barriss said all that stuff yesterday, but it doesn't mean she wants to leave the Jedi Order. And if Barriss was in any way disappointed, Ahsoka couldn't stand it.

"Ahsoka," Barriss whispers, but Ahsoka nervously babbles on.

"I just thought I'd ask, and if-uh, please don't be mad because I asked. You mean a lot to me and well…."

"Ahsoka."

"You know what? Never mind. Forget I asked, it was a dumb question."

"Ahsoka."

A sort of pat comes from the Force Bond, as gentle as a hand on her arm, and Ahsoka's mouth closes with a snap. The Force settles around them like a blanket and Ahsoka quietly marvels at how safe she feels despite where they are. Ahsoka reluctantly lifts her gaze.

Barriss' blue eyes are clear and sure, and she watches Ahsoka with a softness that Ahsoka hasn't seen on her face before.

"Yes," Barriss says. There must be something wrong with Ahsoka's montrals because that's what she hears.

"What?"

"Yes, I will come with you when you leave the Order." The corners of Barriss' mouth quirk up.

"You mean it?" Ahsoka asks.

"Yes!"

Ahsoka is strongly tempted to whoop in this tiny hospital room. Her heart feels as if it's overflowing fit to burst, and she laughs.

Barriss said she'd leave the Jedi Order with her. She said that. And her aura was genuine when she said it, too.

While Ahsoka would have left anyway if Barriss said 'no,' it's an incredible relief to know that she won't be leaving her behind.

Barriss smiles. "Although I wish you'd chosen a better venue for this. You look like you need a hug and it'd be highly inappropriate to do that here."

The both of them look down at the dead body stretched out between them.

"Yeah. We should probably get back to it," Ahsoka says.

"Are you sure?"

"We can talk more later."

Barriss nods and shifts her weight. "This man overdosed on spices, just like Priestess Lindiwe said."

"Then there was no foul play," Ahsoka says.

"No murder." Barriss withdraws her hands and makes the body presentable again. The forceps go back onto the tray along with the scalpel.

"So the only things these two people have in common was that they were young and they died unexpectedly," Ahsoka says. "Do you have any ideas, because I'm having trouble coming up with a motive for this."

"It is vexing. We'll just have to investigate more. Perhaps Riyo can translate the patient files for us." Barriss drapes a cloth over the body and removes her gloves. She tosses them into the trash can.

High Priestess Estuuya's office is full of file cabinets and shelves of data cards. There is a small shrine on a table near the door, complete with a ceramic figurine of the Moon Goddess and a couple thick candles. There are dried flowers scattered around it, as well as an incense burner with a few chunks of crumbled ash still gathered in the bottom of the dish. Ahsoka wrinkles her nose. The entire office smells like the herbs used in the Moon Goddess Temple, and in the shrines scattered throughout the monastery. It's not a bad smell, it's just too strong for her taste. She can barely make out anything else.

Barriss and Riyo sit in the guest chairs, waiting. Estuuya hasn't arrived yet, so they're alone in the office. Barriss takes a deep breath, and her jittery aura settles a bit.

"Chin up," she whispers.

"Chin up, shoulders back," Riyo repeats. "The High Priestess will initially address me, but I will defer to you for the rest of the conversation."

"Right." Barriss takes another deep breath and straightens up in her chair. She puts on a brave face.

Estuuya comes into the office and closes the door behind her, then goes to her seat behind the desk. "Senator, Master Jedi. Thank you for finding the missing bodies. We'll finally be able to give their families some closure." She sits down in her chair and regards the three of them with an air of solemnity.

"Senator, have you and your friends discovered what is wrong with my monastery?"

"Alas, that is not my expertise, Reverend Mother. Jedi Knight Barriss Offee is in charge of that." Riyo gestures to Barriss, who seems petrified for a moment.

"Our suspect pool includes the more powerful priestesses living in this monastery," Barriss finally says.

"Then I am a suspect." Estuuya says this as a matter of fact, without any hint of offense.

"Yes," Barriss reluctantly says. "Please tell us where you were during the thefts."

"I and a few trusted priestesses were away in Retribution for the past month, to aid the Brothers of Blood. Winter is their busy season, and the city receives a larger influx of Snow Walkers than they usually get throughout the rest of the year. They always need a few extra hands to get everything set up to receive these pilgrims." Estuuya pulls open the top drawer of her desk and pulls out a folder. She opens it up and pushes a couple flimsies over the desk to them. Riyo picks them up and holds them to the light to better see.

"The Brothers of Blood?" Ahsoka asks. That name is severely cool.

"An order of priests who serve the Blizzard God. You could describe our two orders as 'Sister Orders,'" Estuuya says.

Riyo offers Barriss the flimsies, but Barriss gently turns her down, so she summarizes. "These are a travel itinerary and stamped travel flimsies, and this is a ticket stub."

"The Travel Authority of Retribution will have records of my arrival and departure. I can also provide you with a list of the priestesses who travelled with me," Estuuya says.

Riyo gives the flimsies back to Estuuya, who puts them away.

"I returned to the monastery two days ago, hours after the second theft occurred," Estuuya says.

"Before you left, did you notice anything strange? Anything out of place, or anyone behaving oddly?" Barriss asks.

Ahsoka comes forward and leans against the top of Barriss' chair. "Did you feel something? Sense something wrong?"

Estuuya's gold eyes narrow. "There was something. Before I left for Retribution, while I was deep in breath with Mother Moon, I received a terrible premonition. One of my daughters would offer tribute of the most heinous nature and had to be stopped. There was no sign of when it would come to pass, so I foolishly thought I had more time to intervene, but apparently not. I returned to find my monastery in dire spirits."

"Did the vision pinpoint a specific priestess?" Barriss asks. Estuuya shakes her head.

"Just the robes we wear. I could not point her out if I tried. Is there anything else you wish to know?"

Estuuya, Riyo, and Ahsoka all turn to Barriss, whose eyebrows go up.

"Er, no. You are hereby cleared of suspicion, Reverend Mother."

"Thank the Gods. Please feel free to use this office as a base of operations during your investigation, Master Jedi." Estuuya drops a heavy keyring onto the desk and gets to her feet.

"Oh, we couldn't possibly impose," Barriss begins, but Estuuya holds up a hand.

"My old bones could use the fresh air. Let no one refuse your summons, Master Jedi. I give you leave to question anyone and to search the entire premises. Please find this misguided soul." Estuuya makes her way out of the office again.

Barriss hesitates, then stands and picks the keyring up. Riyo watches her with a crinkled brow.

"What do we do now? There are too many priestesses here for us to question. We have to narrow down the suspect pool somehow."

Barriss walks behind the desk and looks out the window. "Do priestesses have Force Powers like we do? For example: can they manipulate objects using their minds?"

"No, nothing like that. According to Kupun, and to the sacred texts, priests and priestesses can sense how other people feel, and have an uncanny intuition that bad things are about to happen, and they can heal, but that's about it," Riyo says.

Barriss turns and tosses the keyring to Ahsoka, who snatches it out of the air. "Could we unlock the file cabinets with that?"

Ahsoka flips through the keyring until she finds one that matches the same color and material as the cabinet locks. She pinches it between her finger and thumb and holds it up. "Yeah. Why?"

"We know a lot more about our suspect than we think. She's powerful enough to manipulate the Force in ways that are beyond the grasp of most of the priestesses here. We're looking for someone who regularly demonstrates this level of control. Hopefully, it's just the sort of thing that would be noted in their files," Barriss says.

"Gods, that's brilliant," Riyo breathes. Barriss smiles at her.

"Shall we begin?"

Ahsoka tosses the keyring back to Barriss, who catches it with both hands. "You know, you could just open it, right?"

"Ha ha." With a wave of Barriss' hand, all of the cabinet locks click open.

Riyo's eyebrows go up. "You're getting quite good at that."

"Thank you, Riyo. Can you please start on these?" Barriss pulls open the drawers and lifts out several files at a time. She puts these on the desk in stacks.

"I haven't done this much reading since law school," Riyo mutters, but she sits behind the desk all the same and pulls the stack nearer to her.

Ahsoka and Barriss fall into a rhythm of giving Riyo files and taking discarded files back to the cabinets. Riyo skims faster than the both of them can work, and she asks a few clarifying questions about who might fit their profile, but the search proves fruitless. Even if Estuuya and the leading priestesses are capable of visions, they aren't able to do anything more strenuous than that.

But then Riyo opens the next file and comes to a complete stop, staring at the flimsi inside. Ahsoka dumps the last stack of files on the desk and looks over her shoulder. Unlike the rest of the files, this one contains a scanned copy of a document. Coruscanti Passport is printed across the scan in bold Aurebesh, and underneath it is an old holograph of a teenage Pantoran girl and the Jedi EduCorps logo. Judging by the expiration date of the passport, the copy is more than a decade old.

"What is it?" Barriss looks over Riyo's other shoulder, and she gasps.

"I didn't know there could be Jedi all the way out here. Is she the one we're looking for?" Ahsoka asks.

"Possibly. We're almost done going through all the files," Barriss says.

Riyo checks the chrono on Estuuya's desk. "I know where she is, and she's indisposed for now. Before we take her in for questioning, or present our findings to the High Priestess, we must find decisive evidence that the suspect is our thief."

Ahsoka, and Barriss follow Riyo through the priestess' dorms. By now, the priestesses are elsewhere in the monastery, and the dorms are quiet and empty. When Riyo finds the correct door, they stop and wait. Ahsoka goes through Estuuya's keyring for the dorm master key.

"This feels kinda wrong," Ahsoka says as she searches. There are keys of all shapes and metals on this ring, and even though some are marked in Aurebesh, it's in Pantoran, so she's reduced to guesstimating. Ahsoka tries one of the keys, but it doesn't fit.

"As Riyo said, we must find evidence before we can confidently arrest our suspect, and the High Priestess gave us permission to conduct our investigation as we see fit," Barriss says, but the look on her face says that she might feel otherwise.

"It isn't illegal if we have the key, if that makes it better," Riyo says.

"You say this as if you wouldn't suggest it regardless, and then retroactively apply some legal mumbo jumbo," Barriss says. Riyo bats her eyes at her.

"You know me so well."

Ahsoka tries again, but the second one doesn't work either. "What if we just open it?" She asks.

"Nope. Not this time. Looking at files in an office is one thing, but this is someone's private quarters. Permission or no, I'd like to be covered," Riyo says, so Ahsoka continues her search.

"It's this one. I have a good feeling about it." Ahsoka slides the key into the lock and turns.

CLICK. It turns without a hitch, and Ahsoka slowly opens the door and goes in.

The dorm room resembles the suite they stayed in last night, only much smaller. Ahsoka takes a deep breath and smells the same incense and soap used throughout the rest of the monastery.

"What are we looking for?" Ahsoka asks.

"Anything that a priestess should not have." Barriss goes to the desk and pulls out the drawers, then pauses. "I'm suddenly aware that I don't know what a priestess shouldn't have."

Riyo crosses the room to stand at Barriss' side. "They are allowed their own possessions. Holographs, data cards, a diary." She falters and shares a look with Barriss, then the both of them rummage through the desk. There are bundles of handwritten flimsies that Riyo skims through, complete with lists, and diagrams. She sorts them into stacks until all the flimsies are accounted for, then goes through the piles.

"Those stacks are irrelevant, but these are notes on healing," here, Riyo lays a hand on one of the stacks, "and these are essays analyzing the Pantoran Pantheon." She touches a second stack.

"That doesn't sound very incriminating," Ahsoka says.

"Yes, except the notes on healing include the power-boosting benefits of Bota and the theoretical possibility of resurrection. The religious essays go from simple summaries for kids to an entire manifesto. The most alarming is the most recent one." Riyo pulls a few flimsies from the bottom of the stack. "This one proclaims Mother Moon as the strongest and most important god in the pantheon, which is true, but then it goes on to say that we should discard the rest, and that She should be the only god we should be worshipping."

"Wait! Wait, one second. What?" Ahsoka asks. Barriss mentioned Bota once; a rare, powerful drug that was said to make anyone, even a non-sensitive, as powerful as a Jedi Master. Barriss only knew about it because the Council discussed putting together a medical research team to investigate it, and her name was on the team roster.

"She stole the bodies so that she could resurrect them? Why?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo chews on her lip as she skims the flimsi further. "If she could undo death, then it would vindicate her thesis. From an academic perspective, it is a fascinating premise, if also hideously abominable. It is enough to make an arrest." Riyo gathers the flimsies and tucks them into her coat, then puts the other stacks back into the desk.

The classroom is full of small children. Priestess Aguta turns on a holoprojector, which shows two flickering designs. One is an indecipherable mess of overlapping designs that together somewhat resembles an eye. The other is a plain circle.

Beyond the open doorway of the classroom stand Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo, but they stand in a place where they won't be seen by anyone within the room. Riyo's distress is not-so-subtly broadcast through the Force, ruining whatever element of surprise they were hoping to have, but if Aguta really has sensed them, she's opted to ignore them in favor of finishing her class.

"What is she saying?" Barriss asks in a low voice.

"She's talking about tattoos," Riyo whispers back. She pauses to listen more, and then starts whispering in Basic while Aguta is saying.

"Mother Moon created the first Pantorans in Her image. The Trickster Goddex saw Her do this, and decided that They wanted to create too. They tried to copy Her, but it didn't turn out the same, because the Trickster is constantly changing shape. The Pantorans They created were all sorts of genders, and that is why we're all so different. Those who are descended from Pantorans created by Mother Moon have tattoos on the outside of their shoulders to honor her. Those who are descended from the Trickster have other tattoos in the same place. Families and clans have developed their own interpretations of the same tattoos, and that is why everyone's god tattoos are also so different." Riyo pauses, then says, "She's dismissing the children now."

A bunch of younglings stampede out of the classroom with their things, and as they run, they scream with excitement. They go to the adults waiting on the lawn beyond them and babble to them in Pantoran. Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo watch the scene before them unfold for a bit before a distracted voice calls out from inside the classroom.

"Did you come to get an education, Senator? Master Jedi?"

Ahsoka and Barriss straighten up at that.

"Stay here, Riyo. If something happens, close the door and don't let anyone in, no matter what." Barriss unbuckles her cloak and sets it on a nearby bench. Ahsoka pulls off her parka and lays it over the cloak, and she puts a hand on Riyo's shoulder.

"We'll be back soon."

Riyo puts her hand over Ahsoka's and squeezes. "I'll be waiting."

Ahsoka turns to Barriss and nods. They both go into the classroom. Aguta is sitting at her desk, looking through a pile of worksheets. In one hand, she holds a sheet of stickers, and she peels a sticker off the sheet and presses it to the top flimsi. She lowers the stickers and looks up at them.

"Hello, Master Jedi. I don't think we've been formally introduced. Please take a seat." Aguta gestures to the grouped tables set around the classroom.

"Thank you, Priestess, but we'd rather stand," Barriss says. Aguta's eyes narrow, and she finally gives them her full attention.

"What is this about, Master Jedi?"

"Priestess Aguta, you are under arrest for body snatching," Ahsoka says.

"I stole those bodies?" Aguta asks, incredulous.

"You did. We have irrefutable evidence. Please come with us to see the High Priestess," Barriss says.

"No. High Priestess Estuuya wouldn't understand how important my work is. You wouldn't. No one would." Aguta gives a sad smile and reaches into her robes. Ahsoka steps forward in warning, but Aguta stops her with a sharp look. She pulls out a vial of clear liquid and pops the lid off with her thumb. The cap clatters to the floor and rolls out of sight.

"Don't," Ahsoka says.

"When those children died in our medical ward, I knew they were sent to me by Mother Moon." Aguta holds the vial aloft. "They were young and fit. Their deaths were so unnecessary and could be so easily reversed."

Barriss takes a deep breath, as if to muster every bit of patience she possesses. "I strongly disagree," she says.

"All I needed was the Bota, but the timing was off, so I stowed them in the cafeteria freezer until I could get my hands on a dose," Aguta says.

"But then we found the bodies," Barriss says. Aguta's face twists in disgust.

"You found them and you ruined them with your autopsy. All that work for nothing. But there is still hope yet. Death is everywhere, and I can always get more Bota." The more she talks, the cooler it feels until Ahsoka is sure that it isn't just due to the weather. The air is tainted with a bitter undercurrent of malice and anger.

"I won't tolerate any obstacles," Aguta says, and she downs the contents of the vial.

Just outside the classroom, Riyo kicks the door stopper aside and tugs the door loose.

CLICK. The heavy door swings shut, muffling the commotion outside.

Ahsoka leaps across the classroom, hoping to take Aguta off guard, but Aguta sends her flying with a flick of her wrist.

CRASH. Ahsoka lands on a desk, breaking it in half under her weight. One of the table legs bounces across the carpet.

"Come, Master Jedi! Let's see how the Order has fared in my absence." The hum of lightsabers fill the air. Ahsoka struggles to get up despite the pain shooting up and down her back. Wood shards and splinters drop to the floor as she gets to her knees.

"Ugh." Ahsoka staggers to her feet, but still hunches over.

Before Barriss was knighted, most of the other padawan agreed that she was one of the best technical Soresu practitioners in their class, and it shows now in her impeccable defense. Despite the sudden pressure of the Dark Side filling the entire room, and despite her spike of fear in the Force, Barriss is fighting rather well. As quickly as Aguta's lightsaber moves, Barriss' blade is always there to swat it away, or she dodges with a minimal amount of effort. Efficient. Clean. Basic.

Basic? Ahsoka frowns, confused, until she realizes that Barriss is using basic defenses against basic attacks and even from this distance, Ahsoka can almost sense her calculating in her head. But maybe she's right to be cautious. It doesn't matter how many techniques Aguta knows; what matters is that she knows them well, and that she's now powered by Bota.

Aguta laughs. "You're full of fear, Master Jedi! What kind of example is that to set for your padawan?"

Ahsoka summons her lightsabers into her hands and ignites them.

PSSHEW.

She leaps again, joining the fight. Aguta grits her teeth and somehow becomes faster, her irises turning red. For a few moments, there's nothing but the terrifying whir and snap of lightsabers, and the searing heat of plasma as the blades swing dangerously close to her skin. Barriss' defense becomes more conservative, if that's possible, but Ahsoka snarls and attacks even more.

Their lightsabers crackle and spark as they furiously trade blows, the tips of their blades sinking through the wood paneling of the classroom and painting them with burned streaks.

A good Ataru defense is constant offense; an opponent cannot mount an attack if they are overwhelmed. Anakin likes to joke that it's a generous style, and Ahsoka gives now. Her blade crashes down upon Aguta's lightsaber again and again, sending hot sparks everywhere and making all the blades flash. To the untrained, or unfamiliar eye, Ahsoka has totally sacrificed technique and has opened herself up to a counter-attack. That she has lost this fight. That she will die. As if on cue, Barriss' apprehension grows in the Force, and Aguta's grimace widens into a wicked smile.

They're wrong.

When Aguta twists her lightsaber in an arc to swing up through Ahsoka's jaw, Ahsoka raises her shoto lightsaber and blocks it. She also whirls her main blade around and up, and the tip slices clean through the blade emitter.

Ahsoka backs away as the emitter tumbles over the floor and disappears under the teacher's desk. The remains of the lightsaber spit sparks and Aguta hisses and drops the hilt. Barriss levels her blade at Aguta's throat.

"You are beaten. Yield."

Aguta's face twists and she shrieks. The teacher's desk, along with the remaining tables in the classroom, lift fully off the floor.

"Barriss!" Ahsoka envelops Barriss in a hug to protect her as the tables zoom towards them.

BOOM.

The wall of the classroom explodes out onto the frosted lawn outside, scattering bits of wood and sheets of flimsi everywhere. A broken table shoots through the jagged hole, narrowly misses a passerby, and sinks corner-first into the snow. A few chairs bounce a couple times before skidding to a rest on the ice. Both Barriss and Ahsoka fly through the hole and flop face-down onto the lawn.

The guests and the priestesses scream and bump into each other as they flee the courtyard, leaving it empty in seconds. A few of them scoop their children up so that they can run faster.

Every inch of Ahsoka's body is filled with pain. Nothing is broken…probably, but she's covered in dust and splinters and her montrals won't stop ringing. Barriss's groan comes from a few feet away. She kicks a plank of wood off of her and tries to sit up, but sighs and lays back down.

"Ahsoka? Are you all right?"

"No, I'm dead," Ahsoka says, her voice muffled by the snow. She's heard that Jedi are tough enough to survive being thrown through walls, but she's never felt a pressing need to actually test it out. That was agonizing. At least she was able to shield Barriss from the worst of it.

"Ahsoka," Barriss says again, chiding this time.

"Give…give me a minute. Please," Ahsoka says. At least until her montrals return to normal.

The door to the classroom opens and Aguta steps out, looking none the worse for their fight. She takes a long, thin stip of cloth from around her waist and winds it around her torso to tie up her long sleeves.

Ahsoka curses in Mando'a as she rolls over onto her back, squishing the snow beneath her. Stang, this is Bota? This is what Bota does? That's bonkers.

Barriss staggers to her feet. There's a rip in her purple hood and in one of her sleeves, but she doesn't seem to be bleeding. She glances around, but when she doesn't find any of their lightsabers, she raises her hands up and extends them forward, her fingertips pointed at Aguta, with her right hand slightly behind her left. Her elbows and hips are tucked in and she steps back with her right foot to present a streamlined profile.

Aguta steps out into the sunlight. "I was the most promising initiate of my year. The first to complete the Gathering. The winner of the Apprentice Tournament. But no one wanted me."

Barriss's eyes narrow, but Ahsoka gasps.

"I read about you! Ooh! You're famous in the Temple." Ahsoka scrambles to her feet and straightens up, but holds a hand against her montral when it twinges in protest.

"She is?" Barriss asks.

"I am?" Aguta asks.

"Well, you're a footnote in the records. Riyo once asked me if there were any Pantoran Jedi that she could network with, so I ran a search in the Archives. You must've changed your name since you left, but you're around the right age. Fifteen years ago, a Pantoran initiate won the Apprentice Tournament by killing her opponent. You killed him. No one wanted a piece of that ruthlessness," Ahsoka says.

Aguta's mouth thins into a savage line. "I was a literal child, and that was an accident. But I suppose the Order would twist the truth like that. There is no such thing as forgiveness to a Jedi, and there is no room for mistakes. Tell me, Master Jedi. Are your records so spotless?"

BANG. The doors to the main monastery slam open, revealing Kupun and Riyo. Kupun runs out, her face wet with tears.

"Aguta! Priestess Aguta, they are saying you did it. That you stole those bodies. Is it true?"

Riyo lingers in the doorway, her face flushed. It looks as if she ran all the way to the other end of the monastery and back. Aguta stares at Kupun in astonishment and as she's distracted, Ahsoka slowly inches her way to block Riyo out of sight.

"Tell me it's not true!" Kupun shouts.

"It's true."

"No!" Kupun falls her knees, sobbing. "How could you do that?"

Aguta starts towards her, but Barriss steps forward, grabs her wrist, and pulls. She also slaps her other hand against Aguta's neck, making Aguta fall back. Barriss controls and twists her around until she's lying face-up on the grass, with her head tucked between Barriss' knees. Barriss presses her palm against Aguta's forehead and whispers.

"Go to sleep."

Aguta goes limp in Barriss' hold.

"No!" Kupun crawls over the lawn and kneels by Aguta. Barriss's gently lowers her down in the snow and steps away.

High Priestess Estuuya's office isn't large enough to hold this many people, but they all cram in anyway. Estuuya regards Barriss, who nervously fidgets in her seat as she explains what they have found during their investigation. Kupun sits in the other chair, her eyes red from crying. She can't stop sniffling, and she wipes her face from time to time with crumpled tissues she balls in her hands. Ahsoka and Riyo stand behind them, the both of them very solemn.

On the desk is the sheaf of flimsies that they gathered from Aguta's desk, along with the empty vial. Estuuya had skimmed the top page earlier, but lowered it in favor of listening to Barriss.

"Priestess Aguta will sleep off the effects of the Bota within a couple hours and when she awakes, she will be returned to her previous power level. In the meantime, she is being held by the other priestesses in an emptied store room." Barriss stops and clears her throat. She's been talking for the past half hour.

Estuuya removes her spectacles and rubs the bridge of her nose. "Thank you, Master Jedi. I have tasked you with finding the lost soul, and you have. It is discouraging to find out that it was Priestess Aguta who was responsible, but I think that was to be expected. It would have been disappointing regardless of who was behind the thefts." She puts her spectacles back on and they mimic her tattoos perfectly.

"Reverend Mother, what will happen to Priestess Aguta?" Kupun asks. Riyo winces and turns away, but Estuuya meets her with a steady gaze.

"I am afraid that something like this is unprecedented. I will have to petition guidance from our sisters in Benevolence City."

"But Reverend Mother! Priestess Aguta has sacrificed so much for the monastery," Kupun says. Estuuya holds up a hand.

"I shall strongly suggest rehabilitation, Dear Kupun. Never fear. If it is as the Jedi say, then the Aguta we know may still be returned to us in time."

Kupun brightens considerably at that, and Estuuya and turns to Riyo and the Jedi with a smile.

"The Mother Moon Priestesses owe you a great debt, my friends. I owe you a great debt. How may we repay you?"

Riyo strokes her chin as she thinks. "We might need to be smuggled into Defiance, Reverend Mother. Is that possible to do?"

Estuuya raises an eyebrow. "Yes. Yes, it is."

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

[transmalewife]

you are SO right. shmi maybe didn’t exactly raise owen, since he was a teen by the time she married his dad, but they lived together for years. she was a mother figure to him, part of his family. he grieved her death. i wonder if part of the tension between owen and obi wan comes from the fact that obi wan knew and grieves anakin and sees him in luke, and owen knew and grieves shmi, and knows probably better than anyone alive at that point in the story how devastating it is for a parent to give up their child to be trained as a jedi when they’re around that age. because he saw shmi struggle with that every day. of course he won’t want to do that same thing. obi wan only has the other side of the story. the great things anakin achieved in the order, his friendships, ahsoka. how happy he was to see new planets every day. neither of them can understand the others point of view

and if, say, owen knew obi wan didn’t let anakin come save shmi earlier, that opens a whole other can of worms because he has every right to blame him for his stepmothers death. his fathers injuries. maybe owen also wanted to leave tatooine, but he got stuck on the farm because his father needed help after he was wounded. gonna stop speculating now, but wow you’ve truly opened my mind to so many horrible possibilities

and yeah, i have my own problems with lucas, but he is undeniably a visionary for creating this universe from the ground up. there’s this incredible vibe about the movies, most visible in the bts material for the prequels, but also the ot, of how communal and engaged and passionate the making of them were. the costume and set design, the acting, the effects. it all came together with hundreds of people creating one coherent vision. i just don’t get that here. the show is definitely my favorite live action star wars thing since the prequels, but it’s… disjointed. the mandalorian wasn’t. its late and idk if i can make this clear, but basically the mandalorian feels like a solid, real world. all the different places and the progression between them makes sense, even when the sets change drastically, there’s still this vibe that tells you it’s this guys story and this guys world. you meet similar types of characters in very different places. you have very different planets,but as long as you only see them though the windows of the same type of shitty crime ridden cantina, it feels like a world, not a bunch of backgrounds.

idk why this show isn’t like that. i think it’s just trying to be too many things at once. you’re making a story about obi wan, but obi wan is canonically very busy doing absolutely nothing for two decades, so you can’t do much with him. also it’s this big return of the big name actors, so you have to do everything at once and big spectacle, but none of it can matter because plotwise you’re trapped between the rock of rots and the hard place of anh. so you go on a tour of iconic places and characters, but also not really? we see tatooine, but not the same cantina we saw in the ot. not obi wan’s house. obi wan is wearing a grey sweater, even though in anh he was back in jedi robes. no iconic shots of the star destroyer. we see the temple, but it’s a random balcony, not any significant established set (also i get that might have been intentional, to show like. the liminality, the unreal mess of it all, but imo it doesn’t work, but that specific set is so… dead. plain and ugly cgi on the skyline, and no… temple chatter, no speeders in the background). there are sets i’m in love with- daiyu is absolutely delightful, but all of them are different not only from what we know, but also from each other, to the point where they really feel like a slideshow of star wars locations for a budget vacation, rather that an immersive, engaging tour of another galaxy, like the prequels or the ot, and even the animations did. like watching the movies i get that wonderful childish feeling of believing for two hours that this is real and beautiful and tragic and really did happen a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. with this show i only had that a handful of times- obi wan and leia on daiyu, the order 66 flashbacks, and most scenes with tala (actually a few episodes ago i had a thought that she reminds me of shmi, but didn’t have much more to elaborate on that.)

completely lost my point there, but back to leia. yeah, i hadn’t even thought of that before, but the fact obi-wan knew her, not just of her, that he actually spent days with her, risked his life to save her, makes it so much weirder that he didnt mention her to luke. She isnt a baby he helped a robot deliver and never saw again anymore, she's a friend, with padme's face and anakin's soul, that turned to him as their only hope, just like her father did ten years before when she was taken.

and exactly... when Obi-Wan started talking about his mother's shawl or whatever it would have been a perfect moment for leia to say something like "I'm not sure if it's not just my imagination, but I think I remember her face" and maybe even a direct callback to the beautiful, kind but sad line. like I said, there's padme shaped holes all over the script

Also I still wanna see buff!padme. My hopes are low but I'm holding on.

[artyblogs]

Across the Frozen Sea ch5

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 5: Mafoo Manor

Mafoo Manor is built out of dark hardwoods, and is bedecked in sigil tapestries woven with yellow and purple threads. The stone fireplace is tall enough for Riyo to stand in without slouching, and over the mantle are displayed a few elk carvings placed around a painting of Count Mafoo. Sheer, red fabric has been draped over the painting, somewhat obscuring it.

The dining table is draped in exquisite cloth, and features a magnificent spread of cooked fish, roasted meat, and other Pantoran dishes. Barriss eats a reindeer soup out of a finely-made bowl and hopes that she isn’t committing some social faux-pas. If she was asked if her table manners were impeccable yesterday, she would have answered ‘yes,’ but she’s no longer sure of anything after the raw seal debacle that they ate with their hands. At least the food is cooked now. She didn’t have the appetite to eat much of her share of the seal after she watched Ahsoka tear into the literal heart.

Next to her, Ahsoka eats in silence, content to leave the talking to Riyo. Riyo is all practiced grace and poise, emanating an air of power and confidence despite her wrinkled and blood-stained suit. Thankfully, she attracts most of their hosts’ attention, and most of the conversation is held in Galactic Basic.

What’s left of the Mafoo family sits with them at the dining table. Dowager Countess Xola’s gray hair has been twisted back into a bun, and her sad gaze has been steadily trained on Riyo for most of the meal.

Her second son, Count Mfuneko, sits at the head of the table, and he asks Riyo all sorts of questions about Coruscant and her life as a galactic Senator. He can’t be more than a couple years older than Barriss and Riyo, if he’s older at all. On the other hand, her daughter Thandi stares determinedly at her plate.

“My condolences on your loss, Count, Dowager,” Riyo says. “When is the drowning ceremony?”

“It hasn’t been scheduled,” Xola says. “Mfuneko is arranging everything, but he hasn’t decided on a date.”

“I entrust most of the arrangements to Paki.” Mfuneko gestures to a young man standing at attention in the corner of the room. His dark blue hair is short and spiked, and his yellow tattoos streak down over his jaw like a beard.

“You must remember Paki, don’t you, Senator? One of my father’s last acts was to promote him to the head of the guard.”

“I remember. The both of you are close friends,” Riyo says.

“We go back to the same wet-nurse. At any rate, my father’s drowning won’t be done until my brother Dumi comes home. He’s gone and fled in his grief and we can’t find him. Until he returns, it falls to me to act as Count in his stead,” Mfuneko says. He shrugs and slouches in his chair. “It wouldn’t be right to hold such an important ceremony without him, would it? It’s what my father would have wanted.”

As this, Thandi grips her fork so hard her fingers turn white, but no one else seems to notice.

Mfuneko continues. “He went so quickly; none of us expected it. I wasn’t even raised to inherit the title; that was Dumi’s burden to bear, but it can’t be helped. I must continue in their place.”

“Yes, you are the Count. I’m used to talking business during meals, but we could adjourn to the study if that’s preferred,” Riyo says. Mfuneko’s eyebrows go up.

“Of course, Senator. In due time. I’ll admit I have a favor to ask of you as well.”

“Oh?”

“I find myself tasked with finding Thandi a suitable match. No doubt you are well-connected. Perhaps you could recommend a few candidates for me to pursue on her behalf.”

Thandi lowers her fork and knife. Riyo’s eyes flicker.

“My Lord, your sister is only fourteen years old.”

“All the better to be interested in her future. I am determined that she be well taken care of.” Mfuneko’s voice becomes hard and cold. Ahsoka perks up at the change in tone, and Barriss is tempted to Mind Read him through the Force.

Xola sighs and busies herself with her napkin. “I’m curious about your friends, Senator. We hear of the Jedi, but we don’t truly know of them.”

The tension breaks as Riyo turns to Xola. “They’re humble creatures, my lady. The closest equivalent I can draw are the Mother Moon Priestesses.”

After lunch, Mfuneko, Paki, and Riyo shut themselves in the study, leaving Barriss and Ahsoka to Xola and Thandi. The four of them take a tour of the manor.

Mafoo Manor is located in the outskirts of Bravado, on top of tall sea cliffs. It used to be a castle until most of it burned down in a horrible fire almost fifty years ago, and the lavish manor was built atop the remaining ruins. Xola shows them the stables where they keep their prized elk, the conservatory, the ballroom, the music room, two different parlors, and the library. More tapestries and wood carvings are hung on the walls alongside traditional weapons made from whale bone and shark teeth.

In the entrance foyer hangs a three meter-tall calligraphy painting on canvas. It resembles the sigils that they’ve seen everywhere on Pantora, except this one is painted in a deep purple.

“You must have seen this when you arrived, Master Jedi. Chairman Cho started this trend when he had a similar one done for his palace, only his was six meters tall,” Xola says. She frowns up at the canvas.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is blood, isn’t it?” Ahsoka asks. Xola nods.

“Elk blood. I believe the artist mixed the medium with a stabilizing agent, then varnished the entire canvas to keep it from decaying. It’s terribly expensive to do. I must confess that this is the end of the tour, Master Jedi.”

“Of course, Lady Mafoo. You must be busy,” Barriss says.

“If you need anything, feel free to ask one of the staff.” Xola turns and disappears into the house.

Ahsoka looks back up at the painting. “We’re being followed,” she whispers. Barriss looks around, but sees no one else but Thandi, who’s busy looking at a intricate tapestry on the other side of the foyer.

“I saw three guards during our tour, which means that there must be at least nine in total around here,” Ahsoka continues.

“Do you think we’re in danger?” Barriss asks.

Ahsoka shrugs. “I’ve decided that it’s easier to just assume we’re in constant danger until we get back to Defiance, but I’m open to being proven wrong.”

“These guards are very good at hiding themselves,” Barriss mutters.

“Yeah, but I can still hear them moving and I can smell them too. One of them uses too much cologne.” Ahsoka wrinkles her nose.

Barriss lowers her voice even more. “Have you noticed that a lot of these things are new?”

“How can I not? It’s all Xola has been saying. ‘Mfuneko commissioned this, Mfuneko commissioned that.’ This painting alone must cost a fortune,” Ahsoka whispers back.

“It does. My brother’s going to run us into the poorhouse,” Thandi says. She’s standing right behind them.

“My apologies,” Barriss says, but Thandi shakes her head.

“It’s all right. He started burning through our credits as soon as he became Count. My mother tells him not to spend so much, but he doesn’t listen. He wants to marry me off because he wants my dowry.”

Barriss regards the skinny teenager before her. She’s small for her age, with thin shoulders and deep black hair that cascades down her back. Her skin is also a dark blue, making her yellow eyes pop.

“Do you want to get married?” Barriss gently asks.

“No way! I’m training to be a uhadi musician and I want to tour the moon someday. But I don’t have any choice, like Dumi didn’t have a choice when Mfuneko chased him away,” Thandi says.

Ahsoka waves her hands to stop her. “Wait, wait, wait. Dumi, the brother you guys were talking about earlier? That Dumi? He didn’t ‘flee from grief?’”

“No, he wanted to stay, but Mfuneko and Paki threatened him, so he ran away instead.”

“If I may ask, Thandi, how did your father die?” Barriss asks.

Sadness flickers across Thandi’s face. “I don’t know.”

“Where is he interred?”

Thandi shrugs and looks away, blinking furiously. Barriss and Ahsoka share a look. ‘Yikes,’ Ahsoka mouths.

“Does Senator Chuchi know nice people at least? If I must be married, then…maybe it won’t be so bad,” Thandi says.

“Let’s go talk to her now. Can you show us to the study?” Barriss takes Thandi’s arm in hers and lets her lead them through the mansion.

In contrast to the rest of the mansion, the study is paneled from top to bottom in dark wood. Pantoran constellations are carved into the ceiling, and the bit of walls that aren’t covered in shelves feature landscapes. There are two windows on either side of the desk, but despite the copious amount of light they let in, Mfuneko switches on the lamps and places another log in the fireplace. All of the chairs have fur pelts draped over them, and over the floor is a plush rug.

Mfuneko invites Riyo to sit, and she makes herself comfortable in the guest armchair. Paki softly closes the door behind himself and goes to stand in the corner.

“Please excuse the mess, Senator. I must rebuild my father’s network.” Mfuneko gestures to the stacks of flimsi and data cards scattered over the top of the desk. “Your arrival is a blessing; I understand that you were one of my father’s business contacts.”

“I was. He was one of the first to donate to my initial campaign. He was a good man. A generous man.” Riyo pauses. “I would like very much to pay my respects. Where is the body kept?”

Mfuneko looks to Paki, who smirks.

“Alas, he’s still at the embalmers,” Paki says.

“There, see? Never fear, Senator. You’ll receive an invitation to the drowning,” Mfuneko says.

There’s a sinking feeling in Riyo’s gut, but she presses on. “To business then. I’ll admit that my visit is motivated by my recent visit to Bravado proper.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I was astounded to learn that the public waterfront was closed, and that the only hunters allowed were those directly in your employment.”

“You wish to hear an explanation. I’m sorry to confess that the waterfront has been poisoned. My men have secured the piers for the safety of the people while my hunters investigate the cause.”

“And this investigation requires a sample size of a hundred seal? That sounds excessive, your grace,” Riyo says.

“It is unavoidable. I find it best to leave these things to the experts of course.” Mfuneko says.

“Of course. I only ask out of concern.”

There is a long moment in which nothing is said. There is only the crackling of the fire. Mfuneko and Riyo stare at each other from across the desk.

“My sister requires a husband,” Mfuneko says. “I’ve only just announced it yesterday, and already I have five offers for her hand. But surely you must know at least one young man you might be happy to recommend. In this house, your word as a trusted associate is held in such high esteem.”

Oh, how crafty. Riyo leans back in her seat and considers her answer. The late Count Anathi was a good leader for his people, but he wasn’t quite the political animal. It doesn’t matter who Riyo recommends, what matters is that she recommended them, thereby implicitly giving her blessing to the match. If Mfuneko followed through with her recommendation, which he will, then it would become known that he was in good standing with the Pantoran Senator of the Galactic Republic, thereby boosting his reputation and opening new venues for networking previously closed to him.

All he would have to do is use his fourteen year-old sister to get there.

“I know many suitable people, your grace. I could offer a match for you too, if you wish.”

Mfuneko’s eyes grow hungry and he leans forward in interest. “Would you? That’s very kind, Senator.”

“Matchmaking is such a delicate art, you understand. I cannot just drop their names here and be on my way; I’d be betraying their confidence. I must send them flimsies first.”

“Of course! But what can you tell me now, Senator?”

“I can tell you to expect my message in two week’s time,” Riyo says. Mfuneko cracks a smile.

There’s a knock at the door.

“It seems that’s all we have time for. Enter!” Mfuneko says the last bit in Basic.

The door opens, and Ahsoka pokes her head into the room. Barriss and Thandi are with her, the both of them glancing curiously around the study.

“Hi. Riyo, can we talk?” Ahsoka asks.

Riyo nods and rises from her chair. “Of course. Please excuse us, Count.”

Mfuneko waves it away. “Enjoy the grounds, Senator.”

The four of them leave the study and follow Ahsoka to the conservatory. It’s an odd choice until Riyo notices the dark shapes of guards beyond the glass. The guards can observe them in here, looking as if they are gawking at the exotic plants, and so won’t feel the need to follow them in, but they also cannot hear what they are saying if they keep their voices low enough, nor can they read their lips through the foggy glass.

Impressive.

Barriss and Thandi sit on a wicker sofa and tell Riyo all that they’ve learned. Ahsoka walks the small path around the conservatory as if she’s a casual observer, but Riyo opts to stand behind the last chair and crosses her arms over her chest, listening.

“Has your brother made any trips to the drowning shipwright?” Riyo asks. Thandi shakes her head.

“He only goes out to drink and to hunt, and that’s if he isn’t having a party in the music room. I don’t think he’s ever talked to a shipwright.”

“I see. Perhaps there isn’t any shipwright because one isn’t needed. Ahsoka, do you remember when we went to the Trade Federation ship?” Riyo asks.

Ahsoka grins. “I sure do. Do you want me and Barriss to look around?”

“Yes. Thandi, you and I will distract your brother and give the Jedi time to investigate.”

“How?”

“Why, by playing music. Barriss said you were practicing, yes?”

Thandi smiles and her eyes light up.

Riyo and Thandi leave for the study, and one of the guards follows them. There’s a painful tug on Ahsoka’s heart as the door shuts behind them, and she resists the urge to go after them. Beside her, Barriss also watches them go with a thinly-veiled glare.

“Perhaps this is a bad idea. We’re supposed to be with her,” Barriss says

“Mission parameters change all the time. Riyo will be fine. We won’t be apart for long,” Ahsoka says, even though she still watches the place where she last saw Riyo. Barriss sighs, but doesn’t disagree.

After a couple minutes, Riyo, Thandi, Mfuneko, and the guard pass by again on their way to the music room.

“How are we going to conduct a search while we’re being shadowed?” Barriss asks. “And don’t suggest knocking them out.”

“Okay, but that’s the easiest thing to do,” Ahsoka whispers.

“It’s too messy, the rest of the squad would throw us out.”

“Not if we do it quietly.”

“Quietly?”

Ahsoka strides to the door and yanks it open. She gestures to the guard. “Hey. Come here.”

The guard starts, then points at himself. He’s dressed in dark clothes, and has a sword hanging from his belt.

“Yeah, you. Do you speak Basic?” Ahsoka asks.

“Yes. Little,” the guard says. He turns to face her, wary.

“Where’s the kitchen? Can you tell me where the kitchen is?”

“Yes. It’s there.” The guard points down the hallway, and Ashoka looks, but she turns to him again, confused.

“I’m sorry, where?”

“There, there! Down, then you turn.” The guard comes closer and continues to point.

“Uh huh. Interesting. Thank you.” Ahsoka reaches out and wraps her arms around the guard’s neck in a headlock, then pulls him back into the conservatory. She’s almost half a head taller than he is, so it’s really easy to do. The guard gurgles and scratches at her, but Ahsoka tightens her grip and keeps moving backwards through the conservatory until he goes limp in her arms. She puts him on the couch and makes it look as if he’s taking a nap, then looks at Barriss, who gapes at her.

“Quietly. Although I expected more of a fight, so maybe he wasn’t formally trained,” Ahsoka says.

“You just snatched that man off his feet,” Barriss says in astonishment.

Ahsoka laughs. “I guess I did. Come on, let’s go.”

They sneak through the house, looking around corners to make sure they’re alone before moving forward. When they do see guards, they duck out of sight and Ahsoka uses the Force to knock over something in a different part of the house. When the guard goes to investigate the noise, they sneak past.

At the study, Ahsoka tries the door handle only to find it locked.

“Should I unlock it?”

“No doubt there could be valuable information in there, but I can’t read Pantoran. I felt so useless when I tried to help Riyo with the Kortzeer flimsies,” Barriss says. “Can you read Pantoran?”

Ahsoka’s lek stripes burn. “Uh…no. I didn’t think of that.”

The corners of Barriss’ mouth twitch. “Perhaps we should take Xola’s suggestion and ask the staff what happened.”

The kitchen is tucked away in a different part of the house, only accessible through a nondescript door. Unlike the rest of the house, the cabinets and the counters are done in light-colored woods and stone. Plain tiles cover the walls. In the middle of the stone kitchen floor, atop a tarp, is a half-butchered seal that’s much larger than the one Ahsoka caught the night before. A large, well-muscled man wearing an apron kneels next to it, but he pauses his work to look up at Ahsoka and Barriss when they push through the nondescript kitchen door. A woman in an apron is lining up empty glass jars on the counter, and she looks up too.

“Uh, hi.” Ahsoka waves. “Thanks for the meal. It was delicious.”

The man turns to the woman and speaks in Pantoran. She says something back, and the man turns to them.

“She says ‘you’re welcome.’ My name is Alack, she is Ila. Are you still hungry? Do you want more food?” The man asks in a heavy accent. His voice reverberates in his deep chest.

“We were actually wondering if there was anything odd happening in this mansion as of late,” Barriss asks. “Have you noticed anything strange?”

Alack translates between them. “She says that this entire week, Paki orders her to cook an extra portion of food every meal. He comes to pick it up, but he doesn’t eat. He takes it and goes.”

Ila says something else and Alack grunts in agreement. “It’s a tray. She puts it on a tray for him, and he takes it somewhere else. We don’t know. He doesn’t tell us. He orders us not to follow him. When he returns it, everything is gone.” He pauses again to listen, then, “If there is a knife or a fork on this tray, he leaves them on the counter.”

“That is incredibly odd, thank you. You’re very observant, Ms. Ila,” Barriss says.

Alack translates, then chuckles when Ila replies. “Yes, she is very smart. Ila has actually prepared the next meal already.” He points to the counter next to them, which has a plastoid food tray set upon it. On the tray is a wooden bowl full of soup, a spoon, and several cuts of dried fish.

“Haha, no way. It can’t be that easy,” Ahsoka says.

“It appears that it is,” Barriss says. “Mr. Alack, we would like to investigate this mystery for you and Ms. Ila, but in order to do this we would need to follow Paki. Is there anywhere in this kitchen we could hide?

Alack hums and reaches up to stroke his beard, but stops short when he realizes that his gloved hand is covered in blood. He talks to Ila, and she points at a door at the other side of the kitchen.

“The pantry,” he says. “But hurry, he’s coming soon.”

Ahsoka and Barriss pick their way cross the kitchen, careful to avoid the seal carcass, and go into the pantry room. Ahsoka pulls the door closed so that it doesn’t swing open, but holds it open a crack, so that they both can still see into the kitchen. She and Barriss are crammed together within the small confines of the pantry, and Barriss ends up holding Ahsoka round her waist to keep from falling out.

“At least nine armed men,” Barriss whispers.

“Yeah,” Ahsoka whispers back. She hopes that she isn’t crushing Barriss, but Barriss doesn’t seem uncomfortable at all.

“And if the one you snatched happens to wake up, then he’ll warn them all and everyone will be on alert.”

“Yeah.”

“And they could all be gathered in one place as a result, and would probably be guarding the place where we’re about to go investigate.”

“Yeah. Piece of cake,” Ahsoka whispers. She smiles when Barriss gives her a look of disbelief.

The two of them fall silent when the kitchen door opens again. Paki walks in and scans the kitchen, but his eyes slide right past their hiding place. He talks in Pantoran with Alack and Ila for a little bit, then takes the tray and leaves.

Instead of bowling Barriss over to get out of the pantry, Ahsoka simply scoops her up and carries her out. She crosses the kitchen and, after peeking into the dining room and finding it clear, goes into it and gently sets Barriss back on her feet. Ahsoka puts her hand to her lips and sneaks to the hall to see Paki, still walking down as if nothing is amiss. They don’t move out of cover until he turns a corner and disappears. Ahsoka and Barriss follow him through the mansion until he unlocks and opens a door. He goes through and closes the door behind him, and there is the faint scraping of a key being turned. Ahsoka ducks behind a huge, taxidermy Snow Bear. Barriss hurries to join her, and they wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

Eventually, Paki comes back out, still with the tray. The fish is gone, and so is the soup. He locks the door to the stairs, then makes his way back to the kitchen. Ahsoka stays absolutely still, and only turns to Barriss after the sound of his footsteps fade. She straightens and offers a hand to help Barriss up.

“Think you can unlock that?” Ahsoka asks.

“Of course. Please keep an eye out for me.” Barriss goes to the lock and inspects it, then closes her eyes to concentrate. The Force ripples from her hands.

CLICK.

Barriss’s eyes snap open and she opens the door, revealing a stone flight of stairs going down. “This must be a part of the original castle,” she says. She picks up her skirt and leads the way down. Ahsoka closes the door behind them and follows her.

The stairway opens up to a stone cellar. Segmental arches lead to different compartments within the cellar on either side, and in each compartment and along the center hallway hang simple electric lamps. Within the arches and the floor, stuck in the stone, are embedded iron where the bars were cut away and the remnants were ground flush with the surrounding surfaces.

Further down the hallway, however, are a couple cells that are kept intact. Ahsoka and Barriss run towards them, but another guard comes out of one of the open compartments. He yells at them in Pantoran and draws his sword, but instead of stopping, Barriss and Ahsoka rush forward even faster.

Ahsoka pushes with the Force, slamming the guard’s sword back into its sheath. The guard swears and tries to draw again, but before he can, Barriss leaps at him and slaps her palms into his face.

The guard crumples to the floor, unconscious.

Ahsoka slows to a stop and looks down at the guard’s form in awe. “What? What was that? What did you do?”

“I appropriated a Force-healing anesthetic technique to make him sleep,” Barriss says.

“Kriff, that’s scary,” Ahsoka says, still staring down at the guard. His mouth lolls open as he begins to snore.

“It’s efficient.” But all the same, Barriss’ cheeks glow with the compliment.

“Hello?” A voice comes from one of the locked cells. “Who are you?”

Ahsoka and Barriss go to the cell. An old man stands at the bars, his forehead pressed against them to better see. His gray beard and hair are disheveled and wild, and his clothes are wrinkled. He stinks, and Ahsoka resists the urge to pinch her nose shut. In the cell with the old man is a thin mattress and a chamber pot.

“Count Mafoo?” Barriss asks.

“Yes, I am Count Anathi Mafoo. Who are you? What brings a Mirialan and a Togruta to this place?”

“Senator Riyo Chuchi brought us here,” Ahsoka says, and the man’s bloodshot eyes widen.

“We’re here to investigate your disappearance, your grace,” Barriss says. The Force ripples again as she scans him for injuries.

“Thank the Gods! Thank the Gods. I do not even know how long I’ve been trapped in here.” The man, Anathi, wipes a tear from his face. “You must have seen my family. Are they doing well?”

“They’re mourning you. Your Grace, why have you been locked in here?” Barriss asks.

Anathi’s bushy brows knit together in pain, and he looks down. He says nothing.

About five men, including Paki, run into the hallway from the staircase, yelling in Pantoran. Ahsoka growls and goes to fight them, but they barrel into her and tackle her into the ground. Ahsoka lands hard, the air whooshing out of her lungs. She’s able to grab and throw only two of the guards off of her before they shove her into the closest empty cell. Ahsoka rolls over the floor, then reaches out to catch Barriss when she’s thrown in after her. Paki slams the door closed and locks it, and the guards around him cheer and give each other high-fives.

Paki drops the keyring into his belt pouch, and steps away from the cell bars. “Alive, unharmed. Good.”

Unbridled hot rage wells up within Ahsoka’s chest. If it weren’t for Barriss sitting in her lap, she would throw herself against the bars right then and there.

“You imprisoned the Count?” Ahsoka shouts. “You traitor! He trusted you!”

“You think it was my idea? You think I could do this myself? I’m flattered, Jedi.” Paki turns to the guards and says something in Pantoran, and waits as they pick up the unconscious guards from the floor, then leads the way back out of the cellar. Their voices echo through the cellar and abruptly stop when the door to the staircase shuts. Barriss crawls out of Ahsoka’s lap and watches them through the bars.

“They didn’t take our lightsabers,” Barriss whispers. Sure enough, their lightsabers still hang untouched from their belts.

“Are you complaining?” Ashoka asks. She really shouldn’t be so testy, but her annoyance still eats away at her. It really should have taken more than five fighters to bring her down. A kit could do better than that.

Barriss shakes her head. “I’m just surprised. I didn’t expect them to be so incompetent. They probably didn’t realize what they were. Jedi aren’t well-known on this moon.” She gets up and dusts herself off. “How did they know we were down here? Were we spotted by one of the guards?”

“There is a holocam. There.” Anathi points a small device that’s bolted to the ceiling next to one of the lamps.

“I see it,” Barriss says.

“Then summon it.” Ahsoka stands and unclips one of her lightsabers from her belt. The bile rises in her throat and her lip rises from her teeth in a snarl. It’s only at the sight of Barriss that Ahsoka realizes that she’s broadcasting her loathing through the Force. Barriss’ eyes are wide, and she hesitantly reaches out to touch her arm.

Ahsoka struggles to reign in her temper. It’s not Barriss’ fault, and she doesn’t know. How could she know when Ahsoka’s never told her?

“Summon the holocam now. The longer we’re in here, the more chances Paki has to confront Riyo about us.” Ahsoka ignites her lightsaber and swings it at the bars, chopping through them with ease. She swings again, and pushes with the Force, making the cut bars fall out and onto the floor with a satisfying clatter.

Kark yeah. Ahsoka steps through with a deep breath.

Barriss summons the holocam, plucking it out of the stone brinks, and catches it in her hands. Bits of stone crumble off from around the durasteel bolts.

“Ahsoka? I talked to Riyo yesterday, about…about your mission. You don’t have to tell me what happened, but if you ever do want to talk, I will listen,” Barriss says.

“Thank you.” Ahsoka helps Barriss through the bars with her free hand. Even if she wanted to tell her, what would she say? How could she even begin to explain what happened during that mission?

Barriss gives her hand a brief squeeze, but when she tries to pull away, Ahsoka doesn’t let go. She really hoped that she would take this to her funeral pyre, because it fills her up with hot shame and she doesn’t think she’s ever going to truly get over it, but it can’t be helped. Barriss offered to listen, and she wouldn’t judge her the way other Jedi would.

“They put me in a cage,” Ahsoka manages to say before her throat closes up.

Barriss staggers back, her mouth open. “A cage? Ahsoka, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. You had nothing to do with that.”

Barriss lowers her head only to eye the discarded, still-smoking bars lying at their feet.

One day, Ahsoka will be able to tell the rest. One day. But right now, she needs to focus on the task at hand. She turns towards Anathi’s cell. “Please back up, sir.”

Anathi’s eyes widen and he retreats to the back of the cell. Ahsoka swings her lightsaber again.

KRRRSH. BVOOSH.

Ahsoka yanks the sliced bars away and tosses them to the floor, then puts away her lightsaber. “Let’s go.”

“Eish!” Anathi mutters under his breath as he steps out of his cell. “I admire your enthusiasm, young lady, but Paki and his men locked you and your friend in here not more than five minutes ago. How do you expect the next fight to be any different?”

“Because this time, they won’t catch me by surprise.” Ahsoka leads the way through the cellar and up the stairs. “Doesn’t matter how many men they throw at us this time.”

“Please don’t kill them. I must deal with them myself,” Anathi says. “The Blizzard God demands that retribution come from the wronged.”

“Cool. Stand back, sir.” Ahsoka raises her foot and push-kicks through the door, ripping it off its hinges and cleaving the deadbolt through the doorframe in a shower of splinters. The door flies out and crashes into a guard standing across the hall, knocking him unconscious. The door and the guard drop to the floor with an unholy crash.

The two other guards standing on either side shout in Pantoran and draw their swords. One of them pulls his arm back to swing down, but Ahsoka catches his fist and punches him in the face. His head snaps back and a tooth pops out of his mouth.

Barriss ducks under Ahsoka’s arm and reaches out for the second guard. She uses the Force to bat his sword away and closes the gap between them, grabbing his wrist and locking her elbow so that he can’t swing the sword anymore.

Ahsoka disarms her guard and lets the sword fall the floor with a clatter. She takes him by the throat and lifts him off the floor, then slams him into the wall. The guard slumps, and she lets him go. Past him, further down the hall, are more guards. They run towards her with their swords out. Ahsoka growls.

The second guard’s sword slips from his fingers as Barriss renders his entire arm numb, and she steps onto the hilt with her boot to keep it from being picked back up. He punches, but Barriss swats his fist away and begins rapidly slapping him where he’s open: across the neck, the stomach, the chest. With each movement, she’s grabbing on to either his sleeves, or his wrists, to control him until she tugs on both of his arms to bring him in. As soon as his head is within range, Barriss grabs his face with both hands, putting him to sleep.

Ahsoka picks up the door and flings it down the hall at the oncoming guards. They shout and some of them duck out of the way, but the ones at the back don’t see it until it’s too late, and they’re hit.

The rest of the guards slow to a stop, wary. They retreat when Ahsoka takes a step forward.

“Surrender,” she says, and they stare at her in confusion. “Ah kark, I forgot. They don’t speak Basic.”

Anathi steps out into the ruined hallway, glaring at the remaining guards.

“Kunika!” He bellows. The guards glance at each other, then fall to their knees.

Thandi is a wonderful musician, although her best instrument isn’t the uhadi. She’d make a lot of credits if she got better at the uhadi, as traditional musicians are a disappearing kind, but not as many credits as she would make playing the stringed batanga. Thandi switched to the batanga after playing just one piece on the uhadi, and she’s played complicated song after song since, her fingers flying up and down the instrument’s neck.

Riyo sits in one of the chairs set around the room, watching. She’s didn’t take to music as a youngling; she never really had time to pursue the art, but she admires musicians just the same.

Halfway through the first piece, Xola came into the room. She gave everyone a tight smile, sat in the chair next to Riyo, and listened to Thandi play. She hasn’t moved much since.

Then Paki comes in. He silently crosses the room and leans down to whisper in Mfuneko’s ear. After a few seconds, Paki straightens up and goes to the back of the room, leaving Mfuneko stone-faced. He turns to Riyo.

“Are you a spy?” He asks. Thandi falters and stops playing, and Xola looks at them in confusion.

“No, and I’m insulted at the accusation,” Riyo says.

“Do not lie to me, Senator. Your associates were caught in the cellars, which are off-limits to guests. They were snooping; you are all spies.” Mfuneko’s voice takes a dangerous tone.

Riyo meets his eyes with an even gaze. “We aren’t spies, your grace. What we are is investigating the alleged death of your father, Count Anathi.”

Thandi and Xola gasp.

“If you required proof, all you needed to do was ask! This is a grievous breach of trust and etiquette. We did not elect you so you could come into our homes and pry into our sensitive business,” Mfuneko shouts.

“Mfuneko, wait,” Xola says. She puts a hand on his shoulder, but he shakes it off and stands up. He looms over Riyo, who doesn’t move.

“The people shall hear of your duplicity, Senator. Your political career is over.”

“I strongly disagree.”

“How are you so calm about these accusations?”

CRASH.

A commotion erupts elsewhere in the house, and Paki runs out of the music room.

“That’s how,” Riyo says. She and Mfuneko glare at each other for an extra moment, then they both scramble to follow Paki. Riyo slips and almost falls, but Thandi grabs her arm as she runs past her.

“Come on, Senator! Let’s go!”

They follow Mfuneko down to to main hallway, right next to the foyer, where they find Ahsoka and Barriss fighting off the guards. Ahsoka picks up a door and hurls it at the attackers as if it weighs nothing, while Barriss slaps a guard into submission, her hands a blur.

“Whoa. Senator, your friends are really cool,” Thandi says.

“Surrender!” Ahsoka shouts, but when none of the guards obey, she sighs. “Ah kark, I forgot. They don’t speak Basic.”

An old, disheveled man steps out behind Barriss and Ahsoka. His gold eyes blaze with anger. “Surrender! Surrender now!”

There’s a pause as the guards hesitate, then one by one, they toss their weapons away and kneel, revealing Mfuneko and Paki. The two of them gape at the old man in horror.

Thandi’s grip on Riyo’s arm tightens. “Baba?” She asks.

“Anathi,” Xola whispers, her eyes wide.

“Run!” Mfuneko and Paki turn and sprint to the front door. They trip over discarded weapons and over the kneeling guards, but they manage to keep upright.

Barriss gasps. “They’re going to get away!”

“No, they won’t! Get down!” Ahsoka picks up a sword and pitches it at them as hard as she can. The blade flashes in the light as it whips through the air.

“Ahsoka, no!” Barriss moves to stop her, but is too late. Thandi and Xola scream.

But the sword misses Mfuneko and Paki entirely and embeds itself through the doorframe and into the door itself, jamming it closed. Paki grabs the sword handle and tries to pull it out, but it’s stuck fast. He staggers back and falls to his knees.

“We’re done.”

“No, get up!” Mfuneko frantically tugs at the door in vain.

“We’re done! Stop!” Paki’s shout echoes through the silent house.

“Mfuneko. What have you done?” Xola asks.

Mfuneko turns to face Anathi, his face all purple. “Ruling Bravado has long since overwhelmed you! Your foolish insistence that we not industrialize keeps our people poor! You think I’m still a child?”

“Are you mad?” Anathi screams.

“I am not mad! You should have made me the heir! I know you’ve never liked me! Which one of you have ever cared about me? Which of you has ever thought about me?” Mfuneko starts crying halfway through his speech.

Xola sobs. “He is your father!”

“And I should have killed him!” Mfuneko thunders. “I hate him! I hate you all!”

A deafening silence follows. Ahsoka and Barriss lean down to whisper to Riyo.

“What are they saying?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Riyo absently whispers back.

Xola draws herself up, enraged. She goes around Thandi and Riyo and slowly crosses the foyer towards her son, her footsteps filling the silence. The guards shuffle to the side to let her through, and the closer she gets, the more Mfuneko backs away until he is pressed against the front door. Even though he is head and shoulders taller than his mother, he cowers now before her.

Thandi buries her face in Riyo’s shoulder, and even Paki and the defeated guards look away.

Xola slaps Mfuneko across the face.

Barriss, Ahsoka, and Riyo stay put as Anathi orders Mfuneko and his conspirators to be locked in the cellar, in the remaining prison cells, and the staff escort them down. Thandi waits until they are out of sight before running to her father.

“Baba!” Thandi envelops him in a hug, crying. Anathi laughs, then kisses Thandi’s forehead and murmurs something to her in Pantoran. Xola watches them with tears in her eyes.

Barriss smiles. While they weren’t supposed to come here at all, it’s difficult to consider this wasted time. She could think of worse things to do other than returning a man to his family.

“Senator, Master Jedi, you have my deepest thanks,” Xola says in a thick voice.

Riyo smiles. “It’s the least we could do, my lady.”

“Please, please come with me to the parlor,” Xola says.

Along the way, she gives gentle orders to Ila, Alack, and the rest of the staff. They bring out brooms, dustpans, and other tools to help clean up the aftermath of the fight. Alack goes to the embedded sword and grunts as he tries to pull it out.

In the parlor, Xola sits in the armchair and gestures to the couch. Riyo sits down, followed by Ahsoka and Barriss, who flank her.

“What can I do to repay you?” Xola asks.

“Live well. “My job is to serve the Pantoran people. Your happiness is reward enough,” Riyo says. Both Ahsoka and Barriss turn to stare at her. It’s astounding how gracious she can be. How effortless she makes it look.

Xola shakes her head. “There must be something more.”

“Perhaps access to a comlink. We need to message Defiance about urgent matters.”

“Alas, we don’t have a comlink strong enough here.”

“Isn’t there one in the local college?” Barriss asks.

“No, they tore the comlink tower down to build a more advanced one. It won’t be ready for another month.” Xola stands up and goes to the door, where she beckons to one of the staff. After a whispered conversation, they leave and return with a tray of supplies. Xola takes the tray with thanks, then sits back down in her chair. On the tray are flimsies, a handheld embosser, a stylus, and a small, velvet sack.

“All Galactic Senators are equipped with the latest portable comlinks, yes? You would be able to com Defiance from here if you had yours,” Xola says.

Riyo flushes indigo. “I might have been robbed, my lady. You’re rather perceptive.”

“Once does not become a countess through ignorance, Senator.” Xola takes up the stylus and begins writing in elegant script. “No identichips, no comlink. We must fix that.” She finishes the letter with a flourish and embosses it, then folds the flimsi and puts it into an envelope. She embosses flap of the envelope too, then seals it. Ahsoka whispers to Riyo.

“Was your letter of rec for Sanele supposed to look like that?”

Riyo sighs. “Yeah.”

“Please take this letter to vouch for your identity, and these five hundred credits with our thanks.” Xola holds the envelope and the velvet sack out.

“My lady, it is too much. The letter will do,” Riyo says.

“All Snow Walkers need basic supplies, and it won’t be the first time this house has funded you. It won’t be the last either. Now take these gifts.”

Riyo takes them and slips them into the interior pockets of her suit jacket. “What will you do now?”

Xola puts the tray to the side with a sigh. “There is much to do. We must auction off all of the tacky decorations Mfuneko bought, and then we must clean up the aftermath of that little skirmish. I must send messengers into town to muster the Bravado Security Force, to call back the hunters and open up the piers, and also to the records office to revoke my husband’s death certificate. I must also send word to Dumi that it is safe to come back. And then…and then perhaps I might have dinner with my family. Will you stay the night?”

Riyo glances at both Barriss and Ahsoka, and Barriss must have looked uncomfortable, because she says, “We must be off, my lady. Snow Walkers have long journeys.”

Xola gives them a warm smile. “Of course. Defiance is but a ferry ride away. Should any of you come back, this house will always be open to you.”

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