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artyblogs · 6 years ago

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Across the Frozen Sea ch4

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 4: Bravado Wharf

WARNING: If you are sensitive to the butchering of animals, then it might be best for you to skip this chapter.

Riyo wakes up to a blackened sky. She’s lying in the bed of the pickup speeder, pressed against Ahsoka’s side and covered in a shaggy, fur blanket. Pillowed under her head is a soft duffel bag.

“Hey,” Ahsoka says in a low voice. She turns her head to talk into Riyo’s ear and tells her what happened with the tea. While she talks, the roads become paved, so the ride is smoother. The road becomes lined with streetlights hanging from wires held aloft by wood posts.

Ahsoka’s voice is soothing and despite her initial panic at waking up in a strange place, Riyo finds herself relaxing against her. Her fingers catch in the folds of Ahsoka’s dress and she snuggles closer.

“Barriss hasn’t woken up yet, but I think she’s okay,” Ahsoka says. The both of them look at Barriss and find her almost covered entirely by the furs save for her pale green forehead.

Riyo slowly reaches across Ahsoka to Barriss, towards her face, and soon she feels a deep, gentle breath against her hand.

“Yes, she’s asleep.” Riyo withdraws her hand. Ahsoka’s arm snakes around her waist and pulls her in closer, and Riyo presses her cheek to Ahsoka’s lek. It’s toasty under the furs. Cozy. Ahsoka is a solid and safe presence next to her.

Riyo sighs. “Thank you for saving my life. Our lives. I should have taken my own advice and not drunk the tea.”

“You didn’t know Mrs. Kortzeer would be like that,” Ahsoka says.

The dark tree line whizzes past as they zoom down the highway. Now and then, they pass by a homestead, and the beams from the houselights cut across the pickup bed. It’s quiet and peaceful, but Riyo is too wired to sleep. Ahsoka might feel similar, for she’s still wide awake. Her hand lifts from Riyo’s waist and goes to her back, where her touch is light and fleeting, and Riyo realizes that she’s playing with her hair. Riyo turns her face in to Ahsoka’s lek to hide her smile.

“Sorry, I should have asked. Should I stop?” Ahsoka asks. Her face is so very close to hers. If Riyo turned her head….

If she turned, what might happen?

A pit of longing opens up in Riyo’s chest.

“No.” Riyo doesn’t know if Ahsoka’s doing this on purpose, but at any rate, she probably should have figured before now that Ahsoka would be fascinated by hair. Ahsoka grins and continues, testing the weight, how it falls. It’s oddly comforting.

Ahsoka has always been rather uncharacteristically free with physical contact for a Jedi. She holds Riyo’s hand, or touches her arm or her shoulder. She’d stand close and even place a hand on the small of Riyo’s back to usher her through places. And while it’s easy for Riyo to explain it away as platonic, sometimes she’ll catch Ahsoka’s eye and find a tenderness in her gaze that can’t be dismissed so easily.

To read too much into it would be too dangerous, however. That path would only lead to pain. Best not to dwell on it.

“Ahsoka?”

“Yeah?”

“When we woke up in the forest, before we got away from our abductors, Barriss suggested that she sacrifice herself to give us a chance to escape.”

Ahsoka’s hand stills, her fingers curled around a lock of Riyo’s hair. “Oh? She did that?”

“You don’t sound as surprised as I thought you’d be.”

“She’s done that before. I don’t know why she defaults to that when things go bad.”

“She defaults to sacrificing herself,” Riyo repeats, astonished. Never mind going gray, these Jedi are going to steal years off her life. She might as well save time and walk into the ocean right now, or go back to Reindeer Ridge. One of her fellow senators, Padmé Amidala of Naboo, is notorious for being close friends with two Jedi. Is this how she feels all the time? Is this what it’s like? How does she do it? How? How?

Perhaps they can convince Barriss to stop doing that.

Ahsoka snorts. “I don’t think it’s something we can change about Barriss.”

“You having fun reading my mind, Master Jedi?”

Ahsoka has the impudence to chuckle. “I don’t have to read your mind, Riyo. Your anger radiates through the Force.”

“Eish!” Riyo swears under her breath and playfully swats Ahsoka’s shoulder.

For those heading to the coast, Bravado is the last major city before one reaches the Pantoran taiga. It’s the last chance Snow Walkers would have before they head out into the wild, and there are many temporary Snow Walking tents set up along the street. At this time of night, there are only a few people out and about, all bundled up and hurrying home. The shop fronts are empty and dark.

“Everything’s closed,” Riyo says. She knocks on the cabin window and it slides open again. Sanele sticks her head out.

“What’s up, Senator?”

“Is there a comlink around here we could use? Or a holo-cafe?”

Sanele gives her an apologetic look. “No comlinks, and no holonet access. Not open to the public anyway. The college is the only place where all that tech is held.”

“What about a public archive? Archives have datapads.”

“The archive used to have datapads, but they kept getting stolen, so they stopped replacing them. They’re all gone now.”

“How about a space port?”

Sanele shakes her head. “No moon-wide or galactic port either. There’s a terminal with one ship, will that do?”

“You’re the Senator of Pantora. They’d let you get on that ship. They’ll let you use that comlink,” Ahsoka says.

Barriss stirs, and the hem of the blanket drops from her face. She blinks.

“I’m alive?” She asks, her voice thick with sleep.

“Of course,” Ahsoka says. “I’m not going to abandon you like that. I care about you too much.”

“Oh.” Barriss sounds genuinely surprised and touched, and Riyo is both appalled and somewhat offended. Did she really believe that they would just leave her? How could she expect that?

“Do you have your identichips?” Sanele asks.

“Unfortunately, no. Why do you ask?” Barriss asks.

Ahsoka explains their predicament.

“No one would believe Riyo is the senator without her identichip, and no one in their right mind wouldn’t ask to see it,” Barriss says. She stretches luxuriously, and Riyo’s eye traces the arc of her lithe body even through the furs. When Barriss settles back down, she pulls the furs back up over the bottom half of her face.

It’s the closest thing to relaxed that they’ve ever seen her.

“Good point,” Ahsoka says, strangely subdued. Too nonchalant. Riyo wonders if it might be because she felt Barriss stretch, instead of just watching her, and isn’t that a fascinating observation to make.

“At least Bravado is relatively close to Defiance,” Riyo says.

“Yeah, if by ‘close’ you mean like a two-hour drive by speeder. We could drive you to Defiance, right Vuyo?” Sanele asks.

“No, no, no. You need to enroll in classes,” Riyo says. “You need to make new lives here and you need to start tonight. It’ll be harder for you two to find a place to live if we travel with you.”

“But….”

“We will be fine. We’ll figure it out.” While the speeder is stopped at a traffic light, Riyo wriggles out from beneath the blanket and takes Sanele’s hand in hers. “Thank you for helping us. We’ll never forget it.”

Sanele and Vuyo share a look, then Sanele smiles at Riyo. “No, thank you. You’ve given us a second chance at this. We won’t let you down.”

Ahsoka and Barriss take their parka and cloak and hop out of the pickup bed. Riyo follows them, and she lets Ahsoka pick her up ‘round the waist and lowers her onto the ground. The three of them wave as the speeder takes off and turns the corner out of sight. Barriss pulls her winter cloak around her shoulders and does the buckles across her chest. Ahsoka shimmies her parka on and pulls her lekku though the hood.

“Their mom is a kriffing piece of work,” Ahsoka mutters.

“Yes, well, tell me about it.” Riyo walks across the street to reach the curb and continues down towards a kiosk. The map is made of faded, water-stained flimsi, and Riyo gets up on tip-toe to see better. They’re in the touristy part of town, in the middle of restaurants, tapcafes and many souvenir shops.

A young man walks down the street towards them, and he comes to a stop a few meters out. He’s nervous, and shifty.

Barriss steps closer to Riyo, her hands hidden in her cloak. “Can we help you?”

“Are you…my friends?” He asks, still nervous. He doesn’t make eye contact with any of them.

Ahsoka frowns. “What?”

“Oh, sorry. I thought I knew you.” He hurries around them and walks off, his hand hiding his face. The three of them watch him go until he disappears into the night.

“I don’t understand. Wouldn’t he know if he knew us? He wasn’t under the influence of anything,” Barriss says.

“He’s probably looking for his dealer. You wouldn’t happen to have death sticks on you, would you, Master Jedi? We could turn a quick credit.” Riyo turns back to the kiosk as Barriss’s jaw drops.

“Do we look like spice dealers?” She shrieks. Off in the distance, a couple akk dogs start barking. Riyo laughs, then gives Barriss an apologetic look. Before she can answer, a growling, gurgling noise comes from Ahsoka.

Ahsoka’s lekku stripes darken as she tugs her hood further down over her face. “I’m hungry.”

Barriss worries her lip. “No identichips, no credits, and no credit chips…What are we going to do? Where are we going to stay? What will we eat?”

Riyo hums and taps a fingertip against the northern part of the map, where the wharf is located. She turns this way and that, looking around to get her bearings, then beckons to the Jedi and leads the way. Eventually, the duracrete and asphalt give way to aged wood planks, but the shops are more or less the same, albeit with more of a seafood and shipyard focus. Even in the yellow light of the street lamps, they can make out the colorful monikers: Seals, whales, and sharks carved out of wood, huge, stylistic anchors jutting from the roofs, and more purple and yellow sigils painted across the walls and the thick posts. All of it eerie for being so silent and still. No one else is around. No sign of life at all. The three of them make their way through the narrow wharf and a few decks full of picnic benches until they reach the end of the dock, where they’re stopped by a guard.

The guard is dressed in a dark, fur cloak, and only has an oil lamp for company. He stands up from his folding chair and hefts a rifle against his shoulder, then raises a hand to stop them. His face is cast in shadow.

“Please stop and return to your homes. The piers are closed until further notice,” the guard says in Pantoran.

“Sir, all we want to do is fish,” Riyo says, but the guard raises his hand a little higher.

“These piers have been closed, and they will stay closed for the rest of the week according to Count Mafoo’s wishes. I’m sorry, Snow Walker, but you’ll have to scrounge for food elsewhere.” The guard gestures out, and they all look to find more piers, all laid out in a row. At the end of each of them is yet another guard with another oil lamp. The guard glances at Barriss and Ahsoka.

“Do you understand what I said?” He asks.

Barriss frowns. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Basic then. If you have a permit from Count Mafoo, I can let you fish and hunt.”

“A permit? Local hunters shouldn’t need permits to feed their families. Why has the Count closed the piers?” Riyo asks.

“The Count is gearing up for a feast, and has ordered his hunters to catch a hundred seals.”

“A hundred! Whatever for? Is it for the upcoming Blizzard God feast?”

“The Count doesn’t need a reason, nor does he need to justify himself to you, Snow Walker.”

“But….”

“The pier is closed! Please leave,” the guard says. Riyo finds herself being gently pulled away by Ahsoka and Barriss until they’re out of earshot of the guard.

“We can find something else, Riyo,” Barriss whispers.

“Yeah, I can hold out for a few more hours,” Ahsoka says.

Usually, that would be acceptable, but this is Pantora, and there are rules here. Riyo pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. “Pantoran oceans are not a privilege, Master Jedi, they are a right. Many Pantorans depend on the sea for their livelihood.

“And yes, Ahsoka, you may be tough enough to go hungry for a while, but there are many in this town who cannot; the very young, the elderly, the pregnant, the sick. Bravado in general needs food now; the people here don’t deal with proper credits and don’t purchase most of their food, they hunt and fish. They will not last long without the piers.

“Also, I’m hungry too,” Riyo finishes lamely. She hopes it doesn’t sound as whiny as she suspects, but judging by how Barriss’ nose scrunches up, she must have sounded very whiny indeed. But she can’t help it! Ever since Ahsoka’s stomach growled, Riyo’s own stomach has started gnawing on itself. If this goes on for much longer, she’s going to find herself irritable as well.

Ahsoka chuckles. “Okay, come on.” She walks back to the guard, who grips his rifle.

“Listen, I said….”

“Yeah, I know what you said, but we don’t need a permit to hunt.” Ahsoka slowly waves her hand on front of the guard’s face. The guard pauses, his face growing slack.

“You…don’t need a permit to hunt,” the guard says in monotone.

“No one needs a permit to hunt. You’re here to keep the peace.”

“I’m here to keep the peace.”

“We can pass.”

“You may pass.” The guard takes a few steps to the side as if nothing is amiss. “Sorry about that, ladies.”

Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo all file past him, smiling. The guard smiles back, then sits back down in his folding chair.

“Follow me,” Riyo says, and she goes to a ladder bolted to the side of the dock. She makes her way down until she reaches the thick, slippery surface of the frozen sea. She holds her arms out for balance and slowly walks across the ice beyond the range of the light from the guard’s oil lamp, then keeps going. The lights give way to the aurora and to the stars. It’s chillier out here somehow. A few logs have been frozen in the ice, along with half of a rowboat.

“Is this safe?” Barriss asks from behind her.

“Yes.” Riyo points out to a few other hunters spread out across the ice. Each of them are bundled up and have their foldable stools and thermoses. Some sit near their ice holes with a club, and others have set up fishing poles. Riyo comes to a stop and crouches down, smoothing a hand over the ice.

“Here, there’s a breathing hole already. All we need to do is widen it.” Riyo steps aside as Ahsoka crouches down and brings both of her fists down in the spot she just indicated.

CRACK. The ice splinters into chunks. Barriss takes Riyo’s hand and pulls her further away. Ahsoka growls and raises her fists again.

CRACK. The ice breaks cleanly, and Ahsoka digs her fingers in and pries the chunks out, effortlessly tossing them away. She reaches seawater about a third of a meter down, and she keeps working until the hole is wide enough for something to poke its head through. She sits back on her heels, breathing lightly.

“Is that big enough?”

“Yes.” Riyo was going to use her knife, but this is much better. “By the Gods, Ahsoka, what do the Jedi feed you?”

Ahsoka grins up at them, her sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight. “I wasn’t even using the Force either. It’s all muscle.”

“Well done. You’ve just expanded a seal breathing hole, so something should come up soon.”

“Got it.” Ahsoka draws her lightsaber hilt and squats down next to the jagged hole. She doesn’t move.

“Let’s go.” Barriss tugs on Riyo’s hand, and the both of them go to a log that’s been half frozen in the ice and sit down.

“We could keep her company,” Riyo says, but Barriss shakes her head.

“You won’t get much out of her which she’s in her hunting headspace. I remember on Geonosis: the Separatists kept shooting down our supply ships, so food was scarce. It got so dire that some of us hadn’t eaten in a couple days. Then one day, Ahsoka covered herself in red clay—clay that she dug up herself, from under the sand—and went by herself into the desert. She didn’t tell anyone where she went; we thought she had finally lost it. Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi were considering combing the planet for her.”

“What happened next?”

“After a few hours, Ahsoka coms us. She said that she needed Rex to take a squad of men to her current coordinates so that they could clean up her mess. When they got there, she was gone, but they found a freshly-killed camel. And then while they’re dressing the camel, Ahsoka commed again, with different coordinates. Master Skywalker went with another squad to that location and he found a dead antelope. This happened a few more times before everyone got…frustrated.

“While it’s a big help, everyone’s worried to death, so I decided to bring her back to camp. I noticed that these coordinates form a pattern, and I packed some supplies and go out to where I thought she’ll go next.”

“Did you find her?” Riyo asks. Barriss nods, then shrugs.

“She found me. She looked rather feral because by then she was covered in blood too. I tried to convince her to come back with me, but she told me that she was tracking something. But she might have felt guilty about being so much trouble, so she said that she would come back after one last kill. I waited in a cave while she stalked something.

“I waited for two hours before she brought back a goat.” Barriss pauses as she glances at Ahsoka, who still sits motionless next to the ice hole, as focused as a tooka on a songbird. “I have never seen her so patient, and I doubt we will ever see her as patient apart of a hunt.”

Barriss looks down at their clasped hands. She hasn’t pulled away after all this time, and while Riyo might like it for her own selfish reasons, she also guiltily wonders if Barriss dislikes it after all.

Maybe it’s because they were almost abducted again a few hours ago and they need some reassurance. Maybe it’s because of some other reason that Riyo doesn’t dare figure out to keep from getting her hopes up, but Barriss doesn’t let go. She doesn’t let go, and even though it’s inconvenient, she reaches across herself into her belt pouch and pulls out a heavy padlock.

“Did you take that from the garage?” Riyo asks.

“Sanele gave two to me after I asked to borrow one.” Barriss turns it over in her palm and falls silent for a moment.

CLICK. The lock pops open. Barriss smiles and pushes it closed again. She reaches into her pouch again and pulls out the second padlock.

“Are you practicing, Master Jedi?” Riyo asks, fascinated.

“I won’t be caught off guard again. Your risky plan paid off last time, but the idea of gambling with your life…it doesn’t sit well with me. You matter too much, Riyo. To the Galaxy, to Pantora. And Ahsoka too. She has a master to return to, and she has the command of her men. If we lost either of you, we’d be poorer for it.”

That’s the nicest thing Barriss has ever said to her, and it’s by far the nicest thing she’s heard her say about Ahsoka. Riyo find herself softening at that.

“Thank you, Barriss. I must admit that I feel very similar about you.”

Barriss straightens up and turns to Riyo. It’s difficult to make out her face in the darkness, but to Riyo’s dismay, she’s bewildered. “Me?”

“You! Is that so surprising to learn that I care about you? That the thought of you getting hurt upsets me?” Riyo asks. If Barriss thought that her death was so insignificant, then it explains quite a bit.

Barriss doesn’t answer.

Gods, Riyo hopes she isn’t going to wreck everything by saying this next bit. While she respects how Jedi shy away from any sign of sentimentality, she couldn’t quite forgive herself if she didn’t say anything now.

“I always feel so relieved when you and Ahsoka come back from your tours, or when Ahsoka sends me letters. When we all have dinner together at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant. If I had to mourn either of you, it would destroy me.”

Barriss covers her face with her hand and gives a breathy chuckle. She doesn’t laugh often, so Riyo’s not sure if it usually sound so strained, but she waits all the same.

“Then—then I suppose I’d better be more careful with myself, shouldn’t I?” Barriss asks.

“That would be great,” Riyo says. It comes out more sarcastic than she intended, and Barriss snorts and chuckles. This time, it’s light and infectious and, emboldened, Riyo joins her. Soon, the both of them are laughing together loud enough that some of the neighboring hunters shout at them to quiet down.

An hour passes. Riyo removes her button-up shirt again and ties it around her head, and Barriss gathers her cloak tighter around herself. They huddle together, with Barriss’s head resting on Riyo’s shoulder. Around them, a couple hunters come and go, taking their gear and their food with them. In the distance, the piers and the guard oil lamps burn bright. Riyo keeps her eyes trained on Ahsoka, who still hasn’t moved. She does this despite her encroaching exhaustion, because her gnawing stomach won’t let her sleep otherwise.

“Why do they call you ‘Snow Walker?’” Barriss asks in a soft, sleepy voice. She turns the locks over in her hands. “Sanele called you that, and you told Mrs. Kortzeer you were snow-walking too. It’s not a slur, is it?”

“It’s not. Snow Walkers go out into the wilderness to survive on their wits in order to worship and curry favor with the Blizzard God.”

“The Blizzard God?”

“One of the gods of the major pantheon. He was the first Pantoran to murder another, and that is why He is the God of War. He did it to get back one of his stolen elk, and that is why He is also the god of Justice and elk. When Pantorans Snow Walk, they can stay in the woods, or they can travel down to the site of the first murder, like a pilgrimage of some sort.”

“So you look like one of these Snow Walkers?”

“I suppose I do. I don’t think I can truly call myself that though. There’s a proper way to Snow Walk, and what we’re doing isn’t it.”

“What would make it proper, then?”

“We’d need to be drugged out of our minds.” Riyo bites her lip to keep from laughing as Barriss stares.

“You’re not serious.”

“I very much am.” But Riyo’s laughter dies on her lips as she spies a flash of green in the distance. Barriss gasps and scrambles upright.

“She did it!” Barriss grabs Riyo’s hand and together, they make their way back to Ahsoka, moving as fast as the ice will allow.

Ahsoka stands up and uses the Force to levitate the seal out of the hole and onto the ice, then unceremoniously throws her arms out as she slips on the ice and threatens to fall.

“Whoa!” Ahsoka plants her feet firmly on the ice, then reaches up under her parka to clip her lightsaber back onto her belt. “Hey, guys.”

“Eish! Come here, you big bruiser.” Elated, Riyo reaches up and kisses Ahsoka’s cheek, then turns to the seal. Ahsoka puts a hand over her face as her lekku stripes darken.

Riyo rolls the seal over onto its back and stands with one foot on either side of it. It’s not the biggest she’s seen; it’s only about a meter long and maybe twenty-two kilograms, but it’s still a pretty good catch. There’s a thin, charred line running through the back of the neck where Ahsoka killed it, but it’s otherwise intact.

“We could drag it back to shore and cook it,” Barriss says, but she trails off when Riyo takes out her knife. “Er…Riyo?”

Riyo got this knife when she turned twenty last year. It belonged to her father, and her grandfather before him. Usually, knives like this are passed down to sons, but Riyo has no brothers, so she got it. Riyo places the blade of knife against the throat of the seal and pauses. If she’s not careful, she’s going to cut herself something awful.

KSHOOM. Ahsoka ignites her lightsaber again, washing everything in bright green light. She holds it aloft so that Riyo can see what she’s doing.

“Thanks.” Riyo smiles at her before focusing on the seal. It took many camping trips and many seals before she committed the entire dressing process to memory, and while she’s spent the last three years on Coruscant, she still remembers it all.

Cut around where the flippers join the body of the seal, both front and back. Don’t chop them off completely—that will come later—but just deep enough to cut through the pelt and the blubber. After that, cut across the neck to make room for the knife, then make one slice down the length of the belly.

The seal will open like a purse, revealing a thick layer of blubber. If the cut is deep enough, then it will also reveal the red meat underneath.

“That is a really sharp knife,” Barriss says.

“Yes, it is,” Riyo says.

“Have you cut yourself before? Like accidentally?” Ahsoka asks.

“I have gotten many gnarly cuts from this knife,” Riyo says. But it was inevitable while she was learning how to do all this. Everyone who learns the art become familiar with emergency care wards, and if one were to look carefully at her hands and forearms now, they would see thin, light blue scars crossing through the net of her tattoos.

The three of them fall silent as Riyo renders the seal further down. There is a natural seam between the layer of blubber and the red meat. Cut the blubber away, one side at a time. Slits will need to be made through the pelt to free the flippers, but after that, the pelt will fall away. Roll the carcass from side to side to cut the rest of the seal free from the pelt, and when the seal is free, drag it away from the pelt and blubber to a fresh patch of ice.

The night is filled with the hum of Ahsoka’s lightsaber and the creak of tendons and sinew as Riyo manipulates the seal carcass. Ahsoka watches with hungry eyes, and Barriss is entranced too, probably from a medical point of view. One of Riyo’s friends studied to be a surgeon, and he once mentioned watching butcher holo-vids to better understand the spatial working of the body.

Steam rises from the seal into the cold air as Riyo chops through the cartilage of the ribcage. Her hands and arms are stained with dark purple blood, and while she’s being careful not to be too messy, there are already some spatter stains on her clothes.

The blubber and pelt are a relatively clean place to place the harvested meat. Manipulate the front flippers to locate the shoulder sockets, then slice through until the entire limb, including the shoulder blade, is separated form the rest of the carcass. Chop off the flippers. Keep them if there is a way to further process them later, but discard otherwise. The back flippers can be harvested in a similar method.

There’s a respectable amount of ready meat on the pad of blubber by now. Riyo straightens up to catch her breath. “Have at it, Ahsoka! You get first choice.”

“Yes! Riyo, you’re the best!” Ahsoka jams the hilt of her lightsaber into a crack in the ice, freeing her hands. She picks up a rack of ribs and bites down, tearing the meat from the bone. Barriss politely faces away from the spectacle.

“Won’t this make it harder to transport it?”

Riyo looks up from the seal carcass. “Huh?”

“I mean, we could gather the pelt and the fat around the meat like a sack, but it’d still be messy.”

“Oh! Between the three of us, we’ll demolish a seal this size. There won’t be any leftovers. Well, wait.” Riyo gestures towards the flippers that have been carelessly tossed to the side. “The wolves can have that.”

“I think you’re missing my point.”

“No, I understand. How thorough was your research into Pantoran cuisine?”

“Non-existent. I focused on politics instead, because of the nature of our mission.”

“So this must be enlightening. I was going to take us hunting like this anyway, after the third day of the Summit ended, so we’re actually ahead of schedule.”

Riyo returns to the carcass and cuts away a couple bite-sized pieces of red meat and offers one to Barriss. Barriss gingerly takes the piece between her forefinger and thumb, her lip curling in disgust.

“Am I supposed to sear this with my lightsaber?”

Riyo pops the raw meat into her mouth and chews with gusto. Throughout her travels to the corners of the galaxy, and despite all the things she’s eaten (it is astounding what rare dishes some people will offer a Republic senator to impress them) nothing has come remotely close. Fresh seal meat is gamey, but is otherwise indistinguishable in texture from raw fish.

Ahsoka shrieks with delight as Barriss gasps.

“I didn’t know Pantorans could eat raw meat too!” Ahsoka says.

“Only fresh seal and fish, as is tradition.” Riyo cuts another small chunk and eats that too. She groans, then continues her work. “Come on, Barriss, it’s good!”

“It really is good, Barriss.” Ahsoka gathers the cleaned rib bones into a pile and picks up another portion from the blubber. The bottom half of her face is purple with blood.

Barriss sighs. “Yes, but you’re Togruta, and Togruta are equipped to eat raw meat!”

“Try one bite, and if you don’t like it, you can just cook it with your lightsaber,” Riyo says.

Riyo tosses the remaining bits of meat onto the blubber and leaves the spent carcass. She kneels down next to the blubber and begins slicing the cuts down to a more manageable size.

Barriss looks at the meat in her hand, then puts it into her mouth. She chews slowly, her eyebrows knitted together.

“Well? Is it good?” Riyo asks.

“Decidedly so,” Barriss reluctantly admits.

“Kief! Have some liver.” Riyo slaps a third of the dark liver into Barriss’s hand. Barriss stares down at it in disgust, but Riyo turns to Ahsoka.

“Do you want some too?”

“Ooh! Yes, please.” Ahsoka makes a grabby motion with her hands.

“Here.” Riyo gives her a third and leaves the last bit for herself. The three of them sit around the seal pelt, taking whatever they wish. Out of the darkness comes a white Pantoran fox, making its rounds through all the fishing holes and begging the hunters and fishermen for scraps. It’s fluffy, with stubby ears and a bushy tail almost as big as its body. It keeps its distance when Ahsoka growls at it, but it doesn’t leave.

“I wonder who put the bounty on your head,” Ahsoka says. “It could be that Rommeruk guy.”

“The late Chairman’s son? I don’t think so,” Riyo says.

“This isn’t an insult against your moon, Riyo, but aren’t there powerful crime families here? Maybe one of them put the bounty on you,” Barriss says.

“Hah, no. No, that’s impossible. If one of the Families was behind it, it would start a war,” Riyo says.

“Why would that start a war?” Barriss asks.

Riyo is silent for a few moments, torn as to what she should say.

“Oh kriff, okay. You don’t have to answer that,” Ahsoka says with a sudden air of understanding.

Barriss frowns. “But….”

“She doesn’t have to answer that,” Ahsoka says again, more pointed this time.

Barriss sighs. “Very well.”

Perhaps she shouldn’t say, as it’d color their opinion of her so terribly, but Riyo tells herself that they are her dear friends. They should know and they wouldn’t judge her so harshly.

“I’m one of the youngest senators in the history of the Republic, let alone in Pantoran history. It shouldn’t have been possible for me to get elected, but it happened anyway, because I had help.” Riyo says this as carefully as she can.

“So that’s how you did it. I always wondered,” Barriss whispers.

They fall silent again. Riyo picks up the discarded intestines and tosses it further away, and the Pantoran fox scampers off to get it.

“What are we going to do about the blockaded waterfront? We can’t possibly hunt and fish enough for everyone in Bravado. Nor could we smuggle that much food into the town,” Barriss says.

“Not to mention the quota of a hundred seal. What could the Count possibly do with that much seal? It’s incredibly wasteful,” Riyo says.

“We’re gonna do something about it, right?” Ahsoka asks.

“We must! We cannot allow an entire town to starve. Although.” Barriss falters. “It isn’t within the mission parameters.”

“The mission parameters are to escort me, correct?” Riyo asks.

“Yes. And to protect you.”

“Then escort and protect me when I go see the Count,” Riyo says.

Amazingly, Barriss laughs again, the rare sound sweet and full. “Very well.”

Riyo kneels next to the ice hole and dips her hands in, cleaning the blood from them. She cups her hands and brings up some water to wash her face. “Ugh. I know the count responsible for this area; Count Anathi Mafoo. It’s not like him to be so cruel, but you never know with aristocracy. We’ll just have to pay him a visit.”

“Awesome!” Ahsoka finishes her bite of meat and goes to the ice hole to wash up too. “What do we do with the pelt?”

“One of the locals will take it. Waste not and such. May I?” Riyo points at the lightsaber.

“Sure.”

Riyo plucks the lightsaber from the ice and waves it over her head, using it as a signal flare of some kind. About fifty yards out, one of the neighboring fishermen picks up his lantern and swings it from side to side several times. Riyo waves again, then returns Ahsoka’s lightsaber to her.

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

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