The day
started out like any other typical day on the Ebon Hawk, with T3
drilling away on the controls, beeping furiously at anyone who tried
to come and bug him… Which, most of the time it would be Atton, who
always seemed to have something against the little guy.
HK
was with Mandalore, talking about the "good old days" when they
used to kill people for sport, a topic that most other people stayed
away from. Bao-Dur was in the garage, working on something
or other to help the Hawk fly faster and smoother, with his little
remote thing following him around, beeping.
Visas was
as reclusive as ever, keeping to herself in the dormitory. It
was anyone's guess what she could be doing all day alone…
Mira
was practicing her new-found Jedi skills with Mical, who was always
happy to help. But, as Atton almost always pointed out, he
was much happier to practice with the Exile, Iriae. Iriae
was basically the "leader" of their motley crew by now… but
nobody ever seemed to call her by her name. They would all
call her Exile, or in Bao-Dur's case, she was nothing but
"General."
She sat in the cock-pit of the ship, reading a
book. She desperately tried to get some alone time any
time she could… it seemed like everyone was so drawn to her… but
Kreia had said that she was a born leader, and people would swarm to
her…
She sighed as she remembered Kreia… She desperately
wished that her encounter with her former-mentor could have ended
differently. She still loved Kreia in her own way…
Iriae hated the feeling of killing. She hated the fact
that most of the time everyone else expected her to do the killing…
she hated the fact that most of the time it was vital… but most of
all, she hated the fact that her friends would kill right along with
her if she asked them to…
Especially Mical and Atton… those
two had followed her around like lost puppy dogs for the longest
time…
She was afraid that they were in love with her. If
they were, one of them, or both of them, would end up getting
hurt. And on top of that, she had no idea which she would
choose if they asked her. She liked both of them…
Mical
was charming… and he treated her well. She had no doubt
in her mind that he would make the better caretaker for her, and the
better protector.
But did she want to be protected?
Atton
would be playful and full of spunk. She knew for a fact
that they would get in a lot of fights. But then he would
just look at her with those big puppy eyes of his, and all would be
forgiven.
She sighed deeply as she heard
T3's frantic beeping getting louder, and he seemed angry. She
heard Atton's voice in reply, his groans sounding disgruntled. T3
beeped again, and this time Atton yelled back.
"Well I was just
trying to help!" Atton hissed "You ungrateful little thing!"
T3
beeped in a dramatic fashion, almost as if saying "yeah, like you
could help if you tried you big oaf!"
Iriae groaned loudly and
set down her book. So much for her peaceful
rest…
"Atton!"
"Master Iriae?"
Mical knocked gently on the infirmary door, where Iriae was sitting
with an ice-pack to her bruised shoulder at the moment, and she would
constantly have to shift it from her shoulder to her head, then to
her leg and back to her shoulder again.
She and Atton
had argued over how he should treat T3 like an actually being with
feelings, and he argued that he was just a bunch of machinery, and in
turn had no feelings. But, with two completely headstrong
people, it was doomed from the start.
They had ended up in a
full-out fist fight, screaming at each other. Soon, T3 had
become tired of their fighting, and he ended up zapping them both,
which only made Atton angrier at the droid, and Iriae had to try even
harder to keep him from taking the poor thing apart. Finally,
Bao-Dur had come in and broke the fight up, sending them both to the
infirmary to tend to their wounds. He said that healing by
the force was out of the question, because they had to learn how
foolish their fight was… and the easiest way was to take the
pain.
"Mical..." Atton groaned, giving Iriae a pleading
look. "Please, the last thing I want is that little brown-noser
in here when I'm trying to get rid of my bruises. Tell him
to go away, Exile... please?"
"He's just trying to be
nice." Iriae replied icily. "And I have a name, you
know."
"I know that." Atton looked shocked that she
thought he didn't. "It's Iriae Orlan Starstream."
"Then
why don't you ever call me that?" Iriae asked, as Mical knocked
once again on the door. If Iriae didn't answer, she knew
he would probably go away; thinking she was asleep. But the last ting
she wanted was to be left alone in here with Atton. "Come in."
she called softly, and Atton looked hurt.
"I didn't know you
wanted me to call you by your name..." he muttered as the door
opened and Mical walked in.
"Hey," Mical smiled at
Iriae, seemingly unaware of Atton's presence at all. "Master
Iriae, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Iriae smiled at
the caring tone in his voice. He was so different from
Atton…
"Are you sure?" Mical came closer to her, and Atton
snorted grumpily from the bed next to her, and Mical looked up for
the first time, seeing Atton. "Oh. Hello, Atton." He
smiled, his voice almost seeming smothered in honey.
"Hey."
Atton grunted in response, folding his arms and immediately wincing
as he did so, as there was a big bruise on the curve of his
arm. Iriae smirked slightly. It was his own
fault. And whatever else happened, she was sure he
deserved it.
Iriae lay on the
bed in the west dormitories, Visas meditating in the middle of the
room. The feeling of the force flowing through Visas'
body calmed Iriae in a way… she didn't know why…
She sighed
yet again, without realizing it. Visas exhaled slowly,
then spoke.
"Is there something you wish to speak to me about,
mistress?" She asked, relinquishing her meditation time. Iriae
looked up, surprised.
"How did you know?" Iriae asked, sitting
up.
"Well, you have been sighing on and off for the last hour."
Visas replied, a slight smile on her lips. Iriae blushed,
biting her lip. "What is it?"
"I just… can't understand
my own feelings." Iriae replied. "And I wish I had something to
do… Sitting around on the ship isn't the most enthralling
activity."
"Don't be so eager to do something…" Visas
whispered, sounding slightly sad. "Even though this may be dull
compared to fighting the Sith, but times like these are often
short-lived. Enjoy it while it lasts. And if
you still desire something to do, you may always go gambling at Nar
Shadaa."
"Mmm…" Iriae groaned. "Nar Shadaa… the place
where Atton spent most of his life… Was it really a good idea to go
there…? "Maybe." She replied, getting up. "I'm
sorry I disturbed your meditation. You can get back to it
if you want."
"I'm here to talk… if you need it." Visas
shrugged. Iriae smiled and left, going immediately to her
favorite spot in the Hawk, the cock-pit, but instantly regretted it,
as Atton stood at the starmap, his arms folded again.
She
grimaced and turned to leave, but Atton suddenly caught her arm,
spinning her around. She didn't think that he
meant to pull her so hard, but she went slamming into him, and
resulted in her face being inches away from his. Atton
gave her a confused look, almost as if he had no idea what just
happened, and he didn't know why she was so close to him. Iriae
blushed slightly, trying to pull away, but Atton's hands tightened
on her waist, and he got a look in his eyes that almost scared
her.
"Atton-"
"Iriae…" Atton breathed, biting his
lip, looking torn. Iriae felt her face burn, and her heart
sped up as he came closer, swallowing hard.
"Atton, I-" She
cut off as his warm lips pressed hard against hers, causing a thrill
to rush through her body. Before she knew what was
happening, she had her hands tangled in his hair, pulling him
closer. Atton moaned slightly, pushing her against the
wall of the cock-pit, breathing hard.
Iriae pulled away from his
lips, feeling the rush of the moment begin to fade, her blood pumping
loudly in her ears. Atton kissed her again, and she was
powerless to resist him. She sighed with pleasure, but
then pushed Atton away weakly.
"Stop…" She gasped. But
Atton only kissed her yet again, forcing her to push him away
again. "Please, Atton…"
"Don't." Atton
begged her, his big brown eyes causing her to melt. "Please, Iriae…
you can't tell me that you don't feel the same way that I
do…"
"I… Atton…" Iriae whined quietly, pouting.
"Please don't ask me to tell you how I feel right now… I
honestly don't know!"
"Please, Iriae!" Atton whimpered,
still holding her against the wall. "I… I can't go on like
this… I have to know… Please, Iriae…" He pressed his lips
against hers once again, and Iriae closed her eyes with
pleasure. Whatever else he was, she couldn't deny the
fact that Atton was a good kisser…
She opened her eyes to see
Mical in the doorway to the cock-pit, his eyes hurt as he watched her
realization. She pushed Atton away forcefully, but Mikal
fled before Atton knew what was going on.
"Mical! Mical,
please!" Iriae went to go after him, but Atton grabbed her wrist.
"Iriae…" Atton whispered. "Please… Don't leave
me…"
Iriae blinked back tears as she tore her hand away from
Atton's grasp, running from the room. What was she
getting herself into? For goodness' sake, she was a
Jedi! Wasn't she supposed to be above these feelings and
emotions?
She ran to the east dormitories, knowing that Visas
would still be in the west, and she threw herself down on one of the
beds, sobbing into the pillow. She sobbed, until she fell
asleep, her thoughts haunting her…
Iriae awoke several
hours later, and she looked out the space-windows, she saw the tall
buildings of Nar Shadaa… apparently Atton had taken Visas' advise
and traveled to his old home before she had awoken.
It
was so depressing… she had no idea what she was going to do
anymore… Atton's kisses still tingled on her lips, but the hurt
look in Mical's eyes still burned in her memory… and the way
Atton had begged her to stay…
She broke two hearts on one try.
