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SHAI ANLUURA was a twelve-year-old Togruta girl. Her life could not be happier or more peaceful. She and her family lived on a large, habitable asteroid outside of the Empire's domain, where families who did not support the new government could live happily ever after.

It was nighttime. Shai sat curled up between her mother and father, cozy, sleepy, and content as she watched an amusing movie with them. She didn't really understand what was going on anymore; she was too tired. But what she was really focused on anyway was this quiet moment with her parents. They were her world, and her theirs.

Suddenly, the entire room flooded with a crimson light that blotted out the pale glow cast from the video displayer. Several feet away, the metallic door fell inwards, sliced in half, the edges along the cut shining white-hot. In its place stood a tall, intimidating silhouette whose sharp, gaunt features were thrown into a frightening contrast of red light and ebony shadows. The intruder held a strange, deadly-looking weapon at the ready, which was emitting the fierce, bloody glow and an ominous hum.

Shai's light brown eyes widened in fear as her parents leapt to their feet. They attacked the man in the now-doorless entryway. Shai could only shriek in terror as the black-armored stranger cut them both down.

Shai scrambled backwards as the man paced forward, chuckling coldly.

"Now it is your turn, little Jedi," the Pau'an, as she could now see he was, growled.

Then his fearsome blade slashed down towards her face.

Shai sat bolt upright in bed with a bloodcurdling scream. Her chest heaved as she stared into the darkness. Her veins felt like they were running with icewater, and she was shaking like a leaf in a gale. Her heart pounded furiously in her ears and vibrated her mantral.

Shai breathed in and out. Use the Force, she thought, struggling to calm down as her master had taught her. She was completely safe, in her bedroom, and far, far away from the Inquisitor who stalked her dreams.

She grimaced immediately, abruptly remembering that she shared this bedroom.

A silhouette, barely visible in the darkness, appeared just to her left. Shai squinted and made out the wild-eyed, mussy-haired figure of Sabine Wren.

"What's the matter?!" the Mandalorian yelped, her voice high-pitched and a bit dazed. "What happened?!"

"Nothing, Sabine, I'm okay," Shai answered quietly. "Just another nightmare."

Sabine stared at her a moment longer, then slowly crawled back into her own bunk, the one beneath Shai's.

Shai winced again and lay back down, feeling awful. She woke up from nightmares like that much too often, just usually not so loudly. I should really talk to my master about them more.

Shai tried to take comfort in the softness of her pillow, but the images from her nightmare were still flashing before her eyes, and she was wide awake now. There would be no going back to sleep, even if she was brave enough to try. Shai sighed quietly and sat up, then tiptoed down the ladder, trying to be as silent as possible. She had disturbed poor Sabine enough.

Once her bare toes touched the cool bottom rung, she made a short jump to the floor, then soundlessly walked over to the far end of the room. She found the keypad that would open the door after feeling her hand across the wall, then relied on memory to enter the opening code. The door sprang open with a pneumatic hiss.

Shai clamped her hands over her mouth, flinching backwards, when she saw her master was standing just outside in the dimly-lit hall, waiting for her.

Shai's master was in his later twenties. His ebony hair was a mess, but that didn't necessarily mean that Shai had woken him; his hair was always a mess. One of his thick eyebrows lifted as a small, kind smile appeared on his tan face.

"Nightmares again?" he whispered.

Shai gave a small nod. She was tall for an eighteen-year-old female of any species, coming up almost to her master's ear (the height of her mantla included).

His gentle smile widened slightly as he touched her shoulder. "Come on."

Shai looked down at her pajamas incredulously. "But-" she began to protest softly.

"It's fine. Follow me." He quietly scampered down the hall.

Shai sighed a little, but obliged with a vague, amused smile. The door automatically closed behind her as she briskly set off after her beloved master.