Barriss comes to on the cold ground. It's soft, thanks to a carpet of pine needles. The hood of her lined winter cloak has gone askew, covering half of her face, and tangled around her neck are the ribbons of a domino mask. All around her are tall trees, growing so high they obstruct the starry night sky. Barriss' breath comes out in a cloud.

Someone is talking: a language with tongue clicks and rolling r's. There are three people here with her, standing a little ways away. They're dressed against the cold with animal masks pulled down over their heads so that she can't see their faces: a lion, a snow leopard, and a white wolf. The Leopard talks as they hold up one of Ahsoka's lightsabers.

The Lion answers in a deep voice that reverberates from his chest. The Leopard clips the lightsaber to their belt and picks up a shovel. They help dig.

The hole the three masked people are digging are about knee-deep and wide enough to fit three people. Barriss tries to get up only to find her wrists and ankles clasped in cuffs. Sheer terror clenches around her, not because of her predicament, but because of the failure it represents.

"Barriss," someone whispers. Beside Barriss is Senator Riyo Chuchi, lying on the ground in just her suit, and her hands and ankles are also cuffed together. Her gold hair ornaments are missing, leaving her head bare and tousled. She too has a domino mask hanging around her neck.

"Where are we? How did we get here?" Barriss asks in a low voice. Her words are lost among the scrape of shovels and soft sounds of falling dirt.

"I don't know, but we're going to be put in the ground if we don't do something soon," Riyo whispers. "How long does it take you to unlock things with the Force?"

"Maybe five seconds? I've never timed myself. Why?"

"Can you unlock multiple cuffs at once?"

"That's…complicated. I don't think so." It'd be like trying to shoot two different targets with one blaster bolt. But perhaps she should be able to. Jedi Knights and Masters regularly do incredible things with the Force, so why can't she? There must be something deficient about her, half-baked even. A baby bird tumbling from its nest before its time. A half-built lightsaber clipped to a belt. Although she is here, her competence lies about in pieces back at the Jedi Temple. For only—.

Riyo sighs, shaking Barriss from her thoughts. "Okay. They have blasters and your lightsabers. The cuffs will make a noise as soon as they're unlocked and that'll alert our kidnappers. If we unlock them now, we're dead."

Barriss slowly turns her head to the side and sees Ahsoka. She's lying about half a meter behind her, still fast asleep. Unlike her and Riyo, Ahsoka is cuffed and also tied with rope.

"Why did they tie her up? They didn't tie us up," Barriss whispers.

"I suspect it's because they're afraid of her. Afraid of Togruta in general, I mean, because of the Shili Counter," Riyo whispers.

Barriss learned about the Shili Counter in one of her history data pads. About a hundred years ago, a vast army once tried to take the Kingdom of Shili by force, with blasters and tanks and ships. They had every conceivable advantage and yet still failed miserably, because they didn't realize that every single Togruta, regardless of age or gender, was a death monster and nigh unstoppable even after shot several times with a blaster.

As species go, Togruta must be one of the most physically intimidating in the galaxy. Runty adults still reach almost two meters in height, not including their montrals, and manage to pack on pounds of muscle. Togruta are equipped with harder nails, denser bones, razor sharp teeth, and have the ability to see well in near darkness.

(Some historians will also point out that blaster bolts had thinner diameters back then, making them easier to survive—they started making them thicker after that failed invasion—and a bunch of other details as to why Togruta aren't so tough after all, but that's not the point. Blaster or not, no one in their right mind would ever want to fight a Togruta.)

At any rate, the Togruta successfully deflected the invasion to great effect, and then the King of Shili launched a counter-attack on the army's home planet that was so terrifying and efficient that the occupants evacuated en mass.

That's how Shili got Kiros as a colony. It's also why Shili and Kiros have been able to keep their neutral status for so long during the Clone Wars. The masked people were probably thinking about that when they decided to tie Ahsoka up.

"I could wake her and we could work together to unlock these cuffs," Barriss whispers.

"Good idea, but if you wake her now, she'll raise a fuss and our abductors will kill us," Riyo whispers.

"You don't know that."

"You look at Ahsoka again and tell me she won't make a fuss."

Ahsoka is scowling in her sleep, her body tensed like a coiled spring. The Force Bond between them is alit with a sort of turmoil in Ahsoka's head and in her heart.

"Then…hmm." If Barriss summons her lightsaber, they'll die, at least one of them will anyway. Same if she tries to summon their blasters. If they unlock any of the cuffs, they'll die. If they try to run, they'll die. If they stay, they'll die. Die, die, die, die, die.

But maybe not. If one of them must die, then….

"I could give you time to escape," Barriss whispers. "I could use the Force to slam one of them into the other two and then they would focus on me. I'll be the distraction while you and Ahsoka run."

Riyo's gold eyes narrow and her mouth thins. "Respectfully, Master Jedi, that's an unacceptable plan."

Barriss resists the urge to sigh. The unmitigated arrogance that people have when they reject something without suggesting an alternative will always test her patience. It is Barriss' responsibility to get Riyo out of here alive. She is the expert, not Riyo. If this is the best course of action, which it is, then that's what they'll do. And if it means that she should fall, then perhaps that is for the best. The weight of her lightsaber is already conspicuously absent from her belt, and it could be anywhere by now. Does the Jedi make the lightsaber, or does the lightsaber make the Jedi? Who is Barriss if she isn't armed?

Better to be useful here and now, than to drag her empty husk back to the Temple.

"What other choice do we have?" Barriss asks.

"Give me a moment and I'll produce one for you." A strange look flickers over Riyo's face. Fear and resignation disappear as quickly as they appear until she clenches her jaw.

"You have a plan?" Barriss asks. "How do you have a plan that quickly?"

"It was plan Grek, which is the only scenario that gets all of us out of here alive and relatively intact."

"How many plans did you—wait, never mind. What is this plan?"

"You have to wake up Ahsoka first, then work with her to unlock both of her cuffs. Free her first, all right? Free her and she'll do the rest. I'll make a distraction."

"What? Riyo, they'll kill you."

"That will take six seconds. Maybe seven if I'm feisty enough."

By the Force, she planned down to the second? "Let's talk about this more. There's got to be another way."

Riyo wriggles upright. "There is no other way. And it's got to be now before I lose my nerve."

"Wait, stop!"

But the smaller girl is already hopping away. The Wolf looks up at her and points.

"Ay! Bambambe!"

"Nceda," Riyo shouts. "Nced-ah!"

The Lion and the Leopard drop their shovels and run after her. They scoop her up, but she twists around and kicks until she falls out of their hands, landing onto the ground with a muffled thump. They try to stop her again, and it devolves to a fight.

"Eish! Uyandila!" The Leopard pulls away and makes a fist.

Barriss sends a frantic nudge through the Force. "Ahsoka? Ahsoka, wake up! Ah!"

She rolls away as Ahsoka roars and lashes out, her manacled fists whistling past her head.

"Stop! Stop, it's me."

Ahsoka's eyes clear as she focuses on Barriss. "Uh, Barriss? Where are we? What happened to us?" Her words slur into each other.

"I don't know, but we have to unlock your cuffs." Barriss winces as Riyo screams.

Ahsoka's blue eyes darken. "Is that Riyo?"

"Yes, it's Riyo. She's in trouble and you need to focus if you want to help her. You free your hands, and I'll free your feet."

The Wolf reaches into her coat and brings out a blaster. She aims it at Riyo.

Barriss closes her eyes and reaches out with the Force, inspecting the lock on Ahsoka's cuffs. She can see the mechanism in her mind's eye. She can see the tumblers and how they turn. Barriss takes a deep breath and turns her hand.

CLICK.

Both of Ahsoka's cuffs fall open with a loud clatter. The masked people turn to look, leaving Riyo huddled on the ground.

Ahsoka rises like vengeance, tall and broad, her upper lip curled in a snarl. She reaches up and tears through the ropes as if they were flimsi and lets them drop to her feet, useless.

The Lion and the Leopard shrink away from her, but the Wolf aims at her and fires.

PEW PEW.

The first shot misses and whizzes past into the forest, and Ashoka simply ducks the next. She rushes forward and punches the Lion in the gut, lifting him a foot in the air.

"Kark!" The Leopard turns and runs into the trees, screaming.

"Ay! Buya!" The Wolf shouts. She fires again, but Ahsoka simply uses the Lion as a shield. She Force-banishes the Lion at the Wolf and then chases her into the forest. The sounds of blaster fire and panicked shouting fade away as they run off.

"Riyo!" Barriss shouts as she frees herself. She straightens her hood as she stands up and almost trips over her shackles, but kicks them away, then rushes to Riyo's side and gently rolls her over onto her back. "Riyo?"

A dark purple bruise is already forming around Riyo's eye and her clothes are covered in pine needles. She's trembling. Barriss unlocks the cuffs and tosses them over her shoulder and as she does this, Riyo's hand comes up and grabs onto Barriss's cloak.

"That was so scary," Riyo whispers. Her eyes are glassy with tears.

Barriss covers Riyo's hand with hers. "Never do that again, alright? Ahsoka and I are supposed to protect you. Let us protect you."

"Right. You're right. That was stupid of me."

Guilt wells up within Barriss. "But then, you wouldn't have had to come up with such an absurd plan if Ahsoka and I were doing our jobs as we were supposed to."

Riyo's frown deepens. In the pause, the faint crackle of a lightsaber blade joins the pop of blaster bolts.

"I'm going to treat you now," Barriss says.

"Okay."

Barriss takes a deep breath and lets the Force well up within her. She releases it in a gentle stream as she lightly traces Riyo's bruise with a fingertip, easing it away until no sign of it is left. She moves down to deal with another bruise on her arm, and then on to another one on her knee. Injuries are easy to sense when she's open like this. The Force is supposed to flow through the universe like water, but doesn't pass through injuries. The energy is stymied.

When Barriss opens her eyes again, it's to find Riyo looking up at her in awe, her mouth slightly agape. Barriss' stomach does a funny flip and she clears her throat.

"You're all set." Barriss takes Riyo's hands and pulls her back on her feet.

"Thank you. Are you all right?" Riyo asks.

"Pardon?"

"It's what you said earlier. You know that whatever happened to us, it isn't your fault."

Barriss drops her gaze and stares at their clasped hands. Riyo is warm, warm, warm, even in the Force, and her concern is palpable. Barriss lets go.

"No. Ahsoka may be able to say that; she's a padawan. Whatever went wrong, it's my responsibility."

Riyo slowly drops her hands her side, frowning. "You think you failed this mission."

Barriss can't help but wince. "I've never failed anything before."

"There's your problem. You think this mission's over. It's not."

"Please explain."

"If I recall correctly, your job is to keep me safe."

Barriss scoffs. "We're out in the middle of nowhere. You almost got killed."

"Yes, and you patched me up. I'm with you and Ahsoka. I'm safe," Riyo says. She says this with so much conviction that Barriss finds it hard to argue further.

SNAP.

Barriss and Riyo turn at the sound of a snapping twig, but there's only darkness. Barriss steps in front of Riyo and raises her hands. She doesn't have a lightsaber, but that doesn't mean she can't fight.

"Show yourself!"

There's a green flash of pupils before Ahsoka emerges from the trees. "It's just me."

Barriss releases a long breath and lowers her hands. "Are you all right? You're bleeding."

There's a shallow scratch on Ahsoka's cheek. Barriss steps closer, but Ahsoka turns away.

"I'm fine."

"Ahsoka…."

"Barriss. Stop." Ahsoka's hardened voice stops her in her tracks, and the Force Bond closes off as if by a durasteel door. Barriss lowers her hands again, this time reluctantly.

"Are they still out there?" Riyo asks.

"One hopped into a speeder and drove off. But I was able to get our lightabers from him before he escaped." Ahsoka holds out Barriss' lightsaber.

"Thank you." Barriss takes the lightsaber with both hands and stares numbly down at it. Of all the things that Barriss has asked of Ahsoka, the only major thing she refused to do was facilitate Barriss's own destruction in that medical station. She didn't even realize how aware, or conscious, she was of the Force Bond until it fell inert just now. It's jarring and unnerving, and while Barriss wouldn't describe herself as feeling very strongly about most things (it's rather un-Jedi to be so opinionated) she greatly dislikes this. Fear, stronger than the fear of their predicament, eats into her.

There must be some way she can help Ahsoka, and she'll find it eventually. Barriss clips the lightsaber onto her belt.

Ahsoka reaches into her parka and pulls out an old bowie hunting knife still in its sheath. "I couldn't find your wallet, or your hair thingies, but I found this."

Riyo gasps and pats herself down. "Gods, they robbed me. Thank you, Ahsoka!"

The stripes of Ahsoka's lekku darken, and her voice softens the way it usually does when Ahsoka talks to either of them. "Sorry, I couldn't find more."

"Nonsense, everything else is replaceable. It's a miracle that you found anything at all." Riyo accepts the knife and clutches it to her chest.

"Is that knife important?" Barriss asks. According to her research, all Pantorans are armed with knives, but she's never seen Riyo with that particular one. On Coruscant, Riyo keeps a much smaller, decorative knife tucked into the waistband of her skirt. Where was she keeping that monstrosity? It must be longer than her forearm.

"When the Gods send you a blessing, you better be prepared to receive it." Riyo tucks the knife into the waistband of her shirt.

"That doesn't sound ominous at all." Ahsoka looks down at the dead lion-masked man, then takes a handful of the front of the body's shirt and drags it over to the grave, where it drops in with a muffled thump.

"Should we, uh, bury him properly?"

"We don't bury our dead, we drown them," Riyo says. Ahsoka's eyes widen.

"Cool. We're not doing that. Different question: where are we?" Ahsoka asks.

"I don't know," Barriss says.

"None of us know," Riyo says.

Ahsoka swears in Huttese.

"Judging from the flora around us, we're still on Pantora," Riyo says.

"Okay! That's good. We can work with that," Ahsoka says.

Riyo cringes. "It actually might not be okay. Winter is about to start and we can't be out here. Pantoran blizzards are brutal."

Barriss sighs. "And if that isn't enough, someone wants us dead. Whoever did this hired these men and was connected enough to know where and when to ambush us."

Ahsoka shrugs. "Whatever. Bring it. I'm not worried about the guys after us. We just beat three of them and we'll fight whoever else wants some."

"I agree. I'm not worried about whoever dropped us out here, I'm worried about where we are. We're not just stranded in Pantora, we're stranded in the Pantoran countryside," Riyo says.

"You mean we're in the Taiga? Is it really so bad?" Barriss asks.

"Yes! Welcome to the Pantoran Taiga, Master Jedi. There's more danger than you realize."

"Cool." Ahsoka says. That's all she says. Riyo gives her an incredulous look.

Ahsoka gives a halfhearted smile. "Listen, Riyo. We said we'd keep you safe and we will. We have our lightsabers and we have each other. Whatever this place can dish out, the three of us can totally handle it. Right, Barriss?"

"Right! I suppose…."

"Barriss, please! I'm trying to be optimistic. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get back to the Summit."

"The Summit! That must be why we're out here. Someone must be trying to sabotage the Summit," Riyo says. She begins to pace. "We need to contact Sprekker about a possible saboteur. He'll know what to do."

Ahsoka smiles. "All right. This is your planet, Riyo. Do you know enough about it to lead us back to civilization?"

Riyo stops pacing and turns to them, her face set with determination. "Yes, I do."

Note Bene: This is a short chapter, because the material that I'm basing this story on is pretty formulaic and the beginning part in the source material is rather short. It picks up though. I promise. I'll tag what kind of AU this is eventually, but I kinda wanna see who catches on to what this story is.

I read that the Clone Wars crew intended the Pantoran/Talz conflict to be inspired by Apartheid, so in this story, Pantoran culture is loosely inspired by both Xhosa and Inuit cultures. The Pantorans are speaking Xhosa.

Writing Barriss wax poetic about her deficiencies was a trip, let me tell you. Like, how sorry for yourself do you really feel, Barriss? Please tell us.

There isn't anything much about Shili, so I get to imagine it as Space Australia and invent a history for it loosely based upon the Moro Rebellion. Let's be real, the only way a system could successfully hold on to neutrality between the Republic and the Separatists is if they're too damn scary and powerful to be messed with. The only reason why the Kiros colonists got abducted was because they tried being pacifists on top of being neutral.

I have a Tumblr, by the way: Artyblogs. Check it out.