Note: This is set 20 years after the events of KOTET, so very much AU. Enjoy!
Tai stared silently at the cave before her. She had to be careful, she had to be aware. Ord Mantell had proved that. It had proved that she was wrong and, much as she hated to admit it, her instructors were right. She was reckless. She raised one hand - a habit when the events of eight months ago battled to the front of her mind - and touched her face, the scars she felt beneath her finger tips enough to remind her of the words that had been drummed into her until she could repeat them in five languages, not including galactic basic. She took a deep breath, let her hand drop to the blaster resting against her hip and moved towards the cave entrance.
It was dark inside the cave. Tai didn't mind the dark, in fact she had always found it comforting. What did bother her, however, was the increasing warmth as she ventured further into the cave and the fact that there seemed to be an increasing level of moisture in the air too. Her eyes adjusted quickly and she was able to see a passage at the back of the cave that seemed to lead away in the direction she had to travel. For a second, she considered being annoyed over the fact she had no way of communicating with the Commander who had sent her on this strictly off-the-record mission (she sorely wanted to know why all of her superior officers were so keen to risk her career but not that of any of her fellows), but pushed those feelings to the back of her mind, knowing that if someone from the base was in contact with her, she would be wishing for a moment of peace and quiet. Crossing the cave noiselessly, Tai took the time to check for signs of any type of potentially dangerous creatures living down there. There were signs that some creature, by the look of the tracks one that walked on two legs, had been through recently, but nothing to give her any immediate concerns.
As she entered the passage, Tai navigated her way with ease across a crack in the uneven stone floor deep enough to break the ankle of any person fool enough to stumble into it and found that the floor was slightly more slippery than it looked, likely from a combination of the heat, damp conditions and trailing plant matter. A swinging vine brushed against her shoulder and she shook it away with a quick one-shouldered shrug, grimacing at the slimy mark it left on her grey armour. She continued on in this fashion for ten minutes or more, before something caught her attention up ahead. Faint and flickering between a rock formation that didn't look entirely natural, a torch had been placed. Tai froze where she was, checking around again for an escape route incase she needed one. No such luck - should something happen now, she would have to run back the way she had come or face any adversary in an enclosed space. She moved forwards again, paying extra attention to keeping her footsteps silent. When she reached the torch, Tai paused again. This part of the passage looked as if it was used more often than the part she had just walked down - there was less plant life and the ground appeared more even, as if something walked there regularly. Further along the corridor, she noticed more torches, placed at regular intervals. I guess there is something here to find then, Tai thought, picking up the pace as she continued in the direction of the lights. The further she walked, the more the tunnel seemed to open up, becoming wider. It struck Tai as odd that there were no passages leading off from the main tunnel - it seemed unnatural somehow, the way she was being funnelled down the main passage. She may not be force sensitive, but she could tell when something suspicious was going on, a trick she blamed on growing up around force sensitive people, picking up on factors they found unnerving. Something isn't right, she thought with increasing regularatory as she started around a long, sweeping bend. Something strange is going on here, and its going to get worse. It hit her in a flash: This has something to do with mother, I know it. She finally rounded the corner and stopped dead, in the entrance to a wide cave, with a high ceiling, dripping water into puddles on the floor which burbled musically into a small reserviour in the far corner. Lights danced and flickered off the water. In the very centre of the cave, a figure was kneeling, hands forming a pyramid before them, a pale yellow light surrounding them.
A heavily accented voice, female with a rich, musical quality to it seemed to fill the air, "An agent of Zakuul. Running a little late, are you not?"
Tai stared at the meditating figure, feeling conflicted. Her training told her to draw a weapon but her instincts told her that she was not being threatened. She didn't move from the tunnel enterance, trying to take in the wonder of the scene before her. Finally, she spoke through the overwhelming, pulsing silence, "Lateness ensures a dramatic enterance. My speciality."
"Hmm." The light framing the figure in the middle of the room faded away and the figure stood slowly. It was a woman, tall, slender and dressed in the style of a Jedi. Tai made a note of her distinguishing features - her dark skin, brown eyes, long white-blonde hair braided tightly down to her waist, proud stature and pale yellow make-up patterning - as quickly as she could, realising that she made need to spot this woman again in a hurry at some point. "You worry for her."
Tai felt her face crease with a frown as she stepped into the cave, "I don't see how making an enterance is linked to whom I worry for and whom I do not."
The woman chuckled, "I suppose you do not."
Tai felt somewhat infuriated. Who the hell was this strange woman who seemed to know a little bit too much about everything? And quite what in the galaxy was she doing in this cave? She couldn't read her, or the situation at all and had no idea if her life was in danger or not. She sat herself down on a rock, using a trick her father had taught her to seemingly keep both eyes on the other woman in the cave while scanning the area for anything that may be of importance. She was almost certain - around eighty seven percent if she had to give a figure - that the fact the cave was starting to seem smaller was because the light had dimmed a little and the dampness seemed to be more prominent than it had been just minutes ago.
"You have come here seeking answers. Perhaps I can help you, if you answer me something in return." The woman was sitting, legs crossed in front of her, hands resting on her knees, eyes holding Tai's, unblinking and somewhat offputting.
Tai arched one eyebrow, a habit she had picked up from her father - much to the annoyance of her mother, but couldn't deny that she was intrigued by this statement, "Forgive me for suggesting this, but it had occured to me that you seemed pretty much in control of things here." Calm Tai, calm.
She could hear one of her mother's earliest lessons to her repeating in her head: never let them see what you're really thinking, make yourself hard to read, unpredictable.
Evidently, the still nameless woman had been taught a similar lesson, as she gave a low chuckle, catching Tai by surprise, "Perhaps it is not help I require."
"Right." Tai shrugged. One thing she couldn't abide was people who spoke in riddles. "You got a name?" She enquired, realising they had been engaging in some kind of power play for the whole of their conversation so far.
"I am merely the Forgotten One." The woman replied slowly, "You may refer to me as Jenai, if you wish."
A name is a start, at least, Tai thought, realising that this conversation was going to take a lot of concentration in order for her to follow it well. She nodded, trying to appear as if she wasn't having to focus so hard. "You seemed to be expecting my arrival." She started, deciding a statement may serve her purpose better than a question.
"I have been aware of your presence for some time."
Tai felt a twinge of annoyance at this answer, it was vague and gave her little to work with, but she had to persist, "Aware of me in what manner?"
If she didn't know better, she would've sworn that Jenai was toying with her, manipulating her thoughts somehow. She didn't know what it was, but something about this place had her on edge and concentrating on the enigmatic being before was difficult work.
"The Force, through meditation, grants awareness of a great many things. In the tunnel, you too were aware." Jenai seemed to have moved closer, Tai realised, although she had not moved at all, "You trusted in nothing around you, ignored your instincts. Let a misguided ideal of duty steer your mind." Her voice was no longer the soothing musical sound it had once been, no longer the sound that filled the space. It had gained a cold quality that made every fibre of Tai's being scream out at her to run. It seemed to be directly inside her head now too, the walls felt as if they were closing in, the ceiling sinking. Fear twisted in Tai's gut, but she would not run.
She had no idea what drove her to ask it, but the question forced its way out of her without a considered thought, "What do you want from me?"
She could feel Jenai's dark eyes regarding her carefully as she answered, "I simply wished to impart this wisdom, someone you know will find it incredibly useful before long: the greatest of current problems are caused by the passed dismissed."
Tai stumbled to her feet, her heart racing, one thought in her mind: mother, something will happen to mother. She bolted for the tunnel enterance, only to find two bluish figures standing between her and her only way out.
"Your mind serves you well. It is a true shame you're not Force sensitive." The larger one, a male in some kind of armour, started. Biting down her rising panic, Tai recognised him from the holoimages she had seen as Darth Marr, formerly of the Dark Council.
The second figure, a female, whom she knew to be the former Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan, stepped to the side, allowing Tai to be able to reach the tunnel entrance, "Go now young one, return to your people. Heed our words and trust in the Force."
Tai barely heard her as she ran down the tunnel. Her thoughts were tumbling over each other as she tried to make sense of what she had just experienced. She cared little for what had happened to her, but her fear for her mother was one of her two main concerns. Her second concern, which became her overriding concern as she burst out of the tunnel enterance, into the bright daylight and collapsed on the ground, was: why? Why was I sent here? She lay there for several minutes, waiting for her heart rate to return to normal, trying to regain rational thought. Calm, she told herself firmly. Then, as she started back towards the place where she had landed her shuttle, she knew that she needed to contact her parents, Commander Kayr, who had sent her, and possibly someone who had helped her throughout her entire life, someone she knew would listen to her and help her. She could think of one individual who fitted that role perfectly.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"You did well, child." He regarded the younger woman, pleased with the outcome of the meeting, "She has no idea who you are."
"For now, but she will become aware of the truth before long." The older female seemed slightly on edge, "The mother is reckless but the father is intelligent."
"Perhaps your judgement is clouded on this matter." He replied quickly.
"Perhaps." She appeased him quickly, "However our views on this matter differ, we must deal with this as best we can. Elani, if any of must involve ourselves in this, it will be you. Until next an event occurs, we must meditate."
AN: This wasn't a plan until part way through this afternoon, its now 10pm and I've probably had too much alcohol for someone about to publish something online. It was one of those situations where I had an idea, followed by a second idea about half an hour later, and just decided to write it. I do have a plan for this story, and my guess is going to be: about 5 chapters long, probably with massive update breaks? Typical me!
So please follow, fave, etc, and leave feedback, I'd love to know who you think Tai is, and who you think Jenai is. Who is talking at the end? What do you think?
~Swizz~