"Morning Amara," Basil says waking her friend from her slumber.
"Jesus you're up early," Amara replies stretching and yawning and allowing the light to register in her eyes.
The light always seemed to be golden in the morning, no matter the day or time of year, perhaps it was due to the tent they lived in, or maybe it was how the light bounced off of the golden grass, but whatever the reason, she was happy to be waking to this simple life. One of ease and bare necessities.
"And you're up late, come on." Basils pull several pieces of clothes out of the basket she was holding and throws them at her friend's face. "Get up, we have harvest day today, and I need to run into town for food."
"Already?" She inquires as she makes her way to her washroom and changes into the clothes.
"We've gone through a lot of food this past week, I think we were working harder than usual, it's no big deal." Amara comes out of the room and faces Basil.
"Perhaps, but the more you show your face, the more people will know about our crops, and they will get suspicious." Basil rolls her eyes and sets the basket down.
"Relax my dear, if it becomes a problem, we can just move again, and besides, we've got your makeup down that no one has been able to recognize you. Stop you're fretting, and get to work." Basils rests her hands on her hips and challenges Amara with her eyes.
"Back in the day, it was I that gave orders." Amara bites and grabs the basket Basil set down.
"That was then, and this is now."
"I commanded an entire fleet at one point in my career. You should have some respect for your superior." Basil snorts, as Amara leaves the room.
"You were never my superior, I never served you!" She shouts down the hall hoping that she heard it, and then shakes her head in disbelief. Her best friend trying to pull rank on her once again, she chuckles.
God, she loved that woman, and she would do anything for her.
She walks out of the room and to the side of the hut where their speeder lay covered in a tan tarp and pulls it back.
She begins pilling boxes of goods into the back when Amara comes up to her.
"Be careful, okay?" Basil laughs at her words.
"I always am.
"No, I know, but something's different. Something has happened. Be extremely careful."
"You get your voodoo juice back already?" The wrong choice of words, as Amara sends her a death glare that should have put her in hell. "Look, I'll be extra careful this time around, I promise." Amara gives a slight nod and follows Basil's moves with her eyes, making her sure she doesn't forget something or do something to sabotage herself. "I'll see you at sunset, old friend." They nod at each other, and Amara watches as Basil leaves.
Basil disappears behind the hill, and she turns towards the field that was behind her. Her field of gold, good for food, and making beautiful jewelry.
She grabs the basket and walks out into the middle of the field. The grass wasn't just grass, it was sentient, and the only way she could harvest it is if she could sweet talk the grass into giving up its life.
Basil and she discovered that the grass seemed to respond to Amara more, that they clung to her like a child to a mother. They developed a telepathic bond when Amara was sad, their shine would dim, when she was happy, they would glow like the brightest sun there ever was.
She ran her fingers amongst the heads of the grass, and they sighed in happiness in her mind.
"You guys know the deal, it's that time. I need your help..." She held the basket to a piece of grass, and the grass bent itself in half and fell into the basket. "Thank you." She whispered to the rest of the stock and touched it before she went on to the others.
The sun was beginning to set now, and she had only gotten halfway through the field when basil comes pulling up to the hut.
"How much did you get?" She yells to Amara across the field and hops out of the speeder and runs over to her jingling like a jailor with keys.
"Not even half," She sighs, looking down to her basket that held the golden straw. "they weren't as giving today, I think something is wrong with them.
"What about you?" She unclips the leather pouch that hung from her hip and held it up in Amara's face.
"We sold all of it, the food and the jewelry." She grins and starts bouncing up and down where she stood.
"Was it a chef of a tourist thing or something?"
"He was a chef, I'm not sure from where, but he said that it was the best food and flour he's had in his whole." Amara smiles, and grabs the bag and squeezes her friend.
"I am so proud of you, you really do know how to seal a deal." She shakes her head.
"No, he came up to me, and tried a sample, and then just bought it all." She cocks her and closes her eyes slightly. "But there was something strange about him." Panic floods through Amara, and she begins to think they'll need to move once again, maybe to a new planet, perhaps to the core, maybe Coruscant.
"What do you mean?" Her green eyes pierce Hazel's blue ones.
"He had a symbol on him, it looked like a side panel of a TIE Fighter." The separatists hadn't been around since Dooku, so what were they doing here, and why now? It had been over forty years ago, and the founders and supporters should have died by now.
"Separatists?" Basil nods. "I don't think we are in any harm, I once sided with them, and it seems you only got the chef, if more come, we move." Basil nods in agreeance. "Well get the speeder set up and covered, dinner is almost made, so when you're done, come on in." Basil nods, and Amara gives her a kiss on the cheek before turning and heading back into the tent. "Thanks love." Basil watches as her friend disappears into the tent, and then hops in the speeder, bringing it around back.
She shuts the speeder off completely and settles gently to the ground, and she takes the tan tarp and covers it.
She hooks up the cord to the battery and the coolant to the engine, and it is right before she stands up, she can hear him.
A man, stalking her, but the bigger question was how he found her.
"Who are you?" She stands up and pulls a pistol out of her jacket, aiming it at his heart, and he held a blaster pointed at her head.
"A friend of Lord Servae." The man speaks, and he was wearing the same symbol on his shoulder as the chef, except he had a red ring around it. He had hazel eyes and fire hair, and he was handsome, he must have been of high rank.
Higher the rank, the higher the danger. It was up to Basil to keep Amara safe, even if that meant her life.
They were beginning to normalize, and now he shows up, once again uprooting them. They would have to move and get new identities. This would be the fifth time, and Amara would be devastated.
"There is no person by that name here." The man chuckles.
"And a wookies ass isn't furry. I know she's here."
"Sorry, mister, I'm the only one-"
"Basil, what's taking so long?" Amara calls out, and Basil sighs, only to watch him go running to the hunt, and she squints her eyes.
"Really? Must you run? Why does no one ever walk?" She goes running after him.
"Where is she?" The man calls back to Basil, and Amara hears the commotion and quickly hides next to the door, armed with a kitchen knife.
"I don't know who you're referring to!" Basil shouts at him out of breath.
"Lord Servae!" He calls out and throws open the tarp of the tent, Amara elbows him in the nose and goes to strike him with the knife when she sees it's him.
"Admiral?" He holds his now bleeding nose and looks up to her, pain evident in his eyes due to the tears forming in them. "Oh my god, I'm sorry."
"Can you fix this?" His voice is muffled through his hands, and Amara flattens her lips.
"I'm afraid it won't be fast or a painless fix, but I can." Just then Basil comes running in, completely out of breath, and puts her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.
"He" Huff. "You" Another huff. "Knows you." Amara rolls her eyes.
"Great warning dear, just go get me a bowl with warm water, a needle and thread, and alcohol, oh and a washcloth." She nods and runs off to grab the supplies.
"Come now an admiral, sit down, and let me tend to you." She grabs his elbow and guides him to the most comfortable chair they had and sets him down. She pulls up a stool and a coffee table and sits down as basil comes running back and sets the supplies down. "Thank you, go eat. I will take care of him, and we can eat after." She nods and walks back into the kitchen, leaving the Admiral and Amara to themselves.
"I never took you for a farmer." He remarks with a wince.
"Aye, and I never took you for a stalker." He shoots her deadly look, and she sighs. "I am sorry, forgive me."
"Always, my lord." She pours the alcohol on the edge of the rag and holds the cloth up to his nose.
"Breathe in, this is going to hurt." He takes a deep breath in, and she presses the rag to the bridge of his nose, and winces again. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here to ask you for your help." She nods and takes the rag away from his nose and dips it in the warm water.
"I see, and how do you think I can help?" She cleans the blood off of his nose before setting the rag down. "I don't have to sew this up, it'll just bruise terribly, and it's not even broken."
"Then don't." She places the rag in the water letting the blood wash off of the cloth, and she grabs the bottle of alcohol, and takes a sip.
"What help do you need Admiral? Remember I am retired and am of little use to you. " He reaches for the bottle and takes a sip himself.
"Snoke is dead." He whispers, and her heart skips a beat. The supreme leader dead and gone, but how?
"How?" She stands up and sets the bowl on the counter, and keeps her back to him.
"Ren killed him." She rubs her forehead.
"Tell me he did it without being divided." He gets up and goes over to her, laying his hand on top of hers.
"It seems that way, but I suspect he had help." She shakes her head and sighs. Kylo Ren the most useless sith there ever was.
"Of course he had help because if he didn't, I would have felt it." The ginger hold questions in his eyes and a crease on his forehead. How could she have felt Snoke die, that wasn't possible or was it? She was a sith after all, and she could feel the force.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, had Snoke truly died by Ren's hand, I would have felt the balance shift, a new power replacing the old."
"Would you have felt it?" She snaps her gaze to him, her green eyes on his hazel ones, questioning him. Why would he challenge me, doesn't he know better?
"Excuse me?" He quickly panics and tries to recover from his statement leading to a blur of words and stuttering, and a light blush of embarrassment. "Settle your mind admiral, and tell me what you mean."
"There is a new power, a Jedi, she rivals him, challenges him. I think she helped kill Snoke." She pulls her hand away and folds her arm across her chest. Of course, there is a new Jedi, there is no good without evil, and no evil without good.
And here I am, in the middle of the two, with my heart in the dark and my head in the light.
"She helped then, no doubt about it."
"My Lord, I have come all this way for your help, do not deny me your help now." Amara sighs and looks down to her feet.
This handsome man before her came asking for her help, and it had been over ten years since they last departed. He was now working alongside Ren, the new supreme leader.
It was a lie. There was absolutely no way Ren could have been supreme leader. She had felt the inability in him all those years ago. The failure to fully become sith, to turn dark. He would stay in the middle but always lean towards the darker side because he liked that power. It called to him and beckoned him, and it comforted him, but he would never be a Vader or even her own father, a Damask.
She slowly looks up to her Admiral, studying his hazel blue eyes, his fair complexion, and his liquid fire hair, why was she always so attracted to him. He was her right-hand man, she wasn't supposed to fall in love with him.
Yet, all those years ago, as they grew closer, and learned more of one another, she grew overly fond with him, she told him everything.
From her very humbling beginning to all of a sudden being taught by Lord Vader, to controlling the galaxy, to finally find out her parentage. She even told him of Threnn.
Threnn, that name brought back so many good memories, at least with the man itself.
Threnn was her personal bodyguard and took care of her issues if she had any, and she had fallen in love with him. He fell in love with her too.
That all came to a screeching halt when he was ambushed, attacked, bombed, etc... and killed by Rebel Scum. She never had a body, just a piece of armor that she held onto and eventually made into a part of her armor.
She still missed him, she always wished she had his body to give him a proper burial.
It was then that she swore she was never getting close to someone again.
Then she retired and found basil, and well, after several months of trying to deal with everything that happened to her in her life, she eventually had to give in and tell Basil everything.
It was after that that she was finally able to rest.
"Ajktinia..." She says in high Sith, a language that was now lost unless he remembered her teachings. It was their language, it was always their language. Of course, they knew many other languages, but from day one she taught him high Sith, and it became their language. They were the last people in the galaxy to speak it, and she hoped he still remembered.
"I remember that that was your pet name for me when you wanted me to understand. I still practice High Sith every day. It has become a part of me now, My Lord, I can never forget the language."
"Then understand this, you must be tired from all of your travels, can I draw you a bath? I will get you some fresh new clothes, and then we can go for a drink after if you'd like." He nods in agreement, knowing full well she was telling him there were eyes and ears everywhere, and the needed to go to the local to talk privately. So, he followed her suggestions.
She leads the way to the washroom, and he follows her close behind, a long awkward silence reached their ears.
"My lord I-"
"Please, it's just Amara."
"Amara," He begins. "You should know I got demoted." She stops cold in her tracks as her anger behind to heat and stew inside of her, and she has to take several deep breathes before she can speak.
"What is your rank now, Admiral?" A beat.
"General." She only gets angrier.
She spent years and years working on him, teaching him to be a great leader, teaching him new languages, showing him old Sith. Now, now Snoke and Ren had gone and undermined all of her work and demoted him to general. He was nothing, nothing. He was but a speck of dirt on a very dirty boot, and dear gods she was angry.
She turns her head over her shoulder. "Come along then, General Hux." She is so very bitter about it, but she picks up her pace again and vows to never have to call him general unless absolutely needed.