Two months later, after defeating Darth Traya, Storm set off for the Unknown Regions, following Kaiden's trail. Her goodbyes had been less sneaky than a farewell holocron left on her pillow. She had just told them all she was leaving, and she would be back. Atton and Mira had protested, but the Jedi needed them. They had both come so far. Storm chuckled at the memory of Atton trying to convince her to take him along, without sounding like he cared too much. She knew he liked her. Even if Traya had not revealed that--along with some less pleasant tidbits--, it did not take the ability to read mind to see he cared about her. She cared about him too, but whether it would--or even could--develop into something more, she didn't know. Jedi weren't supposed to fall in love. It was forbidden. Storm sighed and returned her attention to the Hawk's controls. Atton had given her a refresher course in how to fly the thing, and now she felt she could do it as well as him.
She decided to land on the first unfamiliar planet that crossed her path, three weeks later. Feathering the controls to keep the Hawk from crashing, she landed in a canyon. There wasn't really much choice presented in the matter; the planet's surface was crisscrossed with canyons, gullies, and other trenches. Storm disembarked cautiously, a lightsaber in each hand, ready to defend herself in an instant. There were no immediate threats, though she could hear something that sounded less than friendly off in the distance. She set off to find and destroy the evil she sensed oozing out of the crevices in the rock.
Four years. Carth sat on the edge of his bed, hating the sun for rising, for marking the start of another day without her. Today was four years exactly since Kaiden left. It still hurt just as bad as it had then. Four years spent waiting, hoping, facing down the gnawing fear she had died and would never come back. He rubbed a hand along his jaw, noting absently that he needed to shave. The face that stared back out of the mirror at him exhibited loneliness beyond comprehension, in addition to a few more gray hairs then the last time he looked. I blame you, Kaiden. If I wasn't so damn worried about you… Who was he fooling? He was forty-three, for crying out loud, they'd be gray even if Kaiden had never left. I miss you, Kai. And I love you. Still. He wondered for a moment if she could read his mind from a galaxy and a half away before turning his attention to making himself presentable.
Storm was thoroughly sick of this planet. The large, tusked inhabitants were proving hard to convince of her good intentions, and even harder to kill. As her success rate with former decreased, the rate of her being forced to do the latter shot through the roof. Storm huffed with aggravation and pushed back the frizzes of blonde hair creeping back down her forehead after defeating a particularly huge behemoth, three and a half meters tall. The cyan blade of her off-hand lightsaber traced dangerously close to her eye as she did so, and Storm chided herself for not deactivating it first. She pressed the buttons, and the cyan and blue blades retracted into the hilts, which she clipped to her belt. She had barely sat down to rest when she heard the sound of trouble drifting down the length of the canyon. Storm groaned, leaned her head back against the wall for a second, then stood and crept toward the noise. As she drew nearer, she picked out the sounds of a battle. This was not just a discontent monster waiting for a poor, exhausted, unsuspecting Jedi to wander around a corner. This was one (or more) of the creatures engaged in full fledged combat with someone. Storm activated her lightsabers, crouching in the stance Master Kavar had taught her, and inched forward until she could see around the outcropping. A woman with brown hair, wielding a double-bladed purple lightsaber, clad in Qel-Droma robes faced off against four of the monstrosities. Four of them. And from the small heap of corpses at her feet, there appeared to have been more. Well, she couldn't let the woman fight all those things by herself. What kind of Jedi would she have to be to just walk away? Shrugging away her exhaustion, Storm joined the battle. The woman's strength shocked her. She dealt heavy blows, felling the creatures with ease. Storm simply watched her back and engaged the one enemy foolish enough to attempt to backstab a Jedi who wasn't alone.
After all the attackers were slain, Storm let her lightsabers hang loose in her hands. "Are you Revan?" It was the first question that popped into her head, since Revan was the only person she could think of who would be out here. The woman chuckled, tucked a couple stray, graying hairs back towards the otherwise rich brown ponytail, and smiled at Storm with a warmth she'd not felt in a she didn't know how long. Even Atton's smile wasn't so thrilling.
"It's been a long time since anyone called me that. Almost five years." The sad look in Revan's eyes spoke of how difficult those five years had been. "Everyone's called me Kaiden for quite a while." She caught Storm as the younger woman swayed with weariness. "Come, we both need rest. And I'm sure you'll want to hear more of my story, boring as I may find it. I sense a healthy dose of curiosity in you."
Tell her Carth Onasi is waiting for her. The Admiral's plea circulated Storm's brain. She had to tell Rev- Kaiden that she was missed. Loved. Longed for by a man so desperately and totally in love he would fly across the galaxy for her at a moment's notice. "How long have you been here?" It was a silly question, but the only one she could think to ask.
"Almost four years. I stopped on Nagi before coming to Ankus." Kaiden looked up from the holo-screen she held as she answered the question.
"Is that the name of this infernal place? Ankus?"
"I think so. And those things we fought are called cragmoloids. Lovely creatures. Smell only slightly worse after they're dead," Kaiden smiled again.
"I see why he misses you." The words were out before Storm could stop them, louder than she intended them to be.
Kaiden felt her breath catch in her throat. He could only mean one person. Carth. The thought of him sent the ache to work gnawing on her insides again. "What?" she asked softly, images of him already dancing through her mind's eye at a rate that guaranteed she wouldn't be sleeping--again--tonight.
"I said I see why he misses you," Storm repeated, louder this time. The flicker in Kaiden's eyes was a mix of feelings so deep they tore at her soul. "I was supposed to give you a message from someone who misses you, though he didn't admit it in so many words."
"What?" The eagerness pouring out of Kaiden's eyes was all the proof Storm needed to be sure Kaiden missed Carth as badly as Carth missed Kaiden.
"He said 'Tell her Carth Onasi is waiting for her.' That's it. Sorry."
"It's enough." Kaiden leaned back against the rock wall of the small cave, closed her eyes, and smiled softly. He's still waiting for me. After all this time. He still loves the Force for you, Carth Onasi. I love you. "Thank you, Storm." She shook her head. "You have no idea-" Her voice caught as tears threatened to overwhelm her. "How is he?" she asked to change the subject.
Storm shrugged. "I only talked to him for a few minutes. It was more the sense of anguish rolling off him like a tidal wave on Manaan that clued me in then anything he said. How do you remember him?"
"Handsome. Brown hair, warm brown eyes that smiled even more expressively than his mouth. A smile to die for. I would do anything in the galaxy to see that smile for even a fraction of a second."
"I think when you return, you'll find there's the tiniest bit of gray in his hair, and a few care lines that you don't remember."
"Only to be expected. I'm forty now, and he's three years older than me." Kaiden smiled sadly. "We were supposed to do this growing old thing together. Not a galaxy and a half apart."
Storm felt sorry for Kaiden, for Carth. "Well, what are you out here to do? I could help you, get it done faster." She yawned. "Then you could go back to known space, back to him, that much sooner."
"Thank you for the offer."
"Can you tell me more about Carth?" She was bone weary, but for the moment, curiosity trumped exhaustion.
"He is a good man. He stands on his back foot when it comes to his beliefs, and would rather risk his own well-being or happiness than compromise his morals and ideals." The far away look creeping into Kaiden's eyes evidenced her losing herself in the past. "He could be incredibly paranoid. Drove me insane. I took it personally for awhile, even though he said I shouldn't, until he told me about how his mentor betrayed him, and that resulted in the death of his wife." Kaiden shook her head at the memory and spun the small silver ring she wore on her left hand. "After that, I just tried to get him to trust me. Didn't take it personally when it took a little more work then an average person. When he finally did, I was thrilled beyond words."
"What was he like while you were searching for the Star Maps?" Storm had wondered about Kaiden's take on things ever since hearing Carth's side back on Telos.
"He was the real leader. It didn't matter how much Bastila stomped her foot or pouted about being a Jedi, Carth was really in charge. We all knew it."
"Why him?"
"Aside from having way more experience than Bastila, I mean, he was already a war hero, he honestly had everyone's safety and succeeding in our mission as his top priority. And, if that's not enough for you, his humility and natural leadership kept him from constantly rubbing Bastila's face in that fact."
"Was she a pain?" Storm raised an eyebrow. She'd always heard Bastila's praises being sung for helping the Republic fleet destroy the Star Forge. The renowned Bastila Shan as a pain was a new thought.
"She could be," Kaiden admitted. "She'd nag you to death about responsible use of power, and the seriousness of the mission, but she did it because she cared. Mostly we found it annoying beyond all reason." She was quiet for a minute. "Did…did Carth say anything else about me?"
Kaiden had been dying to ask that since hearing Carth was waiting for her. When Storm nodded, her heart fluttered.
"Yes, he said more. But it was more what I could feel then what he said."
"Like what?" Kaiden leaned forward, eager to hear.
"Like he was sure you weren't dead. He was convinced he would have felt it, somehow. But he felt like there was gaping…emptiness where you used to be. He misses you so terribly, a brief taste of it threatened to overwhelm me. I don't know how he carries on, feeling like that every day."
A tear trickled down Kaiden's face. "What kind of woman am I? What kind of person can willingly cause that pain in another?"
"The kind who knows there are some dangers that have to be faced alone because of the cost to their loved ones. I have a feeling you didn't want to leave him behind. You knew it would be too dangerous, especially for a non-Jedi. And you didn't want to see him hurt. "
"But I hurt him worse by not letting him come."
Storm yawned again. "Look, we're both exhausted. Let's get some sleep, and we can talk about this tomorrow as we vanquish evil to get you home to him."