Existence

Chapter 3:

Existence

Miss VanDaufer

AN: I'm feeling nice. Here's another. :)

Once back at the stable, Kelcie cooled Mokachee down and put him out in one of the lush green pastures. Kelcie watched her stallion gallop off and sighed. If only there was an easy answer to escaping her fate. The Rebellion could be the way . . . But even that wasn't easy.

"Let's take a walk." Rabiah's familiar voice interrupted her musings.

Kelcie turned, and Rabiah immediately saw the conflict in her eyes. Finally, the young woman nodded and started walking off towards the woods.

Rabiah allowed the silence to stretch for a moment until finally breaking it. "What's wrong?"

Kelcie sighed, and stared off into the distance. "My father . . . He's . . . he's going to give me to Palpatine on my birthday."

Rabiah stared in shock for a moment. Rabiah had been a Jedi of the Old Order, and after the fall of the Old Republic had been sent to Amiheir too keep watch over Kelcie, a distant relative of the great Obi Wan Kenobi. Kelcie was highly force sensitive, although she didn't realize it. Rishard couldn't know about Kelcie's force sensitivity . . . But Palpatine might. Or rather, he will once Kelcie is given to him. Rabiah knew she couldn't let that happen. The result could be disastrous.

"You're not going to Palpatine, Kelcie. I promise." Rabiah assured her, hating the terrified look on Kelcie's face.

"Geoffrey . . . He's joining the Rebellion. And, well, he thought maybe I could join with him." Kelcie offered.

Rabiah slowly nodded. "Let me think about it, Kelcie. That's a good idea, but I want to weigh all of our options."

"I wouldn't mind joining the Rebellion." Kelcie mused, almost as if she were speaking to herself. "I hate the Empire, and I've always been interested in spy work."

Rabiah put a hand on Kelcie's shoulder. "If that's what you want to do . . . I won't stop you."

Kelcie finally turned and looked at her. "I . . . I don't know yet. But . . . It sounds better and better all the time."

Rabiah bit her lip. One side of her wanted to tell Kelcie to go for it, and the other wanted to make the young woman stay on the planet. She wanted to shake Kelcie and tell her it was too dangerous, but Rabiah knew that would do no good. Like her mother Kelcie was clever, crafty and had a love for adventure. Perhaps the Rebellion would be good for her. If she wasn't so old, Rabiah might have joined herself.

"Do what you think is right, Kelcie." Rabiah told her, before quietly slipping away.

Kelcie stayed outside for the longest time. The Rebellion sounded exciting, dangerous. If Rabiah could get her the fake papers, it shouldn't be too hard to get in. She knew the Alliance was practically begging for man power. She'd always wanted to be a spy, this could be her chance. Rishard would kill her if her ever found out. It's worth the chance, she reminded herself. Besides, it's that or Palpatine.
Slowly walking back to the Castle Kelcie once again turned over her options her mind. Maybe if she slept on it, that would help.

Dinner that night was worse than usual, and Kelcie contemplated taking it up to her room halfway through the zueleg pie. Rebekka was more spiteful than usual and Mariel kept apologizing for everything. Rishard seemed to mostly brood for the first part of the meal.

"Kelcie?" he finally, said, looking up from his slice of pie.

"Yes, sir?" Kelcie replied, not taking her eyes off her food.

"Look at me!" Rishard barked.

Kelcie bit her tongue and raised her head, meeting Rishard's dull green eyes with her dark blue ones. "Yes sir." she repeated.

"You're leaving for Coruscant in three days." Rishard said simply, and retuned to his food.

"What?!" Kelcie yelled. "My birthday isn't for another week!"

Rishard turned his icy gaze on her again. "The Emperor wanted you there sooner. Who was I to argue with him."

"I told you I'm not going!" Kelcie retorted, shaking with anger.

"Oh yes, you are!" Rishard said, with undisguised fury. "It's not like there's anywhere you can go."

Kelcie stabbed her pie angrily with her fork. She was tempted to argue with Rishard, but one word could ruin her plans. If her father heard of her idea of joining the Rebellion . . . Well, it wouldn't be pretty.

"Good, no arguments." Rishard responded with pleasure. "Maybe you're finally starting to learn your lesson."

"Daddy, when Kelcie's gone, can I have her room?" Rebekka pleaded.

Tears pricked Kelcie's eyes. She should have known she wouldn't be missed. Her family had never missed her before. Most of the time they forgot she existed.

"I don't care. I have a headache." Rishard grumbled, reaching for more ale.

Kelcie didn't eat much more of her dinner. She mostly pushed her food around her plate. Once the main course was done, she excused herself and practically ran back up the stairs to her room. Three days was hardly enough time to make the most important decision of her life.

When she woke up the next morning, Kelcie knew what she had to do. There was no time to waste. She had three days until she was shipped off to Coruscant . . . And the Emperor. She shuddered at the thought. It was still early, the sun having not risen over the misty mountains. Slipping on her normal attire of riding pants, tall boots and a tunic she crept out of the dark and silent Castle. A damp mist covered the Castle grounds and Kelcie looked off in the direction of Rabiah's small cabin right behind the stables. The windows were still dark and there was no smoke coming from the chimney. Her godmother must not be up yet. I'll go visit Mokachee. she decided, and headed for the pastures.

Mokachee was grazing on a high hill, underneath a grove of trees. The early morning mist gave the stallion and almost mystical appearance. Hearing Kelcie's whistle, Mokachee's head shot up and he let out a low nicker. Arching his neck and raising his tail, Mokachee broke into a trot and swiftly descended down the hill to his mistress. Kelcie had to smile as she watched her horse. Mokachee was breath taking, seeming to almost float over the ground as he moved. Mokachee stopped, just in front of Kelcie, and stood perfectly erect.

"Show off." Kelcie murmured, affectionately rubbing her horses neck. A few tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked them away. "I'm going to miss you, but Rabiah will take good care of you."

Ever sensitive to Kelcie's emotions, Mokachee lowered his head and nudged Kelcie's hand. He seemed to be asking, "What's wrong?" Kelcie hugged her horse, burying her face in the ever familiar silky black mane.

"I'll be back." she promised softly. "And I won't forget you."

Mokachee let out a little horse sigh, and Kelcie pulled away from her. "You'd better behave for Rabiah." Kelcie told her, trying to make the sternness mask her tears. "Speaking of which, I should go see if she's up."

As if sensing this might be their last time together, Mokachee followed Kelcie to the gate, her nose occasionally bumping Kelcie's shoulder in a companionable way. Once she reached the gate, Kelcie took a deep breath and pressed a kiss to Mokachee's velvety muzzle.

"Goodbye, boy." she whispered, the squared her shoulders and walked swiftly to Rabiah's cottage before she lost her nerve.

Kelcie knocked three times before Rabiah answered her door.

"Kelcie?" Rabiah asked, surprised to see her there at such an early hour. "Why are you up at this hour?"

"I . . . Made my decision." Kelcie whispered, looking down at her boots.

"You're going to join the Rebellion?" Rabiah guessed.

"It's either that or go to Coruscant in three days." Kelcie informed her.

Rabiah felt a moment of indecision, then ushered Kelcie inside her small one room cabin. "You'll need papers . . ." she said, rummaging through her unorganized desk.

Kelcie settled on the well worn couch and glanced around the little cabin. It was simple, like Rabiah. A few holovids showing Rabiah on different horses were set up around the room, as well as a small stove in one corner and bed in the other. Rabiah's desk and couch sat in the center of the room, and Kelcie knew it was were Rabiah spent most of her time.

"Biah," Kelcie interrupted her godmother's searching. "How the heck are we going to make me look eighteen."

Rabiah stopped her hunt and turned to Kelcie. "Well . . . I'm hoping if you have the papers they won't ask. The false identification should do it. And it's not like you're widely known throughout the galaxy. Geoffrey should also be able to vouch for you."

"How long will it take you to make the false identifications?" Kelcie questioned.

"I should have them done by the end of today." Rabiah answered. "If we could get you out of here tomorrow that would be perfect."
"Why don't I got talk to Geoffrey then and see what I can arrange?" Kelcie suggested. "You don't need my finger print or anything just yet, right?"

Rabiah shook her head. "No, I won't need any of that till later on. You go ahead and talk with Geoffrey. Take, Gitchie, if Rishard sees Mokachee he'll assume you're still here."

Kelcie nodded and stood. Gitchie was Rabiah's handsome light gray stallion. Kelcie had ridden him a few times, but the horse was a perfect gentleman and amazingly fast.

"I won't be long." she promised Rabiah, then gave her godmother a quick hug before jogging out of the cabin and to the stable to get Gitchie ready.