Revan introduces me, and before I know it, the kid is leading the way through the crowds. I've always hated tourist ports, they're too squeaky clean; reminds me of Force cages. Add in throngs of frustrated, unwashed and angry people with lost luggage, and you've got yourself an entire prison. Gimmie a half ruined port in a refugee sector any day. Better yet, a red light district. Force I could use one of those right now.
We make our way through the terminal, and the crowd lessens. Naturally, the part of the port where the least visitors are is more opulent. There's more shops in this part, and more fancy design. A pond in the middle of a corridor here, displays of the planet's flora there. It's enough to make a person sick. So much wealth, so little brains in the person spending it. All that's missing is the fracking thing to be paved in credits. Did I mention it's a docking bay?
Revan gawks, and the kid notices. "This is the private area of the bay," he explains. "I borrowed my aunt's shuttle to find you."
"I had no idea that your family was this ..."
"Wealthy?" The kid smiles bitterly. "Neither did I, until I came. My aunt's family builds warships, but the company went bankrupt during the Mandalorian occupation, and I had believed it to still be the same." Dustil runs his hands through is brown hair and tries to look casual. "The Civil War brought the planet's economy back to life, and the family found most of their shipyards intact." He grabs Revan's arm and looks right at her, "No one believes that Revan left the planet's infrastructure alone because of carelessness, and most are still nervous of strangers, masked or otherwise." Revan nods and Dustil drops her arm; the message's received: Jedi aren't welcome here, especially not her.
Can't say I blame them.
Revan goes quiet for awhile, and I thank the Force for the silence. There's something about hearing her talk that really kills my mood. We walk on.
The kid looks like he wants to talk. He keeps glancing back at Revan, like he wants to say something, but just isn't sure what. Why, I have no idea. There's no way in hell I would talk to her if I didn't have to.
Finally the kid looks at Revan and says, "I'm sorry."
The first real thing outta the kid's mouth and I'm already disappointed. The kid's Telosian, so what the hell does he have to be sorry about? Nothing. If anything, Revan should be on her knees begging him for forgiveness. And yet, here we are, in a fracking space port and he's saying sorry to her.I really gotta know why I put up with this. I should've saved enough credits back on Citadel and gotten the hell out of there first chance I got, but no, I stick with her and risk loosing my mind every damn day. It's so fracking typical for everyone to grovel at her Lordship's feet, and then there's me in all my sanity forgetting that she's worthy of praise, apologies ... or anything.
She sighs, "It wasn't your fault, Dustil."
His fault? The kid? Oh that's rich.
He shakes his head. "I failed you."
"No," she she says quietly. She puts her hand on his shoulder. "You did exactly what I asked. You protected her the best you could."
"It was quick, at least." Revan raises her eyebrow at him, and he explains. "We saw some of those assassins attacking someone. Before I could do anything, she ran in with her," he looks around, " ... sword. I went to follow, and we managed to fight them off, but the last one... I killed him, but Bastila was already dead."
"She could never pretend she was something other than what she was." Now why does that sound familiar? "She died defending innocent sentients. She choose the Light Side, that meant everything to her." Revan spouting Jedi platitudes. I try not to laugh, so I roll my eyes instead.
"Yes, I suppose so." The kids looks to the ground. "I saved her sword to give to you."
Revan squeezes her eyes shut. "Thank you," she whispers.
"Um, excuse me, I hate to interrupt this happy reunion, but maybe you two could stop advertising our presence and take this somewhere else." I'm surprised at the kid, I really am, a student of the Academy should know better, even if its founder doesn't. There's still the security patrol walking around, and after the little speech he have Revan about Jedi, he must be crazy to bring that up here. Or guilty as frack. Then again, it's hard not to loose yourself in front of Revan. I should know.
Revan looks at me, but doesn't let go of Dustil's shoulder. "Atton's right."
I used to wonder if what Kreia wanted was really so bad. Yeah, she was crazy, but a galaxy without Jedi and Sith killing each other sounds sounds like a good idea to me. No more Force, no more lightsabers ... no more dark lords and their assassins. No more Revan.
Of course it'd never work out like that. The galaxy likes fracking around with me too much, but watching this heart warming scene between her Lordship and her newest acolyte almost makes me wish Kreia'd won. She would've killed us all, but being dead is still better than trailing Revan. Sometimes I wish Liam and I could've switched places.
The kid nods in agreement and steps away from her. Revan's hand falls back to her side. "The shuttle's just ahead," he says.
"So, where we going, kid?"
"To my aunt's house." He looks sly all of a sudden, but the expression's gone before I can ask. It doesn't take Jedi senses to know the kid's hiding something. In the old days, he'd be inside an interrogation chamber before he could blink, and I'd have the privilege of getting the information myself. Now, now I have to try and remember that he is one of Revan's friends, and probably not out to kill me. Liam's dying face comes to my mind, reminding me about the promise. Or her.
We turn another few corners and the kid flashes his ID to a guard droid. Finally. The dock's door open, and I take my first glance of the shuttle. Still gleaming metal, no cracks or fractures, micro or otherwise. Brand new. It's not the Hawk, but I won't have to worry about her crashing, at least.
We all climb in. It's only a family shuttle, but there's still plenty of room for three people. Thank the Force for small miracles. I watch Revan take a seat in the back. Probably meditating. Good riddance.
"You can take the co-pilot's seat," Dustil says to me.
"So long as I don't have to fly this thing."
Dustil looks at me with a small smile on his face. "No, I'll do it. I know a short cut, and my aunt's already waiting for us. She wants to meet Trin."
"Perfect." I sit back in the chair with my hands folded behind my head, and let myself relax for the first time in what feels like months. I honestly want to meet this aunt of the kid's, should be entertaining. Then again, anything that causes trouble for her Lordship is something I want front row seats for.