Footprints in the Clouds
Interlude: Never Again
There was a gentle, even breeze on the beach as she stood at the shore. Up above was a nearly clear sky, and what wisps of clouds there were looked more like small footprints than anything else. The sand was warm beneath the little girl's feet, even saturated with the cool, clean ocean water as it was. She looked out onto the vast body of water, the white-blue brightness cast by a local white dwarf star leaving luminescence without intense brightness. She loved no other place more.
Without having to turn, she knew her father was behind her. In one smooth motion, he lifted her up and into a hug, then held her as they both looked to sea.
"Do you know what I see out there?"
The little girl closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, but even in her mind all she could see was the color of the ocean. "I see blue, Daddy."
The man chuckled, which drew her attention to his face. His green eyes sparkled with a mixture of emotions the little girl couldn't quite understand. "I see the color of your eyes."
She smiled quickly, knowing that meant he loved her. Then, just as quickly, her face fell into a deep frown.
"Baby? What's wrong?"
Her chin fell to her chest. "I don't want to go."
The wind picked up just a bit, blowing grains of sand into their matching brown hair. "Oh, Honey. I don't want you to."
"Why are you and Mother sending me away?"
He bent to sit down with her still in his arms. He placed her on his lap and hugged her close. "Because you are very special. You have the power within you to change the course of the galaxy, and you have to learn how to use it to help people. If you leave – if you go with the Jedi – you'll be able to do whatever you want one day."
"But I want to stay with you!"
Her tiny head fell to her father's shoulder as she sobbed her little heart out. He could do nothing but sit there and comfort his only child quietly as their time together grew shorter. The wind picked up as clouds began to form in the distant mountains.
"I'll always love you, Bastila. Please remember that."
She cried until she couldn't stay awake. She cried until the world faded to black.
---
Foggy grayish light was his first indication that he was alive. Somehow, he had managed to survive the intense pain he'd felt, though his mind and body ached with the its fallout. Slowly, one by one, his various limbs and senses started responding to external stimulus. He could feel the chill in the air of the chamber he was in, could hear garbled voices through a hazy tunnel. He tasted blood, though not a lot of it, and a quick inspection of the inside of his mouth made him think he might have split his lip during his fall. He could smell the air and how utterly sterile it seemed.
It was then that he figured out where he was.
"Hey, I think they're coming around."
He was somehow surprised to hear Carth's voice first, but he knew by the number of footsteps he heard that everyone was there. It was then that his Force sense truly returned, as the constantly reassuring presence of Bastila came flooding through over their bond.
My love . . .
Finally, his eyes opened. He sought and found Bastila, lying prone and slightly paler than usual on a medical bed. He tried to smile, but couldn't tell if he was at all successful. Her return attempt at a smile was just as tentative.
Her blue eyes held unshed tears, though judging from the streaks of dried tears on her cheeks, the effort was pointless.
"So . . . what happened in there, guys?"
Bastila's eyes slowly closed as a single-word thought ran through her mind. He knew she would be unable to voice what had happened.
"Talravin," he rasped. "The Sith have somehow destroyed Talravin."
There was a silence in the room, though it was not what Revan expected it to be. "We know."
Two shocked pairs of eyes sought out the form of Jolee. "We found out about a day ago."
"How long were we out?" The question was Bastila's. Jolee winced in response to it.
"Four days," Carth supplied.
Bastila's head dropped back to the pillow. Revan turned to face her once again.
Bastila . . .
There are no words for this.
He mentally sighed. I know.
And you also know why they did this.
Again, a sigh. Yes.
Bastila turned her head toward him. Those blue eyes no longer held tears in the. Instead, they were burning with a blue-flamed fire.
What happens now?
His eyes closed as the inescapable conclusion overcame him. Realistically, it had been inevitable and utterly necessary from the beginning of the ordeal. Now, it could no longer be delayed.
We stop this, he told her. For the sake of our friends and our future, we put an end to this now.
Though everyone in the room could tell something had passed between them, neither one acknowledged them for a long while. When they finally broke their concentration, it was Bastila who spoke.
"Please relay a message to the Council. Revan and I need to speak with them at once."
---
I feel the need to mention to anyone who might be curious that it was not my intention to leave the last as such a huge cliffhanger . . . although it did produce some interesting feedback.
I should also go ahead and mention that Bastila might continue to get beat up, but I will endeavor to refrain from cliffhanger endings from here on out.
