A lady is never late
Summary: Jedi aren't always on time, even for the most important of things.
Silldem was not surprised. The rest of the general assembly may have been, but he was not, though he could hardly blame them for their discomfiture. Patiently, the Jedi Master shifted feet and gazed up at the clear blue sky. A few wispy clouds stood sentinel next to the blinding white sun, but otherwise there was no indication of perspiration.
A gentle, warm breeze flew by, stirring his hair. He smiled. It was one of those magnetically beautiful days on Shili, his home planet.
The sort of day that did not warrant any of them being inside. The outdoors sang; the Living Force triumphed in its complicated exquisiteness. He inhaled deeply the crisp air of midday.
The ceremony as supposed to have taken place hours before, at dawn when the sun rose and began a new day. His comrade had believed that it was symbolic. Along with the waterfall that splashed happily into a small lake behind him. The water was crystalline blue, stilled and calm. The smell of sweet water wafted in the air as fog.
Having spent his first two years amongst the grassy plains, inhabited by native hunters before being found by the Jedi, he had opted to get married amongst biological family.
His wife's native village had been burned by a rival clan a measly few weeks after she had been taken to the Temple. The strike of fate had been blessed and cursed by her ever since. ShaakTi would never have a chance to meet her family, though he knew she considered herself a child of the order, as many of them did, conceived of the Light.
The others close to him glanced at one another worriedly. It had taken all of his powers of persuasion to convince them to give them a traditional marriage in the first place. It would have been easier to convince politicians to end a civil war, he thought with some grudging respect.
After all, both he and ShaakTi weren't technically part of their tribe, or any tribe native to the planet. They were recognized as Togruta, sure, but their affiliation had little to do with the tribe of Ag-Heare.
They were Jedi, and as such, it hardly surprised Silldem that his bride was late to her own wedding ceremony. More than likely, she was on some backwater planet trying to save the population like the stupidly brave woman she was.
He decided to wait, as befitted a Jedi. "Um…My friend," the man next to him, his biological brother, actually, whispered against his right head tail. "Do you suppose that perhaps she has…Changed her mind?" he asked.
Silldem took a moment to answer, translating the fast and guttural grunts that made up their-his-planet born language into basic. The language was beautiful in its own way, soft at times, hard at others. Silldem once more resigned himself to learning it more fluently.
When he had translated the question, Silldem laughed aloud. ShaakTi, change her mind about marrying him? Well, he might (and a very strong might it were) have believed it true had she not asked him for his hand in marriage.
Granted, he had went on one knee first. But the question had popped out of her mouth before he could utter the same thing. Silldem felt his lips quirk into a smile at the memory that still made his heart flutter.
She had asked him. She loved him, above all, despite all, with all she was, and that was more than Silldem could ever have asked. They had spent the last few weeks hiding away in his quarters, whispering, as if they shared a childish secret between them, as if the galaxy should cease to be if that secret were to be revealed, which in some sense was the truth. After all, if the council found out….
Silldem shivered. He was Jedi. If there was any any to preserve the life both of them loved, then they would do it, even if that meant hiding their love for one another. Yes, even that….
"She hasn't, I assure you brother," he replied in the same tongue, slower than the others but not for lack of trying. It felt odd to say brother to any who wasn't Jedi. All living things were, in themselves and according to the Unifying Force, one and the same, brothers to all, but preference did have string say in who he was comfortable in calling brother.
The intricacies of this fascinated him. He might try to have a discussion about it with Master Yoda later. "But…Where is she?" His brother pressed on, gazing at him intently, as if trying to find some of himself within Silldem's face. This was his older brother after all.
Silldem shrugged, and answered honestly. "I have no idea,'" he said.
"How long has it been since you've seen her?" He wanted to calculate time between lovers, now? Silldem chuckled softly, a bit bitterly.
"It feels like a lifetime," he confided. His brother, who was also married to a woman of his choosing, nodded in understanding. "However, I believe it has been," he thought back. "Sixty-one cycles? Yes, sixty-one cycles," he finished smugly. His brother's feral eyes grew wide.
"She has surely run to find someone else!" He cried, arousing the attention of some others. Silldem cocked a brow at their inquisitive looks. To whom?Silldem wondered, but shook his head instead of asking.
"She's a practical woman," he assuaged the others. "She knows that to choose anyone else is to choose second best. She would not," he told them. He could sense the slight disbelief from the others. He waved a bit of mist from around him in a sign of impatience.
He did not want to have to explain again that his wife had not abandoned him. He glanced at the sky once more, sending out a private message to her. You had better not be getting yourself into trouble while I' not there, my dear, he thought, and hoped that even if she were lightyears away she would hear it.
"You all do not have to stay," he told the waiting family members. "I know you have hunting to do," he stated.
His brother shrugged. "Migration time has ended. All the big game are coming back. Hunting will be easy," he replied. Silldem nodded, though secretly he had hoped that they would leave, if only to end the incessant sense of their doubt within the blasted force.
Suddenly, that same force rang with warning. Silldem's saber was out and he was pushing his brother out of the way before he had conscious thought of what it was he was running from. Two seconds later, the barrage of blaster bolts from something higher up exploded on the ground, chunks of grass and bits of dirt went flying.
Silldem heard the growl of the Togrutas as spears and arrows were nocked. He stood, offering his brother a hand up. "Remind me, brother, to introduce you all to blasters sometime in the future," he remarked. His brother gave him a quizzical look, but only sighed as his gaze went to the sky.
"Thank you for saving me," he instead answered.
Silldem waved the thanks away jovially. "It was fun," he promised. His heart was near to bursting with joy. He could feel who it was above in the cockpit of that Republic flyer.
He cocked a brow and looked around. "Anyone hurt?" He fairly sang over the noise of the battle going on in the sky.
"None," the shaman declared confidently, apparently nonplussed by the proceedings.
"What is that?" His son inquired with awe.
"My wife," Silldem explained proudly, gazing up to see the starship do an impressive nosedive to avoid the barrage of blaster bolts fired at the hull.
ShaakTi's soothing force signature surrounded him. He basked in her presence. Just finishing things up. I'll be along,ShaakTi assured him without the tiniest hint of trouble.
Take your time. We aren't going anywhere. Look out for the…. He was curtly interrupted by her swinging the vessel around in midair and performing her own volley of shots aimed at the ship behind her; he whistled low.
"What are you marrying? A She-demon?" His brother gasped, frightened by the display of awesome skill and power.
"From a certain point of view," Silldem consented merrily.
I saw him. Blasted bounty hunters. Is anyone hurt? She asked as one of her well-aimed shots hit the bounty hunter's ship engines.
No. You've thoroughly terrified my brother though, he replied, watching leisurely the bounty hunter's craft start to flail out of control. Even from where he was, she could hear the sirens and alarms screaming from within the hull.
Panic etched the Force as the ship slowly fell and crashed into the mountainside. Ah. That's not good ShaakTi thought worriedly. What? The Bounty hunters? Did you need them alive? Silldem wondered, extinguishing his saber, watching his wife's ship gracefully start to descend. NO! Your brother. I did not mean to frighten him,ShaakTi thought with frustration that he hadn't already deduced that she would feel in such a way.
Silldem could not help but laugh aloud. Leave it to his wife not to be concerned about the villains currently smashed against a mountain but impressing the brother he had never even met until this moment. Cheerfully, he sauntered up to the ship just as the landing ramp descended.
His wife appeared a moment later, one cheek scratched and bleeding while her saber was yet to be extinguished at her side.
Silldem chuckled, hearing several affronted gasps behind him, along with scandalous mutters from the women, and crossed his arms. She looked beautiful to him, at least. "Master Jedi," he greeted with a bow to his fellow peacekeeper.
ShaakTi snorted and punched his arm. "My apologies for my lateness,"she replied a bit breathlessly, indicting her appearance. Silldem smiled.
"A lady is never late," he reminded her.
ShaakTi sighed. "Jedi ladies, on the other hand…" she reminded him ruefully, a poignant offer of readdress in her voice. Are you sure you want to...?
He took her hand. "May be as late as they please for the sake of the greater good," Silldem finished, his opinions unchanged.
He kissed her on the cheek, seized her other hand and marched them to the Shaman. He wanted to get married, and he was not waiting a second more for it. "Its good to see you. Its been far too long," he stated.
ShaakTi nodded. "I know. I almost thought you'd run off with some other younger model," she stated. Then, brows crinkling worriedly: "I really am sorry to be late, Silldem," she repeated softly. Silldem laughed as they stood, hand in hand, before the amused Shaman.
"Like I said, my lady is never late."
