Chapter 12

Aspyre sliced the head of the fifth Kath Hound that attacked them. Canderous pressed himself against her back and fired a volley of blaster bolt against the three Kath Hounds running towards them, and the three of them died instantly. He shouldered his rifle and they kept walking south, where Aspyre had felt whatever it was she was supposed to find. Canderous looked at Aspyre, the little girl was tired that much he could see, her eyes were half closed and she slightly dragged her feet. They had been fighting for about one hour, running from Kath Hounds, killing Mandalorians, but despite it, she did not fail when it came to fighting, he had yet to see her slip in combat, which proved that despite her childish and immature nature, she had the heart of a warrior. She was pretty good with that double bladed glow stick of hers and with her Force powers she had proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

Aspyre felt Canderous' gaze on her and she blushed slightly, she tried to calm herself, but the effort of keeping her bond closed, using the force to boost her already exhausted muscles and her constant placing beasts in stasis and Force lifting them was beginning to take its toll and she couldn't do much else than focus on the fight. She decided to forget the bond and she used her remaining concentration to lower her body temperature and resume the regular flow of her blood. As soon as she opened her bond she felt all of Bastila's thought flooding to her.

"-so different. I can hardly believe it, Masters, she has truly changed, and her soul is extremely pure. She has a heart of gold, surely you have seen it too?"she heard Bastila asking her masters.

"Bastila? Are you talking about me?" she asked her.

She felt a huge wave of worry and nervousness crashing over her. For a second Bastila closed her side of the bond and when she reopened it she felt very angry.

"Aspyre! Are you eavesdropping on my conversations!" she angrily inquired.

"Sorry I was just going to tell you that we weren't going to make it back to the Hawk tonight, so we're probably gonna camp here. You might want to close your side of the bond at night, how knows what might happen here" she thought with a smirk on her face.

"Aspyre don't you dare even think of doing anything with Canderous, you return to ship as soon as your test in done!" she ordered her.

Aspyre mentally sent her a wink and closed her side of the bond. She looked at the sky and calculated they probably had about an hour of sunlight left. She picked up the pace and soon she felt as the dark side was growing in strength, she felt its tendrils reaching out to her and she blocked them with all her might. She pushed it back and forced it to retreat into a small grove. She saw it and she ran towards it. Canderous followed her but stopped when he saw a large pack of Kath Hounds running towards them, about nine or ten closing in on them. He looked back where Aspyre was running and cursing, realized it was a dead end. He placed down his pack, aimed his rifle and started firing at the beasts, taking quite a few before they spilt and came at him from two sides.

Aspyre saw him and was about to return to help him but she soon saw a red flash darting towards her. She pulled out her lightsaber and ignited both ends, lifting her blade and blocked the slash. The attacker somersaulted back and landed a few feet away from her. She saw the assailant's face and realized the woman was a Cathar. With the corner of her eye she saw the Kath Hounds closing in on Canderous. She grew nervous and realized he might need her help dealing with them. She decided she would need to incapacitate the dark Jedi quickly and run over to help Canderous. She lunged at her and began slashing at her. She imitated Bastila's movements and began her assault, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, fake right, uppercut. She saw the Cathar's defense falter and she managed to push her against the stone wall. She landed a solid kick on her chest and made her crash against the granite hedge. She turned around and saw Canderous fighting the large pack with his knife. She saw one of the hounds biting him in the leg and she felt a "No!" escaping her lips, and she used the Force to speed up her movements. In less than a second she was next to him and slashed at the hound's head, with another slash she cut off the legs of another hound and threw her lightsaber at another hound. The saber was returning perfectly to her when she saw the Cathar throwing her lightsaber at her. She used all of her might to push the saber back and managed to grab hers before she attacked again.

The Cathar was however, too close to her. She grabbed her lightsaber and kneed her on her stomach with full momentum, sending her flying a few feet. Canderous was still busy fighting the hounds, but the Jedi paid him no attention. She advanced towards her and she barely managed to lift her blade to block her attack. The Cathar was furiously slashing at her and she was too tired to keep up the game, she allowed tiny openings in her defense with the hope that she would notice and try to- yes! She kicked her on her chest and she was pushed back creating enough space for her to focus, she ignored the pain and used all of her might to place the Cathar on stasis. She ran back towards Canderous and killed two more Kath Hounds while Canderous drove his knife on the head of the last one. Still focusing on the woman, she ran towards her and she destroyed her lightsaber and then released her from stasis. Canderous was next to her and aimed her rifle at the Cathar.

"You are strong, even stronger than me, in my darkness" the Cathar admitted.

"Who are you?" she asked her.

"I am Juhani, this is my grove, when I embraced the darkness this became my place of power, this place is mine, mine!" she growled at her.

Canderous' finger slightly squeezed the trigger.

"Why did you embrace the darkness, Juhani?"

"The Jedi were holding me back, after I killed my master I came here and decided they were not worthy of being followed."

"Please Juhani don't say that, the Jedi have their flaws, but so does everything, don't turn your back on them or you will be forever lost."

"Ha, you know nothing human!" She spat out.

"I know enough Juhani. Please come back to enclave, I am sure that they will forgive you I you show you are truly sorry."

Juhani looked at her for a second with only a tiny hint of regret and sadness in her eyes and snarled.

"I am not sorry."

She stretched out her hand and sent a huge wave of lightning towards Aspyre and Canderous. Aspyre felt again the horrible embrace of the Dark Side and started screaming, she fell down on the floor and saw Canderous on his knees, his teeth shaking. She used all her might and created the same vacuum around herself she had before and she started absorbing all the energy being thrown at her. She regained some of her strength and she managed to place the Cathar again on stasis. Canderous got up and before she could stop him he fire a single bolt at the alien. The bolt hit her forehead and Aspyre saw as in slow motion, her forehead slowly began to give and the bolt went through it. It emerged from the other end and kept flying, finally colliding against the rising hill and she saw as her eyes turned from the bright yellow to a pale grey as all life was lost from them.

She gasped and she felt her concentration falter and the lifeless body dropped to the ground, dead. She slowly got up and walked towards the lifeless Cathar. She placed her hand on her eyes and closed them respectfully. She fixed her eyes on Canderous, who simply looked over to her indifferently. She felt her eyes get wet and tears fell on the Cathar's face. She pulled herself together and using the Force, she lifted the dead body and started to walk towards the Enclave, the last rays of sunlight illuminating the way. Canderous silently walked behind her and they were halfway there when he finally spoke.

"You tried kid, she was the one who wouldn't listen to reason." he reassured her. At that point she remembered his leg and slowly placed Juhani in the ground, she turned to him and found it was no longer bleeding; she got on her knees next to him.

"Let me see" she said softly. Canderous rolled his eyes and lifted his pant leg. She saw that the bite had already healed and was simply another scar on his body.

"I got really worried about you when I saw…" she started, but he stopped her.

"Don't sweat it kid, it will take more than a few dogs to put me down, beside, you had your hands full with the alien, you should have focused on her instead of helping me, you could have gotten yourself killed and then she would have killed me easily" he told her with a very teacher-like tone. Aspyre felt herself redden for what was probably the twelfth time, in the same day and stood up, nodding at him. She picked Juhani again and kept walking towards the enclave. They walked together towards the center of the enclave and there they parted ways, Canderous went walking towards the Enclave and she went to the council chamber, carrying Juhani's body after her. She drew the looks of a few Jedi, but ignored them and she opened the door to the chamber. The four masters turned to look at her and saw the teary Aspyre walking down towards them, the dead body of Juhani floating behind her. She bowed to them and she placed the body in front of her. She knelt down beside it and grabbed the remains of the red lightsaber, she stood up and handed it to master Vrook. The masters looked at each other and Dorak motioned her to tell them what had happened. She organized her thoughts and began to tell them the story from the moment she spoke to Canderous and she felt as the tears began to form in her eyes and drop to the ground as she reached the part in which she saw him being bitten in the leg. She told them how she ignored her fight with Juhani to help him and how that had led to her shocking them both. She told them how she had created a vacuum to absorb the energy Juhani threw at them and how she placed her on stasis and Canderous shot her in the head. She tried to speak after that but the words did not reach her throat, she collapsed on the ground and began crying softly. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she saw the sympathetic look of master Zhar kneeling next to her. She looked at him and did her best not to sob, but one escaped her and she found herself hugging him tightly and asking for his forgiveness for her failure. She asked them to blame her and not Canderous, for it had not been his fault; it was his instinct and she kept placing the blame on herself for not being strong enough to safe Juhani. Zhar simply patted her back and waited until she calmed down. After a few more minutes she began to cry more slowly and her breath stabilized somewhat. Zhar let her go and stood up, she did the same and found that Juhani was no longer there, and neither was Vaandar.

"Your failure with Juhani was regrettable, but nothing can be done about that now" Vrook stated at her like he was talking about the weather. Aspyre winced when he said that but he continued calmly. "Hold her example on your mind and be forever vigilant so that the same thing does not happen to you."

Aspyre nodded and asked if she could go back to the Hawk. Vrook and Zhar nodded and she slowly began her way back to the Hawk. She saw the same Jedi that had approached her six weeks ago nagging her about her outfit... Belaya, she thought, was that her name? She was furious and she stormed towards her. Aspyre stopped where she was and waited for her, unsure of what to do. She stopped mere centimeters from her face and Aspyre did her best not to flinch when she started yelling at her face.

"You, why did the council had to send you? Of all the Jedi, why you?" she angrily asked her.

"I-I-I. I'm really sorry I didn't mean to kill her! I really tried to talk to her but she wouldn't listen to me, please believe me! I never wanted-" she apologized at the woman, tears welling up on her eyes again. The woman looked at her furiously and interrupted her apology by bringing her open palm against her face with all her might. Aspyre fell to the ground and stayed there like the miserable being she felt she was. She deserved it. She had been appointed a task and had failed. She began sobbing on the ground uncontrollably and the Jedi woman screamed at her again.

"You didn't even try did you? You simply killed her because that was what was convenient for you!"

"No! Please, I didn't, please, forgive me! I didn't want to hurt her!" the girl sniveled in her fetal position.

"Damn you! Damn you and damn the council for sending you! The Juhani I knew deserved more than you! She deserved more than what the council did for her!" she yelled at her before kicking her in her stomach. Aspyre whimpered and she saw the woman turning around and leaving the enclave. Aspyre stayed in the floor, unwilling to get up, sobbing quietly and holding her aching abdomen. She heard footsteps walking quickly towards her. She didn't bother to turn around and soon felt two firm hands grab her by her shoulders and lift her. She managed to recognize the face of Carth Onasi as he exanimate her reddened cheek. She felt a burning sensation on her right cheek and she tensed when she felt his hand on her face. He grabbed hold of her and took her back to the Ebon Hawk. They sat down on the main room and he placed an ice pack one her face. He grabbed her hand and made her hold the ice pack in place.

"Who did this to you?" he asked her with a barely controlled anger.

"I deserved it Carth. I failed" she replied.

"What do you mean you failed?" the confused pilot inquired.

"I was tasked with removing a taint in the plains of Dantooine. I took Canderous with me and we found it. It was a dark Jedi, a female Cathar. A large pack of Kath Hounds attacked us and Canderous fought them while I fought the Jedi. I was weak, I was unable to defeat her and instead I turned my back on her and helped Canderous. She began to shock us both. I managed to place her on stasis and Canderous shot her. I was weak" she told him with an empty look on her face.

Carth was silent for a second and thought on what to say.

"It wasn't you fault Aspyre, Canderous killed her, not you. Why do you take the blame?" he asked her.

"It wasn't his fault Carth; I never told him that I didn't plan on killing her. Besides if I had been stronger that would not have happened."

"That is not true and you know that. Everybody fails at some point Aspyre, and it is not because they are not strong or brave or smart enough. It's simply because you can't rescue everybody" he kindly explained to her. She looked at him and placed the ice pack on the table. She opened her mouth but he simply shushed her and hugged her. She returned the hug and he stood up. "I expect you to understand this soldier; I will not have you taking the blame for something that wasn't your fault. That is an order" he stated in his most formal tone. She looked shocked at him, but managed to grasp what he was doing, she shakily smiled at him and placed her outstretched fingers on her forehead and saluted him. He nodded and turned towards his bunker.

She got up and did the same. She sat down on her bed and took off her robes. Her brand white new robes were ragged and colored red with Kath Hound blood. She threw them angrily in a corner and wrapped herself on her sheets. She saw Bastila was already sleeping and that Mission was sleep talking. She ignored her and quickly fell asleep, hoping that she would forget tomorrow what had happened today.

00

She stood on the edge of a cliff so high she could actually see the planet's round shape. The sun slowly crept towards the horizon, not a single cloud in the entire sky. This planet already had few clouds, but today the sky was complete clear. She felt the strong breeze pushing her away from the edge and she felt as it ruffled her long hair, lifting it and making it flow. It reached her middle back now. She liked it very much that way. In a few more years her hair would be almost as long as her mother's. She smiled at the thought of that wonderful woman, but her smiled died shortly when she remembered the news of Deralia. She sighed and sat down on the ledge, dangling her feet over the hundreds of kilometers between herself and the ground. She heard slow but steady footsteps coming to her. She turned around and saw Alek's tall figure walking towards her. He wordlessly sat down next to her and the both stared as the sun was now only a few feet away from the horizon.

"It's not fair" she simply spoke.

"No, it's not my love" he responded to her and placed his arm around her.

She snuggled next to him and saw how the sun was almost touching the horizon now, a few more minutes and it would be on top of it.

"Have you ever thought… have you ever thought about… leaving?" she asked him as she looked up at his eyes. Alek looked down at her with confusion on his eyes.

"The war?"

"Everything. Just take as much credits as we can and leave, go to a planet the Mandalorians don't know about and live our lives there, in peace, never having to worry about fighting for our lives, or dealing with galactic tyrants" she clarified to him.

"I might have, sometimes, but I know that you would not be happy living that life." She looked at him, the confusion on his eyes having been transferred to her. "We both know that you could not turn away from all these people, Revan. Even if you were offered the chance to run away you wouldn't take it. You would be consumed by the flood of guilt that would wash over you."

She looked at him and slowly nodded. She turned her gaze to the sun and saw it was already starting to hide beneath the horizon. She shifted closer to Alek and hugged him tighter. Together they watched as the sun went down even further.

"We have had so many wars, many before we were even born. And many will come after we die. Do you think… do you think that this galaxy will ever know peace?" she asked him.

"I think that there is no way to know that. I think that the only thing we can do is try to make it as peaceful as we can during our time and let the future generations take our place."

"… That was very wise my love" she told him with a smirk.

He chuckled and softly threw a rock over the ledge and began to count how long it took for it to hit the bottom. After 49 seconds he gave up and stood up. Revan followed him and they returned to the camp as the sun finished hiding.

00

Aspyre woke up early the next day and quickly showered. She went to the main room and had breakfast alone. She was about to leave when she heard a voice calling her from the cargo hold.

"Hey kid!"

She walked towards the voice, not sure if it was calling her or Mission. She reached it and found Canderous standing next to the workbench, a large piece of some metal and a few other components laying on it. She threw him a confused look and he pulled her to him with his finger.

"You're gonna learn how to make a Mandalorian mask" he informedher, not asked her.

"I guess there is no point in telling you that the Jedi council is waiting for me right?"

"Those pacifists made the Republic wait long enough during the Mandalorian Wars; they can wait a few hours for you."

She smiled at him and looked down at all the parts waiting in the table. Canderous motioned over to the big piece of cortosis in the center and told her to cut it to give it the shape she wanted. He told her of all the types of masks and their symbolism, he told her of the difference between creating one type of mask or another. And in the end she settled to create the shield mask, the one Canderous spent quite a long time explaining to her. The mask that represented the strength to withstand anything that the galaxy threw at the wearer and pay it back at it tenfold. Only few Mandalorians wore that mask, due to the fact that it was the hardest one to make and wear in battle as the small eye lines slightly constricted the wearer's vision. She shrugged those tiny details away and started to build it over his careful supervision. He would occasionally correct her, but she mostly appropriately followed his instructions. After an hour the preliminary design was done and the sleek mask stared at her and again the feeling of déjà vu filled her.

"I like it" she said.

"It looks solid. Always remember, the mask does not make the wearer, the wearer makes the mask, so you should not feel any different when wearing it" he advised her. She pondered for a second on what he said and came to the conclusion that he was right, but that was nothing she did not knew. Why did he tell her that? "You want to leave it bare or do you want to paint it?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts. She was quiet for a second and decided she didn't want to wear a pale grey mask.

"Paint it" she said.

He gestured to the side of the workbench and she found six different colors. Dark Red, Camouflage Green, Black, White, Pale Yellow and Bright Blue. She grabbed the white and the blue colors and began painting her mask. She painted the outside of the mask white. She painted two bright blue lines on the sides were the edges of her face would be. She painted the middle white again and drew an inverted trapezoid in front of her nose in blue. She painted the edges of the white eye lines blue and finished painting the top part in white, making sure that everything was covered and the metal did not show.

"You will never paint this mask again. Every hit that it receives, every scratch, you will wear it proudly" he, again, informed her, leaving no room for argument or doubts.

He grabbed it from her hands and placed it on her face; she found that while it did constrict her vision a little, it wasn't that bad. She could see pretty much everything she did before. She looked at Canderous and he smiled at her. He took it off her face and told her to get changed in her white Jedi robes with a grin on his face. She went to her room and obliged, wondering what he was up to. She changed quickly and grabbed her outer coat. She went to Canderous who was still grinning. He placed the mask on her face again, grabbed her hair and placed it over her shoulder. He grabbed her hood and pulled it over her head. She took a step back and his grin grew even bigger. She looked at herself in the metal wall of the Ebon Hawk but failed to grasp what was so funny. Her white cloak fell on top of her face, covering the top portion of her mask. Her blue armored gloves were, not coincidentally, the exact same color as her mask; her white pants covered her top part of her boots, but were not long enough to make her trip should she need to run. What was so funny? She found nothing about her appearance humorous. She crossed her arms and saw Canderous stand straighter and his already impressively wide grin extended to cover the last areas of his face that it had not reached before.

"What's so comical?" she asked him with a frown on her face, forgetting that her mask now covered it.

"Nothing, now go, you wasted enough time here. Remember that mask is part of you, don't take it off unless you absolutely have to" he told her, his face serious again. She nodded and thanked him and left the Ebon Hawk. He grinned and chuckled at the thought of the council seeing her like that. After a few seconds of careful deliberation he thought, "Screw it" and ran after her.

Aspyre saw many Jedi looking at her with widened and confused eyes. She understood if they were surprised of seeing somebody they had never seen before, but really not to this extent. And besides, they could sense her aura, they knew it was her. Why were they acting so weird? She shook her head and kept walking towards the enclave, her cloak lifting in air behind her and gracefully falling down and bumping against her legs and rising again. She walked towards the council chamber and she almost bumped into a younger Jedi Padawan who turned to probably tell her to be careful, or watch her step, but when he saw her, his eyes widened and his hands began to shake, he turned around and ran towards the library. She wondered for a second with a confused look on her face that nobody could see, why everybody was acting so weird, was it her failure with Juhani yesterday? It didn't make any sense to her whatsoever. She reached the door to the council chamber and pressed the release button. She stepped inside and walked towards the masters. They turned to her and a look of sheer horror filled their faces. They looked so scared that for a second Aspyre wondered if there was something behind her; she turned around and reassured that nothing was going to kill her she turned to the masters. She bowed to them and greeted them.

"Good morning, Masters, I have come for the results of my trials" she told them a bit hesitantly.

"Apprentice Venar?" Master Dorak asked her.

"Yes, Master?"

The masters looked at each other and some kind of relief filled their faces. Dorak returned his gaze at her and she could still see something strange in him.

"What is that you are wearing?"

"My robes?" she asked with the same confused look nobody could see.

"The mask" master Vrook stated harshly.

"Oh this? I made it today with one of my companions, I am uncertain if you are familiar with Mandalorian culture, but this is his way of saying "thank you for saving my life yesterday". We built it together this morning" she explained to them. And then it clicked, was that the reason everybody was acting weird, they thought she was a Mandalorian?

"Would you be as kind as to remove it, Aspyre?" Master Zhar requested.

She bit her lip and tried to find the best way to phrase her next statement, hoping it would not offend them.

"I'm sorry, master Zhar, but I am unable to. As part of the tradition I am not supposed to take this mask off unless I absolutely have to. It's for my friend, he is very dear to me and I do not wish to offend him. Please understand, I do not mean for people to think I was a Mandalorian, I assumed that with my robes they would recognize me, but also do not wish to offend him."

The masters looked at each other again and slowly they regained their composure, their faces serene once again.

"Very well. On to business at hand, then. The council has decided that you have passed the trials" master Zhar told her.

"Even though you could have done better" master Vrook reprimanded her.

She winced and for the first time was really glad she was wearing her mask.

"Nonetheless" mater Vaandar continued "the council has seen fit to grant you with the title of Padawan of the Jedi Order."

Aspyre felt her knees shale slightly and even through her mask she was sure that they could see her smiling.

"Oh…Thank you masters! Thank you so much!" she replied with lots of enthusiasm. "I can hardly believe it! I-I thought I had failed for sure!"

"Relax, Padawan, for we have a task for which you must be prepared fully" master Dorak informed her.

She apologized for her outburst and kept quiet. The masters told her she was ready to go explore the ruins she had dreamt about a few weeks before. They told her they had sent a Jedi to explore them last night and he had not returned yet. Crossing her arms, she wondered if the Jedi was okay, she silently prayed that no harm had come to him and nodded at her masters.

"Padawan Bastila will accompany you on this task" master Vaandar informed her and gestured at something at the entrance. Aspyre turned around and she saw Bastila walking towards them. She lifted her gaze from the step she already was familiar with and her eyes landed on Aspyre and she swore she could see her usually calm and peaceful eyes transform into the ones of a frightened schoolgirl. Bastila's step faltered and she stood there, with her jaw open and staring at Aspyre.

"What is that thing you're wearing?" she asked her with a trembling inner voice.

"My mask? Why does everybody make a big deal out of it?"

"Take it off!"

"I can't, I promised Canderous I wouldn't unless I absolutely had to."

"I will kill him when we get back!"

"Bastila, please stop thinking that will you?" she asked her kindly with only a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"You may leave as soon as you're ready" master Vaandar told them. They both bowed and left the chamber. Bastila was only slightly shaking now. They walked to the enclave and they saw Canderous sitting in a bench, looking at both of them with a huge grin on his face.

Aspyre walked to him and told him that everybody was looking at her weird and that she felt that wearing the mask in Dantooine had been a bad idea. He shook his head and told her that there was no better place. They were both silent for a minute and Bastila stared at them, she was so angry she could almost feel the smoke puffing out of her ears. Aspyre finished telling Canderous about their mission and he ran back to the Ebon Hawk to get Carth, Mission and Zaalbar. She and the still fuming Bastila went outside the enclave and patiently waited for the rest to return. After a few minutes she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Mission beaming at her.

"Hey, cool mask! Can I get one?" she asked her. Bastila threw her a dirty look but didn't say anything.

"Only if Canderous agrees to teach you."

"I'll teach her when she proves she's a good warrior" he growled at her.

Mission stuck her tongue out to him and turned to look at the plains. Aspyre saw Carth dumbstruck, looking at her like she was a ghost. She paled when she realized. Mandalorian mask, not good! She waved at him, on the hopes that we wouldn't freak out as much as the others. He kept staring at her and slowly made his way forward to her.

"This was your big gift to her?" he asked Canderous with an upset face.

Canderous shrugged at him and told him he wouldn't understand. Carth was about to say something to him, but Aspyre grabbed him by his arm and pulled him away from them.

"I'm sorry Carth, I totally forgot. Look I just don't want to offend Canderous. I know you don't like Mandalorians but please just remember it's me, that shouldn't bother right? Please tell me it won't bother you."

He looked at her like she had just told him the biggest stupidity in the universe. She began to redden and for the second time, she was glad she had her mask.

"Mandalorians? That's not it Aspyre! Don't you know who used a mask just like that?" He snapped at her. She shook her head, she had never seen anybody wearing a mask like hers. She had thought it was original of her. She hoped it wasn't somebody too famous. She didn't want people to think she was copying him or her.

"Revan!" he yelled at her. She felt time stop when her brain processed the sound waves emitted from Carth's vocal cords. Revan. That's what he had said, right? Did she hear him wrong? No, what other name possibly rimed with Revan? But then… She felt her face lose all her color when she realized what she had done. She had spoken to the council like that, wearing that mask. Now it all made sense. Now everything made perfect, horrible, sense. She all but ran towards Canderous and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked him. He grinned at her wide and did his best not to laugh.

"I thought it would be funnier this way. I hadn't planned for you to choose that design though; I just went along for the ride when you did."

Aspyre thought for a moment and smiled, though nobody could see.

"The mask does not make the wearer" she echoed.

Canderous, still grinning, nodded. At that point Mission butted in and grabbed her face. She looked at it from different angles and finally let her go, tapping her lower lip with her index finger, pretending to think.

"It may look like the mask from the Dark Lord of the Sith, but her mask was very ugly, this one is very pretty, just like Aspyre" she said with a smile.

Aspyre laughed at her comment and blushed slightly, and for the third time in the day, she was very glad she was wearing her beautiful Mandalorian mask.