Chapter 12

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(Bosthirda)

Myria stepped out past the doorframe, the chilly morning air enveloping her instantly. The door behind her began slowly closing and ten seconds later she was left alone in the foggy valley. Usually she would leave the base with a weapon and a chance to complete her task without encountering any of the other trainees but this time it was practically unavoidable since she shared the same task with 9 others. Closing her eyes briefly and taking in a breath of fresh air she started into the forest.

The Force had been a part of her training albeit not a big part of it. They had been taught to use their darker emotions to gain power from the dark side of the Force but they were also taught how to use some powers without them. Myria found it best to practice with somebody at her side but due to cooperation being frowned upon she and Gunn had to practice in the night in the confines of their room. It had proven to be a slow process but they both developed and strengthened their bond with the Force over the year. This as Myria was about to prove was essential to her survival.

She stopped in her tracks only a minute into her hike. She had been unable to find any tracks of the target or any other Manka cat as a matter of fact but what stopped her in her tracks was the crackling of leaves and twigs in the close by. From the speed of the steps it was obvious that it was somebody sneaking. Whoever it was they weren't the smartest. Togrutas had way better hearing than humans and even if Myria's montrals weren't fully developed yet she could still hear better than most humans.

Myria thought it to be a good time to try and locate whoever it was with the Force as practice. She hid behind a nearby tree and reached out with the Force. She was left disappointed when she was only able to pinpoint the general vicinity of the person stalking her.

As the footsteps started coming closer and closer, she began looking for an escape route. After a few quick turns of her head she decided that climbing the tree was her best choice. She was small and light enough for the branches to be able to support her, so she began climbing and soon found herself on a long branch that would lead her to another branch of the neighboring tree. But before she moved, she waited for her stalker to appear and appear he did, disappearing from her sight moments after. She didn't know why but she felt disappointed that he wasn't trying to sneak up on her, or that was what she got from his lack of reaction. She didn't want to fight but she felt the urge to.

She spent the next quarter of an hour just navigating from tree to tree, avoiding any and all contact with anybody and anything. Then all of the sudden a scream could be heard. Myria immediately turned that way and launched herself to the next branch, to the next and so on until she eventually located the source of the scream. One of the new girls that had been brought in a week prior was cowering on a rock formation while a Manka Cat did all that was in its power to reach her. Luckily for the girl the wet moss on the rock proved too slippery for the predator.

Upon closer inspection Myria determined that the Manka was only two or three years old and could not be her target but she did get an idea. She sat down on the branch she was on and removed her shoes as fast as possible before descending the tree. She carefully placed her shoes on the floor and began sneaking up on the Manka cat. The cold and wet ground proved to be hard to maneuver silently as her feet kept sinking into the dirt, but she managed to get close. She had to find a way to calm it down or otherwise make it stand still as it kept launching itself at the rocks, hoping to get up. Picking up a rock she threw it at a tree to her right with full force. The sound of a rock hitting wood immediately confused the predator as it stopped for a few seconds inspecting the area where the sound came from. Those few seconds were enough for Myria to cut up its back-left leg with one long swing which hit it twice due to the weapon being double-bladed. The second blade had hit the artery of the beast.

The blood sprayed into her as she dashed forwards, past the Manka cat and up on the rock. The vicious predator attempted to climb the rock a few more times before finally giving up and limping back into the depths of the dark forest.

Myria turned and jumped over a small gap. The girl in fear took a step back but slipped. Myria grabbed her in the last possible moment, preventing the girl from falling to the rocks below.

"What are you doing out here?" Myria asked angrily. When new batches of trainees were brought in it would usually take a year or so before they were sent out into the grounds.

"I uh… uh," the girl stuttered in response.

Myria let go of her hand and loosened up her expression a bit. "How did you get out?" Myria asked the girl calmly.

"I snuck her out," a voice coming from the forest answered. One of the older trainees, a year or so older than Myria, stepped out from the shadows. Three claw marks ran across his shoulder. "Get away from her," he added, trying to lift his sword but he was immediately forced to lower the weapon due to the pain.

"Or what?" Myria taunted.

He stared at her blankly for a few moments. "Please, just let her go," he pleaded.

The girl attempted to move past Myria but she stopped her by putting an arm in front of her. "What is she to you?"

"She's my cousin. I'm trying to get her out," the boy confessed.

Myria loosened her arm and let the girl run past her. She nearly fell multiple times while trying to get down the rocks but she managed in the end.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine. We need to get going," the boy said.

"Oh you're not going anywhere with that wound," Myria countered, getting down from the rocks herself. "I'm guessing the Manka cat got you."

"Yes. It attacked us on the way. I managed to push Daska out of the way in time," he paused for a brief moment. "There's a ship waiting for her east of here. It's not far," he stated pointing towards said direction. "Can you please take her there?"

The little girl's eyes widened. "What about you? You said you would be coming with me," she cried out.

"I was never going to come with you Da," he said, looking at the ground in shame for a few moments. "I made my decision, but your talents are far too good to be wasted here."

"But," the girl attempted to protest.

"No buts," he said determinedly before turning to Myria. "Will you please do this? I don't really have anything to offer."

"Sure," Myria said with a shrug. Even though she didn't know his name he was one of the few others that had never insulted her or made fun of her in any way, so she figured why not.

"Just like that?" the boy said in confusion. Being nice and helping was not what they were taught to do after all.

"Yeah, why not."

"But aren't you one of the ones that is hunting the Manka cat pack leader?"

"Oh, don't worry I've already done everything I need to, to locate it," Myria assured him. "You ready to go?" she asked Daska.

"Yes," Daska answered albeit reluctantly.

(Coruscant)

"Breathe," Hiram reminded Keira for about the tenth time in the span of a couple of minutes. "Empty your mind. Focus only on the Force."

She closed her eyes even harder and began taking in deep, long breaths. She let go of every burden and worry she had and simply relaxed. The silent buzzing sound of the light that had annoyed her was slowly fading into the background and then came a sense of weightlessness. The feeling of the rugged floor beneath her disappeared and she felt like she was floating.

Then to her confusion she started hearing the sound of water dripping. That sound only became louder and louder and instead of a simple water drop she started hearing more and more of them until they formed a violent stream. She opened her eyes instinctively and froze for a moment. She was in the cavern once again sitting on the ledge where she… She shook her head and after a blink found herself once again in the white-walled meditation room with Hiram staring straight at her. She had never seen him so serious in all the years that she had been his padawan.

"You will tell me everything," he demanded.

It was what she had feared the most – to tell the truth. The truth that might end up leading to her being expelled from the order, but she was trapped and had no way out of it. If she lied her master would sense it so she could only do one thing, tell him everything.

"I acted with my instincts instead of my head. If I wasn't stupid, she would've been here with me and we would both become Jedi," Keira said, tears slowly going down her cheeks.

"It is the Jedi way to forgive. I am sorry for what happened. She sounds like a wonderful girl."

"If only I treated her as such," she got out barely. It took her until now to see that the way she treated Myria was not right.

The room was silent for a few long moments. "So it is this guilt that is causing you all the trouble," Hiram deduced.

"I have tried everything. I tried forgetting about it and it just keeps coming back, I also forgave myself."

"You may have forgiven yourself but did you truly do so or did you just tell yourself that to get rid of the nightmares and visions."

Keira had never thought of it that way, but it only raised more questions for her. "But then how do I forgive myself?"

"It would seem like you need to tackle it head on. From what I know you could face it through meditation. You have already managed to see the environment but instead of turning back this time go deeper," he explained. "Try it now."

Keira crossed her legs again and began repeating the earlier process.

(Bosthirda)

Far to the East the forest began vanishing and the mountains opened up into wide fields of grass. The first time seeing this is what stunned Myria. For the first time in years she felt something besides, pain, anger, sadness… All those terrible memories that caused here to feel that way were swept to the back of her head and instead were replaced by the memories of Lah'mu's grasslands, the few simple, villages, her mother – she even managed to push Keira aside for a moment. There was also something else, a feeling she hadn't experienced in a while and missed greatly, the feeling of being free. But she knew it wouldn't last so she took as much of it in as possible.

"Is something wrong?" Daska asked her.

They were not far outside the perimeter, having managed to get through the electric fence.

"No, no," Myria said quietly still peering into the distance. She closed her eyes and sighed. "It's all gone. Forget about it already," she told herself. "Lead the way."

"I think we should go back," Daska said a minute after they had started moving.

"Why?"

"I don't want to leave Lex behind," Daska answered.

"Lex can take care of himself," Myria stated. The base had a massive leaderboard in the canteen showing off the top 30 trainees. A Lex was always on the top half of that list but she didn't know if it was him since there could've been multiple Lexs. She herself had joined that top 30 list a couple of months ago and as she had expected it brought here even more attention and not the good kind.

"I hope you're right."

Myria started hearing the sound of running ship engines, which meant that they were headed into the right direction. Daska at first didn't react at all since she couldn't hear as well as Myria but when she finally picked up the sound, she quickened her pace.

The ship started coming into view and to no surprise it looked like a ship that only the higher classes could afford and alongside that the closer they got humans with weapons began taking shape.

"It's best if you don't go closer," Daska said. "My father doesn't take kindly to aliens."

"I understand," Myria said dryly. She came to expect such things from Imperials so there was no surprise there. She immediately turned around and began heading back towards the fence.

"Thank you for the help," Daska called out behind her.

"Yeah, don't mention it."

The blood had already dried when she returned and there was about two to three hours of sunlight before it set behind the mountains. The journey east with Daska hadn't been a short one as Lex stated it would but she did experience the feeling of being free and she would take that over some points on a leaderboard every day. Yet those points were what would take her to the next step and for the freedom she silently craved for.

She followed the trail of blood through the forest but the long-lasting silence worried her. She not only kept all her senses sharp she even attempted to locate anything she could with the Force but even that didn't guarantee her safety. Some of the other trainees might've learned how to hide their presence but she doubted it since pretty much all of them focused more on just brutal fighting rather than learning the ways of the Force which eased her burden a bit while she followed the trail.

A sudden surge in the number of presences she could sense, and the distant sound of growling halted her progress. She quickly pinpointed the origin which originated from the same way that the path of blood which was now just reduced to drops every meter or so led. Crouching down, she began slowly approaching the sound. The path of blood drops led through a bush that the Manka cat obviously passed through with the now newly audible breathing being right behind it. Myria decided to take the safer approach of staying high in the trees where even if she was spotted the Manka cat couldn't hurt her.

Instead of the wounded Manka cat she was expecting she instead saw three. One was about the wounded one's size while the other was probably three times as large Myria if it stood up on its back legs. They were both looking over the wounded one that was laying on its side staring off into the distance.

The smallest bit of regret sparked within Myria who's fire would only spread through her if she hadn't put it out. She had already learned that not everybody would survive on her journey to even she didn't know where. It had begun in the mine where she lied and got other people killed and it would continue now. She could only hope that it wouldn't continue until her death.

She maneuvered through the branches, going from tree to tree once again until she was on top of them. By then the wounded Manka cat had already taken its last breath. The fact that it was the first death she caused by dealing the blow didn't shock her – she was in the moment, planning her attack.