Dear Readers:
For those who have read A New Dawn, Kanan and Hera may be out of character. I am sorry about that. I decided not to read it until I can finish this story. Please do not flame me about this.
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An Oasis in a Sea of Hate
Chapter Fourteen
Why the Jedi Failed
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Cast of Characters:
*Lux 'Terry' Bonteri: Of Onderon; Rear Admiral of The Alliance to Restore Democracy;
*Ahsoka Tano: Of Shili; Jedi Knight, His wife;
Their Children:
Zeri: 'Beautiful Woman,' Of Onderon, Their oldest daughter, Adopted, Fully human, Not Force-Sensitive;
Mina: Their oldest daughter between them, Named after Bonteri's assassinated mother, Light saber;
Aila: 'Light bearer,' Their next oldest daughter, Light saber;
Arya: 'Noble and Strong,' Their youngest with human hair, Light saber;
Alina: 'Maiden,' Their oldest daughter with montrals and lekku, Their youngest with a Light saber;
Amini: 'Faith,' Their next oldest daughter;
Precious: A most cherished daughter;
Almas: 'Scout,' Their youngest daughter but one;
Akila: 'Akul Killer,' Their youngest daughter—so far.
*Barriss Offee: Of Mirial; Their helper
*QT-KT: Of Coruscant, 500 Republica; Their astromech
The Crew of The Ghost:
*Hera: Of Ryloth; Their leader and captain;
*Kanan: Of Coruscant; Their sometime leader, A former Jedi Padawan, Light saber;
*Zeb: Of Lasat; Their muscle;
*Sabine: Of Mandalore; Their explosives expert;
*Ezra: Of Lothal; A Force-sensitive young man, Being trained by Kanan, Light saber;
*Chopper: Of Coruscant, Level 1313; Their trash-mouth astromech.
* = Property of Disney.
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Continued from the previous chapter:
But before they left, Kanan threw another pebble into the lake.
Hera looked like she didn't understand. Kanan then explained in a whisper only for her. Hera's eyes got big and then she blushed and smiled. And as they left there, she had never been happier.
They were able to visit this lake, this very spot, in later years, but never so memorable as this first time.
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I
Kanan and Hera walked away from the small lake, sure to remember this place for a long, long time. They knew the direction of the house and decided to head that way. Kanan turned back once, looking at the beauty of the woman with him. Suddenly, he rolled his eyes, and in parodying Lux, joked, "Girls with lekku!" They both got a good laugh at that and Kanan felt himself lucky to be with Hera.
"I'll say one thing, Hera, you have lekku like Ahsoka, but there is something Ahsoka has that I am glad you don't."
'What could that be,' wondered Hera. "Montrals?" she asked.
"No, not them. They can be pretty handy actually. But remember her daughter from last night?" He said as he pointed to his mouth.
"Oh, you mean the teeth. But why?"
"Well," he answered, "Take a close look at Terry's lower lip next time you see him."
Hera tensed her brows, trying to think why she should look at his lip. She thought, 'Mm,' she thought, 'fang and lip, Terry and Ahsoka, husband and wife, fang and—.' Then it occurred to her and she signaled so with a very big smile.
Kanan cocked an eye at her. "Uh-huh."
"Yeah, I bet you're glad I don't!" Hera laughed. They both got a kick out of those two and their marriage between two close, but different species in the galaxy.
They continued to walk hand-in-hand. After a time, they got to the house and could see the little fold-up speeder of Lux's outside. Perhaps they came back together on it, the human and the Twi'lek thought.
"We'd better knock," suggested Hera.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to disturb anything." The two were silent for a second and then let out big, explosive breath-laughs through closed lips.
Recovering, they knocked on the door and were surprised to hear Lux call out, "Come on in. You're not disturbing anything." Before opening the door, the two looked at each other with big eyes. 'Did they hear us?' They worried silently to themselves. Hera was set to open the door but then just before that, Kanan stopped Hera with a hand on her arm and pointed to his lower lip with a cocked eyebrow, as if to say, 'Look for it.'
They opened the door, and entering the room, and saw the couple sitting together in very fluffy, white, soft, and long bath gowns. Hera entered the room, keenly looking for what Kanan pointed out to her just before. But she didn't need to. She didn't need to because the Admiral had a small white bandage over the very place Kanan told her to look.
The younger couple looked down snickering, trying to hold in their mirth while their hosts seemed a little embarrassed. Lux started to say, "I uh-, I uh-,"
"Cut yourself shaving?" Kanan suggested.
"Uh-, uh-, yeah, I guess—"
But Hera cut him off, "Well, we Twi'leks don't have hair, but I didn't know humans needed to," Hera changed her tone to be very low and slow, "Shave their lips," Ahsoka was laughing sheepishly by this time, laughing at the consternation of her husband but sheepishly for the reason for it.
"I uh-, I uh-." Lux gave up trying to find excuses. Then he gave up and stood up and went a step closer to the two just arrived, facing the boy- and girlfriend. "Well, I'm prouder of this scar," he said while taking of the small bandage with a very small red dot on it, "Then the scars of the Rancor dug across my back," he said as he pointed to his back, "Or these holes here," he said as he opened his gown a little to show where some scars from blaster bolts. He might have been hit by blaster fire, but the holes were all in the front. He then fixed his gown so he was covered up again. Then the Admiral suddenly put on a knowing smile and turned to Ahsoka, nodding his head ever so slightly at the two young adults then having their fill of jesting with the husband and wife. He then, while still turned towards his wife, looked at his shoulder, winked and smiled deviously, out of ken of Hera and Kanan. Ahsoka looked at the human and Twi'lek, saw what her husband was pointing out, and laughed heartily.
"Well," Ahsoka started with a knowing smile, "It's pretty nice down by that little lake to the north," she paused, "Isn't it?" she said with an big-eyed look. "You know, the little lake with the nice trees and grass and leaves around it?" she said teasingly.
The two younger ones didn't know what she meant until they looked at each other. Then the sheepish look they put on was one for memories. They then laughed as well. "Yeah," the Admiral joined in on the mirth, "You two seem to have brought some samples home for us. But putting samples on your shirts is maybe a funny way to take them back." The two couples couldn't help but laugh at their situations they enjoyed being here, and being with each other, so much.
After the joy subsided and the four got control of themselves, Lux offered to clean Kanan off first, so Kanan could then clean Hera off, but he refused and the young couple went outside, cleaned each other off, very gently and lovingly. When they returned, Ahsoka went to the kitchen to make some warm coffee and Hera offered to help as she went into the kitchen. Kanan sat on the couch with a serious face.
"Everything OK, Kanan?" the older man asked, also settling back down on the couch opposite.
"Yeah, I guess so. You know Terry, I've been hiding, running and fighting so long that I haven't ever been able to . . . "
"Find a girl?"
Kanan just nodded his head. He felt he could talk of his inner secrets with this man. He trusted him. "The Jedi code is ingrained in me, Terry. I could, I suppose, love them and leave them, not forming attachments as the Code dictates, but that just leaves two with a bad experience. I don't want to put that on someone else. That would be the height of arrogance, just to use a woman like that. I don't want to cause any more pain in the galaxy than there needs to be, but with Hera, I feel different, somehow . . . ."
"I know how you feel," Lux replied. "Ahsoka was also a part of that code. But when she left the order, . . . ." The older man paused deep in his thoughts. "It's something, you know," Lux continued but Kanan was a little taken aback the sudden change of topics. "Ahsoka had been all through the galaxy. She had met and helped all sorts—kings, princes, wealthy tycoons. If she had asked for their help, any of those would have thrown their riches away for her. But when she was at her worst, when all she believed had been upturned, when all who she thought were her friends had turned against her, she didn't go to those people. At the worst moment of her young life, Kanan," the Admiral started to tear up, "She came to me. She came to me," he said in a very chocked voice. It took a while for him, Admiral of the Rebellion to recover. "And everything in my life since then, has changed for the better," he said said still emotionally, "Has been for her. All the girls we've had together, well, they are an added treasure on our wealth. We don't have much, making these houses with all that unobtainium takes a lot," Lux paused contemplatively, "But I think we are the richest family in the galaxy, if you ask me," he finished proudly. The mix of emotions in this short utterance were amazing to Kanan.
"I know what it's about, Terry, at least now I do. I was so self-centered, but since Hera, I feel I am fighting not just for me, but for two. As if someone else has become a part of me. What did the man say, 'One half of me is yours, and the other half—my own half, I'd call it—'"
"'Belongs to you too. If it's mine, then it's yours, and so I'm all yours,'" finished Lux, slowly, thoughtfully. The two men were silent for a moment, thinking of their women. Then, they noticed that the kitchen was silent as well. They thought they were talking in low, serious voices, and the kitchen wasn't exactly close, so Kanan was pretty sure the women could not have heard them. But Lux knew better.
Lux got up and walked over towards the kitchen. "Could you two hear us?"
"Yes," was a soft reply, as if someone were holding back tears—either from Ahsoka or Hera, he couldn't tell.
Lux, after looking at Kanan, laughed knowingly and quietly. He then made a gesture that almost caused Kanan to let out their secret joke with a guffaw, but, being trained as a Jedi at an early age, he was able to keep it in. Then both, jokingly, after a, "Three, two, one" countdown from Lux, loudly and with rolled eyes, roared together,
"Ahhhh, girls with lekku!" with laughs and smiles. They could hear some high-pitched laughs from the kitchen as well.
"Wouldn't change it for all the gold in the galaxy," said Lux.
"Me neither, me neither," added Kanan, with contentment in his heart.
Soon, the women came back out with some warm coffee and cake—shaking their lekku for added measure. But rather than have the guys go through the trouble of feeding themselves, the gals decided to feed their men. Sitting on opposite couches, each at an angle to the other so they were not directly facing each other, Ahsoka, with a pretty, burnt-orange leg covered by a white gown draped over the lap of her man, and Hera, following Ahsoka's lead, with a pretty, light-green leg in an orange flight suit draped over the lap of her man, fed the cake to their men, piece-by-piece, bite-by-bite. Ahsoka, apparently had more practice in feeding her man, but Hera, after some help from Kanan, soon got the hang of it and didn't drop any as she brought the cake, balanced on the fork, to Kanan's mouth. Kanan felt pretty glad he was born a man at this moment, as much as Hera felt pretty glad she was born a woman.
Then, for good measure, the guys fed the gals—in the same ways.
During this time, Hera joked, "Just think Ahsoka, 'kings, princes, wealthy tycoons.' You could have been pretty rich," in between Kanan trying to bring her some ice cream on a spoon
Ahsoka looked at her husband, just then trying to balance some cake on a fork and bring it to Ahoska's mouth and not drop any on the way. "But I am," she said as she looked at her husband of almost twenty years.
"Me too," returned Hera, looking at Kanan.
Later, after some 'Thank you baby'-s from the guys and several kisses later, Lux and Ahsoka needed to start finishing the festivities of the day. All wished they could continue forever (but then, they would no longer be special if that happened) but Lux, with an "I need to go take at look at Mina's shooting and get the picnickers back," went and got dressed. Meanwhile Ahsoka, Hera, and Kanan took their dishes into the kitchen to wash. After Lux came out, and, with a kiss with Ahoska, left on his errand, Ahsoka then went to change as Hera and Kanan cleaned the dishes. They talked quietly with each other—not of their plans but how lucky they were.
II
When Ahoska came out, she invited Kanan and Hera into the training room. Surprisingly, rather than teaching Kanan some new Jedi tricks, as they thought she would, she wanted to help Hera.
"Hera," Ahsoka began, "I wanted to show you some ways to fight someone with a lightsaber if you only have a blaster."
The two were quite surprised at this.
"You mean, like how someone with a blaster can defeat a Jedi?" Hera started trepidatiously.
"Or a Sith," said Ahsoka, seriously. Ahsoka then got Kanan to play the Sith, which he might not have done so well, as Ahsoka showed Hera how she can aim for the center of the Sith or how to read the Sith so she would know what he would do next. "Do not, and I repeat, do not aim for the periphery of the Sith. He will just send the bolts back to you—and kill you in the process."
"Thank you, Master," Hera returned.
Then, Ahsoka had Hera get some training blasters to use against Kanan. "Kanan," Ahsoka ordered Kanan, "Try to attack Hera with the blaster as if you were using all your skill with the lightsaber—
"Which might not be much," Hera added.
"And then attack Hera and block her fire," Ahsoka tried to finish through her laughter.
"Wait a minute," interjected Kanan seriously, "What about those 'training bolts,' as you say. They won't hurt, will they?"
"Not much," said Ahsoka holding in some deviousness, "Maybe take off a finger or two."
"A finger or two!" shouted Kanan.
"Yeah," returned Ahsoka, "You don't need so many fingers do you? I mean, look at Zeb. How many fingers does he have? Four? Three?"
"Three," informed Hera with a devious smile.
"But wait!" shouted Kanan—but too late.
"Chigeh!" shouted Master Tano
"This should be fun!" said Hera as she then showered Kanan with blaster bolt after blaster bolt. Hera did very well, with shouted guidance from Ahsoka, and Kanan was able to keep all this fingers after the practice—although he still counted all of them afterwards—just to make sure.
The trio started to leave the training room. As they were leaving, Kanan reached out his hand and, using the Force in the only place on the planet he could use it, called a small towel to him so to wipe his face of the perspiration. Hera didn't think anything of it, but Ahsoka put on a very serious face. "Kanan," she said, "Don't, please, ever do that in front of my girls—ever." Kanan was a little confused and Hera didn't know what was going on, what Kanan had done wrong.
"My husband, while I was still in the Order, in fact," Ahsoka started to explain, "brought this to my attention, and from what happened to me later, I came to agree with him. 'What do you do when you want something like a box on the ground or a light saber lying on a table?' he asked me. 'People without The Force have to go and get it. But those with The Force?' I then called a small rock to his hand using The Force. 'Don't you see?' he continued, 'If you become lazy in body, you become lazy in mind. You don't think things out. You let others make the decisions for you. You get lazy, and then next, you get arrogant,' he said.
"I didn't know then how right he was, but I almost paid with my life with what he said was wrong. The council threw me to the Senate without even thinking what they were doing. How right he was. That is why we don't use The Force here for such things. In battle or fighting, The Force can be used as an asset, but otherwise while you're here, please use your body.
"I understand, Master Tano, I'll not do it again—even out there," Kanan replied while pointing to the sky. "I understand."
During the time it took for the picnickers to get back, Kanan told Ahsoka about the Pau'an that goes by the name, 'Inquisitor.' The more Kanan said, the more afraid for her children Ahsoka became.
III
Lux, meanwhile, had taken the little speeder off to where Mina was having shooting practice. He looked at how Mina was shooting and seemed pretty satisfied. 'Hmm,' thought Sabine, 'Must not have very good shots with the Rebellion.' Actually, Mina did quite well, much better than, for example, Doric, or Gullah, and certainly much better than Tok—even when he was sober. But Mandolorians had a quite high standard when it came to shooting. Too bad there weren't very many with the Rebellion. Most of them were bounty hunters and the like. As they finished, all went back to where the picnickers had gathered.
At that very time, when the group from the shooting range got to the picnickers to see how they were doing arrived, they could see Barriss, Arya, and Alina trying a two-on-one lightsaber practice where two were trying to defeat Barriss. This was actually quite a common practice. Less for Barriss but more for the two girls. Barriss so adored these girls and she would do what she could that they not be hurt—or worse.
Zeb had finally recovered enough to see some of the practice. In all his many years since the Empire, had never seen so much lightsaber practice and use as he had seen in these two days. The lightsaber was hardly ever seen now, lest it bring the wrath of the Empire. Perhaps that was why Kanan brought his out so little—hardly ever, in fact.
The picnickers didn't need to see the future to know that the first thing the Admiral would do was to go get Aila and Ezra from wherever they were when he arrived. So he left on that mission, calling Almas on his small, weak comm link. After a time, while Lux was away, Barriss, Arya, and Alina returned to the large blanket.
Just then, Zeb happened to be looking at Fendo, who had been close to Akila all the time. He didn't know why the family had the vornskr. "Master Offee—" he started.
"Please, Zeb, Barriss is just fine. I am not a master—at least not yet."
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to ask about your vornskr," Zeb began.
"Fendo?"
"Yes. Why do you have him? Admiral Bonteri said yesterday that he earned his keep. May I ask how?"
"Sure, Zeb. You know that vornskrs can detect The Force, and they can hunt using The Force."
"Yes."
"Well, Fendo has been purposefully and somewhat strictly trained." The animal, perhaps sensing he was being talked about, lifted and turned his head towards Zeb. "He has been trained to react in certain ways when he senses The Force, for one. That way, we can sense if there is an intrusion, but mostly to help with controlling Almas when she was Akila's age."
"Help in controlling the girls?"
"Yes. Like this as they are now, Almas and Akila are fine, emitting very low levels of a Force presence. However, especially when they are this young, there might be times when they uncontrollably let out a high level of The Force. For example, a few weeks ago, for some reason Akila had a tantrum. Fendo picked it up very quickly. What we all did then was to surround Akila so as to block her Force presence and Ahsoka found out what the problem was. She had a bit of a diaper rash. She soothed the problem and everything was fine. It's at times like this or when everyone is in bed that Fendo does most of his work—you know, bad dreams and the such."
"So, Fendo is quite important to the family."
"Yes. Before we had him, it was difficult at times until a girl could be trained to hide her Force presence. Almas has gotten pretty well at it and Little 'Kila is just starting her training. But before Fendo," Barris paused, "Well, without him, it may have been one of the reasons we were on the run so much from Empire."
"Fendo," said big Zeb as he turned towards the vornskr, "Thank you. Thank you for protecting my friends," Zeb finished as he gave Fendo a salute from his honor guard days. Barriss smiled at that and went back to sparring.
Zeb turned to look at Fendo's charge, the one he was protecting. How Zeb would have loved to mentor Lil' 'Kila in the staff. She was so sturdy and strong. He had brought his staff along, less to protect his friends but more to have a chance for Akila see it.
And see it she did. Akila, also having napped a bit as children should, soon exhibited the energy that children always show to have when adults least want them to show it. But big Zeb didn't mind. Close by, Little Akila shakily stood up. She then toddled towards the staff that Zeb had left lying close by. When she was next to the staff, she lowered her diapered bottom and reached out as if to pick it up. "Be careful, little one," Zeb said, "It might be too hea—," then stopped mid-word as this little girl picked up Zeb's staff almost as if it had been a blade of grass.
As Akila held the staff, she looked at Zeb with her head slightly titled down, putting on a fierce face—or at least as fierce as a child a year-and-a-half can make. It was a pose such as this during the time of the New Republic and the New Jedi Order that would spell doom to her adversaries—be they bounty hunters, droids, incipient Sith assassins, Vong, or Stormtroopers—a few decades from then. But that was far into the, at the time, unforeseen future and there was still a lot that would happen in the meantime. All Zeb could say to the little girl was, "It's you, sweetie. It's you." Even though little Akila didn't understand language, much less Basic, the tone of Zeb's compliment was inspiring, so she smiled at him. The others were busy with their sparring so they did not see this sweetness between the big Lasan and the little Togruta/Human hybrid, well, actually a lot more Togruta than Human, but with a lot of muscle.
Just then, her father had returned with Aila, Ezra, and Almas. Actually, he was carrying Almas, as a reward for a job well done. He then saw Akila with the staff, and all he could say to his youngest daughter was, "Well, no lightsaber for you I guess," with a laugh.
After a time, the group gathered together and started heading towards the house slowly. Lux was pushing his speeder all this time, not igniting it; Barriss on hers going very slowly.
After as much time as it took to arrive at View Hill, they arrived at the house. Kanan and Hera came out to say hello. Hera looked towards where the Ghost would have been, but then had a great intake of breath, as if she had been surprised by something. It wasn't surprise, but beauty—the beauty of the sunset of this planet. All turned to look—to look at a most beautiful sunset, turning into their last night on this planet. The white clouds seemed to be dyed a brilliant red, and, looking to the trees and the face of the house, they too turned majestically red. They all stood and took in this show nature had afforded them. They stood for several minutes, etching this beauty into their minds to call up later, to remember the wonderful things they have seen in this life.
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Thank you for reading this. Just a quick update to keep chapter length down.
The "love-em-and-leave-em" comment comes from No Prisoners when a clone trooper accuses the Jedi (and Ahsoka) of that philosophy after listening to Ahsoka explaining the no-attachment rule.
The Shakespeare quote is from Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene II.
Thank you again,
johnt