Chapter 20 of: The Fate of the Wandering: Interlude
You'll be right here with me. Playing pazaak, where they can't reach you.
"Idiot," Atton said darkly.
Well. I'm a confusing person.
"Yeah," Atton muttered, trying in vain to twist off the cork of the bottle of Telosian Ale. Age seemed to have made opening it a much harder task. "And one who needs to get his head checked, too."
You don't have to go, you know. Let the galaxy take care of itself for once.
"What the hell was I thinking, telling her that?"
"Query: Telling who what, Master Rand?"
"It's none of your business, HK, and is there not a single damn bottle opener in this whole fracking ship?!!!" He was about to attempt to smash the bottle open, at this rate.
"Mockery: My, such language. I had no idea meatbags could be so vigorous with their words. Statement: I seem to remember some Wookiee curses, if you would be interested."
"No, HK," Atton said exasperatedly. "What I'm interested in is a solid night of good, old-fashioned drunkenness."
"Statement: Ah, I see. The Master Rand wishes to drown away his sorrows with that horrible, acidic substance. It makes my circuits go haywire at just the thought of it. Speculation: And how does he expect to fly the ship, in such a state?"
"Don't call me that," said Atton, taking out his laser and using it on the cork to open the bottle, even though he knew that using it would make it impossible to put back on. But that didn't matter. He was making it his goal to drink the whole bottle anyway. "And I'm not the only one that can fly this tin bucket, anyway."
"Mockery: Such responsibility. Query: Would this sudden urge to kill away his brain cells be caused by his certain conversation with a certain exile?"
Atton held the dangerous laser up at HK. "Okay, three things need to be sorted out right now. One: The 'Exile' has a name, and you better start using it. Second: Stop referring to me as though I wasn't standing right in front of you. And thirdly: I want to make it clear that I don't like you at all, and if you stick around for one more second, I may be forced to use this on you." Atton lowered his voice. "I hear it can pierce a hole right through a droid's armor plating, but I've never had the chance to find out. How about it, HK? Are you up for a little experiment?"
"Bewildered Statement: Already the meatbag is threatening me, even without the encouragement of a little alchohol to his very small brain. Speculation: This seems to prove that it is, indeed, his conversation with the Exile that has started this little pity party."
"Force, are you deaf?!" Atton yelled. "Why don't you just get out of here and go hack into the navigational systems with the other little trash compactor? Why don't you?"
"Atton, calm down," said Leo, coming into the main hold. "What's wrong?" he said, concerned.
"Statement: Master Rand and Demia Thress—"
"Shove it, HK!" Atton roared.
"Resigned Statement: So be it, Master Rand." And the assassin droid left.
"Force, I hate droids," Atton muttered, crumbling into a seat, and putting his head in his hands.
"What was HK talking about?" Leo inquired.
"Nothing," Atton grumbled, sitting back up. "Demi just drives me mad, that's all."
Suddenly, before Atton could react, a solid fist made contact with his jaw, making Atton fall and stumble out of his chair, and land on the floor. For a white-haired boy, Leo could sure punch hard. He and Demi had that trait in common with each other. "What was that about?" Atton sputtered, the side of his face feeling numb, and probably red.
"You're the reason that she's locked herself in her room, aren't you?" Leo demanded. "What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything!" Atton exclaimed. He had been trying to figure out Leo's character ever since he got here, and suddenly the term, Protective, came to mind.
"I know for a fact that finding out Atris is her aunt isn't what's bothering her," Leo continued.
"Atris?" Atton interrupted, raising his eyebrows.
"Is her aunt, yes. She took it quite well, considering the circumstances. No. She told me earlier, that you two had had an argument while you were out getting our food rations, and then she just left it at that. But she's my sister, Atton. And I know she doesn't tell me everything; she doesn't want to make a big deal out of anything—"
"Doesn't want to make a big deal out of anything?" Atton managed. "Look, all I know is, we argued, we kissed, and then, whaddya know? We're arguing again!"
"You kissed?" Leo said, surprised. He took a deep breath. "Well, she certainly left that part out."
"I thought she would," Atton said darkly. "Anyway, then she goes on this whole rant, and then tells me that she's going to go inside Nausuma by herself, all alone, that is—" he said as he began to pour himself some strange looking liquid from the bottle "—and she's going to end up dying, and that in doing so, somehow that'll save the galaxy, but I didn't really go into details since she was still all into her little rant and I didn't want to interrupt her, and now, I'm so messed up that I think that you should pilot the ship, while I get drunk and hungover, in that order, and then you tell me when we're in Nar Shaddaa so I can complete the cycle all over again. How does that sound?"
He poured himself a little too much liquor, some of it spilling over the edges of the cup, and Leo took the bottle away from him.
"What in the Force is this?" Leo said, staring at the bottle with a weird expression on his face. "It doesn't look sanitary."
"It's JuCoTa, an original Atton concoction, made up of juma, Corellian whiskey, and Tarisian ale," Atton drawled, obviously already affected by it. "Care for some?"
"I'll pass, thanks," Leo said, letting go of the bottle. He was deep in thought. "She said she was going into Nausuma alone?"
"That's right."
"I'm going to tell her that's not possible," Leo said, standing up. "She can't get inside Nausuma alone. Unless, of course, she went to the Dark Side, fully and completely."
"What?" Atton said, looking up. Now he wished he hadn't mixed all three of those drinks together. He had only had a few swigs, but combined together, it made it so much harder to think, much sooner than usual.
"You see, you can't get inside Nausuma unless somebody with you touches the Shift, the atmosphere of the planet, and if that person who does so has been one with the Dark Side at least once, before coming back to the Light."
"That sounds like a job for me, then," Atton said, slurring his words.
"You?" Leo said in surprise.
Atton sighed. "Long story." He half-smiled. "I guess Demi really does need me for this, after all."
Leo stood up. "Well. Demi trusts you, so I'll just leave it at that. I'm going to go tell Demi. I'll be back soon."
"Right," Atton agreed.
"Atton," Leo said suddenly, coming back. "I'm sorry for punching you. I just…I'm not a Jedi. It's harder for me to control my emotions. And us, controlling the fate of the cosmos, Brianna under some strange illness, and now this, it's a little too much, you know?"
"You don't need to explain anything," Atton said. "It just took me by surprise, that's all. I mean, I never really took you for a 'punch first and ask questions later' kind of guy, if I know what I mean."
Leo smiled wryly. "There's a first time for everything."
"And I'm always that lucky first, aren't I?"
Leo shook his head companionably, and departed.
Atton stood up hesitantly, leaving the bottle there on the table, suddenly not very much in the mood for getting drunk. You have to be in the mood for that sort of thing.
He drained a glass of water, and felt a little better. At least his surroundings weren't blurry anymore. He headed off in no specific direction, and found himself right outside the medbay, where Brianna still lay, in a trance.
Then slowly, he took in three things. One, Demi was related to Atris. Two, Atton now had a Force bond with Demi. And three, he had no idea what that meant.
He knew Demi and Kreia had shared one, and Kreia had always been getting in her head, telling her what to do. But when she had died, did the Force bond break? Or had she taken a bit of Demi with her?
Atton, with one hand on the outside of the med bay door, closed his eyes to feel his surroundings just like Demi had taught him.
Take away the hard material of the ship, she had said. And focus on the Force, a faint whisper, and just let it grow. Don't think about hearing or seeing or even thinking, just focus on what the people feel. If you do it right, you'll take away the cover and you can skim lightly over their thoughts. I know you won't abuse this power. It can be useful, but if you have to really struggle, stop. You know better than I the dark secrets some people keep, and maybe, it's better to let them rest. Sometimes, it's even better if they gain enough trust in you to tell you themselves. Anyway, this is one thing I've learned how to do. The mind, your thoughts, they may be the only thing we can truly keep to ourselves. So with this, comes responsibility. Know when to keep going, and when to stop.
There was Leo, hesitating outside Demi's door. Who has been sending her these dreams? Why is she so willing to give her life away? Why does she feel so distant to me?
Atton couldn't hear the thoughts of the droids, but slowly, he could hear Demi's. Her voice came clearer than Leo's, and Atton held back in the corner of her mind, wondering if she felt his presence, and whether he should say something.
+9, hold at 18. Or was it stand at 18? Anyway, stop at 18…Why couldn't I just have said I was sorry?—Start over+2, flip card…I always have to rant, don't I?—Why did I flip the card? Force, I'm bad at this. Start over. +7+29…Why did he say we weren't friends? I thought…9+514…Force bond. But it's different from the one I shared with Kreia's somehow. Except for the fact that it makes about as much sense, which is to say, none at all…14+721-120…he said love?
Suddenly, the voices, abstract and talking over each other, ceased.
Atton? Demi said hesitantly, and quickly Atton withdrew, heart pounding fast.
That little minx, he thought, smiling a bit. Counting pazaak in her head. Badly too, but still.
Atton sighed, and then, another voice said his name. But it wasn't Demi's, Atton knew that instantly.
Atton, Brianna said. It wasn't a question. Her voice was so distant, he could barely hear her thoughts.
"Yeah?" Atton said, coming inside the medbay to Brianna's side.
I can barely hear you, Brianna said, her body motionless. Her eyelashes framed her closed eyes, and even like this, she looked beautiful. Where are you?
I'm here, Atton responded, this time, not out loud.
Talking to Brianna, telepathically, was different. Atton had to read her thoughts, like being on her end of the comm, instead of at the receiving end, the latter which was what it was like when he talked to Demi.
How do you feel? he asked her.
Like…like I'm drowning in this sea of darkness…and, and blankness. I can't move or feel in this state. I feel like slowly, I'm being reeled in to some fate I don't want, and soon I'll disappear forever.
All right, so, not very good then. Atton pulled up a chair and sat beside her. Brianna, who or what is Yashel? Do you know what's happening to you?
Atris once told me about an enchantment such as the one now put upon me. I think…that if I am not cured in time, slowly, this thing that now has control of me, will gather all my energy from me, and I'll be stuck, immobile, in this state, till eternity. I—I don't want that. I've worked so hard to…
Here her voice faded out, then it came back.
This may be the only way that we can communicate, and soon, this might be gone too.
There was a pause.
Demi is related to Atris, Atton said. And so is Leo. Did you know that?
No, Briana said, sounding surprised. But I guess that explains his hair…It's gorgeous, but different. I asked when we first met, if he was part Echani, but he said no. Atris isn't either, and she's not too old, so I have no idea why her hair is like that…Anyhow, thank you for telling me this.
Sure, Atton said.
I…suppose that you'd like me to tell you how to get to Atris from here, wherever we are. I could probably draw a map for you, with my mind, or…something. I'm not very…
Her voice wavered off again, and Atton worried that he didn't have much time. Demi won't hear of it, he said. We're heading over to good old Nar Shaddaa right now. She wants to heal you. We all do. Leo especially. And me…too.
Brianna's lips looked like they might have formed a smile…but no. It was just a ghostly, wishful thinking on Atton's part. She looked frozen in time.
Brianna, what's Yashel? A person? A place?
Yashel is somebody who I expect has my cure. You will find him on Nar Shaddaa. I've never been there before, but Atris has heard of him and told me he is a healer of all kinds, especially by wounds made by the Sith. He likes staying hidden, but he can help. He may be the only one who can.
She was struggling to form these words, Atton could tell. She looked so pale, so cold, and so white.
Atton hesitated, then took off his outer Jedi robe, and laid it over her like a blanket, and tucked in the corners. He wasn't sure if Brianna could even feel this, but that was all right. This was just like he had done for Elle before. Elle might have been Brianna's age now.
Keep holding on, Atton said, as he stood up to go. He remembered the words he had spoken to Demi, that he thought Brianna would not make it. Suddenly, it hurt to look at her.
Wait! Brianna cried, so urgently that she startled Atton.
Yeah? What's wrong?
I… She hesitated. I need you to promise me something. Please. It's—it's the only thing I'll ask for.
Another promise. Tentatively, Atton asked, What is it?
I want you…
What?! Atton said, bewildered.
He could sense Brianna mentally rolling her eyes. Not like that, Atton. You didn't let me finish. I want you to teach me…I mean, if, or when, I get better…Could you…Will you do me the honor of teaching me about the Force?
Atton inhaled sharply. Brianna, that's…I'm hardly…Demi's really the one you should ask about that. Apparently, I'm…
I want it to be you, Brianna said, sounding desperate now, as though she knew that maybe this was the last time she would be able to talk to him. This is the one thing I need, the one thing that will keep me holding on, as you said. Aside from…Well, Leo. He cares so much. Like you and Demi. No one, before, has ever truly…
I promise, Atton said.
This time, he didn't need to see her smile. He could hear it in her voice, and she sighed, as though at peace at last.
Thank you, Atton, she said.
Atton turned to leave again, then Brianna said, One last thing.
Atton waited expectantly.
Hurry.
::.Coruscant, nighttime.::
"Dustil?" Mission said cautiously, seeing a dark shape sitting on a bench in the garden at Coruscant, looking up at the sky above him.
Dustil glanced at Mission, and smiled. "Hey, Mish." Seeing the look on her face, he added quickly, "—ion."
"Thank you," Mission said curtly, sitting down next to him. They looked up at the sky, with stars scattered across it as though a magical chariot had flown across the sky and left behind a sparkling trail of twinkling stars. "It's pretty, isn't it? Back on Taris, me and Griff, we'd be exploring the rooftops, and we'd see stuff like this. But it was only when he left that I really started exploring underground."
"Are you and Griff really close?"
Mission sighed. "Yeah. Well, we used to be, at least. But he's like a kid, you know? And then, he went and got himself cloned. But you know. He's my brother. Crazy dreamer or no." She paused, then said, "I'm more close to Big Z. Him and me, we're a package deal."
"So I've noticed. " Dustil cleared his throat. "So. What are you doing out here so late at night?"
Mission raised her eyebrows. "Are you saying I'm not allowed to be?"
Dustil laughed. "No, of course not. Man, you get really defensive, don't you? You think everybody's in on some great conspiracy of calling you a kid."
"Hey, you try surviving alone one some planet where everybody takes advantage of the fact that you can actually swing a vibrolade and pick through locks, just 'cause you're younger than them. People just wanted to use me sometimes, but I never let them."
"I know the feeling," Dustil said, exhaling.
Mission looked sideways at him, re-positioning herself so she sat cross-legged on the stone bench. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
There was silence for a few moments. There was the sound of an insect chirping off somewhere in the bushes.
"You really don't think I'm a kid?" Mission asked, finally.
Dustil smiled at her. "No, I don't. I think you're a very capable, spunky, and smart young woman who knows how to take care of herself and, to top it all off, can deal a mean hand of pazaak."
Mission was grinning ear to ear. "Gee. Thanks, Dustil." She paused. "But that still isn't going to stop me from giving you a poisonous gizka one of these days."
"I didn't think it would," Dustil said, smiling wryly.
Then he sighed, and rubbed his hands together, the cold chill of the night passing over both of them. His eyes were dark, thick with memory and past deeds and choices.
"I've never really noticed this before," said Mission, glancing sideways at him. "I mean, I barely saw you on Korriban. But you're…you're very angry inside, aren't you?"
Dustil looked at her. "I…I suppose I am. It's hard to forget…things sometimes."
"You know what I wish?"
"What do you wish, Mission?" Dustil asked, smiling fondly at her.
"I wish," she said, "that they invented something where you could just store all of your worries and failures, and then they'd just gather dust there, locked away, and you wouldn't need to have them in your head all the time, like annoying ghosts who want to make you go through a living hell."
"Sometimes…Sometimes I wish that too. But then I think, maybe it's having these past mistakes that make you who you are. I mean, if we forget all about them, who's to say we're not going to make the same mistakes all over again?"
Mission sighed. "You have a point. I guess you're not going to be seeing Mission Vao's Forget-Your-Regrets Box in stores anytime soon." Mission put her feet back on the ground, and tapped her shoes together a few times. "So. What regrets do you have?"
"You know most of them. My mom… But also…" He shook his head. "I miss Selene. She was, well, I guess I loved her. But Master Uthar had her murdered because he thought she was hindering my progress or something equally stupid. Anyway, I hate him. I hate that whole damn place. But mostly, I—I guess I hate me. You know, if I hadn't gone, I never would have met her, but if I hadn't met her, then she'd probably still be alive."
Mission exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry. I mean, I know how depressing it is when somebody says that, but I really mean it. I mean, this dancer, Lena, she took my brother away from me, but at least I found Griff again, and he's still alive."
"Do you want to go back inside?" Dustil inquired after a moment. "I'm freezing my bones off. What do you say to some caffa and a friendly game of pazaak?"
Mission smiled. "Let's go."
She accepted Dustil's elbow, and together, the pair walked back. And the warmth they were both feeling inside had nothing to do with the fires lit in the rooms, not at all.
::.Ebon Hawk.::
Demi sat, in the quiet darkness of her room, feeling Atton's presence in her mind disappear. Strange, she thought.
Just then, the door opened and Leo stepped in. "I have a story to tell you," he said to her, sitting down on the floor beside her. Apparently, he could be as straight to the point as Demi sometimes. "It involves me explaining to you about the gizkas you've no doubt discovered, and the reason why you cannot go into Nausuma alone. At least, not without somebody like Atton."
"What?" Demi said, surprised, confused, and about to protest, but Leo cut her off.
"Just listen, sister. This is the story."
::.The Ebon Hawk, about five years ago.::
"Aw, they're so cute!" Elaine exclaimed, picking up one of the small, reptilian creatures in her arms, and lifting it up to the ceiling, proudly displaying its green spots. She grinned and turned to Carth. "Aren't they?"
"They have bulging eyes," Carth said, rather grumpily. He was standing amid a sea of gizkas, all hopping happily around him. He didn't want to move, for fear of stepping on one of them. One had planted itself right at his feet. "I don't trust anything with bulging eyes."
"Oh, come on Carthy!" Mission said, in another side of the main hold. She giggled as a gizka licked her cheek. "Can we keep them as pets? I mean, somebody delivered them to us. Maybe they came to us for a reason."
Elaine smiled. "What do you think, Canderous?" she inquired of the Mandalorian.
"They're damn annoying little buggers," Canderous said, as he polished his blaster rifle at the table. "But they aren't really doing any harm."
"Unless we trip over them and break our necks," Carth pointed out.
"Statement: Master, just say the word and I will demolish the whole bunch of these rascally, hippity-hoppity creatures," HK-47 said, with a hint of disgust in his voice as a gizka attempted to jump from the nearby table and onto the top of his head.
::.Back to the present.::
Demi was laughing. "I can just picture that!" She sobered down. "But what does this have to do with anything?"
Leo sighed. "To sum it all up, Elaine tried poisoning them, but at the last minute changed her mind. The rest of the gizkas she gave to some collector on Manaan, but because there were two that had been hurt by the poison, I showed Elaine to Griff."
"Mission's brother?" Demi asked.
Leo nodded. "Yes. Elaine didn't want them to die, and luckily, Griff had just the right thing. Some of Vincentii's Clarande V."
"Oh, it has healing powers," said Demi, surprised. "I'd forgotten."
"Not just that," said Leo. "But it makes them somewhat immortal, and makes them live a heck of a lot longer than they would normally. It doesn't compare to the actual Aion-zoë, but it comes close enough."
"So the reason why the two gizkas are still hopping around, even after we crash-landed on Deralia, is because of Clarande-V?"
Leo nodded. "Correct."
"And Elaine kept them?"
"Also correct."
"But then she had to leave for the Outer Rim, and left them here. Wouldn't we have noticed them? I found them first in the gun turret, and…"
T3-M4 suddenly whirred into the room, and came to a slow. Beep! Bee-doot!
"Elaine gave them to you for safekeeping?" Demi repeated.
Whiiirr.
"You carried them around with you all this time, just for her? But then, when you stowed away with us, you were the one who put them in the gun turret." Then she laughed, as T3 chirped in reply. "No wonder I had to repair you so many times. Those gizkas messed up your circuitry."
Beeeep.
T3 opened up his hatch and deposited the two gizkas that Leo had given to him earlier. Kalam and Naver rolled out and jumped around and around each other, glad to be free. T3 exited the room as Demi held her palm out, and one of them jumped into her hand.
"They'll be fun to have around," Demi said. "And who knows? Maybe they have a big role to play in all this." She turned to her brother. "What did you say about Nausuma? Why can't I go alone?"
Leo repeated what he had told Atton, and Demi's face became unreadable. "How do you know this?" she asked calmly.
"Vincentii," Leo admitted. "They…they know a lot. Sometimes I think they must have some inside source in Nausuma. And…before the crew dropped me off at Tatooine, I talked to Elaine about it. She can be very…persuasive, I suppose. Anyway, Elaine knows how to get inside Nausuma now, and considering she was Darth Revan, she certainly qualifies." He lowered his voice. "What about your dreams, Demi? What do they tell you? Do you know who's sending them?"
Demi turned away, feeling Marian's letter in her pocket. "I don't. And it doesn't matter anymore, I guess."
Leo soon left, but when Demi finally clambered into bed, after laying the two gizkas in their little box, the dreams revisited her.
Help me, Elaine whispered to her in her dreams, her voice sounding fearful, her surroundings dark. Her violet eyes were large and tortured with pain and tears. Please, Demi. Hurry.
A/N: As always, please RR&E. (Read, review, and hopefully, enjoy.) :)