RUHLSAR000 Here! Just a heads up! I may not be able to do Friday updates some times during the next ten week. My math homework is due a 11pm Thursday and I will probably be using Thursday to get it done. Any who, I apologize for errors, delays and long-winded author's notes. I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS REBELS! IT IS ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS TO COME OUT OF DISNEY'S BUYING OF STAR WARS! The other is the de-canonization of the Holiday Special.
A figure jumps from muddy island to muddy island through the bog that made up the majority of this worlds ecosystem, a lantern in hand. The genderless clock's hood obscures the figure's face. The figure pauses for moment, bowing its head. Then the figure shoots to the left, startling several flying vermin roosting among the bog grasses.
After a few minutes, the figure stops, this time seemingly confused. Turning its head from left to right, as if looking for something. Its foot kicks something as the figure moves. Looking down, the figure sees a child of fourteen maybe fifteen. The figure kneels down, checking his pulse. The steadiness of it does not alleviate the knot of worry growing in the figure's stomach, instead transferring it from the boy to the figure's self.
A gloved hand brushes away his bangs from his forehead. Who is he? The figure drops her hood, revealing a thirty something year old woman who looked no older than twenty-five with dark blond hair cascading down her back, restrained by a significantly longer thin braid wrapping around her head three times, like a headband. Her green and blue eyes scan the boy.
She eyeballs the blaster clipped, not holstered, to his waste. She has seen numerous blasters in her short life from the bounty hunters that have managed to track her down while on the run to the many she had seen in her service to the Republic during the Clone Wars. Yet she had never seen anything quite like this. Picking it up, she twirls it in her hands. She thinks aloud, noting its unusual traits, "Why would it have two trig-" She cuts herself of as she feels something from the blaster, but not by tough. Her other hand hovers over the base, checking to make sure what she is feeling is real. And then, without a second thought, she pulls on a trigger. A three foot long blue beam materializes from the top. A sharp gasp escapes her lips.
The boy awakes, pain aching through his bones. But, his mind doesn't let him rest. He bolts up, trying to locate where he is. He looks around the sparsely filled room. He is lying on a pile of blankets that act as a cushion to the wooden floor. The room itself is circular. Behind him is a circular chimney, with a cast iron pot nestled neatly into the dying embers. A few shelves to the left contain some kitchen supplies, from a ladle to a few sets of dishes. He looks in front of him a table with a wash basin and pitcher rest on it, a set of gloves next to it. There is a small circular window every five feet or so. To his right... The boy is immediately on edge.
"Easy, kid." The woman says, leaning against the wall. A thin braid goes from behind her right ear down to her waist, much long than the rest of her hair. She has on a black long sleeved midriff top. A dark green skirt covers a pair of stained and patched tight pants that are made of some light brown durable material. Various cord belts and one large leather belt with a holstered blaster and a pouch of who knows what wrap around her waist. Her knee high boots are very worn but are holding up with the exception of a few discolorations. "You look like you've seen a lot of action." He doesn't relax as she speaks. Instinct takes over, the boy isn't quite sure what he is doing but something in him reaches out, feeling something surrounding the woman. Then, he just knows she has no intention of hurting him.
The woman for her part is trying to suppress the smile blooming onto her face. She pushes off the wall and walks slowly towards him. "I am Zara Tsukin, a simple hermit. You are welcome to stay as long as you need to. This planet is a place of forgetting and of healing. You choose which." She bends down and places a hand gently on his forehead. The soothing waves radiating off her make the boy decide not to jump back. "Your fever is down." She reaches down picking up two cylindrical objects, though one has a strange guard. The boy instantly takes them, feeling relief once they are in his hands again. "A lightsaber is a Jedi's life. One never does feel quite safe without it on them, even when it proves to be too dangerous to carry." Zara gets up and goes to the pot. Ezra spies a metal cylinder attached to the small of her back, held in a way to minimize movement. It is beautiful. It has a black cipher pummel. Black and silver vertical lined grip, then four small lights in red, green, red, green, with a yellow inlays surrounding the lights. The emitter is unusual, being shaped almost like a crescent moon, but not enough to get in the way of the blade when activated. A lightsaber. "Dinner is ready. Hope you don't mind stew." Zara goes and grabs two bowls from the shelf.
"You're a Jedi..." The boy breathes.
Zara quietly fills the two bowls before bringing them to him. She hands him one and a spoon. "And you're a padawan. Would you mid telling me who is teaching you? I thought most Jedi had turned and hid with their tales between there legs."
"My master is..." The boy says, before stopping a worried frown etching it's way onto his lips.
"It's alright if you don't wish to tell me. In this uncivilized time, one cannot be to careful." Zara sighs, eyeing the shoto in the boy's lap. The blaster like one, she easily sensed as his, but the other one... Between the force signature and the build of it, she is sure, from the moment she saw it, that it belonged to her master. Yet, the plan was, if Ezra wasn't Force sensitive, for Miranda to just train Sonya. If he was, then Zara would come train one of the twins and Miranda the other. Since Zara never was contacted, surely Ezra hadn't been a Force sensitive and the shoto would have passed down to Sonya, if anyone. Zara senses no malice from the boy. So, how did he come across the shoto?
"It's not that... I can't remember..." The boy breathes out, nervously as if making it real.
Zara starts a little, "What about your name?"
"Ebby, sounds right... But it's like it's a nickname." Ebby says. Zara gently pulls his chin forward, looking into his eyes. Zara fights a sharp intake of air. His eyes are identical to her master's.
"Well, you don't seem to have a concussion." Zara says, shoving that thought away for later, instead checking if his eyes don't follow her and other signs of a concussion. "Maybe something happened and you're blocking it out until you can deal with it... The mind is a very powerful thing."
"What should I do?" Ebby asks, not really sure what he could do.
"First, eat your dinner. No one can accomplish anything when their stomach's yapping at them. Then, meditate. It really does help to clear your mind. If that does work, step back. A problem can seem insurmountable but really in the grand plan anything related to us little people, isn't a big deal. If that fails, let life work itself out." Zara smiles, taking a big bite of her stew.
"In other words, trust in the Force." Ezra nods, biting into his.
"You got it, Kid." Zara smiles.
"What happened?!" Master Offee screeches at the stormtroopers who had failed to prevent the padawan's escape, in front of every trooper and officer... Well, except for the ones in the medical ward. Who knew an amnesiac padawan could do so much damage?
"We don't know," The captain says. "He moved so quickly. We don't even know how he got out of his cell."
"Are you telling me a handcuffed boy who can't even remember his name bested the best of the Empire!" Master Offee says, Force choking the captain.
Sonya grips her fist. One. Two. Three. Sonya releases her fist. Then, she see that Offee hasn't dropped him. He collapses onto the ground. Sonya gasps, as she can't feel his presence anymore. She couldn't have...
Offee glares at the next. Sonya doesn't think. She runs between them. "Master, please stop this."
Offee slams her fist into Sonya's nose. The force sends Sonya back, but she quickly straitens herself out. She stays between the two. "Move, Apprentice."
"The fault is mine." Sonya says, as the blood runs down her nose. "The padawan is tenacious. Knock him down, and he'll only get stronger. I knew this but I, thinking that he would stop fighting like every other Inquisitor trainee once their memories are wiped, neglected to inform the stormtroopers of this. Punish me. I am the one at fault. They did not know any better. They did not know to be on guard."
Sonya doesn't even try to dodge the incoming kick. That would only make things worse. She falls to the floor. She hears the witch call for the whip. She sighs and grits her teeth. Thirty-two. She repeats to herself. That is the limit. Eighteen if she doesn't want Sonya in the medical ward for a week. That is regulation for inquisitor trainees. One. Two. Three. She counts not showing any signs of pain.
Her master whispers in her ear, You cannot show pain to an enemy. If you do, you surrender your weakness to them.
Seventeen. Eighteen. Offee stops. Sonya sighs, silently, in relief. But, then she hears the his of a lightsaber. She doesn't allow herself to flinch at the burn on her non-injured arm. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, but really is only long enough for the smell of burning flesh to surround her, the lightsaber is removed. "You, make yourself useful and take her to the medical ward. I want her back in the bridge within the hour. Apprentice, you are lucky the regulations on punishment are so strict. I will not tolerate disobedience again."
A stormtrooper kneels down to help her up. It is Rong. Sonya shakes her head. Offee is testing her. Sonya pushes herself up and stands on her own. She walks out of the hanger with her head held high, Rong following her. As soon as she is out of sight of the hanger, she collapses against the wall. Sonya sighs, and gulps back tears, "She's kill the other two... We're lucky she was merciful on us..."
"That was merciful?" Rong asks, seeing Yon can barely stand.
"Yes, for her, even for a normal inquisitor trainee and stormtroopers, that was leanant. And it was me..." Sonya shakes her head.
"You?" Rong asks.
Sonya pushes off the wall with her bandaged arm. "This lack of professionalism is unacceptable." Rong at first thinks she is talking about him. He tenses up, nervous. "I'll be back to normal once I am bandaged up." Rong raises an eyebrow. She is talking about herself? Rong is pulled out of that thought as he sees how shaky she is on her feet.
Rong moves to be ready to catch her if need be. "I think most people would prefer this openness, Ma'am."
That actually gets a single sad chuckle out of her. "Honestly, so do I. But, it is not the way of the inquisitor. It isn't allowed. Any of this."
"Any of what?" Rong asks.
Sonya sighs and doesn't answer for the entire walk to the medical ward. Before she leaves to find a doctor, she turns to Rong, "Go talk to Cha- Sorayu... He needs a friend." She turns and leaves, not notice Rong stare after her, as if seeing her for the first time.
Ebby watches as Zara practices, from her deck. She only uses one lightsaber but she is so graceful with it. The blade is unusual, something tells Ebby. It's a shade of aqua, as if she stratals the path of a consular and a guardian. It wouldn't surprise Ebby is she does. She swings one way, lifts up a bolder using the Force and uses it to vault gracefully into the sky and then lands in ankle deep water without making a ripple. It is like watching a dancer. A deadly one.
Zara pauses. She looks up at Ebby, "Why don't you try?"
"Oh... um... I don't remember anything." Ebby says with a sigh.
"Well, maybe this will help." Zara says.
"I remember enough to know that I mainly know form three..." Ebby says, feeling in adequate next to someone as skilled as her.
"Well... How about a sparring match? I can help you learn more forms." Zara smiles, somewhere between amused and reassuring.
"Al..Alright..." Ezra slides off the deck of Zara's tree house, landing ten feet below.
Ebby ignites his lightsabers. They circle one another for a good minute. That surprises Zara. Most teenage boys rush into a match without thinking. Ebby, not so much. In fact, Zara is the first one to strike. Ebby moves the minimum to dodge and pins her blade with his. He, then, moves to strike her with his shoto. Looks like he is well suited to form two, Mikashi. Minimizing unnecessary flourishes. Unusual...
Zara ducks, and swipes out his legs. Ebby jumps. Zara is surprised to feel him use her shoulders to vault over her. She spins, fast and blocks his strike. That was ARATU! Form four! The opposite of form two.
As they continue, Zara is stunned to see him using the basics and the mindset of form one and four together, in spite of his reliance on Soresu's movements. In fact, he seems to be adjusting Soresu to fit the style of the two aforementioned forms. Zara can't help but wonder what the masters would think of this padawan, as she parries his strikes with ease. He is dedicate to become a Jedi, yet uses a blaster. He shows promise in the two most opposite forms of saber technique, and is well trained in the form three, which is probably his master's preferred. And while she isn't going her hardest, he has potential and a creativity in his use of his environment. And unlike many duel weilders, he doesn't hesitate to use the Force to move objects in battle.
Finally, Zara, having seen enough, knocks him to the ground. She deactivates her saber, smirking at him. He smirks back, knocking out her legs. With a squeal, she lands in the mud. She makes a sound between a squeal and a laugh. She tosses some mud at his face. He laughs and so does she.
"How are you feeling?" Maria Taka asks Chance. Mich Rong rolls his eyes. It is obvious to everyone but Chance, that she is crushing on him. Badly. All things considered, you'd think she wouldn't try flirting with him right now, though.
"All things considering, as good as I can be." Chance reassures. "Thanks, Taka."
"Please, call me Maria. I can't believe what a witch she was." Maria says. Rong mindless nods, how did Offee even get her rank? Actually, now that he thought about it all the inquisitors he's seen have been nasty pieces of crud. Maybe they are trained to be that way...
"I mean she actually seemed to like you or at least not hate you." Maria says, in a voice sounding like a sigh.
"Inquisitor Offee?" Rong asks, in disbelief.
"No duffus. Yon." Torence says. Chance looks away, fighting a sigh. They aren't wrong.
"Really? We are talking about a girl who just followed orders?" Rong raises an eyebrow. Orders are orders. It doesn't matter if a soldier disagrees with them. He'll get court-martial if he doesn't follow them.
"She hurt Chance. Are you forgetting that?" Taka says.
Rong sighs, closing his eyes as his mind wraps around a memory. "Do you... Do you remember the old Inquisitor? Not Yon. The one before her? Do you remember how common beatings were?"
"Before my time." Chance mumbles.
"They occurred regularly. And now they seem to return with vigor. When Inquisitor Yon first arrived, we were scared of her because she was so much like her former master. But… I can't recall a single beating she sanctioned... Sure, there have been a few chokings but nothing more than a few scares... She's never followed through…" Rong wonders, has he misjudged her?
"What are you getting at Rong?" Torence asks, confused.
"Yeah, you're terrified of her." Taka says.
"Well, she did save my life from Inquisitor Offee today." Rong shrugs. "And at great personal cost, too."
"That's... true." Torence admits.
"Oh, please! She was acting! How else could she bounce back so quickly?" Taka sneers.
"I don't know..." Rong says. He has no clue how that girl was able to act like everything was normal, but the pain was real. Very real.
"Okay, I'm lost." Chance sighs.
"Me and three other troopers were guarding the padawan. He escaped. Offee was going to kill us all. Heck, she killed the other three. But, after she kill the first one, Yon rushed in and created some BS story about how it was her fault. Offee lost it. Whipped her for a long time, then burned her with her glowstick."
Chance clenches his fist. It isn't his problem. Sunny doesn't care about him. Why should he care about her? Still... Sunny never gets the medical treatment she need... Heck, she rarely eats. "It's called a lightsaber."
Taka's eyes narrow. "It was an act. Yon didn't flinch during the entire time."
"The lightsaber I could understand." Torence admits. Everyone looks at him. "What? Have you seen what they can do to metal? She flinches and she'd lose her hand." Chance gulps. He didn't know a lightsaber could do that... Something like that must hurt... Not his problem.
Taka and Torence get pinged for duty and leave. Chance and Rong stay in silence for a while.
"Do you think maybe Yon had her reasons for following her orders?" Rong asks, wondering aloud. Chance glowers at him. Rong, who had been standing through out their conversation, sits down in a now vacant chair, "I mean beatings are common through out the Empire, but Yon seemed to think Offee is particularly nasty."
"What make you say that?" Chance scoffed.
"Well the fact that she called her beating 'merciful' is one reason." Rong says, using air quotes around the word "merciful". "And she… I think she implied that Offee particularly hates her."
"What are you getting at?" Chance glowers, not wanting to think about her or how her betrayal hurt so much. His hand slides under his pillow; gripping the bottle of painkillers she had given him.
"What do you think would have happen had Yon not followed orders? Had she shown anything like compassion to you?" Rong asks.
She will use you to hurt me. Chance chases the memory away.
"Yon implied... that Offee enjoys breaking her... And Offee has shown a ruthlessness." Rong says, unsure. "Maybe... I don't think Yon likes her troops being killed. I think Offee doesn't care… Maybe… if she acted any differently, you wouldn't be here. You'd be in the morgue with the three other troopers." Rong gets up and leaves.
Chance's thoughts swirl around. Is it possible?
Ebby watched Zara pull an open a panel in the ceiling. Zara crawls through it then look back down at him. "What did you think I sleep in the main room?" Ebby nods. "No, too cold. Plus it floods on occasion, thanks to the tides, which, despite living here for fifteen years, I still can't figured out. Come on." Ebby jumps up through the opening.
"So, where are we sleeping?" Ebby asks.
"Up there." Zara points to one of the large seedpods that these types of tree produce. That one looked to be about four and half feet in diameter.
"Where?" Ebby asks, confused.
Zara waves her hand. The pod lowers, via a series of pullies and ropes. There is one large window.
"Whoa..." Ebby says. That is pretty cool.
Zara opens the window and sits on the edge, "Shoes off." She takes her boots of and shoves them into a blue sack by the window. She scoots into the pod. Ebby removes his boots and shoves them into the sack. They barely fit.
Ebby crawls into the pod, closing the window behind him. He looks into around. There is an electric lantern hanging from the highest point. Pillows of varying shads of blue and pink cover the curved floor. The walls, which were about three inches thick, are painted purple. "It's the one place I don't have to look at green." Zara says, extending her hand. They begin rising into the air.
The pod wasn't big enough for either of them to lie down flat, but they could sit up no problem. And there was a lot of area in the middle, no doubt do the circular shape. "Green must get pretty boring after awhile." Ebby nods, understanding.
"Green used to be my favorite color." Zara reach out the window and hooks the bottom of a pod to a branch. "Now, it is pretty but..."
"You're sick of it." Ebby says.
"Yeah," Zara confirms.
"Then, why don't you leave?" Ebby asks.
Zara is quiet for a while. "The galaxy wants to forget the Jedi. So... I let it..."
Thank You Time! My Favorite Time! I wish I could organize the follows and favorite list… To the best I can tell… I apologize if I forget you…
Thank you FK17 for favoriting, following and reviewing. Your review made me blush. I am honored that you think Ner Vod is the best Star Wars fic you've ever read. Thank you.
Thank you, Jelsa777 for reviewing. Yes, I did have a better, less panic inducing week. But, hey, I learned valuable life lessons. Like there is a certain point where you need to jusr Let it go! Let it go! And rise like the break of dawn! And now I noise complaints from my neighbors.
Hey, Paint! Long time no speak. ;) Glad you loved the tension. I was going to have Ezra's capture and D's encounter with the dark side as two separate chapters, but it felt like they meshed together well. Thank you for reviewing. Love the gender-bend picture of Steven Universe btw.
Hi Midnight Luna. Thank you so much for reviewing. As for your character… I cannot use her. You said you love my OC. Well; there is a reason for that. I spend hours upon hours developing them, coming up with a plausible back-story, figuring out how they think and talk. Even Rong, Torence, and Taka took about two to three hours to make and I did not think I was ever going to use those characters again after they first appear. Sonya and Talia each took upwards of two hundred hours, each, to develop before I even type out the first sentence of Ner Vod. And I didn't know if I was going to use or continue using Talia or takens until I found out she was most people's favorite OC. I must have gone over Talia's introduction seen fifty times. The first one involved her capturing Hera, Zeb and Sabine, and thinking they were trappers until Ezra steps in. The one portion of that that stuck was her breaking his nose. Where was I… Oh, right. If I could, I would develop this character and, while she wouldn't be a major OC, she would be in there. But, she's been written into a corner. I would have to change so much of her to make her work, that she wouldn't be your character anymore. And in all honesty, I don't have the desire to put the amount of effort she needs to come to life into her. And I don't want to do her the disrespect of being under developed. And as I said before, all of the traits I could use are already in other OCs. I don't want to put needless OCs into this story. It makes it overly complicated and because of that causes other readers to think why should I care. I can't have them ask that. I have already deleted several amazing characters from this story, characters I cried over having to delete, because they did not fit in the story.
As for the assassin bit… I going to let the love thing slide because this is already long and I've already spent hours putting my thoughts together. This I can't let slide, though. This bit, when I read it, actually mildly insulted me and my sense as a writer, and it left me wondering how did I fail in telling my story to have someone think that a taken could be in the mindset of a cold blooded killer. They aren't. They are children. Artemis would have to be 12-14 for her to work as you described her. Besides, it felt tacked on and out place. It felt like it was one of those things writers tack on to add cool value without doing anything. Only it fails at that. Cool characters come from heart, motives, and story. If they have that, then those cheats can propel them in to fricking awesome territory. But, without it they are just characters that leave people wondering "And I should care about this, why?"
I will not be using your OC. I am sorry if I have insulted you in any way. Your reviews have meant the world to me and make me so happy every week. I would use her if I could. But I can't, especially since I've already written the next ten chapters and have the story planned out till its end. I'm sorry.
As for last week's questions, it is totally Barriss Offee. I have seen so much evidence for her and have not heard a single piece of evidence against that can't be explained. My personal favorite is that if you look closely on her nose, you can see two barely visible diamonds, like the remnants of a removed tattoo.
Question Time: Would you like to see what Talia is up to? (I have an idea for a chapter that won't affect the story too much, mainly just delaying a chapter from coming out by a week.)