A few hours later…
"Can I go one kriffing mission without getting injured? Is that too much to ask?" Esinon grumbled, as she haphazardly grabbed a bacta bandage from the cabinet in the small medbay on the ship. She was struggled to hold her sleeve up, and rip open the bandage,
"Do you want some help?" Slick asked, leaning against the medbay door, staring at her now cauterized shot wound.
"If you're offering," she said, handing over the bacta bandage package to him.
"That's kind of implied," he replied, "I spent a lot of time with Drummer, helping him in the medbay, technically I wasn't a medic though."
"You were with the 212th?" she asked, he nodded, rubbing an anesthetic over her wound.
"For a time, yeah, I was transferred just as my former General was leaving Christophsis."
"The 212th is my legion," she said proudly, but with a hint of sadness. Slick looked up at her in surprise,
"I thought that was Kenobi, what happened to him?" She fell quiet for a moment as he gently placed the bandage over her wound.
"He's dead," she whispered, she didn't know if Slick cared whether Obi-Wan was dead, but he gave her a sympathetic look.
"I'm sorry, I know what it's like to lose," he said quietly, he finished in silence and left in a hurry. Was that Slick opening up to her?
"What have I got myself into now Qui-Gon?" she muttered,
"That's your own problem my little runner."
"That was a rhetorical question."
That night…
Esinon rolled over again, trying to get comfortable on her sore shoulder. She glanced at Dogma's sleeping form, the clone had most of his face smushed into his pillow. She shifted her gaze to Slick's bed to find it's occupant missing. She couldn't sleep anyway, so she decided to go look for him. She was still a little annoyed about when he most likely snooped through her drawer. She knew clones in the GAR didn't have a ton of privacy because of barracks and stuff, but they knew about the concept.
She really was trying to be patient with Slick, but he hated her, and only for being a Jedi? She hated it when she was singled out for being a Jedi. Civilians did it all the time, forgot she was a person too. After a bit of walking, she found Slick in the rec room. He was staring at the holos that covered the left wall, one in particular of her and Foxtrot group.
"I like that one," she said, leaning against the doorway, "It's one of my favorites." Slick didn't answer, "Are you ok?"
"Fine," he snapped, she held up her hands in a placating gesture.
"Sorry, just wanted to make sure you were ok. Can't sleep because of a nightmare, or still acclimating to ship life?"
"And why do you suddenly care?" he shot back,
"I just wanted to thank you, for earlier."
"Just because I did something nice for you doesn't change who you are."
"And who am I?" she asked curiously,
"You're a slaver," he growled, her heart twisted, "What's the matter? Has no one ever told you? Never thought about it for too long. You and your precious Jedi Order created me and my brothers to be used, abused, and then to die, in the name of peace. You know for a cult that claims to stand for peace, justice, and selflessness, a lot of people's deaths lie on your hands. And me and my brothers never got a say."
"I didn't ask to be shoved onto the front lines Slick." Esinon finally snapped, she had tried to be patient, she had tried to be kind, she had tried to be understanding but this was too much. "I'm only doing my duty to the Republic. I wish things were different, I really do, but there isn't anything I can do to change that. This is the Republic's war, not the Jedi."
"The Republic's war?" he asked, finally turning to face her. "Then tell me why my brothers call you General, tell me why half of the military officers are Jedi, how does that make it the Republic's war?" Esinon didn't answer, "Got nothing? It's because you know I'm right, you're a soldier, not a peacekeeper, and you're a slaver, denying every ideal that your bouncy little heart holds dear. It's my brothers blindly following your orders that get them killed."
"Look Slick, people die in war, it's a fact of life. One that took me far too long to understand, and I don't know if I'll ever accept that." Her eyes drifted to Foxtrot, to Waxer, to Echo on the holos that covered the walls. "It's terrible, and I hate it, but I didn't betray them like you did. Your squad was scarred after what you did. They were terrified of me."
"What do you mean were?" he snapped,
"All of them are dead except for Gus. He's the sole survivor," she replied, her gut-twisting, they had all died when she sent Waxer's platoon to fight elsewhere. They suffered a fate worse than death, they died at the hands of their brothers. And they didn't even know.
"And who's fault is that-"
"You don't have to say that it's mine. I know it's mine," she whispered, finally breaking eye contact and focusing on her bare feet. "I already feel guilty enough, so berate me all you want." Slick paused for a moment, the Jedi was ready to take a verbal beating from him in silence.
"I did what I had to do to my squad, they were blind following your orders." Esinon blinked a couple times, "You think that all these men care about you?" he motioned to the holos. He was too angry to care about this stupid Jedi's feelings. She was the one who kept his brothers enslaved. "Sure they may have shared a water canteen with you on a break, but you think that means friendship? They only took those holos with you because you ordered them to. Deep down they know that you're the reason they have no future. I've never met a brother who thought they would live past this war. You're a slaver guarding their cell. And if they ever could get rid of you, they would." he snarled, shoving past a now broken Esinon back to their bunks.
Esinon let out a shuddered breath as she sank to her knees, maybe it was because she was tired, or injured, or maybe it was because all of the words that Slick had just used cut deeper than any lightsaber or knife ever could. She pulled herself to her feet and sat down in a beanbag chair curling up. There had been so many nights she lay awake wondering if what she had with the clones was real. If they were really her friends, or if they faked comradery just because she was their commanding officer.
"No, no," she whispered, trying to hold back tears. When Rex comforted her on Saleucami, that was real, every time that Fives had joked around with her, or wiped away her tears, or grounded her, that was real. Everything she had with the clones was real, she knew it had to be. She would have sensed it if it wasn't. Slick was just trying to cut her down, that's all. She was really tempted to call Cody or Fives, but she knew they would both be asleep all the way over on Coruscant. She wished she had someone to talk to at the-
"Little runner, are you alright?" she looked up to see Qui-Gon standing in the doorway.
"I…" she started, before feeling her throat close up with tears. "It's real? Right? I'm not just an idiot who's so desperate for friends that I couldn't see that they hated me all along?" Qui-Gon knelt down in front of her,
"You know the difference between love and lie," he whispered,
"But what if I don't," she mumbled, tears starting to stream down her face. "I want things to go back to normal," she whimpered, Qui-Gon swept the young girl into his arms. Esinon buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing. "I want Obi-Wan to come back! I don't want to be a General anymore,"
"Shh," Qui-Gon whispered, "It's alright little runner,"
"It's so hard," she whimpered, clutching the elder Jedi's robes tighter.
"I know, it'll get easier. I promise, just keep holding on."
"I miss him," she whispered, her throat still choked with tears.
"I know," Qui-Gon said, holding her tighter. "I know it's hard, it will heal. You have to trust the process and in the force."
"I trust in the force," she whispered, starting to calm down. "I trust you,"
The next morning…
"Gosh darn it," Slick grumbled, fiddling with buttons on the microwave, trying to heat up breakfast, "Why won't this thing work?" Esinon came into the rec room, half asleep, her eyes puffy. She didn't look very Jedi-like, she glanced from him to the microwave. Without a word, she waved her hand, the microwave clunked before springing to life. Slick didn't thank her as she shuffled past and reached for the tea in the cupboard. She had to stand on her tiptoes, her whole body outstretched, just to reach the desired item. Her fingers brushed it the box before it came tumbling out,
"Sorry," she mumbled, it was nasally and hoarse, like she had been crying for a long time. Not that Slick cared.
"You got nothin' to be sorry for," he replied, taking his breakfast out of the microwave.
"That's not what you thought last night but ok," she said, busying herself at the stove.
"Oh what? Never been exposed to the truth?" he snapped, she glanced up at him, her face placid neutral with exhaustion.
"The truth of how you're just like every citizen who blames me and the Jedi for everything? That's not new," she replied, scrubbing her face with her hands.
"Cept unlike every citizen, I've been personally hurt by Jedi." Slick snapped, she finally slammed her fist down on the counter.
"What do you want me to do about it? Huh?" she glared at him, "You weren't hurt by me Jedi, and I understand wanting to take your anger out on somebody. You saw what I did last night," She sucked in a harsh breath, "But I am not all-powerful, and as much as I would like to fix it, I can't. Just like I can't fix anything in this kriffing galaxy. What is the point of having all these powers if I can never do anything!" she shouted, electricity sparking around her clenched fists. The emotion, grief, and pain were written all over her face, and were laced in her voice. She sucked in a harsh breath before leaving the room, abandoning her cup of tea on the counter.
"Morning General," Dogma said, she barely spared him a glance as she headed towards their quarters. Except the glance was enough for Dogma to know something was wrong. "General?" he poked his head around the door watching the young girl walk away. "Is she ok?"
"Why would I care?" Slick grouched, Dogma sighed,
"Slick," he said with an exasperated look on his face.
"What? You want me to start caring for that di'kut of a Jedi like you have. Well, I've got news for you, it's not gonna happen."
"Well you could at least stop making her miserable," Dogma said, "She's been through a lot."
"Why do you care?" Slick snapped, Dogma ran a hand down his face.
"Slick, she's only a kid."
"A kid who's getting all that Jedi crap force-fed down her-" Slick paused, the gears in his brain turning. She'd been force-fed beliefs… just like he had. He shook himself from those thoughts. No. NO. He was not going to sympathize with that Jedi scum. That Jedi scum who had looked at him with sheer terror when he threatened her. The Jedi scum who seemed so unsure of herself all of the time, but mostly the Jedi scum who was a sad soul but was simply trying to cover it all up with a smile.
"Slick, come and say you're sorry," Dogma said, crossing his arms over his chest. Slick glared at him,
"She's a Jedi, she's fine," he protested, turning back to his breakfast. Dogma sighed and turned to find his General. He shook his head,
"If only he could look a little deeper," Dogma muttered, he entered their quarters slowly, finding Esinon curled up on her bed, her back facing him. "General, are you alright?"
"'M fine," she mumbled, "Just tired. That's all. Did you sleep alright?" she asked, not turning to face him. Dogma sat down in front of her bed,
"It's ok if you're not ok," he said, trying to ease her mind. She didn't answer, just tugged the cloak around herself tighter. "And I'll admit that for parts of this trip I haven't been ok," She glanced at him, anxiously searching for a way she could fix the problem. She then realized that there was nothing she could do, and Dogma wasn't offering that information up to her because he wanted her to fix it. He was simply trying to offer up empathy.
"When's it gonna end?" she whispered, Dogma glanced at her, he didn't know if she meant the trip or- "The war, when is it going to end? I'm so tired," she whimpered, curling further in on herself, "And I have eight weeks before I have to go back to the front lines and I don't know if I can do it. Without Obi-Wan, it feels like I have nothing to return to."
"But- but what about Fives or Captain Rex? Or Commander Tano and General Skywalker? Or any of the 212th, they need you."
"If I'm gone maybe they won't die." she whispered, "That's what happens when I'm around, good people who don't deserve to die do. Waxer, your squad, almost all of Theta, even Slick's squad! Foxtrot… Obi-Wan. Everything I touch goes up in smoke, Slick is right about me. All I ever do is hurt people."
"That is not true," Dogma said, Esinon didn't answer, she let out a shuddered breath.
"I can't go back to the front lines," she whimpered, "I just can't do it. I can't watch any more people I love die," Dogma pulled his knees up to his chest, he didn't know what to say. Esinon's world was coming crashing down around her, the grief was suffocating.
"None of this war is your fault General, Umbara wasn't your fault, all those deaths you just talked about, are not your fault. This war is an example of people failing to listen, thinking with a weapon before their words, and I know you want to quit. But people need you, and it's really hard right now, but it gets easier, I promise." Esinon finally sat up,
"Thanks, Dogma," she said, "When did you get so good at pep talks?"
"I learned from the best, but can I talk to both you and Slick?" She nodded, Dogma went and found Slick and came back, sitting him down on the bed right next to Esinon. The young girl and the clone scooted away from one another,
"Dogma, what are you doing?" Slick grumbled,
"You both have been at one another's throats since the day you met. Now whether you like it or not, we're in this together, so that means no more going through one another's stuff." Dogma shot Slick a look, "And we try to keep away from secrets when we can. We should have fun, and I know you both have a lot of differences, but you both like me and that's a start. We're in this together." Esinon glanced at Slick,
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," she said, shuffling her feet.
"Well it was provoked," Slick wasn't at the point to apologize yet, he had a lot of Jedi stuff to work through. He wasn't sorry for anything last night because he was right about the Jedi, but Esinon was only a padawan. She didn't know any better because it was all she had ever been taught. The way Slick saw it was he had two months to get Esinon to leave the Jedi behind.
"So we're all in agreement, we're in this together?" Dogma asked, the two of them nodded,
"Together," Esinon said,
"Together," Slick agreed,
One week later…
"SLICK!" Dogma groaned hearing Esinon yell again, those two had been arguing non-stop for their last week in hyperspace. They had stopped only once, and that was to get food, but until he and Slick decided where they wanted to go, they were spending most of their time trapped on the ship. Sure they had been trying to get along, and they had their moments but, it was still a struggle.
"What!" Slick yelled back,
"You have to pick up your clothes!" She shouted, Dogma tried to refocus his attention back to the rows and rows of holos Esinon had displayed on the wall. There was even a projector off in the corner, with videos you could scroll through.
"I don't have to do anything!"
"This is a shared space! This isn't just your room! So quit leaving your clothes strewn everywhere!" she shouted angrily, he heard a loud SMACK of a laundry basket hitting the floor.
"I'll quit throwing my clothes everywhere when you quit hogging the bathroom!"
"I'M A GIRL! I HAVE MORE HAIR THAN YOU!" she shouted,
"THAT'S NO EXCUSE!"
"IT IS NOW!" Dogma walked over shutting the door to the rec room, just before he did Spinner skirted inside. The shut door muffled the arguing pair enough for Dogma to hear himself think.
"You having a hard time thinking too?" he asked, collapsing into a bean bag that was next to a basket full of datapads. Spinner beeped a yes, "And it's gonna stay like this until we find somewhere to stretch our legs, thing is, I've never been asked where I wanted to go. Does General Windcaster have a list of planets she wants to visit?" Spinner shook his head, letting out a low whistle. "Can you pull up a map of the surrounding systems in our area?" Spinner pulled up a holo map, Dogma studied it for a minute, eyes flicking between planets until he landed on one. "Naboo. That's where I want to go. Naboo."
One day later…
"So where exactly are we?" Slick asked, tossing his duffle bag on the floor of the cottage.
"The lake country outside of Theed," Esinon replied, "Senator Amidala set me up with this cottage,"
"And does she know about us?" he asked, she sighed,
"Not exactly, no. Anakin might go stir crazy to know I'm carting myself around the galaxy with 'criminals.'" she said, putting air quotes around criminals.
"General Skywalker is protective," Dogma muttered, looking around the cottage.
"You have noooo idea," she muttered, "Speaking of General Skywalker, I've got to call him, your guys' room is that way." She pointed in the opposite direction that she was heading in. "Holler if you need anything."
"Yes General," Dogma replied, as she disappeared into her room and closed the door behind her. The two of them headed down to their cosey room, and stowed their few belongings. "So what do we do now?"
"Anything we want Dogma, that's the best part of freedom. If you want to swim, or climb trees, or just sit here for the next four hours, whatever makes you happy, you can do it." Slick replied, stretching out on his bed.
"I'm not used to making all these decisions," he muttered,
"Feels good doesn't it,"
"It's stressful,"
"Well I can't make it for you, that's not part of freedom."
"Can you just this once?" he asked, Slick sighed,
"Nope, I can give you suggestions though,"
"Alright, what've you got?" Dogma asked hopefully, sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Well we're in the lake country, so you could swim, or go out on a boat. There's a kitchen, so you could try your hand at cooking. There's a forest out back, you could go for a hike." Dogma mulled over his options,
"I think I want to go swimming, do you wanna come?" he asked, getting up from his bed.
"I'll come and sit, I've never really liked the water," he said, following Dogma out.
A few hours later…
Esinon strolled out of the cottage, leaning against the doorway, taking a deep breath of the fresh Nubian air. She watched Dogma run off the dock for the millionth time and jump into the water, a carefree smile on his face. She had never seen Dogma like this, so happy. Slick was napping underneath a tree not far from the water's edge, both of them seemed more relaxed upon being here. Even Slick had let up on his relentless glaring and arguing with her, things were more loose and carefree out here.
"General!" Dogma yelled, waving at her, she waved back, sprinting down the hill and jumping into the water, splashing Dogma.
"So you guys likin' it out here?" she asked, wiping water off of her face as Dogma splashed her again.
"Yeah, I read about this place back on Kamino. It was the one place I've always wanted to go."
"So why didn't you say so a week ago?" Slick asked, stretching after waking up from his nap.
"Because I blanked a week ago," Dogma shot back,
"Master Fisto and Nadar used to take me swimming all the time when I was younger," Esinon said, floating in the water on her back. "Guess that's what comes with being trained partially by water species."
"Are you sure you don't want to come in Slick?" Dogma asked, flicking water at his brother. Slick shook his head,
"Again, I don't like the water," he replied, slumping back down against the tree and going back to sleep.
"What are we doing out here?" Slick asked, shivering in the cold Kamino air, as rain pounded against the thin durasteel roof above them.
"Training exercise," his squadmate, Burn smirked, Slick peered over the landing platform's edge at the turbulent water below. Before he could even blink, he was falling, falling towards the water. "Nice moves Slick!" Burn yelled as he hit the water below.
Esinon pushed the button to the old workshop that sat next to the cottage, she was hoping to find something to work on, and some space from Slick. They needed space for one another, yes they had begun to agree on some things, but there had been a lot of pointless arguing. They had both made a mutual, silent agreement that they were doing this for Dogma. The door slid open to a dingy workspace, it looked like no one had been here in years. There were old droid parts around the room, and a broken down speeder, hanging from hooks on the ceiling. She grinned at the new workspace,
"Well Spinner, it's not the prettiest to look at," she said,
'But it is Slick free,'
"Finally, some peace and quiet, I should probably call Fives though…"
'It can wait, I'll remind you in an hour or so,'
"Thanks, Spinner," She said, flicking on the lights and starting to clean everything up. She'd been out there for a couple hours possibly, mostly cleaning, she'd finally taken inventory of everything and had decided to rebuild an old astromech for Slick and Dogma when they got to where they were going. Spinner wouldn't be there to help Dogma land their ship. At this point she had a fair amount of dust and grease all over her face, luckily she'd had coveralls in the ship. Not that she was wearing the top half, it was considerably warmer on Naboo than Coruscant. She was wearing a black tank top instead with the coveralls top tied around her waist. She had goggles perched on top of her head, sweaty and greasy pieces of hair drooping in her face. She had loud music blasting as she continued to work, getting lost in her own world.
"General?" Dogma asked, poking his head into the workshop. She removed her goggles, turning her music down with the force,
"Hey Dogma," she greeted with a wide grin, "How are you?"
"I'm good, I brought you a sandwich in case you were hungry," he said holding out the plate, she glanced at her Chrono, it was lunch already, she'd only just called Fives.
"Huh, I must have lost track of time." she said, gratefully taking the plate from him. "How has your day been?"
"Alright, Slick has been off doing his own thing all day… so I guess I'm a little bored." Dogma said, "We always had something to do on the cruiser," Esinon nodded, her mouth full.
"Yeah, I was a mess my first week on Mandalore. Constantly pacing the hallways, or seeing if there was something I could fix for Satine. Korkie couldn't get me to sit still for four seconds, even on crutches." Dogma glanced up at her, taking a seat on an old stool.
"I don't think I'm as good at freedom as Slick," he replied,
"Well you can't blame yourself, the only thing you've ever been taught is how to be a soldier. They- I didn't exactly train you for any of this," she said, motioning around the workshop, and the planet outside. Dogma nodded, resting his elbows on his knees. "And it'll get easier as time goes on. It took me about a week to get readjusted to life outside of war."
"Are you still going back after your leave?" he asked slowly, she sighed, focusing herself back on her work. She eventually nodded,
"Yeah, just a lot of… trauma to work through from Umbara." she said, "I knew Krell when I was little. This war has corrupted the Jedi. We're lost, but there's not a lot I can do about it." she explained, her wrench stilling on her bolt. "Darkness and power, it corrupts. It was a real wake up call for me to remember that could be me if I'm not careful."
"Sir, I doubt you could ever be as cruel as Krell was, even if you wanted to." Dogma said, she smiled softly,
"Yeah, that's what everyone keeps telling me." She replied, thinking about the electricity that could spark from her hands. Lightning, like Count Dooku, like any Sith, that power could overtake her if she wasn't careful. "So have you seen Slick much today?"
"He went on a hike a few hours ago, so I haven't seen him other than this morning."
"Mmm, at least he's enjoying himself," she said, pulling her goggles back down. "Has he suggested a place he wants to go if you guys don't put down roots here?"
"Not that he's mentioned, but he's been asking about you. Where you come from, stuff like that." Esinon raised an eyebrow, that was strange,
"Did he have a specific reason?" she asked, Dogma shook his head.
"I told him if he wanted to know more about you he could ask you himself." She hummed in response, "Whether he asks or not, I dunno." Esinon shrugged,
"All in due time I guess." Dogma nodded in agreement,
Esinon absently minded glanced down at her Chrono and gasped when she did. It was almost seven, and she had completely forgotten to make dinner! She was about to head back inside to apologize and try to figure something out for dinner when Slick poked his head out of the cottage,
"Hey, you hungry? I made pizza," he said, Esinon paused,
"You made?" Slick nodded,
"Shoes off before you come inside, and go wash your hands. And your face. You know what, go take a shower. I'll save you some food." he said, Esinon cocked an eyebrow. Slick was being… nice to her? And he cooked?
She pulled off her boots, waving to Dogma as she headed towards the fresher. Her shower didn't take long and she had changed into a tunic and leggings. She found food waiting for her on the counter while Slick and Dogma watched a movie. It was these mundanities of life she wasn't used to, just living… normal life.
Sometimes she wished she would leave the order, have a normal life, but there wasn't anything waiting for her outside the order. Well, there was Korkie, but she knew she could never leave. Something was tethering her to the order, it was all she had ever known. She couldn't leave. She had too much power, too much duty, too much responsibility to leave.
Even if she was just a temple guard in the order, she could never leave. She didn't do well with change, and that decision would change her whole life. She could never do it. She could never leave, she didn't have the strength.
The next morning…
Esinon was used to being busy all of the time, there were thousands of tasks she had to complete in a day of being a General. Now Slick had taken over the kitchen, at least he had found a hobby. He said he used to watch cooking videos in between missions.
Dogma was still trying to figure out what his knack was, but Esinon needed to train. After recovering fully from her injury, she was ready to beat something or someone up.
She had pushed the training droids from the ship out into an open grassy patch in front of their cottage early that morning. As the sun rose, the number of layers Esinon was wearing had decreased, she had stripped down to her sports bra and leggings as she fiercely trained outside, her fresh scars on her abdomen and side were out for all to see.
"Where'd she get all those scars?" Slick wondered aloud, watching her decimate her fifth training droid. Dogma glanced up from the puzzle he was working on, listening to the loud crash that followed outside.
"A falling out on Umbara," Dogma said, he remembered Rex telling him what was going on. "She ignored injury and… the war in general I guess."
"She's too little to have scars like that," Slick murmured, knowing he had scars of a similar nature. Slick knew Esinon was young, he just didn't know how young. He assumed they wouldn't make someone a General if they were under twenty, he was wrong. He was very, very, wrong.
That night…
"He tuckered himself out," Slick murmured, looking at Dogma who was curled up against a rock around the fire they had made, fast asleep.
"Yeah, Esinon chuckled, stretching out and resting her head against a rock. She looked up at the starry sky, you couldn't often see the stars on Coruscant, now that she could see them it felt like home. When she would stare up at the sky, perched in a tree, listening to the nightlife of Endor awaken. "Reminds me of home,"
"I thought Scipio was covered in snow," he remarked,
"It is, I've always thought of Endor more as home than Scipio. I've only been to Scipio twice," The second time she had gone to Scipio was shortly after her mother's funeral, her father wanted her to meet the rest of her family.
"You grew up on Endor?"
"Mmhmm, been climbin' trees since before I could walk," she muttered,
"So you grew up among, what? The Ewoks?" he chuckled,
"You guessed it,"
"Do you miss them?"
"Not really, no. I miss Endor more than the lifeforms there," she replied sleepily,
"Must suck not really knowing where you come from since the Jedi took you against your parents' will," Slick muttered,
"Trust me, it wasn't against my parents' will. My parents didn't want me. The day before Master Windu showed up, my parents didn't let me sleep in our hut, or eat. Had life continued like that for me, I wouldn't be here." she sighed, rubbing her eyes as she started to succumb to sleep. "The Jedi have done some questionable things as the war has gone on, but they saved me." Slick glanced over at the now sleeping Jedi padawan, maybe this Jedi wasn't so bad… Slick stood up, heading down towards the docks. Dogma mumbled slightly in his sleep, rolling over,
"Don't worry vod'ika, I'll be back," he promised, before walking away.
"Would the prisoners request to be blindfolded?" Dogma heard his voice ask, he flicked his eyes over to see Fives and Jesse lined up as a puppet of him being controlled by Krell walked in front of the firing squad. Fives and Jesse didn't respond. "I will take that, as a no."
"No, no! Don't listen to him!" Dogma shrieked, a pair of white hands emerged from the wall, grabbing him from behind covering his mouth. "DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!" A lightsaber flew out of nowhere slashing each and every trooper present. They all quickly rose to their feet, eyes glazed and bodies staggering towards him.
"Good soldiers follow orders,"
"Good soldiers follow orders,"
"Good soldiers follow orders," they chanted,
"No, no, no!"
"Dogma, Dogma! Wake up!" Esinon whisper-shouted, shaking the trembling trooper, Dogma shot up awake, panting. He whipped his head around, looking for signs of danger, "Hey, it's ok, you're safe," she soothed,
"Where's Slick?" he asked, looking around for his brother. Esinon looked around for the trooper,
"I don't know, he was gone when I woke up." they heard sloshing coming down from the docks as a figure pulled themselves out of the water.
"Is that him?" Dogma whispered, "Is he ok?" Esinon reached out to Slick through the force, sensing he was alright, he was just upset as he collapsed onto the docks.
"He's fine, I think it's best if we leave him alone." she said, "Come on, he'll come inside when he's ready." She dumped a bucket of sand on the fire extinguishing it, Dogma followed her inside. "If he doesn't come in soon, we can go looking for him if you want."
"No, it's probably best to leave him alone," Dogma replied, sitting down on the couch, she sat next to him, sitting cross-legged. "It shouldn't surprise me that he likes to wander, he used to pace a lot." He sighed, placing his elbows on his knees, "He's enjoying his freedom."
"And you aren't?" she asked,
"I am, I really am, it's just… there's a lot of decisions to be made, and I'm not used to having to make those," he replied,
"I understand what you mean,"
"You do?"
"Yeah," she replied, with a small smile on her face, which quickly fell. "After Obi-Wan died, a lot of things happened very quickly. I was promoted to General and became Master Fisto's padawan in under twenty-four hours. I was used to having Obi-Wan call all the shots on the battlefield, and suddenly I'm thrust into having to come up with a battle plan, strategize when things don't work out the way I want them, and having troopers constantly asking me questions. It's scary when things change." Dogma nodded,
"Yeah, it is. When you came to get us, my whole life got turned upside down in an instant- not that I'm not grateful. It's hard when things change." he mumbled, Esinon paused thinking,
"I have an idea, come on," she pulled him up off the couch and into the kitchen. "After a really hard battle, Obi-Wan and I would stay up late and bake cookies or muffins for the night crew. It was a way for us to cope," she explained, already pulling up her and Obi-Wan's favorite recipe.
"Sir, I wouldn't want to intrude on you and General Kenobi's tradition," Dogma said, backing out of the kitchen,
"Please," she said softly, her eyes filled with sadness, "I'm not used to doing it alone." Dogma finally nodded and helped her get the ingredients.
A few hours later…
Slick walked into the cottage, clutching his clothes and dripping water all over the floor from his late-night swim. He was quickly hit with a towel,
"We gotta keep this place nice," Dogma said, Slick pulled the towel off of his head to see the kitchen was a disaster, with Esinon covered in a lot of flour.
"Yeah, I see you're quite the hypocrite," he replied,
"We're making cookies," Esinon said, mixing dough in a bowl.
"Are you trying to feed the army?" Slick asked, looking at the rows of cookies.
"Fives could eat these alone," she replied, "I could eat these alone."
"At superspeed," Dogma added,
"At superspeed," she replied, flashing a grin. Slick grabbed a cookie from the countertop, taking a bite.
"That does not taste half bad for you never being a kitchen Dogma," he said, sitting on a stool in front of the island.
"I have to been in a kitchen," Dogma shot back, "To help with dish duty." He mumbled, Esinon giggled, dropping her head, a whole ton of flour falling off the top of it.
"That does not count," Slick said, stuffing the rest of the cookie in his mouth.
"It's not my fault! At least they taste good,"
"You should be thankful that I can cook better than Anakin," Esinon said, dumping a bag of berries into the dough. Dogma almost choked on the cookie he was eating,
"General Skywalker can't cook?" he asked, Esinon shook her head,
"Of course he can't, he's not perfect you know."
"General Skywalker just seems so perfect," he mumbled,
"Quit drooling over the Jedi," Slick grumbled, Spinner nudged his leg looking for some sort of attention, Slick conceded and patted the astromech's head. "You're like a dog, you know that?"
"Spinner's my little puppy," Esinon said, the astromech beeped happily, wheeling over to his friend. She rubbed his dome,
"You're strange Jedi," he mumbled,
"I prefer the word unique," she replied, setting out dough on trays.
"You would,"
"That's what happens when you spend all of your days reading while stuck on the Negotiator," she replied,
"And that's when you're not climbing through the vents and wreaking havoc on the cruiser," Dogma replied,
"You climb in the vents?" she nodded,
"I'm getting a little big for it though, I know my way around the vents almost as well as I do around the cruiser."
"I'm glad I never had to deal with a padawan," Slick grumbled,
"Try an entire tornado trio," Dogma said, Esinon laughed,
"I don't think we'll out-grow that even when we're all knighted."
"Probably not, nicknames tend to stick," Slick mumbled, grabbing another cookie, "I'm gonna go to bed,"
"Ok, goodnight Slick," Esinon said, smiling softly,
"Night Jedi, night Dogma," Dogma waved absentmindedly as Slick disappeared around the corner. He sat down on his bed, rubbing his eyes, Smooth moves Slick!- Nice work Slick,- That's not my name! Quit calling me that!- Well, Slick, until you start acting like a giant failure, that name will stick- You couldn't be a greater disappointment.- "I'm not a failure,"
If you want more Windcaster content I made an art account on instagram at anotherdayof_art
Also I know yall were probably tired of Slick being mean to Esinon, he's nicer from now on I promise but also, not every character can instantly like Esinon (although she's very lovable I know)
Also thank you guys for over 100 reviews! that's insane! I really didn't expect this story to take off so thank yall for coming back every time
Alright, next up on let's make this canon corner: Each Ewok tribe has a certain tribal call they can use to signal others. Esinon can still perform her tribe call.
Thanks for reading and make sure to leave a review!