TW: PTSD discussion and flashbacks
A few days later…
"I was thinking since I got to pick where we went last time, it's Slick's turn to pick." Dogma said, entering the cockpit as they sat in orbit of Naboo. Slick grumbled to himself, sinking further into the co-pilot's seat. Esinon chuckled to herself, rubbing Spinner's head.
"So Slick, is there anywhere you've always wanted to go?" Esinon asked, he glanced at her, studying her markings.
"How about Scipio?" he asked,
"What?" she exclaimed,
"You heard me," he replied, folding his arms over his chest.
"You hate me-"
"Hate's a strong word," Dogma mumbled,
"So why in the world would you want to go to my home planet?" she asked, Spinner beeped in affirmation of her question.
"Don't question me kid," Slick grumbled, he'd begun to call her kid, which was better than Jedi. Still, Esinon wondered sometimes if he actually knew her name. She opened her mouth to speak again when Slick interrupted, "You said you've only been a few times, and everyone deserves to know where they come from."
"This is perfect!" Esinon exclaimed, "The festival of life is this week, my family will be on Scipio anyways." Spinner started plugging in the hyperspace coordinates, "Scipio it is," she pushed the lever forward, shooting them into the hyperspace. Slick stood up and left to go find something while Dogma took his place.
"You don't seem that excited to be going home," she sighed, dropping her head,
"Guess I can't get anything past you, huh?" she said, Dogma watched her intently for a moment, "I... I haven't talked to my dad much since Obi-Wan died. He's really angry about the whole General thing, but what were they supposed to do? They didn't have a ton of choice, and the order came directly from the Supreme Chancellor. I can't- couldn't say no, but my dad is still really mad."
"It's hard for people who don't serve to understand the sense of duty that we have." Dogma said, "And if you want to go to Scipio, but not visit your family, I'm sure that we can find somewhere else to stay." Esinon shook her head,
"I still want to see them, I haven't seen Thea in almost two years. She lives on Scipio permanently now." Esinon explained, "Besides, the festival is all about family, best to spend it with my family."
The next day…
"Ok, couple things. My Nana is super traditional, so- I'll explain all of that before dinner," Esinon began as they trekked through the snow up towards an extremely large house. "Second, I have a lot of families and they're all in town for the next month, at least. Third, my Nana doesn't speak a ton of basic, it's mostly one or two-word sentences. Fourth, it's the festival of life for the next month, that's why all of my family is here. That's more of a note, just for something we can do. Got all that?" she asked, turning around to face them as they landed at the porch of the mansion. Slick hadn't really been paying attention to what she had been saying, instead, he was wondering, how rich was Esinon's dad? Because holy kriff, this place was huge.
"Got it… I think. I'll figure it out, General." Dogma replied,
"They're gonna love you guys, I've got a good feeling about this," she said, jumping up and down a couple of times trying to psych herself up.
"You need to calm down," Spinner beeped, Esinon took a deep breath,
"It's just been a while since I've seen my family," she replied, keeping her voice soft and Slick and Dogma murmured to each other behind her. "It's family, hurry up, I'm cold," he grumbled,
"Fine," She said,
"Good, cuz I'm freezin'" Slick replied, tugging his coat around him tighter. She giggled, shaking her head, she finally knocked on the door and it was rapidly answered by her father.
"Peanut!" he exclaimed, burying his daughter in a bone-crushing hug.
"Esi!" Thea screamed, running as fast as her little legs would carry her to hug Esinon's leg.
"How are you? Are you ok?" He asked looking her over for injury, she gripped her father's shoulders.
"I'm fine Dad, I promise," she said, scooping Thea up into her arms. The young girl reached out a hand towards Slick.
"Five," she said, scrunching her fists.
"No Thea, that's Slick," Esinon explained,
"Sick!" She shouted, reaching both hands out towards Slick, Esinon passed Thea over to a very surprised Slick as the small child in his arms latched both hands onto his nose.
"Try to keep her hands out of your hair, she'll pull," Esinon said, entering the house, with the two troopers on her tail. Soon her Nana came around the corner, looking her over,
"You too skinny." she said, wapping a bony hand at Esinon's abdomen, "You need to eat more. I make you food."
"No, Nana!" she called after the old woman, "I have a- speedster figure," she muttered to herself, she heard Slick yelp, she turned to see him prying Thea's hands out of his hair. "I warned you," she giggled, Slick rolled his eyes, attempting to pass Esinon's little sister to Dogma. This didn't fare well with Thea, she grasped onto Slick's collar tightly, refusing to let go. Slick finally conceded, keeping a close eye on her hands.
"And there is my way cooler than me cousin," Elliot remarked, coming around the corner. The dirty-blond, blue-eyed twenty-year-old stared at her happily
"Hey Elliot," she said, pulling her elder cousin into a hug.
"I was the coolest thing that the littles had seen until their Jedi cousin showed up." he joked, wrapping a lazy arm around her shoulders, staring at the two clones in front of them. "Who's this?"
"Meet Dogma, and Slick, guys, this is my cousin Elliot."
"The kid in the holo, yeah," Slick said, pushing Thea's hands away from his head.
"It's really nice to meet you, I've heard great things." Dogma said, shaking Elliot's hand.
"Only the good stuff I hope," he muttered, Esinon slugged him in the shoulder playfully.
"Nope, all of the bad stuff. They're terrified of the zombie that gets out of bed every morning." she joked, "Where's Aunt Anna?"
"Living room with everyone else,"
"Well Dogma and Slick, are you guys ready to meet everybody?" They both nodded, following her into the living room. Both of their jaws dropped,
"Kid, when you said you had a lot of family…" Slick muttered, staring at the room full of blonde, brunette, and a mix of the two family members.
"And that's not even the half of it," Elliot muttered, taking a sip out of the glass he was holding.
"Let me guess, Uncle Gil is late again," she said, smiling to herself.
"Bingo," After a very long time of Esinon introducing her family members to Slick and Dogma, they finally made their way to the tiny room in the back of the house. There were three beds, and enough room for all of them to move around, everyone in the house was crammed in the lack of space for her enormous family. Esinon gave a contented sigh, flopping onto her bed with a big stupid grin on her face. This was nice, and she was incredibly excited to be here for the festival of life. She had only dreamed of going, after reading all the holo books over and over again. "This... this is amazing. Thank you Slick,"
"You're welcome kid," he replied, ruffling her hair,
"Hate to ruin the moment guys, but General, you said something about your Nana being traditional and you would explain later…" Dogma said,
"Right," Esinon said, sitting up, "So on Scipio, everything is rooted in tradition, kinda like the Mandalorians. Family time is the most important time, so for dinner we have to be dressed up."
"How dressed up is dressed up…" Slick asked,
"Just, nice tunic and pants is fine."
"Peanut! Uncle Gil is here!" Her dad called from the other side of the door,
"I gotta go say hi, most of my family hasn't seen me for a year. You guys stay here, and try to figure out what to wear," she said, getting off her bed and walking out the door.
"How often does the kid get to see her family?" Slick asked after Esinon had been gone for a while. Dogma shrugged his shoulders, rifling through a few different shirt options.
"I've heard her talk about her family a couple times, outside of Senator Windcaster, I don't think she gets to see them very often," he replied,
"And do you know how she feels about that?" he asked,
"No, but you can ask her." Dogma replied, throwing a shirt at Slick's head. Slick frowned, Dogma was making his mission of trying to get Esinon to leave the order way harder than it needed to be.
That night…
"So what is this festival about?" Dogma asked, Slick had separated off from the group to go explore on his own for a little bit. Esinon shifted her eyes among the crowd of people that had crowded the streets of Scipio for the festival.
"What? Uncle Gil hasn't regaled you with my extensive Scipian history?" she joked, "But, thousands of years ago humans started to migrate to Scipio. For a while everything was peaceful until the Muuns decided they didn't want humans on Scipio anymore. They lashed out killing us by the thousands, trying to exterminate all of us. We were forced up into the ivory mountains." she motioned to the mountain range in the distance, "You'll hear more about them in a couple days. Uncle Gil doesn't let us dog sled race until he's finished a grand tale about the mountains."
"Is that what that barn is for?"
"Yeah, I can show you the dogs tonight, if you want," she said, thinking about her dog Bosco.
"Anyways, families got separated from one another in the snow. We evolved to have the yellow markings to be more visible." Now that Dogma scanned the crowd, it seemed the yellow markings almost glowed in the dark. They stood out against the snowy landscape of Scipio. A firework went off and Esinon flinched, it sounded too much like the rages of battle. She quickly shook herself from her stupor, waving to a couple family members as she passed. She scanned rows of street vendors, at first she had been worried that someone would recognize her, but so far no one had. She wasn't a threat, she'd left her lightsaber at home anyways.
A shot went through the crowd, no- no Fireworks. It was only fireworks. People had stopped to watch the spectacle as more sparkles thundered in the sky.
'I'm safe,' she mentally reminded herself, but she had started walking a little closer to Dogma. Another firework sung into the sky, exploding casting brilliant light over the festival. For a moment Esinon saw Krell's image flicker, she shook her head. 'It's not real, it's not real, it's not real,' A firework cracked again the familiar landscape of Scipio disappeared and Umbara replaced it. The people who had been milling about the festival had transformed into soldiers. Her breathing quickened as she searched the crowd for Dogma,
"General, are you alright?" the voice, it was far away. She whipped around, someone grabbed her arm. She panicked and phased through whoever's grip was around her arm. "General, what's wrong?" The voice asked, sounding a little more panicked. Esinon looked forward to seeing Krell stalking towards her, lightsaber drawn. She reached for her lightsaber, but it wasn't there. She panicked and did the only logical thing to her at the moment which was to bolt. She ran as fast as she could, running to the last safe place she could think of. Her and Obi-Wan's ship. She skidded to a halt, crumpling onto the cool metal floor.
"What's happening to me?" she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.
"Slick! Slick!" Dogma shouted, weaving through the crowd. Esinon had bolted and he had no idea why, or where she was. Slick tore his gaze from the spectacle of fireworks in the sky to his frantic brother. Slick made his way over to Dogma,
"Dogma, what's wrong?" Slick asked,
"General Windcaster, she bolted, I don't know where she went." Dogma panted,
"What happened before she bolted?"
"Uh… we were walking around, and then the fireworks started, she started to get a little antsy and then she bolted." Slick knew what had caused the young Jedi to bolt, the fireworks. They reminded her too much of battle, she must have been having a flashback. Slick started to pace,
"Ok, ok, she would go to a safe place. Where's the one place on Scipio she would feel safest?" Slick asked, the two clones glanced at one another.
"The ship," they both said in unison,
Esinon's flashback had only gotten worse in the time that it took Dogma and Slick to find a speeder and get back to their ship. She was sitting against the wall, trembling with sobs, only able to listen to the screaming of her brothers as they were slaughtered mercilessly. Slick jumped off the speeder, heading inside the ship. He had for now disregarded the fact that Esinon was a Jedi. The only thing he was concerned about right now was that there was a soldier on this ship that was probably experiencing a flashback for the first time.
"Dogma, stay here," he instructed.
"But-" Dogma said, Slick shot him a look,
"Dogma," Slick said firmly, "Stay here." Dogma finally conceded, sitting back down on the speeder. Slick darted inside the ship, where Esinon was sitting up against the wall knees drawn to her chest, whimpering. Slick sat down at a safe distance from her. "Kid, can you hear me? It's Slick, you're in our ship." Another firework cracked outside and Esinon flinched, her muscles clenching up.
"I'm sorry Rex," she whimpered,
"Esinon," Slick said, trying to pull her out of whatever hellish nightmare she was living in. "It's Slick, you know the big jerk who doesn't like you very much." Esinon whimpered again, looking like she wanted to move but was immobilized with fear. He cringed, that probably wasn't helping.
'Focus Slick!' he mentally shouted at himself, "Esinon, you're having a flashback."
"W-what?" she whimpered,
"It's something that soldiers have to deal with," Slick said, trying to explain PTSD while it was happening.
"I don't understand," another firework crackled merrily outside. Esinon flinched even more violently,
"Ok, you're in our ship, my name is Slick, your name is Esinon. You're safe," she looked up at him, her breathing starting to slow as she studied his face. Slick couldn't help but feel bad for Esinon, flashbacks were terrible. At the moment he didn't see a Jedi, he saw a terrified soldier.
"Slick?" she whispered,
"Yes, is it alright if I come closer?" Slick asked, she nodded slowly starting to see that in actuality she wasn't on Umbara. Slick shifted a little closer, gauging her reaction to if she was going to panic again. Slick had to deal with PTSD before, as much as the Kaminoans might have liked the clones to withstand any psychological trauma. War does things to people.
"What's happening to me?" Esinon whispered, Slick could see her trembling.
"You were having what's called a flashback," Slick tried to explain, Esinon stared at her feet for a moment. "I think the fireworks triggered it," right on cue a firework crackled outside. Esinon shuddered, Slick shifted a little closer carefully placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, you're safe." Esinon scooted closer to Slick and rested her head against his chest. Slick awkwardly placed a hand on her back, "It's alright kid, war's hard, I know." He started to rub his hand up and down in a comforting motion. Slick had seen a lot of terrible things in his service of the Republic, and she shouldn't have to be experiencing any of this.
"Why can't I just watch fireworks like a normal person?" she asked softly,
"Because war does stuff to your mind," Slick said, Esinon sucked in a harsh breath as Slick wrapped his other arm around her.
"I'm sorry,"
"You can't control any of it, trust me, I've tried."
"Does it get better?" she asked, she had stopped trembling and had seemed to calm considerably.
"When you learn to manage it better, learn triggers, and cope in a healthy way," Slick explained, Esinon nodded,
"Thank you,"
"Sure kid," Slick replied, he'd taken a big step today. He moved outside of himself and his hate for the Jedi to help Esinon, and she couldn't explain how thankful she was.
A few days later…
"You're a Jedi and you can't ice skate?" Elliot asked, gracefully sliding around the rink. Esinon glared at him, gripping the edge of the rink.
"It's not my fault that it rarely gets cold enough on Coruscant for me to learn," she said, staggering forward on her ice skates. Elliot slid to a stop offering out his hands, she grabbed hold of his hands as he led her slowly around the rink.
"Do you ever think about moving here permanently?" Elliot asked slowly, Esinon flinched.
"Elliot, I can't leave the order,"
"Why not?" he asked, Esinon couldn't count how many times she had had this conversation with her family. You've found us so why won't you leave? Don't you love us? The answer was she loved the Jedi more, even though Obi-Wan was gone she still had Xavier and Ahsoka, Anakin, and all of the clones. That was her real family.
"In case you haven't noticed Elliot, we are in a galaxy-wide war and I control a large portion of the army," she said,
"But what about after the war?" Elliot asked,
"I don't think too much about tomorrow. Something I've had to learn with the war. It's not smart to think too far in the future, because I may not survive today." she said, Elliot's hands tightened around her own. "Yeah, I know," they continued to glide around the rink.
"It sounds childish, but I wish I could fix it," he said, Esinon smiled softly,
"I've been saying the same thing to myself a lot," she said, there would always be a part of Esinon that would have that childish need to fix everything that was wrong with the galaxy. It was in her nature to want to help others around her, get rid of their pain, but it was impossible. She just couldn't save everyone. The quicker she learned that the easier the war would become.
Slick rolled over in his bed, blinking his eyes a couple of times. He glanced at the chrono, it was around midnight. He and Dogma had gone to bed hours earlier while Esinon had stayed up with her family. He scanned the dark room until his eyes fell on her bed. She was still gone, he tapped Dogma's arm, shaking his brother.
"Dogma," he whispered, "Dogma!" he blinked his eyes open, groggily gazing at his brother.
"What? What's wrong?" he murmured,
"The kid, did you see her come back?" Slick asked, Dogma shrugged, looking up at Esinon's bed.
"Did she not come back?" he asked, looking over Slick's shoulder at the Chrono. Slick sat up, grabbing his shirt off the floor, pulling it over his head.
"I'm gonna go look for her," he said, Dogma started to sit up as well until Slick shooed him back down into his bed. "Go back to sleep,"
"I thought you said you'd never care about that 'di'kut Jedi'," Dogma chuckled, Slick rolled his eyes,
"This doesn't mean I care about her,"
"Mmhmm, you've started calling her kid and everything, it's sweet."
"Go back to sleep," Slick said, grabbing a transmitter with a flashlight capability and heading out the door. He searched everywhere he could think of, without invading any of the family's privacy. He had searched most of the house and couldn't find her anywhere, that's when it hit him, she'd talked about dog-sledding. He had seen a barn out back, maybe that's where they kept the dogs, and where Esinon was currently.
He grumbled to himself as he held the transmitter between his teeth, pulling on boots and a coat. Slick made the short walk through the snow to the barn and edged the door open. "Kid, you in here?"
She was sitting on an old, raggedy, pillow with a dog's head in her lap, slowly stroking the leopard printed fur. It was a pretty dog, with fur as white as snow, pointed ears, and leopard spots all down its body, it would blend in perfectly with the mountainous, snowy, Scipian landscape. He was surprised she hadn't glanced up at him, couldn't Jedi smell him coming, or something like that?
"Shouldn't you be asleep or something?" she asked, scratching the dog behind the ear, finally looking up at him.
"Well, when you didn't come back, Dogma got worried…" she smirked, able to read his face or his emotions, maybe both.
"Mmm, and did Dogma send you to check on me?"
"I'm a good brother like that," he joked, sitting down next to her. He scratched the dog's head. "Who's this?"
"This is my pooch, Bosco, he's a leopard wolf," she said, the dog thumped his tail in response. "So why did you actually come out here? I know you couldn't have liked trekking out into the snow to come find me." Slick shrugged, she shot him a look,
"Fine," he grumbled, "When you didn't come back I got worried, one time I had a brother disappear in the middle of the night. My Sargeant wouldn't let me go out and look for him. I never saw him again." She tensed up for a second, her fingers stilling behind Bosco's ear. "Now that we're confessing, what are you doing up in the middle of the night?"
"It's- it's Jedi stuff, you probably don't want to hear about it anyways. It's not a big deal,"
"It's obviously not 'not a big deal' if you're out here. And I didn't come all the way out here to for you to say it's nothing." he grouched, she sighed,
"I'm thinking…"
"About what?" he probed,
"About my family, and Obi-Wan." Slick tensed up a little, his former General. He had never hated Kenobi, Kenobi wasn't the reason he betrayed the Republic. The look in his General's eyes the day Slick had been arrested still stayed with him.
"You seem happy with your family, why not stay here? You don't seem overly fond of whatever is waiting for you back at the order." She shrugged, tracing one of Bosco's spots.
"Guess I've got you fooled along with my family," Slick glanced at her, she could sense his reaction. "Even though I love my family here, I- my real family is with the Jedi. Obi-Wan felt like more of a father to me than my biological one ever did." She paused for a moment, "And I was thinking about him… I miss him. I thought I would be over it by now, it's been almost two months, but now without the missions and responsibilities… I have all this time to think. It's scary... sitting alone with your thoughts."
"Yeah, yeah, I know the feeling. After I got arrested… and sent to prison, all of the adrenaline faded. I was used to a certain routine as a Sargent, and a soldier, whether I liked it or not. Prison gave me a lot of time to think, and be angry, really angry." She smirked,
"Yeah, I noticed,"
"Oh shut it," he grumped, she yawned,
"But you're aura isn't as angry anymore, not like when we first met. It's more calm, and happy. Didn't know that was possible," she teased, "But you've come a long way, considering you don't seem to hate me anymore. Your shields are pretty strong though…" she yawned again, "I could be wrong…" her head slumped against his shoulder. Slick tensed for a moment, feeling her shift into a slightly more comfortable position.
"Well kid," he muttered to himself, staring down at her. She looked so small… "I did hate you until I realized you're upbringing wasn't very different from mine. You're still a handful, especially when you do stuff like this," Far as he could tell, she was asleep, so he was talking to himself. "And don't you go thinking this means I like you, but you're alright kid, you're alright."
The next day…
"Are you sure you don't want to come Slick?" Esinon asked, packing the last of their supplies on her and Dogma's sled. Dogma was busy petting all the dogs attached to their sled, the same dogs who would be carting them around for the next week. They were big beautiful leopard wolves with white fur and gray leopard spots. It was a tradition to go dog sledding during the festival of life, it was how people got around thousands of years ago. "Because this is your last chance."
"I'm sure, pretty sure I'm allergic to those dogs anyways," he replied, now that Esinon looked, his nose was pretty red. She thought it was just because of the cold,
"Dogma and I will be gone for a week or so," Esinon said,
"A week?" he exclaimed, Esinon grinned,
"You can stay in the ship if you want," she replied, Esinon chuckled as she heard Dogma talking a baby voice to Bosco. The soldier had probably never even seen a dog in person before.
"If Thea will leave me alone for that long." Esinon's younger sister had taken an instant liking to the clone, she still called him Fives from time to time, but Slick couldn't exactly blame her. Thea was only two.
"There are lots of places to hide out, Nana's house is pretty big. Most of my family will leave at the end of the week to meet us. Are you sure you'll be alright here?" Slick nodded, kicking at the snow.
"Just take care of my brother,"
"Always. You ready Dogma?"
"Yep!" he proclaimed happily, bouncing to his feet.
"We are gonna win!" Elliot yelled, as his fiance Piper finished packing up their stuff, she rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
"It's not a competition sweetheart,"
"Yeah?! Well get ready to eat our dust!" Esinon shouted, jumping up and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, consequently she dragged him down a couple of inches to match her height.
"May the best dog sledder win!" Elliot shouted, Esinon grinned letting go of Dogma as the two made their way to their sled. Dogma strapped himself in as she jumped on the back, she reached out with the force making sure she was in contact with her team of dogs before she let out the first cry.
"Mush!" and with that, they raced off into the mountains for Esinon to reconnect with her ancestral history.
That night…
Esinon stoked their fire with a stick, their ride into the mountains had been so peaceful. All of those years reading about the festival of life, and now she was actually here. It was surreal. Now that she was up in the mountains she could let everything that was wrong in her life fade to the background.
"So do they do this every year at the festival?" Dogma asked, Esinon nodded,
"It's tradition," Esinon knew that's not what Dogma really wanted to talk about, "Go ahead Dogma, you can ask,"
"Are you and Slick doing any better?" he asked,
"Yeah, yeah we are. I think he's gotten to the point of trying to see only the soldier side and forget the whole me being a Jedi. He's toned down the yelling and glaring and arguing so I got that goin' for me." she grinned, Dogma smiled,
"I'm really glad you two are getting along. I was worried that it would be miserable for the rest of the time," he said, Esinon nodded,
"So I'm assuming Jedi are the reason he betrayed the Republic?" Dogma shrugged,
"He doesn't talk about that stuff ever, so I don't really know." Dogma said, Esinon shrugged,
"Aren't family vacations fun," she murmured, her joke elicited a snort from Dogma.
"We've reached the point of family vacation, huh?" he asked, Esinon nodded, stretching up and looking up at the stars.
"How many credits do you bet that Slick has already retreated into the ship?"
"Twenty,"
"You're on,"
A few days later…
If Slick had been counting he would have known this was his twentieth time playing tea party with Thea in the last three days. Why Esinon's little sister liked him so much, he had no idea, but she was a fairly cute kid. Slick sat in the living room, mostly devoid of the family except for Anna and Daniel who were talking in the corner. Slick was holding a tiny plastic teacup in his hand, waiting for whatever Thea would do next.
"Here," she said, placing a plastic cookie in his hand, "You can eat that," Slick was surprised at how much the two-year-old could talk, but then again he knew nothing about little kids.
"Do you play any other games?" Slick asked, he was getting tired of tea party.
"I play dolls," she said, holding up the stuffed fox that she carried around with her everywhere.
"Fine, we'll play tea party." he grumbled, at least Dogma wasn't here to see this. He wouldn't let him hear the end of this. Thea grinned happily, handing him her fox.
"How know my sister?" she asked,
"Uh… it's complicated." Slick said slowly, the two-year-old cocked her head but soon dropped the topic of conversation moving onto the dolls she had set around the table. Soon Thea wandered over to her father,
"Daddy, can I come back to Coruscant with you?" she asked, tugging on his robes,
"Sweetie, you know you have to stay with Aunt Anna." he said, Slick didn't move, not knowing what Thea meant. Didn't she live with her father?
"But Daddy! I wanna live with you!" she wailed, Daniel scooped his daughter into his arms, then it happened. Thea reached out his hand towards Slick, calling her fox to her hand. Slick gaped at the crying two-year-old, did that just happen? Did Thea just… she did. She definitely did. Daniel and Anna didn't act like anything strange had happened which meant that they knew. They knew Thea had the same powers as her sister, and they were trying to hide her from the Jedi. Slick needed to call Esinon and ask her about all of this, and whether she also knew about her sister's powers.
Two days. It took Slick two days to get a hold of Esinon, then again there wasn't great reception out in the mountains. He had to wait until Esinon and Dogma were on the ship to go back to the Windcaster house. After the third ring of the transmitter Esinon finally answered,
"Windcaster,"
"Thea's force sensitive, isn't she?" Slick wasn't one to beat around the bush, Esinon's stomach dropped. She'd forgotten to tell Dad to not let anyone see Thea using her powers! "Kid, I saw her call a fox right out of my arms. Is that why she has to stay on Scipio?"
"Yes," Esinon said quietly, "Scipio is technically neutral ground, and Jedi aren't supposed to go here without authorization. I-I- my dad losing my mom, and then he's always worried about me, and I- he can't lose Thea too."
"That's not it," Slick said,
"What?" Esinon stammered,
"You don't want her to be like you. You don't want Thea to be a Jedi." he said quietly, Esinon let out a shuddered sigh.
"Guess I'm an open book huh?" she said, giving a weak chuckle.
"How long do you think you have before Jedi find out?" he asked, already trying to come up with a plan to protect Thea. Not because he cared about Esinon, it's because he didn't want the Jedi to ruin another kid's life. Esinon felt broken enough as it was. And it was because of the Jedi. Slick was realizing that Esinon was just another victim of the Jedi's cruelty just like he was.
"A year, maybe two if I'm lucky. She's safe for as long as the war continues, I think. I think Windu knows, maybe Master Yoda, I'm not sure." she said,
"Ok, just focus on getting back here," Slick said,
"Ok, see you in a few hours."
"Is this your shirt or Dogma's?" Esinon asked, inspecting a shirt that she found on the floor as they packed up to leave. "Well, it's on the floor, so it's probably yours." Slick scoffed, as she tossed it to him.
"Dogma's still got soldier in him," he grumbled, Esinon rolled her eyes fondly as she stuffed another one of her dresses in her bag. There was a knock at the door,
"It's open Dogma!" she called,
"Uh, it's not Dogma, it's Elliot." Esinon opened the door, "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" She nodded and followed Elliot outside, a few minutes later Dogma appeared and Slick decided he wanted to know what Esinon and Elliot were talking about.
"Finish packing up this stuff, I forgot something in the living room," Slick said quickly, Dogma gave a nod before turning to their bags. Slick followed the pair at a safe distance to the balcony as Esinon and Elliot exited. Esinon glanced at her elder cousin before returning her gaze to the snow-capped mountains she had just spent a week in.
"I know you're leaving early tomorrow and I just wanted to see you without everyone else," he said, she nodded.
"I don't really know where we're going next. We never seem to figure that out until we're about to jump into hyperspace. Probably freaks Dogma out." she replied, moving the snow around with her boot. "Sometimes I really hate this place. Guess some things I can never move past." Esinon wondered if her life would have been different if her parents hadn't given her up if she grew up Scipio. Maybe she wouldn't feel this… broken. "And now I almost don't want to leave at all. Just leave everything behind,"
"Yeah, the feeling of uncertainty or lost-ness can be hard, and scary. But at least you're not alone, you've got those two with you." Elliot said,
"I know, but I can't help but want more. And right now I'm finally coming to the realization that even if I try to fill holes of guilt, emptiness, or darkness with other people it'll never be enough because I just want Obi-Wan back. And that can't happen." She hurriedly wiped at her eyes, realizing hot tears were streaming down her face. "I'm supposed to be better than this," she whispered, Elliot placed a hand on her shoulder,
"Esinon, listen to me. You are sixteen years old and just lost the only father-figure you ever really had." Elliot said, he understood better than anyone that her true family was the Jedi. No matter how much she might try to fit in here on Scipio. "And you need to grieve that, you need time to process after everything." She stepped closer resting her head against his chest as he fully brought her into his embrace. Silent tears streamed down her face,
"Why did he have to die?" she whimpered, "Everything is falling apart now that he's gone," When someone died and it felt like everything was falling apart. Like they were the glue that held your life together. you notice things more like when people argue about petty things, but they were there to distract you. Everything and everyone is on edge and constantly at one another's throats, and life feels like it's all coming crashing down around you. That's how Esinon's life had felt since Obi-Wan's death, and it felt like it would never be any better.
Dogma sat on the edge of his bed, it felt like hours since Slick had left. In actuality, it had been a few minutes since Slick had left, and Esinon was also gone. To where Dogma didn't know. Was he really so boring that neither of them wanted to hang out with him? He was interesting, he liked things… what things did he like? He still hadn't found a hobby or nitch like Slick had. He was still hoping to find one before General Windcaster left, he glanced up at Slick as he reentered. A smile spread across Dogma's face now that his brother was back.
"Hey! I finished packing our stuff-"
"Dogma," Slick began slowly, "How long has the kid been a military officer?" Dogma paused thinking,
"Uh… since Christophsis I think. Why?"
"Christophsis…" Slick murmured in disbelief. That meant that Esinon had been on an active battlefield since she was… twelve. The Jedi sent a kriffing twelve-year-old into a battlefield! Slick's jaw set,
"Slick? What is it?" Dogma asked slowly,
"Nothing. Just me finding new reasons to hate the Jedi," he growled, his fists clenching.
That night…
Slick couldn't sleep. He was too angry. It happened a lot in prison, too much quiet, too much time to think. So he had gotten dressed and went to the balcony to take a breath and refocus. He leaned up against the balcony, listening to the quiet whistle of the wind, as snow whirled around his feet and cold wind bit at his skin. Suddenly there was a familiar hum that pierced the silent night air. It was the hum of a Jedi starfighter,
"It can't be," he murmured, then his mind flashed to Thea. That must be why that slaver was here. He sprinted out towards the front of the house. Out in front of the Windcaster house, Thea had already felt the call of the Jedi who had come to take her to the temple. She had stumbled out half-asleep until she came face to face with a male twi'lek Jedi.
"Ah you did hear me," he said, "You were hard to find little one," he knelt down in front of her, offering her his hand. "Come with me and I will take you home."
"If you value your life, you will not touch her," Slick growled, the twi'lek Jedi glanced up at him, slowly rising to his feet in surprise.
"A clone?" he murmured, "How did you get here?"
"I took my freedom! And now I'm fulfilling my vow, to protect the people of the Republic." he snapped,
"So you're a deserter, and a misguided one at that." the Jedi said, as Thea grasped at the Jedi's robes.
"Tell me slaver, does her dad know what will happen to her when you take her? That she might fight in a war one day? That she might die for something she didn't even choose! You're a slaver, enslaving me, my brothers, and kriffing children! Does that bother you at all? That you have broken people?"
"To answer your question, Thea's father knows. He wants this for her. I can't hide the reality of war even though I wish I could. You can say that I hid the truth, took her against her will, whatever you want, but this is what her father wants for her." Slick's fists clenched,
"Liar!"
"Don't be sad Slick!" Thea cheered happily, "I'm gonna be a hero, just like Esinon!"
We're gonna be heroes!- Please, I can still fight- Don't go! Don't leave me please!- You are worth nothing!- Why did he have to die? Everything's falling apart now that he's gone.
"Esinon," the Jedi murmured, "When did you…" Slick had had enough, he charged the twi'lek and when the Jedi tried to shove him with the force, Slick easily dodged the blast. He knew that trick. He flipped upward, kicking the twi'lek in the shins and then grabbed his cloak. The twi'lek shoved him with the force, but Slick dug in his feet as he coughed.
"Not getting rid of me that easy." he panted, hand still clasped around the Jedi's cloak, Slick darted around him pulling the cloak over the Jedi's head, before sweeping a leg under his feet.
The Jedi's lightsaber flew off his belt into the snow, as Slick scrambled to grab the lightsaber the twi'lek struggled to his feet. Slick clicked the lightsaber to his belt, tackling the Jedi again, gripping him by his tunic as he repeatedly socked him in the face. "You. Aren't. Getting. That. Back!" Thea screamed ducking away from the two men, clutching her fox tightly. "Thea, go back inside to Esinon," Slick instructed. Their eyes connected, "Thea, go back inside." Thea sprinted back inside as Slick pressed the twi'lek's lightsaber to his temple, "And leave this, to me."
Without any hesitation or guilt, Slick ignited the emerald blade and the twi'lek went limp under his grip. He let the body fall from his grip, "Long live the Jedi," he growled,
Thea burst into Esinon's room sobbing, shaking her sister awake, consequently waking Dogma up as well. Both soldiers were light sleepers from years of battle.
"Thea, what is it? What's wrong?" Esinon asked panickedly, holding her sobbing sister close.
"There was a man! And Slick hit him!" she wailed, clutching at her sister's robes with tiny fists. Esinon glanced at Dogma and quickly handed her sister over.
"Thea, stay with Dogma. I will be right back, I promise." Esinon said, pressing a kiss to her sister's head before pulling on a coat and boots at superspeed and rushing outside. She only made it to the porch when she found Slick, "Thea just came into my room sobbing, what happened?"
"There was a bounty hunter posing as a Jedi. He tried to take Thea, but he already left."
"She said you hit him?"
"Yeah, we fought a little," Slick said, shrugging it off,
"Are you ok?" Esinon asked slowly, he nodded, "Thank you for protecting Thea."
"Course kid, now come on. We've got an early morning tomorrow," he said, guiding her back inside and to bed where she and Thea curled up. She knew her sister was now safe, except she didn't know how Slick did that.
There's one more part to guilt and secrets after this.
Also a deleted scene from this chapter will probably go up on Tornado Trio later today
Next up on let's make this canon corner:
Rex: you all are so handsome
Cody: That makes sense
Rex: just not as handsome as me
Cody: That does not make sense
Five more chapters in the Deception arc (it's a big one I know)
Thank you for reading and make sure to leave a review!