Chapter Ten: Tomb of Eliram

"My lovely *** …"

"My Jedi Knight…"

"That voice… have I heard it somewhere?" Kairi thought to herself, as she was in her mind before focusing on her Master Rin Sotah who was holding his wife close to him.

The sound of a baby gurgling was heard as Kairi can see a bundle of blankets in the woman's arms, before the couple looked down at the baby in the wife's arms.

"Just who are those two?" Kairi responded to herself quietly...

Kairi moaned quietly as she was trying to keep a focused mind of a vision with her eyes closed and on her knees at a meditation circle.

As Cal and Kairi arrived at the Windswept Ruins of Zeffo, Cal suggested the younger Jedi Padawan to take a small rest, until Kairi decided to meditate in order for her to regain some of her strength back after healing Cal earlier from the thermal bomb explosion.

Hearing the sounds of haunting, painful screams and even lightsabers were drawn, Kairi immediately snapped her eyes open, thinking it was nearby.

"Cal?!" Kairi cried loudly while looking around the ruins from her meditation circle. "Great, where did he go?" She asked herself while she stood up slowly.

Sensing his presence from inside of the ruins, Kairi picked up her lightsaber as she ran towards a narrow entrance of the ruins.

'He's the one who keeps telling me to never go alone. But he's stubborn as a Phillak no matter what.' Kairi thought to herself, as she was annoyed that Cal was able to go off by himself without her, but she was always the one scolded whenever she left his side or to do something different than normal.

Squeezing her way through, Kairi managed to make it to the other side.

"Cal?" Kairi called out once again, as the loud roaring sound of heavy wind was heard, until she finally heard "over here" from inside of it.

Running towards Cal's location, Kairi slowed down as her silver eyes widened to see that there were floating rocks spinning around in a giant stormy wind cyclone which had a large lift in the middle of it all.

"Wow…" Kairi responded as she was amazed before standing next to Cal's right side.

BD-1 whistled as he agreed with the 16 year old Jedi Padawan.

"I never seen a storm do that before. It's incredible." Cal stated, as Kairi pulled out her journal and started drawing it.

"It's amazing. It's like… seeing a true eye of the storm. That's what Cordova mentioned. Maybe we have to go down to find more information." Kairi explained, as she suggested an idea before putting away her journal.

"Together?" Cal responded.

Kairi nodded, before she and Cal used the Force to stop the rocks from spinning around in the wind cyclone, until they started running towards the lift.

Seeing BD-1 jump off Cal's back, the bi pedal droid was next to a button which caught their attention.

"What's up, BD?" Kairi asked, before she accidentally stepped on something which caused the lift to move down as BD-1 started scanning.

"My Friend. I believe this to be the earliest Zeffo site we've uncovered yet " Eno Cordova's voice was heard on BD-1's small speaker on his head as BD-1 latched onto Kairi's back. "Despite my reservations, I cannot chase the Bogano Vault from my mind. It's visions shaped the direction of an entire culture. I must understand why."

"Whatever happens down here, stay close to me." Cal reminded the younger Jedi Padawan as she was looking around the lift, when lights began to dim around them.

"I will. I will, Kestis." Kairi responded after sighing to herself, knowing that she felt annoyed by staying close to Cal. "Hmm…" She hummed to herself, while having one eye closed as she studied the sphere in front of her.

"Cere, we're in the tomb. It's massive." Cal stated as he used his comm link to contact Cere.

"And the Empire?" Cere asked, after the large gate opened.

"No signs of them… yet." Kairi answered.

"What about Cordova?" Cere asked once more, as the two exited the lift.

"Still not sure on what to find. He's a little…" Cal responded as he was looking for a word to describe Eno Cordova.

"Eccentric? Tell me about it." Cere finished.

"I was gonna say nuts." Kairi stated, before Cal nudged his elbow into her right shoulder. "Oww!" She exclaimed while rubbing it.

"Cere, you have to ignore her. She kept falling out of trees back at the Jedi Temple because she doesn't know how to keep her balance." Cal responded as he joked about Kairi.

"Oh yeah? Like the time me and you snuck out of curfew to see Coruscant at night? And it was your idea in the first place." Kairi explained, as she narrowed her silver eyes at him.

"Cal, Kairi, you two have to stay focused during this. Remember to keep an open mind while inside the tomb." Cere stated after cutting the two off.

Kairi had her arms crossed as she and Cal left the lift, before smelling a horrible scent in the air which disgusted them at first.

"What is that smell? A dead creature?" Kairi asked as she had her left hand covering her nose and mouth.

"Do you see that?" Cal asked, as he pointed to a breathing green plant which sprouted out of the ground.

BD-1 beeped in agreement as he saw the plant as well.

"Ugh…" Cal responded in disgust, as Kairi decided to try and draw it while sitting down on the steps.

"It's called… skungus. From what I remember. It explodes if we try to cut it open. Or if we touch it, it will sting us." Kairi explained as she managed to draw it with one hand and the other hand around her nose and mouth.

"Good to know." Cal stated, before the two left the area by squeezing through narrow rocks and felt a strong gust of wind once they made it to the other side.

As Kairi moved head, she can see more skungus on more rocky platforms before noticing a few rigged walls that they can wall run to an ice slide. Nodding to herself, Cal finally caught up to her after saving BD-1 from falling off of Cal's back from the huge gust of wind when he tried to scan more information about the skungus plant.

"Be careful, you two… One touch or one lightsaber attack." Kairi warned after when Cal caught up to her before surveying the area that the younger Jedi Padawan discovered.

Making it to the other side, Cal managed to follow Kairi as they avoided the parasitic plants and wall ran towards an ice slice which not one of them cannot make the jump. After making it down to the slide, Cal landed on Kairi's back, while hearing her painful moans when her face was planted on the floor. Raising his head up, Cal's eyes widened in shock to see Iris who was trying to pull Kairi from off of underneath him.

"I swear to my mother that this red haired Jedi loves to use my daughter as a landing pillow." Iris responded, unaware that Cal saw her before slowly getting off of her, and saw her disappear in front of him.

'Kairi… What are you hiding from me? Who was that?' Cal thought to himself, before seeing a few Spazz Rats heading towards their way.

"BD, stay with Kairi." Cal instructed the bi pedal droid before he flew off of his owner's back and stood next to Kairi, who responded to him nuzzling his head into her neck

Laughing gently, she managed to raise her left hand and pet the top of BD-1 head.

"BD… you're so cute." Kairi responded quietly, before she slowly raised her body up along with opening her eyes to see Cal dealing with the Spazz Rats. "I need some help." She stated as BD-1 shot out a healing stim and it landed in Kairi's right hand.

BD-1 beeped in confusion as she gently pulled out his small tray and placed the stim inside and, and pushed it back.

"I have to try this." Kairi whispered as her legs felt weak once she tried to get up, but she decided to crawl to a nearby rock when more Spazz Rats began to appear out of a small room.

Seeing that they were drawn to Cal's lightsaber, Kairi was behind cover as BD-1 followed her and stood next to her.

"Watch this, BD-1." Kairi whispered.

Closing her eyes, Kairi was focusing as she had her right hand out when a small ball of a greenish glow came out while BD-1 watched. As Cal was fighting off his third Spazz Rat, he blocked it's second bite attack as the creature backed away from him and turned his attention to the rock which Kairi was hiding behind.

Seeing the Spazz Rat drawned to the green glow around it like they were hypnotized before BD-1 got out over cover to check on Cal who immediately used his lightsaber to slash through their neck to kill them off.

Remembering something from the past, Cal felt his head hurting as he got down on one knee and his lightsaber was switched off before he closed his emerald green eyes.

"Promise me that you wouldn't hate me for this, Cal?" Young Kairi responded

"I won't. What are you doing?! We have to get outta of here, Kai!" Young Cal asked as he saw her close her eyes, before holding onto Cal's hand.

"As your friend, please trust me, Cal Kestis!" Young Kairi responded once more as she remained focus.

Hearing something breaking apart from underneath them, Cal and Kairi were falling down towards their deaths before they were saved by Kairi's shield which she created.

"Hold on!" Kairi exclaimed, before hugging Cal's body as they disappeared...

"...Cal? Cal!"

The fainted voice of Kairi's began to echo as she was using her hands to lift up Cal's face. Blinking his eyes, he saw Kairi's smile on her face along with BD-1 on her back.

"Are you okay? Do you need BD-1 to heal you?" Kairi asked as she was worried about the ginger haired Jedi, until his emerald green eyes looked away from her and to see Iris who was behind his younger friend. "What's wrong, Cal?" She asked as she noticed that he wasn't saying anything to her, before she stood up and pulled out her lightsaber while looking around the area to see if there wasn't any Spazz Rats left.

BD-1 jumped off and used his little legs to run back to Cal, before jumping onto his lap.

Chirping a question to Cal, the ginger haired Jedi looked down at him before giving the bi pedal droid a reassuring smile and started looking back at Kairi who touched a switch on the wall which caused a huge gust of wind to blow in her face.

Laughing to herself, Kairi was smiling as she left her mouth open with her tongue out when she smiled.

'Kairi… just who are you exactly?' Cal thought to himself…