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35. "Dooku Captured" (pt. 1)
The Emissary, Undisclosed Location
Anakin had not been in contact with anyone for three days.
And Elara was not as incensed as one would expect her to be.
It was no secret that the Skywalkers were close. It was also no secret that either of them would be the first in line to ensure the other's safety. So it would have stricken anyone as strange that Elara was steadfastly calm. She stood with hands clasped behind her back, face expertly composed as she surveyed the vast expanse of space. There wasn't an indication of fear or anxiety anywhere on her body. It didn't pinch her eyebrows, purse her lips, square her shoulders, or tense her spine. She wasn't monitoring every possible channel for a transmission. She wasn't muttering about how reckless Anakin had been. Instead, she appeared to be the very picture of Jedi impartiality. Anyone who knew Elara would have pegged her composure as distinctly odd. Too cold for who they knew she was.
What they wouldn't have known was this––Anakin's disappearance had been planned. In their quest to locate and capture Dooku, the younger Skywalker had been volunteered to be bait. They suspected Dooku to have holed himself up in an impressive Separatist frigate, and the only way to get inside was to attempt an infiltration. Knowing that a fleet of battleships would only send the Count running, it was decided that a faux botched mission would suit better. And who was better suited for a hot-headed, singular assault than Anakin Skywalker? Dooku would certainly believe it, especially given what had happened on Geonosis. Though, despite this all being orchestrated, and despite the fact that Obi-Wan was en route to go rescue the young general, Elara couldn't help the twinge of very real anxiety in her stomach. She was his older sister, after all; no amount of training could ever change that.
"So…" Ahsoka drawled. She sidled up to Elara, arms crossed casually. "How long do you think this is gonna take?"
Elara hummed thoughtfully, and drummed her fingers against the back of her hand. She was standing at the front of the bridge of The Emissary, the flagship of her own fleet, gazing through its forward windows. There was a quiet buzz of energy behind her, as there usually was, and it provided a somewhat calming form of background noise.
"Given the fact that Obi-Wan just sent a ping that he infiltrated the frigate… I'd give it fifteen minutes," she responded. A sly smirk quirked at the corner of her mouth, which she shot the padawan's way. "Maybe longer if they start bickering."
The young woman beside her snorted and rolled her eyes. "They seem to do that a lot."
"Oh, you have no idea. When Anakin was much younger, it was a lot worse. Sometimes it's all nonverbal, and it can be terribly amusing." She turned and quirked an eyebrow at Ahsoka, a thought striking her. Her eyes gleamed curiously. "Do you know that they created an entire set of personalized hand signals?"
A look of stunned amusement shot onto Ahsoka's face. It was like she was hearing the best gossip about some kind of galaxy-wide celebrity. And in a way, Elara supposed, she was. Anakin was not known across the galaxy, but he was well known at the Temple. This was the kind of gossip that younglings and padawans alike loved to get.
"Really?"
"Oh, yes," she chuckled, shaking her head. "It's a lot of…" Elara made a show of sweeping a thumb over her eyebrow, adjusting a strand of her hair, and twirling the edge of an invisible mustache. This garnered a disbelieving but terribly amused snort from Ahsoka. She lifted a hand to cover her grin, but the twinkling in her eyes betrayed her mirth. "Each one signifies a different plan. They tried to make them subtle so they could communicate if they were ever captured. The first time I saw them do it, I was terribly confused. They hadn't clued me in on any of it, so I was left gaping at them as a squadron of droids encroached on our bivouacked position."
"Do you know what any of them mean, now?" Ahsoka asked, a light chuckle lacing her tone. Her hand dropped away from her mouth, which bore the broad smile still split across her face.
There was something wonderful about how readily she smiled. Perhaps that was the predisposition of a padawan––to still be so in awe of those they were learning from, and the newness of the galaxy they were traveling. It was a good reminder, especially now, that not everything was as doom and gloom as it sometimes seemed. There were still things to smile and laugh over, which was now very easy to forget. And with Ahsoka, the smiling and the laughter was contagious, spurring a brighter expression onto her face as she thought of the borderline ridiculous hand motions devised by her brother and friend. Even with the landscape of the memory being war-torn, there was something awfully amusing about it.
"Oh, yes, I made them tell me. Some of the plans are utterly ridiculous, but I suppose they each have their time and place." Elara smiled fondly, turning her gaze back out the bridge's windows. Her hands moved to clasp at the small of her back again, fingers drumming a steady beat against her own wrist. That smile faded into something gently contemplative, her gaze softening as though staring at something in her memory. "We can only hope that they find the right one to capture Dooku…"
The half-murmured statement was followed by silence. Dooku, like Grievous, was one of the Republic's top targets for capture. They were both menaces, driving forces of the Separatist Army that wreaked havoc for the sake of havoc, doing anything and everything to put obstacles in their path. It would be an enormous advantage if they could succeed in capturing Dooku. But it wouldn't be easy, that much Elara knew. Was it not only several months ago that she, Anakin, and Obi-Wan had been thoroughly thrashed by him? That he'd made his escape and disappeared into the blackness of space? Though this was planned, and though she had confidence in both Anakin and Obi-Wan––the situation was still tenuous.
"Well, if there's anyone that can catch him, it's Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi," Ahsoka said confidently. Then, a little wide-eyed, she turned to face Elara, her Silka beads fluttering behind her head. "A-And, you too, Master Skywalker, of course."
Elara smiled at her, and at the hastened correction, a quiet chuckle warming her chest. There was a quiet eagerness to please about the comment, a trait that Elara recognized from the early days of her padawanship. She reached out and touched the young woman's bare shoulder reassuringly.
"Thank you, Ahsoka, your certainty is flattering. But we must remember how formidable Dooku is. Even the most seasoned Jedi would find it difficult to come to blows with him. He was trained in the Jedi arts… but he has bastardized them for his own benefit. Has mastered techniques very few have ever seen before…" she trailed off. In her mind's eye, she recalled the flash of lightning crackled through the air. And the memory uncomfortable pressure of the Force around her throat had her clearing it. One of her hands even crept up to brush the neckline of her gorget, the edge of which sat at the base of her throat.
"You fought him before, didn't you?" There was a curiosity in Ahsoka's voice, and a quiet kind of excitement.
The Battle of Geonosis had been the inciting event of the Clone Wars, and younglings and padawans alike were terribly intrigued by it. And why wouldn't they be? It had irrevocably changed the course of their training and their lives. Very few padawans had been present for the battle, which had been a good thing; but their absence had left them curious. Those like Ahsoka, who came into padawanship at the beginning of the war, wanted to know more about what their Masters had done that day. Stories had echoed around the Temple, but like all tales, they got warped and changed the more they were passed around.
"Has Anakin not told you?" Elara asked, brows gently furrowed.
Ahsoka pulled a face, eyes thrown into a roll, and her head lolled to the side wryly. "He has, but he didn't say much, just that Count Dooku was dangerous."
Elara hummed and cast a considering look back out the window. And then, she nodded, and turned her attention back to the padawan.
"He is," she agreed. "We fought him three-on-one, and he diminished the strength of that front by taking us down one by one. He did it tactfully, in a manner meant to diminish our confidence. Dooku is impossibly clever. He can hone in on a weakness and exploit it. I was the last one standing, of the three of us… he surely knew that to see my comrades wounded would… spark something in me. And it did. He exploits the Force and wields it by way of the Dark Side, techniques that we do not know to counteract. He is truly a formidable foe, as I said… there's no shame in admitting that we were defeated by him, I've come to realize that, now. We fought to our best ability, but he was better."
Elara almost felt bad when she saw the worry flicker over Ahsoka's face. It likely wasn't the heroic tale she'd expected. It wasn't really a tale at all. It was a warning; a reminder that these things, though they often sounded heroic, often came at a price. Her crossed arms tightened over her chest, and her shoulders climbed towards her ears with tense anxiety. With lips mashed together, Ahsoka shifted her weight on her feet.
"So… do you think they'll do it? Catch him?"
"The key to snagging Dooku is being a step ahead of him. If we can keep one step ahead… we have a chance. We managed to get a foothold by getting Anakin in there undetected, which has lended us a better chance. They're good Jedi. At risk of sounding like Master Kenobi––have faith and trust in the Force," Elara said softly, assuredly. She offered a comforting smile, hoping to soothe the anxiety that she had, in part, caused.
It was with a slow nod that Ahsoka's shoulders relaxed. Then, after a moment, an amused smirk pulled across her face.
"That did sound a lot like Master Kenobi," she agreed.
"I've known him for almost eleven years," Elara revealed, a fond lilt to her voice. "I'd hope to know him well enough to sound like him."
It was often hard to believe it had been that long. It still felt like there were grains of Tatooine's sand in all her clothes. Every time she looked in the mirror, she thought she caught a glimpse of her old perpetual sunburn, which used to dust her nose and cheeks. But the grains of sand were long gone, and the kiss of Tatooine's suns had long stopped ravaging her skin, or bleaching her hair. It had been almost eleven years since Elara had left that life behind. So much had changed. She'd gone from slave to Jedi Knight. From never having left the Outer Rim to having traveled half the galaxy. She'd lost her mother, grown closer to her brother––and fell for a man who told her he would be trouble with only his smile. A man who was both a colleague and a friend. Yes. Much had changed.
A trooper stepped forward and saluted sharply, shoulders perfectly squared.
"Sir, we've got a blip from General Kenobi; should we jump to hyperspace?" he asked.
Elara turned, brows raised, and nodded. "Yes, thank you. And prepare to fire on the Separatist frigate once we drop out of hyperspace. General Kenobi and General Skywalker are going to need all the help they can get." She offered a cheeky wink to Ahsoka, which spurred another smile to her face. "And we're going to give it to them."
OOOO
Vanqor, Outer Rim Territories
Because nothing could ever go perfectly to plan when Dooku was involved, Elara and Ahsoka found themselves searching for shuttle wreckage on Vanqor. Upon firing on the Separatist frigate, they were made aware of two things––first was the solar sailor that escaped the ship, the second being the shuttle that followed. It was easy to deduce who was on those crafts. But both were struck by their respective enemy fire, which sent the ships barreling down towards Vanqor. So once the fighting was done and over with, both women and a detachment of clone troopers descended to the planet's atmosphere to try and find their Jedi comrades.
"I'm afraid neither General Skywalker nor General Kenobi have activated their tracking beacons, sir," said a trooper. He was tapping at buttons and flicking switches, trying to search for any kind of signal. "And since the shuttle wasn't one of ours, we can't track it. That means we're gonna have to sweep the planet's surface sector by sector if we want to find them."
Through the shuttle's cockpit windows, all they saw was rocky, grey landscape, and equally dismal skies. It looked peaceful, in a gloomy sort of way, with no scattered wreckage across the rocky ground, or plumes of smoke dancing into the air in thick pillars. It just looked… grey. The most remarkable thing about it all was that the rocks appeared to be crystalline in nature, and sparkled in the dull light. Unfortunately, almost every outcropping looked like the last, which was going to make it incredibly difficult to search, even with the technology at hand. They were looking for a grey heap of metal in an queally monotone landscape.
There was a quiet little huff from Ahsoka, who folded her arms over her chest. "That'll take forever. If they crashed, they could be hurt, or worse!"
"If something terrible had resulted from the crash I would've felt it," Elara informed assuredly. "They're alive, at the very least."
What Ahsoka said did, of course, hold weight. Obi-Wan and Anakin could have been injured in the crash; and whether or not that was true, they did not know. But Elara's connection to her brother would have clued her in on any worse situation. For if Anakin had died, the pain of it would have ripped her apart. It would have felt like someone had torn part of her own soul out of her body, and then left her to bleed out slowly. And if Obi-Wan had died as a result of the crash, the grief that would have stricken Anakin would have been something she felt, too. And, perhaps, just perhaps––she might've felt it herself.
"So we're just gonna… fly around until we see the crash site?" Ahsoka asked, sounding deterred if not a little unimpressed. This likely wasn't the daring rescue mission she thought it would be; or the likes of which she pictured she might carry out.
"You'll come to realize that, beyond the battlefield, war can be quite boring. Lots of… procedures and planning and numbers. Scanning every sector of the planet would be the natural solution for this situation… but I think I know how to speed up the process," Elara revealed. She placed a hand on the shuttle pilot's shoulder and he quirked his head towards her in acknowledgement. "Keep flying straight for me, please."
"Yes, sir."
Elara stood situated between the pilot's and co-pilot's chairs, a hand braced on the tops of either one. With a steady intake of breath, her eyes fell shut. She allowed herself a moment to breathe and clear her mind. She pushed aside any worry of bodily injuries, brushed away the lingering adrenaline that came with engaging in battle, and focused on quietude. Soon the mechanical hum of the shuttle faded, and a peaceful silence settled around the Jedi Knight. In this meditative state, Elara was able to reach out into the Force, where she probed around for something familiar. A gentle furrow overtook her brows as she searched, and a faint parting appeared between her lips. It was always remarkable to be in the state where one could feel how the Force buzzed and moved around every single object and being. She could feel it crackling around the clone troopers, rippling over the wings of the shuttle, humming around Ahsoka in her lively, unique signature. But none of that, no matter how remarkably beautiful it was, was what she was looking for.
Then, suddenly, she felt it. It appeared like a beacon of light in the darkest of nights. Bright and energetic, the distant sensation of Anakin's Force signature became apparent. Even so far away, Elara could feel it prickling against her right arm, the hair on which seemed to raise beneath the sleeve of her tunic. Her head instinctively ticked in that direction, and she pointedly focused on the distant, familiar thrum in the Force.
"Turn to the right," she instructed firmly, but softly. She felt the shuttle change direction, the floor tilting slightly beneath her feet. Once it evened out, she spoke again. "Proceed forward one klick and then land."
"Yes, sir."
Elara was just as slow and careful to bring herself out of her meditation. But even with her eyes open, with that state having been sloughed off––she could still feel Anakin's Force signature. It crackled faintly in the air, like some new form of static electricity.
"What did you just do?" Ahsoka asked.
"Everyone and everything has a unique signature in the Force, as you well know. Anakin's signature is so familiar to me, I'd be able to pick it out in a crowd of thousands. All I did just now was reach out and search for it. I used to do it all the time, before I knew what I was doing. It helped me find him before he picked a fight with a man twice his size in some Mos Espa side street," Elara explained.
The final comment was something that usually would have moved Ahsoka to laugh at her Master's expense. And yet, she didn't. Instead, the smile that flitted across her face was incredulous, and she gestured out the cockpit windows. They'd changed direction, but it all looked the same––rocky outcroppings, grey skies, and low-hanging haze.
"But that was so specific. You can narrow down where he is to an exact distance?"
"Any Force wielder can become familiar with the particular signatures of many beings. I'm sure that you'll come to know Anakin's very well, and it will be to your benefit. You can keep him out of trouble for me." This garnered a sly little look from Ahsoka, which caused Elara to smile in return. "But Anakin and I share a Force Bond. It means… many things, and most of them are still unknown and new to us, but… we are attempting to exercise it more, understand it more. I chose to do so not but a moment ago; it was, perhaps, the strongest I have ever felt his presence in the Force."
There was a pause before Ahsoka laughed, delighted. "That is… so cool."
The Skywalkers' Force Bond was an interesting thing to learn to exercise in the midst of a war. Had it been identified and addressed not a year ago, they would've been able to set time aside to explore it. But now they had to examine it by way of practical usage. There was rarely any chance to sit down, create a plan of how to explore it, and then go about doing so. Instead, they were relegated to pulling it out like a party trick or a last hope. And there was something satisfying about the fact that it had worked, and, hopefully, worked accurately. It would be a great triumph in the understanding of their Bond.
Once they'd traveled the one klick Elara had requested, they came across what they were hoping to find––the crash sight. As far as crash landings went, this wasn't the worst one that Anakin had––likely––piloted. The shuttle was still mostly intact, though it was too damaged to ever fly again. Gentle curls of smoke spiraled from its metal carcass, which would surely sit there as it decayed, waiting for some lucky scrapper to come along and break it down. Not too far away from it was the solar sailor they'd seen, damaged as well, but landed better.
The very much intact Republic shuttle landed not too far away, and the two Jedi, alongside three troopers, stepped out into the surprisingly tepid atmosphere of Vanqor.
"Master Skywalker? Master Kenobi?" Ahsoka ventured to call, rushing towards the shuttle.
"Ahsoka, wait," Elara bade, her arm cast out. She heard the young woman skitter to a stop, the soles of her boots scraping against stony ground
"But they could be inside!" Ahsoka insisted, voice pitched high in its worry.
Elara's attention was focused on the ground, her eyebrows drawn together. There were scuff marks on the ground, several of them, in a shape and pattern reminiscent of landing gear. Her eyes jumped from the sailor to the shuttle, the gangplanks of which were both down.
"Someone was already here. Be wary, we don't know if they're still nearby," Elara warned. She turned to the troopers pointedly, and they all nodded, and hoisted their blasters into a ready position.
"Do you think Dooku escaped?" Ahsoka posed.
"It's possible…"
Elara's attention returned to the sailor, which she noted had a burn mark slashed across its hull, but it wasn't consistent with the other burns on its metal body. This one was thinner, cleaner. It was the mark of a lightsaber. She made her way over to the ship, with the sounds of a trooper's footfalls following her. Elara placed her hand on the burn streak thoughtfully, and noted that her toe nudged something. There, at her feet were the pieces of a destroyed homing beacon. She dropped into a crouch to pick up one of the pieces, shifting it between her fingers.
"Dooku landed first. See this?" Elara lifted the piece of the beacon. "He must've tried calling for assistance, then sought shelter. Anakin and Obi-Wan landed shortly after and were quick to follow, but not before cutting him off from receiving back-up…" Her lips tilted, both amused and pleased by the intelligent play.
There was a scuffling of footsteps, and Elara looked up to see Ahsoka and the other two troopers walking towards them. The padawan's nose was scrunched up, and her bright eyes were surveying the foggy landscape around them. With one hand settling on a hip, she gestured to the craggy, sparkling formations of rock and crystal.
"Where could they possibly take shelter? There's no settlements on Vanqor, they'd just be wandering," she pointed out.
"There may not be any settlements, but look around." Elara gestured, as Ahsoka just had, to a large rocky outcropping. "There's bound to be… ravines and overhangs, natural forms of shelter." Face crinking in concentration, she cast a look over her shoulder, and was greeted by a horizon point obscured by fog. The buzz of Anakin's Force signature was still present, but it felt… muted, somehow. Like they were close enough to hear his voice, but there was a barrier between them, muffling his voice.
"Well… I see what looks like the mouth of a cave, but… it's caved in," Ahoska noted. But it was the way that she trailed off that caught Elara's attention. It was a suspicious kind of trailing off, tapering into the quietude of contemplation.
Elara rose out of her crouch and moved to stand beside Ahsoka. She followed her troubled gaze to a cave mouth some distance away. It was, as she said, blocked by large hunks of rock. In just looking at it, it did feel a little… off. There was a twinging in the air, the slightest dissonance in the Force that made it stand out more than anything else around them.
"What is it, Ahsoka?" she asked.
"Something's not right…" Again she trailed off, but she moved with it this time. Ahsoka started to walk towards the cave, and with a jerk of her head, Elara and the troopers followed her lead. Upon stopping before the collapsed mouth, they were all silent. Then Ahsoka pointed to the top of the pile of rocks that blocked the entry. "See that? It looks like it just… cracked. It didn't crumble with age––that looks deliberate."
And she was right. The largest stones at the top of the pile were large and, for the most part, intact. If the cave opening had simply grown weak and crumbled, it wouldn't have appeared as such. The lines were clean as though properly cracked. And then, Elara clocked a noise––the skittering of pebbles. She narrowed her eyes and focused, trying to pin-point the sound. Sure enough, there was a slight scattering of movement as a slew of tiny stones tumbled along the front of the rock pile.
"You're right, Ahsoka. You're absolutely right. This was deliberate, and not only is it that––it's new," Elara agreed. She smiled over at the young woman broadly, wholeheartedly. "Excellent work."
The praise had Ahsoka's shoulders squaring proudly. She smiled, satisfied, and nodded with the air of someone trying to be a little older than they truly were. But then, her expression fell as quickly as it brightened. Her nose scrunched, and then she sniffed. And sniffed a little heavier. And then a choked little cough fled her mouth, which was quickly covered by her hand.
"Do you smell that?" she asked, voice nasally thanks to the way she'd pinched her nose.
Intrigued, Elara sniffed at the air. Sure enough there was something there. She sniffed a little harder and a little longer, drawing the faint scent into her nose. Just like Ahsoka's, her nose scrunched in distaste. The smell was acrid and sulfurous. And the more she breathed it in, the more it seemed to clog her throat. A cough rattled her lungs as all the moisture in her throat and nasal passages seemed to be sapped away.
"That's gas…" she choked out. She, too, clapped a hand over her mouth and nose, but made the executive decision to step towards the cave-in. She pulled her hand away from her nose only a moment and was struck with how much stronger it was. "That's…" Elara coughed once more and lifted her arm to hide her face in her elbow, "that's poisonous gas."
"Is Master Skywalker in there?" Ahsoka asked anxiously, voice still pinched.
Elara briefly shut her eyes, focused despite the uncomfortable itching in her throat, and was practically punched by the strength of Anakin's Force signature. Her eyes snapped open as she stumbled back, arm dropping. She stared, wide-eyed, at the heap of rocks and nodded, hair quivering around her face. "Yes, yes he is."
"What do we do!?"
"We open the cave."
"How!?"
The older Jedi leapt back to stand beside the padawan, her eyes firmly locked on the mouth of the cave.
"Focus on the rocks and breath with me. Choke through it if you have to. But on our third exhale, we're going to push those rocks out of the way," Elara instructed.
Ahsoka's head whipped up and around, her hand pulled away from her face. "The Force?"
Elara nodded. "The Force."
They both turned their attention to the wall of stone before them. With a slight lifting of her hand, Elara signalled that they should start to breath. In––she settled her focus solely on the rocks––out. In––she reached out into the Force and gathered its strength towards her––out. In––she drew both arms in towards her chest, fingers curling and––out. On that final exhale, Elara and Ahsoka shoved their hands forward, and executed a simultaneously performed Force-push. The rocks exploded backwards, spraying into the cave in a burst of dust and pebbles.
"Whoa…" Ahsoka breathed. She turned her hands in towards herself and smiled, momentarily forgetting the weight of the situation.
The thunderous sound of stone colliding died down and, through it, echoed something else. Coughing. Relief crashed over Elara, which sent her head falling forwards, chin tucked to her chest. When she looked up she saw two figures through the haze of debris, hunched over, stumbling, and shaking as they rattled with coughs. Their eyes were narrowed against the dusty air, and they waved hands in front of their faces in search of cleaner air.
"Master!" Ahsoka exclaimed.
A flood of noxious gas spilled out, and with it shuffled Obi-Wan and Anakin. Elara braced a hand under her nose to prevent herself from breathing it in; in that moment, she envied the clone troopers and their helmets. Both men were covered in a fine layer of dust, their hair was out of sorts, and their uniforms a little askew. Tunics were rumpled, armor pieces were twisted and scuffed. There was a drawnness to their faces that suggested that the gas had started to take its toll on them. And if that hadn't made it apparent, the way they gasped in lungfuls of fresher air did. Anakin looked a little more worse for war, however––his cheeks were flushed, and his forehead glistened gently with sweat. But neither of them looked like they were about to keel over, and the more the air cleared, the better they appeared to get.
"You look like you've seen better days," Elara teased. It was born of relief, seeing both men alive if not a little rumpled. Anakin, with an arm curled around his stomach and a scrunched expression, lifted a hand to deflect the tease.
"And it looks like we got here just in time." Ahsoka smiled and folded her arms proudly over her chest.
Anakin straightened up and started to dash his hands across his chest and arms. He snorted a little gracelessly, shot a look at Obi-Wan, and attempted to appear nonplussed by the situation. But then, instead of a 'thank you,' he went with, "What do you mean, just in time?" Both hands had migrated to his hips, where they braced in a likely attempt to give himself an air of authority. His demeanor was teacher-like, but it was obvious he was trying not to dissolve in another bout of coughing.
Both Elara and Ahsoka exchanged a glance. Elara rolled her eyes and arched an eyebrow; she jerked her chin in Anakin's direction in a very clear 'put him straight,' sort of way. Ahsoka smirked and strode up to her Master, with a finger angled at his chest.
"You were in very big trouble!" she contested smartly.
It was Obi-Wan's turn to appear indignant at the suggestion. He tugged on the front of his tunic to straighten it, lifted his chin, and cleared his throat. But it was hard to seem unaffected by anything and everything when one's hair was a ruffled mess. Mischievous instinct had Elara's fingers twitching to brush said hair off his forehead. This had her curling her hand into a tight fist, breathing heavily to shove down the threatening pulling sensation in her gut. How was it possible for someone to look so disheveled yet so handsome at the same time?
"Trouble? We were simply searching for Count Dooku," Obi-Wan dismissed lightly.
"Ah, yes," Elara nodded and stepped forward lithely, letting her steps drag a bit. Obi-Wan met her gaze and inclined his head a little stiltedly. She folded her arms over her chest and let a smile both crooked and sweet appear on her lips. "How was that going for you?"
Anakin coughed as he cast his gaze over at Obi-Wan. Elara's eyes narrowed slightly as she realized what was happening; both men were trying to dismiss their missteps. Play it off as though nothing had happened, in an attempt to keep up appearances. It was likely for Ahsoka's sake, trying to come off as seasoned Jedi who always had a plan. But surely they knew that Elara wasn't going to fall for it. Yet, when Obi-Wan met her eyes, he arched his brows innocently, as though everything, in fact, had gone to plan.
All she did was arch a smart eyebrow in response.
"Yeah. We had the situation well under control, my little padawan," Anakin assured. And then he pivoted on his heels to look at his sister. "And it was going well, thank you, Lari."
Before Elara could think to snap back with any sort of response, sassy or reprimanding, movement caught her attention. She leaned sideways a little to peer around Obi-Wan, her eyes narrowed into the hazy darkness of the cave they'd just escaped. Something was shifting through the shadows, but she couldn't quite make out what it was… Surely it was just a settling rock, or the light dancing through a haze of dust…
"Oh, I see," Ahsoka chirped. "So which part of the situation did you have under control? The blocked entrance, the poison gas… or that gundark behind you?"
The color drained from Anakin's face as the sound of scrabbling stone reached their ears. "Gundark?"
"Oh, you mean the one that's 'too far away' to worry about?" Obi-Wan drawled through half-gritted teeth.
And sure enough, the gundark's snarled visage was bathed in light, no longer a shifting shadow in the darkness. Its hands were scrapping at the ground, dragging itself up the slope and towards the mouth of the cave. Elara briefly thought back to the gundark she'd fought on Geonosis––and then blanched when she realized how much bigger this one was. Her hand instinctively shot to the lightsaber on her hip, though she knew that alone wouldn't do much good. In another surge of instinct, she stepped backwards, a hand thrown out to get Obi-Wan to follow her lead. He did.
"Block the entrance!" Ahsoka ordered.
The three troopers rushed forward, blasters at the ready, and started to fire at the roof of the cave. Bolts struck stone, which immediately crumbled and fell, which effectively trapped the gundark back inside the cave. Another wave of dust and debris surged over them, and Elara winced to think how much of it was in her hair, now. It was always hard to find a time to jump in the 'fresher while working these kinds of missions. One often found themselves leaping out of it, soap in their hair, as a distress signal whined through the ship.
"Which one of you was it that thought it was smart to anger a gundark?" Elara asked, waving a cloud of dust away from her face. She darted her eyes between Anakin and Obi-Wan, the latter of which jerked his head at the younger man. And once she settled a quietly amused look on her brother, he cleared his throat and dutifully looked away.
"There's still Dooku to deal with," he reminded pointedly, already moving back towards the shuttle.
Elara smiled to herself, and then angled it over at Obi-Wan, who was smirking behind his hand. Ah, yes––so it was Anakin that had angered the gundark. She chuckled under her breath and shook her head, a movement so small in any other situation it might have been considered demure. Obi-Wan gestured towards the shuttle, a gentlemanly invitation for her to go ahead of him. She did so, and as she passed him by, some melancholy twist in her stomach longed for him to reach out and place a hand on her back. Just to feel the vague pressure of his fingertips there would be nice; to have him guide her along, despite both of them knowing that she knew where they were going. But the time for that had passed. Things were different now, as they needed to be. Though that still didn't stop a shiver from running down her spine at the memories. She supposed she would have to now satisfy herself with only the ghostly remembrance of his touch.
"You let him get away?" Ahsoka inquired.
In a movement almost amusing, Anakin froze, his shoulders tensed. He turned to his padawan with lips pursed in an 'o,' the gears in his head obviously turning. "No. Not… get away exactly… just…" As he struggled for words, Ahsoka's expression became the unamused epitome of 'I'm waiting,' her arms crossed over her chest. Anakin chuckled nervously and turned a pleading glance on Obi-Wan. "Chime in any time."
Obi-Wan chuckled blithely, a delightfully light sound. "Oh, no," he denied, gently folding his arms. "I'm enjoying this far too much."
Anakin darted a gaze that grew more anxious with each passing moment to his sister. She fought the quirk of her lips off and shook her head, much to his visible dismay.
"I'm afraid I can't bail you out on this one, Ani. I'm just as interested to know how Dooku escaped," she said.
"D'you wanna talk about the gundark? 'Cause I can talk about the gundark," Anakin deflected.
"As interested as I am, there are more pressing matters, are there not? Dooku, remember?"
With a huff of defeat, Anakin let his head fall forward a moment. When he lifted it, it rose in a nod.
"He gave us the slip. Again. I suspect he's the one who trapped us in the cave with the gundark. Obi-Wan was having lightsaber issues, so I was tasked with keeping it busy," he admitted flatly, with a half-hearted gesture to the re-collapsed cave entrance.
Elara, now more business than amusement, let her expression sober. The gundark was something fun to tease Anakin about; Dooku's escape, though not their fault, was still a serious matter. She gestured back off to the left, directing the attention of both men to the crashed shuttles.
"It looks like another ship landed while you were otherwise occupied. Despite your handiwork with the tracking beacon, it's entirely possible that he received the help he was calling for," she said.
Obi-Wan hummed, his hand lifted to draw fingers along his jawline. His glove clad fingertips gently carded through his beard, the wirey, well-kept hair shifting beneath the caress. Again, Elara could not help the way such a motion drew her eyes to his lips––but forced her gaze away the moment they prevailed upon the sight. There was a thoughtful yet troubled pinch between his eyebrows, which seemed to grow deeper the longer it stayed.
"We should inform the Council of his flight. At the very least, they can now keep their ears open for any possible leads on where he might have disappeared to," he suggested.
In a mirror of the gesture he'd made before, Elara extended an arm towards the shuttle, inviting all present to return to it. "Shall we, then? We can contact the Council from The Emissary." They all started to move towards the shuttle, with Elara hanging back to walk beside her brother. "So… not easy fighting a gundark, is it?" she gently prodded.
"Yeah," Anakin snorted lowly. "At least you had a lightsaber…"
Immediately, her brows furrowed. She'd been given Anakin's lightsaber for safe-keeping prior to his leaving to be captured. If he'd arrived armed, it wouldn't have been plausible for him to have been taken into custody; so she'd kept it till Obi-Wan went to join him, only then relinquishing it to her fellow Jedi.
"What happened to your lightsaber?" She stared at Anakin hard, gaze burning with curiosity. He didn't answer verbally, but the thinning of his lips was enough of a reply. Elara sighed and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Did you lose it again? Anakin… how many sabers have you lost or destroyed, now? What number is this one?"
"Since I started training him, or since the start of the war?" Obi-Wan asked, the question cast cheekily over his shoulder.
Anakin clucked his tongue, cheeks flaring pink. "Oh, ha-ha, you're both very funny… like either of you still have your original lightsaber."
"As a matter of fact, Anakin––" Elara smirked at him and patted the hilt on her hip, "I do."
OOOO
The Emissary, Outer Rim Territories
It wasn't long after they'd contacted the Council about Dooku's escape that they'd been re-contacted by them with news of his location. The Count had escaped only long enough to trust and then be incarcerated by a band of weequay pirates. They'd carted him off to Florrum, and were now demanding a ransom in spice for his transfer. There was something almost serendipitous about the situation. They'd lost him, only to find him again. It had been insisted that someone trusted go and confirm that the pirates did, in fact, have Dooku––so the Skywalkers and Obi-Wan, the closest to Florrum, had been given the job. They were only eager––quietly so––to accept. The idea that they could soon have Dooku in their custody was an exciting one. It would give them a proper, strong advantage in the war.
There was one caveat that came with the plan, however.
"His only stipulation is that you arrive unarmed," Mace informed, his voice a little staticky over the holo transmission.
Anakin choked on a breath. "Unarmed?" he stressed in clear dislike.
"We know very little about these pirates. We could be walking blind into what could very well be a hostile situation," Obi-Wan agreed, though much more calmly.
"We can't let Dooku slip through our fingers again. Report back as soon as you arrive," Mace ordered. He left no room for argument, as the transmission fizzled out right then and there.
"Well, this should be fun," Obi-Wan snarked lightly.
Elara rolled her shoulders into a small shrug, mulling over their newly given mandate.
"Think of it as a diplomatic mission. There are plenty of politicians that request we come unarmed," she reminded.
Anakin leaned forward and braced his hands on the edge of the holotable. He turned his head and shot his sister a wide-eyed look, like he thought she'd gone crazy. "Did you miss the part where they said that they were pirates and not politicians?"
Elara shook her head and clasped both hands behind her back.
"No, I heard that clearly. But did we not grow up on a planet rife with criminals and villainy? I think we can handle brief negotiations with some pirates. We go in, we ensure they have Dooku, we get out. Simple. Not easy, I wouldn't dare say this will be easy, but it is simple. I won't turn down simple," Elara said.
There was a beat of silence, broken by Anakin's huffed groan, and a dropping of his head. "Sometimes I hate it when you're right."
A cheeky look overtook her face and she nudged his shoulder with her arm. "At least we don't need to worry about your going unarmed."
Another groan, this one louder and longer, escaped from Anakin as he pushed off the table. He didn't deign her with a response, and instead lifted a hand to massage one of his temples. There was an amused smirk from Obi-Wan, hidden half-heartedly with a poised hand. Ack-Ack, who'd been standing by, did a poor job of concealing a laugh behind a cough. He cleared his throat again, sobered his expression up, and inclined his head to his general.
"I'll give the order to the pilot, sir," he said.
"Yes, thank you, Ack-Ack."
As he moved away, Ahsoka rocked up onto the balls of her fight, smiling brightly, excitedly. "So when are we going to get there?" she asked.
There was something very clear in her question––the assumption that she, too, would be attending this mission. The three adults around the table shared a single look that bounced between them. From Anakin to Obi-Wan, from Obi-Wan to Elara, and Elara back to her brother. And Ahsoka looked between them all with a pleasant smile. There was a second glance tossed out by Anakin, but it was met with steadfast, silent responses from his companions. This was not something either Elara or Obi-Wan could answer. This was something that the younger Skywalker had to do on his own.
Elara nonchalantly stepped out from between Anakin and Ahsoka, and strode towards Obi-Wan. She stopped beside him, but stayed facing in the opposite direction. She let her eyes wander across a tactical board, though she had no current interest in what was displayed on it.
"Ahsoka…" Anakin started, but his brough audibly stopped in his throat. He let out a long breath, and Elara pictured him pinching at the bridge of his nose in quiet frustration. She then heard him inhale sharply, a steeling sort of breath. "I… I think you should hang back on this one."
"What? Why?" Ahsoka asked, tone indignant.
"We don't know what we're walking into. Pirates are unpredictable and, frankly, so is Count Dooku. I don't want to put you in harm's way unnecessarily."
"But if he's locked up, how unpredictable can he be?"
"But what if he isn't? What if it's all an elaborate ruse, and they're just using Dooku as a way to lure us in?" he posed. He was answered by silence, so he continued. "I want you to hang back so that in case anything goes wrong, you get us help. Just like… like what you just did. With the cave and the gundark."
There was a pause, heavy as his words were considered.
"Fine," Ahsoka conceded, tone gentler than it had been before. "But I will save you if I have to, Skyguy."
Anakin chuckled, likely spurred by the new nickname. "I know you will, Snips. I know you will."
Elara smiled to herself at the begrudging admittance that had just been made. But in admitting that he and Obi-Wan had been in trouble, he praised his padawan for being on top of things. It was, of course, a persuasion tactic to get Ahsoka to agree to staying behind; but he likely remembered what good it did to be told by one's teacher how well they are doing. Her gaze crept sidelong, and found its way to Obi-Wan. Said man was smiling gently down at his feet, a hand still poised at his chin. It was a soft look of remembrance, perhaps as he recalled having a similar conversation with Anakin. But then he looked up, and as his head turned towards hers––she looked back to the tactical board. Elara could feel his gaze burning into her, and the urge to look was strong.
But she didn't dare do so. It was too dangerous, and there were more pressing matters to attend to. Elara would just have to go about them with the invisible blemish Obi-Wan's stare left on her person. It was something that no one else could see, but something that she would always feel. And what a terrible distraction that would be.
Afterword: So this ended up being more of a set up for the rest of the episode, but I felt like some Ahsoka and Elara time was due. I'm still trying to figure out how to write Ahsoka (and young Ahsoka, who was really, really cocky), so I hope I at least did her some justice. I can't wait till next chapter, we'll get into the meat of the episode, I'm so excited for it!
Review Replies!
ZabuzasGirl: Clone Cadets is coming, I promise, but it's still a little slow coming. And I sent you that message about Wyle, who we both agreed is gonna have a time and a half when Elara realizes it's him that's put the bounty out on her. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
DCDGojira: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
monkeybaby: I thought it would be fun to give Elara her own recurring villain/issue, as Obi-Wan and Anakin have theirs in Maul and Clovis and such. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again! Happy holidays, and a happy New Year!
PrettyRecklessLaura: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!
Princess Jaquline Chess: I love exploring the down time soldiers get in stories that have military aspects; because it's easy, I think, to sometimes to forget that soldiers are more than soldiers. They have hobbies and affinities, and these all come out in their downtime. And I'm having so much fun getting to write Elara bonding with her men! Revenge of the Sith will absolutely hurt no matter what happens. The Skywalkers have always been doomed to endure pain of some kind. Also, thank you for mentioning the songs! I gave them a listen, and they do give me Balance/Obi-Lara vibes. I'm a huge music nerd, and I've got an extensive Spotify playlist for this story, so I love hearing what songs people associate with the story! And thank you so much for your offer, I will let you know. I'm currently doing well, and hope you are as well! Thanks again; I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
MsRosePetal: The level Regency era romantic ignorance is rising SO QUICK between these two, I swear. And Wyle's got a grudge… which will be revealed in time. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
WeasleyLover10: The tension that grows between them is so many things (and sexual very well may be one of them ;) ). And I'm so, so happy that this story helped you with quarantine/the pandemic. It's been a saving grace for me, so it means a lot that it was able to be something similar for others. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
Guest: Oh, Tarkin will get his dues, don't worry.
bambam411: The tension is reaching a snapping point, and I'm so here for it. I'm so excited for the next couple chapters cause things are getting ready to throw down. And, yes, Elara did tempt Wyle with promises of protection from the Hutts––but, unfortunately, given his crimes, that protection came in the form of incarceration. I didn't touch on it way back when, but we'll get Wyle's story soon enough. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
MotherAiya: It's not something I often touch on, but Elara's early life left her with a decent chunk of insecurities, as one could imagine. She doesn't like being viewed as a 'chosen one,' and being seen as anything particularly special leaves her wide eyed and unsure how to take it––so the idea that Obi-Wan could like her as she does him doesn't register as something plausible. Domino Squad deserved so much more, and I cannot imagine how torn up that incident must have left Fives and Echo. We'll be seeing them, though––Elara will do her checking in on them. And just wait till Elara finds out about that bounty; poor girl is gonna be so confused at first. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
PotatosGonnaPotate: I'm so excited you've been enjoying the story so much! We're really getting into the meat of it, and Obi-Wan and Elara are barreling towards the break of the tension between them so, so fast. It's been a long time coming, but… it's almost here. I hope you had a good holiday, too, mine was nice and quiet. Just what I needed. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
thenerdnextdoor: Bounty hunters just know the perfect moment to reappear don't they? And it seems he's grown out of 'spunky side kick' and is now more of a 'grimacing menace' type. I'm still really glad to hear that Elara's slotting into the canon stories well! The start of this episode was a bit of a struggle, but I think I got it to a pretty decent place. And Obi-Lara has reached the level of pining Austen lovers doing a quietly passionate reel at the village ball. The restraint is real, the tension is strong, and something's about to snap it. You're right to think that sad, lonely Obi-Wan is unsustainable… and that something is going to give soon. And my passion for military history has really lended itself to this story. My father was also in the military, so I've had the chance to see the long standing, heart-breaking after-affects of war, too. Soon enough, Anakin's gonna go from a personified '?' to a '!?' He's about to be so confused, poor boy. And Obi-Wan and Elara are certainly going to end up testing the waters of being compassionate and loving… can't wait for it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again! I hope that you're doing well and have a happy New Years!
09sasha: So, we've met Wyle before (way back in chapters 11-13, I believe), so don't worry if you forgot him. I haven't mentioned him since. Kelvjak was introduced in the last chapter and was a creation of my own brain, too, so you haven't missed anything! Wyle was originally intended as a one-off character, but I've decided to give him some more depth, and to let him have some fun. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again! We'll get some good Obi-Lara moments next chapter, promise!
Panda Blitz: Thank you so much! I promise the first kiss is coming. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
jedani: Ahh, thank you so much! I'm so happy that you've been enjoying the story so much; I've put a lot of work into developing Elara, and it makes me very happy that she seems so well integrated to those reading. And I will say, about the 'lingering eye contact thing,' there has been a lot of it. I'm very guilty of using eye contact as a way to convey unspoken things. And for Obi-Wan and Elara it always seemed fitting. But it's definitely just a stage for them. They're already moving out of it, and into a new stage of their relationship. The pining gazes were very much a result of them struggling to find a way to either repress or express what they've been feeling. And I do have to say, I was noticing I wrote 'lingering' far too much in the last chapter, and was like 'oh, no.' I'm definitely going to be reminding myself that I can just write about emotions and such instead of having to use a look or glance or something as a prelude. Maybe I'm just longing to be around people again, ahaha! And Wyle's being really sneaky… we'll see how well that works out for him. Thank you so much for your lovely review! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Shadow Wolf 15846: Wyle was mentioned waaaay back in chapters 11-13; he was part of the plot to kill the senator on Gleann. But I don't blame you at all for forgetting about him, 'cause he was supposed to be a one-off character. But he's back! I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
Eomy: Elara was, as you remember, kind to him––but he may have developed a grudge. We'll get his story soon enough, but trust that he didn't just get to go free once the mission was over. I was absolutely influenced by The Mandalorian for the second half; that's part of the reason I chose Nevarro. I'm so excited and very flattered that you think the chapters are getting more and more interesting! I always worry that I'm gonna drop the ball sometime and it's gonna get kinda 'blah.' We'll hear more about Wyle and that bounty… it's gonna be quite a time. And when Elara and Obi-Wan eventually get together… it's gonna be tough. But at least they'll have one another. I've got the start of a solid character concept for Mando, now, and I'm really excited to start developing it. And, YAY, I hope you're enjoying the Clone Wars! There's some amazing episode arcs in later seasons, so I'm excited for you to get to experience them for the first time! I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
Pinnney: It was a lot of fun to see people react to Wyle! I've been sitting on his return for a while, so I was super excited to finally post it. I forget that some of my favorite episodes are in Season 1––Dooku Captured and the Gungan General are amongst those favorites. And as for whoever goes after THE Elara Skywalker… good luck, buddy, you've got her, her brother, and f*kin Obi-Wan Kenobi to deal with, too. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again! Happy New Years!
Duchess of Lantern Waste: Elara is likely feeling the most awkward she's ever felt in her life. As you said––under that Jedi exterior is a woman who's very confused about what she feels and doesn't know how to deal with it. And I imagine that there are a lot of Jedi that secretly feel that way. And, never fear, the flirty Obi-Lara stuff is returning… likely sooner than you think. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
lolistarkiller: Hi! I'm really happy that you've enjoyed the story thus far. Also, I absolutely love your interpretation of Elara's Darth Vader vision––because Anakin, be he Ani or Vader, is always going to looking out for his sister (and take the interpretation of 'looking out for' as you like, given Vader's temperament). I also really, really, really love the idea of members of the 442nd forming their own rebel group, because I could totally see it. That being said, the whole of the 442nd isn't going to make it out of Order 66 unscathed… but I've got some plans for post Ep. III, and they're still developing. Thank you so much for your review! I loved reading what ideas you'd come up with, they made my day! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
MalirBly: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Elizabeth: I blame the paragraph about his hands on the fact I watched a few Jane Austen films these past few weeks. My favorites always have close-ups on hands (which sounds so weird) but they're so expressive. No one talks about how expressive hands can be. And I am quite proud of how I've been able to grasp the mannerisms of characters; I lend the attentiveness to that from all my acting training, which has come very in handy as a writer. And I feel like lending relatability to characters that are Jedi is always fun. Because, kinda like soldiers, we sometimes forget that Jedi are people/beings, too. They fall prey to all the pitfalls others do, too. I miss writing their banter just as you say you miss reading it. They've both entered that tenuous space where they either have to ignore it, or act on it, and they don't know what they want to do. I'm happy last chapter was able to capture some of that conflict! And, yes, Wyle has returned! He's gearing up to try and throw a wrench in the works, and he's determined. And as corny as it probably sounds, the best compensation for writing has always been knowing that you all are enjoying it! I love getting to read all your thoughts and theories, it brings me genuine joy. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks again for such a lovely review!
RJNorth: I hope to find a good spot to work in an Obi-Wan pov in the next chapter or two. Because his thoughts on the way and the reason that he's distancing himself/what he notices she's doing are going to be fun to work through. And if Elara and Satine were ever to have a discussion about Obi-Wan's facial hair, Elara would be all for the beard. His beard is pure perfection, and he keeps it so well. I seriously cannot wait for the Satine episodes. I have such plans. Regardless of if they're together or not by the time the episodes occur, there's definitely going to be tension. And poor Anakin is going to be in the center of it all. Also, I totally and completely forgot there was a character named Wyle in KENOBI! This is a totally different Wyle, he's a bounty hunter from chapters 11-13. No wonder when I saw the name I went 'that sounds like a good name for a Tatooine native.' Yeesh, my brain is playing tricks on me. Also, I've loved getting the chance to talk with you over on Tumblr! It's an absolute blast, and I can't thank you enough for asking about Ack-Ack headcanons. I'm thinking of doing some for other members of the 442nd. I've also got random 'modern' headcanons for characters that I've got piling up. I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks again, and may the Force be with you!
camelotprincess1: I've missed writing the trio working together, but Dooku Captured and The Gungan General are gonna have lots of that! I hope you enjoyed Elara giving Anakin a good sisterly ribbing this chapter, it was a lot of fun to write; she and Obi-Wan may be a bit strained at the moment, but her and Anakin are good as ever. When I planned the arc of the Obi-Lara relationship, when I got to this part, the part where they start distancing themselves from one another, I just went 'oof.' It hurts––but we know that it's gonna break some time. Something's bound to happen. And though Fives and Echo are in the 501st, Elara will absolutely be checking in on them; and maybe they'll hedge their bets on a different Skywalker everytime the 'who's the better general?' stuff comes up. They've got the advantage of knowing both General Skywalkers! Wyle is slippery. The Clone Wars were the perfect opportunity for him to sneak around and get the bounty placed. I can't wait to dive into more of his story/plan… I've been sitting on it for a while. Anakin's got Clovis. Obi-Wan's got Maul. Elara's got Wyle. God forbid any of those baddies interact. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
And thank you to those that added this to their follows/favorites! It means a lot!
The last chapter of 2020 posted! I seriously cannot thank you guys enough for being so avidly involved with this story, especially over the last few months. Writing 'Balance' has been a major part of keeping me sane during the pandemic, and you guys have played a part in keeping me sane, too. It's really lovely to be able to interact with you all here, and I look forward to continuing to do so!
Happy New Years, all, and may the Force be with you!
~Mary
