Chapter 37

A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back! Sorry for the break, my coursework has been insane. Anyways, hope y'all enjoy this latest chapter! Remember, I just own a few OCs here and there, Trezac belongs to Gabeherdon308, the Mandalorian Survivors belong to Mandalore the Survivor, and the rest belong to either Disney or Netflix.

"I can't believe you're not considering this!"

"I cannot believe you're listening to humans!"

Asteria sighed, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall, watching her older sisters argue. She'd given up trying to but in and stop them about an hour ago; when they were like this, it was best to let the two hotheaded Sunfire elves duke it out until they finally burned through their rage. After that, then they could talk through this like civilized people. All she had to do until then was stay out of the way.

"They're not like the other humans!" Janai exclaimed.

"Sooner or later, they'll stab you in the back, Little Sister!"

"How do you know that?!"

"Because all humans are the same!"

Janai growled, her eyes and skin flickering with fire for a moment. "Are you even listening to yourself?! That's like saying all elves are the same!"

Well, Asteria would admit Janai did have a point there. From her studies, she knew that there were currently five human kingdoms. Sure, they didn't know too much about all of them, mostly just the two kingdoms right along the border, Katolis and Duren if she recalled correctly. The Tidebound elves would probably know more about the other kingdoms, their archipelago was the closest to the other three kingdoms…granted that was given a massive ocean between the two ends of the continent around the globe, but still the principle still applied.

The Startouch elf shook her head, she was getting off topic. So, the people that came, some of them wore Katolisian armor. She supposed that made her eldest sister's anger more justifiable. It wasn't a huge secret that Katolis had had a hand in Avazandum's murder, plus there was the extinction of the Magma Titans too, not to mention the old rivalry their people seemed to have with that kingdom in particular. Ok, yeah, she could kinda see where Khessa was coming from now.

But that didn't explain the other people that came with them. The ones in the weird armor. A few of them were human, but still, some of them looked like elves—though she'd never seen an elf with that many horns before. Plus, there was that one woman who was pink. Bright fricking pink. And her hair was azure blue! There was no way she was human.

Though, she could be a hybrid. She had the skin and hair that would look like they came from a Tidebound elf. It wasn't the first time that there'd been human-elf hybrids after all.

"These humans are honorable!"

"Oh, I doubt that sister! This is a trap!"

Janai gave a frustrated shout, throwing her hands in the air, "Do you really think if they wanted us dead they wouldn't merely attack us with their flying ships?!"

Yeah, that was another strong point. When she first saw those things approaching, she'd been scrambling to think of a way to defend the city. As powerful as the Sunforge was, even it was limited in its power. Plus, she doubted the forge could hit multiple targets at once. And there was the fact that flying metal probably wasn't normal, so there was no guarantee that it'd work anyways. So yeah…if they did want to kill them they would've done it already. Plus, Janai was vouching for them.

"Asteria! Help me make our sister see reason!"

And there went her hopes that she'd go unnoticed. How was it she was still a teen and still more mature than her adult sisters?

Sighing, Asteria pushed herself off the wall and walked over to her sisters, blue eyes meeting blazing gold. She hated when her sisters made her pick sides, but someone had to break up their fights. "Sorry Khessa, but Janai has more points."

"What?!"

"She's right. They had the means to attack us but they didn't; I don't know about you, but me and the other Captains had no clue about how we were going to fight those flying boats! Heck they even warned us of an incoming attack!"

"To trick us!"

"Why? They already had the sky? And if there is an army on the way, why tell us? Why not distract us with their flying things and then ambush us with their army while we were distracted?" she countered. "Plus there were non-humans among them too. So, I'm with Janai on this one Khessa. These humans are not our enemies. And if what they say is true, we cannot let old prejudices get between us, we need to work together to stop this war."

"Please sister," Janai said, resting a hand on the eldest elf's shoulder. "I wouldn't have brought them if I thought they weren't telling the truth. So, please, believe me: we need their help."

-.-

It was warm.

That was the first thing that Trezac registered as consciousness slowly returned.

The next thing he registered was that he was lying on something soft. It was comfortable. More comfortable than his own bed. And every now and then he felt the loud rumble of the engines. Though…there was another sound he couldn't quite place, but it didn't seem threatening.

Something brushed against his nose, making the padawan frown as he turned his face into the fur…fur? His bed wasn't made of fur. Nor was his master's—not that he ever needed to ever crawl into his master's bed, he wasn't a child.

Were they stranded? No, that didn't explain the noises he heard. Brows furrowing, the teen turned, grimacing as bright light filtered through his closed lids and began to warm his face as a breeze ruffled his hair. So, he definitely wasn't in a ship. But then…what was he hearing?

Turning away from the sun, green eyes slowly forced themselves opened. Trezac could see a blurred form of red, gold, and white standing tall against the blue sky. There was also a small blue form slowly approaching him.

Slowly his vision began to focus, allowing him to see as a small dragon hopped in front of him, tongue lolling and tail wagging as bright blue eyes met him. After looking at him for a moment, the hatchling tilted its head, making a small, almost confused yip. It crept forwards, nudging his hand with its nose, bright blue eyes sparking with concern.

"Zym," a voice chided, "we told you to—Trezac!"

The exclamation made the padawan wince as the loud noise made his head throb. Amplified by the sound of Rayla smacking Callum upside the head.

Right, Rayla and Callum, they were his friends. He was on Xadia with them, Zym, and Sol Regem in the middle of Tatooine on steroids.

Hands gently pressed against his shoulders as he tried to sit up, his friends looking down at him worriedly as they kneeled beside him. "Hey, maybe you should take it easy," Callum grimaced, "you've been out for hours."

He had?

"What happened?" he asked, looking between them, brows furrowing as he caught their nervous glances towards each other.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Rayla spoke up. "Callum, Zym, and I stayed at the oasis—or attempted to—while you and Sol Regem went to investigate some temple."

A temple? What was a temple doing out here in the middle of a deathtrap? Trezac's head throbbed, making him wince as he rested back on his elbows as the world momentarily spun around him. His vision flickered and for a moment he could see dark halls glowing with an eerie light. A cackle echoed in his ear, sending shivers down his spine and ice crawled its way through his veins and glowing gold eyes glared at him from the darkness.

The darkness receded as fast as it came as the force rippled around him and a warm presence enveloped his own. Its rage was almost palpable as the warmth coiled around him, washing over him in waves before being pulled back by a receding undercurrent of hate. Between the tides of anger, he could sense fear and concern that was quickly washed away by irritation and annoyance as the presence once again closed in around him.

And, slowly, the world started coming back into focus.

"Trezac? You ok?" Callum questioned as he and Rayla looked down at him.

"My head," he mumbled.

Reaching into one of the bags, Rayla pulled out a flask and helped him sit up. "Here maybe this'll help."

Gratefully, Trezac took the flask, sighing in relief as the cool water ran down his throat, suddenly making him aware of how dry his mouth was. And, to his relief, it did seem to alleviate his headache somewhat.

"Your head what would—oh!" Callum exclaimed, "Is this a Force thingy? Cause Rayla and I didn't seem to find any wounds. Did you fight some magic monster? Or was there a bunch of traps in the temple?"

Before the mage could continue, Sol Regem growled under them, "Enough." Turning his head, the blind dragon turned his face in their direction, "You all need to rest, especially after the stunt you two pulled last night."

Sol Regem's brows furrowed as if he was glaring at the pair, making Trezac notice as they shifted nervously. What had happened last night?

"That goes for you as well Padawan," Sol Regem rumbled, "Sleep, it will be some time before we reach the edge of the desert."

Trezac didn't bother to argue as his eyes already began to drift shut. Yeah, sleep didn't sound too bad. He could always get some answers later.

-.-

He had almost forgotten that the familiar cacophony of marching could be so loud. On Kamino, the regiments he trained were small and often didn't have the same synchrony that he and his brothers had. Why the Empire was switching from clones to civilians honestly made no sense in Commander Cody's eyes. He and his brothers were soldiers. They were designed to provide stability and keep the peace for the Empire. Replacing them with often lazy, weak civilians seemed preposterous to him.

At least Lord Vader had been gracious enough to send him back out in the field where he belonged. Even if it was to spy on Inquisitor Eleven and bring back Commander Navo'x.

However, it was hard to accomplish said missions if he was down here on the ground. The inquisitor had assigned him and his men to accompany the marching forces of the other kingdoms with their walkers, speeders, and ATATs in order to make more room for men to rest.

He could see where she was coming from, though. In fact, it was rather ingenious. Having a majority of the army rest while smaller rotating portions made steady ground every day. While it may have been slow, it was certainly effective for the obscene number of people in this attack force. To carry this many people they would've needed two cruisers.

But the given situation was both a blessing and a curse. Now he could contact Lord Vader to give him updates without risk of the Inquisitor catching him, however he couldn't gather any new information until he was back on the ship for rest or until Commander Navo'x was located.

The latter was starting to look more likely to happen first. Cody was no jedi, but he'd been with General Kenobi long enough to be able to get a general read of people. And Inquisitor Eleven was not happy he was here.

Cody would bet she knew he was a spy sent by Vader, which meant he was not getting on that cruiser anytime soon. But…that didn't mean there weren't other ways to get what he needed. Cody glanced at the men riding on the horses ahead of him; the one in the lead was seemingly waving his staff as if he were talking to the air while the other seemed to be sniffing his own armpit.

It seemed like Eleven didn't trust them either.

However, the one talking to himself seemed to have some confidence of the Inquisitor. Cody wasn't sure what it was, whether she was deceiving him, holding something over his head, or they were genuine allies; but he was able to deduce that somehow that the High Mage had at least some knowledge of her plans.

Lord Vader would be happy to receive information about the Inquisitor's movements either way. At least it would show he was working on getting results that would meet the enforcer's expectations.

But even then, Lord Vader made it very clear that his first mission priority was the Commander's capture. As much as Cody wanted to simply save Commander Navo'x the suffering he would endure in the Empire and simply put the padawan out of his misery, good soldiers followed orders. And his orders were to bring the Commander in to Lord Vader alive. Whatever the enforcer was wanting to do with the Commander, Cody just hoped he would make it quick.

-.-

Asteria was quiet as she stood to the right of her eldest sister's throne watching as her sister returned with the humans and their comrades. "Your Radiance," Janai greeted leading the bow to the queen.

"Captain," Khessa greeted.

Slowly, the human man stepped forwards, removing his helmet and giving a bow to the queen. "Queen Khessa, thank you for meeting with us again and thank you for your hospitality," he spoke, looking up at her. "I do not mean to presume, but I take it you have made your decision regarding our offer?"

"Not quite. You see, my sisters have made some excellent points, however, I am still not convinced of your honor."

The human general stepped up, signing as her translator spoke, "And what would it take to convince you of our honor?"

Asteria didn't even have to look up at the throne to know her eldest sister was smirking. Glancing to the other side of the throne, the Startouch elf paled as she saw the High Priest leave her side and glide down the steps, the staff to the sunforge in hand. "Khessa, what are you doing?" she hissed under her breath.

Unsurprisingly, her sister ignored her as she continued to look down at the humans. "Simple, the Light will decide your fate."

"A Light Trial?!" she hissed quietly, sharing a startled glance with Janai. They had thought that they'd gotten through to their sister during their argument earlier. Apparently they were wrong, and, as usual, Khessa was determined to be right.

This wasn't good.

To her surprise, the human general stepped forwards, a determined look on her face as she gave a curt nod. She left the group, stepping up to the High Priest as he tapped the staff on the ground, the orb of light at the center glowing blindingly.

Vaguely, Asteria could hear her sister muttering something to the general as she shied away from the miniature star. Though she didn't pay too much attention as she blocked her own sensitive eyes as the magic continued to echo in her ears, the light reaching its peak as it blazed through her closed lids and through her hand, momentarily showing the bones beneath. Thankfully, the blaring ring of magic slowly faded, and hesitantly, Asteria opened her eyes glancing down at the group. The general was on her knees, tears running down her face no doubt slightly burned from looking into the white light as the others crouched beside her. But, other than that, she seemed to be relatively unharmed.

Something Khessa had noticed too. "Hmm, a human with a pure heart. How original," she muttered, sounding almost disappointed with the outcome. The queen sighed, sitting back in her throne, "Very well, the Light has decided your fate. We will stand with you in the battle that you say is to come."