On The Wings of A Hawk
Chapter 4: Story
Moira stood away from the camp in her wolf form staring at them. Rex sighed softly and moved forward towards her. Anakin went to stop him but Obi-Wan shook his head at him.
"Let him go Anakin. She cannot hurt him."
"How can you be so sure?"
"It's against her nature to hurt her One."
"Her One?"
Obi-Wan nodded his head and watched Rex move towards Moira slowly.
"Just leave it at she cannot hurt him."
Anakin grumbled something under his breath as he retreated to the holomap to go over battle plans.
Moira looked at Rex sadly. Her ears drooped a little. She hadn't want to fight with him but he'd brought up something she hadn't wanted to touch on yet. They'd only met a couple times with very little time to get to know each other. He stopped in front of her and took off his helmet to look her in the eye.
"Are you ready to talk about it now?" Rex growled.
She turned her head away.
"I didn't want to talk about this so soon Rex but it was inevitable if we're to form some level of trust between us."
She sat down and sighed softly. A soft rain came down. She looked skyward and closed her eyes allowing the rain to wash over her fur. "Come sit Rex this conversation might take some time."
Hesitantly he moved forward and leaned his back against her side. Her wing mantled to keep the rain off of him.
"What is a One?" he asked softly.
"Start with the hardest question first. Let me tell you a story and questions afterwards."
He gave her a curt nod. Moira looked out into the rain.
Moira moved through the battlefield of Mandalore. Her Father was in the midst of discussion of marriage to intermingle the clans. She thought the idea was a bad idea even at the age of fifteen, but at this point she couldn't go against her Father for the time being. She couldn't understand the constant civil wars between the clans. It didn't make any sense. There were clans on her planet that didn't agree but they didn't start an all-out war that decimated the planet. Shaking her head she stared forward wondering what was going down. She could feel the suffering in the planet. It was a bad taste in the back of her throat and she could hear the agony of all living things around her. Shaking it off she concentrated on getting through this battle ahead of her. She didn't know why she was even there. These wars between the Mandalorians wasn't any of her clan's business. Something caught her attention. It was someone struggling against several opponents. Not wanting to get involved in this she went to move forward to ignore the struggling but something nagging in the back of her mind made her rethink that. Spitting out a curse in her home language she stalked towards where she'd seen the struggling. Rolling her eyes she stalked forward through the shadows. Her dark colored wings helped her blend into the surrounding landscape. A boy that looked a little older than she was, was getting his ass handed to him by a couple other Mandalorian's that didn't look to be of his clan but she as an outside wouldn't be able to tell. Stalking forward she kept low as the predator that she was.
"Get your hands off me!" he snarled.
"You're going to die today brat and our Clan will rule," one of the bigger males taunted.
Moira hated bullies. Debating her options she watched. Something on the boy's armor caught her attention. It was a mark on the armor that drew her gaze. They knocked off his helmet and put a blaster to his head. Her eyes narrowed as she rose and leapt down in the middle of the group. The three others scrambled to get a shot at her but she drew her sabers and deflected the bolts with ease.
"I'd suggest you get lost."
"Or what?" they taunted. "You're all alone little girl this weakling isn't going to be able to help you."
"I don't need his help to defeat three cowardly bullies."
"Your bravado won't save you little girl."
"Nor will your arrogance save you."
They scattered at her threat. Moira rolled her eyes and grabbed the kid by the arm and shoved him behind some cover.
"Stay out of my way."
"Why are you helping me when you clearly don't want to help me?"
"I hate bullies so you're just lucky."
She turned her gaze away from the kid and focused her senses as she was taught to find an enemy. She didn't want to resort to changing to win but her own saber skills. These Mandalorians were so predictable for bullies. She tossed her cloak to the side and leapt skyward. It didn't take long for her to send all three bullies to the ground in a heap. She snorted in disgust at their tactics. They may have been trained as warriors for their entire lives but she was an assassin trained in the art of being a skilled hunter in the dark.
"Worthless," she huffed.
The guy she saved walked out with a look she didn't like in his eyes. He moved forward and knelt in front of her.
"You saved my life."
"I hate bullies. It wasn't about you."
"Moira!" she heard her Father call.
She turned and they were followed by a bunch of Mandalorian guards. They bore the same armor as the kid she'd just saved. They brought her before the boy's Father and Mother. Her parents pushed her forward towards these people. Unease washed through her at the look these people were giving her.
"You saved our son's life," the woman murmured.
"I dislike bullies."
Her mother huffed at her tone. Moira knew something was wrong and she didn't want to be anywhere near here.
"None the less we would like to bestow a badge of honor on you the jai'galaar 'la sur'hai'i se."
She bit her tongue as they moved forward with a dark black cloak that had a blue emblem sewn into the hood over the eyes. Her eyes focused on the symbol. Her fingers itched to touch it. It had been the symbol that the one bully had worn. The symbol's meaning was lost on her and it must've showed.
"It's a mark of bravery and you have earned it Moira."
Her hesitating hands landed on the symbol and her mind flashed.
"I'm CT-7567 General Skywalker, but they call me Rex."
His face flashed before her mind's eye showing her the man for whom she was meant. A smirk crossed his features at what he was seeing.
He placed a helmet on his head decked in the blue of his company and the mark of the jai'galaar 'la sur'hai'i se.
He knees gave out and she sank to the ground holding the cloak in her hands. She could hear someone calling to her trying to snap her out of what she'd just seen. Then a goofy smile crossed her features.
"Rex, his name is Rex."
She didn't notice her parents looking at each other and then down at her.
Four Years Later Moira found herself back on Mandalore even though she had no desire to be there. Once she'd had her vision of her One she knew he wouldn't be of Mandalore but something else. Her parents stood beside her as they approached the family of the kid she'd saved years ago. Unease was washing through her like a tidal wave.
"We've brought you here Moira for an alliance. You will marry the prince."
Moira looked at her father in disbelief. He'd force her to marry this upstart prince when she knew who her One was. She knew that the clan didn't always wait for their One, but she vowed to herself that she would wait for him, her Rex, her King. Her hand clutched the soft material of her cloak that bore the mark that Rex would bare one day when they would meet.
"No."
"Moira…"
"I said no."
"You don't have a choice."
"Want to bet that I do?"
She got into a fighting stance knowing that she'd probably have to fight a whole lot of people to get her way. Kali and Eirian were standing a short distance away not knowing who to help first. Moira knew her sisters nor her brother would bear this burden for her. They'd been arguing over this arrangement for years. She almost regretted saving that brat now. He was older than her but that didn't stop his selfish tendencies. It'd been four years and they hadn't decided whether or not to sell her to the Mandalorian's for a foothold in this system. They frowned on outsiders marrying into the clan higher ups but they were willing to sacrifice her.
"Moira you will go through…"
"The hell I will. I have had the vision of my One and I will not soil that vision with some brat that thinks I'm just some plaything for his amusement until he dies. I will not do as you want."
"Moira you are of our Clan and you will do…"
"I challenge you," she snarled.
"Moira!" her mother gasped in shock.
"I will not submit to this brat I will wait for my One."
"And if its hundreds of years from now?"
"Then it is and I'll wait."
"You haven't even grown into your gift yet and you dare challenge me?"
"It would seem I've laid the challenge at your feet Father. Would you like me to punch you to make it official?"
Her lips curled up in anger as she readied herself.
"There's no need for this!" her Mother cried. "Moira please it's for the clan."
She turned her gaze to her Mother. Her eyes seeping red as she stood there. Her Mother's eyes widened and she took steps backwards as if she were afraid of her.
"I will not be a scape goat for the clan. I will wait for my King," she snarled.
"His kind?" her Father scoffed. "A king? Hardly."
"Didn't say he was going to be a King just said he was my King."
Her Father shot forward without any warning, but Moira was ready. Her Father's skill was apparent at the beginning of the fighting match. Moira gave it her best go but her Father kicked her into the side of a wall. Moira grunted in pain as she tried to rise from where she landed. Emotions overwhelmed her just then that she'd have to submit to someone that she didn't want. Anger, rage, and anguish rushed through her at the thought that her One would be lost to her. Something happened as the world around her fractured. Power and light exploded around her. When the light cleared away she stood there in her wolf form with her blue, white and black striped wings and phoenix feathers. She snarled at her parents and siblings and those around her. They all backed away from her except for her siblings. Kali smiled softly as she approached her sister without fear. Moira shook her head and stared down at her sister.
"I knew you could do it," she murmured.
A rumbling growl escaped her at her sister's words. "I knew you would stand tall among us."
She snorted at her words and her eyes narrowed as her Father rose and went for his sabers. Her brother leapt in this time and brought his saber up in warning against going against Moira.
"I suggest you don't Father. You know what that means now."
"Selfish brat."
Moira growled at her Father. Her path was set now and all she had to do was wait until it led her to Rex. Standing tall she stalked away from the Mandalorians and her family. To a life of waiting for the day he would come into being.
Moira looked at Rex for a moment before looking skyward.
"How long have you waited?"
"Over four hundred years."
"Why would you subject yourself to that kind of wait for someone like me?"
She rose dumping him on his back on the ground. He was up in a flash staring her down. Her ears were laid back and her teeth were bared. Then her gaze turned sad as she backed up a bit.
"I would wait forever for you Rex. It's the nature of the beast."
"I'm just a Clone one of many."
"You are Rex," she snarled.
He took off his helmet to look at her not caring about the rain falling around them. She kept backing up. "I know people do not understand our ways, but even in the end if you want to walk away I will understand or pretend I don't exist."
Rex seemed to be taken aback.
"Moira…"
"It is the fate of our kind sometimes to be matched with someone that will not understand. You Rex CT-7567 are under my protection of my Clan. I will not always be able to fight beside you but I'll always be with you."
"You had a chance to marry a Prince and yet you didn't."
She stopped half inside the tree line. Her wings drooped a bit.
"Why settle for a Prince when I was waiting for a King?"
He took a deep breath as she vanished in the trees.
