Flying as close to the treetops as he
dared, Anakin kept a sharp eye on the Lightning Rod's sensors on the
control board in front of him. The
starboard engine was only operating at half power so they could slip in slowly
and silently. No one would be expecting
a ship to sneak in mostly because of the impossibility of the task. It would take some fancy flying and expert
navigating to find a wide enough spot on the forest floor to land.
He studied the instruments in front of
him. "I think we've got about a hundred
clicks to go before we better find some place to land," Anakin observed.
From her spot in the co-pilot's chair,
Tahiri simply nodded, and continued gazing out the view port, pretending to
take interest in the scenery as it passed by them.
She had been acting this way since the
incident in the alley earlier that day. He had never seen her like this – quiet and keeping to herself – for as
long as he had known her. Talking was
like breathing for Tahiri, and sometimes it was impossible for him to get a
word in edgewise. She could easily talk
enough for the both of them, and usually did. Only recently, since he had come back to his Uncle's Academy to help
train students, and picked up his friendship with Tahiri who had remained there
to finish her training, did he find himself talking more now than he had his
whole life. Maybe his childhood friend
was finally starting to rub off on him. He hated the silence between them because it was so uncharacteristic of
their friendship. He would give
anything just to hear her voice babbling on about something or another.
Finally, unable to take the
uncomfortable silence anymore, Anakin said, "I know you're mad at me, Tahiri,
but will you just say something? Please? Yell at me or insult me
like you used to do, I don't care."
She tore her gaze away from the view
port and locked it on him. "You can't
joke your way out of this,"
He folded his arms over his
chest. "When have I ever tried to joke
my way out of anything? That's my
brother's department."
"You know what I mean,"
"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I never
meant for things to get out of hand like they did,"
"Yeah, well, sorry is not good
enough," she snapped.
He was taken aback by the harshness in
her tone. He had never seen her this
angry before.
"You've never gone and just lost it
like that before. Do you have any idea
how much it scared me to see you so close to giving in to your hate?"
"But it didn't, and I had you there to
help me,"
"What happens if there's a next time and
I'm not there, huh? You were so close
to killing him that I wasn't even sure I could stop you."
"I wouldn't have killed him," he tried
to convince her.
She gave him a skeptical look but said
nothing.
Sighing, he knew he had no choice but
to be honest with her. She would see
right through a lie, but they were coming up to the point where they needed to
find someplace to land, and he could not afford to be distracted. He could only handle one problem at a
time. Staring intently out the forward
view port, he tried to discover a clearing large enough to set the ship down
on. There were not a lot of choices, so
he could not be too picky.
Off
to his left though, he thought he found just the right spot. It would be a tight fit but he could make
it.
Slowing their decent, he brought the Lightning
Rod down past the thick forest foliage, hearing twigs and branches
scraping against the outer hull. Zekk
would probably never even notice the extra scratches, since the old ship was
already covered in them. A small jolt
rocked the craft as it settled to the ground, reasonably hidden by the forest
greenery. He ran through the shutdown
cycle with practiced ease until the last of the engines were quiet. He unbuckled his crash webbing, Tahiri did
the same, but neither made a move to get up.
Wearing an anxious expression on his
face, Anakin faced her. "I wanted to
scare him, that's all," he admitted at last.
"Mission accomplished," she
congratulated him sarcastically.
"He deserved it," Anakin pressed.
"He didn't do anything wrong,"
Anakin nearly blew a thruster. "Was I the only one who saw the way he was
looking at you? We both knew exactly
what he was thinking,"
"Thinking and then acting out those
thoughts are two totally different things," she pointed out.
"Yeah, well, he shouldn't have been
thinking those thoughts,"
Face flushed with anger, she said,
"and you should have let me handle it. You were acting like an enraged boyfriend instead of a Jedi," she
accused.
He could feel his cheeks warming at
the 'boyfriend' comment but Tahiri was too distracted to notice.
"I'm not a child, Anakin. I can take care of myself. I don't need you
to protect me,"
He flinched at her rebuke. Not because of the way she said it but
because of the truth in her words. He
had gone and rescued her when she had no reason to need rescuing. "You're right," he said, and he meant it,
"it was stupid of me to presume you needed protecting,"
She smiled. "I'm glad you see things my way," she said before her tone went
back to complete seriousness. "But
seriously Anakin, I never want you to get all hero on me again. Ever. I don't care if you think you're protecting
me. I don't want to be the one
responsible for starting you down the dark path. Promise me that,"
"Tahiri – " he began, but quickly cut
himself off when she gave him a look that meant she was not letting him get out
of this. "Fine. I promise I won't protect you if you don't
need protecting. But," he held up his
index finger to forestall any interruptions, "if you're in trouble, then I'm
rescuing you, whether you want me to or not."
Tahiri thought that over, and then
answered, "it's a deal."
Anakin nodded. "Good…so, do you forgive me?"
Tahiri's eyes sparkled. "I'll have to think about that,"
Anakin groaned and she punched him
playfully in the shoulder. She was back
to her old self again, and he had caused no permanent damage to their
friendship. Content that everything was
back to normal between them, he got up from the pilot's chair – only to find
his legs were not there to support him. Knees buckling, he crashed to the deck floor, the air rushing out of his
lungs as fast as lightspeed. He clawed
at his throat, his vision becoming fuzzy – and then nothing. It was over as quickly as it had begun.
Still wheezing slightly, he felt
Tahiri help him back into the pilot's seat. Concern shone in her brilliant green eyes.
"It's Jaina, isn't?"
He nodded slowly, still a bit shaky
after the whole incident. He could only
imagine how bad it must have hit Jacen. He stared at Tahiri, a horrified expression on his face. "She's dying," he told her. "We have to help her,"
Without
any assistance, he got to his feet. Jaina was still alive – he could feel her weakened presence – but how
long she would stay that way, Anakin was not sure. If Jacen and Tenal Ka were not at the fortress by the time they
got there, he and Tahiri could not afford to wait for them. He knew Jacen would be angry with him, but
he could handle that. Losing his sister
was something he could not.