His eyes opened to a blinding white familiarity and he was thrust once again into the peculiar dream by invisible hands. The hands shoved him harshly, taunting him the way a schoolyard bully might goad his prey. They left him, off the edge of a cliff, forcing him to stare into the eyes of his fate.
Brodaeus Narundi had grown tired of the never-ending cycle of this dream over the past four months. He stared at the same joyful faces time and again, searching for clues among the crowd, but each time he came up virtually empty. Every replay of the dream brought it more into focus and new clues fell out of the sky to hit him on the head. Once everything was pieced together it still had more holes than a fisherman's net, and that frustrated Brodey to no end. He felt like what he was looking for was being dangled just out of his reach. He felt like he was being tortured.
This time the faces told a slightly different story. Old ones faded into the background and new ones came into greater focus as the net was slowly patched. It was restless work for the twenty-year-old but the force left him no choice in the matter. He had to watch.
Brodey looked out into the congregation and his eyes glided over the many faces before they found the right one. Anja. She still sat to the right side of Jagged Fel, smiling back at him in the same way she always had since she first appeared in the dream. He didn't know why he always bothered to study her. Nothing about her presence ever became clearer. She was just there in the crowd instead of dressed in white, waiting in the foyer with bouquet in hand; where she was supposed to be.
A dark blur streaked across her chest and caught his eye. With greater focus he found it to be a human form. A child. The dark-haired boy squirmed on Anja's lap, restlessness setting in even before the ceremony started. His pale green eyes showed signs of needing a nap and his whimpering only accentuated that fact. Anja struggled to soothe him, bouncing him on her lap and whispering in his ear, but it was Jag, armed with a brightly-colored stuffed animal, that succeeded in calming the toddler.
'That's something new,' Thought Brodey with both appreciation and annoyance.
He turned his head while hoping he could catch a glimpse of other possible clues. For the first time in the many months of the dream he thought to look beyond his father's form. He spotted four other men, three which he didn't recognize. The fourth man, the one standing closest to his father, was one he could never forget. Chaser. He'd been almost everything to Brodey. He was the best friend, the tour guide through the land of new experiences, the bad influence, and the bitter rival. Not to mention the one friend his father couldn't stand more than anyone else. Brodey thought it was a miracle they were standing right next to each other and not screaming at one another. Then again, the same thing could be said about him.
The cheerful music suddenly stopped and Brodey became aware of the woman in white standing in front of him. She'd just appeared out of no where, as she always seemed to do, and the hands pushed his head toward her so he couldn't ignore her if he tried. He reached up, trying to remove the veil quickly before he—
Brodey's hands barely came in contact with the fabric before he was catapulted up out of the room. He flew harmlessly through the ceiling of the Great Hall, across the swirling colors of N'aanwaria's gaseous skies, and across the black oblivion.
He landed in the usual spot, tangled in a mass of sweat-soaked sheets, still exhausted from the inadequate sleep. A swift glance at his chronometer as he rolled lazily over in bed told him it was time to rise and greet another mundane day on Eclipse.
Brodey stumbled out of bed with the grace and expression of an archaic primate-like creature. He groaned and grumbled his way down the hall of the quarters he shared with the jedi master Kyp Durron, scratching his chest and other areas of his body without giving much thought to what others might think of him.
"I see you're the usual cheerful Brodey this morning," Kyp called mockingly from their living room. The jedi master had a wonderful view of the hallway from where he was seated and it seemed like watching Brodey lurch out of bed in the morning was becoming a form of entertainment for Kyp. "And that's a great new hairstyle you've got there."
Brodey tried his best to mimic one of the vulgar gestures that were common among the humans he'd met before he quickly slammed the door to the fresher behind him. A nice, scalding shower was his only hope of waking up.
As the water cascaded over his sleep-weary muscles he allowed his mind to wander. He thought about the child, about who the father of the child could be, and about his former best friend being present. It all didn't make one bit of sense. He lamented the fact that Anja wasn't where he thought she was supposed to be in the picture. He ruminated for a while, growing warmer and slowly making the journey toward wakefulness.
Brodey shut off the shower, opened the door, and reached quickly for the towel. He despised the cold air of the ship, always drying off inside the shower, surrounded by a blanket of warmth. It suited him well since he came from a planet where there was no cold. He easily could have died of hypothermia on some of the worlds he'd visited if not for the constant traveling he did as a child.
A noise jolted him from his reverie and he became distinctly aware that he was no longer alone in the room. He spun around just in time to see a figure outside the shower door, pulling on the handle.
"Ha!" Anja yelled, grinning evilly as she whipped open the door. The unbridled glee in her eyes fell a few notches when she found him guarding his dignity with a towel. However, the priceless look of shock on his fire-red face made up for whatever disappointment she was feeling, and Anja laughed heartily as he became more flustered.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that," He said tensely as he cinched the towel around his waist.
"Why do you have such a problem with it?" Anja jeered. "You don't have anything to hide, do you?"
"Did anybody ever tell you that you have a one-track mind?" Brodey replied huffily. He stepped quickly out of the shower and pushed past her, heading for the door. Anja reached out to playfully yank on the towel, drawing a cross warning from her boyfriend.
"Just stop it right now!" Brodey growled threateningly.
Anja giggled and poked him, following him out into the hall. "Come now, where's your sense of humor? Don't you find it flattering that I want to catch a glimpse of you stark naked?"
Brodey sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'd find it flattering if I didn't know the real reason behind you sneaking a peek at me." The ladies had spent some rest and relaxation time together drinking and daring each other to do certain things. One of the things Anja was dared by a drunken Jaina who hadn't learned her lesson was to "report back" on Brodey's status. He'd been on high alert ever since.
"How come your jedi sense didn't pick up on my presence?" She teased. "What were you thinking about that distracted you so much?"
Brodey reached out, grabbed her by the shoulders and thrust her hard against the wall. "You talk too much," He said with a deep, throaty growl before pushing his lips against hers in a tight seal. He explored the inside of her open mouth with his tongue, marveling at how much of an improvement this was from her interrogation.
"Watch it kid. You wouldn't want to lose a towel there," Kyp called down the hall. "If you lose it then I'm going to have to come down there and beat you with the butt end of my lightsaber. You really don't want that."
"The man has a point," Brodey laughed, breaking away from Anja, who sighed with discontent. "I have to get dressed before I freeze to death."
"I can come in and keep you company," Anja suggested hopefully.
"Hah, think again," He snapped back before closing the door in her face.
Anja gave a guttural growl of frustration before stomping all the way down the hall and throwing herself on the couch across from Kyp.
"Awwww, trouble in paradise?" He asked mockingly, extracting a glare from the young woman.
"I just don't get why he won't let me see him like that," She whined. "I've been open with him!"
"I'll bet you have," Kyp laughed. "Tell me, did you do that on a dare too? Was that another mandate from the pack of evil females?"
"Shut up, Durron! It's not just about the dare. I'm a very open person and I just wish he'd reciprocate some of that," She said sadly as she pushed strands of her mocha hair back across her shoulders.
"You picked the wrong boyfriend," He replied sardonically. "Brodey's a mass of secrets, lies, and holding everything deep inside."
"I know, and I'm cool with that," She cried. "I just wish he wouldn't act like a jerk to me all the time! After he missed that dinner date last week I'm beginning to wonder if he really cares that much."
"You know why he missed that date, don't you?"
"Yeah, something about him being asleep and waking up hours later to my angry comm messages," She scoffed.
"Well, that's the truth," Kyp answered. "You shouldn't take that one too personally. He's been getting shavit for sleep lately. I always come home to find him sleeping at the weirdest times of the day."
"Why is his sleep so bad lately?" Anja asked inquisitively.
Kyp thought for a second, wondering whether he should tell her about the dream. Surely a tiny bit of information couldn't hurt anything.
"He keeps on having the same dream," Kyp began vaguely, trying to avoid an in-depth discussion.
Anja seemed to pick up on his elusiveness, even with her lack of force sensitivity. "Oh? What's the dream about?"
"He keeps on dreaming of his wedding," Kyp said quickly, cringing inside as he waited to see what she would say.
Something in Anja's eyes lit up like the skyline of Coruscant from his words and she grinned with a child's joy.
"Happy?" Kyp questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion at the young woman's reaction.
"I never thought he was that committed," She said, still smiling. "Here I am, thinking he's pulling away from me, and he's having dreams of marriage! I feel like such a dope!"
"Before you get too excited there's something you have to know," Kyp groaned.
"What's that?" Anja asked suspiciously.
"This particular dream is out of his control," Kyp explained. "The force keeps putting him through it nearly every night. Just thought you should know before you start attributing characteristics to Brodey that don't exist."
"Well, at least tell me if I'm in it," Anja snapped, growing more disconcerted with each passing moment.
"Durron, you're not telling her about the dream I told you to keep secret, are you?" Brodey drawled as he slinked into the living room, still buttoning up his collared shirt. "I hope not, because I really don't feel like getting bloodstains on this nice clean shirt."
"I haven't told her anything," Kyp said with a slight gulp as he ignored the dirty look that Anja shot him.
"Good. I wouldn't want you leaking out information that could be false. That might mess things up for some people, and I wouldn't want that," Brodey replied dubiously.
Kyp's brow knitted as he pondered the young man's words. Had he discovered something new? Perhaps Anja was also under the veil, proving that there was more than one possible outcome. Curiosity overwhelmed him rapidly and he wished there was an easy way to get rid of Anja so he could have a talk with his apprentice. Kyp Durron had never been a patient man.
"All right, woman. It's about time you took a hike to the kitchen so I can talk to your boyfriend," Kyp said dryly, clapping his hands together once like an owner trying to get the attention of his pet.
"Oh, of course! I'll just go to the kitchen and cook like a good wife while you two engage in 'man talk'!" She yelled sharply as she jumped from her seat and walked toward the kitchen, feigning a kick at Kyp as she went.
"I'll say it again," Kyp said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "I don't know how you put up with her."
"She only bothers you, Durron," Brodey replied, and then leaned in and lowered his voice. "Anyway, I have some new information about the dream."
"I figured that was it," Kyp interjected.
"My best friend at Academy was one of my groomsmen," Brodey hissed, fixing a serious stare on Kyp. "He was standing right next to my father. This is the same guy that got me addicted to spice and alcohol."
"Perhaps he cleaned up," Kyp suggested. "You managed to."
Brodey snorted at the jedi master's comment. "I had a lot of bad things happen to me. I doubt Chaser had the same kind of life-altering jolt that I had."
"That's probably true, but – " Kyp started. "Hey, cut that out!"
Anja ignored him and continued to dance around the kitchen, making up new words to a Naboo pop song that expressed her dislike for the two men in the living room as she fixed a blue milk shake.
"Ugh, can't you do us all a favor and teach that girl to sing?" Kyp complained.
"Sorry, I'm a jedi, not a miracle worker," Brodey laughed. "Anyway, Chaser wasn't the only amazing thing I saw. You're not going to believe th— "
Kyp sneered resentfully at the comlink on Brodey's hip as its beeping interrupted yet another important conversation. Jaina sure knew the best times to need Brodey's assistance.
"Narundi here," Brodey answered. "Yes, I'll be right down."
"Let me guess," Kyp laughed scornfully. "Her greatness needs you at the hangar again."
"Yup," Brodey said simply as he ran over to give a still-obnoxious Anja a kiss before he raced out the door.
"I guess it's just you and me, Durron," Anja said with mock-seduction. "Just you, and me, and the blue milk. . ."
Kyp Durron rolled his eyes once again and sank back into the couch.