Knights and Eros Bound
Chapter 28
It was a moment of eternity.
Gris had drawn a small blaster from behind her back and Schurke had simultaneously ignited his saber and forcefully shoved Kampher back down, shielding her with his body.
"No!" came the cry, but from whom it was impossible to tell.
A shot echoed off the walls of the small room. Another scream as the blaster bolt was deflected by Schurke's blade.
Anakin stood frozen in horror as he realized what had happened.
She couldn't have…
"Schurke! No!" Kampher cried from beneath Schurke's form. "Please don't hurt her!"
"I won't let her harm you!" Schurke snarled, but his eyes widened in shock as he saw Gris fall. "Gris! No!" he exclaimed, stunned by the sight before him.
Kampher pushed him roughly aside and sat up, and then she too, froze at the sight.
"Oh Gris…" she said softly.
Gris Chevel, friend and once Jedi Knight, lay before them with her arms outstretched, with a gaping wound just below her throat. It was the expression on her face that had stunned them into silence. One of… relief.
"I-I tried to deflect the blast…" Schurke stammered when he found his voice at last. "It went up and away…"
"She jumped towards it," Anakin said softly in disbelief. "She knew where it would go. What you would do."
"She took her own life…" whispered Kam. "Rather than completely surrender to the Dark side…"
"She won her fight," Schurke agreed quietly but Anakin shook his head.
"She earned a draw," Anakin amended, a chill in his voice. "In the end, she knew that she wasn't strong enough to win. But she fought back."
"Gris…" Kam murmured softly as she reached down to stroke her head. Tears began to stream down her face.
Anakin and Schurke kneeled down next to her, and they each put a hand on her back as they too lowered their heads.
"Safe journey, old friend." Schurke said quietly.
Anakin took Gris' limp hand in his own, and pressed it to his cheek wordlessly, headless of the blood that now mixed with his tears.
They stayed that way for a long moment, each lost in quiet contemplation of what had been lost. A friend, a lover, a colleague… and a little more innocence.
Kampher was the first to rise.
"We need to finish this," she said through a haze of tears. "There is an abandoned temple just outside of the city. A… a Holy place. We can…" here she choked, barely able to continue, "set her free..."
"She is free, Kam." Anakin murmured. "But yes… we'll send her off right. As a Jedi."
He removed his robe as did Schurke, and with an infinite tenderness, they shrouded Gris' body with their coverings and their love.
Schurke insisted on carrying her remains while Anakin carried Kampher in his own arms, despite her protest. Kampher had tried to stand up but due to the effects of the drug, or perhaps being simply overcome by the amount of energy she had projected in hopes of saving Gris, she simply could not. Anakin cradled her as closely as he would have Padmé… or as he had his mother… and as before, they made their way through the crowded cantina unchallenged.
It was nearly dawn when they had finally finished the pyre on which they would lay their friend.
"It seems so lonely," Kam observed sadly. "Gris, you deserved better."
Anakin slowly reached into a small pocket in his tunic. He pulled out a small envelope and tucked it into the folds of the shroud.
"Flower seeds," he said quietly. "From the most beautiful planet in the galaxy."
Schurke approached the makeshift alter, and placed his light saber next to Gris' pale and cold hands which had been placed across her chest He cast a look at his two companions, seeking , and finding, understanding.
"Fight on, my friend…" Schurke whispered as he rejoined Anakin and Kampher.
Kampher was the last one to approach the body. She leaned over and kissed the top of Gris' head before rewrapping the robes about her form.
She pulled her Padawan braid out of her pocket, and placed it on Gris' covered chest.
Slowly, she walked back to her companions who each now had an unlit makeshift torch in their hands. Schurke handed another one to Kampher and they placed them together for Anakin to light.
As the sun rose over the city, the three companions ignited the pyre and stood together, united in their grief.