Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Des-Edri Qetana is mine. Only.
A/N: Tareh is pronounced "Tair." There's a LOT of explaining in this chapter, but don't worry. There are still tons of things I plan on throwing in, so don't try to predict what happens! Please review!

Stone Cold - Yes, it was, but you have to admit he's better looking than the old guy he put in originally. -is a fan of the newer episodes-

"You see that?" Desi said, pointing towards the sky. I followed her finger, and saw a tiny... what was it, a planet or a moon? Ah, well. I didn't know. But it was all blue littered with patches of green, and it was shrouded in a mist.

"What is that?"

"That's Earth."

Earth. Obi-wan had taught me about it. That's where humans originated from. I stared at the planet, watching the mists swirl around it slowly.

"Earthia was once a sister of Earth," Des-Edri went on, "It was an exact copy. By the humans, it was called Tareh. The two planets rotated around each other and they both went around the sun. Because humans were less intelligent than they are now, they could find no way to make contact with Tareh at the time, and they grew afraid anything living upon it would be hostile."

I listened intently, wanting to catch everything she said. This might be the only time I'd hear it.

"So they sent up what they called a 'missile'. And they blew half of it off. It killed billions."

I said nothing. I hadn't thought people had once lived here, and my soul mourned for those who were lost.

And a missile? How old and... barbaric. I hadn't heard that word in years, and it was from my history lessons. Really, the people from the 20th century were so quick to attack.

"The missile sent the planet spinning off it's axis. It was actually spinning out of it's orbit. It went wild, and I mean, wild. You can't imagine the destruction it caused here."

"I've never fully found all the pieces of Tareh. After the biggest explosion, we had volcanoes erupting and earthquakes and everything. Some of the chunks of rock that flew back towards us killed even more."

I was amazed at how emotionless she was. As though it meant nothing.

"So, for some odd reason, the humans assumed Tareh was gone. Who knows why? Not me. And in their books, it was written down as Earthia."

"Does this planet have an invisible shield over it?" I asked curiously. If I could see Earth, why couldn't Earth see Earthia?

"Not exactly..." Des-Edri said, "It's more on a spiritual level rather than a technological level. As soon as the chaos settled down in Tareh, there was a special group of about two hundred people, all unrelated, that had survived. Myself included," she added on.

"We elected a leader, Kwase Zui. We all decided it would be best if..." she left off and giggled, before starting to laugh. I sat watching her, pondering. She was trying to say something through her short bursts.

After she had calmed down, she took one look at my face and said, "Oh, Anakin, don't look at me like that. You're making me uncomfortable."

"Sorry."

"Anyway..." and she cracked up again. I waited, patiently, wondering what could possibly so funny, or embarrassing, that she couldn't say it.

"I... don't... think... I... can tell... you," she heaved, in hysterics.

I sighed. "It's only the two of us. I promise I won't make fun of you. I mean, it had to be a good idea if you're still here today, right?"

Her hair was ruffled, her face was red, and her eyes were smiling. Yes, she was pretty. But I loved someone named Padme Amidala, and no one was as beautiful as her.

"Okay, well, we all decided that... since we were all unrelated, we'd try to... bring back the population, if you know what I mean."

Inside my head, I was laughing as hard, if not harder, than she had been. But I needed to make my face remain calm, cool...

"That's not so bad. You tried to keep yourselves alive," I said, stifling a snort, "It's completely natu..."

And I couldn't hold anything in anymore.

We bothlaughed, me with my hand to my head still trying to contain the child within.Slowly, we calmed down, and I asked her to tell me the rest. She agreed, glad to get off the subject.

"We've gotten off topic. It's unclean to talk about one's personal life in this spot."

The icy water being absorbed by my pants reminded me.

"So all the other women had children, save I. By this time, the Jedi Council had received word of the humans blowing up Tareh, and they quickly sent a representative to see if we were alright and still breathing. Little did she know."

Desi pulled her hair behind her ears.

"Her name was Raat, and she came onto this planet a few days after the field was put up."

She paused.

"Kwase Zui was planning to use our children as an army against us - and army we couldn't kill out of love. As soon as he destroyed all of us, he'd take our children, make them have more children, and so on and so forth. His goal was to finally create a population large enough to rebuild the part of Earthia that was missing. I guess the whole point was to rule a planet all by himself. We hadn't realized we'd elected a dictator.

Kwase Zui... I'd never heard of him. I'd have to ask Obi-wan when I saw him again.

"The spirits of our families and friends, and anyone who was killed by the missile, grew angry at Kwase for doing this, and grew angry at us for being such dumbasses and not seeing him for what he was. Can't blame them. So they created a spiritual force field around Earthia, letting anyone in but not out."

"What does this have to do with Raat and the Jedi Council?" I asked, my attention span drawing near it's end.

"Hold your horses. I'm getting to it."

I waited.

"Raat was sent to try to save the Earthos (A/N: People of Earthia). Only problem was, she couldn't get back to the council and report that we were friendly."

A pause.

"She died here."

"Shortly after this, we killed Kwase Zui and I was elected leader. But the Jedi had found out Raat was dead somehow, and assumed we killed her. And history repeats itself. The Jedi Council were going to finally destroy the planet, with all of us on it."

"They unleashed a virus,and killed my friends and their children. They dropped like flies. And they assumed I was dead, too, and decided to blow up the rest of the planet."

I listened to her, not wanting to interrupt. It was apparent the memory was painful to recall, and restrained myself from asking anything that would make her think harder.

"Before the virus had been unleashed, the group helped me build my home. It is now about 78 years old."

...Was she lying? Or was she really that old? I really didn't know what to believe. But I said nothing.

The wind picked up, sending a chill through my wet abdomen.

"I know it sounds weird, Anakin, but every bit of this is true," she reminded me.

"So, it gets worse?" I asked.

Her mouth twitched a bit. "I asked that the spirits who created the force field to save me from being destroyed by the Jedi. I asked them right in this spot, where we sit. The reason for the icy cold water on such a warm planet? The coldness of this river is the depth of the pain I felt. But most of it's gone now."

...Oh.

"In return for the spirit's generousity, I was to stay here for as long as needed, and I was to try to save any Jedi whom happened to turn down the wrong path."

She pointed. "That means you."

I asked, "Am I the only one?"

"There were two others."

"They're dead now," I assumed.

"They were killed."

She stood up, and I watched as water streamed down her wet clothes. It tricked down her leg, dripped off her sleeves...

I stood up, and we walked back to the manor, making small talk as we went. But really, I was thinking about everything she had told me. And unanswered questions ran through my head.

Where were the bodies of everyone lost? How had Earthia survived an attack from the Jedi Council? If anything could get into the force field, was there a chance of being hit by a piece of Tareh? What did she mean when she had said, "What happens there will happen here,"? Why didn't the Jedi have written records of the attack?

Well. Now a few things made sense.

Before I get myself confused, I'd better leave it at that.

A/N: I can understand if you don't like the whole history thing with spirits and rivers and 'population' issues (Neither do I...), but the point of this chapter was to answer the basic "Where is he and why was he sent there?" question. if you think that's the whole thing, think again. More will come soon, and it will be better!