Chapter Five

She didn't know how long she'd been swimming, but she knew that she'd seen at least six sun rises and that she'll only have enough rations for another two – three at most. That, and she had lost her Padewan.

'Tatl…'

But lingering on grief would not bring her back, instead putting her in far more jeopardy than she already was.

So she swam.

She swam without any hope of ever reaching anywhere, but she swam nonetheless. Occasionally she would see a transport fly overhead, reminding her that at least the planet is inhabited. It was a small comfort, knowing that it was the natives who had shot her down.

When she wasn't swimming she was meditating; floating and letting her mind drift, a state providing rest, but also awareness, so that she would not sink or turn as she slept. Just – calm. In the mornings her eyes found clarity, and she felt energized to begin anew, but not at all rested.

Days later, she had run out of rations, her energy was low, and the constant headaches were worse than the hunger. Finally, unconscious and weak, she washed up onto a sandy shore, water lapping around her body in soothing rhythms. For many hours more she lay there, drifting fitfully in and out of fevered dreams. When the moon rose overhead and she opened her salt raw eyes, she was a figure leaning over her, shadowed by the light of the stars.

"Tatl?" she croaked. The figure touched a hand to her forehead in apparent concern. It spoke to her, but her sleep-muddled mind would not let her decipher the words. A Giinkar, she surmised.

Soon another figure joined the first. The way they touched and spoke to each other led her to believe they were a married pair.

She was lifted up and carried somewhere. After that, she remembered nothing.

"Jedi."

Through the painful haze that had become her brain, she croaked out a moan.

"JEDI!" the Voice was more insistent. "Can you hear me?"

She tried to open her eyes, but they were blindfolded.

She tried to move her arms, but they were bound behind her back.

"Where am I?" she managed., The Voice didn't answer, but it spoke softly to another in the room.

'She'll do; prepare the serum.'

Serum?

"Who's there?" she demanded with all the authority one who was bound and blindfolded could muster. But the Voice didn't answer.

'And what of the second pilot, m'lord?'

'Don't worry, we'll find her – eventually.'

Alone, in the dark. Bound, disarmed and separated from her Master, Tatl awaited her fate.