Seth kept a few paces ahead of the Handmaiden as they strode slowly to the armory to drop off the rifle. "I saw you in combat," she said. "You've learned well." Seth gave her what passed for a yes and a bit of a nod. "We can move on," the Handmaiden said. "That's only if you'd like to."
Seth stopped suddenly. The Handmaiden looked at him for a second. "What's wrong?" she said, afraid of what she had said even though it seemed harmless and not at a bit suggestive.
"It's just," he began. It seemed Seth couldn't find the words. He closed his eyes and took a breath. "It's just that I don't want you to train me," Seth said, finding the words. What did you do wrong? The Handmaiden reeled back in shock.
Seeing her facial expression, he put his hands on her shoulders for reassurance and looked into her bluish-grey eyes. "I want to train you."
"But—I made a promise—to Atris," the Handmaiden said. Seth looked a bit disappointed. "I'm going to tempt you," he said. "But I hope you will become my student someday."
He walked onwards a bit; the Handmaiden stopped. Seth turned towards her. "You coming?" he asked. "N—no," she stammered. "I'm going back to the ship." The Handmaiden turned and walked quickly out of his sight and then ran across the waiting area and outside of Khoonda into the grass.
She was still covered in mercenary blood and her hood was still up. She felt indifference about this, and her focus was on what happened to her. He wants you to become a Jedi. You could be like your mother, but you vowed servant hood to Atris and your sisters will think of you as a traitor…and they will kill you. The Handmaiden brushed a horde of gnats out of her way. He wants you to train. If he said so, he must detect the Force in you a bit. She thought of Atton in Jedi robes. If he wields the Force, then a gizka can.
The Handmaiden neared the Ebon Hawk and proceeded up its loading ramp. She looked over her shoulder out at Dantooine. Will I train? She pushed the thoughts of betrayal away and returned to the cargo hold where she could practice more.
Mira sat in the med bay. Why can't we have a doctor? She thought as she leafed through another one of Atton's crazy Pazaak magazines. The Hawk was short of decent literature for sure, but there was just nothing to do but meditate with Jedi figures, play Pazaak with Atton, fix things with Bao-Dur, eavesdrop on Mandalore, or sleep in her comfortable area—a storage area.
It was her turn to watch the Miraluka lie unconscious on the bed in the med bay; everyone else pinned it on her because they were "busy". Why can't Kreia watch her? She's never doing anything important, Mira mused. She threw down a Pazaak magazine from a few months ago and picked up an old medical reference book. It was filled with gross looking cuts and bites from various insects native to a diverse group of planets.
Mira paged through the book and looked at the pictures since she'd never been the book addict. She read a few picture captains but was easily bored with the book.
She then heard footsteps on the Ebon Hawk's metal floor and stood up instantly. Seth walked into the med bay.
"She flinched? Moved? Twitched?" he asked as he rounded the bed to look at a console. Mira took this as a chance to escape. "Nope, not a bit," she said. "But a console looks interesting."
"Mhm," Seth said, obviously distracted by the computer. Yes! Mira thought. Just escape—now! She slinked out the door and ran to the empty dormitory and shut the door.
Seth looked up, not surprised to see Mira gone. How typical, he thought as he sat down next to the Miraluka.
Worry filled him as he looked at her lying there. He took her hand and said to her, "I'm sorry I knocked you out this bad, but you attacked me." He gave a chuckle. "Hell, I thought I'd be on this bed by the way you almost cut me down." He let her hand go and noticed her head scarf.
Just a peak, he thought. But her eyes were covered for a reason. Or did she not have any eyes? He shrugged and checked to make sure nobody was watching him. He put out his hand to pull up the cloth.
Suddenly the Miraluka started to breathe heavily; Seth almost went into cardiac arrest from shock and fear. He quickly moved his hand away began to get a syringe of sedatives ready.
Seth quickly pulled her armor down from her neck and injected the yellowish liquid into a large vein in her neck. The Miraluka twitched a bit in pain, but settled down after a few seconds. Seth disposed of the syringe and waited by the bedside to see if she was fully conscious.
The Miraluka sat upright in the med bay's bed. "Where am I?" she asked rhetorically. Her head swam violently; she felt shapes around her.
Seth spoke suddenly. "You are on the Ebon Hawk. I am Seth," he said. "Are you alright?" The Miraluka put her head in her hands as she sat beside Seth. "I…I don't know," she said. She seemed to adjust the veil covering her eyes.
She teetered on her legs as she tried to stand; Seth balanced her on her feet. "Let me help you to empty quarters," Seth said. "You can rest more there." She looked at him as if she had vision. "You know…who wants to stay in a med bay? It's not like you're sick—anymore," Seth said.
"Why are you doing this?" the Miraluka asked. "Why do you show mercy to an assailant?" Seth helped her walk to the empty dormitory. "Because it is right," he said. "Do you always do what is right?" she asked. "Or do you follow your own instincts and human reasoning also?" "I try to remain on the path of the light side," Seth said, "because too much darkness had already disembarked itself into this galaxy."
She seemed to respect his words. "But…kill me…please," she said. "End this." "End what?" he asked. Seth stopped walking with her. It seemed like he needed to hear this. "This life—too much fragility—broken," she said. Even she doesn't speak in sentences, Seth said, recalling the Handmaiden doing the same. Do women do this for effect or is it just a trait?
"I'm not going to kill you," he said. "I'm going to save you, protect you from the darkness." Seth began to guide her again to the dormitory in silence.
"If anything," he said when they arrived, "I'm going to aid you. When you're fully rested, come to me and I'll get you a new lightsaber." He put his hand on the close door button when she said, "My name is Visas—Visas Marr." There was a few seconds of silence before he closed the door and she laid down on the floor to rest.
Mira had retreated back to her normal spot when she heard Seth dragging that Miraluka to the empty dormitory—her safe haven. But now that it was taken, she came back to where she normally sat or stood. There was nothing for her to do there except sit and listen to Mandalore's muted voice in the communication room or hear the G0-T0 droid float occasionally. Some amusing trip, she thought. But at least it's better than Nar Shadda. She recalled the explosions and annihilation of Goto's yacht and the effect of it still booming across the smuggler's moon.
She laid back against the row of sinks in the small cargo space and wondered what was stored in here. She knew there was a cargo hold, but what went specifically in here?
Mira came up with various reasons: extra passenger space, a prison, secret compartments, a secretive way to escape, and many more, most of which weren't plausible at all. She surveyed the main hold and realized they were still on Dantooine. Why?
She got up from the miniature cargo area and proceeded towards the cockpit. "Hey, flyboy," Mira said to Atton who was looking a bit drowsy as he focused on the wall.
He snapped out of his thoughts. "Hm?" he said. "When are we lifting off?" she asked. Atton shrugged lazily. "Don't know," he said simply. "Waiting for some kind of signal—you know, the command to go somewhere else?" Mira eyed him. "Just get off this backwater planet, will ya, even if Seth objects?" she said. "What if he wants to come back here?" Atton objected. "I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want to come back. You know, after that little intrusion and all." He stared out the cockpit window.
"Where is he?" she asked. Time to leave. "Check 'round the ship," Atton suggested. "He's bound to be in someone's presence either meditating or playing Pazaak—Nar Shadda style thought."
"What?" Mira said at this. Nar Shadda style Pazaak—a Jedi? "You heard me," Atton said. "That artic chick's got him sparring—Echani style." "Echani style?" Mira said in shock. How stupid is this guy? "He didn't even know the so-called etiquette rules or whatever they're called?" "Apparently not," Atton said. He looked up at her. "Hey, if you're jealous, there's always me."
"You're lucky you don't trip over your ego," Mira muttered. "That's it?" Atton asked, shocked. "I mean, I thought a bounty hunter such as yourself could come up with something better than that." "Actually I can," Mira said in defense. "And it's in a holster at my hip." Atton rolled his eyes at this. "Get out of my chambers," he commanded.
Mira walked on a bit before calling, "That's it? I thought a fool such as yourself could come up with a better name for that place."
Mira rolled her eyes as she scanned the rooms: the empty dormitory claimed by the Miraluka was closed off by the door; Bao-Dur, HK-47, and the Remote were in the garage where Bao-Dur was doing his ever present work on the Hawk; the Handmaiden was sitting on the floor in the cargo hold; Kreia sat silently as she meditated; Mandalore was clanking round the communication room; Atton was being an egomaniac in the cockpit; T3-M4 wheeled about the ship.
Where is he? Mira walked briskly past the med lab to see the hatch above the ladder open. She climbed up the ladder to the top of the Ebon Hawk. Seth was sitting out on top of the cockpit and was gazing at the sun.
"What are you doing here?" Mira asked from the hole. "We've got to get going—or at least tell me so I can be a relay so we can get out of here." Seth didn't answer. "You deaf, Jedi?"
"It's just so peaceful," he said, ignoring her, "and the prodigious scenery is just so calming, but it's hard to believe that there's so much unrest here; I can feel it, and I'm sure even you can." He turned to Mira. "Can't you?"
What do I say! Mira began to panic, but she kept her normal attitude on the outside. "Yeah, I guess," she said. "It's defiantly no Nar Shadda, but it's got this kind of vibe coming off of it. It's almost as if it's dead and it's calling out to be saved from the darkness." She looked out over the landscape. "It's like it's afraid of plunging into the dark."
"Exactly," Seth said, nodding. "You're ready." Ready for what? Mira thought instantly. I never realized all Jedi were this crazy. "Ready for what?" she repeated aloud. He looked at her and grinned. "For your training, of course," he said.
"Whoa…what training?" she said. "I'm no Jedi, Seth. I'm the best damn bounty hunter on Nar Shadda and—" Mira began. "—and that's not you bragging, that's fact?" Seth repeated with a laugh. "Yeah, I know." He grew sober again. "But the Order is dying, Mira. I'm not asking you to follow the Code…just to give the Force a chance. You can always reject it, though I hope you don't," he said.
"We can go to Nar Shadda," he said. "And you can listen to Nar Shadda." "But I know that place," Mira said. "Well, at least a lot better than you." Seth shrugged. "Prove it then," he said. Hopefully she's that kind of woman who never turns down a challenge. "Alright," she said, "you've got a deal—or a drafted deal."
"Okay then," Seth said as he started to stand. "But, just so you know, I don't do meditation and all that," Mira said. "Or any of that other stuff."
"Hey," Seth said. "All that you gotta do is wear the robes and carry the saber. The rest is stereotypical image. Now let's go—I bet Atton'll get scared of Nar Shadda the second we mention it. Let's just dress like…locals when we get there, alright?" Mira nodded. I know I'm going to regret this.
I hope I'm going in the right direction with this.