Scarlet Shadows
© Kaz, 2003

Chapter Four – Impressionis

For the first time ever since the establishment of the assassin group Moirae, the three ladies went to the marketplace to buy groceries together. In midst of their formation was Danni, smiling and laughing as if there was nothing in the world that could take away her happiness. She had explained to them when they regrouped back at their headquarters the night before that she had been keeping a close eye on Aalto, in search for the right time to execute her revenge, and afterwards, she had thrown the topic away as if it was nothing important.

"Next time, all for one, one for all, all right?" Tahiri proposed, grinning smugly at her two companions. "No matter what the mission is, we have to all be there to execute it." That earning an enthusiastically affirmative reply, she added, "And we gotta work on our strategies and battle tactics! I don't mean the infiltration phase and all --- I mean the fighting phase. You should upgrade your weapon, Danni. Learn to use a close-range one or something."

A chuckle escaped Nadine's lips. "Well, Tahiri, I think I could let you be the leader for a few minutes," she teased, her brown eyes glittering, showing how pleased she was that the three of them finally formed the bond their Aunt Arica long wanted them to have. She lowered her voice, however. "But let's talk about this when we get back; we don't want to arise suspicion, do we?"

Taking the cue, the twenty-three-year-old immediately changed the topic of their conversation. "I got the list here," she said, reaching into the pocket of her skirt to pull out a brown parchment scribbled with the things they were supposed to get for the upcoming meals. She then handed it to Nadine. "Mostly vegetables, a few fruits, and some kilos of meat. Fish and poultry, too. Maybe we should split up in getting all these so we can get back earlier?"

"I'll get the veggies," Tahiri volunteered. "And the fruits, too."

"Nadine?"

"The meat. Danni, why don't we go together?" the eighteen-year-old suggested, glancing slightly at the younger blond woman to ask her permission. When Tahiri nodded in approval, she turned back to Danni and continued, "We can then get the fish and chicken as well. I mean… well, I've never been here with you in my whole life, and I just wanted to take the opportunity. That is, if you won't mind, of course."

Danni brightened considerably at that invitation. "Of course I'd love to go with you, Nadine!" she exclaimed, before one of her eyelids dropped for a wink. She then looked at Tahiri, who she was afraid to leave behind, but she only raised a thumb up for approval. Seeing that there was nothing to worry about, she bid the younger blond woman a temporary farewell, then pulled the other teenager towards one corner of the marketplace, where they were supposed to go, excitedly.

With somewhat jealous green eyes, the fifteen-year-old watched the two women disappear into an intersection, taking a sharp right turn that completely drove them away from her line of sight. True, she was glad that they were bonding, but the thought of her sister going with someone else and leaving her behind made her slightly upset. After all, they just agreed a few moments back that from that time on, they were going to do things --- missions, most especially --- with the 'all for one, one for all' principle.

Sighing, she turned around to finish her assigned task…

… only to bump into a young man who obviously wasn't aware of where he was going.

The impact sent the two teenagers on the pavement, one on top of the other, him on top of her. Tahiri was very much ready to kick him on the shins for his recklessness and rudeness, but when he slightly pushed himself up --- just enough for his face to be exposed without him actually getting off her --- she found herself unable to move, and almost unable to breathe. Her verdant eyes were locked on to his cerulean ones, then moved down to examine the stranger until the very tip of his feet. He was tall, gangly and broad-shouldered, but to the fifteen-year-old, he was one of the two most handsome men she had ever seen in her lifetime. The other, she recalled with a giggle, was Ganner Rhysode, the annoying son of the fruits vendor she had been buying products from ever since she started working in the Feu de Joie.

Her giggle did not go unnoticed, however, as the boy was looking at her curiously. She shook her head in answer, and realizing that there was no way she would tell him what she was thinking of, he rose to his feet and pulled her up, careful not to hurt her any more than he already did. He then flashed her a smile, which did not go unnoticed as well. "I'm Anakin," he introduced, sticking his hand out for her to shake. He was careful not to say his last name, however, because the Solos had the reputation of being women-haters despite the fact that they actually weren't. At least, he and his brother, Jacen, weren't.

Unfortunately, his name rang a bell inside Tahiri's mind, and almost immediately after recognizing it, she felt her blood boil. The young Solo actually had the guts to knock her down, pull her up and introduce himself coolly?! She did not take his hand; instead, the look of admiration in her eyes hardened into a glare. "I know you, all right," she spat, hands on her hips. "And if you think that my opinion of you would change because you knocked me down and helped me back up on my feet, think again."

That said, she whirled around abruptly and headed towards the fruits section of the marketplace, her chin tilted in an arrogant fashion. However, the lopsided grin on Anakin's face did not melt away, especially when he noticed that she was walking around on bare feet. Chuckling lightly, he continued to watch her until she disappeared from his view, a part of his mind determinedly set on finding out who the blond young woman was.

His expression must've been as clear as day, for the middle-aged vendor who owned the stall just on the other side of the street interrupted Anakin by saying, "That was Tahiri Veila. She's a courtesan at the Feu de Joie." He then smiled as the seventeen-year-old turned to look at him, interested at what was just mentioned. From the look on his youthful face, he certainly wanted to learn more. "She's one of the most wanted women there. You should go check out the club sometime, especially if you want to get to know her better. She usually sizzles on Friday nights."

Anakin found his grin impossible to contain. Tomorrow's Friday.

Tahiri cursed under her breath as she tore through the crowd that flocked in the marketplace, irritated by the thought that Anakin was so handsome, she couldn't stop thinking of him. Even when she saw Ganner, who was flashing a smile left and right as his way of greeting every woman who came up to their tiny stall, the face that flashed on her mind belonged to the hotshot who knocked her down earlier. She had definitely decided, although unconsciously, who was the winner between the two finalists in her competition.

But he's a Solo! she reminded herself angrily, her emotions slipping through her eyes without warning. The anger that radiated from her made Ganner back off considerably, surprising him --- and surprising her. "S-sorry, Ganner," she quickly apologized, hoping nobody else was affected by her silent outburst. Fortunately, no one was. "I'm just upset about a few things, that's all."

He winked. "How about if we hang out and have fun?"

"Ganner!" Tahiri exclaimed in a warning tone, her green eyes narrowing considerably at what he was doing. He looked disappointed; she defeated him again, refusing his advances, which she hadn't really figured out to be friendly or something more than friendly. She then rummaged through her pockets for the list of fruits she had to get, and finding it, she pulled it out and thrust it to Ganner's palm. "On the double, if you don't mind."

Another wink, and that time, she could not stop herself from scowling. Smiling inwardly at the young woman's temper, Ganner proceeded to prepare her order, whistling a happy tune as he did so. On the other hand, Tahiri chose to sit on the stall's flat board, waiting rather impatiently for him to finish. She wanted to leave the marketplace as soon as possible, because she had the feeling that there was a very big possibility of her bumping into Anakin again --- and she wasn't sure how she would react the second time around.

"But we promised each other, Aunt Arica. We can't leave Tahiri out of this," Nadine stated in objection to their commander's plans to send only her and Danni on their next mission, which was to eliminate Xenakis, the leader of a notorious thief gang whose base had just been discovered. "Besides, I'm sure she'd love to act as the helpless hostage this time. Danni had fun when it was her turn."

Arica opened her mouth to object, but the two ladies countered her before she could say anything. Then, she sighed, giving in to her defeat. If the three of them wanted to go, then she had no choice but to let them go. "All right, take Tahiri with you," she told them as she leaned back against her chair, still maintaining her superiority despite the fact that her subordinates talked her into her decision. "But you have to promise me that there'll be no take two in your mission. Strike once, and strike hard."

The two rose from their seats and saluted. "Aye, aye, sir!"

Green eyes shimmering with amusement, the redhead motioned them to leave, wishing them good luck as they did so. Enthusiastic that they were, once again, on a mission together, they hurried to tell Tahiri to suit up, when they found her staring into empty space inside her quarters. The two looked at each other quizzically, wondering what was bothering the youngest member of their squad, when Nadine noticed the strange look in Tahiri's emerald eyes.

"It's about a guy, isn't it?" the eighteen-year-old asked, leaning forward to tease the younger girl, a few strands of her brown hair falling past her eyes as she did so. When Tahiri flinched and scowled, the brunette laughed, before she patted her friend on the back and moved towards the closet to pull out the other's bodysuit and combat shoes. "Time for you to suit up, girlie. Think about your Mr. Perfect later."

"I'm not thinking about a guy, for your information," Tahiri objected, her scowl deepening. Fortunately for her, the other two members of their assassin trio did not realize that she was lying, because ever since that incident in the marketplace, she couldn't stop thinking about Anakin. Putting up her best nonchalant façade, she got up and grabbed her gear from their leader's clutches. "Let me guess. We're going after Xenakis, and Aunt Arica didn't want me to go with you, but you convinced her otherwise. Am I right?"

The older blond woman nodded. "Very accurate and well said," she praised with a smile, settling herself down at the foot of the other's bed. "You're getting really good at this 'figuring out' stuff. So… wanna talk about the revisions in our battle strategy that you suggested back in the marketplace?"

Wrong cue word, Danni. The fifteen-year-old almost scowled, but decided not to as it would only give her away. Instead, she called the other two to her dressing table, and positioned a couple of cosmetics to serve as her visual aids. "Okay, so this is basically the main frame of Xenakis' hideout; at least, that was how it used to be. He's not the type who likes to change formations, so we can expect a fairly high possibility of this formation being retained." She pointed to the far end of the arrangement. "We're going to enter from there and knock down a few stuff, but I want you to drop down so the sentry will only notice me."

"Then you get captured, brought to Xenakis and we follow stealthily from behind, then we'll catch everyone by surprise," Nadine finished, before her eyes narrowed considerably. "We've used that tactic time and again, Tahiri. Are you sure that's going to work on your pickpocketing friends?"

"It should work," she answered, a stubborn look on her pale features. She then shifted her position slightly to address the two, a smile on her face. "However, Xenakis has this other way of dealing with former companions, I just don't know if he still applies it now. It's some sort of tournament, a battle to the death, his best warriors against his captive. In that case, me. So if he moves on with that, then I'm afraid you gotta leave the knocking down to me."

Concern was the emotion on Danni's face, and it was something that they all sensed without even staring at her intently. "Tahiri," the twenty-three-year-old began quietly, pointing out the tiny detail they had missed while going through the plan. "You won't have a weapon by then. If ever you'll get to smuggle one inside your clothes, they'll definitely know where to look. They know you. And they definitely won't let you in without disarming you."

A cocky grin surfaced on the younger blond's face instead. "Come on, Danni," Tahiri began confidently, before she pointed a thumb to herself. "I know them. I'll know where they're going to look. And I'm going to hide my stuff where they won't find it." She then grabbed her two short swords and tossed them to Danni, who almost didn't catch it out of her surprise. "And that was why I told you that you should learn how to use a close-range weapon. We're going to switch today; I'll have the projectiles, you'll have those two."

The older woman was about to object, but Nadine put a hand on her shoulder, indicating that she stop. "I know you're concerned, Danni, but I'm sure Tahiri knows what she's doing," their leader voiced out, smiling at the two ladies. "She knows Xenakis very well; after all, she spent years with him. If there's anyone who knows how to get past his defenses and wipe him out from the face of this world, it's her. Besides, if things get nasty, we can always jump into action. Why make this a suicide mission?"

"All right, all right," Danni conceded, raising her arms up in surrender. At her friends' laughter, she lowered her arms and reached out for a few of the darts she had laid out on the table for Tahiri's use. "But I'm not taking chances. I'm taking these with me, whether you like it or not." Then, she grinned, indicating that she, like the other two members of Moirae, was more than ready to get going.

Restlessness was one of the many traits seventeen-year-old Anakin Solo could not separate from himself, no matter how hard he would try to stay as still as possible, especially when he would be attending a political meeting on his father's behalf. Like all other young men in the Republic of Corellia, he longed for adventure and battle, not diplomacy and politics, which he was forced to indulge in despite his lack of interest and enthusiasm.

The elections were drawing near, only a few weeks away, and his father's party decided to hold a meeting to finalize everything they had planned. However, Han Solo was a busy man, utterly dedicated into serving the people who continued to persecute him, and because of his apparent lack of time, he sent his sons to attend the gathering instead. That, however, did not matter to his associates, because the Solo brothers were as competent as he was, especially eighteen-year-old Jacen, who was wise beyond his years.

To the older brother's disappointment, however, Anakin seemed even more detached than he normally was. He didn't only toy around with whatever he could get his hands on; he toyed around while staring into empty space. It bothered Jacen greatly, but he knew that there were more pressing matters at hand than what was distracting his brother, and that was what he was supposed to attend to first. "I have to agree with all of you, gentlemen. After all, Bel Iblis has begun his extensive and rather… expensive campaign."

"You really know your stuff, Jacen Solo," one of the higher members of the party praised, and the young man did not have to look towards the direction of the voice to know who it was. From the tone of the voice alone, he identified the speaker to be Kyp Durron, a thirty-two-year-old Senator who was running alongside his father as Vice President. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, his eyes peering into Jacen's own. "I'm impressed."

Jacen opened his mouth to react to the compliment when the only female member of their party, Viqi Shesh, opened a new topic. Like the only other woman who was bold enough to join the Senate in the history of the world --- Mara Skywalker, who was killed three years ago --- Viqi was a straightforward and firm politician who ignored the way she was treated by her peers just to speak on the women's behalf. It was rumored, however, that she was running for Senator because her fiancé, Han, promised to secure her the position in exchange for her commitment to him as a wife, and that there was more to her than her desire to crush the oppressors of her kind.

"Does anybody know about the assassin group I've been hearing about recently?" she questioned, sweeping her gaze from one politician to another. She then shifted her position to a more comfortable one. "Because I have the bad feeling that they are working for one of our enemies, aiming to eventually crush us, as we pose the biggest threat to all the other parties. And since Jacen mentioned that Bel Iblis is having quite an expensive campaign, his budget might include assassin fees as well."

Her statement caused a wave of murmur to rise in the room, which Jacen and Kyp tried to supress as soon as it brewed. But their companions would not listen to them, as the female politician's remark not only opened the topic about assassins, which everyone seemed to be very interested in, it also opened the topic about the possibility of Garm Bel Iblis, Han's greatest rival, being the man behind all the murders.

For the first time since the meeting began, Anakin looked up from the piece of paper he was toying with to gaze into his older brother's eyes, as if relaying a message that only they would understand. Then, Jacen looked away from his brother, fixed his eyes on Kyp --- who was sitting across him rather comfortably --- and tried to relay the same message. The running Vice President, who was expected to give an answer, swept his gaze around him to make sure that everyone's attention was on something else, then mouthed, Wait for Jag.

Both Solos nodded.

"Please, gentlemen," Kyp said in a loud voice as he rose up, then upon feeling Viqi's hard gaze on him, added, "and a lady…" with a smile. He cleared his throat, then continued, "This is not the time to worry about those assassins. Han assured that we'll all be safe from their hands; the least we can do is trust his word by not panicking. Let us go about with our daily businesses and campaigns, and do our best to win the hearts of the people. With that, I believe there is nothing left for us to discuss for today." He looked at everyone one last time. "The meeting is adjourned."

As the diplomats filed out of the room, Viqi keeping a safe distance behind them, the running Vice President called the Solo brothers over for a private discussion. He sat down on one of the tables, crossing his arms in front of his chest as his eyes narrowed considerably. "I'm not actually worried about their capabilities; I'm very much confident in ours, but I don't want to take chances. You may go, but make sure Jag is with you. No solo missions until I'm sure who we're up against --- pun intended," he emphasized as Jacen and Anakin exchanged meaningful glances regarding their original plan to try to capture the assassins on their own.

The younger of the two sighed in defeat, knowing that despite his stubbornness and Jacen's skill in diplomacy, they would never be able to convince Kyp to change his mind. At that, he took up a mocking salute, which did not go unnoticed by the Senator. However, the thirty-two-year-old only smiled as Anakin said, "You're the boss."

---

Author's Notes:

This chapter's title is in Latin, impressionis meaning impression. For some reason I'm just fond of using foreign languages for either a title of a fic/story or chapter titles. Yes, I know I'm crazy. Also, I tweaked up everyone's relationships, because I didn't know how to make things fit in. Don't worry, I will try to make things as reasonable as possible. And I didn't want to bring Viqi in, but hey, this story needs more villains. What would be better than to bring out one from the oppressed gender?

Shai: Jacen and Danni will meet most probably in Chapter Six. I already have an idea on how I will do it, but I'm still not quite too sure if I should move on with it, or think of another. As for Luke… that's something I'm still debating about. It's a pretty hard choice, actually. Anyway, thanks for your nice words! But as I told you the other day, you're too humble! =P

Lynx and Vader: Thanks! Glad you like it!

Firey: Sure, no worries. Thanks for reading.

Gwendolyn Rogan: Hey, Gwen! I wanted to email you, but your address wasn't in your bio. First off, thank you for reading and reviewing. Your comments are really inspiring. And now, for your questions… yes, this is going to progress beyond the killing of men. I myself think it would be so boring to just kill men one chapter after the other, but I had to start off with it to build the story's foundation. Don't worry, I already started making things complicated, and more hints will follow. As for the three girls becoming assassins, I hate to say this, but you'll have to wait and see. But if you really want to know, feel free to IM me and talk about it. I love giving out spoilers, but only to those who don't mind being spoiled. *smiles*

Fire Princess: Innocent bystanders beware! *dances* And there you have it, sis, as I promised: Anahiri action. Remember the memorable "impossible to contain" from the sneak preview? Whee.

Thanks everyone!