A chasm divided the barren, rocky landscape as far as the eye could see. There were no animals, not even birds in the sky. The colors of ash and stone were broken only by a few meager trees, dry and curled like the sickly hand of a dying traveler lost in the forsaken land, grasping for a mirage with his last strength. Above, the sky was pale with clouds and down in the chasm darkness swirled, so thick it seemed alive.
There, at the edge of darkness, stood Aleena. On the other side, the monster.
She was no longer afraid. She wanted to fight. She had the will, the strength, and the desire to be rid of the evil creature once and for all. She shouted taunts, insults, demands, though her voice seemed muffled even to her own ears.
The monster watched and listened, but didn't move.
"Get over here! Get over here so I can kill you!"
Aleena tried to be louder, to let out all the anger and hatred inside, but the heavy air pushed back. The words barely whimpered out of her throat, as if choked thin by a suffocating hand.
The monster stood still.
Finally Aleena lost her patience. Charging forward, she leaped over the chasm.
But as she flew, the world shook and shifted; the opposing side retreated away, like the very fabric of reality was stretching out. Where Aleena's feet were aiming for solid ground before, there was now only a widening abyss.
She crashed into the stone wall across, barely grabbing onto a hold. Her fingers started to slip. She found a ledge with her feet just in time not to fall further.
She panted and cursed quietly. Her body ached from the impact, though nothing felt broken.
The wind carried a sinister whisper. Aleena glanced down and icy panic shot through her veins. From the bottom of the chasm, the swirling dark cloud started to grow, like some blind, ancient creature of doom rising to swallow the world whole. Without thinking, Aleena started to climb. No, not to climb; it was a scramble, reckless, desperate, barely feeling out the next hold before pulling on it. The stone ground away the cloth on her knees and elbows, and then the skin. She could feel the sharp pain of dirt and debris being rubbed into her flesh.
And still, the top seemed further and further away, as if it was running from the darkness too. Aleena pulled and pushed, channeling all that her own muscles and the Force could give… and suddenly, she was on top. Panting, spent, unable to move a limb.
The monster was gone. The land was gone too; only one tower remained, the one on which Aleena rested, alone in the dark sea.
With a gentle rumble, that walls of this last island began to collapse into the void.
Each body told a different story: a technologist who put immense confidence in his gadgets and sensors, but failed to see with his own eyes; a brute who relied on the mass of his muscles, but came upon a foe who could not be defeated by sheer strength alone; a marksman with the eye and patience of a bird of prey, who nonetheless was outmatched by a superior predator. Three different lives and three different deaths, all with a rhyming epilogue: a corpse abandoned to rot in the Rikorosian wilderness.
At least for a solid week already, if the smell was to be trusted. Hardly a hot trail, but the best so far. The agent left the last body behind and hurried up a hill. Unlikely that the witch had gone that way, but there was no time left for a thorough reading of the tracks. An overview of the land was the last hope before nightfall would seal the failure of another day-long search.
The sun was setting and visibility deteriorated fast. A few scrubby trees dwelt on the hilltop, casting long but feeble shadows on the ground. Much like a shadow itself, a figure made it up the rocky slope. The view offered little encouragement. Even from such an elevated position, eyesight couldn't travel far on the rough terrain. Hills and mountains bounded the view; trees and rocks hid the quarry between.
Hope faded with the dwindling light. The agent sighed. Even if they couldn't catch her, the bounty hunters seemed to have spooked the witch at least; she didn't make herself so easy to find anymore. There was no telling how the clan would react to this news; though Yuluga had been tight-lipped, the agent knew very well he was on the last stretches of his patience. It will soon run out, and then he'll turn to other patrons.
The mountains, like giant teeth, bit into the disk of the sun, then slowly consumed it. The agent stood and watched, mind slipping away from present to future, from the hunt to guessing Yuluga's next move.
A flickering light gleamed through the dusk. The agent snapped to attention.
A campfire's orange and yellow rays penetrated the veil of the evening, growing brighter as the sky darkened. Her greatest ally, the dark, betrayed the witch after all. Careful as she was, even she needed warmth for the night. The agent measured the distance, reinvigorated with hope. Less than half an hour at proper speed.
Soon the trees of the hilltop stood alone once again, moldy skeletons waving goodbye to a brief guest now marching towards the valley.
The campsite was set up in the bottom of a crater, some eight meters across and two in depth. The depression sheltered it from wind and helped keep the heat. The agent approached carefully. The rim drew closer, revealing a little more with every step. The top of the fire, a pile of wood, a backpack lying on its side, a half-skinned animal… and that was it. The site was abandoned.
Or so it seemed. But the agent was not easily tricked. If the witch noticed her coming, she would have been foolish to stay in the crater, exposed to attack from above, but that didn't mean she had abandoned it for good. She was there,something was there,hiding nearby in the bushes, a lump of anger, waiting for the intruder to spring the trap before striking.
And so the agent nodded and stepped into the cauldron.
Branches rustled behind, barely a whisper of the wind. The witch was moving. She was ready to fight for her little circle of hard-fought peace, this handful of possessions she must have considered home. The agent could feel her determination, her malice… her pain.
She was very close now.
"Lower your weapon, Aleena. I didn't come to fight you."
The agent turned around to face the witch. Aleena froze at the sound of her true name. Many assassins targeted her before. Some used skills and weaponry, others cunning and traps. But this one was armed with something more dangerous – knowledge. And even if she could not guess what that knowledge was that made the stranger so bold, for the first time since the night of Monga's death, Aleena felt wary. She examined the agent with caution and curiosity. There was not much she was allowed to see. A small figure in loose robes, face obstructed by a cowl.
For all the doubts in her mind, though, there was none in her hand. She kept the blaster firmly aimed and ready to fire at any quick movement. The intruder didn't seem to be overly concerned by that. She calmly removed her cowl, revealing a set of alien features. A white, meaty appendage resting on either shoulder like a human would wear long, thick hair; the same organ forming a pair of horns high on her head, above a distinct jewel made of animal teeth. A Togruta… Aleena flinched when she recognized the orange-white patterns of her skin.
"Ahsoka Tano. What a pleasant surprise" she finally tucked the gun into its holster. For sure she won't need that.
Ahsoka smiled.
"Leena, I'm so glad to see you alive and well."
Aleena measured her silently. She thought Ahsoka dead twice already, once after their catastrophic game, and once when the rest of the Jedi were rounded up. Togrutas have nine lives, don't they. But she took her sweet time to come back to this one. Fifteen years of utter silence, no visit, no message, nothing… and she chooses now to reach out. Curious timing.
"What do you want?"
"I came to help you. I heard you were out here, all alone…"
Aleena laughed a dry, joyless laugh.
"You heard? The Jatu told you."
"Yes. But…"
"They hired you to kill me."
"No, no, Leena, please, listen to me, I'd never…"
"Then what do you want?"
Ahsoka took a breath. She spoke softly.
"I've come to ask you to stop what you're doing. I know these people hurt you, and you must have a very good reason to hate them. But this, this is not the way…"
Aleena snorted. Not the way! Well, at least she didn't beat around the bush. One would think that a Jedi has more spine, but apparently not. The clan must be truly desperate if they thought this would work.
"Enlighten me then, o wise master, what is the way? Let this criminal trash kick and punch me as they please? Run away, cry in a corner? Or join them like you did?"
"I didn't join them. Leena, please…"
"No? No? Why do you care then? Why are you siding with them?"
"Please, Leena, listen to me. I want to help. I'm not with the clan. I'm with a group of very brave people who fight to restore freedom to the galaxy. But I'm not here for them either. I'm here because I'm worried about you, about what you are becoming. Leena, I'm here for you."
Aleena's blood rushed. She has the face…
"For me?!" she shrieked "For me?! You weren't there for me when Windu threw me out of the Order! You weren't there for me when my family was murdered! You weren't there for me when your accomplices treated me like some last piece of garbage! But now, when I am feared, when I am respected, you suddenly show up and want to be friends" she took a breath, long, painful "No, Ahsoka. For the first time in a really long while, I don't need help. Especially not yours. If you don't want to fight, you'll leave. Now."
"Leena…"
"Now."
Ahsoka looked deep into Aleena's eye, mounting a final, silent plea. She was met with relentless hostility. The Togruta bowed her head, preparing for the inevitable.
"I'm sorry, Aleena, I can't let you continue this."
"That's what I thought."
A lightsaber hissed. The next few moments went missing. The distance between the two women evaporated, and all of a sudden Aleena found herself striking at the Togruta. A bright flash came and a pair of white blades parried the attack. Aleena swung again, wide and hard. She yelled something and felt flames in her throat; the rage was so burning. Again she became blind and deaf to the world and could only see the darkest corner of her own mind. A place of fire and death, and a vile creature in the middle of it, an enemy in the robes of a friend, a traitor that must be punished. Strike, strike, strike! She fought with ever greater ferocity.
This is it, this is the final test, the last adversary to overcome. The masters of old lie dead in their graves, nothing but food for worms and stuff of fading fairy tales. But she, Aleena Sakkar, is alive and more powerful than ever. They deemed her unworthy, those bunch of senile hypocrites, but she outlived them all, and now she's going to defeat their darling to crown her rise. Doubt will be shattered, failures undone, and the unbelieving dead will have no choice but to turn with awe and recognize her for what she is: the last and mightiest of the Jedi Knights. Strike, strike!
They ended up on opposite sides of the campfire. The fight entered a deadlock. Whichever way Aleena stepped, the Togruta rotated the same direction, keeping the fire between them. They circled around for a while. Aleena shouted insults at her opponent, cursing her cowardice. Ahsoka was silent. Finally, Aleena kicked into the fire and the Togruta was forced to back away from the flying cinder. Aleena leaped over the flames, striking at her again.
She rushed attack after attack, caring little for her own safety. But while Ahsoka never took on the openings or try to unbalance Aleena, her defense was impenetrable. She deflected every cut and thrust with confidence. Her passivity infuriated Aleena further. She doubled down, but her attack only became more ineffective as she abandoned any attempt at deftness or nuance in favor of brute force. Her judgment was too clouded to realize how badly outmatched she was.
Then suddenly something broke through the red haze: an evil little idea. Aleena grinned inside with malicious satisfaction. It was going to work, she knew it. Strike, strike, dodge and thrust!
Whether out of memory or practice, but Ahsoka was ready for it this time. She locked Aleena's weapon between her two blades and twisted it out of her hand, following up with a kick to the abdomen. Aleena fell, crashing into the mud. She felt cold, disgusting slime on her face. The defeat was swift and shocking. Her arm snapped out, she didn't even know why, to retrieve her weapon or just to try to hold on to the fleeting delusion of greatness. Both slipped out of her grasp.
Ahsoka powered down her lightsabers.
"Leena… Leena, please stop."
"Leave me alone!" Aleena cried. Lying in the dirt, aching and stripped of her precious lightsaber, the confidence was gone. Buried feelings surfaced again. She was her old self once more, the failed student, the orphaned child, the woman stripped of her dignity, overcome with shame, grief, anger… and hatred. Hatred towards Ahsoka for shattering her world, for making her regress into this lowly state "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
She channeled the Force to push the Togruta away, but something else happened entirely. A strange sensation ran through her arm, as if all her dark thoughts and fears had formed a liquid and poured into her veins. The malicious energy exploded into blue lightning at her fingertips. Ahsoka screamed in pain and collapsed.
Aleena jerked back her arm in fright. The stream of lightning broke. Ahsoka laid motionless, her cloak painted deep red by the remains of the campfire. Aleena stared at her own hand shocked and disturbed, like it had just turned into some alien parasite she could no longer trust.
She didn't understand what had happened and didn't want to. She sifted out the lightsaber from the mud, grabbed her backpack, and ran away into the night.
The moon was already high when she finally settled down under a large rock. It was cold without the fire and she was hungry. A million emotions swirled inside and she desperately want to know which to follow. The world was falling apart. She strained to keep its pieces together, to preserve some of the pride, the confidence, the feeling that she can overcome any obstacle in her way. That she had a way still, some meaning to her life. She searched inside for the fire, calling on it to give her strength and be her companion once again in this struggle.
But there was no answer. Aleena cried herself to sleep alone.