"Are you thirsty? Are YOU THIRSTY?" the Zygerrian slaver shouted atop a small mountain of dirt, rocks and garbage overlooking the pit where way too many slaves were grouped, begging for water after one day of deliberate "dehydration torture".
Obi-Wan wasn't sure he would be able to last much longer. He was on the brink of an abyss. He could take the surrounding injustices no more. The situation he was in was either humiliating or would lead to him acting "selfishly" by forgetting the Code's tenets. Either way, it was the profanation of everything a Jedi should be. He shortly wondered who would be harmed in the galaxy if he allowed himself to flip out and die in an inevitable confrontation with Zygerrians. It wasn't like Anakin could realistically turn, was it? The damage he'd inflicted was too great already, even in terms of a Force-oriented worldview, Obi-Wan reasoned, feeling more tempted to act up by the minute. He'd attempted studying his surroundings, but the slaves were so heavily guarded that there appeared to be no possible way out in sight.
"DRINK, THEN!" the sadistic slaver threw a bucket of ice water on top of the miserable wretches. They were startled by the paralyzing coldness as they were hit by it, desperate at seeing all that liquid they needed be absorbed by the ground and attempting to suck whatever humidity was squeezable out of their filthy, drenched clothes.
Obi-Wan clenched his jaw, hating everything about what he was made witness. A frail-looking captive girl, a Zygerrian herself, seemed particularly desperate about her inability of getting any of the water she was seeing. Besides, her rags were wet and making her shiver. His better side having gotten the upper hand, the Jedi walked towards the sobbing girl.
"Are you thirsty?" he asked, his hoarse voice sounding weird to his own ears.
The girl looked up at him, incredulous that anyone would offer her help, and slowly nodded.
"All right, I'll try catching some water for you" he said in his best reassuring tone. He was proud of his defiance towards the slavers.
As the sadistic Zygerrian threw another bucket of water on the captives, Obi-Wan used his physical prowess, shaped by years of training and battling with swords, to catch some by using his cupped hands, which were still sore from the fractures he'd sustained. He promptly offered it to the girl, who lapped at the small amount as if there were no tomorrow.
Driven by an inexplicable oppositional urge, Obi-Wan looked the Zygerrian captor who was administering the water torture right into the eye. No amount of beatings would deter him from being his true self, Obi-Wan's mind was set on this.
Snickering savagely, the slaver, who tolerated no toes out of line, used his obvious advantage to pour a whole bucketful of ice cold water right on top of Obi-Wan's head.
Obi-Wan had imagined it would happen, and was planning on not to let any weakness transpire, to reinforce his defiance. However, as soon as the water hit his skull, he collapsed on the ground, blacking out, convulsing for a short few moments.
As the slaver cackled and he regained consciousness, he was left more stunned than ever before. He had seen... no, he had felt Satine. Drowning in ice cold water. It had been more than a vision... definitely more concrete than that. Unable to explain this eerily realistic experience, he let himself collapse back on the ground, utterly shocked, with eyes wide open. The captives stepped on him as they frantically tried to hold any water, but he barely noticed.
Satine kept on swimming until the water became too shallow; at which point she sprang on all fours, crawling to the shore until she collapsed on its murky sands, coughing and spitting water and phlegm and desperately attempting to catch her breath. She was a total wreck, whatever remnant of physical strength she had left instantly dissipating. Her muscles felt as if they'd been put in a grinder, her heart felt as if it would explode in her chest, she was shaking uncontrollably... but she had made it. She had survived yet another vile attempt on her life. As she regained her breath, she pressed herself against the ground, closing her eyes shut, trying to ward off traumatic emotions.
Saying Bo-Katan was fuming would be an understatement. As she scanned the lake with her macrobinoculars, in search of her sister, she huffed. After some long moments, she retreated in the stronghold, followed by a few faithful ones.
Believing these hicks would prove themselves useful for her Mandalorian plans of reconquest and reconstruction had been a grave mistake.
Shooting her unarmed sister behind her back. Bo-Katan could simply not tolerate such an insult.
She stormed into the hall, blaster at ready.
"KAAK!" she thundered as the thug she'd summoned turned to face her, earning a punch square in his stomach which left him breathless.
"You deserved it. You know what you don't deserve, instead? My trust"
In mere minutes, all hell broke loose on the islet as opposing factions of warriors fought each other, forsaking any "civilized" settlement they'd agreed on just a few days earlier.
Bombs and ammos glowed in the distance like fireworks. Such a lugubrious fair-like display.
Satine, now finally back on her own two legs, was still dripping and out of breath, not even attempting to repress her outbursts of indignation, kicking lumps of leaves and bark in the darkness. But she didn't care. She was alone. Alone, with Cressidra gone. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks, anger and grief rising within her. Her initial shock gone, images of what had just taken place were now mercilessly assaulting her.
Slipping into autopilot, she reached the impromptu "campsite" where F-39 was guarding the baby and few possessions, next to the spaceship.
She experienced instant relief as soon as she was reunited with Mara Jade. Finally. She was starting to understand the power of this parent-child connection thing, now. She talked to her, clutching her tiny warm weight against her body, then proceeding to change into a dry blouse, feeling clumsy at not having done that right away. Mara Jade hadn't cried for that. She rarely did. She was such a good baby, perhaps because aware of her mother's awkwardness, Satine thought.
Still shaking from the huge release of adrenaline, Satine resisted her urge to take a rest and dived right into the dark forest trail, followed by F-39, whose compass gave them direction. She wished to distance themselves from the islet, fearing the rogue Mandos might track their spaceship and find them. She instructed F-39 to guide them to a sanctuary shelter, remembering a few sparsely populated settlements on that Kalevalan moon. She soon realized, thanks to the droid's maps, that reaching the nearest of them would take all night, if not longer. She was exhausted, but terror and survival instincts allowed her to carry on, as she braved her way through the dark forest. But if Satine could foolishly ignore her own needs, pretending they weren't there, she simply couldn't do the same with her child's.
After about one hour, Mara Jade started whimpering. After a few more minutes of ongoing unrest, Satine took it as a sign that she was done being moved around for the night. Therefore, she found the hollow base of a tree, behind a bush not far from the trail, and began setting up an improvised bed to rest for the night. She had gained extraordinary knowledge of camping in hollow trees during her year on the run with the Jedi who stole her heart. Once made sure that they would be warm, she instructed F-39 to stay on guard, then entered the hollow trunk and lied on her side, pulling the blanket up over her shoulders and adjusting a coverlet under herself. She gulped some water down and ate a couple of ration bars, for survival.
The night was so deep that the only sounds she could hear were the hooting of a convor and Mara Jade's soft breaths next to her. Far from everywhere and everyone. At least she had made sure they'd lost themselves enough into nowhere so as to be far from the open fire, as well. She wondered if the attack on her life had anything to do with the ongoing clashes back at the stronghold, Bo-Katan filling her thoughts for a moment.
She tried falling asleep, but found out she couldn't. No wonder. Fear, grief and anger were clouding her mind, giving her no respite. Not to mention the fatigue and physical pain she was in. She held onto the coverlet tightly, trying to release her tumultuous emotions. Before she realized it, she was crying. Oh, those post partum hormonal swings. They sure weren't doing her any favors, now, added to the mix of everything that was taking place.
Sensing her turmoil, Mara Jade started wailing, prompting Satine to hold her closer. Was she cold? Was she hungry? Was she uncomfortable? Satine assumed that, if there were some women out there who would recognize their children's needs right away, she definitely wasn't one of them. For her, and Mara Jade, it was a two-sided learning process. "Have patience with me, ad'ika" she told her. Eventually, she got distracted while tending to her needs and was able to fall asleep without being plagued by any additional anxiety.