Chapter 23: Repentance

The family had offered Jarek a place to sleep in their home, but Jarek politely declined. He'd imposed on them enough and figured the newly shingled barn would be adequate. To himself he mused it offered more places to hide and escape should his pursuers catch up to him.

The night was calm and cool but the structure was well insulated. He didn't even feel the need to break out a blanket. After a day of work and a full stomach, sleep came easily to the youth. Images teased the edges of his vision, but fatigue offered a blessed blank relief to his dreams.

It was near midnight when the creaking of the barn door woke him. He tensed with his blaster at hand, but relaxed when a short skinny shadow slunk into the building. Sighing Jarek pretended to sleep as Len crept towards him. He took over-exaggerated tip-toe steps in a way the boy probably thought was stealthy. It was all Jarek could do not to laugh and remain still. A skilled hunter this boy was not.

Len approached Jarek's belt where his Kal sat sheathed along with his other blaster. Len slowly drew the long knife. Jarek wasn't surprised he'd noticed the kid eyeballing the blade earlier that day. Holding it up to the moonlight Len marveled at its keen edge and weight. Just as he started to wave it experimentally Jarek spoke. "Careful," Len squeaked in alarm nearly dropping the knife. Jarek sat up and stared at the kid. "It's sharp." Looking sheepish Len handed the blade back to Jarek. Shuffling his feet, the boy was probably expecting a reprimand. Myler would've given him one for sure. Good thing I'm me. Smiling Jarek held the knife up. "This is a kal," he explained gaining the boy's attention, "a tool of my people."

"Tool?" Len repeated tilting his head in confusion, "What's it used for?"

"Bit of everything," Jarek said rotating his hand so the edge caught the moonlight as it had earlier. He flipped the dagger around expertly as he spoke. "From whittling a stick to settling disputes with the neighbors." Len laughed at the young man's colorful explanation. Smiling Jarek allowed Len to handle it a bit more before putting it back in its sheath.

As Jarek walked him to the door, Len looked up at the youth. "I think you'd really like my brother," he said, "He's tough but smart and showed me stuff like this all the time." With a gentle wave, Len hurried back to the house.

Returning to his bed of straw Jarek settled into sleep. As he did his eyes caught the handle of his kal. Other than his armor the kal was all he had left of home. His beskad probably lay at the bottom of a river, lost forever. Both blades had been a gift from Myler and held bitter memories of better…simpler times.

The images no longer stayed at the edge of dreams but sleep still claimed him none the less.

The next morning Jarek checked over his speeder. With a fully charged powercell, the road beckoned. The family had also been kind enough to present him with some trail rations and water for the journey. His gratitude towards their kindness was boundless, but he'd already stayed too long. Before leaving Shai gifted him a travel container, not unlike the one the vendor had used. "This should hold you over until the next settlement." It was a fresh meal; what would become a rare treat for him going forward.

Feeling his throat tighten, Jarek bowed and accepted it graciously. These folks had no right to be kind to him. Yet they had opened their home and treated him, a stranger, like a proper guest. The guilt twisted in his gut despite his gratitude. Just then a distant growl cut through the morning air. Dust kicked up on the road as four speeder bikes approached the farm. Sunlight glinted off shiny new badges pinned to dusters.

"What's got them in a hurry?" Genry growled stepping in front of Shai and Len.

Jarek's eyes narrowed as he instinctively stood at the farmer's shoulder hand sliding to his weapon. "Nothing good."

The speeders pull up, the whine of their engines sending the animals into a flurry of squeals and groans. As they idle to a halt, neither the Marshal nor his deputies bothered to disembark. "What brings ya here, Gown?" Genry demanded not even attempting to hide his disdain.

Despite the rebuke, the Marshal maintained a sneering expression that made Jarek's stomach twist nervously. "Just thought you'd like to know; your son's squad was ambushed by the Seps." The family gasped in collective shock. Jarek saw tears in Shai's eyes and Len looked on the verge of shedding his own. Still smirking the Marshal looked back at his men. "You hear how the Seps deal with prisoners?"

"Doesn't even bear thinking of, Marshal," One of his men replied, feigning a fearful shudder, "Seps are desperate. The desperate do savage things to survive."

Shai sobbed in horror as her husband's hand tightened into fists. "Shut yer mouth!" Genry shouted spearing a finger at the deputy. If looks could kill then the fathers would've dropped the man on the spot.

The Marshal's smile faltered. Stepping off his speeder, Gown advanced intently on the man. Genry looked all too ready to fight, but Jarek new the moment he threw hands it would be all over. Without thinking, Jarek stepped up to the tall man leveling his hate-filled gaze. Gown's eyes widened in a mix of anger and surprise. Noticing Jarek's hand was already resting on his blasters, the Marshal glared before taking a discretionary step back. Scoffing he turned away and remounted his speeder. "These bogwigs aren't worth our time." With a rev of their engines, the four speeders jetted away from the farm, dousing the family and Jarek in a shower of dust.

Jarek turned to see Genry hug his still weeping wife. "W-what's going to happen to Sen?" Len asked fearfully.

Placing a hand on his son's shoulder, Genry tried to smile reassuringly. "I'm headed to the Base," the husband declared. "I'm going find out what really happened to Sen." Shai cries but nods in understanding. The three embraced once more before Genry lead Shae back into the house. Jarek looked away from the familial affection and mounted his vehicle.

As his parents go inside Len runs up to Jarek who was already warming up the engines. He shuffled his feet nervously staring at the ground. "When my pa goes…" Jarek pretended he couldn't see the tears on the boy's cheeks or hear the hope in his voice. "Will ya stay?"

A pang went through him, but he stomped it down. What had happened was none of his business. No matter how much a swine like the Marshal deserved it, Jarek had no desire to get involved. He had his supplies and a full powercell. Nothing else mattered. The boy's expression fell as Jarek slowly shook his head. "I have to keep moving." He felt more than heard the kid sob in distress and felt his heart ache. Looking up he could just barely make out the retreating dust cloud on the horizon. With Genry gone it would only be Shai and Len left alone…

Reaching into his belt he retrieved the sheathed Kal. "Here. Take this." Len gawked at the knife, before trembling fingers wrapped around the handle. "A man can't always defend his home barehanded." Despite the tears staining his dirty cheeks, the boy smiled. Jarek returned it, feeling yet another pang in his chest, before accelerating away from the farm.

Darkness swirled about him, as rain stung his face. Ice danced through his veins as he fought through the torrent. Ahead Jilo waited arms outstretched, but as Jarek took hold her face morphed into one of despair. A scream filled his mind as the point of a blade pierced her chest. Suddenly Jilo's agonized expression was replaced by Len's tormented cry. Jarek shouted in horror only to find it was his hand holding the weapon. His palms came away scarred and bloody. Jilo's scream mingled with his own as the world exploded into light.

Jarek sat up, cold sweat drenching his skin. His chest heaved for breath as it fought to keep up with his heart. Just then he realized he was holding his blaster, aiming at nothing but the grass beyond his campsite. Sighing he holstered the weapon. The dream replayed in his mind, the details fading with his sharpening consciousness. Jarek didn't need to be a shaman or soothsayer to know its meaning. He'd abandoned the farm a full rotation ago, and it'd been over a month since fleeing Kalevala.

No amount of distance or time would slake his guilt.

"Jaegar!" a voice shouted snapping his head around. Through the grass galloped a shaak with Shai riding atop it. Jarek's pulse quickened as he leaped up from his sleeping mat. Even from a distance her wide eyes and frantic hand waving was a clear sign of distress. "Jaegar please help!" In a flurry of dirt and sod, she reigned the shaak in. Before Jarek could ask what was wrong, the woman was on her knees, eyes brimming with tears. "It's Len! The Marshal came back after Genry left." Jarek's muscles tensed. Shai wrung her hands, ignoring the grass stains on her clothing. "When they ordered us to pay protection fees, Len pulled a knife on them." Alarm coursed through Jarek's mind as he visualized Len's tiny arms stabbing the kal, his kal, at lawmen. "I don't know where he even got a knife," Shai wept, causing his gut to squirm uncomfortably. "They took him away. They said if he's man enough to attack an Imperial Marshal then he's old enough to face Imperial punishment." Shai's tears were flowing freely by now but her arms became still. She held her clasped hands up to the youth. "I know we barely know you, but…" The appeal faded into body-shaking sobs, but Jarek didn't need to hear it.

In his mind's eye, he could see Len, scrawny and brave, fighting desperately to defend his mother while his father and older brother were gone. Jarek could feel the boys fear as the deputies swatted aside his pitiful defenses. He could hear the lawmen's laughter and taunts, but he could only imagine what form the boy's punishment would take.

Len: so skinny a stiff breeze might push him over. Len, who smiled toothily and asked too many questions of a stranger. Len…who's brother was missing, and father gone, had done what any man should do to protect his loved ones. He stepped up…and stood his ground…

Jarek's grip tightened around the handles of his blasters as his eyes glared off in the direction of town.