Raiko didn't know when they had left the Temple – but when she awoke early the next morning, surrounded by the familiar sounds of her clan mates, snuffling, snoring, rustling – she became aware of a distinct absence, almost like an ache in her chest. Fearing the worse, she left her bunk soundlessly, climbing across the bunks to get to the door.
She had almost made it out of the dormitory when a throat cleared behind her. She turned in place to see the unimpressed stare of B'ink. The Twi'lek had disguised her relief at Raiko's return as she usually did – with muttered admonishments, and brusque affection. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I need to see Qui-Gon." She said, inching towards the door.
B'ink looked sad. "Didn't you know, tooka? They left last night, for Naboo – the Queen wished to return and they were ordered to accompany her, along with the Skywalker boy."
Raiko felt her heart skip a beat. "W-what?" she turned to the window, searching the sky, as if she would be able to spot the cruiser and bring them back. "But that's too dangerous! Don't they realise – they're walking straight into a trap!"
B'ink drew nearer to her, and picked her up. "It's alright, Raiko." She hushed her, and Raiko realised she was near to tears.
"Can't you feel it?" she asked, clutching at her chest. "I can feel them getting closer to… the end." The more she thought about, the more she realised that was what was so cold and empty in her chest. Both the absence of the two Jedi whose Force signatures she was familiar with, and the looming danger she could sense. B'ink looked at her in surprise.
"Your senses have improved." She said, almost accusingly.
Raiko shrugged. What did it matter, when they were going to their doom?
The hours trickled by, day faded into night – and still there was no word.
Raiko could feel them, humming in her peripheries, but had no idea how to reach them. Her distraction was obvious. She was defeated in saber training, was absent from dinner-time conversation, and could barely concentrate when Yoda himself came down to discuss the upcoming Ilum excursion with the padawan candidates.
If only she was stronger with the Force, maybe she could… contact them, help them somehow.
She opted out of meditation, claiming a headache, and wandered aimlessly.
Somehow, she ended up in the projection room. Someone had left a holobead on, and when she walked in she was surrounded by stars. For a second, she relived the wonder she had felt as a toddler, when the magic of the projection had made her long boring day of training worth it.
Surrounded by the galaxy, she felt the first tremor of fear.
Raiko didn't know it – she had no grasp on the Force, merely an idea – but she had bonded with the two Jedi she had spent so much time with, so much trauma with. Her bond with Anakin was more one sided, created by Anakin's own raw Force ability, too powerful for either of the children to understand. The fear currently coursing through her was not her own – but that was the only thing she was sure of.
Then pain.
She fell to her knees with the force of it – screaming a scream that was not her own as horror filled her then, rage. White hot and burning, her body went rigid with the intensity of it. Tempering it then, cool and hissing like ice water on hot durasteel – an icy cold emanation of revenge. A desperation.
Timidly, unable to do anything more, Raiko offered her own calm, her adoration, her confidence despite the turmoil coming through the bonds.
The cold dissipated somewhat, and Raiko could only hope she had gotten through. Resolve came through then, and then, quick as lightning, victory. Bright and white-hot, satisfaction and victory only lasted for a second through one link before it faded into a deep, dark mourning. Through the other link, sun through clouds, the victorious spirit soared.
But the most distressing part of all of it was the slow dissipation of the pain of the first bond. It was fading, everything fading. The emotions flashing through the bond were fleeting – and Raiko knew that the worst had happened.
Surrounded by the bright specks of life, Raiko felt her first death as keenly as if someone was wrenching a lightsaber through her heart. Raiko cried herself to sleep on the floor of the projection room, waking to B'ink's hands on her cheeks, and the Twi'lek's own tears falling on her forehead, and her mother's pearl burning a hole against her collarbone.
Raiko stood next to Obi-Wan at the funeral pyre.
Next to him, she could feel him more clearly. The faintly surprised look that had to sprung to life in his eyes when she had greeted him upon his return – as if he was seeing her for the first time – told her that she wasn't the only one experiencing the connection.
He was keeping his walls up high – but she could feel his sorrow, his turmoil as the flames licked over the body of Qui-Gon Jinn. Hidden by the folds of their robes, Raiko reached for him, and touched his hand. He didn't look at her, but she could feel a flicker of surprise, and then acceptance. His hand tightened around hers, and she shifted closer to the older boy. On her other side, Anakin was crying, and she reached for him as well. He drew closer easily, interlinking their fingers and leaning into her. His own sadness mingled with excitement; just moments earlier, Obi-Wan had told him of his training. Part of her, her petty childish side, had been jealous of Anakin – being allowed to become a padawan so easily. A different part of her, the better part of her, was thankful that she'd have a friend with her in the Ilum caves.
It was cold there, and a part of her could feel it in her bones already.
The pyre burned ever higher, and Raiko swallowed around the lump in her throat. It was bittersweet, the comfort offered through the bonds on both sides of her. They were bound now, whether they knew it or not. She could feel them on the edge of precipice, the galaxy before them, the dark unknown on the prowl, calling them forth to battle.