AND NOW THE RAINS WEEP O'ER HIS HALL

And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low?

Only a cat of a different coat, that's all the truth I know

In a coat of gold or a coat of red, a lion still has claws

And mine are long and sharp my lord, as long and sharp as yours.

And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of Castamere.

And now the rains weep o'er his hall, with no one there to hear.

Yes, now the rains weep o'er his hall, and not a soul to hear.

The massacre of House Shechel showed Onderon what happens to those who try to harm the Blackwells. Dalla's off to the palace intending to teach that same lesson to Sanjay Rash, but the force has other ideas. - LS

...

Getting from the medcenter to the palace is easy. It's a straight shot down a few alleys, designed to be a discreet route to transport royals who would rather not have the populace knowing they're going to the medcenter. Dalla keeps to the shadows and ducks away when a group of civilians walks past.

Her hackles rise when, as she approaches the palace proper, it stays that easy.

We're in the middle of a war. There should be security everywhere. I shouldn't be able to walk straight into the palace without seeing at least one droid or guard. If anyone is monitoring the security feeds they've probably got a glimpse of her when she dodged her fellow travelers and she has to be all over the medcenter's feeds. It's not like I look harmless either. I'm covered in — oh, hell no.

The palace's back gate stands wide open, with no one in sight.

Dalla stays the heck away, eyeballing it warily. Do you know it's me and you're trying a lobster trap, Rash? I can walk right in but I can't get out? Well, I'm not falling for it.

But she doesn't see anything that could be a shield generator. Dalla picks up a bottle from the alley and rolls it in. Nothing.

Very slowly she tiptoes up to the gate and angles her body to see inside. Nothing mounted on the walls, nothing that could spell a shield.

Dalla retreats back to the shadows and enters Jamos' frequency into her comlink. "Uncle Jamos, it's Dalla."

"Chirn Bait!" Jamos pants over the fighting in the background. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the south palace gate. I had to take Father to the medcenter and scouted the palace for you. It's completely empty."

"South gate?"

"Aye. It opens into the gardens and it looks like it wasn't a priority."

"Copy, Chirn Bait. We'll be there in five minutes." He ends the comm.

Technically she could wait the five minutes, but there's more to the palace's garden than just the gate. And Dalla would rather have just herself caught in a nasty surprise rather than herself, Uncle Jamos, and the entire northern navy. Anyway, they already know she's here. What can Sanjay Rash do in five minutes during a citywide siege?

Oh, lots of things. She draws her knife and steps through the gate.

The gardens are completely empty. No droids, no guards, no gardeners. Just Dalla and the flowers.

This is supposed to be a stronghold? Dalla keeps close to a tall, flowering hedge in case she needs to hide quick. Call her crazy, but it looks like all the droids and the staff just left.

She carefully works her way through the hedges toward the palace's entrance. To her chagrin they don't stretch all the way to the door, instead giving way to a flower garden peppered with a few statues. She doesn't suppose she can disguise herself as one of them. Sure, one of the statues is of a young woman but of course —

Dalla catches the statue's face out of the corner of her eye and almost jumps out of her skin. She turns around to get a better look, unwilling to believe her eyes.

Believe them she should. It's a statue of Aunt Shara, smiling and holding out a hand.

"Okay, that's kind of creepy," she whispers and sends a quick prayer to the salt gods that she won't run into her own stone twin.

Pushing the creeps aside, she sinks back against the flowers and toward the door with her hair standing on end. Not counting the statue she hasn't seen a soul on the palace grounds.

When she reaches the door she flattens herself against the wall next to the control panel and presses the door control. It whooshes open without a complaint, much less a passcode. This is either the most drawn-out lobster trap she's ever seen, or there really is no one in the palace and Dalla's starting to think it's the latter. But if that's true, then why are all the droids gone?

She supposes there's only one way to find out. After a quick sweep of the gardens to make sure no one's following her Dalla slips through the door into a large, open chamber with a spiral staircase.

Nobody's there.

"You have got to be kriffing kidding me."

Even Sanjay Rash himself would be a welcome sight if it means killing her confusion.

…

The northerners breach the south gate a few minutes later. Dalla doesn't have to look out a window to know: she hears their battle cry and then the confused silence when they realize nobody's there.

She takes another turn down the plush hallway lined with paintings. She doesn't really have a plan, besides finding out where the Dxun everyone is so she can tell the others. And without a map or prior knowledge of the palace, she doesn't know where she's going either.

She's figured out she must be in one of the public areas of the palace versus Rash's living quarters, which makes her feel safer. Still, the utter emptiness of the place rubs her the wrong way. Whatever happened to empty the palace so completely?

"Oh, gods!"

Dalla freezes and her head snaps in the direction of the voice. It's coming from behind a closed door.

"Oh gods, why? Why?," the voice shouts - no, sobs. He's sobbing. "I should never have listened to her. You were wrong, Mother! You were WRONG! About the girl, about Shara...my Shara...I love her…"

Dalla's hand hesitates over the door control. It's not that she doesn't know what's in there; more that she's hoping that if she ignores it it'll go away.

"Shara!"

Dalla presses the door control and peeks into the chamber.

Sanjay Rash lies facedown in the middle of the floor with a blaster wound in his chest, one hand clutching his torso and the other knotted in the rug to drag himself along. Dalla doesn't know what he was aiming to get to, because even from her distance she knows he's not getting out of this one alive.

Sanjay sobs and raises his head. "And Melaana, she was too good for this world. Too good! She should have lived; she should have carried on the Rash name. If only her child survived; the universe needs so much more Melaana. Why her? Why not me?"

Dalla walks all the way in but still stays close to the doorway. Salt gods, what's she supposed to do? Leave him alone to die? Finish him off herself? Say a prayer? She doesn't want to admit it, but she's not sure if she's brave enough to do any of that.

Who did this to you? Was it the droids or a rogue bannerman or his own hand? She thinks she knows. Count Dooku doesn't have much patience for failure and if the droid army's turned on Rash, that also explains the empty palace.

Sanjay's gaze drops from the ceiling with a shuddering sob and catches Dalla. They stare at each other, each one frozen in place.

"Dalla?"

Dalla swallows. "I have a name now?" She asks. "Not 'my lady wife'?"

"Dalla, the tactical droid. It'll shoot you. I don't want you to -" he winces. "Shut the door. For your own sake."

She does and takes a few more steps toward the center of the room. She's already in a room alone with Sanjay Rash, she might as well.

"I'm sorry," he sobs. "I'm so sorry. I should have let it go, I should have left you alone. I should never have tried to force you to — I said I would never hurt you and I meant it. I didn't realize I already was. I'm sorry."

He sobs and Dalla's struck by just how pathetic he looks. He's no longer a puppet monarch or a schemer or even a threat; just a broken man dying on the palace floor. It doesn't vindicate him, and she won't forgive him, but it touches something in her.

"The terrorist, your husband was right, she would have been disgusted," he moans. "Disgusted, she would have slapped me across the face if she saw what I did to you." His gaze softens, as if he's seeing something else, and then sours.

"It was my mother's idea. She made me promise to secure a marriage alliance. I only wanted a child. To love, to raise, to hold in my arms. A little girl, like Melaana. Like you. Like Shara's little girl." He coughs. "I never even got to hold someone else's child, not once. I should have had a niece or nephew, just about your age. You could have been friends. If only. She was just too good for this world!"

He's getting wound up and Dalla doesn't know how much more of this either of them can take. "Sanjay!"

He stops. "Yes?"

She holds her hands behind her back so he can't see them shaking. "Do you want the gift of mercy?"

"The gift of ...?" He stares at her befuddled and then it hits him. "Oh no. No, no, I don't want that. I don't deserve that. But will you stay with me? Will you sit with me, until it's done? I don't want to die alone."

Dalla slowly and carefully sits on the floor next to him, one hand hovering over her knife. Sanjay grabs her free hand in his and she startles in surprise but doesn't drop it.

"Thank you, sweet girl," he sniffs and squeezes her hand. "You remind me of her. I'm so sorry for what I did."

"Don't try to talk," For both their sakes.

"And your friend, my cousin. I didn't know. I didn't know it had happened. That poor girl." He moans. "I've caused so much pain. So much. I can't atone for it now, I have to at least say I'm sorry."

What do you say to someone who tried to force you into marriage? Dalla doesn't know the first thing to say, whether to comfort or condemn. She just squeezes his hand back.

"And Kason. He was just like Shara. I wished he was mine. I tried to hug him once, but he -"

Dalla toes the line. "I will not hug you."

"Of course not. I wouldn't ask." She's only still holding his hand because she knows he's harmless now. "Shara," he gasps. "Shara, I love you. You're the only woman I ever loved. My wife, my beautiful bride."

He starts to sob again. This time instead of being silent Dalla makes a shushing sound. The same one, she realizes with a chill, he used to try and keep her quiet on the steps of the palace.

With a great effort and leverage from Dalla, Sanjay flips onto his back, still not letting go of her hand. She can see the wound better now even with his clutching it.

"Let me see," she says and shakes her hand from his to examine the wound. This, she at least knows something about.

Sanjay recaptures her hand. "There's nothing you can do. Please, this is more than enough."

Dalla shifts to a more comfortable position since clearly she's in for the long haul.

He turns his head to look at her instead of the ceiling. "Kason. Your brother. With the rioting in the streets, please tell me they're alright."

"They're fine. They're somewhere safe."

"Thank goodness. I was afraid I'd put them in harm's way. All of you. Dalla, I thought I'd killed you. I didn't want you to -"

The door opens and Dalla draws her knife to fight off an attacker. But it's only Jamos. He thunders into the room and looks at Dalla, then Sanjay, and then their intertwined hands and bellows "Get the hell away from my niece!"

"Uncle Jamos." She doesn't know how he doesn't see that Sanjay can't move even if he wants to and that she's sitting here willingly.

Sanjay turns his head again. "I can't," he croaks. "Are you a father? Do you have children?"

The hatred melts from Jamos' face.

"I do. Five of them," he says and comes to Sanjay's other side.

"Five." He smiles. "It's what I always wanted, my greatest dream. Cherish them. Their mother…"

"I will," Jamos swears. "I do every day."

"I would have been a good father. I should have been an uncle. I was so excited." He seems to remember something. "There's a painting down the hall. I don't want her to see me like this. I've done such terrible things. I don't want Melaana to see. Would you turn it? Turn her face away?"

Jamos looks to Dalla. "Are you okay with him or do you want to go?"

"I've been here this long. I should stay."

He nods agreement. "I'll be back soon. If you need anything…" his eyes go back to Sanjay. He must know the man can't hurt her but there's no way he trusts him.

"We'll be fine," she says. "Go flip the picture for him."

Jamos hurries out of the room, looking over his shoulder one last time before shutting the door. Dalla refocuses on Sanjay, who's looking even worse.

"Th-thank you." He coughs. "She was —."

"Is there anything I can do? A song, a story, anything?"

He goes to nod but a wave of pain cuts him off and he winces instead. "There's a song. I don't know the title, but it starts like this." He coughs and then in deliberate, awkward Onderonian says "The child learns his father's way. That's how it starts. Will you sing it for me?"

Dalla shakes her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know that one. Is there something else?"

This time he succeeds in nodding. "My family. Never believed in much," he says through gritted teeth. "Your salt gods. What do they say happens? When someone dies?"

Thank the salt gods she actually knows the answer to this one. "Those who've led good and upright lives go to the salt gods' halls to be with them and their loved ones until the end of time," she says. "They watch over the ones still living and guide our ships on our voyages."

Sanjay squeezes her hand. "The others?"

She'd hoped she wouldn't have to say. "Those who aren't welcomed into the halls roam the ocean floor, looking in on what could have been theirs."

This draws a pain-filled, humorless laugh from the man. "Even in death. That's alright. At least I'll get to see her again...even if I can't be with —." He's cut off when his eyes roll back in his head and he nearly passes out. Dalla throws all caution to the wind and lets go of her knife to cradle his forehead.

Sanjay resurfaces through what Dalla can only explain as sheer force of will. "Here," she guides the crown off his head with one hand. "I'm going to take this off to make you more comfortable."

"Shara?" he gasps, looking at her as if through a telescope.

"I'm not Shara."

"Melaana?"

"No, Sanjay. I'm Dalla."

But he's too far gone to hear her. "I'm sorry, Melaana" he weeps. "It hurts so much. I can't. You were everything I wasn't. She was my light. My Shara. Shara. I'm sorry ... Please have mercy on me."

His hand doesn't fall from hers when he dies. It just relaxes, his dear-life hold on her no longer needed.

Dalla stays by his side still holding his hand until Jamos returns from flipping the picture. He freezes.

"He's —?

She nods. Jamos removes his hat, lifts a thumb to his lips and then extends his palm outward. "In the light of the salt gods."

Dalla sets down Sanjay's hand and repeats the gesture. "In the light of the salt gods."

…

Thank you all for tuning in to the end of the battle for Onderon, though there's still much work to be done.