AS HIGH AS HONOR
Her name was Steela Gerrera. She came to them from Iziz, a beast rider born and bred, and the elected leader of the Onderon rebels. No man or woman was smarter, or stronger, or kinder. She was the blood of the drexl. And now her watch has ended. - LS
...
The Beast Riders' procession isn't as large as Dalla would have expected, but that's probably for the best. Steela's state funeral was a public event, but this is only for the people who knew and cared for her.
Saw walks behind the casket all alone. Dalla would have offered to walk with him, but she and Lux had looked up the beast rider's funeral traditions on the HoloNet back at Bonteri Estate. Only the next of kin followed directly behind the casket, and as Dalla isn't even a member of the community her doing so would be out of the question.
Lux may have been able to squeeze by, but he's ahead as one of four pallbearers carrying Steela's casket. Tandin carries the corner next to his, followed by Jamos and Hugo Bralykburn.
For most in the procession Hugo's presence is an enigma. He only knew Steela for a standard day, what place does he have carrying her casket? But everyone who saw him after the roast has to know. It's some southern whore who can get Hugo Bralykburn to kneel for her, and he's grown at least a grudging respect for her. Jamos, who never even spoke to Steela outside pleasantries, carries the coffin out of gratitude for her helping his family and not to be outdone by a Bralykburn. Dalla hopes that from her place in the salt gods' halls, Steela doesn't mind.
The procession's sedate, at a pace Marlon can maintain on his one crutch. Dalla knows he wanted to help carry the casket, but it's impossible with his injury. From just behind them Shara leads her brood, singing the beast riders' funeral song and teaching it to her children. A few of the little cousins sing along, eager to learn about their heritage they've mostly swept under the rug. Dalla's silent as a stone. She and Lux found the funeral song while they were researching the beast rider's traditions, but now that they're actually in the procession the words have flown out of their heads. Most of the other northerners are silent as well so they don't stick out. Still, Dalla hates that she can't do this last thing for her friend.
They approach the cemetery with the houses of the dead and the song dies out once they reach the Gerrera tomb. It's a smaller tomb than many of the others but it's been lovingly maintained. Steela never liked fancy things anyway...
Just as the pallbearers set the casket inside the tomb and step back for Saw to approach there's a cry from behind. Dalla turns around to see Shara quickly guiding Cornel away before his meltdown can escalate. Poor Cornel, he probably understands more of this situation than he can express.
Marlon gathers up the rest of the brood so Shara doesn't have that to worry about and quickly shushes any remaining strains of the funeral song. Little Lana tries to bolt for her daddy and the excitement at the head of the procession but Thias scoops her up before she can get far.
Lux retreats from the tomb and comes to stand next to Dalla. They nod to each other and then redirect their attention to the front.
Saw takes slow, deliberate steps toward the tomb and stands in front of the door, his hand on the panel to close it. He takes a deep breath to collect himself. Then another. And another, each one growing less controlled and more ragged.
"Someone needs to get him," Dalla whispers to Lux.
Lux looks downright pained watching Saw. "We can't. Only the next of kin can approach the tomb; it would be sacrilege for us to go up."
Saw gives a shuddering sob and finally manages to press the door control and seal the tomb. Once the door slides shut his breakdown starts to escalate. Dalla looks behind her to the beast riders. Come on, somebody go get him since Lux and I can't!
Nobody budges and Dalla's about to kriff etiquette and go get Saw herself when there's a muffled commotion and the procession splits down the middle.
Bremon Kira walks down the newly-formed aisle without looking at anyone and makes his way to Saw. They stand in silence a moment longer, and then Bremon wraps his arm around Saw and leads him away from the tomb.
Once the two men reach the procession Lux and Dalla intercept them and take Saw's hands. Not about to commit a social taboo after they were just saved from another, the two of them squeeze his hands in place of spoken condolences.
Saw doesn't squeeze back, and the silent walk winds on toward the city while the others close ranks around him: Brem from behind, Marlon and Jamos on either side, and Tandin in front of them.
The HoloNet calls this part the last lonely walk. Hopefully Saw realizes that nothing after this has to be.
...
Saw goes to bed as soon as they get back from the funeral. Nobody can really blame him, though Lux does run a quick check on the contents of his liquor cabinet and then locks them up tight.
Ahsoka and her Jedi masters are waiting for them in the parlor. Ahsoka chose to show them back to Bonteri Estate rather than attend the Beast Riders' procession, and Dalla and Lux have the sneaking suspicion she still feels guilty over what happened on the cliff. He promises to talk to her once they're in private, and Dalla's willing to let him take that task.
"It was a beautiful ceremony," Obi-Wan Kenobi says, bringing her back to the present. "I'm sure the second half was as well."
"It was," Marlon says, leaving out everything else that happened. "I'm sure she would appreciate your taking time away from the war to attend, Generals."
"We're already here to pick up Ahsoka. Wouldn't have missed it for the Galaxy," Skywaker says. "But we can't stay for long. The Council has no shortage of missions."
Ahsoka sighs. "Is it too much to hope for a break?"
"Cheer up, Snips. You'll have plenty of time to hang out with Barriss...in the Halls of Healing."
Ahsoka grimaces. "I was afraid you were gonna say that."
"You need it," Dendup advises. "Just like I told Lord Marlon, you need to let the medical staff do their jobs. Dalla, don't let your father ignore them."
Dalla raises her comlink. "I had the medcenter send the doctor's orders to me, your Highness."
"You're merciless," Marlon grumbles.
"Uncle Jamos will help. Won't you, Uncle Jamos? Or will you be too busy preparing for Number Six?"
Jamos and Shara roll their eyes. "We've decided the Captain's Lady has a full crew," he says.
"Uh huh, sure," Thias scoffs.
Shara shoots him a look. "Which means we will be making sure you stay in line, Marlon."
"As will I," Tandin says, and then immediately backpedals. "I will, if you'll have me. It's up to you. I only…" He takes a deep breath, rises from his seat, then stands before Marlon and starts over. "What I mean to say, my lord, is that I've decided what I want."
Marlon nods. "Go on."
"My lord, I wish to pledge myself to House Blackwell and live out my days in the north in retirement." He looks down. "There's nothing left for me here. The militia is in ruins. My entire immediate family died during the Dalgos Flu when I was a teenager; Shara is all I have left. I want to spend the rest of my life after a fresh start, where no one knows me as a traitor who failed one king and turned on another, where I can be with my family. Maybe I won't ever belong in the north -."
Shara nods sympathetically. "I've lived there for seventeen years, and sometimes I still don't feel like I belong."
"You have five northern children!" Jamos exclaims. "Of course you belong."
"- All I ask is that you let me try." Tandin continues. "I may not be cut out to be a sailor, but at least I'll be with the people I love."
He swallows and then drops to a knee. "My lord, my sword is yours. My life is yours. I pledge myself to House Blackwell and promise to -."
"General, get up," Marlon orders and grabs his crutch to do the same. Dalla follows suit and offers her hand for Tandin, who's profoundly confused.
"My lord, did I do something wrong?"
"You did," Marlon snaps and then his serious mask gives way to a friendly smile. "Northmen don't kneel. You'll have to remember that."
He extends his hand. "General Grigori Tandin, I accept your pledge and offer you all the protection and hospitality of our house. Welcome to the north."
Tandin shakes. "Thank you, my lord."
"And knock off with that 'my lord' business," Marlon replies with mock seriousness. "You're kin, and you saved my daughter. Call me Marlon."
"Shouldn't be too hard. You've already got it down for me." Dalla jests.
Tandin rolls his eyes. "Don't make me regret this decision, young lady."
"I'm the least of your worries."
"She's near the top of my list of worries," Tandin stage whispers.
Marlon nods. "You are a very smart man."
"I resent that," Dalla scoffs. "But really Tandin, you won't have anything to worry about. If anyone tries to bother you, I'll mess them up worse than this." With that she grins, showing off every one of her crooked teeth.
"And that is how you make it to the top of his list of worries," Marlon mutters. "Not to mention mine."
"Glad I'm not the only one," Skywalker says and shoots a look to Ahsoka, who shrugs and mutters "guilty."
Dendup smiles. "Congratulations, General. You deserve this, though I'll certainly miss you here in Iziz."
"It wasn't an easy decision, sire. But I do believe it's the right one for me." Tandin looks happier than Dalla's ever seen him.
"May I ask what got you thinking about it?" Shara asks.
Tandin smiles to himself and pulls something out of his pocket. It's a flimsi sticker in the shape of a flower, worn from being in his pocket but still holding its shape.
"I met some incredible people on my travels to the north," he says. "They're not the type one forgets easily."
…
General Tandin sat in the least prominent table at Blackhold's pub and inn, staring at his food. Normally he didn't drink, but the pubkeep had informed him that it was ale or an empty glass, and he'd gone with the ale. Weak as it was, the alcohol was also a welcome distraction from the reason why he was north in the first place. He didn't bat an eye when King Rash ordered him to retrieve his bride, but the second he discovered the bride in question was a seventeen-year-old girl, and his kin to boot there was a bitter taste in Tandin's mouth he couldn't get rid of.
To his horror he'd even gone through the kidnapping in his head when he arrived on the docks. Though there was no doubt in his mind she was a fighter Dalla Blackwell was slight, and it would have been easy to shoot her with a stun pulse and scoop her up. Even though he had no intent of actually doing it, the thought of hurting his family made him sick to his stomach - almost too sick to eat the fish the pubkeep - Maris, her name was - put in front of him.
Almost, but not quite. He hadn't had home cooked food in years, and it was too good to pass up. Instead, his disgust at himself only managed to dampen his enthusiasm for food a little and he picked at his plate. Maybe it would help kill the taste.
How am I going to manage this? He lamented. I can't stay here forever, and Rash won't let this affair go when I return. I can't help Dalla once I'm gone, or Shara or any of the others. And how am I going to convince him I failed to kidnap a girl I could probably pick up with one arm tied behind my back, even with this black eye?
Tandin was snapped out of his pity party by a joyous shout of "Stee-cahs!"
A toddler zoomed between the pub's tables, wispy golden hair floating behind her. In one hand she clutched an assortment of seashells, smooth pebbles, and funny-shaped pieces of driftwood, in the other a sheet of flimsi stickers printed with images of flowers. The latter was her main concern. "Stee-cahs!"
Tandin couldn't help but smile at her joy. It had been a long time since something simple as stickers could make him happy. The other men in the room seemed to be smiling too, especially the one who'd given the little girl her stickers.
The child practically teleported over to Tandin's table and deposited her loot across from his plate to free up both hands for her stickers. After a little maneuvering and a few trials with her chubby fingers, she succeeded in peeling a flower from the flimsi backing and stuck it to the table. Immediately afterward she peeled another, took a step back, and turned her gaze to Tandin.
Without a word, she stuck her sticker to his kneecap and went back to peeling.
"Thank you," Tandin said, staring at the flower adhered to his knee.
"You welcome," the little girl replied without looking up. She peeled off another flower and aimed it for his thigh.
"Thank you again." He couldn't help but smile. What had he done to deserve not one, but two of the girl's precious stickers? "You like flowers, don't you?"
"Nobody give 'em to me. 'Stead I get flowah stee-cahs," she explained and stuck another sticker on his leg.
"Give them to you?" Tandin raised an eyebrow.
One of the other men in the pub spoke up: "The salt gods have more mercy on us if we bring Nessa here goodies from the other ports."
"Is that was these are?" he asked, gesturing to the tiny pile on the table.
Nessa nodded. "I lucky!" she announced and started working on a fourth flower.
"I bet the southerner could getcha real flowers, Nessa," the sailor said.
The younger man who'd given the stickers shot him a look. "You knockin' my stickers?"
But Nessa must really have been lucky, because she didn't seem to notice the argument. She was completely absorbed in her stickers, sticking them on the table and the chairs and Tandin.
Just then a shout of surprise came from the general direction of the kitchen, and Maris bustled in. "Nessa, what're you doin'?" As she got closer she saw and scooped the little girl into her arms. "We do not put stickers on tables!" She asserted, looking Nessa in the eye.
"Aye, Momma," Nessa said and gave them a blinding smile.
Maris surveyed the damage to the table as if Tandin was so much a potted plant. "It's gonna take hours to scrape them off. An' - salt gods! I'm sorry, sir. She's just three, an' her sitter ran off to gods know where."
"No harm done. She's yours?" Tandin asked.
"Aye." Maris wrangled her squirming child. "Don't let 'er fool you; she can be a little devil."
"She ain't no devil. She's lucky!" The sailor yells.
"You go on thinkin' that." She sighed and experimentally scraped at a sticker with her fingernail. "Nessa, no more stickers. You hear?"
"Aye, Momma." Nessa grinned at Tandin again
"Alright, to bed with you. It's late!"
Tandin hurriedly scooped Nessa's gifts off the table. "Don't forget these."
Maris held out her hand and Tandin carefully placed them in her outstretched palm. Her fingers closed around the shells and pebbles, trapping his hand in her own. She held on a second longer than she should.
"Would you like any help?" he asked, not knowing what else to say.
The pubkeep looked into his eyes for a moment, then laughed and shook her head. "She ain't so much a devil I need help puttin' her to sleep. Nessa, say good night."
"Ni'night!" Nessa chorused and waved at Tandin and the sailors over her mother's shoulder. Tandin waved back and watched the two of them go before going back to his meal. Nessa's stickers were still adhered to the table.
He smiled when he looked at them and the ones stuck to his leg. Maybe he was doing something right after all.
…
"I don't have much in the way of packing," Tandin says. "The guardhouse was all but destroyed in the siege. However, there is something. Sire, may I borrow some plants from the royal gardens?"
"Of course," Dendup nods. "Take anything you like. It's the least I can do."
"Thank you, sire. I have a good luck charm to pay my dues to."
…
Once the river is cleared of wreckage, what remains of the northern navy sails home without ceremony. Victorious or not, it's the high season. They have fish to catch.
The crews rearrange to fill the voids left by sunken ships and fallen sailors. Dalla retakes her old position as first mate of the Queen Lana and Thias falls into place with the rest of the sailors. Well, he did so after he helped Tandin load his belongings into a cabin. The now-former general doesn't have much at all, just a bag with his personal belongings and two wrapped packages.
The Harkons' two main ships are silent as stones. Glover's takes on his elder daughter's body, wrapped in a shroud and ready to go back to the salt gods when they reach the north. Ephraim throws two former royal agents into his brig, making sure they see every scowling face in his crew before the door locks behind them.
The crew of the Polaris was probably the loudest when they left Iziz. Shara hadn't even started walking up the gangplank when they broke into a rousing, no-holds-barred rendition of "The Captain's Lady." Half the fleet heard Shara's response of "All of you, lyrics!"
The crew respected that and swapped to the clean version, that is until Jamos pulled Kason aside and said something to him that had the boy beaming in seconds. Then the captain plopped his hat onto his son's head and announced: "Meet your first mate for the journey home, boys!" And the crew went wild.
Dalla would have celebrated right along with them if she hadn't been on the docks below saying goodbye to Saw and Lux.
"I still can't believe you got General Tandin to go along with you," Lux said.
"I don't think I had a whole lot to do with that," she admitted. "He was bound and determined, and he sort of had to be. Dendup didn't seem too happy about it."
"He'll live." Saw patted her on the back. "Can't say I'm shoving you out the door either, but I'll live too."
She hugged him. "You can always come with us."
Saw just shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not going anywhere; I'm not …" I'm not leaving her.
Dalla didn't make him finish his sentence. "I'll be back soon. I promise."
"Lower the gangplank!"
Her father's voice and the cool northern air snap Dalla back to the present. She watches as the Queen Lana lowers her gangplank to Blackhold's dock and the crew streams off to meet their loved ones and the scores of others celebrating alongside them.
Marlon comes up to her and squeezes her shoulder. "Good to be home?"
"Definitely." The Blackwell banners lining the docks have never been a more welcome sight.
"I'm glad we have you back here in one piece."
"The salt gods were looking out for me," she grins. "And so was my father."
"Don't make me cry, Dalla." He pats her shoulder and walks toward the gangplank when they both hear a shout from the dock.
Speaking of the man who got me back in one piece. Dalla rushes over to the rail and picks Tandin out from the crowd at the docks. She doesn't see him at first; he's surrounded by sailors and he's lifted up little Nessa, the pubkeep's daughter, from the crowded dock. Nessa's tearing at the paper of one of Tandin's packages.
"Nessa, you're makin' out like a bandit!" one of the sailors cheers.
Nessa completely ignores him when she sees what's in the package. "Flowahs!"
"Do you like them?"
Nessa pulls one of the stems from the package, sniffs it, and then throws her arms around Tandin's neck and kisses the top of his head. "Thank you!"
Tandin turns bright red. "You're welcome. Where's your Momma, Nessa?"
The sailors whistle. "Here she comes…"
Maris shoves through the crowd to get to her daughter. "Nessa! Nessa, what do I say about runnin' on these here docks?"
Nessa holds up her package. "Momma! Momma, flowahs!"
"Flowers? Where'd you get -." Nessa turns enough for Maris to get a good look at who's holding her daughter and her entire demeanor changes. "General. You're back?"
"By the skin of my teeth, a few times." Tandin sets Nessa down. "I was simply paying my dues to the north's good luck charm. Gods know she helped me."
"She tell you thank you?"
"Aye, she did." He unconsciously rubs the back of his neck. "Ma'am, I've come to the north to stay. I have credits. May I stay at your pub again until I can find somewhere more permanent? That is if you're not booked up, I wouldn't want to -"
"We ain't booked up," Maris interrupts. "An' don't you worry about credits. A hero like you can stay as long as you need. But I ain't no ma'am. You remember that."
"Thank you ma'- uh, Maris." Tandin flounders and then pulls out a second package from behind his back. "This - this is for you."
Maris raises her eyebrows and takes the package. "For - for me?"
"I never saw anyone get you something nice. I thought it was time to change that," Tandin says nervously. "If you don't like them I won't be offended. It was a long shot, I …"
"Are these fresh meilooruns?" Maris cries and lifts one out of the package. "Salt gods! You didn't have to go to all this trouble."
"It was my pleasure," Tandin hurries to say. "After all your kind hospitality and the food you made for my journey, it was the least I could do. I'd never had nyorks like that in my life."
Maris playfully pokes his chest and then snags Nessa before she can run off. "You get over to the pub and I'll fry you up a whole mess of them."
Dalla comes down the gangplank grinning wickedly. "I think I found the real reason you wanted to come up north, Tandin."
He wags a finger at her. "I should have kidnapped you when I had the chance."
"But you didn't!"
"And good thing you didn't," Maris says. "I thought it was very brave, helpin' like you did."
The look on Tandin's face makes Dalla think he'd follow the pubkeep to the edge of the world if she asked him. Dalla grins at him while the sailors start placing loud bets on the wedding date.
Even if nothing happens between Maris and Tandin, she's still glad he came to the north. Tandin should fit right in with the other men. Here, they say a man without honor is like a ship with no hull - no man at all.
Dalla resists the urge to wring her hands. She did everything she could to hold onto her own, but did it work? She wouldn't be the first to slip while still thinking she was the hero of her own story. Just look at what happened to Rash. Dalla can't stomach the thought of going down the same path he did.
But no. Her father said he was proud of what she'd done. And Dalla likes to think that wherever she is, her mother's proud of her too.
At any rate, there's plenty of time to think about that later. Right now it's the high season, and they need to get ready if they're going to get any good catches.
Dalla squares her shoulders and walks toward Blackhold, where the Blackwell banners at the top of the towers fly as high as honor.
…
Victory for the northerners, though not without its cost. Steela's loss will affect our characters' lives forever, much as Suzelle's rocked the world of Gen 1. But in the wake of such tragedy, there have been at least two new beginnings. Let's hear it for first mate Kason and Tandin the northerner!