CHAPTER SIX - FIDDLE GAME

KIRA

I can't imagine the willpower it will take for Steela to pull herself from Mina's arms and plan for the job.

Mina leans back into the couch. "Kira, would you please be a dear and get me a glass of water? I would do it myself, but under the circumstances…"

"Of course." I fill a glass in the sink and hand it to her.

"Thank you," she takes a sip and sets it back down. "What time is it?"

"The con briefing should start momentarily." I look to Steela. "The others will come to collect her."

"Yes," Mina says. "And Steela needs her sleep if she's to be effective on the job."

"Steela! It's time!" Saw calls from the other room.

Steela stirs at the sound of her name and Mina pets her hair. "Shh, that was nothing."

The door opens and Ahsoka steps in. "Mina, it really is time for the briefing."

"Can it wait a half hour? She only needs a half hour more." Mina bargains, pulling Steela close to her chest.

Hero's footsteps thunder into the room. "Steela! Are you coming? Hutch is about to start the…oh."

The look on Hero's face is evidence that she did not expect to find Steela asleep in Mina's arms. Sadly, she slammed the door on her way in.

Steela jolts awake and Mina sighs.

"Huh? Oh crap, is it time for the con briefing already? How long was I asleep?" Steela mutters, turning over.

Mina releases her. "Not long enough."

Steela looks at the chronometer. "The briefing's about to start!" she cries and bolts from the room.

Mina sighs. "And there she goes again…"

Ahsoka taps me on the shoulder. "Kira, can I see you in Lux's and my room?"

"Absolutely. Do you need something?"

"No," Ahsoka says, reaching to touch my hand. "I just want to talk to you for a while."

She leads me down the hallway, into her and Lux's room, and she shuts the door behind her. "Have a seat. Would you like a juice box or some of Lux's wine? I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

The juxtaposition of an innocent fruit juice and wine aside, I shake my head. "I'm well, thank you though."

"You're not old enough to drink." Ahsoka rubs her forehead. "I forgot. If you change your mind about the juice box, just let me know."

She tears open a juice box and takes a deep sip. "I never liked these, but after Tav started drinking them I did too."

"I understand." When Cadena was pregnant with Anakin Jr, she craved jogan-flavored ice pops, which were something she never touched before. After he was born, she couldn't get enough of the sweet cereal that she and Jim gave her son to snack on.

"That's right, Cadena did it too." She guides me to sit down on the couch. "Kira, that's who I want to talk to you about. It's been almost two years since she died, and have you talked to anyone about it?"

I bite my lip.

The answer is no. After Cadena died, I lived with her widower Jim and son Anakin Jr, and then volunteered to spy for Senator Organa and enrolled in the Imperial Academy. My second year there will be complete at the end of the marking period.

Since then I studied and spied, not only to aid the rebellion, but to keep my mind off the past. While Cadena and I were younglings I always was the studious, rational one. Academics are as consoling to me as saber training was to Cadena.

"I didn't think so," Ahsoka says, bringing me out of my temporary reverie. "How long did you stay in that house after she died?"

"Until about two years ago." I admit. "That's when I enrolled in the Academy."

Ahsoka closes her eyes. "I imagine you and Jim just sat in stony silence the whole time."

"We didn't. We spoke about work, the baby, and the news. We celebrated when that news was good and weren't too surprised when the news was bad."

Ahsoka gives me a withering gaze.

"I didn't mean literal silence. You didn't talk about your emotions after you'd just lost your best friend. Kira, that's not healthy. If, God forbid, something happened to Steela or Hero I would need to talk about it with someone."

I take a very deep breath.

"Did you visit her grave before you left?" Ahsoka asks gently.

"No." I look to the floor. "I left early that morning, before sunrise. I'm all right Ahsoka, I truly am. I've come to terms with it."

Ahsoka snakes an arm behind my back, pulling me close.

"If I've learned one thing from losing Padme, Anakin, and my father-in-law, it's that even though you've come to terms with it, doesn't mean you don't miss them."

My breaths shake and I squeeze my eyes closed.

"I miss her too," Ahsoka says. "I knew her well – not as well as you did, but well all the same."

"Why?" I ask. "She had me. She had Jim. She had a child! How could she lose the will to live after she had just become a mother?"

Ahsoka's grip around me tightens.

"Betrayal, especially on the level that Cadena experienced, is all-consuming." She explains. "You can't think of anything except it and the person who hurt you, so much that anything else is mentally swept under the proverbial rug. I was the same way after Order 66, but I had something else that I couldn't ignore. I was pregnant with Tav."

"Cadena was a mother as well."

"Being pregnant is different," she explains. "I knew that there was a tiny, innocent person who was completely dependent on me for survival. With that knowledge came a new purpose. I woke up every morning so he could grow and be healthy.

"And then one day I looked in the mirror and asked myself 'If I'm willing to live to take care of this baby, then why won't I do it for myself?'"

I swallow a lump in my throat.

"I may have done it for myself in the end, but Tav was the bridge." Ahsoka says. "And as much as Cadena had in this galaxy, she didn't have the bridge to bring that realization to her. Instead, she knew that you and Jim would take care of Anakin Jr. and that it was all right for her to go."

"Do you know what was wrong with her?" I squeak out, my voice so low I can barely hear it myself.

"Kira, can you speak up? What I heard didn't make sense."

…

"Obi-Wan. I wanna see him. Isn't he back yet?"

"Back from where, Cadena?"

"One of those Hutt planets, Jim told me. Mal Shutta? Tattine?"

"You're not making any sense."

…

Ahsoka rocks me in her arms, motherlike, while my body wracks with sobs.

"It's okay," she soothes. "Let it out. You need to do this."

No, I don't need to do this. I don't know what has overcome me, but I need to bring my emotions under control. Crying about Cadena won't do a bit of good and it most certainly won't bring her back.

Ahsoka brings her lips to my ear and whispers "Yes, it will."

"What will?"

"This will do you good," she says, and I realize I've spoken my thoughts aloud. "Crying is healthy. You need to release the emotions you've bottled inside you, otherwise they can fester and turn into hatred."

"Hatred leads to the dark side." I recite.

"Yes," she agrees. "But in order to avoid it, we need to release emotions instead of suppressing them."

She hugs me. "Do you want some privacy?"

I wipe a tear from my eye. "Please."

"All right," she stands. "I'll be in the common room if you need me. Don't hesitate to interrupt. But before I go, I want to tell you that Obi-Wan and Cadena would both be very proud of what you're doing for the rebellion."

She squeezes my shoulder once more and takes her leave.

LUX

Steela walks into the con briefing with messy hair and rumpled clothing. That and the fact that Hero cuts my mother a wide berth leads me to assume that Steela was in the middle of a Mom-mandated nap when Hero came to wake her up.

Kira's puffy eyes are easier to draw a conclusion from.

I raise an eyebrow to Ahsoka and ask Why was she crying? In silent Spouse Speak.

Ahsoka mouths Cadena.

Ah…

I didn't know Cadena well, but I was aware that Kira was her best friend – and when Cadena died, Kira was out running an errand. If Ahsoka talked to her about it, I can only imagine that Kira's emotions would be fresh.

I clap my hands to call the meeting to order. "All right, Hutch. What do you have for us?"

"I still haven't had any luck opening the lock or slowing the revolutions to something manageable." Hutch says. "But I did track the shipping tags. Looks like whatever's in there came straight from Zeltros."

"Zeltros doesn't dabble in the slave trade. They're almost a purely hedonistic society; they wouldn't dream of selling their own into a life of misery." Ahsoka notes.

"Maybe it's not people. Zeltros is known for its fine liquors and those can go for quite a price. Or it could be jewels or precious metals." Steela guesses.

"Whatever it is," Hutch interrupts. "It's valuable enough to stick a hundred thousand-credit lock on the door. He was clearly planning for normal thieves, people like Steela, and people like me. That thing isn't opening without an authorized scan."

"Can we steal the scans?"

"Not unless you want new retinas."

"No." Tandin announces, as if Steela's a tween who asked to pierce her belly button.

"Anyway, you have a different job." Sierra says. "Atai's interested, and since you said you were married it makes you even more alluring. Men like him enjoy taking things that don't belong to them, whether that's money or women."

"We need to rob him and con him at the same time." I say. "And to do that, we're running the Morning After scam, while crossing it with a variant of a Fiddle Game."

The look Steela gives me lets me know she's completely unimpressed.

"It's a variant,"

"I still have to do it, don't I?"

Answer: yes. The only difference is we're adding another player. "Rex and Hero, you're the Badges. Steela -."

"I know already." Steela grumps.

"Ahsoka and Saw, you're the Bag Men." I continue. "Sierra…"

"Confederate!" Sierra cheers.

"Kira, you're going to be the fiddle. Does everyone have it down?"

My team nods.

"Excellent. Now, let's go give Atai Molec a run for his money. Literally."

A/N: Atai had better hang onto his hat, or he will soon be wishing he never went into business. Those of you who have read "Eyes Open" know that Kira has a serious problem with him, and Ahsoka has a bone to pick as well.

In response to McAwesome's review: I don't think they're redundant at all! I'm always happy to see more of your thoughts in the review box. Your username is very accurate :)

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Until next time,

Lux's Sister