Chapter 9:
Vicky:
"You screwed with her head!" Vicky hissed.
In response, the little alien rubbed at his chin. "Hmmm. Value you do, her wellbeing. But afraid of the wrong thing you are. An enemy, the Force is not. Harm her, I would not. Benign the Mind Trick is."
Vicky's mouth opened, ready to tell him off and hammer home the point that screwing with people's heads was a bad thing -again- before clicking her teeth shut, gritting them as she reminded herself the little green troll was the one that was supposed to come here to help them.
'Don't piss off the alien that can get us home.' She reminded herself, counting back from ten.
"Look," she bit out. "Just… don't Master her or me-" She added for good measure. "-ever again!"
A tense, awkward silence fell on them, with Yoda staring up at her as though expecting her to say more.
She decided to just… get to the point. "So, Chieftain Atti called you here to help us right?"
"Hmpf." The little goblin shifted where he sat. "Indeed. Friend to the Wookies I am. Friend to my order they are. Help, the Jedi may provide."
"Jedi," she half asked, half stated. "D-4 has been saying some of the Wookies are asking if I'm a Jedi."
"Indeed." Yoda stamped his stick on the floor from his little pillow seat. "Strange things my old friend Attichitcuk has said. Told me, he did, and seen I have that flight you can do. And great your strength is. Beyond human."
Victoria opened her mouth, then clicked it shut. Saying he wanted to help wasn't exactly a guarantee that he would, or even that he could. Or that he was as… nice as he was presenting himself to be.
Hell, he Mastered Taylor! Just… willy-nilly, like it wasn't a bad thing! Sure it seemed benevolent and kind, but waking her up would have been benevolent and kind too! Without the violation!
She wasn't blind to her own power usage to get Taylor to sleep in the first place but her stuff was definitely temporary, gone as soon as she pulled her Aura back. For all she knew this guy had just altered Taylor's brain chemistry forever or something.
"I'm special," she hedged with the same answer she'd given the Wookies.
"Hmpf," he huffed. "Fearful you are. Mistrusting you are. Sense it I do. The force flows in strange ways around you, around your friend, moreso. Much pain she has. Too much pain. Echoes of many ghosts are borne on her shoulders."
Vicky tried not to react. She doubted she succeeded.
Was he talking about Tay's mental issues? Her time as a villain? Or just saying something cryptic to sound like he knew what he was talking about.
"Mind reading isn't possible," she insisted for lack of anything better to say, not sure if it was bravado or self reassurance that pushed her tongue.
The green man gave her a flat look.
"Impossible for the Force, nothing is. Fearful of this, you should not be."
Why did he think that was supposed to be reassuring?
"Look," she sighed, crossing her legs as she sat down on her own pillow seat. "Can you just get us back home? That's literally all we're asking for! Nothing fancy. Nothing major. Not asking to uplift the species or whatever. Just help us get back home. Please…"
"Hmmm. Came from the shadowlands, you claim you did. Remember the place, do you?"
She shrugged. The Shadowlands, she learned, was the forest floor, called as such because the light of the sun never reached it, "We… didn't exactly lay down markers when we woke up… stupid in retrospect."
Very stupid infact. There had been some debris around them, but knowing what she knew about Kashyyk now, it wouldnt surprise her to realize the flora had consumed all traces of their arrival in less than a week, if even that.
If only shed have known… but she hardly realized at the time just how utterly fucked they were and Tay hadnt exactly been in the best headspace to put it mildly.
"Unfruitful, Wookie searches have been," he admitted, and that surprised her.
"Wait!?" she balked. "They've been searching?!"
Yoda nodded. "Indeed, wish to know, they do, of any presence on Kashyyyk not their own. Welcoming, they are. Foolish, they are not."
That… made sense.
"Why not ask us?"
"Knew that answers you would not have, Attichitcuk told me. Open, your face is. The callow of youth have you."
…
Vicky wasn't sure if she should be flattered or insulted.
Yoda turned, looking away from her and towards Taylor's room. "Rest more for today, your friend shall. Head out tomorrow, we will."
That made her perk up. "Where are we going?"
"To the Jedi temple we will go," he said, grunting as he peeled himself off his seat. "There, answers we may find. Expansive, our archives are. Knowledge pooled by the masters and knights. Help we will give you there."
She didn't have a better plan but…
"Let me run that by Tay first," she said aloud. And a lot of other things, she didn't add. "I don't think she'll say no - lack of options and all that - but informed decisions are better ones."
The green man, if he took offense, hid it well. "Understand, I do." Turning and beginning to hobble back to the exit with his stooping, limping gait, Vicky stood up to at least open the door for him.
"Thanks for offering to help," she said partingly.
Little green nodded, his head bobbing as he offered her a little smile before walking out of their hut.
Vicky shut the door behind him.
"Okay," she sighed. "Okay… 'Hey, Tay, funny thing, while you were asleep a garden gnome came by, Mastered you and is gonna take us to a temple which might have something that can help!' I can just tell this conversation is going to go great."
(X)(X)(X)
The conversation did not in fact go great.
Gee who'd have guessed?
Vicky wasn't entirely sure how one who wasn't talking could also be screaming vehemently at the top of her metaphorical lungs. But by god was Taylor managing.
Hell, her typing on a pad sounded angry. Vicky didn't even know that was possible!
'Why did you even let him in here!?'
Vicky winced. "I thought you were having a nightmare. I walked in and he came in right behind me! I didn't know he'd do anything. What would you have liked me to do? Punt him out of the hut!?"
"Close the fucking door behind you!"
Vicky rubbed at her forehead, groaning. "Well excuse me for not thinking everyone here is out to slit our throats in our sleep!" she fired back. Not sure anymore if she was fighting or apologizing.
'Because being Mastered in my sleep was so much BETTER!?'
Vicky cringed.
Why did she have to make it sound… well, it was bad but why was she making it sound so much worse than it had even seemed?
"I'm sorry, alright?" She threw her hands up. "I didn't think he was here to hurt anyone and I legit thought you were having a nightmare. I wasn't thinking about him; I was thinking about what I promised you."
Taylor seemed to take a deep breath, then shut her eyes and took another deep breath - slow and loud through her nostrils - before she found, if not her calm, then at least a much tighter leash on her temper.
As she typed out the next words, her face, again, became flat and motionless. And somehow it was so much worse than the naked anger her expression held until just a few seconds ago
"Where is he?"
"Probably with the village chief or something," Vicky mumbled, squirming in her seat.
More typing.
"And he says he's going to take us to his 'order'?"
"That's what he said," she affirmed with a shrug, leaning forward, hands gripping her not quite crossed legs.
"An order that might have more Masters like him?"
Vicky blanched. She… hadn't thought of that.
"I didn't ask," she mumbled.
With a look of determination glinting in her eye, Taylor stood up, and Vicky was pretty sure she should stop her before she did… something.
"Hold on there, skinny!" she cried, floating up off her pillow seat to intercept Taylor before she could turn and walk out the door. "I know you're pissed, but going off and clubbing the guy over the head isn't gonna solve anything!"
Huh… so this is what it was like arguing for less excessive force?
…
Felt weird.
Taylor offered her a flat glare.
Honestly, the stare on this girl.
Vicky felt herself wince. "Just… promise you won't do anything… violent? Like, this might be our one shot at getting home for all we know and we kinda have to do that, right?"
Taylor averted her eyes, turning her head as she looked down towards her hand, fingers curling into a fist and uncurling.
Vicky wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but when Taylor offered the slightest, most infinitesimal nod, she decided it was the best she was gonna get.
(X)(X)(X)
When they stepped out of the hut and Vicky asked the Wookies if they knew where the 'Little green man' was, only a few of them gave her a funny look before she was pointed in the right direction.
'The right direction' being an overlook at the edge of the village, with a clear, horizon to horizon view of the great Kashyyyk Forest, the Woshyyrr trees creating a sea of leaves, waving like a mass of liquid green in the wind.
The little goblin was sitting on what looked like a comfortable pillow. Vicky floated over, Taylor behind her.
"Huh." She blinked. "I think he's napping?" She looked to Taylor, who looked about ready to kick the little goblin awake.
*Whack*
"OW!" Vicky floated up into the air, rubbing at her shin. "STOP DOING THAT!".
"Not napping am I! Meditating! Difference you must learn!" he harrumphed, planting that soon to be firewood stick beside him.
Taylor's face shifted, now an appraising look in her eye.
She typed something out, and turned it towards Victoria, one word on the screen:
"Trump?"
Vicky offered a shrug. Master, Telekenisis to open the door and that goddamn stick, yeah for all she knew this was alien Eidolon.
They even came in matching colors!
Taylor's eyes narrowed, and Vicky could almost feel her hackles rising.
The little green man paused, straightening his spine, and suddenly he was the one giving Taylor a calculating, fixed stare.
"Oddly, the force flows around you." He brought a little claw to his chin, scratching at it as his eyes narrowed.
Then, he shut his eyes, seemingly concentrating.
Vicky saw Taylor shift her weight, definitely on guard.
No. Not on guard. Tay looked like she was legit ready to lunge at the guy.
The Dallon girl moved between the two, unwilling to let this whole thing descend into a fight and likely ruin her only way home.
Then, around the mezzanine overlook, she saw several of those car sized centipedes rising into the air.
She was just about ready to tackle Taylor, when she realized that… the centipede things might be able to 'leap' like she'd seen against the Trandoshans, but they didn't normally just float.
The little green man's hand rose and Vicky could almost feel the air thrumming around the three of them.
The centipedes writhed and twisted, seemingly trying to escape their bonds and Taylor herself looked… completely stone faced, even as her body looked poised to physically attack or run at a second's notice. It was actually quite off putting, even a little unnerving.
"Fearful, you are, that harm I would bring," the little alien said, his expression easing. "Promise you, I do, that only help I intend."
The green man lowered his hand, and with it, the floating attack dogs Taylor had intended to use were released back down into the canopy of leaves.
"Strange, your ability is," Yoda commented. "Domination. Not persuasion. Like the Dark Side it does feel, but colder. Distant. The mind, untouched it is. Bodies, beyond their control instead, hmm?"
Beside her, Taylor stiffened, going ramrod straight.
Vicky, her head on a swivel, looked from one to the other. "Huh? Wait, is he legit or full of it?" If the little green man could figure out power mechanics then that was… honestly really goddamn useful… or dangerous.
Taylor turned, looking at her before offering a single, wary nod.
Huh. Nea-
WHACK!
"OW! SHIT! YOU LITTLE-!"
"Full of lessons to teach, I am! Like respecting your elders, hmm?!"
Vicky grit her teeth. First chance she got, she was chucking the stick into the fucking sun.
"Who are you?"
Oh. So Tay apparently did have enough bugs to do her voice trick up here…
For all the bizarreness of the communication, Yoda didn't look at all like he was surprised, or even curious. A million insects 'chittering' in unison to speak left him remarkably unruffled.
The little man bowed. "Master Yoda, I am. Jedi. Friend to the Wookies; called here to help you, I have been."
"Mastering me isn't helping." And there it is. That didn't take long.
"Hmm. Of the calming technique you speak. Influence on your mind, even well meant, unwelcome it was."
Taylor's answer was a flat glare.
Yoda's clawed hand rose to rub at his head. "Hmmm. Troubling."
"Don't be troubled," Vicky volunteered. Trying to move past this with all the subtlety of a train car, on fire, being driven by clowns. "Just say you're sorry, promise not to do it again, and we can all move on and start working to get us back home huh?"
Yoda turned towards her and… he looked sad?
"An apology, I offer. That is not what is troubling. A promise to refrain, I do too. That is not it either. Meditating, I was, on what I sensed when touched your mind I did. Troubling, what I found there is."
Vicky winced. Shit! Was he talking about Tay's… issues?
"Tampered with, your minds have been," Yoda began and Vicky's brain stuttered for a second even as Yoda looked grave. "Powerful. Extensive"
"W-wait!" Vicky laughed, perhaps a bit too loudly, perhaps a bit too quickly. "Maybe it's because you talk funny but why am I included in that sentence?"
Yoda looked at her with quiet pity.
"Too much, does she know." He pointed at Taylor with his stick. "Pain - terrible pain - of a future that has not happened, Ghosts yet undying, A future yet unformed."
Then he turned to Vicky.
"And too little do you know. Locked away your mind is. Knowledge kept. Trapped."
Vicky felt her stomach flip.
"Bullshit!" The denial was more reflex than anything, and somewhere she realized that maybe she shouldn't just be flat out accusing the guy of being a bold faced liar when she had been advocating to play nice with him just a short while ago.
Yoda shook his head. "True, this is. Sorry, I am."
Vicky stared at him, her mouth opening, then closing, opening then closing.
Turning towards Taylor, she hoped to find incredulity there to match her own, but somehow, the look of pity cracking through her usual stony poker face cut right down to the bone.
(X)(X)(X)
They brought the conversation back to their hut. With privacy and tea.
Wookies made strong tea. She wasn't much of a fan, but it seemed Yoda was, and Taylor was, too. D-4 blended it; apparently, as a protocol droid meant to ease diplomacy, tea ceremonies were one of his specialties. Many species liked tea ceremonies.
Who knew?
Vicky sat in her pillow seat, nursing her drink in a wooden cup that felt as smooth as glass.
Someone had Mastered her?
Someone had Mastered her and made it so she couldn't even remember being Mastered?
An involuntary shudder ripped right through her.
"Can all Jedi do what you do?"
The question came from Taylor, tiny cricket like bugs giving her a semblance of a voice back.
"Potential, all Jedi have. But if of the mind influence you are concerned, resist this technique you can. Feel it, you can, when used. Overcome a strong mind the Force will not."
Taylor didn't look reassured. Then again, as stone-faced as she was, it was hard to tell what her look even was.
"How many of you are there?"
"Many Jedi make the temple their home: Knights, Masters, Younglings. Thousands, our Order consists of."
A thousand Master type capes…
…
Fuck.
"How would you help us return home?"
Honestly Vicky was glad that Tay was leading this conversation, right now, with her thoughts still spinning over the fact that she may have been fucking Mastered she was definitely not on the ball for this.
"Archives, the Jedi Temple has. All known Star charts. All known Hyperlanes. Thousands of years of history and knowledge. If in this galaxy your planet is, know of it the Jedi archives will. If beyond this galaxy it is, how you arrived we might glean from the force." Yoda nodded. "Help you, the Jedi can," he said, taking a sip of his tea from his comparatively tiny cup. "If a way home you do not find with us, then at least a healing of the mind can be done… if wish it you do."
"Why wouldn't we?" Vicky asked immediately.
Yoda turned to her and his stare was, again pitying; she was starting to hate that look.
"An answer, your friend can give. Pain, memories can bring. Eager for the knowledge you are, Ready for it… you may not be."
"Fuck that," she hissed and felt tears burning at the back of her eyes that she refused to let fall. "No one fucks with my head!" She turned to Taylor, who's eyes were downcast, staring at a spot on the table, her own cup nursed between her kneading hands.
The Dallon girl gave the former villain an elbow, jostling her, bringing Tay's attention to Vicky.
"So we're goin' with him?"
Tay looked… surprised, as though she hadn't expected Vicky to ask her opinion before she offered Vicky a single quiet nod.
She nodded back. "Fine then. Guess we're heading out with you."
"Tomorrow we leave." Yoda nodded. "Your goodbyes, you should say. Sad the Wookies will be, if leave without saying them you do."