One month later...
Walking through thick jungle, Leenah pushed green bushes out of her face. Tran was right in front of her, his lightsaber out in front of him.
Behind Leenah was Melena. She was looking around with fascination. Melena was always intrigued with nature and growing things. Her blonde hair in a padawan braid was bouncing up and down as she walked with a skip to her step. Behind her, her Jedi master Relea Aki followed, light on her toes.
"Are you sure this is a diplomatic mission?" asked Leenah. "I don't think 'lightsabers out, ready to assume fighting stance' is diplomacy."
"What, you've never heard of aggressive negotiations?" Tran replied.
That was something that bothered Leenah about her order. The Jedi never really told it like it was. They always found some way to sugar-coat what they did. Leenah told herself "hey, at least they're better than the Sith".
Abruptly, Tran and Relea turned to the young women.
"Stay there. We'll go look around. On the off-chance that you are attacked, you know what to do." said Relea.
Both Jedi masters turned around. The instant their backs were turned, Leenah's life was changed forever.
Melena's wide, distracted eyes were focused on a tall tree when a shot bursted from out of the bushes and hit her in the back.
In that instant, Leenah's hands flew up to protect her sister, but nothing happened besides her finger being singed.
Melena's smile faded as she crumpled to the ground.
"Leenah..." she had to work to get any words out.
Her wide blue eyes held a glassy, lifeless expression. Her hyperventilation slowed until it fully stopped. And in that instant, Leenah Ziulara couldn't help but to notice Tran and Relea standing there, doing nothing.
Look at them, standing idly while Melena, the most important person in my life, died! Leenah thought. Melena was even Relea's padawan!
Her anger boiled inside her. And all of a sudden, her anger, hate, sadness, passion, and all other things the Jedi told her to ignore, bubbled up inside.
All of a sudden, before Leenah even knew what she was doing, her emotion controlled her. Leenah gave in and let it lead the way. All that could be heard was a loud crack, and Relea lay on the ground, dead. Leenah had killed her- half accidentally, half intentionally.
Tran ignited his lightsaber.
"Leenah, you don't need to-"
"SHUT UP!" she shouted, igniting her own and pouting it at him. "You're just as guilty as she is!"
"Leenah, control your emotions."
"I don't need your lectures!" she cried, tears streaming down as she looked at the corpses of Melena and Relea. "You let her die. You watched me suffer. And you just stood there. You kriffing stood there!" She took a Force-assisted leap above Tran and landed behind him. "You're a liar. And I don't like being lied to." She thrust her green saber at his back, watching him writhe on the ground. Tran closed his eyes, one with the Force.
Leenah ran to Melena, unable to stop the rising river of tears from her eyes.
"Melena... Melena, I'm so sorry. I should have saved you-Melena..."
She held on to the lifeless body, unwilling to ever let go. She was still warm, and her cheeks were round and cherubic. Were it not for the blaster wound, she would have looked like a girl sleeping peacefully.
Leenah held her sister's hand as tight as she could, kneeling on the pine covered ground. Suddenly,it seemed like the jungle was completely devoid of life. No time, no enemies, nothing but she and her sister.
Eventually, she stood up and looked around.
The body of Relea, her Jedi robes torn, her head facing the opposite direction from the rest of her cadaver.
The body of Tran, with a burn mark right through his empty heart.
You deserved it, both of you. You could have saved Melena, but you didn't. Leenah said to them silently. She let loose her long chocolate hair, liberated from its Padawan braid, reflecting on what she had done.
Her emotions had given her strength, the power to kill them both, even though she was a mere Padawan.
Is this the Dark Side? Leenah wondered. Is this what they have taught me to shun? This great power?
She got on her hands and knees and began to dig, while considering the power of the feelings she had held back for so long.
Six feet were cleared out of the ground. Leenah kissed her sister one last time.
Goodbye, Melena.
She placed her sister in the hole, and filled up the soil.
You were my best friend.
She ignited her saber again, bringing it down on the trunk of the nearest tree.
I'm so sorry you had to go this way.
Whittling the wood and shaping it, she constructed a wooden headstone.
Through your tragic death, you taught me a lesson of great power.
She etched "Melena Ziulara
Age 18
My Dear Sister"
I will always remember you.
She placed the headstone above Melena's grave. Leenah took one final look, picked up her lightsaber, and walked away.
I love you.