A/N: Just wanted to post a quick FYI before you all started reading... As some of you may know, I've rescued rabbits for about four or five years now and I'm known as the resident "Rabbit Guru" at my local animal shelter. In the development of Rowin as a character, I've shaped much of his mannerisms and characteristics after the little furry friends that I've shared house-space with for half a decade. You'll see why this bring this up as you read toward the end of this chapter, but house-rabbits do actually bond in real life. I don't know if rabbits do this in the wild, but domesticated rabbits will often create a special bond with at least one person/animal in the house. Most of the time, this bond with one another - sometimes, they grace us humans with that gift. My very first rabbit, Bane, bonded to me to the point that he very pointedly told off my husband (in rabbit-speak, of course!) the first time they met (and Bane died holding a grudge against J, good golly...). I've also seen "bunny love" - when two rabbits bond instantly, without any fighting or fuss (I've had two pairs like this). This bonding is one of the reasons why it is so hugely traumatic for a rabbit when he/she is abused; once that trust is broken, a rabbit will very rarely "get" it back. Not all rabbits bond, it should be noted, but when they do, it's very hard for them to overcome a loss. I've had one bun die - literally - of a broken heart, because he starved himself after his mate passed away. So, I just wanted to let you know, Dear Reader, that bunny bonding does, in fact, exist. And it is a hard thing to explain; I hope Rowin did it justice. :)
Also...this is a long chapter. Settle in for a nice lengthy read. LOL
"...Of sending men home from the dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged..."
"Wisdom, Justice, and Love"
Linkin Park
Cody woke up to winter darkness with his stomach empty and a strange after-taste in his mouth. For several disorienting seconds, he couldn't remember where he was and something like panic began to claw at the back of his throat. But then he heard someone mutter in his sleep and Cody recognized a single word - "Marta." The name, coupled with the familiarity of Saa's sleep-roughened voice, soothed the pounding of Cody's heart.
The ex-trooper lay in the darkness and breathed deeply as he stared above him toward velvety oblivion. Jumbled memories fell into place and Cody reached up to scrub a steadying hand over his face. He was laying on top of a slightly lumpy – but comfortable – mattress that was stuffed with some sort of unidentifiable bedding. The room smelled like earth and male; a scent that was too woodsy to truly overlap with the memories Cody had of the wide variety of barracks that he had woken up in before. He was thankful for the distinction in his mind, since waking up to what he thought was a barracks would probably have put him in a self-defensive panic, before the sequence of the previous night's events finally ordered themselves in his head.
Someone was snoring and after a few moments, Cody decided that it was probably Fives. Saa muttered again in his sleep, but his words were Mando'a and Cody couldn't place them. The clone ran a hand over his face again and tried to remember who all was in the room with him.
After Ala had cleaned and bandaged his wounds, she had lead him through the same doorway that Kix had so suddenly appeared in when coming to announce the birth of Sol's granddaughter. Fives' hand had been seen to by that time as well, so all of the males in the straggling party of refugees had followed Cody and Ala. Cody had passed out shortly after making contact with his pillow, but he remembered Fives, Rowin, and Saa settling into their own beds, while Kix trimmed an old-fashioned oil lamp.
Currently, there was no light in the room; Cody wasn't even sure what the dimensions of the sleeping chamber were. The only concern on his mind the night before had been getting into bed as quickly as possible. He wasn't even sure if "the night before" was, in fact, the night before. Cody had no readily available way to tell the time; all he had to go on was an internal clock that had been shaped by a lifetime of military service. If he was to hazard his best guess based on his own gut instinct, Cody surmised that it was about five or six standard hours in the morning.
Though, which morning was the question and one that Cody decided was worthy of answering. Forgetting completely about his injuries, the former commander sat up -
And promptly bit his lip in an attempt to keep from waking up his companions with a shout of pain. Though, Cody thought as he fell back on the bed, he wasn't sure he had the breath to scream at the current moment. He had forgotten about the contusion across his chest and his bruised muscles protested sharply at his foolhardy move. Pain radiated swiftly across his entire upper torso – front and back – and Cody tried to catch his breath in the quiet morning darkness.
As he lay on the bed for the second time, the former soldier tried to calm his pain response and focus on his separate injuries. He had learned long ago how to lay still and take stock of his body – while he might have initially forgotten his injuries in the groggy fuddle of his half-awake mind, he had no excuse now not to exercise a certain caution in moving again.
He counted three bacta patches arrayed in something of a circle over the breadth of his chest. They mimicked the circular pattern of his dented chest plate and covered the superficial wounds he had sustained as a result of his armor biting through his flight-suit. A larger, longer bacta patch covered his side, where the two major plates of his armor had pinched together and broken skin. Other than the tenderness of his upper body and those few patches, however, Cody was otherwise unscathed.
I've had worse, he reminded himself as he stared up toward a ceiling he couldn't see. Much, much worse.
After a few minutes of silent contemplation, Cody decided to try and give getting out of bed a second chance. This time, though, he rolled gingerly onto his uninjured side and eased himself up one small movement at a time. This method took several moments to complete and Cody had to stop himself from groaning in agony from start to finish. He felt a certain sense of accomplishment, though, when he was finally able to face the blackness in front of him in a vertical position.
Getting to his feet took several more moments, as the clone commander purposefully controlled the speed of his ascension. He wavered unsteadily on his feet for a second or two, but finding his equilibrium after that initial uncertainty wasn't as hard as he had feared. As he caught his breath and took stock of his new outlook on life, Cody realized that while he had been put to bed without his boots or socks, he still had his flight-suit on.
The ground underneath him was cool and soft – Cody wiggled his toes experimentally and determined that he was standing on what felt like well-swept dirt. Since neither sitting down again nor feeling about for his boots were a realistic option at the moment, he decided to move his momentum forward and follow his nose.
It was faint, but the ex-trooper could detect the unmistakable scent of caf. Without sparing any further thought to his bare feet, Cody took a few tentative steps forward with his hands outstretched. By assuming that the head of his bead was toward the wall, his fingers quickly came in contact with what felt like a weathered mixture of wood and mud. Cody followed the curve of the wall toward what he hoped was a doorway – while praying that he didn't stumble over anyone's sleeping form while he moved.
A thin sliver of light distinguished itself from the darkness, as Cody grew more alert and began focusing his attention toward identifying some sort of exit. The animal-hide that covered the doorway was thick and broad enough to block practically all external light, except for a narrow band of brilliance along the floor just in front of Cody and slightly to his left.
As Cody's eyes adjusted to the illuminated hallway, he was surprised to see that the vheh'yaim was more extensive than he could have originally imagined. A narrow corridor split off in two directions from just in front of where he stood. The hallway was basically nothing more than a covered pathway which appeared to connect the circular room behind him with another room to the left and to right of him. Cody wondered at the design; the only thing that he could conclude from looking to either side of him, was that the Kelborn homestead was actually a compound of several vheh'yaim connected by a series covered hallways.
He hesitated for a moment, uncertain and slightly disoriented. Try as he might, Cody couldn't readily recall which way he had been lead out of the central gathering room – so he had very little ability to determine if he was supposed to go left or right. Since his sense of direction couldn't be trusted, the former commander decided to rely on another sense that had never steered him wrong. He took as deep of a breath as he could and decided, after a moment's deliberation, that caf was definitely available toward the left.
Without further ado, Cody shuffled toward the appropriate direction. He spared a moment to look up, at the circular window that had been cut strategically in the arching ceiling above him. A patch of rose-tinged navy blue greeted his gaze and pushed his internal clock forward by about an hour. The sun was rising, which meant it was more like seven standard hours in the morning; in any event, it was time for breakfast and Cody devoted himself whole-heartedly to the quest for caf.
Taking the left doorway did indeed lead Cody to the gathering room that he remembered from the last time he was vertical. No one was gathered around the gently smoldering fire, however, and the room looked particularly deserted, littered as it was by empty cushions. Cody paused a moment and remembered that the doorway to the kitchen was right next to the doorway in which he currently stood. Without further hesitation, he turned to his right and pushed aside the heavy curtain.
The hallway to the kitchen was longer than the one that he had traveled between bedroom and gathering room. But, the scent of caf got stronger as he shuffled along and the smell of it encouraged Cody's continued perseverance. He hoped, with considerable sincerity, that no one would turn him away and force him back to bed when he arrived at his intended destination. Cody loved sleep as much as the next clone, but curiosity had settled in and he didn't think he could lie still until he had a better idea of where he was and who he was with.
A part of him dreaded the possibility of running into Kix in the kitchen, but once Cody finally slipped through the doorway into the largest room he had seen yet, he found that he was alone except for the red-headed Sheresh. The female Mandalorian was sitting at a large wooden table in the center of the well-kept kitchen, cradling a cup of steaming caf in her hands. She looked up as Cody ambled over to the table and her pleasant face lit up in a welcoming smile. Cody, on the other hand, was immediately captivated by one particular attribute that he had failed to notice before – Sheresh's face was as ruddy in the unfiltered kitchen light, as it had been in front of the gathering room fire.
"You're a Zeltron!" somehow those words got out before "good morning"; Cody blushed and shut his mouth, but Sheresh's smile only grew wider in the face of his embarrassment.
"Well, you're half right," Sheresh chuckled into her mug as she took a sip of caf. "My father was human."
Cody stared at her with something like awe as he slowly approached the female Mandalorian and gingerly lowered himself on to one of the stools arranged around the rough hewn table. Now that he wasn't running for his life in the bombed-out streets of an unfamiliar city, or trying to take stock of total strangers, he had time to study Sheresh's natural beauty.
She was radiant in her own way, but not half as ethereal as Tay. Sheresh's winsomeness was fiery – all shades of copper, coral, and ruby. Her hair was long and braided down the back; it shimmered in the kitchen light, a brilliant kaleidescope of natural cherry and garnet. Her skin was just a few shades too pink to be considered truly human; instead of the bold hues of a true-blooded Zeltron, her skin merely looked as if it was permanently flushed. Her lips were full and stained the color of Anoat fire-wine; her eyes were clear shards of amber, bright with both good humor and intelligence.
Outside of her armor, Sheresh was down-right stunning. She lit up the room in her own resplendent way. In contrast to Tay's particular gentleness and tender delicacy, Sheresh was agile strength and boundless audacity. She was bold, the epitome of Mandalorian beauty.
"I can't say I've run across a lot of half-Zeltrons...and full-blooded Zeltrons even less, but..." Cody fumbled for words and waved an all-encompassing hand toward Sheresh's brilliance. "Wow," he flushed and stammered, suddenly made self-consciousness by his nearly instinctual ogling.
"I get that a lot," Cody was surprised to see Sheresh blush a bit herself; her cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of pink that was quite fetching. "One of the reasons I actually like being Mandalorian," her honey-colored eyes met Cody's over the rim of her mug. "Beauty is not valued half as much as spirit."
"Oh," Cody felt awkward and a little inappropriate as he ducked his head in an attempt to look anywhere but at Sheresh.
He hadn't meant to stare, but she was a fetching sight and it was hard not to appreciate her good looks for what they were. A large part of him felt incredibly guilty as well – he hadn't openly admired another female since Tay and he wasn't certain if exclusivity in his relationship prohibited his expression of appreciation for the physical attractiveness of others.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, Cody. You are but male," Sheresh reached over and surprised the former commander by gently touching his hand with hers; he glanced up and caught her smile. "If it makes you feel any better, I do appreciate your reaction...though I would prefer the expression of such from another male entirely."
It made Cody feel slightly better to realize that his ogling wouldn't go to Sheresh's head, nor would it offend her. He managed a weak smile back at her and for a moment, they were both silent with their own thoughts. Cody's curiosity had been piqued, however, and he ventured a question after several uncertain seconds.
"You have a sweetheart of your own, then?"
"Yes...well...maybe," Sheresh's blush deepened and she looked away from Cody in a manner that was clearly flustered. "I mean...well..." she frowned at her caf and sighed heavily; the former commander felt awkward once again, for having asked her such an agitating question.
He felt even more oafish, when the female Mandalorian stood up without any warning whatsoever. She moved briskly, even with her pronounced limp, and made her way resolutely toward the counter behind them. Ashamed for having embarrassed her, Cody said nothing, as she started to fuss with a large mug and an even larger carafe.
"I feel silly for asking this, since I've never met a clone who didn't like caf, but –" Sheresh paused and looked over her shoulder; she smiled bravely, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Would you like some?"
"Yes, please," Cody responded instantly in the hopes of setting his uncouth question behind them.
Sheresh was silent for several minutes more as she poured strong, black caf into the mug in her hands. She turned around and limped back toward her stool; she said nothing as she handed him the piping hot mug and Cody felt like smacking his forehead into the wooden surface beneath his forearms.
The Mandalorian bounty hunter surprised him, however, when he glanced miserably at her face and caught her eye. The half-Zeltron female flashed him a brilliant smile and in that instant, she seemed to convey to Cody that all had been forgiven. In fact, she apologized to him, as she reached out and patted his arm.
"Affairs of the heart are tricky business. I'm sorry if I got a little flustered; it's not your fault."
"I'm sorry for prying," Cody admitted quietly, but Sheresh merely waved her hand dismissively as she settled herself more certainly on her stool.
"Don't be. I'm someone new and you're simply trying to learn who I am. Awkward questions are part of the process; don't be ashamed," she smiled at him a second time and Cody felt that it was truly genuine.
Nothing was said for about five or ten standard minutes, as they both dedicated their attention to their respective cups of caf. Truth be told, Cody was still trying desperately to wake up; in many ways, his head still felt thick from sleep and the world around him seemed slightly surreal. A part of him tried to recall the details of what had happened before he had finally managed to get some sleep and he was mildly disturbed to realize that most of his memories were a jumbled mess.
I must have been running on sheer adrenaline and training alone, he mused into the depths of his caf mug as he sipped on the sweetened brew. I think the last time I was that tired, was after...well...after Utapau.
His memories of having ordered Obi-wan's unjust – and thankfully unsuccessful – death were crystal clear. But he had always had trouble trying to recall the battle before and after that pivotal point; most of the time, details escaped him in the aftermath of his adrenaline rushes. The mental blanks only got worse as he got older – Cody wasn't sure if it was the weight of all the stress bearing down on his mind, or if it was his rapid aging, or if it was a combination of both.
Could be a side-affect of all those stims I took, too, he mulled over the many possible reasons that made it harder for him to retain difficult memories. I might want to ask Tay about that at some time. I would like to know why it seems I can't recall stressful details after the fact.
Getting lost in his own thoughts was starting to become entirely too dull, though, so Cody focused his wandering attention span on Sheresh after a few moments of appropriately contemplative silence. She too seemed lost in her thoughts, as she stirred a spoon idly in what was left of her caf, so it didn't seem as if she was too dreadfully upset by Cody's lapse of focus. The former commander wondered if he should even break into her private moment, but he had her to himself for a little while at least. He was curious about her and about how she had become what she was; since it was highly unlikely that he'd get much out of her once Fives came around, Cody decided to take charge of the opportunity presented to him.
"So..." he paused just long enough to get her attention and he nervously fiddled with the handle of his cup as her light-brown eyes met his over the width of the table. "You're Saa's...granddaughter?"
"Something like that...I think," Sheresh chuckled and Cody decided that she was at her most charming when she was smiling. "If Mrov were alive, he would be my buir...so I suppose that does makes me Saa's granddaughter," she pursed her lips as she considered what was apparently a new revelation. "I hadn't thought of myself as that before, I will admit."
"How'd you become Mandalorian?" Cody took a sip of his caf; in his own way, he was enjoying the chance to sit quietly with someone else, without distractions, tensions, or impending dangers limiting the conversation.
"Well...that can be a long story in and of itself, but the short version goes something like this," Sheresh paused and rubbed her chin thoughtfully; something flickered through her eyes, but Cody was unable to identify the emotion. "My stepmother sold me as an indentured servant when I was about 20 years old, in order to pay off what she claimed were my late father's debts," the emotion Cody hadn't been able to identify swiftly settled into anger; her eyes flashed at the memory and the former commander realized that Sheresh's temper ran as hot as her blood. "I was sent off-world and Ru-buir found me on the auction block at a Tatooine slave market."
"Off-world?" Cody interrupted slightly, but only because he wanted to make sure that he got as many details as he could about Sheresh's unknown life.
The bounty hunter seemed to realize his intentions, but she was obliging in her openness. Her mouth quirked up in a smile and she glanced approvingly at Cody, as if to applaud him for his ability to pick up important cues.
"I'm Alderaanian by birth," her admission stunned Cody – of all the worlds in the galaxy, he would have expected Alderaan as the absolute last on the list of home worlds most likely to produce a Mandalorian.
Sheresh seemed to understand his surprise and she chuckled brightly. Cody reflected that he was probably not the only sentient who had expressed some amount of surprise at her pre-Mandalorian identity. The Alderaanians were well-known the galaxy over as dedicated pacifists; Alderaan also boasted some of the galaxies most refined and respected personalities. Senator Bail Organa came to mind – Cody would often meet up with Fox on the occasions that he was sent back to Coruscant for a few days of precious leave. Fox – who was quite possibly the most gregarious of all the commanders that Cody had graduated ARC training with – had enjoyed talking politics over dinner. And, with talk of politics, came talk of politicians – Organa was one of the very few that Fox had never condemned.
"No one expects a Mandalorian from Alderaan," she read his reaction accurately and the bounty hunter shrugged nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal. "But, here I am. The Force put me in Ru'buir's path, of that I'm sure, and there was something about me that caught her eye. She'll tell you it was my gett'se – or, my spirit – that made her rescue me from my fate. I'm not always so sure. In some ways, I think she was looking for a daughter to call her own; Ru'buir won't admit it, but when I met her, she was very lonely. She took Mrov's death quite hard, from what I understand."
"Saa did, too," Cody nodded solemnly; he sighed and in almost perfect harmony, the two recited the Mandalorian prayer of remembrance.
The moment caught the two off-guard. Sheresh met Cody's eyes across the table and at first, neither one of them smiled. But then Sheresh's sensuous lips curved upward and a look of approval lit up her eyes.
"I see Saa'ba'buir chooses well," her words were cryptic and Cody couldn't help a snort of frustration; that only made Sheresh's smile bigger. "And don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about. Saa's been hurt – he's lost a lot of sons," the smile wavered and a serious sort of intensity settled across Sheresh's expressive face. "So, I don't imagine he's in any rush to blurt out the adoption vow. But...anyone who's been Mando'ad for any length of time can see that he has fairly serious intentions toward you," her smile returned and Cody felt warmth bolster the empty place in his heart where normally only fear dared to dwell. "Especially if he's allowed you to sleep in his daughter-in-law's bed."
Cody had almost forgotten about Saa's blunt blunt revelation concerning the current status of the clone's relationship with Tay; he ducked his head and tried not to smile. It wasn't exactly something to grin about, but it felt okay to share his joy with Sheresh. She had an easy-going and rather non-judgmental way about her; plus, Cody figured that since she had brought the topic up, he had nothing to fear in showing his own familiarity with a female she had never met.
And yet, a female who Sheresh apparently knew about, all the same. It was starting to amaze Cody at how interwoven the lives of Mandalorian clan members actually were. He wondered, briefly, if the apparent closeness of Clan Par'jain was indicative of all clans, or if it was unique to them because of their small size and more matriarchal hierarchy.
"I'd try to argue and say that Saa didn't go out of his way to encourage my relationship with Tay, but," Cody laughed and shrugged – there was no point in withholding the truth from one who seemed to know the clan dynamic better than he did himself. "That'd be a lie. Though, now I have to wonder," the former commander raised a quizzical eyebrow and titled his head to the side. "How do you know so much about Saa?"
"I worked with him a few times during the Wars; actually smuggled him behind enemy lines once or twice. Even smuggled him out from inside Sep space once," her eyes flashed and Cody recognized the look of one who had enjoyed such dangerous adventures. "I had Ru'buir with me the first time I met him, too. She recognized his scent immediately – though she admitted later that his Miraluka disguise fooled her completely."
Cody couldn't help it – he threw his head back and laughed. It had taken him surprise, too, the first time that he had seen Saa step into the Ijaa's cockpit with his eyes perfectly hidden by a wide band of darkly colored glass. In fact, Saa's knack for disguises was highly impressive and, at times, highly disturbing. While the scrawny Mandalorian could be quite distinctive with his red hair and beskar'gam, he possessed a face that was particularly unassuming. Unlike Cody, who despite having a thousand different replicas of his face scattered across the galaxy could still stand out in a crowd, Saa had the sort of face that blended into his surroundings with little to no effort. While the wily Mando could never try to pass himself off as a Togorian – for example – Cody didn't think that there were many human or near-human species Saa couldn't mimic with enough cosmetic detail and determination.
"I see you've had experience with Saa'ba'buir's disguises, too?" Sheresh shared Cody's good humor and she set her empty caf mug down on the table with an ear-to-ear grin. "He's incredibly talented. I've seen him pull off personas that I would have never thought were possible. You should ask him about his male Twi'lek disguise sometime."
Cody sputtered in disbelief and Sheresh simply laughed. For several minutes, he tried to get her to explain the story behind her tantalizing hint, but she refused to say anything. Eventually, the two just shared a good laugh and Cody let it go – though, not without first determining to get the full story from Saa the second he had the chance.
"So, is that the only experience you've had with Saa before now? Just shuttling him back and forth between Republic and Separatist space?" Cody finally steered the conversation back on track after a few minutes of good humored banter.
"Hmm...for the most part, yes," Sheresh put her chin in her hand and leaned her elbow on the table; she looked particularly winsome that way, with her body leaning attentively toward Cody, and her face both pleasant and open. "We had some good conversations on those occasions, though. Neither one of us are particularly shy, as I'm sure you've noticed," her eyes crinkled in a smile. "And Ru'buir has always spoken highly of him. She's kept in contact with him over the years – even after Mrov died. In fact, I think it's safe to say that for having been isolated from the clan for seven years, Ru'buir has always done an excellent job of keeping me informed of who's who and what's what. At least, so far as Clan Par'jain is concerned."
Cody couldn't help but pick up on the mention of a seven-year isolation. It was his turn to set his empty caf mug on the table and to lean in toward his companion. He dropped his voice an octave or two, though he didn't really know why he felt the need to whisper about Kamino. Perhaps it was the sense that if he spoke too loudly of the past, it would come back to haunt him.
"Is it true, then, that you were part of the Cuy'val Dar?" he inquired earnestly; Sheresh's face sobered instantly, but she didn't discourage his question.
"Yes," the female Mandalorian answered only simply at first, but after a moment she tapped her fingers on the table and continued carefully. "So was Ru'buir. In fact, the Cuy'val Dar were my first introduction to the Mandalorian culture – when I arrived on Kamino, my armor was as shiny as yours would have been at your first battle."
"I thought Jango Fett only hired seasoned veterans," Cody was surprised by Sheresh's admission and she seemed to almost anticipate his astonishment; her smile was soft and almost a little bit sad.
"Ru'buir had just adopted me as her own and I had only been with her about a year at that point. When Fett approached her for the job on Kamino, she refused to accept unless I came with her. Fett wasn't too happy about it, but he found some use for me after all and hired me on."
"What did you do? As one of the Cuy'val Dar, that is?" Cody couldn't help himself – he was utterly fascinated by Sheresh and her past.
"I was an armorer. Don't ask me how or why, but I discovered in my year with Ru'buir – before she adopted me – that I had quite a knack for blacksmithing. I did all of the repairs on the Cuy'val Dar's beskar'gam and weapons; I also taught classes to the boys, the clones, on basic blacksmithing and armoring, so they could fix their own minor issues without turning to outside sources. I wasn't the most glamorous of the Cuy'val Dar – I wasn't an interrogator or a doctor, for example – but I like to think I had an honorable job and one that I did well," Sheresh shrugged and fell silent; Cody could tell that she felt a little awkward, but he wasn't exactly sure how to put her back at ease.
Thankfully, Rowin chose that moment to step into the kitchen and join the conversation.
The bi-ped space rabbit paused for a moment after he passed through the heavy leather curtain that separated the kitchen from the hallway. He blinked and Cody recognized the signs of a sentient who was trying to adjust to the light and who was also trying to still wake up. Rowin wiggled his whiskers as he rubbed a paw sleepily over his eyes; Cody wasn't at all certain what the whisker twitches meant, but he thought that maybe it was Rowin's wordless way of saying "good morning."
"Fancy meeting you in such a place," Sheresh teased the rabbit gently as he finally shuffled toward the table.
"It's a kitchen. I can always find a kitchen," Rowin mumbled groggily as he slid onto a stool next to Cody.
The Lepi glanced over at the clone and wiggled his whiskers again. Cody quirked an eyebrow and the two males considered each other silently for a moment. Rowin then broke the quiet with a smile and a lazy glance in Sheresh's direction.
"Plus, it looks like you could use some lively company."
"Cody's pretty lively," Sheresh shrugged and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Just a minute ago he was dancing a jig. Should have seen it."
Cody snorted and shook his head. The banter between Rowin and Sheresh was easy and natural, if slightly tongue-in-cheek.
"You two are a laugh," the former commander rolled his eyes; he sat still on his stool for a moment, as he considered the mechanics necessary for moving from where he was to the caf pot.
Sheresh, who seemed to have a strange sixth sense about her, immediately stood up and reached across the table to take Cody's caf mug from him. He didn't fight her, but the ex-trooper raised a questioning eyebrow at her – it was if she had read his mind and Cody hadn't seen instincts like that in anyone other than Jedi.
"Zeltron are naturally empathic," Sheresh explained as she pulled Cody's mug toward her. "Sorry if I seem like something of a mind-reader. I'm not at the level of a Force user, by any stretch of the imagination. And I don't have the range of empathy possessed by a full-blooded Zeltron. But, I can read people fairly well and I also happen to have a pretty good understanding of clones," she flashed Cody her usual friendly smile and some of the sudden tension in his shoulders eased as he settled back on his stool. "I've never known one that could function on only one cup a day."
"Shoot," Rowin huffed and nudged Cody playfully with his elbow. "I've never known one that could function on less than four. Cups o' caf, that is."
"Sounds about right," Cody had been socialized enough to know that Sheresh and Rowin were just teasing each other and him; he took no offense to what either of them had said, though now he was curious by just how much Rowin knew of clones.
The former commander asked the Lepi as much; the rabbit twitched his lopped-ears in some sort of wordless response that Cody couldn't translate. Thankfully, the ear-twitching came accompanied with words that the clone could understand.
"I'll admit, I've never dealt with clones as much as Sheresh here," Rowin nodded toward his fellow bounty hunter as she hobbled over to the counter with Cody's mug. "But, I was a smuggler, too, durin' the Wars. A 'bounty runner' they called me. I also hunted down high-profile criminals for the Republic. Mostly Separatists an' types like Cad Bane."
"That doesn't sound like you had any interactions with clones," Cody gladly accepted his mug from Sheresh, as she climbed back onto her stool and handed him his caf.
"I ran into clones more often when I was helpin' Kil with her line of work," Rowin rubbed his chin and eyed Cody's caf thoughtfully, as if he were trying to decide if he wanted a mug of it himself.
"So let me get this straight," Cody sighed and took a sip of his caf, as if to prepare himself for Rowin's response. "You've worked with both Kil and Sheresh?"
"Kil 'fore Sheresh," Rowin clarified with a brief nod of his head; the rabbit stared off into space for a moment, as if remembering the past. "Kil was...in an interestin' situation with the Jedi Council when I met her. Do ya' remember when the Corellians voted to enforce Contemplanys Hermi?"
"Ah..." Cody did actually try to recall if he had heard anything about Corellian politics during the War; nothing surfaced, however, so he simply shook his head.
This was a question for Fox – not for him. Cody stopped himself from pointing it out – since he thought it might be an unintentional slight to the memory of his brothers who had been forced to serve in the Coruscant Guard – but he had been a fighting man himself. Knowing about what went on in the rest of the galaxy had been a luxury, but it had never been his job. He had had enough trouble trying to keep track of his own men, his Jedi, and the troop movements in whatever sector they had been assigned; fancy-sounding political actions taken by Corellians hadn't ever been something he'd thought of following.
To his credit, Rowin seemed to realize his own faux pas; the rabbit grinned cheekily and shrugged, but his words were suitably apologetic.
"I s'pose that was a dumb question, really. Most folks outside o' the Senate or outside o' Corellia wouldn't have heard 'bout it. Kriff...I don't even think there were Jedi who realized that half o' their numbers chose to remain neutral durin' the Wars."
"Say again?" Cody was promptly surprised – and instantly intrigued.
While following galactic politics hadn't been part of his job description as a troop commander, Cody did have an interest in what happened outside of his own control. He had never had time to really follow that interest during his days of command, but now that he was no longer a soldier, he found himself increasingly fascinated by the intrigues that had woven together the many aspects of the Wars in which he had fought.
Some of the knowledge he gleaned infuriated him – after all, sentients who knew nothing of his men and cared to never know anything about the men created to fight their wars, had dictated the movements of his troops time over and time again. Cody remembered countless occasions when he had been frustrated by the seemingly pointless machinations of the Supreme Chancellor; in cases like Umbara, he had come suspect that 'pointless machinations' was the right term to apply to the tactics he and his men had been expected to carry out.
At other times, the information that he uncovered helped him make sense of the slaughter that he had witnessed. Occasionally, he heard Saa talk about things that validated the many deaths that Cody's men had suffered – and that even validated the many deaths that Cody had been compelled to deliver himself.
Sometimes, Cody learned things that were simply interesting. For example, right now, it was too soon to know what category Rowin's information would fall into – validating or infuriating – but it had certainly piqued the former commander's interest.
"At the start o' the Wars the Corellians decided to throw an obscure sanction out in response to the Galactic Senate's collective inclination toward a conflict. 'Contemplanys Hermi' means 'contemplative silence' - it's an ancient concept, from what I understand an' pretty obscure. But, the Corellians claimed it in an attempt to remain neutral in the Wars, while still keepin' a voice within the Senate. It isolated Corellia from most of the galaxy during the War an' it fractured a section o' the Jedi Order," Rowin clearly possessed a considerable understanding of the Corellian politics of the time and an impressive grasp of its impact on the War.
"I don't know much about the Jedi, but I've learned a little bit about the Corellian Jedi from my talks with Rowin," Sheresh interjected; Cody got the feeling that she didn't exactly care about being the center of attention, but that she did enjoy contributing to conversations when she could. "Kilia and her twin brother Kian were both Knighted before the War, right?" she turned toward the Lepi for confirmation; the rabbit hesitated a moment and then shook his head.
"No. Kil was Knighted 'fore Kian; he wasn't Knighted 'til a few months after Geonosis. She was Knighted within days of it, though...now that I think about it, I'm almost positive that I'm right," Rowin waved a finger in the air as he scrunched his nose up in deep thought. "She was Knighted at the Temple, but I remember her tellin' me that she created quite a stir by leavin' the main Order to return to Corellia immediately afterwards. If I remember correctly, her master wasn't Corellian an' she hadn't been allowed to make her own choices 'bout Contemplanys Hermi because of his authority over her. But, once she was free to stand on her own two feet, she left the Temple to join a large group of Corellian Jedi who had decided to return to their home sector."
"I still don't think I understand what Contemplanys Hermi meant to the Corellian Jedi," Cody frowned and nursed his caf slowly as he listened.
"Corellians the galaxy over have had a milennia long reputation for rebelliousness, free-thinking, an' independence. The Corellian Jedi are no different; unlike many of the main Order, Corellian Jedi have their own unique style of dress – usually involvin' various shades o' green – an' many o' them insist on keepin' familial ties. I've even hard o' some of 'em raisin' families right under the Jedi Council's nose," Rowin explained eagerly; it was obvious that he enjoyed sharing information with others. "When the Corellian government decided to remain neutral durin' the Wars, many Corellian Jedi returned to their home world, out of a greater loyalty to their people than to the Jedi Order."
"That's really what the impact of Contemplanys Hermi boiled down to," Sheresh added for further clarification. "It removed Corellians from any obligation to contribute resources to the War. But, passing the movement and enforcing it in their sector prompted many Jedi to make a choice – the Order, or their families. When you ask a Corellian to make that sort of choice, they're rather like Mandalorians in the respect that they will almost always choose their families over anything else."
"They're quite loyal that way – if contrary, if ya' happen to be on the side they decide not to support," Rowin shrugged. "At least, that's the way I've always understood things to be, from Kilia's accounts."
"Did all of the Corellian Jedi leave the Order, then?" Cody marveled; no wonder the Jedi had complained about being short of numbers, if half of their human members had chosen to defy the choices of the Council.
"Most. I don't know how many Corellian Jedi were in the ranks at the start o' the War, but I do know that Corellia has contributed greatly to the Jedi numbers over the ages. 'Bout two dozen stayed loyal to the Order, but all o' the other Corellian Jedi left to support their home world's neutrality. An', to be honest...I'm not so sure that they 'left', so much as they decided that they weren't goin' to go 'long with the madness," Rowin scratched behind one of his ears and slipped off of his stool. "As far as I know, none of them turned in their lightsabers – I know Kil didn't. An' she told me once that Jedi who left the Order officially were stripped o' their robes and their lightsabers. I guess maybe the Council made a special exception for the Corellian Jedi?" Rowin shrugged and raised a whiskery eyebrow at both Cody and Sheresh.
"Pfft, who know about Jetiise," Sheresh rolled her eyes and laughed; despite his own relationship with a Jedi, Cody couldn't fault her for her reaction.
Tay confounded him at every turn, it seemed. And he had stopped trying to figure out Jedi during the Wars. It didn't matter how much he interacted with the likes of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, or Obi-Wan Kenobi...Jedi, as a collective, were a force of their own. Learning about factions like the Altisian Jedi, or the Corellian Jedi, just added another layer of confusion into the mix. Cody allowed himself a small chuckle and shook his head.
Who knew about Jedi, indeed? He sometimes wondered if the Jedi themselves really understood what they were all about.
"So, if Kil decided to remain neutral during the War, how did she have any interaction with clones?" the former commander steered the conversation back on track after an appropriate moment or two.
"Did you know that the Jedi have several specialties?" Rowin asked his own question by way of answering, as he made his way to the counter behind Sheresh.
"Uh...sort of," Cody thought of Tay and took a thoughtful sip of his caf. "Like Healers and such, right?"
"Healers would be a specialty, for sure – an' one that you would have seen a lot of in the Wars," Rowin nodded as he scrounged about a moment for a clean mug. "But, there's others, too. Too many for me to really talk 'bout with any authority. Kil told me 'bout all o' 'em once, but I only really understood 'bout half o' it. An' o' that half, the only specialty I've had any experience with is the Jedi Investigator."
"Investigator?" Cody quirked an eyebrow over the rim of his mug.
"Yup. A sub-sect of the Jedi Sentinel – an' for the love of all that's holy, don't ask me to explain what that is. Find yourself a Jedi later and ask," Rowin waved a paw dismissively as he poured himself some caf with the other. "Anyway...Kil busied herself by huntin' down criminals during the Wars. That's what Investigators do, 'parently – they work with whatever local law enforcement is about, go undercover for long periods of time, travel almost all the time, an' bring a little law to whatever part of the galaxy they happen to be in at the time. Kil traveled a lot durin' the Wars; she never took jobs on behalf o' the Republic, so she justified her actions as truly neutral - I'd agree with her, for the most part. Crime skyrocketed durin' the Wars an' Kil did her part to make the galaxy a little safer for the likes o' ya'," Rowin nodded briefly toward Cody. "That's where she ran into clones - when she was undercover, huntin' down bad guys outside o' Corellia.
"Though, don't get me wrong. She spent a lot o' time on Corellia, too. Most o' her leads started in Corellia, matter of fact. Because of Corellia's neutrality, the planet's underground became a haven for the dredges of galactic society. Pirates, crime lords, bounty hunters, thieves, prostitutes...you name it, Corellia had it. 'Specially in Coronet City, the capitol. Didn't help that the Corellian Crime Syndicate cashed in on the opportunity and started makin' a killin' – literally an' figuratively."
"The Corellian Crime Syndicate?" Cody shook his head; the name was unfamiliar to him.
"One o' the largest crime syndicates in the Core Worlds," Rowin shuffled back to the table with his piping hot prize. "An', interestin' little fact about it – Kil's uncle was once the boss of it all. Created quite a stir, 'parently, when two Tharen children were whisked 'way by the Jedi without warnin'; if ya' snoop 'round the Corellian underworld long enough, ya'll learn that the surname 'Tharen' is one to respect an' fear. Though, I'll admit," the Lepi set his caf down and settled his lanky frame back onto his stool. "Kil gave the Tharen name new reasons to be feared an' respected."
"Impressive," Cody grunted as he knocked back the last of his second mug; he didn't really know what else to say, but he was beginning to find Kil's lack of reaction to Korbin all the more disturbing in light of Rowin's glowing portrait of her.
"Anyway, I ran into Kil while tryin' to collect a bounty on Cad Bane for the first time. Followed his trail straight to Coronet City an' then lost him – poof!" the rabbit puffed his cheeks out in a dramatic expression that made Cody chuckle despite himself. "Never did catch that thrice-damned nerf herder," Rowin sighed and eyed his caf as if suddenly wishing that it was something a little bit stronger. "But, had a lot of damn fun tryin'. Wasn't too long after runnin' 'round the Corellian underworld catchin' bad guys with Kil, that I Bonded to her."
"What does that mean, 'Bonded'?" Cody shook his head and pushed back his mug; the conversation was interesting enough that he didn't need any more caf to kick-start his mental functioning.
"It's a Lepi thing...kinda' hard to explain, really," a wistful sort of look crossed the space-rabbit's face and he paused for a moment before seeming to change the course of the conversation entirely. "Ever met a Lepi?"
"No, can't say I ever did," the former commander shook his head warily and wondered where Rowin was going verbally.
"Well...I'm a freak of Lepi nature," Rowin reached up and tugged one of his ears with a genuine scowl. "Most Lepis born like me are left to die at birth, but my mama – Force rest her soul – was a gentle-hearted doe. 'Pears she had a great-uncle that she remembered, who was a lop-eared bun, too. He was the first Lepi to go into space and then come back to tell his tales on Coachelle Prime," the rabbit paused and puffed out his chest proudly; there was still a bit of a frown set about the edges of his whiskery mouth, but his eyes had lit up. "She named me after him an' thought that maybe I was destined for great things like Great-Uncle Rowin, too.
"Well, I found my way to space all right, 'bout the age of ten or so –"
"Ten?" Cody sputtered; he hadn't heard of any sentient - other than an age-accelerated clone - going off on his own before the age of at least 13.
"Lepis mature by ten standard years," Rowin wiggled his nose at Cody. "I was supposed to take a mate at that age, too, but..." he paused and tugged on his ear again. "I had these. And I'm bi-colored. Never mind that there's gray an' white Lepis...havin' two colors together is rare. I'm almost the spittin' image of my great-uncle, though – he was a gray-and-white piebald bun, too. An' lop-eared. Ya'll hardly ever find a Lepi that's got lopped ears. It's a genetic defect an' no self-respectin' Lepi female would want to chance passin' that down, y'know?"
Cody didn't, in fact, know, but he thought that maybe he understood. He could certainly appreciate the sense of being "defective"; he thought briefly of little Twitch, who had been "reconditioned" for his nightmares and the former commander nodded solemnly.
"The Kaminoans aren't exactly forgiving of genetic anomalies themselves," the clone admitted softly and for a moment, he felt an unexpected kinship with the Lepi. "I've heard of them culling whole batches of clones for nothing more significant than having blue eyes."
"Seems like every species has its own inherent prejudices," Sheresh played absently with the handle of her empty mug; she seemed affected by the turn of the conversation as well.
Cody thought of her limp, then, and he had the sudden sense that she, too, understood what it was like to be "undesirable". The three enjoyed a companionable silence for a few moments, before Rowin cleared his throat and meandered back to the subject of Lepi Bonding.
"When Lepis are ready to take a mate, we Bond to them. Dunno really how to explain it, 'cept that it's a deep sort o' thing – not somethin' physical, mind you. But somethin'...spiritual, I guess. We Bond based on intrinsic compatibility with another Lepi who possesses some quality – or qualities – that resonates with us. Sometimes, that means we Bond to our polar opposite; sometimes that means we Bond to what others in the galaxy might call our 'soul mate'. Sometimes...for those of us who wander off of Coachelle Prime into the wider universe, Bonding means we find a tie that binds us to a sentient that isn't even remotely Lepi."
"Like a Corellian human?" Cody smiled briefly; Rowin returned the gesture with an almost goofy grin.
"Like a Corellian human," the rabbit nodded and then shrugged with a hearty laugh.
"So...Kil's your...mate?" the clone still struggled to understand what Rowin was trying to explain.
The space-rabbit didn't seem to take any offense to Cody's questions. If anything, he seemed to be used to the confusion – no doubt, he had had to explain his connection with Kilia on numerous occasions.
"Not in the physical or legal sense of the word, no," Rowin shook his head and his ears flapped gently against his shoulders. "It's kind o' like the bond I've seen in some of ya' clones 'fore – it's not sexual in the slightest, but it's intimate. Like..." the Lepi paused and searched for the right words. "It's in the soul – it's a deep friendship that can't be broken. Our Bond is particularly strong, too, 'cause Kil's a Jedi and I'm Force Sensitive. We're not quite able to communicate telepathically with one another...but it's pretty kriffin' close."
"A Force Sensitive Lepi?" Cody just ogled; that was something one didn't hear about every day.
"It happens to rabbits too, y'know," Rowin sniffed, but his eyes twinkled good-naturedly; he clearly enjoyed springing his ability on the unsuspecting. "In fact, there's been a small handful o' Lepi Padawans over the ages. I'll admit," he sighed ruefully into his caf. "That we're a notoriously undisciplined species. We've never had a Lepi Jedi yet. Though," the rabbit's ears lifted just slightly and Cody was impressed to discover that Rowin did have some muscle control over his unusual ears. "I've had dreams o' bein' the first, one day."
"Kind of hard, with all the Jedi gone now," Sheresh was the voice of reality, though her soft tone was sensitive to the Lepi's bigger dreams.
Rowin's ears still drooped and Cody felt sorry for the gregarious creature.
"Not all the Jedi are gone," the clone felt compelled to defend Rowin's hopes – his thoughts flickered briefly to Tay and Obi-Wan.
"Yeah...but the Jedi who had been most like to defy the Council an' take me on as her Padawan can't...well..." Rowin paused and chewed the bottom of his lip for a moment before quietly adding. "Kil hasn't been able to feel the Force since she watched her brother die on Medstar Five."
A/N: And the character development continues! That's pretty much what this whole arc is about, folks - characters and their relationships with one another. :) Expect this to be a long arc, too - even I'm not sure how long it's going to take for everyone to tell at least some of their story. Keep in mind that we won't learn everything, either - but just enough for everyone to trust each other enough to get to the next step (and to set up some plot-tage for future sequels)!
Much love and thanks to everyone's been reading and reviewing! Awesomeness goes out to Codywolf (who is always the first to read and review, it seems! ^^), Admiral Daala, laloga (your couch misses me, doesn't it?), LongLiveTheClones and reulte (I was so excited to get a review from you!). You guys are the reason I write - never forget that! *hugs to all*
And by the way...I less than 4,600 words left in NaNoWriMo! Maybe I bent the rules a little bit, by not starting something completely new - but it's been a delight to watch "Rebellion" grow these last four weeks. I never expected to get this far, but it's the best feeling in the world to look back and see how far we've all come (characters, readers, writer, and all)!
And because I never plan these things in advance...any requests for who joins Cody, Sheresh, and Rowin in the kitchen? (Of the characters who have already been introduced - baring Korbin, alas. He has to stay in Cree'dee for now.) I'd love to hear your requests!
Love it? Like it? Hate it? Lemme know...!