Author's Note: I don't think it will be hard to see my love of Tormund and Brienne of Tarth in this chapter, which might be the very best part of bad GoT writing in the final seasons. Vague mention of parental abuse. Some mentions of violence.

Ossus Part 3

Avin awoke to find herself just a few inches above the ground, moving in a rocking motion. A headache had begun as soon as she opened her eyes in what felt like a wicked hangover. There was a solid stench as soon as she moved her head, the musk of men and sweat and blood. She turned to her side and realised she was being carried in some kind of wooden cage through a forest, with posts thicker than her leg as bars. Hux was passed out on the floor beside her, his pale hand dangling almost to the ground below. After scrambling to check his pulse and confirming he was still alive she looked out at the tall men carrying them. Behind her there was another cage with a black lump and the fierce pale face of Phasma glaring at their captors. The black lump was Ren, and he did not look well. Someone had kicked Ren in the head, his stitches were open and bleeding again. That man cannot catch a break, Avin thought, before realising how badly they were in trouble without him to help. One of the men was playing with his red lightsaber in the distance at the front of the train, she could see the red angry light flashing as the idiot turned the blade off and on again repeatedly. The men carrying the cages were wild looking, tall and hairy. They ignored Avin's shouts for attention completely and continued carrying them to a tall wooden gate, stained black. A guard pulled the heavy gate open for them to enter a huge enclosure with several huts and buildings in dark wood. Complicated and crude designs of fierce animals were painted all over the wooden structures, and the men slowly moved through these past similarly clad women, children, and animals. They were taken to the very centre of the large enclosure and came to a large open-air space in which men were sitting on piles of rugs and furs around a massive fire on which an animal was roasting. There was a huge throne-like chair in the centre of this, colourfully painted in the same swirling and looping patterns Avin had seen elsewhere. The tallest man Avin had ever seen walked into view.

"Ah, I see our trap has caught some fresh prey. Welcome prisoners! I am Chief Vadir." boomed a deep voice, oddly cheerful. "Release the women."

Chief Vadir was dressed like the others in dirty animal furs, with leather boots and decorative bone. He had a massive untamed dark red beard and shaggy red hair woven through with braids. Avin thought he looked like he hadn't washed in a year. She had never seen a larger man before, standing inches above Phasma, Ren and Hux who were all extremely tall compared to Avin already. His thighs looked wider than her hips and his stomach was a tree trunk of muscle. He threw himself back in his throne which rocked and creaked heavily with his weight. A pale Vittorian served him a drink and scampered back behind the group. Vadir was smiling at them and drank his drink one large gulp. The cages were roughly lowered and Avin and Phasma were pulled from them and connected to long chains held by the guards. Hux had awoken from the shouting and was crouched at the back of their cage.

Now that they had been freed as the women in the group, Phasma finally let loose, kicking one Nidavellir in the kneecap with an explosion force which made a horrible crunch. The man howled in pain and fell down. She pulled her chains from the other two men, taking them with her as they struggled against her superior strength. Grabbing one by the scruff of the neck she headbutted him in the face. Another man covered in fur ran to meet her and she threw him like a rag doll out of her path. Avin shouted out to her as she saw reinforcements approach, but it was too late. Wickedly curved spears pointed at her from all sides, and she finally gave in, coming out of her offensive crouch. The chieftain's eyebrows climbed and continued to climb as Phasma stood straighter to her full height. His mouth dropped open as he looked her up and down. He shifted in his throne and leaned forward to take her in. Phasma stood awkwardly in return, irritated at the un-divided attention.

"Who are you?" he asked, voice almost reverential.

"Captain Phasma of the First Order." Phasma said smartly.

"Cap-Captain? A beautiful woman like you is- "

The huge chieftain looked like he had struck gold and continued to look her up and down. The rest of crowd had gone silent, looking from their leader to the strikingly tall silhouette of Phasma surrounded by unconscious men. Phasma was scowling. He waved for another drink and kept his eye on Phasma while drinking this time, clearly thinking. Once done he smacked his lips and threw the cup on the ground.

"We are fair. Any who come before us have a chance to show themselves in battle. If you win, then you join us."

"If you lose." He paused to grab his crotch suggestively and a loud guffaw rang through the men. "Then you will be my wife and carry my sons." He gestured lazily towards Avin. "The men can have the big-breasted one too." A loud cheer rang out and several pairs of eyes leered at her. Hux hung back, his eyes like green glass as he listened.

"Then you will lose." Phasma viciously hissed at the Chief, which seemed to just get him even more riled up. He threw back his head and let out a roaring laugh.

"I never lose woman." He confided in her as if they were the only ones in the arena. He leaned forward in his throne, eyes hungry. "We'll have huge sons. They'll conquer the world."

"Now which one of your menfolk will be fighting me?" the Chief asked the group, standing up and gesturing towards the cages where Ren and Hux still stood. "The dead one or the weak pathetic one?"

His men laughed even harder. Hux gripped the bars of the cage, silent and angry.

"I will challenge you." Phasma said confidently. Now they were away from Avin and Hux's mind games with the Vittorians, Phasma was on far clearer grounds. Phasma knew how to fight and how to destroy. Normally, Avin would feel sorry for the man who was sent out to fight her, but this chief looked like a formidable opponent.

"I accept. It can be a practice run for our wedding night." The chief jeered and the men laughed as one again but slower this time, clearly taken aback by Phasma volunteering herself.

"We will take some time to get the arena ready. You are our honoured guest until the match." He said to Phasma, his eyes again lingering on her hips and thighs. "The others will wait until the arena is ready. Then they can watch as I defeat you." He said with a winsome smile in Phasma's direction.

Avin was pushed back into the cage with Hux and pulled into a darkened room full of straw flooring. It didn't smell half as bad as she thought it would. Ren was still incapacitated, facedown in the wooden cage, his hair plastered across his face. Their cages were placed so close together that they could reach out and touch him.

"He's out cold. Again." Hux said and when he had made sure he sent a sharp kick into Ren's side.

"Armitage, don't." Avin cautioned, pulling at his jacket sleeve.

"You care about that spoiled princeling? He should be left to rot, him and his rebel scum parents." Hux said angrily, aiming his foot for another kick.

"Princeling? What on earth are you talking about Hux?"

"Oh, you didn't know? The Prince of Darkness is actually a prince. Alderaan royalty."

"Alder- Armitage, I saw him eating bugs out of a wall yesterday. I think you have your facts wrong." Avin deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at him. This cowardly way of acting, kicking a man when he was literally down, was extremely unattractive. Hux seemed to vaguely sense her source of annoyance and regained his calm, straightening his jacket and stepping away from Ren.

"I'm surprised you didn't catch on to this already, seeing as you two are so close. Like calls to like after all."

"What is your problem?" Avin said to him.

"What do you mean, 'what is my problem'?" he responded, glaring down at her, the angles of his face sharp. Avin realised that perhaps no one had ever actually asked Hux what his problem was before.

"Ever since we set foot on this planet. You have been making snide comments about my upbringing. My lack of training. Our families were in the exact same circles Arm, I have no idea where this is coming from."

Hux's face was downturned, listening to this with the strange trepidation she had once seen on his face during an audience with the Supreme Leader.

"Except they weren't." he said forcefully. "You went back to your beautiful life on Naboo, and I went back to him." She knew immediately who 'he' was.

"I know he wasn't the best-" she began.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." He shouted viciously at her, and she took a step back from him.

Hux went on, his voice getting lower and more hateful with every word: "He hated me for being born to some low kitchen woman. He hated me for being weak. He hated me for my success. He ridiculed me for picking someone like you for years. Empire royalty married to the likes of me. He said dogs should stick with dogs. That was his name for me. Mutt."

She opened her mouth to say something but had nothing to say.

"And you. You and your beautiful clothes. Your easy manners. Your name. Your connections. You charm everyone you meet. Climbing up the tree into my room. Calling me every night. You chose me. You were the only one that ever did."

"Arm, I know-" he interrupted her.

"How could you possibly know how that feels? I was worth less than nothing to Commandant Brendol Hux." He said and the self-loathing rolled off him in waves.

"Well. You aren't worth nothing to me." She said softly. This odd fascination she had with the strange sullen red-haired boy during her holidays, the one that rarely smiled. Had she seen this in him, this horrible sadness? She had met so many other attractive men and women through her life, but it always seemed to come back to him. With a horrible pang she realised she needed him. He made her better. Sharper, ambitious. More herself. The ruthless General of the First Order famed for his viciousness was also the same person who had read to her when ill, who listened to her drone on and on about the minutiae of her day, who truly saw her. She felt all the anger she held towards him drain away from the pain underneath.

"Why – why did you call off our… On Daxim IV. We agreed and I thought-"

"Snoke saw you. In my mind. I couldn't keep him out. Ren unsanctioned our communications, said I was distracted. I was… scared they would hurt you. I cannot show any weakness."

She gingerly stepped towards him and slowly put her hands on the side of her face, drawing him down to look at her. Leaning forward on tiptoes amongst the straw she gently kissed the corner of his mouth, like he had all those years ago. He stood staring down at her with impassive eyes. She leaned forward again and kissed his bottom lip, pulling it slightly between her own. A sharp intake of breath was the only clue she had that this was welcome, and she stepped into him, pressing her breasts against his chest. She leaned up again and slowly moved her soft lips against his own, feeling her heartbeat madly. The feeling from her graduation, that soft sweet swelling in her chest, was back again. Her legs wobbled underneath her as she put in all her feelings into her mouth on his, his strong arm pulling her out of the mud pit, his recent mission to get her into his quarters, squeezing her hand tight under the table in Naboo. She felt strong hands grip her upper arms and then Hux was kissing her back fiercely. They opened their mouths as one and his tongue lashed against her own in a way that made her whimper. After several moments they broke apart to breathe, eyes searching each other's intently.

He drove back in for a second kiss, and she let him. Their tongues curled together, and she enjoyed the simple pleasure of it for a few moments. Kissing him felt like coming home. She threw her arms around his neck again and leaned her whole body up to continue the kiss, feeling hands grip around her waist. She hummed in contentment. He had never had facial hair before, she realised as she felt it scratch against her mouth and chin. She moved a hand to tentatively cup his face to feel the coarse hair and he quickly kissed the palm of her hand before going back to her mouth. She had never felt a man's stubble before. It was a little uncomfortable but oddly pleasing as his mouth worked on her own, teasing her lips and biting her tongue gently.

She opened her eyes to look at his face, his eyes scrunched shut in concentration, pale eyebrows and eyelashes taking up most of her vision. She could kiss him for hours, she suddenly realised as she leaned in from another angle to kiss him again. She wanted to kiss him for hours and had just given herself permission to do so when a scraping sound came from behind her.

"Sir." Phasma warned, stepping into the room with two armed guards. They broke apart quickly.

"Yes, Phasma." He said, straightening his jacket. They were both breathing heavily. Avin wasn't sure she could walk.

"The match will start shortly. I will be victorious."

"Very good Captain."

They gave Ren one final check and left the cages, escorted by the guards to make their way back to the arena.

It was over surprisingly quick. The arena, a dirt floor space close to where they had met the Chief, had been cleared and the village was watching from the side-lines. Vorik's men sat separately, being tended to by sad-looking Vittorians in rags. Phasma entered the ring confidently, to much cheering and hooting from the crowd. She circled Vorik once in a half-crouch, clearly looking for some kind of weakness to exploit. The Chief had no such strategy and simply barrelled towards her. She twisted out of his grip and punched him in the stomach, which only led to him laughing at her. He tried again and managed to catch her, her vicious punches and kicks making no impact at all. With a speed that surprised Avin, the Chief pulled Phasma's arms behind her and pushed her into the ground with his foot.

"Yield, woman." He growled at her and Phasma's face morphed with rage before loosening. She had yielded. Vorik pulled Phasma off the ground and clasped her to him. They were screwed. Men had already started to creep towards Avin, intent on a prize when a dark shadow appeared over the arena, like an impossibly fast raincloud had blown in. Above them, suddenly as if from nowhere, was a shuttle craft from the Finalizer. She could hear screams and shouts all around her now as the Nidavellir ran in every direction away from the daunting spacecraft. Avin shouted in relief as she saw Stormtroopers descend, shooting their way through the Nidavellir men to Hux's tracker beacon. The rescue took all of ten minutes, the wild men falling to the Order's superior weaponry. Ren was whisked away by the medical team immediately. She knew that their medical tech would have him back to order in a matter of hours.

Officers and Stormtroopers surrounded the other three as they boarded the shuttle. Hux, filthy and tired, had immediately gone back into General mode and was giving a series of orders to different team members so fast it was making Avin's head spin.

"Are you alright Lady Palpatine?" the pale anxious faces of Lieutenant Mitaka and Officer Sorenson appeared together, checking her for medical attention. She brushed them aside.

"Where is the nearest fresher?" she demanded, pulling straw out of her hair.

Once back on the Finalizer she had cleaned herself thoroughly and slept, waking up in the late afternoon. Now Avin sat in her sterile personal quarters thinking fiercely. This trip to Ossus had felt like a turning point for the whole group, one she did not want to slip away.

She wrote an internal communique to all three:

I'm inviting you all to come get drunk with me tonight.

Only Phasma responded, as she cynically expected, and showed up back in full Chrome uniform to her door that evening.

"I will be back on duty tomorrow." She said curtly, pulling her mask off once Avin had closed the door. Her short hair was back in its coiffed lines. Phasma glanced around the room and did a double take of Avin's sketch of her in profile but otherwise said nothing. Avin filled her glass with their now favourite spirit to drink together, a colourless drink made from dessert plants of Tatooine. They drank liberally before speaking next.

"So that man… you mentioned in the Library. How did you meet him?" Avin asked, her body curled into the sofa while Phasma sat opposite in her reading chair.

"He bested me in battle." She said shortly as way of explanation, Avin gestured for more information. "I would only sleep with someone who bested me in battle."

"Ah." Avin said, not sure what else to say. She looked back over at Phasma to see a small smile of reminiscence on her face.

"The General… and you…It is a good match" Phasma started and pursed her lips, "If you do not kill each other."

Avin didn't know what to say to this so used it as an excuse to go and fill their glasses again. Phasma drank deeply and leaned back in her chair.

"Perhaps, when war is over, and we are victorious… I will visit that planet again." She said, her blonde eyebrows raising slightly at Avin. Avin grinned back.