I hate writing chapters like this. :P Their details that you're going to need later. If it gets slow sorry. Special thanks to DeathGoddesses and Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing!
The medic determined it wasn't anything TOO serious. She had a slight concussion and a bunch of cuts but she should be fine. Grate noticed that Don looked relieved about that. He himself felt relieved; he also felt confused. Why did she push those troops out of the way rather than get out of the way herself? The other Generals would NEVER have done that. He would have to ask her when she woke up.
Don was telling the medic to contact him when she woke up when… she woke up. She sat straight up and inhaled fast. She scared him so bad he almost wet his pants. She remained in the position and relaxed. Don looked over at Grate who looked as scared as he had a few seconds ago.
"General, are you alright?" Don asked.
"Yeah, just a dream. Did the cavern blow?"
"Yup, it was a spectacular explosion. I could see it from here but I'm sure these two didn't see it."
Del raised an eyebrow, "and why was that?"
"They were too busy carrying you back."
"I see; have you looked up your name yet, Don?"
"No Sir, I haven't had the chance."
"Well, hurry up and find out." As Don walked off she turned to Grate, "Grate, why are you named Grate?"
"I have a fear of grates; I read the statistics of how many people fall through and… I don't walk on them."
"I don't either; not because of the statistics though. I don't walk on them because I am often sneaking and they make quite a bit of noise when you walk on them."
"Grate, hey, Grate! Come on over, we need someone to even out the teams." Shot yelled. Grate shot a look at the general, asking if he could. She nodded and he trotted over to where they were playing. For the rest of the day they hung out and played and listened for her to yell about her boots but she didn't. She informed them that night that they would be going back down the mountain the next day. The hike back down was rather fast and they were down by evening. The scouts that had been on the mountain with them went back to their homes and the troops expected to leave the next day. They were surprised when the general approached them the next morning.
"Men, I know you were expecting to leave for the ship today. I'm pleased to tell you… we don't." All the men looked at each other with questioning looks.
"The people of this planet wish to have us stay in thanks for what we did."
"But we only did our jobs, General. It wasn't important."
"But it was, Pin. Not far from the pass is the capitol city of this planet, Nabil. If we hadn't come, the droids would have used the pass to attack the city and then they would be imprisoned. I checked with the council, we may stay for three days. You may do as you wish, even if you want to pull pranks on me."
"You know about that, General?"
"Who else would pull pranks on me, Don? It's not like Trixieanna or Barriss came along."
"I looked up my name General; Don means sir. I still don't get it."
"Because you refuse to call me Ma'am, Del, or Del-Tara and insist on calling me sir; I will return the favor. Unless you really want to be known as trouble for the rest of your life."
"No SIR, I prefer Don to Acher."
"Del, why didn't you say anything about the honey in your boots?"
"You put HONEY in my boots? When did you do that?"
"The day before we attacked; you don't know about it?"
"No, I had no clue."
"Why, you only have one pair."
Del started laughing, in fact, she laughed so hard she started crying and had to lean against a tree.
"General, are you okay?" Don asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The reason I didn't know about the honey is I was trained by a Togruta." She smiled at the men's confused looks.
"Togruta only wear shoes when they have too."
"I'm still lost General."
"I'm not wearing shoes; I haven't been since we arrived. I only wear them on ships, in the temple, or at the senate. I don't wear them when I'm on a planet."
The men nodded wisely, "That's why you didn't know that we put that in your boots." The men dispersed to do whatever they decided they were doing. Grate had no idea of what he was going to do. Maybe he'd hang out with Don or some of the others.
"You look like you're trying to decide."
"I have no idea of what's on this planet."
"Fun, games, food… why don't you go into the city and find out?" asked Del.
"Maybe I will; are you going that way?"
"I was thinking about it," she said. Grate stood there not making a move.
"Do you want me to walk you to the city?" she asked.
"Hey, Grate; a couple of us are going to the city. Do you want to come?"
"Sure Marksman, I'll come."
"You can come too General."
"Thanks for the offer; I suppose I can walk into town with you… just as long as you don't trip me." All the men laughed.
"Don't worry General, those days are over."
"Unless you get a padawan and then… I'll let you use your imagination."
She laughed, "Alright then, let's go." The walk into town was surprisingly short; the men had thought the town was further away. They were amazed at how quiet the town was; it was after all a capitol!
"It's so quiet; I expected it to be noisy."
"This isn't Coruscant, Dik. You're used to Coruscant, although I must admit it's quieter than I expected."
Just then a bunch of people jumped out and yelled, "THANK YOU!" The men all jumped three feet as confetti was shot into the air and people were yelling and grinning.
"STARS AND GALAXYS! What is going on here?"
"They are very happy that you liberated them so they wanted to do something in return. Plus they heard that you were here. You can't fool them all the time; once they heard your name they were WILD with excitement." said Myrtle.
"But all the men aren't here."
"Ah, but they are; we sent people to your site to bring them here. Sesha is DYING to see you!"
"I bet she is; I'm dying to see her too!"
"Well, don't dilly-dally then!" The men turned to see their general follow someone down a street and turn. They all looked at each other, shrugged and went back to talking to people.
Del followed her down several streets and ended up at the other end of the crowd. Myrtle wondered off and Del looked for Sesha; she spotted her not far looking anxiously into the crowd. Del smirked, crouched lightly, and began sneaking toward Sesha. As she got closer she heard a little of the conversation.
"Who knows where she could be? She could be hanging out with some of troops."
"Your highness I really must protest you being out here. Someone could try to kill you!" the captain of the guard said.
"Oh, let them try; I am in FAR more danger on Coruscant than I am when I'm here!" Del sneaked closer and closer and POUNCED!
"SESHA," she yelled.
"AHH," Sesha's eyes got as big as saucers. When she got over her shock she looked mad, "What did you do that for? You scared me half-to-death! My guards could have shot you! Why must you persist in doing dangerous things?"
"Because it's fun! You should try it some time."
"Oh, never mind why you did it. I'm just glad you're here and safe." Sesha said hugging Del. "Come on, mom and dad want to see you!"
"Oh joy, I can't wait to see the former King and Queen."
"Don't be such a sour lemon! They love you and you know it." Del smiled and they walked back chatting about what they had been doing. Del's men didn't see her until their last day there. They were invited to a parade; the former King and Queen and their children and the Queen would be there. They wondered where Del was; she had said she would be there but they didn't see her. They parade soon began and they forgot to look for Del. It was the most amazing thing they had ever seen. There was a variation of colors and beautiful animals. People dressed in colorful outfits dancing here and there. Then came the former King and Queen and their family; they wore rich colored robes, but they didn't smile like everyone else had. Only their one daughter was smiling. The other looked just like Del; they knew it wasn't her but if you didn't look closely you would have thought it was her. Then came a dragon; that surprised them. Why did they have a dragon in the parade? It wasn't carrying anyone or pulling anything. Then came the Queen; she was dressed in beautiful blue robes. Her hair was down and curly with a flower wreath on top. Her green eyes sparkled… wait a minute her GREEN eyes? Grate looked closer: she had light brown hair that was curly, green eyes that sparkled, her ears were pierced and she had dangles in, she had fair skin; oh man, he thought, it looks just like Del. If she has the same walk it's her; she can't have the same walk. He watched her closely; this was Del. He elbowed Don and told him, Don elbowed Marksman and so on and so forth. Their eyes were nearly popping out of their heads; why was Del dressed up as the queen? It didn't make sense; they figured they would ask her later. The parade was over all too soon and everyone headed back to their homes. The men waited for Del; they saw her and the former King and Queen walking towards them.
"Why didn't you smile? You looked like stone statues that were moving!"
"I didn't realize I wasn't smiling; if I had I would have smiled!" her mother said.
"I suppose that's alright."
"So where are those men that were assigned to you?"
"Right there; these are my men, men these are my parents."
Don's eyebrows shot up three feet, "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said bowing.
"The pleasure's all ours; it's nice to see the troops that keep my daughter safe," her father said. Del covered her mouth with her hand trying to hide her smile. A couple of the men were trying hard not to smile. One of the men started to laugh so he hid it by coughing.
"Oh dear, you must do something for that cough! It wouldn't be good for my daughter's troops to get sick," her mother said.
"It was nice to meet all of you; I'm afraid we must go now," they said good-bye and left. Del sighed and relaxed; she didn't relax long because the Queens daughter, Del's sister, came up.
"Don't worry, I'm off duty. I want to see where you stayed."
"Alright Sesha, I'll take you with me if… you take Shar-Shar back with you."
"It's a deal; I'll take our cousin with me. Why do I get the feeling that Madrid would be horrified I don't have an escort?"
"Because she would be; you do have an escort by the way."
"And that would be?"
"My men; they've escorted me into plenty of battles and back out again."
Sesha couldn't help but laugh, "It was nice to see D.S. again. I miss her when she's not around."
"Del, your middle initial is s?" Don asked.
"No, she wasn't talking about me. She was talking about the dragon in the parade. My middle initial is d."
"Why was there a dragon in the parade?" Tiger asked.
"Dragons here aren't tame; they are wild creatures that would have wrecked the parade. Having a tame dragon there is significant."
"Why is it significant?"
"There is a rule here; anyone who is in the royal family that wishes to be a queen or king must train a dragon."
"Oh, so that was the other King and Queen's dragon."
"Actually no; they were the exception to the rule. No one in the royal family could tame a dragon so since Dad was the firstborn he was king. The dragon is mine; since I trained one, I, unfortunately, get to be queen."
"So you're a queen and a Jedi? How's that possible?"
"Del and I are identical twins; I can sit in for her when she's not there."
"That would explain the resemblance between you two."
"Yes, it would. I trained D.S, Dark Side, as a child here. I finished her training as a youngling."
"Your dragons name is Dark Side? Isn't that odd for a Jedi to name something?" Zipline asked.
Del smiled, "Yes, it is. She looks like night and night is darkness and dark side seemed to fit her."
"Your dragon's a girl?"
"Yes, any other questions?"
"I have one; who all knows about this?" Abre asked.
"Shaak Ti, Trixieanna Montrail, Barriss Offee, Darra Thel-Tanis, Siri Tachi, Roseanna Trayal, Bant Eerin, Aayla Secura, Ferus Olin, I think that's all."
"Didn't Ferus Olin leave the Jedi order because he thought it was his fault that Darra was shot in the shoulder?"
"Yeah, and isn't Master Tachi dead?"
"You asked who knew, yes, and yes."