"Whoa, there," Corso said as Miriah attempted to get up from the sofa. "You're not going anywhere just yet." He eased her back down on the sofa and she closed her eyes. Corso turned to Felix and Mags. "I'm cooking here, so Mags, you call Maura and Aric. I think we need to work on this, but Mir needs to be able to rest, too." Mags nodded, going into the other room to the holo.
Felix settled in the nearby chair. "Who is this Joslin?" he asked. Corso looked at Miriah, saw she was relaxed, and answered.
"We met her when the Stardancer exploded. She helped us then, and I have no idea why she might be here now. Or why she would be with Terik-ko." He moved to sit on the floor next to his wife, just wanting to be near her. She felt him beside her and reached for him. He took her hand in his, concern on his face. "Mir, are you sure you're okay?" he asked her again.
"Mmmhmm," she replied, content with him close. They had never revealed where they had landed in the escape pods from the ship, nor who they'd met. The colony on Aria was never discussed, but Corso knew it was inevitable now. Why had Miriah thought Joslin was on Dantooine?
Mags rejoined them. "Aric and Maura are on the way over now. I'm assuming we're holding off on discussing this woman until they're here?" She saw Corso nod, saw that he was holding onto Miriah's hand, and sent a calming force wave to them both. Miriah was bruised and had a headache, but seemed to be fine otherwise. Mags checked her out again and saw no change. "Mir, anything I can get for you?"
"I'm fine, you guys. Seriously. Just a little tiny headache, that's all that's left." Corso kissed the hand he held, and Miriah smiled. After a few seconds, she sat straight up, and held her head in both hands. "She said I was the wrong sister. That means she wanted to hurt you or Maura," she said to Mags, her eyes open now and filled with worry. "That can't happen!"
"Wait, did she say she wanted to hurt one of us? Or just that she had the wrong one?" Felix asked. "Because she doesn't know anyone but you, Miriah."
"Yes, she does know us, knows all of us," Miriah responded. "Joslin Avan'je, from Tython. You remember, don't you, Mags?" Miriah succumbed to Corso's gentle pressure to lie back, but she kept her eyes on her oldest sister. "She left the Order, and it was a big scandal back in the day." She saw when Mags turned to the door.
"Aric and Maura are here, let's wait for them for a minute," she said, going to greet them. The children ran in and with quick kisses and hugs, left again for the playroom. Aric noted that Miriah was essentially unhurt but sore, and caught Corso's eye. He nodded at his friend and brother in law, and Aric knew his Spitfire was okay. They sat after Maura gave Miriah a hug, and waited for Miriah to speak.
When she'd told them what had happened, she explained how they knew Joslin. "Maura, if you remember we never really discussed Aria. The colonists there helped us, and Joslin was a part of that colony. They said they'd remained hidden because the Sith had come to their world several times in an effort to recruit force sensitives to the dark side. We promised that we'd not say a word, and I gave her the means to contact us before we left. I think that's how Terik-ko knew how to find us." She finished and closed her eyes against the headache, causing Corso to frown.
"Need more meds, cyar'ika?" he asked her, concern lacing his voice. "Mags said you could have more and not hurt the baby."
"I'll be fine, sugar," she murmured. She reached out and smoothed his hair away from his face. She knew he was worried, and she tried to smile at him without wincing.
"Well, now we have to figure out who the 'right' sister is," Maura said, seeing that her sister was a bit preoccupied with her husband. "Who does she know?"
"She knows all of us, don't you remember her from school? She was the one who always demanded the attention in the room," Mags answered, sitting on the arm of Felix's chair. "She left the order, along with a number of others, over the relationship aspect. I'd heard they'd started a colony, but no one ever knew where." She sighed. "It has to be me she's looking for. Terik-ko sought me out, attempted to get me to take up his cause and go to Voss."
"But why? She could have holoed Mir at any time, but she didn't. You haven't even seen her in a decade, Mags. What issue could she possibly have with you?" Maura looked at Aric, hoping he had some insight from their meeting on Aria. Aric was silent thus far, but Maura knew he was mulling the recent events. Finally the tall Cathar spoke.
"She mentioned that they'd had hope of repealing the Code on marriage when they'd heard of Magdalane's marriage, her being the Barsen'thor," he mused. "She said they'd been disappointed when that didn't happen. But why would it matter? They seemed happy enough on Aria, and I can see no reason for that to have changed." He walked over to where Maura sat, and joined her. "I'm sending Tanno on a recon mission to Voss, see what he can find out. Meanwhile, no one goes anywhere alone, until we find her and the Voss." He looked at the group and saw them all nod in agreement. "Now, Corso, I believe you said you were cooking. Let me help." The two men rose and after Corso had kissed Miriah's forehead, they adjourned to the kitchen. Felix was only a few moments behind them.
"What's the plan here, guys? How are we going to handle this? I'm more afraid for the children than anything else. I mean, she caused the accident Mir just had, and that could have turned out far worse," he said, glancing around the door frame at the sisters, gathered now around Miriah. "I'm worried now."
"I think we all stay here," Corso said. "We have the room, and there's less of a chance of an ambush if we're all in the same area. You know Miriah would love it, and I really need the sister's help in keeping her calm."
"I hate to impose on you guys again," Aric said. "It seems like we do that a lot."
Corso gave Aric a teasing look. "You just don't want to be on our end of the house," he said, getting a laugh from the other two men. "It's fine, and a better plan than anything else. Your house is too hard to defend, Aric, and I don't want Miriah going up and down the stairs. Felix is still remodeling, right?" He saw Felix nod, and continued. "This is the best spot. We're on a slight rise, and have a clear view of all the surrounding land. We have Cy and Akaavi who can help keep an eye out. It's settled. We can go to the other houses and gather clothes and such after dinner." With that, he turned to the grill and started to get the food ready for dinner.
"So, what do you think they've decided in there?" Maura asked.
"All I know is that Felix feels relieved," Mags said.
"You guys are all staying here," Miriah said. When the other two started to protest, Miriah just grinned. "It makes sense. Besides, now you can both pamper me." She giggled as she was pelted with pillows.
The giggling made the men look curiously at their wives in the next room. Corso saw Miriah smiling and it loosened the tension he'd been carrying in his chest at the thought of her hurt again. He drew a deep breath, the first one since he'd seen her bruised face and the totaled speeder, and things felt right to him again. Aric snickered at the silliness in the other room, and Felix just smiled. They went back to the grill, and the mood lifted on the ranch.
Once the children were all fed, Aric and Felix took a speeder to their houses to retrieve items they'd want for the next week or so, toys for the kids and clothes. Mags had asked for her soft throw, Maura for her pillow. When they'd gotten all the items on their list, they returned to the farm house where they found dinner set out for the adults. Everyone enjoyed the food and the company, and soon Miriah was yawning. Corso saw, as he saw everything about her, and helped her stand, steadying her. "Sorry to leave good company," she said, "but Logan is tired." They laughed and Mags stood to hug her sister.
"I'm so sorry, Mir, that someone's quest for me injured you," Mags told her. They squeezed each other, the soul link between them letting them communicate their love for each other without words. Miriah leaned down and hugged Maura as she left the room.
Corso followed her, wanting to make sure she wasn't dizzy from the accident. When she turned to kiss him, he knew she was feeling normal. "Go, darlin', take a hot bath and relax. I'm going to help C2 with the dishes and secure the house, and I'll be back soon." She just nodded, and went into their refresher. Corso went out into the hallway and almost crashed into Felix. He knew in an instant that Felix was worried.
"It's okay, Felix. I'm going to make sure the house is secure, and we have perimeter alarms tied into the house system. Believe me, I do everything possible to make sure Mir and the kids are safe." He patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Thank you, Corso, for being so prepared," Felix said on a sigh of relief. "I just hope we don't put you guys out any. I know you just had your anniversary."
"You know we love having everyone together," Corso replied. "We just need to make sure we keep our eyes open. Cy is going to be monitoring the spaceport and orbital station, so we're pretty covered." Felix nodded his head and Corso followed him back to the center of the house. C2 had things finished in the kitchen and Corso went to his office to make sure the alarm system was functioning as it should. When he was satisfied that everything was being done to make sure they were all safe, he went to the kitchen to get some bottled water and a few snacks in case Miriah needed something. He returned to their room to find her already in bed, sound asleep. He got ready for bed and slid in beside her, hoping he wouldn't wake her. They'd not slept much last night, he thought, and couldn't hold back the grin. He was still thinking about that when he heard Devin open the door and pad toward the bed.
"Hey, little man," Corso said softly, and Devin threw himself at his dad. Corso could feel the tears on his son's face as he held him on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Dev?"
"Mama hurted," he said. "Mean lady hurted her. I was scared," he said, sniffling. "Love Mama, don't like her sad or hurt." He rubbed his little face on Corso's shoulder, tired but worried about his mother.
"Dev, Mama is fine. She was hurted… I mean, hurt a little, but Aunt Mags fixed it. See, she's asleep, she's fine." He held his son and rubbed his back until he felt the child fall asleep again, and stood to take him to his bed. When he returned, he quietly slid into bed again, but he could feel from her posture that Miriah was awake. She was silent for a minute, then spoke softly.
"For that, if nothing else, she will pay. She endangered Devin on my watch, and that is unacceptable." He heard the steel underneath the softly spoken words, and had no doubt that Miriah would make sure they were true. He gathered her to him, kissing her hair and rubbing her back, much like he'd done with Devin, and felt her relax against him.
Felix had just put Ian back to bed after his midnight feeding and rejoined Mags in the spacious guest room. He saw that his wife was awake and smiling at him, and he kissed her as she snuggled to his side. "I know, Ian's force aura woke you, but you should have gone back to sleep, love. I know Michi wore you out today," he told her.
"I just can't figure Joslin out. Mir said she was nice to them, but the residual force presence I felt at the crash site was definitely dark side. And Terik-ko is force blind, so it had to be her. Just doesn't make sense," she said.
"Well Corso did say that Sith had tried to recruit them before, maybe they finally succeeded in turning her. If she didn't block emotion, she'd be vulnerable, right?"
Mags laughed. "You sound like every Jedi teacher I had in my training. That's not entirely how it works. For example, if that were true, when I admitted my feelings for you and my force power grew from that, I would have crossed to the dark side. Instead, I was able to channel the emotion to make my connection to the light side of the force stronger. It's all in how you use the emotion, hon. Not the emotion itself." They lay there pondering her words, and Felix felt her breathing even out in sleep.
Joslin felt Magdalane's power everywhere and it made her nervous. Since she'd lost everything and turned to the negative emotions to fuel her own power, she'd become extremely sensitive to light side users. The aura that surrounded Magdalane was pure, and on a scale Joslin had never encountered before. She thought about those she'd left behind, and instead of feeling sad, she felt angry. Anger was her primary emotion these days, she thought. She closed her eyes, but instead of sleep, another pair of eyes kept coming to mind. The deep brown eyes of a scared little boy, whose force aura was enough to keep Joslin from coming closer to his mother.