Chapter 11
Arl was sitting in her living room with Dooku on the couch and Quinlan on the ground beside her as they attempted to puzzle out what had happened on Telos IV. They had been back for two days, Arlie was technically still supposed to be with the Healers, actually, they all were, but this was far more important and the healers kept insisting they could talk about it later. Garen was less surprised than he should have been when he walked out of his room and saw the three sitting there.
"Hang on, what's wrong with this picture?" Arlie asks, Garen shrugs.
"You three are supposed to be in the healer's wing?" He suggests sarcastically as he goes to make caff.
"No, that is my room, why are you always in my room?" Arl complains, she was still on a lot of pain medication, while she fought the sluggish brain well, it still often got the better of her. She also kept napping a lot which was driving her nuts, she'd never been a napper. Haha, been a napper, sounds like she's stealing a bunch of shit, (Okay yeah see this is what I meant by the drugs still sometimes getting the better of me.)
"Why are you three always in the same room? Ever since you got back you haven't been more than ten feet away from each other, and that is only because that is how far apart the beds are in the room you are all supposed to be in." Garen tells them, Quinlan waves a hand dismissively at him. Tahl walks in through the open door followed by Bant and Xanatos.
"Good you are up, I need help." Tahl says laying out her work on the Ancient text on the coffee table.
"You were working with them?" Garen asks Xanatos looking confused, Xan huffs at him.
"No, I've been staying with them while my Master was in the healer's wing, I'm not allowed to be alone remember?" Xanatos says testily, Garen winces.
"Sorry." He says, Xan sighs.
"No, I am, I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"Why with them? Why not Little Obi and Qui?" Arl asks dozily blinking before her eyes refocus on the room.
"Yeah you should not be here." Bant says, Arl mimics Quinlan's earlier hand dismissal wincing slightly at the pull on her burns.
"If we are all going to be here talking then someone make tea for when we wake Winni and Mic who I am assuming is in there as well since you are here for some reason in my room." Arl says pointedly to Garen who rolls his eyes.
"Too late." Mace says from his bedroom door looking very unhappy, thankfully Garen had thought ahead and made tea when he made his caff, he put it in Mace's hands directly and almost immediately Mace smiles more. "Good Padawan." He mutters moving to the armchair and sinking into it with his tea.
"Pre-Tea Mace is never gonna not be adorable and terrifying." Arl says gaining a few nods, then she looks around confused.
"Where is my other Master?" Arl asks Mace.
"Okay first of all, you are Knighted, and B, he's still asleep." Tahl looks at him like he's a cute puppy who just did something ridiculous.
"First and B, huh?"
"Shut up." He grumbles good naturedly, Tahl laughs.
"You have successfully butchered a language before we've even done it correctly." Dooku says looking at her work, Tahl sighs.
"Yes, I realise that, I tried to get Qui-Gon's help like you suggested but he was really busy while you were gone." Tahl says.
"Yes, he's been with Obi-Wan ever since Little Obi had a particularly nasty panic attack after greeting the new Senator of Naboo." Mace explains forgetting that Quin and Dooku are not as up to date on things as the other occupants of the room.
"Why would that give him a panic attack?" Quin asks while Dooku just looks concerned for his grand-padawan.
"He's a Sith." Arl tells them, they both look shocked. "Well, being possessed by one anyway."
"Sheev Palpatine?" Dooku asks, Arl nods and Quin suddenly snaps his fingers.
"Yes, I remember being told about that before Part 2." Quin says to the confusion of everyone but Dooku and Arlie.
"When did this greeting happen?" Dooku asks.
"Four days ago."
"During Return of the Jedi, was he on Coruscant through Incognito?" Quinlan asks.
"You're a daft idiot sometimes Quin." Arl says rolling her eyes.
"I've no idea what any of that meant Vos but he hasn't left Coruscant since he got here."
"Which means he has a secure way of contacting Maul from here."
"Or Maul is running more autonomously than we believed."
"Or he possessed him."
"I hate not knowing things!" Arl says annoyed as she drops her head on the table, she sighs. "Okay hate is a strong word, I dislike it." She amends realising the former to be incorrect.
"If you three are done with 'Guess the Sith's level of Communication.' Can we get back to the language I screwed up?" Tahl requests, "I have looked at it so long the characters are just swirls before my eyes."
"Gareeeeen." Arl whines before a paper pad and pen are placed in front of her, as in he was already doing so before she even opened her mouth. "You know me so well." She begins writing illegibly on the paper, looking between the two often.
"That will not work Arl." Dooku says.
"Will you just let me work Doo." Arl requests.
"Can you even see straight right now?"
"Yes, she can, but only because the meds are wearing off." Quin says observing how she tightened her jaw against a wince when she curled her fingers around the pen.
"So, opportune time, before the pain is too bad but while I can still think." Xanatos shakes his head half-heartedly.
"I am going to go check on Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan." He announces, Arl looks up as she sees others begin to debate who will accompany him.
"Perhaps you were right, I'll go with him." Arl says putting the pen down, everyone looks at her suspiciously so she picks the pen back up, opens to a fresh page and puts the pen against it. It scribbles along with her shaking. "Even I cannot deny that, plus I want to check on Little Obi." They all seem mollified by her answer.
Xanatos and Arlie leave the living quarters with Arlie internally cursing her inability to help with the translation but glad she can check on her not yet but hopefully one day soon to be step-brother.
"So, did you enjoy my fun house?" Xanatos asks maliciously beside her, she looks over quickly and sees his eyes are yellow.
"I've been in better ones." She replies dryly while panicking, she could not defend herself well right now. Still largely cut off from her preferred use of the force, she could not fight properly, hells, it takes most of her effort to walk in a semi-straight line and speak properly. Worst of all, he knows all of this.
"I suppose I shall have to try harder next time, how do you think your dear friends liked it?" He asks, Arl bits her cheek against the pain in preparation for her pushing him up against the wall with her arm, she blinks back what she hopes were unnoticeable tears in her eyes.
"Leave them alone Wrath." She says evenly.
"Why should I?" Arl has no answer for that.
"What happened in the time we cannot remember? And why did we forget?" She asks knowing that if he did not know of their memory loss before, he would now from Xan's memories.
"Do not worry child, you will find out, in time." He says, "I do so love the Senate dome, perhaps I'll show you around sometime?"
"I think I'll just show you to a grave instead."
"Now that was not very Jedi-like."
"I am not very Jedi-like, but anything is better than you." She says putting her unlit lightsaber hilt against his throat, "Let. Xan. Go." She demands, he smiles condescendingly at her.
"We both know you won't do it Arleia. But fine, have your pathetic friend back." Xan slumps and she buckles under the weight sending them both sprawling to the floor where they land in a heap of limbs. She sends a way of energy through to Xan which successfully wakes him up. "Dammit Arleia why didn't you call for help?!" Xanatos asks as he immediately gets off of her and helps her up, she flinches back. "Arlie?"
"Sorry just, I, I don't know. Calling for help ends badly…" She says looking confused before looking up to him, "You called me Arleia, why?" She demands confused.
"I…don't know…It just kind of came out." He says sheepishly, she pulls herself together.
"Well it just kind of can't. A name, no one cares, but there is a lot of stuff that Wrath is saying that you should not be saying. Control yourself, control your mind, control your body, and you can control him. Enough to kick him out anyway." Arlie tells him gesturing with her lightsaber hilt before signalling for him to continue walking, he looks appropriately chastised as he does.
"Arlie, XanaohmygodsArlie! What the force happened to you?" Qui-Gon asks as he opens the door to their quarters. Between the cast, the bandages, the cuts that looks like claw marks on her cheek and the colourful bruising on her face, she's surprised this hasn't been a constant reaction of people.
"Good fucking question." Arlie mutters viciously. "It is complicated, may we come in?"
"Yes of course." He says allowing them past, Obi is sitting on the couch with his knees up to his chin and his arms wrapped around his legs.
"I couldn't help the research effort so I thought we could come by and see how everything was going." Arl explains, Qui nods.
"Did you finish your investigation?" Qui asks curiously.
"Possibly, there was a thing, we are not really sure. We know who did it, not why, not how, nor do we know where they are now or anything really. And then the thing happened and to be honest, I'm not convinced we helped ourselves by returning for part 2 let alone part 3." Arl says sadly earning confused looks from Qui and Xan. "Quinlan's an idiot, don't worry." She explains, hilariously they both accept that as an answer. Xanatos and Qui-Gon talk quietly as Arl heads over and takes a seat next to Obi-Wan.
"Hi." The boy says meekly, she smiles kindly at him.
"Hi. Listen, I know who he is, why you are afraid of him and I know how hard this whole possession thing is for you to accept…" Arl starts saying but is interrupted by Obi-Wan's derisive snort.
"How could you possibly know or understand any of that?" He asks snarkily, she smiles sadly.
"Will you come with me somewhere?" Arl requests, he looks hesitant but nods and accepts the hand she offers, holding it lightly when he sees the bandages. Even that causes her considerable pain since the medication has worn off a lot but she hides it perfectly. "Qui-Gon, stay with Xan, actually take him back to my quarters, everyone was there a few minutes ago and he has to tell them about his latest episode. I need to show Obi-Wan something." Qui-Gon nods so all four of them leave the room before heading in opposite directions.
A few minutes later Arlie and Obi-Wan walk into the council chamber that is, thankfully, empty.
"How did you know the code to get in here?" Obi-Wan asks whispering as though someone may over hear.
"I was once on the council." She tells him, he looks confused but she quiets whatever questions he was about to ask with a shake of her head. "Almost sixteen years ago I walked into this room and found it littered with the dead. Not just any, but Jedi Younglings that had been slaughtered." Obi-Wan gasps horrified. "I travelled in time, I do not know how, and I ended up in the past."
"You know your life is warped when that sentence is only mildly surprising." Obi says after a few moments silence, "Why are you telling me this?" he asks confused.
"Because the one who slaughtered these younglings was a Sith, named Darth Vader. He was once a Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker." She tells him feeling tears fill her eyes, Obi shakes his head in disbelief as his eyes widen. "I did not know at the time that Wrath had messed with his mind so completely, had been manipulating him since he was nine years old. All I knew was that my little brother was a Sith. He murdered the younglings, and everyone else in the temple. I confronted him down here but I could not fight him, I said I would let him kill me but he left me alive. A while later you and Yoda found me here, Yoda knew he had to be dealt with but all I could think about was protecting my brother. Yoda and I fought, as in truly fought, lightsabers and everything." Obi-Wan's eyes widen at the words, highly engaged as she tells him a part of her past. "Mic stopped the fight but I would not give up, you hit me in the head with the hilt of your lightsaber and knocked me out. I woke up on Tatooine with my Mum and Step-dad, one of my step-brothers, my nephew, Mic, and my padawan. Mic told me that Vader had killed his wife and nearly the twins she was pregnant with along with her."
"Oh Arlie." Obi-Wan says not sure what else to do but wishing he could take her pain away.
"Twelve years later I left to find Garen, who by this point had fallen and was on a mad hunt to kill Sidious for murdering his padawan, despite it being someone else that did it but they were already dead and had been working for Sidious. I found him and promised to help him so long as he would go back to the farm on Tatooine and let our Master help him afterwards, he agreed. Then Vader turned up and slaughtered him right in front of me." Arl sobs out the last word, she should try to control it, but she is too tired to care. He comes forward and hugs her, "I did not know that it wasn't his fault until Dooku and I found Xanatos on Telos IV and I spoke with Wrath the first time."
"How do you stand being around Ani? Because I do not know how to be around…him…after we save him." Obi says brokenly, she holds him close in a way she never could in the future but always wished to knowing he was her brother.
"Anakin is different, he has not done any of it yet, hopefully never will. He has no memory of it."
"What about Xanatos?" Arl ponders that for a moment as she rubs soothing circles into his back.
"I remember that it could have been anyone. Doesn't really make sense to hold it against Xanatos after that does it?" Obi-Wan smiles into her shoulder.
"No, it doesn't."
"Obi-Wan, in the other timeline, your father Cliegg married my mother. I realise that has not happened here, not yet anyway, but you were my brother long before we knew they were married. So, if you ever need anything, even just to talk or vent frustration, I will always be here for you."
"Thank you, sister." Obi says with a smile, she reaches up and ruffles his hair which is quite awkward given the height difference and amount of pain the action causes her, but she manages.
The two began heading back to her quarters soon after, it was not until they were in the right hallway that Obi spoke up.
"How old are you?"
"Fifty." She replies, he's quiet for a moment before laughing. "What?"
"Your fifty-one in a week, you are so old!" Obi-Wan declares, she swats the back of his head and immediately regrets the action as she hisses out a pained breath.
"Yeah well, we'll see how good you look at fifty-one, coz I am rocking it." She declares, they both laugh.
"So you were forty-eight when you came back in time?" He asks quietly slowing his pace so that they do not reach the door.
"Technically yes." He raises a confused eyebrow, "This was not exactly my first trip to the past only the other time I had not grown up here. It was on a planet very, very far away."
"That's where you picked up the weird sayings and stuff right?" She nods.
"I was forty-eight when I came back but biologically, I was a decade younger."
"Okay, so last time you were younger than me by six years but also older by four, now you are younger than me by six years but also older by thirty-four years? That must be annoyingly confusing."
"No kidding. But reality is all about perception, I often ignore my physical age and just act as I normally would, people deal with that however they choose and I just go with it."
"But even though you should be, you have never really been my little sister, always my older. Even though our family would have thought otherwise, wasn't that annoying? Being treated as the younger? Not just with us but in other situations?"
"A bit I suppose. But I did not get to know our family much before, well something bad happened. No one could treat me as a child after that, Yoda and I were on par in the eyes of the galaxy so it stopped mattering so much. Of course, I was twenty-two when that happened biologically."
"How old were you when you got on the council?"
"It was about seven years after I was knighted so, I'd have been twenty in their eyes, actually thirty."
"Wow." Obi says as the two reach the perpetually open doors. "Remind me to never underestimate you."
"You've just learnt this?" Micah asks from the kitchen counter he's leaning against.
"No, I've just received information that makes me pity anyone who still hasn't though." No one could disagree with that one.
A few weeks later Arlie is sitting in the healer's ward with Quinlan and Dooku who are waiting anxiously as monitors are attached to all three of them.
"We just need to make sure everything is okay in case this goes wrong, I still think it is much too early to even attempt." Terza tells them, Arl shrugs and hides the wince that causes, badly.
"All right, let's just do this." Arl says flexing her fingers, she could move them properly now though it still hurt like hell, but hopefully it would enable her to heal the other two. She did not quite have the movement in her arms to heal herself but Bellan is watching her closely hoping to be able to imitate the move to heal her. Arl had been instructing as best she could to a few healers, but this would be the first true test. "First, I'll heal Dooku, then you heal Quin. If you get it wrong I'll be here to heal him so do not worry about that."
"Then if I get it right, I heal you right?" she asks, Arl nods. "Why isn't Master Terza doing this?" Bellan asks looking nervous before breathing deeply and centring herself.
"Because it is easier for a child to learn than an adult. Once I understand how to instruct better I will teach her." Arl then moves and takes the bandages off of her arm, Terza was not happy but understood the necessity of Bellan seeing the movements clearly. She then swirls her hands and fingers in a pattern a few times before placing her fingers to look like eyes with a diamond on top and then pushing the force through to do her bidding, Dooku's cuts and bruises all heal up as do the burns that were nearly healed anyway. There was not much to do on him, unfortunately his force presence was still unconsciously fighting attempts to heal and so there was slight scarring. Bellan then attempts to do it to Quinlan, it seems to work though the burns on his face scar slightly as Dooku's had.
"Well, you've got the bad boy look down." Terza offers as she hands him a mirror, he moves his head back and forth a few times.
"I'll take it." He says grinning, Arl rolls her eyes at him fondly.
"Okay, you're up undergrown." Terza tells her, at her confused look Bellan starts laughing.
"Have you not heard people calling you that? Undergrown Master?" Arl shakes her head with a resigned expression on her face, this was better than 'Pirate Raised'.
"Just get on with it." Arl requests attempting to ignore the pain. She was on less painkillers now but she had to have a clear head to use force-magic which meant using even less to the point she wasn't sure if it were helping at all. Terza had promised when she said as much that if she stopped using it, she'd notice the difference. Arl opted to take her word for it.
"Okay then, here it goes." Bellan says looking nervous but more confident this time, she follows the same routine pattern and pushes the force out. Having it done on her, Arlie can sense where she is going wrong, she's trying to let the force direct it but it only goes so far on its own, she needs to will it. Arl does not wish to break her concentration though, that could be bad, and accepts the fact that for now, she's just going to have extensive scarring.
"To be honest, it is better than I was expecting after the last one." Terza tells her, Arl looks at her arms, there was a lot of scarring but it was certainly paler than she was expecting and would still fade some more with time, she could live with that even if it would always be visible.
"Well, if that is all, I'd like to go hug my little brother." Arl requests, Terza looks over her arms first, does an assessment and then agrees to release her, she clasps her hand on Bellan's shoulder as she passes her, "You did good kid." She tells her, Bellan smiles glad for the reassurance, no one noticed the absurdity of the statement coming from her. Arl practically skips through the hall earning many a disapproving look from Masters and shocked looks from Padawans, somehow the Knights seemed unperturbed…probably because they are used to Quinlan being crazy or something.
Arlie makes it to her Mother and Brother's temporary quarters and opens the door to see her brother holding a pillow and running laps around the couch while Obi-Wan chases him, it takes her a moment to realise this is not a game and Obi is genuinely trying to catch him, her Mother is nowhere in sight.
"CLOSE THE DOOR!" Obi yells to her, she does just before Anakin runs through it, she takes the opportunity to grab the collar of his tunic to stop him from running.
"What the kriff is going on?" Arl asks mildly upset.
"Obi said I'd be easy to babysit." Anakin pouts, Arl grows more confused though it did partially explain her Mother's absence and Obi's presence.
"That's a good thing Ani." Arlie tells him, her confusion clear in her voice.
"Oh…sorry Obi." Anakin says handing back the pillow and giving him a hug, Obi-Wan looks like he'd just witnessed Anakin growing two heads and handed him one of them.
"Obi-Wan?" Arl asks still looking for an explanation.
"Your Mother was invited to go shopping with one of your Masters so she asked me to babysit since you're so busy right now, I said something about Anakin being easy to babysit since I've done it before you know, the creche, apparently he took that as a personal challenge and stole your Mother's favourite and very delicate pillow." He says with a pointed glare at the five-year-old who pokes his tongue out in return.
"Okay, Anakin put the pillow back and write an apology letter to Mum, Obi will help you write it. Obi-Wan, you are a Jedi, there are many better ways you could have handled this so while helping Anakin write his letter you are going to write a report of this for you Master explaining what happened, what you did wrong, and what you need to do differently." Arlie dictates.
"Yes Arl." "Yes Arleia." The two boys say respectively. Arl nods.
"Now I only came here to hug my brothers with my newly improved arms." Arl says, they both smile and hug her, Anakin in her arms and Obi, using his height, embraces them both.
The next day Arlie wakes early and heads to the library unsurprised to see Dooku, Tahl and Bant there, the two former asleep as the latter continues looking over the Ancestral Language.
"Has anyone tried reading it aloud?" Arl asks without greeting scaring the crap out of Bant.
"Kriff! Um…no I do not believe so."
"Well, you know when you are learning a language and you can learn all you like about the characters, pronunciation, accentuation, and meaning, but eventually you just have to read it out loud to get it right? Maybe we should do that backwards here?"
"The language is supposedly the base language for Old Sith and The Ancient Language of the Jedi, right? So, some words the two of us may be able to recognise after saying it aloud? Maybe the characters are what's tripping us up?" Arl nods her agreement and so Bant begins to attempt to read it with Arlie looking over her shoulder.
ndị nwere nke a aru
nwere e outlawed kemgbe e kere anyị hụrụ n'anya ka. Onye Okike, ọ si mesoo ya na ya na ị na chere na ọ obi na nnọọ erubeghị uche nke ike na usoro ebumpụta ụwa nke ihe. lasasịa a nwere spirit onye nanị nwere adọwa ya site mmadụ bi ahu. mgbe dispersion mkpụrụ obi nwere ike ma na-rekasịrị ma ọ bụ na ọ nwere ike dị. mkpụrụ obi dsintegration bụ naanị a completable feat maka kere Otú ọ dị ka nwere a spirit niile otu ga-eme bụ uche ya na na collection, anyị na-achọ gị chi gị ego.
They may not know it fluently, but Arlie got the impression that if it weren't a perfect pronunciation, it was pretty dang close.
"Okay say that first bit again? We know the first three words, 'possessing has been outlawed' or it may still be 'possessing had been outlawed'." Arl says.
"Yes, we can keep that in mind for future grammatical reference but for now let's just read it as has. So, Possessing had been outlawed kemgebe ee kiri angihurunangah." She reads, before looking thoughtful, "Possessing isn't right either, by our language it should be possession." She says, Arl makes a note of it.
"Okay, kemgebe, spelt Kemgbe. Sounds related to the Sith word kemb, it means Create."
"Also the Ancient Jedi word megbe." Bant adds, Arl nods.
"To begin existing. Create, creation maybe?" Bant nods and writes it down.
"We'll find out later, now the next part is 'e'. If we have Possessing had been outlawed e creation, could it be since?"
"It could be but I believe we need more context for that one, write it down though."
This goes on for a few hours, miraculously the other two do not awaken from the noise, eventually though Bant and Arl believe they have a rough idea of what the document is saying and wake them.
"What's going on?" Tahl asks blearily sensing no danger.
"We have a working idea of what the document says." Arl says.
"Roughly." Bant amends earning a nod from Arlie.
"Well go on then." Dooku requests waking up immediately as he always does. Training under Sidious would do that to you Arl supposes.
"possessing had been outlawed since creation of our much loved order. the creator, have dealt with it in her youth deems it barbaric and plainly disregarding the will of the force and the natural order of things. to disperse a possessing spirit one merely had to rip it from the inhabited body. after dispersion the soul can either be disintegrated or it can be tamed. soul disintegration is only a completable feat for the creator however to contain a spirit all one must do is will it in to the collection, we wish you luck in your venture." Bant says.
"There were a few times that we could have guessed a more appropriate word but didn't want to change it in case it mucked up later translations. We want to keep working on this to get a proper idea of it but for now we figure that says enough." Arleia tells them.
"I think that says beloved not 'much loved'." Dooku says looking over the girls' work. Arlie notes it down.
"So how do you 'merely rip' a possessing soul from a body?" Tahl asks, "And who is the creator?"
"What collection, how do we 'will it in'." Arlie adds as Bant notices something in the words.
"That says contained, not tamed." Bant says pointing between the words contain and tamed, Arl nods and notes it down. "Creator, 'creation of our beloved order', I think it means the one who started the Jedi Order, or well, whatever came before it."
"Well they must be long dead." Arlie remarks.
"Not necessarily, remember what Yoda said? His Master created the order and lived much longer than she should have." Dooku reminds her, Tahl nods.
"Yes, but did he mean the order or the Jedi Order?"
"Jedi Order seems more likely, it is newer." Bant replies to her master, Arl shakes her head.
"We cannot assume that, we must ask Yoda himself."
The four grab their work, carefully replace the document in its protective case and put it on the shelves before heading to Yoda's quarters.
"Enter you may." He calls just before Arlie presses the door chime, they enter.
"It is creepy when you do that Master." Arlie tells him, he smiles serenely.
"A question you have, ask it you should."
"Your Master, you said she created the order, did you mean the Jedi or what came before?" Dooku asks bluntly knowing that while he gave riddles all the time, Yoda hated receiving them, presumably now because of this Master of his.
"Come, sit." The troll requests, they do. "My Master, ancient she was, know how I do not. Told a story she once did when leaving she was. 'A lonely little girl, lost in a brand new world with powers no one could imagine. She did not want to be alone so she trained others to be like her and the order of the force was born. Greed and fear corrupted the peace and soon her beloved order split in three, the third sect died off quickly but the others grew strong. Only destruction can be while the order is split. One day it will be reunited, that is when I will return young one, to help it reunite. It must make its own mistakes if it is to learn from them.'" They listen raptly to his words even as his eyes grow watery from the memory of his Master leaving. "All I know this is, interpret it you must if wish to find an answer you do."
"What do you believe?" Bant asks as the other three exchange glances and begin thinking over the story and committing every detail to memory.
"Believe I do that create this she did, understand why she let it fall apart I never could. Explain one day I hope she will when recreated the order of the force is." Yoda says the unspoken 'If I am still alive' heard loud and clear. Bant moves forward and hugs the little Master.
"That must have been frightening." He gently pats her head.
"Questions you still have?" Yoda asks, Arl nods feverishly.
"What was your Master's name? How old was she? What species? Where was she from?" She says, Dooku chuckles at her.
"You sound like Qui-Gon when he was a teenager asking questions while demanding he be allowed to go out with Tahl and Micah." He tells her at her questioning look, Tahl sniggers at that remembering it well.
"15'239-years-old she would be."
"Quite the approximation." Tahl says dryly, Yoda smiles disarmingly at her.
"Human she is." Arl's jaw drops.
"That is not possible! Actually, I take that back, it is possible but not while living it all out like you are describing!" She exclaims loudly.
"What other way is there?" Bant asks confused.
"So very many but none describe this." She replies, Yoda shrugs.
"Say I did that knew how I did not." Arl nods accepting that.
"Where was she from? You did not say?" Dooku asks, Yoda mutters to himself frustratedly.
"I do not know." He says, everyone looks shocked.
"That was not backwards!" Tahl literally squeaks.
"Much practice I have at saying that sentence." He replies.
"Fair enough, now how do you not know?" Arl asks impatiently earning her a swat on the back of her head from Dooku.
"Complicated her history was. Once, covered in meadows Coruscant was, in a small hut where this temple is she used to live. Created there the order was, travelled the galaxy beforehand she did, know where she started I think even she did not."
"How?" Bant asks confused.
"No, that one I understand." Arl says, Bant looks confused.
"What do you mean? You're from Tatooine."
"I spent two or three years there. Before that I was on a freighter, after I was on another freighter, then a pirate ship, then here, ish. Never in a place long enough to really call it being 'from there'. How do you answer that question when you have no home to be from? I've only ever said Tatooine because that's where my family lives, it is not where I consider my home planet or where I would say 'I am from' to be."
"I guess that makes sense, but then where is?" Tahl asks curiously, Arl looks to the ground she's sitting on, the air in the room taking on a melancholy tone as her great sadness fills it. She misses Earth and her family so very much sometimes, tries not to think about how long it's been but sometimes, she cannot help but do exactly that. She sighs as she realises she has not yet answered the question, and knows there is only one true answer.
"A long way from here."