"I couldn't help but notice you have a Naboon first name." Daw Crathy said to Morodè as they turned the corner, now heading toward the forest.
"My mother is from Naboo." She replied, smiling. "She wanted to name me 'Rodè', but Vodandish names have three syllables, so my parents compromised. My sister's name is Carè, and my brother is Botoro, completely Vodandish."
"Clever." He comented, before asking her more about the Endtide Celebration in a week. She explained that the Celebration technically lasted the whole two weeks leading up to the Celebratory Gala, which was a time to visit friend and prepare. On the day of the gala, everyone would bring up the clothes they had made for charity to the palace, where it would be stored until its distribution on the first day of Lindtide- the first day of the new year. She did not tell him that a large portion of the donations went to the Resistance- he wasn't a Vodan, and the First Order would attack if they found out. No, Vod would remain officially neutral as long as possible.
He told her some about his travels, but upon reaching the second turn of the square, she received a message.
"I'm so sorry, do you mind if I check this?" she asked, and he shook his head, taking a slight step away.
Morodè turned away, and looked down, checking the small holoscreen.
She hit 'play message.'
Crathy turned back to her, grabbing her arms.
Another figure stepped from the forest, and mage a gesture with his hand.
Morodè collapsed.
The holoscreen fell to the ground. It was still playing the message as Crathy pocketed it, tucking it away. He tossed the girl over his shoulder, and jogged to the cover of the forest. The figure, an imposing sight with a dark cloak and mask, nodded, and they departed to a small TIE ship.
The message had been from Lokin. It read: "Whatever do you mean, Gardkin? I don't have any cousins planetside right now, and I certainly didn't send any of them to you. And you could have just invited me for spintel cakes."
Rey sat crisscrossed on the ground, eyes closed. Master Luke sat across from her. Two stones flew overhead, carried by the force.
"Very good Rey. Now, I want you to knock mine out of the air."
Rey almost said, 'I'll try.' But she remembered in time her previous lesson. She just nodded instead, her eyes slowly shutting.
Poe helped Finn up, leading him out of the room.
"What happened?" Finn asked as he dodged BB-8, who was gleefully rolling in circles around his feet.
"You should have flown with me, is what happened." Poe rolled his eyes. "But no, you had to be so darn stubborn-"
"I'm not a CO!" Finn interrupted, now remembering that Poe had wanted him to ride his ship to Scarif, as he wanted to keep an eye on him. But, Poe was piloting the Command Officer ship, and Finn was not a CO. Poe attempted to tell the General that as Finn was still clearly recovering from his week-and-a-half-long coma, and was a freaking battle hero, he deserved to ride on the ship. The General was leaning towards Poe's arguments, but Finn had argued that as every other solider had been a hero and as he had been awake for three weeks now- longer than he had slept- he was fine. General Organa had shrugged, Poe had pouted, and Finn rode a small two-man ship like any other solider.
Unfortunately, his pilot was not as skilled as Poe -well, no one was, but this pilot was significantly worse- and they had had a rough landing when they were hit by an old empire probe. The planet had been abandoned since a battle there almost 35 years ago so it seemed a good enough place for a new Resistance base.
They met General Organa on the beach. She turned, and sent a small smile to the two,
"Glad to see you awake, Finn." She said, looking back to the ocean. There was a deep sand cliff that cured down to meet the sea.
"How long was I out?" he asked, worried.
"Too long." Poe whined.
"Maybe an hour." The General stated. Finn rolled his eyes at Poe, then thanked the General.
"We already swept the place, so we know that there's no more Empire Drones left. Right now, we are setting up base and scouting for anything interesting." The woman sent Poe a significant look, and Finn blinked. He was confused, but he knew asking Poe alone would get him better answers.
"Of course General" they bid, leaving her and walking down the beach, slightly away from the others.
"What's the thing?" Finn asked, sounding tired.
"What thing?" Poe asked innocently, as he examined a small piece of scrap metal.
"The 'interesting thing' that the General wants you to look for." Finn said, annoyed. 'what thing', honestly.
"I don't know." Poe shrugged. "It's a thing that she wants to find, but she doesn't know what it is."
"That doesn't make any since."
Poe shrugged again. "Hey, I don't question the Force."
Finn turned sharply. "General Organa has the Force?" he asked, incredulous.
Poe blinked. "Yeah. She's Luke Skywalker's sister, of course she has the Force." He shook his head. "Sorry, I guess you haven't heard any of the stories about her."
Finn thought about it. "I mean I learned a couple of nights ago she inspired the story of the Chain Breaker, but not much, no."
"The Chain Breaker?"
Now Finn was confused again. "You've never heard of the Chain Breaker?" He asked, incredulous.
Poe shushed him. "No, I haven't. Now help me look for something interesting."
Finn stooped down, running his fingers through the sand. "The Chain Breaker is an icon in many different systems. She looks different depending where you are, but she always wore a Trooper Helmet for us." He tossed a bit of wood to the small pile in front of Poe. "But no matter where you are, she has a collar, and a chain."
Poe tried to think of any times he had heard of Leia Organa being chained, forced to wear a collar. He knew she had been captured by the Empire at different points, and a Hutt once, and some other instances, but none specifically mentioned a collar.
Finn continued. "Another Creature is holding the chain, an evil creature. But then she strangles it with the chain. She defeats it with the thing it tried to restrain her with, that's the point." He fell silent, sifting through the sand. "You know, I thought I hated sand, but this stuffs not as bad as the sand on Jakku." That sand had been dryer, more course, not to mention it got stuck under his uniform.
"What was the Creature?" Poe asked.
"Huh?" Finn was momentarily dazed, but then he realized what Poe was asking about. "Oh, well, for us, it was Fear, or Loss." He bit his lip, tossing a bit of leather on the pile. "Or at least, that was what we told them if any CO asked. For some reason, they didn't actually like us knowing about her, or etching her on any of their property."
"Can't imagine why." Poe smiled. Remembering what the First Order did to their troopers would definitely make it harder for him to fight them next time. He shook his head, reminding himself that the troopers weren't going to take it easy on him. And he had to stay alive, otherwise those two idiot kids would get themselves hurt.
"Yeah." Finn agreed, oblivious to Poe's inner turmoil, focusing on the sarcasm that had been said. He found he liked snarking, now that it was afforded to him. He found a bit of a cord, and tossed it on the pile. "Oh, there's a bit more." He muttered, digging.
"A bit more what?" Poe asked, examining a bit of carved wood.
"Cord." Fin elaborated, and he pulled it out of the sand. When he saw what was on the cord though, he almost dropped it. "Woah."
Poe turned to see him holding up a small crystal to the light, dangling by a bit of cord. Finn touched the gem with his other hand.
The second he made contact with it, he gasped, falling backwards.
Rey's eyes flew open, and two stones fell to the ground.
AN:and heres chapter two! the action is rolling now, I'm excited. Care, Morodes sister, is pronounced "Carrie", after our beloved Space Princess. she drowned in moonlight, strangled by her bra. she is one with the force now, may she rest in peace. and yes, rogue one will be important to this story, in part because I felt they should have used Jyn's crystal more. so yeah, slight rouge one spoilers, but nothing major. Read and Review, please!