Chapter 18: Ventress

Wildfire had been the first to wake up but he said nothing to Doryn about what he saw when she saw he was also up. In some panic, she'd attempted to explain it without incriminating herself. This unprompted confession was met with a nod and a chuckle as Wildfire got back to whittling away at a project that was starting to take shape. She didn't know what it was going to be but she'd never seen one of his completed pieces so had no idea if he was even good enough for her to ever have a chance of guessing.

They set off a little after sunrise for the last leg of their journey. She made a final check that nobody had anything that would come up on sensors although she suspected that they were already too close and that any datapads would've been picked up by that point. What she really wanted to do was abandon the mission and cuddle with Wolffe for however long she could convince him to let her. Not that she'd let him know that of course. Not that she was even allowed that attachment. Not that she was allowed to want that attachment. Though, she'd started to question the danger of such things as she'd started the training with the geranium Master Plo had given her. Back when she was just a youngling, Master Yaddle had told her that some species had actions they were obligated to do. Obviously, being a child, Yaddle could not explain to her what all of the actions obligated by her biology were. The other Masters were rather uneducated on Cathar, so it was meant to be up to Master Yaddle to explain it all to her as she came to adulthood. Of course, Master Yaddle was dead and never had the chance to. She had told the young girl one of the things Cathar required for their health. Despite being told that it was an obligation for her species to allow it, Doryn shoved the words aside and actively denied herself that thing.

The feeling that grew in the bottom of her stomach as she approached the secondary base on Hypori was heavy and uncomfortable. She wanted to turn around and go back to Master Plo but by this point she was too committed and she had a bad feeling that the men would continue on without her. She rationalised it as likely being her still deciphering what she'd seen and felt during the night, before Wolffe had gotten her to settle down. As time continued the feeling only grew stronger and the need for the forest and her people became even louder. The sickness in her stomach suddenly disappeared and her entire body suddenly felt empty, as if her physical form was stolen from her for a second. It was never a mirror. She had her own pain and her own need of the forest but it wasn't what she'd been feeling. It was completely external. "Wolffe, take the others away. Call in for evac and get away from here." She turned her head away from her men and toward her upcoming challenge.

Hypori. A few months after the war began, it had held a battle. Three jedi had been killed and a further three were injured. She'd also heard many clones died in that battle. She had no care for the clones at the time so failed to remember the specifics of outcomes when it came to them. Doryn remembered the funeral after the massacre. She remembered that one of the Jedi had only been a Padawan. The same human boy she'd been in the same clan as when they were younglings. The Masters, clones and the Padawan had all been killed by a certain droid General. Now, instead of her foe being a durasteel monster with Jedi blades, it was a single woman with two red blades. Asajj Ventress.

"I will give you this opportunity to surrender yourself. If you decide not to, your life will be forfeit." She called across to the woman. She was yet to ignite her blades but she took her own saber into her hand, leaving her previous Master's on her belt. The woman slowly stepped closer as she sneered, "As if the Republic won't kill me anyway." Doryn couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't be executed for her crimes by the Republic but she knew that if the Jedi had their way that it would be put off as a last resort. Execution without proof that the prisoner was too dangerous to be kept alive was against the way of the Jedi.

Wolffe refused to retreat but doubted Ryn noticed. She was much too focused on the Sith scum across from them. He kept his brothers back, knowing that they couldn't do much against the Sith. Still, he couldn't leave Ryn alone with her. He was itching to blast her in the eye and do to her as she'd done to him. He had enough restraint. "You could always be put to work under someone else. Having a pretty thing like you in that position would be most favourable." The voice Ryn used was sultry and silky smooth. Between that and her emphasis on certain words, Wolffe realised she was flirting with the Sith that had taken his eye. He'd let her use him as a pillow some hours ago and she was already flirting with the woman she knew had disfigured him. It hurt more than losing his eye had in the first place.

Doryn heard the sound of blasters firing from behind her and turned quickly, igniting the single lightsaber already in her hand. She got ready to block with form III but noticed her own men were still there. She'd been so caught up in taunting the Sith that she hadn't even realised Wolffe hadn't gotten himself and his men to safety. She would've shouted at him for disobeying her orders and let the fire in her stomach grow until she either slapped him or slept with him. There was no time for any of that as she turned to see the four men in the air, struggling to breathe. "Stupid clones." The woman's snarl came from behind Doryn and she didn't even think before knowing what she had to do. She didn't even have enough time for her feelings to catch up. She turned back to Ventress with what could've been interpreted as a bored expression. "I thought you'd be more interested in fighting the last Jedi trained by your Master." She brought her lightsaber to point outward and to the ground whilst she held her other hand behind her back. It was how Master Dooku always stood when initiating a sparring session. It was during the time between him having left the Jedi and having defiled his kyber crystal. He still held the respect of the Jedi but there was something unjedilike about the confidence in his stance. That smug confidence that he used to belittle whoever his eyes looked in the direction of. It being Doryn's lesson in abandoning her anger made her sure that it would work against a Sith in the way she intended.

Doryn heard the men drop to the ground and start gasping for breath. It'd worked, and the attention was now on her. She wanted to turn and tell him to run but she couldn't. It would break the illusion. She tried to bring forward in herself the trace of Dooku that was left there. "Now Ventress, stop being a coward and put your second blade aside." She tried on the mocking regal tone his voice had and it fit her accent well. She wished she didn't like it so much. She started to walk to the right with her left side toward her enemy. Ventress snarled at the words but soon followed the action and the two were stalking each other in a clockwise motion. Doryn remembered how Dooku would warn her when she was his student. "Asajj." She spoke the Sith's name slowly. Ventress' face somehow turned even more sour as she threw her second lightsaber to the ground and Doryn followed the action. Really, they could both reach out in the Force and take their second blade in a moment but it was more a symbolic gesture. "Now your Master may respect you a little when he sees you died with only one."

"He will respect me when I bring him your head." It almost sounded like Ventress was in pain as she snarled her final words. Doryn had no time to think about that as she was very quickly lunged at with a single red blade.

Every movement Doryn made was technically within the scope of Makashi. Her blocks, her dodges, her punishing flicks. It was all movements from form II but she used them with the principles of form III. She had to defend herself so that she could defend her men. That and she had a plan.

Contact low. Block and slide up. Flick to punish her inexperience with one blade. Jump to avoid the angry retaliation. High. Left. Push down. Jump. Down. Step back. Right.

The pure anger in every strike was like nothing Doryn had ever seen before. Every movement was technically form II but it was like no Jedi combat she'd experienced. Still, she knew her plan which would only be more successful with the energy her enemy expended through her rage. Tire the Sith out, take her blade and take her life. Certainly a simple enough plan.