Hey guys, it's time for a new chapter! Sorry about the wait, I've been on vacation from work and just kind of write when I'm in the mood to. I hope you've liked the story so far! Please review or comment on it and let me know what you think! Finally, here's the chapter!

Ch. 16: The Origin Tree

The Mantis landed on the landing pad, and we all filed out of it. Like before, Cere and Greez stayed near the ship to intercept Imperial comms while Cal and I did all the journeying. If there was a designated job to be asleep the whole time, I would definitely go for that!

"You ready to go?" Cal asked, making sure I was good to start our day. I nodded eagerly and walked with him to the jungle path. The direction of where we had to go was relatively similar to before. Just before the prison where we had freed the Wookies, there was a bridge that was just out of reach for the two of us. Luckily, we knew a new trick to bypass that.

"Thannnnkkk you!"

I cooed as I force-pulled the bridge through the water toward us. It was heavy, and I needed Cal's help to move it all the way. Once finished, Cal wiped his brow and shielded the sun from his eyes.

"Damn, I'm already starting to sweat."

He wasn't alone. I was starting to feel it too.

"Me too. It's so humid on this planet. It takes some getting used to."

He nodded in agreement and then smiled.

"Yeah, it sucks, but at least I don't have to go through it alone."

I brushed my fingers down the moist skin of my throat before replying.

"It's always better when you have a buddy to suffer with you," I said, laughing, putting my arm around his back and rocking us from side to side a few times.

"Don't forget BD-1! Or wait…I don't think droids can sweat."

"Yeah, I don't think so either," I laughed again. BD made a set of beeps and, apparently, droids sweat oil? I don't know if I believe that…

"Jedi! How dare you run away from the great Sorc Tormo! I'm here today to stop you in your tracks!"

We…well…stopped in our tracks to look up at one of the tree branches above us. It was another bounty hunter.

"I am Oovo Adnan, and this is my partner, Flatakk!"

He motioned his hands to his side, and we looked to see his partner being chewed on by a giant Kashyyyk spider.

"Oh my…" I muttered.

"What the!? Flatakk! Flataak! Get the hell off of him!" The bounty hunter screamed as he shot his blaster at the arachnid. The spider didn't seem bothered at all and kept on eating. I looked at Cal, and his lips flattened into a straight horizontal line.

"It doesn't matter! I can take both of you on myself!" he yelled at us. Cal raised his left hand and swooshed it to the side, causing the bounty hunter to fly straight into the spider's nest. With lightning speed, the spider pounced on the man and pulled him deeper into the deep, dark nest.

The whole jungle went quiet, and we looked at each other for a second.

"There. Problem solved."

I resisted the urge to laugh. I shouldn't laugh, but come on!

"It seems Sorc Tormo already has bounty hunters assigned to capture us. But, if they're all like that…I really don't think we should worry about it."

"Me neither," he said back. We walked past the spider nest, careful not to go near the entrance of it, and continued on along the bridge. The bridge began to slant up, creating an incline for us. That just made me sweat even more.

It's gross, I know. How do you think I feel?

At the end of the bridge was a zipline that traveled across a green, algae-filled lake. It looked like it would cut down on our travel time by a lot but at what costs? The line ended at the lake, meaning we would have to jump in. Cal grinned at me and took my hand.

"You know what this means!"

"Ugh, yeah. I do," I said. We both jumped on the zipline and flew across the lake until we reached the end of it. Taking a deep breath, I let go of the line and dropped into the green water. It was surprisingly warm. I didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. I was afraid to open my eyes underwater for fear of what would get in them. At the surface, I filled my lungs with air again and looked around. Nearby was a small beach for me to swim to. Cal rose from the water beside me and moved the hair out of his eyes.

"Sorry that you keep having to jump in random bodies of water," he joked.

"It's not your fault," I said with a smile. I was starting to not even care at this point. What do I have to be self-conscious about? It's just Cal with me. I do want to look my best around him, though…

"I know, but I feel bad!"

We swam to the beach and shook ourselves off.

"Where are we, BD?" I asked. The transmission that we received said that he would be somewhere around this area. BD-1 brought up the map, and we were near a garden of exotic flowers. We were getting close to the tree we saw when flying into the planet. The biggest tree out of them all. I had a feeling that Tarfful was there. It would also match the coordinates we got from Saw's people.

"Okay, so we go this way."

I walked to the edge of the garden of flowers, and when I got near them, they sprayed a weird-looking purple mist. I asked BD to analyze the mist before we walked through it, and the result wasn't one I wanted to hear.

"Of course, it's poison," I groaned.

"I knew it was poison before BD-1 even checked it," Cal noted with a frown. How were we going to get through this?

"We could run really fast before they shoot gas and hope for the best?"

"If we do that, we'll have to rely on the force to protect us," Cal said. I smiled and twirled my body and arms around.

"The force is always with us."

"That's true. Let's give it a shot."

We started at our end of the flowers and took a sprinting stance. We counted to three before running as fast as we could through the army of plants. I could hear the sounds of them shooting out toxic gas behind me. I hoped our plan was working. Otherwise, we would probably be dead in a few seconds. We ran past the last of the flowers after twenty seconds went by, and we were out of breath.

"See? The force protected us!" I breathed out. Cal smiled and put his hands on his hips.

"Alright, alright, you were right…" He admitted. He then stopped in place and stared ahead. I tilted my head at him and then followed his gaze. There were two people standing amidst the fog. One of them looked like a Wookie, and the other a regular human.

"Do you think that's him over there?" I asked.

"Only one way to find out," he said with a grin. We jogged over to the pair and got a clearer view of who they were. The Wookie was decked out in military armor. His hair was silver and brown in color, showing age and experience. This had to be Tarfful. The human beside him was the woman who had sent us the transmission, Mari Kosan. She was a skilled translator, and she was having a deep conversation with the Wookie until we walked up to them. She became ecstatic as soon as she noticed us.

"Cal! Luna! You made it! And…You're soaked…"

I gave Cal an unamused look and sighed.

"Yeah, we know."

Mari looked from me to Cal and changed the subject.

"Anywho! You were looking for Tarfful, and here he is. What did you want to ask him?"

"We've been following in the steps of Master Cordova. In one of his messages to us, he mentioned you. He was looking for a Zeffo artifact called an Astrium and finding it could save the Jedi Order. Do you remember anything about where he went to find it?" Cal asked the Wookie. Mari translated what he said, and Tarfful began speaking in his own language. I wish I knew how to speak Wookie, but I'm not sure I have the right vocal range to be able to do that. I can barely understand BD-1 whenever he beeps at us, so I'll let Mari do the translating.

"He said that Cordova found wisdom at the top of the Origin Tree."

"It's just a hunch but is the biggest tree on the planet the Origin Tree?"

"Bingo," she said back. Cal gave me a playful nudge with his arm, and I gladly nudged back. It was our way of giving each other a fist bump.

Tarfful said some more words that we didn't understand, and Mari spoke for him.

"He said the best way to access the tree is through its root system. That will give you the greatest pathway to the top. The only problem is that most of the roots are underwater. It's a problem but nothing a couple of Jedi can't handle."

Cal and I exchanged looks, and I bit my lip. I hate when people assume we're invincible…

"Now, as far as I know, most Jedi can't breathe underwater, and I don't see any gills on either of you. Luckily, I have a solution."

She put her hand in her bag and pulled out two small objects.

"What are those?" I asked as she handed them to us.

"Those will help you breathe underwater. Just bite down on the middle, and it'll be like you have an oxygen tank attached. You can even put it on while you're underwater, so you don't have to be on the surface to use it."

That's pretty neat!

"Thanks, Mari! You and Tarfful have been extremely helpful!" I praised them.

"Yeah, what will you do from here?" Cal asked. Mari shrugged and sighed.

"All we can do is keep fighting until the Empire is stopped."

"We understand that more than anybody," Cal said, looking at me, "I hope we meet again soon."

Mari and Tarfful nodded before leaving us. They were so quick with their grappling hooks that they were out of sight in seconds. It was just me, Cal, and BD-1 again.

"We have our next course of action," Cal said. I nodded and looked down below at the body of water we had just swam through.

"I guess we need to jump back in, huh."

"Looks that way," he replied with a stretch. We were so high up at this point, so it was a little scary thinking about the jump we were about to do. I walked over to the railing and shivered uncontrollably.

"You good to keep going?" I heard Cal say behind me. He must have noticed my hesitation. I turned back at him and smiled.

"Yeah, just some dumb thoughts swirling around in my head."

His lips went into a fine line, and he walked over to stand beside me in front of the railing. He rested his front arms on the rail and looked down at the water.

"It's not dumb if it's something you genuinely fear. It's normal to have sudden anxiety about things every once in a while. It's a height thing, right?"

I slowly nodded.

"Yeah…sometimes my breath hitches when I'm super high up. I've always been that way, and the stupid thing about it is that it happens at random," I told him, leaning my arms on the rail as well, our arms touching.

"Luna, I worked as a rigger on Bracca. My whole job had me dealing with huge heights, and I still get scared every now and then. Nothing to beat yourself up over," he said. I let his words settle in for a second before smiling.

"How do you always know how to cheer me up, Cal?"

He grinned and chuckled at the ground.

"Every day that we're together I've gotten better and better at talking to you and knowing how to be considerate of your feelings. It's a work in progress, but I think I've gotten pretty good at it!"

He's so cute.

"Good answer."

He laughed again and then held his hand out to me.

"Thanks. You want to jump together?"

"Mhmm."

I took his hand, and we jumped off the edge into the water down below. We put the breathers on our mouths, and it was like a breath of fresh air filled my lungs, literally! Opening my eyes underwater still felt a little weird, but it wasn't too bad. I tightened my grip on Cal's hand, making sure he was still connected to me. He squeezed back, and I looked at him to see him pointing ahead of us. I looked and saw an opening in the roots of the tree and started swimming in that direction. I felt Cal let go of me, and he gave me a thumbs up. I returned the gesture, letting him know he could swim independently from me. He took the lead as we swam through a family of kelp. My vision was green from the murky water, but I could see an end in sight. Cal swam up to the surface after a few more seconds, and I followed him.

Reaching the surface, we realized we were in the middle of the Origin Tree. It was similar to a cave in how isolated it was from the surrounding environment. There was a bank a few feet away from us, so we butterfly-stroked to it and got out of the water.

"It is just up from here now?" I asked. BD-1 brought up the map, and it looked that way. I mean, it is a tree. From here, it was just a matter of how complicated the branches of the tree were. Seeing as how the tree has existed for millions of years…this should be a piece of cake!

"What's this thing?" Cal asked. In front of him was a green slime in the shape of a circle. It was a kind of moss, but it was moving ever so slowly.

"I don't know, but don't touch it," I advised.

"I'm going to step on it."

"What did I just say!?" I screamed as he stepped on the moss. As soon as his boot hit the moss, his entire body flew up in the air like a rocket! I watched him go up and up until he managed to grab onto a wall of vines. He peered down at me and smiled a bit.

"I'm alive!"

I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hips.

"You're not going to be if you keep doing stuff like that!"

He snorted and began climbing the vines. I watched him for a second before making a huffing noise. I slowly walked to the green patch and stepped on top of it. The patch lifted up and shot me up to the vines on the tree branch wall. That was a pretty efficient way of traveling upward! I climbed the vines and found my footing at the top. This area was more like a path up a mountain trail. To my surprise, there were stormtroopers up here fighting some of the local creatures. Cal rested his hand on my arm and frowned.

"Looks like not even Tarfful was able to keep them from getting up here. Let's take them out."

I nodded and ignited my lightsaber. We took out the troopers before they did too much damage to the wildlife. We needed to get to the top and fast.

"I don't like that they've reached this part already, Cal," I said to him. He looked around and glared at the top.

"Me neither. We should hurry."

There were a few more of those green patches along the way, along with small divisions of stormtroopers. Seriously, how many are up here? Cal was oddly quiet as we kept moving up and up. I would say something, and he would hum a response or give a one-worded reply. After a few minutes, I had to ask what was wrong.

"I know that we've had to fight troopers on the tree, but is something else bothering you? You've been super quiet," I said in a concerned tone. I touched his arm, and he slowly shrugged his shoulders.

"It's just…I can't shake the idea that the Empire is here because of us. Our journey to find whatever Cordova wants us to discover brought the Empire here too. The Wookies and rebels trusted us…I don't know, I just feel really bad about it."

I shook my head and moved my hand up and down along his arm to comfort him.

"Cal, the Empire would have been here even if we didn't exist. Trilla seemed like she had caught on to Cordova's discovery already. I don't think there was any way we could have prevented that. Don't blame yourself for something you can't control. The only thing we can do now is to find what Cordova led us to."

I finished what I had to say, and he sighed.

"Yeah, you're right. I hate feeling this way, but I can't help it."

"I know what you mean," I told him, "We just have to keep going, though. Thinking about it makes it worse."

He nodded and continued up the tree.

"Thanks, Luna. It helps to talk about it."

"I figured. Usually, you're cracking jokes or saying sweet things to me," I said with a wink. He chuckled at that last part.

"Ha, my two favorite things!"

That made me blush as we walked. I found myself inching closer and closer to Cal with each step forward. It wasn't necessarily on purpose, but I felt our arms brush a couple times on accident. The first time it happened, we both just gave each other an amused look. The second time it happened, he smiled at the ground but didn't move away from me. It seemed like my being so close to him was comforting, in a way.

Amongst the thick vines of the Origin Tree, there was a peaceful atmosphere within. This was how the tree was supposed to feel. No stormtroopers to destroy everything in sight in the name of the Emperor. Just the nature surrounding its nurturing roots.

"I still have that bad feeling deep in the pit of my stomach, but this place is beautiful," I noted.

"Yeah, I love it," Cal said.

We reached a part of the tree where it started to look like a treehouse. Round huts aligned with wooden bridges connected to one another to act as different outlooks. There were a couple of stormtroopers on one of the bridges, and we rushed them immediately.

"Hey, what the h-"

We took them out before they could finish their sentence, and they fell off the bridge to the ground far below. I looked up and saw that we still had a ways to go before we reached the top of the Origin tree. We might as well be climbing a mountain! The bridges were a nice change in terrain, though. We walked along the bridges until we got to the last hut. It looked like some fighting had happened here. The roof of the hut had collapsed, and there were burn marks scattered all over the place.

"Do you sense a force echo to see what happened here?" I asked Cal. He looked around and then shook his head at me.

"I don't. Usually, I see a small blue light, and when I touch it, I feel the force echo, but I don't see anything around here. Wait a minute…Do you hear that?"

We both got quiet and listened to a sudden buzzing sound. The noise got louder and louder until we both knew what it was.

A ship.

In front of us, the colors gray and red came into view as an Imperial ship rose just off the edge of the collapsed hut. The ship was so close that the wind it was creating was blinding. Cal and I raised our arms in front of our faces until the ship stopped rising and floated in place. The landing hatch on the bottom of the ship opened up, revealing a gigantic Imperial soldier. The soldier looked to be a Dowutin, a species I'd rarely seen in my life. The only time I met one was on Hosnian Prime. They were having a galaxy-wide fighting tournament at the city arena, and a couple of them had dropped by the bar before the match. While aggressive-looking, they were actually really nice! The fact that they're typically around eight feet tall doesn't help their case as far as telling people they're a friendly species.

However, I sensed the Dark Side in the soldier in front of us.

"Shit," Cal whispered, taking a step back.

"What, what is it?" I asked quietly.

"That's the 9th Sister. She was with Trilla on Bracca when they found me," he said, his breath shaky. Poor Cal…The memories of that day must be flooding in all at once right now. I looked at the 9th Sister, and she was giving us the evilest of grins.

She let out a disturbing laugh as Cal glared at her. On instinct, I took Cal's hand and curled my fingers over his. Cal looked at our hands and then into my eyes. I could see the fear in his eyes, but that fear slowly dissolved the more he stared into mine. It was quick, but it was my silent way of saying, "It's okay, I've got you."

"A Bracca scrap rat playing Jedi? I can't believe it! And what's this!? A pathetic Hosnian Prime waitress along for the ride?" The 9th Sister taunted. I gritted my teeth at the mention of my old job. I guess it was only a matter of time before they traced me back to that planet. Then again, Trilla had said she knew my name and my past. I didn't want my old boss and coworkers to know about who I am, but oh well.

"I told the Grand Inquisitor that you two would never return here. It was stupid to come in the first place, but I was certain it wouldn't happen after we squashed that joke of a resistance!" she yelled at us from the ship. She then made a sound of an almost sexual nature and widened her grin.

"...Mmmmm, I love when I'm wrong," she finished. She turned, and the landing hatch closed back into the ship.

"Get ready!" Cal yelled to me, lifting his lightsaber defensively. I did the same as the ship shot two bright green shots at us. We jumped back, and the shots hit the wooden floor beneath our feet. The wood immediately broke away, and we found ourselves falling through it.

"Ahh!"

I yelped in surprise as we dropped down onto a muddy slope. The slope was extremely slippery, and we held onto each other so that we wouldn't fall.

"Try to keep your footing!" Cal said to me. I felt my body start to slide down the slope, and Cal followed beside me.

"Stay close!" I yelled at him. I had a horrible feeling in my stomach that we would be separated at any moment now. We slid down the muddy slope at an increasing pace. To our right, the 9th Sister's ship hovered at our level and shot more bright green blots at us.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!"

We steered out of the way of the shots, and a line of green patches came into view. Uh-oh, that meant…

"We're about to ju-" My voice ran out as we hit the green patch, and it bounced us up to the muddy path above. We hit another green patch, and it went like that for a while. It felt like we were circling the tree more and more. Every now and then, the 9th Sister's ship would find us and shoot more shots. We slid out of the way until we dropped down onto the final mud slope. I could see a pond at the end of it, and the fear of being trapped in the water made me shake.

"We need to come up with a plan before she shoots us in the water up ahead!" I told Cal. He cursed under his breath and looked at BD-1.

"BD, any ideas!?"

BD-1 gave us a loud beep, and he hid his head in the crook of the boy's neck. Before we could figure out a plan, the 9th Sister's ship flew over the pond in front of us and pointed its guns right at us.

"This is not looking good!" Cal said with frustration. I tried to think of something, but I soon didn't need to come up with a plan. Overhead, a gigantic white bird flew past us and attacked the ship's wing. A fiery explosion roared from the ship, shaking the branches beside us. The bird's attack forced the 9th Sister to steer her ship away from us, and the bird chased after it. I let out a sigh of relief and then was forced to hold my breath as we fell off the muddy slope and into the pond water. I hit the water like a bullet and came up gasping for air.

"Luna, you okay!?" Cal asked through strained breaths of his own. He swam to me and held me steady to make it easier to swim. I nodded and rubbed the water out of my eyes.

"Y-Yes, that was just a lot. Are you okay?" I asked back.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just…catch our breaths for a second."

We swam in place for a few seconds as the experience we had just gone through rattled inside our minds. I felt more flustered than I normally would. There was something about the Imperial sisters that got to me more than an ordinary trooper or officer. They subconsciously brought me back to that day of Order 66, and every time that day crosses my mind, I feel like I'm having a panic attack. Cal stared at me worryingly and swam a little closer.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're hyperventilating."

I looked up at him and let out another pinched sigh.

"I'm sorry, Cal. I'm just having a harder time than usual. Can I…" I stopped and blushed when I realized what I was about to ask. Cal moved his hand from my side to my arm. His hand was warm compared to the brisk pond water.

"Can you what? What is it?"

I shook away my embarrassment and continued with my request.

"I was gonna ask if I could just lay my head on your shoulder. It might help me calm down…"

Cal's eyes widened, and he inched a little closer to me.

"Y-Yeah! I don't mind, Luna! I'm here for you," he told me softly. I felt another fluttering in my chest, but it wasn't one of panic. Every time he showed care and warmth toward me, it made me like him even more. I could feel my affection for him constantly increasing, especially at this moment. I showed him an appreciative smile and laid my forehead on his shoulder. Whether it was to avoid being awkward or comfort me even more, Cal moved his hand to my back and held me close. I closed my eyes and leaned into his neck. His skin was so smooth and inviting. Every time I let out an exhausted breath, I could see goosebumps form on his skin and then fade away like a breath in cold weather. I stayed there in a euphoric-like daze as my breathing slowly returned back to normal. I was brought out of my trance by the sound of Cal's voice.

"You alright now? You sound much better," he said with relief and a genuine smile. I couldn't help but smile back at him, and I lifted my head from his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm good now. Thank you, Cal. It…means a lot that you care about me," I said truthfully. He seemed almost surprised by the statement.

"Of course, I care about you, Luna. You're the most important person in my life."

The most important person in his life? Me?

"I am?" I said. If I could, I would be jumping for joy right now.

"Yep. Don't get me wrong, I love Cere and Greez, and they've become like a family to me ever since they helped me escape Bracca. I'm a little agitated with Cere, but I can't say I don't care about her. But you? I've spent 90% of my time with you ever since I found you at the bar you worked at. The other 10% is when I had to go to sleep, and even then we've slept beside each other a few times. I want nothing more than for you to trust me and enjoy being with me on our adventures together. As far as I know, you're the only other living Jedi in the universe, and I'm going to do my best to support you and make you feel some sense of happiness in our messed up lives," he explained. He went more in-depth than I was expecting, but I loved every word. He must have realized how much he said to me, and he chuckled.

"...Uhh, damn sorry for going on and on like that. I didn't mean to give you a speech or anything," he laughed. I smiled and shook my head.

"No, don't be sorry. I loved every second of it! I feel the same way about you!"

We both laughed, and he ran his hand through his reddish hair, keeping it there.

"I'd be sad if you didn't. I feel more comfortable talking to you than the others too. Sometimes I accidentally ramble because of it."

I giggled and ran a hand through my own hair. It was beginning to fall in front of my eyes.

"Feel free to ramble away when you're with me. I could use a little rambling in my life."

"Okay, that was lame," he told me before laughing again.

"You're right, it was," I said back as we searched for a shore of some kind. We found one in a small cave a few feet away from us, and we exited the water. My ex-coworkers would kick me for not attempting to make a move on Cal just then. I don't think that would have been a good idea for a few reasons.

For one, we were in a gross mossy pond, not exactly a romantic place...Second, that was a genuine moment rather than a flirtatious one. I feel like that would've been inappropriate or something. Third, I don't even know if Cal likes me in that way. Yes, he said he cares about me a lot, but he could just mean as a family member. I'll make a move on him when I'm confident he has feelings for me.

And for the record, I really hope he has feelings for me!

"There's a path that goes up from here. You ready to keep moving, Luna?"

I did my best to dry myself off before giving him a thumbs-up.

"Yep! Let's go!"

We ran up the path and stopped at another set of those green patches. There was one in front of us and then a higher one after that. If you tilted your head up, you could almost see how high the patches went.

"Oh, good," I muttered.

"Yeah…Let's get jumping I guess," Cal said as he stepped towards the patch. BD-1 made a series of beeps, and Cal stopped in his tracks. I could only decipher so much of what he said, but it had something to do with the distance between each patch being too high. A normal jump wouldn't make it.

"Thanks for letting us know before we found out the hard way, little buddy."

BD-1 happily beeped again and earned a pat on the head from Cal and me.

"Well, it looks like a normal jump isn't going to cut it," Cal said, sounding a bit annoyed. I thought for a moment, and a faint memory crossed my mind.

"Do you remember when our masters taught us how to do a jump mid-air?"

"Like a double jump?" He asked. I nodded.

"Exactly! I had completely forgotten about it until now. Normally, we would see a vision of our masters teaching us the lesson, but you don't see a blue light of energy anywhere, do you?"

He shook his head.

"Nope."

"In that case, I remember Master Secura teaching me it. You basically have to use the force as a foundation for that second jump. If you can use the force to help you advance into that second jump, then it will work every time. We should probably practice, though. It has been five years…" I explained, biting my lip in anxiety.

"I barely remember that lesson, it's been so long. Let's see if we can do it," he replied. We tried jumping in place and then attempted to use the force to essentially make an invisible floor beneath us in the air.

It's kind of hard to explain!

I managed to get the second jump on my fifth try and Cal on his seventh. I jumped up in the air and then did a front flip even higher before landing on my feet. It was pretty cool! I felt awesome! I watched Cal do it over and over until he was consistently able to make that second jump.

"Good job!" I cheered. He grinned and did the same back to me.

"You too! You think we're ready to try making these jumps?"

"I hope so," I told him. I walked to the patch, and it bounced me upward toward the next one. I focused on using the force and made a second jump to the next one until I reached the very top. Cal was close behind, and he landed next to me without any hiccups. He gave me an excited high five, and we looked up to see if there were any more patches. There weren't any patches, but there was a small opening of light. Maybe that was the end of the cave?

We didn't want to be in this cave anymore, so we hurried in the direction of the light. The path led us outside, and the bird that had saved us from the 9th Sister was laid out below. I frowned and turned to Cal.

"It looks injured. We should try to help."

"I think so too," he said. I have a natural affinity for animals, especially those that helped fight off the 9th Sister! We jumped down to where the humongous bird was, and it lifted its head at us slowly.

"It's okay! We're here to help you! We're friends!" Cal told the bird. It seemed to understand what he was saying and looked at its wing. We looked at its wing and saw that it had a sharp piece of the 9th Sister's ship sticking out of it.

"Okay, we're going to pull that piece out. It's going to hurt but it will make you feel better," I said to the bird sweetly. I tried to distract it as Cal lifted his hand and focused on the force. In the blink of an eye, he force-pulled the ship piece from the bird's wing. The bird cried out in pain, and I quickly injected it with a healing stim.

"There you go. That's better, right?" I asked softly. The bird stopped screaming and moved its wing back and forth. I think the pain's gone! Grateful, the bird lowered its head to our level and allowed us to pet its beak before flying away. We watched it go with a smile on both of our faces.

"That was amazing," I said.

"I'm glad we were able to return the favor after it saved our asses from the 9th Sister," he said happily. We scanned the area to see where the next path or trail was, but all we saw were branches. I saw one of the branches move in my peripheral vision, and it was the bird landing on the end of the branch. It came back!

"Cal, look!"

I pointed at the bird, and we walked to the branch. The bird gave us an endearing look and lowered its head. There was a small brown ridge on its back that almost looked like a saddle. I wonder if the Wookies have ever flown these.

"Is he giving us a ride? That would be great if he was. BD-1, can you scan that bird real quick?" Cal asked the droid. A faint light emitted itself from BD's lenses, and a holographic report showed up soon after.

"A Shyyyo bird. Neat! According to this, these birds are extremely friendly and protective of those that they trust. When a Shyyyo bird lowers its head, it might want the person to pet it or ride it as a sign of trust."

Aww, so sweet! We helped heal his wing, so he must trust us now!

I carefully walked on the branch to the bird and lowered its head even more. I looked at Cal and cautiously climbed onto the bird's back. The brown ridge acted as a support grip for me as Cal got on as well. I scooted back so he could sit in front of me.

"Okay, buddy, we're following you," Cal told the bird gently. The bird chirped and lifted off of its perch on the branch. An exhilarating wind blasted our faces as the bird flew into a small dive. I wrapped my arms around Cal's waist and held on for dear life.

This was both terrifying and thrilling at the same time! Cal, of course, thought it was 100% thrilling.

"This is so much fun!" He laughed. It really was like being on a roller coaster. I laughed and wiped my hair out of my face.

"It is, I'm also peeing my pants!"

"Ha! Just hold on tighter if you think you're going to fall!"

I locked my arms together in front of his abdomen, and I could hear him laughing again. He's enjoying this way too much! The bird flew around the Origin Tree, giving us a grand view of Kashyyyk. There were so many peaceful mountains below us and in the distance. A lot of it looked like it had been spared from the threat of war so far.

"There's so much the Empire hasn't touched. This may sound dumb, but it gives me hope that we still have a chance to beat them!" He said to me. I smiled in response.

"I don't think that's dumb at all!"

The bird flew for a moment longer before landing on a ledge of the tree. A new path! We hopped off the bird and thanked him for helping us again.

"You've been a big help! I wish we knew what your name was," Cal said. I grinned and tried to come up with a good name.

"Birdy!"

Cal raised his eyebrows at me.

"Birdy? That's the name you chose?"

"Yep!" I told him gleefully. He stared at me before shaking his head.

"Birdy it is, then."

He walked away, and I giggled as I waved at the bird. It chirped at us one last time before flying away again. I ran to catch up with Cal, and he stopped, almost causing me to run into him.

"What's wrong?"

"I think we just found what Cordova wanted us to find."

"Do you think it's the Astrium?" I asked.

"I hope so," he replied. We walked forward and saw a familiar Zeffo design on a stone tablet. It was hidden in a narrow path of the tree that most people on the planet would not find. BD-1 scanned the tablet, and then Cordova showed himself in front of us with his signature greeting.

"My friends, I've found it. The artifact I've been looking for for ages. The Astrium," he said, holding an alien-looking key in his hand. "...Thank you, Tarfful! You've been more helpful than you know! This key was used millennia ago by the Zeffo. It's a piece of galactic history…I can't believe it. I was unable to find the Astrium in Kujets tomb on Dathomir, but now I don't have to. The Force has provided a new path!"

The hologram ended, and I blinked a few times.

"Wait, so no Astrium?" I wondered out loud, confused. Cal looked as if a lightbulb had lit above his head.

"There isn't one here because Cordova found it. However, there's still one on Dathomir that he couldn't find that we can use; Kujets Tomb! I bet you and I could find it in no time!" he said enthusiastically.

"I know we can," I cheered, "...glad we have a new destination to explore. Though, I've heard Dathomir can be pretty dangerous."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, if we've survived all the places we've been to so far, then Dathomir won't be any different."

I smiled at him, but that smile didn't last long. That buzzing came ringing in my ears again, and I knew what it was from.

"Hilarious that you say that! You two aren't gonna get the chance to go to Dathomir once I'm done with you."

We turned to look behind the Zeffo tablet and saw an arena-like opening. In said opening was a monstrous figure standing motionless in the wind. It was her. The 9th Sister. She had landed her ship on one of the branches and was pacing back and forth in front of it.

"Then again, it would be a sight to behold seeing the two of you join the Dark Side. The capture, the torture, the humiliation, the transition. Oh, to see you two give in. Now that's something I would pay to see!" she yelled. Man, does she ever shut up?

"I'm getting tired of hearing you rant. None of that is going to happen," I told her angrily. She tilted her head in interest.

"Wow, the Jedi bitch has a tongue on her! Alright, show me what trash is capable of. I'm itching for a fight," she snarled as she ignited her lightsaber. She had a double-bladed lightsaber that lit everything up red. She was going to need it.

"Let's take her down, Luna," Cal said, igniting his own lightsaber. I did the same and got serious.

"Yeah, let's go!"

And that is the end of the chapter! Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter! I had actually started on it a month earlier, but then I got side tracked. The good thing is that it's a longer chapter! I hope you guys liked it, and I love hearing your comments about it! Finally, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys next time!