Hey guys, it's time for another chapter! I'm hoping to get this chapter out much quicker than I have been doing. We're finally going to Dathomir in this chapter and meeting a certain someone! I also have a special art commission of Cal and Luna coming up that I'm really excited about! Please look forward to that! Until then, here's the chapter!

Ch. 17: To Dathomir

(Luna's POV)

I ran at the 9th Sister full speed and twirled my entire body in an all-out attack. The giant brute blocked the attack, and I felt the full weight of her body vibrate through my own. I cringed at the feel and swung again. She blocked the attack once more.

She was strong. Her species gave her natural strength, but she had even more due to all the training she had done in her life. Throughout all of my attacks, she never stopped teasing me.

"Is that all you've got!?"

Cal came from the side and slashed at her, managing to nick her shoulder. Her defense against me faltered a bit, and I got in a small hit as well near her hip. She grumbled under her breath and forced me back. I flew into the air from the sheer power of her push and landed on my feet. Cal continued with his own barrage, and I tried to circle around her. Not only did I have to worry about hurting her, but I also needed to make sure I didn't hit Cal as well. However, after all the time we've fought together, we pretty much knew how each other fought. I sprinted behind the 9th Sister while Cal distracted her and targeted the back of her legs.

"That's not going to work!"

The 9th Sister deflected Cal's saber and then grabbed him by the face. Her whole hand fit around his head, and he was powerless as she slung him at me. I gasped in surprise and lifted my hand. Using the Force, I was able to stop him from hitting me and set him down on the ground safely. He looked a little winded after being thrown like a ragdoll.

"Are you alright!?" I asked in bewilderment. He shook his face in response, trying to regain himself from the spinning that was probably happening in his head.

"Y-Yeah, I'm good. Didn't expect that at all!"

"Me neither," I said, almost jokingly. The stars finally disappeared from his vision, and he turned to face our enemy.

"Well, now we know she uses more than just her lightsaber."

"Hahaha! You weigh next to nothing, Jedi! You sure you're a match for me!?" the 9th Sister screamed at us as she cracked her humongous knuckles. I rolled my eyes at her and began to whisper to Cal.

"What should we do? Attacking her at the same time seemed to work somewhat. At this point, I'll take what we can get."

Cal nodded and took an offensive stance.

"Then let's keep doing that."

He sprinted at her and did a double jump before bringing the end of his blade down on her. She blocked his attack and dropped down to one knee from the impact. I used this opportunity to attack her legs again. I ran and did a power slide that would force her to jump. Unfortunately for her, Cal kept steady and caused her to lower down into the ground even more.

"Son of a-"

Right before my attack landed, she twisted her body and pushed Cal back. She then turned to me and tried to push me as well. I felt my body shift away from her, but not before the end of my lightsaber hit her left knee. She yelled out a multitude of curse words and gripped her double-bladed saber.

"That's it!"

Jumping up, she stomped down on the ground, sending a shock wave toward us. We both jumped over the wave and then blocked both sides of her saber as she slashed at us. Even with a double-bladed lightsaber, she still struggled against two Jedi. She was lucky that she was wearing armor because the hits that connected would have made her bleed even more than she was.

"Ahh! What is happening!" She screamed in frustration. She kicked Cal to the side and then backhanded me with a faster speed than expected. I hit the wood floor of the tree we were fighting on and then rolled out of the way before she could slam her boot on me. I rubbed my face and winced as it began to turn red. That really hurt…

"Aww, does the little Jedi's face bruise easily?" she teased again. It's funny that she's resorted to teasing us again, seeing as how we're winning. I frowned at her and glanced at Cal. He was holding his abdomen, but he seemed okay.

"I guess they teach you to talk constantly in the Empire, huh?" Cal egged her on.

"No, but they do teach confidence; something I've got plenty of!"

Cal gave me a look and then ran at her again. He did a Jedi combo that I had only seen during the Clone Wars, and the two clashed sabers against each other again. Cal gritted his teeth as he tried to overpower her. The veins in his biceps and forearms bulged, and I could tell he was giving it his all. The 9th Sister grinned and took one of her hands off the hilt of her lightsaber. Cal's eyes widened at the fact that she could hold him off with only one arm. She closed her hand into a fit and inched it back to punch him in the face.

"Hey!" I screamed in an attempt to lure her away from Cal. She didn't pay attention to me at all, and I found myself running toward the two as fast as I could.

"Damn it," Cal said in a struggling tone. He closed his eyes in anticipation of the blow he was about to receive, but that blow never came. He opened his eyes after a few seconds to see my green lightsaber swinging in front of him. The 9th Sister was so intent on pummeling Cal that she had forgotten I was even here! How is that even possible!?

Regardless, I used her short attention span to my advantage and attacked the hand that was about to punch Cal. She didn't have any armor on her hands, and a good portion of my blade connected with the end of her wrist. I felt another vibration run through my body, only this time I was satisfied with what I felt. It was a very specific feeling; the feeling of cutting an enemy's body part off. Her yellow-skinned hand slithered off her arm and fell to the ground between us, her fingers still twitching. She let out the loudest of screams and dashed backward. Cal fell forward from the sudden disappearance of her weight, and I put my hand on his chest to catch him. I could feel his heartbeat against my palm, and it was lightning-fast. He dropped his arm to his side tiredly, and he gave me a relieved smile.

"Thanks, Luna."

I flashed him a smile and looked over at the 9th Sister.

"Thanks for distracting her with your face. She really wanted to punch you!" I exclaimed. He let out a deep exhale and shook his head.

"I know. It's a good thing she didn't. I got enough bruises and scars on my face to last a lifetime."

"If you ask me, I think you look great!" I told him, gently touching my hands to his cheeks. He smiled humbly at me before the 9th Sister cut our cutesy conversation short.

"You bitch! You cut off my hand!" she screamed. We turned to her and got ready for another attack. She held her arm for a few seconds before straightening herself out. The look of pain on her face turned to one of amusement.

"Ugh, it doesn't matter. The empire teaches you how to fight in all situations, even if you lose an arm. I'm no less the warrior I was before! You hear me!?"

She ignited her red lightsaber again and ran at us. I noticed that she was slower now. Blood gushed out of her missing limb, and I was willing to bet that she was beginning to feel lightheaded. She left a trail behind her as she ran, and Cal met her blade with his in no time. I tried to attack her, but she lifted the other end of her saber and blocked my attack. Now she had both of us pushing on her.

"Now this is a challenge! Even with one arm, I'm going to love bringing you both in. Just imagine! We'll be working side by side in finding all of those Force-sensitive children! I can't wait to savor each one's death!" she yelled violently. Cal looked like he had had enough and yelled back at her with the same amount of vigor.

"We won't let you hurt them!"

The 9th Sister's devilish grin fell, and she bared her gnarled teeth at us.

"You can't stop the Empire!"

"We can stop you!" Cal screamed as he twisted his blade and did a flip over her. I had seen Cal do this trick before, so I gave him some space and jumped back. The 9th Sister was either too caught off guard or too woozy to comprehend what was happening. She looked like a deer in headlights as Cal landed on his feet and used the Force to push her. He concentrated all his energy into the Force to push her over the edge of the tree trunk arena. My eyes went big seeing her giant body fly over the edge. I looked at Cal, and he looked just as surprised. Running to the edge, I peered down and saw her intimidating figure become smaller and smaller. It was tough to see through the clouds, but I narrowed my eyes and saw her body lying on the ground floor. A blanket of blood surrounded her body, and she was motionless.

There was no way she survived that fall.

"You did it, Cal…" I muttered. He swallowed hard and looked at me.

"No, we did it. We took down an inquisitor…"

We stared at each other for a moment and then hugged. I laid my head on his shoulder and enjoyed our embrace while BD-1 happily beeped and booped. Cal did the same, and I could feel him smile. We had miraculously beaten the 9th Sister. Not only that, we had beaten her without suffering significant injuries. I felt like our teamwork was almost perfect this time.

"You were awesome," Cal said as he lifted his head from my shoulder. I gave him a huge grin and patted his arm.

"You were too! That was the strongest Force-push I've seen you do!" I praised him. He rubbed the back of his head.

"To be honest, I didn't know I could do one that strong. Maybe my focus was more intense than I thought. Doesn't matter now, I guess. We beat her and found what we needed. The only problem is getting back to the ground," he said with dread, slowly realizing how high we were. I bit my lip and looked around for a path down.

"No path," I said with an anxious laugh.

"How about we try jumping off the edge and then land on our feet," he joked. I rolled my eyes and placed my hands on my hips.

"I uhh…don't think that would go well for us."

"Yeah, me neither," he grumbled. As if on cue, a gigantic, white bird flew onto the branch next to us and lowered its head down to our feet.

"Birdy!" I yelled in excitement. Cal snorted at the mention of the name I had picked out for our avian friend. He ran his hand through the snow-like feathers of Birdy's wing, and Birdy almost purred in satisfaction. Can birds purr like cats? I don't think so…

"Are you able to take us down to ground level, Birdy?" I asked sweetly. The bird cooed at me and lowered its head again for us to get on.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Cal and I got onto the bird's back, and he lifted off the branch effortlessly. With the flap of his wings, Birdy distanced himself from the Origin tree and then descended to the ground. It felt like we were freefalling at how fast he was going. I had to hold onto Cal's waist extra hard this time, which I honestly wasn't going to complain about.

Oh, be quiet, let me have my moment!

It took Birdy all but thirty seconds to get to the ground level of Kashyyyk. He found a large enough area for him to fit in and then let us off near the rebel base. He was extremely intelligent and considerate! We couldn't have found a better friend! We hopped off his back, and it felt so good to be on solid ground again. Yes, the tree was solid ground, but just knowing there were no extreme drops beside us made it a much better feeling.

"Thank you, Birdy! You were super brave and helpful!" I said to him as I petted his beak.

"Yeah, we can't thank you enough!" Cal added, his hand beside mine. Birdy closed his eyes and enjoyed our affection before lifting up off the ground.

"You be safe, okay!?" I called out to him. We watched as he flew back to the Origin Tree and disappeared from our view. It was sad to see him go, but I was glad to have met him. I don't think I'll ever forget the experience we just had.

"I'm going to miss him," I said to Cal.

"Me too. At least we were able to take out all of the stormtroopers who were on the tree so he doesn't have to worry about them. He deserves to live his best life up there."

"I think so too," I said. Being near the rebel base, I looked around and saw The Mantis sitting near the hangar pad. Time to reunite with the rest of our crew. We began walking towards the ship, and a thought came to mind.

"It just occurred to me that we never talked to Cere on the comms once while we were on the tree…"

Cal's face went blue, and he crossed his arms in annoyance.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to talk to her anyway…"

I looked at him, and he was staring at the ground. Sighing, I put my hands behind my back as we walked.

"You're still mad at her for what she did?" I asked.

"Yes," he grumbled.

"Cal, you said you would try to make up with her," I reminded him. His green eyes widened for a split second before returning to their normal state. I think he just remembered the conversation we had before we left the ship yesterday. He went from crossing his arms over his chest to putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I guess I did…"

He then sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"...I'm sorry, Luna, I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything. I'm still annoyed that she lied to us, and I can't get that out of my head," he told me quietly. His tone was apologetic. I put on a smile to lighten the mood, and I could tell it made him feel better.

"And that's totally understandable. Don't get me wrong, I haven't forgotten about that either. It's like I said before, I don't want to see you two fighting, and then our little family breaking apart. And you're not being a jerk, Cal. You're being a human with feelings," I said, trying to sound poetic. It probably sounded dumb coming from me, though. It managed to get a small laugh from Cal, so I'll take that as a win.

"I don't want us to break apart either. I just…need more time to forgive. During my Jedi training, Master Tapal always taught me to forgive rather than focus on hate. If you focus on hate, you give in to evil and introduce yourself to the dark side…I always found it hard to just let things go. There's no hate in my heart for Cere, just hurt…"

He stopped talking and sighed again.

"I'm sorry, I should stop talking about it."

I walked beside him and listened until he finished speaking. Putting my hand on his arm, I gave him a sympathetic look.

"No, I like listening to what you have to say, Cal. Everything you just said made sense, and you should know you can tell me anything. I'm not going to make fun of you or think you're annoying. I'm here for you, just like you've been here for me in the past when I talked about my feelings. It's always good to have a person who listens to what you're going through. As for Cere, I'll help you in any way I can to strengthen your bond with her. You're not alone on this," I told him.

He looked at me in a way I couldn't quite describe, but there was a brightness in his eyes that gave me hope. He looked down at the ground again and chuckled.

"I think I needed to hear that. Thanks, Luna…really," he said softly. His voice is so soothing when it gets soft like that. It's laced with so much care and affection that I felt my heart skip a beat or two. I became overwhelmed with happiness and wrapped my arms around him in a big hug.

"Oh, it's no problem at all! I'm sorry, but you make me so happy sometimes!" I yelled. He laughed out loud and hugged me back.

"You make me happy too!"

We stayed like that until we reached the ship, and then we finally let go of each other. People who saw us probably thought we were crazy. We were in our own little world. Just before opening the ship's hatch, I turned to Cal.

"Okay, just try your best around her. Remember, I'm right beside you," I told him. He nodded and pressed the button for the ship hatch to lower beside us.

"Thanks again, Luna. I really appreciate it."

I happily nodded at him before we entered the ship. Upon entering, we looked to our right to see Cere and Greez setting the table for dinner. They had a plate set out for us as well. They must've figured we would be back around this time. I'm glad they did because I was starving. I placed my hand on my stomach and confirmed that, yes, my stomach was indeed empty. BD-1 hopped off Cal's shoulder to greet the two, and I followed after him. I looked back, and Cal was shuffling awkwardly in place.

"Let's eat, Cal," I told him, patting the seat next to me as I sat at the table. He nodded and sat next to me. Looking at Cere, she was being awkward as well.

"So uhh…Cordova believed the key to the vault is on Dathomir," he told them. Greez walked over and set down a plate in front of us. I examined the food and saw that he had made steaks and mashed potatoes. The interesting twist was that the mashed potatoes were blue! I mean, if it tastes good it doesn't matter what color it is.

"You two find your Wookie?" He asked in that happy-go-lucky voice of his.

"Yep, we did," I answered, "we also made a bird friend along the way! It was super cool!" I said before digging in. The potatoes were really good! They had just the right amount of salt on them too!

"Things are bad out there, though," Cal said, "The Empire's everywhere."

"Inquisitors?" Cere squeaked from her seat. Her awkwardness was making it harder for Cal to relax. Under the table, I put my hand on Cal's, and he gave me a look of relief.

"Well, Trilla…Er, I mean the Second Sister is still chasing us, but we've lost her for now…Luna and I defeated the 9th Sister…" he told them, his voice trailing off once the sentence was done. Okay, this is not going as well as I'd hoped.

"Wow, the 9th Sister, huh? Can you imagine having eight other sisters? I'd rather cut my fingers off, I tell ya," Gree blabbered on. He picked up the salt shaker from the table and started sprinkling salt on his mashed potatoes.

"I don't think they're related, Greez," I said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, you're right, kid," he replied, still shaking the salt over his food. Everyone went back to eating, and an awkward silence between Cal and Cere could be felt. The only sounds that you could hear were BD-1's occasional droid beeps and Greez's salt. I noticed that Cere kept glancing over at Cal. Her face had guilt written all over it. I looked back at Greez, and he was still happily sprinkling salt all over his steak and potatoes. After a few more seconds, I calmly grabbed the salt shaker and set it back on the table.

"I think that's enough, Greez."

He peeked down at his plate, and an audible gasp emitted from his lips.

"Damn, you're right, kiddo. Thanks for stopping me; I was distracted!"

"I could see that!" I teased. He took a spoonful of his potatoes and put it in his mouth. His face immediately twisted into something sour, and he set his spoon down.

"Cal, when I was captured by the empire…" Cere started speaking to him, and I became silent. It was slightly comical that Cere thought this was a good opportunity to interject with what she wanted to say to Cal. I glanced at him, and he was listening but not looking her in the eye.

"I resisted them. I swore that I would die before I talked. But then…Then this dark figure came to me. It was worse than any nightmare. Worse than anything I had ever experienced. Even then, I still resisted. But…in the end, I wasn't strong enough. I gave them Trilla. There's nothing I can do to make that right. I think about it every single day believe me. I'm haunted by it. That doesn't mean we can't save the others on that holocron, though. We-"

Cal raised his hand and shook his head.

"It's okay, Cere. You don't have to keep explaining yourself. When we fought Trilla, she talked about becoming an inquisitor. She said that it was inevitable. You went through the same thing she did, and you didn't become one, so I know that's not true," he said to her. She opened her mouth, and he stopped her again.

"...I've been thinking about it a lot, and Luna has helped me understand where you're coming from. So, what I'm trying to say is...I'm not mad at you anymore. You don't have to keep worrying about it."

Once done talking, he went back to eating his food like everything was normal again. Cere stared at him for a second and her shoulders relaxed a bit. She then looked at me and whispered a silent "thank you." I smiled and nodded before eating my food. Being the messy eater that I am, it wasn't long before the plate was clean. As I stood up to put my dish in the sink, I nudged Cal with my elbow and then whispered to him in his ear.

"I'm really proud of you," I said. The skin of his cheeks tinted red and brought out his freckles even more. I giggled to myself and cleaned my plate. I then spun around in place and pointed at the holographic table in the living room.

"To Dathomir then?"

Greez visibly shivered at the mere mention of the planet.

"Y-Y-Yep! We should be there by tomorrow!"

"Great! I'm probably going to head to bed. Today was kind of crazy…Thanks for the food, as always, Greez!"

"No problem, kid! I knew you'd like it!"

I decided to head to bed after everything Cal and I had been through today. I didn't notice until now, but my eyes felt heavy, and they burned from exhaustion. I walked into the hallway, and Cal followed me.

"Hey, before you go to bed, I just wanted to say thanks again. I'm really glad you're here with me, Luna," he said, that red on his cheeks never disappearing from his face. Here came those skipped heartbeats again.

"Aww, Cal, you're so sweet. You were the mature one who decided to let it go. I'm proud of you; and you should be proud of yourself too!" I told him. He rubbed his arm shyly and did a little wave.

"Only because of our talk earlier…Goodnight, Luna."

I smiled and waved back.

"Goodnight, Cal."

I entered my room, and the door slid closed behind me. He's just so…what's the word? Dreamy? Yeah, dreamy! Oh no, I'm starting to sound like a teenage fangirl or something. I can't help it that Cal is super cute and kind! He's smart too! Those are like three of the best qualities a guy can have! I just love talking to and interacting with him. He's so wholesome!

"Okay, you need to go to bed or you're gonna be thinking about him all night," I told myself. I cleared my mind of the boy whose room was across from mine and walked to my bed. I slung my gear on the end of it and then took a quick shower before bed. I like to be clean before going to sleep for the night. The thought of dirty sheets is gross to me.

After my shower, I got into bed and laid my head on the pillow. The events of the day ran through my mind as I tried to drift off to sleep. That moment of Cal and I in the pond stood out the most. His body against mine as I rested my face on his neck. Yeah, I should stop…I mentally cleared my head and focused on falling asleep. I succeeded in my goal soon after, and everything went dark.

My eyes fluttered open to the dim-lit room. I sat up in the bed and rubbed the sand out of my eyes. I let out a huge yawn and got out of bed once I knew I had gotten all of the sand. I quickly used the restroom and got dressed for the day. Knowing that Dathomir was more of a temperate planet, I dressed accordingly. Strapping on my boots, I walked out into the hallway and saw that Cal's door was open. He was finishing getting ready as well.

"Sleep okay?" I asked while knocking on his door. He smiled when he saw me and nodded.

"Yeah, especially after yesterday. What about you?"

"Same. I think I fell asleep pretty quickly! I hope we're able to find that key on Dathomir. Something tells me this might be the most dangerous place we've been to so far," I told him with both mild panic and genuine excitement. He finished putting on his boots and stood up from his bed.

"I was thinking the exact same thing. As long as we stay close together, we'll be okay."

I can stay close to you as long as you want, Cal. Okay, Luna, you seriously need to quit.

I resisted my naughty thoughts and saw that Cal was giving me an amused look.

"H-Huh?"

"Are you okay?" he asked, almost laughing.

"Y-yeah! I mean, yes! Sorry, I got caught in a daze just now," I explained frantically and red-faced. He had the biggest smile on his face as he walked past me into the living room.

"You're funny," he said fondly. I smiled at myself and followed after him. I'm so weird sometimes. I walked into the kitchen and saw BD-1 planting another seed he had found in the terrarium. The other seeds from Zeffo and Kashyyyk were sprouting nicely and were becoming full-fledged plants.

"These look lovely, BD!"

He hopped in place in gratitude, and I patted him on the head. Looking towards the cockpit, the ship exited hyperspace, and the planet of Dathomir came into view. It was a beautiful dark crimson in color, and there were glimpses of white on certain parts of it. Greez entered the atmosphere of the planet and landed in an area based on Cordova's coordinates.

"Alright, you two do what you have to do and leave me out of it. The ship is my safe space. I got the ship, food, enclosed walls, and a couple Jedi. I'm good. I'm good," Greez said over and over. I knew he was going to have a panic attack over being here. I gripped the shoulders of his pilot seat and leaned forward.

"You'll be fine. We'll be back later."

"Yeah, that's what you always say," he replied.

"And we always come back, don't we!?" I said back to him. He waved his arms at me and went back to complaining. He was an expert at that. Cal was outside with Cere, their conversation too quiet for me to hear. I walked down the hatch to join them.

"Both of you be safe and contact me if you need anything," she said to him and me.

"Don't worry, Cere, we will," Cal said as she walked back on the ship. I turned back to Cal and asked him what that was about.

"Patching things up some more. That, and warning me about the challenges we might face ahead. What did you and Greez talk about?"

"I told him not to piss his pants while we were gone," I laughed. Cal chuckled and started walking along the path that strayed away from the ship. The terrain of Dathomir was rough and rocky. Everything looked as if it were made of either rock or red mud. Every now and then, a twisted tree branch covered parts of the ground in a mangled mess. The planet was desolate, and there was no sign of life anywhere.

"This place is kind of creepy," I noted as we climbed on some vines to reach higher ground.

"You're telling me," Cal said back. We made it to the top and saw a few buildings up ahead. Did that mean there were people here? I definitely got a ghost town vibe from this place.

Roar!

Cal and I took a step back at the sound of a deep roar. From behind the corner of one of the buildings, an ape-like beast galloped at us and threw a punch. We rolled to the side out of the way, and the monkey circled back to us.

"What was that!?" I yelled.

"I don't know, but he doesn't seem friendly! Here he comes!"

The monkey leaped at Cal and tried punching him. Cal defended himself with his lightsaber, and it ended up cutting off both of the monkey's arms. The monkey cried out in pain, and while it was distracted, Cal stabbed it in the heart, killing it. He shut off his saber, and the monkey fell to the ground, lifeless.

"He came out of nowhere…" I said, slightly out of breath. Cal steadied himself and clipped his saber to his belt.

"I have a feeling this place is full of surprise attacks like that. We need to be extra careful here," he warned. I nodded, and we continued on. We walked past the first building and then the second. They were both empty. The only things we could find were old pots and clothes that were covered in dust. I crouched down after seeing a lonely doll on the ground and picked it up.

"Do you think they abandoned the place?" I asked the boy beside me. He examined the doll and sighed.

"Cere told me that the people here had an incident where they trusted a Sith lord. One way or another, that Sith lord betrayed them and killed a huge percentage of the population here, apparently. They didn't know what they were getting into…"

"That's awful…" I muttered, "very in character for a Sith lord."

"Yep," he agreed. I set the doll back down and stood up. We exited the home and found ourselves in a dark outdoor hallway. It reminded me of the dark and scary street alleys back on Hosnian Prime. I got close to Cal, and he gave me a surprised look.

"You alright, Luna?"

I was practically clinging to him.

"Y-Yeah, this area just makes me feel really uncomfortable."

As soon as I finished my sentence, a Dathomir spider the size of a bowling ball came running at us. The pinchers on its face moved in and out as it ran. It was bloodthirsty for us. I screamed and Force-pushed it into the wall, creating a sizable yellow splat. The sound it made when it hit the wall was absolutely disgusting.

"And things like that don't help!" I yelled.

"Uhh...Well, at least your reaction time was spot on!" he said with a goofy smile. I huffed and grabbed his arm, using it as a support to keep my knees from buckling beneath me.

"I'm glad it was because those things give me the heebie-jeebies. You're…okay with me holding your arm, right? It makes me feel better…" I told him with almost a whimper. He took his other hand and placed it on my hand that was holding his arm.

"Anything to make you feel safer is alright with me."

"You're the best, Cal."

He truly was! He chuckled and looked around for any more spiders.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Luckily for us, there didn't seem to be any more alien arachnids crawling around. There didn't seem to be much of anything. We kept walking past each building and looked around for any sign of Zeffo or Cordova. After a few minutes, BD-1 made a sound of interest and jumped off Cal's shoulder.

"You find something, little buddy?" Cal asked the droid. BD-1 ran to a small pillar in front of us and began scanning what looked like Zeffo hieroglyphics sketched on the surface of the stone.

"It's amazing how many places the Zeffo traveled," I noted.

"That's probably why Cordova was so interested in them. We've found traces of them in Zeffo, Kashyyyk, and now Dathomir. There's no telling where else they've been. I'm glad we found this pillar. It makes me think we're getting closer to Kujets tomb," he said to me.

We were prepared to keep going, but I sensed something strange in the air. A presence of some sort. I closed my eyes to focus on what it was, and when I opened them up again a green flame appeared before us. The flame grew bigger and bigger until it took the shape of a person. Before we knew it, a woman walked out of the flames and was staring at us with disapproval.

Who was this!?

It was a girl who was possibly my age. It was hard to tell with the concealing clothes that she was wearing. She wore a bright red robe that was topped with a hoodie. The hoodie covered her head, and a black undershirt covered the end of her chin. On her forehead was a gold headdress that wrapped around her head. Her skin was a chalky white and gray, her lips dark silver in color. I couldn't see her hair, but if I had to guess, I would say it was white or silver as well. Enemy or not, I have to say, she looked good!

"You trespass, Jedi," she said in a somewhat thick accent. Aw crap, she's going to be an enemy, isn't she.

"You must be one of the Nightsisters. I thought they had all died out," Cal said to her. That term rang a bell. A 'Nightsister' was a witch or daughter of Dathomir. Master Secura mentioned them briefly to me, but I remember her talking about how they could use dark magic. Maybe we can talk to her?

"Not all of them died. Dathomir is forbidden to you. To both of you. Leave. Now," she demanded. I looked at Cal and then back at her.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that. Maybe we can help each other," I started to say to her. She lifted her hand aggressively, and two soldiers appeared beside her. They looked like the males of Dathomir with lean bodies and spikes on their heads. The correct term would probably be 'Nightbrothers'. The only difference was that these were clones and not living beings. We were getting a taste of that dark magic Master Secura had mentioned.

"W-Wait, we're not your enemy!" Cal yelled at her, not sure why she was attacking us.

"Your actions say otherwise."

She backed up behind the Nightbrothers and disappeared within her green flames.

"Looks like we're not welcome," Cal told me.

"Yeah, they're gonna make it even harder for us to find that tomb. Let's take care of these guys and then keep moving. Hopefully, that girl doesn't show up again."

The Nightbrothers had spears in their hands, and they were glaring at us with bright green eyes. One of them charged at us, but their spears were no match for our lightsabers. I swung at him, and the blade of light went right through his metal spear. The saber landed on the top of his head, and he dissipated into flames. I looked at Cal, and he had taken out the other one.

"Let's keep going."

We ran forward to see a maze of narrow pathways waiting for us, no doubt containing more of that woman's soulless minions. I readied myself for the battle ahead. If we can get through them, we can get to Kujets tomb.

What was up with that girl, and why was she so hostile toward us? A small part of me hopes we see her again to get the full story. Until then, we have more important things to worry about…

And that is the end of the chapter! I finished this chapter much faster than usual! The new art commission I mentioned will be done around the first half of April, so I hope you guys look forward to it. I'm pretty excited about it! Please review or comment on the story and let me know what you think! Finally, I'll see you guys next time!