Twelve hours after they had departed from the system where the Widowmaker had crashed, Tahiri had fully recovered with nothing more than a full night's sleep aboard the Lifesaver; even the kick that the Vagaari captain delivered to her chest left nothing more than a bad bruise that would heal in time. Once that was settled, she was escorted by Captain Hesklon himself to the mess hall; still slightly drowsy from having slept for so long, she was actually caught off-guard when she found a crowd of both Imperial and Chiss officers populating the room and looking at her. Had they not been military and in the presence of the superior officers—indeed, Jag was among them, too—Tahiri had a feeling that they would have shouted "Surprise!"
Among them included Captain Yage and all of the remaining survivors of the Widowmaker—now all dressed in pristine new Imperial uniforms—who regarded her from their positions with looks of gratitude; but mixed in with their expressions was the same note of wariness that they had around her down on the icy planet.
Despite the smile she returned, Tahiri couldn't help but feel slightly deflated; she had saved Yage and her remaining people, yet they still viewed her, on some level, as something else.
But if that couldn't be helped, it couldn't be helped; Tahiri wouldn't let that bother her.
Hesklon soon stepped into view and gave Tahiri the same smile that everyone else gave her. "Thank you for your help, Jedi Veila. If not for you, we would have lost more people in recovering Captain Yage and her people. As well, I believe Captain Yage herself has something to say on behalf of herself and her surviving crew."
The captain of the dead Widowmaker stepped away from the crowd and offered a polite bow before Tahiri. "You have the eternal gratitude of both myself and the survivors of the Widowmaker. I hope you understand that you will make many people on Bastion and elsewhere in the Empire very happy, Jedi Veila."
"Thank you, Captain Yage," Tahiri replied with some genuine gladness. "I will not forget this."
Yage nodded before promptly turning and returning to her position in the crowd.
"And now, everyone," Hesklon announced, "we may start the celebratory feast in honor of Captain Yage and her surviving crew's return home!"
Just like that, the militant discipline between the Imperials and Chiss dissolved into casual conversations—with some among the Imperials happily embracing the Widowmaker survivors—as they started to have their feast.
Tahiri went to the Imperial side since they had more food with which she was familiar; as she started loading her plate with a small assortment of vegetables and meats, a familiar voice said from behind, "I suppose I owe you an explanation."
She turned to find Jag standing there, carrying neither food nor drink in either hand; he simply regarded her with mild worry that emanated from his Force-presence.
"Yes, you do," Tahiri replied flatly. "I can put up a Force-shield around us so no one can hear."
"Do it," Jag said.
A moment later, she said, "It's on. Now talk."
"Cem was the one who contacted me to rescue you and everyone else from that ship," Jag stated. "Little signal in one of his molars; I don't remember which."
"Uh-huh. Now what's a shadowchild and why does Cem have to pretend he's someone he's not?"
"I thought Cem gave you the basics of what that was."
"He did, but I want to hear you tell me about it."
Jag sighed. "I guess I can trust you. You see, there's an ancient tradition in Chiss society wherein those who are in well-placed families, such as my own, tend to gain quite a number of enemies who'll vie for that power. And sometimes, those enemies will enact plans, and sometimes, those plans will succeed in toppling those families through execution and the like. But when times like those happen, such families will have something called a shadowchild, a reserve member of the family who is kept completely secret from the rest of Chiss society. No birth certificates, nothing official; nothing for any enemies to use to completely wipe out the family. So, should such a purge against a family like my own happen, and everyone—myself, my parents, my other siblings—are killed, the shadowchild will step in and claim familial rights to everything that the family who denied his existence ever held claim to. That, in turn, can be used against the enemies who had felled his or her family in some way or another, whether it's through war or some other legal means."
"And I take it that the shadowchild, Cem in this case, is kept safely in an undisclosed location."
"In theory, yes."
Tahiri raised an eyebrow. "But he didn't stay where he was supposed to, did he?"
Jag shook his head. "He defied our father's orders. He went off to do some smuggling of all things. Not because he needed it, but because he wanted something interesting, exciting, to do with his life. There was no way he would ever join any official government like the Empire; even under a pseudonym, he knew that he would have been found out eventually, and Cem has little to no respect for either the New Republic or the Galactic Alliance."
"No love for what the Rebellion, the terrorist group his dad fought, had become?"
"Precisely. Of course, because of that desire to do something as stupid as smuggling just for the fun of it, he wound up getting himself caught by the Vagaari. But I suppose that since you saved him, the Fel family owes you as much of a debt as the Widowmaker's crew does."
"Not quite. Your brother saved me from the Vagaari, too. Twice, in fact."
"Really? He didn't mention that when we last spoke."
"When was that?"
"Just after you came back from the Vagaari; secured holotransmission. Doubly secured, from my end; wouldn't want to compromise Cem's status as a shadowchild."
"Indeed, not. Well, regardless of whatever he did or didn't tell you, we're just about even, as far as I'm concerned."
"That so?"
An awkward moment passed between them before Tahiri sighed and said, "Look, the kiss was nothing, alright? Just... wanted to see if it would work. It didn't. No dancing Ewoks."
Jag looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just a reference you wouldn't get."
"Oh. Well, whatever that means, I'm sorry my brother disappointed you." His tone made it obvious he wasn't sure what else to say.
"Don't be. Where is he anyway?"
"I had Shawnkyr have the sole honor of transporting him out of here on a hyperdrive-equipped Chiss shuttle not long before Captain Hesklon organized this party. She's dropping him off... well, it's not exactly a secret location, but despite my thanks to you, I'd rather just leave it at that."
Tahiri nodded. "That's fair. Still, don't you think your subordinates would find it very suspicious why you have your second-in-command transport a random human away from this party that's supposed to be celebrating the rescue of everyone from the Vagaari?"
"If they are, I know they'll keep it to themselves. Besides, I don't trust anyone other than Shawnkyr to perform this task."
"Does she know?"
"About Cem? Not quite, though I wouldn't be surprised if she put two and two together. But even then, she'll keep it to herself."
"I wish I could trust someone like that."
Jag raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't trust anyone in the Skywalker-Solo clan like that? Or anyone else in the Jedi Order?"
"No. I mean, yes. Or... I don't know. Can I drop this Force-shield now, since it's safe to say we're done talking about Cem?"
"Sure."
"Okay, everyone can hear us again."
"So what'll you do now? Go back to Zonama Sekot?"
"Honestly? No. I've had my fill of it there these past two years. The Ferroans, Danni, and Tekli can all handle themselves and the Yuuzhan Vong. I'll let them know I won't be coming back."
"What if they need you back?"
Tahiri hesitated before she responded. "If they really need me, they'll let me know, and I'll return. But for myself, I think I'll be heading back to the Jedi. But first, I'm loading up on grub." She turned back to put more food on her plate.
"Something happened to you," Jag said, "with the Vagaari, I mean."
Tahiri stopped and regarded him over her shoulder. "Yes." Then she turned back, concluded loading her plate, and walked away.
Jag made no attempt at trying to follow her; he knew that the conversation had run its course.
. . .
After being transferred from the Lifesaver back to the Guardian, Tahiri took off with one final personal goodbye to Jag and one final holotransmission goodbye to Captains Hesklon and Yage. Both Star Destroyers left her behind in an empty system and she allowed herself a long, quiet moment in the cockpit of her Sekotan freighter before she set herself down and activated the holocomm to record a message.
"Magister Hal, I hope you get this soon from the relays at Esfandia and I hope you let Danni and Tekli see it, too. I have succeeded in my mission of rescuing Captain Yage and her remaining crew from the Widowmaker, but I find now that I feel no need to return to Zonama. I don't want to go into detail about why because it's a bit too personal, but rest assured, it has nothing to do with the dramas on that planet. If you need me back, you can let me know from however you can contact the Jedi Order and I will return. But for now, this is Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila returning to the Order and signing off."
She deactivated the holocomm and sighed, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Then she wheeled her freighter around and plotted lightspeed coordinates that would bring her back into Galactic Alliance space.
THE END.