Guyssss I'm back! Okay, so for anyone new here—my other book, Echoes of the Fallen, comes before this one, before Ahsoka season 1, even. You don't have to read it for this to make sense (I think?), you might struggle a little, and if you want more detail you probably should read the first one. Okay, hope you like it!
Shin
Shin woke with a start from yet another nightmare.
Every night, she thought with a groan.
She hadn't slept well since she had gotten to Peridia—even worse once Baylan left.
She glanced around, instinctually reaching for the saber on her belt. Her fingers graced it, and she let out a sigh.
She got to her feet, walking—no, strutting—into the camp.
She glared at the bandits.
She honestly didn't know why she felt the need to glare at them all the time. They had accepted her as their leader, but Shin had a nagging suspicion that it was only because of her saber.
She left the camp, getting on her howler and riding to the same place she always went during the day. The howler ran across the rough terrain of Peridia, and Shin didn't stop it until she reached a lake with a tree next to it. She tied her howler to the tree so that it could drink, but wouldn't run off. She would walk the rest of the way.
She stopped once she got to the edge of the cliff.
Every day since Thrawn had left, she'd gone up there to just…watch Sabine and Ahsoka, who generally trained and hung out in that ravine.
She convinced herself she was scheming. That she was planning, making sure her enemies weren't plotting against her…a whole bunch of junk she was telling herself.
So she wouldn't feel like she was failing Baylan.
But really, she enjoyed listening to them talk. Shin hated them both, but listening to them chat freely made her wish she had a family the way the two did.
However, this morning, when she arrived, she was in for a slight surprise.
Shin's mouth fell slightly open when she saw that there were a bunch of people.
A Twi'lek, a Lasat, a green-haired kid, an astromech droid, Huyang, Sabine, Ahsoka, and Ezra Bridger. And two loth-cats.
She settled against the rock to try to listen in enough to find out why there were a bunch of other people.
And why Ezra was back.
"So, anyway, it was an amazing battle. We stole the Eye of Sion, hooked the Ghost to it, and flew here! Whoosh," The kid explained to a bewildered looking Ahsoka and Sabine.
"Jacen, slow down! How did you steal it?" Sabine asked with a laugh.
"You'll never believe it! Ezra snuck onto the ship, and then Thrawn tried to—" The kid, Jacen, started.
Still really fast.
The Twi'lek cut him off. "Jacen. Sabine is right. You. Need. To. Slow. Down."
"Sorry, Mom," Jacen sighed dejectedly.
"Hera, continue it, please," Ahsoka prompted the Twi'lek.
"Zeb would know better than me. I just flew the Ghost," Hera shrugged.
"It was a great battle, actually. Ezra put up a good fight naturally—Ezra and I snuck into the ring at night, took most of the zombie bucketheads out. Took control of the ship. Droids tried to stop us, but we took 'em out, too. Hera swoops in, and we took off. Now we're here. And we get to stay for a couple of days, too," he said with a shrug.
One of the Loth-cats had curled up in Sabine's lap, and she was cooing to it softly as she listened.
The other had disappeared.
"Hang on," Ezra said, "where'd that stow-away go?"
"Stow-away?" Sabine asked.
"The other Loth-cat! Not Murley, the other one—the one that stowed away!" Zeb explained.
"Aw, I wanted to keep him," Jacen pouted.
"You have Chopper!" Hera exclaimed, gesturing to the astromech droid who was making strange 'womp' sounds to Huyang.
"Chopper is a droid though. He doesn't count," Jacen sighed dramatically. Shin smirked as she watched them.
"Come on, let's train," Sabine said to Ezra.
"Hang on, you want to train?" Ezra said, sounding surprised. Sabine laughed.
"Of course. Supposed to do it every day, actually. It'll be more fun with all of us," Sabine told him.
Everyone nodded, and all started doing strange different training exercises: Zeb was chasing Chopper around in circles, Sabine was sparring with Ezra, (with Jacen watching excitedly, of course,) Hera was shooting targets, Murley (Sabine's Loth-cat) was taking a nap, and Huyang was avoiding getting killed by all of them.
And Shin was watching with an expression of amusement. It was hysterical how unorganized they all were—napping, running around in circles, watching, and avoiding death are all not normal training exercises.
She had never seen such impractical nonsense in her life. Was this how all Jedi trained?
She hoped not.
Her training had certainly been nothing like this. They were laughing and attacking, playing. Training isn't a game, but they were making it into one.
She sighed as they left the ravine to go back to the ships—lunchtime. Ahsoka hung back a little, looking up at the cliff. Shin held her breath, holding herself against the rock, not daring to check if she was gone until she had heard footsteps receded.
She glanced up, and was glad to see that Ahsoka had followed the chattering others.
Shin whipped around whenever she felt something touch her shoulder, and was surprised to find it was a…tiny paw? She stared at the Loth-cat with interest.
This was the one that had stowed away.
"I don't have any food, if that's what you're wanting," she told it.
It stared at her, blinking slowly.
She leaned against the rock after getting to her feet, and, to Shin's annoyance, the alien cat promptly leapt onto her shoulder.
Shin sighed, powering up her wrist com to solar mode.
It powered up, and she laughed dryly when she saw the date.
"Happy birthday to me," she muttered to the Loth-cat, "25."
The Loth-cat stared at her, seemingly waiting for her to elaborate. She reached out to scratch gently between his ears, reaching out to him through the Force, acknowledging his presence.
"You know, sometimes I wonder what I did wrong," she sighed, "I mean, I didn't exactly choose any of this."
She laughed a little at a sudden thought. "Let's see: spends first fifteen years of life as a slave—not by choice. Then, spends ten years being trained by fallen Jedi general—also not by choice. Then, spends the next half a year abandoned, alone, and miserable—yet again, not by choice. Turns 25, starts talking to Loth-cats—the first thing I actually do by choice," she said with a soft groan, "I'm losing it. You…are gonna need a name, though."
The cat cocked its head at her.
Phantom, my name is Phantom, it told her through the Force.
Shin almost fell off the rock.
"You're Force-sensitive?" Shin yelped.
Of course. Why do you think I came to you instead of those imbeciles—I was born to be the ruler of the galaxy, obviously. And you're the only one who can train me to be a Sith Lord, so here I am, the Loth-cat, Phantom, told her seriously.
"Okay, I'm definitely losing it," Shin sighed.
She glared at the cat like she could make it go away with sheer will.
You're stuck with me now, little wolf, it chirped.
"Don't call me that. No one calls me that," she lied.
Your master called you that, sometimes, he reminded her.
"What, do you know everything? Weird little cat! My master only called me that when he thought I couldn't hear him," Shin told him.
That was true, at least.
She never really understood why he would say things like that when he thought she wasn't listening.
Phantom made a sound that was very close to a snort. Yes, and that shows that your master cared—at least a little. It was a sign of light affection on his part, obviously. So, obviously, it is a sign of light affection from me, too. And I am not a LITTLE cat. I am far superior in size, brilliance, and Force-sensitivity in comparison to Murley, Sabine's cat, stated Phantom, saying the other cat's name like a curse word.
Shin sighed at the ridiculousness of the situation.
I will become supreme over-lord of the galaxy, I swear. I shall succeed where Palpatine failed, Phantom announced.
"No, you won't," Shin said, shaking her head.
Dream crusher, Phantom muttered.
"How about a realistic person?" Shin snorted, "if you put all your energy into impossible things, why put energy into anything at all? All that matters is survival."
That is very wise, and very stupid, Phantom proclaimed.
"Speak for yourself," Shin muttered.
I do speak for myself, Phantom purred.
"You know nothing about sarcasm, do you?" Shin groaned.
I am the master of sarcasm, he announced, I hate sandwiches. See, that's sarcasm. I love sandwiches. Matter of fact, I could go for a peperoni cheese sandwich right now…
He went on a long rant about sandwich flavors, and Shin wondered what the heck she had just gotten herself into.
Fluffy, fun. It gets more intense. Did you like it? Leave a review if you did! Thanks so much for reading, it means so much!