Revenge of the Jedi/Part 20

Zaella skipped the morning training session, and when she bounced into the kitchen, she grinned at Narasi as she accepted a plate of breakfast from a serving droid.

"You know you didn't earn that," Narasi grumbled.

"I figured you deserved a day off from me slapping you around."

"So…like most days since we've met, then."

Zaella laughed, and Narasi cocked her head as she swallowed a bite of fruit. "You're in a good mood."

"What can I say? It's a nice day, I slept in, we'll start planning an assassination mission later…what more could a girl ask for?"

"'We'?" Narasi asked; she had picked up a piece of toast, but she set it back down, unbitten. "Are you coming?"

Zaella felt her grin waver, and she tried to summon up the careless daring that had animated Gaeb's face as he had spoken about it. "You know what? I think I will.  Force knows you'll all find a way to mess up without me."

Narasi smiled. It was not her broad, fang-exposing grin of excitement; by itself this little expression might have been nothing more than a passing kindness, except that the warmth in her big blue eyes showed the depth of her gratitude. Reaching along the counter, she squeezed Zaella's hand. "Thank you, Zaella. It means a lot to me.  To Tirien, too, even if he doesn't show it."

"Yeah, well…" The depth of Narasi's feelings discomfited her. Zaella had not resolved the question of whether friendship obligated her to die along with Narasi, but they were friends. And though Tirien had not let her repay the favor of healing her mind—had, in fact, been the first man she could remember to turn her down; the memory still embarrassed her, but that kindness kindled the embers of her loyalty to him into flame—that had only deepened her sense of owing him. She did not want to expose herself by telling Narasi all that, so instead she said, "I figured, if you and Tirien go and die, who else is gonna vouch for me?"

There were other advantages to going too, but Zaella did not voice those either.

Narasi rolled her eyes, and they ate in silence for a moment, but as she tilted back her head to finish off her juice, Narasi raised her eyebrows. "Since when do you wear earrings?"

"Oh, now and then," Zaella said, not looking at Narasi as she picked a grape from her fruit bowl. Skinning it with her teeth, she swallowed the flesh and fruit separately, then brushed the forked lightning bolt in her right ear cone. "Piercing only hurts a little. Circumtore didn't really seem the place…"

"That looks an awful lot like Gaebrean Kaivalt's earring."

"Does it?" Zaella asked innocently.

Narasi stared a moment, then groaned. "Zaella, you didn't!"

"Hmmmmm?"

Abruptly, Narasi's eyes widened. "I woke up last night and stepped onto my balcony to get some air. I thought I heard you moaning in your sleep…I was gonna check on you…"

"Probably best you didn't," Zaella said, grinning now. "I, er…wasn't asleep."

Narasi closed her eyes and dropped her forehead onto the counter; her plate and glass jumped with the impact. Zaella reached over and patted her shoulder. "I know it's supposed to be a great Jedi virtue, but this repression of your real feelings seems almost droid-like at times."

"Oh, believe me, sister, I'm still repressing quite a bit." Narasi picked up her head. "What happened to Raven?"

"What about him?"

"I thought you were into him!"

"Well, I asked Gaeb, but he didn't think Raven would go for it, and he said it would be weird, with them being cousins and—"

Narasi smacked her arm; even the light slap hurt, but Zaella laughed it off. "And after that Gaeb still…?"

She trailed off awkwardly, and Zaella smirked. "Well, I suggested it between our second and third rounds, so, y'know…in for a centicred…"

Narasi pinched the bridge of her nose and pushed her plate away. "Somehow I find I'm not hungry anymore…"

"Well, I'm starving," Zaella said, stealing her toast. "Lot of calories to make up."

She sensed Gaeb coming a moment before he opened the door, took a deep breath, and sighed. "Aaaaaaah, the savory smell of breakfast at Inimă Eserzennae. So many wonderful memories of my misspent youth…"

"Hopefully not as pleasant as more recent ones," Zaella called, turning her head without actually looking at him.

He came up behind her and brushed the back of one finger down tchin; soft as the sea breeze, his touch sent a shiver down her back. "Zaella my darling, no rapturous encounter with the Angels of Iego themselves could begin to—"

"Morning, Gaeb," Narasi said dryly.

"Narasi!" he enthused, sliding around Zaella's back—and tracing his finger along the back of her neck—to take Narasi's hand and press it to his lips. "How absolutely corking to see you this morning."

"Likewise," Narasi replied, flicking his nose with one claw. As he chuckled and sauntered over to the serving droids for breakfast, Narasi stood and said, "I'm going to find Tirien."

"He seems to be gathering everyone up in the den," Gaeb said as he gathered up some pastries himself. "Something about a final count before preparations begin, or something of that sort…"

"I should…we should be there," Narasi said, and her eyes softened into a genuine smile again. "C'mon."

"Yeah, yeah…" Zaella sighed. "Coming, Gaeb?"

"Wild gundarks couldn't keep me away," Gaeb said with a wink. "After you, though; I think I'll enjoy the view more bringing up the rear."

Zaella smirked at him as Narasi groaned. Zaella took care to swish her hips on the walk to the den, until Narasi noticed what she was doing and hip-checked her into a wall. Once she had bounced off, Zaella swung at Narasi's head, and they sparred hand-to-hand down the hall as Gaeb complained, "Now you're just teasing me."

Vinton Kaivalt and Lezascan Wisté were gone, along with all the Cadriaans and the Forceless old bat, but all the Jedi of Tirien's generation had seats around the room; Raina Kaivalt leaned against one wall with Renata at her side. Jirdo sat by the hearth, his face ambivalent, and Zaella loathed him a little more; if she could make up her mind, why couldn't he?

Tirien sat by himself, and Narasi and Zaella took the chairs on either side of him; Gaeb sat on the arm of Zaella's chair. Looking around at the waiting Jedi, Zaella noticed Gaeb's sisters; the younger of the two, Cesylee, stared at her with wide eyes, while Kaelora's were narrowed. Kaelora leaned over the back of her chair to whisper something to Amaani Wisté, who stood behind her, and he glanced at Zaella too. Zaella arched one eyebrow to conceal her absurd self-consciousness, wondering if she would have done better to leave the earring on her bedside table.

Raven came into the room and said, "Lord Brascel is speaking with my father. He instructed us not to wait for him, but he assured me that he will accompany us to Allanteen."

A few of the Tapani whispered to one another as Raven joined Tirien. Narasi started to rise. "Do you want—?"

"No, please," Raven said, waving her down and clasping his hands behind his back. "I can stand."

Tirien glanced at him, then across the room. "We need to begin preparations immediately; every day of delay is a day Gasald grows stronger. As it stands, Raven, Gaebrean, Yan, Narasi, and I have committed to this mission—"

"And me," Zaella said.

"—and Zaella," Tirien said; Zaella admired him the half-second it took for him to process that and refocus. "Sir Amaani?"

"I…" Amaani Wisté seemed startled—like many of the Jedi across the room did, she realized. While Zaella frowned, trying to puzzle it out, Amaani blinked and said, "I…that is…"

"Zaella?" Kaelora demanded.

"Yeah?" Zaella asked.

Kaelora ignored her. "You're taking a Sith with you?"

"Former Sith," Tirien, Raven, and Gaeb said in unison. Gaeb chuckled and Raven's mouth twitched, but Tirien's face might have been carved from stone.

"Are you so desperate for bodies that you'll accept dark siders?" Kaelora asked. "The enemy of our enemy is not a friend."

Zaella gave her a sneer as Tirien said, "I trust Zaella. She's proven herself in battle against a Sith Lord."

"She helped save my life," Yan said.

"And mine," Narasi added.

"No one's questioning her accomplishments," Cesylee soothed, raising her hands. "We're not asking her to be tried or punished. But this mission goes into the heart of darkness; you should only take light with you, or you risk endangering yourselves and your spirits."

"Zaella could stay here," Raina called from the far wall. When everyone turned to her, she laid a hand over her chest and said, "In my father's name, I swear she'll have the protection of Inimă Eserzennae while you're gone."

Cesylee nodded, seeming pleased with the compromise, and some of the other Tapani looked persuaded by that logic, but Zaella sat forward. "Yeah, that's really nice, but I want to go."

"It's not a matter of your wants," Kaelora said, without even bothering to meet her eyes.

Zaella's fingers dug into the leather arms of her chair, but Gaeb patted her wrist. "Come on, now, Kae, there's no need to be a stick in the—"

"For once in your life, Gaebrean, shut your mouth, zip up your pants, and use your brain," Kaelora spat. "I'm sure you've been perfectly charmed by your latest tawdry whore, but if you think—"

"What did you call me?!" Zaella started to rise, but Tirien's hand shot up to grab her arm.

"Sit down," he said.

Zaella's eyes widened. "Did you hear what she said?!"

"I'm not deaf." The cold in his yellow eyes froze her fire and left her shivering. "Zaella, sit down."

She sat, stunned by the betrayal. She could feel Gaeb's anger at her side, but the heat of his fury could not warm her again; her heart hammered against her rib cage. Tirien followed her with his eyes to be sure she was sitting, then released her and turned his face back to Kaelora.

Zaella realized the room had fallen silent. Cesylee and Raina stared at her in shock, Amaani had a hand over his mouth, and wide-eyed Renata had two; Zaella could sense their fremdschämen. Raven said, "Kaelora! That was completely uncalled—"

Tirien raised a hand over his shoulder, and when Raven fell silent, he said, "Dame Kaelora…I grew up knowing your great-grandfather's story. Every young Jedi on Coruscant does, I suppose.  Many Jedi there wondered…they knew he had descendants, you see, and they wondered whether power like his might have been watered down over the generations.  But given Raven and Raina's accomplishments, I think we can safely put aside that fear.  I'm not sure anyone on Coruscant understood the true danger."

Kaelora frowned. "And that is?"

"His loss was a tragedy for the Order, but I suppose it was mercy, in a way."

"Mercy?"

"He didn't have to live through the disgrace of having his good name sullied by someone like you. You may carry a lightsaber and festoon yourself in all the finery of a knight, but you are no Jedi."

Zaella had heard Tirien's voice freeze enough to chill others into submission, but this was something totally other—not ice, but acid, caustic and searing. He spoke as if to some disgusting thing he had stepped on, as if contact with her had soiled him. Zaella was too stunned to really process the way her lungs felt like they were expanding inside her.

Kaelora turned pale, and for a few seconds she seemed too shaken to respond. Then her eyes narrowed and she shot to her feet, her hand falling on her lightsaber hilt; Amaani grabbed for the back of her tunic and missed. "How dare you?! You have the audacity to insult me here, in my own family's home?!"

Zaella saw Tirien's eyes follow her hand, then shift back up to her face; no other part of him so much as twitched. In a soft, cool voice, he said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Kae," Raven said urgently. "I wouldn't either."

Kaelora stared at him as if he had grown another head. "Raven, your friend just—"

"I heard him, Kae, now listen to me. We've known each other since I was born; we've trained together, studied together, grown to be Jedi together.  We've sparred each other a hundred times, and I'm telling you, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I know how good you are, Zaella thought he was saying. And I know how good he ''is. You pick this fight and he'll kill you''.

For one moment, nothing would have pleased Zaella more than watching Tirien cut Kaelora down in front of her family. She imagined Gaeb's reaction to losing his sister and felt a pang of conscience, but before she could resolve it, Kaelora turned wide eyes on the others. Amaani's face had hardened at Tirien's insult, but he extended a hand to her. Raina crossed her arms and shook her head. Cesylee touched Kaelora's chair and said something too soft for Zaella to hear. Drake Paddox and Renata wore almost identical expressions, despite one of them being a Jedi Knight—Zaella wasn't sure their thoughts could've been clearer if they'd tattooed Please let me out of this room on their foreheads. Kobold Baliss had no expression at all; Zaella wasn't sure she had ever heard him speak.

Kaelora's jaw tightened as she saw no one rising to her aid, and she stormed from the room. Cesylee rose and pursued her, and Amaani followed; he glowered at Tirien and Zaella on the way, but when he slowed, Gaeb stood and put himself between them. Whatever Amaani had considered saying, he thought better of, and vanished after Cesylee.

"I suppose we'll have to count them out," a dry voice observed; Zaella realized Kobold had spoken at last.

"'We'?" Tirien asked.

Kobold shrugged. "Lord Wisté trained me to be a Jedi Knight; everything I am, I owe to him. I'd follow him to Chaos and back.  I'd rather you were more courteous to my best friend's bride-to-be, but in the end it doesn't really matter what you say to Kaelora Kaivalt, or anyone else here—my master's going with you, so I am too."

Zaella privately hoped friendship didn't demand that kind of brainless loyalty, though she saw Narasi nodding in her peripheral vision. From behind her, she heard Raven say, "Why don't we recess for a while and come back after meditation?"

"Fine by me," Zaella said, and she got to her feet.

"Zaella…" Tirien started, but Raven leaned down to talk to him, and Zaella seized her chance to escape.

She sensed Gaeb following her. "She's like that, sometimes. Bit embarrassing, really, but—"

"Why?" Zaella snapped. "Sounds like you've had a lot of practice."

Gaeb caught her hand, spun her around, and gave her a honeyed smile. "Don't let Kae get to you, my dear; I'd be lying if I said you were my first, it's true, but in all my days, I don't know that I've savored a sweeter—"

"Cut the crap, Kaivalt. I was fun for you, and you were for me.  That's it, and that's all.  You think I'm some stupid little slut from the Rim who fell for the first Jedi in flashy clothes who fed me a line?"

Gaeb recoiled, eyes wide. "I…no, of course not. I didn't mean—"

Zaella didn't know where her anger was coming from, but she had it in spades. She pushed Gaeb in the chest hard enough to hurt, and though he had the height and the mass to take it, he rocked back a step instead. "What? What's the line, Gaeb?  We're gonna be here a few days prepping for this mission, what do you say to keep me on standby in case you start feeling pent-up?"

"I…that's not…"

"Very eloquent," Zaella snarled; turning her back on him, she stormed through the house and out the back door.

She crossed the manor's lacquered deck in seconds; it was a steep drop to the courtyard below, but the Force responded to her anger and carried her down like a can-cell alighting. She paced back and forth on the mismatched stones, but just storming around wasn't enough for her. She opened her hand, and her lightsaber flipped off her belt and into her grip. By the time the snap-hiss registered in her ear cones, she was already moving.

The blade encased her in ruby light as she spun, twisted, and whirled across the courtyard, back and forth. Her anger gave her precision and speed, and even as her surroundings blurred, she felt she could've cut a hair in half. Gaeb's earring bumped the bottom of her ear cone on a pivot; teeth bared, she raised a hand to her ear and undid it with the Force, flinging the pieces over her shoulder.

Angry she might be, but Zaella was not so furious as to miss the absence of sound where the clatter of a discarded earring should have been. Turning, she saw Narasi holding the lightning bolt in her palm. She glanced at Zaella's blade, frowning, then back at her face. "Can we talk?"

"Kark talking. Spar with me."

Narasi sighed. "Zae…"

"Talk with your blade, or kark off."

It gave Zaella a strange sort of pleasure to snarl at her; the burn in her chest hurt, but it was a familiar, comfortable sort of hurt. She was on ground she knew well here. Narasi grimaced, but took the lightsaber hilt from her belt and said, "Dial up the shielding on that blade."

"Coward setting it is," Zaella taunted. The Force itched to be unleashed, and when Narasi ignited her blade, the itch had to be scratched. She threw herself at Narasi, and their blades shrieked as they met.