Revenge of the Jedi/Part 11

Eyes narrowed, growling in the back of her throat, Narasi followed Tirien onto the Kaivalts' deck, a half-circle at the rear of the manor that overlooked a wide stone courtyard below. He said, "I'm going to consult Master Fane's holocron. You should get some rest before—"

"Okay, wait a minute."

Tirien turned, eyes narrowed; he looked annoyed at being interrupted, but perplexed too. "What?"

Narasi crossed her arms. She wasn't sure whether it was the wine or just pent-up frustration, but she said, "You need to stop excluding me."

Tirien stared. "What in the galaxy are you talking about?"

"You were saying 'Yan and I won't be enough alone', remember? You can't have forgotten me, I was sitting two meters away!  What, were you planning to do this without me?"

Comprehension touched his face, though one side of his mouth was still pulled down, and he crossed his arms too. "I haven't thought through the logistics yet."

"You shouldn't have to! If you're going, then I'm going!  Always!"

"Narasi—"

"Dammit, Master!" She took a step closer to him. "We're supposed to be a team, remember? Good and bad—"

"I remember," he cut her off. "But Raina's not wrong; those of us who go, defy the Jedi Council to do it."

"Hey, look at the last time you ignored the Council."

"I don't think the result will just be a few months of penance on a praxeum ship this time," Tirien warned.

Narasi, however, had not been thinking of Milagro. "I meant just recently. We were supposed to come back after Circumtore, right?  We had the planet-killer in the hold, even.  But we went to Guudria, saved all the Guudrians, stopped Brokkodd, and redeemed Jirdo…sort of.  Kind of.  We're working on it."

Tirien waved that all off, which irked Narasi, who thought he was ignoring a solid point just because he didn't like it until he said, "Fine, put aside the Council. We said good and bad, but this is at a far extreme of 'bad'.  Even if the Tapani Jedi help us, it's likely we're not coming back."

Narasi blinked and uncrossed her arms, startled out of anger for a moment. "What?"

Tirien sighed and rubbed his temples for a moment. When he opened his eyes, he said, "I'm sure Yan's right—Gasald will have most or all of her battle fleet at Allanteen to protect it. Getting aboard the Kiss of Death at Allanteen will be challenging, even for Jedi, but there must be a way.  Once we're aboard, we have to remain undetected until we find her, and then we need to kill her, which will be very difficult; she's a Sith Overlord, and one doesn't reach that level without being enormously strong in the dark side.  But after all that, trying to get off the Kiss of Death when we've just assassinated Gasald?  That may be impossible."

Narasi stared at his expression of cold determination, awed and afraid in equal measure. "So…so you're just planning to die there?"

"I will not submit to death unless I have to, and I'll sell my life dearly if I do." The light from Inimă Eserzennae threw the tensed muscles of his jaw into relief. "But Gasald has to be stopped, no matter the cost. If that cost means my life, so be it."

Narasi swallowed, but tried to match his expression. "Mine too, then."

His eyes narrowed. "You're ready to die, then? To not even make it to your seventeenth birthday?"

She raised her chin. "I'm a Jedi. I won't make myself more important than protecting innocent people—you taught me better than that."

They stared each other down for a long moment as Narasi tried not to envision exactly how they would fail to escape the Kiss of Death. Between Aldayr's reports after the liberation of Milagro and what she had seen with her own eyes the first time around, she appreciated how nasty Gasald—or, if they succeeded in killing her, Gasald's lackeys—could be. Her stomach clenched, and she struggled to keep that fear off her face.

In the end, though, it was Tirien who blinked first; his eyes softened, and as he sighed, all the hard edges melted into exhaustion. But he took her by the shoulders and said, "I'm proud of you, Narasi. I know I don't tell you that enough."

Narasi reached up to take his hands, feeling her heart swelling against her rib cage; she couldn't find words.

"If you grow to adulthood, you'll be a great Jedi Knight," he continued. "I don't want to drag you down into death with me before your time—to take that future from you."

Squeezing his hands, wondering at the future she was letting go, Narasi smiled. "Everything I am as a Jedi I owe to you, Master. And you taught me our duty comes before us.  If you think it's the right thing to do, then I'll go with you."

"We'll need to prepare, especially if the Tapani don't help us. This will demand all the stealth of Toprawa, and all the cunning and creativity of Darkknell, and it'll have an enemy just as dangerous as Chelshgodru Brokkodd waiting for us at the end."

That was not the most reassuring thought, but Narasi forced herself to grin. "Then we'd best get started first thing in the morning."

Tirien didn't smile back, but he looked like he wanted to. "Together, then."

Narasi's grin didn't last, and as she thought on his words, it turned into something very different indeed. "Master…you mentioned Brokkodd…"

"What of it?"

"Remember what he said? Something about how Lady Gasald met them?  And his wife, Ragathna, went with her?  What if they're still together?" When Tirien nodded without a change of expression, Narasi sighed. "You already figured that out, didn't you?"

"It occurred to me, although I'm pleased you thought of it as well."

Narasi tried to take pride in that, but the prospects were too horrible for much satisfaction. "Do you think she's possessing Lady Gasald?"

"In other words, do I think Ragathna Brokkodd has used Gasald as a shell all these years, and it's secretly her ruling as Sith Overlord?" He made a face. "Possible, but unlikely. I think it's more likely the other way around—Gasald is using, or has used, Brokkodd as something between an advisor and a familiar."

"But fighting Bras…"

"I remember. I think, at worst, it will be the same kind of battle; they won't operate independent of each other, if only because we destroyed the tomb.  If Ragathna Brokkodd still exists in this world, she must be anchored to Gasald.  We might be able to turn them on each other, if they're at cross purposes…"

He looked thoughtful, but Narasi glanced over her shoulder. "Do you think Zaella or Jirdo thought of it?"

Tirien refocused immediately in a way that made the hairs on the back of Narasi's neck stand up. "No, and I don't think we should enlighten them. If my theory's right, Brokkodd's presence or absence won't make a difference when it comes to battle; it will only unnerve people and complicate this issue even further."

Narasi grimaced, but she saw the logic. "Right. I can keep a secret."

Tirien sighed, but said, "Get some rest…"

Something felt off in the Force. Cocking her head, Narasi asked, "Is everything okay? I mean…relatively?"

He hesitated, and Narasi pressed, "You can tell me. You trust me, right?"

"Of course I do." He pressed a palm to his forehead as if he was taking his temperature, but nodded. "There's something I need to tell you—something you need to know. When I spoke to Mali yesterday…it's about Aldayr…"