AKwxlady Obi Wans Daughter Part three Chapter two

When they reached the house by the lake, Kal showed Ki’tia to a large room with a round fireplace. A fire was burning in the center. “This is our karyai, our central living room,” Kal said to Ki’tia motioning her to a curved sofa.

“I’d like to go get cleaned up,” Ki’tia indicated her legs, which were rather dirty. “I didn’t have my boots on when I left the last time.”

“I’ll take her, Buir,” Mereel offered. He took Ki’tia gently by the arm to show her the way to the refresher. “Thanks for not wrecking my speeder,” he whispered, leaning over to speak into her ear. He waited for her outside the refresher and escorted her back to the karyai. While they were gone someone had made caf and laid out trays with various type of food.

Kal showed her to a seat where she would be warmed by the fire. “Please help yourself to refreshments,” he said to her. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.” Ki’tia took a mug of caf and a small plate of cookies, and sat back on the sofa. The rest of the men did the same, and while there were no blasters pointed at her, they were evident in holsters. The Jedi took a place on the other side of the fire from her. She could not see his face for the flames of the fire dancing between them. He was probing at her mind, gently but persistently. It made her uncomfortable. “Now, Ki’tia,” Kal got her attention, “why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me where you’re from and how you got to be here with us?”

Ki’tia began. “My birth planet was Jolnir.” She noticed Jaing looking for information on his datapad. “It is near Ryloth, but like Munin, it is not identified on most starcharts. My mother was an A’nir, and the healer for her village, Gilfari.”

“You said you are not a Jedi, but an A’nir,” Kal stated. “What is an A’nir? Is it just another sect of the Jedi?”

“No,” Ki’tia corrected. “The A’nir is a separate sodality of Force users. Just as the Sith are not the Jedi, nor are the Jedi the A’nir.” Ki’tia could sense the confusion in the room. “There are three sodalities of Force users that have existed as long as sentient beings have used the Force. There are Force users who rely on the Dark side of the Force. Today this sect is known as the Sith. They abhor the Light and seek to destroy it whenever and wherever they can. Then, there are the Force users who rely on both the Light and the Dark sides of the Force. Among these are the Jedi, and several other sects across the…”

“The Jedi only use the Force for good,” Jusik interrupted her. He stood and walked toward Ki’tia.

“Are you sure about that?” Ki’tia challenged him. “It is the Dark side you are using now, Jedi, as you try to probe my mind.” The other men in the room looked at Jusik. He stopped his advance toward her. “What good do you hope to gain by invading my mind?”

“I only want to sense your feelings,” Jusik explained. “To see if you are comfortable.”

“No,” Ki’tia countered. “Feelings are surface emotions, you and I can sense them in the room around us with just the Light of the Force.” She pointed her finger at Jusik. “You, Jedi, are using the Dark side to try to delve into my mind!” Ordo drew his Verpine and pointed it at Ki’tia. She turned toward Ordo and instinctively crossed her hands in front of her body. “Please, don’t. I can’t harm you! Please.” She looked imploringly at Kal. “Please, don’t let them hurt me.”

“Ad’ika udesiir,” Kal said to Jusik and Ordo, calm down sons. Ordo lowered his weapon, but did not holster it. Jusik sat on the sofa a good distance away from Ki’tia. “What did you mean, girl, when you said you ‘can’t harm’ us?”

Ki’tia looked around the room and then returned her gaze to speak to Kal. “I am an A’nir, one of the third sodality of Force users. A’nir access only the Light side of the Force. I am unable to touch the Dark, it would destroy me.”

“How?” asked Mereel. “How would the accessing the Dark side of the Force destroy you and what type of powers are those?”

“The Dark powers are not available to me,” she answered, looking at Mereel. “Although I am quite strong in the Force, I do not possess the Jedi’s ability to probe into another’s mind to read and influence their thoughts and actions. I cannot cause mortal harm to another sentient being. I cannot lie or deceive.” Ki’tia paused to look at the men in the room. Most were looking between her and Jusik. Jusik was staring at her, but he was no longer probing her mind. “Any attempt to access the Dark side would result in the loss of my connection to the Force and most likely my death. The A’nir cannot ‘fall’ to the Dark side, as the Jedi can. The Dark powers obliterate us.” She stopped and took a drink. There was a moment of silence in the room, except for the crackle of the fire in the center.

“The A’nir are the Light of the Force,” Ki’tia continued, staring at the flames in the fire. “We are the grace and the empathy, the joy and compassion, the love and the ecstasy of the Force. Most A’nir are great healers because we can engage the Light of the Force to so attune ourselves to our patients to empathically heal on the cellular level.”

“Why have we never heard of the A’nir?” Mereel asked. “Mandalorians have known Sith and Jedi for millennium.”

“A’nir only remain on remote planets,” Ki’tia explained, “where the Jedi could not eliminate them by taking Force sensitive children away from their parents. The Jedi nearly exterminated the A’nir over the millennium.” Ki’tia hesitated and looked down into her lap. “It might be best if I continue with my story and we leave this issue for another time. I do not wish to accuse where there is no responsibility.” She looked up at Jusik, he bowed his head slightly to her.

“Why don’t you continue by explaining why you do not have a sir name,” Kal said, breaking the silence.

“My mother was an A’nir and the healer of the village Gilfari,” Ki’tia resumed her tale. “I never knew my father. He crashed in a starship and was brought to my mother to heal. He had no memory of who he was, but Mother sensed he was a Force user and likely a Jedi. This was a few years after the Clone Wars. She had felt the purge of the Jedi and knew he must be hiding from the Sith. They fell in love, but before she committed herself to him, she made him promise that when his memory returned if there was someone waiting for him, or a responsibility he must fulfill, he would return to it without remorse. He agreed and, eventually, I was conceived. Later, at the autumn festival one of the men brought a lightsaber that was found at the crash site. A small boy was playing with the lightsaber and turned on the blade with it pointing through his chest.” There was a collective intake of breaths around the room. “The boy was killed, but seeing the lightsaber brought back my father’s memories. He was the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

The six Nulls and Jusik leapt to their feet. “Your father was General Kenobi!” “I don’t believe it.” “Is he still alive?” “Where is he?”  The questions were coming at Ki’tia from all the men, except Kal, who remained calm.

“Ad’ika udesiir,” Kal commanded. “Sit down and let her continue.” They resumed their seats, but more weapons were drawn.

Ki’tia continued, “Master Yoda arrived that night to take my father away.” Jusik looked to ask another question and Kal held up his had to silence him. “My father did have someone he was committed to watch over. Someone more important than my mother and her unborn child.” Ki’tia stopped and walked around the room holding her arms tight around herself. Kal stood and went to her. He put an arm around her shoulders and directed her back to the sofa. She took a deep breath, sat and nodded at him. “Master Yoda left an emergency call beacon with my mother. When I was seven, early one morning my mother told me to run to the mountains, that someone bad was coming. She said I was to push the beacon when the bad men had gone. Darth Vader came that day. He murdered my mother and every person in our village. Then he and his Stormtroopers burned the village. Once I saw the starships leave, I pressed the beacon. A few hours later another ship arrived in the village. A being immerged that I would later learn was a Wookiee. Cherral took me to Kashyyyk. Their chief, Kerrithrarr, let me live with them because of the Wookiee life debt to Master Yoda, and because of my father. I lived with the Wookiees until I was fourteen. I understand Shyriiwook and by using the Force to augment my vocal abilities, I can speak some of it.”

“How could you live on Kashyyyk with an Imperial presence there?” A’den asked. “How did they not capture you?”

Ki’tia turned to A’den, “The Imperials were not looking for one small human female and,” she looked down and smiled slightly, “if you recall, I can climb rather well.” There was a general mummer of agreement from the men and a few laughs. Ki’tia blushed.

“When I was fourteen,” she continued, “Kerrithrarr was badly beaten by the Imperials. He was near death. I tried to heal him, but there had been no one on Kashyyyk to help me learn the ways of the Force or the A’nir. I was able to save Kerrithrarr, but in the process I lost consciousness. I had overextended my Force abilities.” Jusik nodded understanding at the problem. “Kerrithrarr instructed Cherral take me to Master Yoda on the planet where he was in exile. Master Yoda was able to bring me back. I stayed with him and learned of the Force.”

“Master Yoda is alive!” Jusik exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

“Not any longer,” Ki’tia answered. “He has passed into the Force.” Jusik slumped back into his seat. The clones looked at him. “When I was seventeen, I was strong enough to call the Force ghosts of my Grand-grandmother and Mother. They trained me in the A’nir.”

“You called their Force ghosts?” Jusik questioned. “You were able to do that?”

“Yes,” Ki’tia answered. “Many times.” The room grew very quiet. Jusik’s brow furrowed looking at Ki’tia and suddenly all the clones drew their weapons. “What’s wrong? What did I do?” Ki’tia asked looking around at all the weapons pointing at her.

“You, obviously, are much more powerful in the Force than I could sense,” Jusik frowned. “No wonder you don’t want me to probe your mind. What are you hiding?”

“Nothing,” Ki’tia answered. “I told you, I cannot harm you.” She looked at the faces in the room. Now even Kal’s was hard and unbelieving. She sat back against the cushions. “Very well,” she said in defeat, “probe my mind as you will, Jedi.” Ki’tia closed her eyes and opened her mind to Jusik’s mind probe. He was not gentle. Ripping through her thoughts and memories, searching for evidence of the Dark side, evidence of lies. He laid bare her pain at her mother’s death, the pain from the truth about her father, the pain from Thrawn’s deception. Jusik sifted through it all, her pain, her joy, her love, her fear, her heartbreak. Ki’tia’s eyes remained closed, but tears were flowing down her cheeks. She didn’t move. She didn’t resist him. She allowed him to violate her mind. His assault continued for many minutes.

“Bard’ika stop,” Kal ordered. Jusik’s gaze had been locked on Ki’tia. At Kal’s words he shook his head and turned to his adoptive father.

“She’s telling the truth, Buir,” Jusik almost whispered. “There is no Darkness in her. I’m sorry.” It was impossible to know who he was apologizing to. Jusik got up and left the room.

Kal took a cloth and wiped the tears from Ki’tia’s face. “Can you continue, ad’ika? I’d still like to know about your baby.” Ki’tia shook her head ‘yes’ and opened her eyes. She didn’t look at any of the men, nor did she notice that Jusik had left the room.

Still with her eyes diverted, Ki’tia resumed her story. “About a year ago I had to leave Master Yoda. It was not safe for me to stay on Kashyyyk. Kerrithrarr tried to send me here at that time, but I lost my ticket for passage to a nearby system. I took a job on a starliner. Eventually, we were inspected by the Imperial Navy. I was suspected of being a Jedi, and I was interrogated by the captain of the Valadin.” Several of the men shuddered at the thought of Imperial interrogation. Jusik slipped back into the room. Ki’tia did not look at him, although she felt his presence. “The Emperor and Vader were at Endor,” Ki’tia continued. “I was turned over to Grand Admiral Thrawn aboard the Admonitor. Thrawn learned of my parentage and wanted to use my DNA, well the DNA of Obi-Wan Kenobi, to introduce Force sensitivity into his Chiss bloodline. The Chiss are a race from the planet Csilla, in the Unknown Regions. They are humanoid, but with minor differences, including blue skin and red eyes.”

Ki’tia paused and took several deep breaths. “Thrawn was good to me. He helped me learn his language, and he protected me from the Emperor and Vader.” She paused not wanting to explain what happened next in front of all these men. She closed her eyes and continued. “I fell in love with him. He took me to a planetary outpost in the Unknown Regions, where I conceived his child.” Ki’tia opened her eyes. She looked at the doctor. “The embryo did not immediately implant in my womb. It is not unusual for implantation to take several days.” Mij nodded in agreement. “I knew I had conceived, but I didn’t know Thrawn knew. I woke up one night and overheard him discussing the embryo with the ME-2B droid. They were planning to remove the embryo from my body and raise the baby to term in a cloning cylinder.” The men in the room exchanged angry glances. “He had the entire cloning apparatus there and ready for the baby. He had planned for this long before anything happened between us.” She looked at Kal. He reached out and took her hand. There were tears in his eyes, and he nodded for her to continue. “I ran. I stole Thrawn’s cruiser. I had never flown a starship before, but there was a manual. Thrawn contacted me as I was lifting off from the planet. He ordered me to come back. He begged me to come back. I told him I knew about the cloning cylinder and I put the ship into hyperspace.”

“You programmed a hyperspace jump after only reading from a manual?” Prudii asked. Ki’tia nodded. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed.” The others agreed. She just shrugged.

“When I got to Ord Mantell I was unsure how to land, and the instructions were inadequate. I caused some damage to the cruiser and to the landing platform. The Imperials had ordered a lockdown of the station, but I managed to get off the ship before they arrived in the landing bay. I hid while the station was inspected and when Thrawn came for his ship.”

“You managed to evade a full Imperial search of the port?” Kal was impressed, as were the rest of the men.

Ki’tia continued, “After the Imperials left I was watching a man eat and he saw me. I was hungry. I was going to try to steal some of his food and I got careless. It had been over two days since I had eaten. The man offered me bread and something called ‘hot chocolate.’ His captain offered me more food and found me boots to wear. I had run away from Thrawn wearing only a robe. I took one of his shirts from the cruiser to wear as a tunic on the station. The captain said he would bring me here.” Ki’tia stopped and looked at Kal. “While I was on Ord Mantell, the embryo implanted. I became pregnant. If it hadn’t been for the baby I probably would not have sought you out, but now I had another life to consider.” She squeezed Kal’s hand. “Kerrithrarr said you would keep me safe, Kal Skirata. I don’t care about me, but, please, for my baby. I need your help.” Her eyes were wide with pleading, and with fear.

Kal placed a hand under her arm and helped her stand. “Come with me, ad’ika,” he said, “we’ll find you a place to sleep. You and your baby are welcome here.”

Jaing walked up to Jusik, who was leaning against the wall watching Kal and Ki’tia leave the karyai. “What’s wrong, ner vod?” Jaing asked. “You look like you’ve been gut punched.”

“I’m the shabuir who gut punched someone,” Jusik replied, pointing with his chin toward Kal and the woman leaving the room. “Worse than that, I feel like I raped her mind.” He punched his fist into his other hand. “How could I do that to a pregnant woman?”

“Hey, ner vod,” Jaing put his arm around Jusik’s shoulders, “you were protecting your family, your clan. You did what you had to do to keep the rest of us, and Kal’buir, safe.”

He looked up at his adopted brother. “She’s been through things I wouldn’t wish on a Sith,” Jusik said, “and I added to the torment tonight.” Jusik hung his head and walked out under the early morning sky.

“What’s wrong with Bard’ika?” Ordo asked, watching him exit the house.

“Jetii guilt,” Jaing replied. “Let’s get some sleep while we still can, ner vod.”

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