Second Chance/Part 10

"If you can't carry it, leave it," Tirien commanded Narasi.

"Yes Master," she replied. She studied her hammock for a moment, then waved a hand and left it, picking up her backpack and throwing it over her back.

Retrieving his own few belongings, Tirien watched her surreptitiously. The day had been long and draining, the once-distant rumble of cannon fire a nearly-constant growl now, and the bare handful of Jedi left in the suburb were hard-pressed to cover the Republic retreat. But Tirien thought he had sensed some change in Narasi—slight, but significant. She met his eyes when he spoke to her, and some of that endless hurt seemed to have ebbed.

He had tried to give Master Cazars's admonition fair consideration, but there simply hadn't been time.

"Tirien!" called See Klees from the main hall of the museum. "The brigades are ready to withdraw."

Tirien looked at Narasi, who nodded, then led the way out. The Gran Jedi Knight was waiting for them, and the three Jedi stepped out into the dying sunlight together. Unable to hold the line against a concentrated Sith assault on Pandath, the Republic Army was abandoning the suburbs; unwilling to abandon their citizens too, the Jedi had insisted on a mass evacuation, and the streets were filled with stragglers, speeders, and soldiers shouting orders.

Tirien turned to a particularly packed throng and took a step in that direction…then paused, thinking of Master Cazars. He looked at the citizens again, then said, "Narasi."

"Yes, Master?"

"Get that group of stragglers sorted out. We need to get them to safety as soon as possible."

She looked surprised at the instruction, but nodded. "Okay. Got it!"

As she headed that way, a disturbance in the Force caught Tirien's attention, and he frowned. "Wait, Narasi."

He sensed her disappointment, but only peripherally, because Mali Darakhan had entered the square from the other side, and even from that distance Tirien could tell something was wrong. Mali came their way, pushing through the crowd with Aldayr in his shadow. Mali's jaw was tight, and Aldayr felt of anger in the Force.

The Corellian met his gaze just long enough to nod toward the museum, and Tirien stepped back inside with Narasi and See Klees. Closing the door against the noise outside, Tirien saw Aldayr storm back into the sleeping area. Mali leaned on the welcome desk, clenching its edge with his fingers, head bowed.

"Mali, what happened?" Tirien demanded.

"They got a raid behind the lines," Mali said. "In and out before we even knew they were there."

"What'd they hit?" See Klees asked warily. Tirien imagined Pandath's massive shield generators failing, the entire city reduced to a crater by Sith destroyers.

"The chapter house."

Tirien froze, his eyes widening, and he sensed Narasi's spike of fear. "Saotu?"

Mali turned, and his green eyes carried all the pain he was working so hard to keep off his face. "Dead. He went down trying to protect the Roonan girl."

"Finja?" Narasi asked. "Is she…?"

The Corellian closed his eyes and shook his head. See Klees's three eyes closed, and Tirien sensed her enter a moment of meditative contemplation. Narasi sat down in one of the reception chairs and put her face in her hands. Tirien half-extended a hand to her, then caught himself. But when he looked back to Mali, the Human frowned, then nodded toward Narasi. Feeling awkward, Tirien tentatively put his hand on his apprentice's shoulder. She caught it with one of hers, giving it a squeeze.

"Breathe, Narasi," he told her quietly. "They're with the Force. The Sith can't hurt them anymore."

She nodded, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her other hand. Tirien looked at Mali and asked, "Did Saotu get any of the Sith?"

"If he did, their comrades got the bodies out. We only found the two of them."

Tirien felt Narasi stiffen under his hand, and she let him go as she looked up at him. "What about Olik?"

Turning to Mali, Tirien said, "There should've been a third—Olik Gryfe, a male Human, black hair."

Mali shook his head with a frown. "I searched the whole chapter house myself, Tirien. There were only the two."

"Then Olik could still be alive!" Narasi pointed out.

Tirien and Mali traded a look, and the Pantoran knew that careers of watching the endless Jedi war against the dark side—the physical war without and the spiritual war within—had them thinking the same thing. Alive, but on whose side?

But he would not say that to Narasi. Gizer had taught him a painful lesson about the right and wrong time for the truth.

An explosion not far away brought them all back to reality. Tirien said, "We need to go."

See Klees opened her eyes and nodded while Mali said, "We'll burn them tonight, in Pandath. Assuming we're still alive for the duty."