“You are progressing adequately. The addition of the suggested growth enhancement has been accepted. There are various tests we will still have to complete but you are ahead of schedule by my calculations.” Barriss heard the words in her head, a slow methodic voice ascribed to poetry or song, not the statement she had just heard. She breathed in a deep breath and felt the congestive pull of an apparatus attached to her mouth. With a mild panic setting in upon her she opened her eyes to find herself once again in the Bacta tank, submerged fully in its warm fluids. She apprised her hands, swaying them gently through the liquid, an illuminator above creating a bluish hue to her surroundings, contrasted with the olive pigmentation of the hand she was waving about. She squinted her eyes to look beyond her fingertips, to find the voice that had sung in her head. As before, the starfield speckles of large vacuous eyes filled her view, centered upon an oval head. A small mouth was moving, below a barely perceptible nose, in some wordless conversation. “You are beautiful child, and we are so proud of you.” The song returned to her head. She felt the truth of it course through her body, its echoes resonating within her, wanting with all of her being to be sung to again. She looked again upon the Kaminoan; the face fixated beyond the tank just out of reach. A shadow to the right of the opalescent creature caught Barriss’ attention, a darkness within the dark. A figure with a long hood pulled over most of its head stood motionless. The Kaminoan was mouthing words again drawing Barriss’ attention back to it, waiting patiently to hear the melodic string of words. They did not come. An echo of unintelligible chanting filled the void of silence in her tank. Overlapping whispers consumed her mind, a clarity beginning to take shape within the speech. ‘Incantation’ she thought to herself. She darted her gaze to the shadow form knowing it was the source. The form began to move behind the Kaminoan planting a foreboding sensation within her. She reached out as far as she could with both hands to bang a warning against the tank’s inner surface, spitting out the breathing apparatus in the process. She felt her eyes grow wide with apprehension, screaming out with everything she had. The Kaminoan’s eyes suddenly flared open as a brilliant orange energy blade protruded from her upper chest. The Kaminoan looked briefly down upon the blade as it withdrew then looked up and into Barriss’ eyes, her own returning to a more natural state. Barriss was certain her diminutive mouth smiled a simple crease before her eyes closed completely and her body slumped forward and into the outside of the tank. Her screams abated, Barriss fumbled around for the fallen breathing tubes, careful not to allow any more of the fluid into her lungs. Latching onto it with her left hand she quickly stuck it back in her mouth, the fluid returning to a stasis around her. She looked upon the Kaminoan again, seeing clearly as a desiccated yellowish hand emerged on the body’s shoulder, casting it aside unceremoniously, revealing the entirety of the shadow form in its place. Two skeletal hands, flesh cracked, reached up to remove the hood over its head. Barriss was consumed by recognition as soon as its chin was revealed. ‘Unduli’ she thought, glimpsing the tight pattern of triangles woven together into a band from neck to mouth. The hands continued to remove the hood fully exposing the entirety of her face. “You share in the mockery and corruption through your memory of me...Padawan.” The words formed in Barriss’ head despite Luminara’s lips remaining motionless.
‘This isn’t possible, I saw them place your body into the cell on Stygeon Prime.’ Barriss thought. Without warning Luminara’s facial features pulled into themselves, the flesh flaying itself from bone. A single bright blue eye remained a second longer than the rest of the organs, its gaze penetrating the very fabric of Barriss’ being, scaring her soul.
Barriss woke with a startled squelch, eyes flying wide, staring into a tuft of brilliant green needlegrass lying directly before her. Although able, she decided to remain motionless to let her heartbeat return to normal. ‘Another dream’ she thought to herself as the reality of her surroundings welcomed her to the pre-sun dawn of Ambria. Numerous insects sang their own songs to one another as they busied themselves with their own morning routines. The squawking of unknown avians broke the constant hum of insect wings from time to time, alerting their own brethren of the bountiful harvest before them. Barriss’ heartbeat began normalizing as she pushed herself off the ground. Looking about her with hazy eyes, she was startled to see how vast these grasslands truly were.
Ambria’s sun began cresting the western hills behind Barriss, bathing the valley surrounding Lake Natth in its warmth and brilliant light. Although in the throes of contemplating her dream, she was startled again by the sights before her. Ambria had not been short of surprises since she exited hyperspace and the breathtaking view before her was yet another. Brilliant colors exploded across the landscape, variegated grasses ranging from shades of white and cream to violets and indigos swayed in the gentle breeze sourced by the Tiernvaal range kilometers distant before her, its own silhouette dark blue and purple. Massive growths of wildflowers a meter wide shot tall, spiked plants covered in small orange and yellow flowers five meters off the ground. Like islands amid the grassy ocean of the valley, they were everywhere. The orange and yellow flowers would defer to reds and pinks on some, blues, and purples on others. Shockingly deep red plumes of feathery vegetation where intermingled throughout her view. Barriss couldn’t identify the plumes as either grass or flower but noticed several more of the Thumper’s from the night before grazing upon them lazily. She looked around for either Eerie or Quin spotting them near the lake’s edge, sidled next to one another drinking deeply from the water’s edge.
The contrast between what Barriss was currently surrounded by and what she had, herself, prepared in research prior to coming were overwhelmingly different. She was tempted to check her star charts again, but she knew it would only reveal what she knew to be true. Her thoughts drifted to her Bacta sessions without prompting, her dream still fresh in her memory, and how the two may be related. Barriss had assembled and arranged a compilation, standard days in length, of recordings taken from her own notes as well as others regarding this planet’s history, topography, and civilizations both ancient and current, that she played for herself while in Bacta submersion. That submersion, however, differed from her dream in about every way possible. There were no Kaminoans under the employ of the Empire that she was aware of, and most certainly none to the best of her knowledge within the SuRecon center on Coruscant. The background, seen beyond the Kaminoan, was unfamiliar as well. The various panels and workstations were devoid of aesthetic. They were austere and sterile but bright and polished, again differing from the recovery room she had utilized at SuRecon which was dark by necessity and absent of any panel or workstation. Then there was the Bacta itself. She had personally chosen the settings with which she would utilize prior to submersion, double and at times tripling the normal dosage, creating an ooze more than a fluid, one she would have a ridiculously hard time seeing through. There were too many differences to ignore. The presence of her former master was a complete mystery to her as was her comment, which Barriss instinctively committed to memory, “You share in the mockery and corruption through your memory of me...Padawan.” She said the words out loud. Barriss hadn’t thought about Luminara Unduli in some years, until Ahsoka Tano brought her up a months ago, but even then she had blown it off and in fact was ambivalent toward any connection she may yet have to her former master. It just simply didn’t matter to her. So why then would her subconscious have her believe that a connection may yet still exist? She did not have that answer.
Barriss’ stomach growled with fervor, reminding her that three bites from a ration bar hours earlier was not going to satiate her needs. Shaking her head from thought, she pushed herself up to her feet, kicking her foot against a white luminous tuber root attached to a short stem and small blue flower atop it. She picked it up to inspect it, feeling its firmness with her fingertips. “Fresh?” She asked the air before her. Looking up toward ‘her’ Thumpers, she was startled to see that they had walked up to her and were standing only meters away. Quin looked down at the root in her hand and nodded his head toward her. Barriss looked again at the root, wet dirt clinging to its surface. She began walking toward the lake’s edge, patting the fur on the necks of both animals as she passed them. She did not get another five meters before Quin’s form canted in front of her, barring passage to the water. Barriss looked him in the eyes wondering what had gotten into the beast, watching as the mane of hairs on his spine began to stand on end. She swung her gaze behind her to that of Eerie who was nodding her head back and forth. “Did you just tell me no?” Barriss asked, knowing full well there wouldn’t be a verbal answer. She sidestepped Quin and doubled her pace to the water’s edge. Again, Quin cut in front of her and bowed his head low toward her chest before he pushed with his massive neck, taking her off her feet. “What the hell is wrong with you?” She was becoming quite agitated. As she scrambled within her long robe to regain her footing, Eerie took up a position adjacent to Quin, both intent on keeping her from reaching the lake’s edge. “I just want to clean this.” She said holding out the tuber root, the dirt streaking long lines of black along its white surface. Quin looked at the root and approached, carefully placing his mouth right above Barriss’ outstretched hand. Without warning a long black tongue shot forth and covered the root, licking the dirt clean and drenching her hand in its saliva. It took a few moments to pass before comprehension took hold and Barriss wasn’t sure if she should thank the animal or turn her body to retch what contents her stomach held. The dirt she may have been able to overcome, now, however, the root was untouchable, and she had to stop herself from dropping it altogether. She understood what Quin had done and she was truly thankful for the effort, but now she needed to get to the water more than ever. They would not let her near the lake for whatever reason and she was sound enough in biology to understand that something had to feed it. She bowed a calculated ‘thank you’ toward the Thumper, then smacked her lips together noisily while mimicking drinking. Eerie caught on immediately. The light-colored Thumper snorted quietly before letting loose a high-pitched squeal and nudged Barriss in the shoulder while lowering her own. “Huh?” Barriss said awkwardly. Eerie tried to convey her message a little more directly by lowering her body toward the ground, Quin nudging Barriss’ shoulder this time, toward his mate. “Ahhh!” She elicited an unexpected understanding. “This will be a first for me girl.” Barriss said in all truthfulness to her imprinted beast. Eerie only nodded her head as Barriss grabbed for the sides of her neck, seated herself in a ‘natural’ notch along its spine and rolled the long hairs into her left fist. The seat was perfect for her form, a surprise in and of itself. She instinctively pressed her legs into the side of Eerie and locked herself in place as the animal raised itself off the ground and threw her head back with another high-pitched squeal, answered in kind with a deeper squeal from Quin as he lowered his head and broke into a sprint through the grasses. Eerie sprang from her pose and was at near full speed within seconds, closely following her mate. Barriss felt exhilaration immediately as the wind caressed her face, making her acutely aware of every single sense she possessed. The changing scents of the flora around her whisked in and out of her nose, creating a refreshing mixture of forced air that felt cleansing within her lungs. She was aware of the power within the beast under her. Not a centimeter of fat seemed to exist as she felt a surprising packet of muscle and tendon with each long stride the Thumper made. Barriss lowered her head momentarily to settle close to Eerie’s left ear, “Faster!” She shouted, hoping it was loud enough to contend with the fore wind being created. Barriss felt the tightening of every muscle she could sense as Eerie burst forth with more speed, completely unrestrained and feeling transformed in several senses. She lifted her head to the sky and bellowed a high-pitched squeal of elation, doing her best to mimic the Thumper’s throaty cry. Eerie responded with her own, matching the tone of her rider. Barriss could hear a third cry before her, Quin, she realized, adding his own stanza to the song the three of them were creating. The grasses whipped past her legs as Barriss felt them under the lengthy cloak and knee length leather boots. Although the barriers existed, the grasses felt light and soft instead of abrasive or sharp as she had expected them to be. Barriss took a moment to look around her from her heightened perch, watching as the natural winds whipped the tall grasses into waves of vegetation, proffering contrasting colors and the illusion of movement as the cream-colored grasses mingled with each bend into the bright greens. “This is beautiful.” Barriss couldn’t help but say out loud. She focused her gaze on the mountains looming before them, still many kilometers away as the purplish hue attested. She knew she needed to reach them, she needed to find her canyon. She knew also that she would have to continue to remind herself of these objectives as the beauty and wonders she had already experienced could easily make her forget.
Quin began to slow and subsequently Eerie did as well as the three neared a larger congregation of the island like clumps of sky reaching flowers. Although Barriss couldn’t see it, she could hear the babbling of water flowing rapidly over small stones as the wind rush began to fade. She could hear the congregating hum of the buzzing insects all about her and the raw naked calls of the birds that fed on them, sounds that only increased the closer they came to the copse of vegetation. As the tall grasses began to give way to shorter varieties, she could see numerous small, fur covered quadrupeds chewing away at the lush light purple blades. Again, contrary to her expectations, Ambria was teaming with life.
Quin had slowed to a methodical walk, Eerie following suit, until they both stopped altogether in the small clearing of purple grasses. Eerie lowering herself to sit on the ground, allowing Barriss an easy dismount. She continued to sit upon the Thumper a few moments longer, closing her eyes as she released her grip on the animal’s spinal mane of hair. For the first time since arriving, Barriss opened herself fully to the Force, letting it course through her entire body, basking in its nourishment and tasking it to bridge connections with every living thing around her. Practices she hadn’t employed since, ‘I was a padawan’ she finished the thought with a whisper into the warm morning air.
Her mind was instantly in turmoil. Her memories mingling with her current teachings and philosophy, creating a sickly feeling within her, a feeling Eerie was attuned to. The Thumper beneath her began to ‘purr,’ an ability Barriss hadn’t known Craci Thumpers to possess. Eerie’s vibrating vocals were almost inaudible, but her entire body responded to them with infinitesimal matching muscle twitches which massaged Barriss into a less conflicted state. Although she could not explain the workings of the ability, Barriss backed up from her seated position and lay forward with her head to the side along Eerie’s spine. Whether the Thumper was innately born with the ability, or it was learned somewhere along the line, she didn’t care to know, only that is was soothing her to her very core.
Barriss dropped both arms down to either side of Eerie to allow for more contact between herself and the animal, embracing the action fully, as well as literally. Her mind began to pursue its own path through the actions, not necessarily caring if her understanding of the Force had more to do with either extreme. For reasons she could not even begin to contemplate, her thoughts drifted to Ahsoka Tano, surprising her completely. Mental flashes of conflict, of anger and hatred dared her surroundings to release the Mirialan back into their grip but between the calming effect of the Thumper and the focused path Barriss’ mind had become, the turmoil folded in upon itself and diminished to an afterthought.
Barriss had no sense of time as she lie upon Eerie’s back but the animal sensed the ease of tenseness and the release of the mental tension within her rider enough to cease the calming effects she had employed. Barriss remembered she was hungry and sat up, snatching the tuber root from the folds of her robes. She dismounted Eerie and felt her soft leather boots squish into the saturated ground, understanding why the smaller animals were feeding on the plants here. She reached down to pluck a purple blade between her fingers, snapped it off from its base and brought it to her nose with a deep inhale. The scent of viability and newness assailed her, only adding to the elation and exhilaration of breathing in the life all around her.
She took a step forward toward the babbling of water just inside the copse of towering flowers as her booted foot sunk to her ankle in the moisture rich soil. Both Eerie and Quin stared at her as she teetered back and forth regaining her balance. To correct her stance, she placed the other foot a little closer to the copse, it too sinking to the ankle. Wavering back and forth with arms flailing wildly, Barriss tipped too far back and lost her balance completely, falling into the wet ground on her backside. Her understanding of Craci Thumper social behaviors getting a workout, she turned to see both animals fixated on her with wide toothy grins making a sound with short inhales and exhales of breath closely resembling laughter.
Barriss had a sudden but insanely brief flash of anger, but reason dictated that she couldn’t focus that anger on anything, save her naivety. She intuitively knew harboring anger toward herself was a useless gesture and let the anger evaporate. She instead focused on her own clumsiness and found the humor within her own arrogance. Barriss turned her gaze back toward the sound of running water and began to chuckle in tune with the mated pair of Thumper’s behind her. The sounds both Quin and Eerie made only grew in intensity and volume which fed Barriss’ own reaction to her situation, finally letting go of the overwhelming need to laugh. She hadn’t realized how long it had been since she gave in to that impulse, another brief flash from her past igniting and extinguishing within the span of a single breath answered her question for her. Never. She bridged that past to her current state, her present, and realized that she was in complete control of herself. An exhilarating feeling flooding her between deep inhales of the fresh air, and she laughed harder than she ever had in her life, falling back completely into the saturated soil with an enormous smile stretched across her face, and her now involuntary laughter echoing through their small plot in the extensive valley around them.