“Proceed with caution is an understatement Huyang, the dangers are very real.” Ahsoka uttered, having finished her own rendition of recent events following the droids long winded narrative that had seen her dozing off at least seven times, “Ani understood, better than most possibly could, that the path through the Force will transit Sabine’s strongest emotions before anything else.” She continued with an eye on the shuttles navcon, doing what she could to ease the building waves of nervous tension. “...Empire really has these lanes backed up…”
“Changing the subject will not earn you pass from the conversation at hand Lady Tano.” Huyang posited, turning slightly from his navigations seat, “assisting with the more physical aspects of training for more than two millennia, I will admit that the psychological facet’s regarding, ‘how one communicates with the Force,’ as you phrased it, are somewhat beyond my comprehension, but have never precluded me from at least listening.” Huyang responded, Ahsoka turning in the pilot’s seat to meet his gaze. “Conversations through the eons, such as these, have allowed me to summarize general concepts, adaptations, and ideologies that were easy to transcribe through following action.”
Ahsoka considered the statement, turning back toward the navcon for the fourteenth time. The droid could be referring to innumerable individuals who had taken themselves in infinite directions, but she knew he would have related the comment toward her personally. She, herself, had accounted for certain parallels between Anakin and the dangers of Sabine’s path going forward, ones she had concerns over with Kowani as well, and countless others prior. Ahsoka widened her eyes slightly as she began to consider the larger picture, and quite possibly Huyang’s point. “The bond is strong between anger and the Dark Side Huyang, a path reserved for the two alone through the infinite routes one could take. I have felt it’s power, tasted it’s promises and drawn from the well myself since Mustafar…”
Huyang let his arms drop from the navigational controls, resting his hands in his lap as he swiveled his seat to face her fully, “Ahsoka Tano, that path began well before Mustafar, as you’ve narrated your recent exploits, we both know that.” Ahsoka turned to face him, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Like it or not, that path began the day you were delivered unto Master Skywalker’s care.” He continued with brutal honesty, “you’ve done little but question your own path since.”
Ahsoka could feel an anger rising within her, one that she felt was appropriate, wanting to lash out in complete denial, but her inner calm resolved any potential conflict immediately with a cadence of forced images flashing through her memory.
Ahsoka felt the wake of her past through each instance her mind had forced upon her, observing herself objectively through instances she had either been a part of or caused. Each and every one of them relaying to her now what she had determined to be Huyang’s point from the start, something that had been affirmed on Aborah through the words of Nara herself. Her own balance of truth. “Mortis….”
Huyang blinked through his photoreceptors , dazed by the response, “Mortis? Heavens Ahsoka, I thought we were being objective. No. Skywalker.”
“Anakin?” She asked, her voice sounding that of a child, “I don’t understand…”
“Lady Tano, had he ever not done what he had set out to do? No matter the cost? It is simply a matter of perspective, so long as we are speaking objectively after all.” Huyang stated bluntly, rather surprised that the young Togrutan had not come to the same conclusion some time ago.
She had known the answer for some time yet had been unwilling to admit it as she closed her eyes to the memory of Ambria, “it’s why I couldn’t challenge him Huyang, why I couldn’t destroy him despite the opportunity to do so.”
“And why you told him of the boy…” Huyang added.
Ahsoka had multiple reasons for assuring Vader his son was alive but had not conceived this being one of them. “His objective remains free of Sidious’ Huyang, they are divergent. All I did was fuel his own agenda.”
“By manipulating the situation presented…” Huyang added with a soft warble.
Ahsoka felt the fires burn again within her, ready to lace into the ancient droid but calmed herself yet again with reason, blinking through her frustration, “and why I don’t think going to Hoth is wise…”
“Any why not Lady Tano, you have already said the bond between you and Anakin has been severed.” Huyang replied, Ahsoka understanding that the matter would not be laid to rest so easily.
“Because his son has the right to know!” She shouted into the canopy, “and I don’t have the heart to tell him.”
Huyang surveyed the woman without saying anything, biding his time to interject only once she accepted what needed to be.
“...that isn’t true…” Ahsoka breathed out her reply through a long exhale, “I would tell him if he asked...even though I understand that I should not.”
“Then only provide that which he seeks Ahsoka. It is not for anyone to decipher his fate but himself. And remember Lady Tano, no one can know that which they do not know.” Huyang replied after a long moment.
Ahsoka let angers fire rescind without the use of any further emotional tempering, letting reason alone quench the will to react without thought. ‘Light mingles with Dark, intertwined infinitely. I cannot have one without the other.’ She thought to herself as she pulled upon the droid’s comments and her own memories, those that fought against certain codes of ethics in the face of what was right. Ahsoka began to consider that every situation from past and present had been an ushering point to drive her toward the wills of the future, not one situation holding sway individually to develop any form of consequential outcome in general. The will to respond, to act, would always cancel any conceived pre-ordination if she acted free of outside influence. She closed her eyes slowly and regulated her breath through long purposeful inhales and exhales, clearing the remaining questions from her mind as well as preconceived answers to them. Each inhale a cleansing breath, while each exhale removed doubt, “balance must be maintained, as it is essential for all life to thrive. Light, Dark, coexist without overpowering the other. Emotion, peace, coexist just as chaos and order must. I am someone who upholds this balance.”
Huyang was silent through the recitation, her words like a song through his audio receptors, “my word Lady Tano, that sounded like an epiphany…”
Ahsoka didn’t respond immediately, even when the proximity sensors began chiming their arrival. She let herself bask in this truth, her own balance established as she chuckled internally through the blind ignorance that finally lifted its veil. Finally, she laughed outward with a subtle grin as she understood her place, her role going forward, “an epiphany...no Huyang, not an epiphany. An acceptance.” She replied with finality, gripping the hyperdrive yoke in her right hand and forcing it backward, a bright sphere of gray and white filling the forward view ahead of them.
✦
“I know I’ve been here before Chams, the familiarity is something beyond reason.” Sabine said into the cockpit, “it’s as if Ani is holding my hand or something and we’re on the Reaches, learning to control my breathing or rehashing fond memories…” She continued through her definition of ‘familiarity,’ in stark contrast to the AI’s obvious reasoning. Sabine saw now what she did months ago as the ship guided itself through Conum Arnia’s thick cloud cover, swathing bands of light to dark gray that pelted the canopy with droplets of flowing rain. As the clouds began to break through their descent, proximity alerts began registering through the cabin, exposing a view through the canopy of lush trees of vivid green far to close. “Chams, pull up!”
“I do not have control of the vessel Sabine.” The AI responded, Sabine instantly pulling back on the ships yoke in front of her.
The ability to differentiate individual leaves and foliage upon the same tree or plant assured was not the proximity Sabine had in mind. The yoke unresponsive, she could only pull her head into her shoulders as her muscles began to tense with anticipated doom. The moment she was certain the ship was going to barrel through the uppermost reaches of the all-encompassing forestation, the Morai leveled out with a massive groan of protest, her hull buckling somewhat from the gravitational forces placed upon it. Sabine herself felt her body lower itself into the pilot’s seat, her back pinging through the rigors of increased pressure as her bones fought to keep themselves together. As quickly as the pain had started, it ceased, the Morai traveling slowly unimpeded just over swaying tree tops .
Sabine forced her eyes open, realizing they hadn’t come to her expected fiery demise, revealing the serenity she had remembered despite the rush she had been in the last time. A furious storm pulled the clouds in ribbons past one another, whirling dark grays into bright white, shocks of severe lightning slamming into the ground far off in the distance. “Ani had always spoken of this place, its beauty raw and aggressive.”
“Not much unlike herself by your own admission.” Chams replied.
Sabine couldn’t stop the chuckle, “not unlike her at all…” She replied, watching through the canopy as large swaths of wind took the leaves of the trees below in wild patterns that looked chaotic at best. “She always said it was a language….” Sabine couldn’t help saying aloud, finally seeing what Kowani had always spoken of, “I wouldn’t know how to translate it though...Chams can you record the patterns?”
“In extreme detail Sabine, shall I commence?”
“Please do, I’d like to look them over at some point.” Sabine replied, her eyes still fixated on the immense foliage that swayed like simple reed in a light breeze, each frond and leaf dancing in an orchestra that accompanied the ones adjacent.
“We are slowing down Sabine, does this look familiar to you?” Chams spoke up after long silent moments between the two, Chams trying to work out some form of linguistic translation on her own as Sabine thought through each swirl, eddy and forceful flow of the rain drenched wind. The Morai shuddered for a moment as the sub light array took itself offline, giving way fully to the ships host of repulsors that engaged with a baritone chug. Slight vibrations ran through the decking as the ship came to a halt and began descending. “We could be anywhere Chams, all the trees look the same to me.”
“They are in fact quite different from one another, a factor perhaps as we work toward an understanding, but more immediately, I cannot penetrate the vegetation to scan the ground below. I am not sure how this particular voyage will end.” Chams replied.
“The way it was meant to…..” Sabine replied, surprising herself with an admission of the heart.
She could not explain it, only that the sudden realization had garnered her complete attention, Sabine understanding that the moment they had broken atmosphere they were no longer in control of anything. “I know that seems cryptic, but I just have a feeling…”
“As I am incapable of operating within those types of parameters I will have to take your word for it.” Chams replied sardonically.
“Personality assimilation will be ongoing then?” Sabine said with a grin, although not quite sure where to focus precisely when addressing the ships AI, “...this should be fun.”
“It will be ongoing Sabine, dependent entirely on whether you are to remain this ships proprietary user.” Chams replied bluntly. Sabine considered the comment outright, unsure herself if that was to be the case.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead, but we can come back to that….” She trailed off while observing the swirling wind patterns within the uppermost limbs of the trees below them. Circular whirls of bent leaves and swaying branches created a gentle vortex around them, an outlet of flowing winds deviated to their port side, toward the north. “….it is leading us…” Sabine said quietly, “Chams, one tenth acceleration, we will keep pace with the winds…”
The Morai floated gently upon its repulsors, guided forward by the will of the planet itself as Sabine and Chams worked out a suggested direction, neither wanting to disturb the process they found themselves in. Chams silently surveyed the path they were on and the swirls that followed directly below them, “although the visuals would stand contrary, I am receiving no audio from the phenomena.”
“What do you mean? The winds are silent?” Sabine narrowed her eyes slightly as she continued staring through the canopy, wondering how that would even be possible.
“Precisely. The angles of the branches would suggest immense gusts of incredible force and pressure, yet there is no change within the pressures around us nor is there a sound associated.” Chams replied.
Sabine found the admission unsurprising, despite its impossibility, a certain feeling she felt deep within her that a natural order was unfolding of which she was only a part. “We are almost home….” Kowani’s soft whispered voice comforted Sabine’s thoughts. An irrational fear coursed through Sabine as the whispers grasped her subconscious, the Mandalorian within quickly unsettled by the sudden breach of its outward guard, having never been outflanked so thoroughly. She had to console herself despite the comfort she felt through the whispered promise, understanding that something else entirely was at work. It was then she felt it. A solace of mind, body, and spirit, a warmth of belonging and the confidence of trust of the highest sort. Sabine could feel her sister’s presence despite her known fate and current location. The vigilant internal armor of the Mandalorian began to succumb to a peace she had never known, dropping the walls that were ever erect to allow sentiment, passion and feeling a two-way path to what had been trying to breach her hard purposeful shell for so long.
“Take my hand Sabine, kemir ti ni….” Kowani’s whisper was as clear as it would have been right at her ear, Sabine, despite her subconscious attempting to reestablish its defensive barriers, only felt a warmth that was anything but tenuous as it coursed through her again, one that was anything but ominous. ‘I will walk with you, vod, my sister.’ Sabine thought her reply before she had even turned her head, the volition to find the voice only a minor need compared to the utter will to follow it.
“There is nothing to fear Sabine, you have brought me home, now walk with me toward my end.”
Sabine closed her eyes, a knowing smile creasing her taught lips as she pushed herself from the pilot’s seat, “Chams….just follow the winds…” She said, turning from the canopy, knowing there would be nothing to see through the cockpit but blinking through that truth, nonetheless.
“Understood Sabine.” Chams replied.
Sabine continued through the cockpit hatchway, the smile ever increasing as the internal walls fell completely. The nakedness she felt was refreshing, the internal Beskar the Mandalorians rarely shed, a weight upon her she had never truly realized. Each step was easier as she angled toward the steps leading down into the cargo hold, every footfall less impeded. The heaviness of her past, her regrets and sorrows, the losses that mounted, found a balance with the peace she now felt, a continuing part of her that would never truly fall away that finally allowed the promise of healing waves of commitment and beatitude equal measure. Sabine was equally unsurprised when her eyes found Kowani, standing in the newly minted and decoratively painted ceremonial armor, fully erect at the breach for the ship’s aft cargo ramp, her hand held out for Sabines.
“I knew you would be waiting for me.” Sabine said, placing her helmet on her head, locking it in place with a quick piercing chime.
“Of course you did, you are starting to believe sister.” Kowani said softly, her head turning slightly over her shoulder, “take my hand Sabine.”
Sabine felt the Morai stop its forward progress and begin to descend. The images remembered through the canopy view almost forgotten with the knowledge that the dense vegetation below them was parting itself. She couldn’t explain how she knew and knew she didn’t need to. “Belief supplies the knowledge, doesn’t it.” She said, any question within the statement answering itself.
Sabine didn’t need any further comment, feeling the landing struts bounce under the weight of the ship on solid ground below them. She grasped the offered hand and squeezed firmly, letting the peace flow through her unimpeded.
“Belief in yourself sister, nothing more. The Force is always there and does not require belief.” Kowani said softly again.
For the first time, Sabine did not resist the urge to argue any point or dilute the moment with any measure of deflective sarcasm. She simply embraced the experience through the love she felt for the sister at her side. Neither one of them activated the aft ramp, yet it hissed loudly as its seals breached to the harsh atmosphere of Conum Arnia, the servos whirring to life to send the ramp down slowly, exposing the same stretch of exposed stone, ‘the table.’ Sabine thought to herself, remembering the area through her own actions and Areti’s admissions, yet there was no wreckage, no scoring upon the stone from Ion or pulse laser cannon fire. There were no remnants to remind anyone of the Liberators demise nor broken stone of the temples gateway, only the smooth stone of the exposed table and the wavering pulse of life from the twisting walls of vegetation at its edges. They both took that first step in tandem, without word or prompt, just the shared sense of oneness that they had in life. The Force itself working the way it always had through them, and Sabine now understanding what it all meant. As a child takes its first steps or utters its first words so too was the elation that found its way through the Mandalorian, Sabine smiling from ear to ear as she watched with eyes wide open through the helmet’s visor.
Gentle sways of broad leaves, deep greens and purples, veins of white and light gray and those of blue and red all mingled together in a splash of silent color, driven by a wind that could only be the Force itself. Sabine did not feel the pressure of time, only the drive of purpose as they both walked in synchrony across the clean stone table toward the far line of welcoming life. She could feel the occasional squeezes from Kowani, assurances that this final trip could not have been escorted by anyone else, and the surging sense of love and endearment that embraced them both mutually. Two steps from the wall of swaying leaves and immense tree trunks they both came to a peaceful stop. “I can go no further Ani, but I will always be with you.” Sabine said softly. Not because she felt she should, but for the admission that the words hadn’t needed to be said to begin with.
“This bond will never break Sabine but will take commitment to maintain nonetheless.” Kowani replied in a whisper.
“I will never forget Ani, even when it is hard to see the path forward...that is my promise.” Sabine responded, torn between continually observing the slowly swaying vegetation and its consistently dancing patterns and turning toward the sister she would usher into the afterlife.
Kowani removed the decision from her, swiveling to place herself between Sabine and the twisting leaves, “Sabine, the way forward will be difficult, and at times dangerous. The path will attract those forces that wish to oppose you, drawing you toward them with promises of power.” Kowani stated clearly, turning over her shoulder briefly before returning her gaze to Sabine’s helmet visor, “you already possess any power those forces could possibly promise, but only if you remain free of the absolution of your own turmoil. Your promises now are fueled by the bond that we share in the purity of Conum Arnia, remember that as you travel forth.”
Sabine had no response prepared and nothing forthcoming as she stared back through her visor. The statement was clear enough, but she knew the meaning behind it could take on a life of its own through reality. Again, Kowani looked over her shoulder, Sabine understanding that they were out of time.
“Sabine, may the Force be with you….” Kowani said, lifting her helmet form her head. Sabine made a dash to stop her out of fear. Kowani stopped her with a gentle hand on her wrist and finished taking the helmet off, placing it into Sabine’s hand. Kowani smiled broadly, giving Sabine a wink before turning toward the leaves and taking a step forward into them. The leaves parted gently for to reveal a path between them, Kowani’s arms outstretched to stroke the broad leaves as she passed them by, turning a meter in, “the Force will be with you….always Sabine.” She said a final time before turning back a last time to walk toward a golden shimmering light that stood in her path, one Sabine had not even noticed until then.
Sabine felt the urge to cry into her helmet, sudden surges of almost overwhelming emotion that ranged from elation to dire sorrow and renewed grief. As she choked back the tears the vegetation began to vibrate and shake with tremendous force, Sabine stepping backward quickly in response. The forest began to slowly encroach the retreated ground, yet not at a forceful pace. The leaves of the forest’s underbrush, massive trunks beyond them, moving slowly forward to occupy the ground Sabine relinquished. Understanding her retreat would only be at her own pace, she slowly turned toward the extended ramp and walked somberly toward it, again torn between the emotions that assailed her and the hollowness of the instant solitude of the short but lonely walk back. Her boots finally clacking on the ramps lip, she turned one final time to the wild forest that surrounded her. She felt no sense of urgency from it, nor threatened by it, but knew it would only find its natural peace once her ship was removed from the planet’s surface. She turned back toward the cargo hold, placing Kowani’s helmet on the anti-grav sled and trod with a melancholy toward the steps, “Chams….let’s go.” She said, activating the secondary control for the aft ramp, the servos again whirring it up into place. She was halfway up the steps when it hissed briefly before locking in place, yet the ship hadn’t moved at all. “Chams?” She said with some of her own intended urgency, willing to respect the planet’s wishes, only to be met with an oppressive silence. “Chams!”
“Lady Wren!” Chams elevated her audio output another three decibels. “Sabine!” The ship all but shouted into the cockpit, the Mandalorian finally starting to stir. “Lady Wren...we should probably leave, there is an inexplicable surge in geothermic energy heading our way.”
Sabine heard the warbling ululations but could not understand the strange dialect as they resounded through her thoughts. She forced heavy eyes open to the immediacy of green swirls just outside the forward canopy. ‘What the….’
“Lady Wren!” Chams decreed, taking it upon herself to engage the ships’ repulsors and lift the vessel from the ground.
“Chams!” Sabine shocked herself awake, shouting her own urgency into the situation.
“Welcome back…”
“What happened? Where are we?” Sabine could not remember a time she was more confused.
“Extracting ourselves from the planet’s surface, it appears Conum Arnia has expended its own patience.”
Sabine didn’t know how to respond, nor did she remember making the final steps from the center of the main cabin to the pilot’s seat in the cockpit. The view beyond a miasma of churning greens that looked more menacing than they had previously, like waves of an ocean that only grew in strength and size. Sabine cast a glance in either direction as she leaned forward, noting the wave like motions closing in on them from at least the three differing directions. “It wants us to leave? It did not present any form of urgency not seconds ago?”
“Lady Wren..I do not understand your meaning.”
“I just escorted Ani into the wilds….” Sabine responded, realizing that her helmet wasn’t on despite not remembering removing it.
“Lady Wren, you haven’t left the cockpit.” Chams replied, guiding the ship upward toward the building gray cloud cover, flashes of distant lightning arcing in massive webs through them.
“But I did Chams, I felt her touch, heard her voice, said goodbye….” Sabine was becoming less concerned with the violence of nature outside the ship and more with her own understanding of the event's planet side and her own sanity.
Making the last push through Conum Arnia’s gravity well, the Morai left the clashing storms behind it, Sabine’s mind continuing to race as she tried to piece together the last thirty minutes of her life. ‘I know I felt her…’ She couldn’t escape the thought as she touched the fingers of her right hand with her left, pushing against the same places Kowani’s hand had.
“I do not know how to phrase a proper response without supplying visual reference to support my claims Lady Wren.” Chams continued the conversation, routing the Mandalorians vital signs and responses through a complicated medical protocol.
“Your telling me then that it was all in my head….” Sabine started, her attention drawn to a visual display screen Chams had swiveled in her direction, time stamps running alongside the view uninterrupted. Sabine could only watch two different views of herself, one in front of and the other behind over her shoulder which captured a good deal of the wavering tree line beyond the canopy. She saw her own eyes close, and a broad smile extend across her lips, but not once did she get up from the pilots seat before the forest began moving toward the canopy. Sabine continued observing the ship lifting itself slowly from the ground, her eyes focused immediately on the time stamp, ‘I never left….’
“Sabine Chams, Sabine...enough of the Lady Wren….” Sabine said, getting up from the pilot’s seat and dashing through the cockpit hatchway. Her feet clanging loudly on the deck plating of the main cabin, and she fired herself down the steps and into the cargo bay, forcing herself to an abrupt stop. Lying on the anti-grav sled was the full set of ceremonial armor, each piece as it should be, but Kowani nowhere in sight. Sabine didn’t bother inspecting the bay for a body that wouldn’t be there. She knew, despite Chams evidence to the contrary, that she had indeed walked with her sister up to the threshold of the Mirialan’s afterlife. The only things missing from the peaceful arrangement she herself had placed Kowani in were the woman’s light sabers. Sabine quickly enacted a search but found nothing in the bay.
“Sabine...that exploratory agenda we had agreed upon will need to wait for another time. Those creatures are moving toward our location.” Chams voiced over comms.
“Those?” Sabine replied, turning her head upward from her inspections.
“Many...we will have to make a premature jump to avoid intercept. It seems the system has its own agenda as well.” Chams replied.
Sabine activated the sleds gravity retention then fired for the bulkhead wall between the cargo bay and the med alcove, unfolding a subsidiary acceleration seat from its recesses and buckling herself in. ‘The system is alive.’ She thought to herself locking the final latch. “Ready when you are Chams.” She shouted her readiness, feeling a slight lurch and audible thud from behind her more loudly than she could imagine.