Author's Note: My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with the story, and a warm welcome to the new readers who have since then discovered this little tale. The interest is most appreciated! If you have any tips writing tips, please feel free to comment.

As always, I continue to hope that I am doing justice to the spirit of Star Wars as well the respective authors and characters from which I borrow. Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

Mandalorian (Mando'a) words

Ika (EE-kah): diminutive suffix written as 'ika - also added to a name as a very familiar or childhood form, e.g, Ord'ika - Little Ordo  

Ner vod (nair-vohd): "my brother/sister"; colloquially also "my friend"

Ni ceta (nee SET-ah): sorry (lit: I kneel) grovelling apology - rare

Koytc (koh-TEESH): strong  

Shab (sh-ab): a Mandalorian word for excrement 

Vode (VOH-day): brothers, sisters, comrades

--- --- --- --- ---

Chapter 31

As a child, Arlesse used to carry around a heavy-bound flimsi novel that contained a collection of fantasy legends. She read that novel faithfully, even though the flimsi pages were falling out of the bindings and the pictures had faded. I got her a new novel to replace the one in disrepair, but she told me that the new flimsi didn't read the same. At first, I thought she meant that the printers had reworded the stories and changed some of the text, but when I compared the flimsies, they were exactly the same. I was baffled by what she said, and I didn't understand it then, but at some point, I finally figured it out. Arlesse had so much of her childhood embedded in that old novel that to remove it from her collection would erase the comfort those stories initially gave her. The new flimsi remained unread on the shelf in her room, but the old one was devotedly left in plain sight. As she grew older, I would occasionally see her run her fingers through the pages, and memories of her younger days would pass through her eyes.

King Vollan Psach, recalling a memory of his daughter while preparing the speeches for her memorial service

Tochin Moon III, 786 Days ABG  

A fast, hard explosion of light echoed through the woods scattering birds and creatures in every direction. The droids had been in the midst of forming up into guard position behind the Koorivian, but now at least two of them were knocked to the ground. One was thrown towards Zech and slammed him into a tree. The crack of the baron's head hitting the wood was lost in the firefight that suddenly erupted.

Blaster bolts began firing wildly into the wooded land, but Crimson remained hidden in their alcoves, firing on the droids.

Gunna didn't hesitate to get back up on her feet and move further into the clearing. Two droids attempted to follow behind her, maintaining their guard duty. However, Dusty lived up to his name and "dusted" the metal soldiers, his smile hidden beneath his gray helmet.

"Mouse, Gunna's coming your way!" Jas reported his words strangely on edge.

"Relax, ner vod," he replied calmly. "I have a surprise for her."

Gath and Dusty concentrated their efforts on the remainder of the droids, and Jas stepped from his secluded position amongst the shrubs. The Koorivian was quickly regaining her sight and hurried faster, as she ran back towards her ship. Jas thought of nothing but the dead clone trooper and finding Les'ika as a broken and frightened child in Hazar's prison bay. Instantly, his adrenaline pushed him, and he ran after her faster. 

"Don't kill her," Jas yelled suddenly to Mouse. "She might have that trooper's identity tag."

"Oh, shab," Mouse said, regret filling every syllable.

"What does that mean?" Jas asked, instinct promptly stopping him in his tracks as he knew Mouse's tone of voice.

"Get clear! Get clear!" Mouse quickly began yelling.

Sab...shab. Shab! Jas mentally screamed. He saw Mouse pop out of his hiding place near Zech's speeder, and the two of them were running fully on impulse and adrenaline back into the woods for shelter.

Gunna didn't think twice and hurried up the ramp to her ship, believing that she had managed to get her enemy to back off.

Jas heard the sound of the engines come to life and then an explosion suddenly ripped through the clearing, shrapnel, and debris blossoming out in a violent blast. Both Jas and Mouse were thrown to the ground as they had been a bit too close to the explosion for their own comfort.

After a couple minutes to be certain that the worst of the debris had finished raining down, Mouse and Jas turned to see the twisted and destroyed wreckage that once was a space-faring ship. It was no longer recognizable as CIS transport. Zech's personal speeder didn't fare that well either. The bright blue coating was dented and scratched with parts from Gunna's ship violently embedded in its plating. It looked more like a being from a horror-holoflick than a vehicle now.

"Overkill much?" Dusty asked as he caught up with his brothers and the destruction they caused. Neither Mouse nor Jas thought anything of it as he lugged the unconscious form of Baron Zech over his shoulder.

"So much for using her for information," Gath said, shaking his head. "At least, he's still alive."

"Ni ceta, ner vod," Jas said, quietly apologizing to their unnamed brother and knowing now that any chance of finding out who that clone trooper was that had defended Les'ika was lost forever. He had wanted to give the princess some peace, some closure for having to witness his murder, but instead, he was left with nothing.

Les'ika! Jas suddenly realized, his mind closing down from the mission as his emotions for her surfaced from that mental box. He had left her by the tree when he went to take on the firefight, and he had no idea if she was even okay. The debris and shrapnel could have landed anywhere...potentially harming her or worse.

Without warning, Jas turned from the wreckage and bolted towards where he left the princess, hoping that he would not find her with a piece of Gunna's ship lethally embedded in her.

"Guess you better make sure Gunna's body is cooked, ner vod," Dusty sighed, looking at Mouse. "Your mess this time."

Jas sprinted towards the tree where Les'ika had been, noting that the debris hadn't blasted out nearly as far as the explosion made it seem it should have. He stopped abruptly as he saw her raise the blaster at him. Her arms were shaking, both her hands holding the grip of the blaster as though she was a frightened animal defending her territory. Her blue eyes were glazed with panic, turning them almost into a shade of sickly gray. Yet somehow, Jas found that the feral look in her eyes was more comforting than the broken woman he had met on Hazar's ship in that prison cell. Something in her was changing; she was growing kotyc and determined, and it was a transformation Jas wasn't certain he would have seen in her just a couple days ago.

"Les'ika," he said gently, as he lowered himself to his knees before her watching her eyes suddenly soften. He saw how she became the trusting young woman once more, and her breath came in a sudden gulp of air, seeming to awaken her from some horrible dream.

Jas pulled his helmet free from his head and dropped it quietly onto the ground next to him. His hands gently pried the blaster out of her grasp and returned it to his holster.

"It was so loud," she said, shaking her head.

Jas took her hands gently and caught her eyes with his. "It's over now. You're safe."

"Your brothers?" she asked shakily, her blue eyes looking to his but worrying about the rest of Crimson's safety.

Jas was warmed at her concern for his vode and couldn't hide the smile that touched upon his lips. "They're okay, too."

Arlesse caught the child in Jas, as his shy grin revealed more about him than words ever could. She felt herself becoming further calmed in his presence, and the trust she had for him was strengthening and growing deeper if such a thought was possible. She had given Jas her complete trust already, and the fact that he could reach further inside her meant that there was more of her heart that she wanted to share with him. Her concerns for him were growing far beyond any infatuation she had ever known before, and every moment they were together showed her just how much she wanted to share her life with him.

Jas noticed that Les'ika's eyes came back further from that look of feral panic, and the gentlewoman with the compassionate and concerned demeanor returned. It made Jas feel that nagging hunger for her again, and he felt no need to try and resist it. Leaning towards Les'ika, Jas was surprised when she took his cheeks in her hands and pressed her lips to his. He remembered a lesson once about how humanoid nature reacted when faced with a situation of life or death and it often brought out passions in people that they normally wouldn't feel. For the briefest of moments, Jas wondered if this was one of those situations, but as his hands gently curled around Les'ika's back, he realized that it was far deeper than simple impulsive passion. Sliding a hand to the back of her neck, Jas melted into their embrace and silently hoped once more that this mission could last for just a while longer because every time he touched Les'ika, he found it was growing harder to let her go.

--- --- --- --- ---

Quick Author's Note: Did you love that chapter!? I hope you did! Show your support for the author by simply clicking the little VOTE button to the bottom left or top right of your screen! Have a wonderful day!

Votes and Comments/Feedback most enthusiastically welcome!