Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who continues to be interested in this story! 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

Buy'ce (BOO-chay, BOO-shay): helmet; Colloquially: pint, bucket

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 kar'taylir darasuum gar (nee kar-TILE garh dah-RAH-soom): Colloquial: "I love you."

Shab (SHAH-ab): Mandalorian word for excrement

Shebs (shebs): backside, rear, buttocks (also rear of building etc)

Vor entye (vor-ENT-yay): Thank you (lit. *I accept a debt*)

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Chapter 43

Any member of the royal family that is within consensual age to wed is forbidden to marry a consort born out of the ranks of royalty. There may be only one exception to this law and that is in the rank of a knight. The loyal protector is required to take the sacred vow of duty and honor and must have a definitive understanding of the proceedings during royal court. Before the marriage can be finalized, however, the knight must forfeit active duty in the military establishment in lieu of personal duty to the royal family.

Early Tochin law pertaining to a royal marriage, adopted towards the end of the Ancient Era

Tochin Moon II, 787 Days ABG

"What if I never return?" he asked, his fingers grasping hers tighter. He couldn't imagine letting her go now, not after he finally touched her again. However, he needed to understand what his absence would cause for her, especially if it would be permanent.

Arlesse took a heavy breath, caught between the joy of Jas' touch and the fear that he would not be able to promise her what she hoped he could. "Without proof of your death or disloyalty, I am to assume until I die that you will return."

Jas thought of the clone trooper from Hazar's ship who had never been identified, and if that happened to him, Les'ika would be doomed for the rest of her life waiting for someone who would never return. He shook his head now and looked at their entwined fingers, knowing he had to let her go but was unable to release his hand from her. "I can't do that to you. You deserve better than me."

Arlesse didn't try to hold back any longer the observations her father had made. The words just escaped her, and she saw no reason not to say them. "Jas, I don't need a lifetime with you to understand what I feel..." she paused long enough to allow the tidal wave of emotion to wash over her and let herself drown in the brown infinity of his eyes. "I'm in love with you. There's no one else I want to spend my life with."

Jas felt the chill in his body suddenly warm his chest, sparking into an inferno. Words he never entertained in his wildest daydreams were honestly told to him by a woman far beyond any kind of societal ranking that he would ever imagine knowing. Jas knew he was never supposed to be anything more than a man used to fight a war that wasn't his and now he had a princess – a royal-born woman of all people – declaring her love for him. What kind of man would he be to walk away from her and what she wanted to share with him?

Jas was vaguely aware that with every exchange of their conversation, the gap that was between them continued to close tighter. However, the part of him that was a soldier spoke, still trying to make sense in the absurdity of them being together. "I'll die before you're even old."

"I'll take twenty years of happiness, if that's all you can give," she told him softly, seeing the turmoil in his eyes as he fought against the restraints of his duty. "You can't tell me you don't feel the same."

This time Jas closed his eyes and took a deep breath wondering how she could fall in love with a cursed man like him. He couldn't even give her a full lifetime, and he was enslaved to the obligations of a solider in the Republic Army. However, his hand moved on instinct and reached forward, cupping her cheek. He felt his gloved fingers gently comb into her unknotted, but coiled hair. He leaned his forehead onto hers, his voice quiet. "Les'ika, it would be wrong of me to make you wait, just to share a fraction of our lives together."

Arlesse melted into Jas' touch, words eluding her, as she only wanted to remember every moment she ever shared with him. She felt the heat of his breath as it passed over her lips, and she closed her eyes waiting for him to close that gap. She held her breath in expectation of the final kiss they would share before he would walk out of her life forever, a soldier driven by his sense of duty, leaving behind forever a princess that was destined to live in the shadows.

For a long moment, Jas thought about everything—everything from how they met in a mercenary's prison cell to the journey they shared in Tochin's forest that had led them to where they are now. He thought about her being forced into a relationship with someone who would never respect her or give her the compassionate affection she deserved, and he understood Duchess Janelle's words about Les'ika needing someone who will teach her everything while being able to protect her. It now made so much sense to him, Janelle's riddle so very clearly showing him why she interrogated him in the manner that she had. Last night, the duchess had provided Jas with the expectations that Vollan and she had for any suitor who dared to pursue Les'ika.

Understanding so much more than he ever dared to in such a monarchial society, Jas sympathized with Les'ika's preference to be alone for the rest of her life, waiting for a man who might not ever return rather than give her affections to someone who would never see her as anything more than some pawn to be used as a means to access a higher ranking in the royal society.

No longer able to fight his attraction for this complex young woman, Jas could not stop himself and finally gave in to that consuming need he had for her. He allowed his lips to take hers and suddenly heard commotion around him as the guards had begun verbalizing their concerns that the princess needed to be escorted out of the hangar right away. However, that distraction was quickly followed by an accent that mirrored Jas' own.

Jas pulled back from Les'ika, catching the sight of the familiar green and white armor of his brother intervening between the guards and him. He saw Tarj give a quick salute, a silent signal that he would keep the guards at bay for them and that he had already taken on his duty to protect Les'ika.

Dropping his attention back to Les'ika again, Jas wondered how he would cope with not being able to see her or touch her while he was deployed, but he would be damned now if he allowed himself to get killed and not return to her. Not realizing just how buried he was in his thoughts, he made no resistance when Les'ika leaned up to him and continued the kiss he had broken off, pressing her lips to his, unconcerned with who might be watching them or what repercussions she might receive because of the emotions that they shared.

After a few moments, though, Jas gently released her lips and pulled back to study Les'ika and the symmetry of her face that he thought was so attractive about her. He knew now what choice he had to make, and he knew that she was the only woman in the galaxy for him. Why she wanted to be with a clone who aged too quickly to enjoy life, he didn't care. He knew what he saw in her eyes when she looked at him, and there was no one else who would ever give him that kind of compassion.

"I don't want to leave you, Les'ika," he breathed softly, finally putting into words the emotions he had been feeling for the past couple days. "I would die for you and not because of orders but because of my own choosing. I want to be your knight, but I have no choice, and I must leave for now."

Cupping her face with both his hands, Jas buried himself in her blue irises, finding everything about her that made him unable to walk away and forget her. "Les'ika, I swear that I will come back to you."

Arlesse trembled at the depth of his words and the truth she saw in his eyes. She knew there was no other man who would ever feel this strongly for her. She could clearly see that he would come back for her to protect her and die for her if he needed to do so. His emotions for her showed clearly though his dark irises, seeing her for more than just the invisible title that hovered above her. She knew she was right to choose Jas and as she felt the braid in her hand, she remembered the purpose it would provide in their lives.

Bringing forth the small, woven lock of her hair, the lock that her father had cut from her head only a short time ago as part of his acceptance of her suitor, Arlesse kept her eyes locked with Jas' brown eyes. "Traditionally, a braid of hair is the gift a noblewoman gives to her suitor as a promise that she will remain faithful and wait for his return."

Out of the speakers on Jas' helmet, they heard Dusty's voice and Jas had nearly forgotten that he had the piece of equipment attached to his hip on an open channel. "You need to speed it up, ner vod. Gath is running out of excuses."

Arlesse took a soft breath, allowing herself to drown one last time in his dark irises while she took one of Jas' hands from her face and placed the braid in it. "We don't have time to make our words any more official so I accept your promise and take you as my knight. In return, I am your devoted lady-in-waiting."

Jas collected the lock of hair and released her as he started to reach for his buy'ce. However, Les'ika was quicker and grabbed his hand again before he unclipped the helmet from his belt.

"You are required to give me something as a promise that you will remain faithful to me until you return, just as I have. Without such a token, another suitor could contest my loyalty to you or make a proposal to my father in your absence."

Jas tried to think what he could possibly offer her. He had nothing and owned nothing. Everything he ever wore or carried was standard issue from the GAR, and he wondered how he was supposed to give her what he didn't own. Precious seconds were ticking quickly away, and Jas mentally inventoried his kit as well as the compartments on his armor that were used for storing things.

Suddenly, inspiration struck as Jas remembered he never empted out one of his belt pouches. Jas put her braid in an empty pouch on his belt while he pulled open another one. Bringing his hand forward, he carefully laid in her palm one of the violet shells he had found in the cavern by the lake where they shared their first kiss.

"I don't own anything, and I can't offer you something that you deserve," he said.

Arlessse looked to the small token and gasped softly. "Jas, where did you find this?"

"In the cave by the lake," he answered, concerned that he had done something wrong. "I thought we might have needed them for bartering if we ever reached a town. They look expensive."

Her blue eyes came to his brown irises, and she shook her head smiling while she reached behind her neck and loosened the necklace of the seven-pointed star. "Value-wise, it's worthless, nothing more than a pebble on a beach. But, to me, it's everything. This tiny shell holds more than it was ever meant to."

When Arlesse opened the star, Jas once again saw the images of her mother and the letter from when she left Les'ika. He didn't speak any more of the locket and the contents it held because as far as he was concerned, she had shared that part of her with him already. Instead, he watched silently as Arlesse set the violet shell in the locket and put it back around her neck.

"As far as the pilot and anyone not of the Reject Squad is concerned, you're saying goodbye to her permanently, and I'm trying to convince you that you need to get your shebs onto the ship," Mouse said after he silently stepped toward the two of them. His hand, however, came before him, and in it was the pair of comlinks he had finished refurbishing just the night before. The angle he stood at had hidden the transaction, not allowing anyone else in the hangar to notice his contribution to his brother's insanity. "Use these to keep in contact...privately."

Jas understood the tone of Mouse's voice, and he nodded in thanks recalling how Mouse had reworked the two comlinks, so the devices would be on an old, secure line. Jas knew that this would allow the two of them to communicate without their signal getting sliced.

Both Jas and Arlesse each took one of the comlinks. Jas stuffed his into the pouch on his belt with the braid. He was going to find safe places to store the tokens as soon as they lifted off.

Mouse disappeared just as silently as he had appeared, and Dusty's voice again came over Jas' helmet speaker. "Shab! Did you marry her or what?"

"I need to go," Jas sighed sadly. He took a quick look over his shoulder and saw that Dusty had his helmet on and was sending his question over the helmet's private channel. Gath and the others had started to step onto the transport. Jas knew that time had expired, and he could not delay his next mission any longer.

"Tarj will protect you for now," he told her quickly. "But, I'll be back. I promise."

Arlesse started to take a step back, to let Jas know that she was able to let him go for now. However, Jas was quicker as he pulled her against him unexpectedly and kissed her strongly. His hands gently held Les'ika captive to him, daring to prolong the moment, as he knew it was the last contact he would have with her for an extended amount of time, and he dreaded the thought that he may never see her again.

"Five seconds, ner vod, or you're classified as a deserter." Gath's voice was serious, with an urgency that he could not delay their departure any longer.

Arlesse brought one of her hands to Jas' chin and with regret she gently pushed him back, breaking the kiss that she longed to finish one day. The last thing she wanted to have happen right now was to see Jas punished because of her, especially after she saw what had nearly happened to Dusty in the forest.

Arlesse's words were hushed with breathlessness, her voice soft. "Jas, go."

"Ni kar'taylir darasuum gar," Jas whispered to her. Then, he set his buy'ce on his head while he was in the midst of turning from a confused Les'ika and running towards his brothers. As he tried to climb onboard the transport, the vehicle began lifting off the ground. He reached his arm up and found another arm gripping his forearm, helping to haul him into the craft.

Looking back at Les'ika once more, Jas saw her fingers graze over the pendant around her neck, and he knew he was a part of her now. The grip on his arm never lessened and Jas turned to see which of his brothers was holding onto him, as he was preparing to argue that he had no intentions to jump ship, literally.

Realizing that it was Gath, Jas wasn't certain what to expect, other than the usual complaint and lecture about bending rules. However, his brother surprised him by making a solemn pact. "You're coming back to her, ner vod, and I'll personally see to it that you do."

Jas didn't know what to say by Gath's unexpected gesture and as he turned once again to try and find Les'ika in the hangar, the transport's doors closed around them.

"Vor entye," Jas said looking at his brother once more and releasing his hand. He could only thank him for finally understanding. Then, Jas reached into the pouch on his belt, pulling out the comlink, hurrying to send a message to Les'ika before he was involved in a mission briefing and wouldn't have time to explain the things he needed to tell her.

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