Author's Note: 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

Koytc (koh-TEESH): strong

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Chapter 51

Tarj has exhibited nothing but honest loyalty to the princess. I can see that governments mean nothing to him, only his need to keep her safe. There is almost something deeper in his devotion than merely following orders, but I can't quite grasp it, and I'm certain he would deny anything if I tried asking. He's quite taken with the girl—not romantically—but his connection with her is as true as if they were siblings. I have no doubt that his protection of her does not need to be questioned, and the princess will never be under threat while in his care. Tarj must remain her guardian simply because there is no one else who can be trusted to serve her with that kind of sincere respect and devotion.

Moff Gillard Harkin, sharing his observations with one of his advisors

Tochin Moon III, 73 Days after Order 66

Gillard couldn't believe her unshakable faith in that clone, that sub-human being. He saw how the gates in her eyes locked tighter and the way the blind devotion she had for that flesh droid could not be broken. He wanted to know more than ever how a clone could have won over such devotion from a royal monarch, and his words again reiterated the death of her fantasy. "Highness, you must understand that he's dead, and if he isn't, he has a death target on him. He can never return for you."

"I'll wait," Arlesse breathed, feeling more tears in her eyes that she would not allow to fall while she swallowed down the painful lump in her throat. She would not lose her faith in Jas. He was all she had left, and she was prepared to live the rest of her life believing in his return because it was better than admitting he had broken his promise or had died. In her mind, as long as he was unaccounted for with no proof of death, then she still had a reason to hope he was alive and would one day return.

"If you deny this proposal, I won't be able to protect you," Gillard told her, wondering why he was fighting so hard for her cooperation. It would take less than a day to strip her of her birthright and send her on her way, yet he could not stop trying to convince her otherwise. "Is that really what you want? I'm offering you a chance for a comfortable existence, to remain in the life you've always known."

Arlesse closed her eyes and held in the sobbing tears that threatened to come as she came to realize that this was the punishment Gillard Harkin had devised for her, the punishment for having been related to what the Empire deemed as traitors. He had decided that she had to give up Jas in order to live safely and protected in this new Empire.

Arlesse's eyes suddenly opened as she felt Harkin's hands cup her cheeks gently. She felt like she was watching from outside her body, her heart still roaming the Tochin forests with Jas and Crimson.

"I understand it's a difficult decision," Gillard offered with gentle reassurance. "You loved someone who's gone, and now a complete stranger is willing to share his life with you. If nothing else, consider your people. They will need to depend on your presence as a symbol of everything they had always known, and I want you to remain in a life where you will be cared for and safe."

Arlesse closed her eyes once again, wishing the conversation were over, silently begging him to let her go. Harkin was not Jas and no one would ever be comparable to him. She felt her hands trembling with anger and sadness, the maelstrom of emotions pulling her into some deep undercurrent where she just wanted to curl into a ball and disappear. Warm air passed over her lips, and Arlesse dragged to the surface the strength that was deep in her, the strength that Jas taught her she had. She opened her eyes and found certainty filled her voice as she uttered one word. "Don't."

Gillard suddenly pulled back from the princess and felt his hands quickly fall away, forgetting about the attempt he was about to make. He saw the challenge that laid before him now. Princess Arlesse Psach was loyal and ceaselessly devoted to a cloned soldier, and her belief in her clone left no room for anyone else in her life. Gillard, however, was drawn to challenges, and he was now determined to win her over. He could see that if he earned her affections honestly, she would remain devoted to him.

Letting her think she won this battle, Gillard turned from her towards the door and disappeared back inside the palace. He would report to his advisors that Arlesse Psach had taken the proposition to become his companion and then he would convince her that she had no other choice.

Arlesse folded down onto the cold, stone floor of the balcony and breathed heavily after Harkin had disappeared. She had never been so bold in her life before, especially not with someone as powerful as the moff. Her insides were churning, causing her to feel dizzy and sick. She was regretting her decision to stand up to Harkin and had considered if she should apologize for her actions, but the idea passed quickly as she thought about Jas and the devotion that had been in his eyes for her the day he left.

Feeling her fingers seek out the star around her neck, Arlesse found comfort again in the knowledge that a part of Jas was still with her. Even though Tarj was to protect her in his absence, she took solace in the fact that she always carried that small remnant of Jas.

Footsteps caught her attention and Arlesse brought her eyes up to the white armor with the thin green stripes. His helmet was tucked neatly beneath a crooked arm, and water dripped down his face, falling off the armor to pool onto the floor before him.

Arlesse then realized that her own hair was growing heavy with water, and her dress had developed a wet chill.

"Vod'ika, you've been out in the rain for ten minutes," Tarj told her, catching something small in her hands. "Are you okay?"

Arlesse let her eyes drop down now to the violet shell that she had freed from its hiding place in her pendant. Ignoring the rain and the chill that it gave her body, she told Tarj, "Your brother gave me this when we got engaged, and I gave him a lock of my hair."

Tarj clipped his helmet to his belt and moved closer to the princess. He knelt onto the ground before her and looked closely at the small token she treasured. He could see that even in its minuscule size, it held an entire world for her. He brought his eyes to the girl who was his adopted sister and watched as she bit her bottom lip as though trying to think of the right words.

"Harkin wants to marry me," Arlesse finally said.

"I know," Tarj told her softly.

Bringing her eyes to Tarj's dark irises, she studied this rain-soaked cloned man. He looked every bit like Jas at a quick glance, but their personalities and facial expressions were so different. The light in Jas' eyes when he looked at her was absent from Tarj's. Although this soldier was kind and duty-driven, he saw her as the woman his brother had chosen and he never viewed her as anything beyond being her brother and protector. Occasionally, Arlesse would see the inner mischievous little boy emerge in Tarj, just the same as Jas would do, but even those children who lived within these soldiers were as different as the men who housed them.

"How did you know?" she asked. Then, after a moment, it made sense to her why Harkin talked with Tarj privately without her knowledge.

"I tried to convince him otherwise," Tarj said quietly, noting how the rain seemed to straighten her curls. "I told him that your loyalty to another man will not be easily changed, and his attempt would end in vain."

"I told him I couldn't," Arlesse answered softly as she denied the tears that wanted to cover her cheeks. "But, I know he's going to pursue me anyway."

Tarj breathed heavily in regret and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, trying to think of anything he could possibly do. It seemed more and more that he was doing a lousy job of protecting her, and he wondered if maybe she should just give up on Jas for her own sanity. Tarj could see that the moff would take good care of her as long as she did what was expected and made no attempt to go against the Empire. But, then Tarj was thinking like an order-driven soldier with those kinds of thoughts. The princess was thinking like a civilian who followed her heart, and the emotional attachment she felt for his brother was so strong, so real, that even he wanted to help her find a way off Tochin and seek out Jas.

Using his hands to enclose hers around the violet shell as though protecting it, Tarj looked into her eyes. He lowered his voice softly, a bare whisper. "Stay kotyc, Vod'ika. I'll delay Harkin's marriage intentions for you as long as I can. Just try to remember who my brother is and how he was trained. There was talk of a sanctuary for deserters just before the war ended. If he made it there, I know he'll come for you."

Arlesse let her eyes stare deep into Tarj's, and felt a new sense of hope in her heart. She had never heard about a haven for deserters, but Tarj's eyes were full of truth, a certain sign that he knew something he was not permitted to share with anyone.

"You must never speak about this again," he warned her carefully, demanding her silent conviction in return. "Desertion is punishable by death and we must continue to trust each other only."

Arlesse felt a tremble go through her, afraid to think about how she would survive without Tarj. He wasn't Jas and there was nothing romantic between them, but he was her strength and sanity now. When Harkin had her on the brink of a breakdown, Tarj kept her steady and on the path to her devotion.

"Come out of the rain now," he told her playfully, allowing his inner boy to surface for her as he watched her return the shell to her necklace. "It reminds me too much of that kriffing Kamino."

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