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

Shabuir (SHAH-boo-EER): extreme insult - *jerk*, but much stronger

Vod (vohd): brother, sister, comrade, *mate*

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Chapter 57

If one studies history, it is most notable that when governments align, it usually occurs most smoothly through the union of those dedicated to a similar cause. It is with optimism and trust that I believe Tochin and the Empire will unite in a smooth transition. With honor and compassion, I have proposed a union in the form of marriage to Princess Arlesse Psach, and although there are expected reservations in a union as intricate as this, my proposal has ultimately been accepted.

Excerpt from Moff Gillard Harkin's public speech announcing his marriage proposal

Tochin Moon III, 86 Days after Order 66

Arlesse squeezed past servants and clusters of stormtroopers as they moved about the hallways. Her chest burned with betrayal, her lips on fire for having touched Gillard Harkin. Her eyes stung with the need to release her tears, but she didn't want to allow them until she was alone, somewhere she would fall apart and have no witnesses. Her room was too far away on the other side of the palace, and her garden was behind her, closer to the room where Harkin remained. The library was just past the next couple sets of hallways, and she could find herself a corner somewhere behind a bookshelf where she could crumble.

Moving blindly and only thinking of her destination, Arlesse felt her shoulder bang into the armor plating on one of the stormtroopers, and she spun from the blow, finding that her back had slammed into the hallway wall. Her breath was knocked out of her chest at the blow, and she gasped heavily afraid she'd fall to the floor in a desperate attempt to get the air back.

The trooper brought his goggled face to her, anger initially in his voice. "Can't you..." Then, he realized that she was not simply one of the servants that they often tripped over, and his orders from Moff Harkin was to address the princess with the utmost respect rather than contempt. Although concern was not in his voice, ordered respect replaced his initial disgust. "Highness?"

Arlesse kept her eyes down to the floor, unable to look at anyone just now. Her breathing was ragged, and she could feel nothing but redness on her cheeks while the emotional shredding of her betrayal to Jas wracked her body with shudders. In her attempt to escape Harkin, Arlesse had forgotten about the legions of stormtroopers that wandered the palace on whatever patrol Harkin deemed they needed to be patrolling.

Her gasping had finally settled down, and the air she had lost slowly returned to her spent lungs, but she could still only stare at the floor before the stormtrooper in confusion. She had come to realize that no matter how far she ran in the palace, she could not escape Harkin's touch or his experienced seduction.

"Princess?" the trooper now asked, not certain if he needed to get someone in authority.

"The princess has had a long morning," Tarj said as he suddenly stepped in and took Arlesse's arm in a gentle grasp. "She'll be okay after some rest."

The trooper nodded in what seemed like gratitude for not having to deal with the civilian woman. However, Tarj heard him mutter softly, "Civilians," and he knew that whatever kindness the trooper was demonstrating was nothing more than what he was ordered to offer.

Arlesse felt Tarj pull her down the hallway and bring her to one of the adjourning rooms. She looked around quickly enough to recognize that she was in one of the servant's dining rooms. The small table and set of chairs were humble in comparison to the setting that was in the grand dining room.

And, for a moment, Arlesse had a vivid memory that took her away from Harkin and the kiss she had been gently forced to share with him.

She remembered being a child of no more than seven years sitting at the small table with her short legs swinging off one of the chairs that she sat upon. There was a small slice of RubyFruit pie before her, and she smiled with every forkful of the sweet dessert that she joyfully ate. Udi was moving about the dining room putting together a dinner plate with the meal she had cooked earlier in the evening for one of the many visits that Vollan had with Janelle's family. It had been a wonderful evening by the adults' standards, but Arlesse was lost in the political conversations while Janelle smartly offered opinions and suggestions that seemed much older than what a nine-year-old should be capable of comprehending. Arlesse knew that it wasn't because Janelle was intelligently gifted, but simply because she was exposed to that kind of life whereas Arlesse wasn't forced into lessons of politics like Janelle had been. When Arlesse had offered that she liked to read the flimsi of myths and fables and that her favorite one was about a tamed nexu who had brought its master much fortune and the love of a princess, everyone merely smiled in silence as though she was a simple peasant girl. Only her father engaged her in the conversation and asked why she liked the story so much. Arlesse's answer had been because the nexu was clever and sneaky and gave a chance to a man who otherwise had nothing in his life. Afterward, Vollan promised Arlesse that he would read the story to her before she went to bed that night.

After dinner, Arlesse decided to wander into the kitchens and find Udi. She didn't want to continue being uncomfortable around her extended family and that was when Udi made a dinner plate for herself and brought out the pie for Arlesse.

They talked for what seemed hours at that point in her life, and Udi gladly wanted to hear all about the stories that Arlesse had read in her favorite flimsi-novel. Udi had heard them many times herself as a child and together they talked about which ones they liked best and which ones they didn't like at all.

Bringing her eyes up from the table and the chair that still was in good shape nearly thirteen years later, Arlesse turned to an unmasked Tarj as though finally able to focus on him while the nightmare of Harkin's seduction subsided.

"Why didn't you protect me?" she asked quietly.

Tarj rubbed his forehead. He had spent more than enough time now in these political circles that he understood more than any trooper should about royals and their dramas. But, this time the drama needed to be played out, and the princess truly needed to understand what would be at stake. He might have been a naïve clone once in his life, but living amongst these supposed-elite people had taught him more than his share of deception. He was protecting more than Arlesse now. He was protecting Jas, especially if his vod suddenly stormed in with the intent to take her away. Arlesse had to be absolutely certain that she wanted to take the chance to escape when it arises and not hesitate because of Harkin's manipulations. Tarj knew he was being nothing but a sick shabuir, just as he had told Harkin, but it was the only way for the princess to know with whom her feelings truly were.

"Did you really need my security?" Tarj asked quietly, watching the regret rise to her irises, making them more gray than blue.

Arlesse sat suddenly in one of the chairs as her eyes dropped to the tabletop, and looked at nothing that could be seen. Her shaking fingers were the results of her sadness and anger. She felt the strain in her voice, frustrated that Tarj had left her to fend for herself. "You promised me you wouldn't let him..."

"Would you wonder about Harkin for the rest of your life?" Tarj interrupted suddenly.

At that, Arlesse's eyes snapped to him, and she felt nothing but confusion. "I don't understand."

"In my silent wanderings, I have heard much in your home. Women ranging in rank from servants to the wealthy guests who have passed through have each expressed their desires for Harkin. I know you've heard it yourself, and there are a number of ways the psyche reacts to hearing others admire someone. For example, we had heard for years how the Jedi were invincible and righteous, and we believed in them. Some of my brothers even befriended them in personal ways. Then when Palpatine commanded us to slaughter them as betrayers, confusion swelled through the ranks of those who shared relationships. The others simply did as instructed and followed their orders. I'm one of the lucky ones who didn't have to make that decision, but I had sided strongly with the Jedi as good people. I don't know if I would have if I wasn't exposed to those opinions."

Arlesse felt her eyes drop from Tarj and looked again to the empty tabletop for a long moment. Did he really believe that she had begun to admire Harkin simply because of the rumors and gossip that had passed through the palace? Did Arlesse begin to feel compassionate towards Harkin because she was trying to compete with all the others who would have taken that moment without regret?

"I never was with Harkin," she said quietly, her forehead creasing in thought and memory. Then, she looked up to Tarj and felt the truth of it in her eyes. "I was with Jas. I lived a memory of Jas while Harkin..."

Arlesse felt her words stop, embarrassment and regret overtaking her again.

"Then, I must know, Vod'ika. Do you have any doubts—any at all—about where your affections lie?" Tarj asked carefully.

Arlesse swallowed hard, hearing the dangerous tone in her guardian's voice. She felt her heart rushing at the thought that he would dare accuse her of disloyalty to Jas. And, she knew that if anyone else had been witness to that moment with Harkin, her engagement would have been even further lost than the verbal annulment Harkin had already told her. She closed her eyes against that scenario, forcing the sting in her eyes to remain unshed.

Tarj moved closer to her and lowered his voice so it was soft, concerned. "If you have any doubts," he told her, "Then, I would lose not only you as my sister, but I would also lose my brother because when he comes for you, he will risk his life for nothing."

Arlesse felt the betrayal strike her again like a slap across her face and carefully thought back over the kiss that Harkin shared with her. She had told the moff no from the start, and she knew she should have fought harder. Now she realized that her curiosity had nearly destroyed a year's worth of waiting, but the strength of the loyalty deep within her, the strength that Jas had once seen, had been what saved her from fully bending to Harkin's kindness. It was that strength that whisked her out of that moment with Harkin and into the one with Jas. And, she suddenly realized all that she would have lost just because of one moment of curiosity, one moment where Harkin had found her at her weakest.

Opening her eyes finally, she brought them to Tarj, seeing the same face that Jas shared. Taking a deep breath, she focused on Tarj, noting all that was the same between him and Jas. Confessing to Tarj, she told him what she wished she could tell her absent knight. "I love Jas, and I don't want to lose him. Please don't let Harkin do that to me again."

Tarj nodded, satisfied with the depth of truth he found in her eyes. She was once again the young woman who had said goodbye to his brother in the hangar the day that Crimson departed. Tarj could see that Harkin was able to dangerously manipulate the naïve princess, and now that her curiosity for another had passed, Tarj would be certain she was right beside Jas the moment he returned for her.

"Then we need to find a way to keep Harkin distanced from you even when in close proximity," Tarj told her quietly. "Distractions will grow old quickly, and we need to be more clever now."

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