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

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

Haran (HAH-rahn): hell; Literally: destruction, cosmic annihilation

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Chapter 65

You took an oath to be one of us, and outside distractions lead to sloppiness. If you wanted a normal life, you should have stayed a civilian. Here, we don't have the time or the luxury for courting. Your sole obligation is to the royal family, not finding a mate. If you find you changed your mind and want to live the home life, you tell me up front, and you'll receive an honorable discharge, but you'll forfeit ever being one of us again.

Davi Saun reiterating the relationship policy with newly sworn-in palace guardians

Tochin Moon III, 87 Days after Order 66

Tarj stood guard, prepared to stay behind and sacrifice himself if necessary so that his brothers and Arlesse could get safely free. Tarj had argued with Dusty that if he was going to be captured or killed for deserting, he didn't want Dusty's smart mouth and stupid grin joining him in the prison or the gallows. 

It was enough of a ruse that Dusty relented by saying he was the prettier of the two of them anyway and that Saun was supposed to follow them out to hide the tunnel opening. Then, without any further instructions or teasing, Dusty quickly disappeared into the ground.

Tarj knew it was his turn next, and he didn't totally like the idea of being trapped in a tunnel with few avenues for escape. Still, this was the plan, and Tarj had already tried to think of a new strategy with no success. Dusty and Jas had already run that gambit with the palace guardians they befriended so it was either deal with the tunnel or risk being shot for betrayal to the Empire.

Not bothering to mull over the obvious, Tarj stood before the hole and peered down, taking a deep breath.

"Wait!" a woman's voice called.

It was enough of a distraction that it stopped him from lowering himself toward the opening, and Tarj turned to see Chora Wsau slipping out of the back of the shop. She handed two small flimsi novels to him, practically forcing the objects into his chest.

"Take these for the princess," Chora explained quickly. "She had submitted a request for them, and I just found them in the back inventory."

Before Tarj could do more than stuff the novels into one of his side pouches, Chora had brought her hands to his unmasked face and cupped his cheeks. He felt the calluses of her warm but combat-trained palms and swallowed hard at the cool tickle that rippled down his neck from her touch.

She smiled as she looked at his eyes, and Tarj had never felt so vulnerable before. There was a mesmerizing quality to the moment, as he was able to truly look upon her face and see not a woman in her early thirties, but instead, he saw a female whose attraction was not lost in her years of military service. Although her role as a palace guardian was during a time of peace, Tarj was aware of how she always maintained her skills by practicing basic combat and blaster targeting.

Still, Tarj could see that Chora's beauty didn't come from perfect skin and application of cosmetics done artistically as Duchess Janelle had. Instead, Chora was true and genuine, a fighter who did not leave things unfinished. Her features may appear plain to someone who only looked from the outside, but there was something about her that Tarj felt he could see clearly without the distraction of duty and palace life.

"I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but..." she told him softly, her words spoken in a low tone he had never heard her use before, a tone which had nothing to do with verbal communication, "now I can finally say 'to hell with the rules.'"

Something in the sound of her voice had disarmed Tarj and caused him to suddenly become lost in nerves he had never felt in his life while an underlying surge of electricity tingled throughout his entire body. Before he could think clearly about what her words meant, Chora's lips were connected to his. 

Tarj didn't resist the primal instincts of this new awareness as his eyes closed and his lips pressed in response to hers. He could feel that her touch was much more certain than his, and he didn't find the sensations it brought unpleasant in any capacity. Instead, he liked the warmth that coursed through him and the way her palms pressed against his jawline while her fingers reached behind his ears.

After spending his entire life to be a hardened soldier, Tarj found that this woman's touch was incomparable to anything he had ever experienced before. He had no idea how the soft moisture of a woman's lips could engulf his own with tingles of pleasure while he was utterly confused and worried that he wasn't doing any of this properly. 

However, Tarj was also aware of how Chora wasn't releasing her hold, and he figured he must be doing something right or else she would have pulled away by now. Then, something brought Tarj's senses back, and even though he didn't want to stop this incredible and intense moment, he knew his obligations. Keeping Arlesse safe and helping his brothers get free from Imperial-ruled Tochin was still partly his responsibility until someone ordered him otherwise.

Reaching forward, Tarj gently cupped Chora's face with the intent to ease her back, but paused for a moment, drawing on the new passion she had released in him, and he instead pressed his lips harder on hers. He felt her react with more intensity, and Tarj couldn't deny that he liked the feel of how her face curved into his palms. 

He could only wonder if this was any of the physical need that Jas often felt for Arlesse, and he tried to imagine how in eight months his brother could live without such sweet contact after having known it.

Thinking of Jas and Arlesse, Tarj knew that his brothers were still waiting for him, and he had to stop the pleasant madness that Chora had brought upon him. This was probably the only kind of romantic knowledge that Tarj was certain he'd ever know in his short-changed life, and he wished he had more time to experience this sensation that Chora had introduced to him.

Fighting against the want to remain embraced, Tarj was determined this time to break away and forced himself to gently maneuver Chora back from him. As he broke the kiss she had initiated, Tarj looked at her and couldn't help the breathlessness that consumed him while he tried to fill his lungs with air again.

He now felt like some kind of insane switch had been turned on inside of him. He wanted to lean back into that strange softness once more and feel the warmth that her lips caused upon his. He wasn't entirely against the surge of heat that exploded from his chest, and he still found it odd how he suddenly saw Chora as more than a female soldier. 

He wondered why for months he hadn't noticed her smile or the way her body curved like other women's. He was confused about why he didn't fully comprehend why she was so different from him now.

"You need to be careful," Chora told him, trying to hide her embarrassed flush behind an authoritative order. She knew she would never see Tarj again, and she didn't want to force the moment and make it linger longer than it already had. Taking her hands from his face, she gave him a gentle push towards the tunnel to try and make the separation easier.

"You have to be careful, too, Chora," answered a voice that wasn't Tarj's.

Chora spun to see Davi behind them, and she forced aside the awkward moment of allowing her attraction for Tarj to surface. She knew it was uncharacteristic for a palace guardian to openly show affections like that, but because of protocol and duty, she could not romantically socialize with Tarj while employed as a palace guardian. 

For so long, she had kept her secret allure for the cloned soldier hidden, forcing herself to see Tarj as nothing more than an equal, a soldier with a common duty to keep the royal family safe. Then, when Harkin had disbanded the guardians, she was not welcome into the palace any longer, and she knew any contact she would have had with Tarj had been severed, too.

Now, though, before Tarj was going to be gone forever, she had wanted him to know that for a long time someone other than the princess did actually care about him in a capacity that was more than the innocent kindness that Arlesse had always offered him.

"Your brother and his family are safe," Davi said quickly, giving a glance behind him and checking that the door was still closed. "Thank those crazy clones when you catch up to them."

Chora shook her head, thinking about the conversations she and the other guardians had shared over the last couple of months. "But, we are trying to plan for..."

"You've been reassigned, Lieutenant," Davi interrupted as he spun again towards her. His voice now sounded like a soldier who knew how to use his authority, the drunken idiot he portrayed while in town long gone. "We both know that we can't stop the Imperials, not any time soon. Our resources are too low, and a better opportunity might have to wait for years. Arlesse is the last of any true royal bloodline, and if her father approved of that clone in the Mandalorian armor as her companion, then we aren't to question it. Remember that our oath states the royal blood needs to carry on. You need to help keep Arlesse hidden from the Empire. The Empire betrayed Vollan, and we can't lose her, too. These clones will keep her safe, but she'll need your guidance, and she'll need your advice... as a woman."

Davi suddenly spun towards the door as though hearing something. "Now, get lost, both of you. Time isn't ours anymore. Harkin's here."

Without thinking and just moving simply on protective instinct, Tarj quickly grabbed Chora by the arm and shifted her towards the tunnel opening. She didn't say anything, but followed the final set of orders she was given from her superior officer. Moving quickly, she disappeared into the tunnel.

Tarj got onto the ground and got his legs into the tunnel when Davi's voice stopped him. "Take care of Chora," Davi said protectively, watching as Tarj looked at him briefly. "She's the best soldier I ever commanded." Davi then paused before lowering his voice a notch. "You should know that if she feels that way about you, do her a favor and don't screw it up."

Tarj wasn't sure how to respond to that. Chora's kiss still left him in a whirlwind of confusion, but now was not the time to ponder what he didn't understand. Unable to say anything, Tarj simply hurried into the ground and saw the light above him suddenly disappear as Davi set the tunnel covering back in place.

Tarj glanced at the tunnel entrance noticing the darkness caused by the garbage receptacle that now covered the opening above him. A bare moment later, he heard the echo of shouting and blaster shots from where he and Chora had just departed. For as much as Tarj hated Saun, at that moment, he actually pitied the man and was grateful for his presence. 

Deciding that they could linger no longer on this world, Tarj grasped Chora's hand, fighting against the flush that such an action caused in him as he realized she was going with them wherever they were headed. Feeling a very new mixture of both excitement and anxiety, he hoped that the opportunity to explore another kiss with her might not be too insane of a concept.

Then, Tarj shut that thought down as soon as it came while he ushered her through the darkened tunnel. He had to put these odd emotions on hold and try to sort out just what the haran happened a few minutes ago. 

He had never thought of Chora as unattractive, but then again, he never had any reason to be attracted. They were peers, nothing more than soldiers with a common objective. How could she possibly change that in such a short amount of time by wearing a dress and removing the bun from her hair?

Deciding instead to put all his concentration into their escape, Tarj would have more than enough time later—if they all survived—to answer his questions about Chora, most likely with her participation.

Looking ahead towards the dim light that Jas had illuminated on his buy'ce, Tarj forced aside the flush that such thoughts about Chora released and saw that the group before them had paused while they waited for Tarj to rendezvous with them.

"Picked up a stray?" Dusty asked.

"No," Tarj responded, as he kept moving towards his brothers. "An ally."

Chora squeezed his hand gently at his reply, and Tarj again had a feeling of warmth seep out from his stomach and reach to his fingertips. His eyes glanced to the way Arlesse held onto Jas' hand, her body always close to the former commando's armor, and Tarj made it a point to eventually ask Jas how in the galaxy he had survived a week in a perilous forest with his new-found emotions for a princess while feeling like a pile of boneless matter.

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