Song: "A Red Sun Sets" from Adrian Von Ziegler's Odyssey

Dedicated to GhostFreak-Writez

Thank you for reading.

Two months later, Khetsuu saw four of his wives and five of his children off to the masking. The sacred festival held deep in the Shrupak temple, where they would be stripped of their facial veils and given masks, wrought from the bone of predators on Kalee. To every Kaleesh child, an eight-week retreat to the forest meant growing up.

"For the last time, you cannot come with us," Saikhan said icily, folding her arms across her waist. Small golden curls peeked out from her headdress, but her mask hid lost beauty; her pale scales had already begun to peel from lack of food, as had Khetsuu's own. "I will have the female izvoshra with me. We can ward off the cannibals."

The cannibals, Khetsuu thought as the children took turns hugging him, talking in the simple and babbling way that eight-year-olds did. Her previous husband, now dead, would have been so proud of her young ones.

The last girl, a little daughter, lifted up his mask and kissed him on the nose, and he backed away for fear of harming her. Your drama is pretty damn cute, Button-Nose, Ronderu would say before ruffling his hair and giving a cool smile.

He stood, walked to Saikhan. "I am proud of you," he said quietly. "And of our children. They will serve us well."

She cast her gaze downward. Her thumb went up to his mask, removing it. "Oh, you too?" he quipped just before she tore her own mask off and kissed him.

She pulled away. "Naidvar, Mergen, Lyankhua and I will be back in two days. If we do not return, come looking for us."

"I will," he said. If we do not return. He must stay at home with everyone else; the other women would be fine. They had been trained by him personally.

Yet as they left, he wrung his hands, hiding them behind his back.

✺✺✺

The sun set as Ronderu and Arna sat together on the peak of the inn. Three months had passed since he'd brought her to Grendaju, and her body was now strong and flourished with happiness. Her cybernetic fingers played with the veil of the headpiece she wore—a sheer veil, but still modest enough.

Arna sighed through his nose. "I'm sorry....but we have to leave tomorrow."

Her eyes shot up to his. "Why?" she whispered. "We still have to help the khagan restore Kalee. That's my greatest goal."

"It's not as important as Jedi business."

She sighed. "More Jedi business?"

"Do you feel better, Ru?"

Better than I have in a long time. But she could not admit it aloud. "Don't take me away from my home," she said, her voice breaking. "Please...."

He hushed her. "We're going to Serenno, another jungle planet."

"Serenno," she repeated. The name sounded familiar. Kaleesh-Bitthævrian war. One of the generals fighting along Qymaen's third-mother was....

"Count Dooku," Arna finished for her. "The planet's leader. He wishes to see us."

"He's one of the only people who left the Jedi Order, right?"

Arna dipped his head, and a sheen of sadness appeared in his dark eyes. "He was one of my trainers when I was five or so. I haven't seen him in many years."

She nodded. "What does the Order want you to do?"

"There's nothing more than suspicion and rumor," Arna said. "I'm going just because he's an old friend, and—"

"Arna. Why is the Jedi Council sending you?"

He looked around, then pulled her close to him. His lips, so close to hers that she could have kissed him, moved almost inaudibly; a hand slipped down to rest on her hip as he spoke. "There are rumors," he whispered, "that Dooku is behind a movement designed to uproot the Republic."

"What evidence do you have of that?" she replied, edging herself a fraction of an inch away from his mouth. "He helped our people against the Bitthævrians when they were planning to wipe us out."

Arna frowned. "What about the hundreds of systems that have already seceded?"

"Perhaps because they disagree with how the Republic runs things," Ronderu growled. "After Kalee, one must wonder."

He let out a disbelieving laugh. "Don't tell me you believe that nonsense. And just one blunder doesn't mean the whole Republic should be uprooted."

She clenched her fists. "Just one blunder? You travel here with me and witness the atrocities committed here due to starvation, and you call that just one blunder? Kalee's not planning to overthrow your Republic anyway. Let the independent systems do whatever the hell they want."

"Kalee doesn't have the strength, or otherwise they would war against the Republic." He sighed. "But that's beside the point. The Republic may not be perfect, but it doesn't deserve to be toppled over. Their goodness overshadows these types of decisions."

Ronderu bit her tongue. "But isn't it a bit of a stretch to expect war over secession? I thought the Republic wasn't a single government."

"The Republic will not let a Separatist state coexist without a fight, because a confederacy would threaten its authority. War is certainly an option."

"And what army do you have?" she said with a chuckle. "The Jedi would be spread far too thin on their own."

"I don't know," he said with a frown. "But we're going to leave tomorrow to confirm if the rumors are right. I'll need your help." He swallowed. "If we deliver the information to the Council, I might be able to get you amnesty on Mandalore and permission to return home free."

Her mouth dropped open. All her objections from before dissolved like steam. "I could....I could really—"

"Yes," Arna said, a begrudging edge to his voice. He gently lifted her veil and her hair behind her ear. She allowed him to move his hand down her jaw, to the small spires poking from her chin, and he kissed her on both cheeks—another sign of friendship in her own culture. And as he pulled away, she caught a bit of sadness radiating off his aura.

✺✺✺

The days trickled by like water running from the crags of stone in the Kaleela hall's large fountain. Three. Four. Five. Khetsuu, due to appear before the Khaganate in a week to receive a report on Kalee's dire state, sat beside the teal stone, flecked with hints of glowing blue and green.

Pacing in the foyer, he itched at his scales; the mottled red-brown diamonds peeled off easily. His stomach had long since gone numb with hunger, and he'd eaten so little in the past week that he worried sometime soon he would humiliate himself and faint from the strain. There's still hope, though. I swear it to the gods, I will find a way out of this.

Bent entered the foyer. Though he did not appear affected outwardly by the famines, Khetsuu noted several prominent changes in his demeanor. The older man spoke quietly. "Your wives have not returned."

A thunderclap barreled through his head. "That is correct."

Bent waved a hand in front of his face. "Qymaen? You still with me?"

"Yes," Khetsuu said, almost as if in a dream. He gripped his rifle. How could I be so dim-witted?

And how can I ever forgive myself?

✺✺✺

When they reached the Kunbal's border, Khetsuu's knuckles tightened around his swords. His rifle was a heavy reminder that he was still at war—but not against the Huk anymore.

Bent exchanged glances with him. "Want me to go in alone?"

Khetsuu shook his head. "I must deal with the threat myself. Whatever lies within this thicket, I have dominated it."

His friend nodded with a frown behind his mask. They advanced along the trail, along the rough wagon road that would allow them to get to the lodge....

A noise rustled in the thickets, and both men jumped. Khetsuu forced a dry swallow, his breath snared in his throat as he silently drew the dual blades. Training with Ronderu had wrought the art of wielding the swords into his hands, and he carried them with haughtiness, as if he'd been born a swordsman.

His feet touched the moss. Air compressed around him.

And gazing upon what lay beyond the thicket, the swords fell to the ground. His hands sweated profusely. He longed to gouge out his eyes, to tear out his own heart. But this scene had already done it to him.

Three women lay on the moss. Blood pooled around their bodies and through their tangled hair of different colors. He forced himself to breathe. Racing to the side of the smallest one, he touched scales the color of incense and caressed her icy body.

◈◈◈

Did you know....

● Unknown Soldier says that Grievous' family was "subjected to the worst acts of depravity" as a result of the Republic's sanctions. Some people have interpreted this to mean sex trafficking, while others have taken it to mean cannibalism. (The latter was what Abel Peña had in mind when writing it.)

● In the Legends EU, Master Dooku was one of the Jedi sent to Kalee during the Bitthævrian war to rally the Kaleesh against the Bitthævrians, along with his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn. Why? Because the Bitthævrians wanted to remain independent from the Republic.

Tell me what you think....

● Is Dooku planning to secede from the Republic?

● Should the Republic stop a Confederacy from arising? Do you agree with Arna or Ronderu about the situation?

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