"This is outrageous!"

Agnacia threw another clay vase against the wall in a fit of anger and it clashed with a violent shattering noise as the decoration made contact with the green vines. The broken pieces fell to the mossy carpet soundlessly and the plant-like surface seemed to absorb the fractals into the ground below. Off to the right of the woman, the wall began to open up and produced another vase, to which the queen's sister took hold of and sent flying across the room once more to break into sharp chunks and be absorbed again.

Even with the witch causing much more of a disturbance than the queen had ever seen before, Asemdi still felt the room to be the quietest it had ever been in her entire life.

"How could we have let this happen?"

CRASH!

"Right under our very noses!" She gripped another vase so hard that the neck of the object began to crack, sending spiderwebs of fissures across its surface. Asemdi listened absentmindedly from her seat at the head of the room. With her elbow propped on the armrest and her chin resting in her hand, it hadn't been hard to lose track of her younger sister and the number of pots and decorative china the woman destroyed. The queen had much more concerning thoughts on her mind anyway. "We invited them into our home! A bunch of impostors! We even offered them a place at our table! Which they denied because they have no respect for our way of life! Those...those...heathens!"

CRASH!

"And then they have the gall!" Agnacia took two vases this time, one in each hand and gestured with them in a furious flurry of movements to emphasize her rage. "The audacity! To participate in a sacred right of passage to glorify our gods when they probably had no idea what they were doing!"

CRASH! CRASH!

"Calm yourself, sister," Asemdi finally spoke in an annoyed tone after a lifetime's worth of shattered clay was absorbed by the floor. "The situation is being handled. We weren't the only people in this galaxy the Republic and its recent meddling has disturbed. The Separatists are just as furious as you-"

"The Separatists can kiss my cantai!" The next vase sailed through the air and landed a little too close to Asemdi's seat for her liking; the queen got to her feet and opened her mouth to scold her younger sibling, but Agnacia wouldn't have it. "If they truly cared, they wouldn't have sent only one of their sith lords for protection! Especially not their weakest one! That spy wasn't even a witch and the girl got her cantai handed to her on a platter like it was a main coarse meal!"

"Enough!" Asemdi yelled and a fiery green glow began to fill the room, flowing from the woman's body like a wave and climbing up the vine walls in a dealthy hue. "Give the girl a chance to redeem herself, she is truly one of us after all."

"The witches on Dathomir did us no favors when fighting for our independence, when fighting for our way of life!" Agnacia rebounded. "They forfeited our practices and looked down upon us when we refused to halt our acts! They are just as much the enemy as the Republic!"

The argument came to a sudden pause when another presence in the room made itself known and the bald, female sith apprentice stepped out from the shadows, her face a blank slate but her emotions as fluent through their senses as if Ventress was speaking out herself. But the words that left her mouth said nothing of her fury towards the queen's sister and her shaming phrases.

"I have tracked down the spies through the sewer system as you requested."

"Very good," Asemdi nodded in acknowledgement. "I expect my guards have that section blocked off until our reinforcements arrive?"

"Yes," Ventress continued and clasped her hands behind her back, unconsciously copying her master's movement whenever he'd speak diplomatically. "I shall lead a team of my finest droids to execute them as soon as you give the word-"

"Wait," Agnacia suddenly grabbed hold of Asemdi's wrist with eyes wide as saucers. Her adrenaline began to rush through her veins as excitement filled her black heart. "Sister, there's another way we can strike, a way without having to even leave the palace itself." When Asemdi raised an eyebrow and Ventress gave her a questionable look, the witch beckoned the two to follow her out of the room. Though still confused, the women obliged and did as they were instructed.

Down the hall from the throne room and up a flight of stairs, the queen and the sith trailed after Agnacia and watched when the witch waved her hand before the vines that encompassed the palace walls and the thick stems of green parted down the middle, revealing a doorway only Agnacia herself had known about. With a light push, the wooden door swung open to reveal an alter as well as a strange looking cauldron the size of an astromech droid. Red fire hung from a chandelier that lit the room in an eerie crimson glow and a strange sensation settled in Asemdi's stomach as she realized what he sister was thinking.

"I'll tell the guards to get the hounds immediately and search the spies' room for any locks of hair they might've left behind," Agnacia nodded and walked over to the alter before she knelt down and pulled an old book from within the aged wood, opening the pages to reveal a slew of spells upon spells upon spells, one after the other til she found what she was looking for.

"If this works, we may not need those reinforcements after all."

***

A few minutes after Molindi had pulled herself together, wiped away her tears and finished telling her story, Rex and General Skywalker returned to the cave with the clone carrying an armload of firewood while the jedi held a large pile of fruit for dinner. The sun had already set in the sky with only a few strands of orange and purple left in the edge of the horizon; the two had come back just in the nick of time.

"Great work, guys. Look's good," Anakin smiled when he saw the fire pit they'd built with their rocks and he set the food on the ground next to it. "Don't worry, Rex told me which of these were safe to eat since you guys must've had them back at the palace." He was right; the small mountain of fruits looked familiar enough to know that they weren't poisonous to humans and Axel didn't hesitate to swipe two from the batch, tossing Molindi the second one. She caught it with one hand and sat on the ground a few feet away from where Rex began to build the fire, taking a giant, juicy bite of the plucked plant and chewing happily.

"Thanks, guys," She said after swallowing, then took another big bite. She couldn't remember how long it had been since their last meal, but any sign of hunger she'd felt before was disappearing with each happy mouthful of fruit she took. "I didn't know how starving I was til now. Good call."

Rex smiled and once the logs and branches had been stacked properly, the jedi used his lightsaber to send sparks onto the tinder and the wood ignited with a brilliant orange burst of light.

***

Once the food was gone and an hour or two had passed, the four decided to call it a night and dish out the order in which their watch shifts would take place. With a lot on her mind and sleep being impossible for the woman at the time, Molindi volunteered to go first. May as well be useful if she wasn't going to doze off in an hour or two anyway.

"Maybe we should stick with pairs," Anakin suggested once she'd stood to go sit at the edge of the cliff to overlook the giant mass of greenery before them, three or four yards from where the three men sat around the fire pit. Although she wouldn't have minded the company on any other night, there was just too much going on in her brain. She couldn't handle the general trying to get her and Rex alone tonight. "Since we don't know what could be in the jungle yet-"

"With all due respect, general," Axel began when he saw the subtle shrug of her shoulders as she took a long breath that the other two hadn't. "I think the commander is more than capable of keeping watch on her own. It's been a long day, we all should probably get as much rest as we can. Especially if we're going to explore that jungle tomorrow."

"Wait," Anakin started again with a raised eyebrow. "I never said we'd explor-"

"You said we don't know what could be in the jungle though," Molindi caught on to Axel's game and fought off a mischievous grin. "Without JC here, there's no other way for us to find out whats down there without seeing for ourselves."

"Exactly," Axel agreed and laid down on the ground a foot or two from the fire pit. With a nonchalant tone, he grabbed a leaf from one of the fruits they'd eaten and placed it over his closed eyes to block out the light from the flames. "And if we run into anything bad, we'll need as much strength as we can get."

"Which is why everyone should get as much rest as possible," Molindi agreed with a nod and strode over to the edge of the cliff before taking a seat on the ledge. "Good thinking, Axel." She called over to the group. "I'll wake you up in a couple hours." He gave her a lazy thumbs-up then clasped his hands and put them behind his head to cushion it from the hard ground. "Good night, guys."

"Uh..." Anakin glanced over to Rex who seemed just as surprised by the sudden relaxed ease between the two, but did his best not to show it as the jedi walked over to a somewhat slanted stone at the mouth of the cave and took a seat in front of it, using it as a backrest of sorts. "Good night to you too. I'll take the shift after Axel."

"Sounds good," Lindi called from her spot, then turned her eyes to the jungle below as a breeze rustled the leaves in the trees and the sound of owl-like creatures hooted off in the distance. She'd have to thank Axel later for his rescue skills, because even she herself was somewhat shocked by how easy their dynamic had become in that moment. If she had any doubts about their relationship improving before, opening up to him and reading each other's body language to determine the nature of a situation said that they were most definitely on the right track. Molindi was thankful to scratch that worry off her list.

A couple minutes went by before she heard movement behind her and she turned her head to see Rex approaching somewhat anxiously with something in his hand. She gave him a genuine smile and he smiled back before kneeling down beside her and handing the woman what was in his hand.

"I recognized this. It's on a planet in the Outer Rim I was stationed at for a few months during my training," She took the plant, a small root-like vegetable, and examined it closely. "If you chew it up and put it on your burns, they should heal pretty quickly and scar less."

Molindi has almost forgotten about the times Ventress had nicked her with her lightsabers. But now that he mentioned it, she gently touched the scorched flesh on her neck. Before he could warn her, Molindi jerked her hand back in recoil as a small bolt of pain zipped through the injury.

"Thanks," She said gratefully. "I'll try it out right now." He smiled and turned around to leave but a hand suddenly latched on to his, intertwining her fingers with his own for a moment. "And thanks for catching me today. In the arena." Her voice was quieter and he could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks as they held hands. He gave her palm a small, affectionate squeeze.

"Don't mention it, I'm just glad we all got out in one piece." She sent him a sweet grin in agreement and they released their hold on each other. "Good night, Molindi."

"Good night, Rex."