A Young Girl's War Between the Stars [Youjo Senki/Star Wars] 89

A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

89

Serenno. 34 BBY/966 GSC.

Allaya breathed slowly in and out, the scent of mud and swamp rot filling her nose as she waited, listening. The scent had been nearly overpowering at first, but her Master was right—imrsion was the best way to get used to ignoring overpowering slls.

The mud covering her was cool in the hot, swampy air—which was the only consolation to being covered from head to toe in thick, gray mud and clay. Unfortunately, if she wanted sleep tonight, she was going to have to tolerate the indignity a bit longer.

Sothing squished nearby, then sloshed slowly—behind her and to her left, at about the seven o’clock position, moving towards her right. It moved too slowly. That wasn’t the sound of an animal moving into or out of the four foot deep water. No, that was the sound of a human trying to be very, very quiet as they moved along through water that would be about chest height on an adult.

Faintly, she heard the swishing of the slowly moving water flowing around more things that moved through it at a steady pace. It sounded like a line stretching several feet long moving through the water—a line of people moving, perhaps.

Once again, she quietly cursed her Master, dearly wishing she could just open herself up to the Force and sense if it was her pursuers, or sothing else. But that would go against the spirit of the exercise. Her Master had made a bracelet and told Allaya to wear it—and as soon as she’d put it on, it had cut off her sense of the Force. She could still use the Force if she needed to—lifting and moving things, using her enhanced strength and speed, and the like all worked just fine, even if she wasn’t supposed to use them for this. She just couldn’t sense anything.

I’ve beco too dependent on the Force.

That had to be the point of this. To point out that she needed to keep her skills with her normal senses sharp. Well, as normal as her senses got these days, after they visited the water planet with their Master the last ti. She and Asajj both had co away from that visit with so permanent changes.

One of those was the fact that she didn’t actually need to feel the Force to see it and its effects. And given the way it was moving, and the very faint colors just starting to enter her vision that were different from the background colors of the Force in this area, she could confirm that the sounds were coming from her pursuers—their group of clone troopers, pursuing her as they had been for the last six days.

Her Master’s assignnt for herself and Asajj had sounded simple at first. She just had to evade the clones and droids hunting her for a week while staying within a ten square mile area.

That had sounded entirely too ta for their Master to both of the Padawans, so of course that was when she dropped the other boot.

Firstly, they would be alone. One of them would go at a ti. They would have no support from anyone.

Secondly, they were going in practically naked, compared to what Allaya had gotten used to. They had been allowed to wear the traditional garb of a maiden of the Singing Mountain clan and that was it. Boots, pants, belt, shirt, underthings, and a cloak.

Thirdly, they were only allowed the clothes on their back. They were given no food, water, or other supplies. Nor were they given weapons or tools. Their Master hadn’t even given them knives. Everything was to be procured on-site.

And finally… they were to do it all without being detected. They could ‘kill’ the other groups, but anyone they took out would just be back the next day, simulating fighting against a larger force sending reinforcents.

She had waited until the early morning, pre-dawn hours of the first day to make her move. Shadowing a patrol that had been searching for her, she had waited until they were heading back to base before using the distraction of a trap in their path to ambush the rearmost soldier, jerk his helt off and put a hand over his mouth as she choked him out, then steal his gear. That was how she had acquired a canteen, trench shovel, combat knife, and a lighter.

From there, it had been a week of what her Master called ‘asymtrical warfare.’ Building annoying but non-lethal traps when she could. Killing and eating whatever she could find—which turned out to mostly be snakes, cooked over small fire pits dug into what solid ground there was to be had. Avoiding patrols and occasionally hitting them to keep them on their toes and point one group at the other. The last few hours of night spent sleeping in trees, well away from either the clones or the clankers after locating where both were patrolling for the night and usually luring them into engaging each other.

She was starting to get tired, but it was all coming to an end. Just one more night and she could wash off, slip into a cool tent, and sleep for a week.

Allaya shook her head and focused on the here and now as she spied movent and light—and not normal light, but the shades she was coming to associate with infrared. She knew from seeing it that infrared from heat and infrared light were two different things. One of those was natural and just sort of floated around things like a halo, radiating off of them and dispersing in the air. The other was a solid beam, straight and fanning out in a cone—very unnatural and obvious when she was seeing it. And what she was seeing was specifically the beam of an IR illuminator mounted on a helt, sweeping back and forth.

It would be mostly invisible to the naked eye unless they were looking directly at the face of the illuminator or the faint field of color it painted on everything, barely visible to the naked human eye. To Allaya, it looked like shining a spotlight in a reddish color a bit more red than red, and it lit up the surroundings, making it super easy to follow.

More illuminator beams shined through the trees as the group turned, following their leader and moving to cross her field of view. The lead beam swept in her direction and she took a deep breath, before closing her eyes and going still. Behind her eyelids, she saw the glow of the illuminator pass over her. She knew better however and, a mont later, the beam swept back the other way, passing over her again. Then more beams swept the muddy bank of the small rise where she had taken shelter.

The clones’ helts were currently in night mode, which used a combination of low light, IR from heat to highlight threats or targets, and IR from the illuminators to paint the world in what looked to them like shades of green. That was why she was currently buried up to her nose in mud, hidden under a thick thorn bush, and hoping they would just pass her by. With any luck, the mud would hide her from their therm-optics.

Cracking an eye open, she saw the last of the line moving away, no longer looking in her direction. No, they were too busy following the clues she had left and had likely spotted the fire she had left burning. That was good, because she was tired of waiting. If she eliminated the enemy forces, they theoretically wouldn’t be allowed to just get back up and keep pursuing her.

Letting out the breath she had been holding, she rolled onto her belly and slowly backed her way out of the thick mud and onto the bank. The water was deep enough to swim for her and the mud was actually useful, so she instead climbed into one of the large, overhanging trees and began shadowing the troopers.

Catching up to them, Allaya hung back as they neared the camp, where she had set up what should hopefully look like a convincing fake. She had dug a small fire pit, but not as deep as usual. Then, she’d dug a trench deep enough to sleep in and built up a human-shaped mound of dirt before covering it with vines and grass. From a distance, it looked like little more than a lump on the ground. But for the soldiers following her, it should hopefully look like a child trying to hide while sleeping—and with the fire throwing off enough thermal energy to render their therm-optics useless, they’d have to get close enough to physically check. Close enough to step into her traps.

Moving into position where she had rigged the first of the traps, Allaya got her knife out and prepared to cut the vine holding the first rope trap in place. The clones fanned out around the site, taking up positions to watch the mound. One of them moved forward, only to stop halfway and gesture downwards, before carefully kicking a bit of leaves over, revealing a vine. His helt turned, visibly following the vine first to a nearby tree, then to a concealed circle on the ground in front of the lump. One of the other clones silently walked over to the vine where it was anchored near the tree to take the tension off and carefully cut it, rendering the trap inoperable.

That’s the one you can see. Now… what about the dozen you don’t, Allaya grinned, watching as the lead clone soldier continued towards the lump. When he got within poking distance, she eyed the positions of the other soldiers, then cut the first vine and moved, leaping out of the tree to the next.

There was a sound of a vine zipping over a limb as the logs holding a series of boulders she had collected fell, dragging the vine they were attached to with it. The vine that was buried an inch under the ground around the mound of leaves in a loop that the clone had just stepped into. The snare trap cinched shut and the clone yelled as he was dragged across the ground and up into a tree, upside down.

The other clones began to react, but Allaya was faster. Reaching down, she pulled out a handful of the wooden and stone throwing weapons she’d spent a few days crafting. They were essentially serrated stone arrow heads attached to enough wooden handle to throw them straight and counter-balance the weight of the rock, and fletched with the feathers of local birds. Flinging the throwing darts, she cut three more vines. Vines began to move as the weights attached to them fell. One big log swung down into the clearing and several of the clones hit the deck, but not all of them, as the log caught three and tossed them to the ground… where the ground collapsed and they fell into a pit trap with mud in the bottom, making a loud splat.

In a handful of seconds, four of the six man team had been taken out. The remaining two clones recovered quickly, sweeping their weapons around as they moved back to back and began assessing the damage. Allaya dropped to the ground, landing on a dry branch, which snapped loudly. She dashed behind a tree just as they turned, but they caught sight of her and rushed after… in between a pair of trees where she’d strung a tripwire. They had just enough ti to process that they had ssed up and try to get clear, but the net that snapped up around them was too big for that and jerked them into the air, to the sound of cursing.

Picking up a pointy spear, Allaya moved out of the trees and walked under the net. Reaching up with the stick, she poked them both. “Dead and dead.”

Flicking another throwing dart out, she cut them down and the pair of n landed with a thump. She quickly rushed to the guy caught in the snare and poked him as well before cutting him down, then did it again with the guys in the net. Moving over to the pit as the three won covered in mud climbed out, she said, “The pit would’ve been filled with stakes. You’re all dead.”

“Damnit! Not again!” one of the won groaned.

“Good work,” the leader nodded towards Allaya, before turning to the others as they began gathering. “Pack it in and let’s RTB, people. We’re done for the night.”

“Roger that, sarnt.”

“Hey Ahab, rec ti when we get back?”

“…Sure.”

Allaya tuned the clones out as she began gathering the tools and weapons she had hidden. More throwing darts, a bow and arrows, and a length of vine rope. Once she was done, she started making her way towards the base where she was supposed to rendezvous with her Master and Asajj.

She hopped into the trees to avoid the water, keeping an eye on her surroundings as she went. There were only a few large predators in the swamp—big reptiles, snakes, and jungle cats that liked to hide out in the trees and could swim—and she would prefer to avoid dealing with them on the way back.

Halfway to the edge of the swamp, Allaya frowned and paused on a branch, looking around as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. The swamp around her had gone silent—even the bugs having shut up. She knew this feeling from Dathomir—it was sothing she could never forget.

Sothing’s here.

Looking around, she checked the ground and trees ahead of her and saw nothing. Looking to the side, she swept the left side once, before sothing made her hearts start racing in her chest as a spike of adrenaline hit. A second sweep revealed what her subconscious mind had picked up.

There was a lump-shaped mass of vines and hanging moss in one of the trees. Normally, that wouldn’t have raised any red flags, but… the Force moved strangely around it. It didn’t radiate any Force itself and the foggy consistency of the Force around it from the environnt seed to occasionally be drawn in, only to disappear.

Then, it moved. Just a tiny bit as sothing shifted, and she saw a face. Eyes opened, shining baleful red in the dark.

Allaya drew her bow and fired reflexively, an arrow flying true towards the middle of the mass. At the last mont, a hand snapped out and caught it. Slowly, deliberately, the shadowy figure stood from where it had been crouched, then snapped the arrow. It roared like no animal she had ever heard before, then leapt to the nearest tree heading for her.

Allaya turned and ran back the way she had co as the creature followed, slowly gaining. Jumping between branches, a vine between her and the creature saved her life as she heard it snap and reflexively juked to the side. A bladed projectile that looked sothing like a short spear flew past silently, before abruptly reversing course and coming back the other way, as if drawn by a magnet. Reaching out, she grabbed the weapon and was nearly jerked off her feet by the force of it, but managed to hold on.

It started beeping and, physically touching it, there was nothing keeping her sense of danger in the Force from warning her. She flung it away and it exploded, taking out the top of a tree in a fireball. Her eyes went wide for a mont as she realized that this wasn’t part of the test. It wasn’t her Master pursuing her, because her Master wouldn’t throw lethal weapons at her.

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Shit, shit, shit! Allaya ntally yelped as fear set in.

She glanced back and panicked as she realized the creature had disappeared. Instantly, she jumped to the side, changing course. Another of those spears shot through the air where she had been a mont ago, before whipping around and flying back the way it had co. Keeping that position in mind, she put trees between her and it as she fled back towards the traps she had been preparing for days. Not all of them had been used. If she could just trap it—

Sothing huge hit her from behind and Allaya felt pain as it tore through her stomach. She scread as they fell, shoving herself back further onto the spear as she pulled her combat knife. She needed to kill this thing and that need crystallized as sothing finally snapped into place. The blade humd as she felt the Force snap around it—a Mage Blade extending just barely an inch from the blade and the tip, but she had seen her Master do more with less. It would work.

They hit a tree limb on the way down and tumbled. Allaya managed to kick herself away and flip so she was facing it as it hit the ground first. She landed on top of it, driving the knife into its chest with a roar, before jerking it out and stabbing again and again. Chest, throat, face. Until the strength left her body and she collapsed forward, and the world went black.

Asajj jerked awake, looking up as I shoved the door open and made my way to one of the beds in the back of the Rusted Silver. The girl looked confused for a mont, before going wide-eyed as she spotted Allaya in my arms, and the trail of blood we were leaving on the floor.

“Master? What happened?!”

“Not important,” I shook my head. “Your assignnt starts now. You’ve got one minute to get changed and go, before I need to take off! Go now!”

Asajj nodded, jumping out of her bunk and stripping out of her night clothes. She was finished changing into the traditional Nightsister garb by the ti I finished strapping Allaya in. The girl rushed out the door and I hit the hatch control as I passed on my way to the cockpit, closing it up behind . I tapped the controls to sound an audible alarm to clear the area as I started the ship up and lifted off. Silencing the alarm, I nosed up and punched it, before dialing the Redoubt.

“Redoubt, co in! Redoubt!”

“We hear you, Rusted Silver. What’s the ergency?” the comms officer asked, a bit off protocol but I wasn’t going to complain at the mont.

“Coming in hot on devac for one wounded. Get the hangar bay open, clear a space, and make a hole to the upper deck.”

“Roger that, Silver. We see you. We’re moving to intercept. ETA… Three minutes.”

“Understood. reel out.”

I spotted the ship on sensors as it broke formation with the group it had been patrolling with and accelerated on an intercept course. I forced my hearts to slow their beating as I waited, watching the ti to intercept count down. Finally, after what felt like ages, we got close enough for a visual. I lined up with the port docking bay and decelerated at the last second. The ship jerked, the struts complaining and the deck below squealing as I set it down hard enough to skid several feet.

Hitting the strap release, I rushed back to the sleeping compartnt and unstrapped Allaya, picking her up again and hurrying out the hatch. Once I was clear of the ship, the surroundings blurred a bit as I poured on the speed, taking the familiar corridors and stairs at Force speed as I hurried up to our private deck, and the custom bacta tank in the small dical bay on that deck.

Once I was in the dbay, I stripped Allaya down and winced at the hole in her stomach. The sealant had torn and it was leaking blood. Shaking my head, I got her into the sonic shower and stripped down myself, my robes and under layer sticking to my body from the blood. As I pulled them off and stepped under the emitter, the door opened as Aylin and the ship’s doctor rushed in.

Taking us in, Aylin asked, “What the hell happened? This was supposed to be a training exercise!”

“Training accident,” I answered shortly.

“I can practically see daylight through her and you’re cut to ribbons! Is that, did soone cut your throat?!”

“It’s fine. I sealed it up. I’ll explain later,” I said, before picking the girl up. Moving over to the bacta tank, I opened it up and stepped inside, sealing it up behind us.

The ship’s doctor made his way over to the control panel as the fill sequence started, pouring bacta into the tank. He turned on the dical scanners and the hologram system inside helpfully projected the damage.

Allaya had been stabbed through the abdon, the blade thankfully pushing her intestines aside as it passed through and not actually doing much in the way of internal damage. In short, it looked a lot worse than it was and I had been worried about sepsis for nothing. So bandages, a bit of bacta spray, and a couple of weeks and she would have been fine.

I, on the other hand, had co out far worse on that little exchange.

I had been watching her through the entire test. I knew what Allaya had access to, what she had stolen, and what she was capable of.

In order to actually qualify as proper trials, she had to face an actual, real challenge. Potentially life-threatening. So I had provided that, in the safest way I could. I had prepared ahead of ti, creating a few simple but deadly weapons that would catch her off guard if she wasn’t careful—just spears with the guts of a thermal detonator and a shock fuse on a short tir built into the head.

When she finished off the clones on the last night with only a few hours left until her challenge was officially over, I realized she intended to co back a little early and likely argue that the ti limit didn’t matter since she had already taken out the enemies and they couldn’t respawn before the tir ended. So, I had set up in front of her path, used a little of the local foliage and illusions to disguise myself, and waited.

I’d stabbed her, carefully coating the weapon with the Force and directing it to just move her intestines out of the way as it passed, hopefully not doing too much more damage than so uncomfortable bruising, aside from the entry and exit wounds. When she drew her knife, I’d expected her to stab through the foliage and for my beskar chest piece to deflect the blade.

What I hadn’t expected was for her to actually get how to make a Mage Blade in the heat of the mont.

I really hadn’t expected her punching said Mage Blade straight through my armor and narrowly missing one of my hearts—and it was only because of the adjusted placent thanks to the Kaminoans that she hadn’t gotten it. Then she’d gotten a little stab-happy.

Allaya, did you really have to stab through the tit?

Then, the vicious little brat had tried to take my fucking head off and had nearly succeeded. Would have, if I hadn’t gotten my arm up and deflected most of the force of it. What she’d gotten was little more than a scratch. Not actually deep enough to hit anything important. It just bled a lot, until I sealed it up with Force healing.

“All of these are life-threatening. You should be dead from blood loss alone. How are you still on your feet?” the doctor demanded.

“Yes, that was a miscalculation on my part,” I murmured. That was a bit of an understatent. “Don’t worry, Jedi are a bit harder to kill than you would think. And I’ve worked to ensure that I’m harder to kill than most.”

“No kidding,” the doctor murmured, studying the readout. “I’d really like to take a look at this biology. I thought you were a standard Zeltron…”

“Yes, I’ve had so upgrades. I’ll let you study the scans and put you in touch with the Kaminoans. Our ship’s doctor should know what he’s working with if I’m unconscious, the next ti sothing happens. Now, if you’ll excuse , I need to concentrate to heal this.”

Aylin nodded. “Understood, ma’am. I’ll post a guard outside.”

As the pair left, I closed my eyes and pulled Allaya close, focusing on healing the both of us. As I worked on my own wounds, I felt my lips twitch into a smile. Perhaps I had gone a little too far, but Allaya had perford admirably. I was proud of her. She had grown from that obnoxious little brat I had picked up, into a strong, competent girl.

Mm, no. Young woman. With this, she’s officially an adult, by the standards of her tribe and Mandalore. I’ll need to put the paperwork in. Then, when I’m done here, head back down and track down Asajj and see about a repeat.

Moreover, she had passed another of the Jedi Trials—the Trial of the Flesh. She and Asajj had both gotten the Trial of Courage when they took that little space walk with to capture the Lucrehulk so that made three, if I included my assessnt of her skills as the Trial of Skill.

I’ll inform Master Dooku of her success and drop her off with him, while Asajj does her test.

“Sorry I can’t stay. I need to get back to Asajj.”

“Of course,” Dooku nodded, as his forr Padawan and eldest living daughter left with a quick half bow. He turned a smile on Allaya, who sat running the fingers of one hand over a small section of her stomach, beneath her robe. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “Is sothing wrong?”

“No. Just kind of surprised it doesn’t hurt,” the girl murmured. Her voice was a bit more subdued than he was used to hearing it.

“The wonders of bacta and Force healing techniques.” Considering the paperwork on his desk briefly, he shook his head and stood. It could wait. “It’s a nice day. Why don’t we go outside?”

Allaya perked up at that, so of her energy returning. “Mm!”

Pulling his robe on over his suit, Dooku led her to the elevator, then down to their living area. He stopped by the kitchen long enough to make so sandwiches and put together a picnic basket, before heading down to the garage level. He and Allaya took a speeder out to a little lake where Dooku liked to take his sister from ti to ti, when they needed so ti away from the job.

Parking near the little pier, he carried the basket over to the shaded outdoor swing and table on the end of it, looking out over the water. Putting the basket on the table, Dooku sat and sent his daughter a smile before patting his lap. She chuckled and sat down as he put his arms around her.

Knowing the value of silence and being an ear to listen without pressing, Dooku simply waited. Sure enough, after several minutes of looking out at the water and the waterfowl moving across its surface, the girl sighed.

“I thought I was gonna die.”

Dooku raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”

“Sothing attacked at the end of the training exercise. Actually attacked . I couldn’t sense it because of the bracelet blocking my Force senses, but I could tell it ant to kill . I tried to lure it into so traps I had set up, but it was faster and caught up. It stabbed through the stomach.”

Dooku blinked, turning a concerned look down on her. “It did?”

“Mm.” Allaya shifted and stood, then moved her robes aside and lifted her shirt, exposing a fresh, circular scar about an inch across just to the left of her belly button. Then she turned and showed him the matching scar on the other side, entirely too close to her spine for his comfort.

“Tanya did not ntion that,” he murmured, frowning

Allaya snorted quietly, shaking her head and retaking her seat. “That’s cause Master’s the one who did it.”

For just a mont, Dooku felt a flash of anger—deep and hot. The ground shook and the birds on the water took flight as ripples spread across its surface. The peaceful scenery was ruined as the area was filled with the sounds of birds and animals calling in fear as they fled.

Taking a breath, he forced himself to calm down and look at it from the perspective of a Jedi first and a father second. Training incidents like this happened fairly frequently, where a Master tested a Padawan in a semi-controlled environnt. It was the safest way to pass the Trial of the Flesh without permanent maiming, disfigurent, and minimum risk of death.

Tanya could be a bit… extre in her training thods, but she was neither negligent nor stupid. If she had chosen this thod for giving Allaya her trial—and, given where she was now, he had to assu Asajj as well—then she had prepared beforehand. Likely to an excessive degree, knowing her. aning it was about as safe as it could be, outside of a Temple.

The part of Dooku that was a Jedi Master and had been one now for decades understood.

The growing part that was a father was still angry. So of that was directed at Tanya, but the rest had few avenues to turn to.

He could bla the Jedi Order for the way the Trials were structured, but they existed for a reason. The Trial of Flesh was there to prove that a Padawan could fight through crippling—potentially literally—pain and injury and complete the task at hand, because in the field where it mattered most, things could be worse. And Tanya knew that. She had been preparing his daughter for war since Dooku had entrusted Allaya to her care.

He could bla the Trade Federation for starting a war. The Republic, for forcing them to secede. Palpatine and whatever other Sith likely had their hands in these events, pulling the strings from the the shadows. Or he could bla himself for any number of failures or necessary actions that had led up to this.

But in the end, none of it would matter. If no one had started the war, if he hadn’t seen the need for Serenno to leave the Republic, if there were no Sith, and if Dooku were Allaya’s Master instead of Tanya then sothing similar would have still happened. He would have had to prepare her, to test her and make sure she was strong enough to survive without him.

And she was. Tanya had made sure of that. That was sothing to be proud of Allaya for.

Closing his eyes, he forced himself to let go of the anger entirely. Squeezing the young redhead tightly for a mont, he loosened his grip and asked, “It looks healed. Is there any lingering pain? Odd feelings in the area?”

“Nn,” she shook her head. “Master flew out and cramd into the bacta tank on the ship as soon as I passed out.”

Nodding, Dooku asked, “Then what is it that has upset you? Is it because she attacked you? That you were hurt—”

“No, it’s…” Allaya hesitated, then explained, “I figured out how to make a Mage Blade. I rember stabbing the thing attacking over and over. It felt good—it had hurt and I was gonna kill it.” Frowning, she looked away and muttered, “Then I woke up in a bacta tank with Master and figured out what happened when I saw the scars. I nearly killed her. Probably would have if I hadn’t missed her left heart, or if the cut across her throat was any deeper. The ship’s dic guy said it’s a miracle she didn’t die. I nearly killed my Master—”

Dooku reached up and put a finger to the girl’s lips, silencing her. Rubbing the top of her head, he shook his head. “But you did not. Injuries happen in training. As does the occasional accident, even for Jedi. It is a risk we all take.”

“…She’s not gonna hate ?”

“No. I imagine she is quite proud of you. As am I. You did well, Allaya.”

The girl lit up in a smile and a warm blush. “Thank you, papa,” she murmured, before turning and burying her face in his chest as she hugged him tightly.

“Of course,” Dooku murmured, hugging her back. Once again, he felt the regret of missing Allaya’s childhood.

So much ti lost. So much to make up for.

I watched as Asajj sat in front of her camp fire looking a bit worse for wear, but nothing a shower, a good al, and a night’s sleep wouldn’t fix. Unlike Allaya, she had elected to wait out the rest of the night and return to base in the morning. That gave an opportunity to test her a bit more thoroughly than I had with Allaya.

Slowly, I began projecting fear at the girl. Over the next few minutes, I watched as she grew anxious, then nervous—looking around at her surroundings as the regular sounds of this swamp suddenly grew ominous and frightening.

I cast an illusion, filling the area with fog that cut down visibility. Then, I reached out with the Force and smothered her campfire, cutting off the oxygen and jerking the heat right out of it with Tutaminis, leaving it cold and dead in an instant. Asajj jerked up, looking around wildly, and I added sound—the snapping of a branch here, footsteps there, my personal favorite… my own rembered giggles from my past life floating through the forest.

The girl took a breath, then I felt her shrug off the fear I was pushing on her harder now. “I know you’re there, Master.”

Drawing one of my explosive spears, I hurled it at her from behind, aiming to just miss to her left. The spear, partly under my control with the Force, abruptly stopped within a foot of her and I felt Asajj struggle against my control for a mont before letting go and allowing her to win—only to trigger the remote detonator as I moved, circling around her position. The thermal detonator beeped a few tis, before I sensed danger as she abruptly hurled it at my position. I caught the spear with the Force and sent it up into the air, where it detonated barely a second later—the flash of the grenade briefly illuminating the area.

“How many more of those do you have?” the cheeky little brat asked, looking entirely put out. “I’m just going to catch them and throw them back if you throw more. Can we go ho now?”

Narrowing my eyes, I cloaked and moved away, before leaping at her from the side. The girl turned and drew a stolen blaster from under her robe, sending three red bolts at . I caught all three and landed, leaving them hovering between us and illuminating the area for a mont. Dropping the illusions, I let the cloak of grass and vines I’d been wearing drop to the ground.

“Good work. You’ve passed the Trial of Insight,” I inford her. “Unfortunately, that ans you don’t get the easy Trial of Flesh with sothing relatively safe and easy to treat.”

Their different reactions to the test highlighted the differences between them. Allaya was more of a athead and preferred to solve problems with gut instinct and fast, decisive action. Asajj, on the other hand, was more level headed and tended to think things through before she acted.

“We can do that thing with the blasters,” she shrugged. “Do it now or later?”

I considered her for a mont before shaking my head. “I’ve got sothing else, if you want to try now. It’s going to hurt.”

“Rather get it done now so we can go,” she grumbled.

Nodding, I reached out and touched her. Concentrating on the Force and the healing techniques I knew, I lit up her nerves in an all over, full body, bone deep pain. It wouldn’t cause permanent physical damage, but having tried it on myself, I could confirm that it was challenging to work under. Asajj gasped, nearly collapsing where she stood, but I caught her.

“I can stop—”

“Keep. Going.”

“Alright. We’re walking back to camp. Make it back without passing out and you pass,” I instructed, then turned and started walking. My lips twitched into a smile as the stubborn girl forced herself to follow on shaking legs.

Packing up and going to check on Allaya as soon as we get back. Then I need to spend so ti wrapping things up here and getting my affairs with Mandalore in order, then it’s off to Anaxes. But first, I’m going to put in a call to Kamino. Being able to change skin and hair color as needed is too useful to pass up, but having to do the whole ‘treatnt’ thing is irritating and takes too long. I want to see if they can do anything for there.

Glancing back as I heard Asajj stumble, I found the girl still following along as she caught herself on a tree. She caught looking and forced herself to continue. I had no doubt that she would pass.

Going to have to find a way to reward them both.