Chapter Text
The wind whistled eerily around the mountain, stirring the clouds into swirls and ribbons.It whispered and whooshed in the ears of the two young women who trekked along with a deliberate yet casual air, taking in the scenery around them. It was a bit desolate this far up, but this was a welcome thing. They were accompanied by a blackbird, who whirled about overhead at times when the wind died down a little. As it picked up again, the bird settled on the shoulder of the smaller of the two women, who sheltered it protectively until it could fly free once more. As the bird once again took flight, the woman paused, stopping to stare out over the landscape. On her lips a slight, perhaps rueful, smile appeared briefly, only to be swept up into an expression of greater happiness.
“I am glad we were able to get away for one last hike,” Amara said, her gray-green eyes, soft and gentle, taking in the beloved environment. “These mountains are the only thing that I will miss about this place. It is good that we got a chance to say goodbye.”
She turned her eyes away from the landscape and toward her comrade, Zia.
Though a few years younger than Amara, Zia was a little over a head taller. Still in her late teens, she was athletic, with finely toned muscles and great skills in combat. Most of her dark, mahogany-hued skin was hidden under the bundles of clothing necessitated by their hike, with her beautiful mass of ebony curls buried under her helmet. Right now, her dark eyes sparkled with mirth, as they so often did when she was enjoying herself.
Amara stood in stark contrast. Fair skinned and slight of build, she moved with patience and deliberation. Her golden-brown hair flowed straight and long, all the way down her back. At the moment, it moved about in the breeze, though to a trained observer something might’ve seemed slightly off about its motion. For brief moments, it appeared to defy physics… but that could’ve been a trick of the light, or perhaps a cross-breeze.
The two young women had known each other for years by this time, starting with their youth on Coruscant where their relationship was more that of a tutor and student and less of the easy camaraderie of the present.The once tiny Zia had looked up to her mentor at the Jedi Temple there, so much so that she decided to follow in Amara’s footsteps, much to the chagrin of her Masters. No matter how much they tried to convince her that she would be better off pursuing her natural talent with a lightsaber, she insisted that her future lay elsewhere. She, too, would become a Healer. When Amara and Dalthaea were sent by the Jedi Council to Eriadu with the purpose of working at the Medical Center, Zia joined them in the hopes of becoming Dalthaea’s next Padawan.
Order 66 had changed everything… for everyone, it seemed. The once steadfast, loyal and trustworthy Clone Army- brothers-in-arms of unwavering servitude- had suddenly turned on the Jedi, striking them down with a shocking swiftness. As though some finger of madness reached into their minds and flipped an unseen switch, the clones fell on their long-time comrades, instantly transformed from valuable allies to lethal enemies. Due to Tarkin’s distaste for clones, there had been none on Eriadu at the time the order was given, buying Amara, Zia and the other Jedi on the planet some time. Tarkin had put them under his protection for now, but he was a fickle man. Who knew how long that would last?
Not that it mattered anymore.
“We should get back,” Amara stated. “We do not want to keep everyone waiting, and who knows what kind of last minute snags we could run into. Eleven children can be quite a handful.”
They were leaving Eriadu… but not alone.
After the execution of Order 66, when word of the exact nature of the program still hadn’t spread across the Galaxy, it was widely believed that the clones were targeting Jedi alone. Oh, how wrong they were! While the systematic extermination of members of the Jedi Order was abhorrent on its own, the truth was much, much worse. News trickled in of clones executing anyone with Jedi training, member of the Order or not… then younglings… then… anyone . Any Force sensitive person in the Galaxy was Jedi enough for them. No one would be spared. Not even children.
It was well known at the Medical Center that Dr. Williams had a Force sensitive child- her son, Brax. No one was surprised when she began to speak of fleeing, or when she’d finally approached Amara, Zia and their mentor, Dalthaea, to help her formulate a plan. The plan eventually snowballed into their current mission- smuggle eleven Force sensitive children away, some from Eriadu and others from off-planet. The seven from other worlds had been brought to them by the Jedi Quinlan Vos. He’d arrived unexpectedly with the children, many of whom were hurt or ill. He’d also been injured himself. During the course of his treatment and recovery, he’d told the orchestrators of this great rescue about possible planets they might settle on, at least temporarily, once they finally fled Eriadu. They decided on Dantooine and the course was set. They were leaving today.
But to Zia, something seemed off. She nudged her friend gently.
“Hey, are you okay? You seem out of sorts.”
Amara didn’t answer. Of course Zia would notice the subtle difference in her posture, the clench of certain muscles that were usually relaxed. However, the source of the older Healer’s troubles wasn’t something that her younger companion was privy to, and so she held her tongue. She had neither the time nor the inclination to describe this unrest, this pull . Something within her was begging for just a few moments more, here in this spot. It wasn’t nostalgia. It wasn’t fear. In fact, she was fairly certain that it wasn’t even coming from within her at all. Something else was calling out to her- something that was at once alien and familiar. It was something that she’d felt before… but why at this moment? Why now?
“It’s about leaving, right?” Zia ventured. “I’m nervous, too.”
“Yes,” Amara fibbed, a white lie to ease her companion’s mind. “But everything will work out fine. We have planned well. We will all be okay. This is our purpose.”
“There you go with ‘purpose’ again! I swear, you’re obsessed!” Zia laughed. “You sound like- like…” She trailed off momentarily. When she picked up again, her voice was soft, barely audible over the wind. “Like they used to.”
“Well, be that as it may-”
Amara didn’t get to finish her thought. A sudden explosion rocked the ground and went echoing through the heavily clouded atmosphere. Both women instinctively dropped into a defensive, crouched stance, while the blackbird returned to Amara’s shoulder.
“What was that ?” Cried Zia, her nerves raising her voice by an octave.
As debris began to rain from the clouds, far enough from the two that they weren’t in any immediate danger, Amara signaled to Zia that she had no idea and to remain watchful.
“It must be an attack on Tarkin’s compound!” the younger called out, eliciting a shrug from the elder, who pulled out her binoculars. This prompted Zia to do the same.
As the faint sound of far-away blaster fire rang out, the two scoured the environment. Finally, the cloud cover parted a bit and they could make out some of the drama playing out in the mountains, not so far from where they were planted. There was something going on around the two of the cable cars strung high above. Fighters roared above their heads, rocketing off towards the cars, firing on them mercilessly. The onslaught continued until one of the cars became dislodged, dangling precariously above the gorge below. The weight of the fallen car pulled relentlessly on the other, threatening to take it down as well. The fighters kept up their offensive, making it clear that both cars would soon fall as the loosened one fell even farther. If anyone was trapped up there, they were certainly doomed.
“Someone is hanging from a tether!” Zia yelled in alarm, pulling on Amara, who was soon able to focus on the humanoid figure suspended above the mountains.
The two stunned women watched in abject silence as this person raised their arm. Faintly, the sound of a single blaster shot reached their ears as the figure began to plummet toward the ground, along with the remains of the damaged cable car. The other car jumped back with a violent jerk and continued on its way.
“No!” Zia cried instinctively, her voice far too loud after focusing on muffled and far off sounds.
Amara was busy pushing down emotions that were not her own- satisfaction, sorrow, acceptance, the tiniest little afterthought of fear. This was not the time for feeling. This was the time for action. She stood swiftly, stretching out her left hand. She’d never tried to catch something so large at such a distance before. This was also not the time for self-doubt. She focused on the memory of Master Yoda instructing her Clan,
“ Size. Distance. Matter, these do not. ”
She felt the Force flow through her, a welcome warmth, and reached out to catch the falling figure. A tingling, slightly painful feeling along her arm made her wonder if she was sensing the falling debris, but she soldiered on, focused as she was on her target. Finally, she felt the weight in her hand. Finally, she knew she’d accomplished her first task. Next, she must get this person, whom she now understood to be a human male, lowered to safety.
“I have him,” she informed Zia calmly, “but I sense that he is injured.”
Without the need for further elaboration, Zia knew exactly what was required of her. With only a meeting of eyes, she understood what Amara wished for her to do. She turned instantly, rocketing off down the mountainside with all the skill and agility of a young Jedi. The blackbird left its perch on Amara’s shoulder to follow her.
In the meantime, Amara would need to protect her charge. She held her right hand above her left, hoping to shield him from any additional falling debris. She allowed herself a small, satisfied smile when she felt those pings and tingles on her shielding hand, sure that she was preventing any further injury to this person she was trying so desperately to save. Once she felt that he was safely on the ground, she released him, allowing not a moment for rejoicing, but instead taking off down the mountain, faster than she’d ever gone before. She was in a race with the Empire. Would she arrive before Admiral Tarkin’s troops?
Swift as wings, she made it to the area where her fallen charge lay. There were others nearby, among the wreckage of the fallen cable car- all troopers. She could tell in an instant that they were beyond her help, and so she carried on until she reached the one she sought. Zia hovered over him, already patching up what places she could, while the blackbird suddenly cried out an unusual call,
“Dee! Dee!” It cried, as Zia turned her face to look up at Amara.
“Hurry up! I- I can’t do this all by myself!” She stammered, clearly flustered, until Amara laid a hand upon her shoulder.
“It is all right,” she assured her protege. “Everything will be all ri-”
Her words stopped coming, as though they too were now victims of the fallen cable car. She’d seen his face- the face of the one who’d fallen.
“Dee, Dee!”
“Why’s he making that noise?” Zia asked of the bird, whose agitated flapping was stirring the air. “He’s never made that sound before.”
Amara seemed beyond her reach. She was hunched over the fallen man, frantically searching, it appeared, for any small place that she might heal quickly, all the while muttering softly,
“No… no, this cannot be. This is not right. This is not how… No…” in succession, until the sound of troopers approaching broke her apparent trance.
“Do you know him?” Zia asked swiftly, sensing an opening.
The sound of the troopers’ boots grew louder. They were out of time.
Tears in her eyes, Amara turned her grief-stricken face to Zia’s and said,
“We will not be able to take him with us.”
Placing a hand on her lightsaber and adopting a battle-ready stance, Zia answered,
“We can try.”
“No,” Amara answered firmly, reaching out to steady her friend. “If we are detained, then so are the children. We must leave here. They will close the port.”
Zia nodded firmly.
“Go now. Alert the others,” Amara instructed.
With one regretful look at the fallen man, Zia turned on her heel and took off, swift as the winds around her.
Zia was now on her way, and so Amara turned her attention back to the fallen man, once again taking in his face, his unusual armor, and his slicked-back hair.
“Oh,” she sighed, the tears that had welled in her eyes finally falling. One landed on his forehead, gleaming dully in the clouded light. “Oh, I am so sorry.”
She wiped away the tear as blaster fire erupted nearby- too close for comfort.
“I will find you,” she whispered in his ear.
As she rose to leave, a single, authoritative voice called out,
“Halt!”
