Chapter 62: Chapter 62

A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

Dathomir. 36 BBY/964 GSC.

Taking a deep breath of the cool, damp mountain air, I let it out in a happy sigh. It was still dark out, with the sky just beginning to lighten in the east. A cool breeze blew down from the mountains that brought up goosebumps on my exposed skin. There was a smell of wood smoke and leaves turning in the air that reminded me of fall on Earth. While the air was a little thin and a bit humid from last night’s rain, compared to a month on Felucia, this was heavenly.

Sure, everything on this planet was deadly dangerous, but at least the planet itself wasn’t having some sort of prolonged identity crisis and couldn’t decide if it wanted to run me off or beg me for help. And yes, it would get a bit miserable once I came down off the mountain. But for now, it was perfect.

“Uuuugh! Why are we up so early?! Mom doesn’t even make me get up this early! I’m sleepy! When can we eat breakfast? Nnn~.”

My eye twitched as my perfect peace was violently murdered. There was nothing I could do to get it back, so my only recourse was to get even, and then instill in Allaya the lesson of patience, how to enjoy the silence, and most importantly… how to learn to recognize when not to disturb an adult’s precious peace and quiet.

Reaching up, I stroked under Catya’s chin, while at the same time mentally prodding her. “Mrrow?”

I quickly cast a noise canceling formula around us, so the redhead wouldn’t hear. “Allaya is going to play with you.” The cat perked up, ears flicking towards the redhead and tail twitching. “She’s going to try to chase you. If you can keep her from catching you, I’ll give you a treat.” Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a strip of jerky. Catya had discovered Augwynne’s stash last night and had taken a liking to it. I wasn’t above a little bit of positive reinforcement and/or bribery.

The cat pawed at the jerky and I tore off a small piece, offering it to her only to have it snapped up into her voracious maw. I pocketed the rest, and got a feeling of annoyed discontent in answer. “You’ll get the rest later. Play first. Go hide in the grass.”

Catya stood and stretched, before hopping down and slinking off into the knee high grass. I dropped the noise canceling formula. “—get this over with so I can go back to bed?”

I turned and Allaya abruptly fell silent and went very, very still as she saw my smile. I didn’t know what it was about it that set her off, but I was perfectly willing to use it to my advantage.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Oh no. It seems as though Catya has run away. I need you to go fetch her.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed, the expression giving her face a particularly… angry look that actually did more to make her look cute than threatening. “You’re joking, right?”

“Hm?” I hummed, bringing up my steaming cup of tea and taking a sip. “No. You didn’t see her run off? Go get her for me.”

“But,” she paused, thinking for a moment. “I thought we were going to train or meditate or something?”

I shook my head. “No,” I drew the word out. “This is much more important than training. I need your help. Please, brave future warrior of the Singing Mountain Clan, won’t you rescue my cat before something out there decides to make a meal out of her? I’ll be very disappointed if that happens.”

“Well… she is cute,” Allaya murmured, thinking it over. I could almost hear the gears whirring away in her head. “Fine! But I get to hold her and pet her!”

“Of course. If she lets you,” I agreed easily, before waving towards the grass. “Off you go.”

The girl huffed, but took off into the grass. “Here kitty, kitty, kitty! Heeere kitty, kitty!”

Moving over to a nearby rock, I sat down and watched, finishing off my cup of tea as Allaya spotted the cat and took off running for her. Catya waited until the last second, before springing to the side and running away. Allaya made a frustrated sound and gave chase.

A small smirk pulled at my lips. Reaching into the pouch hanging off the side of my belt, I dug out my holocron and set it in front of me. Revan’s projection appeared next to me, watching with an amused smile as Allaya chased Catya and the cat ran circles around her. “What do you think?”

The echo of a man hummed. Glancing at me for a moment, he turned his attention back to Allaya. “I think it’ll be good for you. You need time, after Felucia.”

I scoffed. “I’m not going to snap and do something regrettable.”

“Probably not,” Revan agreed. “But the wounds are still fresh, and while you may not lose control, you might snap or make rash or poor decisions that you otherwise wouldn’t make.”

Frowning, I considered for a few moments, reflecting upon my mental state. The impotent anger, frustration, and loss were all still there, just under the surface. Last night, I had dreamed of the 203rd again—the first time I’d dreamed of anyone from that life but Visha in more than a year. Thankfully, I hadn’t sleep cast since Felucia. That would have been embarrassing—especially if I had blown a hole through the ship.

Finally, as much as I disliked admitting it, I nodded once. He was right. And I could use some time off, regardless. So this would be a good chance for both. “Fine.”

“As for the girl, she’s got potential. She’s very powerful. Not really surprising given who her parents are. These modern Jedi truly waste themselves on their ‘no attachments’ philosophy. With the right training, she could be amazing.”

“Strength doesn’t equate to skill,” I murmured. “She could be completely unteachable.”

The man nodded. “That’s a possibility, yes. Take a few days to test the waters and see where she stands. But do you really think Augwynne would have allowed her daughter to be some sort of hellion?”

“Mm. True,” I agreed, glancing back at the grass as Allaya leapt at the cat, only for Catya to spring up, land on her head, and kick off before disappearing into the grass radiating amusement.

“You should just bond with the cat already.”

“Hm?” I asked, sparing him a questioning look before turning back to the show as Allaya yelled in frustration, her chest heaving as she glared at the cat. “I thought I was.”

The ancient echo of a man chuckled, shaking his head. “The normal way, certainly. But no, I meant that you should use the Force.”

Curious, I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Revan shook his head, letting out a quiet sigh. “Sometimes, I forget how full of holes your knowledge of basic Force techniques can be. This is something taught to younglings—typically one of the very first uses of the Force they learn.”

I sent him a look that demanded he get on with it and he continued. “Anyone who can use the Force can create a bond with an animal. It could be as simple as an awareness of the animal’s location and current state, or it could be a deep as allowing you to use their senses and direct their actions. Sith prefer to dominate and take control completely, which is what most of those who used mounts or war beasts did in the past—sometimes, to the point of crushing the creature’s conscious mind, leaving it in what is effectively a state of living death. Jedi tend to take the path of using the animal’s senses and subtly directing them to their goal—allowing their chosen companion to retain their mind and will for the most part.”

I watched the cat slip into the grass, break line of sight from Allaya, and teleport behind her. The rustle drew the girl’s attention, leaving her confused as she spotted the cat just long enough to confirm that’s what she heard.

The possibilities of being able to not just borrow Catya’s senses, but direct her movements, possibly even trigger her teleportation ability… Oh, the things I could do with a cat that could teleport around obstacles. I still needed to figure out the limits on how far she could go, because I knew for sure that during my time in the Republic army war college, she was going back and forth between the dorm and the ship daily—a ship that was at minimum, three sectors away from Corulag when they were on Mandalore and a journey that would have taken days by ship but which took minutes at most for her.

“The technique goes by a few different names. Beast trick, taming, or control, animal kinship or bond. Personally, I like to classify it into four distinct techniques based on what they do. The first, and least intrusive: beast trick. Like mind trick, it’s a temporary influence and a short command. Calm, come to me, go away, stay, ignore us, sleep, make noise, attack—that sort of thing.”

“All useful,” I nodded, liking the sound of what I was hearing.

“The second, animal kinship, is deeper but also temporary. You would forge a temporary bond with an animal and either use its senses directly while directing it where to go, or direct it first, have it come back, and use the Force to view its memories. I prefer the first method, as it relies less on an animal’s short term memory. This would let you use animals to survey an area without leaving your body vulnerable the way projection does. It obviously can’t be used in space, but on a planet it can be very useful.”

I snorted quietly. “Turn any animal into a temporary living spy drone? You’re under-selling it, Revan.” Frowning, I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about this on Felucia?”

The man sent me a raised eyebrow. “The way that the entire world was connected in the Force, would you really want to risk trying to wrestle an individual away from what felt like a burgeoning hivemind, when the potential consequences could have destroyed your mind?”

“…No,” I shook my head, and the old Jedi nodded.

“Now, third and the one you’ll be aiming for: animal bond—a permanent version of animal kinship. The last, of course, being beast control—complete mental domination of an animal. As for how you use it, the first stage is very much like mind trick. Really, you’ve been doing it already with Catya. The next step is to try to share her senses. Given your use of far sight and projection, it should actually be somewhat familiar to you. Just focus on her and try to see and hear what she does.”

Nodding, I focused on the cat currently silently stalking behind Allaya, the girl having entirely lost the feline at some point. Closing my eyes, I felt her presence in the Force and reached out to it. Almost by reflex, I started to project myself forward, but held back. After a moment, I felt her notice my attention and presence, and then I jerked as the world opened up—everything suddenly so much larger, or at least seeming that way.

“Whoa,” I murmured as Catya’s eyes focused on Allaya through the tall grass. Everything looked different, and it took me a moment to realize why. All of the reds and greens were hard to make out distinctly. I could still tell they were red and green, but they didn’t look nearly as vivid as from my own eyes. Strangely though, after a bit of getting used to it, I could tell that it was slightly better for certain things—for instance, every potential prey animal stood out more sharply.

Then there was the hearing. It was like having two parabolic microphones for ears. I could hear Allaya breathing, and every soft step she took through the tall grass that would have sounded nearly silent to her own ears sounded like a troop of elephants moving through the brush to Catya.

Stolen from NovelHub, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“It worked,” I answered absently.

“Good. Now, open your eyes. We should take this time to practice your forms,” Revan instructed, and I could hear the grin in his voice. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on n0velfire.net

Opening my eyes, I winced. Having two points of view was disorienting and left me blinking as I struggled to keep up. The projection didn’t give me time to adjust, as he conjured a ghostly lightsaber and swung at my head. Obviously, he couldn’t actually hurt me with the phantom saber, but it was the point of the thing. The point of the exercise was obvious—even why he was forcing me to do it now instead of giving me time to adjust.

I back flipped away from the strike, drawing my saber and switching it over to training mode as I moved to attack. Revan was very good with a lightsaber, and sparring with him over the years I’d spent in the academy had allowed me to further my understanding of the other forms outside of Form II and better incorporate everything I knew into a cohesive whole.

Through Catya’s eyes I saw Allaya turn to watch us, and the moment of inattention cost me as Revan’s saber slid through my own, flickering off and on briefly as I hastily backstepped. The tip of the blade passed through the edge of my robes, but I didn’t feel the faint sensation of it against my flesh. The projection pushed his advantage as I briefly turned to yell at Allaya.

“Don’t watch me! Find the cat!”

Then, I was forced to roll out of the way of another slash, followed by a kick. Turning my attention on the man, I glared. “You know I hate that ‘turn your saber off’ crap. It would get anyone who tried it killed.”

Revan smirked. “Unless they had the advantage of reach. Which I do. As with all lightsaber techniques, trakata should be used only as the situation calls for it. You’ve used it yourself, in fact.”

“It’s a lot harder to duck when you don’t hear the blade coming,” I grunted, flowing into a series of strikes that forced the man back, pressing the attack while I could.

“As I said. There is a time and place for it. A surprise attack from stealth is one of those. In the middle of battle with a foe of equal or greater skill is usually not. Now, why don’t you try directing your little familiar instead of just watching?”

An annoyed sound escaped my throat as I forced myself to split my attention. It was much harder than it sounded, but I managed to get the idea across to Catya just before I had to put up a defense to keep Revan from taking advantage of the opening I’d made. From off to the side, I heard a yelp from Allaya as Catya ran in and nipped at her ankle, before running away.

“Damn cat! Get back here!”

And so things went, as the sun rose and the morning grew warmer. We garnered some attention from the village and at one point, Augwynne stopped by long enough to watch with an amused smile, before going about her day. Finally, when the sun was high in the sky and I had worked up a good sweat even in the cool mountain air, Revan put away his lightsaber and I did the same as we called it for the day.

I considered what I had learned and nodded. “We’ll do this every morning. I feel like I’m beginning to grasp how to split my focus properly.”

“Good. Now, I believe you should go see to that student of yours,” he chuckled, nodding towards Allaya before disappearing.

Turning, I found the young redhead sitting on her butt in the grass. Her face was red and her eyes wet with tears as she radiated frustration and anger. Sitting on her head, Catya had curled up into a ball to take a nap, her tail swishing back and forth in front of Allaya’s face and occasionally brushing over her nose. Every time Allaya tried to move, Catya idly batted at her skull with a paw, drawing a hiss from Allaya as those razor sharp claws tapped the top of her head—not hard enough to draw blood, but definitely enough to feel them. The sheer disrespect and sass from the animal actually made me feel a bit sorry for the girl.

“I see you gave up,” I shook my head as I made my way over. “You were supposed to catch her, you know. Not the other way around.”

“It’s—ow!” Allaya yelled, only to yelp at Catya smacked her again for the noise. Turning down the volume, the redhead grumbled, “It’s impossible!”

“It’s not,” I denied. The girl looked surly and I was reminded that I was dealing with a child. A child of a tribal warrior people, so a bit different from normal children, but definitely still a child. Positive reinforcement worked best, from everything I’d heard. That, and bribery. However, the key was to be consistent. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try again in the future.”

Pouting up at me, the girl asked, “When do we start actually training in Jedi stuff? If I could pick things up with my mind, I could have caught her.”

“You can’t even catch a lost cat. I’ll let you know when you’re ready for real training.” I could feel the rebellion rolling off of her at that. “But I’ll make you a deal. If you can at least touch her tomorrow, I’ll teach you something fun.”

“…Promise?” Allaya asked, and I nodded. “‘Kay.”

“In the meantime,” I sat down in front of her, crossing my legs. “Let’s talk about the Force. Can you sense it?”

“Mm,” the girl nodded. I waited, sending her an expectant look, and she elaborated. “I feel it in me. Mom said that’s what it was when I started feeling… buzzy and got good enough to run the obstacle course.”

“I see. And have you ever felt it outside yourself?”

She waffled her head back and forth a bit. “Sometimes? Like when we’re hunting, I’ll get a bad feeling sometimes, and usually spot some predator nearby. And from you!”

“Good. That will make this easier. So, your first lesson: how to sense using the Force.” I paused, considering the girl for a moment. “Hold out your hand.” Allaya did, and I took the offered hand in my own. “Close your eyes.”

Once her eyes were closed, I focused on her and the Force in and around us. Then, the same way I had when I’d shared my sense of the Force with Obi, I showed her how I saw the Force.

Allaya jerked, her eyes going wide as she looked around us. Catya protested, jumping from her head to land in my lap, but the redhead ignored her. “What, what is this?”

“Sensing the world through the Force. You should be able to feel this at all times, without thinking about it. It should be like your eyes, or your ears. It always works and you don’t have to concentrate on using it,” I explained. Letting go of her hand, I felt as Allaya unconsciously kept the technique up herself, still radiating awe and wonder.

“I can feel everything. Everyone.” Blinking, she turned and looked at the cat, before glaring at me. “She feels funny.”

“Mhmm,” I allowed a small smile to pull at my lips.

“Like you’re connected somehow…”

“That’s another technique,” I confirmed.

“And you can definitely sense her.”

“…So she was never lost.”

I felt the girl’s annoyance at that. Finally, unable to contain it any longer, she erupted. “Then why’d you make me chase her for hours?!”

I sent her a knowing look. “Did you catch her?”

Allaya broke eye contact, blushing as she looked away. “No.”

“Well then, it seems like it’s good training. She’s small, stealthy, her senses are better than yours, and she’s Force sensitive. Cats are the apex predator in their size category for a reason. So you’ll keep doing it until you can catch her. Trust me, the skills you’ll need to hone to do so will help you in the future. I assure you, you don’t want to learn them the way I had to.” Namely through life and death situations, being hunted by enemy snipers, and with copious amounts of murder.

“Ugh, fine~,” the girl grumbled.

“Good.” Standing, I stretched as Catya made a discontented sound and climbed up to drape herself on my shoulder. Gesturing at a tree some distance away, I broke off a decently sized limb and brought it over. A bit of work with a mage blade had it cut down smooth into something resembling a bokken. I tossed it to Allaya and pulled out my lightsaber as she stood, an excited look on her face. “We’re going to be doing an active drill. It’s not sparring. I’ll attack at low speed and you’ll move to deal with my blade. I’ll help you adjust your footing and positioning as we go. I want you to focus on using the Force the whole time—feeling out what I’m doing and moving in the way that feels most right. You’ll know it when you feel it.”

“Mm!” the redhead nodded excitedly.

Flicking my lightsaber on to training mode, I took a stance and waited as Allaya quickly mirrored it. Then, I began flowing through the motions, not using the Force to enhance anything. It was an exercise and way of instructing I had learned from my first two lives—as a young Salaryboy studying kendo as my chosen sport and club to fulfill the requirements of my school and expectations of those around me, and again in the Empire at the War College learning fencing and the more modern saber forms taught there for much the same purpose. The entire point was to learn the forms and engrave them into muscle memory, so that when you moved up to full speed, they came naturally. I had seen Master Qui-Gon doing much the same with Obi when I’d observed them training at times, so I knew it was a proven method used by the Jedi as well.

We kept going like that until around noon, before I called an end to training for the moment and we made our way back to Augwynne’s home for lunch. We found the older redhead already working in the kitchen, cooking a pot of stew that smelled amazing. However, I sensed discontent from her. Unrest.

I took a moment to get Catya the treat I had promised before taking my seat at the table as Allaya did the same. Augwynne pulled the pot off and I waited until she was seated before asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Straight to the point, as usual,” she chuckled, ladling Allaya out a bowl, then herself, before handing me the ladle. “You could at least tell me how things went with my daughter.”

Allaya looked a bit annoyed, but remained silent. Nodding, I gave her my honest assessment. “She needs to learn how to keep quiet and not complain so much.”

“I’ve tried,” Augwynne huffed, sending her daughter an exasperated look. “If you think you can manage to teach her what I couldn’t, then please, by all means. I’ve all but given up at this point and accepted she’ll just have to grow out of it.”

A smile crept across my face and Allaya’s eyes went wide as she shivered from head to toe. “…Why do I sense danger?!”

“No reason,” I answered blandly, before meeting Augwynne’s eyes. “I’ll make sure to train it out of her.”

“I almost regret giving you permission now,” the woman murmured, before glancing at her daughter. “Almost.”

“Well then, you’d better learn to be quiet, or you’ll bring whatever punishment she thinks up down on yourself,” Augwynne warned. Turning back to me, she asked, “Anything else I should know about?”

“Not really,” I shrugged. “This early, there won’t be much to report. I’ll keep in touch and keep you updated on her progress when we leave. Which will be soon. After I finish that coming of age trial.”

Augwynne hummed quietly, a thoughtful look on her face. “About that…”

“Two things, actually. First, Allaya is still too young to take her first trial. I’d like you to administer hers when the time is right.”

I nodded. “I can do that.”

“The second, and about your own. Normally, a girl turning fourteen would go out with a hunting party, track down a rancor, and tame it as her mount. Your ship is entirely too small to carry a rancor and I doubt you have the food required to take care of one. It’s cruel to tame something, then abandon it.”

“Of course,” I agreed. I had been having similar thoughts myself, wondering if I could ask for some alternative to the test, since I knew generally what it would be. After all, when Master Dooku and I had first arrived on Dathomir, we had interrupted one of the guards’ own trials when I killed the rancor she had been pursuing and she had to retake it.

“I’d like to propose a substitute.” When I nodded, she explained, “We’ve had some trouble from the Nightsisters recently. It seems Talzin has gotten involved with pirates.” I suppressed the brief flash of anger at the mention of pirates, but something must have shown in my body language, from the brief, concerned look Augwynne sent me. “I think she means to use them to attack the other clans, including our Singing Mountain clan. Can you stop them?”

My smile felt so wide my face ached. “I would be happy to eliminate them,” I murmured. “And the Nightsisters?”

Augwynne frowned. “You occupy a unique position within the structure of the clans here. While you are a member of the Singing Mountain clan, you are also a Jedi and capable of acting freely as needed. The Nightsister clans are a problem for everyone, but some of the more obstinate clans don’t want to deal with the problem decisively and have kept the rest of us from doing so with threats of retaliation. You can act where we can’t. I would like if you could, but there is significant danger. Talzin is powerful. Easily my equal in magic, and since the loss of her son, she has become… unstable. If you see an opportunity and believe you can damage her clan without directly facing her, then I would be in your debt. But do not put yourself in needless danger by engaging a foe you can’t handle on your own—especially not surrounded by her followers.”

I hummed, nodding. “So recon the area, deal with the pirates, then potentially strike against this Talzin’s clan if she’s out or avoid engaging entirely if she’s in. And this will count as the trial for my coming of age ceremony?”

“It will,” Augwynne agreed.

Picking up my bowl, I drained the last of the broth and stood, moving to the sink to rinse it out. “Where are they located?”

“Do you have a map? I can show you.”

I pulled out my holocom and brought up a map of the area with photos taken from above. She quickly pointed out where I needed to go and I nodded, slipping the device back into my pocket. “Alright. I’ll go get ready, then set out. Please prepare Allaya to leave first thing tomorrow. As much as I would like to stay, I can’t. Master Dooku is expecting us.”

“I will. By the way, assuming you’re successful, you have the right to claim another piece of songsteel.”

“Then I’ll need to visit the ship first thing. That shouldn’t take but a few hours, now that I know what I’m doing.” Looking to Allaya, I said, “Be up early so you can join me.”

“Huh? Why?!” the redhead demanded, annoyed at the prospect of her sleep being interrupted again.

Ignoring the question, I looked to Augwynne. “You don’t mind if I claim some for her, do you? I’d like to be able to give it to her when the time is right.”

“No. It will be fine,” she agreed.

“Excellent,” I nodded. “I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

With that, I quickly left the home and hurried for the Rusted Silver. Making my way inside, I waved to Arthree as I passed him, pulling Catya off my shoulder and depositing her on the bed as I hurried back to my weapons locker. “Stay here,” I ordered the cat, making sure she understood.

Opening the locker, I grabbed my rifle and checked the charge and gas. Then, I pulled on my rigging and made sure I had several grenades—explosive, flash bang, and knockout gas. Finally, I began collecting blades. I had a small collection of normal steel knives, a couple of vibro blades, and of course the two songsteel swords that I had originally earned on Dathomir. They were all secured about my person in easy to reach places—after all, while lightsabers were great for cutting through practically anything and for sheer intimidation factor, they weren’t the best at stealth. A common knife, thrown and directed by the Force, could be far more useful when stealth was called for.

Though that does remind me… I’ll have to take this time out training Allaya to hunt down those Ghostfire crystals Master Dyas mentioned.

Once I had everything I needed, I left the ship and locked up, before heading up the mountain to the floating island above, to go ahead and collect the songsteel. I found two decently sized chunks and slipped them into the pouch on my belt, before taking off for my destination. I flew down the side of the mountain into the jungle, landing on a tree branch and suppressing my Force presence. As much as I’d have loved to fly right over, I didn’t want to give away my position, or the tactical advantage flight posed to an unaware enemy—at least, not until I was ready to use it against them.

I couldn’t help the smile on my face as I approached the enemy’s fortified position, circling around wide to avoid any patrols. I was looking forward to the stress relief of blowing up some pirates, and maybe killing some witches. Maybe they would even have interesting loot!

This is going to be fun~!