I Want To Be Your Knight: Chapter Seven

I was awakened by a hard slap across the face.

My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself looking at a seriously ticked off Jysella Horn. Behind her, Seha was wringing her hands worriedly.

Something was wrong. It felt like I was hiding underneath a wet blanket. Like everything was dulled and blurred. Then I realized that I couldn't feel Jys or Seha in the Force. That I couldn't feel the Force.

That's when I remembered that I was supposed to have been ejected from our shuttle in orbit above Myrkr. Since, I was on a planet, I figured that I had been ejected, but I was having trouble recalling actually leaving the ship.

I frowned, and asked, "What happened?"

Jysella rolled her eyes, and turned away. "Kriffing Skywalker..."

My eyes shifted to Seha who stepped forward, that odd half-grin on her face. "According to the biometeric sensors that are interconnected between these things, you hadn't gotten yourself sealed into the capsule when we were launched."

Jysella turned back to me, coming closer. "Yeah, and we've spent the past two hours hunting for your capsule. You had enough time to get in your capsule. Why weren't you sealed?"

I remembered helping Jys into her capsule, but it was a blank after I activated it. My face screwed up, as I thought hard about it. Then I remembered seeing the bags under the table still. I opened my arms and allowed the three bags to fall out. "These! I saw these and figured we'd need them."

Jysella shook her head in disgust. "You risked your life for the bags?"

I nodded my head, and she turned towards Seha. "Told you he was just being stupid."

Before I could defend myself, her fist snapped out and slammed into my stomach. I gurgled as I was pushed further into the cushions behind me, doubling over slightly from the force of the impact. Fighting back the urge to vomit, I glared at Jysella who smiled back at me.

"You promised."

I decided that I didn't need to fight back the need to vomit anymore, and leaned towards her shoes. Unfortunately, the nausea passed before I could expel my last meal in her general direction.

Seha grabbed one of my arms and helped me to stand upright. I smiled down at her, and said thanks. She nodded in reply and let me go. I stretched, working each muscle group in turn, checking to see if there was any damage. Satisfied, I picked up my bag and looked towards the two girls, noticing that they had already picked up theirs.

I looked around at the trees that surrounded us, noting that they seemed to shimmer with a slight silver tint in the morning sun. I guessed that effect was due to their high-metal content.

Seeing them standing there in the light armor was kind of breathtaking. I was amazed at how their opposing features could both be so alluring at the same time. Jysella with her wild, passionate nature seemed to embrace the inherent chaos of our situation. She stood, staring off into the distance the wind pulling at her hair, flicking it in front of her face.

Seha, on the other hand, still had that calm thing going on. She would have made dad proud with her Jedi control. Her hair was pulled into a tight braid, as she stared intently at the small computer built into her right wrist. A miniature holographic map hung in the space above her wrist, and she poked and prodded at the controls as she studied it. Then she turned a bit to her left and lifted her head.

I stepped forward, and asked, "Where to now?"

Seha pointed in the direction she was facing, and replied, "123.4 kilometers that way is our destination. We have four and a half days left."

I simply nodded my head and unclasped my saber from my belt, wanting it easily accessible. Then I started walking in the direction she indicated, slipping through the brush as quietly as possible. Behind me, I could feel Jysella and Seha following.

We walked towards the city, only stopping occasionally to drink from the streams that sliced through the undergrowth.

Finally dark fell, and we dropped our bags and collapsed to the ground. For the first time, I was happy that Kyp had made me take all those horrible runs. My calves and back hurt, but I felt that I could go on if needed.

I glanced over at Jysella and saw her rubbing the muscles of her leg

Then I turned and saw Seha leaned up against a tree, her expression one of pain, as she panted slightly.

Standing, I crossed over to her in a couple of steps and knelt down in front of her. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes opened, and her lips twitched slightly. "Just out of breath. Not use to not having the Force to refresh me when I'm tired."

I frowned at that, and scratched at the top of my head. "Refresh?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, refresh. You mean you've never used the Force to wash away exhaustion and tiredness before?"

I felt myself gaping at her, and pivoted slightly towards Jysella, to find her staring at us. When she saw me looking at her, she burst into laughter.

I turned back to Seha. "You..." I paused, and closed my eyes, exhaling slowly. "You mean that you can use the Force to keep you from getting tired, while doing something like running?"

I opened my eyes to find her nodding her head, her brows bunched up in confusion. I looked to Jys again, and she was all but rolling on the ground from her laughter.

I had finally discovered how Kyp managed to have more energy than me on those torturous runs of his. I heard myself mutter, "I'm going to kill Kyp when we get back."

I didn't think it was possible, but Jys laughed harder.

Seha's eyes opened wider, as they flickered from me to Jys and then back. I don't think she knew exactly what to make of either of us.

I stood up and stalked a short distance away, gathering up some brush and branches to build a fire with. By the time I had returned, Jys ' laughter was mostly under control. She had another smile for me, a bright and cheerful thing that both warmed and annoyed me. I dropped my bundle of burnable stuff, and began setting it up in the proper order to get a fire going.

Seha looked at me, worry shining in her green eyes. "Uhm... are you really going to kill Master Durron?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not. I might hurt him though. Maybe break a leg. Or stab him once or twice with my lightsaber, but I don't think I'm going to kill him. There's no reason why he couldn't have told me about those refreshment techniques while we were doing those runs of his." Jys chuckled again, and I turned towards her, "At least someone finds this amusing."

As I turned back to the kindling I was putting into a neat little pile, she grabbed up a stick and threw it at me. It slapped me in the back, and I glared over my shoulder at her for a second. She stuck her tongue out at me, and I turned back to the pile, pulling out a pack of matches from my pocket.

Seha's and Jys' mouths both dropped open at the sight of the package. Jys then said, "Hey, you're not supposed to have that."

I glanced over my shoulder at her, a smirk on my lips. "Who says?"

"The rules. We're only allowed to bring the stuff in our bag."

I laughed. "Read the rules again, you're allowed to bring items that you commonly carry with you in addition to the survival pack. A book of matches is one of the things I commonly carry with me. In addition to about a dozen or so credits, a comlink, a penlight, two extra vibroknifes, and then a couple of packages each of sugar and salt."

I ignited the kindling, and watched it burn for a second before putting some of the smaller sticks onto it. A few moments later I added some of the larger pieces of wood I had gathered, and then sat back, enjoying the warmth from the fire.

I allowed my eyes to flicker from Jys' face to Seha's, and I noticed the confusion on her face. When she saw me looking at her, she asked, "Why do you carry that stuff around?"

I looked at her for a moment, and then smiled and tilted my head to look at the stars. "It's because of a month I spent on an uninhabited planet about the time I turned fourteen. Do you remember the first time we met?"

She slowly shook her head.

"Well, it was about four years ago. My parents had requested that I take a leave of absence from both GAG and Jacen, and stay at the Temple on Coruscant with them. At the time, I didn't want to, but Jacen had insisted. After a week or so, you came and delivered to me a letter from Jacen, giving me orders to sneak out of the Temple to retrieve a Sith artifact from some third rate rim world." I paused and looked at Seha again, noticing the complete lack of recognition of those events. I chuckled, and smiled at her. "I'm not surprised you don't remember. Jacen was very good at mind-rubbing people."

Jysella spoke up. "I remember that. There was a big fuss when the Masters discovered you had disappeared. I don't think anyone ever actually told us why you were gone though."

I nodded my head. "I can imagine. As for why, it was to do something for Jacen. He sent me to some third-rate star on the Outer Rim, and I tracked the artifact to the Sith homeworld of Ziost . Once there... well, I made a mistake or two, and ended up in charge of a little girl, only 6 years old. We spent a month crossing the wilderness of Ziost, running from some pirates who were happy enough to shoot at us from starfighters. I later found out that it was all a test. I was supposed to do the pragmatic thing and abandon the little girl there, allow her to die."

I realized that a tear was running down my cheek, and I brushed it away. My eyes flicked from Seha over to Jys, and I saw matching looks of worry and concern directed my way. That unnerved me slightly, seeing Jysella concerned about me, but at the same time I was oddly happy about it.

After a moment, I turned my attention to the crackling fire and continued my story. "I, I was supposed to just let her die there alone. That's what Jacen and his Sith Master expected of me. Wanted of me. Ultimately, I couldn't do it. Despite the ghosts on that planet telling me to do so, I knew that I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had left her to die. What really scares me, even today, is just how close I came to doing so. There was one point when I actually walked away from her." I shuddered then as a chill settled across me, which the fire could not drive away. "Eventually, we found a Sith ship, and were able to leave Ziost. I took her back to her homeworld, and then went to find Jacen."

I looked up at Jysella as she began to speak. "If Jacen sent you on that mission, why did you go back to him after you escaped the planet? Why not go to your parents?"

I frowned, trying to remember what I was thinking at the time. I knew Jacen had sent me there, and I knew that it was a test. I had no doubts that Jacen knew exactly where I was and what I was doing. The tracking device that had been in my datapad told me that. I turned my attention back to the fire, staring at it, while I wondered why I would have made the decision to go back to him.

Ultimately, I didn't have an answer for her.

I didn't have an answer for myself.

It was a decision which I had often pondered. And one that made me question, just how things might have changed had I done so.

Instead, I shrugged, and glanced back up at her. "I was a stupid 14 year-old kid, who had just spent a month on an uninhabited planet, with ghosts in his head telling him to kill a six year-old girl. I'm surprised I made it back at all."