Chapter 2

As I took a deep breath and smelled the different scents of the air, my head swirled with thoughts. The city’s odours were embracing me like an old friend welcoming me home, wearing a perfume made of dust and piss and spice. But this wasn’t home. I wouldn’t even call this city a friend of mine. Ten years had passed since the last time I set my foot on this planet, but in my opinion could at least ten more years go before I had to come here again.

A voice shook me out of my thoughts. “Master? Would you care to enlighten me? Why are we here, on Nar Shaddaa?” I turned around and stared at the young boy, not able to recognise him for a moment. I knew why: I had turned time twenty years back, when I still was a little girl and lived here.

I looked at the boy’s features. His pale blonde, nearly white hair was laying on his head in every possible direction, (Reminder for myself: Buy the boy a hairbrush for his birthday.) and a questioning look in his dark blue, purplish eyes.

“Isaac,” I said, gentle, with a smile on my lips, “do you remember why I became your master?” Isaac pulled his Padawan braid, a habit when he was frustrated. “You know I hate it when you answer a question with another question.”

“Why do you think I do it?” I laughed. “You have much to learn, young one, especially when it comes to patience.”

I turned around and walked down the road, and smiled as Isaac paced up to walk beside me. “To answer your question, we’re here to ensure our peace with the Hutts, now as we’re in war. Besides the Republic and the Empire, the Hutts represents the strongest force in the galaxy. I bet my lightsaber that those slimy snails won’t choose any side, but even a neutral part could supply us with weapons, medicines, food…”  

“I see.” I could hear the slightest trace of disappointment in in his voice, , and examined his face closely. When he noticed, he sighed. “I hoped it would come to aggressive negotiations with the Black Sun or something…”

I laughed. “You Guardians.” I shook my head. “Aggressive negotiations, huh?” He smiled a little. “Come on,” I said, “We are invited to one of the Hutts tomorrow, so I rented a small apartment for us tonight. Let’s head over there, huh?”

*

I stared out the window, looking at the traffic, the rush of the planet’s inhabitants, hurrying to and fro to finish the day’s to-do list. I heard a door open and the soft thumps of naked feet against the floor. I turned around automatically, after years of training and of pure instinct.

“Just been in the fresher,” Isaac said, with a well-placed smirk on his face. He wore nothing but a soft, white towel wrapped around his waist, which brought out the colour of his sun-stroked skin and made his silvery hair seem paler. I felt blood rushing to my face, happy that it didn’t show under the thin layer of fur that covered my body.

“You’re blushing, Master,” Isaac said as his smirk turned into a grin by the achievement. Okay, so maybe the blush wasn’t as invisible as I’d hoped. As a twenty-four year old, I was still sexually inexperienced – I was a Jedi after all. As an adult I should be able to look at a man’s body without feeling the urge to look away, but there was something about that lazy smile on Isaac’s lips which made me slightly uncomfortable.

I forced myself to look at him as I desperately looked for a topic which made us both forget this scene. When Isaac acted like this, it was more tempting to stand in a room full of Sith. The evening sun made the water droplets on hus skin glimmer like crystal.

“Why, young one, do I sometimes believe that you’re more fond of your own body than your lightsaber?”

Isaac laughed. “I have no idea, Master.” I knew it was true; I wouldn’t be surprised if that boy slept with his lightsaber.

“You remind me of a friend I had when I was young, Isaac.”

“Oh, why?”

“She too was overly fond of stripping and flirting with everything on two legs.” Isaac laughed.
“I’d like to meet her some time.”

I nodded. “Yeah, me too.” Isaac’s smile faded when he heard the sadness in my voice. “But, she’s just one person, and Jedi does not attach themselves to single individuals. Remember that, young one.” I smiled to him, and noticed that his Padawan braid had fallen apart. I pointed at it. “Here, let me.” I walked towards him and divided the longest strands of his hair from the rest. As my fingers carefully braided, I asked, only to keep a conversation going; “So, how is your Huttese, young one.”

“Languages isn’t exactly my specialities. And I really wish you’d stop calling me young one. I’m not that much younger than you.” I laughed the comment off. My Master called me that when I was a Padawan; just a habit, I guessed. And in addition, I usually called him that to state the differences between us, and to help him remember his place.

“My Huttese was a bit rusty, but I think I’ll manage. It was after all my mother tongue.”

“Wait, what?” I bit my lip as I just realised what I’d said. “Master, please,” Isaac continued, “ever since I got reassigned to you, you’ve never told me anything about your past. The only things I know, I know from rumours; that you became a Knight at the age of fifteen, that you are the most skilled healer in the whole galaxy…”

I chucked. “Rumours tend to over exaggerate. Yes, I became a Knight at the age of fifteen, but I’m far from the most skilled healer in the galaxy… But, very well, I was raised here on Nar Shaddaa, in the household of one of the less influential Hutts… U’hta, I think he was called. At the age of eight I was found by Master Tykan, and he brought me to Tython after he found me Force sensitive. When I was fourteen I came to Taris, which eventually lead me to several planets I never thought I’d set my foot on, and then to knighthood.”

I looked at my Padawan. “It was less heroic and exciting than it sounds.”

“I’ll be a hero too, one day.”

“Tah-koh tee womp rat e’nachu.”

“What does it mean?”

“You’ll end up womp rat food. Most heroes do.”

“But, what about you, Master?”

“Oh, there was a few close ones, but luckily for me, I’m no hero.” I looked out the window. The sky was beginning to darken. “Let’s get some sleep. Discussing with Hutts are tiresome business.” Isaac nodded and walked over the floor. “I expect to find you in clothes when we’re going to eat breakfast!”

I heard Isaac laugh as he closed the door shut behind him.
As I put a blanket over myself and closed my eyes, I thought about how nice it was, having a companion. Isaac hadn’t been my Padawan for long, just a few months, but the boy showed great promise. Especially within the fields of combat, but, to put it mildly, diplomacy was not his thing, and the same could be said about his connection to the Living Force. Which again was the reason for why he had been reassigned to me, when his former Master died in the warfront.

I was still young, and having a Padawan had its difficulties, but I got more used to it every day that went.

Just as I was nearly sleeping, I could feel the presence of something. Someone. A presence I hadn’t felt in over ten years. I rose up from the bed and went over the floor, to the window. The neon lights stood in sharp contrast to the ink-black darkness. The person was far away, the presence just strong enough to be felt, itching like a mosquito bite in the back of my head.

“Nyanath?” I asked, even as I was certain. No answer came from the darkness. I wondered why she was on the Smuggler’s moon. If she had changed, if she were all right. Sleep never came that night.