Chapter Text
- I am sorry for you, but I have not changed my mind, I have no desire to help those people who applauded the death of the Jedi when even our youngest would have sacrificed everything to save any of them.
- General...
- I'm not a General anymore, Lock, not even a Jedi. I've become a priest, the conflicts are too much for me now.
- "We understand that," Cody nodded with a slight grimace, "but it's not a problem for us. You've been a counsellor in peacetime, that's what we need. Not a general, not a warrior, but a true diplomat. You still have it in you."
Did he have it? Did Eeth still have in him that ardour that pushed him forward in his youth? That passion, that benevolence, that hope?
But hope was dead, buried under fire and stone. The benevolence was blackened by inaction and betrayal. The passion had faded into disappointment.
Eeth could probably put on a brave face, but he was no longer that man.
- "I'm not that man anymore," he insisted fatalistically. "I'm disappointed of this world, I don't even want to do anything for what the Republic was."
- "What about us?" Wolffe asked sharply.
- I beg your pardon?
- We need help, we keep up a serene appearance for others but we don't know what we're doing, we weren't even convinced we'd get this far. We are lost, everything is new and dangerous and we can't protect ourselves in this uncertainty.
The blow was hard, his heart quickened at the thought of leaving weak, innocent, victims to manage on their own when he was there and could help. Then he laughed softly, shaking his head with reluctant amusement.
- Plo had said you were brilliant, he wasn't wrong. It's very well done.
Pride and pain mingled around Wolffe, who grimaced with a tight smile.
- "He would be proud of you," Eeth continued, because two could play the game of emotional manipulation. "But don't try to use my kindness against me again. Never."
- "Is there anything we can say or do to convince you to assist us?" asked another who had remained silent until then.
His emotions were the most moderated, almost relaxed and calm, there was no sense of urgency or distress in him. Yes, this one had to be the same Commander Thire as the Coruscant Guard clone, Eeth had no doubt about that. He wasn't too worried because he thought he could handle things on his own, unlike the others who were used to relying on the Jedi.
- "No, not that it matters to you," he pointed out. "You don't want me to stay."
- "Not particularly, no," Thire admitted with a frank look, an upright posture, but no aggression or malice. "What happened to the Order is a tragedy, but I personally don't see the point of your presence, I think we can manage without relying on natborn. No offense."
- "None taken," he replied casually, turning to the rest of the room. "As you can see, you can manage without me, don't let the nostalgia of a bloody and macabre war darken your judgement, I am not needed here as long as you are united in achieving your goals."
The distress remained strong, doubts and fear filled the room, assaulting his senses and he felt the panic rising.
- Let us go.
- I beg your pardon?
- Let us go, if I am not your prisoner I have the right to leave, I want to leave.
- But you-
- "I have a wife," he declared, refusing to be ashamed of it. "I need to know if she's alive, and I won't trust anyone to find her. Besides, it will allow me to check your good faith. If you let me go with my daughter without trying to follow us, I promise to think about it once I have found my wife."
- Think about it?
- I don't feel like a Jedi anymore, what you are asking of me is more complicated than you could possibly understand. Anyway, if you want my cooperation in public, that's the compensation I'm asking for, it's up to you.
- Please General, we-
- So you're refusing?
Thire placed a hand on Cody's shoulder and shook his head at the clone before handing him a com.
- If you need help, or change your mind, we'll help you any way we can. Come on, we'll get you a ship and supplies for your child.
He nodded to the others and followed the Commander as he walked awkwardly through some large rooms converted into children's dormitories and motioned for him to serve himself. He didn't know how to deal with children, but Eeth smiled anyway as he watched him speak softly to the standard ten year olds who clung to him. He picked up a large grey bag and without hesitation piled milk, nappies and children's medicine into it, adding after some thought ration bars for himself and chuckled as he turned to Thire who was now doing increasingly difficult push-ups, much to the amusement of the four clone children sprawled over him who were falling over almost with every bend. The clone blushed, ashamed to have been seen being tender and adored by the children and stood up quickly, patting the boys short hair before escorting him to a hangar, offering to choose a ship, any ship, so he chose a small fast ship for a small crew, it was the best one to keep a low profile.
- "You might want to stay away from Tatooine," Thire warned as he boarded.
- I beg your pardon?
- The Empire has almost completely dismantled the Hutt traffic, but the new leader placed there in agreement with the Empire, Jabba, is on Tatooine. Tatooine is part of the Republic and we want its laws enforced everywhere, so we'll deal with that in a few weeks, after we find some stability in the Core.
He saluted and took off quickly, his heart racing in his chest at the thought that he was free, he was alive... he had made it.
He didn't know where to go.
Tatooine... it was the planet of Sharad, his former Padawan... and A'Sharad, his son. He tapped his dashboard softly, thoughtful. Sharad had joined the Tusken, a native population of Tatooine, and his son had grown up for fifteen years in that culture.
If there was a logical place to look for A'Sharad Hett, it would be among the Tusken, hidden in the burning sand desert of his people.
He had to find Mira, but he didn't know where she was, and his ship was so high-performance that he could afford a quick detour before inquiring in the known locations of his wife's family. Now that the Empire no longer existed and no longer hunted down Jedi, he was tempted to try to find his Padawan's son. It was unlikely that he was still alive, but if he wanted to know for sure, now was the time.
- Towards Tatooine, sweetheart.