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"Where do you think our little star went?" Wooley asked as they boarded the cruiser. "I thought she was with us not too long ago."
"A person mission or something." One of the softshells replied. "She'll be back with us in a few days."
"Oh." Wooley spectacularly failed to keep the dejection out of his voice.
Cody, of course, knew where she was. He could feel it in his mind, could practically see through her eyes if he reached back just a little. He knew better than to do so. He'd already lost control of himself in minor ways since she'd come aboard, and he couldn't afford to make it a habit.
The sour feelings must have leaked out of him, because she was suddenly in his head, wrapping around him like a cool blanket. The radiation of safety and calm tempered his fears.
She was very certain of this whole soulmate business, and the more effort she put into convincing him, the more real it made it for him.
He wasn't yet sure if that was a good thing or not.
She was warned about the snow squalls, but she wasn't concerned. She didn't experience hot or cold the same way other sentients did.
Besides, once the transport was out of view and she was a safe distance away, she took off her visor and allowed herself to shine, the snow melting before it even touched her. It was nice not to have to suffocate herself for the safety of the others, and she would take the opportunity for what it was worth.
The caves weren't hard to find. They sang to her, humming the same way she did, the way her 'sabers did. She would feel them all the way across the galaxy, just as she knew where all the Jedi with such shards currently were. She didn't always know who they were, but the expanse of their range could give her a headache if she concentrated on too many at a time.
She danced through the snow, admiring the way it caught in her hair, how the fractals shone in her presence. The world was just so lovely, beauty to be found in every crevice. She let herself skip across the top of the snow banks, rolling and sliding down them with laughter in her heart and breath stolen by the impact. She enjoyed how it felt to be cushioned by flurries, shielded by the flakes melting on her cheeks. She ate some of them because she felt like it. She loved this freedom to feel, and she wondered absently if the other Jedi indulged this experience outside of meditation, to be at one with the world around them all the time.
She didn't let her mood get dampened by the sinking suspicion that they did not, that they would find it frivolous. But what was the point of a Jedi if they never sink into the Living Force? That was what they set out to explore: to become as much a part of the world as everything else, if not more so.
Again, she felt that message, that calling to connect to Her and ward off Him had been lost along with her race. The notion of a balance seemed to have been replaced by the idea of good versus bad.
"He loves Her as much as She adores Him." She mused aloud, dusting herself off and going back to wandering toward the cave. "One's not good, one's not evil. They are not negations, they are cohabitants of reality."
She shrugged. Those were questions for better armed souls than she to examine.
The cave was as wonderful as the remembered, if a little wider from all the kyber harvests. It greets her with a warm, humming trill that runs through her bones, making her giddy and soft.
"Hello to you too." She greeted in return, curtsying just because she could. "I've come for my other half's shard, my old friend."
The planet's very core answered her, pulling her along until she came to the large crystal stalactite. She could see its lovely yellow colour, singing so sweetly in her mind, reaching through her to Cody. She reached up to it, calling out to it through her fingertips, and was thoroughly surprised to see not simply Cody's shard, but another one settle alongside it in the palms of her hands.
"How curious." She murmured, examining it. It had a blue sheen, so it very likely wasn't going to belong to Cody, who shared her yellow. "So very curious. But if you wish to join me, I won't be the one to stop you."
It trilled, reaching through her to a connection that she hadn't noticed. That might have been because of the very solid shield separating her from reaching into that one's mind the way the broken door around Cody did not.
"Wait." She paused, considering. She reached through her own mind, feeling her end of the connection. "I have no door?"
The shards vibrated fiercely in her hands, agitated, so she closed her fists around them, lest they go flying off into the cave.
"I will find them, rest assured." She soothed. "Some thousand years later and I've already found Cody, right? Have some faith in me."
They calmed, letting her package them away underneath her bracers, settling against her skin comfortably.
"Thank you." She caressed a crystal as she walked back the way she'd come. "I appreciate you letting me come in their place. I know you disapprove of it under normal circumstances."
She got a rush of affection, roaring through her like cleansing fire. She couldn't have contained her shine in response if she tried.
"Ah, oh." She grinned. "I love you too."
She wandered back out into the snow storm, shining hard enough that her light refracted for klicks.
"There you are." Anakin greeted her. "I was wondering when you'd rejoin us. Did you find what you were looking for?"
"Indeed, Master Skywalker." She smiled even though he couldn't see it. She was certain her joy from her reunion with Ilum was radiating in the Force strongly enough for him to pick up on it.
"Good. Because the fun's about to start. Qui-Gon's gearing up his teams, so I suggest catching a briefing from Cody and ready yourself for battle."
"Of course."
She found her way to Cody, who was speaking with Rex about upcoming tactics and plans. They both looked up at the same time, directly at her.
"You're back." Cody sounded almost as relieved as he felt.
"I told you it wouldn't be long." She replied, handing him the 'saber she'd constructed for him.
"Is that a lightsaber?" Rex asked, sounding not unreasonably shocked.
"Yes. It's Cody's." She replied.
Rex's attention snapped to Cody. "Is that what happened with Wooley? That wasn't just a rumour?"
Cody winced. "No, it wasnt."
"Damn." Rex leaned on the holotable.
She glanced between the two men, coming to a somewhat obvious realization. If one clone could manage to be Force-sensitive, why couldn't others? What was stopping them from being so too? In a population as large as theirs, at last a hundred would have to be. Then she considered Rex more closely, and that he seemed to either have incredibly keen senses, or his own Force awareness to sense her quiet approach.
She reached into her mind, laying her essence against the closed door. No response, either inward or outward. She pulled back, gathered her strength, and slammed herself against it. It didn't budge in her mindscape, but-
Rex just about doubled over, clutching the right side of his head, slightly above and behind his temple.
"Rex?!" Cody rounded the table in alarm. "What's going on? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. It just felt like someone was trying to drive a chisel into my head for a second." He shook himself. "I've never had that happen before."
"That is odd, indeed." She took out the second saber, one built more thickly than the smooth, circular hilt of Cody's. "Perhaps you should hold onto this."
Another one? Cody murmured over their bond.
It wanted to come. I think I see why. After the battle, bring Rex with you to the medical bay.
Do you know what's wrong with him?
No, but I have an idea on how to find out.
She rounded the table herself, pressing her hand to the side of his helmet and using her inborn ability to soothe the pain. "The Force certainly is mysterious."
"And you're cryptic." Rex muttered, standing straight again. "Thank you."
"Of course." She pressed the blue lightsaber into his hand. "Keep a hold of this. It will be very important."
"Uh, yeah. Sure." He clipped it to his belt and Cody did the same.
The battle was short, because she was fierce. She enjoyed fighting, revelled in saving the lives of the clones. If the clones didn't suffer casualties, she would almost enjoy the very prospect of war, since the droids only posted challenge in number, and she was a Jedi. She could destroy them all if she so choose, and not just with her shimmer. Between her 'sabers and her shine, she could melt them into puddles. Maybe she should one day, just so she could use the liquid metal and make some art on the ground. They weren't good for much else after she cut them apart, after all.
But to the task at hand.
"Kix, is the surgical bay aboard the Endurance currently in use?"
The medic blinked blankly at her before grasping her sentence. "Uh, no?"
"May I use it?"
"I guess so?"
"Thank you."
Kix turned to Jesse as she left and muttered. "Man, she's weird."
She giggled to herself, then commed Cody her location.
The Commander and Captain met her there, dressed down as she'd asked them to be.
"Can I ask what we're doing here?"
"There's just something I wish to double-check."
"That involves medical equipment?" Even Cody was dubious. But she supposed that was normal - the Kaminoans didn't exactly provide him pleasant memories, and when he was asleep at the same time as her, his dreams and his nightmares washed across their shared space into her mind.
"In this case, yes."
They shared a dubious look, but did as she said and laid down on the beds. The little med droid floated over, and she spoke to it quietly. "I would like scans of their brains, specifically the right frontal and parietal lobes."
"As you command." The droid replied, setting up the equipment. "Please remain as still as possible."
She stood with the droid and watched as the scans went through, taking off her visor at one point to squint at them. "Is that an anomaly, right there?"
"It is." The droid replied. "It appears to be an implant."
"What does it do?"
"I could not tell you without a direct sample to analyse."
She rounded back to them, concern knitting her brows. "Were you aware this was inside of you?"
"No." Cody admitted softly.
"May I have them removed?"
"If you think it's best." Cody answered.
"Rex?"
"Sure."
"Gas them, please."
A gentle gas released and the world went dark for them both.
| | |
Cody awoke with a gentle throbbing in his head, similar to a minor headache from being awake too long. He was surprised to find himself in proper quarters, Rex resting next to him, but also waking up.
"What happened?"
Obi-Wan, who was meditating atop the room's desk for some reason, and floating a good four inches above it, he might add, slipped off the metal and sauntered over to them, pulling out two vials. They both had chips in them, but one had a hole blown through the middle of it.
"I have been looking through records I am not technically permitted access to." She said, handing them each their respective vial. "Because this is very important, both for us and for all of your brothers."
"What did you find?"
"In the files or once the chips were removed?"
"Let's do the chips first."
"It turns out that I was wrong. We are not a dyad." She cocked her head, but her expression behind the visor was unreadable. "We're a triad."
"Rex?"
"Indeed."
Rex, still not entirely coherent, shook his head. "Start from the beginning. I'm new here, obviously."
"Very well." She settled between them, removing her visor and inserting herself between them. "For Force-users, there are three distinct rarities. Chosen Ones, who possess incredible power all to themselves. Dyads are pairs who magnify each other's power and usually operate in opposition to the other's strength so maximize their effectiveness. Then there is the most rare, a triad. Triads collectively share a mindspace, and can therefore share thoughts, emotions, skills, power and knowledge."
"A- A mindspace?"
"Be calm, and I will demonstrate."
He nodded nervously, then they were all suddenly standing on nothing, in an arena of gently swirling lights. She was before them without her usual armour, rather a light robe that covered her torso and upper thighs, but nothing else. She wasn't blinding here, only slightly sparkly. She gestured around them.
"This is our mindspace." She said, voice echoing in the nothingness. "When you are ready, I will share with you how to bring yourselves here, but I think the very concept of being a Jedi is too new."
"Being a Jedi?" Rex asked weakly.
"Indeed." She smiled. "You're both incredibly powerful Jedi. Those chips in your head suppressed your minds, and therefore your abilities. If not for Cody's outburst during his training, I would never have felt his signature flare. Both of you might have died, and then I would have never awoken."
"Awoken?" Rex shook his head. "Nevermind. Tell me about this thing first. What did the chips do?"
"They're a control mechanism, from what the droid was able to tell me. They seem to inhibit your free will, since the moment we removed them, both of your signatures lit up very brightly. I think that all of the brothers might have them."
"Inhibitors?" Cody looked down, distressed.
Rex felt the crawling, unpleasant sensation spreading from Cody and edged away. Obi-Wan waved her hand and it vanished.
"What was that?"
"I released his anxiety into the Force where it can't harm us." She replied. "Don't worry, we have plenty of time. I can teach you all of this."
"What do we do if the brothers do all have these chips?"
"Well, that's very easy. We remove them." She said, sitting down. "For now, how about I teach you something?"
They sat down with her, and she took one of their hands apiece.
"Reach into yourselves and look for a light. It will be dark, like space, but there will be a light very deep inside you."
| | |
Coming out of meditation was simultaneously invigorating and draining.
"I can't tell if I want a nap or to run a couple of klicks." Rex groaned. "And you've been dealing with this all your life?"
"Yes." Obi-Wan answered, though the question hadn't been aimed at her. "It is only because you've been kept from it that it feels so foreign. It won't be so strange in a week from now."
"I hope so."
She slipped off the bed. "Feel free to nap more. I have to go meet with Master Jinn."
"Don't let us keep you." Cody answered.
She slipped out of the room, quiet as a mouse droid.
"Do you really trust her? With us? With this?" Rex asked, twisting to reach for his vial and accidentally levitating it into his hand.
He looked at the hole in his own chip, remembering the headache he'd hidden from the Kaminoans for weeks after saving Wooley. " . . . I do."
Rex met his gaze, held it for a long moment, then sighed. "Alright. Let's see how this goes."