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Luminara feels the swift change in energy around her before she hears the blaster shot, and it is this, perhaps, that gives her just enough time to ignite her blade and cut down the troopers before they can shoot her down.
She makes a run for it into the trees, dreadfully confused by her soldier’s—the men she’s worked with closely since the war began, who she has comradery and even friendship with—betrayal. It’s terrifying to think that every shot she hears is against her whether it be clone or droid. Have they teamed up now, against the Jedi, or is this just a small group of deluded clones? Have the Separatists bribed them, or the Kaminoans done something to their minds…Luminara can’t understand what’s going on but knows it’s not good.
Spotting a large tree that looks hard enough to climb that the clones won’t easily be able to follow her, Luminara jumps up onto the closest branch and starts to make her way up. From the canopy she can see that troopers have started to file into the forest behind her at remarkable speed as if somehow now she’s become their enemy rather than the droid army.
Not just a few who’ve turned, then, it seems.
“We saw her come back into the forest, sir, but since then no sign of her.” She hears one of her old battalion say. “And Master Yoda evaded our troops too.”
“Keep searching, she can’t have gone far.”
Master Yoda got away. Luminara looks to her communicator and discreetly links it to the grandmaster’s, turning the volume to its lowest setting. At first no signal comes back which is frustrating but she’s soon distracted by the deep agony that hit’s her like a bullet. She can feel the deaths of Jedi all over the galaxy—hundreds of them, men, women and children, friends and strangers all dead by the hands of friends. It physically hurts. Part of her wants to fall down, rest under the weight of all the pain and suffering above but she knows if she does, she will join them—and she owes the Jedi, if nothing else, an attempt at living another day.
A signal from Yoda finally comes through and she is beyond relieved.
“Master Yoda? Do you copy—are you alright?”
“Here yet startled, I am.”
“Is there somewhere I can meet you? I’m surrounded just south of our base camp but if I’m quick I think I can get out…what do we do?”
There’s a sigh through the communicator. “Getting help to escape, I am, from the wookies. At the coordinates I send you, meet us.”
The call cuts out and Luminara receives the coordinates—it’s not too far away, but she’ll need to get out of this tree to start with.
Clones are crawling all over the forest floor, and she’s hardly prepared to take the gamble of trusting any of them haven’t lost their senses. She could try and make it over in the trees, but it would certainly be difficult to make it all that way without attracting any attention.
Luminara takes the outer layers of her robes off and, as quietly as possible, snaps a branch off the side of the tree—waiting a few seconds to make sure she hasn’t startled any of the troopers. Then, as carefully as she can, leans against the trunk of the tree as she lifts both items up with the force before flinging them as far away as she can which makes a satisfyingly loud noise that, obviously, attracts the attention of the clones.
“Over here!” She hears one shout, and successfully most of the clone’s flock towards the noise, her cloak undoubtedly giving her a few precious extra moments of their distraction to head the other way.
Without her outer layer bulking her down she manages to make it from tree to tree swiftly—she recalls her time on Ansion with Master Kenobi and Skywalker, how she’d jumped on the backs of surepp’s in a manner like this. Despite her slip, this used to be a thought that made her smile but now the memory is tainted with sadness and uncertainty—she doesn’t know if any of the friends that were with her at the time are still alive, and that’s not even thinking about Barriss. She wonders if and hopes that they have all survived this betrayal.
She almost reached the edge of the forest when her foot slips on a wet leaf and she finds herself tumbling towards the ground. Just before crashing down she manages to catch herself on a branch with her left hand, releasing a sigh of relief before realising that there’s a clone right behind her and flips up to avoid a blaster shot.
Luminara ignites her lightsabre while balancing on the branch, firing a shot back at his heart but doesn’t stick around—the troopers may have mostly congressed at the other side of the forest but after the noise of shots it won’t take them long to find her here. Seeing no point in rescaling the tree at this point, the Jedi master runs for it—making the odd noise here and there in attempt to lead them away from her and Yoda’s rendezvous point.
She’s too exhausted to be offended when she reaches the grand master and realises that he was about to leave in the small, concealed ship without her. Later she’ll try and rationalise that it’s understandable—that he couldn’t risk waiting around for too long for someone who may or may not arrive and knows that without his assistance she’d be dead, could have rather easily been left so.
With all the life that’s left them so soon and so horribly, she forgets it very quickly.
“Do…” She stops herself biting her lip, taking a breath in the cramped ship that headed to a safe meeting point that’s been set up by Senator Organa. “Do you know if any other Jedi will make it?”
He shakes his head solemnly. “Know of survivors, I do not—but hope for them, we can.”
“Of course. I just don’t understand how this could have happened, why the clones would just turn on us like that. Commander Gree served loyally under me for years…I thought we had cultivated some level of trust if nothing else.” She says, fingers lightly dancing over her lightsaber hilt as if she’ll need to jump up and use it at any moment. Everything hurts and her head is spinning with the voices of the fallen, trying to pry one from another but unable as more and more flood into her mind. The ripple in the force had been tragic at the first battle of Geonosis when hundreds of Jedi were killed but this…
This is more than a massacre, this is genocide.
Almost selfishly, part of her mind goes to her fallen student—wonders if Barriss is okay. After being ejected from the Order Luminara isn’t sure whether she would have been on the clone’s radar as an enemy—not that the Jedi have ever been enemies to the clones—but from her cell on Coruscant there wouldn’t be much she can do to escape. She hopes the girl is alright.
More than that, she wonders if her student had been right. Is she the deluded one, after all this time?
When she sees Obi-Wan at the station Luminara thinks she might cry.
She doesn’t. Instead, she walks quickly to his side and clasps his hand in hers, squeezing it as she feels his own turmoil coming off him in waves. There is a lot she wants to say to him but can’t, not now, so hopes that maybe he’ll feel some of it from her anyway—that he knows, even if she can’t tell him.
“Master Unduli, Master Yoda.” Senator Organa nods to them. “I am glad to see you alive.”
Luminara, who has previously spent much of her life carefully crafting sentences to be just perfect around politicians, feels her mind reeling blank in response. Master Yoda answers for her with a simple: “Thank you.”
“I saw thousands of troops attack the Jedi temple, that’s why I went looking for Yoda. Master Kenobi found me.” He says. “We received a coded retreat message from the temple. It says the war is over and all Jedi are to return.”
“I think we must go back.” Obi-Wan says. “Any stragglers will fall into the trap and be killed; we need to help them.”
“Suggest dismantling the coded signal, do you?” Yoda asks.
“Yes, master. There is too much at stake.” He looks to Luminara who nods gently.
“I agree.” Yoda replies. “And a little more knowledge might light our way.” The ship isn’t too far from Coruscant, and the grand master goes forward with Senator Organa to the front of the ship. Obi-Wan goes to follow him but Luminara holds his hand a little tighter, and he turns to face her with an expression of confusion.
“Luminara?”
She swallows thickly. “If you’re going back to the temple…then I cannot join you. There is somewhere else I need to go on Coruscant.”
He frowns. “I don’t understand—we need to warn the Jedi that may still be alive of the danger.”
“I know—and you need to do that. We need to save as many as we can.” She tries to stand a little taller. “But…if our Order is gone, and we are beyond hope, then I must return to the prisons and find Barriss. I don’t even know if she’s alive, but I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t even try and find her.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“No.” She smiles but it’s very, very sad. “But she’s still my…well, she matters very greatly to me as your student does to you. And for all her crimes she does not deserve to be butchered.”
“You’re right, and you need to go but I can’t let you go alone. The prison will be heavily guarded.” He says. “Come with me to the temple and then we’ll go together.”
Luminara puts a tattooed hand gently on his shoulder and smiles, shaking her head. “You are kind to offer but this is something I must do alone. We can regroup and leave together once I find her.”
He doesn’t look convinced and worries his lip. They’ve known each other for as long as both of them can remember, since they were younglings in the creche, since he feel in love with Satine, since she got her first tattoos and he’s always had the upmost faith in her even if he didn’t agree with her decisions. Luminara knows that she’s asking a lot of him, to risk the fate of a friend when so many others are gone but isn’t going to change her mind. Her eyes are full of pleading—it’s been more than thirty years and he’s never been able to say no to that.
“Okay. Okay—but if anything happens you must let me know and I’ll come straight away. We can’t afford—I can’t lose you too.”
A smooth, green hand rises to rest on his cheek. The skin to skin contact immediately makes his shoulders untense a little, and he exhales heavily. “I cannot promise that you won’t, but I can promise that you’ll make it through this, Obi-Wan. You’re the best of us all.” She says.
He barks out a cold laugh. “If only.”
Her hand lingers but she takes it away eventually, both of them heading to the front of the ship where a transmission has come through from the senate—a request for Senator Organa’s presence at a special session of congress which is very well timed. That kind of event will if nothing else draw attention away from the temple and the prison so it should be easier to get in and achieve each goal though Luminara doesn’t anticipate her own task will be a walk in the park.
The only advantage she has, perhaps, is that since she has not managed to coax herself into visiting Barriss since her arrest the appropriate guards probably won’t recognise her immediately, and if she dresses less conspicuously and makes her way through the vents then she shouldn’t spark too much suspicion in an unexpecting clone or guard. Her tattoos are a notable feature, but would be unfamiliar to anyone who hasn’t worked with her closely before.
“Senator Organa, do you have anything on board I can change into, as to appear less…well, less Jedi.” She asks after the others have a minute to discuss their own plan.
“I think my wife left some things in the back from the last time she was here, you are free to any of it.” He tells her and she thanks him. Had this been happening a month ago, a week ago, a day ago the idea of going into disguise would have probably made her quite uncomfortable but now she realises quite how simple things had been, how lucky she had been to have access to feelings like mild discomfort, to see dressing in something other than her robes as a problem. Luminara has never wished to be on the front lines but as she heads to the back of the ship and changes into a flowing blue alderaanian robe that she cuffs in places to make it easier to move in she finds herself praying for just that—because anything, even the heart of warfare, is easier than this.
Anything is easier that dealing with her Order’s genocide, anything is easier than agony of this terrible betrayal.
She’d give anything to go back to a time when Barriss was still her padawan and any thought of war and death was abstract and unfamiliar.
But Luminara Unduli is nothing if not a realist, so secures the silver cuffs tighter so they pinch her skin and secures her veiled hair at the back of her head with her weapon strapped to the base of her calf under her shoe. Things are never going to be easy, and it’s time she accepts that.
It might have been a little more difficult to break into the prison had Luminara not assisted in developing the security, and so as she slips a small explosive into a vent in the women’s bathroom, she knows exactly what to do. With everything going on not many people are at the prison other than the inmates and guards though it is visiting hours, as she guessed the chancellor is trying to keep up a certain guise of normalcy to the world perhaps to draw attention away from unwarranted slaughter. She hadn’t really looked overly out of place when she walked right in—and hadn’t gone in far enough to the prison to require any formal means of identification, just into the bathroom which is far enough from anyone else to cause a major distraction but not hurt anyone in the process.
The Jedi leaves the bathroom, turning a woman who was about to head in around with a little mind trick, and then sets it off remotely. It won’t be long before she’s identified as the culprit from the security footage but she doesn’t need long—the nearby clones all run towards the noise which gives her the opportunity to jump the barrier that leads into the prison in the flurry of civilian activity and slip into a vent that’s part of a system that runs all over the high profile cells.
It won’t be long before the guards realise that the explosive was harmless and that it’s a distraction from something else so she doesn’t have long to get to Barriss cell—and she does know where it is in theory from the amount of times she searched it up with the intention to visit her (each of which she failed to carry through out of cowardice more than anything else).
Barriss’ crime was carried out horribly but that does not take away from the fact that she was entirely correct about the state of the Republic, about how blind they had all become and so perhaps she does owe her old padawan an apology—an apology for not listening when she should have, for not trying harder to understand. Barriss’ fall (if that’s what they’re still calling it) remains her biggest failure and shame, not in Barriss but herself. All of that seems a little redundant now given that the girl may not even be alive anymore.
She’s certain that when she last checked Barriss was being held in cell CX-554 which, fortunately, isn’t too far away from the entrance though it’s exact location she isn’t sure on. There wasn’t much time to plan this, and even though she’s trying to ignore it her entire mind feels more than frazzled about everything that’s happened so quickly—she’d hoped that having a clear, empirical mission would be enough to push that aside but it seems that even that might not quite be enough. She pauses for a second, inhaling deeply and trying to let her instincts guide her. Karmically, the light side of the force has been quite badly screwed over so, really, she deserves a little helpful guidance on this one.
Following a gut instinct, Luminara pulls herself up and across to the left through the vents, not for the first time thankful for her flexibility which is far superior than the average in the Jedi Order.
Was far superior.
Her head hurts but she keeps going, looking through various vents as she climbs to see criminal after criminal, none of which are her old apprentice. The thought that the Barriss isn’t here, that she’s gone with the rest of the Order claws at the back of her mind and she almost about to give into it and attempt to turn back when she finally spies the slight, small looking girl she raised curled on the floor of her cell and a wave of relief washes over her.
It physically hurts Luminara to see her like that, and her memory of why she’d been so reluctant to visit her in the first place comes flooding back to her. Beyond that, though, she cannot help but feel so much sheer relief to the fact that Barriss is even alive—evidently not deemed a Jedi enough anymore after everything that happened to be hurt, something that Luminara never thought she would ever consider a blessing but nothing seems to make sense anymore.
Now she’s found her padawan, the problem of getting them both out of the prison and away from Coruscant arises. She hasn’t allowed herself to think that far up until this point, rather uncharacteristically, and is now regretting it.
She still has two small charges tucked in her boot with her lightsaber in the situation that she might need them, and it seems now that she will very much need them.
Luminara bites her lip in thought, wondering if this type of explosive would be fatal to someone within the relatively small perimeter of a cell. She concludes that it probably wouldn’t but isn’t about to test that theory on Barriss, so crawls to the cell next to hers and floats the charge down to the furthest corner from the prisoner she can. The impact of the explosion shouldn’t be enough to damage the prisoner too badly but should shock the system enough to temporarily deactivate the ray shields for this short row of cells which includes Barriss’. She can cut into Barriss’ cell and then run out together through the un-ray shielded opening, the clones momentarily distracted by the explosion next door…they’ll definitely see them running out but Luminara has a lightsaber and another charge so is prepared to take that risk.
With the charge stuck in place, she crawls back over to Barriss’ cell and uses her lightsaber to cut a hole as quietly as she can. It should grab her padawan’s attention if not the guards outside despite her discretion, but a small disturbance in Barriss’ cell will be nothing compared to the noisy explosion that she’s going set off in three…two…one…
She sends a mental apology to the criminal in cell CX-553.
Barriss jumps up at the noise, eyes wide in alarm, but it’s the appearance of her old master jumping down from the ceiling wearing a very uncharacteristic blue dress that really threatens to throw her over the edge.
The first thing Luminara does is clamp her hand over Barriss’ mouth and tilt her body so she’s mostly out of view from any passing clone. “I know, I know this is a lot, but I just need you to be quiet and follow me right now. We can talk about everything once we’re out of here.”
Dazed as she is, even if Barriss had wanted to offer some sort of reply physically it’s unclear whether she would be able to or not. A nod is about all she can do as Luminara takes her hand away from her mouth. “We’re going to run for it. I have another small explosive that I’m going to set off right behind us, the smoke from which should obscure the clone’s vison and give us another few seconds to get out, okay?”
Barriss blinks and Luminara takes it as a yes. She grabs her old padawan’s hand and pulls her out of the cell, dropping the charge right outside on the floor which attracts the attention of the clothes instantly.
“Stop!” They cry, blasters up, and Luminara wastes no time setting the last charge off and running as far as she fast as she can with Barriss, now very aware of what’s happening even if she’s having a little trouble believing that this isn’t some farfetched dream. The make it past a corner, thankfully—this entire affair running to the soundtrack of hollering prisoners disturbed at all the commotion—which should be enough to get them to the front of the prison before the clones catch up enough to get a clear shot. Luminara would, if at all possible, really rather not get her lightsaber out since it’s rather like wearing a ‘shoot me’ sign right now but as she they get to the entrance, where the clones previously distracted from the bathroom debacle are all back in their stations she realises that she may have little choice.
And it’s better that they’re fire is aimed on her than Barriss.
“If you can get us outside, I can lose them. I have somewhere we can go.” Barriss says, speaking for the first time.
Luminara nods tersely. “I…Yes.” She doesn’t really want to know why her padawan has such intimate knowledge of the lower levels of Coruscant she seems to be referring to though, unfortunately, can imagine why. She takes a deep breath. “Stay behind me.”
The hesitance in Barriss’ expression speaks to the fact that she knows about the Jedi’s genocide even if no one’s told her about it, so undoubtedly the idea of Luminara defending her at this point makes her uncomfortable but they don’t have any alternative. The elder woman takes her weapon into her hand and takes a deep breath before throwing herself out into the open.
It is not her intention to engage the clones, but to provide a small lapse in their attention so the relatively defenceless Barriss can run out behind her make it through the doors. In this, at least, she is successful but underestimated quite how heavy the fire was going to be. She blocks several shots to her head, jumping to the right while clones attempt to make their way around to her flank to get her at all angles and block her exit. A shot grazes her arm while she focused on her other side and she winces, keeping going and trying to get closer to the door.
Another shot lands her calf and she winces, trying not to cry out and keep her focus.
She’s not going to make it out. There are too many of them.
But, even injured, she can keep doing this for a while.
This doesn’t strike her as a great tragedy, since she was able to rescue Barriss from her cage before—she’s always valued her padawan’s life far more than her own, even if she did take a wrong path—which is perhaps why her heart sinks to deeply when she spies her old padawan come back into the building and jump at the nearest clone to her, disarming him and taking the blaster.
“Barriss, you need to go!” Luminara cries, firing a shot back to a clone on her right as she limps a little closer to her student.
“I can’t, not without you.” Barriss replies, almost too quiet to be heard over the shots. Barriss takes out the clone nearest to the door and pulls her Master towards it, throwing it open with the force and sprinting out gripping Luminara’s hand with an iron strength.
“After them!” The clone leader cries, and Luminara realises that the vehicle she took to come to the prison is gone. Without that, there isn’t very far they can go. The prison is on its own suspended platform, underneath is just miles and miles of ships and speeders rushing about. This is it.
She doesn’t expect Barriss to take her hand and pull them both over the edge.
Luminara makes a brief exclamation of surprise and feels Barriss clutch her hand tighter, the younger woman’s eyes trained on a large cargo ship that they’ll inevitably land on. The idea of landing on her feet makes Luminara a little uncomfortable given that her leg is already injured but she’s never been one to desist at something because of a little pain, so follows Barriss’ lead and lands on the ship successfully without even one exclamation of discomfort.
(Absently, it occurs to her that this sort of thing is what Obi-Wan used to always complain about Skywalker doing. She doesn’t approve of it if it’s not strictly necessary but can understand why one might find it…bizarrely relaxing).
She looks up and sees several clone transports heading down from the prison to tail them. “We need to move.” She says. “Do you have any idea of where we can go?”
Barriss nods. “We need to get lower, and those clones are going to catch up we stay here much longer. Aim for something in that lane so we can jump off into that apartment block.” She points to the appropriate block.
As she’s told, Luminara jumps off her good leg in the direction of the block and lands on an unsuspecting speeder. She waves them a quick apology before springing up again and successfully making it to the block. Barriss takes Luminara’s hand and pulls her into the turbo lift and types in a specific number, as the door close. The elder woman observes her carefully.
“How do you know of this place, Barriss?” Luminara asks mildly. The level is lower than she ever would have taken her padawan herself, though isn’t naïve enough to believe Barriss only ever went out into the city with her Master. Knows this isn’t true, her padawan was locked up for a reason.
“There’s—I spent some time in one of the apartments here.” She says, clearly not willing to divulge anything more. “Why…What’s happening, Master?”
Luminara closes her eyes, leaning against the side of the lift. “If only I knew. I was on Kashyyyk when everything just…the clones starting shooting at us seemingly without reason, men I’ve—we’ve— served with for years. Thousands of lights seemed to go out at once.” She bites her lip. “I didn’t know if you were alive, but I had to check. I had to try.”
“Thank you.” Barriss eyes the floor rather intensely. The turbolift stops rather abruptly, and Luminara follows her student out trying to conceal her pain as much as possible. After typing a password into a keypad, her ex-student leads her into a dark but relatively full apartment. Barriss turns on the light to reveal a clearly lived in space, though everything seems to have acquired a layer of dust.
The Jedi Master’s eyes fall to a holoprojector—they type people tend to keep around their houses that show stills of memories of places or people—that’s showing a couple on their wedding day. It does not take her long to recognise Letta Turmond in the holo, though she deems it an inappropriate time to bring that up. There are other things they need to be focussing on for now. Barriss bites her lip and looks at her Master.
“We won’t have long before they start going through the building, so I need to heal your leg. I’m going to assume you have some sort of idea of where we’re going from here.” She says, gesturing for Luminara to sit down. The Jedi Master does as she is bid and sits down, pulling her skirt up on the offending leg and letting Barriss look at it.
“We agreed to rendezvous at the residence of Senator Amidala.” Luminara tells her. “Master Kenobi survived also and, after sorting some things out at the temple, intended to talk to her about Skywalker. We don’t know what happened to him.”
Barriss has only had very brief encounters with the Senator of Naboo but remembers that Ahsoka was good friends with her. The thought of Ahsoka makes her squirm a little but she chooses not to dwell on it, there are other pressing matters at hand. Paying attention to the wound, she starts to channel her energy into her hands and the familiar warm glow of healing force seeps from her fingertips. She hasn’t realised quite how much she missed healing until now, to have something she feels so passionate about, and even in this distorted and broken galaxy as it is now it does bring her a semblance of comfort. “How do you know we can trust her?” She asks after a moment.
“I don’t, but Obi-Wan trusts her with his life and that is enough for me.” Luminara replies. “I have her address, it’s not too far. We can walk.”
Barriss nods, taking her hands off the wound when she’s content it’s healed as much as it’s going to for now. “It’ll be a little stiff, but it shouldn’t hurt as much. It’ll be as good as new in a couple days.”
“Thank you.” Luminara pulls herself to her feet, testing her weight on her newly healed leg and concluding that her student is very gifted. A year ago Barriss had been still learning in the halls of healing, she’d been dedicating her life to curing the sick and injured before the council decided she was more valuable on the front lines and promoted her to knight, a position where she was suddenly alone with nothing but the horrors of war as company. Luminara is not one for regrets, generally, but it occurs to her now that she should have made more of an effort to speak up in her padawan’s defence—to keep her as a student because while physically she had been ready, been taught everything Luminara could teach, she had not been ready to do it all on her own.
There’s nothing she can do about it now, and many people paid the price for her mistake.
Luminara spies a coat hung up in the hall and calls it over, passing it to her old apprentice. “The prison uniform it quite noticeable.”
If Barriss is uncomfortable wearing dead associate’s clothes—which, knowing Barriss, she most definitely is—she doesn’t show it, and covers the orange of her clothes silently.
They opt to take the stairs over the turbolift this time, side by side but silent. The mood between them is quite undistinguishable from both parties because there is so much laying between them, sleeping lions neither of them are willing to poke. Luminara used to know the girl so well that she could tell what she was thinking half the time. The woman who walks next to her isn’t a stranger, but a mind so clouded in moral conflict borne partly, surely, of Luminara’s own mistakes with her and is infinitely more difficult to read.
Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe it isn’t—at this point, nothing makes sense.
They take a left out of the building, narrowly missing being spotted by a clone transport which is surveying the area (presumably for them) and head up towards the richer, more illustrious sector where Senator Amidala lives.
“Have you met her?”
Luminara almost stops walking, surprised by the sudden voice. “Yes, though not for very long. She was always very against violence and war where it could be avoided and was not afraid of standing against bigger corporations—the banking clan, the trade federation. For the little I have interacted with her, I can at least admire that.” She tilts her head to look at Barriss. “Have you?”
Barriss nods. “Only briefly, when I was with Ahsoka.” She frowns. “They were good friends.”
The elder of the pair hums in agreement. She had heard bits and pieces about the relationship between Senator Amidala and Skywalker from Obi-Wan over the years, his worries about the two of them being too close for their own good—if so, she supposes, then by default Ahsoka would have ended up spending a lot of time with her Master’s…friend, also.
They arrive at the front door and are buzzed in instantly, but Luminara stops just as they get inside.
“Master?” Barriss asks, a thread of concern appearing on her face.
Luminara wants to say a lot of things to her but her throat is dry, and her mind wipes itself blank as soon as she tries, so instead she clears her throat and shakes her head. “It’s fine. We should head up.”
The mystery of Senator Amidala’s child’s father has never been the kind of gossip Luminara likes, or liked, to partake in, and while the truth does not surprise her, it is certainly does unsettle her.
She doesn’t want to believe that Skywalker is responsible for all of this—can’t bear to look at the recording of him killing those younglings for more than a few seconds before she asks the upset Obi-Wan to turn it off. The worst part is that, despite everything, she can’t quite find it in her heart to blame him for the fall—they’ve all been manipulated so deeply and for so long that a troubled and powerful soul like his would be very weak to the Chancellor’s charms. All of that with the added prospect of a wife and child…they Jedi Order had had its death sentence signed years ago, everything since has just been…stalling.
That is not to say she doesn’t absolutely resent Skywalker’s actions since he fell. Her feelings go beyond anger, more of a cold apathy towards the sheer malevolence of his atrocities is what has befallen her because despite all the evidence thrust right in front her, she cannot quite believe it. She cannot even imagine what Obi-Wan must be feeling but can empathise and understand a little after everything that happened with Barriss, so takes his hand and gives it a squeeze.
Her and Skywalker had not been friends like her and Obi-Wan, but she did enjoy his company and found him often very comical. It helped that Barriss and Ahsoka were close then, so by default her and Anakin spent a lot of time together, time which she had looked forward to—his lax, liberal teaching style did Barriss good to experience on occasion and the presence of a more by-the-book educator like herself was definitely beneficial for Ahsoka too.
Senator Organa’s ship arrives to meet them and make their quick escape from Coruscant, Luminara starts to lead Obi-Wan to it before he stops dead. She frowns and looks back at him. “Obi-Wan?”
“There’s something I need to do. Padmé…I need to be there. I need to face him.” He sighs. “I know it’s dangerous, but I have to try and get through to him. I know there’s still good in him, I don’t care what the holorecordings show.” His eyes are trained on the floor.
Luminara almost wishes she didn’t understand, that she could be angry at him for risking everything again now that they have a chance to get away. But she does understand and were Barriss the one in Skywalker’s position she knows that she would be compelled to do exactly the same as him. So, she holds her tongue of protests and nods in solemn acceptance. “I know. I just…come back to me, won’t you?”
He offers her a grim smile that isn’t a promise. “I’ll try my best.”
“That’s all I can ever ask.” She tilts his chin up, so his eyes meet hers, and smiles. “You are a good friend, Obi-Wan. I only hope that Anakin will see that.”
It’s not looking particularly optimistic, but the force works in mysterious ways, so there’s always hope. Obi-Wan stares back at her, eyes wide and bright. “Before I go, I—” He looks away again. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to say—or, rather, not say—but…”
“Yes?” Her eyes twinkle.
The human Jedi narrows the distance between them and plants a soft, chaste kiss on her lips before hurriedly running in the other direction after the Senator. Luminara stands completely frozen for a moment in shock, her hand slowly creeping up to her lips.
She is not given much time to remain in her daze.
“Master!” Barriss calls from the speeder. “We need to get going.”
As ever, her padawan is correct, and Luminara shakes her head before taking the seat beside her.
The next time Luminara sees him, an interaction that was in no way guaranteed, it is in a haze of urgency and medical droids—she has no time to speak to him, nor does she consider it a priority. Whether by coincidence or whatever happened on Mustafar (likely the latter, she has learnt over the years that the coincidence doesn’t really exist) Senator Amidala is brought in by him unconscious and put into the capable hands of Barriss and the various medical droids that Senator Organa already has at the station they’re taking refuge on. Everyone save Master Yoda has congregated outside the medical room awaiting news while the Senator lays still asleep as Barriss connects her to an IV (for all her faith in droids, her old padawan had always felt most comfortable doing things herself, perhaps part of the reason why she had been so successful as a healer).
When her padawan emerges, Luminara cannot help but feel a lot of unease coming off her in waves.
“She…she’s completely healthy. Dehydrated, but I hooked her up to an IV just to be safe and even then, it’s hardly irregular but…” Barriss chews on her lip nervously. “She’s…drifting away.”
Obi-Wan frowns and leans forward. “She’s dying?”
“I can’t figure out why!” Barriss exclaims. “It’s almost like she’s…given up, somehow. Like she’s lost the will to live so deeply that it’s taking a toll on her physically. I don’t want to but…the droids are going to have to operate really soon if they’re going to save the babies.”
There’s a pause before Senator Organa says: “Babies?”
“It’s twins.” Barriss confirms.
Obi-Wan sighs, trying to push away his own personal feelings about it and nodding. “Do what you must. I want to go in with you, Padmé is my friend, I would not see her without a familiar face right now.”
The ex-Jedi nods. “That’s fine.”
Luminara leaves once Barriss induces the labour, feels a little intrusive just watching through the glass like the others, and goes out into the corridor to look outside. They’re on a small moon, more like an asteroid really, with nothing significant on it except from an excellent view out into space. Out the window she can see thousands upon thousands of stars and planets, all of which are about to enter an age of great change and pain. Selfishly, a tiny part of almost wishes she could go back to Kashyyyk and let the clones shoot her, then perhaps she wouldn’t have to deal with all the turmoil that arisen in her.
The thought disappears almost as soon as it had appeared, because that’s not really what she wants. She just exhausted.
She thinks about the kiss, so quick and gentle Luminara almost convinces herself that it didn’t happen at all. What does it mean? An act of comradery, a final, close, goodbye as her dear, dear friend dove headfirst into a perilous battle that may well have been his last—or more? A promise, an apology for what little happened between them as a result of the constraints put in the way by their lifestyle.
Luminara hopes it was just an act of friendship, because even now her heart is still in alignment with the code. She also hopes that it was an act of love, the romantic kind, because code be damned with everything else falling apart why can she not have one thing make her happy in this world, why can she not be with the man who makes her so happy?
“Confused, you are.” She doesn’t hear Yoda come up to her but is not surprised that he does. She turns her head slightly, regarding him.
“You were going to leave me.” It isn’t what he’s asking about but if he’s enquiring about her internal conflict then he’ll have to deal with her more external one with him first. “On Kashyyyk, to be killed. If I hadn’t of called time…” She looks away from him. “You would have left me to be slaughtered without even an attempt to help.”
He has, at least, the decency to look guilty. “I am sorry.”
“But you would do it again, because saving yourself is more important that risk of trying to save one other lowly Jedi.” She hadn’t realised quite how much that had gotten to her until now. “I understand. But I do not respect it.”
At the sound of a baby’s cry, Luminara turns her head and returns to the others, the only other sound her heels clicking against the floor in the hallway.
Master Yoda does not follow right after her, and she does not stop as to contemplate why.
Later, Luminara sends a stressed and saddened Barriss to sleep like she used to when the girl was her new, twelve-year-old padawan with only minimal protests. It’s been a terribly long day and staying up to fret over every detail of what happened and where she might have gone wrong will do her no favour. The young mirialan woman is soon followed by Senator Organa, who it seems intends to adopt Amidala’s daughter as his own, and then Master Yoda leaving only her and Obi-Wan together, in silence, with a panel of glass between them.
He is holding one of the children, it’s hard to tell which one, and gazing into its eyes intently as if trying to read something from its innocent, new expression. Maybe it’s Anakin he’s trying to find, maybe Amidala—whatever it is, it’s not something Luminara wants to leave him alone for even if she is only sitting at a distance.
After a while he looks up, meeting her eyes and gesturing for her to join him. She does as he asks, treading carefully as to not disturb the children.
She looks over the baby in Obi-Wan’s arms, it’s little face scrunched up and nestled in the crook of Obi-Wan’s arm. “Who’s this?” She asks, quietly.
“Luke.” He tells her.
Luminara smiles at the little creature and then turns to his twin, who is also awake in a crib next to them. “And this?”
“Leia.”
“Leia.” Luminara repeats softly, her hand drifting into the crib. “That’s pretty.” The baby grabs onto her finger and holds it tight, likely a reflex, letting out a little whimper. “Are you upset that your brother is getting all the attention, hmm?”
She scoops the infant and holds her against her chest which calms her quickly, and after a little fussing Leia settles into a comfortable position. “Obi-Wan…” She starts, and then changes her mind as he looks up at her. “I—I’m glad you’re okay.”
He sighs and looks back at the infant in his arms. “At what price, though?”
“I’m sorry.”
He hums absently, whether in thanks or dismissal it’s hard to tell. “I shall go with the boy, wherever he ends up, and be there when he discovers his power. Watch over him, keep him safe. One day I’m sure that he’ll encounter his father again, and on that day, I need to make sure that he’s ready.” He looks up at Luminara. “What will you do?”
“I’m not sure.” She replies honestly. “I’ll have to talk to Barriss. She may not want me around but there’s no harm in checking.” At that she smiles a little, albeit weakly. “I know this little one should be safe on Alderaan but…when the time comes, I suppose little Leia shall need guidance as well. In years to come, that’s where I’m sure I shall end up. It is the time in between that leaves me a little unsure.”
“You could come with me.”
Her eyes widen in surprise at this statement, though absently acknowledges that this in itself shouldn’t really surprise her at all. “Would you want me with you?”
“It’s up to you where you go.”
“That’s not answering my question.”
He inhales deeply and the out again, like they had been taught to during meditation as younglings to promote a clear mind and calm demeanour. “I think that I could make anywhere my home well enough if you were there alongside me.”
Luminara stares at him for a moment and then turns around to put Leia back in her crib. Once the baby is settled, she smooths out a crease in her skirt and looks back up to him. “It’s late. Come to bed with me.” She gestures for him to put Luke down and chuckles at his mildly scandalised expression. “To sleep. Stay with me, and then I’ll stay with you.”
“Is that a promise?”
“No.” She admits. “But it’s a hope. And it’s the best I can offer you now, even though you probably deserve better.”
He lays Luke down and then follows her out of the room, the hushed tones no longer necessary now they’re out of earshot. “They don’t come much better than you.”
She blushes, and then vehemently curses herself for it—what is she, sixteen? “I…” She can’t quite find the words for what she wants to say, a rarity for her, so instead takes both his hands in her own and leans up for a second, hesitant kiss. Hopes she’s read the situation correctly, hopes that it wasn’t just a fluke because damn the code—she’s given more than thirty years of her life to a crumbled monastic order, she’s entitled to a little free choice even if it is only here, now, for these few minutes.
It’s a relief to know she is correct, when he kisses her back. This isn’t an action of raw passion or attraction because whatever is between them seems to go far beyond that at this point—they aren’t going to fall back into bed and tear each other’s clothes off, but he will hold her, and she will hold him, and that is enough to brave off the aftershocks of the most catastrophic storm to hit the Jedi order in centuries.
The next morning when she wakes Obi-Wan is beside her, his arms wrapped around her waist, and she sighs in solemn satisfaction. He is still asleep, admittedly lightly, and she hasn’t the heart to jolt him awake so waits for him to awaken at his own pace, enjoying the way his beard tickled the back of her neck.
She needn’t have waited, really, because his sleep is rather rudely interrupted by the—is that Master Jinn—
Obi-Wan yelps at the sudden disturbance and almost falls off the bed, she catches his arm and hauls him back on securely before staring at the amused looking apparition of Qui-Gon Jinn.
“M-Master?” Obi-Wan asks, hesitantly, as he sits up.
“That’s right, Obi-Wan.” Qui-Gon—it must be Qui-Gon, right?—confirms. “I am here because it’s time I complete your training.” His eyes flicker back to Luminara, who’s trying quite hard to make it look like she’s not staring at the ghost in disbelief. “Is that little Luminara? I always said you had a shot with her, seem like you’re finally—”
“Master.” Obi-Wan interrupts. “I…how are you here?”
Luminara shakes her head in disbelief and stands up. “I am going to check on Barriss unless you need me to remain for…” She gestures vaguely, wondering if she’s still dreaming or Obi-Wan’s dead master really has returned as a ghost with the intention of teaching him something. One certainly seems more plausible that the other, but when she pinches herself nothing happens, so decides it’s best to just leave them to it. “Whatever this is.”
“It’ll be okay.” Obi-Wan tells her. “I’ll see you later?”
“Of course.”
He takes her hand and leans forward to kiss it before he realises that Qui-Gon is looking at them with an expression that a little too excited. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t think either of you would ever stop being so stubborn for five minutes and admit you have feelings for one another. Ah, the joys of young love.”
“I’m not that youn—” Obi-Wan quickly realises that this particular debate would probably be a losing battle so instead gives Luminara an apologetic look as she leaves the room in search of her padawan.
She finds Barriss sitting by the window she herself had been by the night before, having previously changed out of her prison uniform and into the base of a grey flight suit with a black bandana over her hair. It’s quite utilitarian but it suits her, certainly more than the blue robes Luminara’s still got on from yesterday.
“I thought the view was beautiful, too.” She says quietly, moving beside her. Barriss turns to look at her with a sigh.
“I know I was right, and I stand by everything I said.” Barriss says, and it’s no mystery to what she’s referring. “I didn’t want to be right—I wish none of this had ever happened. But, now, I know what I did was wrong. I think I knew it the moment I did it and I…I was awful to Ahsoka.” She sighs and directs her eyeline to the floor. “I think I need to find her; I need to apologise if nothing else. She was my best friend and I—I didn’t intend for her to get caught up in it all, but she did, and I was horrible.” She shivers. “I don’t know where I’ll start but I will find her.”
Luminara nods. “If that is what you feel you must do, then I will not stop you.”
“And I…thank you. For coming for me.” She finds the courage to meet Luminara’s eyes. “I had thought…thank you.”
“You say that as if you believed I wouldn’t.” Luminara says, not bitter at Barriss but herself. It’s true, she hadn’t exactly given her student much reason to believe that she still cared at all given her radio silence after everything happened, but it had been for selfish reasons she had done so. Fear of what she’d find if she visited, fear of giving into her attachment and doing something foolish. That all seems to trivial now, as she looks back. “That is my fault, and I’m sorry. I should have…well, done anything but I didn’t.”
Barriss looks back out to the stars. “I spent so long looking for your approval that I guess I lost track of what was really important. I’ll never let it happen again.”
It’s not intended as such, but that still feels like a little stab to the gut for Luminara. She rests her palm against Barriss cheek and turns to face her. “Oh, padawan.” She sighs. “You’d always had my approval. I never—never was anything but so, so proud of you until then.”
A bitter chuckle escapes the younger woman. “But you’re not anymore, right?”
“Of course, I am.” She says, faster and with more conviction than even she was expecting. Barriss expression morphs into one of shock. “I could never condone the action you took but that does not mean I do not understand, now. You saw what none of us could…and it was I who did you a disservice. No matter what you’ve done, you will always be my padawan, and you continue on this path of good then you will always have my approval.”
Barriss’ eyes start to water, and she mutters something foul in Mando’a at herself, which makes Luminara laugh. After a long moment she says: “…Really?”
Luminara wipes away a fallen tear from Barriss’ cheek with the pad of her thumb. “Really.” She pulls Barriss into a hug and holds her there for a long time, wondering absently whether she’s ever actually done this before.
If she has, she notes, it hasn’t been for a long, long time.
“I wish you luck with everything you do, even though you don’t need me anymore.” Luminara says as she pulls away. “And I’m sure we’ll meet again someday.”
Barriss shakes her head, clinging onto her master’s hand. “I’ll always need you, Master. And I’m going to hold you to that.”
“I would expect so.” Luminara smiles.
She isn’t sure where she’s going next—if she’ll follow Obi-Wan and little Luke into their hiding or find her own path somewhere else but she does know that, whatever it is, she shall no longer be held back by her fears and doubts. There isn’t room for that anymore—not if she wants to live in a manner that will leave her content on the eve of her death, and she owes it to the thousands of souls lost to the Sith to at least try.