Chapter Text
Dooku’s eyes closed, his hand waving over the row of greenery. He reached out through the Force, drawing himself into the thrum of life around him. From the grass, growing wild around his garden, to the neat and orderly vegetables growing in it, he could feel the Force in every one of them. Each one echoed with life from the tallest legume stalk, to the tiniest little weed growing under his potato plants.
“Now, which one of you is ready?” He asked of the carrot plants, both out loud and through the Force, and his hand quickly found the green stalks that answered. Soon the earth next to him was stacked with long round carrots, perfectly ripe.
The carrots had been the final harvest for today. Dooku stood, brushing the dirt off his already earth toned robe, the several baskets worth of vegetables still at his feet. He lifted them with the Force, guiding them over the plants to his waiting droid who would then wash and prepare them.
Life was simple, the most simple it had been in years, he thought, shading his eyes from the planet’s sun. After nearly dying in the clutches of Sidious, Dooku had fled as far as he could, finally settling on a farming colony on a rocky planet in the Unknown Regions. A peek into the minds of the varying residents showed they had never seen the Republic, and knew not of the Empire. Dooku would be safe here. He’d picked the biggest mansion outside of the town, living there in relative tranquility.
The mansion’s grounds were smaller than even the cheapest estate on Serenno, but they were host to a pack of relatively tame lizards, as well as elusive feathered beings that had taken up residence in the barn. Dooku had been cultivating a slowly growing garden, as well as a field of plants that were dried and used as fuel in the non growing season. The surrounding land was a plains basin that rose sharply into a mountain range off in the distance. The men of the town would go on routine hunts for large beasts that roamed down from the mountains for grass, from which Dooku would occasionally buy meat.
The droid lumbered along next to him, it’s soft, repetitive beeping giving Dooku something to focus on. He led it into the main house, opening it and unloading the vegetables. Selecting several to cook and eat, he sent the waiting house droid to unload the rest in the cooler to sell tomorrow. When both droids were gone, he let a small sigh escape him, resting a hand on a bag of seeds.
How far he’d fallen. Once he was the Confederate Systems’ Head of State, the apprentice of the most powerful man in the galaxy, and the commander of droid armies. Dooku stepped out onto his porch, the lizards hissing at his feet for their dinner. The seeds hit the dirt and they swarmed. Dooku selected a particularly plump one, a snap of his fingers snapping its neck with the Force.
He’d just bent to pick up the lizard, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger, when ripples in the Force told him someone was approaching.
“Malan.” He said coolly, looking into the round face of his closest neighbors child. They were shifting nervously from one foot to another.
“Hi!” They lifted a grubby hand. “Um, my parents were wondering if we could buy one of your lizards. For tonight. For dinner I mean. We can pay for it, for the inconvenience.”
His neighbors had been a constant irritation, though they hadn’t picked up on it yet. A man and a woman, and their singular child who seemed neither a boy or girl. Several months after moving in, Dooku had found the child trying to scrap his droid. The little thing had mouthed off to him, and when he returned the brat to their parents, Malan had smiled, apologized, and then tried to befriend him.
It was annoying to say the least. Dooku sighed deeply, grasping a handful of seeds and offering it to the child.
“If you can catch one, you can bring it home for dinner.” The seeds spilled out the sides of the child’s grubby hands, catching the attention of the lizards. The green things swarmed Malan, the child yelping and dropping more seeds.
But the child steadied themselves, and Dooku watched with mild interest as they held a hand down with the remaining seeds, luring one of the lizards to their palm. As the lizards nuzzled into it, the child’s other hand grabbed the back of its neck.
The lizard screeched, and the child held it up triumphantly. The rest of them continued to swarm, completely ignoring Malan as they stepped back.
“Well done.” Dooku admitted with reluctance, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the beaming child. “Inform your parents I expect the payment sometime tomorrow.”
“Yes sir!” The child saluted, and the lizard screeched again. Dooku made a shooing motion, and thankfully Malan took the hint, sprinting back off down Dooku’s path.
Back inside, Dooku dropped his own lizard to the cutting board, and began the preparations for dinner. He chopped the head off, skinning it cleanly. The droid had already prepped the vegetables, leaving them on the tray to be slid into the oven.
Dooku stripped the lizard’s meat from it’s bones, dropping the bones in the bucket for the feathered creatures in the barn.
The meat was laid over the vegetables, and Dooku added a layer of spices as the final touch. He covered the tray, sliding it into the oven.
The droid had also known to set water on top of the oven, and it was the perfect temperature for tea.
Dooku slid into his chair, trying to ignore the complaints of his joints, sipping the bitter tea. His own attempts to grow tea plants had only been partially successful, and he never seemed to harvest them at the correct time. Which meant in order to have a flavorful tea, he had to buy leaves from his neighbors.
Once he had eaten dinner, he would spend several hours meditating. It was not a prosperous life by any means, but it was better than the alternative.
The droid returned to pull the tray from the oven, taking the bucket of bones to the barn. With a little effort, Dooku rose, using the Force to cool his dinner.
The sun had completely set by time he bit into it, and the moon was high in the sky by the time he finished.
The droids were deactivated for the night, and Dooku closed his eyes.
The downside to being completely isolated was that Dooku had no idea if the Empire was closing in on him. Sidious probably had more important matters, and there had been no ripples in the Force that could herald the presence of his master.
Ever vigilant however, Dooku kept his guard up, combing through the Force every night for the possibility of being found.
The Force had returned nothing, and Dooku had retired with his fragile sense of safety assured for the moment. Exhaustion settled into his limbs with greater ease these days, and took longer periods of time to recover from.
“Dooku-”
The former count shot awake, lightsaber activating in the darkness.
The red light bounced dully off of the droid in the corner of his room.
The room was empty save for him.
The voice had not been his masters, no, the rasp had been strained, but echoed with the crackle of a voice modulator.