Chapter Text
It is a time of relative peace and stability in the galaxy. The wheels of democracy turn as the Galactic Senate manages the Republic. The Jedi Order is the guardian of peace and justice in the galaxy, and in the sun-bathed halls of the Jedi Temple on the bustling megalopolis of Coruscant, a Jedi master and her apprentice walk.
“But Master Lilith!”
“Amity, we’ve been over this. Meeting another padawan your age won’t be the end of the galaxy.”
“But weren’t you talking about how your sister is nothing but an agent of chaos?” The little girl looked up at her master quizzically.
“Um, well, yes, but…” Lilith stammered before being interrupted.
“Then why would her padawan be any different?” Amity pouted. All day she made it clear to her master that she was not thrilled about meeting whoever Master Eda’s apprentice was.
Lilith sighed. She placed her hand on the young girl’s shoulder, letting her know to stop walking. She knelt down to meet her padawan at eye level. “Listen, Amity, you have been training very hard these last couple years, and…”
“And I’m the best padawan there ever was!” Amity gloated, flexing her muscles to demonstrate her point.
Lilith couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, you certainly are. But that’s not what I meant.” Amity’s expression became serious. “You show a remarkable ability with the force for someone so young. I have no doubt you will become a fine Jedi Knight.” Amity smiled at the compliment. “However,” Amity’s smile turned into a frown, “there is one thing you lack compared to your peers.”
“What is it?”
“You have no friends, Amity.”
“What?” she asked, completely confused.
“You’ve been so focused on your training that you haven’t made connections with your fellow padawans.”
The padawan scoffed. “What do I need friends for?” She crossed her arms, pouted, and turned away from her master.
Lilith actually chuckled at her remark. “I was like you when I was your age, so take it from me, you can become as powerful in the force as any Jedi who ever lived, but you’ll always need someone to watch your back. Not to mention, when you come of age and become a knight, it would make me feel better if you weren’t alone.”
Amity’s mad façade broke as she looked back at her master, still not wanting to meet this new supposed friend, but not wanting to disappoint her master. She dropped her arms and turned to face Lilith, ready to listen.
“So, can you at least give her a try? For my sake?” Lilith looked down at her padawan, hoping she would understand.
Amity let out a long sigh. “Yes, Master.”
Lilith wrapped her in a hug, appreciative of her cooperation. She stood back up, grabbing Amity’s hand as they continued towards their destination.
They made their way around the temple, eventually coming to a secluded room with a window overlooking the city. When they entered they saw two people looking out the window: a tall woman with fire orange hair wearing red robes, and a smaller girl about Amity’s height in white and purple.
“Wow, there are so many speeders!” the little girl exclaimed.
“There sure are kiddo,” her master responded.
Lilith cleared her throat, garnering the other’s attention. “Hello, Edalyn.”
“Heya Lily,” she responded, shooting a finger gun at her sister. “Ready for our padawans to meet?”
“Yes.” Lilith gave a slight nudge for Amity to step forward and introduce herself. But before she could say anything, the other girl became excited and ran over to her.
“Oh. My. Gosh. You are so cool! Your robes are all fancy. You have such pretty eyes. And your hair? I wish I could have hair like that! Is that purple?”
Having recovered from the barrage of compliments she received, Amity composed herself enough to answer, “Yes. I like it over my natural hair.” An awkward silence fell between the girls, Luz still with an excited expression, waiting for Amity to ask her something, and Amity having no clue what to say next. Finally, she settled on, “What color is your hair?”
“Oh, well mine’s just plain old brown, nowhere near as cool as purple. Ooooh, do you have a favorite book series? Do you have any books? Or are you more into holo-readers these days?”
“Uh…”
“What about sports? You like any sports? I LOVE speeder races, and…”
“Ok kid,” Eda interrupted, pulling her student back towards her, “lets take it down a notch…” she continued as Amity looked back at Lilith.
“That’s Eda’s padawan?”
Lilith nervously smiled, a tad guilty at what the girl just experienced. “Yes.”
Amity huffed. “Why am I not surprised?”
After a brief talk, Eda and Luz broke apart and faced Lilith and Amity again. Luz stepped forward, this time more restrained.
“Sorry about that, I get really excited when I meet new people.”
“It’s ok, I get nervous around new people myself.”
Another awkward silence fell between the girls, though not as awkward as the first. Light from the setting bathed the room in a warm yellow light, illuminating both girls.
“Want to start over?” Luz asked. It may have been the sun, but Amity looked into those brown eyes staring back at her and felt a warmth radiate from them, a feeling she had never felt before.
“Sure.” Amity stuck her hand out. “My name is Amity.”
The other girl reciprocated the gesture, smiling brightly, somehow radiating even more warmth. “Hi Amity, my name is Luz.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Amity rose from her bed, clutching at her chest and gasping for air, desperate to breathe. As she tried to control her breathing, she scanned the room she was in to catch her bearings.
My room.
She was surrounded by dark stone walls with no light source, barely any light bleeding through the cracks and one small window. The shelves barely held any possessions. Amity could feel a cold draft flow through the room as she could hear the pouring of the rain outside. No matter how many blankets she wrapped herself in, she always felt cold. Her breathing slowed as she calmed herself.
Another dream.
Ever since the rise of the Empire Amity had been plagued with dreams of her days before and during the Purge. No matter how far away from Coruscant she escaped, Amity was still haunted by her old life.
Despite that, she fled as far as she could, landing on some backwater Outer Rim planet with barely any settlements on it, wet and miserable, soggy ground with only moss growing on it, the perfect spot for a runaway Jedi to hide for the rest of her life. She made a home for herself and settled for the next ten years.
“You’re awake.”
Until Willow found her.
“Willow?” Amity asked groggily, still waking up. “You’re back already?”
“I am. Figured I’d let you sleep in a little. But I guess that wasn’t in the cards.”
Amity mirthlessly laughed. “Yeah. I guess not.”
Living by herself for a decade meant Amity had to find ways to keep busy, so she found a maintenance job at the only spaceport on the entire planet and slaved away. She kept to herself all those years until one day a smuggler docked to bring supplies to the few settlements out there. She was a muscular woman clad with armor, blasters strapped to her hips and a rifle slung around her back. The smuggler easily hauled the cargo off her ship by hand without any assistance. Her hair was dark green, almost black, and tied into two braids. She had no glasses, but there was no mistaking Willow Park, Amity’s childhood friend. Shortly thereafter the two reunited and celebrated after a decade of separation. For the next year, the two worked together to restore the Jedi Order. Or at least Amity helped Willow with that goal.
Amity pulled the covers off her and got out of bed. She walked all of five feet to the small kettle she had. She lit a small fire, warming up the water to prepare her morning tea. “Want some?” she asked Willow.
“No thanks, I’m already awake.”
After a few more minutes Amity grabbed her cup of tea and sat across from her friend.
Willow spoke first. “I have information, real information this time,” she added to dissuade Amity from dismissing her.
“How do we know it’s good?” Amity asked.
“Because I didn’t ask any random moof milkers or bandits this time. My source is more trustworthy than that.”
Amity looked at her unconvinced. “Who’s your source?”
Willow wriggled in her seat, nervous to answer the question.
“Willow? Who's your source?” Amity asked again, more firm this time.
“He’s an ISB Supervisor,” Willow quickly answered.
“HE’S A WHAT?!” Amity shouted.
“I know how that sounds…”
“I can’t believe this. We need reliable, trustworthy sources to find the remaining Jedi, AND YOU TURN TO THE IMPERIAL SECURITY BUREAU?! THE AGENCY TASKED WITH FINDING AND KILLING ALL JEDI AND THEIR COLLABORATORS?! Why don’t we just turn ourselves in now and get it over with!”
“This isn’t a trap. He’s working with the rebellion!”
“How can you possibly know that?”
Willow took a deep breath. “Because my source is Gus.”
Amity was taken aback. “Gus?”
“After he helped us escape, he’s been rising through the ranks of the Navy and now the ISB. I made contact with him a few months ago and we’ve been sharing information,” Amity was about to blow up on Willow again when she added, “and I haven’t mentioned anything about you. All he knows is I’m bringing a hired gun with me to our meeting.” Amity relented and motioned for her to continue, but she was still upset. “Now, he’s heard reports of a Jedi in his sector, and while neither of us can confirm it, we believe it could be Eda.”
“Eda?” Amity asked, a mix of shock and hope.
“Yes. There are rumors of a wild lady in red who can lift things with her mind and can make anyone do what she wants.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her,” Amity chuckled fondly. “Why couldn’t he tell you this over hologram?”
“Because he’s closely monitored as a supervisor, especially his communications, AND the Empire is blocking all incoming non-Imperial transmissions.”
Amity sighed, “So we have to meet him face to face to get actual intel.”
“Correct.”
Amity took a sip of her tea. “Ok. What planet are we going to?”
“Ferrix,” Willow answered.
Amity nodded. “Minor Imperial presence, shouldn’t be too hard to navigate.”
“The sooner we leave the better.”
Amity took one last sip of her tea, slamming the mug onto the table. “Then we have no time to lose.”
Amity changed into her everyday clothes and holstered her trusty blaster, meeting Willow outside. Parked about 100 yards from the house was Willow’s ship, a Corellian VCX-100 light freighter dubbed The Flytrap. After the pre-flight check up, the ship launched itself into space and began to leave orbit
“Y’know, I never asked,” Willow spoke up, “but, what are you getting out of this?”
“I’m sorry?” Amity responded.
“We’ve been at this for, what, a year now?”
“Give or take.”
“I’m just curious why you would help me is all, considering you’ve abandoned the Jedi Code, you’ve cut yourself off from the force, you don’t even have your lightsaber with you anymore. So, what do you gain from helping me find the remaining Jedi?”
“Willow, just because I don’t believe in the Jedi teachings anymore doesn’t mean I want the old ways to die. I want future generations to be able to learn about the Jedi, what they used to be, what they should have been.”
“I’m sorry you lost faith in the Jedi.”
“Don’t be, it was our fault all this happened.”
“Amity, that’s not…”
Amity held up a hand, cutting Willow off. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do Willow, really I do, but please stop. Nothing you or anyone else says will ever convince me there wasn’t something we could have done to stop the Emperor.” Amity turned away from Willow. “That I could have done something,” she mumbled to herself, making sure Willow didn’t hear her.
Willow gave an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Amity covertly wiped a tear before she swiveled her chair back towards Willow. “It’s ok. You were just trying to be a good friend. I can’t fault you for that.” She gave a small smile to reassure her friend.
Willow appreciated the gesture, returning a small smile of her own. “Ok, let’s go to Ferrix!” she shouted excitedly.
“Let’s go to Ferrix,” Amity repeated, though more reserved.
Willow punched in the coordinates and charted their course. She activated the hyperdrive, stars streaking across the cockpit as the two set off for Ferrix.