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“All right?” Luminara asks, breathless, as she pulls Shaak beneath the cascading branches of a tree.
Shaak nods, though she’s too winded to speak, her fingers tight around Luminara's shoulder as she mostly focuses on staying upright. Not quite able to help herself, Luminara casts a worried look at her pain-lined face, then presses her up against the silver trunk and switches her lightsaber off, letting the soft green gloom of the wetland forest slide back in instead. There's no sound of pursuit, not even the hum of distant speeders, and after a second Luminara lets out a quiet breath and allows her tension to ease.
“I believe we lost them,” she says.
Shaak closes her eyes, tipping her head back against the trunk. “Unforeseen good luck,” she says, all good humor in between her rough breaths.
“We seem to be having quite a lot of that today,” Luminara allows, though she can't help but make the Mirialan sign to ward off mischievous ill fortune as she says the words, thumb touching the tip of her ring finger, pinky against her palm. Even for a pair of Jedi, too much good luck is unsettling.
Maybe, she thinks ruefully, especially for two Jedi.
Shaak makes a sound of amusement, hooking her thumbs together. “This is how we sign it on Shili,” she says, and slides down to sit on the boggy ground, pressing a hand to her montrals with a faint grimace.
Luminara follows her down, smoothing her skirts over her lap automatically before she reaches out. Doesn’t touch Shaak's montrals, but cups her shoulder instead, and asks wryly, “I don’t think I ever understood the meaning of ringing someone’s bell until I saw that bastard kick you in the head.”
With a soft chuckle, Shaak touches Luminara's knuckles, then slots their fingers together and draws them up to her cheek. In the gloom and the shadow of the tree, her white markings are vivid, beautiful, and Luminara feels a wash of pure relief, belated but bright.
“It gave you the perfect opening, though,” Shaak says, and her violet eyes slide open, meeting Luminara's. “I've never appreciated the fact that you work best as part of a team more, Luminara.”
Luminara smiles crookedly, and—it was supposed to be Barriss on this mission with her. If Luminara hadn’t sent her off to rest, shepherding younglings to Ilum, it would have been Barriss here, and there's no chance they would have fared so well, even with their practiced teamwork.
But then, she knows Shaak just as well as she does Barriss, and has for even longer. Shaak was the perfect person to accompany her, even if neither of them knew it when they set out.
“Sidious tried to use me against you,” she says, quiet, and leans in. Shaak touches foreheads with her, then catches her elbows, and Luminara slides right into her lap, wraps her arms around Shaak's neck, presses her face to heavy lekku. The adrenaline is still burning there, right beneath the surface, but—
She can feel the jerk of Sidious's body as her blade took him in the ribs, can hear his small, ragged sound as he fell down into the molten stone below, and the knowledge that this war’s architect is dead will never not be a victory.
“A mistake,” Shaak murmurs, closing her eyes. The fight took its toll on both of them, and Luminara can feel the fine tremor in her own muscles, the ache of overexertion, but it’s fine. There's no one after them right now, and no need to run any further.
“Still my brave knight,” Shaak says, smiling, and Luminara laughs a little, leans into her fully and lets Shaak wrap her up in her arms.
“It’s been years since I was a Knight,” she counters.
“My brave Master doesn’t fit quite so well,” Shaak says, dry.
“Not quite,” Luminara allows, closing her eyes as Shaak rests their cheeks together, both of them just breathing. “I suppose, given your weakness for stories about brave knights rescuing beautiful queens, I should take it as a compliment.”
“I've never meant it as anything else,” Shaak says, soft in the space between them, and brushes a thumb over Luminara's tattoos, then leans in and kisses her.
It’s heat and light and relief, kindled like a star between them, and Luminara thinks, just to herself, that she would lay both her blade and herself at Shaak's feet for the rest of forever, and never regret it for a moment.