Darker the Night (A Star Wars Rebels AU)

Chapter Twenty-one

The trek to Lessu was long and hot, every meter of it punctuated by gusts of dry, gritty wind characteristic of the shoulder season on that part of Ryloth. Hera's eyes, covered by a pair of her mother's old goggles, swept across the terrain again- endless dunes and towering sandstone rock formations stretched toward the horizon. There had been no sign of droid patrols, and her father's scouts and spies had reason to believe that Wat Tambor was planning to flee the city of Lessu. If true, that meant the two Jedi were running out of time to capture their quarry.

Her parents, riding side-by-side with Mace Windu, set a moderate pace for the rest of the company in an effort to avoid tiring their blurrgs. Hera, Val, and Caleb brought up the rear, followed at a short distance by the clone troopers Razor and Stak astride their clanking walkers, both busy scanning for patrols.

"How you doing, Master Jedi?" Val asked, after a lengthy period of the trio riding in semi-awkward silence, save for the crunching footfalls and creaking saddles of their blurrgs.

She looked over at Caleb, who rode on the other side of her brother. His hair was a windblown mess and tiny drifts of sand had settled into the folds of his brown cloak. He smiled at Val, his expression open and friendly- and, Hera suspected, eager to make a good impression.

"I'm only a padawan," he said with a shrug.

"I know." Val examined his blaster for a moment, and then he looked up at Caleb and grinned. "I'm just giving you a hard time."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Val gave his blurrg a pat, and she snorted, pleased by his affection. "You and Master Windu are the first Jedi I've ever met, you know. Your Order doesn't come to Ryloth often. I guess the Jedi must think things are just more interesting in the Core than the Outer Rim. The funny part is that Ryloth has been pretty exciting for hundreds of years- we've had all kinds of Hutts and other slavers to deal with all by ourselves- and now, we have the Separatists enslaving or murdering us, too. Truly, the excitement never stops. You'd think the Jedi might've come sooner so they wouldn't miss out."

Hera noted the sudden, sharp edge of anger in Val's voice with surprise. Growing up, her brother's unwillingness or inability- she'd never been quite sure which one it was- to get truly angry about anything had been a frequent source of frustration. The circumstances certainly justified his tone, but even so, hearing real anger in his voice was unsettling- particularly because he didn't know his Jedi companion well enough to be so rude. Caleb's wary gaze told her that he, too, had picked up on it- and when he responded, he seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

"We try not to interfere unless it's a really bad situation," he said. "A lot of Outer Rim systems have governed themselves for so long that they tend to either avoid asking for help, or they resent it when we offer it. Sometimes they avoid our intervention because they think they'll be coerced into joining the Republic."

"You can't really blame anyone for thinking that, can you?" Val asked- but it sounded more like an accusation. "Especially now. It's either we join the Republic, or the Separatists invade and kill or enslave us- what other choice do we have?"

Caleb shifted in his saddle, giving Val a guarded look. "The Jedi aren't political."

Val's blue eyes narrowed. "You sure about that? Even way out here, we get news from Coruscant. Trouble is, we don't know what's true and what's not true. But it's true that the Jedi do the Senate's bidding, isn't it? And correct me if I'm wrong, but we've heard that one of the greatest Jedi of them all, Anakin Skywalker, sits at the right hand of Chancellor Palpatine himself."

Hera turned her head to stare at her brother, flabbergasted. He had never expressed the slightest interest in politics, not even when their father was in the midst of his political battle with Orn Free Taa. But, on the other hand, he'd always cared passionately about the things that were important to him- and Ryloth was the only home he'd ever known. It suddenly occurred to her that Val's new role as one of their father's most trusted lieutenants had less to do with what she'd believed was a reluctant family obligation- and more to do with the tragedies he'd experienced during the Separatist invasion.