𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃──𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘬𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳

━━ 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚

Her mother's face. Her father's stories. Cleodys and Aren and their silly little games. A shady place in their backyard. An orange cat curling up on warm stone. Her mother's songs and fragments of music from their radio.

They're all bits and pieces, like stones from a mosaic she can't recall the whole picture from anymore. But she gathers them nonetheless, tucking them away safely in the deepest corners of her mind.

Sometimes it's just a colour of a feeling she can't even name, sometimes it's a whole conversation or scene.

She knows despite her efforts to remember them correctly these memories have been distorted and stained with inaccurate details, like darkened pages in a worn-out book. Some pages must be missing entirely, blown away and forever lost in time.

But they're all she has, and so she clings to them even more.

Anakin and Obi-Wan are by their side, she sees Anakin shooting glances towards her from time to time but is too nervous to talk.

After they enter the spaceship, the group is shown their accommodations for the journey, two small, but comfortable shared rooms.

Selyn and Nadia take one, Obi-Wan and Anakin the other.

For dinner they eat with the other passengers in the dining room, bland food that tastes like ash in Selyn's mouth. Nadia and Obi-Wan are engaged in a lively discussion, and Anakin participates in it from time to time. Selyn knows that they are watching her, Nadia rather worriedly and Anakin and Obi-Wan with curiosity, so she tries her best to put on the mask of a calm, relaxed impression. It flickers from time to time.

Later, she finds some peace in a small, deserted hangar for little shuttles. It is not the same as the Jedi Garden, but it is quiet, and most importantly it is empty. If she closes her eyes long enough, she can convince herself that it is warm sunlight on her cheeks and not the cold light of the spaceship, that the constant humming of the engine is the rustling of branches, the wind's whisper in grass.

From a far distance she hears water crashing against the shore, steady like her heart pumping blood through her veins. Fine mist seems to sprinkle her skin, cooling her down until she can focus entirely.

As she opens her eyes again after some time, she sees Anakin standing a few metres away, leaned against a large transport box.

"Hi," he says, as if unsure what her reaction will be.

Selyn greets him with a nod, pointing towards the empty floor before her. An invitation.

Minutes pass, and they are silent - a warm, easy silence. Selyn would not call him her friend, she doesn't have many, but they have been rather close in their time as padawans and they still share a silent bond of companionship. It has faded a bit in the past years since Selyn likes to see him as a competitor and due to their missions they didn't spend much time together, but in moments like these it is still present.

"Do you think you will see your family again?" he asks carefully.

That is what has been bothering Selyn the entire morning. They used to live in the capital, her mother even served in the Queen's guard. So it is likely.

"Maybe," she finally answers. "They...they lived close to where our mission is going, so our paths might cross."

"Hm-hm," Anakin says, drawing lines on the floor as he thinks. "You know, my mother is on Tatooine."

Selyn's gaze falls onto his figure and stays there – she never heard Anakin talk about her. He seems distant, almost absent as if lost in good memories whilst talking about her, similar to how Selyn has felt the entire day.