A Dangerous Bond

Chapter 7

Barriss watched from the window as the shuttle brought them to the Temple. The metal world of Coruscant stretched far and wide. People flew in every direction, yet in an orderly fashion: chaos, yet order.

It's only the surface, yet it said a lot if you asked Barriss. One doesn't have to fear chaos because of what it is, just what it will form into. That makes her look at Hope again. The chaotic nature of the woman, or what she has become, can still result in something good. But only if given the right attention.

Barriss doesn't know what that is, what it will involve. Yet she is willing to find out. The council may know, but she wonders how wise they are after two years of fighting. While many of them are nice and well-intentioned people, even they can be blind to their own flaws.

It's as if more and more mistakes are made by those very same flaws. The war, as terrible as it is, has brought forth the failure of them. Barriss cannot deny it anymore as she broods on it almost every day. Geonosis was one of the last places she would think to see the flaw of herself yet also her master's.

Everything didn't make sense anymore. What's she supposed to believe in? A warmongering council? Delusional people that don't see the flaws? Barriss doesn't know anymore. And that makes her pause. They're not bad. She knew that. They tried to make it all work, failing yet tried.

Barriss let a breath enter her body. It's no time to question everything. Hope needs her. And she will do what must be done to save her. A victim that she won't fail to save. Not this one. Not like the many clones she couldn't save. Not like the padawans or knights that died and she couldn't save. She won't fail.

"Barriss, are you alright?"

Barriss turned away from the window, her master looked with concern at her. Yet Barriss forced herself to exude calmness, to block off her inner thoughts, doubts, and questions. Luminara cannot help, she said to herself. Too attached to the way things are done now.

She wished otherwise. It's a wonderful person if she wanted to be. But Barriss has not seen her act without the approval of either the council or if it didn't fall within the Code. That's not someone that can help, she concluded.

"Yes, how long until we land?"

"A few minutes," Luminara answered, yet held her gaze firmly on her. She won't feel anything, Barriss thought as she gave a nod, passing her to sit with Hope again. She never felt anything before. So why now? "Are you sure? I sense you're troubled, Barriss."

"I am, master. I'm just worried for Hope," Barriss said. It wasn't a lie. She was worried for her. But it was not her only worry. Far from it, in fact.

"We will do what we can, Barriss. Do not worry about things you have no influence over," Luminara said. "Once we arrive, we'll be able to make sense of what she is, exactly."

A breath left Barriss, her gaze on the red-colored alien. It certainly would be nice. She can't help but wonder. The doctor has no clue as to what she is. There was a slight match with human DNA, but the overwhelming majority was foreign, undetermined DNA.

She hopes everything will go well.

The ship touched down at one of the landing areas of the Temple. Barriss walked with Hope, who was restrained on the floating bed. She had been silent ever since she asked to be killed. Barriss cannot kill her. There must be a better way to help her.

Luminara was close behind her as they went down the walkway. Hope lay still, eerily quiet. The gaze that once asked to be killed was covered in cold solid hatred. Whatever she was fighting had won the round. Barriss vowed to make her win the battle.

But as her gaze went over the landing platform, she couldn't help but frown at the sight. Temple Guards were everywhere. The clones stood guard near the ship, seemingly waiting for it to go wrong. Then she saw Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi. The Cerean was the coldest Jedi Barriss had ever seen. No emotion as if he was a robot.