Star Wars: Brave Misdeeds

Chapter 16

"Power, even in righteousness, eventually means the ruin of innocence."          —Xandria Hesk, Elder of the Singing Nightsister Clan

Kesi reveled in the soothing warmth of the Dantooine sun on her face. Laden with the scent of fresh water and wild grass, a wind blew across her path as she walked back to the picnic she had prepared for Xanle and Soelle. Their makeshift camp, Soelle's rustic attempts at scout craft, sat a mere 1000 meters away from the borders of the ruins of Phoenix Gate, where even now Soelle was searching from building to building. She scoured the multitude of abandoned homes looking for artifacts from a time when <VIPER> made its home within the city's borders, a time before she even knew there was a guild titled <VIPER>. Kesi smiled, sadly shaking her head and found herself wishing that such innocence was a freedom she could afford.

"Find an clues today?" Xanle asked. He poured her a glass of Bespin Port and held it up to her. He was lying on the brilliant red blanket, a half-eaten Ahrisa roll laying on a rations plate beside him.

"No," Kesi replied. Her disappointment could not overshadow the pleasant sentiment of being in his company. She sat down beside him, cross-legged, with the small of her back pressed against his hips. "Finding a message from my grandfather wasn't the point of today." Glancing over her shoulder, Kesi watched the blur of motion that was Soelle as the excited base-buster sped recklessly through the narrow strip, which had been the backstretch of a racetrack that ran through Phoenix Gate. The whine of the BARC Speeder engines shrieked as she revved the throttle. A nest of butterflies scattered into the wind as she raced by their nest and disturbed the stillness. "Today is for her." She leaned against him, playfully tickling his chin and shoulder with her long tresses. "Thank you for agreeing to let her come along and share in my secret."

Xanle smiled; his tribal tattoos undulated across his face. "You don't have to think of me as a secret, Kesi. Tell anyone you like. It would make no difference. I would still want to be with you...and to escort you safely to Phoenix Gate in hopes of finding your grandfather. And if this trip helps to get the little one out in the sun, where she belongs, then it is an even a greater windfall, for both of us. She gets a day of freedom and I get to be with you." He brushed a hand through her hair and over the bruise on her forehead, his smile promptly vanishing as his fingers gently touched the wound healing at her lower lip. His breathing labored with effort, the Sith averted his eyes, his jaw tightening with rage. "Were he not already dead, I would find the Rebel who hurt you and gut him so swiftly and precisely he would have plenty of time to watch himself die." He took a deep breath to calm himself.

Kesi kissed his cheek, playfully pulling at his nose. "Why are you a rogue, Xanle?" she asked, sipping gingerly from her glass. "Why do you avoid the other Sith?"

"They don't like me very much," he replied coolly, "and I certainly don't like any of them. That's why I can't be with them. I never liked following the rules, especially when they aren't mine. Maybe Soelle and you should join me. We'll create our own enclave, our own rebel alliance. We'll hold our council meetings in the Mos Eisley cantina."

Kesi laughed so abruptly that she choked on the powerful draught as the Sith made joking reference to her night of indiscretion with Soelle—the night they had gone to Mos Eisley and nearly been killed by Rebels.

"Sorry, that was in poor taste," Xanle said, laughing himself as he gently pat her on the back.

"That's so not funny, Xanle. Poor Soelle, I go promising her a night of fun...and it was fun, believe me. Then it all ends with Ma'ku being shredded and Soelle nearly assassinated by Rebel mercenaries. You don't know how awful it's been for her since then, locked up and not permitted to go anywhere without a vanguard of soldiers with her."