Much as expected, sneaking out of Noreino House a second time was easier said than done; the eyes and ears monitoring all the obvious exits had tripled, and the security around Lux was tighter than ever before. Thankfully, Alynna made a self-explanatory alibi, and his suggestive grin had scared the guards right off.
"Lux, where are we going?" Alynna asked tiredly, releasing his hand to slow to a stop halfway down the corridor to the landing platform. It was the only tone of voice she'd spoken with for the last two days – when she spoke to Lux at all.
Lux smiled brightly instead of pursing his lips in consternation. Any other day, she would've thought his antics with the guards excellent fodder for a joke or a sly remark. He could think of three off the top of his head about how he'd fussed the last time she'd played up the level of intimacy in their relationship to their minders.
And yet... nothing. Always nothing.
Ever since he'd found her curled up on the floor, crying about someone named Rex, she'd been a shadow of herself, blank of any feeling but that cold, unyielding grief. He'd seen it in her once before, just after the auction, as she mourned the loss of her chained brothers and sisters. He hadn't known her well enough then to recognize it in its entirety. Now, she could hide nothing from him.
Alynna had told him only the bare bones of what happened to this friend of hers, but he knew the deep grief of losing friends and family intimately. As quiet and unresponsive as she'd become, could she even grasp how well Lux understood?
He was hoping she would, after today; she'd tended to him with such badly-needed affection when grief had overpowered him at the villa. Provided they could actually get out of Kyzeron and sneak back in unmolested, he was hoping to do the same for her now that she needed the favor returned.
So he kept that smile stuck to his face like he'd glued it there and said, "But that would ruin the surprise."
Alynna crossed her arms, hunching around herself, but the added eyeroll was a welcome display of emotion – even if it was snarky. "Lux, I'd really prefer if I just–"
Lux took her hand again, kissing her knuckles in silent apology for invading her space to pre-empt any protests she could make. Then, he threaded his arm securely through hers. "Please, love. Trust me."
Something sparked in Alynna's eyes at the endearment. Lux flushed, but he refused to be embarrassed by the slip of the tongue. He did, however, allow himself to sigh in relief when she nodded and pressed closer.
Lux took a breath as they began walking again and tapped the button on his new wrist comm – one he wasn't expecting he'd get a chance to use again, but that was fine by him. The relay he'd stashed in his belt hummed to life a split-second later, and Alynna gasped as the air before them shimmered before blanketing their bodies in the armor of a pair of Noreino guards.
"Where the hell did you get this?" she demanded in a sharp whisper, waving a hand enveloped in a translucent guard's glove. "Shadow holograms were outlawed after Chancellor Palpatine was kidnapped on Naboo."
"I have a few friends who know how to get their hands on contraband, when they need to," Lux said vaguely. "One of them owed me a favor."
"You have friends?"
"Hey."
Alynna hit him with an unapologetic stare. It was jarring to see her eyes looking out of a helmet that wouldn't normally have fit a Togruta, but that meant the shadow hologram was doing its job in concealing her identity. "Honest question. You never talk about any friends."
"They're... more like acquaintances than friends."
Alynna's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she didn't press him. For his part, Lux had to keep from grinning. He'd missed her wry banter fiercely, but now that he'd drawn her out, he didn't want to send her scurrying back in on herself with a poorly placed comment or gesture.
Her eyes widened again when she noticed the pair of guards in Noreino livery – real blast-proof leather and lightweight armor instead of his and Alynna's falsified approximation – standing watch at the end of the hallway. "I take it we're sneaking out?" she asked.
"I bribed those two, and the ones who'll take over for them at the next changing of the guard, if we're out late."
"The cams and other surveillance they'll have watching the landing platform? Did you take those into account, too?"
"I did. Hence the shadow holograms."
Alynna shook her head in exasperation beneath her facsimile helmet, and Lux watched the hologram fuzz, unable to track the gesture smoothly. She freed her arm from his and lengthened her stride to a steady lope. With the quiet popping of joints settling into place, Alynna threw her shoulders back and straightened her spine.
Lux blinked. The transformation was so small when he broke it down, but it flipped her bearing from cautious to commanding in the space of two heartbeats. His love for her burned higher in his chest, and not for the first time, he marvelled at how lucky he was to have met someone like her.
"Lux," she hissed in warning, and Lux got the message. Flushing, he mimicked her as best he could, and was rewarded by a gruff noise of approval.
The real Noreino guards nodded subtly as the pair of pretenders passed them and leapt into the nondescript open-top airspeeder waiting on the platform, Lux in the pilot's seat and Ahsoka on the passenger side. Chanting prayers under his breath that their deception would hold long enough, Lux made the most cursory preflight check of his life and lifted off into the air.
No one tried to stop them. No one came to point and shout or call for reinforcements. Lux hit the accelerator and transmitted his clearance codes to the nearest traffic control tower – the operative of which was also on his payroll for the night – and sped out of the city.
The wind whipping over his hologram-veiled hair was freeing in a way Lux hadn't realized he missed, and before he knew it, he was grinning at Alynna through his translucent visor. Feeling reckless, he fed the engines more power, picking up speed until they'd left the city behind and cleared even the generous margin outside of it still in the thick of construction projects.
Laughing like a madman, Lux deactivated the shadow holograms and flew faster still. He choked off into silence when a hand scrabbled for his shoulder and latched on, and realized it was a wonder a bug hadn't flown into his mouth by now.
"Lux! Lux, this model doesn't have airbags," Alynna snapped over the wind.
Wincing, Lux dropped to a more manageable speed. "I'm sorry, I–"
They were too high above the trees to hit anything, and the skies were clear; Lux dared a glance over at her, and stuttered into silence once again. Alynna had her fist pressed to her mouth, eyes screwed shut and exhaling in fits through her nose like she was trying not to snort. The laughter won out before long, and it was only with difficulty that she managed to gasp out, "My– my brother would love you. Stars, I see now why you always travel with a chauffeur. Who the hell taught you to fly?"
"I, ah... technically, I never got my license." At her raised brows, he added, "But I'd nearly finished the course before the uprising, and we're not going far."
"And where is that?"
Lux smiled. "That's for me to know, and you to find out in... about an hour."
"Tease."
"Tease? Me? Is that how you want to play?" He grinned. "Now who was it that kissed whom in order to retrieve a certain bottle of Chandrilan rum?"
Alynna slouched in her seat, crossing her arms. "Point," she said sulkily. Then she perked up. "But you're forgetting that I was drunk when I did that. You, sir, are clearly in your right mind. Demented laughter notwithstanding."
Lux shut his eyes for a blissful second, enjoying the moment. "I'm so giddy about the company I might as well have had half a bottle of rum."
Alynna rolled her eyes, but her lekku and montrals had changed color slightly – something Lux had decided was the Togruta equivalent of a flush. "Okay, that's it," she said. "Park this thing so I can take over."
"You don't even know where we're going!"
"Where are we going?"
Certain now he was fighting a losing battle in trying to keep their destination under wraps, Lux brought the speeder to a standstill, and whispered a single name:
"Iziz."
The planetary capital of Onderon was beautiful. And not in the way Kyzeron was beautiful, either, with glitzy palaces erected side by side with slums that offered every hint to the indentures who had built them both. Iziz felt... right, to the feeble link Ahsoka maintained between herself and the Force. It felt good. Just by looking at them, she could tell the tasteful, orderly construction of the tall brick buildings and the bustling markets went far deeper than surface charm.
Ahsoka didn't need to hear Lux say this was his hometown. She would've known it in a heartbeat.
"It's wonderful to be back," Lux murmured as he hopped out of the speeder and stretched his legs. The scarf he'd draped over his hair to keep unwanted eyes off his face slipped as he flexed his arms above his head. Clambering out of the pilot's seat, Ahsoka went over to fix it for him, tucking his bangs carefully in place under the fine burgundy cloth.
His left hand alighted on her waist, present without pressuring, and he tilted her chin up with his right. Smiling, she answered the carefully inquiring look in his eyes with a kiss, leaning forward onto the tips of her toes to reach his mouth.
The hand on her waist slid up to her back to embrace her properly, and with a hum he angled his face tighter into the kiss. Ahsoka's smile grew, and she latched onto his plain, loose-fitting shirt to pull him closer. Lux's kisses were a rush of pure oxytocin, and here in his arms on an expedition to a new city she could only imagine he'd orchestrated for her sake, she could almost forget...
Sister-leader. It was too easy to picture Rex saying that in the affectionate tone he'd always had ready for her off the battlefield. It was easier still to imagine his voice warping to the accusing yell he'd reserved for captured enemies, his kind face tight with fury as he demanded to know why his vod'alor had abandoned him.
Sensing her change in mood, Lux planted one last peck on her lips and drew far back enough to speak. The hand on her chin rose to gesture at a building that at a glance looked like a small apartment complex. "First stop on our grand tour of the city, since it's the easiest to reach from Kyzeron: our former rebel base."
Gazing up at the tall, thin building that looked so much like the others on the street, something twitched at the edge of Ahsoka's awareness. Perhaps she was only sensing Lux's strong connection to the place, but... it felt like she knew it. Like she'd been here before, in another lifetime.
She pushed the feeling away to address another question. "Why is it so small? Were you keeping your equipment at a secondary base? There's no way you could fit an entire fighting force here. This has, what? A dozen apartments, tops?"
"It suited our needs perfectly, actually," he said, something wistful coloring his aura in the Force. "We weren't a large group, and even in the stints when we had a decent number of people, we never stayed in one place very long. It was better to be cramped but undetected than to give everyone their space."
"Oh. I just... I know time and distance can dilute anything, and tale-tellers like to play things up for their listeners, but all the stories I've heard about the Rebellion made it sound so much bigger."
"Unfortunately, that's all it was – tale-telling. At the height of our power, in the few weeks before we fled to the plateaus, this place was our command center."
"And after that? The stories never said."
With a leisurely stride Lux crossed the street and laid a hand affectionately on the brickwork. Ahsoka was reminded of someone comforting an old friend after a funeral, and in a sense, perhaps he was. "I think you can guess what happened," he said softly once she'd followed him.
"The final battle," she murmured. He nodded, bowing his head, and Ahsoka stepped closer to wrap an arm around him. He melted into her touch, arching down to kiss her left montral in thanks. Deciding a subject change was in order, she butted his shoulder to get his attention. "Why was the Rebellion of Onderon so small? The conditions for working-class people who wanted to chip in back then couldn't have been as bad then as they are now."
Lux wet his lips, brow furrowed, and Ahsoka wondered if she shouldn't have asked about something else. "In retrospect, they weren't much better," he said. "The commoners were well-treated by the bourgeoisie and the nobility, and the poorest had many avenues for help other than filing for bankruptcy. But the class system kept a lot of the wealth circulating in small circles, and that isn't fair. The largest change is that back then, there was no chance of getting your citizenship revoked."
Ahsoka sighed. "Listen, I know the Empire played a huge part, but I never understood how Onderon went from advocating the freedom of all people to an– an authoritarian oligarchy with the legal infrastructure to enslave millions of people."
"It wasn't as simple as jumping from one to the other, that's for sure. It was a lot more convoluted. But the inciting incident was a witch hunt."
Ahsoka frowned. "Witch hunt?"
"After Sanjay Rash was found out by the Confederacy and branded a traitor to his people, the upper levels of government were scoured for any corruption that remained, hiding beneath the surface. Though I'm certain only the most expendable officials were actually prosecuted, when the time came," Lux added, smiling bitterly. "In order to deflect blame from both the nobility and the Separatists, a scapegoat was found: Rash's offworlder mother, who came to Onderon to seek her fortune. Her rise to power was a real rags to riches story, but her 'foreign' influence to his upbringing put all her victories into question.
"Through clever, twisted publicity campaigns – campaigns I would've fought tooth and nail, had I not been under house arrest – the enemy became not Onderon's prodigal ex-king and the entities who'd backed him, but the untrustworthy masses living beyond the frontier of our system. Onderon is such a wealthy planet because only a relatively small population is here to split its resources. At the thought of offworlders thieving away the land and its riches that were their inheritance, the people panicked. They were the ones, not the nobility, who called for tighter and tighter restrictions on who could live on or even visit Onderon before punitive action was taken."
"But it was all manipulated!"
"Yes, it was. But it was done so cleverly no blame could ever be pinned on anyone." Lux's lips curled in disgust. "The nobles and officials responsible could simply claim they were doing the people's will when they rewrote the constitution, when they enslaved and impoverished the innocent to further the story."
"So this is Dooku's doing."
"Him, the Separatists, the worst of Onderon's wealthy and powerful. I've long known who my biggest enemies are, but the culture of excess and cruelty my father has encouraged makes it difficult to separate new foes from potential allies who are only going along with it to fit in."
"And even when the insurgents were at their most powerful, you were still too few to make enough of a difference." Ahsoka looked up at the building again, and that same muffled throb at the back of her mind grew stronger. Much as she'd been able to imagine her and Lux's comrades together at the villa what felt like so long ago now, if she squinted, she could just see the shapes of armor-clad rebels moving in the windows, or slouched in the entryway and balconies keeping covert watch.
Ahsoka had a connection to Onderon, to Lux, that she didn't fully understand, but the longer she stayed, the more she felt in her bones that she had unfinished business here. Onderon and the clever man who'd once represented it abroad were important, somehow.
"We were," Lux was saying, and Ahsoka drew herself back to the present. "I had money, but we weren't able to secure outside help to arm and supply ourselves – the kinds of things that give a movement security and independence. That allow more members to flock to the cause, no matter their financial situation."
"Well, who did you approach? There's no way the Republic would've have passed up a chance to gain a foothold on a rich Separatist world like Onderon."
"We did," Lux grit out bitterly. "We went to the Jedi Council personally. They said their hands were tied unless the Senate chose to get involved. A legally elected monarch made the decision to join the Separatists, and how could I ever have made any contacts in the Order of all places to plead my case for me?" He shook his head angrily took and a deep breath. "I respect the Jedi as a concept – really, I do – but in practice they were a lot more disconnected from galactic affairs than they seemed."
Uneasy for a reason she couldn't fully explain and more than a little irate, Ahsoka withdrew a step to face him. "Have you ever met a Jedi? Aside from speaking to the Council, have you ever met one? A Knight, or a Padawan."
"There were a few I saw with my mother when we were in the Senate..."
"Let me rephrase: that you've spoken to. Had a long conversation with."
"No, I don't think I have," he allowed. Ahsoka nearly snorted at that. "But I know you can understand my feelings about them! I spent years thinking General Krell cut him down and killed him – my father, whose worst crime in that war was setting up an outpost to ferry supplies to worlds further behind the Separatist line."
"There was a war going on, Lux – and the rules are different when it comes to two enemies on either side of a conflict!" She crossed her arms to keep from balling her hands into fists. "Besides, Krell proved to be nothing more than a common thug who abused his power. Every institution has them, and the men under his command were quick to root him out once he'd shown his true character."
"Yes, yes, they were," Lux said, his voice suddenly warm and charming. The rising anger in him was smoothed over, tucked away for later, and Ahsoka felt the fight seep out of her.
This wasn't right. Lux was going out of his way to make her feel better, and here she was, arguing with him. Worst of all, he wasn't wrong: the Jedi Order did have flaws, and glaring ones. They'd let the politics of the Senate detach them from people who needed them, and they'd let the brutality of the war harden them into soldiers when they were meant to be keepers of the peace.
And then there were the rules about creating emotional bonds with people, attaching yourself to them and investing your happiness in their happiness, that Ahsoka had been questioning in the back of her mind ever since she met Anakin.
"No," she said sharply. "No, don't back off just because you don't want to make me angry. The Jedi are flawed; it's just tough for me to admit that. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Lux put an arm around her, smiling softly. "I probably should've been more considerate. I didn't know you were so invested in them."
Oh, if only you knew, she thought. "I am. Definitely, I am."
"I guess it's heartening, sometimes, to think you have a savior somewhere out there – defenders of the common people and keepers of the peace, and all that. But often you really just need to step up and help yourself. That's something I'm still learning, I think. I'm trying to figure out how much I can give and how much I need to keep for myself."
The words rattled around inside Ahsoka's skull, the truth undeniable now that it had been spoken aloud. Ahsoka pursed her lips. It was heartening to imagine there was a savior coming to bring her back someplace things made sense, and it had been easier still to convince herself slavery was some kind of twisted test of mettle and devotion to the ways with which she had been taught. She couldn't place the exact moment she'd stopped believing that story – her decision to help Ashalla, discovering that Barriss had suffered the same fate Ahsoka herself had, the choice to start building a network of people that could help themselves – but her adherence to the Jedi Code had become cursory at best.
She wasn't counting on her fellow Jedi or even her old comrades to come help her. Kuro's words in the slave quarters of Noreino House about being the bearer of hope, of being too important to lose, drifted back to her. She'd started believing she had to make her way back to them alone, or not at all, and in the process, she'd become the savior other people were looking to for help.
She wasn't sure who that person was yet, but with Lux's help, with Onderon's help, she was starting to learn.
"I think I've been doing that without realizing it," she told him. "It's not perfect yet for me, either, but... I'm learning, too."
Lux kissed her temple, squeezing her midriff a little tighter. "In that case, I'm proud of you for trying, considering how much you've been through. And I'm happy you reminded me how to do the same."
Ahsoka's head whipped up, but Lux had begun speaking again before she could figure out what to say in response. "Come on, there's this beautiful fountain a few streets over that catches the setting sun in the most magical way. If we hurry, we might be in time to see it. It was my favorite place to read whenever I was in this part of town, before the Separatists came to Onderon."
"For someone who talks so much about reading, I never see you doing much of it," Ahsoka teased. "It's always coding, or HoloNet browsing, or digging through all those massive legal documents and trade agreements."
Lux grinned and offered her his arm. "I'm a politician through and through. With the upbringing I had, what else would I be reading?"
Ahsoka linked her elbow through his with a snicker that soon turned to full-blown giggles, nudging him sharply in the side. Grinning slyly, he nudged her back, and matched her laughter with his own as they started off down the street.
Rex's anger still reverberated in the back of her mind, but Lux's presence at her side kept his voice from growing loud enough to overcome her. And perhaps, for now, that would be enough to keep her going.
And so Ahsoka has found herself playing the hero even to her... friend? Lover? Partner She can't be sure yet what exactly Lux means to her, or what they have; all she knows for sure is that it's in serious contempt of the Jedi Code. What will the person she's become since her youngling days, a woman shaped by trauma and institutionalized cruelty, decide is the right course? What is the cause of the strange things Ahsoka has been sensing every time Lux mentions the Rebellion of Onderon during the Clone Wars? Only time will tell...
Ahsoka's inner balance is really delicate right now, and grief threatens her but with Lux to help her, she just might get through losing Rex in one piece. I take this to mean she and Lux will only be growing closer after this, but mourning is a long process, and they still need to have some difficult conversations before they can truly see eye to eye. Their feelings on the Jedi is one, and this chapter was the start of it.
Plus, it was an opportunity to really show what a symbol of hope Ahsoka is becoming for everyone around her, AND to give you guys some world building context. I've been trying to introduce Onderonian culture and politics in small doses and keep them plot-relevant, and having Ahsoka there to critique it as Lux delivers it made it a really fun way to fit another piece into place.
Next chapter, we'll return to Kyzeron. The past has spent the night catching up to Lux, and with Vader on the hunt and Elites everywhere, it might just be Ahsoka's turn. I'll talk to you guys then!
The rest of the ride passed in comfortable silence as Lux diverted more and more of his focus to his surroundings – wary of making a mistake in front of her now that he knew Ahsoka could fly a speeder, perhaps. Before long, they'd touched down in the alley beside a dingy stone building that looked to Ahsoka's untrained eye like some kind of administrative center. There was no sign or engraving above the door listing its exact purpose, but Lux radiated confidence into the Force.
They were definitely in the right place.
"There's always a clerk or two here, even this late at night," he said by way of explanation for why they were here as he disembarked. "I won't be long. I just need to get something notarized."
"Okay."
Lux's eyes sparkled as he grinned at her, and warmth burst from a low flicker to high flames in her chest. Jumping out of the speeder after him, Ahsoka threw her arms around him and hugged him close. With a laugh, Lux squeezed her just as tight, nearly lifting her clean off the ground.
"Thank you for this, Lux," she whispered against his shoulder, breathing in his sweet scent of citrus and herbs until she was nearly dizzy with it. "You know you didn't have to–"
"I wanted to. That was reason enough."
Emotions she couldn't name welling up inside her, Ahsoka threaded her fingers through his hair and yanked him down for a fierce kiss. Lux met her with a kiss that was deeper still, and Ahsoka was just beginning to contemplate dragging him back down into the speeder when he pulled away.
"I– Alynna, I have to do this," he said, kissing her nose in apology. "I've put it off too long already. I'll be right back, I promise."
Ahsoka forced herself to nod and tuck her arms down at her sides instead of pulling him closer. He withdrew, turning to flash her one last smile as he rounded the building to the front entrance. There was a swish-click as the door slid open and shut, faint with the distance, and then she was left alone.