That won't happen to you

Chapter 69

The darkness was not completely gone, because it was still the only thing her eyes could perceive.

But suddenly it was overlaid, from a network of impressions that came from the Force.

Not through her eyes. Only through the Force, for the first time in days, did she really know where she was.

What it looked like around her.

Smiling, she stood up and let the Force guide her through the area. Followed thread by thread, strand by strand, and let herself drift.

She was still hurting. But all the pain in her battered body seemed forgotten.

They were replaced by curiosity. By a desire to know.

She wanted to know who she was.

She wanted to know what this power was.

She wanted to know what this power could do.

She wanted to know what she herself could do.

Her mind was freer than ever before, and finally she was able to escape the darkness in which she had been trapped for so long.

She could escape into the force. Be free.

The darkness would come back, she knew deep inside.

The darkness was not yet defeated. It was strong. Almost as strong as the girl herself. But still the Togruta would defeat it. Every time again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

As many times as it took. Until the end of her life. And beyond.

But now she allowed herself this moment of absolute freedom and security. This moment of peace.

Because the thought of it, the thought of darkness, had moved deep to the back, where it just didn't bother her.

There where it belonged.

After all, she had decided not to think about the future.

Not future, not past.

Only the present.

She continued to roam the woods, watching the life around her through the force.

She sensed it in the trees, over whose bark her fingers slid.

In the grass that tickled between her toes.

In the animals that, lured by her newfound calm, stayed near her, watching her curiously.

She laid her head back and drowned her limbs in the sun, whose warmth she felt but whose light she did not see.

She closed her eyes, and for a moment could have sworn to catch a glimpse of light.

Hastily she opened her eyes again. But sadly, she was mistaken.

The force let her see, but it could not restore her sight.

She bit her lip, and dropped into a sitting position.

The darkness came faster than one thought, especially when confronted from so many sides.

Like a dark boil, her past weighed on her.

And now that the euphoria had disappeared, the pain was also making itself known again.

Exhausted, she let herself fall backwards, hoping that the coolness of the ground would fight the heat in her body.

She felt like she was burning and yet like she was freezing.

So terribly, terribly cold.