The Mandalorian Jedi

Chapter Eighteen

TW - Descriptions of death

Not so long after that battle Obi-Wan was sent to Mandalore to find out more of the rumors around Duchess Satine joining the Seperatists, I wouldn't be telling this story but at the moment you know very little about my past and well this brought me straight back to the planet where I had spent my early years, perhaps by retelling this particular story I can reveal more of the past I left behind when Obi-Wan and Anakin found me outside Ziro's place in the lower levels of Coruscant. 

While I was not a part of Obi-Wan's actual trip to Mandalore, Master Windu felt it would be appropriate to send me along given my history with the planet and while I didn't put up a fuss I couldn't help the sick feeling that arose in me as we drew nearer the planet, Anakin managed not to notice how uncomfortable I was and sidled over to me,
"So... Death Watch, do you know anything about it?" 
"No." I said it too quickly and my friend gave me a questioning look but Norah, who stood on my other side, glared at him and touched my arm gently. I tensed at the touch but didn't move away, one of my many mistakes when it came to her. Mistakes that would lead to a terrible fate, I should have realized what was going on when things like that happened but my ignorant ass ignored all the signs and the galaxy was worse off for it. Anyway, that is for another time. 

I eventually shifted away from her and turned to Anakin,
"They are the reason I'm here, the reason I'm a Jedi. Well partially. They are not nice, they are not good and they will murder anything and anyone who stands in their path, not just warriors but innocents too, men, women, children, the old, the young, the helpless. They've destroyed entire villages and watched the residents burn in their homes and laughed about it afterwards." I felt a few clones shudder behind me. I looked away and this time Anakin got the message and didn't say anything else, he left me to my thoughts, the memories that I had buried down deep that began to resurface at the sight of the once familiar city. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, shuddering slightly as the sounds of blaster fire bouncing off the protective beskar my mother had once worn rang through my ears and the echoes of shouted Mando'a slurs. The screams of my father telling us to go, yelling at my mother to take me and run as far as we could, the feeling of her tears against my skin as she lifted me off the ground and began to ran, whispering prayers to long dead gods. We had all survived that night but over a decade later the remnants of that fateful night still ripped through my dreams and drove me from sleep. 

The hiss of the doors opening shook me out of the coma like state I had fallen into and both Anakin and Norah gave me concerned looks as we left the ship and for the first time since I was six years old I found myself home. My heart physically skipped a few beats and I was left short of breath, pulling in air through my mouth and nose as fast as I could, too fast. Anakin placed a hand on my back,
"Rhea? Rhea you're hyperventilating, I think you should go back to the ship, get back to Coruscant. I'm sure Master Windu can find you another mission." I shook my head and tried focusing my mind, on the present instead of the past and the task ahead of me. I managed to slow my breathing back down and loosened the painfully tight grip I had subdued both Anakin and Norah to,
"No, no I'll be fine. We'll be out of here soon enough. I just need to keep myself distracted until the Duchess is ready. I'm fine, I'm fine." I was telling that to myself more than everyone else and it helped, slightly. I still felt the confused and worried looks of both Rex and Cody boring into my back but I pulled myself together and kept my head as turned away from the city as possible.

Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine were talking when we arrived,
"Anakin, Rhea, Norah, I am very glad to see you."
"Nice to see you too Master Kenobi, and it is nice to meet you Duchess, I amd Norah, this is Rhea and Anakin." We all bowed our heads and I made the very stupid mistake of talking in Mando'a,
"Bic cuyir jate at urcir gar." The Duchess looked more than a bit surprised,
"You speak Mando'a?"
"Not much, I once met a Mandalorian on a mission, he taught me some of the more common phrases."
"Ah..." She smiled and walked towards the ship. Obi, Norah and Anakin all looked at me,
"What was that about?"
"Hopefully nothing, I just need you to not let me speak anymore Mando'a and not let my last name slip under any circumstances or else we are all going to be in a deep pile of shit."
"What's wrong with your last name? Or speaking Mando'a?"
"It's too complicated to explain for the moment but the short end of the stick, Clan Keldau used to be leading members of Death Watch if either the Mandalorian's or Death Watch find that out, well my clan didn't have good relations either by the time the last of s were supposedly killed and I tend to speak the Concordian dialect which is only spoken on Concordia, the moon Death Watch was exiled to. The one I was born on."
"Gods," Obi-Wan turned to the clones behind him, "No one calls her General Keldau, you only refer to her as 'Sir' or if desperately needed then General Skywalker, Anakin's sister. They act enough like siblings for it to pass. Do you understand?"
"Sir, yes, Sir." The troopers put their hands to their chests and nodded and we all turned away from the planet I had once called home and onto the awaiting ship, the relief I felt as soon as my feet where off that familiar ground was astounding and Rex put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, it was brief but it made me feel better and I silently thanked him with a slight nod of my head.