The Legend of the Jedi Queen

78. Smoke and Fire

The library of holocrons and Jedi tomes were empty. Left basking in the cool blue glow of the room, Nellith fiddled with the holocron necklace hidden beneath her shirt. She'd briefly gone to her room to retrieve it. It acted as a sort of protection, in some ways, from her new awakening to the Force. Her two lightsabers hung on her belt: the one she built, and the one Jaina gave her that belonged to Luke Skywalker. In a special pouch, her grandfather's DL-44 waited for a fight.

Wearing these relics made her feel safe, and ready for going up against Abeloth. She glanced at Tallis.

"We can do a database search," she said. "You know how to do that?"

Tallis frowned and shook his head. "I'm good with mechanics, not computers."

Nellith nodded, and approached the central control monitor. "Mum and Dad hooked up all of their data and holocrons into a computer, with general information and keywords as to what's in them. If looking specifically for the throne doesn't work, we'll look up myths and legends."

"In that case, we manually go through them," Tallis realized. "You're a genius."

"About time you realized that," Nellith teased as she entered in each command, careful and deliberate in her word choices. "Alright, entered it in. Now we wait for the commands to sift through."

"How long will that take?" Tallis asked, tapping his fingers against the table.

"Only a few minutes," Nellith said. She glanced back at him. "You're jumpy. Everything alright?"

He bit his lip. "I want to make this right. As soon as possible."

"You already have," Nellith assured him. "You're here, aren't you?"

"That's true." His words were hesitant and deliberate, yet short and clipped.

"What are you planning to do, that you said I wouldn't like?" Nellith asked, turning around completely to face him. "Just spit it out, Tallis."

He shook his head. "You really won't like the outcome."

"Are you going to betray us?" Nellith asked.

"No," Tallis said. "Not that."

Nellith frowned, sensing honesty.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked.

Nellith frowned, considering Jaina's words earlier.

"I'd never hurt you," he promised, reaching out for her face before retracting his hand in a spasm of shyness. "You know that."

"I do," Nellith admitted. "But I know my visions. And they end the same way, every time. My parents die at your hands."

With a well-timed look into his eyes, she knew she had latched onto something.

"You think it's somehow necessary to kill Abeloth," Nellith realized in horror.

He opened his mouth to protest, before deciding against it. He looked at his boots, and Nellith knew. It took all her strength to control herself.

"You're right, I don't like that," she said icily. "Pick a different plan!"

"The visions have been the same for a little over a month!" Tallis cried, throwing his hands into the air. He then planted them on his hips. "Haven't you realized? We've got a destiny, and it's already been decided for us!"

"I control my destiny!" Nellith cried, jabbing a finger at her heart. "I don't like the vision, so I'll change it! I don't like the plan— so change it!"

"You don't even know the specifics!" Tallis cried.

"I know there's a result I don't want!" Nellith shouted. "I don't want my first boyfriend to kill my parents! Do you have any idea how awful that is?"

"Yeah, I know that!" Tallis shouted back. "But it's worse to have Abeloth and the Second Order ruling over the galaxy!"

"Why don't we sit down and figure out a plan that doesn't involve killing my parents?" Nellith screamed.

Tallis flinched, as if she had hit him. Nellith stumbled backwards by the sheer force of her scream.

"I didn't mean to scream it," Nellith said, her voice a little hoarse. "I'm sorry. Let's sit down and talk about this."

"No, no," he mumbled to himself as he ran a hand through his hair. "I've got another idea."

"Are you sure you don't want to—"

"Do you trust me?" His newly yellowed-eyes pleaded with her.

Nellith hesitated, but even after that shouting match, she still knew the answer had not changed. "Of course."

He placed his hands around hers, looking at her for approval. She glanced down, revealing that if she was betrayed, or lied to, she would never forgive him. She looked to the monitor, desperate to return to the situation at hand, to distract herself from whatever was going on.

"Oh, look, we found a location," she said.

"Where?" He let go of her hands, and started tapping on the table again.

"There's no specifics," Nellith admitted. "But there's a Light Nexus on Jakku, where Palpatine built his Observatory. And legend has it the planet was green before some event happened. Some scholar suspects that something powerful is on Jakku."

"Artorias could be another one," Tallis said. "Their people know more about these myths."

"We could call Miri quickly, see what she knows," Nellith said.

"Do it," Tallis said. "We don't have much time."

Nellith punched in the commands for the computer, and the screen instantly showed the inside of Miri's room. The moonlight shined through the renovated Rainbow Palace, throwing strange refractions of light all around. The queen sat up, half-asleep.

"Nellith? How did you kriffing get into this kriffing network?" Miri asked as she untangled herself from her sheets.

"I didn't realize it was the night cycle for Artorias," Nellith said. "I'll just let you go—"

"No, I'm up now, so you'd better tell me what in the nine hells you woke me up for, or I will go to Uphatu myself and personally break your arm," Miri said. "Spill."

Nellith and Tallis quickly informed her to the situation and how the Throne of Balance might possibly be located on Jakku.

"That's likely," Miri said, rubbing her eyes. "I don't know my mythos the best, and no one knows where the Throne of Balance is, but if it wasn't on Mortis, Jakku would be the best bet."

"Thanks, Miri," Nellith said, reluctant to end the conversation. "I should let you know, this might be the last time you see us."

Miri snorted. "I doubt it. Skywalkers are like cockroaches: you'll always come crawling back, no matter who wants you dead. Take care, Nellith."

"You too," Nellith said, reaching out to touch the screen. She would always wonder about the possibilities between her and the queen, even now that she was with Tallis. She might have even come to love her at some point. But she was content to be her friend, even now, and to have found love elsewhere.

But the possibilities would always linger in the way summer on Aquilae did.

The transmission ended, and Nellith looked to Tallis. "We've got to get to Jakku."