Falling

Chapter XVII

Love how I said "WE'RE BACK, BABY" and instantly had another writer's block for almost a year. My bad 🤪

Anyways! Jumping RIGHT back into the fray! Enjoy!

Cal grinned as he jogged the path that led back to the Mantis, ship in sight and Astrium gripped tight in his hand. They had done it. Finally, after all their work, all of their trials, they finally found what they were looking for. They could finally go after the Holocron. He couldn't help the swell of pride in his chest.

As he got closer to the ship, a green mist formed a bit ahead, and his newest ally, the Nightsister Merrin, manifested out of the air. She gazed at the Mantis with curiosity, the markings on her face sharply yet elegantly streaked down the bridge of her nose, under her eyes, and along the apples of her cheeks, all of them symmetrical. "So there is Cere. There is your captain." She looked at him. "And there is your other friend."

He slowed to a walk and nodded. "Yeah. Nima. You'll like her."

Merrin nodded, looking at the ship again, her dark brown eyes a sharp contrast to the gray of her skin and white bunned-up hair. "She seemed cautious when I first observed them."

Cal's forehead creased in thought. He recalled Greez's message of paranoia about being watched. At least it wasn't a ghost like he'd said. "Really?"

"Yes. She's very perceptive."

He chuckled. That, he could agree with.

"I was surprised she sensed me at all," Merrin admitted.

"Yeah? What do you mean?"

"My presence. She felt it in the Force. I was sure I concealed it well, but she seemed to see through it."

Cal slowed to a stop and faced the Nightsister, his face screwed up in confusion. "Nima's not Force-sensitive," he said with... now only partial conviction.

"Perhaps she concealed it from you as well."

He barely gave the possibility a thought before shaking his head. "No. No, I would've known. She would have told me."

And yet, as he said that, he realized that he didn't actually know if she would have. She kept so many of her thoughts and emotions to herself already, reliant on her own being more than anyone else. It was rare she shared with him in a moment of comfort. How would this be any different? He never told her about his Force abilities; what reason did she have to tell him?

But he would have known, wouldn't he? Wouldn't he have sensed it himself at some point these past five years? Wouldn't he have recognized someone who shared the gift he and so many others possessed?

No, she was already on Bracca when he had arrived. She was already accustomed to everything around her at such a young age. She couldn't have been witness to the Purge. It was impossible. So what Merrin said couldn't be true.

Right?

Cal pondered it for a moment longer before continuing on the path to the Mantis. Nima would never lie to him, he told himself. At least, not about something as big as this. So Merrin had to be wrong.

The rest of the journey was quiet after that. Only the sound of his own footsteps accompanied the dry, whispering winds. Even though it wasn't as far as his previous travels, it felt like it took ages. Or maybe he was pretending it took ages. Maybe he didn't want to get back to the Mantis so quickly.

As he stepped through the threshold of the ship, he made a quick scan of the area. She wasn't waiting for him. Where was she? Did she know that he knew?