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ARAMINTA had the distinct feeling that something was crawling across her skin. As they dusted themselves off and called for a ship to load Poggle into and briefly explained what had happened to Mundi through a transmission, Araminta had not been able to avoid feeling like something was under her skin.
It was a hard feeling to shake, but she knew it was all in her head. Something psychological she had picked up from seeing worms capable of rendering them useless corpses right in front of her, seen the lifeless eyes of undead soldiers look right through her despite the knife in their stomach.
Araminta had felt like an imposter in her own body before– a soul in a weapon that someone else owned. She was still reeling from that in her head– the simple idea of a worm slithering into her brain and making it someone else's was completely terrifying. That and warriors that couldn't die had completely shaken her entire skillset which, granted, was made to kill. But if something couldn't be killed, then what was she worth?
The others were shaken on varying levels by what they had encountered in the catacombs as they waited for backup, Araminta massaging the tender spot on her stomach. The healed injury truthfully hadn't bothered her during their underground escapade, but it seemed that now she had stopped moving, the muscle was complaining. She supposed she had been impaled by shrapnel.
A shadow fell over and she looked to see Anakin by her side, chest almost against her shoulder. "You alright?" he asked quietly. Araminta briefly looked to see Obi-wan and Luminara focused on Poggle, before glancing back up at her partner.
"Fine," she responded. "Just didn't expect, well, any of that."
Anakin shrugged. "True. Not quite what I had in mind when Obi-wan said to be prepared for anything." Araminta's lip twitched, and she shook her head.
She had looked at him for a moment longer than was appropriate before the moment passed and she lowered her eyes to the sand.
They didn't have to wait long for reinforcements to arrive. Poggle's capture had earned multiple transport ships and Mundi himself to land in a small ship, and as he disembarked, he was followed by Ahsoka, and Luminara's padawan, Barriss. She, too, was Mirialan, but much smaller, with bright eyes.
"Master!" Ahsoka greeted warmly.
"Hey, Snips," Anakin responded, moving from where he had been standing with Araminta.
To her left, Araminta saw Barriss and Luminara exchange pleasantries, something akin to the padawan's gratitude at her master making it out alive, but it was not the same relationship Ahsoka and Anakin shared. Araminta should have come to expect that now.
Mundi looked grave as their prisoner was escorted, with much clicking and complaining, into the ship. "I'm afraid we have a complication," he sighed.
