⁰¹ Rise With The Dawn || The Acolyte

xxxvi. Another One Opens

"Osha." Kalna caught up to her and Osha sighed.

"Why did you change sides?" Osha questioned and Kalna glanced at her silently, before Osha scoffed. "Yord and Jecki are dead, I killed Sol and you still had a Padawan..."

"I changed sides, because the Jedi Order took my memories away." Kalna said and Osha's eyes narrowed. "They took away my memories of Qimir and I, when I was young enough to remember him as just my older brother." She said quietly.

"Did they put something back, that changed your mind about him?" Osha asked and Kalna blinked, before she was nodding.

"All that was left, was the darkness that I thought, that was all there was to him." She said quietly as she was picking up a few pebbles, before she was using the Force to spin them around. "They took away the good memories of my brother, they left behind only darkness and thank you to Laena, because now I have them back." She said.

"Was there any part of you at all, that wanted to stay?" Kalna lifted her eyebrows at her. "That wanted to stay with the Jedi Order, out of some sort of loyalty?" Osha questioned and Kalna glanced down at the spinning pebbles that were swiftly just flying around her hands.

Jecki stifled her laughter at the sight of embarrassed Yord, who was steaming his robes in the middle of the ship and Kalna burst out laughing with no remorse whatsoever.

Krilponnia was barking words at her and they trained together, while Kalna was just happy to be out of the settlements and the cities. She just completely wanted to stay away from them as best as she could, so her emotions were clear.

Kalna, Osha and Yord as Padawans and the three of them were sparring back and forth, as Kalna laughed when she won for the umpteenth time, even against both of them.

"Jecki. Yord. Kelnacca. Indara. Torbin."

As the names of the dead flashed through her mind, so did their faces as she looked at the raging sea.

"Krilponnia. Tasi."

The ones that she had left behind by choice and had wiped memories from others, they were also running through her head.

"If Krilponnia hadn't understood, then I would have stayed for him." Kalna admitted quietly. "Until I completed his training, I would have stayed with him. Maybe even would have trained Tasi Lowa. But... Would I spend the rest of my life there? No." Kalna admitted.

It had been a few days since they had arrived and Laena, she was still unconscious but she was alive and breathing. Which was most of what they could hope for.

When a ship appeared from hyperspace at random one day, Kalna came running out of the cave and she was handing her lightsaber over to Qimir, who still had yet to rebuild his own blade.

"Kal, can you sense who it is?" Qimir questioned and Kalna shrugged.

"I don't need to. There is a coiled vexis painted on the side of the ship." Kalna stated as she gestured to the ship. Dregan brought it in for a landing and he was walking out into the sunlight. "Where's your Padawan learner?"

"Back on Coruscant. Preparing for the funeral rites." Dregan said and Kalna was nodding slightly at the words. "I got this for you." A familiar lightsaber hilt was thrown through the air and Kalna caught it, looking down at the lightsaber hilt as the yellow beam ignited and she was looking down at it.

"Thanks." Kalna said quietly, now very clearly stubbornly fighting to keep her voice steady, as she deactivated the lightsaber and she was leaving it on her belt.

"That's not really why I'm here." Dregan stated as he was pacing back and forth. "I have been tasked with leading a team to find you." He nodded at Qimir, who sighed at the words. "Master Vernestra sensed you back on Brendok, she knows that you're still alive. She has tasked me with hunting you down... And also, Mae is actually meant to be a part of my team."

"Why are you telling us this then?" Osha asked in confusion. "Why aren't you taking all of us into custody right now and getting it over with?" She wondered.

"Because you deserve a chance to decide what your own fate will be." Dregan said as he was looking at the cave behind them. "Is she still unconscious?"

"She hasn't woken up yet..." Qimir began and Kalna's eyes flashed, before she looked at him. "I stand corrected." He said as they were taking off down the rocky beach and the others followed quickly, running up the beach and into the cave.

Laena was looking around quickly as she was searching for something.

"Laena!" Kalna called out, practically shouting at the top of her lungs but she didn't react, and she was continuing to look for whatever it was. "What's wrong with her?" She asked and Qimir glanced at her and he took a couple of the pebbles out of her hand, before he threw them and despite them making a loud noise against the stone, Laena didn't react.

"She can't hear anymore." Qimir muttered quietly as they all looked at each other. "We are just going to have to be even more careful around her now." He said and he carefully walked into her line of sight and she was looking at him, before she tapped her ears and shook her head.

"You sign, I speak." Kalna said and Qimir shrugged. "We know that you can't hear, we threw rocks and you didn't react. We will find a way to sort this out but for now, you are going to have to get used to your new reality." Qimir sighed quickly and Laena nodded in agreement. "And also, try not to kill any of us." Kalna stated and Laena briefly closed her eye, before she was nodding in agreement.

"Now, what do we do?" Qimir translated for the newly deafened warrior and then Kalna was looking over at Laena, who was signing.

"We try to adjust to our new normal." Kalna said and then she was swiftly spinning the newly acquired lightsaber in her hands, tossing it from hand to hand. "We have to remember that we are being hunted, that our spy is now a tracker that has been sent to hunt you." Qimir glanced at Laena, who could sense it. "Another chapter has opened for all of us. We are about to become the hunted." She said and Dregan silently watched them. "Can you delay your team?" She asked.

"I can lead them on a wild and merry chase, all across the galaxy." Dregan promised and she nodded, before he walked out of the cave and he was making his way to the ship again, before they were all filing out to look at him. The ship took off and they all looked at each other, before they ignited their sabers.

Qimir used Kalna's white saber, Laena used her own, Osha used her newly acquired red blade and Yord's old lightsaber flashed to life in Kalna's hand. The four of them fought it out as they were training, determined to be ready for the day that it came.

That they would be hunted and that they would be found. One day it would come but for right now, all they could do was prepare for the day that it came.