The Survivor

Five

A Past Gift

"And I don't wanna leave, but I have to go..." 

Shadow and I had been briefed of every entry, exit, guard, and guest that would be at the building Padme was speaking at.  

We were in position, standing close to the stage on either side.  People were still filing in, and Padme wasn't here, but the guy with the eye patch had assured us they'd be fine with security until she got into the room. 

I glanced at Shadow to find him looking at me with a puzzled face, as if he'd been studying me.  When he noticed me staring back after two minutes he quickly looked away, whistling unsuspiciously.  

Ugh, boys.  

"Everyone in position?"  Eye patch guy said over comms.  

"Check," Shadow whispered into his comm.  We were far enough apart so I couldn't hear him, but I decided to stare straight at him for no reason.  "Any way we can get some food?  I'm starving."  

"You will be provided food after the speech," Eye Patch said after a few seconds of silence.  

When the last few people filed in, the doors closed for a few minutes before opening, Padme walking through.  Shadow and I both straightened and turned our attention to her, glancing around the room for any hidden threats.  

Padme came up to the stage, standing behind a podium.  She began her speech, which I zoned out of, keeping my attention on any possible threats.  There wasn't any that I could see, but I still felt a feeling of unease settling over me-different than usual.  

The talk continued minutes ticking by with no sign of threat.  It got to halfway through Padme's speech, and no attempt, which was weird.  Surely, someone, anyone, would have gotten impatient waiting so long and would have made an assassination attempt already.  

I would have-not that I was an assassin.  

Just when Padme was about to bring up a new topic in her speech (I was half listening) shot came from a vent in the ceiling.  My first instinct was to stop it with the force and send it back where it came, like I'd done so many times before.  

But I couldn't reveal myself.  Instead, I ran as fast as I could and jumped in front of Padme, tackling her and using myself as a shield.  With the rush of adrenaline, I didn't notice the bullet hitting my upper right arm.  

Shadow ran after the shooter, trying to find a way into the vents.  I looked around before sitting up, keeping a careful watch on Padme.  Eye Patch ran up to us, making sure we were okay.  I got to my feet and ran to where Shadow was staring up at the ceiling, jumping into the vent.  

It was dark, very little light in the vent systems, and dustier than I thought it would be.  I felt the shooter moving through the vent in a hurry, having been slowed down from packing up their rifle.  Trying to be as quiet as I could, I crawled through the vents after the shooter.  

As I picked up my pace, I could hear the shooter shuffling quickly not too far in front of me.  It got darker in the vents, which is why I smacked into the end of it.  The vents continued up, and I could see the shooter struggling to climb up.  

"Shadow," I whispered in my commlink.  "We're exiting the vent outside the room we were just in, be ready."  

"I'm here," he replied almost instantly.  "Where are you?"  

I backed up in the small space, glancing down at the latch directly below the climb in the vent.  Slowly, I reached out in the force and pulled at the shooter, dragging them down and through the hatch.  They fell with a loud thump.  

Down below, I could see Shadow disarming them and Eye Patch cuffing their hands.  Shadow looked up in the vent and I jumped down, landing on my feet.  He immediately walked over to me, looking over my arm.  It was then that I noticed I'd taken the shot meant for Padme.  

"You need to get this looked at," he said, his voice neutral and his face blank, but there was the tiniest glimmer of worry in his eyes.  

"I'm fine-" 

"You can handle him, right?"  Shadow asked Eye Patch, who nodded.  "Good.  I'm taking her to a medic."  

He didn't let me protest, dragging me through the palace to the medical bay.  A nurse came over to us immediately, taking one glance at my arm and rushing to grab supplies.  Shadow made me sit down on a cot, sitting in a chair next to me and not looking anywhere but at me with a firm gaze.  

The nurse quickly cleaned my arm with disinfectant, which made me wince from the sting, and wrapped the wound.  I bit my lip, grimacing.  I'd been shot plenty of times before, but I didn't have anyone I knew around.  Not my master, or my old clone legion, or the Batch.  

That made the wound only hurt worse.  

"Shadow, Irene," Padme said, and we both whirled around to look at her.  "Thank you both for your heroics today.  If I could, I was wondering if I could have a word with you, Irene."  Padme looked directly in my eyes, telling me she knew who I was.  

Crap.  

Shadow glanced at me before nodding, standing and heading to the door.  Once he was gone, Padme walked closer, stopping at the foot of my cot.  

"Jora Dame, right?"  She said, and I reluctantly nodded.  "I knew you looked familiar.  I'm not going to alert the Council of your presence, I just wanted to give you something."  

I looked at her curiously, my eyebrows creasing together.  "Give me what?" 

Again, it was at that moment I realized she had her hands clasped behind her back.  I really needed to be more observant.  She revealed a slender wooden box, holding it out in front of her delicately, as if what was inside was important.  

My arms hesitantly reached out to open it, the wound on my right making me wince.  When I opened the box, I froze.  

"I realize you're not a Jedi anymore," Padme said.  "But I believe you still want to help people, even without the Republic.  And these can help with that.  I had to pull a couple of strings, but I doubt the Council will notice these missing."  

I ever so slowly picked up the lightsabers.  They felt cold to the touch but fit perfectly in my hands as they always had.  One silver, one gray.  Tree markings etched on the metal was all too familiar.  

"Padme, I..."  I couldn't think of anything to say.  

She smiled.  "I trust you'll know what to do with them."  She hesitated a second.  "I'm sure it's hard for you to trust anyone after what happened to you, but I believe Shadow is trustworthy.  He could be a valuable alley-a valuable friend if you told him.  Goodbye, Jora Dame."  

I didn't answer, half unaware of the present.  By the time I regained focus, the medical bay was completely empty except for me.  I grabbed my satchel, changing into my black overalls and tugging the jacket on over it, leaving behind the painful heels and putting on my laced boots.  

Shadow was waiting for me at the ship, arms crossed.  I had my lightsabers hidden in my satchel.  Despite what Padme had said, I felt as if there was a block.  Something in my physically couldn't tell him my secret.  Not yet.  

Maybe one day.  

1271 Words 

Written September 9th-13th, 2024 

Published September 28th, 2024