Hunted

IV. The Resistance

"Ouch!" Serela whimpered, as her mother, Reha, swatted her hand away in the midst of unbraiding her hair.

"Don't touch," she admonished gently, clicking her tongue as she concentrated carefully on the task at hand.

It was still early in the morning and the sun was halfway above the trees, illuminating the room they sat in from the open window. Her mother's hand sewn curtains had been pulled away to allow the light in, letting her aging eyes see better how to undo the braids.

"Your hair is so thick now," her mother murmured, smoothing the strands that she unwove with deft fingers, nimbly picking the braids apart with ease. "Almost done."

Serela held her hands in her lap and surveyed them as she waited. Hard callouses from a life accustomed to manual labour had long since formed and now covered almost every part of her palms. The years of hunting, planting and gathering had made her strong physically, and the years of meditation and her mother's instruction made her strong at heart.

It had been many years now since she had learned the truth behind her parentage and her father's infrequent visits, but it was still something that came to mind often, especially in special moments shared between the two of them.

Her mother had been a mistress for a Senator on Naboo. When she had discovered she was pregnant, Serela's father had sent her away in secret to this place, building her a small cottage as a penance for his inability to be with them. He'd paid the nearby villagers handsomely to erect the stone edifice and thatch the roof so tight that no water had yet to seep through in almost 20 years time.

Serela was born in that cottage, with the help of the village women her mother had endured 2 days of labor and finally pushed her daughter into the world, weeping with joy and pain as they laid the babe in her arms.

She had grown strong quickly, always looking forward to the times when her father could sneak away to be with them. A few stolen hours here and there every few months felt like heaven to her, but it was only because she was still too young to question that it could be any other way.

When he was not away working for the Galactic Empire in Coruscant, and not on Naboo with his wife and other children, he would take a spare Republic Cruiser and fly to see them in their small homestead on Takodana.

They had flourished here in a way her father could have never expected. His guilt at having to send them away had been severe, but Reha was a strong woman. Born of two farmers who had tilled the soil every day of their lives, she had tilled it with them until the day she left home with their blessing in search of love and adventure. In her youth on Naboo she had been a circus performer and she taught her daughter the arts of gymnastics and meditation. Describing herself as a Child of the Light, she instilled Serela with a sense of every goodness and innocence, raising her only to fight in self defense, to show care and kindness for everyone, and to work hard at everything her hands found to do.

Reha had also been diligent to teach her daughter her studies. They both had a natural aptitude for history and languages, Serela now had learned to speak 4, one more than her mother could boast. Remarkably astute for the daughter of two poor farmers, Reha had only learned to read and write before she moved to one of the major cities of Naboo. There she had gone to classes at the university under the guise of being a student, and there she had listened and learned much in the ways of the galaxy and it's workings. The politics, the science, the mathematics, those were the areas in which she struggled. In everything else the teachers found a mind bright and apt to soak up every piece of knowledge it could.

It was there in the city that she had become acquainted with Reha's father, a politician, Senator, and visiting lecturer to one of the universities. She told Serela that she had listened to him speak one lecture for 2 hours, and then afterwards stayed to ask him questions, and that was it.