The Call to the Darkness

The Duchess of Mandalore

The throne room held a bitter silence for what felt like hours, as the young duchess pondered the request presented before her. Her black silk dress draped gracefully down her legs and cascaded across the stone floor, rippling gently. Her silver hair drapes down her shoulders, held in place by an immensely detailed crown-like headdress intricately laced with blossoming flowers. She sat proudly on her throne, but her eyes shone glassy fear.

"Do you realize what you're asking of me?" she finally speaks, staring intently into the desperate representative's eyes. "You are asking me to put a target on Mandalore, to be the next planet to be obliterated by those First Order tyrants. You are asking me to put the millions of my people at risk...for the sake of some hopeless democracy? To aid the Resistance and what is left of the Republic is foolish and rash, and will most likely result in my death. But, I'm in." she paused in her rant, and the eyes of her audience widened. "Mandalore will back the Resistance, and will take whatever necessary action to destroy those tyrannical scumbags that have brought this galaxy into the darkness." Ariadne Kryze smirked, now sitting proudly in her throne.

"Thank you, Duchess," the representative of Corellia began. "A powerful force such as Mandalore could turn the tide of this brutal conflict. A coded message will be sent immediately to Resistance sympathizers throughout the galaxy, to make this planet the new home of the underground Galactic Senate."

The Duchess nodded in agreement, her delicate features tensing, "They will pay for the pain they have brought to Mandalore." she kept her eyes focused on the ground, as if lost in memories. She continued, "Now, I say we celebrate. To the freedom of the galaxy!"

-----

I sat straight up from the earthy ground, shivers running down my spine, beads of cold sweat running down my forehead. My breaths were desperate, as if grasping for air, as I tried to regain a state of consciousness.

"Duchess!" a voice called out, running to my aid. The voice was distant, and I called out a shaky response. A boy ran to my aid, kneeling down beside me. I looked desperately into his eyes, dazed and confused. I looked around me to see an array of bursting plant life, that of which I had never seen on Mandalore. Home. Flowers were colors I had never seen before, some glowing like fire in the night. "Where am I?" I panted.

"You wandered off in your sleep again. We are on Felucia, remember? We landed earlier today." states the boy, who I now recognized as my friend, Thayer. He wrapped his arm around my back and I lowered my head into his chest. "Was it that nightmare again?" He asked, stroking my hair.

"No," I sighed. "Just a memory. When I made the decision."

"Ari, you couldn't have known what that decision would have cost Mandalore at the time." his hand reaches out towards mine, in attempt to comfort me.

"Thayer, they enslaved Concordia. I had only one moon to protect. Mandalore is next. I know it, and it's all my doing." A tear fell down my cheek. "How foolish could I be, to put millions of people at risk just because I wanted to be a hero." I gasped for air as I began to sob.

"Shh...there's no need to dwell on things you cannot change. It's almost dawn, which means we need to get moving. The Order is still on our trail." His golden brown eyes stared into mine, and he gave me a comforting grin.

I stood up from the soft bed of grass and dusted off my tunic. We made our way to our camp, which we distanced from our unnecessarily huge ship that would be quick to give away our location. A droid was left with it, that would contact us via a telecommunicator if the Order arrives. In the dense forestry, we felt safe. What a scarce feeling these days.

Thayer started a fire as I began to clean myself up, changing into a spare outfit. I changed into form fitting black pants that felt thick enough to deflect a blade, along with dark boots and a ratty shirt, stained and tattered from our journey. i wrapped a royal blue hooded cape around my shoulders, clipping it with a pin of the symbol of Mandalore.

"I think you're forgetting something, Duchess." Thayer stated, grinning. He chucked my two sabers at me, and with only a thought and the flick of my hand, I froze them in the air. The two lightsabers floated in the air, and I giggled. "I'm getting better at this whole 'Force' thing, aren't I, Thayer.".

"You're a fast learner, I'll give you that. But let's see how good you really are." He smirked, throwing a long stick my way. He picked one up for himself, and took a defensive stance.

"Oh we're battling, are we?" I laughed. "Although I'm new at this, I'm pretty sure I could kick your ass any day.". I ran at him, swinging the wooden stick furiously at him, but he blocked it with ease. I tried to strike at him again, to no avail. Channeling his abilities, he pulled a second stick towards him and it flew into his hand. Before I realized what he had done, he swept it under my feet, and I fell to the ground. He pointed the stick at my neck, as if to say "I've won.". He chuckled a little. "Now that was a little easier than I had expected, your highness." I groaned a little and glared. "You cheated."

"But I won. And if I was the enemy, you would be dead. There are no morals in combat, remember that. If someone is trying to kill you, you're allowed to cheat. And, as a final thought, expect the unexpected." He crossed his arms, seeming to enjoy lecturing me. I raised my hand in the air, "help me up.", I groaned. As he reached towards me to pull me up, I dragged him on the ground with me, wrapped my legs around his waist, and angled the stick at his neck. "Expect the unexpected, Thayer." I laughed, and quickly pulled myself off of him. I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the ground, but he didn't let go of it once we had stood up. I turned to face him, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Looks like you won this round, your highness." His fingers interlaced with mine, and I wasn't sure how to react. "Thayer," I began, when a sudden beep from his tele-com interrupted me. A hologram appeared from the device on his wrist, and a crazed droid beeped and spurred a message I couldn't understand. "We've got company."