Lady Obscura: Vader's Shadow [Star Wars | Luke Skywalker]

Chapter 16

Part of her had begun to believe that The Dark Lady Obscura was firmly a part of her past. But once again, Athara was wrapped in the midnight-hued cloak that had added mystery to the persona she had cultivated in the years before the events above Yavin's fourth moon. About her hips was her thick utility belt, though the custom hook was empty, Vader having taken her ruby-bladed lightsaber. It was still familiar, though, and she had instinctively relaxed the instant her face was shrouded by the wide cowl. She was not pleased about that.

She had hoped, despite her cynicism, that after her time on Dagobah she had truly moved past this chapter of her life. But her reality hurt. She had not changed so much as she hoped. Sure, things in her life had changed; Vader's wariness and distrust being chief among them.

Unfortunately, it seemed few other things had really changed.

Almost the instant she had begun walking the crisp corridors as Obscura, she was accorded the deference and obedience she had attempted to foster before her break with the Empire. It seemed that, despite the Emperor's obvious desire to have her dealt with, her disappearance had been kept quiet, and her defection a complete secret. Upon reflection that made sense; even the all-powerful Emperor couldn't afford to have a prominent agent defect. It would have been far too embarrassing for the Empire. So it was that she was once again a shadow at Vader's side, his right hand in appearance, if no longer completely in truth.

Vader seemed to have convinced himself that things could be as they once were, though he made no mention of what they were going to do once the Emperor found out about her reappearance. Her time with the Rebellion was treated as though it had never happened. After that first conversation, it was not mentioned again, though she could all but feel him restraining the questions he undoubtedly had. That didn't stop him from attempting to glean what information he could, though. Her fighter had been stripped and its memory systems harvested—though there really was nothing left to be found—before being destroyed. All she had managed to save were the possessions she had brought with her and her trusty little green droid.

She didn't argue. She couldn't.

That she had been able to protect N3 was a surprise, but she also suspected that Vader was trying to appease her when she had insisted. She got the feeling that, despite his tough approach to her journey to regain his trust, he was doing his best to encourage her to trust him back. His attempt on her life still pained him. She didn't know how she knew that, but she trusted the instinct.

It was all she had left of Dagobah, really; a heightened trust in the Force and in her instincts that she had never quite achieved when she had relied on the Dark Side. For the first time in her life she had allowed herself to truly trust the Force. Sure she had used the Dark Side, and had opened herself up to it almost completely, but she had never really trusted it. Not like she had come to trust the Light. It became a balm to her battered hope, something to soothe the ache that had come to reside deep within her chest every time she was confronted with her own inability to break from the Dark Side completely. Qui-gon's teachings on the Living Force and shedding her negative emotions had not been in vain, though her newfound techniques were being severely tested purely because of the proximity of Vader's Darkness. That she could still touch the Light amid the Dark Side that surrounded her and still rely on it gave her hope.

As did the memory of a certain Farmboy, and a fleeting kiss.

What kept her going was the knowledge that she was protecting Luke from the Darkness she was subjecting herself to. She could handle it and even withstand it on occasion, now that she had been exposed to the Light. She also knew that he couldn't. Not yet, anyway.

That didn't make it any easier, though. Not by a long shot.

She knew that, somewhere in the city, her friends were walking straight into a trap, and she could do nothing to stop it without risking everything and what little of Vader's trust she had left. He was impossibly bent on capturing Luke, though for what reason she couldn't yet figure out. In the past, whenever word of Force-sensitives had reached the Emperor's or Vader's attention, they were dealt with—permanently. This obsession Vader had with finding Luke made no sense.