The Knight, Death, and the Devil

Chapter 26: Over The Edge

Three weeks came and went, and Torin's desire to leave Tython only increased. Not that he was in a hurry to get away from the woman he'd come to call Master. Under her tutelage, his skill with the Force progressed at a pace that astonished him, as if he were discovering forgotten skills rather than learning new ones. Along with those skills came horrific nightmares that seemed more memory than dream, visions of violence and carnage with him as the perpetrator. He felt as if his growth was linked to those dreams, but he was reluctant to broach the matter with Ziare again, after she had brushed him off the first time. Maybe it was all in his head. Maybe he just needed to get away from Tython and its isolation, even if only for a few days.

"You look rather excited," said Ziare from the pilot's chair. Torin leaned over behind her, peering out the shuttle's window as they left Tython's atmosphere.

"It'll be nice to do things besides meditate and levitate rocks—and talk to people other than you." He looked down to see her looking at him. "Not that you're bad company!" he added quickly. She hadn't explicitly kept him from the Jedi Temple, but Ziare kept him so busy that he didn't have any opportunity to mingle with the other students. Beyond a few short sojourns for necessities, he had hardly spent any time there. Normally he would've thought she were somehow ashamed of him, but the fact that she spent every waking moment watching and training him made him dismiss that idea.

"You may find Makeb to be a rather poor vacation spot, if that is what you're imagining."

"Makeb? That's in Hutt Space." Ziare remained silent, and he leaned past the side of her chair to look at her. "The Jedi Council is okay with you going there?" He wasn't up to date on the intricacies of galactic politics, but he understood enough to know that even in wartime— especially in wartime—a Jedi conducting business on neutral territory wasn't something to be done lightly.

"They don't know," she replied. "Only you do."

For a week he had tried to pry the details out of her, but she had refused to say a word. Now he knew why. "What will we be doing there?"

"Humanitarian work."

His lips twisted in doubt. "Humanitarian work?"

"Of a sort." She set the ship on autopilot and sat back as they made the jump to hyperspace. Torin grabbed onto her seat for the slightest bit of support, but otherwise was hardly affected by the jump. The first time he'd made one months ago, he'd nearly fallen onto his back. "There's a scientist on Makeb who has petitioned us for rescue—we're going to be retrieving him."

"He can't leave on his own?"

"Not with the planet caught between the Republic and Empire. His employers, the Hutt Cartel, are rather reluctant to let him go."

"So why the secrecy?" he said. "Why risk going against the council to save one scientist?"

She stood up and took his wrists in both hands. "Do you trust me?"

He looked into her warm eyes, and any hesitation vanished. "Yeah." After everything he'd been through, he knew he shouldn't have been so quick to trust, but the three weeks he'd known her had felt like a lifetime.

"I told you before that I may ask you to take what I say on faith, but only for a time—I still promise that."

"Alright." He gave her a half smile. "At first I thought this would be some sort of test. Now I know why you brought me along—there's no one else you could ask."

"No, that's not it at all." She reached up to his face and brushed aside a lock of hair. "There is no one else I'd rather have by my side."

His body relaxed at her touch, warm fingertips dissolving a tension that had gripped him without him knowing it was there—until it was gone. The faint wrinkles in the corners of her eyes creased as she blinked, steely irises flickering from left to right while she swept his hair from his forehead. Her hand fell away and Torin leaned in, keeping his eyes on hers as he waited for her to pull back. She didn't, and he closed his eyes as their lips met. After a moment of silence, he withdrew from the kiss to see Ziare staring at him in shock.