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Chapter 24 Katrina sat by Tabi’s fire and picked dried mush out of her hair. She had had better days. The morning meal had been as tasteless as always and the students were growing restless and bored with each day. That morning they had taken their frustration out on the girl in the corner, sitting alone and with her face hidden behind a thick mask. Names had been called and food had been thrown but no real damage had been done. One or two of the older girls had tried to physically assault Katrina but she had quickly touched the Force to change their minds. She didn’t like using it too often, especially with others present, because it was too obvious and could only get her in more trouble. Katrina was also unsure of the long-term effects of manipulating minds, but that was far from her main concern. “Bullies,” Tabi had said in disgust when she saw Katrina’s food-stained clothing. “They’re not good enough for half the education the so-called-teachers beat into their heads everyday. Not that any of the adults here are any better than the children. They all learned stupidity and blindness together.” Katrina hadn’t bothered to answer, though she heartily agreed with her friend. She had simply sat down and began trying to pick the flaky glue-like dried mush off of herself. She hadn’t been especially upset about it until she realized that some had seeped under her hair covering and become mashed into her hair. “Brats like those are a good reason not to have offspring,” Tabi continued, still disgruntled. “You’re exaggerating!” “Think so, do you? Shows how well you know me, young Katrina. I am completely in earnest. It is bad enough having to live so near them, but to raise them also? No thank you.” “But they’d be different, if you raised them,” Katrina protested slowly. “Would they? There’s something inside you that makes you who you are. Genes. Genetic material you inherit from both parents that decide what color your eyes are, what species you are, and so forth. Do you think behavior and attitude are not part of that? Do you think they don’t act exactly like their parents?” “I don’t know. I’ve never seen their parents. I don’t act like mine.” “Someone at some point in your ancestry was a good, decent, kind sort of person. How many of your brothers and sisters are like you?” Katrina thought on the matter for several minutes before admitting that the majority of her siblings were in fact jerks, often following closely in their father’s footsteps in treachery and meanness. “Genetics. It can’t be avoided,” Tabi said bluntly and decisively. Katrina tried to argue against the Weequay’s words but got nowhere in trying to convince her friend that she may be wrong. By the end of the day Katrina was wondering whether or not she was wrong. How much was learned and how much was inherited? How much and what would she pass on to her own child one day? Could she inadvertently create another Palpatine? Any child she did have could, conceivably, be considered the Emperor’s heir, if it also had his temperament and greed it could be unstoppable. That night she kept her mind closed to the Zanespots and curled up in the darkness with her own thoughts and worries. At some point in the early hours of the morning she fell asleep, and directly into a nightmare. The memory of the dream faded within moments of awakening but she could always remember the subject, Palpatine’s cruelty. Her mind was made up. At the age of thirteen-standard-years, Katrina knew without a doubt that she would never allow herself to have a child. The risk was far too great. |
