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Chapter 39 “They grow close,” Xenritha observed as he and Cha-Lee gazed out the windows of the Elders Hall. They had stood there for half an hour, watching their third and Cha-Lee’s daughter attempt an unknown project. Neither man spoke until Xenritha broke the silence. “Chalee-Siri has been in need of a friend for quite some time. It is good that they have one another.” “Do their secrets worry you?” “Not in this,” Cha-Lee nodded towards the two girls. “This is no real secret. With the Olvecks jumping about and chasing every winged insect that flutters by, how can it be?” “What of the dying man and his caretaker? She took us there without truly meaning to, I think.” Cha-Lee nodded. “She does not want us to know, but she cannot keep us from knowing, if we pushed it. I would prefer it if she opened up to us, though.” “She should not even want to keep this from us,” Xenritha argued. “She is young and wants a feeling of privacy. She needs to hold something back to reassure herself that she can,” the Caminee shrugged. “It is more than that. She feels a personal connection with them, both of them. There is a lot in this that we do not know.” “Give her more time. The connection will grow and she will trust us completely.” That night, as the Tri slept, Katrina sat at the foot of one particular portrait in the Hall of Elders. The tall, lean image of Vazigo D’Ong looked down at the girl as she traced the letters of his name. The shiny brass nameplate shone brightly in the light gleaming down on it. She didn’t feel completely comfortable in the fallen Zanespot’s presence but she hoped he might prove helpful when she needed to think. The Olvecks were settled at last in their new pen and busy digging about for insects. She and Chalee-Siri had been exhausted by the time they had finished building the pen and even Xenritha and Cha-Lee had pitied them and excused them from their lessons for the day. Chalee-Siri dropped into bed after a hot bath but Katrina felt restless still. She was physically tired but her mind continued to work too hard to allow her any peace. Katrina had taken great pains to avoid the Hall of Elders. Something about all the unseeing eyes watching her gave the fourteen-year-old the creeps. Vazigo was especially good at making her feel uneasy. In her restlessness she had decided to call a truce with her predecessor and prove to herself that the portraits truly did mean her know harm. As Katrina ran her finger along Vazigo’s nameplate it moved forward slightly then out again. The dead alien faded away to be replaced with a human woman and three young children. The older two-both boys-made faces at Katrina as their mother fussed with the girl’s hair. She spoke quickly, silently, and the faces stopped. All three children moved about restlessly until Vazigo stepped into the image. When the scene froze all five smiled happily at Katrina before fading back into Vazigo. “Nice family,” she told him, feeling silly for doing it. She sighed, knowing that simply looking at him would not give her the peace she needed. Speaking aloud to the portrait made her feel foolish and accomplished nothing, so she simply thought the situation to him. As expected, nothing changed. She grew impatient, heightened by her unease and the confusing situation that she found herself in, and decided to look for answers in the only place left she knew to look-the past. Katrina closed her eyes and concentrated on Vazigo and wondering how she should handle what she knew of Vader/Anakin. She stood on ice and felt a frigid wind and cutting show blow through her disembodied spirit. She could see little but was aware of everything. Almost right in front of her, Vazigo appeared out of the white wall of snow. He passed so close that one shoulder passed through the loose fabric of Katrina’s clothing. Both Zanespots shivered but Vazigo continued moving, holding his own clothing tightly around himself. Before him stood a solid sheet of ice, imposing and impenetrable. He did not slow in his movement or show any hesitation. Katrina knew that he had never been there before yet he held the unwavering certainty of someone who called the place home. Not exactly in the center, but near it, an oval the height of an adolescent human melted away, allowing the Zanespot entrance. Katrina watched as the ice re-froze behind him, returning to its perfectly smooth state, before passing into the Tri. The entrance area, where Vazigo stood, was round and very much like that of Katrina’s Tri. The walls were opaque ice but the floor and ceiling were stone. Katrina turned just a moment before Vazigo did. Something was wrong. An evil had masked itself very well and only allowed itself to be known when the attack began. Unarmed, Vazigo dropped into a crouch and allowed his assailant to come to him. He moved swiftly but had little chance of survival. With an all-too-familiar snap-hiss the ice walls glowed with red light. The weapon hummed and Vazigo dropped to the ground in several pieces. The lightsaber hissed off again and the black-covered eyes of Darth Vader looked down on the Zanespot’s remains. For several long moments the horrified girl looked from Vazigo to Vader and back. She swallowed convulsively and shut her eyes to the scene. She opened her eyes to see Vazigo looking down on her. Water streamed from her eyes. She pushed them away roughly with her fingers and stared back at the portrait. “That’s not what I meant,” she told it bitterly. “I won’t betray him because you want revenge.” Katrina stood and stormed out of the common area. She left the Tri completely and headed, without intending to, towards Chalee-Siri’s stream. She felt more confused and frustrated than before and for the first time since her arrival, wondered if she was wrong to call the Tri home. Home should be peace as well as safety. At the moment Katrina didn’t feel either. With her toes splashing in the warm water Katrina considered her problem. She knew she had cheated herself out of some time when she actually showed the living Anakin. Only because his name had not been said did she manage to keep his identity a secret. She knew that could not last too much longer. Xenritha was a bit colder, a bit more formal lately. Cha-Lee seemed more accepting but she knew he watched her closely. If only she could break through the blocks keeping her from viewing exactly what had happened after Vader/Anakin had left Endor. She was sure that hidden within that year were the answers she needed. Katrina felt instinctively driven to protect the man, even from two Zanespots. Knowing that he had killed Vazigo D’Ong did not change that feeling in any way other than to strengthen it. Cha-Lee and Xenritha had ever right to see him as a threat, he had hunted Zanespots as well as Jedi, but Katrina knew that part of his life was gone. He would be lucky to live and unlikely to if anyone, including her friends and mentors, knew that he did. Katrina sighed. She did not like having to hide anything from the Tri but she accepted that it was necessary. She also accepted that Xenritha and Cha-Lee would sooner or later find out about his life. She hoped that she could handle them when that happened. As long as they did not also discover Palpatine’s secret order she was semi-sure that she could convince the Zanespots to judge the man based on his post-Empire actions and ignore his past. If they did find out that she was legally the man’s wife she doubted they would allow her any say in the matter. It was not an order she had agreed to but she was not sure that she wanted to jump into disowning it. Katrina sighed again and decided that she did not really want to look too closely at her own feelings. |
