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Chapter 43 Katrina awoke from another nightmare, drenched in sweat and shaking. The memory of it faded quickly but the bone-deep fear remained for several minutes. The Olvecks had quieted at last. They had made quite a bit of noise for hours after the births and Katrina had literally feared for the construction of the bedroom door. She knew predators and natives could not reach them inside the Tri but, for some reason, the Olvecks seemed determined to get out. Katrina hoped that the new peace was a sign of adjustment rather than exhaustion. All was quiet within the Tri and Katrina found that quiet unnerving. She wanted/needed something to occupy her mind with. She settled back on her pillows and closed her eyes, letting herself simply float in the past. Katrina hovered in a large, open chamber with windows on all sides looking down on a huge city. Two figures, one short, green, and old, the other tall, dark, and young, spoke quietly, seriously. Their meeting was interrupted by the sudden appearance-out of thin air-of three individuals. Startled, the five looked at one another and Katrina gasped. A woman with long red and black striped hair sat on the floor, her gray and gold eyes wide. A brown-haired woman and sandy-haired man sat on either side of her and Katrina gasped again. She recognized the older Skywalker tins but was more surprised by the woman who looked a great deal like herself. The hair was different but Katrina had already noticed that her blue stripes weren’t pure blue anymore; they had begun to take on a purple tint. She looked closer and was positive that she was seeing her future self. All that happened after that moment mesmerized Katrina. The Jedi, Mace Windu and Yoda, were very accepting yet apprehensive of their visitors from the future. They agreed to help them begin lives then and there but refused to hear anything they tried to say. The three were understandably upset at being stranded in the Clone Wars, forced to wait until Guardian’s release before they could go home. Katrina latched onto the knowledge that her future self knew exactly when Guardian had been released. That was something all Zanespots longed to know and see happen. Katrina watched the three don disguises and choose aliases. Skywalker chose the name Logan and his sister chose Lise. Katrina stood dumbfounded as she chose the name Eccie. Eccie was a name she knew well, she had saved the life of and guarded over Anakin Skywalker. That information startled Katrina so greatly that she left the past and jerked back into her own body. At some date or time in the future-at least thirty years she guessed, based on her own developing facial wrinkles-she would accidentally find herself in the days of the Clone Wars. Even more startling was that she would be at least partially responsible for saving the life of the man previously known as both Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. Katrina had seen little of what had happened since “Eccie” and the dying Anakin had arrived on Tatooine. For some reason it was blocked from her. She tried to watch, to visit, but found only a dark wall barring her. Because it was her future self she could begin to guess the reason. Of what she had seen she remembered most the tenderness and care that “Eccie” had shown the man. She had seen a few unguarded moments of naked emotion in “Eccie”’s eyes that she could not quite recognize but knew to be intense and far from negative. Katrina guessed it to be longing and something else but did not understand it. Now she understood it even less. Katrina felt a certain amount of gratitude towards the man for helping her escape her father’s compound when both believed her execution to have been scheduled. She even felt something close to a kindred feeling that she could not explain the cause of. But the fourteen-year-old could not imagine herself feeling anything more, though she did have to admit to wishing to protect him-even from the Zanespots. It frightened her to know she would feel so strongly for the man. Legally he was her husband. She knew Palpatine had arranged marriages for many of his offspring and often to far worse men. It was knowing that a point might come when she desired the match that was unsettling. Currently she was confused and knew that she hid from it. She did not like knowing how things would be, not that way. Katrina got out of bed and moved to check on the Olvecks. They were quiet still but her mind buzzed and screamed faster and louder than she could listen. She knew too much and hated it. Katrina, Zanespot of the Past, was at that moment very glad to be what she was and envied Cha-Lee not at all for his powers. |
