The room was silent as the two pirates stared at each other.

There wasn't even the rustle of clothing or the shifting of limbs as the Weequay and the Alderanian locked eyes. Anakin looked subtly between them, trying to discern whether there was any animosity evident. When Hondo's expression blanked and Val's eyes narrowed, Anakin prepared himself for whatever carnage was about to unleash. However, his concern was not needed.

"Seaflyer!" Hondo exclaimed, his arms raised in jovial greeting. He stepped towards her, but then realised she was still frozen within the blue glow.

"What is this?" Hondo shouted, turning back to his lackey that waited beyond the door. "Come, come, release them now."

There was a pause and then an audible click from outside the room, and Val and Anakin dropped to their feet. Val brushed the grime off her coat before turning to Hondo with a broad smile. The two embraced each other like old comrades, laughing as they pulled away.

Val clasped Hondo's forearms, gazing at him with a grin. "You've gotten old, my friend."

Hondo laughed, "You're not looking much better, my dear."

He gazed at the blood seeping through her badly bandaged chest, a moderately concerned look on his face. "Uh, what are you doing here? The Captain never mentioned another exchange mission."

Val looked up at him quickly, as they stepped apart. "You've spoken to Rolfe?"

Hondo put a hand to his chin, "Briefly. He called to warn me about a few undesirables that had arrived on my planet. Said that deadly force would be necessary to exterminate them. I haven't the faintest clue what he was talking about but the old man seemed upset."

Val grimaced, glancing back at Anakin. "I'm afraid he means us."

Anakin looked between the two pirates, and then to the surrounding room. He didn't know why it hadn't clicked before; this was Florrum. And apparently, it wasn't Val's first time either.

Anakin just barely managed to subdue his shock. Why would Val tell Hondo, of all people, that they were being hunted? She was calculating by nature, careful — she had to know that Hondo was willing to sell just about anybody out for the right price. Which meant there was a piece of this puzzle that Anakin wasn't seeing.

Hondo's mouth opened in comical surprise. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Rolfe and I... had a falling out. He didn't take it well." Val said, crossing her arms.

Understatement of the rotation, Anakin thought with an eye roll.

Hondo then turned to Anakin, an appraising look on his face. "I assume it has something to do with why you're travelling with Master Skywalker."

Anakin rolled his eyes, but nodded his greetings. Hondo returned his nod, before looking back to his old friend. "I admit, I never thought I would see you with his crowd again, Valerie."

Val was ignorant to the unabridged shock on Anakin's, which he quickly schooled into neutrality so as to not appear caught off guard though he certainly was. Instead, she stared absently at the woman still unconscious on the floor.

"Neither did I."

As though Val's gaze had awoken her, Renfri stirred on the floor, her eyelids fluttering open. She spent half a second taking in those above her before she vaulted to her feet, her fists raised in an offensive manner.

"Ho ho, I like this one." Hondo chortled, not at all threatened by the former Sith. Though Val supposed, he likely didn't realise what there was to be afraid of.

Val snorted, before turning to Renfri. Her expression changed instantly when she beheld the woman. "Stand down, he's a friend."

Renfri looked between Val and the Weequay, her instincts telling her not to stand down — but the uncompromising edge on Val's face had her receding into herself once more, taking a defensive position behind Anakin.

Anakin stepped forward, coming to Val's side. "Hondo's gang is the one we're supposed to be rescuing this kid from?"

"A child?" Hondo asked in confusion, looking between the trio gathered in his holding cells. "This isn't about that pickpocket boy, is it?"

"Yes," Renfri said suddenly, taking an involuntary step forward in anticipation. "Where is he?"

Hondo shrugged, "He's being detained at another outpost."

Val raised an eyebrow, "Why are you detaining a child, Hondo?"

"Well," Hondo began, placing his hands behind his back and slowly walking out of the room with Val at his side. Anakin and Renfri followed just behind them, both dumbfounded by the relationship between Val and the other pirate captain.

"Truth be told, he stole from me."

"A pickpocket managed to steal from you? I'd love to say I'm shocked. What did he steal?" Val asked, folding her hands into her coat pockets.

Anakin felt nothing but unease, watching them stand together. It was too reminiscent of another scene he had witnessed not long ago — two silhouettes strolling down from a shuttle, walking through the battle like generals presiding over their troops. Anakin couldn't help but feel like this was another trap, another chain around her throat.

"I'm not entirely sure. I have a large group of young... entrepreneurs in my employment, who bring me all variety of trinkets and oddities. This boy was one of them."

"So you employ child thieves?" Val asked, giving him an unimpressed stare.

Hondo side-eyed her, "I prefer my wording. Anyways, three days ago this boy brought me a drive of some sort, it gave current read-outs of a vessel's location. Clearly, it was a treasure map. But then yesterday, the same boy stole it back and now it is gone."

Val stopped suddenly, a dangerous expression on her face. "Hondo, tell me you're not torturing a child for information."

"Of course not," Hondo said defensively, a hand to his heart. "I'm wounded you would think so little of me, Seaflyer."

Val raised an eyebrow at him, unconvinced.

Hondo cleared his throat, "Well, he's not being tortured. But he's also not being as cooperative as I would've hoped."

Val rolled her eyes, "Send for him, he'll talk to us."

Hondo gave her a strange stare before nodding to the other Weequay who had been tailing them, who in turn broke off from their group. Anakin caught Val's eye while their gracious host was distracted, giving her a concerned look. Val winked at him, her silent words clear to him. This is my plan. Trust me.

Hondo turned back to Val, waving a finger at her. "Only because I am interested in whatever it is you think you're doing."

Val snorted, knowing he was lying — but he had a reputation to maintain and couldn't be seen giving handouts to perceived strangers. "Thank you, Hondo"

"Now," Hondo exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Whilst he's being retrieved, I insist you join me in the hall. It'll be like old times."

Hondo slung an arm around Val's shoulder, leading the trio into the heart of his compound.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Val had spent the past hour with Hondo at his private table.

Anakin watched from the corner of the bar as she sat and laughed beside the Weequay man, her hands relaxed on the table rather than bunched up at her side like they always seemed to be when he was there. She was cradling a drink in her palms and she was smiling widely. Force, she was smiling like he hadn't seen her smile in... well, since that night in her quarters, where she had bandaged his wounds like they were her own.

No matter what possibilities he considered, he could not find a reasonable explanation as to why Val looked at Hondo like she had known him all her life — like he had known her throughout Val's many lives. Though he wondered if he should even call her that.

Valerie.

The three syllables were soft on his tongue, gentle. Entirely unsuited for the hurricane contained only by a prison of bone and biting wit. Though, he supposed this was not Valerie, who had been a laughing child with a lightsaber in hand — this was Val. Val, who commanded the attention of all those around her with a simple scathing glance. Val, who he had seen cut down men like they were stalks of wheat. Val, who stepped gleefully towards violence before her conscience pulled her back.

Val was better suited to her. A quick word, a blink-and-you'll-miss it smile that hid a thousand secrets, a blade in hand at all times. That's who she was. Did he know who she was?

Anakin almost didn't notice when Renfri came up beside him, taking the vacant barstool to his right.

"Interested?" She asked, raising her hand to the bartender for a drink.

Her words snapped Anakin out of his thoughts. He turned to her, her intent not quite setting in yet. "What?"

"The ex-Jedi. She means something to you." Renfri said, taking a long sip of the drink in her hand.

Anakin sighed, turning away from her and trying to ignore the faint flush of heat that came to his skin that felt like being kissed by a sunbeam. "We're friends."

"You shouldn't be."

Anakin huffed, "And why is that?"

"She's not who you think she is. She's not who she thinks she is." Renfri said cryptically, nursing the glass of liquid morphine in her hand.

"What are you talking about?" Anakin said, annoyance creeping into his voice as he turned in his chair to face her fully. He didn't have time to deal with the vague and secretive nature of the Sith — especially not when he was already on edge from the sight of Val at Hondo's side.

"You should be careful. There's something... truly dark in her. I've seen it. She's no one a Jedi should be endorsing." Renfri said at last, draining the last of her drink and raising her hand for another.

"Look no offence," Anakin said, leaning backwards with a subdued disgust on his face, "But I'm not about to believe a former Sith when she tells me my friend is evil."

Renfri looked him dead in the eyes, the flames of a dark fire reflected in her irises. "I'm not saying she is evil, I'm saying evil is what she came from."

On the other side of the room, Val watched out of the corner of her eye as Anakin conversed heatedly with the Sith, his hands balled up at his sides. She tried to discern their topic of conversation but quickly gave up, they were too far away for her to make use of her lip reading skill.

Hondo, engaging with his fourth drink so far, stated. "You and Skywalker have been exchanging glances for the past hour."

Val's cheeks tinted at his words and she cleared her throat, swinging her leg under the bench so as to fully turn her back to Anakin. "That's not true."

Hondo chuckled, throwing his glass back. "My dear, you are an excellent liar, but your eyes betray you. They always have."

Val snorted, dismissing his words and taking a swig of her own drink, the cold brew burning as it ran down her throat. "It's been some time since we last saw each other, Hondo. How have you been?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked! Do you remember that horrendous circus that performed that one year? Well, they returned recently and-" As Hondo rambled on about another occurrence that he deemed unacceptable, Val found herself studying the room they were in. It hadn't changed much since she had last visited Hondo two odd years ago. Then, she had only just come into the title of second in command and the Captain was desperate to show off his newest prize — the seventeen year old prodigy with a blade, capable of murdering four dozen contenders in the bloodiest battle that lasted through the night.

So, as a gesture of goodwill and to demonstrate his control over her, Rolfe had sent her Hondo's way. Rolfe had thought being under Hondo's command for a time would further fuel her viscous nature. Instead, with Hondo she had found understanding and remembrance. Because what Rolfe hadn't known, and what Val hadn't realised, was that she and Hondo had met before — three years prior and as an entirely different girl.

He had recognised her the moment she had stepped off the transport shuttle, a dead name on his lips. Val had quickly silenced him with a hard stare and only when they had moved into a secluded area, did the Jedi-turned-pirate explain.

"Master Alden is dead?" Hondo had said, a grieved damper to his usual flamboyant nature. Hondo and Malcus had been good friends for many years, in the sense that any Jedi and pirate could be.

"Yes." Was all Val responded, folding into herself — then, the wound had still been raw, fresh. Though clearly it had done little to mend in the years since.

Hondo had put a solemn hand on her shoulder, a comforting weight. "I am truly sorry, child."

In the months she had spent with Hondo following her arrival, his sense of obligation to care for his old friend's protégé slowly morphed from a duty to genuine comradery. Despite Rolfe's damning influence, Hondo proclaimed that she had maintained her Jedi's heart, buried beneath sedimentary layers of grief and resentment. Val had rolled her eyes and countered that it hadn't hurt that she shared his love of profit.

When Rolfe had ordered her back to the Reaper like a dog to yield, Hondo had begged her not to leave and though she never said it aloud, Val hadn't wanted to leave either — but she had been poisoned by the belief that she owed Rolfe everything. Including her life.

"Do not think I don't see you skirting my question." Val snapped back to reality, out of the vault of her memories, when Hondo addressed her directly.

She recovered quickly, giving him a hard stare in response.

Hondo rolled his eyes, putting his hands up in a conceding manner. "You do not wish to discuss it, I understand. I too, have been plagued by a love that was not meant to be."

Val laughed suddenly, to cover the coughing fit his words almost induced. "Where do you come with these crazy ideas? We're friends, not in love, Hondo."

"No? Pity. I know a fabulous ceremony singer and she's in town, too." Hondo said, in an almost disappointed tone.

"Hondo."

"I jest, my dear." Hondo laughed, a hand to his chest. Val rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. She had missed Hondo, not that she would tell him that. "But your unfortunate love life aside, is it true? You've left Rolfe for good?"

"Yes," Val said quietly, still not feeling as though it were completely true. In truth, she had never thought separation from Rolfe would be possible. He had been like a spectre trailing her for eternity, a manifestation of all her misjudgements and mistakes. "He finally did something I couldn't forgive."

Hondo was silent for a long moment, before sighing. "I'm glad. He is not a good man. Terrible at karaoke."

Val snorted as Hondo took another swig, but was distracted when the doors suddenly slammed open. Two of Hondo's pirates entered, with a bound and gagged boy between them. She spent half a second processing that the kid was actually real, before Val and Hondo both stood and walked to the centre of the room. The two pirates escorting the boy paused before them, forcing the child to kneel.

"Stop it." Val hissed instinctively, knowing full well this was no place for her to be making demands. She dropped to one knee before the child and helped him to his feet. The two pirates shared a confused glance, likely having no clue who she was.

"Step away." Hondo commanded, dismissing them to the far tables with a glance.

Val untied the ropes, letting them fall to the floor. The boy, barely in his teens but with burning eyes far beyond his years, rubbed his raw wrists and turned behind him with the expression of a warrior not yet done with the battle.

"Yeah, not so tough now. Come back! Round two you tas bah k'pah-" Val eyes widened in shock and it took all of her will to not give into her laughter. Before the two pirates could get offended and return, Val took him by the arms and pulled him out of the centre of the room.

"Okay, okay, let's not start fights we can't finish." She said, a laughing smile on her face.

"Oh, I can finish it. Give me one good swing at them and-" The boy seemed to do a double take once he realised the situation he was in, and who sat in front of him. "Who are you?"

Before Val could respond, a breathless voice sounded from behind them. "Luca!"

Val and the boy, whose name appeared to be Luca, turned to see Renfri and Anakin walking quickly towards them.

Luca gave the older woman a strange look, "What are you doing here, Ren?"

Renfri sighed with an exasperated but relieved smile. She reached forward and tousled his dark hair. "Saving your stupid behind."

Luca humphed indignantly and fixed his hair, to which Val and Renfri both laughed. The two women locked eyes in that moment, shock flashing through them both. Val looked away first, her teeth clenched.

Behind them, a throat was cleared. Hondo stood beside Anakin, "You promised me answers, Valerie."

Val nodded, turning to the boy. "Luca, I need to know what was on that drive you stole."

Luca tensed up suddenly, shaking his head and turning away from her. Before Val could say more, a hand placed itself on her shoulder. She looked up to find Renfri looking down at the boy, an expression that Val could only call kind on her face.

"Let me try."

Reluctantly, Val moved away and Renfri kneeled in her place. Val moved to Anakin's right and she glanced to the side, trying to catch his eye but he was stubbornly refusing to look at her. Val blinked in surprise but dismissed it for the moment, instead focusing on Renfri and the boy.

"Luca," Renfri said softly, taking the boy's hands. "Luca, what happened?"

The steel in his eyes dissipated as Renfri spoke to him, and it was only a few moments before his resolve shattered and tears clouded his vision. Still, he squared his jaw, sniffing to keep his words steady. "There was a man. He was looking for the drive and he knew I'd stolen it."

The four adults seemed to inch closer as the boy continued, eager for an explanation to the puzzling ordeal. "I told him I didn't have it anymore and he said I had to get it back for him."

"What?! He dare demand the treasure that I rightfully had someone else steal? Scoundrel!" Hondo exclaimed, shaking his fist. Before Val could tell him that this was certainly not the time, he continued his extravagant display.

"He wants that treasure first, he'll have to go through me! Hondo Ohnaka!" Val elbowed him in the ribs and he seemed to realise he wasn't helping to get the answers he so desperately wanted.

"Did you see what was on the drive, boy?" Hondo then asked, loudly. The boy gave the pirate an angry glare, but sighed when Renfri asked the same question, albeit softer.

"They were coordinates, I copied them down when they stopped changing." He said, fishing a slip of paper out of his pocket and handing it to Renfri. The four all glanced at the read out, and Hondo plotted the numbers into his wrist pad. Soon after, a hologram display of Florrum appeared, with the location in question tagged.

"Where is that?" Hondo asked, the illusion flickering.

They all stared at it in confusion for a few moments, before Val noted the two landmarks nearby and it dawned on her. She put a hand on Anakin's forearm, drawing his attention to her. "Anakin... those are the coordinates for where the Pathfinder crashed."

His gaze flickered quickly between her and the map, confirming her statement when the same realisation overcame him.

"What does any of this have to do with where you crashed the ship?" Val asked.

Anakin sighed in exasperation, "For the last time, I did not crash the ship. It was a tactical landing, I saved our lives."

Val snorted, "Sure thing, buzzard."

He gave her an unimpressed glance, but Val was just glad he was talking to her again.

Luca then chose to answer her question, a frustration fuelled by fear evident in his voice. "I don't know. He only told me to bring him the drive, and I had to. I had to because...he took Amori."

Renfri was the only one who portrayed an extreme response; shock flared on Renfri's face at his words, an unrestrained panic that consumed her features. The other three could only glance confusedly at each other.

"Where is this man, Luca?" Renfri asked, a strange thrumming fear in her voice. Val gazed down at her curiously, an equally strange sensation in her chest — it was a feeling of doubt, growing around her ribs like thistle weed.

Could she have been wrong?

"He has a ship in the port, I gave it to him there right before I was captured." He said, glaring at Hondo.

"And he didn't give this... Amori back?" Anakin asked, speaking to the boy for the first time. The boy shook his head, a crushing weight on his shoulders visible to even them. Val soon had the answer to her unspoken question, as Renfri wrapped her arms around the boy and cradled him in her arms.

It was then, that Val was finally forced to admit she was holding onto a ghost. A ghost and a demon. Her Master was gone from this plane, now alive within the collective of the Force. And this Renfri was not his killer, she was a misguided woman who had finally found her path in the stars. Val's rage was unfounded, and in spite of her ravaged heart, she would not take her hatred out on someone who didn't deserve it. She could not punish someone for who they used to be.

But that begged the question; if Renfri was not to blame, then who was?

The answer was staring her right in the face and it always had been. There were only two people there that night when her Master died, and if Renfri was blameless then that only left... her.

And now, she was forced to confront the true root of her anger. Guilt. She remembered that night like it had been burned onto the back of her eyelids, but the one sight she saw so vividly, like it was playing out right in front of her, was that of her Master running through the snow to her side, pulling her to safety but leaving himself exposed. In saving Val, he had doomed himself.

His death was her fault.

She was a padawan, she wasn't worth his life as a Master, as a man. He should have let her fall that day, and then he would still be here — defending the galaxy when it truly needed him. Instead, she was alive in his place. And the world was no better for it.

Val sighed, an old deep ache resurrecting in her chest. She turned to Hondo, "That drive wasn't a treasure map. Release the boy to us, please."

Hondo glanced between her and the child in contemplation, before sighing loudly — making a show out of a decision she knew he'd already made. "Very well, just take him out the back door, if you please. Don't need the crew to see prisoners go free."

"Thank you, Hondo." Val smiled, turning to walk with the others as they left the building.

"Uh uh," Hondo said, stopping her. He raised his hands into the air dramatically. "On the condition you come say goodbye to me this time. At my party tonight!"

Val paused for a moment before chuckling, "I'll be sure to stop by."

The two shared a last smile before Val joined the rest of her group.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Val, Renfri, and Luca were sitting in the shadowy alley of a building, the ship port in sight. Val leant on the opening of the alley, surveying the merchants as they came and went, searching for one in particular. Behind her, Renfri and Luca sat talking quietly. Every time Val glanced back at them, the crushing reality imposed itself upon her more and more.

Her hatred of Renfri had been a lightning rod for her true despair, drawing the anger to a central point and keeping it from her fragile heart. But now, without it, white-hot fire was burning a bloodied path through her veins — unrestrained and entirely deserved. Without Renfri, there was no shield between Val and the one she hated most.

"Renfri," Val said quietly, but the woman heard her soundly and looked up. "Why were you ordered to kill my Master?"

The woman looked down, shame in her voice. "Dooku said they needed him gone before the war could start, I assume he was threatened by your Master."

She paused, clearly wanting to say more — to say something she'd wanted to say for years. "I didn't know you were going to be there that day.... I'm sorry, Val."

Val sighed, expelling a breath of frost into the world — expelling her grief into the air. "I'm sorry, too. You were as much a victim of Dooku as I was. As my Master was."

Renfri smiled, looking down at Luca who had somehow fallen asleep upright. "He cared for you very much, to save you like that. He must have thought the galaxy needed you too much to let you die."

Val paused, her mind blanking. Renfri said it casually, a passing thought. But to Val, it was the beginning of an answer. An answer to the question she had asked every moment of everyday.

Why?

Her Master had always spoken of prophecy, of the path craved through the stars for us. Of the role laid out for us, that only we could fill. Perhaps this was it. Perhaps he knew what he was doing, had always known — and was not afraid. Perhaps, it was not a sacrifice for her but for the world. Perhaps he had known the answers to questions she had never even thought to ask — had always known where she was going, and where she would return to.

Perhaps her Master had not died in vain.

Perhaps the Force did have a path for her.

Perhaps she was meant to live, after all.

At that moment, Anakin jumped down from the top of the building and landed beside Val, having completed his surveillance. "I see the ship and I think there's someone on board, but they're readying to leave. We should move quickly."

Renfri, with a now awake Luca, stood and joined them at the mouth of the alley.

"So let's go." Luca said, putting his fist to his open palm. The three adults looked between themselves, wondering who was best suited to telling the riled up child he wasn't coming with them. Renfri sighed, before taking Luca's hand and drawing him away so they could talk.

Whilst they discussed, more accurately whilst Luca became upset and Renfri reassured him, Anakin came closer to Val's side, radiating warmth from his dark clothes and the arid sun.

"It's lucky we came here first, if we had gone to check the ship then he would likely be gone by the time we got back." He stated, his eyes trained on the vessel they were about to infiltrate.

Val nodded in agreement, rather looking at Anakin whilst she spoke. "Whoever this man is, he works quickly. He took the drive back as soon as it was stolen, so we can assume he has already been to the crash site."

He gave her a hard stare and she scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, before she realised. "Sorry, the tactical landing site."

Anakin rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth tinted up in a small smile. Val returned his smile instantly, but her eyes saddened slightly.

"Anakin," He turned to face her fully when she said his name, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "For what?"

"You were right, I didn't want revenge. And I'm sorry that I couldn't see that and I'm sorry that I hurt you in the process." She replied, her head hung in shame. Even though he would likely never admit it to her, she knew she had hurt him by running after Renfri despite what he had told her. She had to fix it, and her Master had always said that pain left to fester turns to rot.

"Well, I am often right, so remember that next time." He said with a playful grin, trying to ignore the other half of what she had said, the truth she had spoken.

Val had expected his joking response, and knew it was likely due to him not knowing what else to say — she had been lucky, her Master had shielded her from the more brutal tenets of the Order, allowed her basic empathy whilst other younglings were taught that it was weakness.

Anakin watched her expression change, saw the understanding twinged in sadness within her eyes, and sighed. He wet his lips and looked around them, as though to ensure no unwanted ears were prying into their conversation. Eventually, he worked up the nerve to speak his heart.

"You didn't hurt me because you didn't listen to my past. I was hurt because I thought I wasn't going to be able to stop you from making the same choices I did." He said quietly, as though afraid that somehow, the Order might still hear his sacrilegious words.

Val blinked in shock, her body slow to process his words and their deeper meaning. A soft smile appeared on her lips, one of pride and affection — she knew how hard it must have been for him to speak those words, and she appreciated him all the more for it.

"Well, you did end up stopping me, so I guess I owe you one."

"I'll keep that in mind." He said with a wink.

Val snorted, flicking her hair out of her eyes. It had grown in length over the past few weeks, almost brushing her collar bone. Her padawan braid was becoming loose, she would have to rebraid it soon. Val didn't know why she still adhered to the tradition after all these years — but she didn't feel like herself without its weight, and if she closed her eyes then she could pretend it was her Master's original braid.

"You know, you're talking about your feelings an awful lot for a Jedi." Val said. A risky statement, but she wanted to know his thoughts, to know him — and why he was breaking away from his Order's vows.

Anakin was quick to answer, as though the reason was clear as day. "I guess I'm spending too much time with a pirate."

Val held a tilted smile, a warmth on her back. "Well, you're going to spend a lot more time with me, buzzard. So get used to these heart-to-hearts."

Anakin smirked, the same gentle sun on his shoulders. "I'm shuddering at the thought, seaflea."

Renfri came to stand beside them then, a disgruntled but placated Luca sitting in the building's shade and out of sight. Renfri nodded at them and together, the three marched on the ship.

It was a high brow freighter, brand new and state of the art. Even if this hadn't been the vessel they were after, it still would've drawn attention, especially in the outer rim. Whoever owed it was lucky they hadn't been robbed yet. Though, Val supposed, that was what they were there to do.

They arrived at the ramp and slowly boarded, both Renfri and Val deferring as Anakin took point. The ship was silent as they progressed, not even a creak as they padded over the stainless steel floors.

"Renfri," Anakin said, eyeing the break in the path ahead of them. "Find Amori and get her out of here. Val and I will find the man and the drive."

Renfri nodded and broke off from them, and for once, Val didn't watch her go — the relief of no longer being crushed under the weight of suspicion spurned her forwards. Anakin gave her a sideways glance and she smiled, conveying her newfound lightness. He returned her smile and together, they silently proceeded towards the cockpit.

After a prolonged silence, Val said. "I don't like how quiet it is."

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring across the speakers and red emergency lights lit up the hallway. Anakin gave her a long look, as if to remark you just had to say it.

Val shrugged sheepishly and he rolled his eyes, though the impish light in his eyes told her he was only kidding. The cockpit door came into view before them and they each took a position on either side of it. They shared a nod and Anakin hit the access button.

Val, dagger in hand, entered the room first.

A blur of motion in her peripheral vision had her ducking on instinct, avoiding a blaster bolt to the head. Anakin was there a heartbeat later, deflecting the second bolt back to its shooter. The man was hit in the chest and went tumbling backwards.

Simultaneously, Val and Anakin both became aware of a projection on the ship's console — it was detailing a drive being wiped of its contents. Anakin sprinted to the control pad and hit the cancel button. The hologram faded. At the same time, Val crouched beside the man, her eyes hard and unsympathetic.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" She questioned. Suddenly, with whatever burst of life he still possessed, the man clutched the front of her coat and drew her closer to him. Val stiffened but didn't pull away, allowing him his last words.

"You're too late," He breathed weakly, "He already has it."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Val and Anakin left the dead man on his ship and exited back into the Florrum sun. They found Renfri and Luca outside, with another young girl.

Val smiled, "You must be Amori. Are you alright?"

The girl nodded, apprehensive. Luca nudged her and she gave him a small smile. The two looked nothing alike, but there was clearly a familial bond between them — and Renfri. Val was relieved that she hadn't allowed her despair to keep her from helping this family.

Renfri walked up to them, a content smile on her face.

"Thank you." She looked between them for a moment but her eyes went back to Val and stayed there. "After everything... thank you."

Val smiled, and held her hand out for Renfri to shake. Renfri took her hand with a smile. Val looked down at the connection; the warmth of healing in her chest was a sensation that she never thought she would feel. But as their hands shook, the sleeve of Renfri's tunic slid up her arm, revealing angry black and red vein-like scarring that continued up her arm.

Val looked at it, shocked and confused. The markings were like nothing she'd ever seen, and she had witnessed every manner of injury over the years — but this was a grotesque cross between burn wounds and tattoo ink bled directly into the veins. Judging by the marks alone, Val knew she should be dead. She looked up at Renfri, her eyes wide, and found the woman already looking at her with an expression Val couldn't read.

Renfri drew her arm back to her side, her sleeve falling down again. She spoke quietly, only for Val to hear. "There's more to that day than you know... or remember, it seems."

She vaguely heard Anakin wishing the woman luck, but Val was numb to it, her mind consumed.

Val stared at her, unable to comprehend her words and their meaning. More. More than you remember. That day was so clear in her mind, like it was stuck on a perpetual loop behind her eyelids. She didn't think it was possible for her to forget or construe any of the events, in spite of the passage of time — what could she possibly have forgotten? What was there to forget?

Remember.

Before she could turn and demand answers, Renfri had begun walking away with Amori and Luca in hand. Val watched them go, unable to push the image of Renfri's scars from her mind and the echo of Renfri's warning from her ears.

Anakin looked between the two of them, his gaze concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Val whispered.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Hondo's compound was abuzz with revelry as the twilight set in; some drunken pirates were strewn across benches whilst others danced clumsily in the centre of the room as underground music played from an unseen sound system. Pirates are all the same, Val thought with a snort from her seat at a lone table in the back.

She had half a mind to go onto the floor herself and show them what true dancing was, but the fun of that was diminished when she remembered that her audience was too drunk to tell their right foot from their left.

She was trying her best to push Renfri's words from her mind; her incessant thoughts and traipsing through her memories had done nothing to lessen the confusion. It was getting her nowhere. Anakin slid into the vacant seat beside her, a fruit-smelling drink in his hand and he held another out to her. She took it with a smile, laughing when she realised the type.

"How did you know?" She asked with a grin.

"Lucky guess," He winked.

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the silence that existed in the gaps between life and chaos. Finding comfort and solace in the quiet that existed beside each other. Anakin turned his head to face her, a question on his lips.

"So, Valerie is your full name?" He said, a statement phrased as a question, as though allowing her to choose an identity for herself this time.

Val smiled, at peace with who she had been for once. "Valerie Aurez was my name, when I was a padawan. I haven't gone by Valerie in a long time..."

"Would you ever want to again?" He asked, taking a sip.

Val stared at the floor thoughtfully, "I don't know. For a long time, I thought Valerie was dead. But being here, with you... I suppose it proves that some things never truly die."

Anakin paused, her words barely comprehending in his mind. Here. With you.

I'm with you. We walk out of here together.

Anakin smiled, realising he had been silent for too long. "Well, no matter who you decide to be, you'll always be seaflea to me."

Val returned his smile, soft and warm. "And you'll always be buzzard to me."

Anakin huffed a laugh, before asking his next question; the question that had been bothering him for a reason he didn't quite understand. "So what's the story between you and Hondo?"

Val gave him a side glance, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "Is that why you were acting so strange earlier?"

"No, no. I've just had dealings with Hondo in the past and I was..."Anakin cleared his throat, deflecting from the embarrassment that flushed beneath his skin.

Val smiled at him knowingly, her head down-tilted. Her eyes shone with mischief and delight and Anakin felt his own heart beat in time with the drum that echoed through the floor and, somehow, he knew her heart followed the same rhythm.

"Hondo was friends with my Master, believe it or not. He took care of me when Rolfe gifted my... abilities to him for a period of time." Val explained, her nose wrinkling as the memories flashed through her mind. How else could she put it that she dealt exclusively in murder and anarchy if not plainly?

"He gave you to him so you could kill the people Hondo wanted dead?" Anakin asked, not as shocked as he would've liked to be — he had only known the Captain for a short amount of time, and yet he was easily one of Anakin's most despised people. Though he wondered if that had anything to do with the girl who sat beside him.

Val huffed, taking a sip of her drink, her eyes strangely blank and hollow. "Well it wasn't so I could teach these pirates how to dance, that's for sure."

Anakin stared at her quietly, a veiled gleam in his eyes. His heart was beating near out of his chest because of the question, the request, on his lips. There was no one else he would ask this for, no one else he would dare be this open with, no one else who seemed to understand him as the Jedi never would — no one else anymore, at least. He knew, perhaps he hoped, that she would smile and take his hand.

Because, perhaps, there was no one else who knew her in the way he did either.

She would reach for his extended palm and they would step into a quiet open area, where it would only be them; the prying eyes of the Order nowhere to be seen. His hand would be around her waist, pressed against the cold in her spine that made her anything but weak. Her hand would be on his shoulder, and their other hands would be clasped together, where metal met flesh not in violence but in friendship. And they would sway together under the fading light with the soft lull of music in the background. Anakin would do it because she loved to dance, and because he....

His fantasy was interrupted when Hondo walked up to them, a hologram projection in front of him.

"I recovered what I could, it is not much." Hondo said, approaching Val and allowing Anakin to pull himself out of his own emotions.

A wave of guilt immediately enveloped him. Padmé was a gash that had barely begun to mend, and yet his thoughts were encouraging him to pour Val over the wound like she was some kind of salve, like Padmé was already a distant memory. No, that wasn't fair to her. It wasn't fair to Val.

And it wasn't fair to him.

His heart had seemingly learnt nothing from their love that had burnt out like an ember against the torrid winds. He had once thought their differences made them stronger, inseparable, unbreakable. But in the end, their differences had ultimately torn them apart — he could never stop being a Jedi, giving all of himself to her. And Padmé could never stop being a Senator, giving all of herself to the galaxy.

Val was not Padmé.

He did not burn for her, for anyone, the way he had for the former Queen of Naboo; she had set his very nerves alight, sent flames to lick at any piece of flesh he left unarmoured — but perhaps that was the problem. Perhaps love was not meant to scorch your skin, perhaps it was meant to sooth the burns from the fires raging around you, cauterise wounds you never thought would heal. But how do you heal someone else when you could barely heal yourself? How do you heal lovers, friends, family? All things a Jedi was not meant to have — and yet here he was, and here was where love had left him. Pouring light into the hands of those you love; only to find that the bowl you pour from is chipped, cracked, and the scattered sunlight you fought so hard to keep is lost through the crevices.

Perhaps love was not meant for him. Perhaps love was not for those who bled through the gaps of their broken urns, helpless to fill the voids that stretched like canyons over his heart. He had already failed to cauterise those wounds once, why would he try again?

"- a name, a date, and a location." Anakin snapped back to the conversation at hand when he heard Val speak.

He leant over to see the screen, his arm pressing against her shoulder. Val flashed him a glance, a barely perceivable emotion on her face but Anakin chose to ignore it. He was lucky, so very lucky, that he had been able to reign himself in before he did something they would both regret.

"Sula Pelles. 22 BBY. Lothal." Anakin read aloud, his eyes turning back to them. "Name, age, location."

Val nodded her agreement, while Hondo sighed relief, throwing his hands in the air. "I am so glad I put no resources into recovering this drive. What am I supposed to do with a two year old, exactly?"

Val and Anakin shared a glance, the concern they each felt mirrored in the other's eyes. While Hondo continued his dramatic display, the two leaned even closer together, whispering quietly.

"I don't like this, I sense something sinister." Anakin said, his eyes tracing the runes Val had copied down onto a strip of paper.

Val nodded, "Whoever the he that man mentioned is, he must have had a whole list of similar names before the original drive was wiped. Do you have any idea what it could be?"

"No," Anakin shook his head, his hair swaying in front of his brow. In that moment, looking into her eyes, he made a decision. "But we're going to find out."

author's note:

WOW!!! THIS CHAPTER IS MYSTERIES GALORE!!! SO MANY QUESTIONS!! SO FEW ANSWERS (for a while at least lol)!!!

what did we think ya'll?? between anakin having a meltdown, val's very concerning past, an elaborate scheme with unknown intentions, and a mysterious child, we have A LOT to unpack so let me hear it !! also renfri :( redemption arcs for the win

we have some pipping hot tea in the coming chapters so I will see you then besties!! i love you all, have a great day/night/life (? idk what I'm saying at this point)

SEE YOU SOON!!