As soon as their feet hit the stone-floored ship port, the merchant had already taken off again. Dust kicked up around them as he reentered orbit, leaving the two alone on the arid surface. It was dawn once more, the same dawn, only on the other edge of the universe. Side by side, Anakin and Val looked over the terrestrial planet — from the expansive fields that seemed to extend forever, growing wheat and grains that would serve as exports to keep the nearby community going.

The town she and Anakin had been left in was larger than she had been expecting. The stone turned to cobble just beyond the port, and gave way to wide roads with houses and lots on either side that seemed to continue on for several miles. From what Val knew of Lothal, it was a planet largely untouched by the war due to how far away it was from any major hyperlanes — but its distance also meant that it didn't receive much trade or commerce. It was a stagnant economy, barely afloat.

Entering the town from the port, Val and Anakin made their way through the streets. As they walked, Val noted that many of the houses they passed appeared empty or recently vacated. Doors hung off their hinges and windows stood open; walking closer to the side path, Val saw a small straw doll lying abandoned on the steps. She reached down to pick it up, holding the makeshift toy in her palm. Why are you alone? Where is your friend?

She noticed that the doll was missing an eye, a distinctive blue button with a silver edge. Val felt an odd dread curl in her stomach, encircling her spine, like a shadow was casting itself over them and the planet itself.

Behind her, she heard Anakin call her name. Val pocketed the doll safely in her blue coat that now rested comfortingly over her shoulders and rejoined him. Continuing onward and trying to put the ominous nature of the too-quiet town behind them, they made their way to what they hoped was the town centre.

A few streets later, they were met with a bustling marketplace. Beings from across the galaxy were buying and selling their wares. The distance between this and the deserted streets behind them was perhaps a hundred meters, less even; you'd never think they were the same town. Dozens of vendors and even more customers milled about the site, peacefully enjoying their day. Another positive to being so far from the battlefront, Lothal had become something of a haven — shelter from the war and the lives it had claimed.

Val hoped whatever insidious plot that had brought them here hadn't dug its claws in deep enough to harm these people that only wished for safety from the bloodshed.

As they became entangled with the throngs of people, Val once again noticed the stares Anakin received. Ranging on a spectrum of hostility to fear to caution, it was a wonder Anakin didn't pick up on them himself. Though Val supposed that, due to his nature as a war hero, he wasn't used to the distaste. Val knew that Anakin would not be welcomed as a saviour here — here, he was only a reminder that they had all lost family outside this atmosphere. Val rolled her eyes and caught her hand on his belt, pulling him out of the crowd and towards a shaded area.

He curiously gazed at her but followed silently, letting her pull him into the dark corner.

"I can't take you anywhere, Skywalker." Val said with a grin, her eyes already roaming the market for a suitable point of interest. She knew she could have simply given her coat to him again, but there was a strange turbulence in her gut at the thought, and so she found another solution.

Anakin raised an eyebrow, unaware as to what she meant but was intrigued by the gleam in her eyes. Val smiled at the oblivious Jedi, pulling her coat lapels upright. "Just stand here and keep drawing attention, I'll be right back."

The animosity between them seemed to have stalled, ever since their almost-exchange on the ship. She could see that he had come to discuss something more with her than what he had said, but had fallen oddly silent when he saw her. She didn't have the time to dwell on it now, she could try to ask him later when they weren't on a mission.

Val weaved back through the crowd, to a tailor she had spied across the way. She could feel Anakin's eyes on her back, warm as the sun and twice as blinding. She pushed him from her mind and calmed her heartbeat, preparing herself. She would need to be quick and precise, unnoticed by the eyes of the world.

A twinge of guilt pinched between her lungs; after all the years spent under Rolfe's ruthless reign, pillaging and plundering and forsaking all semblance of goodness that had ever resided in her soul, Val had still retained her morality. And she still knew this to be wrong. But they couldn't afford to spend credits that they could otherwise save; it was simply the smarter choice. Surely no one could hold it against her.

Walking closer to the vendor and ensuring she moved only through shadows, Val waited for the best opportunity. At that moment, the seller was preoccupied with the questions of another customer and Val chose that instant to yank some clothes from their hangers, ensuring she grabbed garments that looked to be Anakin's size. It occurred to her then that Anakin was a giant.

Val rolled her eyes at his ridiculous height and folded the clothes under her coat, making her way back to her obnoxiously tall friend. Val handed the apparel to Anakin when she rejoined him in the shadows at the edge of the crowd, brushing the dust that had settled upon her shoulders away. Anakin took them wordlessly, turning them over in his hands. Val looked up at him to make a remark about being picky, but she was silenced by the expression on his face. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Anakin's eyes were blank as he stared down at the clothes, his face seemingly empty. But Val saw him, saw the way his teeth clenched and his hands clamped onto the fabric. Saw the whites of his eyes grow smaller. Val watched him, confused. She reached a hand out to him when he suddenly remembered where he was. He shook himself out of it, trying to reassure her with a strained smile.

Before she could ask what had happened to him, a faint cry sounded from further into the market. Both Val and Anakin turned instantly to see what was causing the alarm. Between the sea of heads, Val couldn't make out what the commotion was but Anakin pinpointed it immediately. Val watched his face change again, a far darker mirror of the one he'd lost himself to just before. A blackness consumed his eyes and his lips curled into a snarl.

Val still didn't understand what it meant, but she felt the molten anger ignite her bones all the same. She knew instinctively that it was his wrath, mirrored beneath her skin.

He pressed the clothes into her hand, his movements rough and sharp, before turning back to the open street.

"Anakin-" Val said, clutching the bundle of clothing to her chest.

"Stay here." He cut her off, sprinting down the street. As though he commanded some invisible force field, the crowd parted as he neared, allowing him a straight path through the market and to his quarry.

Val watched him go, a tightening unease under her ribs. She looked at her surroundings, her eyes settling on a crate that was placed beside a market stall tent. She quickly climbed onto the crate and jumped up to the overhang. From the overhang, Val scrambled the two-story building and reached the rooftop. From her new vantage point, she could see Anakin sprinting forward, his robes a blur of black. He was rushing towards a group of sand-dusted men that appeared to be shuffling crates and attempting to evade the robed figure racing towards them — it was clearly a robbery gone wrong. They most likely assumed no one would put up and fight and that they could escape before security arrived.

After all, no one ever expected a Jedi to be nearby for the little crimes these days.

Val watched Anakin as he caught up to them, and watched more intently as he made quick work of brutally subduing the thieves. It was a tangle of limbs and several well-timed strikes, and then Anakin had them groaning in pain on the ground. He secured the men whilst what Val assumed was volunteer lawful enforcement, secured the criminals and returned the wares they had stolen. Anakin stood beside them, his posture rigid and tense, his hands still fisted at his sides. Seeing the rage in his eyes, even from afar, made Val realise why a muted version of that anger had been directed at her. Slowly, shame awoke in her chest with a sickly sweet flourish, creeping a warm flush into her skin.

She'd never had reason to be ashamed of what she did, of who she had become, until he had looked at her like that.

Val descended from the roof, her boots hitting the floor and kicking up a cloud of dust. She watched Anakin as he slowly made his way back to her, but didn't wait for him. By the time he returned to their shaded area, she was gone.

Anakin spun around to face the crowd again, his vision obscured by beings of every species and appearance as he tried to pinpoint his friend's signature azure blue cloak and brown hair that turned to strands of gold under the sun's light. A moment's panic flared in his chest, a cold turn from the red-hot anger that had heated his veins, and he cursed himself soundly for ordering her to stay — it had been purely out of battlefield habit, an innate desire to risk as few lives as possible. In truth, he hadn't expected her to actually listen.

He was a breath away from scaling the walls that enclosed the market and shouting her name over the clamour of the crowd, before he caught sight of a blue blur out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw that she was conversing with a merchant on the opposite end of the square, her hands empty of her previous acquisition.

Anakin leant back against the wall, his arms crossing across his chest as a sigh of relief left his lips. He watched her as she pointed to a set of clothing displayed on a hanger, indicating her liking of it. The merchant retrieved the items for her, wrapping them in brown paper. Anakin watched Val's broad smile as she handed over what he presumed was a portion of her saved credits, and bid the seller farewell.

Anakin smiled softly to himself as she weaved back through the crowd towards him, the clothes clutched to her chest like they were weighted silver, worth her life... or maybe more than that.

He felt a warmth in his chest as she neared, a soft glow that he could only relate to the warmed summer grass on early Naboo mornings; the light then, had seemed to pale in comparison to the ethereal woman beside him. But now, he had no comparisons to make — he had never felt light quite like this. He knew Val was the reason his skin felt like it was being pricked by sunbeams, like he was standing in ankle-deep water after a month of parched thirst. Like he was something. Someone.

Through whatever starbright thread that tied them together at the ribs, intertwining their lives, she had known exactly. Had seen it in his eyes, heard it in his voice, felt it in his hands. And she had tried to be better.

He could count on one hand how often another person had chosen him over themselves, even once. He could count on one hand how often he had felt truly valued by those around him. He couldn't count at all how often he had felt like this.

Anakin was beginning to believe that, all those years ago, he had simply fallen in love with the first person who had shown him kindness after a life of pain, the first person who had treated him like an individual rather than a possession of destiny. He had fallen in love, but never learnt how to let go.

It had not been a mistake by any means; through their secrecy, Padmé had taught him the true meaning of duty, honour — what it meant to believe in something more than yourself. He had resented her for it at the time, to this day even, but he could not deny that it had been a necessary lesson — and it was not her fault that he hadn't taken it well. Try as they might to deny it, the truth had been that their love would always be conditional, and their individual conditions clashed.

Anakin's blood still roared and raged and seethed that Clovis Rush had been the one to break them apart after all, that he had achieved his desire. But Anakin knew in his heart, that if it had not been Clovis, it would have inevitably been something else. The Council, or the war, or her duties as a Senator and his as a Jedi. Nothing they could have done would have changed the fact that they were a bond that was built to break.

Perhaps that had been her last lesson to him. Perhaps he had learnt to let go, after all.

At that moment Val skirted back to his side, her face flushed pink from the overhead sun. Their eyes locked, no silent words spoken; only a quiet, fledgling understanding that existed in the spaces between them. Tentatively, Val held the package out to him, her other arm still wrapped around her torso as though having any limb exposed left her vulnerable. Vulnerable to what, he could not say.

Wordlessly, Anakin took the garments from her. As their hands brushed, though only for the briefest time, Anakin felt a static charge in his fingertips. A sizzling electricity that burned painlessly on his skin. He was touching a live wire that built up when they were apart and conducted, vein by vein, when their hands met. And for a moment, there had been a second heartbeat in his chest.

Val retreated back into herself first, withdrawing her arm back into the warmth of her chest. It had been a blow to the ribs, seeing his face and knowing what it meant. He held genuine hatred for those thieves. For those in the galaxy that profited at the expense of others. For those who took what was not given.

How she had been taught was no longer an excuse, no longer a shield to cower behind and whimper that she didn't know any better. The truth was that she did know better, and now was her chance to prove that. To Anakin, and to herself.

Because Val never wanted him to look at her like he had looked at those men.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The sun was rising above the distant mountain ranges by the time they'd given up asking questions.

Val and Anakin moved from home to home, asking for the whereabouts of the young child. Every house they visited reacted in one of two ways; either they refused to answer the door, though shuffling and panic breathing could be heard from within — they had both made the decision to leave those people be, reluctant to further fuel their fear.

Others had been lovely and conversational, discussing the weather and life beyond the war joyously, until it was revealed who the pair were asking after. Instantly, the friendliness turned to suspicion or hostility and their eyes regarded them in a scrutinizing new light, often resulting in the door being slammed in their face.

The sun was burning high in the sky by the time they'd given up searching for clues on their own.

It had been a mutual decision to split up and search for answers, Anakin wandering the wider town whilst Val remained near the markets to try and garner answers by earning the locals' trust. They each discovered that approaching alone would change nothing. Learning the hard way that they could change attire as much as they liked, but it wouldn't change the fact that the scent of outsider clung to them like smoke.

Val and Anakin had both quickly realised that in the unfamiliar terrain and with little else to go on, they would either have to find a lead by some miracle or give up their quest. She refused to accept that.

Val lent against the shady side of a building, her boot sole propped against the wall as she waited for Anakin. She held an apple — that she had acquired legally — in her hand, with a second nestled in her breast pocket for her partner. She was carving off crescent shaped slices with a serrated dagger, bringing them to her mouth with the knife's point.

Val inspected the flesh of the fruit as it rested on the dagger's edge, the red pigment reflecting onto her hand in the sun's light. She distinctly remembered the last time she'd held an apple with skin this bright; that day had changed everything. Force, how long had it really been since then? She marked the days in her mind, coming up with twenty-two. It felt like so much longer, like she had shed her skin and donned new flesh at least a dozen times since Rolfe's ship.

Rolfe.

She found her thoughts lingering on the old Captain more than she cared to admit. The more she thought about it, the more she refused to believe that all the threats he'd made in the end were genuine. After everything they had endured together, the trials and the hardships and the bonds they had made, there was no way he would have followed through. He was angry, betrayed, nothing more.

She still remembered being four years younger, parading around the Reaper in Rolfe's red captain's coat. He had allowed it with manufactured reluctance, she could see the smile he hid when he thought she couldn't see him but little did he know, her training made her see everything. The sleeves had draped on the floor and Val let them drag, once again a child playing at something they were not.

One day, if she could find it in herself to return to him not as a pirate but as her own person, then surely they could talk through their individual vices, understand why they each are the way they are.

Val knew she couldn't rejoin his crew, nor would she ever want to. She had done her damndest to leave that life behind, for her own sanity, and for the most part, she had succeeded. A pirate was not who she wanted to be, and a pirate was who Rolfe would always be. But she still wanted to look him in the eye, see the man he was — to remind him that truer meaning existed beyond wealth.

Val knew he had been willing to leave Anakin to his death in Dooku's hand, but Anakin had meant nothing to Rolfe — and Rolfe hadn't known what Anakin meant to her. Rolfe the man, not the Captain, would never do something like that to those he cared for. After all, he and Rowan had been her family for four years — that wasn't something that could be so easily forgotten. Val would be there if he needed her, but she also prayed he never did.

Family.

Rowan's face flashed in her mind, smiling and warm. Val had left the life Rolfe had moulded for her behind, but she'd sworn to find her way back to Rowan — it was one of the only oaths Val knew she could keep.

After all, existence was meaningless without connection and purpose. Rowan and Anakin were the only people left who she would sacrifice everything, every piece of herself, for — they were her connection. Her purpose was another challenge entirely. Val wanted to believe she had already begun to repay the galaxy for all the harm she had caused, but knew that the road to redemption was still long and steep, and she was only at the base of the mountain.

In the distance, a tall figure emerged from a narrow street. He wore navy blue and black garments, his hands folded into his pockets as he leisurely strolled in her direction. His hair was still somehow neat and hung in waves, the thin silvery scar on his face was near luminescent in the midday sun.

Val would admit, he looked good for someone on the run.

When Anakin neared, she plucked the extra apple from her pocket and tossed it to him. He caught it with his right hand, taking a bite as he came to stand in the shade by her side.

"Any luck?" He asked her, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his palm.

Val shook her head, tossing her own apple core to the side. "Nothing. No one will speak with me. You?"

"No, and I'm fresh out of ideas." Anakin replied, his eyes scanning their surroundings as if he could find answers etched into the stone.

Val snorted, "That's not like you, Skywalker."

He shrugged, a smile playing on his lips. "If you have any suggestions, Aurez, I'm all ears."

Val sighed at hearing her family name again, the syllables soft on his lips and even softer on the breeze. "Unfortunately, I don't have a scheme to get us out of this one."

Anakin gave her a sideways glance, gentle understanding on his face. "We can't give up."

Val nodded, "No, we can't. But we also need a lead, just something to go on."

Anakin placed his hand on her shoulder, comfortingly squeezing it once. "We'll find something. Someone here knows what happened to Sula Pelles."

"Sula Pelles."

Val and Anakin both turned suddenly. Val reached for the other dagger sheathed at her waist whilst Anakin's hand rested on his lightsaber hilt, concealed beneath his jacket.

An aging Mirialan woman peered at them from the edge of the structure where they stood, her limbs entirely covered by her robe-like clothing to protect from the overbearing sun, but the veil to shield her face had been pressed back. She looked at them with wary wide eyes, she was clutching the corner of the building so tightly that her fingers became bloodless.

The two straightened instantly, moving away from their weapons lest they frighten the only local who deigned to speak with them.

"What do you know about Sula Pelles?" Val asked, as the woman emerged from her cover and came to stand before them.

She clasped her hands in front of her, speaking lowly. "What do you want with her?"

Val and Anakin shared a wary glance, before the Jedi spoke. "We have reason to believe she may be in danger."

"Your suspicions are correct, but you're too late." The woman replied, wringing her hands tensely.

"What do you mean?" Val asked.

"There is a reason you can't find Sula Pelles, why no one will answer you." The woman said, her eyes shifting around them as though her words were a death sentence. "She, and so many others, have been going missing over the past few months. One every week, like clockwork. Sula, may the Force keep her, is just the latest disappearance."

"That's why no one will talk to us? Because they don't know where she is either." Anakin repeated, his eyes glazed over as the gears began shifting in his head, already formulating a plan. Val, however, still had questions.

"Why are you speaking to us, then?"

The woman looked up, pausing for a moment before replying, a heavy hopelessness in her voice. "Because our inaction has done nothing to bring them back."

Val sighed, feeling the woman's pain. "We'll do what we can, I promise."

Anakin exhaled deeply, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't suppose you know where we can start? The most frequent sight of disappearance, perhaps?"

The woman shook her head. "No, nothing like that. They were all taken from their own homes."

Val and Anakin shared a troubled glance, feeling as though they had gained new information but were still right where they had started.

"But there is one thing." The woman said slowly, clicking her tongue once. "I hesitate to even tell you this because of the troubling rumours I've heard, but there is a place outside of town. A warehouse, of sorts. Strange occurrences have been happening there, and if I were you, it's where I would look first."

Val and Anakin looked from the woman and to each other, nodding.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The building they stood before was derelict and decrepit, the same manner of ghost town as the abandoned streets they'd left an hour behind them. The wooden frame was rotted away and it smelt of mildew, whilst the steel support beams creaked and groaned with every passing breeze.

The pair gazed warily at each other, their hand within reaching distance of their respective weapons. Val breathed deeply, steeling herself for whatever they might find inside. She knew the odds were high that it would be some horror or another, nothing anyone wished to see. But the words of the old woman rang in her mind, our inaction has done nothing to bring them back.

No matter what they found, she and Anakin had a job to do and the path began here. The two nodded and each grasped one of the rusted rungs on the large barn doors, heaving them open. The inside of the warehouse was cold and unlit, concrete-floored with high rafter ceilings. And completely empty.

Val stepped further into the darkness, her hands wrapped around her upper arms. A few more feet in and she could barely see her own shadow before her. She turned to see Anakin, lingering by the entrance and surveying the room like he could see hidden messages scribbled on the walls.

"Hey, buzzard. Mind turning on your flashlight?" She asked, a teasing lilt to her voice.

Anakin gazed at her in confusion for a moment before her joke caught up with him. He shook his head and unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. But rather than igniting the blade, Anakin tossed it to her.

Val caught it instinctively, holding the hilt like it was made of the most fragile porcelain. She met Anakin's eyes in alarm, confused as to why he had given it to her. He was watching her, a thinly veiled curiosity on his face. He wanted to see what she would do. Whether it was a test or a show of trust, Val didn't know. She was too afraid to ask.

Val found the manual ignition for the blade, and pressed down. The blade sprang to life, plasmatic and glowing bright in her hand. Val sighed in awe, feeling the lightsaber's energy under her skin like another heartbeat. Somehow, she could feel traces of Anakin imbued in the metal — she could feel the burning resolve and soft compassion she knew he felt for every innocent being he encountered. Truly, the Jedi and the lightsaber were one, inseparable.

Anakin was smiling softly at her, at the sight of his friend with a light sword in her hand again. He knew in that moment, with the glow of the saber reflecting in her eyes like a neutron star, that she would always have a place with the Jedi should she want it. He had been conflicted before, but now, he had never been so sure. And if the Order turned her away, she would always have a place with him.

Val lifted the lightsaber above her head, illuminating the stone path before her. Even the warehouse floor was disconcertingly barren, barely a scrap of paper on the floor to show someone had been here. Val was beginning to wonder whether they had come to the wrong abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town, when she noticed a refraction from the lightsaber's glow in the far corner of the room.

She wandered closer, crouching down to get a closer look. A small circular object lay on the floor, no bigger than the pad of her finger. Val glanced subtly over her shoulder, finding Anakin still scouring near the entrance. She turned back to the small object, her heart rate increasing rhythmically.

Val breathed deeply. She held her hand out in front of her, her fingers curled slightly inward. She closed her eyes, searching for that familiar tether that lingered between her and the outside world. Val knew she was dangerously out of practice, but she couldn't help from wanting to try — wanting to feel the familiar push and pull between her and the Force that had once been as easy as breathing.

After a long moment of searching for the right thread, what would be a simple task for any basically trained padawan, she found it and tugged gently. Deep within her, the slumbering beast lazily opened one eye, and the item flew into her open hand.

Val breathed in surprise, a quiet pride warming her skin. She inspected the object under the saber's glow. It was a button, with a distinctive silver etching.

Val quickly dug into her pocket, retrieving the doll she had found early. She paired the missing button with the one still sewn onto the doll, and found that they matched. Val grasped them in her hand, turning excitedly to relay her findings to Anakin.

At the entrance to the warehouse, she found her friend with a blaster at his back.

Anakin stood with his hands raised above his head. Behind were a dozen men, holding various weapons ranging from knives to swords to blasters. Mercenaries. One stood ahead of the others, his lower face obscured by a black scarf and his blaster against the back of Anakin's head.

Val stood quickly, her hands clamped tightly around the lightsaber hilt.

"Not so fast," The man said in rough Huttese. "Move closer. Slowly."

Val froze, her body was overcome with a terror that was all but foreign to her. It felt as though the world had slowed around her, seconds becoming minutes becoming hours as she burned through scenario after scenario in her mind to get him out of there. She wasn't accustomed to this fear, to a life that was slipping through her fingers like sand in the breeze.

The man caught onto her hesitance, sharply bringing the butt of his blaster down onto Anakin's skull. A sickening thud echoed through the warehouse and Anakin fell to his knees.

"Let's try that again." The man repeated, adjusting his angle to once again point at Anakin's head. An audible click sounded as he turned the safety off.

Val heeded his words but never took her eyes off of Anakin. Her breath was barely in her chest as she took slow, careful steps to the centre of the warehouse, Anakin several feet directly in front of her.

"Put the laser sword down and step away, or he dies." The man continued, pressing the barrel of the blaster harder into Anakin's skull until he winced. Val felt his pain mirrored beneath her skin, ever a reflection of him.

Val could feel the panic thrumming against her ribs but she fought to keep it under control. Instead, her eyes flickered across the scene before her, desperately searching for a way to even the odds. Her eyes came back to Anakin, as they always did. He met her gaze calmly, no hint of fear in his eyes.

She knew instantly that he was trying to tell her something. Scraps of images flashed through her mind at lightning speed, meshing together until a plan formed — a plan she had somehow gotten from within his mind. Val breathed deeply, letting the panic evaporate from her skin and placing all of her trust in him. She deactivated the lightsaber and placed it by her feet, taking a large step back.

"Good. Now, turn around and-" The man's words were cut off by a gargled scream as Anakin's lightsaber soared into his open palm. He fell backwards to the balls of his feet and spun around, cutting clean through the man's femurs.

The first thug fell and Anakin was in front of her instantly, deflecting the blaster bolts that came too close and allowed her to unleash a barrage of daggers. Three gunmen fell in quick succession, each with a blade in their chests, before Anakin sprinted to the remaining men. He lept from man to man, dropping them like flies.

Val hung back until Anakin was done wreaking havoc, before she quickly moved to his side.

"Are you okay?" She asked, panic still underlying in her voice like reverberating metal.

Anakin rubbed the back of his head, and muttered. "I'm annoyed I let them sneak up on me, I was too busy looking at..."

He trailed off, suddenly refusing to meet her gaze. Val reached a hand up to his face, but paused when a pained whimper reached her ears. She turned to find the first gunman panting on his back. Val turned back to Anakin, who seemed oddly grateful for the distraction. He shrugged, inviting her to take the task. Val gave him one last concerned glance before walking away.

Val kneeled beside the man, looking over his dismembered body with a blank face. A lightsaber strike cauterised wounds instantly; he would not die from blood loss or infection, but from the pain — though that was still a while away, and she had questions that could speed up the process.

"Why were you here?" Val said in fluent Huttese — it was a particularly abrupt and coarse language; one of the many she had picked up working for the pirate captain.

The man seemed as though he didn't hear her, his hands desperately trying to feel where his legs were supposed to be. Val felt a twinge of pity but quenched it instantly, reminding herself that he had been a mere trigger away from ending Anakin's life.

"Answer me and I'll make your death quick." She said coldly, unsheathing a blade.

The man clenched his teeth, glaring at her. Val could see it in his eyes, the terror he was prepared to unleash upon two people he didn't know — the utter disregard he felt for them. He now knew what a mistake he'd made.

Val put her dagger to his cheek, the blade edge glinting in the sunlight. "Keep your silence, and I'll give you the most painful, drawn-out death possible."

The blade drew blood and a thin stream trickled down his face. The man winced, and spat on the ground. "We were paid to keep you and that Jedi here, away from the salt mines. Kill you, if we could."

Val's brow creased, her knife hand slackening. Her mind instantly flashed to Dooku and his damned bounty that seemed to chase them across the Outer Rim, but that didn't explain why they had to be kept away from the salt mine. Or what this all had to do with Sula Pelles.

Val's eyes hardened. "Who hired you?"

The man bared his teeth, bloodied and broken. Val dug her blade in deep until he cried in pain. "I don't know! They were cloaked, they paid us and left!"

Val paused, trying to connect imaginary dots in her mind to find them an answer — some explanation for the convoluted mystery that lay before her. No solution came to mind, no footprints appeared in the sand for her to follow.

She was drawn out of her spiralling thoughts by the man by her feet. He groaned in pain, panting heavily. "Now, end it. You swore."

Val's eyes cleared. She sighed deeply, "That I did."

In one quick motion, she drew her blade across his throat, releasing him from this existence. Val stood, wiping the blade clean on his shirt. She turned to find Anakin behind her, her retrieved daggers held in his hand — by the expression on his face, Val knew he had heard every word. Val pocketed the knives he passed to her, before running a shaky hand through her hair.

"Well, this took a turn for the worst." Anakin remarked, looking down at the bodies that surrounded them.

Val sighed her agreement, her eyes staring off into the distance — to the other side of the town, where she knew the mine to be. Where whatever fate had in store for them was waiting.

"It seems we still have work to do."

author's note:

i hath returned and i bestow unto you, more valakin content!! 

i can't explain how soft i am for Val slowly relearning how to use the force, she makes me so happy and so sad, it's crazy. as you can see, these two dumbasses are slowly becoming less dumb and are falling in love !!

thoughts for a poor fellow, free thoughts i beg you !!!

i shall return within the fortnight with more content, the next chapter is very sad and also very sweet and VERY valakin heavy (they talk about Ahsoka :( it's emotional)

until then, i love you all and take care of yourselves!!