It had been two weeks since Savi left for the mission. Kerissa wasn’t usually one to worry but her first friend since she’d left home was just.. missing. Theyd survived according to the brief report on it through the Envoy group but there was nothing else she could find on where the kark the Shani had gotten to.
Two weeks was long enough. Kerissa picked up her data pad and spent perhaps too long typing.
Hey Savi. Are you okay? Its been a while since you last messaged, I only know you’re alive cause of the report on the mission. Just checking in.
The chime of their datapad ripped Savran’s attention from the sound of blaster fire for just a moment. Normally, they would have ignored it, but a premonition in the Force made them think otherwise. Remaining behind a reinforced durasteel wall, they pulled their handheld datapad from their pocket and thumbed through the messages.
It was Kerissa.
How badly they wanted to read what they said… to reply. But they couldn’t, not now. They tucked their datapad away before heading back into the fray.
The next day, Savi was back in a ramshackle hostel they’d been staying in while on assignment. With enough time to spare now, they looked through their communication logs and pulled up Kerissa’s last transmission.
They sighed.
Kerissa had been pacing for minutes. A full day had passed and nothing. They hadn’t even looked at it when she last checked it.
Not that they had to. But.. it. It just didn’t feel right. It didn’t match the rest of their friendship.
Kerissa picked up the data pad and called Savi’s. If they didn’t respond then.. Well shed leave it.
Savi jumped a little when the datapad started ringing. It was Kerissa. Part of them didn’t want to answer, but they knew they had to. It had been too long, already. With a sigh, Savi pressed the button to patch her through.
When the holocall connected, a holographic image of Savi appeared on the other end. They were wearing their usual attire, though they sported a few visible scrapes and bruises on their face that looked like they were mostly healed, now. The Shani stood amongst the backdrop of a bleak and dillapidated room that, while not pretty, was serving its purpose.
“Hey, Kerissa.”
Kerissa hadnt actually expected Savi to pick up.
She was in her kitchen, the projection of herself showing her looking normal if.. tired. Though that wasn’t unusual for the studious woman.
“Hey. I uh- Hi. Are you okay?”
Their lips pulled at the corners of their mouth when her image appeared. It wasn’t quite a smile, but their expression visibly warmed upon seeing her.
Savi shrugged their shoulders while briefly averting their gaze. “Yeah, I’m fine,” they replied, “I’m sorry for not reaching out to you. I wanted to stay busy, so I took on a few more contracts after my last mission. I’m on Florrum, right now.”
“…How are you?”
“Tired but what’s new there.” Kerissa stated, smiling slightly for a moment but crossing her arms. The wounds on Savi were visibly healing at least but the Shani had been fighting since the mission. They hadn’t stopped.
It occurred to her she was lying really. Her family knew she was in the system. Her time of safety was coming to a close and she had no where to run without abandoning the first home she’d had since she originally ran away. But if Savi was hiding things then.. Well it wasn’t like they could do anything about it yet. It was news that could wait until later.
“Did something happen? I mean.. you don’t usually chain missions together like that. Or at least that I’ve seen.”
Don’t lie to her.
Savi pulled their lower lip between their teeth, pressing it against one of their elongated fangs. Their first instinct was to obfuscate and deflect, but they were wanted to do things differently with Kerissa. She was the only person besides Sofila whom they could call a friend, and they didn’t want that to be tainted by their own lies. What harm could it cause in telling her, anyway?
“I, uh … I’ve had trouble sleeping,” they began. “When I do, I’m haunted by visions of my … death.”
They had to force themselves to say it aloud. There was still a hint of disbelief in their voice when they said it. They died. After all this time, after everything they’d been through, they finally knew what it was like to taste death.
my death
Kerissa struggled to breeze over that wording. Especially when Savi’s face and tone all spoke to the fact they weren’t in fact fucking with her.
“Your- you..” kerissa covered her mouth with a hand for a moment, her tail lashing anxiously behind her, barely visibly in the feed past the counter. She decided to go with humour, it was a common thing between them. Maybe.. itd help here. Kark. “That’s a very interesting.. definition of fine.”
Although it didn’t go away completely, the tension Savi was feeling broke when they heard Kerissa’s quip. “Hah, yeah. In my defense, death isn’t the worst thing that’s happened to me.”
They ran a hand through their feathery mane with a sigh. “I had to drink eight cups of what was essentially poison to complete my trial, to bring us a step closer to ending Scimitar for good. I succeeded but I died in the process. I wasn’t gone for long, but … yeah.”
Amber eyes fell onto the holofeed again, searching Kerissa’s face for what she was feeling. “It’s so good to see you, Kerissa.”
There was conflict in her expression. Horror, worry and relief in a messy amalgamation.
“I.. im glad they brought you back. Kriff. I’m…” she almost lost her first friend. The thought sent a shiver through her. And then something slowly clicked. Scimitar.
Kerissa’s face paled slightly. By the Force. No, bring it up later. Or… oh kark.
“I don’t know what to say.” She admitted after a long pause. Comfort, question or worry or.. solutions. Or quips?
Savi lifted a hand to dismiss her concerns. “It’s okay. That’s a lot to digest so suddenly.”
And they knew this likely wouldn’t be the last time they discussed what had happened to them. “I’m sorry for not reaching out to you. I’m not the best of discussing my feelings.”
This certainly was new territory for them, and it showed by the trepidation with which they broached the subject, always seeming to take a bit more time to consider their words.
“I like to work, when I’m troubled. Keeps my mind busy.”
“I.. I get that.” Kerissa sighed, rubbing her arms. “Its hard when you usually don’t have the option otherwise. I’m just.. glad that you’re okay in this moment. Physically. If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
Savi paused to mull it over in their mind. By now, all of the details of what transpired prior to them taking their last breath were known to them. Either due to it explained to them or because of the Force choosing to reveal it to them in visions for … some reason. Discernment was a skill Savi never had the opportunity to hone during their time as a Jedi. Interpreting the Will of the Force was a messy business, and at times, they questioned whether the Force’s Will could be properly understood to begin with.
“The drink plagued me with visions and pain, each cup worse than the last. It didn’t start to become an issue for me until the last three, I believe. The sequence of events is fuzzy,” they explained. “I saw my later master again, Nurysa. That, I expected. They were trying to use memories of those who matter most against me, twisting them to torment me.”
They paused again, seemingly even more hesitant to continue than they were before. The rallied themselves to do so, nonetheless.
“What I wasn’t expecting to see … was you, Kerissa.”
Kerissa had already looked horrified. What an evil twisted- well. It made sense if it was Scimitar but the anger surged either way. Trials? Really.
But then Savi paused and she frowned, about to speak to comfort them, thst they didn’t need to if they didn’t want but..
“Me?”
The shock was audible in her voice.
Savi nodded weakly while their eyes drifted to their left. It took them a while, but they recounted what the imitation of Kerissa had said, how she looked at them while they writhed in pain on the temple floor. Finally, they explained how, somehow, it was the “ghosts” of Savi’s master and Kerissa herself that fed her the final cup to complete the trial.
“Your appearance suggests I care about you more than I realized,” they said, thinking aloud. Another sigh preceded them leaning back against the dusty dresser behind them.
“It.. itd make logical sense. Yes.” Kerissa responded slowly. It was a big revelation. One that neither of them were particularly prepared for.
It all felt odd. Wrong. She shifted uncomfortably, nails pressing into her forearms.
“I’m sorry that my image was used to hurt you. I.. they- kriff those karking bastards. Its just messed up. That shouldn’t be how anyone realises anything.”
“Yeah..”
It felt like there was a pit in their stomach, one that was growing with each passing moment.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. I’ll manage. I always do, after all. How are things on Selen? Anything new with you?”
“Its fine.”
Turns out she had an interesting definition too. Even though she could let it drop, there was one thing she had to ask. Even it ranged dangerously close to the one topic she’d rather not cover right now. Not off of the back of that.
“Scimitar, right? The cult of the immortal sith. That’s who you’ve been fighting?”
“Yes. Darth Scimitar was around even when I was a youngling. He managed to allude the Jedi then, somehow.” Savi gripped the dresser tightly with both hands, digging their nails into the wood. “I have to be the one who ends him, for good this time.”
Kerissa bit the inside of her cheek.
It was almost a relief savi wasn’t realising this wasn’t common knowledge. She could step away and just leave it but kriff with what savi just shared.. no. Her family being after her is one surprise. Them being who Scimitar cultists is another one entirely.
“Well you’ll solve my little problem on the way then.”
Savi’s eyes widened a bit upon hearing Kerissa’s remark. Prompting them to bring the datapad closer to her face. “What do you mean, Kerissa?” they asked, voice laden with concern.
“Guess which cult my family is in.” Kerissa said plainly, her eyes turning away from Savi’s concerned image.
Her nails dug in and it took purposeful effort to unclench her hands. Even through her sleeves, it wasn’t a good habit.
And that was enough to make Savi feel far more conflict than they’d signed up to feel today. Moving one of their tattooed hands to pinch the bridge of their nose, they released an exasperated sigh. “I swear the Force has a messed up since of humor.”
“I’m inclined to agree.” Kerissa sighed, running her hands through her hair. “I’m not asking you to spare them. The youngest of my brothers I might have asked once, if he gave you the chance too but I don’t even know what he looks like anymore. The rest though…” Kerissa shook her head. “Just.. be careful.”
“Are you sure?” they asked sternly. “You’ve never seen me work, but you should know that I’m not the merciful type. And I don’t know much about what they did to you, but there’s no taking it back if you don’t ask me to spare them, Kerissa.”
What they did to her. Shed thought once that list wasn’t so long but now… now the list was a slate that could go on far longer than she had ever imagined.
“Someone has to do it. If you come across them then.. so be it.”
Savi’s expression became more serious when she gave them the go-ahead. It was the first time they heard her talk like this, about her family, no less. Clearly, there was no love lost between them.
“I shouldn’t be here for much longer. I’ll wrap up my business and head home in the morning, hopefully,” they said. “May I come over when I arrive?”
Kerissa nodded, “Of course. It’ll be good to see you back on safe ground.”
She smiled faintly, glad that Savi wouldn’t stay away longer now.
“You.. did have me worried there. You didn’t disappear after the war… It was well placed worry, evidently.”
They smiled in kind. It’d be nice to see her again. Despite the mess that it was clear they were both now involved in, Kerissa still was one of the only people in their life that made them feel calm.
“I didn’t intend for it to be that long, I’m sorry,” they gave a sheepish look, “I’ve been in wars. That, I can do. This is … new.”
“Well, yeah. People don’t usually die very often.” Kerissa chuckled faintly, “Just glad that you’ll be coming back.”