fic: a choice already made
28 June 2022 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wrennettea choice already made (3245 words) by wrennette
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tala Durith & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Reva Sevander | Third Sister & Tala Durith, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Reva Sevander | Third Sister, Tala Durith & Obi-Wan Kenobi & Reva Sevander | Third Sister
Characters: Tala Durith, Reva Sevander | Third Sister, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Additional Tags: cameo by Leia Organa, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Tala Durith Lives, Reva Sevander Makes Better Choices, Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine, Kenobi spoilers, Blanket Permission, do not copy or repost to other sites, Canon-Typical Violence
Summary:
-
Tala stares out at the streaking starlight of hyperspace, and she can still hear that almost teasing voice in her head. I do like a good liar, the Inquisitor had said, and Tala had barely managed to keep her composure, despite knowing there were others depending on her not giving anything away. But here, safely out of Fortress Inquisitorious, she can't help but think of the dark intensity of the Inquisitor's eyes, the deceptively soft curve of her cheek. She was so young, and already so hardened by the demands of the Empire she served.
Swallowing, Tala forces herself to instead think on what Obi-Wan had told her, about the tomb beneath the fortress, the captured Jedi displayed there like macabre trophies. So many Imperial evils are banal and everyday. Others, like this, give her the sort of nightmares that originally drove her to start helping refugees along the Path.
The Inquisitor has perpetrated innumerable atrocities, as all that kindred have. Tala knows that, has seen the bloody results of the Inquisitors' successes. But Tala can also see the curl of the Inquisitor's mouth, and the hint of praise in her voice when she called Tala a good liar, as if deception were a good thing rather than the first protection Tala had against the Empire. A shiver thrills down Tala's spine.
As soon as they reach the base, preparations are begun to flee. The refugees have waited long enough, and the appearance of a Star Destroyer on their tail only makes flight more necessary. Tala does what she can, and NED-B helps, his familiar yellow-painted frame a comfort as they prepare.
She watches with admiration as Obi-Wan assumes command. She can tell he's uncomfortable with the mantle of General, with the deference he's almost automatically granted. But it suits him too. She can see, like this, the legend of the Jedi come alive.
Even as they retreat, Obi-Wan is calm, and that spreads to the others, keeps them from panicking. Tala too is infused with a sort of clear-eyed acceptance as they fall back to the hangar. She is still afraid, especially when NED-B is hit, when he forces her back towards the door, putting his metal bulk between her and the stormtroopers.
Tala swallows, stumbling when she is hit and clasping her hand over the blood-hot wound in her gut. She finds a detonator, and looks around, looks to Kenobi as she realizes that other than her, he's the last one left outside the hanger. He calls her name, worry and caution clear in his voice as he understands what Tala intends to do. She smiles, making her choice and priming the det.
The blast knocks Tala back. NED-B’s still, solid hulk protects her from the worst of it, but Tala’s vision still goes black, and sound goes distant, her head swimming. Dazedly, she realizes the passage is clear, save her and the bodies. She smiles around the blood in her mouth, her body beginning to go numb.
Tala loses time. Someone steps over her, and she looks up to see the sweep of a dark cape. She can’t tell if it’s Vader or an Inquisitor. Either way, Tala thinks, she’s dead. Either she’ll be found and killed, or found and tortured, or left to die in the dirt. It’s not the best plan she’s ever come up with, but at least the others are safe.
With fumbling fingers, Tala finds her holster and touches the notches she’s cut there. Even without counting the many rescued on this last trip, she’s saved two lives for every one she stood by and watched end on Garrell. It’s something. She smiles, and drifts again.
The harsh sound of lightsabers jars Tala back to awareness. For a moment she fears that Obi-Wan has remained behind. But then Tala recognizes the Inquisitor’s voice - strident, maybe even scared. Beneath is the ominous rumble of Vader. Stormtroopers march to and fro, and none of them give her a second glance where she lays among the bodies.
Vader leaves, finally, taking his troops with him. Tala drifts in and out of consciousness, a deep pain throbbing in her gut. It takes her a long time to realize she’s hearing someone else’s pained breathing alongside her own.
Tala looks up, and dark eyes stare down at her. Tala can’t help but smile.
“Hello,” Tala rasps out, and the Inquisitor just stares. It takes a moment longer for Tala to notice that the Inquisitor is hurt, holding a wound in her belly that mirrors the one at Tala’s waist.
"They left you behind too," the Inquisitor snarls, and Tala smiles up at her. The fear that had pulsed through her in the fortress on Nur has fallen away. Tala already knows she's dying. She has nothing left to fear. Tala brushes her mostly-numb fingers over the tallies etched in her holster again.
"No," Tala says, still smiling. "I chose to stay. I give my life so they might live free. After everything I've done for the Empire, it feels nice to do something for honest people."
The Inquisitor snarls and looks away. She doesn't look away quite quickly enough; Tala sees the fear and pain in her dark eyes. She had not meant to be cruel to the Inquisitor, not really, but clearly the jab had struck home. Despite that, the Inquisitor doesn't lash out at Tala, doesn't punish her for her defection or defiance
"I'm sorry you were left behind," Tala says, and is surprised to find she means it.
"I'll have my due," the Inquisitor says. Tala nods, believing her perseverance if nothing else. The movement of her head makes her vision spot, and Tala feels more than hears her own quiet groan as she sinks once more into unconsciousness. She doesn't expect to wake up.
-
Reva stares at the traitor. She wants to hate her. Wants to want to strike out and jerk her awake and make her scream, make her lose her composure, her clear-eyed faith. And yet Reva is tired, and hurt, and what she feels - it is not the roiling fury that has become so familiar over the years, nor the colder calculation she has brought to bear on her hunt for justice. She envies Captain Durith, and she hates that she does, hates herself far more than she could ever hate this woman who has wholeheartedly given herself to her cause.
Despite that she can feel her own body failing, Reva drops to her knees and curls her arms beneath Durith's shoulders and knees. She can barely manage rising again with Durith's weight in her arms. It is because Durith will make a good hostage, Reva tells herself. She just has to make sure Durith lives long enough to be useful.
In the hurried evacuation, much has been left behind. Reva finds a toppled crate spilling out medical supplies and sees to both their wounds. The scanners say there are no Imperial ships in orbit - no one at all. So there is no one to see her load Tala in a junky shuttle and leave, her course set for the Arkanis sector.
Tatooine is as filthy and dry as Reva remembers, and she curls her lip in disdain as she begins her hunt. In Mos Eisley, no one knows or cares about the Lars family. In Mos Espa, some of the oldtimers think they may remember Cliegg Lars buying Watto's woman out of slavery - Skywalker, they think her name was - and marrying her. It's a start.
Reva's dedication finally pays off in Anchorhead. She's parched by then, and more than a little glad she left Durith on the ship back in Mos Eisley. If she'd had to carry the other woman with her she'd likely have collapsed back in Mos Espa. Still. Her vengeance - her justice is waiting.
Feet dragging, Reva makes her way across the sands to the Lars farm. She clings to her self-appointed mission. She will have justice for her family, and vengeance on Skywalker.
And yet.
She stares at the boy, his crumpled form lit with the rec glow of her lightsaber, and only sees herself. Has she become? Is she? She cannot be.
Reva gathers the boy into her arms. He's lighter than Durith, and - and equally precious. She staggers to her feet, and carries the boy home.
"Have I become him?" Reva asks Obi-Wan, and she feels like a youngling again, asking one of the Masters for their wisdom. Obi-Wan smiles, his hand warm and firm around hers.
"No," Obi-Wan says, and the Force is warm around him, strong and clear as Reva thinks she remembers from her childhood. "You have chosen not to."
Reva doesn't so much nod as let her heavy head hang down. Obi-Wan gathers her up, and all but carries her to his hastily landed ship. Reva lets him. Lets him guide her back off the ship some time later and into a dim cavern where his sorrow suffuses the air. He gently tucks her into a paltry bed that desperately needs laundering but is still the homiest place she's laid down to rest in what feels like a lifetime. Exhausted, Reva lets her eyes close. Her mind is nothing but static, and then she sleeps.
When Reva wakes, the cavern is limned in dim morning light. There is a tin cup of tea placed next to her head, already starting to cool. Reva heaves herself semi-upright, and takes the cup. It warms her numb fingers, and the scent creeps into her head and brushes away the cobwebs there. She sips it, lets the warmth of it pool in her mouth and melt away some of her fear.
This must be Obi-Wan's place, but the man himself is gone. Feeling older than her twenty-odd years, Reva staggers to her feet and looks around. There isn't much to see - a camp stove, a few crates, a dusty toy ship, and the bedroll she'd slept on. She places the empty cup with the other dishes, then turns toward the entrance. Only then does she realize that the pain in her abdomen has faded. She reaches down and touches her damaged armour, feeling the bandages she'd tucked beneath on Jabiim.
Durith.
Fear roars through Reva as she remembers Durith's slack face.
You chose mercy, Obi-Wan's voice says warmly in Reva's memory, and she knows what she has to do. The walk will be long and unforgiving. But Durith, if she hasn't awaken yet, deserves what care Reva can cobble together. She's proven, after all, that it is possible to help others and live a good life even after serving the Empire. With a decisive nod, Reva sets out for Anchorhead, where she can find a speeder to take back to Mos Eisley and her ship.
-
The exclamation of Tala's name wakes her, and she jerks half upright before sinking back with a groan. Her stomach aches fierce and deep with a throbbing pain she hadn't expected to feel again. She hadn't expected to ever feel anything at all again, after Jabiim. And yet here she lays, wherever here is, overly warm and her mouth dry and gritty.
Tala pries her eyes open and finds herself in a surprisingly light-filled cavern. Obi-Wan stands before her, dusty and weathered, yet somehow more vital than she's ever seen him before.
"I didn't know where else to bring her," the Inquisitor says, voice surprisingly small as she melts out of one of the more shadowed natural alcoves of the cave.
Tala startles again, staring at the Inquisitor.
"I'm glad you brought her here," Obi-Wan says warmly. He holds out his hand towards the Inquisitor. "Thank you, Reva."
"I didn't do it for you," Reva says almost petulantly, but accepts Obi-Wan's hand and lets him pull her into an awkward half-hug. Tala can't help but be charmed by this more vulnerable aspect of her.
"Even so," Obi-Wan says gently. "It shows who you can choose to be. I'm so glad you're both alright."
Reva looks away from them both, ducking her head slightly. Obi-Wan turns back to Tala, smiling fondly.
"You're both welcome here as you recover," Obi-Wan says. Tala nods with a slightly strained smile.
"Leia?" Tala has to ask, and Obi-Wan smiles again.
"Safe with her parents, by now," Obi-Wan assures, glancing over at Reva. Reva slumps slightly, yet more of those hard, sharp edges rounding down.
Over the next weeks, Tala slowly recovers. It's clear Obi-Wan doesn't have much by the way of resources, but what he does have he readily gives Tala and Reva. The former Inquisitor is still injured too, although she's able to push through it in a way that is rather alarming to Tala. She finds herself almost daily entreating Reva to sit, to slow down, to take a moment and rest.
Tala doesn't always have success, getting Reva to let herself recover. They have more than one snarling argument while Obi-Wan is away during the day. But every evening when Obi-Wan returns, he gently diffuses the tense atmosphere, then cajoles Reva into meditation with him.
Each time they sit together like that, Reva softens a bit further, steps a bit further away from the shadows that dog her footsteps. Tala sees the fire burning in her eyes. It's different now, warm and purposeful rather than the previous rampaging wildfire that cared little for collateral damage. Tala finds herself eager to see what uses Reva will turn that fire to, before long.
-
Reva has better and worse days. Physically, she's mostly healed. Mentally - Obi-Wan wakes her from nightmares that leave her frozen in terror most nights. Thankfully, Tala seems to be a heavy sleeper. When Reva jerks awake to Obi-Wan's warm presence and gentle words, her first act is almost always to check on Tala. The sight of the other woman calmly sleeping, trusting and vulnerable, always helps ease Reva back to something like serenity.
Obi-Wan sits with her those nights. He never presses her to talk, but always makes clear that he's willing to listen. Reva can't help but wonder, if this is what it would have been like to be a Padawan. She knows that path is closed, and yet a part of her, still a youngling yet, aches for that connection.
Some nights, Reva talks about the nightmares. The betrayal of seeing Skywalker strike down her friends and family in the Temple. The horror of waiting beneath their cooling bodies until finally the Sith and the clonetroopers left, and she could slip away. The ingrained paranoia that developed trying to survive in the underlevels of Coruscant. The terror of being swept up by the Inquisitors. The pain and brutality of her training as they tried again and again to break her, until finally she gave in.
Other nights, they simply sit together. Sometimes Obi-Wan makes tea, and tells her stories. About long ago missions with his own Master, and his adventures with his Padawan. He's careful not to name Skywalker, and Reva appreciates that even though she knows she can't avoid that name forever.
Whether she wakes in terror or sleeps through until dawn, Obi-Wan invites Reva to meditate with him. At first, she doesn't accept. The way the Inquisitors meditate focuses on pain, and she's not eager to experience it again. But Obi-Wan looks so peaceful when he meditates. And the Force practically glows around him. Eventually, Reva accepts his silent offer to join in, and he gently leads her into a shallow meditation, like Yoda so often had for the younglings.
Reva reaches back tentatively, wary of being burned. But the Force is warm and welcoming, and soon Reva is sobbing. She's spent more tears here on Tatooine than she'd ever wish to admit, and yet each time they wash a little more pain and grief out of her, smooth over a little more anger.
-
"I can't quit," Tala declares one evening as they eat their meagre portions of rehydrated stew. It's been itching under her skin more and more insistently as she recovers. She can't ignore the fight, not when she still might be of use.
Obi-Wan peers up at her, question clear on his face.
"I won't quit," Tala clarifies. "Maybe I can't serve in the same capacity on the path since my cover is blown, but I can still help others along their way." She glances at Reva, remembering their first meeting, then tilts up her chin with a slight smile. "I'm a very good liar."
Obi-Wan smiles, dipping his head.
Reva just stares for a long moment, and then, for the first time that Tala has seen, she smiles. A proper smile, not the smirks and masks of before. Something like true joy wreaths her face, and Tala's belly swims with butterflies.
"I know someone who may be able to get you on the way," Obi-Wan says, amusement clear in his voice.
"And me?" Reva says, tilting her own chin up in echo of Tala's challenge.
"If you are truly committed to justice and mercy, I will vouch for you," Obi-Wan says. He reaches out, resting his broad hand on Reva's shoulder. "You've come far, and the Force will be with you, always. You made your choice, perhaps even earlier than you realized." He nods at Tala, and Reva looks over, then ducks her head slightly, the glance growing shy.
"I can do it, Master Obi-Wan," Reva says, quiet but certain. "I know I can't stop him. But I can help. I can choose mercy, and keep making that choice."
"Then you shall," Obi-Wan says, as if it were really that simple. Perhaps, for someone like him, someone like Reva, it is. He glances over at Tala. "And if you can get in touch with our mutual friend, he may have knowledge that would benefit Reva."
It takes Tala a moment. But then she smiles. Quinlan. Tala nods. Vos is difficult to find at the best of times, but if she is once more set on the Path, eventually they'll meet again. Obi-Wan smiles in return, and in the morning, they climb onto Obi-Wan's ship and set out for Alderaan.
-
"Lola!" Leia shrieks on the landing pad, and darts forward. "Tala!" she cries a moment later, only to stutter-step to a sharp halt when she sees Reva lingering on the ramp.
"It's alright," Obi-Wan says gently. He kneels, and takes Leia's little hands in his. "You know I would never let someone harm you, if I could help it."
Leia nods, still eyeing Reva warily.
"You don't have to forgive me, Princess," Reva rasps out. "I know I hurt you. And I can't take that back. The best I can do is try and help other people from here out."
Leia just stares for a long moment, an uncanny solemnity on her young face. "That's good," she finally declares, "helping people."
"It is," Reva agrees. "I'm going to help Tala, and she'll keep me on the path." She shoots Tala a wary, hopeful look, and Tala can't help but smile. Reva smiles in response, small and tentative. Tala can't help but compare that soft little smile to her sharp smirk when they were trapped beneath the waters of Nur. Like this, dressed in the simple clothing of an Outer Rim itinerant, Reva is glorious. Her dark skin gleams with health, and her deep eyes glimmer with contagious warmth. Smiling in return, Tala reaches to take Reva's hand.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tala Durith & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Reva Sevander | Third Sister & Tala Durith, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Reva Sevander | Third Sister, Tala Durith & Obi-Wan Kenobi & Reva Sevander | Third Sister
Characters: Tala Durith, Reva Sevander | Third Sister, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Additional Tags: cameo by Leia Organa, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Tala Durith Lives, Reva Sevander Makes Better Choices, Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine, Kenobi spoilers, Blanket Permission, do not copy or repost to other sites, Canon-Typical Violence
Summary:
Reva chose mercy, then chose it again, even if she didn't quite realize it the first time.
-
Tala stares out at the streaking starlight of hyperspace, and she can still hear that almost teasing voice in her head. I do like a good liar, the Inquisitor had said, and Tala had barely managed to keep her composure, despite knowing there were others depending on her not giving anything away. But here, safely out of Fortress Inquisitorious, she can't help but think of the dark intensity of the Inquisitor's eyes, the deceptively soft curve of her cheek. She was so young, and already so hardened by the demands of the Empire she served.
Swallowing, Tala forces herself to instead think on what Obi-Wan had told her, about the tomb beneath the fortress, the captured Jedi displayed there like macabre trophies. So many Imperial evils are banal and everyday. Others, like this, give her the sort of nightmares that originally drove her to start helping refugees along the Path.
The Inquisitor has perpetrated innumerable atrocities, as all that kindred have. Tala knows that, has seen the bloody results of the Inquisitors' successes. But Tala can also see the curl of the Inquisitor's mouth, and the hint of praise in her voice when she called Tala a good liar, as if deception were a good thing rather than the first protection Tala had against the Empire. A shiver thrills down Tala's spine.
As soon as they reach the base, preparations are begun to flee. The refugees have waited long enough, and the appearance of a Star Destroyer on their tail only makes flight more necessary. Tala does what she can, and NED-B helps, his familiar yellow-painted frame a comfort as they prepare.
She watches with admiration as Obi-Wan assumes command. She can tell he's uncomfortable with the mantle of General, with the deference he's almost automatically granted. But it suits him too. She can see, like this, the legend of the Jedi come alive.
Even as they retreat, Obi-Wan is calm, and that spreads to the others, keeps them from panicking. Tala too is infused with a sort of clear-eyed acceptance as they fall back to the hangar. She is still afraid, especially when NED-B is hit, when he forces her back towards the door, putting his metal bulk between her and the stormtroopers.
Tala swallows, stumbling when she is hit and clasping her hand over the blood-hot wound in her gut. She finds a detonator, and looks around, looks to Kenobi as she realizes that other than her, he's the last one left outside the hanger. He calls her name, worry and caution clear in his voice as he understands what Tala intends to do. She smiles, making her choice and priming the det.
The blast knocks Tala back. NED-B’s still, solid hulk protects her from the worst of it, but Tala’s vision still goes black, and sound goes distant, her head swimming. Dazedly, she realizes the passage is clear, save her and the bodies. She smiles around the blood in her mouth, her body beginning to go numb.
Tala loses time. Someone steps over her, and she looks up to see the sweep of a dark cape. She can’t tell if it’s Vader or an Inquisitor. Either way, Tala thinks, she’s dead. Either she’ll be found and killed, or found and tortured, or left to die in the dirt. It’s not the best plan she’s ever come up with, but at least the others are safe.
With fumbling fingers, Tala finds her holster and touches the notches she’s cut there. Even without counting the many rescued on this last trip, she’s saved two lives for every one she stood by and watched end on Garrell. It’s something. She smiles, and drifts again.
The harsh sound of lightsabers jars Tala back to awareness. For a moment she fears that Obi-Wan has remained behind. But then Tala recognizes the Inquisitor’s voice - strident, maybe even scared. Beneath is the ominous rumble of Vader. Stormtroopers march to and fro, and none of them give her a second glance where she lays among the bodies.
Vader leaves, finally, taking his troops with him. Tala drifts in and out of consciousness, a deep pain throbbing in her gut. It takes her a long time to realize she’s hearing someone else’s pained breathing alongside her own.
Tala looks up, and dark eyes stare down at her. Tala can’t help but smile.
“Hello,” Tala rasps out, and the Inquisitor just stares. It takes a moment longer for Tala to notice that the Inquisitor is hurt, holding a wound in her belly that mirrors the one at Tala’s waist.
"They left you behind too," the Inquisitor snarls, and Tala smiles up at her. The fear that had pulsed through her in the fortress on Nur has fallen away. Tala already knows she's dying. She has nothing left to fear. Tala brushes her mostly-numb fingers over the tallies etched in her holster again.
"No," Tala says, still smiling. "I chose to stay. I give my life so they might live free. After everything I've done for the Empire, it feels nice to do something for honest people."
The Inquisitor snarls and looks away. She doesn't look away quite quickly enough; Tala sees the fear and pain in her dark eyes. She had not meant to be cruel to the Inquisitor, not really, but clearly the jab had struck home. Despite that, the Inquisitor doesn't lash out at Tala, doesn't punish her for her defection or defiance
"I'm sorry you were left behind," Tala says, and is surprised to find she means it.
"I'll have my due," the Inquisitor says. Tala nods, believing her perseverance if nothing else. The movement of her head makes her vision spot, and Tala feels more than hears her own quiet groan as she sinks once more into unconsciousness. She doesn't expect to wake up.
-
Reva stares at the traitor. She wants to hate her. Wants to want to strike out and jerk her awake and make her scream, make her lose her composure, her clear-eyed faith. And yet Reva is tired, and hurt, and what she feels - it is not the roiling fury that has become so familiar over the years, nor the colder calculation she has brought to bear on her hunt for justice. She envies Captain Durith, and she hates that she does, hates herself far more than she could ever hate this woman who has wholeheartedly given herself to her cause.
Despite that she can feel her own body failing, Reva drops to her knees and curls her arms beneath Durith's shoulders and knees. She can barely manage rising again with Durith's weight in her arms. It is because Durith will make a good hostage, Reva tells herself. She just has to make sure Durith lives long enough to be useful.
In the hurried evacuation, much has been left behind. Reva finds a toppled crate spilling out medical supplies and sees to both their wounds. The scanners say there are no Imperial ships in orbit - no one at all. So there is no one to see her load Tala in a junky shuttle and leave, her course set for the Arkanis sector.
Tatooine is as filthy and dry as Reva remembers, and she curls her lip in disdain as she begins her hunt. In Mos Eisley, no one knows or cares about the Lars family. In Mos Espa, some of the oldtimers think they may remember Cliegg Lars buying Watto's woman out of slavery - Skywalker, they think her name was - and marrying her. It's a start.
Reva's dedication finally pays off in Anchorhead. She's parched by then, and more than a little glad she left Durith on the ship back in Mos Eisley. If she'd had to carry the other woman with her she'd likely have collapsed back in Mos Espa. Still. Her vengeance - her justice is waiting.
Feet dragging, Reva makes her way across the sands to the Lars farm. She clings to her self-appointed mission. She will have justice for her family, and vengeance on Skywalker.
And yet.
She stares at the boy, his crumpled form lit with the rec glow of her lightsaber, and only sees herself. Has she become? Is she? She cannot be.
Reva gathers the boy into her arms. He's lighter than Durith, and - and equally precious. She staggers to her feet, and carries the boy home.
"Have I become him?" Reva asks Obi-Wan, and she feels like a youngling again, asking one of the Masters for their wisdom. Obi-Wan smiles, his hand warm and firm around hers.
"No," Obi-Wan says, and the Force is warm around him, strong and clear as Reva thinks she remembers from her childhood. "You have chosen not to."
Reva doesn't so much nod as let her heavy head hang down. Obi-Wan gathers her up, and all but carries her to his hastily landed ship. Reva lets him. Lets him guide her back off the ship some time later and into a dim cavern where his sorrow suffuses the air. He gently tucks her into a paltry bed that desperately needs laundering but is still the homiest place she's laid down to rest in what feels like a lifetime. Exhausted, Reva lets her eyes close. Her mind is nothing but static, and then she sleeps.
When Reva wakes, the cavern is limned in dim morning light. There is a tin cup of tea placed next to her head, already starting to cool. Reva heaves herself semi-upright, and takes the cup. It warms her numb fingers, and the scent creeps into her head and brushes away the cobwebs there. She sips it, lets the warmth of it pool in her mouth and melt away some of her fear.
This must be Obi-Wan's place, but the man himself is gone. Feeling older than her twenty-odd years, Reva staggers to her feet and looks around. There isn't much to see - a camp stove, a few crates, a dusty toy ship, and the bedroll she'd slept on. She places the empty cup with the other dishes, then turns toward the entrance. Only then does she realize that the pain in her abdomen has faded. She reaches down and touches her damaged armour, feeling the bandages she'd tucked beneath on Jabiim.
Durith.
Fear roars through Reva as she remembers Durith's slack face.
You chose mercy, Obi-Wan's voice says warmly in Reva's memory, and she knows what she has to do. The walk will be long and unforgiving. But Durith, if she hasn't awaken yet, deserves what care Reva can cobble together. She's proven, after all, that it is possible to help others and live a good life even after serving the Empire. With a decisive nod, Reva sets out for Anchorhead, where she can find a speeder to take back to Mos Eisley and her ship.
-
The exclamation of Tala's name wakes her, and she jerks half upright before sinking back with a groan. Her stomach aches fierce and deep with a throbbing pain she hadn't expected to feel again. She hadn't expected to ever feel anything at all again, after Jabiim. And yet here she lays, wherever here is, overly warm and her mouth dry and gritty.
Tala pries her eyes open and finds herself in a surprisingly light-filled cavern. Obi-Wan stands before her, dusty and weathered, yet somehow more vital than she's ever seen him before.
"I didn't know where else to bring her," the Inquisitor says, voice surprisingly small as she melts out of one of the more shadowed natural alcoves of the cave.
Tala startles again, staring at the Inquisitor.
"I'm glad you brought her here," Obi-Wan says warmly. He holds out his hand towards the Inquisitor. "Thank you, Reva."
"I didn't do it for you," Reva says almost petulantly, but accepts Obi-Wan's hand and lets him pull her into an awkward half-hug. Tala can't help but be charmed by this more vulnerable aspect of her.
"Even so," Obi-Wan says gently. "It shows who you can choose to be. I'm so glad you're both alright."
Reva looks away from them both, ducking her head slightly. Obi-Wan turns back to Tala, smiling fondly.
"You're both welcome here as you recover," Obi-Wan says. Tala nods with a slightly strained smile.
"Leia?" Tala has to ask, and Obi-Wan smiles again.
"Safe with her parents, by now," Obi-Wan assures, glancing over at Reva. Reva slumps slightly, yet more of those hard, sharp edges rounding down.
Over the next weeks, Tala slowly recovers. It's clear Obi-Wan doesn't have much by the way of resources, but what he does have he readily gives Tala and Reva. The former Inquisitor is still injured too, although she's able to push through it in a way that is rather alarming to Tala. She finds herself almost daily entreating Reva to sit, to slow down, to take a moment and rest.
Tala doesn't always have success, getting Reva to let herself recover. They have more than one snarling argument while Obi-Wan is away during the day. But every evening when Obi-Wan returns, he gently diffuses the tense atmosphere, then cajoles Reva into meditation with him.
Each time they sit together like that, Reva softens a bit further, steps a bit further away from the shadows that dog her footsteps. Tala sees the fire burning in her eyes. It's different now, warm and purposeful rather than the previous rampaging wildfire that cared little for collateral damage. Tala finds herself eager to see what uses Reva will turn that fire to, before long.
-
Reva has better and worse days. Physically, she's mostly healed. Mentally - Obi-Wan wakes her from nightmares that leave her frozen in terror most nights. Thankfully, Tala seems to be a heavy sleeper. When Reva jerks awake to Obi-Wan's warm presence and gentle words, her first act is almost always to check on Tala. The sight of the other woman calmly sleeping, trusting and vulnerable, always helps ease Reva back to something like serenity.
Obi-Wan sits with her those nights. He never presses her to talk, but always makes clear that he's willing to listen. Reva can't help but wonder, if this is what it would have been like to be a Padawan. She knows that path is closed, and yet a part of her, still a youngling yet, aches for that connection.
Some nights, Reva talks about the nightmares. The betrayal of seeing Skywalker strike down her friends and family in the Temple. The horror of waiting beneath their cooling bodies until finally the Sith and the clonetroopers left, and she could slip away. The ingrained paranoia that developed trying to survive in the underlevels of Coruscant. The terror of being swept up by the Inquisitors. The pain and brutality of her training as they tried again and again to break her, until finally she gave in.
Other nights, they simply sit together. Sometimes Obi-Wan makes tea, and tells her stories. About long ago missions with his own Master, and his adventures with his Padawan. He's careful not to name Skywalker, and Reva appreciates that even though she knows she can't avoid that name forever.
Whether she wakes in terror or sleeps through until dawn, Obi-Wan invites Reva to meditate with him. At first, she doesn't accept. The way the Inquisitors meditate focuses on pain, and she's not eager to experience it again. But Obi-Wan looks so peaceful when he meditates. And the Force practically glows around him. Eventually, Reva accepts his silent offer to join in, and he gently leads her into a shallow meditation, like Yoda so often had for the younglings.
Reva reaches back tentatively, wary of being burned. But the Force is warm and welcoming, and soon Reva is sobbing. She's spent more tears here on Tatooine than she'd ever wish to admit, and yet each time they wash a little more pain and grief out of her, smooth over a little more anger.
-
"I can't quit," Tala declares one evening as they eat their meagre portions of rehydrated stew. It's been itching under her skin more and more insistently as she recovers. She can't ignore the fight, not when she still might be of use.
Obi-Wan peers up at her, question clear on his face.
"I won't quit," Tala clarifies. "Maybe I can't serve in the same capacity on the path since my cover is blown, but I can still help others along their way." She glances at Reva, remembering their first meeting, then tilts up her chin with a slight smile. "I'm a very good liar."
Obi-Wan smiles, dipping his head.
Reva just stares for a long moment, and then, for the first time that Tala has seen, she smiles. A proper smile, not the smirks and masks of before. Something like true joy wreaths her face, and Tala's belly swims with butterflies.
"I know someone who may be able to get you on the way," Obi-Wan says, amusement clear in his voice.
"And me?" Reva says, tilting her own chin up in echo of Tala's challenge.
"If you are truly committed to justice and mercy, I will vouch for you," Obi-Wan says. He reaches out, resting his broad hand on Reva's shoulder. "You've come far, and the Force will be with you, always. You made your choice, perhaps even earlier than you realized." He nods at Tala, and Reva looks over, then ducks her head slightly, the glance growing shy.
"I can do it, Master Obi-Wan," Reva says, quiet but certain. "I know I can't stop him. But I can help. I can choose mercy, and keep making that choice."
"Then you shall," Obi-Wan says, as if it were really that simple. Perhaps, for someone like him, someone like Reva, it is. He glances over at Tala. "And if you can get in touch with our mutual friend, he may have knowledge that would benefit Reva."
It takes Tala a moment. But then she smiles. Quinlan. Tala nods. Vos is difficult to find at the best of times, but if she is once more set on the Path, eventually they'll meet again. Obi-Wan smiles in return, and in the morning, they climb onto Obi-Wan's ship and set out for Alderaan.
-
"Lola!" Leia shrieks on the landing pad, and darts forward. "Tala!" she cries a moment later, only to stutter-step to a sharp halt when she sees Reva lingering on the ramp.
"It's alright," Obi-Wan says gently. He kneels, and takes Leia's little hands in his. "You know I would never let someone harm you, if I could help it."
Leia nods, still eyeing Reva warily.
"You don't have to forgive me, Princess," Reva rasps out. "I know I hurt you. And I can't take that back. The best I can do is try and help other people from here out."
Leia just stares for a long moment, an uncanny solemnity on her young face. "That's good," she finally declares, "helping people."
"It is," Reva agrees. "I'm going to help Tala, and she'll keep me on the path." She shoots Tala a wary, hopeful look, and Tala can't help but smile. Reva smiles in response, small and tentative. Tala can't help but compare that soft little smile to her sharp smirk when they were trapped beneath the waters of Nur. Like this, dressed in the simple clothing of an Outer Rim itinerant, Reva is glorious. Her dark skin gleams with health, and her deep eyes glimmer with contagious warmth. Smiling in return, Tala reaches to take Reva's hand.
