I stalked him for an hour. Tira's wrong, I thought. D'Jarra
wasn't luring me into something, he was just hurt and bad.
Wounded somehow and trying to get away again; all my senses
were telling me that. Of course, the blood spattered onto
tree trunks and bushes gave me a good idea too, as well as
a warm vengeful feeling inside. I smiled grimly. In my mind,
he was the single being in the galaxy who deserved every
bit of pain he got and then some.
A sudden rustle of a bush to my left interrupted my dark
thoughts and made me freeze. Whatever it was did it again,
a bit farther away now. Raising my blaster and feeling for
my vibroblade attached to my belt, I eased my way closer
to the sound.
"Please... " That single word, backed by a wet-sounding
cough, cut through the silence like a knife. I didn't stop
to think, I just fired a single bolt of energy towards the
hidden voice.
Two things happened at once. First, a thud sounded from
where the place where the coughing voice had been; then
there was a full Wookiee roar of pain directly behind me.
I turned, expecting my arms to be gone by the time I saw
Loki.
Instead, she rushed past me, a cinnamon and tawny streak
of hair tipped with silver that knelt down and cradled a
slight form in her arms.
I took careful aim this time. Loki looked up and whuffled
at me, holding D'Jarra's body protectively from my blaster.
For the first time in my life that I could remember, I could
not understand a word of Shyrriwook. All I knew was that he
wasn't dead yet.
"Get out of my way, Loki!" I advanced on her, knowing she
could tear me apart in a matter of seconds. I didn't care.
She shook her head obstinately.
"I said, get out of my way!" The jungle seemed to be turning
a subtle shade of crimson. I threw my blade at both of them,
just missing their heads. "Don't make me kill you too."
Lokida murmured something and bent her head down. She wouldn't
look at me.
"What?" I stopped. She repeated it without looking up. Through
my red haze of fury, my brain translated a few of her words.
"What do you mean, he's innocent?!" I yelled. "That scum killed
Myn! He took my whole future away from me and now I'm going to
take his!" But I didn't move.
Loki repeated it once more, then after glancing up and seeing
that I'd stopped moving, she launched into a more detailed story.
She spoke slowly, calmly. I recognized what she was doing; this
was how she'd soothed me as a child whenever I'd been scared.
In her calmly soothing voice, she told me that Joran D'Jarra
hadn't killed Myn... That he had intervened, had tried to save
him that terrible day at that cantina and had failed. I shook
my head, my vision blurry with sudden tears as I remembered
holding Myn's lifeless body moments after I'd found him.
"No! No, he killed him! I know he did... He killed Myn..." I
was shaking so much I couldn't aim properly but I fired anyway.
The bolts only singed some shrubs around Loki and Joran. I sank
to my knees, crying. "No... no... Oh gods, Myn... Myn..."
Somewhere in my grief, I knew that Loki was telling the truth.
And I at once hated and loved her for it. I sat there sobbing.
A hairy arm encircled me and I buried my face in her shoulder.
Lokida smoothed my hair from my wet cheeks and murmured quietly
in her own language. She was asking me if I was ok and I only
looked at her.
I wasn't sure if I was alright. Myn was gone forever and nothing
would ever bring him back, I'd just threatened to kill Loki, my
surrogate mother, and I'd come very close to murdering an innocent
man. I shuddered in revulsion. What would Myn have thought of my
actions? He'd always held life as the most precious thing in the
entire galaxy. I shuddered again and hugged Loki once more. I told
her I wasn't ok, but that in time I would be. She nodded solemnly.
Suddenly I remembered shooting Joran. I jumped up to check him.
If he really had tried to save Myn, then I couldn't let him die.
It would be like losing my love all over again.
I stood above him and nearly panicked. Blood lined his lips and
his skin was a pale gray and he was having trouble breathing. He
looked bad.
"I'm sorry... I couldn't... save Myn. I wasn't... I wasn't...
fast... enough..." he whispered haltingly, then lost consciousness.
I looked at Loki. She looked back at me. Without a word, we gently
picked Joran D'Jarra up and hauled him back to Tira.
