The Rebel Faction

Asri nodded and grabbed his arm. When he pulled she jumped, resulting in both of them tumbling down the side of the hull and landing roughly on the grass beside the ship, with Maskis on top of her.

"Get off!" Asri hissed, finding the situation very embarrassing and knocked him off. She stood up and brushed herself off a moment before looking at him. "Let's get out of range before that generator blows." Without waiting for a response she took off in the direction they had hidden the speeder. "Looks like you got a lot of reading and thinking to do tonight eh?" She said as she got into the speeder and watched as Maskis did the same.

"Well you're the one that's driving, so put the petal to the metal." Asri quipped as she leaned back into her set.

I hope we aren't questioned by the local police about that explosion. She thought as Theed loomed larger and larger in front of them. It would be 'awkward', at the very least, trying to explain what they were doing, though she supposed they could just out right lie as long as no Jedi are part of the investigation. What was on that data pad also worried her, going by the concerned expression on Maskis' face. It was likely, however, that she was preve to whatever it is he was concerned about, meaning if he asked for her help again she'll be going in about as blind as she did this time.

Fortunately they reached the Academy with no hassling from the local police and Asri felt like taking a well deserved shower....

For the next few days Asri spent her time mostly relaxing, her lessons with Kohee’ka helping with that. She enjoyed her dancing lessons with the Twi’lek very much and she was sad to see Kohee’ka have to leave with the rest of the Carnival: she hoped she would see her again someday.

In the meantime, when she wasn’t hunting or playing with the kids, she practiced what she was taught by the Twi’lek. Knowing the stigma her people had against fellow Trandoshans that took up the activity, Asri made use of one of the spare classrooms for privacy. She had to purchase a music player and some music disks, but that was well within her budget. What she had to force herself to cut down on though, was buying dancing cloths: she found she couldn’t get enough of them.

Once one of the younglings mistakenly walked in on one of her practices and told her told she ‘danced pretty’. The albino couldn’t help but blush and asked him not to tell anyone. Of course, kids being kids, all the younglings quickly found out and soon after if they weren’t in training, they were looking to see if she was practicing. This meant that a handful of times she had a sizeable audience and she couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous about it, especially when Silonik and his friend Mortor were watching. She got used to it quickly enough, as since they were kids they would be more open minded about the idea of a Trandoshan dancer. Asri did wonder how long it would be until one of the older residents started attending her practice sessons. It wasn't long…

She was going through one of her dancing routines, her eyes closed and immersed in the music when she heard someone come in. Assuming it was one of the kids, she continued dancing and didn't let it bother her. After a couple of minutes she opened her eyes to look to see who had come to watch and saw Trazu gaping at her. It was such a shock to her to see him there that she stumbled and tripped over her own feet, spilling to the floor unceremoniously. Her spill must have broken whatever spell she had placed on Trazu, for the next instant he was at her side, helping her untangle herself from her own limbs.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

“I’m fine…” Asri replied sheepishly. “You startled me…that’s all.”

“Sorry…I…should have knocked or something first.” He explained, looking a little embarrassed. “I was wondering why there was music playing in here. New hobby?”

“You…could say that…” Asri didn’t dare to look at his face, fearing his disapproval. This was silly though, why should she care what he thought?

“From what little I got to see, you’re very good at it.” She heard him say softly. “And you have a good eye for attire. It brings out your eyes nicely.”

Finally she looked at him, only to see a smiling, almost loving expression on Trazu’s face. “You don’t disapprove?” She asked.

“Why should I?” He said with a shrug. “You should know by now that my whole family, if not the whole Clan is full of T’Doshok that are more open minded then most. It’s far too rare for a T’Doshok to take up a profession that shows our more…beautiful…side.”

This was starting to go down a road that made her feel uncomfortable, queasy almost, though she couldn’t understand why. So she changed the subject. “I wasn’t expecting you to return so soon Lord Trazu. Did the expedition go well?”

She saw him wince a the term ‘Lord’, remembering too late that he hated being referred to as a noble in any sense. “Yes and no…more on the ‘no’ side.” He said with a sigh. “The only good news is that we now know there is something very wrong with the Force itself, if you can even call that good news.”

“That sounds like bad news to me…” Asri said softly. “Do continue though.”

“I’m not sure if I am at liberty to say.” Trazu said with his arms wide in another shrug. After looking around a moment to ensure no one else was close enough to hear, he went on. “But it looks like the Force is getting torn apart.”

“What?” Asri said, not believing what she just heard. “How?”

“We don’t know.” Trazu said helplessly. “But the Jedi are going to be hard pressed to find out what’s causing it and try to reverse the damage, if it’s not already too late.”

“What will happen if the Force is…destroyed?”

“To be honest I don’t even want to speculate…” Trazu said with a fearful frown. “Nothing good…that’s for sure. There’s something else as well…”

“What’s that?” Asri asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

“Lavality stowed away on our ship and had a nasty encounter with a dark spirit. I was able to drive it off with her help, but she suffered physically for it.”

“What happened to her?”

“She no longer knows who she is…or where she came from…or anything. And…” He let out a deep sigh. “She’s developed this strange fixation on me, refuses to leave my side in fact. She begged me not to leave her room when I put her to bed.”

Oddly enough, besides the amnesia thing, she found that kind of amusing. “She’s sounding like a clingy five year old.”

“It’s already getting on my nerves…” Trazu admitted.

"I'm sure she'll remember everything soon enough and I bet she'll be all apologetic for the embarrassment."

"I can only hope..."