Reunion
Epilogue: Reunion
Rex winced. Despite the burning sensation that was quickly starting to radiate all over his arm, he summoned his forces to flex his muscle a little more. On the seat in front of him, Zeb groaned in pain.
“Why… don’t you just… give up?” Rex managed to say.
The Lasat groaned again.
“I won’t… lose… to… an old man…”
Although he would never admit it, Rex had been longing for another answer from Zeb. He had lost track of time but he knew their arm-wrestling match had lasted too long and he wasn’t sure how long he could still hold on. And the longer the match was keeping on, the harder it was becoming for any of them to give up. That was why when the door of the ship slid open behind him, Rex — focused as he was — didn’t hear it.
“Impressive,” a voice said. “Even after all these years, he can still keep up with a Lasat in his prime.”
Out of surprise, Rex suddenly let go of his arm. In front of him, Zeb threw his fists in the air and uttered a shout of victory. But the outcome of their little arm-wrestling match didn’t matter to Rex anymore.
That voice… He turned around to see the person who had spoken and smiled when he recognized her. Kanaan, Ezra and Sabine had all returned to the Ghost and with them, clad in her usual Mandalorian armor, Bo-Katan Kryze herself.
She hadn’t changed much. Sure, she had aged — though not as much as Rex; wrinkles had joined the freckles around her eyes but he could still see that fire in her beautiful green irises when she smiled at him.
“Bo-Katan,” Ezra said, “this is Zeb, our resident Lasat.”
Zeb nodded in her direction.
“And this is Rex. He is… was a friend of Ahsoka who accepted to join our crew.”
Oblivious to the glances Rex and Bo-Katan were already exchanging, Ezra continued.
“Zeb, Rex, this is lady Bo-Katan Kryze. She has just been made the new leader of Mandalore.”
Rex smiled and crossed his arms.
“Certainly took you long enough.”
Bo-Katan smirked.
“Ah! But in the end, I did it without your help.”
Ezra shot them a surprised look.
“You guys… know each other?”
Next to him, Sabine snaped her fingers as if she had just remembered something important.
“Of course! You fought together during the Siege of Mandalore, right? Mom told me the stories.”
“We did,” Bo-Katan answered. “Though it wasn’t the best fun we had together…”
Ezra frowned then seemed to understand.
“Oh!”
Rex almost seemed insulted.
“Don’t act so surprised, kid. I was once young and handsome just like the two of you,” he said, nodding towards Kanaan and Ezra.
“I can confirm,” Bo-Katan said with another smirk. “You didn’t age too bad, though.”
Kanaan rolled his eyes.
“Alright, Ezra, Sabine, come with me. We’ll let the two lovebirds catch up.”
The two teenagers followed him, not without a last glance directed at Rex and Bo-Katan. Once they were all gone, Rex rose from his chair.
“I’m happy for you,” he said. “And I’m glad to know that siege wasn’t in vain.”
“Me too.”
Her expression suddenly became much more serious.
“That’s… thanks to Ahsoka.”
The name of his friend was sufficient to make Rex’s heart sink. He lowered his eyes.
“She’s…”
“I know,” Bo-Katan said gently. “Your friends told me. I’m very sorry. She was a good friend of mine too.”
He knew she was sincere. It took him a few more seconds to pull himself together and lift his head, a smirk across the face.
“So… Does that mean I have to call you duchess, now?”
She punched him in the shoulder.
“Don’t even try!”
He laughed. Life was good. He was reunited with Bo; with his brothers and he was even fighting alongside two Jedis again. And that day, Bo-Katan’s presence in particular was especially significant. It was thanks to her that he had realized he was free to live the life he wanted and their relationship had been the first act of this new life. He had loved and cried; found some of his brothers and lost others; worked as a free man; loved Bo again; reunited with Ahsoka only to lose her for a third time.
Ahsoka.
He spared a thought for his old friend. If it hadn’t been for her, he wouldn’t be aboard the Ghost that day. By saving his life on the Venator all those years ago, she too had given him a chance to live freely. It was unfair that she had to go before him. He didn’t know exactly where she was now, but he knew she had joined the Force and that the Force surrounded them.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
And he followed Bo to the cockpit where the rest of the crew was waiting for them.
**********
In the middle of the desert, Ahsoka smiled. She was certain to be the only person for miles around, yet she had perfectly received the wave of gratitude aimed towards her through the Force. On her shoulder, Morai cooed.
“I know, I know,” Ahsoka told the bird. “I will go back to him.”
She hated that she couldn’t let her friends know she was alive but, in this timeline, she had to remain dead to them just a little longer, or at least until the new Ezra would drag her out of that spatio-temporal portal.
“But not yet. I have one more thing to do before.”
She folded her long white cloak tighter on her chest and resumed her journey.
She didn’t know how long it took her to arrive at the foot of the bluff. Many days had passed but she hadn’t counted them. It didn’t really matter. It was when she had seen the small terracotta house on top of the cliff that she had known her journey was over.
She began to climb to the summit of the bluff. It was an easy task for someone with her abilities and yet, in the middle of her ascent, she stopped dead. Standing in front of the house was a hooded man in a large brown cloak and her heart missed a beat when she recognized him.
Deep down, she had always known he wasn’t dead. Or at least since that day in the cantina with Rex and Bo-Katan when she had seen his face on the wanted notice issued by the Empire. Then there had been that time on Utapau when she had sensed he hadn’t died when the clones had turned against him. And all those hints given — intentionally or not — by Bail Organa during their time working together… Until the senator had finally decided to tell her the truth.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was alive. And he was on a mission.