Younglings

There was a taste on her teeth. She tried to swallow it but her tongue was swollen and it was rough on the roof of her mouth.

She wasn't thirsty but her mouth was dry.

Moving her head to the side it felt like her brain was shuttering and squeezing, her eyes felt like they had pins in them... that she just stabbed further in by moving.

She hears a barely audible whining noise and it takes a moment for her to realize it's coming from her.

"Oh none of that little one." there was a warmth next to her suddenly. She wasn't seeing it, she would need to open her crust sealed eyes to do that. And she didn't really 'feel' someone... she wasn't actually touching anyone.

So how was she 'feeling' warmth?

"Yes, confusion. That's understandable." the weird warm one says. "You are in the healing halls. I'm Chief Healer Vokara Che."

That would explain why she felt like crap.. something happened to her.

The warmth flares but with a sad air about it, "Good, you understand." she says gently, "While you are coherent let me explain what's going on."

That would be helpful, yes.... some water would be even more helpful though.. dry mouth is rather unpleasant...

"You were involved in an incident involving the force. That is why you are in my personal care. You and another youngling were drained almost to the verge of death." her words were measured and simple.

Did she think she was slow like Dudley?

"You are no where near recovered but for an unknown reason or another you keep waking from the healing trance you were placed in." She sounded a bit exasperated. "It's very dangerous for you to be awake with how weak your force signature still is, so I'm afraid we're going to have to place you back to sleep in an alternate way."

She understood but she didn't want to go to sleep.... she already felt like crap from sleeping too much... Oh.. and the dry mouth.

She suddenly feels a strange wobbly thing in her head, her eyes were rolling for some reason.... some little thing stung her arm..

"There young one. Rest. We'll take care of your needs while you sleep."

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She's jolts awake. Her eyes were open without her consciously opening them. They ached and were dry and .. everything was out of focus and confusing. She could also feel crust around the lids.

Someone in blue was rushing out the door.

A loud noise of some kind was what woke her. She was pretty sure it shook her bed too...

Minutes tick by.

It didn't take long for her to realize where she was. Even flat on her back and in this other time and place she could tell that this was a medical facility.

She's been here once or twice in this life but never in the patient rooms. She was always in the general treatment ward for booster shots and quick examinations.

It didn't take much thinking to know why she was here. She was here because of the ritual.

She messed up, she messed up badly. She didn't realize the alter chamber was connected to so much. She didn't realize that it would nearly kill her to purify it.

If she known she would have done the slower and more time consuming ritual... the one that would have lasted years not the handful of minutes she used. Hermione only taught her the two. Her heart aches thinking of those times in the tent during the Horcrux hunt with her lost friends. It made her remember another friend, one that she should have thought of first.

Was Desmond okay?..

There were noises coming from beyond the doorway. Dust was falling, the walls vibrating even as they remained strong.
A scream comes from the other room as she hears blasters going off and a light saber singing in the air.

It goes silent in the room..

She couldn't help but gasp as a person suddenly rushes into view above her, looking towards the door smoking blasters in both hands.

It was a woman with a long ponytail, a bald scalp with an antenna coming out of her skull. She had white grayish skin and sharp features. She was in regular clothes and not a robe.

She was definitely not a Jedi... her aura was too dark.

"Bane, I found the package. I'm securing it and heading to extraction 'B'." she pauses clearly listening, "Extraction 'A' is occupied by a very large group of guards now.. site 'B' is harder but it's better then fighting half the temple."

She pauses again listening. "I'll remember that.." she replies snidely. The woman cautiously puts away her blasters, turns and looks down at her for a moment.

Heather fidgets too weak to move or really speak.... she heard enough... she was this 'package' the woman was talking of...
"Oh don't worry little one. I won't hurt you." she grins all her teeth on full display a vile feel coming from her, "... You're worth a rather large fortune to someone out there. I'm just here to bring you to your new... 'Master'."

She pulls out what looks like a duffel-bag with two backpack arm straps. The unknown woman lays it next to her and then proceeds to disconnect all the sensors and medical equipment from her person. The woman picks her up roughly, uncaring that she couldn't move, not even trying to support her head or anything else similar, she puts her feet into the bag, takes a moment to put her wrists in binders before stuffing her the rest of the way in it. The bag had buckles instead of a zipper and she tightens them painfully, her face was the only part of Heather still exposed. She was strapped into a folded position, her knees pressed into her chest.

Even if she had her strength to move she wouldn't be able to, she was completely trapped.

"Oh we can't forget this now can we." she grabs a hold of what seemed to be files from a side table. The healer that had been tending her must have been reading them.

She stuffs them into another pocket of the duffel backpack.

Finally done with securing her, the woman picks her up, swings her around without a care for nausea and straps the bag to her back.

"...Now be a good little bag of credits and stay quiet!" she hisses, pulling out her guns and running out the healing ward.
The speed the woman was running and the constant jostling kept everything in a blur. Her sluggish mind couldn't keep up with the constant movement. It didn't help that the woman's long hair was constantly falling in her face.

"Lay down your weapons, intruder!" A voice shouts out in front of the woman.

From her back she could see two temple sentinels coming from behind, their yellow lightsabers out and lit in a defensive position.

"She has a youngling!" one of the ones she could see shouts towards his companions that were confronting the woman head on.

A blast rents the air and bits of stone fly. The woman's running again still in the same direction. Pillars fill her view as the woman sprints past them her steps echoing in a great hall.

Heather hears a gasp of surprise and a second later a robed Jedi appears in her vision. The Jedi takes only a split second and starts to run after her and the woman. Two of the Temple guards also catch up.

"STOP and you will be shown leniency." one of the guards yells.

The woman doesn't stop, she throws something behind her as her pursuers leap away. A blast of orange fills her view coming from another explosion. The woman ducks to the side still sprinting.

"LET HER GO!!!" She knew that voice... it was Desmond.

He was alright...

There was a hum of a lightsaber in front of the woman and she could feel her reaching forward aiming a blaster.

The woman body suddenly hunches in on itself, a wave of horror int he force, as she screams in high-pitched agony. Something thumps to the ground as she lists to the side dangerously.

"Even twitch wrong and I'll have your head too..." Desmond barks out, his voice a dangerous growl, the lightsaber humming sound was so very close.

Other footsteps joins them. "Master Billaba, we'll secure the prisoner."

"Get a healer to scan her as well as treat her before you put her into a high security holding cell. I've had dealings with bounty hunters before... they are very creative with their weapons and where they hide them."

Two people flank the woman from each side holding her arms (or what was left) pulling her forward. The startled Jedi from before comes into view. "Hello youngling. It seems you've had a bit of an adventure." She reaches up and grabs a hold of the straps. There must have been some sort of release because she's suddenly not attached to the back of the bounty hunter.

The Jedi Master lays her bundled up self down giving Heather a sudden view of something other then the bounty hunter's flying hair.

They were near the room of a thousand fountains, in one of the extra wide halls. The woman's severed arm was on the ground a blaster still clutched in the hand. The temple guards were dragging her away... she was snarling at Desmond, pain clear on her face.

Master Billaba slowly undoes the straps unfolding her from the bag, clearly checking for traps.

"You were stolen from the Healing halls weren't you young one?" it takes an abnormal superhuman level of strength but she manages to give the woman a slight nod. "Well we better get you back there.."

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She must have passed out shortly after because she couldn't remember much. The next thing she knew she was waking in the healing ward. She felt in the force that's it's been awhile... She was cleaned and changed and felt much stronger. The Healing ward wasn't the same one but one that looked a bit more large.

This one had windows with curtains blocking the light.

"Awake, you finally are. Lightens my heart, it does."

Blinking she turns her head to the side to look at the being in the chair.

She sensed him but subconsciously she marked him as part of the room. Perhaps he has been waiting awhile?

"Yes, Master Yoda. Still a bit tired though..." she must have been unconscious for a long while, she could actually talk.

She nearly died doing a ritual to cleanse a well of the darkside. Desmond was definitely caught up in it and may have been injured as well. If he was injured during it he recovered enough to stop her from being kidnapped.

Kidnapped again. How many times does this make it now? And should she count all the times she was kidnapped in her other life?

"Remembering you are." the old sage states, a knowing look on his wrinkled features, "A recounting of what happened, I wish hear."

Well, she didn't want to talk about the ritual but the kidnapping..? That was easy. Maybe he'll forget the ritual or be polite enough to not mention it? She was in the healing halls after all.

"My kidnapper talked to someone name Bane on her communicator. She was taking me to extraction location 'B' because 'A' was crowded with Jedi." She could tell this wasn't exactly what the Grand Master wanted to hear at the moment but he did want the information from her kidnapping so he wasn't interrupting. "She also mentioned I was worth a lot to someone. She said she was taking me to my new 'Master'."

The old Jedi's ears slump as he pokes the edge of the seat cushion absentmindedly with the tip of his cane, "Suspected we did. A bounty upon you there is now. Know the source we do not." His green eyes lift and meet her own, "Wish to know of before your waking, I do."

She shrugs slight and looks away, "We went exploring and found the room with the alter. The alter room was dark, it became clean. That about sums it up."

The old Jedi grunts, and points his cane at her, "More to it there is. Evading answering the whole truth you are." he said it gently but there was a measure of hurt in his voice. He was always good with the children in the temple, one of the rare masters that actually payed attention to the next generation.

"Initiate Desmond spoke little also." he continues, "Told this old master to ask you, youngling. Very rude he was."

"Rude?" he could have said any number of things. Desmond had opinions and if he was annoyed it only takes the right provocation to get him to say something nasty.

Yoda pouts slightly, which looked extremely amusing. She knew he was doing it on purpose to amuse her but he did feel a bit indignant over whatever Desmond said. "Call me a puppet to the force he did." the sage lets out a breath, "Control my own actions I do. Choose to follow the force, not a puppet am I."

That startles a painful laugh out of her. "Don't take it personally Master. Desmond thinks that of everyone in the Order. Him pointedly telling you means he cares enough to try to help you fix it."

"His opinion of the force, alarming it is." he states pointedly.

Heather shakes her head, "He just doesn't like being manipulated. He instinctively does what the force wants without any prompting and it bothers him. Earlier he couldn't even find a normal thing of salt." She immediately regrets the mention, the grand-master's eyes sharpen.

"Salt in the chamber there was. Know why the force wants it you do?"

"Does any one actually know what the force wants?" she counters.

"Saying nothing you are." he gives her a serious pointed look, "The order cares for you. Many Masters and Knights found dying younglings. Deserve the truth they do."

That punched the air right out of her..

It put her immediately in those knights shoes. What if it had been Teddy or first years in that chamber and she was the adult finding them. She would have been horrified to find dying children.

The Jedi that found them was probably used to horrible things but that didn't keep new occurrences from effecting them.
Master Yoda was manipulating her but he was definitely right in this. She couldn't meet his eyes, she could do nothing but hug the blanket to her chest and wish for the guilt she was feeling to go... wish for some comfort.

At the thought, the force moves happily to comply and a spark happens and her blanket was suddenly... not.

A bright pink tongue darts out and rakes across her cheek. Her legs were no longer covered. The previous blanket was wiggling and bouncing, in between her arms, a playful ball of furry fun.

It couldn't talk but through the force she could hear a constant, *Play with me, play with me, love you, interesting warm thing play with me. What's that smell...*

Heather could feel herself pale, horror washing over her. Meeting Yoda's eyes she couldn't help but note the shocked look in his gaze as well.

*...funny smell... play!* The little puppy leaps out of her limp arms without a care over towards Yoda but falls short hitting the floor with a slap, *...oww... flat thing hurts... * they both look down at the puppy in concern only for the happy little thing to get right back up and go, *....ohh weird things... what they do?* and run under the medical bed out of sight.

As one she and the Grand-master look up towards each other.

Yoda no longer looked shocked but thoughtful, "Hiding skill you are. Seen life made from the force I have. Dark it was but this is not. Creature of light you created." he says clearly thinking out loud. "Make sense this does."

But that was no where near what she did in the chamber. "How does it make sense?" she asks cautiously.

The Grand-master lifts a brow and force pushes the curtain to the side... the same curtain that was covering floor to ceiling windows.

"Life you created before..."

Outside the pane of glass, everything was green, everything outside the windows was covered in vibrant shades of green. The endless cold behemoth sized skyscrapers were covered in unimaginably thick vines that were connected to house sized fruits, flowers of all colors and sizes winked in the distance. Gigantic trees rooted out from in between the large buildings and stretched high into the lower atmosphere, leaves spread out blotting out large portions of the sky. Even the lights from the endless buildings were dulled from the gigantic vegetation.

The world looked like it was completely choked by a rain-forest, even with the streams of hovercars darting through the branches.

They had to be some of the largest trees in existence...

"...I didn't do that.. I couldn't have.." she whispers horrified just loud enough for Yoda to hear. It would take too much strength... too much power. It would take thousands... perhaps even hundreds of thousands of witches to create that much life.

"Wrong." the grand-master says simply, "Great power can be found in a force nexus. Over Time, built up it has. Tapped into it you did. Killed you and another, the cleansing near did."

Desmond... She had a vague memory of his voice but she didn't know what happened to him, "He wasn't badly hurt was he?"

Yoda gives her a serious look, "Healed quickly, anchored you to life... still anchoring you to life he does." He waves the point of his cane in her direction, "The council needs to know what you did. Tell us you will."

The mass of green outside the window wasn't something that could be hidden. It was probably all over the holonet. The public even knew who was involved, the kidnapping put to rest any doubt she had about that. The Jedi were the closest thing to witches in this life. Maybe they'll help her? Did she really have a choice? She couldn't run not after doing such a thing.

... someone was probably already writing her name in some bloody history book again..

"I know how to cleanse darkness." she wasn't going to tell him she remembered her previous life just this thing. "We didn't expect to come across the dark alter but once we did..."

Master Yoda hums thoughtfully, and pokes the edge of his chair's cushion with his cane, "The will of the Force your knowing... cleanse such darkness was needed." he wasn't probing further, perhaps to give her some breathing room. She was on her sick bed...

She lays there for awhile listening to the puppy shuffling about under chairs and equipment as the grand-master thinks over the situation.

"What now?" she sounded young and scared and in a way she was. She didn't truly grow old then... and she hasn't grown old here.

Yoda grunts, "Have a force bond with Initiate Desmond from the ritual you do. Will of the force it is. The attachment we must allow. Enemies already know of your feat. A danger you both would be if captured by the dark. A master you both need. Learn to defend yourself you must."

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Yoda left her with a lot to think about. What was she going to tell the council when she was up on her feet? The truth? Did she have a choice? With that many masters in the same room would she even be able to lie?

After resting for a undetermined amount of time, she found out that someone place the puppy in an infant playpen of all things. It had a diaper haphazardly strapped over it's hind-legs and bottom, it's tail sticking out of a roughly cut hole. It looked like it was done with a light saber.

The dog was lazily tearing apart the bottom mattress of the pen.

She laid there awhile gathering her thoughts, lightly meditating, trying to process out the drugs they were giving her. She wasn't quite good at it yet everything was hazy.

"Good to see you awake.'

Desmond...

He wasn't skin and bones like her. He looked healthy but she could see one major difference.

"Your hair..."

He shrugs, and pulls at some of the white at his temple, "You should see yours."

It takes her a moment to process that. Something happened to her hair? Did she have streaks too?

It was up and out of the way but she didn't think to actually look at it after cleansing the alter. She didn't have the strength to do it either. The assistant healer was the one caring for it. She wasn't much for vanity anyways. She didn't really care out of anything more then curiosity, especially right at the moment.

"~How do you feel?~" he asks in English instead of Common.

In private they spoke in their native tongue exclusively but nowhere near recording equipment.

The Healing halls definitely had recording equipment and it was being used right now. Desmond definitely knew this.

"~Weak, but that's obvious. Why are we having this conversation in English?~"

Desmond grunts and looks towards the doors.

"~You probably haven't noticed, being in a coma and all, but we're being kept under a microscope. The Bastard is taking personal interest in us. Jedi are suppose to be above revenge but he's definitely enjoying his assignment. He's going around watching the echoes of everything I do.~"

Vos was walking around watching everything Desmond was doing and saying? "~But the war? Shouldn't he be off trying to spy on someone for the war effort?~"

Desmond scratches the back of his head sheepishly, "~He's on mandatory break and he volunteered. The crazy bastard is enjoying himself.~"

She didn't have to tell him that he deserved a bit of trouble. Vos had just been doing his job. Desmond was the one to make it personal. To be honest, she suspected that Desmond took Vos's sword out of boredom of all things. There was only so much dealing with children one could take before a person needed a break away from them. Being children themselves the adults that watched them didn't realize this.

"~You're just upset that he's similar to you.~" and they were similar. Similar lack reverence for authority, similar skill set, they both were even kinda laid back and they both were sneaky.

Desmond grunts as he sits himself down on the bedside chair. "~Yeah, with that hand seeing thing he has, he would have fit right in with the brotherhood. He kinda reminds me of Yusif from Ezio's memories. Good guy but little bit of a bastard too.~"

"~What can you tell me about outside... and my kidnapping?~" that much vegetation suddenly appearing out of nowhere had to be headline news, might even be news on a galactic level.

He sighs, "~The Senate wants our heads, but we're children and the council had to confess that on the holonet for our safety. That didn't stop some of the Senate from still wanting our heads but the people really pushed back on that.~"

"~What do you mean they pushed back?~" People can do any number of things to push back against elected leaders. It could be a couple little snide comments to outright joining the separatists.

Desmond's grin was all teeth, "~Some of them were more enthusiastic then others. Apparently threatening to kill literal children by firing squad is detrimental to one's political career. Hundreds of new elections are being called. The holonet projections show that many of them are going to lose their seats.~"

"~Why are you happy about some politicians being in hot water... well other then the fact they wanted to kill us?~" He only got into politics when he wanted to see someone burn. Desmond had a true dislike for politicians. She was behind him on that.

"~Because most of them are the war-hawks.~" There was a definite faction of senators that were supporting the war to the point of being zealots. To them there would be no peace with the other side, only total subjugation.

Being adults in mind the both of them were reading independently about the reasons behind the war, even news from outer rim worlds that were part of the other side.

They both could tell that both sides were being spoon fed propaganda. Both sides were far from innocent.

Whatever the reasons behind the war they were blown far out of proportion.

"~Do you want me to go in front of some reporters all weepy eyed, blubber a bit at how sorry I am?~" she asks him, smiling.

"~Could you?~" he jokes, "~You'll need to do it while you're still in the hoverchair though. We shouldn't wait until you're recovered, the dear Senators deserve an apology as soon as you're able.~"

"~Should I put some makeup under my eyes? Just to add a bit more drama to my look? Wouldn't want them to think I'm sleeping well..~" she asks.

The bit of amusement she felt from him evaporates in a blink. His brow curves downward and his mouth pinches into a severe line. "~You don't need to.~" he informs her quietly.

That catches her off footed, it wouldn't be acting. "~I'm sorry.~" she whispers quietly, he nods after a moment, acknowledging her apology. Silence falls between them. She had a feeling that's she's been in this bed for a time, that she really worried him but she didn't realize how badly, "~What are we going to tell the council? I doubt they're going to accept anything but the truth.~"

"~As little as possible...~"