Chapter Text
By the time Osha had descended the final stair and set foot onto the forest floor, she felt reborn. It reminded her, strangely of her emotions upon leaving Brendok at eight years old, sobbing over the presumed death of her sister and begging Sol for a Force Cage. In a deeper place, somewhere past the agony, there had been the budding seeds of excitement and novelty. Osha had left the only planet she’d ever known, and the loss of her family had dulled across the years, even if it still reared its head at the worst times.
Now, though, Osha’s sense of fresh beginnings wasn’t paired with pain and grief. This time, she was walking towards Mae, not away. She wasn’t alone.
But she hadn’t ever been alone, really, not from the start.
Yord pushed himself away from a tree, concern just hiding beneath his features. “Osha. Did you find - ”
Osha launched towards him, wrapping him in an embrace and sinking into the robes that matched her own. Home. He’d always felt that way, the Jedi had always felt that way, and Osha understood at last.
“Thank you.” Closing her eyes to hold back tears, Osha thanked the stars that she’d never grown taller than Yord. “For bringing me here.”
He wrapped a cautious arm around her shoulders. “You’re okay?”
“Better than okay.” Osha pulled back from him with a smile, wiping her hand beneath her eyes. “I understand who I am now.”
Yord’s returned smile was a less sure thing, but a smile all the same. He nodded as they turned back through the trees. “I’m glad to hear it.”
Osha nudged him with her elbow. “You don’t want to hear what I found?”
“I don’t want to press you. But I’ve always known who you are, Osha.” Yord’s smile gained an added confidence. “You’re still the little girl who almost lost her hand for me on N’Gyla.”
She winced at the reference, but Yord was kind enough to pretend not to notice. She didn’t know how or even if she’d tell Yord the truth of how she’d left Garrow behind, but that didn’t have to matter anymore. Somehow, Osha had gained Yord’s trust on the same day she’d ruined Garrow’s. Still, all this meant was that Osha could finally stop being afraid of her own being.
She still couldn’t quite comprehend the magnitude of her truth, but there would be time.
She wanted to tell Sol, Jecki, Jura, everyone. She couldn’t, though, not yet. Revealing the truth of her lightness would inherently come with the reveal of Mae’s darkness, and that wasn’t a line Osha yet wanted to cross. But the mere knowledge of what she’d discovered would be enough to buoy her until she shared everything with the people who had always believed the best of her.
There was no reason to fear her rot anymore, not when she knew how much potential was burning within her.
➖
“Watch your left, Jecki!”
“Traitor!” Osha shouted as Jecki dodged the thrust of the training saber, leaping back with a laugh. Osha turned on Yord, who was leaning against the hangar wall with folded arms, and tried to glare at him, but it was hard when she was smiling so broadly.
She didn’t look away from him, meeting his grin with her own, and easily ducked out of the way of Jecki’s next attack. Jecki gave a frustrated shout, and Osha ran forward, pressed one foot against the wall, and launched herself in a backflip.
The hangar’s hatch was open to space, a translucent ray shield protecting them from the airless atmosphere. It made for a decent view before they’d be ready to return to Coruscant, and Osha admired the haze of stars before striking out and knocking Jecki’s saber out of her hands. She landed heavily on her feet, stumbling and brushing a braid out of her face. “And that’s the match, Jeck!”
Neither Jecki nor Yord spoke at first, both of them staring at her with matched expressions of shock; then Jecki clapped her hands to her mouth with a laugh. “Stars, Osha!”
“That good, huh?” Osha flashed a grin Yord’s way, and there was so much pride in his eyes that she had to look away.
“No, seriously!” Jecki insisted, not bothering to pick up her training saber. “Osha - that was pure light energy!”
Osha’s smug front faltered. “You - really?”
“Really,” Yord echoed - and he didn’t sound surprised or amazed. Just… expectant. Like he’d been waiting for this.
Osha watched them both, so overwhelmed with love and gratitude she almost choked on it. She swallowed it down, then tossed her braids cavalierly. “Was there ever any doubt?”
➖
Osha practiced sparring with Jecki and Yord long into their voyage before finally stepping away. She was still rusty compared to the two of them, but some of her old instincts were returning. And really, with no Force cages and its entire light side open to her, what was out of reach now?
After a brief shower, Osha found herself knocking on the doorway of the ship’s cockpit. “You want some company?”
Sol glanced up at her, his smile more real than she’d seen in years. “You, always.”
Osha started to return it before her attention was caught by the space beyond the viewport. “We’re not going through there, are we?”
Sol laughed, following her gaze to the cluster of asteroids orbiting the planet just at their left. “No, we’re well on track to avoid those. But sit, join me. Surely I can do with another good luck charm.”
Stars, it was a marvel to see him again, to settle into the copilot’s chair and know that he’d be right at her side. It still didn’t mean she could forget everything that’d led them here, or absolve Sol for the entirety of their past. But the fresh memory of her mothers on Brendok hadn’t made Osha despise Sol - it was the opposite. They were gone, and Osha wasn’t ready to forsake Sol, too. She didn’t even know if she was ready to leave him when four months were up (or was it three now?).
But that was too much to say, so Osha just smiled back at him and took her seat.
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” he said softly. “Of course you’ve always known what’s best for you. I’m grateful Brendok helped.”
“It did. It really did.” Osha leaned back, staring out at the distant asteroids. “I spent my whole life not knowing who or what I was. I thought I was a failed witch, a failed Jedi, somewhere in the middle… but I know now. I know where I came from.”
“And I’m glad for you, child, truly. But please remember that who you were created to be does not need to affect who you are now.”
Osha understood Sol’s parental concern, the pithy pearls of wisdom he felt obligated to impart, but he was wrong here. She needed to be exactly what she was made for, because that was the only path to victory. She didn’t envy Mae’s natural darkness, but if their mothers had infused Osha with natural light, she might as well claim it for the sake of their mission. Now, looking back, she could understand Mother Aniseya’s guilt at creating a child who was born for the dark.
But Sol was so well-meaning that Osha didn’t have it in her to correct him. She only rolled her head towards him and said, “I know that, too.”
She couldn’t tell if he believed her, but he showed his smile lines again before turning back to the controls.
And the ship banked so violently that Sol’s head slammed against the panel, and Osha was thrown out of her chair as she crashed into the console.
“Oh, not again,” she gasped, scrambling for her seat. “Not again, not again - ”
Sol cursed loudly, tugging the ship’s yoke, and Osha’s eyes widened. “Master, your nose - ”
“Osha, defense positions.” Sol didn’t look her way, didn’t even wipe off the blood streaming down his face, and Osha forced herself to turn to the cannon controls, her hands shaking.
Kriff. If this was the same threat as last time… that darkness, that voice…
Could she face him now?
Yord and Jecki ran into the cockpit right as the ship shook again, jerking hard against Sol’s struggling direction, and both Padawans flew to the ground. Osha shouted, tried to reach over to pull up Jecki, but then a flash on the viewport caught her attention. Without conscious thought, Osha swung her sights on it and fired a quick volley of shorts, red lines against the stars -
And she struck the ship head-on.
Osha blinked. She’d gotten the tiny fighter directly in the engines, its nose already listing downward. She watched, fascinated, as the ship floated, dead in the air.
“I got him,” she whispered. Then, raising her voice, “I got him!”
An asteroid crashed into the little ship, causing Osha to flinch. Knocked further away, Osha held her breath and waited for the asteroids to crush the fighter into space junk, but it was caught in the below planet’s atmosphere first. Gravity dragged it down, beneath the cloud cover, and Osha looked over her shoulder. “Did you hear me? I said - ”
And their ship jerked again.
Sol cursed loudly, the blood drying on his face. “Wrong ship,” he spat, gesturing to one of Yord’s copilot controls.
Osha’s veins went cold. “What?”
“That wasn’t the right ship!” Yord barked, not looking away from the viewport. “We’re still under attack - ”
Another crash - louder, more solid - and Osha realized what had happened. “Kriff. He knocked us into the asteroid belt!”
“He?” Yord yelled, but the question was lost as he frantically tried to regain control of the ship. Jecki was just as focused, firing at the passing asteroids, and Osha threw her gaze to the planet beneath them. Who the hell had she killed, then? And where was -
The next impact to their ship threw Osha so hard against her belt it felt like whiplash. She whimpered, grabbing her controls again and swinging her sight. “Was that the asteroids or him?”
They were being baraged from all angles now, dodging and shooting chunks of space rock, and Osha was waiting for that dark voice to invade her mind again -
But instead, something floated past the viewport, and Osha freed a hand to point wildly. “That’s it, right? That’s his ship!” She was not kriffing this up again.
Yord nodded jerkily “Yes - Jeck!”
“On it!” Jecki shot back, swinging her cannon. She fired two clean, precise shots, taking out the single fighter with shocking precision. Osha watched, eyes wide, as the reflector shields broke off and the passing asteroids broke the ship into pieces…
But something wasn’t right.
“Sol?” Osha asked, but he was already activating his scanner. As he read it, his face changed, and then he slammed a fist against the control panel, causing everyone to jump in their seats.
“No life forms,” Sol said, his voice dangerously low. “Padawans - did you close the hangar hatch before coming up here?”
A long, terrifying silence, a horrible guilt flashing across Yord’s face, pure fear on Jecki’s -
And the next moments came to Osha like honey, slow and sweet. She understood, now.
Their attacker - the dark force, the seductive voice, maybe even Mae’s would-be killer - was on board their ship. He was here.
And Osha wasn’t afraid at all. She was brimming with anticipation, with excitement, and she knew what it meant now. This wasn’t the rot. This was her natural lightness rising to a challenge, ready to face the most powerful source of evil the galaxy had ever seen.
Bring it, Osha thought in a haze of power. I know who I am. I’m ready for you.
I won’t let you take Mae from me again.