Chapter Four

Ayani strolled out of her ship and back into the streets of Mos Eisley. Her cloak was wound tightly around her to keep out the blaring suns and sand that was being blown around. She needed something that was only sold on the black market, and she knew just where to go.

Ayani stepped into a tiny little bar, and she made a face as the disgusting smell of dirt, liquor, and body odor hit her nose. The bar's occupants looked over at her with hungry eyes, but she ignored them as she strode to the back of the bar.

"What can I get you?" an old man asked her as he slid a drink down to one of his costumers.

"I need some of that Jedi drug you have," she said quietly, and the man stared at her for a moment before waving for her to follow him.

He lead her through the back of his bar and into a tiny room. Inside were three men. Two who looked like body guards and one tall, lean man who was sitting in a chair, his feet propped up on the table.

"She needs some of the JD. We still got some?" the old man said, and the one behind the table nodded and then waved for the man to leave.

"Why would a pretty thing like you need such a powerful drug?" he asked, sitting up in his chair.

"Do you really think I'm going to answer that?" Ayani asked, cocking her head sideways.

The man held his hands up and opened a draw. He pulled out a smile vial, and Ayani stepped forward, taking it from him. She looked at the bottle and nodded before handing the man some credits.

"If this stuff doesn't work, I'll hunt you down until I have your head," Ayani said, and as she turned to leave, "wait..."

"Do you have something else you need?" The man asked, and Ayani nodded.

"I need a poison that will cause an enormous amount of pain before killing its victim. Do you have something like that?"

The man's face broke into a grin as he looked down into his drawer and pulled out another vial filled with a bright red liquid.

"This will do just that." He handed it to her as she gave him some more credits.

"Excellent." Ayani's cloak billowed out behind her as she moved through the door and headed back towards her ship.

* * * * *

After weathering a night full of harsh revelations, Jade envied Nova’s ability to sleep so soundly. The child was curled up with her teething ring (technically, Luke’s ring), as at peace as she would be at any other time. But Jade was not foolish enough to believe the child could not feel her mother and father’s turmoil. It was actually more likely that the little one was exhausted. Only, unlike her mother, she did not have as much on her mind to keep her from sleep.

After tiredly watching Nova for several moments, she turned to Obi-Wan as he sat beside her on their bed. The dark circles under his eyes, his mussed hair, and his slack expression were all testaments to his own fatigue. Jade laid her hand on his knee and gave a feeble yet tender smile.

“I overreacted earlier,” she said softly, realizing she’d never apologized for blowing up on him.

“I should have expected it,” he said, shaking his head slowly.

“What does that say about me?” she chuckled.

“No, no,” he said, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “What I mean to say is I was wrong to put our years-old battle with Ayani before Nova. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Ayani has a way of doing that to us,” Jade said. “The only problem is we need our common sense and good judgment more than ever when facing her. But she drains it from us completely. And what are we to do about Luke? You were right about that, at least. We can’t abandon him.”

At least… For the first time in several hours, Obi-Wan laughed. He stifled himself by pursing his lips and waving a hand at Jade. “No, we cannot.”

“So?” she asked impatiently. “What does that mean for us?”

“It means we have to stand,” he said. “As much as you wish to, you know you cannot run.” He paused. “I know your heart, Kenobi. You’re no coward.”

Jade looked away from him. “Maybe not, but I’m a mother now. That’s something I wasn’t before, because she stole that chance from me.”

Obi-Wan grumbled, the sound nearly a growl, and Jade found herself moving closer to him. When his arms opened to her, she pressed into his chest and nuzzled her cheek against him.

“I know you don’t want to think about that,” Jade whispered. “Neither do I. What we kept in our memory of Amethyst was love for her spirit, not the pain of her passing. But… Ayani’s reappearance just brings all of that hurt back to the surface.”

Obi-Wan held her, feeling the mortality of his wife and child bearing down on him. He’d never feared death for himself, was practically incapable of doing so. His own body and life were temporary, and there was a much more precious, incorporeal life awaiting him. While he knew the same afterlife was there for Jade and Nova, he could not bear waiting for them on either plane. And knowing he might have to was torture in itself.

Obi-Wan gently leaned over and pulled their youngling into his arms, and Jade twisted to watch him cradle Nova against them both. Quietly and slowly, so as not to wake the baby, they laid back and nestled together. Nova laid across her father’s chest, Jade had burrowed into Obi-Wan’s side, and all their limbs appeared inseparably tangled. Jade and Obi-Wan shared the sense that they at last understood Nova’s peace and fell blissfully asleep.

* * * * *

Sleep evaded all those Ayani touched, for Seven was finding it elusive as well. Each time his eyes shut, he fancied he felt Ayani standing over his shoulder and jerked awake to be sure she wasn’t there. He knew his ship wasn’t impenetrable to her even when it was locked down, and this compounded his paranoia. Each clank of settling metal was her boot on the floor. Each hydraulic sigh was her breath on his skin.

“I can’t do this,” he soughed, rolling onto his back to glare at the ceiling. “I didn’t sleep all night, and I can’t even manage to catch a few winks in broad daylight? This can’t go on.”

He recalled Obi-Wan’s insistence that he get some rest. Did Obi-Wan even know the meaning of that word? Of all the people to tell him to relax… He covered his face with his hands, sat this way quietly for a moment, then whipped his hands away when he thought he sensed Ayani’s closeness. Again, there was nothing.

“But there will be,” he muttered to himself. “She’s like a sniper. She aims, she waits until you think she won’t fire, then she pulls the trigger.”

“How right you are,” Ayani purred somewhere near.

Seven was up like a shot, grasping his blaster and instantly breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Put that thingy away." Ayani stepped out of the shadowy corner of his room. Her hand waved, and his blaster was pulled from him and glided into her hand. She set it down on the dresser as she moved past it.

"What are you doing in here?" Seven stiffened slightly as she reached the side of his bed.

"Well, I was watching you try to sleep, but it would seem like your incredibly paranoid."

Seven made a face. "I wonder why that would be."

Ayani laughed as she sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Am I getting to you as well?" she asked in a soft voice, her eyes resting on his face.

"Only as a nightmare."

"Maybe you're having trouble sleeping because of that rock under your pillow?" Ayani wiggled her fingers, and the heart-shaped stone with the polished “S” in the center floated out and into her outstretched hands.

"How did you know that was under there?" Seven asked taking it from her hands.

"I saw you put it under there, Seven."

Seven blushed slightly. "Seemed like the only safe place for it."

Ayani smiled softly at Seven. "Maybe, but when one wants to sleep, a rock under your pillow isn't the best route to go."

"Why did you come back?" he asked.

"For Kenobi and Blood?" she asked in return.

"No, for me."

Ayani looked away for a moment, her face becoming thoughtful.

"You have filled my thoughts every day for the past four years, Seven, and even I cannot figure out why."

“Or maybe you won’t admit why,” he corrected. “That ever occur to you?” When her attention snapped to him with her expression icy, he interrupted before she could even begin. “You told me that you would have killed me. But if what you say is true, and I’ve consumed your thoughts, then how can that be? Hmm?”

"I would have killed you," Ayani said, her voice strong. She held up a hand to stop Seven from speaking. "As a last resort. If had I been about to deliver the killing blow to Kenobi or Blood, and you had caused me to miss or drawn my attention away from them, I would have killed you so quick. But I caught you coming before you could try, and I knocked you out of the way."

“And I nearly did die,” he reminded her. “Or did you notice? Was your vision too red to see that?”

Ayani shook her head slowly. "I didn't notice... I didn't know I had thrown you that hard."

"Yeah well, I guess you don't know your own strength then."

"I had warned you not to show up, Seven. I expected you to heed my warning."

“In other words, you expected me to give up on my loyalty to my friends. If you thought that, you don’t know me at all.”

Ayani sighed, "I hadn't expected it as much as I had hoped it." Her voice was soft and full of remorse.

Seven laughed tiredly. “You’re really sick, you know that?” He put his face in his hands out of sheer frustration and lack of any idea of what else to do. “I guess you think it was just as sick for me to expect you to ‘betray’ Dooku... To turn to the good side with me.” He laughed again. “I guess you do know how it felt then.”

“How what felt?” she asked.

“To watch someone do the exact opposite of what you believe is right for them,” he said, looking up at her again.

"I never wanted you to turn to the dark side, Seven. I was thrown into it at a very young age. It's the only thing I know. But I did hope you would stand back when I killed Kenobi and Blood. But that was a stupid thing to expect. About like you getting me to betray Dooku. It just wasn't going to happen."

“I’m glad you understand that, at least,” he said. “Then again, you must have had a lot of time to think about all this…”

"Oh yeah, between the crawling out of the rushing waters and spending weeks alone in that cave gathering the strength to crawl back to my ship. The time I spent in the bacta tanks healing. On the hunt for the many Jedi I've killed. Every night, before I go to sleep." Ayani closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, she suddenly looked worn and tired. "I'm sure you've had the same amount of time to think about it."

“Why do you think I travel so much?” he asked. “Of course I’d like to settle somewhere. I’ve done enough hyperspace travel for several lifetimes. But it’s the only thing that keeps that holovid from playing my head. The one where you keep falling over and over. Gyah, I can’t believe I said that.”

Seven climbed out of bed abruptly and crossed the room to face away from her.

Ayani was silent for a moment. His words had touched her.

"I waited for you in that cave, hoping that you would come for me."

“I thought you were dead. And when I finally did go back, it was too late. You were gone. And… part of me didn’t want to find you again. But I’m also so glad to see you. Is that wrong?”

He couldn’t seem to turn to her. Saying these things at all was hard. Saying them to her face would be impossible.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know." Ayani shook her head. "But you did come back?"

Ayani could see Seven nod his head. "Yes."

Ayani stood up and walked across the room to him. She touched his shoulder, and as he turned back towards her, she caught his lips with hers and wrapped her arms around his neck, four years of suppressed emotions pouring out of her. Seven’s eyes went wide, then her passion washed over him, and the shocked morphed into pleasure. His arms went around her in reply, their kiss deepening.

Ayani pulled back from Seven, her hand gently running over the side of his face and resting on his shoulder.

"I thought you hadn't gone back. I have carried a grudge around with me all these years thinking that."

Seven plucked her hand from his shoulder and held it in his. “I had to. In fact, now that I really think on it, I felt pulled. You must have reached me through all of that. I just… I don’t know how to feel just now, Ayani.”

“What?” she asked, seeing the confusion spread over his features.

“When it’s just you and I, we’re perfect. But it’s not just you and I. And you know I can’t let you hurt them. Not again. Yet… at the same time, I can’t let them hurt you.” He seemed to brighten instantly as a thought occurred to him. “They won’t go near you if you simply leave them alone. Stay away. Come away with me! It’ll be great. I know this great planet in the outer rim. Beautiful this time of year!”

Ayani gave Seven an apologetic look. "I can't Seven. The Kenobis are apart of me now. It has been drilled into me over my years and years of training to finish a job I was sent to do. Trust me, I didn't come here looking for Obi-Wan and Jade. I just happened to find them. And now that I have, I have resolved to finish the job I was given all those years ago."

"But Dooku is dead!"

"All the move reason to kill them! In honor of him."

“You’ve already killed Master Windu in honor of him,” he said sourly. “That wasn’t enough?”

Ayani moved away from Seven. "He killed Dooku. I just repaid him for that. But Dooku wanted Kenobi dead, and I had promised to kill him. I failed. I have never failed before."

“The one lesson you never learned,” Seven said. “Failure. Wasn’t it about time for that one?”

"I was never allowed to fail, and I never have. It was the one lesson I was not allowed to learn. It's not in me to do it."

“It happened,” Seven said. “Whether you were ready or not. You just have to accept it.”

"And I have." Ayani walked to the other side of the room. "But I will not fail again. I will finish my job this time."

“And Nova?” he asked, feeling cold all over again.

"My job was to kill Obi-Wan, not Jade."

"But you will kill her if she gets in the way, leaving the baby alone."

A thought crossed Ayani's mind, and an evil grin passed over her face, but she quickly replaced it with a shrug. "You would take care of her."

“That baby needs her mother and father,” he said. “Not a washed-up clone.”

"You are not washed up," Ayani said before she could stop herself. "You could be a father to her."

“Obi-Wan is her father,” Seven growled, surprising himself. “With me, she’d be nothing but an orphan.”

“Do I sense jealousy?” she asked.

“The jealousy of a man with no family and no place to call home,” Seven said tiredly. “What I truly meant was that Nova needs Obi-Wan more. Wants him more. That’s her daddy, not me.”

"You could have a place to call home. Why don't you live on that planet you mentioned? Settle down," Ayani said. Find someone who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated... she thought.

“You want to know the truth?” he asked. “Every time I pushed the lever down and the stars went all streaky on me, I saw your face. That’s why.”

"But you thought I was dead... I shouldn't have stopped you from finding a home and trying to live the life that you deserve."

“I stopped myself,” he said, shrugging. “I didn’t want it if it wasn’t with you. But it never will be, and I see that now.”

Ayani looked down for a moment. "After my job here was done..."

"No, Ayani. If you kill the Kenobis, I don't think I could live with you."

Ayani sat back down on Seven's bed and leaned her back against the headboard. Seven's offer to go live on the planet with him was burning in her head. Peace. Love. Affection. Someone she could care for, and someone who would care about her. Something Ayani had never had growing up, never had in all her life. Ayani sighed with resolve. It looked like it was something she would never get to experience. She was a weapon, and that was all she would ever be. She closed her eyes. I am a weapon, and that is all I will ever be.

"Seven," Ayani started and then frowned. "Seven... That is not a name, it's a number. The war is over. Are you going to stay a number for the rest of your life?"

“I…” He paused, the shift in subjects jarring. “It’s all I’ve ever been called. I’m used to it.”

"It's not a name though... It's just a form of identification, an identification number to be exact."

Seven shook his head. "No, it's not."

"Who gave it to you and why?" Ayani tilted her head.

"Jade did. She gave it to me because I was the seventh clone she met..." Seven trailed off.

"Identification number."

Seven let out a scoffing laugh. “It was a convenient name, yes, but it’s become more than that…”

“How so?” she asked, looking genuinely curious.

“Well… It’s who I am.”

“‘Seven’ is who you are?”

“It’s… well, what would you name me?”

Ayani thought for a moment, and then a grin passed over her face.

"Feroz," she said.

"Feroz? What does it mean?"

"Lucky."

Seven paused for a moment. “Actually… I don’t mind that. ‘Lucky’… Although you have to admit that it’s ironic.”

Ayani laughed, "yes, but at least it's a real name and not some number. So, to me, you are here on known as Feroz."

Seven smiled at this. “Feroz it is, then.” He sighed and looked down at his feet. “I love you.” He looked back up, appearing ashamed.

Ayani tilted her head slightly. "I've always known that." Her eyes twinkled as she stood up.

“So you’re just leaving then?” Seven asked uneasily, not liking her answer to his declaration of love.

“I have more planning to do,” she said. “As always.”

“Maybe you just don’t want to admit you love me back,” Seven challenged.

Ayani turned back to him with a glowingly hard gaze. “Go tell them everything. I know you want to.” And with that, she was gone.

Chapter Five

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