Woman without a Country

"Is everyone on this planet going to be like this?" asked Ludmilla in disgust as she walked away from yet another disgruntled, Jedi-hating citizen who didn't recognize her to be a Jedi. "How can they all hate Jedi so much, and yet not know what they look like?"
"I sense the hand of the Force in this," said Kreia calmly. "It was well done."
Ludmilla looked at her.
"How else could Master Vrook have remained here to carry on his work?"
"At least he hasn't been hiding out in a slum for the last ten years."
"Hey!" snapped Mira. "The old guy did a lot of good stuff in that slum! He wasn't just hiding."
Atton grinned. "Master Ell's cheerleader."
"He patched up people and gave out money when he could and he took care of the kids when they were sick," Mira insisted. "Just because he didn't charge out like some people and rile up the whole sector doesn't mean he wasn't helping."
Kreia smiled. "She does have a point, there."
Ludmilla continued walking towards the ruins without answering.
Canderous grunted, and pointed towards a camp just south of where they walking. "Those must be the mercenaries everyone has been complaining about."
"We should go see what they're up to," said Bao-Dur calmly. "Maybe convince them to stop causing so much trouble."
"Good idea," said Ludmilla, and they walked down to the little valley where the mercenaries had set up their camp. The first thing she noticed where the three Mandalorians standing in the back.
Canderous noticed them as well, and they noticed his armor as well.
"You're the one who's set himself up as a new Mandalore," snarled one of the mercenary Mandalorians using their language, so that the other mercenaries wouldn't understand.
"I am," Canderous confirmed. He looked them over, noted that their weapons and armor were in good condition.
"So, what does it take to become Mandalore nowadays?" the leader sneered. "Will any pack of idiots and a shiny new helmet do?"
"I was given the Mask of the Mandalore and commanded to reunite the clans."
"What? What kind of Mandalore takes orders? And who would dare to give orders to a Mandalore?"
Canderous shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."
Ludmilla looked curiously at the Mandalore. She wondered what he meant, but knew better than to interrupt.
"Well, maybe I'll just take the Mask from you, fangless old fool!" The mercenary Mandalorian charged, "I'll make myself Mandalore!"
Ludmilla drew back, to let the two men fight it out fairly. She glanced warningly at her companions, but they had all watched her in the battle circle at the camp on Dxun enough times to know what to expect. She noticed that Atton had closed his eyes, and was leaning against the trunk of a tree. Ludmilla started in surprise as she realized what he was doing, but couldn't think of a discreet way to tell him to stop. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Kreia smiling in silent amusement. Ludmilla shook her head slightly and watched the fight.
The younger man was stronger, of course, and possibly faster, but the Mandalore was the veteran of hundreds of battles, and despite his age, was still strong, even for a Mandalorian. He also knew something that the younger Mandalorian had never learned – when to let yourself be hit. Ludmilla watched the younger Mandalorian land a savage blow to the Mandalore's chest, and draw back to follow the blow with a sweeping kick. But the Mandalore, cunning and ruthless, followed him, closing with the warrior while he was off-balance, and he, not the Mandalore, fell to the ground in a loud crash of armor. Canderous hit him again while he was down, but let the younger warrior scramble back to his feet, and took advantage of the move to land a crushing roundhouse kick to the back of the warrior's head. The mercenary rolled away, and staggered to his feet again, this time, meeting the Mandalore's fist with his head. He tried one more time, and the Mandalore slammed his knee into the mercenary's chest, then dropped him one final time with a brutal blow to the throat. The mercenary Mandalorian made a strange noise, then fell to the ground and lay still.
"Anyone else want to challenge me for the Mask?"
The other two Mandalorians shook their heads.
"Good. Now get your asses off this grassy mudball and get to Dxun. Your clan is waiting for you."
"In the shadow of the Mandalore," they replied calmly, and stepped over the body of their fallen and disgraced comrade.
"Hey," protested the leader of the mercenary band. "You guys can't just walk off like that! We have a contract."
"Mind if I take care of this?" asked Ludmilla politely, and the Mandalore laughed.
Canderous walked over to Atton, who was watching Ludmilla as she talked to the mercenary leader. "Um... were you...."
Atton looked at him, false innocence shining from his eyes. "Was I what?"
Canderous was suddenly very glad for the mask. "Normally, I don't like men," he growled. "But Battle Meditation is very attractive."
Atton blinked in surprise. "I don't know Battle Meditation," he protested. "Not yet, anyway. Besides, you have Visas."
"I'd share."
"Stop looking at me like that."
"You can't even see me!"
"I can hear you! I'm totally gonna tell Visas that you were hitting on me." Atton crossed his arms and tried to look displeased.
"She'll probably giggle," said Bao-Dur dryly. "C'mon, Atton, Mandalorians live for battle. Of course he thinks it's sexy." Bao-Dur looked curiously at Atton, who was blushing and watching some birds flit through the trees. "So, how close are you to mastering full Battle Meditation anyway?"
"I have no idea, you have to ask my teacher." He looked at Bao-Dur. "And you can stop looking at me like that too, you missed your chance!"
"I'd share," grinned the Iridonian, "but you're way too young for me." Bao-Dur started humming a small tune and walked away before Atton could say anything.
"How did no one notice that you had that kind of power when you were growing up?" asked Canderous. "I thought the Core Worlds were very strict about Force-sensitive children being trained as Jedi."
Atton shrugged. "No one paid any attention to me except my mother. Certainly not any Jedi," he said with a slight sneer.
Canderous looked at him again. "They didn't notice you? Are they all blind?"
With a slightly dark laugh, Atton looked at the Mandalore from under his lashes, then back at the birds. "You're doing it again. Where is Visas, anyway? She and T3 should be here by now."
"Well," Canderous chuckled, "either T3 has run off with her, she's found some flowers to cuddle, or she's found Mira alone in a dark alley."
"Yes, that would delay her, all right," Atton laughed.
"What's so funny?" Mira demanded, as she walked up to the group with Goto floating along behind her. "This planet sucks. They have crap for supplies, and everyone is just so nasty. I don't think these people can do anything without saying mean things about Jedi first. It's like the new planetary religion."
"Okay, can you people please leave my camp?" demanded the angry mercenary leader. "It's bad enough you stole my best crewmembers and killed my lieutenant."
"I didn't kill your lieutenant," Canderous protested, and saw the young woman lying awkwardly on the ground next to Ludmilla's feet. "Oh."
"Let's just go," said Ludmilla. "Hi, Mira. Hi, Goto." She started walking away from the scowling mercenaries.
"I didn't notice you fighting," said Canderous. "Did I miss anything good?"
"You were too busy ogling Atton."
"You didn't miss much," grinned Atton. "She didn't put up much of a fight, and her neck was apparently made of twigs."
Canderous laughed. "Ah well. Two less mercs for the people of this planet to whine about."
"There's Visas," Ludmilla pointed, "she's found the tree."
"The tree," said Kreia softly. "It's been a long time."
The trunk was broad and easy to climb; the branches were numerous, wide, sheltering; the leaves were green and soft. There was no doubt in anyone's mind which tree was 'the tree.' Kreia sprang lightly to one of the lower branches, and settled herself calmly with her back to the trunk of the tree. Ludmilla and Atton climbed up to the higher branches, trying not to giggle as birds and butterflies flew around them, and the occasional fuzzy thing squeaked indignantly at the Jedi in the tree.
Canderous looked up at Visas, who was sitting comfortably on one of the branches. "I can totally see up your skirt, you know."
"Liar," smiled Visas, and he laughed softly.
Mira sat down at the base of the tree, and picked a few flowers. "This is a really nice tree."
"It has been here as long as anyone can remember," said Kreia calmly.
T3 was going in circles around the tree for no discernible reason, and Goto was trying to get him to stop, without much success.
Bao-Dur sat down opposite Mira, looking out at the fields of Dantooine. "You can still see the outlines of the farms."
"This place needs more people," said Mira. "Non-sucky people. It's too bad you can't move some of the families from Nar Shadaa out here."
"Why can't we?" asked Ludmilla, hanging upside down from a branch.
Mira looked up at her. "Well, the slavers won't let them off the planet, for one thing, and there's no ship from there to here."
Ludmilla looked at Canderous. "Send them a Mandalorian escort. We can rent a transport ship or something."
"They could do that," said Canderous. "It'd be an easy run. How much does a transport ship cost?"
"Wouldn't you have to buy farmland or something? Somewhere for them to live?" asked Atton. "And how are you going to convince the refugees to actually go with the Mandalorians?"
"Oh, I could go do the convincing," said Mira. "It wouldn't take long. I could be back here in a day, if you let me take the ship."
"Okay," said Ludmilla calmly.
"I'll go too, to make sure nothing goes wrong," said the Mandalore. "And Visas will come too, in case we need a Jedi."
Visas nodded in agreement.
"Still have to buy farmland," Atton pointed out.
"Farms for ten families have been purchased, and a transport ship arranged. The names of the twenty most populous families in the Refugee sector have been downloaded to your personal datapad, Mira," said Goto. "If the first ten are successfully transplanted, we can expand the experiment for more families."
"Wait, you bought the farms? I thought you said you were broke, Goto!" exclaimed Mira.
"That was days ago," Goto sneered.
"Pay me my bounty!" Mira insisted.
"I have already paid the bounty," Goto explained. "To the Jedi. Who promptly wasted it all on good deeds."
Ludmilla grinned. "Sorry, Mira."
T3 beeped happily.
"Yep, you get to fly the ship again, T3. Take them where they need to go, then come back to Dantooine," Ludmilla grinned at the little droid.
"I can fly the ship," Canderous protested, and T3 squeaked at him sharply. "Fine, fine, you can fly it."
"And no fighting," warned Ludmilla.
Mira rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom."
"What?" said Canderous. "I want them to fight! Naked."
Visas blushed. "Stop being so perverted," she protested weakly as Canderous helped her, quite unnecessarily, down from the tree.
"Stop being so sexy," he retorted. "Look, what if you get to wear chocolate instead of clothes? Would you fight her then?"
"That's disgusting!" said Mira in shock.
"But you like chocolate," said Canderous hopefully. "Oh, come on. Atton would do it."
Mira's jaw dropped open in shock, and Visas turned bright red.
Ludmilla looked curiously at Atton. "Would you?"
"For you? Definitely," he grinned.
"I'm not sure I want to be alone on a ship with you," said Mira as she started walking back to the spaceport.
"It's okay," said Canderous, reassuringly. "T3 will be there. I'm sure he'll be a great help."
T3 beeped in agreement. Mira made a noise of disgust, and Visas sighed as Canderous burst into laughter as they all walked away.
Kreia smiled as she watched them. "I wonder how long it has been since someone laughed here."
"Do Jedi laugh?" asked Atton, and the bird he was holding flew away to go investigate a different branch.
Ludmilla shook her head. "They're not supposed to, anyway. They're supposed to be serious and grim at all times."
Bao-Dur looked at her. "How did you survive the training?"
"I got in trouble a lot," she grinned, and jumped down out of the tree, landing lightly. "Ooh, pansies! I love these!"
Kreia looked at her in surprise. "You don’t seem like someone who would like flowers."
"She likes them dipped in sugar," Bao-Dur explained. "The petals are edible."
"That makes more sense," laughed Kreia. "I imagine the Masters must have had quite the time with you, girl."
Ludmilla picked a handful of pansies and violets, and laughed at the memories. "There was this one time, I got into a fight with one of Master Vrook's Padawans. My Master was on Coruscant, so he had to go to Master Vandar to try and get me disciplined. Not for the fight itself, because everyone agreed that I was justified – he wanted me to be punished for disagreeing with his Padawan in the first place. He thought that I was too violent, and he didn't like that some of the other Padawans copied me in standing up and challenging the older students."
"So you were born a leader," said Bao-Dur. "I always wondered."
Ludmilla blushed. "Actually, most of the students couldn't stand me. But the ones who were my friends would have followed me anywhere. That's what Vrook hated most about me." She laughed. "Vrook also said I would never be more than a mediocre Jedi, that I didn't have a strong connection to the Force."
Kreia smiled. "His dislike of you blinds him to your strengths. A foolish way for a Jedi Master to behave."
Atton jumped down to a lower branch, then another, before landing gracefully on the ground next to Ludmilla. "He sounds like a typical Jedi."
"He really does," Bao-Dur agreed.
Goto floated over to Ludmilla and looked at her.
"What?" said Ludmilla in surprise.
"You are a very curious individual," Goto observed. "That is all." The droid floated away again.
Ludmilla frowned at him, but Atton distracted her by taking the flowers away.
"I just realized that the ship flew off with all our food," he said sadly. "We'll have to eat rations and local food." He started pulling off the petals and setting them aside in a clean cloth napkin from his pocket.
"Then what are you doing?" asked Ludmilla.
"I packed the rations," he explained. "I think there's enough sugar for these. Or maybe I can make some candy syrup from the honey," he mused, watching the bees at work. "I bet I could."
"Did you pack any chocolate?" asked Kreia.
"Of course I did," said Atton sharply. "Do I look like a savage to you?"
"Is there cider?" asked Bao-Dur hopefully.
Atton nodded. "No ale, though," he smiled at Ludmilla, "you'll have to make do with that blue stuff that burns."
"I'll live," she grinned.
Atton looked curiously at Kreia. "So, you weren't here when Ludmilla was?"
Kreia shook her head. "I was not."
"So where were you?" asked Bao-Dur. "Coruscant?"
"For a time," said Kreia reluctantly. "I worked in the archives there, sorting and storing Jedi artifacts."
"Wow," said Atton, "that sounds really dull."
"You would think so," said Kreia dryly. "I found it fascinating, to see how history had unfolded to the present day. To search out the hidden truths buried within the simplest remnant days long gone. For every story I uncovered, there were a hundred questions raised. Questions that could never be answered."
"You sound like Revan," grinned Ludmilla. "Always seeking the undiscovered truths. Digging up stories that the Jedi want to leave buried."
Kreia smiled. "Yes, I think that we might have that in common. The Jedi Order wants to leave itself as the sole arbiter of the Force in the galaxy. But how can one claim to stand for the Light if one has never seen the Dark? If there is no contrast, both sides might as well be one."
"That's like, heresy, isn't it?" frowned Bao-Dur.
"Perhaps," said Kreia slowly.
Ludmilla looked at the old woman carefully. "Okay, that really sounded like Revan. I can't believe I never asked this before, but, did you know Revan?"
Kreia smiled gently. "We have met."
"Which means you taught her."
Kreia nodded. "And I learned much from her as well. Quite a humbling experience, I must admit. She did not look like someone who would be so well-read."
Ludmilla was silent, thinking over the past.
"Should we move on, then?" said Kreia, gently. "Or did you have more questions?"
Ludmilla shook her head. "Maybe later," she said absently, and they continued on their way to the ruins of the Enclave.