Vulnerable

With rain still falling on her head, the Wanderer stood over the body of her foe, looking down at her with an eye filled with disdain. All around her, she could see civilians coming out of their hiding places, their eyes enlarged as they bore witness to the one who they once saw as unbeatable lying lifelessly at the Wanderer's feet.

"It really is her!"

"The stories are true!"

Hearing murmurs from the crowd, the Wanderer's eye glanced over as members of the village started to come out of hiding, all looking at her with eyes of admiration. The Wanderer's shoulders drooped as she realized what was about to come.

A crowd started to gather around her, and the members of Shiboka began to praise and thank her, some thanking her in languages she couldn't even understand. Though protecting people was her goal, since no one was there to protect her when she lost her home, the Wanderer loathed being praised in such a way. She felt undeserving of it after all of her wrongdoings in the past.

Awkwardly, she stood in the center of the circle of civilians, scanning for a way out of the crowd, but they continued giving their thanks to her. "Yeah, no problem. I better get goin'." she said, walking toward the crowd in an attempt to get through, however, a single voice stopped her and silenced the crowd.

"Wait!" the voice called out to her and the crowd split to reveal the new leader of Shiboka, the yellow-skinned Twi'lek woman. "Before you leave, please, allow us to dry your clothes and feed you as a thank you." the Twi'lek woman bowed politely to her, as did the rest of the audience.

'I am pretty hungry. Mari could use the dry clothes too...' the Wanderer thought.

"Thank you, we would like that." the Wanderer accepted the offer politely, bowing slightly herself. Confused, the leader looked at the Wanderer before asking her, "We?"

As if she were hiding amongst the crowd, Mari appeared and rested her arm on the Wanderer's shoulder. "That's right, we. My name is Mari, I'm her-" as Mari spoke, the Wanderer shrugged her off of her and spoke over her. "I'm her escort." the Wanderer told the Twi'lek.

"Oh, I understand, yes. May I have your name? I am N'ara Shu." N'ara, the Twi'lek, said with yet another bow before waiting patiently to hear the name of the Wanderer of legend.

"I don't have a name. You can call me whatever you want." the Wanderer told her plainly. N'ara, with a taken aback expression, responded, "Oh." before gesturing toward the town. "Our finest restaurant is this way, please, Ms. Wanderer."

And so, the Wanderer and Mari were both treated to a free meal at one of Shiboka's restaurants, eating to their hearts' contents. Once it was revealed that the reason for their stop was due to their speeder being damaged, N'ara also offered to have it repaired for free. In the meantime, the Wanderer and Mari were offered a room to stay in for the next few days as they waited for the speeder to be repaired.

Later that night, the Wanderer and Mari found themselves inside of a small, circular room with a single bed, a nightstand, and a Holonet projector. The walls were stone, but decorated with warm lighting and works of art. The floors were of stone as well, though a circular rug covered the entirety of it.

Off to the side, there was a bathroom with a toilet, a shower, and a clothes dryer, which was a necessity for all who lived on the rainy planet of Inskako. As their clothes dried, the Wanderer and Mari wore robes over their undergarments and sat on opposite sides of the room. Mari sat on the bed by herself, watching a drama on the Holonet projector, while the Wanderer sat on the ground with her eye closed.

Mari looked back, seeing the Wanderer sitting with her eye closed. 'Is she asleep?' she thought to herself, looking down at her lightsaber and scabbard. "Hey, Ms. Wanderer! Are you awake?" Mari whispered loudly, getting no response.

"Hmm..." Mari hummed, then she started to slowly climb off of the bed, her bare feet gently touching the rug beneath her. Slowly, with soft, quiet steps, Mari snuck over to the Wanderer and stopped once she was less than a foot away. "Hey, are you awake?" she asked again, yet again getting no response from the ronin.

Slowly, Mari stepped even closer before kneeling down in front of the Wanderer, her eyes locked onto her lightsaber. 'I'm sure she won't mind if she's asleep.' Mari thought to herself as she slowly started to reach for the Wanderer's weapon.

As her hand got closer to the Wanderer's blade, as did their faces as they were just a foot apart. Mari's gaze shifted from the blade to the Wanderer's shut eye repeatedly, ensuring she was still asleep. Eventually, Mari's hand touched the Wanderer's hilt, and just as she was about to pull it out, she looked up at the Wanderer one last time, seeing her glaring right at her.

The Wanderer then grabbed her hand and stared her right in the eyes. "The hell are you doing?" the Wanderer asked coldly.

"I just wanted to see your lightsaber." Mari stammered, blushing as she and the Wanderer's gazes were just a foot apart. "This may be unrelated, but you're very pretty when you're asleep. You seem far less angry-" As Mari teased the Wanderer, her words were cut off once she started floating in the air, being delicately levitated backward.

"Woah!" Mari muttered, flailing her arms as the Wanderer held out a single arm while gently dropping her on the bed. "Was that the Force! Can we do it again!?" Mari seemed more excited than anything else after being forcefully lifted by the Wanderer using the Force, which wasn't the reaction that the Wanderer had hoped for.

"No." the Wanderer told her plainly, prompting Mari's shoulders to drop sadly as she pouted. "And I wasn't asleep." the Wanderer told her. "I was meditating."

Sitting in the bed with her legs crossed, Mari tilted her head curiously. "Then why didn't you hear me calling you?" Mari asked.

"I did, I was ignoring you and was hoping that little voice of yours would go away." the Wanderer shut her eye once more and placed her lone arm on her lap, taking a deep breath as she prepared to meditate once again.

"Why do you guys meditate?" Mari asked, turning off the Holonet projector to give the Wanderer all over her attention, placing her chin in both hands as she listened intensively. The Wanderer opened her eye and looked at Mari, seeing her inventive glare. "At the end of every day, I meditate to focus on my emotions, my feelings, and my thoughts. I allow myself to be vulnerable to the Force while emptying my mind. Some look for peace and serenity while others look to turn their hatred, anger, and fear into a pure form and turn that purity into power."

"And what do you do?" Mari asked her.

"I find serenity within my own anger." as the Wanderer said this, Mari held her mouth open and nodded. "Oh, that makes sense. That's why that evil lady said you walk both sides."

"How did you hear that? I thought I told you to stay with the speeder." the Wanderer scolded her, looking at her with her eyebrows furrowed. "Well, yeah, but the droid was rather creepy so I thought I'd be safer with you. I saw your whole battle. You were really cool." Mari spoke with a sense of admiration for the Wanderer, truly finding her fighting abilities to be a true spectacle.

The Wanderer sighed, shaking her head before closing her eye once again. Before she could drift off into meditation once again, Mari had yet another question for her. "What's your type?"

The Wanderer's eye opened once again. "Huh?" she muttered, finding the question random.

"You told her she wasn't your type when she offered to rule the galaxy with you. Something about a consort. I don't know what a consort is though. What is your type?" Mari started swaying from side to side playfully as she sat on the bed, waiting for an answer.

"Non-galactic criminals." the Wanderer told her plainly.

"C'mon... you're no fun. Wanna know my type?" Mari asked, waiting for a response from the Wanderer, only to get a deafening silence. Despite the silence, Mari continued. "I like quiet girls who are capable and strong. I also find it attractive when they'll do anything to protect those that they care for. I'm not much of a fighter myself so..."

The Wanderer opened her eye and looked at Mari once more. "What about men?" she asked.

"They aren't my type." Mari said awkwardly.

"But aren't you marrying a man?" the Wanderer asked.

"For the sake of my village, I am marrying a man, yes." Mari admitted, looking down at the bed sheets solemnly.

The Wanderer started to feel guilt building within her. She knew Mari wasn't very excited to marry the Fletsnow prince, but she had no idea she was being forced to go against her own orientation. However, she could tell that Mari wanted to do this for the sake of her village, which she didn't know how to feel about.

"You shouldn't do what other people tell you." the Wanderer told her.

"I'm making this choice myself." Mari glared at the Wanderer with determined eyes, showing no signs of calling off the wedding. "Besides, there was no one for me back home anyway. I'm sure being with a prince won't be so bad. He'll feed me, probably."

"If that's what you want, I won't stop you." the Wanderer yet again closed her eye and started to meditate once more, only for Mari to interrupt her once again.

"Hey, I revealed my big secret to you. The least you could do is give me an answer." Mari asked, smiling as she swayed from side to side, looking at the Wanderer with curious eyes.

The Wanderer sighed. "I don't think I have a type. My uh..." The Wanderer hesitated for a second, thinking about her lover from the past. It'd been a while since she'd spoken about him, in fact, she couldn't remember the last time she brought them up to anyone.

"I had someone when I was a Padawan, he was very outgoing, unlike me. He loved adventures and pulling pranks. He was a free spirit, such that I've never seen anyone so strong in the Force as he was. When I was with him, I had that same warm feeling inside myself as when the Force first introduced itself to me...

Love was forbidden amongst Jedi, so we had to hide our feelings for each other from everyone else. Once we were caught, we ran away together..."

Memories of her past started to flash through the Wanderer's mind. She saw herself being pulled along by her first love, being grabbed by her left arm as they ran as fast as they could be together. The Wanderer then looked down at her missing left arm, somehow being able to feel his touch despite both he and her arm being gone.

"That's why I meditate. If I don't, all of that anger, fear, and hatred will-" the Wanderer paused for a few moments. "It'll turn me into a version of myself that I promised not to become ever again." Realizing she was going far off-topic, the Wanderer went back to the original subject. "I can't let myself feel that way again, so I don't have a type anymore. It's too dangerous."

"I'm sorry." Mari could feel the intense regret and anguish inside the Wanderer, she could see it in her single eye.

"Me too." the Wanderer told her. "Now, no more personal stuff. I need to clear my head."

"Okay." Mari nodded, pausing for a second before saying one last thing. "Thank you for sharing, Ms. Wanderer. I know you meditate, but I think talking about stuff, rather than keeping it inside, is good too. Sometimes."

With her eye closed, the Wanderer nodded, acknowledging Mari's words. Admittedly, it did feel nice talking about it for once. However, meditation was still her best way of coping. Clearing her mind, the Wanderer entered her meditative state once again, letting herself become vulnerable with the Force once again.