Her First Steps

[Asha]

They were back in the Ifranian rebel base and one day had passed since their trial under the tree. Asha was recovering well from the experience, considering she had suffered no wounds, but she was concerned about Leah who had not been herself since the cave. Something she had seen in there had... shaken her somehow. But Asha was not one to pry. Besides, she had her own worries to consider—like the decision she had made.

As she walked the halls of the base, she found herself afraid to label that decision. There was too much weight to it. Was she a Jedi now? A Jedi student? Or had she simply accepted that she needed how to learn to use the Force within her properly? One thing was for certain: she had asked Leah to show her the way, which made their fates, at least for the moment, intwined with one another. So, if anyone had the answers she sought, it would be Leah.

She ignored the sounds of her comm chittering away as she approached the Jedi Master's door. It had been going off all morning, but she chose to ignore it for now. She had more pressing matters on her mind. And then there was the question of whether Leah had recovered from their time under the tree. She knocked on the door to Leah's provisional chambers and waited for it to swish open. Then, with a deep breath, she stepped inside.

The first thing her eyes fell upon was the holocron, which glowed on the endtable next to Leah's cot. Without taking her eyes off of it, she asked, "How are you feeling?" She briefly peeled her gaze away to look at Leah and gauge the woman's reaction before stepping closer and returning her focus to the artifact. "Have you been able to open it yet?" @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

The head of her son. Torn from his shoulders, his face exposed beneath a blackened mask. His eyes were wide in shock and terror at what she had done. Even if it was the last thing he saw, even if his face was the last thing she saw. Leah could remember every detail like the back of her hand. She wanted to gasp, vomit, scream. But in her dreams, or that terrible nightmare, she could not speak. Her breath was stifled, lungs choking for air but finding only fear. She was overwhelmed with emotion. Spirit broken, heart stopped, she yearned for reason. Even then, she lost that, and clawed for death. Had she killed her son? She was the reason he left in the first place. Was he a Sith? He had every right to be. Was she afraid? Without a doubt.

Leah turned to see her husband. Sprawled on the ground, cheeks gaunt and body limp. The longer she looked at him, the faster his corpse began to decompose. His skin turned pale, like he was being choked even in death, and his fingers withered. His eyes sunk into their sockets. In moments, all she could find was a set of bones and a skeleton sliding into the muck. She gasped, both hands diving into the soil, scratching at it like she might unearth her husband again. Again, she tried to scream. Her voice made no sound. All she could hear was the ground aching. The next thing Leah knew, the muck was gnawing her away too. She was plunging into its depths, so desperate to save her husband that she too would meet the same fate he had. She cried out. Someone answered.

“Wake up. Please, wake up.”

The Jedi Master panted as she woke. Still in the same outfit she wore during the journey for the holocron, she had rested longer than she needed. She had hoped to wake up full of life, refreshed from the previous day, but she was unchanged. Shoulders slumped, eyes dark, the woman slid off the bed. Exhaustion followed Leah like her shadow. She was a shell of her former self. The nightmares didn’t help to dispel that either. Regardless, she persevered. As any Jedi Master should, she shuffled into the makeshift kitchen of her private chambers and brewed herself some tea, ignoring the holocron left on a table. She needed time to recollect her thoughts, meditate, and muster her strength to fight the fears that haunted her so.

Not long after, Asha arrived. With a knock, Leah motioned her hand at the door. The Force brought it to an open, weakly, and the older woman called her inside. Emerging from the kitchen with a metallic mug in her hand, she sipped from the drink and examined the young rebel from the other side of the room, quiet and reflective. It took some time before she set the drink down, smiled and answered. “I’m feeling better, thank you for asking.” A half-truth to satisfy Asha. Leah knew she had not come to her for more small talk. She was here for the holocron and the secrets within. Secrets the Jedi Master had yet to unlock. Not because she was still too unsteady to open it, but because she hadn’t bothered. She was afraid to test herself and see if she could. Instead, she felt it was better to wait.

“No, not yet. But you’ve come just in time. I’m hoping to see what it contains myself, although you are more than welcome to help. Come.” With two fingers, she beckoned the young woman to inch closer to the Jedi Master and the holocron now settled below her. Taking hold of the artifact, Leah placed it on the floor. Her body followed suit as she crossed her legs and glanced between Asha and the holocron. “Take a seat across from me and close your eyes. We should be able to crack this open with ease together.” Before she could continue, however, there came another knock from the door. Louder, urgent. With dark news.

@Malon

 

[Asha]

Asha was just about to sit when the more urgent knock came and distracted her. She was slightly annoyed. Ever since they returned to base her thoughts had been filled with what the box they found might contain; but, when the door swished open and revealed Emtee, the Ifrane rebel cell's military protocol droid, Asha knew they would be delayed from searching the box's content—at least, for the moment. She turned, suddenly concerned with Emtee's arrival. "Emtee," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I beg your forgiveness for the intrusion Mistress Leah and Mistress Asha, but I am afraid I have urgent news," the rusted protocol droid explained. "Our scouts have reported that the Imperial loyalists that have been troubling our cell these past standard months are torching a nearby village." Droids couldn't worry, at least in Asha's opinion, but this one sounded worried, and it made her anxious. "Our reports indicate that this village is composed of refugees from the Revolution. The higher-ups are asking if you two will intervene."

Asha threw a look to Leah, though her own mind was already made-up. She was already getting flashbacks to the deaths of her own family. She could see and hear the Sith Lord's blade sizzling as though the blade was cooking the blood of the victims it had just seared through. She could smell the ozone that came off of it too. She knew she couldn't allow the Empire and its supporters to continue killing and separating families.

Her look to Leah was pleading. Her emotions were mixed. Asha knew the older woman had not come to Ifrane to involve herself in local affairs. She was here to add another cell to the growing rebellion against the Sith Empire. But Asha saw her mother's face flash behind her eyes and she knew she had to ask the woman for help. There could be no more orphans like her. She turned to fully face the Jedi Master, who was still seated meditatively on the ground.

"I know it's not why you came," she rasped, "and I know the Jedi have to keep themselves hidden; but I'm asking... no, I'm begging for your help."

Then, a voice: I need your help. No— I need the Order’s help. Ifrane is under attack by the Zygerrian Slave Empire. And they need me. They need the Jedi. The voice seemed to echo softly from the box sitting near Leah. No one else seemed to hear it, so Asha shook her head and focused on her plea.

"Ifrane needs the help of the Jedi if we are to maintain our independence," she went on. "If we keep allowing our supporters — the people who helped us throw off the Empire's shackles — to be burned and killed, their families torn away from them, then we lose all legitimacy as a freedom movement." She paused and momentarily pursed her lips. "From the stories I was told... in the days of the Republic, the Jedi were always a symbol of hope. You can be that hope now! Will... Will you help me?"

She stuck out a hand in offering to Leah. A hope, a plea, a cry for help. And she watched the woman's face for a reaction. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

Imperial loyalists razing a village only days after her negotiations with the rebel cell of Ifrane. It was a convenient albeit tragic opportunity for the Jedi Master to make her worth known and drive home to the rebels about the importance of the Galactic Alliance. But was it within her jurisdiction to act? She was a rebel ambassador, she wanted to bring Ifrane into the fold, but at what cost? She came as an emissary. Not a freedom fighter, not a Jedi Master. She was meant to be everything but. Her encounter in the cave left her hesitant and unsure of her abilities. Launching into the fray no more than a day after the painful experience was too risky. The notion of exposing her existence as a Jedi was alone enough to outright refuse.

According to an ancient Jedi text, one noted out of many in the Al’doleem archives, it was better not to. Respond to the attack with violence and expect only greater violence in return. Her strength would incite challenge, and challenge into conflict. If she failed to take down every single loyalist today, what would happen next? Would she still be on Ifrane in later weeks, months, or years when the Rebellion reared its head against the Empire? Unlikely. But since when did she heed the Jedi religion so deeply? To honor her husband, because he too may have believed it. After seeing him again, his body in the vision, she could not bear to disappoint him if he was watching. Leah was divided. Change and tradition. Before she could come to a conclusion, a woman made her voice known.

I need your help. She turned to face Asha but her lips did not move. Slowly, her focus drifted to the holocron. Its power continued to grow. Not like a chill but a warmth that surrounded her. Whatever the artifact contained, it was nothing like the old relics already in her possession. There was something more about it. Someone else. Nevertheless, her decision was made. As Asha made her plea and reached out her hand for Leah to take, the woman did the same. Rather than take it, she pressed her fingers into the back of Asha’s, closing her hand. The Jedi Master did not want to go. However, the rebel ambassador was more than willing. “I can pick myself up, but thank you.” Rising from her spot, she moved for the door with her belongings in tow. “Let’s go.”

The ride to the village was quiet but her thoughts burned. In her lap sat her lightsaber, and in her eyes was that same look of uncertainty she had before. What might her husband think of her? She tried herself not to think about about it. Ifrane deserved the help of the Alliance and more. The Jedi included. Although the rest of the Council would be infuriated if they discovered that Leah would so openly use her blade, she hoped they never would. She trusted Asha and Ifrane, should they witness the spectacle, to maintain utmost secrecy. Trust went both ways. If she wanted the people of this world to know they could hold faith in the Alliance, then she had to first have faith in them. The rebel was not the only spark to the rebellion, but the Jedi too.

The ship ached. With a glance through the cockpit window, she noticed the village. Smoke billowed into the sky, fires raged through homes, and below she noticed several of the loyalists firing aimlessly at them. They were terrible shots. Those that did hit had absolutely no effect and Leah looked to them with a blank face. “Typical.” She leaned in to the dashboard, hand on the wheel, and began to land the vessel into the ground. The flurry of shots intensified but again to no avail. By then, it was too late. Her quick descent sent the transport right into the three dim-witted assailants, crushing them or knocking them into the field like bowling pins. She barely chuckled once the ship hit the ground with no issue. “That’s a first.”

@Malon

 

[Asha]

Asha was in action the moment the ship touched down. Somehow, her senses had come alive since her experience in the cave. She could feel, as well as see, the death mounting outside the viewport of the landing shuttle and it called her to action. She did not wait for Leah's command or signal. The moment the ship rocked down, she reached back and pulled her sword free of its scabbard. Pushing back from the co-pilot's seat, she launched herself towards the back of the ship and its landing ramp.

Outside, smoke and fire reigned. There were screams coming from dying villagers and the merciless sound of blasters going off from their assailants. Asha's weapon was no lightsaber — she could not deflect blaster bolts or even dodge them with the reflexes of a trained Jedi Knight — but she charged into the disorienting scene nevertheless. She was lucky enough to come out on the other side of a pillar of smoke behind a pair of assailants. They each had bandanas over their mouths and blaster rifles in their hands. Asha ran the first through with her blade, causing blood to sputter from both the wound and his mouth. By the time the second realize what was happening and turned to get a better view, Asha had drawn her disruptor pistol and disintegrated the man's neck with a single shot.

Immediately, her determined facade shattered and gave way to a look of concern. She ran to the family she had just saved, which included a woman who was clutching a crying infant in a swaddle of charred blankets. Asha dropped to her knees, holstered her blaster, and put a hand on the sobbing woman's shoulder. The woman-mother sobbed to her in Leeu, the native language of Ifrane, but Asha understood every word.

"It's going to be okay now," she shushed the woman. She could hear more blaster fire in the distance. It was imperative this family leave as soon as possible. She glanced up to the woman's husband, whose complexion had paled with fear and confusion. "Take your family and go! There's a ship over there and a woman who can help you!" The woman continued to sob thank-yous in her native tongue. The man stared blankly for a moment. Asha said, more forcefully this time, "Go! Take your family!"

This time, the man obeyed. He gathered his wife and infant child together and the trio ran in a huddle into the smoke in the direction Asha had pointed them. A vibrant flame of anger flickered in Asha's eyes as she switched back into mission mode. She drew her blaster pistol again and tightened the grip on her vibrosword. This was far from over, she knew. There were other villagers to save, but, judging by the sound of the dying screams, not many were left. Anger boiling over, Asha rushed off into the fray... @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

The Jedi received the fleeing family with open arms. “Hurry inside, come on.” She motioned the refugees into the safety of the cabin. Sure enough that there were no other enemy loyalists nearby or who had noticed their descent, save for the ones already smashed into the ground, Leah pursued Asha. The young rebel was desperate and full of fire. As a rebel commander, she was proud to see the woman so ready and willing to take action. As a Jedi Master, she was afraid to see what might become of her if she bore witness to the atrocities committed in the village. She could not allow hate to consume her. Not just after she was introduced to the Force. Not after proving herself to be such a promising student.

After the family was safe in the cabin of the transport, Leah charged into the fray. Her lightsaber was still attached to her waist, its metal glint hidden beneath her outfit. The kyber crystal longed to be used. The Jedi promised to Asha that she would be a light in the darkness. She would help the young woman wherever and whenever needed. But her doubts quelled her spirit. If she had managed to handle the looters without her blade, she believed she may do the same with the loyalists.. What Leah failed to understand was the risk it entailed, the empty promise she would have made, and the fact that she was running from the looters before, not facing them head on. Not like Asha was doing now.

The rebel ambassador shook away her feelings and continued into the village. Smoke choked her lungs but she persevered. Fire raged through one of the homes, engulfing everything in its destructive wake. Through the shattered window and with open ears, the woman sensed nobody inside. As she moved to the next home, where the rooftop had caught fire by falling embers, she felt several innocent villagers hiding in the heart of the shelter. When the inferno spread to the walls and to within, they would be trapped, and Leah would be forced to watch as they were cooked alive. She couldn’t allow it. Before she could leap into action, several of the raiders rounded the corner. A new brick wall for her to smash through.

Gritting her teeth, she aimed her blaster toward the unsuspecting men. With two quick shots, Leah watched as the first bolt of plasma shattered into the chest plate of one, then the second one sail aimlessly into the wall. She cursed under her breath. Alerted by her presence, the surviving loyalist twisted around and charged his own weapon. Rather than an ordinary rifle, the Jedi looked down the barrel of a repeater. Before she could curse again at the unfortunate turn of events, the enemy unleashed a maelstrom of laser fire, forcing her to take cover behind the charred ruin of a speeder. Trapped like the family inside the home, her mind screamed at her to do something.

She glanced down to the lightsaber on her side. A curious thought passed her. “No,” she whispered to herself, refusing even in the face of such a situation. Of such evil. Leah was a Jedi Master, meant and forged to become the hope for many. If she failed to take direct action against an enemy willing to massacre idle villages, then could she even call herself a Jedi? Or even a rebel?

@Malon

 

[Asha]

Even through all of the smoke and fire, Asha saw Leah rush into the frey, as well as the subsequent result of her efforts. The younger woman was desperate to help the Jedi Master and was quick to act on her desperation. Sword in hand, she abandoned her cover, intending on charging the man with the repeater and at least causing some form of distraction that Leah could exploit. Instead, a sharp pain to her back wiped those bold notions from her mind. She whirled around to face her assailant, only to receive another sharp blow to the stomach by some sort of metal pole.

The blow knocked the breath from Asha's lungs and knocked her on her back to boot, which wasn't a good place to be given the circumstances. To make maters worse, her impact with the ground sent her sword clattering away in the opposite direction, just out of arm's reach. There was still the blaster in her holster, but the pain of the fall had stunned her and she was finding it hard to move her arm to reach her holster. She closed her eyes and tried to find the Force as Leah might in this situation, but her lack of training and fear of dying prevented her from achieving the necessary focus.

"This one's a local," her assailant said to his friend holding the repeater. He said it in a Coruscanti accent. Imperial sympathizers frequently were from Coruscant or the surrounding system. "Probably one of them insurgents that have been giving us so much hell, judging by the look of her."

"Just kill her already," the man with the repeater said. He was still scanning the rubble for Leah. "I've got my own problems to deal with right now."

Asha's assailant scoffed and looked down at her. "You heard the man." He set the pole he'd struck her with aside and pulled a blaster, which he leveled with her head. Asha was still too stunned to move. "Today isn't your lucky day."

Asha closed her eyes and prepared to become one with the Force like the rest of her family. But, without knowing it, her mind reached out and touched Leah's in her final moment of desperation. A instinctive cry for help. And then her thoughts reached for her mother, the only real comfort she could ever remember having. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

She was trapped behind the cover of the speeder. The cries and screams of the cornered family grew louder. The inferno chewing away their home and the walls meant to shield them worsened. The longer Leah waited to consider her options, the higher the chance of their deaths. Plasma continued to hammer the speeder, until it didn’t. Peering over the scorched remains, she noticed Asha had charged against the loyalists. A charge that failed. She was shoved to the ground, disarmed, too stunned to react as the enemy spoke. Their minds connected for the briefest moment. The Jedi Master was about to watch the death of her first and only student from the sidelines. Fear coursed through, rooting her in place.

Leah closed her eyes. Time slowed. When she opened them, her husband smiled.

Her heart paused, unsure whether to lift or sink. Seeing him again brought her joy and relief as if he was still alive. Still fighting by her side. Knowing and remembering he was dead only made her crushed hopes hurt more than it should have. Breath stifled, she reached out for him to confirm the truth. Except, she didn’t pass into a ghost. To her wonder, he took her hand. Unlike her vision in the cave, it was warm. Unlike her suspicions, it felt real. Her distant gaze narrowed and darted between the fingers weaved with her own and to the man who held them. “Eli? Why, how… are you here?” Her lips quivered. He only smiled and guided her hand to the weapon in her lap. Her lightsaber.

“We are the spark of hope that will light the fires of rebellion. It is time for the Jedi to rise.” They were the same words she heard from him the day before he died. The same words she clung to since then. Words that became gasoline to the fires of her defiance and their rebellion. As she looked down to see the polished hilt, unused for too long, Leah clasped the blade. The Force flowed through and around her. Pebbles at her feet began to float. Grains of dirt and falling embers hovered in the air. Her husband disappeared, but his words of encouragement did not. Jedi Master Leah Reach knew what she had to do now. With her attention back to her student and her would-be killer, she pressed her free hand against the destroyed speeder that was her cover.

The Force exploded forward. With it, so did the vehicle remains. Flying and rolling down the street, the speeder slammed right into the closest Imperial loyalist, the man with the repeater. He never saw it coming before it was too late. Trampled by the two-ton speeder and clobbered into the home behind him, Leah’s biggest problem was no longer an issue. As for the other man, the roar of the vehicle crashing behind him was more than enough to pull his attention away from his next victim, Asha. When he did, and when he turned to its source, he would see the Jedi Master, her blue lightsaber clear as day and cascading hair as fiery as her surroundings. To her student, she was embodied in the Light Side of the Force. Conflicted perhaps, but she was brighter than ever before.

Her enemy, the enemies in the village, and the enemy of the Ifrane, were doomed.

@Malon

 

[Asha]

That distraction was all Asha needed. Snatching her sword up off the ground, she slipped the blade between the man's ribs, ending his life before he even knew what hit him. Finally, she stood back to her full height and glanced back at Leah. "You could do that all this time?" The girl looked flabbergasted. Then, with a somewhat sarcastic half-grin, she added, "Next time, do me a favor? Don't hold back. Don't ever hold back."

Remembering her duty, Asha ran off into the village; but there was no one left to save. There were "survivors," yes, but the vast majority of them were—to Asha's horror—burning from the flames of the fires the loyalists set. Their screams combined with the smell of burning flesh was enough to bring Asha to her knees. She had come her to save these people, and, yet, she had utterly failed. Would it have turned out that way if Leah had not had to save her? Would it have turned out that way if there were two Jedi here instead of one? Those questions immediately haunted the direct aftermath.

"We didn't make it in time," she breathed mostly to herself. She was remembering her family and everyone who had died at the hands of the Sith. And then she thought on what this place was and what it meant in the grander context of things. "They were counting on us to save them, but we failed them instead."

And that was when the terrible realization hit her that, as much as she loved her home, there was nothing left for her here on Ifrane. She was stagnating—growing weak. Comfortable. But now she saw her own powerlessness laid bare and she could not stomach it. She could not allow it to continue. Even so, in her emotional state, she could not come up with an answer. So, she cried into the dirt, fresh flame and ashes burning her nostrils. She cried for the villagers. She cried for her people. But, most of all, she cried for her parents, whom she knew would have the answer in this dire time...

...if they were still alive. But they weren't, and, because of that, Asha felt alone. Was alone. Alone to carry the burden of her mistakes. Alone to carry the burden of her guilt. Alone in her pain. Alone in her anger. She had always been alone like that; she had usually preferred it that way. Pain and loneliness made one stronger, or so she had always thought. But now she was seeing the error in that thinking and wished someone would save her from it. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

“I won’t. Not anymore.” She answered, sharing the manageable grin, glad to know Asha was safe. However, the villagers were a different story. Many of them had already fled or evacuated, but not enough. Never enough. The presence of the small family in the burning home beside them had been consumed in the fire. Leah and Asha were too late. Other refugees, either in similar homes or in pools of blood or as charred bodies on the ground, peppered the entire village. Their arrival had come too late and their attempts to save everyone was ultimately futile. The Imperial loyalists reached them long before the rebels could. The Jedi Master blamed herself for it too. Perhaps her reluctance had cost these people their lives. Perhaps this story would have ended differently.

Asha collapsed to the ground. Leah stepped close behind her. As she mourned and cried out, clawing into the dry dirt where the ashes of her people settled from the sky, the older woman could only watch on disturbed. Not by her grief but by the horrors each had witnessed. This was the truth of the Empire. Ruthless, malevolent and undeserving of the patience and mercy the Jedi had provided them before. It was a cost too much to bear. Placing a hand on the young rebel’s shoulder, Leah tried to comfort her. But she knew how little it would amount to. Nothing could bring back those lost that day. All the pair would be left with were embers, heartache and regret. Asha most of all. And the Jedi felt terrible for it.

“I’m so sorry, Asha.” She said once she mustered the courage to break the silence. Before either of them could push on, several rebel ships emerged through the smoke. Reinforcements to drive out and crush the rest of the loyalists. But Leah was not there to simply drive them away. Not if they might return in greater numbers or greater violence another time. Today, she sought to end their reign of terror on all of Ifrane. With her lightsaber tight in her other fist, her right hand slipped away from the young woman’s shoulder. Behind her, rebels poured into the remains of the village, likewise shocked by the carnage. The Jedi Master barely glanced to them and ignited her blade. Blue, colder than before, cast its glow. Was it hope? No, it was more than that. It was justice.

“We couldn’t save them, but it’s not over yet. They may have won the battle but this war ends today.” She turned to face the rebels, now shocked by the revelation of the Jedi Master. Many heard the stories of the Jedi, some knew of one who had defended the world many centuries ago. They knew the power she wielded, and the authority it carried. “The enemy will not escape so easily today.” She said to them. All of them. Her voice was stronger, resolved. “Return to your ships. We track down those Imperial loyalists back to their base and we blow it straight to hell.” Her demand was borderline revenge. Even if it was not the Jedi way, did it matter? The death of innocents would not unpunished. Leah would see to it personally. And if she were willing, so would Asha.

As the rebels rushed back into their transports, the Jedi Master looked down to the young woman and extended a hand. “It’s time.” She would know what it meant.

@Malon

 

[Asha]

This was the moment that defined Asha's future. Not the deaths of her parents and last-living-sibling along the crimson blade of a cruel Sith. Not the Revolution she had fought as a teenager to lift her homeworld out from underneath the Imperial flag. She had seen countless villages put to the sword. Numerous families torn in two; and now she had even seen them burned. But this moment was defining for her, not because of the troubles she had suffered or the pain she felt, but because it was when she finally stopped running from her destiny and embraced it.

The mental walls she had put up to keep her powers locked away came down in this moment, and the Force flooded in to fill the holes in her heart. She took Leah's hand and allowed the older woman to help her to her feet. Her eyes were drying rapidly. The tears that had stained them were replaced with glimmering determination. It was no longer enough to see Ifrane free. The Imperial flag needed to be torn down so that the entire galaxy might be free as well; and that wasn't going to happen while she hid in the mountains of her homeworld. The Jedi needed to return if the Sith were to be defeated. And since she had the Force, part of that obligation fell to her.

"No." Asha's voice was broken from crying. But she had not lost the determination in her eyes. "The war is just beginning. Today we free Ifrane, but the galaxy still needs us. We can't continue to leave it in darkness." The young woman hesitated a moment and thought of her mother, as she always did when she made the toughest decisions. "And I can't continue to ignore what the Force has been telling me. After we are done here, I am leaving Ifrane." She let those words hang in the air a moment and locked gazes with Leah. "I am going with you. I will learn the ways of the Force with you and become a Jedi. And I won't rest or give up until the Imperial flag no longer flies over the galaxy."

The roar of engines prevented anymore from being said. Asha's hair whipped wildly behind her as the Ifranian cell geared up for battle. She was eager to join them. Today, the countdown had begun. The Empire was going to pay for all the atrocities it wrought, and she was going to see to it.

Personally. @Deviant

The End​