[Junior Jedi Knights] - 03(9)

“It took almost two months for me to heal. Several times in the first weeks I almost died, and I would have if not for Cassa and Tryst. They showed me kindness I never knew existed. “Tahiri, you were not quite three years old when your parents cared for me. I remember your mother running her fingers through your blonde hair, the same color as hers. And I can see your father, his laughing green eyes the shape of your own. And you-you were fascinated by my eye protectors and the cloth of my robes. You would crawl onto my sleeping pad and giggle as you traced my goggles or wound my tattered robe around your fingers. And it was from both you and your parents that I learned to understand and speak Basic. That is what later helped me to teach you the language of the Raiders.

“It took two months for me to heal. During that time Tryst and Cassa cared for me. They fed me and tended my wounds, and allowed me to play with their daughter-a being full of light and happiness. When I was strong enough, I helped your mother with light chores. One day, I even fashioned Tryst his own gaderffii and taught him how to fight with it. He learned quickly-it was strange how he fought, sensing my movements almost before I made them, just as Cassa could feel my emotions without hearing me speak.”

“They were both sensitive to the Force,” Anakin said quietly.

Sliven nodded.

“Since that time with Tryst and Cassa, I have often thought the same thing,” he said. “For I saw the identical abilities in Tahiri that I noticed in her parents. That is why I wasn’t surprised when the Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker, and the Jedi Knight, Tionne, asked to take Tahiri to their academy. I knew that the Force was in her blood-and I let her go with the Jedi because I couldn’t deny her that tie with her parents.”

Sliven turned back to Tahiri and paused before he began again. Anakin could sense that the Raider was in pain. Tahiri leaned forward, caught by his words.

“As I said, I taught your father how to fight with the gaderffii. Soon he could beat me without even trying. And it wasn’t because I was still wounded-in those months with your parents I had regained most of my strength. My hesitation to leave is one of the reasons that Cassa and Tryst were killed. You see, I didn’t know that my tribe was still searching for me. But one of the wounded had seen me trudge away from the battle. And it is my people’s way to search for a wounded leader before they name another.

“The morning my tribe found me, Tryst and I were sparring with our gaderffii. He was winning, of course-I can still hear your mother’s laughter as she watched us. It was a moment of happiness, being there with them. And then the air was filled with battle cries. Moments later your parents were dead. My tribe had thought that I was being attacked, and they had struck to save my life.

“I remember standing there and hearing your shrill cry from inside the farmhouse. It was almost as if you knew, as if you felt. your parents’ death. I raced inside and picked you up. Vexa followed me. `Leave her to die,’ she instructed. `You are back with your tribe now.’ And that is why I made the bargain. I didn’t make it, out of selfishness. It was the only way I knew to save you. And the years I spent training you to live with the tribe were not spent so that you could one day keep the promise and save my life. I taught you as a father….” Sliven’s voice finally broke.

“Finish,” Anakin said softly to Sliven.

The Raider began to speak again.

“I made the bargain with my tribe that afternoon as we sat outside your farmhouse. We argued fiercely. `Leave her,’ they said. `She is not one of us.’ Vexa was driven half crazy by my idea of bringing you into the tribe. She said that I was weak, not fit to be a leader. But l couldn’t leave you, not after your parents’ kindness and my fondness for you. So I agreed to the terms of a promise Vexa thought up. You would live with us, during which time I would be responsible for you. When you were nine years old, the age when Raider children are considered full working members of the tribe, you would have to leave us or fulfill the promise to show you belonged.

“If you refused, we planned to take you to Mos Eisley and leave you in the city. There, you’d have to find work, a family, or a friend to care for you. The chances of that would have been slim. I was secretly relieved when you were invited to the Jedi academy. That meant that you would have another choice if you decided that the deal I struck was too difficult to accept. If you chose to honor the promise, I would be allowed to tell you your history. If you did not survive, or refused the bargain, I would give up my life.

“Before we left the farmhouse, I made a thick paste and pressed Cassa’s and Tryst’s thumbs into it to make a print. When the paste set, I carved it into a pendant and placed it on a strip of leather. It was the only way I could give you something of your parents.