Tomie, opened her eyes, finding Mari staring up at her already with gentle eyes. "Good morning." Mari told her softly, her head still nuzzled into her chest. "Hey." Tomie spoke with a small grin, her hand moving Mari's hair behind her ear so she could see her face, taking one last long look at her.
Mari exhaled as she ran her arm down Tomie's body. "There's no changing your mind? We could still run away together." she told her, though she knew Tomie had already decided.
Tomie shook her head, still holding her face with soft hands. "I want to live a life with you, Mari, but I care about you too much to force you into this life of mine. You know the saying, 'If you love something, you have to let it go', right? I have to let you go, Mari."
"You don't." Mari told her.
"I do. You'll be safe. That's what I care about. Let's get dressed, okay?"
"Can we have another half hour like this? Please." Mari asked, getting a nod from Tomie. "Okay. Just a half hour." she told her.
"Just a half hour." Marie repeated though that rule would be broken by the two of them.
Over an hour later, the two of them put on their clothes and were off to the Fletsnow estate. After a few hours of travel via landspeeder, the two found themselves steadily approaching a massive plot of land that was equal in size to many cities on the planet of Inskako. Though the entirety of it was surrounded by a massive wall made from beige stone with gold-like trimmings, they could still see the massive cylinder-shaped buildings of the same color scheme from behind it.
"Talk about a castle." Tomie muttered, marveling at the massive architecture in front of them. "Why would one fella need all this space?" she continued, seeing that the castle itself seemingly had dozens of buildings attached to it.
"Apparently, his servants all live within the castle with him. My people will also live among them, being given jobs within his estate as well. My family will never have to work a day in their lives though. All I have to do is be his bride..." Mari told her, barely being able to hide the anguish within her.
"I can still take you back home, Mari." Tomie told her.
"I know. I don't want to go back. It's decided." Mari wiped away the sadness on her face and put on the facade of contentment. It saddened Tomie to see that Mari was committed to going through with this, which was worsened by the fact that she knew she was the only one who could stop her.
The two of them continued onward, approaching the front gate of the estate, which was over a hundred feet tall and seemingly made from gold. Tomie parked the speeder in front of the gate before lifting the hatch and hopping out of the vehicle. "Well, I guess we knock." she told Mari, who was right behind her as the two started approaching the gate.
Once close enough, Tomie spotted a TT-8L gatekeeper droid poking out of the wall, a droid with a similar look to a security camera, having a long, black rod extruding from it and an eye-shaped body. As they approached, it spoke to them both in a metallic, cold voice. "Hello, welcome to the Fletsnow Estate. Please state your business."
"Here to deliver the bride." Tomie told it, pointing over at Mari. The droid then looked at her, scanning her up and down before retracting back into the door, saying not a word. The two girls looked at each other for a moment before waiting a few minutes; then the doors started to tremble. They both took a step back as the double-sided golden doors started to open toward them, and the sounds of horns being played were heard coming from the inside.
As the gate opened, the two of them could see a long stone road leading up to the entrance of the castle with grass on each side. Standing on the grass, there were servants wearing white and gold robes playing instruments, and in between them, soldiers with greatsword-like lightsabers were holding them over the path, high enough for the prince and more servants to walk beneath them. One of the servants held an umbrella over the prince to protect him from the rain.
"Jedi?" Mari muttered, seeing the golden lightsabers reminiscent of what Jedi Temple guards would be equipped with, just triple the size.
"Proto-sabers. They aren't real but function almost the same. None of these guys are Jedi." Tomie frowned upon seeing the fake lightsabers, wondering just how the Feltsnows were able to get their hands on them.
As the prince approached, Tomie could finally get a look at his face, and almost immediately, she found herself feeling jealous. Unlike what she imagined in her head, the prince was not the typical prince, one with a handsome face. No, this prince had an oddly, feminine-like appearance. The word pretty would be more befitting of a man like him, rather than handsome.
He had long, curly silver hair, and deep blue eyes. His skin was fair, clear, and appeared to be soft if one were to touch it. Upon seeing his future bride, his plump, pink lips parted and he smiled. "Princess Mari, my love, welcome to your new home." he told her, approaching her and getting down on one knee to hold her hand and kiss it gently.
Mari, somewhat flustered, looked away and her face started to turn crimson. Tomie couldn't help but feel even more jealous upon seeing the perfect prince's efforts to swoon Mari over to him. "Thanks..." Mari told him awkwardly, compelling him to snicker gently as he rose to his feet and turned to Tomie. "And you must be the legendary Nameless Wanderer. I thank you for bringing her all this way." the prince told her, kneeling down and grabbing her hand as well, though Tomie snatched it away.
The prince laughed, standing up with his hand on his chest. "Apologies, I have forgotten my manners. My name is Kenth Fletsnow, it is my pleasure to finally be standing before you. I was worried you stole her from me, due to your arrival being rather past the estimated date." Kenth laughed once more as he joked with the Wanderer, though she didn't find it humorous.
"Unfortunately, there were a few obstacles that needed to be dealt with." Tomie told him.
"Ah, of course. You do have a one million credit bounty on your head... I can clear that up for you, as well as a, thank you for delivering my princess to me, along with the credits promised to you. I thank you for your hard work, Ms. Wanderer." Kenth bowed to her before looking back over at his bride. "Well then, shall we?" he told her, extending his arm out to her.
"Yeah..." Mari muttered, hesitating to lock arms with him as she looked over at the Wanderer. Tomie nodded, telling her to go with him, but before Mari would do that, she ran over to Tomie and hugged her, nearly toppling her over. "Thank you! Thank you for everything!" Mari told her, tears falling from her eyes as she spoke.
Kenth turned his head curiously, wondering how the two of them had gotten so close in just a handful of days.
"It's bad luck to cry on the day of your wedding." Tomie told her, holding her with her single arm with a solemn grin on her face. Mari continued to cry on her shoulder a while longer until she finally let go and wiped her tears. "You're right. I'm sorry." Mari spoke through her tears and sniffles before taking one last look at Tomie.
"Farewell. I hope this isn't the last time we meet. You're welcome here, right?" Mari looked over at Kenth, who nodded.
"Sure, why not. You two seem to be good friends." he told her with a bright smile.
Tomie nodded. "I'll come visit you. I promise." Tomie lied, knowing it was best for her to stay as far away as possible. "Take good care of her, or I'll kill ya'." Tomie's serious threat sounded like a joke, making the prince laugh. "Of course, of course. I wouldn't want the Wanderer after me."
"You wouldn't. Trust me." Tomie told him coldly, this time he wasn't sure if it was a joke or not.
"Well, I will see to it that your credits are transferred into your account by tomorrow, as will that pesky bounty of yours be cleared." the prince told her, locking arms with Mari before leading her away. "Let's go, princess." he told her, and the two of them began walking past the golden gate and down the stone path leading to the estate. As the door closed behind them, Tomie and Mari locked eyes until they could no longer see each other.
As the door shut, Tomie sighed and stared at it with a blank eye. She was already starting to regret letting Mari go, but she knew this was the right path for her. 'Sometimes, the correct path is the one most difficult.' she thought to herself, parroting her late master from when she was a Jedi.
With that said, Tomie turned around and got back inside the landspeeder and rode away from the estate, leaving the woman she loved behind, knowing she'd never be able to repeat back what Mari told her when she thought she was asleep.
Before long, the Wanderer found herself inside a catina, being served Bantha Chai as always. As she sipped from her cup, she couldn't help but hear people discussing Mari in the background through all of the other chatter and the live band playing. "You hear Kenth got another bride? I wonder how long this one will last." as those words left the man's mouth, Tomie looked over to see two non-human men chatting at a booth.
"Who knows? She's pretty young so I'll give her five years until she's sold off like the rest." the other man spoke, taking a sip from his drink with his insect-like mouth. As he sipped from his drink, the lights inside the cantina began to flicker and the music stopped. "Sold off?" the Wanderer muttered, looking directly at the man. "What do you mean by 'sold off'?"
The entire cantina remained silent, spotting the kyber crystals on her ears, knowing that meant trouble. "I- Well, it's just a rumor." the man laughed it off awkwardly, though he would remain the only one who laughed as the Wanderer approached him. "And how exactly does this supposed rumor go?" the Wanderer asked him, placing her thumb on the guard of her lightsaber and pushing it gently, it's humming then echoing through the silent cantina.
"I- Well, I just heard that once his brides reach an undesirable age... he sends them away." the man confessed awkwardly.
"Sends them away to where?" the Wanderer demanded, her lightsaber inching its way out of its scabbard.
"I- I don't know. All I know is the family is usually in on it and are promised riches once the girl is sold off to whoever is the highest bidder." By this point, the man was trembling, seeing the Wanderer's blade still inching out of its sheath. However, the Wanderer slammed her lightsaber back into place and took a deep breath. "Let's see."
Quickly, the Wanderer placed her hand over his face and began extracting knowledge from his brain without his consent. "Hey!" the other man at the table stood up to her, only for her to glare at him with a killer's eye and push him across the room with the Force. Instantly, she found where the man gained the knowledge of what was really happening with the brides, seeing that this man, along with his friend, were past servants of Kenth Fletsnow.
The Wanderer then released him and immediately started for the door. What the man spoke of wasn't just some rumor, it was the truth that he saw with his own two eyes. Mari's family, along with the prince, were betraying her. The whole thing was a coverup for human trafficking. It was a scheme being run by the prince for years, where he'd use the young princesses for himself before trafficking them, giving the family their share.
Soon enough, the Wanderer found herself driving the landspeeder with urgency back toward the estate, her eye flickering with that Sith orange glow. Unconsciously, she began affecting the weather around her with her rage, the delicate rain soon turned into a furious storm.
As the storm raged on, the Wanderer reached the estate, exited the speeder, and walked with her hand in a fist, stepping toward the estate with thunderous footsteps. Using the Force, she pressed the button on the front gate, which then prompted the droid to once again speak to her. "Hello, welcome to-" before the droid could finish, however, the Wanderer interrupted him.
"Open this damn door. I need to speak to the prince." she told him in a cold, chilling voice. "I am sorry." said the droid. "The prince is no longer accepting visitors. Please leave the premises or you will be escorted by the royal guards."
The Wanderer placed her hand on the hilt of her lightsaber before unsheathing it and slashing a square-shaped hole into the gate with such speed, any spectators would have seen nothing more than a blur.
The Wanderer then stepped through the hole she created and began stomping through the storm toward the estate's main building. As she walked forward, she could see guards approaching in the distance, all stopping a few yards away with yellow proto-sabers in hand. "By the name of Prince Kenth Fletsnow, halt! State your business here!" the guards shouted at her.
"Bring me Mari!" Tomie demanded, her grip on her lightsaber tight as if she were ready to crush it and her eye still flickering as the darkness within her was starting to make itself known. Thunder and lightning boomed loudly above her, a result of her anger manifesting itself around her.
This was the Wanderer's true power, a power she hid within herself to avoid losing herself as she once did many years ago. However, she didn't care about losing herself anymore. All that mattered was getting Mari away from the prince.
"The girl belongs to the prince. Now leave." one of the guards told her, speaking with trembling fear in his voice as he could sense the fury building within her. They could only make out her silhouette through the heavy rain and fog, though her eye that was flickering was still shining through it.
"I ain't leavin'" The Wanderer told them as she started reaching into her kimono, pulling out a guard similar to the one attached to the hilt of her lightsaber. She then attached it to the bottom of her hilt before reaching for one of her earrings and removing the red kyber crystal. Using the Force, she opened a slot in the hilt of her lightsaber and placed the kyber crystal inside of it.
With her lone hand, the Wanderer unsheathed her grey lightsaber, holding it horizontally in front of her before activating the other side of it, revealing a red blade that made itself known with an aggressive scrapping sound.
Her silhouette shone with a half-red glow, as did her orange eye on the same side of her body. "She's not his." the Wanderer spoke through her gritting teeth as a blue, smoke-like energy started to form around her missing arm.
That blue energy then started to take the form of an arm, which then grabbed her lightsaber before splitting it in two. With her grey saber in her right hand and her crimson one in her left, the Wanderer spoke once more, the darkness within her roaming free.
"She's mine."