If only someone knew how desirable death can sometimes be. How strongly one sometimes wants to open one's arms to it and fall with pleasure into its cold, dark, but so saving emptiness. How strange it is to dream of death when you have fought it all your life and even despised the very possibility of dying. But apparently death had grown tired of these taunts and now decided to take revenge, reveling in the young woman who was now calling to it as if it were her salvation.
She walked slowly through the forest, bent over double and clutching her huge belly with her hands. Her fragile body was pierced from time to time by violent jolts of cramp-like pain, forcing her to stop and take a long time to recover, biting her swollen lips until they bled and barely holding back what were no longer moans but real screams.
The unfortunate woman could not say exactly when it had all begun, most likely yesterday, closer to nightfall, when she had landed her old, inconspicuous ship near the forest and gone there to find something for dinner. She should have returned to the ship, but she had no strength left, and it would have been better not to fly anywhere in such a state, but circumstances had forced the togruta to live a life of constant movement. Too many people would benefit from her death. Recently, one more had been added to that list. One of those who would like to see her, if not dead, then at least miserable and defeated. Yes, he would clearly be delighted now to see the state his victim was in.
Rain began to fall, large drops hitting the branches and trunks of centuries-old trees, indifferent to the fact that in the forests of Endor, a very young Togruta, barely older than eighteen, was about to give birth to a creature that had been carried under her heart for many months and had suddenly become alien to her. She prayed only that she would die before this child came into the world. A child whose birth no one had expected or wanted. A child who would forever be a reminder of who his father was and of the pain and endless humiliation his mother had to endure for him to be born. A child of vice, pain, and violence. The child whose filthy corpse was now decomposing, bleeding out somewhere on the outskirts of Shili, locked in the prison he had prepared for his victim. And every day, he added more parsecs to the distance between himself and his home planet, to which he now had no desire to return.
A new wave of pain pierced his entire body, rising from the pit of his stomach and seemingly reaching his heart. He could no longer stand and had to lie down on the rain-soaked grass, not even flinching from the piercing cold. Was it that bad?
Warm, in contrast to the rain, pink liquid poured down, soaking through his leggings and the bottom of his tunic, which was already like a spider's web due to wear and tear. He had to take off his leggings and wipe his face, wet from sweat and rain, with them. His body tensed endlessly, his knees trembled from the recoil, and a dull, almost animalistic groan, now unrestrained, sounded above the forest, merging with the symphony of rain. But then, one more push, one more struggle, and the single narrow passage, now almost three times wider, released what had been struggling to get out all day.
At first, stunned by her last effort, the young woman was unaware of what was happening around her. She seemed to have gone blind and deaf and lost all sense of reality, but this was not surprising. Perhaps that is what happens when you die, and she wanted nothing more than to die.
But no, reality still made itself known, appearing as a feeling of dead cold in the place where the newborn baby should have been. And silence, unnatural and disturbing.
What about the baby? Why isn't it crying?
That first thought, though faint and unconscious, made her reach out and touch what was between her knees, and immediately pull her hand away with a wild cry, feeling the sticky, bluish coldness between her fingers. She had to lift her head a little, which had become heavy as stone, and, looking at what her fingers had felt, fall back again, choking on helpless tears of despair.
The child was dead.
He had died in his mother's womb, taking his first and last suicidal leap into the abyss of reality, suffocating on his own umbilical cord. It was as if he understood everything in this world and knew that it was better not to come into it. After all, no one here, including his own mother, would ever be able to accept him into their hearts and love him. Therefore, there was no point in being born at all; it was better to remain in the old world, where at least there was hope of trying again, choosing a more fortunate fate.
Through her tears and pain, the woman now thought that the baby was smarter than she was, since he had decided to do this. And she should ask the Force for forgiveness for feeling relieved by what had happened. But her thoughts were desperately confused by weakness, and the right words would not come to mind. Well, let the Force understand everything itself. Now she had to hurry and try to catch up with her son. And closing her eyes, the unhappy mother renounced everything, gradually leaving the world of the living...
***
A torrential rain caught two young hunters in the thickest part of the forest. The boys were just returning to camp, dragging a bag of game behind them. They were about twelve years old, one of them, lively and self-confident, belonged to the human race, and the other, more modest and quiet, was from the Nautolan clan.
They didn't want to go anywhere in such bad weather, but at the same time they wanted to prove to their elders that they could be trusted. Without that, they would never become true Jedi. Even now, when only ruins remained of the Order, they could not forget who they still were. Especially since both boys had managed to learn what the Order had been like before it was destroyed. And by whom? By someone who could not possibly be imagined as a traitor. Someone who had always been polite to his elders and attentive to children, who then mercilessly cut down everyone in his path. The horror in the eyes of his victims was met only with hatred and vengeful pleasure in his own.
Order 66 was the name given to the horror he unleashed in the Jedi temple, turning it into a battlefield and littering the floor with mutilated corpses. Clones followed behind him, silently and mercilessly finishing off those who tried to escape. And those two, among the six junior Jedi, saw the death of their comrades and waited for their hour to come.
They knew they couldn't stand up to an adult Sith and a battalion of clones, so all they could do was accept their death with dignity, as befits a Jedi. That was until someone opened a secret passage and led the children out one by one, putting them on a ship. There were other Jedi there, Masters and Knights, some Padawans. Many were wounded and exhausted. They told the younglings what had happened. They told them that one of the Jedi had betrayed them all, selling himself to the Dark Side of the Force. The one who was least likely to be suspected of such a thing. And now, having joined the Sith Lord, he had become a real threat to the entire galaxy.
The Jedi were declared outlaws and subject only to death. Therefore, all those who survived had to hide on a neutral planet for a while and, after waiting for some time, strike back. Knight Skywalker, who led the children out of the temple, taking several shots from the clones, went to Mustafar to personally fight the new Sith and at the same time take his pregnant wife from Coruscant, after which he promised to join the survivors.
After a brief debate, they chose Endor as their home, deciding that few would think to look for Jedi there. Besides, the planet was of no interest to the Empire, which was the most important thing. And so, for over a year, the Jedi lived on this forest planet, maintaining contact with the outside world through secret agents and learning the news.
However, their time spent surviving still left them with the opportunity to train and teach Padawans with younglings. The training course was now expanded to include stealth and hunting, which the Ewoks, the local inhabitants, small furry humanoids, were also good at teaching.
They lived in secluded villages and rarely accepted strangers, allowing them to live nearby. However, they accepted the Jedi fairly quickly, finding advantages in living together. The Ewoks helped them with the benefits of local civilisation, in particular treating the wounded and helping with hunting, while the Jedi provided security in return.
Even so, this life was temporary and left no hope of returning to their roots, of regaining the Order, the temple and the Republic. This was the main thought of the young adepts almost twenty-four hours a day, but today something distracted them.
They had simply stopped to rest for a while and then continue on their way, and soon found a suitable spot under the canopy of a tall redwood tree, whose branches almost completely blocked the raindrops. There they placed their bows against the tree as Master Yoda had taught them, and were about to take out their food supplies when they suddenly cried out in horror, almost in unison.
***
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