Chapter 112: 112. Chapter

-From a general perspective-　

 

Sometimes after the argument.

Lily was sitting on the ground inside the cave, while drawing images in the red sand with the use of her fingers. Nizzal was sitting next to her, watching the absentminded zerg with an amused smile.

This creature was unique. She had already realized this, but now, as she could spend some time with the girl of the prophecy, it really began to make sense. She has envisioned many things, based on the words, but she never expected something so docile, no… that was not quite the word she was looking for… maybe innocent? No… human, ah… yes, human. That was the right one.

She nodded to herself, satisfied with this.

It was still hard for her to mentally make a real connection between Lily and the average zerg creature. The difference was simply too large. Her mind was not accepting that they belonged to the same species.

She leaned closer to Lily. She wanted to glance at the pictures she was drawing in the sand. Her eyes slightly widened with new recognition when she looked at the unique features of a hatchery.

Then she asked, feeling intrigued.

-Hey, is that a hatchery?

Lily nodded to that. Then turned towards her with a sense of surprise.

-How did you know?

She paused shortly, then continued before Nizzal could answer.

-Come to think of it, you seem to know certain details about my race… You are not surprised by anything I do, not like the rest of them… yet… I don’t feel a sense of fear from you either… I don’t understand… Everybody who knew the zerg seemed to fear them, except you.

Nizzal listened carefully to Lily’s observations and questions. She couldn’t help but feel even more fascination towards the girl.

It was not only she who was observing her; it was also true the other way around.

Nizzal thought carefully about what to say. In the end, she decided that honesty was the best approach. She was, after all, trying to win her over for the sake of the Order.

-I indeed know of your existence beforehand… After all, my people have clashed with zergs multiple times over the centuries. And to answer your other question, it is kind of hard for me to make a connection between you and other members of your race… I must say, there is a tremendous difference in your mannerisms. After all, you didn’t try to eat me just yet.

That seemed to make her chuckle.

-Yeah, I see your point. And it’s not like I could reasonably eat you to begin with… you are stronger than me, and I don’t want to die again…

Nizzal blinked with bewilderment.

-… Again?

Lily froze, then added quickly, clearly trying to cover up her slip of the tongue.

-Ah, nothing… it was supposed to be a joke.

Nizzal decided to not chase the matter, at least for now.

-I see… On that note, would it matter?

Lily seemed frustrated for a second as she asked.

-Would it matter what?

Nizzal smiled teasingly and added.

-If I was weaker than you… would you eat me then?

Lily blinked, then added matter-of-factly.

-No, you don’t seem tasty to me, and I don’t like to eat intelligent beings. The thought makes me uncomfortable. It always did… however, I would still eat them if there is nothing else and they are already dead… Wasting food makes me even more uncomfortable…

That was… an interesting answer. Thought Nizzal, she was not completely sure if she should feel happy or hurt about the side jab. However, she was leaning towards the earlier option.

Her gaze wandered towards the eggs not far from them. They were waiting for their birth after all… with a few bunches of zergs searching for a way out of this place. It will be like a walk in the park with that much help. At least it should be...

Lily seemed to follow her gaze, and she absentmindedly added.

-It is not long from now. The little ones are growing steadily, and there is enough food to welcome them. Our bond is strong. They have already accepted me as their mother. They won’t harm you either.

Nizzal nodded with confidence, but on the inside she was not half as confident about breeding a bunch of zerg on Korriban or anywhere else in this galaxy.

She has traveled in multiple galaxies in the memories she has inherited. She witnessed many miracles through the eyes of past archive holders. Yet the fact that her current self was born into this galaxy made her particularly attached to it.

That strange bond was not even demolished by her childhood circumstances, which were far from enviable.

She sighed, then proceeded to stretch her spine. While trying to force her body to stillness with little success. Being locked in the body of a child was something she enjoyed more often than not, but the ridiculous amount of excess energy was sometimes ironically tiresome. Add in the fact that she was receiving a huge stamina regeneration boost by passively channeling the force…

Sigh…

And the masters always wonder why padawans hate meditational exercises. The old crooks just forgot what it was like to be a kid…

Nizzal looked to the far left, then to the far right side of the cave hall where they were resting. Then sighed again.

Speaking about padawans… those two since their earlier argument have stopped talking to each other… and even gone as far as to sit on the opposite side of the hall, in a childish gesture of protest.

It was kind of good to have a bit of peace and silence for herself, but that sort of behavior will be a major pain in the ass when the zergs start to hatch.

Should she try to make peace between them? She was the only one here who could be considered an adult, at least from a certain point of view…

She looked at Kalifa, only to receive a frosty glare the moment she turned towards her…

Her actions stopped before they could be started.

 

-From the perspective of Nizzal-　　　

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Riiight… what about no? They are not my responsibility… at least not that much to willingly go to such lengths. Yes, I usually live by the way of thinking that children are meant to be protected, and I still stand by that. The problem is, compared to me, almost everyone here, even Master Yoda amounts to little more than an angsty teenager. For that reason, I tend to forgive their rude and immature behaviour quite easily. But that doesn’t mean I will willingly humiliate myself by trying to make peace between two girls in their puberty.

I thought, while relaxing my body and turning back to gaze at the recent additions in the drawings created by Lily.

-Come to think of it, Mady, the woman you used to travel with sends her regards. I met her by accident, well… in the end we became… partners in crime? I guess that is the most appropriate description.

Lily was clearly surprised by me mentioning that name. She perked up and moved closer to me, ruining half of her drawings in the process.

-Is she alright!? Did she tell you something else?!

I was shocked by the unexpectedly normal reaction… She clearly had a strong bond with that terran. I knew it was a good decision to evacuate her from Coruscant in such dire times. I would hate to tell her that she died in the conflicts.

I was grabbed by my shoulders as Lily moved even closer to me, while she was asking similar questions with all the neediness of a human child.

Under the unusual assault, I quickly capitulated and raised my hands to reassure her.

-She… she is all right! She is fine; you hear me? She is FINE!

My last word was a bit louder than I originally intended, luckily for that exact reason it managed to bring her back to her senses. As she finally stopped shaking me.

-Ah! So-sorry… I was more worried than I thought…

I sighed, feeling exasperated.

-It’s fine, Lily… That is a perfectly normal reaction…

-Is it?

-…Yes?

-Oh… I see!

She said and cheered up right away. Her strange mood swing made me raise a pair of eyebrows, but I quickly disregarded it with a sigh.

-Yes, she is fine, once more… And she misses you just the same. To be entirely honest, she originally intended to use me to bring you out of the Jedi Order... In another words, she clearly cares about you in her own way.

What was left unsaid was the fact that she tried to threaten me in the process… and only after she realized that I was not someone who she could easily manipulate did she try a different approach… One that even Nizzal with all her training in foresight couldn’t expect to happen… She became a drinking boddy of her father… and through him, I was practically nagged into submission…

Well, not really, I was originally intending to do just that, but I acted the part just for my own amusement. Seeing Hondo trying his best to make me do something that I always intended to do was just too funny to miss.

I couldn’t help but smile while thinking back at the ridiculous memory…

Unfortunately my smirk quickly disappeared as another memory followed.

Yes… well, the bastard realized that I tricked him somehow… he probably eavesdropped on me, leaving a microphone or something like that in my room… In the end he took revenge on me, as he sent me to school when the first opportunity arrived. Oh, how I wanted to smash in his smirking face when he saw me led back to the restaurant by teacher Lana, holding my hand. Of all things…

I should have run away from Ms. Lana… but I didn’t want to make her worry needlessly, she was someone genuinely invested in raising proper children… She would likely report the incident to the police, and I didn’t want more people looking out for me at the time. For that reason, I let her walk me back to the restaurant, hoping that Hondo would help me deceive her. I couldn’t have been more mistaken.

Damn that cunning bastard…

Anyway, Lily seemed very content with my words, and she was once again happily drawing in the sand.

Her expression suddenly changed from happy to excited, as she looked up quickly. Eyes focused on the nearby cluster of eggs.

-Is it time?

I asked, wondering as I looked over to the improvised nest.

Lily didn’t answer. She stood up and walked over to the place. Right when she arrived, a series of high-pitched shrieks could be heard, and a bunch of small zergs began to cover the ground, jumping around Lily’s form.

She lowered herself and took a kneeling position, letting the small beast jump up into her lap while releasing another series of satisfied shrieks.

Lily played with a few of them, using her fingers to scratch their skin, or pluck off a stuck piece of eggshell which they recently got rid of. It was a strange sight, that was certain. I never expected to feel comfortable around actual zergs… and I wasn’t wrong about that. Even the sight of these small ones has arose some sort of repulsing feeling inside me. Those things were made to kill, and nothing else. At least, that was how I saw them.

Even if their current size was not enough to actually threaten me, but those things when grown up were just as deadly as tuk’atas. And they could similarly sense the fluctuations of the force, maybe not as clearly... Needless to say, this one ability would have already made them into extremely annoying opponents, even for a force wielder. On top of this, they were fast, agile and deadly creatures, which tended to hunt in large packs that could easily grow to include over hundreds of individual creatures moving as one, thanks to their mental connections.

In other words, they were extremely annoying.

Lily waved towards the dead carcasses, which were still lying around, and said to the small jumping armada.

-Feast.

To my slight surprise, all the small critters froze for a second, then moved with a worrying unity towards said carcasses. As if they were just waiting for her signal. I had some second thoughts about the possible side effects of this plan… to add zergs to the already dangerous biome of Korriban. Was it really a good idea… well, it’s not like I have any choice as of this moment.

I mean… yeah, I could still kill these right now… but that would make Lily hate me for life… and I can’t really afford that… To make a zerg queen specifically hate me was never a good idea…

I was brought out of my thoughts when I sensed two pairs of uncertain hands grab both my arms from behind…

I immediately snapped back to reality, and looked to my sides… how did they sneak up on me… was I that lost in my thoughts… fuck, I can’t afford to act so careless when a Darth is lurking on this cursed planet!

Anyway, I sighed as I tried to shake off the grabby hands which naturally belonged to Kalifa and Barriss. They had clearly come to a cease-fire agreement the moment they saw the armada of zerglings gulping up the dead tuk’atas. If only real bureaucracy were this effective when dealing with crucial agreements.

-Girls… what are your problem, let go of me!

-No way, didn’t you see all those insects running around…

Stated Kalifa, while stubbornly grasping my right arm. Wasn’t she accusing me of being a Sith just now? Seriously… her thought patterns are more fickle than the weather on Kamino. Or Felucia in the raining season.

Barriss was less obvious about her intention of using me as a twi'lek shield, but it was still bothersome. When I looked at her with a questioning gaze, she only said a short sentence which was intended to inform me about her current predicament.

-I hate bugs…

I facepalmed, when I heard that answer… Then said with the release of another sigh.

-Well… I am afraid that you are in for a big surprise then…

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