Plop...

A foggy night, the bright light of the moon and the stars gave the impression of walking in Bantha milk. All sounds were somehow strange, as if not really created in this dimension. There weren't many sounds though. The animal life on this swamp planet seemed to have ceased to exist. It was like the planet was holding its breath. There was only the sound of footsteps and...

Plop...

It was incredibly wet, more than on any planet Arania had ever visited. It was rather cold, what made the situation worse. If she would have had any protective clothing, the circumstances wouldn't have bothered her. But she wasn't really prepared for this. The water had an easy time reaching into her robes, and not for the first time she asked herself why she didn't bring any normal dress with her. Moving forward, she corrected her earlier impression. It wasn't like walking through Bantha milk, but like swimming through it.

Plop...

The benches of the small trees were without leaves, thus looking like fingers grabbing for her. Her robes were torn in a few places by now. She was sure to look ridiculous and didn't like that. Maybe she should turn around, should go back to her X-wing and leave this place in the middle of nowhere. But if the word "stubborn" had any personification, then it was Arania. She had come this far, and now she would do anything to reach her target and eliminate it.

Plop...

The water dripping from the higher trees was what disturbed her most. In the silence all around it seemed twice as loud, and due to some reason she could not understand it disturbed her concentration. As if this world was trying to protect her target. Narrowing her eyes, she followed the trace leading her to some small hills in the middle of the swamp.

Plop...

Her thoughts were not completely focussed on the task. All attempts to change that had been futile until now. Maybe it was the atmosphere around here... maybe the way the force flew...

Plop, plop...

Taking a deep breath, she finally managed to ignore those disturbing sounds. The hills were close now, and she could feel the person she had been following through a few star systems without getting recognized. Something strange was coming along with the presence of the other, something dangerous, yet familiar. Had he realized he had someone on his trail? If that was the case, it would make the upcoming battle at least half way interesting. If there was to be a battle at all. Lately her victims had always be so surprised that there was no real exitement in killing them. And only few of them switched to the Dark Side. Maybe it was time for a break. Staying on her Clan world for a while would not be that bad a thing.

A certain tiredness clouded Arania's mind when she started walking up the hill. The woman stopped and looked around. If she hadn't know better... it was like a more powerful jedi than her had been distracting her from the moment she arrived. But the man she wanted to kill was only a light side novice, maybe a bit more. Not remotely able to do such a thing.

But could she really be so sure that he was alone? Why had the man come here anyways? To meet someone more powerful than him? Maybe his master...

The desire to catch her prey and the instinct to run from danger fighting with each other, Arania stopped on a small clearing and tried to sense her surroundings. But she was not able to detect anything but the next 50 meters. This convinced her to retreat, but her decision was a moment to late.

"Arania," a soft and all to familiar voice, though not heard for a long time, came from the shadows between the trees. "Finally we meet again."

Heron! He stepped out of the forest, followed by the man that had been a possible prey moments ago. And he smiled! This stupid smile that always made him look like an idiot. It hadn't change over all the years. His general impression had changed, though. His eyes were more focussed, as if he finally knew what he wanted. His movement had a certain dignity, and his hands didn't perform useless gestures like they used to do. His robes were green, obviously he was over the phase of wearing strange, bright colors. Arania couldn't see any weapon, maybe he was hiding them somewhere under his clothes. It was more likely, though, that he was here unarmed. And he seemed completely relaxed, though she was sure he wasn't. For someone who didn't know better he would have the aura of an experienced, wise jedi. But for Arania it was the weak, hippocritical aura of the light side.

The first shock was over fast. "What is this?" The sarcasm in the woman's voice was biting. "A family reunion?"

Her brother came closer, still followed by the unnamed jedi apprentice Arania had planned to kill. "I hope this is what it is going to be," he replied. "You know that I have been missing you all this time. And I hope this time you will follow me."

"You are here to turn me... one more try, huh?" Arania stared at the man besides her brother. "And who is this? Who is it you used to come close to me? Whose life did you risk?"

The novice bowed and smiled friendly, but to the woman it was but a mocking grin. "Caladon," he said. His name was the only word the woman would ever hear fom him.

"He was never really in danger," Heron said. "We have been watching you, leading you here. You never had a chance to harm him."

He was overconfident as always, Arania thought. "How can you be so sure, Heron..? You have not seen me for quite some time, and my powers have grown. You may be more experienced in the use of the force, but you are weak and I am strong. And besides that, you have never been able to stop me from doing something. Want me to remind you of each case?" Laughter emerged from her mind, thinking of all the occassions his love for her had prevented him to do something her, even when he should have.

Arania's love for him was different. She wished he would recognize the possibilities of the dark ways and not stick to the light that had been the reason for her parents to die. She had never known her father, and in all the arguments she had with her mother, Heron had always been the mediating part. And he did a good job on that.

All the night-long discussions about wrong and right, about power and justice. All the training together, her getting tired of their teacher telling them not to use any "negative" feelings to gain and achieve and Heron never getting out of patience, calming her down and comforting her... He was the only reason that she stayed with the light side for so long.

But when their mother died, he had not been around. He didn't see the power of the Dark Side crushing her, he also didn't see their mother chosing death just because she was so afraid of the dark powers offered to her.

Memories came back, memories that made her head spin. Mother and the dark jedi. The fight. Her standing there, watching, unable to do anything. Her mother was so much weaker than the dark man, who had was not only better with saber skills, but also used force powers she didn't even know existed until then.

Oh, yes, she had been afraid. Of the stranger, of the powers involved, of being left all alone on that planet if her mother would die. She had been shouting, asking her mother to use the same powers as the dark jedi, to go and survive, no matter what it would take. Her anger had been as well directed at the attacker as at her mother. Was she not important enough to raise the will to survive in her mom?

Death had come faster for her mother as she would have thought. Her opponent had simply cut her in half, and Arania could still hear herself scream, running towards the body. The dark jedi had watched her without emotion. Only when she had grabbed her mother's saber he did move. Until today, she had no idea how she did manage to hold him off. A part of her did explode, and her pure will had thrown him a few meters back before he could kill her. And then his laughter... "Your anger is strong, young one," she still had his voice in her mind. "And you are strong in the force as well. Therefore I will not kill you. Keep the death of your idealistic mother in mind. The weak will perish all over the galaxy, and only the strong will survive."

Now she was here, looking at her brother. "Only the strong will survive," she whispered, not able to resist the temptation of moving closer to him, maybe even touch him. It had been so long.. so long since they were close...

"Come with me, Rany... please! We have been missing each other since so long now. We are a family. You belong to the light. The darkness has clouded your mind now, but we are here to help you out."

She touched his hand. Clouded.. her mind was clouded.. but not from the dark... that was her life after all, she knew how to handle dark. It was the light clouding her mind! Unable to free her hand from his, she heard him talking.

"Whatever has happened to you when mother died, we can make it right. I love you, you are my sister. Drop your hate and your worries. You are not alone!" Heron took her other hand and pulled her closer. "Whatever was done to you - whatever you have done, it will be allright."

He used to talk to her like this when they were still children. All the time he knew how to calm her down. The only thing he could never get out of her head was stubbornness. Suddenly she felt small again, and a strange warmth was creeping through her, a feeling she didn't experience ever since.

"Talk, my sister. What has happened? You never told me. Why did you leave?"

Unable to speak, Arania looked into his eyes, his deep grey eyes that would certainly make every other woman feel different. "Mother allowed herself to get killed," her thoughts said, and he heard her.

"She had no choice," he replied. "She could not allow herself to turn dark."

"She could not..? Why couldn't she?" It finally broke out of Arania. Heron waved at the novice who was waiting a few meters away, and the young man got the hint and moved back to the forest. "She left me there.. I wasn't important. Only her and her stupid principles."

"Those are not stupid, and you know that, deep inside you." Her brother grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes that were so much like his own. "You have watched her die... and I assume you also saw her killer mutilating the body... but how did you get captured... and most important, what did those lost souls do to turn you?"

Again, pictures were forming inside Arania's mind. Her surprise to be still alive. The realization that the foolishness of her mother was even worse, the power of the dark side even bigger than expected. "Turn me.. they didn't turn me..." It had been her choice. She remembered staring at the dark jedi intensely, knowing he could kill her in a second, yet also understanding that he wasn't without discipline, without plan. What he had done was for a cause, a cause she could not understand back then. Her hate was boiling inside her. About the dead of her mother, her father, the foolish teachings she had been forced to follow until now. "Will you teach me?" The only words she had spoken to the stranger that day.

"Of course they did." As usual, Heron couldn't understand her as she wished he would. "You are a child of the light. They have used you, Arania, and made you use others."

No, she wasn't.. how could she be a child of the light? But she was confused. Had she been used? In a way, yes. But she had always been aware that followers of the dark would not do anything that was of no use to them. She would not do such foolish thing either.

Shaking her head, she tried to rid herself of the unwanted feeling inside her, of the weakness trying to take over. "You do not understand, Heron. You do not know. You have no idea what it means to be free..."

"Free?" The man's voice was unbelieving. "How can you use this word, when you are in slavery of darkness? It is such a waste! You can get help from us, every assistance you need. You just need to make up your mind."

Oh, how much she wanted him to be part of her life again. There was so much to tell, so much to do together. So many adventures they were denied of. It was all so close now... if just this fog would leave her mind...

"Let's make a beginning." Heron's voice was so soft, the promise of a life without fights and worries, in peace and harmony. "Tell me what happened when mother died."

Once more Arania remembered. "He was so powerful," she tried to explain. "He killed her so easily. All the time we used to think mother was strong. But she wasn't."

Heron didn't comment it, was patiently waiting for her to continue, like he had always done. "I attacked him. It was all a joke, but I didn't mind, I thought I would die anyways. But he allowed me to live."

"He abducted you. I was always sure he only came for you in the first place. What other reason could he have to come and attack mother? She wasn't that important."

Could that be true? Was she the reason mother had died? Because the dark side came to claim her? But then it was a very normal procedure to steal children of light side jedi and train them in the ways of the dark side. It was also a very common thing to search and kill light jedi wherever they were found. But then, she had already been 19 when her mother died.

A mild breeze blew the fog in her face, making her shiver as well of cold as of unwanted emotions. "I wasn't abducted, Heron. I followed him. I asked him to teach me." Slowly, the dust in her thoughts vanished. "I was born of the dark. I was never light. And that is why I am still alive." Freeing herself from his hands, she stepped back, watched the nameless surprise in his eyes and was still sorry to have to do this to him. "You teach people to be weak, brother. We teach them to be strong. I was offered to become all I ever wanted. But I had to leave the past behind." She knew she had to hurt him again, but the sorrow this was causing dissappeared fast. "I had our mother's saber. She was the symbol for all that has been keeping me from being powerful, from really being me! I ignited it... it was me, Heron. I was the one cutting her body into a hundred pieces. I needed all the imperfect past to leave my life."

Tears came to Heron's eyes. "Not possible.." His voice was only an echo of himself. "Why.. why..."

"Because it was what I had to do." Now definitely free from his light influence, she grinned. "It was a nice try to use the bond between us to turn me. But realize that it wasn't more than that - a try. You cannot trick me. Do not talk of us using people when you were just trying to do the same, just to get me back. Ever thought that you might be wrong? That it should be you following me to fulfill your destiny?"

"That can never be." Heron took a step back as well. "I will never fall to the evil ways."

"So that is what you think I am - evil." The pain in his eyes left Arania almost unimpressed now. "All right, brother. Then I am evil. I give it a different name though. I am not limited. I chose to love or to hate. It is all up to me, while you have to stick to rules that do not allow you to discover your true self, the true way of the force."

"Oh, stop that!" Impatient, Heron moved his hands and was now even more like the boy she used to know. "I don't know if you really believe in what you say or if you just repeat what you were told by the others. But we belong together. Can't you see that?"

The woman frowned and looked at him, thoughtfully but not willing to give in to the temptation still present in the back of her mind. For a moment he had her there, but that was over. "We do belong together, but yet we don't. I may not be completely dark, but I am definitely not light. You do not have what it takes to be a dark jedi. And I guess that keeps us apart. Most likely for the rest of our lives." She pointed out to the figure in the dust under the leaveless trees. "I didn't come to meet you. I came to kill this man. And if you ask why - he endangers the order the Dark Side and the Empire have established. We follow rules, and you light people do as well. It is a fight for dominion. And maybe that is part of the balance in the universe."

"It is a useless fight..." Heron's voice was desparate. The feeling that he was losing her once and for all was overwhealming. "It cannot be won! If we would all stop fighting and live in peace..."

"Maybe," she interrupted. "Maybe it will never be won. Maybe sooner or later both sides will coexist without condemning each other. Maybe they won't. I just know I do not need your kind of peace. I prefer a different setup for my life." Arania called upon her believes and her knowledge to continue. "And whatever bond there is between us - if necessary, I will not hesitate to kill you!"

From her eyes, he knew it was true. He had failed once more. His sister was lost to darkness, and it was unlikely to ever get her back. He had risked his life and the life of Caladon to achieve what could never be achieved. But then, there was still a little bit of light inside her. With a bit of help and much more luck, maybe one day there was a chance for a change after all.

Outside Heron seemed calm, but Arania could see that inside him it was boiling. For a second, while he was fighting with the rage, he could understand her. The hatred towards the man that killed their mother and thus, to Heorn's believes, caused all this, wanted to get its way and made him use all his self control. Temptation was there for both of them, but they needed to be loyal to the path they had chosen. Not really enemies, but opponents in a game that lasted since the universe was created.

Shrugging shoulders, he made a futile attempt to smile. "I suppose this is a goodbye for a long time, maybe forever."

"Not forever brother. But for a long time, yes. Next time we meet, it may be in battle."

He nodded and wrapped his clammy robes closer around him. "I will always be there in case you change your mind, Rany. Never forget that."

"And I will be waiting for you as well." Her despise for the light side very obvious now, she moved further back. "I will leave now. I will not even bother to kill your novice." Her hidden smile indicated that this was only partly meant as a joke. "Do not follow me. Otherwise we will meet in battle uch eariler as awaited."

He watched her turn around and leave, felt the eyes of his novice on his back but was unable to move. Only when she was out of sight he left the clearing.

Arania moved fast on her way back to her ship, paying no attention to her robes that got completely messed up now, or the water still dripping from the trees. Her thoughts were still with Heron. Emotions settled down, slowly, slowly, but all the memories awoken would most likely confuse her for a few more days.

But this meeting had also increased her anger, and reaching the landing place of her X-wing, she looked back and watched the Republican shuttle leave the planet. And she remembered leaving the planet of their mother's dead with the dark jedi. "Do not get infected with the light," she thought she'd hear his voice. "It will make you a puppet of morals."

"It will not happen," she whispered. She had won another battle with herself, this time without the help of the man who thought her to be strong. She wondered what Z'lar Kahn would say to this... she would tell him as soon as she got back.

While a single tear found its way down her cheek, she got on board and left that swamp world as well.