Inevitable {Tech}

Chapter Seventeen: Together Again

"Okay try it one more time, I know you've got it. Are vah..." Cass spoke slowly and Shaeeah closely watched her lips contort.

"Are va," Shaeeah copied.

"...ch'itzishn," Cass continued.

"Ch'itz-ch'i-," Shaeeah stuttered, but Cass smiled reassuringly and urged to on. "...Ch'itzishn!"

"Yes! Great job, you did amazing!" Cass clasped her hands together. Shaeeah bounced in her seat with the biggest smile on her face.

"So what did I say?" she raised a brow.

"You asked if I'm cold," Cass laughed and Shaeeah's shoulders dropped in disappointment. "I accompanied a senator on Csilla for a little while as a padawan. They could tell I wasn't used to the snow."

Shaeeah defeatedly laughed and leaned her elbows on the table. Her eyes twinkled as she looked at Cass, completely enthralled by the Jedi since she arrived.

"I'm gonna miss you when you leave," she sighed and Cass glanced over at her. "You're really fun to be around."

Cass pursed her lips and gently drummed her thumbs against the counter.

"Well I'll miss having a little shadow following behind me," Cass chuckled and lightly tapped Shaeeah's foot with her own. 

"Well, I guess it's not all bad. At least you'll get to be with Tech—I mean—all the boys," she stuttered purposefully and smirked.

"Will you stop with that?" Cass groaned and rolled her eyes. She tightened the leather wrapped around her tangled curls, then crossed her arms and slumped in her chair.

"Why?" Shaeeah whined and leaned closer over the table. "You guys would be so amazing together! You both are super smart and really nice and your babies would be super geniuses-

"Shaeeah!" Cass scolded and furrowed her brows.

"Okay sorry, that was a little far but you get what I'm saying," she lowered her voice and calmed her tone.

Cass didn't reply. She looked away and clenched her jaw. It took everything in her not to acknowledge Shaeeah's statements, let alone agree with her.

"You clearly care about him, I saw the look on your face last night. Just tell me one reason why you shouldn't go for it," Shaeeah's purple eyes softly urged Cass to consider it.

"Because-" Cass blurted without having a fully formed thought. And just as Shaeeah wanted, Cas began to consider it.

Attachments were forbidden among the Jedi and relationships were prohibited for the clones, that much was true. But the Jedi Order was gone, decimated and exterminated. And the Republic was wiped away clean, which meant the clones were no longer under their direct order.

In theory, both Cass and Tech were free to do what they wanted without immediate consequences from superiors. Yet the idea of remaining unfettered was so ingrained in them that neither had ever amused such an idea.

Without the Jedi Order, there was no one to enforce the Jedi code. But that didn't mean the code stopped existing all together.

There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.

Cass had repeated the words hundreds of times over her life, both to herself and to others. But every time she spoke it, it still never made sense to her. They were taught to never form attachments, so you would never have to grieve over the things you've lost or are soon to lose.