DYAD

TWELVE

"Don't you think." I pant, dodging another blow from Vicrul's scythe. "That real weapons are risky?" This is the second time I've fought Vic when he's wearing his mask. The first time was in the forest. The sound of his labored breaths are mechanical due to the voice modifier.

"Were you not a student of Luke Skywalker?" He asks, moving quickly despite the thick black clothing he wears.

"Didn't you fight Luke Skywalker?"

"No, that was before my time. Our names are our titles. I wasn't born Vicrul. I killed the Vicrul before me in order to take his place." He's talking and fighting at the same time, not missing a beat.

"So what was your name before?" I ask, bringing the vibro-staff down on him. He blocks.

"I will tell you." He kicks my legs out from under me, and I crash to the floor. "When you beat me." I glare up at him, taking the hand he offers.

I punch his shoulder playfully, pulling off his mask and letting it dangle at my fingertips as I raise myself on my toes, placing a kiss on his lips, which are parted due to our exercise.

A surge of coldness arches over me and I clutch my head. Vicrul grabs my elbows as if to steady me.

"Something's wrong." I mumble, clenching my fists. "Something is very wrong." He nods.

"I feel it too." He mumbles, taking back his helmet. I had forgotten that the Knights are Force-sensitive. "Come to the bridge. Everyone else will be there." I nod numbly, following him as he turns on his heel.

"I've never been in here." I say, looking around the room we enter a few minutes later.

The words get caught in my throat as I take in the view from the massive window. Countless stars shine, each representing a galaxy.

"Luella." I turn, seeing Kylo. He gestures for me to join him and the rest of the knights at the holo-table.

"So, Lord Ren, what's the coldness we felt?" Ap'lek asks, leaning against the wall and crossing his ankles.

"A Force-sensitive boy located in the Outer-Rim." Kylo presses a button on the holo-table control pad. A planet appears, the surface red and orange. "This is Cantonica." He leans against the table, surveying the room. "Many of The First Order's suppliers spend their time here-" He points to a location and the holo-image zooms in. "-in the casino city of Canto Bight." Kuruk groans from the Pilot's seat on the other side of the room.

"That place is a trash-hole. Everyone thinks they're so important." He taps the console and pulls a lever. "Hang on, we're jumping." The ship lurches into hyperspace, and I lose my balance, stepping back into Vicrul's chest.

He steadies me and I smile up at him.

Kylo clears his throat.

"From what I felt in the force, he's just a boy. Powerful, but untrained. He sent out a wave of that power, which is why you felt him." He glances at me. "Luella, I know you're talented at sensing other Force-sensitives." I nod, subconsciously stepping away from Vicrul. "You'll be leading the search for him." I widen my eyes, heart pounding.

"But-" He waves his hand.

"You're a Jedi, Amica Mea. You don't radiate the darkside like we do. Plus, I heard you were bored." He smirks before turning back to the Knights. "The Jedi girl allied with the Resistance will have felt this surge too, so we must work fast to find him." The Jedi girl, the one he talks with. A pressure builds in my stomach, laced with ice. "You will take four of the Knights to go with you. They will travel alongside you in the shadows, and they will only appear if you call upon them." He takes out my lightsaber, the silver glinting in the lights over our heads. "Lor San Tekka finished training you, did he not?" I blink, taking my saber from him.

"What?"

"Lor San Tekka, you lived with him for years, did he not continue your Jedi training?"

"Lor wasn't a Jedi." I say. Wasn't. He's dead now. His name will always be spoken in the past tense.

A pain surges in my chest as I remember him. Kylo frowns.

"Yes he was, he trained with the Jedi Order before it fell, and he was a Padawan when it did. He and his master escaped and he continued his training. He passed the tests." It's my turn to frown as I clip the saber to my belt.

"He never told me that. He said he was just an explorer." Kylo shakes his head.

"No. He was a Jedi." He glances around the room, seeing the Knights standing, listening. "We will continue this conversation later." I nod. "Ushar, Trudgen, Ap'lek, and-" He pauses, letting out a sigh, barely audible. "and Vicrul. The four of you will accompany Luella. The rest of you are on market duty." Kuruk and Cardo grumble. "Would you rather starve?" Kylo growls in response to their protests. "I want you to find enough rations for all of us, and whatever else that could be useful." The two warriors nod, unwilling to argue with their leader. "Alright. That's all. You are dismissed." I move to follow the Knights from the room but Kylo grabs my elbow.

"What is it?"

"You never knew about Tekka?" He asks. I shake my head. "Skywalker hired him to continue training his students if anything ever happened to him." My breath catches in my throat. "If he had fulfilled his promise, you would be a true Jedi right now, not just a student." I clench my jaw.

"That's not fair of you, I'm sure..." My voice trails off.

All the times Tekka and I were alone, he could have been teaching me.

If he had taught me, I could have saved him.

I could have done something to protect the village.

"You're angry." He observes. "That's good, you can use that." I pull away from him.

"Use it for what?" I snap.

"I can teach you. To not train you would be a waste of your skill, your power." He steps closer to me, and my heart races. "You could be my apprentice." My mind flashes back to what he told Tesa that first day. She is my apprentice.

"I-I'll need to think about it." I move back, averting my eyes.

"Please do." He says quietly.

"Dropping out of Hyperspace." Kuruk says. "I'm opening the hangar so you can get in the shuttle." I nod.

"Thank you, Kuruk." The older man grins in response, turning back to his ship.

"Luella." Kylo says as I make my way to the door. "Make sure to come back."

"I will." I say, smiling a little. Always the overprotective brute.