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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3601768" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 476: Honouring a StrangerVenda allowed herself a long, calming sigh. She had spent the last few minutes with the Alraxian woman from before who had called herself a Redstar. Venda quickly identified this with ‘healer’, as she could feel the Alraxian using the Force to very expertly treat her wounds. Now, though, Venda’s wrists no longer were wracked with pain and she was able to think straight again.    “The stories tell of the Jedi being the most noble beings in the galaxy,” the Redstar was saying as she was now cleaning what was left of the wounds with a very interesting liquid, “I am glad that our limited experience with the Jedi of this time are just as noble.”    “Um...thank you,” Venda said quietly, a bit unsure of how, exactly, to respond.    And then the Alraxian woman stopped what she was doing. After a moment, she looked up to meet Venda’s eyes, caught something there, and then a grin formed on her face, “You have no idea what just happened at the Palace, do you?”    Suddenly feeling uncomfortable with that grin being directed at her, Venda shifted in the large chair some, “I know that Marix...” a slight shift in the Force from the Redstar was easy to detect, and Venda knew why, “That the Empress’ child was in danger. I did what I could to help protect him.”The grin on the Redstar’s face became a broad, happy smile, “The two Knights who you fought with were among a handful of warriors amongst our people, and they were both handpicked by the Empress herself due to their previous experience. They were the best, lady Jedi. Both of them fell to our people’s greatest enemy, which are stronger and our better in nearly every way.. You, however, sit here with the only real wounds being broken bones...”    The thought was allowed to hang in the air, and the gravity of what had occurred began to weigh down on Venda as she gained a little more understanding. But despite that, the Alraxian woman was still smiling, and said very softly, as if to herself, “You remind me very much of Jyren when he first arrived.”    “When he first arrived?” Venda had caught something else knew that she felt like digging into.    The outward demeanor of happiness did not fade from the Alraxian, but her feeling through the Force was noticeably dimmer all of a sudden, “It is...not my place to go into the specifics. But yes, he was much as you are now, with little idea of what was happening around him and simply doing what he felt was right.”    “You knew him well,” sharp natural instincts tipped that one off for Venda. The Force was helpful, but sometimes being aware of what was around in the physical world was just as important.    With a nod, the Redstar idly got to her feet and also reached a hand down to help Venda up, “The only reason I was assigned to him was that I speak Trade. After that, I was simply a familiar face and he seemed to react much better to that than to some of the older Redstars,” she was now leading the way to the door, which opened in an interesting motion that was hard for Venda to describe, and walking slowly with Venda down Loki’s main access corridor, “I would say that he was a friend, and I am sad that he is gone...but it is my job to be strong for those in pain.”    It seemed like probing farther would not be appropriate, and so Venda silently followed the taller Alraxian. They came to another door, which opened to reveal a rather large room that had a table extending across most of it. A pair of Knights sat at the far end, with various other Alraxians dressed in uniforms that Venda couldn’t identify. All heads turned when the door opened and Venda was suddenly very aware they were all looking at her. After a short moment, they were all saying various things that she had no idea of.    The Redstar waved her hand and they went silent. She then turned and leaned forward slightly to look to Venda again, “The hardest thing for Jyren to understand was our people’s isolation. He told me once that when he first came here, the only thing anyone ever did was to stare blankly at him in surprise. He was right. It was...disrespectful and very unkind to treat him that way. It is still hard for many to understand why a stranger would come to us with no real knowledge of who we are and protect the things we all hold dear. But we are grateful for it. You have fought Mrrakesh and lived...and you showed no fear standing to fight them. What you have done is something few Alraxians could do, and you putting your life on the line for our people is something we will never forget.”    “Thank you,” it was all Venda could think to say. She was so used to being screamed at by locals at best, shot at when it was at the worst, that to be complimented and thanked in such a way was actually unnerving. The irony in that was not lost on her, and a pang of sadness was hard to avoid as her mind thought about the state of the rest of the galaxy with how the Jedi were treated.    She then turned directly to the Redstar and asked in a more quiet voice, “Have you heard anything from the Empress?”    “No,” the word had a way of cutting through the air like a blaster bolt, “But we would know if something had happened.”    The Redstar then put a gentle hand on Venda’s shoulder to help lead her back down the corridor and back towards the direction they had come. As they walked, Venda asked, “Where are we going?”    The question was more vague than she’d meant it to be, but the Alraxian woman seemed to pick up on the real meaning behind it rather than the thousands of others that were possible, “Safely away from Alraxia for the moment. We do not have specific procedures for this situation, as nothing like it has ever happened before, but it seems the most important thing is to protect the child.”    That didn’t answer the question completely. But, then again, a planet name or any location likely wouldn’t mean a thing to Venda, who knew nothing at all about the section of space. It was called the Unknown Regions for a good reason.    “Is he alright?” she asked.    “Yes,” again, the Redstar understood the real question, “He is scared, but no child of his age wouldn’t be. Beyond that, however, he will be fine.”    In front of them, Venda could see the end of the corridor, which was the cockpit of the ship. There were two Alraxian-sized chairs in the center in front of the consoles, but Venda immediately noticed no one sat in either of them, and the Redstar simply ended up standing behind the right one. As Venda stopped behind the other chair, she looked out the viewport to see a large, blue-orange planet off to one side. However, it was the giant, silver starship of a shape like she had never seen that caught her attention.    In a quiet voice, again as if speaking to herself, the Redstar said, “If the Empress does not arrive here soon, we will go back for her. The Jendari are our greatest allies. They have helped us grow to the point we are now. If the Empress does not reach us here, it will be the first time in four thousand years that a Jendari warship has been to Alraxia.”</blockquote>

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