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ladyofleithianDisclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: This is my first time writing Satine. I'll admit, writing her character was pretty difficult -- if anyone on my f-list spots any errors, leave some feedback. Also, writing Jar-Jar. *Sighs* This is going to be difficult...
Satine Kryze never thought that she would return to Mandalore -- if only to start a war. She was not one for war -- something that had made her more than a slight laughingstock in the Senate. They didn’t seem accustomed to the idea that Mandalorians weren’t always warriors -- if anything, the concept seemed alien to them.
And yet it was a mindset that she had taken gladly. She had seen the damage of war whilst fighting against the “True Mandalorians” -- those who wanted to return Mandalore to its ordinary warrior state, to return it to the days of plundering and ravaging planets until they were all but dry, ruined shells of their former glories. She had heard of the damage of the Mandalorian Wars -- the damage of Malachor V. She had heard of the agonies of war -- she had seen what the Trade Federation was capable of.
Fighting for peace, fundamentally, seemed so contradictory and nonsensical a term.
There was a gentle padding of footsteps and the Gungan Jar-Jar Binks joined her by her side. He turned to look at her and she smiled, wanly -- there was something about his company that was oddly comforting. Then again, anyone’s company would be welcome in this moment -- having to vote Valorum, effectively, out of office -- even now, the look of sheer heartbreak and betrayal and, quite possibly, hatred in his eyes was enough to chill her to the bone.
Obi-Wan and the others had reassured her that she had made the right decision. Even so...she didn’t quite believe them.
“Mesa wonder why the gods invented pain.”
“To motivate us, I can imagine. I only..." Satine broke off; even thinking about it was painful. "I only wish it didn’t have to come to this. I never wanted violence.” She had, in the earliest days of her career, gone off with nothing but things like a droid deactivator, in case one had to fight against droids. But at the same time, Senator Palpatine, for example, had told her that she might have to go to war someday.
What if taking up arms is the only way to restore peace to the Republic, Duchess Satine? What then?
She had disagreed with him -- and she still stood by her decision. And yet at the same time, she had a feeling that reclaiming Mandalore would be far from easy.
Jar-Jar made a mournful noise deep in his throat, signifying that he agreed with her. They looked out at the city skyline for such a long while -- so deceptively peaceful, so deceptively untainted by war -- before, finally, Jar-Jar spoke.
“Mesa wish there was something wesa could do.”
“Actually, Jar-Jar,” Satine said, “I believe that there is something you can do for me.”
A light of excitement seemed to come into the Gungan’s eyes. “If it is in mesa power, mesa can do it.”
Satine had to suppress a smile. For whatever else she could say about the young, rather headstrong Gungan, he could be useful whenever he put his mind to it. “Send a signal to Boss Nass and the others. Tell them to come to Mandalore and assist us in our fight.”
Jar-Jar seemed to go pale. “But...they would never accept mesa back!”
“I know,” Satine said -- even now, she could tell that Jar-Jar’s banishment from Otoh Gunga for, of all things, clumsiness (which would have seemed odd if not for the fact that Gungans prided themselves on bravery, efficiency, and many other things that came in handy for, naturally, warriors. So in a way, Jar-Jar stuck out among them like the proverbial sore thumb), had still left the scars of embarrassment on him. But if he could redeem himself in the eyes of Gunga City, Satine mused, that would make all the difference in the galaxy.
***
It was long after Jar-Jar Binks managed to get into contact with Boss Nass that he felt something freeze in him. He couldn't afford to be afraid; he'd had enough of being called a coward (amongst other things) prior to being banished from Otoh Gunga for one particularly egregious act of clumsiness he preferred not to bring up too much -- really, it was only after Obi-One and Quiggon had rescued him whilst trying to find a way off Mandalore after they crash-landed (he still hadn't forgotten Obi's reaction to finding him, as if he'd never seen a Gungan on Mandalore before) that they had inquired about it, and it had taken him a while to actually open up to them, so to speak.
Still, if it could help Satine...he supposed he could do it.
Instead of coming into contact with Boss Nass like he expected, however, Jar-Jar found, to his surprise, Captain Tarpals -- a Gungan he had been fairly close with prior to his exile from Otoh Gunga -- seeming fairly more irritated than usual.
"Heyyo...Captain Tarpals." Even now, something in Jar-Jar, a well-honed preservation instinct, so to speak, was telling him to clear out, to flee (in a way) but even so, Jar-Jar tried to steel himself. "May mesa speak to Boss Nass?"
"Jar-Jar -- "
"Mesa deliver a message from Duchess Satine Kryze. Itsa...important."
Beat.
"Patch in Boss Nass."
And even as the impressive, looming face of Boss Nass filled the holoprojector, Jar-Jar Binks still wondered, in a way, if he was doing the right thing.
