The scent of smoke and fire was far behind them when Ash abruptly stopped and got off her speeder. Elara pulled up quickly and raised a brow, “sir?”
Ash didn’t say anything for a moment, just standing at the top of the dune with Tatooine’s twin suns glaring down at her. A heavy sigh left her and she sat down, resting her elbows on her knees.
Elara frowned lightly and stepped down onto the sand, “you did the right thing, those schematics would have caused tremendous damage.”
Ash shook her head, “I’m not troubled by that. I didn’t expect this chase to be clean cut, I expected it to be messy.”
“What’s wrong then? If I may ask.”
“This planet brings out the worst in me.”
“You have certainly been gruffer than usual, sir.”
“No, no, I know exactly how I’ve been acting. I’ve been acting like something I can’t be any more.”
“Sir?”
“Didn’t you find it strange how I seemed not to care about your background? I didn’t even blink when I heard you speak.”
“It was a welcome change, I’ll admit.”
Ash nodded slowly, a cold smile turning her lips, “I was born here. I don’t remember where I originally came from, I think there was a lot of fire and yelling. The memory is just fragments to me, vague ones. But they took care of me, raised me as their own, they were what I knew; the Gorfa.”
Elara frowned, “pardon?”
Ash shook her head again, “sand people.”
When she heard nothing Ash turned her head, settling her one eye on Elara’s surprised face. “I was a warrior among them, I grew up killing the invaders, the people of the settlements and outposts we’ve been talking to. Now years after exile I come back here and I’m just another intruder. My teachings and conviction to them matter little, I’m an enemy now.”
Ash looked away to the dunes again, frowning, “I didn’t care you were a former Imperial. I was happy there was someone else who understood what it felt like to be an outsider.” She smirked and deliberately let her accent slip, the words coming out with far rougher inflections and halting diction, “but I have better grasp of my accent.” She cleared her throat, the style of speech felt more natural and comfortable to her but it was not easy to switch back to understandable basic and it’s delicate pronunciations. “Do you realize how horribly fragile basic feels? It’s like I could break the words alone with my tongue.”
Elara took a breath, moving closer to the lieutenant and settling down on the sand next to her. “Why did you join the Republic, sir?”
Ash glanced at her, “certainly not for your reasons, I’m not a noble person. I joined because I ran into them first and mercenary groups would turn me away as soon as I spoke. It wasn’t until after I left Tatooine that I learned to mask my accent. So all they saw was a ‘sand baby’ to mock. But the Republic were looking for willing recruits so I went to see what would come of it. Trained, fought in the outer rim, had my eye blasted out and finally got sent to Ord Mantell. You know the rest.”
Elara’s tone was careful, “do you regret it?”
Ash sighed lowly, “there’s direction to my life, even I don’t appreciate it all the time.”
“And if you could return to your old life?”
“I don’t know. There are some things I like about this existence, no matter how inexplicable they are.”
“Are those things worth holding on to?”
Ash turned her head again, eyeing the other woman with a guarded look, “I hope so.”
