Poked at the strange food in front of him with his very fancy fork. What was sitting in front of him appeared to be some sort of salad served on a silver plate, yet he couldn’t name anything that was in it if it was to save his life.

“Stop playing with your food.” Kandria chided quietly from beside him, not even glancing his way as she demurely used her cutlery to eat a… leaf?

Vancil’s mouth twisted into a line as he looked down at the salad, then to the cutlery at his disposal. A knife and a fork… what the hell was he supposed to use the knife for? He glanced to Kandria. She seemed impossibly at home, and the picture of dignity. A straight back as she slowly and measuredly picked off pieces of the salad. She appeared to be using the knife to push more salad onto the prongs of the fork, but that couldn’t actually be its intended use. It was a knife, you cut stuff with it, not use it as a glorified brace.

Vancil let out a quiet sigh as he mimicked the way Kandria held her cutlery. As expected he was far more clumsy then her, and his eyes narrowed in frustration as he struggled to bring a single leaf up to his mouth. Gulping, he opened and took a hearty bite of it. His eyes widened, and he struggled not to gag the leaf back up at the bitter and harsh taste of it. Just how much seasoning had they put on this???

He glanced to Kandria, who was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Steeling himself, he forced himself to swallow, feeling the leaf travel down his throat and into his stomach. He blinked and felt a bit dazed.

“Is the food not to your liking?” Duchess Satine said from her position at the head of the table to his right.

Vancil worked his tongue inside his mouth for a moment, the after taste still persisting, “Sorry, I’ve uh, never had… whatever this is.”

Satine remained quiet for a moment, a look of shock on her face before she nodded, “I see… did you wish for… something else?”

That gave Vancil pause. He had… never really had a choice of what to eat before. During his childhood on Kavir he ate whatever his parents could hunt and gather, and when he joined the ranks of the Sith the only food available were the bland but nutritious combat rations. Combat rations. Yes.

“Do you have any rations for your troops? Or the rations from our ship?” He asked, a hint of eagerness entering his voice.

Despite what both his fellow Sith and soldiers around the galaxy thought, Vancil himself loved combat rations. So simple. So quick. So easy. He hadn’t had a choice when he developed a taste for them, but that didn’t change the fact that he had developed a taste for them.

Satine’s jaw dropped ever so slightly, a blemish in her usually refined expression, “I… yes, I suppose that can be arranged.”

Vancil smiled in what he hoped was a polite expression, “Thank you, Duchess. I would very much appreciate it.”

His gaze flicked to Kandria sitting to his left, feeling the glare she was giving him. Sure enough she had stopped eating, scowling at him with disapproval and forcing his smile to morph into a sheepish one. The Duchess thankfully seemed to notice this, stepping in to save Vancil.

“It’s quite all right, no trouble at all,” She said, holding up a placating hand to the both of them (but mainly Kandria), “It would be rude of me to refuse in fact. You have ended one of the greatest threats to Mandalore and its neutrality by bringing in the leader of Deathwatch.”

Kandria’s scowl switched to an apologetic one as she looked to Satine, “I still think this is all a bit much...”

“No.” Satine replied firmly, “This is me giving you thanks on behalf of Mandalore and her citizens. I must admit though, I am personally thankful for the second person you brought back… Bo Katan, my sister.”

Vancil blinked as he slowly turned to look at Kandria and whispered, “…Is Bo Katan the red head you knocked out?”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Kandria paled as she nodded slowly. Vancil himself never did catch the name of the female Mandalorian they had captured, and when they had landed and he had come down into the cargo bay the Sith found the woman out cold with a suspicious bruise forming on her forehead. After that he, Kandria, and Captain Tryd had handed over the prisoners to the Royal Guard, with Vancil and Kandria being summoned to dine with the Duchess only a couple minutes later. He found his lips thinning as he chewed the inside of his cheek. Probably best not to mention the assault on her sister, in case it hadn’t already.

Quickly deciding to change the subject he turned to fully face Satine, putting on his best salesman smile, “Oh, those two? Ah, it was no biggie. They gave us a bit of trouble but we roughed them up in turn.”

An amused smirk crossed the Duchess’ face, “’Roughed them up’? Pre Vizsla was as close to death as he could have been with his armour mutilated almost beyond recognition. Bo Katan herself had a broken rib and muscle damage in her arms and legs.”

Vancil’s smile dropped but briefly before it picked back up again as he waved dismissively, “Ah, potato pohtato. We are really thankful for this of course. My companion here is just incredibly selfless and kind.”

Kandria’s exaggerated sigh out of his line of sight caused his grin to grow even more.

Satine’s mouth pursed as she regarded the two of them before shaking her head with a smile, “Yes, I suppose though. There is one thing I would like to ask of you though.”

Vancil shrugged in response, “Eh, ask away.”

The Duchess tensed up as though she second guessed what she was going to ask already, “Well… simply put… who are you?”

Vancil’s brow furrowed in confusion, “Well, I’m Vancil, and this is Kandria, my partner.”

Satine shook her head and spoke slowly, as though he were a beast ready to pounce at the slightest provocation, “I mean… who are you? Because from the reactions you and her have at being called as such, I am confident you are not a… Jedi.”

Vancil tilted his head in surprise and realisation as Satine flinched at the final word, “Ahh, I see. I suppose we haven’t been very forthcoming about our nature.”

The Duchess shook her head, “No… and considering how strong you two it is difficult being this direct.”

The Sith chuckled, “Don’t worry about it, I completely understand your situation. Look, I hate Jedi with all my guts but the word itself isn’t a trigger for me. What really gets on my nerves is when people call me a Jedi.”

Satine nodded slowly, “I see… so, if neither of you are Jedi, then what are you? I believed that the Jedi were the only ones who wielded both the force and lightsabers.”

That one irked Vancil and his expression turned sour, “Well, considering how things are I don’t exactly blame you. I am what you call a Sith. Basically, imagine the opposite of a Jedi and you’re close enough to an accurate representation of what we are. As for why you wouldn’t think of them, you can thank the damned Banites for that. They butchered the Sith Order and went into hiding like cowards.”

He spat the last words out and felt anger boiling within him, anger which he quickly quashed to his own surprise. Usually, he would be indifferent and even welcome rage; it was the staple of the Sith after all. Kandria was being a bad (good?) influence on him, and he wasn’t sure if he loved or despised it.

Satine nodded and looked to Kandria, “And are you one of these… Sith?”

Kandria tensed up, her fists clenching around the cutlery still in her hands as she answered slowly, “…No, I am not a Sith. I am – was, a Jedi. I left the Order you see.”

Satine tensed up in a similar manner to Kandria at those words, “I… see.”

The Duchess seemed to ponder something for a moment, gaze flicking between Vancil and Kandria as the cogs turned in her mind. Vancil kept his suspicion from getting to his face, but his eyes instinctively flicked to every guard in the room. Four in total, two at each of the doors leading in and out of the dining room. If they were at the same level as Captain Tryd, they might give him a run for his money, but if they did end up coming to blows Vancil was still confident he could come out on top.

Satine let out a sigh and smiled apologetically, “I must thank you again, for all that you have done for Mandalore. However, your backgrounds are a problem. Particularly their relation to the Jedi. You see, we wish to maintain our neutrality within this conflict, and with how intertwined the Jedi Order is with the Galactic Republic now, your opposing views to them will present a problem for us.”

“I understand. So, what, you going to hand us over or kick us out?” Vancil replied bluntly after a moment of thought.

They were the only reasonable courses of action from both a strategic and tactical standpoint. Harbouring both a Sith and a Jedi runaway would be a very bad decision considering that Mandalore was supposed to be a neutral system. Protecting and housing Kandria and Vancil would be much the same as housing wanted fugitives, as the two of them likely were by now in Republic space.

Satine smiled sadly, “You two have still done much for Mandalore despite the short time you have been here. Handing you over would be quite rude if I do say so. You may take your ship and everything on it. I’d recommend heading to the galactic north. Not much up there except uninhabited moons and a couple Separatist strongholds far away from the Republic.”

Kandria let out a sigh of frustration, “Seriously it’s like we can never stay on one planet for more than a day.”

Vancil himself had other concerns, “Say, since we’re leaving now can I take those combat rations to go?”