Private BUT MY RESOLVE HAS NEVAR BEEN STRONGAR

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

THE POMOJEMA
CAPTAIN'S BRIEFING CHAMBER
SHORTLY AFTER RELEASE

The Pomojema's leaders — the poisoner Saavat Kishan, the weaponsmaster Ajun Gorge, Lord Baruuke of the prophets and farseers, the scholar Velok the Younger, the blacksmith Azel Moran, and many others — stood and filed out. Ashin allowed herself a moment of solitary quiet.

Her first act upon being released was to message Spencer Varanin and Noelle Varanin about her newfound freedom. Her second was to rendezvous with the Pomojema and its leadership.

Her third order of business was almost certainly skulking outside the door.

"Come on in, Avalore," Ashin called.

 

[Avalore]

Avalore flinched at her name. Busted. She sucked in a deep breath and peeled her ear off the door. Her insides jittered, but she couldn't tell if it was fear or exhilaration as the room opened to all the faces. Some she had won over, others...

She stuck out her chin and found Ashin in the center. She looked... perfectly fine. Clean, even. Avalore balked, but found no answer's Lord Baruuke's ambivalent expression. She shook the shock from her face and stepped forward.

"How?" Well hello to you too.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

They all finished clearing out. Ashin gestured and the door shut, leaving her and Avalore alone.

"My release was a surprise," she said. "A welcome side effect of turning my captors against each other. I have no doubt that if the trial had kept going, you'd have done what Baruuke and Gorge and Mercy mentioned. You'd have tried to rescue me against staggering odds. Tell me, Avalore: what was the plan? How far did you get?"

 

[Avalore]

Heat touched her cheeks. Ashin's feelings on this matter were as unreadable as ever. The old urge to lie bubbled up before she squashed it back down. There was really no hiding here. Avalore sucked in another breath before laying it all out.

"I was close. I needed arms-- Master Gorge wasn't hard to sway, it just couldn't be suicide. So I went to Master Baruuke and he told me all the risks. Drengir, largely, would have slaughtered us either way. I needed to prevent this. I got Mercy to find a way to speak to them. I was gonna have her bait them onto a planet nearby, which would have drawn the bulk of the Jedi watching you away. They wouldn't be able to help themselves, I was sure, which would leave their numbers thinned. That got me Gorge's support with the arms, and your mando friend-- he agreed to handle the shields. I only needed one more for Master's Baruuke's backing-- a way in.

"And I found him too." She was a little proud of that. "A jedi. One of your captors, from the memories your daughter sent over. He had a child." She sucked in a large breath, a little disappointed she never got to see the pieces of her plan fall in line. It was rather satisfying. A glance back at Ashin shooed all those thoughts away.

"I would have forced him to bring us to you-- to get landing codes-- to assist in your extraction. It would have worked,” she defended, her enthusiasm fading off. “…No one expected you to get away.”