Little Miss Inalienable Rights

"Emperor's black bones!" Tahiri blurted out in the absolute worst possible choice of ~~WTF SW WTF~~ oath she could have gone with. It wasn't that she was new to Fandom weirdness, but this was Leia acting weird, and it freaked her out. "What's kriffing gotten into you?"

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"I don't think the Emperor would appreciate you using his name that way, girl," Leia snapped. "I'm going to ask you one more time: who are you?"

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That's sort of the point, isn't it? was what Tahiri wanted to say, but she was actually getting a little better at impulse control, and that Yuuzhan Vong paranoia kicked in, in a useful way for once when it took the form of her looking for the meanings in people's words.

Which meant . . .

Sithspit. She tried to shunt her surprise aside for a more levelheaded approach.

"If you're asking me that question," she said evenly, "I think I should be concerned about answering it."

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Leia tightened her grip on Tahiri's wrist and moved her free hand to the hilt of her lightsaber. "Where's Skywalker?" she said. "Tell me, and I may be inclined to overlook your disrespect of the Emperor."

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"Which one? I can't help you if you're not going to be more specific than that . . . assuming I'm going to help you, anyway." Some future version of her had no problem giving attitude to a judge intent on sentencing her to death for treason, so it wasn't a surprise she'd give attitude now. Tahiri noticed the movement; her eyes followed Leia's hand, and she turned slightly pale.

"I know that lightsaber."

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"Skywalker's son," Leia said, which admittedly didn't narrow it down much either. "Ben. I will find him, with or without your help."

At Tahiri's recognition of her weapon, she took the lightsaber in her hand and ignited it. ~~Never mind the red in the icon, it was totally blue.~~ "Do you now?" she said. "It was given to me by my Master after he executed its former owner."

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Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber. She recognized it, because years ago she'd gone with Tionne Solusar and Anakin and Uldir to Vjun to retrieve it. Anakin had used that lightsaber at the time, and now . . .

Tahiri knew her history. Well, if this didn't just confirm everything she didn't want to know.

"Isn't that," she asked, her voice taut but not quite to the breaking point, "the wrong color blade for you?"

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"It should be red," Leia agreed, casually raising the blade. "But I appreciate the symbolism of using it. A reminder of the fall of the last of the Jedi."

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Not the last, Tahiri thought grimly, clamping her jaw shut around the actual words.

"Better people than you have handled that lightsaber." It killed her a little to say that to Leia of all people.

But if Leia didn't know who she was, would she be expecting a hard Force tug on the hilt of said lightsaber?

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No, she wasn't, and the lightsaber flew out of her hand. "What the..." Leia started to mutter, then finished up her statement with a vicious backhand to Tahiri's face.

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She could have dodged the backhand easily if she hadn't been just a little too attached, still, to the idea that Leia would never hit her ~~unless she turned evil and apprenticed herself to a Sith Lord and tried to take Leia and Han into custody in which case she'd find herself completely pwned by someone more than twice her age~~.

The lightsaber hilt had flown solidly into Tahiri's hand, but it dropped and rolled away again when Leia's blow connected with her jaw.

Not even her lightsaber, and she'd already lost it too. Great.

At least she wasn't unconscious -- just reeling back, flinging a hand out with a hard Force shove, and looking completely betrayed.

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And that was enough to get Ben out of his hiding spot. He reached into the Force to yank Leia's lightsaber to his hand.

"Hey!" he called, trying to catch her attention (either her) and racing toward them.

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Leia staggered back at Tahiri's Force shove, but quickly regained her balance as she spotted Ben. "There you are, little Jedi," she said. "This time you're not getting away from me." She reached out with the Force to choke him. ~~Daddy~~ Vader had taught her well.

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Not if Tahiri could do anything about it.

"Yuth ugg," she snapped, reaching out with the Force to use the nearest possible thing as a weapon.

. . . it just happened to be the cookies. All of them, flying at Leia.

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Ben had hit the ground--not that he, rightfully, thought that would save him from a good Force-choke--grateful that it wasn't Force-lightning.

That stuff really hurt.

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Leia caught something flying at her out of the corner of her eye and instinctively spun around to deflect...cookies. "Two Jedi," she said. "My Master will be very pleased." Yeah, she was pretty overconfident and without a lightsaber at the moment, but.

It hadn't passed her notice that Ben had appeared the minute she'd struck Tahiri, and she was going to try to use that to her advantage. So that Force-lightning Ben was worried about? It was currently arcing from Leia's hand toward Tahiri.

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"Hu carjen-tok!" Tahiri hadn't been in any condition to remember what it looked like those times Jaina had used Force lightning on anyone; she really wasn't prepared for what it felt like. The closest comparison was what Nyax had done to her, Luke, and Mara in the ruins of the old Temple on Coruscant, and that was a completely different kind of pain.

She was trying to deal with it the same way, focusing on the pain to draw it into her as strength, but she wasn't entirely succeeding.

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"Stop it!" Ben cried, giving Leia a Force-push of his own and igniting his lightsaber.

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Leia was tired of these children pushing her around. She quickly picked herself up and reached out with the Force to try to tear down a heavy tree branch and bring it down on Ben.

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We need to get her out of commission, Tahiri sent, a little fuzzily, to Ben. The distraction was enough for her to get back to her feet, swaying but upright.

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Ben stepped between Tahiri and Leia. "You won't do that again," he said icily to Leia.

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"She means something to you," Leia said with a cold smile. "Then if you don't want to see her die, you'll surrender yourself to me."

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Tahiri pushed her way to Ben's side, still a little wobbly but just as determined. "He's not doing any such thing," she growled, "and nobody's going anywhere with you."

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Ben was glancing at the tree branches.

That big one on three? he sent to Tahiri. "Oh, I'm doing no such thing," Ben agreed. "No one's dying today."

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