The Strength of True Love (Month 5, 21 BBY)

Suddenly he sat up and looked around the room. “Do you really mean that?” He asked in barely more than a whisper. When she shifted and her expression began to change he shushed her. “Will ya keep it down? I don’t want Asena to know I’m going to be fine,” he asked. “Its good to know that here, even a doctor can be bribed,” He said. “So, you love?” he asked with a smile.

Kaia blinked in surprise when Ranik suddenly sat up and began to speak. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had believed Ranik was on the verge of death. How had he managed to trick what she was feeling through the Force?! A rush of other feelings flowed through her as well...relief, love, happiness...and anger. She picked up a pillow and hit him with it. "I thought you were dying!" she whispered angrily.

Ranik let the pillow hit him and the first few words were muffled do to the pillow before he could pull it off of his face.

“Do you know what’s its been like? Asena’s father is Dryden Vos! The crimelord! You know, he could have my head cut off just for fun!” he said as he rubbed his bared chest. “Damn that torture device hurt!” He said as he looked at her. And he took a good look. “You look...amazing,” he said. “How did you get here? Do you have a ship? I’m not certain mine is even still there anymore...I bet they even took Hark,” he said in a bitter tone. His mouth worked as if he had more to say about them taking all of his things but he didn’t know that they hadn’t. Asena had protected his ship. “So...did ya getem?” He asked.

Kaia sighed and looked at him. "Hark is fine and Asena had your ship protected." She was quiet a moment before looking at him again. "She's in love with you, you know. She wants to leave this place and her father and go on the adventure you talked about with her...travel the galaxy." She ran a hand through her hair and looked down as she thought about Darth Maul. "I thought I had killed him, but he got away. I was too concerned about finding you and making sure you were ok to double check that he was really dead."

Ranik frowned at what she told him about Maul. He really wished she had finished him, once and for all! He has more lives. Well, there was nothing he could do about that now. At least she defeated him and he looked at her arm.

Ranik ofcourse knew about how Asena felt about him. He could have lived with her but he would never love her. Not like he loved Kaia. Seeing her again, her fiery red hair and bright green eyes. All of those old feelings flooded back into his heart.

“I don’t love Asena, I love you, Kaia. It’s always been you,” he said softly as he looked at her.

Kaia looked at Ranik when he told her that he loved her. She had feared after he left that his feelings for her would have faded. She felt a few tears come to her eyes as she looked into his own. "Why didn't you wait for me? Coming back and finding you gone was...gut wrenching."

“You know why. I want to live Kaia. I knew I couldn’t stop you. I know I still can’t. And feeling what I did...do, for you and you not feeling that back? It...it hurt Kaia. You have abilities I doubt I’ll ever truly understand. I just didn’t think I fit into your world. And I didn’t want to always dragging you down,” he said.

Kaia reached out and took Ranik's hand into her own. "You do fit into my world. You and I are a team...a pretty incredible one." She sighed and then wiped away the tears from her face. "But I have to find Maul. I have to end this once and for all. I'm certain of where he is going...Dathomir."

Ranik could not take it anymore. Kaia was there! He could hardly believe it. He shifted toward her. When she looked up at him he moved in and kissed her. He remembered those lips and he felt her kiss him back as the kiss lengthed. When he pulled back he looked into her eyes. “Then I will go with you. We will finish this, once and for all,” He said.

When Kaia came out of the room, everyone was gone it appeared and Hark was there. He wasn’t looking toward her and when she came back into the room Ranik had put on a doctor’s uniform. He put on a surgical hat and mask and stepped out with her. Hark did look at them then.

“Awww, I spent several seconds on your eulogy, that’s time I’ll never get back!” He said. Ranik chuckled. “I missed you too,” he said and they left the building together. Once they were outside Ranik ditched the medical clothes. He had lost his weapons and his vest and coat but he had others on the ship. They hailed a shuttle and it brought them to his ship. Surprisingly it was untouched. “You can dock your ship after we take off,” he said.

After the ship had gone into hyperspace Ranik decided to take a shower. He needed a shave and they both needed sleep. He thought that he’d never see Kaia again. She had survived and had defeated Darth Maul. Somehow she was able to come to him so obviously he now thought that leaving her was not the right thing to do. She needed him and she loved him and that made all the difference.

Kaia hated deceiving Asena like this, but it was Ranik's choice to leave and not tell her that he was actually alive. Kaia hoped that Asena would re-think her life choices and perhaps still leave and start a new life somewhere else now that she knew the truth about her father.

After they were in hyperspace, with Eeth's ship safely docked to The Fury, Kaia joined Ranik in the shower. They both needed one, but the first part of their time in the shower was not spent focusing on that. They finally got out and Kaia let Ranik shave while she dried her hair. She looked down at her arm and the burn mark that was there. She knew that it would never fully heal and she would be left with a reminder of that fight for the rest of her life. She just hoped that this time she would be able to finish what she had started.

She lay with Ranik in his bed a short time later. They were both tired, but neither one of them was asleep. Kaia finally decided that she needed to tell him about Reyna.

"Ranik, there is something important I need to tell you. If I don't survive this fight..." Ranik opened his mouth to interrupt her and she put her fingers over his lips to stop him from talking. "Please...just let me finish what I need to say." She saw him nod and she took a breath before continuing on. "If I don't survive this fight with Darth Maul, you need to return to Eeth...and find our daughter." She saw a look of shock and confusion form on his face. "On my return from finding the datacron I realized that I was pregnant. I had hoped to find you still with Eeth so I could tell you, but you had gone and he didn't know where or if you were going to return. I gave birth there to a girl...a daughter I named Reyna."

Ranik could not hold back his shock. ‘A baby?’ He thought. He thought back to that time. “But we only….” he began and then stopped. Obviously he was trying to get his head around ‘how’ it happened. But then his brain heard the rest of what she said.

“It’s a girl and you named her Rayna?” When she nodded he went on. “You left her… with Eeth?” He said. It was a measure of his shock that he was repeated back to her what she told him. He shifted away from her and sat up and put his feet on the floor. With his back to her he combed his hands through his hair and rubbed his arms as if he were cold.

“I’m a father…” he said in a softer tone as if he mulled over that fact inside his head. “And you still want to go after Maul?” He asked.

Kaia knew this was going to be a shock to him. She quietly waited for him to process all she had told him. She shifted and sat next to him. “Yes, I am. I have to Ranik. Otherwise he will continue to come after us...after our daughter. If something should happen to me go and find her.”

She became quiet a moment before smiling a little. “She looks like us both. She has hair that is both dark and red. She’s so beautiful.”