Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 04_ Backlash - Aaron Allston [133]
Dyon deactivated the lightsaber he’d recovered.
Luke grinned at him. “You ought to keep that. It looks good on you.”
“Red’s really not my color.” Dyon hung it from one of the innumerable attachment points on his vest. “But, yes. I think I will.”
Ben glanced past Vestara. “We have company.”
Vestara turned to look.
Moving out of the forest were figures, recognizable in the moonlight as hunters and scouts of the Bright Sun Clan. Some lingered behind … right where Vestara had dropped Halliava.
Vestara’s heart sank, just a little. But, no, she had little to fear here. Halliava would never admit to the arrangements she’d made with Vestara, would never admit to being a Nightsister. Their story would hold.
Halliava, tears of anger and sorrow streaking the dirt on her face, pointed at Vestara. “I accuse the girl Vestara Khai.”
They stood at the edge of the meadow, Tasander and Kaminne and many of their subchiefs, the Skywalkers, Dyon, many warriors and Witches. Others moved across the meadow, marveling at the bodies of the rancors and the three downed Sith.
Tasander gave Vestara a curious look, then returned his attention to Halliava. “Accuse her of what?”
“Complicity against the Bright Suns. Complicity I share. Conspiracy with the Nightsisters.”
Kaminne’s voice was sad. “You condemn yourself.”
“I have already lost everything. Because of her.” Halliava’s sweeping gesture took in the meadow. “The Sith took my sisters away. My family is gone. My clan is no more. Because of her. I do not care whether I live or die. I only care that Vestara dies.”
Vestara felt the many eyes on her. She maintained an expression of unconcern, and shrugged. “Well, yes. Now, look at why I have done what I’ve done. I have eliminated the entire conspiracy of Nightsisters from this region. You are now all safe from them, from their pettiness, from their evil. Because of me.”
Halliava’s words emerged in almost a hiss. “You and I, we gave information to the Nightsisters. Information that was used to kill many Raining Leaves and Broken Columns.”
“That’s true, and it saddens me.” Vestara let a touch of sorrow show in her expression. “I knew of no other way to draw out the Nightsisters so they could be destroyed. But what did we do, you and I, when there was danger? You assassinated Tribeless Sha. I helped Luke Skywalker survive. More than anything, those actions show our true motives.”
There were murmurs from the other clan members present, many of them showing favor to Vestara’s words.
Kaminne and Tasander drew together and spoke in low whispers. Then they turned to face Halliava and Vestara.
“Tribeless Sha was not one of us.” Tasander sounded regretful. “So we cannot provide justice for her murder. No one can; she has no clan to bespeak her. And you, Halliava, have confessed to no other crimes of such magnitude—nothing that we from the outside call capital crimes. So it is our determination that you will be exiled. All across Dathomir, you will be known as a Nightsister. You will be hunted and hated. I will be surprised if you live long enough to earn your first gray hair. You will die alone and unloved. Your daughter, Ara, will be adopted by another.”
Ben’s voice could be heard as a murmur: “She was Sha’s daughter anyway.”
Kaminne turned to Vestara. “As for you, we cannot disprove your motives. Nor can we believe them. You have forfeited our trust in you. You are no longer a member of the Bright Sun Clan, no longer under our protection. You are subject to the laws and justice of the Jedi and other offworlders.”
Vestara bowed her head.
Olianne spoke next, her voice as low and sad as Kaminne’s. “I have lost my daughter. I will take Ara as my own.”
“She gave something to the Sith Lord.” Halliava pointed at Vestara again. “Her communications device.”
Luke and Ben glanced at each other. Ben looked rueful. “Probably with the nav data for the Maw. Dad—”
“I know.” Luke turned to Kaminne and Tasander. “We need to get back to the spaceport. As soon as possible.”
Kaminne nodded. “Just you and Ben?”
“And