Star Wars_ The Old Republic_ Revan - Drew Karpyshyn [116]
“Bring back some supplies,” Revan said. “Food. Water. Soap so I can wash the filth of that prison off me.”
Scourge nodded. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
The three of them went into the cave, T3 using his lamp to illuminate the dark interior.
The cave was empty now. While waiting for Scourge to return from his meeting with the Emperor, Meetra and T3 had buried the bodies of the fallen security chief and his soldiers in a bare patch of ground a short hike away from the cave’s entrance.
“I’m sure you’re eager to change out of those clothes,” Revan said.
What about you? Meetra thought. Why haven’t you taken off that mask yet?
“We have something to show you first,” she said. “Tee-Three, play the holovid.”
The droid rolled up beside them, projecting a thirty-centimeter-tall image of Bastila cooing over Revan’s three-year-old son.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever see this,” Bastila said, adjusting a lock of hair on the boy’s head as she spoke to the holorecorder. “But I have to believe you’ll return someday. And when you do, I thought you’d want to share your son’s birthday.”
Revan didn’t say anything. As if in a daze, he slowly sat down on the floor so the projection was at eye level.
“Wave to Daddy,” Bastila said, pointing in the direction of the recorder. “Say, ‘We miss you!’ ”
The boy did as instructed, waving his tiny arm vigorously as he repeated Bastila’s words.
To Meetra’s relief, Revan reached up and removed his mask as the holovid continued to play, setting it down on the ground beside him.
“I know we didn’t discuss names before you left,” Bastila said. “But I called him Vaner.”
Revan smiled, realizing it was an anagram of his own name.
“I want him to know who his father is,” the holo continued. “I want him to understand you are a part of him.”
A tear rolled down Revan’s cheek as he watched the vid, and Meetra quietly retreated into a dark corner of the cave to let him watch in private. She’d stashed her clothes here before she and Scourge had left for Nyriss’s stronghold, and the shadows gave her the privacy she needed to change out of her slave’s outfit.
Instead of the black pants and sleeveless red shirt she’d worn on her first arrival, however, she once again donned her Jedi robes. She didn’t consciously think about her choice, and it was only as she was clipping the lightsaber to her belt that she realized what she’d done.
You’re following Revan’s lead, she thought. If he’s wearing Jedi robes, then so are you. Just like old times.
As the holovid continued to play, she lingered near the back of the cave. She couldn’t help but overhear Bastila say, “I love you, Revan,” as the recording came to an end.
“I love you, too,” Revan responded, the acoustics of the cave making his voice unnaturally loud.
Meetra shifted her feet uncomfortably at the exchange. She wasn’t jealous of Bastila; Meetra loved Revan, but not in that way. She’d never had romantic feelings for her mentor. Rather, she regarded him with deep admiration and intense devotion.
At this moment, however, she was acutely aware that Bastila and Revan shared a relationship that went far deeper than what Meetra shared with him. She knew she shouldn’t begrudge them that, but some small part of her couldn’t help but feel her reunion with Revan had been preempted by a holovid.
T3 beeped inquisitively as the video came to an end.
“Of course,” Revan said. “I’ll watch it a hundred times over if I can. But give me a minute.”
He stood up and went to join Meetra in the back of the cave.
“Thank you for this,” he said. “And for saving me.”
“It was nothing.”
“No,” Revan said, shaking his head. “Do not underestimate all you have accomplished. Nobody else could have found me across an entire galaxy. Nobody else could have saved me from my imprisonment.” He studied her for a moment. “I was told you had been cut off from the Force, but I can sense its power in you. I always knew you had great potential, but you have become far greater than I could ever have imagined.