Beyond - Legends Unsettled Power (Ben, Luke, OCs) Updated 10/22

I don't own Star Wars. Disney does. But if they want they could hire me to write it.

I've been trying to recreate my old stories since most (all of them) are cut off. While doing that, I thought of a new idea. So here is chapter 1. I will be getting back to Cloak and Shadow very soon. Thank you.


Chapter 1:

It was a busy night with a loud cranky crowd when my past came back to throw a hydrospanner into the hyperdrive of my life. I’d been waiting tables at a local cantina trying to earn enough credits for passage past the Sith’s interdiction of the system. With my luck, I was surprised that the whole Sith armada had come down and taken me as bait for their enemies. There wouldn’t have been much I could do against them. Thankfully, there were very few people who actually knew who I was on Carthag.

Cantina’s like the Ion Cannon had become the place to go to drown your sorrows since the Sith had taken over the system. Traders, travelers, and the local denizens had no escape. Those who were willing to follow the Sith’s rule, were given special privileges in bringing necessary foodstuff and medical equipment. The system had become a prison, one that only I knew the point of. They were looking for me. I was sure of it. Why else invade this little, no-nothing planet?

They hadn’t found me yet. It was just my luck the Jedi found me first. I was pulling a Falleens clawed had from my rear end, tossing him a warning glare and letting him see the blaster I had tucked at the small of my back, when I saw them.

Two men, dressed in tall boots and non-descript dark tunic and leggings. They blended in nicely with the other patrons of the cantina, but the short red-head and the tall drink of water always standing next to him were so embedded into my heart, it took less than a moment to identify them. And just slightly longer to dunk my head and hide.

I swore under my breath. Almost crawling on my hands and feet, I made my way to the bar. I kept one eye peeled for them – my brother and his best friend – Ben Skywalker and Denovan Korsani.

Why was I hiding? It wasn’t as though Ben or Van could take me against my will. They hadn’t been able to keep me on Coruscant or Yavin or hell not even Tatooine. I went where I wanted, when I wanted. But there were other reasons. I chanced a glance over the heads of the patrons, looking for a shock of hair that was more silver than tawny now a days. But I didn’t see my father. That at least was a small favor. I could say no to my brother and to his nosy best friend, but my father was sometimes impossible. He knew me too well and despite everything, I loved him.

Just because I couldn’t see my father didn’t mean he wasn’t there. And now I had to face the glaring truth. Why I had practically ran away from my family and why the Sith was looking for me? My name is Marna Skywalker, I am not a Jedi Knight. I’m like most every workaday being in the galaxy. I don’t know what my father or my brother or anyone else in my family feels like in the force. I’ve never owned a lightsaber, though I’d nearly chopped off my own arm when I was ten trying to learn to use one. Without supervision.

I sank down to the dirty floor, my back resting on the inside paneling of the bar. I closed my eyes and blew out a long breath. Damn. They probably already knew I was here. Didn’t they get it? The reason I needed some space. I came here because it was maddening how many Jedi seemed to think they understood me better than I understood myself.
I wanted to disappear. Run out the back door before there was a confrontation. Instead, I stilled myself and pushed to my feet. I was twenty-five years old. I needed to face the past and the people I had left behind. Besides, maybe they could get me out, where no one else could.

Slowly, I stood up. I turned to face them and was surprised they had taken a seat at one of the round tables. Frowning, I picked up a tray and walked over to their table. “What can I get for you, gents?”

I almost laughed at their sudden and stunned surprise. I feared for Ben’s neck, he jerked it up so quickly that I heard it crack. But if there was one thing I learned from living with Jedi was to control my outbursts. “Mar?” he breathed.

He made to stand up, but Denovan stopped him with a quick hand on his forearm. “Order a drink,” he murmured.

Instantly, Ben schooled his features. “Corellian ale, hard stuff,” he said.

My brother didn’t usually drink. When he did it was lightweight stuff that came in vibrant colors and got you tipsy after a hundred or so. The ale was for bad days. The hard stuff was for very, very bad days. They hadn’t been looking for me. That was a surprise.

I ignored the questions running through my head and turned to Van. “And you?”

“The same.”

Denovan’s drink was less revealing. He was ten years older than Ben, making him twelve years older than me. My brother and his best friend made for an odd couple. Where Ben held himself to a standard that was impossible to reach, Denovan was laid back and easy-going with his place in the Jedi Order. Where Denovan was suspicious and wary of new people and things, Ben embraced them with open arms. I still wasn’t sure how they’d become friends. Van had suddenly become a part of the family when I was thirteen year’s old and it had been that way ever since.

“Be right back,” I chimed with all the false cheerfulness I could muster. As I walked back to the bar to order the drinks, I cast my eyes about like Uncle Han had taught me. I loved my father beyond measure, but Han Solo was always the member of the family I felt closest too. I think he was relieved when I came along. The one Skywalker who couldn’t use the Force.

I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, unless you counted my two Jedi huddling at their table and trying very hard not to watch me. It made them stick out like a Taun Taun on Tatooine. Most of the patrons here didn’t have a problem with leering at me. They kept their distance. Mostly because I shot any who tried anything in the knee cap or their species equivalent, if they got too handsy.

While I waited, I scrapped my brain for a way for all three of us to leave the Ion Cannon without raising suspicion. I had a reputation of keeping to myself and not welcoming the advances of any who propositioned me. Leaving with the two men, even if they were family, would be like blaring a warning claxon.

I brought them their drinks being careful not to linger long as I set them down. I had missed them. All of them. Their intensity warned me not to get over friendly. It was best if we both kept our distance.

I went to take another tables order when sirens did sound in a whirring Doppler pattern. There was a collective silence in the cantina before the entire mass stood up as one and began to make for their homes. Ben headed for me, while Denovan exited out of the cantina, his gaze flickering between the door and me and my brother.

I set my tray down as I was pushed and buffeted by the fleeing crowd. I rested my hand at the small of my back ready to pull my blaster at any moment. Ben had pushed his way through the river of bodies and made it to my side.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, taking my hand pushing me towards the back.

I snatched my hand out of his grasp. “Wow, it only took you about ten seconds to start controlling my life,” I snapped. “And I work here.”

“What?” Ben paused. He shook his head. “Could you not be throwing your little tantrum right now? This is serious.”

“Too serious to talk to me?” I demanded. “I’m your sister, not your baggage.”

“Sith! Coming here! To take you!” he punctuated. “Come with me please, so I don’t have to rescue you later.”

I pulled out my blaster and gave him a knowing look. “Now was that so hard. Lead the way, big brother.”

He pulled off his jacket and handed it to me. “Put the hood up, your hair is a bit of a giveaway.”

“And yours isn’t?” I countered. I took the jacket and obeyed my brother. Sometimes, in dealing with Ben, it was easier to listen to him in the heat of the moment then make him pay for it later. “Where did Van go?”

“To get the ship. We need to be away from the planet before the Sith have it interdicted or we’ll be sitting ducks.”

“I knew about the Sith. But why were you here? You seemed surprised to see me,”

“Dad sent us here to find you. Apparently, since you left, the Sith have been looking for a way to get you in their grasp.” He paused to kick the door open to the outside, bypassing the lock completely. “I didn’t really expect to see you delivering drinks at some scummy cantina. Especially, in that outfit.”

I looked down at the short skirt and sleeveless shirt that was now covered by Ben’s jacket. “Really? I was keeping a low profile on purpose. I couldn’t go around introducing myself as Marna Skywalker, could I? I’d be inviting every being in the galaxy to sell me out and get really dead in the process.”

“So your answer was to dredge the slums?”

“Well, holo models don’t make that much here in the outer rim and Chief of State has already been taken. I was bidding my time. Sithspit, Ben, you need credentials to work at most firms. Scum don’t care who you are, as long as you work hard.”

He growled. I took particular pride in the fact that I was one of the few people who could push the right buttons on young Jedi Skywalker. I’d taken it as a badge a pride when I could get a Jedi all riled up and my favorite victims had been the two Jedi now pulling me out of the fire.

Abruptly, he turned and threw his arms around me. His hug was tight and desperate. Somewhere under all that Jedi calm, he’d been frightened he wouldn’t make it in time or he wouldn’t find me at all. I returned the embrace. Suddenly, we weren’t two people making a run out of enemy held lands, we were brother and sister thankful we were both alive.

When we straightened, I looked him up and down and put a dubious look on my face. “You know for a Jedi, you’re certainly over-emotional.”

He shot me a wry grin, but his words were sad. “For a civilian, you always think you’re at war.”

“Speaking of which…,” I trailed off, gesturing down the alleyway we’d come into from the cantina’s back entrance. “Where we headed. Spaceport is in the south-east quadrant. Van couldn’t make it back there that quickly. Where’d you stow the Dream?”

“We didn’t,” Ben said flatly. He rubbed the back of his neck. “There was an incident on a holofeed not too long ago. The Dream’s been sequestered for anything that needs to be inconspicuous.”

“Oh, don’t tell me, you’re in Van’s piece of junk? I nearly got a blood poisoning the last time I was in that tin can he calls a starship.” The Millennium Falcon was well past a hundred years old, Van’s ship was older than that. As in Old Republic old.

“It serves its purpose. Plus Van’s willing to do just about anything in it. We were disguised as foodstuffs mercenaries.”

“Cause, he’s hoping one of these day’s it will crash beyond repair and he can get himself a grown-up starship.”

We started off again, coming out of the alley into a hive of hysterical citizens. Above, I could see ships descending into the atmosphere.

“Blast it,” Ben murmured. “We knew they were close, but I thought we still had more time than this.”

“Maybe they sensed you?” I questioned.

“Van, maybe, but I was quiet.” He led me to another ally, this one plunging us deeper into shadow. “You haven’t told anyone who you are since you’ve been here?”

I shot him the look that my father always said made me look like my mother at her deadliest. “What do you think?”

“Someone must have recognized you,” he continued, ignoring the death glare.

“Are we so sure they’re looking for me? I’m not that big of a problem for them.”

“That’s the point. They won’t be looking to turn you or even kill you, Mar, they’ll want to use you.”

“I’m not helpless, Ben,” I huffed. “I’ve been careful, I’m always armed. I just didn’t think they were going to bring the hammer down on an entire planet. I was doing fine, on my own, until you two showed up. How do you know, it wasn’t you two coming here that tipped the scales?”

Ben frowned. “No one said you were helpless.”

“No, everybody just assumes I need rescuing,” I quipped angrily, with a pointed glare. “Dad sends you and Korsani to come looking for me. I know I can’t face a Sith one on one. Or in this case more like twenty to one. But I am very good at being invisible. I could have disappeared again. I was working my way off Carthag so I could go to a Republic held world.”

“We didn’t know that, did we? It’s not like you contacted us, let us know where you were. We’ve had to go with the intelligence we picked up from the Sith.”

That silenced the retort that had been ready to leap off my lips. I had wanted the anonymity. To not be a Skywalker, to not be around the people who always ended up in the holo news. Or flew off to their deaths, leaving me behind once again. My mother had been killed protecting Ben, my father had been on the cusp of death so many times, I figured he had one foot stuck in the eddies of the Force.

For all their abilities to sense thoughts and feelings, they couldn’t understand my frustration.

I lost track of time as we went through the streets of Carthag. Sometimes we double-backed to come out another ally. Ben would pause, his head cocked as though listening, his eyes closed in concentration. His hand rested against the hilt of his lightsaber, now visible since I had his jacket. I kept sheathing and unsheathing my blaster. Not sure if I should put it away to run or to hold it so I could take a shot when needed. The back holster and the blaster had belonged to my mother. I felt safe when I held it. I also didn’t want to risk losing it.

“Blast it, they’re close,” he murmured after a moment. “Where is Van?”

“Can’t you tell?”

“Not an exact location. I can get bits and pieces. He’s busy. But beyond that…,” he shrugged. “It depends if he’s looking for me, too. I keep getting a picture of a tower, but I can’t make it out distinctly.”

“Did it ever occur to you, that I’ve lived here for two years and probably know where that tower is?” I asked.

“I hadn’t thought of it,” he murmured.

Impatient, I urged him on, “Out with it, Skywalker.”

“Well, you know it’s a tower. It looks like permacrete, but it could be something else grey or silver. It has these holes, almost windows, but they’re small, too small.” He closed his eyes again, mentally creating the vision. “There’s a lot of these tiny windows. And sometimes light passes through them.”

“It’s the Watchtower. They use the slits for different signals. Weather patterns, emergencies. There’s a lot of water on Carthag, fishing is a big commodity. The alarm claxon sometimes won’t carry all the way to some of the fishing villages, they use the lights to put the warning in the sky and on the water. Follow me.”

Begrudgingly, Ben let me take the lead. He was used to being the one everyone followed. He preferred being in control. The last time he wasn’t, our cousin had been a Sith and had killed our mother.


I gave him a reassuring smile. “Trust me.”

“Yeah, right,” he grumbled. “I grew up with you, remember?”

 

Very sweet that Ben wants to protect his sister. I like Marna's confidence. Well done. Looking forward to more.

 

Very intriguing.

I can’t imagine how frustrating, strange and perhaps disappointing it would be for a Skywalker not to be Force sensitive. But I like how strong Marna is despite it.

Looking forward to more

 

Do my eyes deceive me?? Zara writing a fic with Ben?!
Yaaaayyy! I've missed your writing Ben so much!


I love Marna. Her life must be quite a difficult one being the only Skywalker without the Force, even having Han as someone she can confide in. Han was an adult before he fell in with that crowed, she had to grow up with it.
I also love the relationship we see here with her and Ben. I'm looking forward to adding Luke into the mix.

A Skywalker without the Force would be very valuable to their enemies, I get the feeling this could get ugly.

I'm so excited to read more!
Would you mind PMing or tagging me when you update?

 

JediMaster_Jen

More right now. Thank you!

KELIA
It's been an idea that has intrigued me for a long while now.

mavjade
I know. I haven't really written in a while. I've been scouring my old files trying to find some of my stories to fix the ones on the boards. Luke won't be for a little bit longer, but he is definitely in this story. Will do on the tagging or PMing.


Chapter 2:

Despite the initial chaos that had first occurred with the Sith’s invasion of Carthag, the streets quickly cleared and were all but silent. It became harder to dodge the ensuing army. The Sith had always been to me like the frightening stories the older initiates had told the younger ones. Something that was told to give a thrill. Not a real menace. Even with my heritage, this was the first time I’d seen a Sith that wasn’t a member of my family. And they became very real.

Most of them had altered their appearance, changing the rational sentient beings I’d seen throughout my life, turning them to feral beasts. A mockery of the civilization my family had fought so hard to build. They weren’t what frightened me the most. There were a few that hadn’t changed, not physically. They could have passed me on the streets of Carthag a number of times without me batting an eye. It wasn’t until the rage took them, a switch that no one could see and anyone could set off, that they switched on their blood-red blades and attacked without impunity.

“Ben?” I questioned, not knowing exactly how to form my feelings into words.

But he could read it. He could sense all my trepidation, all the fear, the revulsion. These people wanted me as ransom for my father. They’d kill Ben and Denovan on sight. “I know. This isn’t going to be easy. We need a plan.”

“Find Denovan, get back to my apartment, wait until they leave? Maybe if the Sith can’t find me, they’ll give up.”

“Not likely. They’re pretty determined. We’ve been getting reports of the search for you for some time. This isn’t the first planet that Denovan and I have been to. We were hoping you were out of the way, somewhere no one would think to look. We were setting nav coordinates to Corellia when we’d heard the Sith were not only going to blockade this sector, but were invading the planets. We both felt we needed to come here. It took weeks of planning, but we managed to get the Rust Bucket through as a shipping freighter.”

From the shadows of the boating dock, I could see the Beacon of Light. The lights were spinning in a universal alarm, catching the water and causing it to shimmer. The Sith hadn’t decided to bomb it, but the spaceport was most likely gone, from the amount of fire we’d seen blossoming into the sky. They’d switched the Rust Bucket’s transponder once they’d hit the atmosphere and parked it in a heavily wooded area of the northeast quadrant. They’d put it in a cloaking net. If we could get out of the city with Van that would be half the battle.

Ben wasn’t thinking any of that or if he was, he was also lost in other thoughts. “I see why you came here. It can be beautiful.”

This was another Skywalker trait I hadn’t inherited. We were in a life and death situation, there were at least a hundred Sith hunting for us…yes, let’s stop and admire the scenery. It was beautiful in its way. My brother and father had been through so much, things I couldn’t imagine, and yet, they still saw so much good. It made me love them all the more.
“Once we get out of this, I’ll take you on the water. It’s so clear you can see the fish below. We can go swimming,” I said, giving him a playful push.

He smiled. “I’d like that.”

“We could bring, Dad. Drag him off Yavin. The whole family, it would be nice.”

“First things first,” he said, switching back to his mission persona. “How do we get to Van?”

I looked at the water lapping at our feet, the nearby boats. A thought caught in my mind. “How about we send something to distract them?”

“Such as?”

I flicked my gaze over at the one of the boats. It was strange how much we loved the water having been raised by a man who spent his first twenty-years on a desert-planet. “Exploding seaship?”

His eyes lit up. “It’s a little bigger than when we played as kids. But I think I can handle it. What’s your plan?”

“You distract the Sith, I get Denovan and we meet at my place.”

“Why am I the bait?” he groused.

I huffed in exasperation. “Because you’re a Jedi and my big brother and if I had suggested it, you would have protested and we would still be arguing about it while Carthag burned. So I went the easy route.”

“Force, sometimes, I think you’re too much like Aunt Leia, maneuvering me into what you think is best.”

“Woman’s prerogative, Skywalker.”

“It’s your name, too,” he reminded.

“Not here it isn’t. Everyone here thinks I’m Inara Zroon.”

“Your birthname?”

I wasn’t born Marna Skywalker. Everyone at the Jedi Temple celebrated the birth of Inara Skywalker. When my mother had died, my father had been nearly lost to his grief and Ben had been lost in his guilt. Cam and Tionne had been one of the few people to help me ease my own mixed emotions. I’d decided to change my name as a way to honor her. It wasn’t unprecedented. My own brother was named after a man who’d decided to go under pseudonym as he hid to protect my father’s life. Apparently, my grandmother had also had a penchant for changing her name.

“It seemed appropriate,” I said with a nonchalant shrug. He gave me a knowing look, sensing everything that roiled behind my bland exterior. “So how are we going to blow them up?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve got that covered. Just get ready to make a run for it. Stick to the shadows and by the Force, don’t get caught.”

“Same goes for you.” Quickly, I gave him the directions to my apartment. I leaned against the plastisteel of the dock support column.

Ben’s face stilled, his body both relaxing and yet seemingly to grow in intensity. He raised a hand and the four boats surrounding the docks rose into the air. One spun around, the narrow end of the boat turning towards the direction of the group of Sith hunting down Denovan Korsani. They’d roughed up a couple of locals and were heading towards the Beacon of Light.

“Go,” he commanded.

I pushed my legs forward as the boat went hurling through the air. It hit the Sith straight on. Unsuspecting. Like a pack of animals, the remaining Sith turned in the direction of Ben and I. Only to have another boat shot out towards them, then instantly demolished in a rain of metal and transparasteel.

Their arms went up to either cover their faces or to block the shrapnel with the Force, depending on their level of skill. I took the opportunity to dash away from the dock, keeping low and in the dark. All my life I’d been in the shadow, doing my best to remain unseen by my family’s enemies. I tended to dress in dark clothes. I’d also been taught the arts of an assassin/secret agent by my mother. Unlike Ben, I’d had a galaxy of opportunities opened to me.

I waited, hiding between two service stations, as the Sith converged on my brother. No matter how many times I’d been forced to watch them do something similar, it still made my stomach twist with worry. One day, Ben’s luck, my father’s luck, would run out and I’d mourn one more family member.

The Sith passed me and I jogged light on my feet passed them, using the minimal mental shielding I’d been taught. I wasn’t a Jedi, I couldn’t manipulate the Force, but my father had seen no reason why it wasn’t having an influence on my life. He still believed nothing happened by accident. I’d also worked on projecting certain thoughts while keeping others quieter. Right then, I was thinking of drink cocktails I had served that night and how the Sith had ruined a good night for tips. I’d been able to sneak past my parents, Ben, without them realizing. It was a different thing if they were looking for me specifically, but the Sith were preoccupied with my one man army brother.

They’d left a handful of Sith on the hunt for my other Jedi. Van had performed a miracle by keeping them away this long. Even with the Sith Ben had led away, there was still three outside the tower beacon. Ships were descending into the atmosphere. It seemed half of Korriban had come to take Carthag. I wondered if there was a way to get a message to my father, let him know the Sith stronghold was greatly depleted.

Not that Luke Skywalker would start a war. I was getting the feeling that my dad would have one on his doorstep in the near future.

Catching my breath, I knelt down next to a loading platform, pressing my knees into the marshy earth. Flicking my gaze around the perimeter, I scoured my mind for a way to get rid of the other three. They hadn’t sensed me yet, so far, my dual thoughts were working. How much Hapes sugar rum did you put in an Unarmed Queen? Right, one dash.

I gasped when a strong hand clamped over my mouth. I felt cold metal touch my temple. My heart suddenly tripped loudly in my chest.

I was reaching for my blaster when a voice whispered into my ear. “Don’t scream, Inara. It’s me.”

At my nod he let me go. I spun around to look at him. We hadn’t talked, hadn’t reminisced in over two years. I balled up my fist and caught him in the gut. He doubled over, the only sound a huff of breath as he groaned.

When he looked up, his blue eyes were indignant. “What in the hell was that for?”

“Scaring me, you piece of Rancor poodoo,” I hissed. “How did you know where I was?”

“I always know,” he grunted. It was true. He was the one person it seemed who was always looking out for me. “Where’s Ben?”

“He’s leading the Sith on a merry Bantha chase.”

He ran a hand over his face. “That’s what I was doing. Is he trying to get himself killed?”

“You two lack common sense,” I jibbed softly. “It’s all that Jedi altruism, throwing yourself on the thermal detonator.”

He glared at me, shifting his stance in the muck we’d hidden in. “What was the plan exactly, Inara?”

“I should have taken you with me. At least there would be one non-Skywalker coming up with a reasonable plan.”

“Really, you’re going to play that Sabacc card?”

I dunked involuntarily as another explosion rent the air. This time, there was a plume of fire and smoke. “Your brother has an uncanny talent for destruction.”
“Don’t I know it,” I said. “Come on, let’s not give him a reason to have his fun ruined.”

“Right. Take your blaster out. Next time, try and not be so obvious when you reach for it. I could have broken your wrist before you even cleared it.”

I did as I was told, checked the power cell to make sure it was at maximum. “I would have broken your nose, then shot you in the head.”

He poked at my head with a finger. “Common sense, remember? It's better if you don't have an injury. Especially since there is more than one enemy.”

“I'm not your apprentice, stop teaching me.”

“Stop being foolish.”

Denovan never treated me differently than anyone else. If I'd been a Jedi, he would have told me the same things. It was why Ben and I respected him. It's why the age differences didn't matter to him. He expected you to always be at your best. It explained his friendship with Ben. I still didn't know what or where or how my best was.

“We should find a speeder,” I said. “It's going to look weird if we're walking around deserted streets with weapons drawn.”

“We keep battle ready until we get passed the wharf. How far away is your apartment?”

“From here, about a two hours walk, if we don't run into trouble.”

His eyes took in the grey night and the black shadows. “Count on trouble.”

“Are you sensing something?”

“Not particularly. The Sith are everywhere, like an infestation. We've only scratched the surface.”

I shivered as a breeze caught into the hood of Ben's jackets and cooled the perspiration on my face. Another crashed sounded in the night and saw another boat become nothing but refuse raining down on the followers of the dark.

Van too my hand and laced our fingers together in a gesture so familiar it brought a smile to my face. He cocked a ebony brow when he caught it. “What?”

“Nothing. Aren't I allowed to smile?”

“I don't think I will ever understand you, Inara,” he said with a soft laugh.

“It's Marna.”
“That name is for your mother and everyone who misses her. For you and me, you're Inara.”

By the time Ben and Dad had returned from their war against Jacen and his compatriots, everyone had the Temple had called me Marna. It had stuck. But Ben had come home with his new friend, a friend who would not call me anything other than the name my parents had given me. I didn't understand his fixation until I was older. Van didn't like deceptions. Even the comforting ones we tell ourselves.

I'd never known much about the Denovan Korsani who had been welcomed into the Jedi Order and into my family without any protest. He was a silent man. When I'd asked Ben and my father as a child, they said that Denovan had been in a bad situation and that they'd helped him get out of it. Helped meant that they had insured his loyalty by being ridiculously brave and stupidly selfless.


When I grew older and we spent more time together I didn't pry. I'd learned by then that people deserved to keep their secrets and their fears. By that time, I'd had more than enough of my own. But my curiosity had only grown since that time. One day, I hoped that Denovan Korsani would trust me with darkest parts of himself that he hid from the galaxy.