My first attempt at Dooku, so I am a little nervous.
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The legendary Jedi Master bowed low to the two opposing party delegates. The movement was graceful and effortless, showing none of the awkwardness superiors sometimes felt when deferring to inferiors, a distinction granted the Jedi in all three minds present. The act was graciousness itself. But then Dooku was always gracious, especially in victory. And he was the victor here, even if he was the only one who truly understood that.
In a mere handful of days he had single handedly averted a war that would have taken an army of the republic, if such a much needed thing existed, bloody years to settle. Even the Jedi Council had been impressed, and they had sent him expecting results. Dooku himself expected nothing less.
The problem was age old but nothing out of the ordinary. A lower class grown powerful by successful commerce, carelessly wielding their new-found power for change and self promotion, full of insolence and avarice, a thing Dooku abhorred. An archaic nobility, scholarly and dignified, shunning anything that resembled progress, who had allowed themselves to grow weak and defenseless, something almost more abhorrent in Dooku's mind.
If lives were not at stake it would almost seem juvenile, a school yard matter really, compel the bully and empower his victims.
What was required was not a warrior, nor even a diplomat. What was needed was a teacher and it sometimes pleased Dooku to see himself in that light. Such a noble profession. Yes, all that was required was a teacher, with the right skills and proper understanding. And a firm hand.
Dooku suppressed a sigh, there were times when he almost found it too easy. Still, he stood patiently listening to the necessary platitudes expressed by both sides, in his mind already considering the possibility of requesting another mission from the council. With the challenging work done, there was little left to hold his interest. Too much the model Jedi to be bored, he did allow that it all left him feeling a bit flat.
It was time to move on.
The First Consul for the grand regency addressed the Jedi, "Master Dooku, I have been informed that the diplomatic emissary team from the senate has just arrived from Coruscant. I have ordered refreshments to be served in the great hall, will you join us in receiving them?"
"I would be honored, your grace."
Dooku followed the men out of the formal office and down the long corridor toward the receiving room. The carpet was luxuriously plush and the walls lined with priceless pieces of art from across the galaxy, the real thing, not holographic reproductions, even that Wrang dynasty vase was real, exquisitely beautiful, but hopelessly fragile. One wrong step by a gangly teenaged padawan would cause a diplomatic disaster it would take days to sort out.
Force. Where had that thought come from?
Dooku was amused at the strange workings of his mind, it had been years since he'd had a padawan trailing after him. His mouth unknowingly twisted into a half smile at the thought, with Qui-Gon Jinn for an apprentice, one was rarely bored. Always watching, always questioning, things his master had done or not done, not to mention the boy's perverse attachment to certain lower life forms, it was a wonder they had accomplished anything.
But they had. Looking back, it seemed a time of unique clarity and focus, a time when anything and everything seemed possible. Maybe it had just been youthful naiveté or perhaps time had colored his perceptions. Whatever the reality, his years as Qui-Gon's master been anything but dull.
Did he miss it? Perhaps. He certainly was not considering acquiring another padawan. There were other things one could find to occupy ones time.
"Master Dooku, this is a pleasant surprise."
Dooku bowed to acknowledge the lead emissary from the Senate, "Senator Taylar. The pleasure is mine, as always."
The senator was a tall, elegant human with good features and a pleasant face, and, Dooku discreetly observed, he was as impeccably dressed as always. Dooku had worked with the senator before, but to say that he knew him well would be a misrepresentation. Dooku had found him to be a very complex being.
On the surface Taylar seemed harmless enough, a social snob and an incurable gossip, concerned only for being seen with the right people in the right places. Dooku had noticed however, that although he represented a planet with no political clout, by careful maneuvering, he had attained quite a bit of social power in certain circles on Coruscant.
Senatorial spouses held their breaths until they received his response to invitations for parties they hosted. And Dooku suspected that Taylar at times turned this social power into political capital. It was always wise to keep a political spouse happy, if not the consequences were often politically and publicly humiliating.
He had an almost foppish attention to fashion that Dooku found amusing when he realized it covered a keen observation of character and insight into the motivations and appetites of many beings. Little escaped Senator Taylar's notice.
He was a good talker and could be very entertaining, carefully aware of his audience's preferences. He had a pleasantly malicious streak, and Dooku had once spent an enjoyable evening listening to his bawdy speculation regarding the personal lives and personality quirks of certain Jedi Council members. That and an excellent Brandy had been the only redeeming moments of a particularly dreadful political reception.
The Senator was a wealth of information, and as much as Dooku had been amused at his conjecture, he had to admit the man knew some surprising details about the inner workings of the Jedi.
In the past, Dooku had found him very useful for both information and introductions, and had not been unwilling to exchange information and opinions, if one could just keep the man off the subject of political intrigue. It seemed that there was no scandal in all the Senate that did not reach his ears. Dooku would have found him very valuable indeed had he at all cared who had fathered the Princess of Tarones third child or who had replaced the second mistress of the senator from Alkrane. Still there was a quality to Taylar's apparent foolishness that put Dooku on guard. The man was not the fool many supposed.
Dooku was glad to see him however, if he was a well informed as usual, there would be no need to bring him up to speed. Dooku could leave at once.
"The leaders here must be grateful that Master Yoda and the Council can spare you at such a time."
Dookup kept his face expressionless. The senator was doing what he did best, fishing for information. He was of course referring to the recent lockdown at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Dooku had received the communiqué warning Jedi away as had all Jedi out on assignment. And although the Jedi kept their business to themselves, Dooku would not be surprised to find that these events were now common knowledge in some parts of the Senate.
"A security breach, nothing more, I assure you. Master Yoda is quite capable of handling the matter without my interference," Dooku replied pleasantly enough, masking his disinterest. The latest gossip from the senate, how tiresome. The Jedi master wondered how soon he would be able to bow his leave and be off.
"Security breach! You Jedi and your ever indomitable Jedi calm. My word, from what I gather the Temple was very nearly destroyed!"
"Indeed! An exaggeration to be sure." Dooku smiled blandly, never betraying his surprise. The very idea was absurd. Surely the Council had not let things get so far out of hand.
The temple destroyed….He turned the idea over in his mind and wondered how he felt about it. Many Jedi viewed the temple as home, but Dooku had no such misplaced sentimentality. But the loss of life, the younglings, the very future of the Jedi and the Council, Dooku found himself counting the council members he knew to be in residence, a staggering loss for the Jedi. Imagine the Jedi with no temple, scattered across the galaxy, homeless, leaderless.
The Jedi would rebuild of course, and here Dooku found some solace, a new temple and a new start, away from Coruscant, out from under that ever creeping shadow of corruption, free at last from the control of that parody of democracy, that collection of common thieves and power grasping miscreants, the Senate.
Senator Taylar laughed and shook his head, his sharp eyes never leaving Dooku's face, "Ever the grand stoic, one wonders if you have any true feelings at all for your brethren. But I forget to whom I am speaking, such detachment is probably much admired among Jedi. And such an exemplary Jedi you are, a rock of the Jedi order, a pillar of unshakeable faith. I wonder if the Jedi are aware how deeply indebted they are to you.
At this Dooku merely raised an eyebrow.
The senator laughed again, "Don't play the fool, my fine Jedi friend, it ill becomes you. I have done my research you see, so I am well aware of your connection to recent events, which I might add, without your influence could well have taken a different turn."
Dooku was growing tired of this little game, he shifted his gaze away from the senator and made as if to move on in the crowded reception room, "Forgive me senator, duty calls, I must pay my respects to the grand regent and his family. Pray excuse me."
The senator shrugged and raised his hands theatrically, "I see you have more important things on your mind, so I humbly admit defeat. Far be it for a simple senator like me to attempt to understand the doings of the mighty Jedi Order. I will trouble you no more, if you would just answer one question. Tell me is it true, what I have heard? That the source of the Jedi's current problems, that the cause of all this bother is none other than your former apprentice, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn?"
Dooku's mask of perfect Jedi slipped, and just for a moment he stared.
It was a sign of the true perverseness of the senator's personality that once he had gotten the full and undivided attention of his subject, that when at last his audience was thoroughly captivated, that he abruptly and completely changed the subject.
"You must excuse me, Master Jedi, I too have been remiss in my duty. As much as I have enjoyed our little talk, it simply won't do to ignore the Citizen's First Speaker any longer. No, no, don't trouble yourself about me, I already know who he is, I can smell provincial a parsec away. Good grief, cheap is one thing, but when people throw away good credits on bad clothes, it really is unforgivable." And with that he was off, working the room with the experience of a veteran.
Impulsive was not a word Dooku would use to describe himself. Deliberate, methodical, and calculating were words that more often came to mind. So he could not explain how his ever increasing desire to move on, his determination to find some new challenge, his resolve to take on some new assignment had completely evaporated in the space of a few moments of idle chatter.
Maybe he had already found a new mission. All thought of flight forgotten, he turned his deliberate, methodical and calculating mind to the matter at hand, finding the answer to one simple question.
Just what the devil was going on back home?!