Disclaimer: I own nothing. The character Aurali belongs to my amazing co-writer/beta Aurali Adrics. Tyla does belong to me though.
I was resting peacefully in my bed when someone started to roughly shake my shoulders. I groaned at the rude wake-up call and I opened my eyes.
"What do you want Rev?" I asked sleepily. I had been having a great dream and my annoying friend just had to wake me up from it.
"Ty, you need to wake up. Aura is going to sneak Kavar out of here." Revan commanded, and my eyes shot open. I sat up and Revan, Aurali, and Kavar were all up. Kavar gave me a small smile and waved.
"Why didn't someone wake me up earlier?" I demanded. Aurali just shrugged at me and Revan shook her head.
"Okay, this is the plan. Tyla, you go stealth and make sure nobody is out there. I'm going to stay in stealth – even though I'm horrible at it - and scout ahead of Aura and Kavar so that I can distract any-" Revan's plan was interrupted by a knocking on the door.
"In bed now!" Revan screamed through the bond.
"Kavar, hide now." Revan whispered. I dove into my own bed as Aurali did the same. I'm not sure where Kavar went but he disappeared. Revan approached the door and opened it slightly.
"Hello?" Revan said in a mock-tired voice. I didn't know what time it was, but it must have been early.
"I need to speak to you and your roommates." A voice said that. That was Master Thorn. What was he doing here?
"Right now isn't the best-" Revan was cut off as Master Thorn pushed his way inside. "time." She finished softly. Master Thorn looked around the room like he was inspecting all of us. It was kind of intimidating actually.
"Padawan Tyla," he asked, and I looked up, "do you know where Master Kavar is?" he asked, and shook my head in the negative.
"No, why would I know that?" I asked and Revan and Aurali's eyes widened at me. That was when I realized my mistake. Of course I should know where he was, he was my Master. Master Thorn noticed the mistake about the same time I did because he gave me a strange look.
"You are his Padawan are you not?" he asked, and I nodded my head in the affirmative.
"Did he go off-planet?" he asked, and I shook my head once again.
"Why are you looking for him again?" I asked, but Master Thorn ignored me and continued his line of questions.
"You need to tell me or another Master when you find him." Master Thorn commanded. I looked at him again, tilting my head slightly.
"Why are you looking for my Master again?" I asked, trying to figure out what in Force was going on. Master Thorn paused before he answered me.
"We suspect that he is… fraternizing with a student." He relied hesitantly and I was so glad that I was a fabulous actress since I was managing to stay calm with all this panic in my throat. Revan and Aurali's eyes widened behind me and Revan's hand shot up to her mouth, trying to contain some noise.
"Fraternizing with a student? That's ridiculous! He doesn't have time to fraternize with a-" I choked on the word and continued my sentence, "student."
"Well, the Council had their suspicions. That will be all for now." He finished and he walked out of our room. I collapsed against the bed as Revan and Aurali looked at me with shock.
"This is SOO not good!" I exclaimed.
"You were supposed to be sneakier than that!" Revan yelped. I moved my head up slightly and glared at her.
"Well I'm sorry that those two years of getting away with it right under the noses of the Jedi Council in the Enclave wasn't sneaky enough for you!" I countered with a hand on my forehead.
"Look, we don't need to be fighting right now! We gotta think of something to do." Kavar said, who was now sitting on my bed.
"He's right; we need to solve this problem. Aura, we're going to do the same thing we planned on doing the first time but this time Tyla, you have a new job." Revan ordered, turning to face me. I gulped and resigned myself to my fate.
"Fine, what do you want me to do?" I asked.
"You need to go find out how they found out about you two and then see what they plan on doing. Then come tell me and we can work on a plan after that." Revan stated and I nodded my head in agreement.
"Wait, how exactly am I supposed to find out these things?" I asked. This time Revan gave me a full-out smirk.
"Spy on the Council of course."
"You're kidding me!" I yelled and I jumped up.
"Oh come on Ty. You're the stealthiest person in this room and we need to find out what is going on." Revan said. I rolled my eyes and searched through my cabinet to find my equipment.
"I'm only doing this because getting kicked out of the order is not on my list of things to do today." I muttered, putting on my stuff and closing the stealth generator with a snap!
"Good luck Ty!" Three voices called out as I walked out the door. I still hadn't checked the time, but it must have been very early because nobody was up. As I trudged through the corridors of the Enclave, I couldn't help my paranoia.
I bypassed the lock on the door slipped into the Council personal chambers and smirked slightly. All hail Kavar and the fact that he tells me these things. I slipped through the rooms quietly and had made it into Master Thorn's office when I heard voices outside.
"My suspicion lies on young Tyla Moore." Vrook stated. "She's always been a trouble maker. It would be just like her to do something like this." I scowled slightly but pressed myself against the wall in case they came in.
"That is true, but think of all of her friends. They are all trouble makers. It's possible that it is another student that we just don't suspect." Thorn thought out loud.
"It wouldn't be possible. Kavar spends almost all of his time with his Padawan." Vrook countered.
"True, but think about this. Is it possible that he supposedly spends so much time with his Padawan to cover up for the time he is spending with another student?" Thorn pointed out.
"It does not matter. We need to send someone to watch the entire group. We must discuss this with the Council." Vrook said, their voices fading away as they left. I let out a sigh of relief and took off as fast as possible.
People were starting to wake up and I was forced to do quite a lot of moving to not hit anybody. When I finally made it back to the room Aurali and Revan were sitting on Aurali's bed.
"So, what did you find out O sneaky one?" Revan asked. I took a seat on my bed and began to explain.
"I don't know how they find out, but Vrook suspects me."
"I wonder why."
"Anyway, I do know that they are sending someone to watch over our little group. I don't know who it is, but somebody is going to be watching us." I finished.
"Well, you know what this means right? We have to be extra careful so that you don't get caught." Revan said, and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head.
"So that means that every time we go out in public we have to act normally but you can't act too close to Kavar." Aurali said thoughtfully, adding onto what Revan.
"Aw guys, I can't believe you would do this for me. I love you both!" I exclaimed happily as I leapt on them.
"The weight is crushing me!" Aurali laughed, and I gave her a light punch. Revan shoved me off of her and I fell on the floor.
"Alright, now let's start planning!" Revan declared. I have great friends.
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My head hit the desk and I wanted to commit murder. Could this class be any more boring?
"I know, I'm bored too. I wish Malak was in here so I could talk to him." Revan told me. I looked at her out of the corner of my eyes.
"I usually skip this class." I admitted.
"Only recently. Besides, you're lucky. Kavar is willing to get you out of trouble. Zhar is always telling me that I need to do this and do that so that I won't go get myself in trouble." Revan complained, and I smiled. I was about to go to sleep when we were released. I gave a jump of joy and walked outside to meet with Aurali and Malak. Revan was already at my side.
Now that I thought about it, Aurali should have been in that class with us, but she hadn't been there today. When we saw Malak and Aurali, Revan jumped her.
"Aurali, you were supposed to be in that class! Were you skipping?" Revan said suspiciously.
"No, of course not. That's Tyla's job." Aurali said with a smirk in my direction.
"Do we need to send Master Vash after you?" Revan threatened, and Aurali's eyes widened in panic.
"No, don't do that! Don't do it, don't do it!" Aurali said with her hands up.
"Fine, just don't do it again. So, what now?" Revan asked.
"We go along like how we always have and we act normally." I answered in hushed tones, but I knew that the others could hear me.
"We can't just not take action. We have to figure out who the spy is!" Aurali protested.
"We know that Aura, but there isn't much we can do right now. All we can do is stay extra vigilant for this mysterious person." Malak finished, and I looked up in surprise.
"When did you find out about this?" I asked. Malak gave me a grin.
"I have my ways." He said cryptically. I rolled my eyes at him and a couple of us laughed.
"Alright, let's go on our way. I'll talk to you guys later. I have training with Master Zhar." Revan sighed, and we laughed as she sulked off. Master Zhar hadn't been teaching her anything new lately and she was at the end of her rope.
"Yeah, Rev is right. I have some training with Master Vash." Aurali agreed, but she still stood there, looking at me.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Gah, stop it! It burns!" I yelped, closing my eyes as I turned my head from her. My hands were batting at the air in front of me.
"Well Ty, what are you going to do?" Aurali asked, and Malak gave me a look.
"I'm… I'm going back to my room to study." I said defiantly, meeting Aurali eye-to-eye.
"Liar. Tell me." Aurali demanded. It was my turn to glare at her.
"I am not lying Aura. Now go before you're late." I commanded, trying to change the subject. Aurali rolled her eyes at me and walked away gracefully, and Malak followed after her, though he turned before she did. I sighed and walked through the hall. I actually didn't have anything to do. No training, nothing to study and all the boredom in the galaxy.
The hall was starting to thin out when something pulled on my robes. I looked down to see a small green Twi'lek girl pulling on me. I smiled and bent down to her.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked with a small smile. The girl jumped back a bit and she bit her lip before answering.
"The Jedi Council wants to see you now." She said nervously before she wandered off to another person in the shadows. I looked at the pair, but shook my head as I turned to go to the Council chambers. Why would they want me? The walk didn't take me long and when I walked in I was surprised to see Master Vash with Aurali, Master Zhar with Revan, and Kavar was apparently waiting for me. As soon as the door opened all of them turned to look at me.
"We are sooo screwed!" Revan called out through the bond. Aurali was giving me a panicked look when Zhar spoke up.
"Stop trying to send mental messages." Zhar scolded his Padawan. Vash looked over at her own Padawan.
"That goes for you too." She warned Aurali. "Can I do sign language?" Aurali asked, but all she received for her wit was a smack up the head. Vash looked over at Aurali with a strange look.
"Who is that random guy you're playing pazaak with in your head?" Vash asked. Aurali just gave her a shrug.
"I don't know. Just saw him in a dream."
"Think of something else!" I quickly closed off all of my thoughts and walked to stand beside Kavar.
"Masters," I said with a little bow to the room, "how can I help you?" I asked politely. Revan and Aurali would have normally shot me a look, but they couldn't with their Masters hovering over them. The other Council members looked each of us over; I was surprised to see how much the air tensed when Atris looked at me. What had I done this time?
"Padawans, we have called you here to discuss certain matters." Vrook started, and I could feel overwhelming panic through my bonds. Part of that panic was my own, but it all blurred together so much I couldn't separate the people. I sent calm to override the panic, and it worked as it all dissipated into oblivion.
"Concerning the incident with Padawan Shan two days ago, we would like to know who planned it." Master Zez-Kai Ell finished. I could almost feel the relief flood the room.
"We had nothing to do with that!" Revan exclaimed indignantly. I nodded my agreement and Aurali backed Revan up.
"That prank was poorly executed and there were several base flaws that we would have never let happen!" Aurali declared. I gave her a look and she just shrugged at me.
"Only you three would dare to openly mock the Jedi in such a way." Atris spit with yet another glare in my direction. Force, what was that woman's damage?
"The Padawans are speaking the truth. Padawan Aurali was training with me during the time the prank was executed." Master Vash spoke up, putting a hand on Aurali's shoulder.
"That may excuse Padawan Aurali, but the other two are still suspects." Vrook said, looking at me and Revan hard.
"Padawan Tyla and Padawan Revan were in my class during the prank. It really couldn't be them." Zhar said, looking at the other Masters eye-to-eye. There was a brief silence before Vrook finalized the conversation.
"Fine, but we will be watching you." I got the double meaning in his words, but I just hoped that he didn't know that I knew. We all walked out of the Chambers and what a breath of fresh air it was to be out of their.
"Aura, I'll talk to you later. I need to go have a talk with someone." Vash said before she walked away. Aurali just gave another one of her shrugs and walked off in the direction of our room.
"Revan, I need you to help me with a problem that some settlers are having. I'll explain on the way." Zhar told his own Padawan as they left the room. All that was left was Kavar and me. I turned to look at him and he motioned for me to follow him. I looked at him curiously but followed nonetheless. We had walked several corridors in silence before someone finally spoke.
"So I heard from Revan about what happened this morning." He stated simply. I looked up at him, surprised at his tone of voice. Was that amusement I heard?
"Umm, which part of it?" I asked.
"As much as I don't like the fact of you using the passwords to break into the Council, I'm glad you found out what you did, when you did." He laughed. I smiled at him and we stopped suddenly.
"You do realize what this means right?" I nodded, but he continued. "We are going to have to be extra careful for a while. Once all this dies down, things can go back to normal. Until then though we are going to be on our toes." He explained, his hands on my shoulders.
"Trust me, Revan spent all morning pounding that into my head. It was all careful this, sneaky that, trouble if not." I sighed. Kavar laughed and he turned away from me as he called over his shoulder.
"I'll see you later for training." I sighed and walked back to my own room. Revan was off with Zhar and only Aurali was in there. She was taking a nap on her bed so I snuck in quietly and laid down on my own bed. Well, this was going to make life a lot more complicated in the Enclave.
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Life continued on with us like normal besides the whole having to be super-secret around others thing. Besides that though, everything was normal and the pranks kept getting better and better. Then, disaster struck. Yes, it sounds way too dramatic but it was horrible. We had hoped that since it had been a good while that the entire fuss would have died down. How wrong we were.
"C'mon Ty, you can fight better than this." Kavar taunted as he blocked yet another one of my swings. I growled in frustration.
"Well I'm sorry that I'm not some fancy Jedi Weapon Master like some people!" I protested. He said nothing besides blocking another strike. My form was lost as my strikes became more and more aggressive. We had been training for who knows how long now and I was tired! But nooo, I couldn't have a break. Finally I dropped the training vibroblade and turned around to walk away. I was too frustrated to do anything okay.
"Ty," he called, pulling me around into a soft kiss. I relaxed and unfortunately neither one of us heard the door open. "Don't get so frustrated with yourself. I can fight better than you, but you were doing just fine." He whispered since he was still so close to me.
"Well this is new." A voice called from the direction of the door.
I jumped away from Kavar and spun around to see who had seen us. Master Vash was standing at the door with her head tilted slightly to the side. She shook her head and walked to us.
"Care to explain?" she asked, and I knew that we were done for. We had so been caught!
"Umm, depends on how much you saw." Kavar said, and I couldn't help the shock that crossed my face. Well, he never gave up hoping.
"From about the time that you turned her around." She countered. Yep, officially screwed.
"Aura, save me!" I yelled, hoping that my blue-haired friend could hear me.
"Well I guess that means you know then." Kavar said with a glance in my direction. Vash shook her head and stopped in front of both of us.
"Kavar, you know that what you have done is a direct violation of the Jedi code right?" Vash asked.
"What is it?" Aurali asked, and from the sound of her voice I guess she was still trying to get used to the feeling of using the bond to communicate.
"Thank the Force! Vash found out!" I told her with panic.
"Yes, I am aware of that." He replied. I couldn't help but speak up.
"I know that too Master. Don't blame him for everything." I protested. Vash looked at me then back over at Kavar.
"And think about the age difference you cradle robber!" she pointed out. Despite the situation we were in, I couldn't help the burst of laughter. The way she said that was just too funny! Kavar gave me a slight glare.
"You know you don't care. Besides, would you rather I went with Atris?" he asked with a smirk, and the laughter stopped right there.
"NO!" I growled, my voice low and filled with mock-deadliness.
"Alright, I get it. Don't kill me." He laughed. I smiled at him and then Vash spoke up.
"You two… I don't know what to do."
"Don't worry Ty. I'll be there in two seconds." Aurali said with an evil laugh and I was kind of scared. What was she going to do? Aurali held up to her promise though and she came only a few seconds later with datachips in her hand.
"Oh Master Vash!! Guess what I've got!" Aurali grinned slyly. The trio of people in the room turned to look at her. Vash saw the datachips, but she didn't seem to know what they were.
"And?" she asked, looking at her Padawan curiously. Aurali smirked and put the first of the datachips in the holo. The first image that appeared took place in Zez's room and Zez was playfully chasing Vash around the room. Vash's eyes widened but she kept her cool.
"No way! Vash and Zez?" I called through the bond, but the look Aurali gave me was enough to keep me quiet. She was enjoying this far too much.
If you hadn't figured it out with that last chip, this one made it plain as day. Vash and Zez were in the middle of a…. heated moment and they were having the longest lip-lock I had ever seen. Seriously, how does someone not breathe for that long?
"That is enough Padawan Aurali!" Master Vash commanded, and Aurali put the holos away.
"So, now that we know you're dirty little secret, how about you don't tell anybody theirs?" Aurali asked evilly. I looked at my friend in absolute amazement.
"You are my hero!"
"I know!"
"Fine, your secret is safe with me as long as my secret is safe with all of you." Vash groaned, coming up with a compromise.
"Done!" Three voices chorused and Vash had reached the door when she threw over her shoulder, "Cradle robber!" and then she was gone. Aurali was silent for a moment before she burst out laughing.
"You know… I never thought… about that before… but she is… so right!" Aurali choked out in between laughs. She recovered her composure, but she couldn't resist the urge to continue.
"So now that you know you're a cradle robber, how does that make you feel? Do you feel your soul wither-?"
"Out Aurali!" I ordered, and she just shook her head before she left and I heard her mutter under her breath, "Just wait until I tell Rev."
I glanced over to Kavar and he smiled at me. "That was… odd." He stated, and I laughed.
"Have you ever seen my friends?" I joked and he had to agree with me. His face dropped suddenly and I looked at him curiously.
"What is it?" I asked, approaching him. He wouldn't look at me for a few seconds, but when he did I couldn't read his expression.
"You know what Vash said was true right?" he asked, and now I was officially confused.
"Of course I know what she said was true and I don't care. I love you, and I don't care what the code says." I said, and he smiled.
"I do too, but I was referring to the 'cradle robber' comment." He admitted, and I laughed yet again.
"I don't care. Really, the difference isn't that bad." I said thoughtfully. He gave me a look I couldn't figure out.
"I was twenty-one when you were thirteen!" he exclaimed, and I paused. Hmm, now that put things in perspective…
"True, but I'm seventeen now and you're only twenty-five. That doesn't really bother me much." I admitted with a small shrug.
"So you really don't care?"
"Not at all. Though you might have to get used to dealing with Rev an Aura randomly calling you cradle robber." I finished, and we both laughed.
"I think I can learn to deal with that." He said softly as he kissed me. Yep. Never gonna give this up. Not in a million years.