"I believe it's common enough for people who are not entirely content with the disposition of their parents to dream that they themselves were changelings."
-Christopher Lee, Lord of Misrule
I - The Roses of Serenn
Qui-Gon
75-74 BBY
Republic fast courier Thornwing was a small ship. It wasn't crowded, exactly, but there was no privacy. Qui-Gon Jinn was mostly comfortable with that - privacy was pretty much an illusion where Master Dooku was concerned anyway. Dooku considered it his duty to know what was going on in his apprentice's life. Besides, Qui-Gon had enough to occupy him. Tactics exercises, the overview of the politics of the Mid-Rim Senate caucus he had to write, two hundred pages of philosophy readings...
To think other Padawans sometimes had free time. Qui-Gon had thought that their long circuit of the Tingel Arm was over, but Dooku had unexpectedly diverted them off the Hydian Way to a planet called Serenno. While Qui-Gon wasn't all that fond of Coruscant, they'd been a long time away. Even if he would have to cut his hair and toe the line, it would be nice to be back.
Strolling from the sleeping quarters in the back to the cockpit, Dooku paused to watch his Padawan from the hatchway. Qui-Gon noted the change in his manner - a swift shift from 'Jedi Master' to 'Formal Social'. Dooku had many such faces - in the past year or so Qui-Gon had really started to notice the subtle differences and how other people reacted very differently depending on which face his master was using. It was both fascinating and slightly scary. Scary because Qui-Gon was not sure which face, if any, portrayed the truth of the man.
He'd worked up the nerve to ask once - Dooku had just smiled slightly and said, 'It's all the same.' Which wasn't really helpful. He'd told Dooku that too, and Dooku's smile had faded. 'It's not my place to be helpful anymore.' he had said. 'I've given you the foundations. What you build of yourself on that has to be your doing.'
Now, Dooku apparently considered it his place to make Qui-Gon's existence a living hell. The basics of Dooku's training philosophy had been apparent since Qui-Gon had first been apprenticed. Dooku placed an emphasis on independence and personal responsibility. In the rare cases where Dooku was sent out on missions with other Jedi, Qui-Gon was generally trusted with more important tasks than they.
These days Qui-Gon worked without immediate supervision on their missions, for the most part. Sometimes Dooku set him an urgent task to accomplish, though that was rare. Sometimes Qui-Gon did research, or social duties. The worst missions, though, were when Dooku pointed him at a situation and told him to find out what was going on, and do what he thought necessary.
Those weren't tests. Those were real, and people had died because Qui-Gon had made the wrong choices. People had died because he had made the right ones too. 'Do not pretend that your actions have no consequences,' Dooku had said, when the judiciary of Oggde had asked Qui-Gon to execute a traitor that his investigations had uncovered and helped to convict. 'You may refuse, but they will kill him anyway. Take responsibility for your actions, and understand what they may lead to.' Qui-Gon remembered that day like it was yesterday, remembered how Dooku had gently corrected his grip on the saber's hilt and steadied his shaking hand before Qui-Gon had walked up to the kneeling man and ended his life. The man had had four children. One of them - Qui-Gon's age - had watched.
Qui-Gon hadn't received a mission briefing for this side trip. That in itself was enough to make him very, very nervous.
"I'm adjusting the atmospheric controls," Dooku finally said. "Pressure will go up to one-point-six Coruscant standard over the next ten minutes. We've handled pressurization, you know what to do."
"Is this Serenno then?" Qui-Gon abandoned his work and scrambled to the cockpit to look down on the world. Hazy, greenish-gold, very small oceans, weird continents. Seemed like the planet had plate tectonics, but low surface water. Basaltic 'oceanic' plates were exposed and vegetated, with true continents in high plateaus above. There was a decent-sized icecap on what Qui-Gon arbitrarily decided was the northern continent, with a much smaller one in the south "ocean". The lowlands had large-scale patterning that struck him as artificial. "What's with the spirals?" he asked.
"Those are the gardens," Dooku said absently. He wasn't actually flying the ship; he was just programming the autopilot. "I'm not sure if you'll be able to visit."
"Gardens?" Qui-Gon's eyes were wide. "Those are...big gardens. I thought this was a small colony? Around ten thousand, right?" He swallowed, letting his ears pop. He could definitely sense the change in the air.
"Well, at least you did some research. Yes and no. Ten thousand-odd Republic citizens."
That kind of differentiation usually implied slavery. Qui-Gon nodded. "That would help explain the GDP." Serenno's wealth was comparable to many of the oldest core worlds; he'd thought that had to be a mistake.
His master leaned back. "Not quite. Serenno is in some ways in a comparable position to Thyf-" A communications indicator flashed, and Dooku pressed it, signaling silence and opening the audio channel.
A deep human voice with a soft and strange accent was transmitted. "Republic courier, identify yourself. This is Indrea di Serenn for the Planetary Corporation of Serenno."
Dooku's Coruscant accent was crisp in reply. "This is Jedi Knight Dooku and Padawan Apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn in fast courier Thornwing. We are here for independent training and require no local government assistance."
Qui-Gon signaled Dooku with one hand, a double repetition of 'mission' implying a question. His ears popped again.
"I see," Indrea said. A short pause, and Dooku signed 'patience' back to his apprentice. "The Corporation will waive your docking fees. Here are your landing coordinates."
Dooku watched the data transmission. "Received. We should be down within ten minutes." His hand moved to cut the channel.
"Very good. And Idis...?" There was an odd edge to Indrea's soft voice as he continued. Dooku's hand froze. "Welcome home."
"Ah." Dooku's face was peculiarly blank. "Thank you. Thornwing out."
The courier vessel swooped over hazy lowlands far below, before reaching one of the great continental plates. Blue lakes shimmered, and the great valleys where rivers descended into the deep basalt country were easy to pick out, even at their speed. Far inland and perpendicular to the concave coastline, massive mountains scraped the sky, where continents had collided long past. The ship was flying into the sunset, and the planet's star burned a vibrant violet-red behind the mountains. The ship began a swifter descent towards the great wrinkled plateau beneath them, but Qui-Gon saw no signs of civilization until just before their ship settled alone on a small landing pad. A small crowd had gathered. Qui-Gon cleared his ears one last time before running a hand through his shaggy hair and falling in behind his master.
He stopped on the ramp, a little wide-eyed. Okay, that was creepy. The reception party seemed equally curious about him and Dooku, though it was fairly well behaved. Ten men and three women, the men standing around Qui-Gon's height and the women slightly shorter. They were universally dark-haired and all dark eyed - with a recognizable similarity of bearing and features to Dooku. Some of the body language was even the same, though a lot more obvious and they were far easier to read in the Force. Curiousity and anticipation were the primary emotions he sensed, like a faint scent on the wind, but there were deep undercurrents that Qui-Gon didn't understand.
Even Dooku was acting odd. His usual composure seemed almost forced as he glanced towards a massive stone building in the valley behind them. It was not enough that the strangers would notice, but Qui-Gon definitely did.
"He's not usually this shy," Qui-Gon heard Dooku say as his master looked significantly back at him. Qui-Gon walked slowly down the ramp, smiling automatically as Dooku introduced him to Indrea, a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge. Qui-Gon looked down slightly at Indrea, and blinked as Dooku's eyes seemed to look back at him from the man's face, considering him with cool reserve. His uneasiness grew.
"What a fine young man," Indrea said. Qui-Gon blinked as someone unexpectedly touched his hair. He turned his head slowly - it was a girl his age, who drew her hand back guiltily and blushed slightly.
"Arde!" Indrea chided. "My apologies, Qui-Gon." He seemed to have a little difficulty pronouncing the name. "We don't get many guests here. Not human ones, in any case. The pressure makes them uncomfortable."
"It's not bad," Qui-Gon said politely. Most human-habited planets in the Core had been altered in the far distant past to conform to a small 'comfortable' range of temperature, pressure, and gravity. Outside that range, artificial habitats were usually used. The pressure here was well outside normal, and not something he'd ever dealt with before in the field. It was definitely weird, but it was tolerable in the short term. "I don't think I'll have any problems."
Indrea nodded and gazed thoughtfully at Dooku, who returned the look. Finally Indrea said quietly, "He doesn't have long. Come this way." Dooku nodded and indicated Qui-Gon was not to follow.
Most of the crowd had dispersed or was following Indrea, but the girl Arde tugged on his sleeve. "Do you want me to show you to your room?"
"I didn't realize we were staying the night."
"You are." Arde smiled a little. "Come on, I'll show you. You're in the great house."
Arde's voice wasn't as deep as Dooku's, and she had that odd accent, but Qui-Gon found himself almost automatically obeying anyway. It was a bit of a wake-up call to how deeply his master had conditioned him, but Qui-Gon shelved that thought away to consider later. He could see the "great house" now - it reminded him a bit of the palaces on Alderaan. It was an isolated ancient building of significant size, but not enormous.
The air smelled floral, and Arde glanced back at him with a little smile and opened a side gate on the path to the house. Qui-Gon looked through into a wide garden. "Am I getting the full tour, then?"
"It's a shortcut," Arde said. "Sort of." She strode in. Qui-Gon took a few steps after her and stopped, drinking the sight in.
The gardens appeared on first sight to have a wild disheveled look to them, but Qui-Gon perceived that this was an illusion. The gentle hands of hundreds of gardeners must have shaped this landscape. There were a few great trees grown to full maturity, knee-high grasses and mossy shrubs, and coiling, twisting flower-vines. The vines were everywhere, a loosely woven veil over the garden. They arched over the polished stone pathway, snaked through the grass, and climbed the trees. Their pale gold flowers were large and many-petaled, while their leaves were dark green and serrated, streaked with deep yellow. Their lovely smell was not overpowering, but it seemed to wash over Qui-Gon, soothing the feeling of the uncomfortable pressure in the air and giving the him the illusion of clarity.
This was a place where plants were loved. Qui-Gon touched a leaf, and then ran a hand carefully over three vines braided together.
Arde walked back into view, raising her eyebrows and putting away a comlink. "Are you coming?"
"What kind of flowers are these?" Qui-Gon asked.
"That's Serenn's rose," Arde said. "She planted it more then a thousand years ago. It's the only one anywhere."
Qui-Gon's eyebrows rose. "Just one plant?"
"Oh yes. Come on, unless you want to sleep in the garden."
He wouldn't really have minded doing just that, but Qui-Gon followed anyway. He looked around at the twining vines and decided he'd have to come back here. At the side door of the house, the vine-thicket was sculpted into a wide woven passageway leading to stone steps. The door at the top was unlocked, and Arde swung it open and ducked inside.
The ceilings were tall and made of vaulted stone. It was less stifling indoors than Qui-Gon had feared. The hallways were not crowded, though they passed a man who stopped and stared at Qui-Gon for a moment before continuing on his way.
The Force sparked in Qui-Gon's mind, and his threat intuition started twitching about six seconds before three more women came around the corner.
"He's new," the foremost of them said. She was taller than Qui-Gon, which was a little alarming, especially since she was giving him a frankly appraising look. She stepped up close, looking down her nose at him.
"He's Idis's apprentice," Arde said. "Qui-Gon Jinn."
"Qui-Gon," the girl said, smiling - or at least showing her teeth. Qui-Gon felt rooted to the ground. "My name is Astel."
"A pleasure," Qui-Gon said quietly. He was surrounded now. The two other girls, mentally tagged as scary she-Dooku #3 and #4, moved up to flank him. This was not a situation that he thought could be solved with a lightsaber. He'd just have to go with it.
"Be glad we got to you...first," Astel said. "The Contessa's hounds are also on the hunt. This way."
The situation was swiftly spiralling out of control. Qui-Gon nodded - he didn't think Astel was lying, exactly, She did think it was a good thing for him that she'd found him first. Whether it was actually a good thing or not, he wasn't sure.
Dooku would want him to investigate. Stretching out with the Force, Qui-Gon could feel an aura of ominous anticipation suffusing the house and the minds of its residents. Something was happening, and Qui-Gon felt there was much more going on beneath the surface here than was immediately apparent. He allowed himself to be shepherded into a side-corridor, and then into a spartan room with two long beds. Astel sat down on one, and Qui-Gon took the other. Arde hopped up on the bed beside him, while #3 stood near the door and #4 also sat. Or maybe vice-versa. They all looked so very alike, especially the last two.
There was an increasingly awkward silence as Astel looked Qui-Gon over. #3 looked serene, but Qui-Gon sensed she was nervous. Arde was bouncing a little on the bed.
"Your hair is really nice," she blurted suddenly. "It's kind of...I didn't realize real people had hair like that. It's really pretty."
"Er," Qui-Gon said. He was beginning to realize Arde was much younger than he had assumed - it was because she was so tall. Humans here was much taller than average, possibly due to the slightly lower gravity, possibly genetic. It was nice because he didn't have to worry about hitting his head on ceilings, which was becoming a problem on Coruscant and elsewhere. Unfortunately, he was having to reassess some of the unconscious assumptions he made about people based on their appearance. He was sure Dooku's suggested solution to that would be to never make unconscious assumptions, but Qui-Gon needed to lean on intuition at times or he'd go crazy. Unfortunately, his intuition wasn't helping him here. "Thanks? It's not that rare where I'm from."
"Can I braid it?"
"Um." Qui-Gon smiled a little nervously. "Ah, sure." It couldn't hurt. Dooku would probably be amused. Astel was definitely amused. And he might get some information about what exactly was going on out of it. "Do you know where my master is?"
Astel gave him a look. "He's with the Execsar. Indagren sent to him. Asked him to come here."
"What about me? Why am I here?"
Arde chimed in. "Oh, I don't think we were expecting you. At least, Father didn't ask me to come meet you until an hour ago." Qui-Gon winced as she tugged on his Padawan braid. He probably should have said no.
"Do you know why this Indagren asked to see Dooku?" Qui-Gon continued.
"He's the Execsar." Arde shrugged, pulling one plait tighter. "I expect it's because he's dying."
"Chief of State," Qui-Gon murmured, remembering that from the planetary fact sheet he'd glanced over. "But why would he want to talk to my master?"
"Oh, well, it's probably about the Contessa. And he's curious, too. Everyone's curious about how Idis turned out. Usually people come back from being taken. They come home, where they belong."
"My mother's mother was taken by the Jedi," Astel said. She studied Qui-Gon. "But she came back when she was Arde's age. She doesn't talk about it. We need to know what has been done to him. We need to know what sort of man he is. And if, after all that, he is still di Serenn."
#3 spoke. "How long have you known him?"
"I've been his apprentice for seven years," Qui-Gon said. "But look, I don't care who you are. It's not my place to gossip about my master."
"We're not looking for gossip," Astel said. "We know the principles of the Order, and information has trickled back about his deeds there. The Corporation has been keeping track of him, after all. I want you to tell me what it means to be a Jedi. For you and for him."
"Being a Jedi means I am a servant of the Republic. I'm not a pawn in your...power struggles." Qui-Gon narrowed his eyes. "And I won't allow myself to be."
"Idis came. I don't believe he is a stupid man. He knew what he was getting into." Astel replied.
"I will say this," Qui-Gon said seriously. "Do not try to use Dooku in your schemes. You will regret it." Astel's eyes flicked to the side, and then Qui-Gon felt a soft caress across his face, and a kiss to the base of his neck. He yelped, jerked away, and fell off the bed. It wasn't the first time a girl had touched him like that, but the combination of that and the lazy, very Dooku-ish grin on Astel's face was just too much.
"They say a Jedi knows neither fear nor desire. Is that true?" Astel's eyes pinned him again. They had that considering look that Dooku's often had before he sent Qui-Gon into some new and creative test of his abilities. Oh, stars, what if Dooku had planned this? Independent training was a criminally vague descriptor, especially from his master.
"Don't--don't touch me." Qui-Gon's voice was shakier than he would have liked. It was #4 that had actually kissed him, he discovered upon looking up. Or maybe #3? Either way it was less creepy than Arde, but still six kinds of disturbing, and Force, he could not allow the situation to get to him. He was trembling a little, but he stilled himself with an effort.
"Why n-," Astel was smiling as she started to speak. But Qui-Gon felt the shifting power dynamic in the room just before her expression abruptly changed. He looked up from the floor and saw Dooku in the doorway. The man's eyebrows were slowly climbing up his forehead, but he moved decisively to stand over Qui-Gon, scattering the pack of girls.
"Out," he said. Three of them promptly disappeared, and there was only Astel wearing an expression that said she knew she was in over her head but was too proud to admit it. Qui-Gon couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for her. Dooku's right hand was at his side, clenched into a fist.
"They say an apprentice is like a son to a Jedi." Astel said. She was not so intimidating now, just a pale shadow of Qui-Gon's true master.
"They do," Dooku said, betraying nothing in his voice.
"Then he's a part of this too."
Dooku just looked at her, until at last she, too, fled the room.
