Yousa lay in bed that night, awake and hopeless to sleep. He was on his back, staring at the ceiling of his small quarters, dressed in a comfortable set of sleep clothes, a woolly pair of socks on his feet.
It was too late for her now. She had felt a pain in her chest a few days prior, and now she was diagnosed. How a virus could exist in the water on Watil in the first place was troubling. But it only affected humans, and it could kill females especially quickly.
His own species was immune, but he didn't feel happy. He would not allow himself fear. Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hate leads to Suffering. Master Yoda's words bled through his mind. He felt as though the pressure of them was giving him his headache.
Nights like tonight... Would not be spent in disquiet. He would occupy himself. He rolled out of his bunk, and moved to his wardrobe. He dressed quietly, pulling on his boots moments later and stepping towards his door in the dark. Holding up a hand to shield his eyes, he pressed a button on the wall. The door slid open, revealing the brightly illuminated hallway. He squinted as the light stabbed his eyes, but did not close them.
He waited in the hallway, as his eyes adjusted. It took a few minutes. Once he could see properly, he set off at a brisk pace towards the library. He would study something. He would remain in the library until sunrise, then he would seek council with a Jedi. Someone who he could speak to.
In the library there were the ever present guards, and a few Jedi, who looked tired but dedicated to their search. He almost asked to help them with their projects. He did not care how he spent the hours until sunrise, just that he did something.
But he made his way to one of the statues at the end of the long bookshelves, staring up at Eeth Koth, in stone. He thought for a moment, then decided he would research Hoth. Because at this time of night, the question of Why has never been more irrelevant.
Leaving the library as the librarians arrived, he made his way to breakfast in the kitchens, where he occupied himself with some porridge and fruit. He ate it unthinkingly, glancing at the time on his tablet every few seconds or so. As soon as the time hit seven he left and ran up to one of the high towers.
He found himself slowing down when he got to the turbolift. After almost a minute, the doors opened again and he was able to step into a small hallway. These were Master Yoda's private quarters.
He waited in a circular room, throwing furtive looks at the set of doors leading to Master Yoda's private chambers. Eventually, he felt Master Yoda's presence change from meditative, to aware. The doors opened on their own. "Come in." Called a voice.
Yousa stepped into a very dim room, with wooden slats on the walls, letting in horizontal bars of light. "Greetings, young Padawan." Yousa moved to a chair near Master Yoda's. "Greetings, Master Yoda." The short green man surveyed him quietly, then. "Troubles you, what does?"
Yousa took a breath. "My Master is sick. I try not to fear her death, but she will die, soon. Am I to continue with another Master?" Yoda closed his eyes for a moment, pondering some code of conduct that maybe hadn't been observed in many hundreds of years. "A new Master, you will have."
Yousa waited a moment. Yoda guessed what he was thinking. "Teach you to speak to her, I can." Yousa frowned. "You mean her Force Ghost?" Yoda nodded. "Those strong with the Force, may speak after death." Yousa nodded again. "What am I to do? I cannot stay with her. She will not want me to see her... See her..." He couldn't finish.
"Require time alone, you do. Loved ones may help some, but some require distance." Yousa nodded, understanding this train of thought. Meditation, and he would accept it. Yousa looked up at Master Yoda, across a small pot of incense in the center of the room.
Yousa had been meditating on his bed for three hours when Master Kenobi came in. His forehead was crinkled and he looked apprehensively at Yousa. Anakin was nowhere in sight. "I've just spoken with the doctors. They're going to put her in a coma until they have a cure."
Yousa nodded, but did not say anything. "They think that virus was put in the water, meaning it can't be naturally occurring." Yousa opened his eyes once again, thinking. "Really? Who would put it in?" Master Kenobi pulled out his holographic display. He showed him a molecule. "It's manmade, this was a deliberate attack."
Yousa's eyes widened. "Who-?" But he knew it had to be the owner of the small inn they'd stayed at. "So someone put this in her glasses of water?" Master Kenobi nodded. "I think I know who." He told Yousa. He switched to a new hologram. "Recognize this man?" The alien, a Mon Calamari, was unfamiliar to Yousa. He shook his head.
"He's Biel Daktra. Bounty Hunter. He is the man I'm going to get on Hoth. He killed another Jedi while you and Master Rudo were on Watil. I believe he may be going to Hoth to kill another Jedi who lives there." Yousa stared at the hologram. "I don't recognize him. Are you sure it was him who poisoned Master Rudo?"
Master Kenobi shook his head. "I can't be sure. But he might have slipped it to her anywhere. He might've paid someone to do it for him. We don't know who has hired him." Yousa looked into Master Kenobi's eyes. "So you and Anakin are going to capture him?" Master Kenobi looked back at him. "Yes."
Yousa closed his eyes again, expecting that was it. "Revenge is not the Jedi way. If you were to come, it would be to assist me in capturing him." Yousa opened his eyes, but did not look at Master Kenobi. "I want him captured."
"I saw you were studying Hoth last night." Yousa nodded. "Your knowledge of the planet would be helpful. And I imagine it would be good for you to leave here, to be away from her and the other Jedi. It can feel rather crowded in the Temple." He finally looked at Master Kenobi. "You'd need to approve it with the Council."
He nodded seriously. "And I wouldn't want to leave Anakin behind. Will you two get along?" Yousa nodded. "We do." Master Kenobi smiled. "Let us go to the Council." They stood again, Yousa stretching his legs, and they left out his door, into the corridor. "Master Kenobi, I feel you should know I spoke with Master Yoda this morning. I asked him for advice and council."
Master Kenobi nodded. "And what did Master Yoda say?" He asked, as they stopped at the doors to a turbolift. "He said I required distance from her, that I needed to be alone to grieve. I asked if I'd be given a new Master, he said I would." Master Kenobi nodded. "I expect you will. They will not stop you becoming a Jedi because your Master died. I should know."
Yousa had heard the stories of Master Jinn, how he'd died fighting a Sith. They stepped into the turbolift. Once they'd reached the Council Chambers they waited outside, as the group spoke to a different Jedi Master about something or other. They waited, even after the Jedi left the room. After a moment they called them in, and Yousa was standing in the Council Chamber. There was Master Yoda, still smelling of his incense.
And there was the real Eeth Koth. Not stone, but flesh. Master Windu called the meeting to order. "Master Kenobi, what brings you before us today?" Master Kenobi breathed in, and started. "Council. As some of you know, Master Rudo was taken ill this week. I stand with her Padawan, Yousa Bapeo. I have reason to believe that the Bounty Hunter I've been tracking for some time may have poisoned her. Her condition is deteriorating, rapidly. I believe he may target Master Vatoo on the planet Hoth next."
"Yousa here has studied the planets ecosystem extensively. I feel he may be useful on my mission to Hoth. And as he has no Master currently, I would not be taking him away from Master Rudo, while she is sick. I come before you asking your permission to take both Yousa, and my own Padawan on the journey to Hoth."
There was some murmuring to this. "If this Bounty Hunter really has taken Three Jedi lives, perhaps it will be better to send a party there." Said Master Windu. "Sending a single Jedi and two Padawan may be a gross underestimate of this adversary." There was some agreement in the air.
"So far, the Hunter Biel Dektra has been very careful to cover his steps. Using only methods of killing that would slip past us. But when I looked closer at the Jedi who were attacked, they all were harmed by the same toxin." He pulled out his holographic display again, showing the molecule.
"I believe that any large party would go noticed, and so our man may abandon the planet in favor of another target. In addition, a man and two children will arise less suspicion than a group of Jedi." There was some agreement with this argument. "And do you think you can handle two Padawan at once? It is not something we often permit." This came again from Master Windu.
"I believe two Padawan may be essential. Aside from what I earlier noted about anonymity being key, my own Padawan has proven an excellent pilot and swordsman. While Yousa has proven his intellectual prowess in all tests."
"And you believe if you can find the Bounty Hunter, you may find a cure for the poison in Master Rudo?" Master Kenobi nodded. "It would fit the habit of a paid assassin. To carry an antidote in case your target becomes more valuable alive." Master Windu nodded, apparently satisfied.
Yoda had not taken his eyes off of Yousa. "Ready are you? Ready to leave your Master and train under a new one?" The room looked to Yousa.
"I wish to bring my Master good health again. I believe I may do that on Hoth." The council looked to each other.
"Master Kenobi, we grant you an additional Padawan, Yousa Bapeo. You take him knowing he is your responsibility?" Master Kenobi nodded. "Very well. May the Force be with you."
Fifteen minutes later, Yousa was seeing Master Kenobi off. Master Kenobi had left to get more Nutrition Paks and winter clothes, now that they would have three people instead of two in the tent. Yousa thought the rest of their equipment would still work nicely.
Master Kenobi had already told Anakin there was a chance of Yousa coming, and apparently Anakin had not minded. Yousa wondered if Anakin got to see many other Padawan. He'd never paid much attention to how frequently Anakin was on Coruscant before, but he didn't see him often. He knew Anakin was only three years or so into his training.
He decided to do some lightsaber training. He went to a training room and put on a helmet. It blocked his sense of sight and most of his hearing. He could hear the faint hum of his lightsaber, as the drone he was using flew in a circle around him, firing bolts of energy occasionally at him that he would block with his green blade.
As the time wore on, the drone started firing more and more frequently. He was soon turning this way and that, blocking bolts just with the Force. The Force flowed through him as he felt a wall behind his back. He blocked bolts, three a second now, even as he recalled features of Hoth's landscape noted in the Database. He had studied hard, not knowing he'd be going to Hoth, it'd been for something to do. But now, it was life and death.
Master Rudo's life and death.
He could feel sweat forming on his back, as he continuously blocked and moved, sensing where the drone was using the Force. His sweaty palms on the metal surface of his saber kept slipping, he tried to grip it tighter, but eventually his luck ran out. The saber dropped, and the drone shot bolts at his chest, once, twice, he Force-Pushed it away.
Being a training device, the beams had only stung slightly, but it felt more acute with two of his senses inhibited. He took off the helmet. Across the room he saw a few younger Padawan watching impassively as he picked up his fallen saber. He turned it off, the sucking noise oddly loud in his ears.
He went to the now fallen drone, which was intact, having had much worse done to it than he'd done. He replaced it in a closet. His arms were aching from holding his saber up for so long. He left the room and the few Padawan who had watched him for the kitchens. Lunch was a satisfying rice and stew that he stomached easily.
While he ate, he looked around to his fellow Padawan, eating in groups of four or larger. Anakin was eating by himself, across the hall. He seemed unconcerned, so maybe he liked eating alone. Or perhaps he was just used to it.
Yousa picked up his plate and dropped it on the counter, where droids were cleaning them. He made his way up to his room. The meditation had helped greatly, he could tell from his saber training. He'd meditate a bit more, perhaps. Or perhaps he'd have a nap. He hadn't slept last night, after all.
Yousa was asleep in his bed, mouth open slightly as his chest rose and fell. He might've slept that way until early morning, where he would've gotten everything into a ship for their journey to the Hoth system. But his dreams turned to smoky visions of two men dueling, sabers flashing, though he could not tell what colors they were.
There was a moment, a horrible moment, where both men held out there hands to each other, as though trying to push the other away, but they both flew back. Sabers clashed, he could hear them, he could hear an alarm, feel a rising heat, engulfing all in flames as the sound of clashing warriors crescendoed.
He woke up, sweating and breathing hard. He pulled out his tablet, typing out his dream as best he could, while it was still fresh. He checked the time. It was three in the morning. He wondered what to do with this vision, but decided he'd wait until they got back from Hoth before getting an opinion of it.
Author's Note: I'm trying to read a thesaurus so I can vary my word choice a bit more, so if the wording seems... unenviable, please try and cope. Anywho, if you appreciated this story, please leave a review. I'll respond to your inquiries as best I can without ruining the plot.