Chapter III

The first thing that Kate encountered upon exiting the turbolift was a family of armored rats. Caught by surprise, her first reaction was to Force-push the rodents past her and through the doorway, where they would be trapped and carried upward. The turbolift doors closed on the snarling beasts. If she gave any thought to her friends who might be following her, it was quickly pushed aside in favor of where she aught to go next.

She had tried. She had given the Jedi an afternoon, a deadline, in which she kept quiet and acted like a nice little Padawan.

It hadn't helped. Waiting had turned into seething, as she remembered the council and feared.

They had never been frightening before. Impressive, yes. Untouchable, yes. Frightening? No. Yoda visited children in their cradles.

Kate shivered. Not because of the temperature in the hallway she was now in, either. The air was still and lukewarm. She had descended far enough that the office building she was standing in was probably now used as an unofficial apartment building for transitory sentients. Orange glowstrips in the walls sent a clear but unusually-colored light through the mold-scented air. She had heard many facts and tales about the of the understeets of Coruscant, and imagined herself prepared for whatever scum and villainy she might come across.

After all, she was most likely the only one of them with a lightsaber.

And the Force. she thought. And now, I can do whatever I want with it. Limitless power.

--/--

"She was here," Ciaràn said, as the three of them slipped cautiously out of the turbolift. "It wasn't long ago; her presence is still pretty strong."

Obi-Wan started to reach out into the Force, searching for the same lead that Ciaràn had found, but he was distracted by Asha's grip on the edge of his tunic. "It's dark down here. I want to go home now."

"I--" Obi-Wan, unable to come to a decision, looked back at the doors and then down the corridor. Finally, he settled on, "I'll take care of you. Be brave."

"You really aught to take her back," Ciaràn said.

"And leave you down here alone while I do? Not a chance." He reached down and pried Asha's fingers off his tunic (although she then refused to let go of his hand), and put his other hand on the hilt of his 'saber. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Me too," Asha added. "It sounds dark down here."

"How does something sound dark?" Ciaràn asked.

"Not dark like light," she replied, as though the thought were perfectly logical. "Dark like minor... heavy... like..." she trailed off into humming, and Ciaràn turned around to fix her with some mix of glare and blatant confusion.

--/--

"Oh no," Master Drallig said upon finding the unconscious bodies of the rats scattered about the turbolift entrance. "Not again."

Qui-Gon bent to examine one of rodent's saber wounds. "Ciaràn does this often?"

"More often than I'd like." The turbolift doors opened again as the platform returned to their level. "How far down do you think they went?"

"Too far."

"Do you think we should inform the Council about this?"

Qui-Gon only hesitated a moment before replying, "No. We can find them." He stepped into the car and examined the inboard computer. "Level 242. Come on, we can still catch them before they get too far."

Cin Drallig followed, shaking his head. "I have a bad feeling about this."

--/--

Asha was not at all used to her head being more than three feet above the ground. Hanging onto Obi-Wan's shoulders was not the most comfortable way to be carried, but it was much better than struggling to keep up with the boys' large strides as they followed their friend through the streets of the undercity.

"That way," she said suddenly, pointing down one of the myriad alleys branching off the main hallway.

"Kate didn't go that way," Obi-Wan replied. "She came by this way. Reach out to the Force; you'll be able to tell she was here."

If Asha could have crossed her arms, she would have; as it was, she made do with pouting. They didn't understand. They couldn't hear the way she could that if they cut over through the alley, Kate would actually be heading in their direction. The older girl had taken a roundabout route, hoping to throw any pursuers off her trail. She hadn't counted on Asha's ability to pinpoint her location. But Asha never forgot a melody, especially not one as dynamic as Kate's. There were parts that flowed softly together in the low winds, and a haunting, almost cry in the horns, and everything rose and fell in perfect crescendos and subito pianos--

--Yes, it was definitely getting more pronounced over the dark harmonies of the abandoned building. She kicked rather violently against Obi-Wan's sides, demanding, again, that he turn right.

"Wait a moment," said Obi-Wan, raising a hand for quiet and almost dropping one of her feet. Asha hoped fervently that he knew his current movements were putting his hair in danger of being pulled. As long as he took full responsibility for his actions--

"What?" Ciaran looked at them.

Obi-Wan said, "She said we should go that way."

Asha returned his glare with her own, backing it with a substantial amount of Force-coercion. Nothing happened.

Except that the Zabrak said "Are you seriously trying to mindtrick me?", and Asha began to feel sorry for Obi-Wan's hair.

Obi-Wan said, "Settle down. She's only eight, she doesn't really know what she's--ow!" He shook his head, which only made Asha's grip on his braid more painful. "Maybe we oughta do what she suggests."

"A senior Padawan letting an eight-year old push you around." Ciaran said, managing to be completely serious and sarcastic at the same time. "Alright, Asha, why do you want us to go that way," he pointed in the direction she indicated, "when Kate has obviously gone that way?" and he pointed again down the direction they'd been going.

"I don't care about where she was sixteen measures ago," Asha replied, still not releasing Obi-Wan's braid. "I care about where she is now."

Obi-Wan, momentarily distracted, asked, "Wait, you mean you know where she is?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" She yanked again. "That way!"

Asha was pleased to note the rather amused smile on Ciaràn's face as he lead the way, and the slight pickup in his tempo. Content with her contribution, she wrapped her arms around Obi-Wan's neck again, and tried to settle back into her quasi-comfortable position, but Obi-Wan didn't appear to be putting up with that anymore.

"No," he said, quite seriously, rubbing the places where Asha had kicked him. "You're walking now."

She replied by grabbing hold of his tabard. Obi-Wan sighed, and told her to keep up, which was hard because she had to take two steps for every one of his. By this point, Ciaràn had reached the cross section. He stood in the center of the main hall, tapping his 'saber hilt against his leg impatiently as he waited for them.

"Now which way?" he asked, looking at Asha.

She glanced uncertainly in each direction, quite aware of the Zabrak's pointed stare. For some reason, she could no longer discern Kate from the counterpoint that was the darkness creeping in on them. But she'd been so sure--

Something - the crackle of energy - tingled on the back of her neck. She screamed before she could think of anything else.

Ciaràn reacted immediately, bringing his silver blade up to meet the green one, and Asha ducked as they clashed over her head.

Then, to her utter surprise, he smiled.

--/--

Kate glared back. "What are you doing here."

"Finding you," said Obi-Wan.

Without a word, Ciaràn stepped back, but did not deactivate his lightsaber. She kept hers live too. The hums, the martial glow they lent the awkward conversation, were preferable to the awkwardness alone. Small things mattered to Kate now. She had decided to leave the Jedi Order via these streets, as vague as the dark side was to her, and once such a big decision had been made, had been put behind her, little things like her old friends' reactions became important. She met Obi-Wan's eyes, probing the Force, waiting for any tiny change in his sense. "I won't go back."

"Don't ruin your life," he told her, and although at first it sounded trite she knew he had experience outside the walls of the temple.

"What do you mean by that?" She questioned. "What exactly is out here that they don't want us to find?"

"It's not what they don't want us to find, it's what isn't good for us. It's...what we could do. To people. You have power, Kate, you just need to reign it in--"

"Why? Because sometime when they took my blood after I was born it was ruled that I wasn't as good as the other initiates? Maybe, because I can feel the Force and not everyone in the galaxy can? Because we ought to dumb down our powers, so that we're not offensive or frightening or domineering? I want to be frightening, Obi-Wan. I want to be powerful."

Ciaràn caught her eyes before he spoke, and the intensity of his gaze stole her attention away from his companion. "True power comes from serenity."

And she could believe that when she looked at him, just as she could when she looked at Master Yoda or Master Qui-Gon. They had their quirks, their failures--Ciaràn loved to fight more than Kate did--but inside them was a core of Jedi discipline, a still pool. Looking at Ciaràn, she admired him, an admiration shading into--emotions she hated as much as they said she should, but that she just couldn't get rid of. And so the hate became a problem of its own. "I want to be out from under shadows."

"Let go of your wants, as we've been taught--"

She interrupted Obi-Wan. "I can't. They are me."

The three looked at one another. Asha ducked behind Obi-Wan's legs, and Kate felt a sudden anger at herself for playing out her drama under the eyes of a child. "I could try to kill you," she said softly. "I could try those dark side powers which are supposed to come unbidden and easy. And I really do want this to be easy. My fall isn't physical, or it doesn't have to be if you won't try to stop me. But I know I can't take both of you, and I'll die before going back." She knew they would see this as a threat, not to themselves, but to her life. She was taking herself hostage. And as Jedi, they were pledged do things such as rescue hostages.

Very suddenly, Asha sat down on the ground and clapped her hands over her ears. Then she pointed at Kate, glared with all of her eight year old might, and said "The dissonance hurts."

Obi-Wan sighed and picked her up again, and she promptly pressed her face into his shoulder, still humming some wordless tune absently. "I want to go home," she said finally. Then, turning her dark eyes back to Kate and attempting the imploring-child big-eyed look, she asked, "Don't you want to go home?"

"No."

"No?" Asha asked, wide-eyed.

"For one, do any of you know where home is from here?"

She got two confused stares and one enthusiastic "I do! I do!"

"Alright," said Ciaràn, looking at Asha, who was waving one arm in the air dangerously close to Obi-Wan's eyes. "Where is it?"

The youngling pointed straight up. "That way!"

Kate began to slowly clap. "Good job. At least somebody knows. Now how do you propose we get there?"

Asha had no reply.

"We haven't gone down to the entirely uncivilized levels." Obi-Wan said, "We can find someone to help us. They'll take Jedi authority seriously."

Ciaràn nodded, ready to march out. Asha began to hum something too cheerful for Kate's tastes. Kate braced her hands on her hips and appraised them. Obi-Wan, carrying the youngling along like a backpack, did have some of the calm look of the Jedi to his face. Ciaràn, on the other hand, had the equally useful look of the Jedi who wouldn't mind chopping people in half.

We're a team. Kate thought. I'm not sure what my place in it is, but we'll sort of always be a team.

Until they find the Temple and I find a transport and we never see each other again.