Chapter One
19 BBY
~ Kya Ranor ~
I brushed my Padawan braid impatiently out of my eyes. I was breathing hard and I could feel sweat forming. I breathed in deeply, reaching out with the Force to calm my anxiety. I had been practicing when my Master had called me to report to our quarters, and hadn't had time to cool off.
Relax, Padawan, came my Master's soothing voice across our bond. My Master, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, was renowned for many things – like being the master of Soresu – but not for handling an apprentice. I had been very surprised the day that he had approached me and asked me to be his apprentice. After all, it was well known that he'd often told his first apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, that he'd take no other – not that I blamed him. Anakin was quite the experience.
I snickered slightly at the thought, turning on the shower. Since becoming Obi-Wan's apprentice, I had served on several missions with Jedi Skywalker, and all had been very . . . interesting missions. Skywalker had earned the reputation of the "Hero With No Fear", and certainly lived up to it, often charging into battle without hesitation . . . and leaving the clean-up operation to Obi-Wan and me.
I sensed my Master mentally raise an eyebrow at me. Reminiscing, Padawan? he asked across the bond.
I grinned. I can't hide anything from you, can I? I asked, half-jokingly, dressing in a clean outfit and putting my duty clothes in the laundry. I sensed my Master frowned slightly.
If you are referring to that particular mission, Padawan –
The doors slid open, and my Master at once strode in, finishing, "Then I'd best make sure that you are occupied with others to take your mind off such things."
"We have a mission now, don't we?"
"Yes," he replied. "Go and pack. We are going to Utapau."
"And why, may I ask?"
Obi-Wan turned to me with a slight frown, his questioning glance scanning me as I felt his silent inquiry across our bond. "It's not that I don't want to go," I hastened to say. "But rather the fact that I'd like to know whether it's stealth again or not, and who in the world we are facing that they have to send a Council member and not a regular Master-Padawan team."
"Kya," my Master said without preamble, "General Grevious has been discovered on Utapau. You, most obviously, are coming with me."
"Is Ana-uh, Jedi Skywalker coming?"
"No," came the distant reply as Obi-Wan disappeared into his room. "He must remain here, as his duty to the Chancellor."
I frowned. Jedi don't serve the Chancellor; we serve the office and the Republic. "Duty to the Chancellor?" I repeated softly. "Jedi don't serve the Chancellor directly."
Obi-Wan frowned at me as he reappeared in the doorway. "Padawan, there are some things that are not to be . . . spoken of, especially in the Temple."
Chastised, I lowered my head.
"Anyway," Obi-Wan continued, a smile growing on his face as his amusement reached me through our bond, "do you really want to play back-up, like the last time we went on a stealth mission?"
I grinned, returning the amusement easily. "Like the one where Anakin and you fell into that disgusting mud pit of a trap with half your troops, and I had a terrible time of convincing the clones that you were in danger and that we had to go after you?"
My Master cleared his throat pointedly, and I left to pack, shaking my head in amusement.
~ Obi-Wan Kenobi ~
I glanced at my apprentice. Kya had been silent for a long time after we had boarded the command ship. I sighed silently. She's growing up so fast. It seemed like only yesterday that I'd taken her on, yet two years had already passed.
Kya was only almost sixteen, yet she was acknowledged as a senior Padawan in advanced classes for both lightsaber combat and Force use. She was more like me than Anakin had ever been, although she did have her moments. She was very strong in the Force, and her mastery of lightsaber combat even stronger. I remembered the first time he'd met her, when she had asked for my help in the Archives. She had been researching the Naboo War, I recalled.
"Jedi Kenobi, can you help me please?"
I looked up from my terminal to see Jocasta Nu. "Of course, Master Nu," I said, standing. She gestured to the slender girl beside her.
"This is Initiate Ranor. She's doing a research project on the Naboo War, and I think your firsthand experience will help her."
I swallowed tightly. I'd always tried to avoid the subject of the Naboo War; remembering how my Master had died was always painful. Yet I'd already said yes.
"Jedi Kenobi?" came the timid voice. He looked up to see the girl standing before him, alone now, concern in her eyes. "I'm sorry to bother you about the Naboo War. But all information is restricted on my level, and I can't finish my project without it."
I looked into her startlingly deep blue eyes, almost the same shade as Qui-Gon's had been. Her hair was a very dark brown, the same as Qui-Gon's too. She shifted uncomfortably under my examining eye, and made to leave.
"It's all right, Initiate," I said gently.
Kya had proved sensitive, never prodding beyond what I wanted to give, and yet soaking up everything I did. Against my will, I had found myself keeping an eye on the young Initiate.
I noted that she was intelligent and helpful, and worked well with others.
After Anakin had become a Knight, I'd been very reluctant to take a Padawan, fearing my missions to difficult to be dragging along a thirteen-year-old apprentice. But when she became the focus of the mission, I'd opened my heart to her and taken her on.
That mission had been terrifying. Her first Master had been experimented on and killed cruelly, and in front of Kya's eyes as well. Kya had been close to death, insanity, and the dark side when I'd found her. I remembered seeing her thin form covered with bruises. Her Padawan braid had been ripped off, and the wound still had been weeping blood. When she'd recovered at the Temple, she'd tried to starve herself to death, fearing herself tainted for life by her brief brush with the dark side.
That was when I had intervened. I had found myself feeling protective of the Initiate after all. I felt terribly sad when I had first intervened. I remembered thinking of her as one of the war's casualties, even though she wasn't dead. Despite my dark thoughts concerning the war and its effect of even the youngest of our Order, Kya had clung to me as a lifeline, and as I opened my heart to her, I'd grown to know her well. Kya had begun to trust me more than she trusted anyone else eventually, and that was when she'd become my second Padawan Learner.
Kya left me for her own room with a quiet farewell. I ruffled her hair gently as she passed. Enough reminiscing. Time to meditate. I settled down to meditate, to prepare mentally and physically for the fight ahead. Kya hadn't gone with me when he and Anakin had rescued the Chancellor, and had no concept of how hard it had been to battle Grievous. I, as the Master, would have to cover for my apprentice, insuring that she wouldn't be hurt.
I sighed, annoyed; my thoughts wouldn't let me meditate peacefully. Why did the Council allow Kya to come? This mission will be more dangerous for her than anything; I should have argued more for Anakin to come along. Kya may be one of the most advanced Padawans in our Order, but she's barely sixteen. I should have –
A scream ripped through the bond, and my eyes snapped open.
Kya!
