And All Points North

Chapter 7

The more alternatives, the more difficult the choice. -

Abbe' D'Allanival

When Kampher and Schurke arrived in the cafeteria, they found Anakin alone at the

table, morosely picking at his food, and a nearly full plate next to him.

"Anakin?" Kam called softly to him. "Where is the Senator?"

"She got a com call," Anakin said miserably. "Some Force-begotten emergency meeting. She needs to clear up a few matters before she returns to Naboo."

"When does she go back?" Schurke asked as he sidled up to Anakin's chair. "Not before long, I would think?"

"I don't know," Anakin admitted sadly, then brightened a little. "I think Master Obi-Wan might allow me to escort her back..."

Schurke's eyes widened in disbelief, but before he could say anything, Kampher spoke up.

"If I allow it, you mean," she interrupted him gently. "As your Healer, it's my decision whether to release you - or not."

"Don't play with me, Kam." Anakin growled, setting his chin stubbornly. "Obi-Wan is my Master – he..."

"...must abide by my wishes as well." Kampher finished tartly, her eyes flashing.

"What are you going to do if I refuse, Kam?" Anakin snapped. "Fill my veins with enough drugs to keep me desensitized through the end of the war?" He waved his right arm for dramatic effect, and then bit back a scream. Kampher, however, remained coolly distant even as Schurke rose to tend to his friend.

"You should have that seen to," Kampher told Anakin icily as she rose. "I believe Master Healer Amarre is on duty right now. Schurke... Jedi Skywalker..." With that, Kampher made her way down towards the Healer's quarters and away from the cantina, her food untouched.

"I think we need to talk, Toboo," Schurke said softly as he put a reassuring hand on Anakin's left shoulder. Anakin angrily shook off.

"Knock it off, Schurke," he snapped. "Neither of you would understand."

"And you're not listening!" Schurke bit back, uncharacteristically angry. "Kam only wants to protect you!"

"I don't need protection!" Anakin shouted as he too rose to leave, drawing stares from the other few remaining occupants of the cantina. "Stop treating me like a piece of glass!"

Schurke stood up on unsteady legs. Although he wasn't quite as tall as Anakin, he still managed to meet him eye to eye. Summoning all of his strength, Schurke spoke with a quiet intensity to his voice.

"Anakin, will you listen to me? It's not as simple as you think."

"Take your hand off my arm!"

"Not until you calm down and stop acting like you're being persecuted." Schurke sighed. "Anakin, how long have we been friends? Long enough to..."

"Long enough to know when to let an argument go," Anakin reluctantly admitted as he looked down at his feet. Only from his friends would he ever take such a rebuke. He sighed heavily. "So, tell me then, Schurke..."

"Not here. There's too much chance of being overheard."

"And you know of a place where we won't be?" Anakin arched his eyebrow almost playfully as he helped Schurke back into the hover chair, taking great care not to cause him any unnecessary pain. "What will people say if they see us going off together all alone?"

Schurke snorted. "They'll say 'Looks like Padawan Skywalker has finally realized that life isn't complete until you've had a Corellian...'"

Anakin shot back. "How about 'Strange that Anakin Skywalker was the last person to be seen with Padawan Canaille before his hover chair went off the top of the Council Tower, as we always thought it would be his Master who would do the deed?' instead."

This sent both men into giggles born of friendship where such playful barbs were common, until Schurke became serious again.

"But we've got to find someplace, Toboo. Someplace quiet, I think."

Anakin thinned his lips but nodded his assent. "All right then, where do you suggest we go?"

"How about the North Gardens?" Schurke suggested innocently.

Anakin sighed. "You mean the North, as in - 'we have to pass by Kam's quarters to get there' Gardens - I presume?"

Schurke nodded. "Got it in one spin of the Sabbacc wheel there Toboo. Kam is really the one who you should talk to anyway."

"But you know something," Anakin pressed. "At the very least."

"No I don't, Toboo. Not really." Schurke sounded almost bitter. "You know I'm not Kam's true confidant"

"Schurke, you don't think Kam is still...you know... well, pining after Gris..."

"No – not exactly pining per se, but I think she misses Gris far more than she'll ever admit," Schurke sighed as they crossed though the cantina and towards the Healer's quarters. "Besides, Gris has been slithering off almost every chance she gets. Master Aliéné has taken her on yet another lengthy mission to the Outer Rim. We probably won't see her or hear from her for months."

"And this is a good thing?"

"You haven't seen Gris lately, have you?"

Anakin shook his head. "Not since before Master Obi-Wan and I went to Ansion."

"Maybe it's just me, but I thought she'd ...changed. It's hard to put a finger on just how. Kam was and still is unhappy about it."

"And you think this is the perfect time to console Kam, don't you?" Anakin suggested slyly. "I thought you'd given up on that?"

"It's not like that with Kam, Toboo," Shurke said quietly, and with unexpected seriousness. "Not at all..."

"Really?" Anakin replied, genuinely curious. "Are you trying to tell me...?"

"Tell him what, Schurke?" came Kampher's voice from behind. "Anakin, I thought you were going to have your arm looked at." Her earlier anger had obviously dissipated, and she was once again only the concerned Healer.

"Schurke said you needed to talk to me, Kam," Anakin said quietly. "And I'm sorry if I lost my temper earlier, I was hoping Padmé ... I mean..."

Kam only shook her head. "It's all right Anakin. I understand." She paused thoughtfully. "Perhaps better than you know..."

A slightly uncomfortable silence ensued, with each person suddenly feeling vulnerable. Exposed. Despite the depth of their combined friendship and trust, this level of personal attachment – of intimacy – was an area that none of them had really explored at least, not all together.

Suddenly Kampher placed her hand gently on Anakin's shoulder, and he flinched, expecting a flare up of pain. To his surprise, there was none – only a warming sensation that flowed through his shoulder.

"Feel better?" Kampher asked him with a knowing smile.

Anakin nodded dumbly. "Yes... yes it does!"

"It'll only be temporary," Kam lamented. "You'll have to come back to the Healers Ward tonight, but it will dull the pain and not your senses."

"You know, Kam," Schurke smiled wryly. "After sitting in this hover chair for all of this time..."

"I have the perfect remedy back in the Healer's Ward Schurke," Kampher grinned back. "It's called a bacta enema..."

"You needed to talk to me Kam," Anakin interrupted softly. "Schurke and I were going to go to the North Gardens for privacy."

"Yes... yes..." Kampher agreed quietly. "This is important, and I'd rather do it someplace where we won't be bothered." She cast a look down the corridor, as if looking for someone and seemed satisfied to find it empty. "Let's go," she murmured conspiratorially. "We have a lot to talk about."

When Obi-Wan returned to the Jedi Temple, he found it was with a much lighter step then when he had left it. Indeed, it felt as if a weight had been rolled away from his shoulders. Perhaps it had been merely the fact that he had been able to unburden his soul to someone from outside of the Temple and all its constraints – not that he ever regretted the path he had chosen – but perhaps he should not limit his choice of company as often as he did.

Obi-Wan brushed the thought aside. He knew that in reality, there was no other life for him away from the Jedi and it's teachings, despite his occasional dalliances with the 'outside' world. Stepping away from the Temple on those rare occasions only served to prove how much he cherished his life as a Jedi after all.

The Temple was warm and welcoming and the Force signatures of the Masters and the acolytes sang through the halls in a pleasing, if not entirely harmonious cadence. He passed by a group of wide-eyed younglings, herded through the passage by Master Leraar Traccia. Master Traccia was a Togruta like Master Ti, and was an instructor of many alien languages. As they passed by one another in the corridor, Obi-Wan heard a respectful, if broken greeting in Nikto, which he returned with a rare smile on his face.

It was good to be home.