"Do tell, Doctor;what exactly is it that you're looking for?"
The Time Lord in question hesitated as he settled down near the computer terminal. "Well, a planet, I guess. I need to look for specific happenings; unusual solar energies, for one thing, or records of mass disappearances –those sort of things often happen when living near a fuel source, like the one I need."
"Ah." Jocasta nodded, her expression serene despite the unusual nature of his response; clearly, she had heard it all in her days as Head Archivist. "I assume you have used the LAB-004 class terminals for research previously?"
"Oh, yeah." Not for about a hundred years, but his memory was good.
"Very well. Will you be needing any help?"
"Ahh… probably not. I'll shout if I do, though!" Oh, wait. Shout… bad choice of words in an Archive.
Thankfully, she was kind enough to overlook that. "That would be just fine, Doctor. I will be nearby." Watching you. She didn't say it, but it was something they both knew.
After Jocasta had picked up her elaborately embroidered robes and strode off to some other area of the humongous, data-chip filled room, the Doctor began his research. Typing in the password Obi-Wan had provided him, he poised his fingers to tap against the durasteel terminal, but stopped in the middle of lifting his hand. The computer-like machine had processed the information quicker than he had seen before, and now
displayed a line of text –Aurebesh, but thankfully he wasn't too rusty on that— across the screen.
::Welcome, visitor. You have accessed the Archives of the Jedi Temple under code ****134224. Please select a function to begin.::
He selected, out of many, the basic 'Search for Keyword' button and typed in, "Time-Space Rift."
::No results found.::
He frowned. "Mass disappearances on planets."
::5,228,034 results found.::
This was going to be a long day.
******
"These really are quite pretty." For a bunch of plants. Although she despised libraries even more and would much rather be wandering around the Temple with Obi-Wan than doing tedious work with the Doctor, Donna had never exactly had an interest in botany. "What sort of trees are those?"
"They've been given the nickname Bothan Bushes –I don't think anyone really knows what their real name is. They grow like weeds across Bothawui, but are very hard to grow anywhere else. This one hasn't even fully flowered yet, and it's still beautiful, isn't it?"
"Oh, yeah." It wasn't bad looking; cream-colored with tiny green buds dotting it. She supposed that those were the start of the flowers Obi-Wan had just referenced. Of course, she had no idea what a Bothan, or Bothawui, was, but who said she needed to admit that?
"Hmm." The two of them stood immersed in an awkward silence and surrounded by their own thoughts until Obi-Wan spoke up suddenly. "Donna, how would you like to watch two Jedi duel?"
"What?" The offer caught her completely off-guard, but she suddenly realized what she was being given the chance to witness. "I mean, of course! Wow, that'd be awesome!" Again, she had no particular passion for dueling, but the Jedi were supposed to be good, right? And this way, she'd definitely have something to tell her grandfather about if –no, when- they returned home.
"Good." Obi-Wan pulled a small device, tinier than the sonic screwdriver, out of a pocket. "I'll com Anakin. He should be free, today."
"Okay." She watched and waited as he fiddled with the gadget, causing a small blue hologram to flicker up out of it.
"Anakin? Are you up for a duel today? It's once in an Ylesian moon when we're both here with time on our hands."
She could just barely see Anakin's mouth flicker upwards into a smile. "That would be great, Master, as long as it's quick. I have a meeting with the Chancellor at eight-and-a-half hundred hours."
Obi-Wan frowned. "With Chancellor Palpatine? Why?"
Anakin shrugged, "I don't know, Master. He requested to see me last night; I got the message this morning."
"Well." He hesitated before responding, "I suppose, then, that we'll just have to see that it doesn't take too long. It's just past seven-hundred now; I'm sure we could fit one in."
"Great!" Obi-Wan's onetime Padawan looked rather enthusiastic, "I'll see to it that Ahsoka and I meet you in the main arena in, say, twenty minutes? It'll do her good to watch us duel."
"Fifteen minutes will be fine. I'll see you there." He ended the transmission, frowning slightly.
"Something wrong?" He certainly didn't look too happy.
"Oh, nothing that should concern you." Obi-Wan offered a slight smile, one which ended up looking more like a grimace. "I'm just surprised that Anakin has grown so close to Palpatine. Come, we should start heading down to the arena now; it's pretty far from here." He started to walk at a brisk pace, causing her to hurry after him.
Palpatine… oh. The Sith Lord.
She didn't have a clue when it would end, but Anakin's descent to the Dark Side was all ready beginning.
******
The arena was crowded when they arrived, with Jedi of many species mingling around. Donna heard the words "Anakin" and "Master Kenobi" more than once; it appeared that word had gotten out about the duel.
She wasn't sure which one of the two or three dozen aliens spotted them first, but less than a minute after their arrival the group had parted. A path through the center to one of the large, blue mats spread out on the floor was cleared, and it became obvious what everyone was watching. Anakin stood in the center, doing some sort of complicated, aerobic dance.
"Blast it," Obi-Wan muttered, "he got here first."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Not necessarily; it's just that Anakin is much more of a performer than I am. I should've realized that there'd be so many people watching us. Ah, well," he gave her a rueful smile, "nothing wrong with a large audience. Ahsoka's down there, close to the front, and she's alone. Why don't you wait with her?"
"Sure." She maneuvered her way to the Togruta girl as Obi-Wan walked up to the mats.
Ahsoka gave her a friendly glance as Donna cametostandnext to her; then focused all her attention back on the arena. "They're about to begin," she murmured excitedly.
It did look that way. Obi-Wan, who had tossed aside his cloak, strode to the center of the pad, where Anakin was finishing the moves he had been doing. "You're early, Anakin. Hardly gives me time to stretch."
He grinned. "You're late."
"No, just on time." The Master reached for the saber on his belt. "How about a few standard Djem So moves to warm up? It's useful to try a different style now and then."
"Very well." They both ignited cerulean lightsabers, although Obi-Wan held his tilted above his head, while Anakin kept his in a two-handed grip in front of him.
It was Anakin who struck first, the look on his face ofincredible concentration, despite this only being, in Obi-Wan's own words, a "warm up." For just being that, it was rather intense; Anakin doing most of the striking, and Obi-Wan blocking his blows at a lightning-fast speed.
They had been working on their energetic dance for almost five minutes when the Master broke the pattern and struck back at Anakin, rather than just shielding himself from the parries. He, of course, easily bounced the blow off of his saber's blue beam, but it showed a definite turning point in the mock-spar, now that both were making an equal attempt to win.
In the end, neither did. The warm-up came to a conclusion when Obi-Wan stepped back and raised his hand, thumbing the power switch on his lightsaber. "I think we've taken the practice far enough, Anakin. Why not show our guests what we can really do?"
"Good idea, Master." Anakin grinned and also shut down his saber, before taking several large steps forward, just as Obi-Wan backed up, allowing them to meet exactly in the center of the large training mat. Both bowed to one another before reigniting their lightsabers.
Donna could feel the tension building as they held the position for several seconds, until the air was so stiff with anticipation, the arena so silent, that it came as a shock when they moved away, leaping into the air. The duel had begun.
Anakin was clearly the more aggressive one, as he had been in the practice fight, but that wasn't to say Obi-Wan couldn't hold his own. He serenely blocked his onetime apprentice's strikes, and practically flew from corner to corner of the mat, encouraging Anakin to follow him with all the speed he possessed.
What surprised her most was how quiet it was. All the other Jedi seemed to be waiting with bated breath to see what the outcome would be; which didn't startle her in the least. She was acting just like that too. But what surprised her was that neither of the men fighting were shouting out insults, preferring to spar with only their swords. And neither of them seemed to be exhausted or having difficulty breathing in the least. Even as the duel dragged on, Anakin kept the look of harsh, intense focus on his face just as Obi-Wan kept the same, peaceful look he usually had on.
They had lasted so long like that, Donna wasn't quite able to catch what the first sign was that the tides were turning in Obi-Wan's favor. Gradually, he had started to be a bit more aggressive, causing Anakin to stumble where before he was graceful, and keeping him from rushing around the arena quite as much.
Its end was abrupt; strange considering how fluid and beautiful the actual fight had been. It appeared that Anakin had been unbalanced for a second and his former Master had taken advantage of that, though she couldn't really be too sure, since they had been moving far too fast for her non-Force sensitive mind to follow.
Anyhow, the conclusion came with Obi-Wan angling his blade over Anakin's neck, his saber lying unpowered a few meters away. "Do you acknowledge defeat, my knighted Learner?"
"Well, there isn't much else I can do." Anakin smirked. "You have bested me once again, wise Master."
"Yes, I have." He shut down his lightsaber and helped hisfriend to his feet. "And I believe you have a meeting to rush to?"
Anakin glanced at the chrono hanging on one wall and uttered what wasprobably a swear. "I'd better get going, Master."
"Indeed." Donna watched as they bowed twice, once to each other and once to the crowd of cheering Jedi, before walking off to the showers.
They were so friendly now, so much like brothers. Howis it so much could possibly change?