Chapter 11. The Living Force
There is the heart and kindness
Under the heaviness of the shield.
Valentin Gaft "The Turtle" (meaning translation)
Chancellor Palpatine rarely had dreams. He had had his last one many years ago after his Master's death. So, there was nothing extraordinary that he did not see it this time. The unusual was that he found himself lying on the floor in his luxurious apartment in rumpled dirty cloak, and without any ideas how could this happen, or what did this mean. First, he remembered he had gone to opera the day before; then he advanced to having some very important deal with Qui-Gon. At last, he nearly remembered, what that deal was about, but at that moment his comlink rang. The great Force, how cruel and ruthless the world was! He had never thought the simple ring could be so grievous for his head.
"Y-yes..?" Palpatine could hardly speak.
"Good morning, buddy!" It seemed that Qui-Gon did not suffer from drinking too much the day before at all; at least, his voice sounded quite cheerful. "Are you all right? It seems, you are nearly ill. Haven't you changed your mind yet?" his friend continued.
Palpatine had not been in such situation since the sudden inspection of the district of Naboo he had been heading that time. Nothing could help him to remember what he had intended to do and whether it worth changing his mind about it or not.
"Qui-Gon, buddy… I'm sorry, but you have just woke me up, so that—" he tried to maneuver.
"Oh, don't worry about the breakfast: the Temple canteen is good enough even for chancellors! Come on, there's Anakin waiting for us with a speeder."
The chancellor could not still understand anything. Were they going to visit the Jedi Temple? Had he told Qui-Gon anything the day before, which could give him a reason for suspecting Palpatine in being a Sith, so that it was a trap? There were too many questions for his poor head. He shook off the dirt from his cloak and attempted to heal himself from headache with a sip of wine. It was useless. What he really needed was a portion of that blue liquid.
All the way to the Temple Palpatine kept silent. He was even indifferent to the presence of the Chosen One near him. Oppositely, Qui-Gon was continuously talking about their night party and his, Palpatine's, behavior, making the chancellor to blush from time to time. This obstructed the latest tries of remembering the reason which had led them to the Dex's Dinner. He was sure that it was connected with the Force and it also was a way to the solution of a problem Palpatine had been trying to find for ages. One of the main chancellor's problems was—
"Here the Temple is!" Qui-Gon said blithely.
Anakin landed the speeder and they got off it. Qui-Gon led the party through a long tunnel and then stopped to read the index.
"Ani, haven't I told you to fly to the canteen first?" he asked his padawan, dissatisfied.
"Sorry, Master!"
"Say it to the chancellor! It's a pity, my friend," he addressed to Palpatine. "But the canteen is at the opposite housing. Don't you mind visiting the Battle History Room first?"
The chancellor had already understood that it was his chance to talk to the Chosen One, but he definitely needed some time to get all right, so that he agreed by nodding his head without a word. They went to a big hall, separated into small parts by shelves with exhibits, and Jedi relics. Several Jedi Masters with their Padawans and Younglings were walking among the shelves, watching their content. While Qui-Gon was telling the party about the history of the Jedi Order, Palpatine began to restore his state, making some breathing exercises; he avoided using the Force in a place, where everyone could feel his abilities.
At the third of those improvised museum sections, a Bothan Jedi-Master suddenly pounded to Anakin:
"Go away from here, Skywalker! Master Jinn, I will complain to the Council! Haven't I told it clearly enough that it is prohibited to visit this room for him?"
The chancellor decided that the Chosen One's removal could break his unclear plan.
"Oh, please, forgive me," he started with a sweet voice, which was so familiar for his people because he used it when it was necessary to punish oneself. Bothan's face changed; he probably recognized the Chancellor, who continued: "this is a friend of mine, who made me favor of showing the Temple. So that, if it is possible—"
The Jedi Master just turned round angrily and walked away quickly, murmuring something. Qui-Gon seemed to be both delighted and disappointed at the same time.
"What's wrong?" Palpatine asked. "Is he punished?"
"Oh, no, that was my mistake," Qui-Gon answered confusedly. "You see, the last time he had been visiting the Battle Museum, he had broken a priceless ancient lightsaber trying to disassemble it in order to learn how it works."
"And Master Jinn hasn't even yet mentioned that his apprentice caused a great damage to the exposition by using a powerful artifact!" A Jedi Master, who stood nearby, interposed in their conversation.
Anakin looked confused. Suddenly, Palpatine thought that (was it really possible?) the boy doesn't seem to be the Chosen One; now, at least.
They continued the tour. Although the Chancellor had studied the story of the Jedi Order very carefully, he learned several new facts, which were not widely mentioned in public literature. This pleasantly surprised him and the time passed insensibly.
At last, they reached the Temple canteen. Even a non-Force-user could find it with his or her eyes closed by the savory smell it was emitting. However, a critical nose could also distinguish some unpleasant notes in that array: Yoda's favorite boiled and fried roots were cooked there, too. The Jedi were assembled from the whole Galaxy, so that their eating preferences differed significantly. The party took a table not far from the wall and Qui-Gon sent his apprentice to bring them "something original, but still edible" mostly for Palpatine as his friend. By that time the Chancellor had completely remembered the story of the last evening until the moment he said the speech with a glass of ardees.
"Besides, Qui-Gon, will you show me anything connected with the Living Force here today?" he asked.
"My friend!" The Jedi frowned. "There is nothing in the Living Force that can be written or baked into some artifact. To learn it you need to feel the flow of the life, to imbue the love to all the living creatures, to learn joining with any nature object, and the Universe itself."
"As a politician—" Palpatine started, but stopped immediately.
Anakin was returning; he was not alone: a woman was following him. She looked quite old, but Palpatine felt that it was not true and she was much younger, maybe the same age as the Chancellor himself. He could not consider her neither pretty, nor ugly. Although her appearance was far from the Republic canons of beauty, an attentive observer could notice some invisible inner glow which made her quite nice. All this was interesting; Palpatine would prefer to use the Force to learn more about her, but it was too dangerous.
"This is Shmi, my mother," Anakin represented her to the chancellor.
"Oh, well, glad to meet you!" he stood up a bit to bow her politely. "My name is Palpatine," he decided not to tell more about himself.
Shmi Skywalker was new to Coruscant so that she did not recognize Palpatine as the newly elected chancellor and just smiled to him. In the opposite of his previous talk to Dex, this did not make him upset.
They started dinning, talking about her and Anakin's life on Tatooine. The Chosen's One stories could be amazing, if the Chancellor had been interested in tech and vehicles, but he was not, so that Shmi's ones seemed much nicer for him; or, perhaps, the matter was in something other. At the certain moment, he suddenly felt that above his mind control he uses the Force to facilitate communication with Shmi; at first, it was only a thin thread, but the later the more and this interaction was powerful enough to be detected by the Jedi. However, he could not even control it! And Qui-Gon had already poked his padawan: they were definitely sensing something…
"Master Jinn, food taking, you are, hmm?" Yoda's voice sounded. Palpatine froze: now he was doomed. Yoda will sense something and…
"Living Force you can feel, you say," the Grand Master continued: "now in this, I doubt, huhum!"
Qui-Gon looked surprisingly at him, attempting to say something.
"With me go you must and must your Padawan," Yoda said softly. "A talk to you two , I have."
Both of Jedi stood up, excused themselves, and followed the Grand Master. Shmi began to clean up the dishes and intended to leave Palpatine. An irony: he could fool any other politic, he had already made speeches with no word being the truth, he was the Supreme Chancellor, and could do nearly everything, but—he was not able to say a word to delay her. She had told him goodbye and walked away from the table, but he was still sitting without neither word nor movement. There wasn't one of the components of his life now. There was no hate, not a bit! This nearly made him to cry. Now he did not want the strange blue liquid any more.