A/N: You guys know the drill. I don't own Star Wars or any of its associated ideas, characters, trademarks, etc etc etc...

I apologize for the looooong delay since the last chapter. I've been busy with my first year at college and things are going swimmingly, I just don't have much time to write. But here it is! I have gotten some ideas for the rest of the Naboo storyline so, hopefully, Chapter 22 will be forthcoming. Also forthcoming should be your reviews! They are incredibly inspiring to me and they really do make me want to work harder on this. If you read, please send me a note, however long or short. :-)

Chapter Twenty-One: Found and Lost

"Eli!"

"Princess Kadela—"

"Captain Samarn, we—"

"That's Queen Kadela to you—"

"We can't stay—"

"What happened to the others?"

"—not safe here, we must keep moving!"

Khvee's commanding tone rose above the excited chatter as the two small groups met in the half-lit hallway. The relative quiet and insulation from the frenzied battle outside had made everyone a little giddy upon seeing familiar faces alive and well, but the Jedi Master instilled a sense of urgency in them once more. With a little shuffling as everyone repositioned themselves, they continued their journey deeper into the palace toward the safe quarters at its heart. Orion had forced his way through the group to wind up at Eli's side, and offered his arm to her as a welcome support as they brought up the rear of the party.

I saw you fall— he started almost as soon as they had begun walking again, Force-voice tight with ill-disguised worry. And the handmaiden with the knife, but I didn't think—your neck! Passing through a pool of light by a wall sconce, his steps faltered as he finally noticed the angry bruises beginning to color her skin where the Sith had choked her. While her assailant hadn't laid a finger on her during that attack, the strength of his assault with the Force had left its own physical evidence.

My neck, she agreed wearily. Her head was still pounding from the aftereffect of the Sith's mental attack, and as welcome as Orion's Force-voice was, it reminded her too much of the paralyzing pain she had just gone through. "There was a Sith," she whispered by way of explanation, closing her eyes briefly.

Orion got the message, steadying her as she stumbled slightly and catching her fingers with his free hand. When she winced at the touch, he immediately turned her hand over to see the angry red, blistered skin along her palm and fingers. She instinctively curled her fingers in against the stinging pain, easing the hairline cracks where fresh blood sprang to the surface. He dropped her hand and scowled darkly, his own fist clenching. "Where is he?" he muttered to her.

"Dead," she whispered back, feeling strange about connecting this idea with a man who had stared into her eyes only minutes before. "I killed him."

"Good," Orion growled. He glanced down at her again, this time catching her gaze almost apologetically. "We tried to come as soon as we could, but a group of Guardsmen stopped us—Force, Eli, if he had—I mean, if you hadn't…"

"It's alright," she said when he trailed off helplessly. "I'm fine…"

"I'd never forgive myself," he said quietly.

Startled, she glanced up to see him staring resolutely ahead, his clenched jaw the only betrayal of his feelings. "It wasn't your fault, 'Rion."

His fingers tightened slightly against her side but he looked back down at her, attempting a lighthearted smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. She wished she could do something to comfort him, bring the joy back into his haggard face; she wasn't used to seeing him so worried, and it made her feel irresponsible when she got hurt and Orion felt guilty about it. He'd known this would happen somehow, she realized with a start, back on that crisp morning when she'd proposed her plan of masquerading as a handmaiden. He'd tried to stop her even though it might have meant the Princess's death, contrary to the reason why they had even come on this mission. A Jedi's life is sacrifice. She knew it, he knew it, everyone knew it, and she had no doubt that he would throw himself in front of a blaster shot if it meant saving a life. But would he go too far in trying to save hers?

Austrina fell back to walk beside Eli and leaned over to whisper in her ear. "I think it would be better, just in case, if you and Talia walked beside Kadela. You should still keep up your disguise even though we're not in public any more."

She nodded in consent and looked quickly up at Orion, who reluctantly released her and steadied her arm as she stumbled again before moving forward to join Kadela. Samarn stepped aside to let the padawan take his place, moving up to join Khvee in their little procession.

The taller woman smiled encouragingly at Eliatra. "Feeling a little better, I hope?"

Eli felt as though she had never been worse—the pounding headache refused to subside and an uncomfortable anxiety was building in her stomach, though she supposed it was just her weariness increasing—but she managed a weak smile nevertheless and nodded slightly. "And you, Milady?"

"Better, as well. Though you're probably worse off than me by half, after that… attack on the dais. I can't thank you enough for saving my life."

"It was nothing compared to Varith," she murmured, recalling again the ill-fated handmaiden's fall before the merciless Guardsmen. Kadela immediately sobered, lips pressing together in an attempt to stem her tears.

They reached two pairs of doors: the lifts. Khvee looked plainly uneasy as Samarn moved to press the control panel. "They'll have people stationed at all the lift entrances," he cautioned the captain.

Samarn shook his head, pressing the button anyway and stepping back to wait for the doors to open. "I know. But it's the fastest route. We'll just have to power through them when we get out—and if we took the stairs and got caught, they'd have us trapped."

"We'll be trapped anyway," Khvee said resignedly, "but if it's better than any other route, I suppose we'll have to deal with it."

Eliatra glanced back at Orion, who met her gaze with a faint smirk. Their last experience with using elevators while fleeing from enemies hadn't gone so well at all…

The doors to both lifts slid open at the same time, and Eliatra realized immediately that the seven of them definitely wouldn't fit into just one of the small compartments. Recognizing this too, Samarn quickly surveyed the group. "Master Austrina, Orion, and Talia, I want you three to go first in that lift." He motioned to the one on the left. "Master Khvee, Eliatra and I will take the princess in the other one—that way you three can start clearing the way before we step out. Level twenty-three, got it?"

"We'll see you there," Austrina said brusquely before motioning Orion and Talia in before her.

Samarn waited for their lift to close before ushering the others into the remaining compartment. There was a small jerk before the lift hummed, rising smoothly, and a tense silence settled over them. Eliatra felt rather absurdly as though she should be making small talk, and the thought made her glance around at her companions, realizing suddenly what a sorry group they looked. Captain Samarn and Kadela, standing close to each other, were both drawn and sporting blaster wounds to the shoulder. Samarn watched his charge with tender concern, and after a moment she leaned back against his chest, closing her eyes wearily. He patted her shoulder gently, blue eyes crinkling in a near smile. Khvee had also taken a few hits, though his were less severe than Samarn's wound, but his clothes were disheveled and singed in places where the bolts had come too close. He watched the ticking numbers on the interior control panel mark their passage with a terse stare: 17…18…19…

All four of them jumped in surprise as a terrible screech issued from overhead halfway between the twentieth and twenty-first floor, knocking them nearly off balance as the entire compartment began juddering to a stop—then, as it still ground along the shaft walls, a yellow beam of light thrust through the ceiling. Molten drippings fell from the ceiling down into their midst and they pressed against the sides to avoid getting burned. Khvee had pulled out his saber hilt in preparation, but the yellow blade withdrew only a moment later, leaving a fist-sized hole in the ceiling instead of the large entrance Eliatra had expected.

"What—?" Khvee started, moving to look up the way the blade had gone, then hastily stepped back as a small black object dropped to the floor. A red light on one side flashed intermittently.

"NO!" Samarn seized Kadela and pushed her into the corner, shielding her with his body as Khvee mirrored his actions with Eliatra a second later—a high-pitched whine erupted—and Eliatra thought to shield the blast but it was too little, too late, the Force dying at her thoughts as she reached for it—

The tiny grenade exploded with a shockwave startling for its compact size, pressing Khvee into Eliatra with its force and sending both of them reeling, deaf and dumb and blind but—alive?

The padawan groped blindly for something, anything, blinking furiously to clear her retinas of the vast whiteness burned into them. She thought she could hear a distant buzzing, but couldn't tell if it was real or her own ears ringing. Then someone grabbed her waist roughly, moving to pick her up—she kicked reflexively, the only thing she dared doing in her crippled state—and the hands subsided, she was free!

But she only managed a single step backward before her balance went out, something struck the back of her skull hard, and a blackness swallowed her whole.

----------

Back on the twenty-third floor, the first lift door slid open and the two Jedi disembarked first, Talia following tentatively behind as they checked the area. It was eerily still, void of the crowd of Guardsmen they'd expected. Austrina glanced at the other lift and froze, eyes riveted on the flashing display above its doors: 19…20…21…20…21…

Orion swallowed against the sudden dryness in his throat.

"What's wrong?" Talia asked, staring between the two of them.

"The lift," Orion said far more calmly than he felt. Eli was in danger for the second time in one day and here he was two floors away from her… Austrina was already rushing to the doors that Kadela's group should have been walking out of by now and motioning impatiently at them. They slid open with an echoing squeal to reveal the empty shaft; Orion noticed with an odd sense of déjà vu that it looked exactly like the one on Coruscant that he, Eli, and Tris had climbed out of. Hurrying to follow her, he stared down the shaft to where a dull metal platform was barely visible through the darkness. A flicker of movement caught their eyes before a brilliant yellow saber blade cut through the blackness, slicing through the lift roof in a hasty circle.

"Damn," Austrina hissed through her teeth. It was too far to jump, especially with a lightsaber right underneath.

"There should be ladder rungs—here," Orion suggested, mind finally kicking out of its terror-stricken state and into something resembling a useful consciousness. Without waiting, he felt for the first one in the shaft just below the lip in the floor, grabbed it, and swung down, feet kicking a moment before catching hold of another metal bar. Austrina quickly followed after warning Talia to stay behind, both of them scrambling down the widely spaced rungs.

Voices echoed up the shaft, the flurry of movement hastening the Jedi's descent, but by the time they had passed level twenty-two, their quarry had already left through the opening at twenty-one.

"You get down to the lift and check on the others, I'll follow them out twenty-one," Austrina panted as Orion prepared to swing down to the set of rungs just below the twenty-first floor.

He didn't reply, afraid to voice his fears lest they come true—if there wasn't any use in checking on whoever had been left behind—

The melted hole in the roof gave him plenty of room to jump down onto the floor below. His stomach immediately lurched at the sight inside the lift: Captain Samarn and Master Khvee, no longer in human form but the familiar Nautolan, sprawled on the floor against the walls as still as death. Samarn stirred first, letting out a pained groan and slowly bringing a hand to his forehead. Orion knelt beside him, mind racing as he tried to remember what he'd learned in his healing lessons.

"Kadela—is she—?" The red-haired man blinked rapidly and unseeingly at Orion, shook his head a few times, and squinted.

"Master Austrina went to find her," the padawan replied, looking around and hoping foolishly that Eli would emerge from thin air. She was gone, vanished…but not dead, he thought fervently, not dead… Khvee shifted against the other wall, immediately screwing his large eyes shut in pain.

"Stun grenade," he moaned, "we didn't have time to block it—are they…"

"Someone took them, Austrina went—"

"Help me up, Khvee said, extending a hand. Orion hauled him to his feet and he shook his head a few more times, sensitive eyes still adjusting to sight once more.

"You've lost your disguise," Orion pointed out, then wondered if it was even important anymore.

"Don't need it," he muttered. The grenade had interrupted the constant focus he'd used to keep up the illusion of being human, but at this point there was no use in continuing the effect. "Alright there, Tobias?"

Samarn rubbed his eyes and slowly stood, steadying himself against the wall and nodding. "Should have taken the stairs," he growled.

Khvee seemed to have regained his sight, the residue in his vision from the bright flash having faded, and stared up at the hole in the ceiling. "Let's go, Austrina's going to need a hand…"

Orion and Khvee boosted Samarn through the hole first, then followed him through on their own and climbed the shaft rungs back out onto level twenty-one.

This floor was as silent as the twenty-third had been and nearly identical in structure, the lift opening to a spacious lobby littered with furniture and a set of doors on the far wall that gaped open. Master Austrina jogged through before they had gotten halfway across the room, her expression telling them exactly what they had feared.

"I wasn't able to stop them—there was a shuttle waiting at the balcony and it was already starting to fly off by the time I arrived. They're gone."

----------

Rain pattered softly and reassuringly somewhere beyond Eliatra's closed eyelids. She was lying on something soft in a warm room, and—she was pleased to find—the pain from her injuries had subsided to a dormant ache. The antiseptic tang of kolto healing gel reached her nostrils and she sensed a pale natural light falling across her face. Another person was breathing softly not far from her, and for a moment she imagined that she was back in the Jedi Enclave's small medical center with someone waiting at her bedside. She would open her eyes, and there would be Tris or Orion dozing lightly in a chair beside her cot even though the healers would have tried to usher them out…

She opened her eyes. A bare ceiling met her gaze, lit by a silver glow from a window to her left. The moment she stirred, her companion stood and leaned over her: troubled gray-green eyes met her own and the Queen of Naboo spoke in tones of relief.

"Oh, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

The padawan started to sit up and winced as her head protested mightily, the pounding returning in earnest. She pulled herself into an upright posture anyway and did her best to ignore the ache. "I've been better," she admitted, rubbing at one eye and observing their room in a sweeping glance: four bare walls, a door, and a barred window. No vents or light fixtures or even proper furniture—she'd been lying on a padded mattress on the floor. There was a second pad a few feet away, but Kadela was kneeling on the tiled floor beside Eli instead.

"How long have we been here?"

"I don't know." Kadela shook her head, pursing her lips worriedly. "I've been awake for about an hour, I suppose. I have no idea how long we were unconscious."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Someone must have hit me over the head after that blast in the lift, though."

"Me, too." Eliatra looked down at her palms, noticing for the first time that they were sticky and a little stiff. Someone had coated them with a clear balm—no doubt the kolto she had smelled—and already the cracks were beginning to heal over. She noted with disappointment but little surprise that their kidnappers had removed her lightsaber, and she had lost her shoes somewhere along the way; all she had were the blood-stained white handmaiden robes and her bare hands and feet.

The door clicked loudly, but instead of opening, a voice called from the other side. "Stay clear of the door, we're bringing in food for you. We have weapons, so don't try anything."

Eliatra got to her feet and silently crossed the floor, setting her back against the wall a few feet from the side of the door. "Distract them," she mouthed at Kadela, who nodded in hasty apprehension and moved to stand in front of the door but closer to the opposite wall.

The doors slid open a second later and two blaster-wielding men stepped through. Their attention was immediately riveted by Kadela, who had begun clutching her stomach in apparent agony. "Aauugh, I'm hurt, I think I'm dying!" she wailed, staggering backward.

As the guards hurried toward her in alarm, Eliatra lunged from where she had gone unnoticed and aimed a high kick at the nearest man's neck. Heel connected with the side of his throat in a dull smack and he fell to his knees, gasping. She had spun with the momentum of her kick and used it to carry her body into the second guard's chest: he struck the wall, losing his balance and getting the breath knocked out of him as she rebounded from his chest to land on the floor. She hadn't counted on the last man, however, who was unarmed but had dropped his trays of food and was waiting for a pause in the action. The moment she landed, he seized her right arm and wrenched it backwards. Fiery needles lanced her shoulder as she twisted to get away, lashing out with a kick to his groin—but he sidestepped it just in time and twisted her arm harder, this time grabbing her elbow and applying a new pressure point to her upper arm.

"Let me go," she gasped, finally ceasing her struggle and gritting her teeth as her bones and muscles screamed against the extreme flexion.

"Not just yet," he growled, giving her elbow one final jerk before letting go.

Her knees immediately gave way, adrenaline and shock giving her the momentary illusion that she was alright—then she realized that he had snapped her upper arm, and the next wash of pain forced a strangled, choking sob from her throat. She had come so close to freeing them…

Lifting her chin sharply, the guard grinned mirthlessly at her as one of the others got to his feet again. "I told you not to try anything, and this is what happened—you thought you could get away, didn't you?"

"Castor!"

He spun abruptly as a new voice arrived at the doorway, a younger male. Eliatra could not bring herself to look up at him, intently trying to stifle the agony in her arm, though out of the corner of her eye she could see Kadela look up to stare at the newcomer.

"I told you to bring them a bit of supper, not torment them!" He was furious, whoever he was.

"Sir, we had only just come in when she jumped at us—" Eliatra's attacker had become sickeningly placating.

He snorted in derision. "Three trained men can't protect themselves from two unarmed girls?" There was a scuffle of boot steps as he entered the room and pushed Castor aside, kneeling beside Eliatra. "You're dismissed," he said coldly.

"Sir, what if she—"

"What did I say?"

"Yes, sir." Castor and the winded guard helped the third to his feet, and the three left the room, shutting the door behind them.

"Now…"

Eliatra looked up for the first time, staring through her long, disheveled hair at her unexpected savior. He had already pulled up her loose robe sleeve and clucked his tongue at her swelling arm. "It's broken, isn't it?"

She nodded mutely.

"Did you try to take them down by yourself?" When she nodded again, he smiled to himself and sat back on his heels. He looked surprisingly younger than she had expected, with dirty blonde hair that flopped boyishly over his forehead and a light stubble coating his jaw. Decidedly handsome with eyes of a blue less intense than Orion's but kind nonetheless, Eliatra couldn't help feeling attracted to his magnetic personality even though she knew he was their captor.

"Good," he continued, "very good. Of course, I knew you Jedi Knights were talented—"

"I'm not a—" she started, but he raised a finger to shush her.

"We found your lightsaber when we took you two from the palace. We have no quarrel with the Jedi, of course—"

"So you're not acting with Lord Erebin?" Eliatra had momentarily forgotten her broken arm in light of this realization.

He started to respond, but this time Kadela interrupted him. "No, he's not. He's Kai Altus, leader of the Medellas Society, and he wants my alliance as Queen of Naboo."