Chapter Thirty-Seven

32 BBY

~ Kya Ranor ~
After the end of the Council meeting, I slipped away from Obi-Wan and the others. I didn't want to be further questioned by the Masters, and I just needed some quiet time, some alone time, to think and reflect and meditate. I had felt Obi-Wan's quiet acceptance of that fact as he let me slip away, and I was grateful beyond words for that.

Of course, running into Siri Tachi hadn't helped things. I was already wary of her, seeing as she and Obi-Wan had once fallen in love a long time ago. It didn't help that now she was wary of me. I shouldn't have reacted so strongly when she questioned my Master. I sighed. Oh, well. Done is done. I'll fix the damage later . . . if I have a later after everything I need to do.

I glanced at the two glowing strands that remained on my wrist. Teach Anakin about love. And then – or, perhaps, before that – defeat Sidious.

Well, I'm making some headway on the second one, I reasoned. If the Masters don't realize who the Sith Master is by the end of these sessions, they'll be thicker than I thought. . .

But, alas, I had no idea how in the universe I was supposed to teach Anakin Skywalker about the true meaning of love. I wasn't quite sure yet about how falling in love myself would help either. While I had gained the feeling of someone else loving me in return, falling in love really had just added another complication and more muddled emotions.

"Kya! Kya!"

Recovering from my surprise, I glanced up with a faint smile at the excited voice as its owner dashed into my study room. Anakin's eyes were gleaming with excitement, and his chest heaved from his dash from wherever he'd been to me.

"Anakin, running around like that does not become a Jedi," I said sternly. When Anakin's face collapsed into a pout, I relented, bursting into laughter and motioning him to sit beside me on the bed.

"Now, what has you running when you could be walking?" I admonished. "I'm not going to be running away from you."

Anakin grinned, like a little kid who's just been told he can eat all the candy he wants. "I met Padawan Tachi, and she was teaching me some really cool moves. I can use the Force against the practice droids now, and move things, and work a bit with the lightsaber, and – "

All of this, I might mention, was said at the speed of light. So, I only got about half of whatever he was saying. Finally, I raised my hand and pleaded, "Whoa, Anakin, slow down, please! Let me catch up."

He consented, at least, to go about a millisecond slower, so I gave up and used the Force to aid comprehension. Someone has given you a lot of sugar, I concluded with amused exasperation. Oh, well at least you'll be with one of us when you crash.

"Kya, can I ask you something?"

I started. I hadn't realized that he had stopped his speed-of-light-monologue. "What is it, Anakin?" I asked.

Anakin bit his lip, as if he was having trouble putting his thoughts together. Suddenly, all I could sense from him was nervousness and . . . embarrassment? I frowned inwardly. What could make Anakin so embarrassed that he won't say it?

"My, my, has someone replaced Anakin Skywalker?" I teased. "Because the little boy I remember never had a problem spitting out his words at the speed of light."

Anakin colored. "I am NOT a child."

"So it is you!" I exclaimed teasingly. "Oh, come on, Ani, just say it."

The teasing worked. "How come you and Obi-Wan know each other so well?" he asked in a frustrated tone. "You can start a sentence and he can finish it, without even looking at each other. What trick is that? Can you teach it to me?"

I laughed, now understanding Anakin's embarrassment. After all, he knew that I loved Obi-Wan deeply, and no doubt he felt a little jealous that Obi-Wan took up so much space in my thoughts. Maybe he is even wondering what it will be like when, one day, it happens to him too.

"It is no trick, Anakin," I said affectionately. "It's what we call a Force-bond. Basically, the Force connects Obi-Wan to me and me to him specifically in such a way that we can share emotions and thoughts very easily. The Master-Padawan bond is similar to that, but not as deep."

"Master-Padawan bond?" Anakin repeated. "Will I have one?"

"Yes, of course. All Masters and Padawans have one. However, unlike my Force-bond with Obi-Wan, the Master-Padawan bond is terminated at the end of the apprenticeship and it is less sensitive."

Anakin eyed me. "What's so special about the bond between you and Obi-Wan?" he asked suspiciously.

I smiled. "It's special because it was not forged on purpose. Master-Padawan bonds are; that's why they can be terminated. But the bond I share with Obi-Wan was created by the Force, in what some theorize can be called a life-bond or soul-bond. It cannot be terminated by anything save death."

"That's a special bond," Anakin announced after a moment of digesting my words. "Do . . . Do many Jedi have one?"

I considered the question. Qui-Gon did, but the key word there is "did". Qui-Gon can tell Anakin about Tahl in his own time. And Obi-Wan and I have one, but he knows that already. "Well," I said slowly, arranging the words as carefully as I could, "it happens rarely to begin with. The appearance of such a Force-bond is a bond that rises between two kindred soulmates, and in the galaxy, finding your soulmate is rare in and of itself."

Anakin glared at me. "You're stalling," he complained. "You probably think I can't handle the real answer. But I can! And I promise I won't tell if it's a secret!"

He's getting better at sensing these things with the Force, I thought with a sigh. I'll have to shield better. "It's not a secret, Anakin. I'm just trying to figure out how to tell you. . ." I frowned and pondered the subject a bit more.

How much should I tell him?

Finally: "All right, let's try this explanation. Jedi do not often form attachments, as per the Jedi Code. So a life-bond isn't exactly encouraged. In any case, it happens so rarely that Jedi aren't too concerned about it. For example, besides me, I know of only a handful of other Jedi who have experienced this."

"Kya . . . Do you think I'll ever get a life-bond?"

I hugged Anakin tightly. "I don't know, sweetheart. It all depends on the Force. But – " I slid off the bed and knelt, so that we were on the same eye level " – even if you don't get one, don't you dare think it's because you're a bad Jedi. Don't you dare, you hear me? It's hard to find a soul mate. Very, very, very hard. It will never be your fault if you don't manage to find that one person. Never."

Anakin nodded, but as he started to speak, his words were punctuated with a large yawn. I glanced outside to find with surprise that it was already dark out. Wow, this took a lot longer than I thought.

"Now, enough with all of these philosophical questions! Off to bed, Anakin," I commanded. As the boy ran off, contentment in his aura, I thought, Well, this was a start.

I think.

~ Obi-Wan Kenobi ~
I woke up rather suddenly as a flash of alarm flew through me. I frowned, searching my room for any possible threats that could have triggered my danger sense. Nothing. But why in blazes would I feel this way unless –

Then the alarm flashed through me again, and I realized that it wasn't the type of alarm I would get from the Force in my danger sense – it was a feedback across my bond. My bond with Kya.

That thought had me leaping out of bed while calling my lightsaber and cloak to me. The alarm I was sensing was a bit vague and a little distracted, but it was still alarm nonetheless. As I sprinted out of my room, I made a silent vow – if someone was hurting Kya, they would regret it to the extreme.

I would make sure of it.

The vague feeling of alarm intensified with each step I took. My heart started pounding, and not just because of the sudden exertion. I hadn't felt fear like this is so long that I was nearly getting light-headed because of it.

All of a sudden, the feeling of alarm vanished. I stopped mid-stride in astonishment and nearly groaned. Oh, don't tell me that I went all this way only to find out she's already taken care of it! That would be like Kya, though; she always managed to just barely stay on top.

I closed my eyes and reached out through the bond to her. To my surprise, she hadn't reached back out to me in reassurance. I frowned as I sent a silent query to her along the bond, wondering what had happened. What's going on? Why am I only getting silence back –

All of a sudden pain and years of anguish burst through the bond. I frantically distanced myself from the bond. I felt like I had turned up the volume of my comlink as high as it could go and put it next to my ear only to hear someone on the other end shout something.

Rubbing at my forehead to try and ease the headache that the burst of pain had caused, I continued towards Kya's room – but at a slower pace. If Kya had been in danger, then I would have felt the mix of fear, alarm, and determination that I always sensed from her on those rare occasions. More than likely, the pain wasn't something serious, and I guessed that it was internal.

But, just to make sure, I might as well check.

Kya's room was dead quiet when I entered. I paused at the door to sense out a wave in the Force, and received only a single echo back. Kya. So Kya was the only one here; I would have sensed anyone else.

I sent out another silent query, but received no answer. Is she purposely blocking me out? I frowned in concern. She had seemed rather unhappy after disengaging from the meld in the Council. Granted, that was to be expected. She had displayed for us the whole Battle of Geonosis, and I had sensed the sickening feeling that clouded that memory very easily. So when she had slipped away after the meeting, when I made to talk to her, I had let it pass.

Kya? I called through the bond. Kya, love, are you all right?

There was no answer, but a faint turmoil rolled through the bond. So she's not going to answer. I stepped into her bedroom as more questions rose within me. It wasn't like Kya to blatantly ignore me.

Then I noticed why: Kya was sleeping.

But even as I released my grip on my lightsaber and stepped closer, I realized why things were rolling through the bond. Kya's expression was tight and painful, and she was tensed so much that I was surprised she hadn't fallen off of her bed yet. The blankets and sheets were rumpled from her constant tossing and turning.

I sighed. A nightmare. She had a nightmare. A touch of self-reproach entered my thinking. I shouldn't have left her alone after the Council meeting.

Moving closer, I sat on the edge of the bed and touched her shoulder lightly. At the same time, I reached out through the bond to the restless, pain-filled sea of turmoil that was my love's mind. To my surprise, I gained entry easily.

Then, when the memory came flying at me and gripped with so hard that I couldn't escape, I understand why nightmares left Kya so crippled.

"No! No, stop, please!"

Tears were streaming down Kya's cheeks, but the hooded man only grinned and tightened his fist. Kya herself was bound and chained. She had no chance of escape. She couldn't be more than thirteen years old.

The man in front of her was covered with wounds – so many, many wounds that the current state his Jedi robes were in made the title "rags" seem dignified. He stiffened and choked as the man tightened his fist.

"Give in to your anger, little Jedi," the man hissed. He raised his fist higher, and the Jedi on the floor started turning blue as he fought for air. "Give in to your anger, and you can free him."

"Let him go!"

"Give in to your anger, and you can free your Master and have your revenge," the man cooed. "Won't that feel good? Revenging your Master?"

---

Hands, hands, hands everywhere. Hands that snatched away the concealing hood and cloak; hands that wrestled the lightsaber away; hands that seized me and held me still.

"So, you're a Jedi?" A man slowly walked down, examining and measuring with a slimy, greedy look in his pale gray eyes.

"Let me go." I spoke the words slowly and surely, putting the full power of the Force behind them. Some of my captors flinched and drew away as I expanded my aura and oppressed the minds around me. It was a brutal tactic to work on innocents, but the Jedi Council needed the information I had now, and I didn't have time to waste being pleasant.

"Let's see . . . NO." He stopped in front of me and faced away. "Tell me, apprentice, why is it that every Jedi who is sent here is always so . . . tempting? Does your Jedi Council think I can be seduced by your beauty and turn a blind eye and you run amok on my planet?"

"You defied the laws of the Republic," I snapped. "Justice will always find her way, and if it is the will of the Force that Jedi are sent to deal it, sent to deal with it Jedi will be."

"What is this will of the Force you speak of? There is no such thing, child. You are very naive." He turned around and took ahold of my chin. "But I and time will change that. You are young, but that will make the lesson all the sweeter."

I gazed at him with dawning horror. "Don't you dare touch me," I hissed, jerking backwards. "You forget that I am still an apprentice. Are you willing to evoke the rage of my Master?"

He stared at me calmly. "Frankly, I don't care."

I felt a prick in the side of my neck and suddenly my muscles were turning to water. I couldn't stand, couldn't fight, couldn't even keep my eyes open. I heard a chilling laugh.

"When you awaken, the lesson will begin."

---

Too slow, too slow! Dooku was there, and just as I burst onto the scene, he raised his fingers and a blast of Force-lightning emerged, aimed straight for the wounded Zett on the floor.

"No!"

I leaped straight forward, and the Force propelled me directly in front of Zett. I screamed as lightning erupted all around me, paralyzing me with electric bolts that made my vision flicker and my hearing distort and the Force vanish.

With a gasp, I pulled myself out of the bond. I surveyed Kya, still caught in the throes of a nightmare composed of her worst memories.

This is going to be harder than I thought.