Chapter Twenty-Five

Aalea sat fuming in the speederbus. A brown-haired man sitting across from her smiled. She nodded and smiled back, but inside she was still seething.

When she had been told by Yoda she was to accompany Obi-Wan on a mission, initially she had only been disappointed it wasn't going to be a more exciting one. Acting as Guardian of the Peace and Honorary Bodyguard to a bride-to-be sounded prestigious enough, but Aalea didn't think she would see much action. Probably involved a lot of standing around and looking stoic, she imagined.

But when Yoda also told her she would be going as Obi-Wan's acting apprentice, it had taken all of her willpower to suppress the anger which had surged inside her.

Obi-Wan was just a padawan like her. Yes, he'd been a padawan far longer than she, but that didn't matter. He had not been confirmed as a Knight. Yet, Yoda and the Council had given him an authority over her she did not believe he had earned.

The speederbus halted. Aalea looked up at the floating holographic sign above her head. It wasn't her stop. Passengers got on and off. The speederbus moved again and Aalea returned to staring gloomily out the window.

But that wasn't the worse. Obi-Wan had contacted her and said he wanted to discuss the mission. They met in the Temple library. She remembered how he'd stood, his arms folded within the sleeves of his robe, a cool look of pompous authority in his blue-gray eyes. Then he had the audacity to say he expected her to act with the utmost decorum while they were on the mission and to never forget who and what she was.

Aalea gritted her teeth as she recalled how she'd had to address him as master as he continued to lecture her.

The brown-haired man looked over at her with concern and Aalea realized she was frowning. She smiled to let him know she was all right. He nodded and went back to reading his newsfilm.

Aalea sighed. This anger wasn't doing her any good.

The speederbus halted. Aalea looked up. It was her stop. She stood, nodded briefly to the man, then jumped down to the platform. The wind whipped at her robe and tore at her hair. Drops of water splattered on her face.

She looked up. Occasionally, as a result of the water which evaporated and then condensed from the millions of rooftop exhaust vents on Coruscant, squalls would suddenly develop. She drew her hood over her head as the rain fell. She walked quickly down the street which led to Cian's apartment.

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Cian sat at her desk in her apartment, drumming her fingers as she listened to the rain. She looked over at her holopicture of Jeffron. She had met him a year ago at a diplomatic function on Coruscant she'd attended with Finis.

While there she had not paid much attention to the tall dark-haired Republic officer but he, apparently, had paid close attention to her. The next day he contacted her and asked her out to dinner. She told him she was unable to go as she was leaving for Alderaan that very day. A week later, he showed up at her office at the university, a bouquet of Jaharan roses in his arms. They started to see each other after that. Then, one day, he asked her to marry him.

Cian had not answered him at first, for the image of a tall, bearded man with long hair and intense blue eyes had appeared in her mind. Therefore, she did the only thing she could think to do. She asked Jeffron for time to think his proposal over. She used her new job with the diplomatic corps as an excuse, but the truth was she still had hope, feeble and fragile as it was, that somehow, someway, she could win Qui-Gon's heart.

Now, not only was Qui-Gon back in her life, Finis had just arranged for her to spend the next few weeks alone with him. Well, not exactly alone, but alone in the sense no one they knew would be around. She sighed. Then she heard her front door chime. She stood and went to answer it.

It was Aalea. The rain streamed in gray sheets around her. Beneath the hood of her robe, her violet eyes were blazing.

"Aalea," Cian said. "Come in before you get swept away, dear."

Aalea walked in, took off her robe, then threw herself on Cian's couch.

"Have you heard, Cian? Do you know what the Council has done to me?"

Cian sat next to her. She reached up and smoothed back some of the hair which had escaped from its bun.

"What has happened?"

Aalea quickly told Cian about her being assigned to Obi-Wan as his acting apprentice for their mission to Sylvonna.

"And then," Aalea finished, "he had the nerve to say he expected me to conduct myself with the utmost decorum while we were on the mission. Can you believe that?"

Cian, who had sat through Aalea's tirade trying not to smile at the affronted young woman, reached over and took Aalea's hand in hers.

"Yes, I can believe it."

Aalea turned wide eyes on Cian. "What?"

"Try to look at it from Obi-Wan's perspective, Aalea. He's just been given his first mission without Qui-Gon and, not only that, he's also been given the responsibility of looking after you."

"But I don't need looking---"

"Hush, dear. This is important."


Aalea swallowed, then nodded.

"I'm sure he meant nothing insulting with his remarks," and Cian held up her hand as Aalea started to protest again, "but he had to be certain you understood the seriousness of the situation. The success of this mission could affect whether or not he's going to be considered for the Trials. And whether you will find another master."

Aalea sighed. "I understand that, Cian, but if the Council was going to assign me as an acting apprentice to somebody, why couldn't it have been to someone more--I don't know--grown up. Obi-Wan is just a boy."

Cian laughed. "Aalea, Obi-Wan is twenty-five."

"I don't mean his age. I mean the way he acts."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he stares at me sometimes. This morning, for instance. He wakes me up and asks me some perfectly silly question about whether I was feeling all right, then stands there just staring at me. If he saw the strap from my sleep gown had fallen from my shoulder, he could have said something instead of staring like that? That's rude, don't you think?"

Cian shook her head. Sometimes she wondered if Aalea and Qui-Gon weren't truly father and daughter. They were both so blind to the obvious.

"Aalea, if a handsome young man like Obi-Wan were to stare at me, I wouldn't necessarily think of it as rudeness."

Aalea only shrugged.

Cian took a deep breath. She had intended on contacting Aalea before she left for Jalat, but now that she was here, it was as good a time as any to do as she had promised Qui-Gon.

"Aalea, I had a talk with Qui-Gon today after our meeting with the Chancellor."

Aalea's expression shifted from one of petulance, as she mulled over her conversation with Obi-Wan, to one of alarm.

"Did he tell you what I did?"

"Yes, he did."

"He hates me, doesn't he?" Aalea cried.

Cian moved closer to Aalea and put her arm around her.

"Of course he doesn't hate you, dear. But he is concerned. He doesn't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me? How?"

"Aalea, Qui-Gon loves you very much, but he can not, would not, return your love the way you wanted him to last night. Dear, he's old enough to be your father."

"Oh, Cian, I know that, I know he's too old for me, but I love him so much! It hurts to love some one that bad. It's like a stomachache that won't go away."

Cian's heart twisted. She knew exactly how Aalea felt. She looked deeply into the young woman's pain-lashed eyes.

"It's not easy loving someone who can't, or won't, return your love," Cian said gently as she stroked Aalea's cheek. "It's probably the worst pain in all the universe."

"But what should I do? How can I make the pain go away?"

"You can't make it go away, Aalea. It will have to go away on it's own. But, remember, never fear you will lose Qui-Gon's love. It's just that he loves you as if your were his daughter. And trust me, that is not a love to take lightly."

"But, I wish he could love me that other way, too. Is that wrong?"

"No, of course it's not wrong."

Aalea wept and Cian held her as she cried. Then, once her tears were spent, Cian gently pulled away from her and lifted the girl's chin.

"Aalea, someday, maybe even sooner than you think, you'll meet someone who'll be just right for you. You will love him and he will love you and you may still hurt inside, but it will be a good hurt, because it will come from wanting to spend every moment of every day with him."

"I can't imagine feeling that way about anyone but Master Qui-Gon. And I can't imagine anyone ever feeling that way about me."

Oh, dove, if only I could open your heart. For someone, I suspect, does feel that way about you, Cian thought.

"Now, there's something I must tell you. Qui-Gon and I have been assigned to work together on a mission. We'll be leaving at the end of the week."

Aalea tilted her head at the news. She glanced down at her hands for a moment. Then she looked up, her eyes dancing.

"Want to swap him for Obi-Wan?"

Cian laughed and pulled the girl to her in a tight hug. Aalea wiped the tears from her face. She looked over at Cian.

"I love you," she said.

Cian kissed Aalea on the cheek. "And I love you too, dear. Now, I have an idea. Why don't we go shopping tomorrow, if you're free that is? I need to pick up a few things before I leave for Jalat. Isn't there something you'd like to take with you on your mission?"

"Like what?"

Cian tilted her head. "Hmmmm, I don't know. You are going to a wedding." She picked up Aalea's padawan braid and stroked it. "Maybe some ribbons for your braid, or a set of cosmetic sticks, or a new scarf."

Aalea shook her head.

"Obi-Wan's not going to let me wear any of that stuff. Especially after his little lecture about Jedi decorum. When I asked him what I should bring for the mission he said," and Cian was astonished when Aalea did a perfect imitation of Obi-Wan's accented voice, "Just bring your Jedi gear. Nothing else. Is that clear?"

"Well, what Obi-Wan doesn't know, Obi-Wan can't disapprove of," Cian said. "And from what I hear Sylvonnan weddings are a nonstop party. Maybe you'll get a chance to sneak away from him and have some fun."

Aalea's eyes sparkled. "It would be wicked of me, wouldn't it?"

"Well, as long as it doesn't interfere with your mission, yes, it would be terribly wicked," Cian agreed. The two women laughed.

To be continued....