All right I must say that I made up the geological cut of that part of
Palestine, the Latin sentence is my translation and as you may notice if
you're better than me in Latin ( which is not difficult mind you), I suck
bad at it:) not that anybody cares:) let's just keep it for the exotic
touch that it brings-- the other information is real-- I'd love to read
your reviews as always:) thanks to my faithful reviewers, to Michelle and
Stephanie for beta reading!
*****
--Three days later.--
She sensed eyes on her. They were watching, following her every move intently as she struggled with an impressive pile of papers.
Half immersed in an ocean of maps, notes, books, and sketches, a pencil slipped in her hair to keep it perilously gathered in an unstable bun, Noor had shifted back to the Dr Alrahan attitude. A finger pointing to a line in a voluminous edition of The Gaffiot (NA : a French-Latin dictionary, tremendously boring but the most complete stuff in the world.) she was scribbling down a few hasty notes on a note pad. Then she rummaged in the paper mess and dug up a worn copy of Al-Koran and another one of the Torah. Her brow creased in concentration, she leafed through it, compared something with the notes she had previously took and went back to her furious scribbling.
Suddenly, she put down her pen and sighed deeply. "Stop staring like that please, I can't concentrate."
"I'm sorry, but you have been locking up yourself in that room for hours in the past three days. We are supposed to be on the bridge in a few minutes to take our watch. The rest of the crew will find it strange if their watch CO misses it," Gabrielle answered walking out of the shadow.
Noor dove back in her files, increasing even more the speed of her scrawling, if that were possible. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be done for tonight. I'll go directly to my post, I promise."
"Fine by me, let's just pray that the Admiral won't find out, this guy has a distinct problem with our presence in his ship. By the way, why did you leave in the middle of the night the other day?" Gabrielle inquired casually.
Noor stopped abruptly to write and gazed up at her friend.
The young officer groaned and threw a hand up. "On second thought, I don't want to know."
Observing the other woman's face, Noor realized that she was suspiciously cheery in the middle of the ship's boring routine. "Spit it out."
"A message from my fiancé. The war is raging in the middle of the galaxy. The Confederacy lost some ground last week in a battle near Myrkr but they are far from surrendering. At least, he is safe and sound so far," she answered quietly, a wide and beautiful grin coming to grace her features as she sat on the edge of the overloaded desk.
"Are you still using those antiquities?" She flipped open a book with a contemptuous finger. Noor slapped her hand away with a pull of the Force.
"Don't insult my best friends."
"Noor, what you just said gives a pretty frightening glimpse of your life."
" Ah, not everybody has the luck to have 'the perfect man' serving in the Navy too."
"You just don't see what is right under your nose dear," Gabrielle drawled with a crooked smile.
Noor didn't even bother to answer.
"All right, have it your way then! All I have to say is at least data pads don't wreak havoc in the place you work in. It looks like a tornado swept through this room," she added, "May I ask the cause of such a frenzy?"
Noor's eyes twinkled and a grin spread on her tired features. Elle instantly regretted her question: she knew that expression, the one of the excited searcher that just made a capital discovery about tell you about it in a long, minute and obscure exposé in her own idiom. She sighed and braced up.
" Well, I've been comparing the work of Avi Yonah, the archeologist in charge of the dig at Caesarea between 1956 and 1961, and my father's report on the Roman theater's dig out of the sand ten years later. My father mentioned something strange about the composition of the soil. So I checked it around the basements of the fortress of Abd-Ashtart on the Western end of the site. It dates back from the 4th century AD and is obviously the most ancient element discovered. Logically, it's the most ancient trace of that civilization. The ground there is siliceous, like in the greatest part of the Southern Phoenicia. No big surprise, given the deep layer of sand on the coast and the orientation of the wind. But going East, there is a tiny section of limestone showing on the surface whereas the portion isn't even exposed to the wind. Amazing isn't it?"
Elle stared blankly at her.
Noor smiled apologetically and grabbed a geological cut of the site ground. Pointing with her pen on the map, she explained: "More clearly, the City was swallowed by the sand after its destruction by the Mamelukes, an Arabic dynasty, around the 13th century. We can date a site with the geological layer, the limestone is situated just under the sand, it used to be on the surface but a long, long time ago, then the erosion and the wind turned it into a desert. Its presence on the surface is very unusual."
"Does it mean that this place has been dug letting the limestone show?"
"Apparently not," answered Noor looking in Lord Alrahan notes, "There, he says that according to the examination of the geologists and the archeologists working with Dr Yonah, this place had remained untouched. It is the tomb of Prince Abd-Ashtar and was well hidden in the rocky edge that borders the coast."
Noor rubbed her eyes and leaned back in her chair stretching.
"Well then the area is anterior to the prince era. His contemporaries just used the already existing site as a tomb," mused Elle.
Noor opened an eye. " Could be, yes--" She slowly sat up. "Which could bring us around the time where the whole plan crisis occurred. It would make sense because those people didn't have the means to make so deep an excavation, it would have asked a much more developed civilization--" She stopped short and stared at her friend.
Gabrielle wiggled her eyebrows with a sly smile. "I think we should tell the General."
"Tell the General what?"
The General strode in the room as they both stood at attention. "May I know why you two aren't doing your watch and why does this place look like a complete junkyard?" he demanded sternly.
Gabrielle couldn't resist a comment. "Don't insult her-- never mind, sir," she hastily concluded, straightening her stance when Kenobi cast her a sharp glance. When it was only the three of them, the tone was usually less formal than in front of the crew, but now he was in the general mode and obviously not in a bantering mood.
Noor waited for the ranting session to be over and calmly said : "We might have found where the plans are, sir."
In a second, Kenobi had the room's door closed and locked without even moving a finger. "Go on."
She proceeded to tell him all the details. "Well, of course, all of this is a speculation. I still have to find elements to confirm what the nature of the soil seems to indicate, but so far, it's our best chance."
"But the tomb of the Prince has been carefully searched and surveyed. How can be sure that they are still there?" Gabrielle intervened.
Kenobi shook his head. "There is nothing certain about it, but I don't think that the Jedi have treated this matter lightly, they knew that people would try to find it. It has to be there."
"Well, it only took me three days to locate the potential hiding place," Noor pointed out, " and I am not even a very experienced archeologist."
"All the archeologists aren't Jedi and not all of them have--" he bent down to look at the note book Noor held, "your father's report? Is it the one that was published?"
"No, it's his personal notes and thoughts about all his excavations, he wrote there all the oddities and anecdotes about the different sites. It's too messy and elusive to be published. "
"Have you heard of any work that mentions that section of Caesarea and the showing limestone?"
"Mentioned yes, in some minor reports that nobody reads except the specialists, but analyzed not really."
"I guess that gives us a slight advantage. The council suspects that your father knew where the plans were. Commander Baron, will you please go and take up the watch now? Your absence would trigger curiosity. Inform the crew that the commander is sick or something like that. We will try to figure out this issue a bit further."
Gabrielle nodded before taking her leave.
Once they were alone in the room Noor returned to her seat. "People will talk," she declared simply.
The look on his face showed that they could darn well talk for all he cared. He grabbed a chair and both returned to work without further comments.
Two hours later, Kenobi resolutely pushed the huge dictionary of Eastern archeology aside thinking that his head was going to implode. He looked over at Noor who looked close enough to fall off her chair, although she was feverishly manipulating big expanses of papers, tracing, drawing, erasing, starting again. He rose, walked around the desk and bent over her shoulder to peruse the object of her active interest.
"The ancient City," he said, recognizing Caesarea's series of ramparts on the maps scattered in front of her.
"Yes." She brushed her hands over her tired eyes. " I'm trying to make head or tail of my father's drawings and notes. If the Council is right then there must be at least a clue somewhere."
He looked closer to the sketch she was drawing. "So this is what your whole family swore to protect? There is so little left though, just some sand and carved stones, a kingdom fallen to dust. Yes," he said, grazing lightly on the paper surface, "it looks almost-- dead."
She turned to face him, eyeing him attentively. She sensed that his comment reached far beyond the Roman city and realized with a pang that he might have also meant the Order, and his own life serving it. Her voice softened as she tried to answer his possible double meaning.
" Oh, no, don't think that, it's so much more."
"What is it then?" he inquired caught by the sudden change of her inflection.
She smiled up to him. " Something infinitely graver, fainter. It's a dream."
He observed her for a short while. "You always live in a bubble, Alrahan."
"Yes, my job is a big bubble that provides me food and shelter. Aren't I the lucky one?"
"You're scared of the world," he said in a low voice.
Noor was a bit taken aback by that answer. "What?"
"And you are scared of me," he stated quietly.
She snorted nervously, "That was pretty desperate, General."
She always felt so at loss when it came to handle him, it always brought up a kind of a defensive edge in her lest he. lest he what?
"I just know what I see. You should open your eyes to what surrounds you, people who died centuries ago in foreign countries aren't a life. Maybe that.unlocking yourself would enable you to see things that are worth it."
Noor raised an amused eyebrow. "Will you dare to assert that you are convinced by your own words?"
Kenobi grimaced and broke into a boyish grin shaking his head. "Not really. Not today."
Noor remained struck in her chair. Force! He could warn before doing things like this! She stared giving in to his contagious smile, realizing for the first time that the man had dimples. Dimples--
She berated herself for suddenly turning all girl on him, but she couldn't help her increasing curiosity toward the man appearing through the stern persona he had given himself during his whole life. She shook herself.
"The most powerful, tangible things were dreamt first. The Roman Empire was a dream, the Republic was a dream, the Jedi was one too. Dreams are not always some elusive transportation into fantasy fogging the mind, they are the fragile beginnings of something greater, they are a vehicle for the subconscious and they are worth fighting for, we are both the living proof of it."
"Tell me then, Alrahan, does you bubble have room for two?"
Maybe this was the way. She patted the desk near her. "Sit here, I'll show you."
He smirked. "Always the great conjurer of dreamy visions."
" Just wait until you've seen it all," she said wiggling her eyebrows. "Be still now," she directed gently.
He complied. She leant towards him and put her finger between his eyes. "Relax now, close your eyes, and concentrate on my touch." She watched him gasp lightly as their surroundings faded away. A smile danced in her gaze and she let him go.
~*~
It was daybreak.
He was standing on a broad paved road, the blue-gray shadows stretched lazily in the corners. It was before the glowing scorching day, before the tawny gold hours of the East.
Not dark anymore, nor light yet.
Not a sound came to his ears, not a presence could be felt through the Force, only the whisper of the wind. A city at dawn for a lone man who believed--in what? No one would bear his name and carry it along after him. He wouldn't marry, he wouldn't have children, all he would leave behind would be a shadowy part in some improbable legends, and a bunch of old stories that would fall before long into oblivion. Did he suffer from it? He had chosen this path.
He knew what had transpired between Senator Amidala and Anakin. Maybe he was failing his apprentice somehow, but he had chosen to look the other way, allowing him tacitly to have what he had denied to himself.
His eyes followed the stout columns holding the buildings high towards the sky. Caesarea spread around him untouched by time as she was when the Caesars made her the pearl of the rebellious Judea. She? Yes, a living energy flowed there, only stilled, hidden beneath the blond stones. He closed his eyes and open himself to the city's heartbeat.
He felt a tug of the Force urging him to move forwards. He walked for a while in the deserted streets, following his instinct. He noticed the archaic weaponry lying haphazardly on the ground. Arrows, torn armors, broken swords hastily left behind, a battle had obviously taken place within the ramparts. Turning left, he walked up a narrow alley, chose to turn left again in the labyrinth of the streets to finally stop in front of a plain wooden door. Without thinking he pushed it.
Behind it was an inner courtyard adorned with flowers. He recognized some of them for having seen them in Noor's hidden garden. In the center was a small pool surrounded by four statues. Kenobi bent down to quench his sudden thirst and bathed his face with the deliciously cool water. When the ripples faded away, he saw the reflection of the statues around him. He turned around and observed them.
Apparently they were allegories, a short sentence in a foreign language was carved in the marble of the pedestal.
:: Latin :: Noor's voice whispered in his mind, still mentally tuned to him.
The first statue pointed a slender finger towards her heart and another one towards her brow. As he examined the inscription beneath it, Noor translated:
BALANCE--TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS FIRST, REASON WILL ALWAYS FOLLOW.
A long stone veil draped the second statue's head,
MYSTERY-INVISIBLE AND PRESENT I STAND BEHIND THE VEIL.
More and more puzzled Kenobi moved towards the third statue. This one was entirely veiled as well except the eyes which stared piercingly ahead. The sentence below read:
VERITAS--NO PERQUISIRAS ME SI NON REPERIES ME ANTEA.
:: 'You would not seek me if you had not already found me', :: said Noor. :: This is the allegory of Truth. It's very strange, what sort of game is this? ::
Kenobi did not answer; his gaze was fixed on the fourth statue's face. It represented an imposing warrior but his expression was mild and serene.
:: What does it say ?:: he breathed.
Noor hesitated for she knew what he was thinking, then spoke up:
CONSOLATION-HONOR YOUR PREDECESSORS BUT DO NOT FORGET TO LIVE.
A lone tear trailed on the hardened General's face.
" Master," he breathed and reached out a hand to touch reverently the representation of this long lost paternal figure.
Instead of the cold stone his fingers brushed something warm and soft. Solid too. His eyes flew open to discover that he was leaning forwards with his hand resting against Noor's shoulder. He removed it and inhaled deeply to regain his bearings. His eyes were wide and questioning.
Noor peered at him as confused as he was, her own strolls in the city were much more peaceful.
"Caesarea is many centuries wise, she talks to our souls. She gives advice and acts like a mirror, a kind of allegory of what is harbored deep inside oneself," Noor said, trying to explain what happened.
"Nothing dreamy in fact," he snorted dryly, attempting to regain his composure. He lowered his head staring absently at the floor.
"Nothing bad either," she replied, brushing back shyly a strand of his hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.
Her eyes suddenly grew wide in alarm and Kenobi's head snapped up. A strong rippling of the Force had them both scrambled to their feet.
"Kenobi!"
"I know I sensed it too."
A second later the ship was shaken by a large jolt and the alarms started blaring.
"We're under attack! To the bridge!" Shouted the General.
*****
*****
--Three days later.--
She sensed eyes on her. They were watching, following her every move intently as she struggled with an impressive pile of papers.
Half immersed in an ocean of maps, notes, books, and sketches, a pencil slipped in her hair to keep it perilously gathered in an unstable bun, Noor had shifted back to the Dr Alrahan attitude. A finger pointing to a line in a voluminous edition of The Gaffiot (NA : a French-Latin dictionary, tremendously boring but the most complete stuff in the world.) she was scribbling down a few hasty notes on a note pad. Then she rummaged in the paper mess and dug up a worn copy of Al-Koran and another one of the Torah. Her brow creased in concentration, she leafed through it, compared something with the notes she had previously took and went back to her furious scribbling.
Suddenly, she put down her pen and sighed deeply. "Stop staring like that please, I can't concentrate."
"I'm sorry, but you have been locking up yourself in that room for hours in the past three days. We are supposed to be on the bridge in a few minutes to take our watch. The rest of the crew will find it strange if their watch CO misses it," Gabrielle answered walking out of the shadow.
Noor dove back in her files, increasing even more the speed of her scrawling, if that were possible. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be done for tonight. I'll go directly to my post, I promise."
"Fine by me, let's just pray that the Admiral won't find out, this guy has a distinct problem with our presence in his ship. By the way, why did you leave in the middle of the night the other day?" Gabrielle inquired casually.
Noor stopped abruptly to write and gazed up at her friend.
The young officer groaned and threw a hand up. "On second thought, I don't want to know."
Observing the other woman's face, Noor realized that she was suspiciously cheery in the middle of the ship's boring routine. "Spit it out."
"A message from my fiancé. The war is raging in the middle of the galaxy. The Confederacy lost some ground last week in a battle near Myrkr but they are far from surrendering. At least, he is safe and sound so far," she answered quietly, a wide and beautiful grin coming to grace her features as she sat on the edge of the overloaded desk.
"Are you still using those antiquities?" She flipped open a book with a contemptuous finger. Noor slapped her hand away with a pull of the Force.
"Don't insult my best friends."
"Noor, what you just said gives a pretty frightening glimpse of your life."
" Ah, not everybody has the luck to have 'the perfect man' serving in the Navy too."
"You just don't see what is right under your nose dear," Gabrielle drawled with a crooked smile.
Noor didn't even bother to answer.
"All right, have it your way then! All I have to say is at least data pads don't wreak havoc in the place you work in. It looks like a tornado swept through this room," she added, "May I ask the cause of such a frenzy?"
Noor's eyes twinkled and a grin spread on her tired features. Elle instantly regretted her question: she knew that expression, the one of the excited searcher that just made a capital discovery about tell you about it in a long, minute and obscure exposé in her own idiom. She sighed and braced up.
" Well, I've been comparing the work of Avi Yonah, the archeologist in charge of the dig at Caesarea between 1956 and 1961, and my father's report on the Roman theater's dig out of the sand ten years later. My father mentioned something strange about the composition of the soil. So I checked it around the basements of the fortress of Abd-Ashtart on the Western end of the site. It dates back from the 4th century AD and is obviously the most ancient element discovered. Logically, it's the most ancient trace of that civilization. The ground there is siliceous, like in the greatest part of the Southern Phoenicia. No big surprise, given the deep layer of sand on the coast and the orientation of the wind. But going East, there is a tiny section of limestone showing on the surface whereas the portion isn't even exposed to the wind. Amazing isn't it?"
Elle stared blankly at her.
Noor smiled apologetically and grabbed a geological cut of the site ground. Pointing with her pen on the map, she explained: "More clearly, the City was swallowed by the sand after its destruction by the Mamelukes, an Arabic dynasty, around the 13th century. We can date a site with the geological layer, the limestone is situated just under the sand, it used to be on the surface but a long, long time ago, then the erosion and the wind turned it into a desert. Its presence on the surface is very unusual."
"Does it mean that this place has been dug letting the limestone show?"
"Apparently not," answered Noor looking in Lord Alrahan notes, "There, he says that according to the examination of the geologists and the archeologists working with Dr Yonah, this place had remained untouched. It is the tomb of Prince Abd-Ashtar and was well hidden in the rocky edge that borders the coast."
Noor rubbed her eyes and leaned back in her chair stretching.
"Well then the area is anterior to the prince era. His contemporaries just used the already existing site as a tomb," mused Elle.
Noor opened an eye. " Could be, yes--" She slowly sat up. "Which could bring us around the time where the whole plan crisis occurred. It would make sense because those people didn't have the means to make so deep an excavation, it would have asked a much more developed civilization--" She stopped short and stared at her friend.
Gabrielle wiggled her eyebrows with a sly smile. "I think we should tell the General."
"Tell the General what?"
The General strode in the room as they both stood at attention. "May I know why you two aren't doing your watch and why does this place look like a complete junkyard?" he demanded sternly.
Gabrielle couldn't resist a comment. "Don't insult her-- never mind, sir," she hastily concluded, straightening her stance when Kenobi cast her a sharp glance. When it was only the three of them, the tone was usually less formal than in front of the crew, but now he was in the general mode and obviously not in a bantering mood.
Noor waited for the ranting session to be over and calmly said : "We might have found where the plans are, sir."
In a second, Kenobi had the room's door closed and locked without even moving a finger. "Go on."
She proceeded to tell him all the details. "Well, of course, all of this is a speculation. I still have to find elements to confirm what the nature of the soil seems to indicate, but so far, it's our best chance."
"But the tomb of the Prince has been carefully searched and surveyed. How can be sure that they are still there?" Gabrielle intervened.
Kenobi shook his head. "There is nothing certain about it, but I don't think that the Jedi have treated this matter lightly, they knew that people would try to find it. It has to be there."
"Well, it only took me three days to locate the potential hiding place," Noor pointed out, " and I am not even a very experienced archeologist."
"All the archeologists aren't Jedi and not all of them have--" he bent down to look at the note book Noor held, "your father's report? Is it the one that was published?"
"No, it's his personal notes and thoughts about all his excavations, he wrote there all the oddities and anecdotes about the different sites. It's too messy and elusive to be published. "
"Have you heard of any work that mentions that section of Caesarea and the showing limestone?"
"Mentioned yes, in some minor reports that nobody reads except the specialists, but analyzed not really."
"I guess that gives us a slight advantage. The council suspects that your father knew where the plans were. Commander Baron, will you please go and take up the watch now? Your absence would trigger curiosity. Inform the crew that the commander is sick or something like that. We will try to figure out this issue a bit further."
Gabrielle nodded before taking her leave.
Once they were alone in the room Noor returned to her seat. "People will talk," she declared simply.
The look on his face showed that they could darn well talk for all he cared. He grabbed a chair and both returned to work without further comments.
Two hours later, Kenobi resolutely pushed the huge dictionary of Eastern archeology aside thinking that his head was going to implode. He looked over at Noor who looked close enough to fall off her chair, although she was feverishly manipulating big expanses of papers, tracing, drawing, erasing, starting again. He rose, walked around the desk and bent over her shoulder to peruse the object of her active interest.
"The ancient City," he said, recognizing Caesarea's series of ramparts on the maps scattered in front of her.
"Yes." She brushed her hands over her tired eyes. " I'm trying to make head or tail of my father's drawings and notes. If the Council is right then there must be at least a clue somewhere."
He looked closer to the sketch she was drawing. "So this is what your whole family swore to protect? There is so little left though, just some sand and carved stones, a kingdom fallen to dust. Yes," he said, grazing lightly on the paper surface, "it looks almost-- dead."
She turned to face him, eyeing him attentively. She sensed that his comment reached far beyond the Roman city and realized with a pang that he might have also meant the Order, and his own life serving it. Her voice softened as she tried to answer his possible double meaning.
" Oh, no, don't think that, it's so much more."
"What is it then?" he inquired caught by the sudden change of her inflection.
She smiled up to him. " Something infinitely graver, fainter. It's a dream."
He observed her for a short while. "You always live in a bubble, Alrahan."
"Yes, my job is a big bubble that provides me food and shelter. Aren't I the lucky one?"
"You're scared of the world," he said in a low voice.
Noor was a bit taken aback by that answer. "What?"
"And you are scared of me," he stated quietly.
She snorted nervously, "That was pretty desperate, General."
She always felt so at loss when it came to handle him, it always brought up a kind of a defensive edge in her lest he. lest he what?
"I just know what I see. You should open your eyes to what surrounds you, people who died centuries ago in foreign countries aren't a life. Maybe that.unlocking yourself would enable you to see things that are worth it."
Noor raised an amused eyebrow. "Will you dare to assert that you are convinced by your own words?"
Kenobi grimaced and broke into a boyish grin shaking his head. "Not really. Not today."
Noor remained struck in her chair. Force! He could warn before doing things like this! She stared giving in to his contagious smile, realizing for the first time that the man had dimples. Dimples--
She berated herself for suddenly turning all girl on him, but she couldn't help her increasing curiosity toward the man appearing through the stern persona he had given himself during his whole life. She shook herself.
"The most powerful, tangible things were dreamt first. The Roman Empire was a dream, the Republic was a dream, the Jedi was one too. Dreams are not always some elusive transportation into fantasy fogging the mind, they are the fragile beginnings of something greater, they are a vehicle for the subconscious and they are worth fighting for, we are both the living proof of it."
"Tell me then, Alrahan, does you bubble have room for two?"
Maybe this was the way. She patted the desk near her. "Sit here, I'll show you."
He smirked. "Always the great conjurer of dreamy visions."
" Just wait until you've seen it all," she said wiggling her eyebrows. "Be still now," she directed gently.
He complied. She leant towards him and put her finger between his eyes. "Relax now, close your eyes, and concentrate on my touch." She watched him gasp lightly as their surroundings faded away. A smile danced in her gaze and she let him go.
~*~
It was daybreak.
He was standing on a broad paved road, the blue-gray shadows stretched lazily in the corners. It was before the glowing scorching day, before the tawny gold hours of the East.
Not dark anymore, nor light yet.
Not a sound came to his ears, not a presence could be felt through the Force, only the whisper of the wind. A city at dawn for a lone man who believed--in what? No one would bear his name and carry it along after him. He wouldn't marry, he wouldn't have children, all he would leave behind would be a shadowy part in some improbable legends, and a bunch of old stories that would fall before long into oblivion. Did he suffer from it? He had chosen this path.
He knew what had transpired between Senator Amidala and Anakin. Maybe he was failing his apprentice somehow, but he had chosen to look the other way, allowing him tacitly to have what he had denied to himself.
His eyes followed the stout columns holding the buildings high towards the sky. Caesarea spread around him untouched by time as she was when the Caesars made her the pearl of the rebellious Judea. She? Yes, a living energy flowed there, only stilled, hidden beneath the blond stones. He closed his eyes and open himself to the city's heartbeat.
He felt a tug of the Force urging him to move forwards. He walked for a while in the deserted streets, following his instinct. He noticed the archaic weaponry lying haphazardly on the ground. Arrows, torn armors, broken swords hastily left behind, a battle had obviously taken place within the ramparts. Turning left, he walked up a narrow alley, chose to turn left again in the labyrinth of the streets to finally stop in front of a plain wooden door. Without thinking he pushed it.
Behind it was an inner courtyard adorned with flowers. He recognized some of them for having seen them in Noor's hidden garden. In the center was a small pool surrounded by four statues. Kenobi bent down to quench his sudden thirst and bathed his face with the deliciously cool water. When the ripples faded away, he saw the reflection of the statues around him. He turned around and observed them.
Apparently they were allegories, a short sentence in a foreign language was carved in the marble of the pedestal.
:: Latin :: Noor's voice whispered in his mind, still mentally tuned to him.
The first statue pointed a slender finger towards her heart and another one towards her brow. As he examined the inscription beneath it, Noor translated:
BALANCE--TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS FIRST, REASON WILL ALWAYS FOLLOW.
A long stone veil draped the second statue's head,
MYSTERY-INVISIBLE AND PRESENT I STAND BEHIND THE VEIL.
More and more puzzled Kenobi moved towards the third statue. This one was entirely veiled as well except the eyes which stared piercingly ahead. The sentence below read:
VERITAS--NO PERQUISIRAS ME SI NON REPERIES ME ANTEA.
:: 'You would not seek me if you had not already found me', :: said Noor. :: This is the allegory of Truth. It's very strange, what sort of game is this? ::
Kenobi did not answer; his gaze was fixed on the fourth statue's face. It represented an imposing warrior but his expression was mild and serene.
:: What does it say ?:: he breathed.
Noor hesitated for she knew what he was thinking, then spoke up:
CONSOLATION-HONOR YOUR PREDECESSORS BUT DO NOT FORGET TO LIVE.
A lone tear trailed on the hardened General's face.
" Master," he breathed and reached out a hand to touch reverently the representation of this long lost paternal figure.
Instead of the cold stone his fingers brushed something warm and soft. Solid too. His eyes flew open to discover that he was leaning forwards with his hand resting against Noor's shoulder. He removed it and inhaled deeply to regain his bearings. His eyes were wide and questioning.
Noor peered at him as confused as he was, her own strolls in the city were much more peaceful.
"Caesarea is many centuries wise, she talks to our souls. She gives advice and acts like a mirror, a kind of allegory of what is harbored deep inside oneself," Noor said, trying to explain what happened.
"Nothing dreamy in fact," he snorted dryly, attempting to regain his composure. He lowered his head staring absently at the floor.
"Nothing bad either," she replied, brushing back shyly a strand of his hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.
Her eyes suddenly grew wide in alarm and Kenobi's head snapped up. A strong rippling of the Force had them both scrambled to their feet.
"Kenobi!"
"I know I sensed it too."
A second later the ship was shaken by a large jolt and the alarms started blaring.
"We're under attack! To the bridge!" Shouted the General.
*****