Nothing!
Noor plopped down in a chair under the shade of the wide black canvas open- sided tent beneath which the different teams took their meals. She leaned heavily on the table in front of her and exhaled, overcome by the midday heat and her frustration. Everybody was starting to gather for lunch, rushing immediately towards the water distributors. The day would be long.
Kenobi walked along the shore up to the shelter, smiling warmly to the different teams when they greeted him and made his way through the crowd to the secluded table she had chosen. He immediately caught the far off expression on her face. " You managed to get in touch with Gabrielle's family at last, didn't you?"
Noor only nodded, unwilling to discuss it.
She spoke up almost reluctantly after a moment, "I don't even know where is her body."
She was grateful when he simply drew the back of his finger along her cheek without commenting. When it came to that, he always knew what to do and when to remain quiet. She watched him put a plate and a glass of water in front of her, pushing it toward her in a silent invitation.
"There's nothing in this damn tomb!" she finally said with a weary voice. "I've examined it inch by inch, retranslated and interpreted the paintings on the walls myself, compared it with the previous works of other archeologists, all of this for three weeks. No results. Maybe it's not here after all, maybe---I don't know, I'm running out of ideas."
"It has remained undiscovered for three millenniums. I should think that the Jedi had hidden it so it would keep you busy for at least three weeks," he asserted, eying her closely, concerned that this search was draining her. "Don't lose patience."
"You talk like an archeologist but it's is not a usual search here. We don't know how much time we have before potentially half the galaxy hunt us down, get the plans and blow up the world. This tiny detail suddenly adds a lot of pressure!"
He shushed her, casting a glance around them and answered calmly. "I'm taking care of that part, yours is to find what we are looking for and fretting won't help you to do it more quickly."
As she pursed her lips, unconvinced, he stretched his sore back, earning a good ogling from the female searchers. 'Handsome Ben', as they called him, combining manners, beautiful smile, clear eyes and a very interesting body had kept them rather busy for the last couple of weeks. Noor raised an eyebrow at them and they all promptly looked away. Kenobi noticed it and smiled to himself, shaking his head lightly.
"I've never suspected that archeology could be so painful," he sighed, wincing as he sat down across from Noor who looked at him derisively.
"Consider it a just payback for the saber training."
"Thank you for your sympathy. A considerate wife would have offered to rub my shoulders," he retorted.
She observed him for a short moment as he gave her a crooked smile, something he had done a lot more lately. He had let the distant Master persona slip, blending easily in the exuberant 'family' of searchers, all bound by the same passion to give a new life to the Roman city. Noor nodded knowingly to herself. Caesarea had that effect on people.
"Well, I guess I can't blame you for trying." She was smiling by now, bringing a warm glint in the Jedi's clear eyes. Some people passed by them, covering the 'young couple' with half ironic, half knowing glances. The story of their elopement had, of course, spread like wildfire around the camp.
He lowered his voice and bent over the table towards her. "I was wondering, what excuse did you find to make Minevan allow you to work in the tomb?"
"I said that there was some connection between the wall paintings of the recently cleared up buildings and the tomb's."
"Is there?" Kenobi asked with curiosity.
"Not really, there are some similar details, but nothing striking. The tomb is much more ancient and was sealed. What about you? Aren't you quite done with that the storage room dig up by now?"
"Well, apparently, we uncovered the foundations of another older building beneath the warehouse this morning, that's why it took so long," he answered, watching Noor vigorously attacking the food.
She lifted her head after a moment and saw him staring at her, both his eyebrows raised in an amused wonder. "What?" she asked gruffly.
"Nothing, it's a real pleasure to treat you lunch." He gave a sardonic grin before adding pensively, "wolfing down enough food for two people in a record time, without even bothering to breathe between two bites takes quite a talent."
She watched him blankly, looking perfectly immune to his sense of humor, before returning to her plate.
"Don't hurt yourself though," he commented as she prepared to engulf another impressive serving of stew.
"Three months of field rations, Kenobi, that's all I have to say."
"Ah, yes. Well, the result is quite fascinating. Do you do anything else with the same appetite?" he inquired with a smirk, carrying the bantering on.
She stopped chewing and stared at him. He looked a bit puzzled by her reaction before his eyes widened slightly and a touch of red brushed the big bad General's cheeks.
" I, I mean."
"That was graceful, Kenobi, really," she uttered deadpan, taking her time for the sheer pleasure of seeing him shift slightly on his chair.
There was an awkward pause.
Noor started to laugh. To her greatest surprise, he joined in. Not a mere chuckle or a derisive snigger, but a warm, unguarded laughter. It was the first time she heard it and it brought another smile on her face, she liked that deep rich sound. A lot.
~*~
It was too hot under that tent. Her eyes went off focus, beyond the documents she had studied a hundred times, not minding the constant buzz of the flies above her head anymore.
Maeve closed the book that lay abandoned in front of her sister. It was late in the afternoon and the sunbeams seeping through the opening were painting a part of Noor's face in a tawny glow, leaving the other side in the shadow.
"I think it's enough for today," the older woman stated, trying to dispel the sudden discomfort that washed over her as she observed her sister.
Noor rose and walked up to the entrance, pushing the rough fabric apart to watch outside. A flow of crude blue sea and glowing cloudless sky irrupted, almost blinding. From afar, the pillars of Herod's temple were starting to take the coppery shade of the end of the day.
"It has to be somewhere," she said to no one in particular.
"How long has it been since you've slept?"
She didn't answer.
Maeve shook her head. She went to stand beside her and lightly rubbed her arm, "this strange gift Nature gave you, it's burning you up, Noor."
The younger woman stared in her sister's dark gaze. Something tightened in her as she read what the black depths seemed to whisper. She pushed the flap further, slipping outside in the direction of the shore. She welcomed the moist warmth of the wind wrapping her as she strolled bare foot in the cooling sand.
A hand clasped her arm, making her jump. She smacked Kenobi square in the chest which left him rather unaffected.
"Don't do that! It's plain creepy!"
He grasped her wrist and pulled her after him as he strode towards the warehouse without leaving her time to rant any further. "I thought you heard me, come, we might have found something."
A group of searchers was forming around the excavation of the last building they had found. Getting through the crowd, Kenobi drew her in front of him and pointed to the different levels of walls they had uncovered.
"See? Under what has been a storage room from the Roman era was a more ancient edifice. Probably a house. The part we found today was certainly the religious room dedicated to the gods and the ancestors."
"My congratulations, professor," she said, amused by the scholar inflections and the excitement of the Jedi.
"Pay attention to the figures on the painting, young philistine."
" That's a very serious abuse around here, you know," she shot back, squinting her eyes to make out the walls' reddish painted adornments at the bottom of the pit.
Kenobi leaned down and whispered in her ear discreetly. "Look better, to the left."
He felt her froze as she spotted a veiled form among the elaborated elements of decoration.
:: The Mourner,:: she gasped.
:: Don't you recognize it ? I saw her in Caesarea.::
:: In that kind of visions, the link doesn't let me see through your eyes. I felt what you felt, but I didn't see anything.::
:: Well, she was one of the statues.::
:: She's one of the allegories? Then if she is--Let's try to reach the tomb unnoticed, there's something I must show you.::
She slowly backed up and saw Minevan heading their way. Kenobi looked over to where Garrett and Maeve were standing, darting his eyes towards the approaching man. They nodded in return and called after the archeologist, engaging him in a discussion about the fresco.
The two Jedi disappeared in the crowd. They walked along the aqueduct to stay out of sight and left the shore toward the cliff.
"Hold on." She went into in the dark cavity and activated the generator. Kenobi entered in a now lit up room made in the rock.
Faded paintings covered the walls, it represented with a remarkable sense of detail and realism various scenes of war or hunting. It even portrayed an elusive moment of a family intimacy. On another panel spread a wide city.
"We are in the first antechamber. The mural retraces the main events of prince Abd-Ashtart's life and the construction of Caesarea as it was before the Roman Empire," explained Noor. She pointed out and named briefly the main figures standing out in the various scenes.
Kenobi was listening attentively, obviously taken with the story. It was not his culture or even his planet, but he had the giddy impression that he would just have to reach out to the colored wall to touch time itself. The very air here was thick with hushed echoes of human presence.
Noor smiled up to him, "We might not be useful in times of war or peace, but you seem to find us interesting after all."
The Jedi recognized once more how Noor always seemed to have a perfect sense of timing when it came to throw your own words in your face. 'Highly feminine trait,' he reckoned and he smiled back to her, remembering their stormy meeting in front of the Council. So many things had changed since that time, he thought, looking at her as she moved to a darker corner.
"Here are the details of the huge challenge that was the building of the ramparts, an-"
"Noor! Look up there!" he interrupted her, crossing the room in a few long strides. Beside the city was represented a woman pointing alternatively to her heart and her brow.
"The first allegory! Balance," he said.
"Come along!" She rushed towards the long and narrow stairway at the other end of the antechamber leading down to another room.
"Second antechamber. Here is the first Mourner, do you recognize it?" she asked, indicating the wall on the left.
"Yes!" he said as soon as he saw the veiled silhouette with a set of sharp eyes. "It's the allegory of Truth."
"Oh boy! At last! There's exactly the same one painted on one of Herod's temple's pillars!" she cried out excitedly as she hurtled down another series of steps.
Kenobi followed her into a dimly lit room of smaller proportions. In the middle stood a massive marble tomb carved with fine patterns. Noor turned to the left without hesitation.
"Here it is! Mystery," he exclaimed.
The same entirely veiled form he had seen in his vision and in the building outside was painted on the wall in front of them. Noor fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her father's journal. She leafed through it and beamed as she handed it to Kenobi. It was a sketch of the allegory.
"It was found in the underwater excavation when the diving team was exposing the base of one of the Herodian towers outside of the harbor's channel!"
She turned toward him. " Now I understand the real meaning of my father's comment about the tomb. He wrote that this place worked like a riddle and that the solution was inside. I didn't realize that he didn't imply some paintings or an object in the tomb, but a person!"
"The solution is always inside oneself," Kenobi said, quoting an old Jedi line of wisdom.
Noor rolled her eyes and grinned, "We should have known, this bears the blatant Order's trademark. I have to admit that it's quite ingenious though. You are the answer."
"This is the nicest thing you've said to me in a long time, Alrahan."
"I don't intent to make it a habit, Kenobi."
"I've never fooled myself about it, your ladyship," he replied with a sarcastic wink.
She grabbed his hand, timidly lacing her fingers with his and gave a light squeeze. He looked down at her, a bit surprised, but a pleased smile floated in his eyes. She almost snickered victoriously: using tenderness was definitely the best way to make him shut up and do what she wanted. However, when she felt his thumb drawing small circles on the back of her hand as he returned his attention to the mural, all she was able to do for a long minute was to stand there, staring ahead of her, not seeing nor hearing anything and just fighting the urge to lean against him.
She cleared her throat, cursing alternatively her overactive hormones and the Code. "This is very nice, but what are we supposed to do now?"
" You're the specialist. You answer that question"
"Well, we just pointed out that *you* were the answer."
"All right," he started thoughtfully, "one allegory is missing, isn't there another room?"
She shook her head. "No, we looked for secret passages and rooms but this tribe was far less twisted than the Ancient Egyptians."
He remained silent for a moment. "There's something strange about the disposition of the allegories---it reminds me something. Wait for me here," he suddenly said, letting go of her hand and climbing the stairs.
After a while, she joined him in the first antechamber where he was examining the first allegory.
His face suddenly lit up.
"Yes?" she asked expectantly but he simply walked passed her, retracing their steps down to the last room. She rolled her eyes and followed.
"That's it," he whispered to himself.
Noor waved in front of his eyes " Hey! Would you care to share with the 'not chosen' one?"
"The way we took to go down here is exactly the same that I took in the vision."
She frowned, "How so?"
"The first allegory was placed on the panel by the stairs, making us cross the antechamber, then in the next two rooms the allegories were situated on the left. I had to cross a street and turn left twice as well when walking in Caesarea, the statues were in a courtyard behind a door on the left."
"So?" she said, prompting him to develop his reasoning.
"I don't know yet."
He watched Lord Alrahan's sketch once more and frowned. "Your father wrote about riddles. Do you remember the sentences carved below the statues you translated for me? What did the first one say already?"
" 'Trust your instincts--something will always follow,'" she answered hesitantly.
"Reason will always follow," he completed.
"What does it mean?"
"I think that Caesarea was giving us clues to find the plans, let's take the advice and follow our instinct then. Second allegory, Truth. 'You wouldn't seek me if you hadn't already found me.' "
" This probably implies that the solution is right under our nose," said Noor.
Kenobi nodded, "Knowing the Council, it wouldn't surprise me. What was the sentence for Mystery?"
"Umm. Invisible and present, I stand behind the veil."
They glanced at each other and simultaneously turned their heads towards the painted figure.
"I don't think they meant the cloth she's wearing," he stated
"I agree. And if the truth is right under our nose--"
"And present behind a veil--" he added.
They both rushed towards the mural.
"I don't understand, all the walls were sounded without results and there's no joints indicating a hidden room," she mused as she inspected the layer of plaster isolating the paintings from the stone.
" The riddle says, 'present but invisible,' Noor. If there's a hidden passage behind this, the Jedi must have used a special seal to make the opening undetectable. The paintings added later would have finished to conceal it completely."
" What if it's not a room? Would it be hidden behind the plaster layer? Will we have to destroy the painting?" she questioned, horrified.
"I know nothing more than you do. We will see."
"Wrong, Kenobi, you *always* know more than you say. Not again!" she ranted as the lights went out. "It's been years since we've begged the Foundation to change that blasted generator, how are we supposed to work in theses conditions?"
The young woman started to make her way blindly towards the stairs but the Jedi caught her and pushed her against the wall. "Wow there, sir knight! I thought we were to remain serious till the end of- -"
He shushed her. " Listen."
Footsteps were nearing the room.
A moment after, a beam of light scanned the room and spotted them. "Ah, here you are! It seems that the generator gave up on you," Dr Minevan's voice burst in the darkness, making Noor start and wince as her elbow slammed into the wall behind her.
"Yes, I wanted Ben to see the fresco of the tomb. He hadn't found time to come and see it since our arrival," she responded, rubbing her sore elbow.
"I see. Well, I was looking for you to ask you if you wouldn't mind to replace me in the team for a few days. I leave tomorrow for London with Professor Reinhardt, Dr McGrath and Dr Lukas. I will give a report to the Foundation on my way to the conference on Caesarea."
"Oh, right, the launch of the exhibition on Eastern Antiquity at the British Museum. Is Garrett attending the conference too?"
"Yes, he'll talk about the last discoveries of the underwater excavation. So, is it settled?"
"Absolutely."
"Perfect. Don't forget to put the canvas sheets over the newly uncovered areas, it's most likely to rain tomorrow," he advised. "I'll restart the generator on my way out."
" Thank you. We won't be long."
Minevan nodded and bade them goodbye.
"So, do you still find him strange?" asked Kenobi once the light went back. "The fact that I can't feel his aura makes me feel nervous. He seems so-- cold under that amiability. But he wasn't actively bad. What do you think?"
"I don't trust anybody."
"You and your lovely personality--- Oh, God!" she suddenly exclaimed before going through a string of colorful curse Kenobi himself, though well traveled, had never heard of. He followed her eyes above his right shoulder and saw a small breach on the plaster near the allegory.
"I did this!" she gasped, walking to the wall to examine the damage, "when Minevan started me."
He came up behind her and observed the small impact from over her shoulder. As he moved, he caught a faint spark there and suddenly he laughed, wrapped her in his arms and leaned forwards to press a quick peck on the back of her neck, "My little Noor, you're the clumsy genius of the pair."
She stared up at him, confused by his spontaneous demonstration of affection. " Okay, who are you?"
With her still gathered in his arms, he reached out one hand to scratch the breach with his nail a little further.
"Wait", he said when she pushed his hand, appalled, "Do you see that?"
Beneath the damaged plaster appeared what looked like a line of shiny metal.
"A joint?"
He nodded.
"I'm good!" she said excitedly. "Now, how can we open this without ruining completely the mural?"
"We can't do anything without destroying a part of it, but we can keep it minimal," he stated, releasing her.
She turned to watch him reach under his long shirt and retrieved his light saber. "You really can't live without it?"
"Where is yours?" he inquired. Noor smiled and pulled the bottom of her shirt up, revealing her saber fastened to her waist.
"Good. You'll cut along the line down and I'll do the top."
Kenobi tuned down the power of the two beams of energy before they started to work on the metallic sealing. Slowly the outline of a narrow opening appeared in the middle of the fresco. The Jedi switched his saber off and studied the metal from closer, nodding. "Only a light saber has enough power and precision to cut through that type of alloy. Any other instrument would have melt the surface without opening the seal. It was obviously designed for a Jedi to unlock it."
'Or whoever carries a light saber,' thought Noor, not daring to say that aloud. The Sith who killed Master Jinn was certainly not the only member of his order. Could they be after the plans too?
Kenobi moved carefully to lean against the left side of the opening, motioning her to imitate him. They both gave a tentative push. The gate didn't move.
"That's bloody heavy!" the young woman groaned after a few unsuccessful attempts.
"Once again, Noor, this time use the Force."
They gathered the energy around them to give a powerful push. It sent a tremble in the metallic structure before setting it in motion with a loud jarring sound which made them grit their teeth. The gate's resistance unexpectedly gave way and they both fell on the other side in a big cloud of dust. Noor quickly motioned to Kenobi to put his hand in front of his nose before an acrid exhalation of musty air came out from the ancient room.
They waited until the dirt settled down to study their surroundings. The room was completely empty! A vague feeling of failure washed over Noor.
"Is it what we were looking for?" queried Kenobi with a tense voice.
"According to the architecture and the inscriptions on the wall, it could be. But there's not sign of those plans," she answered grimly, she got closer to the walls. "I don't have my pocket light!" she cursed.
Kenobi approached and switched on his blade, holding it above her, near the wall so she could see.
"Who ever called those sabers archaic? I wonder. See? The painting is completely different. You couldn't find this type of pigment in the region at that time and the technique is completely unusual." She scratched lightly the wall and observed the way the powder of plaster fell down. " It's very ancient. This type of coating was used centuries ago. It's probably anterior to the tomb."
" Really? Aren't you going to carbon 14 this to have a precise estimation?" asked Kenobi, obviously proud of his extended knowledge in archeology.
"No sir, we can only date organic elements with carbon 14, not minerals. I thought they taught you Chemistry and Physics back at the Temple," she said with a crooked grin.
He shot her a look which approximately enjoined her to fuck off.
"Drop the approximately part," he commented aloud. She reveled triumphantly in the fact that she had such a bad influence on him as she began to decipher a portion of the writing.
Their usual bantering had dismissed a bit the tension without erasing completely the rising doubts. What if they were wrong? What if the plans weren't there after all?
Suddenly she exclaimed: "I can't bloody believe it! It's the same inscriptions than in the second antechamber and the tomb adorned with more paintings! We can't have faced death and lost people just for this!"
She gave a circular glimpse around her and spotted a dark area on the left wall. Noor activated her saber and went to look at it. "Isn't it the last allegory you saw in the courtyard?" she asked, showing the tall figure to Kenobi who came to stand beside her.
"Yes, it's Consolation."
"Consolation as in ' noooope, thanks for playing with us'? Is it some kind of Jedi joke here?" she uttered impatiently, sensing the long day she had mixed with her disappointment catch up with her.
Kenobi gave her a look before they felt a presence drawing near and rushed out from the room to face an utterly baffled and dismayed Dr Lukas. His ruddy complexion had paled in front of the disastrous sight of the neatly cut piece of mural and his two colleagues smeared with dust standing uneasily in front of him.
" What have you done?" he stuttered in shock.
"Please calm down, we can explain," Kenobi began with his deep soothing voice.
The archeologist reached a hand to examine the irreparable damage caused to the wall. "You pierced a hole in a three thousand year-old fresco, I damn hope that you have an explanation!" he retorted sharply
"We found a secret room, William, no need to bite our heads off for it," Noor shot back crankily.
"Why did you decide to simply attack the painting without referring to us? We might have found a less drastic solution!"
Then, he narrowed his eyes at them. "How did you find it anyway? This tomb has been searched with the most modern instruments without results and you two simply stroll around here, stumble upon an undetectable gate and manage to open what seems to be a nearly impregnable metallic seal with---with what by the way? What's this?" He indicated the hilts the two Jedi held.
"I'm not sure you want to know about it," said Noor, growing uneasy as the situation was clearly getting out of hand.
Kenobi sighed and launched into an explanation. " We found this room because we already knew about it, more or less. We are on a mission here to get back something that was hidden in the tomb several millenniums ago. We didn't call you because it has to remain strictly confidential."
Poor Dr Lukas was gawking at them, " how so? What were you looking for here?"
"The plans of a weapon. We are here to destroy them. If anybody else should discover them, it would trigger off a disaster beyond your imagination," Kenobi went on.
"Secret plans of a weapon in an archeological site? What have I stumbled upon here? A remake of James Bond? What the hell do you take me for?!"
"It's true though. I know it's difficult to imagine but do you think that I would willingly destroy any part of Caesarea while my whole family and I have devoted our lives to restore and protect it? You have known me long enough to see that we are not lying," said Noor convincingly.
Lukas appeared to ponder this and rubbed his eyes, still puzzled. "Honestly I don't know what to think about your story. Anyway, it's up to the Foundation and the senior staff to decide."
"No!" exclaimed the two Jedi.
"We can't prevent you from warning the staff and the Foundation, but for the protection of Caesarea, this *must* remain between us until we find the documents, Dr Lukas. We promise we won't take any decisions without you," Kenobi intervened, glancing at Noor to get her approval, "Do you agree?"
"I don't know. I need to think about it. Please, let's leave this place. It's late and we should all get some rest. I'll see that nobody enters this area and meet you here in the morning," he answered, his natural kindness showing through his perplexity.
The knights nodded a bit reluctantly, knowing that they wouldn't obtain more that night and made their way to the exit. They crossed the settlement in silence until Dr Lukas went into his sleeping quarters.
"It's becoming perilous," said Noor once they were out of earshot.
"Yes, but I have a good hope that he won't betray us."
"Based on what ground? The most logic thing to do would be to tell the senior staff indeed."
The Jedi master gave a small sly grin, "Come on, Noor, don't play coy with me. You noticed it."
"Noticed what?" she inquired, stopping where the lane forked.
"He's been looking at you with starry eyes, following you like a shadow ever since you came back to Caesarea."
" Your scheming is shocking, Kenobi," she stated wide-eyed but amused nonetheless.
"It's called strategy. I'm a diplomat and a general, I'm trained to use any asset I have."
She snorted, " Yes, with me in the part of the bait." She heaved a dramatic sigh, " And so crumbles my ideal of unconditional Jedi integrity."
"I'm conscious that it's not a type of method you're familiar with," he said with a smirk, clearly implying that he was aware of the fact she was shamelessly using it on him. She rolled her eyes and headed toward her tent.
*****
Noor plopped down in a chair under the shade of the wide black canvas open- sided tent beneath which the different teams took their meals. She leaned heavily on the table in front of her and exhaled, overcome by the midday heat and her frustration. Everybody was starting to gather for lunch, rushing immediately towards the water distributors. The day would be long.
Kenobi walked along the shore up to the shelter, smiling warmly to the different teams when they greeted him and made his way through the crowd to the secluded table she had chosen. He immediately caught the far off expression on her face. " You managed to get in touch with Gabrielle's family at last, didn't you?"
Noor only nodded, unwilling to discuss it.
She spoke up almost reluctantly after a moment, "I don't even know where is her body."
She was grateful when he simply drew the back of his finger along her cheek without commenting. When it came to that, he always knew what to do and when to remain quiet. She watched him put a plate and a glass of water in front of her, pushing it toward her in a silent invitation.
"There's nothing in this damn tomb!" she finally said with a weary voice. "I've examined it inch by inch, retranslated and interpreted the paintings on the walls myself, compared it with the previous works of other archeologists, all of this for three weeks. No results. Maybe it's not here after all, maybe---I don't know, I'm running out of ideas."
"It has remained undiscovered for three millenniums. I should think that the Jedi had hidden it so it would keep you busy for at least three weeks," he asserted, eying her closely, concerned that this search was draining her. "Don't lose patience."
"You talk like an archeologist but it's is not a usual search here. We don't know how much time we have before potentially half the galaxy hunt us down, get the plans and blow up the world. This tiny detail suddenly adds a lot of pressure!"
He shushed her, casting a glance around them and answered calmly. "I'm taking care of that part, yours is to find what we are looking for and fretting won't help you to do it more quickly."
As she pursed her lips, unconvinced, he stretched his sore back, earning a good ogling from the female searchers. 'Handsome Ben', as they called him, combining manners, beautiful smile, clear eyes and a very interesting body had kept them rather busy for the last couple of weeks. Noor raised an eyebrow at them and they all promptly looked away. Kenobi noticed it and smiled to himself, shaking his head lightly.
"I've never suspected that archeology could be so painful," he sighed, wincing as he sat down across from Noor who looked at him derisively.
"Consider it a just payback for the saber training."
"Thank you for your sympathy. A considerate wife would have offered to rub my shoulders," he retorted.
She observed him for a short moment as he gave her a crooked smile, something he had done a lot more lately. He had let the distant Master persona slip, blending easily in the exuberant 'family' of searchers, all bound by the same passion to give a new life to the Roman city. Noor nodded knowingly to herself. Caesarea had that effect on people.
"Well, I guess I can't blame you for trying." She was smiling by now, bringing a warm glint in the Jedi's clear eyes. Some people passed by them, covering the 'young couple' with half ironic, half knowing glances. The story of their elopement had, of course, spread like wildfire around the camp.
He lowered his voice and bent over the table towards her. "I was wondering, what excuse did you find to make Minevan allow you to work in the tomb?"
"I said that there was some connection between the wall paintings of the recently cleared up buildings and the tomb's."
"Is there?" Kenobi asked with curiosity.
"Not really, there are some similar details, but nothing striking. The tomb is much more ancient and was sealed. What about you? Aren't you quite done with that the storage room dig up by now?"
"Well, apparently, we uncovered the foundations of another older building beneath the warehouse this morning, that's why it took so long," he answered, watching Noor vigorously attacking the food.
She lifted her head after a moment and saw him staring at her, both his eyebrows raised in an amused wonder. "What?" she asked gruffly.
"Nothing, it's a real pleasure to treat you lunch." He gave a sardonic grin before adding pensively, "wolfing down enough food for two people in a record time, without even bothering to breathe between two bites takes quite a talent."
She watched him blankly, looking perfectly immune to his sense of humor, before returning to her plate.
"Don't hurt yourself though," he commented as she prepared to engulf another impressive serving of stew.
"Three months of field rations, Kenobi, that's all I have to say."
"Ah, yes. Well, the result is quite fascinating. Do you do anything else with the same appetite?" he inquired with a smirk, carrying the bantering on.
She stopped chewing and stared at him. He looked a bit puzzled by her reaction before his eyes widened slightly and a touch of red brushed the big bad General's cheeks.
" I, I mean."
"That was graceful, Kenobi, really," she uttered deadpan, taking her time for the sheer pleasure of seeing him shift slightly on his chair.
There was an awkward pause.
Noor started to laugh. To her greatest surprise, he joined in. Not a mere chuckle or a derisive snigger, but a warm, unguarded laughter. It was the first time she heard it and it brought another smile on her face, she liked that deep rich sound. A lot.
~*~
It was too hot under that tent. Her eyes went off focus, beyond the documents she had studied a hundred times, not minding the constant buzz of the flies above her head anymore.
Maeve closed the book that lay abandoned in front of her sister. It was late in the afternoon and the sunbeams seeping through the opening were painting a part of Noor's face in a tawny glow, leaving the other side in the shadow.
"I think it's enough for today," the older woman stated, trying to dispel the sudden discomfort that washed over her as she observed her sister.
Noor rose and walked up to the entrance, pushing the rough fabric apart to watch outside. A flow of crude blue sea and glowing cloudless sky irrupted, almost blinding. From afar, the pillars of Herod's temple were starting to take the coppery shade of the end of the day.
"It has to be somewhere," she said to no one in particular.
"How long has it been since you've slept?"
She didn't answer.
Maeve shook her head. She went to stand beside her and lightly rubbed her arm, "this strange gift Nature gave you, it's burning you up, Noor."
The younger woman stared in her sister's dark gaze. Something tightened in her as she read what the black depths seemed to whisper. She pushed the flap further, slipping outside in the direction of the shore. She welcomed the moist warmth of the wind wrapping her as she strolled bare foot in the cooling sand.
A hand clasped her arm, making her jump. She smacked Kenobi square in the chest which left him rather unaffected.
"Don't do that! It's plain creepy!"
He grasped her wrist and pulled her after him as he strode towards the warehouse without leaving her time to rant any further. "I thought you heard me, come, we might have found something."
A group of searchers was forming around the excavation of the last building they had found. Getting through the crowd, Kenobi drew her in front of him and pointed to the different levels of walls they had uncovered.
"See? Under what has been a storage room from the Roman era was a more ancient edifice. Probably a house. The part we found today was certainly the religious room dedicated to the gods and the ancestors."
"My congratulations, professor," she said, amused by the scholar inflections and the excitement of the Jedi.
"Pay attention to the figures on the painting, young philistine."
" That's a very serious abuse around here, you know," she shot back, squinting her eyes to make out the walls' reddish painted adornments at the bottom of the pit.
Kenobi leaned down and whispered in her ear discreetly. "Look better, to the left."
He felt her froze as she spotted a veiled form among the elaborated elements of decoration.
:: The Mourner,:: she gasped.
:: Don't you recognize it ? I saw her in Caesarea.::
:: In that kind of visions, the link doesn't let me see through your eyes. I felt what you felt, but I didn't see anything.::
:: Well, she was one of the statues.::
:: She's one of the allegories? Then if she is--Let's try to reach the tomb unnoticed, there's something I must show you.::
She slowly backed up and saw Minevan heading their way. Kenobi looked over to where Garrett and Maeve were standing, darting his eyes towards the approaching man. They nodded in return and called after the archeologist, engaging him in a discussion about the fresco.
The two Jedi disappeared in the crowd. They walked along the aqueduct to stay out of sight and left the shore toward the cliff.
"Hold on." She went into in the dark cavity and activated the generator. Kenobi entered in a now lit up room made in the rock.
Faded paintings covered the walls, it represented with a remarkable sense of detail and realism various scenes of war or hunting. It even portrayed an elusive moment of a family intimacy. On another panel spread a wide city.
"We are in the first antechamber. The mural retraces the main events of prince Abd-Ashtart's life and the construction of Caesarea as it was before the Roman Empire," explained Noor. She pointed out and named briefly the main figures standing out in the various scenes.
Kenobi was listening attentively, obviously taken with the story. It was not his culture or even his planet, but he had the giddy impression that he would just have to reach out to the colored wall to touch time itself. The very air here was thick with hushed echoes of human presence.
Noor smiled up to him, "We might not be useful in times of war or peace, but you seem to find us interesting after all."
The Jedi recognized once more how Noor always seemed to have a perfect sense of timing when it came to throw your own words in your face. 'Highly feminine trait,' he reckoned and he smiled back to her, remembering their stormy meeting in front of the Council. So many things had changed since that time, he thought, looking at her as she moved to a darker corner.
"Here are the details of the huge challenge that was the building of the ramparts, an-"
"Noor! Look up there!" he interrupted her, crossing the room in a few long strides. Beside the city was represented a woman pointing alternatively to her heart and her brow.
"The first allegory! Balance," he said.
"Come along!" She rushed towards the long and narrow stairway at the other end of the antechamber leading down to another room.
"Second antechamber. Here is the first Mourner, do you recognize it?" she asked, indicating the wall on the left.
"Yes!" he said as soon as he saw the veiled silhouette with a set of sharp eyes. "It's the allegory of Truth."
"Oh boy! At last! There's exactly the same one painted on one of Herod's temple's pillars!" she cried out excitedly as she hurtled down another series of steps.
Kenobi followed her into a dimly lit room of smaller proportions. In the middle stood a massive marble tomb carved with fine patterns. Noor turned to the left without hesitation.
"Here it is! Mystery," he exclaimed.
The same entirely veiled form he had seen in his vision and in the building outside was painted on the wall in front of them. Noor fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her father's journal. She leafed through it and beamed as she handed it to Kenobi. It was a sketch of the allegory.
"It was found in the underwater excavation when the diving team was exposing the base of one of the Herodian towers outside of the harbor's channel!"
She turned toward him. " Now I understand the real meaning of my father's comment about the tomb. He wrote that this place worked like a riddle and that the solution was inside. I didn't realize that he didn't imply some paintings or an object in the tomb, but a person!"
"The solution is always inside oneself," Kenobi said, quoting an old Jedi line of wisdom.
Noor rolled her eyes and grinned, "We should have known, this bears the blatant Order's trademark. I have to admit that it's quite ingenious though. You are the answer."
"This is the nicest thing you've said to me in a long time, Alrahan."
"I don't intent to make it a habit, Kenobi."
"I've never fooled myself about it, your ladyship," he replied with a sarcastic wink.
She grabbed his hand, timidly lacing her fingers with his and gave a light squeeze. He looked down at her, a bit surprised, but a pleased smile floated in his eyes. She almost snickered victoriously: using tenderness was definitely the best way to make him shut up and do what she wanted. However, when she felt his thumb drawing small circles on the back of her hand as he returned his attention to the mural, all she was able to do for a long minute was to stand there, staring ahead of her, not seeing nor hearing anything and just fighting the urge to lean against him.
She cleared her throat, cursing alternatively her overactive hormones and the Code. "This is very nice, but what are we supposed to do now?"
" You're the specialist. You answer that question"
"Well, we just pointed out that *you* were the answer."
"All right," he started thoughtfully, "one allegory is missing, isn't there another room?"
She shook her head. "No, we looked for secret passages and rooms but this tribe was far less twisted than the Ancient Egyptians."
He remained silent for a moment. "There's something strange about the disposition of the allegories---it reminds me something. Wait for me here," he suddenly said, letting go of her hand and climbing the stairs.
After a while, she joined him in the first antechamber where he was examining the first allegory.
His face suddenly lit up.
"Yes?" she asked expectantly but he simply walked passed her, retracing their steps down to the last room. She rolled her eyes and followed.
"That's it," he whispered to himself.
Noor waved in front of his eyes " Hey! Would you care to share with the 'not chosen' one?"
"The way we took to go down here is exactly the same that I took in the vision."
She frowned, "How so?"
"The first allegory was placed on the panel by the stairs, making us cross the antechamber, then in the next two rooms the allegories were situated on the left. I had to cross a street and turn left twice as well when walking in Caesarea, the statues were in a courtyard behind a door on the left."
"So?" she said, prompting him to develop his reasoning.
"I don't know yet."
He watched Lord Alrahan's sketch once more and frowned. "Your father wrote about riddles. Do you remember the sentences carved below the statues you translated for me? What did the first one say already?"
" 'Trust your instincts--something will always follow,'" she answered hesitantly.
"Reason will always follow," he completed.
"What does it mean?"
"I think that Caesarea was giving us clues to find the plans, let's take the advice and follow our instinct then. Second allegory, Truth. 'You wouldn't seek me if you hadn't already found me.' "
" This probably implies that the solution is right under our nose," said Noor.
Kenobi nodded, "Knowing the Council, it wouldn't surprise me. What was the sentence for Mystery?"
"Umm. Invisible and present, I stand behind the veil."
They glanced at each other and simultaneously turned their heads towards the painted figure.
"I don't think they meant the cloth she's wearing," he stated
"I agree. And if the truth is right under our nose--"
"And present behind a veil--" he added.
They both rushed towards the mural.
"I don't understand, all the walls were sounded without results and there's no joints indicating a hidden room," she mused as she inspected the layer of plaster isolating the paintings from the stone.
" The riddle says, 'present but invisible,' Noor. If there's a hidden passage behind this, the Jedi must have used a special seal to make the opening undetectable. The paintings added later would have finished to conceal it completely."
" What if it's not a room? Would it be hidden behind the plaster layer? Will we have to destroy the painting?" she questioned, horrified.
"I know nothing more than you do. We will see."
"Wrong, Kenobi, you *always* know more than you say. Not again!" she ranted as the lights went out. "It's been years since we've begged the Foundation to change that blasted generator, how are we supposed to work in theses conditions?"
The young woman started to make her way blindly towards the stairs but the Jedi caught her and pushed her against the wall. "Wow there, sir knight! I thought we were to remain serious till the end of- -"
He shushed her. " Listen."
Footsteps were nearing the room.
A moment after, a beam of light scanned the room and spotted them. "Ah, here you are! It seems that the generator gave up on you," Dr Minevan's voice burst in the darkness, making Noor start and wince as her elbow slammed into the wall behind her.
"Yes, I wanted Ben to see the fresco of the tomb. He hadn't found time to come and see it since our arrival," she responded, rubbing her sore elbow.
"I see. Well, I was looking for you to ask you if you wouldn't mind to replace me in the team for a few days. I leave tomorrow for London with Professor Reinhardt, Dr McGrath and Dr Lukas. I will give a report to the Foundation on my way to the conference on Caesarea."
"Oh, right, the launch of the exhibition on Eastern Antiquity at the British Museum. Is Garrett attending the conference too?"
"Yes, he'll talk about the last discoveries of the underwater excavation. So, is it settled?"
"Absolutely."
"Perfect. Don't forget to put the canvas sheets over the newly uncovered areas, it's most likely to rain tomorrow," he advised. "I'll restart the generator on my way out."
" Thank you. We won't be long."
Minevan nodded and bade them goodbye.
"So, do you still find him strange?" asked Kenobi once the light went back. "The fact that I can't feel his aura makes me feel nervous. He seems so-- cold under that amiability. But he wasn't actively bad. What do you think?"
"I don't trust anybody."
"You and your lovely personality--- Oh, God!" she suddenly exclaimed before going through a string of colorful curse Kenobi himself, though well traveled, had never heard of. He followed her eyes above his right shoulder and saw a small breach on the plaster near the allegory.
"I did this!" she gasped, walking to the wall to examine the damage, "when Minevan started me."
He came up behind her and observed the small impact from over her shoulder. As he moved, he caught a faint spark there and suddenly he laughed, wrapped her in his arms and leaned forwards to press a quick peck on the back of her neck, "My little Noor, you're the clumsy genius of the pair."
She stared up at him, confused by his spontaneous demonstration of affection. " Okay, who are you?"
With her still gathered in his arms, he reached out one hand to scratch the breach with his nail a little further.
"Wait", he said when she pushed his hand, appalled, "Do you see that?"
Beneath the damaged plaster appeared what looked like a line of shiny metal.
"A joint?"
He nodded.
"I'm good!" she said excitedly. "Now, how can we open this without ruining completely the mural?"
"We can't do anything without destroying a part of it, but we can keep it minimal," he stated, releasing her.
She turned to watch him reach under his long shirt and retrieved his light saber. "You really can't live without it?"
"Where is yours?" he inquired. Noor smiled and pulled the bottom of her shirt up, revealing her saber fastened to her waist.
"Good. You'll cut along the line down and I'll do the top."
Kenobi tuned down the power of the two beams of energy before they started to work on the metallic sealing. Slowly the outline of a narrow opening appeared in the middle of the fresco. The Jedi switched his saber off and studied the metal from closer, nodding. "Only a light saber has enough power and precision to cut through that type of alloy. Any other instrument would have melt the surface without opening the seal. It was obviously designed for a Jedi to unlock it."
'Or whoever carries a light saber,' thought Noor, not daring to say that aloud. The Sith who killed Master Jinn was certainly not the only member of his order. Could they be after the plans too?
Kenobi moved carefully to lean against the left side of the opening, motioning her to imitate him. They both gave a tentative push. The gate didn't move.
"That's bloody heavy!" the young woman groaned after a few unsuccessful attempts.
"Once again, Noor, this time use the Force."
They gathered the energy around them to give a powerful push. It sent a tremble in the metallic structure before setting it in motion with a loud jarring sound which made them grit their teeth. The gate's resistance unexpectedly gave way and they both fell on the other side in a big cloud of dust. Noor quickly motioned to Kenobi to put his hand in front of his nose before an acrid exhalation of musty air came out from the ancient room.
They waited until the dirt settled down to study their surroundings. The room was completely empty! A vague feeling of failure washed over Noor.
"Is it what we were looking for?" queried Kenobi with a tense voice.
"According to the architecture and the inscriptions on the wall, it could be. But there's not sign of those plans," she answered grimly, she got closer to the walls. "I don't have my pocket light!" she cursed.
Kenobi approached and switched on his blade, holding it above her, near the wall so she could see.
"Who ever called those sabers archaic? I wonder. See? The painting is completely different. You couldn't find this type of pigment in the region at that time and the technique is completely unusual." She scratched lightly the wall and observed the way the powder of plaster fell down. " It's very ancient. This type of coating was used centuries ago. It's probably anterior to the tomb."
" Really? Aren't you going to carbon 14 this to have a precise estimation?" asked Kenobi, obviously proud of his extended knowledge in archeology.
"No sir, we can only date organic elements with carbon 14, not minerals. I thought they taught you Chemistry and Physics back at the Temple," she said with a crooked grin.
He shot her a look which approximately enjoined her to fuck off.
"Drop the approximately part," he commented aloud. She reveled triumphantly in the fact that she had such a bad influence on him as she began to decipher a portion of the writing.
Their usual bantering had dismissed a bit the tension without erasing completely the rising doubts. What if they were wrong? What if the plans weren't there after all?
Suddenly she exclaimed: "I can't bloody believe it! It's the same inscriptions than in the second antechamber and the tomb adorned with more paintings! We can't have faced death and lost people just for this!"
She gave a circular glimpse around her and spotted a dark area on the left wall. Noor activated her saber and went to look at it. "Isn't it the last allegory you saw in the courtyard?" she asked, showing the tall figure to Kenobi who came to stand beside her.
"Yes, it's Consolation."
"Consolation as in ' noooope, thanks for playing with us'? Is it some kind of Jedi joke here?" she uttered impatiently, sensing the long day she had mixed with her disappointment catch up with her.
Kenobi gave her a look before they felt a presence drawing near and rushed out from the room to face an utterly baffled and dismayed Dr Lukas. His ruddy complexion had paled in front of the disastrous sight of the neatly cut piece of mural and his two colleagues smeared with dust standing uneasily in front of him.
" What have you done?" he stuttered in shock.
"Please calm down, we can explain," Kenobi began with his deep soothing voice.
The archeologist reached a hand to examine the irreparable damage caused to the wall. "You pierced a hole in a three thousand year-old fresco, I damn hope that you have an explanation!" he retorted sharply
"We found a secret room, William, no need to bite our heads off for it," Noor shot back crankily.
"Why did you decide to simply attack the painting without referring to us? We might have found a less drastic solution!"
Then, he narrowed his eyes at them. "How did you find it anyway? This tomb has been searched with the most modern instruments without results and you two simply stroll around here, stumble upon an undetectable gate and manage to open what seems to be a nearly impregnable metallic seal with---with what by the way? What's this?" He indicated the hilts the two Jedi held.
"I'm not sure you want to know about it," said Noor, growing uneasy as the situation was clearly getting out of hand.
Kenobi sighed and launched into an explanation. " We found this room because we already knew about it, more or less. We are on a mission here to get back something that was hidden in the tomb several millenniums ago. We didn't call you because it has to remain strictly confidential."
Poor Dr Lukas was gawking at them, " how so? What were you looking for here?"
"The plans of a weapon. We are here to destroy them. If anybody else should discover them, it would trigger off a disaster beyond your imagination," Kenobi went on.
"Secret plans of a weapon in an archeological site? What have I stumbled upon here? A remake of James Bond? What the hell do you take me for?!"
"It's true though. I know it's difficult to imagine but do you think that I would willingly destroy any part of Caesarea while my whole family and I have devoted our lives to restore and protect it? You have known me long enough to see that we are not lying," said Noor convincingly.
Lukas appeared to ponder this and rubbed his eyes, still puzzled. "Honestly I don't know what to think about your story. Anyway, it's up to the Foundation and the senior staff to decide."
"No!" exclaimed the two Jedi.
"We can't prevent you from warning the staff and the Foundation, but for the protection of Caesarea, this *must* remain between us until we find the documents, Dr Lukas. We promise we won't take any decisions without you," Kenobi intervened, glancing at Noor to get her approval, "Do you agree?"
"I don't know. I need to think about it. Please, let's leave this place. It's late and we should all get some rest. I'll see that nobody enters this area and meet you here in the morning," he answered, his natural kindness showing through his perplexity.
The knights nodded a bit reluctantly, knowing that they wouldn't obtain more that night and made their way to the exit. They crossed the settlement in silence until Dr Lukas went into his sleeping quarters.
"It's becoming perilous," said Noor once they were out of earshot.
"Yes, but I have a good hope that he won't betray us."
"Based on what ground? The most logic thing to do would be to tell the senior staff indeed."
The Jedi master gave a small sly grin, "Come on, Noor, don't play coy with me. You noticed it."
"Noticed what?" she inquired, stopping where the lane forked.
"He's been looking at you with starry eyes, following you like a shadow ever since you came back to Caesarea."
" Your scheming is shocking, Kenobi," she stated wide-eyed but amused nonetheless.
"It's called strategy. I'm a diplomat and a general, I'm trained to use any asset I have."
She snorted, " Yes, with me in the part of the bait." She heaved a dramatic sigh, " And so crumbles my ideal of unconditional Jedi integrity."
"I'm conscious that it's not a type of method you're familiar with," he said with a smirk, clearly implying that he was aware of the fact she was shamelessly using it on him. She rolled her eyes and headed toward her tent.
*****