Fire and Ice

The lights of the worldwide city glowed in the blackness and the blue eyes staring down at them flared in frustration. The coldness of space had sunk its way into the sleek transport that orbited just outside of the city planet, but Jedi Master in the small, silver ship did not notice or care much. Siri Tachi was known for not keeping her emotions hidden from everyone around her, but in this case even her stare could melt like fire to metal.

The master tapped her foot impatiently waiting for clearance to enter the airways of Courascant. "Come on. come on!" She muttered under her breath in- between curses. "Force! How long must this take!?"

It had been a long past two days travel back to the temple and each passing hour the Jedi's emotions grew more and more hot. Despite an urgent call from the Council to return immediately, one call in which she could not get much information out of. Her Padawan Ferrus had been acting up, more so than his usual big ego. The boy had become reckless, almost causing a failure in their mission. The master was almost sure that was why they had been called back at first.

Or perhaps that was what the Master wished they had been called back for. Siri knew in the back of her mind and in the bottom of her gut that there was something bigger than Ferrus not behaving properly. The Force had come back with an old sensation of odium, one that was all too familiar the Jedi. And sitting in space did not make her feel at ease with the different emotions raging through her at the moment.

A small beep interrupted Siri's thoughts. Looking down she took her comlink off her belt and sat back in her seat lazily sighing. Her voice was flat and annoyed. "What."

"Siri?"

"Z!" Sitting up the master's eyes widened at the voice of her old friend. But something in Zae-Non's voice was curious. "What's wrong?"

After a small pause a sigh escaped threw the comlink. "So they did not tell you."

"Tell me." Siri trailed off. "Why they called me back?"

"Yes, partially."

"Wait, where are you?"

Zae-Non chuckled slightly in aggravation. "Mace is a great guy, but sometimes he makes the stupidest decisions."

"You are stalling Z."

"So you realized?" She paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I am at the temple, I'll meet you when your ship arrives." And with that the link went dead.

Sitting back Siri laughed. "Mace made a stupid decision."

Mumbling to herself the master shook her head. She would find out sooner or later and with what she could tell, the respected council member would be getting a few heated words when she got back.

Why did she have a feeling that it was going to be a long time until her sinking feeling would be going away?
What Came to Pass: Part I

Adi sighed as she watched her Padawan sitting by the waterfall, legs held up against her chest her head resting lightly on her knees. The mists of the falling water sprayed the young girl and clung to her air, giving its dirty blonde color a lively sparkle in the replica sunset that painted the ceiling above. But no matter how vivacious anything around her looked, seemed, or felt she knew that Siri was still curled up for a reason.

The girl had not said anything more than the usual words to her master since she had been released from the medical ward. Nothing more than the hellos and good nights. She was too afraid of letting her emotions get the best of her. It seemed that almost everything the Padawan opened her mouth tears come down her face instead of words.

Siri glanced quickly at her master and gave a forced half smile before turning back to the water fall. She enjoyed watching it fall unconscientiously onto the rocks and splash into the small pool at the bottom of the falls. It reminded her of the days just a few months before when everything was all right, normal. The days when she would walk from class to class laughing with her friends and sleeping at night careless and unafraid of nightmares, interrupting her dreams.

In the beginning everything seemed to be going all right. Things were getting back to normal, or as ordinary as they would ever get. The three Padawans healed fine physically, save for a few longer lasting affects and apparently Obi-Wan and Zae-Non were back in their classes.

But the mental after affects were always worse. The two older Padawans seemed so much more open than Siri. They were diffident at first to talk to anyone but each other, but eventually they opened up or at least that what she thought. They seemed better, or were they just better at hiding it all? Siri on the other hand was still scared. She did not know what to say. She did not know if they would believe her. She still did not trust anyone fully yet.

Why was it so difficult? The young Jedi had difficulty understanding it herself. She wanted to talk, she knew that. She knew it was better to let it go instead of letting it stay inside. But why was she scared? Countless times had Adi tried to talk to her, get something out, but they just ended up sitting in silence for hours on end.

Siri could describe Showdow down to every scar that marred his face. She could still hear the pain in her friend's voice, the desperation in her own. She could still picture the look from the blood carver, the fire that burned in his eyes. The insanity that had taken over him. She wanted to talk about everything, tell what she had been through. But finding the words to describe the things she had to witness feel.they always seemed to fly away at the second she was willing to speak.

Siri looked behind her as soft voices floated across the grassy area from where her master stood and she sat. Obi-Wan was talking with Adi his back turned so Siri could not make out what he was saying. Shifting around on the rock she sat on Siri opened her hearing up as she had been trained and tried to listen in on the conversation.

After a little while she gave up and stood up gradually. She had not really moved in a while so her stiff legs took a second to gain their ground. Sighing at herself the Padawan warily walked over hoping not to disrupt anything.

Obi-Wan turned around a small smile creasing his features. "Hey Siri." He said lightly. He voice was nothing like the joyful ring it used to be, but it was not flat as it had been the past weeks.

Siri waved dully back. She still did not feel like talking. Staring her friend in the eye she forced a smile and then waved to her master.

"Siri." Adi sighed heavy shaking her head. She was beginning to think it was worthless to try anymore. She had to give her Padawan time, but waiting was the hard part. "Padawan why don't you go to dinner with Obi-Wan tonight. I need to go speak with Mace."

The young girl nodded. "See you later."

Obi-Wan bowed. "Night Master Gallia." Turning to his friend he smiled again. "Come on, Bant is waiting in the hall for us." He began across the path that wound its way through the gardens to the lifts, but stopped as he realized Siri was not following. Rolling his eyes and waked back grabbed her wrist and dragged her along. "Stop being such an antisocialist."

Siri sighed loudly as she wrenched her wrist from his grasp and walked along side him. "Well what do you want me to do?" She asked flatly.

The boy shook his head with a light laugh as he pressed the call for the lift. The doors opened and the two stepped inside.

Obi-Wan smiled as his friend sighed again from his lack of answer. "You know, it's not fair that Z and I have to go back to our classes and you don't. How come we have to suffer?"

Siri snorted as the doors opened. "Maybe I shouldn't start next week then. I can just catch you two with a smirk." The doors to the lift opened with a light swoosh and the two stepped out into the hall. Spotting Bant she waved again.

Bant smiled and walked briskly over to the two. "About time." She said with a small laugh. Her silver eyes glimmered in the dim light of the hall. Night had fallen outside and the light from the surrounding city showered into the window she stood in front of. "Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon just passed by. Said he wanted to talk to you after dinner."

"Ok." Obi-Wan quirked an eyebrow. "Why do you sound like something is wrong?"

Bant shrugged. "It looked as though he had just received some bad news."

The three made their way slowly to the cafeteria in silence. Things seemed out of place around everyone still. No one knew what to say to the three Padawans, not even their close friends. Word of their ordeal had spread around the temple like wildfire and no one wanted to upset the three by saying something wrong. Of course they didn't know what was wrong or not. So everyone seemed to be avoiding them, which in turn did not help the situation much.

Siri spotted Zae-Non sitting at a table with their friend Garen. The two were laughing something the other had said.

Sitting down Obi-Wan stared at the two until they stopped laughing and gained their breath. "What did we miss."

Garen chuckled again. "You do not want to know." He said failing to hold back another laughing fit.

Turning to Z Obi-Wan went to open his mouth, but the expression on her face made him look away. "I really do not want to know do I?"

The older girl nodded a wide grin spreading her face. "No." Turning to Siri across from her she said her hello and leaned in to talk to her friend quietly.

Rolling his eyes Obi-Wan turned to Garen again and shook his head. "They get weirder everyday."

"Yeah, and you are the one always hanging around them."

~*~

Mace leaned against the door to the cafeteria staring idly at the five friends talking quietly with each other. The soft laughs seemed sincere, but deep down they held the tune of force. Everything seemed fie to those that didn't see inside. Everything was back to normal with the three. But anyone willing to look closer only saw the truth.

The Padawan wanted to believe everything was all right. They wanted to forget everything, go back to their normal lives, but they knew they couldn't. Everyone goes through a type of denial when something traumatic happened. Whoever the being it was a natural reaction to keep it in and lock it all away.

This was only the beginning. The start of a long time to heal, but this time it was up to them to start it. When they decided to talk. But for the time being, the charade would stay on.

"I thought you went to change?"

Mace turned to the soft voice behind him. "I will."

Sage laughed with a wide grin. "You had better soon or everyone will begin to wonder why you match the color of your lightsaber."

Sighing the council member shook his head and began out the door. "I am always the pawn of your little tricks. I think by now, I believe, everyone will know that you were up to something if I'm looking like this or anything worse."

The teal-eyed master held her hands up innocently. "Hey this was Adi's idea!" She sighed looking back to her Padawan. Her voice held a sympathetic tone. "She could not stand seeing Siri like this."

Mace nodded in understanding. "Just tell her next time not to use a purple juice."

Beginning down the hall he looked at sage next to him. The smirk on her face made him stop with a quizzed look on his features. "Something you wish to tell me?"

The woman laughed and turned back to the cafeteria, retreating. "You think it was *all* her idea?"