Chapter 5
Jeanna and Silver Songstress knelt before a flickering holo image of a man draped in black robes, his face hidden from the light. "Do not worry, my dears. The brats and their new friends will soon land in Coruscant and you will bring them to me." With that, the image disappeared.
The two dark apprentices smiled at each other. They would not fail their master this time. The brats would be easily taken as soon as they were left unprotected by the Jedi.
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Obi-Wan regarded the two girls as they accompanied the two Jedi and Anakin to the Jedi Temple. He guessed from the awe radiating from them that they had never seen Coruscant before. "Umm, Obi-Wan, tell me again why we have to talk to the Jedi Council," Lonespirit said quietly. He looked out at the buildings as the transport went by, but smiled slightly as he looked at her.
"To tell them all you know of this Dark Jedi," he said. She nodded, looking a little upset.
"It's just… I guess I'm nervous. I mean they are the Jedi Council. Standing in front of a bunch of Jedi Masters and telling our story just sounds so not fun," Lonespirit sighed. Obi-Wan grinned. He felt the same way about it.
Meanwhile, Afton was playing a form of transport bingo with Anakin, much to Qui-Gon's amusement. He noticed neither of them seemed to have a clue what the rules were or how to play it except for crying out what they happened to see. But Ani seemed to have momentarily forgotten to be serious with Afton's encouraging laughter.
Her friend, however, seemed to be dreading standing before the Council as much as Afton was ignoring the issue. He turned to look back at the playmates as both Anakin and Afton dissolved into helpless fits of laughter and giggles. A moment later Lonespirit seemed to have caught it as she doubled over giggling.
"What's so funny?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously. Qui-Gon chuckled. Some days it seemed Obi-Wan had missed out completely on some parts of growing up. Lonespirit gasped for air between bouts of laughter.
"The… they…!" she managed before becoming completely unable to verbalize, the insane picture in her mind of the Jedi Council's heads transposed on Matt Damon's body in its underwear blocking all sanity as they began to dance with several Wookies.
After a moment, the laughter calmed into simple giggles. "Sorry, Afton just infected us with one of her lovely mental pictures," Lonespirit said laughing.
Qui-Gon looked at the petite blond who shrugged and grinned at Lonespirit.
"As if you two didn't embellish it!" She looked at the Jedi Master's suddenly considering look. "What is it?" she asked looking innocent. He shook his head with a soft chuckle.
"Nothing. Here we are," Qui-Gon said as they came to the Jedi Temple.
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Lonespirit looked around the room feeling only a little nervous thanks to Afton's little picture. But she was nervous enough. She wished she had a little more of her friend's ability to appear calm. She was certain she looked like a complete mess.
Afton, on the other hand, wished she looked as serene as Lonespirit did. Especially since they were standing in front of Mace Windu and Yoda. 'Is this what people felt like during the Spanish Inquisition?' she thought and smiled absently at her own foolishness as a bizarre picture of the Jedi Council jumping up and threatening the two of them with a Soft Pillow and Comfy Chair if they didn't answer every question.
Suddenly it felt as though every Council Member was staring at her intently, trying to see every shadow in her mind.
Lonespirit shot her friend a worried glance. Afton understood and started to throw her mental blocks into place only to realize she already had out of sheer habit. For once Jareth's annoying habit of mind reading had come in handy.
Mace Windu sat back in his chair a little. The two girls in front of him had mind shields strong enough to stop a stampeding bantha. And Qui-Gon had mentioned he had a slight suspicion one of them had helped him escape the battle with the Sith on Tatooine. Yet they had little or no training he could sense. 'Though,' he thought wryly, 'with those shields I can't even tell their names.'
'Yes, strange they are. But true their story rings,' Yoda's voice whispered in his mind.
Without warning one of the girls' lowered her shields enough for him to get through. Lonespirit, that was her name. She had known what she was doing when she lowered the blocks, but she was worried about her friends. Jareth being a Sith Lord now meant she had no idea what he might do to them. And the Jedi Knights alone could defeat him, so she let them in. Mace could scarcely believe the pictures she showed him of the labyrinth, the Goblin City, the Goblin King's magic. The King's anger at them for loving Star Wars, for caring what happened to Jedi Knights, and for their refusals of his advances.
He found himself shoved back out of her mind as her shields were put back and her friend's opened.There were other memories in Afton's mind. Enchanting balls in the castle, Jareth worried and angry with her for not returning from a party until the wee hours of the morning. Then the pictures changed. Jareth attempting to seduce her, Jareth in a rage after realizing she would stand up for the Jedi. She too was afraid for her friends, and for this galaxy. She knew the Goblin King and how he loved being powerful- it only made sense that he would be the one to send the droids and his apprentice after them because they could threaten his domination of the Galaxy.
"So certain you are of his becoming Dark?" Yoda asked them as Afton's shields were strengthened again.
"Jareth's always only been a stone throw away from it," Lonespirit said softly.
"Yet you followed him," Mace said. Afton's grin surprised him.
"Some one had to keep him distracted. We just happened to have fun causing him enough problems that he never had a chance to do much damage…" the grin faded, "We just didn't realize how… jealous he might get."
"It's our fault, the listians' fault, that we didn't stop him before he could come here and… Well, we have to help you stop him. Don't underestimate him- he's devious when he wants to be," Lonespirit said.
The Council nodded. The girls were Jareth's goal apparently, and next would be control of the Galaxy and elimination of the Jedi. But Yoda had caught a glimpse of something else in their minds. "Some Jedi training you do have. How long trained as Padawans were you?" he asked. The girls stared, shocked by the question, then looked at each other.
"Um, that's a really long story, but the summary is that we were playing around with these crystals J gave us," Afton said, "And we started making kind of weird wishes…
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The rooms at the Jedi Temple were nice, but the two listians were paying them little attention. Anakin had gone out to play with a couple other kids. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had gone in to speak with Mace and Yoda what seemed like hours ago, telling the girls to stay put. Lonespirit didn't appreciate being cooped up this long. "Let's go exploring," she suggested.
Afton, who had been more or less meditating on the color of Qui-Gon's eyes, giggled. "But we're supposed to be good little girls and do as we're told."
"Since when do we do that? We didn't do that for Jareth and I'm not about to start for them… well, not in the first month of course..."
"Then what are wesa waitin' for? Let's change and tour Coruscant!"
Using their crystals to get new outfits, they quickly changed clothes, fixed their hair and did their make-up, then used the crystals again for getting some credits.
Together the two girls left the room, taking time to leave a short note to the Jedi once they figured out how to work the little holo pad thing before leaving.
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Jeanna's emerald eyes sparkled as she watched the two girls in the crystal. How well they had picked up the mental suggestion of naively running out to play in Coruscant.
Beside her, Silver's blue eyes were glacial as she laughed. 'How much easier could the little brats make this?' she wondered.
"You two seem quite confidant for having failed to catch them just a couple days ago," Millennia said acidly from behind them. Silver shrugged.
"Maybe, but then we know we're not second string plan B," she said.
Selah, already more than a little irked about having to leave Jareth's side, glared at Silver and Millennia. "Lord Jareth put me in charge here and I will not have this mission bungled because you two can't control yourselves. Understand?"
Disclaimer: The Star Wars Characters are George Lucas's. Jareth is Jim Henson's, and the Listians belong to themselves.