A Moment of Peace
Raven was up before the sun the next morning, her guest slumbering deeply in her bed, snoring quietly. She had given him that spot and spent the night on the larger couch. It had been an uneventful night, which left her well rested for some planning.
She cleared off the table near the kitchen, stacking the data cards onto the bar separating the dining area from the actual kitchen. The Rogue produced a map of the sectors of Coruscant, making small notations in a red pen. Occasionally, she would refer back to the cards she had stacked, clarifying a location. After a while, the red pen disappeared and a blue one appeared, making more references of locations.
The map, for the moment, was really no help. She kept records of where she saw Boeta's men when they were outside of their usual settings. However, it was all rather random. The points where she had seen them listening to political speakers were in blue, but they were even more arbitrary, since the speakers themselves often didn't follow a set tour for giving their talks. Whatever game Boeta was playing, Raven had little doubt that he was aware she was tailing him. She had to figure the game out before it was too late.
Light began to diffuse beneath the curtains pulled over her large picture window when Raven stood up from the table and stretched. Joshua was still asleep, and she couldn't help but wonder what had prompted him to become so tired. Jedi didn't generally need much sleep, being trained to ignore to some degree their personal needs. Still, if nothing else, it was a testament to his trust, that he would so relax his guard in her house.
With a few twists of her arms and legs, Raven began to work the sleep from her joints, her mind wandering. She couldn't help but wonder if he had picked up on her unease around him. Something within her still insisted that she trust this Jedi she'd somewhat rescued off the street. However, it had been five years at least since she'd left the Temple, and her instincts, although Jedi-trained, had been honed for a runner's lifestyle. Truths that may hold true for the nobility of the Order could easily get her killed here, where there was no diplomatic protection, no title of Jedi behind which to hide. Not to say that she thought this Qui-Gon Jinn to be a coward; he was simply different from her. They'd made different choices. Choices made from what seemed to be the best move at the time. But times change, don't they? she thought to herself.
She changed from the rumpled clothes she had slept in into a fresh pair of leggings and a tunic. Her senses were tingled at her, although the reason remained lost to her, despite her attempts to locate it. Raven walked over to the picture window, pulling one of the curtains to the side, looking out over her home, her face blank with thought. Eventually her hand reached for her instrument, and broodingly her fingers plucked out a tune as she fiercely stared at nothing at all.
Qui-Gon awoke to the gentle strumming of Raven's ratiuar. He looked out beyond the ledge that framed the bunk, seeing Raven below him on the arm of the couch. Her legs were drawn up, supporting the instrument as well as giving her a brace, keeping her where she was. He didn't recognize the tune or the words that she sang quietly. It took the Jedi a moment to realize they weren't even in Basic.
The Jedi didn't move, enjoying the moment of peace. It seemed that nothing was wrong. He wasn't really on a mission to prevent an assassination that he was woefully uninformed about, there weren't any pressing matters to attend to. Qui-Gon mused on what kind of life he had given up by becoming one of the Jedi. Of course, he always had the option of leaving the Order as Raven had, but somehow he doubted he could ever make that decision. He, too, had his own disagreements with the Council and other small things about the Order. However, he simply spoke his mind and in the end made the best decision he could in the situation. It was all anyone could ever do, make the choice that seems right at the time. However, the moment of peace passed, and he could feel the weight of the Force settle back upon him.
Raven heaved a sigh from below, and he heard a soft melodic reverberation as she placed the ratiuar on the floor. Qui-Gon decided he had been in bed long enough and threw back the covers, shifting down the ladder. He saw her jump and reach reflexively for either her blaster or her lightsaber. She didn't complete the move, though, once she saw it was only he.
"I forgot you were here," she confessed. "Guess I'm a little jumpy." Raven continued down to the kitchen, perching on one of the stools on the tableside of the bar. She sat sideways in it, watching him quietly, her green eyes reflective.
"Why are you jumpy?" Qui-Gon replied, pausing at the top of the staircase between the living room and kitchen. He leaned on the banister, realizing that the mood between them was still very delicate. One wrong comment on either side could bring the whole situation to a pile of rubble.
Silently, she moved around him, turning on the holovid. A concerned voice filled the room, and the picture was of a government building, belching out smoke from the side of it.
"…destroyed in an unknown blast," the commentator informed him, sounding a bit too cheerful for Qui-Gon's taste. "This is the embassy for a small cluster of stars called the Obrid system. Fortunately, none of the senators were in the embassy at the time of the blast, but a number of aides were wounded. Investigations are under way, and the tentative explanation at the moment is that a thermal detonator was left here to destroy this wing of the building. As of right now, there are no confirmed suspects, but officials…"
The voice trailed off as Raven turned off the holovid. "This happened maybe twenty minutes ago, and I turned on the vid when I saw the smoke pluming into the sky from the window. I did some looking through my own information. Valorum isn't connected to that system, although one of the other dissenters is, one by name Ins Usan. He is originally from the Obrid system. Perhaps this is a warning shot to all of the political speakers."
Qui-Gon shrugged. "Or perhaps it isn't. We don't have anything concrete to link my mission to this bombing."
Raven shrugged. "Somehow I doubt that." She glanced out the window for a moment then turned back to Qui-Gon with a grin playing on her lips. "Let's go find a little trouble."
He raised one eyebrow at her curiously, but she had already turned away to throw an over-tunic on, concealing her saber and her blaster. Then, Raven disappeared into the hallway. With a quiet groan, Qui-Gon decided that he might as well follow her.
