Chapter 9 – Jedi Council
Having finally managed to put his robe on properly – after struggling with the belt for a little while -- Atton picked up his lightsaber and proudly looked at his reflection in the galaxy map screen. He walked out of the cockpit (after unlocking the door, which once again made him groan at his own stupidity) and immediately ran into Mira. She made a sound, which almost sounded like admiration.
"Wow! Well, look at you all Jedified!" exclaimed Mira.
Atton eyed her suspiciously. She still made him nervous. I really hope I was wrong when I told Mical that Jedi robes were chick magnets. "You're not going to stun me, are you?" he enquired with narrow eyes.
"No, sweetie," she replied sarcastically. "I only save that for guys I'm actually interested in."
"Good. Cause no offense, but I never trust a woman who can fire a blaster. I especially don't trust a woman who can fire a blaster well."
Atton had begun walking away when Mira commented, "So… you must be happy now… you'll get to join their little meditation circle; no more standing on the sidelines and gawking for you."
Atton stopped, turned, and glared at her. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you and your meditation envy. I saw you a few days ago, spying on Jena and Mical."
"Spy… I wasn't spying," said Atton, trying to laugh it off. He hadn't thought anyone had noticed him.
Mira shrugged. "You can call it what you want. I call it spying and gawking. Anyway, I want you to just cut it out."
"Cut what out?"
"Gawking at Jena."
"Jena! I don't… Gawking?" said Atton a little incoherently, desperately trying to think of a way to cover up his tracks as color rushed up to his face; he didn't fool Mira.
"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Don't you think she's got enough to deal with already?"
"Of course I… I mean… I don't really know what you mean."
"Don't give me that. You know exactly what I mean. I've seen you… the way you watch her constantly… leer at her… always try to be near her… I may not have been around for very long, but it's really hard not to notice."
"Have you ever stopped to consider the fact that maybe you're just crazy and hallucinating?"
Mira shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I've noticed. And well, everybody noticed your little outburst the other day when Jena was trapped on Goto's yacht…"
Atton sounded exasperated. "Oh, for… I was worried. Perhaps this is a concept you're not familiar with. And are you actually going somewhere with this?"
"As a matter of fact I am. Look, I know you're all smitten with Jena and all, and hey, if you were different people in a different situation, we wouldn't be having this conversation… mostly because frankly, if I had a choice, I'd steer clear of you, because I just don't trust you; you've got a weird vibe about you. But the fact remains – she's got enough going on. So just stop watching her."
"Who are you to—"
"Hey, I'm just looking out for her best interest. And if you care about her as much as you claim to…"
"Hey, I'm not claim—"
"…Then you'll be looking out for her best interest too."
Atton glared at Mira. "I don't have to listen to this," he said abruptly, exiting the room. How is this any of her business? I'm not doing anything at all to Jena anyway. She only sees me as a friend. So what if I watch her? He scoffed at Mira's warnings and started searching the ship for Jena. After walking past the unimpressed Kreia, he found her talking to Mical, giving him a quick rundown of what she would be doing at the Jedi Enclave. Mical turned a rather bright shade of pink when he saw Atton "Jedified". He immediately regained his composure and acted as though nothing was wrong.
"Oh, good. You're here," said Jena, noticing Atton. Atton got the queer impression that he was turning every bit as pink as Mical had. "I was just telling Mical about what I was going to do here… I'll be stepping off the ship with Kreia and you." Atton turned an even darker shade of pink. He looked pleased. "Yes," she smiled at him. "I figured you'd probably had enough of staying on the ship for a while. Plus you could probably use some practice with that lightsaber. We'll likely run into some kinrath or something along the way. We'll head to the Jedi Enclave and meet with Master Vrook, Master Kavar and Master Zez-Kai Ell. Don't take it personally if they – and by 'they', I mostly mean Vrook – tell you off and say they want to speak to me alone. They're Jedi Masters – they're weird that way. But then you don't like Jedi, so that shouldn't surprise you too much." She smirked, thinking of the irony that Atton should be standing before her in Jedi robes, when he had never made his dislike for all things Jedi much of a secret. The irony was lost on Atton, who dimly wondered why she was smirking. "Should be a pretty straight-forward task… I just have questions to ask them. What we do after that will probably depend on what they tell me, so we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Any questions? No? All right, let me round up Kreia, and let's move out." She took a few steps out of the room, stopped and glanced back at Atton with a coquettish smile. "Nice look, by the way." As Atton followed her out, his thoughts drastically deviated from the task at hand.
Kreia was accordingly rounded up and the three stepped off the Ebon Hawk minutes later. Kreia seemed anything but pleased over being in the presence of this new padawan; but for once, she kept her counsel and contented herself with periodically making cutting remarks about Atton's fighting style when they encountered hostile life forms.
When the Jedi Enclave came into view, Atton reflected he had rarely seen a building in a sorrier state of disrepair, but said nothing. After all, the Sith had been responsible for the Enclave's destruction, and as he at one time had fought alongside the Sith, he felt he had a share in that responsibility.
"I wonder if this entrance is… ah-hah! It is unlocked this time!" exclaimed Jena triumphantly, briskly opening the door before Atton – getting a bad feeling about the whole thing – had the chance to stop her. "The Masters must already be here!" she added blithely, making her way inside. Atton cautiously followed her, wishing he could feel so confident about stepping into the abandoned building; the place looked like it was getting ready to crumble down right on their heads! He started to wonder if it was a trap, if the Jedi were really trying to kill Jena by having this abandoned building cave down on her. Well, this is certainly interesting… I'm concerned that the building might cave down on her, but not that it might cave down on me – and I'm standing right next to her. This is definitely a first – worrying about someone else more than myself. He smirked. Atton Rand, you surprise me.
The stepped into an open area that may have been nice once, but which was now overgrown with various plants and had turned into a home for small fauna. Kreia took a seat somewhere and told Jena to go on without her, that she was tired. Well, that's certainly strange… why would she bother going all this way if she's not going to even attempt to meet with the Jedi?
"Whatever it is you're going to hear, it is for your ears alone," Kreia explained to Jena. Was she looking at him when she said that? It was always hard to tell with Kreia. Whether or not that was the case, Atton chose to ignore her would-be significant look. There was no way he'd let Jena go in there alone.
Leaving Kreia behind, Atton and Jena moved on further into the Enclave. He kept close to her, his hand hovering over his lightsaber, as his "bad feeling" had not yet subsided. They stepped into a – for lack of a better word – room. A room it had definitely once been, but its ceiling had collapsed and plants growing in it had become so overgrown that it almost looked like a field. Three men in robes stood around waiting. Jena grinned in recognition as she walked up to them, flanked by Atton. I'm not about to leave her alone with these three. They exiled her once… who knows what they could do to her now. He stood beside her in a protective stance. Vrook smiled half-indulgently, half-patronizingly at Atton.
"There is no need to be so protective of her. Do not worry; we will not harm her. And now we would wish to speak to the Exile alone."
"I'm not leaving Jena alone with you three," grumbled Atton defiantly.
"Atton," said Jena kindly, but authoritatively. "It's okay."
Shooting a black look at the Jedi, Atton obediently turned and walked away.
"I see you still inspire allegiance in your troops," he heard Master Vrook comment.
"I see you still have trouble differentiating blind allegiance and friendship," Jena replied. Atton smiled as he turned around the corner. At least she wasn't going to let them push her around.
Well, here I am out of the loop again… At least this time the odds of missing out on Jena in a dancer's outfit are pretty slim… unless the Jedi have relaxed their dress codes since last time I checked…But I swear, if they as much as touch a hair on her head… Atton wasn't exactly sure what he could possibly do against three master Jedi, but he didn't really care. He decided he'd do as Jena had requested, and stay away… but he wasn't going to go far.
Atton headed back toward the area where Kreia had remained. She was still sitting in the same spot. Not wishing to be subjected to any more of her stinging remarks, he kept his distance from her, standing in the shadows, and waited for Jena to come back. A few minutes passed, and still no Jena. Atton grew impatient. What were they doing in there? He frowned as his apprehension intensified. Then, all of a sudden, he saw Kreia walk quickly and resolutely toward the area where he had left behind Jena and the Jedi. He hesitated for a moment, and slowly followed her from afar. There was something wrong. There had to be. As weird and cryptic as Kreia was, she would not have simply decided to go look for Jena, especially not after telling her she'd stay behind. Plus she did have that bond with Jena. She knew… things. Had something happened to Jena? Atton's concern grew as he quickened his pace. He arrived only to see a great flash of orange lightning across the room with no ceiling. He barely had the time to duck out of the way. What was…? What's going on? What have they done to her?
At that moment, he heard noise coming up behind him – footsteps, many of them. He instinctively slipped out of sight and into the shadows again. He watched several of Atris' handmaidens walk past… and come right back again accompanied by Kreia. What happened? Where's Jena? The minute they had disappeared from view, he darted back into the room. The scene his eyes beheld made his heart stand still. The three Jedi lay on the grass, seemingly dead. Yes, they were dead; he felt sure of it. And on the grass not far from them, rested what looked like a heap of brown fabric that fluttered in the wind.
"JENA!" he shouted desperately, running to her. He knelt down by her side and pulled her head up on his lap. He held her head with one hand, and with the other brushed the hair from her face gently. She's not… she's not…Please, Jena, don't be… A light groan escaped Jena's throat. Atton couldn't describe the relief he felt as he heard that sound.
"Jena… Jena?" he said softly, holding her closer. She groaned again and moved her hand slightly. He bent his head and gently pressed his lips against her forehead, so thankful that she was still alive…
Author's Notes: This chapter was originally written as chapter 8... When I added that extra pazaak stuff in the chapter, it pretty well doubled the length of the chapter, so I thought I'd split it in half... but as the final version of chapter 8 was pretty uneventful from a plotline point of view, I thought I'd post chapter 9 right away as well. :)