Author's Note:
Thanks again, Falcona, for your prompt review! Regarding the Fallanassi, they're actually the skeleton for this story. I could go into my very complex rationalization of all this, but I that would take too long. I'm hoping to get it directly in sometime later in the story so the hints I'm dropping tie together.
If any of you have been wondering what Yni thinks like (or if you haven't been wondering) you're getting a glimpse of her perspective, this chapter.
Enjoy! :)
TWENTY-FIVE
Finishing a formal letter, she paused. She could spare a few minutes to recall...
• • • • • • • • • •
His face lit up on entering the hangar. "Tahl!"
She smiled in return, giving him a hug and taking his bag. He protested, but she just shot him a wry glance and tossed it on the ship. She wrapped her fingers around his.
"Until next time," she said warmly. "Missions can be short, you know."
Qui-Gon didn't respond, so Tahl turned to look at him.
He was staring. Like...
She glanced worriedly at the Jedi pilot; felt relieved the man hadn't noticed. "Qui-Gon, please. Will you leave me without a word?"
Her effort to get his attention worked. But she was standing close to him, and he abruptly kissed her.
She reddened. He was shocked. "I—I—I'm sorry, Tahl. I... I don't know where that came from." Not letting her respond, Qui-Gon dashed up the ship's ramp and left her.
• • • • • • • • • •
Tahl swallowed, fingers clenching. She'd managed so far to avoid the memories of what he'd forgotten, but now she couldn't. Not now. She forced herself to bury them, to hide them, else—
The Force yanked on her attention. Tahl listened only a moment before obeying, readying her hand inside her garment as she ran away from her desk and through the Senate building, startling several with her speed and lack of trouble in passing them.
A fellow Jedi was in trouble.
"What happened?" Jedi Master Luke Skywalker entered the waiting room.
Barriss, the girl who'd treated his father, stood looking guiltily at the floor. She poised formally, ill at ease.
She drew a breath and met his gaze. "We sparred, Master." Her lips tightened into a thin line, and she continued severely. "For my part I dismissed her apparent discomfort as due to bruises, since she was ill-equipped to counter my kata."
"Kata?"
"A method of hand-to-hand self-defense." She looked ashamed. "I did not realize she suffered from anything more serious until after I completed the twenty-first kata. My blow to her abdomen caused a rupture."
"A rupture?"
She nodded.
"What sort of... rupture?"
She frowned slightly, but other than that her face didn't twitch. "I am not permitted to say."
"Cilghal forbade you?"
"My vows forbid me, Master. I am a doctor and am bound by the medical laws."
He gave her an odd glance. "You're older than me. There's no reason to call me 'Master'."
"Age is irrelevant," she just had to point out. "You are a Jedi Master. I'm not, and we're not friends. Therefore proper address is Master Skywalker. However, considering your father is my friend and I call him Skywalker, I have taken the liberty of shortening it to Master."
Luke watched her incredulously. "Was the old Order really that bureaucratic?"
She blinked. A quick smile and eyeroll followed. "You have no idea..."
"You should not be up!"
"Sorry, Durron. Even politicians have to say 'no' to their desires, sometimes."
"Your desires?! This is your health we're talking about, here! You were blown up, for Force sakes!"
"Yes... How original," she absently replied. Distracting bicker was easy to accomplish with him, which relieved her. Terra quickly typed for her, letting her in to her messages.
She stopped the hand-creature, spiders crawling up her spine. Force!... She closed her eyes.
"See? Even you need your rest, Misti—"
"Senator!" she sharply reprimanded, glaring at him. How dare he take up informal address with me!
Her blood chilled, remembering another impudent Jedi, back—
She slammed that memory shut, focusing abruptly on her viewscreen. Ignoring Tayun's whining pleas for an explanation, she opened whatever message was highlighted.
And nearly trembled in frustration. Why? Why do I always have to be recognized?
She recalled her conversation with the Master Jedi. He'd come to pay a visit to her secretary, but had soon been visiting her, as well.
'How did you know?' she asked him.
Concern showed on his face. 'You have a very distinctive voice, Your Highness.'
This, however, was no matter of her voice. It was her name. After months of no one recognizing it, she thought its creator had decided to ignore it.
She typed in the code to access the decoding program they'd come up with, years ago.
General Siri Tachi. Only you...
Despite Durron's presence, she stared at the message.
It wasn't from Siri.
She read the beginning line again.
My Dear Cousin.
Lando Calrissian was frozen in place, fearful the least movement on is part would result in the Dark Jedi slicing him in half.
Yni Lecarr was an absolute mess. Her hair was falling out of whatever was holding it up, and some had encountered the Dark Jedi's blade. Her loose garments were riddled with burn marks, a few reaching her skin. Thus far she seemed to have avoided any serious injury, but that wouldn't last forever.
He wondered if this was why she wore her tunic baggy...
Suddenly, another lightsaber ignited. Lando breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, Luke or somebody—
He almost groaned on seeing the stranger. The woman looked like she could give Jade a run for his money. Yni couldn't—
The girl was thrown into him, knocking him back, and the tall woman engaged the Dark Jedi. He stared when recognition hit him. Wasn't she a Senate orderly?
Whatever she was, she managed a lightsaber like a Jedi, taking advantage of the hangar's uneven ground to pull more acrobatics than he'd seen Luke do in battle.
At one point, she ran up a wall and brought down her lightsaber in a backhanded swing. Just watching made him dizzy enough for his vision to spin. How did she pull that off?
He heard a lightsaber encounter something and quickly paid attention. A bit of dark silky hair fell to the floor. Some of the woman's long hair now fell to her shoulders.
By the time he could focus again, the Dark Jedi was gone.
The woman came up to him and Yni, not even sweating. She offered a hand to each of them. "Calrissian. Naberrie."
Yni perked up, leaping to her feet. "You know who I was?"
A smile showed in the woman's dark eyes. "Yes."
Calrissian felt his age as he accepted her assitance. "Thank you, Madam."
"Secretary will do."
He froze.
She met his gaze. "You wanted a title."
Lando watched her closely and gave a half-hearted chuckle, uncertain if she was joking or not. He then turned to Yni. "Let's get you to—"
He stopped as he saw the girl spit into her hand and rub it on the burn on her arm. And weirder yet—he saw it healing.
"What the...?"
'Secretary' checked her hair, and with a swift stroke evened out the haircut, her other hand slightly lifted towards him. "I suggest you go check on Tendra."
Lando blinked. "If that guy was after me, I'd better go make sure no one else went after Tendra..." He headed to his ship.
Watching Calrissian go, she giggled as Master Tahl took down her hair. "You're bad!"
"What was I to do? Let him report that you aren't Human?"
Her ragged hair about her dirty face—she'd toppled some trash bins while avoiding Jade—she stuck her tongue out at the Knight, dodging a playful smack to the head.
She bumped her hurt shoulder and winced. Yni hoped she wouldn't meet any more bad guys—at least until someone convinced Master Thracia to let her have a training saber. "He'll still tell Luke when he calls him."
Master Tahl's face hardened. She wondered what the woman would look like without the lenses. She'd heard Master Tahl was a Noori, whatever that was.
"He won't have a chance to." Master Tahl stretched, then reached out a hand for Yni. "Let's go have breakfast."
Her mood brightened. She'd been wondering why she didn't feel so good. "Okay!"
The Knight held up a hand. "Wait." Carefully, she fixed Yni's hair so it angled on both sides and put a cloak on her. "There. Now no one will wonder where you got such marks. Come."
Elated by Tahl's approval, Yni skipped as she followed.