The two people stared at each other waiting for one of them to move. "Master," Obi-Wan said. "I called her here. Master . . . " He had a slight warning tone in his voice. Qui-Gon, not wanting to be in that room at the moment, shook his head and went back through the door he appeared from. The younger man turned to his friend and motioned for them to sit down.
Well aware of the questions that the others had, he introduced her to the group. "This is my oldest friend, Melisandra Voyar. I called her to the planet in hopes that she could help us get to Coruscant." The woman nodded in greeting to everyone. "Voyar . . . Voyar . . .," Padmé said to herself, "Why does that name sound familiar?" The woman rolled her eyes, as if recalling an irritating memory. "The Royal Family of Yavin VI?" "That's it!" She smiled, but noticed that the others looked confused. "Before I was born," she began, "my father was involved in some sort of scandal which caused him to abdicate the throne. I was *supposed* to be the next in line to the throne after my parents but when this happened, my cousin seized the chance and pulled me out of the line." "An exiled princess . . ." "I went to the Jedi Temple when I was about a year old and I met Obi-Wan when he arrived at the Temple. Him, Bant, Siri, and I became close friends."
"Well, forgive me if I am becoming *too* personal," Shmi said, "but why does Qui-Gon seem to have a strong disliking towards you?" "Call it what you will," Meli said immediately, "but I am a . . . well, a Force-sensitive bounty hunter." The handmaidens became very defensive at this remark and began to surround their Queen. "Please," the woman said remarkably loud, "Calm down. I don't kill any of the people whom I am sent to get. I bring them back to the creature who wants them and I let them decide what they want to do with them. I get paid either way." Before any of the other women could say anything, Obi-Wan jumped in. "Melisandra was to become a powerful Jedi, and Qui-Gon knew it. He urged her to train to become a Jedi Padawan, but she was too old. You could say that he was disappointed in her. She kept in touch with only me and promised to do so even though Jedi are supposed to go against bounty hunters." His friend smiled as he continued.
"I knew that I should have called her here earlier, when we first landed on Tatooine. She could have brought us the parts we all needed and we could have been on our way. Master had to go out into town, however, to see if he could get them for himself. He didn't and probably still doesn't trust her to help us." She sighed, knowing that what her friend had said was all too true. "Force-sensitive bounty hunter, exiled princess, I'm just me," she said mainly towards the Queen and handmaidens. "I just do this so I can actually survive in this galaxy." "Its understandable," the blonde girl said. "Obi-Wan, is this what you meant back on the ship when you told me that there was something more which you still needed to do?" "Yep. I sent a message to her right after I locked myself in the room." There was an awkward silence which lasted for a few minutes right after he said that.
"Well, I'm here now," Melisandra said. "The ship is waiting just before you reach the Dune Sea and if we are going to get out of this town, then the best time to do it would be during nightfall, when all of the citizens are asleep. For all we know, the people who are after you may be right outside this hovel . . ." She moved towards the window and gazed out of it, taking in her surroundings.
~*~*~
"For all we know, the people who are after you may be right outside this hovel . . ." Darth Maul winced - he was supposed to go unseen. He took this sentence to get out of sight . . . and quickly. He knew that if he used the Force, he would be detected by the two Jedi in the hovel (and now the woman, if she was who she claimed to be). He spotted a dark alleyway near the hovel and quickly ran into there. His timing was perfect, because within the next few seconds the woman appeared right in the window. *Blast,* he thought. He would just have to wait until another chance showed itself.
~*~*~
Melisandra's eyes moved across the outside scenery. She wasn't sure *if* Obi-Wan had felt it also, but someone was out there . . . someone evil. "My ship is ready," she said going back to her seat. "Is everyone else?" "Well," Padmé said, "there is something we've got to do before we leave the planet." "That is . . .?" "There's this little boy . . . Anakin Skywalker. He's a slave here and Qui-Gon told me that to counterbet the podracer he staked Ani's freedom." "And since he lost, then Anakin remains a slave while his owner gets the podracer?" "Exactly," Shmi said. The woman looked over to Obi-Wan, who gave her a nod of encouragement. "Okay . . . we can't just take him, now can we? That'd be too easy." "There's an explosives device," his mother said. "Its implanted somewhere on the slave's body. When the owners discover them gone, they activate a device and . . ." "I see," she suddenly interrupted. "I see . . . no need for details." "Do you know what to do?" The bounty hunter was silent for a minute before she nodded. "Where does the owner live?"
~*~*~
A few minutes later, she appeared in front of the hovel. Maul could see her take out a blaster from her belt and she seemed to make an adjustment before taking off in one direction.
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