o:o:o

There was no reason for it, but Phaelon had butterflies in her stomach. She knew the Jedi Council was discussing her mastery, and it shouldn't have bothered her – but it did. To get her mind off their discussion and to stop the temptation of eavesdropping, she headed across the Academy to the hangar.

Picking up a hydrospanner, she leaped carefully onto the s-foil to take a closer look at the engines. They didn't need any more work, but she had nothing better to do.

She was so engrossed in her work, she didn't notice Kyp's approach until he was standing nearly under the wing. "You planning to fix that until it breaks?" he asked.

Startled, Phaelon nearly toppled backwards to the duracrete. Thankfully she caught her balance and spun around. "As a matter of fact, I find it relaxing," she explained, poking at him with the hydrospanner.

"Right," he muttered with an unbelieving smirk. "Why don't you put that hydrospanner away, come on down, and we'll go for a walk?"

Reluctantly, she dropped the tool and hopped gently to the duracrete. "Okay. I guess you could use the air after being in that room for that long."

He affected a look of hurt but smiled. "You're right. There's only so much of them I can stand. You know Cal Omas insisted on dropping in today?"

"You're not serious," she said with a grimace.

Kyp nodded. "Yep. I think he's still talking to Master Skywalker."

She shuddered. There was no reason for it, but she wasn't overly fond of their leader and his way of imposing himself in Jedi matters.

o:o:o

They walked for several minutes in silence. Phaelon could tell Kyp was wrestling with himself over telling her something unpleasant.

"So," she asked finally, assuming the position of interrogator, "why exactly did you want to come out here? No offense, but you're not exactly the going-out-for-a-walk sort."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well…being in that room for that long isn't exactly like me either."

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea," he replied with a shudder. "That's why you'd be good in there. We could use a negotiator…or a referee."

It struck her that that is what Kyp had wanted to talk about.

"That's why you came down," she said shrewdly. "They sent you to tell me I'm being ignored again."

He flinched, but reluctantly nodded. "I guess they thought I wouldn't be missed if you decided to kill the messenger."

She smirked. "It's a tempting thought, but I'll have to disappoint them. Though I might kill whoever's been blocking my promotion, if you'd tell me who it was."

"I thought you were more clever than that," retorted Kyp with a look of false horror.

"But who - ?" – She paused to think about what he'd told her. – "Why was Omas here today?"

He shrugged. "The usual, trying to take control of the Jedi Order out from under Master Skywalker."

"So," she said thoughtfully. "He wants to be in on the decisions of ranking."

"I didn't tell you that," Kyp denied, but smiled maliciously.

She nodded. "He's the one who doesn't want me a Master. What have I ever done to him?"

"Like all politicians," he ventured, "he's paranoid. Making you a Master will mean giving you more of an opinion. He's afraid you'll side with those of us who aren't fond of him."

"And he's right," she affirmed.

He sounded relieved to be telling her. "It's not that he's blocking the decision, it's just that he keeps stalling on it. And I before I go, I'm supposed to tell you that Master Skywalker has another mission for you."

"You mean they gave you something to do that's not a meeting?" she teased. She wanted to ask him about the whole not-taking-an-Apprentice issue, but he didn't seem inclined to answer any more of her questions.

"If supervising the rebuilding of Duro is much better," he replied with a grimace.

She couldn't help but laughing. "I'd tell you to have fun, but…"

"Yeah, yeah…" he retorted, before heading back in the direction of the hangar.

o:o:o