Chapter 4
Facing the Council
Obi-Wan swallowed yet another sigh as he watched his charge from the corner of his eye. The boy, Vader, was squirming and fidgeting so badly that the Jedi Knight was surprised that none of the other passengers on the ship were yelling at him to stop. But at least none of the other passengers were Force-sensitive, because the boy's physical fidgeting was nothing compared to what his emotions were doing to the Force around him. It took all of Obi-Wan's impressive self-control not to get up and move as far away from Vader as humanly possible, the negativity around him was that intense.
To ward off the smothering Darkness that continually rolled off Vader in waves, Obi-Wan did his best to focus on the positives. For one thing, the boy was now presentable. Before he'd been filthy from the streets and wherever else he'd been. The hospital had cleaned him up, but he'd still looked rather unkempt with his long hair still a mess. Now he was back in his clothes, which had been washed and mostly repaired and his hair was tied back. If not for the wildly paranoid glint in his eyes, he might almost look civilized.
Vader also was behaving surprisingly well. While he was extremely unhappy with the current situation, he went along with what he was told with very little argument. Though it was glaringly obvious that whatever fragile trust he'd put in Obi-Wan the night after his hospital escape was all but gone, and he put no trust whatsoever in any other Jedi. Obi-Wan found it to be miraculous that Vader hadn't bolted when he and Master Halcyon took him to this transport bound for Coruscant.
The boy stiffened suddenly and went pale as Obi-Wan sensed the transport slip out of hyperspace and approach Coruscant's atmosphere. In ten minutes or so their ship would touch down on a landing pad, they and the other passengers would disembark, and then it would be off to the Jedi Temple for their appointment with the Council. Vader clearly wasn't looking forward to this. In fact, as the ship trembled through the atmosphere, the boy looked almost ill.
"Relax," Obi-Wan chided, placing a hand on Vader's shoulder.
"Stuff it!" Vader hissed tensely.
"Excuse me?" Obi-Wan frowned.
"Yeah, excuse you." Vader grunted, fiddling with the edge of his cape.
"Being rude is no way to get one someone's good side." Obi-Wan pointed out, deeply annoyed by Vader's rudeness.
"Wasn' tryin' to get on your 'good side'." Vader spat.
Obi-Wan shook his head wearily as the ship touched down. "That is not a good attitude to have when facing the Council." He warned.
Vader paled. "I don't like sucking up to people." He muttered in weak defiance.
"You don't have to 'suck up' to them, simply be honest and do your best to be respectful to them. Lying to them or insulting them is foolish, not to mention extremely rude." Obi-Wan replied calmly. The boarding ramps lowered and the passengers all rose to exit the craft. "Now follow me and we can get this over with quickly." He murmured.
Obi-Wan carefully wove through the crowd on the landing pad and led the boy away towards a smaller planetary transport that would take them towards the Temple. While Vader remained anxious, he was clearly awed by the impressive sight of Coruscant, a city so vast it covered the entire planet. Obi-Wan, however, had seen it all before. Coruscant was his home-world, he'd grown up with this unique skyline.
They boarded a nearby airbus and the public transport rumbled upwards soon after. Vader's face was all but pasted to the window as they entered a stream of air traffic. His eyes, normally dark and wary, were now glittering with child-like fascination at the artificial landscape of the Republic's capital city/world. Obi-Wan almost smiled at the sight of the boy. Almost.
Part of what kept him from smiling was the memories. Memories of his own youth and of his old Master. He remembered walking in his tall Master's shadow as they walked the streets of the city. But not just the surface streets, they also ventured down to all the deeper levels and met all sorts of creatures from all kinds of levels of legality. He recalled their life together in the central Jedi Temple, the lessons, the exercises, and the minor adventures. And he thought on the beginnings and ends of their shared missions. Especially the last one…
With a conscious effort, Obi-Wan shoved his musings of his past aside and focused, as his old Master had always demanded, on the present. The airbus neared their stop and it would be bothersome and unfortunate if they were to miss it. Vader would probably be more than annoyed if that happened.
The airbus dipped out of the traffic stream towards a platform, the closest stop on this bus' route to the Temple, and it hovered in a stop. The doors swung open, allowing new passengers to board, while others departed. Obi-Wan almost had to drag Vader to his feet to get his attention in time before the bus decided to lift off again.
"Leggo!" Vader growled, jerking his arm free from Obi-Wan's grip once they stepped onto the street again.
Obi-Wan merely shrugged and started for the Temple. He could feel Vader fuming darkly behind him, the pall of Dark energy was disconcerting to say the least, and he debated on whether he should say anything about it. Thankfully, though, the surroundings seemed to distract the boy enough for him to calm down and the smothering Darkness around him dissipated.
A few blocks later, the Temple came into view. The massive structure loomed above everything around it. The main body of the building was a squat, cap-less pyramid, and the flat top of it alone was level with most of the nearby skyscraper's peaks. And from that flat top, rose five separate spires, each the size and height of most of the needle-like high-class apartment buildings. The only other single building on Coruscant that came close to the Temple in size was the stadium-like Senate building that crouched on a distant horizon.
"Damn," Vader breathed, clearly overwhelmed at the massive Temple. If Obi-Wan let him, he might stand there all day and just stare at it.
Obi-Wan couldn't let him, though. "Come along, you can spend as long as you like studying it after we have our audience with the Council."
"Shut up," Vader muttered, flushing in embarrassment at having been caught staring like an idiotic tourist.
"Manners, please." Obi-Wan sighed as he started up the steps towards the Temple gates.
"Yeah, yeah." Vader groaned as he trudged along behind the Jedi Knight.
Obi-Wan only shook his head and continued on past the guardian statues and pillars that described the greatest of the Jedi. From there, there were the main gates, ancient wooden doors covered in intricate carvings that were more ceremonial than practical. And after that was the main foyer, a vast room lined with columns, floored with beautiful marble, and filled with art. Its sole purpose was to awe and inspire. It was clearly working on Vader, he could barely keep walking and keep his mouth closed at the same time.
Forcing back an amused smile, Obi-Wan carefully guided the scruffy youth towards their destination. And for the first few levels and hallways, everything went well. A few Knights and Masters gave them a second look since Vader clearly wasn't a Jedi, but no one said anything. But when they boarded the lift that would take them to the top of the tallest spire and the Council Chamber, Vader nearly crumbled.
Now that he didn't have any elegant hallways, intricate floors, large windows, or ancient artwork to distract him, he appeared to remember what he was supposed to be doing here. And the thought of facing the Council, twelve of the wisest, most powerful Jedi in the entire Order, seemed to be driving him swiftly towards full panic. The fear that rolled off him was sharp and thick.
"Relax, there is nothing to be afraid of." Obi-Wan advised.
"Easy for you to say," Vader snapped bitterly, his face deathly pale.
"No, it's not." Obi-Wan gently corrected him.
"What?" Vader blinked, startled.
"There is not a Jedi I have yet met who wasn't anxious about meeting with the Council at some point in their career, certainly when they were young Padawans." Obi-Wan informed him.
Vader frowned and stared at the floor of the lift, making an attempt to gather himself. The boy wasn't having much luck, he still radiated fear like a panicking Jar Jar. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and extended a few mental feelers towards the anxious boy to try and find a way to help calm him. The reaction he received to his well-meaning attempt to help was not what he expected.
The instant that Vader sensed the slight intrusion in his mind thick, tight, prickly shields swung into place. In the next breath, Obi-Wan found himself shoved into the wall of the lift and Vader pressed himself roughly into the opposite side. The liftcar was thick with Darkside energy and they were only moments away from arriving on their floor.
"That was…quite unnecessary." Obi-Wan gasped, rubbing at the back of his head.
"You were trying to get into my head!" Vader snarled, wild-eyed and panting like a feral animal.
"I was trying to help you calm down." Obi-Wan frowned. "I suppose I should ask first next time."
"Yeah, you should." Vader hissed, returning to the struggle of regaining his composure.
A few heartbeats later, the lift doors hissed open to reveal the highest floor of the Jedi Temple. The ante-chamber took up roughly a third of the level. The walls were lined with benches and a few chairs, places were those who sought an audience or those who had been summoned could sit and wait their turn. Directly opposite of the lift were the double doors that led into the Council Chamber itself. And on either side of those doors stood two senior-level Padawans; the honor-guards.
The current Padawan guards, a Human female and a male Ithorian, gazed at Vader with wary curiosity. A non-Jedi petitioner to the Council was rare and the echoes of Darkness that drifted around Vader didn't help matters. Obi-Wan swallowed a sigh and gave the youth a nudge out of the liftcar and towards the heavy doors that led to the Council Chamber.
"State your name and business." The girl demanded.
"Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a guest, here to see the Council. We are expected." Obi-Wan replied.
"Wait here," the Ithorian instructed in his odd double-voice.
Obi-Wan bowed to them and then began to gently tow Vader towards a nearby bench. Vader was clearly tense, his movements strained and jerky, but he put up no struggle. Obi-Wan was glad.
They were just about to settle down on a bench when the Human girl spoke again. "The Council will see you now."
"Thank you," Obi-Wan bowed again and steered Vader towards the slowly opening doors. The boy was as white as a sheet and trembling. "It will be alright," he whispered into the boy's ear as they approached the circle of Council members waiting in their chairs.
And it was.