It was that time of year. Considering it a monumental waste of time, Master Dooku, would do the bare minimum required for contacts, remembering only that information which was most useful to him. It amazed him that his Padawan had taken to the tradition with the natural grace of a diplomat even when he wasn't assigned the girl. Qui-Gon truly seemed to enjoy this event and the chance to learn of others. For all that other Jedi saw them both as rebellious and challenging to the council, Dooku was well aware of the subtle difference in their outlook; Qui-Gon's first motive was friendship and intimacy, Dooku's was power.

This year however, Master Dooku was intrigued. His assignment hit again closely to home. His Padawan was not allowed contact with Noela. Dooku was under no illusion that they were able to keep all such contact from happening, but Qui-Gon had been assigned another, this year as last year. The girl wouldn't have been a factor this year at any rate, as she had returned home to help with her youngest sister after her parents were killed in a tragic accident.

So when Master Dooku received this assignment he knew something was afoot:

Master Dooku,

We thank you for your willingness to cooperate in the yearly public relations effort to be held on the fourteenth day of the second month. We know it will be an excellent learning experience as it has been for the Jedi in the last three hundred years.

This year, it is the wish of the Alderaanian consulate that you liaise with Madame Esther Sidonia Ovorp, of Alderaan. She awaits your contact to make the necessary arrangements.

We anticipate that you will bring honor to the Jedi in this time-honored tradition and that your efforts will only further our cause of promoting good relations between our Order and the peoples whom we serve.

Again, we thank you for your efforts.

Sincerely,
The Jedi Council

Dooku had ordered a dossier on the girl, when it first became apparent that she was a good deal more to his Padawan than a diplomatic contact. Although not his personal type, he understood the attraction she held for his apprentice. Noela was charming, intelligent and pretty. Her motherly type of warmth and unconditional acceptance was just the balm a sensitive boy would need, finding little of it inside the Jedi Temple.

He had already a grudging admiration of the Grandmother he was to escort. Although she married into a well-established family on Alderaan, appearing to come from nowhere, she brought a fresh outlook of intellectual learning to an already impressive background. That Noela was wholly unconscious to the fact that she was not only well born but well-bred spoke volumes for the training the woman was credited with doing. All the sisters did remarkably well in school, ahead of several of their classmates, each having their own personal talents honed and developed. It was training worthy of a Jedi.

In another life the little Alderaanian rose might have been the perfect flower for his apprentice. Given that Dooku believed that the council was increasingly out of step with times, and that they should no longer be at the beck and call of the Senate, if they ever should have been, were his apprentice of a mind to rebel for rebellions' sake, she still might be perfect.

Dooku sighed with envy. His apprentice did not rebel to irritate those in power, or to manipulate that power himself: he rebelled because he felt something was right. He was also under no illusion that it was because of his teachings it was so, or that the Jedi Temple was safe for such integrity. It was simply that Qui-Gon had an inner sense of the light of truth and would follow that to the best of his ability, given the choice in the matter.

The girl provided the one place that his apprentice was always understood. She, like him had that innate sense to choose right, or to try their utmost to follow that direction. Having been around a few of their conversations personally, he was intrigued that Qui-Gon never had to explain his motives to Noela: she already knew.

Yes, meeting the grandmother was the first time in a very long time he looked forward to this. It would be a pleasure to plan an evening with a woman of such substance.

If all else were to fail, a good game of mental saber parry was always a good way to spend the evening, and he had no doubt that was already part of the itinerary.

The arrangement was to meet at Madame Ovorps' suite at one of the finest establishments in the district. That they were to have a quiet evening of dinner and discussion, further added to his sense that a challenge to his compliance with the Jedi decision to assign his Padawan to someone else for the yearly pairing, and limit contact with her granddaughter to as little as possible, was in the offing.

He arrived at the opulent old-fashioned hinged door, the wealthy adoring such show of elegance, and knocked waiting for admittance. A valet was there instantly, and allowed him to pass. The room was warm, and exquisitely plush. The luxury of a real fire was burning in a fireplace. Rich scents of real hardwood furniture and flowers mixed with the nostalgic perfume of the flaming wood. Carefully he chose a chair across from the doors to the room he assumed was where she would enter from, to have a chance to take in his charming nemesis.

He didn't have to wait long. The soft light of the room showed that the fair locks still gleamed, arranged as they were in a cool chignon, her blue eyes bright. She was of course some years older, but in that timeless way of some very lucky women, she had the appearance of youth, the color still fresh on her cheek. The black silk of her gown marked her widow's status, but the youth of the style gave clearly to know that she was not half in the grave with her dead husband. This is a woman that would live fully while there was breath in her body. If he had not known already who she was, her eyes and smile would have clearly marked her as Noela's grandmother.

He stood as fitting a lady, and bowed his head low over her outstretched hand. "Master Dooku, it is a very great honor that you would agree to spend this evening with me. Thank you."

He felt surprise. As sure as he was of the motives of this meeting he was undone by the perfection of the genuine nature of her camouflage. Her warmth, the grateful regard of her welcome surprised him Mentally he prepared himself for the idea that he might have met his manipulative match.

"I too am very pleased to have finally met you, Madame Ovorp. I have heard a great deal about you." She blushed at his appreciative gaze, and it charmed him that a woman of her age would be able to do such a thing. Yes indeed, here was an intellectual foe to respect.

The valet who allowed him entrance stood by a table, set conveniently to overlook the sites of this district of Coruscant. It was not the wild beauty of Alderaan to be sure, but it was impressive nevertheless. He helped Lady Ovorp to her chair, and both waited for their dinner to be served and the valet to leave.

As they both sensed that they were now alone, she raised her wine glass with a toast, "To new understanding."

Yes, it was a worthy toast, so his rejoinder was in kind.

"I have been impressed at how well you have raised your apprentice. He has been the perfect gentleman and friend for my granddaughter. I thank you. Parenting is hard enough, but when the child is in your care for training, your success is all the more meaningful." He blinked as she ended sooner than he expected. It also began to dawn on him that her kind gratitude was not subterfuge but cordially meant.

"You look surprised Master Jedi. Why is that?"

He laughed that well trained self-deprecating laugh he had carefully cultivated through the years, but it felt hollow. "I expected more." Her surprise was palpable. "I expected you to make a play to put your granddaughter and my Padawan together. Against the judgment of the council, and my own."

She was silent and dropped the fork that she had been picking at her salad with. Her hands clasped together, as she bowed her head to regard them. "We respect them Master Dooku. So we will comply fully with the demand that they not see each other face to face."

He smiled his agreement with their capitulation, only to hear, "however in the spirit of the law that you are wishing to impose, I will tell you that while we respect, I do not agree. Keeping them apart will only lead to the result you wish to avoid. Therefore I will either arrange or be the go between for their data messages. They in turn have agreed not to go behind the Jedi's collective backs. This is not negotiable. I have already sent a communiqué to Master Yoda on this decision."

He tried to find a voice to protest, but honestly couldn't fault her logic. Perhaps if he had fully looked at his motives, he had hoped that eventually his Padawan might make the choice to battle on this matter, forcing at least the whisper of needed change to the order. It was the only thing that could explain even his capitulation to the council decree.

She continued to calmly regard him, sensitive and emotive, but strangely not over-emotional. "I respect the Jedi Order, Master Dooku. They have been the movement behind much good. I have taught my offspring to respect religions such as yours, even if we do not agree with all the tenets. Would that my world had been the same." Her eyes lowered, tears shining on the lashes.

The unfamiliar feeling of concern filled his soul, "Could you tell me lady, just where that world is? My information was not clear on your background."

She smiled, "Yes Master Jedi, I knew you collected information on Noela when it was done." He started to protest, "it wasn't that your contacts were sloppy, merely that they got much of their information from people that had already shown loyalty for my family. How could I fault the caring of a hold-parent for his own child?"

"The master and apprentice relationship is not like that," Dooku protested.

"Is it not? I must misunderstand then, even for a man with clear and concise motivations such as yours Master Dooku. I think despite your need for power, you do love the work of your own hands, and young Qui-Gon is certainly what he is due in part to you." Her logic was flawless. This indeed was the game, the incredible game of logic he had craved, but he never expected to be bested by the appeal to emotion.

He also could not fail to note her managing to deflect the conversation away from her background.

She looked up facing him fully eye to eye. "I did not request this evening, because I wanted to argue about the Jedi decision. I requested it because I wanted to meet the person most responsible for a dear friend of my granddaughter. I thought him to be a man of culture and refinement that I could enjoy for an evening."

He felt lacking, and he never thought to feel that way. Her next words stopped his unusual feelings of honest self-deprecation. "I find to my pleasure that I was not mistaken."

On reflection later, in the comfortable aloneness that were his quarters, he reflected on the woman.

He had been completely wrong about so much. The miscalculation both elated and bothered him. Certainly the feelings of admiration were something he didn't encounter often, but that he would actually consider a repeat event in the future, as something he might desire was unsettling.

They did not discuss the young people for the rest of the evening. For the first time in a long time, he had a companion he could talk with about things of culture and how life might be outside the Temple. Certainly he was justifiably proud of what he had accomplished as a Jedi, but there was a part of him that wanted something else. It wasn't a matter of more, just different.

Unlike the boy he did not expect to communicate with Madame Ovorp in the future, but certainly he understood even better the compulsion for having such friends outside of the Temple and there was the crux of the matter. He had no friends, no like companions that he had chosen for just the choosing sake. The very power of the yearning was unexpected and sweet.

Carefully he sat to compose a note in his elegant, bold, long hand.

Dear Madam Ovorp

I find that I now also agree with your logic concerning the friendship of my Padawan and your granddaughter. They will be able to continue their relationship in written form.

Accompanying this message will be whatever information my Padawan chooses to also pass along to your granddaughter. Please extend to her my best wishes also.

I would be pleased should you consider also communicating with me from time to time.

It was an honor to meet you.

Sincerely,

Master Jan Dooku