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A Shift in the Force: Chapter Seven: Light or Dark
AN: So sorry it's taken me so long, but I have an AP Exam in two days and a seven page paper to write for next week, so it might be a while before I can update anymore of my fanfics, but you all have my apologies! Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
The last of the evening light was fading before Sabé, Talik, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan found themselves standing before the Jedi Council. Talik had to refrain from yawning; that wouldn't go too well with the council. Her master looked a good bit worse, she had to admit, but Sabé still had to make up for the blood loss that she'd suffered, and thus came off a bit anemic, and it didn't help that had already been rather fair to begin with.
"After the Queen informed us of the situation," Sabé was saying, "we left immediately to hear of the Trade Federation's opinion on the matter, unfortunately, they saw fit to shoot us out of the sky not soon after liftoff." She glanced to Talik. "My padawan pulled me from the wreckage, my injuries," she grimaced slightly, "were substantial enough to put me out of commission for a few hours."
Sabé set her face firmly again. "A few hours after the crash, we met up with Master Jinn and his padawan before agreeing to rendezvous at the palace hanger bay, and the rest you should already know."
Ki-Adi Mundi inclined his head slightly, and a number of the masters shared a look that Sabé couldn't read.
"Please excuse my apprentice and I," she said, bowing lowly and respectfully. "It has been a long few days and my apprentice and I are in need of some rest." And without waiting to be dismissed, Sabé steered Talik from the room, allowing the door to close behind them.
"There is something that she is not telling us," Ki-Adi Mundi said mere seconds after her departure.
"Sabé Amidala is always hiding something," Pablo-Jill said in disdain, "it is not a trait becoming of a Jedi." Obi-Wan ground his teeth together behind his lips, schooling his features and locking down his mental shields. He had seen how Master Jill's eyes had flashed to him, but he would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had angered him with his insults towards his friend.
Yoda maintained his silence, knowing that he would be going to have a long chat with the young woman who had once trained under him.
"I believe that it concerned the next matter we must speak of," Qui-Gon said, bowing stiffly. "During our departure from Tatooine, I was intercepted by a Zabrak male. He was trained in the Jedi arts. My only conclusion can be that it was a Sith Lord."
The was not something any of the council would have wanted to admit in the first place, and Ki-Adi Mundi was the first member to speak what they were all thinking.
"Impossible!" He said. "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."
Even Mace Windu had to add, "I do not believe the Sith could have returned without us knowing."
But that comment was this time refuted by Grandmaster Yoda himself. "Ah, hard to see, the dark side is."
Mace glanced to the green master before saying, "We will use all our resources here to unravel this mystery and discover the identity of your attacker... May the Force be with you."
Obi-Wan bowed respectfully before turning to leave, only to stop when Yoda spoke, drawing his attention to Qui-Gon
"Master Qui-Gon more to say have you?"
Qui-Gon ruffled the sleeves of his cloak as he crossed his arms, hiding them from view. "With your permission, my Master," he said calmly, "I have encountered a vergence in the Force."
"A vergence, you say?" Yoda said
"Located around a person?" Master Windu asked. That news was startling. Only one person had ever been reported to have had a vergence located around them, and she had just left. She was also what Master Plo Koon had described as a Miracle Child, meaning that she shouldn't have been born, but she was. Could the same be said for this child as well?
Qui-Gon nodded in agreement with his question. "A boy... his cells have the highest concentration of midi-chlorians I have ever seen in a life form. It is possible he was conceived by the midi-chlorians."
A number of the members of the Council shared glances, hardly daring to believe that what Qui-Gon was saying could be possible. They already had one miracle in their midst, was it wise to add another?
"You're referring to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force... you believe it's this boy?" Mace asked with curiosity.
Qui-Gon didn't want to put all his faith in the boy, but the signs were all there. "I don't presume," he began but was rudely interrupted by Master Yoda.
"But you do!" the Jedi Master disagreed. "Revealed your opinion is."
"I request the boy be tested, Master," Qui-Gon said courteously.
"Trained as a Jedi, you request for him?" Yoda asked.
Qui-Gon nodded. "Finding him was the will of the Force... I have no doubt of that," he agreed.
Obi-Wan watched with interest as the Jedi on the Council shared looks with each other, each of the twelve meeting the eyes of the others, and as one they nodded their consent.
And then Mace Windu said, "Bring him before us. We will reconvene tomorrow morning for the testing of the boy."
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon bowed to the Council before leaving as quietly as they had entered. Obi-Wan wasn't sure how he felt about the boy. He hadn't spent much time with him, but he didn't think that Qui-Gon should be so quick to believe that he was the Chosen One.
"You're projecting," a familiar voice commented.
Obi-Wan turned to see the recently knighted Kit Fisto. The green Nautolan had fallen into step beside him. "Obi-Wan," he added in greeting.
"Kit," Obi-Wan said in a little relief that it hadn't been his master that had caught him, but as he glanced ahead, he noted that his master was so wrapped in his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed how far behind Obi-Wan had fallen. "Where's Aayla?" He had hardly ever seen Sabé, Aayla, or Kit without at least one of the other two, unless they were on missions.
"Aayla's helping with a 'saber class, and I was just thinking about visiting Sabé…but she's asleep so it would probably be best if I didn't," he admitted.
"She's had a rough few days," Obi-Wan said, sounding a bit tired himself. "She had some serious injuries from being shot out of the sky, but they must be almost healed by now."
Kit nodded and for a long moment, he didn't speak. "I sense that she isn't in pain," he said finally, sighing in relief, "that is good. She isn't very good about caring about the damages to her own body."
Obi-Wan could attest to that. "You should have seen her on the Naboo ship," he said wryly.
"Was she insufferable?" Kit asked with a grin. "Did you have to tie her to a medical bed?"
"I tried," Obi-Wan admitted, "it didn't work for long."
He laughed out loud. "Yes, that I would expect. I will bring Aayla with me to see her tomorrow when she is more aware of the world."
"That would probably be better," Obi-Wan agreed.
"How was Mandalore?"
Obi-Wan shoulders filled with miniscule tension, but Kit merely smiled.
"If you do not want others to know the nature of your heart, perhaps you should shield it as harshly as Sabé does," he said.
"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked him in confusion.
"Did Jill say anything about her in the meeting?" he asked instead.
"Yes," Obi-Wan said, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, "it was something about her having too many secrets."
"Sabé doesn't have many secrets, that's where Jill got it wrong," Kit said, glancing out into the night. "She only has one, and it is one that she will sooner take to the grave than admit it to anyone."
"Why is that?" Obi-Wan asked.
But Kit knew where to draw the line with his words. "I suppose that is for her to know and you to discover."
Kit and Aayla had only happened upon Sabé's affection for the Stewjonan by complete accident, but they had yet to see how her love for him affect her ability to do her job, cementing Sabé's belief that one could love and be a Jedi at the same time. It was hard to believe that she felt more than romantic feelings for Obi-Wan Kenobi, because you wouldn't have been able to tell at all, and it helped that she treated everyone the same with that serenity that suited her better than any other attitude she could have ever adopted.
She was good at hiding her secret, and good at hiding in general. That was why she went on a lot of solo undercover missions (as Talik couldn't go on those kinds of delicate missions yet), her ability to lie was a bit startling, and many didn't view that as a good thing, but it wasn't like she liked lying.
"I heard from Obi-Wan you were injured," Kit commented lightly the next day over breakfast, which he and Aayla had gate-crashed without as much as an apology.
"You need to tell better lies," Sabé admonished as she poured some Muja into Talik's cup. "And you need to stop reading me when I'm asleep."
"Maybe he wouldn't have to if you came and told us how you were once in a while," Aayla reminded her.
"How is this my fault?" Sabé asked with an arched eyebrow. "I'm not the one in charge of mission assignments."
Talik watched the banter of the three friends as they went back and forth. They were like a strange little family, a bit dysfunctional, but a family nonetheless.
"Maybe I wouldn't have to," Kit added, speaking for himself, "if you weren't so suicidal all the time."
"I am not suicidal!" she hissed in annoyance. "Would you stop saying that?!"
Aayla rolled her eyes at Talik who giggled at the exchange. It was one of many that she had heard concerning her master's nature of protecting others before herself. Her friends considered it a dangerous trait, but Talik thought it was something she would like to grow to have, good or bad.
Sabé checked the clock and sighed. "I have to escort Anakin to the Council in five minutes."
Talik looked up in surprise. "Really? Are they going to let him into the Temple?"
Amusement flickered in Sabé's eyes. "Well," she said in a contemplative voice, "I would think they have to, seeing as the Council Chamber is located in the Temple."
Talik rolled her light eyes, twiddling her fork in her hand as she did so. "You know what I mean, Master," she said with a flicker of irritation that all three of the friends caught easily enough.
"I do not know," she said finally, "the Council will be the one to make the final decision, not I." She rubbed a circle suddenly into the side of her right temple at a flash of an emotion that was too jumbled for her to understand.
"Sabé?" Aayla's concerned voice caught her attention and she lifted her gaze to meet the blue-skinned Twi-lek's. "Are you alright?"
Sabé smiled in that way that she always did. "Its nothing," she said, but a niggling feeling in the back of her mind told her that it wasn't. She pushed that feeling aside; she did not have time for it. "Make sure Talik does her meditation, will you?"
"Master!" Talik's complaining voice was the last thing she heard as she threw on her dark cloak and exited the apartment, giving a small sigh of relief as the probing feeling that had sought her mental shields left as quickly as it had come, but it still left her with unease as she searched for her sister's temporary apartment in which Anakin had stayed the previous night.
She was almost surprised to see that Queen Amidala was actually her sister this time around.
"My sister," Padmé said in the solemn and serious voice that only one who knew the fate of her planet hung in the balance, "I see you have come for young Skywalker."
Sabé gave a low and respectful bow. "I have. I hope I am not intruding on any matter of importance."
But she could sense that she was, because Senator Palpatine was with her.
Padmé merely gave her a small smile as they clasped hands. It was starting to become routine now, and Sabé was certain that Padmé would have hugged her if not for the heavy headdress, bulky gown, and face paint. Sabé could feel all of the emotions raging within her sibling –fear, anger, anxiety (Padmé would have never made it as a Jedi, that much she was sure of) - and she sent a warm soothing serenity to her, and Padmé smiled.
"I realize this might be the last time we see each other for a good while," Padmé said, her words abrupt.
Sabé smiled kindly. "The Force works in mysterious ways, dear sister, I do not believe you have seen the last of me."
She felt her relief before it became locked down as Anakin reappeared, looking paler than usual.
"Ready to go?" Sabé asked with that serene smile of hers, making Padmé realize that it wasn't too hard to imagine her as a loving mother.
"Um, yeah, I mean, yes," Anakin stuttered quickly, but he took her hand when she offered it.
It was only when they were in the air taxi that Sabé spoke again. "Scared?"
"A-a little," Anakin admitted, tapping his feet nervously against the floor. "What if I don't do good?"
That was the question that Sabé was dreading answering, because, truthfully, she had no idea. She knew what the test entailed, every Initiate had had to take it once, but Sabé had to take it at least twelve times in her youth because the Council was trying to see if there was a limit to what she could sense. Sabé wasn't quite sure if they had really discovered a limitation; the Council was intensely private.
"I may seem all-seeing and all-knowing, Anakin," she joked, "but I don't know what will happen or what the Council will decide."
"Oh," he said quietly as they made their way into the Temple. "Do you remember what tests they do?"
"They'll probably just hold a screen and ask you what's on it, since you won't be able to see it," she said before stumbling and falling to her knees, the stinging to her head returning much more forcefully than before.
"Miss Sabé?" Anakin asked in concern, shaking her shoulder. "Miss Sabé, what's wrong?"
"Its nothing," she said through a grimace, "I'm fine." But she wasn't, she could feel it.
"Sabé?" She could feel more than hear Obi-Wan as he approached, his fingers holding up her head. "What happened?"
"My head," Sabé groaned, "I don't-" she hissed.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan said, turning to the concerned nine year old, "go on to the Council, I'll take care of Sabé."
"You sure?" he asked, but then his eyes met Obi-Wan's, and he wasn't sure what he saw in the man's hazel eyes, but it was…familiarity, like a sort of connection that is built up over a long period of time. It sounded exactly like what Talik had described when she first met Sabé. That Master-Padawan connection. "You're sure, okay."
He glanced back to the pair, noticing how gently Obi-Wan held Sabé's face as he questioned her softly. It was sweet in an amost-romancy sort of way. And then he gulped and did as he said.
"What happened?" Obi-Wan asked her as Anakin left. "Why did you just collapse?"
Sabé furrowed her forehead with her eyes still closed, the stinging pain fading now. "It's just a headache, I'm fine."
"You're not fine," Obi-Wan disagreed, pulling her upright and looping her arm over his shoulder. "Come on, you're going to see Bant."
"What?" asked Sabé, still a bit out of it.
"Yeah," Obi-Wan muttered, leading her toward the medical ward, "you're definitely seeing Bant."
So, not ten minutes later Sabé was lying on a medical bed in a forced Force trance as Bant Eerin placed her webbed hands on either side of her patient's head, closing her eyes in concentration.
"You said she just fell to the ground?" she asked.
Obi-Wan nodded. "Yeah, she was clutching her head, she said it was just a headache, but-"
"Whatever it was, it was not a headache," Bant interrupted.
"Did you find something?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Sabé's always been very careful about her thoughts, I'm sure you can remember how she was when we were kids," Bant added the last bit.
"Yeah," Obi-Wan grinned slightly. "She was sweet." Sabé had been painfully shy until she had become friends with Aayla and Kit, Obi-Wan still remembered how red her face had turned when he had helped her pick up some data pads that he had dropped. But once she had come out of her shell she had adopted that serene personality that had become practically signature for her.
"She still is, just…more cautious," Bant amended, "She likes to keep things private."
"What does her private nature have to do with her head?"
"Sabé has been shielding her mind since…forever," Bant said with a shrug, "probably since she learned how to shield her mind, but that shield has some cracks in it now."
"Cracks?" Obi-Wan said in complete surprise. "How is that possible?"
"If I was to hazard a guess," Bant said, her eyes dark, "then I would say that someone was trying to break into her mind…and it doesn't look like they succeeded."
"Is she going to be alright, then?" Obi-Wan asked in concern, glancing to his slumbering friend. "It won't cause permanent damage will it?"
"No," Bant said with a relieved sigh, "at least, not this time. The cracks should fade as she continues to sleep. She'll be fine."
Sabé was running, running faster than would have ever done, her muscles burning with exertion and then the sting of the blaster bolts as they shot through her, sending her jolting awake.
Sabé's eyes flashed open and she shot upwards so that her torso was perpendicular to the bed. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she looked around wildly as if hoping to find the person who had shot her before mentally reminding herself that she actually hadn't been shot.
The lightness of her room made her blink. Her room had darker colors than white, that much she knew. And then she realized that she was in the medical ward as Obi-Wan's friend Bant Eerin approached her.
Naturally the first thing out of her mouth was: "Where are my clothes?" as her Jedi wear had been replaced by a medical gown once more, much to her eternal annoyance. She had a very strong aversion to the medical ward without them throwing in the gown to spite her.
Bant tried hard to not smirk, but Sabé made it too easy with her expression of discomfort. "In the bathroom. Do you need any help to get there?"
A scowl marred Sabé's face, but she closed her eyes and allowed the Force to wash over her and tell her of her injuries. "I'll manage." She paused briefly before giving the healer a polite thank you.
It was only when she returned fully garbed once more that she wagered she was in a bit of trouble, because Bant's presence had vanished only to be replaced with Master Yoda's.
She froze, not quite sure what to say to him, but, thankfully (or maybe not) he spoke first as she reluctantly sat down on the medical bed once more.
"Surprised to find you here, I am," he said.
Sabé gave an audible groan as she scrubbed her hands over her eyes.
The small and green Master chuckled lightly at her reaction. "Told I have been of your condition," he said, "worried your apprentice has been."
"That sounds like her," Sabé said under her breath before sighing. "Are you here about my attitude towards the Council? I apologize; I've just had a rough time sleeping the past few days."
"Understand I do," Yoda said, nodding his head slightly. "Here to speak with you about them, I am."
"You are?" Sabé said with a wince. "I-"
"Wish to speak of it not, but wish to hear I do," Yoda insisted.
Sabé gave another sigh at that. "Its nothing," she said, "they were just some nightmares, nothing to worry about."
"But worry you do," Yoda added, hobbling forward so the distance between former master and apprentice wasn't quite so pronounced. "Sense it I do."
"I am Darth Carina, but my name matters little. Because you will be dead before you can even speak it."
"Master," she said carefully, "do you ever think I could go dark?"
She could see that her question had startled him, but she did desire to know the answer.
"A strange question," he mused, "worried are you?"
"A bit," she admitted, "I had a horrible nightmare-"
"Worse than usual?"
"Well," Sabé faltered slightly, "I'm not sure yet, but it was pretty bad…I was here, in the Temple, I mean, but it was wrong, it was all wrong…" She remembered the cut down bodies that littered the Temple and she hid her face in her hands feeling the tears in her eyes. The first time she'd seen the image she'd been sickened, but now she was just sad about the whole thing, whether it was real or not, because the loss of innocent life just tore at her like nothing else. "There were bodies everywhere," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, and I found this woman with two red lightsabers, and she had my face…" She looked up, her desperate eyes making contact with Yoda's. "Is that just my mind playing tricks on me?"
Yoda stayed silent for a long moment.
"Think you are capable of cold-blooded murder do you?" Yoda finally inquired.
"No!" Sabé said, suddenly defensive, "I mean, I hope not."
Yoda gave her an aged smile. "Make us who we are, our choices do. Choose light over dark you will, if given the choice you are. Good, you are, evil you are not."
And this time Sabé believed him without a second thought, but the dream (nightmare, she reminded herself) still kept her ill at ease. Could it really be real? Could her future really be Darth Carina?
AN: Something for you all to sit on! Sadly, that's the only bit of the (possible) future that Sabé will be seeing, but it is enough to freak her out. Next chapter Sabé will be doing something she does not approve of… until then, you all sit tight! AND REVIEW!
