Palpatine was sitting in the small hut trying to decipher one of thin texts Fay had left behind. He had come to the conclusion that it was some lightside power, but the language it was written in made no sense to him. In the distance he heard a shuttle land, but he did not bother to stand. He only turned to face the door when he heard Qui Gon Jinn call out and his padawan's shadow touch the door. "Oh good! Thank goodness." he said tucking the thin text into his interior pocket, "Master Qui Gon, Padawan Kenobi, it's so good to see you both." He gave them both a large contrived smile.
"Senator Palpatine," Qui Gon said in his gravelly voice, "It is good to find you well and unharmed."
"Oh I am afraid that would not have been the case had a very kind Jedi woman not taken pity on a simple senator." He replied walking out of the hut with them. He cast a glance at both of them, privately reveling in their instant and apparent confusion.
"A Jedi?" Kenobi asked, the first to speak between the two of them.
"Yes," Palpatine said now following them back to their ship, "A beautiful woman with pointed ears, and silver vine markings on her face. I believe she identified herself as...Master Fay." he dropped the bomb on them, but did not wait for their reaction, "I didn't recognize her from among your ranks, Master Qui Gon. I was quite confused really, but I had no reason to doubt her. Especially since she seemed to use the force to pluck my ship from the sky. Had she not, I am sure my ship would have been destroyed, along with me." He was cloyingly positive, and smiling as he always did, while casually rubbing their noses in who he spent time with. He hoped with his bragging might come more information.
Qui Gon allowed the senator to pass, discreetly reaching out through the Force to feel for the presence of the woman he claimed saved his life. He felt nothing, the vision was clouded. The Senator may be mistaken…
When they were in lightspeed headed back to Coruscant Qui Gon accessed some Jedi files. "Senator, would you mind looking at these?"
Palpatine instantly smiled, "Anything for you Master Jedi." he said with great cheer. As he leaned forward the fake smile became genuine, exactly what he wanted to see.
Before them was an image of a young blond Jedi woman, "Master Fay." Palpatine said with a nod, "Though her eyes are silver, and her ears have the most sensual point. She also has two silver tattoos one here." he pointed to her forehead and one there." He was busy reading while he was making small talk. "And she didn't have a lightsaber on her belt, but this is her, I have no doubt. She doesn't appear to have aged beyond that picture." He gazed intently at the screen, "Is this a recent holograph?" he asked dumbly.
"No, this is a training holo, taken over two-hundred years ago." Qui Gon said looking at his padawan.
"How is that possible, Master?" Kenobi asked.
"There have been legends of her for many years now. I thought they were just myth, but I grew to admire the myths. I spent hours in the library archives reading all I could. I have always thought that some day," he paused thoughtfully, "I would go and find her, if she existed, and ask her to teach me, and that I might live as she does."
"Guided completely by the Force?" Palpatine finished the Jedi Master's thought, "But we would sorely miss you, Master Qui Gon, the Republic needs you."
"Of course, Senator." Qui Gon left the picture and information on the screen, apparently unconcerned with the information.
"Do you know," Palpatine said with a cheery smile, "When I woke from the poison, she was standing over me. I do believe I asked her to marry me." He chuckled, "And do you know what she said? She said that she was a bit too old for me." he shook his head and leaned back, "She's a clever woman, very quick witted. I'm sorry you didn't get to meet her, Master Qui Gon." He stood from his seat, "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to rest before we get home. It's been a taxing few days."
Qui Gon nodded, "Of course, Senator." When the Senator was gone Qui Gon sent a message to the council that Master Fay had a confirmed sighting, along with the details available from the senator's description of events.
"Do you think they will ask us to look for her, Master?"
"I don't know, Obi-Wan. I hope so. We could use her wisdom on the council right now."
While Palpatine was in his quarters he sent a message to his Master, Darth Plagueis, that he had a gift for him. He pulled the lightside book from his pocket and studied it's cover. This may help their quest for the Force powers of life, and once they unlocked that secret, Palpatine would kill his master. As for Master Fay, he would arrange to see her again, perhaps once his Master was dead. Fay may be willing to leave things to the will of the Force, but he was not one to leave things chance. The button he gave her would assure he could find her again as it held the finest tracking device available.
888
Several years later….
Palpatine lay staring at the ceiling, Sly Moore his Umbaran lover, lay naked and sleeping at his side. She was but one of the many of his lovers and concubines. On this night a night of celebration that he was finally rid of his Master, he found he could not find satisfaction in her arms. He threw his legs over the side of his bed and wrapped himself in a robe, padding over to his desk he touched a secret button and a panel slid open. Within the small hiding spot, a single kyber crystal. He frowned down at it before picking it up. It had taken a while to procure this particular crystal. It came from the Jedi temple archives out of the hilt of a lightsaber that was stored there, the lightsaber of Master Fay.
The archive had recorded that when Fay went into the cave the crystal that revealed itself to her was in the broken hilt of a Sith that died fighting in the temple a millennia before. It was documented that she returned with the crystal in hand having healed the wound the Sith had made to give it the traditional red color. She was the only recorded youngling to ever wield a white lightsaber.
Remembering the story he held it to the light. He could see both the wound and it's repair with a sigh he placed it on his desk. The book he had given to his Master, the one written by Fay, had in fact aided Plageius in manipulating the midichlorians to bring someone back from the dead. It had also driven him insane. The study of the book had turned Plagueis into a recluse making him fairly worthless to Palpatine. For everything there was a price.
He was now chancellor of the Republic and his own master. His plans were unfolding exactly as he had foreseen. Now on the night of his triumph he felt pulled toward Fay. It angered him that he could not foresee what role she played in his life. The part she played was shrouded in mystery. Given the books he took from her home, he suspected it had something to do with immortality, but he couldn't be sure. When he went to meditation about this all he ever saw was a repeat of a dream he had years ago. The dream of a desert planet, the day it seemed he would take her as a lover. It alway frustrated him, because he could feel the Force and her body mingling with his own. He felt the word life in his mind as the dream played on. Which is why he could only assume she was a key to his immortality.
He stared at the small kyber crystal formulating the next step he would take to 'run into her' again. He could not resist the call of the Force this night to seek her out again.
Palpatine then felt Sly get up from their bed and approach him, "Leave me." he said, devoid of all emotion other than contempt. She obeyed, as they all obeyed, leaving him to his machinations.
A moment later he felt a presence in his room. He stood with his robes still open, rounding in anger, thinking Sly had returned. To his complete shock Fay stood at the window, bathed in the moonlight. "Fay." he said stepping forward, "I was just thinking of you."
Fay laughed, "Really?" she looked away, causing him to tie his robes together, "I believe your mate might take offense at that. I arrived a bit earlier, and you were...busy." She finished and then looked back at him.
"Jealous?" He asked hopefully.
"No." Fay replied in a soft earnest voice, "Will she return or do we have a moment to speak?"
"As much time as you wish, Fay." He motioned to the couch in his room, "Please, have a seat. Can I get you anything, food, drink...anything?"
"No, thank you." she said moving toward the couch, looking at the opulent surroundings, "You've come so far from your humble beginnings in my earthen hut." Fay said slowly sitting down, still looking at the artwork and gilded nature of his apartments. "That's an interesting piece." she said pointing to a stone mural that depicted the battle of the first split between the Jedi and the Sith. She turned back to him, "Not a piece of art one expects to find in a non-force user's possession."
His blue eyes widened, "I suppose not, but I work closely with the Jedi council, and that hallway goes to my offices. It's in honor of them."
Her silver eyes flashed and she raised a skeptical eyebrow, "It's a strange complement, Sheev."
He shrugged, "You didn't come here to talk about my decor I am sure. I have read up on you, you are considered a legend to these Jedi. They document sightings and rumors of your exploits. When I returned to Coruscant from being with you, Master Yoda himself interviewed me at length. They have files and files about you, Master Fay."
She rolled her eyes, "They must be easily fascinated or entertained."
"They surely don't know you are here though." He smirked, taking one of the glasses of wine he sat on the coffee table earlier and drinking.
"Nobody knows I am here, but you. I snuck in, which by the way...You are now the Chancellor and I was able to sneak into your apartments with great ease."
"You are a Jedi, I should think that would be easy for any Jedi."
"I'm not that kind of Jedi that sneaks as a general rule." She smiled, "I'm an in broad daylight kind of Jedi."
He smiled sipping his wine, "Why are you here? Not that I am complaining, mind you, but for someone who hasn't come to the core in centuries-which I believe now by the way-why now, and why me?"
"I've been feeling you call to me through the Force." She said directly, "For months now, I have felt you call at least once a week. Tonight, I heard you call to me. When I showed up and you were...ummm...busy, and then strongly after. Which, by the way, you do that poor woman a disservice if you take her to your bed and then think of another." she lightly chastised.
"I don't know, thinking of you was inspirational." He said with a heady voice, causing her to blush. He did realize that his meditations had brought her here, and perhaps another item aided tonight. He stood and gathered her kyber crystal in his hand holding it up so she could see, "Perhaps this helped me, I was holding it when you entered."
"My kyber crystal!" she gasped, "How did you obtain it, that had to be locked in the archives."
"A Jedi friend loaned it to me temporarily. I know a Jedi and their crystal are intimately linked, and I missed you. I suppose you have been hearing me lately because I knew the path to being Chancellor was open, and I was thinking more about how I wished you were at my side. As for the woman tonight, I'm not like you Fay. I am not a holy or even good man. She is interested in my power, what I can do for her. She has a need, I have a need, it's a tidy but not noble arrangement." he finished the glass of wine in one gulp, " That's why I need you, Fay. All these years later, and I recognize that now more than ever."
Fay stood abruptly, "I must go, I've been sensed. I will be on your home planet of Naboo in two weeks time, if you wish to speak again before years pass be there."
He stood, "How will I find you?"
"I will find you when you settle in." she pointed to the kyber crystal, "Return that and allow it to rest please." she moved to the window almost faster than he could see.
"But it helps me call to you," he called out.
"There are other ways." she said and out the window of the impossibly tall building she went.
On cue Master Windu and Kenobi entered with lightsabers in hand, but not lit. "We felt a disturbance in the Force, Chancellor. Are you alright?" Master Windu said looking around the room, while Kenobi looked at the open window, the shield had been disabled. "Someone disabled the alarm and the window sheild." Kenobi said trying to sense the intruders path, to no avail.
The chancellor stood, wrapping his robe around him, "It was a friendly guest, Masters, an old friend." he purred, "I appreciate your diligence, but I am in need of rest. If you will excuse me.