Parliamentarian Eleva Yuikon reached him first and bowed.
'Master Baley," she said warmly, "it is a pleasure to meet you. How are you enjoying your stay on Collassan?"
As he exchanged words with her, he saw the other man slip away into the vast gardens.
Eleva handed him a glass of the frothy wine and he pretended to sip it as she asked him about the Order and his role.
"What is your personal opinion on the Senate, Master Baley?" she questioned him.
"Corrupt, certainly. Most sit there for their own selfish interests. However," he cut off her next question, " I support it because I know that good can be done there."
"You are certainly optimistic." She set her glass down on a plinth.
"I believe in the Republic and what it stands for, my lady. Mistakes can be corrected. This war is damaging to both sides."
She gazed at him curiously. "The Outer Rim sieges currently do not affect us."
"It affects your trade and your use of nearby hyperspace shipping lanes. A military base will allow the Republic to protect this world and to hold our own against the Separatists. All of us know that General Grievous will not stop to enslave this sector. He will see fit to make this planet a trophy."
"General Grievous has relocated the Separatist Council to Utapau. The Republic is winning."
"The Duchess of Mandalore is dead," he reminded the woman. "Very few are now willing to go up against either side and declare neutrality. Your navy is small, good for only protecting this solar system."
"Satine Kryze is dead because one of the best Jedi in the Order couldn't save her. What does that say about your Order's capability to protect the Republic's interests?"
And therein lays the rub, thought Elijah sarcastically.
"The battle of Belderone was headed by Kenobi and he successfully routed the Separatists. He has as many victories as he does losses. Perhaps a far better question to ask would be whether the governments of this planet are willing to risk being on the wrong side of history."
"According to you, Master Jedi, the Republic is the right side. Why?"
"We kill fewer innocents, Parliamentarian."
Yuikon stared at him and pulled out a disk from her voluminous sleeves. "The Birdiani Council meets soon. Would a Master Jedi honor us with his presence?"
He took the disk and bowed in return, watching her disappear into the crowd. Elijah went in the other direction and made his way into the maze of floating lights and carefully trimmed plants, squeezing past couples talking. Somewhere, he heard laughter, which died out quickly.
It was easy to find Daneel. He sat on a bench in an enclosed part of the walkway that spanned the creek gurgling through the gardens. Elijah stared at the man and shuddered imperceptibly. All creatures were bound to the living Force, but he could not sense a single midichlorian in the Separatist Ambassador's body. The effect was one he felt when concentrating on a paper book; perhaps it had once been living, but now it was dead.
"Master Baley," smiled Daneel. Master Yoda would have envied the sheer control Daneel Olivaw had over his body. Elijah's eyes drifted over the long legs, the chiseled jaw and limpid blue eyes. He was a perfect embodiment of humanity. Too perfect.
"Would you care to sit?" Daneel asked, indicating the space next to him.
"How did you go from helping a detective solve a case to an ambassador?" asked Elijah abruptly.
"We are not always what we seem, Partner Elijah." Daneel never angered at Elijah's rudeness, but he certainly could make pointed remarks. As usual, he was right and the Jedi winced.
When he and Master Delmarre had been assigned to track down a bounty hunter seven years ago, they had also found a spate of unexplainable high-profile murders on the planet of Zygerria. While Delmarre dealt with the bounty hunter, Elijah had investigated the near assassination of Han Fastolfe, and met his son, Daneel. Together, they had brought down a psychopathic councilman and had almost been enslaved, escaping through sheer luck.
This was before he had learnt that Daneel was a Separatist. Even now, thinking of it made him feel irrationally betrayed.
"You didn't answer my question, Daneel."
"You didn't answer mine, Partner Elijah."
"We're not partners anymore. Don't call me that."
Daneel stood to face the Jedi. "Are we still friends then? I value your opinion highly, Master Baley."
"As friendly a Separatist envoy and a Jedi can be."
"Then allow me to set a precedent for such future friendships, Master Jedi." He turned off his communicator and pocketed it, stepping forward to grasp Elijah's cold hand in his. They sat down and Elijah chewed on his bottom lip meditatively, watching the creek glimmer in the artificial light. His palm tingled from the contact.
"Fastolfe was not a Zygerrian," the ambassador continued, "and after you and Master Delmarre had gone, we left for Aurora. He is a man of great importance there, and it was decided that, once the planet had joined the Separatists, I would be their liaison to Aurora because I had the necessary skills."
Elijah knew what he meant very well. Daneel's negotiating had been the only thing standing between him and death when he'd been captured and held in the catacombs of the royal palace. A Jedi slave would've been a slap in the face to the Order. Of course, Daneel hadn't known Elijah was a Jedi, until Master Delmarre had told him so.
"A very meteoric rise to power," Elijah said. One I would have noticed had you kept in contact with me. Was it so difficult to call, Daneel?
"Indeed," stated Daneel. "I am here to convince the Collassarians to support the Confederacy of Independent Systems."
"Is the Republic truly that bad?" Elijah asked, plaintive.
"The Jedi Order would support us if not for their loyalty to that failing system."
"Daneel, if the Separatist head of state dies, the being representing the planetary system with the most economic might replaces him. How is that fair in any sense?"
"It will work better than a clumsy Senate riddled with treachery and an ineffective Chancellor, a puppet for the greedy."
Elijah frowned at that. Palpatine was many things, but ineffective was not one of them. He voiced this opinion to Daneel. The other shook his head, the tiniest hint of a frown appearing on his impassive mouth.
"They all work in the beginning," he murmured softly to himself, pulling the cloak around him tighter. "They rise and fall and rise again."
"It is then our task to make the transition from rise to fall to rise as smooth and painless as possible. "
Elijah began to reply, but Daneel stopped him. "Good night Master Baley. May the Force be with you on your search for the missing Jedi." The man rose and strode out into the evening.
He sat there, dumbstruck. How had Daneel known? It wasn't as if he could read Elijah's mind.
Elijah woke up the next day, sore and irritated from the night before. His mouth ached from smiling so much. On a whim, he'd drunk the sweet tasting wine and had become tipsy after two gulps. He rolled over to look at the timepiece and instead found a woman staring at him.
"Sithspit," he said succinctly. "I don't remember your name."
She ran a hand through her hair and muttered, "This was a bad idea."
The last Elijah had slept with a woman was when he and Master Delmarre had become intoxicated by consuming juijui berry mead. After a week of avoiding one another, they had finally settled on never speaking of the incident again.
He tapped his chin. "I know you. I saw you in the Parliament."
"I am Jezebel Evergray, Master Baley."
"The…secretary," he said, face going red as she got out and began to pull on her undergarments. "You translated what the Leplen Parliamentarian said to me."
"Parliamentarian stenographer. What's the use of being embarrassed? You weren't this shy last night," she grinned. "For a follower of a celibate cult, you certainly don't move like one."
She used the refresher first and left after kissing him on the cheek. Once he was sure she had gone, he sat down, face still flaming, and sent out a general information request on the Biridian Council. He had received a data package on the missing Jedi during the night.
Jedi Kylana Rithisi was a Mirialan who'd been sent to find the source of a beacon that had flared up on the nearby world of Pannalan. Her last transmission to the Tol Council had been a short message seventeen days ago to check in. She'd found the beacon, and something more, which she would not say over vulnerable wavelengths. Elijah knew that most of the Council thought she was dead and had only sent him to clarify their doubts. Her Padawan, a Twi'Lek named Jarinia Tam, was going frantic with worry and had demanded to go in his stead.
Elijah dearly wished that they had sent her in his place.
But how did Daneel know of the missing Mirialan? Was it his network of contacts? He did not think Daneel would be able to kill someone, even if his life depended on it.
The Biridian Council was a pro-Republic group, though he suspected they were so because they thought the Republic would grant them more privileges than the Separatists, where power was decided by monetary splendor. They were secretive, noted Elijah, and were antithetical to the ruling President. On the disk the Parliamentarian had given him was an address on the city's fringes and a time. He had seven hours. Elijah looked outside longingly, then back at his messy bed. Stripping the mattress of sheets, he fell asleep.
"All living beings are a part of the Unifying Force", mocked the Zygerrian, pointing the blaster at Daneel and pulling the trigger.
"You're the only one who can stop him, Lije!" Jezebel-no, Jessie, clung to him, eyes wide with fear.
The ship jumped into hyperspace and Daneel Olivaw stared lifelessly at Elijah, soulless blue eyes faintly accusing.
The Jedi Master woke, heart hammering.