Chapter 31 Black, Revisited
Boba's restlessness began the day before Dena's parents arrived. He wanted to see Dena, to reassure her that it would be alright, that he would accept her decision, whatever it might be; and to tell her that he only wanted her to be happy. To satisfy his need, he started to walk; at first, just up and down the corridor that ran from the family sleeping rooms to the large, open sitting room in the Organa penthouse; and when incessant walking began to takes its toll on his family, he descended to the building's lobby, pacing ceaselessly until the lobby attendant ordered him to either go back up to the penthouse, or leave the building. With a nod of acceptance, Boba slipped outside and began to walk aimlessly, returning well after dark, too exhausted to walk any further; after a night of fitful sleep, Boba repeated his restless pacing, slipping quietly out onto the streets of Coruscant. Moments later, another figure emerged from the building, trailing in Boba's wake. While he walked, Boba replayed his conversation with the Jedi concerning Black in his mind. Black, Master Kenobi had told him, was essentially another Jango Fett in all aspects with the exception of his accelerated growth. What then, Boba had wondered, made him different than Black? And with a patient smile, Master Kenobi told him exactly what Bail Organa had with the addition that Boba should remember that nothing was known of Jango; for all anyone knew, he may have had similar early life experiences to Black which molded him into the ruthless bounty hunter who had been hired to kill Senator Padme Amidala, in addition to countless other mercenary acts. When Boba mentioned….was he being followed? Boba whipped around, hoping to catch whoever it was off guard, but was disappointed to find no one. He scratched his head and turned to continue on as he returned to his musing. When Boba mentioned his own ruthlessness prior to be caught during the second Naboo invasion, the Jedi Master had been quick to point out the young boy's tenderness toward a little war orphan. No different, Boba had argued, then Jango's soft spot for his Clone/son. With a sigh, Master Kenobi had then listed every good thing Boba had done since Naboo and challenged Boba to name just one incident during that time to support his own argument, finally forcing Boba to concede. Puzzled, Boba turned around again; he was sure someone was following him. The figure who had been tracking him since he left his residence melted into the crowded walkway. With a shake of his head, Boba turned back and continued on. Since the conversation with Master Kenobi, a new curiosity had begun to grow, and Boba found himself walking to the Detention Center; while he still felt uneasy about being there after his incarceration, his curiosity about Black overwhelmed his trepidation. With an exhalation of breath, he triggered the door and turned around again; he was sure he was being watched. But again, he saw nothing suspicious; he shrugged as he turned back and entered the building. The figure sat down on a bench across from the Detention Center to wait.
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Ga'al Heth accompanied the Korlivs to the Visitors' Lounge to meet their daughter; she was not present when they arrived and Master Heth politely offered to wait with them until Dena joined them. An offer they gratefully accepted; they still had not grown accustomed to the feeling that they were intruding whenever they visited Dena at the Temple. It wasn't that they didn't want to see Dena or meet with her Jedi teachers, it was just not something they had ever expected to do when they have given their only daughter to them for training. "Intruding you are not." Yoda stated as he hobbled into the room, "Welcome all families are to see their younglings."
Both Korlivs stood and bowed as the venerable master entered the room, "It is difficult to get over the feeling of trespassing, Master Yoda." Ovan replied with a nervous smile.
Yoda sighed, "Invited you have been; know their families our younglings must. Realized this long ago we should have." He admitted, "Learned this from our Chosen One we have."
Ovan nodded, "And what of our Dena?" He asked.
"Hmm…her choice that must be." Yoda answered and then turned, "Coming now she is."
Both parents turned just as Dena appeared from around the corner, "Leave you with her, I will." Yoda said as he hobbled out.
Dena bowed as she passed the old master and then, with Galyn's arm around her shoulders, took a deep breath as she entered the Lounge. Immediately, her mother's arms gathered her in; Galyn stepped back, bowed to Master Heth and slipped unobtrusively from the room. Dena melted into her mother's embrace and her carefully trained Jedi control slipped as she began to weep, "There, there; this should be a happy time." Elena told her as she rubbed her hands down her back soothingly.
"I...I've failed you; I'm…I'm so sorry." Dena cried.
Ovan put a hand on Dena's shoulder and gently pulled her away from his wife, "How have you failed us, Daughter?" He asked as raised her chin so that his dark eyes met hers.
"I...I don't think I can be a Jedi." She answered, shaking her head and closing her tear-brimmed eyes.
"Oh, Dena." Elena sighed and then put an arm around her, "It would take more than that for you to fail us."
Dena turned to regard her with a puzzled look; Ovan smiled and led her over to the cushioned seats, "Sit down and we will talk." He ordered as he eased her down.
Ga'al moved toward the door, "No, Master; please don't leave." Dena pleaded.
"You don't need me for this, Padawan." Ga'al replied with a reassuring smile.
Dena watched her master's departure feeling her anxiety grow; Elena patted her hand, "We are not going to hurt you, my darling." She told her.
Dena smiled sadly, "I have made such a mess of things." She said.
"Let us be the judge of that." Ovan replied, "Tell us about him."
"Don't you care if I don't become a Jedi?" Dena wondered, still puzzled at her parents' apparent lack of concern about what seemed to be a very important matter.
"What we care about, Dena; is that you find your place. Whether it is with this boy, with someone else or with the Jedi, is not important." Ovan answered.
Dena breathed a sigh of relief and then wondered what they would think of her choosing to fall in love with the Clone of a ruthless mercenary, "You may change your mind about that." She replied.
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Boba sat down facing the mirror image of Jango Fett; Black, shackled to a chair, stared at him impassively, "What do you want, Bounty Hunter?" He asked.
"Why are you so hateful?" Boba asked.
"Why? Because I was created just so I could become ion cannon fodder; don't you think that gives me a right to hate?" Black asked.
Boba shook his head, "No one has a right to hate as much as you do." He answered.
"Really? I remember you when you knew nothing but hate." Black reminded him.
"You're right; after Jango was killed, I hated Mace Windu and the other Jedi, and for a while all I wanted was revenge. But then something happened, and I realized there is more to life than hate and revenge." Boba replied.
Black laughed at him, "Yeah, I'll bet old Jango would just love to hear that." He retorted.
"You know, I don't really care what Jango would think." Boba told him.
"Why did you come down here?" Black asked.
"I don't really know; I guess I just wanted to know why you and I are so alike, and yet so different." Boba answered.
"Oh, you and I are more alike than you want to think, Bounty Hunter." Black replied.
This time Boba laughed, "Two days ago, I would have believed that; but you and I have nothing in common except that we both came from Jango." He said, "My friends tried to tell me that, but I guess I just had to listen to you before I could understand."
"You think you're so special just because that bounty-hunting mercenary who called himself your father couldn't love a woman enough to give him a son; so he just made one, a chip off the old block. I remember you standing there with him doing nothing while we worked; I began to hate him for working us so hard not caring that many of us would end up dead within two or three years….and I began to hate you because you would always be sheltered. Now look at you; you still think you're special." Black snapped back.
"Yeah, I am special; I looked up to Jango like he was my father. I was well on my way to becoming just like him until I met a Jedi apprentice who was as different from Jango as night is to day; but he didn't turn his back on me, he….he became my friend. And because of him, I started taking a really good look at my life and I found out how empty it was. So yeah, I'm special because I found out what it's like to have friends and a family, and I learned how important they are." Boba replied, "I feel sorry for you, Black; and that in itself makes me very different from you."
Black looked at him in disgust, "You weak fool." He spat out.
"I don't think I'm the fool here, Black." Boba answered as he stood up and walked to the door, signaling to the guard that he was finished, "I must thank you; you've managed to squash any doubt I had about myself."
The door opened and Black watched as the youthful Clone disappeared through the doorway; after several minutes, another guard reentered the room to free him from the chair and return him to his cell. Black sat motionless as the guard unshackled him, pulled him to his feet and then secured his arms behind his back before returning him to his cell. As the door of his cell slid shut, Black's thoughts returned to the bounty hunter; wondering why that particular Clone seemed to have gotten all the breaks…reminding him again why he hated Boba Fett.
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Boba left the Detention Center feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders; he was different than Jango, he could see that so clearly that he wondered how he failed to see it before. He could go home now and wait for the word from the Jedi Temple that he could see Dena, and meet her….the feeling of being watched hit him as soon as he started back toward home; there had been a man sitting on a bench outside the Center. He should have noticed it before; deftly he slipped into a recessed doorway.
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Ordinarily, Boba's independence would not have worried his surrogate parents; but since the attempt on the Chancellor's life, concern for the family's safety left both Bail and Breha feeling uneasy when Boba ventured out on his own. True, Boba had managed to survive the Clone Wars as a child, and was now closing in on manhood, but that did little to ease their fears; and so Bail assigned a bodyguard to trail the ex-bounty hunter, knowing Boba would probably roll his eyes at their over-protectiveness when he discovered it. The bodyguard moved forward, irritated that he had somehow managed to lose the young man he had been instructed to protect. He focused on the crowd before him, hoping to catch a glimpse of his charge; suddenly, he felt himself being jerked off his feet and thrown against a building. Pinning him to the wall was none other than Boba Fett, "Why are you following me?" The young man demanded as he glared angrily at him.
"I was ordered…" The bodyguard began.
"Ordered? By who, the one who hired Lyman to kill the Chancellor?" Boba cut him off.
"No, the Chancellor…" The bodyguard started again.
"The Chancellor ordered you to follow me? Why would he do that?" Boba demanded, again, not allowing the bodyguard to finish.
The bodyguard slipped easily from the ex-bounty hunter's hold and suddenly turned the tables on the young Clone; Boba found himself suddenly pinned against the wall, "Are you going to kill me now?" Boba wondered, "Or use me to get to the Chancellor again."
"No, you fool; Chancellor Organa and the Queen were concerned for your safety, and I was assigned to protect you." The bodyguard explained.
"That's ridiculous; I don't need protecting." Boba scoffed.
"Whoever hired Lyman Malta to kill the Chancellor has not been apprehended; the Chancellor feels his family, including you, will not be safe until he is." The bodyguard answered, "Now, I'll let you go, but only if you promise not to attack me if I do."
Boba sighed, it would be like Bail to be concerned for his safety; and Breha even more so. With a resigned nod, he agreed; the bodyguard relaxed his hold, "Why didn't you just tell me what you were doing?" Boba asked.
The bodyguard smiled, "The Chancellor thought you might feel as if you were losing your independence, so he told me to be unobtrusive; and I thought I was. You're good, kid." He replied.
"I'm sorry; it's self preservation, I guess. After Jango was killed, I was on my own, so I had to learn how to survive." Boba answered, "Actually, I don't really need a bodyguard."
"Maybe, maybe not; but it puts the Chancellor's mind at ease, knowing you at least have someone to back you up if you need it." The bodyguard told him.
"Yeah, I guess the last thing he needs to worry about is me." Boba admitted.
The bodyguard patted Boba on the back, "He and the queen have never forgotten when you were taken four years ago; they do not want that to happen again." He added.
Boba closed his eyes and shuddered at the memory of his brutal treatment at the hands of the poachers, "Neither do I." He replied.
"So now you understand why they are so concerned." The bodyguard said, "Humor them, will you?"
"Yeah, alright." Boba agreed, "I need to talk to him anyway."
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Dena accompanied her parents to the front Temple entrance; as she had suspected, they had not been overenthusiastic when she briefed them about Boba Fett.
"You must understand that we are not judging this young man; however, we are understandably wary of him considering his background." Ovan told her with a warm embrace.
"I know you say that; but…" Dena replied.
"We have expressed our desire to meet him; if we had already made up our minds about him, there would be no need for that." Elena pointed out, "Are you worried we will still find him unsuitable?"
Dena smiled, "A Jedi never worries." She replied and then looked serious, "But it seems he is unfairly judged far too often for me not to be concerned."
"I understand your concern; however you misjudge us if you think we will be anything but fair-minded when it comes to this young man." Ovan assured her, "If he is what you say, then you need not worry at all."
Dena nodded, they had promised to reserve judgment until Boba was introduced to them; and their warm embraces suggested to Dena the sincerity of their promise. In the morning, she would go before Council; under those circumstances, she could not leave the Temple until after that meeting, but her parents would return to be with her. With one last embrace, her parents exited when the door slid open; with a sigh of relief, Dena watched them go. Perhaps, she thought, things would turn out alright after all.