The coughing sputter of the speeder abruptly died as Qui-Gon pulled smoothly into the port. It was a beautiful night, although artificial – the stars were glittering, jeweled holograms projected from the ground, and the silky swirls of clouds were illusions. The real stars were far too dim to be seen properly. He walked up the steps to the palace, nodding once at the guards, and pressed his palm against the hand scanner. When he was safely inside, he threw back his hood and blinked hard, holding firmly onto the Force to keep himself awake. It had been a long, hard, jolting ride back to the palace, and he was exhausted from trying to figure out what was going on with Princess Zeijkk and the Mockingbird. Not to mention he was weary from keeping his mind off of Ana, trying hard not to think about her new name, her changed appearance, or her weak connection to the Force. He had a relatively simplistic mission which was growing more and more complicated by the second, and the last thing he needed were unnecessary emotions tangling his thoughts.
"Master?"
Obi-Wan was waiting for him in their chambers, dressed in his sleep tunic, and sitting cross legged on one of the plush chaises. Evidently he had been meditating, for he seemed languidly calm and his bright eyes were relaxed and easy. Qui-Gon shrugged off his outer cloak, hanging it carefully over a hook by the door, and unbuckled his lightsaber. He took a moment to lay it respectfully on the table, making a mental note of where it was, and then sat down on the bed to unlace his boots. "We are in the midst of a very deep conspiracy, Padawan," Qui-Gon said hoarsely, kicking off his boots. "There are old hurts and new secrets here, on Daluba, which we can't even begin to understand."
"Master, who is Ana?" Obi-Wan asked determinedly, looking straight at him. "You said we would speak to her, and I was wondering who she is. She knows you, I am certain of it, and she is connected to the Force, but barely. I cannot sense her emotions properly, but I know she is lying when she says she doesn't know you."
Qui-Gon looked wearily at Obi-Wan, and then sighed, bowing his head. There was a long pause while he collected his thoughts, trying to figure out how to answer his Padawan. "Firstly, I must apologize to you for keeping it a secret," He said quietly. "I consider it a deep hurt in my past, one I wish dearly to forget, but that does not excuse me. I treated you very disrespectfully by keeping this hidden." He paused again, interlacing his fingers and looking squarely at his Padawan. Telling the truth meant eye contact, no matter what. "La'Ana was my Padawan," He said softly. "She was the one before you. And before her was Xanatos, the Padawan who betrayed me." He stopped, swallowing.
"I was to train her for one year, just to help her adapt to the death of her Master. I had recently lost Xanatos at that time, and she had just lost her Master, Wathearu. We were a perfect match, or so Yoda thought." Qui-Gon continued, and then rubbed his temples. "It was difficult, at first," He admitted. "Neither of us wanted to trust one another, and we fought bitterly, at times. But, eventually, we were given a mission. A 'routine' mission, just like this one. The mission went wrong, and La'Ana was captured by my former Padawan, Xanatos. We fought, and I won the battle, but Ana was wounded badly. I brought her back to the Temple for healing, and it was then that we discovered her restricted access to the Force. She felt as though she would be useless as a Padawan or a Knight, so she left."
"But that isn't true," Obi-Wan objected. "There are plenty of Knights who deal with Force-related injuries. She could have become a Healer, or –"
"She left because we were in love."
There was a long, thick silence which settled heavily over both of them. Qui-Gon dropped his head to his hands. "She left because she didn't wish to damage my reputation any more than it already was." He swallowed the hard block in his throat, and looked tiredly at the wall. "I do not expect you to understand fully, Padawan, but I do ask for your forgiveness in not telling you."
Obi-Wan remained quiet, still looking at Qui-Gon. "Are you still in love?" He asked bluntly.
Kriff, yes, Qui-Gon thought to himself. Out loud, he said abruptly, "I need to speak with Ana. Go to sleep, Obi-Wan."
When the door hissed shut, Obi-Wan set his teeth and tried to stop the sheet of anger which smacked him in the heart. He had gotten so close! His Master had been truly opening up to him, and then he had to go ruin it. Obi-Wan clenched his fists and took a deep, quivering breath – This was no way for a Jedi Padawan to behave. He needed to collect himself. Qui-Gon would tell him the truth when he was ready, and until then, Obi-Wan shouldn't push. But his natural curiosity kept eating at him; Why had Qui-Gon been so upset over the failure of Xanatos? Was he still in love with Ana? How had he fallen in love, anyway? It was strictly forbidden by the Code. His Master didn't follow orders all the time, but surely, surely, he wouldn't disobey the code like that, so blatantly.
His mind still continued to put Qui-Gon on a pedestal, despite what was glaring him in the face.
The terrace was soulless and empty during this time of the night – silent as the stars above them. In the center was a still, calm pool, a flat silver square marred only by a few dark lily pads around the edges. The sleek white marble, marked here and there with yellow veins, was slippery beneath Ana's bare feet and bled the warmth from her legs. Still, it was a beautiful night, with enough crystalline silence to hurt the ears. There was a surreal, stretched effect to everything, as if part of her kept trying to wake up and push back the covers to start a new day.
"You do realize it's the middle of the night, correct?" Ana snapped bad-temperedly, folding her arms tightly. It was cool and breezy outside on the terrace, and she wondered why she had even opened the door. Because, her mind told her in that annoying fashion, You can't resist him when he's looking at you like that. Not when he's got those big blue eyes piercing your soul. She shook herself and wrapped her robe a little tighter around herself. She had, of course, been sleeping – beneath her sheer robe, she wore only a sleeping tunic, and her long hair was loose and tousled around her shoulders. She looked a fright, she knew, but she didn't want to keep him waiting. At first, when she heard the soft, discreet knock on the door, she had bounded to Zeijkk's door, ready to defend her princess. The moment she saw who it was, however, she slid down the wall and waited, as if he would go away. And then he said her name. Kriff, when he said her name, she would do
anything. She would jump off a cliff, if he just said her name.
Qui-Gon swallowed hard and tried to focus on the task he had at hand. There was no time to appreciate the slender, feminine form in front of him – especially since it was Ana's. It was one thing to admire a beautiful woman; it was quite another thing entirely to admire the form of a beautiful woman he happened to be in love with. If not in love, than at least have passionate feelings about. He closed his eyes briefly, summoning the legendary Jedi control all Knights have, and when he opened them, he was much more at peace. Still, the artificial moonlight was casting silver shadows everywhere, highlighting the light curve of Ana's hips, the rounded length of her shoulders, her rosebud lips pressed tightly together against the chill breeze. "I do realize it's late," He began quietly, ensuring no wandering guards would hear. "But I have a plan, and I need your help."
"And why would you need me?" Ana asked, turning and glowering at him. Not directly at him – not many people could glare directly into those smoky blue eyes and not soften inside. And she didn't want to be soft, she wanted to be strong. She wanted to show Qui-Gon just how strong she was, without the Code, without the Order – but especially, without him.
"Because I need three Jedi," Qui-Gon continued, unperturbed.
"Listen, Qui-Gon," Ana snapped, losing her fragile self-control and getting right into his face. She was so short it hardly made a difference, except to allow their body heat to mingle, but she stared angrily at his nose. She didn't dare look at his eyes. "I am not a Jedi, do you understand? Not a Knight, not a Padawan, nothing. I am a normal, relatively healthy Guardian who has to protect her Charge during a particularly stressful time in her life."
"You are a woman with a connection to the Force," Qui-Gon reminded her quietly. "Whether you wish it or not, Ana, you have midi-chlorians in your bloodstream, and they are reacting to the Force even now. Whether or not you can control your connection to the Force is another thing entirely, but you are still a Jedi. You received twenty years of Jedi training, and you lived in the Temple for most of your life. Even now, you still adopt a manner of the Jedi. Being a Jedi is not just training, it's not just a religion – it's a way of life. It defines a person."
"It didn't define me, it destroyed me!" Ana barked at him, and actually seized handfuls of his robe, dragging him slightly downwards and herself slightly upwards. Now she looked him in the eye – she was angry enough to glower at him. "You don't know how hard it was, me leaving! I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't even breathe for years! All the restrictions, all the barriers – I could never have a friend! All of those years, alone, trying to figure out a world and a life I had no idea about!" She was breathing hard, now, and she released him, stepping back. "I am no Jedi, Qui-Gon."
"You are my apprentice," Qui-Gon rumbled, stepping aggressively forward. "I trained you, held you, taught you, loved you. Yes, Ana, I did. I still do." His voice, raw with thick emotion, was deeper and rougher than usual. "You are not just a Padawan. You're my Padawan. And I need your help with this plan."
There was a long moment of silence, which went unbroken by the two of them. Ana looked away first, and then went slowly over to the pool. His aggression hit her hard – had he just admitted he still loved her? The heat rushed to her cheeks, and she sat down on the edge of the pool. Wordlessly, she slipped off her sleeping robe and waded into the cold water. Nearly instantly, goose bumps broke out across her skin, but she continued onwards until she was in the center. It was a relatively shallow pool, and it only went up to her knees, but she dropped down and floated, staring up at the artificial sky. Her black hair spilled around her, a life of its own in the water, and her sleeping tunic billowed around her thighs. "All right," She said softly. "Tell me the plan."
His control snapped in a split second when she righted herself and he got a glimpse of the goddess she was. She truly looked like some other-worldly being – the moon lighting her in bold silver, shadows and darkness gilding her edges, the water dripping off her and pattering the surface of the pool. The sleeping tunic clung to every curve, every inch of skin, and even though she had her back to him, he could see what a woman she had become.
She turned when she heard the soft rustle of his outer tunic, and her heart stopped when he entered the water, kneeling in front of her. "I'll tell you tomorrow," He whispered, and stroked her cheek with one hand.
The moon and the stars were a silent witness to the love which they admitted to one another, and the sky watched lovingly as they pledged themselves to one another. Ana to Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon to Ana. Two halves became whole, a circle knitting seamlessly back together. Master and Padawan. Friend and companion. Lover and fighter. Warrior and wildcat. Diplomat and instigator. Yin and Yang.
However, the moon and the stars weren't the only witness. A girl with a cloud of blonde hair watched with an empty, unsettling look in her eyes, but a smirk on her face, as she studied her Guardian. And then she whispered one word into the fabric of the night:
"Perfect."
A/N: I would love some feedback! I'm really sorry this took so long – I've been writing other things, and generally being a lazy bum, I know. But I hope this makes up for it. XDD Please, please, please, leave a review and tell me what you think!
