Mercy Day - Part 5

There was no furniture in the cell, just hygiene facilities inset in the wall and some rolled up sleeping mats in a corner. Obi-Wan looked at his master curiously as he took one mat from the corner and unrolled it on the metal floor. He had no idea what they could gain from their frozen prisoner, but he sat down on the mat next to Qui-Gon. Outside, more deputies and others soundlessly passed by; the room was completely isolated from the noise outside.

"Do you sense anything from him, my Padawan?"

Obi-Wan looked carefully at the body in the ice, hardly recognizable as the angry man they'd last seen ordering battle droids to attack while he retreated. He closed his eyes, reaching out with the Force. "No, Master," he finally answered.

"Not even that he's alive?" Qui-Gon prodded.

Obi-Wan grimaced, knowing that he'd jumped to the conclusion that Qui-Gon has sensed something unusual. Qui-Gon had simply meant literally anything. He closed his eyes and tried again. The Force flowed from all life; it bound all things, living and non-living together. A Jedi used it to draw strength from and sense the life around them. Obi-Wan felt it flow strongly through him, in the room around him, very strongly through Qui-Gon next to him, and through the block of ice before him. He opened his eyes. He felt the connection between himself and the ice and the being in it. Nule Radeel hovered in a weird non-death, but still alive. It wasn't living in any way that Obi-Wan had ever sensed before; less than sleep, less than near-death, less than the tiny creatures of the microscopic world. He sat for a long time; Nule Radeel felt more like an expectation of life, than life itself, not waiting to be born, but to simply exist. He finally lowered his gaze and told his master what he'd sensed.

But the look of expectation vanished from Qui-Gon's expression and he sighed. That confused him; he'd felt the Force so strongly, with less effort than he usually needed. He was sure he couldn't have missed anything. He turned back to the ice to try again. But Qui-Gon laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"No, Obi-Wan. You have seen something that you have not seen before and you have done well." But Obi-Wan knew from his tone that he had not seen everything he could have. He stopped himself from asking. Qui-Gon could simply tell him what it was, but he knew his master wanted him to find it. But what–?

Obi-Wan jerked his head around to the window. Qui-Gon leapt to his feet. They were being watched. Qui-Gon went to the com to call the guard while Obi-Wan jumped to the window. He saw nothing that hadn't been there before, the corridor, other cells with languishing prisoners. No one paid them any attention. The sense of being watched was gone. Whoever it was had retreated. Qui-Gon looked up at the security cameras. It could have been someone at the monitor.

"Was anyone else here just now?" Qui-Gon demanded as soon as the deputy let them out.

"Yeah, half the city is starting to show up," she grumbled sarcastically. There were more people around, more voices, some yelling down the hall. Qui-Gon impatiently brushed past her down the hall to the desk. People clustered about, reading data screens, complaining to the droids and the deputies, or just sitting about waiting. Nobody reacted to Qui-Gon. He looked at the rows of monitors behind the desk.

"Are there other monitors into these cells?"

"Yes," the deputy answered slowly. "There are monitors on each floor. They can tap into all the cells." She wasn't any more specific than that. She narrowed her small green eyes at him, a little annoyed by the sudden interrogation. Qui-Gon sighed. The moment was gone.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "My apprentice and I thought we saw something, but we must have been mistaken." The deputy accepted Qui-Gon's explanation and grimaced at the hubbub around them.

"There's plenty of something around here to see." The deputy reached down behind the top of her desk to retrieve their lanterns, but the light through the windows told them that they wouldn't need them for now. The sun had come up. She pressed some buttons at her screen and turned it toward them.

"Sheriff Alhens has already contacted the Malipids Clan and they've already filed the declaration to disown this guy," she explained. Radeel had grown up on Bovad, but had left many years ago. His clan's rejection dissolved any legal protection he might have had on Bovad.

She also handed Qui-Gon a large data screen with printed script glowing on it, the report that they'd recorded with the sheriff for Nule Radeel. The charges were highlighted in orange:

Attempted coup of the lawful government of Ildan Colony

Misuse and theft of the Ildan Colony assets

Escape from lawful authorities of Ildan Colony and the Republic

Qui-Gon knew that the Republic Judiciary would have a much longer list of crimes to prosecute Radeel on, but he'd only given them the more important ones.

"She just wanted you to confirm that you were witnesses to the crimes," the deputy explained. Qui-Gon took the indicator stick and checked the affirmative on the report, wrote his name and authority as a Jedi.

"Yes," he confirmed. "We were."

Qui-Gon had signaled for him not to speak, so Obi-Wan waited until they were outside, well on the path back to the Tilplens Compound.

"It was just like last night."

Qui-Gon nodded. The paths by the city were wider and they could walk together. They'd both just assumed that it was only the girls from dinner who were watching them. But now it seemed to be connected their mission.

"Radeel has no known accomplices on Bovad. They were all captured on Ildan."

"He does have family here," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"Even if his clan has rejected him, it is quite possible that there are members still loyal to him." Qui-Gon thought about this. "But it would be unlikely that they would be equipped to break him out of jail." The deputies had agreed to contact them if anything even remotely amiss occurred near their prisoner. Radeel's arrangements had allowed for either another person to thaw him from the ice or an attendant medical droid in the cave to activate automatically and free him. He'd clearly planned for his escape to be unassisted if necessary. If there were any accomplices, Radeel hadn't expected them to be reliable.

They'd destroyed the droid and revival equipment when they'd taken Radeel from the cave and told the sheriff where the hideout was. But Alhens hadn't sent out anyone to look at the site yet. Not even a sentry droid. So, anyone could have been there.

They made their way back to the narrow path that led back to the Tilplens Compound. When they arrived they found everyone busy cleaning and sorting things and it was well past the second meal of the day. But the kitchen droids gave them water and plates of mushy vegetables and spicy fungus. They ate at a small corner table while clan members debated what needed to be thrown out in the kitchen. Mama-Low went by but stopped long enough to introduce them to Mama-High and Papa-Low who were with her. They'd barely said hello when something large and heavy tipped over in the next room and the three rushed out to see what it was. Gyseer was not just a time to unburden one's conscience, it was also a time to discard things that were no longer needed and to catch up on all those promised tasks that had been left undone.

As they finished their meal Pimas came by to wish them a happy Gyseer and to ask them to refrain from more lightsaber practice. Some people had complained about the violence. Qui-Gon agreed and offered to help, but Pimas declined. Guests were always welcome, but it was bad luck for them to participate in the preparations because they would invariably throw something out that shouldn't have been. Then Pimas paused, looking at Qui-Gon carefully.

"There is one thing..." he began speculatively.

Qui-Gon held up one authoritative finger. Nearly a dozen pairs of small eyes followed his gesture rapturously. Then he pointed to an enormous, squashy blue ball to his left. They all looked at it together and then back at Qui-Gon when he lifted his finger again. They eagerly waited for his signal. Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows.

With a mass cry of glee the mob of children attacked the ball, climbing over each other to get to the top. It was pure chaos. They all wore brightly colored, padded body suits and matching caps, and they moved as if their limbs were as flexible as elastic. This sport would keep them busy for maybe twenty minutes before he needed to find them a new target. He had his eye on a big, green mat in the corner. They had actually already attacked that, but 'new' to this group was just something that they hadn't been playing on in the last half hour.

This was the one task that the Jedi could volunteer for without bringing bad luck to the Gyseer preparations. They weren't actually supposed to care for the children, just keep them out of trouble while their care-givers tended to their own affairs. These children were too young to help with the holiday but too mobile for their parents to keep them with them and still get anything done.

Qui-Gon Jinn had to admit that not even the Force could make a group of children like this behave all at once, but he could at least temporarily re-direct their energy. And this game was a great improvement over what it had started out as, which had been effectively 'Jump of the Jedi'. All Zonim children were trained even before they were old enough to understand speech to always stay together and to always stay with adults. This was for practical safety so that they wouldn't go off alone in the cold outside. But the result was that they tended to swarm.

When Pimas had introduced them to the chief care-giver, a stern woman with aqua skin tones and a long face named Vordlen. She'd declared them fit by announcing, "Well, if you can't trust Jedi to watch children then the galaxy's ready to implode anyway. But those robes have got to go."

So, their robes and lightsabers were tucked away on a high shelf and Vordlen had given them plastic ponchos to put on over their clothes. When she decreed that Qui-Gon's was too short (actually, she'd declared Qui-Gon to be too tall), she'd taken an enormous piece of plain sheeting, cut a hole in the middle and had Qui-Gon bend over so she could pull it on him herself. When he started to pull his long, brown hair out of the collar, she slapped his hand back telling him to keep it there because the children were just going to pull on it. He found out immediately that he had to hold them away from his face to keep them from pulling on his beard, though they were fascinated by any expressions he made with his eyebrows even if they weren't allowed to tug on them. Obi-Wan got a purple cap to keep them from pulling on his Padawan's braid. They pulled on the cap instead, but at least that didn't hurt. The need for the ponchos had become clear at dinner time. None of the children needed to be fed, but food was just as much a toy as it was sustenance for them. And now Qui-Gon would need to wash his hair later.

This was the last batch that needed to be taken to bed and the last care-giver was late returning with their relations so Vordlen had gone to get them. Al of the care-givers had taken longer for their breaks than they were supposed to.

The climbing and squealing on the blue ball continued and Qui-Gon glanced over at a large, soft blue floor chair where Obi-Wan was literally covered with children. When they got tired these children would not lay down to rest; they would angrily cry in place. Fortunately, a nice, warm Human body to cuddle up to would calm them down right away. But now Obi-Wan was pinned down by seven of them, including the little girl who'd attacked Qui-Gon's boot with a snowball the day before. Putting any of them aside now risked waking them and it seemed safer to wait until the adults came to take them away.

And they did arrive before the blue ball lost its appeal. The active ones bounded to the arms of parents or older siblings or other family members. And the newcomers plucked the sleeping ones off of Obi-Wan and carried them away leaving the large room of low, soft furniture and very high shelves empty. The Jedi took off the stained and rumpled ponchos and retrieved their robes and lightsabers. They were not needed after the midday sleep cycle. Most of the large preparations were done and the children would all stay with their families for Gyseer.

Vordlen did thank them for their help, in her own way. None of the family members and only a few of the other care-givers had. She stood before them, hands on her narrow hips, the aqua skin around her mouth crinkling with her appraisal.

"Well, you can do better for yourselves than just waste time with those laser swords of yours. And you," she pointed at Obi-Wan. "Take off that cap."

Qui-Gon woke to a the sound of a door opening and footsteps in the room. The Urms had finally come to retire. Next to him, he sensed Obi-Wan waken, but neither one of them moved.

"Those Jedi turn in early," Edi whispered.

"We should start doing more of that." Lazmat grumbled.

At least they weren't drunk this time.

The room was bathed in bright sunlight. Bovad's star still climbed to its zenith in the sky. The Jedi were nearly concealed under blankets and rugs. Earlier, Pimas had declared that "We don't need to hibernate." And them he had belatedly offered to look for a darker, interior room for them for the day sleep cycle. But Qui-Gon declined. He and Obi-Wan had slept in far worse places than a safe, sunny room with snoring roommates.

The Urms were whispering about the fresh changes of clothes that Edi had put with their other things in their lavatory. All the droids would be shut down for the holiday and everything needed to be prepared ahead of time. This had alarmed Qui-Gon when he'd heard about it earlier in the day until he'd contacted the constabulary. Security droids and other essential city services were exempt from this tradition.

First one boot hit the floor, then another, followed by loud shushing. The door slid open; footsteps padded out and then returned followed by Lazmat's admonishment to Edi to hurry. The two Zolets climbed under the coverings on their side of the sleeping platform with some complaining about feet and tails.

Then everything was quiet again.

Obi-Wan listened to the little sounds under the silence. Qui-Gon was already asleep again. Soon, Lazmat's breathing turned to rumbling snores and Edi turned over, away from his aunt and lay still.

Obi-Wan could feel the life all around him. The Living Force flowed through him and he wondered if he was really advancing toward the skills of a Jedi Knight.

But that wasn't supposed to keep him awake.

Was he still bothered about the night before? Well, yes, he admitted to himself. But he thought that he had really moved beyond the worst of it. But perhaps not.

He slipped out of the sleeping pocket and then crawled to the edge of the platform, mindful of Edi's tail, which had slithered under his blankets. The cold prickled the skin on his limbs under his nightshirt as he crossed his legs, straightened and cleared his mind. His body immediately warmed from the energy flowing through it. He'd thought about retrieving his lightsaber and levitating it as a focus for his meditation, he couldn't possibly do that without waking Qui-Gon. As grateful as he was for his master's guidance (and sharing his own far more troublesome experiences) Obi-Wan knew that he was the only one who could settle the disturbances in his own mind, his own feelings. He just needed to discover what they were.

- end Part 5