Mercy Day - Part 6

Qui-Gon sat back from the rows of shifting images on the monitors.

"No. Nothing."

Obi-Wan looked disappointed, but not surprised. It had only been a faint hope. Qui-Gon keyed off the security tapes from earlier in the day, when they'd sensed the presence of an observer.

After their rest and a very basic meal, they had returned to the constabulary to pursue a hunch. The city prison was quiet now; all the minor troublemakers had been moved out. The deputy didn't mind letting Qui-Gon look through the tapes when there weren't three people at her desk demanding things. He'd queued the tapes, cleared his mind and watched the images cycle through all the cameras in the building. Sometimes a current in the Force would give a Jedi direction when nothing else was available. But Qui-Gon sensed absolutely nothing. This was not where they should be looking.

"Do you think that the person watching us is not on the tapes?" Obi-Wan asked.

Qui-Gon shook his head. "I don't know."

Obi-Wan looked at the monitors, then back at Qui-Gon. "Perhaps I could try?" he suggested.

Qui-Gon smiled. "No," he replied emphatically. "You are strong with the Force, my young Padawan, but this is a task of subtlety and experience that you do not have." Qui-Gon spoke kindly, but he inwardly shuddered to think of what kind of false trails and mistakes the boy could take them to if he tried it. And Obi-Wan had yet to accomplish that one lesson in subtlety that he was hoping he would.

They'd sat before Nule Radeel's block of ice again, but this time Qui-Gon had Obi-Wan use Radeel as his mediation focus and not just use the Force to sense him. Obi-Wan had paled at the suggestion that he lift something so large but Qui-Gon had been firm about it. He had the ability, but all Jedi Padawans seemed to make the same mistake. The size of an object didn't matter with the Force. Unfortunately, the size of their worry, about what would happen if they lost their concentration and dropped it, did.

Obi-Wan's concentration had been steady and strong. But he had again failed to recognize the underlying point about the Force itself. And Obi-Wan knew that something else was expected from him. The problem was that he couldn't see it because it was all around him.

The deputy returned from the lavatory and noticed the darkened screens.

"No go?" she asked.

"No."

Qui-Gon got up from his chair and confirming that they would be taking Radeel away on Lazmat Urm's ship in the morning, they left.

"You were a student of Yall Nant's?" Pimas asked the newcomer. She was very well dressed in purple and yellow, about his own height with smooth blue skin with a just a hint of green about the eyes and mouth and a very shapely head.

"Oh yes, I think maybe a class a few years before yours." She smiled at him.

"I was in his class the first year he taught."

"I meant after," she amended without expression.

"Yes, well." She'd arrived that afternoon, on a heavy speeder bike, the kind that hikers and campers liked to use for going out into the wilderness on. She certainly looked fit. But Pimas didn't know her, and he didn't know anyone who knew here. And it was odd, almost rude of her not to arrive earlier to help with the cleaning. And that could mean only one thing...

"You've got a Gys to beg, haven't you?"

"Sort of obvious, isn't it?" she asked, dropping all pretense of friendliness. They stood out by the hangar, near her speeder. She'd told Mama-Low that she was looking for fellow classmates and asked if she could stay for the holiday with any of their guests. Mama-Low had called Pimas, apparently deciding that he would be guest-control for this season.

"It's someone here?"

She just looked at him. Now he was verging on rude. It was always bad luck to talk about a Gys before doing it, just in case the person backed out.

"Well, our home is yours for the night." Pimas waved his arm toward the entrance and she gratefully accepted. Pimas grinned with anticipation as he walked behind her. Whatever she had, if she did it, it was going to be one to talk about.

Qui-Gon piloted the borrowed speeder back to the Tilplens Compound hangar. It was one of the few that had been in good order and so wasn't being taken apart and cleaned for the holiday. He parked it in its original spot near the hangar door and they got out. It was near sundown and they would be just in time for the Gyseer. As guests, it wasn't necessary for them to attend, but it was polite and they were both was curious.

They passed by huge bins of rubbish, ready to be taken away the next day. Qui-Gon wondered that if they did this every 200 days, how they ever managed to accumulate so much junk. They entered through a door and passed through the connected buildings of the compound. There was no one else around. The holiday decorations were still up, but they didn't make the place feel any less deserted.

They heard the crowd as they approached the compound's auditorium. It was a huge, sub-level bowl, carved into the rock under the compound and everyone was gathered there. But the Gyseer would not be held there. They would never be done with it if potentially thousands of people took turns giving confessions. But the auditorium was a large enough place for everyone to gather and sort themselves out into smaller groups. It also allowed last minute participants to see if their targets would be attending and which group to go to. Each person was allowed only one Gys.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan already knew that they would be in Pimas's group. Many were already gathered in large crowds under their chosen signs. The Jedi looked about for the sign that Pimas had told them to look for and Obi-Wan spotted it and Pimas by an exit door. It was a group of maybe two hundred people. There was a table of only the most minimal refreshments and water. Most people were not very hungry before a Gyseer. They took some water, but none of the snacks looked appetizing and none of them had any scent at all. There would be a meal after the ceremony.

Qui-Gon froze a moment over his water glass and then took a sip. Obi-Wan started to look around.

"Don't show that you've noticed anything, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon instructed. They were being watched again. Obi-Wan drank his water in a couple of gulps and put the glass back down on the table. Qui-Gon sighed, finished his water and put his glass back down as well. Then he put the hood of his robe on and tucked his arms into the sleeves of his robe. Obi-Wan did the same. They had hoped that whoever it was had given up. Apparently not.

At last Mama-High and Papa-High stood on the center stage of the auditorium and sounded the gong, the signal for sunset. The groups slowly shuffled out.

"Last chance!" someone yelled out in the crowd, followed by a little nervous laughter and a couple of insults.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan moved silently with the rest of their group out of the auditorium, down several hallways. Their watcher stayed with them. They finally spilled out into an empty dinning room with a large window facing the last glow of sunlight in the sky. The chairs and benches filled up quickly and people sat on tables, on the window sill and on the floor. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon sat on a chest in the middle of one wall where they could see the whole room. It was an inconvenient spot. They could not move quickly if the needed to; there were people all around them, but it couldn't be helped.

It was now fairly obvious to Qui-Gon what would happen and he was certain that Obi-Wan had guessed it as well. Whoever watched them was connected to Nule Radeel and having no means of getting to him would confess to them about it. Would this person ask for mercy for him? For themself? Was it even a friend of Radeel? Could it be an enemy who wanted something? Qui-Gon discarded his speculation as an unproductive distraction. He sensed their watcher's tension. But the room was thick with anxiety and it was impossible to single out where their watcher was.

An older woman, her blue skin wrinkled and pale with age, stood and gave a short story about the Gyseer. Then she started with her own confession. She walked to a table, her gaze singling out a younger man. People moved away, clearing a space for her to kneel. And then she told her son-in-law that his gifts, some of them handmade, were just awful, she had thrown out all of the ones she'd received that same day because she didn't know what to do with them and could he please stop giving them to her. There was a little laughter in one corner, but the man receiving the confession looked stricken and in a small voice accepted and the older woman withdrew to her original seat.

Next came children giving their first Gyseer. Their confessions were for minor things and most of them fidgeted, not understanding what their elders wanted from them. The older children, who had a better idea of what the ritual meant, took their turns in the center of the room and then went to kneel and admit their faults. Still they were minor things, but more sincere. The oldest children had more serious admissions; a wrecked speeder, a pregnancy, a declaration of love that was rejected by the shocked recipient, a boy who'd secretly applied to and had been accepted to an off-world trade academy. The room grew darker as the confessions became more serious. By the time the adults started the Jedi could only see gray outlines.

Night fell. Marriages, divorces, stealing, break-ups, contracts, true appraisals, desire. Obi-Wan let the hood of his robe fall further over his face, since he could not see anything any more. He'd listen for the sound of movement, a new person going to the center of the room, then bodies moving aside and the next Gys would begin and the crowd would mutter or gasp, depending on what was said. He heard Pimas's voice to their left asking a room mate to leave and go back to his own clan. There were a few happy declarations, but most of them were anger and dread, hopelessness and betrayal.

Next to him, his master was as still as a statue and he felt the Force, strong and certain, in him. Obi-Wan felt it in himself as well, in the room full of many people, filled with conflicting emotions and the one person who kept watching them with dread.

But as the ritual progressed, the tension diminished as the people unburdened themselves. And as that happened, by elimination Obi-Wan sensed that person who watched them was on their right. So, when finally one terrified person stepped into the center of the room, he knew where this one would go. The people before them moved aside and the sounds of surprise in the room were louder than for any other Gys. There was movement before them. A female voice spoke.

"I am Swinu. Nule Radeel was my brother. He is no more." The speaker sobbed at this moment and had to pause.

"The Malipids clan has disowned him. The judge has already signed the decree." There was another longer interruption of crying, but the room remained utterly silent, no one muttered or coughed.

"We were best playmates when we were children. We promised we would always help each other. And when he left, I was heartbroken. But he never forgot me, even if he hated the rest of our family, our home. And we always traded messages. And a few times he'd sent money so I could go off world to see him, his family."

"I know he changed. Got hard. But he still cared about me; he named his daughter after me. I just want someone to know that he cared...

"And I know that the government on Ildan collapsed, and he was important there. And he had to have done something wrong because he said he had to hide so no one could find him. But when I went to where he said, he was gone and I didn't know where to look. And I went to the police and everyone was talking about the Jedi who brought in a prisoner in ice. And I knew what Nule did had to be bad. And I looked for you at the feast. And then I saw you at the jail. And there wasn't anything I could do..." She stopped to cry again. "And I can't even talk to Nule and I don't know if I should.

"So I beg Gys from you...tell me what he did. So I can know. Tell me what he did, before it gets all twisted, and worse.

"Please..." This last word ended in more crying in the dark. Qui-Gon looked down to where the sound came from. He waited to speak, until it lessened.

"Nule Radeel was the vice-treasurer of the Ildan Colony." His voice was the only sound in the room. "He conspired with five others to overthrow the government. He paid for mercenaries and battle droids from the treasury. And I saw him command them. But the plot was poorly done and assumed that the populace would support it. They did not. And when police droids killed two of their co-conspirators, Nule Radeel and the others fled. Their forces still controlled the spaceport and they and their supporters went there. But Radeel pursued his own escape without the others. Several ships took off at the same time. Radeel's ship was the only one equipped with weapons and shields that could break through the government forces. All the other's were destroyed. Including Radeel's wife. I do not know the status of any of his children. I did not know he had any."

In the midst of the sobbing response came a small, tearful, "Thank-you."

After that, there were no more confessions. There was a call for anyone else to come forward. It went unanswered. Then the Gyseer was concluded. And people began to leave. Their presence left, with only a few who lingered by the far walls talking quietly. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon didn't move. And Radeel's sister stayed before them. Eventually, her crying stopped.

"Will they want to talk to me, about Nule? She asked. "I tried to help him. I guess they'll want me, too."

"They may ask. But anything you might have done is of no consequence," Qui-Gon assured her.

She must have accepted this. Obi-Wan heard her rise.

"I'm sorry. I'm keeping you here."

"Well, actually we were waiting because we can't see in this light–"

"Oh!" He felt air moving in front of him. "I'm so sorry! You're blind! I should have known and I kept you here." She sounded a little panicky now. "Let me help you." He felt a hand grasp his arm. He stood and he felt Qui-Gon stand next to him. Then the woman pulled them forward with her between them, her hand on his arm.

"Thank you. That would be most kind of you," Qui-Gon told her on his left.

Obi-Wan didn't say a word.

He said nothing as Swinu slowly guided them out of the room, warning them about every piece of furniture. Some of the other people still in the room helpfully moved tables and chairs out of the way for them. In the hallway, Swinu asked where they wanted to go.

"Will you be staying here?" Qui-Gon inquired.

"No. I have my own speeder. I have to go back home and tell them what happened. Before someone else does."

"I believe there are lanterns that will work for us in the hangar. We can go with you there." So, they went slowly through the corridors with Swinu leading them, telling them about every stair and turn of the way. Qui-Gon even stubbed his toe once on a doorway and Swinu fretted over it. And she talked. About herself, her clan, about Nule. And the terrible fights he'd had with their parents. And how she'd hoped that he would come back, now that he was well off and powerful and bring his children. Swinu asked how she could find out about them; they were under age and not likely to be involved in the plot. Qui-Gon promised to ask about them when they returned to Ildan and send her word. "He really turned out a lot like mother," she reflected once. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon listened.

They finally reached the outside door to the hangar. Some wide-frequency blue and yellows lights shone above and they could see a new-looking, shiny speeder bike parked next to the landing platform.

"Now, stay right here," she told them patting their arms and not realizing that they could see now. "I'll be right back." She ran off and disappeared into the hangar.

Obi-Wan looked up at Qui-Gon. He shrugged.

"I thought she needed to talk more about it," he responded innocently. But his helpless act seemed like a dishonest way to gain her sympathy to Obi-Wan. But...talking did help. It certainly had for him the night before. And he hoped for his master as well. And Swinu had been so distraught that he doubted that any sensible approach would have worked. He relaxed and Qui-Gon chuckled.

Swinu came running back with a huge plastic fixture.

"I think this has its own power source." Qui-Gon reached over and tilted it down just before she switched it on. A bright white light bathed the ground all around them. It was a spotlight.

"There," she announced proudly. "That'll work until you get something smaller." She smiled. She was a pretty Zonim with innocent eyes and smooth, blue skin. Qui-Gon bowed and thanked her. She hesitated, her expressions suddenly serious.

"I have to go and...I don't think I'm going to talk to Nule again." She stopped...then, "If he tries to contact me. I don't think I'll answer. Except. I might. But I don't think I will." She looked at Obi-Wan and then back to Qui-Gon.

"Just tell him...when you thaw him out," she started again. "Just tell him, you got there first."

Qui-Gon nodded solemnly. "We will."

She ran to the speeder, pulled a padded cold weather suit and helmet out from a side compartment, slipped it on and zipped it closed. She mounted the bike and started the engine. Then she was gone, disappearing on the horizon. They waited, with the spotlight on until they were sure that Swinu was gone. Then they returned the spotlight to the hangar.

But as they walked back to the compound Obi-Wan looked again to the horizon. Swinu was gone but he felt his awareness of the world around him. The Force all around him. And he realized it was something much stronger than his own abilities.

"Master." Qui-Gon paused at the open door. Obi-Wan stood looking up and around at the field, his breath puffing in the cold air. "The Force is strong in this place," he said, putting words to his feelings.

Obi-Wan was completely confused when Qui-Gon laughed.

"Yes, my Padawan," he said happily. "It is."

"There. All safe and ready to go," Lazmat announced as the cargo hatch on her ship closed with a clang. Qui-Gon nodded his approval. "Just come up whenever you're ready." She stomped around to the open ramp.

"Hey Edi!" she yelled at her nephew who was with Obi-Wan pointing at a red-painted cruiser on the other side of the landing bay. "Get over here! We're ready to go!" Edi scampered over and up the ramp after her.

Obi-Wan stayed where he was. He wasn't looking at the red cruiser. Qui-Gon walked toward him, looking over to an open door. He stopped. Swinu stood there. But she didn't move or wave. She just looked very sad. Obi-Wan turned and then walked toward him until they stood together. They looked back toward Swinu. She wiped her face and nodded toward them, a small motion. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan bowed their heads in return. Then they turned together and went up the ramp.

— FIN —

(This story was first posted on tf.n – 16-Dec-2005)

Disclaimer: All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.