Jiruan had a day of peace before the next disturbance courtesy of Obi-Wan and Anakin. She'd been planning on spending the day looking up old friends- whoever was still alive, that is- but scrapped those plans when the Council called for all Jedi to go to Geonosis. Rather than ponder how or why Obi-Wan had gotten to Geonosis from his imaginary planet, Jiruan made her way to the docking bay to get a ship.
"Jiruan, come here for a second," said Mace Windu as she was preparing a fighter. She stopped immediately and bowed as was required.
"Yes, Master Windu?" she asked.
"Because of the connection between you and Anakin, I must ask an opinion," he began. "Skywalker was told to stay where he was on Tatooine and to protect Senator Amidala. Do you think he complied?"
Jiruan closed her eyes briefly, feeling for the connection to the too-emotional young man. "If I may be frank, Master, I believe he and the Senator are en-route to Geonosis, if not they aren't there already," she replied somberly.
"I figured as much," signed Windu. He had hoped that Anakin would prove himself on this mission, but he seemed less and less like a Jedi as it continued, little less the Chosen One. Perhaps Windu had been right all along in saying that the Chosen One was Jiruan…
"Master, what's wrong?" Jiruan inquired innocently. Normally, a student would not ask such a question of one of The Masters, but Mace Windu had kept in closer contact with his finding than with most other students.
"I sense that too much is at work," he stated. "This connection between the two of you seems much more significant that I originally thought. I am beginning to suspect…" he trailed off in thought. "I don't wish to trouble you before this undertaking."
"Of course, Master," said Jiruan, her head drooping. She didn't bother to hide her disappointment.
"When you return, child. Now is not the time," said Windu in a comforting voice. "May the Force be with you."
"And with you, Master," said Jiruan, bowing as the powerful Jedi went to his own ship. She climbed back up to make sure the fuel tanks were full. After disconnecting the fuel line and restraining gear, she hopped into the cockpit and awaited the signal to take off.
The trip, as always, was uneventful. Piloting was not required while in hyperspace, so Jiruan carried on a conversation with the R4 unit about the physics of their craft. Her first impression of Geonosis was a red, dusty wasteland. A royal Naboo starship was nowhere to be seen, but Jiruan could sense that Anakin and Padmé were already inside the gigantic, dusty buildings. The fleet of fighters and starships landed on the outskirts of the only establishment they'd detected. The group of brown and black robed figures sensed all life forms from the surrounding areas flocking to a large stadium in the middle of the city and followed.
"Master Windu, where is Master Yoda?" asked Jiruan. She'd stuck close to Mace Windu after leaving the ships.
"He has gone to Kamino," Windu answered, and then looked at her with a knowing smirk. "I'm guessing you've picked up from your eavesdropping that Kamino is host of a Clone Army created without our knowledge for the Republic?"
Jiruan bit her bottom lip in embarrassment. She'd been hoping that Master Windu wouldn't scope her mind for that. "I'm sorry, Master," she replied softly with her head down.
"That's ok, Jiruan," said Windu in a peaceful voice. "I understand your plight."
She smiled and tried to focus on the task at hand. "Oh no," she whispered as she sensed Anakin and Padmé's situation.
"What is it?" asked Windu. Being that he was not connected as Jiruan was to Anakin, Windu could not sense as much about the boy as Jiruan could.
"Anakin and Senator Amidala not only arrived here before us, they've been arrested and sentenced to execution with Master Obi-Wan!" exclaimed Jiruan. Master Windu nodded and quickened his pace. A few simple mind tricks got them through the admissions free of charge. Windu instructed them to spread out around the arena. Jiruan attempted to follow him, but he stopped her.
"Jiruan, I must go alone to confront Dooku," he said without room for debate.
"But I-"
"No. You should go with the rest," Windu instructed. Jiruan, unlike her counterpart, who was being chained to a pole at the moment, knew when to let things die. Bowing in respect, Jiruan turned around and found a viewpoint on a higher level.
A Geonosian began reading the crimes Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé had supposedly committed. Not understanding a word of the Geonosian language, Jiruan watched Padmé pick the loch on her shackles, thinking that the Senator had much more street smarts than many gave her credit for. Count Dooku stood in a sort of VIP. area directly across from where Jiruan was. Some important looking Geonosians stood by him with Nute Gunray, the Trade Federation Viceroy. A man clad in a strange and unfamiliar armor was also present. The command induced by him suggested that he was a bounty hunter.
Padmé proceeded to climb up the post to which she had been chained as the monsters were released. A spider-like thing, a cat-like thing and a rhinoceros-like thing came out into the open and chose their victims. The rhino thing called the reek charged first. Anakin jumped just in time to avoid it, landing on its back and using its horn to break the chain's attachment to the pole. Obi-Wan didn't have any better luck, except that the ackley, the spider thing, stabbed through his chain. He stole a long spear from a guard and used it as a pole vault and escaped a second attack. Padmé didn't manage to avoid the first attack of the cat-like nexu as it tore at her shirt and ripped a few deep cuts in her back. Jiruan noticed the Trade Federation Viceroy having a fit each time Padmé successfully defended herself. Anakin and his mind controlled reek took care of the nexu, and Padmé hopped down from the pole, landing closely behind him. Jiruan almost had a fit herself when she saw them sharing a quick kiss before picking up Obi-Wan.
The near successful scene changed, though, as several destroyer droids rolled out and positioned themselves ready to attack if the reed and its passengers made a single move. Unarmed, even two Jedi were not a match for droidekas.
Not a moment too soon, Mace Windu's purple bladed lightsaber lit up behind the overly confident Count Dooku. Jedi all around the arena turned their attention to the executive box, watching for signal that finally came in the form of a salute.
"Finally!" said a voice to Jiruan's left over the hum of lightsabers. A short woman of about Jiruan's age with black robes and black hair with silver highlights stood holding a gold bladed ligtsaber. "I was beginning to think he forgot why we're all here," she added.
"Do I know you?" asked Jiruan politely as she adjusted the blade strength on her turquoise lightsaber and tried to keep an eye on Master Windu.
"You will by the end of this!" said the stranger, but she did not have time to elaborate. Battle droids entered the stadium from all directions so the Jedi leaped, jumped and dove into the arena. Jiruan flipped into the center of a platoon of droids. She swept her lightsaber in a full horizontal circle before she landed, taking off all the droids' heads. The stranger from the balcony landed near by, using the Force to push a droids out of her way and into a junk heap. Assuming a defensive stance, they stood back-to-back, deflecting shots back at droids as many other Jedi were doing.
"So, who are you?" Jiruan asked, as her blade became a blur of Form Three motion.
"Call me Aleia," said the stranger as she ran a droid through with her golden blade and sent the remains flying at the droids behind it. "How about you?"
Jiruan told her as she deflected a stream of shots. Neither of them bothered to notice that their casual conversation was taking place amidst the biggest battle the galaxy had seen in almost a millennium. Anakin and Padmè fought by their overturned cart; Obi-Wan formed a team similar to Aleia and Jiruan's. Dooku, though, remained in his top box.
"Watch it!" yelled Aleia as a near by pair of Jedi barely avoided a blast sent their way by the bounty hunter. He soon turned his attention to Mace Windu.
"Master!" yelled Jiruan and several other Jedi. The reek went after the bounty hunter, but was no match for him. The bullish creature fell over lifeless with bullet holes all through its underside. Mace Windu attacked with an almost Sith-like fury and the bounty hunter's head was cleared from his body within minutes.
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan was attempting to eliminate the last of the beasts. The Ackley was certainly quite a challenge for any Jedi. Finally, with a lightsaber stabbed into its face, the creature fell. Obi-Wan joined the rest of the Jedi as they crowded around the overturned cart in a last desperate defense. Jiruan found herself with Aleia on one side and Ki-Adi-Mundi on the other. Mace Windu and Obi-Wan were just beyond them. The droids suddenly froze in place on Dooku's command.
"Master Windu!" called Dooku in his overseeing, aristocratic manner. "You have fought gallantly, worthy of recognition in the Archives of the Jedi. Now it is finished. Surrender, and your lives will be spared."
"What type of idiots does this guy take us for?" groaned Aleia, Jiruan and Anakin.
"We're totally outnumbered," Obi-Wan reminded them without looking at who was talking.
"We will not become hostages for you to use as barter, Dooku," said Windu forcefully.
"Then I'm sorry, old friend," said Dooku without any trace of remorse. The droids lifted their blasters and prepared to launch one final assault when a new element of battle flew overhead. Several ships rained blaster fire over the droid. Yoda's voice could be heard commanding them.
"The Clone Army…" gasped Jiruan and Obi-Wan as the ship landed and the troopers vaulted off the ship. Exhausted, the Jedi took the troopers' places on the ships. Jiruan and Aleia had other ideas, though.
"Come on," hissed Jiruan and the two of them raced into the doors which the droids had been in. A dark, wide corridor led them to the inner workings of the Federation stranglehold. Both girls sensed that everything they wished to find was upstairs and then used the Force to leap up onto the surrounding balcony. Strangely absent of Geonosians, the high ceilinged rock gave the room a dark orange-ish glow.
"They must have fled," reasoned Aleia. She sat down at the master computer and tried to hack into the database. It didn't take long for Jiruan to discover several projection devises in the meantime.
"This is some sort of meeting room," she hypothesized. They sensed Geonosians coming and hid behind a pillar; Dooku was not far behind them. Unable to decipher the conversation, the girls peeked around the corner and caught quite a sight. They saw plans illuminated on the projection devises; it looked like a moon, but the perfect spherical form and giant circular gauge in one side, it was obviously plans for a space station. Jiruan pulled a small camera off her belt and snapped several pictures of the contraption.
"What are you doing?" whispered Aleia in annoyance. "It's not like you'll forget a sight like that."
Jiruan stopped in surprise. "They're to show the Council when we report," she replied.
Aleia snorted in disgust. "Figures," she mumbled. The girls didn't speak until Dooku had left with the plans. Silently, they crept out via the top execution box.
"Where's your ship?" asked Aleia when they exited the stadium.
"It's-" Jiruan began, but stopped abruptly. The entire area where the Jedi ships had been was clear, replace with a gigantic crater.
"Need a lift?" said Aleia, gesturing toward a small, streamline ship a few feet away from the crater. It looked barely big enough for one.
"We just need to find the other Jedi," said Jiruan, ignoring the individuality of the fighter, an obvious sign that it was not among the Jedi fleet.
"You need to find them, not me," said Aleia. "Hop on the top and hold on, I'll take you to where I sense a battle."
"Oh, no-" Jiruan almost interrupted under her breath. "I need to get there fast, Anakin is going to get himself killed," she groaned, leaping onto Aleia's ship.
"Big loss," sighed Aleia sarcastically.
As they took off, Jiruan felt a burst of pain all over her body that almost made her loose her grip. A vision of Count Dooku shooting lightning at her flashed briefly before her eyes, accompanied by Anakin's screaming.
"Great, now I feel his pain, too," Jiruan murmured without emotion. Finally, she had an explanation for the strange emotional roller coaster she'd experienced in the past few days; Anakin had been with Padmé. She tossed her head, futilely trying to her hair out of her face. When Anakin started his offensive, Jiruan could feel the power he was wielding. Dull pain began searing through her; Anakin couldn't feel the stress he was under because of the adrenalin, but Jiruan certainly could. She was sure beyond a doubt that Anakin felt the worst blow, though. Jiruan screamed in the most extreme pain she'd ever felt as Anakin's right arm was severed at the elbow.
"Are you dying up there or just enjoying the view?" shouted Aleia sarcastically.
"I'm not dying, but Anakin will be," Jiruan shouted back.
"Who the hell is this Anakin, anyways?" exclaimed Aleia.
"I'll explain later," said Jiruan, breathing easier as Anakin passed out. The next few minutes were peaceful, but then Anakin came to. Jiruan gasped as she saw the image of a gigantic rock falling on her, but quickly saw Yoda stop it just in time.
"Here it is," said Aleia, stopping outside the cave in which the battle had taken place. Dooku's ship flew out and zoomed away. Padmé was already flying inside and embraced the badly injured Anakin when she reached him.
"Thank you," said Jiruan after she was back on the ground, holding her arm discreetly. "I'm glad to have met you, Aleia."
"I'm glad I ran in to you, too," said Aleia. "I look forward to when our paths cross again.
Jiruan watched the ship race off into the sky, and then she turned to the cave. "I told him to be cautious," she groaned, glancing at the pair of Senator and Padawan exiting to the Clone troopers' ship.
The stars all blurred together in the windows of the Clone trooper ships. The side covers moved farther back on the ship in light-speed to make it more aerodynamic, and thick, glass coverings came down over the holding compartments. Blinding even to the trained eye, that sight was not the most upsetting. In a back corner of the ship, Anakin laid across Padmé's lap as she gently ran her soft hands through his hair. She didn't seem to mind that the wound from his sheared off arm had bled all over her clothes, although she kept a good watch on the makeshift bandage and changed it as necessary.
Yoda, Obi-Wan and Jiruan sat in the other back corner across from the Padawan and Senator. Yoda seemed to be in deep meditation to recover and rebuild himself from the battle with Dooku while Jiruan wrapped Obi-Wan's bleeding and burned thigh. The two of them stared at the pair across the way bitterly. Both were close enough to Anakin to know that he was only feigning sleep and loving every minute he got away with it.
"You knew, didn't you," said Obi-Wan softly. It wasn't a question.
Jiruan averted her eyes guiltily. "What was I supposed to do?" she asked stiffly. "Should I have ran off and tattled to you and the Council?" she added as she tugged on the bandage a little too hard and Obi-Wan yelped at the pain. Jiruan apologized quickly.
"Correct, you were, in your actions, Jiruan," said Yoda without opening his large eyes. Obi-Wan and Jiruan looked up suddenly, not having expected any conversation from the meditating Master.
"I was, Master Yoda?" Jiruan managed to choke out.
Yoda opened his eyes and looked at the two of them directly. "Overcome his emotions, Skywalker must," he explained. "Know this, the Council does." His tone became softer. "Accomplish this feat alone, Anakin must."
Jiruan and Obi-Wan nodded and sensed that the moment had passed. Yoda picked up his cane and hobbled through the clone troopers to the other side of the ship where he sank back into his rehabilitation. Jiruan returned to Obi-Wan's wound They looked back at Anakin and Padmé, neither one needing the Force to tell them that Anakin's emotions weren't going to be avoided easily.
"It doesn't have to end this way," Obi-Wan whispered.
"What?" Jiruan said, not having expected any more conversation.
"You remember why you were brought into the Order at your advanced age," Obi-Wan reminded.
"Don't give me that 'Chosen One' crap," Jiruan snapped. "I haven't believed it's me for years."
"What about the connection?" Obi-Wan asked. Jiruan stopped tying the bandage and though a ghost had passed through her. Obi-Wan continued, "Master Windu informed me years ago. What do you make of it?"
"I don't know," said Jiruan, exasperated. "I just wish he'd stop going off to get himself killed, though, because I feel his pain."
Obi-Wan held in a chuckle; "You're not the only one who wants him to stop acting so suicidal."
Jiruan smiled and asked, "Master Obi-Wan, what do you think? You've known both of us longest, what's your best guess?"
Obi-Wan paused and looked again at his Padawan in the arms of his love. Then he looked at Jiruan sitting next to him, hugging her knees in exhaustion. "I think that the Order and the Republic will need both of you in order to survive."
Jiruan paced in the hallway outside the Council's meeting room. She had a bad feeling about everything that had happened on Geonosis and afterward. Yoda's mood on the way home had summarized the predicament everyone was now in. It didn't make any sense that Jiruan was as nervous as she was; she wasn't Anakin. The Council was beginning to trust her again…
"Jiruan," called Master Windu from the door. She looked up jerkily, departing from her thoughts. "We are ready for you."
She nodded, took a deep breath, and entered behind him. The lateness of the hour was evident outside the windows; an amber-crimson glow had taken hold of the city once again. The Masters sat in their respective chairs around the edge of the candlelit room. Jiruan felt strangely exposed in the center of the room.
"I discovered some very disturbing things in the Federation's stranglehold on Geonosis," she began, forcing her voice to be steady. "I'm hoping you can confirm my findings."
She walked over to the projection devise on the entrance wall and inserted her camera. A moment later, a holo-projection of the space station was in the center of the room.
"We though this was a moon at first, but as you see, it's too spherical and has that giant circular dent," Jiruan explained.
The members of the Council started intently at the would-be moon. They discussed among themselves in volumes low enough that Jiruan could not hear. A few gave her strange looks.
Master Plo Koon was the first to voice their collective suspicion. "This looks like a space station," he said through his thick breath mast. Several agreed with him. Jiruan smiled in relief.
"We were thinking it was something along those lines, but I wanted to be certain," she explained.
"We?" questioned Yoda, his large ears perking up at the second use of the pronoun.
"A girl of about my age was with me," Jiruan told them. "Her name was Aleia."
Stiffness took hold of the Council; their faces turned suddenly ice cold. The nearest Master shut off the projection and announced to the rest, "This is surely Aleia Hayley Madre, is it not?" He addressed the question to Jiruan.
"I don't know her sir-name," she replied softly.
"Short, was she?" asked Yoda. "With black and silver hair?"
"And a golden bladed lightsaber?" added Ki-Adi-Mundi.
"Yes…" answered Jiruan, completely confused.
"Jiruan, you must not make a habit of associating with Aleia Madre," said Master Windu gravely. "She is dangerous, and she is not a member of the Order. With Skywalker's situation, we will need to depend on you in the coming Civil War."
"Dangerous?" repeated Jiruan nervously, fingering her Padawan learner's braid. "I don't-"
"Do not jeopardize your promotion to the level of Jedi Knight for a person you hardly know," scolded Yarell Poof, his second set of arms gripping the chair.
Jiruan turned to face him in doubled shock. "Promotion," she reiterated slowly and deliberately.
"The Council does not wish to delay your progress any further," explained Master Windu gently. "We shall monitor you closely now, so I suggest you be careful around Aleia."
"I see, Master," Jiruan replied, doing all she could not to fly through the ceiling.
The Council dismissed her and once she was down the hall a ways, Jiruan jumped in the air for joy. Elation was all she felt now that the Council had renewed faith in her.
"Jiruan!" called Aleia as she was leaving the droid run hospital of the Jedi. "You have no idea how nice it is to see a friendly face."
"Hi- what the hell are you doing here?" asked Jiruan with a smile.
"I'm attempting to find Obi-Wan," said Aleia. "We knew each other years ago. Anakin says to try the Temple…"
"You've never been there, have you?" asked Jiruan as it dawned on her. Aleia shook her head. Jiruan smiled and advised, "Ask one of the Padawans to take you to Master Kenobi. Try to avoid anyone else."
"They warned you about me!" said Aleia cheerfully as though the fact was a source of pride for her. Jiruan laughed at bid Aleia goodbye as she entered Anakin's room. The sight stopped her dead; Anakin had a breath tube attached to his nose, IVs all up his left arm while his right was attached to some sort of machine, assumingly for bleeding.
"Another visitor?" he croaked groggily.
"Glad to see you, too," groaned Jiruan. "By the way, you look dead."
"Thanks, Jiruan," said Anakin heavily.
"So how are you?" asked Jiruan sincerely as she sat down on the bed.
"Shit, that's how," he smirked.
"How was the ride home?" Jiruan snapped with a smirk. A dreamy look came across Anakin's face just long enough for Jiruan to slap it away. "Snap out of it. Master Obi-Wan and Master Yoda saw you," she lectured.
"Jiruan," Anakin said seriously. "She loves me, too. I don't care if the Council knows: they can't take that away."
"Dammit, Ani!" Jiruan shouted. "What sedatives do they have you on?"
"A few… I didn't know your hair was blue…" said Anakin, following a hallucination with his left index finger.
"Fucking morphine," sighed Jiruan as she rolled her eyes.
Anakin snapped out of his sedative trance as though he could use the Force to regain control momentarily. "You have not idea how many wounds love can heal," he said in complete genuineness.
Jiruan looked at him scornfully; "I don't have the same wounds as you do," she replied.
"What about the one you gave yourself to?" asked Anakin gently. It took all the self-control Jiruan possessed not to reach into the Force and strangle the wounded Padawan. Anakin continued, "You still have to tell me about that."
"I didn't give myself, I was taken," said Jiruan dangerously. "What makes you think I will ever tell you?"
"Because I'll find out his name," said Anakin in a voice that confirmed to Jiruan that the connection was still open to him as well. Jiruan gave him the most hateful look she possessed.
"Fine," she groaned in defeat. "Where do I begin?"
"I don't care, just spill," said Anakin almost energetically.
Jiruan took a deep breath and tried to remember the incident she'd long suppressed. "Some things aren't as glamorous as they appear," she began, "especially on the street. Situations aren't what they seem; people- men aren't what they seem, especially the ones who know how gullible a seven year old is."
Anakin looked as though someone had just ripped out his liver. "You- you were… how could such a beautiful thing become so hurtful?" he asked naively.
"Rape is ugly, Anakin, that's how," said Jiruan calmly, as though she had suddenly made peace with the past.
"But I thought you were in love," though Anakin aloud.
"You're combining two separate events into one, Anakin," said Jiruan mysteriously. "That was someone else, only three years ago." She did not go on to explain.
"Aren't you going to tell me about him?" Anakin demanded after a moment.
Jiruan smiled, still mysterious. "Sorry, Anakin," she said mischievously. "Only one deeply personal, revealing story per visit." With that, she left for the docking bays. She was scheduled to be among the group of Jedi leading the second battle of the Clone Wars on the Rishi Maze.
Things were finally falling into place. Anakin was subdued and restrained, Jiruan was leading a battle and the Council was beginning to trust her again. She didn't worry about who they thought the Chosen One was; Jiruan just wanted to be a full Jedi Knight. She reached the docking bay and leaped onto the Clone ship, ready for anything.