5. Leaving and landing

When Irri woke up on the following morning, her last vision had her still unsettled greatly.

Many things were bugging her in that vision.

Her obvious close friendship with Obi-Wan wasn't one. She had already come to like him more and more with the last days she spent at his side.

No, what bugged her was the "her" they had been speaking about, and the "he" she had to stop and who had broken her heart.

What was the Executor? And why did she feel like it might be the end of her road?

Many questions that would probably remain unanswered until she reached the Jedi temple later that day – hopefully.

!-!-!-!-!

"Irri? We are to leave now. The race's begun, and I'm sure by the time we reach the arena, it will be over."

The padawan nodded and wrapped her cloak around herself.

She turned to Obi-Wan and Eirtaé who had come to bid them farewell.

The handmaiden seemed flushed today as well – most probably because of the heat – while the Jedi fidgeted with his own cloak awkwardly.

"I will see you on Coruscant, Padawan Kenobi." Aayla bowed to both people and turned around to start her journey.

Irri smiled up at Eirtaé. "I do hope I'll see you soon."

"And I you, Irri."

Then she looked at Obi-Wan. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm away."

He chuckled. "As if."

She smirked and turned around, running to keep up with her master.

!-!-!-!-!

Mos Espa was a little bigger than the small city she had "visited" the day before. There were many more hangars where to park your ship, and even more bars to drown your sorrow in.

But the crowds seemed to be magnetised by a whole other thing.

"Be careful there, young one. I would not wish to lose you."

Irri nodded gravely. "You won't, Master."

So Aayla wrapped her cloak even closer to her body, and made her way through a maze of people. Her padawan had only to follow, though, being smaller, she had more difficulties being seen.

Anyway, Irri didn't get lost, and followed her master as closely as she could seeing the pace Aayla was walking at. And a little more than five minutes later, they reached a balcony.

"The race is almost over. I can see Master Jinn from here, can you?"

Irri looked over the rail and scanned the crowd. Sure thing, facing her was an observation tower. And a great power stood on this tower. She smiled. "Yes, I can feel him."

Aayla smiled down at her, then became serious again. "Do not forget who you are to me."

"I won't."

!-!-!-!-!

Their pilot was a small, very small man named Carrock. He was even smaller than Irri by a few inches, and it surprised her greatly that a man that size could pilot a ship.

He seemed more interested in Aayla though, which comforted Irri in the idea that her master didn't have to use the Force to make people commit to her.

"I have to pay my debts, and I'm coming. You stay here with your slave, I'll be right back." He didn't have to bow low to kiss Aayla's knuckles, and then he trotted off to another balcony.

Irri bowed her head in submission as her master settled next to her and whispered quietly. "Do not speak a word or it might be our downfall." Irri nodded almost imperceptibly.

!-!-!-!-!

It appeared Carrock had a medium-size ship which contained mostly spice supplies for Coruscant market. The remaining space in it concerned a table and small kitchen just behind the cockpit, and where he harshly gestured Irri to sit while he took his place in the pilot's seat with Aayla at his side.

Soon after they departed, Irri gasped as she felt a strong disturbance in the Force. Something like she had rarely felt before. It wasn't the same thing she had felt when checking the radar with Obi-Wan. It was brighter, and yet colder...

Her master, although still in deep conversation with their guide, reached her in mind not long after the feeling faded.

"I believe this was the boy I heard Obi-Wan talk about."

"Which boy, Master?"

"Master Jinn has found a boy heavily marked with the Force. I believe he will try to make him become a Jedi."

"But then, why have I only felt him now?"

"I have only felt him now, too, young padawan. I think we will soon learn that he has won the podrace."

Aayla left Irri's mind, but her padawan couldn't help but grunt in annoyance. "I still don't know what a podrace is..."

!-!-!-!-!

Coruscant was a little way from Tatooine, as Irri discovered when she stumbled across a map of the galaxy hanging on a wall.

It would take them most of the day to arrive, if they didn't have to stop hyperdrive on their way.

The young padawan settled for a quick enquiry of what their guide possessed in this room.

She managed to sneak a small part of dry meat for her diner – since neither Carrock nor Aayla seemed to bother eating at any point – then sneaked a tablet off a desk.

She roamed through the daily news until she was bored – which happened quickly – then settled the engine back down, sitting at the table and sighing deeply.

When her mind started roaming off to other places, it soon remembered her last vision with Obi-Wan.

Who was that "he"? She was feeling like the sole memory of that pronoun made her heart twitch in her chest, as if it would awaken as soon as she found out who it was beating for.

A stupid thought. Jedis couldn't ever fall in love.

No, she surely had her heart broken on a different level...

And yet, she felt as if the herself from her vision had been utterly dead inside...

!-!-!-!-!

Carrock made his ship land onto a supplier's tower in Coruscant late that evening.

Aayla thanked him with a kiss on each cheek, and promised in her own way they would see each other again. Then she gestured Irri off the ship, and they hurried off without a look behind.

"I will be happy to reach the temple."

Irri's eyes widened. "You just said-"

"He was a nice person, but I am tired of having had to listen to his stories all day. Plus, I wish to have a word with the Counsel."

"Oh..." Irri seemed deep in thought.

Which didn't pass unnoticed. "What is it young one?"

Irri's eyes settled back up onto her master's face. "I'd like a word with Master Yoda, I think."

Aayla smiled at that. "You are becoming wiser by the day, Irri. I shall ask for a meeting."

"Thank you, Master."

She really needed answers...