Nata-lin looked curiously at the man leading her way for a moment. She'd never met the man, and he didn't introduce himself, so all that Nata-lin knew about her temporary protector was that he was human and a Jedi. Well done, Captain Obvious, she chastised herself, as he escorted her through the temple she had not so long ago run through.
Going back was actually much more embarrassing than when she'd entered the building, because everyone had already seen her odd clothes and frenzied state and were aware enough to take notice when she passed again.
In fact, Nata-lin wasn't too fond of the suggestion, or more like command, that she remain in the Jedi temple. The place had an odd feel in her opinion, which was fine for little visits, but to live there? No; the temple was a place for Jedi, not for her kind. She did not belong there; though it was still the safest place that she knew she could find for herself. She just had to compromise, she supposed.
Everyone had always wanted to use her for her talent and they never cared about her safety. In the past, she had been treated as a slave by those who thought that they could trap and own her, using her to achieve their own desires. And their desires were many. She'd been beaten and even almost been raped on a number of occasions, but, by some twist of the universe, she had always escaped that fate.
That was before the Jedi had found her, and before they had taken her away from that life. After she'd agreed to leave with them, and to help them where she could in matters that would need the Light side of the Force to be resolved, Nata-lin learned so much.
The Jedi taught her to focus her abilities, so that she might be able to more efficiently decipher her visions and control them better. Her visions still came to her sporadically however and when she was experiencing them, she was blind to the world around her, but she'd understood far more about them since she'd been with the Jedi than she had known to beforehand.
A cough from in front of her snapped her out of her thoughts and Nata-lin looked up at her temporary guard. He was gesturing to the door of her rooms as a cue for her to open it; of course, he didn't need to, but it was just common courtesy.
She smiled, though she didn't quite understand how she'd gotten quite so lost in thought to not realise that they'd walked all the way back to her rooms so quickly. She opened the door and followed the man inside; he clearly felt there was no danger, so Nata-lin wasn't cautious as she walked behind him.
"I'll wait here while you gather your things. Don't bother changing here, you can do that in the temple. The less time we are here, the safer you will be."
Nata-lin nodded once to the Jedi and headed straight for her room. She wasn't really one for fashion, so she literally threw any clothes that she could find into the first bag that she could find. Then she went for her toothbrush and hairbrush, finding a few other essential things that she also chucked haphazardly into the bag.
The only thing that she bothered to place in the bag carefully was her viol. The bag wasn't too heavy when she finally picked it up, but she held it with both hands because she didn't want to risk dropping it, not with her favourite, easily-breakable, instrument inside.
She had had the viol for years going back far enough that she had acquired it whilst still living in the town she was born in. Since she had been on Coruscant, she had become quite a proficient due to the fact that she rarely went anywhere apart from her rooms and the Jedi temple.
She glanced quickly at her unmade bed before turning from the room. Guess it's going to stay unmade for a while, she thought. Oh well. Nata-lin headed down the stairs quickly, and noticed the Jedi Knight, still at the foot of the stairs, turn his face away from her as she came down the stairs. He coughed as she stopped in front of him and she just stared at him in confusion, still holding the bag with both hands.
"Your shirt," he replied, still looking away from her.
Nata-lin looked down at herself and finally noticed what the Jedi was talking about. The cardigan that she had before remembered to hold together was hanging open because she'd used both hands to carry her bag.
"Oops," she said, taking one hand off her bag and using it to close the gap in the material.
"Ah well; can't be helped though, you told me not to change 'til later."
The expression on the Jedi Knight's face as he turned back to her was less than amused.
"Come, we must return to the temple."
Rolling her eyes, Nata-lin muttered, "Of course, we do."
After five weeks in the Jedi temple, Nata-lin had had no new visions. She had simply been continuously plagued by the same one; yet she could glean no more information from it nor reveal any to the High Council. And after five weeks in the Jedi temple, it was safe to say that Nata-lin was going a little bit crazy.
She was almost climbing the walls for a chance to be outside, but her bodyguard, who's name she had learnt was Borkat Shsur, was having none of it. She'd tried everything from asking politely to trying to annoy the crap out of him, but still he would not budge on the thought.
So Nata-lin devised a plan to get herself out of the temple, even if just for a few hours. She could think without the Jedi knowing anything of it as they could with normal people; it was definitely one of the benefits she'd found in being a seer. So Borkat was blissfully unaware that she was planning a little outing to her favourite local bar until after he'd discovered her room empty with a small note that read,
"Sorry, had to get out, back in a few hours. Sorry.
Nata-lin.
PS. Sorry again, you can yell at me later."
Borkat had no idea how Nata-lin had managed to get out of the temple without his knowledge, but he was determined to find out as soon as he found her. He had a good idea of where to start looking from her constant appeals to him to let her visit these places.
He left the room in a hurry. He knew that he had to find her before the Sith did; because, knowing his luck, they would find her in the brief time she'd been away from the temple. How could she be so stupid? he wondered as he began his search.
Though Nata-lin had been bothering Borkat about letting her go to one of the local bars, on her escape from the Jedi temple she had headed straight for the nearest cafe. As much as she missed the atmosphere of the local bars- not to mention the company- Nata-lin missed coffee far more.
The Jedi weren't big on caffeine, or any other addictive substances, and Nata-lin had been suffering from withdrawal symptoms for the weeks she'd been virtually locked up inside the temple. So instead of turning to where she usually would, Nata-lin went straight for her caffeine fix.
Thankfully, she'd already had a tab opened up in the cafe, so she didn't have to worry about the fact that she'd left all her money in her rooms. So Nata-lin sat in the corner of the cafe, with her back only to a wall on either side. It was her usual place when she frequented the cafe, though no one could figure out why.
It was dark and uncomfortable- but that was just what Nata-lin liked about it. In her little corner, no one could sneak up on her and no one could watch her- which was perfect if she ever fell into a vision whilst there. Nata-lin started stirring the large, hot coffee in her hand with her index finger, watching the cafe's other patrons with careful interest.
She knew she'd been stupid and risked all too much in leaving the Jedi temple; but as she'd always thought, the temple was a place for Jedi, not for her. Nata-lin had felt caged inside it, regardless of what free reign they had given her to wander almost all of the temple. It was knowing that she couldn't go outside that had made Nata-lin want to tempt fate, even if just for a few hours and a cup of coffee.
Nata-lin also had a feeling that Borkat was not going to be happy with her at all, and since he would think it his duty to inform the High Council of her short absence, neither would they. She frowned at thought; it wasn't particularly fair that they could be unhappy with her for taking a couple of hours after she'd spent five weeks living what she thought was almost a half life.
Nata-lin's eyes flickered up to the door as it slid opened, the telltale whoosh sound that it made a dead giveaway. She wasn't really all that surprised to see Borkat standing in the doorway until he caught sight of her. Then he was in front of her in a second.
"What do you think you are doing?" he asked, his voice forcibly hushed.
Rolling her eyes slightly, Nata-lin replied, "I had to get out of there; I've been nagging you for weeks-"
"Do you have any idea how stupid this is? Coming here, alone?" Borkat interrupted her.
"Well, I would've brought you but you didn't want to come..." she reminded him in a sing-song-like voice.
"Don't be ridiculous. Get up, we're going back to the temple, you can explain all this when we get there."
With a long sigh, and a regretful last sip of the coffee she'd waited five weeks to drink, Nata-lin stood and followed Borkat out of the coffee shop. It had been a short but sweet little escape from the temple and she wished that it wasn't over so quickly, but she knew that if she didn't follow him willingly, then Borkat was more than likely to just throw her over his shoulder and carry her back anyway.
"How could you be so stupid?" Borkat muttered as they walked away.
"This would be the perfect time and place for the Sith to attack and, thanks to you, you would be defenceless."
"I know, I know, you just don't underst-" Nata-lin cut herself off before reaching the end of sentence.
Borkat knew why immediately, even though his back was to her. Nata-lin had stopped dead in the middle of the street, and was now staring vacantly ahead of them. Being around her for five weeks, Borkat had become accustomed to her visions and how they made her freeze regardless of what she was doing. Once, she had even been standing on a ladder, retrieving a book from a high shelf in the temple's library when she had experienced a vision, leading her to fall and him to have to catch her.
Quickly, Borkat picked Nata-lin up and carried her over to a dark alleyway, away from the people that might stare and wonder at Nata-lin's behaviour. He knew that her visions never usually took that long, so he didn't see the point in trying to carry her all the way back to the temple, only to have her 'wake' and kick up a fuss that he was carrying her- like she had in the aforementioned library incident. He just hoped that this wouldn't cost them.
Author's Note: If you're reading this, then hey. :) Sorry for the Queen inspired title, apparently 'I'm going slightly mad' now too from listening to that song on repeat... Ah well, there are worse things to have stuck in your head than Queen. :) Anyway, enough rambling... Hope you liked the chapter! :) Please do let me know what you think. :)
Kit xx