Sorry this took so long to update. There were unseen complications in my schoolwork and daily life. It's REALLY good to be back... finally...
Disclaimer: Star Wars is NOT mine. Not now. Not ever. Except for Ani Laminara. You know it, I know it... Anyone who sues me I'll sue you back with a stupidity lawsuit (:-D).
"Padawan Laminara?"
"My dear, what is wrong?" Ani gulped. She seemed unable to speak as her face went pale. The padawan turned and bolted from the training room.
"Padawan, come back!" Luminara sighed. She turned to Master Gallia, who merely furrowed her brow and kept quiet.
"Adi Gallia," she said, looking the Councilor in the eye, tensing like a hound cornering her prey. "I don't know what Marana Kiln is like or what connection she has to my padawan, but I would like some answers."
"Sure," Adi said, trying to back away.
"NOW!"
"Okay, okay!" Adi sighed. "Sheesh, you masters are so…overprotective." Noticing Luminara's tiger eyes, she quickly amended, "Alright, I was one once; I admit it. May I continue?" The Jedi Master hesitated, nodded, and relaxed her stance. Relieved, Adi continued, motioning to a bench. "Maybe we should sit down." She held up a hand to stop Luminara's protests. "We'll find your padawan – later. For now, you need to hear what I have to say." She sat down. Luminara sighed softly as she copied the action, mind racing as her fellow Jedi Master continued.
"Marana Kiln is Padawan Laminara's mother. They make up one of the highest classes of nobles on Alderaan, which is also their homeworld. Her age is thirty-six; hair color: chestnut brown; eye color: hazelnut –"
"She's my padawan's mother?" Luminara was shocked. "Then how can Ani be Mirialan?"
"Technically, she's your padawan's step-mother," Adi stated. "Her true mother was one of our own, Jedi Knight Aenesca Laminara – a Mirialan. Besides being a prominent Jedi, she was also a friend of yours, I believe." Luminara nodded.
"She disappeared during an undercover investigation of several rumors of pirate activity in the Outer Rim," Gallia continued. "We hadn't heard from her for over three years, so we had assumed she was dead. After the Battle of Naboo, we were called to Alderaan by Torón. When we arrived, we immediately sensed a problem, and that's when we found her, after discovering her daughter." Luminara blinked; she had known that most of the Council had gone to Alderaan, but she hadn't known what the exact purpose had been. That her long-time friend was found there didn't surprise her.
"I knew that she had died there. After all, I had seen her –" she swallowed hard, "– body, right after I arrived. What I didn't realize, though, was that she was the mother of my padawan." She looked hard at her fellow Jedi Master. "Are you sure you didn't perhaps mistake my padawan's heritage for someone else?" Adi looked at her sadly.
"Luminara, we're positive. After we ran her through the multiple medical scans, we ran a midi-chlorian count on her – and checked her DNA with Aenesca's. Not counting the almost-20,000 midi-chlorian count, there was no way she could be anyone else's daughter." Adi Gallia looked tentative. "I hope this won't change your view of your padawan or of your friend."
"Not at all," Luminara assured her. The Councilor looked relieved.
"Anyway, when we arrived, we felt something leading us to the courtyard. Torón Kiln – her husband, as we found out later – had seen the smoke rising from that location, and he feared for his wife and child. We, however, were told little more than where to land, and were not fully prepared for what awaited us. Once our group got there, we had barely enough time to see a dead body lying there surrounded by IG-88 droids in pieces before a young one forced us back with a lightsaber." Despite herself, Ani's master chuckled.
"I would've loved to have seen your faces," she told Adi. "I bet you guys were startled."
"We were slightly worried," Adi admitted, a slight smile working its way through her stern face. "I mean, we had a green lightsaber in our faces, on full power no less, and we kind of expected at least a full-grown Jedi Knight or Master at the other end. Instead, we looked down, and saw a young girl with tattoos on her face and hands, brandishing the weapon as if she knew how to use it." Luminara couldn't help it; she grinned. Adi's face softened a touch.
"She had looked too young to hold a lightsaber like that, especially a full-powered one," she said softly. "I remember thinking, 'Oh Force, not another crazy civilian! Not this time!' However, we could feel the Force flow in and around her. At times it seemed to darken, but that was her grief coupled with a touch of anger at her mother's death. For an almost-four-year-old, she was not that bad at suppressing her emotions."
"I could see that when I had met her," Luminara interjected, hoping to get on with the story. The Councilor nodded.
"After we had assured her that we were good guys – not that it was easy, mind you – we checked around to make sure the droids were destroyed completely, and that they had no reinforcements coming. Then we checked the young one. She seemed fine, physically, but mentally she was a wreck. The tears streaming down her face were a reinforcement of that fact." Adi paused, gathering her thoughts together carefully.
"She was cradling her mother's body as best she could at her small height. As she cried, however, she was singing some tune. I've only heard it once, when you volunteered in the crèche." Adi shrugged. "All I remember was that you were singing a similar song to several children so they'd drift off to sleep."
"Song?" Luminara searched her memory. "Ah yes, I remember. Is it this?" She hummed a couple bars; Adi nodded. "It's an ancient tune. I don't remember how old it is, except that every mother – or Master, as myself – knows it."
"Why?" Adi asked curiously. "What's it about?" Luminara shrugged.
"I don't remember all of it, except of course the refrain." A long-forgotten memory resurfaced at the back of her mind. "It's about a mother bonding with her children, where the mother promises to protect her daughter and the daughter promises to learn from her. Every girl between her ninth and tenth birthday on our homeworld learns it, in case she has children or ends up teaching some."
"How did you learn it?"
"I was taken as a young child for Jedi training, but since my master wasn't Mirialan, we had to make a visit once or twice a year for me to catch up on my culture. That's probably how Aena – Aenesca learned it." She smiled. "As you know, we don't have many Mirialan masters here." Luminara shrugged.
"I still do not understand why, besides the fact that many of our kind are strongly connected to each other, enough to the extent where they refuse to even leave their homes. But – Alright, enough of my rambling. Please continue."
"Well, the rest you should know," Adi Gallia stated. "We took the girl in; her father entrusted her to us before he remarried; her stepmother tried to take her back; the little one disappeared; and you, Barriss, and Windu rescued her from a suicidal fall, caused by a hired assassin."
"Yes, now I do remember. After the rescue we were charged with kidnapping and harmful intentions, and we barely got back to the Temple in one piece." Luminara narrowed her eyes. "So, Marana Kiln… Ani Laminara's stepmother. The one who tried to mind-wipe my padawan." Master Gallia nodded in confirmation. "What does she want this time?"
"She has called for a Jedi team to assist her with an emergency on the planet surface," Adi responded. "Bail Organa has a suspicion that it's merely a ploy to divert our attention from her true activities."
"Which he believes to be dealing heavily with the Separatists."
"Exactly."
"Great. Just… excellent." Luminara sighed. "So why are my padawan and I called to take this mission on? Ani should not be anywhere near her stepmother. What if the "emergency" just happens to be an excuse to kidnap my padawan? What is the council thinking?"
"Master Yoda believes that it would be good for your padawan to go back to the planet where most of her painful memories reside. He says that it will be one of the most important trials she will ever face."
"Because she'll be forced to deal with the past, which is full of pain and lingering sadness."
"Exactly." Luminara gritted her teeth. She really, really hated dealing with past issues, especially when they happened to be emotional and painful.
"When is our meeting with the Council?"
"At 18h00."
"Okay. We'll be there. The both of us." I may not like the fact that the journey will complicate matters between my padawan and I, Luminara thought, but if it is the wishes of Master Yoda, then we will go. We must, unless we rather get kicked out of the Order.
"Good. I'll go inform the Council." Pausing outside the door, Adi turned to look back at her friend. "May the Force be with you, Luminara Unduli. And with your padawan especially."
"May the Force be with you as well, Adi Gallia" Luminara replied, mind still racing. She needed to find her padawan, immediately. The couple hours standing between them and their meeting with the Council would pass fast.
The Jedi Master couldn't remember in which direction her padawan had gone. She also couldn't sense her Force signature. She didn't need to.
Luminara Unduli had a pretty good idea where Ani Laminara had escaped.
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, GO! Ani's mind screamed at her as she raced down the corridors of the Temple, heeding not the glares or shouts of Knights and Masters alike trying to get her to slow down. As she ran, she was dimly aware of the beings she passed – was that Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano? – and the possibly important persons who she accidentally sideswiped – yes, that was probably Masters Windu and Tiin.
Man, I would really hate for this to be put on my record, Ani thought, barely avoiding trampling a long line of younglings. The Master – probably J'nuush Klutarii – yelled something at her that quickly joined the sound of air streaming past her ears. As long as I'm not forbidden to run in the Temple anymore, I'll accept anything on my record. But, oh Force, not being allowed to run would stink! That would be the ninth of the Corellian hells.
Using the Force, she drew her shields tighter around her, controlling her thoughts and her facial muscles. Let them think I'm having another round of Force-tag with my friends, she thought. If they even get a hint of what I'm thinking, I'll never get out of this hallway alive. I'll probably be sent to the Healer's Wing. Last place I want to go. It's not like I even have a problem.
Then why are you running? asked a voice in her head. Ani stifled a sigh. Why do these voices sound like Master Yoda, Master Windu, or Master Unduli? she thought. Don't I deserve a break?
It's nothing, she retorted. Absolutely nothing. You're just trying to convince me to see the mind healers, like almost everyone else in this kriffing temple.
I am not, you liar, the other half exclaimed right back.
Just SHUT UP, okay? We're almost to the spot. You can bother me however long you want, just please wait until we get there.
Fine. I'll be right in my corner over here, waiting ever so politely until we get through so I can bother you to no end.
You are annoying.
Why thank you. That is my programming, after all.
Stop sounding like C-3PO.
Why? Is this too much fun for you to handle?
Just wait. I'll show you 'too much fun'…
Here we are! The Room of a Thousand Fountains! Ani skidded to a stop, turned around and ducked into the doorway, barely avoiding running into several of her old teachers. She quickly checked herself into a fast walk, as several odd looks had been passed her way, and she did want to appear as normal as possible. The less suspicious people saw her, the better.
Slowing down into a stroll, the padawan nodded to some more of her old teachers, past acquaintances, and other random beings she knew. Pausing outside the wall of roses and ivy, she took a quick glance around, and – seeing that no one else was looking – ducked into the hidden room.
I feel like I'm the smuggler who has contraband she has to stow quick before someone finds out. Ani almost laughed out loud at that, but quickly sobered up. Peeking outside, she checked once more for any unwanted guests before ducking deeper into the dark room.
Moving to the center, she kneeled softly, then sat cross-legged, breathing the scent of the roses. They were the most common flower in this room, even though they were rare in the other gardens, not to mention on Coruscant itself. It wasn't as rare as other flowers, but it was rare enough that few families on Alderaan (including hers) could afford them.
Mother used to beg my father for them whenever they'd appear, Ani thought. Well, growing up on a desert planet and then on a city planet probably made her more appreciative of living things. She always did say I was spoiled because I was born on one of the lushest planets around. She looked towards the ceiling, feeling a sudden sadness worm its way inside her. Why do I have to go back? Even though Alderaan's my homeworld, there is still sadness and hurt there. I can't go back. I can't. The memories are resurfacing, and it's all I can do to keep them at bay.
Releasing a sigh, she reached out to touch a rose winding its way around the seven columns surrounding her. It was the largest – and her favorite. Ever since she had discovered the room and found a wilted, almost completely crushed young flower at the center of the circle, she had come back – albeit unwillingly at first – to give it life.
As the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, she soon realized that she was not only giving the rose a new life, but herself as well. That thought had started up and kept a small spark of hope glowing inside her, even when she was apprenticed to Master Pollo. Tending that little plant made her realize that she wasn't just living for the plant to survive.
The plant was there to keep her alive.
"In everything we do, a double purpose, there is." A familiar cackle startled Ani out of her reverie. She jumped up and spun around to see the familiar darkness, streaked by the filtered sunlight.
"Who's there?" The padawan's voice caught slightly at the end, which she quickly replaced with a more confident sound. This was her hideout, after all. Last thing she wanted to sound was unsure, or even – Force forbid – scared.
"Afraid of me, you should not be, unless Anakin Skywalker, you are."
"Come on out. NOW."
"Know me, do you not?" A minute troll stepped out of the dark, his skin looking several shades of green darker. His cane tapped out a gentle beat, a soft vibration that acted as a massage to her leather-clad feet. The girl's muscles slowly unwound, her shoulders relaxing to their normal positions.
"Master Yoda." Ani inclined her head, gaining control of her voice. Anger and hurt warred with her brain as she fought to stay impassive. "With all due respect, how do you know about this place?" Why would you bother coming here when all you have to do is summon me to your quarters is what she really wanted to say. The aged Jedi Master harrumphed.
"When old as I you get, know many secrets about the Temple, you do." His hazel eyes searched out her aquamarine ones. "Secrets about the beings too, you discover. Murky and troubled pasts, those who discover the Temple's secrets have. Darkness too. Oh yes, much darkness."
Master Yoda hobbled into the center. The light from the sunlamps outside receded slightly, signifying the maturing afternoon. The roses in the room seemed to acknowledge it; they grew closer to the columns and the walls in a lovely mesh of flowers, leaves, and stray petals. Ani waited until he passed to follow him, via the rule of the padawans.
"Heard, you did, of the mission?" Her eyes flickered slightly; she should've known that the nosy troll would figure it out.
"Possibly." Her reply sounded tight, forced. Yoda's ears drooped for a fraction of a second. This girl locked up her emotions tight – no cracks there. At least, none were visible.
"Know then, you do, that vital, this mission is." Ani whirled around, hurt and anger evident in her eyes.
"What I do know is that this mission is the most fierfieking piece of kark that a Sithspawned troll like you could come up with!" Her eyes glowed intensely. "You are insanely arrogant, Master Yoda, to think that I could possibly get past what I did all those years ago. To think that the Force would release me from the wrongs I committed. To even believe that I could be forgiven for the horrible crimes of my past. What do you want from me this time?" A bitter laugh escaped from her lips. "Or have you finally decided I am no longer useful to the Jedi Order?"
"What happened in the past, your fault it was not." Yoda placed a clawed hand upon her arm. "Stop blaming yourself, you should. Go on this mission, you must."
"To do what? Torment myself with memories? Tempt my stepmother to try to sell me to the Separatists like she did over a decade ago?" Yellow flecks seemed to dominate her sea-colored eyes as she continued her rant. "How can I go back when my past continues to haunt me? I just managed to lock it up in a nice, dark corner of my brain, and now it won't stop bothering the kark out of me! The worst part is, this 'mission' seems like a trap just to get me mind-wiped and sent to Dooku and his minions in a hand basket. I shouldn't go, Master. It's bound to be more trouble than it's worth."
"If disturbs you, this does, then a good thing it has become." At her sharp look, the diminutive Jedi General continued. "A worthy mission only becomes truly worthy when teaches you a lesson, it does. When uncomfortable, the mission makes you, then an even better learning experience it becomes." He paused, gazing into her eyes, now clearing slowly of the yellow spots.
"I – I don't understand." Master Yoda harrumphed.
"Fogged, your mind has become, young one. A clear mind, necessary it is, in order to see the whole picture. Things that make us uncomfortable force us to confront our darker selves." His ears drooped. "If confront the pain and anger that are part of us, we do not, then grow we do not, and more likely to fall to the dark side, we are." He allowed silence to do its work, giving the young padawan time to ponder what he had said. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
"Meditated, have you, young one?" A blush quickly spread across her cheeks, contrasting beautifully with the dark tattoos.
"Not for the past several weeks, Master," she replied softly.
"More able to see past your emotions you would be, if meditate often you did. Clouded your judgment has become." The gimer stick tapped a gentle rhythm on her leg. "Able to see what good out of your shadowed past can come, you would be. Meditate, you must. Meditate, you will." The tapping became a thwacking, snapping Ani out of the muddled processes of her mind to reality. She knelt before the troll.
"I will think upon what you have said, Master Yoda," she replied, her face neutral.
"Come to a decision by 18h00, you shall?" he asked, hope glimmering upon his wizened face.
"I didn't think I had that much choice in the matter," she replied wryly. "However, meditating should clear out my head enough by then to give a somewhat coherent answer." The ancient being rose slowly, using his gimer stick to keep him steady.
"Very well, then." His eyes twinkled. "Hurry you should, for an adequate meditation session you need, and not much time before the Council meeting, there is." The young one bowed once more before padding silently to, then through the entrance, and was gone.
Alone once more, Yoda allowed himself to curl upon the ground, giving an appearance of being old and extremely frail.
"The right decision, she will make." His gravelly voice exuded quiet, grave confidence. "But uneasy about the mission, I feel. If fail, she does, then occur, worse events will." The beams of light in the room seemed to fade in agreement, as did the encroaching darkness.
As did her rose.
Tied to her very existence, the flower is, Master Yoda thought, reaching out to touch one of the petals. The decisions she makes, affect not only the flower, but the Jedi as well, they will. Time, both have not. Clouded for them, the future is. He crossed his legs and began meditating, releasing his worry and concern into the Force.
If overcome these obstacles, Ani Laminara does not, grave consequences will occur. Consequences that, impact the future of the Jedi, they will. Affect the outcome of the future, they will. Affect the direction of the Chosen One, they will. Affect her very mind, they will.
Succeed, she must, or fall, we all will.
Maybe I should attempt to be more cheerful with these...
...
...
...
Ah, no I won't. It's life, after all. It's just a whole lot worse in there than it is out here.
Well, please read and review. PLEASE. I know I took forever updating, but I DID update. :-D
So... please?
~ Jedi Ani Unduli
P.S. Hope it was long enough for you guys.