I forgot to mention these names: Sual is pronounced "Swahl." Jiimo is "Jee-moh." Alnem is "Ahl-nehm.
"Both of you need to calm down and think," says Master Sual sharply at dinner. "Yes, your friend is going to come back, but have you thought of what she has been through? Akite, you may understand better than Fang. Zefel was at the Battle of Geonosis, and, though she may not have been in the arena with you, she probably understands how many Jedi died. She very likely doesn't know who survived. She probably does know that her master died, and it very well could have happened in front of her – which you escaped, Akite."
I stare at my food uncomfortably. Oreti died when his ship was shot down by the separatists. I was on anther ship and only knew through the Force.
"And then, think how miserable you were, and you had people you knew around. She was a prisoner of war. We don't know yet how the Separatists treat their prisoners – except Master Kenobi and the others, with the execution arena, which I doubt was typical – so you have to be prepared that, while having her home may be enough for you, it may not be for Zefel."
His lecture completely washed my joy out of me. Zefel… why did it have to be Zefel? I wonder.
She was always the most sensitive of our group of friends. She knew when any one of us was upset, and, believe me, Fang does not make that easy. The amount of feelings a crowd gives off overwhelms her. I can only guess at what sort of feelings there would be in a prison.
Furthermore, Zefel is beautiful. She has wavy black hair, blue eyes, and a lovely face, and she could pass for an adult already. I may be a Jedi, but I do know what can happen to a beautiful young woman who is a prisoner or slave.
Master Sual sees the expression on my face. "The Council did see to the prisoners briefly over comm. They said that none of them appeared to have been treated badly."
"But we still have to get someone to them," I say. "That gives the Separatists time… They could kill them!"
"I know," he admits. "We must be patient."
I have trouble sleeping that night. I want to know that Zefel is home and safe. If Oreti were still alive, I would go to his room, and he would find some way to comfort me, but I am sure that Fang would not want to be woken in the middle of the night. It's Zefel that I would usually discuss these things with, anyhow.
I avoid showing the teachers how I feel. It's enough that they know I grieved over Oreti. He was my master. I had some excuse. Fears over a friend are not acceptable.
Playing with the younglings really makes me feel better. They are amazing. I wish I could be young again - and forever.
I am meditating and trying to sort out my feelings when I feel Zefel close. My emotions go back into uproar.
Is she all right?
I manage to stay in meditation until Fang appears at my door. Then, I bring myself back into the material world.
Fang looks edgy, something unusual for him. "She's back," he tells me.
"I know. Can we see her?"
"The Council is speaking to them."
The Council is not the kindest group of people, but I do trust them. I hope they don't keep her too long, or we won't be able to see her before it's time to sleep.
Fang comes in and shuts my door. I think he may want to talk, which is entirely out of character for him. "Is she all right?" I ask.
"They think so. One of the knights they sent to get the prisoners was a healer, in case." He is still standing, and I have to tilt my head back to see his expression. It tells me nothing. "The Council asked Master Sual to go. He told them that he couldn't because his apprentice is 'emotionally attached to the girl.'"
"He told the Council that? Fang, that's terrible!" I would have been embarrassed if I were in his situation, but Fang makes up for his relative lack of strength in the Force with complete dedication. To know that his master told the Council that he is emotionally attached to someone, especially a girl, must be agony for him.
"He couldn't lie," Fang admitted, a blush showing through his gold skin.
"Yes, and I guess they know you aren't the only one."
"Yeah."
He stands there for a while. We finally leave my room and wander towards the Room of a Thousand Fountains. If the Council lets Zefel go, she will probably go there.
We sit in her favorite place by a silent agreement. We have been here many, many times before, but, even if we weren't all together, we always knew that our other friends were all right.
Then, we see her.
She is walking slowly with her head down. We can see that her hair was cut short. When she became a padawan, it was cut close to her head except for her padawan braid, but it still looked nice, and her master let it grow out. Now, it has been raggedly cut off, even her padawan braid. I notice that she isn't wearing her lightsaber.
She looks up. She has dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, or crying, or both, and her face is a picture of wounded beauty.
Her eyes hardly touch Fang. They land on me and widen. "Akite!" she calls hoarsely. She has been crying. "You're alive!"
She did think I was dead, then. I can only nod.
Fang and I move apart. She sits between us. "You're alive," she whispers, her head bowed.
"I was lucky." I was.
"Dorn?"
"Was not lucky."
She lets out a choked sob. "Jiimo wasn't there, was he?"
"Jiimo didn't go," I assure her. "He wasn't here when Master Windu called on everyone in the Temple to go to Geonosis – he's been away for months."
She nods. "You were lucky," she whispers. "Both of you."
"I'm so glad you're back," I whisper. I'm not sure what else to say.
"Do you know what I'm worth to the Jedi?" she asks fiercely, lifting her head. "Thirty thousand credits. That's what they paid to get me back."
"Isn't that high for a bribe?" I ask. Most are less than a tenth of that amount.
"Low for a person!"
"Well, it's better than being a slave and sold for five hundred credits to a master worse than your last one," I suggest.
She isn't amused. "No one has slaves anymore."
"Anakin Skywalker was a slave."
"That's a rumor, and he's from Tatooine, anyway," she says in a voice too cold for her.
Zefel used to be a lot of fun. Really. She actually supported most of Dorn's schemes. She had a great sense of humor. I hope this is only passing depression.
"Did they hurt you?" asks Fang suddenly.
"No. They mostly treated us okay once we were out of the system and they weren't afraid of being caught – they were rough before that. They weren't allowed to touch me. They wanted to, though." She shudders.
Of course they wanted to, but they didn't, so I won't worry, even if she does look upset at the thought. "Good. We're really, really glad you're back." I look at Fang, expecting him to say it better.
He is looking at her with an inscrutable expression. "I'm sorry," he says at last. "So is Akite."
I nod.
Zefel lets out a choked sound. "Alnem." Her master. "Alnem died… they shot her… She tried… tried to protect me because…" She is crying now, but I know she has to tell us. "The pain in the arena… I couldn't help her."
Her tearful words throw me back to the battle. All the pain, the death, surrounded by it, sickened by it…
I can't cry. I can't.
But Oreti… Master…
I'm going to have to leave. I can't cry in front of her. It will only encourage her.
"I like your horns." The little Twi'lek appears in my head. "…wanna trade?" I have to hide a smile so Zefel won't be insulted.
I love younglings.
Zefel cries. I lift my head high and say two words in a clear voice: "Oreti died."
"What?" she asks through her tears.
"Oreti died. There was nothing I could do. We were separated."
"Akite," she gasps. "I – that's – I can't believe that!"
"It's true," I tell her, holding my voice steady with effort.
"But – Oh, Akite!"
I give in and cry.
Have any of you had a problem where the first sentence of a chapter shows up twice when you upload it? In this case, the top line of the chapter when I uploaded said "Both of you need to calm down and think," and the under that was the entire first paragraph, including that phrase, and the rest of the story... This has happened repeatedly.
Please take the time to review.