Going Back
By: Katerinaki
Published: April 2, 2015
Beta'ed: No
Notes: Thank you to those who read and reviewed the first chapter. Here is another that I hope you'll enjoy. One reviewer hoped to see more Obi-Wan and I can promise you won't be disappointed in this chapter.
Chapter 2:
"Hya!" Kelreen shouted as she dealt the final blow to yet another training droid, number twenty of twenty. There wasn't a scratch on her, but the same could not be said of the droids. They littered the training salle, fit for no more than scrap now. Had she really destroyed that many? And so thoroughly?
Yes, she had. It was the only way she could clear her mind anymore. Kelreen had been unable to sit for meditation in months. But there was nothing like fighting droids and dodging blaster bolts to make everything simple. Turn them into scrap before they do the same to you. But now they littered the floor and the peace Kelreen had found in the mindlessness of the battle was quickly fading. The same ache gripped her chest. The same vacuum pulled at her mind, swallowing up what harmony and contentment she had been able to cling to in the fight. It was like a black hole greedily swallowing all light within her, threatening to take her whole and make her nothing, like it.
She'd been to a mind healer. When her ship had arrived at Coruscant she'd been transferred from the ship's medical bay to the Halls of Healing in the Jedi Temple. With Master Stass Allie, her body mended itself. Her shoulder would always be stiffer and Master Allie said she might experience some aches and pain in cold, but at least she still had use of her arm. Her mind was not so easily fixed. She'd been mercifully unconscious for the majority of the psychic backlash of the Master-Padawan bond's severance. The initial pain she felt had likely been Master T'Bolton's as he hit the bottom of the caldera. The full severance had occurred after she'd already been injured. But the after-shocks were still there and the emptiness was a deeper scar than any she had ever received, even during that one sparring incident.
It had been six months since then. So much had happened while Kelreen healed and completed her therapy to bring her shoulder back up to its previous conditioning. Grievous had kidnapped the Chancellor and attacked Coruscant but his plans were thwarted and Dooku had been killed by Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One. Not long after, Master Kenobi faced Grievous on Utapau and destroyed him. With the Separatist forces leaderless, the war was over, except for a few holdout worlds in the Outer Rim.
Not that any of it mattered to Kelreen now. She was stuck at the Temple. Each day she had lessons with other padawans left Master-less. Every so often she had a mind healing session. She trained like she had when she was just an initiate, in a group under various teachers and battle-masters. She was left to her own devices, given space and time to heal. Her training was maintained, but for the most part put on hold. It would stay that way too, until she was able to meditate and find her center on her own. No Master would take a broken Padawan, even if there were any Masters available to train an apprentice well into her training. And Kelreen was well and truly broken.
Nothing left to fight, Kelreen called out the clean-up droids and opted to stay and help them. The alternative was to go back to her quarters and do work for her Temple lessons.
"Reduced to manual labor?"
Kelreen spun with a droid head in one hand and her lightsaber in the other. She hadn't heard that familiar voice in months and she was embarrassed that she hadn't been at her best the last time.
"Hello, Master Vos."
Quinlan Vos shoved off the wall he'd been leaning against, the small smile on his face falling. "Master Vos? Since when have I been 'Master Vos'? Are you alright, Kelreen?"
"Yes, Master," she said, turning back to pick up more droid parts.
Master Quin's footsteps approached, but Kelreen didn't turn around. She didn't want to look him in the eye. Master Quin had always been able to see right through her. If she looked him in the eye…
"Kelreen, look at me."
She continued picking up droid parts. "I have to clean up here, Master Vos."
"Kelreen—"
"It's simple courtesy, Master Vos."
"Kelreen!"
"Master Vos—"
"Enough with the 'Master Vos'! What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing has—"
"It's against the Code to lie, Padawan Nayqus."
Kelreen winced. That hurt. He was angry with her. He'd never spoken to her so formally, not even in the presence of Jedi Council members or foreign dignitaries. "I know," she whispered.
"Then why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not lying, Master."
"But you are avoiding me. Put the droid parts down, Kelreen. That's what the sweeps are for."
With a sigh Kelreen put the bits of droid she'd picked up in the bin and turned to face Master Quin where he stood with his arms folded across his chest, a stern look crinkling his yellow Clan Vos tattoos. His sharp eyes immediately caught the signs that others missed because they saw them every day. Her skin was a paler shade, making her green Nayqus tattoos stand out on her brow, nose, and cheeks. There were dark circles under her bloodshot eyes and harder lines framed her jaw and cheeks. As she stood before him her shoulders slumped wearily. This was not the Kelreen he knew.
"Oh, Padawan," Master Quin sighed, his whole demeanor relaxing. His expression was no longer stern but concerned as his hands fell from his chest. They reached out as if to cup her cheeks, but settled instead on her thin shoulders.
"I'm fine, Quin," Kelreen insisted.
"No, you're not. When was the last time you slept? Or ate something?"
"I haven't been hungry. And…I will admit that it has been difficult to sleep."
"You have been seeing a mind healer? And meditating?"
"Yes, though I have been unable to meditate without help. It seems like the only time I can clear my mind is when I'm fighting." She indicated the twisted chunks of metal, almost completely gone by now.
Master Quin was worried. She knew him well enough to recognize it. "What about your psychometry? Your connection to the Force?"
Kelreen blinked. She hadn't been using her psychometry at all, even before Saleucami. It was just too painful, especially after a battle. She'd pick up a fallen blaster rifle and see the memories of a fallen trooper, from his training on Kamino all the way to his death. She'd avoided touching anything of Master T'Bolton's upon her return to the Temple, for fear of accidentally seeing something on his possessions. She'd moved to padawan quarters and a service droid had cleaned out Master T'Bolton's few things. She didn't want any more reminders. The scar in her mind was enough.
"I haven't used it," she replied truthfully. "I haven't used it since Kamino. It just got too…hard."
Master Quin seemed to understand what she meant, even if she wasn't able to put it into any better terms. He didn't ask any more questions, only studied her face for a moment longer before nodding.
"Come," he said, his tone taking back its lighter quality Kelreen was more familiar with, "have a meal with me. Space travel makes me hungry and I'm tired of field rations."
Kelreen recognized an out when she heard one. "Of course, Quin."
It had been a long clean up, first on Saleucami and then on Boz Pity. Even with most of the droid armies leaderless, and therefore worthless, there were still pockets of Separatists who just refused to believe the war was over and they had lost. By the time Quin had finished on Boz Pity, General Grievous had been dead for five months and the galaxy was slowly on the mend.
Very slowly.
It was good to be back at the Jedi Temple, though. Through it all, the Jedi Temple had always been home. Even in the darker times when Quin had questioned himself and everything he'd ever known, he could find peace among these long, quiet halls. But as soon as he'd landed he'd known something was wrong. He followed the feeling from the Temple hangar down to the training salles. There he found Kelreen.
Of course she was chopping through droids with methodical precision. At first glance, she seemed much better than last he'd seen her. Kelreen was always good with her blade, and it seemed that the injury she'd sustained hadn't changed that. But it didn't take much observation to realize something was wrong. Her movements had a wild edge to them, like each slash was a desperate grab for something just out of reach. Her green blade chopped and cut, rather than slicing and sweeping. Kelreen had always had such a flowing quality to her saber skills. That quality was overcome by something else.
He'd spoken to her, hoping that maybe it was just lingering healing, or maybe anxiety. He and Kelreen were two of a kind, never wishing to remain idle for long. It'd been six months since Saleucami. That was a long period of time for a Jedi to remain in the Temple. But she'd been so formal, refusing to meet his eye. As she made a show of "cleaning up" he could feel the turmoil inside her, like a dark cloud rolling off her. The more she avoided him, the more he wondered how anyone could possibly miss it. He could see the conflict in her eyes, in the drawn, gaunt lines of her face, in the tired rigidity of her movements.
Quin had hoped all those months ago that being at the Temple, with all its many resources at her disposal, would help Kelreen heal. But perhaps the Temple, in this case, was not the best idea. There was too much time to be left alone and the older padawans like Kelreen had a lot of independent study. Quin had known Kelreen since she was a little baby in the Temple Crèche. The worst possible scenario would've been for Kelreen to be left alone after T'Bolton's death. It looked like that is exactly what had happened.
But how could anyone not notice? The disturbance had practically screamed at him as soon as he landed and had only become increasingly more obvious the more he'd spoken to her. Didn't the mind healers and the Jedi Council see? Didn't they care?
He had to bring it before the Council. He would, right after he gave his debriefing.
"…and so all forces have been removed from Boz Pity, with the exception of the small outpost," Quin finished.
"Excellent, Master Vos," Master Windu said. "You have done the galaxy a great service."
"I want the end to this war just as others do," Quin replied.
"Close, the end is. Not many more Separatist holdouts, there are," Master Yoda said. "A well-deserved rest, you have earned."
"Thank you, Master." Quin bowed respectfully. He looked around at the other Council members. A few still used holo-images. Quin's old friend from their padawan years, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was one of them. He was out on some Outer Rim planet on an important mission that the Council was keeping quiet. The details of it, Quin didn't know, but he did know the purpose. Despite the end of the war, the Sith lord was still at large. It fell to Obi-Wan to try to track him alone. He might've had Skywalker, except the "Chosen One" had resigned from the Order and now lived somewhere on Naboo with a certain Senator, now up for election as the new Supreme Chancellor. If you asked Quin, he'd seen it coming a few years ago. But Obi-Wan had taken the loss a little hard. Obi-Wan always said that Anakin was like a brother. The Jedi Master's holo-image "sat" in his empty chair, the only one of the group with his hood up. So he was in a delicate situation. Blast it, Obi-Wan! Quin needed to talk to him!
Yoda and Mace Windu would have to do, though.
"Something more, Master Quinlan?" Yoda asked.
"Yes, Master. I am worried, about a padawan."
Yoda blinked, exchanging a glance with Master Windu.
"You are referring to Padawan Nayqus," Master Windu said.
"I am worried she is having difficulty letting go. It has been six months since Master T'Bolton's death and I know that in that time she has hardly slept, eaten practically nothing, and been unable to meditate."
Yoda frowned. "Serious this situation is. Monitoring it I have been."
"You knew? And you let it go on?" Quin demanded before he remembered who exactly he was talking to. It was difficult reigning in his emotions after allowing them for so long as part of his cover. Master Windu gave him a pointed look but Quin was already bringing himself back under control.
"My help, Kelreen does not need," Yoda said simply. "Let go she must. This only she can do."
"But she's not and it's harming her physically and psychologically."
"What do you propose we do, Master Vos?" Master Windu asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
"She needs a new Master. She needs to finish her training. She needs someone to guide her and something to focus on. I know Kelreen. Letting her remain in this flux will only cause her further harm."
"A candidate you have for Kelreen's new master, hm?" Yoda asked.
Quin opened his mouth to reply, but truthfully nobody came to mind that didn't already have a padawan or too much to do. Kelreen would take time and patience and even though the war was over, not many Jedi had the necessary amounts of both. He could try, but in all likelihood he would be sent out very soon to root out the last of the Separatist forces from the Outer Rim. Kelreen didn't need more war. She needed a master with patience to spare and the time to coax her back from the dark place she was currently in. If Quin knew one thing, it was that he was not the one to turn to for patience. Yoda knew this. The entire Order knew this. But for Kelreen…
"I ask to take Kelreen as my padawan learner."
Already Yoda was shaking his head. "Too close to her you already are. Clouded your judgment would be. Allow this arrangement we cannot."
"We will meditate on this matter, Master Vos," Master Windu assured him. "Padawan Nayqus will not be forgotten."
Well, it had been a long shot anyways. But he'd had to try. Quin wanted to stay and insist they find a solution now so that Kelreen wouldn't be left alone for even one more day. But that was unrealistic and would only serve to aggravate the Council. Instead he bowed respectfully and thanked the Council for their consideration before being dismissed. As he left the quiet Council chamber he couldn't help but feel like he had failed Kelreen. He tried to impress on the masters how important it was for quick action in this matter. Kelreen was killing herself. It was likely only through the Force and her Jedi training that she was still functioning and not confined to bed rest. She was a good padawan and would make a strong Jedi Knight. It would be a great loss to the Order in a time where every Jedi, down to the little initiates in the clans, counted.
By the time he made it to the turbolift, Quin decided he would have to take matters into his own hands. He needed to find Kelreen a master. He'd done it once; surely he could do it again. When it came to Kelreen he had all the strong-minded determination of an aak dog. In the meantime he would do what he could to make sure she took care of herself.
Kelreen was in the Jedi archives, researching yet another obscure Senate decision for her Galactic politics class. She'd never had a mind for politics but ever since the war she'd acknowledged just how much they could affect people, not just in the Republic Core worlds but throughout the entire known galaxy. Now it was just hour after hour of mind-numbing legal drivel that took up her time. Still, she had to keep a singular focus on her research if she was going to keep everything else at bay. She was so focused on the screen of her research station that she didn't even notice her comlink signaling until the Knight at the next station over got up and tapped her on the shoulder and brought the beeping to her attention.
"Nayqus."
"Padawan Nayqus, please report to the High Council chamber," said the smooth voice of the Council's secretary.
"I'm on my way," Kelreen replied, standing from her station and leaving after a brief nod of thanks and apology to the Knight.
The climb to the Council chamber at the top of the central spire went quickly as Kelreen wondered why she was being called before the council and then came to the obvious conclusion. Master Quin had expressed concerns. Now she was going before the Council to be reprimanded for her disregard of the Code; to be asked why she chose to hang onto her attachment to her former master when it was not the Jedi way. The mind healer asked the same question each session, but if Kelreen knew the answer she wouldn't be going to the mind healer. A Jedi had no attachments. That was part of the Code. But saying a Jedi had no attachments, and being a Jedi with no attachments were two very different things. Perhaps Kelreen wasn't a good Jedi.
The door of the Council chamber was open when Kelreen arrived and she stepped inside. The room was almost empty except for Master Yoda and Master Windu. Master Yoda sat in his chair while Master Windu stood by the window, turning to face Kelreen as she entered. She walked to the center of the Council chamber and bowed respectfully.
"Masters," she said.
"Padawan Kelreen, thank you for arriving so promptly," Master Windu said. "You have been called here because some concern has been expressed for your welfare."
Kelreen didn't say anything. She knew Master Quin was the one who had "expressed concern". He wouldn't have kept his observances to himself. He shouldn't.
"How feel you?" Master Yoda asked. It seemed like a simple question. It had been, the first time he'd ever asked her back when she was part of Dragon Clan as a youngling. She'd told him that she was hungry because lunch was soon. He'd smiled and chuckled saying that he heard they were serving sweet-sand cookies for dessert in the commissary.
But Kelreen understood now just how complex the question could be. It all depended upon the answer, and the answerer.
"I feel…troubled, Master."
"In what way?" Master Windu asked.
"I find it hard to find peace. Ever since—Saleucami—I have felt an overwhelming loss, like the severed bond created a rift in my mind. It keeps me from sleeping or meditating properly. I feel as though if I relax for just a second, it will consume me."
Master Windu frowned. "Have you discussed this with Master Che?"
"Yes, Master, and she has tried to give me exercises but none of them seem to work. The only time I feel peace is when I am fighting the training droids."
Master Windu looked down at Master Yoda and the two seemed to speak silently for a moment. When they looked away, Master Yoda nodded and got up from his seat, hobbling towards Kelreen.
"Permission, I ask, to enter your mind young Kelreen," Master Yoda said. "See for myself this rift."
Kelreen hesitated. Letting someone inside your mind was extremely invasive and potentially painful if you couldn't relax, as Kelreen had been thus far unable to do. But Kelreen knew that Master Yoda would not have asked if he did not feel it was necessary. And perhaps Master Yoda could help.
"Yes, Master." She knelt in the traditional meditative position, resting her hands on her knees before the diminutive form of the Jedi Order's wisest and most powerful master. They were eye to eye now.
"Relax, clear your mind," Master Yoda hummed as he placed a green, three-fingered hand on Kelreen's forehead over her eyes. She'd heard those very same words spoken so many times before. Kelreen fought to internalize them and layer by layer began to lower the mental shields she had developed during wartime. They were stiff, having been slammed into place for too long and only thickened with each battle. It seemed like another life when Kelreen had walked around with her mind open. Removing her shields was like shedding a heavy jacket after months of winter. She felt lighter. The ebb and flow of the Force around her was suddenly not so very far away. There it waited, lapping at her mind, patient for her to reach out to it.
Kelreen felt the Light side gather and the presence of Master Yoda enfolded her. He was calm, serene, weathered by years of experience but still capable of light playfulness. And he was so much bigger in the Force. He encircled her as his physical arms never possibly could. His probing was gentle and respectful. He did not dig through her memories or sample each of her emotions along the way. Master Yoda was looking for something very specific and it was easy to find. There, among her feelings and her strongest memories, stood the gap Master T'Bolton had filled. Kelreen felt Yoda approach it cautiously, probing it yet all the while cautious of causing her any sort of physical pain. He brushed the torn, ragged edges of her old bond and Kelreen winced at the stab she felt in her heart. Even after six months the wound was still raw.
Master Yoda did not stay long, merely long enough to make his full assessment, before he withdrew. Kelreen opened her eyes, face to face with the quiet countenance of Master Yoda. Master Windu had taken his seat and was waiting with all the patience of a Jedi Master. Kelreen felt her leg muscles spasm from staying in the same position for too long and she shifted, breaking the trance. She got shakily to her feet, feeling exhausted and stiff.
"Thank you, Kelreen," Master Yoda said. "Seen all that was needed, I have. Meditate on the best course of action we will."
"You are dismissed. May the Force be with you," Master Windu said.
"May the Force be with you, Masters," she murmured in reply. Kelreen walked slowly and unsteadily out of the Council Chamber and the door closed behind her.
A few moments after Kelreen left, another door opened, this one leading to the meditation chamber where the High Council would sometimes meet in smaller groups to think on an issue and seek answers in the Force. Master Obi-Wan Kenobi entered, clear worry in his eyes. "What did you sense, Master?" he asked.
Yoda sighed, shaking his head. Before the Separatist incident and the Clone Wars it was rare to see Yoda genuinely troubled. Now it was becoming all too common. "Deep the bond with her master was. Severed before it could be closed. An open wound it still is."
"But it has been six months," Mace said. "And during that time she has been seeing the Temple's chief healer."
"A second part to this mystery there is. Unwilling to let go, Padawan Kelreen is."
"Unwilling? But if she doesn't let go of the severed bond she—"
"She will die," Obi-Wan finished.
Yoda nodded solemnly. "Not conscious of this she is," he explained. "But happening all the same it is."
"What can we do to help her?" Obi-Wan asked, his arms folded across his chest with one hand resting pensively on his chin.
"A new master she needs," Yoda said. "In this, correct Master Quinlan was."
"Who? There are no knights available to train a padawan," Mace said.
"A knight will not do. A master she needs. Patience and understanding she needs." Yoda was thoughtful for a moment and then his brown eyes turned upwards to Obi-Wan.
"Requires experience this matter does."
Obi-Wan had been long enough on the Council to see the suggestion immediately and the next moment he was shaking his head. "I cannot take on a new padawan. I am in the middle of tracking down the Sith Master! I cannot involve a padawan in such a matter and I will not subject her to another possible loss." His blue eyes were pained in memory. "Nobody should have to bear that burden twice."
"I agree with Obi-Wan," Mace said. "Finding the Sith Master must be our priority. With the end of the war there is a high likelihood he will make some sort of move, possibly even revealing himself. We cannot afford another war."
"Difficult this decision is. The padawan's only hope, Obi-Wan is. Yet important his mission is also." Yoda sighed heavily. "Soon the decision must be made. Hang in the balance a padawan's life does."
Since he'd returned Master Quin had seemed to take it upon himself to occupy Kelreen's time with everything he could. When she wasn't in class or studying for a class she was with Master Quin, working on her psychometry or learning basic Ataru techniques that she could incorporate into her Shien style. Sometimes he took her to a favored meditation spot and ran her through strength and meditation drills. A couple times he even took her outside of the Temple precinct, down into Coruscant's lower levels when he had to meet with people for various reasons. One in particular Kelreen remembered vividly. He was a Devaronian smuggler who seemed to have an interesting relationship with Master Quin and might've been one of the slipperiest beings Kelreen had ever met.
"You have a baby Jedi now, do you Vos?" the Devaronian, who introduced himself as "Villie" asked.
"I'm not a baby," Kelreen snapped.
"And she's not my apprentice," Master Quin added.
"Oh? Relative, perhaps?" Villie pointed a red finger towards Kelreen's clan tattoos.
"Niece," Master Quin said, his voice low and warning. "So leave her alone, Grahrk."
"Okay, okay! You Jedi are so sensitive!"
"What do you have for me, Villie?"
"Well, Villie may have heard something in a bar or two that he wrote down because he thought his Jedi friend might want to know about it." Villie lazily, but surreptitiously, handed over a small data chip. Master Quin took it in hand and in another smooth gesture it was tucked safely inside his tunic.
"I'll take a look at it."
"Good, Villie glad to have helped his Jedi friend. So, this is your niece?"
Kelreen knew better than to contradict Master Quin. If he'd lied before there was a reason for it. Kelreen could follow a lead. The way Villie was looking at her, with a gleam in his eye that set her on edge, Kelreen was more than happy to be closer associated with Master Quin. Villie seemed to respect, and possibly fear him.
"Yes."
"She doesn't have yellow tattoos…"
"On my father's side."
"Mm, and how old is father's niece? Villie might like to get to know better." Villie took a step towards Kelreen but Master Quin headed him off, getting between the two. "Grahrk," he growled, his hand overtly straying towards his lightsaber beneath his cloak. Villie might not have been able to see what he was going for, but he definitely knew what was hidden there.
"Okay, okay! Villie only joking," the Devaronian insisted. "Villie know baby Jedi niece is off limits."
"Keep your eyes and ears open."
"Villie always keeps both eyes open, even when Villie sleeps." Villie nodded to Kelreen and then grinned at Master Quin. It looked more threatening than any smile Kelreen had ever seen with his sharpened teeth and the two horns that grew out of his head.
"Vos, Jedi niece." He turned and slipped off into the shadows of Coruscant's under levels.
"Quin, who was that?" Kelreen asked as they climbed back up to the Jedi Temple.
"Vilmarh Grahrk," Master Quin replied. "I first met him on Nar Shaddaa, after Aayla and I lost our memories. He'd bet that I would make it off Nar Shaddaa alive in order to cover other gambling debts and then proceeded to help me, but not before double- and triple-crossing me."
"I don't think I'd trust him with my life."
"I wouldn't trust him with a shimmer fish. But Villie is smart, not to mention lucky, and he usually has a good ear. He makes a good informant and he has saved my life on a few occasions."
Kelreen looked to the alley that Villie had disappeared down. "I guess he was sweet, in his own way. Why did you bring me down here to meet him?"
Master Quin hesitated. "I wanted you to be a familiar face to him. Like I said, I don't trust Grahrk, but he has helped me out of a few situations in the past. For all his sneaky and conniving ways…"
"And this is why you told him I was your niece? So that if I was in trouble, he might help me too?"
Master Quin smiled down at her. "You're learning." He bent down and picked up an old flimsi article from the Holonet. "Read that."
Kelreen took the article in hand but knew Master Quin didn't want her to actually read the article. He wanted her to read the images off the object. Master Quin had probably done it in the few brief seconds he'd held the flimsi before handing it to her. He was that good. Kelreen tried to focus on the piece of grimy flimsi, turned black by the polluted water that trickled down into the lower levels and the muck of thousands of beings. The key to psychometry wasn't about seeing. It was about feeling. Some Jedi could learn how to do it. They could feel the lingering Force presences. About one in a hundred Kiffar were born with this natural ability and thus it seemed to go hand-in-hand with Force sensitivity.
An image came to her mind of a young Rodian peeling the flimsi from the sole of his boot where it had stuck and tossing it away. Before that, a human child scavenged it out of the trash to wrap up some sort of greasy scrap of food for later. After that the images began to turn blurry and fleeting. A Twi'lek female, somebody's hand, another few boots with no leg attached. When Kelreen pressed for the first reader of the article, she saw nothing at all.
"Well?" Master Quin asked as Kelreen seemed to study the flimsi.
"A Rodian got it stuck to his boot, and there is a child scavenger before him."
"What else?"
Kelreen listed off all the brief glimpses she'd gotten, shaking her head. "The images were blurred and incoherent after the first two."
Master Quin nodded though Kelreen could tell he was disappointed in her lack of progress. He didn't show it in his expression, but Kelreen's old master had been a Lorrdian. She knew how to read body language. She'd known Master Quin long enough to read him.
"This came from a Senator's office," Master Quin said, his fingertip just barely brushing over the torn edge of the flimsi. "It was torn out. Someone didn't like the article. I'd say it was the Senator from Caramm V, or should I say the former senator." The headline read "Ado Eemon found guilty of War Crimes". It was a common headline nowadays. Anyone with any power in the Confederacy was being brought up on war crimes. The Courts were working overtime, sessions taking longer than Senate meetings.
Of course, Ado Eemon was guilty. Kelreen had been following the case for her politics class. The post-Clone Wars Republic was a very active and interesting situation, from a political student's perspective. "Senator Meldo Selsyn. He was probably in office because he was one of Eemon's allies. In all likelihood he will be brought up on charges soon as well." Kelreen tossed the paper into a bin as they exited the turbolift back to the Temple level. Just before they stepped back into the Temple precinct, Master Quin paused. Kelreen drew to a stop beside him.
"Master Quin?"
"How are you, Kelreen?"
Kelreen frowned. She'd been alright when she was talking to Villie and spending time with Master Quin. Her mind was elsewhere and that was good for her. Kelreen likened it to the focus she felt when she smashed droids. But she wasn't good. Better than before. Master Quin made sure she ate three meals a day and kept her active. But her nights were much the same and the moment she was left alone the black hole started to pull at her. She was terrified of being alone. What if one time the black hole won and it swallowed her whole, leaving nothing behind?
Master Quin took her silence as his answer. His only reaction was the slight wrinkle in his forehead and a worried glint in his dark eyes. It made her feel guilty. Master Quin was trying, he truly was. And Kelreen was grateful for it. She recognized that if she'd continued on as she had been, she would have likely starved to death. She tried to do more. She tried to meditate again but every time she went back to that night. She should have sensed the Morgukai coming behind her. She would've sensed it, dodged out of the way, and delivered a low slash, right to the bottom of the chest plate. The Morgukai would have been injured enough to stop fighting and she would've gone on protecting Master T'Bolton. And then he'd be here right now, seeing what he'd been fighting for.
"Kelreen?"
Her brown eyes left the distant building she had been caught on and flickered back up to Master Quin.
"I am doing better, Quin," she replied. "It wasn't a lie, she told herself. Not a complete one. She was gaining weight again. She wasn't breaking the Code to give Master Quin what he was working for, what he hoped for.
Master Quin nodded once. "Good." And like that the suspended moment was broken and they continued on to the Jedi Temple. 'It wasn't a lie,' Kelreen told herself. But if that was so then why did she feel guilt deep in the pit of her stomach?
Masters Yoda, Mace, and Obi-Wan met in one of the Temple's most private rooms. It was Master Yoda's personal meditation chamber. Each had been there before, but this time it was different. The use was not to find inner balance or to discuss disturbing visions from the Force. The purpose could very well be considered treason.
"I've tracked the Sith lord to 500 Republica," Obi-Wan reported, his voice low as if even now he was worried about someone overhearing. "A series of scrambled comm. calls were made just before the kidnapping of the Chancellor and the attack on Coruscant. It was a code we've never encountered before. It's not a Republic encryption and it matches no known Separatist encryptions either."
"Have you been able to break it?" Mace asked.
"Unfortunately no. I have been hesitant to include anybody, including the Republic codebreakers and this is why." Obi-Wan presented a holomap image of the 500 Republica building. It was the apartment space of many Senators and leading politicians of the Republic. The security of the building was state-of-the-art and that didn't even take into consideration the personal security each of the senators and dignitaries would put into place additionally. The only reason Obi-Wan had a map of the building was because it was part of the Jedi archives from past protection details.
"The droids were unable to break the encryption to determine the recipients of the messages, but they were able to track the signal backwards, to here."
Mace and Yoda sat back, a wary look passing between them. The meditation chamber was silent as each council member pondered the implications of Obi-Wan's investigation.
Mace was the first to speak. "You realize that if this had come up during wartime, and we had acted on it, the Jedi Order could very much have been branded traitors."
"Hm, careful we must be still," Master Yoda said. "Remain Chancellor, Palpatine does."
"Is it possible whoever sent those messages is a mole? Someone close to the Chancellor?" Mace asked.
"Until we can get them decrypted, it is still possible. Unfortunately they have far surpassed my skills in such an area. I request that that task be given to Master Nu and her team."
"Granted," Mace said. "But this must be kept of the utmost secret. If what you have uncovered is true…"
"Allowed to escape the Sith master cannot be," Yoda said.
Obi-Wan nodded agreement. "I will continue my search with the greatest discretion."
Mace nodded. "Then I think we are finished here." He and Obi-Wan rose to leave.
"Master Obi-Wan, remain please."
Obi-Wan paused and Mace looked to Yoda with only a brief, silent question before he left, closing the door to the meditation chamber behind him. Obi-Wan took a seat again, folding his legs and waiting patiently for Yoda to speak.
"Anymore about Padawan Kelreen have you thought?"
Obi-Wan frowned. "I have, Master."
"And?"
"I still don't believe it is a good idea for me to take another padawan. Especially not with these new developments, and my previous track record," he added, thinking of a young man now living on Naboo.
"Hmpf," Yoda scoffed. "Similar words I have heard before. Not far from the tree the fruit falls."
Obi-Wan's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he realized who Yoda was comparing him to. And then he felt a brief stab of guilt. Qui-Gon had given him the chance. But that didn't change how much danger Obi-Wan was in, especially now that his suspicions were being validated. Dooku had told him that the Senate was being controlled by a Sith lord called "Darth Sidious". At first he had dismissed it as one of Dooku's many lies. But the Chancellor remained shrouded in darkness, even with the war finished. Palpatine's actions had made Obi-Wan feel uneasy even before the end of the war. That he persisted in holding onto the Grand Army of the Republic rather than allowing the clones to create lives of their own was more than just unnerving. Either Chancellor Palpatine was a puppet being controlled by someone very close to him, or the Chancellor was the Sith himself!
Such a conflicting and potentially dangerous situation was not the place for a padawan. Especially an already conflicted one.
"Master, the Sith Lord—"
"May be handled by others, if necessary it becomes."
Obi-Wan sighed heavily. Yoda had just effectively stripped away all his reasons not to take Kelreen as his padawan. His doubts about his abilities, gone with the words of his former master. His concerns about the precarious mission he was currently involved with passed off to another master if necessary. Mace could handle the investigation, if need be. Obi-Wan's investigation skills were a bit more subtle, but Mace would handle the situation with the appropriate caution and care. But the question still remained, why was Yoda pushing so hard? Obi-Wan was not the only Master who would do. There were others in the Order that could be found if pressed. What reason did Yoda have for insisting on Obi-Wan?
"What have you seen?" Obi-Wan asked. It was the only logical explanation. Yoda must've seen something Obi-Wan didn't in his own meditations. It was entirely possible; Yoda was so much stronger in the Unifying Force than Obi-Wan. But Yoda was also reluctant to tell others what he'd seen.
"Important she could one day be. When padawan you were, uncertain was your future."
Obi-Wan had been worried that Yoda would say something like that. The truth is, he'd felt the potential too as he meditated on Padawan Nayqus. But there was potential in every padawan. What about this one was so important?
"Yours the decision must be," Yoda said finally.