LIVING HISTORY
by ardavenport
= = = Part 14
The lift activated. The cup floating between the two Jedi dipped and almost hit the floor before Obi-Wan caught it.
"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon chided, his eyes closed, his focus on the two plates and three pieces of fruit he held floating above them, supported only by the Force. Obi-Wan exhaled carefully; his cup drifted upward to join the bowl and root floating before him.
Still in the mediation, Qui-Gon opened his eyes half-way. Custodian Tykon and Sebo emerged from the floor. They stepped off, warily eyeing their Jedi guests seated on cushions on the floor, morning sunlight shining in through the windows. Seen through the Force, their living bodies seemed to have an extra dimension that touched everything around them. The same beautiful, vibrant shimmer held the ordinary objects up between him and his apprentice. Closing his eyes again, Qui-Gon felt it glowing and extending out from himself to the fruit and plates and beyond.
Inhaling and exhaling, Qui-Gon signaled the end to their meditation. The shimmer receded, melting to the back of his perception again, taking with it the deeply serene sense that he could touch anything because it was all a part of him. Obi-Wan's exhale came out more like a long sigh, as both of them stood and flexed their bodies. On the floor, Qui-Gon's two plates were stacked, the fruit forming a neat triangle on the top one. Obi-Wan's cup and bowl and root lay in random places on the floor and he looked a little embarrassed about being sloppy.
Qui-Gon straightened and bowed to Custodian Tykon and Sebo.
"I am pleased to see you again." He inclined his head to Sebo, not mentioning their last meeting when she had fled from his questions.
"As am I, Qui-Gon," she answered, warily composed.
"Master Qui-Gon," Custodian Tykon clasped her hands before her very generous bosom. "I apologize for waiting so long to come to welcome you as a member of the Creative Committee for the History Play."
"That is quite all right, given my illness. And I expect my part in your Committee to be minimal. The Jedi do not wish to interfere."
"That is very kind of you to say, but we have been remiss in not including you sooner." Custodian Tykon's sigh reflected the disquiet inside her. "Unfortunately, this delay has stirred up the Director and he has made the completely un-called for and unwise choice to revise the Play. And we must meet to decide on what will be done." Her eyes shifted away from the Jedi to her fellow Venerate who gave her no support. Qui-Gon suspected that the Creative Committee had already informally met and that strong opinions had already been exchanged.
"The Committee is meeting now, Qui-Gon." Sebo's quiet voice announced and the Castle Custodian gave her an unhappy look. "We would be honored by your presence."
"Of course." He turned to Obi-Wan. "Carry on. Do not overtax yourself."
When he got his apprentice up that morning, he seemed almost completely recovered thanks to the preventative treatment the Healers had given him and he certainly had a healthy appetite when they sat down to eat. But as Qui-Gon had experienced, he was still vulnerable to lingering dizziness from the virus.
He bowed his head. "Yes, Master."
The lift could take three if they all stood together, their outer clothes touching in a stoic triad looking past each other until they reached the bottom. Tykon led the way down the winding stairs, down to the gallery overlooking the great hall. The Custodian led them through a doorway, down another corridor to another spiral stairway that took them below ground. Tykon ignored the closed door at the base of the stairs and went left to a blank stone wall.
"Qui-Gon," Sebo spoke from behind him and he turned to look down at her. But she just smiled in return. A whisper of sound and a shift in the air grazed the back of his hair and when he turned back, the stone wall had slid aside, leaving a dark portal for them to enter. With a glance toward her fellow Castle Venerate, Tykon went in first, then Qui-Gon with Sebo following.
"Master Qui-Gon." The stout Custodian faced him; the short, dimly lit stone corridor before them ended in a plain gray door. "For this meeting of the Creative Committee we must convene in the Hall of Mysteries, to address the changes in the History Play that Director Tykon is insisting upon. I do not question your place here or that you respect our customs, but it is my duty here to remind you of them now."
Behind him, he heard the whisper of the concealed door closing, sealing them in. He bowed to the Custodian.
"I come to serve, Custodian Tykon."
Nodding back, she turned and went to the door. She kept her body between him and what she did to open it. The plain barrier slid aside to admit them with a slight grinding sound of stone against stone. Again Tykon led, Sebo followed with Qui-Gon between them. As they descended, their footsteps the only sound on the ancient steps, the Jedi felt an increasing sense of the age of the place. The Hall of Mysteries was the most sacred place of any large building or structure of governance on Maarzim. That tradition had existed on this world for millennia, even before the time of Darth Yarr. Lights came on above as they advanced and went out as they passed leaving solid blackness behind them as if the ordinary world above had been erased.
As they reached the bottom of one last stairway, Qui-Gon heard quiet voices that hushed as he followed Tykon down a narrow corridor and turned.
The other members of the Creative Committee waited before a large double door. Temba, his light blue tunic almost gray in the low, yellow light, stood with them and met Custodian Tykon. They exchanged hushed comments, Tykon's white hair close to Temba's light brown. Qui-Gon's attention was drawn to the other members of the Creative Committee.
Wearing loose pants and tunic in historically compatible grays, quite unlike the close-fitting colorful clothes from the day before, Director Ebsi Tykon stood taller than all of them except Qui-Gon. Arms tensely folded over his chest, he watched the two Castle Custodians. Roobi Mwemas, the music Director watched Director Tykon with a similar expression. Qui-Gon had seen her the day before when he toured the Castle, but had not spoken to her. Wearing grayish green shirt and skirt with a pale sash tied about her middle, she was of medium height and built, middling in years with dark angular facial features and long curling blond hair with a tint of gray to it.
Next to her, standing together and also wearing plain, loose-fitting period clothes were the writer, Quembu Smetin, and the composer, Thwurn Aka, for the History Play. Qui-Gon had never met them; he only knew them from the holo briefing back at the Jedi Temple. Both were similarly sized men of late middle years, jowly-faced with wary eyes and both shorter than Mwemas. Smetin had a little more brownish gray hair and his body a little thinner. Aka had less hair, completely bald on top, and was paunchier. Qui-Gon gave them a neutral look; they flinched back together and whispered to each other.
Temba finally bowed to the senior Custodian and left, hurrying down the corridor to the stairs, darkness closing in behind him. Everyone turned their attention to the elder Tykon.
"Thank-you all for coming for this assembly. Normally we would have met in a Council chamber upstairs." She nodded toward Qui-Gon. "But the revisions to the History Play that Director Tykon has proposed require a more serious discussion.
Sebo continued. "Qui-Gon, as a Jedi you are a Venerate in your own right, but your are still an outsider. I must again remind you that the Hall of Mysteries is our most sacred ground and it must be respected.
"Of course." He bowed low to her and Sebo, and wondered what they were afraid he would do.
"We begin," Sebo spoke softly.
Together, the others turned their backs on the two women and Qui-Gon joined them. After the quiet sounds of the women's sandals on the stone floor and the rustle of fabric, a deep rumble followed. Stealing a glance, the Jedi saw that all the others kept their eyes fixed away from the sound, staring at the wall, carved with ancient scenes of people gathering, fighting, dancing, working.
"Come!" Tykon spoke, her voice very loud in the entryway.
Turning around, they all faced a large open door leading into a columned circular room, yellow-white artificial lights shining down from the ceiling and from recesses high on the walls. The floor was patterned in light and dark shades of smooth stone. With Sebo and Tykon standing sentry on either side, Qui-Gon watched the others enter, one by one, Mwemas, Director Tykon, Aka and then Smetin. They each fell to their knees between the two women and bowed their heads to the floor until the two touched their heads and gave their blessing. When it was his turn, Qui-Gon did the same and he felt their hands on his head where his long hair was tied back.
"Welcome and enter Venerate Jedi; it is time for you to learn the Mystery." Sebo spoke directly over him. When they were all inside, standing in a circle, all the others turned their backs to the door. Again, Qui-Gon followed their lead. After the slow grinding sound of the door closing, sealing them in, Sebo and Tykon joined their circle with Sebo signing for Qui-Gon to stand on her right; Custodian Tykon was on her left.
"Director Ebsi Tykon has requested some significant additions to the History Play that the whole Creative Committee must agree upon." Frowning, Custodian Tykon nodded her head to him.
The Director nodded back, then knelt and bowed low, hands on the stone floor in front of him, facing Sebo. "Noble Venerates, I am grateful that you have entrusted me and my fellow artists with the sacred task of bringing life to your Mystery. And I now beg for your permission to add new life to the work."
Qui-Gon's brows rose. Director Tykon spoke the formal words like a prayer. He was completely sincere, subservient to the Venerates.
Custodian Tykon scowled. "It is very late to make changes, now."
"Stand and speak here now, what you propose to do." Sebo spoke kindly and the Director stood, his arrogance reasserting itself.
"The Play needs shadow dances. Dark against light. Jedi against Sith." He looked directly at Qui-Gon as he said that. "For all the scenes where they are opposed. We can use our dancers for them. But for the climax, I want the Jedi to be part of it."
"This was discarded from your earlier draft. It was unbalanced. We don't have any Sith to match the Jedi. And the Jedi Council quite plainly said that they would not be active participants in the Play itself." Custodian Tykon answered."
"Oh, we know that."Quembu Smetin raised a hand as if to ask permission to speak, then he stepped forward without waiting for it. "But there is one way to do it. If it's just the climax, the Jedi could be paired with Venerate Sebo. It would be two Venerates paired off. And since it's the climax, it's not even really a fight, just a confrontation. It should work splendidly."
"It will be magnificent." The Director grinned triumphantly. "And Venerate Sebo has agreed to do it. All we need now is the Jedi." Again his glare landed on Qui-Gon.
"Sebo!" Custodian Tykon looked offended. Her fellow senior Venerate shrugged one shoulder.
"It feels right, Begu." She gazed back at the artists. "If I am to relinquish the Mystery, I should be part of the revelation." She lowered her eyes and looked up at Qui-Gon. "If Master Qui-Gon is willing."
He raised his brows, his gaze turning back to Director Tykon, impatiently waiting.
"Well? Well? Jedi Master Venerate Qui-Gon Jinn? We need you to be part of this. I already know you can make it look good."
"Thank-you for your confidence, Director," he answered. "But the Jedi Council was quite explicit in this agreement. The Jedi will officiate in return for the remains of Darth Yarr's holocron. No more." Qui-Gon folded his hands into the opposite sleeves of his robe. "I must decline."
The Director's eyes widened in surprise tinged with a little bit of fear. "You can't just say no! You don't know what you're saying no to!" He pointed at Sebo. "Show him the Mystery! That's what we're down here for."
"Director Tykon! You do NOT order us around! Certainly not here!" The sharpness of Custodian Tykon's rebuke seemed to take him by surprise. Smetin shrank back next to Aka while Mwemas glared at the Director.
He fell to his knees before Sebo, shockingly subservient again. "I beg forgiveness." He looked up, his eyes imploring. "But you must show him. He cannot refuse once he knows the Mystery. It is everything. I have vowed to put all of my energy, my life, all that I am into this. Show him. Please."
Sebo now looked a little worried and again turned back to him. "Qui-Gon, you have waved all your rights on the Creative Committee. But Director Tykon, Director Mwemas, Creators Smetin and Aka believe that revealing the Mystery to you will change your position on this. You do have a right to know."
"I do not see how. But I will listen," he answered politely. He had some discretion on how much he might participate, but had no intention of joining Tykon's troop of performers.
"Then observe, Master Jedi."
= = = End Part 14