LIVING HISTORY
by ardavenport
= = = Part 16
Qui-Gon sucked in air, the Force washing through him. Usually, it warmed his whole body, but this time it was cold after the blazing, consuming fire he had just been through. Recovering from his shock, he raised his hand. The Sith lightsaber rose up in the air to his eye level. Most of it was black, with a long black hand grip and a round pommel, black emitter with three long sharp prongs, red and silver recessed buttons on a silver and black body. It turned slowly under the cold light from above.
It was a lightsaber, cold and emotionless as a blaster or power cell. Looking over Sebo's head, he extended his other hand.
Custodian Tykon gasped as all of the objects on her tray lifted into the air. Qui-Gon brought them to him; floating with the lightsaber, a pair of black gauntlets, a length of thick black cord with hooks on the ends, a small control box, corroded at the edges, Darth Yarr's mask, a heavy black metal belt, three dark red crystals, one of them cracked, metal and transparent plates and shards, and the unbroken holocron, a cube shape a little bigger than his hand, dark and dead in the center.
"What is this?" Qui-Gon's eyes remained fixed on the holocron drifting in the middle of the Sith debris.
"They are the sacred artifacts of this Castle!" Custodian Tykon had found her voice and her outrage again. "Of our History! How dare you defile them!"
Qui-Gon's index finger twitched and the tray whipped out of her hands, up and down, horizontal under the objects. They drifted down onto it. Tykon rushed forward, grabbing back the tray, and Qui-Gon let her have it. He glared down at her.
"Nothing was said of these things. The Jedi Order should have been told that you were hoarding Sith artifacts."
"I believe," Sebo climbed to her feet as she spoke, "that you will find in our agreement that we only specified them as 'Sith artifacts'. The Jedi Council assumed that we had only the holocron fragments. We saw no reason to discourage this assumption. And," she gestured toward the tray's contents. "It will all be yours, after the Play."
"A Sith holocron is an extremely dangerous device, even sealed in a vault like this. You should not have kept it." The holocron on the tray drew his eyes to it and he exhaled, almost pushing the Force away so he would not look too closely. Dull gold metalloid sealed it's edges. Etchings of squares and wavy lines scored the faces with the glints of embedded fine silver wires. Like lightsabers, all holocrons were unique depending on the design and imprints of their makers. Qui-Gon averted his eyes.
Sebo's brows lowered to a glare. "It has been in our care for eight-thousand years without mishap. This holocron died when Nirid renounced herself as Darth Yarr. And when she renounced the Force."
Qui-Gon shook his head. "That is not possible."
"Are you so learned in Sith that - - -"
"I don't care!" Director Tykon stepped up to them, surprising Sebo and the Custodian into backing away from him. Qui-Gon turned his head to face the angry man. "You saw the Mystery. You have to be opposite Sebo in the last shadow dance, when Nirid renounces the Sith and she puts her lightsaber aside! It will be perfect!" He shook his fist in his excitement.
"No. I will not."
The intensity in Tykon's brown eyes wavered, not taking in the answer. Qui-Gon turned to Sebo who only looked slightly sad to hear it. And now that he knew that she devoted her life to commemorate a Sith, she seemed much smaller to him. She had to be extraordinarily deluded about the true nature of the Sith. "I will not perform in your History Play. Our agreement is that I and my Padawan assist in the preparations and attend as guests of honor, which we shall do. After that we will take these artifacts and - - -"
"No!" Tykon put himself between Qui-Gon and Sebo. "You have to do it! You can't refuse. You - - -."
"No he doesn't!" Roobi Mweemas suddenly had a good grip on Director Tykon's hair and ruthlessly dragged him away, pulling his head backward and down to her eye level. "You made your request, on sacred ground. And he said, 'NO'. That's it." Then she grinned and put her face up to his. "And we are keeping the shadow dances without him. As we agreed?"
"But, aaah!"
Mwemas twisted Tykon's hair and snarled back, enunciating every word, "As. We. Agreed."
Eyes squeezed shut in pain, he nodded. "As we agreed!"
She released him, pushing him away from the Venerates and he stumbled before regaining his balance, hand on his abused hair.
Sebo looked up at Qui-Gon, her expression mild. "I must confess that I am disappointed. It is a great honor for a Venerate to participate in a History Play."
Qui-Gon shook his head. "I cannot. The story you told me is impossible. A Sith would never renounce her power. It has never happened - - -"
"Master Qui-Gon!" Custodian Tykon's shout surprised him.
"You may hold whatever misguided Jedi beliefs you wish, but you will not speak sacrilege. Especially not here!" She walked right up to him, the contents of the tray she held rattling with every step; the top of her white head coming only half-way up his chest.
He opened his mouth, but remembered to step back and bow low to her before speaking. "My apologies, Custodian Tykon. I meant no offense."
Still cross, she continued to glare at him. Sebo bowed her head. Director Tykon hunched his shoulders while Mwemas, arms folded over her chest looked ready to attack if he moved. Smetin and Aka stood shoulder to shoulder, eyes wide and fixed on the head Custodian. Little noises became loud in the prolonged silence. Feet shifting on the floor, a rustle of clothes, Custodian Tykon's breathing.
She gave out a final huff. "I am disappointed that I needed to warn you about such an offense, Master Qui-Gon Jinn. And I expect you will not need another. Director Tykon," she addressed him without taking her eyes off Qui-Gon. "You have your answer. Your proposed changes will not include Master Qui-Gon's participation." She turned her head to her fellow Venerate, her tone softening. "Sebo, will you still participate in this?"
She nodded. "Yes, I shall, if I am still needed. It still feels right."
Tykon sighed; she turned around to the others, the tray of Sith artifacts still held under her chest. "Does the Creative Committee still wish to make the changes and allow Director Tykon to make them?"
"Aye." "Aye." "Aye." "Aye." They answered with conviction and a poisonous glare from Director Tykon aimed at the Jedi.
"Master Qui-Gon?"
He nodded to the side. "I give my vote to Director Tykon." The Director's glare intensified.
Sebo smiled. "Aye."
Custodian Tykon sighed. "I still vote no. But the changes will be made. We will finish here now." She and Sebo went to a blank wall. The artists turned there backs to them. Qui-Gon turned his back to all of them. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind. He heard the sounds of stone moving on stone. The two women glowed with life, harmonious with their surroundings. But the artifacts that they sealed back into the hidden vault, all of them, were as plain and ordinary as stones.
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Snip. Snip. Snip.
Obi-Wan heard plants rustling; leaves fluttered.
Snip. Snip. Snip.
Thunk.
His eyes snapped open. He sat up, the coverings of the sleeping platform falling away from him. It was full midday. The sunlight came in from the skylights, making bright circles of light on the pale floor. Looking around, he spotted the outline of someone on the veranda through the semi-tranparent white curtains over the window-walls. Sebo, trimming the plants.
Pushing away the soft white coverings, he swung his legs over to the side and slowly rose, standing on the floor in his bare feet. His hands out, he checked his balance, but he felt nothing amiss. No dizziness. His eyes went to the open area of floor where he had been practicing lightsaber forms. And the long black gash that marred the pale wood.
He should have dropped it. He had been trained since he was a youngling to always drop his lightsaber if he felt any hint of a misstep, and that the Force itself would guide his hand to let go and let it extinguish. A lightaber undirected was as much a danger to the user as it was to any foe. But the sudden dizzy spell had so shocked him that he clutched the weapon tightly until the damage was done. It now rested on a side table with his belt, obi and tabbards. He had lain down to rest, but he had not intended to sleep the whole morning. Outside, Sebo moved away to tend more plants. But the rest of the apartment was empty. If she was back, where was Qui-Gon?
He went to the fresher to pee and wash his hands and face. After that, he dressed and made himself presentable. Putting his robe on, he slid a door aside onto the veranda.
It was warm and pleasant, the air scented with green leaves, flowers, fruits and healthy damp soil. Obi-Wan walked around the curved walkway between the potted plants and raised boxes and waited for Sebo to turn and acknowledge him with a smile and nod. He bowed low.
"My apologies for damaging your home. I was careless. I have no excuse."
Sebo continued to smile, clearly unconcerned. "The floor? You did that with your light sword?" She shrugged. "It can be fixed. There was no permanent damage. You did not injure yourself?"
He shook his head. "No. But my carelessness is inexcusable."
"Will Master Qui-Gon be angry with you?"
Surprised by the question, Obi-Wan shook his head. "No. A Jedi Master does not get angry with an apprentice. That would only teach the Dark Side. But, he will be disappointed in me."
"Aaaah." She nodded and turned back to a bush and resumed plucking small dark, multi-lobed berries and putting them into a small wicker basket. "I see. Only a Sith Master would use their anger to teach an apprentice."
Obi-Wan did not know what to say. He supposed that was true, but why would she comment about Sith?
"Has the Creative Committee adjourned?"
"For today." She reached into the bush to retrieve a last few ripe berries in the back. "Master Qui-Gon is consulting with the Castle Custodians; he wishes some special arrangements for the transport of Darth Yarr's artifacts."
"What arrangements?"
Sebo put the little basket into a larger one containing greens and fruits and roots that she had already picked from the garden. "I did not ask. You will have to ask him."
They both turned at the soft hum of the lift, distinctive from the natural sounds of plants and wind outside. Obi-Wan went back inside and took a position, arms folded into the sleeves of his robe, facing Qui-Gon as he emerged from the floor. His Master's eyes went to the black gash on the floor as he stepped away from the pillars around the lift. Obi-Wan went to his knees and bowed his head low, his braid touching the floor, and back up, still on his knees before speaking.
"I have failed to follow your teachings, my Master." Carelessnes with a lightsaber required a formal apology and accounting. He looked up at his Master's face.
"I see." Qui-Gon folded his arms into the sleeves of his dark brown robe. "What happened?"
Obi-Wan continued looking up at him as he spoke. "I was practicing lunging forms, and I became suddenly dizzy. I did not drop my lightsaber as I fell."
"The damage can be repaired. I will no longer live here after the Mystery is revealed in the Play."
Sebo's quiet voice came from behind, but Obi-Wan kept his eyes forward as she continued.
"This place will be modified to allow for the Castle tours. It will be very popular for a long time. I will become a scholar Venerate, either here or at a university. It will be my choice of where. It is considered a promotion."
"Indeed." Qui-Gon seemed to consider this. "But that is no concern of ours." There was a long pause. "You are finished with the garden for today?"
Sebo walked around Obi-Wan, her basket of produce in her arms. Her eyes shifted back and forth between Master and apprentice, the dismissal in Qui-Gon's tone clear.
"I am." She suddenly shoved the basket at Qui-Gon and his arms automatically came up to take it. She went to the lift and left, her eyes on Qui-Gon the whole way down. When she was gone Qui-Gon turned back to his Padawan.
"Obi-Wan," he began before looking down at the basket of food. He went to the food prep area and put it on the table there. He shrugged off his robe, put it aside and then started loosening his belt.
"We will train," he stated. "Without lightsabers. I believe some exercise will sharpen your mindfulness." Putting aside his belt and lightsaber he unwound his obi. Obi-Wan joined him at the table and began to stripping down to bare chest as well.
"Sebo said that you were making special arrangements for the transport of the remains of the Sith holocron."
"Yes. I was. We will transport the artifacts in a sealed container."
Obi-Wan put his tunic on the pile on the table. "Will I be able to see it before it is sealed?"
Qui-Gon stripped his undertunic off his broad shoulders. "No. And we will not speak of this again, Obi-Wan." The undertunic went on the pile. Obi-Wan opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He bowed his head.
"Yes, Master."
= = = End Part 16