Padawan Neria Halai – Coruscant
Thoughts of her conversation with Kurik weighed heavy on the padawan's mind, the only respite from the nagging worries of the padawan being the sight of a downed Separatist ship still smoking in front of the Senate.
"What happened here?" Tank asked, voice subdued by the sight of the carnage.
"I sense...relief. Peace." Knight Durel looked down at Neria, eyes glimmering. "Do you feel it, Padawan?"
Neria stretched out, finding familiar echoes, familiar people. She felt it too, though. The overwhelming warmth and bliss of relief, the notable absence of fear that had been lifted away from the shoulders of those under its yoke.
But she felt tension as well, a constant buzz of undercurrent that had always lurked beneath the sun-bathed spires and incessant busy of the metropolis. It was more than the simple bustle of the city, some emotion she couldn't describe washing over her.
For all that the city appeared peaceful, she felt as if the city and the people in it were holding their breath, felt as though there was some storm gathering on the horizon that they were waiting for.
She didn't mention it to Durel, surprised that he hadn't been able to sense it. Perhaps he was simply too jubilant from the operation to note the strange feeling.
They landed on one of the temples pads, and they were greeted immediately by one of the Jedi, the padawan telling them that the council was waiting for them to report.
The temple was in full swing, even if the afternoon was starting to grow late. Children were still receiving training, instructors were still giving lessons, even the library managed to be filled near to the brim.
A lot of activity, to be sure. She wondered what had set all of them out of their rooms. Perhaps it had something to do with the relief she'd felt all across the city. Maybe they felt as if they could finally take a breath.
When they entered the circular room, the entirety of the council was gathered—Master Kenobi and Master Secura aside. Most were being projected in from somewhere else. Only Master Windu, Master Shaak-Ti, and Master Fisto remained in their seats.
"Good, you've come." Grandmaster Yoda sounded tired as he spoke, though she could say the same of his last few years. "A great victory, this was. Meant to be at the temple, I did, but come to Kashyyyk, the Separatists have."
"Yes, most of us are fighting, right now." Master Windu shook his head. "With luck, Kenobi will knock out the final arm of the Separatists for us. But if not, at least we know we've crushed the last of the Sith's underlings. Now we just need to find Dooku's master."
"Dooku has been killed?" Knight Durel asked.
"Yes, an attack on the Chancellor, there was," Yoda said. "Lucky our best were there, we were. Killed by Skywalker, Count Dooku has been. Hunting down Grievous, Kenobi is."
"Good," Durel answered, an approving look coming to his eyes. "He may not be our best fighter, but nobody's more clever than him."
"Not to mention that he's one of the few to survive the general alone in close quarters," Master Windu said.
Neria couldn't figure how. They had holos of the half-machine general, and Neria had once dared to fight it. She hadn't lasted more than a minute before being defeated. An enemy wielding two lightsabers was dangerous enough, but four was an impossibility to handle.
"What of our captives?" Durel asked them.
"I'll be tending to the ones we rescued immediately after this meeting," Master Shaak-Ti said. "You did well, everyone."
"Yes." Grandmaster Yoda nodded. "Yes. More resistance than expected, there was." His head turned to Neria. "You especially impressed, I hear."
Neria was glad to be acknowledged, the still-burning muscles a testament to exactly how difficult her fight had been. She quickly stuffed it down, reminding herself of the Code and exactly how many Jedi Masters were gathered around her.
"I just did my best, Master Yoda."
"Still, it's strange that we were unable to detect such a bastion of Dark Side strength." Master Fisto's eyes turned to Yoda, the dark orbs questioning. "They were no Sith Army of old, but we truly are blind, it seems, to not sense such a enclave of assassins."
"If...If I may, Master," Neria said, holding up a hand. When nobody stopped her, she continued. "The instructor and student didn't seem capable of utilizing the Force. The instructor seemed nearly as well-trained as the holograms of that Sith assassin we fight in the training room, but they never once called upon the Force. I actually left the instructor on a lower walkway, and he couldn't jump up to me."
"Interesting," Master Fisto said. "Trained in combat, but not in the Force. It's just like General Grievous."
"Meant to be apprentices, they are not," Yoda agreed. "Fought one before you have, Master Fisto. And you, Dreamer. Display use of the Force, did they?"
"Weakly, sir," Dreamer said. "It was in my report. I've seen even Padawan Halai pull off far more powerful feats than the assassin I fought on Bothawui."
"They must've learned on their own," Master Windu said, scrutinizing eyes peering over his tented fingertips. "And yet...Why these assassins? Why are we only seeing them now? Is it desperation, or the furthering of some grand plan?"
"Perhaps it's this incoming danger we sense," Master Shaak-Ti said. "Perhaps they're...adjacent to it. Part of it."
For a moment, Neria saw a strange look in Yoda's eye, a sad, almost longing gaze aimed at the Jedi Master. Not physical attraction or some wistful glance, but it was clear that there was something he wanted to say, something important, and he was keeping it to himself. None of the other Masters seemed to notice, a much more visual tell than anything the Force could reveal to them.
Then it was gone, and the old Jedi looked around the room.
"Read the reports, we have?" he asked, receiving nods in return. "Before we give our next orders, any questions, are there?"
"Dreamer, are you well?" Mace Windu asked.
As always, it surprised Neria that a Jedi Master so fearsome and intimidating never missed a detail. Despite his brusque nature, he always seemed to actually care about the Jedi and clones—under his command or not.
"Yes, General, sorry," the clone said. "Recurring headaches, I plan to be seen for them soon, sir."
"Be sure you do," the fierce Jedi Master answered. "Is there anything else requiring our attention?"
"Not that I'm aware of, Master Windu," Knight Durel said.
"Alright. We've gotten unconfirmed reports of some sort of cell lurking in the underworld here on Coruscant, their objective being an attack on the Jedi Temple. It wouldn't be the first time; we've had a bounty hunter sneak in here, and then there was Padawan..."
He trailed off, and there was a strange emotion that Neria could feel around the council. Regret, anger, resentment. All emotions that Jedi Masters shouldn't have been displaying so plainly as to let the padawan see it, but then, the war had stretched everyone's control.
At least, according to them, the war was near its end. With Master Kenobi hunting down General Grievous, that would be the end of it but for some unnamed third player.
"Immaterial, it is." Yoda's voice carried the slightest of reproach, and Master Windu looked away. "Investigate, you will. Captain Hekteros, require your connections, we will. Good pay, there will be."
"Always a sound I like to hear, Master Yoda," the smuggler captain said. "I've got a few people on Coruscant I can inquire with. Might not be able to pinpoint our people, but I can get us in the area."
"Good," Master Plo-Koon said in his modulated voice. "Very good. Deliver these people to local security forces, and we will be done with this."
"It'll be done, General," Tank said.
"Good, then you're dismissed."
Then the leader of the Jedi spoke, a noticeable weariness in his form and some sad emotion weighing down his gaze.
"Padawan," Grandmaster Yoda said. "Stay behind, you will. The rest of you, start investigating, you will. Have to do without the padawan, you must."
Neria stayed put, unsure what the council could ever want from her. Knight Durel paused next to her, surprise evident in his form, but then he nodded regardless. The group left the circular chamber, Kurik last with a final lingering look at her.
Then the doors closed, and the council eased into a much more comfortable atmosphere. Speaking to a padawan was far less conflicting than mission briefings and after-action reports.
"Padawan Halai, you did incredibly well, taking on the instructor as you did," Windu said.
"Yes, Masters," Neria said, uncertain. "What do you require of me?"
"Normally, Padawan, we'd continue our evaluations of you for at least another few months," the fearsome Jedi Master continued, staring down from his chair. "But you're a special exception. You already have the martial and combat skills to match a Jedi Knight, and you seem to be growing in leaps and bounds, where the Force is concerned. For that reason, we'd request that you take the trials."
Neria was agape by the time they'd finished, unsure what to say. She'd certainly expected that the boundless progress she'd made ever since the Battle of Geonosis would eventually elevate her to the ranks of the knights. Yet, she couldn't help but let curiosity overcome.
"It's...It's highly unusual, Master," she said.
"Unusual, it is," Yoda told her. "Yet needed, you are. Remain under Knight Durel's tutelage, you will."
"Then I'm effectively the same as where I started, Master?"
"No," Shaak-Ti said, shaking her head. "No, you will have access to more learning and knowledge that padawans are not privy to. You will also assume a greater command role in the war, hopefully as soon as we can find you a unit."
Thrust into battle once again, just like Knight Durel had been afraid of. Neria found herself strangely conflicted by the offered choice. She'd always wanted to be a Jedi Knight, but something about the offer felt wrong.
After so long being held back and being treated like she wasn't worthy of a good teacher, she was being pushed through. It felt like an honor she had yet to truly earn, even if she had the academic knowledge and combat skills of the average Jedi Knight.
Neria reminded herself that many among the knights' ranks didn't need to be peerless warriors on par with the masters. She saw plenty of Jedi Knights who were more scholar than fighter, more investigator than warrior, more sage than duelist. Neria could likely claim a better mastery of her weapon over many of the mild and less combat-oriented knights.
It was with that in mind that—despite her reservations—she made her decision.
"Yes, Master," she said. "I will take the trials."
"Tonight, it will be," Grandmaster Yoda said. "As soon as possible."
At that announcement all of the masters favored the grandmaster with a look as surprised as she'd given them when they'd told her she would soon be taking the trials.
Yet even if she was still a little sore, even if the last battle had left her feeling slightly depleted, she knew she still had plenty of fight left in her. It was what had gotten her so far when everyone else had figured her for lost.
"If I may, Master, I haven't eaten since the mission," she said. "I must get some food, and then I'll be ready for the trials."
"Eat, you should," he agreed. "Shaak-Ti, administer the trial, you will."
"Yes, Master Yoda," she said with a nod, violet eyes on Neria. "Thirty minutes, you will have. You know where to meet me for the trials." A small smile lit onto her lips. "You've spent some time eying the rooms by now."
"Very well," Master Windu said. "We will reconvene tomorrow."
One by one the Jedi faded from the room, until only the trio of masters were left. Figuring the meeting over, Neria left the council chambers.
The Twi'lek padawan would get some food in her and stretch out the muscles still tight from the last battle. Then, she'd be ready for her next battle.
On the off-chance it wasn't obvious by the who is/was not present at the meeting and what was discussed, we're closing in on the end of the Clone Wars part of this story. I might take a week or two afterwards to plan the second part out, then come on back.