Chapter 14

"I'm sorry," Mace Windu said, putting his hand up to stop any more argument. "We have to take him in for questioning. We have two people dead: a Rodian who will never be able to walk again, and a report of a stolen speeder, conveniently parked below."

Rayna's face was one of shock as two Jedi Knights took Kyn into custody atop the church spire.

"If you wish it, we can take your daughter to the medical ward with Knight Pel and get her cleaned up." Mace offered.

"I…" Rayna stammered. "I suppose… yes."

"Very well," Mace motioned to another Jedi, this one younger than the ones who had led Kyn away in binders.

Kyra cried out for her mother but Rayna assured her she wasn't in trouble. The Jedi nudged Kyra alongside Zafii's medical capsule.

It was then that Master Tine arrived on the scene. He cautiously walked up to Mace Windu and Rayna.

"I came as soon as I heard word," the blue Twi'lek said.

"You were the first to report Knight Pel missing from her private medical quarters?" Mace asked.

Tine nodded, "Indeed. I was bringing her some lunch and noticed she was gone. I don't know how she could walk let alone make it all the way here."

"According to initial reports from the boy and the girl, she did a lot more than that."

"How so?"

"The girl," Mace began.

"Kyra!"

"Yes… Kyra was kidnapped from her school about twenty kilometers from here. We have Jedi on the scene gathering information but there is no doubt a kidnapping took place. Apparently, they lured the… Kyn here for some reason." Mace explained.

"A ransom," Rayna reminded him.

"Yes, that's what they said. We now have two dead and another gravely injured and we have recovered a stolen speeder that was reported to have been taken just outside of the school." Mace finished.

Master Tine rubbed his chin in deep thought. He remembered the Fuller family and had a glimpse of both Kyra and Kyn as they were escorted away.

"Do you have a theory on all of this, Master Tine?" Mace asked. "I know you have been pondering over your former padawan's illness for several days now."

Tine shook his head, he had nothing to offer. He needed to talk to Zafii first and from the looks of her; he didn't know when that would be possible. Never before had his padawan ever shown any signs of illness but over the last year she had passed out at least three times.

"Mrs. Fuller, "Mace began. "You are welcome to accompany me to the Jedi Temple were you can wait on your daughter to be released from our care."

"What about Kyn?"

"There are no charges yet. We need him to answer questions but yes, he is in the custody of the Jedi for now. If everything matches up with the other reports we are hearing, it's possible he could go home tonight."

"Possible?" Rayna gasped.

"I'm sorry I can say no more until the Jedi Council has all of the information. Please, come with me."

Kyn sat in a room private room within the Jedi Temple. He thought it looked like a conference room and assumed that the Jedi must not do many investigations within the Jedi Temple itself. The temperature was comfortable and the room was nicely furnished. It would have been more comfortable had Kyn not had his wrists bound.

Two Jedi had been asking him the same questions over and over, obviously trying to see if his story ever swayed or changed. He had admitted to gambling for the past year with Salue as his counterpart and that he had stolen the speeder from the civilian.

- Show quoted text -

"What about the large man with the blaster hole in his head?" One of the Jedi asked him.

"Yeah I shot him but what was I supposed to do? It was self defense. The guy has to have a rap sheet as big as Coruscant." Kyn said defensively.

"What about the Rodian then?"

"I can honestly say, in that situation, that the Rodian shot first."

"And the woman we found splattered all over the street?" The second Jedi in the room asked.

Kyn shrugged, "You'll have to ask your Jedi Knight how she pulled that one off. She was firing at me and almost killed my sister. I'm not proud to admit it but there was nothing I could do but watch. Luckily Zafii saved the day."

The two Jedi looked at each other with grave looks upon their face. They stood up and thanked Kyn for his time and they walked out of the room, leaving Kyn alone. Mace Windu was outside of the conference room waiting on the report.

"He claims it was self defense."

Mace looked at the blaster door as if he could see through it to look at Kyn.

"Do you believe him?"

The two Jedi looked at each other and nodded, "Yes Master, we do. We could not detect a lie, either through the Force or by our interrogation techniques."

Mace sighed heavily and punched in a code to open the blaster door. It shut behind him and the Jedi Master approached Kyn. With a flick of his wrist, Mace had loosened the binders on Kyn.

"You are free to go," Master Windu stated. "All the reports match up and the civilian, after being told what happened, has decided not to press charges for the theft of his speeder."

Kyn rubbed his wrists and stood up, "Can I go see Zafii then?"

Mace held out his hand and stopped Kyn from walking past him.

"I would suggest you take greater care. I can sense your attachment towards Knight Pel."

"Luckily for me I'm not a Jedi. I can be attached to things." Kyn reminded him.

"While that may be, I would think you would care for her well being. She is very sick and it's obvious she has some sort of bond with you. Whether it is by accident or by her own doing, there seems to be a connection between the two of you."

Kyn squinted in confusion as he looked at the Jedi Master.

"Are you saying that when I'm in trouble, she senses it? That's why she always seems to be there?" Kyn asked.

"I think you have figured that much out for yourself. No one yet knows the whole truth to this situation, not even Knight Pel herself. At least I would hope that she wouldn't keep such things from the Council. Regardless of why or how, she has always been there for you. That's why I'm cautioning you to be more vigilant if you care about her well being." Mace explained.

Kyn did care for her well being and Mace had to know this. Otherwise they wouldn't be having this conversation. There was no use in arguing with an esteemed member of the Jedi Council however and Kyn knew he was lucky to get off with no charges.

"Your mother and sister are with Master Tine now in the medical ward. You can go join then now, young Fuller." Mace instructed.

Kyn nodded and walked out of the room, heading towards the medical ward of the Jedi Temple.

"Remember what I said," Mace called out, as Kyn walked away.

Rayna hugged her son tightly as he joined them in the corridor outside of the main entrance of the medical ward. Tyon then uncharacteristically gave his son a hug and then Kyra joined in.

"You're all patched up." Kyn noted to Kyra.

"These Jedi really are amazing," Tyon noted. "I don't want you to think we aren't mad at you, Kyn. We truly are but this isn't the time or place for that. Mostly I think what I'm saying is, we are glad you and Kyra are alright."

"Thanks," Kyn smiled.

The four of them sat down to wait. They continued to wait for some time. The family minus one son sat quietly, not really knowing how to conduct themselves as several Jedi walked past them, both behind and in front.

They were in a rather large open area of the Temple, so everyone who passed by could easily see them and they stuck out like a sore thumb. Eventually Master Tine and a Jedi Healer named Braca walked towards them.

"What's wrong with her?" Kyra blurted.

"Don't be rude, Kyra." Rayna said, reining her in.

Master Tine smiled, "It's quite alright. That's exactly what I said to my friend Braca here."

"Several times in fact," Braca, whom was a green Twi'lek female noted with a smile. "It seems that Knight Pel is has suffered several stroke-like attacks, multiple times over the past year or so."

"A Stroke? She's a little young for something like that isn't she?" Tyon asked, wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulder.

"Stroke-like," Braca corrected him. "I'm sorry if I am vague but it is only because I have never seen anything quite like this before. It seems as though it is actually the Force that is triggering these attacks on her brain."

"It makes sense," Kyn said, thinking back. "She was really amazing that day on Ennth, remember? Then again in the cantina a few nights ago and then today."

"Kyn," Master Tine spoke up. "I gather that you know a little bit about Jedi."

"I've done some independent studying in the past." Kyn nodded.

"The reason I'm asking is because you might be aware of what Jedi are normally capable of. Of course every Jedi is different as far as how connected we are with the Force and how well we can use it. Some Jedi, such as Master Yoda are extremely gifted and we have scientific evidence to why that is. That fact of the matter is that Zafii was never seen as a particularly powerful student. Gifted, yes but everyone including her always knew that her potential to control the Force was limited." Tine explained.

"I see," Kyn said with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"I saw what happened on Ennth, I was actually helping her as best I could. I know what she did that day was amazing and far beyond anything I could ever expect from any single Jedi. However I did not see the other two occurrences. Were they just as amazing as her display that day on Ennth?"

Kyn nodded, "To a lesser scale… just as impressive though. I thought Kyra was dead. I felt her die, the grieving for her had already begun in my heart. I saw the blaster bolts hurling towards her and nothing was there to stop them. Salue was nearly at point blank range…"

Everyone held their breath at Kyn's words, waiting for him to finish.

"The bolts then arced in all different directions, almost as if they were shot at each other and then they disintegrated." Kyn finished.

Tine looked at Braca and the Healer could only shrug.

"I have no more explanation for you than I did a moment ago. You guessed this much Master Tine but now we have confirmed it. I would bet anything that it is the Force, at least her using it in high volumes that is causing whatever these… strokes are."

"Can we see her?" Kyra asked, her little hands covering her mouth in horror.

Tine nodded, "Only for a moment though. She is still very groggy."

The Fuller family began to walk towards her private room but Tine asked Kyn to stay behind a moment.

"I'd like to speak to you alone."

Braca took this hint and she escorted the three members of the Fuller family into the room. Kyn rubbed the back of his neck, trying to calm his nerves. These private talks with Jedi Masters were beginning to wear on him.

"I've already spoke with Zafii briefly about this just before we came out to brief your family. I think it only fair to explain my theory to you as well as you are very much a part of it."

Kyn nodded, urging the Jedi on.

"There is an unexplained bond between the two of you; you and Zafii that is." Tine hesitated before going on. "Sometimes you see it with two Force users; it can be so strong sometimes in fact that they can read each other's thoughts from far distances… even help the other out in times of need by sending out Force waves. I must admit, I'm a little confused at how this could have happened between the two of you."

"Master Windu mentioned something about that. He said he thought Zafii could tell when I was in trouble." Kyn added.

"While the question of 'why' is intriguing, no doubt I'm not sure that it is entirely important at this point. Even more mysterious is how. I have not run any blood tests on you obviously but I'd be willing to bet my knighthood that you are not the least bit Force sensitive." Tine said.

Kyn blushed, he almost felt like this was an insult.

"Obviously only a small majority of beings are Force sensitive when speaking of the entire galaxy. So it's nothing to be ashamed of. I just wonder how in such a short time that Zafii has developed this bond to you. There is only one other conclusion I can draw. I don't know you too well but I would never think it of Zafii."

"What are you getting at, Master Tine?" Kyn asked.

Tine smiled and hesitated once more, "You and Zafii are not romantically involved are you?"

Kyn was thrown back by this line of questioning. Of all the things he expected to be asked today, this was the last thing.

"Believe me, Master Tine. As much as I would like it, I know she is not allowed to do that sort of thing. Master Windu accused me of being attached to her. I don't know how that can be true as I got on pretty well the last year without seeing her. All that aside, I know she doesn't feel that way about me… No matter how I feel." Kyn explained.

Tine nodded, "No need to be defensive. It was only a question and I had to ask. Zafii also denied being romantically linked to you and I would know if my former padawan was lying to me."

"How would you know?" Kyn asked, curiously.

"It's not so much knowing when she is lying but just knowing that she never lies, at least not about herself or her feelings."

Kyn had to admit to himself, he was a little disappointed. He knew as well as Zafii did that there had never been anything romantic about their get-together's even though he would have liked that. Though the way Master Tine explained it, it felt as though Zafii had no interest of it ever occurring either.

Master Tine then excused himself and pointed Kyn in the direction of Zafii's room. Kyn joined his family and saw Kyra and Zafii holding hands.

"Hello Kyn!" Zafii said, smiling.

Kyn was a little confused. He had been told she was groggy but she didn't seem to be. In fact she seemed cheerful. He quickly shook this feeling off, noting this was a good thing.

"How do you feel?" Kyn asked, now standing next to his sister at her bedside.

"A lot better now. Being around people always makes me feel better. I guess it's my lot in life." Zafii answered.

Rayna spoke up, "Kyra why don't we give Kyn and Zafii a few minutes? We've taken enough of her time."

Kyra seemed saddened by this but heeded her mother's words.

"We are going to grab refreshments," Tyon told Kyn. "We'll be back to get you and then were going straight home."

Kyn nodded and he watched his family leave and the blaster door shut behind them. He turned to face Zafii now, who was laying her head on her pillow instead of sitting up.

"Feeling okay?"

Zafii winced, "Dizzy spell."

"Want me to leave?" Kyn asked.

Zafii shook her head and then immediately regretted doing so as she grabbed it in pain.

"Just want to sit here quietly?"

Zafii closed her eyes and smiled but mindfully did not nod her acceptance to this suggestion.

They sat in silence and Kyn watched as she dozed off. He watched her sleep for several minutes before his parents came back for him.

Even with the bruises, scratches, and her fat lip… Kyn still thought she was beautiful.