The expanse of the council table seemed to widen between the two Jedi with every sentence spoken. Philosophies, the same and yet so different, spurred Sayonar into more treacherous waters than she'd intended to wade. Good intentions no longer sufficed and the Jedi Order was folding in upon itself, pulling the edges around a tight core of inflexible belief. Lip service and ancient dogma paralyzed them. Abstract thinking and fighting for an ideal would be the death of them all.
"Your indifference to the force-blind is no secret, Grand Master Satele, but the boy requires more time. He's come so far and learned so much in just a few weeks."
Twin glaciers held more warmth than Satele's eyes. "It is not a matter of indifference, but resources. We are woefully short on housing and supplies since the sacking of the Temple on Coruscant. There are younglings to consider and train, and soon your smuggler friend will require attention as well. Be mindful of your emotions, Master Sayonar."
Sayonar's gut tightened against the hypocrisy. Force-sensitive younglings but not an ounce of compassion for one broken force-blind boy. "He is bunking with us on the Segomo, and the only room he takes is the fresh air and sunshine and the grass beneath his feet. Tython surely has enough of those things to spare."
"And what becomes of him when you and Lord Scourge continue your search? Yes, I know about that."
"I never tried to hide it," said Sayonar. "My personal time is my own."
"There is no personal time for a Jedi."
"Really. Would Master Zho concur if he still lived?"
"Enough." Satele's voice sliced through the tension like a rapier. "You have two months to find the boy a suitable home, or he will be remanded to the orphanage on Coruscant. Do not force me to convene the council, Sayonar. They will not side with you on this."
Summarily dismissed, Sayonar rose from her chair and inclined her head. "Grand Master." She turned on her heel and walked from the room, the double doors clicked shut behind her.
Lord Scourge stood at the edge of the deserted balcony surveying the temple grounds. His long black cape rustled against the floor and devoured the grace of the sun within its inky folds. His hands tightened on the railing, his knuckles creating a landscape as red and craggy as the peaks of Korriban. Sayonar appeared beside him, and his darkness drank her anger, almost tasting the feverish delight on his tongue.
"I felt your presence from down the hall. I take it the meeting went as you expected but not as you'd hoped?"
She placed her hands on the railing, pinky touching his and his dark essence mourned when her anger died. A derisive snigger puffed through the flat line of her lips. "We try so hard to protect the whole of the Republic and forget the needs of the individual. Without the pieces, the entirety is lost. Protect the innocent until it becomes inconvenient. Don't love the individual for that leads to the dark side. The more I see, the more torn I become."
"Perhaps my presence and this constant questing for a cure are having undue influence. Maybe I should leave for a time and let you clear your thoughts."
Her palm settled across his knuckles, fingers disappearing between his and folding into a fist of red and white. "No. Avoidance is not my way. Sometimes I almost believe in the second line of the Sith code; through passion, I gain strength. Or perhaps Kaelin Mon was correct that balance is the only way. I am seeking answers, love."
She jutted her chin toward the retreating back of a man strolling into the tree line bordering the temple lawns. "Like him, the best decision is made when faced with the object of one's confusion."
"Then I will stay, Nulis. We will speak of the Jedi and the Sith codes and the code of the Gray. You will find your answers just as he will find his."
Skavak slipped between the trunks of the trees, leaving the manicured grass of the lawn behind to wade in knee deep shrubs, ferns, and stunted saplings. A faint trail of disturbed leaf litter and broken twigs marked the path he'd taken every day for nearly three weeks. The clean aroma of pine and the pungent odor of decaying vegetation hung in the cooling breeze that swept across his face. Dappled blotches of shadow traveled across the creamy white fabric of his shirt, a bird called in the distance, and the canopy above rustled with creatures going about their business.
He was being followed, of course, but whoever they were stayed back and out of sight. More at home in jungles of duracrete, smoke-filled cantinas and dowdy backroom gambling dens, the serenity here gnawed at him and yet he couldn't stay away. Something about this place made a man look deep inside and face truths the noise of the city drowned out. Introspection required a conscience. His had been beaten out of him when he was a kid, saving Ky had brought it back, and in his line of work, conscience was a luxury he could ill afford.
The stream came into view, water sparkling and gurgling on its way to nowhere, confined in its banks, set in motion and following the laws of gravity to whatever end. He sat in his favorite spot, rough, sun-heated stone spreading tendrils of warmth into his ass and hips, thighs and knees. Tiny fish swam against the current or struggled to stay in place. The story of his life.
He carried Scourge's words like drowning stones tied around his neck and each question drug him down just a little more. Did he love her? Damned if he knew. She'd used him, and he'd used her until it wasn't using any more. They'd gone from verbal combat to desperate, angry fucking to making love, but when the loving was done, and she lay beside him—damn. Everything fell into place, and it was the closest thing to home he'd ever known.
Could he change for a lifetime? There was the rub. He'd been a runner as long as he could remember, pickpocket to Ponzi schemes, gutter rat to rubbing elbows with Moffs. He'd lived on his wits and his looks, slept on rags and silks, drunk two credit rotgut and sipped champagne from the navel of a Republic senator's wife. Spice dealer and slaver, short-term transactions, short-term lovers, perpetual motion, content with his restless heart until he'd met her.
What the fuck was he doing? Guys like him don't get the happy ending. They don't get the girl. She'd choose the farm boy and all this hand wringing and soul searching wouldn't mean shit. She'd arrive on Tython in a few days, and he'd know what to do when he saw her face.
#
Ky sat on the edge of the blanket, hugging her knees to her chest and digging her toes in the sand. Skavak walked along the beach, pants rolled up, bare-chested, tall and lean with salt spray dancing on his sun-kissed shoulders. Corso lay on his stomach at her side, face buried in the crook of his arm, snoozing in the shade.
She was at peace and yet something was wrong, undefinable and nagging at the fringe of awareness. Murmurs and whispers coiled through the air, phantasmal words hung at the edge of comprehension and disappeared in the wind. Snatches of conversation caught and tossed aside. A vicious, heartless attempt at trickery using Corso's voice to lure her out, 'don't leave me, I love you,' or maybe she was finally going mad.
A strange haze hung over the landscape, and the borders of this world lay hidden in banks of fog that she could not dispel. They crept closer every day, obscuring boundaries that once had spread to infinity. This place was safety and love without consequence, worry or sorrow. Out there was pain and terror and the inability to fight past the torturous shattering of body and mind. No one was coming to save her. Better to stay and disappear in the fog than face the cruelty of never going home again.
#
Her hand lay in Corso's, the skin warm and pliant under his thumb that stroked back and forth. A little over a month had passed, and the Soledad made the jump to Tython leaving Coruscant behind. Two more days of travel to the Jedi world where healers, sages, and seers waited to break the walls of the prison inside her mind if they could be broken at all.
Doc checked and rechecked the tubes and wires attached to her arms, chest, and head. Machinery emitted the steady beep of her heartbeat and readouts flashed across the screens.
"I've done as much for her physically as I can." Doc stopped fussing with the IV in her arm and stepped back to scan the data scrolling down the monitor. "The rest is up to her."
"And?" Corso never lifted his gaze from her face.
"There are still questions I haven't found answers to. She should be suffering muscle atrophy by now, but those particles in her cells are maintaining her tensile and flexural strength. I had to rebreak and set her fingers and her foot, but the bones are mending. Her kidneys are back to full function, but the liver still shows sign of damage. Her drinking days are over, and she'll never have children, though I expect she's known for a while."
Corso brushed her cheek with the back of his knuckles. Dammit, Ky. Another reason she'd tried to force him from her life. As if that mattered. She was enough, she'd always been enough.
Doc shunted his gaze from Corso's face back to the monitors. "Sorry son, I thought you knew. Anyway, her body is riddled with these things especially along the neural pathways of her brain. Whether they were introduced by Tajno or had lain dormant and something he did activated them is anybody's guess. They are self-sustaining, bonded by agents I can't define and surrounded by a form of energy I've yet to identify. Right now, they're doing more good than harm, and I couldn't extract them even if I wanted to."
"Scourge might have some insight about that. She was in the clutches of the Emperor for two years when she was a young girl."
Doc pulled a chair over and sat down. "That figures, fucking bastard. I'm a man of science bound to the knowledge of the physical world, but all that metaphysical bullshit is beyond my scope of understanding. I can heal what I know, make an educated guess at the rest of it and the research could take decades."
"And where does that leave her?"
"Technically, I can keep her alive indefinitely with IV fluids and forced feedings, but afflictions of the mind are not my expertise. I can give the Jedi time to work their mumbo jumbo. However, if she doesn't come around, eventually you may have to make a choice. I hate to lay that at your feet but, there you have it."
Corso shut that door before it could open. "Don't ever say that again. She'll come back to me, no matter how long it takes."
Clearance received and instructions given, Akaavi proceeded to the landing bay where one of the medical staff waited with Scourge and Sayonar. Skavak stood off to the side, a dour expression plastered on his face, his arms folded across his chest.
The hover-stretcher appeared on the ramp followed by a procession of the ship's occupants, Doc, Corso, and the rest. Skavak craned his neck to glimpse her face, gaunt and pale, her hair lying in short, dark waves in stark contrast to her skin. Animosity arced through the air like an ion storm in low atmosphere when his eyes locked with Corso's. The moment passed, the procession passed, and he fell in at the end of the line.
A Mirialan stood at the entrance to the medical wing of the temple, a pale yellow Twi'lek at his side. Olive skinned, black-haired and kind eyes, he stepped forward as they approached.
"Who's he?" murmured Corso.
"Master Attros Finn," replied Sayonar. "He's had a great deal of experience with maladies of the mind."
She gave a slight bow to the Mirialan. "Master Finn. I'm gratified that you could leave your duties on Coruscant."
"I arrived a few days ago at the Grand Master's request to resolve a problem with a knight who'd been held in an imperial prison on Nar Shaddaa. This is my assistant Pharen."
"You were on Coruscant and didn't offer to help?" asked Corso.
"One thing at a time," said Doc. "Healing the body was the first priority."
"I'll take her from here." Finn nodded to Pharen who moved to push the hover-stretcher toward the door. "Master Sayonar, Lord Scourge and Doctor Kimble are welcome to attend." He addressed Corso. "You and the others must stay here. Emotional distractions may interfere with the process, and it will take some time."
"How long?" Skavak's voice rang out from the back of the crowd.
"A few days perhaps a week. Leave us to our work, we will do what we can."
Akaavi, Bowdaar, and Gus returned to the ship, Skavak disappeared, and Corso paced the hallway for five days, leaving only long enough to shower and eat or use the 'fresher. People came and went, no word from Doc, Scourge or Sayonar. His nerves lay in tight knots, fraying at the ends, and he told himself the little lies that made the waiting bearable.
The door slid open, and Scourge beckoned him inside without a word. Polished marble tile hallway, unused rooms or closed doors along the route and Ky's room situated near the end. Scourge entered, and Corso halted at the door, unable to move. Equipment buzzed and hummed and beeped, Finn and Doc stood by the bed, their solemn faces answered the question he'd yet to ask.
Finn blotted his lips together then spoke in a tone, so hushed Corso strained to hear. "I'm sorry, but we cannot reach her. She's either too frightened or simply cannot drop the walls, and we cannot breach them. We've encountered Sith alchemy before, but nothing like this."
Doc hung his head as if ashamed to admit there was nothing he could do. "There is a cluster of those constructs, for lack of a better word, in the cerebral cortex and neural pathways that shouldn't exist. The technology is so thoroughly integrated any attempt at deconstruction would kill her. She has to come out on her own if she ever comes out at all."
Scourge spoke next. "I explained to you about Project Creation and the spies that never broke and now I understand why. When she could no longer endure the torture, she ran the only way she knew how using the escape route the Emperor provided. She may never return. Perhaps the kindest act would be to let her go."
It was all too much to take in, and anguish flowed through Corso like lava through a narrow canyon. "Why does everyone keep saying that. I can't let go. We need more time. Thank you all, but I'd like to be alone with her now."
"Hey, babe." He sat beside the bed and gathered her hand in his. "Things don't look too good right now, but I won't give up and, dammit, don't you give up either. I didn't rescue you just to lose you. I'll think of something."
He sat for hours while sorrow and determination warred for his attention. He'd never been so scattered and yet so focused in his life. She was his to love and his to save, and the answer was there, he just needed time to find it.
The rest of the crew would be waiting for word. He kissed her lips and promised to be back soon. The man hidden behind a column went unnoticed as well as the man shadowing the man.
Skavak stepped into the lighted corridor and made his way toward the double doors.
"So, you intend to see her?" Scourge's voice snuck up on Skavak before his footsteps did.
"Shit!" Skavak's hand dropped to his side where his blaster should have been and whirled around. "You move awful damn quiet for a big man. Next time give a guy some warning, huh?"
"I am Sith. We don't give warnings, and you didn't answer my question."
Flustered that he'd reached for a weapon he didn't have, Skavak tucked his fingers into his pocket and stared the Sith in the eye. "I've had a lot of time to think about what you said, and yes, I intend to see her, if you catch my drift."
"Then I will ensure you are not disturbed."
Yeah, he had to see her face to muster up the courage to say what needed to be said. Skavak sidled up to the bed and meticulously scrutinized every line. Her jaw and chin, a little too square, the slightly crooked nose, the vertical scar on her upper lip and the stippled burn scars just in front of her left ear. Long lashes feathered an arch inside the mauve circles under her eyes, and a faint rosy blush colored her cheeks. Flawed and beautiful and imprinted on his mind forever. He smoothed her hair back from her forehead and leaned in.
"Hey tough girl, remember me? I'm the asshole who talked you into this mess, and also the asshole who came for you. I wish like hell I'd be one to save you, but, I'll leave that to a better man. I don't know how to love you, I just know that I do, but I'm not built for the long haul and that's why I have to go."
He dug a data crystal from his pocket and placed it in her palm folding her fingers to hold it secure. "I made a copy of the star charts. Figured you'd want to see all those new places. I'd love to be the one going with you. And Ky, use it to run if you need to, they'll never catch you. They wouldn't know how."
Angry voices drifted in from the hallway, but he wasn't done yet. He leaned over her face, closer this time. "I want to stay, honest I do, but there's no angle to work where either of us comes out ahead. Come back to him, grow old and gray and live well. I'm just sorry I'm not the one to see it through."
He closed his eyes as if that could block out the ending of them. "Damn, I hope we never meet again 'cause I don't think I could walk away from you a second time."
A long kiss, a final taste of her he could file away with all the other kisses. He'd like to believe she felt it too.
Time to run, toward trouble, from trouble, it was all familiar and all the same. Straight back and set jaw, he left the room and her and strolled into the hall.
"It's finished, Scourge. I'll be leaving now."
Corso surged forward. "What's finished? What the hell did you do?"
Scourge grabbed Corso's sleeve and blocked his path.
A smirk toyed with the corner of Skavak's mouth and his shoulders lifted in an indifferent shrug. "I said goodbye, farm boy. That should make you happy. I'll be leaving on the first freighter I can catch off this rock. But before I go, I've got a little word of advice. I've got eyes all over this galaxy so don't ever walk away from her again, 'cause I'll be there and you'll never get another chance."
Skavak eyed Scourge and Corso and brushed by the two men. "If you'll excuse me, I've got a whole lot of misbehaving to catch up on."