LordDarthYoda - We'll see what Dooku thinks in this chapter... He's not someone who is easy to plan against, to be sure!
SpeechBubbleme - Yes, Tyra and Teff's relationship has evolved off screen. So much can go wrong with Dooku involved...so let's see what goes wrong ;).
A/N - I've got nothing.
As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.
Chapter 26: Second Chances
"You really should have had some of the wine," said Count Dooku. "It was an excellent vintage. I should know. I chose it."
Nara Nalto couldn't bring herself to force another false smile onto her face. She was tired. Tired of faking.
She and Sascha had enjoyed themselves reasonably well at the opening gala to the Tykon Youth Leadership Summit. After the requisite speeches and the very good dinner there had been time for dancing, which was one of her favourite pastimes. She and Sascha had danced together at first, drawing stares from the crowd, despite their homespun robes. Then she had danced with many of the other participants. Some were cute, some not so much, but the experience had been enjoyable. Flirting was fun. She wasn't always that good at it, and sometimes the boys weren't interested, but it always made her feel like she was a normal girl, just to dance and flirt like other girls her age.
Sascha had danced a little too, but as usual, he was more comfortable just chatting in a small group. Usually, there was at least one female admirer of Sascha in said group, but tonight it had seemed like no one was particularly interested in romancing Sascha Whitestar. She was sure Sascha hadn't minded. It was kind of crazy that no one wanted to flirt with Sascha, as he was pretty cute…and a Jedi. Usually that combination attracted people.
Nara shook her head, bringing her back to the present. "I don't really drink, Master Dooku," she said honestly. She didn't really like the feeling of drinking and being drunk. She had gotten drunk a couple of times, usually under her Master's quiet supervision. Nara had never felt like being drunk had enhanced her enjoyment, and given she didn't generally enjoy the taste alcoholic beverages, it was easy to abstain from them.
Sascha, who was sitting close beside her, smiled a bit. He'd had maybe a couple of ales at the event and seemed to be in a good mood, though he was certainly not drunk.
The two Padwans and the former Jedi Master were heading back to Dooku's compound after leaving the gala. She and Sascha had stayed out late, hoping that the ever present specter of Dooku would just…go away. Unfortunately, Dooku seemed to be enjoying having direct access to the best and brightest of the upcoming generation, continuing to hold court and lecture anyone who would listen to him. Which, Nara was discovering, was a lot of people.
"Does your Master not let you drink?" asked Dooku. "Your Masters are not here, you can help yourself, if you wanted."
Dooku appeared to be slightly drunk himself, but Nara wasn't sure if he actually was. Slightly inebriated or not, Dooku was still Dooku. "If I wanted to get drunk, I would. I felt like it would not set a good example though," she said.
Dooku smiled at Sascha, "See how she refutes my point and yet subtly wounds me at the same time. You have a sharp one there"
"She's very clever," said Sascha. "Though she doesn't like to think of herself as such."
"I see," said Dooku. "So you two have history together."
The Sascha Whitestar that was completely sober would have probably known to shut his mouth. Sascha Whitestar after two ales apparently did not.
"We've been through thick and thin together," he said, putting an arm around her. "I couldn't ask for a better friend or partner."
Sascha usually would have removed his arm pretty quickly from around her shoulder, but this time...he didn't. Nara usually would have slapped his arm off her shoulder...but for whatever reason...she didn't want to. She came to her senses quickly enough and shuffled away from him. "Sascha's a great friend," she said quietly.
Dooku observed them with the faintest outline of a smile on his face, "I see."
Nara quickly wanted to change the topic, so she did. "What are your plans for tomorrow, Master Dooku?"
Dooku waved a hand, "It's the first day of the Summit itself. I'll the youth have their fun tomorrow. There will be more time for me to attend later on in the week."
Nara almost allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief, "We appreciate you allowing us to stay in your home tonight, but I'm sure Sascha and I can find somewhere more appropriate to stay tomorrow."
"Ah," said Dooku, scratching at his beard, "Your Masters will not be happy to learn that you stayed at my home."
"No. I imagine they'll have a fit when they find out," she said.
"Well I will not stand in your way," said Dooku. "I would have thought that you would have been more interested in learning my side of the story."
"What story?" asked Sascha.
"The story of why I left the Jedi," said Dooku as a small bump in the road knocked the passengers into the air temporarily.
"It's not exactly like there was a news bulletin that went around the Jedi Temple," said Sascha. "We don't know a lot of the details. And to most, it didn't matter. Anyone who left the Jedi was not to be discussed."
"People talked," added Nara. "But never in public."
"The Jedi closed ranks as usual. I should have suspected as much," said Dooku, glancing out the closest window to him. "As much as we debate within the hallowed walls of the Jedi Temple, we never admit as much as soon as we leave them." Dooku looked back at the Padwans, "I don't miss much about the Jedi Order, but I do miss the Temple, the way the Force hummed in there, the concentration of many Force users all working together for one goal."
"You can always come back," said Sascha, quietly, earnestly. "The Jedi always forgive."
"Not one of 'the lost nineteen," Dooku smiled wryly, "I suppose they'll call it the Lost Twenty now. Much more of an even number. How does my bust look? Accurate, I hope?"
"It is," she said. Nara had walked past the row of the busts of the 'Lost Twenty' in the Archives many different times. Of course, since nineteen of the Jedi Masters who had voluntarily left the Jedi Order were deceased, it hadn't been particularly interesting to her.
"And yet I still haven't gotten around to my story, how rude of me," said Dooku.
Nara admitted that Dooku had a certain charisma to him, with his low, powerful voice that Nara had to just strain to hear and his way with words, she could imagine lesser beings falling under his sway pretty easily.
"I'd be interested to hear it," said Sascha. It would be nice if Sascha knew to shut his yap, thought Nara. The thought of punching Sascha was very appealing at the moment.
"Your Togruta friend doesn't seem to be as interested," mused Dooku.
"This Togruta has a name," Nara retorted, actually, legitimately annoyed.
Dooku bowed, "My apologies, I didn't intend to offend you, Miss Nalto."
Nara didn't buy that Dooku was actually contrite for a moment. Dooku was enjoying himself too much to actually feel bad for anything he said. Nara decided not to accept the offered apology, choosing to stay silent.
Sascha turned to her and nudged her shoulder lightly, obviously encouraging her to say something. But her mind was made up, gentle encouraging from Sascha or no.
"I suppose I should just get to the story," said Dooku wearily.
Nara couldn't wait for the story to be over.
"I have always been headstrong. I will admit that. I think Master Yoda was just about sick of me when he nominated me to take the trials."
"It's hard to imagine Master Yoda losing patience with anyone," said Sascha.
"You don't know him as well as I do," said Dooku. "Yoda is demanding of those he has expectations for. He's quite capable of playing the doddering old man, but he can be a task-master too when it suits him." Dooku shook his head, "I think that I might have been the reason that Yoda hasn't taken on another Padawan since me. I think I broke him, to a certain extent."
Nara held back a guffaw and let Dooku continue.
"By the end of my apprenticeship it was Temple scuttlebutt that I was going to be the next Grand Master of the Jedi Order. However, it was not a role that I thought of myself ever wanting." Dooku shrugged self-deprecatingly, "Of course, when you are in your early twenties, the thoughts of adventure are more exciting than sitting around in the Council Chambers."
"I can see how that is," said Sascha.
Dooku nodded at Sascha, "It was when I finally went on missions without Yoda by my side that I found the flaws of the Jedi Order laid bare."
"While I was with Master Yoda, there was always a degree of respect given, for Yoda's long service and his unquestioned wisdom. I also came to figure out that Yoda cherry-picked his missions, rarely choosing ones where there was true danger involved." Dooku hesitated, "In fairness, I believe that Yoda chose missions where his presence would have the most impact. There was no sense sending the Jedi Grand Master to a planet that would never listen to a Jedi, for instance."
"I can understand how that might be a difficult transition," said Sascha. "Many Knights say that their first few years as a Jedi Knight say that they are as tough as their first few years as a Padawan."
Nara shot Sascha a look. What the heck was he doing, playing sympathetic to Dooku? Maybe he was more drunk than she thought he was.
Dooku though, seemed caught up in his own story. "It was hard to go from being with one of the most revered beings in the galaxy to 'just another' Jedi. I know that will seem condescending, but that was the culture shock that I got. However, through my experiences I found that as Jedi, all we managed to do was patch things up temporarily before leaving, only to have things inevitably fall back into the way things were before we came. The tools that we are allowed to use, mediation, diplomacy, they can only go so far," said Dooku.
"What else would you have us do, Master Dooku? We can't go around ruling like lords," said Sascha.
"No," agreed Dooku. "But I feel that the Jedi Order is too detached from reality. And the reality is that the Republic, as fantastic a concept as it is, is failing. It is failing its people. It has fallen prey to corporations and lobbyists and influencing. It can no longer answer the problems that are presented to it. And the Jedi refuse to take action, they refuse to investigate corrupt Senators, they don't take proactive measures. If the Jedi want to save the Republic, they need to act."
"So that is why you left?" Nara asked, incredulous. This was basically the same spiel she had heard from graduate students to Jedi Knights.
"It is the failure of the Jedi Order's leadership to admit that nothing was wrong that is at the core of my complaint," said Dooku, harshly. "They live in their little bubble in the Temple and do not see the realities." But Dooku shrugged, "If that was the only thing that bothered me, I probably would have stayed with the Jedi Order. However it was the senseless loss of my former Padawan that really pushed me over the edge."
"The Jedi Order misses Qui-Gon Jinn," Sascha said saccharinely.
"I miss him more than most," said Dooku. Real emotion played over his face and Nara's maternal instincts wanted to kick in. She kicked those instincts back where they belonged.
"But death is unavoidable," said Dooku, regaining his composure. "And I would accept his death, had it not been one that could have been easily avoided. The Council didn't want to interfere in the Naboo crisis, even though many Jedi ached to be involved. They wanted the Senate to okay a mission, even though peacekeeping is our number one directive. The Jedi Order should have taken two hundred Jedi Knights and wiped the Trade Federation off the map. Instead it sent a Master and a Padawan, and only half the Jedi returned. Indefensible." Dooku at this point was almost quaking with rage.
"I realized that if the Jedi would not change, than I could no longer represent it. So I returned to my ancestral home here, and thought about how I might best help the galaxy."
Nara noticed that the speeder was slowing to a halt. That meant they must be at Dooku's home. Perfect timing too as Nara was just about sick of Count Dooku.
Fortunately for Nara, Count Dooku seemed to have had enough of dealing with them. As soon as he got inside, he activated a protocol droid and had the droid escort the Padawans down a long series of hallways until they came to a pair of rooms just off a branch of the main hallway. "These are your rooms," the silver protocol droid said in a robotic but melodious tone. "Master Dooku would prefer that you stay in this section of the estate until morning. Your rooms should have everything that you need. Should you need me, you can contact me anytime throughout the night. Any questions?"
"No, thank you," Nara said. She just wanted to be left alone with Sascha.
"Have a pleasant night," the protocol droid said before whirring its way back the way they had came.
The Jedi waited until the droid was out of earshot before going their separate rooms. Nara paused at her door, "Wait, Sascha...maybe we should sleep together in the same room."
Sascha, his eyes beginning to close with fatigue, turned and looked at her in confusion, "Huh?"
Nara didn't really want to get into her reasoning too much while they were in the hallway, "It's safer for us to be in the same room," she said simply.
Sascha seemed to be too tired to object, "Let's just make sure the bed is big enough."
The two Padawans entered the bedroom, only to start laughing.
The bed that was in their room was humongous. It probably could have fit a family of four Gammoreans.
"I'll take the left side, you take the right side," Sascha said dryly.
Nara smirked. That was such a Sascha joke. She really did like his sense of humor, it was probably the thing she missed most when they were separated.
The two Padawans got changed for bed (they basically slept in the same clothes that they walked around in, with few exceptions.) Nara slid into bed and got under the covers. This bed was nice. The sheets were warm and comfortable without being too hot. Considering that this was the guest room, she could only imagine how nice Dooku's actual room was.
"Must be nice, being rich," said Sascha.
"I'll let you know when I become rich," Nara said.
"Why did you want to sleep in the same room, Nara?"
"I told you, security. Dooku's well...Dooku."
"And it has nothing to do with wanting to cuddle," he said.
"Do you see us, cuddling, Sascha?" she said defensively.
"No...and look I'm not complaining. Let's just get a good night's sleep, Nara."
Sascha turned away from her. A few minutes later, Sascha's breathing slowed and Nara could tell that he was asleep. She glanced over to look at him. He looked so calm and peaceful as he laid there. His hair was slightly disheveled (well, more than usual), but for some reason Nara just wanted to stare at him for a couple of long moments. She sighed to herself, turned away and got comfortable. Hopefully she'd be able to sleep well in these unfamiliar surroundings.
Nara slept pretty well, all things concerning. Fortunately enough her life was not some lame comedy where she woke up being curled around Sascha Whitestar. Thank goodness. They just slept in the same bad, end of story.
The two Padawans were summoned by Dooku to have breakfast with him, at which point they would be free of him. Nara couldn't wait.
When they arrived at Dooku's (obviously beautiful) kitchen, Dooku was already seated and drinking what looked to be a very expensive (and nice smelling) caf. The Count himself was dressed in simple clothes that could have been taken from a mechanic on his day off. Dooku glanced up as the Padawans entered, "Good morning,"
"Good morning," she replied out of habit.
Dooku waved at the spread of fruits and other foods that were on another table, "I didn't know what you would want to have for breakfast, so I got a bit of everything."
"Everything is my favourite," said Nara dryly.
Dooku shot her a slightly wounded look, and Nara felt guilty about her glib remark. She wasn't going to apologize though.
"Thank you, Master Dooku," said Sascha. Who needed to apologize when you had Sascha around?
"What time do you need to leave today?" asked Dooku. "I'll make sure that my driver gets your there on time."
"We'd like to get there in two hours," replied Sascha.
"Then I will ensure that you are there."
Nara piled her plate high with fruits and then sat at the table, joining Sascha and Dooku. One last conversation with Dooku, thought Nara. Then we'll be out of here, never to return."
"How did you sleep?" asked Dooku mildly.
"We slept well," said Nara.
"It is always nice to sleep with someone that you love," Dooku said offhandedly.
Nara felt her...entire body warm up in embarrassment. Dooku knew that she and Sascha had slept in the same bed? Nara tried to open her mouth and find some sort of witty retort, but her mind was absolutely frozen. Beside her, Sascha's pale cheeks showed off a deep embarrassment as well. Obviously Dooku (or someone inside the house) had monitored the two of them.
Dooku seemed uninterested, though amused by the reactions of the young Jedi, "It is fine. I understood from the moment that I saw the both of you that you had a special connection. Unlike some Jedi, I see no problem with having a boyfriend or girlfriend as the case may be."
"We are not boyfriend and girlfriend," she said hotly.
"Far be it for me to judge," said Dooku.
"And where do you get off spying on us!" said Nara, almost spilling her drink.
"I thought you were spies from Mace Windu," said Dooku. "I could tell that you were hiding some sort of secret from the moment I met you two. But its clear that this was the secret that you were protecting."
Nara felt lightheaded. Dooku had suspected that they were spies? How close had they been to ending up in some dungeon deep in the depths of Dooku's estate?
Sascha nudged her, hard. The message was obvious. If Dooku thought that they were a couple, they needed to act like it for the next few hours. Then they could go back to...not being boyfriend and girlfriend.
"We're pretty lousy spies," she said truthfully.
"I noticed," Dooku said, a glimmer of amusement in his eye. "I do suggest that if you would like to continue your little dalliance, I don't mind if a pair of young lovers have sanctuary in my home."
Nara quickly weighed up the options. The easy answer would be to say that they valued Dooku's hospitality but they wanted to be closer to the event. On the other hand, being inside Dooku's estate left open the possibility for snooping...
Nara was about to answer when Sascha started speaking, "We'll decline," said Sascha gracefully. "I'm honoured by your suggestion, but our Masters would probably kill us if we stayed one more second than necessary at your estate."
Dooku looked like he'd lost interest in them entirely, "Well that is the sensible answer." He stood from the table and bowed slightly, "I doubt our paths will cross again. If you ever find yourselves questioning the Jedi Order like I did, know that my door is always open."
And with that Dooku was gone. Where he left to, Nara didn't know, nor was she intent on figuring out. She glanced over at Sascha. Sascha blushed and glanced downward at his bowl of fruits.
"Hey, Sascha?"
"Yeah?"
"We good?" she asked.
"Yeah," Sascha replied noncommittally.
Nara was pretty sure that was a sign that he didn't want to talk. What a wonderful morning this was turning out to be.
Tyra Harker waited as surreptitiously as possible outside of the Glickly Convention Centre, waiting for Sascha and Nara to appear. The fact that she could sense them in the Force was good. After last night, when she'd sensed them inside of Dooku's estate, she'd really feared for their safety. But now she could sense their presences growing stronger, which meant that they were getting closer. All she had to do was find them and then pull them aside to figure out what the hell had happened last night and how they had come to spend a night at Chez Dooku.
In the back of her mind, she wondered if both Padawans could have somehow been caught and brainwashed by Dooku, or if they were being forced to come here not by their own free will. As ever, when Tyra's mind wasn't occupied, it drifted to weird places.
Finally, she spotted what looked like a luxury speeder making its way to the front entrance. Inside, she spotted both Sascha and Nara, looking calm and solemn.
Tyra walked quickly, emerging from the shadows where she had been hiding and getting both Jedi's attention. The other two Padawans nodded upon noticing her and followed her back to the little hideout she had found in an alley, not far from the Convention Centre. It wasn't total privacy, but it would have to do.
"Tyra, I'm glad to see you," said Sascha.
"Quiet," Tyra said, shushing her best friend. "No time for small talk. Why the hell were the two of you inside Dooku's estate last night?"
"He, uh...invited us to stay the night," Nara stammered.
Tyra wasn't sure why both Nara and Sascha were both being so awkward, but she didn't care. "And you forgot to say no?"
"It didn't seem like we had an option," said Sascha.
Tyra shook his head, she didn't really care about the reasoning of Sascha and Nara and how they had taken leave of their wits. "What happened while you were there?"
"He came just short of accusing us of being sent to spy on him, but we managed to diffuse that idea," said Sascha. "He's going to have his guard up."
"Wonderful," said Tyra. "Great job guys." She gave Sascha a sarcastic pat on the back.
Nara gave her a shove, "Hey! You have no idea what our choices were! So cool it!"
Sascha interposed himselves between her and Nara, "Let's not do this. You can beat the heck out of each other back at the Temple, okay?"
Tyra was still pretty pissed, but she was willing to see the bigger picture. "Nothing we can change about what happened. Do you have any idea about what Dooku is up to? Where he's going to be, events he's going to attend?"
Sascha shook his head, "We didn't want to be too intrustive," he said.
"But he's still going to be giving his keynote speech in a three days," said Nara. "And he seemed interested in going on the wilderness retreat in two days. That's all we know." The Togruta looked down, "Sorry."
Tyra clenched a fist behind her back, "It's okay. Just continue to play your role. I'll make contact with you again tommorow. Same place, same time, okay?"
Sascha and Nara both nodded.
"Just go. And don't blow your cover," Tyra dismissed her fellow Padawans.
"Stay safe, Tyra," said Sascha, before turning to follow Nara.
Tyra waited until they were gone and then sighed. The impossible mission keept getting harder. Time to go back to her Master and come up with a new plan.