Dooku's neutral expression shows nothing as the Council chambers close behind him on the way to the turbolift.

That meeting had been one of the most frustrating yet illuminating meetings Count Dooku had ever been in. The Witch had done something potentially far more devastating to the Jedi Order, than any Sith could hope for short of it's destruction. She had paralyzed its leadership. Between his leaving and her arrival, they all acknowledge that the Order needed to change to address the current state of the Republic, but they could not agree on how or to what degree changes should be made. Turning far more inward would give his master and himself far more leeway in the actions they are planning.

"I take it that the Council was less than helpful, old friend?" The words bring Count Dooku to look at his old padawan and friend. Qui-gon had been waiting at the lift.

"I fear that the Council is still too bound in its ways to change to face the coming crisis. Even they can see that Naboo was just the most recent chaffing against Republic authority. Mark my words, it will get worse before it gets better." Dooku's words inflected with frustration, gauging Qui-gon's reaction.

"I agree, I can feel the tides of the Force too. A storm is brewing with evidence of a resurgent Sith, the Republic and the Jedi will be tested."

"That storm seems to have followed a recent addition to the ranks of the Jedi."

"You mean Jedi Bladesinger?"

"I am not so removed from the Order or the Force to feel and hear the disquiet she invokes with her very presence."

The lift door opens and two exit, heading towards the hangar bay.

"She is from an affiliate lost to the Force, I have felt it and I have seen it." Qui-gon's quiet conviction furrows Dooku's brow, the level of trust his former student has for this Bladesinger is.

"In what ways have you seen it?"

"She attempts to live by an older code, one with one word change."

Dooku wracks his mind briefly, "Yet."

"Correct. She tries to know peace, yet acknowledge her emotions. She admits when she knows she is ignorant and works to correct it. Do not get me wrong; she is a flawed and deeply hurt individual, but she strives to be more. She also made one of the strongest cases of being a Jedi from an affiliate with her sacrifice attempt for Queen Amidala on Tatoonine. She knew she was going to be heading to near certain death to give the rest of us time to get to safety."

"And yet here she is. Intact and now a Jedi."

"You think she might be a longplay from the Sith." Qui-gon's words tinged with curiosity.

"She 'fights' this 'Sith' on Tatooine to earn your goodwill, then kills him to cement her status with the Order. Add in that she resolves the Naboo crisis without any further loss of life, it would be the perfect way to slip an agent into the Order."

"And that is why she is on 'extended mental leave' and cannot leave the Temple without escort. Tradition bound the Council may be, but they are not totally blind my friend."

"Indeed, the fact that they were willing to ask me back to take my concerns far more seriously thanks to Bladesinger's arrival is proof of that. But they still refuse to take any action to address that blindness, and that will bring the end of the Jedi if the Sith are truly back" Dooku's surety only brings a nod from his former apprentice.

"Maybe the best way to save the Jedi is to destroy the Order." The words slip from Qui-gon's lips unbidden, his eyes widen slightly as Callera's words from the trip to Tatooine slip out.

"That is an unusual sentiment, even from you." Dooku's eyes narrowing slightly, was this a poorly done attempt to confront him? Did Qui-gon know?

"It is a very unusual sentiment, but one Bladesinger posited on the way to Tatooine. When talking about her order compared to ours. Hers seemed to work on finding a balance between each individual following the will of the force, their grandmaster sending them on tasks, and the governments they worked with asking for their assistance in matters. Working to find that balance between personal initiative and order guidance. If an Order is too restrictive it might hamper the development of those within it, and therefore..."Qui-gon lets the words linger.

"The Order in question must change in some way. Suffering a 'death' to be born in a new form. Surprisingly philosophical for one such as her. Is that what happened to hers? Refused to change and was swept up in the tides of the Force?"

Qui-gon nods, "Swept away by the tides of time, leaving only one who was following their own initiative. From what she has said she was trying to come to terms with what she had been asked to do as a member of her order, but while doing so, her order was destroyed. So adrift she arrived on Naboo."

"Has she ever given a name for her affiliate Order?"

"Not to me or Jedi Kenobi, but she has had meetings with the Council where it was probably disclosed to them."

The walk continues into the bay, an elegant star sail waiting for Dooku.

"Perhaps there will be a way to bring the truth to light for your newest Jedi, to put suspicions to bed one way or the other."

"How is that?"

"Consider her obviously non-Jedi skills, where could she learn such a technique? Find that and you can find the fate of her order without her perception of things. If she is an actual threat you might find your answers there."

"There is not anything in the archives that show about her blades, I have looked."

Dooku casts his gaze outwards, to tell Qui-gon or not.

Red blade extending out from his former apprentice before running into the ship to take off

Telling him will cause problems. "Unfortunately I cannot help you there, I do not know where one can learn such a technique. But if I learn of anything I will let you know."

"That would be much appreciated, Count Dooku. May the Force be with you." The smile of Qui-gon allowing his old master to know 'master' had been said in his mind.

"May the Force be with you, Qui-gon Jin." With a tilt of his head Dooku enters his ship as the droid pilot engages the repulsor lifts.

Qui-gon walks back to the hangar entrance and pulls an open comlink from his belt.

"Did you get everything Battlemaster?"

"We did."

"And the results?"

"Nothing new. We know he pulled the Kamino information using Syfo-Dyas' codes, but we got nothing new from your conversation. Other than wondering if we should be placing Callera and you under stronger observation, that is."

"You have dealt with her Battlemaster, you know what she means by a statement like that."

"I do, which is the only reason you and her are not getting extra scrutiny when we have the puzzle of the Count's true loyalties to worry about."

"Now I have the challenge of telling her we learned nothing new Master Drallig."

"She's still working with Jedi Baleros, Leree, and Hok,ken in the ancient weapons room."

"Thank you."

*BZZZ-click*

As much as he did not want to admit it, his master had cast himself in the role of a threat the moment he removed the Kamino data, he only hoped that his old master had not fallen fully. Only time would tell