"You didn't come to the ceremony," Aayla said with a frown, standing in door of the cramped office.
"I was busy," the owner of said office said, not bother to look up from her datapad.
"We're all busy," the Jedi Knight argued though there was no heat in her words. "But we made time."
"You were able to make time because I kept working."
Aalya winced at that; the snark was familiar but was the wrong voice. It was painful to hear someone else making such a comment. But she didn't say that out loud and instead forced herself to smile. "Well, I know it wasn't redecorating." She looked about the tiny space. "I know we aren't supposed to care about personal belongings but at the very least they could have given you someplace to put your datapads."
"I like it like this," the Jedi healer said simply, not bothering to look up as she checked some boxes. "Why bother putting things away when I'll just need them again?"
"Bant..." Aalya said with a sigh, finally moving into the room and sitting down on the... well, it wasn't actually a chair, more a hard lump with a cushion on it. Honestly Aayla had no idea what it was but it wasn't comfortable. She couldn't help but wonder if that is why the Mon Calamari had chosen it in the first place, wanting any surprise guests to leave as quickly as possible.
"These ones," the healer said, gesturing at a pile to her right, "are request forms. More bacta. More medkits. More pain relievers. Always more... there is talk of converting unused quarters upstairs into storage rooms because we want to be better stocked but we got through everything so quick that I doubt we'll need them." She pulled out other data pads. "Patient files. I can't even file them anymore because they have to be constantly updated. Injuries. Fatigue. Stress. Requests for prosthetics. For mind healers." She shook her head. "Death forms."
Aalya looked at the fellow Jedi. Truly looked at her. Her once rather vibrant skin had began to become lifeless... not gray but certainly not as bright and cheerful as it had once been. It reminded Aalya of some of the knights she knew who were already developing gray hairs even though they were only in their late 30s or early 40s. She sat at her desk like the entire temple was being pressed down on her spine and when she did look up her eyes lacked the fire they had once held.
Bant and her weren't close. Bant was close with Quinlan and thus Aalya had done some missions with her so they were able to chat but they weren't close.
And that was the problem because what Bant clearly needed was a friend. A close one. And the person best suited for that job...
"A Jedi doesn't fear the truth," Bant said, clearly sensing her conflict. "If you have something to say to me i'd have you say it now."
"You should have come to the ceremony," Aalya said.
"You said that already," Bant commented. "Unless you are trying to mind trick me... which isn't working and is rather too late to do."
The blue skinned Jedi just shot a glower at the healer, who didn't even blink. "If it's because it was so public we can do something private. I can contact some people-"
"Who?" Bant asked, cutting her off. "Reeft is in hiding thanks to angering off the Bounty Hunters Guild. I don't even know if he heard anything. Garen is too busy trying to reclaim… I honestly don't know what planet and how sad is that? And your Master is handling this all about as well as I am."
Aayla grimaced at that; Quinlan Vos had isolated himself even more than usual, refusing to take even Aayla's calls. It was only because he would send the occasional insulting message to the council telling them new and rather impractical ways to fornicate by themselves, that let her know he was alive at all.
"You are shipping out how soon?" Bant pressed.
Aayla didn't squirm. Jedi did not squirm. But she certainly didn't feel comfortable with the way the older Jedi was staring at her.
"That's what I thought."
Aayla sighed and tried one more time. "He was your friend-"
"My best friend," Bant countered. "The person I was closest too. He was my brother, Aayla. All Obi wanted to do was be a Jedi Knight. That's it. He never expected to be on the Council or be famous or be seen as anything more than a normal Jedi. He wanted to travel and help people and find new creatures and record their lives for the galaxy to know. That's it. And then Jinn-" Because no matter how it had ended between the two of them Qui-Gon Jinn had hurt Obi Wan in his youth, time and time and time again, and Bant would NEVER forgive him. Not for her deceased master's sake, not for Obi Wan's sake, not even for her own sake. She would never forgive the bastard. "Jinn tries to toss him aside so he can train Anakin and then uses his dying breath to DEMAND Obi train the boy."
Obi Wan hadn't meant to reveal that to her. It had come after a particularly hard day during Anakin's training, when the boy had somehow managed to cause all the cafeteria droids to go on strike. Obi Wan had gotten drunk in her quarters and revealed that as Qui Gon lay dying he had only given Obi Wan YET ANOTHER COMMAND. Bant wasn't sure Obi Wan even remembered telling her but that didn't matter because Bant would never forget.
"And he did train him… he did a good job of it too. Not that the Council helped." Bant let out a huff when Aayla blanched at that. "Oh stop. The Council might seem like they are living embodiments of the Force but they aren't. They are living beings, flawed and full of contradictions and mistakes, no different from the rest of us." Bant shook her head. "Oh the mistakes…"
"Bant…" Aayla warned.
"What are they going to do?" Bant asked with a bit of dark humor. "Kick me out? Oh no, I won't have to watch people I care for die every day for a war we shouldn't be fighting! How terrible." Bant let out a scoff. "They did NOTHING to help Obi Wan… no, it was worse than that. They did everything to make things worse on him. All that pressure on him and Anakin… no different than Yoda meddling to get Jinn to take Obi Wan. They all knew Obi was going to be a powerful Jedi but they played their little games because they expected him to fix Jinn all on his own. Just like they expected him to train Anakin all on his own. And win this war all on his own. They are probably waiting for him to figure out how to come back to life all on his own!" She swept her hand out and sent datapads crashing to the floor, their screens cracking.
Aayla backed away, eyes wide before she steeled herself and stepped forward once more. "You need to release your emotions into the Force, Bant. You are letting them control you." And how wrong it was for her to be telling the Master that.
"…maybe," Bant admitted and that was the best she was going to do when it came to that matter. "But it doesn't change the fact that I refuse to make them feel better about getting my best friend killed."
The Jedi Knight stared at the healer before sighing. Other knights would have been startled by Bant's outburst. A few might have even begun to go for their lightsabers, fearing she was falling. But one didn't learn under Quinlan Vos and not get used to Jedi skirting dangerously close to the Dark Side.
And she could tell… Bant was right on the edge.
"I'm going to get us a spot in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. We are going to meditated in an hour. Okay?"
Bant stared at her and both females understood how odd it was for the younger, who had grown up knowing Bant as a Knight that would offer guidance, to suddenly find herself needing to command the Healer. Still, Bant finally gave a slight nod of her head and Aayla left, hoping that she could offer Bant a bit of comfort.
Back in her office Bant held her head in her hands, sucking in gulping breaths. The edge she was standing on was crumbling and the darkness below was yawning up to claim her. She knew it and she didn't know how to stop it.
"Obi Wan," she whispered into the Force, "I could really use you right now…"
There was a knock on the door and Bant's head snapped up.
"…come in?" she said, her stressed out mind causing her to imagine that her friend was there, ready to tell her he was alive and well… or perhaps not well. She saw him as a walking charred skeleton, flesh cooked on his bones, eyes melting in his skull as he lurched towards her-
The door opened and Obi Wan's corpse wasn't there.
"Ah, I hope we are in the right place. We were told this was the right place but one never can be too sure."
Bant frowned as she stared at the golden protocol droid that was shuffling into her office.
"Tell me, are you Jedi Master Bant Eerin?" the droid asked. After her emotional breakdown the oddity of what was happening caused her to only be able to numbly nod. "Wonderful! We are in the right place. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. And this is my counterpart… oh, Artoo, would you get in here?"
A blue astromech droid rolled in and Bant at once felt like she was on stable ground once more.
"Artoo," she said softly before getting up and walking over to the droid, kneeling down beside it. "I am so sorry… none of us even thought about you."
They should have. Artoo went everywhere with Anakin so they should have checked in on what had happened to the little droid. Obi Wan had always spoken fondly of him and his quirky yet determined personality and the times Bant had spent with Anakin and Obi Wan during the War had always seen the droid around, trilling and beeping rather happily.
"Oh, that is quite fine, Mistress Eerin," C-3PO stated. "When Master Anakin and Mistress Padme didn't return we decided to come back to the temple."
"Mistress Padme?"
"Yes!" Threepio declared happily. "Master Anakin originally created me for his mother but after her passing I went into the care of Mistress Padme. She in turn gave Artoo to Master Anakin. Which makes sense… I am not suited at all for a battlefront while Artoo always has it in his head that he can save the galaxy."
The droid in question let off several beeps.
"Enough of that, Artoo, this is our new Master you are talking too!"
"You're… you're new master?" Bant said, confused.
Threepio nodded, or as best as he could nod. "Yes… per Master Anakin's instructions we were to first pass to Master Kenobi until Mistress Ahsoka came of age. If that was not possible we then were to go to you."
"Anakin… willed you to me?" Bant said, oddly touched.
Artoo trilled.
"Would you stop that, Artoo? We should be glad we aren't to be scrapped! Going on and on about how Master Anakin and the rest were teleported away will not endear you to our new Mistress. She will think your processor-"
"Teleported?" Bant asked, confused. "Artoo, what do you mean 'teleported'?"
Artoo began to deep and Threepio translated quickly. "I'm sorry to bother you with this, Mistress Bant, but Artoo has gotten it into his head that Master Anakin, along with Master Kenobi, Mistress Padme, Mistress Ahsoka, and Captain Rex, were not killed in the explosion but were teleported away before it happened. He claims that he has evidence but he refuses to show me-"
Bant cut him off. "Artoo… can you show me?"
Artoo rocked back and forth before he activated his hologram projector… and Bant gasped as she saw the small forms of Obi Wan, Anakin, and the rest of their party in the conference room where they had been talking with the Separatists.
"Artoo!" Threepio exclaimed, scandalized. "Did you hack into their security cameras? That is highly improper! Mistress Bant, I apologize for this. Normally-"
Bant tuned Threepio out, watching as the Jedi realized that they'd walked into a trap. She saw them move to escape only for the explosion to take out the cameras. But right before… "Artoo, rewind and play at 1/10th speed."
The droid did so.
Her best friend moved like he was caught in sap, every movement agonizingly slow…
…a flash of light.
An empty conference room.
The explosion.
"They weren't in the building," Bant whispered in shock. "They're alive."
Two hours later Aayla marched to Bant's office, ready to drag the healer to meditate.
But Bant Eerin wasn't in her office.
She would never be seen at the Temple again.