A few days after the battle at the farm, the elderly human Vahric brings a data slate over to Fay, who is practising the matchstick to needle transfiguration in the hold of the ship.
Bowing deeply, Vahric says, "Master Jedi, I bring disquieting news."
Pausing in her practice, Fay carefully slots her wand into the basic wand holster Lily made her from the hide of one of the dead banthas, and accepts the slate.
As she's reading the internal report, her fingers tighten on the edge of the data pad. After a few minutes, she looks up at Asajj and Vahric, "The crystal caves at Ilum have been destroyed. Dantooine is now the only reliable source of crystals."
Asajj starts to laugh, "He did it, he really did it. I knew he hated the order but…"
Fay asks, "Who did?"
"Count Dooku. He said he'd make me his apprentice if I proved I was strong enough."
Fay shakes her head, "He might have called you his apprentice, but that would only last until someone stronger came along. Then he'd pit them against you and keep the winner."
Asajj looks down at her own data slate, "I can see that now. I couldn't see it then, all I could see is that he could give me the strength to never be slaughtered like my old master." Shaking her head, she flicks to a file on her own slate, "Master, could Lily do this on the caves here?"
Fay takes the data slate and looks at Lily's notes, "The fidelius charm. If it works the way she's written it, I don't see why not. Why don't you ask her next time she's here" Glancing at Vahric she continues, "Have you given any thought to Lily's offer of seeing if you can learn magic?"
Vahric shakes his head, "I failed as a padawan because I didn't have the drive to succeed. I'm happy being a farmer, and providing a safe haven for the occasional Jedi that wishes to visit the caves. I also received news from the planetary news that both the republic and separatist fleets have retreated, so you may leave whenever you wish."
Fay chuckles, "Do I sense a desire for things to return to normality around here?"
Vahric grimaces, "It would not do to speak ill of our guests."
Asajj looks up from the news slate, "What's she been doing?"
Vahric shakes his head, "I want to say that both Vhonti and I are grateful for all the help she's given us with repairing the damage to the farm. We may even have a jogan fruit crop next year because of it. But she has been experimenting in the farm house. Our bedrooms are now far larger than they used to be, and we both have attached bathrooms with a bath and toilet without any plumbing. That's to say nothing about the beds. She claimed she did it because she wanted Harry to experience a bubble bath at least once in his life, and she wanted to know how the taps worked. I wouldn't mind, but she's also done the same thing in the kitchen, by replacing the water dispenser with one of those taps. Our kitchen table is also substantially larger, and looks as though we stole the chairs from a palace."
Fay muses, "That doesn't sound too bad."
Vahric shakes his head, "As I said, we're grateful for the help she's given. The young Master Lily told us that as long as we use the taps and toilet none of her changes would go away. But I fear she indulged padawan Harry just a little too much, as the tool shed is now as large on the inside as the barn was, and you could probably fly this ship around inside the barn quite comfortably now."
Asajj leans forward eagerly, "What's she doing now?"
Vahric coughs, "I believe that she took both Farri and Harry to the crystal caves to make wands earlier, and when I came in she was making a broom."
"Master, look up brooms, I remember reading about those."
Fay smiles tolerantly and says, "Thank you for bringing us your concerns, would you be able to send Lily in please? I would go myself, but I am rather stuck here for the moment."
After Vahric's left, Asajj says, "Master, you don't have to stay with me."
Fay sighs, "Asajj, I'm not staying with you out of pity. Though as you are my padawan I'd be nearby while you're undergoing a trial like this anyway. While the agricorp were attacking here I used the force to guide them and help them to work better together. At the same time I discovered that Master Windu was struggling so I extended my reach to cover that battle as well as the fleet in orbit. Holding that ability for so long came with a significant accumulation of darkside energy."
Asajj shakes her head, "Why? I'm sure you haven't been pulling on the darkside, unless you've been stringing me along."
Fay looks up with a distant look on her face, as if she's looking through the walls to the farm outside, "Those of us that listen to the force for direction have noticed that it has been getting harder to divine the future accurately. Almost like there's a veil being drawn across the force. After my first cleansing ritual I found out that was far more literal than I would have ever imagined. Like putting a drop of oil on top of a bowl of water. It is insidious and creepingly addictive, and ultimately it should have killed me on Queyta."
Asajj shakes her head, "I didn't even get to stab you in the back after pretending to fall asleep."
Fay looks towards the door of the docking bay, "Indeed. She has already changed so much."
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Lily leans over the branch that will become the body of a broom while Harry and Forri both watch her use her wand to leave shallow cuts around where the bristles will meet the body.
As she's casts a cutting charm, she carefully enuciates, "Incisus" as she brings her wand down, then up, then down once more in the motions needed for the spell. As the stem of the letter appears on the wood she points at it with her wand, "As you can see, that was the cutting charm, and you can use it to make any straight cut you want, only limited by the amount of magic you put into the spell and your intent. Similar spells would be the gouging and carving charms."
Hesitantly, Forri asks, "Master, why were you waving your wand when you normally just point and make things happen?"
Lily smiles at the question, "Firstly, I'm not a master. Call me Professor Potter, or just Professor, if I'm teaching you. But for the most part I prefer to be called Lily. As for the waving. While magic is only limited to your imagination, and you can do a lot with that. The magical people of my world developed symbolic languages to make it easier to communicate the spells they developed. The markings that I'm carving into the broom are from one such language we call runes. Wand motions and the words that go with them are another such language based loosely on Latin. In this case 'In-ci-sus' starting with a downward stroke, then reversing to an upward stroke, and once more down again."
Pointing at Harry, who has started drawing shapes in the air with the pretty sparks from his wand, Lily adds, "When Harry starts learning at the age of 11, he'll need plenty of time for his young brain to process everything, along with learning the normal things that schools teach. But most of what he'll be learning is the underlying language and theory of how wand magic works. Much like Math can be used to describe everything, but it takes a lot of education to come close to understanding the different symbols and theory behind more advanced math."
Forri nods, "Will you teach me please?"
Lily sighs, "I'm already teaching you. I've had five years of not being able to use a wand, so being able to share my knowledge is a joy. Right, you have your wand? The first thing you need to do is hold it correctly, as it's a precision tool not a club. Place the butt of the wand in the crease of your hand, and point your top finger along the wand as you grip it loosely. That's right, now hook your finger underneath wand and hold your arm out straight. If you've got it right, then the tip of the wand should be pointed directly at whatever your arm is pointing at."
Forri takes a couple of tries to get the grip on his wand right, and even once Lily's happy he winces at the discomfort, "This feels uncomfortable."
Lily nods, "It will do because you're not used to it. I remember Professor Flitwick spent months correcting the grip from some students. It's not so important for the basic first year spells, though the cutting charm is more accurate when you can point your wand at the place you want to cut. When we get to the levitation charm your grip will be important, so practice it as much as you can."
Harry's happy laugh alerts the two of them to the fact the child has run off on his own with Nanny following close behind. Looking back Lily nods and begins guiding Forri through the Lumos spell, followed by the cutting charm.
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Lily sits on a plush chair she's just transfigured in the hold. Nearby, Vahric sits uncomfortably on another chair that was a hydrospanner only a few minutes ago. At the same time Fay kneels patiently at the edge of the inner hexagon.
"Lily, we are going to have to leave soon."
Lily nods, "I figured when we got news about the last of the ships leaving."
"But before we do, would you be able to hide the caves with the fidelius charm? Only, they are now the only natural source of unmatched lightsaber crystals available, as the caves on Ilum were destroyed."
Lily shakes her head, "While I could cast the charm, it would probably kill me to protect something as large and well known as those caves. That's assuming that the charm would even work away from the planet. If it doesn't, then they could just send some droids down with instructions to destroy an area of land above the caves, and still destroy them."
Fay stays silent for a moment before asking, "What could you do with that charm?"
Lily glances over at Vahric before looking back, "On this planet, not much unless Vahric is willing to start actively using magic to do things." She raises her hand, "Don't get me wrong, I could cast the charm, but it would only last a matter of months, maybe as much as a couple of years. Where I'm from, a magical household that falls into disrepair will keep it's magic for a few hundred years, assuming that something big like a hippogriff doesn't move in. During that time first the smaller pests, and then the larger pests like doxies, will return to their non-magical counterparts. Once the last of the magical pests have gone, the last of the magic will take at most two decades to dissipate completely."
Fay cocks her head, "Why is that?"
Lily grimaces, "Bear in mind, this was covered for two weeks in Arithmancy. It's because it takes higher order creatures to create magic. The prevailing theory was that it takes an awareness of self, and an ability to deliberately choose to do something, to produce magic. When we then use magic, our spells aren't particularly efficient even with a wand, so what ends up happening is that the excess magic accumulates in the world around us. The magical taps I put in the farmhouse should be enough to keep the enchantments going in the building, but the barn and shed will slowly shrink as they use up the initial magic I put into them."
Reluctantly, Vahric slowly asks, "So, what could you do, if Vhonti and I were to learn to do magic?"
Lily looks at Vahric consideringly, "I've got around 30 household charms that should be simple enough to teach kinesthetically. The book I learnt them from had 101 charms, but those are the only ones I bothered learning and I don't remember the rest well enough to…"
Fay shakes her head, and says, "Lily."
Lily looks back at Fay then back to Vahric, "Sorry. Anyway if you use those spells on a regular basis, then I could dig out a cellar and add a fidelius to it, and maybe add a muggle notice me not and disillusionment charms to the rooms next to the expanded rooms. It would also stop the expanded spaces in the shed and barn from expiring. And there's absolutely nothing stopping you from building inside those spaces. It's one of the ways we used to hide from the muggles at home. Take a narrow strip of land that nobody will miss, and hide it before expanding it to build a house or community on. Or the opposite in some cases, take a large area of land, and make it seem vastly smaller from the outside."
Fay nods, "Once my padawan and I are no longer confined, we will leave for…"
Asajj blurts, "Rattatak… There are things there that my old Master wouldn't approve of, and I must make right."
Lily nods, "How are you both getting on with the basics of occlumency?"
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A couple of weeks later, D12 looks down at Plex as he whistles something while they're cleaning up the paint in the ritual circle.
"I know it's disorientating, just don't look at the crates if you can't handle it."
Plex whistles once more as he moves over to the next marking.
Shaking their head, D12 starts to sweep the paint into a trash receptacle for recycling, "No I don't know what it's like to have my internal mapping software trying to draw a larger space than exists. I don't have internal mapping software like that."
Plex gives a pain filled whistle as he moves onto the next marking.
"Why don't you try turning it off then? Or make a door for Jedi Forri's crate home. At least they put it on a platform after you complained last time."
Plex shakes and whistles madly.
"What do you mean that only made it worse?"
Plex whistles mournfully.
"Well maybe don't share it with the ships computer then. I certainly haven't shared the changes to the master's living quarters."
Plex beeps curiously.
"They are much larger than they should be. That is all I can say."