Archive: M_A, SWAL and my webpage (compliments of the Goddess
Mona) http://members.tripod.com/~AiR_WSW/Athea.html
Category: AU
Warnings: none to speak of except for the very end of TPM
Summary: Yoda deals with Qui-Gon's *death*.
Comments: Just an experiment in Yoda's voice. Hard it was!
"Master Yoda. We have just received a transmission from
Naboo." Master Windu knelt by my side while I gazed out of the
windows high above Coruscant.
"Felt it I did. Death comes to us all." A heavy sigh and I
turned to my friend. "Sith Lord it was. Just as my old friend
said."
"Obi-Wan killed the assassin. This is a blow to all Jedi's.
Qui-Gon was my friend as well, Master Yoda. Should I go to
fetch them both back?"
"No. My place it is. The boy there is to consider also.
Obi-Wan's trials to see to. Headstrong he is." I could feel my
ears droop ever so slightly and I let my voice fell to a
whisper. "Like his Master."
Mace Windu patted my back gently and nodded. "I'll make the
arrangements for a transport."
"The Senate you must watch, my friend. Currents strong with
this upheaval. Odd it is that turmoil they raise right now."
Mace was already on his way to the door but he stopped and
turned to gaze at me leaning on my cane. "At the same time as
the resurgence of the Sith? None of the Senators have the
brains or the balls to interfere with the Force."
"Balance is all. Be restored it must." I never turned my eyes
from the play of lights across the city.
"I'll watch." Mace bowed and left me alone to contemplate the
future.
"Master Yoda, we are honored by your presence."
I bowed to the young queen while thinking that honor was not
quite the word she was thinking. "Come I must. Qui-Gon, my
Padawan once was."
"I see." Her dark eyes looked at me appraisingly and I gave
her my most innocent look. She beckoned a tall dark warrior to
her side. "General Panaka, will you please show Master Yoda to
the Royal Chapel. And have you seen Anakin today?"
"Your Highness, the boy is with the pilots, pursuing his
lessons." The deep voice was pleasing to my ears. He looked
like a good man in a fight and if our intelligence served me
right, he'd been right at her side during the invasion and the
battles that followed.
"I'll have Padme find him and then I'll bring him to the
Chapel myself. Has Obi-Wan eaten today?" Not about food was she
thinking.
They exchanged a long look and he answered slowly. "His
appetite is . . . unchanged, Your Highness."
I got another appraising look and felt the currents twist and
turn about the three of us. Something here had changed. Glad I
was that I had insisted on coming alone. This trembling in the
Force was unlike anything I had felt before in all my
centuries.
"I will inform Obi-Wan of your arrival, Master Yoda. Qui-Gon's
body is resting in state in our Royal Chapel with his
apprentice to watch over him." Her youth was overlaid by the
maturity she'd had to assume too soon and I bowed to her before
turning to follow her general.
Casting open my senses, I felt the broken bindings of power
being slowly mended all around us. Queen Amidala, excellent
steward of her people she was. Noting the presence of the
Gungan on the palace grounds, I slowly nodded to myself. For
all her people, it seemed.
We passed down a corridor and suddenly I felt a memory reach
out for me. Not one of mine but rather of the events of two
days before. The Force had been torn apart here and I stopped
to experience it all. Motioning to General Panaka to halt for a
moment, I settled over my cane and opened myself to the
emotions that had erupted here.
The events unfolded themselves before my closed eyes. The Sith
in all his red and black with the double light staff attacking
the two of them. The pulsing energy fields that separated the
Jedi and left Qui-Gon to his fate. Obi-Wan's fear and denial of
his master's death. The furious fight between the two . . .
ah-h-h . . . apprentices.
Not the Master Sith but his apprentice then it was. I sighed,
unable to gain any clues from the currents of power surrounding
the dark lord's death to the identity of his master. Clouded
still which told me something of our opponent's ability. Strong
with the Dark Side he was. A manipulator who hides in plain
sight perhaps.
I stopped to consider that then shook my head and continued on
down the corridor with the General at my side. More information
needed there was. The gardens shimmered in the afternoon sun
and I soaked up the heat, my ears reaching straight out to
expose more of the surface to the warming rays. Coruscant never
seemed to have enough sun.
Chuckling to myself, I decided I spent too much time inside.
Needed to get out more, I did. Ahead, the Chapel glimmered
among the flowers. For a moment it seemed surrounded by a
golden haze. Blinking, I focused on the currents that flowed
about the whole area.
Joy.
Peace.
Love.
No pain or anguish or suffering. Unexpected it was.
Two guards stood silently by the great door sheltered under
the overhanging ledge of pure rose crystal. Old it was,
centuries old. Older even then myself. Good it felt to find
something still standing from before the Republic. But the
golden glow did not come from the building. Could not contain
it, the old stones could not.
General Panaka held the door open for me and I thumped my way
inside the dim interior, following the currents of power to the
carved stone altar and the body laid under the energized stasis
field. His apprentice stood to one side, almost guarding the
still figure.
"Master Yoda."
"Padawan Obi-Wan." Testing his shields, bounced I did. Most
unexpected this was. Turning my attention to the altar, I
searched through the shimmering field and found what I had
hoped to find. Reaching out with my mind, I tweaked the Force
here . . . and here.
General Panaka made his way to my right as if also protecting
the man on the funeral bier. Ah, as I had thought. The Queen
and the General were both part of this tangle in the Force.
"Better now. Needed a bit of Jedi memory it did. Surprised you
thought of it not."
//We had to leave something for you to do, Master.// The
familiar feel of my old student warmed the cold spot I'd
harbored inside since I'd felt him die.
A slight grating sound signaled the movement in the floor. I
watched Obi-Wan stand aside and Qui-Gon tread lightly into
view. Hope, I did, that my shock was self contained. The golden
glow I'd seen earlier was emanating from the man before me. The
energy moved through him instead of around as if he truly was
one with the Force.
"How? Know I must why I felt your death but not your rebirth."
He exchanged a long look with his Padawan and knew, I did,
that their growing bond was now complete. Still did not explain
the crystalline shields I could feel around Obi-Wan.
"It's a long story, Master Yoda. Would you mind taking it
directly from my mind?" The young apprentice knelt before me
and deliberately lowered those shields. Gazing into those
glowing blue eyes, I watched the events unfold from the anger
at the Sith's death to his despair before the altar and the joy
of the healing of Qui-Gon by the boy.
The boy. The Chosen one. The ancient prophecy made flesh.
Strong in the Force was he. Felt it, I did but bowed to the
will of the Council I had. Still, had I not, young Anakin would
have been in the Temple and not here on Naboo when he was
needed.
//I agree, Master Yoda. There is more at stake here than the
life of one old Jedi warrior.//
He was still open to me and I felt the chastising thought from
young Obi-Wan, hiding my smile. //Not that old, Master.// The
images of holding and tasting came in quick succession before
being abruptly cut off. "Sorry, Master Yoda. There is something
else we need to tell you."
Qui-Gon moved soundlessly, gently placing his hands on
Obi-Wan's shoulders. //Perhaps, while you are here, Master
Yoda, you could find the time to put my Padawan through his
trials? He is ready.//
I snorted and pointed my cane at the pair of them. "Faced them
already, he has. Jedi Knight he is in all ways. As you well
know."
The slow smile that had so captivated his fellow Padawans when
he was my student grew on his face. //General Panaka, if I
could borrow the knife in your boot?//
"Certainly, Master Jinn." The sharpened dagger appeared as if
by magic and flew through the air in a lazy arc, landing in
Qui-Gon's outstretched hand.
//No longer apprentice but now a Knight, my Padawan. May the
Force be with you.// And so saying, he cut the braid behind
Obi-Wan's ear. The young man stood and faced his former master,
dutifully repeating the Jedi Code.
I sighed, never did this grow old. How many Knights had I seen
born into the Force? Hundreds. Still made this foolish Jedi
feel a tear or two. A disturbance in the currents announced the
arrival of the young one and the Queen. Watched I did as the
streams of power ebbed and flowed about them. A golden aura
intensified where they joined together. The Queen and her
general stood and watched young Skywalker run to hug his
friends.
"You're a Knight now, aren't you, Obi-Wan?" The voice piped up
excitedly. "I can see it. What are you going to do with your
braid?"
"Yes, I am, Ani. How about if I keep it and when you construct
your first light saber, you can put it in the hilt?"
"Great! Then, even when you're not there, you'll still be with
me. I'd like that." He was practically vibrating with energy
and I sighed at the task ahead of these two.
Hearing my sigh, he braced himself and walked over bravely.
"Master Yoda. May I be trained now? Stay with Master Qui-Gon
and Obi-Wan?"
"Stay you may. Train you must." I felt nothing but relief from
him. More importantly, the Force sang around us with
crystalline clarity. Never have I felt the balance so surely.
What ever these five had done, they had become the fulcrum
around which this universe pivoted.
Interesting, it would be. Questions still I had. Answers I
meant to get before leaving.
Starting with their bond.
And the golden cords of Force that bound them all together.
Love is still the most powerful manifestation of the Force, I
knew. And that emotion colored the very air around them.
The future, unclear is. But what they had begun here would
control that future. That much I knew.
Still not too old to learn, was I.
The Universe as we knew it had just changed completely.
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