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Series: Knight Moves

Rated: G, PG if Masterful!Qui-Gon gets your heart all a-flutter

Category: Vignette, AU, POV (Maul), Drama, Non-QG/OW

Archive: M_A, All Maul, my site

Summary: After the events of "The Long Way Home" and "Lightness of Being," Qui-Gon decides it's time to have a little chat with the Council.

Notes: This is a new story, *not* a revision of an old story, but it does back-track a bit rather than move the series forward. It's a scene I intended to cover before my hiatus but didn't get around to.

Evening was fast approaching when we walked into the Council chamber for our appointment. The fading sunlight streamed through the windows, casting patterns of light and shadow on the floor. The room seemed filled with a warm, golden glow, and the hum of the Force was stronger, magnified by the gathering of so many adept Force-users in the same small area.

But the serenity of the setting did not lull me into complacency.

I walked in behind Master Jinn with my hood pulled up and my hands hidden within my sleeves. I was behind and to one side as if I were his Padawan. As a Knight, I could have claimed a place by his side, but I was willing to defer to him in this matter. He had been far more wronged than I. He would lead this discussion, and I would follow.

Qui-Gon strode in, his dark brown robe billowing in his wake. His hood was thrown back, and his hands were fisted on his hips when he reached the center of the room and stood facing Masters Yoda and Windu. His eyes were shuttered, and his mouth thinned. He planted his feet firmly, taking an aggressive stance, his chin lifted. No deference. Scant respect.

I took up my place behind and a little beside him, bowing slightly but not lowering my hood. I kept my gaze directed downward, making it clear that Qui-Gon would be the one to begin, not me.

"An audience you requested of us, hhm?" Master Yoda planted his gimer stick on the floor between his knees and peered up at Qui-Gon, his ears lifting, perhaps in surprise or curiosity or both. I have not yet learned to read the language of Master Yoda's ears save one clear message: if they droop abruptly, jump backwards.

"Yes, Master."

Qui-Gon turned his head both left and right, taking in as much of the circular chamber as he could without twisting around to see the Jedi behind us. His leisurely perusal of the Council bordered on insolent, considering the disdain in his eyes when he looked at them.

"I wish to express a formal complaint about the faulty decisions of this..." His lips lifted in a mocking smile, and a sneer crept into his voice. "... esteemed Council."

"Faulty?" Master Windu's dark eyes grew stormy. To say he appeared displeased would be like saying Tatooine is warm--something of an understatement.

"You are all guilty of committing a grave injustice against one of your own," Qui-Gon began. He speared Master Windu with his gaze first before turning it on each Council member in line of sight as he spoke. "You have disregarded all thoughts of compassion or even respect for those who serve the Order. You have abused Jedi under your care without thought to their well-being aside from how well they could continue to serve you. And if they were no longer useful, you cast them aside."

"What exactly are you talking about, Jinn?" Master Windu demanded, rising to his feet and confronting Qui-Gon, who drew himself up to his full height and stared down his nose at the Council member. His hauteur was regal. I wondered if his birth family was a noble one. His features and his bearing lend credibility to that theory.

"I am talking about Knight Kenobi. I am talking about myself. I am even talking about Knight Maul." His voice was quiet and calm, but it was as layered in ice as the surface of Hoth. "You expected me to give up my bond with my Padawan. No, you *demanded* that I sever it in the most painful manner possible: through the pretense of my death. You allowed my Padawan to believe me dead and to suffer agonies of guilt, regret and grief which I feel safe in saying were exacerbated by the tattered remains of the bond which had been ripped from him with no chance to prepare for its removal."

From beneath the folds of my hood, I glanced at Master Yoda in time to see him whack Master Windu's leg. With obvious reluctance, Windu sat down again. Qui-Gon whirled to face the other side of the room, one hand flung out as if manipulating the Force as he hurled more accusations.

"All of you stood by and watched him suffer!" he exclaimed. "You could have eased his burden even if you didn't want to reveal the truth. You could have helped him, instead you cast him out. You left him alone to heal wounds that were killing him from the inside out. As for Maul, all you did was probe into every corner of his mind to make sure he wasn't hiding anything, then you turned him over to someone who would rather have killed him than teach him instead of letting him train with a Master who had no reason to want him dead."

He pivoted around to face Master Yoda directly. "And you lied to me." Softly spoken. Deadly tone. "You told me Obi-Wan was fine. You told me he was training Anakin and serving on missions. You led me to believe he was happy. Why? So I wouldn't abandon your precious mission and come back to take care of the boy I considered a son."

I looked up at him in surprise. I had not known the Council lied to him about Obi-Wan's mental and emotional state.

"It makes me wonder if you have any regard for our lives, or if you perceive us to exist merely to serve the Order. Or if you seek ways to remove those among us who are less than convenient to have running amuck in the Temple. Is that why you assigned me that mission? In hopes that I would not return?"

"You can't come in here and make wild accusations to the Council this way!" Windu exploded, earning another thump on his shin from Master Yoda.

I cast a surreptitious look around the room. The other Council members' reactions ranged from anger to dismay. There were low murmurings around us, but no one else spoke aloud.

"I speak from the courage of my convictions." Qui-Gon lifted his chin again, his eyes glittering with an unspoken challenge. "The members of this Council are no less accountable for their actions than the rest of us. You have all been insular and blind, so focused on your larger goal that you lost sight of the casualties--and your own compassion. Your disregard shames us all."

He folded his arms, his mouth set in firm, hard lines. "In the past, some of you have accused me of having too narrow a view because I remain grounded in the Now. Perhaps I do. But I say there are those among you who would do well to focus more on the Now--and the people it involves--and less on misty visions of a future that may never come to be."

Once more he swept the room with a cold, disdainful glare. "Will you now reprimand me for speaking my mind?"

Scowling, Windu opened his mouth as if to speak, but Master Yoda interrupted. "No. Noted your formal complaint has been. Right to speak your opinion you have. Even to us." He paused, and his green eyes narrowed as he fingered his cane menacingly. "Less disrespectful way you will find of expressing your opinion next time or repercussions there will be."

The murmurings grew louder. I suspected that not everyone was pleased by Master Yoda's decree. Yet no one spoke against him. For the moment. I had little doubt there would be further discussion once we were gone.

"Is that all we may expect?" Ice dripped from his words.

"An apology you presume we must give?"

"An acknowledgment would suffice."

"Have it you will." A new, softer voice spoke up. Qui-Gon and I turned to look at Master Yaddle. "Noted let it be that in agreement on this matter all the Council members were not."

"Thank you, Master." Qui-Gon gave her a low, respectful bow. When he rose, he glanced around the chamber, gave a curt nod, and strode out without another word.

I stood in the middle of the room, feeling the weight of every Council member's gaze upon me.

"Something to add have you?" There was a hint of what might have been amusement in Master Yoda's voice.

If my tongue could wield words as well as my hands wield a lightsaber, I would have expressed how deeply painful it was to witness how they clipped the wings of my bright, beautiful bird. They caged him in anger and fear.

I would have berated them for allowing him to come so close to falling from the sky, never to soar again.

I would have reminded them that believing the end results justify the means it takes to get there is the same rationalization Sidious uses.

I would have said it is more a testimony to Obi's strength than to the Order's training that he rose above despair at last.

But the words stuck in my throat, caught on emotion.

I shook my head and gestured to the door through which Qui-Gon had just made his exit.

"What he said."

I then departed the Council chamber as well, albeit in not so effective or impressive a manner. Obi, I knew, would be in the practice arena. I wanted to watch him fly.

-End-