The Way of the Mystics

by Tilt

(continued from Part 11)

Theri opened the door to the small study room on Level 32 and nodded a little at what she found. A large wooden table and six conformable chairs around it, the large floor to ceiling window at the far end of the room, a comscreen, viewscreens inlaid into the table. A door that could be locked. Acoustic and psi shielding. Nothing to distract them. Yes, this place would do nicely.

Behind her, Kee came into the room and nodded approvingly. He went to the doorpanel and keyed the window to filter out most of the light and dim the room lights. It was a bright cold day of early winter and the sunlight of Coruscant Alpha had that sharp angular quality that blinded. "You did tell them not to eat lunch, didn't you love?"

"Yeah. Rhyon didn't like it but he agreed it was a good idea. We need to be alert, we may be in here for hours." Theri swung her cloak off and tossed it onto a hook beside the door, swung her small pack off her shoulder and began taking items out. "Have you ever done something like this, beloved?"

Kee shrugged a little. "Windu and I used to link to call other mindspeakers, and once Sachella and I linked to Lift a ship full of refugees out of the line of fire, but something like this, no." He smiled over at her and reached across the table to caress her cheek. "I know it's possible, and I've no doubt you can pull it off. And I shall be waiting here to call you back if you get lost."

"As I shall," said a soft voice from the open door, and Yaddle paced into the room with a merry smile on her small green face. "Interesting, this will be, to say the least."

[Yes! Very interesting!] Uloa Sent, coming in behind her Mistress. [I leave for Teravin tomorrow!]

[I know, 'Lo,] Theri answered, Sending a giggling snuggle to the young Orafai. [And congratulations on your confirmation.]

Uloa wriggled all over, her mind radiating laughter and excitement. [Difficult, it was, to fight Mistress Lianor! She is very fast and not so tall, so she fights more like me! But I did it!]

[Well, I heard you took Master Koon apart at the seams,] Theri Sent with a mischievous twinkle.

Another burst of mental laughter from Uloa. [Great big sandslug, he is! Slow!]

Kee smiled at this. "I see I shall have to drag Koon down to the saber cubes for some serious practice time. First Torin and now you, Uloa. He's getting slow in his old age, is he?"

Uloa and Theri both laughed at this as Uloa climbed up to sit on the edge of the table to help Theri set up the hologlobe of Coruscant and put out the graphicspads on the table where Rhyonluppa would sit as focus of the link. Mistress Yaddle climbed up into one of the chairs and settled down with a sigh, pulling her dark cloak around her as she watched her former apprentice.

Theri sighed a little wistfully. Uloa was a Jedi Knight now. It felt distinctly odd to watch her friends, people her own age, being confirmed as Jedi and going off to start their lives elsewhere while she stayed at the Temple. Serala and Torin had left for Teravin a bare two weeks after Coria was born. Uloa was following them tomorrow. Shosin-ka was rarely at the Temple, she was on the Justice with Master Koon's squadron and it would only be a matter of weeks before she confirmed and went off to the Winter term at the War College on Corellia. And Ben still on Shaula Prime, every inch the Jedi Knight, negotiating and arranging things for Teravin. She felt distinctly left out, left behind.

[But already you have left *them* far behind, beloved,] Kee Sent quietly. [Haven't you, Mistress Theriyah?]

Theri grimaced a little at that. She still wasn't used to the title and still didn't think it was deserved. [Ben's going to kill me, you know. When he left I was just an apprentice, when he comes back--if he comes back--I'll be Master-level. He'll probably be so ticked off by this that he'll never speak to either of us again.] She sank down into one of the chairs and closed her eyes, felt Kee's hand closing about hers. [I guess it won't occur to him that all the other Masters treat me with just as much contempt as he does.]

[Not all of them, dearheart. Just the ones who don't know you,] Kee reminded her. [Koon and Yaddle and Windu consider you a true Mistress, so do Depa and Gallia. And I think you'll find Ben's calmed down some when he comes home. He does have a temper but he tends to get over it fairly quickly.]

[It's been six weeks,] she Sent tentatively. [He still hasn't sent us a message.]

[He's been extremely busy, dearheart. Probably he's putting in twelve hour days and doesn't have the energy at the end of the day to think past his own nose, much less send messages home.]

Theri sighed and nodded. In all fairness that was probably very true.

An excited whurffle from the doorway and she opened her eyes to see her students filing inside.

Taslimi's face was almost glowing with eagerness, and Rhyon's grin showed the points of his canine teeth while his yellow eyes danced. Kylan looked a little more subdued though still keenly interested. Despite the two days of intense meditation Theri had mandated for them all in preparation for this attempt, Tas and Rhyon still buzzed with excitement. Theri had them all go through a week's worth of ESP games to sharpen their senses and Sending games to heighten visualization. Maybe she'd overdone it but none of them had ended up with backlash headaches and all three had understood the need. And it made a convenient way to order their training, learning what was needed for a practical purpose rather than in the abstract. As Shosin had said once, it was easier to practice on something once you actually had to use it.

All of them settled down quickly enough and Theri was very glad when the bubbling excitement vanished the moment her students sat down and got down to business.

"All right, then, kids," Theri said, flipping the switch on the hologlobe. A short line of light from the base unfolded into the translucent image of Coruscant, glowing softly, spinning slowly, gridded lines of light delineating the longitude and latitude lines, the equator. Small sparks indicated the Galactic Senate, the Jedi Temple, the planetary Govenor's Residence, the Galleria, the various spaceports, Coruscant General Medicenter, Coruscant Command. "Now. Mistress Yaddle and 'Lo will be here monitoring us. If Mistress Yaddle says break off, we break off. No questions, no quibbling. We can always try again but we can't do that if we burn our minds out and Mistress Yaddle knows what's she's doing. Agreed?"

Nods from her students

"We'll keep going until we either find a ship or we get too tired to focus," Theri promised, seeing the carefully hidden look of worry in Tas' eyes. "Remember that everything except the task at hand is extraneous and a waste of time and energy. Conserve your energy all you can, keep your mind focussed on your own particular part in the goal, and let everything else go." She pointed to the graphicspads on the table in front of Rhyon. "Rhyon, when you Find the ship you can Send the images to us and one of us will draw it or write down anything relevant. You are not to break your own focus. Just Send the images or words to us and we'll do it for you. I probably won't be able to but Kylan might. If nothing else we'll all See what you do. The only really relevant data we need is the coordinates. Got it?"

Rhyon nodded vigorously, whuffling his understanding.

"Tas, you've got your parameters ready?" Theri asked.

Taslimi nodded. "Yeah. Abandoned but not so damaged we can't repair it. Somewhere we can get to it. It's all in feelings, really, but I know what we need and I'd guess Rhyon will See a bunch of ships. I'll help him decide which one we'll go after."

"Kyl, you're the anchor," Theri said ruefully. "And our link to reality. You'll probably know first thing if one of us is in trouble or getting tired. Don't be afraid to call us back, that's what you're there for, got it?" She pinned each of them with a very grave look. "Nothing is so important that we have to risk burn out or worse to get it. You can get a ship anywhere but a sane mind is not something you can just hop over to the Galleria and buy at a clearance sale."

Smiles then, brief and amused.

Kee Sent her a wordless caress in approval and she felt the snuggling thoughts as he settled further into their lifebond, a soft hum of loving support and grounding. [Ready, my love?]

[If you are,] Kee answered serenely. [Be careful.]

[Naturally,] she replied. She nodded to Mistress Yaddle and Uloa, then faced front, closed her eyes, and turned her focus to her breathing. She felt the remaining excitement from Tas and Rhyon subside completely as they too turned their thoughts to concentrate on their breathing and the pulsing of the dragon-point within them, emptying all emotion into the turning of the Force, felt Kylan join them a moment later.

She reached out her mind to Kylan, linked with him as firmly as if it had been their hands clasping instead of their minds, drew in Rhyon next with a flash of acknowledgement from the young Wookie, then Tas with a blaze of steady light. As Tas' mind joined the link the circle firmed and solidified, a ring of connections made much stronger by the week's worth of training and meditation together. There was history and affection here, knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, youth and experience, strength of mind and strength of will. Shields gradually gave way to the link as the connections between them gained solidity. Then Theri reached for the spiral of the Force, felt her students move as one to touch that bright calm center of existence within themselves also. The feelings and sensory awareness of the outer world faded to no more than a peripheral overcast of sensation.

[There is no generation, there is no destruction, there is no continuation, there is no interruption, there is no unity, there is no duality, there is no arriving, there is no departing,] Theri Sent to the others, felt them join in with the litany on the second repetition, mindvoices overlaying hers, the familiar rhythms bringing them all into harmony. By the tenth repetition their minds were melded into a seamless whole, many limbed but acting from the shared center.

[Go,] was the thought that sounded from that center.

And the world unfolded in light and echoes and shifting colors, the glow of the Force radiating from every surface, around every ship zipping by above, bursting from the pyramid-shape below them so bright it dazzled the inner eyes.

[A ship, an abandoned ship, a ship we can claim for our own, a ship we can repair, where is it?] the many-limbed and many-eyed mind asked of itself and the Force.

[Where is it?] the other parts asked. [See!]

[Where is it? Go! Find!]

Echoes of "Find" and "Go!" sounded from the linked mind as tendrils of thought burst outward, spiderlike tendrils of the Force, seeking and wiggling out from the shared center away from the dazzle of the Temple. Almost immediately the tendrils found a wrecked hulk not far from the Temple, drew the mind there, spent long moments Looking, testing with the Force before another flare of recognition drew the mind away again further on. And another. And another.

[This one?]

[No! Too damaged!]

[This one?]

[No! Wing shot off, can't repair!]

[That one?]

[Maybe. That one looks good!]

[What of this one?]

The dozens of tendrils of the Force snaked out from the Temple in a starburst pattern, seeking and finding with such swiftness that the shared center of thought was rocked by the rush of information. Staggering, reeling, the solid connections that held the mind as one began to weaken, the individual presences began imperceptibly to separate.

[Stop! Wait! Turn inward! Regroup!]

[One Finding at a time! Not all at once!]

[Control.]

[Breathe, focus.]

With that reminder the shared mind began to pulse as the focus again turned inward, drawing in the tendrils of the Force, wrapping the wayward pieces of itself around itself, once again repeating the litany to order thoughts.

[An abandoned ship, one not very damaged,] the shared center reminded itself. [One ship, the best ship, we can Find!]

The shared mind expanded with this, reaching, opening like the ripples spreading on a pond. The shared center sensed this was the key they needed, the exact phrase to focus and rally the power of the seeking mind. [The best ship we can Find, a ship we can claim for our own, a ship abandoned, the best ship!]

As if magnetized, the shared center was drawn westward, far westward, thousands of miles over steel and vitriglass and plascrete, across the endless metroplex that was Coruscant, to the early morning just breaking dawn. The winter sunlight sifting through buildings and glinting off mirrorglass, a single shaft of sunlight slanting down to fall on a flat surface, pitted and scattered with drifts of some white crackling substance, hull plating scarred by blackened scoring of a long-ago battle. The rounded leading edge of a wing. Time and silence and abandonment.

The shared mind seized on the locus, grabbed onto the location, brought the Force to bear, queried itself, seeking the answers that would relate the half-dream of Finding to the reality of time and form.

[Forty-seven point three-five north by one-fifty-nine point six-eight west,] the shared mind chanted to itself. [Forty-seven point three-five north by one-fifty-nine point six-eight west! Where is that?]

[Near CorCom headquarters,] the shared mind said to itself. [In the Undercity!]

[Forty-seven point three-five north by one-fifty-nine point six-eight west! Write it down!]

[Already done! Forty-seven point three-five north by one-fifty-nine point six-eight west...]

[Find another?]

[No! This one is the one! Feel it? In the Force?]

[Yes! This is the one! This is it!]

[Look! What kind of ship?]

[Nogaran! Old!]

[Time to go back now. The Finding is done.]

[Time to go back!]

The multiple voices of the shared mind began to fade as the focus turned inward again, felt for the pulse of bodies left far behind and far away, felt for heartbeats and breathing and familiar presences calling. Felt for the mind of an honored teacher, a mischievous friend, a lifemate's loving warmth. Felt the mind draw back, draw in, spiraling back into the familiar confines, the welcoming dazzle of the Temple, the glory of the Force singing from every stone.

Theri gasped and struggled to draw breath, something almost burning hot caressing her face, wrapping around her hand, a soft kiss on her fingers.

[Don't open your eyes, beloved,] the soft mindvoice whispered. Hands framed her face, warmth sinking into chilled skin, another kiss on her temple, a murmuring voice in her ear, grounding her, the love and shining pride cradling her. [Breathe. There, yes, that's good. Again.]

[Why do you have to tell me to breathe?] she Sent dazedly, nonsensically.

Amusement flickered. [Because you keep forgetting to. You were in one of those trances of yours for over four hours.]

[Say what?] she Sent blearily. [But it was only...a few minutes...]

[You're back now,] Kee Sent gently. [All right, you can open your eyes now.]

Theri did so to see Kee's sapphire eyes smiling down into hers, tried to reach up a hand to him but found she was too weak to move. He helped her to sit up in the conformable chair. [Oh no, the kids! Are they--?]

"Fine, with a few hours sleep," Mistress Yaddle said absently. The old one was perched on the edge of Rhyon's chair, one small green hand on the Wookie's head. "But all should be awakened first, to be sure their minds are centered again in their bodies."

Theri nodded and started trying to get up, but Kee held her down. [It's why you asked us to help you, remember? So let us do what we're here for,] Kee chided gently as Uloa hiked herself up onto the edge of Kylan's chair and went still, her mind reaching to touch and waken. Kee took the opportunity to scoop Theri into his arms and cuddle her close, warming her with his own body as he Sent wordless caresses.

[You did it, beloved. Or at least so I would assume. Look,] Kee Sent, directing her eyes to the hologlobe spinning slowly in front of them. A pinpoint of brilliant blue sparked not far from CorCom headquaters. [I caught only a few glimpses, but I felt when you and the children locked on. A very strong locus, I would say.]

"Did it work?" Tas' voice was slurred as she woke up enough to realize where she was and why.

"Oh my head is killing me," Kylan said, rubbing behind his ears, eyes closed against the muted afternoon sunlight. He sighed as Uloa's small hands settled on his temples and began numbing the pain.

[Feel like I've been torn into little bits,] Rhyonluppa Sent woozily. [Piece of me here, piece of me there, me all over.]

"See for yourselves, kids," Theri said, gesturing unsteadily at the hologlobe. "We found *something*. I think we only got the coordinates, though. Forty-seven point three-five north by one-fifty-nine point six-eight west. Near CorCom."

Kee reached over, pushed the Save button on the hologlobe base and turned the projector off, did the same with the graphicspad he'd used to record the coordinates he'd heard in his lifemate's mind. "We'll go see what's there tomorrow. For now, you all come sleep at our place."

"Yes, Master Kee," Tas said tiredly and they all somehow managed to stagger together to the lifts.

"They'll sleep til tomorrow?" Kee asked Yaddle quietly a few minutes later, looking down at Tas curled asleep on one of the big chairs in the front room of his apartment.

"Late tomorrow morning, most likely," the old one chuckled softly. "Deserved it, they all have."

Kee nodded, more aware of his lifemate's sleep-darkened mind than any other concern. Kylan and Rhyonluppa were stretched out together on Ben's bed, both deeply asleep.

Yaddle looked up at the tall Jedi Master and smiled gently. "Give thought, you might, to finding more room for Theriyah's menagerie. Not good, they should be apart."

"An appropriate choice of words to describe them, Mistress," Kee said quietly, his mouth quirking into a grin. "But perhaps I shall have to look into finding a bigger place for us."

Yaddle gave him a gently teasing look. "When Obi-Wan was young, you did the same so that he would be with you always. Now, no different. The young need room to grow."

Kee smiled, remembering a nine-year-old Ben Kenobi heartily approving, in his little-boy way, of the new room all his own that he could stay in when Kee was home between assignments. Back then, before Yoda had given Ben to him permanently, he'd delighted in stealing Ben away and spoiling him rotten. So long ago now... "You're quite right, Mistress. I shall look into it tomorrow. Theri needs to be with her students."

Yaddle chuckled and moved to the door. "Let them eat when they awaken. They will need it by then."

Theri lay in bed for some time after waking, one arm over her eyes to block out the late morning sunlight. She felt stiff and tired, worn out, even after a good ten hours sleep. She didn't even want to move or get out of bed. Whatever reserves of energy she'd managed to regain in the last week of meditation and relative rest were gone again. She was so tired of feeling tired and run down.

She'd tried everything she could think of to rearrange her schedule to reduce the stress and while she'd been relatively successful she still felt terribly listless with fatigue. She'd simply started dragging the kids with her everywhere, let them do some of the running and arranging, delegating responsibilities. They *were* her apprentices, and she *did* have three of them. And it had proved to be a good thing, giving them some responsibility and duty, showing them to find lessons even in the mundane, everyday work of living. She'd taken a page from Kylan's book in that respect. As much as she taught, they directed the teaching. As Inda had once urged she simply lived by the Force and taught what she could when she could. It helped a great deal in reducing the frayed emotions she'd fallen prey to over the last few weeks, helped to settle her mind about Maul and Niharn and the Council making her a true Master.

But still she felt physically drained almost all the time. The thought of a two-hour Soritsu-ji session made her shudder. Two hours with her lightsaber didn't bear thinking about. She could barely manage one hour after first bell when she was presumably at her most rested and energetic.

[Shall I bring you breakfast, beloved?] Kee Sent softly. She'd been alone in the big bed when she woke, but as ever felt Kee's mindtouch as real as if he'd been snuggled against her physically.

Food. She was starving. [Can you bring me some of those sweetcheese pastries from the lunchroom?]

A smile threaded through Kee's Sending. [Your wish is my command. I'll be home in a few minutes.]

[Better bring a dozen, we've a crowd to feed,] she reminded him.

[Indeed. We can talk while we eat. I have somewhat to discuss with you all.]

[Oh? How so, love?] Theri asked, kicking the comforter away. Kee's love and energy always helped to get her going in the mornings now when the faint worry he tried so hard to suppress didn't thread through their lifebond.

[I've been looking for a new apartment for us all.] She felt his smug satisfaction, his contentment. [You and the kids should be living together. So we need a bigger place, since our apartment now is far too small.]

Theri rolled her eyes a little and grinned as she got to her feet slowly. Kee was always happiest when he was dealing with children or apprentices. He simply loved having a family around him, taking care of that family. And now there definitely was a House Jinn to take care of, he was wasting no time in doing so.

Then the thought of Ben sobered her. Ben was gone on assignment. If they moved out, would he choose to go with them?

[Hmm. That's a thought, dearheart. Maybe I should send him a message,] Kee Sent, hearing her thoughts. [The housedroids will fetch and carry for us, but I do need to send to see if he wants to live with us or stay in our old apartment. I confess I can't predict what his answer would be, so I'll send a message.]

Theri nodded as she slid under the warm water in the shower, tried to let the heat of it banish the aches and stiffness. Her conscience told her she needed to put her own apology to Ben in that message, but dread of his reaction held her back. No. She'd much rather apologize in person and take whatever he would say and do face to face.

Theri was very proud of her students' control of their excitement, glad that Tas realized that the ship itself was not the focus of this whole situation. Rhyon understood as well that they weren't doing this for greed or acquisitiveness. She listened intently with mind and voice as her students talked while they ate, staying quiet, busily stuffing in the meltingly sweet pastries Kee had brought. She was so hungry.

"Mistress Theri?"

[Yes dear?]

"When we've got the ship rebuilt, where are we going to go first?"

Theri straightened up and leaned back against Kee's chest, felt his smile as he nuzzled her hair. She took another huge bite of her third pastry and looked over at Tas with a slight shrug. [I haven't thought that far ahead yet, dear. I assume you mean our first trip after we've made sure the hyperdrive isn't going to explode or something like that.]

Rhyon whuffled a laugh at this, and Tas giggled. Kylan had gone back to his own room a few levels down and would meet them later but Tas and Rhyon had been too sleepy and too hungry to trudge all the way down to Level 5 for breakfast and then down to the sublevels to Inda's room to wash and change clothes. Tas fit a set of Theri's own grays well enough even though she was slightly smaller. Theri found herself remembering her younger sisters.

They all ate in silence for a moment as Theri thought about what Tas had asked. Where would they go? Her first thought was Zharvan, wistful memories of her own first year with her Master. She felt Kee kiss her hair and his wordless sharing of the sadness. Truly she hadn't thought about where they would go beyond a vague idea of somewhere far away from people, but that described roughly three quarters of the known galaxy. "Let's think about that when we get there, Tas. For now, let's concentrate on the here and now. Focus on the moment and the task we've set ourselves. And today, that task is going to find that ship."

"Indeed," Kee said with a sigh. "And I am going with you. Ah, now, love--" he stopped her protest with a small shake. Theri turned to look up at him. "You are going to the Undercity, you are going to be poking about inside an abandoned and derelict ship, with only you and Kylan armed with your lightsabers. I'm going with you."

And that is that, his tone clearly said. Theri sighed and nodded, grateful nonetheless. She had been worried but hadn't wanted to admit it. Stubborn goat-headed pride, her old Master would call it, and she would agree. It *was* pride and goat-headedness, and had no place in her mind where the safety of her apprentices was concerned.

"Well, let's go collect what we'll need then," she said, struggling up to her feet from the warm confines of her lifemate's arms.

The Mystics met at the entrance to the Temple's hangar. Kylan turned to grin at his teacher as Theri and the others came from the broad hallway leading to the Temple. Tas and Rhyon were grinning with excitement, Theri was smiling and eager for the adventure, Kee smiling faintly and holding her hand as they walked. Kylan tossed the long braid of his hair back, tugging absently at the field combat uniform he was wearing, quirking an eyebrow at Theri who returned his silent question with a smirk. She was wearing her usual grays with Ben's old olive drab army jacket. Tas had a thin thermal jacket on over her uniform grays and of course Rhyon had his fur. Kee was wearing his Jedi cloak. Coruscant's early winter was chilly this year, but fortunately the day was brilliantly sunny.

"What's the weather like at CorCom today?" Theri asked Kylan as they met.

Kylan shrugged. "Overcast and windy. They're predicting rain later tonight."

"Oh wonderful," Theri said flippantly. "Any chance it'll snow?"

"Not this early in the winter," Kee said. He was moving to one of the nearby comscreens, bringing up a weather schematic as he spoke. "Yes, seventy percent chance of rain tonight, but not til after dark. We should be fine."

"Tas, Rhyon, you've got your tools and stuff?" Theri asked, turning to the two.

Rhyon's whuffle was affirmative and Tas swung her small backpack off and hefted it. "Uh-huh. Rhyon's got the med-kit."

"Everyone have their locators?" Theri asked. She shoved her jacket sleeve back to make sure her own locator was fastened securely around her wrist. Rhyon whuffled again, holding up the strap of the small satchel he wore slung over one shoulder to display the small device fastened to the strap, Tas had hers clipped onto her belt as did Kylan. "All right. Do we have a space to bring the ship?"

Tas nodded, pointing down the hangar's length. "Down there, at the other end near the back corridor. Master Koon said we could have that corner no one ever likes to use. Then he did that wierd laugh of his."

Theri grinned a little, knowing exactly what Tas was talking about. Koon's growling laugh was enough to unnerve anyone who didn't know him well. "Kylan, did you set up the tow?"

He nodded. "Yeah. They'll send a transport when we call and lock on with a tractor beam, then repulsor-lift droids will bring it into the hangar when we get here."

"Tas, you've got the comm numbers for the Registry office?" Theri asked.

"Yup. In my comlink's memory."

Theri rolled her eyes. Youthful enthusiasm, or was it obsession? With Corellians and starships, one could never tell. "All right, let's go."

She felt Kee trying to suppress his grin, elbowed him in the ribs. A chuckle broke free as they climbed the rampway into the waiting cloudhopper.

[What?] she Sent as Tas and Rhyon pushed forward into the pilot's and co-pilot's seats ahead of them.

[You. Such authority in your voice,] Kee Sent back mischievously, laughter bubbling in his mindvoice as he settled into a seat. [Dividing up tasks, giving orders.]

Theri gave him an arch look. [I learned from the best.]

Another soft chuckle.

The cloudhopper hovered over the exact coordinates, suspended just over the gleaming obelisk of the Seren-Dynar building. Below and to one side a landing platform floated seemingly unanchored in the air on massive grav-lift pads, a small corporate shuttle on the platform. Theri keyed the sensors for an exterior downward view as Tas sideslipped the cloudhopper and ducked it under the landing platform.

The screen showed the side of the building descending into a brownish gray haze, indistinct squared shapes outlined in the haze thousands of feet below. "The Coruscant of today was built on the bones of yesterday," she muttered to herself. "Can we breathe that muck down there?"

"Yes, but not for long," Kee said in warning.

"This seems very familiar," Kylan said, gesturing at the screen.

"Of course, love, we were just here yesterday," Theri said, giving him a smile.

In front of them, Rhyon whurffled in agreement. [Yes. Saw these buildings, remember?]

Tas shivered a little and clutched her controls. [I still think it's damned creepy. It took us two hours to get here in a fast-traffic pattern, we sent our *minds* here yesterday without even working up a sweat...]

Theri reached forward to put a steadying hand on Tas' shoulder. [I know, dear. But now the rest of the scam will be up to you and Rhyon with nothing more exotic than a spanner and lots of late nights.]

Tas nodded and grinned a little, dodging the little cloudhopper around a zipping transport as she started her descent toward the Undercity.

The first warning chime came from the cloudhopper's sensor systems as they sank past level 25. The plascrete and duralanium walls blurring by outside began to be tinted by the sepia tones of the rising haze. Then they were past level 10 and another warning sounded. Kylan grunted and reached to override the warning system but they knew that wouldn't last long. CorCom's traffic controllers were still tracking them and would send a patrol ship in a matter of minutes. Then the little cloudhopper was dropping down into the clouds of ozone and particulates, a mass of mud-colored air that hit the hull of the little transport like a muffling blanket. Visibility instantly dropped to only a few meters. Tas brought the cloudhopper to a barely-descending hover, carefully feeling her way down in the sunlit half-darkness.

Theri felt Tas and Rhyon suddenly close off their minds in single-minded concentration, the tension in their thoughts narrowing their focus to their controls and the brownish twilight outside the cloudhopper's windscreen. Kylan caught her eye and gave her a tense look, but Kee's serene calmness made her relax. Theri sat back in her chair, closed her eyes, and reached for the spiral of the Force, let it fill her, let it draw her, let it whirl out to the savage world around the cloudhopper's hull. She sensed life down there, fleeting flickering shades of predatory attention, fear, desperation, astonishment. Undoubtedly the little cloudhopper had already been spotted and was being tracked. The underpinnings and skeletal metal structures of the buildings above them rose around them like trees, black slashes in the half-dark, shrouded in the brownish mist. Then the sensors blipped urgently and Tas jerked the cloudhopper up several meters nervously, jostling everyone.

"Sorry," the girl said, her voice high with strain. "That's the proximity alarm. I think we've arrived."

"I don't see anything," Kylan said, studying the screen with the exterior downward view.

Tas pulled the cloudhopper down a meter at a time, and as one they all gasped in surprise.

A shape emerged from the murk, a disk-shaped primary hull with a starfighter-like, wedge-shaped, blunt-nosed cockpit section. The hull was pitted in many places from the effects of a hundred years of rusting and rain. Originally it had been white, but most of the paint had long ago bubbled off and scattered across the upper hull like drifts of dead leaves. Nogaran script had once labelled the fuel intakes and the cautionary warnings on heat sinks and exhaust ports, now obscured by time and neglect.

Theri gulped. Unnerving, to see this ship with her own physical eyes when the day before she'd seen it through the gathered minds and souls of her students.

"All right, then," Tas said, her voice shaking a little. She nodded to Rhyon emphatically. "Go! I'll stay here and fly the 'hopper, you go on and check it out."

Rhyon gave her a steady look, whuffled a question to her.

"Don't worry about me! I'll be the one safe up here in the 'hopper, you're the one about to break into a derelict ship in the Undercity!" Tas snapped at him. "We'll have plenty of time to gawk at it once we've got it home!"

An emphatic chuff from Rhyon and the young Wookie was swarming back into the cloudhopper's tiny entranceway, catching up Tas's pack and unzipping it hurriedly, stuffing tools and a lock decoder into his satchel, then digging out a flat, doubled plane of dark metal, unfolding it with a locking snap.

Theri rolled her eyes as she saw Rhyon unfold the hoverboard and finger the power connection. She got to her feet with Kee and Kylan a step behind her, making sure her lightsaber was secure on her belt. "How many meters down is it, Tas?"

"Twenty meters, give or take," the girl said nervously, eyes darting from altimeter to gyrohorizon to the gray-brown murk outside the canopy.

[Are you certain you can handle a jump from that height?] Kee Sent to Theri worriedly.

[Of course,] she answered serenely. [It's not the fall that kills you, it's that sudden stop at the end.]

Kee snorted a laugh at this, shaking his head. He swung his cloak off and threw it over his chair as Rhyon reached for the cloudhopper's ramp control.

Rhyon gave a happy snort, sprang forward, and somehow the hoverboard ended up under his huge feet, activating before he'd even fallen past the end of the cloudhopper's rampway. The young Wookie's howl of joy echoed in the still, dead air. Kylan gave Theri an exasperated grin, ran down the ramp and somersaulted off the end. Theri squeezed Kee's hand then copied Kylan's move backwards. Kee just shook his head and ran lightly down the ramp, dropping off the end to the hull of the ship below, landing a bare second behind his lifemate.

[Oh, gods, the air--!] Kylan Sent, and Theri felt his wordless protest and revulsion. She heard Rhyon sneezing and snorting, took a breath herself and nearly fell to the hull of the ship when the air clawed and burned all the way down her throat. Kylan was coughing a few yards away, kneeling on the ship's hull, before he called the Force to him to calm his body's reactions. Theri nodded and relaxed into the Force herself, felt Kee doing the same.

[Get to it! Now! Before we suffocate!] Theri snapped, and they all nodded, began to move.

Rhyon, still snuffling and snorting, reached into his satchel and began removing objects, tossed a transponder unit to Theri and a datapad to Kylan, a magnetic wrench to Kee. They'd planned what they would do on the way to this place. Theri oriented herself on the upper hull where she stood; a flat circular plate, the sort that covered cannon turrets when not in use, a few feet away. Yes, it looked to be amidships. Kylan was moving behind her quickly to the two vertical stabilizer fins just behind her, trying to find the registry numbers. Theri knelt, cleared off some of the debris as best she could from the patch of hull she stood on and attached the transponder, grunting as the powerful magnets pulled the small device out of her hands. She hit the switch and a small light began to blink steadily. Her eyes were starting to water in the assault of the acrid air and she stopped to dash the tears away, looked up at the cloudhopper. [Tas? Is the beacon working?]

[Yeah, it's registering,] Tas Sent, and Theri felt the strain in the thought.

[We'll hurry, dear,] Theri Sent back reassuringly. She turned and followed Kee as he walked over to the edge of the upper hull and peered over a moment before dropping out of sight. She followed him as Rhyon zipped down around the hull of the ship, manuevering the hoverboard down around the nose of the ship, looking for the rampway.

Kee was already at work at the landing claws, which were clamped tight like bird's talons around a bare gridwork of steel I-beams. Theri landed on one of the beams, skittered lightly along it to leap to another just below the nose of the ship, walked along underneath the main hull. She tried not to think of the drop she'd just jumped across. She couldn't see anything past a few meters, and had no idea how far down it was to the ground or another flat surface. She blocked the thoughts from her mind. Focus.

[I would Lift you instantly, dearheart,] Kee Sent reassuringly, overlaid on the feel of strength and the Force tugging at the resisting manual release on the rear right landing claws.

Rhyon zipped up on his hoverboard to the lower hull just at the junction of the main hull and the cockpit section. The rampway was visible here, locked into the underside of the hull, closed and presumably locked. Whoever had lost this ship must have intended to come back for it, and so would leave it locked. A lockpanel, dark and dead, was beside one end of the rampway panel. Rhyon, still snurffling and sniffling, bared his teeth in a grin and held up his lock decoder to the lockpanel.

[I'm not going to ask how you got a lock decoder,] Theri Sent to him wryly.

[Is Tas' decoder, not mine!] Rhyon Sent, his mindvoice full of offended innocence. [I am just sweet innocent Wookie.]

Theri rolled her eyes at this, caught the line from the magnetic grapple he stuck onto the end of the rampway in case they had to pull it down themselves.

Kylan landed on the I-beam nearby, dropping neatly off the upper hull of the ship near the engines, wiping the streaming tears off his face from the clawing haze. [I've seen no serious damage to the hull. No gashes in the hull, only a few dents. One of the stabilizers is shot all to the Core, though. The pilots must have been forced to land from loss of atmospheric rudder control. There's scorch marks on the wings and the canopy looks nearly opaque. Wasn't there some sort of energy weapon way back that destabilized transparisteel so that it clouded over?]

[Yes, they were banned by the Senate over a hundred years ago,] Kee Sent. [Used by the N'd'kalla, primarily. Since this ship is of Nogaran design, that fits.] The ages-old conflict between the N'd'kalla and the Nogara Empire was something the Jedi could only try to moderate, not end completely. So many attempts had been made by the Senate and the Jedi to end the racial warring that both had long ago given up any further involvement. When the two endlessly-warring races wished to end their argument, the Jedi and Senate would respond but until then they stayed well clear. Sometimes you had to know when to quit.

Rhyon sneezed again then whurffled as the lock decoder cycled through one last time, running billions of combinations through the old lock mechanism before a green light showed on the little screen. The rampway cracked open and Theri tugged on the grapple line to assist the mechanism.

A blast of horrible, reeking, putrid air rushed out of the opening rampway, and Theri wasn't the only one who gagged and nearly lost her breakfast.

[No, is good!] Rhyon Sent, reeling away from the stink, zipping the hoverboard away unsteadily for a moment, wiping futilely at his streaming eyes. [Means the hull has no leaks! No hull breaches!]

[Means we're going to be spending the next week stinking,] Kylan Sent in a grumble.

[Just think how clean the ship will be once we're done, though,] Theri Sent back, trying to see the positive.

Rhyon gestured Theri over to the rampway as he zipped forward and dropped onto the ramp, flipping his hoverboard out from under his feet as he waited for her. Theri nodded, took her lightsaber from her belt and jumped to the ramp. Kee and Kylan followed a moment later.

Theri turned on her saber, the orange afterimages prominent in the impossibly thick air. [Tas? We're going inside now!] she Sent up to the girl in the cloudhopper.

[All right! Be careful! The patrol ships are starting to show up! What do I tell them?]

[Tell them this is a Jedi matter under the supervision of Master Qui-Gon Jinn,] Kee Sent up to the girl. [Tell them I will speak to them momentarily when we have gotten back up to the 'hopper.]

[Yes sir,] Tas answered, obviously relieved.

[Tell them we're salvaging a ship,] Theri Sent also. [It's not like it's illegal. You can quote them the reference numbers of the salvage laws if you want.]

A brief flash of amusement from Tas. The thought that any Corellian would be quoting laws to law enforcement was laughable.

Theri and Rhyon moved together up into the ship, her lightsaber throwing bright yellow-orange light into every corner around them, the Wookie padding silently at her side, every sense on the alert. Rhyon dug in his satchel again, brought out a handlight and flicked it on.

Ahead of them the corridor stretched into darkness, the light showing the outlines of open doorways to the left and an open area further down to the right past another pair of doorways. The deckplates were covered in a thin layer of dust that shifted into flight as they walked forward. The rampway was the middle third of the corridor, like a long trap door in the floor. They turned, looked back to the other end of the corridor. It opened out into the cockpit, the handlight's beam showing a very large pilot's chair and consoles to either side. In fact the entire ship seemed scaled up for something somewhat larger than human standard.

[It is,] Kee Sent, and Theri caught the image in his mind of a huge, hulking, humanoid and felinoid shape. [Nogarans are about twice human standard size and mass.]

Rhyon chuffled, snorted a cough in the odious reek almost as strong as the Undercity haze, moved up the corridor toward the cockpit.

[I've called the Registry Office,] Tas Sent, strain in her mindvoice. [They're running the Registry numbers now. Uhm, Mistress? I'm starting to pick up life signs. You'd better hurry!]

"Damn!" Theri cursed under her breath. "Move it, Rhyon, we've started attracting company!"

A bark from the Wookie and he rushed up the corridor, kicking up the dust as he went. Theri caught the datapad he sent hurtling down the corridor toward her, Lifting it in a throw to her. [Go to check engines for radiation!]

Theri nodded as Kee turned on his own lightsaber to use for light, and they moved down the corridor toward the aft section of the ship. [Kyl, stay here and keep watch, willya? Don't want something from the Undercity sneaking up behind us.]

[Got it,] Kylan Sent firmly, walking down the ramp to keep watch.

"Here," Kee said, gesturing at a doorway at the end of the corridor. "It's either the hold or the engine room." He searched over the small panels in the wall at the sides of the doorway, opened one, waving away cobwebs to pull an orange release handle revealed inside. The door in front of them thunked once as the automatic mechanism inside disengaged and Theri turned off her lightsaber to use both hands to slide the door open.

[Is engine room!] came Rhyon's Sending. [The hold is down below, underneath.]

With Kee's strength Theri managed to get the door open enough to slip inside, turned her lightsaber on again for light, holding her blade close to her body so she didn't fry anything. Fortunate, as it turned out she was in a tiny claustrophobic room filled with componentry, tools, chemicals, cabling, ductwork. Kee turned off his saber and ducked in beside her, barely fitting his own considerable height and mass inside the tiny room with her. She handed him the datapad and turned off her saber so it's energies wouldn't cloud the readings. Darkness swallowed them again and she was very grateful for the warm strength she leaned into, felt his free arm go around her.

[It's dark and we're alone,] he Sent mischievously.

[And we're busy,] she responded mendaciously but she smiled under his kiss. He chuckled a little and kissed her forehead, held her close as the sensors in the datapad scanned the componentry around them. [Hmm. An old fission plant, still hot. Leaking, but surprisingly little. The radiospectroscope reading indicates the metal of the engines is one hundred seventy-five years old. Not too bad, actually. The Justice was built almost four hundred years ago. Ships tend to be long-lived if they're taken care of. The children will undoubtedly want to replace the powerplant with a fusion plant, much safer and far more efficient, not to mention smaller and easier to maintain. Fluidic control systems. They'll definitely want to replace those. The fission plant should be stable enough for the tow home to the Temple--]

The floor lurched under their feet and the whole ship shifted unsteadily.

"What the hell--?" Theri yelled out into the corridor.

"Ther! Get out here!" Kylan's voice yelled stridently from the rampway. "The beams under the ship are starting to buckle!"

"What?!" She flew out of the engine room at a run, Kee at her heels. "Rhyon! Come on!"

[One minute!]

"No, Rhyon, now!" she yelled back. "Whatever you're doing it can wait for later!" [Tas! Is the towship here yet?] she Sent to the girl.

[Yeah, they just got here! Get out of there! There's something coming up the girders toward you!]

[Kid? Better move it!] Inda Sent suddenly, worry in his mindvoice. [You do NOT want to know what's coming up from below!]

Rhyon appeared from the cockpit, stuffing a datapad and several filedisks into his satchel as he came toward them at a run, his hoverboard in the other hand. She tossed him the datapad she and Kee had been using, slid her saber onto her belt again as she followed Kee down the rampway to join Kylan at the foot of the ramp.

Vague shapes were moving below in the umber haze, dark transient outlines appearing and ducking out of sight again below them but obviously intent on swarming upwards toward the ship. Warbling screeches were beginning to drift up from below, yowling, deep resonant rumbles, the sounds of some massive machine grinding along. Theri swallowed, rubbing the tears off her face where her eyes still streamed in the sulphurous air. Rhyon zipped up and around the top of the ship. [Will go to help Tas! Can you all climb up on top of the ship?]

Theri nodded, stumbled a little as another lurch caught her unawares, feeling something shift beneath the ship far below. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" She glanced around, picked a girder nearby and jumped.

She barely made it, slipped off the girder as her forward momentum carried her into an overshoot, felt the Force catch her, steady her, holding her til she regained her balance.

[Damnit, girl! Watch what you're doing!]

The rebuke and fear that lanced through her lifebond choked her. She turned to look back at Kee who was standing with a hand out toward her, his fingers clenched as he held her through the Force. Another shift in the iron structure beneath them and she gasped, feeling vibrations in the beams beneath her feet. Glancing up at her lifemate frantically, she looked up at the hull of the ship above her, relaxed her soul into the Force and jumped straight up with all the power it could give her. [Come on! Something's coming!]

Dimly she felt Kee tell Kylan to follow her, felt him pushing the rampway of the ship closed with the Force as he leaped to the girders and manuevered till he could copy her move to the upper hull of the ship. The two appeared beside her, Kylan starting to have trouble breathing in the foul haze. She clutched his hand, wide-eyed.

[Tas!] she Sent, looking up at the hovering cloudhopper. [Can you come in closer?]

The cloudhopper immediately obeyed, the repulsorlift thrusters dropping it to only half a dozen meters off the upper hull of the ship. The little transport turned so the open ramp was visible. [Come on! Jump up!] Tas Sent desperately.

[One at a time!] Kee Sent firmly. [Kylan, you first!]

Kylan coughed rackingly, nodded, and straightened up to sight on the ramp of the cloudhopper. Theri reached further into the Force, put a hand on his shoulder and sent all the strength of the spiral she could muster into her apprentice's form. He quirked a grin at this, patted her hand, moved away, and jumped. The cloudhopper bobbed alarmingly as his weight landed and he nearly fell out, catching himself with one hand on the ramp supports.

[Go, beloved!] Kee Sent. [Tas has it back under control. Go now! Tell the towship to lock on the moment I jump for the 'hopper!]

Theri nodded weakly, tried to draw a deep breath and the air clawed at her throat and she doubled over in a fit of coughing. Felt the Force wrap around her again and suddenly she was propelled upwards in an eyeblink, felt Rhyon's furry hands haul her inside the cloudhopper.

"Master Kee!" Tas screamed from the cockpit.

Theri whirled, staggered over to the ramp--

The ship was beginning to fall to one side as the girders underneath it crumpled, and Kee was running upwards on the suddenly sloping hull--

[Beloved!] she Sent in terror--felt the Force shift around her, felt it race toward the Jedi Master at his call--

And he was leaping up, a blur of motion that caught at the very end of the rampway, his hands barely catching the ramp.

The cloudhopper twisted wildly with the sudden weight as Tas fought to control the listing and Rhyon gave a howl and dived down onto the ramp headfirst, his hands shooting out to lock around the Jedi Master's wrists. The young Wookie snarled defiantly, and Theri saw the muscles shifting beneath the black and gold pelt as he began hauling Kee up onto the ramp by sheer force of will. Theri and Kylan scrambled to catch hold of Rhyon's ankles as he started to slide off the ramp, dragged by Kee's weight.

They were all nearly blinded as the towship above them shot out it's tractor beam, catching the ship below as it began to topple from the girders, the bright yellow plane of energy locking on, pulling the derelict ship out of it's fatal fall.

Rhyon let out a roar and pulled for all he was worth. Kee came scrambling up onto the ramp as the massive tug hauled him upwards, caught Rhyon in turn as the Wookie reeled from his efforts, and the two clambered up into the cloudhopper with Kylan and Theri, all of them trying to breathe in frenzied gulping gasps.

[Good gods!] Kylan Sent weakly.

[Tas, the ventilators,] Theri Sent woozily.

"On it!" Tas snapped, and the whole group tangled together on the floor of the entranceway cried out in relief as fresh, clean, cold oxygen began blasting into the cloudhopper's cabins. "Look at that!"

[What?] Kee Sent dazedly.

"Look at the screens! Everybody! Look!" Tas called in excitement.

Theri pulled herself out from under Kylan and dragged herself up to look at the screen on a nearby console. A moment later the others were beside her.

Creatures. That's the only word Theri could think to describe them. Humanoid shapes with arms and legs strangely elongated and jointed, swinging up from below on the girders the way primates swung in trees on jungle worlds, hooting and howling to each other, leaping up to the spot where the ship had been only a few moments before. Huge massive many-limbed forms climbing limb over limb, moving out of the foggy haze like whales surfacing, catching one of the humanoid forms and stuffing it into a toothy maw with a satisfied crunch. Something screamed in a predator's warning and a swarm of small round shapes shimmied up a girder to the place where the ship had been. Then the sound of machinery grinding again, and a gigantic metal thing rose up through the haze, appearing like some mythical island from the dirty clouds of smog, subharmonics booming through the air to shiver all within range as mighty maglev engines pushed it upwards. It filled the space around them, pitted and rusted metal plains rising toward the little cloudhopper inexorably, and Tas gave a frightened yell and jerked her controls back. The cloudhopper zoomed upwards, breaking out of the haze with a scream of repulsors. The proximity alarm screeched and Tas yelled again, her inborn Corellian skill fueled by her fear to enable her to dodge the several patrol ships and the towship that hovered above them, well out of the conflict and the danger.

[Easy, Tas! We're safe! Ease off!] Theri Sent as soothingly as she could.

Rhyon whurffled, scooted down the short corridor and threw his arms around Tas' neck in a hug, one furry hand reaching to pat her hands clutched white-knuckled on her controls. The cloudhopper slowed and Tas' terrified grip eased.

"We made it, we're okay, we made it," Theri chanted softly, still gasping in the oxygen, tangled once again on the floor, this time wrapped in Kee's arms.

"We did it," Kylan wheezed, gesturing at the screen again. Their ship was rising below them in the grip of the towship's tractor fields, nosing up into the light of day for the first time in possibly a hundred years, debris falling away as it was lifted.

The patrol ships began to disperse now, turning away gracefully to ascend once more into the traffic patterns above them and Theri vaguely heard the irritated voices of the LEO pilots giving Tas a hard time.

And suddenly she'd had enough. She wriggled out of Kee's arms, got to her feet, and squeezed into the cockpit of the cloudhopper just behind Tas, gestured the girl to silence. "May I ask who I'm speaking to?" Theri said when the LEO officer on the comlink paused in his tirade to catch his breath. Her voice was hoarse from coughing and breathing the horrible foulness of the Undercity but the sudden snap of authority in it was unmistakable.

A moment of silence, then, "Captain Tal Kamra. And who is this?"

"Mistress Theri bel Kaitryn," Theri snapped back. "This is an authorized Jedi mission, all the proper permissions and notifications were filed with CorCom several days ago. Your continued presence and that of your compatriots is no longer required, Captain. Be on your way."

Another moment of silence, then the comlink connection went dead and the one remaining patrol ship pulled up and away into the traffic patterns above.

Tas turned to stare up at her Mistress with a look of stunned wonder. [Wow. You talked back to a LEO. You--you sounded like a *real* Jedi Master!]

Theri snorted wearily and hugged the girl. [Get us home, Tas. I'm too tired to be tactful and too out of breath to waste words.]

"Yes ma'am!" Tas said with a giggle as Rhyon whuffled happily and threw himself in the copilot's chair beside her and the two turned the little cloudhopper to follow the towship back toward the Temple and home.

"It's a good thing droids don't have noses," Tas giggled, ruffling her hands through her short reddish hair and watching the fall of dust that drifted toward the floor. "We reek!"

"What tactfulness. You're certain to become a diplomat, Tas," Kylan said dryly, his voice still hoarse and scratchy but he was no longer wheezing.

The infirmary's patch-up clinic was full of diagnostic beds and emergency equipment, the bright slashes of late-afternoon sunlight slanting in the windows making brilliant yellow glows on the beds and floors. Taslimi, Kylan and Theri were still waiting to be released from the healers' care. Kee had not been affected much by the miasma of the Undercity as he'd been able to control his body's reactions with long years' experience and the Force. Rhyon had been hustled off into a Wookie-sized bathing tank and even now they could hear his yowls of discomfort.

Tas snorted at one particularly yodelling howl, rolled her eyes.

[It's not really hurting him, is it?] Theri Sent to Tas worriedly.

"Nah. He's just a big baby," Tas answered with a grin. "He hates having to take water baths. You should see him when he's wet, he looks like a drowned sewer rat. If someone hadn't already invented sonics he'd have done it himself just to avoid water." She shook her head as another shattering yowl sounded. "But he'll feel much better once he's clean again and got the stink out. You do realize he'll make us brush him for an hour to get back at us for the bath?"

"Long as it doesn't require getting out of bed I'll agree to anything," Theri said tiredly.

Kylan quirked an eyebrow and snorted a laugh at this. "I'm sure Master Kee would appreciate that."

[Indeed,] Kee Sent as he came back into the infirmary, went to kiss Theri's forehead, smiling as he sat down on the edge of the diagnostic bed where she lay and settled her hand in both of his. "How are you feeling now, darling my dearest?"

"Better," she answered. "Just need a very long bath and a good night's sleep."

"And a good meal," Kee added, tapping the end of her nose with one finger in admonisment.

Theri grimaced slightly. The very thought of food in the midst of the stink that still permeated her clothing made her uncomfortably queasy.

"Ugh. Food," Kylan said wearily. "I think I'll go on a fast for the next couple days or weeks. Yeah, Mystic asceticism, I can get away with that."

"Master Qui-Gon?" One of the healers, a short, stocky Gorusan female with warty bronzish skin and clawed hands, cautiously pushed the door open from the Master Healer's office. "May we speak to you and Mistress Theriyah alone please?"

Kee blinked and stood up, helped Theri to her feet and they walked into the Master Healer's office, not knowing what to expect.

"Thank you, Amyx, go see to releasing the others. Except for the Wookie, of course," the Master Healer said as Kee and Theri came into her office. The Gorusan girl bowed and closed the door behind her as she left.

"Danya?" Kee asked softly as the Master Healer shuffled through the piles of filedisks on her desk, obviously trying to stall for time. "What's wrong? What have you found?"

Danya Niyerawel, Master of Healing of the Jedi Great Temple, had once been a formidable and tireless warrior, perhaps too much inclined to think with her lightsaber and not with her head. When a mission she had been in command of had gone horribly wrong she had watched a small town being systematically butchered by the mercenary hordes of Darth Niharn. It was the last time she would ever touch her lightsaber. Instead, she had returned home to the Temple, requested to enter medical training, vowing never again to allow another living being to be harmed through her actions or lack thereof. The long, straw-blond hair was more gray than blond now, the oval face beginning to be lined with wrinkles, the body not quite as whipcord wiry as it had been in her youth, but the dark blue Healer's cloak was the same as it had been for the last twenty years of her stewardship of the Jedi Temple's infirmary. And for all that time she'd been a friend. Kee respected her immensely, as much for her convictions as for her utter command of the living Force.

"Theriyah, are you certain you're Thretkethan?" Healer Danya asked.

Theri laughed. "Of course. Why? Let me guess, I'm showing up as genotypically Vaikerian!"

The Healer smiled at this. "No, thank goodness! One in the Temple is enough! I think you two had better sit down."

Theri and Kee blinked at each other in astonishment and Kee nodded to the sofa under the wide window. They sank down together, Kee's arm automatically going around her shoulders as she leaned into him.

Healer Danya pulled one of the other chairs around to face them and sat down as well, tossing back her ponytail of hair. "Theri, your medcharts say you're the fifth of twelve children. How old was your mother when she gave birth to your oldest sibling?"

The question was so unexpected that Theri's mind went blank for a moment before she could dredge up the answer. "Ama had Dalryn when she was forty-eight."

"And I understand this is normal for Thretkethans," Danya said, nodding as Theri confirmed it. "I've looked up what information we have on Thretketh. I don't have any answers for you except to say you're an early bloomer. Theri, you're pregnant."

Theri felt like someone had knocked the wind out of her, felt all semblance of calm and common sense fall out from under her. "Pregnant? But--how...? I'm only...twenty-seven..."

"Pregnant?" Kee said, equally stunned. His arm around her shoulder was shaking, his other hand clutching hers. "Danya, that can't be possible, she won't even be physically mature--"

The Healer held up a hand to forestall his words. "I know, Kee. I ran the test three times. Theri is two months pregnant." She gave the two dazed lifemates a long look. "That's why you've been so fatigued lately. Between the stress you're under and the pregnancy I'm surprised you're able to crawl out of bed in the mornings. However," she looked over at Kee with a very stern look, "You must reduce your stress levels and arrange things so that you can spend as much time as possible resting. If you don't find some way to get some serious relaxation you will lose the baby. I understand you've got three apprentices to train and now a ship to rebuild, but if you want to have this child you need to rest. You've been under far too much strain the last two months. "

Two months, Theri thought.

And then the horrible bone-numbing terror--

--The child could be Maul's.

The rest of the day went by in a blurring daze.

Getting cleaned up, getting dressed again, nodding absently as Tas told her she was going to the hangar, Kylan kissing her forehead as he left to go down to Inda's room to meditate. None of it registered.

[Beloved?]

She lifted her head, focussed her eyes on her lifemate's face. Such a shifting shimmer of emotions there, his aura shifted unsteadily in her sensing.

Kee sank down beside her on the edge of the bed in their room, the purple of twilight softening the angular lines of shadows. He took her hands, kissed her cold fingers, looking deep into her eyes searchingly. [It could be Maul's, couldn't it?]

That did it. The odd crystaline walls of her mindless daze shattered in a heartbeat and she was sobbing uncontrollably, her face buried in the silk of his tunic. And she was Sending in an hysterical babble, all her terrors and frantic apologies for nonexistant wrongs, the squirming revulsion that there was something growing inside her body like some alien insect, the dawning horror that it could indeed be Maul's child.

Kee rocked her, held her, let her cry, listened, grunted as her powerful Sending battered against the walls of the shields he'd thrown up around them both the moment she threw herself into his arms. She was more than entitled to a little hysterics. Nevermind they were one soul and one mind in two bodies, when terror and pain like this ripped through his lifemate the full Council and all the Sith could go to the Core for all he cared, he was *not* leaving her side. He felt like he should be angry at someone but there was no one he could think of who deserved it. This was no one's fault, it wasn't something that one could blame on anyone else. For all he knew the child could just as easily be Ben's or his own. In fact--

[Beloved?] he Sent again as the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions began to slow, freed one hand from around her to caress her face, banishing the streams of tears. [Listen to me. Yes, it *could* be Maul's child. But there's twice as much of a chance it could be Ben's or mine. Think, beloved! It's far more likely that it's Ben's or mine!]

[But if it's Maul's--] came the shaky Sending.

[If it is, it is. I shall not love it any the less because it will be your child,] Kee Sent the promise with all the love he felt for her behind it. [If it is Ben's, I shall be perfectly content and so will he. Well, he will once he gets used to the idea. I have shared you with him since the moment we met, and it does not matter to me in the slightest if he is the father. He is the son of my soul and all is shared between us three anyhow.] He nodded a little sadly at her guilty frown. [He will come back to us, dearheart. He rarely holds onto his anger for more than a few days, and he has had many other calls on him that have probably cooled it even more from neglect.] He kissed her for a long moment, dropping the last of the shielding he held around them as he felt her control had returned. [I love you, I will love you, I have loved you, every moment since the moment we met. This child inside you is unexpected but I promise you he or she will be loved and wanted and cared for the best I can manage.] More kisses, soothing away the tensions and strains of the bout of hysterics. [It is not a tragedy or a problem or something to be ashamed of. This child is life, beloved. Whoever the father is, this child will grow up with you for a mother and so it will be wondrous and incredible, just like you are.]

Theri caught her breath, fought back the tears that threatened again, grateful beyond words or thought. The overwheming emotions began to ease as she felt Kee steady her mind, felt the unshakable bedrock of her soul. He was the center of the spiral of her own heart. He was the anchor, she was the movement. The endless twinned circling of the Tandava.

She wasn't facing this alone.

And as she wasn't alone, she could face it.

"All right, R2, play the message."

R2-D2 whistled softly, turned his domed head, and began projecting the hologram message in the open space before the comscreen. Kee sat back in his chair as the image unfolded and steadied.

Ben Kenobi stood before him, smiling slightly, wrapped in his cloak, his tailbraid caught in a fold of the thrown-back hood. He'd gotten his hair cut short again, Kee noted. He looked once again as he had for the twelve years Kee had trained him. The image brought a wistful sadness at long-ago memories.

"Hello, Master," Ben started. "Though I suppose I am not required to call you that anymore. We are equals now, at least technically. I keep forgetting that. We have been equals now for more than a year." Ben ducked his head slightly, a little embarrassed at his own boldness, and Kee blinked in surprise himself. "I was glad to receive your message. It provided a welcome break from routine and pulled me out of the nit-picky details the Davion negotiators are insisting on. You jerked my mind back into some sort of perspective. Something which I'm sure you would approve of, as I'd gotten kind of numb between the ears for a while. All these little fiddly clauses and conditions....I'm a swordsman, not a negotiator. But for Torin and Seri, anything."

Kee nodded absently. Ben's restlessness often couldn't handle long, protracted diplomatic talks and negotiations. Several years of assignments to such situations had helped him somewhat in the patience department but it was still a struggle. One reason why the Council intended for him to be a military advisor and small-unit commander.

After a moment's pause Ben continued and a genuine smile came to his face. "So Coria has come at last. I wonder if you've managed to pry Master Windu and Torin off the ceiling yet? I'm leaving for Teravin tomorrow and I expect Torin will meet me at he landing field with the little one squalling in his arms." He looked down again, then back up and Kee saw strain and weariness in his former Padawan's stance now, an unfocussed, indefinable something in the eyes that sparked worry. "I've asked Master Yoda if I can stay on Teravin for a couple weeks before I come home. After all that's happened I feel the need for some solitude. I plan to go out to the plains east of Zeanankh, out to the Rajai territory. Torin knows where I'm going, if it's an emergency. Elder Rao and the tribe will leave me in peace after I've spent a couple days with them. They understand the need for peace and time alone. I need to forget for a little while, I need to clear some stuff from my mind. I know you understand."

More than you know, Kee thought to the image. I hope you find that peace, Ben.

"Your news of the Council's decision about Tas and Rhyon disturbs me. I don't trust myself to think logically or fairly until I've had a few days to think it all through. I am not angry at *her* anymore. But I need some time to figure out how I really *do* feel." Ben swallowed, shook his head, and looked back up again at the holocamera. "Tell her...tell her miss the girl I love. But I need to get to know the woman she has become. Ask her to grant me the time I need to do so."

She will, she does, Kee thought in answer. Your absence is an ache in both our hearts.

Ben straightned again with another shake of his head. "As for the true purpose of this message: Yes, go ahead and have the droids move my stuff into the new place. I can always move again later if things don't work out. But I will not assume right now that it will be neccessary to do so." Another half-smile then. "And for you, old man...I miss you and I wish you could come to Teravin with me. You'd love it there. I miss being your apprentice. I'll bet you never thought you'd hear me say that, did you? But it's simple truth. I'll be home in a couple weeks. I love you." He tried to smile again, raised a hand in farewell, and the image flickered out.

So I am not the only one wishing for the past, Kee thought.

"Save that message, R2," he told the little droid absently, and R2 acknowledged with a string of soft beeps. Kee got to his feet and crossed the room to the balcony door, opened it, stepped out into the cold of the night.

The bright firefly wonder of Coruscant at night swept out around him, the faint rumble of the waterfall below, the steady cold wind rushing up the walls of the Temple. The hum of repulsor engines, the throaty grumble of ion engines, the subharmonic shivers of a maglev slowing down far below. The distressed fitfulness of his lifemate's sleeping thoughts. The freezing stone beneath his bare feet. The small bubbling fountain just behind him, the smell of ozone and thruster exhaust.

So many changes. So much that stayed the same.

All he had left to guide him was love and the Force.

[All you have ever had to guide you, my son.]

The mindvoice layered with age and wisdom sounded from further down the Temple's height, somewhere below the plummeting waters of the falls. As it had from long before Kee's conscious memory, that voice held all the comfort and understanding that the Force could convey. He closed his eyes and swayed with the release of tensions he hadn't known he'd been feeling.

[Numb and tired, you feel, Qui-Gon. Sleep you cannot?]

[No, Master, I can't,] Kee Sent back. [You heard?]

The answer was a meditative telepathic grunt, acknowledgement and affirmative all in one. [Unexpected, it is.]

[For us all,] Kee agreed. [Master, what do we do...if the child is Maul's?]

A long sorrowful sigh, like wind through trees. [What we must, we will do. What is best for the child and for Theriyah, to ensure their safety. Maul must not discover this.]

[Master, there is a spy in the Temple, there have *always* been Sith spies in the Temple, and even if there were not she cannot stay cooped up here forever. Sooner or later Maul will find out and then he has only to do the math.] Kee shook his head and clenched his hands on the railing of the balcony. [If he is the biological father...he would have some...rights...to the child.]

A forceful telepathic snort at this. [No rights, he has, to your lifemate, Qui-Gon! Know this well, you do! No rights to a child he would wish for only so that he may get to Little One!]

[Master, it is the law,] Kee Sent timidly. [If he were to find out, he could request genetic testing. Then by the laws of the Republic he would have some rights to visitation and some say in the child's care and teaching even if he chose not to avail himself of those rights. He could demand visitation rights and any court in the Republic would grant such. We would have no legal recourse to prevent it save to prove he's incapable of caring for the child or is a danger to the child.]

[Not hard to prove, that will be,] Yoda Sent firmly. [No court would grant such to one who puts down 'Sith Lord' on forms and documents as his occupation!]

Caught unawares by his Master's quirky sense of humor, Kee chuckled a little and had to grin. [I see where Inda got his sense of humor,] Kee Sent quietly.

[Hmph. Got mine from him, I did. Lost him, almost, to the Comedian's Guild.]

Kee laughed helplessly at this, as he was sure his wise Master intended. [You give me hope, Master. And Ben will be coming home soon. No matter the problems it may cause, life goes on and night does not last forever.]

[Quite so, my son. Try to sleep now. Another long day, you will have tomorrow.]

Nodding, Kee turned to go back inside as his Master's presence faded from his mind.

Tas and Rhyon stood together just beyond the yellow and black striped safety lines, looking up at the starship they'd retrieved from the Undercity, silently sharing the beginning of a long-cherished dream.

For as long as Taslimi Choi could remember, starships were in her life. First at home on Corellia, playing in the grease and grime of her grandfa's repair shop, the sleek lines of fast-haul mail ships, the looming disk-shapes of stock freighters, the dagger shapes of scouts and fighters. Then the Republic cruiser that had taken her away from Corellia with Mistress Goza. The short side-trip, a minor treaty re-negotiation, between two of the trading families on Kashyyyk and the young Wookie child who had followed Mistress Goza around like a shadow until she noticed he was strong with the Force. Then arriving at Coruscant, and every ship imaginable in orbit or racing along in the endless traffic all over the planet. The one thing she'd always wanted of the material world was the freedom and power of a starship. Later, as she'd grown, she realized the myriad layers of meanings in her wish, but the shining hope of it remained undimmed and unchanged. Somehow, she suspected, there was something of the Way in it.

So she had learned all she could, and she worked on other ships, and she dredged up memories of long ago on Corellia, and she had written reams of letters to aunts and uncles and grandparents speaking of starships. Not hard to do when the subject was the prime preoccupation of a culture, as it was on Corellia. She'd absorbed all the symbolism and mythology she could on the subject, she'd studied schematics and technical readouts for days. Rhyon had helped, had joined her in her obsession, giving her ideas to improve systems or patiently listened while she rambled on senselessly about hyperdrive calibration. She knew she was obsessed. Sometimes she thought Rhyon must have the patience of a saint to put up with her endless looping. He was far more interested in inventing things than repairing, though he enjoyed the starship mechanics classes as much as she did. As much as she loved starships, she knew there were some things more important. Her friendship for Rhyon was one of them. The Way was another. But if she took care to balance all, she could have all three.

And here she was, looking up at the dirty, dusty, stinking mass of metal that would be her very own starship.

A small ship by modern standards, she was two hundred feet from nose to tail. The main hull was round. The cockpit section was vaguely wedge-shaped like a star fighter, the canopy a dark oval bump on the upper hull that extended from the main hull for a third of the length of the ship. Stabilizer fins and rudders for atmospheric flight swept back on the upper main hull, though one had been shot almost completely away. Blackened streaks from round holes on the wing edges showed that once the little ship had been in battle. An air intake on the underside of the blunt wedge-like nose funneled air to the ramjets used for atmospheric flight and provided cooling for the old ion engines and the laser weapons imbedded in each rounded wing. The little ship was very well armored, the hull plating thicker than modern, newer ships had. The cockpit canopy would need replacing, or at least a major re-grinding and cleaning. At the moment it couldn't even let in light much less the view needed to fly.

It didn't matter. It was a ship. It was a start.

Closing her eyes and centering herself, Tas reached to touch the Force as Mistress Theri had taught her, sinking her focus into the dragon-point, feeling the curious mental burning of the Force shining like a fusion reactor in her soul. The feeling of rightness she felt was something she didn't question. The affirmation of it pulsed with the oscillations of the Tandava, the spinning teardrop shapes diving around each other, pulling each other in orbit like binary stars or trojan planets.

She realized it wasn't the freedom of flight she wanted. It was the chance to create, rebuild, remake. The chance to take the dreams of her heart and make them reality. Yes. That was it. It wasn't Tas Choi who was doing this, ultimately. It was the Force creating it through her hands and mind. All that was required was that she get out of the way.

Opening her eyes again, she reached for her toolbox and her datapad, walked under the ship to the ramp lock, and began.

The rampway of the Ariala extended from the underside of the ship with a hiss of hydraulics, the bright autumn sunlight angular and dazzling. Ben, standing at the top of the ramp for a moment with his eyes closed, took a deep calming breath of the hay-scented air that rushed up through the airlock. He smiled then faintly and nodded to the pilot of the ship as he took up his pack and swung it over his shoulder and started down the ramp.

He heard the heavy whumping tread of mechanoid feet before he'd gotten halfway down. And then he came out into the full light of Teravin's sun and the last blast of summer heat seared through his skin in welcoming warmth. Not Tatooine's white blaze, but hot was hot and he wasn't about to complain.

"You sure took your own sweet time getting here," said a very familiar voice from beyond the yellow dazzle.

Ben laughed, the first real, unguarded laugh he'd had in two months. "I was doing your work for you, old man, couldn't you be a little more forgiving?"

The short, stocky figure in the tan and gray Jedi uniform came slowly into focus, and the first thing Ben saw was the tiny form huddled asleep on her father's shoulder, held there in one arm with the ease of a month's practice. Ben came forward almost automatically, dropping his pack, and reached to touch the baby's sleeping face gently as Torin turned slightly to let him see her. The baby's hair glinted red-brown in the bright sunlight and she burrowed into Torin's neck as she felt the strange mindtouch through Ben's touch on her cheek.

"She'll only sleep during the day if I'm holding her," Torin explained softly. "Kind of awkward driving my mech with her in one hand, but I'm managing. Elder Rao promised he'd have Tiv make me a sling to carry her in so I could have my hands free."

"I'll bet Seri had a conniption the first time you took her with you into your Dervish," Ben said, smiling at Coria as she wriggled a little in protest as Torin shifted her slightly. "Isn't it too loud in there for a baby's ears?"

"Nah, not this new mech, no." Torin grinned lopsidedly and held out his free arm to his friend, and they hugged carefully. "Welcome back, Ben. Better late than never, huh?"

Ben nodded, flipping his tailbraid back over his shoulder, picked up his pack again. Straightening up, he grinned a little. "Jedi Ghanbari, the negotiations with Davion Industries were concluded successfully. Representatives will arrive on Teravin to meet with you and your lovely wife in two Standard weeks. Until then, I have full copies of the contracts and agreements reached on Shaula Prime and specifications for factory sites for your inspection."

Torin laughed and kissed Coria's forehead as he shifted her again slightly, trying to ease his aching arm. Even twelve and a half pounds hurt after the first hour or so of carrying it. "Tell you what, Jedi Kenobi, if you'll carry the kitling, I'll carry your pack. She's gotten heavy and she loves Jedi cloak wool."

Ben smiled and reached for the baby, and Torin sighed as he straightened his arm again, rubbing the strained muscles gratefully. Coria half-woke, realized she was being held against something that wasn't her father, and started wriggling in protest. A moment later she started crying.

"Was it something I said?" Ben asked the little squirming bundle on his shoulder.

Torin snorted a laugh, reached over and put a hand on Coria's back. The crying died away almost instantly. "We're kind of stuck on each other," he said sheepishly as Ben looked at him in surprise. "As long as she can Hear me with her she's quiet, but she only has touch-sensing range at the moment. The only other times she doesn't cry are when she's eating, sleeping, or when I take her for rides in my Dervish. Seri says the engine vibration and noise must be soothing for her." He indicated the well-worn pathway from the smoothed plascrete of the rough landing strip and the low sprawl of rounded buildings nearby. "Come on, Seri's waiting for you. Believe it or not, that's the new Teravin Command over there. TeraCom."

Ben looked around, recognized the terrain. "Elder Rao said you could put it here? This is Rajai territory!"

Torin looked out over the waving grasses of the plains, the lush greens and yellows turning brown in the early autumn heat, and the white line of buildings far to the west just on the horizon that was Zeanankh. "Rao said they didn't mind if we were just here at the edge of the plains. He said they don't come this close to Zeanankh anyway, so the tribe wouldn't mind if we took up a few acres here for a landing strip and a few buildings. It's not a permanent site, it's just until Davion shows up and picks out their new factory site. We'll keep TeraCom with the academy, when there *is* an academy. And it's close to Zeanankh so we're not far from help."

A Shadowhawk was approaching, the great mech's strides shaking the ground beneath them as it walked slowly toward the landing field. It came to a structure that Ben thought was a three-story building, manuevered itself in front of it, then sank slowly to sit on top of the structure. It was then Ben realized the structure was a sort of giant plascrete and duralanium bench for mechanoids. The hatch opened on the back of the mech's head and a figure began pulling itself out.

"Mech furniture? And is that Jo's Shadowhawk?" Ben asked, quirking an eyebrow up at Torin as they turned to watch the mech.

"Yup. That's him and his mech," Torin answered with a smile. "And yes, that's mech furniture. We're having a smashball game tomorrow too. Half the population of Zeanankh's going to be there. We have games every weekend and the locals have turned it into a weekly carnival." He touched his daughter's face again as she started to protest and wriggle. "Come on, let's get inside."

"This is so silly," Theri said with a long sigh as Rhyon bounced up to her where she sat on a cargo container at the foot of the new ship's rampway. "Kee won't even let me help you clean."

[No moving!] Rhyon Sent firmly. [Not so much as a finger!]

Even my own apprentices are ordering me not to move now, she thought with a scowl. [Rhyon, I can't just sit here like a lump on a log--]

[No moving! Master Kee said so!] the young Wookie Sent back, digging through Tas' toolbox beside him.

[I could be up in the cockpit cleaning--]

[No. No and no. Tas and I have all under control,] Rhyon Sent, giving her a toothy grin. [Enough that you are here with us.]

"You call a possibly unstable fission reactor 'under control'?"

[Containment droids on the way!] Rhyon Sent with a snort of indignation. [Will be gone by tonight!]

Theri sighed and pulled her cloak around her, picked up her textreader again and leaned back against the crates behind her. [How's it going, Tas?] she Sent into the ship.

[Swimmingly,] came the flippant answer. [I found the source of the stink. I think it was meat in the cold-storage in the galley. I think it was meat, anyway. But don't quote me on that.]

[Found some chemicals spilled in the storage bins in the hold,] Rhyon Sent, pointing with a furry finger up to the belly of the little ship. [Reacted, I think, and made bad stink. Will get droid to clean up, I think. Don't want gunk in my fur.]

Theri grinned her understanding.

[Hey, kid, you feeling all right?] Inda Sent gently. The spirit's presence descended around her like soft rain, as if he was afraid to startle her.

[Good grief, not you too!] Theri Sent in an almost-wail. [Everyone's treating me like--like--]

[Feather-glass,] Inda supplied helpfully with a chuckle. [Sorry. Unexpected miracles must be treated delicately, y'know.]

[Unexpected is right,] Theri grumped.

A mental sigh from the spirit like wind in autumn leaves. [Well, how *do* you feel? You don't seem hysterical now.]

Theri snorted a mirthless laugh. [I'm sorry if that little--outburst--disturbed you. I know I'm supposed to accept everything with unruffled calm and equanimity--]

[Like hell. I never said you couldn't give in to the well-deserved bout of hysteria now and again. The Mystic Way is a goal, dear, not ironclad absolutes. The idea is to be balanced enough that such things don't throw you off-center. Not to be some kind of emotionless machine. If being emotionless was all it took we'd have droids for Masters. No, dear, I think you were entitled.]

Theri sighed and snuggled her cloak around her in the chill of the hangar, hearing the faint clangs as Tas banged on something inside the ship. [Y'know, you're a lot different than I imagined you'd be. A lot different than my old Master.] She grinned lopsidedly. [More human.]

Another chuckle from the spirit. [Legends are always painted as distortions, dear. And I've got all my life to live from now. I'm all the times and ways of my life now, the crazy kid and the dreamer and the troublemaker and the ascetic philosopher. I've got perspective now. I've got all the wisdom I had when I died and all the youth and energy of my younger days. So I'm a happy camper and the wise old man of the mountain too.] A pause, and Theri sensed things unSent, things under the surface that Inda didn't volunteer. [I just wish--]

[What?]

Another pause. Then, [Nothing, kiddo. Forget about it.]

And Inda's presence faded around her abruptly. Theri had the uncomfortable impression the spirit was fleeing her presence. She sighed and returned her attention to her textreader, weaving her mind through the fourth sermo of the Book of the Force line by line, puzzling through every bit of meaning she could squeeze out of the lines. It was so much easier to do this when she was reading it rather than just reciting it.

['Innumerable as the host of the Force is the number of Light and the Dark Side,'] Tas Sent teasingly as she bounced down the ramp, face smeared with something noxious, a wrench in her hand. [But of the Mystics, there are exactly four.]

A bark and whurffle from inside the ship. ['Four is the number of the principal Force, as four is the number of the world`s measurements. One is the beginning, the Force. Two is the creatura; for in life it binds the Force together and outspreadeth itself in brightness. Three is the Light, for it filleth space with bodily forms. Four is the Dark Side, for it openeth all that is closed. All that is formed of bodily nature doth it dissolve; it is the destroyer in whom everything is brought to nothing.']

"I see you have been studying," Theri said with a grin. " 'For me, to whom knowledge hath been given of the multiplicity and diversity of the good, it is well. But woe unto you, who replace these incompatible many by a single Light.' "

"Meaning the Jedi," Tas said, opening one of the nearby crates and taking out a hull scanner.

"And us too, in a way, Tas." Theri answered.

"What do you mean?" the girl asked, turning toward her again.

"The single Light means also the concept that there's a Force to get beyond," Kylan said as he came up to them, grinning broadly. "The highest god is the highest obstruction. Your most fundamental concepts are your greatest hurdles." He leaned over and kissed Theri's forehead, gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Makes it damned hard to teach, doesn't it, teacher mine?"

"Mmm-hmm," Theri agreed. "I was lucky with you, Kyl, you came preassembled."

Kylan chuckled, reached into his satchel that he carried, drew out a datapad. "Here, Tas. The Registry info."

Taslimi swiped the datapad out of his hand with a blur of motion and plopped herself down on the crate beside Theri. [Rhyon! Kyl's brought the Registry info!]

A roar from inside the little ship and Rhyon came bounding down the ramp.

"Nogaran light interceptor-cruiser, Registry number NG25260895, registered to Mitabaa Kelneth. Reported destroyed one hundred seventeen years ago. The registry lapsed sixty-seven years ago. No liens against the ship, no insurance or salvage claimed on it." Kylan reached over her shoulder and hit the Page Down. "Oh, good, you looked up this Mitabaa Kelneth person. Disappeared when his ship was destroyed, never came forward to prove otherwise. Presumed dead ninety-two years ago." Tas looked up at the dull armor of the little ship wonderingly. "Says here it's called the Norken Dal."

Rhyon and Kylan both snorted at this. "A Nogaran name, no doublt," Kylan said, tossing his hair back.

Theri looked up at the ship as well, feeling Tas' voice chime something deep inside her with the spiral of the Force. Connections forming again. "Call it the DawnStorm."

The others stopped and looked over at her, hearing the note of the Force in her voice, the sense of something beyond their teacher speaking.

"Inda's ship when they were thrown out of the Temple was the MoonStorm," Theri said quietly. "We're the new beginning. Therefore, our ship should be called the DawnStorm."

None of them spoke for a moment. They all knew the pain that Inda had endured when he and his students had been forced out of the Jedi Temple. It seemed a fitting way to honor the past and bring it forward into the present.

Finally Tas nodded, handed the datapad to her teacher. "The DawnStorm it is."

"All right, you're jacked. Now *think* of walking, but think of it like you're doing Soritsu-ji katas, one joint and muscle at a time. It's kind of like walking on a balance beam in slow motion."

Ben looked out of the vitriglass viewport of the Stinger mech, feeling the curious heaviness of the mech around him, the engines rumbling in his brain and through his bones, the sculptured rubber handgrips of the weapons controls in his hands. Status readouts floated in his visual field, glowing softly, power graphs pulsing with the cycling of the mech's engines and fusion plant. It's only twenty tons, he said to himself. This should be easy.

In front of the small green mechanoid, some fifty yards away, Torin's new Dervish stood waiting, the spherical head turned toward the smaller mech as Torin watched him. Mohli, the pilot of the little Stinger mech, had grinned when Torin asked for the loan of his mech for the afternoon to teach Ben the rudiments of flying a mechanoid. Then the pilot had locked out the weapons controls and unloaded the SRM racks and taken the afternoon off. The huge twenty-acre patch of trampled grass the mechs used as a smashball field made a good practice place and Mohli had been kind enough to leave the little Stinger sitting on the two-story tall mech bench beside the field. Beyond Torin's Dervish, Jovino's Shadowhawk waited, head turning serenely, small receiver dish whirling on the side of the mech's head.

"Easy as falling off a log, Kenobi," Jovino volunteered. "Hell, those little Stingers practically fly themselves. "

Ben nodded in acknowledgement, grinned when the view outside bobbed as the mech copied his movement. He heard Torin's chuckle over the radio link.

[Use the Force, Ben. Just like with your saber,] Torin Sent.

Ah. Yes. That's how Torin did it. Ben relaxed, sat back in the pilot's chair, oblivious to the hard shell of the neurohelmet enveloping his head and the coiled cable leading from the helmet to the console in front of him. He reached for the Force, let his self recede back into some other less prominent part of his consciousness. Imagined himself in a saber cube, his lightsaber in hand, the flow of the Force in his body washing away all thought. He let the image fade but kept the focus on the Force it gave him.

The sensations came in just as if the mech was his own body but overlaid with the faint electric sizzle of power and vibration. The little mech moved slowly, pushing itself off the edge of the mech bench and uncoiling from the sitting position to a full stand. He brought his hands up, and outside the viewports saw the blunt round snout of a medium laser on the arm of the right hand and two four-fingered rubber-coated mechanical hands. He wiggled his fingers and the fingers of the mech's hands copied the movements with an agility that surprised him. Fascinated he began to move forward unthinkingly, let his senses and feelings flow out into the metal beast around him.

There were a few abrupt lurches, a few hesitations as he worked out how to do something that should have been simple like changing direction. Humans tended to lean into the direction of the turn as they walked. Doing that in a mech would topple you over sideways into the grass. Moving too fast even in a small mech could land you flat on your back or on your face when you overbalanced. A mech demanded two-dimensional thinking, careful attention to weight distribution and momentum and leverage, a judicious eye on heat sink gauges and power graphs. It was a juggling act that somehow one must master enough for combat. With the Force the balancing needed to keep the mech upright was easy to achieve and maintain, along with a fair idea of what movements might be too abrupt or too off-center.

Nevertheless, by the time the little mech had made it across the field and back Ben was getting a headache from the neural demands and fatigue was starting to make him clumsy.

"Another couple years and you can come play smashball with us," Jovino chuckled through the radio link. "Three on three, the big bruisers against the little squirts. We let the little guys use their jump jets."

Ben snorted a laugh. He'd watched the unit playing smashball the day before and still couldn't believe some of the moves he'd seen. The little Stinger began to lean sideways alarmingly as his concentration wavered and he compensated abruptly and brought the mech back upright again quickly. A moment later he was turning the mech slowly around in front of the mech bench where he'd started and sinking the Stinger back onto the rough plascrete with a sigh of hydraulics. The Dervish just behind him raised it's hands and clapped, the sound like slug-thrower shots.

"Oh please," Ben grumbled as he heard Torin laugh.

"I'll ask you to remember my first try at flying a mech," Torin said, "I believe you said at the time it was like watching me trying to dance."

"That it was," Ben said, the images vivid and clear in his mind.

The sound of Coria beginning to cry came through his headphones. "Uh-oh. Time for dinner I think." The Dervish moved over to the next mech bench in line and sat down smoothly on the house-sized chunk of plascrete. "Go ahead and jack out, Ben, Jo will help you. I've got to get Squirmy here back to Seri."

Ben smiled as the outraged little squeaks continued along with Torin's attempts to calm her.

Jovino talked him through shutting the Stinger down and he hauled the neurohelmet off with a long sigh of relief, the headache already starting to fade. He was drained from the intense mental efforts. Yes, mech pilot training would do a world of good for Jedi trainees, it would provide an intense practice of focus and control of the Force for extended periods of time. He could definitely recommend it. He'd not had to do such sustained work with the Force for quite some time. By the time he managed to climb down the Stinger's leg to the dust of the smashball field he knew the mech training academy was needed.

The grizzled old Shadowhawk pilot met him at the durasteel post that delineated one corner of the smashball field, grinned a little at the obvious fatigue. Ben shook his head at the old veteran, speechless.

"You get used to it," Jovino said easily, shrugging off Ben's tacit admiration. "My first mech was a thirty-ton Vakyrie, back in my trainee days. I think I slept for ten hours after my first hour in that thing. Ghanbari says it's not so bad for you Jedi, since you use the Force to help."

Ben tugged open the zipper on his flight suit, letting the cool breeze dry the sweat on his neck and face. He looked out past the trampled grasses of the smashball field to the rippling brown sea beyond, out at the gentle undulations of the plains. "Have you met the Rajai yet, Jo?"

"Yeah. The Elder, anyway, when he came to talk to Ghanbari. Canny old man." Jovino gestured back at the bulk of his Shadowhawk sitting motionless on the biggest mech bench behind them. "He was impressed by my mech. Said it was the biggest he'd ever seen. Then Talera walked up in her Archer and he turned white."

Ben grinned a little. The Archer mechanoid was the biggest mech in the unit, eighty tons, and the pilot Talera had painted it a whimsical blue with red polka dots when the company had settled on Teravin.

They came to the first of the small domes that were the temporary housing of the company and turned down the lane between them toward the TeraCom dome with it's small farm of dish antennas and transmitters. "You go on, Jo, I'm gonna go find Torin," Ben said as the pilot came to the door of the main dome. Jovino nodded and went inside and Ben turned again to the small dome a few yards further down the line.

[Seri? Torin?] Ben Sent as he came to the door of the smaller dome, and got a wave of wordless welcome as he pushed open the door and went inside.

Serala smiled up at him from the round mat of gelfoam covered in synthetic fur that was Coria's nest. She was curled up against the bright silks of several pillows with Coria suckling contentedly at a bottle full of fruit juice. Torin looked equally content to be sprawled next to his wife with his head on her leg.

"You three look entirely too happy with yourselves," Ben said, teasing gently.

"Can you blame us, Ben?" Serala answered, smiling as her daughter made odd little grunting sounds as she vacuumed in her tsala juice. One tiny fist freed itself from the bottle to wave in protest and Torin caught the tiny hand in mid-wave and the baby wiggled a little happily. "We're together, we have Cori, we have Teravin and we have the Jedi."

Ben nodded and sank down into one of the low chairs nearby, watching his friends. The couple were faintly surprised to see the wistful, almost sorrowful expression on his face. "Is it--Is it what you wanted? All of it?"

"Sometimes dreams do come true, Ben," Serala said softly as Coria wiggled a little. "When the dream is right."

"Or when the dream is shared," Torin added quietly.

Ben sighed, watching them. The small hoverlights in the apex of the dome were tuned to a dim blue tint that reflected off the white duraplastic walls of the dome, casting a gentle watery light on everything within. Outside it was late afternoon, overcast, gray wooly clouds marching past the western horizon. A cool breeze smelling of rain swept in the open window across the room, ruffling the slats of the mechanical blinds. Faintly the vibrations and thumps of a mechanoid's footsteps reached them from somewhere outside, the hum of a recon fighter sweeping by over the compound toward the larger domes of the hangars further down the roadway. The peace of the place was startling, the quiet almost eerie. Even the heavy thumps of the mechanoid walking outside only seemed to add a pulse to the silence, not break it.

Ben sat for long moments listening to that heavy tread, idly trying to figure out which mech it was while his mind wandered distractedly. He looked so lost in his own thoughts that Serala and Torin glanced at each other worriedly. Ben had never been one much for sitting still, he'd always been more for action than contemplation. Yet in the three days he'd been on Teravin he showed a new and disturbing tendency to retreat inside his thoughts with alarming ease. Something was definitely wrong.

Torin needed only to see Serala's worried expression to make up his mind. He sat up, kissed her, gave his daughter a nuzzle, and got to his feet. "Come on, Ben, let's go for a walk."

"Without Cori?" Ben asked with a faint smile.

"When she's hungry I take second place," Torin smiled back. "Seri will put her down for her nap after she eats. We've got some time to kill. Come on."

Ben didn't speak as Torin led him out past the collection of domes and transmitters into the whispering sibilance of the wind in the grass. They walked for some time in the stillness, following the tug of the rain-smelling breeze. In moments they lost sight of the TeraCom domes. Several minutes later they came to a small structure of duralanium, a weather-sensor station, set up at the northeastern boundary of the TeraCom landing strip, the winking red lights on top strobing steadily. Still they walked on in companionable calmness.

"When was the last time you and Master Kee had a real heart-to-heart talk, Ben?" Torin asked finally as they came to a low boulder some time later, settled down in the grass to lean against the cool stone.

Ben shrugged. "I can't remember."

"That's what he's there for, y'know," Torin said, watching the clouds moving overhead.

"That's what he was there for eighteen months ago," Ben corrected. "We're Knights now, Torin. I can't go running to him with every little problem anymore."

Torin snorted. "Like you did that when we were apprentices anyway? Hell, Ben, you were always the one talking everyone else through their problems. Sooner or later you were going to have a few of your own. Who better than Master Kee to help you?"

"Not when the problem itself concerns Master Kee," Ben said reluctantly.

Torin looked over at him in surprise at this. "What kind of problem could you have with Master Kee?"

"Not really a problem with him. The problem's with me." Ben shook his head and shrugged a little in faint unease. "It's just that it concerns him."

"And Theri," Torin guessed.

After a moment Ben nodded reluctantly.

"Don't tell me you're jealous," Torin said.

Ben snorted a laugh at this. "Never that. No. It's just--I see you and Seri so happy and I get to thinking. Wondering. And some stuff happened while I was on Shaula Prime that kind of got to me, made me think about all this in a different way. Stuff I hadn't thought of before."

"Oh?" Torin asked, leaning back against the boulder.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, old man, I learned that same trick from the same people you did."

Torin smiled a little. "Doesn't mean it won't work on you the same way it does on squabbling planetary govenors and Federation toadies. Just means you know I'm doing it. Besides, if you didn't want to talk about it you wouldn't have left the opening for me to start in on you. And you know you need to talk about it."

Ben nodded, picking distractedly at the grass beside him. "In a way I guess I am jealous of what Master Kee and Theri have together. But not in the way you think. It's not that I'm jealous of Master Kee being with her. It's the other way around. I'm jealous of Theri. Before we found her I had Master Kee all to myself. Then we found Theri and now...they've been shutting me out." He looked out over the plains and swallowed back the lump that came to his throat, took a couple deep breaths and forced the brief wistful pain back and away. "When Master Kee and Master Windu got captured by Niharn I was furious at Theri for using the impulsion loop on us, but I knew the Masters and the Council would take care of it. It took me a few days before I realized it wasn't the situation with the impulsion loop that had got me angry. It was how close we came to losing each other. Master Kee almost *died*, Torin. If Theri hadn't switched bodies with him he *would* be dead. And I was furious with them both for not letting me in on what they were doing." Ben sighed and swallowed back the lump in his throat again, took another couple deep breaths. All this had been locked inside for two months and it had to come out sometime, better here with Torin than at home where it could embarass him. "I think Master Yoda figured it out, though. That's why he sent me to Shaula Prime right after we got home from the Umbriel mission. He knew I needed time to work through all this away from Kee and Theri." He laughed a little at this. "Then I got to Shaula Prime and -- "

Torin put a hand on his friend's shoulder. Ben's voice had spiraled up with tension and unhappiness as he spoke, the words strained with the tears and anguish behind them. And Torin sensed there was more, something else that had compounded the fear and anger. "What, Ben? You know it goes no further than here, no matter what."

Ben couldn't, wouldn't, look up into his friend's eyes but reached out with his mind. To put such in words was unbearable.

[One of the Davion people, one of their engineers,] Ben Sent softly. The image tagged on the Sending was of a tall man with dark brown hair flopping over his startling light green eyes, a quick disarming smile, a gentleness of spirit with a raging passion held carefully in check. Torin caught his breath at the image. He was very strongly reminded of a much younger Master Kee.

[Yeah, so was I,] Ben Sent shakily. [I wondered if he was Master Kee's brother or something, but he's from Eltanin. He--he was--very--his name was---]

The Sending broke up and Ben snuffled, looked away, dashing a hand over his face quickly.

[You fell in love with him?] Torin asked softly.

Ben nodded miserably.

[And then you realized that wasn't who you really wanted,] Torin guessed, putting together years of small clues and half-forgotten conversations.

Again Ben nodded. [But it isn't just Master Kee. It's both of them. I want both of them. I can't think of one without the other and I can't think of me being anywhere but with them.] He ran his hands over his face to banish the rest of his tears. [What am I going to do? I want to be with them, I want to be part of them, but they've been circling down into their own little world without me and it hurts. It hurts too much. I thought I'd get over it, and I guess Master Yoda did too but I haven't gotten over it. After Darien, it's all just gotten worse.]

Torin took a few deep breaths himself, banishing the sympathetic tension he'd picked up from Ben's anguish. Think, he told himself. This is your best friend, he's falling apart at the seams and he needs you. Think. Don't just react and don't let your damned Ramosian prejudices get in the way.

[Ben. Go home. Go back to them. Don't ask for another assignment until you get this worked out. You know you'll be no good to anyone like this and it'll effect your judgment.] He gave Ben a little shake and Ben looked up at him at last and nodded reluctantly. [Don't run from it. If this is the will of the Force then you need to find some peace and quiet so you can calm down and see what it's trying to tell you. Don't go home to the Temple until you get your center back.]

[That's why I asked Master Yoda to let me come here to Teravin,] Ben Sent quietly. [I thought I'd go out to the Rajai and talk to Rao or maybe just camp out on the plains for a couple weeks. Go somewhere where I can think.]

[Sounds good to me,] Torin agreed. [You know you're always welcome to stay here with us as long as you'd like. This is your home too.]

Ben nodded again wearily. He felt like a few hundred metric tons of confusion and sorrow had just been dropped off his shoulders.

[Now how long has it been since you had a good night's sleep?] Torin Sent with a lopsided and very knowing grin.

Ben snorted at this. The whirlwind romance with Darien had been blindingly joyful and fleetingly ephemeral and he wouldn't trade the memories for all the fire-gems in the galaxy. A couple months' worth of missed sleep and punishing fifteen-hour days at a negotiating table were a small price to pay for such joy. They'd parted friends. Darien had realized only two weeks into the relationship that Ben's heart belonged elsewhere. But there had been joy nevertheless.

Ben could only pray that it was but a prelude, no matter his own hopeless hopes.

"First you make me sit still and now you're wanting me to walk?" Theri asked with a snort as Kee pulled her gently up from her spot on the crates just beyond the DawnStorm's rampway.

"I can always carry you," Kee suggested with a smile as he leaned down to kiss her.

Theri sighed and caught him as he started to pull away, stole another kiss and ran one hand through his hair, wordlessly seeking comfort. Strong arms went around her and just for a moment she hid her face in warm ivory silk and linen, feeling the solid reality of muscle and bone and the deep rumble of a soft chuckle vibrating beneath her cheek.

[Children!] Kee Sent to the presences inside the little ship. [Can you spare a few minutes?]

A chorus of affirmatives sounded from inside and a moment later Tas, Rhyon and Kylan were coming down the rampway. Kee nodded and they all fell into step together as Tas and Kylan attempted to banish dust and grime from faces and hands and Rhyon gave a disgusted whuffle at his own state of dishevelment.

They ducked down the back corridor leading to the walkway that surrounded the Temple and from there back inside the Temple to the lifts on the eastern face of the Temple. Kee punched for Level 12.

"I think I've found us a new apartment," Kee said, hugging Theri close. "There have been times in the history of the Jedi when a Master had to have more than one apprentice out of sheer neccessity, after wars or conflicts that killed many Masters and Knights. And there have often been Jedi families needing larger spaces. Nowadays it's not so common for a Master to have more than one student at a time, so many of those old apartments are left empty. And there are so many of the Knights and Masters out on assignments now..."

Theri looked up as his voice trailed off, saw the wistfulness in his eyes. [I miss him too,] she Sent, seeing the brief flicker of an image of Ben in his mind.

[I should have been prepared for this,] Kee Sent softly, privately, to her. [It's the way of the Jedi. What did I spend all those years training him for anyway? To sit around here at the Temple? No. Ah well. At least we can give him a home to return to.]

The lift doors opened onto a force-shielded terrace shaded by latticework twined with purple attara blooms. A small trickling waterfall burbled over smooth riverstone into a shallow contemplation pool, low stone slabs meant to hold meditation benches arranged around the pool and amidst masses of green leaves and white-flowered vines. Kee led them through this riot of life to a deep archway, the brisk chill of the winter day caught under the curving stone. A moment later the door was sliding open before them and he led them inside.

Dim recessed lights came on as they entered and Theri was looking at a graceful oval of a room, high-ceilinged, airy, very large. Warm amber marble walls curved around, opening onto archways leading to hallways. To the right was a half-open door leading to a large kitchen and eating area. Ahead and just beyond the kitchen door was another hallway leading off into darkness. Opposite this hallway, ahead and slightly to the left was another darkened hallway, and to the immediate left a single light illuminated the low benches and neutral colors of a meditation room. Straight ahead, between the two archways leading to the hallways, a larger archway filled with double doors inlaid with intricate stained glass, the rich brown of sorawood. Sunlight made the stained glass mosaics glow with rich jewel colors.

"The doors there lead to another terrace," Kee explained. "And to two more large rooms. Too big for bedrooms, so I thought we'd use them for a training room and a workshop for Ben and Tas and Rhyon." He smiled at Tas' look of excitement. "There's enough bedrooms for everyone and each has it's own bathroom. The meditation room there, of course. We've pretty much got this level to ourselves too, there's only one other family on this level and they're over on the west side. Oh, and the waterfall, of course." He gestured to the double doors again. "The other two rooms past the terrace are directly underneath the falls. And Master Yoda is only one level below us." He brought Theri's hand in his up to kiss her fingers. "What do you think, beloved? There's even a room for the baby."

Theri swallowed down the lump in her throat at that, feeling Kee's gentle question unknot everything inside her all at once. She leaned against him and hugged him tight. "Yes," she answered shakily, whispering it mind and voice. "If the children approve."

Rhyon was whuffling softly, moving toward the sorawood doors, pushed one open slowly with one hand. The deep rumble of the Temple waterfall and a rush of cool water-scented air, fresh and snapping with winter cold. The young Wookie reached out a hand and Tas immediately moved forward to take it, went with him out onto the terrace.

[Oh wow!] came the Sending a moment later. [Mistress, it's great! There's a big big room here we can use for anything, even lightsaber practice! And this other room we can use for a workshop, it's got stained glass windows too!]

[Very nice, the waterfall!] came Rhyon's Sending. [Soon will have all kinds of plants and things growing with waterfall here!]

"Kyl?" Theri asked, turning with a grin.

Kylan reached out to hug her and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "I think it will suit us, teacher mine. It seems to have everything we need, space to grow and all the rest of it. So long as it suits you and Master Kee, I'm happy." He gave them both a quick but genuine smile. "It will be good to be together, all of us, as we should be."

"It's called a family, Kylan," Kee said with a faint smile, gently twining Theri's green streak of hair around his fingers. "And you're right, it's time House Jinn became a family in truth."

The wind slithered over the crest of the small hill, sifting through the dried strands of grass, the tiny wisps of seeds breaking loose and floating in clouds over the waving fronds. Crickets sang in a chorus of pulsing high-pitched sound, an almost subliminal whine easily ignored after a few minutes. The scream of a raptor far above, somewhere between Teravin's moons and the shadows of the grass. The coolness of night made him glad for the warm wool of his cloak.

Ben snuggled down in that cloak on the side of the hill, stretched out quite comfortably in the thick grass that was more comfortable than some beds he'd slept in on missions with Master Kee. The deep silence was enfolding, the stars wheeling above in the slow dance of Teravin's rotation, the hard cold glitter denying the fiery reality of those suns. He remembered other nights on this small quiet world, nights when he'd barely even acknowledged the stars were there at all. Nights of fire and concussion, destroyer droids and mechanoids walking. The night Torin had nearly died, when Thumper had been destroyed. The clammy, rainy freezing cold of the night nearly a year ago when Torin and Serala had done more than cuddle up together in the warmth of Thumper's heat vents. Ben grinned, wondering now how he'd managed to miss what was going on between them then. Not very observant, Kenobi, he chided himself with a laugh.

Oh but he'd been *very* observant on Shaula Prime. Every sense had been on the alert for some signs the Davion people were dealing unfairly. Which of course left him wide open to a pair of laughing green eyes...

Darien.

Ben caught his breath, fought back the sudden stab of loneliness, wonder, desire, guilt and regret that lanced through him. Had it only been two months ago, the first time he'd looked into Darien's eyes...? His mind flipped back instantly to that day, the first moment had seared itself into his mind with the shock of that look...

"I wasn't aware we would be negotiating with a Jedi Knight."

The voice was deep, rich, the lilting accent of a native of Eltanin. And there was a laugh lurking in the words. Ben turned as he sensed someone come up behind him, reaching up to put back the hood of his cloak--

--And looked up at the tall, rangy man before him, the lopsided grin and straight mahogany brown hair, pale fair skin...and fell into the depths of a pair of infinite light green eyes. Ben's first mad thought was, "Wait a minute, what happened to your hair Master?!?" Then his mind snapped back to perception and he realized it *wasn't* his Master standing there. There were differences, small but definite now that he could look away from those amazing eyes. The eyes, for one, were definitely green and not sapphire blue. The hair had no trace of gray and was cut relatively short. There was no beard, no Jedi uniform, no lightsaber, and no aura beyond that of a normal telepathically mute human. There *was* a great deal of humor in the mind behind those bottomless eyes, a crystalline precision of thought, the mathematical exactness of an engineer and physicist...and a very wicked awareness of the affect all of it had on the young Jedi Knight standing there trying to deny he felt anything while his body and mind conspired against him to convince him otherwise.

Ben had tried to deny it, of course, for almost two days. Two days spent holding himself under rigid Jedi control, keeping one mental hand on the Force as he began the negotiations with the Davion representatives, explaining Torin's proposals for the factory and the mech pilot training academy on Teravin, explaining what Davion would get out of the deal. He had been sent to Shaula Prime on a legitimate mission. After the Umbriel mission he was desperate for the reassurance of routine and procedure. His Master would have laughed at that, had he known. Since when had Ben ever been one for procedure and routine?

Oh, but Darien had a patient streak in him that would have done Master Yoda proud.

Ben sat slumped in his chair as the Davion people filed out of the conference room. The third day of talks and planning had been over water and land use rights. The mech factory would need a great deal of power, naturally, and Davion wanted a factory site near a river so they could build a hydroelectric plant. Why in the world the damned Davion people wanted a hydro plant when there were perfectly acceptable alternatives...

"Jedi Kenobi? I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner?"

Ben pulled his head away from the hand that was rubbing his eyes in unconscious imitation of his Master's accustomed stress gesture. The Davion engineer, the one who'd be in charge of the mech factory, when and if it ever came to be. At the moment Ben wasn't entirely sanguine about his own hasty promises that Torin would have that factory or his own abilities to acquire such. And he *was* hungry.

Darien proved to have an amazing store of information locked up behind those wonderful eyes. Everything from music to podracing to Republic history. Ben happened to mention his hobby of building practice remotes and the next thing they knew they were the last ones in the small cafe Darien had taken him to, sitting there laughing and drawing chipboard schematics on the small graphicspad that lived in Darien's beltpouch. It was very late, and while Ben hadn't been drinking he was so tired he seriously doubted he'd make it back to the rooms he'd been given without falling asleep on his feet.

Darien had taken him back to his rooms, and Ben had tugged him inside, "I brought my crawlers with me, if you'd like to take a look--" Turning back with one of his crawler droids starting to pick it's way up the arm of his tunic, he found himself looking up blearily into Darien's incredible eyes, and time once again stopped.

Only to crash around him like a wave breaking as Darien put up a hand to smooth his hair behind his ear and run that hand down Ben's tailbraid softly. That was all the encouragement Ben needed.

It had been easy--far too easy--to love Darien. Despite the fact Ben had not until that moment considered a homosexual relationship he found himself responding to the engineer's tentative shyness with a great deal of enthusiasm and passion. Finally, when he had a moment to consider it he realized that it wasn't the package it came in so long as it was love. Even fleeting, whirlwind, inevitably short-lived love was still love. But their time together had been all the sweeter for that very elusiveness. Waking up every morning wrapped in strong arms, surrounded by the tall form that curled around him even in sleep, the soft sleepiness of the deep lilting voice, the Eltanin accent a soft purr in his ear.

And the inevitable hurt the morning when Ben woke to Darien's sleepy voice asking, "Who's Kee? I think I should be jealous if all your dreams are of him."

The small holocube shifted through the colors of the rainbow and then resolved into an image as Ben turned the cube toward the early dawnlight. The still image came into focus and Ben leaned back to let Darien look. "That's Kee. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. The girl is Theri bel Kaitryn, his lifemate. Master Kee is--or rather, he *was* -- my Master. I've known him since I was nine years old."

Darien put up a hand to rake his hair back and leaned over to get a closer look. When he did so he glanced up at Ben with his famous grin spreading over his face. "Well, now I know what I'll look like in a few years." He let the grin falter and looked down at the holocube again. "He raised you?"

Ben nodded reluctantly. "I was tested for Force-talent as a baby, just like every child is supposed to be in the Republic. I stayed with my family until I was seven and then I was sent to the Temple. Originally I was taught by Master Yoda, but Master Kee was Yoda's student before me and so I've known him since I was nine. When I was sixteen Master Yoda decided he couldn't teach me because I was too wild and angry. He gave me to Master Kee permanently. Master Yoda always said Kee could make me behave better than anyone else. He's my father and my brother and my teacher. And we share Theri. She considers us both her mates but she and Master are lifemates, permanently mindlinked. We found her on Tatooine a little more than a year ago, just after I was confirmed."

Darien lay back down in the scattered pillows, peered over at Ben consideringly as the Jedi picked up the holocube and tossed it back into his pack on the floor a few feet away. "And now you're having erotic dreams about both of them. Now that I know her name I realize you were saying her name too."

Ben looked down and shrugged silently.

Darien reached over and took hold of the nervous hand picking at the rumpled sheets of the bed they shared. "Ben. Nothing ever stays the same. Not even Jedi Masters. Not even Jedi Knights. Especially not Jedi Knights who've suddenly realized they've been missing out on the dating possibilities of half the human population of the galaxy. Give it time. If it's meant to be it'll happen. Until then, let me love you. "

Ben caught his breath and the blaze of the galaxy overhead pinwheeled as his eyes filled with tears. How anyone telepathically mute could be so perceptive amazed him. Then again, Darien was five years older than he was and had seen a lot more living in his years. Ben knew he'd been sheltered in the Temple.

And how anyone could be so passionate and at the same time so willing to let him go was something Ben couldn't quite fathom. Or maybe that was ego on his part. He laughed at that. He wasn't accustomed to working to keep someone's interest in him. Usually he was the one being fought over, not the other way around.

"Damnit, Dar, your people are being unreasonable! You can't expect me to tell the Jiryai to move out of their ancestral lands altogether! They've lived there thousands of years and that land belongs to them!"

"If your friend wants his mech factory then he's going to have to compromise some," Darien snarled back, leaning across the table to pin the Jedi with a flashing green gaze. "If you want us to use those fusion plants you're so intent on wrestling into the contracts then you're going to need a certain amount of land around the factory for the possibility of a worst-case scenario. And that means a three-hundred mile radius around the factory! It's bad enough you want the academy right there with the factory, but to put the planetary command there as well is sheer madness! One lucky hit from orbit with a tactical nuke and you could take out all communications and all planetary defenses with one shot! Hell, Ben, you know that! That's why we wanted the hydroelectric plant, because it's non-nuclear but it provides the power neccessary to run a mechanoid factory. With a hydro plant we wouldn't need so much land! "

"But the land you *do* get upstream will be flooded when you build the dam. I don't see how that's any better environmentally!" Ben gestured futilely down at the scattered blueprints and proposals on the conference table. "If I have to compromise so do you, Engineer."

"I *never* compromise where safety is concerned," Darien said in a soft and dangerous voice. "I *never* cut corners or settle for 'good enough'. I design mechanoids. The safety of the pilots flying my mechs is my primary concern."

Ben stopped. Remembered Thumper. Remembered Torin. Remembered that despite an oxygen-fed fire in Thumper's presurized cockpit Torin had climbed out of that exploding mechanoid alive. Darien saw his eyes go distant and bleak for a moment and relented. So did Ben.

"I'm sorry, Dar," he said softly and reached over to smooth Darien's hair back in a caress. "We're getting nothing done sniping at each other this way. Come on, let's try this again. Maybe there's something we missed."

Ben sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the cold wind sweep over him, the rustle of the grass around him whispering. So many things he'd learned from Darien without being aware of it. Patience, for one, though it was hard-fought and often elusive when his whole body screamed for the feel of those big warm hands on his skin.

And why had it taken a mute to make him see what was truly in his mind and heart?

Ben sat in meditation at the edge of the stone garden, his eyes following the veins of white marble in the black granite, allowing his focus to narrow to one tiny fleck of crystal in the sea of darkness. His mind whirled, confused and reeling. Peace had been beyond him for several days and not even Darien's gentle hands and laughing eyes had helped restore it. Something was wrong. Something was not right. He thought perhaps it was all the missed sleep and the wrought-up emotions of the Davion people who were intent on wresting every concession out of the inexperienced young Jedi Knight. So he had requested an afternoon off, ostensibly for review of progress made and topics yet to be discussed. Instead, he'd slipped away before Darien could catch him and escaped to this little slice of calm in the shielded geodesic dome at the top of the Davion headquarters building.

The Jedi Precepts came reluctantly to his mind as he strained to recite them silently, seeking solace in the words. "Seek security within yourself, rather than in others. Know that even great worldly wealth, and the accumulation of material things are of little worth, compared with the priceless treasures; love, peace and the freedom to grow." Seek security *within yourself* .

And he suddenly realized in a blast of recognition that for the last six weeks he'd been thinking of Darien's approval of his actions rather than the will of the Force within him. He'd been allowing Darien's opinion of him to influence his actions, his decisions. How many times in the last six weeks had he changed his mind about something when Darien said something about it? Everything from what he ate to how he dealt with the Davion managers.

It wasn't Darien he was doing this for.

Fifteen minutes later he was standing before the Davion engineers and managers. "I have presented Jedi Ghanbari's request to you along with what Teravin can offer for your use. If the terms presented are unacceptable I will take the proposal elsewhere. I am certain Draconis-Steiner would be more than happy for the chance to bid on this contract."

And Darien had looked up at Ben with a sly smile and the laughing twinkle in the green eyes that all but shouted his amused approval. But for the first time in six weeks that approval didn't dissuade Ben from his course.

The Davion people had been very accommodating after that.

Later that night Ben had gone back to his rooms alone, weary, finally at peace.

To find the door opening under his hand just as he reached it, and Darien's arms closing around him gently. "Now...now I think you're beginning to get the idea."

Oh he'd gotten the idea all right. So why had it taken him six weeks to get there?

Why had he only learned this now? Why hadn't he learned it long since?

Reluctantly Ben forced himself to be completely, brutally honest with himself. He'd not learned to truly think for himself because he'd always chosen the path of least resistance.

Theri's angry words of their argument after the Umbriel mission hit him like a lightsaber stab. "You never wonder what's beyond this so-called reality, you never question anything anyone says to you, you never think for yourself. Hell, Ben, you're a happy little Jedi robot. "

Theri's defiance didn't come from some perverse need to rage at the universe. It came from the simple need to think for herself, to decide for herself what the universe was about and what it meant. Suddenly the Mystic Way seemed so much clearer to him now. So much he'd misinterpreted. So much he'd simply not understood.

It wasn't about proving yourself to others. It was about living in such a way that you could be at peace with yourself and your own decisions.

The path of the Light was a conscious decision every moment to choose the path of love and self-knowledge, the path of life.

He'd never felt more Jedi as he did at that moment.

"No apologies," Darien said as he stood with Ben beside the rampway of the Ariala. "No regrets."

Ben looked down and laughed a little at this. " No reward, no remorse, no regret,'" he paraphrased from the Padawan ceremony. "A path will be placed before you. The choice is yours alone."

Darien's lopsided smile was gentle. "Very profound. Write it down for me sometime, all right? I want that in my collection."

Ben looked up at the engineer with a trembling half-smile. "The whole thing goes, 'It will be a hard life. Withour reward, without remorse, without regret. A path will be placed before you. The choice is yours alone. Do what you think you cannot do. It will be a hard life. But you will find out who you are.' " He reached up and brushed a hand over Darien's cheek one last time. "Master Kee said those words to me when I was sixteen. Master Yoda said them to Kee when he was six years old. And on back, for twenty-five thousand years of the Jedi. It's in the Padawan ceremony, the ceremony where a Master and Padawan apprentice formally choose each other. It's ...special."

"I can tell," Darien said softly. He held Ben's hand to his face one last moment. "Remember me?"

Ben tried to swallow down the tears. "Always."

And he did remember. And he would remember. Always.

But there were other calls, stronger calls, on his heart and soul. First the path of Light, the path of the Jedi, the will of the Force. Second was this new fierce determination to know his own mind and heart, to direct his life by his own conscious will.

The two paths were the same, so long as he could quiet his mind and listen to the Force. Just like when he had his lightsaber in his hands. In his deepest mind and soul he truly wished to move only by the will of the Force. He would wish to be and do whatever the Force asked of him. His own ambitions were small and petty compared to the vast and intricate web of the Force. He wanted only to go where that silent joyful tide would take him.

First and foremost, he wished it to take him home again to the Temple. To apologize to Theri. And to his Master.

And, hopefully, to gather up his courage to tell them how much he truly loved them. How every time he tried to organize his thoughts toward his future he could not work his mind around the possibility that Kee and Theri would not share it with him. The Precepts spoke of "love, peace and the freedom to grow." He knew instinctively that Kee and Theri would give him all that and more.

The final self-deception fell away and true peace came to rest in his soul. With it came clarity, focus and an enduring joy. He snuggled down in his cloak and let the stars above him pinwheel through his tears, let the tears streak down his face unheeded, cleansing away the last lingering traces of sadness. He knew what he wanted now, and nothing would turn him away.

Part 13