The Way of the Mystics

by Tilt

(continued from Part 12)

Sleet lashed the windows of Maul's sanctum, hissing against shielded vitriglass to puddle in treacherous sheets on the black stone of the walkway that curved around the wall of windows. Lightning flickered briefly far out at sea and the accompanying rumble of thunder arrived a moment later. It was a wild, windy, freezing cold night. But inside the black stone tower it was luxuriouly warm and bright.

A fire popped and crackled in the firepit at the center of the room, the smoke drawn upwards to the vents in the apex of the conical roof. The circles of yellow glowlights flooded the room with sun-like light, picking out the rich tones of the hardwood floor. The altar was crowded with ten Jedi lightsabers now. His planet was well into winter, his favorite time of year. The wound he'd taken in the stomach from that unknown young Jedi Knight was now completely healed. And best of all, he'd finished his new double lightsaber. For Darth Maul, life was as good as it got.

Save for one thing. He wasn't on Coruscant watching the Mystic girl.

Maul grinned to himself as the blades of his new lightsaber flashed around him in the flow of the katas. He knew where she was. The moment she left Coruscant he'd be notified. For the moment he was content to watch from afar. The boy Kenobi had been sent to Shaula Prime and then to that little backwater world he and his friends had liberated from the Federation a few months ago. Time enough now to catch up on life. He'd spent far too much time in the last several months watching Theri while his other pursuits fell by the wayside. He'd spent the last few weeks catching up on business, retrieving his ship from Umbriel Station, intimidating his children and making money. Lots of money.

"My lord?"

Maul stopped, whirled toward the voice. His steward stood at the door of his sanctum, head bowed submissively, waiting.

"What?" Maul said in a soft growl. "I told you I wished not to be disturbed."

The steward swallowed fearfully and nodded once. "There is a transmission, my lord, from Lord Sidious. He commanded me to summon you."

Maul straightened up at this, turned off his lightsaber. He slid the new weapon into the carrying loops on his leg and nodded. "Send the transmission here to the sanctum."

"Yes, my lord," the steward said, already edging out the door.

Maul held up a hand and let the Force ripple across the room and the door swung shut and clicked as it locked. He went to kneel before the north window, waiting. A few seconds later the holoprojector in the floor beeped softly and the line of light unfolded into the image of his Master.

"Lord Maul," the black-cloaked figure said coldly.

"Master," Maul acknowledged. "You have a mission for me?"

"I have news from the Jedi Temple," Sidious snapped. "The Mystic girl is two months pregnant."

Maul blinked. Then before he even knew it he was whirling away, standing, turning his back on his Master, his whole frame suddenly taut with tension and conflicting emotions.

"Pregnant?" he said softly. "Two months....?"

And her children would never be monsters, part of his mind whispered.

"You raped her, did you not?" Sidious asked, voice edged with menace.

Maul nodded weakly, his back still turned to his Master.

"Face me!" Sidious commanded.

Maul turned slowly, blood beginning to drip slowly from his hands where his claws were biting into the flesh, struggling to keep the whirling thoughts from writing themselves all over his face. He lifted his eyes to face his Master, grateful the cloak hood hid his Master's icy gaze. He was shivering even in the rich warmth of the sanctum, fears and hopes and possessiveness chasing each other through his mind at blinding speed. Suddenly his only thought was to race to his ship, fly to Coruscant and storm the Jedi Temple with an army of battledroids until he captured the girl. Kill Jinn while she watched and invade her mind while she reeled from his death. If he seized her mind while she couldn't fight him he could keep her alive, force her to live, force her heart to continue beating until he could fill in all the holes left by Jinn's death. All this and more flitted across the red and black gargoyle's face while Sidious watched silently.

Then Maul got himself back under some sort of control, reining in his wild thoughts and emotions. "Has it been confirmed the child is mine?"

"No." Sidious gave him another freezing five-second stare. "There is further news. The girl has been made a full Master by the Council. The Jedi have accepted the Mystics back into their Temple. The girl already has three apprentices. One of them is the Jedi who stabbed you."

Maul growled at this, remembering the dark blue lightsaber blade, the pale-skinned, long-haired Kaitosian in a gray Jedi uniform, the instinctual quickness as the boy leapt to Theri's defense. Undoubtedly her Padawan, if there was such an equivalent for the Mystics. Though the boy looked older than she...no matter. That one was already marked in his mind for a slow and agonizing death.

"The Jedi healers are fearful the girl will lose the child," Sidious continued.

Maul flinched slightly, the only outward sign of the immediate and ferocious denial that lanced through his mind.

"You are not to return to Coruscant until I call for you," Sidious growled.

Maul shrugged slightly. "All that we would require can be found elsewhere, Master."

Sidious was not fooled, not after twenty-plus years of dealing with Maul. "All save the Mystic." The Sith Master grimaced at his apprentice. "She weakens you."

Maul said nothing. It was the most damning thing his Master could say of him. Yet what would Sidious say when he stood over him, lightsaber poised to slice his Master's head from his neck, with Theri at his side? So he said nothing.

Sidious gave him a glare that made the ice storm outside a summer's day by comparison. Maul refused to be intimidated. And after a moment the transmission was terminated.

Sometimes a bond is not weakened by death.

For Yoda, Jedi Master for something close to eight hundred years, this was more a truism than it was for most.

In the course of his very long life he had given the name of Padawan six times. Each time one of his soul-sons died he mourned and began again. Five of those sons had passed into the Force. As of yet, Qui-Gon had not. There would not be another Padawan apprentice of Master Yoda until after the Great Bell had rung to signal Qui-Gon had gone into the Force.

Yet there were times when Yoda felt things, felt the unique drifts of thought that were the five who had gone before. When the spirits came at the call of the Great Bell, of course, when all five would crowd around him like frightened children in the infinite vastness of the Force. At those moments Yoda came very close to despair. Those bright children, children still to him even when they had gray hair and age pulled them toward death, gone, at one with the Force, never to hear their voices or feel their minds again. But still drawn to him as the only source of stability in the universe, surely ingrained habit from earliest memory as all had been Masters themselves at their deaths. Even Qui-Gon seemed unable to detach himself from Yoda's side when deeply troubled, as Obi-Wan gravitated to him for the same reasons. But this was the reality of the Force that drew them all together. It made death all that much harder to bear when those soul-deep bonds of love were broken.

When one of those sons now insisted on hanging about like some loitering apprentice on this side of the Force, Yoda privately wondered if the Force had a twisted sense of humor to match that former Padawan's. How could the universe play such a trick as to enable Sowelu Inda to inflict his presence (however beloved by his old Master) on an unprepared and flustered Jedi Temple? Ghosts were nothing unusual to the Jedi, many had encountered the ghost of their dead Masters. But for most it was still unnerving to see a flickering blue transparent Mystic Jedi walking along in the midst of Theriyah's menagerie as if he himself were still alive and possessed of a physical body. But for Yoda there was more to it than that, reasons he had yet to fathom.

Yoda was making his way from his rooms toward the lifts when he felt the familiar faint distress. Inda was troubled and trying to keep it hidden from his Master, as he had so many, many times before. Yoda humphed softly. "Will not work, Padawan. Know you, I do, too well. Feel your distress, I do. This argument, we have had, far too many times."

A mental sigh. [Yes, Master.] Meekly. None of the usual Inda insolence.

Yoda glanced up as he thumped his way down the corridor, his walking stick leaving shallow gouges in the thick carpeting. [What troubles you, my son?]

[I'm not certain yet, Master. When I figure it out you'll be the first to know.]

Yoda nodded slightly as he lifted his walking stick to stab at the lift call button. He felt the roiling in the Force caused by Inda's uneasiness. Fortunately it was a local phenomenon, restricted to the immediate area where Inda chose to manifest his presence. The spirit's anxiety did not color all of the Force though he well could have done so. [I am going to the gardens to meditate. Join me there, you will.]

A pause. [If you think it will help, Master.]

Yoda gave an indignant snort. [Of more help to you, Padawan, than dancing around the problem-box, trying to figure out what is inside by rattling!]

Inda chuckled at this. [Very true, Master.]

Moments later Yoda was hobbling steadily down one of the narrow pathways in the Temple's indoor gardens, pausing every now and again to gossip with various of the trees and bushes who were his particular friends. Though he kept the truth from even his ghostly apprentice, that in truth he needed those little stops to ease the aching in his bones. But he always found the trees had something new to tell him when he stopped with them.

Finally the small Jedi Master was settling down on the thick mats of Denorian moss under an avalanche of pale blue moonflowers, tucking his walking stick near at hand much as he used to keep his lightsaber. The lightsaber he'd stopped carrying hundreds of years ago.

[Why did you stop carrying your lightsaber, Master?] Inda asked softly. The drifting blue energy began to sift through the air, whirled until it formed into Inda sitting cross-legged beside him. Inda had appeared this time as the gangly, awkward fifteen-year-old he'd once been, long dark hair flowing down his back, the features blurred in that transition between adult and child, his own lightsaber clipped to his belt.

Yoda shrugged. "Many reasons, there are. One, no need. I have not left the Temple in several hundred years, and where would I be safer? Two, the Force, my protection it is."

[And three?]

Yoda peered up at his former apprentice. How well he remembered the time when Inda had appeared so. A turbulent adolescence it was, for both of them. "Three, how could I carry such a weapon when you could no longer believe in the reasons for doing so?" Yoda sighed softly. "My Padawan, you are. The mind which found the Way, shaped it, I did. Agree with you, mostly I do. Trust your reasons, I always have."

Inda nodded and looked down, his face solemn, awestruck. For the legendary Master Yoda to give up his lightsaber, ultimate symbol of the Jedi, for his apprentice, and to continue to do so ever since.... [You amaze me, Master. Even after all this time.]

Yoda nodded. "Yet mind, you do not, that Little One carries her own?"

Inda shook his head. [No, Master. She needs it. I'd sooner get crunched by a sandworm than see her get hurt just because she doesn't carry a lightsaber. Principle is one thing, practicality another.] Inda looked away again and when he continued his mindvoice was very soft. [And now....there's the child.]

Ah. That was it. Yoda's ears twitched. "What think you of this?" he asked casually.

It was a long moment before Inda answered. [That it must be...the will of the Force.]

Yoda blinked slowly, waiting.

[Meaning it must be in some part my own will, since I'm the Force myself now,] Inda Sent softly, without the least trace of pride or arrogance. Simply a statement of fact. [All things have a purpose, all things are meant to be. It's unexpected, certainly. Even for Theri. She's not even supposed to be able to have kids for another three or four years.]

Yoda closed his eyes for a moment. "Miraculous, it is, you would say?"

Inda shrugged. [Unusual, unexpected, maybe even rare, but not miraculous.]

Yoda wished suddenly he could thump his thick-headed ghostly apprentice. He settled himself again and composed himself for meditation. "The Clouds Passing meditation you will do, Padawan. Watch your own thoughts and feelings, you will."

[Yes, Master,] Inda Sent immediately, the long, long habit of obedience to this small green being. The spirit wriggled up to the usual kneeling meditation posture and closed his eyes. In only a moment the roiling of the Force caused by Inda's distress began to dissipate.

Yoda's ears twitched once more as he too sank into meditation. With any luck the Clouds Passing meditation would reveal a few truths to Inda that were so very obvious to all who knew him.

Hard it is, to get what one has wanted so long, Yoda thought, carefully shielding the thoughts from the ghost at his side.

Theri stood back from the wall in the room she'd chosen for Ben, trying to judge if the holomap of Tatooine was pinned straight on the wall.

It was a larger room than his old one, brighter with a large circular skylight, cream-colored acoustic-tiled walls, high-ceilinged, airy. The closet already held his clothes, his tools and parts were in boxes in the new workshop (after a few wistful longing looks from Tas at some of the choicer bits and pieces). The housedroids had cleaned and vacuumed out the dust, brought the bedding for the built-in bedframe. She had already arranged Ben's crystals and filedisks on the shelving near the small desk against the wall. His chipmusic player was playing on the desk, some of her own favorite electronica music, while she set about arranging his dozens of holoprints and schematics on the walls. She wanted him to come home to find his room ready for him.

The holomap of Tatooine before her rippled a little as she put her hand up to touch it. The dark brown roughness of the Jundland Wastes refracted into texture beneath her fingers. The small dot on the edge of the brown, Mos Idris. A handful of centimeters away, the area where Kee's house was.

Long ago and far away, that younger self. Or so it seemed.

She faintly heard the door opening in the main room of the apartment. [Beloved?]

Surprised, she put down the mechanoid schematic she was about to hang and went to see what was going on.

Kee was weaving through the boxes of Kylan's stuff that the droids had left in the front room, held out a hand to her as she appeared in the hallway. His mind was dark with guilt and pain, anguish threading through the shields he was trying to hold around his thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Theri asked as Kee's arms went around her to hold her in a tight, almost desperate embrace. "Come on, come out here, tell me," she said softly as she managed to get him to let her go long enough so she could pull him through the doors out onto the terrace beside the falls. The bright sunlight fell on the graceful curves of a small contemplation pool and the empty spots where Rhyon planned to arrange water lillies from his homeworld. The waterfall rumbled softly nearby, cold mist dusting over their faces. She pushed him down onto one of the stone benches there, framed his face in her hands and made him look up at her. "What is it?"

Kee sighed, pulled her closer and buried his face against her chest much as she often did to him when she was troubled. Theri held him, smothing down the softness of his hair, reaching beneath to rub his tensed shoulders gently. After a moment he sighed and pulled away just enough to look up at her.

"I have to go to Naboo. My friend, Doran...has been killed."

"Prince Doran?" Theri asked softly.

Kee nodded. "The Prince Regent of Naboo. His niece, Amidala, is to take up rule now in her own right. She's only fourteen but there are no others who can step in as Regent on such short notice. Well, no one who's trained for it. Amidala needs my help." He rested against her again, closing his eyes as the sound of her heartbeat sounded beneath his ear. "I must go, dearheart. I'm the Jedi Council representative for Naboo and I've neglected my duties for far too long."

Theri shook him lightly, feeling the guilt in his mind. "You are not to blame for Prince Doran's death!" she said sternly.

Kee shrugged a little under her hands. "That remains to be seen. We've just gotten the first message from Amidala, I've yet to find out the details. But I have to be on my way now."

Theri nodded, tugged on him to make him stand up. "Come on, then, let's get you packed up."

Kee nodded. "Ever practical, darling my dearest."

"You are never further away from me than my next thought," Kee said softly an hour later as Theri stopped him beside the small shuttle. "You are my life."

Theri gave him a trembling smile and buried herself in his arms. Kee clutched her tight. [Has Windu figured out what happened yet?]

[No. I'm to begin the investigation while I'm helping Padme settle her government. The only thing Windu has been able to determine is that Doran died under questionable circumstances. The Naboo are a peaceful people, they are not much for conflict. Even the Queen's Guard is all volunteer. Doran was...involved lately in trying to improve the training of the Guard and their starfighter squads.] He gave a shuddering sigh and slowly released her. [I'm to see Doran's body is taken care of properly too. Amidala--Padme--knows he would want a Jedi's passing. The pyre.]

[You have a great deal of work ahead of you, beloved,] Theri Sent quietly. She pulled him down to kiss him for a long moment. [Be careful. Whatever happened to Prince Doran may be waiting for another Jedi to crunch.]

[Indeed,] Kee Sent softly. He caressed her cheek, looked up and around at the bustle of the Temple hangar, then kissed her briefly again and turned for the shuttle. Theri stood just outside the safe markers as the small starship lifted on repulsors and turned for the hangar doors. She watched until it merged into the traffic overhead, feeling that odd subtraction and diminishment as her lifemate's presence grew faint in her heart and mind. The sharp tug on her spirit a few minutes later told her the shuttle had gone into hyperspace. But that faint firm mindtouch of love and need remained.

"Okay, try it now, Rhyon!"

A loud hum of power, a scraping noise, and the new stabilizer fin began to move slowly on it's pivots then abruptly stopped.

"Come on, come on," Tas breathed, trying to quell the urge to kick the damned stabilizer. "Damn!"

The other stabilizer fin was still moving, though, and quite smoothly. Tas shook her head in exasperation and snapped on her comlink. "Cut the power, Rhy. That still didn't get it."

A whurffle of acknowledgment and the hum of power cut off.

Tas heaved a long and weary sigh, scrubbed the sleeve of her tunic across her face. It was very late now. Well after local midnight. The DawnStorm was spotlit in a large pool of bright white light from the large hoverlight above, half the access panels on the upper hull open to reveal the wiring and hydraulics for the stabilizers. The hull plating was still dingy dull gray, pitted from the acidic atmosphere of the Undercity. It would all have to be resurfaced, the duralanium electroplated with titanium and platinum, to seal it against further corosion before they could take the ship into orbit. That would be a long and tedious job, probably take an entire day just for that one thing. She yawned and bent to retrieve the wiring scanner and started tracing the power leads again.

There were few people in the hangar this late at night, just the watch commander and the occassional tech or now and again someone coming in on a shuttle. Droids trundled slowly down the broad aisleway down the center of the vast hangar, silently delivering packages or luggage or plugging themselves into ships or commterminals. Down the length of the hangar were a few pools of light such as that illuminating the DawnStorm, where crews worked late on maintenance or refueling. But this far down at the other end of the huge space there was only the nearby dim lights from the back corridor and the small headlights of droids as they scooted past. The old Nogaran ship was framed alone in a land of darkness.

Tas didn't mind. At least no one was bothering them.

She had just found what she believed to be the problem, a power lead not connecting securely enough, when a familiar growling laugh jerked her out of her concentration.

[You must sleep sometime, younglings,] Jedi Master Plo Koon Sent from the entrance of the rampway of the small ship.

Tas went to peer over the side of the main hull. The Vaikerian came out from under the cockpit fuselage and looked up at her. Tas gulped a little. Master Koon's face was unnerving to her under the best of circumstances, with the grated breathing mask and the eyeshields embedded in his face. Add in the clawed hands and the big knife he wore, and things went rapidly downhill. But she was in immense awe of his skills as a pilot, so the best she could say was that she was respectfully neutral.

[Your Mistress would have you come home,] the Vaikerian Sent, his mindvoice full of teasing laughter. [Dinner and lunch passed by without your noticing, did they not?]

Tas gulped a little again and nodded slightly. [Yes sir. I'm afraid they did.]

The growling laugh again. [Then come down and call it a night. Theriyah sent me to get you both.]

Tas nodded and started back toward the accessway in the upper hull of the little ship, began picking her way carefully down the ladder. She came out of the short claustrophobic tunnel in the engine room, gave the new fusion plant installed in place of the old leaky fission reactor a brief look to be sure all was well, and keyed open the door into the rest of the ship.

Rhyon was turning in the big pilot's chair as she came out. It was a straight shot up to the cockpit from here. Someday when Rhyon reached his full growth he'd actually fit that gigantic chair rather well. But for now he looked as small in it as she did. The golden fur on his face was mussed and he looked very tired. Tas had no doubt she looked the same.

R2-D2 trundled up the rampway, beeping brightly at her as he turned at the top of the ramp to roll toward the computer terminal in the open area that opened out to the right of the rampway. The little droid jacked himself into the ship's few operational systems to monitor the power systems for the night. Tas nodded and held out a hand to Rhyon as the Wookie joined her to wearily trudge down the DawnStorm's ramp.

Master Koon waited for them below. [It goes well, children. You will begin work on the engines tomorrow?]

Tas nodded. Now that she wasn't concentrating her weariness was beginning to weigh her down and she was grateful the big Vaikerian Jedi was making her focus on something. [Yes sir. I need to yank the hyperdrive core too, see what I can find at the parts auctions on CorNet. Might have to replace the damned thing altogether, but I hope not. I don't think we're going to have to worry much about speed for a simple transport ship. We're not going on the Kessel run, after all.]

Koon's laugh again at this.

A slender figure in a white Jedi uniform joined them at the entrance to the back corridor, and Shosin-ka gave Tas and Rhyon a friendly grin as she fell in beside her Master. Koon put a hand on her shoulder briefly. [You have finished for the night, daughter?]

[Yes, Master. I've done all the system checks. The Pyxis is fully operational and ready to fly,] Shosin reported. [The ship will be ready when we are.]

[You're going somewhere?] Tas asked. She liked the older Kaivanin girl, had been somewhat wistful that Shosin would be spending the next several years on Corellia. Tas hadn't been home in years.

[To my homeworld,] Shosin answered. [To see my family before my confirmation. Then to--]

Koon put a hand on her arm gently and Shosin went silent with a nod.

[There are things more important than starships,] Koon Sent. [One must not become blinded by seeing only one thing. We walk in the Force, so we walk in the light of all things. To pick out just one is of the Sith.]

He's saying I need to learn to balance things, Tas thought. One glance at Rhyon's haggard shuffling walk confirmed it. They should have called it a night several hours ago. She'd been so wrapped up in her work she'd not noticed how tired they were both getting. Nor had she cared.

Just like Mistress Goza, ignoring what she didn't want to deal with. At that moment Tas wasn't very pleased with herself.

[I'm sorry, Rhy,] Tas Sent to Rhyon alone. [Why didn't you knock me upside the head back at dinner time?]

Rhyon's mindvoice held weary admiration. [Wrapped up in the work, I was too. Master Koon is right. If we don't learn to see more than what's in front of us--]

Tas acknowledged wordlessly. [The DawnStorm isn't the be-all and end-all of our lives. D'you know, we've been in the new apartment for three days and we haven't seen our new rooms in daylight yet?]

[Stay with Mistress, we should, tomorrow,] Rhyon Sent wearily. [Sleep late?]

[If Mistress lets us,] Tas answered. [Wonder where Kyl is?]

Rhyon's shrug meant he didn't know either.

They said goodbye to Master Koon and Shosin as the lift doors opened on Level 12, walked wearily through the darkness toward the pink glow of the tiny hoverlight under the archway of the front door. [Mistress, we're home,] Tas Sent into the apartment beyond, felt Theri's sleepy acknowledgement and a moment later the door opened. Kylan gave them a stern look as they filed inside.

"Shh. Ther's trying to sleep," Kylan whispered to the two. "There's still some Mandilara noodles left in the kitchen."

Tas brightened at that and went to get the treat. This new place was so much nicer than Master Kee's old apartment, the kitchen was something more than just a warmer and a refrigerator. All three adults were fairly good cooks, Kylan especially. Theri had once laughingly told Tas that all Ben could cook was fried falasa seaweed but Tas was certain that couldn't be true. The wondrous Ben Kenobi could probably do just about anything. He'd already stolen the hearts of ever female under the age of forty in the Temple.

Tas secretly thought she would probably go mad within the first week of living in the same house with him, simply from the heartstopping proximity. There were a few other boys her own age or a little older she thought were cute, but why settle for a freighter when you could have a starfighter?

[He's ten years older than you, Tas,] Theri's sleepy mindvoice said. [Bit old for you, don't you think?]

[What does age have to do with the urge to molest him nightly for the next several years?] Tas Sent back with a snort of laughter.

An answering laugh from her teacher. [I think I've said the same thing to Kee more than once, so I shan't argue.] A moment later Theri appeared at the archway to the right-hand hallway, wrapped in Kee's spare cloak. She sank down onto the wide couch curving around the wall of the main room as Kylan gave her a worried look as he came back in the room. He was taking the last few boxes of his filedisks and graphicsdisks to his room. The floor was relatively clear of boxes now and they no longer had to pick their way through to get to the hallways.

Theri curled her legs up as Tas and Rhyon slurped up their noodles and vegetables, greedily filling in the holes that had been gnawing in their middles since breakfast. "How are things going with the DawnStorm?"

Tas nodded a little. "Going good. We're about to get that new stabilizer done. We'll get that done first thing tomorrow and start in on the canopy tomorrow afternoon. Might have to end up cutting it out of the frame. Gods I hope not. Cutting transparisteel that thick is going to require a laser saw and it'll take a couple hours." Tas stopped, remembered what she'd been thinking on the way home. "Actually, though, Rhyon and I thought we'd spend the day up here with you if you don't mind, Mistress. We haven't seen our rooms in daylight yet. Hardly even seen them at all."

Theri nodded sleepily and lay down on the couch, yawning.

"Ther," Kylan said, a distinct note of weary warning in his voice. "Not again. I've already had to Lift you to bed once tonight. This time you walk on your own."

Theri smiled a little and sat up again. "Kee's still awake. Makes it hard to sleep." She looked away for a moment. "And it's...difficult...to sleep without him with me. This is the first time I've been alone for..."

Her voice trailed off and Kylan saw the veiled pain in her eyes.

[Shall I put you to sleep then?] Kylan Sent softly, privately.

[It might help.]

[Come on, then.] He held out a hand and she got to her feet slowly. She gave Tas and Rhyon a wan smile. "Sleep as long as you wish tomorrow, kids. I know I won't be awake before noon at least." She rubbed her eyes distractedly as Kylan pulled her back to her bedroom.

Kylan got her settled again, then sat down beside her, looked around at the mostly bare room. She and Kee had taken one of the smaller rooms and left the largest one for Kylan, saying they didn't need much space. And they didn't. One large box of filedisks, crystals, various knick-knacks and tools, and two wooden Soritsu-ji practice swords. Three thick but plain comforters, a dozen Silthan brocade pillows for the bed. Theri's Mystic spiral symbol disk on a small wooden frame Kee had made for her so she could hang it on the wall. Two lightsabers, a closet full of uniforms. And that was all. Kylan was amazed and somewhat saddened that two lives so rich in living could have accumulated so little flotsam.

Theri saw his wistful look around the room. "All we need is each other, Kyl. All else is simply decoration."

Kylan sighed and took her hand where it rested on the comforter. The slight peach tinge of the small hoverlight above made her skin glow, made the dark circles under her eyes less prominent. A lump formed in his throat and tears stung his eyes for a moment before he let it go into the Force. "So when you are apart you are nothing?"

"No," she said with a quirk of a grin. "I am more than the lifebond. If we weren't equals the lifebond would only amount to slavery of the worst kind. If we didn't have lives of our own whoever was stronger would devour the other. We're equals. Like the parts of the Tandava. Does one part of the Tandava pull the other? No. They pull each other, there's a common center they spin around. It's the only way you can live with a lifebond without drowning in it. You have to have balance."

Kylan nodded. "As in all things."

Theri nodded too. "The spiritual must be balanced by the material, Sith by Jedi, life by death, Light by Dark." She squeezed his fingers for a moment. "Tell me, when you think as a Mystic, do you see what's beyond the Force as being truly transcendant or as being the sum of all things?"

Kylan's eyes went distant for a moment as he thought. "Both, actually."

Theri nodded. "Another balance, another duality. The true Force is beyond even that. Remember the Sra Yandra."

Kylan quirked a grin at that but it faded quickly. "The symbol that started it all for us."

Theri smiled sleepily. "In more ways than you'll ever know, love."

Kylan brought his mind back to the matter at hand and pulled the blanket up around her. He reached with the Force to turn off the hoverlight, then put a hand on her forehead.

"Sleep well, teacher mine."

[And you, love.]

The swift brush of the Force and Theri's mind darkened in sleep again. Kylan sat for several moments beside her, listening to her breathing slow as she sank deeper into entranced sleep. He turned then and got up from the bed, went to the polarized bubble-window nearby, watched the ship traffic outside stitching dotted lines across the night sky far above. Thoralian mistflower vines spilled down from a terrace above to brush over the window, moving slightly in the wind outside.

[You love her, don't you kid?]

Kylan startled a little and looked over at the bed quickly. Inda sat beside Theri now, in his accustomed form of the young Jedi. The ghost's face was solemn even around the lock of dark hair that fell into his eyes.

[If there could ever be such a thing between myself and a human female, yes, I do love her,] Kylan answered stiffly. [But not the way you're obviously hoping.]

Inda quirked a grin at this. He looked down at Theri's sleeping face again. [Do you really want to shut off that part of yourself? Won't do you any good, y'know. And no one really cares about all that half as much as you seem to think. Have you even checked out the natives or are you just going to go the celibate monk route forever?]

Kylan snorted a laugh softly. [Master Inda, I spent most of my teener years being beaten on a regular basis for my preferences. I am not inclined to be open about such things, nor am I particularly inclined to go poking about in other people's lives.] He looked out at the ships passing again. [Believe it or not, Theri knows me better than anyone save my Master ever has.]

Inda shrugged a little. [Fair enough. What about if there was someone nearby and available that you could trust? Someone who's not half bad on the eyes either? A male someone?]

Kylan peered at the ghost with narrowed eyes for a moment before he answered. [What do you mean?]

Inda gave him an enigmatic half-smile. [Oh, you know, I've been checking up on things. Keeping tabs, as it were. Let's just say there's a possibility in all the flotsam and jetsom I've seen coming in the spiral. But I will say this: Don't get attached.]

Kylan gave the ghost a long look before nodding in understanding.

[Beloved? Can you wake up for a little?]

Theri groaned and rolled over, burying her head in the pillows trying to escape from the soft insistent mindvoice. But the soft caresses that threaded through that Sending were another story, coaxing her mind into wakefulness. [What? What's wrong?] she Sent blearily to her lifemate. Then stopped and shoved the pillows off and sat up as she felt her lifemate's agitation in their bond. [What is it, what's happened?]

[I'm sorry to wake you, dearheart, but I need you to relay something to Master Yoda for me,] Kee Sent softly. [I don't want to trust it to comm messages. Something is very wrong here.]

[What then?] Theri Sent, reaching along their bond to steady him. He felt shaky with exhaustion and sickened dread.

[Tell Master that Doran was killed with a lightsaber. The wounds are unmistakable. As is the ...brutality of the killing.]

[Maul?] Theri asked with a grimace. Daylight was just beginning to creep into the eastern sky outside the bubble window across from the bed.

[Somehow I don't think so, unless he's suddenly started being neat,] Kee Sent, his mindvoice full of puzzlement now. [It's his style but it feels wrong. And unless he's learned your shielding trick his appearance alone would mark him here on Naboo. They see few offworlders here and Maul is definitely not Nubian. But the lightsaber wounds are unmistakable.]

Theri bit her lip as she kicked the covers away and began reaching for yesterday's uniform, pulling it on slowly. [Should I wake Master Yoda now or wait until first bell?]

A feeling of faint amusement. [If the sun's up Master will be awake.] A pause, then, [Are you all right, dearheart? You feel so tired...]

[Aching. Didn't get to sleep til long after midnight. I had to ask Koon to go tear Tas and Rhyon out of the DawnStorm,] she Sent back with a grumble. [I think a lecture about balance and responsibility is more effective when given by an eight-foot-tall Vaikerian carrying a huge knife, don't you?]

A chuckle threaded through their bond then. [You learn quickly, darling my dearest.]

[I'm learning from the best,] she answered as she tugged the adhesion tabs closed on her boots and got to her feet. The sooner she went to talk to Yoda the sooner she could go back to bed.

It was only one level down to Master Yoda's rooms now. Theri barely had time to yawn, give her head a thorough scratch and run her hands through her hair before the lift doors opened again on Level 11.

Rubbing her eyes, she rounded the curve of the hallway to find Inda waiting for her, the blue-glowing form leaning against the wall with his arms crossed on his chest.

[Y'know, you act entirely too much alive to be a spirit,] she Sent with a sleepy grumble. [And you look far too cheerful and alert for dawn.]

[Heh,] he answered with a grin, straightening up and tugging down the hem of his tunics. [Into the irritable stage, huh? Next thing you know you'll be tossing your cookies every morning.]

[I'm only irritable when I don't get enough sleep,] she answered as they came to Yoda's door.

The door opened just as they got there and Inda followed her inside.

Yoda was sitting in his nest of pillows in a circle of yellow brightness from a hoverlight far above, nibbling idly on some sort of crumbly granola stuck together with fruit and honey into bars. He was watching the data scrolling by on a nearby viewscreen, the pages of text and data flowing by much too fast for Theri to read but the huge blue-green eyes were flickering with movement as the Jedi Master absorbed every word. Theri sank down on one of the pillows in front of him, waited patiently a moment before Yoda reached to turn off the viewscreen and turned to her. Inda drifted down close beside her almost protectively. Theri could feel the coolness of his glowing form as he settled down.

Yoda's ears twitched at them a moment before he turned to Theri. "Message from Qui-Gon, you have, Little One? On Naboo he is now?"

"Yes, Master," Theri answered. "He said he didn't want to trust this to comm signals and anyway our bond is quicker. Kee says Prince Doran was killed with a lightsaber. He says the wounds are unmistakable and that it appears to be Maul's style of killing. But Kee also says that it doesn't feel like it was Maul that did it. Maul's appearance alone would mark him on Naboo. He says they don't see many offworlders so it would be obvious Maul was not of Naboo." Theri shrugged a little at this. "It's easy for Maul to hide somewhere like Coruscant or Korolis where there's lots of different aliens and humanoids. We're accustomed to wierd here. But I gather Naboo is like Thretketh and Zharvan and they don't see a lot of oddness so they're not used to it."

"True, this is," Yoda agreed. "Young Doran, cautious he always was. Investigate, Qui-Gon will, into how this has happened. A pity it is, young Doran was killed. A good thing, that the ruler of a world was Jedi. Little Amidala will rule now alone?"

Theri nodded. "That's what Kee said, that there was no one who was prepared enough to be Regent for her so she'll just go ahead and be Queen without a Regent."

Yoda hummed a little and chewed on another chunk of his breakfast for long moments, the huge eyes half-closed in thought. [Help her to settle her government and Council, Qui-Gon will. Should not take long. Be home, he will, before Obi-Wan's return.]

Theri sighed. "I hope so, Master, but I won't count on it. Plans have a way of changing with Jedi."

Yoda chuckled at this and glanced up at Inda. The spirit quirked an eyebrow at his Master with a grin. "Message delivered, Little One. Back to bed you will go. More sleep you need."

Theri sighed and pushed to her feet. She bowed briefly to the ancient one. "I don't think I'm ever going to get caught up on my sleep, Master. I've never felt so run down for so long in my life."

Yoda nodded. "Living for two, now you are. More energy this takes. Adjustments required. That is all."

Theri nodded wearily and turned to go, Inda a step behind, a silent glowing shadow.

Yoda watched them go with some interest and humphed when he heard his door slide closed behind the pair. Certainly Theri did not suspect yet.

"Denial or ignorance, Padawan?" Yoda said to the empty room.

No answer.

"Hear me, I know you do. Answer, you will find for yourself," Yoda said softly. "Face your fears, always you have." A long sigh then. "Wrong thing, undoubtedly you will do, given your luck."

[Hey! I heard that!]

Yoda chuckled. "Answer I wanted. Answer I got."

Supreme Chancellor Valorum fought the urge to drum his fingers on the edge of his desk as he waited for those who had requested a meeting with him, turned abruptly to the rippling subtle colors in the ever-changing fractal mandala on the wall nearby. Not for the first time he wished he still had a Senator's office so he could have windows again. Security reasons had forced him to accept this gilded box deep inside the Senate building, far from the bustle ever-present in Coruscant's skies. He missed watching the ships.

"What are you so nervous about, Chancellor? Is the situation truly that bad?"

Valorum sighed and turned back to the figure that had slipped inside his office silently. The hood of the dark Jedi cloak was pushed back and Goza's icy blue eyes regarded him fondly.

For answer, the Chancellor tapped a file request into the embedded viewscreens in his desk and a report flashed up immediately. "Prince Regent Doran of Naboo was killed day before yesterday under questionable circumstances. Palpatine of Naboo is one of the Senators pushing for an investigation into the financial records of the Trade Federation. Naboo is one of the planets hardest hit by the Federation's new round of taxes on shipping. That young girl Amidala, Prince Doran's niece, is to take up rule herself. With the child in command I fear the Federation will find a way to make her cave in on calling for the investigation. Without her backing Palpatine would prove a point of weakness for the Federation to exploit. And Bail and the Vaikerians would not be able to sustain it long without Palpatine."

Goza nodded as she read the relevant data on the screens. "Hmm, yes. A child, you say? Ah, yes, fourteen." She stopped abruptly and her hand shot out to the scroll controls, keying for the previous page. "The Jedi Council liaison for Naboo is Qui-Gon Jinn?"

Valorum nodded. "Yes. Says here he was specifically requested by the Prince Regent. Why? Is something wrong, my dear?"

Goza's eyes went colder than Valorum had ever seen them. Then the look was gone, replaced by her usual warmth. "Nothing that pertains to this situation, Chancellor. Master Jinn and I have had some...disagreements. That is all."

Valorum sat back in his chair and regarded her for a long moment. "I remember Jinn now. A bit of a maverick for the Jedi, isn't he? I remember Yoda telling me this Jinn fellow was always one for unconventional solutions."

Goza took a deep calming breath before answering. "Yes, Master Jinn is the sort for the unconventional, to say the least." She looked back down at the information on the desk. "And he left for Naboo night before last. Wasted no time in getting on with the job."

"Can we depend on him to support Queen Amidala?" Valorum asked.

Goza's eyes snapped with a cold fire for a moment. "A young girl in trouble? Of course, Chancellor. You might say he has a way with children."

It took only two days for life to settle down into routine for House Jinn after the move into the new apartment was done.

Awakened by first bell in the mornings, they were all washed and dressed and gathering for meditation in the small meditation room just off the main living area of their new home. An hour and a half of meditation was followed by a quick breakfast. Then Tas and Rhyon dashed off to Sociology and Political Science classes for second bell while Theri and Kylan went to Negotiations class (Kee insisted on it and Kylan wanted to re-take the course on his own). Third bell found Tas and Rhyon in the hangar to check on the DawnStorm and then up to the lunchroom to meet with some friends for lunch while Theri went to the library level to do research into the Jedi teachings. Kylan, meanwhile, had taken to spending his afternoons up in Operations with Windu and some others of the Masters who were involved in Intelligence, learning by exposure. Fourth bell and Tas and Rhyon were back in the hangar and working on the DawnStorm while Theri did an hour's gentle work out with Qualara and the beginning Soritsu-ji students. By fifth bell they were all at home again for another two hours meditation, two hours of Mystic teaching, and dinner together. After that they either sat and talked or did their own things until Theri got too tired to think straight and Kylan tucked her into bed.

It was comforting to have routine again, and the compromise of straight classes and one-on-one Mystic teaching eased Theri's worry that she couldn't provide all that her apprentices needed. Still, it was an odd feeling several days later when Mistress Yaddle requested a meeting with Mistress Theriyah to discuss the possibility that Theri teach a formal class in Mystic philosophy.

The three hours of meditation each day were doing a great deal of good. Calmness was never far away, peace the undercurrent of every moment in the flowing of events and time. Tas stopped being frustrated by the minor details of her rebuilding work on the DawnStorm. Rhyon had time in the evenings to sit in his room and dream up new gadgets and machines. Kylan found his work with Windu increasingly fascinating. And probably best of all, the crushing stress began to ease and Theri began to regain the energy she'd lost, restoring reserves she hadn't known she'd needed until they were gone.

Life became balanced for them all, and with that balance they soon found themselves making progress in every area of their lives.

[Oh, hells of the Sith, I think I'm dying...]

Kylan's eyes opened blearily as the weak Sending reached him. Damn, he'd fallen asleep in his clothes again. He shoved away the textreader that had fallen onto his shoulder when he'd fallen asleep while reading the night before and raked his hair off his face. The faint sounds of someone throwing up two doors down the hallway had him up and jumping over the still-unpacked boxes on his floor and out the door in an instant.

[Heh. I told you wait until you started barfing to complain,] Inda Sent with some amusement as Kylan rushed into the bathroom of Kee and Theri's room. The spirit was perched on the bed looking into the bathroom with a faint grin.

"Good gods, Ther!" Kylan said as he helped his teacher up from the floor.

[One promise, that's all I ask. If Maul did this to me, I want you and Ben to train me good enough with my lightsaber to dice the damned Demon into bite-sized pieces,] Theri Sent wearily as Kylan hit the controls for the shower and helped her into the hot water.

"All right, try it again!"

Tas stepped back from the round plate of duralanium as it began to move, the segmented rings on the outer rim of the plate turning counter to the inner plate with a satisfying swiftness. The plate popped open abruptly, irising open, and a dual-mount ion cannon rose from inside the hatchway, swivelled, traversed vertically through the full arc of motion and back again, and came to rest at the ready, humming slightly with power.

"Yes!" Tas yelped in triumph. "That did it! It works!" she said hurriedly into her commlink.

Rhyon's pleased whurffles sounded from the hatchway in the upper hull a few feet away. A moment later the young Wookie was swarming up the ladder and out on top of the ship to join her as she ran her sensors over the cannon, checking for power leakages or other problems.

"Wonder how much we'll get for that old proton cannon?" Tas said to her friend as they checked over the weapon. "Any calls back on it yet?"

Rhyon shook his head. [No. Put it out on CorNet last night. We'll see. Someone out there must be interested in antiques.]

"Heh," Tas laughed. "Not us, that's certain!"

Rhyon snorted. [Ion cannon, less energy takes.]

"With that new fusion plant we've got all the energy we'd ever need," Tas said as they headed back down the ladder into the DawnStorm's interior. "Come on, now that the cannons are back online we can get back to work on the hyperdrive."

A familiar Sending then, as they swarmed down the ladderwell. [Lunch, kids? Before you start the afternoon assault?]

Tas grinned as she saw her teacher sitting at the triangle-shaped table in the DawnStorm's common area. She waved around at the dust and grime and cobwebs that still festooned the storage niches and walls, the cracked and dried out gelfoam on the chairs and wall padding. "We haven't exactly gotten around to cleaning up inside yet," she said apologetically.

Theri grinned as she opened the carry-containers of hot food for them. "I know, you need to get it operational and flying first. All the rest is bells and whistles."

Tas nodded a little sheepishly. "Well, no, it's not really, but the priority is to get the ship operational, yes. Anyhow, you should go take a look inside the crew cabins. I've never seen such junk in my life."

Theri smiled as the two began making inroads on the spicy vegetables and alga she'd brought for them. She turned to her own food then, slowly starting in on the bread and mild cheese. Two days of waking up in violent nausea had convinced her she didn't want to eat anything very taxing on her stomach. Kee was terribly worried even though she'd told him every word of Master Healer Danya's reassurances that this was normal. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies, the Healer had said, not uncommon especially in vegetarians. Still, she hated throwing up and it distressed her lifemate to feel her barfing uncontrollably.

[Eating. Good,] Kee Sent softly, his mindvoice sounding faint and far away.

[What about you?] she replied with some asperity. [Have you eaten at all today?]

[Yes. Amidala had food brought to the last privy council session. We've been working round the clock to settle things down here. The newly-appointed had to make arrangements to leave their own estates and get here to Theed and they're still arriving almost by the hour. I've had to attend Security briefings so I could scan all those who are to be in Amidala's personal guard. No standing army here, thank goodness, so I don't have to meet with all the commanders to scan them too. Doran's pilots are all good people, he picked them all himself.] A mental sigh then, and a great deal of guilty sorrow. [I should have been here. Doran might not have gotten killed.]

[Or you both could have ended up dead,] Theri reminded him sternly. [You can't change the past, beloved.]

A pause. [True. Only too true.] Theri felt a further darkening of his thoughts then. [Tell Master Yoda that Doran's lightsaber has disappeared.]

[That's a Sith trick,] Theri Sent speculatively. [Maul keeps the lightsabers of the Jedi he's killed, they're trophies to him.]

[Hmm. Yes. But I still cannot shake the feeling that this was not done by Maul,] Kee Sent, agitation threading through their bond. [Ah well, I'm working on it. I will talk to you later, darling my dearest.]

[I love you,] she Sent and felt the caress he Sent before his attention went elsewhere.

Tas and Rhyon eyed their teacher as her presence seemed to turn inward, her attention plainly elsewhere, the faint mental whisper of Sending directed somewhere far away. Then she was back and grinning at them a little. "Sorry. Kee checking in."

Tas nodded, gave Rhyon a raised eyebrow as the Wookie slurped up the juice from his food hungrily. Theri rolled her eyes and gave the fur on Rhyon's shoulder a scruffle with one hand. "So. What's next on the list to do on this old bucket?" Theri asked briskly, waving her hand around at the DawnStorm.

"The hyperdrive," Tas said with a long sigh. "We've almost got all the wires and controls connected. R2 is going to help us calibrate the ion engine gymbals and he's going to be checking everything as we work so maybe we won't have to go chasing shorts or loose connections through all those hundreds of miles of wiring we just ran through all those itsy bitsy spaces."

Theri grinned at that. "Hey, don't knock it, it was great practice for Lifting wasn't it?"

Tas rolled her eyes again. "Yeah. I guess it was."

"And why don't you try Finding some of those shorts and loose connections?" Theri asked Rhyon, giving him another scruffle on the shoulder.

Rhyon blinked at this, clearly surprised. [Find shorts and screw-ups? Never thought of that!]

Theri nodded and got to her feet again to stretch, straightening her gray overtunic absently. "Might save time and trouble. You know that if you can form the question you're asking into words you can probably Find the thing you're asking for. We know you can find individual instances of a *category* of an object, this ship was the result of that." She gestured up and around at the DawnStorm in explanation. "So if you just tell yourself you want to Find shorts and loose connections you should be able to."

Both of them nodded eagerly.

Theri watched them fondly for a moment, then came forward to hug them briefly. "The Force isn't something you use just for special occassions, kids. It's in every moment and can be used in so many more ways than the Jedi would have you think. It's all a matter of how you look at things." She glanced down at the empty carry-containers on the table beside them and the containers suddenly disappeared and they heard the clatter as they reappeared in the garbage bin in the DawnStorm's engine room nearby. Theri gave them a lopsided grin. "See what I mean? Now, you two have work to do and so do I. See you tonight, loves."

Tas nodded as her Mistress headed down the rampway and out of sight, sat there for a moment in silence. Then, "Come on, let's try that trick now!"

If he truly wanted to, Sowelu Inda could literally exist everywhere in the universe simultaneously. It would require only a sort of relaxing, a letting go, and all that he was would dissolve into the infinite vastness of the Force. He had existed in such a way for most of the five hundred years since his death, his personality and memories scattered to all the myriad worlds and places and people he had known like fur shed from an animal as it passed by. Such a state had been the primary goal of his life when he'd been alive.

His love for his people had been the one thing he could not truly escape from, and in the end it proved to be the one thing that kept him from dissolving permanently into the static hum of the Force never to return again in any form. He had watched without true awareness as one by one the Mystics were hunted down, persecuted, captured, tortured, killed. One by one the teachings and experiences were lost until there were only a handful of Mystics left in the universe. With each death Inda's focus on the others became sharper, more defined. Finally, with Therasslen, he'd found enough of his awareness had returned that he could actually think. And then when there was only the last apprentice, the last heir to all he had tried to accomplish in his life, he knew he had the duty and the desire to act.

He had intended nothing more than to watch, advise, and guard.

Instead, he'd found himself drawn into the sort of closeness he'd never once known while he'd lived.

The spirit found himself wandering the deserted corridors of the Temple long into the middle-night watch. The cleaning droids in the lunchroom didn't register his presence as he sat on one of the glassed-in terraces, looking up at the lights of the passing ships. The few night-owl Knights sitting together on the first floor beside the waterfall stopped talking as the spirit passed by, watching open-mouthed while Inda passed them by without noticing they were there as he was so intent on his own thoughts. He walked through the closed durasteel doors into Operations, stood watching the turning holomap of the galaxy silently in the darkness of night, his own glow rivalling that of the slowly spinning hologram while those on duty tried their best not to be unnerved. He wandered back to the hangar and down the length of the vast open space to the dim pool of light illuminating the DawnStorm, sat down in the oversized pilot's chair in the old Nogaran ship, sighing as he realized he couldn't even do something as simple as key up some music on the ship's comm system. Sometimes being a ghost really wasn't worth it.

Turning back to his reflections he drifted up out of the little ship toward the one presence that drew him like a magnet, a fine bright blaze of the Force with the distinctive twining bell-like resonance of the Mystic.

He settled down beside her, watching her sleeping face as he had so many nights before, wishing he could smooth away the long strands of green and black hair that dusted over her face. Wishing....wishing for a lot of things.

Another long sigh, bewilderment and resignation combined, as the blue-glowing form relaxed into blue mist and dissipated, fading sparkles in the darkness of the bedroom as Theri slept on oblivious.

Water rippled serenely, reflecting the white and blue of a perfect autumn day, just cool enough to be deliciously comfortable in the warmth of the sun. The sharp clarity of the air after the haze of summer, the gusting wind tossing the willows and evergreens, the dappled shade on the shore, songbird chatter and the call of a falcon hunting far above. The delicate perfection of starburst flowers, the thousands of translucent white serrated petals lifting in the morning light. The ripples of the water glumping against the shore in measured beats like the pulse of a heart.

Theri found herself standing at the edge of that water, looking out across the small lake at the hundreds of flowers scattered on the reflecting surface.

A dream, she realized. Lucid dreaming was certainly nothing new, she'd learned in her first year with her old Master how to direct her dreams by her own will. Lately she'd been trancing down too deeply to dream. As she had this night too. Why was she here?

A familiar presence behind her. She turned to look.

Sowelu Inda stood leaning against a tree. And his body wasn't glowing blue with the aura of a ghost. He was as real and substantial in this realm of thought as she was.

Small things she hadn't seen in the ghostly form. His hair wasn't black as she had thought but a very dark brown. His eyes were a bottomless hazel-green. There was a gracefulness that spoke of long hours of lightsaber katas. More, there was that intensity she had always seen in him, that searching gaze and questioning mind, a hunger that seemed to radiate. The undertunic of his Jedi uniform was a very light gray while the overtunic was sand-colored, the familiar silver-handled lightsaber hanging in its proper place on his belt.

"I wasn't intending to dream tonight," Theri said to him.

The quick charming grin. "I know."

"Your doing, old trickster?"

Inda rolled his eyes as he pushed himself off the tree and came to her quickly, taking hold of her shoulders and turning her around to face him. "Theri bel Kaitryn, I am by no means old. And I've waited long enough. Five hundred fifty-four years, to be exact."

The passion in his kiss triggered the hunger that was never far away even now she'd learned to leash it under control. There was no need for control here, and there were many things unacknowledged between them. Curiosity, the long months of Inda watching over her every moment, the emotional and spiritual closeness that could never be completed by physical touch. The realization that they were equals, that they challenged each other. The long lifetime of obsessive, all-consuming searching for the true Force had destroyed every close relationship Inda had ever had. No one save Yoda, in all his seventy-four years, had ever been strong enough to accept him the way he was and love him the way he was. Even his own apprentices had not truly understood him. And now, five hundred years later, there was Theri and Sowelu Inda had no intention of letting this slip through his fingers as it had so many times before.

The moss and featherferns were sun-warmed, the willow branches flickered shade and light across them in the coolness of the wind. Hungry kisses and hands tugging clothing away, Inda's soft chuckle turning to a surprised moan as Theri's mouth did something delightfully unexpected.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you're the one seducing me here, kiddo."

"You started it," Theri mumbled against his neck as she bit him beneath the ear.

"Mmm. Ow, damn your teeth are sharp--hey what are you--"

Theri hid her grin in his shoulder as he froze beneath her. Or at least most of him froze. There were some parts that couldn't help responding to the caress that had caught him so by surprise.

"Heh. You're enjoying yourself?" he asked, tugging on a long lock of black hair to make her look at him.

"I thought that was the whole idea," she answered with a mischievous grin.

"It is--oh wow, gee you're good at this..."

Theri put her head back down on his shoulder and shook with silent laughter.

"Hey! I was just making a comment, you didn't have to stop," Inda said indignantly.

"I'm not going to stop, silly," she almost purred in his ear.

"Yeep!"

No asking needed, the answers were already known. The joking and nervous laughter soon fell away but not the joy and need. Inda finally resorted to flipping her over onto her back, "This was my idea, it's my turn, sit still insolent wench." Which caused Theri to burst out laughing even as she wriggled under his hands.

They drew it out as long as they could, but finally there was no turning away. In dreams all can be as one would wish, thoughts and need shaped reality instead of the reverse. The fire and hunger and wish to be one made every touch tingle, every movement a revelation of sensuality. The Force gathered around them, spun in unseen streamers around the two locked in the oblivious desperation of lovemaking.

In the final moment of white bliss, there was only an incandescent euphoria that drowned every other sensation. The dreamworld, thought, memory, presence, mind, all of it vanished.

In the final moment, even the silent inexorable turning of the spiral of the Force vanished.

"Theri! Damnit, come on, wake up! Please wake up!"

Someone was shaking her. The real world roared up around her with painful suddenness and she gave a weak groan at the intrusion. "Go 'way," she mumbled, or at least tried to.

"Wake up, you must, Little One. Come back from the Force you must!"

Yoda. Well, she could certainly resist Yoda, however ill-advised the thought was. And it was so peaceful in the spiral.

"I can hear her thoughts again, Master Yoda! She's coming back!"

"Too slowly, it is. Help, she needs."

Cold white fire sliced into her mind, chilling and electric, the liquid energy of the mind of a Jedi Master reaching past shredded shielding and disconnected memories and thoughts. Something else, something reeling in pain and disorientation, surged forward into the forefront of her mind, fighting the invading mind instinctively, protecting the crumbled emptiness of her mind.

[Padawan!]

The command was instant, the recognition of the source immediate. Instead of fighting the injured presence in her mind huddled around the rags and tatters of her dissolving consciousness, curling up around her in withdrawal, trying to relax into healing sleep.

[Not yet, Padawan. Wake she must. Help me, you will.]

Reluctantly the injured presence began to prod her mind into consciousness, tugging and harrying the twilight of her mind until thoughts began connecting again and time began to make itself felt. Awareness of time brought awareness of cold, aching bones and muscles, nausea, the arms holding her upright, the hardness of a clawed hand on her head.

"Mistress! Please wake up!"

A young voice, distressed. She knew that voice.

An animal whurffle and snort, a soft crooning keen of worry. She knew that voice too.

"Ther, please come back. Please. I need you."

She knew that voice too.

"Kee," she said finally, weakly, as her eyes started trying to open.

[ 'm here, beloved. I'm here...]

So faint, his mindvoice, his presence. So far away.

"Kyl," she said, looking up at the worry so plainly written on her apprentice's face. "Tas? Rhyon?"

Instant glad cries from the two at the end of the bed as she said their names. Kylan clutched her to him and shook with silent tears. Yoda hummed to himself and opened his eyes, dropped his hand from Theri's head with a satisfied grunt.

"Went into the Force again, you did, Little One," Yoda said angrily. "Tell us what you planned you did not! All Jedi felt again what you did! Great disturbance in the Force you caused! Distressed your lifemate you did! Distressed your apprentices! Explanation you will give!"

"I didn't exactly plan it," Theri mumbled. [Beloved? Are you all right? Did I hurt you?]

[I passed out,] Kee Sent faintly. [I felt you dying again! And you ask if I'm all right?!]

Theri's immediate instinctual reassurance and comfort eased the terrified anger that sizzled through their lifebond. [I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't plan this, it wasn't my idea!] she Sent with a wail of remorse. [Oh beloved, I'm sorry!]

[Is Ben home with you?] Kee Sent, his anger starting to fade slowly.

[No. Why?] she asked.

A pause. [Then who were you making love to? Kylan?]

There was no jealousy in the question. Just puzzlement. They both knew that no one would ever truly threaten what they had, all things were shared without thought. Kee hardly even needed to ask and she had no qualms about telling him at all. [Inda. It was Inda. I thought I was dreaming.]

[You were sound asleep, all the sudden I felt you orgasm, then the Force jerked out from underneath me like an earthquake had hit,] Kee Sent, his mindvoice snapping with vexation. [That ghost has some major explaining to do!]

Yoda's ears lifted at Theri's explanation, which he had heard as he still kept a light touch on her mind. [Explanations will be now, Qui-Gon! Padawan Inda! Answer me now!]

There was no answer.

[Padawan Inda! Call again I shall not! Explain you will now!]

Theri felt Kee's uneasy astonishment. Neither had ever felt such anger from the ancient Jedi Master. But there was still no answer.

[Inda!] Theri Sent. [You've got to face up to it, come on, where are you?]

They called for a full five minutes. But Inda never responded.

"He's gone, isn't he? Truly gone?" Theri asked Yoda in a whisper the next morning.

The blue-tinted light from Yoda's stained glass windows reminded her all too strongly of a blue-glowing ghostly form. The ancient one gave a long sigh and his ears drooped almost to his shoulders. The familiar rooms seemed to echo with emptiness and a weary sadness clung about the little Jedi Master. "Afraid I am, that he is. Lost him again, it feels like. Third time."

Theri choked on a barely-contained sob, bit down hard on one knuckle of the hand she had raised to block her sobs, unconsciously trying to overwhelm the emotional pain with a physical one. Shaking her head violently, she clenched her hands and wrenched her mind to her breathing, forcing herself to start relaxing and releasing all of it into the Force. No matter what she would follow the Way. She would not let her pain get the better of her.

Yoda nodded absently as he felt Theri's iron-willed control clamp down on the anguish. "Glad am I, he found what had so long eluded him. Perhaps the last thing he needed with this world. Loved you, he did. Afraid to tell you, he was. What and how to say, he did not know. The one thing he never had in life."

"I'll miss him so much, Master Yoda."

Yoda's ears twitched and the huge blue-green eyes were filled with understanding. "But go on you will. Best thing to do to honor him is to teach the Way. He would want nothing more nor less."

Theri nodded and started getting to her feet, tugging down the hem of her tunic as she stood, dashing the few tears that had fled from her eyes away with one hand. She bowed to Yoda. "You're right, Master. All I can do is go on."

"But remember," Yoda said fiercely. "Always remember."

Theri clenched her hands to fists with equal fierceness. "Always."

Taslimi Choi took a deep breath, her eyes scanning over pristine white hull plating, the silver-white of titanium and platinum on every surface save for the leading edges of the wings and stabilizer fins and the blunt wedge-shaped nose.

The DawnStorm thrummed with power, all essential systems online, ion engines warming up in pre-flight. Nearby, a power droid was attached to the ship by a dark mass of cabling, charging the internal batteries up to full. In moments the little ship would be ready to fly under it's own power for the first time in one hundred seventeen years.

And Tas was a nervous wreck.

Theri came up beside her, clutched her hand for a moment in mute understanding. [We'll be fine, dear. I know you and Rhyon have checked and double-checked everything. I know you know what to do if something goes wrong. Koon said you both checked out on the simulator. Hell, Tas, you're Corellian. Corellian's *don't* die in starships.]

Tas laughed nervously. "I can only hope you're right, Mistress."

"I know I am, dear. Trust me," Theri said with a gentle smile. "So, time to go?"

Tas gulped. "Yeah, it's time to go. Go on aboard, I'll be there in a minute."

Theri climbed up the rampway into the DawnStorm. Tas took out her commlink. "Rhyon, are we up to full charge?"

An affirmative whurffle from the young Wookie.

Tas went over to the power droid. "Yo, Sparky, we're full charge. Hit the road."

A series of gronking noises from the boxy droid and the cables suddenly dropped from the DawnStorm's hull as the droid sent the command to the ship to disengage. The cables slithered as they retracted back into the droid's chassis and it began waddling away.

This is it then, Tas thought to herself as she resolutely turned to the rampway and walked up into the ship. Time to play the hand we're dealt.

A quick check down the corridor showed Kylan and Theri sitting in the common room together, already strapped into the blast chairs with the new gelfoam Tas had only managed to get put in that morning. The cleaning droids had managed to get out the worst of the grime all over the ship and cart out the garbage from the crew cabins but some of the worst gunk would need human hands to banish. Still, the ship was operational, there were no hull leaks, and R2-D2 had okayed the engines and the hyperdrive. And there had to be a first flight sometime. This trip to Naboo to get Master Kee was the perfect shakedown cruise. Tas just wished she didn't have to take Mistress and Kylan along. Risking herself and Rhyon she could justify. Risking her teacher and Kyl and Master Kee was a bit much in her book. But Mistress trusted her and the feel of vast calmness that radiated from Mistress Theri told her everything would be all right somehow.

She started up the corridor to the pilot's chair.

As she came into the cockpit Rhyon's whurffle of greeting sounded from over her head and she turned to look up at him. He sat in the navigator's chair high up above the doorway, high up in the bubble curve of the canopy. The navigator's screens and consoles threw multi-colored lights to reflect in the young Wookie's excited green eyes, glimmering on golden fur. Long furry fingers tapped buttons in the pre-flight checks, grunting in satisfaction as every system responded go for launch.

Tas sank down into the huge pilot's chair and began her own checks of the weapons and engines and hyperdrive, tucking the commlink earphone into her ear and adjusting the tiny microphone. The distant whir-thunk as the ion cannons in the upper and lower hulls extended, traversed, and retracted again. The idling rumble of power began to rise in pitch as the ion engines came online and began building power for launch. The hyperdrive monitor came to life on the screen to her left, showing the pre-flight sequence running. All new software, all new hyperdrive, all the controls reprogrammed and updated, the ion engines were several generations improved over the originals. They'd done all the essential, difficult work. Now it was time to test it out.

Tas was vaguely surprised when her voice didn't shake. "Jedi Control, this is the DawnStorm, requesting launch instructions."

All along the hangar, as the DawnStorm rose slowly from her landing square, techs and Jedi stopped to watch as the rebuilt Nogaran ship hovered easily down the length of the hangar toward the giant field-shielded doorway and the skies of Coruscant. The landing gear retracted smoothly into the hull, the ion engines hummed at tenth-power as they angled to move the ship forward.

At the corridor that led to the Temple proper, Windu and Yensho stood watching with some bemusement as the Mystic ship moved past them smoothly and a moment later was nosing up into the traffic patterns above the Temple.

Tas watched nervously as the autopilot took over, moving her ship up and along the traffic flow and then a moment later angling up through the atmosphere on the trail of blue fire. The ion engines burst into full flight, powering up without a hitch or hesitation, the power graphs building in a graceful arc just as they should. The radar tagged hundreds of ships ascending around them, hundreds more descending. The DawnStorm tipped over into high orbit and hung there, suspended over the teeming light and bustle of Coruscant as the autopilot beeped to indicate CorCom had relinquished control.

Tas looked out at the gleaming curve of the planet below as the DawnStorm rolled gracefully over to fly upside-down over the planet. "Wow. We made it."

[Yes. We made it,] Rhyon Sent softly. Tas turned and glanced up at him to see him smiling, formidable Wookie teeth bared in a lupine grin.

"No pressure leaks, no power leaks," Tas reported as she flipped her screens through the relevant sensor data. "Landing gear retracted completely. The atmospheric intakes are closed and latched. Life support at ninety-eight percent nominal. Power plant is stable, no fluctuations. Heat dissipation from the engines at nominal rates." She glanced up again at the curve of the city-planet below them. "Well, I guess we're go for lightspeed."

[Entering query for Naboo into the navicomputer,] Rhyon Sent, furry fingers flying over the navicomputer keyboard. [Computing course. On the Rim, could take a little bit.]

Tas nodded and sat back in the pilot's chair, turned her awareness to her breathing and the pulsing of the dragon-point within her, the feel of the Force a white fire in her soul. Clearing all thoughts of good and bad and outcomes from her mind, she felt for any hint of danger or wrongness. Nothing presented itself.

[Don't feel anything wrong either,] Rhyon Sent softly. [Can't Find any problems.]

[We're paranoid,] Tas Sent with a laugh.

[In a good cause,] Rhyon replied. [Navicomputer is done plotting the course to Naboo. Uploading to you now. Ready to go when you are.]

"Course computed" flashed insistently on Tas' main screen just to the left of the oversized rubberized handgrips of the controls. She reached for the double slide bars of the hyperdrive.

[Mistress! Kyl! We're ready for hyperspace!] she Sent in warning, and pushed the sliders forward.

A moment of hesitation as the little ship gathered power and then the stars leaped into motion, streaking around the ship, endless white streamers of light, and they were safely in hyperspace on their way to Naboo.

Theri could only smile at the look of excitement and triumph spread over Tas and Rhyon's faces. The young Wookie threw his arms around Tas, crooning in happiness, while she giggled and hugged him back. Theri and Kylan were tugging the blastchair straps off as the two came down the corridor toward them.

Theri went to the wall nearby and found the controls for the window blastshields, fumbled a moment before she found the right one. The blastshields retracted slowly from the vitriglass viewports arrayed in the ceiling in wedge-shaped sections. The light of the streaking stars in hyperspace filled the cabin, illuminating them all in the ethereal white glow.

Tas jumped up onto the bench against the wall by the table and hopped up into the ovoid niche in the wall where she'd stuck a thick mat of bright green gelfoam and some blankets as a sort of nest, small striplights stuck to the upper curve of the niche coming to life as she did so. She almost yodelled in triumph while Rhyon scooped up one of her pillows and bopped her in the head with it playfully.

Theri watched with a sad smile, thinking that if Inda hadn't suggested they Find this ship this moment wouldn't be happening. No matter that he'd been dead for five hundred years, she missed him as much as if he'd been alive. Now, somehow, she had to go on without him.

[I still don't know whether to be angry with him or not,] Kee Sent softly, hearing her wistful grief. [How could he have known..?]

[I suspect he *did* know,] Theri answered. [I think it was the last bit of fear he had to conquer, to let me go on alone. To trust me to go on without him alone.]

But still, it was far too soon to be alone, far too soon to lose Inda.

[He was happy at the end,] Kee Sent tentatively, as if trying to justify things to himself and to her. [Maybe he figured there was nothing left to be done.]

Theri felt the Force surge around her at her lifemate's words. [No, Kee. It was time to start over again.]

Stunned silence in the bond. He'd felt the Force in her words. [Start over?]

Theri didn't elaborate and kept her suspicions to herself, turning back to her students and sitting down at the table to explain the events of the previous morning. They needed to know everything that had happened and that Inda would no longer be with them.

It took most of the flight to Naboo. By the time the DawnStorm burst out of hyperspace over the small green-blue planet there was anger, indignation, bewilderment, and finally understanding. Inda had gone on to whatever came next. That's all any of them would ever know.

Theed, the royal capital of Naboo, was a city of domes and marble and the gentle waters of fountains and slow-moving canals populated by waterbirds. Squared columns supported copper domes green with weathering, high-ceilinged buildings of every size decorated with mosaics of twining flowering vines and green leaves of ivy. Thin minaret towers with pennons flying in the wind, monolithic sculptures, wide lanes paved with smoothed flagstones leading to broad open squares. The Naboo were a peaceful, nonviolent people, far more adept at the arts and sciences than any sort of conflict. For the most part they were a happy people as well, though in the last few months the additional burden of the Trade Federation's increasing taxes on offworld trade was making life somewhat more difficult for many. Naboo was a relatively technologically-poor world, it's exports were all cultural and agricultural in nature, and they insisted on preserving the natural beauty and health of their lovely world. It was worlds such as Naboo, Zharvan, and Thretketh that would feel the bite of the Federation's depredations the worst.

Kee stood on a stone bridge arching gracefully over one of the many canals cris-crossing Theed, one which gave a spectacular view of the countryside beyond the capital city's bounds and the sun-washed expanse of blue sky to the west. It was a flawless day of earliest spring, one of the first true spring days of this new year. The royal gardens were just beginning to green with new leaves and buds, new grass just starting to push past the mud and mires of winter.

"Uncle?"

Kee left off his search of the western sky with a slight smile and turned to the voice. One of the young Queen's handmaidens stood a few feet behind him, having approached silently from the hedgerow maze of the garden behind him. A tanned, elfin face smiled at him from the cowl of a handmaiden's maroon velvet dress, bright brown eyes laughing.

"Padme," he said with a hint of reproof in his voice. "Shouldn't you be attending your Queen?" Family shorthand for, "You shouldn't be out of the protection of those bodyguard-assassins you call handmaidens." The young Queen Amidala often traded places with her look-alike handmaiden-bodyguard Sabe, having Sabe dress in the elaborate Naboo royal trappings and play Queen while Padme Naberrie, the real Queen Amidala herself, adventured and observed the world from a much less dangerous place at her side. Kee, however, had known Padme since her birth and had always been able to tell her from her handmaidens by the feel of her aura. Though they hadn't seen much of each other over the years, Qui-Gon Jinn was considered a member of the family. Thus had Padme always called him "Uncle Kee". It had always delighted Kee to be considered so by the blazingly intelligent youngster, more so now that she had turned into a beautiful, graceful, far-seeing Queen.

Padme joined him at the stone railing of the bridge, looking out over the expanse of her realm, the beauty of her planet. "The tracking stations have just informed me that a ship has come out of hyperspace at the far side of the system ecliptic," Padme said quietly. "The transponder signal identifies it as the DawnStorm, and it has a Jedi regristry number."

Kee nodded. "Yes. My lifemate and her students."

Padme looked up at him consideringly and the shining confidence slipped a notch into worry. "Uncle, you are certain there is nothing more that needs to be done? Nothing more I need do here to ensure the safety of my people?"

"Padme," he said softly and reached down to take her hand. "You will do what you must whenever it must be done. At the moment, we have done all we can to settle your government. Your new appointees are in place and settling into their jobs. I have made sure your Security forces and your pilots are all free of any harmful tendencies or hidden agendas. You have the best commander you could hope for with Panaka, he will be an excellent guard for you as well. If you haven't picked out a pilot for your own ship yet I would suggest that Ric Olie fellow, he's got combat experience with the Republic starfleet. Sabe and the other girls are all fanatically loyal to you. You know yourself Sabe could take out half a regiment with nothing in her hand but a butter knife. Eirtae and the others are equally deadly. And you are no slouch with a blade or a gun yourself. All that is needed now is time to heal the wounds of Doran's death and time to settle down into a routine. You know what you must do to govern well. Doran made sure of that."

Padme nodded. "I know. Think always first of the people and their welfare. The greatest good for the greatest amount managable."

"Yes, for the most part," Kee answered gravely. "However, you are at all times to watch out for yourself. Depend on no one to do your work for you, but do not hesitate to accept the help of others when it is needed. But I think you are well aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, yes?"

Padme nodded. "Still, I wish you did not have to go."

Kee sighed and nodded. "I know. So do I. You need me here to help you, but I do not wish you to become dependent on me. Harsh as it sounds, you must learn to depend only on yourself and your own resources."

Padme straightened and nodded again, her eyes serious. "Yes, I know, Uncle. And you have work elsewhere." She turned to look out over Theed again. "I hope you can make some kind of progress with the Federation. We cannot withstand such tariffs for long. Things are fine right now, but--"

She didn't have to go on with the thought. Kee knew far too well that if the Federation continued with the increase of taxes, Naboo would be in trouble come harvest time when the agricultural exports were sent offworld. If the unfair taxation continued there would likely be no reason to celebrate the harvest festivals save to eat the crops that couldn't be sold elsewhere.

Kee pulled his cloak around him in the cool breeze, hugging himself in the cold wind that went straight to his soul. He must succeed, or Naboo would have possibly years of hard times ahead. He could not let that happen, not now, not after failing Doran's trust by not attending to his duties to Naboo.

A white spark suddenly appeared on the western horizon, far away and high over the mountains.

Kee's commlink beeped and he pulled it from his belt. "Jinn."

"Master Jinn, we show a Jedi ship approaching. They are requesting clearance to land."

"Yes, I am expecting them, have them land in the hangar in the Queen's palace. I will meet them there," Kee answered and snapped off his commlink.

Padme smiled up at him. "I hear the eagerness in your voice, Uncle."

Kee nodded and smiled, looking up at the white spark drawing nearer to Theed. "My lifemate is here. Would you like to meet her?"

Padme tucked one slim hand in his arm. "I would like to, very much."

The DawnStorm hovered into the field-shielded hangar bay door in the cliff below the palace, turned in place over the square of concrete outlined in glowing orange light, and sank very slowly onto the triangle of landing gear with a loud sigh of hydraulics. The landing claws gave a loud squeak as they flattened and locked securely. A moment later the rampway hissed open and began lowering slowly.

Kee was quite impressed by the DawnStorm's appearance. Tas and Rhyon must have worked like demons to get the old Nogaran ship operational in the two weeks he'd been here. The immaculate silver-white of the new hull coating, the black ferroceramic heatshield coating on nose, wings and stabilizers still ticking as the ship cooled from it's passage in the atmosphere, the healthy roar of the ion engines as the ship flew closer to the palace, all of it made for a surprisingly spaceworthy starship.

But then all else was swept aside as Theri came down the rampway and threw herself into his arms.

As always there was that first heartbreaking moment of reconnection and reassurance, senses opening fully again to each other, the lifebond between them dazzling with joy and love. Kee lifted her easily to hold her close, felt her wanting to be held that close, wanting to climb into each other's skins. [Darling my dearest,] Kee Sent softly.

[Beloved,] she answered just as softly, nuzzling into his hair.

He let her down then but held on to her hands, turned her to face the young girl in the maroon velvet dress beside him, pitched his voice so that only she and the girl could hear. "Amidala Padme Naberrie, Queen of the Naboo, this is my lifemate Mistress Theriyah bel Kaitryn dan Thretketh."

Theri blinked and shot her lifemate a startled look before bowing to the young queen. Padme gave her a sunny smile and shook her head slightly. "You need not bow to me, Mistress Kaitryn. As you are my Uncle's lifemate you are family here. And besides, I'm not one for such formality save from my councilors. I find it serves to keep them reminded of who holds the reins of governing here."

Theri nodded silently as her students filed out of the ship behind her.

[Padme hides herself as one of her handmaidens most of the time,] Kee explained swiftly to Theri, narrowing his Sending to her alone. [When she is dressed in such simple dresses as this one, make sure you call her Padme. Otherwise, when she wears those outlandish costumes the Nubians insist on, you must call her Amidala.]

[Understood, beloved,] Theri Sent swiftly. "These are my apprentices, Taslimi Choi, Rhyonluppa, and Kylan Hellstorm."

Padme smiled at them all as astromech droids began converging on the DawnStorm to attach power and monitoring cables. "Be welcome to Naboo in the name of Amidala our Queen. She would invite you to stay with us, but Master Jinn must return to Coruscant as soon as can be arranged." She looked up at Kee questioningly. "But perhaps some time soon you can return?"

"It will have to be after the harvest," Kee said with gentle regret, but then a dazzling, wondering smile as he slipped an arm around Theri's shoulders and pulled her close. "We will be parents before the year is out and I would beg the Queen's indulgence to allow us to remain on Coruscant until our child can travel safely."

Padme's eyes fairly danced with suppressed joy. "The Queen will undoubtedly understand, Master Jinn. I will convey your message to her."

Kee gave her another smile and reached for his pack, tossed it to Rhyon with a grin. The young Wookie whurffled a laugh and headed back up into the DawnStorm to stow it while Tas began giving the ship a thorough visual inspection. Kylan had gone to the hangar bay door to look out over the vast landscape, the mountains in the distance overlaid with a blue haze of low clouds, the lake far below the cliffs of the royal palace.

"Padme, be careful," Kee said softly in farewell. "I will do what I can with the Senate. I know Palpatine is working with Antilles of Alderaan and the Vaikerian Senator to get these taxes rescinded but perhaps some unsubtle nudges on the part of the Jedi Council will have the required effect." He bowed to her for a moment and Theri did the same. "I'll send you all the news I have as soon as I get it myself."

Padme nodded quickly. "Go with the gods, Master Jinn, and safe journey to you all."

The girl in the handmaiden's dress turned to go, slipping away into the technicians surrounding a sleek silver dagger of a ship further down the hangar's length.

Kee turned with a sigh to go up into the DawnStorm , saw Theri standing still and silent staring around her with wide, entranced eyes.

[Beloved? Are you all right?] he Sent softly, putting up one hand to smooth her hair behind her ear.

Theri looked up at him and he felt what she was feeling then, the odd double-vision feeling of prescience, like there was a nexus of connections in time and space somewhere close by. Events that would be pivotal and important would happen here, they were in the right place at the wrong time. The cold tide of precognition shivered through both of them.

[Mark this place, beloved,] Kee Sent quietly. [We will see it again under circumstances far less pleasant.]

"Percentage of revenues from sale of mechanoids, Davion will give for use of water and land?" Yoda asked the young Knight before him.

Ben nodded. "Yes, Master Yoda, they've agreed to an initial three percent of total revenues with a provision in the contract for renegotiation every two years. The land and water rights still belong to Teravin, though, and I insisted they retain those rights permenantly. I had a clause worked into the contract that Davion will adhere to strict pollution control guidelines, including EMF pollution of the local area. I had to drop the revenue percentage to three percent before they would agree to this."

The intricate jewel-tones of the mosaic floor glowed in the afternoon sun streaking in the eastern and northern sides of the Council chamber, fresh cold air streaming in the open slot-windows far above his head in the apex of the minaret roof. Ben felt completely alive, completely energized, almost buzzing with happiness to be home again. His mind danced with delight even as he carefully shielded it all inside and controlled the urge to burst out laughing seemingly at everything said to him. Windu's raised eyebrow and barely-contained grin told Ben he wasn't fooling anyone, but then Windu knew him almost as well as Master Kee did. And Yoda's ears were twitching. This last one report and he'd be free.

"Jedi Ghanbari agrees with the terms of the contract?" Windu asked, scrolling through the hundreds of pages of documents. "And what of C Unit, the arrangements for supply of parts for their existing mechanoids?"

Ben nodded once. "Three of C Unit's mechs aren't Davion mechs, sir, and that will be the main problem. Davion is understandably reluctant to supply parts for mechanoids they did not design and build. I have spoken with the pilots of those mechs and the current plan is that they will be given three new experimental Davion prototypes. Their old mechs will be kept for training and trade-out when other mechs of the company are offline. In fact all the pilots of C Unit are looking forward to being test pilots for new prototypes. I gather it isn't every day that Davion has a unit full of veteran pilots available for testing."

"What of the academy? Has Ghanbari begun construction yet?" Mundi asked.

"Yes, sir, they were surveying the site when I left yesterday morning," Ben answered. "And also beginning construction of Teravin Command headquarters in the mountains near Zeanankh."

Ben heard the Council chamber door open and close behind him, saw Yoda's ears twitch again. Near-silent steps behind him, and then out of the corner of his eye he saw a tall form in a black cloak. Thinning his shields a little, he felt for the presence.

Kee. He clenched his hands on his arms inside his cloak sleeves, joy exploding anew inside him. But he controlled it all, kept the wild shout of recognition inside somehow. There would be time later. For now, he had his duty to see to.

[You could at least say hello,] came the soft chuckling Sending.

Ben's mouth twitched trying not to grin, trying not to turn to look. [Heh. All right then, hello Kee.]

[Impudent wretch.]

[You said say hello. I did.] Ben turned his head ever so slightly to slant a look up at his Master to find Kee doing the same down at him. Then hastily brought his shields back up to full again as his heart suddenly thudded with need. Now was *not* the time or place.

Yoda was watching them intently as Windu asked a few more questions, the old one's eyes going from one to another with some interest. To the rest of the Council save Windu, these two Jedi before them were simply the former Master and apprentice with no further ties than long years of memories and trust. Windu saw Ben's happiness to be home. Yoda saw far more even had he not heard their Sending a moment before. Every shift of Obi-Wan's aura spoke of the boy's feelings.

Windu and Mundi were concluding the questions. Somehow Ben managed to answer cohernently and logically, but he wasn't entirely sure how he did it.

Yoda gave a soft sigh as Obi-Wan turned to go with a bow to the three senior Councilors. [Certain are you of what you mean to do, Obi-Wan?] he Sent narrowly to the young Knight.

Ben hesistated a split-second as the Sending reached him, answered swiftly before he got out of his own easy Sending range. [I'm certain, Master Yoda. My place, my life, my soul, is with them.]

[Ben, wait for me outside on the walkway,] Kee Sent quietly as the door slid shut behind his former apprentice. An unfocussed but dazzlingly joyful affirmative drifted back from Ben.

Ben stood at the railing of the small balcony on the walkway that ran around the Council chamber, his face lifted to the freezing cold winter wind and the brightness of Coruscant Alpha. He was shivering despite the warm wool of his cloak, his ears were hurting from the cold wind, his tailbraid flipped and tossed restlesslly. He settled his pack again on his shoulder. He'd gone straight from the shuttle up to the Council without detouring first to stow his gear, partially from the need to report while the Council had time to hear him and partially because he no longer knew where "home" was. It didn't matter, really. Home for him had always been, would always be, within Sending range of Qui-Gon Jinn and Theriyah bel Kaitryn.

[Wretch, it's far too cold to be standing out there in the wind.]

Ben laughed, whirled to the Sending, took three swift strides forward as his pack slid from his shoulder. Kee caught him with a chuckle, hugging him tight for a long moment before starting to pull away. But Ben held on a moment longer to the tall solidity of his former Master before reluctantly letting go.

Kee's smile was quizzical as Ben pulled away, and Ben blinked and looked away swiftly. That one hug had shivered through Ben's whole body like live current. And for all his conviction, Ben still found himself twitching with nervousness. He scooped up his pack again and swung it onto his shoulder. "Where's Theri?"

Kee's smile slid up to a grin. "At home, waiting for you."

"Lead on then," Ben said.

Kee stopped a moment, tilted Ben's face up with one hand to look him in the eyes. Ben gulped and allowed the gentle hand to lift his head. Query in the sapphire eyes, the feel of a doubled soul in the touch. [Something momentous happened, didn't it? Something you didn't put in that holo you sent.]

Ben closed his eyes for a moment, feeling Kee's hand twining in his tailbraid. Darien had liked playing with it too. [Yes. You could say something very momentous happened.]

[Tell me about it? I like to know we're still reading the same page.]

Ben laughed softly and opened his eyes again to the questioning sapphire scrutiny. [Of course I'll tell you. I've intended to anyway as it concerns you and Theri. When we've got a moment free. It's too much to tell right here on this freezing cold balcony.]

[Home it is, then,] Kee Sent and reached for Ben's pack strap. Ben started to move away from him, refusing to let him take the pack, but Kee Sent a swift teasing admonishment and he relented. [Level 12.]

"Did you take over this whole side of the level?" Ben asked flippantly as they started across the terrace toward the archway door of Kee and Theri's new apartment.

"Seems like it. Seven bedrooms," Kee answered as they wove through the curving walls of the contemplation pools and smoothed stone benches. "With Kylan, Tas and Rhyon, we needed the space. And life is much simpler with us all together."

"I should hope so," Ben answered. Kee punched in the code at the door and warmth surrounded them as they came into the small entryway.

Ben looked around approvingly at the graceful curves of the main room, the amber marble and the deep pile of the rug on the floor, grinned at the Soritsu-ji practice swords strewn on the sofa that lined the left hand wall. Kee gave a snort at this. "Tas and Rhyon. They both made fifth-level yesterday morning. Theri has to remind them daily not to leave their stuff sitting about." He put Ben's pack down beside the sofa and turned with a smile, gesturing toward the wooden doors. Afternoon sunlight glowed through the stained glass.

[Ben?]

Ben caught his breath at the feel of the Sending from beyond the doors and was moving before he knew it.

Theri was sitting on the high edge of the contemplation pool there, wrapped in her gray cloak, soaking in the sun, her black hair tossing in the wind. She was holding out her hands to him the moment he got through the doors and then he was in her arms, clutching her tight, all but vibrating with the joy that sliced through him like the sunlight. He buried his face in the sweet darkness of her hair, feeling the slight roughness of the green streak under his cheek.

Theri hugged him for a long moment then pushed him away enough to take his hand. [Sweetheart, I think you'd better sit down. I have something to tell you.]

Ben smiled but didn't move save to lean a little more on the stone wall she sat on. Theri sighed, looked up into the sky-crystal of his eyes, and put his hand on her abdomen.

Ben blinked as he felt what she was wordlessly saying. [You--you're--?]

[Yes.]

Kee moved quickly and caught him as he started to drop to his knees. It was too much, it was just too much. Not only to be home again with these two he loved, but now....

[How far along--?] he managed as Kee helped him up again with a chuckle.

Theri sighed and kissed his hand that had once again tangled in her own. [Two and a half months now. We only found out a couple weeks ago.]

A baby. There was going to be a baby. A baby that might be his child. Or Kee's.

He felt the two Sending reassurance, making adjustments as the emotional overload threatened to overwhelm him altogether, relaxed into the gentle mental tinkering, lowering his surface shields to them. Strain disappeared, replaced by warmth and delight. He shook his head at himself, gathered his scattered wits, and reached for the Force. The calmness of it swept through him like the first wind of spring. Yes. It was time.

Taking a deep breath, he reached for Kee's hand, firmed up his grip on Theri's hand in his. [In light of this, what I have to ask is particularly relevant.] And he lowered every shield he had around his mind and visualized the steel core of the inner shields cracking open, felt the resulting lowering of his innermost shields around his deepest thoughts. All that he was, all that he felt, all that he knew, his own truth found somehow almost without his conscious willing it. [Why did I never realize before how I just went along for the ride in whatever I did? Why did I never want to know my own mind and wishes, why did I never question? You were right, love. I *am* a happy little Jedi robot. But look--I've learned so much--] He showed them Darien, felt Kee's amused interest and then wonderment as the depths of Ben's feelings washed over him, all of it, the whole whirlwind romance. He'd loved Darien, yes, but they'd both known it wouldn't last, that even if they'd stayed together it would soon crumble. Ben was Jedi, and Darien was not. Darien could never share his thoughts with Ben, and even given Ben's telepathic weakness that lack would be too much of a strain. Without being able to hear Darien's thoughts mistrust and misunderstanding would soon tear them apart.

But Kee and Theri knew him, knew all of him, and loved him without reserve, a love that did not hinder or hold back or demand what he could not give. And because they would never hinder or demand, he could give to them what he could not give to others. For two weeks on Teravin he'd sat staring up at the stars night after night, contemplating, dropping down through the depths of his soul again and again, questioning, analyzing, seeking his true motivations and wants and needs. Seeking the will of the Force with every sense at his command.

Kee and Theri had gone silent in his mind, but he felt them brushing through his thoughts with such careful softness. He swayed with the effort to hold all this out to them despite the fear that shivered him more than the cold. No. He'd gone past the point of no return. The fear of their rejection was something he would not allow to influence him. [And what I've found is this: I love you with all I am. I love you *both*. I want you both, in every way. I cannot see myself in any future without both of you at my side. Please. Lifemate with me.]

Silence that rang like struck crystal. There. He'd said it. It had taken two weeks of gathering his courage and memorizing what he would say. He'd made his best try. It was all in their hands now.

Surprise began to filter into his thoughts from the other two. Delight, a dancing dizzying joy to match his own, he could almost hear a delirious laughing song threading through the feel of the doubled soul. Sending like indistinct words several rooms over, kept from his Hearing only by a thin veneer of will. Then steadiness began to return, the feeling of thoughts and minds reordered into some semblance of Jedi calm and dignity. He couldn't help chuckling at that.

[Yes,] came the double-souled Sending. [But we ask that you wait to actually bond with us. Only for a few months.]

[Why?] Ben asked and finally managed to pry his eyes open again, came back to himself enough to feel the warmth surrounding him from being held between the two, wrapped in Jedi cloak wool and strong arms.

[We want you to be absolutely certain. We are, but we do not wish to rush into this as we did our own. But that doesn't mean we will not love you.]

Ben directed his thoughts then to Kee. [It does not bother you that I feel the way I do now toward you?]

Sapphire eyes snapped with hidden laughter and he was hugged close. [Whatever makes you think it would? I have known you almost all your life. You know how I feel on the subject. Love is love, Ben. So long as there is love, whatever the form, there is the will of the Force. It's a surprise, but I assure you it's a welcome one.] A shrug of the broad shoulder Ben leaned against now. [And you forget, half my mind is now that of this minx here. I'd forgotten what a handsome devil you are, wretch. Have no fear that what you feel for me isn't returned.]

Ben wriggled a little as the Sending caressed him, so many things racing through his mind he couldn't speak or Send for a moment. Then, [I had hoped, but I did not assume. All I am certain of is that you two are the balance of my heart and soul. And that's so far beyond mere sex that it all but leaves it behind.]

[As it should,] Kee Sent, and both sets of arms tightened around him briefly again. [Which is why we asked you to wait.]

Ben sighed and relaxed in their arms. [And so I shall. For you, I would wait forever.]

A deep, heartfelt sigh of sadness came from the ancient Jedi Master as Yoda lowered his small green hand from the stone of the Memory Wall in the Great Hall. The Force settled once again from the focus the old one had brought to bear on the cold bluestone granite, the new name glowing white hot still.

Behind the old one, Theri stood with her cloak wrapped around her, her hood up, tears tracking slowly down her face. At her side, Kylan's face was so impassive he might have been standing watch in the Senate instead of watching the final rememberance of the founder of the Mystic order. But it was an indication of his control that the muscles in his jaw clenched so tightly Theri could feel the pain in her own neck as he unconsciously radiated his sorrow. She didn't have the heart to ask him to shield that too.

"Sowelu Inda Mahadevaravana, born of Proxima Tau, taken as Padawan by Yoda at the age of four years," Yoda said softly, still turned away from the two youngsters behind him. "Confirmed Jedi at the age of seventeen years. Founder of the Mystic Jedi order, philosopher, soldier. Ascended to Master of the Mystic Jedi order at the age of thirty-two years." Another deep sigh of sorrow. "Went into the Force, age seventy-four years, at Mystic Temple on Cae-Tauvon. Came back to guide and guard his final heir and successor, Mistress Theriyah bel Kaitryn, five hundred years later. Went back to nothingness, one year and three quarters after." The small green hand raised toward the letters of Inda's name now cooling to orange heat in the wall of granite. "May the Force be with you, my son."

[Thank you for allowing this, Master,] Theri Sent softly. [Or rather, thank you for bullying the Council into accepting it.]

Yoda humphed a little, looking up at the thousands of names inscribed on the long granite wall. This wall had stood for almost ten thousand years, not even half the span of the order's existence, yet there were many thousands of names of Jedi who had died or been killed in ways in which their bodies could not be retrieved. They were remembered this way, their names carved into the solid granite wall by the use of the Force. Yoda had done so more times than he wanted to remember. Twice, now, for two of his own Padawans. "Knew they could not hinder me in this, they did. Knew I would not listen."

Another long sigh and the old one started to turn away from the wall.

Theri watched the glowing hot letters of Inda's name cool and finally go dark, but there was only a calm emptiness in her heart now, only memories. Inda wasn't here. He had gone on. His legacy wasn't in the sparse records buried in the Archives that told of a blindingly gifted boy found on Proxima Tau, nor in the legends and stories passed down from Master to student of her own tradition.

"To the Force goeth the long journey of the soul after death," she recited softly from the Book of the Force. "But not you, old trickster. So I'll not say goodbye. So long as I can remember any part of the Book, you live in me." She kissed her fingers, pressed the kiss to the still-warm letters of his name, and finally turned away.

Blue and green flashes of light weaving within the glowing amber walls of a saber cube, a deadly dance that held their lives and hearts entwined in memories and skill and trust.

The fringe ends of the jala scarf holding his hair out of his eyes were singed from an inadvertant touch on the emerald blade. Across the saber cube's width, Ben Kenobi stood at the ready, completely focussed on the darting green blade and the Jedi Master who held it. The cold scintillant blue blade wove in front of him fluidly, the light of the blade reflecting in crystalline blue eyes. Both of them had tossed their tunics out of the cube some time ago and sweat gleamed on tanned skin and darkened their hair.

Another pause, a quirk of a faint grin, and Ben dived sideways as Kee jumped forward in a lunge at him, the blue blade whirling vertical to shove the green blade aside as he jerked himself out of the path of the searing electric crackle. Tumbling, he jumped to his feet again and bounced into a diving somersault over Kee's head, came down behind his Master. Kee whirled as he passed by overhead and was blocking the slash instantly. The Force sang between them, at one moment moving them together in harmony, the next in counterpoint of conflict, moving them as much as they directed it. How many thousands of times had they let this harmony take them over in the last fourteen years? Most times in practice or moving meditation, sometimes in true battle.

Always with the love they'd felt for each other in the dance. But never before with the veiled hints of passion lurking beneath the surface.

[Give up yet?] Ben Sent, mindvoice ragged but amused.

[A Jedi never surrenders,] Kee growled back, renewing his attack with a flurry of slashes that forced Ben to give ground until he was almost to the humming energy wall of the cube.

[Heh. We'll see about that.]

That was all the warning Kee got. The Force gathered at Ben's call as he backflipped into a one-handed handstand, flipped so his feet hit the saber cube wall, let the Force increase his momentum, and was suddenly diving straight at Kee from above.

Reflex almost saved the Jedi Master from a tumble. Almost. They collapsed in a laughing tangle of limbs, lightsabers retracting and disappearing as they fell.

"That--That was *not* fair, Padawan!" Kee gasped amidst his laughter.

"Whoever said I'd play fair?" Ben chuckled. He'd managed to land on top and rolled away to sprawl beside his Master on the floor, both of them catching their breath, staring up through the sparkling oscillations of the saber cube to the darkened ceiling far above. It was very late now, probably after midnight, and they'd been practicing for hours. The advanced lightsaber area was deserted, most of the lights save for the two directly above their saber cube were off, the bright orangey light almost swallowed in the great floorspace of the practice level.

"We needed this. Both of us," Kee said a few moments later, breaking the companionable silence.

"Yeah. I didn't get much time to practice on Shaula Prime. Torin and Seri and I sparred for a couple hours every day, but they didn't have much time for it," Ben said lazily. "It's good to be home. I'm actually looking forward to teaching classes again."

"I think I'll join in on that, if you wouldn't mind," Kee said tentatively.

"Of course, Master. Why would I mind?"

Kee sat up, turned to look down at him with a wistful smile. [That's the first time you've called me 'Master' since you came home. I never realized how much I'd miss it til you stopped saying it.]

Ben answered his smile with one of his own, then his eyes focussed on the new scar running up Kee's left arm that was propped across one drawn-up knee. A lightsaber scar, still blood-dark with newness. He reached up one hand to trace it with one gentle finger. [Niharn?]

Kee nodded. [Yes. On Umbriel.] A dismissive shrug then. [It happens, Ben. When you get to my advanced years, you'll have a full set of your own.]

Ben thumped him on the leg for his self-deprecating flippancy. [Kee, you are by no means old!]

[Tell that to my back in the mornings.]

Ben sat up at that to give his Master a stern look. "I thought Theri was helping you with that, that stuff Healer Danya gave you--"

"She was, until she got so run down that I got guilty asking her to--"

"You dork!" Ben said, half-angry with him, thumped him on the leg again lightly. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I came home when I did."

Kee looked up at him, sweaty face and straggling braid and the crystalline blue eyes, the bright light and warmth of the mind he'd known for so long. "It's a good thing you came home at all, Ben."

Ben heard the huskiness in the beloved voice, all but heard the thoughts behind it. He could just as easily have requested another assignment and left from the Justice without coming home to the Temple. Most of the Knights operated like that, not coming home to the Temple unless commanded to for years at a time. A Master with a student couldn't live like that, but a Knight with no ties could careen around the galaxy to his heart's content. Kee had expected Ben would take advantage of his freedom.

"I had two very good reasons for coming home," Ben said softly, looking up into sapphire eyes. He caught Kee's hand, twining their fingers together. The jolt of desire that whipped through him startled him before he dropped his eyes and started to get up, commanding his body to behave as he Lifted the cube controller from the floor in the corner and deactivated the saber cube.

Hands on his shoulders. [I felt that, you know.]

Ben nodded. [I know.] He shrugged under the warmth of those hands on his skin. [I said I'd wait.]

[First you said you don't have to play fair and now you're being dutifully virtuous? Bit schizophrenic there, wretch.]

Ben could feel the laughter and teasing in Kee's mindvoice, tilted a look up at the leonine face over his shoulder. Kee was trying very very hard to suppress the urge to grin. Well, two could play at that game.

He whirled and pulled Kee down to him in a kiss that was half hunger and half teasing. And felt the instant explosion of delighted, passionate approval in Kee's touch as his Master's arms went around him, holding him upright in the sudden flashfire of lust and love that ripped through him.

[Happy now?] Ben Sent breathlessly as they pulled apart at last to look into each other's eyes, still holding each other tight.

[Hmm. If I say no will you keep going?] Kee's eyes danced with mirth and the grin was definitely teasing.

[No doubt which side of you that remark came from,] Ben Sent, rolling his eyes. [I hadn't realized you two were so much in tune that her Thretkethan lust was transferring to you.]

A gentle thump on Ben's back as Kee reluctantly released him. [Are you so determined to fit me into a category and define yourself as being in another category?]

[What do you mean?] Ben Sent quizzically as they moved to gather up the scattered tunics and remotes into some sort of order.

[Neither Yoda nor I ever gave you cause to believe that bisexuality or homosexuality was something to be ashamed of. Or even something to define yourself by. As I have said before, love is love. It's a thing that happens between souls first, bodies second. And where there is love there is the Force. I will not accept any arbitrary, conventional designations where love is concerned, Ben. I love *you*, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I have always loved you from the moment we met. Back then, it was as the nine-year-old. Later, as my own apprentice. Recently, as my equal. Now, as one who will soon be my lifemate. That the body that houses the soul I cherish happens to be male is perfectly fine, in my book. Besides, how can you say what my 'preferences' are? Just because I'm lifemated to a female doesn't neccessarily preclude bisexual tendencies on my part.]

Ben blinked at him in surprise. Then, [Oh. Before we met, when you were--heh. I keep forgetting how much older you are. There was a lot of time before you and I met.]

[Exactly, Ben. And those six years you spent with Master Yoda before you came to me. I was thirty-two when Master gave you to me permanently.] Kee was pulling on his undertunic, stuffing the overtunic and his belt and lightsaber into the Ben's pack. [I just never saw fit to enlighten you since it had nothing to do with anything then, and I was so hurt by Sachella's death I didn't want to talk about anything involving any sort of relationship at the time. And you never asked.]

[That's true,] Ben admitted, tugging on his own tunics, tying the sash and belt. [Yet another point for Master Yoda's 'Assume Nothing'.]

[Indeed,] Kee agreed as they started the walk through the darkness of the practice level toward the lifts. [Trust the Force, yes, but assume nothing. Move by your instincts without fear or thought of the future. Act in the moment, not at the urging of past history or future hopes.]

Ben stopped, turned to look up at the tall form just behind him, felt the bright aura of the Force, that unique feeling of his Master's presence he'd known seemingly all his life. [ 'Learn to let go of that which cannot be owned, or which is destroyed by grasping,' ] he Sent softly, quoting from the Jedi Precepts.

Kee caught Ben's free hand, gave it a squeeze in reassurance. [You have the right to this, Ben. Theri and I both said yes of our own free wills. We want you, silly.]

Ben caught his breath, felt for the peace and calmness of the Force and let it ease the nervousness. [I'm just...not used to all this, I guess.]

[Which is why we asked you to wait on the final bonding,] Kee Sent with a nod.

[So anything short of the final bonding is fair game?] Ben asked.

Kee's grin was mischievous in the dark and he was glad Ben couldn't see it. [Yes, that's the plan.]

Kee all but felt the considering look Ben gave him then before they came into the circle of light before the lift doors. [Why do I get the feeling you're trying everything you can think of to get me in bed with you?]

[Maybe because you're being so virtuously stubborn you're driving me out of patience?] Kee Sent innocently.

Ben snorted at that. [Just making sure we're all reading from the same page here,] he answered, echoing Kee's words three days hence. He took a deep breath, let it out, shook his head dismissively at his own fears and hesitations. [ 'Do or do not, there is no try.' ] He glanced around nervously, then, [Is Theri asleep?]

[Yes. And already sinking into one of her trances.]

[Good. Nothing short of thermonuclear war can wake her from that.] They were at the archway door of the apartment now and Ben was relieved to feel nothing stirring, no one awake. Even Kylan seemed asleep now. The glowing chrono display on the corner of the comscreen showed 1:39.

Ben noticed his hands were shaking as he keyed the lock on the doorpanel of his room, suddenly screamingly aware of every sensation as his nerves jacked up another notch. Then promply seemed to explode as he was pulled into strong arms from behind and Kee was working deft fingers at the knot of his sash and the fastenings of his belt. The sash and belt fell away to clatter on the floor and big warm hands were on his skin, caressing, curving up to tilt his head a little to allow Kee to nibble hungrily on his neck.

Suddenly Ben knew with stunning clarity how Theri felt, how lust and passion and long need could wind down into one impossible vertex of sensation like the white heart of a star. How that need could move the body without will, how that pure fire could drive him like the Force. And how inexorable it was.

He turned in Kee's arms, felt his tunics slide away from him as Kee banished them away, and his own hands were buried in long silvered-brown hair, pulling Kee down into an insistent kiss that would take no prisoners and give no quarter. Tangling in sweaty hair, tugging the jala scarf away and flinging it somewhere, he slid his hands under Kee's tunic and around the broad shoulders, tugging the cloth away to drop it to the floor, never breaking off the kisses.

[Bath? Together?] Ben managed to Send distractedly, moving down a little to trail kisses down Kee's chest.

[Later,] Kee answered just as distractedly. He pushed Ben backwards a step at a time til they got to the bed, then lifted the wriggling form and dropped him on the nubbly soft comforter and began pulling the adhesion tabs on Ben's boots open.

[Hey!] Ben protested, reaching up with hands and arms suddenly bereft of Kee's warmth. [Can't you do that from down here on top of me where you belong?]

Kee chuckled and yanked off the boots in two swift pulls, then dove down again into Ben's arms. [Better?] he Sent as his lips again found his apprentice's.

[Much,] Ben answered before his nerves almost overwhelmed him with the sheer richness and complexity of this moment, these sensations, this beloved wondrous man he'd somehow had the incredible fortune to share his life with. [I have loved you so long now, and I never knew I wanted it this way.]

[Mmmm,] Kee replied as his arms slid under Ben's shoulders and pulled him up against him, lips and tongue exploring, tasting the salt of sweat and exertion, the feel of the strong young body in his arms, the insistent hardness against his thigh growing urgent. [I don't remember if this room is shielded or not. And Kylan--]

A mental snort of laughter, and Ben wormed one hand out to reach toward the shelves nearby, his mind searching for one thing in particular among the clutter Theri had somehow arranged there. Finding what he sought, the device flew to his hand swiftly as he Lifted it. Kee stopped to look at it as Ben fumbled with a series of switches in the roughly-constructed thing's chipboard innards and a small blue diode began pulsing beside the switches as it hummed to life.

[What is it?] Kee asked curiously.

[One of my old projects. Neural noise dampener. I was going to give it to Torin for Cori, but I forgot to take it with me when I left. Acts as a portable shield.] He dropped it over the side of the bed.

[A most useful device,] Kee Sent with a chuckle as Ben flipped them over and kissed him softly, hands caressing with light touches down Kee's chest, wriggling a little as Kee's hands ran down his back just as lightly. Shivers raced up Ben's spine at the tingling the touches evoked. A devouring blaze of heat followed the shivers and the aching need. No thought could survive this, only the driving animal hunger that suddenly dominated every other instinct. The touch of the mind in the hands on his body, the lips and teeth ravaging his throat, the sweaty hair he tangled in his fingers, all sang of an answering fire.

A wordless question, and the answer, [Yes!] and Ben was moving again, sliding down the length of long legs, tugging the trousers off as he went, noting with some amusement that Kee had managed to lose his boots some time before. His hands smoothed over the definition of muscle and bone, soft kisses along the small scars and the lightsaber burns of long ago, his braid falling forward to brush along the tensing thighs. The tickling touch of the braid brought a swift gasp from Kee and Ben smiled a little as he caught his braid and trailed it deliberately up the pale softness.

[I knew that damned vanity of yours would come in useful someday,] Kee Sent in an appreciative and somewhat dazed purr.

[Mmm-hmm,] Ben answered and trailed the silken end of the braid up the hardness of Kee's cock.

Kee nearly jumped off the bed with surprise before collapsing back with a loud groan.

[Soundproofing is a wonderful thing,] Ben Sent flippantly as he continued to draw the end of his braid in a torturous way over his lifemate's flesh. [You screamer you.]

[You'd better make me scream, wretch, or I shall have to devise something worse for you.]

[Oooh, a challenge, a promise, and a threat, all in one. No wonder you're the Master.]

A growl, and Kee tried to pull him up again but Ben resisted and instead tossed his braid away and resumed the torture with a warm and very wet tongue. Neither one of them could marshall their thoughts into the focus needed for Sending after that. Exquisite waves of shivery ecstatic joy rippling back and forth between them as Ben licked, feeling the sensations he was causing as ethereal touches in the nerves of his own arousal as Kee echoed it all to him. Kee's hands clenched in the comforter, unable to keep still anymore, trying to thrash under the meandering caresses of Ben's tongue and lips, the hands that continued their explorations. Then Ben took a deep breath and took the straining flesh completely in his mouth, and clenched his hands in the muscles of Kee's hips as his Master gave a choked scream and nearly threw him off the bed.

[S-sorry--sorry, wretch...]

Ben's answer was a gentle chuckle as he started moving slowly. [You're the one who wanted to scream.] A devilish thought then. [Just you wait til Theri and I gang up on you. I promise you they'll hear you up in Operations.]

The reply was only a trembling hand caressing his hair in encouragement that he didn't need and urging to go faster that he ignored and groans that made his thumping heart race.

Another deep breath and he pulled away slowly, looking up to see the half-tranced look of rapture on Kee's face. A light cast of his mind around the room again and something else flew to his hand at the touch of his mind. [How shall we do this?] he asked softly.

[More,] Kee answered, hands pulling him back down hungrily. Ben smiled and complied, drawing the hardened flesh once more into his mouth, finally giving in to his lover's demands to speed up, at least for a moment or two, humming in happiness as the groans and soft writhing resumed. The racing hunger of his own need was near fever-pitch from the echoed enjoyment alone, seemed to be sharpened by Kee's groans.

Finally he pulled away again, smiling slightly at the whimpers of protest, and sat up to look, absorbing the sight before him. The dim light from the single small hoverlight at the nearby desk made shadows on the tanned skin, picked out the silver in Kee's tangled hair spilling over the pillow, contoured the muscles clenching in the arms where the hands were spasmed on the comforter. Ben leaned over to caress some calmness into those tightened fingers, felt the sigh as Kee relaxed and wrapped his arms around Ben to hold him close.

[More?] Ben Sent teasingly, nibbling beneath Kee's ear gently.

[Please,] Kee answered with a hand trailing down Ben's spine. [Before you explode.]

Ben blushed a little at this, and leaned up to grant a long, sweet kiss that threatened to make them both pass out from lack of air. Then he found the thing he'd retrieved in the ruffled bedcovers and pulled away to sit up so he could work. Kee hissed as Ben's hand began caressing him, the coolness of the oil he'd retrieved warming in an instant and the faint woodsmoke and rain scent of myalara wrapped around them. After a moment Kee gathered his wits enough to get the oil and pull Ben down so he could reach around and drip the oil where it was needed, massaging it in with careful gentle fingers, moaning softly into the kiss that Ben gave him.

[Now?] Ben Sent breathlessly.

[Now,] Kee answered.

Ben gathered himself and sank down onto Kee, a gasping howl that he couldn't stop ripping from him at the blinding moment of unholy euphoria as that incredible hardness thrust up into him, firing seemingly every nerve in his body at the same moment. The echoed sensations swamped him all at once, he felt Kee's answering cry and the slide of an aching hurting hardness into tight hot slickness, limbs spasming unconsciously in response to the near-overwhelming stimulation. Gulping down air, Ben pried his eyes open and Kee caught his hands at the unspoken signal, and they started to move together, seeking the pulsebeat of this new synchrony. Every twitch, every move, brought new and miraculous responses, lust and love and long years of trust stripping away the last shreds of inhibition and reluctance. Oily fingers sought out Ben's own sex and his howls went up another notch into feral demand.

The wild reel couldn't last forever, not in the firestorm of echoed senses and frantic mental caresses. Ben screamed as his body drew up around and into the close confines of Kee's hand and convulsed into an explosion he thought might kill him, clenching around Kee's hardness inside him as his lover arched up into him with an answering growl of pain and completion.

Ben collapsed on top of him, shaking, trying to breathe, felt the tears starting to prickle in his eyes as his mind raced in the overload. After a long moment Kee's arms crept up around him and held him tight, and under his ear Ben heard the racing heartbeat, felt the muffled jarring of the pounding of that beloved heart. The joy of that single affirmation that they were both still alive and in each other's arms was too much and suddenly they were both crying helplessly.

[Oh Ben--]

[Kee--]

[Why did we wait so long to do this?] Kee's hand was tracing down his back in a shaky line, trying to smooth away the tremors and sobs.

[Because we didn't know we wanted it,] Ben answered dazedly as he moved gently to release Kee from inside him and then settled back again, unwilling to move any further in the bone-deep exhaustion.

No more words then, just twined thoughts drifting over what they had just done together, the first tentative steps on this new path together.

[No longer my Master,] Ben Sent softly. [But now my beloved.]

[Yes. And you are by no means my student any longer,] Kee Sent just as softly. [But you have always been in my soul, whatever role you happened to be living at the time.] Another gentle sweep of the big hand down Ben's spine. [And yes, now my beloved.]

Ben sighed happily at that and wriggled a little in response. [Bath now?]

[Hmm. It would be welcome.]

With a smile Ben pushed himself up, caught Kee's hand and pulled him to his feet, staggering a little as Kee's arms caught him up in a smothering desperate embrace. [I don't think I'll ever get old with you and Theri doing this to me constantly. I won't ever have the energy to get old.]

[That's the idea,] Ben teased and pulled him under the spray of the shower.

Part 14