Live Journal Feed// Text //[i] denotes mental thought
[i]{ Text. } denotes Mindspeech.
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Chapter 6 - Questions and Answers, Part II
“Afraid?” Qui-Gon asked, confused and suspicious, “What reason would she have to be afraid?”
“She’s not…afraid of them...precisely,” said Alia slowly, her eyes distant as she hugged her knees to her chest, “More hesitant, I’d guess.”
She sighed, causing him to Look and see how tired her body really was. The discovery dismayed him, that he had been either unable or unwilling to sense her fatigue because of his curiosity.
“We do not need to continue,” he began, but stopped abruptly when she shook her head.
“I appreciate the offer, but…I think I need your advice on this. We…Cadis and I…were supposed to meet on Helia Prime a week ago, before I came to Naboo, but things happened, so now we’re set for Manaan next month. I think whatever you’d have to say would do a lot for her.”
A niggling sense of doubt caused him to ask aloud, “Why?”
Qui-Gon watched as she blushed, pink staining her cheeks and the tips of her ears. Her face was composed, however, when she raised her eyes to meet his.
“Because you’re a Jedi, of course!” she said, in a tone that distinctly told him he should have figured that out for himself.
Smiling inwardly, Qui-Gon raised his hands as if to ward off a blow.
“Forgive my stupidity, then. What is it you wish me to advise you on?”
Bringing her lower lip between her teeth, Alia thought in silence for a moment.
“This…Jedi,” she began hesitantly, still not sure if it would be better if she said nothing, “He’s connected to her, in a way that…in a way that he shouldn’t be.”
She chanced a quick glance at the Jedi Master’s face, her courage bolstered by the innocent curiosity she sensed as she continued.
“A long time ago, he came to our home, our real home, and…something happened. I can’t explain it; I don’t remember it very well. But it had something to do with him and…someone else. She-she didn’t like to talk about it, the only other person besides me she’d talk to was our brother Jaris, and even then we didn’t tell him everything,” Alia explained, breathing in and out deeply to maintain her calm as her memories came rushing back, “Whatever it was…it hurt her badly, so badly. Our-our people shared a bond with each other. A kind of…psychic bond. With them gone, it’s as if there’s a piece of our souls that’s missing, like there’s a hole where someone we loved so deeply used to be.”
Feeling a sense of already-been as he listened to her, a painful tightness started to form in Qui-Gon's chest, his thoughts turning inward as he began to remember things that were painful and belonged in the past. A slow, creeping sensation began to unfurl within his heart as he remembered, in a swift, vicious moment, the place in his heart where Xanatos had once lived. Yes, he knew something of the closeness one could have with another, of the depth of a bond so great being ripped away in an instant, and its terrible aftermath.
Suddenly saddened, Qui-Gon realized that while his grief for his former Padawan had been terrible enough by itself, the girl before him had had to deal with the loss of her entire people, perhaps her entire race. The repercussions must have been devastating for her, for one so young.
“I am sorry for your loss,” he said softly, managing to infuse as much understanding and gentleness as he could without making it seem insincere or feigned, “I, too, have lost someone very close to me in the manner of which you speak.”
She looked at him, and he was perplexed at the strange expression in her vivid eyes: a gratifying sense of thanks, an opposing streak of stubborn pride, a terrible wisdom of experience at too young an age, and an impression of knowing that disturbed him. As if she knew just what, or who, he had been thinking of.
“Thank you,” she said at last, before continuing, as if nothing had happened, “I think-I think she senses that he was somehow connected to what happened to us, but…but that she’s afraid of compromising his position as a Jedi.”
“But why?” Qui-Gon persisted, “You have not made that clear: what is their relationship that she would wish to find this Jedi yet be afraid of success?”
“They are…closely connected,” she said quietly, her eyes distant, “Very closely.”
Sensing that she would say no more on the subject, Qui-Gon gave up his line of questioning, and chose another.
“Very well, then,” he said, uncrossing and re-crossing his legs to find a more comfortable position, “What is it you would have me say?”
“If she should come anyway, despite her fear,” replied Alia, her heart in her throat as she stared back at him, her eyes growing more brilliant and clear with the intensity of her gaze, “If there is a chance at all for her to be with him, if only for a little while.”
Taking a moment to digest her request, Qui-Gon spoke carefully.
“This is a weighty decision,” he said at last, looking her straight in the eye, “Not to be made lightly. I will have to meditate before I can give you an answer.”
“That’s fine,” she answered, sounding relieved. He noticed that as the intensity of her eyes faded back to their normal brilliance, the concentration of her Force-signature also faded.
“Since we have met, Alia, I have sensed that you are not all you appear to be.” At the wary look in her eye, he chose his words carefully. “You are Force-sensitive, and are an active wielder of the Force, yet I know you are not a Jedi. You have told me that you were taught to use the Force by a High Priestess, yet nothing in the Jedi Archives says anything about another Order using the Force the way that has been attributed to Jedi.
“You are a unique individual, Alia, both by birth and by discipline. If it is possible, I would like for you to share with the Council what you have shared with me. About the Potentials on Dysis and the circumstances regarding Cadis.”
A look of stunned surprise took hold of her, one she was unable to break free from for a full three minutes. When Alia could speak again, however, her voice, at least, did not betray the shock he knew her to be feeling.
“I-I suppose that would be f-fine.”
Alia was proud of the fact that her voice shook only a little, so slight that he didn’t seem to catch it. Sensing the occupied nature of her thoughts, Qui-Gon sent a questioning thread along his bond with his absent Padawan. The answering thread reassured him: Obi-wan, after becoming bored with the engine room, had left to sit with the Queen in his absence.
“Is it always like that?”
Her voice was sudden after the silence, and it startled him, though he did not show it. He could not, however, disguise his confusion at her question. It was beginning to annoy him, actually, how easily this girl seemed to be able to confuse him.
“Pardon?”
“Speaking to the G...to the Force,” she explained, curious. It was something Alia had always wondered. “Is it always like that? So peaceful and calm?”
“For the most part, I would say yes. To seek the Force, one is most successful when they are calm, their thinking rational. But I was not seeking the Force just now, nor speaking to it, as you put it. I was sensing Obi-wan.”
A strangeness entered her eyes at his words, but it disappeared so quickly that if he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he doubted whether he would have seen it. The guilty flush causing her cheeks to tinge pink at the mention of his apprentice, however, was much more amusing at the moment.
“You seem to take great pleasure in tormenting my Padawan,” he noted, his eyes twinkling.
Alia started visibly at his correct interpretation of the blush staining her cheeks, and flashed him a guilty smile.
“He reminds me of one of my brothers. He was the First-Son as well as the First-Born, and was always a little stuck-up. My other brother, Jhyntris, and I nearly drove him insane one winter, our pranks were so terrifying,” she said, smiling widely and laughing at the all-too-many memories of poor Tarvis' chagrined face.
Her pleasure, and the look of sweetness in her eyes, as she spoke of her family, warmed Qui-Gon's heart. A fleeting sadness touched him for a moment, as the memory of a pair of eyes, so similar to the girl’s, resurfaced. He had seen a look of such tenderness, full of such sweetness, once upon a time, though it was beyond him to recall it. Sometimes, he thought grumpily, the Force could be a bitch.
“Your family,” he said, turning the direction of his thoughts, “Where are they?”
The look of bemused surprise that crossed her face confused him for a moment: it was a simple enough question. Until he remembered, and silently took himself to task for being so insensitive. A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips as Alia correctly read the chagrined look on his face.
“Well, my first family is here,” she said, tapping a finger lightly to her heart, “My second family is on Dysis. It’s one of the planets in the-”
“The Beroe Sector,” Qui-Gon interrupted, smiling at her reaction, “Yes, I know of it. I visited the Forest-World once, many years ago.”
Alia’s eyes, though not happy, brightened considerably at these words.
“Really?” she asked, surprised and pleased, “Where did you land?”
“I believe the port city was called Aibelen, though my stay was only for a few hours.”
“Aibelen? I’ve only been there once. Matis always used to land in Dharshara, but I guess that could be because Destra has their own shipyard there.”
“It was my belief that Aibelen was used as my… point of contact,” he said carefully, “Because of its…blind eye to certain travelers.”
Alia looked at him for a moment, then smiled like a child whose Birthing Day had come early.
“You must’ve been going to Taras!” she declared loudly, her eyes sparkling with interest, “You must have been; Aibelen stopped being so secretive just over ten years ago, but back then, with the war going on…oh, were you a part of the peacekeeping group Chancellor Venor sent to make sure the Diinari didn’t break the truce?”
When Qui-Gon answered in the affirmative, Alia gave a small squeal of excitement, and settled herself more comfortably as she began what the Jedi Master was beginning to recognize of as a similar version of his own style of a gentle yet thorough interrogation.
A few more years of training and she’d be a formidable match for Mace, he thought wryly. She had many questions, some of which he couldn’t answer, but just as she was about to ask another, a call came over the intercom that the Jedi were needed in the cockpit. A quick thought to Obi-wan, and Qui-Gon knew what was going on.
“We are nearing Tatooine,” he explained to Alia as he rose from his seat on the floor, holding out a hand to help her up.
Chuckling at him while refusing the courteous gesture, Alia rose to her feet as gracefully as he had, giving him a small, sincere smile.
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” she said, her eyes light and cheerful despite the serious danger they were all in. For a time, that seriousness had been pushed aside, and had yet to return to shadow to her heart.
They exited the room together, and were about to go their separate ways when Alia was stopped by the expression in the Jedi Master’s eyes.
“Indeed it does,” he said softly, giving her a small, gentle smile that was enough to make her heart race before he turned and walked down the corridor, leaving her to find just out what had happened.
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Author's Notes
Cadis derived from Cadi, which is Welsh and means “pure.”
Helia Prime based off of Helion Prime from The Chronicles of Riddick, if you missed it.
Already-been is basically déjà vu, but I didn’t think French would sit well in a universe without a France. If this is too confusing, however, let me know, and I’ll change it.
Aibelen is one of the cities on Dysis, and though it may sound or look similar to Ibelin, Sir Godfrey’s (also played by Liam) estate in Kingdom of Heaven, it wasn’t intentional. I actually had a basis for the name Aibelen: Ai has been derived from the Egyptian Iah, which means “moon”, whereas Belen is Greek and means “arrow,” so by stringing them together you get Aibelen, or “Moon-arrow”, or the grander version of “City of the Arrow of the Moon.” Take your pick.
Chancellor Venor I have researched the office of Supreme Chancellor, and they are supposed to have no more than 2 four-year elected terms (obviously not the case for Palpatine), therefore Finis Valorum or even his predecessor Kalpana couldn’t have been in power at the time Qui-Gon went to Dysis, and from there Taras. By further research, I’ve continued Lucas’ tradition of naming characters in such a way (Finis Valorum is Latin for ‘the end of values’) by calling this character Caelum Venor, as in “seeker of the heavens.”
