Obi-Wan glanced at me. "Go back to sleep," he encouraged. "It's just Master Adi."

Grumbling, I flopped over so my back was to the light and tried to do so, though it was hard. The Jedi Masters talked briefly, in such guarded tones that I couldn't hear a word of their conversation, but Adi's voice was prevalent. The light finally switched off and I heard the soft pad of feet approaching, and then both of them crawled into the alcove past my curled-up feet. Adi sighed hard and nestled down at the far end by the wall, while Qui-Gon lay down beside me with hardly a disturbance to the blankets as he slid in and rolled over to sleep. I finally settled down myself, thinking, well, at least she's safe. I would find out where the Jedi Councilor had been and what she had done in the morning.

I was shaken awake fairly early, and though I groaned and scowled about it, I got out of bed and dressed quickly, following as directed to prepare for leaving. The only problem I had was finding the Padawan-sized robe that had been brought for me. It seemed I had lost it, sometime just after returning from the unexpected trip into Thara. Qui-Gon said it was all right, and Colin told me I could keep the coat his son had grown out of, but it bugged me that I managed to lose such a nice robe. The rest of the packing and loading went swiftly. Time was apparently of the essence, and there would be no dawdling. We barely sat down long enough to eat a small breakfast before Colin loaded all of us into his snowspeeder for the long trip south to the spaceport where we would meet our transport. Adi moved in a silent haze, barely awake and rather unresponsive, and ended up sleeping most of the way through the white wilderness to the spaceport. I managed to find a moment before leaving to whisper to Qui-Gon, "What happened? Where did she go?"

"She took a chance, and it paid off," he answered. "She went into Thara to meet their president, and then somehow worked out a meeting between him and Revin leaders. I have yet to hear the whole story." His eyes softened a little with a weary smile. "The cease-fire was negotiated last night while we stood vigil at the funeral pyre."

"Oh," I breathed, and then looked at Adi. The tall, elegant Jedi Master was sitting quietly, shadows beneath her eyes, methodically checking through her small travel bag to make sure she had everything. My respect for her went up several notches in that moment, realizing what she had done and risked. Half the battle on Salji was just getting the opposing sides to sit down and talk to each other, so she had done the most difficult part of the job. The team of peacekeepers landing with our transport had the easy part in comparison.

Not much in the way of conversation passed between us as Colin drove us down to the settlement where Reva's main spaceport lay, since Adi was asleep and the other two Jedi didn't seem to be in a talkative mood. All of us had something on our minds, and I was sure Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were as glad as I was to be fleeing the uncertainty of Droste and getting off this frozen chunk of rock. Poor Colin, though, was wound up tight with tension. I had no idea what he would have to deal with after we left, but it wasn't up to me to worry about any more. There were many unanswered questions, some of which I hoped to have a chance to put to Qui-Gon during the trip home, but didn't want to bring up until we were off Salji and had put some time and distance between us and the conflict.

The ship was just beginning to make its landing approach when we crawled out of Colin's speeder and trudged through the snow to the operations station of the spaceport. I looked up at the gray sky and gasped in awe at the sight of the huge, red-hulled cruiser coming in for a landing, its thrusters and jets bringing it to a slow, hovering position in the snow field just beyond the covered hangar. It was too big to sneak under the shelter and land inside the hangar, as freighters and shuttles could, so it made for the open field, hanging motionless for a few seconds like a great red hawk before settling onto the ground, its engine exhaust stirring up a wet blast of snow crystals that blew out of the field and right through all of us as we stood watching the landing. I flinched and covered my face, hoping to avoid the worst of the wet, stinging wind that whirled across the field. Even Qui-Gon had to turn his head so as not to get a face-full of ice crystals. Looking up again, I felt my heart clench in my chest at the sight of the ship, for it was an exact match to the one which transported Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to a Trade Federation battleship - or would, in time - and was subsequently blown to bits with the crew on board. We couldn't have been so fortunate to have summoned the actual Radiant VII, could we? That would be too weird of a coincidence.

The loading ramp whirred down out of the ship's belly, and a cluster of robed figures descended from it. Adi, who was wide awake now, strode forward to meet them as they marched across the snow field toward us. All five of the Jedi had their hoods up and robes closed, but I could see in the shadows beneath their hoods that not one of them was human. In fact, I was hard pressed to find names in my memory for what species any of them were. They spoke among themselves for a moment, and then Adi waved the rest of us over. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan moved without hesitating, while I followed behind them shyly and Colin stayed even further behind me. Master Adi made the introductions, though it appeared most of the Jedi knew each other to some extent, and then lifted a hand to indicate the ship. "If you'll excuse us for a while," Adi said, "I must brief the team on what happened last night and apprise them of what state they find Salji in at the moment. We will make use of the salon pod while the ship is docked, it's more secure than anything else nearby. Colin, if you would, I could use your help."

"Of course, Master Adi," Colin said kindly, meekly following as the councillor and her five colleagues stepped onto the ramp of the ship and disappeared inside.

Qui-Gon watched them go, and then turned to me. "Well, shall we board as well? It may be a few hours before Master Adi is finished and we're ready to depart, but there's no use standing out here in the cold."

"Yes, Master," I agreed, nodding enthusiastically. A twinkle lit his eyes, and he turned to guide us into the ship.

We swished through the snow and started up the ramp, but halfway up we were met by a familiar face. "Ah, there you are Master Jinn," Cam Falte called out. I looked up toward the source of the voice and was startled to see him wearing midnight-blue pilot's fatigues instead of the freighter-captain getup of before. He straightened at attention and then nodded to Qui-Gon. "Welcome aboard. It's good to see you looking so alive and well after your time on Salji."

"You expected less?" Qui-Gon chided as he brushed past the captain and into the warm, windless interior of the Republic cruiser.

"Things happen on Salji," Cam shrugged, waiting until we all passed him before following. "Though I haven't heard all the details about the state of your mission, I will admit I was glad to hear the conflict on Salji is over. You must have had an interesting time of it."

"If there is anything you wish to know, ask me about it later," Qui-Gon said politely, giving the passageway a cursory glance before facing the captain again. "I see there is no need for disguises any longer."

"No, sir, not when I had to transport a Jedi team," Cam acknowledged. "I'm usually assigned to the Intrepid V, though she's not quite my ship. Master Gallia has gone with the others into the salon pod, but she's requested privacy. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to where we have quarters arranged for all of you." He waved as he started along the main corridor and herded us into a lift, which took us up higher into the ship. Along the way, Cam noted, "I take it you're acquainted with Republic cruisers like this one."

"I've taken several in my lifetime," Qui-Gon nodded. "We are being housed in the staterooms on the upper deck?"

"Yes, sir. One room is set aside for the men, and one for the women." The lift lurched to a stop and the doors hissed open. Cam kept talking as he led the way. "I got used to that little freighter, but I'll take the Intrepid any day. Beautiful handling, and a lot more comfortable. More hands, too. It's back to regular transport duty for me and a full crew."

Qui-Gon gave no more acknowledgement of the captain's prattle than a slightly-raised eyebrow as he drifted into the wide corridor between the four staterooms that comprised the upper deck of the ship. I peered into one as we passed; they looked a lot larger than the cramped crew quarters we had taken before. Cam showed us into the two at the far end of the passageway, facing each other, and stood aside as the Jedi entered one to have a look. He smiled at me, rather broadly. "Good to see you again. Stacey, wasn't it?"

I nodded at him while I took off my coat.

He nodded back, still grinning. "It's an unusual name, I didn't think I'd forget it. So, you survived Salji?"

"I guess so," I replied, smiling courteously. "Not without a little adventure, let me tell you."

"Well, you'll have to come up to see the cockpit sometime, and tell me all about your adventures," Cam encouraged, his smile taking on a hint of mischief. "It's going to be a long trip. I would look forward to swapping stories with you."

I smiled in acknowledgement of his offer, but just then, Qui-Gon returned and nodded his acceptance of the lodging. "Thank you, captain. We should be able to manage quite well." Cam straightened up at attention again and then took his leave without further word, as a good Republic pilot ought to. Master Qui-Gon dropped a gentle hand to my shoulder. "There are two beds in each of these staterooms. Obi-Wan and I will take the room on the left, you will be bunking with Adi to the right. However, most of our time will be spent either in the lounge or the salon pod, I think."

I looked curiously at him, having heard the term enough times in the past five minutes to be rather curious. "What's that?"

"It's in the forward area of the ship, below the cockpit," the Master explained. "It's a special feature of cruisers like this one. You shouldn't get lost trying to find it, just return to the main deck and continue forward until you pass through the airlock into the pod. But if you have any doubts, just stay with one of us."

"That won't be a problem," I grinned up at him. He chuckled and withdrew.

"Would you like to see where it is?" Obi-Wan offered. "We can't go inside, while Master Adi is holding her meeting, but I can at least show you where it's located."

I glanced up at Qui-Gon, and he nodded his approval. "All right, Obi-Wan," I smiled.

The Padawan led the way through the innards of the ship, and I followed close behind him, looking around in wonder. The cruiser was a marvel of technology, and sleekly built for function as well as looks. The interiors were smooth, well-lit, and nice, and reminded me a little of the ship I had first woken up on in this galaxy, leading me to surmise that if that first ship wasn't a cruiser, it was at least built by the same manufacturer and also meant for the use of Republic pilots. I tried to suppress a giggle as I listened to Obi-Wan's and my boots clunking on the smooth floors in almost perfect time to each other as we walked side-by-side through the main hold. The novelty and adventure was coming back to me, finding myself on this cruiser, and the adventure was starting to look like Star Wars again. We only passed one crew member along the way, who Obi-Wan said was probably an engineer. He regaled me with the specifics of the cruiser's design, telling me how the salon pod was equipped to not only thwart scans and security breaches, but was doubly shielded against attack and able to be used as an emergency escape pod if necessary, having its own life support system. I didn't doubt that as we came to the airlock separating the salon pod from the rest of the ship, which was closed fast while the Jedi held counsel inside on the issue of Salji's cease-fire. "We'll go in just before take-off," Obi-Wan assured me, nodding his head toward the pod beyond the doors. "There are seats enough for all of us in here, but only one to spare in the cockpit."

"Cool," I commented, trying to peer through the transparent panels to see the Jedi conference inside. "So...now what?" I asked my guide. "Qui-Gon said it could be hours."

"Would you like to see the rest of the ship? I know my way around cruisers."

"Sure," I shrugged. It was better than standing outside the salon pod, leaning on the door and staring in like a couple of lost puppies.

The two of us wandered all over the huge ship for a while, exploring every nook and cranny that was available to a Jedi apprentice and passenger. Besides the spacious, comfortable lounge and the large formal dining area, I got to see the escape pods, the droid hold, and the captain's quarters - at least, we passed by them and tried to peek inside. Cam was fortunately elsewhere, readying the ship for takeoff. His personal quarters were on the main deck near the dining room, and I finally started to understand why he liked this cruiser so much. At last we went up to the cockpit, and I stared in wonder while Obi-Wan pointed out which controls did what, for my educational benefit. One of the pilots sat in her seat, going over a pre-flight checklist, and smiled to herself as she listened to the apprentice lecture on steering, navigation, communications, and shields. I found it all very interesting, but couldn't remember a word of it after we left the cockpit. It all looked very cool, though. I was able to picture standing there between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, looking out through the viewports at the blue surface of Naboo and a "blockade of deadly battleships." Looking up, I saw the comm screen exactly where it should be, imagined Nute Gunray for a second, and was set off into a fit of giggling that perplexed Obi-Wan.

A second pass by the salon pod told us the meeting was still in session, so we returned to the staterooms on the upper deck and found Qui-Gon lying down, attempting to nap. It seemed like a good idea to me, but Obi-Wan was in the mood to sit and talk, so I sat with him, asking him as many questions as I could think of to explore his knowledge of ships and piloting. I had always assumed, before arriving here, that he was a pilot, and had since gotten to see a little of his expertise in action. He was in fact a very talented pilot, with knowledge of many types and makes of ships, so I let him tell me all about it while the afternoon whiled away.

Qui-Gon had gotten up and was standing in the door to the stateroom where Obi-Wan and I sat talking when his comlink beeped. It was Captain Cam, letting us know that Adi was finished and we would be taking off soon. All three of us went down to the loading ramp to say one last goodbye to Colin, and caught him just before he left the ship. He smiled a very weary smile, reaching his rough hand out to clasp Qui-Gon's in farewell. "Thank you for all your help, my friend," he said. "We owe you for what you've done."

"I've done hardly anything to help you or Salji," Qui-Gon countered humbly. "Give your thanks to Adi. As for us, I fear we've been nothing but a burden to you."

"Nonsense. It was our pleasure to have you as our guests. I spoke with Muira this morning," Colin added, "and she asked me to relay her blessings to you. The children, I think, will miss you the most." His head turned toward Obi-Wan.

"Please tell them we say good-bye," Obi-Wan smiled. "I missed the chance to play with them again. The boys wanted me to play in the snow."

Colin laughed. "Jedi don't play in the snow! Do they?" He looked at Obi-Wan curiously, but the Padawan only smiled an ambiguous Jedi smile in reply. "Anyway. It was good to meet you, all of you. Thank you for coming to Salji's aid." He shook everyone's hand, even mine, and wished us a fair trip as he started down the ramp. The Jedi team stood waiting patiently for the leavetaking to end, and each said something cordial to Adi and Qui-Gon as they left, wrapping their brown robes around themselves as they descended into the snow and cold. Colin strode away across the landing field, not looking back, and the team followed him. Then the ramp started to close, cutting off the white glare from the snow and sealing us into warmth and sterile machinery.

"They're not all staying with the Goeben family, are they?" Obi-Wan asked as Adi turned around to face us. I thought of the community bed and tried not to giggle.

"No, the Jedi have imposed on Colin Goeben far too long," Adi smirked. "In the interest of objectivity, the peacekeeping team will be housed in neutral lodging wherever they go. They will be traveling all over Reva and Thara to do their duty." She sighed heavily, and tried not to look utterly exhausted as she lifted her head and smiled. "And now we can leave. My work is finished."

"You've done well, Adi," Qui-Gon said softly, his voice rich and warm with kindness.

"Thank you, Master Qui-Gon," she said, "but it remains to be seen how well I did. For now, I wish only to...recover."

"Our quarters are the two endmost staterooms," Qui-Gon informed her, still warm and kind. "Why don't you lie down? There's nothing ahead of us but a few days of travel through hyperspace."

"I think I will."

"We will be down here, in the salon pod." The Jedi Councilor took her leave of us, then, stepping into the lift and disappearing to a well-deserved nap. Qui-Gon shooed me and Obi-Wan ahead of him toward the salon pod, where we would be able to sit and safely experience lift-off. I couldn't help but gasp in awe as we passed through an impressive set of airlocks into the furnished pod. The centerpiece of the furnished space of the pod was an oblong white table with a holopad built into it, meant to provide for the needs of diplomats, negotiators, or Jedi. Several padded, high-backed seats surrounded it, each one with a safety harness, and more of the same seats with the same harness were set into the side walls, four to a side. Everything was excessively comfortable and in perfect order. It would take almost three days to get back to Coruscant, and after seeing the lounge farther back on the main deck and now this, I had a feeling I would be doing a lot less complaining than the trip out.

I bounced into a stuffed seat at the table in front of the holopad and buckled in, ready for spaceflight. The Jedi took seats in a more leisurely fashion, having lost their sense of novelty for space travel a very long time ago. As we waited, something suddenly struck me, and I turned to Qui-Gon with a whine. "We didn't get to say goodbye to Mowchie!"

A smile tugged at Qui-Gon's mouth. "No, we didn't. Do you want to?"

"What do you mean?"

"There is just enough time to send a quick transmission." The Master gestured for me to get up, so I unbuckled the safety harness and did so. He guided me to one side of the pod and told me, "Stand right there," while he went to the controls for the holopad and took out his comlink. After checking the frequency, he sent a signal and waited. In a moment, a wavering hologram appeared hovering over the holopad in the middle of the table, a harried-looking Wookiee form that wondered, "What? Who is it?"

"Hi Mowchie," I said nervously. "It's me. Stacey."

The hologram straightened up, and a Wookiee howl came over the comm channel. "Ah! I thought you were leaving Salji."

"We are. We're on the ship right now. I just wanted to say goodbye." I clenched my hands in front of me, wondering how much of my image he could see. There was a lot of static in the signal, probably from his receiver rather than our state-of-the-art transmission. "And thanks. For helping me find Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and for all your help."

"It was my pleasure," Mowchie assured, bowing a little. "Master Jinn, is he there?"

"Yeah, he's right here." I waved at Qui-Gon, who left the console and came to stand beside me, resting a hand on my shoulder. Mowchie perked up, so I guessed he could see the Master enter the transmission field. "Thanks Mowchie. I'll miss you," I went on.

"It was good to meet you," he said in return, "and I call you all my friends. Master Jinn, you have been an interesting ally. You are lucky my speeder wasn't damaged, I would have held you to your promise a hundredfold. Alas."

"I remain in your debt, my friend," Qui-Gon said amiably. "Thank you."

Mowchie chuckled, and then sobered. "As the Jedi say, may the Force be with you."

The sound of the engines powering up reached us, and I muttered, "Uh oh." Qui-Gon nodded and stepped away, back to the console. "Bye Mowchie," I tried to wrap it up. "They just fired up the engines, we're about to take off."

"Farewell," the Wookiee grinned, and the transmission fizzled out.

*****

Quite some time later, I managed to find myself in a slightly compromising position with Obi-Wan when Adi Gallia finally came down to join us, looking like she had just gotten up from a nap. The Padawan had been talking about how glad he was to be leaving the snow behind on Salji, and I had subsequently taunted him about not starting a single snowball fight while we were there, and within minutes we were in the rear of the salon pod wrestling and making a lot of noise, until Adi came in. Obi-Wan stopped immediately, having his arms locked around my waist from behind, and I looked up to see why he had ceased compensating for my struggling. "Master," he greeted her even as I wriggled out of his grasp.

"Padawan Kenobi," she said in return, with a note in her voice that could have been either disgust or amusement - it was hard to tell. She glided past us to where Qui-Gon was sitting, at the oval table, and sat down near him.

I giggled at Obi-Wan's flustered look, as he straightened out his tunics and gave me a frown meant to quell my exuberance. "Let that be a lesson to you," he scolded me as he returned to find a seat of his own.

"No way! Dork," I laughed at him, following.

"There's that word again." He turned and gave me an inquisitive look. "What does that mean?"

"What, dork? It doesn't mean anything," I assured him. "It's just...a mild form of insult."

Obi-Wan smirked as he dropped into one of the seats along the wall. I inched into the seat on the far side of Qui-Gon, who was already chuckling at the two of us. "And, as you can see," he finished telling Adi, "these two have been entertaining themselves. The journey back to Coruscant looks to be rather uneventful."

"So it seems," Adi nodded, glancing at me as I settled down and smiling. Her gaze shifted back to Qui-Gon quickly. "And it is good to see you in a brighter mood. The past few days have been difficult."

The Master bowed his head briefly. "Yes. It has not been easy to deal with what I've done."

Adi gazed at him in kind sympathy. "Your hand was forced, Qui-Gon. There was nothing you could do. That is, unless there was something about the way you fought that you have not told me."

Qui-Gon started to shake his head, but then paused and looked up, holding her gaze. "The only thing I have not told you about the battle involves Stacey. It was not appropriate for me to bring it up in front of the others, the day it happened, and I have not had a chance since then."

The Jedi Councilor's eyebrows arched upward in cool curiosity. "Oh? Am I going to be displeased with you when I hear this?"

"It's nothing like that," Qui-Gon muttered, shaking his head. "Her presence had nothing to do with the reasoning behind my actions. She had already escaped safely out of the way by the time it became a fight to the death. I'm speaking of her sensitivity to the Force." He waited, but no comment was forthcoming, as Adi settled herself to listen objectively. Qui-Gon's eyes flicked toward me for a moment. "In the middle of the fight, while she was still in the room with us, I was cornered and faring poorly against Niall. I don't yet understand how, but Stacey managed to call Obi-Wan's lightsaber to her and use it to distract Niall long enough for me to recover."

Adi's gaze shifted to me, as I sat almost behind Qui-Gon from her point of view. "Is this unusual?"

"She has not displayed any ability to move objects, up until this time," Qui-Gon continued. "It took me by complete surprise, though I managed to recover and use the opportunity to get around Niall into a better position from which to face him."

"I don't even know how I did it," I put in. "I saw Obi-Wan's lightsaber on the floor, and I wished he could get up and use it, or that I knew how to use it, and I saw it move. I just took a chance - a totally stupid chance. I had no idea it would work."

"Interesting." Adi turned back to Qui-Gon. "Is it time for you to share what you learned about her Force-sensitivity while on Chad?"

"I will report to the whole Council on that, rather than repeat myself a dozen times over," Qui-Gon answered tiredly. "Not to mention, this puts a new twist on it. I shall have to re-think some of my conclusions."

"I see." Adi sat back in the chair and looked at me for a long time, her eyes thoughtful. I tried not to stare back, averting my gaze to study the lettering on the nearby holopad panels instead. "There is something I have been meaning to ask you about," the councilor said, leaning toward Master Qui-Gon in a challenging pose. "Several days ago, when Colin asked, you said something strange about the reason you think this girl has crossed galaxies to be here."

"Yes, and I meant what I said to Colin," the Master freely admitted. "I am of the opinion that when the Force brought her here, for whatever reason, she was sent specifically to me."

I couldn't help but stare at him, wondering what he meant. "Really, Qui-Gon," Adi scoffed.

"Think about it," Qui-Gon insisted. "Think about the staggering set of circumstances surrounding her arrival. She could have appeared anywhere, on any planet or ship in the galaxy, but she appeared on the Republic cruiser we happened to be on, a ship whose course in that sector had not even been planned when we left Coruscant."

"Yes, but that hardly proves she was sent to you," Master Adi continued to protest with a little laugh.

Qui-Gon leaned his arms on the table and spoke in an insistent hush. "Of all the coordinates in the galaxy, why a ship? And of all ships, why ours? It is my conclusion," he declared, "that without us, she would have died. The Force had to bring her to us."

I squelched the sense of foreboding that such a comment awoke in me, keeping my eyes averted from this deep, Masterly discussion. Adi shook her head lightly. "I'm not sure I see your point."

"As I said, the Force could have brought her anywhere, even to the Jedi Council chambers. It did not, however. Think, for a moment, of all the possibilities. She could have landed on a planet - an uninhabited one, a hostile one, or a peaceful world in the Republic. Likewise ships - she could have awoken on any ship, friendly or hostile. That is, if she didn't simply pop into space and expire immediately." His eyes darted quickly in my direction, as if to comfort me from such a disturbing idea. I smiled faintly back up at him in acknowledgement of it, so he went on, with a careful pause after each statement to let it sink in. "If she landed on a hostile ship or world, then what? Perhaps she would have been killed on the spot, or eventually destroyed after enduring any number of unspeakable horrors. She would have been captured, surely. But even if her captors did nothing to her, she would have eventually died when her body failed, as it nearly did among us. Say, then, she landed instead on a ship or a world that was friendly, where someone would take her in. She would have been cared for, aided, and certainly well - for a few days, assuming there was no language or cultural barrier that prevented her rescuer from helping her. But, in time, her body would have naturally weakened without midi-chlorians, and again, she would have died anyway. Even with helping hands around, ships to take her anywhere, bacta, all the technology, it would not have helped. Her only hope, then, was to fall in with the Jedi."

"I see your point," Adi said with a slow, ponderous nod. "It is well argued and logical. But what is your reasoning for why she needed to join you, and not just any Jedi? As you said, why not the middle of the High Council chambers in the spire?"

Qui-Gon patiently folded his hands, and the beginnings of a smile played across his face. "You may remember," he began, "she told us all that she was acquainted with the Jedi due to a legend on her own world. Lately, when we've been able to sit and talk, I've discovered more about the depth to which her knowledge extends. The story she knows - part of it, anyway - involves myself and Obi-Wan." The smile grew a shade warmer, and he glanced at me again. "I believe the Force brought her to us because she was familiar with us, and some tales of our exploits. She knew on sight who I was, she knew from her experiences that we could be trusted and not feared."

Master Adi eyed him for a moment, and then shifted her glance to me beside him. "Is that the case? Would you have less trust for other Jedi than for Master Qui-Gon?"

"Yeah, probably," I answered, thinking about it and realizing he was right. "I mean, how would I have known they were really Jedi? Could have been just someone dressed up, trying to mess with me or something. Before I got here I didn't know any other Jedi besides them, except maybe some of the Jedi Council. Anyone else...I probably wouldn't have thought they were real."

Adi eyed me in the same manner as she had Qui-Gon, but nodded in acceptance. "Very well. You have a sound theory."

"It is enough," Qui-Gon offered. "I can't say whether her reason for being here is also tied to me, that remains a mystery. We may never know what the Force intends, or prove its reasoning. But, it managed to bend universal laws of physics and matter to bring her here, surely it has some purpose hidden to us."

"I don't doubt that," the councilor said boldly. "And you may find that this will continue to be a matter of debate among the Council, even after you return and give your full report." She reached over and tapped a finger on the table in front of him. "And they will certainly want to hear about the lightsaber."

Master Qui-Gon turned to me, then, and a curious frown crept onto his face. "Yes...I will tell them. But, in the meantime, perhaps we should see if such a feat can be duplicated. Later, though," he added when I started to disagree with the idea. "There is plenty of time before we reach Coruscant."

Not long after, one of the members of the crew poked his head into the salon pod to inform us that dinner - technically lunch, since the ship's time was different from local time on Salji - was being served in the formal dining room on the main deck. We went up together, and after eating, withdrew into the lounge next to the dining area and sat around for a long time, talking and resting in a most lazy manner. There were a few things I wanted to ask Qui-Gon about, to try and place some conclusions on the mission to Salji, but it was not the right time. I didn't want to bring up unpleasant things again, so I filed my questions away in the back of my mind, hoping to find some time over the trip to corner him and talk. My body was still used to Saljan time, so I got tired well before anyone else and decided to crawl into bed, even though an early bedtime meant I would miss the ship's real dinner in a few hours. The cruiser's time-clock had been set with its departure point and destination, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Along with most of the eight-man crew, Cam had come down to eat with us, and as I got up and made my way to the lift, he smiled and wished me a good night, as did the Jedi, naturally. I murmured my thanks to them and left, pondering how in the world I could possibly want sleep over food for once. Especially since the wonderful community bed had been left behind on Salji, which became painfully obvious as I stepped into the stateroom and looked around with a sigh. It was very nice, true, but the neatly-made bunk set into the wall with its standard-issue blue blanket just wasn't the same.

I slept for a few hours, but was awakened by a gnawing hunger as my body surmised it was missing something important. I tried to ignore it, but once I was awake, the strangeness of the ship and the unique sensations of its engine vibrations and flight motion conspired to keep me from drifting off again. I flopped over a few times, noticing that the other bunk in the perpendicular wall was empty and untouched, and assumed that Adi had not yet come up. That meant the others were possibly still up as well, so I decided to do something about my growling stomach and go see for myself.

The corridors were quiet and dim as I made my way to the main deck below, not finding even one of the eight crew members around and the habitable areas of the ship dark, as if in night-mode. A little light streamed through the opened doorway from the lounge, so I padded through the dining room and paused at the entrance at the far end, finding Qui-Gon sitting alone on a couch, reading in the glow of an overhead light. He glanced up as I entered. "Hello there. I thought you were asleep."

"I'm hungry," I complained, leaning on the wall at the entrance.

Qui-Gon chuckled. "Yes, I would expect so. You missed dinner. We saved some for you, though." He set aside the datapad he had been reading and got up, gently placing a hand to my shoulder to guide me with him back into the dining room. I submitted, still a bit groggy from being woken up and in the mood to be coddled. The Master must have sensed it, for he made me sit down at the table while he personally brought me the plate that had been set aside in case I wanted it. Most of the food in this galaxy was unrecognizable by sight, but I usually tasted everything before deciding what it was and whether I wanted it, and found the ship's meal passable. At least the bread was good. Qui-Gon sat down beside me, quietly watching me test out everything on the plate before settling down to eat. "Well?" he wondered.

"'S good. Thanks," I murmured around bites. He nodded. I asked, "Where is everybody?"

"Master Adi is in the salon pod, contacting the Jedi Council," Qui-Gon replied. "Obi-Wan went to bed. It's late, you know."

"Then how come you're still up?"

He lowered his eyes. "I'm not tired. I don't think I could sleep if I wanted to."

I sat back for a moment and gazed at him in wonder, testing carefully with the Force. From him I sensed a muddled haze, too complicated for me to puzzle out myself. "What's on your mind?" I queried.

Qui-Gon met my gaze, and then chuckled softly. "I can't keep from you when I am troubled, can I?" He folded his hands on the table in front of him. "I was just thinking about my friend Taal. I'm glad the ordeal is over, and his killer is gone, but I still wonder if it could have been taken care of some other way."

"Do you regret what you had to do?" I softly wondered, studying his drawn expression and quiet demeanor.

"No," he answered. "I have thought about it, and there was no other choice left to me. I regret nothing." His eyes lifted from his hands to my face. "Except, perhaps, that you had to see it."

"I looked away in time," I shrugged, though that wasn't entirely true. I was trying hard to forget the brief flash I had seen before hiding my eyes. "It's okay. I understand that sometimes, things like this have to happen. I don't think any less of you because you had to kill someone."

"You've never seen that happen before, though," he astutely pointed out.

"No, I haven't. But...well, it's real life. People die." I shrugged again, trying not to look at his patient, concerned eyes. "I mean...this isn't some happy-ever-after land where no one gets killed and everything goes right. In fact," I added with a little nervous laugh, "my 'real' life back home seems less real by comparison, as sheltered as I was. My problems are...insignificant, next to this."

Qui-Gon seemed to study his folded hands for a moment. "I sensed discomfort, at the funeral pyre. And, a little grief. Did it remind you of something from home?"

For once, I lied outright. "No, nothing like that. It was just...well, it was kind of hard to watch. I've never seen a body burn before." Qui-Gon looked at me, his eyes hard and piercing. He could see through me, and he knew I was lying. I could tell, even though he kept his serious face free of accusation. In defense, I said, "I was thinking about a lot of things."

He remained still, gazing at me, the only movement between us a slight motion of his thumb across the back of his hand. After a moment, he released me from his scrutiny and bowed his head. "If there is anything you should not fear, it's death. It is a natural and expected thing that we all have to face. Your own death may be easy to deal with, but that of others may not be."

It took a lot of effort not to react to that statement. Sighing, I closed my eyes. "I know what the Jedi Code teaches. 'There is no death, there is the Force.' It's not too far removed from what I believe."

"That is what it teaches," the Master nodded. "But exactly what it means is uncertain. None of us truly know what awaits us beyond, or what happens when the Force receives us into itself when our lives end." He blinked a few times, and then took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice lightened a little and he dropped that line of conversation. "Thank you for understanding what happened, what I did. It is not something I wish to treat lightly."

"But you also have to let it go," I reminded him gently.

"I am," he assured with a wan smile. "I will not let it haunt me. There is the Force."

"Yeah." I leaned an elbow on the table and rested my chin in my hand, gazing longingly at him. I wanted so much to throw my arms around him and hug away his troubled thoughts, but he didn't need that now. He had his own way of dealing with things. "Have you had this happen to you before?" I wondered, suddenly very curious.

"I have killed before, yes," Qui-Gon explained, looking away again, his voice sad. "It is not something I relish doing. No Jedi ever takes pleasure in this facet of their duty. But it is necessary, and we are trained from the very beginning to kill. That is why we maintain the use of the lightsaber, in defense only, instead of resorting to blasters," he added, taking on a slight lecturing tone. "It makes it harder to justify the use of deadly force, even when facing another lightsaber." Then his voice softened again. "But, if you're wondering, the answer is no. I have never had to face another Jedi like that, and I hope I never do again."

In the silence following, I poked listlessly at my dinner. "Niall was really good."

"Yes, he was," the Master sighed. "He could have killed me if it went on much longer."

My heart tightened at that. "Really?"

Master Qui-Gon closed his eyes for a moment. "No one can say for sure what might have been, if things went differently," he admitted. "But, there was a point at which I had to shift my strategy. I was hoping to merely subdue him, but after he bragged about killing Taal, I knew he wanted a fight to the death. After that, I had to change my attack or he might have worn me down." His eyes took on a faraway look as he idly rubbed at his bearded chin. "I suspect now that that may have been Taal's failure. He would have done everything he could to keep from killing Niall, and I am tempted to think that was Niall's advantage."

The raw note in his voice made me reach across and lay a hand on his in sympathy. "What do you mean? Niall killed him because Taal wouldn't let himself kill Niall?"

"Exactly." Qui-Gon glanced down at my hand on his. "And it was the same strategy I used, until I sensed in him the desire to kill me and Obi-Wan, and you. Nothing else would have stopped him, he wanted all of us dead. Adi perhaps would have been next. He wanted it to be him or me."

I caressed his hand comfortingly. "What would make a Jedi want to kill another? I don't understand what happened to him. What did he want?"

"I can't be sure," Qui-Gon said. "But my guess is, he saw it as a necessity. That's why he came into Reva, sought us out, and tried to trap us. He had to kill us or we would never leave him alone. Though, that goes back to the reason he was still on Salji, and had not fled when he had the chance - which is something I still don't know and probably never will." He looked at me with a pale smile. "It's not as though he was bloodthirsty. He was angry, and he hated me, but that alone did not motivate him to kill."

"Oh," I murmured, unable to totally fathom his explanation. "So...what do you think happened to him? How did he get like that, if he was a good Jedi?"

The Master sighed again, and thought about it before answering. "I reached out to him, with the Force," he said quietly. "I wanted to know what I could sense in him, if he would let me."

"Did you?" He nodded in reply. "What did you sense?"

"Anger. Confusion. Resentment. A little fear," he added, looking hard at me, "which surfaced when you sprang out from behind the boxes. He remembered you, and your presence was somehow frightening to him."

I digested that with a puzzled frown directed back at the Master. "Why? Was it because...he couldn't sense me? That's what he said when I ran into him in Thara, he couldn't sense me."

"That could be it," Qui-Gon agreed. "But his fear of you quickly became anger, and he wanted to kill you as well. That much I could clearly sense, and see, from the way he went after you."

A nagging question in the back of my mind deserved to be asked. "Did he turn to the Dark Side?"

There was a long, heavy pause. I could hear the hum of the cruiser's engines in the silence. Finally, Qui-Gon shook his head slowly. "No. Not completely. He may have forsaken the ways of the Jedi, and been headed down that path, but he did not choose to turn to the Dark Side."

I breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed his hand. "That's good."

"Yes. Though Niall did make mistakes. Anger and hatred are of the Dark Side, and he did not shun them. He did fall. Had he been captured, he would have been expelled from the Jedi Order and imprisoned."

"Do you think...maybe that's why he did what he did?" I speculated. "I remember what he said. He wanted to finish what he started. If he was caught and kicked out of the Jedi Order..."

Qui-Gon peered at me, his face questioning. "It could be. For some Jedi, any possibility that they might be stripped of everything they are is a worse fate than death. Perhaps Niall Oberanu preferred to be hunted and despised rather than suffer the dishonor of being forced out of the Order. He may have stayed on Salji in a mistaken attempt to prove himself right. But," he added, "that is only a guess."

"All we have is guesses," I mused. "He's gone. You're probably the only one who has any insight at all into what he was thinking or why he did what he did, from what you sensed." He nodded solemnly, and I decided I had bothered him enough about it. I gave his hand another little squeeze. "Are you all right, now?"

"I think so," he replied with a casual smile. "It has been difficult, but I have reached an understanding that I can live with. It may bother me, a little, but that's only natural. No permanent harm has been done."

I smiled back at him, noticing that the twinkle had returned to his gray eyes. It was a good thing to see. Before either of us could continue, though, Master Adi wandered into the dining room and gave us both a curious look. "Well, hello. I wondered who was still awake."

"I got hungry," I said sheepishly, withdrawing my hand immediately from Qui-Gon's and going back to my leftover dinner.

"How did it go?" Master Qui-Gon asked her.

"Fine. Master Windu was pleased to hear that a cease-fire was managed. The peacekeepers have their work cut out for them, though."

"Oh? What exactly happened, Adi? You didn't tell me much."

Adi leaned against the wall, wrapping her robe around her. A smirk that I had not seen in several days curved her full lips. "I took after you, Qui-Gon," she replied cheekily. "I had to resort to more unconventional means of getting into Thara - my contacts managed to smuggle me over the border and guide me to their capital, and not without an adventure, believe me. The Tharin president was rather surprised when I walked into his headquarters, but had no choice but to hear me out. I convinced him to go with me into the Dospara, to see something I told him would be well worth his trouble." She laughed at the memory. "I don't know what he expected, but when we arrived, he was rather surprised and disconcerted to find a delegation from Reva awaiting my arrival - and the Revin were just as surprised. I took advantage of their confusion to get them to sit down and listen to me." Her mirth faded, and she shifted her gaze back to Qui-Gon. "I told them about the Dospara."

"That was your leverage toward a cease-fire," Qui-Gon observed.

Adi nodded curtly. "And it worked."

"That's good," I complimented her. "Everything worked out in the end, I guess."

"More or less." She straightened up then and gave a slight bow. "If you will excuse me, I will be heading to the stateroom and a long night's sleep."

We both wished her well and waited in silence until we heard the lift. Qui-Gon looked at me. "Going back to bed, yourself?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, poking at the remnants of my dinner. "I'm wide awake now. My sleep schedule is all out of whack."

"Of course. I often have that problem myself on long flights." He got up, gathering his robe around him, and placed one strong, weathered hand on my head, gently stroking my hair. "Get some rest," he advised. "I might work with you tomorrow on your Force-sensitivity. What you did with Obi-Wan's lightsaber has me very curious."

"Okay," I said shyly, looking up at him. He towered over me, and the kind smile he wore made me melt. "Sleep well, Master."

"You too." Qui-Gon backed away and drifted out, letting his hand trail slowly off my head. When he was gone I wrapped my arms around myself and squealed like a teenager in giddy joy.

On to part 27

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