The interrogation went on seamlessly for a while, until I had exhausted every opinion I could possibly share and simply stood there hoping they had no more questions for me. A long silence met my last remark as the Jedi Masters looked amongst themselves and nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting this is," Master Yoda finally said to break the deafening silence. "Noted it will be, in all records."

"Send Qui-Gon back in," Mace directed, glancing to his left. Plo Koon got up and drifted to the door, which opened for him.

"I should be very interested to discuss this phenomenon further," Eeth Koth suggested while we waited for Master Koon to return with Qui-Gon. "It has great bearing on our concepts of life in the universe, and on just how midi-chlorians affect Force-sensitivity in a sentient being. Much could be learned here."

"It would take time," Windu noted.

"I am in agreement with Master Koth," Depa Billaba said ponderously, her rich, sonorous voice filling the chamber. "It is an opportunity to expand our knowledge of the Force, and to formulate new lines of thinking. Perhaps some members of the Council of First Knowledge would like to hear this information as well."

Just then, Master Qui-Gon came in on the heels of Plo Koon, their brown robes floating behind them as they strode briskly into the chamber. Koon went to his seat, and Qui-Gon came to stand behind me. I was so glad to see him, finally, after being forced to endure the questioning alone. "Well?" he wondered of the entire Council. "What have you discovered?"

"This is a complicated situation," Mace Windu began, leaning back in his chair and tapping his fingertips together. "She does seem to be progressing as your report theorized. However, there is much yet we don't know - about her, and why the Force seems to behave so peculiarly around her."

"I'm sure there will be ample opportunities to find out more about Stacey," Qui-Gon offered politely. "And, I think she is willing to assist you in any means possible." He glanced down at me with a smirk, and I nodded enthusiastically. "Are we finished, then?" he continued.

Mace shot Master Yoda a quick glance, but Yoda didn't seem particularly interested in overseeing the proceedings. He had asked me very few questions. "For the time being," Windu answered. "But if I were you, I would not attempt any more great leaps in training for a while. This council has many matters to attend to, and this one not the least."

Qui-Gon nodded acquiescently. Ki-Adi Mundi asked him, "Where is the girl currently quartered?"

"With me."

"Hmm, I don't know that that's a good idea," Mace mused in that exact tone of voice I remembered him using to cut down Qui-Gon with his "I do not believe the Sith could have returned..." line. I tried not to scowl at him.

Master Qui-Gon held himself in check. His eyes strayed down to Yoda, searching for agreement. "I don't see there being another option at this time."

"I am sure we can find more appropriate quarters for her, for the time being at least," Ki-Adi suggested.

That was about all I could handle. Without thinking, I found myself blurting out, "Oh, come on!"

A few murmurs threaded around the circle. Yoda lifted his head, fixing me with a keen stare that nearly made me lose my nerve. "Your place it is not to speak out," he scolded me.

"I'm sorry, but...with all due respect, Master Yoda," I stammered, trying to keep my head, "I should have some say in this. Shouldn't I?"

Yoda held his piercing, heavy-lidded gaze, and then nodded. "Speak, then."

Taking a breath, I focused on the diminutive green Jedi Master, making my argument to him. "I don't really know what I'm doing here, in your galaxy, but it's not fair to treat me like some baby or criminal until we find out. For some reason my life has been intertwined with Master Qui-Gon's. He knows the most about me, and about my Force-sense. Please, let me stay with him. He hasn't done anything wrong. He's been such a huge help, and not just with the Force. Maybe I didn't make that clear."

Some of the other Councilors opened their mouths to counter my argument, but Yoda raised a tiny hand, silencing them. "Clear enough, it was," he assured me. "Agree with you I do. If to Qui-Gon you are connected, then with him you shall remain, for now."

That pretty much put an end to the discussion, as a final word from Yoda usually did, so the meeting wrapped up and Jedi Masters left to their other business around the Temple. Qui-Gon placed a hand on my back and began to escort me out of the chamber, but he was stopped by Mace Windu. I cringed inwardly, fearing confrontation. Qui-Gon, to his credit, was nothing but polite. "I suppose you have many things worth discussing, now," he smiled. "This small issue should keep you fairly busy."

"The concerns I raised to you before have not been addressed," Mace said seriously. "I still see nothing to indicate that this girl is who she says she is. At least now we have Master Adi's report that she observed some level of Force-sensitivity, though that makes for meager corroboration." His dark eyes narrowed. "But how can you be sure she's not just some poor lost human from a world here in our own galaxy, using you and the whole Jedi Order for her own means?"

"I am sure," Qui-Gon insisted. "It is very clear to me."

"But not to me. I wish I had some means of quantifying your knowledge."

"Perhaps I could help..." Master Saesee Tiin interrupted the tense conversation, breezing over from where he had been sitting beside Ki-Adi Mundi. At first glance, the Iktotchi Jedi was dreadfully intimidating, with massive horns that curved down beside his craggy face, eerie yellow eyes, and the natural glare formed by his thick, massive brow. But his voice was gentle and melodic, deeper than Qui-Gon's, and peace shone clearly in the golden eyes. He tilted his head and nodded to me in particular. "What is the nature of this debate? Sensitivity to the Force?"

"No," Qui-Gon answered him. "I believe Master Windu is expressing his concern that I seem to be the only person with any ability to look into Stacey's mind."

"Oh?" Saesee tilted his head curiously. There appeared to be a bit of sarcasm in his reaction, and I immediately liked him for that. "That is not necessarily true, Master Windu. I can tell you what she is thinking. Or have you forgotten the Iktotchi sense of mind-walking?"

A brooding look gathered on Windu's face. "You can read her mind even without the Force."

"Of course. You knew that."

"Why didn't you speak up about this sooner?"

Master Tiin crossed his arms. A peculiar smile, almost gloating, curled back his lips, making him look even more menacing. "This young woman's state of mind was not the subject of controversy. You were solely concerned with whether or not any of us could sense her using the Force." He blinked mildly at the annoyed look on Mace's face. "Had you asked, I would have gladly used my natural telepathy to determine her state of mind. It is not dependent upon the Force, it would have worked."

"Did you even think of offering?" Qui-Gon wondered.

Saesee gazed patiently at him. "I did, very early on, before you even left for Rodia, but things were still quite unsettled, so I thought it best to wait. Perhaps I should have spoken up, then, as many conclusions since then have been made on assumptions that a mind-walk could have clarified."

Mace Windu took a deep breath to calm himself. I glanced up at Qui-Gon and nearly giggled at the knowing smirk he was trying to stifle. "All right," Mace said. "Can you tell whether she is deceiving us, or is telling the truth about where she comes from?"

The Iktotchi turned his gaze upon me and stared for a moment, though I felt nothing like I did when I could feel the Force. His eyes were calm and placid. "Relax," he intoned, his rich voice becoming even more soothing. "Don't be afraid. I will not pry where I should not."

"Okay," I acknowledged, trying not to shrink back from him. But Saesee's eyes were almost hypnotizing in their quietness, and I found myself eagerly awaiting his questions, wondering.

"Is it true you come from another galaxy?"

"Um...yeah, as far as I know."

"What is the name of your planet?"

"We call it Earth. It's the only inhabited planet in our galaxy that we know of."

"Does the Force exist there?"

"Not like you know it, no. I mean, it might," I clarified with a goofy smile, "but no one on Earth has any ability to use it. No midi-chlorians."

Master Saesee nodded ponderously. "Were you aware you were so far from home when you found yourself here?"

I thought about it. "Um, no, not really," I answered honestly, not at all unnerved by his focused stare. "Not until after I ran into Qui-Gon, and went with him. It took a bit for it to sink in that this was all real. I didn't know the Jedi or anything in this galaxy really existed, I thought it was just a story."

"I see." Saesee turned toward Mace with a confident nod. "She is speaking the truth. Her mind is honest, if a bit overwhelmed or intimidated, as one might expect of a person subjected to such scrutiny as we have imposed upon her. But there is no deception."

"Have I not been saying that all along?" Qui-Gon asked modestly.

"Corroboration, Master Qui-Gon," Windu said impatiently. "You know we insist upon it. This matter is not unique in that regard."

"Then I will say again what I have been saying to you all along," Saesee interrupted. "Your suspicions are unfounded, Mace. Her lack of presence in the Force is one small factor that does not automatically portend an association with the Dark Side." I noticed Mace's glare harden and flick towards me, as if disturbed that I should hear such things. It didn't matter, I already knew, but I wasn't about to tell him so. Tiin continued. "Qui-Gon and his apprentice have been correct, we should have simply taken their word for it long ago and not viewed this stranger with so much suspicion."

"To be fair," Qui-Gon added, "we haven't been here for you to speak with since leaving for our retreat. I feel much better informed now than I did then. Had I been able to return to Coruscant and share with you what happened on Chad, you would not have had to sit here wondering and speculating."

Mace nodded his bald head once in acceptance. "That may be so. We have your report now, and Adi's report of what she sensed on the ship also carries some weight. This is not an easy thing to just accept, though."

"Mace, it is not my fault that neither you nor anyone else can sense Stacey's mind through the Force," Qui-Gon said, determinedly yet gently. "It merely is, and unless something happens to her to change that, you will simply have to go through me, and accept that."

I hesitated saying what I wanted to say, not wishing to cause trouble, but it needed to be said. "You could also try just asking me directly," I meekly offered. Three Jedi Masters stared at me. "I'm tired of being talked around like I'm not even here. I can't help what I am, but you don't need to discuss me like I'm some...insentient piece of rock lying on the table."

"You are quite correct," Saesee Tiin said with a slight bow.

"I'm so sorry," Qui-Gon started to say.

"It's okay," I quickly assured. "Just...ask me. I'm not going to lie to anyone. I don't have a reason to."

A deeply thoughtful look awoke on Mace Windu's face, but he said nothing for the moment. Master Tiin looked at me again. "Would you object to a deeper sort of mind-walk? It requires merely sharing thought, though there is a risk that I may intrude into your private thoughts."

I gazed at him for a moment, torn. On the one hand, the idea of communicating mentally with a true telepath sounded too fascinating to pass up, but on the other, there was still a lot I didn't want anyone to know. So far the only ones who had shared the intimate experience of being able to sense me had been Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, the two men who meant so much to me. I squirmed and decided, "No...I mean, not now. Maybe another time. It sounds really neat, and I wouldn't mind having someone else understand where I'm coming from. But...I don't know if I'm ready for that just now."

"Of course." Saesee bowed deeply. "You are quite the enigma, my young friend. And I enjoy bringing understanding out of enigmas."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment," I said with a nervous smile. Fortunately, the Iktotchi chuckled gruffly and nodded at my joke.

"Well, then," Qui-Gon said as if trying to draw this to an end. "Thank you, Master Saesee, for your assistance here. It was well-timed."

"It is my pleasure, Master Qui-Gon. If there is anything more I can do, for you or for the Council, please do ask. In a situation like this I will not pry unless given permission first. While any mind is open to my natural sense, I will employ the same courtesy with Stacey as I give to my fellow Jedi." He bowed to Mace and then drifted off. I noticed, then, that we were the last ones left in the chamber.

Qui-Gon turned to Mace. "I don't want there to remain a seed of contention between us."

"There isn't," Windu assured, his voice not as snide or stern as usual. "I'm just being cautious, Qui-Gon. It's my duty. I cannot afford to let potential threats slip by."

"Then be content that Stacey is not a threat."

"I am starting to see that. But be mindful." With that, the senior councilor turned on his heel and strode out of the chamber, not bothering to explain his parting remark. Qui-Gon's arm came around my shoulders, and he guided me out.

The rest of the Jedi Council had scattered rather quickly after adjourning, but as the Master and I headed down to the residential sections of the Temple and our quarters, Adi Gallia passed us in the hallway as she came back from her own quarters. She quickly halted and spun back, calling Qui-Gon. He stopped and turned to her with a curious look, so I stopped too. "I meant to ask you and did not have the chance," she said. "Have you been given another mission yet?"

"No," Qui-Gon casually replied. "I had thought to stay here until some decisions are made about Stacey, I don't want to leave with this issue still unsettled."

"Good," Adi nodded, "because I need you to stay on Coruscant for a time. The sectorial representative under whose jurisdiction Salji comes has asked for further updates, and I have a strong feeling that he may wish to meet with the other Jedi who took part in the mission to Salji. I would like you to be available, Master, in case he does."

"Of course," Qui-Gon said. "I can do that. It will give me a chance to get some things done around here. Do you expect this senator to call for me?"

"It seems more likely than not," Adi said with a little smirk. "You know senators, especially those protecting their interests."

"Indeed."

"Don't leave Coruscant, then, until I can clear you. I don't know when you will be called for, but expect it at almost any time." Adi turned to me. "Were you ready to visit the healers?"

"Um, now?" I had been expecting to talk to her about her offer, but she was apparently more prepared to act on it than I expected! "I guess so...I don't think we were going to do anything else right now. We were just on our way back to quarters."

"The healers can see you now, I just checked from my quarters. We can get this done without further delay - and perhaps a few other things as well."

"What are you going to do at the infirmary?" Qui-Gon wondered. A whisper of concern caressed my mind.

I looked up at him and blushed in utter embarrassment. "Um...female stuff. It won't take long - I hope," I added with a look toward Adi.

"No, it won't take long at all. An hour at the most, because I have asked them to run a few routine tests to make sure you won't have any ill side effects," Adi smiled, shifting her glance from me to Qui-Gon. I looked up at him, too, and found him looking slightly uncomfortable. "Unless you would care to accompany her?"

"I think you are the right person to take care of this, Master Adi," Qui-Gon said in his most polite, placating tone. "Thank you. You can find your way back?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I grinned. Look, I embarrassed Qui-Gon! "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I hope it all goes well," he wished me as he continued on, and I turned to go with Adi.

Once Qui-Gon had rounded the corner, I let out the giggle I had been holding in. "And that is exactly why I offered to help you, rather than leave it to him to figure it out," Adi said smartly as we walked. "He is a good man, but this is one matter beyond his expertise."

"Well, if all goes well he shouldn't even have to worry about it from now on," I snickered. "Nor will I, thank goodness. I've been lucky so far, but that can't last."

"There are reasons for everything," Master Adi said wisely. "By the way, is there anything else of a personal nature I can answer for you? Or anything I can get for you? As long as we are on the subject..."

*****

Well, I had said I could find my way back to quarters, but I couldn't - not without a little help. Adi Gallia had left me off on the correct level, but I wandered around for a bit before sheepishly asking the first Jedi who passed me for help, and so eventually came around to the austere flat I would be calling home for a while. In my defense, there were no landmarks along the corridors, and nothing distinctive to identify the rooms. As I stepped up to the door, I wondered if it were more appropriate to knock or if I should press a button to signal - and if so, which button - but before I could do either the door slid open of its own accord. A bit astonished, I took a step in and heard Obi-Wan say, "And there she is now."

"How did it go?" Qui-Gon wondered, rising from his seat in a chair in the sitting room. He smirked at me. "What is it? The door?"

"Yeah," I admitted, feeling rather silly for being briefly intimidated by a stupid door. "I didn't know if I'd have to knock or what."

"No, I coded the sensor to recognize you as it does us," the Master informed me as I came in and flopped down on the couch beside Obi-Wan. "And, I will also give you our security code, so you can enter at will even when we're not here."

"Cool," I remarked, grinning shyly at him. "Thanks, Qui-Gon."

He sat back down in the chair and relaxed. "So? How did it go?"

"Fine," I answered airily, rubbing the tender spot on my arm where I had been poked with a number of injections. "The healers think everything should be okay, but they're not totally sure since I don't have my own midi-chlorians. I'm supposed to go to the infirmary if I start feeling weird in any way. And they said I might still have muscle cramps from time to time." I looked at Obi-Wan, who snorted in amusement at me. "What?"

"Nothing."

"I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

"Obi-Wan and I were just talking about you two going to the observatory last night," Qui-Gon said with a little smile. "It must have been interesting for you."

"It was," I admitted, patting Obi-Wan's knee. "We had a good time. We talked."

"Yes," the Padawan agreed with a soft look at me, before turning to his Master. "We talked about Niall, Master, and how any Jedi could choose to leave the Order."

"It still bothers you," Qui-Gon observed, hardly needing the Force to tell him what was on his apprentice's mind.

"I understand what Master Yaddle said about a person's breaking point," Obi-Wan began, averting his eyes to a random spot on the floor, "but I'm still not sure I can put myself in Niall's place, to know why he did what he did."

Qui-Gon gazed solemnly at his apprentice for a moment, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "You have been fortunate, Obi-Wan," he said at last with a kind look at his apprentice. "There have been few points in your training at which you've faced a strong temptation to turn your back on everything you know and seek your own path according to your own desires. And the once or twice when you have, when you were much younger, you made the right choices. I hope that, in your lifetime as a Jedi, you never reach the point Niall did. Learn from him, Padawan," he said seriously, and the two of them met each others' eyes in a moment of Master-to-apprentice understanding. "It may be that someday you will reach your breaking point, when all you want to do is forget you are a Jedi and solve some problem the fast and easy way. If you do, keep this moment in your mind. There is always another way."

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan softly agreed, lowering his eyes briefly. "Have you ever faced the same questions? The same doubts?"

A deeply introspective look crept over Qui-Gon's face. "That is a very good question. I've not been placed in a situation like Niall Oberanu's, in which the Dark Side became a plausible option, no. But, I do see myself in him, in a way."

Obi-Wan frowned, disturbed. I cocked my head. "How so, Master?"

"He truly believed what he was doing was the right way, or perhaps the only way. I read his reports, I know one of many things which contributed to his personal conflict was his interaction with the Jedi Council. He said as much in his last moments - the Council ordered him back to Coruscant even though the mission was incomplete. He disobeyed them, which is something I find myself doing on occasion. I do not think he erred in deciding to go against them, to remain on Salji and attempt to finish what he started. His error was in how he chose to do that."

"But, Master," Obi-Wan protested, "defying the Council is not something to advocate."

"No, and when they are in the right, the Jedi Council's advice should be heeded," Qui-Gon agreed. "But there are twelve worthy minds on the Council, leaving room for as many as twelve different opinions on how a situation should be handled. The consensus they reach may not always be right. I know I live my life in a pattern of defiance," he said kindly before Obi-Wan could point it out to him. "But, I constantly struggle with it, Padawan. I never wish to be defiant merely for the sake of defying, but I will be defiant when I know the Force is more right than the Code. It is a very fine line, and I walk it with great caution."

"As long as you follow the Force, you can't go wrong," I offered.

"But I must be sure it is the Force I follow, and not myself," he quickly countered. "That is the difficult part." His gaze shifted to his apprentice again. "You do understand, Obi-Wan, that it is never my intention to cause trouble."

"I understand that, Master," Obi-Wan smiled. "And I nearly always agree with you."

The Master chuckled a little. "Yes, I've noticed."

"But nothing you've done even comes close to what Niall did, Master."

"Perhaps not. But, I would trust that for now you will keep me accountable," Qui-Gon said, "at least until you are a Knight yourself. Then, I shall have to find someone else to keep me in check. Though I don't know where I will find someone with your stubbornness." Obi-Wan chuckled at that, but after a moment's levity, both Jedi sobered. Qui-Gon went on, his voice subdued. "Perhaps I can empathize better than you can, how a Jedi could allow himself to fall. The Code is not always enough to sustain us, we need the Force - the insight of the living Force and the foresight of the unifying Force."

"But the Jedi Code has been in place a long time, since well before your Master's Master was an initiate. We have it for a reason," the Padawan asserted. "It is supposed to be a guide, to lead us to understanding the Force and our place in it."

"It is a guide to the Jedi, not to the Force," his Master patiently corrected. "The Force itself is still greater than us all, and there are many corners of it yet unexplored. As evidenced by the existence of our dear friend," he added, smiling and gesturing toward me, "and her world in her distant galaxy, so far from us and yet so close in kindred."

I curled my feet up beneath me on the couch and grinned bashfully back. "I wish you could see it. All the people and their cultures, the music, and the nature! The trees and the hills and the mountains and oceans..."

Qui-Gon's face softened wistfully. "If there was a way to get there, then I would long for the chance to go with you and experience it all."

"I would, also," Obi-Wan chimed in. "It sounds like a wonderful planet."

"It's home," I said modestly. "But I keep seeing bits of it here and there in this galaxy. I could get used to it." I pointed at Obi-Wan. "But the stars are always going to mess me up."

He laughed, and I grinned, and even though he didn't understand our inside joke, Qui-Gon smiled brightly as well. The subject was now hopelessly diverted away from serious matters of the Force, and we sat for some time talking about our favorite places in the universe. Some of the tales the Jedi had to tell conjured up fantastic images in my mind of planets and locations I longed to see for myself, if only because they were too bizarre to fit into my Earth-centered worldview. Like Ryloth, whose period of rotation matched its period of revolution, so one side of the planet was perpetually in shadow and the other perpetually sunlit. Or the paradise of Cerea, where no ships or technology were permitted, or Malastare with its high gravity and peculiar alien species. There were places in the galaxy, I imagined, where skies were different colors, where there was no oxygen in the atmosphere, and where habitable moons orbited gas-giant planets. The thrill of the unusual reawakened in my heart, and I found myself talking about wanting to see these places. "Perhaps you will," Qui-Gon said with an amused half-smile. "Someday."

His face was warm, but behind his eyes and in his voice there was hidden a note of uncertainty, of hesitation. I guessed he didn't want to make promises he couldn't keep. "I've got to take every advantage while I'm here," I mused. "I don't know how long this adventure is going to last. Every chance I get to see something new or experience something totally different from what I'm used to, I'm taking it. I don't want to be sent back to my world kicking myself for having the chance to go somewhere or do something and not taking it."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities." Qui-Gon got up from his seat and wandered toward the kitchen, and I realized that I was hungry. I hadn't had lunch yet, for the visit to the infirmary had taken more time than I expected.

Obi-Wan was still in a pensive mood, and silent beside me. I glanced at him. "What are we going to do today?"

"Hmm?" He lifted his eyes and shifted them to me. "Oh...well, I'm not sure. It depends on what Master Qui-Gon has planned."

A voice drifted to us from the next room. "I haven't planned anything."

"It's been a very long morning," I reminded the Padawan. "If we do nothing but sit here all afternoon, and have dinner and go to bed, that's just fine with me."

A smirk teased his lips. "If you had your way, you would spend the rest of your life only eating and sleeping, wouldn't you?"

I threw my head back and laughed. True though it was. "No, then I wouldn't get to see the galaxy! But food and sleep are very important, you know. We need both to survive."

"Ah, I see," Obi-Wan nodded. We shared a grin, and then both sank back into the couch to listen to Qui-Gon clattering about in the kitchen. I wasn't up to experimenting or I would have offered to help the Master. He usually didn't take help when offered, anyway.

The first quiet day the three of us had had in a long time passed comfortably from afternoon into evening, and after a good night's sleep, I found that the next morning offered more of the same blissful laziness. I was woken up by a certain Padawan plopping heavily down on the edge of my cot, and while I beat him with my pillow to get him off, I understood that he was there for a reason. Sure enough, Qui-Gon wanted to meditate, the three of us in conjunction, so I reluctantly heaved myself out of bed and joined the Jedi. The rest of the morning went slowly, as I sat around reading through my journal, Qui-Gon set about repairing one of the rivets on his belt that had worked itself loose, and Obi-Wan perused the Coruscant holonet for interesting bits of news. We heard nothing from the Council, the Senate, or Adi Gallia, leading me to assume that either no one had anything to say to us, or they were too busy debating to call on us. While he poked at his belt with a multi-tool, Qui-Gon casually discussed the idea of lightsaber practice with Obi-Wan, trying to decide what techniques he needed to teach his Padawan yet. I sat quietly listening, enjoying the sound of their elegant voices coolly trading information and opinion with each other, soft and decadent sparring with rich and velvet, neither of them actually looking at each other as they talked. The Master's attention was on his belt, Obi-Wan's was on the screen of the communicator. My own attention was loosely focused on the notepad in my lap, but I kept reading the same lines over and over because I was listening to the discussion going on around me, melting at the light chuckles and relaxed tones, smiling to myself at the lilt of their accents, at the purr in Obi-Wan's voice whenever he smiled and the rumble of amusement in Qui-Gon's whenever he made some dry, witty comment.

At a lull in the conversation, punctuated by the tapping of the Padawan's fingers on the communicator's console, I got up and went to get a glass of water. As I wandered back through the sitting room, Qui-Gon suddenly raised his voice and gave a firm, demanding, "Enter."

I looked sharply at the door as it swished open. "I didn't hear the...oh." Standing in the entryway was Yoda. I quickly bobbed my head at him. "Master..."

Qui-Gon smirked slightly at my realization. "Master Yoda," he greeted the diminutive Jedi Master, putting aside his belt for a moment. "What can I do for you?"

Yoda heaved a gruff chuckle, the kind I had heard before. I grinned at its familiarity. "Nothing," he answered bluntly. "Here to see you I am not."

"Oh?" Qui-Gon pushed himself to his feet and came to the door to invite his guest in. "What is it, then?"

Yoda's head lifted and his eyes focused narrowly on me. "You want to see me?" I guessed.

"Surprised, are you?" he prodded.

"Well...I thought after yesterday you were done with me...Master," I said respectfully.

"Ohhh..." Yoda nodded. "Finished with you, no, we will not be finished for a long time. Much there is to be explored. But...not now." He hadn't actually entered our quarters, and now turned slightly as if to go, tapping with his gimer stick. "Walk with me, will you?"

I hesitated, looking up to Qui-Gon. "Go ahead," he encouraged. "We're not going anywhere."

"Okay." I had to put down my glass first, but then followed Master Yoda out the door, my heart racing nervously as it shut behind me and left me alone with the greatest Jedi Master that ever lived. He started along the hallway without a word, without even looking back to see if I followed, but I did, unquestioningly. It was the opposite of walking with Qui-Gon; with him, I had to lengthen my stride to keep up, but now, I had to slow myself down to a moseying pace so as not to run over Yoda. He barely came to mid-thigh on me, short as he was. He said nothing for a time, as we wandered through the residential hallways of the Temple, the earth-toned walls and thick, russet carpet swallowing the sound of our footsteps. At last, he simply asked me how I was. "I'm good, Master," I said modestly. "It's good to be back here. Salji was rough."

Yoda hummed in acknowledgement. "So it seems."

More silence. I was itching to ask him exactly what he wanted, why he came all the way down to Qui-Gon's quarters to ask me to walk with him, but I refrained from being the one asking questions. I got the distinct impression, merely by the nature of this scenario, that Yoda wanted something with me, but he would get to it in his own time and in his own way. This was no mere casual walk for fun, not with Yoda.

We came to a junction in the hallway, where two corridors jutted together to form a corner of the temple and a large transparisteel panel let in pale sunlight. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had earned, by some merit of the Master's, quarters on the outermost side of the temple, with a rare and coveted window. Master Yoda halted at the window, sighing heavily as he leaned on his stick and gazed out at the sparkling view of grand, severe gray buildings in the distance and ships flashing past them. "Tell me," he said abruptly, "about your world?"

"It's...nothing special," I shrugged, also looking out the window. "It's very diverse. Cities, mountains, forests, oceans...everything. Like I told Obi-Wan, once...parts of it are like Coruscant, sort of, parts are like Tatooine, others are like Alderaan, and so on. There's a wide variety of cultures and places. Lots of languages and governments and people."

Yoda contemplated that for a moment. "And all are...human?"

"Yes. There's nothing but humans on Earth - sentient species, anyway." I watched the ships passing and chuckled to myself. "It's kind of interesting, here. My world has a little bit of everything, but here, each bit has its own whole planet. Alderaan's a grassland-planet, Coruscant's a city-planet, Salji's a snow-planet..."

"Find that strange, do you?" Master Yoda wondered, lifting his head.

"Sort of. I mean...before I knew this was all real, I just kind of chalked it up to a writer's whim, that maybe the guy creating this galaxy was having each planet be something different because it seemed more...futuristic or something. But now...I don't know what to make of it."

A short pause preceded Yoda's next comment, which evolved into an amazing lesson. "Long ago," he began, "before awakened the Jedi, it was not like this. More like your world it was, each system small and contained. Wars were fought, small leaders rose and passed, and varied was life on each world. Then, they began to travel. Impossible became possible, long distances breached. To the stars they went, and no longer bound to worlds they were. Boundaries like...gravity, system, no more did they matter. That was when things changed." The wise old Master looked up at me, his face completely blank of any emotion. Exactly like a puppet, he had no expression, except that which might show in his eyes - his calm, penetrating green eyes. "In time, less need was there for each world to be everything at once to its people. They could travel to other worlds, see things from a new point of view. Like sifting grain, it was. Settled these worlds became, keeping what they needed most and letting the unnecessary pass away. Here..." He lifted a three-fingered hand toward the window. "...green things, living things, passed away, for preserved they are elsewhere in the galaxy. The same it is on other worlds." He sighed and clasped both hands on the end of his stick, lowering his head. "No need is there to keep all things in one place. Special each world becomes."

Yoda sank into silence again, and I dwelt on his history lesson for a moment, reflecting in respectful silence. When I judged it to be the right moment, I spoke again. "I understand it now. That's very interesting."

"Do you?"

"Yeah," I said, diligently standing up to his testing. "Because you can travel all over the galaxy, things got...centralized. I suppose things can change like that over however many thousands of years the Republic has been around."

Yoda nodded, satisfied. I sighed quietly to myself, content at having faced a challenge and succeeded. "Different it is where you come from," he suddenly continued, stepping away from the window and resuming our walk. I joined him quickly so as not to miss out on any more lessons. "See through you I cannot, but in your manner and speech I see the difference. Accustomed to this you are not."

"No, I'm not," I agreed, clasping my hands behind my back as we walked. "I looked at the stars the other night, and...it was weird, because no matter where I went on my world, the stars could always be expected to be the same. They never change. Seeing them here...it really hit me that I'm a long way from home. And I don't have a reason for that," I added deliberately, seeking some kind of wisdom from Yoda on the subject.

We walked a few more paces before Yoda addressed my concern. "Hmm, yes. A reason." Another pause. "One of many it could be. It is the power of the Force which caused you to be here, within it lies the reason."

"Qui-Gon has a couple theories," I put forth.

"Told me he did." That was all he had to say, though, as he rounded a corner and started heading back towards Qui-Gon's quarters through interior hallways. I waited, hoping there was more to come, but all I got was a few hmms and mumbles as Yoda stumped along with his stick at his own pace. We got all the way back to the stretch of corridor in which our quarters lay, and almost to the door, before the little Jedi Master gave me his final words. "See your future I cannot," he murmured in a low, almost threatening voice. "Your path is a mystery. Not ready is the Force to give up its secrets yet."

The way he said it scared me. Hugging my arms around myself like a little kid, I hesitantly asked him, "Will you let me stay here until we know?"

Yoda's round eyes widened, bulging out from his face. "So certain, are you, that we will ever know?" He sighed and closed his eyes, focusing on the Force for a moment. At least, I assumed that was what he was doing, for he looked exactly as his movie figure did when he declared Anakin's future to be clouded. "Mmm. Impossible it is to say for sure. But..." He started away again, slowly pacing the last few feet to Qui-Gon's door. "...my decision alone it is not whether to let you stay." He glanced over his shoulder at me, and the creepy look he gave me reminded me more of the unfeeling Yoda of Episode One than the wise Master who taught - or will teach - Luke. "More than your quest for a reason is there. Other matters must be considered." But that was all he would say, for as soon as I stepped up to the door it hummed open automatically. Qui-Gon came over right away, his face expectant, eyes narrowed. Master Yoda looked up at him as he drew near the door. "One thing I wish to do, if consent you will."

"Yes, my Master?" Qui-Gon wondered.

Yoda's gaze shifted to me. "When meditating you were, sensed her Adi Gallia did. Possible, it is, that if another Jedi entered into meditation with you, she can be sensed through you."

"You wish to meditate with us, then?"

The great Master turned and made to leave. "The Fountain Chamber, this evening. Yourself and the girl only need come."

"Yes, Master," Qui-Gon agreed, even as Yoda left the entryway and the door slid shut again. I breathed a sigh of relief that he was gone, for I was starting to be unnerved by his change in demeanor. Master Qui-Gon faced me with a slight smile. "Well? What did he want?"

"Nothing, really," I answered, going back to my seat and picking up my untouched glass of water. "He just asked me about what things were like on my world, and told me a little bit about how the galaxy got to be the way it is. That was all, really." Then I recalled one comment and shivered involuntarily. "Except...he said he can't see my future."

"Foresight is Master Yoda's strength," Obi-Wan said with a hint of concern.

"I know. And he doesn't know what I'm here for any more than we do." I looked up at Qui-Gon as he sat down facing me. "I was kind of hoping he would. He's supposed to be strong in the unifying Force, the part that lets you see the future."

"He is," Qui-Gon acknowledged. "And he cannot see yours. That is very interesting."

"Oh gosh - and now he wants to meditate with me?"

"With us," the Master corrected. "You and I together. Don't worry, I will be with you."

"But what if it works? What if he can see into me through you?"

The expression that flitted across Qui-Gon's face was not comforting in the least. "We don't know that he will," he cautioned. "We don't know anything, really. It is a risk you must take."

"But I don't want every Jedi in the place making appointments to meditate with you just so they can get a chance to see into my thoughts," I grumbled. "If Yoda can do it, then Mace and Saesee Tiin and all the others are going to want to do it too." I looked at Qui-Gon, hurt. "I don't want them to know me like you do. I like having you and Obi-Wan being the only ones who can sense me."

Qui-Gon lowered his eyes briefly. "I'm sorry. But if you expect to be here much longer, you will have to make some concessions. The Jedi Council will want to try anything they can in order to understand why you are so different." He reached out to me, his large hands swallowing both of mine in a gentle clasp. "You are unique, Stacey. No one else in this whole galaxy is like you. Nearly every sentient being in existence is an open book to a Jedi, we need merely bend our minds toward them and the Force tells us everything. You are the only person I have ever known of who can both feel the Force and resist it. You feel it when you are with me and Obi-Wan, and we can sense you as if you were simply another Jedi. But others cannot sense you, and your mind resists them when they try. You don't feel it when Master Yoda, or Mace Windu, or Adi Gallia use the Force. That is a very strange thing. They are merely trying to understand how it could be possible."

I lowered my eyes away from his. "I know, I'm sorry."

"I understand that it makes you uncomfortable," Qui-Gon said soothingly. "But we can no longer hide you away. Your sensitivity is growing still. Perhaps, if you are here long enough, it will grow to such an extent that this resistance is unnecessary. But that is uncertain," he added. "As with all things, it will become clearer in time, and trying to hasten an early conclusion is pointless."

"I just wish I knew why I was here," I growled, leaning back in the chair but keeping my hands nestled between Qui-Gon's. "Then at least I'd know one way or another where I belonged. I'm afraid they're going to take me away from you."

Qui-Gon's head drooped, and his hands let mine slip out from between them. "I don't want that any more than you do," he said quietly. "But we can't expect to continue in the same way we have been." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Obi-Wan's head perk up over the communicator at that. The Master heaved a pained sigh. "I put you in danger by taking you with me to Salji. I don't want to do that again, I don't know that my heart can take much more of it. But...that's not for us to decide now," he concluded, reaching out again and picking up one of my hands, which I had let fall limp in my lap. He caressed the back of my hand with his thumb. "We won't have to worry about that for a time. Master Adi has cleared us to stay on Coruscant indefinitely, until her senatorial contact no longer needs us."

"I thought Salji didn't have a senator," I mumbled, trying to recall all the information that had flown at me while on the cold, war-ravaged planet on the other side of the galaxy.

"Not one of their own, no. But Salji is one of a number of worlds within a sector represented by a single senator." He got up, then, and stepped behind Obi-Wan. "If I remember correctly, it was the sectorial representative who actually asked for a Jedi mediator to intervene on Salji." Without even being asked, Obi-Wan shifted aside and gave up control of the communicator to his Master, who started pecking at the keypad. After a moment of studiously watching the screen, Qui-Gon perked up and gestured for me to come to his side. "Here. Salji is one of thirty-six planetary systems under this senator's responsibility."

I stood beside him and peered at the screen. Without taking time to try and decipher the words, I could only guess I was looking at a sector map of part of the galaxy. There was a boundary line circling the little dots meant to be star systems, each with a name beside it. "Thirty-six worlds," I repeated. "That's a lot. How can one senator have time to attend to the needs of every one of them?"

"I suppose he doesn't," Qui-Gon said wryly. "Or else the fighting on Salji would not have been allowed to continue for so many years." His eyes wandered over the screen some more, while I tried puzzling out the names of the worlds within the sector boundary. "Ah, of course. The senator is from one of the other worlds in that sector. His attention is likely focused more on his homeworld than other, more distant constituents."

"Why, where's he from?"

"The Naboo system."

It was said so casually, so innocently, that it took a second to shock me. I stared at him. "What? I didn't know we were anywhere near Naboo!"

"We weren't near it, actually. It is far across the sector from Salji." A smile reawakened on the Master's lips as he glanced at me. "Most of that information was in the files we read on the ship, when I taught you to read our lettering. Don't you remember?"

"Well, some of it, but I don't understand...sectors and quadrants and parsecs and...whatever else you measure by. I have no idea where we were, except that Salji's in a backwater part of the galaxy where hardly anybody goes." I thought about what he said, and came to a disastrous conclusion. Salji was represented by a senator from Naboo. Senator Palpatine. The Palpatine, Sith Lord, future Emperor. Another shock washed through me as the connection fell into place, and I swallowed hard.

Obi-Wan was peeking at the information as well. "Naboo, you say? I was just reading something in the news briefs about Naboo."

"Oh?" Qui-Gon prompted, apparently oblivious to the fact I was standing next to him boggling over how close I was to meeting the notorious Senator Palpatine.

"Yes, Master. It seems a twelve-year-old girl was just elected governor of their capital city." He looked up at Qui-Gon with an amused smirk. "Now that's what I call an early start to politics."

"You don't say." Qui-Gon mused on the information for a second before dismissing it and leaving the communicator back in Obi-Wan's control.

I stayed where I was, holding back any reaction lest either Jedi sense it, when Obi-Wan's news gave me yet another nasty shock. Twelve-year-old...oh my gosh, that's Amidala! She's just been elected governor...that means...oh no. Only two and a half years until...until...

"How is it you're so familiar with the Naboo system?" Qui-Gon flippantly wondered as he sat back down with his belt.

I shook my head and looked at him. "Who, me?"

"Of course." He glanced up out of the corner of his eye. "I sense your surprise at hearing the name. You know more about it than you've let on."

"Just...I guess something happens there in the future," I shrugged, desperately hoping that was enough to satisfy him. "You're going to go to a lot of places, so what? Maybe that's just one of them."

He gave me another sly, cornering glance, but I ignored him and went to the chair where my journal lay open. Fortunately, he didn't press. "If this senator wishes to hear our version of what happened on Salji, you don't need to come along. Unless you want to, that is."

I didn't know what he was trying to get at. From the tone of his voice, I got the impression he knew I was more than just surprised - unsettled and scared was more like it. "I don't know. It depends. If he wants to meet me, fine. I just don't know that I have much to say to him."

The Master nodded and ended the conversation there. Good thing, too, because I was starting to feel like he was needling me for answers I was unprepared to give. I didn't want to explain to him why the senator from Naboo should cause me any undue stress when I had never met the man. Part of me itched to see him, just to say that I did, but part of me refused to have anything to do with him no matter how fascinating it might be to meet this piece of galactic history in the making. Before, I thought Palpatine was sort of cool - in a creepy way - a slick bad guy who would go on to become the most evil creature in the galaxy. Now, he was real. A real man, living right here on the same planet as me, preparing to destroy everything that meant something to me in his quest for power. I was fully equipped to hate him on sight, and for my sake as well as his, I prayed I would not meet him for that precise reason.

On to part 30

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