.                      Bonds of Choice #10
                  Star Wars: TPM FanFic Series
                         by HiperBunny
                        (message 2 of 4)
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"Good evening, Padawan Nall."

"Good evening, Master Crowe." Corubia stood and bowed.  Her eyes showed
strain but she was otherwise well.    A long moment passed, then Corubia
came to join Kourt at the side table.  She dropped to her knees beside him.

He turned at the movement and frowned.  Corubia braced herself for a blow
or a sharp word, then felt her heart skip a beat when he dropped to his
knees before her.  She stared.  He stared back.  She blushed.  He grinned. 
"I am not as Torlamin was.  Not in any way.  Anything she might have told
you about me was pure conjecture and rumormongering.  Now, either you're
going to treat me like you treat the other Masters and your friends, or
think of some other solution to this issue in our association."

Corubia smiled, staring at the floor.  "Torlamin conditioned me to be
afraid of you.  I think I'm starting to understand why.  She didn't want me
to trust you at all."

"Well, the trust thing can be worked around.  For now, any time I see you
doing something that I don't like, I'm going to do it right back at you
until you stop.  Now, I know you and Master Jinn have been friends for some
time.  Can you treat me as you treat him?"  Kourt flipped his hair back out
of his face.

"I believe so," Corubia grinned, relaxing at last.  "Though you might not
like it after a while.  I have a tendency to say exactly what's on my
mind."

"I think I can live with that," Kourt assured her. "So, how are you
feeling?"

"Calm. Tired.  Uh, am I in trouble? I mean, I…uh…what did Obi-Wan tell
you?" She scrubbed at her eyes with a dirty sleeve.  Weariness was etched
upon her features.

"I haven't spoken to him yet.  I expect he's in the infirmary with
Qui-Gon," Kourt explained.

Corubia laughed, a harsh sound.  "Right.  I'll lay you cookies to credits
he's off hiding in some garden or another.  I bet he doesn't see Qui-Gon
until they release him, if not later."

"Why do you say that?  I was under the impression they were quite…close. 
Taken with one another," Kourt replied.

"Oh sure, no question about that.  Taken.  At least." Corubia laughed
again.  "Have you spent much time with Kenobi?"

"No, not really," Kourt admitted.  "Am I missing something?"

"He's my best friend, don't get me wrong.  He's just a little…intense. 
Demanding.  To be honest, if he wasn't gone so often, we might not be as
close as we are anymore.  He demands a lot of himself…tends to expect the
same from everyone.  One of the expectations, of course, is that everyone
be as impervious to pain as he is.  I've never seen anyone with a pain
threshold like that," she stood to fetch a cup of tea for herself.

"And?  Qui-Gon doesn't?  He doesn't like to see his Master in pain?" Kourt
encouraged her.

"No.  It's nothing like that.  He'd just never know that his master might
need or want someone with him.  You heard about what happened last time
Obi-Wan ended up in the infirmary?" she asked.

"Internal bleeding, I think.  They said Obi-Wan just ignored it for hours,
then cussed a blue streak about bothering Qui-Gon when he took him to the
medics."

"Right," she said, as if that explained everything.

"I'm not sure I follow."

"Okay, say you needed to go refill this teapot.  Which you do, by the way. 
Do you need me to go with you, make sure you're okay, make sure you have
all the support you need?"

"No.  I can handle the teapot just fine," Kourt assured her.

"Okay, so a couple broken bones or whatever, to Kenobi it's just a pot of
tea.  That goes for everything, by the way.  Go tell him to build a bridge
out of toothpicks using nothing but the Force.  He'll do it,  I guarantee. 
And he'll never consider that you might be a shade unreasonable for telling
him to do it.  Then yell at him for doing it right.  He'll just stand there
and take it.  I doubt he'll even register anything like surprise or hurt. 
Rather, he might feel hurt, but he won't do anything but ignore it.  Won't
protest."  She held the teapot out.  "Any more than you would register it a
challenge to fill the teapot or an insult if I thanked you for doing so."

"Walk with me, please.  I'd like to hear a little bit more about this one."
Kourt unlocked the door and coded his security clearance for Corubia.  She
seemed at ease speaking about her friend, perhaps she would relax enough to
talk about herself.  "What about Qui-Gon?  Won't he ask where Obi-Wan is?"

"Doi.  And Obi-Wan will say 'Down in the Abrath listening to the
Senblossoms.'"

"And they're both OKAY with this?"

"Apparently," she shrugged.

"What about when Obi-Wan needs something?  What about when Qui-Gon has to
take care of him or something?  How do they deal with that?"

"Badly, for the most part.  Kenobi gets cranky and Qui-Gon gets flustered
and comes around my place rooting for answers.  I always recommend
fulfilling the daily allowance of Benburi, which seems to work.  If those
two ever start actually TALKING, this Order's going to get rocked.  They're
devastating now, even with the gap in communication.  Imagine what they'd
be like, coordinated."  Corubia dialed for Medzelac tea, but Kourt canceled
the order in favor of Trebal.

"Tannins," he intoned with authority. 

"Bad for my scales," she argued.

"Good for my attitude."

"Tannins," she agreed.

"And what keeps you and Rue from being a devastating team?  You both have
skills that mesh nicely," Kourt segued.

Corubia sighed.  "I used to think it was me.  For a long time, I figured it
HAD to be me.  Then I noticed something: Master is terrible at using my
abilities to the good.  There are days when I think she's forgotten the
last eight years or so."

"And what did you do to correct this?"

"Do?  Hey, that sort of thing falls squarely into the arena of 'Somebody
Else's Problem'.  I can't help it if she doesn't appreciate what she's
got."  They returned to the holding cell and settled onto the sofa.

"What is your responsibility?"

"Doing as I'm told.  Obey, obey, obey.  Achieve, achieve, achieve.  Pass
the Trials, then more of same." She shrugged.  "Pretty simple.  If my
orders are poorly thought out, well, what's a girl to do?" She sighed
melodramatically.  "I just wish I knew what I was supposed to be doing.  I
know you think I might have touched the Dark, but I didn't."

"No, you've proven that pretty conclusively.  How about Master Torlamin? 
What do you remember happening?"

She stared down into her cup, thinking.  "We were standing there, waiting
to see what would happen.  Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were doing…something to get
ready for a fight.  I don't know what, really.  Then we felt…it.  A shadow
in the Light.  At least, the three of us shielded against it.  Master…I
felt her do something, like she was trying to…taste it, I think."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, the boys went out to fight that Sith.  They were slinging the Force
around pretty much at will and he was returning in kind.  I had to keep
reinforcing my shields to keep my center…but Master didn't.  And we didn't
go to help them.  She just stood there, kind of swaying…and getting more
remote.  I lowered part of my shields, tried to touch her mind, reached out
through our Bond…it was like…she was being ravished, and loving it." 
Corubia shuddered.

"And then?"

"I called out to her, tried to say 'What should I do?' I saw Obi-Wan go
down and Master ran out towards him.  I thought she was going to help him,
then she…"  Corubia looked away, fell silent for a long moment.

"What?"

" She tried to kill him.  I'm serious.  He had to pull a couple of dirty
tricks before I got there.  I mean, for a second I stood there, I was
looking at her running to him, lightsaber ready and I was trying to
strengthen our link so we could fight the Sith. Then she swung on him and…
it was like all this anger and hate and pain and animalistic fury just
welled up and burned her away.  I think I screamed, it was all pouring down
our bond like tar, trying to get to me…I tried to let go, shield up, block
it off…then it stopped."  She swallowed convulsively and looked Kourt in
the eye.  "Can you keep a secret?"

"Usually.  It depends on the secret," he hedged.

"Yeah, I guess it does.  Well, I guess telling you won't hurt anything. 
You'll figure it out sooner or later.  The Bond broke.  I'm not bonded to
Master anymore.  The Bond…constricted, I guess is the best way to put it. 
It tried to narrow down, keep that Darkness from passing through, reaching
me…then it got too thin and just snapped.  And you know what?  I was
glad."  Corubia sighed.  Tears were welling in her eyes, but she looked too
tired to care much.

"Why?"

"It took me a lot of meditating to figure out.  But listen…you know how the
Bond makes us trust each other?  How it makes us so close?  Well, that's
gone and I'm able to think about her a little more clearly now.  I wouldn't
trust her with a plant."  Corubia let the tears go, not sobbing, just
giving in to one more indignity.

"Okay.  I think you've had enough for now.  Why don't you lie down and get
some sleep?  I have to lock you in, but you can call me if you need
anything.  I can't release you until I speak to the Council.  Do  you want
to go back to your rooms, or what?"  Kourt leaned over and rubbed her arm.

"Um, maybe I could stay with someone else for a couple days?  Maybe Kenobi
has someplace to put me?" she wiped her face on her sleeves again.

"Yeah, I'll check on that for you.  Come on, lay down.  Sleep," he
Suggested, glad to see her slip easily into unconsciousness.  That would
take care of her for a few hours.

That would give him enough time to rest a while and do a bit of research. 

******************************* 

Qui-Gon was resting on the couch when Obi-Wan came into their rooms. 
"Hello, my Padawan.  The healers said to tell you that you did a
commendable job with my wounds."

"Thank you, my Master, but I'm sure it was mostly the medical unit.  How do
you feel?" Obi-Wan moved to check his master.

"Oh, a little stiff.  The ankle turned out to be the worst of it, really. 
My shoulder itches like a demon, but it's not too bad.  I really thought
I'd had it that time."

"I noticed.  Don't make me threaten you like that again, okay?" Obi-Wan
settled his hands on Qui-Gon's shoulder and began a gentle massage. 

"So, where were you?" Qui-Gon stretched his neck and relaxed into the
gentle pressure on his sore muscles.

"Helping one of the Trainees.  I'm so full of stimulants, I'm humming." He
held his hand out for Qui-Gon's inspection.  He could not hold it still.

"You're exhausted, Koatel.  You've got sleep deprivation shakes," Qui-Gon
took the shaking fingers between his hands, petting them.  "You've got to
go to sleep, Padawan."

"Yeah, not right now, okay? I'm still pretty strung out here…too tired to
sleep," Obi-Wan continued his massage. "Master, something is terribly wrong
with Master Torlamin.  She attacked me, twice now.  Corubia was doing
pretty bad there for a while, but she seems to be doing a little better. 
And I looked over the rest of my files.  I think the Council knew there was
something wrong with Rue Torlamin a long time ago.  I think you knew it,
too.  What is happening, here?"

Qui-Gon put his hands on Obi-Wan's, stilling them.  "I expect one of the
other Masters will be along to explain all this to you.  It would be better
if you rested so you can help us.  I'm very proud of you, you know.  You
defeated the Sith, perhaps got enough information to find the other one and
that is not to be ignored.  But there are more immediate problems we must
deal with."

"Yes, Master."

"Come, I must rest as well.  Let us go to my room, Koateleu.  We will take
our rest together." Qui-Gon slipped his arm around Obi-Wan's shoulders and
leaned on him as he limped to his bed.

"If it please you, I should prefer to rest alone.  We really mustn't make a
habit of this, Master," Obi-Wan murmured.  

"You're right, of course.  In time, I'll argue the point with you.  For
now, though, I'll bow to your wisdom."  

Qui-Gon fell asleep almost before his head touched the pillows.  Obi-Wan
went to his bed and sat down, scrubbing his fingers through his hair.  He
needed a shower, change of clothes, but his midnight oil was coming to an
end at last.  He tugged his boots off. *I'll just lay down for a second,
then go get that shower. *

***********************************  

Obi-Wan woke to the doorchime and slipped from his bed to answer it before
Qui-Gon awoke.  The crono informed him that he and his master had slept
well into midmorning.  Good. Qui-Gon would need that time to catch up on
the energy his healing had taken.  When Obi-Wan opened the door, Master
Kourt Crowe stood in the hallway, hands tucked into his sleeves. Obi-Wan
bowed to him.  "Good day, Master Crowe."

"Good day, Padawan Kenobi.  I wanted to speak with you about what happened
on your mission and a few other matters. May I come in?"

"Of course, Master.   Would you care for some refreshment?"

"Some tea would be nice.  Where is Master Jinn?"

"Resting. I'll just make sure he'll stay put while we talk."  Obi-Wan went
to the caterer and dialed for tea.  While he waited, he enhanced his
master's sleep state with a slight touch on the Force.

"I suppose I should begin by apologizing," Crowe said, settling onto the
sofa. 

Obi-Wan brought the tea over to the low table, poured and said nothing.  He
sat down on the other end of the sofa.

"We, not the Council, another group entirely, had concerns that this might
happen.  What do you know about me, Obi-Wan?" The elder Jedi fiddled with
his cup and kept his eyes on his own boots.

"Well, rumors mostly.  It is pretty well accepted that you brought about
the death of a corrupt prince from Erupu a few years ago.  And there are
other stories, of course.  In the area of information-gathering you are
said to be rather, ah, ruthless." Obi-Wan folded his hands in his lap to
keep himself from biting his fingernails.

"You've grown up hearing I am an assassin and a torturer." Crowe's voice
was flat and matter-of-fact.  His curly brown hair hung down in his face,
hiding his eyes.  In that moment Obi-Wan realized that Master Crowe was
actually a very young-looking man. Round cheeks, full lips, tan skin and a
powerful build.  When he looked back up, Obi-Wan saw a hint of laughter in
his dark green eyes.  His hands were smooth, strong and seemingly incapable
of being still.

"Yes." Obi-Wan confirmed.

"And yet you do not ask me if the stories are true."

"No, Master Crowe. I do not."

"I see.  Why is that?" 

Obi-Wan cleared his throat.  "Well, I suppose it is because we have bigger
problems on our hands.  If they are true, I suspect you have Master
Torlamin well in hand by now.  If they are not, then we will have to find
someone capable of dealing with her.  I have no idea where to hire that
kind of help."

Master Crowe actually laughed at that.  "Rue Torlamin is indeed well in
hand now.  A great deal of the thanks is to you, Obi-Wan.  Do you know what
it is we are now dealing with, in her case?"

Obi-Wan shook his head no. "I hoped she might have gone mad."

"Hoped?"

"Yes.  The alternative is … horrifying to say the least.  Especially
considering what it might imply for the Council and it's actions in the
past.  My past.  The past of my friend as well."

Master Crowe looked down at his boots again.  "The truth then.  She has
touched to the Dark Side and her mind snapped during the contact.  She
toyed with dangerous thinking for too long.  Her life, her place in the
Jedi are probably forfeit, as well may be the future of her Padawan. 
Corubia Nall is handling the news as well as can be expected.  I will do
all I can to guide and protect her.  This was not her doing." 

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement.  

"The Council is well aware of the problems this has all caused.  Why they
ignored our warnings when she asked for Corubia as her Padawan I will never
understand.  But ignore it they did and now they leave it to us to repair
the damage it has caused. You have a question?" Crowe asked.

"Yes, Master Crowe. 'We' whom?  I'm afraid I have a dislike for pronouns
with mysterious antecedents." Obi-Wan leaned forward to get a cup of tea
for himself. 

"Please, call me Kourt.  This is really not the time for formalities. The
Jedi have long stood to combat the forces of the Dark Side.  You may have
learned a particular rule of engagement in your tactics classes. 'Know your
enemy.'  Well, some of us have made it part of our life to do just that.  

"Many people believe the Sith are the only thing we need worry about, since
they are the only Dark Siders to use the same type of training we do. 
Nothing could be further from the truth. You know about your Master's
previous Padawan, yes?" Kourt waited for Obi-Wan's nod.  "He was one of our
attempts to save someone from the pull of the Dark Side.  Sometimes we
succeed.  Sometimes we fail.  That time we failed.  I sincerely hope that
this time we do not."

"But that doesn't answer my question, Kourt.  Who is 'we' ?" Obi-Wan
mangled grammar to get his point across.

"Ah, I see what you mean.  Well, we're a mixed lot.  A few of the High
Potentials are with us and some others.  Myself of course.  Master Erac,
before he died on Naboo.  Yoda helps out now and again. I believe you knew
Knight Rendian Elan when he was teaching in the crèche.  Oh, the knights,
yes.  Well, Jayden Hunter and Felias Tradian. Um," Kourt let his eyes drift
off towards the kitchenette.

"Teril Ar'thapa and Qui-Gon Jinn." Obi-Wan supplied.

"Yes."

"And Torlamin knew about you."

"Yes.  There are more than a handful of us, more than I've named here.  For
various reasons, many of our number are not…active.  The elders of us are
in hiding, more or less.  It is the younger who carry the weight of the
work, for now."

"My friend Swed is Jayden Hunter's Padawan.  Master Ar'thapa apprenticed
Jenji.  And Qui-Gon took me on just after the disaster with Xanatos."
Obi-Wan watched Kourt carefully.  

The Master showed no signs of shock. "You're quite good at that."

"Working things out?  I do well enough." Obi-Wan smiled.

"And there was a three-year gap between Xanatos and yourself, Obi-Wan."

"But he took me on with the same knowledge that he took on Xanatos.  He
knew all along that I might turn to the Dark Side and that he would be
blamed for it if I did." Obi-Wan sipped at his tea, unable to meet Kourt's
eyes.