Chapter 11: 11. Chapter

As the nurse walked out of the room, we found ourselves in a little bit of awkward silence. To be more precise, I would say that it was not awkward for me; I like silence; if there wasn't a good reason to talk I usually don't talk. Talking to myself when I am alone didn't count, as it is basically one of the many newly gained habits of mine. I can't really do anything against it, and I didn't care enough to force myself to stop those activities. Well, the point was that I am just fine with sitting here and relaxing silently in the company of Tano.

I decided to take off my boots and sit on the bed beside her in a crossed-legged sitting position. I don't want to steal her bed, after all, so better to take up as little space as possible. She was already flustered from the sudden silence, and I could see that she was not accustomed to it. She watched me curiously while I took off my boots and sat down next to her on the bed. I was still caressing my now bandaged right lekku, pulling it over my shoulder, in this way my lekku was resting on my chest; its tip was even reaching my lap. I did the same with the other uninjured one. This was about fifteen centimeters shorter than the other one. It was a natural thing in my race, some twi'leks leks were simply not identical. By the way, ninety percent of a twi'lek lekku is basically fat storage. While the closest parts to the head are much more important; it contains some of the twi'lek brain, my brain. That is why some particularly rude individuals rarely call leks as brain tails. I didn't hurt that part mind you, so no worries, on a sidenote twi'leks, if they get fast medical attention, they can live through losing most of their leks. Sadly, a cut-off lekku will never grow back on its own, but the force can make it happen, and I know of a few rituals that can achieve that. 

Tano was getting antsier with every passing second; she looked at my bandaged lekku one more time and began to speak in a solemn and dejected way. 

- Sorry for that one more time... I shouldn't force you to duel with me in the first place. I could see that you didn't want to, but I was too excited to fight with a trained force sensitive that is not a jedi. With the sith reappearing in the galaxy and all that, I wanted to know how well I would fare against an unknown opponent. I guess I was lucky that it was only you, otherwise I would either become captured or outright killed.

I looked at her, with a slight shock, where was the bubbly girl that I met in the council room? Did she have a twin sister or something? No, the force presence is the same... Was she really that excited about the opportunity of fighting with me? I knew a few other covens of force sensitives like the Nightsisters and even a few orders of not-so-radical dark side users, like the Sith. They were using the force to see into the future and gain wealth and power through it. I mean, they are certainly dangerous, they wouldn't really think about killing you on the first possible opportunity if you got in their way, but still far from the level of a true sith. If they are back then they are most likely controlling this war from the shadows. Hmm... That is troublesome. If there is really a fully trained sith behind the war, it will not stop until the whole galaxy is under its control. I am absolutely certain about this, since Revan was a true darth at one time, he was like that too. One thing is the same with every true sith and that is the never-ending greed and thirst for power.  Only the Jedis manipulation over his memories and mind could lift the veil of unending thirst from his eyes and it lead him to the path of creating our order, but that is a story for another time. Let's ask a few questions about this supposed sith. 

- Is there really a true sith here? How do you know this? 

She blinked at me, surprised. 

- You didn't know about this? 

She asked.

- Well, you see, being a member of a secretive, and therefore reclusive force sect means that you don't really have any connection with actual political and worldly affairs. 

- ...I see... Anyway, my master told me that about ten years from today master Obi-Wan and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn met with a sith on Naboo. 

- Interesting, I could imagine that it didn't go so well. 

- No, Master Qui-Gon Jinn, died in the battle, but in the end master Obi-Wan was able to destroy the sith.

- Hmmm... it must be true, then, if he was able to kill a jedi master two against one nonetheless. That is indeed very troublesome. 

- Why do I feel as if you are praising the skills of that sith... 

- Oh, in my understanding skill is praiseworthy in itself. We must appreciate our enemies' abilities to not fall into the mistake of underestimating them. 

She looked at me with a new light glinting in her eyes. 

- Hehe, you sounded like master Yoda! 

- Uhm, thank you for the praise, I guess. 

- No biggie. 

- Youngsters... 

- Hey! You are even younger than me! Stop acting like an old woman... She's still giggling in the background, though. 

Huh, she thinks that I am acting like this on purpose. Maybe that is the most logical assessment. Luckily the pain in my lekku is already numbed so I am no longer that easily distracted. The sith is not that big of a problem for me right now. I am currently not in my best shape for battle, and fighting with a darth is not something you do halfheartedly; I mean, you can do that, but you will die. Let the jedi deal with the sith, for now, I can't really see how they could lose with these numerical advantages and with the support of that clone army they always talk about. Droids are brutal killing machines, and they are not to be underestimated, yet they are only as good, as their battle programs, which means they are predictable and they lack imagination and ingenuity, which is a crucial skill on the battlefield. This is why droids never win a battle against trained living enemies without a large technological and numerical advantage. There are special droids, like HK-47, droids that have enough experience and memories to become something more. They become individuals. Those kinds of droids are incredibly rare and generally frowned upon. People usually don't want their droids to have personalities, because a droid with a personality is not really a droid anymore. Therefore it loses its purpose; it will argue with you left and right, even calling you names, and that in many owners cases simply is not acceptable. 

- So, is your master famous or what?

I asked on a whim to continue the conversation. 

She turned to me with the look that you give to a country bumpkin. Then she began to shake her head with a helpless smile on her face. 

- My master, Anakin Skywalker is a very skilled and accomplished Jedi master. He is also kind, not the best teacher, but at least has a good humour. He is regarded as the youngest knight appointed to the master's rank in recent years. He is a well experienced jedi guardian, with many successful and very dangerous missions behind him. I think, you can think of him as a kind of celebrity in the order, someone you generally look up to as an example. 

I couldn't suppress my sudden smirk as a sinful thought resurfaced in my mind. You didn't mention one of his most important titles.

Tano was looking at me somewhat haughtily as she obviously misunderstood my reaction. I should distract her before she becomes angry. 

- Oho, so that is why everyone was looking at us in the cantina and on the practice field. 

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I was already suspecting this, but it is still good to know certainly. I added a few lines playfully as a bait for Tano.

- Humph, even I have to acknowledge his intuitive fighting style. Still, I was able to land a few blows on him here and there. 

Another wave of uncontrolled fits of giggling later, she suddenly turned sober. 

- Wait, are you serious? How did you do it!? You MUST teach me too. I want to make his infuriating grin disappear, that would be so fun!

In the meantime, she grabbed my shoulders and began to shake me a little in the middle of this assault I began to wonder, did I step on a landmine again. 

 

__________

 

While Nizzal was giving a detailed report of her and Anakins duel to a certain togruta girl. On the other side of the temple, Anakin was just finishing his own version of both his and her padawans duel with the new so-called exchange student. He, of course, had no plan to share the true reason why their duel started in the first place. The council room was carefully silent, especially after the long retelling of such an interesting event. Even Master Windu's angry gaze became somewhat milder after hearing Anakins evaluation of this so-called Grey Lord apprentice. Today's meeting was substantially more important than the last one, and therefore more masters appeared, even if they were only present through holograms. In today's High Council meeting physically were present master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and as the grandmaster of the order, Yoda. As holograms, there were also present master Windu, master Shaak Ti, a togruta woman currently residing on Kamino, as the one who is assigned to monitor the clones development. There was also Ki-Adi-Mundi, a cerean who was currently on a patrol mission with a small starfleet around the core worlds. The last one present was none other than Kit Fisto, an nautolan jedi master who was known for his outstanding battle focus. 

The silence was soon broken by Master Windu's question. 

- You said, that she was able to fight with you as an equal in technique; may that be with the lightsaber, or in the case of force abilities? Do you understand the weight of those words?

Anakin thought over the duel he experienced against that little gray devil. He didn't want to say this out loud, but in his heart he knew, that this twi'lek girl was not just equal to him in technique, but most likely a few levels above him. He never saw such a fine and fluid control over a thrown lightsaber in his life. That technique was very outlandish in the first place. The smallest mistake will lead to your imminent death. Throwing away your weapon was generally considered as the supreme level of confidence in your skill or the greatest level of stupidity. Damn, he had confidence, but even he would never throw away his weapon in the middle of a battle or a duel. Now at least he knew that this skill was actually a real threat; he almost got hit by it two times in a few seconds. So he said.

- I am sure of this master, if I may suggest, watch the recordings of the duel from the security system. All of her techniques were smooth, perfected to the extreme, well-coordinated, calculated, and her adaptability to new situations even outclassed my own. 

Then he continued.

- The only reason I won, was my physical power advantage, my longer reach, and my much greater level of raw force channeling ability; this way I could overpower and break through her shields. 

There was a unique silence in the room of the High Council. The masters who only joined, were not here yesterday were even more confused than the others. Kit Fisto soon took the opportunity to ask the question almost everyone in the room was waiting for. 

- Allow me to ask Master Yoda, but when did we discuss an exchange student program with a force-sensitive order called the Order of the Grey? I am afraid that I slept in on that particular day... 

As the witty nautolan master broke the heavy silence with his easy-going yet well-mannered style, few hesitating smiles began to appear on some of the members of the Council. 

On the other hand Yoda and Obi-Wan were unnaturally silent. 

Shaak Ti the highly accomplished togruta master also looked at Yoda and Kenobi just like the others did. Her projection was next to Kenobi, so she turned towards him with a curious expression. To her utmost surprise, Kenobi instead of looking at her with a half smile as he usually does, didn't even look into her eyes, only nodded halfheartedly with a somewhat strained smile. Was that embarrassment on his face, what?

The strained silence was broken by Yoda's next statement. 

- The reason for that, Master Kit Fisto is simple. 

The grandmasters eyelids were still closed. He looked and acted just as always, with the most natural and comfortable confidence. Shaak Ti was unable to wait out the grandmaster's antics as she silently asked. 

- And that is?

Yoda finally opened his eyes as he serenely looked around the masters in the council room. His gaze stopped on the still form of Obi-Wan, who was sitting with an unnaturally straightened spine while constantly trying to escape the searching eyes of Shaak Ti. Yoda and Kenobi's eyes met. Then Yoda said with the same confidence he always used. 

- In much trouble we are.

This single sentence was followed by an uncomfortable silence, one that not even the masters were ready to handle. After a few minutes of this constant silence, everyone currently present silently agreed to never mention or bring up this situation again. From then onwards the meeting continued with it's normal schedule. 

 

 

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