FicWad

"Bastila? What are you doing in here?" Carth asked, looking up from the navigational controls at Bastila, who had just entered the cockpit. She looked uneasy, and was absently picking microscopic lint off the black robes she still hadn't changed out of. Startled out of her reverie, she looked up at him quickly.

"Hmm, oh.. I thought you could use some help?" she replied lamely.

"Uh-huh..."started Carth, unconvinced. "Well, you would have been a bigger help before now; we're almost there. But I guess you can do something. Here, keep an eye on the nav screen while I go check on the hyperspace drive. I think that part we picked up to repair it keeps jostling loose." Bastila nodded and took the second seat in the cockpit, and Carth got up and went out of the room.

Checking the navigational input, she looked over to the hyperdrive status screen to see if Carth had managed to repair it, which he hadn't, judging from the large "0" flashing on the bottom of the screen. Carth wasn't the most mechanically inclined crewmate, but he'd never ask for help, unless something caught on fire. Sighing, Bastila leaned back into the chair and prepared for a long wait.

Skye, having left Zaalbar in the back room (still laughing, to her irritation) was walking down the hallway, just trying to get away from the Wookiee. Passing the hyperspace room, she noticed Carth banging on the hyperspace drive. Not wanting to get in one of their legendary spats, she silently hoped he wouldn't completely kill the thing and moved on.

Entering the common room, she saw Juhani and Mission sitting around the table listening to Jolee tell a story about his past for the third or fourth time, trying their best to maintain a look of interest on their face. Canderous sat nearby cleaning one of his many blaster rifles, while HK and T3 were in an idle state. No one really noticed her walking by; apparently hearing stories of Nomi Sunrider again was enough to put both the Cathar and Twi'lek into an unfocused daze. Casually, she walked by them just as Jolee was going into another old tale.

Walking slowly into the cockpit, she crept up on Bastila, who was absently humming a tune Skye did not recognize. Careful not to alert the other Jedi, she snuck upon the unaware Jedi and covered Bastila's eyes with her hands.

"Guess who?" Skye whispered into Bastila's ear, smiling playfully, knowing very well that Bastila knew it was her. Bastila was silent for a moment before replying.

"Why Canderous, it's so unlike you to play romantic games.." Skye's mouth opened in shock. Bastila's hands snaked up and over Skye's and removed them from her eyes. Spinning around in the navigator's seat, she looked into Skye's eyes, still holding her hands.

"You know, that wasn't really funny.." The older woman said, kneeling to be on the same level as the other Jedi. Bastila smiled, before breaking out in laughter after seeing the pout on Skye's face.

"Now you know how I feel when you tease me all the time." Bastila replied after her laughter had subsided.

"I suppose so.", Skye conceded, her pout vanishing into a smile. "Besides, Canderous' idea of sweet talk would probably involve calling you a spoiled Jedi princess... I think you'd be better off with me."

"I have to agree with you, there." Bastila replied, breaking away from Skye's gaze to look towards the door. Feeling someone's eyes on her, Skye turned her head to see who had come in. Carth was standing in the doorway looking at them with a small smile spreading across his always-unshaven face. He nodded towards the still entangled hands of the two Jedi.

"What are you two doing?" He started, but was nearly glared to death by Skye. "Hey, let me guess, more super-secret Jedi stuff right? Well, don't mind me, I'll just be over here, doing my uninteresting piloting..", he continued jokingly, moving back over to his seat.

"Well, now that you're back, I guess I'll go change." Bastila said the Carth, getting up from her own seat, Skye getting up as well. An awkward moment passed, before Bastila cleared her throat. "Um..Skye?"

"Yeah?" The older woman replied.

"My hands..." Bastila said, motioning downward with her eyes.

"..oh, oops.." Skye responded lamely, quickly letting go of Bastila's hands. "Bye," she added on awkwardly, watching her leave down the corridor. She was brought back to reality when Carth coughed to draw her attention to him.

"So, it took you long enough." He said smugly, while tweaking the coordinates.

Skye looked at him confused, moving to sit in the now vacant secondary cockpit seat. "What are you talking about, flyboy?"

"Don't be dense. You and Bastila." Feeling Skye's eyes on him, and sensing the imminent denial speech that was sure to come, he continued. "And don't pretend like I don't know what I'm talking about either, missy. I just saw you two acting like a pair of love-struck teenagers a few minutes ago." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her sink into her seat.

Skye sighed. Apparently she had been acting this way ever since they'd left Taris. "Great. Who else knows?" she asked, her face reddening all the while.

"Um. Everyone. I mean, when we were on Manaan waiting on you to find the Star Map, we actually had a bet going on when you two would actually admit you liked each other. We thought you knew how obvious you were being.." Skye's lips tightened into a line and she reached back and pulled the hood of her robes over her face in a vain attempt of hiding the rapidly changing color of her cheeks.

"Great. Well, I guess it'll save me the trouble of making a big speech later.. I have to do one anyway."

Carth nodded. "That's right. You have to tell the Jedi Council, don't you? Ten credits say they already know. You aren't exactly the most secretive pair."

"And you aren't exactly endearing yourself to me by being a smartass." Skye replied lithely, slipping back into the old routine. Carth laughed.

"There's the woman I know." Looking out of the window, he saw they were rapidly closing in onto the highly industrialized planet of Coruscant. "Hope you've got your speech ready."

--------later--------

"Wow, they really went all out, didn't they?" Carth muttered under his breath sarcastically. They were on a viewing platform with a few of the remaining Jedi from Dantooine, Master Vandar and General Dodonna. But the crowd of people actually viewing them was pretty sparse- hardly the expected turnout for the people who pretty much saved the galaxy single-handedly.

"Hmm, I'm afraid the people of Coruscant may have mistaken your jacket for some kind of biohazard, so they stayed far away." Skye responded, looking at his jacket with a mock look of fear.

"Hey, hey! I like this jacket. It's.. comfy." Carth countered defensively.

"Yeah- not to mention it helps us find you in dark places." interrupted Canderous, obviously enjoying mocking Carth more than usual, his mouth twisting into a rare smile.

"Would you both please stop harassing Carth and his regrettable taste in clothing? I think they would like to begin the award ceremony sometime today." Bastila hissed under her breath, elbowing Skye in the side.

"...Why'd ya have to hit me," Skye whimpered, rubbing her side with the hand that wasn't currently pointed in Canderous' face. "He was doing it too!"

"As a Jedi, you're supposed to be able to refrain from behaving like an idiot in public. Canderous on the other hand, actually is an idiot. It's to be expected."

Canderous pretended to wipe a tear. "That really stung."

Admiral Dodonna cleared her throat, hoping to end the squabble between the Ebon Hawk's crew and get the ceremony underway. The already thin crowd looked like they would leave at any moment unless awards were handed out soon. Putting on a showy grin that said 'I didn't hear a word of your argument, and in no way are you making us late for the celebration party' she said, "If you don't mind, I think Master Vandar would like to begin the ceremony now." all the while wondering how this group made it this far without killing each other.

Skye smiled apologetically at the admiral and the diminutive Jedi master, silently saying the bickering was over, for now at least. Vandar stepped forward and faced the crowd, waving a small hand in his air to signify the ceremony was finally underway.

"Now, then. We are here to celebrate the victory of the Republic over the Darth Malak and the Sith forces, and to pay respect to the group who defeated Malak himself, a group led by the former Sith Lord Revan, herself."

The majority of the crowd who had been debating on leaving and heading to one of the huge parties at the local cantinas before they got too crowded, suddenly became a lot more interested in the proceedings at hand.
"Ok, I take back the sarcastic comment I said earlier. They really did go all out." Carth managed to get out looking around the massive, elaborately decorated penthouse suite they'd just arrived at after the hour-long ceremony. Mission had already wandered over to one of the tables to examine an ice statue in the center of a large punchbowl.

HK was standing at the doorway looking around slowly, holding his blaster rifle menacingly. Zaalbar was on the opposite side, not looking particularly threatening, but Wookies don't have to do anything really to frighten most species.

"What are you doing, HK?" Skye asked.

"Statement: Now that your former identity has been revealed, I believe some of this planet's more ungrateful meatbags will take it upon themselves to extract revenge upon you."

"There are soldiers and Jedi here. I think that they would be able to handle something like that."

"Acknowledgement: I realize that, master. But keep in mind my track record with losing masters. I would like to try to keep you around longer. And the Wookie here seems to feel the same way."

Sighing, Skye replied, "Fine. Just don't get trigger happy."

"Resignation: Yes, master. Aside: I never get to have any fun.."

Pretending not to hear the last part, she left them there and went looking for the others, and to see who all had survived the attack on Dantooine. The first person she saw was Mission, who was still examining the ice statue. Getting closer, she noticed it was a terrible replica of her, although it took a few moments to realize it.

"It's pretty bad ain't it?" Mission asked once Skye arrived at the table.

"...Bad isn't the right word. It's horrific. But, I guess they can't capture the true beauty of myself in ice very well, now can they?", she replied, smirking.

"They also can't do your big head very well, either," Mission replied casually. "Guess all that hot air would melt the ice." Now that she mentioned it, the sculpture's arm looked perilously close to breaking off.

"Ooh. Normally I only get the droll comebacks from Bastila. You've been taking notes?"

"Eh, I hear them enough, I pick up a few things."

"Brat." Skye muttered jokingly before moving away, resuming the search for looking for the others. That search was delayed yet again, however. As soon as she finished talking to Mission, a crowd of Coruscant politicians accompanied by their trophy wives or husbands, Republic officers, and some very snobby looking debutantes swarmed around her. No escape route was available, and figuring it would be considered bad taste to knock a few of them out of the way with a quick wave of the Force, she sighed inwardly and prepared to answer a lot of questions.

Thirty minutes later, forcing them away was looking a lot more appealing. Not that anyone was being openly hostile or anything- quite the opposite actually. Even if some of them were upset, they at least had the common sense to try not to offend a former Dark Lord. But in their trying to do that, they were getting increasingly exasperating by asking repetitive questions and laughing nervously every time Skye said something that could be remotely construed as a joke. Just before she began channeling the force, she heard a familiar Talravin accent cut through the buzz of small talk.

"Pardon me...Excuse me," Bastila said, making her way through the crowd to the annoyed Jedi, and taking hold of her arm. "Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but I need to borrow your friend here." The crowd parted hastily, not wanting to offend two former Dark Jedi. Once out of hearing range, Skye breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank the Force you came and got me. I thought I'd never get away from them," she said.

"Well," Bastila started. "I didn't really have a choice, now did I? Using your powers on innocents, no matter how annoying, isn't really something that says 'I've been redeemed' to the masses, you know."

"No, I don't guess it would..." Silence. "Wait, if you felt I was thinking of doing it, why the hell didn't you come and get me? That was nearly half an hour you left me sitting there!" Stopping in her tracks, Skye glared at Bastila, irritated.

Relinquishing hold of Skye's arm, Bastila turned and looked up at Skye.

"Do you remember, all those times over the past few months, when you've heckled, annoyed, infuriated and pretty much attempted to drive me mad, all in the name of 'fun'? Consider it payback," she finished, slowly breaking into a grin.

Skye fought valiantly to maintain her irritation towards Bastila, but to no avail. Even though she could take down two terataneks at once, she had no defense against the younger woman's natural charms. Much to her chagrin, once she looked into those eyes, she was caught.

"Well, I guess so..." Skye muttered grudgingly. "So, did you have anything in mind once you got me away from my annoying public?" Leaning in closer, she dropped her voice to a conspiring whisper. "What say you and me ditch this party and go have one of our own?"

Scoffing, Bastila pushed the amorous woman back. "Honestly! Is that all you think about?" Rolling her eyes at the conformational nod she received in response, she continued. "Besides, the most important thing at the moment is to go to the Jedi Enclave here and report to them."

"The sooner it's done with the better, you're right about that." Skye replied. "So, I'll tell someone where we're going, and you can go hail a speeder cab." Looking around, she thought she saw Juhani's topknot peeking out over the crowd.

"Alright, take care not to get caught inside a group of people again." came the deadpan response.

"Very funny." Skye replied, walking away and headed through the crowd to find her Cathar friend. Making her way through the maze of people, she finally found Juhani, who had found something of her own. Juhani was now almost jumping on a poor woman in excitement. Coming closer, she saw that it was Belaya. She cleared her throat to call attention to herself.

"Found what you were looking for, I see," she said, smiling broadly at the pair, and laughing as a flustered Belaya hurriedly attempted to disentangle herself from the overzealous Cathar. "It's nice to see you're safe, Belaya."

"Yes, I was lucky enough to be part of the group that managed to escape. The others, however, were not as fortunate." The embarrassed smile faded somewhat as she, Juhani and Skye remembered the peaceful enclave and the Jedi lost in the assault. After a few moments of respectful silence, Skye spoke up, not wanting to dwell in sadness, and also remembering Bastila was waiting outside, more than likely practicing a speech on the merits of punctuality. Shuddering inwardly at the thought of yet another drawn out lecture, she hurriedly spoke to Juhani.

"Listen, if anyone asks, Bastila and I are going to the Enclave here on Coruscant to talk to the Masters. I don't suspect we'll be gone long, but I doubt anyone will miss us. It seems they threw this party together more for their own benefit than for us." Looking around, the few Ebon Hawk crew members she could spot were being largely ignored by the crowd, who, from what she could overhear, were more concerned with buying cheap land on the once Sith-occupied planets and reselling it for a greater profit later.

They might not be Sith, she thought, but even Exar Kun would be proud of their devious tactics.

"Are you planning to tell them about you and her?" Juhani asked. Belaya looked at her and Skye, curiously.

Skye shrugged. "It's not something I'm looking forward to, but yes, we feel we may as well do it now than dance around it. It'll only get harder to do as time goes by. Speaking of which," she continued, winking roguishly at Belaya, who had been staring at her, "You two should follow our example and do the same." Belaya flushed and looked at her boots, which had suddenly become a lot more interesting. Waving goodbye, Skye headed out to the door.

As soon as Skye got outside, Bastila began complaining about the time, just as she had suspected. "Where have you been?!"

"I was talk-" Skye said quickly, trying to explain and avoid being yelled at, only to be cut off.

"You said you were only going to be a minute. Now the driver wants double for having to wait so long. I expect you're going to pay for it correct?" People were starting to stop and look on curiously, but continued quickly along their way after receiving cold glares from both Jedi.

"Fine, fine. I'll pay.. just stop yelling.." Skye conceded, moving aside to allow Bastila to get into the cab before her.

The cab driver was a quite well fed Twi'lek, who was, as Bastila said, not at all pleased at waiting on them and missing out on potential fares. Giving her a unfriendly look as she got in, he lit up a death stick from a case in his pocket and set off for the Enclave.

"Can I ask you something?" Skye asked, looking over at Bastila, who had been looking out the window at the buildings they were flying by. Bastila nodded, still looking out at the city. "Why do you choose to yell in public? It's bad enough without the audience."

"It seems just telling you doesn't really seem to help you avoid doing it, so I'm trying this method out."

"When have I never listened to you?"

Bastila turned to face Skye, shocked at the question. "I can't believe you have the nerve to blatantly lie like that! Among many, many other times you've neglected my advice, one I know even you can remember. When we were on Kashyyyk in the Shadowlands, you insisted on scouting ahead, when I repeatedly told you that Mission would be a better scout-"

Skye sighed, leaning back against the seat. "Not that again.."

"-but nooo, you wanted to go first. And when you tripped those frag mines off-"

"But how was I to know Czerka had a camp down there?!?"

Bastila continued, breezily ignoring Skye's protests. "who was the one who had to heal you?"

"Okay, I admit it. I may have a slight... well, a big problem with listening. At least I can admit this however, while you one the other hand my darling, still have problems admitting I saved you from Brejek," Skye retorted, smirking at the color rising in Bastila's face.

"No, I've admitted you played your role in it, but I refuse to exaggerate and claim that you were my hero in shining armor simply to satisfy your enormous ego!"

Both of them were so consumed with their 'conversation' that they didn't even notice they'd been in front of the High Enclave on Dantooine for several minutes. The driver, wishing he'd never stopped for the Jedi and cursing his, at the time, clever assumption that Jedi would be less stingy with their credits than the normal citizens, cleared his throat loudly.

"Anytime ladies, but, by all means, please feel free to take your time. After all, it's not often I get the pleasure of seeing old married couples such as yourselves." he said sardonically, tossing the filter of his smoke out of the speeder, and grabbing and lighting another one.

Bastila's mouth opened but nothing came out, apparently incensed enough to be speechless. If she was that upset, perhaps it was better for Skye and her eardrums that whatever choice phrases Bastila was planning on using would remain a mystery. Dismayed, she got out of the speeder and waited for Skye to pay the man, who she was now glaring at venomously, as if she would have liked nothing more than to sever his man bits off with her lightsaber.

Sighing, Skye looked away from Bastila, making a mental note not to annoy her for at least a week, and turned in her seat to the Twi'lek, who flatly stated, "Sixty credits." Skye smiled innocently at him, not at all regretting what she was about to do.

Waving her hand in front of his face, she said, "You don't want to take my money." For a second it looked as if her mind persuasion didn't work, but then his double-chinned face nodded in concurrence. Smirking, she continued. "You want to spend the whole day giving out free rides to real old married couples." He then repeated what she said, looking dazed, his eyes glazed over. Satisfied, she got out of the cab and waved farewell to the man as he sped off looking for elderly pedestrians to ferry about.

"Coming?" she asked, walking past Bastila to the tall building housing the Jedi headquarters. The other woman fell into step beside her, her bad mood now gone.

"You know, I should berate you for that, but I can't honestly say I didn't want that."

"I know. I see what's in your heart, remember?" Skye replied, as she waved to the young padawans milling around in the courtyard, who were had been glancing in their direction when they thought they weren't looking. After being spotted, they busied themselves with staring at the nearest tree or imaginary bug on the ground until they had passed by, and then continued being nosy, apparently a favorite pastime of the Jedi here. "You'd think they'd be more afraid of me than this," Skye complained, dismayed that her reputation didn't stop a particularly irritating youngster, who she had shooed away at least 3 times.

"That one reminds me of you," observed Bastila, pointing at the kid, whose face was dirty and one of his front teeth was missing, and to Skye's horror had a ever-growing bubble coming out of his nose.

"You know, I highly doubt you've ever seen me looking anything less than divine," Bastila laughed, and tried to cover it up with an obviously feigned coughing fit. "And besides, if I ever had snot trailing out of my nose, I would hope someone would tell me at least." Skye finished flatly.

"Not in physical appearance, you dolt. I mean, not too long ago, you yourself pursued me, just as incessantly and just as annoyingly. But eventually, you won me over."

"Yeah, sure. I had you ogling me minutes after we met."

"It's so nice to see being dropped on your head so many times as a child hasn't affected your sense of humor." came the dry response.

"Funny." Skye replied, moving aside to allow Bastila to enter the building first; before following, she turned to look for the boy. She spotted him, now following a flustered teenaged padawan around.

Perhaps, she thought, Bastila wasn't too far off. But he'll never be as awesome as me, the more conceited inner voice finished, and smirking at the thought, went in after Bastila.

---------later----------

The Enclave here on Coruscant was far different than the one on Dantooine, as was to be expected. The more relaxed, open ranch style of the enclave on the grassland planet was in sharp contrast to the multi-floored, almost soulless metallic architectural style here. Winding corridors filled with classrooms and training facilities encompassed much of the floor plan. The boardroom they were looking for was on the upper-most floor.

Minutes later, after finally finding the right elevator to reach the top, they now stood in a sparsely decorated circular waiting room. Up ahead were three sets of double doors set in intervals along the wall, and in the middle of the room was a reception desk, behind which sat a very tired-looking receptionist. Looking up and glancing at them, motioned for them to take a seat on a particularly uncomfortable bench to the left of them. Apparently their arrival was expected. Taking a seat on the hard bench, they waited to be called in.

The receptionist took a holocron out of her desk and began reading it, effectively ignoring them.

"Um.." Bastila began uncertainly after a few minutes, looking up to see if the receptionist had decided they were more interesting than her holo. She hadn't moved from her position. Apparently not.

"Uh-huh?" Skye replied, bordedly kicking the floor.

"I think I should apologize for the way I've been behaving these past few hours. I should try harder to resist the dark side."

Skye snickered under her breath. "Bastila, I think you're doing fine. Don't worry about it." The receptionist had caught Skye's eye and was pointing at the leftmost door. Her duty being done, she resumed her reading. Standing up, she began to walk to the door, Bastila standing quickly and following her.

"What do you mean? Obviously I was being out of line with both you and that stupid cab driver."

"No, Bastila, that's not the lure of the dark side," Skye said, opening the door and walking through, before turning around and continuing. "I think that may be more PMS," she finished, smiling broadly and walking away down the hallway, leaving Bastila glowering.

Entering the conference room, they were faced by the four Jedi Masters from Tatooine as well as another female Jedi. She had an ageless quality about her; Skye thought she couldn't be much older than she was. Skye had the feeling she knew who this was, but she couldn't quite place her face.

Master Zhar was the first to speak, acknowledging them each in turn. "Revan, Bastila. We were expecting you a little earlier than this, but.."

"..we know how hard it must have been to break away from the festivities." Master Vandar finished, looking at them warmly.

"Masters," Bastila said, bowing low. "It's good to see you all made it off Dantooine safely. We had been worried ever since we heard the news."

Dorak sighed, fidgeting nervously in his seat next to the mystery Jedi. "It was a narrow escape, but we managed to get most of the settlers away as well. It's good to see that you all made it through this mission as well."

"I can't say I would have made it through without Skye, she's been through so much with me." Bastila told him, smiling softly at the older woman, who grinned sheepishly at having the eyes of six people focusing on her.

"Would you say your closeness is due to this bond you two share?" The unknown Jedi asked, turning her gaze to Bastila.

"Well," Bastila said, looking down at her hands she was currently wringing. "It's partially that.. and the rest is, um.. Skye puts it so much better than me. Why don't you explain?" she finished quickly.

Skye's jaw nearly fell to the floor. "I.." she faltered, intimidated by the woman, who was gazing at her calmly, smiling slightly. "Well, I've been worrying about this for a while, and still I can't find a less blunt way to say it.. uh.. we're in love." she finally finished lamely. She didn't quite expect the lackluster response to the news.

"We know of this, Revan." Vandar replied, not shocked at all. Seeing the confused look on both of their faces, he continued. "Maybe I should let your old master explain."

Now she remembered who the woman was, as if it had only been a short while since she had trained under her. "Master Alhana?" she asked, not sure if she had her name correct. She nodded, the soft smile still on her lips.

"Revan, you've hardly changed. I knew you'd find your way back to Bastila. You two seem to be destined for each other."

"Uh.. what do you mean?" Skye asked. This flood of information was almost too much to deal with at once.

"You were in love with her before your fall, Revan. You never told us, but you never were a hard one to read, and besides, I saw your thoughts. I was the one to lock your old memories away, before the Council turned you into Skye."

"And why are you here, other than to reminisce on old times I can't remember?" Skye asked softly.

"To give you your true self back, if you desire it." Alhana replied truthfully.

"The Council thinks I can handle my memories now that I know my past? How do they know I won't stray again?"

"We don't think you will Revan, you knew enough of who you were when you had the chance to seize the Star Forge from Malak, and you stayed true to the light side. After enduring such a great temptation, we think you can handle it. Which is why we tracked down Alhana.. to give you the chance."

"No, I really like having broken bits of my past floating around my mind along with these false memories you put in me," Skye replied flatly. "Don't play with me. Do what you have to."

Nodding, Alhana approached Skye and motioned to Bastila. "Be ready. The force of regaining memories can render one unconscious." Bastila looked a little wary, but moved behind Skye in case she fell, placing a reassuring hand on Skye's shoulder. Reaching out, Alhana placed a hand on Skye's forehead, smiling slightly; she felt Skye trembling slightly.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. Just relax." Calling on the Force, she broke the mental dam separating Revan from Skye.

And, as predicted, Skye collapsed taking both Jedi down with her.