FicWad

It is the sudden knowledge that he is no longer alone in his quarters aboard Dreadnaught-One aboard that wakes him. Keeping his eyes carefully shut so as to avoid giving himself away with a stray gleam, he is stealthily reaching under the pillows for the small charric he has tucked away there (as a safety precaution) when a puff of almost scalding hot air washes over his right ear, carrying a whisper, in eerily perfect Cheunh, "You don't want to draw that weapon on me."

Shocked, Mitth'ras'safis finds himself sitting bolt upright on the bed, eyes flying wide. "Lorana?" he gasps, his surprise making him forget his manners and simply blurt out her given name, with no thought as to propriety, as he peers intently into the increasingly familiar and seemingly quite empty darkness of his suite aboard Outbound Flight.

"Hush, Thrass. Much louder, and your brother will hear us." This time the words are exhaled over his left ear; yet, even though he instantly whirls in that direction, he can still find no trace of anyone or anything out of the ordinary in the whole of the bedroom.

"My brother?" he blinks, shock fading to confusion.

A chuckle, warm and surprisingly earthy, washes over him with a wave of scorching heat, leaving him blinking stupidly into the darkness, too surprised to even flinch away when a slender hand settles against the left side of his face, fingertips ghosting in sensuously slow arcs across his cheekbone. "Yes, your brother! You remember Thrawn, don't you? Rather regretting your little matchmaking with Car'das and Uliar, now, aren't you?

He still can't see her. He can feel her hand on his face and hear her words (and, now that he's listening for it, the soft noises of her breathing), but he can't see her. Thrass is wondering, a bit bemusedly, if this is some Jedi skill she has not yet shared with him, when the meaning of her words finally penetrate the fog around his brain. "Car'das and /Uliar/? But I thought - "

"It will be the seventh anniversary of their joining ceremony in less than a week, in case you've forgotten. They've been very happy together for most of the eight years of our alliance. I can't help but think, though, that you and Thrawn would both be much happier if you'd simply allowed things to play out naturally between your brother and Car'das, Thrass. I'm fairly certain I would be. It's extremely tiring to be endlessly danced about by the both of you," is the even more confusing response, her oblique reference to the formal courting dance sending him reeling, both mentally and physically. Lorana is . . . Lorana. Despite being a Jedi Knight and one of the leaders of the Outbound Flight Project, there are times when she hardly seems more than a child! To be sure, she does not in any way truly resemble a child, and she is both intelligent and charismatic enough that, if she were a Chiss, she would likely be well on her way to rising through the ranks of the Defense Hierarchy to an admiralty . . . But she is not a Chiss! She is a human and a Jedi! And there is no proof that Chiss and humans are even compatible in such a way. Aside from which, the Jedi Code does not permit such attachments. Of course, as it has been explained to him, there also exists an entire body of supplemental rules and laws to the Jedi Code that forbid the taking of both initiates and Padawans over a certain age and limit the teaching of Jedi skills so that one Master will never have more than a single Padawan learner at any given time. And the Jedi of Outbound Flight have already abandoned several of those rules (citing the success of Bendu Master Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker as proof that such precautions are not absolutely necessary) and are considering putting aside the rest so that those of the Chiss who wish to be taught the ways of the Force will actually be able to receive at least some training. If the Jedi are able to set aside so many of their rules, who is to say that they will not also, at some point, prove willing to put aside others, including the rather foolish seeming (and more than a bit hypocritical, given that their rules foster affection between Masters and Padawans as well as an attachment to the Galactic Republic that is similar to the devotion Chiss warriors have for the sworn families and the Chiss Ascendancy) prohibition against attachments?

Stunned at the entirely inappropriate direction of his thoughts, Thrass shakes his head, hard, in an attempt to disrupt the chain of thought and so banish such dangerous ideas away, and then insists, "I - I don't understand. What are you - ?"

"You know what I'm doing. I'm attempting to make my choice. You both keep telling me I must. And so I shall. Though I believe this would be much easier if the two of you would stop insisting. I don't believe either one of you is going to be very happy with my decision," Lorana sighs then, and abruptly the bed dips beneath a second, slight weight, her form materializing out the darkness of the room so suddenly that Thrass instinctively recoils, jerking back towards the pillows. She is wearing a thin, sleeveless gown of some kind, something thin and so white that it practically glows, in the darkness, so that he cannot, for the life of him, understand how he has failed to see her, before. She smiles at him, suddenly, flashing a glimmer of teeth, as she admits, "I could be wrong, though. The two of you might surprise me. Again. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

Blinking, he finds himself replying by slowly asking, "I am dreaming, aren't I?"

Her head tilts to the side in a considering manner, and her voice is oddly detached as she asks, "Are you? Are you quite certain you aren't glimpsing the future? Padawan Skywalker had prophetic dreams of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi when he was a child on Tatooine. And Anakin always used to claim that he thought Obi-Wan could see just a little bit further into the future than most Jedi. All Jedi tend to be at least a little bit prescient. It's something of a survival mechanism. And the Force is quite strong in your family, Thrass."

"I/ am/ dreaming," Thrass only repeats, voice firming with determination. "And I believe it is past time for me to wake."

Lorana laughs again, the sound surprisingly hard and high this time, tinkling round notes that remind him, oddly, of wind chimes. "You may, of course, believe what you will, Thrass. It will not alter the truth, though. The Chiss have been rediscovered and will soon become known to the greater galaxy. Change is both inevitable and necessary for true growth. You and your brother have been chosen to lead the way. The only question remaining is this: will you fall into the trap of attempting to lead from differing directions, and so pull your people apart, or will you pool your resources and lead as an actual team, a functioning, complimentary unit, and so allow us to build something true together?"

The instinct to recoil is strong, but he forces himself to hold steady. "A warrior's duty is to protect the people. His or her own survival is always secondary."

"Do you claim that the warrior's duty is the same as the politician's responsibility?"

"It should be. It is meant to be. I am a Syndic. Syndics are the world-based equivalents of CEDF officers. We lead the Colonial Phalanxes and the House Phalanxes of our worlds and our Families. House leaders and Aristocras are the premiers of each colony and each Ruling Family. Governors from each colony are elected to serve in the Parliament, beneath the auspices of the Council of Families. Parliament and the Council of Families may govern the Chiss people, but the Defense Hierarchy controls the combined CEDF and the Syndics and House leaders control the Phalanxes, so we are the ones who defend and protect and allow for the continued existence of the Chiss Ascendancy. And all of our positions, even within the Ruling Families, are merit-based. Blood is not an accurate measure of a being. One's abilities and talents and what one does with those skills are the only such measures. All who wield power within the Chiss Ascendancy are warriors of one kind or another. We have always had to struggle for the right to peace. We do not wage war on others unprovoked. But the galaxy is very dangerous. And the Chiss will not bow before others. It is not in our nature to submit."

"Good." Her voice changes, then, in some way that he cannot immediately understand. It is not a change in mere pitch or tone. Rather, it is suddenly as if every word she is speaking gains an edge capable of slicing through every shield, every subterfuge, every careful construction, that he has ever placed between his emotions and thoughts and his manners and actions. And her words hang in the air between them as if outlined in hard, unforgivingly white light, shedding illumination on the core of him. "Remember that, when the time comes and your people would ask you to force them to continue to bow before the gods they have made of tradition. The past can be a great teaching tool. It may even show the right way to behave for one living in that past era, but the one true constant of this ever-changing universe, Thrass, is that circumstances and situations /change/. There is great danger inherent in deifying the ways of the past. It demands a closed society, built upon and utterly dependent on the sanctity of tradition. It encourages both isolationism and xenophobia, since open mingling fosters new ideas, which are a threat to the entire hide-bound structure of such a traditional way of life. Every single cluster of life - each colony, each world, each city-state - would, under the weight of that xenophobic isolationism, eventually go their own way, each one inevitably evolving its own individual identity, its own individual stance against the rest of the known universe . . . including all of its former brethren planets and poleis. Until finally, invariably, unavoidably, whatever ties once bound the original society and its greater alliance of peoples together would simply, irrevocably break, the society and its government shattering under the weight of its differences. Just as individual beings are born, mature, reproduce, and die, so, too, do societies and civilizations and governments. Seeking to avoid the inescapable by attempting the impossible through the halting or the turning back of time accomplishes nothing but an expenditure of wasted energy and potential. Tradition is not an absolute guide. Neither is expectation. Allow neither yourself nor your brother to tumble into the trap which snared the leaders of the Galactic Republic, when last I saw them. To be leaders - to become and then remain leaders - they create for themselves rigid guidelines that control and limit both their actions and their thoughts. And they do only that which is expected of them. In that way, they also perpetuate the traditional."

"Lorana - Lady Jedi - "

"It's a little late for formality now, Thrass. Love knows love." The words break him open, leaving him trembling and gasping among the pillows, defenseless and weak, as if in the wake of a debilitating illness. "You love your brother, Mitth'ras'safis. And Mitth'raw'nuruodo loves you. And I," she continues, gathering herself and sliding towards him across the bed, an oddly sinuous dance of motion that ends with her poised halfway over his nearly supine and shaking form, propped on hands planted firmly to either side of him, just above his waist, angled down towards his body so that her head is so close to him that any attempt on his part to rise without sliding down beneath her would inevitably send them crashing together, "love," she leans in even closer, then, so near to him that the heat of her body enfolds and scalds him from the crown of his head all the way down to his waist, "you," she is so close then that even pressing back amongst the pillows cannot gain him any more distance from her, "/both/."

His hands automatically find her arms, clamping around her just above her wrists, in a last-ditch effort to find a way to halt her forward progress (and perhaps even to thrust her back away from him), but by then her lips are already pressing up against him, and shock makes him gasp, inviting her even closer, an intoxicating sweetness exploding in his mouth, heat kindling in him and sweeping out through his body in a pulsing wave, but only for a far too brief period of time. Only a few moments later, she is pulling back, receding like a wave, somehow melting out of his desperately grasping hands as she withdraws. He lunges after, a shameful noise like a despairing cry of protest catching halfway in his throat -

- only to find himself bolting upright in bed, arms reaching desperately for a person who is not and never has been there in the room with him

Stunned by the surprisingly realistic dream, miserable at his reaction to it, and disgusted with himself over the entirely inappropriate way in which his thoughts keep circling back to the possibilities hinted at by the dream, Mitth'ras'safis finds himself shaking in reaction, tangled in the midst of a knot of bedding, seriously wondering if he has lost his mind. Lorana Jinzler is his host/! Moreover, she has exchanged what amounts to a Family oath - the kind of pledge that can unite two smaller, disparate clans into a larger Family alliance, either temporarily, depending on how those united, thus, answer their first trials together, or permanently - with his brother. The rules of clan alliance are quite clear, and to knowingly risk anything that might threaten that alliance during its testing would be to commit an act of sabotage against both parties and to declare himself outside of his brother's Family. And if those facts do not yield sufficient reason to label what he is now considering the very height of madness, there is also the fact that she is a Jedi Knight! A /human and very young Jedi Knight, who would be about as likely to think about such things as . . . as . . . well, as an infant child, too young and innocent to even know about (much less understand the activities permitted) such things as the lawful joining of two individuals. To consider her in light of such a joining is not only improper and an obvious exercise in futility, it is as disturbingly wrong as it would be to think of a child in such a manner! He would be worse than mad to persist in such folly! The dishonor of it - !

Shaking his head at himself in bitter disappointment, Mitth'ras'safis climbs out of the tangle of his bedclothes and, grateful that there is no one present to see his weakness, begins to pace around the room, trying to quiet both his badly jangled nerves and the confused jumble of his thoughts. Why would he suddenly be prompted to think of Lorana Jinzler in such a way, even in the crazed setting of such a confusing dream? Though the Jedi Knight has certainly never tried to hide her unshakeable, unabashed admiration of a certain Bendu Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, she has just as surely never shown any sign that she thinks of either that man or any other individual as a potential or suitable mate. In fact, all of the Jedi aboard Outbound Flight are rather oddly asexual beings. If he didn't know better, he might suspect that they had been modified in some way to preclude even the possibility of such behavior. He has been conducting research on the Jedi Order in the combined ship's databases, though, so he is aware of the fact that their Code does not, technically, forbid the actual act of sexual congress - just the forming of any actual ties of attachment that should naturally bind such partners. The legal act of binding a Jedi to another being, through marriage, is (with the exception of a few very specific cases of individual Jedi from certain species with dangerously low numbers) expressly forbidden by the codified system of rules surrounding the Jedi Code, as is the deliberate act of consentient procreation (though there appears to be room for exceptions, among Jedi who are captured by enemies and used in any way against their will). Acts of sexual congress, though, are not, and the Order seems rather expressly against the notion of unnecessary medication and any sort of bodily modification that doesn't involve such things as the replacement of damaged limbs or organs, so there is nothing physical that would technically keep them from being able to perform such acts. They just seem to have no active interest whatsoever in indulging in such things, from what he can tell.

Somehow, the Jedi seem to have found a way to essentially live without obvious signs of affection from other beings. Though they are not actually forbidden the pleasures of their bodies, they seem able to simply go without. They are an extremely self-contained and somewhat aloof lot, who seem to disdain all forms of unnecessary touch as a rule. Though they are not precisely cold (compassion having evidently been perfected to something of an art form among the Jedi), they are, in comparison to the other beings aboard Outbound Flight/, closed-off and a little bit removed from other individuals - including each other. If their faces and body language weren't so open and revealing of their thoughts and emotions, they might almost remind him of careful and proper control that Chiss adopt when in public, to avoid the possibility of either offending another with a distracting emotion or revealing too much about oneself and so opening a way of attack to possible rivals or enemies of one's Family. Despite a Code that refutes emotion, though, the Jedi are not unemotional. They simply consistently and consciously reject those emotions - fear, anger, envy, attachment - that, according to their philosophy, could lead them into evil and so to the Dark Side. Though he has observed a tendency among the fully-trained Jedi towards an almost eerie calm, according to Chiss standards they are also often prone to exuberance and to unacceptably obvious displays of emotion. They are a largely good-humored lot and don't seem to care if others know it. They simply don't seem to want or to need any kind of physical contact with other beings. With the exception of some of the training footage Mitth'ras'safis has found in /Outbound Flight's memory files from various sparring and teaching sessions between Master Kenobi and his young Padawan, Anakin Skywalker (who rather seem the exception to many of the rules regarding the training practices and behavior deemed acceptable by the Jedi Order), Mitth'ras'safis cannot be sure of having observed so much as a single willingly given unnecessary touch from any of the Jedi.

Lorana Jinzler had blushed and seemed discomfited during the exchange of promises that cemented the alliance between her and her people and Mitth'raw'nuruodo and his people because she'd actually been embarrassed by the amount of touch involved during the pledging. Though the touch of her hand upon Mitth'raw'nuruodo's head had been unhesitating and the movement of her fingers upon his face had seemed almost caressing, Mitth'ras'safis is quite sure that she would not have touched his brother at all if it had not been necessary. Given that her Master did not teach her to be either overly confident of her own abilities or overly trusting of the talents or intentions of other beings (especially not when those other beings were not also Jedi), the young Jedi Knight is, unsurprisingly, extremely shy and retiring. Apparently, a recent mentorship under Bendu Master Kenobi and a sort of friendship between the two and Kenobi's young Padawan is responsible for a recent blossoming, of sorts, of both the young human's leadership abilities and her comfort with and control over the range of her Force-sensitivity and powers. A friendship that, to Mitth'ras'safis, reminds him much more of the kind of mentoring relationship that are arranged in Chiss Families when merit adoptives or Trial-born are brought into the fold. Though the Jedi seem more than capable of great loyalty and personal dedication, their friendships appear to be based mostly on curiosity and some form of knowledge-seeking. The only ties they seem to permit themselves that are based on anything like genuine affection are those that exist between a bonded Master-Padawan pair. And there are no longer either any bonded Master-Padawan pairs or any formerly bonded Master-Padawan pairs aboard /Outbound Flight/. There are exactly four Jedi Masters and thirteen Knights aboard /Outbound Flight/, and most of them are thirty standard years of age or less. Over half of them (nine, to be precise) have been fully fledged Jedi Knights for less than three years and most of the seventeen Jedi had apparently only had a nodding acquaintance with each other before their departure aboard /Outbound Flight/. Thus, though the Jedi all seem extremely loyal to one another, they are not particularly friendly with each other.

The others aboard Outbound Flight (most of them humans and near-humans, with about a hundred Mon Calamari and just over a thousand individuals from nearly a hundred other assorted sentient species from the Galactic Republic) seem to accept the level of separation between them and the Jedi as well as the amongst the individual Jedi as only natural. Mitth'ras'safis has noticed signs of that distance beginning to break down between individual Jedi and certain of the crew and passengers, but the Jedi themselves remain largely aloof from one another. And despite the apparent fondness growing between certain of the families aboard Outbound Flight and specific individual Jedi, the Jedi still maintain that almost disturbing lack of physical contact with others. It is . . . most puzzling. He has great difficulty fathoming how thinking, feeling beings such as the Jedi could apparently simply do without any kind of regular physical touch without seeming to suffer from any ill-effects (touch-deprivation and skin-hunger are well documented among both the Chiss and all of their allies, with the possible exception of the Geroons). It is not difficult, though, to arrive at the most logical conclusion regarding just what this continued lack of need for or comfort with touch among the Jedi means. Even if the Jedi do eventually choose to put aside many of the rules of their Order (including the one against attachments), it simply is not likely that those of the Jedi raised within the older tradition will ever completely be at ease with the notion of closeness or of the kind of intimacy that should exist between all true life-sworn companions. So whatever may have prompted this insane dream of his, it simply isn't very likely to turn out to be an actual premonition of the future. At least not as pertains to Lorana Jinzler. Although, come to think of it, Jorj Car'das has seemed more than a little fascinated with Chas Uliar, and not just because the young human took the initiative to volunteer to go with Mitth'raw'nuruodo and Ar'alani before any of the Jedi could think of such a thing . . .

Frowning thoughtfully, Mitth'ras'safis finds his disgracefully overwhelming bout of nervous energy finally starting to slacken as the notion of bringing those two particular humans together truly begins to sink in, the chaotic tumble of ideas through his mind gradually slowing and reorienting towards the (surprisingly calming) familiar task of protecting his younger brother, even when that protection might not align with Mitth'raw'nuruodo's plans or wishes. A part of him, in a distant corner of his mind, is dimly aware that he has seized upon the idea in order to distract himself from the other, far more disturbing relationship (relationships? Surely she could not have actually meant to refer to - ? No! Surely not! That would be impossible! Inconceivable! Ridiculous/, even! The laws and traditions of Chiss society have not permitted such things for thousands of years!) hinted at in the dream. The implications alone of either Mitth'raw'nuruodo or him even seeking to initiate anything approaching a intimate relationship with Lorana Jinzler, though, are more than enough to make his thoughts fragment into a blindly panicked whirl and his control shatter. It is not hard to convince himself that such things could never be, that this part of his dream had been nothing more than a nightmare, brought on by both the stress of trying to fit in and be helpful enough to be accepted by the crew and passengers of /Outbound Flight while also performing his duty as the one true representative of the Chiss Ascendancy aboard and the strain of not knowing what is happening to his brother while he is stuck here aboard the Republic ship and unable to do anything to help protect him. And so Mitth'ras'safis turns his thoughts away from the rest of the dream and the terrifying possibilities it had hinted at, pragmatically certain that it will be better to dismiss such patently impossible things altogether and conveniently overlooking the fact that his very presence on Outbound Flight and the alliance formed between the occupants of the combined ship and Mitth'raw'nuruodo would be considered just as patently impossible, by most beings . . .

***

She is curled tightly on the bed weeping, body a fierce knot of misery, when the question comes - warm, soft, all but tangibly kind, the cultured voice so familiar and so missed that her heart nearly seizes within her chest, in shocked relief.

"Why are you crying, child?"

"Obi-Wan!" She flings herself at him, Jedi decorum for once completely forgotten, not even bothering to look first, simply trusting him to catch her. His arms are wide and comforting and she buries herself within, fingers clutching desperately at his clothes.

"What's wrong, Lorana? Tell me, and I'll help you, if I can."

His voice is so concerned that she cannot help but cry a little harder, so much that she has difficulty replying and is forced to try twice before she finally gets the words out. "Master, it's all gone wrong!"

"How have things gone wrong, young one? Share with me. Let me help you."

A hand strokes reassuringly, soothingly, through her hair, clearly meant to help calm her, but the kindness only makes her shake, face heating with shame where she's burrowed against his shoulder. She didn't listen to his counsel when she should have, didn't heed her own instincts when they were screaming at her, and, worse yet, she discounted the warnings of the Force and failed to convince the other Jedi to act when there still would have been time to do something, to keep things from blowing up in their faces. Why is he being so kind to her? He must know that she doesn't deserve such gentle consideration! "I - I don't - I'm not - "

"Lorana. You're projecting, child, and you can stop thinking what you are right now. I would not be here if I did not wish to help you, nor would I wish to help you if I did not consider you deserving. Don't be so foolish as to refuse aid that is honestly given, youngling."

"Can you - is it alright to - ?"

"I have strong shields, youngling. You needn't worry, on that regard. And you know I will go no further than invited."

"I know, Master. I just - my thoughts - it's very hard to center."

The arms around her tighten a fraction, and she can feel the smile in his voice when he tells her, "You will not know chaotic until you seek to guide Anakin Skywalker into a deep meditative trance, youngling. Here. Relax. Breathe with me awhile. Time your exhalations to mine. Let your heart beat in synch with mine. Calm yourself. Drift with me. I have you. This is a safe place, and I will not let you fall. I only want to help you. Open your mind to me, young one. Let me see what is causing you so much pain. Center yourself. Let what is paining you rise to the forefront of your mind. I will not seek to look any deeper than the surface. It's alright. It will be alright. Let me see, young one. I can help you, if you'll let me . . . " The words are so calming, his voice so soothing, that she cannot help but obey, her body relaxing into his, the tears trickling to a stop, her thoughts automatically calming, ordering themselves to the cadence of his words, her mind quieting, seeking after the familiar state of centered balance that Jedi are taught to seek after and embrace until it is not just second nature but automatic - a state in which one exists, in constant tranquility and serene openness to the Force - but which seems, to her, to generally be ignored by most Jedi, except for during certain meditative exercises. Her Master certainly had not lived in calmness or in balance with the Force, and there have been times when she's seriously wondered if perhaps the Jedi haven't become too judgmental, too haughty, too concerned with petty rules and the tallying of each other's faults, for such serenity. Not Obi-Wan, though. Obi-Wan exudes serenity. He is so centered and in tune with the Force that, even when practicing with his lightsaber, even when moving so swiftly that it is difficult to follow his motions, even with the Force to aid one's concentration, he still seems calm. It is easy to let his serenity wash over her and calm her, easy relax into breathing in time with him, biorhythms sliding into an easy synchronicity, mind calming and opening, thoughts rising to the surface, inviting attention.

A few moments or a lifetime later, the strong arms around her shift slightly, just enough to allow them to lift her comfortably, carrying her back across the room to the bed, letting her settle down against him, leaning companionably against his right shoulder. The question probably isn't necessary, but she asks it anyway. "You see?"

"I see, youngling. I see that you blame yourself for your former Master's fall. I see that the Jedi tendency for self-martyrdom is nearly as alive and well in you as it has been in me. I see that you are at a crossroads, one that might very well affect the fate of us all."

"The Chiss - "

" - are obviously much stronger in the Force than any other race of sentient beings we know. The talent is consistent in almost all the offshoots of humanity, but this . . . this is quite extraordinary. I'm nearly tempted to wonder if some ancient scientist managed to find a way to breed for increased Force-sensitivity without risking the threat of insanity that has doomed all other known attempts."

"Mitth'ras'safis and Mitth'raw'nuruodo - "

"I know, youngling. They could have been well on their way to permanent seats upon the High Council, if they had been raised within the Temple. Thrass especially. Thrawn is stronger, but Thrass has a calmer, more well-ordered mind. His disposition is more suited for a position of authority, rather than a life filled with missions."

"What should I do? The moment I touched his mind, Thrawn began drinking in memories of the Republic and our role in the Republic that I wasn't even aware I possessed. The lightsaber is a natural extension of his arm. And Thrass is already composing arguments that explode most of our rules, either exposing them as acts of convenience or fear or else simply finding ways to unravel them, until they no longer make any logical sense."

"Teach them. And let them teach you. They understand control and they embrace duty to their own and responsibility to themselves both. They would embody partnership with the Force and with one another in a way that hasn't been seen in the galaxy since before the formation of the Order. Help them. Give them a new challenge to rise to and a goal to seek after. Unite those who live beyond the bounds of their state and ours. Fashion an irrefutable example of a strong and fully functional government that combines aspects of both their society and governing body and ours. And start with an academy for the teaching of Force-sensitives. You need not limit yourself to the training of full Jedi, Lorana. Consider them an adaptation of the Service Corps, if it will quiet your concerns. In recent years, such Force-sensitives have been at least as vital to the survival of the Republic as fully trained Jedi."

"With only seventeen Jedi? Master - "

"It has been centuries since there have been Jedi enough to train all those who are worthy of such training, given the constraints and rules the Order now functions under. Consider this, Lorana. Consider it carefully. And then consider, too, how successful the Jedi Oder once was, for so long a time, with praxeum-style teaching."

"I hear you, Master Kenobi. But Bendu, are you sure? Master Simikarty's writings - "

"Master Simikarty was not an avatar of the Force, youngling. I quoted him before Jorus C'baoth in an effort to curtail the man's ambitions and his passion. The truth of my belief is in my teaching, Lorana. Look at who I took for my apprentice. Anakin Skywalker outstrips most of us, in terms of sheer strength and talent, and yet he would not have been trained, if the new rules were upheld without question or exception. Most of the rules limiting training within the Order came about in reaction to devastating wars, Lorana. Who is to say that some of them are not more a product of reaction to that devastation than a result of the Force's will? And who are we to say that the current way of doing things within the Order is the only way to go, when other ways of teaching and training worked so very well, once, and gave the galaxy so many more Jedi than the current mode of teaching? Who is to say that the old ways of doing things cannot work again? Just because there are newer ways of doing things, that does not mean that they are necessarily better ways."

"I understand, Master. I hear you, and I take your meaning. Thank you. I've been in desperate need of counsel."

"The answers were all within you, youngling. You simply needed some help putting what you already knew into a more easily understandable order."

"I wish you could be here for this, Bendu. You and Anakin both. Things would be so much easier, if you were both truly here with me."

A note of firmness enters his voice, then, as he calmly points out, "Our lives are not made for ease, young one. And there's need of us, back home. Besides, you've done very well, here, and I have faith you will continue to do so, without us here."

She has to duck her head down, then, both because what he's said is true and because she is not yet certain that she's earned such praise. "You honor me, Bendu Kenobi."

He corrects her gently, his arm tightening around her to counter the sting. "I speak truth, Lorana Jinzler. There is a difference."

She isn't entirely sure of that, either, she nevertheless solemnly promises, "I will seek to be worthy of such a gift, nonetheless. I swear it."

"Tomorrow will be soon enough, child. Sleep, now, while you can," he tells her, gently guiding her until she is laying back down on the bed, in an aspect of rest.

"Master. I'm dreaming this, aren't I?"

His smile playful, he raises an eyebrow and answers by noting, "Distance may separate us, physically, but the Force embraces and permeates us both, Lorana. Who is to say that it cannot bring us together by moving our minds and spirits to meet when our bodies are at rest, as they are now?"

"Will I - will I see you, again?"

"The future is not set in stone, youngling. You know that," he replies, gently chiding.

"Yes, but I - I just - I wondered if you - "

"You are never truly alone, Lorana. Trust in that. Have faith in the Force and in yourself."

Wistfully, she admits, "It would still be good to see you again."

Reaching up to rest his right hand gently on her brow, he admits, "I would like that very much, youngling. Anakin misses you, you know. He grumbles and frets over the great adventure his honorary older sister has gone off to have, without him there to help guard her back. He'll be glad to know that you've gained such strong allies."

"They worry me a little, Master. They seem to feel everything so intensely . . . "

"It isn't truly emotion or passion that we need to guard ourselves against, youngling. The irrationality that can stem from obsession and selfishness are."

"If you say so, Master Kenobi."

"I do. Now sleep, Lorana. Your life is going to be very busy, from now on."

"Yes, Bendu Master Kenobi."

***

The first thing he notices is that his brother is barefoot. In truth, Mitth'ras'safis appears to be clad only in a pair of soft looking, loose black sleep pants, and his hair (which he notices is somewhat longer than usual) is easily tousled enough to suggest that he has at least been in bed recently, if not that he has been sleeping. He somehow looks healthier, fitter, more comfortable in his own skin, than Mitth'raw'nuruodo remember him being. He is also curled with shocking casualness on an oversized chair that rather resembles a small, plush sofa, his powerful frame lounging in a way that is reminiscent, somehow, of a large and potentially extremely dangerous feline. Mitth'raw'nuruodo tries to speak, to let his brother know that there is someone else in the room who can see him, and finds that he is unable to. It is then that he realizes that he's most likely dreaming - a thought that is confirmed only a few moments later, when his body (quite independently of his conscious thoughts) stretches languorously. In the process of moving, his body rolls slightly to the side, presenting him with a view of the rumpled foot of an unmade bed - a bed on which he is apparently lying, with his body pointing down the bed. His thoughts are still scrambling madly from that realization when Mitth'ras'safis abruptly begins to speak.

"I don't know why you're so surprised by this. You had to know that the suggestion of such a thing would cause fear among the more conservative and traditional-minded citizenry of the Chiss Ascendancy."

Mitth'raw'nuruodo is wondering if his body will reply as independently as it had just moved when a voice - startlingly, achingly familiar - answers from behind him, close enough that the speaker has to actually be on the bed with him. "We've been prepping them for this, though. And it's not like there's not precedent for such an arrangement. The New Alliance of the Republic is essentially proposing to the Chiss Ascendancy. Is this not how every sentient race within the Chiss Ascendancy proper - with the exception of the Geroons, of course - first entered into the Ascendancy, by aligning as allies who were also true equals?"

"Yes, well, but they weren't actually true equals, now where they? Before contact with this Republic of yours, we Chiss had always greatly outnumbered every other sentient race we'd come into contact with. Your people outnumber us. By a considerable margin. Is it any wonder some of our good citizens are panicking over the notion of how many of you there are out there?"

"Blast it, Thrass! You've heard and seen the same reports that I have, and you know that the NAR isn't a conquering nation Why do you keep insisting on referring to it as if it were?"

He wants desperately to turn around, to look at her, but instead his body stretches again, lazily, trading conspiratorial glances with his brother, before replying, "He does it for the same reason you are so very careful to refer to this body as the New Alliance of the Republic rather than as the Republic that you came from: to remind himself and others of that which we do not know and which could, conceivably, be of danger to us."

"Not true, Thrawn! I call it the New Alliance of the Republic because that is what it is: it is not the Galactic Republic that I grew up in and it never will be. It is a completely new government with a very new body constituency and guardians the likes of which this galaxy has never known. To name it other than what it truly is would be to invalidate the suffering and the struggle that has gone into the making of it, and that I will not do. The NAR has more than earned the right to its own recognition, separate from that of the institutions that preceded it. Our informants within the territories formerly held by those organizations - including that of the Galactic Republic - have more than confirmed this, with sources reporting independently of each other all across the space now held by the NAR. You both know that as well as I do."

His head tilts slightly, but instead of turning to look back at her, his body simply redirects his gaze, slightly, so that he is looking off into space (fixed on a tall wardrobe against the wall off to his brother's left) instead of at anyone directly. "I also know that, before the first reports came regarding the discovery and death of Darth Sidious, you were certain that your former homeland would be either a liability or an actual threat if the Far Outsiders were to seek to invade our galaxy on the heels of their civil war."

"That's not fair, Thrawn. The Sith orchestrated the war. You know that."

"I know it, Lorana. I also know that your Jedi fought on both sides of the conflict."

"The New Jedi Bendu Order is nothing like the old Jedi Order, Thrawn. If anything, they are like us, only better. Our Academy could learn a lot from them!"

"Or their New Order could swell its ranks immensely with both our Academy and our citizenry. They've recruited entire planets and species wholesale into their ranks, Lorana."

"They are family-based and meant to be on hand to the everyday citizenry of the NAR, Thrass. Of course they've recruited essentially all of the Korunnai and the Kiffar! They are all Force-sensitive, to one degree or another, and can be trained to link with others, if necessary."

His body turns back in Thrass' direction in time to see his brother raise his eyebrows in a not quite mocking manner. "And we Chiss are even stronger in the Force, love, remember?"

"And you mean to tell me, Mitth'ras'safis, that you are afraid that the NAR and the New Jedi Bendu Order will - what, exactly? Somehow strip the Chiss Ascendancy of essentially its entire citizenry, forcibly relocate them to NAR proper worlds, and brainwash them all into becoming watchdogs for the NAR and the NAR alone? Please! Don't make me laugh!"

His body shifts on the bed again, but it's not enough to let him see her. "You should not dismiss such theories, beloved. Traditionalists are prone to seeing conspiracies and dangers where there are none. It's how they keep their power - by frightening others away from change."

"I'm aware of that, Thrawn. Believe me. After nearly a decade of working with your Defense Hierarchy to fashion a shadow empire for both the Chiss Ascendancy and the nearest sector of the Outer Rim Territories, I'm quite familiar with the concept."

The look on Mitth'ras'safis' face is unabashedly amused at the caustic tone, his expression sliding towards a smirk as his brother replies (in a faux-innocent tone implying wide eyes) by asking, "Then why are we arguing?"

"Because the both of you enjoy playing devil's advocate far too much?"

With a deep and utterly unrestrained laugh, Mitth'ras'safis twists around in the chair and slides to his feet. Grinning, he runs a hand through his hair and then strides across the room to the bed, approaching at a slant so that Mitth'raw'nuruodo can watch him the entire way without having to rise or even move overly much, aside from rolling backwards, slightly, off his elbow, so that he can look up without straining his neck. "She has us there, little brother. We do so love to embrace challenges."

Lorana laughs as Mitth'ras'safis settles on the (left, for one facing the foot) corner of the bed, a unabashedly joyous sound that curls Mitth'raw'nuruodo's body around towards her and the head of the bed. She is a vision of carelessly mussed and utterly genuine beauty in a fragile white gown, her dark hair a riot of waves and half curls upon the pillows, face flushed and gray eyes bright with amusement as she leans forward, her left arm loosely curled around her bent knees and her right hand gesturing at them, broadly, in a way that should have seemed dismissive but doesn't. "Unrepentant wretches! If you wish a challenge to rise to, my loves, then you should put those brilliantly strategic political and miliary minds to work on finding us a solution to this problem, rather than chasing after reasons to explain why it is a valid response! We have been proposed much more than a mere alliance. The NAR desires to wed the Chiss Ascendancy, shadow empire and all. We would be rude indeed, to answer such an important question with naught but silence!"

Mitth'raw'nuruodo finds himself chuckling back, low in his throat, and replying, slyly, "If the question is as momentous as all that, then perhaps we should sleep on it before we attempt to frame our answer. Don't you agree?"

"Oh, quite. Lorana?"

The shape of a mysterious little half smile is the only answer they are given. That smile is branded across his vision when he wakes, confused beyond words and seriously starting to worry about the state of his sanity, the following morning, just over a day away from the star cluster of the proposed redoubt and the refuge of /Outbound Flight/.

***

Eighteen days after their unexpectedly precipitous departure from the battlefield where Mitth'raw'nuruodo and they had decimated the Vagaari nomadic pirate fleet, Outbound Flight is about to finish its seventh full uneventful day of orbit around the uninhabited but lush and easily habitable world designed only as P8X-873 in the Chiss records (but informally known, among the inhabitants of Outbound Flight/, as Obi-Wan's Promise, a fact that makes Lorana grin like a loon every time she hears the name, she can so easily imagine the look of absolute horror and embarrassment that would reside on Bendu Kenobi's face, were he to ever learn that the grateful crew and passengers of /Outbound Flight have named an entire planet after him). Jedi Knight Lorana Jinzler is about halfway through a combination language and culture lesson with Jorj Car'das and Syndic Thrass when her comlink chirps at her. Pushing away from the small table in the recently gloriously outrageously decorated mess hall (done over victoriously like one of the Coruscant underlevels, in a sleazy, over the-top sort of way, less than two days after Jorus C'baoth's death) that she is sitting at with the two men so that she can answer the call without having to worry about potentially precipitating a panic if anything untoward has happened, Lorana instead soon finds herself exclaiming in shock (but smiling excitedly almost all the while), "Are you certain? Goodness, that was fast! Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano must have seen reason, after all! No, they're both down here, with me. Lesson time. Of course, Master Ma'Ning! We'll all be right up!" Then, turning back to her two companions, who are both looking at her expectantly, she explains, "Your brother and Admiral Ar'alani must have found a way to avoid an actual trial or the pressing of charges. Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo's Springhawk and several similar ships have just been sighted coming into the system. Master Ma'Ning would like us all to come up to the bridge, so we can welcome him properly and promptly this time when he hails us."

With an equally wide and relieved grin, Car'das nods and says, "We should hurry, then. I know you've got good sensors on these babies, but Outbound Flight's pretty hard to miss, even tucked away in orbit around a planet like this. It won't be long before that hail comes over the comm."

"Mitth'raw'nuruodo has never liked to waste time, that's true enough. But he will be checking and double-checking the system to make sure that no one else and no unexpected surprises are waiting anywhere nearby. If we hurry, we can make it to the bridge before he reaches for his comm," Thrass notes, his face relaxing into what looks almost like a soft smile as he rises from the table and sweeps the two of them up with him, walking with long, ground-covering, surprisingly swift without looking hurried strides across the room towards the corridor and the nearest turbolift.

Car'das, with a laugh, just shakes his head and throws decorum aside to trot along with the taller Syndic, keeps pace easily by moving at a slow jog Lorana, on the other hand, buoyed by a sudden feeling of excitement and eager anticipation of what she is sure will be the first proper meeting between the members of what will be an extremely strong and long-lasting alliance and warmed to the core by Mitth'ras'safis' obvious relief over his younger brother's swift and therefore presumably quite safe arrival, just stretches out her legs until she is taking the same kind of rapid, skimming, low to the ground, strides that she has always had to affect, in order to keep up with the vast majority of her mostly male and humanoid fellow-Jedi, rising to the challenge without a moment's pause. And, with the bridge of D-1 and a proper greeting for Mitth'raw'nuruodo their goal, they make that tubolift together in record time.

Though the future that awaits them is uncertain and assuredly is not the one that any of them might have had in mind when they first embarked on the journeys that led to them being here, together, on /Outbound Flight/, they are all three of them ready and willing and eager to face that future squarely, together, their loyalty to each other and devotion to the protection of their people a massed shield of flame against the darkness of the night and the evils that shelter within that darkness. They have all been given another chance, a real chance at new and far more fulfilling (if potentially also far more dangerous) lives, and they all know it. And so they are all going to take that chance in both hands and run with it for all that they're worth, pushing forward enthusiastically and determinedly into their new lives together.

As Lorana Jinzler steps out onto the bridge of D-1 with Syndic Thrass at her right hand and Jorj Car'das to her left and Mitth'raw'nuruodo only a comlink away, she is just as quietly happy and as unswervingly optimistic about her course as she has ever been before in her life. The Force tells her, with every breath that she takes, that she is where she is meant to be, amongst those she is meant to be with and doing what she is meant to be doing.

And if the Force is life and Light and love is light itself, then the light of their converging lives and their love will carry them and shield them and be a brilliant wash of Light within the Force, spreading in a line of fire among the stars and igniting in a protective blaze around the borders of the regions they call home and blazing in an unyielding barrier, allowing none with ill-will to pass.

Let it be so, she silently breathes before, with a wide and welcoming smile, she reaches out for the comm to welcome Mitth'raw'nuruodo home.

***