The Hunters and the Hunted 9

I was standing in the sunlit Gallery Hall of the Jedi Temple. In the dream I wondered how I had gotten here because the temple I knew was dark and spooky. At my side was a tall man in Jedi robes of browns, he had his arms folded across his chest and like me he stared out through the open columns to the bustling city below. I turned my head to look up at him and realised it was Qui Gon Jinn, at the very same time I realised that it was not me in the dream looking at the Jedi Master but my mother. I was seeing through her eyes, a passive viewer on events that had already happened.

“You seem troubled A’kali.” Qui Gon said.

She nodded but said nothing.

“The disturbances in the Force trouble you?” he asked.

“Yes master.” She answered. “Master Tane tells me it is normal for one my age to feel …anxious but I sense something more than simple angst.”

“Walk with me.” Qui Gon told her and they made their way slowly through the corridor to one of the small gardens. She raised her head to the sun’s warmth and breathed in deeply. I could smell the scent of green grass and rich loamy soil. He led the way to a garden bench and they both sat down. For a long moment they were silent.

“You miss your master while he is away, do you not?” he asked.

She nodded. “I have grown fond of him, maybe too fond. When he leaves I feel a sense of loss I cannot explain. This is what Master Yoda means by attachment isn’t it?”

Qui Gon smiled. “Attachment is hard to over come, it is a normal human emotion.” He said gently with a smile. “But I sense this is not what troubles you, young Padawan.”

She shook her head. “I have doubts, Master,” She said, “about the path that has been chosen for me.”

He cocked his head to one side and looked at her, waiting for her to continue. Qui Gon Jinn was a patient man, he would wait until she found the right words to explain what she was troubled over.

“I want to have children.” She said suddenly.

“That particular activity is not encouraged amongst the Jedi.” He said gently almost jokingly.

“I know and that is why I now question everything that I have been taught. I work with the babies that come to the Temple and every day I find myself longing for a child of my own more and more.”

“Longings can be overridden, A’kali. Part of your training teaches you how to do this and Master Tane excels as a teacher. You have chosen to take the path of a Jedi, you have been a most diligent and dedicated student. Why the sudden change?”

She was silent for what seemed a very long time before she found the courage to answer. “I had a dream, or perhaps a vision of the future. I saw myself with child. A baby girl. It was so real that when I woke up and found myself in my own bed alone I was heart broken.” She told him, her voice trembling at the memory of her dream.

“A vision of the future?” he asked. A catch in his voice made her look up into his blue eyes.

She nodded.

“The future is fluid, A’kali. It is always in motion and difficult to see or predict. Perhaps you are seeing a possibility from a future that would have happened had you not been taken to the Temple and trained.” His words were logical but she sensed the underlying concern in his voice.

“Yes Master Qui Gon.” She said, and then burst out. “But it was so real! I was still a Jedi, I saw my lightsaber and I knew the ways of the force! I was using the baby training techniques on her, on my baby and worst of all I was terrified for her. And there was something else. Something awful was happening in the galaxy. I have never felt such fear before.”

“Do you know what you were afraid of?”

She shook her head. “It was just a shadow, something dark which clouded everything else. I woke up or the vision stopped after this, but it left me … very afraid for my daughter.”

“You do not have a daughter.” He told her.

“But I will.” She said firmly. There was no mistaking the worry in his eyes then.

He went to say something else but was interrupted by a young man, another Padawan slightly older than A’kali.

“Master, I am sorry to intrude,” he said shyly. “Hullo ‘kali.”

“Hi, Obi Wan.” She said, blushing.

“Yes, Obi Wan, what is it?” Qui Gon asked without any note of annoyance in his voice.

“The council has asked to see you, Master. There is trouble on Naboo and they have requested help. The Chancellor has asked for negotiators.”

Qui Gon Jinn sighed. “Very well, go ahead and I will be there momentarily.” He told his apprentice. He waited until Obi Wan was out of sight then turned back to the young woman who sat troubled at his side.

“A’kali, when master Tane returns you must speak of these matters with him and if you cannot wait then perhaps one of the others can help you? Perhaps Master Tholme, I know that you and his apprentice, Quinlan, have spent time together so perhaps you would feel more comfortable speaking with his master about such matters if you are too intimidated by Master Yoda or Master Windu. I see how these thoughts trouble you, it would not be wise to keep them bottled up inside.”

“Yes Master Qui Gon, thank you. I appreciate the time you have taken for me today.”

“It is part of the job of being a master. In the end, A’kali, time is really the only true gift we have to pass on to others. It is a precious commodity, and sharing it with a thoughtful and delightful student such as you makes every moment worthwhile. Do not trouble yourself so much with things that have not and may never happen. Concentrate on the here and now, be mindful of the living force and it will guide you.” He smiled and got up. She did the same, bowing her respect to him then watched as he left the garden. While she did not know it at the time, she would never see him alive again.

The dream shifted and moved, the scene faded to the desert where I found myself back in my own body once again, staring at the snaking sands, the aftermath of a desert storm. The man who stood at my side had been dead for longer than I had been alive but I felt as though he is a part of my soul anyway.

“You face great trials in this time of darkness, daughter of A’kali L’uanna. The darkness that has stretched its hand across the galaxy is powerful.” He said.

“What am I to do?” I asked.

“Center on the living force and trust your instincts. You have a bright spirit and your mother's strength of will. Be strong when you are tested and do not let the darkness devour your soul as it has Anakin. We were wrong about so many things and arrogance was our greatest failing, do not let it become yours.” He turned to look at me and his fingers lifted the new pendant that Thrawn had given to me. “Ma’arilite, the stone that holds the soul’s light.” He said softly to himself. “May it guide you in the worst of times yet to come.”

As though wrapped in a heat haze, Qui Gon shimmered and vanished. The sand hissed about me as the wind stirred it up. I shivered despite the warmth, scared of what was being foretold and the scene around me changed again.

I found myself in the darkness of the bedroom in the flat on Coruscant. I shifted restlessly. Thrawn, at my side, was woken by my movement. He reached over and caressed my skin with the tips of his fingers. The fear that had swept me up in the desert was swiftly replaced by desire. Wordlessly I moved to his touch, my eyes closed so that the sensations he created were heightened.

“Sj’iu tekari, kej e’mai vamarae …” he whispered in my ear, his breath warm and moist upon my neck.

I whimpered as the ache he created deep within me became overwhelming. His lips found my skin and burned where they touched. Somewhere deep in the back of my mind I knew I was dreaming but I didn’t care. I needed him and I wanted him so badly that I was willing to sleep forever to have him.

“Peyla’mer a’mal’yn.” He whispered. You are mine, he had said.

“Zav’niaask nen kahden.” I whispered back. Forever and always.

“Of course you are, child.” I heard him begin to chuckle but the voice was not that of Thrawn.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring into a face that was horribly familiar to me. The Emperor laughed then. I struggled to get away from him, fought to untangle myself from the bed sheets which had wound themselves around my legs. His gaze burned through to my soul and the pain it caused was fierce. I tried to push back from him as he cackled in a glee which bordered on manic. From somewhere in the distance I heard an alarm sound, the constant peeping becoming louder and louder, melding with the terrible sounds of the Emperor’s voice until I could no longer tell them apart.

I woke up screaming.

What had been an alarm in my dream was in reality my comm. Sweat soaked and pumped up on adrenaline I answered it rudely. Lord Vader’s reply was equally impolite. After giving me his latest set of orders he disconnected without further word, leaving me with about an hour to get myself ready to ferry him to his meeting with the Emperor. He had not sounded happy about it.

I untangled my self from the bed sheets which had trapped my limbs and got up. I sat with my head buried in my hands on the edge of the bed trying to make sense of the nightmare I had just escaped from. It could not be a coincidence that I had a dream where Qui Gon had warned me about some terrible thing yet to come just as Lord Vader was called to meet with the Emperor and dragging me along. With a sigh I got up and went to shower. At least, I thought ruefully, I would go to what ever doom awaited me clean.