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Charity and Decadence, Chapter 21

A shameless lost in Star Wars isekai.

Masterlist

Main relationships: Force-sensitive Earthling OC Choy x series of canon and OC clones

Word count: 8855 (yeah it’s super long but that’s fine, no one is reading this anyway and I can do whatever the hell I want)

This chapter subtly introduces a number of more obscure clone characters that appear in canon and Legends and comics. I’m hoping to combine the different depictions of the clones in a way that makes sense. The chapter opens with Choy on her way to an informal dinner her first night at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Ashu, her feline, near human, padawan temple guide, is with her.

No warnings except it’s heavy on dialogue and is very Jedi-centric for a clone fic. Some angst I guess. Not edited or beta’d

Choy would have preferred to spruce up before going to a dinner like this, but settled for a quick check of her appearance in a fresher near the communal dining area. Looking in a mirror she fixed her hair a bit and adjusted her clothes. Satisfied, she and Ashu headed toward the main refectory to find the private dining room.

“She’ll be arriving soon,” said Kit Fisto as he watched Kitu lead his group of clones through the refectory archway. “let’s stop lurking out here and go in,”

“Hold on a moment,” Quinlan Vos said. “See Obi Wan's men over there?” He tipped his chin toward a group of clone troopers, armor on, helmets off, enjoying a moment of ease around a table in the hall, talking low, resting as much as they ever would while technically on duty.

“Here she comes.”

Kit turned as Ashu and Choy came into view from around a corner behind the troops. Neither seemed to notice the troops as they passed, chatting with eachother. Kit’s dark eyes widened.

“The Force. It is moving like a rising tide as she’s passing them,” Kit said. “They feel something…but she has no idea.”

“Yeah they feel it,” Quinlan said, “watch their shoulders.”

The men shifted, breathing deeper, postures relaxing, expanding. some looked around, their eyes landing on Choy.

Choy looked back at them and smiled before turning around and entering the main refectory. The moment stretched. And eventually receded. Their postures resumed their tension, conversations resumed, their edge set back in.

Kit tilted his head, puzzling. “How unusual, they all eased at the same time in the same way.”

Quinlan stepped closer to him, lowering his voice. “I need you to hold something in your mind without assigning meaning.”

Kit looked at him and nodded. He knew Vos had read Choy when he touched her and now he was watching how what he saw play out in real time.

“When she passed the group of clones their internal state aligned.” Quinlan paused and chose his words carefully. “Not like a command response and not an emotional mirroring.”

“Something else?”

“More like….” Quinlan searched for the least wrong way to say what he saw. “Like a shared coherence, but only when in close proximity. It held while she was close then dissipated, cleanly.”

“Like an ocean swell,” Kit nodded.

“Like a note that brings them into harmony,” Quinlan mused. “Like they actually have tone around her, but she isn’t directing it, there is no intention on her part. It isn’t even really coming from her.”

“They are stable.” Kit observed.

Vos’s eyes narrowed. “They are resolved.”

Kit looked back at the clones and nodded. “You are concerned about how the others will interpret this, categorize it.” Kit said.

“They always do.” Quinlan scowled. “They will want to label it attachment, instability, projection. Assume agency in the wrong place.”

“Are you saying she has no agency in what she’s doing?”

“She’s not controlling it, this is a Living Force reaction responding to proximity. Relationally."

“Relational… proximity? So when she’s close the Force current-,”

“Reorganizes. We don’t have an existing framework for understanding this.”

“And if they pick the wrong label for this she becomes...” Kit trailed off, knowing the answer.

“She becomes a problem, not a person. And I guarantee some of them have already done this.”

“So you want to stop them?”

“I want to slow them down enough for them to see her in terms of what’s actually happening. Or at least reduce the damage.”

“That sounds like you,” Kit smiled and clapped him on the back.

“It’s the only way they don’t turn her into what they fear.”

The room was not what Choy had expected. There was no single dining table, only several small pub type tables at standing height with food in serving dishes and small plates. In the center of the room were low tables arranged with comfortable chairs and sofas. It felt like a lounge. Service droids glided through the space with trays of food and drink. Jedi stood and mingled or sat in conversation, eating, sharing notes about their day and the war. Stoic clone officers stood around mostly on the perimeter of the room.The atmosphere was charged. A veneer of politeness was barely covering the energy of clashing strong personalities and layers of social power.

A droid offered a selection of drinks, Ashu picked one up as Choy scanned the room. Faces began to turn her way. Conversations stalled, voices trailing off. Choy homed in on her group of clones standing off to the side and immediately sensed how out of place they were feeling and left Ashu’s side to go over to them.

“Hey guys, how are you all doing?” She said as they turned to look at her. Their expressions brightened and their postures changed. Suddenly more relaxed and confident.

“Choy!” “Meshla, you’re here.” “Woah who is that again?” The clones greeted and chattered. She went around to them all, touching each one with gentle hands.

“I heard you got to do some exploring,” Choy murmured to Splint as she caressed his face and kissed his cheek.

“I’m glad you’ve been able to relax,” she said to a slightly confused Kix. She caught his hand and gave it a squeeze to jog his memory. Recognition lit up his eyes and she gave him a kiss like Splint.

“Did you see the garden,” she said to Jace as he approached her.

“No I must have missed that,” he said as he took her hand in his and held it to his heart. She smiled at him, remembering how long he had held her hand while she recovered. She stopped short of kissing him, unsure if that would be too much for him. She looked over at Dusk who was hovering just outside the circle of clones.

“I want to go back there with you and show you, it’s amazing,” she said as Dusk moved closer to her. Jace released her hand as Pitch and Sable approached. Her glow brightened with each touch to the three. “I’m so glad they invited you all. Where’s your food? Let’s get you some.”

Choy turned around to look for a food droid and found herself abruptly face to face with Obi Wan.

“Miss Choy, how have you been settling in?”

“Just fine, thank you.” She gave him her hand thinking it might help him remember her as well. He took it lightly. Why do Jedi shake hands like a dead fish? Choy wondered.

She was about to let go when,

a flash

Skin tones, heat, a want that was not hers.

Her own memory of Cody’s fantasy arrived in her mind like a freight transport. It hit her all at once, and with it something else. Obi Wan went still. Not with surprise, not with confusion.

Recognition.

His expression belied very little as he contained it, too fat, too practiced. He released her hand quickly, but she saw it- not from the vision. From him.

She felt it click into place. Oh.

“…I see,” he said quietly, just a tad less polite now, almost with an edge. The color hadn’t quite faded above his collar.

Choy snapped her hand back to her chest and covered it with her other. “I’m-, excuse me.” Choy glanced at Cody through the crowd. He and Rex were chatting and glancing at her while looking puzzled and shaking their heads a little. They didn’t remember her well, then, either, she realized. She turned to go.

“Hey, what am I missing over here?” Anakin said as he came around Obi Wan, intercepting Choy. She crossed her arms, steeling herself and taking care not to touch him.

“Miss Choy was just telling me how much she enjoyed meeting my commander,” he said, smoothly.

Choy shot him a look. That’s what you’re going with? she thought to herself, and turned to Anakin. “What did you say to Jace and Splint on the shuttle,” she said quickly, redirecting.

Without missing a beat he smirked at her. “Just some guy talk, that’s all, right guys?” He said over Choy’s head. Choy narrowed her eyes without malice at Anakin and turned to find Splint and Jace right behind her. Neither of them looked at her.

“Right,” said Splint.

“Guy talk,” Jace confirmed.

“All good,” Sable chimed in with a thumbs up.

“Uh huh,” Choy said, noticing all the guys seemed to be in on it. Kix and Splint exchanged a look.

Anakin’s eyes sharpened as he watched the clones orient toward Choy. “They seem better than they were before you got here,” he observed.

“Miss Choy makes quite the impression,” Obi Wan said.

“I don’t mean to, I just care about them,” Choy retorted, feeling stuck in a prolonged social interaction with Obi Wan.

“Impressions are not always intentional,” Obi Wan said with raised eyebrows, tone careful.

She glanced at Cody and back at Obi Wan and nodded. “Some better than others,” she said.

“So it would seem.” He glanced at the troopers then back at her. “I had to read through the reports again to jog my memory. You have been through a great deal in a short time,” he added gently.

“True. But so have they,” she replied after a pause.

Obi Wan inclined his head. “Of course,” he said. “And it’s not unusual… after upheaval, to be drawn to connection.”

There it was. He seemed so soft and careful and understanding in his suggestion. And completely wrong. Choy bristled.

“At least I’m honest about it,”

Choy let that land as she stared up at him, clear eyed and arms crossed. She looked across the room again at Cody who went still in his conversation with Rex. She let the uncomfortable silence continue as Anakin looked at her like she just won a speeder race.

“Won’t you have something to eat Masters? Choy, gentlemen?” said Ilura who had broken off from her conversation with the other healers. She indicated the service droid that had a selection of bite sized snacks on a tray and bowls of something porridge-like.

“Thank you,” Choy said as she regarded the food which was all the same color.

“Oooo, sure thing,” Anakin said and picked up a little plate full of food-looking morsels that Choy couldn’t identify.

“Ehm, no thank you, I’m fine,” Obi Wan said, “I ate before I came.”

“We both did,” Anakin said to Choy while stuffing his face. “He just hates temple food.”

Choy’s curiosity piqued as she watched Anakin and others clearly enjoying what was being served. She picked up a small plate of the things and bit one. It was like a potsticker but blander. She shifted her attention to Ilura.

“I had no idea.” Ilura said. “My dear, you are so strong in the Living Force it’s no wonder you have survived what you have.” She came closer and put a hand on Choy’s shoulder. Choy instantly felt comforted. “What you do is through love.” She said almost pityingly and looked up. “Master Windu, that is not what Dark Side corruption looks like.” Ilura motioned towards Choy and the clones as Mace appeared in Obi Wan’s place.

Mace regarded her with a serious look. “Master Ilura, a word,” he said, drawing her away, "My reports on the matter are very clear, if you check….” Mace’s voice drowned out on the other side of the room.

Choy frowned after them and noted that Mace didn’t even really acknowledge her. She felt a new foreboding about being a subject of discussion that way. Splint gently took her by the elbow and steered her to a couch and set her plate on the table in front of her. Jace sat on her other side and offered her some of his plate of some crispy looking things. Choy took one.

“Thanks. Did you guys catch that?” She asked the clones, still glaring toward Mace and Ilura.

“I’ll get you a drink,” Splint said and caressed her arm briefly. She watched him go and cast her gaze across the room at all the faces present. The clones, the Jedi, Ashu and Kitu. Kit Fisto and Quinlan Vos arrived and greeted Obi Wan. Mace and Vos exchanged a look in that way men do when they don’t really care for each other. Vos’s dislike was so sharp and clear.

Choy gave a halfhearted wave to them and received a grin from the Nautolan. She felt Vos’s attention as he listened to what Mace and a Jedi with a very tall head were discussing with Ilura and other Jedi she didn’t recognize.

That tall head. Choy focused her mind on remembering. Kai Adi Mundi. Choy thought about the scenes where he refused to believe the Sith had returned and threw Asoka out of the temple. His voice was growing louder as he gestured with larger movements of his hands.

“What do we do with her? Service Corps? Too risky. Can she be stabilized?” he was asking. She noticed he never looked over at her like the others were and refocused on her plate. She selected a dumpling and pushed it around before eating it. More healers joined Ilura’s side and were listening to the woman as she wagged a finger in the air. Behind Mundi she now noticed a clone.

A commander from the looks of his pauldron. He was absolutely still and stoic, expression unreadable as he met her eye. She held his gaze before looking him up and down noting his different style of armor. His expression didn’t change and she returned to her dumplings and scanned the rest of the room. Splint chatting with Mace’s officers. A very very still commander. With a tattoo down one side of his face. Another commander in green paint with his head shaved on the sides and right down the middle watched from the opposite wall.

They really brought a lot of people here for this, she realized. The room began to feel smaller. Too many eyes. She picked up another dumpling and put it down, appetite gone. Jace put his hand on her back and she smiled at him, grateful for his touch.

“Those are the good ones. They have just enough flavor to be memorable,” said a deep voice above her.

Choy flinched. She’d not noticed being approached in her sulky mood. And looked up.

Plo Koon.

Choy’s heart leapt, Plo was the one Jedi she’d hoped to meet above all the others when she thought about whether she’d ever make it back to the Jedi. He felt every bit in the force like she had imagined he would. Like a kind, wise wizard. Which was a good thing she realized, because he was pretty darn alien and a little bit terrifying. Splint, sensing her abrupt freeze response, snapped his head in her direction. Mace's officers followed his gaze and exchanged a look with the grey armored commander who was now standing by the door.

“May I?” Plo gestured to the empty space on the couch. She nodded.

Plo exchanged a nod with Jace. “General,” Jace greeted.

“Good evening, Commando…,” Plo trailed off asking for a name.

“RC 3287, sir.”

“And do you have a name?” Plo asked him.

Choy placed her hand on Jace’s knee and smiled encouragingly at him.

“My name is JAce, sir,” he said, not taking his eyes off Choy and visibly relaxing under her touch. From across the room a few of the Jedi registered Choy’s gesture. They subtly exchanged looks and returned to their discussions.

Jace leaned close to Choy. “I’ll be right back,” he said close to her ear, giving her goosebumps. He rose and strode across the room.

“You’re uncomfortable,” he stated to Choy as he sat down. His robes pooled around him.

“Is it that obvious?” she said.

“To me yes, but I’m good at reading distress in younglings.”

Choy almost laughed, it was easy to forget how she seemed to others. “I’m no youngling,” she said, casting her eyes down with a sigh.

Plo tilted his head slightly. “No…” he said thoughtfully “No you’re not, but you are young to this life. Young for your loss and grief.”

Choy’s eyes snapped up at him. The debate across the room caught her attention again. She sighed. “They think I’m dangerous. They think what I feel is darkness.”

“Yes, some do. And they’re not wrong to be cautious. Untrained force sensitivity paired with trauma or grief… we’ve seen where that can lead. But fear can make even the wisest see only danger and not the person in front of them.”

“And what do you see?”

Plo paused for a long moment, his expressionless mask staring into her soul. “I see a young woman who loved her family so deeply that their loss carved deep channels through her spirit. I see that the wild, strong, unrefined Living Force has rushed in to fill that space because love like that does not disappear. It transforms.”

Choy hadn’t expected that. She felt suddenly seen and cared for in a way that she hadn’t known she missed so badly. Her memories of family and home surfaced with a rending heartache. Her eyes swam with tears and she turned away from the room and the people as memories and regrets swarmed to the surface. She automatically reached for a reassuring hand. Plo caught her hand in his and pulled her into a hug. He held her for a long moment and let her regain composure.

“I see someone,” Plo lowered his voice as she melted into his robes, “who is at a crossroads. One path leads to bitterness and ruin. The other asks you to carry this power without letting it consume you. It is the harder path to find- the way to live with what you are. You won’t become a Jedi, we don’t train adults, but that does not mean you’re doomed. You don’t have to be a monster either. There might be a place for you here if you can find your balance.”

A monster? Choy’s throat tightened. “I don’t know how to do this. I know they have to go. I know…bad things are going to happen. I don’t know how to be like this and have a normal life.”

“Then don’t do it alone. We will guide you and we won’t let you fall.”

Choy blinked back tears as she felt real hope flicker to life in herself.

“Before non-attachment comes connection, compassion. That is often forgotten these days. Your family is gone from this plane now, but their love for you shaped you. You carry that love forward. It is a foundation to build upon. That is not attachment, that is honor.”

Choy couldn’t help but be moved by his words. But if he was getting her wrong, what about Mace and his ‘shattered points’ he keeps mentioning? It felt much too big to explain. She wiped a rogue tear from her cheek.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. Wanting to tell him everything. She sniffed and wiped another tear away. “I better stop blubbering here in front of a room full of people who’ll decide if I’ll get thrown in that Jedi loony bin downstairs.”

Plo chuckled, “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Thanks,” Choy said with a smile.

“You have quite the following I hear,” Plo said.

A following- oh,” Choy blushed, “I care about them all.”

“Those two,” Plo nodded to where Kix was now standing with Splint and Rex and engaged in an amusing story, “have been particularly attentive to you,” he commented.

“We have been particularly close, Master Koon. Although Kix has a hard time remembering me.”

“And the one who is talking to my commander?”

“Your commander?” Choy turned to look for Jace and sure enough he was right across the room talking to Commander Wolffe. Choy’s breath caught. Wolffe’s mismatched eyes flicked to hers brief and sharp before looking back at Jace.

“Jace is-,” she hesitated, “he isn’t interested in me that way. He cares about me because i helped him. And because he thinks he hurt me,” she hesitated again “But I don’t think he wants me the way the others do.”

Sable made a small huff and his men shared a look amongst themselves which Plo caught.

“Your relationship to them does not follow typical patterns,” he said.

Choy raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“They share affection for you but do not turn it against each other. They stand with one another in it. That is uncommon and not without significance.

Choy considered this. “Aren’t they engineered to be different from typical humans in certain ways?”

“Not in… that way,” Plo said simply. “Not with anyone else.”

“Is it just the force doing it- is that what the non attachment is?”

Plo was quiet for a moment. “No. Not as we understand it. In our teachings non-attachment is chosen. Practiced. Often difficult.”

His blank gaze returned to her. “This is not that. And that is drawing scrutiny.”

Choy felt eyes on her again and glanced at Wolffe. His mismatched eyes met hers briefly before shifting back to the commando. Something unreadable passed between them. Wolffe gave a short nod.

Jace crossed the room and sat beside Choy. Closer this time. His knee brushed hers. His arm settled behind her and rested his hand warm and steady on her shoulder.

“Eat your dumplings,” encouraged Plo, “they really are the good ones. You’ll need your strength.”

“For what?” Choy asked.

“For tomorrow. For the path ahead. For choosing each day what you will become. And for enduring the philosophical debates about what you are.” He looked over at the other Jedi then leaned down to her conspiratorially. “That will require great fortitude,” he added, patting Choy’s hand with his big clawed one.

Choy laughed, brightly and genuinely.

“General?” Jace said from Choy’s other side. His hand remained on Choy’s shoulder. “How can I help? Should I lea-,”

Plo held up his hand, stopping Jace from suggesting something that would distress Choy. “Be steady, be present. A constant when everything is in flux to remind her that she is still herself. You are already doing more than you know, JAce.”

Choy turned to look at Jace. Something in his eyes had changed. He seemed clearer to her, more settled. His hand squeezed her shoulder slightly.

Plo stood and gestured to the food droid. “I’ll take some of this back to my quarters. The respirator makes public dining… complicated.” He inclined his head and left with a swish of his robes.

Choy still felt the warmth of his affirmations as she watched him leave with Wolffe. She looked back at Jace. She wanted to lean on him, be held. His gaze shifted to her mouth as she popped a dumpling in. His hand slid down her shoulder, down her arm and settled at her waist. The couch shifted beneath her as someone sat heavily where Plo had been.

“Sorry that took so long. I was catching up with my captain and commander Neyo,” Splint said as he offered Choy a glass of something bubbly. Jace seemed to stiffen at that name. Choy took the drink and turned to Jace who was now glaring at Neyo. Choy looked over at the commander.

“Thank you. Did he replace Ponds?” she asked and sipped the drink.

“No, Ponds- it’s complicated, Commander Neyo commands the 91st under other generals but our units overlap sometimes. He was at Anaxes.”

“Oh, I don't remember seeing him there,” Choy said with a small frown. “There are a few officers here, do they always accompany their generals at the temple?”

Kix and Splint looked at each other. “Command rotates officers through Temple-side assignments when there’s…unusual variables,” said Kix.

Splint looked at her, "They want eyes on anything that changes baseline.”

“That what I am now? Baseline deviation?” said Choy.

“Anything that changes behavior gets monitored,” Jace said, looking across the room over Choy’s shoulder.

“We,” Jace said with a squeeze of his hand at her waist. “We are the variables.” Choy smiled up at him and then back at the trio of troopers. “I hope I don’t get you boys into too much trouble,” she said, only half in jest.

“My dear, you have such a way of connecting with the Force,” Ilura said from Choy’s other side. Choy looked over at her standing with a couple junior healers and Ashu and Kitu in tow. “May we?” Ilura indicated the empty chairs nearby.

“Of course, and, Master Ilura, I just listen to them,” Choy said with a shrug, “it’s not complicated.”

Ilura and the older junior healer sat while the rest remained standing. Kitu asked, “how did you heal your— the troopers with the Agonizer exposure?”

Choy turned to Jace and took her hand from his knee and looped her arm behind him while resting her other arm up his arm and rested her head on her hand on his shoulder. “I hold onto them them physically and with my mind I feel for where there is damage. Skin to skin contact helps-,” Choy began.

Another presence entered the growing circle in front of Choy. “Connection of that magnitude can be difficult to regulate,” Kai Adi Mundi, the new presence, said. His hands were together in his sleeves and he gave off the air of a sour Confucian scholar in an old kung fu movie. Guess he didn’t get the memo he was supposed to be the cool warrior monk, Choy thought to herself. She drew herself upright to meet his scrutinizing gaze.

“Difficult for who? They were hurting. And they’re not now,” Choy retorted.

“Without the structure of discipline this may lead to over attachment,” Mundi intoned. “You have no clear boundaries with them, this might invite dependencies and lack of readiness in a war.”

“You keep saying “may” and “might.” I’m telling you what is. And what is is I’m just doing what I can with what I’ve got where I am. How can you have a problem with caring and acting accordingly?”

Mace stepped into the circle at that point. He held up a hand towards Mundi just as the highly incensed Cerean was about to say something to escalate with Choy. Mace looked at Choy and her now very tense clones around her. And sighed.

“Your compassion is not under question. What is under question is your awareness of its consequences,” Mace said as level-toned as he could manage.

Choy blinked several times as she stared back at him. All the clones shifted towards her just a tiny amount. She drew in a breath.

“I was aware that they were dying. And I’m aware that now,” she dramatically held out her arms toward Jace and the others, “now they aren’t.”

“You are untrained, this leaves you vulnerable to influence and therefore the troopers you claim to care for,” Mundi said from around Mace.

“Claim?” Choy spat.

“What happened in your room on the ship, Choy, that is what we-,” Mace started explaining.

“Hold up, that happened because I blocked out the force like Obi Wan told me to do,” she argued, holding her hand out in Obi Wan’s direction. He stood stroking his beard with a bemused Quinlan Vos and an unsure Kit Fisto next to him. “Don’t put that on me.” Choy was beyond frustrated.

Ilura interjected, addressing Choy gently, “What I’m seeing is a high degree of empathetic… coupling. In most cases the Order would consider this an attachment risk. It blurs operational boundaries. And on top of that you are…there’s something unusual I can’t put my finger on.” She looked at Choy with great sympathy. “You are such a loving girl, but the clones were bred for loyalty, don’t mistake that for genuine connection.”

“They are right here,” Choy said, shocked and disgusted with the healer, she narrowed her eyes, “do you talk about everyone like that in front of them?” Ilura recoiled.

“If her presence alters readiness or becomes a dependency then it becomes a strategic variable,” Kai Adi Mundi said to Ilura.

“I don’t alter them. They just stop hurting and dying when I’m there. How the hell is that harming “readiness?”” Choy braced to stand up but Jace curled his hand around her hip and Splint gripped her shoulder, anchoring her to the seat. She was almost distracted as the back of her mind registered how nice their hands felt.

“This is precisely why your influence must be understood,” Mace said.

“Influence- meaning them being alive?” Choy felt herself grow hot and remembered Plo’s warning about her “paths.”

Mace pinched the bridge of his nose. “Echoy’la, you don’t see what we do. We are not talking about their bodies, we’re talking about your effect on their minds, their hearts.”

“None of that is separate-,” Choy drew in a breath to continue as Kix shot her a warning look and shook his head almost imperceptibly. She sank back in the couch’s cushion and crossed her arms.

“What she is experiencing is not uncommon in times of war.”

“What she’s doing isn’t. It must be understood properly.”

“Her powers have much potential if we can control the externalities.”

“Power that stabilizes others can become influence over them. This is a threat we must not allow to spread.”

“Besides, there’s the additional question of her past and her claims on that.”

Choy rolled her eyes at the chatter of comments and lost track of who said what. She allowed herself to stop brandishing her energy toward the Jedi and simply expanded. She met the silent clone officers’ small force presence and her own clone companions’ with space, peaceful openness for them to be exactly who they are- even the parts locked down as soon as they decanted. She felt an intense love for them begging to glow in her heart and allowed herself to feel it fully but resisted the outward push to them she so strongly wanted to make. The Jedi would notice and that would mean them registering her “affecting,” “influencing” all the clones at once. She sighed. Later.

Kit Fisto was watching her curiously as he held a hand out toward the circle. “The Living Force does not always organize itself in ways that feel comfortable to us,” he said to the Jedi in a lilting and thoughtful way. “It moves how it moves, it flows where it flows regardless of our intent and purpose.” The room paused to consider. Mace and Ilura exchanged a glance.

“Intent is not the only measure of effect,” Mundi said. “And we must limit variables that affect operational readiness and deployment.”

“That’s interesting.” Choy said with performed patience. “Because when it comes to them,” she gestured toward the clones, “intent seems to matter to you more than effect.” She paused as the room became very still. “They were made for a purpose. I get that. But they were children- babies- when their lives were halved. Or culled.” She stared at the Jedi in turn. “who couldn’t say no, couldn’t choose differently.” She looked around at the clones and back at the Jedi. “That doesn’t go away just because the intention was to win a war.” She looked around the room. Mundi appeared to be coiling for another strike. “So if intent doesn’t excuse my effect on them, why does it excuse what was done to them in the first place?”

The room was silent. The Jedi’s attention shifted amongst themselves as the clones around the room subtly oriented toward Choy.

“But the men standing in this room made themselves into something more. That’s not function, that’s not effect. That’s who they choose to be. And I choose to help them where I can. That is not a function or effect of some weird thing you are worried about. That is my free will. First thing I did when Anakin got that collar off my neck was to heal ARC trooper Echo. That is the “variable” you want to limit?”

Around the room several clone officers went conspicuously still.

Mace looked at her and cleared his throat. He seemed to be bursting with a lecture. “We are responsible for what happens now,” he said plainly.

“I get that,” Choy said, blinking.

“We do not deny what has been done. But we cannot undo it,” Obi Wan said gently.

“I get that too,” Choy nodded.

“Past injustice does not negate present necessity,” Mundi reasoned.

“Right, absolutely you are doing what you can with what you got.” Choy’s voice shook a little but she held it together. “So am I.”

“So where does that leave me?” she continued, “They’re loyal to the Republic, fighting for it. And I don’t fit here. To your structure, to your Order,” she stared down at her hands. “Is that what your problem with me is? I don’t fit into the same thing they are giving everything to?” She paused, slowed her breathing, exhaling slowly. “Because if that’s the case. Maybe you should just take me back to Dantooine. To the grass and the rubble. And the bones.”

The room's silence spread. Even the service droids froze. She collected herself.

“But they’re still fighting. And I’m here. I can be part of what they are fighting for. If you let me….I’m on your side.”

The room remained still. Mace drew a breath, winding up to say something as Obi Wan looked over at him, anticipating to intervene.

“You’re all very fast in naming things tonight,” said a new voice from the periphery. Quinlan Vos stepped forward from the side of a very sober looking Kit Fisto. He stared openly at Mace, then Mundi, Ilura and finally Choy. His eyes softened.

“Connection,” he said casually. “Attachment, dependency, influence, risk…” he tilted his head. “You’ve hit all the usual ones.” He paused as the Jedi absorbed this. “Not all connections are these distortions. Some of them just don’t fit the language that we’re used to.” He looked from Ilura to Kai Adi, “Especially when no one in the room uses these to mean the same thing.”

Ilura exhaled and seemed conflicted by his words. Mace’s attention sharpened on the man. Mundi bristled. Anakin, arms crossed and leaning on the wall where he had been observing with the troopers, smirked. Obi Wan shot him a warning glare.

Vos looked at Choy with no judgement. “You said they were in pain. And that part didn’t seem complicated.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t,” she said.

He nodded. “That’s usually when someone gets in trouble,” he said lightly with a half smile, “right after something simple.”

Mundi stiffened as Mace’s scowl softened into something more thoughtful. A tension in the room lifted considerably besides the one radiating from the Cerean.

“They were hurting. I didn’t need language for that,” Choy said with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, that tends to be where the Living Force and institutions stop translating cleanly,” Vos said.

Mace considered Vos’s words. “You are correct. We may not have the language for these observations yet. But that does not absolve us from assessing them.”

He turned to Choy. “A long lasting resonance has been described in soldiers engaged in active conflict. This is not a neutral variable. Relief can stabilize but it can also create dependence.”

“Master Windu, I’m healing battlefield trauma- blaster burns, broken bones, neurological damage. Of course they feel better, of course that effect lasts.”

Mace shook his head. “You are doing much more than that.”

“Well is it the glow?” She said, holding up and checking her arms. “Or the attraction they feel as patients to a caregiver? That’s a thing, even these healers probably encounter it, too.” She looked at Ilura and her junior healers.

“You are correct, but Master Windu is referring to something wholly different,” Ilura said.

Choy shook her head, “I don’t understand.”

“Tomorrow’s assessment will shed the light we need,” Mace said with finality. “Everyone, thank you for coming.” He looked at Choy. She watched as a succession of emotions subtly played across his face, breaking his stern mask he wore for a second before he turned and swept from the circle gathered before her.

“Funny how you keep trying to build the questions to the answers you already chose,” Vos said, without humor.

Mace ignored him as Mundi and most of the clone officers joined him in his exit. Choy watched them all leave their places around the room. They were all cut from the same cloth, expressionless, emotionally avoidant. Choy wondered how young they must have been trained to be that shut down. The one in the green paint with the funny haircut glanced at her from behind the others. She smiled at him and turned away before anyone could catch it.

The healers began to take their leave behind them. Ilura lingered to check in with Ashu and Kitu who were remaining with Choy and the clones.

Before the Jedi reached the door Choy called out. “Jacosta Nu wants to meet with me after lunch tomorrow.”

Mundi continued stalking out of the room continuing his debate with Ilura. Mace slowed then paused and turned half way around. The clone officers all turned to face him, although Choy could still feel their attention tuned to her as she leaned back against the couch in her cluster of clones.

“That was not part of the discussion,” Mace said.

“Well it is now. I already said yes.”

Mace held her gaze for a long second. “Your informality is becoming a recurring variable,” he groused.

“If I can’t go, you get to go up there and tell her yourself.” Choy said matter of factly.

A flicker of something crossed Mace's face again. Not quite amusement nor irritation. On either side of the group leaving both Anakin and Vos looked like they were trying not to smile. Mace finally spoke.

“Be there after lunch.”

“I will,” Choy said with a half smile.

Mace turned and didn’t stop leaving with his entourage this time. Quinlan Vos lingered just long enough to look back at her with a small tilt of his head. Choy gave him a hint of a sly smile and then waved at Kit Fisto who was grinning widely again. Obi Wan motioned to Anakin to get going. He reluctantly pushed off the wall and joined his Master’s side along with Rex and Cody. Obi Wan looked back at her and she gave him her best blank stare. He turned forward with a sigh and left.

Choy sank back into the couch between Jace and Splint who visibly relaxed as well. Kix leaned forward on his elbows and shook his head. The three troopers nearby looked at each other and at Choy. No one spoke for a long moment.

“That went about as good as expected,” Splint said.

Kix looked up at him. “You expected that?”

“I expected an assessment, and I knew who’d be leading that.”

Kix groaned, “they’re probably already making plans.”

“That didn’t feel like a dinner,” Sable said.

“It wasn’t,” said Kix. “It was an evaluation.”

“I didn’t realize I was doing anything wrong,” Choy said, her hands finding her braid.

“You weren’t,” Pitch said. Choy looked at him gratefully.

“Wrong isn’t the word they’d use,” Splint said tilting his head.

Kix leaned back in his chair, “Uncontrolled,” he counted on his fingers, “unpredictable.”

“Useful,” Dusk said, “if they can control it.”

That one rang with a familiarity to Choy. Her mind went back to her time with the Techno Union, just days ago now, heavy force collar locked around her neck. Her hand went to her neck instinctively. Splint caught the movement and her hand in his.

“They think I might hurt you,” Choy said, casting her gaze around the group.

“No,” said Kix, “they think you will make it harder for them to use us.”

Choy looked up at him. Jace's hand tightened slightly on her hip. Splint’s came up to brush a strand of hair from her face. She felt so cared for and cherished. How could these Jedi make that into something bad?

“You didn’t hurt us,” Jace said, eyes locked in on her alone. “You gave a damn. Helped us. Nobody’s ever done that without expecting something back.”

Choy took a deep breath. “They’re going to try to fix that.”

“The question is how much they think needs fixing,” Splint said.

Choy thought through everything in silence. She realized that this wasn’t just about what she was. It was about who got to decide what that meant.

Across the room Ashu and Kitu were shoulder to shoulder in earnest conversation. Ashu shook her head, ears laid back and turned to look at Choy as she leaned into Jace slightly.

“Contain? She doesn't seem dangerous,” Ashu said.

Kitu looked over at how the clones drew closer to her. “No, she doesn’t. And that’s the problem.

“I was hoping the Order would help her find her way and they can’t even agree on what she is.”

Kitu shook his shaggy head, “I dont know, maybe that is the first part of tomorrow’s plan. Perhaps Master Che will bring clairity to everything.”

“She should have been here tonight,” Ashu said. “Let’s take them back, it is late.”

“Next time let’s call it what it is,” Anakin said to Obi Wan.

“And what is that?” Obi Wan said.

“That wasn’t a dinner, it was a kriffing ambush,” Anakin stressed.

Rex and Cody exchanged a glance and looked back at Choy before the door swished closed.

“If it was an ambush it wouldn’t have been as subtle,” Obi Wan said. “But we should not have allowed the interpretation to fracture in front of the subject.”

“The ‘subject’?” Anakin scoffed.

Obi Wan looked at him, “Yes, and those who were observing her. Anakin there are legitimate concerns about-,”

“About what, her healing people? Obi Wan, she had a force collar on three days ago. And the first thing she did when she got it off was run into the Maurader with those commandos all drooling over her and save Echo. And now you’re all treating her like SHE’s the problem.”

“Anakin-,”

Cody stepped beside Obi Wan as they reached his men waiting in the hall outside the refectory archway. The men stood at attention and saluted their chain of command.

“Report,” said Cody to the sergeant.

“Sir, nothing to report…although, something changed as a civilian walked past us.”

“Define changed.”

“Internal state shift across all units, not triggered by command.”

“You mean mood?”

“Not exactly, sir.”

“Continue.”

“Sustained reduction of inner tension, heightened awareness, sense of wellbeing, synchronized across the unit without external signal.” He paused “and it began before visual contact with the civilian.”

“It was like everything just settled… like static turning off,” said the trooper next to him.

“Happened to all of us,” said the one at the back of the group.

The Jedi exchanged pointed looks as Kit Fisto and Quinlan Vos approached.

“Let me guess, this tall, human female,” Cody held his hand at Choy’s height, “accompanied by a,” he looked at The Jedi, “Cathar? Zygerian?”

“Yes, on both counts,” Obi Wan said.

“Yes sir,” said the sergeant.

“And when the civilian left?”

“All units returned gradually to baseline,” he cleared his throat, “back to normal, sir.”

“How did you know it was the human and not the other?” asked Obi Wan.

The sergeant looked at him. “General, sir, the civilian, she smiled and,” he got a faraway look in his eyes, “well it couldn’t have been the other, it was definitely-,”

“I understand, trooper,” Obi wan assured him. “So whatever this was that happened… did not rely on direct interaction?”

“How is that possible?” Anakin asked.

“Master Kenobi.”

Obi Wan turned to the voice of Quinlan Vos behind him. “Master Vos, Master Fisto,” Obi wan bowed slightly in their direction.

“They aren’t wrong, we saw the whole thing before we went in.”

“What exactly did you observe, Masters?” Obi Wan looked at them in turn.

“You know how the troops are always on, like they can be resting or eating and there’s something in them that is like a coiled spring?” Vos said, making a claw with his hand.

Anakin looked at Rex, “sure do.”

“Well she didn’t even turn ‘round that corner yet and that tension had started to relax in them. All of ‘em at the same time. By the time she was passing them by, everything in them settled into sync. You know- when everything is smooth and fluid and you’re perfectly aware and aligned with everything around you? Then she went in and they slowly returned to their normal state.”

Obi Wan stroked his beard. “So she’s calming them through the force just by being close?”

“Now that’s not quite right, she’s not doing it. Intentional use of the force always leaves an echo. It’s like where she goes everything around her is more in alignment in the force, there’s more cohesion. The clones-,” he looked at the troopers on the other side of Obi Wan, “actually resonated in the force, for once. Then she moved on and it faded, no trail, nothing to show she was there.”

“We felt it, too, sir, in the room,” Cody said.

“I think we all did,” Rex said.

“So let me get this straight.”Anakin said. “She’s not doing anything, The Force is. And whatever that is isn’t doing anything bad. So she’s a problem?”

“Anakin-,” Obi Wan warned.

“No seriously, you lecture me about letting go and trusting the Force. And now when the Force is doing something you don’t understand -suddenly it’s dangerous and needs to be controlled?”

Obi wan glanced at the troopers and lowered his voice. “This isn’t the place.”

Anakin did not lower his voice. “She was a slave three days ago. She’s been healing troops and fighting right next to them. Not because she was ordered to, because she cared.”

Rex shifted and cleared his throat. He was there.

“And now the council thinks she’s influencing them. Creating dependencies. Maybe the problem isn’t that she cares too much. But that you don’t care enough.”

Obi Wan flinched. “Now that’s not fair,” he said carefully.

“Isn’t it? You heard Ilura, what she said in front of them like they weren’t even there.”

The troopers were very still except for their eyes as they watched the exchange.

“He’s not wrong,” said Vos.

Obi Wan looked at Cody. Cody’s expression was carefully neutral but something was going on behind his eyes. He finally looked at Obi Wan.

“With respect, sir,” he swallowed “the men she worked with, they’re better, not just physically- they’re clearer, sharper, better soldiers for it- like what my Sargent described.” Cody glanced back at the room. “It doesn’t look like dependency, sir. If it were compromising them I’d have flagged it.” He paused and looked as though he was struggling with whether to say more. Finally, “What the men felt as she walked past, we felt in the room. Felt it on Anaxes. It wasn’t something that made us loyal to her. It just….”

“It felt like being seen,” Rex offered. Cody and the troopers nodded their heads.

Rex continued. “General,” he sighed, “respectfully, sir, what she said back there- about us being people. About choices.” He paused then continued carefully, “that isn’t influence, that’s just… true.”

Obi Wan stood there stroking his beard as the door across the refectory to the dining room swished open. He watched as Kitu and Ashu emerged with the clones in tow surrounding Choy. She looked, across the grand hall, like any ordinary girl in training in the temple. A few in their group looked over Obi WAN’s way. Choy did not.

“Sir her skin was glowing earlier,” said the Sargent.

“She still is, barely,” Vos said grimly.

“That’s what you did to her,” Anakin turned and snapped at Obi Wan.

“What WE did. I was there too,” Kit pointed out.

They watched her until she disappeared around a column with her men.

“That was poorly done,” Obi Wan said.

“Yeah it was,” huffed Anakin.

“If it’s poorly done tomorrow it could go very badly for her,” Vos said darkly.

“What do you mean ‘badly?’” asked Anakin.

“If the Council walks in tomorrow with that same framework- Mundi calling her a strategic variable, needs to be limited. If she’s deemed too dangerous…” Vos said.

The group was silent. Everyone looked at Vos knowing where he was going with this.

Obi Wan shook his head. “They wouldn’t-,”

“Wouldn’t they? They’re already talking about restricting her contact with clones.” Anakin pointed out.

Obi Wan considered his words. “You are right about how we framed her, but the Council is not wrong about being careful about her untrained force sensitivity and these bonds she is forming.”

“She asked if her caring was the problem.” Kit said, “And no one had a good answer. Because the answer is yes. And that says more about the Council than it does about her."

"I don't know what she is.” Obi wan said visibly troubled. “That uncertainty is difficult for the Council.”

"So figure it out.” Anakin said with an exasperated movement of his arms. “But don't break her while you're trying to understand her."

Obi Wan sighed, looking the way she had left. He closed his eyes and seemed to shift his energy. He turned to Rex. “When she said we spoke about you as equipment she was right. She called us on it and we responded by making her defend caring about you.” He looked at Cody who held his gaze.

“So what are you going to do about it?” asked Vos.

Obi Wan and Cody looked away from each other. “Master Che needs to be in that assessment,” he said, holding his chin, “someone who understands healing and not a junior level healer.”

“She should have been here tonight,” Vos said.

“And I need to speak with Master Yoda.”

“Where WAS Yoda tonight?” asked Vos.

“He asked Master Windu to handle the initial assessment tonight. He said he would… observe.”

“Observe what?” Anakin asked.

“How she responds to pressure. How the Force moves around her when challenged.”

“If the Council believes she’s dangerous, why haven’t they already separated her from us?” Cody asked.

Obi Wan crossed his arms then settled a hand on his beard. After a moment he sights. “Because there isn’t a consensus yet… And separation would alter the behavior being observed,” he said.

Kit crossed his arms, “So tonight was a test.”

“Master Windu believes pressure reveals truth,” Obi Wan began to explain.

“Observed..” Rex said, frowning.

“If her connection to the troops is genuine,” Obi Wan continued, “stress would intensify it. If it was something manipulative-,”

“Then she’d lose control,” Vos finished.

And through all that,” Kit said, looking down the hall where she left, “she chose connection.”

“That’s still going to be misinterpreted. We need Vokara and Yoda both at that assessment tomorrow.” Vos stressed.

“If Master Yoda wants to be involved,” Obi Wan said, “he’ll be there. He always knows more than he lets on.”

“Cryptic old troll,” Anakin said.

“Anakin,” Obi Wan warned, but didn’t disagree.

“Ok, strategy,” Vos rubbed his hands together, “tomorrow morning- Che. What do we need her to look for?

“Not threat indicators,” Kit said, “Healing mechanics. How the Force moves through her.”

“We need to reframe Mace’s shatterpoints.” Obi Wan pondered. “Not as danger, but significance. Turning points….I’m not sure anything will sway Mundi, however.”

Vos looked around the group. “Ok you work on Mace, we’ll go to Che. Let’s do right by Choy. She’s here for a reason. The Force made her for something.”

“It has with us all,” Obi Wan said.

“Not like her,” Vos said, looking at Kit.

Ashu and Kitu led the men and Choy down the corridor to the rooms. Ashu glanced back at Choy who was not the same woman she arrived at dinner with. Choy was so quiet. Not in a tired way or even a sad way. She seemed absent. But they were all quiet. There really wasn’t a good way, in the halls, to talk about what had happened. They reached the rooms. Splint looked at her.

“Hey.”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly.

“Not what I asked.”

Jace and Sable's group drew closer to her. Jace took her hand in his.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” Kitu said from beside Ashu who looked at Choy with big sorrowful eyes and drooped ears. The siblings took their leave and all eyes were on Choy again. She slipped her hand out of Jace’s and went in her room.

The door closed with a swish and for the first time since her sonic shower that morning she was alone. In the silence a replay of feelings cycled through her mind. Of being looked at, being defined, being put into categories she didn’t understand. She pressed her hands to her temples and went to her window and opened it. Outside a warm breeze rustled the leaves in the garden treetops. She stood there and savored the sound.

“She’s shaken,” said Kix, crossing his arms. The clones had formed a circle outside Choy’s door.

“Yeah,” said Splint with a nod.

“They got into her head,” said Pitch.

Jace was quiet. “Give her a minute,” he said just as the medics were about to move to the door.

Kix looked at him. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” said Jace. “Then I'll go.”