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Charity and Decadence, Chapter 20

Word count: 5756

Synopsis: Star Wars isekai. Earthling woman ends up in the galaxy far far away during the Clone Wars with force sensitivity and a thirst for clones. Very very very self indulgent. See fic masterlist for more details

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

Warnings: none for this chapter, suggestive dialogue maybe, poorly edited and not beta read

Chapter opens in the temple gardens. The temple tour continues

Freshness and lushness of the temple garden drew Choy in like a moth to a flame. The air was alive with sounds of trickling fountains and streams and a distant rush of a large waterfall. All manner of exotic plants rose and crept and bloomed around her. Fantastic shapes and average looking ones packed together in a jungle within a huge luminous structure. The ceiling was like the common area’s, it seemed open to the sky despite being within the structure of the temple.

She felt a surge of presence and longing for something she couldn’t pinpoint. It was like the embrace of energy in the healing rooms but with dappled light and birdsong. She and Ashu meandered down a path towards a clearing. There were tweets and chirps of a variety of flying animals around them. Some bird-like and others more insect or reptilian. The clearing overlooked a pond and meadow of wavy grasses. These she knew. Dantooine grasses. She knelt down and ran her hands over their blades and felt their familiar presence. She stood again and looked out at large rows and beds of vegetables beyond in the distance against a backdrop of more large trees. Above it all were more levels of garden, waterfalls and the glittering domes of the huge space’s ceiling. A few people were tending the gardens, bent over and digging and watering.

Ashu brought Choy to a bench in the grass and they sat. The pond sparkled in the late afternoon light, its surface disturbed by flashes of colorful fish fins and other aquatic creatures. All around the huge space were terraces and mezzanines of garden. Several stories of layered foliage and waterfalls.

“This is amazing,” Choy breathed as she gazed around her, it’s been so long since I’ve been in nature. This feels so natural, like it could be the actual surface of the planet.”

“It is my favorite place in the whole temple,” Ashu said. Some young Jedi knights walked by and waved to them. “The upper levels are much more private and one could meditate unbothered for quite some time. Down here we practice many exercises and gather for more communal activities.” Ashu drew a deep breath and relaxed. “I would love to be assigned to a real natural world with forests or jungle or even a grass planet.” She eyed Choy as she said the last part.

“I’ve had my fill of the artificial and urban life as well,” Choy agreed, “but I don’t think a change of place is in the cards for me yet.”

“”In the cards?”” Ashu asked.

“It’s an expression. Where I’m from we have fortune telling cards. They come in a deck, like sabbacc.”

“Ah yes, I have heard of these things,” Ashu said and let a silence linger as Choy watched the fish. “I overheard the Masters saying that you have knowledge of the future, of the Cosmic Force’s plan. Did you learn to do that with the cards?”

“Oh no, that’s completely different, it’s,” she sighed, “a really long story.” Choy was silent a moment as she tried to remember the story, but it was all jumbled in her mind. “It’s strange, the things I remember and the things I forget from home,” Choy said almost to herself.

“Your… baby?” Ashu asked hesitantly.

“Is all grown up. They all are. I think….” Choy said, “it’s hard to be sure.”

“All?”

Choy looked at Ashu. “Three- no, four. It’s suddenly harder to even remember them.” Choy said, feeling tremendous guilt.

“All grown? Choy, how old are you?”

Choy wiped a tear away and looked at her hands. “I’m at least twice the age I look, maybe more.” She looked up at Ashu who was processing Choy’s revelation. “I don’t remember everything, from before. And the force- whatever it did to turn back time for me- seems to have erased a lot of my memories, but I remember enough that I must be that much older.”

“You have lost so much,” Ashu said, her ears drooping to the sides.

Choy sniffed and smirked. “It’s not as bad when I can’t remember. And this place is helping. I’ll have to come back here with the guys.”

“The clones you mean?”

“Yeah, the clones,” Choy repeated with a slight bite to the words. She paused a second before looking over at Ashu. “Sorry, I just-,”

“What are all of their names?” Ashu asked. “I was given their numbers only.”

Choy smiled. “There’s Kix and Splint. They’re the medics. Then the commando is Jace. The other three are Sable, Dusk and Pitch.”

“Such interesting names,” Ashu said. “Would you bring them all here?”

“Yes, although maybe not all at once. But I want them to see it and have a chance to experience peace and nature at least in here before…”

Ashu’s ears drooped a little again as Choy’s voice trailed off. “Those troopers in the recovery ward- you didn’t know them, yet you recognized each other somehow. And you glowed more.”

“That’s how it is with them all. I don’t know how or why I am drawn to them or glow or how I don’t have scars I know I grew up with, or,” she adjusted her tightening breastband, “why I make milk like I just gave birth.” She scratched an itch on the side of her boob.

Ashu’s little spots above her eyes raised up a bit. “I thought you smelled… like a mother. This is so much to carry and not understand. Tomorrow the healers may have all the answers.” She paused. “Next stop is the Archives, perhaps they can find information to help you, too.” Ashu rose and offered Choy a hand, which Choy took as she stood, noting that Ashu’s mind didn’t spill into hers at all. “One way or another, I am certain that the Order will help fix you and reunite you with your family,” Ashu enthused as she squeezed Choy’s hand.

“Thank you, Ashu,” Choy said, but she dropped her smile when Ashu turned away to lead her back to the forest path. Something about being “fixed” seemed off and being reunited felt strangely ominous.

They crossed the gardens and traversed various little bridges, passing gazebos and monuments gifted to the Order by nations throughout the galaxy. They reached the large wooden doors and returned to the sterility of the temple’s interior. Instead of making their way back to the turbo lift Ashu led Choy through causeways and staircases up through the levels of what she described as the temple's southwest wing.

“The lowest level is where the main entrance is and of course the garden. Its many sections continue up for several levels.” Choy admired the sunlight on the creamy golden stonework of the soaring halls and huge staircase they climbed to the next level. They took a quick repulsorlift to a hall above the level of the garden’s ceiling. They followed this hall toward the interior of the temple’s structure. It felt as utilitarian as the lower level, plain floors and walls but with a more institutional energy. They passed a set of heavy doors flanked by people in robes and white masks.

“This is the detention center.”Ashu said in a hushed tone, her ears flattened backwards as she leaned toward Choy once they passed the masked figures. “It is where force-sensitive people are kept who have been determined to be a danger to themselves or others, Jedi who have broken the Code, and Republic prisoners who may be helped by the Jedi.” Choy looked back at the masked figures. They were as still as the stone around them. So quiet. They proceeded up another stair to the familiar blue green marble floors and rosy columns of the healing area.

“And we are back to the Halls of Healing of course,” Ashu said.

Choy contemplated the placement of the Jedi jail between the hospital and the garden. Interesting, she mused to herself.

“We shall skirt the Halls this way so you may see the statues of our great healers from history,” Ashu pointed down a long causeway and led Choy to a bronzium statue of a robed woman with no eyes holding a book at her heart.

“This is Sabla-Mandibu. She was a seer about 25,000 years ago. Her teachings are foundational to the Circle of Healers.”

“25,000 years?” Choy wondered out loud. “Was she blind?” Choy asked.

“Yes and no, she was a Miraluka. They have no eyes but can see the Force,” Ashu replied and looked at Choy. “You would have been very very bright to her!”

Choy looked at the statues as Ashu continued forward, recounting a history of the Jedi healers they represented. They were in a busier area near the common hall, and had to avoid the people bustling about on their own errands. Choy was looking up at the various larger than life effigies of long dead Jedi, about to ask a question about one, but as she turned she ran into something very solid yet warm. And began to fall.

“Ooof!” Choy had stepped in front of a larger person who was also deep in conversation with a companion in a group of men.

Choy regained her bearings as a man supported her with his hands on her arm and shoulder. She grasped his arms for her own purchase. Skin to skin. Immediate mind connection. Complex, passionate, dangerous, conflicted and grief stricken energy she felt in his hold. She looked up at a swarthy and angular face, he had dark eyes underscored by a gold line across the bridge of his nose all framed by black locks. He held her gaze with an expression already changed from the initial surprise. He’s like me, he’s reading me, Choy realized. The man released her and she stepped back. She immediately began to apologize as Ashu supported her by her elbow.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention-,”

He held up a hand. “No, you are carrying a lot,” he said as he studied her.

They stared at each other a beat longer. As Ashu and the man’s companions looked on.

“It’s my fault Masters, I was pointing out the statues. We are on a tour,” Ashu explained.

“Well now, no harm done,” boomed a loud voice with a thick and almost musical accent. Choy looked up to her other side at a big green man with a head full of tentacles and large glassy eyes as black as deep space. He grinned, “My name is Kit. And the man you just met is Master Quinlan Vos,” he added with a clap to the man’s back. Quinlan shot him a grateful look. “And this is Master Cin Drallig,” Kit continued and stepped aside to indicate a severe-looking older man with long grey hair pulled back from his face. He gave Choy a cold nod, his attention seemed to be on Quinlan.

“You must be the new visitor here, I was hoping to meet you.” Kit Fisto continued, gesturing to her glow, “I’ve never seen someone like you before.”

“I just got here today, yes,” Choy said. The Natuloan seemed familiar to her and she searched her memory for scenes he may have been in. She glanced behind the man at masked figures like the ones by the jail, noting that they were surrounded by them and not introduced. She smiled at them all the same. One of them tilted his head just slightly. “It is nice to meet you all, I’m Choy,” she said, admiring both younger Jedi.

“We’ll let you gentlemen get on with your business, we have to stick to our schedule,” Ashu said, looking at the guards around them.

“It was very nice to run into you, my dear,” Kit said with a grin full of sharp teeth. Choy found him very charming and comfortable to be around. And handsome despite being very very alien.

“I’m glad to run into you as well. Maybe we can run into each other again- just not so abruptly,” she said to them and smiled apologetically at Quinlan.

“Perhaps you can join us for dinner tonight, just look for us in the refectory here,” he said and pointed toward the direction of the healing hall’s dining area.

“Well, we-,” Choy began.

“We are expected at a dinner with the healers and Master Windu,” Ashu said at the same time as Choy.

“Ahhhh well that is interesting,” Kit said with a hand on his chin, “perhaps we shall see you soon after all. Have a good rest of your tour,” Kit said to Choy, “take her to the gardens,” he added enthusiastically to Ashu.

“Ladies,” Drallig said in parting.

Choy let her eyes linger on Quinlan who was still studying her and looked a little stricken. She knew that he knew, well, probably everything. She also felt a confusing combination of deep grief and familiarity from him. She blinked and let Ashu lead her away to another sweeping stairway.

Ashu glanced back to be sure there were no eavesdroppers and whispered, “That one, Quinlan Vos, fell to the Dark Side. He has only just been reinstated by Master Yoda. He is probably being relocated from the detention area to quarters near the Halls of Healing.”

“So he would have been in jail below the halls of healing,” Choy wondered. “Is that what the masked people are? Guards?”

“Yes, the Temple Guard, their identity is secret, no one knows who they are. They keep their own company, the Master Drallig is head of security,” Ashu explained.

“Ah, Mr Grim and Guesome. That role fits him,” Choy said.

The stairs led them to a level that was the educational heart of the Order. Padawans and knights bustled around to classrooms, training chambers and verandas for open air training.

“Hey sister, how is the tour going? Hello Miss Echoy’la,” Kitu waved at Choy as he ambled up to Ashu from the turbo lift he’d stepped off of.

“Hello brother. We have seen much of this wing, and met some interesting people,” Ashu said, “Quinlan Vos,” she added in a whisper. Kitu’s eyebrow spots shot up.

“I hear Vos doesn’t like clones,” Kitu said, glancing at Choy.

Choy frowned. “How disappointing, he’s sure pretty on the outside.”

“If you say so,” Ashu said with a smirk.“What have you been doing, brother?”

“I showed the clones around and now they are exploring the temple on their own and I’ve just been checking in on them. I will meet them later for third meal while you take Choy to the Healer’s dinner.”

“We are headed to the Archives now and are hoping they will have good information that is helping Choy,” Ashu said.

“Something tells me she will be getting more help than she could ever expect,” Kitu chuckled. Ashu nodded, and they exchanged a look Choy took as them sharing an inside joke.

Ashu and Kitu took Choy through the austere and formal corridors of the temple's upper levels. Bronzium statues of Jedi lined some of the busier halls and toward the center of the temple the halls became quieter, darker somehow, yet still well lit. It seemed hushed with the weight of stone and history.

Choy had felt the sensation of longing and yearning in the lower levels fade away as they climbed the temple. At this height the walls felt quieter and she could actually think, could actually process all she had felt in the gardens. But under it all the unsettling feeling from earlier crept back into her awareness. She tamped it down. It was just knowing what happens to this place, Choy reasoned with herself.

The archive’s entrance was down another grand hall, illuminated with cool blue lamps. Another set of huge carved wooden doors stood open, framing the view of a vast yet cozy arrangement of stacks glowing with blue light and desks and shelves of artifacts. Repulsor lifts soared up and down the taller stacks with riders. Holoscreens glowed at desks below. It looked as much like an old classical library as it did a sleek and high tech vault. To Choy’s delight it actually smelled faintly like books. Real books.

“Greetings! I have been hoping you would show up soon, Ashu what took you so long? It’s almost time for dinner,” said a rapid fire voice from a desk piled high with tomes and files and datapads. Choy turned to see a tall young woman stand up in a tunic and tights. She had striking aquiline features and red braids wrapped up around her elongated head. Choy was reminded of the carved reliefs of ancient Egyptian and Mayan people back home. She wore large geometric orange and pink earrings and necklace.

“Pavi, we have had some delays, I’m sorry,” Ashu said with a sigh.

“My stars, you’re really doing it. I thought the reports were exaggerating,” Pavi said as she looked Choy up and down. “Oh forgive me, Echoy’la Dala, I am Pavi Fida Lanza, one of Master Jocasta Nu’s assistants and EduCorps archivist.” She held out a hand to Choy.

Choy shook it. “Dala?” Choy asked.

“Wow you are a lot, you are so- so new, so alien!” Pavi whisper- shouted with a wide eyed flicking of her eyes as though she were reading Choy like a book. “Echoy’la Dala- your official name in the reports- it roughly translates to “lost woman” in Mando’a, the language of the Mandalorians.” She released Choy’s hand and grabbed some items off the desk. “Let’s get started shall we?”

Choy looked at Ashu who smirked, “I did tell Pavi we would visit her.” She gestured to Choy to follow Pavi around to sit at the desk with her. Kitu covered a smile and sat at the other end of the long desk, picking up a book and pretending to read.

“I’ve read all the reports about you- well, all the redacted ones I have access to, of course. And I knew you would have many questions, as I do, about yourself. So first-,” she looked at Choy with sparkling eyes, “- the glow. These are all the references we have that I could find about bioluminescence in force sensitive people," she handed Choy a small stack of items and sat at a data station in the middle of the piles of documents and scrolls and books.

“A species notation about near humans in the outer rim, a meditation record of a Master four centuries ago and a youngling’s drawing. That’s all. It’s embarrassing,” Pavi said while typing quite fast. Choy looked at the child’s drawing in its flimsiplast protective sleeve. It looked spookily like her, she noticed. But the date on the sleeve indicated it was quite old.

“I’m adding an entry in the system now. Have you always glowed?”

“No, I have not,” Choy replied, shooting Ashu a look. Ashu nodded in a way that said just roll with it.

“When did your glow begin?” Pavi asked, looking right at Choy while her fingers flew across the keys.

“It started when, um, on Dantooine after the war started. When I first met Master Windu and his troops,” Choy said a little sadly.

Pavi typed, “The reports mention you healed many in that campaign. And that you have a force bond with one of them. Is it part of that?”

“Part of the glow?”

Yes, the working theory is the glow is part of your force bond.”

“Oh well, yes, the clones they- well I, I glow more when I’m with them.”

“So if one walked in the room?”

“Just a little, if I feel the pull to him, but not necessarily,” Choy said looking at Ashu who nodded, encouraging Choy to continue. “I really glow with contact. When I touch them to heal them. When I make love to them.”

Pavi paused ever so briefly. “Interesting, fascinating. And how many clones have you- glowed with?”

“I lost count,” Choy began to say.

“Oh-,”

“Of how many I’ve healed. There were so many on Dantooine. But I’ve loved only 6, some on Dantooine and then Echo and some others.” Choy didn’t bother naming them.

Pavi gave her an affirming and conspiratorial look. “You are a collector like me. Only I collect little things- people’s stories, bits of forgotten lore, buttons. Do they all know about each other?"

“The clones?”

“Your clone lovers in particular.”

Choy glanced down, “The ones that are still alive and with me do, if they remember me.”

Pavi stopped altogether and reached a hand out to gently grasp Choy’s hand. “I am sorry, Choy, truely, for your loss. As for the others- Sometimes human men are like that, from what I’ve read, anyway?”

“Well, yes, but this is different. Some people forget me. They can’t remember me. Out of sight, out of mind. Even Jedi.”

“Jedi forget you? That explains some odd things in the reports. Let’s put a pin in that,” Pavi said, picking up a pen in one hand and jotting down a note on some flimsi while still typing with the other. “Did you choose them or did it just happen? Do you feel the pull with all of them?” Pavi asked while writing and typing.

“I- I am not sure, it just happens, things have been a whirlwind and some of them are whirlwinded right to me. But I did want to be with them, I’d choose any of them really, I think. I think this pull I feel is getting stronger.”

Pavi typed all this into her document and turned back to Choy with a somewhat faraway look in her eyes. “Does it feel different,” she asked while fingering a chunky plastoid bead on her necklace, “when you are with each one or is it the same thing each time?” she seemed to be looking through Choy licking her lip and trailing her hand down her chest.

Choy was a little taken aback at Pavi’s bluntness and interest but recovered quickly, she could tell her questions were without moral judgment; it was almost a refreshing change from the awkwardness of the other Jedi. Kitu’s ear swiveled ever so slightly towards her. “It’s always different. The clones are all individuals, even though their- their bodies are all mostly the same, each of them feels special. Different energy, different vibe. Different things they like. I would be able to tell them apart blindfolded.”

“Mmmm,” Pavi hummed, “have you tried that?” she asked with a sly wink.

Choy’s laugh came out too loud, “Pavi!” Then her eyes brightened, “Wait- that actually sounds fun.” Choy felt a rush of heat from her core to her chest. Kitu’s whiskers above his eyespots twitched from behind his book.

“You will see that I have many very good ideas, I am half Cerean after all.” She tapped her head with a finger and returned to her list. “Do they love you back- with their hearts?”

“I think so, depending on the man,” She trailed off. “I can feel it’s real, it’s love but also…it’s hard to describe. Some of them just need. It’s a desperate thing- to be held or talked to. It’s not always a sex thing. Some of them are such young boys still, and some are wound too tight to handle anything physical. But they all need to be seen and cared for as real people. Sometimes I’m a lover, or a mother or a confidant. Or all three.”

“That sounds like regular men to me,” Pavi said almost under her breath.

“They do love you,” Kitu said, “they have all told me in their own ways.”

“All?” Choy said softly.

“Thank you Kitu, I will enter any input you have in this file.” Pavi looked at her list of questions she had prepared and cleared her throat. “Does it hurt when they forget you?” Pavi asked.

“Yes, but it’s more of a disappointment, but not toward them, towards whatever it is causing it. It just all starts over again for them unless I help them to remember.”

Pavi kept typing. “So the amnesia isn’t complete?”

“It doesn’t seem to be, with help anyways, but I don’t have much experience with it. And it’s only certain people who forget.”

“Interesting,” Pavi's fingers of one hand flew while jotting down another note with her hand. Choy watched, fascinated. “Will we forget you?” Pavi pointed to herself and the siblings.

“I don’t think so,” Choy said, thinking about the pattern she’s noticed so far.

Pavi scribbled something down on her flimsi again. “If I forget you I’m writing that you’ll introduce me to some clones.” Choy suppressed a laugh. “Otherwise I’m sure I’ll remember to remind you.” Pavi smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at her.

“Of course,” Choy laughed quietly.

“Pavi there are clones in the healing wards, you can see them any time,” Ashu said.

“That’s not the same,” Pavi countered. “If they know I know Choy they might want to talk to me more.”

Ashu rolled her eyes. “That is not fair to Choy,”

“Ashu it’s ok, I will help Rapunzel let down her hair,” Choy quipped.

“Who?”

“It’s an old story from home,” Choy said. Pavi wrote another note to herself.

“Ok now that that is settled,” Pavi looked at her holoscreen again, “have you ever wanted to choose not to bond with one but found you couldn’t?” Pavi asked.

Choy opened her mouth to answer and stopped. Choice was never really something that crossed her mind. She had just followed a pull and a thirst for being with them. But had that really been a choice, she wondered? Surely she had resisted some. When she was on the Marauder for sure. Would she be able to now, she wondered.

“I, I’m not sure,” she said. She looked at Ashu who regarded her with soft sympathy. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in that situation. I love them and need them and it feels good, but I don’t know. And I don’t know if I’m taking something from them instead of giving them something.”

“Miss Choy,” Kitu said gently, setting the book down. “I spent the day with your mates. None of them look or feel like something is being taken from them. No matter what the Masters think.”

Choy smiled and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. Pavi and Kitu exchanged a look as she produced a tissue from somewhere and handed it to Choy.

“And this is only with clones? Do you ever feel this with other people?” Pavi asked, typing away again.

“Not so far,” Choy said and couldn’t help but to think of her encounter in the hall. Could this even happen with a non-clone?

“So why them? Why just clones?” Pavi pressed, mostly to herself.

“I have no idea, isn’t that why I’m here? To figure that out?” Choy said.

Ashu spoke next. “What does it feel like? Is it the same with all of them?”

“Um-,”

“I mean the Force Bond not the mating act,” Ashu said with a finger briefly in the air.

Choy closed her eyes and tried to compose a description. After a few moments she spoke. “It feels like my heart is full. Like it’s what I’m supposed to do. The force feeling flows and I’m drawn to them. Like if I don’t go to them I’m being wrong. And it hurts.” Choy adjusted her breast band.

Pavi stopped typing again, eyes on Choy’s chest for a couple seconds. “That’s not how Force Bonds are described in any of the existing literature,” she said, gesturing at the stacks of materials in front of her.

“No, I didn’t think it would be,” Choy said.

Pavi glanced at Choy’s chest again. “You have been lactating this whole time? Since Dantooine, for two years? But you told the medical team you had not been pregnant for some time. Are you really fully human?”

Choy sighed and looked down at herself. “Yes, plain old human. It’s something the force did to me, I think. It is more of an issue when I’m more connected to it.” She looked at Ashu’s curious and concerned expression.

“Hmmm, fascinating,” Pavi said, biting her lip in thought. “I will find more references about quick Force bonding and see if there are any clues as to why you are experiencing this. So this started when you were on Dantooine. Before that no Force? Has your memory come back? Where are you from?” She turned to the desk did the double handwriting and typing thing again.

“I wasn’t force sensitive before Dantooine, no. And my memory also comes and goes depending on how strongly I’m connected to the force. It’s a long story, but I’m not from this galaxy. Or universe I guess.”

This landed hard and the three padawans looked at each other. Pavi seemed to note Choy’s sidestepping of the question about her past and checked her sparkly wrist chrono. “Another really big pin then,” Pavi said and scratched something on her flimsi. “Tomorrow we can revisit these subjects, I will pull any references I can find and we can meet here again?” She looked at Choy then Ashu.

“Choy is scheduled with the healers in the morning. We can return after midday meal unless the Masters need to keep her,” Ashu said.

“That works for me,” Pavi said, then looked at Choy and leaned toward her. “They should not keep you longer than that. If they want you back after midday meal just tell them you have an appointment with Jocasta Nu.” Pavi winked at her.

Kitu checked his comlink. “Choy’s mates have been invited to third meal with the healers,” he said, seeming a little surprised. “I already told them to meet at the refectory in a little bit. I’ll go collect them. Meet you later?”

“Yes Brother, but before you go, what do the clones have to say about Choy?” Ashu asked him.

He sat again and steepled his fuzzy fingers while Pavi’s typing resumed. “They have told me much in confidence, but I can tell you that they all love her, truely. They use words like “completed” and “safe” and they feel concern about what the Jedi will do to change Choy. Their mate bond is strong- even the four she has only healed. They are knowing they will be redeployed and it bothers them to be separated from her. But they also say they feel the war really means something to them now.”

“What will happen when they are sent away?” Ashu asked no one in particular. As Kitu rose to leave.

“See you at the showdown,” Kitu said to Ashu who raised an eyespot as Kitu strode away.

Choy suddenly felt deeply distressed. Tears slipped down her cheeks and she got up to excuse herself. “I’m sorry I just need a moment-,” she blubbered and turned straight into a strong force presence.

“My dear, is everything alright? Pavi?” the Jedi woman Choy almost ran into looked over at her padawan, “what is going on here?”

Choy wiped her tears on her sleeve as Pavi stood and the padawans bowed.

“Master Nu, this is Echoy’la Dala, she is the-,” Ashu began to explain with a hand gently on Choy’s back.

Jacosta Nu was a severe looking older lady with grey hair in a tight updo. She wore stiffly folded light colored robes.

“Ah, the mystery woman collected from Skako Minor,” Jacosta Nu said as she stood back from Choy and peered down her nose at her, assessing, categorizing, noticing. “The reports were inadequate,” she said, scanning the glow around Choy. “There are no internal records of you, you shouldn’t even exist,” she said.

“Yeah no shit,” Choy said dryly in English.

“Choy will return tomorrow, Master, but now she needs to meet for third meal with the Healers,” Pavi interjected.

“Understood. When you return, find me right away, I have something I’d like to show you.”

“Yes, ma’am, Master Nu,” Choy said.

“I will bring her right to you master,” Pavi said. She gave her master a little bow that made her jewelry chime and click with crisp metallic and plastic sounds. Jacosta winced ever so slightly and, with a nod, strolled away and disappeared into the archives.

“Well that went better than I thought it would,” Pavi said.

“I love your jewelry,” Choy told her with a smirk.

Pavi positively beamed. “Thank you, I made it myself.” She ran a finger noisily along her necklace. “These pieces are made from old datapad components and a special resin from Jakku. My master thinks it clashes with the aesthetic of this place. I have agreed to disagree.”

“Good call,” Choy laughed.

Pavi walked them to the Archive’s doors talking the whole time about the lengths she plans to go to to collect helpful information. She bid them luck till their return that she made them promise to again. Choy turned back to look at the library at the turbolift. Pavi was still there fiddling with her necklace and watching them go. Choy could feel a tension that she couldn’t quite place before the lift whisked them down the levels to the Healing Halls.

“Choy?” Ashu asked tentatively as they stepped off the lift.

“Yeah?”

“Was it uncomfortable for you in the healing rooms or the gardens? Where the Living Force is so strong?” Ashu asked and mimed her own breasts growing larger.

“Oh well, they were affected but they won’t be very bad till after dinner. Then I expect I’ll need to deal with it,” Choy explained. She noticed the worried look in Ashu’s eyes. “Ashu, those were my favorite places in the whole temple! You didn’t take me anywhere bad for me.”

“Oh good,” Ashu relaxed. “And we have only seen a fraction of the temple. After we return to the Archives tomorrow perhaps we will have time to tour more of it.”

“Oh really? wow this is a big place,” Choy wondered.

They passed a window overlooking the Coruscant skyline, the city was illuminated and glittery under skies that coursed with blinking trails of air traffic. Choy paused to watch for a little bit. Then sighed.

“Ready for this dinner?” Choy asked.

Ashu looked at Choy. “I’ll be there and so will Kitu. You can count on us to be supportive. And your mates will be there,” she added warmly a hand on Choy’s arm.

Choy wondered what Kitu had meant by “showdown” but figured she had an idea.

“Let’s go.”

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