Notes, Disclaimers and everything else important you can find in chaper 1.

Forbidden Fruit
by Sleepwalker (reinert@tir.com)

~~~~~~~~~~

Part 12a

The group of six climbers limbered up on a plaza on the south side of a
mountainous building set apart from the jumble of skyscrapers. Ravi passed
out parachute packs and helmets to everyone. He nudged a distracted-looking
Valia. "Hey. You with us?" he asked softly. She flashed him a quick grin.
"Let's do it!" he whooped to everyone in general and leaped to the first
ledge on the wall next to him.

The dubious sport of building climbing was as popular on Coruscant as
mountain climbing was on other worlds. All Coruscanti had to climb were
buildings, and over the past several hundred years, the sport had exploded.
Over the course of her life on Coruscant, Valia had made the acquaintance
and friendshop of dozens of climbers. Early on they had persuaded her to
join them. She had finally given in to her sense of adventure and joined
them on several easy climbs.

She'd been hooked. She felt like she was twelve again, running wild with her
brothers and cousins on Nyme'. They'd climbed the tallest trees, gorges,
silos, anything that presented a challenge and more dismay to the more
responsible, older generation. So it was that now as an adult, she found
herself enjoying a beautiful sunny midmorning on her tenth climb.

"Come on,Traxis! Sluggard! After we kiss the sky, I'll let you kiss me!"
Ravi screeched from somewhere above. Valia smiled and rolled her eyes. There
'd be no end to the teasing if she didn't keep up with him. But then there'd
be no end to the teasing anyway. A couple of their more quiet friends
grinned at Valia, and they continued climbing.

Sometime later, they reached roughly the halfway point. They rested on a
balcony several thousand meters above what passed for ground level on
Coruscant, if anyone really knew where that was any more. The view was
spectacular. They savored the knowlege that they'd used nothing more than
their own muscles and stamina to get here. They were nearly up to traffic
level. A police cruiser passed their rest stop with a sing-song humming.
Paccaia waved amiably at its occupants. Ravi's eyes followed the vehicle
with avid interest.

"Don't you dare flip them a finger, Brillion," Valia warned. Or moon them,
like another time.

"No need. They haven't hassled us. I'll be saving that for the top, anyway."

"Are you sure they haven't passed any anti-climbing ordinances since the
last time we were up here?"

"You worry way too much, Lia." Ravi waved a hand, and leaned back indolently
to soak up the warm sunlight. "Not that I know of. They just can't ban this
building. This is the best in this hemisphere."

"Yeah, no bans yet. But someone will get them passed as soon as they get
annoyed with us for looking in their windows!" Paccaia raised his voice to a
shout to catch the attention of Bracca who was standing against the glass of
the nearby windows. He shaded his eyes as he peered in.

"Always hoping to see what he can't get himself, the little voyeur," laughed
Ravi.

"Aahh, it's just offices. Nobody there." Bracca turned away. Nobody let
Bracca off the hook about his everlasting hope of catching another glimpse
into the private lives of unsuspecting apartment dwellers. It had happened
on a climb before Valia had joined the group. It was told Bracca had nearly
fallen off the wall at the unexpected sight of the full-blown multi-species
orgy taking place inside an apartment. Then he had wanted to get inside the
building and join it. Not long afterwards, that building had been placed on
the list of structures banned to climbers. That list was growing every year,
and the challenge of climbing without being arrested was growing as well.
For young thrill-seekers who could not afford to make constant trips
off-world for climbing, this was one of the best outlets available.

"Well, let's keep moving. We're wasting daylight." Ravi, the unofficial
leader of the group stretched and stood. The others stretched as well, and
prepared to ascend the rest of the way. Valia took another look at the
cityscape shining in the afternoon sun.

She was dressed similarly to the other climbers. Her hair was bound up in
its customary loose knot under a helmet. Her knees and elbows were covered
with light padding. Close-fitting black knee length pants and a sleeveless
blue top kept her cool. Her heavy mid-calf boots were equipped with rubber
traction cups and powerful magnets that could be activated if necessary.
There were magnets on the wrists of some of the climbers as well. Lines of
thin, strong cord and grappling hooks were looped over her shoulder. They
climbed without repulsor jets. Only the parachutes or lines would save them
>from a free fall.

The afternoon wore on. The climbers passed each other by turns, taking short
breaks for water and food from their packs. Ravi knew the best routes up
this building, which walls had the best surfaces for climbing, the most
outcroppings. They planned to make a late afternoon jump from the top. All
the climbers carried commlinks which they used to talk to each other, and in
case they got separated or in trouble. They could also be used to summon
transport if they decided against jumping.

This would be Valia's tenth such jump. She loved the sensation of flying,
coasting past the spires of buildings, wind rushing against her skin.

At last they reached the top, their artificial mountain gleaming in the
golden late afternoon sun. Tired but triumphant, they danced on the flat
top, Ravi shouting and whooping incessantly. He hoped for a transport or
better yet, police car to pass close enough to see his special salute.
Thankfully, none did.

"Going to jump, Lia?" Bracca asked, readying himself for flight.

"Oh yeah, I'm going to go for it."

"Great. See you below, at the plaza we started from."

"See you there." She was already fighting down the fluttering in her
stomach. She was always terrified until she was actually in the air. Then
she could relax. Bracca, Paccaia and Ravi leaped first, Ravi naturally with
a banshee scream. Valia watched their chutes pop open, her friends
descending beneath colorful flowers of light strong fabric. They steered in
a graceful curve around the building. She stepped the the ledge herself. It
overlooked a deep slot cut into the side of the building. The next level was
so far down they had enough seconds to deploy their chutes before hitting
the building. It always seemed to work better if she just got it over with
without thinking too much about it. Besides the other two climbers were
waiting. Benk, the oldest member of the group smiled at her. His long gray
hair was tied back in a tail. It reminded her of Qui-Gon. What hadn't
reminded her of Qui-Gon all day long? She'd found herself thinking of him
innumerable times throughout the climb. Him and his tongue against her
fingers and the way he'd looked at her the other day... She tried to clear
her head as she looked down at her blue and yellow laced boots and the abyss
beyond her toes. She couldn't get him out of her mind. She wondered what his
reaction would be to her doing this. Probably his face would go all stern
and serious and he'd admonish her to be wise and not do this.

It was time to jump. She had no idea what Qui-Gon's take on building
climbing was, and was not likely to find out. But she knew that sometime
soon they were going to have to talk and confront what was between them.
Next time she saw him. On that thought, she launched herself into the
sun-warmed air.

She counted, her eyes screwed shut. Then she yanked the cord she'd had
clutched in her hand the whole time. With a flapping rush, the ultralight
metal and silk fabric unfurled from her pack and jerked her fall to a near
stop.

She opened her eyes and knew immediately that something was wrong. Her field
of view twirled crazily and she was dropping faster than she ought to be. A
sudden gust of air blew her toward the building and she struck a decorative
ledge with her leg so hard she knew it had to be broken. She was sure she'd
heard something snap over the rush of air. Her head swam sickeningly from
the pain, shock and the spinning. She felt herself blacking out and
desperately tried to keep conscious. That was the last thing she could
afford to do at the moment. Trying to ignore the pain in her leg, she looked
up and saw the left edge of her chute wasn't completely unrolled. It seemed
to be wrapped in one of the lines. She jerked on it, trying to free it. No
success. She realized she had little or no steering control, and it was
going to take all her ability to watch where she was going. Thoughts of
desperately crashing through a window to stop her fall flashed through her
mind, but that was likely to break many more parts of her, if not kill her.

She was passing close to a sheer wall of transparisteel. She stuck her arms
and one good leg out against it, trying to drag herself to a halt using the
suction cups. She more or less succeeding in jamming them against it. But
she would have to hang there upside down, She didn't have the strength to
remain upright against the polished wall and the pain was clouding her
consciousness. Her chute fluttered down toward her. She was forced to pull
free and continue falling. By now she was breathing hard with terror and
completely disoriented. What were Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan always saying about
mastering fear, remaining calm and centered? Empty, far-away words to her
now. They'd made sense under the safe shade of the awning in front of her
store. What she needed to save her ass now were whole limbs and a
functioning parachute.

She saw a causeway linking two buildings. It was lit up by the sun in stark
contrast to the dark canyon beyond it. Three white birds winged their way
below the causeway. People strolled along the causeway, outer cloaks lifting
softly in the breeze. A woman wore a beautifully patterned maroon and black
gown. Valia was conscious of curiously sharpened details as she whirled
downward despite her tunneling vision and the specks that danced before it.
She was on a direct collision course with the causeway. She tried to relax
her frantic breathing and readied her hands to grab a railing or lamp-post.
It was coming at her too fast. She reached out and missed. The shock on the
faces of passers-by mirrored her own as the breeze whirled her over and
beyond the bridge. People stopped and stared at the stared at the strange
colorful object flying away into the canyon.

Valia moaned and let loose screaming curses. She had to find something else
to grab. She was going deeper into the city's lower levels. She tried again
to make the parachute obey her futile tugging on the lines. All this did was
put her into a tighter spin. She was now at levels she had never been
before, and in seconds she'd be where no Coruscanti wanted to go. The breeze
funneled between the buildings, keeping her moving, dropping her into ever
cooler air. It was getting darker. She passed out.

Rumors and urban legends about the underworld of Coruscant had made their
way to Valia's ears since she'd first arrived here. The stories all carried
the same theme: don't go there. Those who fell or wandered below civilized
levels generally did not return at all, or in any recognizable form. Rare
was the tale of a survivor. No one had really catalogued the life forms on
the planet surface, entombed by the city above. In addition to some very
real monsters was the sewage, waste fuel and dumped machinery that fell or
was illegally thrown from above. It was a toxic, dangerous hazard below the
feet of every Coruscanti. With predictable regularity the issue would come
up before the planetary government and even the galactic Senate. What should
be done about it, and more importantly, who would pay to deal with it.
Debates droned on endlessly about jurisdiction, funding, studies to be done,
and on and on. Inevitably nothing was done.

Valia was now below any recognizable city level. The walls were closing in
on either side of her. She regained consciousness and weakly reached out for
one of them but only banged her arm. A dank smell was rising from below. Her
limbs were throbbing now and when she finally did manage to grab a ledge,
the pain forced her to let go and slip off again. Any climbing out she would
have to do would be made extremely difficult by her injuries. She tried to
grab at the wall next to her again. She grimaced at the mucous-like
sliminess on it. Her boots and hands skidded ineffectually all over the
slippery algae-covered wall. The magnets in her boots did nothing. It seemed
to be a stone wall. She slid deeper into the dark crevice, her parachute now
brushing both walls. The smell was growing overpowering and she thought she
heard water. She dropped the final distance and fell heavily into the
sludge-filled bottom of the canyon. Her ankle twisted sharply on some piece
of debris under the brown bilge and she cried out. She splashed down on her
hands and knees in the filth and her chute flopped down on top of her.

The shock of not moving stunned her. She then stood up carefully, feeling
for her footing in the calf-deep water. She quickly gathered up the useless
chute with the thought of at least keeping it dry. She struggled out of her
harness and bundled up the fabric into a roll. There was a small ledge about
eye-level and she stowed it there along with her gear and helmet. She took
note of her dismal surroundings, trying not to think of what else was down
here. It was so dark she could barely see. Her eyes adjusted to the gloom
and she saw the narrow crevice, probably once an alley or street stretched
away on either side of her. The walls were slimy stone, and with her broken
leg, climbing out was not looking like an option. A square black opening
dominated the opposite wall down >from her. Fallen pipes and junk lay
scattered about, covered with the same stinking slime and hanging gobs of
ooze. The water was a cloudy brown covered with an oily sheen of fuel. She
shuddered at the thought of how many bacteria must be in it.

She listened and only heard her own breathing and a faraway dripping. She
waded over to the ledge and took inventory. She emptied the pack. She had
one bottle of water, three energy bars, a bandanna, and the commlink. The
commlink! She grabbed it and activated it. She tried several times to talk
to the rest of the climbing group. Nothing. Frustrated, she checked it over.
The indicator for outgoing signals never lit up. Possibly she was too far
down between the colossal structures for it to be any use. In any case, it
wasn't working. She made a huff of disgust. Part of the creed of the group
of climbers she was with was a disdain of anything high-tech to assist them.
Here they were, able to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other,
defeat distance, gravity, disease and disability but there was a rebellious
clinging to low-tech forms of amusement. She couldn't really be too
disgusted as she adhered to this creed in her everyday life.

However, it was now proving to be her undoing. She leaned against the wall,
trying to support her most likely broken leg, stymied as to what to do. She
could start painfully slogging through the muck to find a way out, and risk
hurting herself even further. Or she could stay put and hope against hope
someone friendly to her cause would find her.

Before she could weigh the decision any further, something slimy brushed
against her right leg. Startled, she lifted it out of the water. Something
ripped into her left leg with a speed that swallowed her breath. She
screamed as white stars of pain exploded before her field of vision. She
danced frantically in the sludge, flinging off whatever had locked onto her
calf. A thick, pale slimy creature about a meter long was thrown against the
opposite wall. Its mouth was concentric rings of sucking, pulsing flesh.
Hooked teeth flexed out of every ring. Moaning, she scrabbled to the ledge
she'd previously thought too small for her. Clenching her teeth against the
pain of her injured limbs, she balanced on the narrow ledge. Comfort was out
of the question, yet she'd probably be waiting here a long time. She crouche
d and tried to stop hyperventilating. She deliberately made herself slow her
breathing. The spots in front of her eyes gradually cleared. The water still
roiled with whatever was swimming in it. At last it stilled. Valia gradually
became aware of a new noise down the corridor. Sounds of something furtively
swimming toward her. She backed against the wall and tried to be brave.

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The serene stone hallways did nothing to calm Ravi and Paccaia's frazzled
nerves as they stood in the entrance to the Jedi Temple. The two sweaty
sport-garbed young men felt acutely out of place. Their tight-fitting
brilliantly colored climbing clothes brayed loudly in contrast to the
competely covering brown shades of the Jedi students and knights. They were
being treated politely, even warmly, but the waiting was now driving Ravi to
madness.

Between the five of them, they had managed to come up with the names of the
two Jedi who they'd seen at Valia's store so often. Someone had been sent to
locate Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi a half hour ago, and still they
waited. Ravi picked nervously at his fingernails.

They had waited for Valia at the plaza and she had never landed. Then Brea
and Benk had arrived, asking about her, telling what they'd seen happen with
her chute from above. Police had been called and were now fanning out for
the search, but Ravi had gotten the distinct impression it would be a most
casual operation. Until she was missing for a certain period of time, there
was little they would do. The officers had reassured them that she'd
probably just lost her way and would show up on her own very soon. The chief
officer had looked the climbers up and down with undisguised contempt. It
was the lecture that followed that tripped Ravi's temper and launched him at
the officer. Only Benk and Bracca's brute strength, threats to kill Ravi,
and obsequious apologies had kept them all from being arrested on the spot.
With promises to never climb in this jurisdiction as long as they all lived,
the climbers backed out of the police station. Frantically worried and
unsatisfied with the intensity of the search, they had concluded more help
was needed. Ravi's father was off-world on a property-buying trip and
unreachable for the sums of money Ravi could have gotten for a desperate
bribe.

Would the Jedi help them? Would they grant a personal favor to a half-dozen
people they knew by sight and name only? Ravi fervently hoped he was right
about the Jedi Master's 'thing' for Lia and was now banking on it. His
stunted sense of personal responsibility and guilt were kicking in. He loved
Lia, even sometimes had fantasies of one day marrying her. But he knew she
was not for him, not that way. She needed someone who could give her things
he never could. But a guy could still dream. Sensible and cautious, Lia had
had to be coaxed into climbing with them. Once she had done it, she was
totally into it, but Ravi suspected she wouldn't be doing it on her own.

"Good evening. What seems to be the trouble?" A deep, slightly accented
voice spoke behind them. The two young men jumped and turned to see Qui-Gon
and Obi-Wan standing placidly behind them.

"It's Valia. She's missing. We jumped off the top of the Montikka building
and she had trouble with her chute," Ravi blurted out.

An expression of concern furrowed Qui-Gon's face at the mention of Valia's
name. A look of disbelief crossed Obi-Wan's. "You jumped off a building?"

Ravi had no further desire to defend the sport of base-jumping today.
Besides, even he knew it was not a good idea to cross Jedi Knights. He
looked down at the floor, chagrined. "We usually do after a climb. Sometimes
we get picked up if we're too tired."

"Well, never mind about that now. Come along and show us where you last saw
her. We will find her." Qui-Gon laid a hand on each man's shoulder and
guided them out toward the plaza. "Obi-Wan, go get anything you think we
might need. Meet us outside here." The complete lack of worry and hurry in
Qui-Gon relaxed Ravi and Paccaia as they walked out into the mellowing
afternoon light.

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Where Ravi and his friends had run into a solid wall of bureaucracy and
apathy, the Jedi strolled through effortlessly. The police handling the
search in and around the Montikka building immediately called in more staff
and deployed another dozen searching hovercraft as well as two probe droids.
Qui-Gon's questions were answered promptly and if the answer wasn't known,
someone was sent to find it. The Jedi never raised their voices, never
appeared worried or rushed in any way. They were treated deferentially and
respectfully, most particularly by the chief officer Ravi had had his
trouble with. Ravi couldn't help but roll his eyes disgustedly at the manner
in which the officer was nearly fawning before Qui-Gon and his Padawan.

After it was determined Valia was nowhere in the building or on its surface,
it was time to widen the search.

"Do you think she may have fallen all the way to the bottom, Master?"

Qui-Gon turned from his silent, pensive study out the window to look at
Obi-Wan. There was now clearly worry in his dark blue eyes. Half a dozen
terrible scenarios had gone through his mind before he firmly dismissed them
with calming techniques, concentrating on what they knew to be fact.

"That is a possibility. We'll have to find a way to search as far down as we
can." He turned to the chief officer, whose name was Gagnonn. "Is there
someone who knows the lowest levels of the city surrounding the building?"

Gagnonn's eyes widened. This was the first time he had hesitated at any
request the tall Jedi had made.

"Not even the police go to those levels of the city, Master Jinn." He
laughed and blustered. "There is no need for anyone to know the bottom.
Whatever is down there that would be a danger to the citizens most likely
would not survive outside its environment. And the...residents of the
underworld have a way of keeping themselves in check for us."

Qui-Gon's eyes narrowed. The very air seemed to freeze. The police chief
swallowed and shrank backwards. Hands on his hips, Qui-Gon took one, then
another slow step toward him.

"We have someone who at this moment may be out of her environment. And if
she is not found very shortly, she will cease to be your problem, and I will
take her place." He spoke very softly, so softly that Obi-Wan knew he was
controlling a rare fury. "Please locate whoever has knowlege of this area
and its lowest levels. We will go find her ourselves."

Gagnonn stammered and spoke to the floor. Yes, there was a civil engineer he
could call, yes, that was it, that's who could help them.

Ravi could not resist giving Gagnonn a derisive sneer and wave has he
hurried out of the chamber.

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Valia could not remember being so cold in all her life. There was no way to
get warm except by huddling in her damp parachute. She squatted or lay
awkwardly on the ledge, continuously shifting to keep her legs from falling
asleep. Her ankle was stiff and hurt sharply. Her leg was swelling and
stiffening and her arms throbbed. The bite on her other leg burned like
madness and would not stop bleeding. She gripped the piece of metal pipe
with both hands, fearful of dropping it. She'd risked one more painful dash
into the water to grab a weapon. There had been things, rubbery things
slithering through the water and reaching up to her. She'd stabbed the bar
at them. The metal had sunk wetly into the flesh of whatever was grasping up
at her. Thankfully they seemed easily frightened and had retreated...for the
time being. What if there were dianogas down here? She would never escape
one of those. Valia's overstretched senses had detected more movement coming
>from the cavelike opening. Now she wondered if she was beginning to
hallucinate. Wispy ghost-like tendrils of blue and green gas appeared at the
corners of her vison and disappeared. At least the smell had just about
vanished. Her nose had probably just given up. She'd finished her water and
had decided to hoard her last two energy bars. She'd caught herself nodding
off to sleep but snapped herself back to wakefulness. She was in terror of
falling off the ledge and being caught by those grasping things in the
water. She wondered if this was how it would end, if she would end up being
compost at the roots of the city. She tried to master her fear the way she
knew Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan must know how to do, but it was too abstract a
concept. Fear filled her, was splashed on her, was all around her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Part 12b

"How long do you suppose it's been since this place saw the light of day,
Master?"

Qui-Gon considered the question as they slogged through the gloom. "Who
knows. A thousand years, maybe."

With the help of an extremely ancient and cranky civil engineer, the two
Jedi had found long unused passages down into the depths and finally a hatch
which opened into the gap between buildings. The filth and stench were
nearly overwhelming. Daylight was now fading, not that it made much
difference down here anyway.

Obi-Wan sighed. "This is slow going. It would have helped if we had more
eyes and ears to search here." The police had refused to accompany them,
quoting regulations and bureaucratic babble. Gagnonn had very subtly hinted
that for a price, more help could be had. Qui-Gon had tuned it all out,
focusing his mind on Valia and the coming search.

"Stop, Obi-Wan. I want you to listen with your mind and feel very carefully.
Do you sense her?"

They paused between the dripping walls, breathing as shallowly as they
could. Obi-Wan wondered at the request. Ever the patient teacher, Qui-Gon
was giving exercises even in this cess pit.

"But Master," he hesitated. "You are the one who...you are much closer to
her than I am. Shouldn't you sense her far more than I?"

Qui-Gon leaned almost wearily against a wall. Obi-Wan studied his master in
the darkness. He suddenly had an idea of the grief that would consume him if
what they found wasn't a living, breathing Valia.

"I love her." The statement was made as though it were a terrible
confession, as if he'd admitted to secretly studying Sith writings. There
was a touch of amazement in it as well.

Obi-Wan stared. Of course. It all made sense. What an idiot he'd been. It
wasn't just a physical dalliance; his mentor wasn't losing his mind. He knew
by now Qui-Gon was never one to do anything halfway with his heart, all the
while acting as unemotional as a machine. There he stood in calf-deep
sewage, speaking of love. He wanted to laugh, but the gravity of the
situation and the look on his master's face stopped him. And it would have
meant taking a deep breath of the foul air. For a very long moment he stared
straight ahead at the damp wall, his smile threatening to crack his face
wide open. Qui-Gon regarded him curiously.

"Well," his student managed to speak finally. "That certainly has to be the
most terrible thing you've ever done." He hoisted his cloak out of the muck.
"Congratulations, Master. You're a human being."

Qui-Gon gave him a wry look and that short, one-note laugh of his. Even
though this was surely going to add a new dimension of interest and
challenge to being his apprentice, Obi-Wan reached out to squeeze his arms
to reassure him she would be found, and his loyalty to him was unwavering,
no matter what happened. Then he closed his eyes and shut out every
intruding sensation one by one. He spent a minute focusing, searching. In
the process, he experienced a renewed sense of calm and confidence. He
opened his eyes.

"Misery. I sense misery, fear, jealousy of the world above. Nothing evil or
threatening. And just the faintest cry of someone who doesn't belong here.
Almost more like a heartbeat." He paused thoughtfully, looking down the
passage. "That way. She's here. She's not far."

Qui-Gon smiled with relief. "I felt her, but I...wanted to be sure. She's in
much pain." And so was he. He had been listening with his heart. He started
in the indicated direction. "Let's get her out of here."

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Valia was shaking uncontrollably now. The flimsy chute was no protection
>from the damp, chill air. All the light was gone now except for the phantom
illusions that swam in front of her eyes. Her arms ached with the tension of
holding the pipe to defend herself, should one of those phantoms prove to be
solid.

A bluish glow was coming from the left. It didn't vanish like the other
lights. What new terror was this? Or was it possibly help? Now she heard
heavy sloshing footsteps. Friend or foe? Fully awake now and trembling with
fear Valia watched and waited. Two large forms materialized out of the dark.
Obi-Wan held his lightsaber over his head like a torch. Qui-Gon was behind
him. Now she was sure she was hallucinating. The ones she'd most desired to
see had been conjured before her by her pain and cold-befuddled mind. They
wore expressions of relief.

"Well, now. Here's a very pretty piece of flotsam." Obi-Wan stood before
her.

What?! Here she was cold and broken and miserable, and he was basically
calling her garbage. Smart-ass! She scowled at his calm, smiling face. Still
not quite certain he was real, she let the spurt of anger at him and her
situation surface. She swung the pipe at his head. He easily ducked it.

"She seems to have gotten a bit paranoid down here." Obi-Wan quipped.

Qui-Gon shot him a look, and began to assess how badly she was hurt and what
her state of mind was. "There may be a good reason." He looked around
warily.

Valia opened her mouth to tell them she was glad to see them, if they were
real, and to watch out for the suckers and slithery things in the water. But
her teeth chattered so badly and she was so weak, nothing but soft nonsense
came out. She tried again. It was so important that they know! Her voice
rose in pitch with her desperation to communicate. There was danger in the
water, this was all a silly accident. She peeled her lips back in a snarl
and shift ed her feet to be ready to swing the pipe if necessary. She
slipped off the ledge and fell forward. Qui-Gon made a quick lunge and
caught her before she could tumble into the ooze. She cried out in pain.

"Lia!" an agonized Qui-Gon gasped. He half set her down and bent over her.
He removed his cloak and flung it around her. He wrapped her in it and
scooped her back up. Obi-Wan had suddenly gone alert, sensing danger. He was
searching both ways down the crevice, lightsaber held high. He started
toward it, intending to face it and send whatever it was fleeing.

"Obi-Wan, I don't like the smell of fuel here. Have a care with your saber.
It might ignite it." Qui-Gon cradled Valia tightly in his arms. Holding her
living form filled him with a rush of joy and relief. But her pain and fear
were like blinding black smoke. She was still trying to talk through her
wildly clattering jaws.

"Hush now," he breathed, his lips against her forehead. Abruptly she stopped
struggling to talk and relaxed. Valia wondered what it was that had been so
important she tell them. It didn't matter any more now, whatever it was,
because Qui-Gon was here. He understood. He was holding her, nodding at
everything she babbled, concern and affection in his face.

The water boiled just beyond Obi-Wan, just outside the cavernous opening. A
huge brown tentacle snaked high out of the water and lashed toward him.
Reacting with pure instinct, Obi-Wan brought his saber down and sliced it in
half. Valia flinched and raised a hand to block out the sudden flare of
light. More tentacles whipped out of the water at them, thicker and longer.
Most likely the dianoga had been waiting for prey nearby, attracted by the
vibrations of footsteps and Valia falling off the ledge. Qui-Gon swung Valia
behind him and supported her with one arm behind his back while the other
brought up his lightsaber. He had it lit and had slashed two tentacles off
before a dazed Valia could process what was happening. She clearly saw the
brilliant green blade sink into the gelatinous flesh. She was pushed along
as the two Jedi began a retreat back the way they had come, as they both
fought off the dianoga. She hung, supported by Qui-Gon's strong arm. Several
sparks flew and landed on the surface of the water, igniting oily patches of
floating fuel. Obi-Wan cautiously poked at them with a foot, managing to
douse them. Qui-Gon was already sloshing away, Valia back in his arms. His
student turned to follow, holding his saber high to light the darkness
again. He glanced back nervously, and satisfied there were no more lunging
tentacles or blazing fireballs, he turned and ran after his master.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

The return trip back to the surface took less time than the trip down, now
that they knew where they were going. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan moved as fast as
they could, Qui-Gon easily carrying Valia. She later foggily remembered dark
dusty corridors and passing several skeletons. She was too exhausted and
cold to react. They re-emerged where they'd left Ravi and Paccaia to pace
helplessly and wait. Darkness was just falling. Ravi's fingernails were
bloody >from nervous chewing. He gave a whoop when he saw Valia slumped in
Qui-Gon's arms, then checked himself when he saw how white and unmoving she
was.

"Is she..is she dead?"

"No. She's very much alive. But we need to get her to a hospital." Qui-Gon
continued past him, showing no sign of weariness other than in the lines of
his face.

Satisfied to have rid themselves of this matter, the police dutifully filled
out their reports. Ravi, Paccaia and the Jedi made their way quickly to the
nearest public transportation platform. Here the city-smart Ravi and Paccaia
took over with their knowlege of taxi routes.

When the transport Ravi had selected approached, they made ready to board.
Quickly stepping aboard, they were met with the sight of thick, expensively
cut fabric and sparkling jewels. Feathered headdresses jerked as richly
dressed theater-goers gasped and backed toward the far end of the transport.
Paying them no attention, the Jedi settled themselves in the long couch at
the back. They both began removing items from their belt pouches and
attending Valia's injuries. Ravi and Paccaia faced the well-heeled occupants
of the airbus. No one spoke. A woman's nose wrinkled in distaste, and
several of them looked up and down at the new arrivals with open curiosity
and disgust. The smell of sewage and fuel filled the interior of the bus.
Even some of the males fanned their noses in an effeminate manner. But they
all stared. Ravi made a scoffing noise. Everyone loved the spectacle of an
accident. These were the people he would some day be performing for, writing
plays for? For once he didn't welcome this avid attention. Worried about
Lia, he turned to the bench behind him.

She was still wrapped in Qui-Gon's dark cloak and settled in his lap. She'd
finally relaxed the strangle-hold she'd had around his neck for the last
hour. Obi-Wan was on the floor, bent over her leg and examining the bite.
Her other leg was fractured below the knee. He winced at the damage. Hooked
teeth had cruelly pulled at the flesh and left many jagged tears. The calf
was swelling and puffed painfully above her bloody boot.

"I'll start cleaning this up," he said glancing up at Qui-Gon, who nodded.
His cheek was pressed against her pale face. She was still so cold. Her
eyelids fluttered, trying to stay open. She mumbled something and started to
reach down to her leg. She whimpered as Obi-Wan probed the wound and removed
a tooth. Her breath hissed and she took a drunken swing at him, trying to
swat him away. Her brow creased with pain. She struggled, either trying to
get off Qui-Gon or curl up in a ball.

"That'll be enough of that," Qui-Gon growled softly. He took her arm and
tucked it back under his robe. He banded his arms around her tightly and
pressed his forehead against hers. "Sshhhh." Her muttering ceased. "Rest
now, dear heart," he whispered so only she could hear. Valia's
purple-shadowed eyes struggled to stay open and locked on his. With an
expression of reverent adoration on his face, the Jedi Master touched the
center of her forehead with two fingers and slowly trailed them down her
face. A mental fusion sparked to life and Qui-Gon led her away from the pain
she was so determined to fight. He took her to a quiet place deep within his
consciousness. She smiled sleepily at him. She withdrew a hand and caressed
his bearded jaw, as if to make sure he was real. Their eye-contact held
until Valia's eyelids grew too heavy. Before she closed them, she dazedly
looked around at the sparkling city-scape out the windows and the audience
of well-dressed people. Before she could make sense of what she'd seen, she
fell asleep smiling, nestled in the sheltering cove of Qui-Gon's strong
neck. She'd stubbornly sneaked her other arm out from the robe again and
wrapped it around him. Qui-Gon sighed and rested his face against her mussed
hair.

His eyes met Obi-Wan's when the younger Jedi looked up from cleaning the
shredded and freshly bleeding wound. He hadn't missed the exchange between
Qui-Gon and Lia. It had been more than simply providing comfort. He smiled
and sighed. Whatever the consequences of it might be, the bond between the
two of them was there to stay. Obi-Wan saw with a sudden clarity that it was
forever. Death would merely be a physical absence to be waited out when it
came for either one of them. For now, there was only the problem of how to
pry them apart when they reached the hospital.

Qui-Gon read Obi-Wan's acceptance in his eyes and closed his own. He
continued to hold Valia in a mental and physical embrace. The shaken look on
his face was gone. Ravi's marriage fantasies evaporated at the sight of the
warrior's noble visage as he held her close to his heart. The two of them
had been falling in love for almost a year. No one had truly noticed it.
Except himself and his laser-sharp eyes, of course. They were a natural.

Obi-Wan continued to attempt to clean Valia's leg. Ravi and Paccaia
continued to alternate their stare-down with the theater crowd with
concerned glances at her. Brown sludge dripped slowly from the hem of
Qui-Gon's robe and puddled on the floor. No one said a word.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

The Jedi Master refused to leave Valia Traxis' room. So the hospital staff
and droids left him alone, a benevolent but intimidating presence in the
corner. In the quiet deep of the night he meditated, head lowered over his
knees in the chair someone had brought. Part of him heard every noise, every
approaching tread or footstep and its intent. Another part of him was
wrapped up in Lia's sleeping form, listening to her breath, her heartbeat,
her healing wounds. And another part of him focused on the currents of the
Force, testing its flow, seeking direction. He sensed nothing contrary. Not
a ripple. The greater good was not being compromised by his being here. He
supposed there would eventually be trouble, in the form of the protocol and
policy-obsessed Council. Well, let it come. It usually did. He would guard
her from that as well.

She stirred in the confining treatment couch. She'd been bathed and treated
and dressed in a thin white gown, while he had gone back to his chamber in
the Temple to wash and rid himself of his reeking clothes. He admired her
while she slept. It was something he knew he could never tire of do ing.
Would there always be this choking surge of emotion while he did it? She was
softly beautiful, vulnerable. Her lashes made sweet dark crescents above her
delicate cheekbones. Her icy coloring and chiseled features no longer gave
her a look one might mistake for arrogance, but of fragility. Her slender
hands, so quick with a knife, hand blender or a jab in the chest of one her
impudently teasing friends, lay half-curled on the covers. She didn't wake.
Satisfied all was well, Qui-Gon retreated into a guarded half-sleep.

Valia awoke with a start, bracing herself for several kinds of pain and
cold. She sat upright, confused to find none. She was warm, nearly
pain-free, and clean. Hospital sounds, sights and smells...Hospital? She
hated hospitals as much as hyperspace jumps. Maybe more.

"Oh, rot! If this isn't a freaking crock of dufalop dung..."

Qui-Gon's forehead wrinkled as he regarded her from the shadows at her
bedside. "And a good morning to you," he said pleasantly, leaning forward.

Valia somehow knew he'd been right there all night. She struggled to
remember everything that had happened. The clearest thing to her at the
moment was the vivid dream she'd had. A strange, but most pleasant dream.
She'd been standing by a gate set in a high wall. Qui-Gon was closing the
gate and telling her to not go through it. She knew there was something bad
she needed to give her attention to on the other side of it, things she
needed to deal with. She strained with curiosity to see over, but it was too
high. She tried to push past Qui-Gon, but he stood immovably. Then he'd
taken her hand and gently but insistently led her away. He'd walked her
through an amazing, beautiful garden, the likes of which she'd never seen on
Coruscant. She couldn't remember what they'd talked about, but it had made
her laugh, whatever it was. She very clearly remembered the fuzzy warmth
>from holding his hand.

As if he read her thoughts, he left the chair and dropped to one knee beside
the couch and took her hands in his. The contact of his big hands around
hers did not cause crazy electrical charges to ricochet around inside her
the way it would have before. It just felt good. She smiled directly into
his dark eyes. No longer was there any skittish urge to look away. She was
aware of a deeper, more intimate bond between them.

"If you wanted to be alone with me, you really didn't need to go this far,
Lia."

Had that wish of hers just been three or four days before? "Believe me, this
wasn't planned." Valia moved the covers aside to inspect her legs. Cuffs
with blinking indicator lights and medication cartridges were fitted over
the break in one leg and the bite on the other. A monitor with more
medication being delivered through her skin adorned her wrist.

"I'm told you should be able to leave later today. You responded very well
to the new bacta fluid they used. That bite had gotten infected and spread
through your bloodstream. The hypothermia was fairly easy to reverse."

Valia reached above her head to consult the screen of her chart. "When today
can I get out of here?" She scanned for this vital bit of information. "The
sooner I'm out of this place the better. I need to be at both stores today."

"Certainly not. You will rest until you are recovered." Qui-Gon took the
screen out of her hands and replaced it in its holder.

Their wills engaged in a stand-off as gray eyes met blue. She swallowed a
knot of frustrated anger. What did he know about her plans, the daily effort
it took to build her dream, the things she needed to oversee? Finally Valia
sighed. "All right. While you're at it, let's hear it. Go ahead and tell me
exactly what you think of the dangers of building climbing. Why we shouldn't
have been doing it."

When Qui-Gon said nothing, Valia hitched up her eyebrows to prod a response
>from him. His own climbed a notch. "You're expecting a lecture?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"I'm not going to give you one."

"You're not?"

"No."

Valia wondered why as the Jedi Master regarded her calmly. "Perhaps what you
expect is for me to validate with words what you already know to be true."

Yes, Valia thought, it was true that she'd overridden her more sensible
nature in favor of thrills and demonstrations of bravery.

"Risk is part of life," Qui-Gon told her, studying her hands. How well he
knew that. "You're not a child, Lia, and you're not my Padawan. You can
decide for yourself how much risk you live with." Part of him wanted to
forbid her from doing anything remotely like what she and her friends had
done ever again. But it would be hypocritical of him, and he knew it. He'd
been told enough times how many risks he took.

"I...I feel so... so alive when I'm climbing, and jumping."

He struggled to understand this. He was so closely bound to the living
Force. Yet for those who were not, games that flirted with death would be a
way to affirm life. He smiled and rubbed her hands. "I would have you be
alive as well."

Valia smiled and settled herself in this new closeness with him. To her
delight, he was clad in something other than humble Jedi brown for a change.
He wore a midnight blue cloak with a peek of white shirt beneath. His eyes
sparkled with the reflected light of the monitors in the darkened room. His
silver-shot long hair gleamed. Age had only deepened his truly handsome
features. She was curious what he had looked like twenty years earlier. Then
she decided it didn't matter. She felt somehow that their paths were meant
to converge now, as they were.

Qui-Gon rose from the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. He cupped her
face in his hands and slowly leaned close. His hands were so unbelievably
warm. She closed her eyes. A small tremor shook her at the pure pleasure,
the need of his
nearness. Her heart beat with deep slow thuds.

Say it. Tell her now, Jinn. "I will tell you this," he said very softly, his
mysterious accent becoming more pronounced. "I love you. And the possibility
of losing you yesterday threatened to undo nearly fifty years of training in
self-control."

He'd never spoken such a thing to anyone before.

Valia's eyes popped open and her lips parted in surprise between his hands.
The admission sounded as though it had been wrenched from him. She drew in a
breath and all at the same time tried to ask why me, could he do that, and
tell him she loved him too, and she was so happy, when he stopped the
impending collision of words with a raised finger held to her lips.

"Think carefully about what you feel for me, Lia, before you say anything.
Gratitude and love are not the same thing."

Valia stared at him. She nearly sputtered in frustration at his bland
caution toward her feelings. *All right, yes, I'm grateful to you for saving
my life. But if you think that's all I feel for you, I've got news, Master
Know -it -All. How can you know what you feel, but I can't?*

His blue gaze was only inches away. *Because this is not going to be easy
later.*

*What was that you were saying about risk?*

She closed the gap and impulsively kissed his mouth, hard.

They drew apart quickly. Valia watched a startled and then scandalized
expression cross the Jedi Master's face. Then a look crept over it that
clearly said even he knew that was no proper kiss. Smiling, he leaned
forward and completely committed himself to the path of the most exquisite
and interesting detour of his life.

He gently took her slack lower lip between his. Tentative exploration
blossomed into a full-blown, open-mouthed expression of passion. Light
seemed to flicker outside their closed eyelids. Detour? No. Destiny. Valia's
arms automatically went around his neck. Velvety soft, hard, sweet and salty
all at once, his lips on hers. And...knowing. As if he'd done this with her
before. She sensed a wild lust for life, a sensual creature under that
carefully controlled exterior.

When it ended, Valia sagged back on the bed. She was suddenly so drained. So
tired. It was still middle of the night. She put her hands on her stomach to
stop the fluttery sensation of it floating away. Her rejoicing skin was
doing a mad shivery dance. Parts of her wanted nothing to do with sleep. He
loved her.

"You need your rest," she heard Qui-Gon murmur in her ear as the bed covers
were drawn up over her. As if he'd merely given a child a drink of water
while tucking her in. She didn't hear the ever so slight tremor in his
voice.

"Great... flaming... gobs of..." she muttered as exhaustion swept her into a
deep sleep.

Part 13

Is this your idea of resting?"

Obi-Wan Kenobi had seemingly materialized in front of her. Valia jumped with
a guilty start and looked up from her inventory on the data screen as she
sat at one of the outdoor tables. The Jedi Padawan stood there smiling at
her. "You're not going to hit me, are you?"

Valia smiled and sighed. "No, Obi-Wan. Have a seat. I'm really sorry about
that." He waved her apology off as he sat in the chair next to her.

"And I'm not over-exerting myself, as you can see. Just catching up on
inventory for next week. I'll go home in a little while. Promise."

The tree in the planter was beginning to leaf out, casting thin shadows over
them both and the collection of tables. He observed her assessingly as she
worked, then satified she was as well as she sounded, turned his gaze out on
the plaza and its scattering of pedestrians.

Valia seemed to suddenly notice Qui-Gon was absent and how odd it was that
his student was without him. "Where's Qui-Gon?"

"Probably sleeping."

"So he sent you to check up on me for him." She guessed the truth
accurately, but there was also gentle teasing there.

"Yes, but I...I wanted to see how you were myself."

Valia smiled fondly at him and looked down at the table. "I never did say
thank you to either one of you. It sounds a little trite for what you did."

Obi-Wan shrugged as though to lump it into just another day's work. Jedi he
might be, the gesture still reminded Valia of her self-conscious teen-aged
male cousins or brother, or Ravi a decade ago. Her heart tugged with
affection for him.

"We were quite relieved to find you in one piece." A mild understatement, at
least from his master's point of view.

"Well, if you hadn't found me when you did, I'm not sure I'd be sitting here
wondering how many liantiums to order."

"You were holding your own very well when we got there."

"Thanks, but that silly piece of pipe against a dianoga? I don't think so."
She shuddered at the memory of those muscular tentacles.

Compliments and thanks said, they lapsed into silence, not sure what else to
say. Valia had rarely spoken to Obi-Wan alone. She sensed something
different about him today, an acceptance that hadn't been quite
whole-hearted before. Valia played with a fallen leaf frond on the table. "I
thought Qui-Gon was really going to chew me out when I woke up. I don't know
why. I do know it was a whole series of stupidities that landed me down in
that place." She was sure if she had the parachute she'd left down there she
'd be able to figure out what had gone wrong with it.

"I suppose all I could think of was the way Tak, my father, would get ready
to give us all one of his famous lectures when my brother, cousins and I
would get ourselves into trouble. He's almost as tall as Qui-Gon, and he'd
puff his chest out and cross his arms and stand right over you, I mean right
over you while he was doing it." She demonstrated with her arms and chest
and pulled her pretty heart-shaped face into a horrible scowl. "What the
blankety-blank were you thinking? No!! You weren't blankety-blank thinking!
Blankety-blank go off and get yourselves and my blanking unborn descendants
blanking killed on that rock! Stay the blank off that blanking
blankety-blank hangar! Stay away from that blank-blanking canyon! What the
blank did I tell you about blankety blank climbing around in that blanking
cave?"

Obi-Wan was grinning at her impression. "It sounds like you've had an
illustrious career already in climbing things and getting stuck in dark
places."

Valia rolled her eyes and waved a hand. "I suppose one of these years I'll
outgrow it."

"If you're worried about lectures, it's never been Qui-Gon's style to
belabor a point with words. His usual method is to carefully stand you in
the way of the lesson and let it hit you between the eyes." Or some other
choice body part.

Then he looked at Valia and shifted with slight embarassment. "If I may
speak bluntly, I think your father is the very last person Qui-Gon wants you
to be reminded of around him."

Valia lowered her eyes and pressed her lips together. How well I know, she
thought. She flushed at the memory of that morning in her apartment. Qui-Gon
had taken her home with a promise to see how she was doing later that
evening. Before he'd walked out the door, he'd extracted her promise that
she would rest. And just a couple more kisses. Well, maybe it had been more
like three or four. Or five. Undoubtedly just to see if they were as nice as
last night's. And to hone his technique. He was really getting good. In the
middle of one of them, she'd nearly begged him to take her right then and
there. Only biting her tongue had kept the completely wanton request from
slipping out.

Obi-Wan reached under his cloak and searched for something in a pouch on his
belt as if suddenly reminded of something. "He gave this to me to give to
you." He pulled forth a long blade of grass. The middle of it had been woven
into an intricately patterned double knot. Valia smiled as she took it.

"I'm getting quite a collection of these, you know. There won't be any grass
left at all on Coruscant if he keeps this up." She turned it over and
caressed it with a fingertip. She decided this one would be a little more
special than the others, after what he'd told her last night.

Eighteen year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi watched her admire the small token from
Qui-Gon. His mentor: galactic ambassador, master swordsman, feared Jedi
warrior, defender of the Republic; and hopeless romantic, tying love knots
out of grass. What else was hiding under that stern exterior? Maybe he didn'
t know Qui-Gon as well as he'd thought. Still, every part made up the whole
of the man, and Obi-Wan carefully observed everything his teacher did
through yet-youthful eyes.

Lia seemed to remember he was sitting next to her. "Well I suppose I can
take care of business later. I really will be in trouble with Qui-Gon if I
don't at least look like I'm resting at home." She closed the screen and
folded up her workpad, and tucked it and the grass knot into a pocket of her
jacket. Obi-Wan helped her out of her chair and led her across the plaza
with a steadying arm. She was walking with a slight limp and didn't seem as
sure on her feet as usual. She made a very small wince as the new skin over
the bite wound pulled tightly and the fracture point in her other leg
reminded her it was still healing.

"Do you want me to call a speeder? How did you get here?" Obi-Wan frowned
with concern.

"I'm fine. Thank you, but no. Let's just keep walking. Things will loosen
up." She seemed plenty loose already. "I really must tell your master what a
gracious gentleman he's taught you to be." Valia leaned gratefully on his
arm.

He turned to look at her, his long-lashed green eyes searching her face for
sarcasm. There was none. Only smiling sincerity.

"I'm completely serious," she reassured him. Then she reached over and
playfully yanked his braid. "Say, have you practiced your juggling?"

"Actually, yes I have..."

From that day on their relationship deepened into a comfortable friendship.
And so it was that Valia Traxis was taken home on the arm of a Jedi Knight
for the second time in one day. What were her neighbors going to think?

~~~~~~~~~~

Part 14a

Valia chided herself yet again for being restless and ridiculously nervous
waiting for Qui-Gon's visit. Her pacing probably wasn't helping either of
her legs any so she made herself sit down on the couch. She tried to calm
herself and think of this as no different than if he showed up at her bar
where she would serve him juice and wit. This was just a visit from a
friend. A close friend.

She asked herself if there was more she wanted from this visit than just for
him to see how she was doing. After all, he could easily check via video
link or even commlink. But that wouldn't have given her quite a reason to
put on such a fine outfit. Something you had to get up close and personal to
truly appreciate. Something soft and touchable. The dark blue silk of the
tunic and trousers whispered over her skin. The ensemble was very
comfortable but fit closely at all the right places. She nearly darted into
her bedroom to change into something else, suddenly fearing the neckline
would appear too obviously low. When was the last time she had worried about
such a thing? Well, at least the overtunic could be drawn further closed if
she felt the need. It brushed the floor, in keeping with the fashions of the
day. Finally, a style she could easily accomodate. She was so short nearly
every garment was too long on her anyway unless it was altered. Clothing
that dragged trainlike on the floor was supposedly the height of fashion in
the Core Worlds.

Would she have dabbed a whisper of perfume on her throat for another
visiting concerned friend? Hardly. Valia had done everything in the last
year to sidestep or run from the man's virility. For her there was no
escaping its potent attraction so she chose to confront and answer it with a
few feminine wiles. Feminine wiles indeed, she snorted, resting her face on
her hands. What was she doing? He loved her apparently for who she was, her
heart and mind, not for what she was wearing. He was probably totally immune
to such surface frippery, trained to not even notice it. She sighed and rose
to start pacing the apartment again. Still, it felt all too good to pretty
herself for someone again.

Normally she wouldn't have bothered with anything but a simple hairstyle
that kept it out of her face. But since she'd had time to play with it, she'
d woven it into a loose fish-bone pattern and tucked the long tail back
under itself. She looked at herself in the small mirror in the foyer one
more time. She gave herself a woozy, heavy-lidded smile. She did indeed feel
a bit woozy. The drugs she'd been receiving were some powerful antibiotics.
She glanced at the obnoxious heavy medical bracelet on her wrist. It was
still monitoring vitals and delivering steady doses of medication into her
skin. When the feedback to its detectors indicated she no longer needed it,
the clasp would release. Until then, it was nearly part of her. The minute
it opened, she planned to ceremoniously fling it from her balcony.

She jumped at the sound of the door chime and snapped herself out of her
would-be seductress pose. Without her usual caution of checking the
viewscreen to see who was there, she immediately stabbed at the switch to
open the door. She knew who was on the other side. She just knew it was him.
She could feel his presence through it as surely as if it was open. The door
slid aside, and there he was, gloriously filling the entryway.

Qui-Gon's eyebrows hitched up a notch as he scanned his hostess.

"Did you check to see who was at the door before you opened it?" he chided
ever so gently.

"I knew it was you. No, I didn't." How had he guessed that? "Come in.
Hello." She backed away from the door, smiling at him.

"You really should stay in the habit of doing that, no matter what." He
strode in, the door closing behind him.

"I know, I know," she sighed gustily, flapping her hands. She led the way
into the sitting room.

"You went to work today." It was a question without really being one. Valia
glanced over her shoulder at him. Of course she knew Obi-Wan would tell him
where he'd found her. Not that she minded. He hadn't forbade her from
working. As if he had the right.

"Yes, I did. Just for a couple of hours. Obi-Wan brought me home and I spent
the rest of the day here, resting." She fought down an impulse to be
sarcastic.

Walking behind her, Qui-Gon noted the slight unsteadiness in her gait. Maybe
it was just limping. No, it wasn't. It wasn't stiff like a limp would be.
Her eyes were a little glassy and she looked far too...relaxed. He studied
her as she rearrranged several large pillows on her couch.

"Lia...have you been drinking?"

She whirled around to face him, her dark blue duster flying. "What?! No!"
She stood in the middle of the room, her hands on her hips. "What is this, a
damned inquisition?"

Qui-Gon stared at her. In spite of how irked she was at his questioning,
Valia nearly laughed at the picture he made. He looked as though her
outburst had flattened his ears back against his head.

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Forgive me. No, it is not." He was
wearing his usual attire of tan and dark brown again. His face bore an
expression of gentle concern, his hands folded in front of him. Despite his
humble demeanor, he still seemed to fill her entire apartment, he was so
big. That larger than life aura was emanating from him as well, leaving no
space untouched by him, no room for her to think of anything but him.

"I've had good reason to be worried about you in the last day or so, wouldn'
t you agree?"

Valia walked back toward him, rubbing her forehead. "I'm sorry. I suppose,
yes. But it's these drugs. I think. They're making me feel a little
strange."

Qui-Gon studied her. His mouth quirked into a small sideways smile. She had
actually primped and preened for him. She was ravishing. He speculated he
would have to very carefully frame how he said it, but he wanted to tell her
that her filth-spattered face of the night before was even now the most
beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. Even when she took time to
make herself up, she was without the least bit of artifice. Her pupils were
dilated, making her gray eyes look bigger than ever. The blue color she was
wearing suited her well. The way her hair was braided back exposed her
delicate ears, giving her a vaguely elfin look. The sudden and appealing
idea of running his tongue around the edges of those ears crossed his mind.
He could imagine his hands sliding around the silky back of her neck where
those short tendrils sprouted and pulling loose the whole mass of her hair,
making it fall down her bare back, and...

He abruptly cleared his throat and willed himself to stop his mind's
undisciplined wandering. "Then all the more reason you should be resting.
Perhaps I should go."

"No, no, no." Valia crossed the rest of the distance to him, her face
appealing him to stay. "I'll be all right. We can visit a while. Come on,
let me take your cloak, and I'll get us some tea." Her hands reached out to
lightly rest on his arms. With a feeling similar to this morning's sensation
of the ground becoming very slippery under his feet, Qui-Gon shrugged out of
his robe and handed it to her. She very carefully folded it in half
lengthwise and just as carefully hung it on a hook by the front door. He
followed her with his eyes the entire way there and back to the sitting
room. She stopped and faced him. Their eyes locked and held. It seemed that
there had been nothing but awkwardness and apologies since he'd walked in
the door. In that moment something clicked into place and everything
properly aligned.

He fell toward her at the same time she lunged at him. Two pairs of hands
collided, fingers lacing. Their mouths slanted together and melded. She
gasped and whimpered into his mouth. He slowly stretched his arms out and up
winglike, pulling her hands with them until she nearly hung from him as
though crucified.

Their souls rushed to each other nearly as quickly as their bodies had.
There was that flickering light behind her eyes again. Valia's head was
swimming not from the drugs but from the sheer speed of their coming
together and the shocking blaze of passion. She knew just a fraction of a
second of fear at what she'd opened the door to. Then it was gone. She
smiled against his mouth, still kissing him. She tilted her head back and
strained to reach him by standing on her toes as he inclined forward to her.
He squeezed her fingers and smiled too, at the upwelling of joy he felt in
her. Their thoughts mirrored each other's minds. *You. I found you. I
finally found you.*

Qui-Gon released her hands and picked her up at the waist to hold her
tightly against him. Now she didn't have to stretch so far. And she was
delightfully pressed full length against him. Beyond the immediate reality
of how good his lips and tongue felt against hers, she was vaguely aware of
the room slowly spinning on its axis. No, it wasn't the room, it was them.
They were slowly turning in a strange slow dance. This was one dance Valia
never wanted to end. Her world abruptly tilted and she yelped as they both
went down on the couch. How had they gotten all the way over here? She
dizzily stared at Qui-Gon in open-mouthed surprise from on top of him. When
she saw this was intentional and how nicely his seated big body had
cushioned her, she laughed delightedly. She wound her arms back around him
and made a little moan as she refitted her mouth against his. The taste and
scent of him was still so new, so delicious. She wanted to binge, to feast
on him. She wanted to kiss him, to lick him everywhere but she stayed near
his mouth. She didn't want to break this intimacy. She wanted to get as
close to him as possible. She could no longer deny the primal urge she felt
to mate with him. It frightened her how frantic she was to have him. What
had she wanted from this visit? This. Him.

Now that she was resting comfortably on him, she could concentrate more
fully on every sensation. His chest and shoulders were every bit as solid as
she'd imagined they were from the brief encounters her arms had had with
them before. His own arms were wrapped tightly around her at her waist and
upper back. His hand glided up the back of her head under her hair. She felt
it loosening and coming undone. She herself was taking great handfuls of his
hair and sliding it slowly through her hands.

His mouth. she could not possibly get enough of his mouth. She placed
nipping little kisses into his moustache and around his lips.She couldn't
help making soft little noises of pleasure every time he caressed her tongue
with his own. He seemed to be matching her demand for demand, pressure for
pressure, letting her lead. But she thought she was beginning to see the
first cracks in that perpetually controlled composure of his. The idea of
seeing him lose control over her, because of her, was both tremendously
exciting and frightening. She took his lower lip in her mouth and gently
bit. The sudden intake of his breath sent a thrill through her. She skimmed
her lips through his beard and nuzzled the side of her face against his jaw.
No stubble burn, she thought rapturously. She further explored the line
between his soft facial hair and skin over the hard planes of his face. She
trailed her lips over his cheekbone, the bridge of his nose, an eyebrow, his
temple, where his hair was the softest and pulled back to expose his ears to
her. She was rewarded with another hitch in his breathing when she closed
her mouth over an earlobe and sucked on it. How long had it been since she'd
first thought of doing that? She shifted slightly on him so she could do one
more thing she'd daydreamed about. He actually trembled when she drew her
tongue in a long damp swath up the strong column of his neck. She smiled and
kissed his jawline. Paradoxically she wanted to push every single one of his
turn-on buttons immediately, and yet hold him close and guard the
vulnerabilities she was exposing. She suddenly wanted to spend the rest of
her life doing this with him. Valia irrationally wondered if that would be
enough time to do everything she could imagine. She realized she was almost
panicky in her grabbing at him, struck with the thought of wasted time.

Her shifting on him had exposed a further delight to her. She'd moved so she
was straddling one of his thighs. Now aware of and very pleased by the
presence of a very large and normal male arousal against her leg, she
shifted again to get comfortable. She lowered herself over it so she she
could feel even more of him. She smiled. He was so straight and long. Nice.
Then just a flicker of doubt skittered across her mind. What if...? No.
Maybe in all this lustful frenzy his lightsaber hilt had gotten twisted
around on his belt and buried in the layers of his tunic. She fully expected
him to be wearing it. She'd never seen him without it. She wondered if he
slept with it. She stifled a laugh and wondered if she'd get to find out.
Involuntarily she shifted her eyes and slightly turned her head to check
down by his waist. There it was, in its usual place at his side. The relief
and joy she felt at the sight of it struck her as so funny a crazy giggle
burst out of her. She brought up a hand from behind Qui-Gon in a useless
attempt to stifle it. She continued to look down at it, unable to stop
herself from making a very base analytical comparison. More laughter bubbled
up. Qui-Gon drew his head back to look at her in consternation. She placed
her hands on his shoulders and leaned back so far she nearly tumbled off his
lap, and laughed at the ceiling. In spite of her embarrassment it was an
easy, musical laugh. The drugs, combined with the flush of her recent escape
>from an early death, and finally feeling able to let herself go with him
combined to make her unusually giddy. She couldn't remember the last time
she'd felt this...happy.

Qui-Gon held her around her hips to keep her from falling to th
e floor.

"All right," he said at last. "What is it that's got you so tickled?" One of
his brows was cocked and he was fighting to keep from grinning at her.

She looked at him, barely able to control herself. "Me," she said in a small
voice and burst into laughter again, both hands over her mouth.

He gave her a wry smile. "Well," he drawled softly, "I do love a woman who
can laugh at herself." He studied the marvelous work of womanhood on his
lap. She was prettily flushed and her hair was half up and half down,
partially cascading over her shoulders. Her look nearly shouted 'bedroom'.
It was all the more appealing because she wasn't contriving it.

Through all her shifting he'd been praying she wouldn't move in the precise
direction she had. No additional stimuli had been needed there, thank you
very much. Then he'd seen her look down at his waist and surmised what had
gone through her mind.

"So..." He regarded her expectantly. "Do I measure up?"

Valia's face fell forward into her hands again with fresh convulsions of
laughter at him. She tried to nod 'yes' against his chest and stop her now
out of control laughing. She knew she was probably acting like a complete
adolescent, but she couldn't seem to help herself. She was getting
slap-happy now. She shook as she hunched over against him. Qui-Gon placed
his hands on either side of her head and gently brought her up to face him.

"Lia." He was starting to laugh himself. "Come now. Get a grip."

She stared at him with watery eyes from between his hands, which nearly
encompassed her head. She didn't know if that was a deliberate play on
words, but she decided to make it one. She finger-walked one of her hands
down toward his crotch.

"On anything in particular, Master Jinn?" she asked coyly.

Qui-Gon gave her a sly smile from his half-turned face because he knew what
she meant. His look clearly called her a naughty girl. He closed a hand over
hers to stop it. "On yourself, miss."

If he didn't get a grip himself, he was going to be one very naughty boy.

She'd been innocently driving him toward sensory overload. Even if she'd
done nothing at all, she was still intoxicating to the Jedi Master's acutely
tuned senses. Before coming to see her, he'd done some calming exercises,
seeking the strength he knew he was probably going to need to keep his base
urges under control. He saw that now, if ever, was not the time to explore
them with her. Not while she was in this condition.

Still he couldn't resist indulging himself in touching her. He simply had to
touch her. This was why he'd resisted seeing her in private for so long.
This uncontrollable, illogical, passionate fusion that happened every time
they got close. And the urge to go at it like a couple of tuskettes in heat.
Whatever physical things he had done with a woman many years before had just
been mindless and heartless groping. An acting out of rebellion and
curiosity. Those experiences paled in comparison to this. He hadn't been
entirely joking when he'd told her that his midichlorians sang every time he
even got near her. It was the closest he could come to describe the way his
entire being thrummed when the two of them connected on any level.

It was easy to tell himself that it was her heart, soul and life-force that
were exerting such a powerful pull on him. But when the exterior packaging
was so incredibly sweet, so much the better. The perfume she was wearing was
driving him mad the way it mixed with her own scent. He silently thanked her
for using a light hand with it. Any more and it would have been overpowering
to him. She smelled lush and fruity, like something to eat or drink slowly,
and he wanted to do just that. He wanted to lick it from her skin at that
tender spot at the base of her throat, from between her breasts.

That skin of hers. That healthy, clear and soft skin. He wanted to devote
days of accolades to it, just touching it with his fingertips.

He settled for lifting a hand to caress the side of her face. She closed her
luminous gray eyes and turned her cheek into his palm. She enjoyed this for
about half a minute before she made a sound between a sigh and a moan and
leaned toward his face again. She kissed him full on the mouth, melting
against him. Unable to do anything but respond in kind, he re-wrapped his
arms around her, his palms sliding over the silk she wore. Her tongue
flicked against his, playfully chasing it. His newly practiced tongue gave
chase to hers, causing her to sigh and spread her thighs more widely around
his hips. She sank more deeply against him.

The urges she was evoking in him belonged to a wild male animal, not a Jedi
Knight. He knew he could have her right now, take her right this instant. He
could pick her up, swing her over his shoulder and trot her into her
bedroom. Or he could take her right here on the couch or on the floor. And
she'd have done nothing to stop him. She'd have encouraged him all the way,
giving herself to him completely. He sensed the currents of her mind,
knowing she wanted to do just that. The suggestive way she was beginning to
rub against him was going to drive him out of his mind with desire. She
wanted to consummate her feelings for him, nearly a year's worth of pent-up
emotion. As did he. But not now. It couldn't be now. They'd both hate
themselves afterwards, and he couldn't begin to bear the thought of her
hating him. Just a few minutes more. No, not even that long. One minute
more, Qui-Gon told himself, he would self-indulgently enjoy her. And then he
would be the voice of right and reason.

As much as he would have liked to stay fixated on the velvety inside of her
mouth, there were so many other things he wanted to bestow his praises to.
He traveled much the same path she'd gone on him. He kissed the tip of her
nose, her cheek, the outer corners of those tipped up eyes. He traced the
silken line of her eyebrows with his lips. He kissed the childhood scar she
vainly hid under her bangs. Just one more lungful of the scent of her hair,
one more glance down at her cleavage...

"Lia..."

He felt her smile against his neck. Rather than a call for her attention,
her name had come out sounding more like an impassioned mantra.

"Lia," he tried again. She gave him only a small moan in response around a
mouthful of his throat. Her clever hands had already found their way under
the layers of his tunic, and were inside his shirt running over his bare
chest. She passed her palms slowly over his nipples. They hardened like
stones. He wasn't going to be able to speak at all if she kept this up. It
was time to battle down the beast inside him that was rising up to engulf
them both. It gave a scream of frustration when he willed it back into its
dark den. It was greed, it was lust...it was of the Dark Side.

Control came, but shakily. He placed his fingertips at the sides of her face
and gently brought her head up to look at him. Her eyes looked even more
drugged and clouded than before, but this wasn't from the antibiotics. He
dropped his hands to his chest and captured hers through his shirt to still
their sensuous roving. He held her gaze until both of them were breathing
normally and their hearts were no longer racing.

Confusion was now in her eyes. "What 's wrong?"

Qui-Gon closed his eyes and sighed. Wrong? Right? Which way was up?

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong, my sweet. It's just that I did come here to see
how you were recovering. Not to...to...make out."

Valia smiled broadly, her white teeth flashing. She pulled her hands out
>from under his shirt and laid the layers of cloth back in order. She played
with their edges.

"Making out..." she said softly, smiling demurely. "Is that what we were
doing?"

"I think that's one of many terms to describe it, yes."

"Hmmmmm. And what would a Jedi Master know about about terms like that?" she
teased.

"I'll tell you a secret. Every once in a while I escape from my cell in the
Temple, and I hear rumors about all these things people do."

"I see." Valia slid back on his legs slightly and continued to perch there,
her knees squeezing his hips. His hands rested comfortably at her waist,
rubbing the silk warmed by her skin. "Well, I can't think of a nicer way to
really check to see how I'm doing, can you?"

He gave her a dubious smile.

"Qui-Gon, I'm just fine."

He snorted with humor. 'Fine' was about the least of all the descriptive
adjectives that came to his mind to describe the wonder of her.

"I have an idea." Valia leaned forward, scooting that tantalizingly lovely
bottom along his thighs. There was a conspiratorial gleam in her eyes. She
almost leaned too far, nearly bumping his nose with her own. "Let's make out
some more. And then... we can see where that leads to."

She normally wasn't in the habit of tumbling into bed with a man right away.
And she most definitely had not planned on anything like this for the
evening's activities, despite her meticulous primping. But she was nearly
vibrating with sexual tension. She hadn't been this aroused in years. She
was warm and wet, and her nipples were standing erect through several layers
of silk. And that feeling that she'd known him for so much longer than one
year persisted. She loved him. Didn't she? She was nearly positive it was
love. She cocked her head at him, studying his eyes for response. She had a
far better idea from past experiences what love wasn't.

But she didn't want to think about that now. The deliciously uninhibited
feeling from the antibiotics and pain neutralizers seemed too good to waste
while he was here, and so obviously aroused as well. Why not? Why indeed
not?

Qui-Gon appeared to consider this intriguing idea. "Hmmm. And is there any
particular place you want it to lead to?" He had a pretty good idea what it
was. He was still trying to convince himself to tell her they weren't going
to be going there now, and deciding how in the name of all that was good he
was going to tell her.

"You can see into my mind." She fondled the ends of his hair.

"Lia my love, expecting me to always read your mind is a dangerous pattern
for two people to fall into, and a perilous trap."

She sighed. Of course he was right. It could be maddening at times, like
now.

"Well, here are some other terms you might have heard. The Wampa wiggle. The
wild thing. The nasty. Mattress Bolappa-ball. The Kashyyyk tree-shaker.
The-"

Qui-Gon stopped her with an upraised hand. His eyebrows had nearly reached
his hairline and he was chuckling. "All right, Lia, I get the idea."

"I'm sorry. I'm trying to tell you what I want without being crude. But I
want to shake your tree. I want to make your midichlorians sing."

"I already feel shaken, and my midichlorians are singing."

"Well then let's go make love, and make them hoarse." She moved to pull him
off the couch.

"Lia." He closed his eyes and prayed for strength. He took both her hands
between his palms and held them upright between them. "Do you really want to
give that part of yourself to me so quickly?"

"Yes," she answered with no hesitation.

"Don't you think it would be better for both of us, especially you, if we
waited for that?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Part 14b

Valia stopped to consider this. For a man who she knew lived largely in the
moment and by how he felt, he was making her think way too much. But she had
been letting every part of her but her head do her thinking for her since he
'd walked in the door. She looked at his face. His eyes, which had been as
unfocused as hers earlier were now sharp as jewels. She suddenly became
interested in the scattering of dark hairs on the backs of his hands.

"Listen to me. You're still injured. You're tired, no matter how much you're
trying to deny it." He held up her wrist that was decorated with the gray
med bracelet. "You are on drugs. As much as I'd love to take you up on your
suggestion, I have too much respect for you and myself to take advantage of
such a situation."

She eyed the bracelet. "It is pretty unsexy, isn't it?"

"Believe me, it does nothing to detract from your beauty." His voice was low
and husky.

She shifted on him to get comfortable again, unwittingly rubbing his
treacherous body in places he was battling to bring under control. She
couldn't know how he had paused outside her door after leaving her apartment
that morning. He'd flopped his hood over his head and leaned against the
wall, and once again with his mind quieted a raging erection. He wondered if
doing that enough times could render him completely impotent. He'd hoped
none of her neighbors had seen him. What would they think? He tightened his
grip on her hands. Her eyes were still begging him to undress her. He
wondered if this was the kind of situation his own master had ever
specifically envisioned when he had taught him all the fine arts of
self-control so long ago.

"I've wanted to put my hands on you since the day I met you. Do you have any
idea how I've resisted that?"

Valia was surprised by this admission. That long? "Well, except for a time
or two recently, no, I had no idea. You've been nothing but an honorable
gentleman the whole time I've known you."

Qui-Gon quirked an eyebrow at her. "Being that gentleman has suddenly gotten
so much more difficult."

"If it's permission to touch me you need, Qui-Gon, permission is more than
granted," she said softly. "So I've seen what a gentleman you are. Sometimes
a woman wants to see...other things."

His gaze suddenly seemed more piercing. Something blazed briefly in his blue
eyes. "Other things..." he echoed. He let go of her hands and leaned forward
to cup her face with his, and press his forehead to hers. Valia curiously
accepted this new gesture of intimacy from him. But she gasped at the flood
of lurid images that suddenly filled the vision of her mind's eye. Images
that were not her own. Images that became more fascinating the more she saw.
Unable to break free, she was transfixed by the erotic pictures she could
see through closed eyes. A woman atop a prone man flinging back a curtain of
pale hair, fondling her own breasts. Sheer drapes of fabric surrounding them
on an enormous bed. Then water. Unbelievable amounts of deep warm water and
foam. A polished stone wall. A naked woman leaning against the wall, slicked
down with water and oil, the scent of which actually filled her nostrils, an
exotic scent she'd never smelled in her life. The woman was herself! The
details shocked her. That's just how she would look with her hair wet,
biting her lip, rubbing more oil on herself, eyes dark with desire and
smiling up at what surely was her lover coming to join her. And she could
feel things! Bizarre sensations flitted across her flesh. And she seemed to
feel his imagined sensations as well as her own in a potent and strange
mixture. Her arms were around his broad back, water beaded up on his warm
skin. Wet lips and hair tangling and sliding. Bare breasts against his
chest, water flowing and molding itself between their skin. Before that
could progress further, she suddenly saw herself from the torso up, on her
back, twisted in an impossibly vast sea of crimson-violet bedsheets. There
was a fire somewhere because there were crazy shadows on the walls and
ceiling. She was writhing in either ecstasy or torment, handfuls of sheet
gripped in her clawed hands. Again she saw herself from his point of view.
She felt no shame at the sight of herself this way, only a dazed
fascination, like in lucid dreaming. She felt more intimate sensations. Oh
gods, yes, that's how he would feel inside her. Things she'd dared to
imagine herself, he was now imagining for her, with her. Other visions began
to flit past more quickly. They were rolling naked in high, sweetly scented
purple grass in the sunshine of another world. Her mouth was on him, around
him...The images became too fast to see. Billions of flower petals against
her skin, more water, stars...

Reality crept slowly in from the outer edges of her vision. Valia found
herself staring at Qui-Gon's eyes, out of breath, her skin flushed and hot.
She was so close to coming, one move of her hips could send her over the
edge. She could finish this herself. She wanted to. She realized her hands
were clutching handfuls of his tunic at the shoulders nearly to the point of
tearing the fabric. She groaned at having been so close, but she controlled
herself. She gradually let go of him and flexed her aching fingers.

Qui-Gon wore an inscrutable expression on his face as he watched her. Was it
regret? He took a deep breath. "Those are just some of the things you and I
might do. Only a fraction of ways I've thought to love you." Fevered
pleasure for both of them. But he wasn't supposed to want that.

Valia covered her face with her hands, still regaining her composure. Guilt
washed through him. What had he done? His skills were never to be used for
anything like this, for self-indulgent and teasing fantasies. He touched the
backs of her hands with his fingers. "Valia. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

She lowered her hands. "For what?" She gave him a heavy-lidded look. "Why
are you sorry? It was...that was...incredible. A few minutes ago I was the
one asking for the real thing." She relaxed against him. "You're sorry you
stopped? Is that it?" She was.

Qui-Gon closed his eyes and took another deep breath. "No, Lia. For giving
in to fantasy. None of that was reality. It is not the here and now. They
are things that might possibly happen in a shifting future, not things that
are real."

"Then let's make it real," she breathed and moved to kiss him again. He
caught her face between his hands and stopped her before he would be lost
again.

"No, Lia. Nothing we talked about a few moments ago has changed."

She exhaled with a puff of breath between her lips, causing loose locks of
her hair to softly rise and fall. Maybe she could wait for all he'd shown
her, after all. She was suddenly struck with the realization that she really
knew very little about this man and his past. She wondered who and what she
held in her arms. Was she ten kinds of fool trying to hold him, trying to
capture a shooting star?

"Perhaps you could make that tea now," Qui-Gon suggested gently.

Tea. What was tea? It sounded like something horribly mundane. She
understood what he was trying to do, and heard the sense in his words. But
parts of her wrenched in despair as she climbed off him and stood. She
smiled at him and combed out the rest of her tangled hair with her fingers.
She swayed on her feet.

"Tea. Coming right up."

With deliberate effort, she put one foot in front of the other and walked
the short distance to the kitchen area. Qui-Gon watched her carefully,
wondering if it had been a good idea to send her where she could drop or
spill something. She turned to look back at him. He smiled encouragingly.
Valia nearly launched herself at him again, but she made herself keep going.

She'd enjoyed virtual sex quite a number of times, but it had never left her
feeling this raw and shaky. If she felt this way after just imagining it
with him, what would actually making love with him be like? It would
probably turn her world upside down. She glanced over at him. He had gotten
that deep crease between his eyebrows and was in a very serious
contemplation of the far wall. He'd actually felt that wretched over a
fantasy? She shrugged and smiled to herself, remembering.

She stood in the kitchen and dragged her hands through her hair, facing the
U-shaped appliance enclosure. She knew she needed to somehow heat water and
find those crumbled dried leaves. What kind? Oh, these difficult decisions.
Most likely something calming.

"Gets me all hot and bothered, then wants me to make tea..." she muttered
softly under her breath.

"What was that?" Qui-Gon called from the opposite side of the sitting area.
He'd gotten to his feet and was looking closely at one of the colorful
tapestries hanging on her apartment walls. Bright yarns and fibers made
stylized images of fruit trees and pastoral scenes.

"Nothing!" She filled a thermal pitcher with water.

"Is this tapestry hand-woven?"

"Yes, I have an aunt who makes them. She doesn't like to use droids or
computers in any part of the process."

"These are beautiful. Remarkable work."

Apparently he'd been able to shut off the sexual melt-down much more quickly
than her. Probably a Jedi thing. She glanced back at him as he examined the
wall-hangings as blithely as if he were in an art museum. Hadn't she noticed
before how long his legs were? And she had yet to confirm with her hands
what she suspected was a first class butt. The other side of the apartment
seemed entirely too great a distance to be separated from him. She stopped
staring, snapped herself back to what she was doing and added leaves to the
filter. The water in the pitcher had reached a wild boil while she had been
staring and was splashing over the rim. "Mmmf," she muttered, flinging the
hot droplets off her hand and fanning a faceful of steam away with the
other. Good thing he was facing the other way.

"Do you need any help with anything?" he inquired politely.

A smirk tugged at her lips. "Yes."

He was across the room and at her side so fast she jumped. "But not with
making tea." She tightened her mouth to keep from grinning.

Knowing full well what she was talking about, Qui-Gon put an arm around her
shoulder and pulled her against him. He pressed a kiss into the hair above
her ear. "You test me, woman," he murmured. Valia was perversely gratified
to feel the evidence pushing against her that he hadn't quite damped down
his arousal as well as she'd thought.

"I
m sorry. I can't get my mind off of...you know."

"Then maybe we should think about something else."

But what else was there to think about right now? What else was near and
dear to her heart? Then it hit her. Food.

"I can't believe myself," she said, aghast. She put a hand on her forehead.

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't make a thing to eat for you. I forgot."

"You didn't have to do that."

"But it's rude to not offer. What if you get hungry? What if you haven't
eaten?"

"Lia, I've already eaten, and you are not being rude. I came just to visit
you, remember?"

She was already half inside a storage unit, rummaging, pulling things out.
Cook, yes indeed, that's what she would do. Lots of food. Eat. The vaguely
annoying thought crossed her mind that she was acting much like her mother.
When faced with either a distressing or joyous event, start cooking or
serving food to someone, anyone. And guests on her homeworld always were
served something sweet practically before entering a house. Her female
ancestors had probably been turning over in their graves. Again.

Bewildered, Qui-Gon watched her move around the tiny kitchen suddenly
becoming a whirlwind of efficiency. She muttered something about rotted old
Nymean traditions while going through every item in a cold storage bin. She
grimaced with a jerk when she sniffed at the contents of one item and
replaced the lid, shoving the entire thing down the waste disposal shaft.

"You don't have any food allergies or problems, do you? Because a lot of
people I know have trouble with nerf milk.
And usually if you've got a nerf milk allergy, you've got--"

"No. Lia, stop, please. This isn't necessary." He couldn't remember ever in
his life feeling this amused, aroused and exasperated in the same space of
time. Or so vibrantly alive.

She was already adding this and that to a hopper in the lid of a baking
unit. "It's no problem. It'll be just a minute." She poured a generous
quantity of nerf milk into the feeder tube, shut the lid, and activated it.
"Now, how's that tea coming?" She turned to check it. The lid latch in the
top of the unit blew. Partially mixed batter shot straight to the ceiling
and rained down on both of them. Valia shrieked and lunged to turn off the
device.

"Actually," Qui-Gon said after a long pause during which he wiped a gob of
batter from his eyelid, "I do have problems with food, but only when it
comes to wearing it..."

"Oh my...oh, damn. Oh, I...I'm so sorry, I'm sorry..." Valia reached toward
him with a horror-stricken expression.

"The kitchen," he said with quiet dignity, "is closed. The tea," he took a
platter out of Valia's hand and set it down on the counter with a small
bang. "Is done," he nodded toward it. "Where do you keep your mugs?"

Valia pointed mutely toward a cupboard, stripping batter from a strand of
her hair. Qui-Gon removed two mugs, then gestured sweepingly toward the
sitting area. Valia picked up the tea and went there without further fuss.

Qui-Gon helped her clean the ceiling, the rest of the kitchen, and her. She
cleaned him off to the tune of more apologies, though a smile was beginning
to sneak into the corners of her mouth. He allowed himself a low chuckle or
two when she was off changing out of her clothes.

Tea poured, they sat companionably close on the couch. But not too close.
The raging fire between them had been banked down to comfortable embers now,
and neither wanted to stir it out of control again. Valia kept her robe
tightly wrapped around her, covering up as much skin as possible. It was
dark now, and she left the windows on transparent setting so they could
enjoy Galactic City's sparkling skyline. They were having a safe discussion
about textiles, sparked by Valia's removal of batter from Qui-Gon's tunic,
his further questions about her collection of artwork, and by the textile
industries on Qui-Gon's birth world.

His voice fascinated and attracted her. Low and soft. His accent pleasingly
tugged at the vowel sounds. She was sure she would have been happy listening
to him read aloud from planetary agricultural import/export regulation
manuals all day long.

Valia pulled her leg up on the couch and rubbed the healing bite wound.

"Does it hurt?"

"Just a little. I'll probably take a couple more pain killers in a while."

Qui-Gon supposed now might not be a good time to show her some simple pain
control exercises. But he wanted to some day. There were so many things he
wanted to show her. Places he wanted to take her. So much to share with her.
He regarded her longingly from his end of the couch. Valia misinterpreted
his look.

"More libidinous fantasies, Master Jinn?" she teased.

"No," he smiled, able to take her jibe with good nature. "No more of those
for today. But I promise you will be the only one I'll share them with if I
come up with more."

She leaned her head back and smiled, closing her eyes. It felt good to close
them, just for a minute. She really was tired. She felt calm an
d relaxed in his presence. She sat quietly for a time. She had a persistent
vision in her mind of green leaves, new spring leaves on delicate twigs,
dripping with rain.

"Are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"The leaves. The rain."

"Yes."

"Thank you. It's nice," she murmured. She'd just leave her eyes shut for
another minute...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

When she woke up, Valia was sure she'd slept away an entire night. It just
felt like it ought to be morning. When she felt herself nestled against
Qui-Gon's warm bulk, she jerked herself upright. Now what? Had they given in
after all and wound up in bed? She saw they were still on the couch and only
an hour had passed. He'd moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
His legs were crossed comfortably and his face rested on the top of her
head.

"I'm really being a horrible hostess," she said, settling herself back
against him and wanting to never move. He loosely linked his fingers with
hers.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." He'd found his own quiet joy in holding her close
while she slept. Her hair still smelled faintly like cake batter.

"You're joking again. This is what, the third time I've fallen asleep on you
in one day? You're really not boring me that badly. "Well thank you." He
smiled wryly into her soft, sweetly-scented hair. "If you want some good
advice, I would say you need to pay attention to what your body is trying to
tell you."

"I thought I was doing just that, earlier."

His chiseled lips curled into a smile. "You have very selective hearing when
it comes to your body." He moved to rise from the couch and surprised her by
turning and scooping her up in his arms and standing in one fluid motion.
She automatically put her arms around his neck.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you to bed."

He saw the surprised and hopeful look on her face at once. "Taking you to
it, not joining you in it," he clarified.

Valia rolled her eyes in exaggerated dismay. "Well, rot."

He started toward the only door that could have led to her bedroom in the
small apartment. "Hasty decisions are another one of those perilous traps to
be avoided. So is lack of rest."

"Saving me from myself again, Master Jinn?"

"If I must."

She sighed. She couldn't summon the rationale to protest his high-handedness
at the moment, especially after this evening. And it did feel good to be
taken care of right now, for a change. He made her feel cherished and
precious. And respected.

"I think I can probably manage to walk this far."

"I know. But I find I enjoy these excuses to carry you."

I adore you. She gave her heart to him with her eyes.

He edged through the doorway and carefully set her down on the bed. He
kneeled on the floor next to it, eye-level with her. His eyes were dark with
tightly restrained passion. She lay on her side, propping her head up with
one arm. Her fingers stroked the side of his face, his chin, his nose.

"I still want you."

"And here I thought you'd changed your mind." He gently rubbed a fleck of
dried batter from her cheek. "And I want you. But another time."

She smiled slowly at him. "When?"

"I don't know. When you're ready. When we're both ready. When it feels
right. Soon."

"You can tell me I'm going to live to be a hundred, but not that day?"

Qui-Gon smiled and closed his eyes. "I'm only a Jedi, not a prophet or
clairvoyant. I can't see every detail of the entire future. I'm a bit funny
that way."

Valia settled herself back on her bed, at peace with his answer. It was
nearly on her tongue to tell him she loved him, but she hesitated. Something
told her he wasn't ready to hear it yet, and maybe she wasn't quite ready to
say it.

"All right. See you tomorrow?"

"I know where I'll find you."

"Chuluk is going to manage my first store. I have to finish training him."

"I understand."

Her eyelids were heavy and drooped above purple shadows. It was time for him
to leave. He ignored the nearly overwhelming urge to stretch out beside her.
He pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek and on both her hands, avoiding the
tender trap of her mouth. He rose and slipped away from her.

"Sleep well."

"Don't forget your cloak."

He nodded and was gone. She was asleep before he had thrown his hood over
his head and stepped out into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~

Part 15a

It was going to be a wet evening and night. Valia walked away from the
storefront to get a better look at the building rain clouds in the west.
There were no large bodies of water on Coruscant to generate storms or
extreme weather, but rain did occur now and again. Just often enough to keep
things interesting and rinse away the city dust and grime. She suddenly
missed the violent thunderstorms she'd known on Nyme'. Lightning, thunder;
loud but largely harmless displays of nature. She was lost in thought on
this when she sensed a familiar presence behind her. A large hand settled
softly on her shoulder.

"I'll walk you home," Qui-Gon offered. Valia smiled and turned around. He'd
courteously taken her back to her apartment nearly every evening for the
last several weeks. He'd never stayed, not for lack of Valia's invitations,
but contented himself to safely see her home and then be on his way.

The two of them had visited an indoor forest, Coruscant's most extensive art
museum, and an open air market where Valia did a lot of her shopping.
Qui-Gon was charmingly clueless about the types of things men and women did
as couples, so Valia had thought of some "safe" activities they could pursue
in public. It had been pleasant, a peaceful relief to spend this time with
him. No flirting, no teasing; just conversation. And she was now sure of her
feelings for him. But she could not ignore the sense that things were in a
state of suspense between them. It was as though they were both waiting for
some sort of sign, something that would carry their relationship forward.

"I'll just be a minute," she told him.

She left a message for Chuluk to have a droid clean the flowers off the
tables and chairs in the morning, first thing. Even now they messily
littered the ground and were dropping around Qui-Gon's shadowy figure as she
rejoined him to leave the store. Aahh, spring. She really needed to call her
brother or cousins about that blasted tree...

She slid her hand around his forearm on his non-weapon side and he led her
away to walk to the transport station. He seemed more quiet and thoughtful
than usual this evening. Valia said nothing, content for now just to be near
him. His silences did not bother her. Eventually she would find out what was
on his mind.

They walked westward across the plaza and descended several wide flights of
steps to a lower one. Still he said nothing. They worked their way up three
more levels. Valia barely noticed the crowds they passed through. This was a
route she had walked for years. She could have done it in her sleep, and had
in fact nearly done that many times. Her attention was focused on the man
who had to slow down his normal stride for her, and the hand that was
lightly holding hers against his arm. He was intent on their surroundings,
alert to every person, droid and thing.

They entered the wide open base of a building. Inside, they boarded an
elevator platform which would take them to the top to the departing taxis.
At last Qui-Gon spoke.

"I trust your day went well? All ready for your inspection?"

"Yes. It was a busy one. As for the inspection, there's more cleaning to be
done. Fruit juice can get into the oddest places." Her first store was
scheduled for an inspection in two days. She always passed them with flying
colors, but never hated them any less as the years went by.

A gust of humid air rolled over them as they arrived at the top of the
station and waited for the right taxi. The smell of rain was strong now.

"Going to start raining any minute now," observed Qui-Gon.

"I know." Valia smiled at him. They took a seat on the taxi next to a
window. Valia sat close to him, still holding his arm. The city glided
beneath them. The lowering gray clouds hid the tops of the tallest
buildings.

"What's on your mind, Qui-Gon?" she finally asked softly. He leaned back
against the transparent curved window.

"I'm leaving Coruscant tomorrow for Dantooine. I don't know how long I'll be
there." He'd just learned of a brewing civil unrest there from the Senate
that morning.

Valia absorbed this bit of news. This is how it was. This is how it was
always going to be for them. She sighed. "Well I suppose if you can tell me
where you're going, it must not be a too sensitive or dangerous situation."

"Not necessarily. I don't expect it to be, but there are always unforeseen
risks."

She caressed the arm she held. He hoped she wouldn't be fretful over him. He
sensed her concern and was touched by it. "Don't worry yourself over it," he
said lightly.

The notion of his own physical death was of little concern to him, when or
how it would occur. It was, however, of much more significance to her. She
would undoubtedly worry about the possibility of it happening every time he
left her. And her fear and worrying would weigh on him. This was only one
part of the danger of involving himself closely with her.

"Obi-Wan will go with you?"

"Yes, of course."

This strangely seemed to comfort her. They lapsed into silence once more.
The taxi arrived at Valia's stop and they disembarked. A descent on another
platform and more walking. Fine drops of rain began falling in fits and
starts. Qui-Gon pulled his hood over his head and lifted the side of his
robe around Valia. They were crossing a large courtyard filled with shallow,
circular reflecting pools.

"Will you stay a while? Maybe this rain will blow over, and you won't have
such a wet trip back." She hadn't asked in a couple of days. There seemed to
be an unspoken understanding between them that his staying more than a few
minutes would almost certainly result in their ending up in bed. This could
never be a platonic, hands-off relationship.

When he didn't answer right away, she looked up at him. His face was pensive
inside the darkness of his hood. She stopped walking, tugging him to a halt.

"I'm not going to force you. She turned to face him. "So to speak."

"I didn't say no."

"You didn't say yes, either."

She looked away and watched the raindrops fall into the pools, making
overlapping rings of ripples. Her insides felt so heavy all at once. From
hearing of his leaving. From this uncertainty. "When you told me you had to
give yourself permission to...to touch me, to love me, I thought I was
listening to you," she began. "But I don't think I was really thinking about
what it would mean if you decided not to. If I could accept that." She sat
down on the wet stone edging of one of the pools. When he'd told her he had
too much respect for her and himself to take advantage of her the night she'
d been dopy from antibiotics, she had later wondered if that self-respect
was the largest part of that statement. "It's got to be your choice." He'd
told her celibacy was highly recommended in the Order, but still a personal
choice. As was the decision to deeply involve oneself with a personal
relationship. A seriously committed Jedi did not.

"Lia, you're getting soaked." His face wore lines of concern. The rain was
falling more steadily now.

"So are you."

He sighed and sat down beside her. Her hair was hanging limply down her
back, already dripping.

"I don't want this to cause trouble for you. I can see this thing between us
has caused conflict in you, between you and Obi-Wan, and I would imagine
your Council is hardly going to approve."

"Obi-Wan has accepted this. His approval is immaterial anyway. And I will be
able to focus on training him. As for the Council, my personal affairs are
none of their business."

"Don't you care what they think of your standing as a Jedi? Don't you want
to be on the Council? Aren't you worried this is
going to cause another round of disapproval from them?"

Qui-Gon laughed, but it was a joyless sound. "No, no, and no, in that order,
my dear." He put an arm around her. "When I told you I loved you, I meant it
with all my heart." He paused thoughtfully. "Even without this, I have
somewhat of a reputation for...going my own way." He regarded her intently.
Her thoughts were for him, not herself. "You should not concern yourself
with things like that, things that are outside your scope of control. What
others might do and how they react. You must focus on how you control your
own feelings and actions."

She wiped rainwater from her face. "I wish I could see into the future. I
was wondering just yesterday if...if our being together is going to turn out
to be a mistake." Would this indeed be a crazy mistake, one more painful
life lesson for each one of them?

"This doesn't sound like the Lia I know. Living as though each action might
be a mistake." He looked down at her. "Does this feel like a mistake to you,
my little one?" It certainly didn't to him.

She smiled at him, but for once the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Of course
I don't want it to. No. No, it doesn't. But...I am going to miss you while
you're gone. It hurts already."

Knowing he should take his own advice about not worrying about the way
others might react, he still cringed at the idea of her feeling any kind of
pain because of him. It was the last thing he wanted.

"I can walk the rest of the way from here, if you want to get back. You
probably have to get ready for tomorrow." She wasn't looking at him, as
though she wanted him to be gone and leave her alone to deal with her
feelings. "And whatever you decide...I'll respect it." It wouldn't be the
first time she'd had to let something go, something she was sure she'd had,
because of a decision made by someone else. But there was no bitterness in
her now, about this, or about the farm. Just a strange, peaceful acceptance.
As though somehow, no matter what, it would all work out for good.

Qui-Gon Jinn sat in the rain next to the woman he'd told he loved. He did.
But she was willing to let him go, willing to give him more time or even let
him walk away from her completely.

"I love you." She said it abruptly, softly. With certainty. She turned to
look him directly in the eyes.

He sat very still. How arrogant he'd been to think he didn't need, didn't
want to hear her say that to him, that it didn't matter. If he hadn't
already been sitting down, he probably would have had to do so, he was moved
so. She loved him. Him.

Enough already. It was too late to go backwards, to fall out of love with
her, if that had ever been possible. He was making this more complicated
than it had to be. He was thinking about this too much. It was really quite
simple. His heart was hammering at him to go to her, to be with her, to love
her. What if he did indeed die tomorrow? To never have known her in every
way, loved her the way she wanted to be loved...That would be the mistake.
He must go forward.

And after all, he was only human.

He stood, and drew her to her feet. She looked up at him with questioning
eyes.

"I've had a premonition. That day you were wondering about a few weeks ago?"

She nodded slowly.

"It might just be today."

A smile dawned on her face. He hauled her off her feet and held her against
him in a lung-squeezing embrace. She drew her head back to look into his
eyes, her surprised face wet. Now?

Now.

She laughed as he swung her around in joyous, crazy circles in the pouring
rain. He kissed her hard and tasted salty tears with the rain. He set her
back down and they splashed the rest of the way to her apartment.

Only a passing maintenance droid saw them outside her door. It made
agitated, disapproving noises at the rainwater dripping from their clothing
all over the hallway floor.

Valia had climbed Qui-Gon like a tree. She'd wrapped one arm and both legs
around him. With her other arm she reached back blindly for the door sensor
to place her hand on it so it would scan and open. It took some time to
accomplish this, locked as she was in a kiss with him. It was whiskery, but
most definitely not slow and lazy. It was more like the other kind she'd
imagined with him, the plundering kind. At last she got the door to open,
and they both nearly fell inside.

The first item of clothing to hit the floor was Qui-Gon's robe. Water-proof
only to a point, it was soaked and fell heavily in a sodden heap. Dispensing
with any preamble herself, Valia was kicking off her boots and fighting her
way out of her own cloak. She flung it aside, hungrily watching him begin to
undress. She hopped clumsily out of her pants. They clung stubbornly around
her knees. She dropped to the floor to yank them off. After all this, to be
thwarted by something like clothing. Deciding to be helpful and since she
was already on the floor anyway, she grabbed at Qui-Gon's boots, fumbling
with the buckles. She nearly upended him. He laughed at her, and at himself.
He joined her on the floor and finished taking them off himself. Returning
her helpfulness, he started unbuttoning the front of her shirt. She lunged
at his mouth again. He blindly continued to undo the fasteners made tight
and awkward by the wet cloth. He kissed her back, reaching out to her mind
with his own. He caught the briefest flutter of doubt in her thoughts,
despite the frenzy of what they were doing. Did he really want this?

"I'm not going to change my mind," he murmured softly against her cheek. She
seemed to relax her greedy grabbing slightly. Now she was tugging at the
layers of his tunic, trying unsuccessfully to yank them out from under his
belt. She reached for that next, groping around his waist trying to find the
fasteners to release it. He finished with her shirt and then undid his belt
for her.

He paused just long enough to respectfully lay his lightsaber on an end
table and make a mental note of exactly where it was. Then he returned to
the battle to remove wet clothing. He shrugged off the first layer of his
tunic and pulled the others off over his head. Valia was way ahead him,
having stripped everything off but was still struggling with her long
sleeves. She was fighting them behind her back. The clinging wet fabric
refused to slide off and held her arms prisoners. The wanton picture she
made wriggling all but naked on the floor arching her breasts outward had a
curiously attractive effect on Qui-Gon. In one swift move he was on her with
a noise between a grunt and a growl. She gave a short moan of frustration as
she was pinned to the floor, now unable to do anything at all with her arms.
She realized she was almost completely naked, more or less tied up, and
willingly lying underneath a very large, very sex-deprived man. She shivered
with wicked delight at the idea.

"Cold?" He murmured in her ear. She responded with a low laugh.

"No..."

He then reached around to gently help her out of her stu
bborn sleeves. When her arms were loose she wrapped them around his back,
where they belonged. Their moist skin stuck, clung and pulled where it
touched. She spread her fingers wide and let them wander all over him. She
reclaimed his mouth and tongue. She slid her hands up his neck and clutched
handfuls of his damp hair. The idea of seeing him without it tied back
appealed to her so she reached up and started working it loose. Qui-Gon made
a gruff sound against her mouth. She really wanted everything off. Without
breaking his mouth away from hers, he reached up and undid his hair before
she could painfully pull at it any harder. He tossed the tie over his
shoulder.

He wrapped his own arms around her and cradled her tightly against his
chest. He was nearly overcome with the heady sensations of having her this
close, of her bare skin against his, her small finely shaped breasts pressed
against him. This was going to be all over in about twenty seconds if he
didn't slow it down. Finally there was nothing between them. No bar
counters, no table, no clothing, no self-forbidding edicts. Nothing to
prevent this final physical melding with her.

It occurred to him he was still wearing his trousers. Those would surely be
the next thing her long, strong hands would attack. He reached down between
their bodies to start removing them himself. She made a short moan to stop
him.

"Not on the floor. At least not this time."

His brow wrinkled with curiosity, and he smiled down at her. "And how many
times do we do this before the floor is acceptable?"

She only answered him with a shy smile.

"Carry me to bed. Carry me."

Anything she wanted. Anything for her. Such a simple thing to oblige this
soft request. He got to his feet and reached down to help her stand. He
paused to slowly look her up and down, blatantly admiring her body. He
reached toward her hair and slowly removed the combs securing it above her
ears. When it tumbled loose, he fisted a damp section of it against the back
of her head and pulled her against him for another kiss. She made a low
sound of delight as he crushed her against him. She seemed to melt every
time he let her see the animal hunger and thirst he had for her.

He lifted her off her feet and carried her the few steps into her bedroom.
He placed her carefully on the bed and followed her down onto it. Now she
snaked her hands down to his waist and began struggling to remove his pants.

"Patience, my greedy little one..."

"No! Not now!"

He laughed at her, at the nail-raking desire he saw in her beautiful dark
half-closed eyes. It was by no means laughter at her expense, because he was
sure it only mirrored what was in his own eyes. A very small part of him
still couldn't believe he was doing this; that out of anyone in the
universe, she felt this way for him. She loved him, wanted him.

There was nothing else to do now but what he usually did in life, and that
was to bravely charge forward. The first task was to give the lady what she
wanted. He unfastened his trousers and then held out his arms as if to say,
go ahead. Valia understood with crystal clarity and pulled everything off,
letting her hands skim his body from his waist to his ankles. She carelessly
flung this last barrier to the floor.

Oh, my.

What to do first? Valia didn't want to waste time staring at him, but she
couldn't help taking a good long look at his rough-cut beauty. What a fine
steward of his body he'd been. All that physical conditioning had paid off
in the form of lean, large muscles. Everything about him was large,
well-proportioned. Everything. His eyes bright and his hair wildly loose, he
looked down at her unselfconsciously as she checked him out.

When she remembered how to breathe again and dragged her eyes from him, she
realized he was waiting for a cue from her to tell him exactly how she
wanted him to proceed. The thought that had been lurking in the back of her
mind pounced forward. What if... What if he had absolutely no idea what to
do? She had assumed he would be this fabulously skilled lover, but how could
he be after a couple decades of abstinence? She dropped her eyes. It didn't
matter. The mental and emotional bond between them was more precious...

"If you're wondering what I think you're wondering," Qui-Gon said softly, "I
think I've got the basic mechanics down." He was pulling the covers aside,
and gestured for her to get under them. It hadn't taken keen Jedi senses to
notice her chill-pebbled skin. "But you are still going to have to tell me
what you want, how hard you want it and where you want it done."

Valia pulled him under the covers with her and held him close. She fitted
herself against him, savoring the feel of his warm skin and big solid body.

"Let's not get bogged down with technique. This isn't like...saber
practice." She smoothed back his hair. "Besides, that makes it sound like I'
ve hired you out for a job," she said with a touch of dismay. She either had
a major problem here, or every woman's fantasy: a man whose first concern
was her pleasure, who cared little for his own. "This is as much for you as
it is for me."

"That didn't come out quite the way I meant." He had laid one hand on her
neck and was slowly stroking her jawbone with his thumb. The casually
sensuous gesture was making her crazy with desire. She wanted to take it in
her mouth.

"Lia...I'm not going to tell you I know you so well that I can guess all of
your...preferences. How you like to be touched."

She stroked the wrist of the hand he was touching her face with, so he would
leave it there, keep doing that. She had absolutely no problem with what he
was doing at the moment.

"Well, I'm not into anything too bizarre or painful."

"I'm so relieved." He held her hand against his face with his other hand and
softly kissed her palm. "I'm not either."

What a rare treasure she had here with her. This was a refreshing change
>from the sexual braggarts of her past. His ego was healthy, but not so big
that it kept him from honestly asking her for direction and being
considerate of her. She loved him all the more for it. Here, too, was
someone who had been the teacher, the master for half his life. He was
willing to stop and be the learner if necessary. If he was anything like his
student, he'd be a quick study.

But at the moment Qui-Gon truly was at a loss as to what to do next. He didn
't know exactly what to do with his hands, where to put them. The hands that
could wield a lightsaber as quick as a thought, that could still heft the
ancient metal broadsword that had belonged to his master, that could cool a
feverish forehead...where exactly did she want him to put them?

Chagrined at her earlier greedy, grabby behavior, Valia had relaxed. She
needed to take very good care of him here. She closed her eyes and slowly
ran her tongue up his thumb and took it in her mouth. He watched her,
captivated by the erotic sight and sensations. She released him and gave him
a slit-eyed smile. "Just touch me. Wherever you want. Where do you want to
touch me?"

He looked at her with a slightly moonstruck expression. "Everywhere," he
whispered.

Valia smiled into his eyes the whole time she was very slowly sliding her
hand down his chest, his stomach, a little lower...but not there, not just
yet "So do I." She softly dragged parted lips up and down his face. "Are you
touch-deprived, Qui-Gon?"

"If I was," his breath caught as her hands caressed, coming close to his
sword-like arousal, then skimming away. "I've got a feeling I'm not going to
be any more."

They proceeded to lovingly explore one another. His thoughts brushed her
mind with the same tenderness his hands did. They communed silently except
for the occasional murmured suggestion or endearment, or hushed laugh from
her.

What Qui-Gon lacked in experience he made up for with intuition and
instinct. This was made easier in that her sensual nature and marvelously
responsive body told him exactly what she wanted. Every flutter of muscle,
intake of breath and smile guided him. He learned well, and remembered. He
made himself focus on his own sensations and pleasure, the caress of her
fingers and lips on him. Just for now, for this, his body's responses were
something to be savored for their own
sake, not blocked or shunted aside.

She learned, as well. Somehow his hands and lips found odd sweet spots on
her she had no idea she had. She wilted helplessly with pleasure when he
kissed her between her shoulder blades, on the backs of her ears, a spot
between her navel and her hipbone. She found out just where his adventurous
mouth was all too willing to go. He left the now familiar territory of her
face, neck and breasts and slowly journeyed southward. Valias smile slowly
grew as she watched him. Her knight was on a quest. He left a trail of
kisses through the shadow of a breast, across her ribcage, the silky skin of
her flat belly, lower still... Would he go there? Would he do that? Oh yes.
Oh yes, he would. Valia gasped a small mew of pleasure and arched her back
as she gave him this most intimate taste of her. He dragged a pillow over
and pushed it under the small of her back. Her fingers tangled in his hair
while his tongue found the hard nub of nerves hidden in the pale fur. A
short time later, she returned this favor for him. She enjoyed the thrill of
briefly having him completely at her mercy. She slanted her eyes so she
could see the look on his face while her lips and tongue loved the hot, hard
length of him. She was most definitely making him smile.

~~~~~~~~~~

Part 15b

When the wait became unbearable, when the fire between them had to be
quenched, she invited him into her. Her breath hissed between her teeth and
she lightly bit his shoulder as his slid into her. She felt his hesitation.
Both of them were far from innocent virgins, but he was far too worried
about hurting her.

"You're not hurting me," she whispered, encouraging him. "You won't." She
arched against his weight, plunging him into her liquid heat to the hilt.

At a complete loss for words or coherent thought, Qui-Gon froze. If only
time could stand still just for a while, just so he could absorb the
sweetness of being inside her. But she was already urging him to move,
grasping at his lower back, his buttocks. Her head was already thrown back
in ecstasy. He towered over her, his hands planted on either side of her
shoulders. It didn't take long for them to settle on a rhythm that suited
them both, to find those perfect ways to apply pressure.

Valia felt herself closing in on her climax. Wanting to take him along with
her, she slid her arms up Qui-Gon's, wound her hands through his hanging
hair and pulled him down to her. She wanted his mouth on hers and she
hungrily claimed it until she could no longer catch her breath through her
nostrils. She wrenched away and gasped as she neared the edge. His long,
sure strokes sent her over.

A nearly forgotten past experience flashed through Valia's mind, the only
one that could compare to the intensity of this. As a very small child she
had fallen into an irrigation stream and plunged over a small waterfall. The
helpless terror and excitement as the current dragged her under and down,
the breathless fright at what awaited her. And then the laughter that had
filled her to bursting after she'd lived through the ride, to be snatched
dripping into some frantic relative's arms. And the desire to jump in again.

She took one last look at the face of her lover before she had to close her
eyes. She writhed and gave herself to the convulsive pleasure. She heard
herself crying out at the wild sweetness of it.

At last when her breathing had slowed and her heart no longer tried to fly
out of her chest, she relaxed her rigid muscles and went pliant and sweaty
beneath him. She relaxed her fingers from where they threatened to gouge his
kidneys.

Qui-Gon watched her climax with fascination, the way it consumed her body
and spirit. He felt her convulsively flutter and clutch around his shaft as
though to pull him impossibly deeper into her. A light sheen of love sweat
bloomed on her. She smiled dreamily and opened her eyes.

Why had he stopped? Panting, Valia gave him a questioning look. Even now,
unbelievably, he was holding himself back. What did he need from her, what
did he want? He eyes softly pleaded for him to let go, take what she'd just
enjoyed, join her in the rapturous place she was. She slid her legs along
his, and around him. She stroked her hands over him, caressing wherever she
could reach, the deep curve of his lower back, the hollow between his
shoulder blades. Without another move he spilled himself into her. His brows
contorted in an agonized expression and his neck corded as pleasure roughly
savaged him. He went rigid, completely pinning her against the bed. A deep
groan and a sigh escaped him as he buried his face into the side of her
head. He hoarsely whispered her name.

For some minutes there were no words. No thoughts. Valia held him to her,
stroking his hair. She could have held him like that forever. At last
Qui-Gon raised his head. He pushed both their hair out of their faces and
looked at her with eyes gone dreamy as hers. Her eyelids fluttered downward
and she smiled demurely. He nearly laughed. After what they'd just shared,
and now she went all shy on him. Yet he understood her sudden need for a
little space, and he gave it to her, saying or thinking nothing while his
heart flooded to impossibly new heights with more love for her.

She reflexively clung to him when he shifted off her.

"I'm not going anywhere just yet, my sweet." he murmured. He took one of her
hands and threaded his fingers through hers while he reached around the top
of her head with his other to stroke the fine silky hair at her temple. He
kissed the outer corners of her closed eyes, her eyelids. He rubbed the tip
of her nose with his own. She smiled at the tickling and at his sweet
urgings to come back to him. She stroked his wild banner of hair. Her hand
swept up and down his back with light, tentative possessiveness.

*Yours*, his eyes told her when she looked into them. She smiled. She could
feel his emotions pulsing wildly, surrounding her. She'd never felt this
close to another being in her life. She squeezed him with her arms. *Yours*,
her eyes answered.

Eventually Valia's practical nature surfaced. "All those wet clothes on the
floor," she murmured against his furry jaw. "They aren't going to pick
themselves up, I suppose."

"So?" came the mildly insolent response. His newly confident hands were
starting another quest on her body. Great flaming gobs of....she wanted him
again already, and there was ample evidence pressed against her thigh he
wanted her again, too.

"Do we need to put them back on again?" he asked her from between her
breasts. He took one nipple in his mouth.

Valia's lips curved into a lazy smile that told him she was perfectly
satisfied with their current state of dress.

"Then leave all that be for now..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Qui-Gon Jinn was propped on his elbows, concentrating on not flinching.
Among the many things he had learned this evening was how ticklish his own
ears were. The upper edge of his left one was between Valia's teeth and
lips.

"You have the cutest ears. They're irresistable," she told him as she lay
sprawled across his back, nibbling on him. He laughed softly. One more vital
piece of information he had never known.

Valia's apologies for the scratches she'd left on his lower back were
tempered with a sly glitter in her eyes. Qui-Gon's reassurances that they
were nothing to worry about came to her with a flickering smile that widened
as she told him she hoped no one would see them. The teasing look on his
face suggested he might be dared into displaying them for nothing more than
shock value, his own dignity intact. She shot him a look of her own, then
doctored them with a synth-flesh derived solution that made them disappear.

They'd stayed in bed as darkness fell on the rainy city outside. He'd gently
winnowed his fingers through her hair until it was dry. She'd traced every
scar on him with her fingertips and lips, particularly the long one across
his upper back. She'd wanted to know the stories behind them all. Touched,
he smiled as she tried to kiss away their long forgotten pain.

Valia thought his wonderment over her own body was hilarious. He was
curiously fascinated by minutiae that she didn't think to notice, and things
that privately revolted her, such as the stretch marks on the sides of her
breasts and the long hairs around her navel. She laughed at his loving
revelment in her. He made her feel like a miraculous creation.

When her stomach growled hungrily against his back, he turned to regard her
questioningly.

"Oh, rot," she laughed. "I'm afraid I hadn't planned on eating in tonight.
There's nothing ready to eat in the kitchen. How about you? Are you hungry?"

Banishing fear was second nature to a Jedi. Yet a look of extreme concern
crossed Qui-Gon's face at the idea of her in the kitchen. She playfully
shoved him when she saw it. "I'm not going to cook, all right? I'll order
something in."

"Did you have other plans tonight?"

"Nothing that can't be missed."

"Lia...?"

"Just someone's birthday party. Probably too much eating, drinking, smoking,
dirty stories..."

"Do you want to go?"

Valia looked at him as if he'd gone mad. She pushed him over on his back.
"That had better be more of your droll wit, Master Jinn," she warned
teasingly. "No," she smiled. "I'm staying right here. And so are you. I'd
rather party with you."

"At least you're appropriately dressed."

"Oh, ha, ha. Yes. In my birthday suit."

"It's very lovely," he said placing a kiss in what was becoming one of his
very favorite spots on her body, the satiny skin between her breasts. He
drifted over to where he could feel her heartbeat with his lips and sighed.
"So nice."

"I really like yours, too."

"It serves. If you don't mind a bit of wear and tear."

"Not at all." She affectionately held his head to her and nuzzled the top of
his head, trying to memorize the scent of him. Something to keep with her
when he was gone. "Speaking of clothes..." She reluctantly pulled away from
him and went to a closet. "I have something for you." She pawed through the
clothes stuffed into it until she found what she was looking for. She'd
taken a calculated risk in buying the robe. She smiled as she turned to
offer it to Qui-Gon, thinking the gamble had paid off very nicely. "I know
you can't take material gifts, but this is for you to wear while you're
here."

A lopsided smile tugged at Qui-Gon's mouth. The picture he made reclining in
the hopeless tangle of her bed made Valia want to fling it aside and leap on
him again. Then she smiled too, at the comical irony of her worrying about
offending his Jedi code of ethics. After the two of them had quite
enthusiastically pounded part of them into the sheets.

"Thank you," he said simply, taking it from her.

She tossed on her own robe. "Not that I mind you staying the way you are,
but I want you to be comfortable." She sighed. "I suppose I'd better tell
Ravi or someone I won't be there tonight. I need to think up some good
excuse." She straightened her pale thick mane of hair.

"There's no need to tell lies. There's also no need to reveal too much,
either."

"You're right. Then I'll see about getting us some dinner."

"You don't need to go to all kinds of trouble on my behalf."

"But I want to."

He started to protest again, and she quickly sank down on the bed beside him
and held a finger to his lips. "Let me take care of you. Please."

Qui-Gon saw it would be wise to acquiesce.

Valia busied herself at her comm station between the living room and the
kitchen. Qui-Gon settled himself on the couch to catch a news holo. He
recognized Ravi's voice. He heard his loud squawk of protest from the other
end of the voice-only link. This was followed a short time later by a
raucous and knowing laugh. Valia firmly and repeatedly refused his
entreaties for more information and to turn on the visual link. Valia's side
of the conversation consisted of pleading alternated with humorous threats.
Having settled on a particular shade of the truth for the young playwright
to convey to the rest of the party, they ended the conversation. There
followed a link-up to a favorite restaurant, where Valia gleefully selected
items, the number and variety of which made Qui-Gon give her a curious look
>from across the room. She answered him by flashing him a grin. She then
bypassed the menu and had a very chatty exchange with the restaurant's
owner.

Finished, she joined him on the couch. But first she paused to admire him.
The floor-length black silk robe suited him quite well. She had longed to
see him in something other than his usual serviceable brown. It was loose
and roomy, even on his big frame, but damn, was he doing nice things to the
fabric. There lounged a dark, muscular warrior, a noble ambassador, but
mostly a satisfied male who had just been well and thoroughly loved.

An astonishing amount of food was delivered a short time later, and the meal
that followed was unique, at least to Qui-Gon. He typically ate because his
body told him it was time to do so. He was wise and conservative in his
eating habits, but he could savor the delights of good cooking. Yet he would
have been hard pressed to recall the exact flavors of the food that he'd
eaten this night, mostly because of the inventive ways in which it was
served to him. His hostess had taken great delight in selecting items that
didn't require a utensil to eat. She used her fingers to feed him, and when
they both discovered he enjoyed it, her lips. While he didn't feel so
strongly toward food, he took pleasure in watching her be seduced by the
sensual flavors and textures of their feast. He enjoyed her rapture when he
peeled a small fruit for her and fed her the juicy segments inside one by
one. He cracked the shells of steamed shellfish and let her nibble the soft
morsels from his fingers.

The meal became a playful game. Valia placed a morsel of marinated meat in
her cleavage and tossed him an inviting look. When he hesitated, her look
became a dare. She yelped and laughed when he lunged at her and snatched it
off her with his mouth. She squirmed helplessly as he held her still and
cleaned every trace of sauce from her skin. She served the rest of the meal
to him using her body as his plate.

"Your table manners are...unspeakable, Miss Traxis," he murmured against the
skin of her belly. He'd never done anything like this in his life.

"Oh, as if I eat like this every day. As if you've got room to talk." She
smiled sweetly and picked several bread crumbs out of his hair and a bit of
sauteed Mimban tree orchid root out of his beard. "As if you didn't enjoy
it."

"I confess. I did." It had been scandalously delicious.

"I've got many more ideas I think you would enjoy."

"Hmmmm." He gave her an indulgent smile. She took her fleshly pleasures
quite seriously. He was going to have to be very cautious. Later.

"Teacher you might be, but I'll bet I could teach you a thing or three."

"I have no doubt you could." She already had.

"A famous philospher once said, when the student is ready, the teacher
appears."

"That is true, but I'm not sure if this is the type of thing he was talking
about." She had sat up from where she had been lying on the table and was
sliding her hands under his robe. One of her hands coasted down his stomach
and closed around his yet again iron-hard member. They were nose to nose. He
was losing himself in her eyes again. And her body. Her breasts and erect
nipples were rubbing against his chest. She sighed and sensuously licked his
face from his cheekbone to his temple.

"You philosophy-quoting little hedonist..." he rasped against her cheek. He
spanned her waist with his hands and roved them downward over her buttocks.
He pulled her to him off the table and and down to the floor on top of him.
"Decadent little wench," he murmured, roughly pulling her robe open. She
drew in a shuddering breath, sudde\nly unbelievably turned on by what passed
for dirty talk from him and his abrupt taking charge.

"On the floor. Do me on the floor. Right now," she whispered as she helped
him inside her.

It was so much faster when there wasn't all that clothing to fumble with.
She rode him to a simultaneous, shouting climax on her kitchen floor.

When their breathing had slowed to contented quiet, she raised her head from
his shoulder. She stifled a giggle as she surveyed the apartment. It hadn't
been in a state like this in years. But it was truly a joyous mess. She
smiled blissfully.

"Looks like someone had quite a party here."

Qui-Gon dazedly studied the ceiling from his position on the floor. He
considered the tempting idea of falling asleep right where he lay, complete
with foolish smile on his face. The odd expression 'loved to death' crossed
his mind. However he sat up and joined her in looking at the room. "I'll
help clean this up." He kindly plucked a piece of izziwip peel out of her
hair. "Then we'd both better get some sleep."

Together they attacked the disorder and mess. They gathered strewn clothing
and fed it to the laundry processor. They put uneaten food into storage and
discarded the scattered empty containers. Valia restored the destroyed bed
back to order while Qui-Gon ordered the sweeper droid through several cycles
over her floors.

They washed up and joined in her bed to sleep. Qui-Gon would have preferred
the floor, closer to the simple pallet he was used to. But this night he
would forgo habit and a bit of sleep just to be close to her for a few more
hours. Cuddled against him, Valia drifted to sleep first in a haze of warm
contentment. He held her with his nose and lips buried in the hair at the
crown of her head and soon followed her.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Qui-Gon woke knowing exactly where he was and why he was there. The room was
completely dark but he knew where she was and how she lay. She slept as she
lived, openly and honestly. She was on her back, her arms flung wide, taking
up nearly the entire bed. Clearly she was not used to sharing it with
someone else. He'd nearly wound up on the floor after all. Still, he decided
he liked waking up next to her very much. He slid on his belly until he was
leaning over her face. He savored a moment to admire her. Then he took a
section of his hair and lightly brushed it across her nose. She frowned and
reached up to rub it. She settled back to sleep. He brushed her cheek and
chin. This time she growled and rolled over. He sensed her reluctant
awakening.

"Good morning," he greeted her softly. There was a long silence. Then she
moaned.

"If you say so." She could sense nothing but darkness through her eyelids.
What in the Core Worlds was he doing awake already at this hour, sounding
happily full of himself? Hadn't she just closed her eyes mere minutes ago?

"Come out and watch the sunrise with me."

There was the expected silence from her in response to this request during
which Qui-Gon could see the pained disbelief wrinkling her silky brows.
Fuzzy questions stumbled over each other in her mind. "Why?" She settled for
the simplest one.

"Because I believe in starting the day early. And I know it's going to be a
good one."

Valia rolled her face into her pillow and muttered several piquant oaths and
gutter words. Qui-Gon heard something about Jedi torture, self-deprivation,
self-denial...

"Not a morning person, are you?" he observed lightly.

"Qui-Gon, when I left the farm ten years ago, I left the hours that went
with it."

"It's such a shame to watch these things all alone sometimes."

She rolled back to face him and opened one eye. "You're sure it's going to
be good?"

"Trust me."

She slid her arms around him. Oh, my. She sighed dreamily. He was incredibly
warm, as though his body were the vessel for a living fire. She snuggled
against him, her cheek against his collarbone. The steady beat of his big
heart was going to lull her back to sleep again. But she knew he would
persist in waking her up.

"Oh, all right. For you." She raised her arms over her head and stretched
sensually, a languid motion that included every finger and every toe. Her
body arched against his.

The speed of their mutual arousal shocked them both. Valia saw the surprise
and then the passion flicker in his eyes. They shone in the barely-there
predawn light.

"Good morning," he said again, but with an altogether different tone of
voice.

"Oh yeah..." she breathed.

They surrendered to each other for the fourth time. Valia was beginning to
get sore, but there was no getting enough of him. They made love slowly and
with aching sweetness this time, the last time for a while. This time she
strongly felt his want, his need for her. He hesitantly asked her to say it
again, tell him she loved him. She did. Over and over. And she showed him.
Because he sounded like he felt this was so much to ask of her. Because he
asked almost nothing for himself. She held him to her fiercely as moisture
gathered in the corners of her eyes. She blinked it away and swallowed the
tight ache in her throat as she pressed her cheek against his. She lay
weakly, wrung out from her climax. "Jinn..." she barely whispered. The
softer, easier of his names just slipped from her as an endearment.

The sky was barely beginning to lighten as they quickly dressed and left her
apartment. They walked to a nearby east-facing court on the edge of a
spectacular drop-off. They sat together on the edge of a stone terrace. The
rain had ended, leaving the air fresh and cool. Valia huddled under her
cloak and part of his, trying to get warm. She tried to remember the last
time she'd been out and about at this hour. She'd given up the parties and
club-hopping until dawn several years ago.

While they waited for the sunrise, they talked about nothing and everything.
Qui-Gon told her more about his relationship with Xanatos, his second
apprentice. Valia finished her story about her miscarriage at the age of
sixteen, and the ineptitude of the medical facilities that had cost her a
functioning uterus and a great deal of her self-esteem for years.

"By the time the medic droid put everything back together in there, no one
was sure what was left. As if accidental pregnancy, miscarrying, emergency
butchering by inadequately programmed droids wasn't bad enough, then I had
to live with my father's total rejection for the next three years. I got off
Nyme' as soon as I could." She idly scuffed a boot toe in a crack between
the stone-crete pavers. "I sometimes think he was just as disappointed that
it wasn't a distant cousin or family member I'd gotten pregnant by." One of
his potential husband selections for her.

"One day you really should think about making your peace with him," Qui-Gon
said after a pause.

"I suppose. I know, I'll never really heal inside if I don't." Valia waved a
hand dismissively. She'd heard this before.

"Of course, all that will only happen after you make peace with yourself
over it."

"I..." Valia started to insist that she had, then stopped, thinking. Well,
she had. Hadn't she? In any case she didn't want to spend her last few
minutes with Qui-Gon arguing. She glanced at him, her eyes promising a
rousing debate over the subject at a later time. Qui-Gon pulled her close
and gestured to the horizon where color was beginning to bloom. They watched
the clouds pick up delicate paint-brush strokes of scarlet, pink and gold.
Coruscant's star peeked above the far buildings and splashed orange light
across the shiny building surfaces.

Valia sighed as the light finally fell across her face. It had been far too
long since she'd seen a sunrise.

"You were right. It is a good one. It's beautiful."

Qui-Gon gave her a smile with more than a trace of 'I told you so' in it.

It was past time for him to go. Valia stood on the terrace edge to hug him.
She sternly told herself she would not give in to tears even as her eyes
started to sting. The heavy weepiness that had begun in her earlier welled
up in her again. She hadn't felt like crying this much in years. She turned
her head away to try to control herself. When he drew back to look at her
questioningly, she pinched her eyes shut.

"I was going to wait until you were gone to do this." The last thing he
needed was some blasted fool weeping female. "Damn it," she muttered
squeakily.

"Oh now, don't be too hard on yourself."

Valia opened her eyes to look at him. Was that moisture in the corners of
his eyes?

She pushed at him. "You'd better go." He didn't move. Instead he enveloped
her in another hug. She knew it sounded ridiculous, but she said it anyway.
"I can't live without touching you."

"Yes, you can. You will. You must. We both must," he said into her hair. He
drew back and made her look at him. "Do you think this is all I'm made of?"

When she didn't answer, he nudged her suggestively with his pelvis. "Hmm?"

She laughed and sniffed. Of course he was so much more than the physical
body standing before her. As was she.

"Well no, but I...I've come to love that part of you."

"Oh, how well I know..." Already he was hoarding away memories of loving her
to store in a far corner of his mind where they would be treasured, and not
distractions.

"You have my heart," he told her, caressing her face with the backs of his
fingers. "Even if I'm not here, I'll still be with you. And you with me."

Valia remembered thinking at one time how sappy the concept of seeing
forever in someone's eyes sounded. Until now. She saw it. She actually saw a
glimpse of eternity in his blue eyes. The ache in her throat dissolved away
and peace came over her.

"Be well, my love. I'll see you soon." He slowly backed away from her,
sliding free of her hands. With a last look at her over his shoulder, he
walked away.

Part 16

Docent Kerrlkin shoved the squalling baby boy at Valia.

"He's a little cranky today. Maybe you can settle him down."

An open-mouthed Valia regarded the squirming red-faced human infant in her
arms. She adjusted her hold, trying not to drop him, and trying to make him
more comfortable.

"Whatever is the matter? Can you tell auntie Lia what's wrong?" She
instinctively began making foolish nonsense noises to him that might have
had some of her friends wondering if she'd lost her mind.

She walked toward a high-ceilinged chamber with tall windows that had a
balcony along one side. The baby had seemed to like the light-filled room on
the south side of the Jedi Temple before, so she gently rocked him as she
took him there, softly telling him where they were going and how happy she
hoped it would make him.

She sat down on a comfortably curved bench and settled the Jedi infant on
her lap. He was so cute, so fuzzy and blonde. He already seemed happier. She
was rocking him, cooing to him. She could just about fall in love with him
right now, crankiness and all. She nuzzled her cheek against his head. She
pushed aside the thought of his distraught mother, somewhere worlds away.
She was so engrossed she would not have heard anyone enter the room behind
her.

When she felt the tickle of a familiar presence, she smiled and told herself
it was just her wishful imagination. Qui-Gon was still gone. It had been
nearly three weeks this time. She told herself to stop worrying about him.
But she missed him terribly.

She was trying to remember some old half-forgotten Nymean nursery songs when
the insistent tickle came again. This time she turned to look behind her.
There he was. In the flesh. Qui-Gon stood in the doorway, smilingly admiring
her, apparently transfixed by her. Her heart danced. She wanted to jump up
and go to him, but putting Corbin down would probably let loose the
squalling she had just contained. So she stayed seated and invited him to
her with her eyes.

She slid over so he could sit next to her on the bench. He casually
straddled it beside her. With her free hand she stroked his face in an
affectionate greeting. He looked scruffy, as though his beard needed
trimming, and his cheeks looked a bit more hollow since she'd last seen him.
But he'd sought her out first before taking care of personal details. He
kissed her cheek, intending to keep his own greeting on a polite level until
later. At the first contact with her skin, he couldn't help continuing over
to her mouth.

"Hi," she whispered after their lips parted.

"Hi there," he answered with soft joy. He glanced down at the spit-bubbling
child resting in the crook of her arm. "This little one is very, very lucky,
you know."

She looked up at him questioningly.

"Aside from knowing the sweet peace of being held in your arms, he is in a
much better place than where he was born. He was sold for drugs by his
mother on Kessel."

Valia could find nothing to say to this. She looked back down at Corbin and
held him closer. He had quieted, and even showed signs of getting sleepy. He
seemed mesmerized by Qui-Gon, who carefully reached out to touch his tiny
nose. He responded with a drooly smile. Valia leaned against Qui-Gon and
allowed herself to entertain the totally frivolous thought that the only way
she might be happier than she already was at this moment was if they were
married and this was their child.

Neither one of them saw Yoda as he shuffled to a stop near another doorway.
He silently observed the two of them and the baby. He sighed and his ears
drooped. He'd foreseen something like this for Qui-Gon. Too big for his own
good, that one's heart was. Too close, he could get. And these two were very
close. He noted the way he was nearly wrapped around her as if he were
drawing life and light from her. Unable to resist it or her. The way his
fingers were intimately twined with hers as she held the baby suggested they
were sharing a great deal more than a seat on a bench. Still, there was a
radiant peace coming from the Jedi that he hadn't seen in years. Maybe
never. He silently drifted away from the door, leaving them alone. Speak to
Qui-Gon privately later, Hhe would. He could always visit the babies later.
For now, he would wait and think on the wisest course of action for this, if
there was one. This was a decision only Qui-Gon could make. There would be
sorrow in losing him from the Order, should that be his choice.

The End