Symphonia: Ad Asterim

Chapter Eleven: Double Life
(Song title by The Cars)

After a cursory search of the area, it was apparent that the man they'd thought near death was nowhere to be found. Kayla sat on the grass and pulled her boots on, her thoughts clouded.

"I still don't know how he could have gotten up and walked away," insisted Obi-Wan. "He'd lost so much blood and was unconscious. I know what I saw, damn it." He paced back and forth, agitated.

"I believe you. I thought he was dead when we found him." She stood and walked to him, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes. "There's nothing to be gained from fretting over it, though." //Relax, love. Let's go home.//

He nodded, and they started back to where they'd parked the 'speeder. "Alright. So where are we meeting Master Judrelle?"

"The pub we were at last night. Perhaps you should head back to the Temple now, and meet me at my place later tonight. I'm of the mind to go incognito, given her rather cryptic explanation. I assume you have civilian garb you can wear?"

"Yes, of course. But do you really think that's necessary?" he asked. They reached the 'speeder and he hesitated a moment before getting in. "I mean…I'm not questioning your judgment here, I just hadn't thought of meeting another Jedi in a public place as a cause for such caution."

Kayla shook her head. //Think about it. If she's telling the truth, there's something going on in the Order that we, and likely a good number of others, are unaware of. I think discretion is needed, at least until we know otherwise.// She winked at him. "Besides, I have a closet full of clothes I have no reason to wear otherwise. It'll be fun."

Later that night…

Kayla was finishing getting dressed when Obi-Wan's sending reached her. //I'll be there in just a few minutes, love.//

//Good. I'm just about ready. The door's unlocked; just let yourself in.//

True to his word, it was only a handful of minutes later that he arrived. //I'm here// he sent as he opened the door and stepped inside.

//I'm in the bedroom.// She stood before an open closet, trying to decide whether she'd need a coat, and if so, which one to choose.

He chuckled. //If I come in there, we'll be late meeting Master Judrelle. I'll just wait here, I think.//

She laughed along with him. //Alright, just give me a moment// She decided to skip the coat entirely and closed the closet door before leaving the room.

"Oh, my." Obi-Wan smiled when she entered the room, his gaze raking her up and down appreciatively. "You look fantastic." She stood before him wearing a rich cobalt-blue blouse that showed a fair amount of cleavage, and snug black pants that were tucked into her usual black leather boots.

"So do you," she grinned. He wore a dark grey shirt tucked into black trousers. "Hmm…we need to do something about that."

He furrowed his brown in confusion. "About what?"

"Your braid," she replied, stepping closer to him and twirling the object of her concern around a finger. "We ought to conceal it somehow."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that," he admitted. He caught her finger and raised her hand to his lips, kissing her fingertips, and then drawing one finger into his mouth and sucking it gently.

"Stop that, I'm trying to think!' she giggled.

"Mmm. I can’t think when you look so good. Do you think she'll mind if we're late?" He released her hand and leaned forward to trail kisses along her neck to the hollow of her throat, while his fingers busied themselves opening the buttons of her blouse.

"Obi, stop," she squealed, squirming away from him. "We can come back here afterwards, I promise." She re-buttoned the shirt as he made a face. "I guess the braid will be okay. Oh, don’t look at me like that," she sighed.

He grinned and pulled her close again, kissing her. "Ok, we'll do it your way." She smiled and leaned into his embrace. //For now. But just you wait until we get back here…// his thoughts trailed off teasingly.

***

They arrived at the pub a half-hour early, and found Master Judrelle already waiting for them, sitting at the very same table they'd occupied the night before. She was also wearing civilian garb. She spied them and waved for them to join her.

"Have you been waiting long?" Kayla asked as she took her seat.

The Corellian Jedi shook her head. "I've only been here a few minutes myself. She glanced at Obi-Wan and raised an eyebrow. "You're Qui-Gon Jinn's padawan, aren't you?"

He nodded and extended a hand. "Obi-Wan Kenobi."

She shook his hand, a smile forming on her face. Turning to Kayla, she pointed at the padawan. "So, would you like to tell me what Master Jinn's padawan is doing," she moved her finger to point at her friend, "with you?" Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

//Let me handle this// Kayla sent in a mental tone that brooked no discussion. "He's my assistant on a project I'm working on for the Council."

"I…see." She drew the words out with a grin. "Tell that to someone who doesn't know you."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" //She's fishing. She doesn't know anything.//

//Umm..alright.// He sounded unconvinced. //Is she always like this?//

//Is she always this forward, do you mean? She's been like this all her life. I'm used to it.//

"Oh, nothing," Master Judrelle replied airily. "Let's get something to drink, shall we?" She waved a hand in the air, and a server appeared to take their order. "Three Corellian ales, please." She turned back to her companions as the server hurried away to get their drinks. "So. Where shall we begin?"

"Who was he?" Kayla asked bluntly.

The server returned with their drinks, and Tassida took a deep swallow of ale and waited for him to leave the table before replying. "Ah. The ale here only gets better as I get older. Now, to answer your question: he was a spy for the Order who'd decided to play both sides of the fence, and was selling critically sensitive information to whoever would pay. He had to be taken out; there was no other solution. He was too dangerous, he knew too much."

"I see. And you made that decision independently?" Kayla asked in between sips of ale.

"Of course not. I don't have that kind of authority."

Kayla nodded. Obi-Wan watched them, intrigued.

The blonde Jedi sighed. "As you know, there are sub-groupings within the Order, some official and others not. For example, there are the Jedi Consulars, Jedi Guardians, the Diplomatic Corp…you get the idea." At their nods, she continued. "I belong to a very secret group, one that most of the Order has no idea even exists. You might call us Jedi Assassins."

Obi-Wan snorted. "That's a contradiction in terms if ever I heard one."

"Not necessarily. If there is the potential for a disturbance in the Force, we eliminate it. More crises have been averted through our intervention than you'd ever begin to guess."

Kayla rested her chin on steepled fingers. "This may be one crisis you won't avert. He was gone when we got back."

She shook her head with a smile. "Of course he wasn't. That was my partner's handiwork."

"Your partner?" Obi-Wan asked, leaning forward. "We didn't see any sign of another person out there."

Tassida smiled broadly. "And you wouldn't have, no matter how thoroughly you looked. That's part of our training; we come and go without a trace. You wouldn't have seen me, either, if I hadn't dropped my damned aquabreather halfway down the stream. Of all the times to sneeze, that was the most inconvenient." She waved for the server and ordered another round of drinks. "I hope you both don't mind the ale. You can get something else, if you prefer. Drinks are on me, by the way, as a thank you for seeing reason this afternoon."

"No, this is fine," Kayla said, draining her mug and handing it to the server, who replaced it with a full one. Obi-Wan nodded in agreement and accepted a new mug as well. "I have another question for you, Tass. What would you have done had I not let you go? Or if it had been someone other than me who'd caught you?"

"To answer the first part of your question, I don't know. If you'd dragged me up before the Council, chances are that my superiors would have let me be cast out and exiled rather than reveal themselves. I told you, some of the Council know about us, but not all of them. At least one Council member is one of us. And no, I'm not telling you who, so don't even go there. As for the second part…let's not go there either. We're both lucky things turned out as they did." She took a long swallow of ale before changing the subject.

"So what kind of project are you helping Kayla with?" Tassida asked, turning to the padawan. "You never did say."

"We're working on some mods for 'saber crystals," he replied. //How much should I tell her?//

//You're doing fine. You don't know enough yet about what I'm doing to give away anything that's classified.//

The Corellian raised an eyebrow. "Really? What kind of modifications?"

"It's, umm…still in the early stages. We're just now finding out some of the possibilities. Did you notice Kayla's 'saber this afternoon?"

"Now that you mention it, there was something unusual about it. Your 'saber's always been blue, hasn't it?"

Kayla nodded. "Dark blue, at that. It's not anymore; I'll show it to you again another time. The appearance is only part of it, though. It has other effects. I'm not satisfied with it, however, and need to replace one of the crystals in it."

Master Judrelle's other eyebrow raised. "So you're modifying the crystals, are you? Very interesting. What sort of results have you had?"

"Nothing of interest. Like Obi-Wan's already told you, it's still in the early stages. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

"I see. How long have the two of you been working on this, then?"

"Only a couple of weeks," Obi-Wan replied.

"Ah." The blonde Jedi nodded, smiling. She turned to Kayla with a conspiratorial wink. "I know you too well, my friend. There is more going on here than meets the eye."

"She already told you…" Obi-Wan began, exasperated, before Kayla's sending cut him off.

//DON'T!//

//Why not?//

//I told you, she's fishing.//

//She's damned good at it, then.//

Tassida Judrelle's gaze moved from Kayla to Obi-Wan, and she leaned forward, grinning widely, and lowered her voice. "Alright, the two of you. I've been honest with you, which is more than my superiors would appreciate if they knew. I'm trusting you to keep my secret. Now stop pretending you don't have one, and tell me what the hell is going on here. And before you say anything, Kayla, I've known you all our lives, and I know for a fact that it takes more than a 'couple of weeks' for you to get as comfortable around someone as you are with Padawan Kenobi here. There are only three possible explanations." She raised her right index finger. "One, a Master-Padawan bond, which you obviously don't have." A second finger joined the first. "Two. You've known each other for a long, long time. I think we can all agree that's not the case." A third finger raised. "And three. You're lovers. Am I wrong?" She lowered her hand back to the table.

Kayla shook her head, and both her and Obi-Wan's faces flushed deep crimson. "No, you're not. I was hoping it wouldn't be that obvious."

The Corellian nodded. "It wouldn't have been, if I hadn't known you as well as I do. The only other person who'd be likely to guess would be Master Windu."

Kayla groaned and buried her face in her hands. "That would not be good. I suppose we owe you a thank-you for pointing this out. Better you than him, any day."

"Why are you so concerned about being found out? There's no part of the Code that says we need to be celibate, you know."

"I know, I know," she replied guiltily, downing a large swallow of ale.

Tassida turned to the padawan. "Does your Master disapprove?"

"No, no, not at all," Obi-Wan answered, shaking his head. "He's the only other one who knows about us."

"So where is there a problem? Am I missing something here?"

"Nothing that you need to know," Kayla replied, perhaps a little too quickly.

"Ah. Well, your secret is safe with me. I won't tell a soul." Looking around the pub, the blonde sighed. "It's been too long since we were here last, Kayla. I've missed you."

Kayla nodded. "I agree, and I've missed you as well. Why don't we meet here again next week, same time?"

Tassida laughed. "You're just looking for an excuse to get dressed up. You can't fool me, Silar'rian." She patted her friend on the shoulder. "I'm just kidding. That sounds like a wonderful idea." She turned to the padawan. "And you're welcome, too, of course. That goes without saying." She downed the last of her ale and counted out credits to pay the tab. "I'm meeting someone in a little while to discuss what happened today. It would be best for us all if you left now, before he arrives."

"Alright, then," Kayla replied. "Until next week, then." They rose and left the table, heading for the door. The Corellian called for the server and paid the tab before disappearing into the shadows.