What has happened? We heard on the streets that Roan is dead. It can't be true. Is it?"

Balog took a few steps toward them. "I'm afraid it is true. He lies inside."

Alani turned to Eritha. She put her arms around her sister. "We must go to him."

"He did not kill our father," Eritha said. "He put himself in danger for us. Alani, we are the guilty ones!"

"He would not be dead if he hadn't tried to rescue us," Alani said, her voice rising.

"No." Tahl walked toward them. "You are guilty of nothing. Roan made his own choice."

"Did you escape or did they let you go?" Balog asked them.

"They let us go. We never saw their faces." Alani wiped tears from her face.

"We believe it's best if you come with us to Coruscant in the morning," Tahl said gently.

Alani looked at her sister. "Yes, I think it is best."

"I do want to leave this place," Eritha whispered. "I never thought I would say that, but it is true."

"We need to see Roan now," Alani said.

Eritha and Alani, their arms around each other, pa.s.sed into the room where Roan lay. The door closed behind them.

Balog turned to the Jedi. "I was just coming to meet with you. All night we have worked to arrange a peace meeting. We do not know who was behind this, but we cannot wait to find out while unrest fills the streets. The Workers and the Civilized have agreed to meet. Also a representative from the Absolutes has agreed, as long as we give him safe conduct back to where he came from and do not arrest him. We have agreed to that condition because we must. I will also be at the meeting. As a Worker who is part of the current government, I am needed for balance.

Irini will represent the Workers."

"This is good news," Qui-Gon said. "Only when you begin to talk can you begin to resolve this situation. The government must be stabilized."

"There is only one condition," Balog said. "A Jedi representative must be present. Each of the parties has asked for this - except for the Absolutes. However the representative has agreed reluctantly. The meeting is at dawn." Balog checked his chrono. "An hour away."

"I will go with you," Qui-Gon said.

"No," Tahl said. "I will go." She turned to Qui-Gon. "It has to be me, Qui-Gon. I infiltrated the Absolute organization. I know things the others do not. If the representative of the Absolutes tries to lie about the organization, I am the only one who will know."

"That is true," Balog said. "The Workers and the Civilized trust the Absolutes even less than each other."

"Take the twins to Coruscant in the morning," Tahl said. "I will join you there after this meeting."

Obi-Wan kept his eyes on his Master. Qui-Gon had gone pale. It was clear he was not happy with this turn of events. He wanted to be the one to go to the meeting. But there was something more there, some powerful emotion Obi-Wan did not understand. There appeared to be some sort of t.i.tanic struggle going on inside Qui-Gon.

Tahl picked up on it as well. She frowned and seemed about to speak.

Then, to Obi-Wan's surprise, he saw something flicker in Qui-Gon's eyes. It was almost as though Qui-Gon was amused by something, something private. It was gone so quickly that Obi-Wan was sure he was mistaken.

His Master shook his head as if to clear it. He appeared both shaken and determined at the same time.

Qui-Gon turned to Balog. "Will you excuse us? I need to speak with Tahl alone."

"Of course." Balog bowed and retreated.

Obi-Wan started off with Qui-Gon and Tahl toward the private room.

But Qui-Gon turned.

"Please wait here, Padawan," he said kindly.

Surprised, Obi-Wan could only nod. He watched as his Master followed Tahl into the room and closed the door firmly behind them.

CHAPTER 17.

"Dear friend," Tahl said, "there have been too many arguments between us. Do not let another one arise."

"I did not ask for privacy to argue with you," Qui-Gon said.

He knew that outside that door, life went on. People were grieving.

Others plotted the overthrow of a government. The planet of New Apsolon continued to revolve in its...o...b..t. Its moons were slowly dropping in the sky.

Yet it all meant nothing to him, not at this moment. At last he had come to see the truth. He had touched it and marveled at it and laughed at himself for not seeing it earlier. He had done all this in the s.p.a.ce of a moment.

Oddly enough, the key to his revelation had been simple - the image of the pastry he had handed to Obi-Wan just yesterday. He had remembered the taste of it, the sweetness filling his mouth. That had been the lesson he had been searching for, the one he had given to his Padawan without much thought. In the midst of a complicated life of danger and service, he must sometimes remember to reach for the fruit.

"I wish to tell you something," he said. "Well, two things. The first is that I agree that you should be the one to go to the meeting.

But we will not take the twins and go, not until you return. I cannot leave New Apsolon without you. I have a deep conviction that if I do, I will not see you again."

She started to pa.s.s off his remark, but stopped herself. "You feel this strongly?"

"I do. I felt foreboding back at the Temple. I was in a fever to see you again. Once we were together here, despite the fact that so much was unsettled, I did not care because I knew you were safe as long as we were together."

She nodded slowly. "But Qui-Gon, I am not your Padawan. We cannot be together always."

"Ah," Qui-Gon said. "This brings me to the second thing I must say."

Yet now that the moment had come, he stopped. Tahl waited. She would not prompt him. She would give him time. She did not always do that - she was the one to prod him, ask him the very questions he did not want to ask himself. Yet she knew him so well that she always knew when to give him time.

His heart filled, and she seemed to know it. Her face softened.

Still, she did not speak.

"I have come to know something," he said. "I cannot let you go, I cannot let another minute pa.s.s, without telling you this. I did not come to New Apsolon only because you are my friend. I did not remain because you are a fellow Jedi. I have come to see that you are not just a friend and a fellow Jedi, Tahl. You are necessary to my life. You are necessary to me. You are my heart."

He saw her chest rise and fall. Color rose in her face. "You are not speaking of friends.h.i.+p," she said.

"I am speaking of something deeper. I am speaking of everything a being can give another. This is what I offer you. I offer myself."

He could not have spoken plainer. Hard words to say, but they needed to be said.

Another being would have taken a step, sat, moved, spoken. She was perfectly still. He waited, counting his heartbeats. He had taken a decisive step. It would put their friends.h.i.+p to the test.

He was willing to take the risk. At last he had known himself and his feelings. He was not sure of hers. In that moment of revelation he had understood all the tension between them over the past months, all the misunderstandings and irritations. They all had one root. Somewhere inside he had known his feelings for Tahl had deepened, and yet he was reluctant to face that. Back in the hall, the certainty of it had felt like sweet relief.

But now he was not so sure. Tahl appeared fl.u.s.tered, but that could be for any number of reasons.

"If you do not feel the same, I will step back into place and be your friend again," Qui-Gon said. He was a man comfortable with silence, but not this one. He would never want to cause Tahl distress.

"No," Tahl said with sudden warmth. "Do not step back. Let us step forward together. I feel as you do, Qui-Gon."

He took a step forward at the same time as she did. She placed her hand in his.

"I did not know it until this moment," she said. "Or maybe I did.

Maybe I've known it for some time."

He felt her fingers, warm and strong in his. "I pledge myself to you, Tahl."

"I pledge myself to you, Qui-Gon."

They stood, not moving for a moment. But both of them were now conscious of what waited for them outside the door.

"I must go to the meeting," Tahl said. "Yes," Qui-Gon agreed.

"We are Jedi. Our life together will be full of separations."

"Yet we will have one life, together."

"Yes."

"When you return, we shall escort the twins back to Coruscant,"

Qui- Gon said.

"Unless the government asks for our help," Tahl amended.

"Yes, unless we are asked officially to stay," Qui-Gon agreed.

"Whatever decision we make, we will be together," Tahl said.

"Yes," Qui-Gon agreed. "At last this is clear."

CHAPTER 18.

Obi-Wan waited outside the door. He couldn't imagine why Qui-Gon had asked for privacy. What could he have to say to Tahl that his Padawan could not hear? Obi-Wan tried not to resent this. Whatever decision his Master made was undoubtedly the right one. Yet he still felt left out, sitting on the stairs outside the closed door like a child.

At last the door opened. Qui-Gon saw him on the stairs and walked toward him, Tahl at his side.

"Tahl will go to the peace meeting," he told Obi-Wan. "We will wait for her here with the twins. When she returns, if the official government of New Apsolon does not request our help, we will escort the twins off- planet as they wish. We will monitor the situation from the Temple, and return if we are asked."

Obi-Wan nodded. He had known this before they had gone into the room. So why did Qui-Gon seem different? The hunted look on his face was gone. Something profound had changed inside that room.

"We are not leaving a stable planet, but at least we can bring the twins to safety," Qui-Gon said. "That was the initial goal of the mission."

"And we will leave with negotiations in place, I hope," Tahl said.

Balog appeared. "It is time."

Tahl nodded. "I am ready."

She did not say good-bye to Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan, but walked out with Balog. Qui-Gon watched until the door closed behind them.

With the dawn came activity. Roan's body was removed, accompanied by Manex. Arrangements were made for the Supreme Governor to lie in state before his funeral. The twins went to their quarters to rest before packing for the journey to Coruscant.

Qui-Gon arranged for a morning meal. Obi-Wan was grateful. It had been a long night, and his appet.i.te had returned. He ate everything on his tray and watched Qui-Gon sip his tea and have a few bites of bread.

"Are you worried about the meeting?" Obi-Wan asked.

Qui-Gon stared into his teacup. "I wasn't. But there is something... something still troubling me."

They heard a loud voice outside the door and the sound of a scuffle.

"Take your hands off me, you slimy s.p.a.ce lizard! Let me see them!

Bring them my name! They will see me!"

Qui-Gon strode to the door and opened it. Irini stood, her arm in the grip of a security guard.

"Tell them to let me go!" she said furiously. "I have come for talk, not conflict."

Qui-Gon nodded at the guard. Irini gave him a baleful look as she brushed past him and walked into the room.

"What right do they have to abuse me?" she complained to the Jedi, straightening her tunic. "I am not a criminal. I am a citizen. And what do you need security for? You're Jedi. A neutral party, isn't that right?"

"Maybe we need security because people send probe droids after us and shoot at us in alleyways," Qui-Gon pointed out.