Qui-Gon stood before the Council, the serene Jedi he was supposed to be, at least on the outside. They all knew of his search, knew also of his bargain with Yoda. They knew why he was here perhaps a little later than they would have liked. They also knew - because he knew his shielding wasn't holding as well as it usually did - how tired and frustrated he was.
"Something to report, have you?" Yoda asked.
Qui-Gon took a deep breath. "Obi-Wan was at the monastery of Bel-Meridah until about a month ago," he said. "At least, I believe so. The Monastery is... very protective of the people who stay there. Without knowing the name he'd been given, I could not ask about him specifically."
"What makes you believe so?" Mace asked.
"The weapons master was leading a group through the first Kata when I arrived," Qui-Gon said. "And while he could not tell me for sure - there was no name we knew in common, and I do not have even a holo of my Padawan - I believe he was there." He sighed softly, releasing his lingering frustration into the Force. "And I believe that if I hadn't been called away earlier, I would have found him there."
"Where will you look now?" Adi Gallia asked. He turned to face her.
"I'm not sure," he said calmly. "I will meditate and wait for the Force to guide me."
She smiled and nodded, and he turned back to Yoda. "Have you a mission for me?"
Yoda watched him for a moment. "No," he said. "For three days you will remain. If no mission we have, go again you may."
Chafing inside at the forced inactivity, Qui-Gon bowed. "Yes, Master," he said.
"May the Force be with you," Mace said, his benediction also a dismissal.
With a second bow, Qui-Gon left the chambers.
He did not stop until he was back in his own quarters, and he stood aimlessly in the center of the common room for a moment. Then, with a shrug that did nothing to express his frustration, he went to make tea.
He was sitting at his table, reading, the warm tea beside him and nearly finished steeping, when someone rang at his door. With a gesture, he opened it, not even caring who it might be.
"Is there some for me?" Tahl asked, pausing by his chair. He looked up and smiled.
"Of course," he said. "There is always some for you." He got up and went to fix her a cup.
"What did they say?" she asked, sitting down in the chair across from his.
"About what?"
"About Obi-Wan."
"That I should wait three days," he said, and turned back around. "I would have protested, but Yoda might have made it longer. And...." he started, and hesitated. "I... feel like I need to wait," he continued slowly, and reflexively released his frustration with the whole situation into the Force. He didn't know if he were crazy or not, but his frustration was as much with the Force as with the Council and himself. Especially since Mace and Yoda seemed to be conspiring to keep him from a full time search for Obi-Wan.
Tahl said nothing, and he turned around to finish her tea. When he sat back down, she smiled as she took the cup he gave her. "I'm glad," she said plainly. "You are far too tired."
He smiled wearily at her. "I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep," he said.
"Anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"Sit and talk with me," he said, and reached across the table to squeeze her free hand.
She smiled and squeezed back. "Of course. What would you talk of?"
"Anything," he said with a sigh, and pulled his hand away to pick up his mug.
She paused a moment. "Was he at Bel-Meridah?"
Qui-Gon took a deep breath, wishing now that he hadn't said anything. He didn't wish to talk about.... "Yes. I am certain."
"Did they say he was there?"
"Close enough. I found someone who was a friend, I think, considering how hesitant he was to say anything about Obi-Wan."
Tahl set her mug down, reached across the table, and took his hand in hers. "Listen to me," she said firmly. "You are driving yourself into the ground. There is so much frustration and anger in you that you're driving your own peace away. Let it go."
"I've tried." He sagged wearily back in his chair. "I can't understand this. It's as if the Force itself has turned against me."
Her hand squeezed his. "Have you asked it why?"
He sighed. "I have not had the peace for proper meditation for months."
Tahl smiled gently. "Come, then. Maybe I can help you find your peace." She tugged gently at his hand, and he followed her to kneel in the center of his common room.
She kept his hand even as she closed her eyes, and he closed his as well, blocking out the strange, empty echoing of his quarters, focusing on the warmth of her hand in his. Slowly his breathing evened out and he felt her mind reach out to his. He accepted that touch as he had accepted her hand, and the peace that seemed to permeate her being - the peace that had fled due to his frustration since he realized he was being diverted from his search by the Council - filled him and eased him. When they reemerged from their shared meditation, he was surprised to find that the frustration had fled, and tears tracked his cheeks.
Tahl leaned close and hugged him. "I'm afraid your tea is cold," she said, "but I think you can sleep now."
"Yes," he said, stood and helped her up. "Thank you."
She squeezed his hand. "You are welcome, my friend. Sleep now. It will look clearer in the morning."
He was glad she didn't say it would look better.
He stood before the Council again two days later, listening as they outlined his next mission. It was not, as he had assumed, a simple diplomatic one; this was something more urgent.
"Ambassador Mahália of the Kapunen system has requested our help," Mace said with his usual aplomb. "He has asked for assistance from the Republic, and specifically the Jedi. He has been working hard the last few years to ban slavers from his system. He is beginning to be effective, and they have threatened him and his family. Right now, he has spread his family throughout the system in an attempt to hide them from the slavers he is trying to get rid of. He and his wife are safe, but he wishes for the rest of his family to be safe as well."
"Meet with him you must," Yoda said evenly. "Tell you he will, where his children are, and bring them here you must."
"Am I to work alone?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Better it will be," Yoda said.
"One Jedi will not catch the attention of the slavers," Ki-Adi-Mundi said. "Two might, and three most certainly would."
Qui-Gon nodded. "I accept this mission." He'd slept, thanks to Tahl's help. His shields were tight. At least, he hoped they were tight enough that the gathered Council would not sense his rebellion at this mission. He did not want it. He wanted to go and find his Padawan. And yet the Force nudged him to go.
"Ambassador Mahália is here on Coruscant, in a safe house that supplied by Chancellor Valorum. As soon as you have met with him and he has told you where his children are, you should go," Mace said.
"How many children does he have?"
"Five," Yoda said. "It should not take you long."
"May the Force be with you," Mace said. Qui-Gon bowed and swept from the room.
He packed lightly and headed for the safe house. Ambassador Mahália, a small compact man that reminded him somewhat of Mace, looked worried, scared even, but told him precisely where each of his children were. "We have lost contact," he said. "Be careful. Each of my children has a body guard, someone I trust, but they may shoot first and ask questions later."
Qui-Gon bowed. "I will be careful," he said.
He tried to release the feelings of injustice he felt at this mission. He was to retrieve a man's children, but was not given the chance to look for his own Padawan full time. He knew there was a reason he was not allowed to search, but what that might be, he didn't know. He knew there was a reason because of the looks that Yoda and Mace exchanged every time he went before them to ask for time to search. It was beyond frustrating; he was beginning to get angry.
Taking a deep breath, he released those feelings into the Force, and turned his attention to the task at hand. These were children, untrained and probably frightened. Obi-Wan could take care of himself for a little while longer. He winced at the thought.
It only took two stops for him to prove Ki-Adi-Mundi wrong. One Jedi did catch the attention of the slavers; they must have been watching for the kind of traveling he was doing. The children had been hidden on different habitable planets and moons of the system. Kapunen had a lot of them.
It became something of a game, albeit a deadly one. He set up four rendezvous points on the edge of the system with small, fast, well-armed ships captained by people he trusted, and Qui-Gon's transport became a shuttle of sorts, delivering each child to the ship to be taken to Coruscant at high speed. After the second rescue, the slavers caught on, following him and guessing where he was going on the way toward a planet or moon, and then trying to capture him on the way off, deterred from catching him during the transfer thanks to the weapons on the ships he was meeting. It was taking too long, but in spite of it all, he'd managed to get the four oldest within a relatively short amount of time.
"What will you do now?" the oldest boy asked, a young man about the same age as Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon's fourth pickup and last transfer. He looked very much like his father and he seemed to be pretty level headed, calm in spite of the frantic flight. He sat in the co-pilot's seat, gripping the edge of the consol with both hands as Qui-Gon fought to get past the slavers and to the ship he was supposed to meet. His bodyguard sat against the wall behind them, gripping the handholds on either side of him. He had refused to let his charge out of his sight.
"I will go and get your youngest sister," Qui-Gon said quietly, dodging another shot meant to cripple his ship. The Force nudged him and he dropped the ship down a bit. The next shot passed over them, skidding across the shields.
"Did my father tell you to bring Regina's body guard with her?" he asked.
Qui-Gon nodded. "Yes. And I intend to, if I can."
The boy tilted his head. "If you can?"
"If I can. I may not be able to do anything at all other than get your sister off that planet." Their conversation cut off as he slid in next to the ship he was to meet, connecting to it with a skill he'd learned to perfect the last few hours. It's guns kept the slavers off, disabling one of their ships even as Qui-Gon disconnected. It just got more urgent, the feeling in the Force, once he'd transferred the boy and his guard. Turning the ship, he raced for the last hideout, hoping that this urgent feeling didn't mean that he was too late.
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