Sidious had not, as Maul believed, gone to bed. He had donned Palpatine's luxurious dressing gown, entered Palpatine's opulent bedroom, the proceeded to the gilded balcony and stand there until the suns rose. That, surely, did not count as going to bed.

He had waited for Maul to return from his little adventure, hoping that his apprentice had had accomplished at least one of two goals for the evening: either the Queen and Jedi's death, or his own. Skywalker into the bargain would not have hurt. But Maul had marched into the apartments, straight past him, entered Sidious' private library, and begun to rifle through scrolls and parchments like mad. He had not even been injured.

Sidious had not needed to ask if the mission had been successful; his Senatorial connections had already informed him of the tragic deaths of Senator Kershel and Queen Amidala's handmaidens. Sidious was tempted to ask Maul how, exactly, he had failed to accomplish as single thing he had sent him to do, but instead remained silent. He did not want to admit the reason to himself; when Maul had come back tonight, he was something more than Maul. And he was completely unafraid of Lord Sidious.

Sidious had looked in on Maul just once before leaving him for the night. Already that extra - presence - that he had sensed in his student had begun to dissipate, but it still made him uneasy. And so he had backed away.

Sidious bared his teeth and growled at the early morning sky, not unlike the way he had growled at that damned Neimodian viceroy when the repulsive creature had lost the Queen's ship. It seemed he was cursed to be unsuccessful in anything he did these days; his election to the position of Chancellor had been his only substantial victory in months.

And as for whatever was going on with his student... well, something would have to be done about it. Just not right now. Not when Maul was - not alone. Sidious stared out into the fading night, simply letting his mind turn. A solution would present itself. One always did.

***

Kenobi sat cross-legged on the meditation mat, watching Morru sleep. It had been at least two hours since he had carried her inert form back to the Jedi Temple, and although he had been assured by Yaddle herself that she would be just fine, he still wanted to keep an eye on her.

And he did not want to be alone.

Seeing that man again, the one who had killed Qui-Gon, had almost been too much for him. Seeing Anakin cry like that had been worse; the boy did not cry when separated from his mother, but at the thought of losing Morru, he had sobbed so hard he could barely breathe.

What are you doing to us? Kenobi wondered to himself. She stirred. He looked closer at her face; she appeared to be waking.

***

Morru first became aware of a soft, damp something being sponged on her forehead. It was a very pleasant feeling, and for a moment Morru simply basked in the comfort of the sensation.

And then came memory.

Morru gasped and sat straight up, her eyes wide, fully expecting to see the black-robed warrior standing over her, to see Obi-Wan dead and torn, to see...

Obi-Wan? Now what had brought him to the forefront of her mind? For that matter, where in Coruscant was she, anyway? All questions, however, were forgotten in the wake of pain which now flooded her senses. Morru put her hand to her head and cried out.

"Sit up you must not," chided Yaddle, who had been gentling swabbing her forehead. "Unwell, you are." Morru was not in a position to disagree. She lay back on the cot slowly, covering her eyes with her hands. Her brain pounded like it wanted to escape, the left side of her face felt most unattractively swollen, and her back and neck muscles protested with every breath. "What happened?" she managed. Yaddle turned to Obi-Wan.

"Awake, she is," she said. "Go tell the others, you must. Meet us here, they shall." Obi-Wan looked from Yaddle to Morru as if about to say something. Then, moving so quickly he seemed to surprise himself, he jumped to his feet and ran out of the room.

Yaddle chuckled. "Concerned for you, he is, yes, yes," she said, and chuckled again. Morru really did not see what it was that amused Yaddle so, but she was in no mood to ask.

"Likes you he does," continued the old creature.

"Who does?" Morru asked, but she already knew the answer.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Yaddle cheerfully informed her.

Morru groaned again.

"Look at him, you should," said Yaddle, in the tones of a mother reproving her child. "A good man, is he. Will hurt you not." Morru opened her eyes and peered at Yaddle from between her fingers. "What do you know about hurt?" she asked with tones of quiet bitterness.

In infuriating Jedi fashion, Yaddle did not answer. Instead, still chuckling, she began to mop Morru's forehead again. Morru was considering whether or not it would be worth the pain in her diaphragm to ask something else when four people, accompanied by Kenobi, came into the room.

"Here she is," he said, and then stood back. Five of the twelve council members were now crowded into the small meditation room, regarding her like a newly discovered form of beetle.

"We have run some tests on you," began Plo Kloon with no preliminary.

"You were a slave, you say, which reason could be cause," said Yoda. Before Morru could ask what he meant, Adi Gallian broke in.

"Your results were very interesting. I still am surprised that you could have escaped our attention," she said. Mace Windu interrupted

. "We feel that your timely intervention may actually have some bearing on the situation," said he.

"You are almost as high as Master Yoda's," Ki-di-Mundi finished, and then they all looked at her as though expecting an intelligent response.

Morru was now totally confused. She looked toward Obi-Wan as if to seek clarity there, but could immediately see he would be of no help; he was looking in a dreamy sort of way at her hair, which had come loose from its braid and spilled nearly to the floor. Annoyed, Morru looked back at Yaddle.

"What?" she asked. Ki-Adi-Mundi smiled and elaborated.

"When Kenobi brought you back to us, we naturally wanted to make sure you were alright, so we ran a few simple medical tests. We were pleased to discover that you are relatively unharmed, which is no small feat when coming away from battle with a Sith lord."

Morru paled. "Sith? He was Sith?"

Ki-Adi-Mundi continued. "However, when we were told of what you had done and how you had accomplished it - especially the strange though happy ending to your adventure - I decided that it might be a good idea to test you for something else." Windu snorted, indicating that all were not in agreement on this point. "And we discovered something very interesting indeed," said Mundi. He leaned closer. "Do you know what midichlorians are, child?"

Morru creased her brow for a moment. "Yes... I think. They're those things in our cells that connect us to the Force, right?" Mundi smiled and nodded. "We discovered that you have a freakishly high midi-chlorian count. In fact, until Kenobi told us that you had been born a slave, we could not understand how you had escaped our notice. You would have been a Jedi, a great one, had we found you in your youth." Morru regarded him, her expression unreadable. "Unfortunately, we did not find you until now. However, fortunately for all of us, you were in the room when the Sith attacked. You may not realize it, daughter, but your instinct and quick reflexes saved the lives of Kirshel's wife Adari, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Queen Amidala of the planet Naboo." Morru said nothing for a long moment.

"What has become of the Senator's body?" she asked.

Windu stepped forward. "I do not think you understand the seriousness of the situation," he said, his tone severe.

"Yes," Morru said calmly. "I do. When is the burial service for the Senator?" Windu looked at her with disapproval. Morru narrowed her eyes.

"I heard what you said," she said quietly, and Windu stepped back, surprised by the quality of her strength. "You just told me that I could have been an incredible Jedi if I had been found early enough and that my latent Jedi tendencies saved lives. However, I was found too late for anything constructive to be done about these tendencies. Correct? Yes? Then this discussion is at an end. I do not intend to spend the rest of my life wondering what would have happened. Now, when is the memorial service for Senator Kirshel?" Windu looked insulted. Yaddle, Plo Kloon, and Adi Gallian seemed pleasantly surprise. Yoda was unreadable.

"We in the council simply wanted to express our gratitude to you for your help," Mundi said. "And also to offer our services to you, should you need them. Adari, Kershel's wife, informed me that you were looking for another position elsewhere" - Obi-Wan unfolded his arms with a start -"but we will be happy to keep you on here and allow you to stay in the Temple itself until such an opportunity presents itself. Is this agreeable to you?"

Morru did not respond.

"However," Mundi continued. "At the moment we fear that the Sith lord may come back - this time looking for you. You are, after all, the one who countered his last attack, and Sith have a strong tradition of revenge. We do not feel that we yet completely understand your role in this saga, and so, with your permission, we would like to protect you. Therefore, if you are not opposed, we would like to place you in Obi-Wan's custody for a while. Wherever he goes, on assignment or otherwise, you go. He will be your body guard. Are these terms acceptable?"

Morru's expression made Mundi quite sure that she did not believe most of what he said. "I have difficulty seeing how placing me in the custody of the one man this Sith lord is guaranteed to hate the most is supposed to make me safer," she said. Mundi nodded. He had expected no less an intelligent response from her. "Nevertheless, we feel that the Force would guide us to do so. Are you agreeable?" he asked again. Morru thought for a long moment before answering. She sighed. "Alright," she said, and turned her face away. Mundi nodded at the others. And with that, all five council members tromped out of the room.

Obi-Wan stayed where he was, at the far end of the cell. "You're leaving?" he said in a small, child-like tone.

Morru sounded irritated. "Yes. Eventually. They didn't tell me everything, you know." Obi-Wan took a moment to respond to her abrupt charge.

"Well... of course not. They're the Council. You can't expect them to explain everything to you." Morru turned her face back toward him with a withering look.

"Do you really think it's normal - or even healthy - for five of the wisest council members to take such an undue interest in the likes of me? No matter how many lives I saved?" she challenged.

Obi-Wan had no answer.

"I need to rest," Morru said, and throwing an arm across her face, said no more.

Obi-Wan stood there for a long while, watching her. Then without a word, he too, left. He was very confused.

Morru lay in her small meditation room and silently wept. She knew, somehow, without being told, that she had just lost her freedom.

***

The Jedi Council sat in silence in their high tower. Not one of them was sure that they had done the right thing concerning the girl, but all felt better for having done something. She was special; they had all known that much from their limited dealings with her in the Temple. And now, with the information from Ki-Adi-Mundi concerning the events outside the Dusty Traveler added to that gleaned from Kenobi's report, they knew that they could not simply let her go. Clearly, whatever it was that made the girl special was also apparent to the Sith. He had spared her life. And that meant he had something much more beneficial to himself in mind. Whatever it was, it could not be permitted to be brought to pass.

Mace Windu had finally come up with the idea of sending Kenobi on some secretive mission with his young Padawan and assigning the girl to go with them. It seemed the best solution; get the girl off the planet, but in the company of a Jedi she already knew and trusted to protect her. And, as Oppo Rancisis had wryly remarked, get the endangered Jedi in question off the planet as well - in the company of someone who could obviously protect him. Polite laughter. The real problem, however, remained untouched. What does one do with a Sith Lord who will not die?

***

Darth Maul sat in his quarters in the lotus position and reached out to the Power of the Force. As always, it was right there for him, filling him, strengthening him, giving him such tastes of Life that would drive the average being mad with their intensity. His bare chest rose and fell rhythmically with each deep, filling breath as he calmed himself, placing in perfect harmony with all that is the bestial anger which would be his to call when he commanded.

He had been chastised that morning by Sidious for failing yet another mission - albeit only his second failure in his entire time as an apprentice. He had taken it without complaint. The pecking order would change soon enough; what were three or four years in the scheme of things?

Slower he breathed; slower still.

Somewhere in the vastness of Coruscant lay his bride. He knew she was most likely in the Jedi Temple, but he was not yet sufficient spiritually to survive such an exploration; they would sense his presence and descend upon his hiding place with all the fury of a gor robbed of her cubs. No, that would not do. So instead, Maul satisfied himself by allowing his thoughts to roam the city, feeding off the negative energy of hatred and fear.

And speaking of negative energy...

Palpatine marched into the room, his normally obsequious manner dropped for his student's benefit.

"Maul," he said. "I need your services again. And for Heaven's sake, put some clothing on." Lord Maul smiled and rose to his feet in once smooth motion. "Yes, my master," he said, and went to retrieve his gi from the back of the new sedan.

Palpatine looked at him in disgust. "Do not fail me this time, my apprentice, or the consequences will be... dire. Listen to me very carefully," he said as Maul obediently began re-wrapping his gi. "There is a certain senate member who has been giving me much difficulty. You seem to have no trouble killing Senate members lately, so I would appreciate it if you would dispatch this one. Preferably with less noise than the last." Sidious rattled off the necessary details, once again neglecting to tell his apprentice how he had obtained such information. Maul listened carefully as he picked up his belt. So. Sidious was using him again now in much the same way as he had before the mess with the Neimodians - assasinations and the like. Threat, request, command. Things appeared to be getting back to normal.

Maul was not buying it. He knew that Sidious had been frightened of him last night; as well he should have been. All right. Assassination was easy, boring even, when Jedi were not involved. A simple assignment. At least he would get a chance to stretch his muscles. Sidious turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Oh, and Maul," he said too casually. "I received some information today which might interest you. Kenobi and his Padawan are going off-world on some mercy mission. If you complete this - removal - satisfactorily, I will give you permission to hunt them down. But bring me the boy. I may have a use for him."

The sinuous, perverted nuances in his master's voice did not escape Maul's notice. Neither did the fact that he was lying.

Sidious may want the boy for pleasurable purposes - he had craved such things before. But Maul knew instinctively that this was by not the only - or most important - reason why he wanted the boy. What was the name... ah yes, Skywalker. Maul had almost run the child down when he first attacked Qui-Gon in the desert. Ah, so many wonderful memories.

Smiling evilly to himself, Maul retrieved his lightsaber and went out to do his master's will. This he would complete successfully. And then he would go after the Jedi and make him beg for mercy before killing him. Yes. A good plan.

And he knew, without quite knowing how, that Morru was going to be with them.

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