She walks in the door and seamlessly segues from our
comm conversation to a real one. The mug she hands me
is indeed the one I saw her with when I pictured her.
I haven't been dipping in her mind--I don't feel very comfortable doing so, but for some reason, my own thoughts of her bring strong pictures to my mind, and I can't help feeling her aura when I'm around her. Right now, as she watches me pour the tea, I can feel that she is exuding happiness and a slight nervousness. I smile as I add three teaspoons of sugar and one of cream to her tea.

And how did you know *that*, Zandru?" she asks with
laughing eyes. We sit down on the sofa. "Most things I
know about you are because I've watched you," I admit.
"I don't know if you find that scarier than the idea
of me 'Jedi-ing' you, as you put it."

"No, I don't find the idea of you watching me scary at
all," she says. "Gods know I've watched you enough."
She blushes a little. "I know, for instance, that
*you* like muja jelly on your toast, that your
favorite dessert is baked Hoth, and that you have an inexplicable fondness for Malastarean Genuine Draft."

"I'm reassured by that." I smile. "You haven't ever
Jedi-ed me, have you?" she remarks.
"No. I've never probed your mind. I wouldn't. I get
uncharacteristically strong images of you, though."

"I get them of you, too," she says shyly, sipping her
steaming tea. "It's funny; Kenobi had no qualms about
getting into my head."

"Kenobi has different rules about using his skills
than I do," I say. "Not wrong, just different. He is
as honorable as any Jedi and would never use his gift
for misdeeds. However, he doesn't count dipping into
the psyche of a pretty woman as a misdeed."

"Heh," she says drily.

"Is that how he figured out that you were behind the
fizz?"

"Well, no. He found that out from a droid. He knew it
was me before I walked into his office. Interestingly,
the droid saw Elsah and I in there together, but since
Elsah was *supposed* to be in there cleaning, the
droid ignored her. So, no . . . the General was using
his psyche-dipping skills on me for different things."
And she explains, rather hilariously, the whole story
of her meeting with Kenobi.

"And how did you find out that I'm a Jedi?"

She turns bright red. "Well, when I was explaining to
the General that I didn't think of him that way, I er,
thought of you. Since General Kenobi was already
ankle-deep in my thoughts, he recognized you."

********

"You thought of me?" The brilliant smile Zandru shows
me softens the planes of his handsome, angular face
and makes him so beautiful that I ache. I take a
mental snapshot of him at that moment, and I see his
dark eyebrows go up a fraction. I must've hit "send"
on that snapshot.

"I did think of you," I say softly. An image flashes
in my head then. It's presumably *me*, but it looks
like my prettier sister would, if I had a sister.
There's a depth and sparkle to my eyes and a beauty in
my smile that I never thought I had. It dawns on me
that I am seeing myself as Zandru sees me.

He reaches for my hand, and I give it to him. "I've
always seen you that way." He lifts my hand to his
lips and brushes my knuckles with a kiss; I thrill
inside. "The first time I saw you was when you were
doing guard duty as punishment for your Corellian
duracrete gag." He grins. "Your aura was laughing, and
I could tell that you thought that the fun had been
worth a few hours of sentry duty.

"When I heard you were Deputy Supply and Ration
Officer, I was surprised. It seems to be a rather
mundane job for someone so vibrant."

"Well, thank you," I say, embarrassed. "But, as it
happens, there are many on this ship like that. I'm a
linguist. Elsah is an expert droid programmer. My
ditzy boss is a physicist. The three of us signed on
because we felt we should serve the Republic, and when
Kenobi chose his crew, he made sure that everyone he
took on in those grunt jobs had another talent that
could be useful."

"He's a smart man. He's also got good taste." He winks
at me.

"Well, he assigned you here." I smile at him and give
his hand a squeeze. The first time *I* saw *you* was
the night you got here, probably two or three days
before you saw me on sentry duty. I had a hard time
reconciling your face with the fact that you'd come
here to manage our war machines."

"You and me both," he says ruefully. "But I am sworn
to uphold and protect the Republic, any way I can, and
to preserve justice through any means available to me.
If that means is a laser cannon, then it's a laser
cannon. I don't have to like it; I just have to do it,
as it is the will of the Force, and the Force simply
*is*.

"I wanted to be a diplomat, a negotiator, a bringer of
peace. I wanted to be one who calmed conflicting
groups and guided them to a rational solution. Even
after my former Master was killed on Drynmar-IV . . ."
His eyes go from their normal brilliant silver
vibridium to dull industrial durasteel for a second.
"It was our first mission after my Knighting, and we
were on the planet to facilitate an accord between the
two warring factions. The streets were a war zone."
Zandru grips my hand more tightly and for an instant,
I glimpse the horror, the smoking hulks lining
burnt-out streets. "We walked by an armed
confrontation on the street. She--she saw a child run dangerously close to the violence." His eyes go dull again. "She was shot down with that baby in her arms.

"The blaster fire stopped as I ran to her. I sat with
my Master in the middle of the street and I knew there
was nothing I could do for her. I saw something odd
flash across her face when she looked up at me.
'Zandru, my Zandru,' she rasped. 'You will wage war in
the name of peace. You will not be a diplomat, but a
warrior. It is the will of the Force, my padawan. Do
not oppose it.' And then she disappeared into the
Force, leaving me to comfort the terror-stricken
child.

"Her words echoed through my head, but I felt sure she
was wrong. Both sides in the civil war on Drynmar-IV
revered the Jedi, and my Master's death was the thing
that finally made them lay down their weapons. The
Council wanted me to return to the Temple, but I
refused. I mediated the negotiations and later oversaw
general elections. Drynmar-IV is still peaceful.

"I went on several diplomatic missions after that, and eventually, my Master's dying words began to slip away from me. My missions were always successful, and I figured her vision had been clouded. Then, two years ago, I was called before the Council. 'Begun, this Clone War has,' said Master Yoda, handing me a datapad. 'Remember these, do you?' he asked me. I looked and saw that they were diagrams of weapons I had designed for the thesis portion of my Knighthood
trials."

"'Yes, Master Yoda,' I said. Yoda nodded at me.
'Modify these for field use and build prototypes, you
will. Help train troops with them, you must,' he said.
I bowed and left the Council Chamber, heading straight
for the Meditation Gardens. When I was deep in my
trance, I saw my Master before me, no longer mortally
wounded, but made of shimmering Force-light. 'The time
is at hand, my Zandru. No more shall you mediate. You
shall be an architect of justice, though not in the
way you thought. Follow the will of the Force, my
padawan, and you shall not know fear.' Then she faded
away.

"And that is why I am here, you see. I am training
your gunners to use the laser cannon I invented. As
this is the flagship of Republic forces, I shall
remain here. During my journey, I have left myself
open to the will of the Force. I know I am meant to be
here, and I know the will of the Force supersedes my
own will. With that in mind, I know no fear."

"You are Jedi, through to your core," I say softly.
It's a rather dumb thing to say--of course he is. I
suppose I'm just impressed by his nobleness and the
unwavering serenity he exuded throughout his
narrative.

"And you are beautiful, through to your core." An
unexpected twinkle in the silver eyes, a curve of the
shapely lips.

I feel the strangest sensation then--tingly, as if I
am filled with light, and I don't even notice that I
am moving until I find myself in Zandru's lap.

*******

I suppose I'm living in the moment; I've just
levitated her into my lap, almost without knowing I
have. She feels like she belongs here. I slide my arms
gently around her waist to hold her. //Is that all
right?//

//Well, I don't *mind* when you Jedi me like *that*.//
Her mind-voice is filled with warmth and humor.

//Let me know if you mind this.// I lean toward her
and kiss her gently.

//I only mind that it's taken you so long.// She
raises her lips to mine again and lets the kiss
linger, parting her lips slightly, thus sending a
subtle invitation. Wrapping my arms around her more
tightly, I deepen the kiss. She sighs into my mouth as
her tongue slides over mine, and I feel the strangest
sensation then--tingly, as if I am filled with light.

I pull back from her. "You're not Force-sensitive, are
you?"

"I'm a very low-grade Force-sensitive. My midichlorian
count is nowhere near what the Jedi look for, but I'm
told an ancestor of mine was a Jedi. The only thing it
really does for me is make my reaction time just a
little quicker than average. Now, what did you stop
kissing me for?" She looks a little impatient.

"When you sighed just then . . . I felt the Force
around us."

*******

"Of course it's around us. It's everywhere," I smile.
"Now come here, Zandru Khirin." This time, I am in
control, and I feel him cede himself to me when I
press my mouth to his and run my fingers through his
lustrous black hair. He tastes of Mykellian Breakfast
and a thousand wonderful things.

********
FIN

(good? bad? ugly? indifferent?
email: blue_blade@coruscant.net
AOL IM: MsSilverAlaska
MSN Messenger: blue_blade_erinye@hotmail.com)

=====
"Luceo non uro."

"Work like you don't need the money, love like
you've never been hurt, and dance like no one is
watching."