Chapter 14 – Naboo(bies)

Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die

Chapter 14 – Naboo

Harry had found Naboo to be the most beautiful planet she had visited so far, though later when he got back to the Temple he was sure Hermione would say the same about Alderaan, Mandalore had very beautiful cities, he would even go far as to say they were incredibly beautiful but Naboo cities were not contained within domes, they were surrounded by nature. It was how he imagined distant parts of Earth must look, except the man made bits seemed to fit into the landscape, the capital Theed seemed as though it had been grown into the landscape. When they landed they were greeted by His Royal Highness, King Veruna of Naboo and his court. Harry got a similar uneasy feeling about the King as he did about Palpatine, maybe because the pair seemed very friendly and both had the same smile, as a result he left his Master to do the talking to the King while he fell back to walk beside Governor Sio Biddle, who despite the large age difference of probably over forty years he found very easy to talk to as the King led them on a tour of the city in thanks for saving his Senators life.

During the tour they visited several buildings around the city including the hospital, the city library and the university, Harry and Aayla both knew this was just a publicity stunt for the King and Senators to make them look good, especially as a couple of reporters were following them around with holovid recorders, but they both tried to enjoy it as much as they could. While at the university they were greeted by several of the students as well as a few professors including one who had his family with him.

The man's name was Professor Ruwee Naberrie and his wife was Jobal, and with them they had their two young daughters. During the tour the group split up because the younger of the children had started to cry, Harry found it quite amusing how the Senator and the King had been very kind and lovable to the children until they started getting noisy at which point Harry, Biddle and the Naberrie's split from the group and header to see the Professors study, understanding the subtle go away motions from the Kings aids when the Senator suggest that Harry be showed the ancient history wing which had a collection of ancient Naboo weapons in it.

As soon as they were out of sight of the cameras they redirected themselves to the Professors Office.

"I am really sorry about this Governor Biddle, Padawan Potter," Ruwee apologised hugging his younger child too him.

"Do not worry about it Professor," replied Biddle. "The King should expect such things when you request that a few children be on the tour."

Unfortunately the noise of her sister set the elder child off.

"Oh Sola," sighed Jobal, picking up the child.

"Hang on," said Ruwee. "I've got something for them to eat around here somewhere," he explained trying to root through draws one handed, before realising how difficult it would be and turning to Harry. "I'm sorry Padawan but would you mind," he said holding out the young brunette who Harry had no alternative but to take as she instantly glued herself to his torso.

"I...Err..."

Harry had never had any experience with kids this young, when he had been back on earth the children about Sola's age and slightly older would talk to him in the playground, Dudley always scared off the older ones, but he had never really had anything to do with the younger ones.

Holding her to him he gently patted her back before coming up with an idea. Reaching out to the Force he stroked her untrained mind with it, soothing the crying child.

"You seem to have the knack," smiled Biddle, who was standing beside Jobal watching Harry's reaction to the child in his arms.

"No," he replied as the child slowly went silent then closed her eyes. "But I have the Force."

Pulling her away from him he looked down at the face of the child in his arms.

"What is her name again?"

"Padmé," the mother replied as she soothed her other daughter. As she spoke an image passed through Harry's mind, a teenage girl sitting upon a throne in the Palace in Theed, and just as soon as it had appeared it disappeared. He did not have time to think more about what he saw as Ruwee re-entered with some food for Sola and took Padmé back from him.

As he relaxed at no longer having a child in his arms he was about to turn to ask more about the Professors subject when an explosion shook the building and both the children started screaming.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Harry quickly. Receiving various nods he turned and began to lift his wrist to speak into his communicator when it burst into life.

#H...Harry, are you alright?"# came his Masters gasping voice.

"We're fine, what happened?"

#A bomb has gone off at this end of the building, several of the security staff are dead and both the Senator and the King have been injured, I need you here now.#

Harry was already moving before she asked, sprinting down the corridor as fast as his legs would take him, using the bond between himself and his Master to find their location, she did not sound ok and he had to get to her fast. As he was running some security guards tried to block his path, presumably not realising who he was, but he ducked between them and kept running.

The smoke and stone dust that was coming from one of the rooms easily identified where the bomb had gone off, running into the room he saw the scale of the devastation. Many people were lying on the floor, several groaning or crying in pain, several not moving at all. He saw the Senator and the King being tended to by a pair of security men. Hearing a familiar gasp, he turned and saw his Master lying on her back with a large piece of metal shrapnel protruding from her side.

"Master!" he cried, running up to her and skidding to his knees. "Are you alright?"

"Evidentially not," she replied, breathing deeply.

"I'll pull the metal out."

"No!" she said firmly, before starting to pass out. "I'll bleed out faster if you do that."

"Medic!" he shouted.

"The first group are at least five minutes out," came a reply. "They're taking the Senator and the King straight to the Hospital when they get here. The rest won't be here for at least ten minutes."

"What about Aayla? She won't last five minutes, let alone ten!" he shouted back angrily.

"I'm sorry sir, but the King and the Senator are the priority."

"Not to me," replied Harry hotly.

"I thought your job was to protect the Senator!" shouted the annoyed security guard.

"Our job," Harry replied bitterly. "Was to get the Senator safely to Naboo, my mission was concluded as soon as we left the ship, then his safety became YOUR responsibility. My concern now is for my Master."

"I'm sorry young Jedi," replied the guard a second later with more compassion. "But they won't get here in time to save her."

Harry turned back to his Master looking panicked.

She cannot die, not now, not so soon after I've met her, who will train me if not her? Think Harry, think. What would Hermione do?...Healing charm, I've seen Madam Pomfrey heal worse injuries in a matter of seconds, but I don't know any. Stasis Charm, keep her frozen until help arrives, but I don't know that either. Healing meditation, she would need to do that herself and she's not strong enough.

Wait...Healing meditation, what if I could use the bond to force my power to her so she could save herself.

"Master...Master! You must wake up!" he said shaking her shoulders, before giving her a mental slap along the bond, causing her to jolt awake in surprise.

"Harry, it's too late for..."

"No its not," he interrupted. "You need to heal yourself."

"I...can't Harry...wounds are too great and I'm too weak."

"Then take my power," he instructed closing his eyes and touching his hand to her forehead. "We might not be able to heal you completely, but we can at least try and stem the bleeding and get that thing out of your side." Inside his mind he reached along the bond and pushed his way to her mind before reaching out to the Force around and within him and pushing as much power as he could down the bond into her mind.

Those around the pair that were not tending to the wounded watched fascinated as first Harry's then Aayla's skin glowed faintly and the air around them seemed to buzz with power before moving flesh noises were heard from the groaning Twi'lek as the metal shard started to move out of her body, but with little blood seeping out. Finally the pair stopped glowing as the shard dropped to the floor, leaving just a slight gash that oozed slowly before both passed out.

"Padawan Potter?...Padawan Potter can you hear me?"

Harry groaned as he returned to the waking world, aware that he was lying on his back with Professor Ruwee leaning over him.

"Yes, I can hear you," he said struggling to sit up on his elbows. "What happened?"

"The security guards said you did something to your mas-"

"Master!" he exclaimed spinning to where she was only to find an empty bit of ground.

"Don't worry Padawan, the Twi'lek Jedi was taken to the hospital, she's going to be fine, the medics said that whatever you did worked. She's not going to be running around for a couple of weeks, even with the faster Jedi healing. She was still bleeding internally when she got to the hospital, but nowhere near as bad as she must have been before you did what you did. She will make a full recovery."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"What of the King and the Senator?"

"Both stable and under heavy guard at the hospital. What do you wish to do? I could have someone take you to the hospital?" Ruwee suggested, helping Harry to his feet, he seemed unsteady and lacking in energy but otherwise appeared fine from the ordeal.

"Yes thank you," he nodded before pausing. "Actually I should contact the Temple first; they need to know what has happened, that's what my Master would expect me to do."

"You can call them from my office. "

"Padawan Potter."

"Master Windu, Master Yoda," replied Harry nervously to the small holoimage on the table in front of him, speaking to the heads of the Order was very unnerving for him.

"What did you need to talk to us about Padawan, and where is your Master?" asked Windu.

"There has been an explosion on Naboo, the Senator and my Master were both caught in the blast, as was the King."

"What are their conditions?"

"I have not seen them myself since just after the explosion as I was unconscious, but all three are alive, the Senator and the King are stable and Knight Secura is expected to make a full recovery."

"Caught in the explosion too, were you?" asked Yoda.

"No Master."

"Then why were you unconscious?" continued Windu.

"I was in another room at the time; I went to the source of the explosion as soon as I felt it. When I arrived my Master was in a very bad way, I was told by the security guards that the first group of medics were just for the Senator and the King and that my Master would have to wait. I knew she would not last that long and as I knew no medical spells I told her to meditate to heal herself but she told me it was too late so I used the Force to transfer as much energy from around us and myself to her to allow her to partially heal herself very quickly. We managed to partially heal her wound before we both passed out from exhaustion, when I regained consciousness I was told she was going to be ok and that she had been taken to hospital."

"Where did you get the idea from to transfer your energy like that?" asked Windu, his voice sounded more serious.

"I got the idea from magic I saw my old school nurse perform; she was able to heal minor wounds quite quickly. I once had to re-grow bones in my arm overnight and I remember being very tired the next day because of the effort of recreating bones so quickly. I thought if my Master had more power available that she could heal herself more quickly."

Yoda and Windu exchanged a look.

"Quick thinking Padawan, you probably saved the life of your Master."

"When regains consciousness she does, tell her need more Force energy training you do."

"Yes Master Yoda."

"I advise you to be more careful if you have to do something similar in the future Padawan," continued Windu. "This is the second time you have channelled so much energy either from yourself or your surroundings that you have rendered yourself unconscious, if you transfer too much of your own you could permanently severe your access to the Force or worse kill yourself."

"Understood Master," Harry nodded gulping, he had not realised what he had done was so dangerous to him.

"We were sorry to hear about your injury. How is your arm?" replied the Master in a gentler tone.

"It's okay given the circumstances...Though it's quite, thank you Master. Can I ask what you wish me to do as our mandate was only to get the Senator as far as Naboo and we have done that?"

"Stay with your Master until you are well enough to travel, then both of you come back to Coruscant, we shall send a ship for you. In the mean time continue to protect your Master, the Senator and the King. They will obviously still be targets and as you and your Master were involved in preventing the attack from killing anyone you may both be as well."

"Understood Master."

It took a couple of days for his Master to finally come around, her injuries although not as serious after Harry's help healing had left her without much energy which resulted in a longer recovery time than usual. He had spent the time waiting sitting outside her room meditating for as long as he could manage in an effort to recharge his energy in case of another attack, he figured that as the King and the Senator were on their own planet they would have greater security than his Master did so made her protection his priority, only venturing away from her room every couple of hours to check the corridors of the corridor for trouble before returning to his vigil.

The bomber had been caught, it was another Mandalorian member of the Death Watch but it was all the harder to strike again now that seemingly the entire Royal Guard of Naboo had been turned out to defend the hospital where all three were staying.

Feeling his Master regain consciousness along the bond he opened his eyes and entered the room where she was recovering. As he entered his master was attempting to sit up.

"Slowly Master," he urged reaching her side. "The healers said you need to move very carefully for the next week or two so as not to reopen the wound.

He watched as she looked down at the hospital robe she was wearing.

"My clothes have been changer," she stated before eyeing him suspiciously but with a hint of humour. "It wasn't you was it?"

"After both our reactions last time I saw you not wearing a lot I think it is highly unlikely, don't you Master. No, it was a couple of female nurses, though if it helps I did hear them muttering something along the lines of 'why do Twi'leks always have such great figures'."

She snickered then instantly regretted is as her hand went to her side in pain. Before seeming to recall what happened.

"Harry," she said slowly.

"Yes Master?"

"The last thing I remember after Force pushing the Senator and the King out of the way of that blast was you leaning over me...Did you do something ridiculously heroic and stupid again?"

"Apparently I did, though in my defence I did not know it at the time," he admitted. "And yes I will be more careful but I would do it again even if you say not to."

She send him a glare before pulling him into a careful hug.

"Just please be more careful," she sighed before releasing him and letting him stand back up. "I assume you have let the Council know what has happened?"

"Yes Master, they have instructed me to protect you, the Senator and the King until you are stable enough to leave then I am to take you back to the Temple in the ship they are sending to us, piloted by droids."

"With your flying I might need to spend an even longer time in the Houses of Healing than I'm already going to."

"My flying is very is very good actually Master, but either way, the only bits I will likely be doing are the takeoff, landing and the hyperspace route changes, we will be on autopilot the rest of the time."

"With your flying that may be all it takes."

When Harry and Aayla returned to the Temple a week later, they were greeted by Masters Yoda and Windu on the landing platform, as Aayla was still not supposed to be walking she was lying on a stretcher and was taken straight to the Halls of Healing while Harry gave them the full report on the events on Naboo.

Harry was inwardly snickering as a pair of orderlies came out and carried his grumbling Master off, she hated being in hospital beds as much as Harry did and it had got to the point on the journey back when she tried to get up for the third time that she had partially tore her wound open causing her to have to spend a day in meditation in order to return it to how it had been. When she attempted to get up the time after that Harry threatened to cast a fully body bind on her. She had not believed he would do it at first until he demonstrated the next time she tried to regain her feet and then 'accidentally' left her like that for the next fifteen minutes or so while he went to get her some food to get his point across. When she started shouting across the link for him to remove the spell he countered pointing out that the Council would probably and the Healers of the Temple would definitely agree that it was for her own good and would not be counted as anything more serious than strict medical care. When she finally had accepted that he let her lose on the condition that if she tried to get up again without getting his permission he would leave her bound for the next two hours.

After Harry had relayed the events on Naboo to the Masters as they walked through the Temple, he asked them to wait until they got until the Council Chambers before mentioning the conversation with Palpatine. The Council were most concerned by what they heard and agreed to keep an eye on him, but without any evidence there was not much they could do.

After he had been dismissed by the Council, after checking on his Master he quickly went and saw Hermione. Harry has spoken briefly with her while he was still on Naboo and she had promised to look up some medical spells ready for when he got back. It turned out that they had also had a bomb attack, but they had been ready for it as it had occurred several hours after the blast on Naboo and the Council had told them about what had happened so they were on high alert. Master Coleman and Hermione had managed to get the bomb away from the Senator and his retinue by levitating it far out over a large balcony so that it exploded harmlessly in mid air. After three unsuccessful attacks on three different planets someone in Death Watch was not going to be happy with the Jedi Order.

Harry detoured on his way back from seeing Hermione and Master Coleman, after stopping for a quick half hours meditation in the central tower (something he was liking more now than he used to), to visit the Lightsaber Construction Chamber where he was hoping to meet Jedi Artisan Felanil Baaks, the chief lightsaber maker of the Order.

When he entered the sun lit chamber he could see the male Duros leaning over a bench carving the centre out of a piece of wood that appeared to be about lightsaber thickness. Several other padawans could be seen at the other benches constructing various lightsaber parts, only a couple looked up as he entered.

"Artisan Baaks?" he asked, approaching the older Jedi.

"If you need help with your lightsaber I suggest you ask one of the other padawans to help you first, that way I am not bothered by silly issues that could be solved in thirty seconds by any competent Jedi."

"I do not need help with my lightsaber Artisan," Harry replied, sensing that keeping his cool and not responding to the rudeness was the only way he was going to get anywhere. "I have already finished my first one, I came to see you as I have just returned from a mission which included a stop at Ilum and my Master thought I should give you something I found there."

"And what prey is that?" he asked, not looking up from his work.

"Pontite," he replied. The change in the Jedi Artisan was immediate as he spun around to look at the couple of crystals in Harry's hand. The other padawans in the room appeared to be equally distracted as they crowded around to look, their work discarded.

"Pontite," he exclaimed, taking the crystals and looking them over. "Very well formed, not too many irregular angles, no fractures, not too compressed, very suitable for a lightsaber blade. I have not seen any of this material for many years, you found these on Ilum you said?"

"Yes, I had to dig to get them."

"May I see your blade?"

"Of course Artisan," he replied handing over his lightsaber.

The Artisan turned it over in his hands, examining the grip and the various visible components.

"Sturdily constructed, reasonable starting design, good outward appearance, slightly short for a hand and a half lightsaber, you didn't take into account that your hands will grow as you do, this will be a little short in a few years time," he turned it over in his hands a few times. "No lose components, quite well balanced and-" he energised the beam. "A good solid blade, no visible instability," he cautiously swung it a couple of times. "Good tone, a well energised and compressed crystal, all in all a good first lightsaber," he concluded, handing it back to Harry. "Though I would recommend rebuilding it with a greater length hilt, it will allow for a larger power cell and will enable for a better grip as your hands grow. I would also recommend trying a different material for the casing if you are going to be out in the field a lot, that casing could easily be sliced through or damaged. It would also allow you to grip tighter with that hand of yours without risking cracking or bending the casing."

"Thank you Artisan," Harry replied, taking in what he had said.

"I would suggest building a completely new lightsaber as I don't like rebuilding blades once they are made, but you are unlikely to be travelling back to Ilum any time soon and I expect that you would want to use this crystal again."

"I do not need to Artisan," Harry explained. "I brought the whole crystal formation back with me, there is enough for quite a few more blades."

"Really?" he asked surprised.

"Yes Artisan, the reason I am only giving you a couple is that I have plans to make a few more lightsabers."

"What kinds were you thinking of making?" he asked, shooing the other padawans back to their work before gesturing for Harry to sit beside him. Bringing him the crystals and his plans to make other blades had obviously earned him some respect with the Artisan.

"I had several ideas," Harry explained. "I first want to make a shoto, I figured I could use it as a backup, plus if I make it right it will fit inside my artificial arm so that enemies do not know I have a second blade."

"Good idea, and quite ingenious, you could store two small shotos in there if you needed to, any others?"

"Yes, I would like to try making a long handles blade as my current blade does not swing as much as I would like, plus with my new arm controlling a longer hilt would be easier. I have also had ideas about making a clear hilted blade and another made out of wood, but I cannot see how I could do that without them being more decretive than practical."

"A lightsaber does not only need to be built to be practical Padawan Potter, I have made several blades in my time that are made much more for show than for use. Have you drawn up any designs for these lightsabers?"

"Just a couple of rough ones," explained Harry, pulling the pad out of his robe and showing it to the Artisan who looked over the design.

"Not bad, I would suggest swapping the glass in the clear hilted blade for transparisteel, it can be made photosensitive so that it will get slightly darker when the lightsaber is on, that way the crystals shine won't blind you, they are much brighter than you think."

"Good idea Artisan, I'll do that."

"What is this word on the wooden design? 'Nim-bus?"

"That was an idea I had about what I could use for my wooden hilt. As you know my name Artisan I am guessing you know where I came from." At the Duros Jedi's nod he continued. "Well on my planet we could fly on charmed brooms at great speed. My first broom was broken but I still have the bits, that make of broom was called a Nimbus 2000, so I was thinking of using the end of the broom so as to make it unique to me as well having the obvious advantage that as its built for hands to grip it is already shaped."

"Nice idea, but will these 'charms' on the broom affect its use as a lightsaber?"

"Possibly, I'm going to consult my friend Hermione on that, she is far better at research than I am. I have a couple of other designs other than these lightsabers, I have an idea that I would like to build a long handled blade but with a surprise in the hilt."

"Do go on Padawan, do go on...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here comes a proper authors note rather than an essay, it's really only going to be about two sentences long. Thank you firelordeg for pointing out what I had not thought of; a metal hand would have no effect on animagus transformation just like Wormtail's silver one didn't.