Chapter Seventy Eight

Harry and Aayla walked through the doorway, still smiling and holding hands while chatting in their mental plane. They weren't trying to keep secrets or anything; it was simply that speaking mind to mind like that added a bit more tenderness to the few moments they had alone. Moments like this, coming back from a meeting, going to one, or moving from one training zone to another were the only moments of alone time they got these days. Their training schedules and their teaching schedules were simply so immensely hectic they had no time to themselves.

Added to that, both of them had become aware of the fact that Kass and Mak had feelings for one another. They had no desire to rub the fact they were allowed to have a relationship into their friends' faces. That this allowed Harry and Aayla to keep their bond slightly low key in front of the various Masters and Knights was a bonus.

They looked up, however, as a sharp voice brought them out of their personal world. "And wherever have you been, padawans?"

The pair frowned as they heard Master R'sonan's voice, turning in that direction to see him standing at the entrance to the wing of the mansion that had been turned over to the Jedi. Glancing at one another then back to him, Aayla spoke respectfully though the man's tone had put her back up a little, as was the faint tingling of emotions she was getting from him. "We were at a meeting downtown, Master R'sonan. Master Dooku asked us to observe once more, since the meetings of late have a chance of destabilizing the balance of power in this sector."

"Together?" R'sonan asked. The old human Master looked between the two of them, then sighed. "I do not know why Master Fay has allowed this connection to continue, but it must be brought to the Council's attention. The pair of you should know by this point in your training that such entanglements are forbidden."

"This entanglement is a product of the Light Side of the Force," Harry said coldly, taking Aayla's hand again in his from where they had dropped them automatically at hearing the Master's voice. "If you can sense our connection at all Master, you should know that. Further, the Council knows, and has allowed us to remain connected."

R'sonan frowned heavily, then shook his head slowly. "The Council cannot know," he said softly. "There is no way they would allow such a connection to continue. It breaks the most fundamental rules of the Ruusan Reformation. It spits in the eye of the Oath which has kept the Order pure for a thousand years."

"Not so pure as all that," Aayla interjected, shaking her head so quickly she set her lekku to twitching. "There have been twenty fallen Jedi in that time, most of whom fell because they could not be open with their relationships. As for such being at the heart of the Reformation, I thought that the purpose of the Reformation was the fact that the Jedi could no longer form armies or command them. Yes, the Senate then poked its nose where it didn't belong in demanding that Jedi create laws to outlaw relationships and thereby slowly breed the Jedi out of existence, but that was more a side show to the Reformation than the heart."

"What are you talking about?" R'sonan asked, his thoughts suddenly pulled onto a different topic. "The Order is as strong in numbers as it has ever been."

"Wrong," Aayla replied. "We are strong now as we were at the end of the New Sith Wars. Before they began, however, the Order numbered in the tens of thousands. Now, we barely have 11,000 or so from what I know."

"And that is really beside the point," Aayla went on. "The Council does know. We challenged them on it, and we won."

She looked at Harry, and Harry sighed but lifted a hand, conjuring a small Force light into existence around it. With his hand glowing, he reiterated some of the points he and his mother made in front of the Council.

After a moment spent listening, R'sonan frowned shaking his head. "I cannot agree with this. This is dangerous, just as dangerous as some of the techniques you use. That teleportation technique, that alone is far too dangerous for anyone so young to know. I will speak to the Council. These new techniques, they cannot spread further until the Council of First Knowledge understands them better."

"So you believe that you know better than the High Council?" Master Fay asked softly from behind R'sonan, who turned and looked at her askance. "Better than Master Dooku? Windu? Ranicisis? Me? Master Yoda? Do you really feel you know the ways of the Force better than someone who was spent centuries learning about the Force?"

"Your bias towards your padawan does you no credit in my eyes," R'sonan said softly but sternly. "You obviously have allowed your emotions to cloud your judgment on this."

"You have not answered my question. Does the Force tell you something it does not tell us? Does it tell you anything about the future now?" Master Fay replied just as softly, moving towards him. "I can tell you that the Force has not told me anything about the long-term future for some time now. Nor has it told anyone else about the long-term future. But perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps you have found a way to peer through the Veil of the Dark Side?"

R'sonan stared at her, but after a moment had to look away, bowing his head in near-submission. "I have not seen anything more than you have. And, and I can see that their bond is of the Light. But I had just become a padawan when Master Moira fell because she found her paramour making love with another woman. Her love for him turned to jealousy so quickly, and she fell so deep into the Dark."

He looked away from them all as he remembered that time, shuddering before he turned back. "She killed three other Jedi sent to apprehend her before she was brought down in turn. How, how can you say that would not happen to these two? Or to others to follow who attempt to follow in their footsteps? Do not say that it's impossible; such an example, it can only spread."

"It might," Master Fay said, sighing a little. "But the Reformation was not the first time the Jedi turned their backs upon allowing such attachments, and each time has slowly led to our stagnation or destruction. While we might open ourselves up to feeling the emotions of the Dark Side if we embrace the Light, it does not mean we will let them control us. It does not mean opening ourselves up to emotions in the first place is a mistake. And as for that specific instance happening among these two…"

She looked over at Aayla, who giggled shaking her head. She pointed to her forehead, then Harry's, willingly letting him catch her hand as he replied. "Master R'sonan, we're connected mind to mind. We could no more keep secrets from one another then you could stop the sun from burning. There can still be moments of jealousy, but no secrets, and certainly we could never go behind one another's backs."

"Truly?" R'sonan asked, sounding much mellower now. Whether that was because they had slowly been able to convince him or if Master Fay's presence inhibited even a Jedi's desire for conflict, Harry wasn't about to even try to guess.

"Truly!" Aayla replied, smiling at the old human Master now. "Master, I understand your concerns. I understood some of the Council's concerns. But, I also know that a lot of it was based upon false thinking, or perhaps too narrow-minded a focus. We Jedi have to widen our perception of the Force beyond simply keeping the balance, because if something comes along that is outside of that narrow focus, like the Veil of the Dark Side, we are affected all the more because we have no way to combat it. Would the Veil be causing so many problems if we Jedi could learn how to create some kind of Light Side equivalent? If we had been researching the Light Side of the Force, thinking about it, then maybe we could create something like that."

To one side Lily had been watching this conversation but not taking part in it, hidden almost entirely in a wall with only her head peering out. Now she laughed quietly behind one of her ethereal hands, winking at Master Fay who was the only one who could see her from her current vantage point. The ageless elven Master shook her head, sighing faintly at her friend's antics, though understanding her amusement.

They had in fact attempted to create a runic array that would emulate Harry's Force Light. Harry could do things with the Patronus spell that Lily had never imagined, but even he could not create a Light Construct which was powerful enough to burn away the Veil beyond its physical presence. The Light Side constructs could help fight the Dark Side slightly, but the Veil was too ephemeral a thing for it to truly effect, always there, blocking the future. So they had searched for ways to somehow take the constructs to the next level. Yet while Master Fay and now Aayla could replicate Force Light and even create small constructs of their own, Lily and Fay had been unable to find a runic equivalent at all, let alone a step up.

"I, I will meditate on this," R'sonan said, then laughed, ruefully admittedly, but laughed for the first time any of the quartet present had ever heard. "I say that as if the Force has been giving me all that many answers lately that don't deal with my own personal duties. I will try, but if the Force does not tells me that this is wrong, I…I will not gainsay the Council on it. I cannot see this but leading to ruin, but I can also not see the two of you being part of that doom, simply the catalyst for it." With a sigh and a nod of his head the aged Master turned away, heading further into the mansion.

"Well," Harry said brightly after a moment's silence. "That went…well?" This caused several groans from the women still around him and an ethereal smack to the head as Lily moved through the walls she had been standing in to do so.