Chapter Fifty

Padme kept sneaking glances over to the two padawans from where she was listening in on the discussion of Master Dooku and Master Qui-Gon. Her attention simply couldn't stay on the discussion going on between the three masters and Shmi, she was simply too enthralled with whatever was going on between Harry and Aayla. The two of them had started to take part in the discussion a time or two, but after having dealt with Anakin's shock at Jabba's death and everything else that had happened there, a response which had bordered on hero worship, the two had slowly fallen silent.

They would occasionally stare at one another, and when they finished speaking they moved over to one of the walls where they sat down, with Aayla leaning her head against Harry's chest, staring up into his eyes hazel staring into emerald.

They didn't speak now simply staring into one another's eyes, but even so Padme's instincts told her they were communicating in some fashion she couldn't follow. Despite that lack Padme knew she was watching something truly personal and deeply romantic. The little girl in Padme was enjoying the experience, even if the older girl was rather embarrassed to be watching.

Back in the main discussion Master Dooku had just finished explaining that despite his riches, Jabba hadn't actually kept much liquid cash around. Most of his wealth was in slaves, weapons, and treasures of various types.

Dooku had enough local currency to buy the part needed for her ship or the two slaves, but he was also more of a mind to force the issue with Watto than Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon didn't want to leave any sore feeling behind, Dooku couldn't care less. Fay was more of Qui-Gon's mind, but also knew that thanks to their own mission they needed to leave Tatooine quickly. It was thus decided that Dooku would return with Qui-Gon to the shop early the next morning and purchase the engine, Shmi and Anakin, or bully the Toydarian into letting them go.

"We might have trouble with the Toydarian, he seemed rather attached to Anakin." Qui-Gon warned.

Anakin scoffed shaking his head. "Watto doesn't like to do his own dirty work, but if you have that much of the local currency, he'll be able to hire three or four people to replace me. He won't make much trouble."

Even so Anakin looked a little irritated, and Qui-Gon nodded his head that the boy. "You feel irritation, being freed not through your own hands but through money. It takes away from the impact, does it not?"

"Sort of," Anakin said, showing no surprise that the Jedi Master had been able to read him like that. "It's just, if I'm bought like that are I still sort of a slave?"

"No!" Qui-Gon said, shaking his head as Master Dooku leaned back, letting Qui-Gon handle this while Fay stood up looking over at Lily and moving toward the door to speak to her for a moment. "The Jedi do not keep slaves, and you will not be a slave any longer. You will be free, and we will even remove that device in your neck as quickly as possible."

Harry looked up from where he had been staring into Aayla's eyes, hugging her gently around the waist as they both turned to look at the table where the discussion was going on. "Master Fay can handle that. Her powers of healing and telekinesis are incredible."

"It feels surreal, sitting here and talking about our freedom like this as if it was a certainty," Shmi said, shaking her head, one hand rising to touch her neck where the bomb was emplaced. "Will we really be free?"

"Yes," Qui-Gon said with a nod.

Master Dooku nodded too. "I will be finding work for several dozen slaves already, honest paid work for on my estates, I can do the same with you madam. While your boy will be tested, and possibly inducted into the Order."

Qui-Gon almost jerked at the word 'possibly', but controlled himself as he looked at his Master. "You have doubts?"

"His age is somewhat against him," Dooku said delicately. "While not any longer a huge concern, it might be a factor coupled with his years as a slave."

Harry looked up from where he was leaning against the wall once again staring into Aayla's eyes until that phrase percolated through their own telepathic discussion. "It didn't matter with me."

"True," Dooku said, though he did not add aloud, but you are rather special case, and you know it Harry.

"Still, I would like to look at your Midi-Chlorian Count if you don't mind," Qui-Gon said, holding out a small device towards Anakin's arm, which he willingly stuck out swiftly. The machine took a small skin sample, and Qui-Gon moved toward the door, radioing back to Obi-Wan to check his results, only to get pulled into a discussion with his padawan about what was going on and who he had met.

Soon after that Anakin pulled a willing Padme into his lab and Fay, Lily and Shmi moved to stare out into the night form one of the windows as they talked, with Fay relaying what the Force Ghost was saying. It was a very odd experience for Shmi, but she and Lily were quickly able to bond over their son's and being single mothers. For his part Dooku pulled out a datapad and began to write up a report for the High Council about today's events.

Harry and Aayla walked outside, moving to sit down leaning against the house's outer wall just out of hearing range of the ladies' conversation. They had their own conversation, which they were about to return to when Qui-Gon, who had also come outside, his eyes widening in pleasure at something on his communicator. "I knew it… the boy is a vergence…"

"What's a vergence?" Harry asked, as Aayla frowned, not able to place the term.

Qui-Gon turned to the young padawans, eager to share his discovery. "A vergence, a being created by the Force itself… Shmi said she had not laid with anyone at the time or for months before. The Force itself used her womb to create life, powerful life. He is the chosen one destined to restore balance to the Force."

Aayla barely held back a snicker at Qui-Gon's expense at the way he said 'laid with anyone'. He made it sound so clinical yet so dirty it amused her greatly.

Feeling some of the other thoughts that went through her mind at that Harry felt his face flush, but kept his attention on Qui-Gon. "That sounds like you are quoting some kind of prophecy Master Jinn. I have to say from my… discussions with Master Fay and others that such things are always open to interpretation." Harry always remembered the prophecy that had been supposedly about him that doomed his family, and disdained such things now. That got in his way when using the Force to perceive the future or events happening away from himself, but he wasn't able to change it.

"That is your interpretation padawan, and I know others who would share it. But we masters can feel it, the Dark Side is gaining power and despite the new techniques travelling through the Order the progression is getting ever stronger. Visions of the future have been clouded for years, and now we are almost totally blind to what the future holds for the galaxy at large. The Chosen One will restore that balance."

Harry frowned and made to speak again, but Qui-Gon had already turned away, heading back inside, his head held high and his eyes bright with purpose. "That was… odd." He said, looking down at Aayla who shook her head, her lekku twitching lightly against Harry's chest, sending a shiver down his spine.

"I've never heard of this Chosen One stuff, although if I did well I'd probably think you were the Chosen One Harry for many different reasons," Aayla replied with a smirk.

"Oh spare me that, please, not another kriffing prophecy!" Harry laughed, and Aayla joined him quickly. But the two soon subsided. Anakin was nice enough, and they could tell he was powerful in the Force, but they didn't really care about this whole Chosen One thing. Nor were the issues facing the group tomorrow worth their attention.

Within moments the two of them were once again lost in their own mental world. They had begun talking in Aayla's space-going rock fortress at first as they went over the memories of her training at the Temple, with Aayla pointing out the ones she felt were most important, though they had moved over to Harry's by this point. They walked through his crystal garden as Aayla described this last mission from start to finish, watching Harry's expression carefully.

It his mind the air around them would sometimes darken like a thundercloud was moving across the horizon to block out the sun. He didn't feel any anger towards any one individual, not really, but he felt righteous indignation right now. "I can't believe the Order would be so blind as to send you into a situation which might lead to, to what almost happened! I know that they couldn't have anticipated that kind of thing, but they should have at least realized that there was a possibility!"

"It could've been a lot worse and without you it would have been, Harry," Aayla said with a shrug. "If anyone else had been sent, they wouldn't have been able to use my ability to change my skin color like that, and wouldn't have been believed if they tried the whole skin disease thing to get out of being abused. They might have used their Force Stealth, then been spotted by Sing."

"I know but…" As Aayla squeezed his hand Harry shook his head. "I won't dwell on it, but I won't forget it either. The Jedi Order sometimes acts way too much like it believes what it thinks is right is actual reality without checking up on it later. And as an institution the Order doesn't show enough care to the individuals that constitute it. I can't believe that Master Yoda would've been part of that decision!"

"Master Yoda wasn't there. He was has knee deep… er…" Aayla paused, and smirked as Harry laughed aloud. "Okay, so maybe I should say he was well above his head and drowning in discussions with the Senate pushing to rescind the arming rights for the Trade Federation after the debacle of the trade summit on Eriadu."

"I hope this latest effrontery will be enough incentive for the Senate to demand the TF disarm." Harry said shaking his head as he gestured towards his newest memory crystal, which was a dusky tan in color shot through with veins of pink. It would signify his memories of Tatooine in its entirety for now, though he might separate his memories of Aayla from it into their own crystal later on. For a brief moment the two of them saw the memory of a few hours previous, where Padme explained her planet's plight to them.

Behind the two Inside the Skywalker house everyone had gone to sleep already and both of their bodies had closed their eyes feigning sleep but Master Fay was not fooled. "Don't stay up too late you two," she said, coming out of the Skywalker house to look down at the two of them where they lay against the wall, covered now by a single cloak, her voice bringing them back to the physical plane. "Catching up is all well and good, but you'll have time to do that while we decide where to go from here."

Harry looked up abruptly. "Master, I thought we would just go back to Sorenno! I know my training with Master Dooku is nowhere near done."

"The study of a lightsaber is the study of a lifetime," Aayla quoted, nodding her head.

Behind Fay Dooku actually let loose a chuckle. That had been a phrase that he had recorded among his teachings which he had left behind in the Temple after deciding to retire to Sorenno with his apprentice. "True enough Padawan Secura. But the Jedi high Council will no doubt want you and your Master to return to them. Vos also has reams of data he needs to give them which will aid in their ongoing efforts against the illegal slave trade. Not to mention a few prisoners who may help the Order with its inquiries."

Both teens flinched, and Dooku held up a hand. He was still somewhat disquieted by the connection between these two, but he couldn't deny that it was most definitely a Light Side construction. "We will not separate you two, but explaining the why of it will be difficult without letting the Masters see your connection themselves."

Harry looked at Master Fay and then over at his mother hovering behind the woman, having just come out from having teased Anakin about something, which had left Padme giggling madly and Anakin looking like a gaping fish. "Does that mean we will have to go back to the temple?"

"Perhaps," Dooku said frowning. He too looked at Master Fay.

That worthy frowned, shaking her head. "I will meditate on that tonight. If the Force is still telling me that taking you to Coruscant will result in disaster, we won't, no matter what pressures the Jedi Council puts on us. My own reading of the Force will suffice for them, but what that will mean for you both, that we shall see."

Harry nodded, and watched the adults move back inside. When they were gone he turned to look at Aayla, whose hazel eyes locked with his, worry and concern for the future overriding their joy in the present for a few moments.

But it couldn't last. They were young, they hadn't seen each other for years, and though they hadn't quite said the words just yet, they were deeply, one could almost say madly, in love. So they retreated once again into Harry's mental plane, talking, laughing, sharing what had been going on in each other's lives since they had separated all those years ago in far greater detail and openness then they ever could have via Hypercom.

Eventually their discussion petered out not finished, but irrelevant to the fact they were again together, and they simply walked among Harry's crystal gardens, holding hands. But then Aayla stopped, staring at one of the pink columns, looking around and noticing there were a few of them, though not as many as she had feared there would be after so many years separated. Harry caught her glance, and flushed slightly. But he didn't stop her as she reached forward, touching one of them.

This one was of a calisthenics class aboard the Explorer, with Shaak Ti pushing the younglings through their paces, moving through them and around them, doing at least twice as much work as the students and yet not sweating at all. Aayla remember this from her own perspective. She had overheard Zule mutter about boys at one point when a few of the other older student's had apparently been staring at the teacher a little too long.

But this memory wasn't about Shaak Ti. It was about Aayla, and Aayla beamed at Harry as she felt the attraction in the memory from Harry toward her. That made her feel very warm inside. That with Shaak Ti right there, who Aayla knew was extremely attractive, Harry still concentrated on her.

Suddenly, Aayla grinned wildly, and pulled both of them back out of the mental plane, standing up quickly before pausing somewhat shyly before speaking in low tones. "I, I just thought of something, a way I could, sort of, pay you back for saving me."

She held up a hand as Harry makes speak. "I know I don't have to Harry, but I want to, and it would be nice to do this for someone I, I care for. Would, would you like to see me dance?"

Harry's eyes widened, and his first inclination was to nod his head so wildly he might break his neck. But his self-control was such that he was able to step back for a moment and think. "Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. "I mean I would've thought that dancing like that, well dancing would have a lot of bad memories tied up with it."

"It does, but that makes it even more important that I make new ones happier ones to associate with dancing." Aayla said hesitantly staring down at her feet then down at him through her eyelashes shyly. "Do you want to see me dance, Harry?"

"Aayla…" Harry said gulping then nodded staring up into Aayla's eyes.

Aayla smiled, standing back a few steps, taking the time to make certain with the Force that no one else was watching. There wasn't, and she began to dance. Her feet thumped down on the desert sand, once, twice, thrice, sending up tiny plumes of sand as she pirouetted in place, her arms thrown out to either side, her lekku dangling in front of her for a moment as she bowed from the waist. The tiny sparkles of sand rose up, shimmering and sparkling in the air. Aayla then raised one leg straight up, hugging it to her upper body for a moment as she continued her pirouette, slowly lowering it to replace her pivot leg. Then she began to move, her feet shifting this way and that as she danced, her lekku twisting this way and that around her head as she moved it merely serving to add to the display.

It wasn't the pole dancing she'd had to do several times in Jabba's palace. She didn't have a pole and Aayla's clothing underneath her now discarded cloak remained the same she had conjured during her escape. But that didn't matter. The way she moved the way she rolled her stomach somehow in a way Harry couldn't quite understand or explain, the moves Aayla performed, and her body, still made it intensely sensual. It took his breath away, caused his blood to boil and his heart to thump as if he was sprinting.

Yet it also looked somewhat lonely and struck by a sudden decision Harry got up quickly. "A, Aayla, I'd like to dance with you instead of just watch."

Now it was Aayla's turn to blink, her dance pausing as one hand moved to curl up with the tip of her lekku, confusion written plane on her face. "I've never danced with another person."

"My mom taught me some old-time dances from back on Earth. I could show you?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Struck by a sudden shyness Aayla looked down at her feet for a moment as she nodded. But she willingly moved her arms out to either side as Harry moved forward. He held her to him with one arm around her waist, and Aayla did the same to him, flushing as Harry's other hand clasped hers, their fingers weaving.

"Er, now I'm not certain if this one is a real dance or she was having me on, but she called it the tango and it goes like this…" With that Harry began to lead Aayla forward in the direction of their pressed hands, before twisting back the way they had come their arms shifting around one another as they continued to dance without music.

The tiny modes of sand in the air danced with them, flashing and twinkling in the air, as the two of them moved. Slowly the dance changed, moving from the tango to simply holding one another and twirling in place, staring into one another's eyes. It seemed the most natural thing in the world for Harry to lean down, and for Aayla to lean up, and before they knew it they were kissing.

And what a kiss it was. Explosions went off in their minds if not in reality, and Harry's grip around Aayla's waist tightened as did her own around his shoulders, pulling his neck down further. They deepened the kiss, their mouths opening, as they both try to somehow pour their emotions into the other person through their lips.

Eventually they pulled away, breathing deeply. Their dance had long since stopped, and they stood there in the desert moonlight staring into their eyes.

It had to be said, it had to be said aloud, not just in their heads. There was some kind of import to saying the words aloud. Harry didn't quite understand why that could be, but he understood it was. So he said them. "I love you Aayla Secura."

"I love you too Harry Potter, I love you too." Then they were kissing again, and the world once again faded around them.