Chapter Thirty Two

A little over two years passed thus. Harry and Aayla's bond continued, not growing so much from its beginning but always there, always between them. They followed Lily's instructions and began to organize that connection in a way, putting doors on the connection between their minds which but for most of the time those doors were open, serving no real purpose.

However they did indeed help greatly when Harry went through puberty at around thirteen and started to have thoughts about the girls around him, and of course Aayla in particular. But instead of shutting Aayla out, something that Lily had both expected and feared, Harry handled it in a unusual way based off his growing mastery with Occlumency.

Aayla discovered this one evening as the two of them finished discussing a series of math problems they were learning from Knight Cale. Walking back to the doorway that led back to her own mind, Aayla's astral form paused, cocking her head as she pointed through the mental landscape. "Harry, why's that crystal pink?"

Hiding a gulp, Harry smiled wanly, really, really that Aayla wouldn't push on this topic. "Um, those are not-fun type embarrassing memories, like talks with my Mum about my dad, or that time we found Master Laitha meditating in the hydroponics section dressed in her underthings and I walked into a tree and other things of that nature."

Narrowing her eyes, Aayla turned her attention on him for a second before staring at the crystal in question. It was small, only coming up to her waist, and not very thick, but it was a dark pink color unlike the other memory crystals all around them, so it grabbed her attention. As did her own memory of that time, and the whisper of the emotions Harry had felt then. She didn't know what to make of them, though they had irritated her a little at the time, like when he allowed Zule to run her fingers through his hair or vice-versa.

Thankfully for Harry, it was late and they were both tired, so Aayla didn't press him about him about the crystals, though she came back to it a few times over the next few days. Then Harry received a reprieve of sorts, though it was not of a kind he would ever have wanted. Orders arrived from Coruscant for Master Saa and the Explorer, and the ship began to make its way back to the Core Worlds.

The majority of the clan had advanced enough it was time for the clan to head to head to Coruscant for their final years of training. The Council of First Knowledge, which organized the Jedi academy, the training of the initiates and the Holocron Library had decided that even with the ongoing experiments the clan aboard the Explorer could not be left to its own devices any longer.

That meant it was time for Harry, Lily and Fay to leave the Explorer. Every time Fay or T'ra looked into the future they saw the Force had not wavered in its message: to bring Harry to Coruscant too soon was to invite some kind of disaster. Though despite being so clear on that the Force was frustratingly vague on what that disaster might be.

T'ra and Fay felt it might be a fracturing of the Order, though why or what the reason would be was unclear. Yoda hadn't been certain even of that, but the end result was the same. Harry had to leave his friends behind for their safety and his. Worse for Harry and Aayla, she couldn't come with him as had originally been planned for several reasons.

For one thing, like the majority of the clan, indeed all of them save Alecto and Harry, hadn't quite hit puberty just yet. That didn't quite mean the same thing among Twi'leks as it did humans, let alone the other races represented in the clan, but it was still 'a time of great emotional and physical turmoil which must be carefully planned for', as the Order put it.

This was one of the major reasons the entire clan was being ordered to Coruscant. It was the task of the council of First Knowledge to conduct initiates through the lessons necessary to instill control over their new animalistic thoughts and urges. And the five masters who made up the council refused point blank to let any clan go through it elsewhere.

When she had heard about this Lily's opinion on the Order plummeted to heretofore unseen levels, and she blistered the bulkheads with her diatribe. Fay and T'ra actually agreed with some of her points, though both were thankful none of the younglings had overheard her else they have to deal with their enhanced vocabulary. Despite that however they couldn't argue with the Council of First Knowledge.

Nor could Yoda at this point. He and Master Giiett were under extreme pressure from the rest of the council to show more of the ancient knowledge that had been rediscovered. Their new abilities had won them interest and several years of freedom for the clan to train, but the fact Yoda refused to tell anyone exactly where the new techniques had come from had begun to wear on even his supporters in the council.

Mace in particular was concerned about it, and Yoda's request for a study on the hereditary nature of the Force and his research into the Ruusan Reformation and the effect it had on Jedi abilities had set hackles to rising throughout the Order. Worse was his decision to push for allowing the Old Oath to be taken by those knights who decided it was closer to their own belief on how Jedi should act. But despite his position as Grand Master, Yoda could not make dictatorial decisions without explaining himself to the rest of the High Council.

The argument over this had gone on for months, until Yoda had been overruled. The Order, the other masters felt, had worked for over a thousand years based on the Reformation and the new Oath, and they saw no reason to change it despite Yoda's odd concerns. It was only the respect the entire Order felt for Yoda that allowed him to weather the storm, and Micah had nearly been removed from the council for his part in it.

But that argument had caused a lot of masters on all three councils to become leery about what was going on with the Explorer and even his closest allies wanted to know more about it as well. Yoda had reluctantly decided it was time to show the Order as much of the rest of the new skills as they could. This included the shields, the stun technique (Harry's version of the Stupefy) the conjuration and control of fire and water, and the ability to change their skin and hair colors, which Aayla and Zule, to no one's surprise, had perfected beyond even Harry's skill level.

Yoda hoped to let the initiates take over and expand upon his and Giiett's sharing of their new techniques, not just with other masters as the two of them had been, but other clans, padawans and knights. It would be a ground up approach to change rather than from the top down, and would hopefully cause the changes to expand faster than they could be stopped, both the new techniques and the new way of seeing emotions and the Force.

And of them all, Aayla was by far the best at shield spells, and at teaching them. Plus both Quinlan and Tholme had mentioned Aayla a time or two to other Jedi, and the fact that Quinlan had felt a padawan bond with the girl. It would seem suspicious if she wasn't with the rest of the clan. So despite his desire to let the two young bonded remain together, Yoda was forced to separate them.

When they arrived back in Denon, Fay decided it was time for them to leave. For the first time in years the Force was calling her away and it was time once more to take to the space-ways.

For Harry this was as close to leaving home as he would ever feel. Despite knowing it had been coming, despite preparing for it for days, leaving his friends behind was like a kick to the head. Leaving Aayla behind was worse. She was his first real friend, and leaving her hurt, like someone had taken a lightsaber to his guts.

Aayla was feeling it too, judging by the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She clung to him tightly as the two of them stood in the hangar Bay while behind them Fay's ship powered up. It still had no weapons, despite Yoda's insistence that she get some, but the shields on it had been revamped just as much as on the training vessel.

Fay waited by the entry ramp, the only person there. Lily and she had known this parting would be difficult, and wanted no one else there to watch. Harry had already said his farewells to the knights, masters and of course his fellow clan members. Those had been touching as well, with many a tear shed (by those races able to), though all the students understood the importance, even the younger ones understood how much of a draw Harry's power could be to someone who had some darkness within them. There had been after all a few examples of pranks and teasing that went too far even among them here.

"I'll miss you!" Aayla said, her voice muffled against Harry's chest. Harry nodded, whispering the words back to her as he rested his chin on top of her head. "Write to me?"

"I'll com-mail you constantly, at least once a week!" Harry promised, standing back for a second so he could put one hand over his heart. "And at least you'll be able to learn from Master Giiett for a time. That's a good thing right? And you'll only be stuck there for a year or so until Quinlan's ready to take you as padawan anyway. After that we'll arrange to meet up again as soon as possible"

Aayla nodded wanly.

Partly to soften what he knew would be a harsh blow, Master Giiett had added his own communique onto the Council of First Knowledge's orders. He had checked in on Aayla and Zule, and had told them he would continue their training in Jar'kai specific exercises when they arrived at Coruscant. It was indeed a very nice carrot, but it really was no match for the stick.

Then she locked eyes with Harry, and Harry understood. Both of them reached into their own minds for a moment, unlatching the doors they normally kept closed these days, having wanted to get into the habit so their parting would not seem as wrenching. It hadn't worked. "I'll miss you," Aayla said again, the words reaching Harry both via his ears and via his mind now, carrying with them a lot more depth and feeling than mere physical words could contain.

"Me too," Harry said, and Aayla could feel his sincerity through their link. "I'll keep this open as we leave, though I don't know what it will feel like when we enter hyperspace, it could hurt or something."

"Master Yoda always told us the Force was everywhere, so hopefully nothing will happen. Maybe distance won't matter at all to our link."

Even as she said that Aayla knew that was somewhat wishful thinking. She couldn't for example feel her bond to Quinlan any longer, not since he had left them several years back. Before that she had been able to feel his presence anywhere in the system, but the hyperspace limit or light speed limit seemed to be too much for such things. Still, she was hopeful. Her bond with Harry was after all deeper and though she would never say it aloud, more dear to her than the connection to Quinlan. And she wanted to stay in touch with him regardless.

Harry nodded, and pulled Aayla into another hug, squishing her against him so much she actually giggled a little, as she did the same to him. After a moment they stood back again, staring in one another's eyes before nodding. "May the Force be with you Harry," Aayla said, before she resolutely backed away again.

Harry took a deep breath, nodded and grinned at his first and most special friend, manfully banishing his own tears. "May the Force be with you too, Aayla Se'cura."

He turned away then, moving over to Master Fay and his mother, who nodded to Aayla before turning and gently escorting Harry aboard the ship. The two of them had already paid their own farewells to the girl of course. Only when the ramp closed, did Harry allow a few tears to appear in his eyes, but he shook them off quickly, knowing that somehow Aayla would feel it through their bond.

Instead, he looked around interestedly. He had never been in Master Fay's yacht yet, but he knew that she and Lily had been busy here. The first sign of this was the size of the room he entered from the landing ramp. It should have been a very small seating area, good enough for two or three people to sit comfortably together within talking range around a circular table but with room for little else beyond a few plants and a recessed series of drawers.

Instead it was nearly as large as the living quarters aboard the Explorer. In one corner was the original chairs and other things near the door to the kitchen. The rest was blank, save for a few extra lights strung up here and there running on the same runic array Fay had first experimented with.

Fay smiled, gesturing him on with a gentle touch to his shoulder. "Your room will be across the hallway from mine, we expanded it from a maintenance locker, it was our first real success with expansion arrays that didn't go out of control."

"A whole day of traveling in blank, white nothingness," Lily groaned, exchanging a wry look with the other woman, who shrugged her shoulders in return, a small but warm smile on her own face. The two of them had become fast friends over the years, and greatly enjoyed one another's company even when not working on any projects.

"The kitchen is through there," Fay explained, gesturing to a doorway sat next to their table and the chairs. "You'll find a lot of things in there I think that you will enjoy experimenting with Harry, I know I will."

Harry had kept up cooking while aboard the training vessel, learning from Master Giiett while he was there who was somewhat of a gourmand among Jedi in that he could actually cooked very decent meals rather than simple meals to fuel the body. The children needless to say had been an appreciative audience for his skills.

The cockpit was small, set in the head of the sleek, almost birdlike design of the yacht, it was still the original size because there were too many electrical devices in here for Lily and Fay to want to use space expansion charms around them. Nor was there honestly any point, since Fay and Harry were the only people aboard. Everything looked well cared for, and Harry could almost feel Fay's presence here. "How long have you owned this ship Master Fay?" he asked.

"Over a hundred and twenty years now. It's a discontinued model I understand now, but it was top-of-the-line back then, made in Kuat. They foisted it on me after I helped the locals deal with a series of natural disasters. I tried to tell them not to, Jedi should not grow attached to objects after all, but having my own ship was simply too useful for me to turn down."

Harry nodded, and began to familiarize himself with the controls. Like the others he had been taught a few easy lessons about how to pilot, but nothing major just yet, considering their ages. He knew how to activate the communicators and the shields, as well as how to read the radar, but he couldn't pilots just yet despite being told more than once his reflexes would serve him in good stead at the task.

"Call the bridge Harry, which would be those buttons over there. Tell them to open up the hanger bay doors." Fay said, pointing to what she wanted, as she slipped into the pilot's chair with Harry taking the navigators position. Lily hovered above them, watching everything with interest, her form half in, and half out of the cockpit, pushed through the closed hatchway.

"This is the Whispering Wind, requesting clearance for takeoff?" Harry asked through the communicator.

A few moments later, the yacht exited the larger training vessel, moving into a prescribed route out and away from the busy space lanes of the planet below, another Ord system called Ord Nuva with Harry watching avidly. Of course he'd seen this several times already, but such things never got old for him.

It took the ship about 40 minutes to clear the busy portion of the spaceways around the planet, moving towards the designated hyperspace out section. There Fay closed her eyes briefly, allowing the Force to tell her once again where she needed to go.

The answer somewhat startled her, being quite a bit further away than she had expected it to be, but she obediently turned her ship in that direction, facing not quite core world word but almost in that direction Galactic North. There was a few troubles apparently nearby but the biggest one the Force was telling her about was in that direction. Interesting, and rather worrisome that a problem as far away as that one needs my specific attention. Or Fay, frowned further, is it that my padawan is being called in that direction, and it is both our presences which are needed?

Regardless, she had her next destination in mind, and quickly inputted the coordinates into the system. Looking over at Harry she smiled faintly. "You will be able to feel out of Force like this eventually Harry, to know where it wishes you to go. But for now, are you ready?"

"No, I don't want to leave," he said honestly, "but I know you need to be on the move and I know it's important to keep my abilities under wraps, I just wish I didn't have to leave Aa, um I mean my friends."

Fay smiled slightly as she watched Harry steel himself, vaguely feeling him send one last farewell down the mental link he and Aayla shared. Aayla responded in a similar manner, then Harry opened his eyes and nodded at her. "I'm ready now Master."

Fay wordlessly reached forward and activated the hyperspace engines, and Harry twitched as back on the Explorer Aayla did the same. Their bond wasn't quite gone entirely they could still feel one another, but that connecting corridor had narrowed to a bare glimmer, and with it their ability to speak mind to mind.

Aboard the Explorer Aayla crumpled to the ground only to be caught by Wulo who charged forward from the end of the hanger bay, catching her on his back as the rest of the clans quickly gathered around her along with the teachers not on duty in the cockpit.

In the Windblown Harry's hands gripped the armrests of his chair, and he softly began to sob while Lily leaned down, throwing her arms around him in one of her ethereal hugs as Fay did the same from the side, shaking her head sadly.