𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓾𝓼 𝓕𝓵𝓪𝓶𝓮

Dooku's own Master would say that through the Force all things are possible, but right now that is stretching plausibility a fair bit.

And yet, Dooku has always had the ability to focus, and he is not about to change that now. He must focus on the facts, and the Force, and his goals. Hesitation serves nobody, even now he's learned that in blood and fire.

"What is the year?" He asks. "And what is your name?" He adds. "I know for a certainty you are not Rael."

THE NAME rael jerks qui - gon briefly into the past , back into a man far younger than himself , gangly and righteous . only one of those he grew out of .

"I think you're too late for that lesson, Master," Anakin says. "I appreciate your council, but your words are for a different time. Even if I wanted to show mercy, he's too dangerous. He controls everything. Leaving him alive would be tactical stupidity."

Anakin looks away and down at his hands.

WHILE THERE is a firmness in his eyes , there is tenderness too . perhaps even understanding .

This has been, Dooku supposes, a long time coming: Qui-Gon and he have not butted heads often, but he is under no illusions about the rift that has grown between them. That Dooku left the order, that he took the mantle of Count when the Republic failed his homeworld so thoroughly, and thus slowly set Dooku on a path further and further from the Jedi Order, has likely not helped matters.

Proof of it is that he is yet to meet Qui-Gon's most recent Padawan and, as matters stand, he does not think he's about to meet him just yet. Not if he is not here, and it's just Qui-Gon, familiar and foreign both, standing uninvited in a complex belonging to one of the most dubious branches of a banking company Dooku is conducting business with.

He cannot deny much of the accusation: there are plans in motion that require these alliances, and yet they both know that Dooku has always loathed politics. Alas, there he is, the very image of a politician.

"And yet," he answers, evenly, "I can still sense your disapproval."

Not undeserved, but nevertheless impractical.

DISAPPROVAL , DOOKU mentions . he certainly hopes his former master can sense it . qui - gon isn't particularly trying to mask it . he spreads his hands , head tilting with the slightest lift of his brows .

HIS LIP quirks just slightly , amusement flickering in his eyes .

And as he listens to the Force in search for answers, in search for something that might be guidance or might be warnings, all he can do is find his bafflement redoubled.

Dooku is young. He has been Knighted for a short while, and he does have his eyes on a Padawan already. But he is certain, fully and sharply certain, that this is not Rael Averross.

"I am Knight Dooku." He introduces himself, hoping for an introduction in return.

He can feel something of a headache brewing, because he can't recall the Force ever being so clear and yet so vague at the same time.

"Have we met?" He asks, in the end: it's not necessarily polite, but they are in a hurry and the way the Force sings in correctness just cannot be right.

CONFUSION SWIRLS around qui - gon like a hurricane and the force offers no answers except for this : the signature in the force that is coming off the man leaves no doubt that this is dooku . the force signature is as familiar to qui - gon as obi - wan's . BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE .

words elude him and he can do nothing but stare , trying to make any sort of sense of this . no answers present themselves .

A surprised bark of a laugh escapes him, harsh and mean.

"That's what I told Master Windu before I killed him." It's not exactly the truth, but it's not a lie either. He'd been an accessory to that murder. "He was right, though. He said Palpatine was too powerful to be left alive."

Anakin crosses his arms across his chest.

THE GRAY of his eyes is placid , contemplative . and , most notably , lacking in any judgment .

 𝐈𝐓   𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒   𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇   𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄   𝐖𝐄   𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄 .      even   if   there   will   never   be   more   light   than   darkness .       EVEN   IF   THERE   CAN   BE   NO   MORE   JOY   IN   THE   GALAXY   THAN   THERE   IS   PAIN .       for   every   action   we   undertake ,   for   every   word   we   speak ,   for   every   life   we   touch        —       𝙸𝚃   𝙼𝙰𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚂 .     i   don’t   turn   towards   the   light   because   it   means   someday   i’ll   ‘ win ‘   some   sort   of   cosmic   game .      𝐈   𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍   𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃   𝐈𝐓   𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄   𝐈𝐓   𝐈𝐒   𝑻𝑯𝑬   𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 .

There is a ghost over Qui-Gon's shoulders, as he answers, and Dooku releases his brief regret into the Force: for all his faults and his temper, he has never been purposefully cruel to a Padawan of his. Or at least he's never been with Rael: his memories of Qui-Gon are brief and decades out of date, as he regards the man before him.

"I am sorry." He says, simply but honestly. No further platitudes, no assurances that she's with the Force now: the Force knows how many times Qui-Gon might have heard those, and he's long noticed that this former and future Padawan of his has a greater connection to the Force than most. And perhaps some remaining attachment, but Dooku has never judged that too harshly. They are human, after all.

For now he sips his tea, and considers Qui-Gon steadily.

HE NODS at the simple condolence given by his . . . former ? future ? master . he hadn't expected , nor desired , more from him . dooku's transition , however , has qui - gon's shoulders squaring .

While Dooku's ship had not crashed, and he considered himself a capable pilot, there was little denying that if it hadn't been for a brief warning in the Force and the skill to listen to it properly, said not-crashing would have certainly been a crash.

As matters stand, he had been able to walk away from the damaged little ship, and while his tunic did betray the signs of it, it could be worse. He still looked somewhat presentable, for a man who had left the Temple with nothing but the bare minimum to follow a distress signal less than a day's worth of hiperspace travel away and then not-crashed a ship.

Finding another Jedi in this remote, desolate planet he had found himself in had been relieving, for all he was no-one he recognized.

He would have, years later. But all he had now was the way the Force shifted around him, and Dooku, duelist extraordinaire and diplomat born, did not have the sharpest connection to some areas of the Force. After all, Sifo-Dyas had enough of a connection for three.

It was still not so meager a connection that he did not notice the way the other Jedi's affirmation did not ring of malice.

Nor is it so weak a connection that he has not noticed that something -he doesn't yet know what, but something- changed in the moments before the not-a-crash. And that there was something to the Jedi before him.

"I am following a distress signal." He spoke again, steady and put-together and with the air of one who has mastered peace by sheer strength of internal will. "If your mission does allow for it, I would be grateful for your assistance."

QUI - GON HAD also been following the same distress signal , but it was not that which was on his mind anymore . qui - gon is generally considered a man of few words , but usually that's because his silence is thoughtful , intentional . but this - - - - this has him speechless for a moment far too long to be considered polite .

because here , standing before him , is HIS MASTER . far younger than the man qui - gon knows him as now . but it's hardly like he has forgotten what his master as a young man looked like .

"Yeah! I wanna know about deadly plants. And the not deadly ones too, I suppose." This time, Obi-Wan purposely slows his steps to remain behind his Master as to conceal his hopeful expression. It's probably unbecoming of a Jedi to get so excited about the possibility of something which has no guarantee of happening.

HE HUMS his agreement as they walk . ❝ swamps teem with life . bogs will kill most things that come near , and then preserve the body as a warning to the rest . ❞ it's more observation than it is LESSON .

"Yes."

Definite. Resolute. For Anakin there isn't any other path, because any other path is one of death and destruction. By his own hands. He feels it. He sees it every time he closes his eyes to meditate and no matter how much he tries, there doesn't seem to be another, better alternative. Palpatine cannot live and neither can he. They are both too dangerous.

HE RELEASES a contemplative hum as the words of the young man are considered . his fingers fold together , thumb tapping the skin of his other hand .