Once Narasi was gone, Tirien took some time to walk the streets of Isalius. His hood would have provided greater anonymity, but the wind caught it and dragged it back whenever he tried, as if to castigate him for hiding from his own people. The chill breeze on his face and neck was pleasant, but the looks he got from other Pantorans gave him an odd degree of sympathy for Narasi. There was no malevolence behind these gazes, but every being seemed to know him, and he felt he was walking the street in a column of light.
Eight people shook his hand and three asked for his autograph before he even reached the street vendors; he declined the autographs as politely as he could, but was unable to persuade the vendor to take money for the fruit. He acceded with a forced smile and the best grace he could muster, wondering whether he would actually be able to pay for anything on his homeworld. It got worse as he wandered the market, vendors offering him free trinkets, souvenirs, and even a bottle of wine; one man offered to etch the Kal-Di clan symbols as a wood burning while he waited. Tirien ate as he walked, keeping moving as he sensed eyes on him and heard whispers building toward conversation.
Apart from the marketplace, the street level of Isalius was mostly vehicular and pedestrian traffic and a few expansive building fronts, so Tirien took a public-access turbolift up to the rooftops. The wind was sharper there, and he breathed the cold, clean scent in through his nose, relishing the feeling as he watched the stream of traffic to and from the spaceport across the city. Most Pantorans were at work by now, so the parks that bedecked each of the nearby rooftops were deserted except for a few much older Pantorans. He would have liked to go into the marshes outside the city for some peaceful, solitary meditation, but there was no time to get there and back before his meeting with the Chairman, so Tirien found a quiet spot in a patch of sunlight admist a little copse of red-leaved trees and sat.
The whistle of the breeze and the disquiet of his awkwardness with his fellow Pantorans dropped away, but the Force centered him in a way he was unused to outside the Jedi Temple on Coruscant—so calm and at ease that he knew by instinct that he was where he belonged. It was a Jedi Consular's dream, but he intuited that not every Jedi Consular would have the same experience here. He had an odd sense of the Unifying Force, multiple destinies unfolding before his mind's eye, and not all of them in ways he expected or to events he would have predicted. For some reason he found himself thinking of Azreigia; the breeze would be sharper and colder in the mountains, he knew, and in the spring it would smell of thawing rivers and wildflowers…
Tirien's datapad beeped and drew him back to himself, and he was startled to realize the better part of an hour had passed; he had to jog to make it back to the hotel and catch his speeder. As he did he pondered his meditative thoughts, wondering what other deep-seated memories his subconscious would restore to him in this place if he only asked it the right way.
The Pantoran Assembly Building looked like a castle, with sweeping curves and rising, flame-topped spires surrounding a few lower domes, including the central dome that had to be the Assembly Chamber itself. Tirien could admire the aesthetics, although the whole building would barely occupy a niche of the Galactic Senate on Coruscant. Samaya Otarosi was waiting for him at a restricted access entrance as soon as the Chairman's car dropped him off there.
"Good morning, Master Jedi."
"And to you." He followed her into the building and up to a security desk, where a well-dressed, powerfully-built Pantoran waited beside an equally blocky security droid.
"Go ahead, Miss Otarosi," the guard boomed.
"Master Kal-Di is with me," she noted.
"Just Tirien…" he tried without much hope.
"Yes ma'am…" The guard was clearly ill at ease; Tirien sensed vigilance struggling with a desire not to offend. "Master Kal-Di, it's an honor to meet you, sir. I'm so sorry, and please don't take offense, but we can't allow weapons into the building."
Tirien nodded easily, lifting his leg up within reach. He drew out his vibroknife, flipped it in his grip, and offered it handle first. "It's no problem."
The guard looked almost physically pained as he took the knife and glanced at the droid, which turned its red photoreceptors on Tirien. "The life form is carrying an additional metallic object on its belt. Its nature is difficult to identify."
"Master Kal-Di…I'm sorry, but your lightsaber…"
"—is no mere weapon," Tirien responded firmly. "It is a symbol of a Jedi Knight's office and part of his very self—it's as much a part of me as my arm. It goes where I go."
Whether Tirien could really claim to be quite that attached to Mali Darakhan's lightsaber was perhaps more debatable, but there was a time to stand on principle. The guard waffled, and Samaya added, "I'm sure a Jedi of Master Kal-Di's standing isn't going to assassinate the Chairman, Tirek."
"The lightsaber won't be a problem," Tirien said with a calming tone, a casual wave of his hand, and a touch of the Force.
The guard looked between them and nodded, then said to the droid. "The lightsaber won't be a problem. He's clear."
As Tirien and Samaya set off through the building, the woman said under her breath, "I'll pretend I didn't see that, Master Jedi."
"I appreciate that."
Tirien allowed himself to be swept through a variety of checkpoints, passing through marble halls and glancing at wall-mounted artwork en route to the Chairman's office, which was nestled in the heart of the building. Many of the paintings and holos were of various famous Pantorans, but the Chairman himself seemed to favor landscapes. A mountain scene just outside the office door stirred something in Tirien's memory.
A secretary rose from her desk as they entered. "Welcome back, ma'am."
"Is the Chairman ready for us, Veeli?"
"Of course, ma'am. Welcome home, Master Kal-Di," Veeli added warmly.
He decided to concede the battle about the honorific. "Thank you."
"If you'll follow me, Master Jedi?" Samaya invited.
The Chairman stood looking out the window of his office on the network of buildings below; the Assembly Building was not the tallest building in Isalius, or even in the neighborhood, although it was probably the most ornate. It had a commanding view of the Pylulm River as it flowed through the heart of the capital from one marshland to another, and the Chairman seemed to be watching a ferry chug down the length of the river. Taking his cue, Tirien stood a respectful distance away, smiling slightly to himself as he imagined Narasi complaining about the cold if they were on the boat. At least she could warm herself today.
"Mr. Sokos turned you down as well," the Chairman noted.
It was neither the opening Tirien had expected nor an entirely cheerful way to begin, and he waited to reply until he was sure his voice would be at its usual polite interest. "I would say the discussion is ongoing."
"Or else you might not still be here," the Chairman observed. "But I notice the boy isn't with you."
Trying for a surface scan of the man's thoughts, Tirien found him hard to read. "He is not."
They turned to face each other in unison. The Chairman was older, his hair gone white and his features thin, but his eyes were as unreadable as his mind. "I trust our people have already said it, Tirien, but welcome home."
The delivery was quite deliberate, Tirien sensed; the man was the first to use his given name without invitation, and the way he said our people… Glancing at the tattoos on the Chairman's face as confirmation of the biography he had read the day before, Tirien said, "Thank you, Chairman Korfadda."
If he was pleased by the recognition—or noted it at all—he hid it well. Gesturing to the chairs facing his desk, he took the high-backed one facing them. Tirien and Samaya sat side-by-side.
"Samaya mentioned you had some thoughts that might help my recruitment mission here," Tirien began. Depending on what Narasi uncovered, the two of them might need all the help they could get.
"To resolve the impasse you face," Samaya corrected gently.
Tirien wondered about the distinction, but before he could answer her Korfadda said, "I'm personally supportive of your recruitment effort, Tirien, and I told Jedi Nefkin the same thing."
"And the Jedi Order appreciates that support," Tirien inserted.
The Chairman nodded, but added, "I'm concerned, however, by the risk Pantora embraces by becoming an open partisan of the Jedi Order."
"We're capable of protecting ourselves against pirates and local mercenary forces," Samaya said, "but we're ill-equipped to oppose Lady Hadan's forces, to say nothing of the Empire or the other factions."
"Ayson and I hardly represent the collective political will of Pantora," Tirien pointed out. "We would be the decision of the Sokoses and the Kal-Dis alone."
"On the surface, perhaps," the Chairman allowed. "But if Pantora develops a reputation for producing powerful, skillful Force users…"
"I'm one man," Tirien said. "Even with Ayson, we're only two. If the Sith are seeking to control worlds and species that produce a lot of Force-sensitives, there are far better targets. Alpheridies, Anzat, Ryloth, anywhere there are enough Humans…"
"The Sith do control Ryloth," Samaya pointed out. "Darth Saleej or Lord Aresh would have to brave your strongest fleets to take Alpheridies; it's a single jump from Taanab, and we know what you did to Darth Saleej's forces there."
"And Anzat is half-Sith already, and a deathtrap to even the strongest invaders," Korfadda added. Tirien had a vivid recollection of Darth Vandak's maddened, bloodthirsty face through a haze of smoke and blurred vision, and found it difficult to argue with that, imagining a whole planet of the Anzat psychopath. "And many Humans have the good fortune to occupy worlds within the ever-constricting embrace of the Republic."
"Pantora isn't so fortunate," Samaya noted.
"If you're asking for Pantora to join the Republic…"
"We're not," Korfadda said firmly. "The Republic's protection may be meaningful in the Core and its periphery, but here allegiance to Coruscant is a holoshield and an invitation to invasion."
Tirien could not deny that; having fought tooth-and-nail for Taanab as the Republic Navy struggled to funnel resources down the Perlemian, he could well imagine how little the admiralty would spare for a planet buried in the Rim twice as far away, no matter how many Force-sensitives it produced. "Two Force-sensitives don't make up the Jedi Order."
"But two is more than zero," Korfadda returned, "and one of them is you."
"I am one Jedi," Tirien tried, but Korfadda was having no more of it than the reporters.
"And Darth Saleej is one Sith," he rebutted. "If you could remove him from this conflict, would things change?"
"They would," Tirien had to admit.
"And greatly so, yes? How much would the Sith value a Forceful Pantoran—a being they could mold into their own version of you? Or at the very least the chance to prevent the Jedi from getting more of you? At present yes, you're one man; perhaps they may dismiss you as an outlier among Pantorans. But should word get out that there are more…"
"The Jedi are capable of acting with discretion. If Ayson becomes a Jedi, it needn't be a matter of public record."
Korfadda's eyes tightened, and Tirien knew he had missed the mark. Narasi had spoken of political pressure to keep Pantora safe; was it really about political gains, then, not safety? He looked at Samaya, who said, "Master Kal-Di, we aren't trying to keep that secret, if it even could be kept; your presence here makes that doubtful. We want to ensure Pantora is safe not despite its Force-sensitives, but because of them."
Tirien frowned. "I don't follow."
"We're told the Tapani sector has allied itself with the Republic in the last century," Samaya observed.
"It has," Tirien agreed cautiously; he had some familiarity with the Tapani sector, but he had not anticipated this line of attack at all.
"Wholeheartedly?" Chairman Korfadda asked. "An equal partner in the struggle against the Sith?"
Tirien saw the contours of the trap into which he had been led, but it was too late to escape.
"Less so than we might like," he conceded. Especially since Mizra.
"And yet how to oppose the Sith without relying on the Republic's armada?" the Chairman asked. When Tirien did not answer, Korfadda said, "House Pelagia has supplied the answer, has it not?"
The Jedi Lords of Tapani. "Some Jedi of House Pelagia have an answer," Tirien corrected. Donarius Kaivalt of House Pelagia had died at Mizra along with too many other Jedi, and that Forceful dynasty had been splintered since. "One that remains untested, and is not universally supported even by Pelagia Jedi."
"And Corellia?" Samaya asked. "We're told the Corellian Jedi may reform to defend Corellia and its interests."
"That report is premature," Tirien insisted. Quite apart from the Jedi ethics involved, it was risky to lie to a politician who clearly had some of the facts, but that didn't prevent Tirien from downplaying them. "One or two radicals don't govern all the Corellian Jedi. I can personally answer for Mali Darakhan and his loyalty to the Republic, not just Corellia."
He tapped the lightsaber on his belt. The two Pantorans followed the gesture, then Korfadda said, "Tirien, are you familiar with the Sujimis Collective?"
Tirien had not had the time to delve into it with any real depth. "I'm sorry, Chairman, but only passingly familiar. A collective defense agreement…?"
"A proposed agreement. It's a movement, both here on Pantora and in neighboring systems, to pool our resources for the common defense."
"Against the Sith?"
"Against whatever threat might arise."
Tirien weighed that. Whatever threat might arise could include the Republic someday, but on the other hand… "I can't speak on behalf of the Republic in this matter, or take a position without more information, but if you're committed to not joining the Republic, it may represent your best hope for safety against the Sith threat."
Samaya nodded. "Many Pantorans feel that way, including a vocal faction of the Assembly."
They had wandered far afield of Ayson Sokos, but Tirien did not like being led by the nose longer than necessary, so he seized the opportunity to direct the conversation for a change. "And what are your feelings, Chairman?"
The two men studied each other silently for a moment, Tirien's hands folded in his lap, Korfadda's steepled on his desk. Tirien again reflected on Narasi's intelligence about political pressure, and decided to wait Korfadda out. The older man looked down his beaky nose at Samaya for a moment, then back. "In electing me Chairman, the Assembly has charged me with the safety of our people, galactically as well as domestically. I'm not a tactician, but I recognize the value of strength in numbers."
"Those opposed to the plan, however," Samaya said, "feel Pantora will be asked to contribute more than its fair share."
"Our forces are meager compared to those of the Republic Navy," Korfadda agreed, "but we remain a regional power. Alzoc III is populated by primitives, forging a ceasefire on Ab'Bshingh is challenging enough, and we already have to deal with the slavers on Karazak. Fallowan might be able to contribute a few corvettes, Maryx Minor the same, but Pantora would pull the weight and contribute the majority of forces of any collective defense agreement."
Put that way, Tirien could see their reservations. "And so what will you do?"
"The question, Tirien," the Chairman replied, "is what will you do?"
Tirien frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand. What influence I have with the Republic won't enable me to secure you more forces if you're not a Republic—"
"The additional forces are a concern, but not the pressing one," the Chairman cut him off. "To be candid, our real deficit is direction. Among my powers is appointing an Admiral of the Pantoran Defense Force, but both she and I know it's an empty title; Neska is supreme commander of a fleet of corvettes, frigates, and patrol craft, and the most harrowing engagement she's faced is against a handful of slipshod pirates who tried to set up a base on Orto. And she is the most experienced commander in the Sujimis sector who isn't a slaver."
"No commander is experienced until she is," Tirien offered, but Korfadda was unmoved.
"Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions…is that not the phrase?" He shook his head. "But against Lady Hadan, or a truly concerted effort of slavers, a supreme commander may not survive her first bad decision."
"And what would you have me do, Chairman?"
The ghost of a smile, or perhaps the hope for one, played about Korfadda's lips. "Make good decisions."
"Such as?"
Tirien sensed Samaya tensing at his side as Korfadda drew himself up, and he knew they had arrived at the heart of the matter. "Tirien, we are not safe here; only those worlds deepest in the hearts of the Republic and the Empire are these days. Yes, we must defend ourselves, but we must do it well, and we must be led by those with the knowledge and experience—and the power—to protect us ably. You are one of the greatest Jedi Knights in the galaxy, and this is your homeworld. I am asking you to protect your people."
"By…?"
"The Sujimis Collective can work only if it is ably led. You have served alongside the Republic military, and you are yourself a Jedi, able to train others in your arts as well. The Tapani sector has its Jedi Lords, why not us? I assure you the Assembly can be persuaded to support the Collective with you at its head, and I will happily defer to your guidance."
Samaya nodded. "Tirien Kal-Di, the Jedi Lord of Pantora."
Tirien looked from one to the other, stunned. It had been so long since he had been at a loss for words that his mouth actually hung open until he thought to close it. "I am a Jedi," he said; it came out more bewildered than adamant. "My Knighthood comes from the Republic."
"And your powers?" Korfadda asked. "Do those come from the Republic too? Your knowledge? Your experience? Your understanding of the threats we face, physical and metaphysical?"
Tirien shook his head. "I've seen our enemy, yes, and I grasp the threat the dark side poses, but I've only served with the Republic forces. There are Jedi Generals—Mali Darakhan, Elata Cazars—but I'm not one of them."
"So you have little more tactical experience than Neska Idari," Samaya pointed out, "but a greater understanding of the broader war and how to oppose the Sith. You still emerge as our best hope to protect Pantora."
"A thousand Jedi are just as qualified."
"And none of them are Pantoran," Korfadda said. "More to the point, none of them are you."
"Stay here, Master," Samaya insisted. "Lead us, keep us safe. Train Ayson Sokos here too; the Pelagia aren't the only beings capable of forging a Forceful dynasty."
So that was their means of breaking the impasse. Tirien found steel for his voice at last as he said, "I have an apprentice."
"The Zygerrian girl, yes," Korfadda said. "Apparently her presence in the city has been remarked upon."
Tirien wondered exactly what Narasi had gotten up to the previous day, but Korfadda waved a hand, anticipating his concern. "No trouble, I'm told, merely the fact of her appearance—the Zygerrian apprentice of Tirien Kal-Di. But let her stay too; another Jedi to defend Pantora would be welcome, and she might be the first step to winning the hearts and minds of beings who have long considered her people nothing but predators. The optics are not ideal, perhaps, but if you vouch for her, your word is good enough for me, and her actions will bear her out to our people."
For the second time in two days Tirien found himself reeling from an unexpected attack against which he had no ready defense. Narasi had so long struggled with her heritage and the constant oppression of judging gazes, and Tirien could admit his own failings as a master in helping her overcome that burden so far. Allowed to truly reinvent herself, to stay in one spot long enough that she could win the respect her character deserved from people who truly got to know her, perhaps she could start to change perceptions, and move past her struggles in the process.
"I swore an oath to the Republic," he finally managed.
"As did Karr Shadeez, did he not?" Korfadda countered. "And yet Master Shadeez set aside that duty when he realized he served best by protecting those too insignificant for the Republic to protect them. He was a friend to the outlying systems, and since his death we have found ourselves dangerously short on such friends."
Were they deliberately trying to make him feel guilty, Tirien wondered, or was that reaction entirely his own? In his memory's eye he saw Shadeez fall, sucking down poisonous air through what remained of his trachea, slain by Alecto before Tirien's very eyes when he hadn't intuited the danger in time. The Chairman seemed well-informed; he might have known of Tirien's presence on Gizer that fateful day. But though Tirien could sense the desire to persuade, that might just as easily be their genuine willingness to place the hopes of the entire sector on him. If his failure on Gizer had increased the peril on his homeworld…
He shook his head; being home was still so alien that he wasn't thinking straight. But Korfadda raised a hand. "Everything I've heard of you says you're a man of principle and reflection as much as action, Tirien; I wouldn't ask you to make this decision now. But I ask that you consider it seriously. Should Lady Hadan turn her forces against us, I suspect we would fight with courage and honor, and die the same way. With a Pantoran Knight—and his apprentice—to protect us, and in time perhaps build a corps of Knights for our corner of space, we might survive this war."
Was this the dark side? Abandoning the Republic to which he had sworn allegiance was undeniably wrong, but was it right to leave Pantora and the rest of the Sujimis sector to fend for itself? The Republic had the High Council, Mali and his Corellian brothers, Slejux and the Seventy-Second, and thousands more Jedi besides; the Sujimis sector had Harshee, and her only on occasion. Tirien knew he could not weigh the unexpected offer here in Korfadda's office, and so he got to his feet.
"I'll walk you out, Master Kal-Di," Samaya offered.
"Please consider this, Tirien," the Chairman asked as Tirien shook his hand vacantly.
"I…will."
Tirien allowed Samaya to guide him out, mind racing. He missed the exquisite art and the ornate architecture on the way out; he might have guessed the building was not on fire, but could not swear to it. He forgot his knife until the security guard chased after him to return it. When he felt the cool breeze on his face he reached for the Force at last, trying to ground himself in the moment.
"Return whenever you're ready, Master Kal-Di," Samaya said. "We'll instruct the staff to admit you. May the Force be with you."
Tirien hoped fervently that it would be as he nodded and walked off, ignoring the sentry who offered to flag down a taxi for him and the whispered exchanges of beings who paired a Pantoran face with Jedi robes. The Assembly Building had fallen out of sight behind a skyscraper by the time he thought to wonder what had become of Narasi.