"How dare you come here," Nield said, his voice throbbing with fury.
"How dare you say you couldn't protect her? Why not, Obi-Wan?"
Nield stood. In the small space, his head nearly touched the ceiling.
His anger filled the chamber.
"I tried to get to her," Obi-Wan began. "I — "
"She shouldn't have been there at all!" Nield shouted. "You should have been watching her, protecting her, not rushing into situations trying to save strangers like a… Jedi!"
Spitting out the last word, Nield took a menacing step toward Obi-Wan.
His dark eyes burned. Obi-Wan could see the unshed tears in them. Tears of grief and rage.
"Jedi, always with their minds on higher things," Nield continued bitterly. "Always better than those they protect, unable to connect with living beings, with flesh and blood and hearts.."
"No!" Obi-Wan cried. "That's not what Jedi are about! That's exactly opposite of who we are!"
"We!" Nield cried. "You see? You are a Jedi! You have no loyalty to us.
You're a stranger. You influenced Cerasi, you made her oppose me-"
"No, Nield." Obi-Wan struggled to keep his voice calm and steady. "You know that's not true. No one could ever influence Cerasi or tell her what to do. She only wanted peace. That's why I'm here."
Nield's hands curled into fists. "Peace?" he hissed. "What is that?
What is peace next to loss? Cerasi was killed by the Elders and they must suffer. I won't rest until every filthy Elder is dead. I will avenge her or die!"
Obi-Wan was taken aback. Nield sounded like a hologram in the Halls that he detested.
"What are you doing here, Obi-Wan Kenobi?" Nield asked, disgust choking his voice. "You aren't part of the Young. You never were. You're not Melida.
You're not Daan. You're nobody, you're nowhere, and you are nothing to me."
The anger left Nield's voice, and weariness seemed to pull him down on the bench. "Now get out of my sight… and get off my planet."
Obi-Wan backed out of the chamber. He walked through the tunnels until he saw a square of gray light overhead. He pulled himself up through a grate he had never been through before. He found himself on an unfamiliar street.
He was lost. He took a step in one direction, then another. His brain was reeling, and he couldn't gather his thoughts. They were clouded by Nield's words.
Where should he go? Every cord that connected him to his life had snapped. Everyone he cared about was gone.
Nield was right. Without the Jedi, without the Young, he had nobody. He was nobody. When nothing was left, where was there to turn?
The gray sky seemed to press down on him, grinding him into the pavement. He wanted to fall down and never rise again.
But as he reached the bottom of his despair, he heard a voice in his head.
Always here, you may come, when lost you are…
Qui-Gon alerted security to be on the lookout for Bruck. They could comb the grounds more efficiently than he could. Then he raised the container from the water himself and dragged it back to shore. At least they could return the stolen property.
He retrieved Obi-Wan's lightsaber from the dry compartment. He hit the activator, and it shot to life immediately, glowing ice-blue in the darkness. It hadn't been damaged, he saw with relief. He deactivated it and hooked it into his belt next to his own.
Tahl led the silenced TooJay back to her quarters. She would coordinate the search efforts from there. Qui-Gon went straight to Bruck's chamber.
The boy wasn't there, of course. Security had already looked for him.
It was clear that the boy had decided not to take chances. He was gone for good.
Qui-Gon looked around Bruck's room. If there was a clue here to why a promising boy would do such things, he couldn't see it. His clothes were neatly folded, his desk neat. What had been in the boy's heart? Qui-Gon touched the lightsaber on his belt. What was in any boy's heart? And why did Yoda think that Qui-Gon could see into them?
He had let the Temple down. Bruck's anger had been there. He hadn't seen it. Just as he hadn't seen the anger of his first Padawan, Xanatos. Or the unrest of Obi-Wan.
Wearily, Qui-Gon gazed out the window. The sun was rising. It was time to tell Yoda. One of their own had betrayed them.
His comlink flashed red — Yoda was calling him. He was most likely anxious for the report.
Qui-Gon took the turbolift to the conference room where he knew Yoda would be waiting. Yoda was alone in the room when he walked in.
"So you've heard," he said.
"Bruck our culprit is," Yoda said. "Troubling and sad, yes. Called you here for something else, I have. A message for you."
Startled, Qui-Gon looked at Yoda, but the Master gave no clues. He activated a hologram instead.
The image of Obi-Wan suddenly appeared in the room.
Angrily, Qui-Gon turned away and started for the door.
"I don't have time — "
Obi-Wan's voice was soft. "Cerasi is dead."
The words hit Qui-Gon hard. He stopped and turned. Now he could see that his former Padawan's face was etched with misery.
"She was caught in a cross-fire between Elder and Young forces."
Sorrow flooded Qui-Gon. During his short time on Melida/Daan he had grown fond of the girl. He had understood why Obi-Wan had been drawn to her.
This was a tragedy.
"Now each side blames the other for her death," Obi-Wan continued.
"Even Nield is ready for battle. Wehutti's forces have rearmed. My squad has been disbanded. I have no command, no way to convince the others to disarm."
Qui-Gon took an unconscious step toward the hologram. Obi-Wan's face was etched with grief and something else, something Qui-Gon had seen on the faces of those most stunned by an awful fate: incomprehension.
His former Padawan stood in miniature, hands dangling at his sides helplessly. "I don't know what to do," he confessed. "I am no longer a Jedi.
Yet I know what a Jedi can do. And I know that only a Jedi can help.
Qui-Gon, I realize I have done harm to us. But will you help me now?"