"No," Qui-Gon said reluctantly. "Xanatos could have lied. But can we take the chance?"
"I can run the checks again," Miro said, tapping on the keys. "Maybe I missed something."
Obi-Wan stared up at the blue screen, trying to read the schematics of the system. Qui-Gon turned away. He knew that Miro was vastly better at figuring out tech systems.
But he could do something that Miro could not. He could go inside the mind of Xanatos.
Qui-Gon closed his eyes, remembering the final scene with Xanatos on the ledge. His enemy's fatal flaw was his need to boast. Often he inadvertently let slip something that would alert Qui-Gon to the diabolical windings of his mind.
And Xanatos prided himself on his elegance. Whatever he had done, it would have a twist.
Qui-Gon remembered the fiendish glee in Xanatos' expression. Yes, there was something personal about what he had done, some final, stinging slap to the Jedi.
What you revere can destroy you….
Qui-Gon's eyes sprang open. "Miro, where is the main power source of the system?" he barked.
"In the power core," Miro answered. He crossed the room and opened a durasteel door marked fusion furnace. "Here."
Qui-Gon hurried through the door. He found himself in a small circular room. A catwalk ran around a deep central core. A ladder led down into it.
"This is the fusion reactor. The power sources are lined up in a grid," Miro explained. "It goes down about ten stories. I'm running my second checkup on the power sources now, but nothing came up the first time — "
"No," Qui-Gon murmured. "It wouldn't."
He hoisted himself onto the ladder and began to climb down. "Whatever you do, don't reboot the system," he called up to Miro.
It didn't take him long to reach the bottom of the core. Qui-Gon circled around slowly, running his hands along the various compartments and dials. He saw a compartment labeled fusion furnace access.
Qui-Gon pressed the lever. The door slid open. Nestled inside were the stolen Healing Crystals of Fire.
He tucked the glowing artifacts reverently in his tunic. Immediately, they warmed his skin.
He climbed up the ladder where Miro and Obi-Wan were waiting anxiously.
He pulled the crystals out of his tunic. "They were in the fusion furnace,"
he told Miro.
"They would have served as a massive power source," Miro said, his voice slightly unsteady. He cleared his throat. "They would have started a chain reaction with the burst of energy from the reboot. If I had punched that key — "
"What we revere would have destroyed us," Qui-Gon finished.
The Temple returned to normal faster than anyone thought possible.
Systems were up and running, students moved back to their quarters, new food shipments arrived, and classes resumed.
Obi-Wan felt out of step. He did not feel normal again. He still remembered the brush of Bruck's fingers against his. Time and again he stared down at his hand and opened and closed his fist, remembering how he had grabbed air instead of Bruck.
Bruck had tried to kill his friend. Obi-Wan was glad that he had stopped him. But he had been responsible for another person's death, and he could not forget it.
Obi-Wan only had one mission now: to talk to Bant.
She had been checked out at the med unit and pronounced in perfect health. The only thing she would need was rest, so she was given a day off from classes.
Obi-Wan searched for her everywhere. At last he found her at the place he least expected — the waterfall. She sat on a rock overlooking the pool where she'd almost died. Bant always sat as close as possible to the pool, so that the fine spray misted her skin.
"Why are you here?" he asked gently, taking a seat beside her.
"This is one of my favorite spots at the Temple," Bant answered, her silver eyes on the cascading water. "I did not want what happened here to spoil that. I almost died here. Someone else did lose his life. The experience taught me more about being a Jedi than a thousand classes." She turned to Obi-Wan. "I hope you don't blame yourself for Bruck's death."
"I know I tried my best to save him," Obi-Wan said. "But my heart is still heavy."
"That is how it should be," Bant said. "A life is lost. When he still had life, he had a chance to change."
"Bant, I am so sorry for — " Obi-Wan began in a rush.
"Don't," Bant interrupted softly. "There's no need to apologize. You saved my life, you know."
"There is a need," Obi-Wan said firmly. "There is a great need." He stared down at his hands in his lap. "I spoke out of anger and jealousy. What I felt mattered to me more than your feelings."
"You were worried about your future," Bant said. "You are afraid of losing Qui-Gon."
Obi-Wan sighed. He stared out at the sapphire pool. "I thought I could return to the Temple and everything would be as it was. The Council would excuse me and welcome me back. Qui-Gon would come around. But I am the one to come around. I see now that what I did cannot be fixed so easily. It may never be fixed. I see what I've done to myself, to the Master-Padawan relationship. This is why a Jedi waits so long and is so careful about choosing a Padawan. So much trust is involved. I ask myself, if Qui-Gon had rejected me, set me loose after I pledged my life to his, how would I feel?
Yes, I would forgive him, but could I join him again? Could I deliver all my trust to him again?" He met Bant's eyes, feeling desolation well inside him.
"I don't know the answer," he finished. "How can I expect Qui-Gon to know?"
"I think you could trust him again," Bant said slowly. "And I think Qui-Gon will do the same. All of this just happened. You haven't had time to sit down and think, let alone talk to each other. You've been through so much. There are things that happened on Melida/Daan you won't tell me." She paused delicately. "When you are ready, I would like to hear them."
Obi-Wan took a shuddering breath. He could not say her name aloud. But somehow he knew he must. He knew that if this moment passed, he might never speak of her again to a living soul, and something in him would die.