The Weaving Force: Chapter 53 (Patreon)

Chapter 53:

Alexandria:

“All I need to know, Mr. Cook, is: Are they sapient? Do they have wants, dreams? In short, are they human, or just meat droids?”

Her words weren’t exactly clipped, but they weren’t patient either.

Dennis glared at her. While his long-held enmity towards her had ebbed in recent years, it still lingered, and this task was seemingly bringing out all of his resentments, even old ones.

“Yes,” he bit out, pent-up bitterness and irritation with the whole situation ringing soundly, even through the holo. “They’re sapient.”

“Thank you,” she answered curtly before turning towards Militia. “And the Jedi’s stance?”

Hannah sighed and, from that sigh, Rebecca had her answer even before the woman spoke.

“It’s as you expected,” the woman said. “They’re not exactly thrilled, but they’re not fighting this overmuch, either.”

“Too afraid of defying orders after Sifo screwed up so badly,” Dennis added.

Alexandria allowed herself a nod, “That could still prove useful in its own way.”

“How so?” Hannah asked, the both of them ignoring Dennis’s disdainful snort at Alexandria’s words.

“They must have members in their ranks that are dissatisfied with what's happening. If Mandalore can align itself with them, it might lure more of them towards the Mandalorian Enclave.” She was half answering, half thinking aloud. “Palpatine has too much control over far too much power, and he’s poised to tighten that grip. Every piece we can pry away from him can only be a good thing.” That much she was sure of.

“‘Cause trusting you is a much better option, right?” Cook huffed. “I’m going to bed.”

He stepped out of the holo call. She didn’t bother calling after him. He’d given her what she needed.

“He didn’t mean that,” Hannah tried, again attempting to play peacekeeper and bridge-builder between the two of them.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alexandria replied. Cook’s opinion of her was unlikely to change, and she did not care enough to try and change it. “Was there anything else of note?”

Hannah sighed. “We ran into Fett.”

Ahh… Fett… the supposed Mandalore.

“He’s still on Kamino?” she asked, somewhat surprised. She’d figured he’d have left long ago.

“He is,” Hannah nodded. “I believe he and some Mandalorian confidants of his have been training the clones.”

Damn.

“That complicates things,” Alexandria groused. There weren’t many people who called Fett ‘Mandalore’, but they did exist. If he had the loyalty of the clone army behind him, he could be a legitimate threat to Satine’s hold on power here if he chose to pursue his supposed claim to rule the Mandalorian people.

This would need to be dealt with. He would need to be dealt with.

She straightened. “Thank you. I need to meet with the Duchess, Fay and Obi-Wan. Keep me apprised, rest well, and return soon.”

Hannah offered a nod, and the holo flickered off.

Alexandria turned and walked out of her office.

The two guards at her door offered quick salutes at her passing, remaining at their posts as she nodded back and headed towards Satine’s office.

When she arrived, the door hissed open, sliding into the wall, revealing the Duchess and Obi-Wan already mid discussion.

Satine offered her a nod from where she sat at her desk. “Rebecca-” she greeted. “-what news?”

Alexandria allowed herself to raise an eyebrow “Anxious?” she prodded. “It’s unlike you to wish to start before everyone’s here.”

Satine sighed, leaning back in her chair and rubbing at her forehead. She was anxious.

“This might very well shape the future of Mandalore. So yes, I am… eager for information so I might decide how to proceed.” She shook her head. “But you’re right. It’s only right that we wait for Master Fay.”

“In the meanwhile-” Obi-Wan  chimed in from his seat, one leg crossed over the other. “-perhaps, as the most informed party, you might settle a little debate for us, Lady Alexandria?”

That made her raise an eyebrow again. “Oh?”

“Your novel-” Obi-Wan said. “The Lord of the Rings.”

She had to try very hard to not show anything in her expression.

She’d recreated the book from memory for the same reason she’d recreated everything from her home. Posterity. Preservation. As she’d told Korkie so long ago, she was the only one who could remember things to perfection, and so she’d felt… well. At first she’d felt it was her responsibility; a penance of sorts. After Hebert’s revelation that she’d managed to kill Scion, she still felt responsible, though… perhaps it had become more because she missed home. Flaws and all.

Dare she say, it might even have become a hobby.

What she hadn’t expected, however, was that when she’d given the book to Korkie to read, since the boy had been curious, he would go on to give it to Satine who would enjoy it enough to push her to publish it for the general public and that it would become such a hit across Mandalorian culture.

In hindsight, she supposed she could understand why. While Mandalorian culture was very different from that of Earth, themes could be enjoyed by any number of people who could relate to them.

The Mandalorian warriors related to characters like Aragorn, men who felt like they had to rise up to the needs of their people. The pacifists, like Satine, related to Frodo, who wished to return to their lives of quiet joy, free of war and strife in the Shire.

And so now she had the dubious honor of being the woman everyone assumed was the original author, and thus everyone approached her with questions.

She took a slow breath through her nostrils. “I’ve told you before, I’m not the original writer.”

“Yes, of course, but you are the one most knowledgeable of Mr. Tolkien, so perhaps you might have definitive insight,” Obi-Wan pressed, stroking his beard. “We were just discussing the Ring itself, and the allegory it represents through the character Gollum.”

“That’s a new one,” she admitted, stepping into the room to take her own seat across from Satine at Obi-Wan’s right.

“Obi-Wan is convinced that Gollum, tacitly shows that the Ring was always an allegory for addiction.” Satine sniffed disdainfully taking a sip from her tea. “Its clear the Ring has always represented the pitfalls of greed.”

“I would agree-” Obi-Wan again rubbed at his beard, twirling the tip with his fingers. “-but Golumn, arguably is not greedy. He simply wants one thing. The Ring, not all things. He would in fact abandon all things if he could only have the Ring. That; is addiction. Not ambition.” He looked to Alexandria in askance. “Well, my lady. Would you mind giving us an answer?”

Rebecca found herself shrugging. “In a way, you’re both right.” She answered, much to Satine’s clear irritation given the utterly flat and dry look she offered  in response to the non committal.

“Tolkien fought in a war.” Rebecca explained. “A very terrible war on our world. The Ring represents power. The allegory is -That the pursuit of power, leads to ruin- The ruin of course being the abstract stand in for ‘War’. Golumn represents the addiction to power; the addiction Tolkien believed the leaders of the various governments and nations had that made them abandon all reason in the same way Gollum did. Characters like Boromir and Saruman represent the greed aspect. Either for supposedly noble or ambitious reasons respectively. As such, the Ring can be both ‘greed’ and addiction in the same breath.”

“Hmmm.” Obi-Wan shut his eyes, thinking over her words. “I suppose I can see that.”

Satine frowned, irritated. She’d wanted to win. Or more accurately, she wanted to beat Obi-Wan It made a smirk tug at Alexandria’s lip.

The door hissed open behind them.

“Hello!” Master Fay said brightly, wandering in with… a box. “Sorry I’m late, the doughnuts and cakes weren’t ready yet!” The Jedi Master exclaimed.

“Oh-” Satine started. “Master Fay you shouldn’t have.”

“Nonsense.” The ageless woman said, waddling closer as Obi-Wan stood to help her with the rather large box. “These talks always go better with doughnuts and cakes!”

Alexandria raised an eyebrow. “Is this how you gained your reputation as a diplomat?” She asked drily.

“My triple layer chocolate cake has stopped whole wars” The woman answered with a bright smile.

Alexandria couldn’t tell if she was serious…

…

Why couldn’t she tell if she was serious?

…

What if she was serious?!

Obi-Wan laid the box on Satine’s desk, opening it to reveal an assortment of neatly stacked Doughnuts, a round cake and four cups with a creamy drink inside them.

She didn’t need to eat but it always felt awkward to stand around while others did- so she took the offered cup and plucked a slice of cake out of the box with little complaint.

Kenobi surrendered his seat, standing politely besides Satine’s desk (close to the box as well) while Fay and herself sat on the plush guest chairs and Satine herself in the lone chair behind the desk, confectionery and drinks in hand.

“Now then-” The Duchess began, looking towards Alexandria. “-the matter of the clones.”

Alexandria nodded. “They aren’t…” Her lips pursed, she really needed to find a better way to describe it. “-meat droids, as we were concerned. As far as Cook and Hannah have discovered, they are fully sapient if not extremely insulated from the outside world beyond their training and purpose as soldiers.”

“I’d already told you that.” Obi-Wan remarked.

Satine, for her part offered an apologetic look. “We needed an unbiased verification.”

“I’m perfectly objective!” the man protested.

“You’re a Jedi.” Alexandria shot him down. “Your order has a vested interest in minimizing the bad publicity around this army. You saying they were sapient was in the orders interests and so needed to be independently verified.” She took a sip from her drink. “Now that it has been- that opens up avenues for us.” She remarked pointedly towards Satine.

The Duchess frowned. “I’m still extremely uncomfortable with the implications.”

“Clan Kryze is hardly the largest clan.” Alexandria noted

“That’s exactly my point.” The Duchess exclaimed. “If I follow your suggestion to formally adopt clones into clan Kryze it will look as though I’m trying to artificially bolster the clans numbers to compete with other, more numerous clans. Doubly so since they’re trained soldiers. It looks like a power play.”

Alex shrugged. “It is. It might not be aimed towards the clans, as you're concerned about; but it is a power play against the Republic's absolute control over them.”

Satine’s lip curled into a sneer. “And what exactly do we do when the Clans begin to feel threatened. What do you think they’ll do!?”

She shrugged. “Hopefully open their own clans to adopting clones as well, expedite the process.”

“Even for you this is a dangerous game.” Satine warned.

“No, this is a fast-paced game.” She corrected, raising one finger as she crossed one leg over the other. “The reality is the first Clone Battalion will be entering service in less than a week. The Jedi will be taking formal command of them during that time; their conclave on Corellia will be moving many pieces on the board; new Masters across the enclaves, new commanders for the Clone battalions; we can’t afford to simply watch the Galaxy and those wielding power within it run laps around us while we sit on our laurels clutching our pearls.”

“I’m sorry-” Obi Wan interrupted, holding up one hand. “I was under the impression this meeting was purely to discuss if the Mandalorian Enclave would be authorized to get a Clone Battalion dispatch for its security corps. This-” He hesitated. “This seems far too close to Mandalore state secrets for us to be privy to, why are you discussing this in front of us?” He asked, gesturing towards himself and Master Fay, who happily chewed on a Vanilla cake with bright eyes and a happy smile.

Alexandria stared at the man. “I was under the impression you pride yourself on being quick on the uptake Obi-Wan. Can’t you figure it out yet?”

The man raised an eyebrow- features scrunching up in thought. Challenging Obi-Wan was a good way to make him miss things. His pride got in the way.

He’d do half her job for her.

Then-

“Miss Alexandria and the Duchess are gauging whether or not we, or rather I would be willing to go against the Council’s future wishes.”

The statement was delivered with a pleasant, almost peppy lilt. And all eyes rounded onto the still placidly smiling Master Fay… who stuffed another bite of cake into her mouth.

Alexandria frowned… she’d been hoping Obi-Wan would have arrived at the less obvious (and incorrect) answers.

Having Fay ferret out her motives so quickly was… surprising… and irritating.

It wasn’t the first time the Jedi Master had shown her capabilities- but it was the first time the extent of them had caught Alexandria completely off guard.

Looks like that smile and bright eyes weren’t as empty as they seemed at first glance.

The Jedi Master swallowed the latest bite of her cake. “The reality is; that Miss Alexandria is concerned about how much power and authority the Senate, and more specifically the Chancellor, hold over the Order, and this clone army. It is indeed a great deal of martial and political power, both soft and otherwise. As such- the steps of her plan, as far as I can tell, is to officially get the Duchess to publicly declare Clones who wish to leave the clone army can do so and be adopted by Clan Kryze, bolstering the ruling clan’s numbers and reducing the power of the Republic’s grand army in one fell swoop.”

She nodded to herself, seemingly satisfied with her conclusion before taking another bite.

“Of course-” Fay continued one hand shielding her mouth as she kept chewing the last of her cake. “She expects the senate and Palpatine will use all manner of pressure to stop this from happening. The most readily available pressure would be the Jedi, with our Enclave here on Mandalore to interfere, either through negotiation or stopping the clones from arriving. As the head of the enclave -andreallytheonlyonewhowantsthejobhere- I in particular would be the one to receive the most pressure from the Jedi High council if they cave to the Senate’s demand. So all of this.”

She gestured between the Duchess and her Vizier.

“Is…” She paused, smiling with eyes closed. “-theater. To eventually see if I’d be willing to tell the high Council ‘no’ and turn this Enclave into a bit of a rogue… maybe even hoping other maverick Jedi who are dissatisfied with the treatment of the clones will join us here. But that’s a bonus not a goal.”

The room fell into absolute silence

Obi-Wan looked gob-smacked, opening and closing his mouth for several seconds.

He took a breath-

“Oh. And you’re here because the Duchess trusts you to be honest and forthwith even when there are things she doesn’t want to hear and Alexandria wants you here because you distract the Duchess and make her easier to convince most days. Except when you’re both stubborn. Then Miss Alexandria wants to throw you through the wall for making her job harder.”

…

No one really seemed to know what to say to that.

Obi-Wan and Satine looked at Alexandria in askance.

She shrugged. “It's true.” It was.

Honestly she wasn’t sure if the day the two of them finally got a room would make her job infinitely easier or harder…

Both would somehow be the outcome knowing them.

Probably both.

Master Fay’s smile was still as bright, cheerful and innocent as ever as she tilted her head. “Am I in the… how do you say- Ballpark? Miss Alexandria?”

Rebecca stared at the woman who seemingly for all these years had been holding a royal flush and only kept folding to humor the opposition.

With a deft telekinetic hand, Master Fay plucked a cake from the box, floating it over to her lap so she could keep nibbling.

“Impressive.” Rebecca had to admit that if nothing else. “And yes… you are correct.”

“Given everything you clearly know already; what is your response?” Satine asked, fingers interlaced with eachother infront of her mouth, staring at the Jedi Master in a wholly new light.

Stuffing another bite of cake into her gob, Master Fay’s smile shifted, just a bit, from bright and cheerful to something more… sad. “What has been done to the clones is a travesty. And I believe all Jedi should strive to correct it.”

“That’s not an answer.” Rebecca noted.

“I haven’t officially decided to carry out Alexandria’s plan either..” Satine cautioned.

Fay shrugged. “The Force will guide all things.”

She took her last bite of cake, her smile returning as her eyes closed with delight at the taste..

Alexandria noted in the privacy of her own mind; she would never underestimate this woman again.

(X)(X)(X)

I'm actually a little proud of this one truth be told :) Its very *rare* for Fay to show up in fanfics and whenever she does she's typically portrayed as this very perfect, very Zen, Galadriel esque elf. So this take on her being a "savvier than she looks", "happy" person is one I'm very grateful came to me.

That having been said, her characterization here did indeed have a very specific inspiration from an existing character in an anime. I wonder if anyone can guess who :D

It was also a LOT of fun having a chapter where I could dip my toe into the political aspect of things again.

Still... it won't be long now until we reach a very important and LARGE inflection point in the narrative. By my guess; another 3-4 chapters... Just a hint; next chapter, we get to check in on how its going for Anakin on Naboo

...

Oh yeah- Its all coming together :3

As a reminder there is a discord channel to discuss the patreon chapters here:

https://discord.gg/Mhcw86Hz