Chapter Text
Qui-Gon stepped in his master's quarters, and the sight before him was more than a little shocking. Rael was sitting across from a young blonde girl, who in tern was next to their poised master. Who is this? Was this what Dooku wanted to show them?
At first, all he felt was shock. This girl couldn't be more than twelve. Younger than his apprentices. By quite a bit, all things considered. However, as the initial shock wore off, something darker pierced his heart as he understood what this was about. Xanatos was being replaced. The boy had fallen three years ago, and Qui-Gon couldn't bring himself to tell the Council. Still holding out hope that maybe, maybe he'd come back. Maybe he'd see the Light again. Or if he didn't, at least he would be remembered fondly as a tragedy, rather than an enemy to be eliminated.
And this girl, this little girl. He saw what Dooku was trying to do, put a bacta patch over a blaster wound. And Rael seemed fine with it, which stung worse.
Taking a deep breath, he lowly asked, "Who's this?"
"Qui-Gon, I see you made it," Dooku intercepted before Rael could answer, "This is my new padawan, Komari Vosa."
Confirmation. Qui-Gon's master hadn't taken another apprentice in twenty years, he had to be about thirty years older than this one. She was supposed to just be shoved where Xanatos fit. And that hurt. Hurt a lot.
All the while, Dooku had sensed the man's displeasure. It saddened him to feel such dislike over a girl his former Padawan had presumably never met. However, grief was ugly. So long as Qui-Gon remained civil, he would not say anything. If Komari started something, he'd handle it.
The girl glowered, but remained silent. It seemed she could sense the dislike, and had resolved herself to disliking him right back. This...was something he had forgotten about children. They would give as good as they got.
Awkwardness and silence went on for a few minutes, no one actually willing to break it. Any attempt from Rael or Dooku had been met with hostility. Both from Qui-Gon and the child. She seemed to be playing off of him, giving as good as she was receiving.
Eventually, Qui-Gon could not take it. He left to another room, being followed by his master and Rael, the former of which told Komari to work on her studies, before the door was shut.
Angrily, he questioned, "Why?"
Dooku responded, "What are you talking about?"
"You just found a karking replacement! Do you even care that Xanatos is gone?!" he bitterly shouted, "Three years later and you just decide take on a new apprentice? Over twenty years after your prior? What am I supposed to believe? You are trying to pretend he never existed! That that girl could ever be good enough replace him!"
"I am not replacing anyone. Komari is quite a skilled apprentice. Her lightsaber combat is impressive for her age, as is her strength in the Force. She certainly needs to work on her anger, her aggressiveness, but that does not take away from being worthy of being my Padawan."
"You are replacing him. Aggressive, always starting fights. Too angry, too emotional! Yet skilled with combat, skilled in the Force! You found a Padawan to fit the hole he left! Congratu-karking-lations! She will never be him. Never. She is not good enough to even be a comparison. She's a Dark Jedi in the making."
Rael had been silent. Qui-Gon needed to get this off his chest, anyone could see that. And he could admit that Xanatos' death may have had something to do with Komari's apprenticeship. She may have been a replacement. However, it seemed of the three adults, he was the only one to remember that the girl could most likely hear everything. He was the only sensing that she was growing upset.
"Shut up."
"I am not going to karking shut up about my Padawan being-" he was then cut off.
"I said to shut. Up."
At that, he opened the door. And revealed the twelve year old. Who looked as if she'd heard everything.
"Komari..." Dooku practically whispered as the girl ran out of the quarters. Lightsaber in hand as she fiercely rubbed at her eyes. He'd been about to run after her, only to be stopped by Rael.
"You two...need to talk. I will go after her."
He then began to run, hoping to catch up with the small girl. She was young, but Rael had to admit she was fast. Sort of reminded him of Master Yoda. It made sense. According to Dooku, she was skilled in Ataru. That...wasn't his preferred form. Speed and acrobatics were not his thing. However, the girl was young and emotional. And easy to sense right now. She was angry and hurt.
She hissed, "Stop following me!" as she kept up her evasion.
However, Rael did not stop following her. And when he caught up, her blade was raised. Her eyes were red, as if she'd been crying, but the girl was angry. If he had to guess, she had insecurities. And Qui-Gon had prodded at them.
"Fight!" she demanded angrily, already beginning an attack.
And Rael did. Her blue blade matched his own, clashing. He didn't know what to honestly say to calm her down. She was angry, but more importantly, she was hurt. Something along the lines of "Qui-Gon didn't mean it" crossed his mind, but left as soon as it entered. If he didn't mean it, he wouldn't have said it. Even if Rael understood it came from a place of grief, that didn't change the fact that this girl had just practically been told she'd be a Dark Jedi, that she wasn't good enough to be Dooku's apprentice.
Their master did not often dole out praise, nor was he always necessarily a good master. His criticisms could be very hurtful, even cruel at times. His high expectations could easily become too much. He sometimes wrote off what was important to his apprentices because he couldn't understand why they cared so much. But even with all that, Rael knew his master cared. That he tried.
So something told him that Qui-Gon's touched nerve had been a problem long before now. Probably years. If how aggressively she was fighting at the moment was any indication, at least.
The girl's blade moved quickly. Anyone not Force-sensitive would struggle to keep track of where it was. But luckily, he was Force-sensitive. He did his best to weather the girl's attacks. Which had begun to include throwing objects at him with telekinesis. Eventually, she even Force pushed him directly.
Kark, he can see why his master was impressed. Twelve or not, she'd give some Knights a run for their money. He was struggling a bit to deflect all her attacks
But she was not the only one to be skilled with a saber or combat. And he was a lot older and a lot wiser than a twelve year old attacking in a frenzy.
Using a well-aimed Force push of his own, he threw her into the wall. She hit it hard, and he watched as she slumped after the impact.
And Rael went over immediately, kneeling down and wrapping both arms around the girl tightly, keeping her at his chest. Both to restrain her and help calm her down.
He'd expected more anger, some resistance. But she seemed to lean into the comfort.
"I'm not a Dark Jedi! I'm not!" she whimpered. Which was a surprise, to say the least. And proved him right. She was hurt.
"I know, kid. I know," he responded calmly.
"I'm not a replacement! "
"I know that, too."
"I know I'm not good enough to be his apprentice! I know! But-But I can get better! I-I can duel! Even the Masters who worked with me as a Youngling or an Initiate knew! And they never had anything good to say about me!"
However, at that statement, Rael gripped her her shoulders and looked her dead in the eye.
"Listen to me. I don't give a kark what Qui-Gon just said. Do not think that. How many Padawans do you know that can focus enough during a fight to use that kind of telekinesis in the middle of a duel? How many do you know who would be able to Force push me hard enough that, if I weren't blocking, would send me into a wall like I just did to you?"
"I couldn't even beat you! Dueling is the one thing I'm karking good at, and you beat me!" she protested, but Rael would hear nothing of it.
"And I'm fifty one years old, trained by Dooku, and a Jedi Knight. You are a twelve year old girl who's only recently found a master to train you. You weren't winning that fight. But you did well. You're hard to defend against."
"Why are you being nice to me? No one except Master is."
And if that didn't break Rael's heart. He remembered being the odd one out in the creche, he remembered being teased and bullied for struggling with certain things. Masters intervened when they saw, which put an end to it quickly, but that had an effect years later, as a Padawan himself.
And from what he's seen? Komari is aggressive, emotional. Prone to anger and letting her feelings guide her actions. Hence attacking him in the first place. He wouldn't be surprised if she was perhaps prone to this kind of thing when cornered. Her skill was impressive, but it often annoyed masters when a student didn't even need to try. It annoyed the other children, too. Frustrated them when a peer was able to effortlessly do something they barely managed on a good day.
He was never that student, but she may have been. Her dueling abilities certainly suggested so.
And if he guessed, she'd give a reaction when she got teased for where she lacked. Probably a violent one. Which would then get her in trouble both for giving into anger, and probably hurting whoever had said something. That was something he'd done a few times.
"Because Qui-Gon was an ass, and you didn't need to hear what he said. I don't know how those two didn't realize you heard every word," he murmured, before telling her, "Clean yourself up and we'll head back. I won't say a word to Dooku."
She silently nodded, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"Thank you," she whispered hesitantly.
"No problem, kid. Now come on."
She followed without a complaint. When they arrived, Qui-Gon was gone and Dooku immediately did a once over on Komari.
"Are you alright?" he questioned, noticing that her eyes were still red from crying.
"I'm fine, Master."
"You were not meant to hear that, child," he told her, having the sense to look a bit sheepish. And kark did Rael want to smirk at his proud old Master looking so guilty.
"I know," she responded.
There was another awkward silence, before Rael told the pair, "I should go. Have a mission to prepare for."
He didn't, and Dooku knew it. Being on the High Council, he was very aware of Rael's deception. But he didn't say a word, before ushering Komari back into their quarters.