Chapter Text
The sky above the city planet of Coruscant was streaked with dusty red, amber and brushes of the white of the sun, and ships swept past in their hundreds, transporting people with intricate, disunited yet interwoven lives. Master Kit Fisto stood at the floor-to-ceiling length window and watched it all go by. Having spent time with the healers and considerably longer in both meditation and fresh water, his stance was relaxed and an aura of calm exuded from him. A soft whoosh and the door beside him slid open, revealing the circular chamber that housed the High Council of Jedi and Kit walked in slowly, his footsteps echoing on the cold hard floor. Ki-Adi-Mundi beamed at him from his seat next to Grand Master Yoda, and Master Windu was there too on Yoda’s left, nodding his welcome to the Nautolan.
“Masters.” Kit bowed to each of them.
“Master Fisto. We trust you are recovered?” Master Windu was the first to talk.
“Oh well enough.” Kit smiled. “No doubt you want my report of the battle.”
“The battle, enough we know.” Yoda shook his head. “The full report your commander gave to us already.”
“Fil? Is he alright?” Kit didn’t miss the knowing glance between the two elder Masters then.
“He is well on his way to recovery, no worries there.” Ki-Adi-Mundi shook his head. “What we don’t know however, is your miraculous survival!”
And so Kit spoke, picking up the story from when the ship had nearly picked him up and the gun explosion had nearly killed him, to his vision and night in the river, to his journey through the woods, destruction of the computer and escape on the Starfighter. His mouth was dry by the time he had finished.
“But tell me,” Master Mundi questioned after a brief pause, “Why did you not immediately get on the transport ship when you first could?”
Kit was confused.
“I had to make sure all the clones that could escape got on first.” Surely that was obvious? Master Windu questioned him further,
“And what made you destroy their communications computer?” That took some more thought.
“I suppose I…well, without their communications, the Separatists would struggle to establish a post from that planet. I just had to trust the Force that I could hold off a single battalion to do it!” Kit smiled awkwardly, unable really to explain how…guided he had been in that moment, feeling nothing but the will of the Force to show him where to go. If Yoda’s gaze was anything to go by however, he understood perfectly and more.
“Enough.” The Grand Master tapped his hand on the armrest of his chair as he would his stick on the ground. “A decision the Council has come to in regard to your position.”
Kit stood still. The fact still remained he had lost the battle, and so really such a decision was unavoidable. Perhaps though if he was henceforth stuck on Coruscant he would be able to spend time with his Padawan. Yoda went on, “Aware are you of the…losses in our ranks?” as he spoke, he gestured lightly to around the Council chairs. Kit’s brow furrowed; of course he knew. He had been there, on Geonosis, watching his fellow Jedi crumple and fall around him in a massacre.
“Yes, Master?” he replied, realising an answer was expected. Then Yoda’s aged face broke into a small smile.
“Master Fisto, offer you a seat on the Jedi High Council we do.”
Kit’s normally huge eyes could not get any wider, but his mouth parted in the shock that rippled through him as if he were a lake.
“Wh-what?! Me?”
“Indeed.” A rare smile was twitching on the corners of Master Windu’s mouth. “You showed great selflessness in your mission.”
“Without your actions many more lives would have been needlessly wasted.” Ki-Adi-Mundi chipped in.
“You demonstrated focus admirable under the circumstances, and an…ingenuity to be admired.” Mace Windu went on, “Your idea was correct. Due to your destruction of their main line of communication, the Separatist’s new base is entirely cut off from the rest of their positions, leaving them helpless. You were brave, and entirely grounded in the Force, as only a true Jedi could be. That is why we wish for you to join us on the Council.”
“Don’t forget the humility.” Master Mundi tipped a wink at the stunned Nautolan. Slowly Kit’s memory trudged through the past few days with Master Windu’s words in mind, and he began to understand. Once again he bowed to the masters.
“I would be honoured to join the Council, Masters,” he said. As the elation and relief began to sink in, the familiar smile blossomed on his face. “and I promise you I will serve the Council to the best of my abilities.”
“In having you with us, the honour is ours.” Yoda nodded. “A meeting this evening we will need. But for now-” a strange glint of mischief had appeared in his eyes. “I think waiting for you outside someone is…”
Slightly confused, Kit walked back outside of the chamber, but no sooner had the door slid shut behind him when a cry rang from down the corridor.
“Master!!”
Nadhar Vebb had been practically bouncing on his heels in anticipation, now the young padawan ran to Kit, skidding to a halt in front of him to bow respectfully. “Master, you’re back! Is…” his eyes widened, “Is it true, Master? Are you a High Council member now?!”
“News travels fast.” Kit chuckled.
“Bant told me.” Nadhar had the grace to look sheepish, and his master laughed.
“She’s here too? Anyhow, it is good to see you again, my young padawan.”
“And you, Master. I told them you were alive, I felt it! I said I would know if our bond was broken and it wasn’t, so I knew you were alive!”
“I know you did, Nadhar, I saw you!” Kit replied. “Your response to fall back on the Force bond was impressive.”
The padawan practically glowed at the praise, rarely so freely given. “Thank you, Master.”
“But,” Master Fisto was not about to let him off so lightly, “we have work to do. Your instinct was good, but your focus slipped. You let emotion cloud your peace.”
“I did.” Nadhar suddenly found the floor very interesting. “I’m sorry. I will meditate harder and work on that focus.”
“I think you mean we shall work on that.”
The Mon Cal looked up.
“You mean you’re staying, Master?!”
“For now, at least.” Kit smiled and laid a hand on his padawan’s shoulder. Together they began to walk down the corridor, illuminated by the setting sun of Coruscant. “I will remain until I am completely recovered. Then I suppose we shall see what the Force and the war have in store for me.”
“Yes, Master.” Nadhar was smiling too. With his master back at his side he no longer felt like a builder with sand for foundations, and his anticipation radiated from him with each energised step. “I really do thank the Force you survived, even if the battle was lost.”
“Me too. But in a war like this, my padawan, survival is a victory in itself. Remember that.”