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"Master!"
Qui-Gon stopped short as he heard Obi-Wan's voice calling, and saw a corner of a brown robe peeping from the door to a small lounge. He glanced at the Sovereign, who nodded understandingly and walked on down the hallway.
Qui-Gon pulled open the door and sighed as he saw Obi-Wan standing by the window. "How did Risoin act after last night?"
"He was livid," Obi-Wan sighed. "Didn't even talk to me, just stormed off and locked his door. He said 'good morning' to me today, though."
Qui-Gon frowned and repressed the increasing feelings of anger. "Why did you call me in here?"
Obi-Wan frowned and rested his chin on his fist, looking suddenly younger. "Master, you know this place better than Risoin or me. Do you have any idea who would want to kill the Sovereign?"
Qui-Gon nodded, pulling a square piece of leather from his belt. "In fact, Obi-Wan, I was up late last night going over the security reports." He held out the list. "These are the sufficiently wealthy people who would both benefit from her death, and had no alibi for last night. Almost ten thousand Republic credits were found on the assassin's person—someone had to pay him that money upfront."
Obi-Wan stared down at the list.
Councillor Sabyian
Councillor Lord Altorias
Councillor Lady Loried
Risoin
Captain Sahimar (Sovereign's Guard)
Councillor Lord Kasiral
Kalienn (Advisor)
Aides
"Can't we narrow down the list, Master?" Obi-Wan asked plaintively.
Qui-Gon nodded and sat down beside his apprentice. "Councillor Sabyian is improbable at most. He's almost two hundred years old, an elderly man, and served her mother and grandfather before her."
"So he's unlikely," Obi-Wan asked. "Risoin?"
"Normally I wouldn't put him on the list, but with his angry behavior..." Qui-Gon trailed off.
"Captain Sahimar and the Sovereign's guard?" Obi-Wan continued.
Qui-Gon shook his head. "That's also very unlikely. The guards are almost brainwashed in their loyalty to the Sovereign. It's rumored that they would probably kill themselves if they failed to protect her."
Obi-Wan winced, and pointed at the last entry on the list. "What about one of her aides?"
Qui-Gon shook his head with a grimace. "Their backgrounds are always reviewed, and they undergo regular psych scans. Aside from that, almost all of them worship her."
Obi-Wan frowned, and scratched the word UNLIKELY next to the various names. "It doesn't really whittle the names down much..."
"My lady?" asked Risoin, emerging from the shadows near the infirmary.
The Sovereign's brow creased a little at the sight of the young Knight. "Yes, Jedi Risoin?" she asked quietly, folding her hands sedately.
He bowed his head respectfully, then looked her boldly in the eye. "Sovereign, I suggest that you remain far from Qui-Gon Jinn. It would be prudent, for your own safety."
One fine eyebrow canted upwards slightly. "My safety?" she said slowly, her voice turning icy.
Risoin uttered a small, self-conscious laugh. "My lady, Qui-Gon Jinn is regarded as a maverick—a renegade, often disregarding the laws of the Jedi Order. It would be wise to distance yourself from him, perhaps..."
Her lovely face hardened slightly, her eyes boring into his. "Oh?" she said tonelessly. "Perhaps, young Jedi, you should know that I have known Qui-Gon Jinn longer than you have been alive. As for his reputation as a 'renegade,' perhaps you should know that I have upturned laws more than once in my life..."
Risoin's face flushed as she finished coldly, "Leave." For a moment, it looked as if he might say more, but he simply bowed again and swept out of the room. The armored guards by the door tightened their grips on their force pikes, watching him coolly as he left...
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan entered the sterile infirmary, to find the Sovereign and Risoin standing by the charred corpse. Risoin scowled at his apprentice, and Obi-Wan grimaced as he stepped reluctantly beside the older man. Qui-Gon's eyes narrowed.
"Hello? Oh, hello," a thin voice called. A small, pale Aladell emerged from the back, wielding a medical implement in each hand. "How do you do? I'm Doctor Basbium, the Sovereign's physician."
Qui-Gon raised his brows amusedly at Saleil, who smiled and shrugged in response.
Basbium hovered around the body. "Ah, well, the burns didn't kill this man. He shot himself through the chest, and the blaster fire set the grass-"
"Bushes," Obi-Wan corrected. He winced a little at the poke Risoin gave him in the back.
"Like I said, bushes," Basbium said with a wave of his bony hand. "Anyhow, where was I?"
"Blaster fire set the-" Risoin began, with the air of a man who has sacrificed a good deal of his patience.
"Set the bushes on fire, thus disfiguring the body," Basbium said, picking up a plastic disc and squinting at it with an angelic smile. "But—ha! A DNA trace. His name was Devero, an assassin for hire."
"We should have someone run a check on him," Risoin announced sternly, crossing his arms.
Qui-Gon held up his hand and sighed. "No need. Devero specializes in assassinating high officials, but has never been caught yet."
Risoin stared at him, his green eyes narrowing like a cat's. "How do you know?" he asked, suspicion seeping from his voice. Obi-Wan shivered a little, his fingers twitching a little.
Qui-Gon met the younger man's gaze squarely. "He assassinated an ambassador on Coruscant a few years ago. I was one of the investigators."
Risoin simmered down for the moment, focusing his angry glare on the charred body. Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably, trying to keep his own resentment in check. It was so easy... so easy to imagine Risoin as the murderer...
That evening, Obi-Wan glumly took a look at himself in one of the polished mirrors next to the doors to a rapidly-rebuilt dining hall. The walls and windows had at least partially been put back in, though the balcony was still a wreck. As Jedi, he and Risoin were being given places as guests of honor, although he wished that he could simply spend time out in the gardens.
Well, he thought with a smile. We're being treated hospitably, even if we're stuck here. That Captain Sahimar knows his business all too well.
He took a deep breath and headed into the light-filled hall, blinking a little at the brightness of it and the laughter coming from the guests. But as he stepped in, he felt a dark shimmer in the Force...