A/N:

Hello all!

I'm back! My life has been crazy since I last updated. In the past year and a half, I have moved five times (one of which was a 12 hour time change and across continents) and changed jobs. While I am currently working with a non-profit charity during the Covid-19 crisis, I have had a lot more time and a more stable schedule. This change has allowed me time to actually sit down and write.

This is the result. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 9: De Gahds

Padme wanted to pull her hair out. She had thought dealing with the various Nabooan governors, ministers, and noble families was taxing to the extreme. It turns out that navigating gungan politics was worse.

The queen took a long draw from her canteen, allowing the cool water to ease her stress and relax her mind. They had decided to take a break when Boss Nass declared a need to step away attend to some urgent religious duties. It had surprised Padme when she had found out that the elected leader of the clan bosses was actually a high priest of some sort, rather than a political leader.

He had tried to help Padme mediate the discussion between the rival gungan clans but it had quickly become clear that he wielded very little real authority outside of his city of Otoh Gunga. She suspected that Nass's presence in the war conference was more for her benefit than the other Bosses. Subtly, he would drop small pieces of information about the clan rivalries into his speech. Padme suspected that those points would already be known all the gungans present and he was instead painting a canvas for Padme of the points of contention which she will need to overcome if she wanted the Bosses to agree on anything.

Looking around, Padme saw that the various clan Bosses had retreated to their respective delegations while Nass seemed to have disappeared completely, a feat that rather impressed the young queen as the girthy gungan was quite hard to miss in a crowd.

Idly, she realized that Captain Panaka was talking to her.

"-know why we are allowing this to continue, your Highness. It is our people we are trying to liberate. You are our queen. They should defer to your judgement on the matter."

Padme could see dark splotches of color on the man's caramel skin, belying his anger. She straightened her back into a slightly more regal pose gave a non-committal hum.

"You have given us much to ponder, Captain. Please return to your forces. We wish to be alone as we decide on the best avenue forward."

The Captain stiffened at the dismissal but quickly tamped his feelings down. He snapped off a salute and a brisk, "Your Highness," before turning and striding back to his troops.

She eagerly awaited the day when Captain Typho could return to the planet and take over the Volunteer Security Force. He was much easier to work with. Unfortunately, Padme felt that it may not be too easy to get Panaka to return to his position once this was over. He had a taste for authority and it was obvious that he liked it.

Padme let her feet wander as she took in the ruins around her. She loved nature. It relaxed her and set her at peace. Outside of the plains of Theed and the lakes surrounding House Naberrie's ancestral home at Varykino, she distantly realized that she had actually experienced very little of Naboo. Yes, she had visited countless cities during her election campaign, but she didn't know Naboo. The planet was much more than the sum of its peoples. Naboo had a life of its own. From the lakes of Varykino to the swamps of Gungodana, from the terraces of Tel Farar to the plasmic rivers of Bedavid Cavern, Naboo had a personality all her own. The young queen breathed in the once-in-a-lifetime experience to explore one of Naboo's hidden treasures.

She skirted around a large Nutren pine and found herself in the midst of group of small gungan children. The sight brought a smile to her face. Even in the midst of politics and war, children still behaved like children. They must have been shuffled off to the side as their mothers and fathers argued over honor and glory. The children did as children tend to do: find something to amuse themselves. Padme wondered what mischief these dozen or so children would have gotten up to, had they not been found by a temporary chaperone.

Aka sat on a stone in the middle of the small clearing formed by the Nutren's mammoth roots. She was busy with a hank of grass in her lap, looping it over on itself and knotting it in a complicated pattern with deft hands. It took only a moment for her to finish her work and handed one end of the hank to the young gungan child bouncing excitedly beside her. They both gave a tug to the ends and Padme watched the knots tighten and contract into the rough shape of a humanoid doll. The child gave an excited squeal, babbled a high-pitched thanks, and took the doll to the small circle of gungan children playing with similar dolls.

Aka scanned the other children with a trained mother's eye, looking for arguments or troublemaking. Seemingly satisfied, she let her gaze wander away from a somewhat rowdy group playing a jumping game with a length of vine and finally noticed Padme's presence.

"My Lady," she rose and gave a clumsy curtsey. Padme could see the slight grimace of pain flash across her face. Her wounds had not totally healed yet. Much of the swelling had been reduced and the vast majority of her superficial cuts had been healed through liberal application of bacta. There were, however, a few deeper cuts which needed an adhesive bacta patch. The medic had given her creams for her scars and chemical burns but there was very little change that could be noticed in such old injuries after only a few usages and twenty-four hours. Her broken montral was the most noticeable injury, having been frozen in place by a plastiform cast which had been sealed over the fractured horn. Much of it would need to be removed and replaced with a prosthetic but Aka had refused when she had been told that she would need to be hospitalized for the procedure. She seemed adamant about standing beside Padme in the liberation of her new planet so the prosthetic would have to wait.

"I told you, Aka," she crossed the distance to the older togruta and raised her from her curtsey, "outside of court and official events, there is no need for that," Padme seated herself on the rock and patted the stone beside her, beckoning Aka to sit beside her.

There was a slight hesitation but she lowered herself onto the rock without any complaint. After Padme's identity had been revealed, Aka had been somewhat cautious around her. It had been a war of wills between the two stubborn women, Padme wanting to be treated as a person rather than just as a queen and Aka adamant that a 'great one', as she had termed her, should not be burdened by 'small ones' like her. In the end, however, Padme had won out.

The young queen bent down and undid the ties on her boots. They might not have been fashionable, but when Padme knew that they would be walking around in the wilderness, she had reached for the pair of broken-in hiking boots which she kept on the yacht on the off chance she could get away for a day or two to Varykino to relax. They were extremely comfortable but, unfortunately, she did not have a pair of hiking socks in her wardrobe so her feet were soaked with sweat. She needed to air them out before she got blisters. It was undignified, she knew, but it was better to be undignified amongst a group of playing children paying her no attention than amongst a group of gungan clan chiefs.

Padme let out a small groan of pleasure as her feet hit cool air of glade. She wiggled her toes in the thick moss carpeting the ground. The smell of her damp socks hit her nose and she wrinkled it in offense. The young queen placed them on the rock as far away from her as possible. When she turned back to Aka, the togruta had a small smile on her face.

"Yes, Aka, even queens get sweaty feet," Aka gave a laugh and they lapsed into a comfortable silence as they watched the children. After a bit, Padme noticed that Aka's smile had become sad. Here eyes filled with longing as she watched the children, "You miss them," it was a statement more than a question.

"Every moment of every day," the older woman said.

"You didn't need to come, Aka," Padme placed her hand on Aka's and the togruta looked at Padme. That look of steel was back. The other woman had worn it when she had refused Master Yaddle's offer to shelter her in the Temple with Anakin and her children, "You don't have to fight. You can stay here with the gungans. Your children need you, Aka."

"I need to be here, my Lady. I don't expect you to understand but please," Aka's gaze lost its steel as her mind seemed to wander. She was remembering something and her eyes shone in a desperate light, "let me fight. I have to."

Padme held Aka's gaze. It was dangerous, yes, but it was the togruta's decision in the end. Whether she liked it or not.

"You are your own woman, Aka. You are the master of your own fate. Whatever you decide, I will support you. At least, help me to understand."

Aka removed her hand from under Padme's. The woman seemed to curl into herself as she mentally debated with herself. She swallowed heavily and seemed to deflate.

" I…" Aka began, "I was born a slave. My masters were pirates. When I was fourteen, they attacked a trade convoy and they captured Padreel," Aka's face took on that funny look all teenagers had when speaking about their first love. Padme smiled, "He was different than anyone I had ever met. They put him with me, taking care of the starfighters. He was fiery and passionate but also kind and sweet. He became my best friend and we eventually became mates when we turned seventeen. We kept it secret. The masters wouldn't let slaves be mates," Aka played with the fabric of her skirt, "When we had Abul and Santer, we hid them and the pregnancy. The other slaves helped. When I got pregnant with Ahsoka, Padreel thought up a plan to escape," Aka's smile became sad.

"It went according to plan until we cut off my collar," the togruta rubbed the faded scars on her neck, "Padreel didn't tell me that there would be an immediate alarm. He knew, of course. He always knew," she chuckled wetly. Padme saw a tear run down her cheek, "he never planned to leave with me. He didn't tell me that one of us had to stay behind to jam their cannons. He told me to protect our children, to fight for them," Aka was weeping openly now, "but I didn't. I let Agor enslave me again in all but name. He would have killed me and my children would have been alone," she looked up at Padme and, despite her tears, the steel was back, "I will fight for my children's future. They will have a better life than the one I have given them so far."

"You're not alone anymore, Aka. We will fight and we will win. Your children will have a better life and so will you. Naboo will be as your home just as much as it is mine. You're home, Aka. Now we just have to take it back," Padme hugged the woman beside her. Normally she wasn't as tactile as to hug someone she had met a few days before, but it was just another one of her instinctual urges. The woman needed a hug. Plain and simple.

Aka stiffened in Padme's arms for a moment before she melted into the embrace. The woman rested her head on Padme's shoulder.

"Thank you, my Lady."

Aka gave a surprised jolt and broke from Padme's arms. They both looked down to see one of the gungan children hugging Aka's leg.

"Don't bees sad, Miss Aka."

"No!"

"Happy, Miss Aka!"

"Smile, nice lady."

Suddenly Padme and Aka found themselves at the center of gungan group hug. The children crowded around them. Their smiles and expectant expressions brought laughter to the human and togruta.

"See, Aka. Everything is going to be alright."

"Excuse me, my Lady?" Padme looked up to see Corde at the edge of their clearing. She knew the normally serene girl well enough that she could tell that her cousin was desperately trying to hide a smile, "The clan bosses are ready to reconvene."

Padme sighed and rose to her feet to leave. It was only after a half a dozen steps that she paused and doubled back. If she was going to go back to playing nanny to a group of headstrong gungan leaders, she should probably put her boots back on.

Harry watched at a distance as the various gungan bosses discussed their strategies with Padme and Panaka. While the group of leaders all shared the same goal of ousting the Trade Federation from their planet, the first battle which Padme needed to win was the battle of egos she was now immersed in. Apparently, gungan culture was in no way homogenous and tribal tensions ran high as the bosses scrabbled for the honor of leading their forces. While Otoh Gunga may have been a capital in which the tribes blended for trade and diplomacy, their population was widely spread across the waterways and oceans crisscrossing the planet. Questions and accusations flew between the bosses as Padme sought to mediate.

Harry heard the slight crunch of gravel under the feet of someone approaching from outside line of sight. He heard a groan as a rather rotund gungan moved into his peripheral vision and sat down next to Harry on his rocky perch.

"Meesa bin hearin dat yousa be'en bombad general," Harry turned to see that his companion was the speaker of the gungan High Council, Boss Nass. The large gungan looked tired. Up close, his skin looked drawn and blotchy. His sad yellow eyes were fixed on the group of arguing gungans while Panaka looked on with a slight look of disdain and Padme tried to diffuse tensions. He sighed and turned to fix his gaze on Harry, "Why yousa not leadin'? Hissin or no, yousa has de mos' experience wid an army."

"I would be interested in how you came by this information. It's not something that is widely known," Nass gave him a sly smile.

"De Jedi not be'en de only people dat listen to Mamma Veeda. All gungans feel de Mamma; some weak, some strong. Isa not bee'en a clan Boss. Isa be'en de Boss of de Hearers," Nass raised a fat finger to tap Harry above his heart, "Weesa hear here," he tapped the je'daii between the eyes, "and here. De hissin dink de gungans is be'en a stupid people. Weesa not stupid. Weesa simple. Weesa live; weesa feel; weesa care for de Mamma; and weesa die. Deysa," Nass pointed at the arguing gungans, "feel de war comin' but not be hearin'. Meesa hear da Mamma. Sheesa been tellin me 'bout yousa; 'bout da young queen. De question remains. Why yousa not be leadin'?"

Harry blinked as he processed this information. It seemed that gungans were, to some degree, force sensitive. This Hearers sect which Nass led seemed to be the race's sages or force priests. 'Mamma Veeda' seemed to be the local name for the force. While the vast majority of Jedi saw the force as impersonal, the order was in a microscopic minority when compared to other force sensitive sects. The others, like Harry, saw the force as a personal entity: a nurturing mother, protective sibling, or providing father.

The Council of First Knowledge would salivate over this information when he was able to report back to the Temple. The background information on Naboo which he had received with his initial orders from Master Yaddle had said that relatively few Jedi had ever been hailed from this planet in the Order's recorded history. Even then, only a handful were gungans. He had to wonder if this was a situation like the Baran Do sages of Dorin. While the kel dor race had a relatively high percentage of force sensitives, very few parents chose to give their children over to the Jedi for training. To parents, the cultural presence of a local force sensitive sect was generally much more appealing than a distant order in which they would never see their children again, however famous it was.

Harry gently touched the force to give him guidance. He felt a warm camaraderie pass through the force. The force quite obviously saw Nass as a friend. The ma'jaii felt no urge of caution through the Force so he felt that he could be candid with the large gungan.

"Queen Amidala is young. She is used to peace and discussion. This is an entirely foreign situation for her. Despite this, she has flourished," Harry looked back at the girl who now stood resolute, arms folded, as she seemed to scold two of the clan bosses. The two gungans looked like sheepish children under her stern glare. Other clan bosses stood around her, looking at the human with thoughtful gazes.

"She has been thrown into the chaos of the galaxy outside of her small experience and has come out all the stronger," Harry turned back to Nass, "If I step in without her inviting me into the discussion, I would overshadow her part in this undertaking. She is the Queen of the Naboo. She is your counterpart, not I," he chuckled ruefully, "I know from experience to not upstage a sovereign leader… Besides, I have another task I must focus on," Harry turned his gaze to his left.

Five Jedi Temple Guards knelt in meditation on a small knoll formed by a half-buried reclining stone statue. Master Emana Kaskt led her four brother guards in a preparatory cabal. As a Jedi Shadow, Harry was technically their commander for this mission. Fighting against darksiders was very different to their normal combat training. He had briefed the guards on any dangers that he could foresee that they could potentially encounter with regards to the dark side on their journey from Coruscant. Since then, they had been in an almost constant cabal, melding their minds and skills to plan out any possible encounter. With his broken connection to the living force, he could not join them. He would just have to trust their skill and Master Kaskt's judgement.

"Hmmmm…" Nass rumbled in the back of his throat, his eyes narrowed in thought as he gazed at the cabal of guards, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk… Yousa be huntin' de bleeder," Nass said darkly. The word 'bleeder' was spoken with a level of hatred that Harry had never encountered in the gungan, "Weesa all felt dat abomination."

"Who are you speaking of? What is the bleeder?" Harry had a hunch that this was the darksider which they were after but he needed confirmation.

"A bleeder is be'en a hissin whose presence be a wound in Mamma Veeda. Deysa slice into da Mamma and take her power for demselves. De gahds warned de gungans about da bleeders when deysa taught us about da Mamma. Dey came huntin' da great bleeder, Dar Jolash, and stayed to teach de gungans to feel and hear. Weesa remember. Weesa felt when de bleeder arrived in de human's palace. Heesa be hidin' now but weesa feel dat heesa still be'en on Naboo. If yousa be'en here to stop de bleeder, den de Hearers be behind you."

Harry could feel the heavy weight of the Force behind the declaration. It was both an affirmation and an order. The Hearers were to be allowed to offer what they could.

It was odd. The Force usually presented him with an emotional impression when it prompted his actions. In this, Harry felt nothing. He was to accept Nass' offer but he had no idea as to why.

"We are, indeed, hunting the bleeder. We believe him to be a Sith Lord," Nass released a spitting hiss at the term. He was definitely familiar with the term It confirmed Harry's suspicions that the 'Dar Jolash' which Nass had mentioned was actually a 'Darth', a Sith Lord. There was a good possibility that the 'gahds' who had taught the gungans to sense the force were actually ancient Jedi, "We will be honored by any assistance the Hearers wish to provide."

Nass gave a grave nod, rising to his feet. Harry mirrored his action.

"Meesa be'en gatherin' da Hearers and Bosses. Tell yousa brodah and sistah Jedi. Weesa will call de gahds to give us da blessin' of Mamma Veeda."

"Do you require anything of us for your invocation?" Harry asked but Nass quickly shook his head.

"De blessin' of Mamma Veeda is be'en a gift. Weesa not be'en able to stop de bleeder but de Hearers, de gahds and weesa ancestors can go wid you and give yousa strength. Meditate and weesa will do de rest." Nass clasped Harry's shoulder firmly and gave him a respectful nod before retreating to the trail which led back down to the forest floor below them. Harry watched the large gungan navigate the narrow ledge. While each step was steady, his girth caused him to move slowly. It would take some time for Nass to make it to the bottom.

With a mental shrug, Harry decided to take the quick way down. He hopped off of the brow of the large statue on which he had been perched. Thirty meters of statue flashed by in seconds.

Harry softened his landing with an almost subconscious twist of his mind. He absorbed the inertia and inverted it, launching the ma'jaii back into the air. The arc of his jump brought him over the small groups of assembled gungans and humans awaiting the completion of Padme and the Bosses' war meeting. A few beings cried out in alarm as he soared over their heads. He spotted Aka, the togruta Padme had brought with them from Coruscant, amidst a group of gungan children who were waving up at him and cheering at the sight. He waved back.

Harry landed at a small campfire which had been kindled at the base of the stone head where the Temple guards were meditating. Master Jinn and Obi-Wan were seated around the fire, sipping cups of tea and conversing amongst themselves. A third steaming cup was placed on an unoccupied flat rock. Obi-Wan jerked in surprise at the ma'jaii's landing, spilling tea all over the front of his robes. Harry seated himself on the rock and took up his prepared cup.

"Thank you, Master Jinn."

"It was no problem," Jinn smiled into his tea, amused at his padawan's reaction.

"Force above, Harry!" Obi-Wan exclaimed, rubbing at the cooling liquid with the sleeve of his robe, "warn a man before you do that."

"Situational awareness is something all Jedi must cultivate," Harry said with an aloof air. He sipped his tea: a little too bitter for his tastes, but palatable.

"I just learned something rather interesting," Harry broke the comfortable silence which had overtaken the trio as they finished their tea, "It seems that all gungans are force-sensitive, to some extent."

Jinn's eyebrows tried their best to disappear into his receding hairline.

"The more sensitive gungans form a sect of sages serving the will of the force called 'the Hearers'. They wish to offer their invocation to the Jedi who are here to combat the Sith at the palace."

"From what I had been briefed," Jinn explained, doubtful, "the seers with the Council of First Knowledge have not seen the Sith here on Naboo," Harry nodded.

"You are correct on that front. They have not seen the Sith on Naboo. They have not seen the Sith anywhere," Harry emphasized. Jinn leaned back against the tree upon which's root he was seated on. The human's eyes darkened as he processed that information, "It is almost like the Sith doesn't exist. Something or someone is veiling their sight," the impact of Harry's statement caused Obi-Wan's eyes to widen.

"That's why the High Council sent so many Temple guards," Harry continued his explanation, "They have no idea as to where he is. I'm glad they did. It seems that the Hearers began when a Sith arrived on Naboo a long time ago. From what I understand, Jedi chased the Sith and captured it here. The Jedi taught the gungans how to sense a Sith," Jinn's eyes lit up at that fact, "Apparently, the Hearers felt the Sith arrive on planet before the Sith was able to cloak himself. They can tell that he is still here."

"Then we will accompany you," Jinn stated, matter-of-factly, "If the Sith is here, you will need as much assistance as possible."

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow that," Harry said, shaking his head. Jinn opened his mouth to argue but Harry raised his had to stop him, "I recognize your seniority with regards to the Order, Master Jinn, but I have been put in charge of this operation for a reason. I am a Jedi Shadow," Jinn blinked at him, taken aback. From the corner of Harry's eye, he could see that Obi-Wan was hiding his surprise behind the mask of serenity. He could understand their reactions. Shadows were thought to be myths by much of the Order. They worked to combat the Dark Side in secret and only rarely was a non-Shadow informed of their identities.

"I need you and Padawan Kenobi to stay with Queen Amidala to protect her," Harry continued, "Master Kaskt and her guards have already been briefed on the reality of what we may face. The Sith was playing with me back on Tatooine. He was not taking the battle seriously and it was only that fact which kept me alive. He underestimated me once but won't do it again. He is injured and in pain. While these may be an impediment to a Jedi, they feed the Sith's power," the ma'jaii took a deep breath to steady himself and let his eyes drift to the flames before him.

"Master Kaskt, her guards and I have all made our peace that we may not walk away from this next encounter. We are ready to die, if need be," Harry looked up to Jinn whose eyes were unfocused in thought, "I need you with the queen in case we fail in our task. If we fall, you are the queen's last line of defense. Our seers agree that she is too important to allow to perish. You must keep the Sith at bay long enough for her to escape. The seers don't know exactly why she is so important but the force has been clear on this point. She must survive."

Master Jinn stared at Harry, seemingly lost in thought. Obi-Wan respected the gravity of the situation and remained silent. After a few minutes of silence, Jinn's eyes refocused and he nodded his assent.

"What will we need to do for the gungans' invocation?" Harry felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. Jinn was infamous in the Order for being somewhat of a maverick: doing what he thought was right, when he though was the right time, regardless of any of his orders. Jinn's acceptance of his orders made his job much easier.

"All we need to do is to meditate with the Temple guards. The Hearers will do the rest," Jinn nodded at Harry's words and rose to his feet, setting his cup aside.

"There is no time like the present and we have much to meditate on. Lead the way."

"Eksqueeze me, Queen Amidala, Honorable Bosses," Boss Nass's voice cut through the gungan Bosses' argument about who would be placed where on their front line. Padme could have kissed the large gungan. She was dangerously close to start yelling at the obstinate Bosses in frustration. The queen turned to see that Nass had changed his clothes. The fine robes he wore in their previous meetings had been replaced with a plain cream tunic under a rough brown over-robe. He would have looked remarkably like a Jedi, had his skin not been painted in vivid reds and yellows. Instead of a lightsaber, the gungan carried a heavy wooden staff.

"De Hearers of de gungans have heard de voice of Mamma Veeda and wesa follow her," Padme didn't understand what he was talking about but it rang with the weight of ritual words. Her suspicions seemed to be confirmed as the gungans around her immediately bowed their heads, "A bleeder has defiled de Mamma," she saw the gungans around her tense and look up in anger at Nass. No. They weren't angry at Nass. They were angry because of what Nass had said but it wasn't directed at him.

"De Mamma has sent de Jedi hissin to free her from dis pain. Dee Mamma wants us to give dem de great gift," Padme heard the sharp intake of breath from many of the Bosses, "De Hearers will invoke de gahds for de Jedi. Wesa stand wid de Jedi and wesa gahds will go wid dem. Come, hear, see, and believe."

Padme watched as Nass turned on his bare heel and walked away from their group. Gungans filed behind him, two by two. She was amazed at the power of their faith as gungan bosses who, not thirty seconds before, had been yelling at each other were now walking docilely beside their former opponent.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned to face Boss Lyonie, the calm Boss of Otoh Fasso and head of a somewhat small clan of gungan farmers.

"Would yousa be willin' to accompany mesa, Queen Amidala?" Lyonie held his hand out to Padme, "An Invocation is be'en a rare occurrence and is be'en open to all. Would yousa let de gungans share dis important event with de Naboo?"

"Thank you, Boss Lyonie," Padme said, taking his offered palm, "I would be honored to share in your rituals with you."

Lyonie led Padme to the clearing where she and her companions had first encountered Boss Nass. Now, however, the half-buried stone head was occupied by meditating Jedi. She could spot Master Jinn, Harry, and Obi-Wan Kenobi interspersed among the five Temple guards which had joined them on their departure from Coruscant.

Boss Nass split from his procession of gungan bosses to join a group of gungans standing to the side of the stone head. They were all dressed and painted in a similar fashion as Boss Nass. Only one other gungan carried a staff similar to Nass. He was, by far, the oldest gungan she had ever seen. The male was hunched over, leaning heavily on his staff. Deep wrinkles spread across every inch of visible skin. His frailty was confirmed by two young gungans who stood at his sides. They wore the cream tunic that the others wore, but lacked the brown robe and painted skin. They ignored the gungans around them and instead focused on steadying the elder between them.

Nass spoke quietly his fellows before leading them up the stone head to the meditating Jedi, the elder proceeding directly behind Nass with the rest following behind. At one point, the elder lost his footing on the loose gravel path. The two youths moved quickly to catch the elder before he fell but this action drew the attention of every member of their procession. The members closest, Nass included, jerked forward to stabilize the elder. Two painted gungans temporarily replaced the youths to bodily carry the elder up the remaining slope.

Once they reached the top, the elder was gently set down behind Harry. The two youths resumed their vigil at the old gungan's side, propping him up with their own bodies. The rest of the painted gungans positioned themselves behind the line of Jedi. Nass took up his place behind one of the Temple guards and raised his hands.

Silence fell over the crowd. Gungans, humans and the single togruta became enraptured with his presence.

"Weesa come together to do de will of Mamma Veeda," Nass called, "Sheesa has spoken and weesa has heard. Weesa invoke de gahds and de ancestors to provide guidance to de Jedi hissin, weesa brodahs and sistahs in de Mamma, so dat dey may free de Mamma from a great bleeder."

He lowered his hands to the shoulders of the guard before him. The gungans directly behind each Jedi placed both hands upon the Jedi's shoulders and the ones in the rows behind them extended their own hands forward to their gungan compatriots.

As one, the painted gungans closed their eyes.

Silence reigned for a few moments before a hum slowly rose in the air. The painted gungans rose a tone which vibrated the marrow in her bones. It pulled at her and seemed to catch her up into the sound. Somewhat distantly, she realized that the painted gungans weren't the only ones humming. A handful of the gungans standing around her had joined in. Aka, too, added her own dulcet tone to the great undulating song. Something bubbled up within her and Padme was rather surprised to find herself singing along, her voice a pure and clear soprano over the alto and baritone tones of Aka and the other gungans.

The sound rose in volume to an overwhelming crescendo that shook dust from surrounding statues. Leaves and small twigs fell from the trees above. It rose and rose and then suddenly…

…it was quiet. Padme, Aka, and the gungans had fell silent at the exact same time.

A soft glow drew Padme's attention back to the group assembled on the fallen stone head. The painted gungans, Master Jinn, Padawan Kenobi, and Harry had all opened their eyes. A blue glow seeped out from behind their eyelids as well as the eye holes in the masks of the Temple Guards. They were not the only things taking on an aethereal blue glow. Harry's dark cloak and a ring on his right hand (which Padme had never noticed before) had taken on the dancing light.

Padme's breath caught in her throat as her eyes slid to the elderly gungan behind Harry. He had changed. He no longer seemed entirely solid under his plain vestments. The gungan had taken on a translucent caste, as if viewing him in a reflection in water. She could see the glowing eyes of the gungan behind him through him.

The elder quickly faded into nothingness. His clothes fell to the ground with quiet rustling which seemed to echo in the silence. The two youths staggered at the sudden lack of weight to support. They blinked down at the fallen robes, dumbfounded, eyes absent of the mysterious glow.

Padme reared back in surprise as shimmering figures sprang into existence all around the clearing. The majority of the figures were gungans but there were a few other races interspersed among them. She identified a few humans, a nautolan, and what she thought was a wookiee. Those non-gungans, however all had one thing in common: they possessed a lightsaber. Unless there was another group of people in the history of the Republic who widely used lightsabers, then these were Jedi.

Each figure approached one of the beings standing in the clearing. All of the meditating Jedi had a glowing figure before them. So too, did boss Nass. With a glance to her right, she saw one approaching Boss Lyonie and, beyond him, another one approaching Aka.

She turned to find one figure standing directly before her. The gungan was tall and strong in his prime. He, like a number of other translucent gungan figures, carried a heavy staff and his skin was adorned in paint. For some reason, this gungan seemed familiar.

It took but a moment for Padme to realize why. Her eyes widened as she flicked her gaze to the two youths staring at the glowing figures in awe. She looked back to the gungan before her. This was the elder who had just disappeared.

The elder raised his arm and brushed three of his fingers from the edge of Padme's hair down to her brow. The fingers left a tingling trail down her forehead.

The gungan let his hand fall to his side. He gave Padme a lopsided smile and a quick wink.

A warm gust of wind swept through the clearing and the supernatural lights and figures winked out of existence. Padme blinked at the suddenness of their departure.

Was that a vision? A hallucination? It seemed so otherworldly, so foreign, that her mind immediately began to formulate scenarios in which what she had just seen couldn't be true. She turned to Boss Lyonie to ask what had just happened and stopped dead.

There, on the gungan's forehead, were two vertical painted lines and she knew that three such lines adorned her own.

Harry awoke to white blankness. It took him a moment for his surroundings to bloom into focus.

"Sith hells!" he swore, "For force sake! Someone tell me that I'm not dead again!"

He was back at King's Cross. At least he wasn't naked this time.

"Yousa not be'en dead, Harry Potter. Meesa is," said a deep voice behind him.

Harry whirled to see an unfamiliar gungan sitting on one of the benches spaced along the platform. A heavy staff leaned against the wall. He patted the bench next to him, beckoning Harry to take a seat. Harry crossed the distance and accepted the gungan's offer. They sat in silence for a long time. Every so often, the gungan would hum a tuneless sequence before lapsing back into the quiet. Harry was getting antsy but he figured that the gungan would reveal what he wanted, when he wanted. You couldn't force a spirit to do anything they didn't want.

"Good, good. Yousa be learnin' patience. Dat be good in young uns'. Meesa be here to talk and show and yousa be here to ask and see," the gungan explained, "So ask."

The abrupt order took Harry by surprise. He blinked at the gungan for a moment before he caught his bearings.

"May I ask your name, master gungan?" Harry asked. The gungan smirked.

"Yousa may," Harry waited for gungan's name but he just continued to smirk at him. The ma'jaii let out an exasperated groan. Apparently the gungan had Sirius's sense of humor.

"What is your name?" The gungan chuckled at Harry's disgruntlement.

"Meesa be Dyago Nass. Yousa be meetin' meesa son, Rugor," Harry looked at the gungan closely. He did not doubt the spirit's word, but the relation was hardly visible in the gungan's features. Where as this Rugor Nass's features were bloated with fat, this gungan was all hard planes and muscle. He assumed the resemblance would be more noticeable should Boss Nass lose fifty or so kilos of weight.

"Meesa understand yousa confusion," Dyago said with another laugh, "Rugor was always be'en squishy," he fell back into silence, seemingly waiting for Harry to ask another question. The ma'jaii thought for a second. Maybe this could be an opportunity to get an answer to a question which Albus had previously dodged.

"What exactly is this place?" Harry asked, gesturing around at King's Cross.

"Dis is be'en de World-Between-Words. Tis be'en de place where de universe touches Mamma Veeda. De Jedi be callin' it de unifying force. When weesa die, weesa step into dis world before weesa move on to de Mamma. Time and place mean nottin' here," Dyago gave him an anticipatory look.

"If I'm not dead, why am I here now?" Harry asked. The gungan's face fell in disappointment. He rolled his eyes to the heavens in exasperation.

"Mamma, give meesa strength. De youngin's not be usin' deir brains anymore," Dyago's eyes snapped back to Harry. He grabbed the hem of Harry's invisibility cloak and held it up in front of their eyes, "Yousa be dinkin' dat dees be pretty trinkets? Yousa is be'en da Master of de Veil of Death. Yousa is be'en de Master of dis place, just as de gungans are be'en de Masters of Naboo. De Mamma gave de planet into weesa care and sheesa be givin' dis place into yousa care."

Harry stared at the gungan with wide eyes. He had known that the Hallows could breach the barrier of the unifying force, but he had never really put any credence to the legends of the Master of Death. Yes, what Dyago was telling him didn't align with the traditional myths but it did seem that there was more to the Hallows past their deep connection to aspects of the Force.

"With de Hallows," Dyago continued, letting the invisibility cloak drop from his hands, "Dis is be'en yousa sacred place. De Mamma calls yousa here just as de Mamma calls de gungans to de statues of de gahds when sheesa needs to commune wid weesa. De bleeders have hidden dis place from dose who serve de Mamma. Dey have infected de connection between de living and de rest of de Mamma. Yousa be hidden from deir sight when desya closed de connection. De ma'jaii are be'en de only ones who escaped and yousa…" the gungan placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, "yousa is be'en her chosen to lead sheesa people. Yousa is be'en her merlin."

The Fidelius! The Sith must have destroyed the force-sensitive's connection between the living and unifying forces while Harry and the rest of Sol had been hidden from the rest of the galaxy behind the Fidelius protections which Voldemort had raised. The system had been save within its protective bubble of the unifying force from the corruption which the Sith had enacted.

"Dat is how yousa can come here. It's not be'en why," Dyago stood, collecting his staff from the wall. He beckoned to Harry, "Come."

Harry rose and followed the gungan down the empty platform. Their soft footsteps and the sharp clack of Dyago's staff echoed throughout the empty station. They passed the non-descript brick pillars between the platforms and blank advertisement frames. At the familiar archway which traditionally led to Platform 9 ¾, Dyago stopped.

Harry blinked at the sight before him. Instead of the plain brick illusory pillar and view of platform 10, their view gave way to an unexpected scene. The royal hangar of the Palace of Theed was displayed before them. The edges of the vision seemed to ripple in a non-existent wind.

Padme led the assault party through the hangar. A firefight ensued. The Jedi took up positions at the front of the party, using their lightsabers to provide the rest of their compatriots cover by reflecting the enemy droid's blaster shots away from their compatriots. He saw himself amongst the Jedi number, defending Padme and her handmaidens from the hail of plasma. When the last droid fell, Padme's shouted commands had the flight personnel in their party scramble to the starfighters. Harry noticed that Aka, Padme's togruta guest, also clambered into a starfighter with practiced ease.

The group made for two heavy blast doors in the far corner of the hangar. Harry knew from his information gathering in the early stages of the invasion that they led to the cavernous plasma refinery under the palace which provided Theed with power. He suspected that Padme planned to cut through to the plasma refinery into the guard barracks which occupied the basement level of the monarch's section of the palace. Not only would that route allow their party to avoid the public government offices which sprawled around the ancient citadel, but also allow them access to the guardhouse's armory. From there, it would be a straight shot up the security corridors into the private sections of the palace. This was where Master Yaddle's intelligence agents had stated that Nute Gunray had set up his residence.

The doors opened to reveal the Sith assassin.

Harry's handprint was still visible in the angry raw burn spreading across the side of his face. Stark white bone shone through cracked and bleeding pink flesh. His cheek had completely burned away, revealing bloody gums and sharp yellowing teeth. The man's eye had been removed and replaced with a crude optic sensor.

Immediately, the other Harry and the Temple guards took up positions between the assassin and the Nabooans. Master Jinn and Obi-wan quickly ushered the rest of the party away from the assassin, leading them out of the hangar through the door which Harry had sealed when they had originally escaped from Naboo.

Harry heard himself call out the legal script, announcing that he was placing the Sith under arrest under the authority of both the Senate and the Jedi High Council and petitioning him to surrender.

With a roar, the Sith ignited his dual-bladed red lightsaber and launched himself at the Jedi.

Grief threatened to bubble up in Harry's chest as he watched the guards be cut down by the Sith's blade, one by one. Master Kaskt was the last to remain alive, fighting alongside Harry until she too fell to the flashing blade. The ma'jaii saw himself try to match the skill of the Sith but eventually even Harry's body fell to the ground, his head rolling across the hangar floor until it came to a stop against a stack of crates.

The vision did not end there. The Sith pursued the Nabooan party. Gradually, he witnessed other deaths: Obi-wan; Master Jinn; Captain Panaka; the handmaidens; and eventually Padme, herself.

The shimmering window wavered and faded.

Harry reached up to touch his cheek and his fingers came away wet. He was crying.

"Is this why I am here?" Harry asked angrily, "To see my own death and the death of those who seek to protect the lives of innocents? Is the force so cruel?" He could feel the dark temptation of the abuse of the force bubbling at the very edge of his perception but he pushed it away. He offered his grief up to the force.

Thump!

Harry cried out in both pain and shock as Dyago struck the back of his head with his stout staff. The ma'jaii spun to face the gungan. Harry's anger turned to confusion when he saw the gungan's intense stare, his yellow slitted eyes narrowed in annoyance. Dyago grabbed a fistful of Harry's robes and pulled him close.

"Stupid younglin'!" the gungan growled, "Do not doubt de Mamma! Dis…" he pointed at the space where the window in time had just occupied, "Dis is not be'en destiny! Dis is not be'en fate! Dis just be one possible future. Dis is be'en de future if yousa be approaching dis like a Jedi! Yousa not like dis future? Den change it!" Dyago pushed Harry away, causing him to stumble a few paces backward before he caught himself.

"How?" Harry asked, desperate to avoid this nightmare of a future, "How else can I approach this? I AM A JEDI!" Harry's voice rose in volume with each syllable until he was yelling his words into the face of the gungan.

Dyago face contorted into a smug expression and Harry felt his tension bleed away.

"Yes, yousa is be'en a Jedi," the gungan allowed, "Dat is who yousa is. Yousa is forgettin' what yousa is. Yousa is forgetting dat yousa is a wizard, Harry Potter."

Harry blinked in surprise at Dyago.

"I can't use magic," Harry explained, "It's an automatic death sentence to reveal the powers of the ma'jaii to the public outside of Sol and the colonies. I used magic in front of Padme and the High Council because I could explain it away as a special use of the force. Even then, I could feel the weight of my Vow straining against me. I won't be able to do that here," Harry tried to explain. Every student of Hogwarts was required to make an Unbreakable Vow to not reveal magic to the galaxy at large, "The Trade Federation will be sliced into the security feeds. Once someone realizes that what I am doing is not true force usage, I'll drop dead."

"Yousa made dat Vow under de authority of de Merlin," Dyago explained slowly, as if speaking to a small child, "Anointed or not, yousa be de Merlin now. If yousa not want to break de vow, just release yousa self from it."

Harry's eyes widened. It was so ingrained in ma'jaii to not reveal magic to those not of Sol that no one really paid any mind to the wording of the required Vow of the Statute of Secrecy. The fourth Merlin, Goa Li, had decreed that magic be held a closely held secret of Sol after the rakata had learned of their power and invaded. Since then, the Vow could technically only be lifted by order of the Merlin. There had not been a merlin for the past thousand years, so the fact that he could lift the Vow from himself had never occurred to him.

Slowly, Harry's eyes lit up with possibilities and his mouth curled into a mirthless smile which mirrored Dyago's own.

"Well," Harry said slowly, "that changes things, doesn't it?"

Endnote:

Well, that's it! This is the longest chapter that I have written to date. It has gone through about three separate rewrites until I got it into a form I liked… and I really like how it turned out. The old chapters were completely different from this one. One took place on the landing platform before Padme and Harry left Coruscant. One took place on the way to Naboo. One even skipped right to the royal hangar and the Duel of Fates scene. In this, I was able to open up the wider Star Wars world and provide depth to the characters, culture, and some of Harry's past story line.

For those who caught it, yes, Aka is Ahsoka Tano's mother. Abul, Santer and Ahsoka's father was Padreel Tano. Ahsoka was the infant who was born on Aka's journey to Coruscant after escaping. If Harry had not been part of Padme's rescue team, then she would have never gone to the Temple for Yaddle's briefing. If this had never happened, Padme would have never tipped Aka and invited her to do her official portrait. If this had not happened, then Aka would have been continued to be abused and raped by Agor Baask until he killed her in a few months. The friend which Aka left her children with would give them up to the refugee resettlement agency which would send them back to Shili where they would be taken in by Padreel's clan. It would be there that Plo Koon would find her in a year and take her to the Jedi Temple for training.

I have gotten a few requests for background about Harry's early time at Hogwarts. When I started this story, I had the entire backstory thought out. I felt, however, that there were way too many HP/SW crossovers which followed Harry through Hogwarts. My primary focus and interest was how Harry's presence would change the main SW storyline. Because of the interest in Harry's formative years as a Jedi under Yaddle's tutelage, I have decided to write another story which shines light on this time. It won't be as linear as Ripples or its sequels, but it will focus on the main events of Harry's time at Hogwarts and the war against Voldemort. It will be more episodic, with one or two chapters per year which hash out the main events. I plan to begin posting the chapters after I post the Interlude between Phantom Menace (Ripples) and Attack of the Clones. There should only be two or three more chapters to Ripples and the Interlude is ½ to 2/3 written.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
-Olorin the Maiar