AN :
Thanks for the power stones, you guys deserve this bonus chapter.
Keep up the good work guys, for the next goal is going to be 350 power stones.
...
He always managed to get himself filthy with his games, covered in mud, tree sap or pollen in turns, and on more than one occasion he'd lost his shoes somewhere and hadn't been able to find them.
His mother fussed endlessly about him hurting himself. Yes, there was a risk of that, but the Palace grounds full of servants was probably the safest possible place to let a boy just be a boy.
...
The palace was more alive than ever. Father complained about it endlessly, saying he was never able to find a moment's peace, but his words had no fire or bitterness to them, just a stubborn refusal to admit he'd lost an old argument. They had personal servants and gardeners, chefs and groundskeepers. Pinned to the wall of the main room was a list of holo-numbers to call in case something was broken, and a repairman from the city below could be summoned.
At Athemeene's suggestion, Dooku had one of the mansions on the grounds set aside for any Jedi guests who were passing through, turning Serenno Palace into another outpost in the Outer Rim. A lot of more traditional Jedi from Coruscant refused to stop there, seeing Dooku as a corrupting influence on the Order, but plenty more still were grateful to use the shelter if they were in the area. On one memorable occasion, a witness for a major corruption case against the Mayor of a district of Coruscant had stayed there for protection for a few weeks until a more permanent safehouse could be found.
Right now the only Jedi guest on the grounds was Asajj, but she could hardly be considered a guest at this point. Accompanying Dooku as his Padawan often meant staying at Serenno during the middle of the week, and one of the rooms was permanently set aside for her. She even kept some of her personal possessions there.
Seeing Asajj at a family dinner or on a weekend wasn't surprising at all, and Athemeene even sometimes took the girl out into town to buy her some nice dresses or get her hair and nails done. Dooku had tried explaining to his wife that Asajj was a jedi, and such vanities would only get in the way of her duties, but his wife always waved it off as a little harmless 'girl time.'
Tan'ya had been dragged out for 'girl time' only once, and had never allowed it to happen again. The good thing about being force sensitive was it allowed her to know when her mother was coming, and what her intentions were. The Palace grounds always had plenty of places to hide.
After practicing Form II for much of the morning with Asajj, Tan'ya retired to her bedroom to focus on her many assignments. After that first Life Day, Master Sifo had massively increased Tan'ya's workload. She had assignments in a wide array of topics appropriate for a Jedi, like astro-mathematics, politics, history, diplomacy, starship piloting lessons, leadership and of course, military history and current theory.
The two more volumes of the Complete History of the Republic Tan'ya had transcribed from Sifo had taken on a massive focus on the military development of the Republic over its society and culture.
The first volume did a better job balancing the people and culture of the early Republic, and directly connected how their attitude and beliefs had informed their military decisions. The most recent two volumes put almost all their focus on the major military leaders and their personal histories, cultural and technological changes were only mentioned to contextualize battlefield tactics. It came across as less of a history of the Republic, and more a history of the Republic's major military figures, as well as their opponents.
Not that Tan'ya didn't find it all fascinating as a fan of military history, but feedback on the holonet wasn't all positive.
Sifo had trusted Tan'ya to arrange for the paperback edition to be published, and in keeping with the first volume had cover art depicting hyperspace maps from the galaxy relevant at the time periods. Currently they were working on Volume 4, which was going to mostly be about the Great Hyperspace War.
Tan'ya was a little worried that the quality of the Volume was suffering, as Sifo took the time to examine more and more commanders from the absolutely massive conflict. It was a bit like reading about World War 2 from Earth's history, but every time a new general was introduced the author took the time to cover his early childhood and rise through the ranks to establish their attitude and tendencies in battle.
It was difficult to keep track of so many names, even when the characters were relatively unimportant to the outcome of the overall war, and it made it hard to follow the larger narrative and events.
When Tan'ya mentioned her concerns to Sifo, a sad look had come over his features.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to be too critical-"
"It's fine, Tan'ya." Sifo had forestalled her. "This- It's what I want. So, don't worry about it. Just trust me."
So the volumes had been written as Sifo had dictated, and Tan'ya had noticed their sales dwindling as people lost interest. It was a shame, really.
As a budding historian, Tan'ya thought there could have been real value in a Complete History of the Republic that more closely followed the structure of Volume 1.
The massive quantity of work Sifo had given Tan'ya took up most of her days. She was reminded of her time at university in her first life, often spending ten to twelve hours a day on studies alone. It was stressful, and boring, but all in service of becoming a Jedi sooner. Compared to the other students at the Temple, Tan'ya was on a vastly accelerated course.
Father approved of course, and when she did see him he was quick to tell her that he was pleased with how fast she was learning. Sometimes it felt like Sifo was desperately trying to drown her in work, but Tan'ya had endured much worse in the past.
Compared to the battlefields of the Great War, this was nothing. Tan'ya was easily able to handle the stress, the occasional sisyphean thoughts that none of this would ever end, and she didn't feel lonely at all. Not even a little bit.
Having started her training sooner, and progressed much more quickly as an adult in a child's body, Tan'ya was simply too advanced to join the other younglings at the New Temple's academy. They would slow her down, and she would break their spirits just by being so obviously better than them. It was the right decision to keep the classes separate, one that Tan'ya fully endorsed.
She wasn't lonely, she had plenty of company with her younger brother, her mother, the occasional visits from her father, and of course, Master Diyas. It wouldn't be too long at all until Tan'ya was a Padwan, and her endless studies would be exchanged for practical, more engaging hands on experience.
Tan'ya was fine, she was sure of it. She could definitely handle this.
...
The sun was setting over Coruscant, leaving much of its surface in the darkness cast by looming towers. Even at the mid levels, the only natural illumination came from a hint of orange light reflected from the glasteel surfaces of those few structures tall enough to rise above the skyline. Countless speeder headlights flashed across the sky in long winding lines, struggling through their commute home.
Piloting his own speeder, Dooku flew in the opposite direction to the flow of afternoon traffic, the droid driver in the seat next to him slumped over and deactivated. For a moment the orange sunset of Coruscant shone on his face, before he dipped down below the skyline and parked his vehicle in an alleyway at surface level.
Stepping out of his vehicle into the shadows, Dooku followed a whisper in the force down the street. Eventually he stopped at a restaurant with a sign in the door that read, 'Mon Cal Cuisine is closing permanently. Thank you for your patronage.'
When he tried the door handle, he found it unlocked and stepped inside to find a cold, empty kitchen, and all the serving tables and chairs stacked up against one wall. He was tempted momentarily to turn on a light switch, but decided against it.
The point of a secret meeting was not to be discovered.
The lone whisper in the force was joined by others now, as two pinpricks of glowing gold lingered in the darkest corner of the room.
"I see you've been practicing with the Dark Side." The throaty voice drawled.
It had been a shock for Dooku to learn just how easy it was to conceal the Dark Side from the Jedi.
The only hint even an experienced user of the Light might have to identify someone in the Dark was a momentary soft chill when they touched the force, one that on a planet like Coruscant was easily mistaken for a more mundane, urban cold. It wasn't strange really, that the Dark would thrive in the long shadows cast by the neon illuminations of a dead world, spreading right inside the so-called 'temple of democracy' itself.
He was always careful to avoid the Dark while at the New Temple, or when he was visiting the Grand Temple on Coruscant, as some were now calling it. Long before Dooku had left that blind Order, he had carefully experimented with the Dark.
The mind altering effects that the Jedi code warned of were very real, and he had seen plenty of deranged, gibbering dark siders while serving. Even his former apprentice, Komari Vosa, a fully trained and powerful Jedi in her own right, had been nothing but a puppet for it in the end.
He wasn't like them. Dooku's will was durasteel, and his resolve was like the tip of a vibroblade. He would use the Dark Side, he would not be used by it. It would not be his fate to be put down like a rabid beast, not when there was still so much to do.
The Galaxy had to be brought to Order, and here they would see it done.
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my patreon :
patreon.com/Rimanovi