Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
Chapter 21 – The Jedi That Will Not Die
Harry groaned as his vision returned, his injuries must have been worse than he thought. As the rest of his senses returned he realised that he was no longer lying on the floor of the tower room in the Death Watch fortress, he must have been moved aboard the ship, though he did not recall any of the beds on the ship looking as comfortable as this bed felt.
He slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see that far from the worn and dirty interior of the Wayward Son he was actually in a clean room with bright white walls and ceiling. Rolling his head both left and right he saw that other than him, the room seemed to have several other occupants. He seemed to be in a hospital ward, and if he had to guess from the architecture he was probably on Mandalore.
By his bed there were three chairs, two of which currently had Twi'lek occupants, one wrapped up in his Jedi robe, the other wearing the same slave wear she had been wearing the last time he saw her. Only the former was conscious but she was looking at him very seriously with crossed arms. Bruises and the slightly different colour of freshly healed skin very evident on her face.
"Harry James Potter, I seem to recall us having a conversation the last time I ended up in a life threatening situation and then again just before this mission about you not doing anything ridiculously heroic and stupid again, especially not anything that changes the situation from being life threatening from me to being life threatening for you."
"I...must have forgotten that," he replied innocently.
She glared at him for a few seconds before continuing.
"Remind me to have a talk with Qui-Gon when we get back, firstly for letting you lead that damn fool rescue of yours and second for letting you train with the two of them so much, your picking up their senses of humour."
"I might forget that as well Master," he smiled.
"I thought you might...Well, apparently this time was your best yet as according to the doctors here you were actually clinically dead for over a minutes on the way back thanks to losing so much blood, thankfully some of the Mandalorians were very good at field medicine and there was a medical holo-droid on one of the ships that went to bring you back. At my count that's at least five times you have almost got yourself killed since becoming my apprentice."
"Five? I'm only up to three?" he protested.
"Really? Well lets count shall we; There was the first time we were on Mandalore and you decided to get your arm cut off and cracked your head open on the side of a building."
"One," he confirmed.
"Then immediately afterwards on Naboo you almost killed yourself by transferring too much Force energy to me in order to save my life."
"That didn't count, that was just an accident, I didn't know it was dangerous," he protested.
"It counts," Aayla replied firmly. "Then there was the time in the Coruscant underground where you decided to take on that gang of spice traders by yourself and ended up getting out numbered and pinned to the floor about to get your head cut off before I showed up."
"They surprised me is all, and I had a plan to get out of it."
"I'm sure you did, and I'm not even going to mention what happened on Corellia."
"Yes, I would rather you didn't," he agreed for the first time during the conversation, that incident had quite embarrassed him.
"And yesterday on Concordia makes five. When I and the Ranger Captain reported back to Qui-Gon and Master Koon about the outcome of your little expedition, Obi-Wan made the joke that you should be known as the Jedi That Will Not Die."
"The Jedi That Lived would be more appropriate, especially as I was the Boy Who Lived back on Earth."
"Possible," she replied, before smiling slowly. "Thank you for rescuing me again."
"My pleasure as always Master," he replied, before his eyes darkened. "I'm sorry for failing you Master; I should never have let you get captured."
She slowly and awkwardly leaned forward and took his hand.
"You have nothing to apologise for Harry, and besides you did rescue me, that more than makes up for it."
The pair shared a moment emotional exchange through their bond, rejoicing in each other's company and their love for each other before they returned back to the real world.
"So how did you end up in that room anyway Master?"
"Well when the Death Watch attacked the auction they headed straight for the high value slaves like me and your friend Alema here," she said gesturing to the sleeping former slave in the other chair. "We were taken to their ships and brought back to Concordia. On the way there Vizsla walked passed discussing the encounter with Qui-Gon and recognised me. As soon as he did so he fired a stun net at me, restraining me further and rendering me unconscious, I didn't have a chance to fight or escape, not that I had anywhere to escape to at the time. I woke up on Concordia with a shock collar around my neck and Force suppressors around my wrists. I was then taken to the basement level where the guards...Well among other things they used me as target practice for a few hours, as I had no Force powers or lightsaber I was pretty defenceless with my hands bound, though I was lucky compared to what some of the other slaves went through. Several hours later when I had run out of fight and had fallen unconscious a few times, they chained me in the tower and informed me that I was to be executed before the end of the day. Then I awoke to find myself in this ward with a doctor telling me that I had several broken bones and internal injuries but thankfully Force Healing has enabled me to get up sooner, though my bones are still setting."
Harry knew there was something that she was not telling him, he had seen her eyes darken and had felt disconcerting feelings down their bond when she spoke about her time in the Death Watch fortress but he would not press her for more at the moment though he feared what they both feared might have actually happened.
"How are the others?" he asked, not at all happy with the way his Master had been treated by Vizsla, especially as he was sure that his Master was glossing over something. If he ever saw him again he would regret it.
"Of the rangers that went with you only one died, several were seriously injured but will make full recoveries, of the hundred plus slaves a dozen were killed by enemy fire, about twenty were injured but the rest are amazingly fine, or at least physically, mentally is another matter entirely. Despite going against my orders regarding getting yourself into life threatening situations you did a good job, the security personnel were even able to capture most of the Death Watch who were still alive, which admittedly was not many, only Vizsla and a couple of others escaped."
"People still died," he said dejectedly, his mood instantly turning sour.
"The rangers knew what they were getting themselves into and if you had not rescued myself and the rest of the slaves when you did, I would be dead and the other slaves would have been sold and scattered throughout the galaxy and then it would be much worse for them...You did well Harry."
As Harry went to speak Alema slowly started to come around.
"This should be interesting conversation," said Aayla under her breath as she sat back.
"Master!" exclaimed Alema getting off her chair to kneel beside his bed and gasping his hand. "I'm so glad you're safe."
"I'm fine Alema, but please don't call me master, I'm no one's master," he replied wincing slightly at the term.
"But you are Master. You protected me from the slavers by recapturing me, even when I tried to fight you, you promised me you would free me, a lowly slave, when it would not benefit you at all, then you led a rescue mission against a heavily armed group of soldiers with only a few men at your disposal, then came after me again after the caped soldier took us and protected me and the others with your body and almost died when you could have easily fled and saved yourself while protecting us. I am only a slave and have been my entire life, I have never known such bravery, selflessness and caring for someone who did not deserve it before. I promise to serve you for the rest of my life."
Harry's eyes bulged at her statement.
"Err...I...In...In that case I free you to do whatever you wish," he replied, feeling quite proud of his solution and that he came to it so quickly..
Alema jerked her head back in surprise and confusion before thinking about what he had said and realisation formed on her face. "That's easy Master, I choose to serve you."
"But!" he exclaimed, before regaining control of his voice and thinking about what he was going to say. "But don't you want to go back to Ryloth? To your family?"
"No Master, most of the slaves at the auction were new slaves, but I was being resold. My grandparents were sold into slavery when they were young, both me and my parents were born as slaves and they all were dead before I was even one year old, I was raised by other slaves, I have never been to Ryloth and I don't feel any desire to go to a planet where women like Mistress Aayla and me are sold as slaves by their leaders. I just want to serve you."
Harry was finding this more and more uncomfortable by the minute, he hated slavery and everything to do with it and now he was being told that he had no choice but to have one. Did the Jedi Order even allow such things, he was sure the answer would be no, Jedi generally speaking were not even supposed to have possessions so how could one be allowed to own a slave, and that was assuming he even wanted to, which he didn't. He hated slavery, he had never met anyone who owned a slave that he actually liked, how can anyone who treats someone else as property be anything but evil. He would not be like that; he would not have a slave.
"You will not be my slave," he said firmly, looking away from her.
"Why Master? Am I not beautiful enough for you?"
"No. I mean yes, I mean...that's not what I meant. Yes you are very beautiful but you are not going to be my slave."
"But Master, you said I could do whatever I wished?"
"Err yes."
"Then I choose to serve you."
"No."
"But Master, I-"
"No!" he said forcefully, turning back to her as he did so, for the first time noticing that there were tears in her eyes.
"No, please don..." he tried as she stood and ran from the room, tears falling down her cheeks.
As she left the room he noticed for the first time that his voice had got loud enough to wake some of the other patients who were either staring at him in annoyance for disturbing them or annoyance for making a beautiful woman cry.
"Oh great," he exclaimed laying his head back on the pillows.
"Not the best way to talk her around," Aayla observed sitting back in her chair and looking at the door that the young slave had disappeared through.
"I noticed," he sighed. "But I don't understand why she would want to be a slave. You hate it, I hate it, I offer her the chance to go free and she still wants to be my property."
"I would suggest that I am not the best person to ask about that," she replied. "But I will talk to her if you want me to."
"You'll convince her to not want to be my slave," he said hopefully.
"No, I said I would talk to her, right now she needs a shoulder, I can be that, you will have to be the one to talk her around, if such a thing is possible."
"Harry James Potter!" came a familiar annoyed voice from the doorway as a familiar regally dressed blond stormed into the room as a pair of Royal Guards took position on either side of the door. "What on Mandalore did you say to that poor girl to get her so upset? I came to the hospital to see you and the other patients and the first thing I see if that poor girl bawling her eyes out as she heads for the ladies room, crying something like 'he hates me, he hates me, my Master hates me', now what did you say to her?"
"Satine, I-"
"Don't you Satine me, that poor girl has just been through a horrendous experience and the first thing you do is make her cry. How da..."
Aayla took the opportunity to leave after Alema, picking up and leading heavily on the walking stick she had been given for the duration of her recuperation. Despite the pleading looks from her padawan to help him with the Lady Satine she kept on going, sending him an amused smile as she headed for the door, he could consider this a punishment for letting his emotions getting the best of him and for endangering himself again.
Despite her slower than usual speed it did not take her long to track down the young girl in the ladies room, cleaning away her tears and smartening herself up as best she could.
"I'm sorry for my padawan," she apologised, surprising the young Twi'lek who spun to her before relaxing as she realised who had found her and turning back to the mirrors but angling herself away from Aayla.
"Please, don't look at me like this," she begged, trying to shield her tear stained face.
"I have seen a girl crying before Alema," she explained moving closer and laying a hand on her shoulder. "It is nothing to be ashamed of."
"No, I...I must not be seen like this," she sniffed, turning her head away from her. "I can't...let my Master down."
Aayla was taken aback by this, thinking that she was simply a bit vain like most Twi'lek women. Not realising how deeply slavery was ingrained within her.
"Oh Alema, Harry does not care about such things," she said turning her around to face her and wiping her tears away herself.
"I don't understand the Master, Mistress Aayla," she explained, not looking up. "I've always understood what my past Master's had wanted. It was simple; don't try to think just do what I was told, look good, do your best to please them no matter what you are told to do, don't disappoint them or let them down in anyway and always come when they call for me...It was simple and I liked it like that, but with Master Harry he tells me to do what I want which I don't understand. I know some Masters want their slaves to be more intelligent but I am still his slave, I should be doing what he tells me, a slave can't decide what to do on her own or else they would be a bad slave and would need punishing. I realised that he must have been testing me, testing my loyalty, wanting to see if he could trust me, but then he got angry at me when I justified my answer, I don't understand what he wanted from me."
Aayla looked at her sadly and inwardly cursed the culture of Ryloth; it was her species government which had caused this situation decades ago when they had sold her grandparents.
"I know this is going to be hard to understand Alema but Harry was not trying to test you, he really and genuinely wanted you to do what you wanted."
For the first time Alema made eye contact with her before looking away quickly.
"I...I don't understand Mistress," she replied. "Why would Master want his slave to do that?"
Aayla gave a slight sight, this was going to be a hand conversation and a hospital rest room was not the best place for it.
"Come with me Alema, we will go out to one of the hospital gardens where we can sit and I can rest a bit more." Aayla was not expecting the look of shocked panic that crossed Alema's face as she finished the sentence.
"I'm SO sorry Mistress, I didn't realise standing was causing you pain. Please hit me, puni-"
"Stop!" Aayla commanded sharply, brining Alema to a stunned halt, the look of slight panic and worry on her face, before guiding her out of the room and through the corridors of the hospital. "There is no need for you to look so panicked Alema, you are not in trouble, I simply wish to sit down to have this conversation as it may be a long one, and one thing I will tell you is that neither Harry or I would EVER EVER hit anyone who was not our enemy and one thing I can promise you is that if you do want to understand Harry NEVER suggest that he punishes you or that you punish yourself as he will NOT like it at all."
It took them only a couple of minutes to reach one of the hospital gardens and find a nice quiet bench. Gardens on Mandalore were always interested, they were definitely not gardens in the traditional sense, because of the almost completely man made structure of the Mandalorian cities a garden was normally several interweaving paths with a selection of plants and trees planted into pots sunk into the ground.
Sitting down with a slight sigh as her aching muscles relaxed, Aayla turned to the confused young slave.
"What I am about to tell you is information about Harry's past, please do not discuss it with anyone that unless you know they already know it."
"Yes Mistress."
"Unlike most Jedi Alema, Harry did not come to the Jedi Temple when he was very young; he has only been there a couple of years. Before that he was raised on his home planet of Earth, which is a planet that until we went there has had no communication with the rest of the galaxy. On his planet he is what is known as a wizard which means he can alter the Force like a Jedi can but in different ways. Like you Alema, Harry's parents died young and he was sent to live with relatives who despised the Force in every way and as such they raised him as their slave from the age of one to the age of eleven when he went to school and started learning how to use the Force, then after he was only a slave to them when away from school. Would I be correct in assuming Alema that there were never any non-slaves around your age when you were with your previous Masters?"
"You are correct Mistress," she replied. "My parents were the only slaves permitted to have children; my father was a very good slave to their Master and my mother was exceptionally beautiful. When they got passed the main part of their working lives their Master hoped to have more equally good and beautiful slaves from them, but they died before they could give me and brothers or sisters."
"Which means that you had no one except other slaves to compare yourself to. Harry on the other hand had a cousin who lived in the same house as him and was around the same age and whereas Harry was treated as a slave his cousin got spoiled and got everything he wanted. When Harry went to school he got treated differently because he was famous for something that happened when he was young and he discovered that it was because he could use the Force that his relatives hated him and so he stopped blindly following their instructions and realised that he did not deserve to be treated that way just because he was different and was much less obedient to them from then on. They had no right to treat him as a slave and it was only after they started to fear what he could do with the Force that they started to treat him slightly better."
"I'm very sorry Mistress, but I'm afraid I still don't understand," Alema commented.
"As a result of his upbringing Alema, Harry hates slavery in every way shape and form, he hates the idea that someone can treat someone else as property and that someone's life is entirely under the control of another person. Before we went on the mission to rescue you and the other slaves we had a long talk about the subject, I also hate slavery and the idea of being a slave scares me greatly and I was deeply afraid of going on the mission, despite the fact that we Jedi are supposed to be in total control of our emotions, and Harry was even more so as he was terribly afraid that something would happen to me. During the mission we had to convince the slavers that Harry and the others were really slavers and in order to do so I had to tell him to hit me, he did as I instructed but it made him physically sick and it took me several minutes to settle him afterwards."
"I understand that he does not like hurting slaves Mistress, but I don't see why he freed me if he wants me to do what I want?"
Aayla went to speak before pausing as she reanalysed the line in her head and asked a significant question.
"Alema, why do you think we came to rescue you and the others?" she asked slowly, knowing the answer would explain a lot.
"You came to free the illegally captured slaves who were not supposed to be slaves," she replied. "Those of us that were supposed to be slaves like me you freed because if you did we would become your slaves like I am now Master Harry's."
Aayla sighed, she was right, that had been a very informative answer, it explained Alema's thought pattern, she couldn't understand the concept of freedom in relation to her, as far as she was concerned she was born a slave, she was raised a slave, she worked as a slave and she would die a slave. She could only see herself as someone else's property, she took Harry's question about what she wanted to do as a trick question because doing what she wanted did not make sense in her mind so it must have been wrong, she took Harry shouting at her as meaning she was a bad slave as far as he was concerned and not doing things right meaning that she should be punished. She had never been free; she probably had never even thought about it, it did not even make sense to her.
"You are correct in thinking that that was the reason that we freed the wrongly captured slaves, but we also wanted to free the rest of you."
"And you did Mistress," she nodded. "You freed us from them and in doing so made us your own slaves."
"I'm afraid you don't quite understand Alema. There is a law against slavery in the Republic, no one except those sold legally like those who are sold by the authorities of Ryloth and other planets like them are supposed to be slaves and even owning a legal slave is frowned upon and dubiously legal. We came here to free you all so that you would not have owners, you would be your own Masters, you can do what you wish, you can go where you want, talk to who you want to, etcetera."
Alema was looking deeply in thought, her brow creased in concentration as she tried to get her head around the concept.
"I would...be my own Master?" she asked, her face changed to show confusion and her voice actually sounding fearful at the words. "I...I don't want to be my own Master, I don't know how to, I just want to serve others and Master Harry is the bravest, kindest and greatest Master I have had, I want to serve him."
"The problem is Alema that Harry believes that being a slaves master makes him no better than the relatives he despises which is why he snapped at your earlier."
"But he's nothing like that, he's-"
"I know that Alema and so do you, but making him see that is completely different."
She looked up at Aayla pleadingly before dropping to her knees to emphasise her plea.
"Please Mistress, help me stop him trying to free me, help me serve my Master. I don't want to be 'free', I don't know how to be free, I just want to serve him any way I can...I just don't know how to."
Aayla would freely admit that she was not overly sure how to proceed; the sort of humility, devotion and lack of self worth that Alema was showing was shocking to her and even the idea of ever being like the girl was scaring her greatly but she could see that Alema not only could not even bear the thought of freedom, but positively depended on her slave status in order to give her life meaning, she seemed to think the same way about freedom that Aayla did about slavery.
"I will talk with Harry, but the situations is more complicated than you think, being a Jedi means that Harry should not have possessions, and although this rule had been relaxed because he joined the Order late he should not be collecting any additional possessions, especially slaves. But..." she interrupted just before Alema spoke. "But I promise that we will not just abandon you."
"Oh thank you Mistress," she cried, taking both Aayla's hands and kissing them before dropping back to her knees.
"I would also recommend that you don't do that to Harry," she suggested. "Acting that subservient will only make Harry dislike this situation more."
"Yes Mistress."
"...And finally Harry I am still going to try to convince your Master to give you latrine duty for the next year for your recklessness, it seems that every time you come into this system you have a near death experience, I mean how am I even supposed to see you in person if you are in hospital all the time and I am going to make your Master break you of this habit if it's the last think I do."
Harry waited a good twenty seconds before daring to try saying anything, he had just been subjected to over fifteen minutes of ranting from his 'friend' and it had got so bad that a pair of orderlies had come in and relocated him to a private room so that they would not continue to disturb the rest of the wards occupants, though if he had to guess he would say that quite a few of the rooms occupants were quite enjoying his misery at the sharp end of the Duke's daughter's tongue.
"Hello Satine," he tried.
"Don't try being funny Harry, I'm really angry with you right now and I'm sure Hermione will be too when she finds out."
"I didn't almost die on purpose," he said defensively.
"No you didn't nearly die, you actually died before they were able to bring you back."
"It wasn't my fault, even I'm not good enough to block five people firing on me almost simultaneously while having to block shots from hitting the people behind me."
"Well you had better practice more then, hadn't you," she returned finally.
He went to reply when the door opened and Aayla came inside.
"You finished telling my padawan off Lady Satine?" she asked with an amused look.
"For now, Knight Secura," she replied. "Thought I would recommend giving him latrine duty for the next two years if not longer."
"Hang on, that started of being a couple of months," protested Harry. "Stop increasing it every time it gets mentioned."
Aayla gave a slight chuckle.
"Well if you have finished with him, I need to speak to him privately if you don't mind."
"I'm just going," nodded Satine, before sending a last look at Harry. "I will speak to you again before you leave Harry and rest assured I will send Hermione a full account of what you have been up to."
As she walked out of the room Harry looked at the closing door in disbelief.
"I always thought padawans were supposed to have only one master, how did I end up with three, especially when two of them are practically the same age as me."
"Good luck probably," Aayla replied walking over to the chair by the bed while Harry muttered something about it not being 'good' luck.
"Is this going to be about Alema?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"Did you manage to talk her around?"
"I did say Harry that I was not going to try and do that, that I was just going to talk to her and you need to stop trying to free her right now."
"What!" he exclaimed in shock.
"Harry, her grandparents were slaves, her parents were slaves, they died shortly after she was born into slavery, she was raised by slaves, she was taught by slaves, the only people she has known well have been slaves, the only life she has ever known was as a slave, her thought processes are that of a slave, and the thought of not being a slave terrifies her the same way the idea of being a slave terrifies us."
"How can she be terrified of being free?" he asked confused.
"Think about it Harry, unlike when you were a slave she only had other slaves around her, she did not have a cousin who lived a completely different life just a few rooms away to compare herself to, to make her think her life was unfair. She was surrounded by slaves, she was brought up thinking like a slave and she never felt that there was another way of living for her so she never felt it was unfair. Also consider, you found out that there was another life laid out for you at Hogwarts when you were eleven, you were still young and your new path was given to you, she is almost an adult, her entire young life has been about training her to be the perfect slave, for her there is no other path."
"How does she know she would not like freedom if she hasn't tried it?"
"Think about it Harry, what would you have done if instead of being sent to Hogwarts, you had in fact just been turned out on the street and told 'there you go, you're free, do what you want', you'd have no money, no way of supporting yourself, no knowledge of what you should do, how to get the food to feed yourself, you would have been pretty much helpless."
"Yes but the Order would not do that would it?"
"Of course not, but the problem is we can't order her not to want to serve you because she is no longer supposed to be a slave which means we have to let her do what she wants as long as it's not against the law and it's not against Republic law to want to be a slave voluntarily and I think if we tried to stop her she would do everything in her power to get back to you, even if that meant sitting on the steps outside the Temple until you walked passed, no matter how long it took and no matter how little she ate or cared for her own health in that time. There is also the issue that she, unlike most of the others, is legally a slave, so when you rescued her she did technically become yours; I know Harry, you don't need to say it but that is the state of things. When you spoke sharply to her earlier I was shocked by her reaction, when I went and found her she didn't want me to see her crying, not because she didn't want me to see her like that, but because she did not want to let you down by allowing herself to be seen looking anything but her best, and when I asked her about why she thought you had refused her, do you know what she thought? She thought that you were trying to trick her into testing her loyalty to you, the idea that you would not want her as a slave did not even occur to her."
Harry said nothing for a moment, trying to understand the situation he was in, he had a slave, he did not want a slave, he could not own a slave, but he could not free her or tell her not be his slave.
"What should I do?" he asked.
"I do not know Harry, but for now we shall take her back to Coruscant with us, I think we will need the Council's help on this one."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know I am supposed to be cutting down on these notes but this needs to be said. Ok, something REALLY odd happened several days after I posted the last chapter, in one half hour period I got 20 reviews all from new reviewers, all including variations on the words 'Harry/Aayla/Alema', also 19 were all around the same length, all from people who I could not reply to and also several included requests for Hermione/Ani or Hermione/Chewbacca in a very similar fashion. Now call me paranoid, but the chances of 20 new readers (or first reviewers) all reading and reviewing (19 of the reviews being most similar) the same chapter of the same story several days after its been posted and all giving exactly the same pairing request (especially as there was a fairly high percent of Harry/Hermione or Harry/Aayla/Hermione fans amongst my readers) is so mathematically remote as to not be worth considering, so I know at least some of those 20 reviews, possibly most of them are by the same person using different names. Now as much as I like getting reviews for my story, please please PLEASE don't do multiple reviews for the same chapter unless you are saying something different in each one as although I consider it quite flattering as someone has obviously taken the time to fake at least some of these reviews, it does not reflect well on me as it makes it look as if I could be falsifying reviews to make my story look good, so I ask again please do not do this again.
Now just a quick note to say that I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I am actually very proud of it as I found it very challenging to write and I think it has turned out very well. Also I apologise for the wait, I have been putting off posting this until have the next chapter ready but its nowhere near ready yet but I though you deserved another chapter to read, enjoy.