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"Yes I can see how we could do that, I could ask for the two of them personally to come out to judge Komari's progress as it is well-known that I respect them more than I respect the rest of the High Council. Though I doubt that they would come alone, they would probably bring one of the others. But how would that start a schism?" Dooku said, his voice noticeably calmer than Lily or Aayla's.
"We would get them both on our side on the issue between Harry and Aayla. Yet they would be unable in turn to make the rest of the High Council agree to leaving you two together once it became known that Harry was the reason behind the new techniques Clan Saa has been introducing. There are many portions of the vision I could not make out, but essentially, the High Council splits, and Master Yoda is forced to step down and retire from his position on it with only Master Windu and Micah on our side. I think you can guess what would happen eventually once the truth of your bond came out. It would not come out all at once of course, but it would come out."
"So we have to meet with the entire Council daring whatever original disaster was supposed to take place if I go to Coruscant, which is why you told Aayla to teach me her version of Force Stealth." Harry said musingly, leaning back. "But who are we hiding from?"
"I wish I knew. I tried to see if it was indeed an individual or a group or some other reason, but I could not feel the truth of the matter." Fay said shaking her head. This had been the most frustrating series of meditations on an issue she could remember. Normally she was able to discern a path for herself and in recent years Harry but the Dark Side was so strong now, and this issue so complicated, that discerning a single path forward was the next thing to impossible.
"Lily could well be another issue, but once we are within Temple environs hopefully that will be enough. It was never her being on Coruscant that caused the disaster, it was you Harry. I'm sorry, but that hasn't changed. You'll need to be very careful about using your Force powers while we're there, and I want you able to fool my senses let alone anyone else's before we get there."
"I find it interesting, that you haven't mentioned one other possibility." Lily said tartly. "If the Order is still so against attachments, love and emotions then what's to stop us from simply leaving and heading somewhere out in the Outer Rim?" she asked, looking down at her son.
Dooku stiffened at that, understanding what Lily was implying. She wasn't talking about just leaving Sorenno, or going off into the hinterlands of the Outer Rim without checking in with the Order and letting Quinlan handle the fallout. Lily was talking about leaving the Order entirely.
This was a perfect example in his mind of why divided allegiances were never a good idea when it came to Jedi. But Lily's loyalty wasn't even divided, it was to Harry, period, full stop. Their discussions over the past week had told him that much and he couldn't really argue with her on that point considering what happened to the boy before she came back from the dead. Even if he still had only the vaguest notion of how that had happened.
"Darkness," Fay said simply then smiled wanly at her friend's surprise. "Did you think I wouldn't think of that Lily?" she asked, her own eyes going slightly cold for a moment. Harry had become her son as well over the last few years after all, and she had never really had much truck with the Order's totalitarian organization. She wouldn't abandon her duty as a Jedi, but nor would she have stood in Lily's way on this if it was the best way forward.
"But that vision was actually the strongest of them all. If you take Harry and Aayla and leave, Harry and Aayla will live a happy decently long life, but the Dark Side will grow ever stronger, and then," she leaned back now, looking weary and old for the first time Harry had ever seen. "Then the Order is gone, I know not how, I see visions of wars, but that is all, and suddenly there is no longer any Light in the universe, because even the three of you fall to it eventually."
Lily frowned, but retorted, "That seems awfully convenient. I think that the Order has benefited just as much as Harry has so far, but if they're going to start intruding into the bond between him and Aayla again, then I'm sorry to say that my priority is Harry's safety and happiness. If it can't be done within the Order, then maybe we should look elsewhere."
"I wouldn't be willing to do that anyway mom," Harry said interjecting and bringing both women's eyes to him. "Aayla isn't my only friend within the Order, and besides, it…it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be right to leave the Order after all it's done for us, and it wouldn't be right to leave the Order in the lurch like that if I can make a difference to this encroaching darkness." Next to him Aayla nodded wordlessly, squeezing his hand hard. She wouldn't be willing to just leave the Order either.
Dooku spoke, his aged face set in grim lines. "The Dark Side is growing regardless of your presence padawan Potter. Indeed it has been growing for decades though we did not realize it until recently. But I will say that your abilities, and frankly the fact that your bond is of the Light gives me much more hope for the future then I had before Master Yoda and Clan Saa began to share your techniques with the rest of the Order."
"Are we so certain that they will even try to separate us?" Aayla spoke up for the first time her voice coming out small and worried to her ears.
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