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Yoda just looked at her, and Aayla stilled, her arm falling back to her side. "Grandmaster I am. Made this decision I did not, but responsibility mine is still." Master Giiett too moved forward despite also not having been involved in that decision as did Plo Koon a second after his friend.
With that example to live up to the other masters all moved forward as well, sticking their fingers into the yellow water as one. Then they were somewhere else as:
Aayla/the various masters groggily became aware of the world around her/them, her/their eyes fluttering in their sockets and she/they groaned, muttering in standard, "What the heck hit me?" The Jedi Masters felt ill, sick to their stomachs, and weak, weaker than any of them could ever remember, their minds suddenly unable to focus.
"Nothing yet, I wanted you awake for this," said a sinister voice, though at first Aayla/the council master could not place where she/they had heard it before. Then Bib Fortuna leered town at her, and Aayla suddenly realized that she was naked, and that she was tied down to a bed of some kind.
Horrified shock resounded through the masters, especially the women, and more than one tried to reach out to the Force as Aayla did, But she/they couldn't, Aayla's mind, who they were now suck in too groggy. The drugs in her system inhibiting her ability to concentrate, and they couldn't even bring up the strength to purge them. But unlike Aayla's emotions at first, the masters had no buffer to the emotions now cascading through them at being so helpless. Even the aliens like Yaddle and Yoda knew something bad was going on here, and they were powerless to stop it.
A medical droid hovered behind Bib, and he laughed evilly. "You were made my dear. You and your Master are both dead now, it's just a matter of time. Of course, if you make it worth my while, I might be persuaded to let you live a little longer…" he said leering down at Aayla's form, sending another paroxysm through the masters who were now riding through the memory.
Above their/Aayla's body the one she had recognized as Bib Fortuna sighed. "Pity, that gas seems to have a longer effect on Twi'leks than it would humans, but oh well, I'll still have my fun. First however we'll have to give you another injection just to make sure you stay… compliant. And another one to take that a little further. You'll enjoy yourself my dear, whether you want to or not…"
As the droid came towards her/them, the needle like a spear jutting into their soul, the masters all felt the despair, the hopelessness, welling up within Aayla. Yet like her, they couldn't do anything, merely riding along, as the memory continued.
But then there was another mind there, in the original memory rather than joining the passengers and they felt, for just a brief moment, what Aayla felt. Harry was there, his arms around her mentally, their connection flaring in her/their head as he reached through it. Somehow the young man used that connection to take control of Aayla's body, pushing her own Force powers through her body in the techniques needed to purge her body of the drug. "Aayla! I'm here!"
More than one of the High Council members fell to their knees as they came out of the pensieve, shaking and shaken to their cores by the helplessness of it, the up-rushing fear and the sudden explosive joy and hope at the end. It made the Trial of Spirit seem like a children's first trip to a haunted house in comparison.
Mace did not. He wobbled, but he remained standing, turning like he was on a turn stile towards Aayla, before slowly sinking to his knees, bending his head to touch the ground. "I had no idea." He said honestly, his voice a hoarse caricature of its normal timbre. "I had no idea that it would feel like that, I, this is beyond…"
To his side Master Gallia also stepped forward as she pushed herself off her feet, while Master Billaba was so distraught she had rushed past the others, heading toward the open sides of the council chamber in order to throw up over the edge of it. Some of those who had not been directly involved in the decision making were somewhat better off, like Master Koon, Giiett, Piell and Ranicisis. Tiin, Pouf and Koth were all reeling, shocked to the point they couldn't get off their knees despite not having been involved in the original decision to send Aayla on that mission.
While Billaba was busy throwing up Adi looked around at her fellows, her face at least four shades paler than it normally was. "I, I am stepping down from this august body. I cannot in good conscience remain a part of it after being involved in such a, such a horrible mistake. Indeed, it calls into question several other missions we have assigned to various knights and masters in the past. If they could go wrong so badly..."
To everyone's surprise Aayla shook her head sternly. "That doesn't make me feel any better Master. The apology does, as does knowing that you know what I went through. But now that you do, stay on the council and make sure the same thing doesn't happen again to some other padawan who doesn't have a Force bonded boyfriend who can ride to the rescue."
"Agreed," said the other really short Master, the one who looked sort of like Yoda with at least an extra foot of height and a far powerful looking body. Harry hadn't seen that species before, but this guy looked like a warrior, and he threw off his the feeling evoked from the memory quickly while everyone else joined into a sort of relieved chuckle at Aayla's quip.
"Undercover work is always dangerous, but we need to realize what kind of opposition any Jedi knight could run into at any given moment. This time, we were very, very lucky. We cannot expect to be lucky again, but we need again to realize what can happen, and take part in it." He sighed shaking his head. "We Jedi often forget that male and female do indeed matter beyond these walls, but we cannot afford to do so."
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