Triumph

 

The sun rose over the vast city of Coruscant, truly a metropolis that never slept. As the first rays of morning fell on the stately towers of the Jedi Temple, a figure on a balcony closed his eyes to bask in the glow. From his vantage-point halfway up the imposing south edifice, the city lay around and below him in a grey maze.

A satisfied sigh escaped his lips.

In the apartment behind him, no life stirred with the coming of morning. On the thick carpet of the living area, a prone individual lay sprawled, one arm twisted to an impossible angle.

Lengthy dark hair was stained a darker-than-natural crimson in a halo of blood that spread under her pale cheek. Seeping into the carpet, the red life fluid still flowed gently from a large head wound.

The living area was sunken, with two steps leading down to it from the sleeping quarters. On the top step, a carefully placed iron doorstop sat innocently, pushed onto its side seemingly by the force of an ill-placed foot.

Next to the body itself, the sharp corner of the low stone table was covered in blood and gore. Cause of death would not be hard to establish.

On the balcony, the lone figure turned his face from the warm rays of Coruscant's sun and stepped inside the apartment. Crossing to where the body of the blind woman lay, he looked down at her with a strange mixture of relief and regret. Angry words bubbled up within him.

"Now he is mine again, harlot. Mine only!"

No answer came, though the killer saw himself reflected in her glassy eyes, unseeing now as they had been since Melida-Daan.

Calmly, he let himself out the door, careful not to leave fingerprints.

 

*������� *������� *

 

Half an hour later, Qui-Gon Jinn responded to his insistently ringing door-chime. Mace Windu stood there, his face grim.

Quietly, he told his old friend of the death of Tahl.

Qui-Gon's face crumpled in grief. Mace gripped the Jedi's arm briefly in a rare gesture of sympathy before leaving him to his grief. There was a Council meeting to attend.

Coming up behind his Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi wrapped his arms around the tall Jedi and buried his face in the shoulder of his robe.

Only then did he allow himself a smile of triumph.

 

 

Xehra Bethe

 

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