Kenobi and Cordelia stuck close together as they navigated the streets of Nar Shaddaa.
The moon wasn't anything special; in fact, it was very much the opposite. It had the same look and feel as the Coruscant Underworld. The entire sector was all steel and concrete. There were millions of people squished into every nook and cranny. It was a place that people came to get lost in. It was smelly and disgusting and damp, so pretty much the personification of the Hutts themselves.
There were railings that prevented the unwitting civilian from toppling thousands of feet into whatever material made up the surface of Nar Shaddaa. Grimy joints that varied from clothing stores to droid shops to shifty looking doctor's offices lined the sector, all in the same dingy metal as the streets.
A variety of shaped lights glowed neon in the dim sector, flashing the opposite facade pink and green. The air was musty. It smelled of sweat and bodies and garbage, along worse things. There was also the metallic edge of dirty steel.
There were people pressing in on them from all sides, forcing Kenobi and Cordelia closer together. Their shoulders were touching as they shoved their way through the thick crowd.
Kenobi kept brushing his arm against his waist, feeling for his saber. It was a subconscious act in crowds like this, which were easy to "lose" items in.
They made a turn and the cantina, called Solari's, entered into view. The crowd had thinned exponentially on this block. Kenobi jaw tightened as he sensed a cold, dark aura coming from within Solari's. Dooku. Cordelia stiffened next to him.
"I sense Darth Tyranus." she stated darkly. Kenobi stopped immediately, his suspicions shooting up. The Gray stopped and gave him a concerned look.
"What is it?" she asked confusedly.
"Dooku. You called him Tyranus. Why?" he asked suspiciously. That was new information to the Jedi Order. How would she know this? Cordelia's cheekbones raised as she smiled beneath the cloth.
"Haven't you figured it out by now, Obi-Wan?" she asked, her voice purring. "We Gray know a lot of things about both sides. It's part of our job. We know about Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, born of the Force to rebalance it, the one theorized to be the Chosen One of Mortis. We know the location of the Darksaber and what happened to Revan during his disappearance. We know a great many things." Kenobi's eyebrow raised.
"You said the Chosen One of Mortis?" he repeated. He had fuzzy memories of his, Anakin, and Anakin's former padawan, Ahsoka Tano's time trapped on Mortis. The Father, Son, Daughter, their deaths... It was strange. Like a dream, yet a memory, and somehow this woman knew about it. That was something between only them and Master Yoda.
"Of course." she replied flippantly. "We are the keepers of the prophecy. Why do you think Master Qui-Gon was so insistent on taking the boy into the Order in the first place?" she asked him. Kenobi thought on this.
Master Qui-Gon had been quite stuck on the idea of training Anakin, even threatening to go against the council when they said no. Following his own path wasn't uncommon for his master to do, but it was strange why he cared so much about Skywalker becoming a Jedi. This new piece of information sent Kenobi's mind buzzing. Cordelia continued on. She realized she had got him.
"Anakin is the Chosen One of a single prophecy out of the dozens that surround the orders. Some that have come true, some that have not, and some are yet to be. But the events that are to happen at Mortis are to be the first of many that will rebalance the Force." Cordelia said. So she didn't know that Mortis had already happened. Interesting.
"If you knew Dooku was Tyranus, does that mean you know about Sifo-Dyas?" Kenobi asked carefully.
"Yes. We know Dooku involved himself in the creation of the clones and had murdered Sifo-Dyas, but that is it." Kenobi had a flare of anger in his chest, one released and before continuing.
"And you kept this from the Council." he stated bluntly. Cordelia shrugged nonchalantly, like they were talking about the weather, not a murder plot.
"We only reveal information when it is critical to maintaining the balance. We do not cause one side to have an advantage over the other. It is not our way. How would the Jedi feel if we divulged sensitive information of the Republic to the Separatists?" she asked him. He weighed the significance of what she said and accepted it. Understood it. He started walking again.
"So you don't know anything of Dooku's master?" Kenobi asked once again, his hope slipping away. The Count was once a Jedi Knight, a trusted friend, before he betrayed the Order. His master, however, the Sith Lord... They didn't even know a name and if Cordelia is telling the truth, neither did they.
"No." she answered, shaking her head. "Just that he killed Plagueis the Wise. This lack of information makes us very uneasy." Kenobi sighed. "Tell me about it." he stated.
"Obi-Wan?" she asked meekly as she stopped short of walking into Solari's Cantina. She turned her eyes on him again. They were soft, sad.
"Let's keep this between us. The Abominations of the Force, Plagueis, everything." she asked simply. Kenobi raised an eyebrow.
"And why is that?" he responded. She looked down at her feet.
"Well, we keep the Abominations secret to prevent any temptation to read them. I wasn't supposed to tell you, but I trust you. Plus I wasn't exacting thinking straight at the time. I was still a little woosy." she told him sheepishly. Kenobi gave her a look.
"You know I have to tell Masters Windu and Yoda." he replied. She nodded. "That's alright. I trust them. I just don't want the whole Order to know." Kenobi pinched the bridge of his nose.
"My question is, what's stopping Sykes from revealing this information to Dooku?" he asked. Cordelia turned forward.
"He doesn't know it." She stepped into the cantina, gesturing for Obi-Wan to follow. "Do you know how our hierarchy works?" Cordelia asked.
"A little bit." Kenobi said, their conversation pausing as they walked through the door.
The cantina was what you would expect. Dark, dingy, dirty, the works. Vagabonds and criminal scum were everywhere. The tables covered in grime, a few suspicious looking stains on the floor, barely clean glasses. Posters covered the walls and aliens and humans from all over the galaxy filled the booths. Weequays, Ithorians, Zabraks, Twi'Leks, you name it. A waiter came and dropped two drinks on their table as they sat down in booth hidden in the corner.
"Uhh, we didn't order these." Cordelia said as the waiter, who was a species Kenobi didn't recognize, walked away. He ignored the Gray. She pushed hers away.
"Probably spiked." she stated. Kenobi made a face as he noticed a dark stain on the table. Well, at least he didn't have to eat anything here. He looked at the Gray from across the table.
"So the hierarchy works like this: There are initiates, who would be the equivalent to a youngling. An abecedarian, which would be a padawan." she said as she looked around the room for Sykes.
"An adept would be a knight and an elder would be a master. But we don't have a council, like you. We have the Palatial Elder. She is the leader. Under her are the six Elders, three of Bogun, three of Ashla." she explained.
"Dark and light. Those are very ancient terms." Kenobi noted. "Indeed." she replied, finally turning those eyes back on him.
"Then, under the three, there is an Ashla Adept and a Bogun Adept who are to trained to take over the Elders place. Under them is the rest of the Elders and Adepts."
"And you're the Ashla Adept." Kenobi commented. She began to tap her fingers gently on tabletop.
"Yes. They chose me a while ago. That's why I know so much. I am to be an Elder of Ashla, once Elder Q'Cek steps down. Biron's just a normal Adept." The general nodded. "I followed that." Cordelia nudged her chin ever so gently to the side.
"Someone is over there. I bet they're waiting for Biron to take him to that secret meeting room. I can't tell who it is though. I'm also having trouble sensing Dooku now unfortunately." she said, her voice carrying an edge. She gave an annoyed grunt as two Weequay pirates moved in front of the unknown contact.
"'allo, what do we 'ave 'ere?" the left pirate yelled over the noise of the cantina.
"Oh no." Kenobi groaned, dropping his forehead into his hand. "Hondo's crew?" he asked, lifting his head. "'ondo's crew." Cordelia sighed.
"Don't know, and don't have the time." she drawled, lifting her hand. "You will go bother someone else." she canted as she moved her hand slightly to the side, mind tricking the pirate.
"We will go bother someone else." he repeated, voice dreamlike and slurred. His head pulled slightly to the side.
"You will not bother us again." she commanded with a small, circular motion of her fingers. "We won't bother you again." he said.
"Move along." The two moved on to a table across the way with two pretty Twi'leks. The contact was still alone. Cordelia slid an elbow over the back of the booth.
"That was impressive." Kenobi remarked. She flashed him a smile. "Why thank you master Jedi." she said, pleased with the compliment.
"So, what was that all about?" she asked him, putting her forearms on the table and interlocking her fingers. He leaned back in response.
"Long story. We have a strange alliance with a pirate named Hondo Ohnaka." A dark eyebrow shot up immediately.
"Strange alliance?" she questioned, scanning the crowd once again. "It's a complicated relationship. One second he is helping the Republic, the next he is firing something at us."
"Sounds like a great guy." she drawled looking over her shoulder. Kenobi chuckled. "Oh he is a unique fellow alright." he replied. Suddenly, Cordelia jumped to his side of the booth and slid extremely close to Kenobi. She put her right hand on the back of his neck and propped herself up on his left leg.
"Oh, umm..." he stammered in confusion. He tensed up immediately. "Shh. Sykes is right behind me." she whispered, putting a gloved hand on the side of his face. Her eyes screamed her concern. "If he notices us now, the plan will fail." she ran the back of her fingers down his cheek and his jaw. The touch sent chills down his spine.
"Is he still there?" she asked softly, playing with his hair. Kenobi quickly looked past the Gray. "Is he the Devaronian in the cloak?" he asked, his mind finally catching up enough to start playing the part. He put an arm around her waist and his other hand on her hip.
"Yes." he slid his eyes away from her again. Sykes was talking to someone right next to their booth. He could clearly see the traitor's face. His skin was a reddish color. The hood covered his horns, creating two small points at the top of the fabric. His eyes were a vivid yellow and when he spoke, Kenobi could see his pointed teeth behind his lips. He had a large, muscular stature underneath his cloak. He made a motion with his hand, flicking the fabric open. Kenobi caught a glimpse of a double-bladed lightsaber before it rested against his body again.
"He is still there." he whispered, looking her in the eyes. He could see flecks of blue and yellow in her irises. The two of them were so close that with each of his breaths, an escaped lock of hair fluttered against her cheekbone. Obi-Wan reached over and tapped the comm link on his wrist. It blinked white. A second later it blinked green.
"Cody's on his way." he said as Sykes leaned his hand against the side of their booth. He made no acknowledgement of the two of them. Cordelia put a hand on his chest.
"Good." she said, sliding her fingers up to his shoulder. Kenobi had the urge to pull the cloth away and see the face beneath, but didn't. He could see her features in his mind and didn't know if that made it better or worse.
Instead, he played along and put a hand up to her jaw. He flicked his eyes over to Sykes and back to Cordelia. He was still talking, but began to walk backwards towards the Separatist contact. He turned around and headed towards the booth.
"Sykes just sat down with the contact." he informed. "Good. We just have to wait for Cody then." she replied, rubbing his neck. It felt nice. Her body was small and narrow, but well muscled under his hands. He tugged her in closer.
Her eyes were in now shadow, but he could still see the green and grays in them. Her gloved fingers were soft against his bearded jaw, shifting so she brushed her thumb against his cheek. Her eyes were thoughtful as she examined his face. Kenobi couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking. Her cheekbones raised as she smiled.
"You smell nice." she said. Kenobi laughed. "Why thank you." he chuckled, touching his forehead to hers for a breath before pulling away. His comm link blinked again.
"Cody is ready." he told her, all their mirth gone. Cordelia turned her head and looked at Sykes. Her aura coldened. "Let's go get him."