Chapter Text
To be read to: Dangerous by Roxette (I grew up to this song.)
Mace pulled Zulfiya closer and kissed the top of her head as they watched the evening newscast. The journalist stood outside the Senate building reporting on the continued work of Senator Mothma on the Republic Department of Social Services reform bill. The pictures the Chandrilan Senator presented of the orphanages had worked wonders. An outraged public quickly demanded answers of the RDSS, the Senate, and best of all that slimy silooth Palpatine. Mace had to admit, it felt pretty good watching Palpatine sweat through difficult questions about the orphan situation, while he on the other hand, got to watch the interview with his arms around the most beautiful woman in the galaxy.
It was afterhours in the legal suite and the pair of them were stretched out on the green velvet couch in Zulfiya’s office; the remains of a late dinner on a side table. With the Jedi head counsel now living in the Temple meeting in her office was relatively simple. The outer doors were locked giving the pair forewarning should anyone try to come in, and no one ever questioned his coming to see her here. So long as they used discretion, they were able to meet every couple of days when he was in residence.
He had apologized to Zulfiya innumerable times for the inconsistency of their dates, but she only smiled and shook her head. “Mace,” she would say, “I knew what I was signing up for, quit worrying about it.” And every time he would marvel at how patient and understanding she was. He didn’t deserve her.
Once he had made the mistake once of telling her that, and she began laughing so hard that she could barely breathe. “Mace,” she sniggered wiping tears from her eyes, “that is where you are so, SO wrong. You deserve every ounce of me and then some.” And then after a few minutes of teasing that is exactly what she gave him. He warmed at the memory.
Tomorrow however he would be shipping out to assist Masters Kenobi and Krell. The battle on Umbarra was proving costly and Kenobi had requested Mace’s personal assistance. Apparently, he and Krell were not seeing eye to eye. He would be gone for a couple of weeks, and had hoped that tonight he would get more than dinner and a few snuggles.
However, Zulfiya was strict about her “no sex in the office” rule. “This is where I work, Mace,” she would say. “I’m already living here and sleeping with my boss. I need to set some boundaries between my personal and professional lives.”
“I’m not your boss. You’re mine,” he would counter.
“Mmmm, my paychecks say otherwise.”
But the newscast was almost at an end, and Zulfiya was idly stroking her hand down his chest. He was trying to think of some way to sneak her into his apartment when her comm went off. Zulfiya grabbed the device and quickly sat up placing the holo on mute. “It’s Senator Mothma,” she informed him putting the device up to her ear.
“Senator,” she greeted, “good evening.” Zulfiya stood up in her stocking feet and gently paced before the couch. She was funny that way, Mace thought. As an attorney she was used to standing to make her arguments and said she always spoke best on her feet. “Uh-huh,” she hummed while listening to the Senator and giving Mace a worried expression from the corners of her eyes. “I see,” she turned towards him and smiled. “You want to know where he is? Well Senator, you are in luck, because it just so happens that he’s with me right now. Uh-huh, we’ve been watching the evening broadcasts in my office while going over some procurement contracts.
Oh, don’t worry about me,” she continued. “I’m always working late.” The Senator must be mildly chastising her because Zulfiya sighed. “What? You’re working late. I’m working late. It’s a galaxy at war, Senator. It’s what we do. Here, I’m going to put you on speaker.” She set the comm down on the holo and pressed a button.
“Master Windu,” the senator greeted, “are you there?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a difficult man to find. But I knew if I called legal, I’d be able to track you down.”
Mace glanced towards Zulfiya’s smug smile. “Oh,” he stated dryly, “I wasn’t aware that Zulfiya was the ticket to finding me.”
But Senator Mothma replied dryer still. “Master Windu, you should know by now that a good lawyer always knows where the bodies are buried.” Zulfiya’s smile grew into a smirk.
“Don’t let that go to your head,” he quipped at her.
“Too late.”
The Senator gave a brief chuckle at their banter, but continued. “Thank you again for tipping me off about the state of the care facilities being provided by RDSS. I am being assured that the emergency funds granted to the service are improving conditions rapidly. Nevertheless, there are a few things I would like to discuss with you and Ms. Edain, in person if possible.”
Mace sighed, “How soon?”
“As soon as possible.” Zulfiya’s eyebrows shot up.
“It will have to be tonight. I’m shipping out for Umbarra tomorrow.”
“Actually,” Senator Mothma answered, “that would be perfect. How long will it take for you to get to Bail Organa’s apartment?” Zulfiya’s eyebrows shot up even higher and her spots turned a pale warning yellow. Why weren’t meeting at the senate building?
But Mace was unperturbed. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He made his goodbyes and hung up the comm. He sat back on the couch for a moment and looked at Zulfiya who was putting her shoes back on a grabbing a suit jacket.
“Don’t you think we should bring someone else with us? Someone on the council?” she asked.
“We should bring someone else, but we needn’t bother the council.”
***
“You want me to go where?” the young knight grumbled but then quickly let her temper deflate into annoyed whining. “Argh! Master Windu, you know I hate those stupid senate functions. Last time I accompanied you I had to smile for hours. My face hurt for a full two days afterwards.”
“No one said you had to smile,” he replied.
“Mace,” Zulfiya crossed her arms, “of course, she had to smile the entire time. She had to make up for you. That’s why we send you to those functions with someone. You need a smiling young woman nearby to make you look semi approachable.”
Mace’s eyebrows creased together. “That does explain why so many people were talking to me.” He scowled at the girl again as he reassessed his youngest knight. “Ok, from now on you may smile less.”
Poor Knight D’Ambra just stared at Zulfiya in incredulity and shook her head. Zulfiya was impressed that the girl was brave enough to complain to Mace. But she noted that so far, the knight hadn’t said no and was following them out of the room.
“D’Ambra, you know that Senator Organa adores you,” Mace admonished the girl, “and Chandrila is your home planet. Plus, this isn’t a function. This is a rather unorthodox meeting, and I want you there.”
Knight D’Ambra was pulling on her outer robe and pinning her heavy braids back into place as they walked quickly down the hallway. “You only want me there to charm the Senators and act as a buffer. You have Zulfiya for that.”
“I have Ms. Edain to keep track of what is being said, advise me legally, and to make sure that the senators know that I plan on acting within the bounds of Republic law. You, on the other hand are there to gauge the senators’ intentions.”
The girl stopped dead outside the garage. “I am not going to probe people’s minds for you. It’s rude!”
But Mace turned back on the girl. “You will do as you are ordered. I am not asking you to conduct an interrogation. I want you on the lookout for false meanings, lies, deceptions. There is no one in the Order better at this than you.”
Knight D’Ambra looked slightly mollified at his compliment, but still muttered, “I’m not going to take over your job someday, Master Windu.” Mace sighed before he gently steered her by the elbow.
“That’s what I used to say to Master Yoda. Now, get in the speeder.”
Zulfiya chuckled as the young woman let loose an overdramatic sigh, accompanied by an eye-roll and flopped into the backseat. Kitri D’Ambra was the Jedi Order’s only battle meditator outside of Master Yoda. And although the girl was only eighteen, she could get away with Kenobi levels of sass. Besides their reliance on the child’s abilities, Zulfiya knew the masters were horrified that they’d had to knight her so early. They let her get away with the type of impertinence typically only seen in the oldest and most cantankerous of masters; as if letting Kitri mouth off would somehow make up for stealing her childhood.
Zulfiya climbed into the front passenger seat. “And what fabulous plans did you have for this evening Knight D’Ambra?” she asked trying to smooth the girl’s ruffled feathers.
Kitri raised herself up on an elbow. “Absolutely nothing, that’s what was so fabulous. I’m supposed to be on leave. But since I’m a prisoner of the Temple - just like you - I don’t get to go anywhere.”
“Well now you get to go to Senator Organa’s apartment,” Mace responded, while he started the speeder. “Lucky you.”
***
Mace settled back onto a plush chair and accepted a cup of strong black caf from a servant droid. Ever the conscientious host, Senator Organa had purchased an anamind cake for Zulfiya. She took two slices of the Ulsan delicacy with her caf which was topped with foamy bantha milk. (Not really caf in Mace’s opinion, but he wasn’t stupid enough to say anything.) And across the room, Kitri chatted animatedly with Senator Mothma in her native Chandrilan.
He had never bothered to learn Chandrilan. It was hardly spoken outside its native sector, and everyone on the planet spoke Basic anyway. Speaking Chandrilan was seen as high-class attribute, but it was hardly worthwhile. Now Falleen, Huttese and Bochi those were languages worth learning. However, he needed Kitri D’Ambra to be seen as high-class. He wanted her to appear as a gentle and elegant influence on the Order to counter the unfortunate military focus they held at the moment. Despite her hesitancy, it was well understood by the council that the girl had the hutzpah to one day be order master. He needed the senate to both like Kitri and be a bit in awe of her.
However, insisting Kitri accompany them may have been a wasted effort as there were no other senators present. Even Padme Amidala wasn’t at this meeting; which was unusual. But perhaps the young woman had other places to be. Senator Organa entered the room to find them all assembled and took a seat as Kitri graciously excused herself from Senator Mothma and sat out of the line of sight of the senators.
“Alright,” Senator Mothma started, “we called you here because we have some very specific concerns about this issue with the RDSS orphanages.”
Mace’s heart beat picked up. “Concerns that can’t be expressed to the senate or the RDSS?”
“Quite frankly,” Senator Organa answered, “yes.”
Senator Mothma handed them all datapads. “We’ve discovered some alarming trends in the records, and we need them to be thoroughly investigated” she stated. Mace looked up at her thoughtfully before he started reading. Young though she was, Senator Mothma’s voice held a quiet authority.
Yet it was Zulfiya who spotted the problem first. “Every single Twi’lek female and Gamorrean male have been magically adopted,” she stated arching an eyebrow.
Kitri gasped from her spot behind the senators. “You’re right. And look, four human girls were all adopted at the same time, by the same family.” Mace shot the knight a warning look. She was supposed to be concentrating on the senators.
“How fascinating that the three most commonly enslaved species in the galaxy are the ones being adopted at such a fast pace.”
“Precisely,” Senator Mothma added, “and I hate to add that many of the placements of these children were with Zygerrian families.”
Mace’s heart dropped. “Stars,” he shuddered, “do you know the nest of gundarks this will unleash?”
“Which is why we need this investigated quietly,” Senator Organa intoned. “If we come out and start investigating these adoptions in the open, we will be accused of being speciesist.”
“The Zygerrian’s will deny everything and claim we are making false accusations,” Senator Mothma worried.
But Zulfiya wasn’t as diplomatic, and she jumped to her feet. “Do you know how damn many times the Jedi have cleaned up the Zygerrian slave markets? Now, you are asking them to do it again. If the Republic cared about slavery at all it would have a constant watch over this issue, but it turns a blind eye every time!” Mace grabbed Zulfiya by the back of the jacket but she shrugged him off and began speaking in a deep mocking voice that sounded suspiciously like Palpatine. “Oh, dear, the Zygerrian’s have started capturing slaves again. Hmmm…and now the citizenry has found out and my poll numbers are slipping. I guess I’ll just send in the Jedi. Let’s let a few of them die over this lost cause, because there is no way I’m going to invest any time or effort into supporting their efforts afterwards.”
Kitri was actively biting down on her hand to keep from laughing, and Senator Mothma’s eyes were the size of teacups. Mace loudly cleared his throat and pulled Zulfiya back. However, she continued to argue. “Let me go,” she bit as her spots turned an angry magenta. “I don’t have to be apolitical like you. I’m still a private citizen, and I can say whatever I damn well please.”
Organa was extremely amused. “Good for you, speaking your mind. Too many people follow Palpatine blindly.”
“Well, I’d rather rot than let that leach lead me by the nose.”
Organa continued to stare admiringly Zulfiya. For a moment Mace had to stop himself from glaring. You’re already married to a queen, he thought, leave mine alone. But the senator turned to address Mace. “Master Windu,” he smiled as Zulfiya huffed, “I congratulate you. I wish our attorneys showed half the spirit as yours.”
Mace tried to keep his face as impassive as possible, but he still felt the slightest flush. Why did Zulfi have to choose right now to let her temper flare? She was so sexy when she was angry. He loved it when she was passionate about something. It reminded him of her in a more…primal state.
But Organa focused again on Zulfiya. “I don’t disagree with you, Ms. Edain. But you know better than anyone that we need hard evidence if we are to make any headway into what exactly is happening with these children.”
Mace took a deep breath letting go of his desire for Zulfiya. He might want to carry her into the first bedroom he could find, but that wasn’t an option right now. Across the room Kitri was giving him an all-clear signal. It seemed that the senators really did want investigation into this issue, and for the right reasons. But to his even greater surprise Senator Mothma directly addressed the 8000-pound mudhorn in the room. Her voice took on a cynical tone.
“You know, Ms. Edain,” she stated, “I don’t blame you for your anger. You are hardly the first to express to me your dislike of the current leadership, or your disgust at the politicization of humanitarian issues. But that’s why I want to represent the people of Chandrila. I want to be a voice of positive change and reason.”
The young senator shook her head. “And as hard as I try, even I am brought low by politics. As awful as it has been to discover these issues, my advisors tell me that this crusade has brought my approval rating on Chandrila, and within the wider Republic, to an all-time high.”
Mace’s mouth moved into a grim line. He knew perfectly well the High Council was subtly playing politics when they told Senator Mothma about the orphans. It wasn’t their first aim when they gave her the information, but it did help to have a few decent alternatives to Palpatine’s rule should he ever finally be thrown from office or, better yet, step down. If the public liked this erstwhile Chandrilan, so much the better.
“Never fear, Ms. Edain,” Senator Mothma added. “All we are asking for is an investigation into these so-called adoptions. And we need it done before anybody can cover their tracks. We won’t ask for anything illegal.”
“But I notice that you haven’t brought the High Chancellor, or anyone else into this,” the attorney muttered.
“Do you want us to inform Palpatine?” Organa asked.
“No,” she, Mace and Kitri all answered at once.
But Mace had heard enough. “Very well,” he started getting up to show the meeting was at and end. “I will send a team to investigate these matters.” He turned to Zulfiya, “Ms. Edain, I think it best that you accompany them.”
Zulfiya practically jumped. “Master Windu,” she breathed uncomfortably, “I am hardly field personnel.”
“No,” he answered, “but you’ll be accompanied by all the security I can muster. I need someone investigating this that understands the law. Plus, you were a prosecutor. You’ll know whether or not there is a case to be had.”
Zulfiya’s eyebrows were practically touching her hair. “OK, but I’m bringing a deputy with me.”
“That’s fine.”
The senators were now standing as well and began thanking them for their time. Just then Senator Organa asked, “Oh Master Windu, may I ask one more favor.”
Mace scowled as he turned around. “It’s nothing troubling,” Organa inquired, “but I know that my wife would like to see Kitri again. She became quite endeared to us while on Alderaan, and I would so like her to be able to see the planet when she’s not worried about investigating Separatist plots.”
Mace met Kitri’s eyes, and they were glowing with excitement. “I don’t know,” Mace answered. Kitri was more than capable of caring for herself, but the council still kept a close watch on her. The girl was an extremely valuable asset. However, the young knight was pleading with him. Please, please, please.
Zulfiya gently tugged at his sleeve and gave him the tooka eyes on Kitri’s behalf.
“Very well,” he answered. Any other knight wouldn’t need his permission to go somewhere. It was wrong to treat the girl as a padawan, even if he was still worried that Dooku would try to kidnap her again. “But you are to stay within the palace security parameters.”
“Yes, Master. Thank you,” the girl curtsied.
***
Thank goodness they were able to leave Knight D’Ambra back with the senators. Surely the young woman would have taken particular notice of Zulfiya’s plans once she got Mace back in the speeder. “You know,” she said to him, “we aren’t that far from my apartment. I’d like to go check it out, make sure everything is alright.”
“Oh,” Mace answered, “I’m sure everything is fine. You know you can call your super and ask him to look in on things.”
Honestly, she thought, was the man really this dense? Maybe he was just tired. In that case, maybe she should just let him head home for the night? But then again, they wouldn’t see each other for weeks. “No,” she stated firmly, “I really do want to check on it personally. Besides,” she let her voice soften, “I’m sure I forgot something in my guest bedroom.”
“What would you have left in there?” he asked, but then finally caught on. “Oh! Yes, of course, you’re right. You should probably check in.”
***
The apartment door closed behind them with the stale smell of a place that had not been lived in for over a month. Zulfiya dropped her handbag on the floor and hit the lights. However, Mace walked straight up behind her and swept her into his arms. “Whaa…” she called out in surprise, but then started giggling like a teenager as he carried her down the hall towards the guest bedroom and tossed her onto the bed. He then bounced down beside her grinning like a new moon.
Zulfiya’s heart melted. She loved it when he was like this; happy, even playful. She reached out and held his face. What she wouldn’t give to be with him like this always. To just live a normal life with this man whom she adored. She knew it was self-indulgent, to imagine a life together they could never have. Scud, her mother was right. How could anyone ever compare after Mace? And they’d never have more than these stolen moments. Always living in the fear of getting caught. He’d tire of it eventually; tire of her.
But then he pulled her close and gently rubbed her back. “I’m not going to get tired of you, Zulfiya,” he whispered. “I waited too long to have you; too long to have anything.”
She jerked her eyes open. “Were you reading my mind?” she accused sitting up.
“And so what if I was?” he answered bemusedly. “If you don’t want your thoughts to be read, don’t project your worries for the galaxy to see.”
“For the galaxy to see?” she folded her arms. “Mace there are only 10,000 people in a galaxy of hundreds of billions who could do what you just did.”
“Well, that’s your fault for dating me,” he replied. Zulfiya pursed her lips in annoyance and Mace swallowed. “I’m not getting any now, am I?”
“Just for that you shouldn’t,” but she leaned down and kissed his pouting lips. “But then again you did just promise you’d never tire of me, and I know that I can be quite tiresome. And for that alone,” she started unbuttoning her blouse, “I think I can relent.”