29. The Explanation

The Jedi Temple, Coruscant Windu pov

I exhaled a sigh. only a few minutes had passed since Yoda left, yet i wasn't tired. it would seem my new body no longer required sleep. other than an immense hunger for meat, I wasn't hungry, either. it was strange, almost foreign, this new body the Queen gave me. I rolled onto my back, and glanced at the door. the guards had left the room with Yoda, leaving only the two outside to keep me in. I got up off my bed and sat on the floor to meditate. the force seemed significantly more active around me than it used to, and this was understandable as I was no longer technically human anymore. I could tell that I no longer required food or drink, though I could still partake in order to keep up appearances. my body now had an insane degree of force sensitivity, and it seemed that the force itself wanted to help me as best it could. I also had an immunity to toxins, illness and disease, as well as hot and cold. living on planets like Mustafar, Tatooine or Hoth without any form of protective gear would be a cinch. only then did I realize someone had entered the room and seemed to be waiting. I brought my meditation to a close, and opened one eye. it was Qui Gon Jiin.

I immediately noticed the tray of fruit in his hands.

"You can leave the food on the bed."

"Windu, how are you? Are you doing alright physically? Mentally?"

"Qui Gon. if you knew the order was going to die, would you leave and try to preserve as much of it as you could? or would you stay and fight, possibly dying as well, without knowing if anything you did even made a difference?" I let a bit of fear, anxiety and despair leak into my aura, making sure he felt it.

"That.. that is a difficult question. Why? Did you see something?"

"War. Countless corpses littering the halls of the temple, all of them Jedi, Padawans, even young-lings. Then there's something about an Order 66. I don't know what it means, but I know its not good." I put a bit of panic into my voice, and started pacing as I spoke. Qui Gon could clearly tell I was agitated and stressed, that what i saw was slowly driving me insane. It was all an act, but he didn't need to know that.

He grabbed my shoulders. "Calm down! Do you remember anything from when you where unconscious?"

So, I told him everything. the emptiness of the Void, the strange presence and the words that seemed to swim in my brain, the feeling of falling, seeing a big black insectoid of near human proportions on a glowing red throne. Her saying that I still had work to do in the world of the living, and that she would alter my body so that I would be more likely to survive getting my head cut off or my heart destroyed. I purposefully left out the fact that I belonged to her, mind body and soul.

"She waved her hand, and everything faded. the next thing I knew, I was here, on my bed. then the vision came. I can regenerate lost limbs, so these cybernetics aren't necessary. I just didn't regenerate them yet because normal humans can't just randomly regrow lost limbs."

"Your speaking as if..."

"As if I'm not human? That would be correct. I am no longer human, and maintaining a perception filter is hard work for a Voidling. In case your wondering, a perception filter simply alters an individuals perception of how I appear or what my aura feels like according to how I set the filter. I can't simply 'change' what I look like at the drop of a hat, but I can make myself significantly less noticeable. its a useful skill, truly. it is simply unfortunate that it consumes so much energy."

Jedi Temple, Coruscant. Qui Gon Pov

"So, in short, whoever this 'Void Queen' of his is, she is immensely powerful if she can mutate a human being to such a degree."

"Hrmm. If regenerate, he can, hesitate, why does he?"

"He fears becoming a laboratory experiment. at least that would be my guess. he simply stated that humans cannot spontaneously regenerate lost limbs and that he would wait until he got permission to do so."

"Is he a threat to the order?"

"I don't believe so, Master Tiin. I only ever sensed extreme caution and fear, almost to the point of being a minor paranoia. He said that while he remembers his past in the Order, it felt like he was watching a recording of someone else's life. it didn't feel like it was really him doing those things. At least, not to him."

"Was he in any way hostile?"

"No, Master Shak Ti. More agitated and hesitant to trust, though he seemed to trust me based off of what ever memories of the previous Windu were still left. I would like to recommend slowly attempting to reintegrate him into the order, but without an official rank until we know more about who he is now. perhaps assigning a Temple Guard to escort him where ever he needs to go."