fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, April 24]

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Ethics [Thursday, April 24]

As Anakin paced around the Danger room, he looked like he hadn't really gotten a good night's sleep in a few days.

Which was very true. Spending time in a swamp wasn't great for the back.

"Welcome to your Ethics final," he said, pacing around the room. "I will provide you with a series of scenarios. Go through each and provide the answers that best fit what you have learned through this class. Then explain your choice."

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"That's a lot to take on faith," he said softly, approval tinging his voice. "Any buffer for you?"

Karal shook his head. "It's not the first time I've had to act as a channel, though." And he still had nightmares of the Iftel border.

"And how did it work previously?" Anakin asked.

His focus had always been unnerving.

"It hurt a lot." He shivered, remembering it. "I stood inside a magic barrier and three mages sent magic through me. It gets stronger when you channel it, and they used the power to help raise the breakwater."

Anakin hissed in a breath. "And will this count as four? Or eight? Does it add up expodentially?"

"Eight, and I don't know. But a mage channel magnifies power." He looked up and met Anakin's eyes, not saying anything, but the knowledge that he could die, how scared he was, was at the forefront of his mind. Right then, it wouldn't have taken a Jedi to see it.

Edited 2008-04-27 10:01 (UTC)

"What happens if the magestorms hit?" Anakin asked softly.

What if you don't do this insanely dangerous thing? was the unspoken question.

"If the storms hit, people will die, the storms, they destroy in the physical plane, and they mutate people and animals and plants, twist them into monsters. They disrupt active magics, which means any shielding will fail, and there is more destruction held behind shields. Two thousand years ago, the same storms caused the Cataclysm; there are still parts of the world so poisoned no one can live there," he said quietly, hands folded around his Vkandis medal. "No one else can trigger the device. There is only me."

Edited 2008-04-27 20:56 (UTC)

Anakin listened closely, evaluating everything. "Is there a mage ready to aid you like they will aid the others?"

"There can't be. The power they're shielding the others from - and they're strong mages, Altra will be one of them and they won't let their shields fall," he said earnestly. "Is what I have to channel. It wouldn't work. I have to do it myself."

Anakin hissed in a breath.

"I'd rather you come back alive," he said quietly.

"So would I," he said, managing a shaky smile. "If this is the price that has to be paid, I'll pay it. I know Vkandis Sunlord will be waiting for me. But," he wrapped his fingers tightly around the medal, and said in a very small voice what he hadn't said to anyone else, "I don't want to die."

Edited 2008-04-28 00:38 (UTC)

Anakin, for once, would have been grateful for a glimpse into the future, but the Force wasn't so obliging.

"I know," he said softly, reaching out a tentative hand towards Karal's shoulder.

Karal leaned into his hand, keeping his eyes down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to burden you with this." I just needed to tell someone, someone who would understand.

"It's no burden," Anakin said. "And it's perfectly normal to be scared. During the war, the holonews labeled me the Hero With No Fear. It was the stupidest name ever. Of course I was afraid."

Karal glanced up at him. "It would have been easier if I hadn't had a chance to think about it," he said quietly. "If we'd just arrived and discovered what was needed, what could happen. There wouldn't have been time to think."

Anakin nodded and squeezed Karal's shoulder. "To second and third guess and to think of all the ways it can go...astray."

He nodded. "I haven't told anyone. I, Evey knows, she was there when I found out that the device needed a mage channel, and what could happen. But I can't bear to and if everything goes right, I would have worried them for nothing."

And if everything went wrong, his granddaughter would watch her friend die in front of her. And Evey would have even more pain to bear. And Gavin and Andrew...Anakin shook his head.

"If they're as bright as I believe them to be, they've already figured out the risks," he said quietly. "No need to voice the worst case aloud."

"They will be safe." It was a certainty, a comfort he was holding fast to. "Altra will Jump them back here if it goes wrong. They'll be safe."

"I'm quite certain none of them is worried for themselves," Anakin said.

He smiled a little. "I know they're not, so I have to worry for them."

"Leave that for me," Anakin said. "You focus on what has to be done instead."

Karal blinked hard several times before he looked up. "Thank you. For that, for listening. It, makes it easier."

Anakin squeezed his shoulder again. "It's what I'm here for."

And if that wasn't the strangest thing to finally realize. Somewhere when he hadn't been looking, he'd turned into Obi-Wan.

Ethics [Thursday, April 24]

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