The Jedi order had fallen. Hundreds of Jedi, dead. Padawans. Younglings. Masters. Every age and every species. On every world. Dead.
The fabric of the force was full of holes.
A group of Jedi who had survived were meeting on a small moon of Dantooine.
Shanti Stefan's heart felt like it had been run through and was bleeding all over the ground. So many were dead. Too many were gone.
Master Mundi would never get after her for being sloppy in single lightsaber practice ever again. Bariss Offee would not laugh at Shanti's failed attempts at healing any more. Never again would Aayla Secura smile her infamous, flirtatious grin. Shanti would never again jump three feet in the air when Master Plo snuck up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, or laugh when Stass Allie stole her meditation cushion. Never again would Luminara dazzle her with her beautiful smile. They were all dead. Gone.
"Keep your eyes open, my dear," Shaak Ti said. "Look, there is Master Gallia and Master Choi. They survived. So did Olee Starstone, and Scout, and Master Potkin and Master Darté. It seems Master Fisto is alive as well, and Master Farr…"
"Shanti! Shaak Ti!" the Padawan heard Adi Gallia speak and turned around to fling herself at the woman who had spent more hours than anyone could count trying and failing to teach Shanti how to pilot a star fighter. The teenage brown haired half human was sobbing. Adi pulled the girl who wouldn't be a girl for much longer close to her. Shaak gave in and let a few tears slip. She felt the agony of the losses just as much as everyone else. There were less than twenty Jedi here, most of them masters. She saw a few knights, like Sia-Lan Wezz, one Padawan, Scout, and one apprentice who should be a knight, Shanti, but that was it. Unless Starstone was not a master. Shaak didn't know.
One last Jedi slipped into the compound. Keelyvine Reus. There were two council members, Shaak Ti and Adi Gallia. They had several senior masters, like Reus and Tsui Choi. But everyone was mourning. Not a Jedi here had not lost a Padawan, or a master, or a very close friend to order 66. Adi Gallia and Shanti still wept, each mourning the death of someone they loved more than the code permitted. Both Luminara and Mace Windu had been killed, and Shanti and Adi were broken hearted. In this room there was nothing but sadness, and a biting sense of loss. Shaak had to do something.
"Everyone sit down where they stand, please," the Togruta said. She received many confused looks, but eventually everyone settled down.
"I need everyone to close their eyes, please," she said. Shanti closed her brilliant green orbs, while Adi her smooth blue ones. Tears rolled down cheeks in every part of the room.
"I am going to sing you a lullaby," Shaak Ti said. Her announcement was met with silence.
"I don't know how I feel about that," Olee Starstone said. "With all due respect, Master Ti, we aren't children."
"I am well aware of that," Shaak said. "Still, I feel that this is something important. Please close your eyes." Olee gave a huff, and then closed her orange eyes.
"Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby"
Shaak Ti did not know where the words came from. Actually, she did. They come from deep within the force, which was thick in the room and curled around every Jedi like a blanket, or an embrace.
"Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay"
'What in the name of the force is 'loo li lai lay'?' She thought to herself as words spilled out of her mouth in a voice that was her own, but not.
"And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow"
Shanti had spread her cloak out on the ground and was laying down on her side on top of it, her eyes tightly closed as if trying to keep in more tears.
"Bless you with love for the road that you go"
Part of her didn't believe it, but that part had been overruled. She remembered Luminara's warm smile, Bariss's gentle healer hands, Master Plo's rough voice that would scare young Padawans at first, Master Mundi's quick thinking and sharp skills of analysis…it was almost too much. Why her? Why had she survived, instead of them?
"May you sail far to the far fields of fortune"
Adi Gallia was sitting with her legs crossed and hands resting on her knees. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet"
The dark skinned Corellian had thought she was strong. Thought that she was loyal, and a good friend. She should have gone with Mace, and Aayla, and Agen… Maybe if she had gone with them, and helped, they could have killed Sidious.
"And may you need never to banish misfortune"
Adi flinched as she felt a hand touch her cheek. The touch felt painfully familiar as it traveled up close to her ear, and knocked her headdress off. The hand traced her tears, wiping them away, only for them to be replaced by others.
"May you find kindness in all that you meet"
'Mace, why did you have to go?' She thought.
"May there always be angels to watch over you"
In her mind's eye, partially hypnotized by Shaak's singing, Shanti saw many things. She saw the bravery with which her friends met their deaths. She saw them all, and she knew somewhere in her that they were not gone. But at the same time, they were. Luminara's body, abandoned to the weather on Kashyyyk. The sight nearly brought her to tears.
"To guide you each step of the way"
'You're so stupid! Why did you have to go and leave me?'
"To guard you and keep you safe from all harm"
Kit Fisto felt so ashamed. If he and Aayla hadn't decided to switch missions at the last minute, it would have been him going to face Sidious, and not her. She would have been on felucia, far safer than on Coruscant. The Nautolan had never cried before, not even when he was a young child. But now he felt the losses like a stinging, no, a crippling blow. If he had just chosen to stay on Coruscant…
"Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay"
Shaak Ti was no longer singing alone.
"May you bring love and may you bring happiness"
Her eyes opened, and with them, so did the Jedi mesmerized by her voice. The room was filled with faint images, outlines, of those who had been lost. Jai Maruk held Scout, his former Padawan, now without a master. The blue shape of Aayla Secura was beside Kit, wiping away his tears. Adi Gallia was shocked to find Mace Windu sitting beside her, stroking her cheek gently. Luminara kneeled beside Shanti, her blue eyes now containing a wisdom that came only with a young death.
"Be loved in return to the end of your days"
Shanti sat up slowly, her eyes brimming with tears. Shaak's mouth was closed, she was no longer singing. But that was alright, because those who had become one with the force had taken up her song. Her elders, her master, stood before her, singing, and the room vibrated with their voices and the force.
"Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you"
Master Cartiér placed her ghostly hand on Shaak's shoulder as the Togruta's former master pushed her gently to the ground, laying her head against the floor. It did not feel hard and cold, like metal should, but more like grass.
"I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay"
Peace, a feeling that none of the Jedi had felt in years, had swept over the room as the dead held the living and wiped away their tears.
"May there always be angels to watch over you"
'You must be brave,' Master Cartiér said as Shaak looked at her with eyes full of wonder, like she was a Padawan once again instead of the powerful Jedi master. 'Your road is a hard and long one, but you will prosper.' She touched Shaak's forehead in the traditional symbol of reassurance and love on her home planet.
"To guide you each step of the way"
'Do not mourn,' Luminara said. 'Just know that I am always with you, forever, even though you cannot see me, I am always here.' Shanti's tears dripped off her chin. Luminara wiped them away, clearing her eyes with her olive skinned fingers.
"To guard you and keep you safe from all harm"
'I know you can't see it now, but everything is going to be fine,' Mace said as he gently replaced Adi's headdress. 'Trust me.'
"Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay"
And everything was still.