Title: Serenity in Darkness

Author: Jedidanny

Rating: G-PG

Summary: A story about a Jedi Master who survived Order 66 and was able to make a come back. Alternate universe. R&R!

Genre: Romance, action, adventure, alternate universe

Characters: Riley Caden (original character), Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sark Kele (original character), Savarna and Odonis Caden (original characters). Possible mention of other canon characters.

Timeline: The prologue (and possible epilogue, depending) takes place 23 years after Order 66 was carried out. The chapters take place up to that point.

Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me. Riley Caden, however, does. Sark, Denivel and Adok belong to two role play friends of mine.

Author note: It's been over a year since I've written a fan fic, so I'm a little out of practice. PLEASE R&R!

Prologue

Trust your friends. Trust the Force. Most importantly, trust yourself.

That was the motto that Riley Caden, Jedi Master and hermit to boot, had come to live by for more than a decade. She had learned over time that friendship was one of the most important things a person could possess. It took true friends to look past someone for their physical or mental ailments, and it was no secret that Riley had her own. The most obvious of these ailments was that she was blind.

To Riley's great surprise, the friends she had made while training at the Jedi Praxium on Coruscant, back in the days of the Old Republic, had looked past the fact that she was blind and had just accepted her for who she was. It was her closest of those

friends that Riley was finally going to see, after twenty-three years apart. When Order 66 had been given by Emperor Palpatine, herself, Master Kenobi, Master Yoda, her friend Sark, and a Wookiee Jedi Master named Adok were the few who had been able to flee the Jedi temple and scatter in to different corners of the galaxy. Riley had chosen to go back to her home on Corellia, where her parent's cabin on the beach waited for her. A tiny bit

of her had looked forward to going back to living in seclusion, standing on the beach and listening to the waves of the ocean, but the rest of her would miss her friends too much.

Riley slowly walked down the ramp of the shuttle that had brought her to Tatooine, where she was meeting her old friend. Why Sark had chosen Tatooine of all places was beyond her, but he had. Her walk was slow, and it came with a slight "clunk" as the walking stick she clutched in her hand came down against the ramp each time she took a step. A small wind picked up and started blowing the ends of her long cloak around behind her. Beneath the cloak she wore a pair of tan pants with a matching shirt and a pair of brown boots. Around her waist she wore a belt where a lightsaber hung. She had not used the weapon in a number of years and could admit to being a bit out of practice, but she wore it none the less. Over her eyes she wore a metal covering that was strapped at the back of her head. After twenty-three years in hiding, Riley had physically changed. While she still wore similar clothing that she wore in her days at the Praxium, her long red hair was now beginning to turn white in some areas, showing her age of fifty-two. For Jedi, though, they could be as old as sixty and still look twenty and be as active, and that applied to Riley.

Standing close behind Riley was her new apprentice, Selaria. In all her years as a Jedi, Riley had never believed that she would actually take someone as an apprentice. She had been standing on the beach one day and had met the ten year old when she wandered away from her class. The two began talking, and Riley soon found Selaria returning to her cabin more and more. Riley had been suspicious of the girl's Force sensitivity, but it was confirmed only a few days ago when Selaria used the Force to stop a piece of a

landspeeder that had crashed from hitting her and her classmates. It was then that Riley knew she had to take the girl as an apprentice and train her in the ways of the Force.

Finally Riley stopped at the end of the ramp and stepped on to the floor of the docking bay that the shuttle had landed in. Suddenly she felt a wave wash over her

through the Force, and she felt the familiar, comforting presence of one of her closest friends. She gasped for breath as she felt a wave of emotions begin to overwhelm her.

Standing a few feet away from her was Sark Kele. He stood tall and proud, the hood to his cloak shielding most of his face. His grey eyes stared at the form of one of his closest friends in the galaxy in disbelief. Was she really there? Only a few days before, they had both felt flares in the Force, and had been able to make quick contact with each other through the Holonet so that they could arrange a meeting. It was because of those flares that they had come out of hiding.

Sark had spent his time on Tatooine wondering if his friends were still alive. When he felt the flare in the Force, he was almost certain that it was Riley, but wasn't sure. Now that she was standing there, he was relieved to know that it was her.

"I was hoping it would really be you, Riley," Sark said after a moment, moving closer to his friend. "I should have known better than to doubt such strong feelings in the Force."

Riley heard the familiar sound of her friend's voice and swallowed hard; she could not become emotional, not now in front of Sark, and not in front of Selaria. There would be another time for it, when the galaxy wasn't in their hands to save. She pulled in

on the Force a bit, using it to allow her to "see" once more as she stepped toward her friend, her head turning to look up in the direction of his face. She started to speak but stopped, trying to think of the words she wanted to say. So many words, too little time to say them.

"I had no doubt it was you, old friend. It doesn't take much to let me know it's you. You're still so grumpy that I could feel it through the Force if I really wanted to," she said, keeping her voice soft enough so no one else in the docking bay should have heard her mention the Force. The last part of her statement was an obvious, sad attempt at a joke, but it was the best she could say at the time.

She moved toward him slowly after dropping her walking stick- she felt no need for it now, not when she had her big brother, as she used to call him, so close to protect and help her as needed instead of relying on it- to the floor and moved close, putting her arms around him and burying her head in to his chest the best she could. The covering over her eyes made this hard.

"Stars, I've missed you," she whispered, the emotion becoming a bit more obvious in her voice, despite her best attempt to hide it. "It's been way too long, big brother," she finished, still whispering so that only Sark could hear her.

Sark pulled her close; feeling her that close again gave him a sense of relief. Having Riley there made him know that his friend was still alive, and he was not imagining it. "I missed you too," he admitted, his voice tightening. "Glad you're still in one piece," he half-joked.

Riley kept herself against Sark, listening as he responded to her. Even when he wasn't speaking, she was sort of listening to him; the Force was strange like that, and she supposed that was part of their bond as friends and adoptive siblings. It was the hardest to say good bye to Sark, she thought. For whatever reasons, she had been closest and felt most protected by him. Not just because he was older, and even a bit wiser, but because of something she couldn't quite explain in words.

"I can say the same for you," she replied after a moment, bringing her head up to "look" up at him. Her hood fell off the back of her head, revealing her red hair and showing her unfortunate age. "It's been way too long. I wish the circumstances hadn't made things so dangerous for us to stay in contact. I never doubted that you weren't alive, not once. I have so much to tell you . . ." she said. She continued after pausing for a moment. "have you heard the rumors about . . ." she could hardly bring herself to say it. "Vader? Do you know who do it?"

Sark shook his head, "I'm afraid I haven't heard much. I live in Anchorhead, and we get even less traffic than here in Mos Eisley. Though I did hear the Empire might be

struggling. I wasn't sure what to believe, though." He then lifted his eyes to look at girl standing behind them, watching. "Who is this that you've brought with you?" His gaze fell on the girl now, his eyes intense as he waited for an answer.

Riley grinned; one of the things she'd looked forward to the most when reuniting with her old friend was hearing the surprise in his voice when she revealed that she, of all people, had taken on an apprentice. She moved away from Sark and, using the Force to

help her, and moved to where Selaria stood silently, moving behind her and placing a hand on the girl's shoulders.

"This is Selaria. I've taken her as my apprentice," Riley answered. "She and I met on the beach where my parent's cabin is and we started . . . discussing things. I only took her as my apprentice two days ago."

Sark shook his head in disbelief, smiling, "Riley, that's . . . that's almost better news than the idea that the Empire is faltering."

"Well, wasn't it you who was always saying that I could train someone if I really wanted to and believe I could, or whatever it is you used to say?" she joked a bit. It was nice to be able to joke with anyone again, especially Sark. She had missed that.

Sark laughed, "Yes, I did. I always believed you could. I knew it was only a matter of time before you'd have enough confidence to take an apprentice of your own. Come, we should probably find some safety so we can continue talking."

Riley nodded, starting to follow once Selaria had given her walking stick back, and moving to walk by Sark's side, Selaria following close to her.

As Riley walked with her new apprentice and oldest friend by her sides, she began thinking about the old days and everything she and Sark had been through together.