"Remember, Padawan, steady your heart and your mind will follow, but make sure to not cut the link between them, for that will limit your power." A firm, yet kindly voice echoes from the darkness. A face slowly comes into view, a man. Grey hair and long beard, and slight wrinkles, the signs of aging very much apparent. The face however bears a warm smile, as he speaks.
"The Jedi would believe that emotion harms, hinders their abilities, while the Sith believe the opposite. That emotion is the one path to true strength." The face begins moving forward, revealing the light grey robes that adorn the mans body, a slender metal rod dangling from his side.
"They both hold only half of the truth, inner peace and concentration are key to our powers, but without emotion to give it purpose and strength, ones strength is a mere mouse to the tidal wave of potential." The darkness, and the mans form, begin to fade, slowly pushed away by encroaching light.
"Remember that, my Padawan, your strength is unmatched, if you find the balance. Strive for it, but do not let it consume you in the process, many have fallen from the path. I know, however, that you will not." As he says this, his image fading into the light, and a pair of light blue eyes open to the blinding light of an infirmary lamp above them. The eyes glance around the room, taking in the new surroundings. A teal medical droid stands towards the far wall, near the door to the small room, currently offline. The clean white walls of the infirmary room seemed to reflect the light of the lamps, making it take longer for the eyes to adjust. As they continue to look around, a small whirring noise from the door drew their attention back to the droid as it now began activating, the dim yellow light returning to its eyes.
"Patient: Padawan Cora Darlarya, status: Conscious, alerting Jedi Council." A young woman lay on the table, bright blue eyes staring at the medical droid that is now going about the room, taking vitals and checking equipment. As the droid rounded to the other side of the bed, very slowly lifting a mirror off of a small table.
"Padawan Darlarya, what is the first thing you remember?" The droid standing only a foot or so from the woman.
"I... I remember... my master, teaching my first lesson..." A dry but feminine voice answers back, showing the lack of use, as the Padawan works to adjust herself in the bed. A gentle robotic touch from the droid kept her still, as the bed underneath her upper body began raising, bringing Cora to a more sitting position. The droid began bringing the mirror forward when the door, making a quiet woosh sound, opened, revealing two robed figures, one with a thick black beard and hair, his face bearing many scars from many battles. The other, standing in similar robes, with several long tendril like dreads that visually look in place of hair, and all the same green toned skin as the rest of him, and two large black eyes looking at her.
The medical droid looked to the door and stood straight, the Padawan doing her best to follow suit.
"Master Gallus, Master Fisto, whats going on?" The two men step into the room, Master Gallus with a face of mourning, Master Fisto with one of confusion.
"You mean, you don't remember?" Kit Fisto's nautolan accent adding more flair than even he meant for. Cora shook her head, causing her ears to ring painfully upon doing so. She visibly flinches and covers one ear, waiting for it to pass before dropping her hand. Looking back at the Jedi masters, Cora only grew more concerned.
"Do you remember your last mission? With your master on your home world?" Cora looks away from the masters towards the foot of the bed.
"Concord Dawn..." Both masters visibly tense on the name being mentioned, "With Master Kaifos, I remember. We were investigating a droid presence that had been reported there and..." Cora paused for a moment as she dug through her memories to drag out the rest of the story.
"We had all figured with it being your home world, you and your master were the best to send and investigate, however... something happened, the separatists must have set an ambush in the orbiting debris or something. When we arrived, the ships under your masters command were destroyed. You and a handful of clones were all that managed to survive, you all have been here recovering." Cora simply stared at Master Gallus as he explained what happened, the stinging feeling in her eyes causing her to wipe a few tears with the back of her hand. Master Fisto reached across and grabbed the mirror from the droid, and gently handing it off to Cora, very lightly squeezing her hand as she pulled the mirror up.
She locked eyes with herself, her shoulder length blonde hair was unkempt and messed, her light skin still seemed the same too, her eyes traced from top to bottom until she saw the first change, the start of a scar underneath her right eye. She followed it down, the scar seemingly one of many that split off on her jaw, covering almost the entirety of the lower right of her face, running from jaw to the tip of her chin, under her eye, up the side of her nose, across the right corner of her mouth. She ran a her right hand up to the scars and now saw that the hand bore the same kind of scarring. Her eyes widened as she looked down, throwing the covers of the bed off of her, and saw the origin of the scarring, her entire right arm, and a good portion of her side, chest and shoulder were covered in scars, from what looked like burns and surgery.
Both masters watching her with saddened eyes, until she stares over at them with tears now fully running down her face.
"And Master Kaifos is..." A small nod from Gallus was all it took to answer her, as she dropped her head against the bed, closing her eyes and began shaking her head.
"This can't be real, this can't be happening." A hand on her shoulder made the Padawan open her eyes, and look over at Master Gallus.
"I'm truly sorry Cora, I know how much Kaifos meant to you." As he said this, Cora stared down at her reflection, the tears still flowing down, following the paths of the scars.
"Do we know who did it?" Cora spoke up, not looking away from herself, her voice wearing down slowly but an icy tone slowly taking over. Her grip tightening on the mirror.
"No, but we have confirmed a large droid base on the planets surface, Master Luminara and her apprentice are on their way now to push the separatists out of the system.
"I want to go..." Cora replied, catching the masters off guard, they look to each other with mixed emotions then to Cora.
"You must rest, going now would only harm you further," Master Fisto held his hand up to keep her in bed, "And you mustn't let your emotions over come you, we all grieve your master same as you..." The sharp sound of glass snapping interrupted the masters as they looked down at the sight of the shattered mirror and fresh blood now staining the bed cover.
"He was like a father to me, he saved me, taught me to be the best Jedi I could be, he... taught me... to always protect those you love... and I failed..." Her grip loosened on the mirror, allowing the medical droid to take it from her, several shard of the mirror still embedded in her hand. Gallus and Fisto both took a step back, looking between the crying Padawan and each other. Finally, with a sigh from Master Gallus, he put his hand on Cora's shoulder.
"Let me talk with the council, but I want you to take at least a few more days to recover, allow yourself to mourn, come to peace with what happened, you will only let your emotions take control if you leave now, you may leave as a Jedi, but you may arrive there as Sith at this rate." Both the Padawan and Master Fisto looked at Gallus in surprise. Cora, with her left hand now, wiped the tears away and took a breath, staring at her hand as the medical droid carefully began removing the shards and applying the sutures where needed.
"Thank you Master, I promise I'll be ready, and I promise to control my emotions more, I apologize." A gentle squeeze of her shoulder was all she got in response before the master backed away from her.
"Then we will leave you to rest further, Padawan." The two masters bobbed their heads and received the best bow one could give in an infirmary bed, and the two stepped out, closing the door with another quiet woosh. Cora stared at her hand in sorrow, tracing the scars up her arm, across her shoulder where she could see and underneath the coverings on her small chest. She laid her head back as the medical droid kept patching her hand up and closed her eyes, letting her mind wander, but no matter where she went, she always trailed back to the first thought, 'why was his first lesson the one she kept returning too."
"You cannot let her go back to that planet!" Kit Fisto, finally speaking up after leaving the room and making sure it wasn't within ear shot. Master Serdak Gallus only sighed.
"Did you not see what happened? Did you not feel that? If she cannot control her emotions she will surely fall to the dark side! We cannot let her do this, to allow her the time to mourn might have gone to far." The two walked through the halls of the Jedi Temple, away from its medical wing. Gallus stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at Kit.
"What would you have done in my place? It is the Jedi's way to show compassion, to help those that need it. She needs to grieve or else it will always effect her, always weigh her down." The two stand several feet apart, looking at one another, Kit's eyes showing the thought he was going through.
"It is also the Jedi way to control ones emotions," Kit sighed and stepped closer to Gallus, "But I know you only wish to help the girl. She's a Padawan without a master, no voice to guide her anymore, she feels lost. I know you felt it too friend. But to allow her to go back to Concord Dawn will only invite more pain and confusion for her." Kit placed a hand on Gallus shoulder, trying to reason with him, only to have it shrugged off as Gallus steps around him.
"We'll just have to see what the Council decides of the matter then." Gallus continued down the massive hall of the Temple, followed by a very disapproving Kit Fisto.