Chapter 2 :

Coruscant early morning:

Meetra awoke from the high-pitched alarm standing on the small drawer which was positioned near her bed. She reached out and turned it off. Taking a look around her room she noticed small sunrays passing trough the sunblinders which ment that it was around nine in coruscant time. She pulled them away from the windows with a wave of her hand and the room was instantly lit, making her cover her eyes for a moment. Standing up she started stretching her body. She hated it that it took her far more concentration in doing something as trival as pulling the suncovers out than the other padawans her age needed. On the other hand she always seemed to learn things not connected to the force much more easier than most of her friends. When she finished her stretchings she headed towards the shower. After finishing bathing and drying herself up she quickly wraped her hair in a ponytail except the small braid near her right ear. Then pulled her brown padawan robes out and started dressing herself. When she was done she checked her schedule and saw that most of her day was going to be free. Mostly because the padawans were going to be training with their masters, and since she was the only one without one almost her whole day was going to be filled with free time. She decided to go in the archives after eating something fast for breakfast and left her room.

The temple was buzzing with life as always. Masters, knights, padawans and even younglings were hurrying for their duties. She spotted a few goverment officials, probably having a meeting with the council, standing near the lifts that were leading towars the top of the temple. There were also a few millitary men which were arguing with one of the officials. She didn't pay them much attention and continued her way. A few familiar knights passed her by and greeted her, she greeted them in return with small respectful bows. She grabbed a Gorba-melt bar from the caffeteria and headed towards the archives hoping to find her friend there.

After a good fifteen minutes she finaly reached her destination. After entering the archives she spoted a few jedis walking around the large computerized libraries. Meetra closed on a console and started browsing to see if her friend was in the archive at the moment. It turned out that she was indeed there. "Jedi holocrosn and history section! Why am I not suprised that she is always there anymore"-she thought, her lips twisting in to a small smile. She headed towards the lifts which were leading to the area in question.

After reaching her destination in a couple of minutes, she spoted the person she was looking for head on. Her friend, a human jedi knight which was around ten years older than her, was siting on a nearby terminal and was reading something with great interest judging from the concentrated look on her face. Meetra closed on her from behind and tapped her lighly on the shoulder:

-"What has goten your attention this time Atris? Some big heroic victory of the Jedi against the ancient Sith? Or probably new artifacts and holocrons have been discovered?"-she asked.

-"You startled me Meetra! Indeed an old enclave has been found on Tython. But the data is still insufficient to determine if it belonged to the jedi order or if it was from before the order was created. They brought some interesting readings just yestarday but I was busy to look at them then. So! Now I am catching up."-Atris smiled anthusiastically. -"By the way! What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be training with master Kel'Tar right now?" -she looked at her padawan friend suspiciously and disapproving. Then she saw Meetra's face darkening and her smile fading, and regreted her words instantly figuring out what had happened even before her friend started speaking.

-"Master Kel'Tar left for Dantoine a few days ago.-"Atris felt the sadness in Meetra trought the force. -"It is always the same! Everytime the council sends a master to teach me he leaves a few weeks after!"

Atris felt that her friends emotions were heating up:

-"Meetra, remember the jedi code! There is no emotion...!"-she started.

-"...there is peace!" -Meetra took a deep breath and exhaled.-"Thank you for that! I just don't understand what my problem is! I must concentrate three times harder than any other padawan to exercise any of the force techniques we have been learning. Jiklo Netil is already able to moove whole beds with ease."

-"Is that the miraluka padawan?"-asked Atris. Meetra seated herself in the terminal that was next to the knight. -"As you know he is from a species that are naturaly strong in the force. Do not get discouraged only because he moves a litle faster than you." Meetra was about to say something but Atris stped her with a wave of her hand. -"And as I hear it, you manage to beat him in every single duel. Actually I hear that no-one from the padawans can stand against you in the duel ring."-she felt that her friend's mood was improving litle by litle. -"I wanted to ask you about something i overheard last night from a master in the meditation chambers. Is it true that you bested padawan Jiklo using the Juyo stance last evening?"

Meetra noticed that Atris was taking a great interest in that, and wondered why.

-"Yes, it is true."-she answered and saw her friend's eyes widen.

-"This is amazing! From where or from who did you learn it?"-asked Atris frantically. Meetra was startled from the sudden burst of emotions she felt from her friend.

-"I found some material on jedi saber techniques a few weeks ago! Why are you acting like that? It was nothing special, i bet many knights like yourself, have been trained in it!?"-her friend was acting strangely.

-"Do you mean, that you do not know anything about the technique and you are practicing it?"-Atris was amazed. On one hand Meetra was amazing, grasping the basics of one of the most deadly and complex techinques ever created, on the other she was careless for doing so. She was worried for her because she herself had studied the various saber techniques, and Juyo was considered dangerous both for your enemies and yourself because it required the wielder of the form to surrender his/her feelings to the fight itself, which could lead to the dark side. -"I am amazed that you can use Juyo, even as an utter beginner. That saberform requires a very strong connection in the force because you let your feelings and the force guide your movements. It is considered a master-level technique and it is very dangerous. As of now there are only two masters which are learned in Juyo, and they are both in the Jedi Council."-she finaly finished and took a deep breath. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

Meetra didn't know how to feel after this bombardment of information, beside utterly confused.

-"I do not understand, it just feels right to me, like every other fighting techniques, hand-to-hand and otherwise." -she shrugged her shoulders. -"I just wish i could learn about the force the same way." -her face turned in to a frown. -"What will happen to me if they do not find a master to train me? Will they exile me or something?"-Meetra knew there were force techniques to wipe the mind of a preson, or even to cut him or her entirely from the force. And she knew the order can not send even a partly trained person away without taking any precautions. She shuddered at the thought inwardly.

Atris was seeing that her friend was upset but for some reason she could't feel her trough the force anymore. When she tried again she felt like slamming in to a wall and decided to give it a rest. Then all of a sudden Meetra looked at her like she had just remembered something:

-"So! When do you leave with the masters for Dantoine? If I remember correctly you were due to leave this week, right?" -the padawan asked the older girl.

-"We are departing tommorow at 11:00 Coruscant time."-the knight answered and it was her turn to frown. -"I realy am excited about learning from all the knowedge that is stored in the dantoinian archives! There are many holocrons with great knowedge in the enclave there, and Master Dorak is one of the best chroniclers in the order. The only unsettling thing is that I will not know anyone there and it will be a litle lonely."

-"Do not worry too much, I am sertain you will fit right in. I am kind of jealous of you actually. They say that on Dantoine are staying a few of the most respected and powerful masters of the order. I also heard rumors of a padawan with such a strong connection to the force which hasn't been seen in many decades."-said Meetra. It seemed that she had almost forgoten their discussion they had a few minutes ago, now she had a strange almost dreamlike expression on her face. -"I wonder what kind of a person he or she is?"-she finished finaly and her expresion returned to normal.

-"I will make it my top priority to contact you once i have made my acquaintance with that person, and tell you what he or she is like."-said Atris. -"Now what are you going to do with all this free time you have on your hands today?"-she asked her friend.

-"Well, a few days ago i found some very interesting data here about the war with Exar Kun, and many reports on older battles and wars. I think that since you are here I will link the data to this console and keep you company."- Meetra said cheerfully. Atris rolled her eyes in pretendence of annoyance:

-"I don't get you! Why do you like reading about millitary history and tactics so much?" -she asked. A small grin appeared on the padawan's face:

-"Probably the same reason you love studying ancient Sith and Jedi history, holocrons and teachings. And besides even the jedi code is teling us to learn as many things as we can, remember? There is no ignorance, there is knowledge!" - her grin had turned to a broad smile by the time she finished her sentance. Atris saw that the battle was lost before it even began, and decided to return to her studies. Meetra finished her data linking and also burried her whole attention in to the console in-front of her. The knight threw a peek at the padawan one last time. Even if she had never said it out loud she always enjoyed her company, and besides there were not many padawans at her age that would go volunteraly in the archives and spend their free time there. They both continued reading their materials in silence.

Around 5 pm Coruscant time the same day:

After a good seven hours reading, Meetra and Atris decided that it was time to leave the archives. When they were almost at the exit thei were confronted by a jedi knight. He took a look at them. Noticing that Atris was a knight like himself he made a courteous bow in greetings. Then looked at Meetra:

-"Padawan Surik?"-he asked. She noded wondering what this was all about. -"Master Kavar requests your presence in the council chamber. He did not say that you must go immediately. But! I will advise you when a council member asks of something it is better not to make him wait more that is needed to." -he declared, turned around and left.

-"I hadn't realised that Master Kavar had returned. I wonder what business he has with you?"-said Atris looking curiously at her friend.

-"I have no idea. I haven't seen him in ten years or so. Not since he brought me in to the order." -said Meetra, and her face turned grimm. -"Maybe he is going to be the ona that kicks me out, since he was the one that brought me in the first place."

-"Don't be silly! I am sure nothing of the sort is going to happen. If we were allowed to bet, I would stake my money that he is probably going to be your master. Or something of the sort anyway because Master Kavar is not known for taking regular apprentices." -Atris patted the distressed padawan on the showder.

-"Well, atlest I can go in the millitary if they give me the boot." -she said with a weak smile. Then bowed to Atris and left for the lifts which were leading towards the top of the temple.

Meetra reached the lifts in no time and leaned on the glass, face facing the door. She didn't know what to feel. On one side she was very excited. Kavar had been the very man that brought her to the order. She still remembered when she met him for the first time. Standing infront of her tall, handsome, and with an unnatural strength emmiting from him. She was only five but the memomry was still fresh in her mind. It was few years after that meeting when she understood that he was one of the youngest jedi knights admited in the council. Also he was referfed as the best lightsaber-master in the whole order. And not ignoring the many feats he had acomplished in the past few years! Fighting pirates and mandalorians in the outer rims. She admired him very much and always strived to be like him. On the other hand he had abandoned her as soon as they accepted her in the order and didn't contact her even once for the past ten years. "There is no emotion... there is peace..." she started reciting in her head and calmed down. "Whatever is going to happen is going to hapen as the Force wills it." She relaxed and closed her eyes awating to reach the top.

The lift stopped and she made her way trought the corridors leading towards the council chamber. In a few minutes she reached the massive door of the jedi council's room. She clicked on the console next to the door:

-"Padawan Surik arriving on the request of Master Kavar." The door opened and she proceeded inside.

The room was large. Not as big as the training rooms on the lower levels but still large enough. There were twenty expensive looking chairs positioned in a circle around the room and a large monolith with ancient jedi carvings positioned in the center. There were only four council members present and Meetra recognized Kavar immediately. Ten years had passed but he looked almost the same as the last time she had seen him. A sturdy looking and handsome human with brown shorty-cuted hair. The other representitives were a blue male twi'lek she did not recognise, an much older and bald human male she knew that went by the name of Vrook Lamar, and a togruta female master which looked very familiar to her. She bowed respectfully and they all noded to her in return. The twi'lek master spoke first:

-"You can relax padawan, you are not here because you did something whrong! We just have something to inform you of." -his voice was cam and relaxing.

-"Yes! As master Zhar said, there are some things we must discuss with you." -said the bald human. His voice was strong and hard. Like the voice of a person who never had any fun in his life. Meetra disliked the man already.

-"I do not suppose that you remember master Kavar? He was the one who brought you in to the order ten years ago."-said Zhar.

-"I remember him masters. It is not an event that even a five year old can forget easily."-said Meetra and looked at Kavar. He was examining her closely. Then he said:

-"Truth be told I saw your duel last night, but I didn't have the slightest idea that it was you fighting! Basicly because you look older than your actual age."

Meetra wasn't surprised by his remark. Many people mistook her age. She was tall and well formed for her age. People usualy thought she was around her twenties.

-"I am curious! Last night when you fought that miralukan padawan I noticed that you wield Shii-Cho very well. What other saber forms have you been practicing?" -asked her Kavar.

-"I can use Makashi fluently..."-Kavar wasn't surprised, after all Makashi was a form made from Shii-Cho. The only difference was that Makashi discarded most of the wide and chaotic swipes from Shii-Cho and replaced them with more precise and elegant strikes. It required more footwork than strength overall. -"..also I am well versed in Soresu. I have been training in Shien but i do not fare well in it."-that also didn't surprise him, Shien was a form used to deflect projectiles and required a strong connection to the force which helped the jedi to predict where they were going to strike. -" And there is.."-she went silent. Kavar felt that she was reluctant on in saing whatever she started saying.

-"And there is what padawan?"-asked Lamar in a tone which suggested he wouldn't let her pass without answering. Meetra looked around for a few seconds and then answered:

-"I have been training Trákata."-she went silent.

Kavar saw that the other masters were as surprised as him. They all thought that she was going to say something about the Juyo but they were not expecting at all the answer she had given them.

-"Where did you learn about that form padawan Surik? Answer me instantly!" -Vrook's tone had gone from hard to ice cold and Kavar wasn't going to blame him. Trákata was a saber technique invented by one of the first and most powerfull Sith Lords - Ajunta Pall, and he could only imagine where she had learned it's name, not to think actualy -seeing the moves of the form. It suddenly hit him. That was the reason he thought that Juyo would suit her fine if she continued practicing it. Juyo and Trákata were very close to each other. They were the counterparts of the Shii-Cho and the Makashi forms. To be able to master Shii-Cho perfectly one needed to master the Makashi at the same level. And the principle of Juyo and Trákata was the same. Kavar had mastered both forms but he had never used Trákata in his fights. Mainly because if you landed a blow with it the concequences were variating from unpleasant to gruesome and using it it posed a great risk for the user to be killed instead. Still the whole concept of this young girl being able to study any each of the both styles was very intiguing, because when Juyo required a strong orientation in the force Trákata required even stronger. It was a technique which had moves that required the wielder of the lightsaber to turn it off at moments, and if he could not see his opponent's moves with the force on time it could prove fatal. This padawan was a true anomaly among the jedi. He looked at Surik again.

-"I found materials in the archives master."-she said trying to stay calm.

-"I know where these materials are, and I know acces for the padawans is limited."-Vrook was relentless.

-"A knight friend of mine is working in the archives, we study and read together there most of our free time. I told her a few months back, that i am mostly intrigued by fighting techniques, millitary history and other data in the same orientation, and she gave me permision to browse the more advanced materials."-she answered.

-"Would you be so kind to tell us the name of that knight?"-asked Zhar. But after seeing that the padawan was reluctand in answering, probably because she feared her friend will be in toruble he added: -"Do not be afraid, your friend will not be in any trouble, what has happened is already in the past, we are just curious." - that seemed to relax her and she answered:

-"Jedi knight Atris, Master."

-"Atris did?"-the togruta master was very surprised, Meetra noded. -"I must say, my apprentice is quite strict when it comes to dangerous knolwedge, i am fairly surprised that she allowed you acces."- now it was turn for Meetra to be surprised, Atris hadn't spoken about her master, but she never expected her to be a council memeber, and by judging by her looks, she was fairly young by togruta standarts.

-"Forgive me Master, but we are verry good friends. When we both have our free time, at the same time, we are almost always together."-she said. Atris's master looked somewhat pleased after he statement:

-"It is nice to see that she has such a good friend, I always thought she liked to keep to herself."-but then Meetra noticed the quick peek she gave to the other masters. but she decided that it wasn't worth any thought.

-"I saw you using Juyo at the end of your duel. I was wondering who tought you the basics in that form? I must admit it was a very sloppy form, but stil, for a padawan who isn't very strong in the force you did quite well."-said Kavar.

-"Oh, I found some references of the form when i was studing about a jedi line called Quel'Droma. The data didn't have much on it, only some projections for a few moves,and a reference towards an Ulic Quel'Droma. It was around two weeks ago that i started practicing them, and last night was the first time trying it against an opponent."-said the girl.

The masters were silent. Kavar seemed to be deep in thought about something serious because his eyebrows were constantly twitching.

-"Good, enough about that topic, the reason we called you here is because Master Kavar will be taking you to Dantoine and continue your training there."-said master Zhar. Meetra's eyes widened from surprise. "I guess it's a good thing we didn't bet with Atris."

-"Is that realy true Masters?"-she could barely contain her excitement. She was going to be tutored by the person she admired the most in the universe and she could scarcely belive it.

-"Yes, you and he will be joining Me, master Zhar and knight Atris in our departure for Dantoine. Master Kavar is the one who brough you to us, and also one of the best swordmasters the order has ever had, so we are hoping that his teaching methods will be perfect for you."-said master Lamar. -"Which reminds me.."-he turned towards Atris's master -"Master Kin'Tai, inform knight Atris that the shuttle which will lead us to our ship will arrive around 11:00 Coruscant time tommorow at the eastern landing pad."-he finished, and the togruta noded.

-"You must know one other thing, Master Kavar agreed on teaching you, but he will not be your formal master, he will be able to leave you at any time he wishes to, and if another master requests to fill you in the ways of the force he will not stop him."-spoke Zhar again.

Meetra felt sadness overtaking her "Just like the other masters, and they al left a few weeks after they had began tutoring me".

-"Be mindful of your feelings padawan!"-said Zhar with a kind voice. -"There is no emotion..."

-"...there is peace! Thank you master."-finished the sentance the padawan.

-"Do nto worry over this matter, i am sure things will go alright. We have a good feeling about our decision."-said the twi'lek master and the three masters turned their heads towards Kavar, who shrugged innocently.

-"Now that everything is clear, we advise you to go and pack all your essential things for tommorow's flight."-spoke Vrook.

-"Thank you Masters!"-said Meetra, bowed to them and left the room. "I bet Atris will be delighted that I will be going with her on Dantorine."-thought the padawan and continued on her way.