Chapter 7


Rey almost fell from her position laid out in the cockpit of the starfighter, her legs up on the dash and the seat pushed back as far as it could go, which wasn't much. It wasn't comfortable, but Rey had managed to fall asleep for an hour or two, so when R2 decided to loudly chatter into her comm helmet, she was lucky enough to be too cramped to actually fall out of the pilot's chair.

'You did that on purpose, didn't you?' She groaned, trying to slow her heartbeat from the fright.

Groggily she took in her surroundings. They'd dropped out of hyperspace and stood just out of bounds of the gas-planet Alaris' atmosphere. The on-screen navigation pointed out which of the eight moons was Alaris Prime, and she rubbed her eyes, impressed by the sheer depth of green across the planet's surface.

R2 chirped again and Rey chuckled. 'Yeah, definitely not a desert. Are we good to land?'

The droid beeped and plotted in a landing spot that he'd clearly used before. Then began to complain about the numerous problems with the battered ship, telling Rey that she absolutely must not land in a waterlogged area, or they'd never leave.

'Were you always this talkative when it was you and Luke or do you just miss 3PO?' Rey murmured, straightening up in her seat and taking the ship off auto-pilot.

R2 was insulted and berated her for that, but Rey merely laughed and followed the droid's navigation suggestions, easing the ship to touch down.

The landing location was less than ideal for the ship's well-being, though Rey was able to drop not too far from where the Jedi Temple had been listed as being. She would have been surprised if it hadn't been destroyed already, whether that was by the Empire, or by someone else.

What Rey was impressed by the most, however, were the wroshyr trees. On entering the atmosphere, she had thought that perhaps they had happened upon a mountain range, considering the sheer altitude that some of the vegetation lived at, and as they manouvered through the thick forest towards the floor, Rey quickly realised that the trees were merely gargantuan, stretching miles from the forest floor.

As they descended, Rey's eyes scanned over the information regarding the moon; that it was similar to Kashyyyk in its flora and fauna. Rey knew that the Wookiee on Kashyyyk lived in the wroshyr trees, building whole cities within the gargantuan bark, but she had still not expected such size, merely thinking that Chewbacca had been exaggerating the few times he had spoken of his home.

Despite the huge expanse of tree, branch and canopy, Rey put the ship down at the roots of the great trees, allowing for slightly more coverage in case there were people living in the trees above them.

Rey took up her satchel, making sure she had her blaster to hand and she climbed from the starfighter, catching her bearings and looking down at one of the tomes containing maps of the Jedi Temples.

The Temple of Alaris Prime was a ruin according to the data she could collate from the Resistance archives. It had been forgotten long before even General Organa had been born and had been rediscovered some time before the Clone Wars. Rey wondered, as she climbed the roots of the great trees, whether the temple had been found or forgotten once more.

Rey turned about after fifteen minutes, amused that she could still see the ship despite being drenched in sweat and needing respite already. She took a long drink from her canteen and continued her surveyance of the land around her.

This time the tug did not come with a voice, but the hair on her arms raised across her flesh and she grinned as she felt compelled to climb further to the right. It wasn't long before she reached a wroshyr tree that was of a different variety than the others around her. Whilst the ones behind her were a deep green, as dark as the portions she squirreled away on Jakku, this was a warm brown, burgundy, not far off the colour of Corellian Whiskey. It seemed much older too. The branches, though long and thick, curved inwards and the tree seemed as if it was reaching its final ten-thousand years.

Her fingers glanced across the bark, warm as she felt the tree hum with life. There was no true indication that the tree homed the temple, yet she felt that it did. The Force had yet to lead her astray, so Rey set to climbing, pushing her satchel behind her and grabbing a foothold into the wrinkled wood.

It was an easy climb. Easier than climbing the durasteel of old ships, even with the added humidity dampening her hands. Realising that she was making slow progress, Rey called for help from the Force to get her moving more swiftly, and she was able to make it to on one of the lowest branches of the tree, swinging her legs over to straddle it.

Taking some time to catch her bearings, her eyes followed the routes of the other branches – where they led and merged with the other trees, or where they linked back to the reddish trunk.

Just before she was ready to set off again, she glanced at a small wedge notched into the trunk and her fingers drifted over it, feeling the smoothness of metal and the giving weight of a button.

The bark slid away from the tree and Rey grinned as she stepped inside, the light of the sun still drifting through the scarred wood of the wroshyr tree. There were corridors inside without any indication on where they led, and Rey hesitated for only a moment in choosing her direction.

As she walked, it felt as if she had been here before. Like she was retracing old steps and while it frightened her, it was thrilling. The Force was telling her something and she merely had to wait and listen.

Wooden walls soon grew narrower and they sloped, clearly descending back down to the ground, before she saw much more light beyond a small turn. It was behind a curtain of vines that she found it then.

The Temple, in all its ruination, sat in a small alcove of massive wroshyr trees. Their roots were too big to have climbed without a lot of equipment, and even then, nobody would have looked here unless they had fallen from the sky, through the canopy and into this exact spot.

Rey was thankful that the ruins seemed to be due to decay rather than destruction. The trees had been left to set their roots through many of the stone walls, crippling the weaker material and leaving rubble in its wake.

Deciding to look first and question herself later, Rey immediately removed her glowrod from her satchel and trudged forward, exploring what remained of the temple.

The remains of artwork painted directly onto the rock depicting students meditating or during trials covered several walls, while there were broken book cases and cupboards along another. Of the rooms that had been caved in by tree roots, there were scraps of cloth and perhaps earthen cooking ware.

It was the same tugging that caused Rey to turn back to a singular room. It seemed to have been a dorm room, as cots hewn from stone were lifted from the walls and what had most likely been bedding remained in scraps on the floor. There were twelve stone beds in total and as she moved towards the further most cot, her heart rate sped up.

Briefly looking around and then kneeling down, Rey's fingers caught on the edge of a trap door as she felt beneath the cot and with some effort and help from the Force, she managed to pull the lid free. Her hand sifted through the contents of it, not prepared to look underneath the cot out of fear alone, and she raised an eyebrow when it came upon leather. It took several tugs to remove it from underneath the bed and Rey looked down at what was a leather bag, quizzically.

It did not have a fastening, only a flap, so she opened it and sifted through the contents. The first item was a small fountain pen, then a notebook with pages mostly eaten by time and finally a small polyhedric item, the size of her hand and a deep magenta.

'Now what is this?' she murmured as R2 began to beep loudly through her comms.

XxX

'Synthetic,' Kylo murmured, breaking the lightsaber open to reveal the crystals inside. 'Artificial.'

'What difference does that make? They are still usable crystals,' Jojen responded sharply.

Kylo looked up at the man, annoyance pulling his mouth into a grimace. 'Anointed and artificial crystals. You have no idea what to do with these.'

Jojen bristled and looked to Xhona beside him.

'Fair is fair,' she murmured. 'We found the lightsaber.'

The Supreme Leader looked over them briefly and his eyes met Mar's. The Kiffar looked to the ground and Kylo's grimace deepened. 'No.'

'I knew you would lie about this too.' Jojen's voice was elevated and his eyes filled with fury.

Kylo leant forward on the throne, looking the man down. 'You're more than welcome to try again, Jojen.'

'You are different, Kylo,' Jojen said simply, appraising the older Force-user.

'Practicing your foresight, are you?' Ben answered, beyond irritated with the man now. 'Perhaps your memory of the past has now failed you, as you seem to have conveniently forgotten who the more powerful Force-user in this room is.'

Jojen laughed and Ben felt his cheeks heat with anger. 'To me you will always be the fool who could be taken down with a single punch, Kylo Ren. Regardless of whether you change your name, without Snoke you are nothing. He made you, so now you are a puppet with no master.'

'Jojen, would you stop?' Xhona requested, clearly annoyed.

He shook his head. 'Is he not exceptionally suspicious to you? Do you really believe that some girl, who has known the Force for less time than it takes a Bantha to fertilise a whole field with its shit, managed to best Snoke? You've felt his power, you saw what he did to Julius in the blink of an eye, yet you think that he didn't have something to do with Snoke's untimely demise?'

Ben had a hand against his Lightsaber, trying to contain his emotions as he watched the man begin to pace the space before him.

'Why do we continue to listen to him? We find three artificial Kyber crystals on Yavin 4 and he gets them all to use on that blade? Where is the righteousness in that? We killed for him, because of his words, because he told us that his own uncle had tried to kill him, and yet it feels the same, the same as it felt back then: That these are half-truths and it's the Force, I know it, telling us we mustn't trust this snake.'

Mar cleared his throat then and they all turned in time to see his eyeroll. 'Perhaps you should have held back on the whiskey on the way here, Jojen.' He loosened the flail in his hand and gripped Jojen's shoulder. The man was clearly in pain as Mar squeezed it tightly.

There was fire in Ben's eyes and the room was silent for a moment, wondering whether he would remove his Lightsaber and strike Jojen down. He had done it before, not with one of them, but before all the same.

Though Jojen shook his head and pushed at Mar, knocking his flail from his hand and pulling his own vibro-sword from his waist. Mar backed up, his hands up, though his expression was one of annoyance rather than reluctance as Jojen held the sword towards Ben.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' Ben questioned, speaking through his teeth.

Jojen choked out a laugh then, holding the sword truer. 'Do you not see it?' he asked the others. 'Can you not see the conflict in his eyes? It is so much clearer now than it was before and yet he stands here and tells us lies.' The man glanced between the Knights, frustrated. 'Or do you all use the Force for nothing? Do you remember nothing you learned in the temple?' He laughed again, his eyes trained again on Ben who stood solidly still. 'Perhaps that's why he kept us so far from Snoke, so far from anything Force-related, so that we would forget and he could continue to manipulate us as we lost our connection. Though I haven't forgotten anything.'

Ben's hand rested gripped the hilt of his Lightsaber then and Jojen pointed at his actions.

'Are you going to continue to go against me?' Ben asked him. 'Do you wish to find out what the conclusion of your words will be?'

'You're the one who has gone against us,' he said, narrowing his eyes at Ben. 'We sacrificed everything for you.' The man said, his voice tinged with betrayal even though he spoke with resolution.

Ben smirked and glanced around at the others. 'You made a choice, the correct choice. Luke could offer you nothing you wanted or needed.'

Jojen's arm fell then and he shook his head. 'I wanted family. You have only given me spilled blood.'

'Then what will it be?' Kylo asked.

Mar watched as Yonduun and Kem automatically looked at their leader and Xhona merely looked resolutely at the ground. He had expected that. It had been the same thing she had done at the temple. When the others had begged, she had simply looked away, sold on the dream that Ben Solo had painted for her, and devotedly followed when Ben Solo became Kylo Ren.

Kylo glanced at Mar then and the Kiffar reeled in his frustration, directing it to the situation at hand.

'Would you fight me?' Ben asked, seeking clarification.

Jojen's lip quivered. 'No,' he answered. 'I would kill you.'

It was Xhona who moved to cross Jojen's path first. Mar could not reel in his shock and he noticed that neither could Kylo. The sword was pulled from Jojen's chest before either could move, and Xhona cleaned the blood from the weapon with her arm bindings before slotting it back into its sheath.

Jojen crumpled onto his knees, betrayal clear as he looked to Xhona and then he fell forward, his blood spilling onto the floor and gently drifting towards Mar and Kylo.

Kylo stuttered his first few words and Mar hesitated. Kem and Yonduun were frozen in shock, while the inexplicable sensation of passivity rolled off Xhona in waves. Mar was under the impression that Kylo was too distracted by Jojen's last breaths to notice, but Mar did, and for the first time in what felt like a decade, he was frightened. The Mirialan's face had not changed when she had struck Jojen and it looked almost premeditated.

'Why would you kill him?' Yonduun choked out.

'Would you like to be next?' she questioned.

There was silence again and Mar turned to look directly at the Supreme Leader. His face had gone pale and he was staring at Xhona.

'Leave,' he murmured.

Xhona nodded and walked towards the exit, pulling Yonduun and Kem with her. Jojen's blood still spread across the floor and Mar closed his eyes, his chest constricting for the man. Though Kylo had given the death blow back then, it had not been the same with Julius. They had been together for such a short amount of time then, but now…now there was a decade between them all.

Mar stepped forward, reaching for Jojen's shoulder.

This was not your path.

The blood reached Mar's knees then and he sighed. He reached further into the pool of blood and turned Jojen into his lap. He was gone already and Mar felt an emptiness descend over him as his hands drifted over the man's lifeless body.

It had been years since he'd last done this. Not even when Julius had died, had Mar reached for him. While wielding psychometry on objects was second nature, using it on the dead was uncommonly done on Mar's home plant of Kiffu. Yet with Jojen it seemed necessary. This almost felt like the final rite of his passing and at any other time, perhaps the others – Ben more specifically – would have looked at Mar strangely to see him cradle this man's head in his lap as he died. Mar closed his eyes, letting Jojen's memories wash over him. It was only right. Mar had known the man too long to leave him to go cold on the durasteel floor. He'd been with him everyday for years.

The trepidation that Mar had sensed in Jojen had been present for longer than he had expected. Ever since Snoke had turned them away from training, Jojen had doubted the intentions of the previous Supreme Leader, no differently than Mar himself had. While their loyalties had lain with Kylo, Snoke still held dominion over them, much to both of their frustration.

Mar's hand fisted into the dead Knight's jacket as the memory of his wishes flitted behind his eyes. Family. Brought to Luke as an orphan, he hadn't known what it meant. He wanted a family and he thought that could be the seven of them: Kylo, Xhona, Julius, Mar, Kem, Yonduun and him. It had fallen apart and Mar sighed.

'He's gone?' Kylo asked.

The Kiffar nodded and his fingers drifted up to shut Jojen's eyes.

'Why would she…without orders?' He muttered.

'Yet you wanted this.'

Kylo shook his head, seemingly torn.

'When you decided to keep things from them, you allowed this. Xhona has…' Mar didn't want to say it, but he felt it. He'd felt it ever since the awakening. Ever since Kylo had mentioned the girl. 'She has chosen her side, and that is yours.'

Mar stood and turned to meet Kylo. 'He would have killed me?'

'I doubt it.'

'Then why would she?'

'Teach her. Perhaps then she would not be so rash. If they knew of the Force again, perhaps things would be different,' Mar said, his voice flat. It was not what he needed of them, yet he was wary to leave them defenceless.

Xhona had become irregular. She made Mar hesitate and he knew to be wary of his own weaknesses.

Kylo seemed to consider Mar's words and he nodded, not accepting the request, but telling Mar that he would think about it.

Mar bowed his head slightly and made his way out of the chamber, deciding not to look back at Jojen. Perhaps the man was free now.


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