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"NO! TAFFO!" Remla screamed, running to the edge to see Taffo's body fall through the clouds to her death. Remla felt the tears burn at her eyes, looking up at the window to see a purple Twi'lek bounty hunter holding a blaster. He had shot Taffo; he had shot her just when she had turned back to the good side!
"DIE!" Remla screamed in anger and fury. This was different from when she had thought Taffo had first died. Taffo had been redeemed; she had broken Taffo out of the power of the Force crystals, and then the bounty hunter had shot her. The pain was raw and it hurt so bad, this time Remla knew that Taffo was truly dead. She was gone completely. Her life had ended and she could have stopped it!
Remla reached out to the Force, trying to calm down but also wanting the bounty hunter to die. She used the Force to pull the Twi'lek out from the window. The bounty hunter screamed as he fell down to land with a crack in front of her. Remla used the Force to get her lightsaber to her hand, igniting the blue blade and running to the Twi'lek. It groaned and looked up at her, tears in his eyes. It started to squeal in an alien language, grovelling before her. Remla looked at it in hate, about to swing her lightsaber to remove its head, to make it die in revenge of Taffo's death.
But he was unarmed. And what would his death prove? It would only start her path to the Dark Side, the path she had begun when she believed Taffo to be dead. But now she was dead! She was dead and this bounty hunter had killed her!
Remla lowered her lightsaber. She couldn't kill this bounty hunter, it wasn't the Jedi way. But if she let the bounty hunter go, she would regret it forever. Even if it wasn't the Jedi way, she wanted the bounty hunter dead.
A hand grabbed Remla's arm and lowered it. Remla turned and saw her Master regarding her with sympathy.
"I want to kill him." Remla snapped. "He killed Taffo, just when she had been redeemed!"
"I know, Padawan." Anakin said softly. Remla let him take her lightsaber as she stared down at the crying bounty hunter at her feet. She wanted this bounty hunter dead.
"Let's go." Anakin said quietly. Remla nodded sadly, looking up to see Obi Wan and Sasha run over.
"Taffo!" Obi Wan sobbed, looking at Remla. He knew that she had died.
"I saved her." Remla said. "But now she's dead."
Obi Wan looked at the ground in grief. Sasha looked out at the clouds, not knowing how to react.
"Death is unavoidable." Sasha whispered quietly.
"We need to return to the Council." Anakin said quietly. Obi Wan nodded in agreement. Remla looked over at the bounty hunter who scrambled to his feet and started to run.
Remla wanted him dead, but she knew it wasn't the Jedi way.
As she turned to walk away, she noticed the Force crystals at the edge of the platform. She walked over and stood on them, feeling them crush under her feet. The last of the Force crystals were gone. Taffo had been sacrificed for the safety of the galaxy.
Remla looked back at her Master who embraced her in comfort. She knew it would take a long time to get over her grief for her dead friend, in her mind she could still see Taffo's body falling through the clouds, and she would still be alive, still hoping that someone would go and save her as she fell to her death.
That thought made Remla angry again. She didn't want her friend to think and hope for help. She could only hope that Taffo had died immediately and that she wasn't still alive as she fell through the clouds.
Remla walked back to the starfighters, not noticing her Master using the Force to push the bounty hunter off the platform, too far away to hear his screams as he fell to his death.
Remla piloted her starfighter into Coruscant, taking a moment to view the stars glittering around her. She took a moment to think about her friend, how Taffo had died. It was good that she had died being redeemed, and not to have died as a Dark Jedi. But the death had been so sudden.
Remla piloted her starfighter to land on the landing platform. She got out of her starfighter, wincing at the pain from her injuries. Her skin felt stretched and raw from the Force lightning, and the impact when she hit the ground had broken a few bones. She felt weak and tired, but also sad. Sad and empty at having lost her best friend.
Obi Wan would have been heartbroken, his Padawan and his love was now dead.
Remla said farewell to R7 and walked over to her Master. She saw Obi Wan and Sasha talking quietly, Obi Wan looked worn out and sad. The four of them walked into the Temple. A few Padawans regarded Remla with a shocked look.
"I think you should go to the medical facility." Anakin advised. "You need to rest up before we return to the Council."
Remla nodded, and then rethought about that.
"No, you go to the Council, Master." Remla said. "I don't think I'm ready."
Anakin looked at her sadly, but nodded in agreement.
"Well, may the Force be with you." Anakin smiled slightly. Remla watched him leave then made her way to the medical facility. She saw Padawan Sasha along the way, and was surprised when she walked over to her.
"I'm sorry about your friend." Sasha said softly.
"Don't be." Remla answered. "I just need time to think."
Sasha nodded in agreement and walked away.
Remla found her way to the medical facility and walked up to the droid. The droid scanned her wounds and she was administered a bacta liquid.
An hour later, Remla had changed and she had a few scars from the Force lightning, her arm had been reattached with an upgraded version with touch sensors. Remla wasn't very excited about that. Her ribs had been healed as much as they could be, but Remla was advised to not fall out of windows for a while. Droid humour, Remla thought.
Remla left the medical facility and walked to the Council chamber, passing Jedi who gave her casual glances. She felt more like a Jedi than a Padawan. Choosing not to kill the bounty hunter had given her a new perspective, the perspective of a Jedi. Remla hoped that she had proved herself to the Council, by choosing to not kill the bounty hunter.
Remla saw Obi Wan walking to his meditation room as she wandered the halls.
"Obi Wan!" Remla called. Obi Wan turned to face her, smiling sadly.
"The Council has requested your presence." Obi Wan said.
"They have?" Remla was surprised.
"I think you could be ready, ready to be a Jedi." Obi Wan smiled. Remla was shocked at this. She was ready to be a Jedi!
"Wow, I'll go there straight away." Remla grinned, leaving Obi Wan to enter his room and meditate. Remla hurried down the corridors, too excited to think. But she knew that once she would step into the Council chambers, she would be missing Taffo all over again.
But now she was going to be a Jedi, and she wanted to be a strong, wise Jedi so Taffo would be proud of her friend's achievements.
And one day, Remla hoped that she would be wise enough to become a Jedi Master with her own Padawan. But that would be in another time, when she would be ready.
Remla walked up to the Council chamber and stepped through the door, sensing the Jedi Masters sitting in their seats. She saw them, sitting in their egg shaped seats, regarding her with an expressionless glance.
Remla knew they were all judging her, seeing how she was handling Taffo's sudden death. But Remla was going to try and move on, even though she knew that it was going to be so hard to do.
"Padawan Remla." Master Windu acknowledged her.
"Masters." Remla bowed.
Anakin stood up and walked to stand beside her. Remla was confused. Why had her Master stood before the Council? Was this really going to be when she would become a Jedi? Was this how they did it?
"We understand the situation you are in, Padawan." Master Windu said. "You just lost your friend; we just lost a Padawan."
"Sad to hear, this was." Master Yoda added. "But move on, we must."
"There are more pressing matters." Master Ki Adi Mundi spoke. "The Clone Wars are approaching, and we must send out as many Jedi as we can to keep the Republic intact."
Remla noticed Master Yoda nodding in agreement.
"But first, we have taken notice of you, Padawan." Master Windu spoke to Remla. "Even though you have made mistakes in the past, we are ready to accept you fully into the Jedi Order."
"You wish for my Padawan to become a Jedi Knight?" Anakin raised an eyebrow. Remla smiled in excitement.
"Yes, but there are many trials that you must pass." Master Windu answered. "The trials of a Jedi Knight. And once you pass, then you will be granted the title of a Jedi Knight."
"What if I fail?" Remla asked.
The Masters exchanged looks.
"We think you will be ready." Master Ki Adi Mundi answered. "You have faced a Sith apprentice, helped kill a Sith Lord, and redeem Padawan Taffo from the Dark Side. You have shown that you are capable of this."
"Do you think your Padawan is ready?" Master Windu turned to Anakin.
"She is." Anakin smiled at his Padawan. Remla smiled back in nervous excitement. She was worried about the upcoming trials, but excited about the thought of being a Jedi Knight.
"Then if you feel you are ready." Master Windu nodded at Remla.
"I am ready Masters." Remla spoke proudly.
"Ready for trials, you are." Master Yoda said thoughtfully.
"The trials will commence." Master Windu spoke.
Remla nodded and bowed to the Masters. She felt ready for this; she had been waiting for this time for so long.
Next chapter: The final chapter. Remla faces her future as a Jedi Knight.