Chapter 25 – Study and practice

I'm finally done with this chapter. Everything took longer than I thought. I went on vacation and the amount of time I had to write was a lot less than I originally thought. Still, it was a great vacation.

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

;-

Barriss Offee was in the archives of the Jedi Temple. The past few days had kept her a little busy. She and her master had taught a couple of Youngling classes, alternating from simpler meditating lessons to a more complex lightsaber lesson. Teaching the classes had been great, but also quite exhausting. The younglings seemed to get more curious each time.

Apart from the teaching, she had also helped Nyla with another round of her physical tests. She would have to do another test in a couple of days. If she passed that one well, she would be allowed to return to her own quarters. That news had really made Nyla's day.

Now, Barriss had some free time to herself. She had already decided to use that time to figure out a mystery that was still bothering her, her newfound ability to dual wield. She had some dual wielding practice some time ago, but it was only to learn how to better defend against a dual wielding opponent. With that limited amount of practice, there is no way she should be able to dual wield at a high level herself.

"And yet I did just that on Kiros," Barriss thought as the terminal in front of her booted up. "I was able to dual wield just by instinct. I still remember how intensively Ahsoka trained. She's an expect at dual wielding now, one of the best in the Order, there's no doubt about that." She thought back to a few of their shared training sessions. "There is no way that I would just be anywhere near her level like that."

The terminal finished starting up and Barriss activated the search functions. "Somehow during the time I spent under that Sith's control, I learned how to dual wield. But the time was too short to be taught all of that." There was an explanation, but she didn't like it. "He did something else to me," she thought worriedly.

That Sith had already used her to kill innocent people and then have her frame Ahsoka to get her executed. She had attacked Ahsoka to get her arrested and tried to kill Anakin when he found her out. The thought of her trying to do that to her closest friends made her feel horrible.

"Who knows what kind of other horrifying things he would have used me for?" she asked herself. "Considering that I can dual wield now, his intention was probably to make me another loyal Sith assassin…" The idea horrified her immensely.

Fortunately for her, Anakin had freed her from the Sith's control. That monster would not control her mind again. With the help of her Master and her new friends, she had been able to recover from the Dark Side. She was almost fully free of the Dark Side now. The only thing that was really troubling her now was this whole dual wielding issue.

"Thankfully, I didn't feel any darkness on Kiros when I dual wielded," She thought with relief. "The Sith gave me this ability, that I do know. It's just the how I don't know." Despite her confusion, she also felt a sense of determination. "His goal with teaching me this was undoubtedly to make me a monster. I'll master this new ability and use it to help and protect others instead." A small smile spread across her face as she started her research.

"Let's see, what to start with?" Barriss asked herself. "This is obviously Force-related, so I guess I should search for similar situations." With that in mind, she began searching the archives.

;-

About half an hour later

Barriss gave a slightly frustrated sigh. So far her search had not yielded any promising results. She had searched for 'Passing down techniques with the Force', 'Gaining new abilities through the Force' and similar search terms. It had only lead her to information she already knew or other information that she had no use for.

"Should have figured it wouldn't be this easy," she thought. As she read through the several datafiles she had open, another thought formed in her head. "It was a Sith that did this to me, so does that mean that I need to…" She took a deep breath and looked around. The archives were very quiet at the moment. The terminal she had chosen was a bit in the back or the archives, so no one would really see her screen unless they walked by.

After a short moment of contemplation, she made a decision. "I just hope people don't get the wrong idea…" She opened a new page and started searching for the same items, only now with the term 'Dark Side' added to them.

;-

Luminara Unduli walked into the archives. Her day had been filled with a few meetings and a class, but now her schedule was empty again. It gave her the opportunity to look up some data for a few classes she had been scheduled to give later that week.

"Master Unduli, do you have a moment?" A voice asked from a short distance. She looked over and saw Master Jocasta Nu, the Chief Librarian of the archives.

"Hello Master Nu, how is everything?" She asked her fellow Jedi when she reached her desk.

"I am well, Master Unduli," Jocasta replied. "There is something I'm concerned with though."

"I see. Is it something I can help you with?" Luminara asked.

Jocasta nodded. "Yes, seeing as it concerns you, I think you will," she replied. Noticing Luminara's confused look, she continued. "As you know, our terminals can be monitored from here. With recent developments, the Council insisted that they be monitored constantly. Whenever someone researches something questionable, we get an alert here." She paused a moment. "I was just informed that someone is looking up information about Dark Side techniques. I checked the login details and saw that is your Padawan looking up the information."

Luminara was rather shocked to hear that. After everything, there would be no reason for Barriss to research the Dark Side. "I refuse to belief she would just abandon all of her hard work like that," Luminara thought to herself.

"I do not know why she would be researching these things," Jocasta said honestly. "She had made such progress in overcoming the Dark Side. I hope you can talk to her about this."

"I will, don't worry," Luminara replied. "Thank you for informing me." She gave Jocasta Nu a small bow and started making her way to Barriss.

;-

Barriss was still researching her new found dual wielding abilities. Expanding her search with the Dark Side had yielded several new, but also more disturbing results. She had found several articles that seemed promising at first, but turned out to be very disturbing, perverse rituals.

"It's a good thing I'm keeping my mind focused, this is some dark material," Barriss thought slightly worried. "This can easily mess you up if you let it." The material she was currently reading through had been locked originally, but a little trick she learned from Ahsoka had opened all of the files.

"But I still haven't found anything useful," she thought with disappointment. She had been searching the archives for a short while now, but it had not yielded any results. She looked up from the screen as she suddenly felt a presence approach her. When she saw her Master walk up to her, she quickly shut down several of the pages she had opened.

"Good afternoon Master," Barriss said when Luminara reached her. She made sure to keep her face straight and her mental shields up, so that her master would hopefully not sense her nervousness.

"Hello Barriss," Luminara replied. She could easily tell that her Padawan was slightly nervous, but hiding it well. "I think we need to talk about something, don't you?" she asked.

Barriss was slightly startled by her question. "What do you mean Master? Did something happen?" she asked in return.

Luminara sighed a bit. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to her Padawan. "Barriss, Master Nu gets a warning when someone is looking up information they shouldn't. She told me what you were looking up," she replied. "Barriss, why are you researching this?" she asked worriedly.

Barriss was very worried now. "Master, it's not what it looks like," she replied quickly. "I'm not researching the Dark Side because I want too. I swear it's not like that."

"I can sense that you're telling the truth," Luminara said. "Then why are you looking up this information? You know that I'm just looking out for you." She could sense Barriss' apprehension. "Just tell me what's going on."

Barriss sighed. "It has to do with something that happened during the battle of Kiros, as well as something that's been troubling me since I saw the recording of the possessed me fighting Master Skywalker," she replied. "During that fight, 'I' used two lightsabers against him. However, as you know Master, the practice we did with dual wielding is nowhere near enough to be able to fight at such a level."

Luminara nodded, but remained silent to let her Padawan continue.

"During the battle of Kiros, James was wounded," Barriss continued. "He managed to crawl to safety, after which I charged those droids. When I did so, I instinctively called James' lightsaber to my other hand and used a series of dual wielding techniques to take out the droids. I was able to keep up the dual wielding during the rest of the battle."

That news really surprised Luminara. "That is quite surprising," she said as she studied Barriss. "You are right, the practice we did was not sufficient to be able to dual wield at a higher level. But how does this relate to the research you were doing now?"

"Like you just said, our training was not sufficient. I was only able to reach one conclusion for this newfound skill," she replied. "While I was under that Sith's control, he did something to me. Somehow, because of his actions, I am now able to dual wield. I don't know the exact reason why, but I suspect he wanted to turn me into some kind of horrifying assassin." She looked down, a sense of shame filling her.

Luminara placed her hand on Barriss' shoulder. "Barriss, you know that you're not like that," Luminara told her comfortingly. "You've broken free of his control and you've escaped the Dark Side. You are not a monster."

Barriss looked at Luminara again and smiled slightly. "Thank you master," she replied. "This whole situation has just confused me. That's why I was doing this research, I wanted to know what that Sith did to me. I searched through a lot of Force techniques, but nothing I found was helping. Because the person that did this to me was a Sith, I thought I would be able to find more if I expanded my search with the Dark Side."

Luminara nodded, she understood her Padawan's motives now. She wasn't worried that Barriss would be descending into darkness again, but she was still a bit relieved. "Were you able to find out anything?" she asked.

Barriss shook her head. "I'm afraid not," she replied. "I thought I had found a few promising leads, but they turned out to be very disturbing and perverse things." She sighed. "I wanted to find out how I got these new abilities, so that I would be able to use them as a Jedi. But it didn't really work out."

"Don't worry, Barriss," Luminara said. "I can't sense any darkness in you, this development has not brought you closer to the Dark Side." Barriss gave her a small smile in return. "Come on, let's go to a training room. I'd like to see how well you can do this."

"All right Master," Barriss replied. She shut down the terminal and the two of them left the archives.

;-

A short time later, in the training rooms

Barriss stood ready in one of the training rooms of the Temple. She and her Master currently had an empty room, so they could just take their time.

As she heard the four remotes around her power up, a hint of nervousness spread through her. She had her own lightsaber in her right hand and a training saber in her left. She called on the Force to calm herself and waited for the remotes to open fire.

A short moment later, she felt the first shot through the Force. Barriss quickly moved her main saber and blocked the strike. The other remotes opened fire as well. Barriss blocked a number of strikes with her main saber, before a blast from behind nearly hit her. She was able to block the shot at the last moment with the training saber in her offhand. The remotes kept up their fire while Barriss continued focusing on the Force and kept blocking the bolts with both sabers.

Luminara studied her Padawan as she performed the exercise. Barriss had done this countless time before and had always done well. The only difference this time was that she was using two lightsabers. Despite the change in tactics, she was doing well. Barriss was able to keep up with the fire of the remotes. Luminara noticed some hesitation in her swings, resulting in dodges instead of blocks.

About ten minutes later, the remotes deactivated again. Barriss was breathing a bit heavily as she deactivated both lightsabers. She clipped her own lightsaber back to her belt and placed the training saber back in the racks.

Luminara thought about how the exercise had gone. Barriss had done quite well, despite the awkwardness of wielding two lightsabers instead of one. She did gain quite some skill in dual wielding, but right now, her own unease was dragging her down a bit.

"You did well Barriss," Luminara said. "With some more practice, you should have no problems with this at all."

"Thank you Master," Barriss replied with a small smile. "I did struggle a bit, wielding two sabers at once is not that easy. I can't help but be impressed yet again by Ahsoka's skill." She chuckled a bit.

Luminara smiled as well. "Yes, Ahsoka's level skill is impressive. Keep in mind that it took her a lot of practice as well," she told Barriss. "You just need to keep up the practice and do your best to let go of the unease you still have. This has not brought you back to the Dark Side and you do not need to fear it will. Let go of that doubt and you will hesitate less. You will be able to master this skill soon."

Barriss' smile grew a bit larger. "Thank you Master, that puts me more at ease," she replied. "I'll be sure to keep up the practice. I could use a break now, so I'm going to continue tomorrow."

Luminara nodded. "Alright Barriss, let me know if you need my assistance. While dual wielding is not my strongest point, I may be able to give you some advice," she told her Padawan. Barriss nodded and the two of them bowed, then left the room.

;-

The following day

Barriss was back in her quarters. She had just spend a few hours in the training rooms, working further on her dual wielding skills. During one of their shared training sessions, Ahsoka had told her about a number of articles and guides she had studied herself while practicing. So Barriss had spent some time researching those as well.

The information and tips had been quite helpful for her. She had done another training session with a couple of remotes. It had been a bit easier than the day before. "If I can do a few more sessions like that, maybe I can ask Naria and Alyva to join me for a spar afterwards. It would be good practice," she thought.

Now that the training for the day was done, she was relaxing and reading up on some medical information. While reading through an article, her eyes caught something interesting on the side of the page.

"This might be helpful for the Halls of Healing," she thought as she read the new information. "I wonder if the Circle of Healers already know about this? I'll go and ask to be sure." She got up and started making her way to the Halls of Healing.

;-

About thirty minutes later

Barriss was waiting in the Halls of Healing for Master Vokara Che, the Chief Healer of the Order. The Twi'lek Jedi Master would be the one to ask about the information she found. She'd know if the Circle was already doing something with it. Unfortunately, she was busy, so Barriss had to wait for a bit, not that she minded. Unlike some of her friends, being in the Halls of Healing didn't bother her at all.

A short moment later she spotted Master Che walking up to her. She got up and walked up to her. "Good afternoon, Master Che," she greeted her as she bowed.

"Padawan Offee," Vokara Che replied. "How have you been doing?"

"I'm doing quite well, Master Che," Barriss said. "Thank you for asking."

"Of course," Vokara Che replied. "So, what is it you wanted to see me about?" she asked.

Barriss activated her datapad. "I was looking up some medical information earlier and found something interesting. I wanted to see if you and the other healers already knew about it," she told the Master. She gave the datapad to Vokara Che. "There is a large medical seminar on Naboo in a few days. A number of organizations and research labs will be demonstrating new types of medicine and medical instruments. I figured that there might be a few helpful things for the Order as well."

Vokara Che studied the announcement of the seminar for a moment. "You're right, Padawan Offee, this does look like it could be interesting to investigate," she replied. "Unfortunately, most of us in the Circle of Healers are currently too occupied to spare the time to travel there." A thought crossed the Twi'lek's mind. "Could you go there in our stead?"

Barriss was a bit surprised by the question. "I suppose I could," she said. The idea of attending such a seminar was quite appealing. That, and Naboo was quite the amazing planet to be on. "Is that alright with you, Master Che?"

Vokara Che nodded. "With your medical knowledge, I'm sure that it will be fine," she replied. "After all, I'm expecting you to join the Circle of Healers one day." She smiled at Barriss. "I'll clear everything with the Council, you make the necessary preparations."

Barriss smiled back at her. "I will, thank you Master Che," she said as she bowed. With that, Barriss started making her back to her quarters. The upcoming trip was unexpected, but she was certain that she was going to enjoy it.

;-

That's the end of this chapter.

I got somewhat stuck with the end of this chapter, so I turned out shorter than I wanted it to. Anyway, in the next chapter, Barriss will be on Naboo for the medical seminar. However, when she's there, she'll also run into someone else.

I'll be working on new updates for The Hidden Truth, Rebirth of Light and Unexpected Company next. I don't know which one I'll finish first, it depends on whatever story I have the most inspiration for.

Until next time.