Pydyr
After Luke had set the Jade Shadow in the spaceport closest to the Fallanassi Temple, he and Ben made the relatively short, hour-long hike over to the Temple.
"Dad, do we really have to visit another female-led Force sect that hates men?" Ben retorted halfway through their hike. "I had enough of those witches on Dathomir telling me I couldn't use the Force like them. We didn't even get to learn anything about Jacen's stay with them, other than where he went next and the fact that several witches viewed him as a sex symbol before he became Caedus."
"Ben, the Dathomiri weren't all misandrous," Luke replied. "Most of them at least acknowledged that we were powerful in the Force. And a few of them had some husbands they treated as equals, remember? And if I recall correctly, I think Jacen had convinced those particular witches about the virtues of gender equality; about how not all men were just cattle to be used to spurt semen into the breadwinners." Even as he spoke that last sentence, Luke felt somewhat disgusted, and not at the description of semen-spurting either; even as he was falling, Jacen was actually managing to still do some good in some parts of the galaxy.
Ben sighed in irritation. "I can't believe those women actually looked to Jacen as a great representation of male intelligence. If that's so, no wonder these Dathomiri are sexist; they haven't seen any man with actual brains to counterbalance their ba- Uh, genitalia."
"Good boy," Luke said reluctantly at his son's avoidance of using curse words. "Regardless, I think that's a good sign that the times are changing for the better in some parts of the galaxy."
"I'll agree with that," Ben replied in a sullen tone.
Luke ignored his son's statement. "Besides, the Fallanassi are a lot more tolerant of men; at least relative to the Dathomiri."
"You mean they don't treat men as second-class citizens at best and slaves at worst?" Ben asked.
Luke cocked his head in acknowledgement. "Well, yes, that's pretty much it, I will admit. And that's mainly because they don't live anywhere that oppresses men."
"I don't know why. They and the Dathomiri can get along fairly well."
"Not necessarily," Luke disagreed. "The Fallanassi believe in the White Current, which is the immersion of oneself in the ripples and flows of the Force. The Dathomiri are more rooted in the traditional beliefs of the Force practiced by the Jedi and Sith, with the nature of Dathomir taking on a more prominent role in their powers and abilities."
Ben shrugged his shoulders. "The Fallanassi could just move into the Hapes Consortium now; what with a Force-sensitive Queen Mother ruling it, and the Consortium now harboring a Jedi Academy, I think Tenel Ka could find the Fallanassi some room in the Transitory Mists."
"Possibly," Luke said. "But I think the Fallanassi would turn down such an opportunity anyway; they don't want to intermingle their own beliefs with any others, like the Jedi, even if the Queen Mother is only a former one. And I think the Jedi's presence there might also contribute to their decision."
"They sound extremely isolationist to me," Ben said. "Are you sure they'll accept us, Dad?"
"Barely," Luke said. "But, thankfully, I know their leader. She and I go way back; and we were on good terms."
"Let's hope she hasn't changed then," Ben said. "At least not for the worst."
Later, however, once the Skywalkers arrived, they found all of the Fallanassi in the great building lying dead in the throne room. Lightsaber wounds perforated their bodies, with many of the members having lost limbs. A few had died with their horrified final expressions displayed on their now-stiff faces. On the throne ahead was the body of the leader, Akanah Norand Goss Pell; her chest had a deep lightsaber cut in it, and her head was cocked to the side.
Then, jumping out from behind the throne and landing in a feline-like crouch before the Skywalkers, red lightsaber in hand and ablaze, was Darth Caedus.
"No!" Ben uttered. His mind was already running in circles as he thought how this could be possible.
Caedus stood up with an evil smirk. "What's a matter, Ben? Don't have a hug for your cousin?"
Ben growled before he quickly activated his lightsaber, snatching it off his belt in the process, before pouncing forward across the room.
"Ben, don't!"
Ben didn't register his father's words as he began clashing blades with Caedus, backing the Sith away down across the throne room. Trailing along quickly, Luke rushed to catch up to his son before he would do something that he would regret.
By the time Luke caught up with Ben, the latter already managed to pivot out of the way of one of Caedus's strikes to deliver a kick in the Sith's ribs. Caedus went down to his back in pain, and then Ben swung his lightsaber up to strike the Sith dead.
But instead of his blue lightsaber meeting his corrupted cousin's bare flesh, it met the green blade of his father's active lightsaber.
Ben looked from Caedus to Luke in shock and confusion, while Luke regarded his son with disappointment and stoicism.
"This isn't real, Ben," Luke said firmly.
Ben's eyes widened in realization. "This is an illusion."
And just like that, the entirety of the illusion fell away, revealing the Fallanassi Temple to be completely non-existent. Instead, Luke and Ben found themselves in a swampy area of Pydyr's forests; not one of the best places for a respectable Force sect to inhabit.
The only thing that remained of the illusion, however, was the group of human women surrounding the Skywalkers who were definitely alive and all in one piece.
"Akanah," Luke said in a neutral tone as one of the elderly women in the group approached him and Ben. "It is good to see you again."
"Honestly, I wish I could say the same to you, Luke," Akanah Norand Goss Pell said once she joined Luke and Ben. "But as it is, I must say, I'm slightly disgusted at seeing you again; and it isn't because you aged since last we met."
"Oh?" Luke asked. "Do tell."
"Your son here had failed the test that you so easily passed," Akanah explained. "Did you even tell him that we cast illusions like this?"
"I did," Luke confirmed. "But if he'd been prepared for this-"
"He should have been prepared for this once the two of you landed on Pydyr," Akanah interrupted. "But it isn't the fact that he fell for the illusion that disappoints me, Luke; it's how he reacted." She leveled her gaze at Ben.
"You continue to harbor hate for your cousin to this day, boy," Akanah said to the Jedi Knight. "Hate that has festered inside you since the day your mother died. I felt it when you and your father landed. I feel the darkness within you, just as I did in your cousin during his time with us." She looked back at Luke.
"How could you not feel this within your own son, Luke? Even though you stopped him from striking down the illusion of his Sith cousin, he is tainted by what you call the dark side of the Force. How could you not feel the torment that destroyed your nephew, unless you yourself are also tainted by that same darkness?"
The Skywalkers stared back at Akanah in repressed anger for a moment. "Where did Jacen go after he left Pydyr, Akanah?" Luke asked.
"Why should I tell you that, Luke?" Akanah asked. "So you can just turn around and walk away without learning what Jacen learned, or rather, what he failed to learn here? Oh, no. I made the mistake of letting your nephew go when he had that malice lingering inside him, biding its time to grow. I won't do it again with you and your son until I know for a fact that the two of you are cleansed of the dark and arrogant thoughts that once plagued Jacen's head."
"The Jedi Order doesn't follow what Jacen believed, Akanah," Luke said. "So you can see, we don't believe what he did when he was falling to the dark side."
"But you and your Order did believe in that foolish Unifying Force theory following the Yuuzhan Vong War, did it not?" Akanah asked. "Just as Jacen did?"
"We did," Luke reluctantly admitted after a moment. "But we've discarded the Unifying Force as a theory to follow now, given the events of the Dark Nest Crisis and what Jacen did in the last war. We see the Force as it is; in the light and dark sides."
Akanah shook her head in disappointment and sighed. "Oh, Luke. You continue to let me down, even as you're the self-proclaimed Grand Master of your precious Jedi Order. Or rather, the self-proclaimed exiled Grand Master of your precious Jedi Order." She gave a bemused smile. "After all those years of fighting the Empire as a Rebel, you let the leadership of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances fall into the hands of a former Imperial, the very person that you had fought for years to achieve freedom to the galaxy and balance to the Force.
"With all that in mind, how can you not see how your views, though different from Jacen's, are leading to your own folly, Luke? Worse, how can you not see how your own folly is going to bring about the folly of your own Jedi Order?" She waved her hand at Ben. "I didn't even need your son here to show how your current Order is failing. Just because we Fallanassi are isolationists, it doesn't mean we don't keep up with the current events of the galaxy, we just want to stay out of them for our own good. And it seems we've been making the right choice so far."
"I suppose you're referring to the Qwallo Mode incident on Coruscant, Akanah?" Luke asked.
Akanah smirked. "You're not so dim-witted after all, it seems." It didn't sound like she meant what she said. "So much for that ranking system that your Order held up for for the thousands of years that it had been in existence. There's something incredibly odd when a mere Jedi Knight who I presume was only a few years out of your Academy can fend off three Jedi Masters at once, kill one of them, severely injure the Master who was appointed in your place by the government, and force the last one to use the dark side to kill this Knight. Don't you think so?"
Luke's angered expression softened to one of contemplation. "I have thought about it myself. Of course, that was one of the ideals that Jacen held on to as he turned to the dark side."
"Then he wasn't totally foolish either, it appears," Akanah said. "It looks like you and your late nephew have a lot in common, hmm?"
"My dad is a greater man than Jacen ever wa-!"
"Ben, calm down," Luke intoned.
Ben had fallen silent, and looked at his feet, where his stare lingered.
Akanah made a clicking sound with her mouth, as if that itself confirmed everything that she said about Ben was true. "But let's look past how a Jedi Knight could have accomplished this feat on three Masters. The fact that the one who had to use the dark side to kill Qwallo Mode is justification in itself in showing how flawed your ranking system is; how can you let someone, even as someone as distinguished as Kyle Katarn, be a Jedi Master if they can't live up to what being a Jedi Master is all about? To calmly center your emotions, be at one with the Force, and all that you praise, Luke, in your never-ending fight against the dark side of the Force."
"These are the tenants we strive for, Akanah," Luke said. "We can't necessarily meet them. We're only sentient beings; none of us are perfect."
"Oh, I more than understand that," Akanah said. "But let me ask you this? If these are the tenants you strive for, and you know that you can't necessarily meet them, then why strive for them to begin with?"
"Because it serves as the moral guidelines that we imperfect sentients must abide by unless we fall to the dark side of the Force," Luke answered almost immediately.
"Oh. Well, fat lot of luck that's doing for someone like Master Katarn, hmm?"
"What's your point, Akanah?" Luke asked.
"C'mon, Dad, we don't have to listen to this anymore," Ben cut in. "We can find out where Jacen went some other way. We don't have to stick around to-"
"Quiet, Ben."
"But, Dad-"
"I said shut up!"
In wordless shock, Ben had to take a step back from what his father, the great Grand Master of the New Jedi Order, had just said to him in anger. Two seconds later, his outrage at Ben finally registered in Luke's mind and reflected itself on his face as it dawned on him that he lost control in handling his son.
Akanah then clapped her hands loudly. "Shall we now put aside the flaws in your ideology of the Force and simply talk about the relationship with your son, Luke?"
"What are you now, a family therapist, Akanah?"
"That is, admittedly, not a field I'm specialized in, but I do my best to solve a problem wherever and however I can," Akanah said. "Especially if it comes to how Grand Masters can rage at their sons like that.
"You see, as soon as you and Ben walked here, under the illusion that we had a Temple, I not only sensed the underlying feelings between the two of you, but I could also see it plainly with my own unaided eyes. I didn't see much genuine love, respect, or kindness; instead, I saw repressed hostility between you two, unbridled emotions, and generally, all around, uneasiness. Luke, I feel that you've never truly let your emotions out over Mara's death because you feel so responsible for holding up the Jedi Order for so long." Akanah then shifted her gaze back at the younger man. "And, Ben, that darkness within you; you are so riding the edge of the dark side, it wouldn't be funny for a dark absurdist comedy that the media shows on alternative HoloNet channels. Together, father and son, you're both ticking time bombs; at the right moment, for whatever reason, you will both explode, and destroy yourselves, if not each other, from the misery that you both harbor."
At this point, Luke's head was lowered, and he was now letting tears flow out of his eyes. Meanwhile, Ben was now sitting on the swampy ground, hugging his knees close to his chest as he quietly sobbed against his thighs.
Akanah took a few more steps to Luke; this time, however, her tone and expression were softened to sympathy as she lowered a hand to Luke's shoulder. "Please, Luke, let me help you. Let me help you, your son, and the rest of your Jedi Order. But first, you must relinquish your own foolish ideology. The one that you helped to propagate, which had led to the downfall of Yoda's Order. Even if you do not accept the White Current, and I don't expect you to at this point in your life, I only want to do whatever I can to lead you down the right path; the path to enlightenment that Jacen once sought but failed to find."
Luke then violently swatted away the hand Akanah had on his shoulder. Around them, the other Fallanassi stiffened in alertness, but Akanah waved the arm that was swatted away, indicating that no action needed to be taken for Luke's abrupt attack.
Luke sniffed, the tears on his face now having stopped; his visage, however, was still coated in water. "You can't keep my son and I here, Akanah. The Fallanassi are pacifists, above all else aside from the White Current; and the only way you can keep Ben and I here is by containing us. Now, tell us where Jacen went now!"
"Or what will you do, Luke? You know as well as I that just because we're pacifists, that doesn't make us pushovers. We can defend ourselves even without our illusions to help us.
"But even if we can't defend ourselves, and you do attack us just to find out where Jacen went after he left, you cannot continue to abide by the very principles you stand for without deluding yourself any further than possible. You will have failed to be the Grand Master that you made yourself out to be, and you will be unworthy to be the heir to the Jedi that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda left you to be."
Luke gritted his teeth. But after a tense moment, he turned around and began walking away without saying a word to the son he left behind. Akanah approached the still-crying teenager and bent down to say, "For the record, boy, this was the last Force sect your cousin visited before he left to help UnuThul and the Killiks." Ben looked up in bewilderment as Akanah concluded with, "Do pass that information along to your father when you can."
Ben then turned away from Akanah, pressed himself off the swampy ground, and rushed away in the direction Luke headed to.