"Oh good."
Shatterspace had become a familiar enough sight, both in her conscious and unconscious memory, that she had a fair idea of just where she was compared to all the other visits, and exactly where to look for when the Lady of Balance would eventually appear.
Just as expected, she came into being at around the right spot, approaching with a solemn look.
"Tegama. You near the end of your path to recovery. The journey your life as it should be will begin not long after."
Maarani chewed her lips for a bit. "Well, yeah. I kinda figured that. We're less than a day from the galactic core now, so, y'know. Final stretch, the end run, one step away from fixing this mess. I already know how close I am."
The Lady smiled, in her knowing way, though it soon faded after. "Tegama, you heard my warning in the waking world, back on Felucia, that good people are going to die. You should know that seeking out Yuthura will seal that warning as fact, but turning back and acting on that warning will forever alter your path in ways I cannot begin to predict."
It took a while for Maarani to think it through, making sense of what was being said in so few words. When it came down to it, she nodded lightly. "I'm going to remember all of our conversations soon, and you're explaining why you're not giving the warning to Azera instead since she'll remember it, right?"
"Azera already has been warned, actually. She knows where the danger lies, but that is all. Only as much as I could determine through my own observation."
That time, the pause for deliberation was far more about the sudden moral struggle put to mind. There hadn't been any mention of such a warning, no indication that Azera intended to go elsewhere yet.
"Okay, since you haven't come out and given me the specifics, you want me to ask her when that time comes? Starting to get a little obtuse with the guidance y'know?"
The Lady nodded, remaining solemn as ever. "I have done my best to work around your choices, and the consequences of them. The bond between you both is growing stronger, but it requires unwavering trust as well. She will need all the support you can give when her trial begins, and ensuring she can confess her greatest fear to you will help build that trust."
"Because her flaw is fear." Maarani chewed her lip again, that time more firmly, making the otherwise deep blue skin rather pale until she released. "We will find Yuthura alive, right? Is she going to die if we don't go now, or something?"
"She has some time yet, but leaving to deal with the crisis will see you entrapped by events that you would never depart from, and this opportunity would pass. It would fundamentally alter the means by which you restore your connection to the Force, and such an alteration could be disastrous for everyone. It must be an act of pure light, not a spark born from dark intent."
After a slight tilt of her head, the Lady began to approach, the grey marking on her face glowing softly. At arm's reach she stopped, looking Maarani directly in the eye.
"The future is always open to possibilities, to interpretation. I have done my utmost to ensure your path is not irreparably damaged by the actions of others. But ultimately, I will never interfere in the choices you yourself make. I am your guidance, not your dictator. And whatever Dana Lauran may think, I will weep for all you might yet lose."
Maarani let out her breath slowly, staring back at her counterpart with that same solemn expression in the end. "I'm almost ready to forgive Azera for what she did. Please, tell me I'm not going to lose her before then."
"You won't, Tegama. You and those closest to you are safe from this coming crisis. That is all I can be certain of, all I can say to you in this time."
The Lady stretched out her hand, bringing it to rest against the meeting point of Maarani's collarbones. "The Following will watch over you in these coming days. They cannot prevent the crisis, it is beyond their capacity. But they will help restore balance in its wake, if you desire them to. It is always your choice."
The most Maarani felt she could do was nod. The sincerity, and the concern in the Lady's voice was palpable, as was her point. Whatever the outcome, she had to avoid falling into the spiral of guilt all over again.
"So, this is it then? No extra tricks to get there and back a little faster? Just fly into the core and hope we get there intact?"
"Trust your feelings. Trust in the Force. I chose you for this task, I have put all my support to your cause, but it is the Force itself that will be your strongest ally. Never lose sight of that, whatever may come to pass."
For once, Maarani woke up abruptly, but not in a way that made her flail about in panic or shock. Partially due to the fact that Azera was pressed up against her body, providing a lot of warmth through the large proportion of skin contact between them. But there was also a general feeling of contentment to her awakening. Some part of her knew to wake at that hour, even if she didn't consciously know the reason, and it was all handled in an easy manner.
"Az, you asleep still? I can't really tell looking at you because no eyes..."
The perturbed sigh from Azera said it all.
"Mind if I get up then?"
The feeling of her arm sliding back over her stomach, as well as the leg untangling from her own let her know when it was safe to slide free at last.
With the temperature regulated on a constant basis, there was little issue in departing from the warmth of the bed to make her way over to the mirror. There she ended up staring at the dimly lit portrait of herself for a while. Thinking further.
Eventually she brought the lights on to a more usable level, seeing as it had no effect on Azera's ability to sleep anyway. When her eyes had adjusted, she looked over herself again, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Even her face looked fine, despite the sudden waking.
"Tee."
She glanced over to the bed briefly, then back to the mirror. "What? The door's locked, and at this point I don't care who sees my fat blue ass anyway."
Azera, who was in the process of sitting up while holding the blanket tight across her chest, sighed again and ended up going right back down. "Is that two jabs at my specific kind of blindness back to back now?"
That brought another glance from Maarani, that time lingering. "No? If I sounded sarcastic-"
"Nevermind, don't worry about it. I just…" After some long, deep breaths, Azera made the effort to sit up again, this time moving back to rest against the wall properly. "I'm losing track of how much we're changing. This wasn't even that stupid notion of hate sex going on, somehow. It's difficult to wrap my head around the notion that this, thing…" She motioned her hand between them both. "... is really happening. That you're not mocking me for that twisted sense of humour you have anymore."
"You didn't like it, so I stopped doing it. That's all." Following one more glance at the mirror, she leaned off and made her way over in the direction of the shower, stopping at the threshold of the doorway. "But, if I might make one minor complaint?"
"Yes?"
"Why isn't there a single honest-to-goddess water shower on this ship? The Distant Star didn't have one because explorer class ships can't afford big water reprocessors, but this one absolutely can."
Yet another sigh came from Azera. "I have never perceived the benefit of water showers over waterless ones. And quite frankly Kiarna wasn't really concerned with ensuring the guest suite had luxury comforts like that when designing the ship."
Maarani took it in stride, shrugging the matter off as she made her way to the shower at last. The door she left open for the sake of conversation, even if it wasn't required.
"The next civilized world we stop at after this, you're going to have a nice warm shower. Doesn't even have to be with me, hell I'll even give up getting one myself if that's what it takes. Because you clearly need to experience one Az."
Azera just slumped right back into the bed again with an exasperated groan. "Whatever you say Tee."
At first light on Coruscant, Sokoli Zatu opened her eyes. The faint flicker of red around the pupil faded as it contracted in, adjusting to the singular sunray piercing the room.
The morning routine went just as that, from the moment of waking up to completing meditations an hour later, after which she departed the room. As she had done the past weeks since her condition had finally improved enough for her full independence. The same routine nature applied to her visit to the master's cafeteria, her meals unchanged from what had been prescribed, and her mood on those meals unconcerned as always.
No-one spoke a word to her in all that time, even after she had traversed the various corridors to the expansive, open air promenade that lined the southwestern side of the Temple itself. Not the most direct route to her destination, but it did put her in the path of an encounter that her deeper impulses desired, and made her supposed destination more plausible.
Before long, she noticed the approach of Sereti Pala at last, who made a direct line for her upon noticing her presence.
At the eventual meeting, those few others also traversing the promenade began to move around for suitable space, remaining entirely focused on their own thoughts to avoid unintentional intrusion.
"Sokoli, I apologize for being late."
Sokoli had bowed her head quite a bit by that point, avoiding the issue of looking down on Sereti too much given the height difference. "Master Pala, it is no inconvenience to me. I was taking my time on the way to the gardens. Thank you for your time."
It had been a while since she had stepped down from the role of Grand Master, but even then Sereti had never become fully accustomed to the reverence many chose to display. She didn't want to offend Sokoli's presumably older habits in any case.
"You mentioned concerns?"
"Yes, though in a sense it is my concerns about the concerns of another." She glanced around briefly, seemingly out of a desire for a little more space, actually to ensure none would pick up on her subliminal thought probing. "I fear for the health of Master Atris. In the course of my catch-up studies, I have noticed a growing paranoia in her behaviour, though not for her health."
Sereti's lips tightened. It was not the first she had heard of it, but few had spent as much time around Atris as Sokoli herself in those weeks.
"Is there a specific focus of her paranoia? Anything that could be resolved?"
After another cautious affirmation of her scan, Sokoli nodded. "I think she has begun to believe some of the children have tried to tamper with the holocron vault lock. Following the tour Master Koor led down there. I never delved into the realm of Force locks however, I simply don't know what signs there would be of such tampering."
Just for a moment, Sereti thought about the lock in question, the combination flashing through her mind as she considered the possibility of a child sneaking in there. The sheer danger that could pose if left unsupervised, and drawn towards one of the Sith holocrons within. Even if it was a sign of the heartbreaking onset of further mental decay for Atris, it had to be investigated.
Sokoli's expression remained entirely stoic throughout.
"Thank you for informing me then, Sokoli. I'll have the security technicians examine it thoroughly, and the code changed to be certain. In the meantime, I will consider a means by which to ease Atris' concerns, respectfully of course. Even if she may not know it, I am certain she would appreciate your looking out for her mental health in her final years."
"She has made so much effort to ease my own anxiety about my displacement in time. I simply owe her whatever care and consideration I can provide."
"We all appreciate the effort then. Good day to you."
Shortly after they parted ways with a polite nod to each other, Sereti continued on in the direction of the nearest comm terminal, further down the promenade.
She barely passed the halfway point when a distant boom echoed out from within the temple itself. Everyone heard it, all turning to the direction with sudden concern. Sereti's pace went from casual to brisk, all while she instructed the others to attend to their duties and wait for the announcements to come through. Once at the terminal, she motioned for some distance once more.
"Sereti here, what just happened?"
"Power failure in the tertiary supply for the communications centre. Possibly a bad fuse causing a cascade overload. We're investigating it now."
"A bad fuse? This is twenty years late on a bad fuse being an acceptable excuse. Not to mention I and many others clearly heard it all the way out on the western wall. Fuses are supposed to be contained."
"I don't know what else to suggest right now, Master Pala. It's a backup system for the backup system, easy to deprioritize on maintenance checks and overhauls especially."
Sereti silently let out her exasperation, taking the time to think of her course of action. "Alright. Standard procedure then, I'm coming over to the centre on behalf of the Council." She tapped her nails against the wall in further thought. "On another note, when this problem has been resolved, I'd like the holocron vault controls examined, and the code altered. And I do mean later. It is not a pressing matter, but it has to be done some time soon."
"Understood, I'll get that listed now. Report on the explosion will be ready by the time you get here."
"Cecile? You around?"
"Where else would I be?"
Maarani caught sight of her once she had descended the stairway fully. The cargo hold was just as cold as she remembered it being. Cecile herself was still tinkering away at the workbench she had seemingly claimed, though what she had chosen to work on was yet to be determined by the others.
"We're uh, almost at the core. Figured it was a good time to go around, see how everyone's doing. Y'know, making sure there's nothing unfinished, maybe even find out what future plans are once we go our separate ways."
Cecile paused in her work, only turning her head to Maarani after a considerable delay. "Does that refer to the others, or are you suggesting I should leave your company?"
A shrug came from Maarani while she casually walked over, hands buried deep in the pockets of her jacket that she hugged close to herself. "I meant what I said. What you do, where you go is your choice. I guess I just didn't assume you'd care about pulling a reformation on the Sith Empire to stick around for all the carnage that'll probably happen."
For a few moments, Cecile's eyes flickered in the way they always did. The subdued struggle between the personality that had formed over the course of nearly a hundred years activity, and the latent combat programming within that even she could not fully decipher for herself.
"You are right, Maarani. I have no motivation to fight for a Sith revolution." She turned her head back to the workbench, looking over the latest package she was trying to modify, though her optics eventually lost focus of that altogether. "I cannot conceptualize what I want. At all."
"Well, you've still got the blasters and the combat protocol. No problem defending yourself wherever you go. I'm not sure the galaxy is ready for a droids rights revolution on top of everything else, but I wouldn't stop you from pursuing that."
Cecile twitched her head, remaining silent.
"Not interested?" Maarani sighed again, gradually reaching her hand up to Cecile's upper left shoulder. "Let's face it, I've been a pretty shitty friend to everyone else, and I did punch you a lot so I'd say the same holds true in your case. I wanted to be sure I did everything I could to help out in return for what you've all done for me, as well as making up for that awful behaviour."
"And?"
The most Maarani could do was shrug. "I don't know. I hate to say it, but droids with self-determination is just so rare that I can't think of any real suggestions. It sucks that it's how things are, but somehow I don't think throwing droid rights into the mix of forming a Light Sith order as well as establishing a new definition of galactic peace is going to happen any time soon. Most I can do for you is personal, right?"
"Mistress Maarani, please." Cecile moved away from the table, and that supportive hand, so that she could face Maarani directly. "You owe me nothing. You've made mention of your hatred for slavers, I think that has given you an exaggerated notion of what liberating others means. I am not a being born or forced into slavery who needs comfort and care until I can integrate into society as a free person. I am a droid who has been cut loose of responsibilities, and has been given no new directive to follow. It is just not the same. It never will be."
Maarani stood there a while, thinking it over, lost for what exactly to say. Knowing that a good portion of what she could say would just miss the point. Ultimately, it was just something that couldn't be resolved on the spot.
"I'm not treating you as property any longer, Cecile. I guess this can wait until Az and I have figured out our next move, and I know what the others are doing. That'll give you some options to choose from at least, whether it be doing stuff with the Jedi or helping Izan out if not joining our little crusade, okay?"
Cecile didn't respond initially, instead returning to the workbench in silence. It was only when she noticed Maarani starting to leave that she decided to make that final response.
"Coruscant. I wish to return there. The memory files are incomplete, I must track down why I am what I am."
"Then I guess you're going with Dana and Jayden. Because I'm not going back, not when it means leaving Azera behind."
That thought in mind drew her to Jayden's location in the lounge area on the lower of the two main decks. She was occupied with maintenance to her chest armour, at least until she noticed the approach and set it aside.
"Everything well?"
"Yeah. Just felt like talking. Since we're almost at the end of this journey, I wanted to be sure we all know what needs to happen when it's over. Where we all go from there."
Jayden remained very nonchalant about the matter, casually relaxing back into the white leather lounge. "Haven't thought about it much myself, though I suppose there's at least some things I can teach you once you're healed."
When Maarani found a comfortable place to sit nearby, she tilted her head around a little. "Yeah, about that. I want you to go back home when we get back from the core." Before there was a chance to respond she gestured for her own time to continue.
"I've never felt really committed to anyone before these past few days. And I'm already starting to appreciate just what that means. It's made me realize how utterly selfish I've been to keep you from being with your husband for months on end. I can't keep letting that go on."
Throughout the speechifying, Jayden remained quiet, if not a little bemused by Maarani's stance on the matter that came out as a open smirk while she rubbed along her jawline. Her relaxed posture remained all the same, even when she finally had that chance to speak.
"I could discuss him joining us here on board instead you know. The Republic alliance doesn't mean Mandalorians can't work with Sith who aren't engaged in hostilities against them. If that eases your concerns any."
Maarani shook her head, not returning that smile at all. "Jayden. I care about you, and I know that keeping you around just isn't right anymore. I've already got a lot of people ready to help me now that I'm in contact with the Following. And this isn't me trying to get you out of my life. It's me wanting you to get back into your own again." She leaned back a little with a light shrug. "It's not like we'd never get to meet or even talk to each other afterwards either."
"Pen pals with the Sith Empress and her wife, that'll be something to tell the grandchildren one day."
"Another reason to go and start living your life again, hm?" Maarani went into something of a slouch herself, lekku piling up against the wall while the rest of her poorly moulded around the lounge. "And before you ask, I'm not ever going that route. Az can do whatever she likes, but I am not getting involved in making freakish Twi'lek mutants with human faces. Especially ones without eyes. Or more Twi'lek in general."
Jayden grinned a little, but knew better than to tease. "Well at least you don't ever have to think about it. Let's face it, Sith succession is entirely based around seizing power, about as far from blood lines as you can get without drawing a line from Alderaan to the galactic rim."
Intentionally or not, it brought the train of thought back to what lay ahead for Maarani. Whatever the case, the next journey would end in fighting three Sith Lords. As much as she wanted to assume her sister would be the hardest to battle, she really didn't know all that much about any of their capabilities.
"How did the Exile do it? How'd she take down all those Sith by herself? She fought all of them alone in the end I've heard that much."
The sombre mood spread to Jayden at last, her smirk fading away while she thought back to the stories she had been told as a child. "Well, two of them she had a unique bond with, in different ways, and the third she was able to outsmart." Her lips twisted when she came to realize what the questions were really about. "You okay with taking down your sister?"
"She's already beyond dead to me, so emotionally I don't care." Maarani breathed out after saying that, it was hardly the first time, but now it didn't even have anger behind the words. It was a simple fact of how things had settled between them. "I know she's super fast, but then Az says Rak'Sakar is even faster. She hasn't said anything to me about Lasidia, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to take her alone. And this is after eight years of Jedi trying to do the same."
She reclined further back into her chair, slowly gazing up at the white ceiling. "I mean, let's face it. Just because I've been 'chosen' doesn't mean I get a shortcut on all the strong powers and battle finesse and whatnot. I can't force a Sith to stop fighting and calm down if they're incapable of feeling emotions, or they can just cut my head off before I get the chance. I'm a unique Jedi, but not really a special one, and I feel like unique isn't good enough."
"Well, from one unique Jedi to another, you can always come to me for help when you need it. I think we owe each other that much."
"Wouldn't mind visiting Mires, or at least Mandalore again. At the very least I owe Tebahney another flower at the memorial." After further thought, Maarani slowly got back up to her feet. "Thanks for hearing me out Jayden."
It left her with the conversation she was both anticipating and dreading most next on her list. Her movement through the ship towards Dana's quarters was slower than before, but even then she felt as if there wasn't ever going to be enough time to think over what had to be said.
The fact that Dana was once again reading didn't make it any easier. Interrupting meditation was something Maarani oddly had little problem with, at least with Azera, despite being probably far more involved. The need to talk was still prevalent enough to move past that hesitation in the end.
"Got a few minutes?"
Dana glanced up from her reading, promptly shrugged and set the pad aside momentarily. "Azera came by while you were chatting with Cecile. I think we've said all that needs to be said, and at this point my future depends on how upset Sereti is that I defied her instructions. Anything else?"
The tapping of Maarani's nails on the door frame rang out across the room rather noticeably.
"I kinda figured we'd have the most to say. It's been a pretty long time since it was just us and Cecile departing Coruscant. Speaking of, she wants to go back there, but obviously I can't go with her so you'll have to handle that."
"What happened to Jedi training then?" Dana lightly straightened out her robes at that moment as part of her point. "I thought the Following said you needed to wait before going to them. And a Sith just isn't the ideal teacher for controlling emotions, however non-hostile she is now."
Maarani leaned her head back to sigh quietly. "If I go to Coruscant, even without Azera, I'm going to get bombarded with questions and other crap that will stop me from leaving. I've thought about it, and discussed it with her, and we both agreed that's how it'd go down. I'll go back to Felucia or whatever and let my father train me if it comes to that."
"If that's what you've decided, then by all means."
That only bothered Maarani more, to the point of entering the cabin and sitting down on Jayden's bed opposite Dana. "I haven't decided. If things were different I probably would go back and train with the other Jedi. But really, my options are Felucia and the Following if needed. The Dust Monks haven't shown up in years, somehow I don't think the Baran Do Sages will appreciate me coming there in a Sith ship just to ask for however much time, and the Luka Sene want to crack Azera's head open. And you haven't said anything about changing your mind about going back either."
"Because I haven't. These months have shown me that I'm just not a good Jedi Master, for you anyway. I was too close to you from the start, and that almost got everyone but Izan killed in the end. I'll feel much better when I'm back at the Temple studying history and psychology, where I can't do any more damage to others."
For a few tense moments, Maarani gripped into the fabric of her pants rather firmly, straining her nails against it from the welling frustration within. After months of wildly swinging from depression to optimism and back…
"You're really giving up now? Dana, we've all screwed up, but you're the one who stopped me from killing myself in the end. That is so much more important than any harm you might have done. Becoming a Temple hermit is the last thing you should be doing." When that seemingly failed to sway her enough, she shrugged and went for the other angle. "Besides, I won't ever get to see you again if you hide on Coruscant. Sure, I bet a lot of people would be far happier not having to hear my screeching ever again, but I like to think you're at least tolerant of it by now."
"You haven't had one of your little social justice tirades in a while now, so I'd hardly call it screeching." Dana rolled her eyes right after that, opting to sit up as well. "That was unfair of me. Clearly there is a lot more bigotry in the military than people believe, because no-one is speaking up. I'm not trying to make fun of you being upset with it. And you certainly don't screech."
"And?"
That made Dana tighten her lip a little more. "Look, I don't like that slavery is so bad that children from Jedi families are in danger. I don't like that the constitution of the Republic is being broken on a regular basis by Intelligence agents. But every Jedi understands that there is a very fine line between serving the Republic, and overthrowing it. Yes, the old Jedi Order should've taken action against the Mandalorians. But that doesn't mean the new Jedi Order should go in and crush the Zygerrians altogether, or start messing with military affairs outside our bounds. We only take decisive action to stop the Sith and their allies. We cannot become an internal police state. It might not be as bad as what the Sith do, but it would still be unacceptable."
She took several breaths to calm down from that. At the very least, her point had clearly gotten across to Maarani. Gone were the days of sarcastic arguments and crude insults.
"Teegs, I don't like the Following on principle. I know what it's like to be part of a Force deity cult from Suroni's memories. But if the Lady of Balance is absolutely genuine, on the level, set on real peace, then you do what you have to. Because they really are the only way anything will actually be done about all the problems of this era. I just can't be part of it, ever, even in the most minute connection. It's too much to ask from me."
Maarani lifted her hands in a display of surrender while standing back up at last. "Then don't help me. Dana, staying in contact isn't the same thing at all. I'm not expecting anything from you, I'm just asking you to consider not hiding from the galaxy again." Her way over to the doorway was brief, but she trailed it out long enough all the same. "A lot of my friends are dead thanks to my lover's alter-ego, remember? I wouldn't be happy about losing another to her own self-imposed exile. That's becoming a bad habit with Jedi lately."
Her quiet fuming on departing the room was far from over when she reached the cockpit. They were still in hyperspace, leaving little else to look at or comment on while she settled into the pilot's seat beside Izan. He had opted for a reclined position that somehow didn't involve putting his boots up over the controls.
"Bit early. Still got a couple of minutes left."
Maarani immediately went to drop them out anyway, waiting for the optimal moment before shutting down the drive at last.
"Past Empress Teta is enough."
When the ship returned to normal space at last, they were greeted by the soft glow of the galactic core. The density of stars even at that distance was enough to keep the largest of spaces from reaching more than a navy blue in colour. Directly ahead, there was nothing but stars at all.
"So, behind all that is a big freaking black hole then?"
"Or a cluster of them. We're not going nearly that far in anyway. That much solar radiation where all the stars orbit at the brink of being pulled in would never let any planet become sustainable." While bringing up the star charts again, she glanced over to Izan and his worried expression. "This is only dangerous if the pilot is an idiot. And I'm not. I know my limits, and I don't get cocky. No sightseeing on this run."
"Yeah, you're the last person anyone would accuse of being cocky."
Maarani shot him a dark look, but left it at that for the sake of her concentration. After further analysis, she moved around to adjust their course forward, narrowing down the list of viable stars a little more.
"I'd be really surprised if Yuthura didn't go for the planet with the strongest Force presence in this direction. So any of the others can hopefully pick up on that and we'll know what star system to head for."
Once the new course was set, she reached over to the intercom and began cycling through the various areas of the ship. "Cecile, mind keeping an eye on the hyperdrive? We'll be making a lot of shorter jumps, and burning it out here would be curtains for us. Also make sure the thrusters are in good condition, no telling what kind of debris finds its way to the core."
She didn't wait for an answer before cycling around to the rest. "Jayden, think you can handle the turret controls? Ideally we don't want a big cloud of space dust following us in, but if a good shot stops us from grazing a rogue asteroid I won't argue."
"Sure you don't want Dana there instead? She did run it back over Dalchon."
Maarani glanced over at Izan briefly, then tilted back to the intercom again. "I'm sure. There won't be anything to fight anyway, it's just a precaution."
She closed the line after that, making another quick check of the systems before motioning upwards with her eyes. "Az, if you could do your meditation thing in the meantime, anything to try and narrow down where exactly we need to start looking would be really great."
I was listening, Tee. You'll know when I sense something.
By then, the last of the adjustments had set, leaving just the all clear on the hyperdrive from Cecile.
"So, Izan. Seeing as we're at the threshold of the end, and you're still here, plans for after this is over?"
He glanced around a few times awkwardly, only answering after it became clear he wasn't going to escape the question.
"I haven't a clue to be honest. Somehow just going back to Citadel Station after experiencing all of this doesn't sit right. And merc work is just a matter of finding someone who will hire. And no offence, but I'm just not patriotic enough for the military."
Maarani cracked a bit of a smile at that. "I guess putting on an Imperial uniform and keeping it on after the fact kinda makes it hard to say that I'm still patriotic myself. Then again people say Revan was a patriot in his own way, so who knows? You've had my back both times the droids came after me, and you made that rescue in-between possible. It'd take a hell of a lot to lose my respect after that."
"Well, I think I'll take your respect over the respect from a lot of others I could name any time. Crazy cult prodigy or no."
"Fine by me. Still doesn't answer the question though."
"I did say I don't know, the rest was just checking off the obvious options."
"Well, guess I'm getting in touch with Mission and Zaalbar after all this, they already know who you are so it shouldn't be much hassle getting you employed." She looked over at him again. "Unless of course that's a problem? I just can't think of better people to work for."
Izan gave a light shrug. "So long as they don't ask me what kind of bowtie he should wear to a business meeting."
"Bowtie… what?"
"I'll consider it. Thanks, Maarani."
Cecile's message came through in the meantime, allowing Maarani to begin the jump sequence at last.
"I wouldn't mind getting to meet them again, now that things are different. Now that I know who I am."
She leaned back and braced herself, ready to make that first jump to the core. "I'm okay with how things turned out."
"Anything?"
The echo of Sereti's footsteps throughout the communication centre drew the attention of those stationed immediately. Master Tabor was the one to approach the holo-table as the overseer for that duty shift.
"Chief's been waiting for you. He sounded reluctant to release the information before you arrived."
Seretni tensed from her growing concern while she began motioning over the table controls. "I had my doubts it was a mere technical fault."
She lifted her head as soon as the hologram came up, opting to let him speak first.
"Master Pala, we've got a problem. The blast you heard originated from the absolute middle of the service room, above the ground. It wasn't the fuses, and it wasn't any kind of planted device."
Sereti grasped the table edge hard, her teeth clenching down just as much. "That was a very closely timed explosive then, less than a second before detonation mid air. Or a Force user in close proximity." The needed response was obvious, but there was just enough doubt to make her hesitate first. "Have the attending guards detained anyone fleeing the scene beforehand?"
"Don't think so. They're doing their best moving people around the area. Maybe the surveillance records caught something."
"Hopefully. In the meantime, do what you can to begin repairing the damage." After closing the hologram down she looked right to Tabor. "Contact Master Utan, tell him I need clearance to access security footage for all rooms and corridors surrounding comm centre power relays. And tell Brianna that we have a confirmed saboteur on site. She'll handle the rest from there."
While the others went about that, she turned her attention inward, considering the nature of the explosive as described. It was almost certainly not someone throwing it in as they ran by, but to hold it in place while also moving away at the same time would require a lot of concentration. And it couldn't be sustained from beyond the corridor outside, meaning very few would be in the area of suspicion anyway.
"Clearance code is through, Master Pala. Bringing up the relevant files now."
"Start with tertiary power supply corridor. The rest we'll hold onto for cross-checking if needed."
The hologram came back up to display the corridor in question, with the squared pillar that contained the fuses right in the middle.
"Playback beginning from five minutes prior to thirty seconds following detonation. Double speed. If any of you spot anything suspicious, tell me."
From there, the specified segment began to play out. For two minutes, nothing noteworthy happened as the occasional Jedi passed by, or a pair of guards continued on patrol. The next thirty seconds grew tense as that final minute played out, with still no sign of anyone directly approaching the room, let alone the doorway.
When the explosion did hit, it blew the door clear across the corridor, though thankfully there was no indication anyone had been hurt in the blast.
Sereti lowered her head a little after the recording had come to an end. "I refuse to extend suspicion to Jedi Masters at this time, but no-one else below that level of training could possibly sustain an explosive for that long out of sight. And we don't hold explosives of that magnitude on Temple grounds. They've been smuggled in."
Her hand moved over the controls again, fingers clenching tighter from her increasing slew of stressful emotions.
"Fifteen seconds prior. Begin paused."
Shortly after, the hologram switched to the internal view of the pillar room. The door was situated to her left, with the fuse systems on the right. There was nothing to be seen in the middle of the room at all, suspended or otherwise.
"Check the file integrity. Did the explosion cause any malfunction?"
One of the technicians made a quick check from her console, then shook her head afterwards.
"Fine. Playback at real time."
Nothing happened for the first ten seconds. Then, out of nowhere, a energized cloud appeared in the middle of the room, existing for about three seconds. In the final two seconds a large thermal detonator seemed to drop from the cloud, exploding less than half a metre from where it had first appeared.
All of the Jedi were taken aback by what they had seen, having seen nothing of the kind before.
Sereti's nails began to grind against the underside of the table until she released that building anger. "Inform the Council we are almost certainly dealing with a Sith spy. We need to lock down the Temple and find them." Once the word went out, she looked back over to Tabor. "Is there any way to analyze that cloud? Determine what it is, or at least how it managed to materialize a weapon from nothing?"
"We can try to filter out energy wavelengths from the hologram? Even if it's Force based that might reveal something."
"Do it. And bring the recording back to a quarter of a second before the detonator first appeared."
For a while, little appeared to change. When it finally began to hit the higher energy spectrum however, the cloud quickly pulled back to reveal the detonator at last. It looked as if it had been cut clean in half, until even a small advance in the recording showed it was appearing from a specific two-dimensional plane.
"I've read first-hand descriptions of how the Star Forge replicated items. This is nothing alike." She released one hand from the table to grasp at her forehead, beneath the veil. "If someone can just make grenades of that calibre appear anywhere they wish…." That hand fell from her forehead to cover over her mouth from the growing shock. "How do we even defend against it?"
The echo of a second explosion reaching all the way into the communication centre punctuated that realization in the most chilling way. Shortly after, the holo-table switched back to display Utan, dust and debris still falling around him even as he was left caressing a burn mark on his right ear.
"Master Pala, the Reconciliation Spire has just been attacked. No-one has been killed as of yet, though the injuries are severe. Fourteen are on their way to the medical wing right now."
Sereti couldn't help but turn away in that moment, both hands clasping across her nose and mouth by then as she struggled to keep all her thoughts in check.
"Shit."
"Sereti, the Council is spread across the Temple. We can coordinate efforts to minimize the damage while you track down our unseen attacker. When we have a name, we will all converge to end this crisis before it escalates. Do not lose hope."
With little time to regain her composure, Sereti took that needed breath and marched right back to the table.
"Alright. Issue the following order to all guards; detain the individual we name on sight, use lethal force if they resist. I will get you that name, Utan. I just can't guarantee no-one will die before then. Suppression or execution are the only means of stopping it now."
"Understood. Good luck in your investigation. For all of us."
As soon as that hologram closed, she switched it again to display a schematic of the Temple in its entirety. "I want people to begin evacuating through routine checkpoints. Civilians and children escorted by padawans first. And by the gods make absolutely sure they are not moving in groups larger than ten. All it will take is one grenade appearing in a crowded hallway to turn this into a bloodbath."
While the others got to work organizing the evacuation, she settled her focus on the actual task of finding that identity. "If they were able to attack the Reconciliation Spire so soon, the range of this power must be far beyond anything typical. But whomever it is would need to have some visual or spatial reference of the location in order to make such an accurate drop as the first attack displayed."
She snapped her fingers when the idea came to her at last, prompting her to circle around towards the nearest security terminal. "Free up all non-critical computer power. I need a deep programming analysis of all surveillance footage of the current attack sites, as well as room to include probable future attacks. Parameters are individuals sighted in the vicinity of the Reconciliation Spire, as well as accessing the tertiary power supply room directly. And let us all pray that they didn't opt to use Force sight instead."
The fourth jump immediately gave the impression that all the previous ones had. The bright ambience of core stellar activity, erratic feedback from the long range sensors. And the sense that there would be another long wait for both the hyperdrive to reach safe levels, and Azera to complete her sweep of the area around them.
"Should've brought a camera. Could make a small fortune with all the footage to be obtained here."
"And not navigation data?"
"Psh, no-one seems to care about getting to the other side of the galaxy. Well, that side." Maarani pointed over to the far right. "Ryloth's over there somewhere." And then to an area slightly left of centre. "Not like there's a whole lot to be found in here anyway. Aside from old Jedi temples obviously, but there's plenty to be found elsewhere with far more to be brought back so why bother?"
"I figured someone would've gone looking for that planet, Tython was it, before now. You all made it sound pretty important."
"Well, at least Dana can go give the Jedi a reason why they never found it in all this time. That'd be something-"
She went quiet when Azera came right up the step to abruptly access the navigation charts between them both.
"Az?"
"I felt something. Enough to start tracking down the star system." There was an unusual tone to her voice. Which stretched to unusual behaviour when she even more abruptly tilted her head to kiss Maarani's cheek, then went right back to her search without further remark.
Maarani glanced over her back to Izan with rather a confused expression, her left eyebrow tattoo stretching quite a bit as a result.
Izan could only shrug in complete cluelessness, having no idea as to what he could possibly say or do after seeing a Sith display innocent affection.
"Here. White sequence star. That's where she is. Get in closer and I should be able to pinpoint the planet. I can already feel its concentrated aura from out here."
There was another awkward exchange of strange looks and mouthed conversations behind Azera's back between the other two, ending when Maarani set the new course for that specified star. All that remained was a final check on the hyperdrive.
"Cecile, we've found the place, we'll need maybe two more jumps at most. The last one will be very short, probably just seconds in length. We good?"
"I would wait at least one minute between those jumps then."
"Fine, we'll need that long to find the planet anyway." She waited a little longer before preparing the next hyperdrive sequence, going through all the checks yet again, letting the navigation computer run the calculations, and no shortage of glances at Azera.
When she remained where she was, still working over the starchart, Maarani cleared her throat to get her attention. "Az?"
"Tee?"
"We're ready to jump now. So…"
Azera turned her head to Maarani, and after nothing occurred, turned it the other way to Izan.
He shifted a little uncomfortably. It still felt a little uncanny being looked at directly by her, without the mask on anyway as she had forgone wearing it as of late. "What's the issue? I'm ready too."
It didn't take much longer for Maarani to catch on, and vacate the pilot's seat as a result. "You're fine Izan. Just let Azera fly the ship wherever she needs to when we get there."
"And no-one just said that before because?"
By then, Azera had moved into the pilot's seat, handily taking up the task of initiating the hyperspace jump. "I assumed it would be intuitive that the one navigating us to the destination would be best suited to also fly the ship. Having a pilot was merely a convenience, not a necessity."
"Except it wasn't intuitive and I didn't know that about your previous pilots because we basically never speak to each other, Azera. You're either sleeping with Maarani, arguing with Dana, chatting with Jayden or meditating."
Once they were in the hyperspace corridor again, Azera leaned back comfortably and twisted to face Izan. "Well? We're speaking now. I could apologize for Carudan mind controlling you, though seeing as he tried to kill me I assume it's implicit." She lightly gestured at the blood stains that hadn't quite come off despite Maarani's attempts to scrub the walls clean. "We don't exactly have a lot in common, unless there's a lingering attraction to Tee I should be concerned about."
Izan took one very awkward look at Maarani, his lips scrunching up behind his beard. "I think any tension between us vanished when we beat the crap out of each other."
Ironically, the tension between them all grew quite a bit until he sighed in exasperation. "Okay, fine. Here's a dumb question. Say we do find her. What's to say she won't run and hide the moment she sees this ship? She has no idea you're not a mass murdering Sith anymore."
"If she's been alone for this long at her age, chances are she spends a lot of time in deep meditation to sustain her body. She might not even sense or do anything about our approach until we are right there on the ground."
At that, Izan gave a belated shrug and turned right back in his seat, just shaking his head about the whole matter.
Azera tilted her head. "It's a fair question, Izan. Certainly not a dumb one. I'm still pondering as to what I can possibly tell her when the last time we met eight years ago was during the massacre I virtually led single handedly. Scaring her into hiding now on that slim chance she's watching wouldn't make it any better."
"Yeah, an 'I'm sorry' doesn't quite seem like the way to go about it." He wisely kept his mouth shut after that before he made some kind of crass remark to the being both capable and most likely to hurl him across the room.
"She'll understand, eventually."
Both had their attention drawn to Maarani once more.
She was leaning against as much as the wall behind as she could without pressing against any of the controls, head tilted back to stare at more of the ceiling than the view ahead. "She used to torture Sith hopefuls when they didn't match up to the barrier of entry for the Korriban Academy. It's not quite the same, but, she knows what it's like to be Sith. And she knows enough about how utterly evil Nihilus was, how manipulative he could be. We all heard the same stories."
Shortly after they both turned back to make the drop from hyperspace again, quickly skewing away from the star to more open space where Azera could concentrate on the planet itself.
"I suppose we will see what happens when the time comes. There isn't much else to be done about it in the end." She had brought her hand back up to resume the search, lowering it after about a minute and a half with a calm exhale. "Fifth planet. The air is thin, cold, but also humid. She's most likely situated in a mountain range of some kind, not too far from the coast. It might mean a long hike to reach her."
Izan blinked in disbelief. "So we went from 'this star and no more' to suddenly knowing the weather conditions on a planet that's still light-minutes away?"
"That is part of why the Je'daii built their temples in the locations they did across the galaxy. The Force connects to each point in a strong manner. Tython, Ahch-To, Ossus, Jedha, Ilum, Dathomir, and Coruscant. All worlds deeply connected to the Force. Felucia may have been another location if they had not settled on Coruscant, with Ossus chosen as their secondary stronghold."
That drew Maarani from the back of the cockpit right to Azera's side, a little concerned, but also impressed. "Sounds like you know a bit more about the Je'daii than even Dana mentioned to me. I thought Dathomir was tied to the dark side, not to mention I haven't heard a couple of those names ever."
"The Je'daii hadn't entirely devoted themselves to the light when they left their world. My master spent a while convening with the old holocrons, she believes some went to Dathomir long before the first Dark Jedi fled to Korriban, following the hyperspace routes of the Rakata. Some may have also become followers of Vahl, founding their own society on their now lost homeworld."
"When you're done expositing about ancient history, Azera, could you go through the hyperdrive sequence?"
While that went on, Maarani pondered a little longer. "So Tython is gone, last I heard no-one lives on Dathomir anymore, Ahch-To and Jedha are off all the stellar maps I've looked at, Ossus is devastated and Ilum is just an outpost now. Not a great legacy in the end." Her expression shifted to suspicion when she glared down at Azera. "What old holocrons? Unless Atris missed more than the three my sister took then they should all be in the vault on Coruscant. Right?"
Right up until they made the micro-jump, Azera remained quiet. Even when underway she was notably more hesitant to speak. "From what I noted of Atris in the time my master and I visited her, she seemed convinced that leaving the real holocrons in the Temple, within temptation's reach of everyone there, would inevitably result in another Exar Kun."
Maarani's hands clenched tightly. A great deal had been said in such a small amount of time. Her view of Atris in her assumedly final days was now thrown into doubt, even if her reasons were definitely understandable. But there was one singular question pressing in more than any other.
"You visited her? Before, or after?"
Azera's inhale rasped through her mangled lips before she slowly looked up to Maarani, accepting that many truths would come out in the coming days, and the consequences that would bring.
"Before."
It was longer still before Maarani said anything in response, backing away from the helm to pace in what little area there was. The conclusion she came to felt like what Dana would say at the very least.
"Atris had a heart attack after we fled Telos. She doesn't have long anyway. I'm not going to hold yet another grudge against someone who's spent thirty years paying for her mistakes already."
"And I've only just begun rectifying mine."
They dropped from hyperspace at a comfortable distance from the planet itself. What continents there were seemed to be spread around the southern hemisphere, the nearest of which Azera began heading towards immediately.
"Izan, if you can start collecting atmospheric readings for the approach run, I'll narrow down a suitable landing site when I find the place."
"On it."
Throughout, Maarani remained quiet again, just watching from a decent distance as they passed through the upper atmosphere. Drawing closer to one of the larger mountain ranges, that grew increasingly snow capped not even that far from the equator.
"Below average temperature. I guess it's just far out enough to put it on the cool side, but being this close to the core it'd be weird finding an ice planet. Still, you might want more than that bodysuit on, Az."
"I will be fine. I don't get chilly that easily."
"I happen to know how thin that suit is. And that you have plenty of other outfits to wear that are far better at protecting against the cold."
"And this is the overprotective phase of our relationship I see."
The not-quite bickering was thankfully interrupted by Izan taking a turn at the throat clear interrupt. "There's a lot of high wind patterns, and you were right about the temperature Maarani. Temperate rainforest around the warmest areas, I'd say a good chunk of the mountains hit freezing even during the middle of the day."
"She's near the equator. It won't be freezing."
The ship began to close in towards the northernmost continent following the assertion, the mountains in question becoming easier to distinguish when they passed into the lower layers of the atmosphere.
Not too long after, they caught the first glimpse of the Je'daii temple itself. A vague blotch of faded green amongst the dull hue of purple that made up the rest of the mountain rock. The only tree cover was much further down in the valley, leaving the temple itself entirely isolated from where any rational colony would actually be established.
Maarani quietly sighed, both from the fact that the end of the journey was finally right there in front of her, as well as a sense that she was really starting to understand what went on in the minds of all those ancient Je'daii. And possibly Yuthura herself.
"They wanted somewhere to find solace in isolation. Somewhere that was deeply connected to the Force. But it also had to be able to sustain a habitable, flourishing colony, within reasonable distance. I wonder if anything of the colony is left, down in that valley."
Izan went right back to the role of skeptic at that. "After twenty thousand years? I'm surprised the temple is even around when it's this far up a high wind mountain that should've eroded it away long before that."
"The Force would have preserved it against the natural elements." Still concentrating on finding that landing spot, Azera nonetheless had time to speak up as well. "There is a degree of conscious thought to it. Some part of it wanted this place to survive."
"The Lady of Balance?"
"Possibly. But she is still just one part of a greater entity we can barely comprehend. Yuthura might not be any closer to the answer than we are, even after all these years."
By the time she did locate a suitable point, a bit under a kilometre from the outermost point of the temple itself via a winding track of weathered steps, they could more readily see the temple itself.
The green was thanks to moss and other growth covering the hewn stones that made up a lot of the structure, and given the lack of such greenery elsewhere led a lot more credence to Azera's theory. More impressively, the front courtyard still bore standing pillars, as well as sparse trees with pink leaves that seemed to also be present within the small complex that made up the rest of the temple. There was no sign of anyone living there, present or otherwise.
"It's no Dantooine enclave, that's for sure."
"The incline on those steps doesn't appear to be too harsh. I don't think any of us will need to switch to hiking boots."
"Still not giving up on going there as you are, huh Az?"
That time, Azera waited until they had come to land on the rocky plateau before letting herself be distracted by giving a thoughtful answer. "I want her to recognize who I was. And then see who I've become."
"It's a nice sentiment, I just have my doubts." After a shrug, Izan went over the landing checks before powering down the engines at last. "Landing site is stable, tilt has been accounted for, gear is secure. We're good to go."
"We? You really want to come? I can't imagine there'll be much to look at or do, since it'll probably be lots of meditation."
He shrugged while rising from his seat at last, taking a much needed stretch. "As opposed to sitting on the ship playing cards with myself while you unlock the mysteries of the universe to fix your head, Maarani?"
She rolled her eyes while leaning past Azera to use the intercom. "We're here. So uh, I guess head outside and we'll go up to the temple in maybe five minutes. You can come too Cecile, if you like."
Once the intercom was off, she made her way back over to the stairs down at last. "Maybe bring your lightsaber anyway Az, just as a symbolic gesture. I plan to. It's come this far with me after all."
It ended up being a much longer wait than five minutes, due to Jayden's insistence on being in Jedi attire, which meant having to change out of her armour underlay first. Azera's insistence on wrapping her blank eye sockets with a simple stretch of white cloth took mere seconds by contrast. Her hair otherwise remained loose around her head and neck.
In the meantime, Maarani had settled for observing more of the valley that lay to the west of the mountain range itself. The canopy of said temperate rainforest blocked out any view of the surface itself, and it was a much longer hike down than she cared for in order to see if there was anything left of the colony.
"Tee, over there."
With the binoculars she had borrowed from the ship, she traced down where Azera was pointing to an odd hole in the trees bordering the edge of the mountain. After some further searching, she finally spotted out an old, weathered escape pod of contemporary design.
"What do you think Az?"
"Yuthura probably hired someone to fly her out here, then paid off the cost of the pod instead of landing the ship. Might've been too big to land near enough."
"Or she really wanted to complete that marooned feeling."
Azera turned her head, idly brushing her hair out of her face while the wind flicked it all over the place regardless. "Little overly dramatic don't you think?"
"She was depressed enough to abandon the Jedi at the start of the war." A particularly chilly gust prompted Maarani to tuck her lekku down the back of her jacket, though that didn't do all that much for all but the very tips that felt ready to freeze off. "Then again it's not like I've made better choices while in that state."
She stowed the binoculars away in order to draw her lightsaber instead. After another look over it, old and new parts alike, she brought it to life once more with that familiar hum, wincing a little at the jagged, unstable state of the red blade.
"You think there's any way to fix this? Or should I just start from scratch? New crystal and casing altogether."
Azera drew and activated hers as well, also bearing a similar flicker along the brilliant purple edges, though it wasn't as pronounced. Her casing was far more elegantly crafted anyway. "Maybe. Whatever the Lady of Sorrows wanted you to believe, you are not bound to that crystal. There's no reason you can't make it your own in time though, truly own its power despite the flaws."
She sheathed her lightsaber first, sighing as it returned to her hip. "Yours isn't a complete abomination at least. Technically half of mine isn't even bound to me, it's simply trapped in a melded state with the part that is. But after all I've poured into it, I can't part with the crystal now. Not yet."
Maarani curled her lower lip in, thinking back yet again. "You kept insisting those visions are interpretive. But having a red lightsaber brings you a step closer regardless."
"That third vision didn't show me wielding a red lightsaber, from either viewpoint. If they are literal events then the circumstances leading to them are so wildly different that it's just as possible they are various futures independent of each other. Only the past is truly set in stone."
"Alright alright, I'll leave it be." She sheathed her lightsaber at last after turning it about a bit more, looking back to the ship as Jayden finally made her way down. "Looks like we're ready to go anyway."
While drawing closer towards where the steps resumed, Izan tossed over her water canteen from the small pack of supplies he had gathered, which she caught readily. A smile followed as his move to carry the pack was interrupted by Jayden slinging it over her shoulder with ease instead.
"This is it, everyone. There's a lot of things I could say, but I think I'll stick with thank you."
Dana, Izan and Jayden all shrugged in their own way, while Cecile stared ahead in silence, having decided to come along as well.
Following that she looked to Azera one more time, just looking over her face for a while before shrugging again. "You ready for this?"
"Yeah, I'm ready."
Without the need to say anything further, Maarani turned to the path and began the walk up the steps at last.
The wind continued to howl across the very top of the mountain to their right, gusting down the other side into the valley where the faint rush of air through the canopy mimicked the sound of the sea to their left.
Every step closer towards the temple brought with it a gradual growth of calm and stillness. The tranquility of the temple was undeniable, and more importantly undisturbed by Azera's presence.
The passage of time mattered little to any of the six making that final hike. All that mattered was that they were drawing closer to the temple, better able to take in its deceptively large size as more of the close details became clear.
At the threshold, where the first two pillars stood, everyone but Maarani and Azera stopped for breath at last, but predominantly to let the two advance onwards alone.
By the third row of pillars, Azera stopped as well, having taken notice of the being just ahead, at the centre of the entryway room. A nod to Maarani was all she did to prompt her onward.
With a deep breath, Maarani took those last steps, reaching the doorway itself, casting her eyes around the entryway in full. Beyond, through a second doorway, stretched a grove of sorts, an inner sanctum lined with pristine grass, four of those pink trees at each of the four corners.
Eventually she couldn't help but settle her gaze on the hooded figure in the middle of the entryway, sitting cross-legged, facing away from her.
"Yuthura?"
A few seconds passed. The figure tilted her head to the left a little, then again after a sharp inhale. Slowly, a pair of purple, tattooed hands lifted up to the hood and pulled it back, unveiling the lekku that matched the skin tone and markings perfectly.
Slowly, she stood up and turned around at last. For the first time in so many years, Yuthura looked upon Maarani's face in full.
"Tegama? It's…" She took notice of the tattoos on Maarani's face that matched her own, concerned at first, but soon overwhelmed by so many feelings that it didn't even register by the time she began to approach. "You came looking for me? Why would…"
She froze up with another sharp breath as Azera began to approach from behind Maarani, already reaching for her lightsaber when she recognized the attire.
Before weapons could be drawn, Maarani reached for Azera's hand and clasped it, their fingers entwining. She looked back to her, eyes starting to well up as well, then back to Yuthura.
"So much has happened. I just didn't know who else to come to for help."
And yet, in the blissful moment of it all, that one lingering concern at the back of her mind couldn't resist coming right up and cutting through it all with a silly jab at her past experience.
"But uh, first. If I give you my lightsaber as a show of respect, you won't just toss it away like Atris did with my blaster way back when, right?"
All of the lights, as well as the holo-table flickered as yet another explosion thundered out from beyond the room. It was a while before they finally stabilized after frantic work from the technicians in the room.
"That was the primary power supply! We're running on secondary only now!"
Sereti was too preoccupied with checking on the algorithm status to respond for a little while. Yet another bombing at the administration centre not too long before had left her rattled, leaving little else on her mind beyond catching the culprit. Only after confirming it hadn't shut down altogether did she turn her attention back to the crucial questions.
"What did we lose?"
"Long and short range communications, interstellar broadcasts, the warning beacon, and some other minor systems. We still have temple-wide intercom and relay capability."
She slammed her palm against the table again, then pointed to one of the other Jedi with another snap of her fingers. "Get Grand Admiral Onasi on the line, tell him the following. We need a point-to-point connection to Republic Military communications as soon as possible! Extend the no-fly zone around the Temple to twenty kilometres. All emergency vehicles are to be accompanied by military craft at safe distances."
Once that was underway, she looked right back to Tabor. "And when the point-to-point relay is established, I want a galactic broadcast sent from here requesting medical aid to all our allies. The nearest Hammerhead-class cruiser to Dantooine must reroute there to assist with transporting Bastila Shan and her Jedi here as soon as possible."
"Got it. I'll prepare the transmission once the rest has been relayed. Anything else?"
Her head tilted down so she could catch her breath, concealing the sweat starting to roll from her face.
"Tell the Admiral to escalate planetary defences to maximum alert state. All ships and platforms are to fire on any unauthorized or unidentified vessel coming remotely close to the Temple. No exceptions."
When that put a worried look on Tabor's face, she lifted hers back up, focusing right down on him. "If any Sith ship successfully lands near the Temple while we are under attack, we can consider this war lost. They are within a breath of beating us, and there is almost nothing we can do to stop it. Make Carth aware of that, understood?"
"Sereti-"
"Understood!"
Tabor wisely backed down, leaving his side of the table to begin his recording elsewhere in the room. He couldn't help but grimace as another of the Jedi went to take his place instead.
"Master Pala, the computer algorithm has reached new results from the primary power supply surveillance and the administration centre."
Without saying anything, she began gesturing her hands at the table in a rather sarcastic manner, until the point went across to actually bring up said results.
When it came up, all of that frustration and anger at the situation drained away.
"Gods, no…"
Both the Reconciliation Spire and the administration centre were open to Jedi Masters, but there was still no other possible reason as to why Sokoli Zatu would have inspected both power supplies in the way depicted by the first and latest recordings made.
The conversation they had shared right before it all began didn't give her even the slightest hint of suspicion. No-one had complained, or reported anything even remotely out of the ordinary about her behaviour.
Slowly she reached to the table again, her hand shaking fiercely until she finally managed to bring up the intercom again.
"This is Sereti Pala. Sokoli Zatu is now the prime suspect behind these bombings. Report her location before engaging, do not hesitate to use lethal force if she resists. Whatever the Sith did to her in the time she was missing…" She bit down hard to keep from yet another outburst, that time of anguish at her own utter failure to see the truth. "Three have been confirmed killed already. We cannot let it continue. Find her, and put an end to this."
As soon as it was over, she backed away from the table, hands clenching and releasing in fierce surges. There was one more avenue left to check, one vital question to be asked. Forcing her hand to remain open, she slowly took out her lightsaber, though didn't yet activate it.
"Tabor, take over. I need to find out how in the everloving shit this was missed in her mental examination."
She span around violently before bolting out of the room. Her boots clapped against the floor of the hallways as she tore through them at great speed, only narrowly avoiding those hurrying towards exits in the opposite direction. And soon enough, those making their way to the hospital wing.
At the doorway she finally stopped, motioning for others to move aside as she stormed right towards Dr Xilubu.
"Your mental assessment cleared her! How the fuck did this happen!?"
Xilubu cautiously backed away from the latest of many burn victims he was treating, both hands raised as he had taken notice of her drawn lightsaber. "I and two others all came to the same conclusion. She was in ideal mental health."
Sereti closed the distance rather threateningly. "You had better think of an explanation then, because if this escalated further I will do more than send all three of you before a medical board of malpractice."
He clenched his hands uncomfortably, glancing at the other physicians and nurses who were all just as intimidated by her. After a little while, he exhaled very quietly.
"Sokoli Zatu was deemed in good mental health. Repressed personalities is generally nothing more than overstated fiction and exaggerated irrational traits…"
"But?"
"If the Sith captured her, it's possible they programmed her to take these actions."
Sereti tightened the grip on her weapon. "This is far too co-ordinated. She is taking out specific strategic targets, in between sowing chaos and panic. It can't just be specific triggers."
"Then perhaps there is a second personality buried deeper! If so then it utilizes techniques beyond my comprehension because there were absolutely no mental faults to be found!"
Slowly, Sereti began lowering her lightsaber. A new doubt had come to mind, something that altered where her suspicions were leading. "Mental faults. Specifically? Those anomalies with her body in the report, if the real personality is buried below an artificial one..."
Xilubu finally lowered his arms when the situation had grown a little less tense. "She was taller than expected even when allowing for the abnormal growth of the skeleton as observed in low-gravity environments while in stasis. And on her latest examination this morning I noticed there was miniscule scarring around her left lekku I was going to treat later. Those were the only anomalies."
"Scarring around the-" She nearly dropped her lightsaber as a renewed horror began to take over, her hand moving back to her mouth again. "Did she say anything when she woke up? At all?"
"I believe she exclaimed 'Azera' when she woke. But I hadn't thought to-"
Whatever else was said had been drowned out by the final blow Sereti took to her shattered composure. All she had needed to do was ask more questions at the right time to avoid the catastrophe now going on around them.
A deeper instinct drove her to flee the hospital wing into the corridor, bolting for the nearest intercom outside. Her own voice was little more than a muffle while she ordered everyone to keep clear, her hand slamming against the screen in her desperate attempt to call up the whole Temple.
"The arrest order on Sokoli is now a kill on sight! Kill her on sight! She's Darth Lasidia-!"
Thanks to her Force sight, she didn't even need to turn around as one of those micro-rifts materialized just a couple of metres behind her. In the brief second left, she screamed for everyone to clear out, her hand lashing towards the grenade as it appeared in a last ditch effort to push it away.
The resulting explosion threw her right back against the wall, her forehead smashing into the screen with enough force to crack it, leaving a bloody smear as she slumped down against the wall below amongst the fire and chaos now outside the hospital doors.
The group had dispersed through the front portion of the temple by then. Izan had found a comfortable spot on the walkway surrounding the grove to rest and recuperate, with Cecile nearby quietly observing the grove as well for its wonderment. Jayden had opted to wander around the left wing where the training room had been situated. Nothing more than a downpressed area surrounding a square of sand for observers to watch from, but significant to her curiosity nonetheless.
Dana had almost immediately found herself beginning to read through the various notes and thoughts that Yuthura had inscribed to her personal holocron after being permitted. Her last gift before departing the Jedi Temple, and fittingly a gift to be returned to it when the time came.
Yuthura herself had led Maarani and Azera further into the temple complex, the ancient hallways only letting light through the small cutouts made at the time of its construction.
"I never expected to find any remains, let alone the structure so wonderfully intact. It has housed and nurtured me these past years. When I grew homesick for Dantooine, it let me glimpse what it has become, assured me that all is well with Bastila, her son, and all those who I came to call friend in my time."
Maarani spent most of the time shining her lightsaber across the walls and floor before her. The red ambience it should have created looked far less menacing than she expected, possibly thanks to the nature of the temple itself.
"It really is something. And it definitely feels different from the grove on Felucia."
Azera remained very quiet, only just keeping pace a little behind the others, not daring to even touch the walls around her. She didn't fear her surroundings, but the notion that she was still treading in a place she really had no right to be in had grown strong. The least she could do was show every bit of reverence she could.
While that hadn't gone unnoticed by Yuthura, she chose not to bring it up just yet. The destination had far more significance in her view. "Most of what records did survive from that era are contained on devices I could never activate, or chose to leave intact for those better equipped to retrieve the information contained within. The rest was committed to paper, in a language I still haven't fully grasped. They spoke of the foundation of nine new colonies, each representative of the nine temples of Tython. Some on worlds already visited by the Tythonians, some unexplored, but all deeply connected to the Force. This was the first of them."
"Nine?" Maarani glanced back at that. "You mentioned there were six, not including Tython. I guess this makes seven, and the Vahl homeworld you said could be eight."
Yuthura smiled subtly. "The Miraluka homeworld, the original one, is the eighth, Vahla the seventh. They did not in fact consider Ilum a colony as I believe you were inferring, though I did recognize the description of an outpost from my own passage there in youth. Records of our history are not always as accurate as we would hope." Appropriately, they reached one of the rooms before the furthest in the temple, giving her space to explain further. "The ninth was a distant world, further out than any of the other colonies. I don't know if the Jedi will ever come across what remains of what they later came to call Zakuul."
Upon moving further into the room, she gestured towards the roof, opening up a series of smaller metal hatches that receded into the carved stone. That in turn illuminated delicate carvings across the floor, spread out in various directions.
It didn't take long to line them up with places in the galaxy. "Here's where we are, right now. There's Coruscant and Ossus. Dathomir is over there." She slowly pointed to each to help with Azera's inability to perceive the illuminated areas, then moved towards what she orientated as the left side of the vague map. "These three are all in unexplored space, so they're probably Zakuul, Ahch-To and Jedha."
That left the other two spots. Far too vague a reference to even remotely point to an actual star system for the Vahla homeworld, though she suspected Dana wouldn't want to go back anyway.
Azera in the meantime had moved to the closer of the two, slowly kneeling down and running her gloved hand across the grainy surface. "Every child heard the legend of our departure from the old world at some point. It was porous in nature, and through some ecological disaster it couldn't retain enough of an atmosphere to remain habitable any longer, even below the surface." She breathed out deeply from a feeling of renewal sweeping through her. "To be actually descended from the Je'daii ourselves."
As her hand passed over more of the surface, her perception began to sharpen, greater and greater, until every intricate detail of the physical map itself became clear to her. The faintest of inscriptions surrounding each enlightened area.
"They're labelled."
"Yes. The labels are not names of the worlds, rather the purpose that each world was to represent and fulfil, to carry on the legacy of the Tython temples." Yuthura moved to each slowly, starting with the unknown three. "Qigong Kesh, mastery of the Force. Stav Kesh, mastery of the physical. Anil Kesh, mastery of science."
"Gee, no wonder technology is so stagnant."
Maarani winced a little from the look she got from the other two for that remark. "Sorry. Though I gotta ask, if mastery of the Force and physics went missing, then how do the Jedi exist today?"
"Tee, specialization doesn't imply exclusiveness. At most, those worlds may contain a few exclusive powers and techniques that the Jedi or Sith never recovered. Still might be worth exploring someday, those two aren't quite as far off the hyperspace lanes as Anil Kesh."
When that discussion had concluded, Yuthura moved on to the far more well known colonies. "Padawan Kesh is definitely Coruscant. It originally began as a safe haven for training, but with the need to re-centralize from Tython's fall and a thriving population and connection to other stars it was the clear choice for the new Jedi home. Kaleth is Ossus, the connection of knowledge to it's once great stores of history and wisdom is clear enough."
She moved further around, her hand hovering over Dathomir. "This one confused me for a long while. We always believed that it was the Je'daii who had chosen to devote to the light who left their world after the Force Wars. But more recently, I realized that there must have been some dark followers that also left. Whatever damage the Rakata did during their invasion to the balance, the Je'daii at least managed to come to a peaceful resolution before departure."
There was a quiet sigh following that, one of mild regret. "Clearly, the intent to make Dathomir a world of industry and defence, in spite of its dark ties to the Force, did not turn out favourably for those Je'daii in the end. They named it Vur Tepe, the Forge."
That left the two missing homeworlds, with her intent on saving their current place for the last in her conveyance of knowledge. "Perhaps the other group of dark Je'daii that did not directly seek war were corrupted by Vahl's influence after they arrived. Perhaps they sought her out first, I cannot say. Even the inscription is unclear. What should have been named Bodhi, the exploration of art, was altered into a word I still cannot decipher. Something drove them away from the pursuit of outlets for creative thought."
Maarani twisted her lips uncomfortably, her left hand rubbing around the centre of her right palm. "Dana likes to read, a lot. And Vahla have flexible skeletons, perfect for doing stunts that others can't. Maybe Vahl has a messed up sense of humour?"
Yuthura merely shrugged. "Her memories of Suroni are all that remains of her people, and she is the only one with a true connection to Vahl. Though I was not aware of her memory block being removed until you informed me. Maybe she will divulge more of what she recalls of her past in time."
Her hand moved over to the Miraluka homeworld, her attention resting fully on Azera. "This connection however is far more telling, and I believe this is where the real influence comes into play. You see, the Miraluka homeworld had been visited before, a number of Miraluka made up the Tythonian population, along with many other races. When they returned, they deemed the world Mahara Kesh, mastery of healing."
The sharp breath that Azera took was impossible to miss at that moment. Long had she questioned as to why her healing potency was strong in spite of her Sith nature. The influence of the Lady of Balance seemed likely, and now she finally had a solid reason.
"It's so incredibly, well, absurd. To think I'm connected that directly with the Je'daii of old. But then the Force does work through massive coincidences at times, doesn't it?"
After another nod, Yuthura beckoned for them to follow her. "That is mild compared to what you will see." They began moving further in again, after Yuthura had closed the hatches behind them. "Until today, this world, Akar Kesh, only really held significance to me as the first colony. But because of what you've told me, I truly understand why it was named as such, after the greatest of the Tython temples."
As soon as they passed into the final room, she waved her hand across the four plinths along the floor, bringing up a soft yellow light that illuminated the entire room.
Maarani's mouth began to hang open, barely able to gasp in shock, entirely entranced by what was revealed to her.
"Oh my goddess."
Lining the large wall opposite them was a towering engraving of the Lady of Balance.
Her face only had the most basic of features, and notably no lekku, but the three markings were undeniable. Black across her right eye and cheek on the left, white across the left eye and cheek on the right. Grey stretching from the middle of her forehead to the middle of her chin.
Both hands were outstretched downward, as if embracing the other figures depicted around her. Each had unique facial markings, and each was wearing robes that looked so very familiar.
"The Following. The original ones, they were Tythonians." Very slowly, she walked over to look at each of those depicted more closely. A variety of races, all working together in the name of pure balance. The pinnacle of cooperation. There were even a couple of Twi'lek in their midst, much to her surprise. "The Lady of Balance must have started a new version in their honour. Revealed herself to the Voice, and built up from there."
"Thirty eight Tythonians are depicted here, Tegama. Those who had chosen to devote their pursuits to maintaining the balance on Tython in the temple of Akar Kesh, mastery of Balance, so that the Force Storms would be quelled. Even in the midst of bloody war with the Rakata, and each other." The next breath from Yuthura had an unmistakable rasp to it, one of deep seated anguish. "And now, twenty thousand years later, history is beginning to repeat itself. A new cycle, one that stretches across the galaxy, instead of a single planet."
She approached the left most side of the wall, resting her hand against the inscriptions that ran the length below the mural. "The day will come that the Force reaches its breaking point. The eternal war between the light and the dark will ignite, the spark will threaten to burn all that is known to dust. On that day, the Chosen One will come to destroy those who oppose order and peace. They will wield the power to forever end conflict, and bring balance to the Force."
Maarani quietly clenched her teeth, tilting her head a little. "Well now I feel extremely pretentious. I don't think I can ever stomach going around and saying 'Hi, I'm the Chosen One, and I'm here to end galactic war'. And yes that's a really bad example already but having it engraved on a wall just makes it so much worse."
The audible clap of Azera's hand landing on her face summed up the feeling perfectly. "Tee, we've come all this way, gone through all that crap to get here. And your attitude about literal validation about being the centre of a twenty thousand year prophecy, the entire purpose of your great empathic power and all those visits from the Lady of Balance, is to complain about sounding pretentious?"
"It's a valid concern."
"It's a fucking stupid complaint!" Azera silently clenched her fingers while tilting her head upward, muttering an apology for swearing in the most sacred of places in an attempt to calm down. "You have been shown miracle after miracle, endured some of the most horrific things I can think of and still come out technically sane, travelled all across the galaxy and are now standing in one of the oldest and most sacred structures ever. And you go ahead and sum it all up with what amounts to a fucking joke! And yes I'll stop swearing now!"
Despite knowing far better, Maarani slowly turned her hand in a confused gesture. "Is there something we need to discuss-"
Azera stormed off back the way they came, leaving the two Twi'lek in stunned silence.
"And don't try talking to me unless you're ready to apologize! In person! I'm blocking your screeching out!"
Maarani waited until she was just out of sight before waving the issue off. "It's not like I've been going around painting tits in neon colours all over the walls, right? And I'm not making fun of being galactic peacebringer, I'd just rather not let it get to my head. That makes sense, right?"
"You have your own way with words, Tegama. I will grant you that." She reached over to lightly touch Maarani's arm as a show of support. "She cares for you, deeply. That care may be making her pain with you all the worse. You are the only one who can determine what that pain is, and heal it. And yes, I do understand the irony."
Maarani turned away a little, giving herself a bit more time to think, and breathe. "I thought we figured it all out. I mean when we woke up this morning, together, everything was as good as it could be. I can't think of what else would be bothering her this much." She left that thought aside, reaching into one of her jacket pockets. "I'll give her a bit to calm down. Until then, what do you make of these?"
From her pocket she withdrew the stones from Felucia, sliding one into each of Yuthura's hands when she reached out. "That's the stones Orphne gave us before we came here. I don't really get how they're supposed to work but she said you'd understand."
"Orphne is a strange being with her own ways." She took her time examining both stones, turning them across her palm with finesse. "But my senses have not dulled by any means. I will need time to meditate on these stones. Then I can begin guiding your recovery. Ideally with Azera's cooperation. As you say, she is a potent healer."
"With a real lousy-" Maarani bit her tongue, then nodded once that impulse had passed. "She revived me after I got killed by the Hidden Hand. Hard to argue with that." She glanced down the hall again. "I wish I could just know for sure if she's angry with me because of her own feelings, or if I'm somehow projecting again. I've never really thought of her as being that big on tradition and sanctity."
"Then it sounds as if you have a place to start from. Make good use of the opportunity either comfort or catharsis will provide. But please, do not let these feelings fester. The temptation of power, anger, hatred and excessive ego are all potent forces of darkness that shun the light, and any semblance of balance. Resent will cause it to crumble from within, and that can be far more dangerous when it goes unchecked."
That brought a smile to Maarani's face. "I feel like I don't get to hear wise Jedi wisdom enough. With everything that's gone on with Dana..." She looked down the hall again, then promptly made her way over to Yuthura to embrace her. "I wish I came here sooner. You, Bastila, Mission, Juhani." She eased back a little when she felt herself going misty eyed. "Everyone from the Ebon Hawk. You're all my heroes."
Yuthura let the embrace relax further, taking the moment to very gently wipe one of the tears off Maarani's cheek in a very maternal way. "And now you have started a new legend, Tegama. It may not always be remembered as the crew of the Distant Star, or even the Vastes, but the legacy of you and your friends will endure the ages. Just as it will for Revan, and the Exile. Don't let it end before its time."
"I don't think either of them literally had a deity watching their backs. But then I'm getting back to the issue of sounding pretentious."
She moved back again after that, easing her breathing once more. "I think I know why she's getting upset again, and how to fix that. How long until you'll be ready?"
"There is no hurry, Tegama. Do whatever you feel is right. I will come to the grove when it is time."
Maarani left things at that, making her way back through the temple without rushing, made easier by the fact that she now had a vague mental image of the layout to work from.
By the time she reached the grove, Jayden had apparently opted to return there as well for some conversation with Izan and Cecile. Dana had settled into the opposite corner to continue studying over the records provided.
Azera was sitting cross-legged on the grass itself, facing away from the rest of the temple complex.
Seeing as the grass had been disturbed anyway, Maarani stepped onto it as well. "Az, could you stand up? I really don't want to slouch down on the grass for this."
The near growl that Azera made while very pedantically getting up made her mood clear enough. "I'm not in the mood for more of your idiotic behaviour Tee, so if-"
Being pulled into a passionate kiss wasn't quite the apology expected, but it was one she didn't pull away from when the moment of surprise passed. Even if she had kept what had been said out of her mind, the feelings conveyed through that act were clear enough. The desire to comfort and mend most of all.
When Maarani did let the kiss break, it was after she had brought her hands to Azera's shoulders, holding her gently, just enough to ensure that what she had to say would be heard clearly.
"Az, tell me why you're upset. I think I know, but I can't fix it until I'm sure. And I am going to fix this, so please don't try to get out of it by calling it an awkward expression of love or whatever. I want to be with you, and I want to do this right."
Azera inhaled sharply, giving away that she was close to the state of crying that only Miraluka could experience, lacking the actual organs to cry with. It took a few more breaths for her to calm down after that.
"You have this amazing purpose, this power, this potential. And it's not even that you're acting like it's a horrible burden. You just act like it's just something you'd forget about tomorrow, just casually dismissing this destiny you have like it's meaningless." She took another shuddering breath, grasping onto Maarani's arms in turn. "My destiny is the one that's actually meaningless, and now I have to watch you throw away yours because you think it's pretentious?"
It took a few moments for Maarani to catch on, her eyes darting across that pained expression before her. "Meaningless? You mean being the Sith'ari?"
"The Lady told Kiarna that for the sake of ego. If I really was-" She stopped herself again after nearly shouting, taking a few more breaths to calm back down again. "If I really was the Sith'ari, Marka Ragnos should have appeared to me and said as much himself. I should be back on Ziost decrying Lasidia, and Rak'Sakar, kicking Morgak out of his post and actually taking charge of the Empire."
She turned her head to where the others were watching from, notably focusing down on Dana, then looked away again in a bit of bitterness as well as shame. "But who cares about reforming the Sith when you're the one who will bring about galactic peace anyway? No-one really cares about making the Sith better. Pacifying them is enough for the Jedi, however it happens. And they'll only ever remember you in the end. Nihilus was right, I'm the last of an entirely pointless, and forgettable lineage of Sith."
Maarani took her turn at glancing around, only that time her attention settled on Yuthura as she joined the others. Her warning about the dark side had specified excessive ego for a reason, unlike what she had heard of the old Jedi who condemned ego in its entirety. That was key.
"Then it's simple, Az." Her gaze settled back on that trembling face at last. A sight which she never expected to see on her of all people, and ideally would never have to see again. "From now on. as far as the galaxy is concerned, you're the Chosen One. Jed'nasa to the Republic. Sith'ari to the Empire. Best of both. I'll do my thing when the time comes, but all the attention and praise can go to you. I'd much rather see you happy than have any of the attention for myself, okay?"
It left Azera awestruck. So much so that Maarani wisely eased back again before things went elsewhere.
"Thank me that way later. For now, I wouldn't mind breaking down that block in my head. So I can actually get around to propping up the reputation of the future White Empress while doing galactic good deeds on the side."
One gesture saw a detonation in the northwestern landing bays.
Another gesture brought one of the many training rooms to ruin.
The third strategically collapsed another hallway leading towards the secondary power supply in that area. Ensuring that when they did inevitably come to the truth, they would be unable to act.
By the time she reached the threshold of the Jedi Archives, Sokoli Zatu had gone unnoticed, ensured everything was in place, and countered any issue that could arise in the time during which she would be unable to act.
All that remained was the walk across to the holocron vault. Her steps were near silent thanks to being barefoot, and taking as much time as she desired. Months of planning, months in hiding, months working just out of sight, all coming to fruition at last.
She stopped at the threshold of the vault, looking over the door for the longest time. With enough time and patience, as well as a better idea of just what lined the walls of the vault that kept her from peering within, she could possibly traverse shatterspace and end up inside. The need to complete the humiliation of the Jedi, on top of their devastation, drove her towards the panel on the right where the lock waited. A need that boiled up from within, eating away at her feigned persona.
Before even reaching her hand out towards the lock, she tilted her head back to let out the faintest of sighs.
"You never saw me, Master Atris."
Everything was as she expected when she turned around. Atris standing there in a ready position, both of her arthritic hands barely able to grasp the lightsaber, let alone keep it pointed up at Sokoli.
"I did what you asked! Was unrestrained knowledge not enough? Why bring ruin here? Of all places! Why?"
For a few seconds, Sokoli's eyes set ablaze, focusing right down on the aging Jedi as she lifted her hand.
"You, never, saw me."
The monitor on Atris' chest beeped a few times as her head tilted back, her lightsaber sheathing before it clattered to the ground.
When it was over, she rubbed her head, awkwardly feeling around for her lightsaber until she noticed it on the ground.
"Old fool. Why do I still carry it?"
After it was returned to her sash, she retrieved her cane and started making her way back to the nearby table. Her duty was to keep watch over the archives, especially seeing as those padawans usually given the task had been evacuated much earlier.
Content with the result, Sokoli returned her attention to the lock, bringing her hand around to hover just in front of it.
With a bit of concentration, the five-spoke handle popped out, while other parts of the lock recessed in. An extremely intricate mechanism, designed to be impossible to correctly arranged through direct contact. Easily foiled by a simple use of misdirecting thoughts.
The door slid open with a sharp sound once the lock folded back into place, casting a faint blue glow across Sokoli's face.
"If only Exar Kun could witness this moment."
She closed her eyes and inhaled, then stepped through the doorway.
For the first time in known history, an active Sith Lord had breached the holocron vault of Coruscant.
"Okay, so. Is this the sort of meditation where I end up seeing all kinds of weird symbolic imagery while distant voices say vaguely prophetic things?"
Yuthura furrowed her brow. "Whatever gave you that impression?"
"Az gave me details about what went down on Katarr."
Azera shifted uncomfortably, having returned to the cross-legged position opposite Maarani. "I was confronted by various Sith who challenged my ideas, my being. And then saw past and potential Sith. Just psychological warfare of course, there's no way that Sith line can continue when they're all dead. And unlike Q'Anilia I am not a seer."
Everyone, bar Yuthura who had her turn at feeling uncomfortable, looked to each other in confusion at the name.
Yuthura opted to return to the matter at hand rather than elaborating on recent Jedi history. "Tegama, whatever you see will inevitably be shaped by your own perceptions. The process ahead is lengthy, and deeply involved. None of us can say for certain what shape it will take, it is entirely personal."
"But now that I'm thinking about weird imagery and distant voices, that's probably what I'm gonna get, right?"
"Probably."
"Good. So, what's the actual problem and how do I fix it through the power of metaphor and symbolism?"
That made Yuthura sigh quietly. "I am getting to it, Tegama."
"Right, sorry." She straightened up her posture and closed her eyes. For all of a few seconds. "Anywhere I should put my lightsaber? It's digging into my hip."
"Do you really need me to answer that?"
She awkwardly shifted onto her right leg to free the lightsaber from her belt and set it on the ground just in front, as Azera had done beforehand anyway.
"Okay. Now I'm ready."
Not wanting to leave yet another opportunity for interruption open, Yuthura made her way around to one side, where she could speak to both clearly.
"Orphne's assessment of you both is a little more specific than it sounded at first, at least from what I gathered from meditating on the stones. But seeing as Azera's flaw is something she is capable of dealing with herself, we need only focus on yours, Tegama."
Maarani looked right at Azera again. It wasn't hard to deduce that they were far from done in covering all of her insecurities and fears.
"She said my flaw was pain. And I gotta say, I'm not really in pain, and I don't see how it would work as a 'flaw' specifically either."
"That's because it's not an aspect of your personality. I believe it's the very key as to how your connection to the Force has been blocked since your encounter on the island. The Exile cut herself off from the Force to shield from the damage unimaginable pain could do. In your case, my theory is that existing pain, most likely from the massacre, was tied into that connection, and your mind was then manipulated into blocking it off. Pain since then has added to the block, sustaining it even when you have overcome other previous cases of grief, anguish, and suffering."
"Right, so it didn't matter that I finally got over the death of my parents, because Zariba betraying me, getting killed, abused by Sloane and all that I haven't gotten over?" Her lips twisted a little in annoyance. "I guess that also explains why it didn't go away when the Lady of Sorrows got yanked out huh?"
"She may have been the reason he chose to enact such a technique, but tying her directly to it might also have opened a way to break it from within. I'm not surprised he had little concern for the potential of her being destroyed first."
She waited a little before continuing on, silently grateful for the reprieve. "Having overcome the trauma of losing your family before now will help things considerably, Tegama. Breaking down the block will mean facing all your remaining pain, sparing the worst of it will make this easier. And remember, the goal is to let it flow from your mind, don't think about any of it more than you have to. Anything unresolved can be addressed once this hurdle is removed."
"I think I can manage that much."
Yuthura gave one last nod. "Focus your mind on a single object. Let everything around you wash away."
Maarani remembered enough of that particular meditation technique to keep up with it once she had closed her eyes again. Before long, many of the ambient sounds, mostly from the wind blowing across different parts of the landscape, began to subside away. The sound of her breathing grew more prominent, but not intense.
"There is only the Force. There is no passion, there is no regret. No anger, no sorrow. There is only the pain I want gone."
Just before she slipped entirely into the meditation state, she heard rolling thunder in the distance, slowly approaching them.
That lasted only a couple of minutes before she came out of it with a loud gasp of pain. Right after, she nearly keeled over, grasping at the sides of her head.
Azera sprang from her position to provide support. "Tee? Tee calm down."
Her anguish subsided shortly after, leaving her with a bit of time to catch her breath. "I don't know if getting blown up or tortured for days was worse. Or that block is fighting back."
Another roll of thunder in the distance momentarily distracted Yuthura before she offered support. "Don't try and brute force your way through this. There is no hurry. Patience, Tegama."
"Alright, lesson learned, maybe. If it happens again then it's definitely not because I rushed things, okay?"
That time when she closed her eyes, the clap of lightning in the distance became audible before the subsequent thunder.
It was enough to make at least Izan nervous to the point of questioning it. "Do you usually get storms here? Might want to take shelter and do this a little later."
"They will be safe. This grove has survived far worse in its time, I'm certain of it."
Yuthura's assurance was quickly undercut by another loud gasp from Maarani as she snapped out of her meditation again.
That time, she just shook her head and reached one hand for it, growling under her breath. "It's getting worse. And no, having to run through the Ketaris streets in a bead bikini is not what I'd call a pain worse than death. Shocking, I know."
"Do you need more help from me then, Tee?"
"I'm open to it. I'm not sure I can keep it going at this rate."
Azera nodded while adjusting her posture, opening herself up to Maarani's mind. "You can thank me by dancing in those beads later."
Maarani just frowned rather fiercely before closing her eyes yet again. "Don't push it, Az."
That time when they both went back into meditation, the effect around them was unmistakable. Lightning began to arc across the clouds that had formed over the temple by then, striking down in various locations across the mountain ridge. And it was only growing in intensity.
"Let me guess! The grove is the only place for doing this, and the storm is just a byproduct!" Izan would have complained more if not for the sudden gust of wind that nearly hurled him right against the wall as it whistled through the various gaps and carvings around him.
His concern was soon shared by Dana and Jayden as well, while Cecile remained unwaveringly fixated on watching Maarani. Yuthura was more ecstatic about the display than anything.
"This is incredible. In all my years I've never seen the very planet react so strongly in tandem with the Force!"
In a daring move given the potential for debris to come rushing in, Dana rushed across the grove from her position to move Yuthura further undercover as the lightning strikes drew closer to the temple itself. "This is a bit beyond something I'd laugh at! Lightning strikes are not what we've come to associate with good omens!"
"The Lady of Balance has protected this place for a reason! The storm will not harm us! I am certain of it!"
Another bolt struck the temple itself, causing a spray of sparks and dust to fly off across the grove. None of it landed on either Maarani or Azera however.
"If one of those bolts hits them, that is it Yuthura!"
Despite the apparent danger, Yuthura's look of wonderment remained as she watched the pair. "They won't be struck. This is the Force reaching for Tegama. It's working."
"Reaching through lightning is what I would consider a direct strike!"
"Then perhaps it is time for a new perspective."
Dana just scowled and diverted her attention back across the grove. "Cecile! You need to get inside!"
"I may be a droid, but I appreciate the significance of this moment! How could anyone willingly walk away from witnessing it?"
That made Dana throw her arms up in failure. "I'd feel a lot better if believing in miracles didn't require running the very real risk of massive electrocution!"
"This isn't a miracle, Dana! This is history unfolding right before us and-"
Right in front of them, a lightning bolt speared towards the ground right between Maarani and Azera. At the instant before impact, it arced in two bolts between them, then froze outright. Along with the rest of the storm surrounding the temple, every bit of debris, and even the wind itself.
Maarani opened her eyes with another sharp breath. Azera gasped in a similar fashion. Both quickly became astounded by the change in their surroundings.
"What on Ryloth-"
"So it is what I'm perceiving then?"
All of the others were also able to move and react to the sudden pause of everything, Cecile included. A fierce storm captured in a singular moment, in spite of all known sciences and even powers of the Force. Not even the strongest user of stasis fields could create such a phenomenon on that scale.
Jayden hesitantly reached her hand out towards the grove, the very tip of her finger nudging one of the pink leaves that had torn free. It didn't resist any force applied to it, though once that ceased it returned to its motionless state.
Strange as it was, it was Dana who eventually noticed the even more unusual thing. "Teegs, Azera. Your lightsabers."
Both looked down to the weapons laid out before them. Each was quietly vibrating, centred around where the respective crystals were housed.
Maarani lifted her hand, ready to reach over and grab it, when to her astonishment it lifted off the ground and began drifting towards her. The stifled breath said it all, her eyes fixated on the weapon as the gentlest of motions with her fingers saw it elegantly twisting and turning in the air before her.
"It worked. It actually worked."
A few more gestures saw the casing slide off piece by piece. Before long, the housing was open at last, exposing the gentle hum of the glowing red crystal which she subsequently freed from the case itself.
Another look at the lightning bolt between herself and Azera made it all clear. "Az, if this isn't the Lady of Balance fixing our broken crystals, then we don't know anything about this whole mess anymore."
"I agree." Azera brought her crystal out with great dismantling skill, hovering the twisted mess of red and blue up towards the bolt directed at her. "Ready?"
"Ready."
In unison, both brought the crystals directly in front of their faces, then forward to make contact with the split lightning. A flash of light beamed out from both, ending the halt in time itself.
