Legacy of Jarik Shan V5: Rebirth

by xxTheTruMan196

Ever since the horrific events on Malachor and the loss of Ahsoka, Jarik has been struggling to recover, and his adopted daugter Mara has fared no better. But with the Empire still ruling the galaxy, and with new allies and enemies revealed, the Shan family must continue the fight to bring peace to the galaxy, and restore the Jedi Order as they should've been.

46. Ch 43 - Trials of the Darksaber

Author's Note: Hey, I just saw the Rise of Skywalker on Friday! I'll give you guys my thoughts right here!

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Bantha fodder.

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ISD Chimaera - Seventh Fleet

3rd person POV...

Agent Kallus walks into the bridge of the Chimaera and approaches Grand Admiral Thrawn, who stood before a holoprojector displaying a map of a wide variety of planets and systems spread throughout the galaxy. Thrawn looks up as he approaches, a frown on his face.

"How did this happen, Agent Kallus?" he questions.

"I suspect the rebels captured a unit in the field and reprogrammed it to self-destruct upon its return to base," Kallus replies, joining him at the projector. "Quite ingenious, really."

"I'm inclined to agree," Thrawn replies with a smile, looking at the map once more. "A feat worthy of Jarik Shan's capabilities."

"You seem in surprisingly good spirits, considering this loss," Kallus notes, a but confused.

"Loss, you say?" he replies rhetorically, humming to himself. "Mmm, the rebels may have protected the location of their base for now, but in doing so, they have narrowed my search."

Thrawn presses a few buttons on the projector, and the map instantly narrows down to just a select few planets while also changing from blue to red.

"Before today, they could have been hiding in any of a thousand systems. But now Now I know they are almost certainly on one of the 94 planets surveyed by my Infiltrators," the Grand Admiral declares.

Kallus listens to Thrawn's explanation with surprise and alarm, but shoves his feelings behind a stone mask on his face, keeping his expression neutral, yet curious.

"The rebels have won this battle, but the war will be ours," Thrawn states confidently.

---

Jedi Temple Island - Ahch-To

Jarik POV...

After receiving Stoick's approval on bringing Astrid, Hiccup and Toothless with us to meet Clan Ordo, we stayed the night in Berk before promptly flying to Temple Island the next morning to get ready for our trip back to Atollon. For the mission itself, the entire crew will be split up into two teams as we visit our respective families simultaneously. Sabine and the Ghost Crew will travel to Krownest to meet her family, while my group will go to Dxun to meet my own family. But before we do that, Sabine needs to learn what it will take to wield the Darksaber and unite her people.

"So, rebel base first?" Hiccup asks.

"I'm looking forward to meeting Sabine again," Astrid remarks.

"Maybe we could have a girls night out," Mara suggests.

"I guess I'm left out of that huh," Hiccup deadpans.

"Sorry Hic," she replies, not very sorry.

"Don't worry about them. I'm sure you and Ezra will find each other to share a lot in common. You're both the same age after all," I reassure him with a shrug.

"I guess that's true," he admits in reply.

We continue loading up the ship, mostly packing crates of fish that Toothless can eat while off world. I'm sure there are plenty of different things that Toothless would be capable of eating without fear of going ill, but it's best to not take any chances. He was already bad enough when he ate an eel once. In the middle of packing however, my comlink starts to beep in warning, gaining my attention. A quick look at the message tells me it's a Fulcrum message.

"You guys keep working. I've gotta answer this," I tell them.

"Okay Dad," Mara replies.

I move away from the ship and towards the edge of the rocky platform, out of earshot of the others, and accept the transmission. The symbol for the intelligence agency, Ahsoka's face forehead markings, shows up in a small hologram, and Kallus's filtered voice comes through.

"This is Fulcrum agent 3, reporting," he says, voice distorted.

"Code phrase?" I question.

"By the light of Lothal's moons," he replies.

"Good to hear from you, agent. What's so urgent you had to call me?" I ask him.

"Grand Admiral Thrawn has just made a startling breakthrough. He's narrowed down his search for the rebel base to only 94 systems," Kallus reports.

I widen my eyes in surprise, not expecting to hear something like that. I knew Thrawn was good, but only 94 systems out of thousands? That's very bad news for Chopper Base.

"Understood. I'll inform the others. Fulcrum out," I respond, ending the transmission.

I stand quietly for a moment, letting out a grim sigh as I think about this new bit of information. At this point, I think Thrawn's discovery of the location of Chopper base will be inevitable, so that leaves few options of what to do. The rebels can either pack up and leave to find a new base, or do a bit of interference with Thrawn's data in order to protect Atollon's location. And he most certainly would be able to notice if someone tampered with his maps, he's too good for that kind of deception.

Ignoring the thought for now I turn back to the Knight Hawk and make my way over, finding them all to have finished up with the packing.

"So, what was that about?" Mara asks.

"Message from Kallus," I reply, frowning. "Thrawn's getting closer to finding the base."

"Oh..." she says worriedly.

"That doesn't sound good," Astrid comments. "Do you think he will find it?"

"With Thrawn it's not a matter of if, but when," I respond grimly. "It just depends on what they do to avoid him."

"This guy must be really smart if he can narrow your base out of Thor knows how many worlds," Hiccup says with a worried look. "Could he find ours?"

I glance at him and Astrid uneasily.

"There's no clue out there that would direct him here. We only arrived on accident," I say reassuringly. "Let's focus on other things for now though."

Truth is, I have no idea if Thrawn will find us or not here, so I can only hope not. Thankfully my statement seems to ease their worries, and once Toothless trots on over we make our way into the ship. With the night fury settled in the cargo hold, I make my way up to the cockpit where R5 is waiting. Sitting down in the pilot's seat, he activates the engines and I lift us up and into the air, flying out to orbit and then setting the coordinates for a hyperspace jump out of the system.

---

Chopper Base - Atollon

During the flight back to Atollon, I took the time to provide Hiccup and Astrid with a little more depth on the whole Mandalorian situation, including my issues and Sabine's as well. Mara helped out from time to time in explaining things, and then afterwards we ate our lunch meal, providing Toothless with some of his fish. The two Vikings got to try some 'space food,' as Astrid called it, for the first time.

Needless to say I could tell they weren't pleased.

Fortunately for them Mara was just messing around by giving them some ration bars, and we quickly brought out the real stuff. Not as good as Berkian food, that's for sure, but it was passable.

Upon our arrival to Chopper Base, Hiccup stood by Toothless in order to prevent the dragon from rushing out excitedly and getting lost in an alien world, while I walked out first to be greeted by Boil, Rex, Hera, and Sabine.

"Jarik, good to see you back again," Hera greets.

"Of course Hera," I respond politely.

"Huh, you brought the stone age people?" Boil notices, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, have some respect Boil," Rex chides him.

"Relax, I know they're cool," he shrugs in reply.

Mara walks out with the others while were talking, all three of them keeping an eye on Toothless as he looks around with curious growls and whines, obviously agitated in his need to explore this new environment. Nevertheless he manages to stay calm enough with some coercing from Hiccup, and they come to join us.

"Yeah, this was actually Fenn Rau's idea... something which I heavily disagreed with," I admit.

"What changed your mind?" Hera asks, frowning.

"She actually gets the situation really well," Mara explains, gesturing to Astrid.

"Oh do you?" Sabine asks, grinning.

"Why Mandalorians apparently hate Jarik's guts? Yeah, I get it," Astrid replies with a smile as well.

The two teenage warriors bump fists with each other, grinning at meeting once more. I don't remember exactly what made them such good friends last time, since I was kind of preoccupied with... other things. Mara is befuddled as well.

"When the heck did you two become friends?" she asks incredulously.

"Believe me, I've been trying to figure that out myself," Hiccup tells her with a deadpan.

"When we were rescuing you," Astrid explains.

"We actually share a lot in common," Sabine adds.

"Isn't that frightening," Boil murmurs to Rex, who contains a snort of laughter.

"...huh," Mara says slowly, shrugging her shoulders.

"So, you're gonna be using your own lightsaber?" Astrid asks the Mandalorian.

"My own what?" Sabine replies, her grin falling to confusion and suspicion.

Astrid also looks back with some confusion, and then at me, much of the group aside from Mara following suit in their curious looks. I cough into my hand, glancing down at the two girls with a sigh.

"I suppose I forgot to mention, Sabine, that Rau and I are hoping for you to reunite with your family using the darksaber," I explain.

Sabine stares at me incredulously, her eyes filled with surprise, disbelief, and a small amount of anger.

---

We all stood around the Ghost's common room, waiting absentmindedly as Sabine sulks in her room. Toothless was brought into the Ghost's cargo hold so that he was happily nearby and not roaming around the base by himself wreaking havoc. During this time Hera called in the rest of the Spectres and Fenn Rau to discuss this new matter that we brought up, questioning him and Kanan for answers.

Boil and Rex had to head off to see Shaak Ti for another training lesson; they've apparently become her unofficial assistant instructors in educating new recruits, which kind of made sense. Shaak Ti's qualifications for her job are that she oversaw the training of clones during the war, and so the two veteran clones present would be good in assisting with her lessons and providing their own input.

While we waited for Sabine I took the time to chat with Kanan on seeing how well their mission to Geonosis went, more specifically how Saw acted since I already know the outcome they achieved. I wasn't too happy with Saw's actions during the mission, especially learning that he even wanted Lux removed from the Partisans, but thankfully they managed to reason with him and everything turned out fairly alright. After hearing about that I looked over to see all the teenagers gathered in their corner, along with Zeb, conversing with each other.

Astrid was a bit concerned and sympathetic to Sabine's feelings on the subject, with Hiccup more understanding and empathetic. Mara seemed kind of neutral, much like Zeb, while Ezra was more exasperated.

"Well, she's taking this well," he comments dryly.

"Guess she likes to sulk every time Jarik says something she doesn't like," Zeb scoffs.

"Wonderful," I reply with an exasperated shake of my head.

"She is under a lot of pressure though, so it's understandable," Astrid says.

"Yeah. I know firsthand how frightening it is to face family that pretty much disowns you," Hiccup adds in agreement.

"That giant, red-bearded monster of a man?" Ezra asks. "How does that even work? No offense."

"None taken," he scoffs in reply, slightly amused. "Wasn't easy at first but we worked it out, so we're good now."

"Understatement of the century," Mara murmurs, and he rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, well, even that wasn't as complicated as all the Mandalorian difficulties," Astrid remarks,

Before the conversation could continue, Sabine bursts into the room with a defiant expression on her face, looking out at us all before settling her gaze on me, Fenn Rau, and Kanan.

"I won't do it," she declares.

"So you do know what the darksaber is," Fenn Rau remarks.

"I know it caused my family nothing but trouble after Maul took it," she states.

"Maul used it to divide and conquer our people," he replies. "You can wield it to do the opposite."

"Wield it?" Sabine scoffs disbelievingly. "You're crazy. Kanan, tell him he's crazy."

"Consider what he has to say," he instead replies.

"What?" Sabine and Ezra both say in surprise.

"Whatever. Astrid, Mara you agree with me on this right?" Sabine asks.

"Actually… I'm with them," Mara admits, gesturing to me, Kanan, and Fenn Rau.

"Same here," Astrid adds in agreement, looking a bit apologetic.

"Oh come on, you can't be serious!" Sabine groans in frustration.

"Sabine, just take a moment to think about what you could do," Kanan says. "I don't think it's a coincidence this saber came into your possession."

"Yeah, but, Kanan, that doesn't mean she can fight with it," Ezra replies, glancing over at her. "No offense."

"Oh he's so dead…" Hiccup mutters quietly.

Astrid and Mara both nod in agreement with Hiccups quiet statement, the former places her hands on her hips while the latter crosses her arms, both looking at him with a raised brow. Sabine narrows her eyes at Ezra, giving him a dangerous look.

"Go on," she says threateningly.

"What I mean is…" Ezra falters in response, before letting out a sigh and explaining his reasoning. "Look, it's taken me a while to learn, and, I mean… I use the Force."

"She might not be able to fight like a Jedi, but she can learn to be proficient with the blade," Kanan tells him.

"I am proficient, with many types of blades and blasters and explosives, but that is a lightsaber," Sabine argues.

"The combat training is not as important as what that blade represents," Rau states firmly.

"Right, right, you want me to lead my clan," Sabine says sarcastically, narrowing her eyes at us in annoyance. "I don't know if you realize this, but I'm not that popular with my family these days."

"Oh yeah? Get in line," I retort casually, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed.

"Excuse me?" she demands, glaring at me.

"You're family has issues with you? That's too bad, it sucks. So does mine," I remind her. "That's why I'm here right now, to go out and repair the broken relationship between me and my family in Clan Ordo."

"Jarik's right," Rau says in agreement. "Your relationship with your family can change."

"No, it can't," Sabine retorts. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I know that family is important to the Wrens, just like it is to all Mandalorians," Rau replies.

"How are you supposed to know what will happen if you don't even try?" I ask rhetorically.

"I have a family, here, on this ship. I don't need them," Sabine shoots back firmly.

"But we do," Hera interrupts, standing up and approaching her with an apologetic look. "If there's a chance that you can rally an army of Mandalorian warriors to our cause, I have to ask you to do it."

"Hera…" Sabine replies disbelievingly.

"Family history can be painful. Believe me, I know," she explains sincerely. "But we can use those warriors for our attack on Lothal."

"But Jarik is already going to see Clan Ordo. If you need Mandalorian warriors, why ask me?" she protests.

"Are you really about to let a Shan accomplish something that you, a Mandalorian, was too reluctant to do?" I taunt her.

"What? Of course not!" Sabine snaps, glowering at me before developing an accusatory look. "You're trying to bait me into accepting this aren't you?!"

"Is it working?" I retort, raising an eyebrow.

"You… ugh!" she growls in frustration, turning away from me.

"Look, Sabine, there's no guarantee they'll listen to me," I remind her. "You and Fenn Rau know better than anyone how hated I am. It's an objective fact that you'll have a much better chance with your family than I do."

"Hera and Jarik are right. We need to ask you to do this, but that doesn't mean you have to," Kanan says gently, holding out the darksaber. "You can walk away and forget about it."

Sabine hesitates, turning around and contemplating, while the rest of us anxiously await her decision. Finally, she lets out a frustrated saber and turns back to Kanan.

"All right. I'll do it. Just give me the saber," she says.

Sabine reaches out and grabs the darksaber, only to be confused when Kanan doesn't immediately relinquish his hold on it.

"Listen. Once people know you have it, you will be challenged," he warns her. "And you need to be able to defend yourself."

"Okay, I'll try my best," she replies.

"First lesson," Ezra interrupts, grinning. "Don't try. Just learn."

I roll my eyes in exasperation and amusement while Mara and Astrid both share an irritated look with each other, although I can tell they're also amused.

"He's more sassy than you," Astrid mutters to Hiccup.

"I- Is that a compliment?" he replies cautiously.

Sabine growls, attempting to yank the darksaber away from Kanan and into her hands.

"Give me the sword," she demands angrily. "I'm gonna learn how to kick your—"

"Sabine," Kanan interrupts, raising his voice in warning.

She glances back at him, seeing the intense expression on his face, and lets out a sigh.

"Okay," she replies quietly.

After a few more seconds hesitation, Kanan cautiously releases the darksaber and allows her to hold it. Sabine slowly grips it with both hands and then looks at it with a wary gaze, holding it in front of her.

---

The Wilderness - Atollon

After getting Sabine to agree, we all packed up some camp supplies and headed out into the wilderness. Our group consisted of Sabine, Kanan, Ezra, Mara, Hiccup, Astrid, and I. The two Vikings followed us in the sky riding Toothless while the rest of us traveled to our destination with a land speeder, passing by some dogma's and krykna's along the way.

"Hey, why can't we just practice back at the base?" Sabine asks.

"It's better out here. Fewer distractions. Keeps your mind focused," Kanan answers.

"And it's safer for everyone else," Ezra replies cheekily. "You'll do less damage."

"I'll damage you if you don't shut up!" Sabine retorts angrily, scowling at him.

"You really should try and keep your mouth shut Ezra. One day Sabine is going to snap when no one is around to stop her from pummeling you," Mara warns him.

"About a year ago, that would be true, but I'd like to see her try that now," he replies, grinning.

"Oh I'd be glad to," Sabine growls.

I shake my head in amusement, chuckling quietly to myself at the banter between the two.

---

Our chosen campsite is in the general area of Bendu's dwelling, down in one of the valley's surrounded by coral trees and small, short hills. Sabine, Ezra and Mara worked to unload the campsite while Kanan and I sorted through the stuff we brought, making sure we were all set. In the meantime, Astrid and Hiccup were watching Toothless explore the alien landscape, making sure he didn't get himself into too much trouble. The night fury scurries along the ground, pouncing on a pack of dokma's with an excited yelp, capturing one of them.

"Toothless, no, don't eat that," Hiccup says instantly.

Toothless whines sadly but reluctantly releases the small creature, which instantly scuttles away from him with a frightened squeal. Hiccup sighs while Astrid watches curiously, looking around at the landscape.

"So, this is a desert?" she asks.

"I guess so," Hiccup replies, shrugging his shoulders. "The whole place is just dirt and sand."

"Hard to believe anything lives here. There aren't even any plants!" Astrid says incredulously.

"There are, they're just different from what you're familiar with," I tell her. "Based on the environment though, I'd imagine that this used to be an ocean world, not much different than A… you're own place."

I glance over at Kanan, Ezra and Sabine, but thankfully they're not listening in on us, so my small mistake wasn't noticed, much to my relief.

"Seriously? This place, was an ocean?" Astrid asks doubtfully.

"Millions of years is a long time for a planet to change," I point out.

"I guess that makes sense," Hiccup muses thoughtfully. "It's kind of hard to believe though."

I simply shrug my shoulders in response, accepting his answer.

"Well, alien space rocks aside, when is Sabine going to start her training?" Astrid asks curiously.

"Soon. I'll be starting her out," I reply.

"Well, I'm sure that will go well," Hiccup deadpans, turning to Astrid. "Honestly, you and Sabine are so much alike it's almost frightening."

Astrid only brushes her hair back and crosses her arms with a smile, offering no verbal response. Moving to rejoin the others, Hiccup and Astrid go and sit down among their tent, the former keeping a close eye on the very curious dragon sniffing around the place, while I stand in the center of the campsite with my arms crossed. Sabine and Ezra put down the last crate of supplies and sit down themselves, taking a moment to catch their breath.

"I'm so done with manual labor," Mara grumbles, sitting down with the two Berkians.

"I can relate very well," Hiccup replies sarcastically.

"When you said you were going to be training me, I thought there'd be more sword fighting involved," Sabine tells Kanan, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, it's always like this. He was the same with me," Ezra says with a grin.

"Yeah, and look how well you've turned out," Kanan retorts, walking by.

"Are you being serious?" she asks incredulously, turning to Ezra with a baffled look. "Is he being serious?"

"I can never tell," he replies, still grinning.

"You think he's bad, wait till you live in the same place as the 'King of Sarcasm' everyday," Astrid tells her.

Mara laughs while Hiccup makes a face, and Sabine cracks a small smile.

"'King of Sarcasm?'" Ezra asks him.

"It kind of what happens after dealing with my Dad everyday," Hiccup replies dryly.

"See what I mean?" Astrid says, jabbing a finger at him for emphasis.

"You should hear what my Dad is like. My Mom said he always cracked jokes as a kid," Mara says, smirking.

"I believe it would be best if we get started," I interrupt the conversation.

"I second that. Sabine, you're up with Jarik," Kanan says.

Sabine looks at us in surprise, raising an eyebrow, before narrowing her eyes in confusion.

"Hey, I thought you were teaching me," she says with a frown.

"Jarik and I discussed this earlier, and we decided that he would be your main instructor with the blade," Kanan explains. "He's more experienced at lightsaber combat than I am."

"Kind of fitting to have a Shan teach a Mandalorian how to use a lightsaber so that she can unite her people, don't you think?" I ask her.

"Not really…" she replies, still frowning.

"Come on, just get up here already," I say, rolling my eyes.

"Ugh, try not to sound so excited," Sabine grumbles.

She nevertheless gets up like I asked and walks over to me. Kanan takes two 'training sabers,' basically sticks, and hands us each one. I quirk my mouth slightly in amusement but don't complain, whereas Sabine looks bewildered and confused.

"Hey, what's this?" she questions.

"Training saber," Kanan replies.

"Really?" Sabine responds dryly.

"I'd like to see what kind of technique you have," I state with a shrug. "Not just anyone can fight like this."

"I already know how to fight with a stick," she retorts.

"Oh really?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "How do you go about it?"

"Simple. Just be quick and deadly, and slash my opponent before they know what happened," she states, matter-of-factly.

I nod my head slowly in response, remaining silent for a few seconds as I take in her words, the others waiting for my reply.

"This is going to take a lot of work," I finally say.

Sabine expression falls to an irritated scowl while in the background I can hear Mara and Ezra snickering, though Kanan doesn't look to impressed. Astrid also has an amused smile on her face, but withholds her laughter in sympathy for Sabine's honor. Hiccup meanwhile is just drawn into the whole thing, listening intently and taking mental notes.

I test the weight of the 'training saber' in my hands for a moment and then hold it at my side, entering a formal Makashi stance with my arm behind my back. Training saber held over her shoulders, Sabine cracks her neck and then stretches out her arms, readying herself for the fight in a manner that's supposed to be intimidating. Once she's loose, Sabine holds up the training saber and twirls it around a couple of times, smirking at me, then grips it tightly in one hand and jabs it forwards, pointing the end at me threateningly, an intense look of determination and battle-readiness on her face.

In one single swipe, I effortlessly smack the training saber out of her hand with my own stick, allowing it to clatter noisily on the ground while Sabine blinks her eyes, stunned.

"Well wasn't that something?" I ask sarcastically.

Mara and Ezra are unable to withhold their laughter, and Astrid lets out a few giggles as well while Hiccup looks bewildered and amused at the sight. Sabine throws Ezra and Mara an intense glare of anger and embarrassment, and Kanan shakes his head while she trudges over to recover her training saber.

"Now let's start again, without the dramatics," I tell her.

Scowling at me, Sabine grips the saber tightly in her hands before charging forward. She slashes her saber a few times, aiming for my side and then head, and I quickly deflect her strikes while backing up. She lunges forward in an attempt to strike me with the saber, but I sidestep her jab and elbow her back, forcing her to the ground.

"That might work on a stormtrooper, but not a Jedi," I say, and she turns her head to look up at me. "And it most certainly won't work on me."

Picking up her saber again, Sabine jumps up with a yell and turns around, swinging at me heavily. I duck underneath her block and slash upwards to knock her next swipe off course, then knee her in the gut. She doubles over, gasping for breath, and I shove her down to the ground. Sabine attempts to retrieve her saber once more and strike at me, but I hold my own saber underneath her chin before she has the chance to do so, ending the fight.

"And that's your head," I remark casually. "When wielding a lightsaber, any mistake you make is a limb lost, and any failed action can result in your death. The blade will never be at rest."

"Alright, fine," Sabine snaps irritably. "Let's just go again."

However I shake my head in disagreement and step away from her.

"No. You better work with someone else first," I reply.

"What? Why?" she demands.

"Mara, Ezra, would either of you like to walk her through the forms?" I ask.

"Su-" Mara starts to reply.

"Alright, I've got it!" Ezra interrupts with a grin, much to her frustration.

"Jarik!" Sabine shouts in protest.

"Work with Ezra first, Sabine, and get a good handle on the different lightsaber forms," Kanan tells her. "Then we can continue."

I hand the training saber over to Ezra and sit back down with the others while Kanan observes from the edge of camp, his arms folded behind his back. Sabine looks at me in annoyance while Ezra gets up beside her, holding his training saber out.

"Okay, ready position," he says, but Sabine is still glaring at me. "Sabine! Ready position?"

Reluctantly, Sabine pulls her irritated gaze away from me and then turns to Ezra, copying his stance.

"Okay, great. Yeah, that's ready position," Ezra says, moving forward. "Now we go one, two…"

I watch as Ezra starts to move Sabine through the basic forms, then Mara nudges my arms to get my attention.

"I wanted to show her the forms," she admits dryly.

"Well, this'll take a couple of days, so you'll get your shot," I shrug in response.

"Sabine's… pretty stubborn about things," Hiccup notes.

"Yeah," Astrid replies before glancing at me. "I can tell she still has a bit of a dislike for you."

"She may have gotten past it, but she still can't help the feeling from time to time," I explain. "Mandalorians have been taught to hate my family all their lives, and it's not a easy thing to change."

Astrid nods her head in understanding and agreement, watching Sabine and Ezra once more.

"Kind of funny how similar this is to Vikings hating dragons for hundreds of years," Hiccup jokes.

"Hey, slow down, alright?" Ezra says, halting the training for a second. "You're not gonna learn this in one day."

"Ezra," Sabine groans.

"Ready. One two three…" he continues, ignoring her protest.

---

Kanan POV…

From the top of the hill above the campsite, I could sense Ezra and Sabine practicing with the training sabers, as well as her annoyance and subdued feelings of irritation. Hearing my comlink beeping, I turn away from them and pull it out, accepting the call.

"I read you, Hera," I tell her.

"It's been a couple of days. I wanted to see how things are going," she says.

"Ugh, slowly," I reply with a grumble. "Ezra and Mara are still taking her through the basic forms with the training sabers."

"Training sabers? You mean those sticks you and Zeb made?" she asks incredulously.

"I'm being careful," I explain firmly.

"Were you careful with Ezra? I don't remember him fighting with a stick," she responds doubtfully.

"I'm letting Jarik handle the bulk of Sabine's training. He's a better duelist, and more knowledgable of Mandalorians than I am," I inform her.

"Does Jarik agree with you on practicing with those sticks?" she asks in reply, challenging.

"I don't know. He doesn't seem to care either way," I admit, shrug my shoulders.

"Then why use the sticks? I'm sure Jarik is more than capable of making sure Sabine doesn't hurt herself like you think she will," Hera states.

"Because I think it's best to try something different this time," I state matter-of-factly.

"Or maybe because she doesn't have the Force, you don't believe she can do this?" she retorts accusingly.

"No! The Force resides in all living things. But you have to be open to it," I reply in exasperation, pacing around a bit in agitation. "Sabine is blocked. Her mind is conflicted. She's so expressive and yet so tightly wound! She's so…"

"Mandalorian," Hera replies knowingly.

I let out a sigh, nodding my head in confirmation.

"Very," I say in agreement.

"I'll be sending out supplies," she says, sounding more sympathetic. "Is there anything specific that you need?"

"Patience, understanding," I scoff sarcastically.

"Hmm," she replies, slightly amused. "I'll see what I can do."

---

Jarik POV...

With the next day having past, we all decided to get some sleep during the night. Everyone got themselves organized in the campsite, getting into their cots, tents, or sleeping bags, while Toothless blasted some flames onto a flat rock and curled himself up on it, right beside the area where Hiccup and Astrid slept.

As they all turned in for the night however, I remained awake for a little while longer to meditate and think about what I'll be doing to make peace with Clan Ordo. I sat at the top of the hill on a piece of flat rock, listening quietly as I delved into the Force, something I don't often do. After some time however I find myself confronted with a few voices echoing through the Force, much to my confusion and wariness.

"There has been an awakening…"

From out of the dark haze of my vision with my eyes closed, I see flashes of something in my mind. I see what appears to be bright, sunlit clouds, with a group of tall figures amidst them glowing brightly with the Force. Below them is a dark and shadowy form, falling to whatever lays below this 'holy' looking landscape. As if it was… cast out.

"Have you felt it?"

I frown uneasily as the image disappears from my mind, but the voices still continue to persist.

"They tricked me. We were never meant to win this war. They used me and my people to test the Republic's strength."

"Who used you?"

"The Sith."

Throughout the exchange of the two people, one of whom sounded suspiciously like Revan, a hazy figure slowly appears before me, seated on a dark throne. He's engulfed in shadow, eyes shining with pale light, the dark side swirling around him… as if it is him…

"Once I ascend, all will be tranquil in this galaxy."

I open my eyes, a bit unsettled by the strange things I just saw. I don't often receive visions unless they're meant to warm me of something, and nearly all of the time they've proven to have some form of truth. And one of the voices I heard sounded an awful lot like Snoke, which worries me. I don't know what the dark sider is doing out there in the Unknown Regions, but I doubt it's any good. I'd imagine Palpatine's Empire is what's kept him back, or maybe just the presence of the Sith and Jedi themselves.

Sighing, I look out at the night sky for a few seconds before getting to my feet. I turn around with the intent of heading back to the campsite to sleep, only to come to a dead stop upon seeing a figure standing before me. The glowing blue form of Revan.

"Revan?" I ask, surprised.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" he replies.

"I haven't seen any of you since before Malachor," I say, frowning cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

"You want to heal the rift between our family and Mandalore," he tells me. "It's bold, risky, but also a good idea."

"Honestly, I feel like I'm going to get shot the moment I show up," I scoff.

"Well, they are Mandalorians," Revan muses in reply.

I nod my head slowly, a small frown crossing my face as I look at him questioningly.

"What happened between you two?" I ask him. "You and Tarre Vizsla."

Revan's easygoing demeanor drops to one of sadness and bitter regret, and he lowers his head with a sigh.

"We were the best of friends... brothers, even, inseparable," he answers quietly. "But as tensions rose between Mandalore and the Jedi, we started to have... disagreements. He wanted to side with his people, and I wanted to protect the Republic. Eventually we parted ways, and not on very good terms."

"And after?" I question, a bit accusatory. "Why do what you did, to end the war and after?"

"I imagine you don't approve of that," he says dryly.

"Not really, no," I scoff, letting some of my annoyance and disappointment shine. "So many people died; an entire planet was irreversibly damaged, and you completed fractured Mandalorian culture to the point that they'd hate you and all of your descendants for generations to come."

Revan is silent for a few moments, his ghostly blue figure standing mostly still as he contemplates my words before responding.

"Looking back, I definitely feel that I could have handled things much better," he admits bitterly. "It didn't help that Tarre was my greatest enemy by that point. Mandalorians respected strength... so I felt the only way to defeat them was to rupture them in a way they would never be the stronger than us. I let my bitterness and anger over Tarre's betrayal cloud my judgement, and lost nearly everything."

Arms crossed, I listen to his explanation, still frustrated and disapproving of his actions but also feeling a slight bit of sympathy for him. I know first hand that when a Shan is enraged over the fate of a loved one, we tend to get... destructive.

Like my strike against Coruscant.

"But it doesn't matter anymore. It happened long ago, and you have to deal with the mistakes I and Mandalore made," he says, looking up at me.

"Hopefully," I murmur, glancing down at the camp.

"You wish to use Mandalore's Mask as an incentive for peace, yes?" he asks me.

"I do," I admit, gesturing helplessly. "I think Canderous Ordo may have hidden it before he died, but I honestly have no clue about it's location."

"You would be correct in that assumption," Revan replies, much to my surprise. "He did hide it near the end of his life."

"Do you know where it is?" I ask hopefully.

"When you wake up, you will find the clue in your holocron," he informs me. "Satele, as wise as she is, had the foresight to provide it for future generations."

"Wait, back up; you mean my holocron?" I ask incredulously.

"Wake up," Revan says, his ghostly form starting to disappear.

"Wait!" I exclaim, moving toward him, but he vanishes into blue mist that dissipates into nothing.

"Wake up."

"WAKE UP!"

I jerk to wakefulness, snapping my eyes open before squinting in pain at the glare from bright sun. I blink a few times to see a collection of people gathered around me—all of them in fact, including Toothless—giving me concerned looks. Another second passes and I realize that Mara is sitting on my chest, probably having tried to wake me.

I was asleep?

"Finally! You're not dead," Mara says, getting off of me.

"No, I'm not..." I retort dryly, wincing upon feeling a slight stinging on my cheek. "Did you... slap me?"

"She did it," Ezra, Astrid, and Sabine all say, pointing at Mara.

"What? You weren't waking up," she says defensively.

I get to my feet and brush off a bit of dirt stuck to me, taking notice of my position. Apparently I was laying on the ground in the same spot I was meditating last night. Toothless lets out a short chirp, worried but also appearing satisfied that I look just fine now.

"That's true, we found you laying here, unresponsive," Kanan says. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't even realize I was asleep," I reply in bemusement.

"Really?" Mara asks doubtfully.

"Yeah, really," I tell her.

"That's good to hear, I guess," Hiccup shrugs.

"Ok, so, what's the plan for today?" Sabine asks with a sigh.

"Eager, are you?" I comment with a raised eyebrow.

"I'd be willing to do some more practice," Ezra says, smirking a bit cockily.

"Ugh, you're almost as bad as Snotlout," Astrid scoffs in exasperation.

Ezra frowns, turning to her with a questioning look.

"You mean the guy who was with you the last time? The short and stocky one who tried blasting fire at the Emperor?" he asks carefully.

"Yep, that's him," Hiccup confirms.

"What?! You think I'm like him?" Ezra demands incredulously.

"I think that's exactly what she's saying," Sabine teases, smirking in amusement.

"At the very least you have some skill to back up your attitude," Astrid adds with a shrug.

"I think all three of you are a bit cocky," Hiccup mutters.

"Excuse me?" Astrid demands, turning to him with a frown. "So are you!"

"Hey, I'm just stubborn! That's not the same," he defends himself.

"Ok, I think that's enough of the chatter," Kanan interrupts with an annoyed sigh. "We really should start practicing."

"Fine," Sabine grumbles.

"I'm gonna get something to eat first before I start," I say casually, heading down to the campsite. "Mara, help her out with technique."

"No problem!" she calls back happily. "Let's go purple-haired Mandy!"

Ezra bursts out into laughter, Hiccup snickers while withholding some of his, and Astrid giggles lightly while Sabine and Kanan just let out exasperated sighs, the former more irritated sounding.

"Can't be a worse training partner than Ezra…" I hear Sabine grumble.

I shake my head in amusement as I get further away from them, heading over to my tent to gather some food and freshen myself up. Alone again however, my mind falls back on what Revan told me in my dream, that my holocron holds the clue. But… how? It's just any other Jedi holocron right? How could Satele have put something into it when she was alive?

It can't be that old of a holocron, right?

---

3rd person POV...

Hiccup and Toothless soar through the sky, getting a great view of the landscape around them from up in the air. Hiccup marveled at it all, making comparisons to Ahch-To and seeing just how extremely different it is from what he's used too.

"Well, this certainly isn't like home, hey bud?" he asks.

Toothless roars in agreement, flapping his wings to regain some altitude. Hiccup looks around once more, thinking about the huge expanse of land. Back home you could at the very least see some part of the ocean in the distance, as while the islands can get big, they aren't big enough to render the ocean unseeable from the view of a dragon. Instead of tall green trees and crashing blue waves, Atollon is just an expanse of rolling desert hills colored a light brown, with massive coral 'trees' and rock formations.

Even the sky is vastly different from what he's used too. It's not as blue, holding a purple tint to it with the horizon being colored yellow and orange. There's only one sun, and the planet's moon is much closer than Ahch-To's, appearing quite clearly every moment of the day with its bluish gray color. And aside from the rebel base and the occasional 'snail,' bird, or creepy bone white spider, there've been no real signs of life.

"Perfect place to hide from an Empire," he murmurs thoughtfully to himself. "How you feeling bud? You want to check out the ground?"

Toothless roars once more, relenting when Hiccup angles then both around and back towards their campsite. The pair zip through the sky, doing a few rolling tricks and spins in the air and through some coral trees before reaching the familiar terrain surrounding their camp. Coming in for a landing, they reach the ground not to far away, stopping right beside a small body of water. Jarik has assured them that the water supply of Atollon was safe for them to drink, in case Toothless need to do so.

The night fury did so after Hiccup dismounts him, taking several sips to quench his thirst. Hiccup meanwhile opens up his notebook, something he always carries in his saddlebags. He sits down on a rock, getting a good view of the horizon from his position.

"Fishlegs would have a field day with this," he remarks.

With his charcoal pencil in hand, he begins to sketch a picture of the view, taking note of several important details that are vastly different from Berk's perspective.

It doesn't take too long however before he hears a hissing noise, following by the sound of something scuttling across the ground. Curious, though a bit cautious, Hiccup turns in the direction of the noise, widening his eyes in alarm.

"Ahh!" he yelps in surprise, putting his notebook away while stumbling back nervously.

One of the bony white spiders, a 'krykna,' if he remembers correctly, is scurrying towards him, staring hungrily at him with its beady black eyes, mouth clacking eagerly.

"Oh Thor..." Hiccup say anxiously, realizing he has nothing to defend himself. "Uhh..."

Back down at the water pool, Toothless finished up his drinking and lifts his head up, looking around curiously. He yelps in surprise and unease, glancing at the ground as it begins to shake lightly, and then focuses his gaze on a pile of moving coral. The coral quickly shifts into that of a large, bearded, ape-like figure, who stares down at him with a thoughtful expression.

"Hmm... what a curious sight you are, strange creature," Bendu remarks.

Toothless growls at him defensively, taking a few steps backward at the sight of this large, unfamiliar creature towering over him.

"Interesting... you carry a strong connection to the Force, it would seem," Bendu continues, unconcerned about the night fury's unease, before his eyes light up knowingly. "Ah hah! You are of Ahch-To's wilderness! I take it you arrived with the Sun, yes?"

Toothless hesitates, still uneasy, but also not sensing any danger from this strange being. Nevertheless he relaxes his threatening stance, gazing up at Bendu with a curious warble.

"How interesting..." Bendu says.

"Toothless?!" Hiccup's voice calls out, sounding panicked.

Toothless perks his head up with an anxious yelp, detecting the threat nearby.

"I suppose your help is needed, Shadow of the Night," Bendu comments.

Toothless roars up at the Bendu anxiously in apparent confirmation, and swiftly dashed away towards Hiccup's location. Bendu watches the dragon go with interest, humming to himself with a small smile on his face.

Up top, Hiccup looked around for anything he could use to help, only to find nothing. Breathing anxiously, he steels his nerves and looks cautiously at the approaching spider.

"Please work..." he mutters.

He raises an arm hesitantly out to the spider, his body tense in preparation to run. The krykna halts it's advance for a second, giving Hiccup some hope, only for it to lunge forwards with a shriek. Hiccup yelps in alarm, stumbling back to try and avoid it.

"What am I thinking? Of course it won't work!" he shouts fearfully, berating himself.

Fortunately for him, Toothless comes charging in with a fierce roar, tackling the krykna. The spider is knocked off of its many legs with a startled hiss of outrage, and Toothless stands protectively in front of Hiccup, snarling at it. The krykna gets back up, hissing at him and clacking its jaws in agitation. Toothless retaliates by opening his mouth, a purple glowing coming forth as he builds up some gas, and then shoots a bolt of plasma. The spider is hit dead on, thrown back with an agonized shriek. It slowly gets back up, the area around its body and head charred a blackened color from the impact, and hisses in pain. Toothless roars at it once more in warning, and the krykna hastily retreats. The night fury snorts at its retreating form, his anger instantly falling away as he turns toward Hiccup with a worried look.

"Thanks Toothless. Good thing I can always count on you to have my back," Hiccup says with a smile.

He scratches his neck, and Toothless responds with a happy, toothless grin, warbling at him.

"Well, better head back to the campsite," he suggests.

---

Jarik POV...

Kanan and I observe the fight occurring between Sabine and Mara with critical eyes, well, my critical eyes. Ezra and Astrid were watching as well; Hiccup was currently flying around with Toothless, since the night fury needed some time for flying so that he wouldn't become anxious and sad. Still using the 'training sabers,' which I find kind of amusing, Sabine swung hers left and right in an attempt to get through Mara's guard, thrusting her stick forwards in a jab for her middle. However, Mara sidesteps the jab and allows Sabine to stumble past her, remaining firmly in place.

"That's not gonna work," Kanan calls out with a sigh.

Sabine turns toward Mara again and charges, swinging her stick fiercely and using the saber forms that Ezra and Mara have been showing her. She presses Mara backwards a few steps, forcing her to deflect her strikes at a much faster pace to not get hit.

"Working so far," Sabine tells Kanan in retort.

"I think you're doing well," Ezra calls out.

"Opinion noted," she snaps in frustration.

"You're doing okay so far," Mara tells Sabine, parrying another strike. "You're too aggressive though."

Sabine scoffs, swinging her stick around in a hard, two-handed strike against Mara's side, which she quickly backpedals to avoid.

"Fighting aggressively only leads to more mistakes," I tell her.

"You sure about that?" Sabine retorts, backing Mara up further.

I shake my head at Sabine's response, but opt to continue watching as Mara leads Sabine into a trap that is very clear to me and Kanan. The sound of a speeder bike gets our attention, and I look over to see Fenn Rau speeding in with a few crates attached to his bike. He dismounts and pulls off his helmet, walking up beside us.

"I've got your supplies," he informs us.

"Great. Now we just have to worry about this," I say, gesturing to the fight.

Rau turns to observe the fight between Sabine and Mara, and when his lips turn into a slight frown I can tell he's also recognized the danger. With their sticks connected, Sabine then shoves Mara back a few feet and jumps right after her, which is what Mara was waiting for. Twirling around the jab, Mara ends up behind Sabine and then gives her a shove, sending the Mandalorian sprawling on the ground with a grunt.

"You overcommitted," Rau states.

"Oh, good," Sabine scoffs in annoyance, getting back to her feet. "Anyone else have an opinion they want to share?"

"Let's take a break," Kanan interrupts. "Ezra, help unload these supplies."

"What? Why?" he groans in complaint, however Kanan turns toward him with a warning expression.

"Do it efficiently, and you can have the next turn at fighting Sabine," I offer Ezra with a sigh.

Ezra looks up curiously before nodding his head in acceptance, getting to his feet and making his way over. Astrid rolls her eyes behind his back, turning to Mara as she sits down beside her, laying the stick against a rock.

"He always like this?" Astrid asks.

"Not always. He's always had some annoying, overconfident moments, but not as much as right now," she replies.

"I'm sure he's cool, but that's kind of hard to believe right now," she comments doubtfully.

"I'd say this cockiness comes more from the fact that Ezra is better than Sabine at something for once," Mara shrugs in reply. "In general, he's never been as skilled as her when it came to missions and fighting, but now they're competing in something they both know he's better at."

"Huh. Guess that's a fair point," Astrid shrugs.

I turn away from listening to the discussion between the two girls, noticing that Rau seems to handing something to Sabine, who slips the device onto her wrist, grinning eagerly. I raise an eyebrow, a bit suspicious about whatever it is that he just gave her. Most definitely Mandalorian though. Nevertheless, I don't bother them as Sabine turns and makes her way to the center of the campsite while Ezra finishes unloading the last of the supplies.

"Alright Ezra, you're up," Kanan says.

"Yes! Finally," he says excitedly.

He grabs his stick and makes his way over to Sabine, conversation dying down as we all turn to watch. Ezra takes notice of the new device on Sabine's gauntlet, a Mandalorian vambrace I believe, and grins.

"What have you got there?" he asks curiously.

"More than you can handle," Sabine replies confidently.

"Oh, yeah? Well, maybe I won't go easy on you this time," he says.

The two get into their opening stances and then begin their fight. It starts to progress like normal, with Sabine launching a flurry of attacks while Ezra either blocks or parries, returning his own strikes a few times. The fight quickly changes though when Sabine swipes down her her stick to know his downward, and then thrusts out her arm with the vambrace. A small repulser blast shoots out of it, catching Ezra by surprise and sending him sprawling across the ground.

Kanan and I share surprised expressions before his turns to one of irritation, and I admit I'm a little exasperated and disapproving of the action as well. Ezra grunts as he rolls across the dirt, and unsteadily gets back to his feet. Unfortunately for him, Sabine rushes in and swipes past him, kicking him off of his feet so that his back hits the ground. Ezra looks up just in time to see Sabine leveling her stick directly under his chin.

"And that's your head," she says smugly.

"Hey! Not fair! Where did you get those?" he demands in frustration.

"Special delivery," Sabine replies with a smirk, placing the stick on her shoulders.

Fenn Rau and Astrid both chuckle lightly at the scene, but I'm not too impressed, and Kanan is less than pleased. Mara also understands the reason for our displeasure and isn't laughing either, something Astrid notices.

"Uh… is this bad or something?" she asks quietly, a bit confused.

"Sort of. She's supposed to work with a saber, not… whatever she used," Mara explains.

"Hey!" Kanan snaps, marching forwards. "Is this a game for you?"

"No game, just outsmarting my opponent," Sabine replies tauntingly.

"The reason we're out here is to teach you how to wield the dark saber, not mess around with a pair of vambraces," I state firmly, also moving up beside Kanan.

"Something wrong with using my skills?" she demands.

"You should be focusing on your actual training," Kanan argues.

"If you rely on your equipment too much, then you won't be defeating anyone in battle with the darksaber," I add.

Sabine glowers at us both, more specifically me, her previous disdain for me filtering through slightly as she becomes more frustrated with her training and us.

"Oh yeah? Well, care to take a shot, Shan?" she snaps.

Sabine thrusts her vambrace out and shoots out a glowing orange grappling line, wrapping it tightly around my body before I could respond. Everyone looks on in surprise and unease at the action, and I struggle against the cord with a bewildered look on my face.

"Sabine!" Kanan exclaims angrily.

Sabine ignores him however, and I narrow my eyes at her dangerously. Making a quick gesture, I call my lightsaber into my hand with the Force and ignite it, the blue blade easily cutting through the orange cord. Without a moment to waste I snatch the cord out of the air with my prosthetic hand and then yank on it hard. Sabine is pulled off her feet with a startled cry and hits the ground in front of me with a grunt of pain, losing her grip on her stick. I step up beside her and then jab my lightsaber toward her neck, forcing her to stay down.

"History lesson. The Jedi won the war with Mandalore! Like it or not, Revan faced Ultimate in single combat and defeated him," I state with a firm glare. "These tricks of yours can amount to something, maybe they'll even save your life. But a Mandalorian respects the strength of a warrior, not their equipment. If you're truly capable of learning this, then training and discipline are the only things you should need."

I maintain my glare for a second before stepping back and deactivating my lightsaber. Sabine stands back up, a scowl on her face as she glares at me.

"The only thing I'm learning is that Mara and Ezra must be really gifted to learn as well as they have from lousy teachers like you two!" she shouts furiously.

Sabine throws her stick down and storms off. I watch her go impassively with narrowed eyes, sighing in disappointment. The sound of wing flaps quickly gains my attention as Hiccup and Toothless come flying down from the sky, landing at the edge of camp.

"Hey guys, we're back," Hiccup says, dismounting.

As sharp as he is however, Hiccup instantly notices something is wrong and looks over to see Sabine walking away tensely, and a frown forming on his face.

"What happened?" he asks cautiously.

---

3rd person POV…

Sabine trudges through the dry, rocky landscape, kicking the dirt with angry grunts every few steps. Reaching a large pile of coral rocks, Sabine kicks one in frustration and then sits down with a sigh, unable to sort through her feelings of turmoil. She looks out towards the sunset, feeling lost.

"Hey," someone says, and she looks back to see Ezra walking over.

"Not now, Ezra," she sighs, turning away.

"Look I just wanted to say I know what it's like," he tells her. "I don't know much about Jarik's teaching methods, but I do know Kanan's. Believe me, he's not the easiest teacher to have, but he means well."

"Does he? Do any of them?" she questions in reply, looking at him doubtfully. "I know how to fight. I believe I can learn to use that sword. I just don't want everything that comes with it."

"You mean your family?" he asks cautiously.

"I'm a disgrace to them, Ezra. A traitor," she replies bitterly.

"But that's not true," Ezra argues.

"To them it is. If I go back to them, especially after having a Shan of all people actually be the one trying to teach me how to do all this!" she exclaims, shaking her head with a scoff. "You don't know. No one does... I don't want to talk about these things."

Sabine turns away from him, silent, and Ezra looks on grimly before she responds.

"How can I lead my people?" she asks helplessly, throwing her arms in the air. "How can I go back there and face them?"

Ezra watches her sadly, feeling a bit hurt, and turns away from her with a sigh. He starts to walk away but then stops for a moment, glancing back at her.

"I'm sorry, Sabine. At least you have parents to go back to," he says softly.

Sabine widens her eyes, suddenly feeling guilty, and looks back up at him with an apologetic expression.

"Ezra…" she starts to say, but he's already out of earshot.

Getting to her feet, Sabine stands dejectedly for a second before expressing her shame and guilt with an angry growl, kicking the coral once more. She walks off, angry with herself. However, as she does so, the coral she kicked moves around, going along with the large coral pile.

The Bendu slowly uncurls himself and looks at the Mandalorian girl as she gets further away, humming to himself as he senses her thoughts and feelings of frustration, guilt, and fear.

---

Kanan POV...

I pace around the campsite slowly, Hera watching me through a small blue hologram, unable to withhold some of my frustration. I can't see her, but I know that Hera has a worried expression on her face.

"Teaching Ezra wasn't easy, but you did it well. I'm sure you and Jarik will find a way to get through to Sabine," she reassures me.

I let out a tired sigh, shaking my head.

"It's not the same. Mara's been training under Jarik and Ahsoka since she was a little girl, while Ezra was eager to learn; sometimes too eager," I remark with a scoff. "I was the one who was holding back."

"And that's not what you're doing now?" she asks me.

"No," I reply.

"And yet, you still won't let her train with the darksaber," she points out in disapproval.

"Look, Sabine is a capable warrior. In some ways, more so than Ezra, but she can't or won't find balance within herself," I inform her grimly. "Until she does, wielding an actual lightsaber is far too dangerous for her."

"By letting her pretend with that stick, you're only encouraging her not to commit to this," she argues.

"You're not listening to me," I respond, agitated. "If I let her use the darksaber, she will get hurt!"

"She's already hurt!" she exclaims in response. "Her family hurt her more than any sword could. You don't see it because she doesn't want you to."

I let out a disbelieving scoff, turning towards her voice.

"But you can?" I say in reply.

"Because I know what it's like when people you love don't believe in you, when they let you walk away," she replies softly, and I grimace in response, feeling a little shameful for forgetting that. "Remember how hard it was for her to trust us."

"I agree with her," Jarik suddenly says, and I turn towards him in slight surprise. "Sabine is hurting, she just keeps it hidden. She needs something to drive her."

"Hmm…" I hum in reply, starting to consider. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Give her the sword," Hera urges. "Let her own it and who she is. Help Sabine face her demons."

"I don't know," I reply reluctantly.

"I know you don't. But this isn't about you," she reminds me.

"Her feelings are blocked. What she needs is someone to release them," Jarik says, and I turn in his direction questioningly.

"What do you mean?" Hera asks.

"I'd imagine my presence continues to sir up some bitterness, whether she likes it or not. She's Mandalorian, and was raised to despise my bloodline," he explains calmly. "She's not going to get any better until she releases the guilt she's been carrying and faces it head on. So, I'll let myself be the conduit for that."

I frown as I listen to him, contemplating the idea. After a while I reluctantly nod my head, accepting his suggestion.

"Alright," I tell him.

---

Jarik POV...

Kneeling in the middle of the camp, eyes closed, I wait patiently for Sabine to return. Kanan is sat nearby as well, meditating, unlike me. I listen in as the others quietly converse with each other, also waiting.

"I didn't think she'd be gone this long," Ezra remarks with worry.

"She does seem pretty stressed out about everything," Mara replies.

"She'll return," Rau says confidently. "Then we'll see."

"I don't know much about Mandalore but, is holding a grudge against people for something their ancestors did really worth it?" Hiccup asks, frowning.

"It's not an easy thing to forget," Rau states grimly. "The actions of Jarik's ancestor caused such strife that they still affect us to this day. Mandalore has never been the same since."

"But that was all Revan, not his descendants," he reasons.

"Not too mention a very long time ago," Mara adds in support.

"As I have come to understand," he replies in agreement. "But it wasn't easy too."

"Stuff like this just takes time... especially when a warriors honor is involved," Astrid remarks.

"Then Sabine just needs more time. I know she can do it, but it just seems like Kanan and Jarik are asking her to learn everything at once," Ezra says in concern.

"Time is a luxury, one the galaxy seems to be running out of," Rau grimly responds.

Sensing Sabine walking forward, I remain seated in place as she makes her way over to me, and it doesn't take long for the others to notice.

"She's back," Ezra says.

I open my eyes and look up as Sabine comes to a stop in front of me, looking apologetic and slightly uneasy.

"I owe you an apology," she starts to say.

"I suppose I can say the same too," I reply.

Sabine rubs her arm anxiously, glancing away momentarily. Taking the darksaber in my hand, I slowly stand up and then hold it out to her, catching her slightly off guard.

"Uh, maybe I should practice more first," she suggests uneasily.

"Take it. It belongs to Mandalore," I tell her gently.

She hesitates, but carefully takes the lightsaber from me, holding it with both hands.

"Ignite the blade," I say.

Sabine ignites the darksaber, and the thin, sword-like blade shoots out of the hilt. The black blade crackles with small streaks of white energy, the distinctive hum sounding light and gentle, yet powerful.

"Whoa. It's heavier than I thought," she remarks.

"The hilt carries weight, but the blade itself is weightless. Energy constantly flows through the crystal, giving the darksaber its power," I inform her, watching as she waves it around slowly. "You're not fighting with a simple blade as much as you are directing a current of power. As you battle with it, you thoughts and actions become energy. That's what gives lightsabers their power; the kyber crystal will respond to the emotions of the wielder, and therefore flow through the blade."

Taking a step back, I ignite my own blue lightsaber with a flourish and adopt a Makashi stance, facing her.

"The blades will be drawn to each other," I tell her. "Block high."

I raise my lightsaber and strike down towards her shoulder. She lifts her own saber and blocks it, entering a blade lock. Small streaks of energy crackle around the connection, the two very different lightsabers responding to each other.

One with the crystal of Tarre Viszla, the other with the crystal of a Shan.

"There's pull. Can you feel it?" I ask her, maintaining the blade lock. "That lightsaber is old and heavy, but it still carries the strength and power of its maker. Respect it."

Separating from her I take a few steps backward, and she stumbles forward momentarily before regaining her balance.

"Block low," I tell her.

I swing my lightsaber swords her legs, and she moves her blade to block it. I pull my saber back, and begin developing a series of strikes with her.

"High. Middle. High. Low. Middle," I say, moving to attack her each time.

She maintains her balance and blocks my strikes steadily, twisting the dark saber a bit and then pushing back against me, and I offer her a small grin of approval.

"Not bad, not bad. Let's begin a series," I tell her, separating our blades. "Are you ready?"

"I am," she says determinedly.

We stand across from each other, and I raise my lightsaber up in front of my face in a salute; Sabine does the same.

"Remember the forms Mara and Ezra taught you," I remind her. "Take ready position. We'll start slow."

Keeping an arm behind my back, I move forward and swing my lightsaber toward her feet, counting it off, and Sabine blocks the strike. I follow up with another swipe on the opposite side, which she blocks one more, and then spin around to deliver a strike towards her back, to which she raises her lightsaber behind her to deflect it. I deliver two more saber strikes to her side before finishing the series at six moves.

"Faster this time," I say.

I repeat the same motions and gain the same blocking movements from her, moving at a quicker pace. For each move I count it off until reaching six. Finishing the series again, we restart it at an even faster pace now. I keep slowly amping up the pressure, and on the third series she slips up in her block, and my final saber strike ends up shoving her down to the ground, the darksaber deactivating.

"This shouldn't be this easy for me," I state with a frown, pointing my lightsaber at her. "Ready position."

Sabine gets back to her feet with narrowed eyes, quickly reigniting the darksaber. After a few seconds I restart the series, going faster than ever so far in the training as I deliver quick strikes that Sabine works to block, making her step back a little. She slashes her saber to deflect my final strike and pushes my blade to the side, taking a moment to get a feel of the darksaber.

"The blade feels lighter," she notes.

"That's good. It means you're connecting with it," I respond. "The darksaber is beginning to accept you."

I deliver two overhead strikes, and she deflects them to the side with a slight stumble before lunging forwards in an attempt to jab me with her saber. I quickly side-step her movement and grab her arm, casting her aside.

"But like I said before, you cannot rely solely on your equipment when in battle," I remind her with a stern expression.

Sabine attempts to lunge at me with another jab once more, grunting in frustration, but I grab her arm yet again and shove her past me, turning to face her.

"If you want to succeed, then you must use all your skills together," I state firmly. "Ready position."

Sabine holds the darksaber up and then jumps forward with two heavy slashes, but I effortlessly parry her strike and disarm her, throwing the darksaber away.

"If you don't want a Shan to best you twice now, then you'll need to do better," I urge her, throwing in a subtle taunt to provide a bit of fiery motivation.

It seems to work, judging by Sabines annoyed scowl. She thrusts her arm out and shoots an orange grappling line from her vambrace, snatching the darksaber from the ground and pulling it back into her hands, igniting the blade once more.

"Whoa," Ezra says in surprise.

"Wonder if I could make something like that…" Hiccup murmurs to himself.

I disregard the thoughts and feelings of the others for now and watch as Sabine charges forward once more, the darksaber held high. I take a few steps back, deflecting her heavy and wide strikes before twirling around and kicking her feet out from under her. She hits the dirt with a grunt and then cries out in pain as the darksaber slices through her vambrace, causing it to erupt in a shower of sparks.

"You don't seem like you're fighting me. You don't even seem to be fighting me because I'm Revans descendant," I notice with a frown, deactivating my lightsaber. "You're fighting yourself, and losing."

Sabine yells angrily and runs forward with the darksaber, swinging it at me heavily, but I easily sidestep and let her run by.

"I thought you'd love the chance at uniting Mandalore, but it seems I was wrong," I start to taunt her. "You're not committed to this. You should quit."

"I don't quit. I never quit!" she exclaims.

Growling, Sabine lunges forward and swings the darksaber at me several times, and I casually evade each strike without missing a beat, easily keeping pace with her.

"Really? That's not what it looks like," I retort sarcastically, shoving her back twice. "If Revan were here today, he wouldn't think you're worth his time. He already did succeed in fracturing Mandalore."

"Not forever! Mandalore will always survive!" she shoots back.

She swings the saber down at my head, but I spin around behind her and then elbow her in the back, sending her sprawling across the ground.

"Then who's going to unite them? You?" I ask with a scoff. "You did run, didn't you?"

"No!" she snaps.

Sabine jabs the darksaber forward, but I sidestep her lunge and grab her hands with one arm, holding her in place.

"But that's what your people believe, isn't it?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.

Sabine releases herself with an infuriated growl by jumping into the air with a flip, pulling away from my grip and facing me once more, saber raised to attack.

"You ran from the Empire. You ran from your family!" I continue to say, avoiding her swings.

"Lies!" she snaps.

"So what's the truth?!" I shout, reigniting my lightsaber to block her strike.

"The truth," Sabine gasps out, distraught. "…is that, I left to save everyone!"

Sensing her inner turmoil, despair, guilt, and grief beginning to explode outwards, I drop my scowl and look at her in sympathy. She starts unleashing heavy strikes with the darksaber, fueled by all the emotions inside of her that she had bottled up for who knows how long.

"My mother! My father! My brother!" she yells, emphasizing each person with an overhead swing. I trip over a small boulder and hit the ground, raising my saber to block her next strike. "Everything I did was for family, for Mandalore! I built weapons, terrible weapons!"

I slowly move back and up the hill, deflecting her heavy strikes and listening sadly as she vents her feelings, revealing everything that had been tearing her up inside.

"But the Empire used them on Mandalore, on friends, on family!" Sabine cries out. "People that I knew!"

Our fight is momentarily stalled as she talks, and I continue to listen to her. The others all have their own feelings of shock and sorrow, Kanan still composed but also sorrowful, Fenn Rau shaking his head regretfully, while the other four kids listen with sad and doleful expressions.

"They controlled us through fear," she continues, jabbing the darksaber at me for emphasis, and then scoffs. "Mandalore! Fear of weapons I helped create. I helped enslave my people!"

Sabine grips the darksaber once more and then swings it down overhead at me. I block or strike and then deflect the next few swings, continuing to back up.

"I wanted to stop it. I had to stop it. I spoke out! I spoke out to save them. To save everyone!" she yells.

I deflect other blow, but the Sabine spin around and kicks her foot out, hitting me in the chest. I grunt in surprise and a bit of pain as I hit the rocky ground several feet below, losing hold of my lightsaber. Sabine jumps down from the top of the hill and then stands over me, raising the darksaber to deliver the final blow.

"But when I did…" she starts to say

I raise my arm up over my head, ready to protect myself if she swung down. But the strike never came.

"…my family didn't stand with me. They chose the Empire," she says, her voice breaking as she lowers the darksaber. "They left me. Gave me no choice."

I look up at Sabine sadly, slowly sitting up as she deactivates the blade and kneels on the ground in despair.

"The Empire wanted to destroy worlds. And they did. They destroyed mine," she finishes mournfully.

Sabine starts to cry, shedding a few tears, and I lay a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"The Sith have hurt people for millennia, and the Empire is only their current form. But not everyone can be as strong as you've been," I tell her softly. "Your family, just like mine, is in a prison of their own making. If they're gonna get out of it, then it'll be up to you to lead them. And then the rest of Mandalore."

"But how? Why? Why would they believe me?" she asks bitterly. "Why would they follow me?"

"For the same reason Clan Ordo would believe me," I reply, feeling a sense of absolute certainty. "Because you're family, and you want what's best for them."

"I know this might not be what you want to hear," Fenn Ray says, marching up to us. "But for what it's worth, I would follow you."

He kneels before Sabine respectfully, much to her surprise. The others all move forwards as well.

"So would I," Ezra says sincerely, kneeling. "And I mean it."

"Same here," Mara adds, doing the same.

"Astrid and I may not be a part of the galaxy, but, I know we would follow you," Hiccup says, kneeling.

"Warriors honor," Astrid adds with a smile, kneeling as well.

Toothless walks forward and gives Sabine a small nudge, grinning at her, prompting a small laugh from her. Kanan then steps up and then kneels down like the rest of us, his mask off, letting his pale unseeing eyes gaze at Sabine.

"You've come a long way in a very short time. Where you go from here is up to you," he tells her. "But know, this family, will stand by you no matter what you choose."

Sabine looks at all of us, then the darksaber held in her hand, her eyes filled with conviction.

---

Mandalorian Outpost - Dxun

3rd person POV...

Raman Sohl was sat at his desk in his home, watching video footage released on the HoloNet. It was, and still is the most discussed subject across the Empire's media, with every channel continuously denouncing those involved as destructive terrorists and monsters. Raman watched as the leader of the assault rode across the Imperial Palace grounds on Coruscant, riding a dragon of all creatures, turbolasers being shot at him and his group left and right.

His nephew, Jarik Shan.

Raman watches as he leads his team of strange individuals, some of them recognizable as rebels of the so-called 'Phoenix Squadron,' managing to get through all of the palace defenses and into its interior. Not to mention crashing a Republic cruiser, and those strange transforming droids that fought each other as well. It seemed to be a rescue mission, since based on the footage available of the incident, his nephew and his team left the palace with an extra person; the red haired girl Mara, who he adopted.

"Raman? Why are you still up?" a voice asks.

He doesn't respond at first and his wife, Aathias, approaches him, walking around the desk to see what he was viewing on the computer. He maintains his impassive, if slightly grim and defeated, expression from watching his nephew, and Aathias frowns in disapproval.

"You're watching him again?" she questions. "Honey, we talked about this!"

"I know, Aathias," he sighs in response. "But I can't forget about him. I just... I just want to keep tabs on my brother's son."

"Don't you remember what he did? He disgraced us all," she reminds him.

"I know. I remember," he replies softly, voice falling to a whisper. "I'll always remember."

Aathias develops a more sympathetic look on her face, sighing sadly.

"Look, I know you feel it's your duty to make sure that... Jarik," she bites out the name with a grimace of disgust. "...is alright. That you're watching over him for your brother. But you can tell that he's managing just fine on his own. So why bother?"

"I don't know," he says helplessly.

"You don't need to worry about that Jedi anymore, Raman. He doesn't need us," she tells him, scoffing lightly. "He probably doesn't even know the truth anyways. So don't worry yourself over it, ok?"

Raman glances up at his wife, then back down at the video footage for a long while, contemplating. He finally shuts it down and slowly stands up, leaving the desk with his wife and heading to their bedroom to get some rest, before continuing business tomorrow as usual. Aathias was right; the Jedi doesn't even know of their relationship, and doesn't need to be looked after.

But the feeling still remains. Guilt, perhaps? Regret?

---

Sundari - Mandalore

3rd person POV...

Inside of a Star Destroyer hovering outside the dome of the capital city of Sundari, Gar Saxon stood before a holoprojector stationed on the bridge, frowning as he analyzed data regarding the disgraced Clan Ordo. As usual, there was no real news regarding that pitiful clan as they wisely kept to themselves, wallowing in their bitterness and shame. It brought him no small amount of pleasure to continue watching Clan Ordo become more and more irrelevant, but he was also sickened that such a group of individuals continued to move about freely without any repercussions. The traitorous lowlife who fathered Jarik Shan reflects the ideals of Clan Ordo, and they should all face the same punishment.

"Still musing over Clan Ordo, brother?"

Gar growls lowly in his throat, rolling his eyes as he turns to face his younger brother, Tiber Saxon. The sight of his lanky, sunken faced weasel of a brother wearing stormtrooper armor didn't improve his already negative feelings about him.

"It doesn't bother you that those traitors are allowed to run amok without any consequences?" he demands.

"Clan Ordo doesn't bother the Empire, and there is no demand of their territory," Tiber shrugs carelessly. "So why bother?"

"That clan of cowards tarnished the very image of Mandalore by consorting with a Shan," Gar says in disgust.

"One man doesn't reflect the ideals of an entire clan," Tiber retorts. "Besides, he was cast out and dealt with. Mandalore has greater concerns than focusing on petty grudges against a broken family."

"Have you forgotten our history brother? The Shan's are Mandalore's greatest enemy!" he growls.

"The Empire's greatest enemy," Tiber corrects him, frowning. "Not Mandalore's. And the Emperor has assured me that the Jedi will soon be dealt with."

"Because that worked so well on Coruscant," Gar retorts mockingly.

"If you want to take out Clan Ordo so badly, then just ask the Admiral!" he scoffs in response.

"As long as it doesn't threaten the Empire, I don't need permission to handle Mandalorian matters," he snaps irritably.

Tiber shakes his head with a frustrated sigh, irritated. Just then the holoprojector starts to beep, signifying a request to speak from Imperial high command.

"Well, as it so happens, you can bring up the matter with Thrawn now," Tiber says, smiling.

He accepts the call, and the image of Grand Admiral Thrawn appears from the projector, his blood red eyes staring down at them with a neutral expression.

"Viceroy Saxon, Tiber Saxon, I do so hope you can spare a bit of time," Thrawn greets politely.

"Grand Admiral Thrawn," Gar replies with a small incline of his head. "Yes, I believe we can spare a few moments."

"That is good to hear," he nods in satisfaction. "I wanted to ask you about the current status of your leadership over Mandalore. I understand, Viceroy, that you had an encounter with the Mandalorian rebel, Sabine Wren, some time back."

"Yes, I did. She, a Jedi, and the traitor Fenn Rau were present at Concord Dawn after I eliminated the Protectors," Gar explains, frowning, glancing at Tiber momentarily with an irritated glance. "Before I continue on however, I would request your input on a suggestion of mine."

"My input?" Thrawn asks, his intrigue rising. "About what, if I may ask?"

"There is a group of Mandalorians living in the Onderon System, on the jungle moon of Dxun: Clan Ordo. I want to take my warriors out there and bring them under the rule of the Empire, or if they resist, wipe them out," he explains.

"As I understand it, that particular group of Mandalorians has not impeded the Empire in any manner, and that territory offers no benefits," Thrawn remarks, frowning.

"It's more of a Mandalorian conflict," Gar admits.

"My brother here merely wishes to punish Clan Ordo because one of their own, who is now disgraced, decided to consort with a Shan," Tiber says offhandedly.

The brothers don't expect Thrawn to care very much about the comment, however Thrawn stills instantly, looking momentarily surprised before he narrows his eyes intently.

"...consort, with a Shan?" he asks slowly. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Gar and Tiber share a confused look with each other, for once in agreement in their thoughts.

"Clan Ordo disgraced Mandalore by allowing one of their own to marry a Shan and give birth to that etyc Jarik Shan," Gar explains, his brow furrowed.

"And you're only just telling me this, now?" Thrawn demands, a look of subdued anger crossing his face.

"Shan is an enemy of the Empire. Nothing more, nothing less," Tiber replies cautiously. "I... fail to see why that bit of information is relevant."

"On the contrary, Saxon, information like this demands the full attention of the Empire," he replies coldly, glaring at the two brothers with his blood red eyes.

"My apologies, Grand Admiral. I did not realize this," Tiber swiftly apologizes, bowing his head nervously.

Gar shakes his head irritably at his brother's behavior, but he too does share some of his unease with Thrawn's anger.

"To claim any information about Jarik Shan is irrelevant, is nothing more than blunt ignorance. His defeat is the Emperor's highest priority," Thrawn states, looking at them expectantly. "Now, I want you to tell me, everything that you know, about Jarik Shan's birth family."

---

Uh oh, Thrawn just learned a critical piece of Jarik's past. We can only hope that he doesn't connect the dots and discover Jarik's plan, otherwise Vader will make sure he's the first to hear about it.

I think having Jarik in the place of Sabine's main instructor for this seems kind of fitting, though I did try and balance the roll between him and Kanan as best as I could. Having a Shan working to help a Mandalorian unite her people once more is a very poetic and fitting action, and can help build the trust between the two opposing sides. Let's just hope the Mandalorians think so. I also wanted to add a little bit more of Sabine and Astrid interactions, just to continue building on their friendship, but I honestly couldn't find any time to do it here, this is already the longest chapter I have ever written in my entire FanFiction career, by far. But I needed to get everything, because it's all very important to have.

I feel like this arc will be the best written storyline I've ever done in all of my work so far. A few contenders would be the 'Mara Captured' arc, 'Jedi on Naboo' arc, and 'Twilight of the Apprentice' story.

Fun fact: some of my inspiration from the training came from a commenter about the 'Mask of Zorro' training, which I found pretty funny.

---

My thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker (spoiler free):

I'm going to keep this brief and let you all decide for yourselves, no spoilers from me unless you want a bit more of my insight on it.

My favorite part about this movie is Darth Sidious, no question. Ian McDiarmid is an absolute treasure, and watching him play the Emperor on the big screen was awesome; he'll always be a win in my opinion. I also enjoyed how they showcased just the incredible powers and mastery over the Force that the Emperor has, and none of that disappointed. I loved every moment he was on screen, and hearing his soundtrack playing sent chills through me.

The rest of the movie... disappointing. It honestly feels like it just broke at least 70-80% of previously established Star Wars lore the in-universe rules of the franchise. I didn't like it, lots of things just... should not have happened. I've got a lot of work ahead of me on sorting through things to write an actually cohesive and good story when I finally get to that point.

Overall it was entertaining and cool to watch, but when looking at it with what we already know of Star Wars... it's very unfortunate.