The ship lurches into space after the Jedi settle into their bunks—strapped in and ready for departure. Immediately after passing through the planet's exosphere, TC makes a hyper jump to the nearest hyperspace lane where they will begin their voyage to the upper quadrants of the galaxy. Menyoo bustles with excitement since Mill declared them to be partners. Eager to help Mill with his studies, he asks him, "So do you want to start immediately with the second volume? Or do you want to recap the first volume first?"
Mill had snuggled into his bunk and was relieving his tired back, having grown tight from the intense battle, when he answers, "Uh… I was thinking we begin with a nap. Or just sleep. I'm gonna sleep." Menyoo puckers his mouth to show disappointment (a strange sight to see for a creature without lips.) Mill's eyes crawl to a close as he tries to think of something to say that would keep Menyoo excited about the study, and still buy himself a couple hours of sleep. Unable to think of anything clever, he arrives at a straightforward response, "Menyoo, I'm just as keen as you are, but we have at least a week before we'll arrive on Jaguada. I promise, we'll get right into after a bit of shut eye."
Menyoo nods and feigns a smile, then says, "sleep well Master." Mill smiles back before rolling over to his side and resting his head on a blanket bunched up over his arm. Menyoo pulls at his neck tendrils—an adolescent habit that reappears when he is bored and unsure of what he should do. He takes after Mill and lays back into his bunk. He realizes he will have it all to himself now that Sbeit is gone, then proceeds to claim his dominion by stretching his arms and legs out to each corner of the bed. Laying still in the placid ship, lulled into day dreams by the soft hum of the engines, he thinks about what they may find on Jaguada. Possibilities flood his thoughts: Artifacts; an undiscovered species of alien, followers of D.G.; another message perhaps. The original message left for them was so prophetic and fanciful, could this be the beginning of some great adventure? Like the old wars and great victories Menyoo read about during his Jedi history lessons. But at second thought, maybe he should not get his hopes up too high; technically, the message was not left for them in particular. Or maybe it was? A pariah destined to stop a change of fortune: Mill would fit that description if his fears for the order are justified.
Menyoo's thoughts arrive through tangents. In this case, the topic of the order comes to mind. For a boy who was not allowed to have dreams, he always wanted to become a great Jedi knight—the only desire the order would allow him to have. Now he may become outcasted after less than three months into becoming one. He does believe in the cause, or at least in Mill; they are one in the same. But is it worth losing everything for? Does it have to be him? He gave up his entire childhood to become a Jedi, and lost his best friend because he thought he was unstoppable. Hasn't Menyoo sacrificed enough? Still, Mill has been convincing, and so have the things Menyoo has seen since exploring the galaxy beside him. And then Sbeit, how he could have been under Mill's tutelage and ended up such a tool for the order is beyond Menyoo.
All those people died on Mygeeto and the order does nothing to save face. That is exactly how Sbeit would have responded if it were his call. What does the order stand for? It is clearly not what he was taught; otherwise, the killers, banking clan, everybody responsible would have been captured and held responsible for their crimes. Menyoo too is unsure what it is he stands for, but he is certain what he and Mill are doing is innocent. They are seeking knowledge and truth against all odds—and obstacles. Something clicks in Menyoo's head: he thinks he finally understands Mill now, and why he is the way he is. He must have dealt with shady council business for so long that he lost faith and began seeking something he could trust. Menyoo remembers a conversation with his Uncle during which he said that Mill could have been a high council member at one time, but passed up the chance. It all makes sense. Mill told Menyoo that they are alike; in fact, his Uncle said the same thing. Maybe that is not such a bad thing after all.
Menyoo slumps further into the bed, digging his shoulders into the cushion beneath him until he finds a comfortable spot to settle. He feels more confident about the journey ahead, and his role within it. He thinks more about what awaits them on Jaguada. He resolves to take Sbeit's advice and learn about the planet before arriving; He may find something useful pertaining to their survival, like Sbeit did before Xagobah. Sbeit may be kind of a jerk, and he embodies the worst characteristics of the order, but he did save them on Xagobah. If he had not been there, Mill and Menyoo would not have made it any farther than 10 meters from the ship before collapsing from the poisonous spores. His thoughts shift back toward the future. What is the possibility they find some rare treasure in the unmarked tomb? He closes his eyes and imagines little baubles and trinkets that they could find. As his eyes remain closed, his thoughts fade, and black takes precedence over the conjured images as Menyoo drifts into a deep sleep.
He awakens sometime later, with a startled jump and search of the room, as if he woke up in a new place. Mill sits at the small table combing through the box of books with one hand, and rapidly flipping through the pages of a hefty manual with the other. Without looking up at him, Mill says in a matter of fact tone, "You are up."
Menyoo blinks slowly to adjust to being awake after unexpectedly falling asleep. "I am, yes." He says as he rubs the tiredness out of his eyes, "You seem busy over there, did you find something important?"
Mill slams the book shut and releases it from his grasp, causing it to hit the table with a loud thud. "No, that is the problem. There is nothing to find." Mill stands up suddenly, causing the chair to scoot some centimeters back, and he walks to the small cupboard. He opens the door and pulls out a small bag of candy be bought from the store on Vakeyya. He sits back into his chair, falling into it with equitable force to that of the heavy tome against the table. He begins peeling apart some long, blue rope-like substance. He tears away a small piece of the candy from the main stalk, then looks over at Menyoo.
He softens his eyes when he sees the expression on Menyoo's face: one of genuine concern and interest. "Sorry, I was still waiting for you, I just wanted to meander through the books quick to see what was worth skipping, if anything. Like I had told you before, the first volume was a dud for most of it." He continues to stare at Menyoo to see if his explanation sufficed. unable to gauge Menyoo's response, he extends the candy rope out toward him to share.
Menyoo walks over and sits in the chair opposite of Mill. "Well, what was wrong? Are the others written in that strange writing too?"
Mill huffs to express his frustration, then answers, "No, it's written in basic. The problem is it's useless. Just try reading some of it."
Mill turns the smallest of the four books toward Menyoo. The issue is immediately apparent; Menyoo flips it open to a random page and attempts to read through jumbled layers of scribbles. The writing is diagonal, and many of the letters overlap with those above or below. The utensil used was pressed into the material with significant pressure, imbedding deep ridges into the backs of the previous pages, and scarring each successive page. Menyoo begins reading aloud from the top:
"So how could it be? Be that the craven immaterial rises from not one but many. The loss of appetite, the wetting of the palate. Hold meat for the hungry vagrants and watch as brother kills brother, as straw burns and the weak yelp. But judge those that materialize the meat? No, we do judge, that is why we are here. Maybe we need not meat longer? Or the meat does not need us? No, that cannot be. Unprocessed, it needs nothing, except was it does."
Menyoo says 'Okay…" holding the last syllable to voice his confusion. He skips down to the bottom of the page and reads another section just as messy as the first:
"Visions serve to supercede the present, but how can we have a present, if it is now blotted out by eyes too far forward leaning? A curse and a blessing are matters of perspective. I have both, because I wanted both, but it is not both I have. I have one and two perspectives. There is no both, just one state and four eyes."
Menyoo closes the book, quieter than Mill closed his, "the whole thing is like this?"
"Mhm," Mill responds, murmuring through a closed mouth. He picks up another book from the side and places it in the middle of the table. "The third isn't as bad, but it still doesn't make much sense. It's more neatly written, and intelligible, but the ideas are all over the place. We have the second volume still, it checks out, but I don't know if we should trust it."
Menyoo puts his finger into the air, then gets up out of his chair and makes his way over to Mill's side of the ship. He grabs Mill's bag and opens it from the top before digging into its contents. "Umm, can I help you find something?" Mill asks as he watches to see what Menyoo pulls out.
"Nope, I've got it right here," Menyoo pulls out the manuscript that was left for them; the one that sent them to Jaguada. Menyoo reads a line aloud from the poem, "The Madman, the cynic, the traitor." Mill stares at Menyoo, nodding lightly, but clearly not on the same page. Menyoo continues, "Don't you see? The madman is D.G. The tomb we are going to visit, that is D.G's tomb. He wrote these! He must have gone crazy while he was writing these books. We can see his madness progress through his writing. But more importantly, this also means that the tomb we are visiting belongs to somebody who—"
—"studied both the light and dark side of the force." Mill completes his sentence.
"Exactly." Menyoo says, then he hurries back over and sits down across from Mill, "Surely this means we are on the right path. This was left for you Mill. Or somebody like you. And we'll know what to do when we get there, we must."
"Left for us." Mill says back. "He left it for us. Remember, we are in this together."
Menyoo smiles; but not for Mill, he just could not help but smile. If Menyoo were still worried about finding where he belongs, he knew in that moment that he was exactly where he needed to be. Maybe that is what D.G. was trying to say through his frantic scrawling: don't look too far forward, or you lose the present. Menyoo pulls the second volume toward his chest and carefully turns over the cover. "Like you said, we have a week. We might as well see if we can get something out of this one at least. Maybe it'll help to have an insight into how D.G. thinks."
The two Jedi work diligently through the second volume of D.G.'s writing, taking extra time to consider his beliefs and conclusions, and further contextualize them in a more modern setting. Many of his ideas align with Mill's own beliefs about the current state of affairs: a need for a balancing of the force and a junction of both dark and light ideology. After three days of on and off reading and reflection, the Jedi come across a few concerning passages. The first refers to the opposed organizational interpretations of the force—i.e., the Jedi and Sith:
The degrees of separation between the two relevant bodies discussed herein have grown considerably over time; a result of misdirected language and morally self-righteous pedants. The Jedi insist on a bilateral interpretation of the force; a way of thinking that crept slowly into Sith ideology from roots planted long ago. This interpretation is wrong, as it would have to be if it remains possible for one individual to imbue themselves with both sides of any diametric opposition. The Jedi refer to a light side, suggesting its opposition is that of the dark. This too has been adopted into the lexicon of the Sith leadership and their acolytes. It is irrational to consider those who choose to hide in the dark, and those who bathe in the light, to not be one in the same by such standards alone; but what remains in the light is privy to judgement and ridicule, so the Sith have taken it upon themselves to conform to their newfound identity and remain in the dark. This is how the Sith have adapted to their new position among the force-sensitive community. They, and therefore I, have moved to the shadows, and watch from afar as the Jedi relish in the public sphere. We too command such positions, and we too have thrived— Just in the dark, where the Jedi have placed us, then misplaced us with time…
Having read from a dark-force user that the Sith at one time were alive and active, but chose to operate from the shadows, Mill and Menyoo call it quits for the day. If that were true, then the Sith may not have been eliminated a thousand years ago as the Jedi teach. Neither speak directly about it, but it remains on both of their minds. The following day they read a second passage just as troubling as the first, making the Sith the topic of interest for the remainder of the trip. The second passage, referring to the socio-political landscape that D.G. was living among during his time of writing, says this:
The Jedi, upholding their superiority among the galactic elite, are stretched too thin to police the entire galaxy. The republic maintains their own field armies and equipment, with whom the Jedi refuse to intermingle. This was a gross miscalculation on their part. It became apparent they would be too vulnerable to defend against a full-scale attack, and the cultivation and mobilization of an occupying force was imminent. It was not until the Jedi accepted assistance from the Antarian rangers that our plans were put on hold.
Mill and Menyoo become gravely quiet after Mill reads the last sentence aloud. After pushing the book away, Mill begins anxiously twiddling with his thumbs. Menyoo rubs his knuckles— a trait that manifests when he becomes nervous. Mill is unable to contain his own nervous energy and begins pacing the length of the ship, looking down and concentrating as he steps from end to end with long, purposeful strides. Menyoo speaks first, "Okay, I'll say it. The Antarian rangers were formed what about 600 years ago?"
Mill corrects him while maintaining his neurotic pacing, "500 to 600 yeah."
Menyoo says, "yeah… which is weird because he said the Sith were going to attack just before that."
"He did," Mill says on the return trip of his 8'th lap.
"The Sith were wiped out 1000 years ago. That is impossible. If D.G. was writing this 50o years ago, and he was a Sith like he claims, then…"
"They were never destroyed."
The rest of the book is not worth mentioning, but the revelation is significant enough on its own. The two of them avoid the subject directly, instead discussing on and off how the information relates to their mission and D.G. They continue on to Jaguada, saving many of their questions with high hopes that they will be answered by what—if anything— awaits them in the tomb. Menyoo tries to learn about Jaguada from the Net's geocyclopedia, but Jaguada's entry is scarce, describing it as a barren planet supporting little to no life. Some sites even list it as a myth. Mill pulls out From The Light Births the Dark, but that too is written in the foreign, enigmatic language unfamiliar to each of the Jedi. Having finished volume two, and having no other resources to study from, Mill and Menyoo take turns skimming the third and fourth volume for any useful information. Unfortunately, the degeneration of D.G.'s sanity makes his ideas far too incomprehensible.
The latter half of the week consists of Mill and Menyoo returning to some of their old habits to pass the time. Menyoo pulls out his holovid and keeps to himself the rest of the trip, with the exception of one night: before Mill goes to sleep, they watch a documentary together about illegal aftermarket ship parts sold out of Hutt space and the impact they have on organized racing. Mill returns to solitary meditation, but the day before arrival, Menyoo joins him for a session. TC had joined them on occasion during the first few days, but since crossing into the abandoned hyperspace lanes, TC has not left the cockpit.
It was the sixth day in, nearing the seventh, when Mill and Menyoo heard a familiar call from a voice they had nearly forgotten, "We are here!"