Cadus led Padme through the morning training exercises, watching her battle thousands of floating training droids with her light-saber.

She could not see with her eyes, for she wore a blindfold, but he could see the range of emotions playing out on her face as the training commenced.

There was focus, there was passion, there was intensity. There was elation when she deflected or blocked the bolt, but it was quickly dissipated when it was inevitably a distraction that allowed the next barrage to slip past her defenses and bring the sudden, jolting pain.

And the bolts did sting, a lot.

As much physically as in pride.

Padme found there was nothing worse than getting zapped hundreds of times, particularly in the backside and sides. It always caused her to dance and twist about, and got even worse when the droids would chase her as she danced around trying to run, which naturally made the embarrassment all the worse.

The training could be humiliating.

But, Padme found it to be incredibly energizing, because with the failures would come the successes, each one building confidence, each one lending insights into the flowing beauty that was the force, heightening the connection between her and the force.

To see Padme going through the training, looking exactly as Younglings now, and Younglings of the past half century, brought a flash of warmth to Cadus.

Cadus put his words into action as the first rings of orbiting droids began to surround them, staggering the attack and triggering bursts at random. Orbiting her completely, the man's blade warded off every volley, returning the bolts inches from their sources, or deflecting them completely away.

At other times Cadus made no attempt to deflect or return the bolts, but simply twisted and shifted his body, moving Padme along with him, allowing the bolts to miss them both by mere centimeters. Around the two, the floating droids collapsed one after the next, or exploded in a hail of alloy parts, until all were heaped on the floor.

Padme was panting so hard her lungs ached, out of breath, she was in the latest of her endurance tests. Her Master had ordered her out on a marathon run through the dense growth of her planet's jungle and swamp.

Not only had Cadus sent her on the exhausting run, but he had put weighted gear on her, and invited himself along for the run.

Padme huffed, puffed, gasped, and sweated her way on her rugged race. By the time they returned to the clearing where the trees were nestled, Padme's exhaustion nearly overcame her.

She staggered into the clearing, gasping, wheezing, but before Padme had the chance to catch her breath, Cadus tossed a steel bar in front of her, and in an instant Padme ignited her light-saber and swung wearily at the bar.

She was fast enough, and the bar fell cut in four pieces, onto the ground with a thud.

Padme disengaged her light-saber and set her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths, refusing to collapse on the wet earth in complete exhaustion.

Cadus looked her over, then glanced to the piece of steel. "It would be shreds, were you focused."

Padme knew she didn't have that kind of focus, yet, and the intense, inhumane, rigorous training program devised by Cadus always left her out of breath and covered in sweat.

"I thought I was in good shape." She gasped.

"Focus on this moment."

Padme felt ready to unlearn all her old ways and willing to free herself to learn all Cadus had to teach. It was exhaustive, meticulous, and rigorous training, but as the days passed, Padme's strength and abilities increased, but it was far from easy.

Cadus spent long hours lecturing her about the ways of the force, and the organizations and factions that knew of the force, used it, or worshiped it.

As they sat under the large trees near Naboo's rivers, or in the vast grass plains under the sun, Padme listened intently to all of the tales and lessons. There were physical tests of all kinds day and night. In particular, Padme was working hard to perfect her sprinting, leaping, endurance, and overall physical strength.

Once she felt ready to show Cadus show her improvement they'd always go out into the forests and swamps.

As Cadus sat on a log next to a wide pond, he turned from his internal musings when he heard the loud rustling of Padme approaching through the vegetation.

Padme flashed out on the other side of the pond, coming towards the water as fast as she could. As she approached the shore, she made a running leap toward him, rising high above the water as she hurtled herself through the air, using the force to lift her body even higher, but she still fell short of the other side and landed in the water with a loud splash, completely soaking the surrounding area.

Padme had never given up in her life and she wasn't going to start now. She was determined to become powerful and, no matter how foolish she might feel in the attempts, she would pass every single test set for her.

However, she knew the test didn't even begin.

Cadus struck her leg that was on the ground just on the ball of her foot, Padme collapsed, and Cadus jumped clear of her falling body.

Annoyed, and in pain, Padme looked at Cadus with a small frown. "That hurt."

Cadus twirled and flourished the stick about in fluid circles as he simply looked at her

"Don't think Padme...Let go of the rational mind and feel. Be one with the force. Focus on this moment in time, and nothing else.

How many times she had heard that!

She began grinning widely, watching as Cadus turned towards her.

"That's enough for today."

Her light-saber clicked off and she came to attention, removing her blindfold and tying it properly around her wrist.

"Why did we stop, Master?" Padme asked, keeping enough gravity in her voice so that she didn't feel breathless.

"I'm looking for a planet described to be nothing more than a lost system..." He said absently.

Padme absorbed every word. "You trust the information provided, but the system doesn't show up on the archive maps?"

"An interesting puzzle to say the least. It's like a planet has been lost. Clear your mind and find the wayward planet."

They went into a room to the side of the veranda.

A narrow shaft was set in the middle, with a hollow depression at the top. Off to the side, Cadus took up the holo-globe, then moved and placed it in the hollow of the shaft. The shades closed as soon as he put it there, darkening the room, and a star map hologram appeared, glittering distinctly.

Cadus paused a moment, watching Padme get over some of her excitement with amusement as she reached up and tried to touch the projected stars and systems.

Then, when it was completely calm, he walked into the middle of the projection.

"It is in the Unknown Regions and Wild Space. Gravity is pulling all the stars inward to a few spots. There should be a star at these places, but there isn't in a few. Most interesting...Gravity remains, but the star and all its planets have disappeared. What is the first thing you see? An answer? A thought?"

Padme took Cadus's cue and paused to think.

Her hand went up, and while she felt the urge to chuckle at the idea of her solving a riddle that had befuddled Cadus, she noted that Cadus was quite focused and serious.

He nodded to her.

"Someone erased its paths and charts from the archive memory of the Republic and Jedi Temple. If the planet blew up, the gravity would go away, but it didn't. Whoever was in archives tinkering around, it must have happened more than three thousand years ago."

Padme stared blankly at Cadus once she was done, stunned, shocked, but Cadus only chuckled.

"Your mind and progress are truly a wonderful thing, Padme. You've learned to unclutter your mind and find peace. You trust your instincts and feelings. The data was erased."

Cadus started out of the room and Padme moved to follow, raising her hand as she passed the reader shaft, force-pulling the holo-globe back to her grasp and instantly dismissed the starry scene.

"If we go the given route, we should be able to find that world." Cadus said.

"But, who could have erased information from the Archives of the Republic and Jedi Order? That's impossible to do, isn't it? It should be impossible, and should have been impossible thousands of years ago. when the Jedi were much more powerful and aware."

"Only a Jedi, the Chancellor, or a high ranking Senator who had the Chancellor's ear could have tampered with those charts and files. You continue your training. We're going to focus on Soresu and strengthening your defense, you're a little too offensive lately."

A thousand questions filtered through Padme's mind, but she understood that Cadus had just dismissed her. They each had their riddles, it seemed, but at least now her path seemed much clearer now than it had been before.

She got back to her training with the combat droids.


The handle of Padme's current light-saber was a little longer than normal to accommodate the twin crystals required to power the blades that extended from either end. However, while most traditional double‐bladed weapons had blades each measuring a meter and a half or more, those of Padme's light-saber were a little more than a meter in length.

This small but significant difference was critical to the way in which she used this particular weapon.

"These smaller blades give you greater speed, dexterity, and maneuverability." Cadus explained.

Padme twirled her newly acquired light-saber in her left hand, focusing on mastering the feel of its unique balance and weight.

"You only want to grip the handle lightly in your fingers. Control the weapon with your body, wrists, and hands rather than the muscles of your arms. You will sacrifice reach and leverage, but you will be able to create a shield of impenetrable defense."

"Defense will not slay my enemy or end the fight quickly. This dual side is also more limited than the traditional light-saber." Padme remarked, smoothly transferring the spinning green blades from her left hand to her right and back again.

"You are too aggressive in your exchanges. You lack the physical strength and build required for the powerful attacking strikes of Djem So and some of the other rapid, overbearing strikes of the other styles you are studying. You also lack the physical strength required for the centered, controlled movements of Soresu, with a single blade."

"Well, if there's an opening..."

Cadus nodded a little. "You are relying on speed. You must rely on finesse, quickness, cunning, timing, and, most of all, patience to best your enemies that you will encounter."

He ignited his own light-saber and took a long, looping swing in her direction.

Padme intercepted the blow with her own weapon, easily deflecting it to the side.

"Form three, Soresu focuses on parrying incoming attacks with minimal effort. Your opponent must expend precious energy with each blow, slowly tiring while you remain fresh and strong with efficiency and economy of motion."

Cadus seized the grip of his light-saber with both hands and raised it high over his head, then brought it straight down in a fierce chop. Using the techniques he had made her practice for seven hours each day over the past four days, Padme met her Master's blade with one of her own.

Had she tried to meet it head‐on, the strength of his attack would have driven her own weapon back into her, or knocked the light-saber from her hand, as was the case many times before when they had been sparring and the times she challenged him.

Instead she spun half a circle and clipped his blade with just a glancing contact, rerouting it so that it continued its downward arc at an angle, passing harmlessly a few centimeters from her shoulder.

"Good. You are learning well. Do not block. Do not meet. Redirect. Wait for your opponents to become weary, annoyed, frustrated, and impatient. Let them make a mistake, let them overstep, then seize the opening and end the fight."

To illustrate his point Cadus took two wild swipes that she easily picked off. The momentum of his swings caused him to lean too far forward, forcing him to stagger to the side exposing his shoulder and back to her counterattack.

With a flick of her wrist Padme directed her own weapon toward the opening.

She scored a direct hit, one of her twin blades tracing a ten‐centimeter long slash across his discarded robe, what would have possibly severed the arm of any other opponent. In Cadus's case, however, the blade only cut through the cloth of his robe and left a scorch mark on the soft fabric.

"I'm getting closer!" Padme exclaimed triumphantly, still twirling her blade so that it never lost momentum.

Cadus nodded in approval, but it was early, and the day's lessons had only just begun.

"Again, but smoother."

Padme twirled her double‐bladed light-saber and threw up a cutting wall of defense, though her weapon looked puny and insignificant set against the golden blade of Cadus. Before Cadus could charge her, she backpedaled toward one of the mountain clefts, stopping several meters from the intersection of the two walls.

This allowed her to protect her flanks, but still left enough space for her to duck, dodge, and evade the golden blade.

Cadus fell on her, and it took only seconds for her to realize that he was by far more dangerous than he had been earlier in her training. In the time it took for her to bat aside half a dozen attacks, Cadus was already striking out at her thrice with his gold blade, forcing her to bat aside more than a dozen attacks from her flanks.

He attacked her from creative, odd, and unexpected angles, his gold blade changing course mid-thrust and mid-slash.

As long as Padme kept her blades spinning to hold their momentum, she was able to ward off the attacks using whirling, flourishing parries, but he always managed to force her on defense no matter how hard she tried to resist. She waited until he was just about to attack again, then struggled to gauge the deceptive, incoming stroke.

The glance had lasted only a fraction of a second, but in the brief interval of it, Cadus's blade was now jabbing tip first toward her eye like a spear. Padme snapped her head to the side at the last possible instant, hearing the hiss as the blade sheared off a lock of her hair.

The sudden attack threw off her timing and balance, and as her spiraling light-saber slapped away the blow she had struggled to anticipate, it lost its momentum and faltered. In the split second it took to roll her wrists and start the intricate, whirling patterns of her blades again, she was vulnerable.

Cadus sliced at her shoulders, forcing her to evade completely by cartwheeling, then chopped in low at her knees on the returning stroke, causing her to flip before she could properly set herself. She avoided the swipe, completed the flip, but landed slightly off balance.

Another blow rained down on her.

With her body out of position, she was forced to block its path rather than deflect it to the side. The power of the impact sent her reeling, wrists jarring, and she fell to the ground. She was able to regain her footing and slid into the sequence of moves that built the foundations of her impenetrable style.

There was a brief instant when she saw an opening, but rather than choose to strike the opening, Padme restrained herself, calling on her patience, knowing if she acted with hast the whole session would end from Cadus's swift counter that would undoubtedly come.

Cadus threw off his robes and stood to his full height.

Padme realized he was taller and more heavily muscled than anyone she had known in her lifetime.

The air sizzled as his light-saber carved precise arcs around his entire body, then snapped above his head as if he had taken control of a flame.

He smiled down at her knowingly.

Then he leapt forward and the real battle began.

Padme spun to the side, at the same time, her spinning weapon redirected the blade of Cadus away from her shoulder and throat, watching it harmlessly skim past her side. With a quick shift of footing, he redirected the slash into a stab, coming in quickly from the other side at her hip, and Padme threw herself into a leaping back-flip to avoid it, landing nimbly on her feet.

Grimly, Padme realized that she never understood the true meaning of the term martial arts, kenjutsu, or swordsmanship until this moment.

Cadus had elevated combat into an art, and he took the art of swordsmanship to its purest and highest form.

He moved with the fluid grace of a dancer, yet struck with the power and precision of a Vaapad, his golden blade singing its deadly song as it hummed.

He executed his moves with precision born out of obsession.

Padme was aware that it left him vulnerable to other forms of attack, like the force, but he pressed her so ferociously and intensely, that she never had the chance to effectively gather her power to unleash it in such a manner.

He still had to guard against her counterattacks, his style overall less aggressive so he didn't leave himself overextended.

Even though his technique was more refined than any Jedi she seen, so far she had been able to withstand his assault...

So far.

He came at her again, his blade changing directions so quickly in mid-stroke that it seemed to bend and curve to his whim. Padme repelled the assault with a furious defensive flurry, breathing hard. Soresu, her style in particular was meant to prolong combat and exhaust her opponents as they tried to penetrate her defenses.

But each time she clashed with Cadus, she was the one forced to expend desperate, frantic energy. Slowly, he was wearing her down. It was more than just his talent and experience. Padme sensed a far greater power, for the force flowed through him as if it was being channeled, giving even greater strength to him.

Another exchange sent sparks flying.

Another ferocious exchange drove her backward.

Cadus was starting to cut off the surroundings, herding her tightly into a corner to limit her overall movement.

He was taking away her agility, mobility, and dexterity knowing she was no match for his brute strength.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

Taking another step back, she felt her heel butt up against the edge of the mountain.

There was nowhere left to go.

She braced herself for a final stand she knew she couldn't win.

Cadus lowered his blade, gesturing to the mountains nearby.

"Run, jump, lunge. Push yourself beyond what you are capable of, feel the force, let it flow through you, let it empower you. Exert your will power! Up, down, and all around those mountains you go now."

Padme didn't smile, she could only sigh.


Padme steadied herself on the highest slope of a peak, the jagged stones beneath her bloody palms, hands, fingers, arms, elbows and knees shaking ever so slightly, as if yearning to immerse themselves in the warm waters of the crystal blue lakes at the base of the western side of the mountains.

A few meters above sat Cadus, cross-legged atop the highest peak, his back turned to Padme and his gaze fixed on the swirling towers of clouds.

"If you don't want to murder your most hated foes, you will before long, or you have already given it thought. To kill someone who wronged you or impeded on your free will is not wrong, and it is intrinsically connected to our goal. We must do our best to sabotage the dynamic that the Republic, Jedi, and Sith have set in motion for the last forty thousand years, because we will need each other if we're to realize our ultimate goals. In the end there can be no secrets between us...From us the bright future will fountain, and the diverse beings of the galaxy will be better for it. They will all be free and know what freedom is. Until then you must strive to channel the force through you, and learn to take what you feel and transform it into power...The power to overcome anything set before you, to forbid anything from standing in your path, to surmount whatever goal it is you wish to see through."

Scarcely listening, Padme moved with utmost care, her hands and knees seeking firm purchase on the stones and rocks. For days she had been deprived of sleep, food, and water. Now if only she could reach Cadus, her thirst would be quenched, her hunger smothered, her wounds would be healed, and she'd finally, hopefully get some rest.

Countless times the broad expanse of rock debris had slipped and she had to ride the slide almost to the shore of the lake and into the forest, tumbling, flipping, surfing on her front and back, cartwheeling side to side, cutting her smooth skin and bruising every part of herself.

Only to have to pick her way back to the top.

Panting in silence, she managed to scale a few more meters of the slope, calling on the force to ensure her balance, and to render her weightless. She made a lunge, and another, and another, calling on the force each time to propel and keep her in complete balance despite the perilous heights.

"Good, very good." Cadus congratulated her.

Padme glanced up at him, steadying her breathing.

"You can always summon help from the force, it will give you everything you need and more."

Padme thought of something. "Would taking control of it and generating the power from within myself be a bad thing?"

Cadus grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not necessarily in of itself...You needn't focus on that right now. I'm very encouraged by the progress you've made. You are just a few feet from me now, almost within arm's reach. Soon I'll be able to hear the crunch of your heel in the vegetation behind me."

He paused but didn't move, much less glance over his shoulder.

Padme lunged and leapt from the slopes and edges, her fists and feet aimed for Cadus, but instead of meeting their marks on his face, her strikes went through thin air, leaving her to collapse face-first atop the outcropping of the highest peak.

Off to one side she heard her Master sit down.

Either Cadus had moved faster than Padme could discern or, worse yet, he had never been there to begin with.

"You must be calm, Padme. Relax. You waste energy anticipating so much."

Padme whirled and cartwheeled at the same time, flinging herself at Cadus, only to get hit by an irresistible force and be hurled backward to the rough ground.

Cadus's shadow fell over her.

Arms folded across his chest, he backed up a few steps.

"If you're to succeed in inhabiting both realms...The outside world and that of the force...You need to learn how to use guile and wile to your advantage, and to recognize when others are employing it."

Without extending a hand, Cadus tugged her to her feet so she was upright. "If you can survive a few more days without any sustenance or rest, I may be more inclined to further some of your other lessons."

Clawing her way across the jungle and tundra of the mountains, her body covered with light-saber burns, bruises, and cuts from the landscape, Padme looked up at Cadus, taking a deep breath to steady herself the best she could.

"How much longer will it take me to learn, Master?"

Cadus extinguished his golden blade.

Padme continued to gaze at him.

Cadus sized her up with a look.

"Hard to tell. Humans are always their own worst enemies. Your body isn't meant to withstand real punishment or strain. It is easily injured and slow to heal. Your olfactory and tactile senses are relatively acute, but your auditory and visual senses are extremely limited. You cannot see in the dark for instance. This is the case for most, even Zabrak, Toydarian, and Twi'lek are quite limited in visual and auditory senses to some degree. The one area I say others lack, but humans have loads of, is the mind...Humans spend too much time thinking and not doing."

"I have many strengths, Master."

Cadus squatted in front of her.

"You have the force, Padme. You have the talent to lead. You have the ability to inspire. More, you have no blood-lust or thoughts of murder. We are not butchers, like many past Sith lords. We are not outcasts who leave the helpless to the whims of evil like the Jedi. We are architects of the future. We are freedom fighters. We are going to change things."

Padme swallowed and found her voice. "How long?"

Cadus stood, reigniting the light-saber as he did so.

"In full, not a standard day sooner than a decade...In full, it will take that long for you, or perhaps five years if you train rigorously. I am more concerned about you holding your own and thriving, just not surviving, which as you know from first hand experience doesn't always equate to what we are speaking of. I can also provide you with...Shortcuts."

"Shortcuts?" Padme arched a brow.

"I can give you pointers and specific instruction, so if you reach certain points where one does stagger, you can continue to progress where one would have to train for a minimum of six months to overcome that stagger in their progress. I can also provide texts and knowledge you wouldn't be able to find or study elsewhere."

"But, it will still take me a decade." Padme tried hard to stay optimistic.

"Your progress and development mustn't be rushed. Certain things take time. Don't focus so much on the future than on this moment, right now. Here and now, my apprentice. Do not center on your anxieties or the far away and the abstract."

Padme nodded, centering herself. "Yes, Master."