Waking Nightmares
The twisted shadows jumped at him. He leapt to the side to escape the fiends, but something was dragging at him, making his attempts to escape monumentally difficult. Yet the attacking twisted shadows could not reach him.
He drew and activated his lightsaber. The saber beam grew out bright red and hot. Ciiru Nomuro was shocked into deactivating it again. He tried to look at his weapon, but he couldn't quite bring his weapon into view. When he'd finally managed to bring a part of the weapon into view, he couldn't focus on it.
"Did I pick up the wrong hilt?" he asked himself, "How'd I do that?!"
"I'm giving you these weapons," Emperor Vitiate said, "Take them and fight for me, or leave them unused and die."
Ciiru looked up from the blurred and unidentified weapon in his hand to the Sith Emperor, but it wasn't Vitiate. It was Darth Nox. The Sith lord activated his lightsaber, forcing Ciiru Nomuro to activate his own weapon, but the beam was bright red.
"Kneel before me and join my empire, Darth Incinerous!" the Sith lord commanded in Vitiate's voice.
Ciiru found himself unable to resist. His body moved against his will until he was kneeling, and his head began to bend towards the Sith emperor. As his head dipped forward, he felt a quickly growing unyielding evil hatred growing within his heart.
The source of the evil hatred wasn't from Nox or Vitiate, however. They were his own dark feelings from his own heart, which threatened to consume his existence. The Jedi Knight was falling to The Dark Side.
Ciiru Nomuro blinked his eyes and found himself seated at a lunch counter, staring at a sandwich he held in both hands. He looked to his left and found a stranger, busily slurping his soup from a spoon. Ciiru turned to his right and found no one seated there.
"You don't like your sandwich?" the lunch counter waitress asked, "You've just been sitting there, staring at it like it did something to you."
Ciiru set his sandwich down on its plate.
"Can you wrap it up for me? I've lost my appetite. I'll eat it later," the Jedi Knight said.
A short while later Ciiru walked to the speeder lot behind the diner and got into his assigned speeder. Setting the boxed meal on the passenger seat beside him, he grasped the control yoke.
"Tythosi Enclave Dormitory. Drive," Ciiru ordered the auto-navigator, taking his hands from the yoke.
The speeder started up and gently drove itself out of the park lot and entered the traffic pattern, making its way to an offsite Jedi housing complex just at the edge of town in an area that was mostly parks and green spaces. The dormitory served as overflow housing for visiting Jedi.
Housing for Jedi instructors and padawan learners was to capacity on the temple grounds. Ciiru wasn't an instructor at the temple, so he fell low on the priority list for housing at the Jedi Temple complex. Ciiru didn't mind it, however, he found it kind of stuffy and stringent at the Temple and felt more at ease at the offsite housing complex.
Minalto, where the Tythosi Enclave Dormitory was located, was a midsized town situated several kilometers to the north of the mountain range which separated it from the Jedi Temple, in the next valley over, on the southern side of the mountains.
After a ten minute ride through various kinds of traffic, the speeder turned in to a parking structure and parked itself on the third level in the nearest available parking slot, which wasn't near to anything at all, actually. Ciiru Nomuro grabbed his uneaten lunch from the seat beside his and made his way out of the three story structure.
In the beautifully manicured campus grounds, he walked to his dormitory, one of six three story buildings on the campus. Inside, he surrendered the speeder control key to the dormitory attendant at the service counter, returning the vehicle to the speeder pool. Then he walked to the middle of the hallway to a set of stairs and climbed up to the third level, where he walked to the end of the hall to the door of his dorm room. Inside, he set is lunch in the small food cooler and got to work attempting to contact Satele Shan.
"I've been having these nightmares. Please, call me."
Ciiru got up from his desk and sat on the floor of his dorm room. Crossing his legs, he began a series of meditation exercises. The Jedi knight, however, was having trouble concentrating. The waking nightmare had disturbed him greatly.
The Jedi Knight couldn't help himself. He had to check. Ciiru grasped his weapon and held it at arm's length. He gave it a very hard look, to be sure it was his own weapon. Then he ignited it. The saber beam extended up, vertically, burning a bright and hot blue. After a moment, he deactivated his weapon and set it on the floor beside him. With that mental pebble out of his shoe, as it were, he was able to concentrate as he resumed his meditation exercises.
Ciiru was greatly disturbed by the very real evil and hatred that was in his heart. After some difficulty, the Jedi knight returned peace and balance to his mind. The nightmares were still greatly unsettling to him. Although his fear of Vitiate had diminished (Vitiate was definitely not taking up residency within the Jedi), Ciiru still worried that the remaining echoes of the Sith Emperor, which definitely took up a place in his mind, might warp his consciousness.
It puzzled him greatly however, that in his terrifying dreams he would hear Vitiate's voice but see Nox instead.
He knew that when he told the Jedi Council of his horrible dreams that the Jedi Council would want to further restrict his movements. There was no doubt that even if Vitiate was not within the Jedi Knight, he was still under the former Sith Emperor's influence.
Ciiru expected Jedi Masters Bela Kiwiiks or Gnost-Dural to caution against rushing his return to full duty. He knew that Master Gnost-Dural would also push for his continued sequestration on Tython. The final word was Satele Shan's, however, the Jedi Grand Master and head of the Jedi order. He had to convince the leader of the Jedi Council that it was his trial to endure, his ordeal to overcome.
Either he would defeat the sliver of Vitiate's influence embedded in his mind and forever be free of the Sith Emperor's reign of terror with those nightmares, or he would fall to the Dark Side and fall to madness and a tortured death. He had another thought that disturbed him greatly, because he believed Vitiate was capable of it.
"What if he's implanted a seed of his soul into my being, and is gradually taking over my existence, my own mind and spirit transformed into a shade of Vitiate?"
The Jedi Knight pushed that thought away, determined not to let fear overcome him. He gave himself to peace as he went deeper into his meditation exercises.
"There is nothing left of Vitiate except his tormenting memory," he breathed out to himself after taking a deep breath.
Ciiru Nomuro was a member of a strike team of sixteen very powerful Jedi that had gone to confront the Sith Emperor. Eight of the team had fallen, battling their way through the Sith Emperor's attendant Sith lords, as the Jedi closed on the throne room in the Sith Emperor's stealthed space station.
The remaining eight members of the strike team had finally reached the Emperor's throne room. Vitiate was alone, seated on his throne. The Jedi carefully approached his dais as Jedi Master Tol Braga attempted to reason with the Sith Emperor.
"Hasn't there been enough death? Haven't your people suffered enough? End this needless war."
The Sith Emperor slowly shook his head in disbelief, an ironic grin slowly spreading across his Dark Side corruption-scared face.
"You came all of this way, slaughtered your way through my guards, left a trail of bodies, killed my servants, violated the sanctity of my throne room with weapons ablaze, only to ask me politely to end the war, to end the death? And exactly how is this war needless? This war is providing me with the sustenance I need."
The Jedi councilor kept silent, refusing to get into a battle of words with the ruler over all Sith.
"Whatever happened to simply sending an envoy to sue for peace?" Vitiate asked, mockery in his tone, "Didn't that idea occur to you first? After all, isn't the first tenet of the Jedi Order all about peace?"
Again, the Jedi remained silent, refusing to fall for his taunts.
The Sith Emperor leaned back in his throne and laughed darkly at what he took as complete comedy, a farce. After a moment, he stopped laughing and sat straighter in his throne, elevated high. His throne was perched on a short wide pedestal which sat at the top of a pyramid of wide steps.
Looking down from the dais straight at Master Tol Braga, his expression changed. He seemed troubled.
"Wait. Are you actually waiting for me to give you an answer?" Vitiate asked the Jedi Master, adding without irony, "I misunderstood. I thought you were just spewing empty bits of pious rhetoric. It was not my intent to be so rude. Please, allow me to correct my response. I must, out of proper decorum, give you a formal answer."
Two Jedi fell dead where they stood, they failed to guard against the attack. A third Jedi collapsed. Although quick, she failed to guard herself sufficiently. The Jedi faded in and out of consciousness, with most of her life force already drained away. She would not survive.
Jedi Master Tol Braga and one of the Jedi knights acted, using The Force to attempt to stifle the Sith Emperor's ability to use any more of his Dark Force techniques.
Meanwhile, Ciiru and two others leapt into the attack with their lightsabers blazing. Ciiru guarded his being as he launched into his attack, as did the other two at his side, but they were not as effective in guarding themselves.
All three Jedi were repulsed and went flying, tumbling through the air. They crashed onto the deck, tumbling, rolling and sliding across the black, polished metal surface.
Ciiru untangled himself from a heap on the deck, scrambling to his feet and rushed back into the attack. His two fellow attackers remained heaped on the deck. Both were already dead before they had hit the hard, polished metal floor.
Again, Ciiru leapt in the attack. Again, Vitiate acted to repel the Jedi using another Dark Force technique, but this time, the Jedi Knight didn't go tumbling away. It was as if he'd crashed into an invisible wall and slid down it to the deck at the bottom of the dais.
Ciiru landed on his feet. Then exerting a great effort, using The Force, Ciiru inexorably made his way up the wide steps, pushing through Vitiate's terrifyingly evil aura, resisting the urge to wretch, and fighting off the fear that was threatening to send him fleeing in a panic. With each painfully slow step he neared the throne at the top of the pyramidal dais where the Sith Emperor sat calmly on his throne.
"Hurry…, Ciiru!" Master Tol Braga growled out, clearly at his limit, "We can't… hold him… much… longer!"
In this situation, Ciiru realized it was dangerous, but he needed a burst of power. He decided to rely on using lightsaber form VII, also known as Juyo. He gave himself to fury in a controlled manner in order to tap into some power from the Dark Side of The Force.
"You have done well, Jedi," Emperor Vitiate said, speaking as though he were complimenting a young novice student. The emperor's voice showed no strain from any effort, and he seemed quite relaxed, as he admitted, "You have managed to defeat this body, but you have not beaten me. In you, I have found a new host. I look forward to becoming acquainted with you soon."
At that moment, Ciiru had finally made contact with the Sith Emperor, with great effort, slowly pushing the hot blue beam of his lightsaber into Emperor Vitiate's chest. The Emperor laughed, as his soft clothing and his flesh flashed into flames where the saber beam pierced them. The ruler of the Sith Empire fell silent, slumped over on his throne, dead, his flesh still ablaze and emitting a vile stench. The terrible dark aura pouring from the Emperor was instantly gone, however.
Ciiru Nomuro, filled with utter fury, battled to regain control of his emotions. The Dark Side of The Force threatened to fully engulf him. A turbulent peace managed to return to Ciiru's mind. Looking at the empty burning husk that was the emperor's body, Ciiru used The Force to snuff out the flames before turning away from the dead body, still seated on his throne.
The victorious but exhausted Jedi Knight made his way down the wide steps to Master Tol Braga. Ciiru Nomuro found the Jedi Council member collapsed on the floor. Just before the emperor died, he ravaged Tol Braga and the Jedi beside him.
Greatly weakened, and with the last of his strength, Master Tol Braga strained to whisper, "That was not…," he stopped to gasp for breath, then repeated, "That… was… not… hi…"
Master Tol Braga's body relaxed, the remaining air hissed out of his lungs, and he died.
Ciiru turned to the other Jedi who'd been helping Tol Braga restrain Vitiate's power, a female Nautolan, Vara Saan. She was unconscious, breathing erratically, murmuring nonsense; her arms and legs twitched and jerked involuntarily, as did her head tentacles. Ciiru picked her up and draped her twitching body over his pauldroned shoulder and proceeded to run, making his escape back to the hanger bay and to their starship.
A few weeks after the operation, Vara Saan, the Jedi whom Ciiru rescued, committed suicide. The Emperor, it seems, was literally living in her head and kept her in a perpetual state of horror filled torment.
Two months later, Ciiru Nomuro had been sent on a mission to an independent and politically neutral world called Makeb. He was there to negotiate terms with the Makebi government. The Galactic Republic wanted the Makebi government in exile to join their Republic.
In exchange for joining, the Republic would provide military protection from a resurgent imperial Hutt regime who had taken control of the planet as invading occupiers. The Galactic Republic would easily throw the Hutts off the planet, and the Makebi people would lose their neutrality and their independence, as they joined the Republic.
Just as the agreement was about to be formalized, something had drastically changed, and the Makebis decided against joining the Republic. It turned out the Sith Empire had secretly given them a much better offer.
The Sith Empire would provide all of the weapons the Makebis would need to form their own army, with training, low level leadership of small units, and high level tactical and strategic leadership guidance services provided by a division of Mandalorian mercenaries.
With this help, the Makebis could win back their own freedom, and in exchange, the Makebis would turn down membership in the Galactic Republic. It was the deal the Makebis wanted from the Republic, but couldn't get. Ciiru discovered that it was Darth Nox who secretly led the effort to keep the Makebis from joining the Republic.
The Makebi people had won their freedom, thanks to the Sith Empire. However, it was later discovered that the planet was about to self-destruct. The people were doomed to annihilation. Supreme Chancellor Leontyne Saresh, leader of the Galactic Republic governing council, turned her back on the people, refusing to help them evacuate and dooming them to extinction.
However, Ciiru became convinced that The Force wanted Darth Nox to rescue the people of Makeb, and he had come to believe that somehow The Force had convinced Darth Nox to rescue the people. He witnessed Nox go from adamantly refusing, to suddenly changing his mind and rescuing the Makebis.
The price of their rescue was not going to be cheap, however. The Makebis would have to become subject to the austere and oppressive Imperial government as they colonized a planet for the glory of the empire. Initially, it was not known which planet the people would colonize.
Later, Ciiru Nomuro learned through some of his contacts in the Republic Strategic Information Service, the SIS, that the people had been taken to Taris, a ruined, toxic world. The people would be forced to live and work in terrible conditions to clean up the planet. It was a bad fate, but it could have been worse. The entire population could have all died when Makeb destroyed itself.
Ciiru believed that he'd witnessed The Force, the Light Side and the Dark Side, work in unison and in a smooth unified flow, making Ciiru question whether both the Jedi and the Sith were wrong about The Force. He'd been meditating on that question ever since that day on Makeb, but he was becoming more and more obsessed with the question.
"Is the Light Side of The Force and the Dark Side of The Force really one and the same? Is there really no Light or Dark, but only The Force? Then are we enacting the will of The Force? Don't we have our own wills?"
He had yet to broach the question with the Jedi Council. He hadn't told them of what had happened; what he'd done on Makeb which led Darth Nox to rescue the Makebis.
However, the alliance of the Galactic Republic and of the Jedi Order were faced with a very pressing matter. What if Vitiate directly attacked the allied powers in order to prove his power and his strength to the Dark Council in a bid to reestablish his claim to the throne?
The Jedi Order had finally learned what the Sith had known for the past fourteen centuries. That is that the Sith lord, Vitiate, had transcended corporeal life. Vitiate had become an incorporeal entity, and used voluntary and sacrificial force sensitive individuals to act as his mouthpieces and to act as his agents. If Vitiate hadn't been destroyed, then he could strike back at any time at any world.
The leadership of the Galactic Republic and of the Jedi Order had also hoped that, with the defeat of the Sith Emperor, the power vacuum at the throne would drive the dark lords on the Dark Council to infighting for the right to claim the Imperial throne for themselves. They hoped for a divided Dark Council.
Thus, despite knowing what Ciiru Nomuro conveyed to them at his debriefing, after his battle against Vitiate, despite knowing that Vitiate was not dead. The Jedi Council, the SIS, and Supreme Chancellor Saresh decided to go forward with their announcement, declaring the Sith Emperor defeated.
Most of the galaxy interpreted the announcement to mean that Vitiate was dead, but those very few, who carefully broke down the language of the announcement, realized that either the Galactic Republic leadership and the Jedi Council were not sure, or were deliberately using misleading language to insinuate they'd won a victory while not admitting failure.
Certainly, the Dark Council's silence on the matter seemed to confirm that something had happened, except that up to this point, none on the Dark Council had made a move for the throne. Leading some to believe that the Jedi did kill someone, but that they'd gotten the wrong Sith.
Meanwhile, the alliance of the Galactic Republic and of the Jedi Order had hoped that the joint announcement of their attack and victory over Vitiate would greatly embarrass the Dark Council. Perhaps it would be enough to cause a schism between the Dark Council and Vitiate, if he still ruled. It might even cause members of the Dark Council to vie for the throne despite knowing that Vitiate was not destroyed.
However, the schism never materialized. The division never took place. Unbeknownst to the Jedi Order and the SIS, a completely unexpected alliance between Darth Nox and Darth Marr had stabilized the balance of power on the Dark Council, and the dark lords all agreed to leave the throne empty, and to rule together without an emperor.
The terrible sacrifice of the Jedi had been in vain, and Ciiru wrestled with guilt for being too weak to quickly reach Vitiate and dispatch him. Ciiru also wrestled with his doubts about the wisdom of the Jedi Council.
Additionally, since their fruitless sacrifice in Vitiate's throne room, Ciiru Nomuro had been having terrible nightmares, nightmares which drove him to question his Jedi faith. What he'd seen and experienced conflicted with his understanding of Jedi teachings.
Ciiru realized that the longer he wrestled with his doubts the greater his fear and uncertainty would become, making it more likely that he could descend into anger and hatred again. He believed strongly that it was possible for him to willingly fall to the Dark Side, and that his doubts over the Jedi Order, their teachings, and his fear of Vitiate would all drive him insane.
His recurring nightmares were proof of Vitiate's strong influence. Early on, Ciiru feared that the Sith emperor had actually taken up residency somewhere within his being, but with much careful and deliberate meditation and self-examination, he came to believe that was not the case. He knew, however, that he was still vulnerable to the Dark Side of The Force.
With the knowledge they had gained, that is that Vitiate was incorporeal, the Jedi Council – and Ciiru Nomuro knew that someday they would need to confront Vitiate again, especially if he regained control of the throne over the Sith Empire.
In fact, because of their direct strike on the Imperial Throne, they began to make preparations to repel Imperial counter strikes against Coruscant, again.
A chime sounded, bringing Ciiru out of his meditations. He rose to his feet, walked to his desk, and as he answered the holo-transceiver, took a seat at his small desk.
"Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan, thank you for returning my call."
"You are having nightmares? You look well. Are you well?" the grand master of all Jedi asked.
Laypeople, not familiar with the Jedi philosophies of peace and serenity, would not be aware that Jedi don't get nightmares. They are able to use The Force, and techniques trained over many years to keep their minds at peace and at ease.
So, to the common citizen, hearing of a Jedi complaining of nightmares might not phase them, but to other Jedi, the matter of nightmares is a very serious issue. Nightmares are a symptom of Fear. Fear is the path to the Dark Side.Fearleadsto anger. Anger leadsto hate. Hate leadsto suffering. Satele Shan knew that Ciiru was filled with Fear and had to address the problem.
"I am well, Jedi Grand Master. Vitiate's influence over me has diminished greatly, compared to what it was in the beginning. The nightmares do not send me into fits of terror as they had in the beginning," Ciiru said, and after a brief moment's hesitation added, "Actually, Grand Master Satele, I know that, presently, their effect and influence over me is very small, but I can't get rid of them altogether. I really believe that even though Vitiate is not residing within me, an echo of his presence remains, and that the echoes are the source of the nightmares."
"How long have you had these nightmares, Knight Ciiru?" the Jedi Grand Master asked.
"Ever since our raid against Vitiate," the knight replied.
"Please explain why you think they are echoes of his presence, Knight Ciiru," Satele Shan said, in a neutral voice, peace and calm on her facade.
"The nightmares are always the same, but with certain variations," Ciiru said, beginning his report, "Certain elements of the dreams will change, I believe, because my resistance to Vitiate's influence varies, and Vitiate's influence over me fluctuates.
"I believe my nightmarish dreams are an indication that even his echo can corrupt me. I believe his echo can create a shade of Vitiate within my mind, my thoughts, and that I would be driven mad by it. I must endure this conflict within me by greatly diminishing his influence over me. It will be my greatest trial, Grand Master Satele."
"Tell me the dream," Satele Shan instructed.
"I find myself attacked by endless swarms of dark twisting shapes, whose forms are never constant. The dark shapes constantly shift, and have no definite form. They always precede a Sith lord, Darth Nox."
"Darth Nox? Darth Nox appears in your dream?" Satele asked, interrupting Ciiru.
For many years, Ciiru had been impressed with Satele's steadfast unflappable calm. Nothing seemed to surprise her. Her face never betrayed anything she might be feeling, no matter how devastatingly unexpected a piece of news might be. Which was why Ciiru became amazed.
If it were anyone else, without personal knowledge of Satele Shan, that person would never have caught it. However, Ciiru Nomuro has had several meetings with the Jedi Grand Master over the years.
He'd seen many holographic videos of the Grand Master in conferences, giving lectures, and receiving reports. As a youth, he'd watched her, both in person and on holographic videos, before her rise to the post of Grand Master, and in all of those years he'd never seen her react so strongly to anything at all.
She was his ideal of calm and peace.
Not this time, however. She was definitely surprised by what he'd told her, surprised in a very bad way.
"Blast…" Ciiru thought, dejected, devastated.
He knew from the reaction, which flitted across her face for less than a thousandth of a moment, that she would definitely prohibit him from leaving Tython.
"Yes, Grand Master, it was Darth Nox," he told her, swallowing back his frustration.
Satele's holographic image seemed to be going over something in her mind. After a brief moment, she leaned back in her seat.
"Very well, Knight Ciiru, please continue."
"Yes, Grand Master Satele," Ciiru said, bowing his head and feeling the weight of his coming permanent detention on Tython.
Using all he knew of guarding one's thoughts, he went on as best he could, as though nothing were amiss, "Darth Nox draws his light saber and orders me to kneel before him, but it's Vitiate's voice coming out of Nox's lips," Ciiru paused and swallowed back his worry. This would seal his fate one way or the other.
"He calls me Darth Incinerous, Grand Master," Ciiru said, hiding his apprehension. "I immediately draw and activate my lightsaber. Sometimes the lightsaber beam is blue, sometimes it is red."
"When the saber beam is red, I kneel before Darth Nox, and fall to the Dark Side. When it is blue, I defeat Nox, but he doesn't really die, I don't feel victorious. It's more as though I had escaped and survived. The nightmare has never varied from those outcomes. The only thing that changes, and it is random, is whether the saber beam is red or blue, and whether I fall to the Dark Side, or I defeat Vitiate slash Nox."
Ciiru Nomuro became silent, having completed the telling of his nightmare.
After a moment, during which both Jedi seemed to quietly contemplate what would happen next, Satele finally broke the silence.
"What do you think the dream is about, Knight Ciiru?" she asked, with her impenetrable mask of calm concealing everything that she might be thinking, feeling.
Ciiru thought it was a strange way to phrase a question. In fact, the question itself was strange.
"The nightmare is supposed to have a meaning, other than that Vitiate is tormenting me with them?" Aloud, he answered, "The fading echoes of Vitiate torment me with these nightmares. Actually, I had the nightmare while awake. Sitting at a lunch counter," Ciiru said, then added, dejectedly, "It's the first time that's happened. These nightmares shall continue until I have banished Vitiate's influence from my conscious and subconscious, once and for all. Or, I shall cease to exist as I fall to the Dark Side and am driven mad. My greatest trial lies ahead." Ciiru said, finishing his thoughts on the matter.
He then fell silent and waited for Satele Shan's pronouncement.
"The future is forever changing," she said, as though disappointed with his answer, "We cannot know what your destiny will be. However, it is clear enough in this case to tell us that a defining moment is indeed coming for you, soon."
"What a strange and vague answer," Ciiru thought, "But whatever my fate will be, I now know that I can't get out of it. Either I get rid of Vitiate's influence, or I fall to the Dark Side."
Knowing this could very well seal his fate of perpetual sequestration on Tython, he nevertheless felt compelled to tell her what else was on his mind.
"There's something else, Grand Master," Ciiru said, telling her, "When I kneel, and bow my head, in the dream, hatred and fury begins to fill my heart, and I begin my descent to the Dark Side of The Force, but it is not a dream. It is really happening.
"At that moment, I would force myself awake from my nightmare and then go into meditation to clear the anger and hatred from my heart. I feel the pull of the Dark Side weaken, and I return to peace.
"What am I to do, Grand Master?" he asked Satele, "I'm at a loss. I really don't want to be confined to Tython. I must go out there," he gestured vaguely towards the ceiling of his dormitory room, "to serve the Jedi Order, and to bring peace and justice to the masses of the Galactic Republic," he told her, and thinking to himself, he added, "And I'm going stir crazy staying on this hopelessly quiet and boring planet!"
"How do you see those twisted shadows?" Satele asked out of nowhere.
"Grand Master Satele, I think they are the manifestations of the Dark Side of The Force, or of Vitiate's dark and twisted influence over me."
Satele Shan's holographic image turned its head to one side as though thinking something over. Then her image closed its eyes, facing forward again, as though meditating. After a few minutes, her eyes opened again.
"You will wait for instructions," Satele ordered, "I will give you an assignment which will see you off Tython."
"Yes, Grand Master Satele Shan," Ciiru was greatly surprised and greatly pleased on hearing that.
Before her image vanished, he called to her.
"Grand Master, one last thing."
"Yes?"
"I want to thank you. You showed great wisdom, and exercised great patience with me on Makeb. Looking back, I think I could have fallen to the Dark Side. I could have been lost, but you got through my wall of rage, and talked me into returning to Tython. No matter what happens in the days ahead. I want you to know that I am deeply grateful to you."
"Your destiny has not yet been decided, Knight Ciiru," Satele told him.
Satele Shan was purposely being vague. She believed that Ciiru had to figure this out on his own. So, she wouldn't give him any indication of what she thought, but she had dropped so many clues! Yet, Ciiru did not pick up on those. He was being blinded by the Dark Side, as to what he was going through.
In the meantime, Ciiru took her somewhat convoluted way of speaking as her way of telling him that he was not out of the woods, yet.
"You still had enough of the Light Side in you to obey your orders to return, and you have a strong affinity for the Light Side, or you would have become Darth Incinerous by now." Satele said, dropping yet another clue, "However, it is as you have said. Your greatest trial lies ahead."
Ciiru nodded acknowledgement of the truth she spoke, but continued to miss the clues.
"Thank you, Jedi Grand Master," Ciiru said, in gratitude, "I won't take up any more of your time."
Satele Shan's holographic image vanished. After a moment to reflect on his conversation with the leader of the Jedi Order, Ciiru rose to his feet and left his dormitory. He decided to go to the gymnasium to exercise his body, and perhaps to spar with the martial arts instructor. In the back of his mind, echoed something that she'd said, which troubled him.
"… You have a strong affinity for the Light Side, or you would have become Darth Incinerous by now."
"What did she mean by that?"
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