After the breakfast, the two Jedi walked to the Archives. Jedova could not help noticing how drastically easier the air between them was now. It was almost as if he was with a different person, a clone of his apprentice.
Arya went to a computer and typed Findio Acheta into the search. Multiple results appeared immediately.
"There's the biography of him," Jedova said as he sat down next to his Padawan.
"I know." Arya was already opening the file. It told them a lot about this Veledosian man named Findio.
"So, he is a Phandeosian, trained by his fellow Phandeosian Daa-Rei Chio who became the first Veledosian Grand Master of the Order almost a century after Findio's knighting," Arya began to sum the data up. "He seemed to concentrate on diplomacy, especially during the Khramoorka-Taa war, but failed to prevent and stop The Poisoning and left the Order soon after that. Didn't train Padawans but was promoted to the rank of a Master after he helped solving a series of issues caused by a group of fallen Jedi on the Jedi academy of Obroa-Skai."
"So he is one of the Lost Nineteen?" Jedova asked.
Arya turned to look around herself to see the Bronzium busts of the Lost Nineteen. Then her eyes found the bust which had a face similar to that of the hologram on the screen.
"Yeah, one of the lost Masters" Arya said and walked to the bust, observing it. Findio's greatest deeds had been carved on the pedestal, but there was also some odd, shallow carving under the words of Basic. They were letters, ones Arya recalled seeing in the temple of Lianoros village. The meaning of the words had already faded away – had it ever been there in the first place – but the letters translated to some basic words that could be interpreted as "I hate you".
Arya swallowed. There was something eerie about those letters and whatever their carver had meant them as, but she did not express it to her Master. Instead, she turned to look at other busts. She knew each of the Masters by their names, having studied them and learned to know which bust depicted who.
"He wasn't the only one who left because of The Poisoning. Most of them were Knights who wanted to be with their people after the tragedy, but five of the ones to leave were Masters. I guess everyone felt that they would not be understood here," Arya said without thinking if her Master could hear her quiet voice. "It was a rough time and the requirements of the Order have always been hard. Many thought that they could not keep up with others and no one else knew what it felt like... what it felt like to lose a home, a family, just... just everything they knew about themselves deep inside."
Jedova did not say anything. He looked at his Padawan, who was staring into a distance beyond the shelves her eyes saw.
"All right, we now know about Findio Acheta. But what about his Master, Daa-Rei Chio?" he broke the silence when it became apparent that the girl would not resurface from her thoughts on her own anytime soon. Arya jumped and blinked, as if suddenly returning from a trance. She turned to look at her Master and forced her baffled expression to disappear. She was not exactly sure about what she had thought about, but she nodded and returned back to the computer. Daa-Rei Chio's name gave even more search results, but his biography was the first one among them and that was what they were after.
"The Grand Master of the Order from 374 after Ruusan Reformation until his death on 423 after Ruusan Reformation," Jedova said. "It says he was a VeledosJedi but there's nothing about him being the first of them to be the Grand Master."
"Probably irrelevant for this file. I know that I've read that he was the first one, though." Arya read further. "He committed a suicide..." Suddenly, she felt empty with horror. A Grand Master had killed himself? It seemed unthinkable to her.
"Sounds like things went bad in the end," Jedova said and looked at Arya. The Veledosian seemed to stay silent at first, but then he heard her say barely audibly, "We didn't just fade away... We cut ourselves down too..."
Then she fell completely silent, just staring at Daa-Rei Chio's holographic picture, at the face of the Grand Master who somehow fell so deep down that he had ended up killing himself.
The mere thought of it gave Jedova the chills, so he cleared his throat before preparing to change the subject. He needed something else to think about. "Now we know who they were. Is there anything else we need to find out?"
Arya tore her eyes away from the screen and looked up to her Master. "Not anything we can find out here in the Archives... Right?"
"I believe so," Jedova said. "Unless you need to do some research or something for your lessons."
"I guarantee you, Master, during this year I've had more free time than anyone else in my year group and I haven't used that time for slacking. My work is fully in check," Arya told.
"I expected only that from you, Padawan," Jedova answered, smiling. "Since you have time before you go meet Master Zakfe, why don't we head to the dojo and see if I can help you out with katas?"
Arya's cloudy eyes brightened. She would finally get some private teaching at katas just like everyone else at her lightsaber classes!
"Sure!" The girl's voice suddenly lacked the solemnness it had just had. She closed the search window and stood up.
"Just be prepared for criticism, Padawan. I'm strict when it comes to Form I katas," Jedova told. "At your age you should have mastered the katas from one to ten."
Arya's expression darkened at those words regardless of their neutral tone that the Master had tried to soften the best he could while still retaining strictness. The truth, even one she was already aware of, hurt especially bad when someone said it to her face.
"I know it's a harsh thing to be said, but it's the truth and you need to know it," Jedova told. He knew he had been nice – maybe even too nice – so far, but he had to show his Padawan that passing his training would not be easy at all. The world outside the Temple was harsh and Arya had to learn that and be ready to survive on her own if they were separated. He knew that no Jedi Master could always protect their Padawan from every threat. There would be a day when he would have to let Arya go, or at least Jedova hoped that day would come.
"You need to learn that nothing is easy and that the world is cold and unforgiving, my Padawan."
/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/
