Chapter Seven: The Journey Begins
"You've passed the test." Cere informed the two Jedi Padawans as they made it back from the vault with BD-1 latched onto Cal's back.
"I barely did anything." Kairi stated.
"Don't worry, I have many more tests for you." Cere responded.
"So, you knew about BD-1?" Cal asked.
"Come inside. We'll talk." Cere stated.
"Home sweet… Mantis?" Kairi responded as she came in without her boots on while making muddy footprints on the way in, before laying down on the couch.
"BD-1, this is Greez." Cal introduced as BD-1 climbed off his back and went over to where Kairi is and climbed onto the couch next to the 16 year old's dirt covered feet. "Hey, Greez." He greeted as the Latero looked at both Kairi and BD-1.
"Wait, what is she doing? And what is that?" Greez asked, while pointing to Kairi and BD-1.
Kairi and BD-1 looked at the Latero as the bi pedal droid beeped a few times.
"What, I got a hickey or something, Greez?" Kairi asked.
"Get off my sofa! Get! Get off! Where are you manners?! Take that droid with you!" Greez shouted as Kairi jumped up with her feet on the coach along with BD-1 running off it.
"What is wrong with you, old man?!" Kairi asked as she stood behind Cal, before BD-1 stood next to them.
"That is BD-1. He's with us now." Cal explained.
"I don't care what he is. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get dirt and oil off of potrolli-weave fabric?" Greez explained, before Kairi looked down at her feet as BD-1 was scanning them, causing her to smile.
"Not really." Cal answered as he was unsure.
"Well, I hope you've teached her some manners because she's cleaning up the dirt trail that she brought with her. And I hope you find something better than this droid." Greez responded before Cal sat down at the small steps which lead to the small kitchen area.
"Oh calm down, Greez. He did." Cere stated, before Kairi placed BD-1 down on the floor as the droid made his way over to where Cal is. "Tell us, Cal." She responded.
"The vault was built by an ancient civilization known as the Zeffo. A Jedi named Eno Cordova hid something in it." Cal explained, before Cere took a few steps forward as Kairi sat down on the floor next to Cal's feet.
"What did he hide inside?" Cere asked.
"A holocron from the archives. It is a list that contains the names and locations of Force sensitive children." Kairi answered, before her eyes widened to find Iris who was standing behind Cere. 'Don't do anything stupid.' She thought as she was keeping calm.
"The next generation of Jedi. I knew it! Ah, Cordova, you old fool!" Cere responded, as Kairi was keeping her eyes on Iris who was looking down at the muddy footprints that she tracked inside the Mantis.
"Wait, you know him?" Cal asked as he and Kairi looked up at Cere.
"Yes, I do. A long time ago, I was his apprentice. Cordova was a loner. And that little droid and I are probably the ones who know about Bogano." Cere explained as BD-1 was looking at Cal and Kairi who were doing the same thing to the bi pedal droid.
"Probably." Kairi responded.
"Hold on. Wait a minute. A holo-what?" Greez asked as he was confused.
"A holocron. It stores information that are only used by Jedi. Here. I have one with me somewhere." Cere explained as she looked at Greez, before coming back with a holocron in her hands. Cal and Kairi stood in front of Cere, before the older woman was looking at the younger Jedi Padawan who was amazed by a holocron looked. "Here, Kairi. Use the Force." She instructed after giving Kairi the holocron.
Having the holocron resting in the palms of her hands, Kairi was looking at it for a few seconds before closing her silver eyes.
Breathing out slowly as she felt her purple rhombus symbol glowed when she was using the Force.
Once she opened her eyes, Kairi noticed that the holocron did not open or even float in her hands which surprised her.
"Try again." Cal responded gently, knowing Kairi hasn't used the Force for a long time.
Kairi nodded after looking up at Cal.
She tried once more, but she nearly dropped the holocron as she felt dizzy and started leaning against the chair.
Cal's emerald green eyes widened as he caught her in his arms, before Kairi managed to put the holocron down on the table.
"I need to go sit down." Kairi responded as she sounded tired.
"Cal, has this happened before?" Cere asked.
"The last time she meditated was before the Purge. She felt sick around that time. But I don't get it…" Cal started to explain, before he looked down at Kairi who was blinking her eyes. "Kairi, you were just out there being yourself. Is there something you are not telling me?" He asked.
"I… I…"
"Shhh. Let's talk alone."
Kairi heard Iris' voice in her mind as she could detect that the Force Ghost version of her was not around for Cal, Cere or Greez to notice her.
She nodded slowly before looking at Cal.
"I need to rest my head." Kairi managed to say, before covering her eyes with her left hand as the lights of the Mantis made her eyes feel sensitive to it.
Cal nodded before he slowly led Kairi towards her bedroom which was the first room in the hallway on the left side.
"Poor kid. Life's not easy for her." Greez responded.
"You've only known her for a few seconds and you're worried about her, Captain? You were just yelling about her coming in with muddy feet." Cere asked.
"I understand that she and Cal are both Jedi, but somehow I can tell that those two have been through a lot. Plus, I didn't know that you've known Kairi since she was a little girl." Greez explained, before Cal returned at the last part.
"Is Kairi laying down?" Cere asked after noticing Cal's presence.
"She's resting her eyes again. There's something I want to ask you. No, two things I want to ask." Cal explained, before he sat down in front of Cere. "How long have you've known Kairi?" He asked the first question.
"I can't tell you much but… when Kairi was 2 years old, she was kidnapped from her parents. Her mother died. Her father and half of his clone troopers were the only survivors. Years later, she bumped into me as I was with my Master at the time. Cal… she has been neglected by her kidnapper." Cere explained, before remembering a 5 year old Kairi eating a bag of cookies, in a quick fast pace, not caring that she was making a mess.
'Slow down, young one. You will end up sick from eating too much." Cere responded, before seeing that her sleeveless outfit was covered in dirt and her hair was damp by lake water.
"I have a name, you know. It's Kairi. It means ocean village… Or was it melody?" The 5 year old mumbled with a full mouth as she looked at Cere. " Water?" She managed to ask, before Cere gave Kairi her water canteen...
"And she's safe here with us right? Her kidnapper is gone forever?" Greez asked, before he started looking through the kitchen to try and fix up something to eat for everyone.
"I'm sure of it." Cere responded as she hesitated about it.
"One more question. How come you cut yourself off from the Force?"
"I had an experience… which changed my perspective about it." Cere answered as she didn't know how to explain it at first.
"And yet you want to restore the Order?" Cal asked.
"Cal, I believe that you can have the chance to rebuild what was once lost forever and be restored." Cere explained.
"What about Kairi? Can she do something about it? She's a Jedi too." Cal asked.
"Even though she's a Jedi. But the Force is not strong with her. That's why I wasn't sure about her at the moment." Cere explained.
"What does she have to do?" Cal asked.
After creating a meditation circle in the corner of her room, Kairi managed to crawl inside of it before getting on her knees and closing her eyes.
As she closed her eyes, Kairi could feel the Force around her as the desk and her bed started to shake before slowly rising up from the floor until… the sounds of blaster bullets and her younger self screams scared her out of her concentration.
The desk and the bed slammed down against the floor causing her to jump while looking around. Feeling her own heartbeat, Kairi heard Cal's voice from outside the room before he ran inside to see her on the floor.
"Cal, I'm-" Kairi started to say, before Cal immediately pulled her into a hug causing Kairi's silver eyes to widen in shock. "Uhh… What are you doing?" She asked as she was blushing, knowing that it wasn't like Cal to hug her out of nowhere.
"Sorry. I heard you screaming and I got worried." Cal apologized, as he stood back up as Kairi remained on the floor.
"I'm okay, Cal. I just… need to focus my mind." Kairi stated, before Cal nodded. "And… thanks for checking on me." She responded, before giving Cal a small smile.
Cal smiled back before he left her alone.
Returning back to the meditation circle, Kairi closed her eyes as she felt the Force when her forehead symbol glowed while fighting through her younger self's screams along with the blaster bullets missing her… until everything felt quiet around her.
She felt like she was in peace with the Force again, before feeling a hand resting on her right shoulder.
Slowly opening her eyes, Kairi heard a woman's voice from behind before seeing Iris wearing a sleeveless red and black Jedi robes, as a green kyber crystal necklace stood out around her neck.
"Kairi. I'm glad you can join me." Iris responded as she had her hands clasped together in front of her.
"Iris. What is this? I mean, where are we?" Kairi asked as she stood up and looked around to see that she wasn't in her room on the Stinger Mantis, but somehow in her own mind.
"This is what I like to call a meditation training place. But it's your mind, young one." Iris answered as Kairi was looking around it and to her surprise, the young Jedi Padawan wasn't thinking of anything when it comes to meditating.
"Okay… But why here? Why did you want to talk to me?" Kairi asked, before a holocron appeared in front of her, until it gently landed in her hands.
"It's because of this." Iris stated as she took it out of Kairi's hands by using the Force. "I can use the Force to access it since I'm a Jedi. But you, my child, you cannot." She explained as the holocron opened up and it showed a distorted hologram of a Jedi Master with two lightsabers who was fighting against a Sith who had a double sided lightsaber.
"... Run! Take our child and go to… Give up, my former Padawan! You won't win this!" Rin Sotah's voice was heard as Kairi and Iris can see him and the Padawan who turned to the dark side clashed their lightsabers at the same time.
"... ruined everything! You just had to go against the rules! You've married a… who uses Dark Magik and got her pregnant!" The Former Padawan roared, before Iris turned off the holocron as it landed in her left hand.
"Master…" Kairi responded quietly as she never saw this side of her late master.
"You weren't his first. He had another Padawan before you. He turned to the Dark Side before he couldn't control his emotions as a Jedi." Iris explained, before she made the holocron disappear.
"I won't let that happen. My emotions won't get in my way. All I have to do is train and meditate." Kairi responded as she felt determined.
"Actually… you with the Force doesn't work like that. Your training is different." Iris explained.
"What do you mean? I am a Jedi right?" Kairi asked as she was confused.
"You are.. but only half of it." Iris answered.
"Half of a Jedi?" Kairi asked once more as she was confused.
"From what General Rin Sotah taught you, he only taught you the arts of a Jedi. Henceforth, your training is incomplete." Iris explained.
"Incomplete?! But I remember everything from being trained. I read books, I master some of the fighting techniques, but why is it incomplete?" Kairi asked as she was shocked, before looking down at her hands.
"With Cal, he hasn't done anything with his training since the Purge. He will regain it back some way. It's the same with you. But there's an obstacle in your path to make you be a Jedi. I once faced it too. It wasn't the Dark Side." Iris responded as she pulled out her lightsaber from Kairi's belt by using the Force.
"An obstacle?" Kairi asked as she looked back at the silver haired woman.
"Yes. I'll give you a hint. Remember what I said to you that the truth is always in the Force?" Iris questioned, before Kairi nodded. "You must unlock parts of your past somehow. Since you are on a quest to rebuild the Jedi Order, maybe you can get it all back during your journey. But I will tell you this… the next ability is something that you will remember. It's something General Rin Sotah told you to never use unless it's an emergency or in the middle of a battlefield." She explained before she gave Kairi her lightsaber back.
"Was that a prediction?" Kairi asked, before she switched on the lightsaber as a green blade glowed from it.
"It's part of the truth." Iris stated.
"The truth is in the Force." Kairi repeated Iris's quote before closing her eyes.
Kairi opened her eyes to see that she was still inside of her meditation circle in her room, before feeling the warmth of a blanket that was covering her shoulders and arms.
Sighing quietly as she held the lightsaber in her hands, Kairi closed her eyes once more before hearing Iris's voice.
"Remember, Kairi… Face the truth and accept it."