Over the next week, I came to forgive my Master. I told him the night after we got back that I had seen him in Dreuya's dwelling. I told him why I had gone, what I had seen, what I had thought and felt. I was totally open and didn't hide anything. He said that he was only human and that he just couldn't resist the temptation. He felt horrible that I had had to see and that I had felt so betrayed. When we embraced, I felt warmth emitting from him, the grandfatherly kind of warmth. I felt a strong bond between us.
We only had one small assignment the rest of the month. We were to accompany a young mercenary to Tatooine. That's all I knew about it. When I met the young boy, I knew he looked strangely familiar. Master Harress kept me busy with training, so I didn't get to talk to the young boy.
When we returned home, we took the time to grow even closer and to prepare for the next larger assignment. Master Harress told me that on the planet Sarapin a Neimoidian group had started to make trouble. He said that the two of us, along with a great Jedi, Master Kiypher, might have to travel to Sarapin to negotiate an end to the operation.
Sure enough, about a week after Master Harress told me that, we had to go before the Council and were told that we were to go to this planet, which was a volcanic resource giant, to stop the Neimoidian operation.
Master Yoda addressed me. "Young One, met Master Kiypher, you have not, hmm?"
"No, Master Yoda, but I have heard great things about him from my master."
"Very well. Join us, Master Kiypher, won't you?"
A hunched man in a gray cloak emerged from my left. His hood was down so I could see his old and kindly face and silvery hair and beard. He stopped in front of me and held out his hand from under the cloak. "Miss Ari-Ana. I have heard much about you. Master Harress here has boasted about you and your abilities. I heard how you handled those Twi'leks last month. Quite impressive indeed."
I bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, Master Kiypher. I too have heard much good about you. I greatly admire and respect you."
He laughed cordially. "Thank you, Young One. It appears that we have been assigned to Sarapin to conduct some negotiations."
The Council dismissed us to go get ready for the trek to Sarapin, which was a couple parsecs farther away that Ryloth had been. When we were ready, we boarded the Republic cruiser and left Coruscant.
***
When we arrived on Sarapin, a group a Neimoidians met us on the landing deck. The conducted the negotiations right out there. All of a sudden, right after we had come to an agreement and were getting ready to go inside to deal the deal, a young boy jumped from the shadows, drew his lightsaber, and attacked me. I quickly drew the Temple lightsaber I had been using and defended myself.
As we fought, I could only get glimpses of his face. A realization hit me: this boy was the mercenary and the young boy who had come into my mother's bar so long ago. Where was his Master? Why was he so enraged if he was a Jedi?
As good as my saber skills were, his were a cut above. I was close to losing this battle. I called out to my Master in terror, "Master! Please help me! I can't take him on alone!"
He didn't move. The boy fought all the harder and said in contempt, "You are a fool, stupid girl. That man is my Master, and he is teaching me in the ways of the Jedi!"
I could feel the heat of his anger as I felt a second wind coming. I almost had him under control when I heard Master Harress call out, "Ha! You weak Jedi are no match for the power of the Dark Side! You will fall, you pathetic fools!"
The boy stopped fighting and looked at Master Harres, as did I. We were both disturbed by this. Right before our eyes, he morphed from my beloved Master to something evil. Nothing physically changed, but I could feel the change in him. He threw some kind of jagged blue lightning against Master Kiypher.
"You finally show your true form, Niketh!" Master Kiypher shouted, pulling out his green lightsaber which absorbed the lightning
.
A Sith! I though to myself. My Master is a Sith! How could I be such a fool!
I had to do something. I turned to the boy and started swinging. Tears streamed down my face. I knocked the saber out of his hand. I went for the neck in my fury.
"Ari-Ana! Stop! Control your emotions!" shouted Master Kiypher.
The boy fell on his knees as Master Kiypher and the man I had known as Master Harress continued in their battle. The latter must have felt he was losing because he fled into a pressurized volcanic chamber, followed closely by Master Kiypher.
The boy drew his lightsaber to his hand and followed me into the chamber. I was still sobbing, but somehow I was able to run.
Just as the boy and I entered, I saw Niketh being slashed across the face, throwing him into a large tub of magma. Even though I knew he was a Sith, it still hurt to see him killed. I fell to the ground with the boy, feeling as though my heart had been ripped from my body and was now being dangled in front of my face. Suddenly the boy jumped up and ran toward the tub and attempted to dive in. Master Kiypher caught him in time and brought him back up.
The next moment was all a blur. Almost simultaneously, I heard a rumble behind me, saw the boy look behind me, jump up, and push me out of the way of a falling boulder.
I looked up at him and said, "That was an ironic move, considering you just tried to kill me!"
He could form no response to this. He must have been really shaken up, as I was. I was still crying. I got up and went to Kiypher. "I trusted him! I loved him like a father! He left me!"
From where he sat still, the boy retorted, "Oh yeah! Well maybe you're not the only one who felt that way! Don't think that you're the only one who was abandoned and betrayed!"
I looked at the boy as his face got redder and redder with anger. I felt sorry for him, but I also resented him. Master Harress had been my Master, not his!
Master Kiypher then said, "Ari-Ana, this man was an apprentice of Darth Niketh for nearly as long as you were, if not longer. He was blindly brought to the Dark Side and underwent training as a Sith unknowingly. He no longer has anywhere to go. You mustn't let your thoughts betray you!"
"I know, Master Kiypher, but . . . "
"No more buts. We really must head off now. Damien, would you like to join us?"
The boy looked at Master Kiypher and slowly nodded. Then he introduced me to the boy. "Ari-Ana Zanne Venyatuima, meet Damien Rai. Damien Rai, meet Ari-Ana."
We shook hands cordially and followed the old man back to the cruiser. It had been wrecked and covered in graffiti that said in large letters, "Trade Company Rules!" I guessed that the Neimoidians hadn't like our proposition as much as we had assumed and tried to keep us from getting home. Damien offered to take us back to Coruscant on his vehicle.
The boy and I talked the whole way back about Master Harress. I found out that his father, Damien Sr., had been the Damien that Master Harress had been the best of friends with. He offered consolation as I started crying. I knew he knew where I was coming from, but I wasn't ready to trust anyone else just yet. But I felt that he wanted me to trust him. I felt that he wanted to offer me more than just comfort or friendship. . . .
When we were near Coruscant, the boy mentioned that he had nowhere to go. Master Kiypher said, "You will join the Jedi Order and become a Jedi Knight." With that, he left no room for negotiation or argument.
