A Shift in the Force: Chapter Sixty: Assorted Curiosities
AN: There's a lot of intrigue revolving around Sabé's world views and the relationship she has with Caleb as opposed to Talik, don't worry, there's still more to come for both!
I will say that there is going to be a massive change to what I'd originally intended on happening in the fic, so this fic is going into serious AU territory, which is going to be incredibly exciting for me to write.
Sabé could feel a cold in the air that had nothing to do with the climate of Ryloth. Caleb's head lolled on her shoulder as he took in deep, even breaths, sleep coming to him far more easily than it had to Sabé. It was colder than it had been in the cave, so having him sleep in her arms again wasn't terribly surprising.
She could remember clearly a lesson that had been taught to her in her youth about how a master could only have one student, and yet she could feel a branch of connections through the Force; one that connected her to Depa, another to Talik, and the last one to Caleb. As much as she loved Obi-Wan, she didn't think they'd reached the level quite yet where they were bound together from across the stars.
The cold brush came against her skin and the echo of a lightsaber being ignited echoed in her ear with screams. Sabé's breath came out short, her heart racing into a panic. She had only spoken once about what she had seen when she'd suppressed herself in order to become Carina, though never fully to illuminate Talik to all that she had seen, and Sabé knew, of course, that these things took time to heal from, but the horror remained, rising like bile in her throat.
It was almost like the Force had been whispering in her ear: This is what will happen if you remain a Jedi.
She closed her eyes and opened them on Atollon.
Bendu in his massive form was before her, considering her with his age-old eyes. "Well met, Daughter of the Force," he said, "I trust your trip to Malachor was…illuminating."
Sabé scowled at him for good measure. "Illuminating is not the word I'd use to describe Malachor."
"But you did come out a changed being, did you not?"
Sabé could hear his amusement more than she could see it, but it made her pinch the bridge of her nose.
"Yes," she finally decided. The color of her eyes was the most obvious change, even if other changes had occurred, that was the most visible one, and it was one she was still getting used to.
Meeting the Jedi Exile certainly hadn't been something that she'd been expecting, but it had been an intriguing meeting, nonetheless. They were so similar yet so different, and yet both had found themselves on an identical path; one that was drawn away from the Jedi.
The Dark Jedi that had made themselves known to her hadn't been expected either, but still easily dealt with.
"I find your presence to be more centered than it was when you left Atollon," Bendu mentioned, "though that might have to do with your young companion."
That thought startled Sabé somewhat. "Caleb? We've barely been in each other's presence for more than a day."
"The Force works in mysterious ways," Bendu remarked ominously, and Sabé frowned at him. "I, for one, am curious to see how the both of you grow during this…partnership."
Sabé snorted. "I'm dropping him off on Coruscant as soon as I find a ship."
"But what if you didn't?"
"What d'you mean?" Sabé asked, suddenly flummoxed. "I can't very well keep a half-trained Jedi Initiate with me, I'm living harshly as it is, it's not a life an eight-year-old would find even remotely healthy—!"
"But what if it's what he wishes?" Bendu was back at it with the questions that surprised her.
Sabé's lips moved before she could stop them. "Why would he want to? There is no future for him out here; there is no reason for him to stay with an Exiled ex-Jedi who's only going to teach him the exact opposite of what it means to be a Jedi."
"And perhaps that is why your paths have come together."
Sabé had lived long enough to believe that the Force had played a large role in her life, so it wouldn't surprise her in the slightest that it had been the Force's intention all along to bring her and Caleb together, why though she couldn't yet say.
"What's so important about this youngling?" she asked. "He's just a child; he's just—"
"He's just a child that's questioning the Jedi at every turn?" Bendu finished for her, leaning forward slightly, his massive head coming closer to hers and it was only because of her extensive training that Sabé didn't take a step back. "I wonder who that sounds like?"
Sabé's expression morphed into one of exasperation. "You think he's like me? He's not, he's…" Her eyes fluttered shut, and an image exploded before her eyes, a young man who didn't need his eyes to see, wielding his lightsaber and teaching about making connections in a way that the Jedi never approved of. "He's going to be much better," she spoke certainty.
"Then he's going to need someone to guide him."
And then Sabé opened her eyes to the silent desert of Ryloth, a warm body slumbering against her chest and the familiar sight of Arthree's shut off beside her. She brushed a hand against Caleb's short brown hair, the touch so light, but he still curved his head towards her.
Dimly, Sabé wondered if this was how Sola felt, having a child to care for, and then she had to sigh. Dropping him off on Coruscant had to be the best option for him, Coruscant was where he belonged, not with some vagabond who had no problem killing other beings if she had to. The longer he remained with her, the more trouble he was likely to get in…but was it safer to return him to Coruscant where the Dark Side was thick like smog in the air?
Even Sabé didn't know the answer to that.
It took another two days before Caleb's leg had healed enough that he hardly limped when they walked, though, despite Sabé's preaching about her lack of healing ability, Caleb suspected she'd done something to help it along.
"They say she's as cold as ice," had been whispered at the Temple, "that Turning to the Sith was easy for her."
Now that he'd spent a considerable amount of time with her, Caleb realized all the rumors at the Temple couldn't have been further from the truth.
"How do you become a Jedi Shadow?" he asked her that morning when they'd begun their trek, Sabé wrapping a scarf around his head to keep him from burning under the heat of the sun. She was rather mothering, and he wondered if that was part of the reason for Talik Shala's steadfast loyalty despite adversity.
Sabé chuckled, slowing just slightly to his pace, something she said she wouldn't do, yet he often caught her doing so. "Well, I can't say really if there is a typical way to become a Jedi Shadow, but I was approached after a long mission by…by Maw."
She faltered slightly, and he could see it on her face. There was pain there; and misery. The Temple guard mask that she wore rested on the top of her head, ready to be dropped down at the sight of anything approaching, concealing her identity easily. Caleb's own identity wasn't a concern, as he'd never left the Temple or even Coruscant, but Sabé certainly had. But, as it was, her face was clear to see.
"I wasn't very familiar with him at that point," Sabé admitted, brushing her fingers against the beaded strand of her curls, "and I was just newly knighted, but he told me he'd been speaking with Madam Jocasta and asked if I would be interested in becoming a Jedi Shadow."
She paused, though her feet did not. "I don't think he'd gone…Dark at that point, I mean, he was undeniably harsh, but I believe his intentions were good."
"Then what went wrong?" Caleb asked, his brow furrowing.
Sabé pursed her lips, her thoughts miles away. "I couldn't really say, people Fall to the Dark Side for different reasons, sometimes they're bad, sometimes they're misguided, and sometimes they're even good, but it always depends on the person they are at the core, remember that."
She looked down at him, her eyes serious and Caleb swallowed.
"So…Jedi Shadows get recommended by the Chief Librarian?" Caleb asked instead, partially intrigued and partially wanting to draw her from the heavy topic of Maw.
"Rarely, but we often work alongside Jedi Historians and Jedi Archaeologists as history is an essential part of what Shadows do. In my case, it was always easy because I'd been so interested in the history of the Jedi and the Sith when I was a child." Sabé's smile turned wry. "My old master never found that to be a very good trait."
Caleb blinked. Yoda had been her master, he knew, but given how little the Sith were talked about, he couldn't find that surprising.
"Can you tell me about when the Sith and Jedi first became, you know, them?" Caleb knew he was probing, but he was surprised when Sabé laughed suddenly.
"You know, Talik once asked me the same thing and later used it in an argument with Obi-Wan," she remarked in amusement. "I don't even think she won the argument, but it caught him rather off guard…we had a lot of debates like that, unfinished ones." Her eyes grew soft and distant, a faint smile on her lips; Caleb didn't think he'd ever seen a look quite like it on her face.
"The first form of the Jedi Order was known as the Je'daii Order, not much of a difference in name, I'll grant you, but the Je'daii were very different than the Jedi of today are," Sabé began to explain, very much in her element, as he remembered her patience in explaining the way through Niman to a roomful of Jedi Initiates, some of whom could've cared less. "You've probably never heard of the Je'daii, have you?"
Caleb shook his head, almost tripping over his feet as he walked and Sabé reached out a hand to steady him before retracting just as quickly.
"I wouldn't expect you to; it's not very well known, even to the High Councilors of the Jedi Order," Sabé had to concede. "The Je'daii Order first came into being on a planet called Tython, and it believed in mediating between the Ashla –what was considered the Light– and the Bogan –the Dark–, finding a balance, which was called the Bendu." She smiled faintly at that, though Caleb didn't quite know why.
"Of course, every organization is going to have problems, and eventually the Je'daii Order had a schism with some siding with the Dark and some with the Light. I believe the battle itself lasted more than a decade and destroyed a good portion of the planet's ecosystem that is only now growing back. However, when it was over and done with, the ones that sided with the Dark were defeated, and the ones that sided with the Light claimed it superior and founded the Jedi Order from the ruins of the Je'daii."
Arthree gave a sudden beep beside them, and Caleb gave a sharp jolt; he'd almost forgotten that the droid was there.
Sabé hummed in agreement, even though Caleb couldn't understand one beep of binary, curving her walk somewhat, and forcing Caleb to do the same if he hoped not to lose her. They were heading in the direction of a rather steep ravine, and Sabé looked over it with a bit of speculation.
"How do we get down?" Caleb asked, swallowing thickly, suddenly aware that he had a large fear of heights.
"There's always the easy way," Sabé grinned, "but I like a challenge."
Caleb wished she didn't. Climbing wasn't his strong suit, a fact which was only made even more clear to him when Sabé crawled over the edge and began to slowly lower herself down. She probably wasn't afraid of heights. Caleb had the mental image of Sabé climbing her way up a tower free-hand, and somehow it wouldn't have surprised him.
Gold eyes met teal. "Well?" she asked, already three feet down. "You can stick around if you like, but I don't think its necessarily the safest place to be."
That made Caleb grumble as he followed after Sabé, the rough stone bruising his fingers as he definitely gripped it too tight, lowering himself gently down after Sabé. "Safest place to be…I shoulda just stayed in the Temple," he grumbled under his breath, unaware that Sabé could hear every word that he was saying, and not noticing her smiling as she continued lower.
There was nothing terrifying at all about climbing down a cliff you could barely see, even looking down constantly, not at all, Caleb was totally fine with this.
For the twelfth time that day he lamented to why he'd followed the Force in the first place, even as it hummed in his ear.
He paused and looked down to watch Sabé continue her descent, but he must've remained still too long because when he made a move to continue, he completely lost his grip.
A loud yell parted from his lips in his surprise as he tumbled and fell, unable to grasp the wall and knowing without a doubt that his stop would be sudden and jolting.
His arm was nearly yanked out of its socket, and he swung precariously. Caleb opened his eyes and stared, finding Sabé's hand wrapped firmly around his arm, keeping him from impacting painfully with the ground.
"Careful, darling," she warned, though her eyes still had a twinkle, "we wouldn't want you to fall to your death when there's so much left to do."
Caleb's eyes widened in surprise especially as she began to continue the climb down, now one-handed until she reached the bottom, returning him carefully to the ground.
"Where did you learn to do that?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Climbing? Well, I did like to sneak around as a child," Sabé's lips twitched into a smirk. "I think I might still be small enough to fit inside the vent system at the Temple…" She winked at Caleb who couldn't help but goggle at her.
The vent system was more like a maze than anything else, really. It was a miracle anyone could make their way through them without getting lost, though he had to admit that Ahsoka had once tried it and hadn't gotten too lost, but she had ultimately gotten turned around and had been rather late to class.
There was a loud flurry of beeps, and they both looked up to see Arthree dropping through the air and Sabé extended a hand, catching him through the Force and gently lowering him.
Arthree would've used his boosters, but they drained his battery even more, so dropping and catching seemed to be the way to go.
"Come along, Caleb, we've still got a long way to go."
And Caleb followed after her on aching feet.
On the seventh day they took a break at noon and Caleb gratefully sat down while Sabé went off to gather some water from a nearby stream, her mask dropped down over her face, nodding to a few stray travelers, three Twi'leks with light pink coloring. The little kid between his parents threw a wave in Caleb's direction, and Caleb waved back.
They had stopped into one of the outlying towns for a night in an inn and slept in beds and had a nice shower and Caleb had never felt so strongly about sleeping in a bed, it had made Sabé laugh.
He didn't know how she could do it, always traveling and seeking, never needing to stop until the destination was reached. There was always something more to learn, to know, with Sabé.
She'd told him of the events that transpired after her return from the Dark Side, of eventually choosing to become an Exile than to return to the Order had lost its faith in her and that she had, in turn, lost her faith in. She'd told about her time with the House Renliss, finding companionship amongst the female bounty hunters that she never had in the Order. She'd told him about charting the Unknown Regions of space.
Then she'd told him about the different Codes the Order had incorporated over the years, she'd told him about the different times the Order had split, and what had caused each of those schisms, she'd told him about what every planet she could think of was known for, she'd told him about what some species found offensive and what they found hilarious, she'd told him about how it was a Jedi's role to make peace, wherever it might lead, else conflict could lead into all-out war.
Sabé taught him all that within a standard week without even being asked to. She was in her element in teaching, Caleb had been quick to realize, and Talik had been so very lucky to learn from her.
Another thing he'd noticed was that Sabé didn't try to push her beliefs on him, what little he knew of them, while at the Temple it had always been rather painfully clear about what was right and what was wrong.
With Sabé there was always room for…interpretation.
"Drink," Sabé said, reaching his side once more, extending the canteen to him and he grabbed it hastily, but her hands stilled his movements. "Slowly or you'll choke."
Caleb obeyed, swallowing little by little as Sabé pulled a ration bar from her pack and split it, sharing it with Caleb.
"What're we learning today?" he asked her eagerly. It was always something, and Sabé had been remarkably quiet for the past few hours as they'd trudged on.
"What would you like to learn?" she countered, situating herself a bit more solidly on the ground and Caleb watching as she straightened her blaster holster so that she wouldn't be stabbing herself with the hilt.
"Blasters!" His eyes were gleaming and she spared him a laugh once more.
"A Jedi with an interest in blasters, now that's a rarity if I ever saw one!" But she still pulled one loose and held it out for him to hold.
Caleb hastily set aside the canteen and took it in both of his hands. "Its…heavy," he realized.
Sabé smiled. "All weapons are heavy to the unexperienced," she replied. "When you first held a training 'saber, did it feel heavy to you?"
Caleb screwed up his whole face in thought. "I think so…" He drew out the last word enough to earn him a smile from Sabé.
"Compared to other blasters, this one is remarkably light," Sabé informed him. "This type is called DC-17 hand blaster, it's more automatic than some, but people prefer different weapons, and you're always the deciding factor…like, here." She pulled her bag towards her and Caleb watched as she withdrew another blaster, this one rather unlike the first in shape, longer and clunkier. "This is the DL-18 blaster pistol. It's very common, but you'll see it the most with smugglers and bounty hunters, it was actually a gift from Jalindas Renliss, one of the sisters that heads House Renliss…though it might've been as a joke, now that I think about it…"
Caleb took the second blaster, weighing it in his hands. It was heavier than the first one, that much was obvious and Caleb took it, holding it like he was going to fire it, wincing one eye shut as he pointed it.
"Careful there, darling, don't go poking anyone's eye out," Sabé drawled out with a fond smile and Caleb flushed, making to give it back to her, but instead she said: "How about we do some target practice a little farther away?"
He beamed and Sabé laughed again, ruffling his hair as she stood, and he eagerly helped her collect their things and begin walking again as Arthree made a disparaging beep at Sabé's side, to which she reached down to smooth a hand over his domed head, which seemed to mollify him somewhat.
"I think I see a good rock formation over there," Sabé said not ten minutes later. "That'll be a good starting point since you've never fired a blaster before and I won't have to worry about you taking anyone's head off."
That made Caleb scowl and Sabé snorted for good measure. "Don't worry, as you get better such precautions won't be necessary."
Caleb liked how she said that, showing how she thought he'd improve without a doubt.
They set their things down and Arthree stopped rolling, evidently guarding their stuff from a few feet away while Sabé put a few charges into the blaster and Caleb had to blink in surprise, not even considering that it hadn't been charged.
"Only put your finger on the trigger if you are ready to fire, these aren't toys, they're weapons," Sabé explained seriously, crouching at his side.
"What if I get hurt?" Caleb had the sudden image of shooting himself in the foot by accident.
Sabé arched an eyebrow. "Then it will be a good lesson."
Caleb could feel his exasperation growing, but then he focused on what she was saying.
"Now I want you to look over there to the rocks," Sabé pointed directly in front of them to the craggy rocks several hundred paces in front of them. "I want you to try to hit one."
"Any of them?" Caleb was surprised, that was a bit open-ended for her.
"Any of them," Sabé agreed, golden eyes glittering.
She helped him form his hands around the hilt, explaining that since he was unfamiliar with using a blaster, then he should be using two hands until he could handle using one. "You got it?"
"Erm, yup," Caleb said, suddenly less certain now that he was on his own.
"Don't worry too much, keep yourself loose," Sabé suggested, stepping slightly to the side so he was on his own. "Tight muscles can make you pull a trigger too early. Failure is its own teacher and there is nothing wrong with missing the rocks. It took me awhile to get used to using blasters, too."
Caleb tried not to let his relief show as he raised the blaster and fired, shutting his eyes quickly.
Sabé chuckled, her lips twisting upwards. "It does help to keep your eyes open, though," she mentioned mildly, "until you're a bit more experienced."
Embarrassment colored Caleb's face but Sabé's eyes suddenly grew distant and unfocused, her head tilting slightly like she was listening to something that Caleb couldn't hear.
"Mo—Miss Sabé?" Caleb slipped up and turned even redder, so used to calling her 'Mom' when other people were around.
"Hang on, Caleb, there's something I need to check out," Sabé said as though she hadn't even heard him, striding off in the direction of the rock formation. "Stay with Arthree for a moment."
Caleb looked to the astromech and he responded with a whirring noise.
Sabé, on the other hand, kept moving forward, keeping a hand at one of the blasters strapped to her legs, drawing it and preparing to fire when she rounded one particularly large rock only to pause and stare.
For a moment her heart had raced in fear because there was only one Twi'lek she knew with that particular shade of lavender for skin, but Talik was far too young and she hadn't tattooed her lekku yet, at least, that Sabé knew of.
The Twi'lek slumped behind the rocks wore a beige tunic that was tight across the chest and with loose sleeves, and at her side dangled a lightsaber.
There was a blaster burn into her shoulder and several into one leg, but she was decidedly alive.
And Sabé was certain she recognized her face.
Rachi Sitra, the Jedi Archaeologist who had followed Djinn Altis to Bespin.
Sabé had a very bad feeling about this.
AN: Rachi wasn't supposed to make an appearance but I found her again on the SW wiki and got inspired. A lot of minor Jedi had been brought up in the past few chapters and rest assured, there's a purpose to all of them.
At this point everything is going to be barely canon, a lot of future scenes depended on something happen that I realize now no longer will be, but I hope you all enjoy where this fic is going!
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
