Chapter Six: "All My Points, Forfeit."
The visit from Master Caecinius and Master Syo left Canlyn with a feeling of urgency. As soon as they had both left, she returned to Master Yuon. She felt equal parts anxious and determined. If the Council was on the brink of restricting padawans to the Outpost, then there was no time to waste.
She found Yuon, pacing the room anxiously.
"Is something wrong, Master?"
"It's Qyzen!" Yuon exclaimed. "He hasn't reported in. It's not like him!"
It did not require a Jedi's senses to see her worry.
"I could go the waterfall and search for him," Canlyn offered. "Just to make sure he's all right."
Yuon nodded. "Thank you, Padawan."
"I will contact you as soon as I reach the waterfall," Canlyn promised.
It was dusk when she reached her destination. She sensed a presence in the shadows behind her. She spun, claws extending, ready for attack.
Ashara stepped out, an apologetic smile on her lips.
"Sorry, Lyn," she said. "I saw you leaving with that determined look on your face, and I just had to follow. I should have known better than to try to sneak up on a cat."
Canlyn relaxed, letting out a breath.
"Does your Master know where you are?" she asked.
Ashara shook her head. "Master Ryen was really mad about me going with you this morning. He couldn't punish me. Like I said, I did exactly what he told me to do. But I don't think he'd be in the most receptive mood right now."
Canlyn shook her head wearily. "You're going to get yourself expelled if you keep this up." But in truth, she was happy at her friend's company. It was already dark, and there was something ominous about the caves behind the waterfall. A darkness deeper than any night.
She shuddered.
"Do you sense it?" she asked Ashara.
Her friend shook her head. "Sorry."
Canlyn led the way, following that sense of darkness into one of the lower cave mouths. She and Ashara moved as quietly as they could through the tunnel.
There was a dim light up ahead. They moved toward it, scanning with eyes and senses for signs of movement or presence. Canlyn saw nothing, except for an unguarded cage. She looked more closely.
Inside the cage was a dejected-looking Qyzen Fess.
"Small hunters," he greeted them, his voice disconsolate. "You should not have come. Is only shame here."
Canlyn looked for a way to unlock his cage. Ashara waved her back and, with a small device tucked inside her robe, was able to pick the lock.
"I'm sure you're fully authorized to use that," Canlyn observed.
Ashara shrugged. "No one told me I couldn't have it."
Canlyn turned to Qyzen. "What happened?"
"Nalen Raloch," he replied. "He tracked and… captured. Used pain. Demanded answers about old thing, Yuon's Fount of Rajivari."
"Did Nalen hurt you?" Canlyn studied the Trandoshan, scanning him for injuries. "I can treat you."
"Just pain," Qyzen said. "Is nothing next to the shame." He allowed the two young women to lead him out of the cage, but his steps were listless. "Was captured alive," he said. "Is no greater dishonor. All my points, forfeit. Lifetime's score, gone. I am nothing. Scorekeeper turns face away."
"You're still a person," Ashara protested, "whether you have a 'score' or not."
Qyzen shook his head. "Small hunters. Do not understand."
Canlyn studied the cave floor. She still sensed the darkness, but it was more like a residue. A track.
"Yuon came," Qyzen continued. "Brought hope. Risked all to get past Nalen, to ask for last coordinate to Fount of Rajivari."
Canlyn stiffened at these words. "Master Yuon..." She cut herself off nervously, not wanting to increase Qyzen's shame. But there was no help for it. "My Master has not left the Temple."
The three of them went very silent, absorbing the implications.
"Could Nalen have used a Force trick to appear as Yuon?" Ashara asked.
Canlyn shook her head. Such a trick was beyond her powers, and she had studied for years. Nalen was all but completely untrained. It was impossible.
Unless...
"Nalen said there were other guides," she recalled. And Calief had not been located.
Qyzen followed the exchange between the two padawans. He might not have understood all, but he had grasped that he had been fooled. And he was angry. "Trickery?" His eyes filled with violence. "I will track and punish for this!"
Anger, the path to the Dark Side. Violence, the destination.
"I should report this to the Council," Canlyn realized.
But Nalen did not only have the final coordinate - He also possessed a daunting head start.
Qyzen echoed her thoughts. "Nalen has all coordinates. Fount of Rajivari is his to find."
There was no time to report to the Council. They had to move now.
"Tell me the final coordinate," Canlyn said decisively. "We will talk with Yuon on the way."
With Qyzen's coordinate, Yuon was able to quickly triangulate the Fount's location. If the data was accurate, Rajivari's store of knowledge was located in the Acropolis, the ruins of an ancient citadel located well south of the Jedi Outpost. Like the nine temples, it had fallen into ruin – but the structure had been so vast, a startling amount of it remained intact.
It would be quite the hike to get there. As they walked, Canlyn informed Yuon about the deception used against Qyzen. Her Master agreed that Nalen could not possess enough control over his Force powers to have done it.
"I believe he is working with Calief," Canlyn said. "It's the logical conclusion."
"Which means this has become too dangerous for padawans," Yuon replied. "You three should come back at once, and let an experienced team handle this."
Canlyn disagreed.
"There is no time," she argued. "If we are right, then Calief and Nalen have a head start on us. I don't know what knowledge waits at the Fount, but if Calief wants it, then it can't be good."
Yuon accepted her judgment, but also said she would make an immediate report to the Council.
"I know there's no point to asking you to wait for reinforcements before entering," Yuon said, "so I won't put you in the position of disobeying me. But be careful." Then she looked at Ashara. "I expect Master Ryen will be most unhappy with you."
Ashara laughed. "Master Ryen's always unhappy with me. I'll be fine."
The next hour of hiking was in silence, the three focusing their energy on making up lost time. Qyzen seemed frustrated at the two women. It was clear he was having to slow down to allow them to keep pace. Still, he did not complain. His capture had blunted his pride too much for that.
As they neared the Acropolis, Yuon got back into contact.
"Look for an underground chamber in the structure's northeast quadrant," she advised.
"I just hope tons of rock didn't collapse over it," Ashara said.
"That would actually be for the good," Canlyn countered. "However curious we may be about Rajivari's knowledge, the important thing is to stop Nalen and Calief from accessing it. If it's destroyed, then we have already won."
They were not so fortunate. A search of the northeast quadrant revealed an underground entrance. Juding from the surrounding piles of debris, it had only just been uncovered.
"Less than two hours," Qyzen assessed.
Canlyn felt those dark traces again, leading her in. She started for the entrance. Ashara stopped her with a touch on her shoulder.
"Two hours, Lyn. They could still be in there. It's not too late to wait, like Master Yuon wants."
Canlyn disagreed. "Two hours is also long enough that they could have found what they were looking for and left," she said. "That is not a chance I can take."
Qyzen agreed to guard the entrance. "If I see Nalen, I will kill him," he swore.
"Don't kill him unless he forces you," Canlyn ordered. "Whatever he has done, he is as much a victim here as anyone."
Qyzen grumbled, but nodded his reluctant agreement.
The underground chamber was vast, with corridors leading out in various directions. Ashara stood in the center, turning, trying to sense any movement with her Togruta montrals.
"If anyone's here, they're masking it," she said. She looked at all the corridors, several of which were collapsed. "I don't even know where to start."
Canlyn knew. The dark trail beckoned her.
"I can sense their steps," she said. "I'll follow the trail, but I'll need you to watch out for me."
"Always," her friend said, without hesitation.
They proceeded down the east corridor. It came to a junction. The darkness continued to call. She turned left. Then right. Then another left.
"I hope you're not counting on me to find the way out," Ashara complained. Canlyn ignored her, all her senses focused on the dark path.
They came to a chamber where the stone had been reinforced by layers of thick titanium. Made to survive bombardment and even the decay of millennia. The door was open, but it clearly had been sealed prior to today – There was not a hint of dust inside.
The walls were covered by computers and databanks, a repository of data that made Kaleth's library look like a bookshelf in a youngling's classroom. But what drew Canlyn's eyes was the figure in the center.
A bald old man in a Jedi's robe, whose shoulders slumped under a universe of burdens and whose eyes reflected untold sadness.
Rajivari.
"Of course, here is the other," he said, returning her gaze. "Seekers of forbidden knowledge always have their pursuers."
His form was translucent, but this was no hologram. Canlyn had heard of this phenomenon, though she had never thought to witness it.
Rajivari was a Force Ghost, as real and conscious as any living being.
"If you came for Nalen Raloch, he has been and gone," Rajivari told her. "So much is fleeting, but I remain."
"The Council struck you down thousands of years ago!" Canlyn protested, not quite trusting her own senses.
Ashara looked confused, and a bit worried. "Who are you talking to, Lyn? There's no one there."
Canlyn glanced at her, realized that her friend couldn't see the figure before her.
"Would you please watch the corridor?" she asked. "In case Calief or Nalen are still here."
Ashara gave her a look of concern, but agreed. "Whatever you need," she said.
Canlyn turned back to Rajivari. The old man seemed to be amused.
"Your friend is loyal," he complimented her. "I had loyal apprentices once. All gone now."
She approached him, resisted the urge to reach out to touch him. He smiled gently, clearly reading the temptation.
"It would be as touching air," he said. "I exist only in the Living Force. Nothing corporeal remains."
There is no death, Canlyn recalled. There is only The Force.
He continued. "When my body failed me, I refused to become one with The Force. How could I? The Jedi were still imperfect. Here, in my laboratory, I refined certain devices. I could give one chosen apprentice decades of experience in a single hour. An apprentice, to become worthy to carry my vision. I believed Nalen Raloch was a suitable candidate."
Clear regret in his voice now.
"A foolish choice," he said, "born of the desperation of millennia. Nalen's mind was sharp, but ultimately fragile. He is… changed."
"Nalen was already unstable," Canlyn said. "And he is under the influence of men with evil intentions."
"I should have recognized as much. I have made not a successor, but a monster. I wished to remake the Jedi. Nalen wishes to destroy them. Beginning with the Great Forge, where lightsabers are made."
The Great Forge was where the first lightsabers had been created. It was not a traditional forge – no metalworking was involved. Instead, it was a place of Force energy, where crystals were combined with lightsaber casings to create the Jedi weapons. It was no longer the sole place for this; many locations with similar Force energy had been located over time. But the Forge retained a significance both historical and spiritual. Since the Jedi's return to Tython, it had been made the padawan's final test – a pilgrimage to the Forge to create the new Jedi's first lightsaber.
"I know that the Jedi will retain the ability to create their weapons without the Forge," Rajivari acknowledged. "But the Order would be weakened in ways that go beyond the utilitarian." He fixed Canlyn with an urgent look. "Nalen doesn't know its exact location, but you do. You can reach the Forge before he does. You can stop him."
He noticed her practice blade, seemingly for the first time.
"That weapon will not suffice," he said. "But you carry the hilt of the First Blade. An old friend." He smiled, and again Canlyn was struck by how kindly he seemed. "A crystal from the Forge would power it, press it back into service as a working lightsaber. It is only fitting – The First Blade returning to battle at the Order's time of need."
"I am only a padawan," Canlyn protested. "I'm not ready to craft a lightsaber."
"You are ready," Rajivari replied. "Trust an old Master to sense this. In any case, the situation demands it. You must stop this abomination my knowledge has created."
Canlyn nodded. "Yes, Master Rajivari." She started to go. Then stopped, looking back at the old man.
"Master Rajivari," she said nervously. "You have held onto this existence for thousands of years. I can see the pain in you. Perhaps it is time to let go."
Rajivari sighed, with a weariness Canlyn could not begin to conceive of.
"Ah, child," he said. "You see only what the Jedi are. I saw what they could have been. My colleagues wouldn't listen. I spoke of strength, and they cowered. I spoke of a golden age, and they chattered about overstepping ourselves. Someday, the right acolyte will come to carry my burden."
"But don't you see?" Canlyn argued. "I watched your messages. You spoke of compassion, of the value of a single life. But then you spoke of killing, of destroying the Council, of destroying those students who did not follow you. Can you not see the contradiction?"
"Sacrifices were needed to strengthen the Order."
Sacrifices. Like the Council's willingness to sacrifice Nalen out of fear of a greater threat. Anger led to the Dark Side. Canlyn knew this. But she suddenly felt very angry, and unable to contain it.
"You weakened the Order!" she shouted. "You sparked a civil war among the Jedi, a war that scars Tython to this day. In your messages, you spoke of a Tyranny of Light. But when the Council disagreed with you, instead of seeking a compromise, you sought to impose your will – to create a Tyranny of Darkness. Your students were the best and brightest of a generation of Jedi. They trusted you, and you sacrificed them all in a pointless crusade for your own glory!"
Rajivari flinched from her words.
"My students," he said. "They were like my own children. Gifted, loyal. I miss them so." His shoulders slumped even further. Canlyn's anger disappeared, extinguished by the old man's anguish.
"You speak of things I had set aside long ago," Rajivari said. "Perhaps there is wisdom in your words."
Canlyn stepped toward him, entreating him. "If you stay, you will never be more than an echo of the past," she said. "If you let go, you will always be a Jedi."
He mulled that over and released a weary sigh.
"I gave my dream to Nalen Raloch," he said. "What I saw in turn was a horror. Perhaps… Perhaps it was always so. Please stop him. Correct my last mistake."
Canlyn bowed her head. "I will do all I can," she promised.
When she raised her head, Rajivari looked different. He stood straight, no longer slumped, and his eyes showed regret but no longer reflected pain. It was as if, a decision made, he had finally let go of his burden.
"You will succeed," he said confidently. "You are proof, I think, that the Jedi did not lose their way after all."
Rajivari clasped his hands together and bowed deeply. As he bowed, he disappeared gradually into blue smoke, which dissipated in the dead air of the chamber.
The old Jedi Master, the great teacher, the first Fallen Jedi… was gone.