"We've got time enough for one more lesson," Serana said. She pulled a necklace out from under her dress and handed it to Ashla. It had a small figurine of a raven on it, carved out of black crystal.
"This is a talisman," she explained. "For most things, it takes a lot of effort to work out the different steps needed to make it happen. A talisman is like a store for those different steps. I have one just like it." She pulled out another necklace. It also had a raven figurine on it, as well as a thin ring of gold. "This allows me to transform into a raven and back again."
Ashla examined the talisman Serana had given her. "Seriously?"
She nodded. "You can imagine all the problems with trying to do it by yourself. You've got changes in body mass, anatomy, you've got to grow feathers all over, you've got to keep your mind and your powers while you're transformed, you've actually got to know how to move around as a bird, rather than a human. Some people can do it in their heads, my sister could, but they're few and far between. A talisman encodes all that so you don't have to calculate it every time. Mine's not very good, it works for me and me only. That one, my father made it, he was a lot better at it than I am, and it works for anybody."
"Anybody?"
"Anybody. This is the problem with talismans. They need Nightsister magick to activate them, but the magick doesn't have to come from the person they're being used on. If I activated that one now, you'd be stuck as a raven until I stopped powering it."
She fastened it around her neck. "Thank you. How do you use them?"
"Just feed magick into it. It'll last as long as you can keep it going. The first few times –" Ashla squawked as she turned into a raven then immediately popped back into human form. "Yeah, that happens. The shock of it makes you lose focus."
"Can you make new ones?"
"I'll teach that later. It's long and complicated, and it needs time." They dropped out of hyperspace into orbit around Tython. "We're here."
Trees crowded around them. Their dresses rustled as they scraped over fallen leaves. There was a quiet, haunted air to the forest. A silence that they shouldn't break.
The ruins were overgrown. A few lines of stones that might have been the outlines of buildings. A fallen pillar, covered in ivy. Dead leaves drifted over everything. A gap in the trees allowed them to see the sky.
"What is this place?" Serana asked. "There's nothing here."
Ashla wandered through the ruins, trailing her hand over the stones. A faint breeze played with her hair.
"Ashla?"
"Shhhh. Listen."
Leaves rustling in the breeze. The sound of her breathing. Nothing else. With a start, she realised that was the problem. There were no animals, nothing scurrying through the undergrowth, no birds in the trees. Nothing but them.
"Can't you hear them?" Ashla whispered.
"Hear what?"
"The ghosts."
Serana stared at her. "Are you feeling alright?"
Ashla's eyes snapped open. "They're coming."
The Force vanished.
The ship exploded.
Troopers poured out from behind the trees. She went for her lightsabers and one of them shot her, hitting her in the shoulder. She yelled and fell. She could hear Ashla screaming. A Jedi loomed over her, smirking.
"You're the one that was causing so much trouble?" He laughed. "This was almost too easy." He shot her again, in the leg. She screamed. "Bring the girl with us. We'll bombard this place from orbit once we're out of here."
"Sir?" somebody said in the background. "Sir, this place –"
"– is a ruin," the Jedi interrupted. "Somebody knock her out, will you?"
Serana lay there in pain as they retreated. She couldn't move.
After a while, she felt the Force return to her. A bird circled in the sky.
The wolf loomed over her, blocking her view of the sky.
You messed this one up, didn't you? it said.
"Go away," she moaned. "Leave me alone."
The wolf settled down next to her. You can still help her.
"How?" she screamed. "How? How can I still help her? I did everything I could! What more do you want of me?"
Did you learn?
"Did I – did I learn?" She thumped her head against the ground. "I tried. I really did." She was crying now. "What can I do? I'm just one person. I don't stand a chance against the Jedi."
They are not Jedi, the wolf insisted.
"Yes, they are. They're the Jedi, and –"
THEY ARE NOT THE JEDI! the wolf screamed. The ground rippled with the force of its anger. They are nothing! Corrupt filth who dare to use a name they have no right to! Just because they can use the Force! Being a Jedi is about how you live, not just what you can do. You're more of a Jedi than they are.
She stared. The way it behaved... it was almost human.
"Who are you?" she asked.
My name is Doom, the wolf said. And I need your help. Please.
She sat up. Her injuries didn't seem to hurt as much. "What can I do?"
Do you swear to help those in need? Doom asked.
"I swear."
Do you swear to oppose tyranny and injustice, and bring hope to those who need it?
"I swear."
And do you swear to put others before yourself? Always?
"I swear." It came out as a whisper this time.
Doom rested his nose on each of her shoulders in turn. Serana Kol, I dub thee a Knight of the Jedi. The true Jedi. He met her eyes. Do what you must. And remember the oaths you swore here today.
She bowed her head. "I will."
He vanished, stretching towards the horizon and disappearing into a point. The pain of her wounds came back in full. She lay back on the ground, whimpering.
She could see a ship overhead. Its guns swivelled around to point at her.
She could almost see it. The darkness stretched out all around her, behind her eyes, speckled with stars and constellations she could now recognise. She thought she understood.
Several bolts of red energy erupted from the ships' guns, speeding towards the ground.
She did something with her mind, grabbed hold of one of the stars, bent time around space and space around time.
She vanished, leaving a Serana-shaped hole in the world that was quickly obliterated as the lasers smashed into the ruin, destroying it once and for all.
