The Drowning Mermaid

"Again!" Uriel commanded, tossing Adrielle's electroblade at her feet.

"Seriously?" she groaned as she rubbed her right shoulder. So far she'd taken hits to both shoulders, left side of her head, right knee, left outer thigh, and the most fun of all, a thrust right to her midsection that had knocked the wind out of her for a good minute. "I probably won't be able to get out of bed at this rate."

"You don't get the luxury of breaks," Uriel replied sternly, "If you're going to be tagging along with us, you'll need to be able to defend yourself. And seeing how this past hour is probably more combat training experience than you've had in your first nineteen years in this galaxy, you're gonna need every second we can spare."

Adrielle took the electroblade, pressing it vertically against the floor to help get herself up. "Last I checked, there's only been one guy here smacking me around." Doing her best to ignore the accumulating aches, she tried to assume her stance.

"Wrong," Uriel said; how could she still not be getting it? "One foot in front of the other, and don't lock your elbows, not unless you want to lose your weapon or your arms within seconds."

She corrected herself.

"Now, let's do the drill again."

Luckily for Adrielle, salvation peeked her head out from the cockpit door.

"Coming out of hyperspace," Reena announced.

Adrielle deactivated her electroblade, and Uriel extinguished his lightsaber blade and reverted the power setting, as they both made their way to the cockpit. Upon entering, Adrielle's bruises and scorch marks caught the eye of Orrickos, who glanced at his former pupil.

"I don't remember ever beating you silly in our sparring sessions."

"I never had to learn a decade's worth of fundamentals in days as a matter of life and death," Uriel retorted, "And need I remind you of all the times Janiah came running to you in frustration whenever there was some sequence she just couldn't get?"

"Point," Orrickos conceded with a wistful smile.

Adrielle gazed out the viewport.

"It's rare that anyone outside the Order is granted access to the Temple," Orrickos began, "But given the circumstances, I'm relieved the Council granted our request. If there's anything to be learned, where better to go than the Jedi Archive?"

"And what better place to hide any and all navigational data to a world as important as Ahth-To?" Uriel added.

"You two have your tasks," Orrickos said, "As for me, I'll try to work with the High Council to arrange an excursion to Ilum down the line."

"Right…" Reena said, "And I'll… be hanging out in the Undercity. Only place in this world where I'm guaranteed no judgmental glances or indignant looks."

"Wait, then what do you call the looks I give you whenever you open your mouth?" Uriel quipped.

"It's called awe and adoration, and you can't convince me it isn't!" she answered with a self-satisfied grin.

Coruscant- Jedi Temple

Having lived on Dantooine for most of his life since being picked up as a Padawan, whenever Uriel had the chance to return to Coruscant and immerse himself in the atmosphere of the Temple—the natural magnified Force presence, the tranquility, the people—he couldn't help but wonder if he should've chosen to return here after attaining Knighthood. Not that he'd ever trade his time on Dantooine and his time serving under Master Orrickos.

He stole a glance at Adrielle, who judging from her expression, seemed to bask in the Temple's energies as well. Almost certainly, if Dantooine had been an oasis for her troubled mind and spirit, the Coruscant Temple must be a veritable paradise for her. After all, Dantooine's peacefulness was a product of the Jedi presence there; the Temple's peace and balance was ingrained into its very nature; in fact it was because of the concentration of the Force here that the Order chose to erect their Temple where they did.

"I trust you remember where the archive is?" Orrickos said with a slight smile.

"You kidding?" Uriel returned the smile. "All those times I took refuge there when it was time for saber practice?"

Adrielle couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at the irony.

"If I don't find you there after my audience, I'll meet you back on the ship to let you know how it goes," Orrickos finished as his path diverged from theirs.

"Okay, just follow along," Uriel instructed once Orrickos was gone, "And whatever you do, don't. Touch. Anything. Last thing we need is something get accidentally relocated and lost forever, or even worse, broken."

"I've been to libraries, you know." Adrielle couldn't help being put off by Uriel's admonishment. "Believe it or not I don't spend all my time at cantinas."

They made their way to the archive chambers. Uriel led the way to a wing nearer to the back: the astrography section.

"Information on countless worlds, systems… some known only to the Jedi, either for the sake of protection, or because sometimes these worlds hold knowledge or materials that the greater galaxy isn't ready for yet, or which in the wrong hands, like Sith, could irreparably screw the galaxy."

Adrielle glanced around at the shelves and terminals around them, as well as the currently empty holomap in the center of the chamber.

"So where do we start?" she asked. "I'm assuming all this stuff has to be organized in some way, yeah?"

"Given what we know of this world, or rather, what we don't,I don't think we'll find what we're looking for in any of the digital material. Meaning…" He glanced at one of the shelves and quickly back at Adrielle, who barely just caught the book that had come flying from the shelf at her.

"Get reading."

Adrielle threw a quick glare at the back of Uriel's head before she opened the book.

They were around an hour and a half into their search before Adrielle found something.

"Huh?" she said with a furrowed brow.

"What?" Uriel looked up from the tome he was perusing.

"Here, look." She brought the book to his table. "The first appearance of the name Ahch-To I've found that isn't just an offhand remark or a reference to some legend or history, along with what looks like a map." She brought the book closer to Uriel to get a better look. "But this isn't like any galactic map I've ever seen, holo or on paper. It's all jumbled and a mess, with this proverb on the bottom."

Uriel looked down; she was right. While the unmistakable shape and general "skeleton" of a galactic map was present, it was overladen with so many random lines, shapes, and seeming hyperspace routes that flat out didn't exist or would lead to certain death were some poor soul to follow it. Giving up on even trying to make sense of it, he read the proverb at the bottom of the page.

"'Dispel the shadows of the cave to allow the light of truth to shine proudly.' The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't know," Adrielle said, "But the book is pretty clear. This whole chapter is dedicated to Ahch-To. And I mean, why else would an astrographer put a map on the first page of a chapter about a planet if not to show the way there."

"Well maybe this writer spent just one too many hours in that cave of his," Uriel said derisively as he slammed the book shut in frustration. It took a couple seconds after seeing the cover for realization to dawn on him. "Wait a minute…"

Adrielle looked up. "What?"

"Topal," he said, looking at the name of the author. "I know the name. He was an early Jedi historian and early astrographer in general. His work was a major contributing factor in the Republic's successful exploration and expansion in its fledgling days."

"Which means he'd've definitely been alive back when this Ahch-To was easy to find," Adrielle deduced, "But how are we supposed to understand his map?"

"The shadows of the cave," Uriel clarified, "According to what I'd read about him, instead of teaching in the Temple, Master Topal chose to conduct his lessons and teach his students in the depths of a particular cave in the outskirts of the city. Assuming the cave is still untouched, we'll find some clue that'll help us decipher the map."

"Okay, but where's this cave?"

This time, Uriel went to one of the digital archives. A quick search and a couple minutes later, he found what he was looking for.

"Found it. It's not a terribly popular place, so it should probably be there. The occasional Jedi may make a pilgrimage there, but there're no formal shrines or monuments besides a statue of Topal at the entrance to that cave. Exploring undisturbed should be relatively easy."

"Then let's go," Adrielle said, getting up and taking the book.

"Wait!" Uriel commanded.

Adrielle looked at him confused. "What?"

He beckoned to the other books strewn over their tables. "Forgetting something?"

She sighed and began gathering up the materials.

Nar Shaddaa

Viah raised her glass to the Pantoran xenovirologist she'd just covered the third round for, after nearly an hour of listening to him drone on about the subtle differences in immunoreactions to hadeira serum between red-skinned Twi'leks and blue-skinned Twi'leks. Thankfully, three had been his lucky number to finally put him down, as she shook her head looking down at his unconscious form.

"Keep the change," she said as she tossed a few more credits onto the bar and made her way out. She accessed the list she'd compiled back in the Obroa-skai College infirmary. She'd been able to account for all but two of her "suspects" as casualties during the initial Sith attack, and she'd just left one of the remainders slumped over the bar behind her, satisfied that he was not the thief. Which only left one name unaccounted for.

"Lunan, Adrielle."

Viah hailed a taxi to take her down to the undercity. Upon disembarking, she began to wander the streets, going in the opposite direction of people congregated so that the crowds diminished as she continued her trek. Once she was in a comfortably secluded area of the undercity, she ducked into the most secluded alleyway in that area, doing a quick scan of the immediate surrounding area to ensure no one would be around to listen in or spy. Once she was satisfied, she activated her vambrace console and inputted the desired channel.

A few moments later, the image of Darth Judecca flickered into existence.

"Thavid," she began, "Should've figured my master would bring you on for this."

"He knows when a professional is needed," Viah replied before continuing. "I need something."

"In case you may have missed it while you were here, we're kind of in the middle of a war. I'm really not in the best position to be doing favors for anyone, much less helping you on your hunt across systems."

"That's actually why you're my best chance. If you can get one of your goons to check the spaceport records of any departures by vessels with neutral transponders on the day of the invasion? I've already accounted for any Republic-affiliated ships that fled. None of them had your thief."

"And does our thief have a definitive name then?"

Viah nodded. "She does. Her name is Adrielle Lunan."