The arrival of Obi-Wan and Anakin on Ryloth was met with little fanfare, the atmosphere surrounding the businessmen and Tanya thick with concern, tension, and deals being made. The biggest deals being one focused on a one time mass hunting party advertised primarily towards the aggressive Trandoshans and a large weapon purchase for local security and pest control forces.
For Tanya, the tensions surrounding her felt disconnected from the general tension and more personal. Noticing the general feel, Obi-Wan wandered over to where Labooda was watching the events unfold, her eyes constantly returning to her Padawan.
Obi-Wan surveyed the area as he stood next to Labooda. "Looks like you have had an interesting trip."
Labooda gave a heavy sigh and nodded. "You could say that. Things got a bit out of hand for a moment, but we managed to get everything resolved with no one dying."
"Oh?" An eyebrow raised, a smirk on his face. Obi-Wan was curious about the story.
Not wanting to talk about it, Labooda looked to Kenobi and noticed something off. "Looks like you also had an interesting trip." She grabbed a bit of his tunic under his robes that had a bright blue mark on it.
A bright blue mark in the rough shape of a mouth.
Obi-Wan's cheeks flushed a deep red color as he gently removed Labooda's hand from himself and fixed his outfit up to hide the stain. "Anakin and I were invited to a wedding. I may have allowed myself to indulge in the festivities a little too much."
"So the Sith-Slayer is capable of having some fun? Hopefully you were a good example to your padawan."Labooda smiled as her shoulders relaxed a little. The humor of the situation Kenobi found himself in served as a balm to her frazzled nerves.
Obi-Wan's face turned sour before he hid it behind a haughty mask. "I was a perfect gentleman the entire time."
Labooda gave a small laugh while rolling her eyes. "Sure you were."
—-
Tanya felt different to Anakin. A film of... something seemed to be covering her presence. Focusing on the feeling and trying to puzzle it out made Anakin realize he has felt something before on Palpatine. On the Chancellor it felt like the film that clung to a person after being near a grease fire.
On Tanya, it different. Slippery. Almost like the cheap soap from the market on Tatooine. Able to clean, but with a greasy feeling that stuck around.
Thinking about it, Anakin figures something must have happened to change how his friend felt.
Putting on a smile to hide his concern, Anakin went over to where Tanya was looking over some information on several datapads.
"Hey Tawn. How are things?"
The look Anakin got in return should have bothered him. It was the look of someone analyzing a good, deciding if it was worth buying. A look Anakin had seen too much when he was young directed at him and his mother. Anakin refused to let himself be bothered by it when it came from Tanya. She looked at everything that way, all the way back to when they first met when she got her Kyber crystal.
"Fine. I am just looking over the weapons trade deal to..."
Anakin let Tanya's words flow past him as he focused on how Tanya felt in the Force, only keeping enough of an ear in the conversation to keep Tanya talking with small responses. The gears of Tanya's presence were moving, but there was something off. The film coating everything was in the gears slowing everything down and making the tick unsteady, missing beats randomly.
Focusing back on Tanya's physical form and placing a hand on her shoulder, Anakin interrupted Tanya's discussion on something or other.
"What happened? Something seems wrong with you."
Tanya looked at Anakin before shaking her head.
"It is a female problem. I'll be fine." There was a brittleness in the smile Tanya gave to reassure him. Even when he was trying to be there for his friend, her first priority appeared to be his comfort. Anakin gave a warm smile in return as he allowed the topic to be dropped.
—-
It was an uncommon sight for a perfectly healthy Jedi to visit the medical wing of the Temple first when returning from off planet. It was uncommon for any Jedi to visit the hospital wing first, even when badly hurt.
The immediate visit of the youngest Padawan currently in training to the medical wing raised several red flags and got her into the exam room for a thorough physical right away, along with a battery of questions about the mission and the fight that occurred. By the time the doctor came into the exam room with answers, Tanya was mentally exhausted from the interrogation being poked and prodded for what seemed to be hours.
"Well, I have some good news and some bad news," the doctor began as she took a seat. "Good news is that you are perfectly healthy physically. The bad news is that you are experiencing Overconductive Force Induced Early Onset Puberty, or FIP for short. It is a rare condition in this day and age, but common among young Force Sensitives who get into dangerous situations and rely too heavily on their Force abilities.
"Symptoms are thankfully mild with the beginning of the pubescent cycle happening far earlier and often far faster than in those who do not go through this. The biggest issue you will face is a stunted growth as the physical aspects of puberty will be truncated significantly."
"So, I'm going to be short?" Tanya asked, annoyance leaking into her voice.
"Yes." The doctor nodded as she wrote something down before passing it to Tanya. "I am going to give you a prescription for steroids to help counteract it, and you will need to visit regularly for a check up while on them, but I do not expect you to get much past five feet tall."
"Five feet?"
"Yes. Without the steroids, you are not likely to get past four feet. It is your choice if you want to go through with the steroid treatment, we have several well respected members of the order that are barely above three feet..."
"I'll do it." Tanya's face clearly indicated that she was not a fan of the idea of remaining the size of Grand Master Yoda.
"Very well, I am also going to write you a prescription for nausea medicine. A common side effect of going through FIP is bouts of upset stomachs, nausea, and a connected decrease in appetite. Take one anytime you begin feeling queasy and combined with the steroids you should keep a healthy appetite."
Tanya nodded her head as she stared at the two prescriptions in hand.
—-
Mace Windu was not considered a sentimental person, nor one who gave into emotional whims. He could not allow himself to be such.
Many in the Jedi Order saw him as a stern, always serious man. A master of self discipline and control who never wavered in his convictions. A man with standards so high that falling short was an accomplishment in its self.
What precious few in the order realized was the daily struggle Mace went through to not fall to the darkside. As a young boy, Mace dealt with many strong emotions, especially frustration, anger, and doubt. Learning to temper his emotions and to control them was a long battle that Mace continues to struggle with.
The creation of Vaapad was a tool to help channel those dark emotions out of Mace and leave him at peace. A tool that was taught to a small handful of Jedi with similar emotional turmoil. A tool meant to help prevent a fall to the darkside through harnessing the darkside within. Most attempting such an action would only be drawn deeper into the darkness and eventually fall out of the careful balance such practitioners must always maintain. A knife edge where slipping into the dark or the light would have catastrophic consequences as the mental spiral will bounce them down a dark pit of cruelty and selfish desire.
It was for this reason that Mace grew concerned about the events of the recent mission Padawan Degurechaff went on. While the distance was vast, the echoes within the Force traveled fast. For the majority of the council, the disturbance would only register as a distant event occurring like so many ripples in the Force. For Mace Windu, Grand Master Yoda, and the particularly sensitive Plo Koon, it was a surge that needed investigation immediately.
With the entire High Council gathered, Padawan Degurechaff was brought forth to explain the events, along with Knight Labooda to provide extra context.
"A disturbance in the Force was felt from Ryloth during your mission," Mace Windu began the meeting, his body leaning forward as he sat. "The report you provided explained the circumstances surrounding the disturbance, but we require extra information."
"To start, we understand that you were not in control of your body," the orange skinned Plo Koon took over as he sat in a very relaxed position. His masked face directed to where Degurechaff stood in the middle of the room next to her Master. "Care to explain what lead to this loss of control?"
Degurechaff was silent for a moment before a smile briefly flashed onto her face that she schooled quickly back to neutrality.
"Yes. As the report indicated, we were surrounded on all sides by a swarm of dangerous creatures. As the creatures continued engaging us, pushing our abilities to defend ourselves and the defenseless civilians with us to the limit, I heard a voice coming from my kyber crystal promising the strength and endurance to survive if I asked for help. I did not know that it's help would include it taking over my body."
Mace Windu, along with the rest of the Council, took a moment to think about that before the large forehead form of Ki-Adi-Mundi's projection leaned forward to ask his question.
"You say your body was taken over. Yet your report also reads as though you have a first hand recollection of the events following the loss of control. How much awareness did you have during this... possession?"
"Full," Degurechaff's answer was immediate with no hesitation. The truth of her words ringing clearly in the Force. "I could see everything that happened, hear both the words coming out of my mouth and the surroundings, I could feel the way that... thing used the Force through my body. I was a passenger in my body watching everything happen without any input."
Mace allowed the questioning to continue as the Council members got as much information as they could about the event and Degurechaff's current mental state for a while longer before he raised a single hand to cut off the discussion.
"The Council thanks you for your time Knight Labooda and Padawan Degurechaff. We have much to think on and discuss. For now, you are dismissed."
After the pair left the room, the Council began discussing the revelations of the young Padawan's incident. The one that took up Mace Windu's attention the most was the way the kyber crystal was the conduit through which she was able to connect with her past self.
It was said the color a kyber crystal turns when attuned with a Force Sensitive said much about the individual who the crystal was attuned to. Though it has been lost to time exactly what the crystal's color revealed.
In this modern day, there were only two who had crystals in shades of purple. For a long time, Mace believed it was due to his difficult journey in balancing his Force. The emotional turmoil he fought against every day. A turmoil he had been believing young Degurechaff was having to fight as well. And yet, this discussion seemed to indicate while she still had a lot of dark emotions, she was not struggling to stay balanced in the light.
It would take time and meditation, but perhaps the reason they shared the same color kyber crystal was a similar status of reincarnation. A status that could explain the shatter points Mace was able to see. Perhaps it was a technique he learned on his previous life and if he could connect to his previous incarnation he would be able to learn how to pass the knowledge of the technique on to others.
—-
I'm stuck. My lightsaber is my life and no one is going to allow me to get rid of this accursed crystal. Master Labooda dug it out of the trash and gave it back. The High Council does not care that I hear voices coming from it and that it tempts me with the promises of power they warn the darkside gives. I just have to carry this thing.
I can't even switch the crystal out for a similar one. That damn false god had to give it an unusual color that only the Master of the Order has. There are no other purple crystals I can use.