p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span style="text-decoration: underline;"A Padawan's First Kills/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"The Jedi do not kill, but at times the taking of a life is the will of the Force. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Padawan Kotoi Tananh swung. His lightsaber drew a green C through the air, led by the Light towards the neck of the Twi'lek woman. Her blaster was sliding out of its holster, eager to blast either the young Jedi or any of the younglings hiding under their holo-desks. There was no time. There was no other way./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Where Darkness gathers, the Light balances./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi had been trained for this moment. emIt will come when you least expect it. Do not welcome death, or revel in battle. Simply be ready for it. Give in to the Light, to the love of those you protect./em /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"But so early! It was only his second year as a Padawan, and the mission had not been expected to be dangerous. A simple escort mission in a transport ship, protecting some politicians' hatchlings while Kotoi's master was out in the thick of the emreal/em action. The Twi'lek - surely a bounty hunter - had taken control of the ship, and had burst into the nursery with guns blasting. Surely death is a just fate for such a being!/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi's lightsaber stopped under the Twi'lek's chin. She fired into his belly, and the plasma seemed to catch fire in something deep inside him./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"emMURDEROUS SCUM! KILLER OF CHILDREN! I'LL WIPE YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE GALAXY!/em/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"The Dark Side./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi swung. Her head came off./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"He later made a point to learn her name. Yaalya./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Two of Yaalya's co-conspirators burst into the room, and the young Padawan hated them. Mostly, he hated himself. Kotoi never was sure whether it was his hate or his shame that ultimately pushed through the Force and battered them against the walls. He felt their every vertebrae pop loose in unison, like an audience snapping to the beat of a song./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"The Jedi Temple commended him for rescuing the younglings. Master Donrabba said she was proud of him. "You were very brave, Padawan."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"But Kotoi knew better./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi's abilities were faltering. He struggled to lift even the smallest stone, no matter how much Master Donrabba scolded him. Yaalya's decapitated head sneered at him when he tried to close his eyes./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Do not feel shame for what you have done, for such things lead to the Dark Side."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Yes, Master."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Does the river feel shame for eroding the rocks over which it flows? You must meditate until you can recall the moment with serenity."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Yes, Master."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""It gets easier over time, Padawan. Do not be afraid."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Yes, Master."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi was confined to meditation duties for Donrabba's next three missions. He would stay back at the ship without moving for days at a time. He watched his guilt curiously, regarding the way the most compassionate parts of himself tried to writhe and twist the guilt into meaning. It had felt better when he had just let it burn, until he was corrected. Such things are not the Jedi way./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Still… this incessantwaitingstiflingembracing absence of himself./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"It didn't feel like falling to the Dark Side./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"But/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"It still/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Felt/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Like/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"falling/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Master Donrabba returned to her ship to find pieces of an entire strike team scattered about the landing pad. Yaalya's compatriots looking for revenge. In the midst of the severed heads and limbs stood Kotoi, serene as a sunrise./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Padawan… what… how did you do this?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Gravely, Kotoi handed his master his lightsaber and walked away from her ship and the only Code he'd ever known. She called after him, wondering why. Was it because he had felt anger or fear during his battle with the bounty hunters?/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""No," Kotoi replied, not looking back. "Because I felt nothing."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"The Jedi do not kill, but at times the taking of a life is the will of the Force. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Padawan Kotoi Tananh swung. His lightsaber drew a green C through the air, led by the Light towards the neck of the Twi'lek woman. Her blaster was sliding out of its holster, eager to blast either the young Jedi or any of the younglings hiding under their holo-desks. There was no time. There was no other way./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Where Darkness gathers, the Light balances./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi had been trained for this moment. emIt will come when you least expect it. Do not welcome death, or revel in battle. Simply be ready for it. Give in to the Light, to the love of those you protect./em /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"But so early! It was only his second year as a Padawan, and the mission had not been expected to be dangerous. A simple escort mission in a transport ship, protecting some politicians' hatchlings while Kotoi's master was out in the thick of the emreal/em action. The Twi'lek - surely a bounty hunter - had taken control of the ship, and had burst into the nursery with guns blasting. Surely death is a just fate for such a being!/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi's lightsaber stopped under the Twi'lek's chin. She fired into his belly, and the plasma seemed to catch fire in something deep inside him./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"emMURDEROUS SCUM! KILLER OF CHILDREN! I'LL WIPE YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE GALAXY!/em/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"The Dark Side./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi swung. Her head came off./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"He later made a point to learn her name. Yaalya./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Two of Yaalya's co-conspirators burst into the room, and the young Padawan hated them. Mostly, he hated himself. Kotoi never was sure whether it was his hate or his shame that ultimately pushed through the Force and battered them against the walls. He felt their every vertebrae pop loose in unison, like an audience snapping to the beat of a song./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"The Jedi Temple commended him for rescuing the younglings. Master Donrabba said she was proud of him. "You were very brave, Padawan."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"But Kotoi knew better./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi's abilities were faltering. He struggled to lift even the smallest stone, no matter how much Master Donrabba scolded him. Yaalya's decapitated head sneered at him when he tried to close his eyes./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Do not feel shame for what you have done, for such things lead to the Dark Side."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Yes, Master."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Does the river feel shame for eroding the rocks over which it flows? You must meditate until you can recall the moment with serenity."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Yes, Master."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""It gets easier over time, Padawan. Do not be afraid."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Yes, Master."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Kotoi was confined to meditation duties for Donrabba's next three missions. He would stay back at the ship without moving for days at a time. He watched his guilt curiously, regarding the way the most compassionate parts of himself tried to writhe and twist the guilt into meaning. It had felt better when he had just let it burn, until he was corrected. Such things are not the Jedi way./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Still… this incessantwaitingstiflingembracing absence of himself./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"It didn't feel like falling to the Dark Side./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"But/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"It still/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Felt/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Like/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"falling/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Master Donrabba returned to her ship to find pieces of an entire strike team scattered about the landing pad. Yaalya's compatriots looking for revenge. In the midst of the severed heads and limbs stood Kotoi, serene as a sunrise./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Padawan… what… how did you do this?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Gravely, Kotoi handed his master his lightsaber and walked away from her ship and the only Code he'd ever known. She called after him, wondering why. Was it because he had felt anger or fear during his battle with the bounty hunters?/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""No," Kotoi replied, not looking back. "Because I felt nothing."/p