Andean, Lervig's canyon

Jes and Marin had been training for almost two weeks now. Jes knew their time was limited and had hoped he could teach Marin two Kanta's of the Valianna style. However, Marin had mastered them far quicker than Jes had anticipated and he ended up teaching her four or the most common Kanta's instead of two.

They had trained the Kanta's, used them in sparring sessions and trained them some more. Jes explained that you practiced the Kanta's to make the body remember. You should never have to think where to put your left foot or how to block that kick. Your body would remember. One way he trained this was to throw small objects at Marin during Kanta training. Marin would have to dodge and name the object before it hit the ground without making a single mistake in performing the Kanta. This way your mind had to focus on the object, while the body performed the Kanta.

One time, when Marin had proven that she could perform the Valia'kei perfectly, even with her eyes closed, they'd moved into a dense part of the forest. The trees were only about thirty centimeters apart and Jes had asked her to perform Valia'kei here. Without hitting a tree. It took another frustrating ten times before Marin gracefully performed the entire chain of moves without touching a trunk. Jes always found ways to increase the difficulty so Marin's precision and coordination got better and better. Jes had also taught her how to perform Kant'ei, combined Kanta. Where you face your partner like in a sparring session, but instead of hitting each other you both combine moves from a Kanta without hitting each other. One fighter has to respond to the moves of another fighter. The result can only be described as an Echani dance. Though the dances were challenging and fun, Marin loved the sparring sessions the most. She got better at them as she practiced more and more. Seeing Jes starting to sweat after a long round, she started to realize how far she'd come from the beginning of their trip. She loved it. She hadn't realized how much she missed training and being tested like this.

"Marin, I know I've been pushing you harder and harder for the past twelve days. I would only do that if I think you could do it. Whether it's your bond with the Force or you experience in your previous trainings I do not know, but you're picking this up at an almost unnatural pace. Your fighting skill and your ability to learn have exceeded far beyond my expectations. We'll end this part of the training with one last sparring session. I believe you're ready. I want you to go all out, full-contact. Use everything you've learned to your best judgement and give all you have in order to beat me. You understand?"

"I do, " Marin hesitated. "but, are you sure about this?" Marin asked, doubting if full-contact was such a good idea.

"I am. Learning to fight is not without risks. Only when you give everything you have you can fully experience how good you really are. Only with the risk of hitting someone and getting hit yourself you will see what you can really do. "

"Ok, but I mean, what if I injure you. " Marin asked.

"I'll raise my hands above my head when I yield. So can you. We stop immediately at that sign. I'll let you get ready. We begin in ten minutes. "

"Alright, I'll be ready."

They circled each other slowly. Carefully watching each other to see who would strike first. Both their expressions where cool, emotionless. They had sparred with each other often and long enough to earn each other's respect in combat. Marin was nervous though. She hoped it didn't show. She knew she had to take the advantage of striking first and not give him a change to take the offensive. Well, she thought, it's now or never. And she struck.

Her kick was right on target and would have hit Jes on his right side. but Jes was quick. Quicker even then he had shown in previous practices. Jes didn't counter yet, she had to use this as an advantage and layed a combo of moves on him from one of the Kanta's she'd learned.

*low kick*spin*dodge*punch*punch*roll*jump*spin kick*low kick*

Jes managed to dodge all of her attacks but Marin thought she saw the hint of strain on his face during the last few dodges. Then Jes attacked. Marin saw it coming but the swiftness of the attacks took her by surprise. She had to struggle to keep her balance during her dodges and blocks but managed come out of it unharmed.

It must have looked spectacular to onlookers had there been any. Two fighters moving around each other in a blur, striking and countering. Sometimes using the environment to their advantage. Dodging behind trees, somersaulting from large trunks to gain the upper hand and strike from the flank, constantly moving. A fight that deserved a soundtrack. But it was quiet in the forest. Apart from the breathing and the moans from the fighters as they performed their dangerous dance.

Marin noticed she was getting tired. Her movements were getting sloppy and her muscles started to show light cramps during the more heavy attacks. But she also noticed it in her opponent. Jes was sweating and breathing heavily. Then, when he struck with a combo of heavy kicks she noticed a mistake. His lower left flank was open. She dodged his last high kick and deftly spun around, coming back at him with a sweeping low kick. Jes noticed his mistake and barely managed to block the incoming attack. It left him off-balance and Marin knew she had to take this opportunity and finish it now. She directly followed with a volley of attacks which should have brought Jes down but Jes responded with a series of blocks and dodges which Marin thought were impossible to pull off from that position. Marin kept going. Seeing that Jes was in trouble she turned up her attacks, using every bit of strength she had left in her.

*kick*jump*kick*dodge*flip*low kick*

The last few kicks had hit him. But he was still standing. When he executed a series of kicks in a counter attack she saw the opening again. Marin gave it all, her mind was a blur, time seemed to slow down and everything fell in place; The moves, the jumps, the kicks and the punches. Her feet automatically seemed to land in the right positions. Jes tried to counter with everything he had. And then, it seemed that Jes was moving slowly. Everything seemed to be moving slowly. It was clear to Marin. She saw it. She saw the fight, the dance. She spun backwards, easily dodging an incoming kick, and took Jes off his feet with a low kick to his standing leg. Before he hit the ground she landed a punch on his right shoulder.

When Marin looked up she saw Jes lying ten meters away, face to the ground.

"Oh no! What did I... I didn't mean to...Jes!" And she ran over.

Jes struggled to lift his torso of the ground and sat on his knees. He saw Marin approaching and started to smile. He was breathing heavily and his shoulder hurt like hell.

"Jes! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to use.."

"It's alright Marin. Aahrrg." Jes moaned as he grabbed his left shoulder.

"But I used the Force, and I hit you, and you told me not to but I did it anyway, and I don't know why, I.."

"Calm down Marin. It's OK, really. Believe it or not, this actually went better than I could have dreamed." And he sat down against the nearest tree.

"I told you not to use the Force because I believed that you wouldn't learn the essence of fighting Echani style. You would have primarily trusted your strength in the Force which would have limited your ability to learn Vaillana. I've seen the same in some of my recruits who were already experts in other fighting styles before I started to teach them. I hoped that as you learned to fight like the Echani, you would get better and better. And in crisis situations, which I tried to simulate with the full-contact match, I hoped that your fighting would feel so natural that your other strengths would automatically blend in to assist you. That is where I believe your strength lies in fighting, Marin. Letting the Force guide you and assist you. And I think that's what happened. Using the Force like this was actually the biggest compliment you could have given me."

"But I hit you, and you flew all the way over here! Are you alright?" Marin asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I've endured worse in my days. But I have to admit, that was one hell of a hit." Jes said, wincing while he rubbed his shoulder.

"Your fighting skills have surpassed my wildest expectations. Most soldiers I've trained didn't get this far in three months. The force really must be with you."

"Thanks, I guess." Marin said shyly not quite sure how to respond.

"Come on, enough for today. Let's get a fire going. I expected today might be tough, so I saved up enough food for tonight. "

"So, what are we going to do tomorrow?" Marin asked when they'd finished eating.

"No more fighting. Easy as you learn, it's also important for your body and mind to process what you've learned." Jes said.

"Or you're just afraid I'll beat you again!" Marin said playfully.

"Watch it young lady. I have a lot of tricks left to show you. We'll fight again!" Jes said with a smile. "No, I have a surprise for you. But it's still a day hiking away. So we'll leave tomorrow."

"What's the surprise?" Marin asked,

"Wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it." Jes said with a smile.

"No, I didn't tell you about this because I wasn't sure how you'd react and I didn't want to distract you during training. I've found something in the forests beyond that might interest you."

"Well, what is it? Tell me!"

"Ok, ok. You remember when we first came here, that we told the entire story to Art and Esper and they believed us without question? Well, in later conversations I had with Art I found out that there had been Jedi here before. At least one. "

"Really? Did they meet them?" Marin asked.

"No, they didn't. It was a long time ago when Art's father still owned the farm. Art remembered his father telling him about a visitor who belonged to the Jedi Order. Some kind of scholar, he remembered. He came here looking for something. But he also came here when the colony was just starting up and there were a lot of problems. The Jedi helped them out with some of the problems. Art wasn't sure exactly what he had helped with. He had been too young to understand it all but the colonists were really happy he had helped. He remembered his father speaking all kinds of good words about the visitor. And his father apparently was a man of few words." Jes explained.

"Wow, did he find what he was looking for?" Marin asked.

"Well, that's what I asked Art as well. But he didn't know. His father had never spoken about that. He probably hadn't known either. So I looked deeper into it and casually questioned some of the older colonists if they knew anything about this. I thought I had hit a dead end when Tannan pointed me to Jerec Woste. Do you know Jerec?"

"The old man from over at the lake? Never really met him."

"Yes, him. He's always been a bit of a loner but people say that no one knows the forests here better then ol' Jerec. Apparently, when he was young, he accompanied the Jedi as a guide through the forests a few times. However, Jerec is about eighty five years old now and doesn't remember everything clearly. He couldn't even tell me the name of the Jedi. Just that he was a Twi-lek. But he did remember where he had taken him. When I showed him a map of the area he pointed at a particular piece of forest. That's where the last expedition had ended. He didn't know what it was he'd found but the Jedi had seemed grateful for the tour. She'd thanked him and had paid Jerec enough to pay off most of his debts. Then he'd told him he could go home. Jerec figured he must have found what he was looking for. Now I don't know what it is he found or if he found anything at all. But I thought you might be interested in finding out, as a Jedi scolar. "

"Wow Jes, why didn't you tell me about this? " Marin asked surprised.

"Well, I wasn't sure I'd find something for a long time and I kinda wanted it be a surprise. I would have told you sooner if I'd hid a dead end. But, here we are now. I estimate we're about a day hiking from the place Jerec took her. I figured we would end this trip by finding out. What do you think?"

"Wow, Yes! Of course I want to find out!" Marin said excitedly.

"Good. Let's get a good night of sleep then. Today has been tiring day and tomorrow is going to quite a hike. "

The next day they hiked. Jes had taken some pain killers for his shoulder but was doing better than he expected.

Most of their training days had been in the forested grounds inside the canyon with one or two days of uphill training against the canyon wall. Today they started their day by hiking out of the canyon and into the forests beyond. Marin had been ready and packed before breakfast. She couldn't wait to find out what the Jedi had come here for.

At the start of the afternoon they reached a ridge of hills.

"The place Jerec mentioned should be somewhere over those hills, between those two hilltops. " Jes said.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Marin responded.

It was a tough hike to the top of the ridge. The slopes had been steeper than they had seemed from a distance and they were covered with a dense forest. They reached the top at the end of the afternoon. The top of the hills was mostly clear of trees, probably because of the storms in the rain season.

"There!" Marin said, pointing at a clearing in the valley behind the hills. "Looks like some small buildings there, or what's left of them."

"Well, what do you know… " Jes said with mild surprise. "Good chance that's what the Jedi was looking for."

"Come on, let's go Jes!" Marin said, already starting to move on.

"Marin, wait. We don't know what's down there, and it's already getting dark. If we make camp here now and move in the morning we'll have plenty of daylight to get there and explore. If we go now, we might have a hard time getting down the hills and end up being down there in the dark, unable to navigate and find our way to those buildings."

Marin, eager to explore the ruins, was frustrated because they were so close. But she also knew Jes was right. Navigating the forest in the dark was near impossible. And if the climb down from the hills was as challenging as the way up they would be in trouble for sure.

"Alright, " Marin said with a sigh. "I'll get a fire going."

Marin was standing in the clearing at the top of the hill. Except their camp was not there, and there was smoke rising from somewhere in the distance. She didn't see Jes anywhere. She tried calling him:

"Jes? Where are you? Jes?"

There was no response She heard only the echo of her voice.

Then she noticed the shadows where wrong. The sky was dark and the bright moon was in front of her but the trees around the clearing cast their shadows outward. All of them. As if there was a bright light in the center of the clearing. But there wasn't. There was just Marin.

Then she heard a voice.

"Marin?"

It didn't sound like Jes. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere within the clearing, but there was nothing there. Then she closed her eyes. And saw...

"Alive, you are then. Good news, this is."

It couldn't be...

"Master Yoda?" Marin replied doubtfully, looking at the small green creature who was now standing in the center of... Marin realized the clearing was gone. There was just Yoda.

"Yes, young Padawan. Powerful with the force, this place is. Strong, the light side is here."

"You survived! Are, where are you?" Marin asked.

"Far away, I am. But a connection through the Force, we made."

"Am I, am I dreaming then?" Marin asked.

"Hmm. Something like that. Connected through the Force we are. Long, this will not last. "

"Can I come to you? You could continue my training!"

"No. Failed, we have. Blind, we have been. Powerful, the dark side has become. Right under our noses." Yoda paused for a second, looking into the distance, and continued.

"No." He repeated. "In exile, I must remain for now. But, a master, you seem to have found already, not?"

"Who, Jes? He's no Jedi. He knows nothing about the force!"

"A Jedi, he may be not. But much to teach you he has. Changed, times have. Different times for a different kind of Jedi perhaps, hmm?"

Yoda sighed. He continued in a heavier tone. "Hunted, we are now. Essential, survival is. Teach you, he can. The essence of being a Jedi, learned you have. All your life, a Jedi, you have been. "

"But how will I learn to use the Force? How will I become more powerful?" Marin asked, sounding lost.

"Watch out, Marin. Dangerous, those thoughts can be. To a dark path they may lead. Never the goal, power is. Always a mean. Why need power? Ask yourself, you have to. When found, the answer you have, within yourself you should look. Within, the force is, always. A lot you have learned already. Learn to look within, and find power, you will."

"Isn't there more you could teach me Master Yoda?" Marin asked desperately.

"More to teach, there always is. But time, we have not I'm afraid." Yoda paused.

"Warn you, I will. A trial awaits you, I see. When comes, the time, look inside. Not just inside ruins." Yoda pointed what appeared to be a small wooden walking stick at Marin.

"But inside… you."

"Master Yoda, one thing. Jes told me how you two met. "

"Ah, yes. Interesting night, that was." He said with in a light-hearted voice.

"Did you know? I mean, that all this was going to happen?" Marin asked curiously.

"No." Yoda closed his eyes and shook his head. "Sometimes, a glimpse of what might happen, the force may show you. Recognize him from one of my visions, I did. Help someone, someday he would. This I had seen. So help him, that night, I did. More, I did not know." Yoda paused, he seemed to concentrate.

"Hmmm. Weaker, our connection grows. Gone, it will soon be. Marin, warn you I must. Always be aware. Powerful and bold, the dark side has become. Tempt you it will, at some point. Careful, you-must-be."

"But how will I know what to do Master Yoda?" Marin asked.

"Within, Marin. Within….. "

Yoda's voice sounded hollow and far away. "May the force be with you, Marin."

"Master Yoda? Master Yoda!"

Suddenly everything went white and she opened her eyes.

Jes was already up and was crouched next to her. "Are you alright Marin? You looked pale and were sweating."

Marin looked around. It was morning already. Jes was here and the camp was back where it was supposed to be. But it had felt so real!

"I think I had a vision, or something." She replied.

"A vision? Like the one you had when we were going to the temple?"

"Yeah, and no. I, I... It was master Yoda, he spoke to me." Marin said doubtfully.

Jes realized that this wasn't the time to start questioning her Jedi experiences and tried to lighten the mood:

"Master Yoda eh? I told you he was tough. Was he alright?"

"I think so, but he said he lived in exile. That I couldn't go there. Something with having failed the Order. He said it was this place Jes! This place helped us connect through the force. The force must be unusually strong here."

"Well, maybe it has something to do with the ruins in the valley below. Still want to find out what's down there?"

"More than ever!" Marin replied.

"Good, then you can tell me about the rest when we're underway. Let's get packing."

And after breakfast they started their hike down the hill, toward the ruins they had seen from the ridge. Underway, Marin told Jes about the vision she had. She left out a few details like the part about Yoda telling her that she'd found a master. She wasn't sure about that yet.

The climb down this side of the ridge turned out to be a lot easier than the climb up. They arrived at the buildings later that morning. They looked less impressive up close then from the ridge. In a small clearing there were three small stone buildings which looked ancient, all overgrown with the local flora. The light grey stone which the buildings where made of didn't look like anything Jes had seen on Andean. Two of the buildings had completely collapsed and were no more than a few crumbled walls with a pile of overgrown rubble inside. One building in the center however, looked surprisingly intact. Although it too was mostly overgrown with plants and roots, there was a narrow opening in the center of one of the walls that looked like it must have been a door once.

"Does this mean anything to you?" Jes asked Marin while they were standing in front of the intact building.

"Nope, never seen anything like it. Looks old though. And it's hard to make out any specific features with the plants all over it."

"Yeah, I see what you mean. Let's take a look inside."

As Marin squeezed through the narrow opening she saw there was actually light inside. A few narrow openings in the ceiling let in some sunlight which illuminated certain features in the small room. The room was empty except for a large, grey oblong table in the center and a mossy statue behind it.

"Looks like a tomb." Jes said suddenly.

Marin suddenly realized that what she had seen as a table was actually a sarcophagus. As she looked closer she saw that there was an inscription on the lid. Unfortunately most of it was unreadable. She could only make out what looked like part of a name.

"Bastillla.."

"Does that name tell you anything?" Jes asked.

"No, never heard of anyone called like that." Marin answered.

"Looks like the humid climate here has worn it down. Must be really old then." Jes said, looking at the lid.

"Yeah, I cannot make out anything else." Marin confirmed, and walked around to check out the statue. it was covered in moss and hanging plants. When she tried to clean it up a bit she noticed that the statue depicted the shape of a woman.

"Look Jes, whoever this was, it was a woman! "

She cleaned up the statue some more and noticed it was holding something in her hands. It was a long cylinder. When she brushed off some of the moss covering the cylinder she was surprised to find metal underneath. Jes came over and aimed his light on what Marin was cleaning. It gleamed a little.

"What's that Marin?"

"I don't know, I... It cannot be..."

"What did you find?" Jes asked curiously.

"It's a lightsaber. The statue is holding a real lightsaber, Jes!"

"Really? I've never seen one that long." Jes said, amazed at the discovery. It was far more then he anticipated.

"It must be a dual bladed saber. They're very rare these days, but certain fighting styles focus on dual bladed lightsabers." Marin explained.

"You think she was a Jedi?" Jes asked.

"I think so. Maybe even from way back in republic history. Too bad we can't make out any of the inscriptions. "

Marin tried to pull the lightsaber from the statue. it came loose quite easily. She cleaned off most of the moss and dust and examined it closely.

"It's in surprisingly good shape for how old it must be."

"I mean, all the electronics are broken but the casing is still intact and," With a little effort she tried to open the crystal compartment. With a bit of creaking the cover came off.

"Look, the kyber crystal is still there! Bright yellow, and larger than I expected too! The blades on this saber must have shone a beautiful golden light once."

Marin put the hilt back together and carefully placed it back in the statue.

"Jes?" Marin asked. "I can feel the Force is strong in this place. If you don't mind I'd like to meditate here. See if it might show me something. "

"Sure, I'll start making camp outside. I scouted the area on our way here and the valley seems safe enough. We've earned some rest I'd say. I'll be nearby, call me if you need me." Jes said.

"Will do! And, Jes?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for this."

Jes smiled slightly. "You're welcome Marin."

Marin sat down in front of the sarcophagus. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She could hear the birds outside. And the trickle of a small creek just behind the buildings. She felt the insects on the ground, and the small furry animals they'd seen in the treetops on their way here. She felt life flowing through the forest. And here, she felt serene. Like there was a warm blanket over her and there was nothing to fear here.

Suddenly, images started flashing in her mind. She saw a large city filled with tall buildings and busy with traffic which reminded her of Coruscant. She saw a round chamber where robed figures sat in a circle. She saw a young twi-lek practicing lightsaber techniques. She saw other, exotic landscapes; forests, frozen wastelands and deserts stretching as far as she could see. But she also saw large space battles. She didn't recognize any of the ships. Maybe it was from a long time ago. The imaged changed before she could make out any details. Some images where blurry, or flashed by to quickly to make anything out. Suddenly, she stood in a dark room filled with monitors. At the other end of the room was a large viewport. A viewport looking out into space. There was a battle going on outside but what caught Marin's attention was a dark robed figure who was standing at the viewport. The figure had a dark hood over his head and was looking out into space. It felt like she was moving closer and closer to the dark shape. Marin realized she was afraid. She felt fear running through every part of her body. Suddenly a crimson blade of light shot out from the right hand of the figure in the dark robe and he turned towards Marin. Where she expected a face under the hood she saw a mask, grey with a red pattern. For an instant she looked straight into the visor of the mask, then everything went white.

Marin opened her eyes. She was sweating and breathing heavily. She tried to get up and immediately started to stagger. She quickly grabbed hold of the sarcophagus and stood there for a while. The fear had flowed from her body the moment she woke up but the vision had mentally exhausted her. When she felt more stable she walked outside. To her surprise the sun was a lot higher then she expected. She saw Jes sitting at a campfire in between two of the buildings.

"Hey there, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to wake up." He said jokingly, then he saw the tired look on her face. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just a little tired. " Marin said reassuringly.

"Did it work?" Jes asked. "Did you have another vision?"

"Yes. I did."

"Did you see master Yoda again?"

"No, " Marin said. She didn't really know what to make of everything she saw. "I think I saw the past this time, through the eyes of whoever was buried here. I couldn't recognize anything; the architecture, the space ships, it all looked so alien! But I thought I saw Coruscant at one time."

"Alright, " Jes said. He recognized the weariness and confusion on Marin's face." I'd love to hear more about what you saw. But first, I made some dinner. you hungry?" Jes asked.

"Yes, let's eat!" Marin said with a relieved look on her face.

The following morning they were packing up their camp. Marin hadn't talked much about her vision any more. Nor had she had any new ones that night. She had slept like a rose.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here any longer?" Jes asked

"I'm sure. I've seen enough for now. Maybe I would like to come back here later."

"Sure, I don't think this place will be going somewhere anytime soon. What about the lightsaber? Don't you want to take it with you? Try to repair it maybe?"

"No, It was hers." Marin said, looking at the building.

"And besides, I think I want to be a different kind of Jedi."