In the weeks following that tense meeting with Taru Durn, Jacen began to increase the amount of training sessions with Garis and doubled their length; where one session would have been an hour, it was now two; and where another session would have been two hours, it was now four.
In that time, in between missions organizing more trade relations with various other companies for the Jedi Order's benefit, Jacen sensed that Garis began to find more of that balance within himself. The apprentice's mental state seemed to be improving; Jacen sensed that Garis was less agitated, more calm, and at peace with himself and with his surrounding environment. The young human's Force-presence was becoming more open, and Jacen could now get past his mental barriers thanks to his increased time with Garis.
And whenever Jacen did make a mistake here and there, Garis didn't lash out like Durn had described. No, he simply pointed out the problem, and Jacen resolved it.
Of course, that was where the real tests lay: having Garis prove himself that he could be a good Jedi in the future by testing his patience. In between training Garis and even showing him how to execute more complex Force-techniques - such as flow-walking or using the Aing-Tii teleportation technique - Jacen would make deliberate mistakes - mistakes that weren't so unbecoming of a Jedi Master - and Garis would show him how he could improve. Jacen never sensed Garis growing suspicious; these unofficial tests were sporadic and infrequent enough for Garis not to take real notice of.
So everything was looking particularly bright; and just in time to make preparations to leave for the Unknown Regions for Jaina and Jag's wedding.
But Jacen's hopes were soon put to the test when Garis encountered an opponent of the Unifying Force ideology.
The apprentice was touring the lush, green backyard of the Jedi Temple, where flowers bloomed to their fullest and most beautiful. They brought the expected level of calm and atmosphere in Garis's immediate surroundings, the kind that he would frequent after his sessions with Jacen were over.
However, that calm and atmosphere was soon disrupted by the appearance of fellow Jedi Apprentice Nelani Dinn.
The woman appeared from behind a bush of white Corellian booha-roses, glaring at her fellow apprentice with mild scorn.
"I'm surprised you're still here, Boric," she said. "I thought, by now, you'd be off in a mental asylum with ysalamiri repressing your powers."
Garis stared back at her as calmly as he could, even as his body tensed up in fear. "What are you talking about, Apprentice Dinn?" How did she know of his mental state? Garis wondered. Did Jacen or Master Luke say anything to her? And if so, why?
"Anyone who's actually willing to be Jacen Solo's apprentice has gotta be barvy," Nelani said. "Embracing all that Unifying Force, inner light and darkness poodoo."
Inwardly, Garis calmed down. So Nelani was going on pure conjecture here. That should help him, he thought.
"The other Jedi Masters are embracing it," Garis pointed out evenly.
"Not all of 'em," Nelani countered. "Masters Katarn, Hamner, Sebatyne, and Horn disagree. And the fact that both Masters Skywalker are starting to buy into your Master's... well, let's say misguided leanings is starting to disturb me."
"If you have a problem with how the Jedi Order is embracing this new philosophy, Apprentice Dinn," Garis said, "you can take it up with either Master Skywalker."
"I already did, as a matter of fact," she replied. "With Master Luke, specifically. You know what he told me?"
Garis shook his head.
"He simply told me that if I choose not to embrace the Unifying Force, then that's my personal decision," she said. "He's not even asking that if I don't accept it, then I should leave the Order."
"Then what are you complaining about?"
"Here's what I'm complaining about, Apprentice Boric," Nelani said. "The fact that the highest in the Jedi Order no longer acknowledge that the light and dark sides of the Force exist. If they don't see that anymore, then who knows what kind of decisions they'll make? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if, one day, Master Luke decides to have some pirates executed without due process. And from there, it could grow into an iron-fisted regime the likes of which haven't been seen since Palpatine. The Jedi would become no better than the Sith! And your own Master might kill Master Luke and take over ruling the Order!"
Garis bit back a snarl. Nelani was seriously testing his patience now; how dare she accuse Jacen of corrupting the Jedi Order? If this woman knew about anything that she was talking about... Garis let his thoughts trail off. She wasn't worth it.
"I don't want to talk about this any longer," Garis said politely. He then turned and started to walk away.
"What, are you planning to chop me up like Lumiya for hurting your feelings?"
Garis stopped dead in his tracks and turned back to look at Nelani in shock. "What?"
"Yeah, that's right, I heard about that," Nelani said with a knowing smirk. "Seha Dorvald and I are good friends, so she decided to divulge, to me, about how you handled Lumiya and how it disturbed Seha, Master Solo, and even Master Ramis. Your cold, methodical way of making Lumiya suffer for what she did to your Master was noticeable to anyone with a good eye, never mind to anyone who could read a Force-presence. And to those who can do that, they could sense your intent on wanting to hurt Lumiya pretty badly for hurting Master Solo.
"So, about you being in a mental asylum for being Jacen Solo's apprentice, and following his ideas about the Force, that goes double for you actually being a legitimate danger to yourself and those around you." Her expression and tone were as utterly challenging as they were formally put.
"What do you want from me?" Garis asked with a growl. His fists were clenched hard.
"To turn yourself in," Nelani stated, her body language unwavering. "For the good of yourself and everyone around you, leave the Jedi Order and have yourself committed."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I'll have to take you down myself," she intoned. Her hand went to her lightsaber, but she didn't unhook it from her belt or activate it.
"Are you really going to do this?" Garis asked almost angrily. "Here? Now? In this peaceful place? You'd be doing the damage, the destruction, Dinn, not me. Or at least you'd be the one to start it.
"No, that's not why you're confronting me like this," Garis continued. "My mental state isn't really of your concern here; especially not when I feel that I'm getting better from Master Solo's teachings. You simply don't want the Unifying Force as an ideology to propagate; especially not when Luke Skywalker himself condones it. You want me out of the picture so you and others like you have a chance of letting the Living Force prosper again; and to have Master Solo excommunicated from the Order, no doubt. You have a problem with him, I can tell, and you're trying to let all of your frustration about how his knowledge of the Force is being adopted into the Order."
Nelani was silent for a while, her hand unmoving from her lightsaber, as Garis raised his hands. "I offer no violence, especially not to a fellow Jedi," he said. "All I want is there to be peace, along with peace to flourish throughout the rest of the galaxy." Inwardly, he felt himself lying; he wanted nothing more than to hurt Nelani for all that she was saying. He wanted her to suffer, to lie on the ground in this garden in agony, with every nerve ending in her body being strained and broken by his powers, until she was nothing more than the mental equivalent of a squeamish baby for the rest of her life.
But that was not the Jedi way, as Jacen reminded him after that event with Lumiya. If he did what he truly wanted to do to Nelani, he would let her win in the long-run. The true way to defeat her was how Jacen would defeat his own ideological opponents; through words, not violence.
"You want to rape, pillage, and kill to your heart's content," Nelani countered. "Yes, I can sense it in you. And the Unifying Force offers you that moral gray area where you can go completely black; you can go dark, and you wouldn't even be seen as dark by the rest of the Jedi. Not by those who view the Unifying Force as guidance, anyway."
Garis shook his head. "If that were the case, I'd be a Sith." For a moment, he wondered if that would be his true calling. But he just as quickly dismissed that; even if there were anymore Sith out there, which he highly doubted there were, he would be dealing with an absolute again; an order that said that this was how it should be, and that was all. Garis vowed never to be in anything like that ever again after leaving the Theran Listeners.
"But, really, all I want is peace," he said, feeling himself lie. "So, please, let's not do this."
Nelani growled. "You're a liar! You're a psychotic liar! Admit it! You want nothing more than to-"
Her words were suddenly cut off when Garis suddenly smacked her across the face with his right fist; he didn't know how he just lost control. It was as if another being, another entity, had taken control of his actions, and allowed him to do what he wanted.
Nelani looked back at him in shock as she nursed her cheek.
"That's it!" she exclaimed.
She then unhooked her lightsaber from her belt, activated it, and struck out at Garis, who already had his own blade out and active to block it. The two of them clashed several times before Garis started to force her backward across the garden, with Nelani's strikes getting more desperate as Garis's attacks were becoming more vicious; the fight was allowing the beast inside Garis to come out, and he knew that once it was fully unleashed, he would make Nelani Dinn into nothing more than a feeble, broken human being writhing helplessly on the ground in agony. In a matter of time, Garis managed to get past Nelani's defenses and used the Force to blow her back across the garden even further.
He then stalked towards her downed form and struck out downward...
Only for his blade to be blocked by a gray cortosis shield that suddenly manifested in his way.
"Enough of this!" Jacen Solo's voice called out.
The shield then flew into his hands from off to Garis and Nelani's side.
"Apprentice Dinn," Jacen said, "shouldn't you return to your duties in the front yard of the Temple?"
Nelani stood up and nodded. "Yes, Master Solo. I shall return to my duty immediately." She then trotted away to make action to her words.
When she was gone, that just left Garis alone with his Master.
"Jacen... Master Solo... I-I'm sorry, she aggravated me, she made me-"
Garis's excuses were cut off by a wave of Jacen's hand.
"This is your last chance, Garis Boric," Jacen said in a low tone. "We must make for the Unknown Regions now. And if you don't pass the test I have for you there, then you will have failed as my student." Then, in a more regretful tone, he concluded with, "And I will have failed you as your teacher."