Chapter 21
"I am a Master in the Order Of The Force." Pyre Halvi tells them, both keep their expressions calm though both are very surprised. They should have been hundreds of years after that broke up. "Or what is left of it anyway." He says sadly, that made more sense.
"What happened to the rest of it?" Arl asks curiously, Dooku glares at her as Master Halvi's expression saddens significantly as does his student's.
"They left, differing views I am afraid. I must say, I expected the both of you to be aware of all of this. I am almost ashamed to admit that my student and I made an assumption, we thought you were a Lord of those who call themselves Sith."
"I was trained by one of them, I did not know there was ever a larger whole though." Dooku responds.
"And you? You knew nothing? You who has been trained in our ways. How is this possible?" Halvi asks Arlie who looks a little stunned.
"This village, that is all that is left of your way of life is it not?" He nods sadly. "What happened?"
"Our Order was founded on a singular belief, no one should ever have to be alone in times of trouble. So we set out to help people, guided by the force that would do as we willed it to when we required it's aid. Some of us felt our methods too aggressive, others felt it too subdued. They parted further when some thought we need not protect those who have turned to violence, but help those attempting to prevent it. The others thought them selfish, they thought the others believed themselves above everyone else. We are the ones who believe both, and neither. Those who wished to follow the original ways, not out of tradition but a sense of rightness. However, we are a dying breed, soon our ways will be gone all together. It is the will of our creator that those who have lost their way find it again, but that cannot be done until they are showed inarguably, that they have erred."
"What if your creator is the one who erred?" Arl cannot help but ask, he tilts his head on the side.
"It has occurred to us, and to her. She, like all others, is wrong sometimes. She is only human after all. But we must put our faith in our own beliefs above all else, and we believe this to be the right course of action as one body."
…She is only human after all…
…only human…
…only human… then it all clicked in Arlie's head.
"Have you ever met anyone who is not human?" The man looks surprised.
"Some visited long ago, too long ago to be remembered by any other than the creator. They told us when we were ready to journey beyond our world, we would be welcomed with open arms. We were not ready, one day we will be." Dooku looks quite surprised.
"Your language, do you know where it began?" She asks, they were speaking Basic, they were all speaking Basic. So were the rest of the villagers. Arlie and Dooku thought they were further forward than this and so there would be either Old Sith or Ancient Jedi being spoken.
"It is singular to our village, they speak Ch'blanc everywhere else."
"That's why I brought you back here actually, I was curious how you knew it." Eran adds.
"Why not ask until now?" Dooku questions.
"The force offers what is needed, for all we knew you were not and it was interpreting for us."
"Why the difference? Why speak this language here?" Arl asks.
"The Sith and The Jedi hunt us down, our old friends wanting to execute us for blasphemy. They speak variants on our old language but, the plans we have made for ourselves, our children and for them, they cannot know. Our creator has set in motion the beginnings of a plan to help them come together again in the future."
"What plans? Who is the creator?" Arlie asks, "And, why are you telling us this?"
"The answer to all three of those questions is in your destiny child. Look deep within yourself and far out around you, you will find all the information you need." She looks unconvinced, he smiles. "You require rest, we shall continue this tomorrow. There is a room off to the right that is for family of those staying with the Healer's, you may use it." Master Halvi leaves with their dishes, Eran hesitates for a moment.
"You should know Knight Arl, our ways may never be preserved in people for a long time again, but they will always be preserved in the force. I can see that you are scared for us, for the future, for our order, and for the force. All will be well, have hope for the future, have faith in yourself, have trust in the force." Eran tells her before leaving with a final smile to Dooku.
"Well that was weird." Arlie tells her partner who waits until they close the door of their borrowed room before rounding on her.
"What the force was that out there Arl? Were you trying to alienate them completely?"
"I just do not see why you are so smitten with them?"
"I am not smitten, I'm professional. You should try that instead of trying to get us kicked out of here! We came here for answers and we are making good headway."
"Headway we would not be making if I had not started questioning things. Do you not find it odd that the place we end up speaks Basic? That they just hand over intimate information of their order and it's destruction? The exact people we wished to find right there before us?"
"Arl, not everyone is as suspicious and paranoid as you, and no I do not find it odd. In fact, the more I think about it the more it makes sense. We are on Coruscant Arl, where our order started, think of all the artefacts and historical documents we have written off as fake because they were in Basic." Arl's eyes widen.
"Shit."
"The real question is, if this is the third sect, why is it on the site of the Jedi Temple? Or the original portion of it anyway."
"Did you just refer to the Jedi Order as our order?" Arl asks with a smile, he glares.
"I learnt new things, I did not abandon my beliefs nor my kin. I still believe I have a place in that order, if I did not I imagine I'd have left long ago."
"Okay that's another thing, did you hear Halvi before? He said that the room if for family, family, not kin." Dooku raises an eyebrow.
"All right, that should not be possible." They are quiet for a time, thinking it over.
"It is interesting what Master Halvi told us of the order, the belief it was built on. What he said about the Sith and the Jedi, it's just all too easy to see how it devolved from here. But why did it take 13'000 years to reach the point it is at now?"
"Well Arlie, it didn't. Both have been stagnant for a very long time, hundreds of years, perhaps more."
"That ancient text we found, do you believe it is written in this Ch'blanc they spoke of?"
"It would appear so yes."
"So, this area becomes the Jedi temple, that document from so very long ago is in the language the Jedi were using and their creator has gone off somewhere. Perhaps to the Jedi given we know she trained Yoda." Dooku nods catching on to her train of thought.
"You believe the creator will bring the Jedi back here, why would she do that?"
"I do not know Doo…sorry…Ty, what I do know is the creator wills this sect to die off quickly. Use of force-magic dies with it. Eran said that their ways would be preserved in the force, it was the force that taught my mentor. Whatever plan this creator had, the one she is implementing now, I believe it has begun in our time."
"Four time jumps later and we've only just gotten this far. But we were working blind before, now we can walk out that door tomorrow and learn what it is we are trying to become, to bridge the gap." Dooku tells her, she frowns thoughtfully.
"Dooku we cannot make it as it was before, it fell apart for a reason. We must make it better, more durable. Nothing ever lasts forever but hopefully our version will not result in many a galactic war. But this is it, this is when we decide the fate of our new Order, when we decide what and who we will be. It is not enough to combine the Jedi and the Sith and these…Traditional users, we must become more. There was something missing before, something we must find and create in the future." He nods thoughtfully determined.
"Then that is what we will do."
Arl and Dooku meditated for several hours before falling asleep. Still they woke early the next day and went out exploring. They split up to look around the village, Arl took the outskirts as Dooku looked through the village centre.
"May I walk with you?" Halvi asks Arl as she walks around, she nods smiling kindly as he falls into step beside her. "The healers say your friend will be okay but his recovering is taking longer than they first believed. I do not know how far you transferred, but your friend was not properly shielded from whichever part of the force you used. He is Jedi they say, so one would assume it was based more in the parts the Sith use. We both know there is no true parting but when one has only used one part, the other can be rather problematic to them if not trained correctly. Such exposure was very dangerous."
"Yes, I am beginning to realise that. I did warn them both but alas, they did not listen." She tells him honestly, he smiles in understanding.
"My student does much the same thing."
"Master Halvi, may I ask you a question about the force?"
"it is my job to guide in the ways of the force all those who seek to learn it."
"What is the force?"
"Many find my views on this quite…radical." He warns her, she nods for him to continue. "The force is a child, a traumatised one at that. I do not know why but this child did not grow up, something truly terrible happened that stumped that part of aging even as it accelerated others. This child was frightened and did not want to be alone, so the force reached out and touched others. We speak to it, we rely on it and we keep it close to our hearts, I suspect this comforts us far less than it does the child itself. In doing so though, we influence the way it interacts with us. If we always use it in anger, it will come to us angry. In a sense, I suppose, this child feels what we feel and amplifies what we can do with that feeling. The Jedi view such power as dangerous and so seek to purge themselves of emotion, a foolish endeavour as I am sure you are aware. The Sith rely on their emotions too much, it over rides their ability to think logically as well, both are needed for sound decision making and it is no different when using the force. There are those that believe our creator did not just create the order, but the force itself as well."
"But not you?"
"No, I believe the creator is the force." Arl smiles serenely, "I must say I have never gotten that reaction before."
"I am also often called radical for my views on things, being here and speaking to you, it is like coming home. Everything feels right, and balanced and…sane." She chuckles at her own bad description as does he.
"There is no such thing as balance in this world child, all we can do is try and keep both good and evil in check." He looks at her oddly.
"Someone once said to me, 'do or do not, there is no try.'"
"Sometimes all we have to give is our willingness to make the attempt." Pyre tells her, she nods in agreement, "Something is bothering you."
"There is something missing." She replies hesitantly.
"From what?"
"From the order, you have the Sith, The Jedi, you who are both. Sith that protect people, Jedi that protect peace, you who protect the order, but what protects the force?"
"The creator."
"But if you are correct, if the force is the creator, then she is left to defend herself."
"The only thing powerful enough to do so would be force-magic, and not all are capable of learning it."
"You said it is your job to guide all those who seek to learn the ways of the force?" he nods, "Where I come from, only select individuals are born with the ability to use the force." He looks astounded.
"All can use the force, some can from birth yes but all can learn."
"Such is the way with all things I feel. Force-Magic included." He considers her point before nodding.
"Perhaps they just need to find the right teacher."
"I do not believe it will solely be my responsibility to save it all, it's my belief that I must teach other Jedi the skill so that they may join me in whatever battle or situation I one day find myself in. Or perhaps I will not be there at all and it is simply my job to ensure others are prepared to defend reality from whatever threat is around."
"Or perhaps the right teacher needs to find them."
Dooku walks through the centre of the village in awe, he was standing in the past, the literal past. Thirteen thousand years in the past…did he mention he's in The Past?! He tries to take in every detail as he looks around, he's spoken to several people asking them questions about their village, their way of life and themselves. He never could help his curiosity to know what others do not, it is what led him to study the Sith and eventually to learn under one.
"Lord Tyranus, your friend is waking." Eran calls to him several hours later, he runs over in time to see Quinlan sit up and look around in alarm.
"Quin, you're all right, stay calm."
"Ty, why is everything watching me?" Quin asks with his eyes wide, Dooku looks very confused before one of the healers steps in.
"He's delirious, he needs to sleep it off, he'll be better when he wakes again."
"You hear that Quinlan? It's bed time."
He looks at him in complete and total confusion as Dooku gently leans him back to lay down on the bed, then he's fast asleep.
"He will sleep for sometime, when he wakes he should be more coherent though do not expect complete clarity, or the ability to focus well. Short term memory loss is also a distinct possibility, all will dissipate with time however his body and mind need to realign in himself and in the force. He cannot transfer again until he has done so or he will die."
"How long?" Dooku asks concerned.
"At least two weeks, perhaps more."
"What can I do to help him?"
"He will sleep a lot, but keep him grounded in reality when he is awake, help him to know the difference. He will suffer from dizzy spells that will last perhaps a week and a lack of appetite but that should return within a few days. I have never seen a case of this so severe, if there are any long-term effects, we will be learning of them at the same time." The healer tells him gravely, he nods his understanding and his thanks before patting his friend on the hand a few times and leaving the room to sit on the edge of the fountain in the centre of the village.
"Will he be all right?" Eran asks joining him when she notices he has left the healer.
"Eventually." He says resigning himself to a long and stressful recovery, he did not wish to burden the young girl with it though and so smiled brightly at her, "So what do you do for fun here Eran?"
Arl and Halvi return to the village centre to join the town for mid-meal, they find Dooku and Eran howling from the roof tops, the villagers look unconcerned at the display.
"What in the name of the gods is going on?"
"It appears my student has brought your friend into her games. I have yet to learn the rules of this one, perhaps he can teach me."
"Tyranus does not often mess around with people like this, though I suppose given the situation he's been dealing with for many years I can understand that."
"Perhaps being here feels like coming home to him as well." Arl smiles to the man as she moves to help the others set out tables and food before the village children, and Dooku, join them to eat.
Throughout lunch, they learn much of the villagers and give an edited version of themselves in return. They know they are hiding things from them but for whatever reason allow them to get away with it. They also joke around a lot, given the constant arguing or tension-filled silence that had plagued Arl, Dooku, and Quin for three weeks, it was a refreshing change.
After lunch, they catch each other up on what they had learnt as well as updates on Quinlan's condition before joining Halvi, Eran, and another child for afternoon meditation. This other child was Wren Pol, Wren is Eran's twin brother and the other student of Halvi.
By the end of their second day, Arl and Dooku felt perfectly at ease in the village, this put Quin on edge when he awakened the next day.
"No, no no, no no. This is not how you do you guys." He tells them as they catch him up on the basics of things, this took quite a while since they had to keep repeating themselves slowly when he didn't understand, they exchange confused looks.
"I thought you said he would be coherent?" She asks Dooku who shrugs.
"No shut up, I am making sense just not to you."
"That is the basis of coherency Quinlan."
"Arl, when you meet new people, you treat them with wary respect until given a reason to change that. Dooku, with a cold but diplomatic kind of detachment. How the fuck have you both gotten so attached to a village in two days?"
"If it helps, Arl was a distant ass for the first day."
"It does not, that should have been your job."
"Well to be fair, I did not even want to come back here and started everything cynically, he looked things over logically and eventually made me go out and see things for myself." Arl tells him, he considers it.
"Okay that is how you do you."
"Oh thank you so much for your approval on how I do me."
"Look there is something you guys need to know." Quin tells them quietly, "I did not think it would matter much but after what the healers told me I realised I had made a grave error. Maul…he…I…" Quin tries to say before beginning to panic and has to wait as he breathes it out. "He used to send waves of pain mixed in with pure darkness into me, I was the only one such things affected and he enjoyed…playing…with it. He practically trained my body to react terribly to darkness when exposed." Arl's glower is murderous.
"What else?" She asks shortly, he hesitates.
"When we get back, please, I need to be home to do this." He asks with tears filling his terrified and pleading eyes, she nods as Dooku rubs his back soothingly.
"There is of course two problems with that, one we can't go back until you are fully healed, and two you will just end up in the same state. Healed or not it could kill you, we do not know how to treat it like these people did." Dooku tells him, Arl shakes her head.
"Halvi told me that he was not properly shielded against the parts of the force he had never used. If we can protect you from it you should be largely fine. It's the in-between that is the problem, or what is in it anyway."
"What's an in-between, what is in it, and why is it the problem?"
"It is a place of nothing between two something's, a place that does not exist but has to for everything else to. It's…complicated. We may be able to cut down our time spent in there which may help but, I do not know how to get you in or out any other way then the way I did." Arl says, Dooku narrows his eyes at her, Quin didn't really seem to have followed any of that.
"You never answered the other two questions. I think we have learnt by now not to keep secrets from each other haven't we Arl?"
"I do not know what is in it. There cannot be anything in it but…I don't…I-I." She says, stuttering when she can't find the words, "My Mentor and I were attacked, it should not have been possible, she didn't have time to explain, and…and it doesn't matter, we can't change it anyway. I'm going to meditate." She announces abruptly before leaving. Dooku looks at Quin confused, he shrugs.
"Don't look at me, I don't even know what she said." Dooku just looks more confused at that.
A few hours later, once Quinlan is asleep again, Arl seeks her other partner out to smooth things over after her abrupt departure.
"We need to focus on getting home without killing Quinlan, whatever else is going on, we'll deal with it then." Dooku tells her when he notices her coming towards him with a regretful face, she smiles, thankful he is not pressing the issue.
"We also need to get what we came here for." He nods in agreement.
"There is one more thing, something was off about Quin when we were talking, I know you sensed it too."
"Just a little too slow on understanding us, going from talking oddly quietly to just a bit too loud, sometimes missing bits of what we said, yeah I noticed. He's not at 100% yet Ty, it's probably nothing to worry about." Dooku sighs before looking at her far too seriously for her not to be worried.
"Arl I asked him after you left, he can't hear us, he can't hear anything."
The next two weeks are spent like this.
Quinlan learning to shield his body with the force, Dooku learning how the people in the village live and Arlie learning how these people used the force and how it is taught/learnt. Quinlan was back to full health except one side effect, he was deaf. As it turns out, he can use the force to understand what people are saying, so long as he knows they are speaking so that he can focus the force that way. With practice, he could 'hear' something happening anywhere if he focuses on understanding what they are saying. He has to learn that alone though since no one else in the village is deaf to know how to do it.
"Master!" Eran yells running into the village looking severely panicked.
"Eran?" Dooku asks concerned from where he is standing speaking to Halvi and another Master of the Force.
"Master they are coming, the Western Dwellers, they have set up camp in the far trees." She cries desperately, whispers of fear spread throughout the village immediately.
"Are you sure Eran?" She nods frantically. "Show me your map, where are they?" He asks her as he pulls her over to one of the eating tables that a villager has pulled forth for them.
"Without knowledge of the trees it is a week's journey away." A villager says.
"If they know we are here, who's to say they do not have such knowledge?" Another calls.
"If they did they would have come from further North." Eran tells them all, several nod their agreement.
"Then you have a week to plan a defence." Dooku tells them, he being familiar with the situation between the village and the Western Dwellers.
"Will you not help us?" Wren asks as he walks over with Arl.
"I am truly sorry but we cannot get involved." Arl says looking genuinely apologetic.
"But you are involved! This is your home too!" Eran tells her, she nods.
"I know Eran, and if it were just us then I would be there helping in every way I can. Because this is my home and I wish beyond life that I could defend it. But there is a lot more at stake here than you know."
"What could be more important than family?" The girl's questions Arl who looks ashamed.
"I have thought that way before and it led to a quarter of a century of evil."
"Arl, this village cannot defend itself unless we have the whole village backing us up. That is how the order of the force works, we are not strong enough without the support of all of us." Eran tells her fiercely, Arl wonders if this philosophy came about through the Creators need to have all sides of the force backing her up to destroy a spirit.
"Eran if the lives of everyone in the galaxy rested upon your shoulders, what lengths would you go to to keep them safe?"
"All of them, it is our nature to protect those in need…oh." She says looking disappointed, Dooku kneels in front of her and places his hands on her shoulders.
"What belief is this order built on Eran?" He questions the girl.
"No one should ever have to be alone in times of trouble." He smiles.
"We may not be able to help defend you, but you are not ever alone. We will be with you, always, in here." He tells her pointing to her head, "And in here." He tells her pointing to her heart, "And in the force." She smiles at him before hugging him closely.
"Have hope for the future right Eran?" Arl asks, the girl smiles.
The village works to plan a defence, Arl, Quin, and Dooku mostly stay with the children too young to be a part of it in order to allow all adults to help. It was risky even doing that, but Eran was right, this was their home too.
"We have to leave soon." Quinlan tells the two of them one night, three days after Eran came running with the news of the Western Dwellers.
"Not for a few days." Dooku counters listening to the force.
"There is one more thing for us to see, after the battle, we leave." Arl says after making sure Quin knew to listen through the force. It was much easier to speak through the pairbond the three of them share but Quinlan had requested they not until they return home, practice for then. They were placing bets on how long before someone noticed.
A few days later, they hide in the trees as the Western Dwellers advance on the village, Quinlan has to look away from the battle, Dooku flinches every time they see one of their own be killed. Arl had been to war, had run it, this was nothing new to her.
They watched in silence as both sides slaughtered each other, but theirs was losing badly. They had been unaware that the Western Dwellers' had any Sith among them, this, Arlie felt, was the first time the dark dangers of the Sith life when not observed by the self closely, reared its ugly head.
Wren and Halvi were killed by the Sith ten minutes after the fighting began, Eran was half way across their village turned battlefield, but stumbled. She had felt every bit of the pain they were in, and she screamed. She projected that pain onto every. Single. Person on the battlefield. The three of them untouched, likely from distance. She tore her way through the battlefield, ripping the Western Dwellers apart with nothing but the force. By the time it was over, all were dead, on both sides, save for Eran, who dropped to her knees in the middle of the mayhem.
Sensing it all over, the trio make their way down to the girl who looked completely distraught as she observed the remains of her village, half of which was on fire.
"I did not, I, I did not mean for that to happen, any of it." The girls whispers brokenly when they grow near.
"What did she say?" Quin asks Arl as Dooku kneels in front of her.
"She did not mean for any of this to happen."
"I know Eran, what happens from here though, that is a decision you must make. Which path will you take?" Dooku tells the girl who looks as lost as they all felt upon arrival, not in the physical sense but there was a lot of unresolved issues in each of them. Issues that this village and the people in it did heaps to solve, seeing it broken and on fire, filled with the bodies of the people they all loved and cared for…it hurt all four of them. This was a place of healing, it always had been, they did not deserve this.
"I cannot be this, I cannot allow this to happen again."
The three stay long enough to light everyone's pyre's as is tradition for the order of the force.
"This tradition needs a name." Eran tells them as she watches her Master burn, he is the last remaining.
"It does not have one?" Dooku asks, she shakes her head, "Perhaps you should name it then." He suggests, she studies the flames with interest and sorrow before her entire being in the force is filled with a steely resolve.
"Pyre, the lighting of the Pyre. Then every time it is used, every time one of our own is lost, I will remember. I will remember where it begun, where I came from, and I will remember what I am fighting to prevent."
After the final embers have lost their glow, the trio hug their friend goodbye.
"What will you do now?" Arlie asks.
"I have to stop the Sith from hurting anyone, I know there are good ones out there, like Ty, but if there are more such as these, I must stop them. I have a way of contacting the creator, I will tell her of what's happened and if she allows it, I will join the Jedi. We will wage our war on these Darkened Sith and we will do it from here, where the war began."
"Just remember where you came from Eran." Quin tells her, "And good luck. All will be well." He tells her knowing it will remind her of her own personal code, she smiles.
"Have hope in the future." She tells them.
"Have faith in yourself." Dooku adds, Arl smiles at them before adding the last part.
"Have trust in the force."