"Unsettled you are, Bladesinger." The diminutive Grandmaster of the Order had approached her three days after Count Dooku's meeting with the Council. The quiet side room empty save the two of them.

"I figured that I would have been summoned to inform me of the current state of things after the Count had visited, but I chose to be patient and wait. Knowing that there is a chrono ticking down till everything blows, makes me want to be proactive on the problem."

"Not cleared for duty, you are. Intend to keep it that way the Council does."

"Why!?" Callera's eyes wide as her voice raises.

"If you are off duty,the Supreme Chancellor cannot call upon you."

Callera's blood runs cold as she puts it together, "The Supreme Chancellor can ask for specific Jedi to meet or to handle issues. As long as I am 'unfit' you can keep me out of his hands."

Yoda's nod is the only confirmation she needs, "Divided the Council still is on if Palpatine is Sidious, but all agree that until confirmation we have; away from him you must be kept. His safety the Council fears for if you are wrong, yours if you are right."

"So I can expect to be 'confined' to the Temple for the foreseeable future."

"Indeed, Jedi Bladesinger."

Her sigh is her only confirmation.

"Reread the report that Jedi Kenobi submitted for Naboo, have I. Interesting observation he made. Claimed Masters and Padawans are all attached to the order and each other."

"I did."

"Curious claim that is."

"Attachment is not what leads to the dark side. It is possessiveness, Grandmaster."

"Fear to lose those attachments..."

"Is possessiveness." Callera fills in. "But those attachments in and of themselves can and do lend us strength, even when we choose to let them go." She heads to the door of the room and closes it before rejoining the grandmaster in the middle of the room.

"Let me tell you a story of my order. A story of attachments and sacrifice; where they both led to strength and light and to darkness."

Yoda moves to a pillowed dias near the windows of the room. "Proceed, Jedi Bladesinger."

"The Vong were at the gates of Coruscant, and the New Republic was struggling to keep them from advancing further. The few Jedi around were helping where and we could, and the military was slowly getting a handle on how to take the fight to them regularly. And then these masters of bioweapons unleashed their deadliest hunter yet, the Voxyn. A perfectly designed Jedi hunter, being able to track us in the Force, poisoned barbs and diseased claws that could fell anyone before any healing could be done, acidic blood if we managed to fell it, and that scream, that Allya cursed scream."

Callera starts pacing in front of Yoda as the memories pour out, "I got lucky, was on a bulk freighter serving as a refugee ship when one came after me. It attacked near an airlock, and I was able to space it, but the sudden decompression and its howl took a toll on me."

The small statured grandmaster still, his eyes caring and steady.

"By the time I was fit, we had already figured out the key for destroying the Voxyn. In the Vong's need for a Jedi killer, they turned to cloning a single queen over and over again to pump out the numbers needed to kill us." Callera's head hangs with her next words, "And a strike team had already been sent to kill the queen."

"Guilty you feel."

She nods, "I know they probably wouldn't have sent me anyway. Before I had been attacked, I had been put in touch with Talon Karrde's organization to coordinate smugglers and freelance doctors Davos had put me in contact with before his death. Working to get more supplies to the camps that the Government couldn't or wouldn't supply going deep behind enemy lines with no support to kill a target, it's what Tamith Kai had been guiding me to do before I became a Jedi. A chance to put those skills to work, to save the Jedi and the Republic, to redeem them after my attempt to avenge Davos..." waving her hand at the memories.

"The story involves the people on the strike team, they are all heroes and deserving of the title of Jedi Knight. The core of this story revolves around our Grandmaster's niece and nephews. Twins and a younger brother. Jaina a fierce driven pilot and warrior, her twin Jacen a joker turned philosopher, and their younger brother Anakin. And the fact that almost the entire strike team was their generation. Friends, love interests, comrades all. They struggled to reach the Voxyn queen, a never ending battle of attrition, and then Anakin is mortally wounded and knows it. His love for his family and Tahiri, his attachment to them made it easy for him to let go and buy time for the rest to escape." her pacing picking up as her words grow heavier

"Except for Jacen. He then makes the choice to honor that sacrifice by completing the mission and trusting in his sister to get the rest out. And is then cut off from the force and his bond with his twin and left for dead."

"Rare is it for someone to be cut off from the Force so completely."

"A Jedi from my timeline, Vergere could do it. Somehow she had convinced the Vong she was nothing more than a familiar to be used, and then under that perception guided Jacen to free himself from the Vong, but she felt Jacen needed to be cut off from everything he knew to truly grow."

"Interesting to know so much of this, Jedi Bladesinger."

"Jacen was my pilot to Dagobah, and we did talk often before that. His strongest 'attachment' outside his family and the order was half-Dathomiri human, so she and I would often cross paths, allowing me to ferry messages between them on occasion."

"Attachment giving strength and losing the attachment giving strength between these two. Third is the dark path, the tale that falls in line with the Temple."

"Correct, saying that Jaina didn't take to losing her brothers would be an understatement. According to Tenel Ka and what gossip I acquired, she was definitely straddling the line between the light and the dark and leaning heavily over. But it was the attachments she still had that helped pull her out of that, and set her on the path of being a Goddess to the Vong."

"Goddess?" Yoda's head tilting in confusion

"The Vong were a very spiritual people in their own way, and some started associating certain Jedi with different deities. Jaina became their Trickster Goddess and many psychological operations were conducted embracing that perception."

"Interesting times you came from."

"That is one way to put it, Grandmaster, but to tie back to the attachments discussion. Attachments, bonds, ties; they're all degrees of connection. The test of the Jedi is knowing when to draw strength from them and when to put them aside. If they consume you..." She lets the words taper off and then continues, "Master Luke said once that a Jedi's life is sacrifice and I've found that to be true, but knowing when and how in the moment to do so is up to the individual."

The older of the two nods and gets up from the dias, "Indeed. Semantics it seems is the difference in views but come to the same conclusion your order and ours do. Illuminating this conversation was."

Callera bows deep, "It was indeed, but while I have you here can I ask for a favor."

Curiosity fills the Grandmaster's eyes, "Ask away."

"Can you grant me access to the Holocron Vault?"

"Access to the Vault is restricted to the Council."

"I know that, but they might be my only recourse to learn something."

"What is it you wish to learn and why?"

So she tells him.

"Dangerous games you like to play, Jedi Bladesinger."

"I am outclassed and outgunned in this fight, Grandmaster. Plus learning to use the Force like that might help me keep up with my overpowered Padawan."

"You will not be able to use the Holocrons alone if we allow you access."

"Master's Mundi and Windu would be good observers. Master Mundi would appreciate the logic and reasoning and Master Windu seems to have a mixture of respect and suspicion that I can work with."

"Accusations of special treatment will increase with this."

"My order acquired a Holocron and you wish to see if I can access one here that has a similar teaching module.."

"Ready explanation you always have, Jedi Bladesinger."

"It won't silence all the criticism, Master Yoda. But it is an honest explanation. No matter what I started as an outsider, they're always going to talk and question."

Yoda nods, "Basics of what you wish to study will be in the Archives themselves, show me that you have some aptitude with that aspect of the Force and I will talk with the Council."

Callera bows again before opening the door, motioning for the Grandmaster to proceed her out, "Thank you for not just denying me outright."

"Growing in the Force and as a Jedi is the goal of us all, your reasons for growing in this particular way are sound as is your desire to limit the chances of others finding out."

"Indeed, Grandmaster."