"There is no greater evidence of the smallness of the Je'daii than Tython itself. We have lived here for generations but we stand no closer to understand its endless mystery. It is vast, it is timeless, other civilizations tried to tame it long before ours touched the stars, and all of them failed. Surely the Force itself is even further beyond us?" Osamael Or, Mirror to the Infinite, c. 1,000 TYA

11,340 TYA

The training camp on Ashla, nestled on the white-sand shore of the Isle of Seclusion, turned its face from Tython. With the planet gone and the system primary occluded, all that remained were stars. Deep darkness, pricked by countless tiny lights, spread from black horizon to black horizon. Save for the murmur of wind, the crackling of a distant fire, and the soft churn of unseen waves, Mal-Oba Talyak would have felt himself drifting in space.

He had done so before. Seventy years ago, when he'd been a young Knight, he'd gone to watch his own Master depart on an extrasolar mission from the ancient space station at Furies Gate, which swung around the very edge of the Tythan system. After watching his teacher's ship flash and disappear into the void, he'd donned a vacuum suit (and it had been hard to find one built for six-limbed, thick-tailed Talids) then stepped through and airlock and surrendered himself to the void. For nearly an hour he'd floated untethered in endless space, staring at the stars beyond Tython, wondering what lay there and what destiny the Force might have in store for Jedi leaving their ancestral home. The Tythan system had been their domain for ten thousand years, but in the end it was but a nest, the Jedi fledglings. He'd wondered about those distant lights and whether the Force really filled the black space between them.

Tomorrow he would make the same journey as his teacher. He prayed that his would end better; after leaving Furies Gates, his Master had never been heard from again. Seventy years later, Talyak still wondered what had befallen that wise Jedi and his companions. Had they been marooned on a far-off world? Had they found other beings to shelter them? Did they still commune with the Force and ponder its purpose? Or had they been truly lost to the great nothing?

Truth was swallowed by black. Whatever happened to Talyak on his expedition, it would have nothing to do with the one seventy years before. That, and that alone, he was certain of.

Wind, waves, fire. When he glanced sideways, Talyak could see the hunched form of the young human, Erakas, bent over the warming flame. Of Master Sohr there was no sign; perhaps he meditated in his tent or had already gone to sleep.

Then Talyak received his answer. A voice, rasping but quiet as a whisper, asked from his other side: "Will you miss nights such as this?"

For a second Talyak's two hearts pounded and his fur stood on end. Despite his large size and advanced age, Master Sohr moved with deathly quiet. Talyak took a step back so that firelight fell past his shadow and onto the Kwa. In this darkness, Sohr's vertical-slit eyes were like black, glinting wells.

"I suppose I will miss them," Talyak said at last.

"It is a lovely view, but I'm sure you will discover others in the worlds beyond."

"I am sure."

A question gnawed at him, one he hesitated to ask. Most Jedi who left the Tythan system never returned; many of those simply disappeared into the unknown. Master Sohr was a rare reversal, for he had been born among far-off stars, on an islanded colony of remnant Kwa, and found his way to Tython. Sohr was a wise being, and perhaps for that reason he usually refrained from answering questions about the worlds beyond. Better to let Jedi see and judge for themselves, he would say.

But Talyak ached to know one thing. He asked, "Do you believe that, in spreading ourselves to thin across the galaxy, we Jedi are weakening the Force?"

Sohr tapped his walking-stick into the dirt. "Can the Force be weakened? Do the Jedi have the power to do so?"

Over the millennia, this had been argued over many times. There had been a period where the Je'daii believed the Force sprang Tython itself, later from their connection to each other. Now the prevailing theory was that the Force existed all across the universe, like electricity and wind and water, and sentients could utilize it but not change its fundamental substance. Talyak had never been wholly convinced; the damage their ancestors had wrought on Tython seemed a final counterargument.

Sohr said, "In very ancient times, all sentient life could touch the Force, or so it is said. More likely they could feel the connections as fewer can today. My people could all touch it to some degree, as could our contemporaries and sometimes-rivals, the Gree. And the Rakata..." He exhaled. "Their deep, natural connection with the Force allowed them to be corrupted on a societal scale. The Force empowered them to be monsters the likes of which the galaxy has never seen… so perhaps it is good that the Force only speaks to a select few now."

So he said, but the melancholy in his tone was unmistakable. Talyak asked, "You were the only Kwa in your colony that could touch the Force, yes?"

"That's right."

"It must have made you very special."

"They said I had a destiny, but most of the time it was a burden I wanted to shirk. Until I found the Jedi, and a place to belong."

"So if we were to find another colony of your kind, and another who can use the Force..."

"I think that is highly unlikely. But if you did..." Sohr craned his neck back. "I hope you do your best to guide that person. The Force is a great and rare blessing. Its potential should never be wasted."

They stood quietly, watching the stars, listening to the surf-sounds that grounded them on Ashla's plain. They saw the approaching ship by its lights before they heard its increasing roar. Though Talyak could not make out any details, he knew it contained the third member of his expedition, Essan. The young woman had announced her decision to visit the surface of Tython immediately before leaving. She'd not asked permission, and nobody had tried to stop her. Still, seeing her return safely made Talyak exhale in relief. Her absence had left him tense all day.

Yet Master Sohr whispered, "She is pursued."

Talyak looked around the sky, but only the light of her ship moved. "By what?"

"Herself, I think."

The Talid thought on that. "At the end, she chose to return to Tython. To confront the Old City."

"Yes."

"Do you think she found what she was looking for?"

Sohr considered. "For what she seeks? I doubt she ever will. Some wounds you cannot heal, only live with."

It was grim wisdom, and probably true. As a Master and the leader of their expedition, he had been informed of what happened in the Old City eight years ago. The Council had scolded Essan for her recklessness, but no further punishment had been taken, as they believed she'd not been directly responsible for Correa's death. The incident had not been publicized and few outside the dwindling ranks of Tythan Masters knew of it, but anyone who did he could see the guilt that drove her away from other Jedi. The tragedy in the Old City had only heightened her desire to speak more deeply with the Force.

Essan's teacher already gone past Furies Gate. Talyak did not know what had become of him, and doubted he'd get the other Master's counsel about his troubled student. Essan was something Talyak would have to handle on his own.

As was Erakas. Talyak glanced at the human still hunched by the fire and asked, "What do you think your apprentice's greatest challenge will be?"

Sohr thought on that. "Action suits him. Stillness is when doubts assail him. Erakas has difficulty finding balance; not between light and darkness, as he thinks, but between hope and fear."

"Our journey is going to be a long one. Probably with much stillness."

"Then it is good your skills lie in that direction, yes?"

Talyak heard the smile in the Kwa's raspy voice. Sohr was right, in a sense. Among their dwindling rank of Tythan Masters, Talyak had a reputation as a being of philosophy and contemplation. He had spent at least a year dwelling on each of the inhabited worlds of the Tythan system, including dangerous Tython itself, where he had sheltered in the ruined temple of Akar Kesh. He had studied every ancient Je'daii text that had survived the Force Wars and could write a treatise on all the many theories on the Force's ultimate nature. Indeed, Talyak would have preferred to remain in this system for the rest of his years.

But that was exactly why he had to leave.

Since he'd floated in the void seventy years ago and stared into the great nothing, he'd been afraid it. Whatever the Jedi discovered in those distant lights could change their understanding of the Force. Some of their most core beliefs might be challenged, even upended.

That was bad enough, but Talyak dreaded something worse. He was afraid that, amidst the teeming vastness of the galaxy, all those species and planets and civilizations, his beloved Force might prove to be a small and useless thing. It would mean that he'd wasted his life mastering an airy nothing.

A Jedi could not succumb to his fear. He had to confront it. That was why, to the surprise of the other Masters, Talyak had volunteered to lead the next expeditionary team.

"Erakas and I have things we can teach each other," Talyak said at last, aware of the Kwa's intent eyes on him. "I hope the same can be said about Essan."

The Sith woman's starship was settling over the shoreline. Its engines roared as her shuttle flashed bright light over the encampment and extended struts for set-down. A strong gust of air snuffed Erakas's fire, but by that time the human had risen to his feet and was waving Essan to the proper landing spot.

Before the two Masters started toward the ship, Sohr said, "A word of wisdom, to one who already has much. They are young, but they are both Jedi Knights now. Their choices are their own and their fates are their own, not yours."

But they were still his responsibility, not as their Master, but as a Master nonetheless. More weights to bear, more possibilities to consider.

"I will keep that in mind," Talyak said, then went to join his new comrades.