Chapter 7: The Lost Jedi

Baylan Skoll watched as the coffin carrying the deceased Jedi Master was lowered into the crypt. When the sarcophagus sealed, a beam of light flashed through the glass viewport at the casket's head, obfuscating the face of the fallen inside.

Head bowed, Baylan felt anguish ripple through the Force and into him, the grief as debilitating and palpable as if it were his own. Glancing through his peripheral vision, he watched as his Master, Jaro Tapal – one of the most stoic beings Baylan had ever met – actually began to weep.

Baylan had not known that Qui-Gon Jinn would not be the last Jedi to be eulogized and mourned. Any more than he hadn't known, at least until fairly recently, that Jedi Master Yaddle had been his own Master's Master.

And now Yaddle was dead. Losing a Padawan, even a former one, as Master Dooku had, was one thing. To lose one's Master, even a former one, was quite another. Baylan tried to imagine how he would handle the bereavement if he ever lost Master Tapal. He found the thought too terrible to contemplate.

It had to be an even worse thought not knowing how exactly your Master died. The Jedi High Council had opened an investigation, but for now, very little evidence was to be had. Some Knights were already whispering that the murder might never be solved.

The funeral service over, Baylan followed his Master and the other gathered Jedi out of the crypt and ascended in the turbo lifts to the upper levels. Upon expectoration into the fresh air of the atrium, he reached out to Jaro, not knowing what to say but desperately wanting to lend support. Be of some use.

Jaro shook Baylan off, though had enough sensitivity to be gentle. "Please leave me in peace, Baylan. I… I wish to be alone." He trudged off.

Baylan watched the hulking Lasat go with concern. He shivered as he felt another presence sidle up to him.

"How is he?" Gellayria murmured, her voice soft and dulcet.

Still watching Jaro retreat, Baylan shook his head. "I want to help him…. I just wish I knew how…."

Glancing, he saw Gellayria smile wanly. "Listen to the Force. You'll do what's right."

She laced her fingers through his and squeezed his palm. Baylan felt a jolt of electricity shoot up the length of his forearm at her touch. Keeping his face stoic, the better to stave off his own tears, he continued on a path through the Temple corridors. Gellayria matched him step for step, at one point even leaning her head on his shoulder.

They were still holding hands.

Glancing to his right, out at the courtyard and the Force Tree beyond, backlit by the light of the setting sun, Baylan spotted a lonely figure at the base of the Force Tree's trunk.

"Excuse me," he turned to Gellayria. "I…. There's someone I need to speak to."

Gellayria bit her lip and nodded, reaching up to hug him. "Don't be too long," she murmured. "The evening meal will be soon." Dropping his hand, she left; Baylan felt an odd chill at the loss of contact.

He headed out into the courtyard. Ahead of him, his back turned, Master Dooku moved not a tick. Yet in the Force, Master and Padawan learner sensed each other's presence.

"Ah. Young Master Baylan. Has the service concluded?"

Baylan dipped his head. "It has, Master Jedi." It was the second Jedi funeral in only a handful of months, and the second that Master Dooku had skipped.

Dooku still did not turn his head. The backlight of the setting sun cast his profile in a kind of chiaroscuro, so that the man seemed of both the light and the dark.

"I was just off to the evening meal. Won't you care to join us?" Baylan offered.

Dooku shook his head. A beat, and then:

"It is good that you sought me out to speak to me. Goodbyes are always painful. …. I have resigned my position in the Jedi Order."

Baylan stared. "What? Master-"

"It is what's best," Dooku clipped, his voice still droll.

Baylan shook his head. "Your grief is that painful? I sense it." Though now that he concentrated, he could sense something else roiling the Jedi Master as well. It was…

…. Guilt?

Perhaps that was to be expected, however irrational it was. Surely Master Dooku would feel survivors' guilt even now, after losing his former Padawan apprentice.

But that these feelings were enough for Master Dooku to leave the Order itself… Baylan had never heard of such a thing.

Dooku turned at last, studying Baylan with interest. "You still have much to learn, young one. I am not the first Jedi to renounce our Order's ways. It is my hope that I shall not be the last…." Baylan didn't know what he meant by that. Dooku placed his hands on the youth's shoulders. Baylan found it amazing to think that he now drew even with the famed Jedi Master in height, even at a mere 18 year cycles of age. "Baylan Skoll, you have a keen and insatiably curious mind. Never let your instinct and desire to question lessen or die. Always question what you are told. Think for yourself, and your mind shall serve you well. I foresee that one day you will be a great Jedi Knight. Even Master." Releasing Baylan, Dooku turned away, back towards the Force tree.

"I shall be departing this evening to my homeworld of Serreno, to take up my rightful title as Count. Perhaps one day, you might think of making your own stand on principle and returning to Polyneus, as Lord." Dooku spared Baylan one last glance. "Farewell, Baylan Skoll. May the Force be with you."

He swept past Baylan and out of the courtyard, intent on departing the Jedi Temple for the last time. The once Jedi Master left the Padawan apprentice plagued with feelings of confusion and self-doubt.

Baylan helped Master and Jedi Archivist Jocasta Nu heft the large bronze bust into place on the marble stantion.

The likeness had been commissioned mere weeks after Jedi Master Dooku's abrupt and controversial departure. A resignation from the Order had not occurred in at least 60 year cycles.

Baylan glanced to his left, at the previous bronze bust that had, up until moments ago, been the most recent to depict a Jedi who had become disillusioned with the Jedi way of life.

Jocasta Nu followed his gaze. "Master Trennis," she murmured quietly. "A talented one. Strong with the Force. Beautiful, poised, elegant. She left not long after a particularly bitter dispute on Tatooine. Moisture farmers had been set upon by Tusken Raiders for a good three year cycles by that point, and the Jedi were called in to mediate. Talks broke down, and ultimately, Fort Tusken was abandoned."

Tatooine…. again with that godforsaken planet! "Is that why she left?" Baylan murmured. "Because the Jedi could not live up to its mission to maintain the peace?"

Master Nu pursed her lips. "Partly…." she hedged. "But the main reason is that she fell in love."

Baylan turned sharply. "Really?"

Jocasta nodded. "Master Trennis was stationed for many month cycles on Tawl working an undercover mission for the Order. There she met and fell in love with a farmer. As you know, young Baylan, the Jedi Order forbids attachments, especially the sacrament of matrimony. She resigned from the Order in order to marry her love."

Baylan pondered the bronze bust of this female Jedi, this good woman who would forsake the Force itself in order to wed for love. He now studied the newly installed bust of Master Dooku, who would renounce the Jedi way out of some misplaced guilt. Perhaps even in an attempt to run away from his grief.

Always question what you are told. Think for yourself, and your mind shall serve you well.

Now a member of The Lost Twenty, the chiseled expression of stoicism on the face of Master Dooku stared down at Baylan, as if in warning….