Obliques: On the Shoreline

"I came, I saw, I kicked down any damn fool who tried to stop me. Is there any better way to live your life?"
Xer VIII

11,347 TYA

They gathered on another coast, overlooking the seas of another world. Mal-Oba Talyak had seen many coasts on many worlds, known many variations of color and wind and tidal rhythm, but there was something universal about ocean hitting land. Water and solid, two primal states of matter, the softer molding the harder stroke by stroke.

The Hand of Light and Dawnchaser sat side-by-side on firmer ground beyond the beach. The Jedi emerged from their ships and mingled in relief and amazement, but there was melancholy to their joy. These Jedi, who'd made their stands on Tepasi and Devaron and Corellia, had learned that the only home they'd ever have was with each other.

Talyak watched them from a distance, his back to the waves. Ashar Gell mingled easily, but the others kept a wary distance from Shen. Even though they'd learned a little of his story, they were uneasy around the Rakata. So had Talyak been, at the start, but he trusted that in the end they'd accept it.

Shen sensed their ambivalence and separated himself from the group. He walked up the short hill to stand beside Talyak.

"Give them time," the Talid said.

"I will," replied Shen, "but they are already asking where we go from here."

"It's their choice, of course."

"But they look to you for guidance. You're the Master."

"Daneel Kayn is a Master too." Talyak nodded at the Zabrak, currently in conversation with Moorai.

"That one is a Master in rank, but not in his heart."

Shen had gotten perceptive, not to mention subtle in his compliments. Talyak folded lower arms across his body. "I will speak to them. Together first, then individually."

"Is it time to return to Tion?"

"For you, yes." The Talid placed an upper hand on Shen's shoulder. "You can lead them."

The Rakata sucked in breath. "What of you?"

"I'm not ready, not yet. I feel something major is yet to happen in the Tion, and we'll need all the Jedi possible for it. I would like to travel and enlist more help if I can. It's fortunate that we have two ships."

"I am not ready to lead. These Jedi… you can see they do not trust me."

"You will earn their trust when they see how the Force flows through you," Talyak said with a smile. In the years since they'd left the Tion, Shen's abilities had grown immensely. He needed confidence to match. "Take the Hand of Light. Use it to guide yourself back."

"Do you know what's become of Essan and Erakas?"

"No, but I'm confident they still live. Let the Force guide your hand, like it guided us to you on Endregaad."

"You were following a generation ship," Shen reminded.

"And it led us across half a galaxy to you. I don't believe this was a coincidence."

He felt Shen's doubt, but Talyak believed it firmly. For years he'd feared that the Force was just a tiny thing, powerless against a vast and empty cosmos. But through his travels with the Rakata and a growing host of Jedi he'd been able to subdue that fear. What they'd gathered here might not be enough to defeat the great nothing, but it was enough to make a stand.

To defeat it they'd need even more Jedi, and Talyak intended to keep collecting.

"Come," he said, hand still on Shen's shoulder. "It's time to give them their choice."

Talyak and Shen descended the hill together. The other Jedi sensed something was happening and gathered around. And, while the ocean churned behind his back, Talyak spoke to them of what had come before. He explained the situation in the Tion cluster, how he'd found Shen's people, and the brother and sister Jedi left behind. He told them it was the time to return, for the Jedi would be needed there more than anywhere.

As Talyak spoke he watched their faces and knew them in the Force. He felt fragile hope bloom inside Vediah and determin-ation settle on Koltatha. From Kayn there was a resolve to start again, from Jecca and Ashar the will to serve a greater cause. He was proud of them all, because for what they'd endured it would have been so easy for them to turn away from a Jedi's duty. The only one he sensed doubt from was Moorai.

Though it seemed most of them had made up their minds, he told them they've have a night to consider. The Jedi went back to talking among themselves, now in sobered tones. As evening fell over the shoreline Vediah and Koltatha sat at a campfire and spoke. Kayn worked repairs on the Dawnchaser, comfort-ing himself with the relative simplicity of machinery. Jecca and Ashar took a walk along the moonlit beach, talking some, thinking more. Shen stood solitary on a hill, considering stars.

Moorai submerged herself in the ocean. Talyak sensed she wanted to talk to him and he was waiting for the Selkath when she emerged, foam and water dripping from her smooth blue-gray skin.

"Are you surprised how easily they've decided to go?" she asked as they sat on the sand.

"Have they?" asked Talyak.

"I can sense it. So can you."

"They do not make the choice lightly."

"Yes." Moorai looked at the darkened surf. "You truly believe the Jedi will be required in that place?"

"I sense something momentous is coming. If Jedi are not there, things may turn out far worse."

"And you believe our actions will matter? There are so few of us, and you know what happened on Corellia and Devaron. What happened to Master Sohr."

"I do."

"We were betrayed." Moorai almost growled. "Again and again, in different ways, but always by those we tried to help."

"Yes."

"And it seems to me that the vast majority of the galaxy does not care about the Force. They live their lives, happy and sad, until they die. Good and bad things happen. All we do is complicate things and frighten them, even when we try to help. Fear becomes hate, and they repay our good intentions with malice."

"You are bitter."

"That doesn't make me wrong. I thought this way even before recent events."

"Then why did you leave Tython?"

Moorai considered. "Tython is a dead world. I thought that by exploring the galaxy I could learn more about it… and the Force."

"Have you?"

He waited, but she found no answer. Instead, eventually, she asked, "Where will you go, Master Talyak?"

"I don't know yet. But I believe the Force will guide me, as it guided me to Corellia."

"I thought so." She wheezed a sigh. "I am not ready to go to Tython… but I am willing to travel with you for a time."

"I'd appreciate the company. I would be lonely by myself."

How strange to say that, Talyak thought, but it was true. Back home he'd preferred quiet study and had spent months in solitude on each of the Tythan system's worlds. Something in him had changed during his journeys, so slowly he hadn't noticed.

Hopefully, something would change for Moorai as well.

He told her, with a touch of warning, "One day we, too, will go to the Tion. We will be needed there.."

After a thoughtful silence she said, "I understand… I hope we can be prepared for this trial, whatever it is."

Talyak wished he knew more, wished he could tell them what they'd be facing, but all he had was an inner certainty that trial was coming.

A trial for the Jedi, and for the Force itself.