The trip to the halls was rather uneventful. Darra did most of the talking, pointing out areas of interest to Anakin, such as the refectories and the guest quarters, where he would be staying after meeting with the Council. I stayed quiet for most of the trip, simply observing this young child who would have such a large impact on the galaxy.

Despite the initial introductions, Anakin was rather reserved and shy, really only speaking when Darra would ask him a question directly. For the most part, he was just taking everything in, eyes wide with awe. I could relate.

While my arrival at the temple had been marred with tragedy, once I had gathered myself and accepted what had happened, I spent a majority of my free time just walking around the place, experiencing things in person that had only been available to me in movies and books in my previous life. I could see the same kind of wonder I had felt written all over his face right now.

One thing I had a hard time with was how innocent he was. The movies kind of skirted the edges of this, but having him in front of me, knowing the terrible things he would do, was both unsettling and heartbreaking. It brought into stark relief how poorly the rigid mandates of the Order helped this child cope with the tragedies he experiences during his life.

The movies and books seem to imply that Obi-Wan did a poor job of building a healthy relationship with Anakin, especially during the early years of him being at the temple. While I won't absolve Obi-Wan completely of any mishandling of certain situations, the doctrine of the Jedi is the root of the problem. It's also very hypocritical. There's literally friendship rituals Jedi can do where they swap lightsabers to show the depth of their companionship.

I was stirred from my musings when I realized that we were walking through the doors to the Halls of Healing. I could sense Master Che in one of the back rooms, but I didn't recognize the young Jedi that was stationed at the front desk. It was a female Bothan, with shoulder length chestnut hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, with the customary Padawan braid over her right shoulder.

"Good afternoon, is there something that I can help you with?", asked the receptionist. She was looking at us with mild interest, polite enough but clearly just going through the motions of her position.

Darra stepped up to the desk, "Yes, we were asked by Master Windu to escort this young man down here to be checked out by a Healer before his meeting with the council." The Bothan's brow rose slightly at the mention of meeting with the council, but simply nodded and left to go inform Master Che of our presence.

A few minutes later, we heard a door open in the back of the office and the receptionist returned along with Master Che.

"Padawan Thel-Tanis," Che said once she looked the three of us over, "Thank you for bringing Mr. Skywalker down to see me. I was initially surprised when I learned he had been brought down even before seeing the council. The amount of forethought that requires seems to be lacking in young Tyris, but everything makes sense now knowing that you were around." Vokara said this while looking directly at me the whole time with a slight smirk on her face. The receptionist tried to hide a giggle behind her hand and Darra didn't even bother to disguise the laugh that burst out of her.

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit, Master Che. You've instilled a healthy amount of respect for ensuring the wellbeing of those within the Temple in Tyris," Darra replied, her own shit-eating grin now plastered on her face.

I snorted. "Yeah, if by 'respect' you meant 'fear of cruel and unusual punishment', then I absolutely agree with you, DT."

Vokara scoffed and rolled her eyes at me, "You're such a baby, Tyris. I've been nothing but the epitome of a professional with you."

"Are you trying to convince us, or yourself?"

"I haven't the faintest clue what you mean, initiate."

I felt my eyebrow begin to twitch. "When you realized that I had basically cured my malnourishment with the Force, you wanted to see if it applied to more physical ailments as well! You literally had me brought back down the next day, and when we were alone in the room, you literally grabbed a scalpel!" I looked to the receptionist while flapping my arms up and down for emphasis, "She was going to cut me just to see if I could heal from it!" The receptionist wasn't even attempting to hide her laughter at this point!

Vokara crossed her arms and glanced to the side, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. "I believe that interaction falls under patient-doctor confidentiality, Tyris. It's not very professional of you to go sharing it with everyone."

"That's supposed to protect the patient, not the physician!"

"Yes, well, it was only going to be the tiniest of scratches. Really, you are making a bantha out of a womp rat," She said, suddenly very interested in something on her fingernails, continuing to not look at anyone.

"You don't even believe the words coming out of your mouth!" I yelled, pointing at her with a victorious grin on my face. I had backed her into a corner and we both knew it. Chalk one up to the home team! That's one for me and…. Y'know what, on second thought, who's keeping score?

Vokara cleared her throat and then finally straightened up and looked at me. "Kelborn, are we going to continue to debate the efficacy and ethics of my work, or are you going to let me actually examine Mister Skywalker?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"By all means," I said, waving her towards Anakin, knowing I'd definitely won this round and willing to be gracious in victory.

"Speaking of," Vokara said, with a curious tone to her voice, "Would you care to explain to me why you look like you fell into a crate of training sabers?" She pinned me with a stare that I was all too familiar with.

However, this time, I didn't feel the dread that customarily accompanied this particular stare.

"Well, that's a funny story, Master Che…"

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Elsewhere in the temple, a particular Correllian Jedi was meditating in his chambers when he felt an icy chill run down his spine. He glanced around for the source of this feeling, but could find nothing amiss.

He shrugged and resumed his meditation.

Feels like someone just walked on my grave….

THIS IS A LINE BREAK

The next couple of weeks went by rather quickly. Anakin met with the council several times, and just like in canon, they initially refused to accept him for training. I was always confused about this part in the movie. I know that Qui-Gon was going to disregard the Council and train Anakin anyways, but I always wondered why the council didn't make more of a stink about Anakin going with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan back to Naboo. Apparently there is a precedent for a situation like this. If a Master brings a hopeful to the council for training, and said council refuses, it is the Master's responsibility to safely return the individual home.

This information also put a timer on my opportunity to hopefully modify the outcome of the Battle of Naboo. I was struggling with how to do this, because I wanted to be forward enough to prevent Qui-Gon's death, but also subtle enough to not change anything else pertaining to those events.

In the end, I decided to just keep it simple.

THIS IS A LINE BREAK

I always found the whirling lights and clashing of lightsabers during a duel to be soothing. I'd discovered that I did my best thinking while I was locked in combat with another individual. My thoughts were sharper and always seemed to come faster. The motions of the lightsaber stances, the velocities of the blade work, it gave me a similar feeling that I got whenever I was meditating. I'd heard of moving meditation before, but I thought that only applied when one was doing it by themselves, but I seemed to dip into it whenever I got comfortable with my opponent.

"You're good, Ty, much better than I was at your age, but I find it a little insulting that you think you can meditate in the middle of a duel with me."

Right on cue, I felt a burning pain right at the crux of my elbow, with enough force to drive my arm up and my lightsaber completely off to the side, pointing straight down. This was followed by a quick roundhouse straight to my solar plexus that had me lifted off my feet and flying back several feet, before I slid to a stop on my back.

I grumbled a little before getting back to my feet. "No insult was intended, Obi-Wan. Just have a lot on my mind right now." I raised my lightsaber back up into a proper Makashi guard. "Let's go again, I won't let my mind wander this time.

Obi-Wan, who had agreed to a spar when I'd asked, nodded and fell back into his own Soresu guard. We both stood motionless, considering our opening moves for the spar. My form, Makashi, was universally regarded as the most effective against other lightsaber users. It resembled fencing from my original life, and utilized precision and finesse, finding the gaps in a guard and working around the opponent's defense rather than using brute force. This was ideal considering my small frame.

It wasn't my strongest form by any means. Shii-Cho, Form I, was still the form I was most proficient in. This was understandable, as it was the first form I learned and the one I most often used unless I was dueling a much older opponent. I was also getting more proficient in Juyo, though I had to keep the fact that I knew this form quiet as most Jedi need approval from the council in order to learn it, due to its aggressive nature. I was able to pass off using it during my duel with Aayla as just having observed other Jedi using it and being a natural with the blade.

Makashi was one I had been working on for a while now, and of all the forms, was probably one of the most important ones that I learn, along with Soresu. Almost all of the most dangerous people I might come into conflict with in this galaxy used lightsabers, so it was important that I get as much practical experience with the form in a controlled environment as possible.

In contrast, Obi-Wan's Form III, Soresu, was considered the ultimate defense against any form of attack. It was said that a true master of Form III was invincible. While Obi-Wan wasn't where he would be (the guy defeated an opponent who used 4 lightsabers without so much as a scratch) he still was no slouch, and his experience gave him an advantage I had no hope of matching. In a true battle, I have no doubt I wouldn't stand a chance, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to make him work for it in this spar.

With that thought, I made the first move. We were only about 10 feet apart, so I took two quick steps forward, feinted a jab towards Obi-Wan's lead leg, and curled my wrist at the last second to try and catch his wrist while he was maneuvering his lightsaber to defend against the first strike. Unsurprisingly, my blade was met by his, but, after a split second analysis I realized that he had angled his blade in such a way that regardless which strike was the true attack, they both would have been blocked. Maximum defense with minimal effort. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. I felt a smirk begin to pull at my mouth. I'd sparred Obi-Wan several times, but something was telling me he was taking this more seriously than the rest.

I disengaged our lock and immediately went into a backhanded diagonal slash followed by a forward thrust meant to break his center of gravity. If I could get him to shift his feet, it would open up holes in his guard I could exploit. As long as he kept his stance solid, I was going to have a hard time getting my attacks around his blade. This proved to be true when he almost lazily half stepped back, keeping his stance intake, avoiding my slash altogether, and then slapped my thrust aside.

He put a little extra effort in the riposte, causing my blade to go wide and leaving me open to a counter, which he capitalized on. He turned his parry into a two handed over-head strike, which, even had my blade been in a proper position to guard against, I would have had no chance of blocking. Despite my larger than average stature, Obi-Wan was still a grown a man, and on top of that, I could feel him augmenting himself with the Force, which would significantly increase the force of the blow.

Obi-Wan really was taking this spar more seriously.

Instead of trying to put up a hastily erected defense against his strike, I instead allow the momentum of his parry to carry me to the side. When my torso was nearly perpendicular with the ground, I placed my left hand down on the training room floor, and used it to prop myself. Channeling the Force through my body, I then used the hand to spring myself into a double legged kick straight to Obi-Wan's exposed midsection. It was nowhere near the level of grace that Aayla fought with, but it was effective considering it was a very unorthodox move for a Makashi-practitioner to utilize.

Obi-Wan stumbled back, surprised from the maneuver, and I realized I now had a chance to capitalize on his broken stance. I used the momentum from the kick to perform a pseudo cartwheel over my left hand that was still planted on the floor. I then immediately went into a Force-assisted charge that had me in striking range of him within a split second. Due to the momentum of the kick I delivered, Obi-Wan's center of gravity was behind his feet at the moment. I took a page out of his book and delivered a two handed strike to his upper torso area.

The strike was easily blocked. Even though Obi-Wan had lost his footing, he was still a very skilled swordsman. But the strike wasn't the true attack, it was only meant to keep him from re-centering his balance. The true goal became apparent when I attempted to hook one of his heels with my right foot, and I ended up getting it around his own right foot. He attempted to raise his foot over my heel to avoid the trip, but I actually had an advantage here due to my small frame.

On a fully grown adult, the distance between one's heel and the crux of their knee provided a rather large window in order to step over a trip of this type. However, due to my size, that same window is considerably smaller. Obi-Wan risked catching his toes on my thigh if he attempted to step over my heel.

I felt a smile creep onto my face. If I could get him to the floor, the main strength of his stance would be completely negated, and would put me at a massive advantage. I felt my heel lock into place behind his and knew that he wasn't going to be able to avoid the fall. Based on the look on his face, Obi-Wan knew this as well. For one glorious moment, I felt our momentum begin to pitch to the floor.

The next thing I know, I feel like I am experiencing a bout of déjà vu. Our sabers were still locked together, and I was putting as much weight as I could on his to help instigate our tumble. Suddenly, one of the blades simply winked out of existence, accompanied by the customary sound of a lightsaber deactivating. However, this time, it wasn't my blade that was extinguished.

I suddenly felt no resistance against all the force that I was putting behind my own blade. This wouldn't normally have been a problem, seeing as Obi-Wan's face was directly opposite of where the lock had been taking place. However, as soon as he deactivated his blade, he used his left hand to grab my wrist and direct the momentum away from his head, and at the same time managed to wedge his left food up into my sternum between the two of us.

At this point, I felt through him the impact of the ground, followed quickly by the force of his foot propelling me over him and into the air. I had a moment while I was airborne where I wondered if this was the feeling Aayla had when I pulled a similar move to defeat her in our spar. I then felt my back impact the floor, and found myself staring up at the ceiling, though the center of my vision was being obscured by a bright blue blade that was frighteningly close to my nose.

"Well fought, Ty!"

My gaze left the offending blade and found the face of Obi-Wan, smiling widely.

I snorted. "The fight barely lasted thirty seconds. I had to abandon my form almost immediately in order to get any sort of advantage, and it still ended with me face up staring at your blade."

Obi-Wan sighed, and extinguished his lightsaber, to which I followed suit. However, instead of helping me stand, he walked around towards my feet and then joined me on the floor, taking a seat and crossing his legs. I sat up to look at him.

"Listen, Tyris. Being humble and self-aware is always a good thing, but that doesn't mean recognizing yourself and taking pride in your skill is a bad one. Not to be arrogant, but I'm a better swordsman than many Knights, let alone other Padawans. The fact that you were able to get me on my back foot, literally, and I was required to make a desperate move in order to recover only speaks to how incredibly skilled you already are. Modesty and Confidence are two sides of the same coin. You need both in order to realize your full potential."

Disregarding the fact that he sounded like one of those little papers you get out of fortune cookies, I couldn't deny the wisdom of what he was saying.

"I appreciate the encouragement," I said with a nod. "That doesn't change the fact that I hardly used the form I've been working on since it was so ineffective against you."

Obi-Wan nodded sympathetically. "I understand your frustration. It is important to practice the forms and use them in a practical sense in order to get more experience. However, I'll tell you something that Master Qui-Gon told me when he began instructing me: The lightsaber forms are a framework, the foundation we use to build our own style. A master of the martial arts can still be defeated by a common thug if he is too rigid to adapt to a changing situation," he paused to let that sink in. "I've seen many who are naturally gifted with one or even two of the forms. However, I've never even heard of someone being so comfortable with the true essence of the blade that they can drop in and out of a form and still be just as effective. You've shown that ability in several of your duels."

I hadn't ever really thought about it like that. But it made sense to me. Why would I continue to use a form in a situation where I know that it isn't the most effective solution. Even if that solution means disregarding all forms of lightsaber combat and just swinging my blade around like a baseball bat.

That didn't mean I wasn't still going to become a master of all 7 forms, though. The logical part of me understood the value of being able to step outside of a structured form of combat, but the nerd in me still thought it was way cooler to use the forms.

"Thanks, Obi-Wan. I'll try to keep all of that in mind going forward. I appreciate you taking the time to do this as well. I'm sure that you've many other things you could be spending your time on," I said, and then gave him a sidelong glance before continuing. "Like getting ready for the Trials, maybe?"

He gave me a startled look. "How did you know about that? Master Qui-Gon only just recommended me!"

I decided to mess with him a little. I may have been a tiny bit salty about the duel. "Yeah, during the same council meeting they told him he wasn't going to be allowed to train Anakin."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Did you drop some sort of recording device in the council chambers?"

I just smiled innocently.

He laughed. "Yes, I do need to prepare for the Trials, but that is still some time away. Bant says that Master Fisto is also planning on recommending her to take the Trials, so I figured that the two of us could prepare together."

That caught me by surprise. I knew that at some point between the events of Episodes II and III that Bant was knighted, but I didn't realize that it was so close to the same time that Obi-Wan was.

I then decided that I had had my fun, and it was time to get to the whole point I asked for the spar in the first place.

I lost the smile and sat up straight. "You're leaving again." I didn't phrase it as a question.

His mouth was actually agape. I would have found it slightly comical if what I was about to do wasn't going to have a profound impact on the course of events over the next thirteen years.

"Yes, we are going to assist the Queen of Naboo with the Trade Federation. But how did you know that we would be leaving?"

I sighed. Here we go. "I… saw something, Obi-Wan."

His face grew hard and he immediately became more alert. "Like a dream? You think the Force gave you a vision?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what it was. I'm still pretty new to this Force thing," I said with a small chuckle. "But it was vivid. As vivid as you are to me right now."

He nodded for me to continue.

"I saw a great chasm, with numerous bridges and many pillars of light. I also saw walls of pure energy, opening and closing." I had rehearsed what I was going to say many times before I finally asked Obi-Wan for the spar. The most important thing was that Obi-Wan needed to naturally interpret the meaning of this 'vision'. I didn't trust that if I just laid it out for him that my influence wouldn't cause unforeseen consequences. But if I could subtly give him the information and allow him to come up with how to deal with it, I was hoping that it might mitigate any drastic changes other than Qui-Gon's fate.

"I also saw two figures holding lightsabers. One blue and the other emerald." Obi-Wan's brows rose when I said this, but I continued before he could comment. "They were fighting a third, shadowy figure. Things seemed to be relatively even until the first two figures were separated." I took a calming breath. I knew I was doing the right thing, but I was terrified of what changes would result from my interference.

Obi-Wan leaned forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Continue when you're ready, Tyris," he said, a hint of concern coloring his tone.

"The blue blade had been separated from the emerald one and the shadowy figure. Before it could rejoin the battle, the emerald one was struck down."

Obi-Wan's eyes were wide as saucers now.

"The blue blade rejoined the battle, and was able to defeat the shadowy figure. But the emerald one was lost."

I looked at Obi-Wan. He searched for something in my eyes, then took a deep breath and leaned back on his hands.

"That's quite the dream, Tyris. And I can understand why you would tell me. You clearly think the two blades are Qui-Gon and myself. But it really could be anyone. Our blade colors aren't exactly unique."

I wasn't unprepared for him to try and explain it away as possibly pertaining to someone else, but I'd held the most important details in order to convince.

"Obi-Wan, the shadowy figure also had a blade," I said. Obi-Wan glanced back at me again. "It was red. The same color as his face."

Obi-Wan went completely still. If everything had happened the same way as it had in the movie, then Obi-Wan hadn't actually seen Maul first hand, but I was sure that Qui-Gon had explained what he looked like. If not to Obi-Wan directly, then he had to the council when they reported about the events on Tatooine.

"You're sure he had a red face?" He asked. His whole demeanor had changed. Whether sub-consciously or not, Obi-Wan had been treating me as how any grown up would a child who was explaining a nightmare they had. Mild concern, but knowing that it was nothing serious. However, the fact that I had just described the individual who had attacked Qui-Gon during their departure of Tatooine was too big of a coincidence.

"I haven't been able to forget it since I saw it, Obi-Wan," I replied.

He continued to look at me for a long moment.

I sighed, stood up, and started stretching the muscles that had to begin to stiffen after out spar.

"I'm not asking you to not go. I know that I could never convince you to not help someone. I just want to make sure that you all get to come back safe," I said as I continued to stretch. I allowed a small smile to form on my face. "You aren't allowed to die until I can prove that you only won today because you were fighting a 7-year-old."

Obi-Wan let out a laugh, then got up and joined me in stretching.

"Alright, Ty. It's a promise"

THIS IS A LINE BREAK

And that was that. About another week went by before Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Anakin left with the Naboo delegation to return to their planet and hopefully break it free of the blockade the Trade Federation had in place. I was even allowed to be present for their send off. Anakin and Obi-Wan waved to me as they boarded the transport. When my eyes met Qui-Gon's, he gave me a small smile with a nod. I'm assuming Obi-Wan told him about my vision.

Also, Anakin must have spoken about me, or the event of our meeting on the landing pad was bigger news than I thought it was, as two or three of the handmaidens' gazes seemed to linger on me as they were making their way onto the ship, and Padme even did a double take when our eyes met.

Gosh, she's so pretty…

No! Bad brain, bad! She's 14!

Everything after the delegation left seemed to go by in a blur. I continued to train, making strides in my lightsaber velocities as well as my proficiency with Force Absorption. Master Halcyon wasn't joking when he made it sound like he didn't have much going on around the temple. He always seemed up to helping with my training, though he asked me to bring a spare change of robes and to allow him to use his limited knowledge with healing to fix the small welts that the training remotes left behind after we completed with training. I'm assuming he may have been… spoken to by Master Che.

A terrifying thought.

I saw Darra almost every day, and most of the time I was either giving her pointers on her bladework or she was helping me with my TK training, without the Force Absorption augmentation.

But Darra wasn't the only one I'd hang out with. I saw Bant on a regular basis, and she actually started giving me some rudimentary medical training in our down time. I also sparred with Aayla several more times, with her master, Quinlan Vos, usually observing us and offering instruction when he felt it prudent.

I even saw Tac every now and then, though whenever our paths crossed, he seemed to give me a mildly contemptuous glance and then find a reason to be somewhere else.

I wonder how he doesn't run into walls when he's walking around. There's no way he can see where he's going with his nose turned up that high.

And then, suddenly, one day, they were back. There was no preamble, no pomp, no indication that a major event in the galaxy had just taken place. Just all of a sudden a hand lands on my shoulder while I'm walking down one of the hallways and turns me around.

"Obi-Wan?!" I'm so caught off guard I can't even form any of the thousand questions that have suddenly formed in my head, and I stand there with my mouth agape looking like an idiot.

"Hello, Tyris," he said. He was clearly happy to see me, but the smile on his face was clearly strained.

Oh shit.

THIS IS A LINE BREAK

Qui-Gon was alive.

When Obi-Wan told me that, I nearly collapsed from all of the stress and anxiety that had built up since I'd told him about my vision. I couldn't believe that it had worked! But what he said next caused a nugget of that stress to remain in place deep in my gut.

Qui-Gon was alive, but he had been paralyzed from the waist down.

Apparently, when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan saw the big room with all the bridges, they both immediately recognized it as the room from my vision. Obi-Wan said that at that point they both immediately bought fully into my dream in fact being a vision from the Force.

They flat out refused to allow the fight to make its way out of the Theed Palace hangar bay. However, during the course of the fight, Maul was able to sever Qui-Gon's spine, right where his 18th and 19th vertebrae used to be.

I could see how much this was hurting Obi-Wan, and I could empathize, but the fact that Qui-Gon survived at all had me over the moon.

I also eventually noticed the lack of a Padawan braid, but decided that congratulations could wait until Obi-Wan has had a chance to process everything that happened.

It only took about two weeks before Qui-Gon was out of bed, using a hover chair to get around. It looked a lot like Master Yoda's, except, you know, bigger and with an extended portion to support his legs. He even came to personally thank me for passing the information on to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan finally came out of his funk when he realized that there was nothing else he could have done and that the important part was that Qui-Gon was still around.

Just in time, too, as even though the Council deemed the tribulations that Obi-Wan faced sufficient to waive the Trials and promote him to Knight, Bant didn't have that opportunity. She had recently been granted approval to start her Trials, and would be leaving soon, so Obi-Wan was spending much of his time helping her prepare for those, with me tagging along every now and then.

I also spent a few hours every couple of days practicing with my dad's S5. The temple actually had a range for the non-Jedi security forces who monitored the areas of the temple that were actually open to the public, and the Chief of Security had been gracious enough to grant me access as long I was monitored by one of the range safety officials. I was decent with the weapon, it still feeling awkward in my not-quite-big-enough hands. But the Force was like a cheat code. Regardless of how silly I looked holding the blaster, I shot better than all but the best marksman within the security corps.

Now, I'm just lying in bed, contemplating the last three years I'd spent at the temple. I'd met some great people: Masters Koth and Che, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, Aayla, Bant, and especially Darra. I'd also met some real sticks in the mud. Overall, it really was a dream come true for my inner-child. But, that's what I was always getting stuck on.

The kid in me was ecstatic beyond words at the chance to live my life as a Jedi. A freakin' Jedi! But my adult brain always kept coming back to one issue: The Order was inherently flawed.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see myself devoting the rest of my life to the Jedi. Not without giving up major parts of who I was as a person.

I had emotions. I got angry. I loved my friends, and I would absolutely do anything necessary to protect them. Anything. Not to mention, at some point, if this galaxy doesn't send me to an early grave, I'm sure I'm going to want to start a family. Something that I was excited about in my previous, but never had a chance to do it.

I couldn't do that if I remained with the Jedi. Not unless there were some drastic changes, and I could not for the life of me come up with a scenario where that seemed feasible.

But, this was all just contemplative pillow thoughts. The tournament starts tomorrow. If all goes well, once that is done, I'll be selected to be a Padawan by a Knight or Master, and then the real adventures will begin.

I've got ten years to prepare for the storm that is coming, and I'll be damned if I don't make the most of it.

AN: Yeah, so I got nothing. Life happened. Got a divorce, got a new job, moved about 4 times, got a couple promotions at said job. I've been busy, but the real problem was that I just lost interest. Not in this story, per se, but just in writing in general. Found a couple book series that I loved, and sort of got discouraged by how well written they were, and all the fantastic, original ideas that were contained in them. But, just like what happened when I made the decision to start this story, the ideas rattling around in my head and the adventures I imagine Tyris going on just wouldn't leave me alone. I finally forced myself to sit down and just try to see what would happen on the page. And this came out. I was able to write it in only two days, way faster than just about every other chapter I've done. I'm not entirely happy with it, but I enjoyed writing it. Long story short, I'm not going to commit to any timelines on when chapters will come out, but I haven't abandoned Tyris's story.

I've also made some changes to the structure of the story. The ten-year time skip is going to take place in between this chapter and the next. The results of the lightsaber tournament will be revisited in a later chapter during a flashback. The need for which will become apparent when the flashback occurs. I'd also like to thank all of those who reviewed. I've read every single one of them and tried to accept any constructive criticism that was offered. There were also some cool ideas in some of the reviews that I might consider stealing. Credit will be given where it's due, of course.

-Teee-Jay