Forceful Stoicism 2 - (Star Wars, SI)

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49 BBY.

It's been almost a year since Master Dooku took Komari and I under his wing.

While I wouldn't say a year had been enough to outright nullify our flaws, we were able to learn much from our Master regarding the ways to entertain to correct our lesser issues. In my case, my stamina was getting expanded together with my 'grasp' over my force powers.

Komari's own correction leaned more on her combat than anywhere else, with her duel skills honed as to be less boisterous and more focused. She was still a battle-junkie, but she was slowly chipping away at that bad habit.

For a time, I even expected her to grow resentful or something in the way Dooku 'looked' at me, but I think she was just glad that she was praised too and was actually aware of her own improvements and-

"Plus, you are stronger than me."

Never once I would have expected the blonde to hand out this sort of flattery so easily. Maybe it was because there wasn't any of the arrogance that her future self would bear, or perhaps she was not too eager to be too cocky when our master had taught us to be quite careful with our emotions - even more than how this rule was treated in the Jedi Temple.

Still, after months and months of training, it was time for a real mission and... it was meant to be a simple one on paper.

Master Katri had been killed in Raxus Secundus. The Jedi Council had asked for us and Mace Windu to visit the planet, retrieve her body, and make sure that she was returned to the Temple for her cremation.

I already knew what was to happen, but I made a point on not interfering much on the plot considering that this even was 'necessary' to go the way it was meant to.

Something I never considered up until I became a proper Padawan was that I could use the Force to somewhat 'calculate' the odds of what my actions could lead to in a specific scenario.

While this skill was limited for most Jedi as they knew the context at the beginning of said scenario, I had a clear understanding of the event as a whole: the Raxus Secundus' situation was a mess that was worthy of limited presence from yours truly - and it all revolved in keeping Komari from doing anything stupid.

I was aware that this mission should have been taken just by Dooku and Windu, but our Master had decided this would have been a good way to 'teach us how real' this sort of missions were. With me around, the expectations were that Komari would refrain from being jumpy and, in case that was too difficult for her, for me to help her do that.

After all, there was more than what our data was aware of, and I knew that Komari would have been way more jumpy than usual considering the fact this all led to a dead Jedi Master. And one from the council at that.

So, with that in mind, I readied my mind through meditation and allowed for the events to flow as intended.

Upon arrival, it took us a few hours to determine that Senator Larik was a scumbag that had been puppeted by his own guards' corp. Why? Pieces of Raxus Secundus were being sold away cheaply by the Senator through his buddies in Coruscant. The Guards didn't accept this so they decided to blackmail and keep Larik within a leash to try and revert the mess he created. This all worsened when Master Katri got involved, was lied upon by Larik, and she got killed in the process.

As expected, both our Masters ultimately decided that, with Larik dead after a brief skirmish between us and his group, the guards would be subjected to trials as per the law.

But where Master Windu was unrelenting over the crime, Master Dooku was understanding of the plight of Raxus Secundus. This difference of mindsets seemed to also play heavily on another more personal matter: the events involving the cession of Master Katri's seat in the council.

As it went in canon, Mace Windu took it, and our Master was fairly upset over it.

He didn't voice it, but his decision to 'reclude himself for the day' sounded more like 'I am going for a walk'. This left us alone in the dormitories in the temple.

Specifically, my room as Komari was quick to take our Master's side on the matter.

"It's ridiculous! Our Master is definitely wiser and stronger than Mace."

"He is," I agreed, causing the blonde to growl and pace back and forth over the matter. "But, perhaps, this is for the best."

My response had the girl pausing and then turning a quizzical look upon her face. Had I been a 'stranger' to her, she would have gone ballistic over my 'heretical' statement, but she knew better to think I had anything against our Master and my words weren't levied on the matter without some proper analysis on the matter.

"What?"

"Our Master is not meant to be fixed in a desk job as that's the point of the council, to deprive Masters off the active duty."

"That's-"

"And then there's the fact the competition is not about superiority of combat or of mind. Our Master would have won if that was the case," I continued to speak up, rallying my thoughts like I harnessed them in my previous meditation session. "No, Mace Windu won for convenience over his election. He is a unique Jedi and a rule-stickler, while our Master is 'less unique' and yet more powerful, he is a flexible wiseman but also opposed to some views of the orders."

My words left Komari frowning at me, I could see her mind stuck in thoughts over what I had just said and then she finalized her conclusions with a loud huff.

"This is still wrong."

"Quite wrong, and dangerous in the long-run."

Once again, I had myself known for choosing words within reason, and my use of 'dangerous' made Komari look at me with another intrigued look which... made me sigh. Sometimes, I do regret being the brain of the duo.

"We have been stagnating. The rules of old made sense during an era where we had to outright fear falling for the dark side. The Siths were strong, we couldn't allow mistakes and thus any chance for reform was pushed in the future. We won the wars, the Siths are either dead or crippled enough to not be an active threat but... now?"

"Now the rules sticks."

I nodded at Komari. "The rules 'sticks' because any thought of actually using common sense and try to apply more clarity to those seems lost between 'that sounds like a Sith-like thought' and 'you are falling to the dark side'. It's not always about emotions, common sense is logic itself applied without any distractions. The truth is that the council is reluctant to look at the past and say 'we had a situation, we no longer have that situation. Maybe we should give it a look before it blows up on our faces'."

"So... you think they are wrong?" Komari asked, now sitting down by my bed while I was now the one pacing back and forth.

"Depends on the context really. There are good reasons for the rules, I don't think they should be removed, but there should be a commission meant to look into the historical context, look at now, and then draw a report on what was best to change so that it best suits our current needs," I pointed out, then brought up a very good example of that. "Are you familiar with Qui-gon Jinn?"

Komari perked up. "Master Dooku's previous Padawan."

I nodded. "He is now a Master and he had two Padawans already. his first one, Feemor, is on his way to become a Jedi Master."

"...And?"

"And his second student fell to the dark side and died."

Her eyes widened astronomically. "N-No way. Master Jinn is- he is too good for that."

"Xanatos would say the same as he was not meant to fall if things had been that simple, but he had been put on the spot for that to happen. He had been forced to take part to a mission in his homeplanet by the council's own order and he ended up failing to save his younger sister. He lost it after that event and died shortly after."

Xanatos was still alive, but Master Jinn had lied about it to 'give him a chance'. Sadly for him, that was going to backfire on him quite a lot between Xanatos' revenge and Xanatos' son becoming a dark Jedi.

"This is... why did they force him?"

"His circumstances made him a 'risk'. So, they decided to 'test' him. Of course, sending him there was all his corrupt father, the governor of Telos IV, needed to have him join his side and cause a civil war."

...

"This is stupid."

"Quite," I confirmed. "Which is why you need to accept one thing: most of the decisions from the current council are stupid. The Masters in charge are not meant to do much but warm some seats, meditate, and rarely expect any responsibility beyond 'upholding' the order's creed."

Komari sighed, and then looked at me with a relieved look. "Does that mean Master's rejection was somewhat good? I mean, he wants to change things and he would be opposed by everyone else. I would lose my mind if I had to face that."

"Probably yes," I nodded at her good guess, yet I gave her a warning. "Just don't say it in front of Master, Mari, as I doubt he will see it that way. It is still a slight to his reputation and he is going to take the rejection as a humiliation to his own beliefs."

The blonde nodded and soon there was a degree of silence. One that I wanted to see remain for the rest of the day but-

"So, wanna spar?"

I frowned and she grinned.

"I know you wanna spar so... let's go!"

Rolling my eyes, I surrendered to Mari's desire to get back to combat to clear her mind, well aware that I gave her a lot of food for thoughts to digest and that she needed a distraction for today.

After all, this first mission already opened our minds to what was to come - more messes for us to clean and far more dark side users in our order than anywhere else...

AN

I have a 'tiny bit' of Bias against the Jedi Order. I agree that rules have reasons to exist, but can we agree that those should have been expanded after the fall of the last few major Sith groups?

Also, Mari is shaping to be Dester's close buddy, confidant, partner in crime and (in the distant future) something more. But for now, these two are just going through missions, getting jaded by the second and also meeting a few familiar faces as... changes are soon to happen to the timeline.