After the call with Ichem, I spent the next half hour just wandering the halls of the Temple, wondering if I had made the right decision. I also began reflecting on all the other preparations I had made over the years, knowing that the next couple months would show how effective I had been.

I idly realized that I was passing my room, probably for the fifth or sixth time, and made to turn a corner to continue my contemplative walk. My musings were interrupted, however, by a ginger blur that ran headlong into me and would've knocked me over had I not reflexively placed one foot back and braced myself. This resulted in the offending blur bouncing off me and ending up sprawled on the floor. Now that she wasn't breaking the sound barrier, I was able to recognize the individual. I looked down on her with a quirked eyebrow and a small smile.

"First you flashed me, and now an attempted assault? You're sending me mixed signals here, Darra."

Her face glared up at me, doing its best to match the color of her hair.

"Shut up!" She yelped, beginning to rub her forehead. "Owww! Why are you so solid?"

Oh lord, she's just giving me lay-ups now…

I went to make an inappropriate play on her words, but was interrupted when a second individual approached us from the same direction Darra had come from, albeit at a far more leisurely pace.

"Did I hear that correctly? You flashed him, Darra? How scandalous!" Said Aayla Secura, now standing over Darra, pretending to fan herself with one of her hands.

"What? No, that's not what happened!" Exclaimed Darra.

"So Tyris is lying and didn't actually see anything?"

"Well… no… but it was totally by accident! He walked in while I was changing!"

Aayla turned to me at this, with a raised eyebrow and unamused look on her face.

"You entered her quarters without permission?" She asked, with an underlying tone that promised pain.

I avoided Aayla's eyes and turned a glare on Darra that said I'm not jumping on this thermal detonator to save your embarrassment.

Darra coughed. "I may have been in his room," she said quietly.

"You were changing in his quarters?" Aayla asked, incredulous. "My my, Thel-Tanis, I did not take you for the bold type. Seems I need to keep up."

I was enjoying Darra's blustering attempts at denying what Aayla was implying, but was distracted when two slender, blue arms wound their way around my kneck and pulled me into a tight embrace.

I wasn't that surprised. This was pretty characteristic of Aayla, she'd always been pretty touchy, especially with her friends. The only problem was that the last ten years had seen her turn into an incredibly beautiful woman. A woman who, apparently, wasn't a fan of covering up.

Aayla was wearing her customary bantha hide crop top that left almost nothing to the imagination, along with her bantha hide trousers that looked like they had been painted on. And she was now pressing herself up against me in a very tight embrace. It was taking all the Jedi discipline I had to ensure a normal blood flow.

It got worse when she started whispering in my ear.

"Was it the front or the back?" Her hot breath washing over my ear made everything ten times worse, but when I actually concentrated on what she had said, the tension left me and I was able to relax. She was just putting on a show for Darra.

Aayla had a similar sense of humor to me. We both got enjoyment out of making Darra flustered, though Aayla could sometimes make even me blush.

"It was the back," I whispered, desperately trying to keep my hormones in check.

"And?"

"No complaints from me."

She squeezed me tighter, pulling us so close that I could actually feel her lips on my ear. She knew exactly what she was doing.

"Better than mine?" She asked, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

"I think I'd need a reference in order to compare."

She threw her head back and laughed before releasing me and giving me a pat on the cheek.

"Like you've never looked."

She turned and walked away from me, an unnecessary sway to her hips. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to not look down and give her the satisfaction of knowing that she got to me.

I coughed and pulled at my collar before turning to Darra as she was standing back up. I wanted to move on from whatever had just happened as quickly as possible.

"Where were you off to in such a hurry, anyway?"

Darra and Aayla both fixed me with bewildered looks.

"Are you joking? We've been trying to get ahold of you for the last hour! I thought the Council had decided to send you off immediately!" Darra said, clearly upset still.

I patted myself down and realized that I had left my comlink in my quarters, before bashfully looking back at Darra who was unimpressed. In fact, she looked ready to explode again. At least until Aayla placed a hand on her arm.

"Why don't we get everyone together so that Tyris doesn't have to repeat himself several times?" Aayla asked softly.

Darra's shoulders dropped before she sighed and nodded at Aayla.

I smiled at them. "The refectory then?"

Aayla smiled back. "I've got a better idea."

This is a line break

The Room of a Thousand Fountains was just as incredible as I remembered. With all of the missions I'd been on and the training I'd been doing in between, it had been well over a standard year since I'd last been here.

It had only taken about 5 minutes to get everyone together and head to the room. Darra had apparently gathered them almost immediately when she left my quarters.

Our party had been joined by two other members. The first was Bardan Jusik, a Padawan apprenticed to Jedi Master Arligan Zey. He was the same age as Aayla, who had introduced us to him. He was a decent enough guy, if a bit sheltered, but that was to be expected since he'd spent his entire life in the temple. In all fairness, sheltered was probably harsh, seeing as that was the norm for most at the temple. Jedi like Aayla and I were few and far between. I thought it odd that out of all the Jedi in the order, Bardan was one of the ones I was close to. Considering what he would get up to in the future and my heritage, I wondered if the Force wasn't meddling in things.

The other member only strengthened my suspicions that I wasn't totally in control of events in my own life. Jax Pavan was the same age as me, and we'd had a couple of classes together before I'd been apprenticed to Master Fisto. He also was a pretty major player in the Legends continuity following the fall of the Republic.

The only person who was missing from our usual group was Anakin. This wasn't wholly out of the norm, Anakin was a bit of a loner most of the time. Jax was the closest to him out of all of us, for reasons I couldn't quite understand. Not that the rest of us didn't get along with him. Darra was friendly with Anakin, and Bardan seemed to get on with him just fine as well. Aayla seemed to understand him more than the rest of us, unsurprising given her history with slavery.

As for me, Anakin and I had an interesting relationship. We weren't very close. In fact, if we are ever alone with each other and aren't sparring, it often results in an awkward silence. I'd still consider us friends, I just didn't know what to say to him most of the time. But, it seemed like the Force was gonna force us together, pun totally intended, whether we wanted to or not. From the very first time we met, I knew there was something strange between us. I knew Force Bonds were a real thing, I'd experienced several of them, with my master, with Darra, I even had ones with Aayla and Master Koth. The strongest was with Master FIsto, but the weird thing was that I shared a Bond with Anakin that seemed every bit as powerful. More so than Darra, with whom I'd spent far more time with.

The nature of the connection allowed us to sense almost the exact location of each other as long as we were on the same planet. It's how I knew he was currently with Padme making preparations for our journey. It hadn't quite reached the point where we could communicate, but it seemed to be trending in that direction. Anakin was just as perplexed as I was, but, with a little prodding from me, had agreed to keep it just between us for now. While I'm sure Qui-Gon, who had a very heavy hand in Anakin's training, would understand, and Obi-Wan would defer to Qui-Gon, I was worried that the members of the Council would view the Bond as some form of attachment and attempt to keep us separate. I wasn't going to allow that to happen.

I was currently floating face up in one of the many lakes of the Room of a Thousand Fountains, feeling entirely relaxed for the first time in I don't know how long. Bardan and Aayla were in the water with me, and Darra and Jax were laying on the edge of the lake. It was small enough that we could have a comfortable conversation between all of us without shouting.

I let out a content sigh. "I could kiss you, Aayla. I didn't realize how much I needed this."

Aayla chuckled. "Hear that, Darra? You showed Tyris your goods and I'm still the one he wants to kiss. I believe that is what's called 'trying to hard'."

I snorted as Darra mumbled something. If she said what I thought she did, it definitely would not be considered Jedi-like or lady-like.

Jax sat up so fast I was sure he was going to lose an eye. "You showed him your what?"

"We'll tell you when you're older," Bardan said, lazily swimming around the lake. He'd been around us long enough at this point to not be bothered or surprised by our antics.

"Ty, please tell us what the council said before I end up reducing the Twi'lek population of the Temple by one," Darra pleaded with me.

And so I told them about the assignment I had received. Their reactions ranged from Interest to outright disappointment in the case of Darra.

"That sounds like a long term assignment," She muttered, still laid back and looking up at the ceiling.

I shrugged, wanting to cheer her up but also wanting to be realistic. "It has the potential to be. It all depends on Obi-Wan and Master Fisto and how fast they can figure out who is trying to kill the senator."

Jax sat up and looked at me. "Why you and Anakin, though? Why not a more experienced Knight?"

Bardan answered before I could say anything. "Anakin has a pre-existing relationship with the senator, which always helps foster trust in a protector-protected relationship. As for Tyris, he has a positive relationship with Anakin."

Jax had a confused look on his face. "Why would that matter?"

I answered this time. "They want me to go because of the relationship that he has with the senator. The council hopes that because of my relationship with Anakin, he'll be more receptive to having a glorified chaperone along for the ride."

At this, Darra sat up, and she looked ready to erupt. "They are only giving you two days off after a 9-month absence from the Temple because they want you to babysit?"

I righted myself in the water and faced Darra, shrugging, before making my way to where her and Jax were sitting. "We all know better than most that the council hasn't always been the most level headed when it comes to Anakin. He's got a magnifying glass the size of a rancor always on him."

Darra crossed her arms. "Because they think he was too old for training? You and Aayla both started training older than normal also, but you guys aren't scrutinized like that."

"You're right, but we are scrutinized more than others who started training the traditional way." I heard Aayla hum in agreement behind me. "And, the fact of the matter is that Aayla and I aren't the 'Chosen One'."

Everyone fell silent and immediately looked uncomfortable. I rolled my eyes.

They're acting like I said Voldemort or something.

The members of our group not named Skywalker or Kelborn were all very weirded out by the fact that Anakin was supposedly the Force's equivalent of Jesus.

"You guys need to get over it. He's Anakin. Everything else is just the old geezers seeing the Force swirling around him and going 'ohhhh, destiny!" I said, ending with my best impression of one Jolee Bindo.

That got a laugh out of everyone, which caused the tension to bleed out of the atmosphere.

I began toweling myself off and threw a shirt on, ignoring the disappointed "Aww!" I heard from Aayla.

I turned and looked at my friends, Aayla and Bardan drying off, and Jax and Darra standing up and gathering their things.

Knowing what was coming next was hard. Knowing they wouldn't truly understand if I tried to tell them was even harder. We were well into the events of Episode 2 now, and with how fast things take off by the end of it, I had a feeling this would be the last peaceful gathering for our group for a very long time. Not having Anakin present left a sour taste in my mouth.

The worst part was not knowing what was going to happen to the people I care about. An alarming amount of them die in the canon universe. Thankfully, I was relatively confident Jax and Bardan would be ok, as I hadn't done much to directly affect their fates other than just knowing them. Aayla and Darra were a different story.

Aayla's marked day was still well off, and I already had several plans to insure her safety. Darra, on the other hand, was a complete wild card. She was almost a year past when she would've died. I still remember the call she made to me before she left with Anakin and Obi-Wan for Korriban.

"Korriban? THE Korriban?" I felt my heart drop after hearing the name of the planet. I knew this was going to happen at some point, but having it staring me in the face really set me on edge.

"Yes, Ty, THE Korriban. Master Kenobi and Anakin tracked a criminal there, and are leading a team to apprehend him. There's eight of us going. A bit overkill for one man if you ask me."

"Do NOT underestimate Granta Omega, Darra!" I snapped. "And you're going to Korriban. He's not the only thing you need to be worried about."

Her small, blue-tinted form put its hands up, a surprised look on her face. "Whoa, Tyris, I didn't mean to imply that I wasn't taking this seriously. Are you ok?"

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "I just worry about you, Darra. I don't think this galaxy would be able to handle me if one of my people was killed."

Her surprised look softened. "This isn't the first dangerous mission, and it won't be the last. You know that, Ty. Why is this one…. Wait. I never told you who Obi-Wan and Anakin were after."

I refused to meet her gaze.

"Tyris, tell me what's going on."

I finally looked at the projected image of her. "Just do me a favor. Make sure Tru's lightsaber is working fine before you leave, yeah?"

Her eyes widened. Darra was a smart girl, and it didn't take her long before she realized that I had seen something. Her lips pressed into a grim line and she nodded firmly at me.

"Tyris!"

I blinked several times before looking at Darra, who was now standing directly in front of me. I looked up and noticed the rest of the group looking at me as well. I shook my head slightly and returned my gaze to Darra.

"Sorry, DT, just zoned out for a moment. But, I was thinking, would you guys mind seeing Anakin and I off when we leave? It feels wrong that he wasn't able to be here. I think he'd like it if everyone was together, if only for a few minutes."

Jax nodded immediately, followed quickly by Bardan and Aayla. Darra gave me a brilliant smile.

"I think that's a great Idea," she said.

I nodded in gratitude, and grabbed a canteen of water I had brought to take a drink.

"That's our fearless leader, always thinking of everyone else!"

I immediately choked on the water that was halfway down my throat, desperately coughing and gasping for air.

Once I'd gathered myself, I pointed at the twi'lek sized pain-in-my-ass.

"No. Absolutely not. Do not start that, Aayla, or I'll…. Do bad things to you," I finished with a glare.

Aayla raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Bad things?" A coy smile worked its way onto her face. "Pray tell, Tyris."

I felt my cheeks heat up and slapped a hand to my forehead.

"You walked into that one, man," Jax chimed in.

"Regardless, I am so not the leader. I'm the youngest one here!"

"Oh, come off it, Tyris," Aayla said. "Everyone here already thinks it."

I looked at the group. Darra laughed, Jax pretended to be really interested in a blade of grass he had picked up, and Bardan just shrugged when I looked at him.

"If the shoe fits," he said.

"Et tu, Bardan?"

This is a line break

We eventually made our way out of the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and stopped by the refectory. We chatted more, this time focused on everyone else, and it was really nice to hear how my friends were doing. By the time we were done eating, it was getting pretty late. I agreed to let everyone know when I was notified about my departure so that we could gather one last time. We said our goodbyes, and I made my way back to my quarters.

On the way there, I noticed a message on my comlink from my master, asking me to meet him in one of the dojo's at 0800 the following morning. I sent back a quick reply saying I'd be there, and by that time I had arrived at my door. Three minutes later I was passed out on my bed.

The following morning, I arrived at the dojo about five minutes before the planned meeting time, but Master Fisto was already there, meditating in the middle of the room.

"Good morning, Tyris."

"Good morning, Master," I replied, moving to stand in front of him.

He stood up, and we began going through a set of katas in order to get warmed up and stretched.

"How was your meeting with your friends?"

"It was good to see them again."

"I sense a 'but' in there, Padawan."

I had to hold back a snort at the irony of that statement.

"It felt bittersweet. I'm worried that the peaceful times are coming to an end, and that kind of hung over me the whole time I was with them."

"Hmmmm… what was that saying that you told Ms. Thel-Tanis right before she left on her first mission?"

I did my best to not roll my eyes. I really did.

"'Have the strength to change the things that you can, the serenity to accept the things that you can't, and the wisdom to know the difference.'"

My master just smiled at me. I resisted the urge to flip him the bird.

Guess this Jedi discipline thing is no joke.

"What are we working on today?" I asked, wanting to get past this and work off some the stress I was feeling.

"This is our first extended separation since you became my padawan, and, therefore, this may be the last time I can offer instruction for a long time. We will go over many things, but I'd like to begin with what you've been working on recently."

I nodded, and took a position on one side of the room. My master mirrored me on the opposite side, unclipping his lightsaber and making sure to set it to the training setting.

"Bladework only, to start," he instructed.

I reached down to my waistline, but instead of drawing the hilt that was hanging on my right hip, I reached to the small of my back, and pulled out a much longer cylinder.

This hilt was far more plain than my regular lightsaber. It was essentially a silver bar about one and a half inches in diameter.

I nodded at Master Fisto, who nodded and ignited his blade. I quickly followed suite, a burnt orange blade springing forth from my 'staff', the color of lava. This was followed by a second blade, same color, from the opposite end.

I'd started working on my double bladed form almost three years ago. I was far more proficient with the single blade, but the double bladed lightsaber offered several advantages in a multitude of situations.

There were the obvious advantages, such as being able to create more space and being more effective against several opponents. But there was a specific reason that I wanted to add it to my repertoire.

I had essentially mastered Form 3, Soresu, insofar as me being recognized as a master of the form by the order. I didn't hold a candle to Obi-Wan. I knew it was effective, but the form felt clunky to me. I much preferred being mobile and aggressive in combat, and Soresu pretty much required a stable and stationary base.

Form 2 came far more naturally to me, and I was considered the foremost practitioner of the form in the Order at this point. I wasn't arrogant enough to think that I could out-duel Dooku yet, but it definitely was my preferred stance with the single blade.

The last Form that I was officially considered a master of was Juuyo, Form 7. And, let me tell you, that was a thing and a half when the council found out that I had received training in the form without them being aware of it. Juuyo was a hyper aggressive lightsaber form, basically the personification of 'the best defense is a good offense with more offense on the side'.

However, I felt at a certain point of my progression in the stance, that one blade was not fully utilizing the form. Which is why I elected to begin training with the double bladed staff.

After three years, I was fairly decent with it, but still had plenty room to grow.

I made the first move towards my master, using a Force-assisted burst of speed in order to close the distance between us. I opened with an upward slash, leading with the 'bottom' blade of the staff, and keeping it on line with the hilt of his lightsaber. My hope was that he would use his blade to block the strike, and I'd be able to use my momentum to get underneath his guard.

This didn't happen, however. My master simply spun to the side, allowing my blade to pass through the space that he had just occupied, and used his momentum to turn the spin into a diagonal strike coming from my right side.

I immediately stopped the momentum of my blade, and reversed the rotation, bringing the 'top' blade forward and intercepting his before it could hit me. I forced the blade down and away from me, and pivoted to strike him with the opposite blade while his was still locked beneath the other end of my lightsaber.

Master Fisto dropped his center of gravity, ducking the slash I sent his way, as well as removing all leverage I was keeping on his blade. He stepped into my guard, and would have struck me across the waist if I hadn't completely vaulted over him as soon as I felt his weight drop.

I turned back to face him, twirling my lightsaber back to a more comfortable stance, and immediately went back on the offensive. I started with a horizontal slash towards his head, that he easily deflected, and pivoted into an underhand slash with the opposite blade, utilizing the momentum generated from his deflection. Once again, he brought his blade around in time and batted mine away. I spun away from this, and, using the momentum once again, turned it into a jumping overhead strike.

And, once again, my master simply side stepped the strike, and attempted to decapitate me with a horizontal slash aimed right for my head. I ducked the slash and sent my own towards him as I stood back up, which was parried.

I then quickly stepped right up into his face and unleashed a barrage of attacks.

Right to left diagonal strike, followed by a pivot backwards stab, reverse pivot, deflect riposte, underhand strike into a spinning one handed sweeping attack.

To an onlooker, all they might see was blurs of orange and green. A trained eye might see what looked like a choreographed dance. To us, we were literally trying to take each other's' heads off. My master's philosophy was take the lumps during sparring so they don't take the limbs from you in live combat.

One would think that I would begin to feel frustrated because he was continuously reading every one of my moves and deflecting or avoiding every single one of them. But, I was doing the same to him.

This was the most fun I'd ever had.

I saw a bead of sweat trickle down Master Fisto's brow.

A sleeping beast inside of me rumbled, opening one eye in interest.

Master Fisto sent a low strike towards my left leg. I blocked it with one end of my saber, and, while the blades were still locked, used all of my strength to push his blade up. I then quickly sidestepped underneath the blade, and shoved it all the way to the ground.

He was now completely open on his right side.

The beast lifted its head, both eyes now open.

I reverse pivoted, bringing the other end of my blade around to attack my master's exposed flank. My blood was singing. There was a roar of victory building in the beast's chest.

And then I felt a tug on my right leg, the one I was stepping with to bring my blade around. I stepped too wide, losing my balance along with all force behind my strike. A foot slammed into my back, forcing me down to my hands and knees.

When I made to get up, I heard the loud hum of a lightsaber directly in my left ear.

I sighed. The beast gave a grunt of disappointment, closing its eyes and laying its head down to resume its slumber.

"I yield." I said.

The blade deactivated, and I stood and faced my master.

"Only bladework, huh?" I asked, crossing my arms after I had deactivated my lightsaber.

"Can't have my padawan defeating me while he is still my padawan," he said, the cheeky bastard.

I shook my head and chuckled. Part of me felt like I should be more upset, but what just happened was one of the most exhilarating experiences I'd ever had.

And I wanted more of it.

"Again?" I asked.

"That eager to lose?" He teased.

"Cut me loose, and let's see if I do."

"I don't think this room would survive us having an unrestricted battle." He said, looking around.

"Sounds like a cop out."

"One day, Padawan. For now, come, and accept your predetermined loss with grace," He said, giving an obnoxiously over the top bow, and flourishing his blade as he reactivated it.

I smiled, activated my blades, and threw myself at him once more.

AN: Not terribly happy with this chapter. Don't feel like it flowed all that well.

I can't remember if I've already mentioned this, but Aayla is about 4 years younger in this fic than she is in canon, which makes her right around 4 to 5 years older than Tyris. I wanted her to be a part of Tyris's 'inner circle' from the beginning, but felt that a 9 year age gap would make that a little difficult and awkward to write believably.

Tyris's first interaction with his friends outside of Darra, what did you guys think? I absolutely loved the Republic Commando novels from Legends, and so Bardan was an easy choice for me. I also really like Jax Pavan's story, but felt like it was cut off before the character could really get fleshed out.

Explained the dynamic in the group. I wonder if you guys are surprised that Tyris and Anakin aren't BFF's? I didn't want this to be a cake walk for Tyris, and I felt it important that they earn a relationship rather than me just handing them one.

Also, what do you guys think of the lightsaber fights? I feel like they should be longer, but I feel like I start getting repetitive the longer I go with them. Let me know your opinion.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed. It means the world to me, I never thought the story would get as much interest as it has. Hope you all are well!

-Teee-Jayy

P.S. Anyone else stuck in the Diablo 4 grind? I'm hooked on the game, but am starting to feel a little like a masochist.