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Scarif


Ary the Grey

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They had journeyed deep into the heart of the metal beast, from which the poison was spewing like an open and festering wound. But here, at the root of things, the energy was not defined by the pain it caused, it simply was just another chain of cause and effect that permeated the natural world. The struggle was an imagined one, a construct that overlaid reality because creating enemies was a fundamental part in the process of sentient minds to rally effort, to go to war. But the temptation to see all things through the lens of conflict to draw upon that reservoir of strength and will could ultimately deceive a person. Statements became threats, accidents became intentional sleights, and people could become overwhelmed with an all consuming need to oppose anything and everything they saw as the enemy or connected to an enemy's power. War was tiresome and yet often persistent in the minds of people as a necessity for fear of losing, of being overcome and destroyed or marginalized. Fear generated war and war generated fear. Only by seeking the truth of the world could the cycle be broken.

 

"Let go."

 

T'ali'au accepted the presence of the energies as a natural occurrence, and not an antagonistic force to be opposed. She opened herself up to Loloto while also beseeching her on behalf of her allies. She did not try to stop the poison, or meet it in a contest of wills. She accepted its presence as a natural consequence of the machines failing, but also something that Loloto had called forth champions to address.

 

"This too is just another part of the world that we walk in. Do not defy the natural order of things, instead trust in the Mother, in the Force as you call it, to put you beyond harm as you do her work. We define our relationship with the Mother by whether or not we choose to accept the world for its truth, by whether we cherish and embrace the world or try to change it to accommodate our needs at the cost of others. There is no rival to overcome or opponent that must be broken, no us versus them in a contest of wills. There is no us for that matter, for we are here simply as a reflecting pool of the love and adoration of her will."

 

When the ego was let go, the poison passed through harmlessly, for Loloto was the ocean, the poison, and the life that dwelled in and beside the water. The poison was not the Other, and therefore under the dominion of the Mother to deny purchase wholesale.

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The heat was all encapsulating, and Sandy could swear she could feel her nerves frying and degenerating in front of the mass of raw energy she was absorbing. It took so much out of her as she focused, the force flowing through her and out of her in constant waves of energy. It tingled, it hurt, it was the force.

 

How much longer could she last? She did not know how much time had elapsed since they had dove into the depth of the archipelago, but it couldn’t have been more than a half hour, and though Leena and Tali were doing their utmost, Sandy did not think she could do much more. Every inch of her skin stung like a thousand needles were digging in, and where it didn’t hurt, there was the silent itch of destruction. Her mouth tasted like she had eaten a breakfast of metal filings. But there was no turning back. She couldn’t stop now. So she dove into herself for the strength to press on. 

 

His smiling face, the joy of friendship, the feeling of holding a lightsabre for the first time. Memories crashed forward like a stream, all joy. All blotting out the darkness at the edges of her vision. 

 

She drew harder on the force, pulling at that liquid metal core, pulling the poison of it, pulling at the power trapped within it. And just as suddenly there was nothing left to pull from. The only light about them was the glow from her bubbling sabre, and there was a void within her. So much power, and her body had begun to rely on it to even exist. Two distinct thoughts swam up in her brain as she watched the glow on her skin fade into nothing. First, why had she not taken a massive dose of AntiRad meds, and why did she not prepare for the end of this? She didn't know if she would live, and the painful hunger was rushing up through her. Eating at her muscles and skin.

 

“Spast.” She mumbled as her mouth filled with the soft saline of clean ocean water. And as the darkness at the edges of her vision flew forward, she fainted dead away in the arms of her friends. The shields and power she had been projecting wiped away along with the core of the fallen Star Destroyer. 

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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And suddenly, like that, the dark pressing presence was gone. The peacefulness as the natural world began to flow back into the emptiness left by the radiation almost left Leena gasping as she recoiled in the peace. Even as Sandy’s protective barrier faltered, it did not matter, things were beginning to heal. She could feel it. Now the people of this world could begin to set right that which had been wronged.

 

 There in the darkness, Leena smiled slightly. The world was right for the moment except . . . “Master Sarna!” Leena bubbled as she felt the pain and destruction that radiated from the Jedi Master falling back into her and T’ali’u’s arms. She needed medical attention immediately. More than Leena could offer in the cramped darkness of a sunken star destroyer. 
 

Reaching within, Leena pulled at the shimmering sliver of goodness that she carried in her heart.  Nursing it, the warm light grew exponentially until it radiated outward from Leena’s hands and eyes bathing the hall in dim light. Pulling at Sandy, Leena began the long trek back down the shaft of the destroyer. Mentally, she pushed at T’ali’u, urging her to help get the Jedi Master to safety. Sandy needed healing. Her injuries were more numerous than could be seen or counted. A simple washing of the force across Sandy’s form told the apprentice healer that. If she was going to make it, they had to get her somewhere more stable than the wreckage.

 

Seeing Sandy’s rebreather float off into the darkness, Leena pulled her own from her mouth, the salty water flooding and burning her lungs. She shoved the lifesaving piece of technology into Sandy’s mouth, pushing her mouth closed around it.

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Deeper into the ship towards the breach, Leena tugged at Sandy; her powerful legs churning the water behind them. All the while, Leena kept one eye on their pathway out and another on Sandy. Things were not looking good. A body was not meant to undergo that kind of destruction. Only the force seemed to hold the master on this plane of existence. So as her legs churned and her eyes watched, Leena subtly pressed on the force urging whatever positive life giving energies the still-healing waters about them could muster. 
 

Just keep breathing,’ she thought as fear clouded the edges of her mind. She could not lose another Jedi. Not after Mon Cal. As long as Sandy kept breathing, there was a fighting chance.

 

After what seemed like forever, but was only several grueling minutes, the dim light of the outside underwater world shone through the jagged hole punched in the ship’s hull. Looking down at Sandy, Leena sighed with exasperation, a stream of bubbles trailing upwards from her mouth. Every minute down here was a step closer to the end. A lifetime of lessons and watching countless unnamed soldiers bleed out in her field hospitals was not enough to stay her heart when her fellow Jedi were on the line.  
 

Steeling her mind and soul, Leena gritted her teeth and pressed onwards out into the open sea. Here she could already feel the currents carrying on their invisible arms the life of the world about them. It energized her, encouraged her, steadied her tiring limbs. Climbing on the currents, Leena tugged the Jedi Master until they broke the surface.
 

There was not time to try and signal the vessel that had brought them here. Keeping Sandy’s head above water, Leena paddled towards the jutting wreckage of the star destroyer above the surface of the sea and carefully Pushed Sandy’s body into what had once been a gun emplacement before pulling herself up after.

 

Kneeling beside Sandy, Leena began to pull the ragged robes away from her more obvious injuries. The woman’s fingers looked like they had been scorched down to the bone! With a deep sigh of exasperation, Leena began to dig at her waist pulling a half dozen small green crystals from her pouch. The Mon Cal smiled. “Where modern medicine fails, the force takes over.” She quoted to herself from one of the many texts she had studied in her lifetime on healing. Inwardly, Leena was trying to sever her personal connection to her patient. This was a professional duty now, she could not let it be anything more; in spite of how deeply she was worried about losing another Jedi. Healing soldiers on the front lines, tending to Jedi in the temples, Leena cared but could almost always distance herself from ‘them’, they that fought in wars or were clumsy enough to hurt themselves in training. This was different though, now Leena was one of those people on the front lines. Even as her own body ached, she still had work to do.


Carefully setting up her crystals about Sandy’s form and her own, Leena settled cross-legged close enough that her knees were pressed up against Sandy. Palms downward, Leena extended them out across Sandy’s fallen form, one over her head and another her navel. Then, the Mon Cal inhaled deeply, clearing her mind, drawing on the faint glow that she carried within. She pulled it forth, urging it to grow, pushing out any doubt or darkness in her mind. From there it flowed like a mist from every pore of her body, across Sandy towards the crystals where it networked within the intricate latices and rebounded within the aura. The healing power of the force growing exponentially within the circle as it surged around Leena and was directed towards Sandy’s wounds, visible and invisible. “Come on Master Sarna. It is not your time yet. The force needs you still. Keep on breathing. Just breath. Let the force and your body do the rest. Accelerate the knitting together of your sinews. You injuries will be closed and filled with life. Your mind resting in a nurturing cocoon of warmth. Just breath.”

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“I can’t do it.” 

 

Mumbled the young girl as she came down from the hundredth attempt. Her pale blonde hair hanging in dirty strands across her face, and sweat staining the green tunic she wore. Her bare feet hit the ground again, kicking up a plume of dusty topsoil. 

 

“And I tell you that you can, and you must.” The voice was dreary, and came from a tired voice. It held no forgiveness, no mercy in its judgement. “Three. Two. One.” And the pale blonde girl stuck her hands up in front of her and pushed off the ground in a leap, but the shockball still struck her on the chin and knocked her back to the ground. Deepening a bruise to a darker purple. 

 

“You know the council won’t like it if you keep striking her like that.” That male voice was just as tired as the prior voice, but carried the strict coruscanti accent that caused a stir of anger to fly up the girl’s spine. “But maybe if I keep talking, the girl will finally find that telekenisis you want her to.” 

 

No anger. No anger, it's a path to the darksisde. But her mind was so tired. Why couldn’t she reflect that damned ball? 

 

“Now listen to me Sandy, Master Fynn’s ship leaves in ten minutes for Thalassia. You have until then to master this. Or you will be absolutely no use to us.” 

 

The pale girl could feel tears at the corners of her eyes, “I. I will try…”

 

“No. You will do. Again!” 

 

And Sandy lept, pushing the force in front of her as the tears mixed with the dusty sweat on her cheeks. But this time no shockball struck her. No stinging, burning, sensation this time. The shockball had sailed far away, deflected with the force. She opened her mouth to shout for joy. But the smiling face of the Jedi Master Fynn wasn’t smiling. His expression was locked in a shout of rage, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. Sandy cried out in horror, but she could feel his blood on her hands. And that distant hunger of the Maw. 

 

“Master I…”

 

But when Adenna smiled at her, the raven haired woman’s jaw hung slack. The left side of her face burned away by a blaster bolt. 

 

_____

 

Sandy sat up with a scream and gasped for breath. Her wild eyes found Leena and finally focused, her stuttering breathing calming almost instantly as the Jedi Master regained control of herself. But in the back of her head that familiar presence of her old master was gone. Another casualty of the Sith Lords. 

 

She glanced down from the Mon Calamari to her own body. She winced at her nakedness then winced again at her hands. The fingers were no longer just shards of bone but were pale and healed skin and flesh. Though the pain lingered. Sandy was in awe of the power of the young woman. 

 

“Amazing.” She whispered, cocking a grin at the younger Jedi, then to the shards of crystal that surrounded her. “You were amazing Leena. And you as well Tali.” 

 

She futility pulled at the shards of tunic to cover herself then sighed. Feeling the warmth of the sun beating down on her. What was next? Did she knight the young woman? It needed to be done, and as the ranking Jedi on the mission it was Sandy's responsibility after all. She looked up to the Mon Cal. 

 

"Leena, you have shown yourself a Knight."   

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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Leena pulled back instinctively as Sandy sat up with a scream that shattered the calm sound of water lapping at the ship’s hull. Her eyes were wide with surprise. She had not expected the Jedi master to return so . . . suddenly. Having little to offer, Leena tried to hand the master whatever larger scraps of robe she could still reach. 
 

Smiling at Sandy politely, Leena gingerly placed a forceful hand on the woman’s shoulder and pushed her back down on the hull. “You are not fully healed yet Master Sarna.” Sandy may be a master, and therefore outrank her, but here, in this situation, medical bay or field medic, Leena was the medical provider; Sandy her patient. It warmed the Mon Cal’s soul to see the Jedi pulled back from the brink and she silently thanked the force that still radiated freely around them; the healing waves of light pulsing silently about them. “You must rest.” She continued, nodding as Sandy spoke briefly of knighthood. It was encouraging for Leena doubted strongly if she was capable enough to ascend the ranks of the Order, but in this moment, those thoughts were pushed aside. Her focus remained on and in the force, serving as a conduit and guide to help accelerate the Master’s natural healing, drawing on the calmness about them and infusing it with light and peace. Radiation was not a simple broken limb, it was a dark power that hid in the recesses of health, light, and life. Leena was encouraged by the Jedi’s recovery, but still, she immersed herself in the force, seeking out the darkness where it hid. She, Tali, and Sandy had all been exposed and would need treated; but Sandy had taken the brunt of the blow beneath the waves.


After several minutes, the calm air was pierced by the low throb of engines as the vessel that had deposited them here returned to retrieve them.

 

Jumping into the near craft, Leena grabbed a blanket and scrambled back out, draping it around Sandy’s shoulders. “No sense giving everyone a show.” She smiled playfully as she offered a hand to help the Master into the craft.
 

As soon as they were all aboard, they set about making their return to shore and Tali’s village.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sandy ran a hand through her drying hair, pulling vaguely at a knot that had formed that was now crusting with salt. She wrapped the blanket firmly around her thin waist and chest and followed the girl into the shuttle. Every joint aching, and her mouth still tasting like metal. When she gingerly sat down across from the girl in the horribly uncomfortable jumpseat she let a soft smile flicker across her lips. She raised a finger and shook it mockingly at the young Mon Calamari. “As your last lesson remember to not let the other Jedi see you naked. Especially as a master.” She laughed and the laughter felt good though painful.

 

She held out a hand, whose flesh was new and pink, contrasting with the dusting of freckles and pale flesh that had not been burned away. 

 

“Leena Kil, though I have not had the pleasure of training you for years I must at this point say something boringly formal.” 

 

The pain and tiredness was evident in her speech. But her actions seemed strong. She flexed her hand, and her lightsabre twitched into her hand. She glanced out to see the ocean stretching out behind them as the shuttle began to take on speed. The lightsabre flared to life, its silver white blade bathing the interior of the shuttle in a harsh light. 

 

“I name you a Knight of the Jedi Order. And deem your apprenticeship at an end. Let no one speak against it.” She placed the blade over one shoulder then the opposite shoulder before snapping the lightsabre off. Returning the shuttle to its natural darkness. Where they could not easily see Sandy slump back into her seat letting exhaustion claim a little victory over her tired body. 

 

But soon they would be hyperspace bound. 

 

For the broken world had been healed, friendships had been cemented, and the Jedi had earned a little victory in a tide of defeat. 

 

((To Nar Shaddaa))

 

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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