Borleias

[Aira Cadan]

“Sounds good,” I replied. Aelyn and I got ready, which mostly involved me grabbing a heavier cloak. The nights got cold here this time of year.

 

Soon we were walking through the streets, heading for the outskirts and a specific hill that Aelyn had heard about from a local that was supposed to have a particularly good view. As we walked, my padawan started with some questions, this time focused on me.

 

“I don’t mind at all!” I replied. “Let’s see…well, I always dreamed of being a Jedi. I’m the daughter of a middle-class family on Adumar. It’s kind of backwater, and I never had the chance to get tested for Force-sensitivity. But I had heard of the Jedi—their exploits, their heroism, their dedication and self-sacrifice. There was nothing I wished to be more. But I knew it was a pipe dream, and I never actually expected it to happen.

 

“When I was eighteen, my parents took my sisters and me—we’re triplets—on a vacation to Coruscant. It was amazing, but as a bonus, we stopped by the Jedi Temple to get our Force-sensitivity checked. My sisters were negative, but I was positive.” I shook my head with wonder at how everything had worked out. “It was quite a shock to all of us, but I knew that I not only wanted to take the opportunity to become a Jedi, but that I also had a duty to. There are few people in this galaxy who are Force-sensitive enough for training; to waste my gift was unthinkable to me. We went home and I dropped out of school. A few weeks later, my family dropped me off at the Jedi Temple. The Temple at that time was on the same planet as the New Republic headquarters. I trained for a few weeks, and then I was in a class with other Jedi hopefuls when Onderin showed up, still in his admiral’s uniform. He watched for a while, then called me over and offered to train me.” I smiled at the recollection. “He warned me that it’d be an unorthodox training, but I didn’t care.”

 

We turned a corner. “My commission in the New Republic navy came as a result of that. Onderin felt that things would be easier if I had security clearance, as he was often involved in high-level military maneuvers. The war kept us apart a lot, but I still learned everything I needed from him over the course the following years, and I was also learning life lessons from the war.” I shrugged. “I’m not a very good Jedi, I don’t think, and that’s partly because of my training. It’s no coincidence that Onderin’s previous apprentices also went on to distinguished military or political careers, even if that often made their duties as Jedi come in second place. But I do what I can. The galaxy is a strange place.”

 

I glanced at her. “So if you feel like I’m not really sure what I’m doing, it’s because I don’t have much context for ‘normal’ Jedi training,” I said, half-apologetically.

[Aelyn]

"Even I can see how you ending up in the military helped contribute to the peace the galaxy is enjoying now," Aelyn admitted. "If Master Starlisk hadn't picked you that day, or even if your parents hadn't taken you to be checked at the Temple, who knows how things would be different?"

 

She lapsed into silence for a little bit. The fact that there had been a war in the first place had perhaps necessitated such actions as getting involved in it in order to eventually bring it to an end. The thought made her a little uncomfortable that it could be that only through the darkness could good be realized. To be honest she still didn't know how that actually looked for a Jedi.

 

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you're training me, whether or not you're confident," she said. "I've already learned so much and I'm looking forward to seeing what lesson comes next."

 

A little while later they were making their way out into a large, empty field even as the local sun, Pyria, set. Out in the quiet away from the bustle of the spaceport, looking at the vast natural beauty of a world she'd never before visited, Aelyn wondered at the nature of the Force and the span of its reach and current. She had often heard it said that the Jedi did not believe in coincidence, but that many circumstances were the result of the natural order of the Force working to bring peace and balance to the universe. She wondered how she fit into it all.

 

As darkness crept across this side of the planet, the meteors started to appear, space rocks completing their eons-long journey in a display of light and heat as they were disintegrated by the Borlesian atmosphere. At first the meteor trails were faint and sporadic, but as the sky grew darker they stood out more and even the less brilliant ones became visible. At the peak of the shower they were so numerous it was akin to looking out of a viewport during a jump to hyperspace.

 

Aelyn fully lost herself in the display and into the Force as she tapped into it, feeling how even the falling meteors were a part of the intrinsic balance of the cosmos, tiny parts of the enormity of a universal equilibrium, impassive to the struggles of ego and morality that plagued sentients.

[Aira Cadan]

The meteors were stunning. It was funny; I had spent so much time recently going, going, going, and most of it on ships or space stations. It was nice to go dirtside and simply enjoy one of the marvels of the galaxy for a change. It reminded me of my youth, of sitting in our backyard, staring up at the stars and wishing I could travel between them, having adventures.

 

But not long into the show, my attention was arrested by a man standing off by himself. There was something familiar about him in the Force, and he had an air of weariness, of clinging on to shattered hope, and of being directionless. I alternated watching him and watching the sky. When the show started to die down, I glanced at Aelyn, and gestured to the man with my chin, an unspoken signal that I was going to go talk to him before he could slink away into the night.

 

As I approached him, the memory clicked. "Ensign Davis!" I greeted him warmly.

 

"Captain Cadan!" He returned my warm handshake. "How the dickens are you?"

 

"I'm fine, fine. How are you? It's been a long time."

 

"Yeah, last time I saw you was that skirmish over Ilum. Heh, that was quite an experience."

 

I smiled. "Yes, it sure was. What have you been up to?"

 

He shook his head. "Came here after the war. This is where I'm from. No family to speak of though. It's been rough. Not many jobs out there; at least, not ones for an old New Rep navy ensign. Being a soldier was all I was ever good at. And now...well, I'm glad we're at peace, ma'am, but it leaves a lot of good men and women in the lurch."

 

"I understand," I replied.

 

"Anyway, it was good to see ya, Cap. If you're ever around again, let me know. Or if you'll be here a few more days."

 

"I will," I promised. "Take care, Davis."

 

"You too, ma'am." He headed off, leaving me with a strange feeling. I realized suddenly that I missed the war. I missed the battlefield bond. I missed being united with others. I didn't miss the death and cost of war, but there was something about it...The thought vaguely disturbed me. Resolving to think on it later, I returned to my padawan. "Well that was quite a show. Did it live up to your expectations?"

[Aelyn]

Already closely attuned to the Force as she had meditatively watched the celestial light show, Aelyn did not miss the swirl of emotions that her Master experienced following her brief chat with what appeared to be an old friend from the war. It was oddly... wistful, but it also puzzled her somewhat. There was clearly something there that Aira would need to unpack.

 

"Yes, I'm very glad we came," the apprentice answered when Aira made her way back over. "Let's go back to the hotel and visit Liv in the morning. Maybe we can find a way to get through to her this time."

 

As they headed back, Aelyn couldn't help but broach the subject of Aira's interaction with the Ensign. "You seemed happy to see that man," she observed. "You got the chance to serve alongside some good people, I take it?"

[Aira Cadan]

"The best," I replied, my tone wistful. "That was quite possibly the best thing about serving. Everyone is on the same page. Everyone has the same training. You rely on each other, and you know that your fellow soldiers will never abandon you. They have your back and you have theirs." I hesitated. "Technically it's the same in the Jedi Order, but there are so few of us that we are often spread thin. The times I get to work with other Jedi are rare. And then, everyone has different shades of traininga nd experience." I sighed. "Yes, sometimes I really miss it, as strange as that sounds."

 

It didn't take us long to get back to our hotel. It was quite late, and we knew we'd only have a few hours of sleep until the sun rose, so we went to bed right away.

 

My dreams that night were dark. Death surrounded me. The cries of innocents, helpless, filled my ears. My heart ached within me. Something had to be done...

 

I woke in the morning convinced that my dreams hadn't simply been coincidence. The Force felt heavy, much like it had during the war. Staying quiet so as not to wake Aelyn in the other room, I flipped on the holonews, dreading what I might see.

 

We Do Not Comply

 

I stared, horrified, as the segment played. But it wasn't the terror of what had been awakened so much as the fact that there seemed to be no response by the Jedi or the GA. Certainly, something was being done. The Sith had reawoken. The GA would need to militarize again. They had to protect their citizens. I had to protect them. My role suddenly became very clear.

 

I stumbled to my feet and crossed the room to get my comlink. Belatedly, I noticed the green light flashing on top indicating I had received a message. Holding my breath, I opened it.

 

Reactivation of your commission in the Galactic Alliance Navy was all I saw at first. It was enough. Taking a deep breath, I skimmed the rest of it. They recognized my right to choose, given my status as a Jedi, but it was clear they wanted me back. The Force swirled in me, and suddenly, the sense of purposelessness that had been haunting me for the pat few years vanished. That was where I was meant to be. That was where I could make a difference.

 

I'd have to let Kirlocca know--and I'd have to find Aelyn another master. I was certain she wouldn't want to stay with me now. The thought filled me with regret. I had enjoyed teaching her. The GA was giving me a few days before they wanted to hear back from me, so I had time to wrap things up. And suddenly, I wanted to get them done.

 

I smiled. "I'm back."

[Aelyn]

The holonews in the other room was not enough to bid Aelyn awake in the morning, but Aira's reaction to it was. Her eyes flickered open and she listened for a moment, but her Master had turned the news off already and seemed to be working quietly on something. Slipping out of bed, Aelyn caught a quick sanisteam, dressed, and headed out in the living area.

 

She found Aira in front of the computer terminal and studied her for a moment. "...Something's happened, hasn't it?"

 

Perhaps it was what she had felt earlier from the older Jedi, but she found herself feeling anxious about the answer. Currently, Aira felt... determined, accepting, like she had found some level of peace. But the news had instilled a very different reaction. If she had to guess, she was witnessing what made Aira so effective as a Jedi. Some people saw something horrible on the news and became cynical or afraid. Others saw an opportunity to make a difference and moved decisively toward the horrible thing.

 

Aelyn was struggling to find her place in that. She had always been willing to get involved in a situation where other people might simply shrug and ignore it or hope it went away. But those were small things; things that she felt she had the capability to change. The Force promised to greatly expand the scope of her ability to influence situations and events positively.

 

But right now, she still felt so small.

[Aira Cadan]

I took a deep breath. "Yes, Aelyn. Something has happened. Remember when Imperial Remnant Head of State Zinthos said that she was going to take a hard line on the Sith? They have decided to fight back. And...it's bad." I thought about showing her the holonet segment, but then changed my mind. She didn't need to see that. "They killed a lot of people on Carida. The war has begun again. And...the GA has taken notice. Between the Imperials breaking off and them instigating this fight against the Sith, things are going to be changing drastically and suddenly. The GA is going to reform their navy, and they want me back. Aelyn, I can't let this go unanswered. It's not only my duty as a former solider, but I see it as my duty as a Jedi. I have to protect people the best I know how, and that means accepting the position."

 

I sighed. "Can you feel it in the Force? The peace is broken." I was silent for a long minute, then spoke again. "I understand that this affects us," I gestured, "and I'm sorry about that. I know you probably won't want to continue as my apprentice when I'm going to be throwing myself back into the thick of things. I totally understand, and I'm sorry. I'll find you a new master, if you still want to be a Jedi."

 

I rose. "Okay?"

[Aelyn]

Aelyn was stunned, as though she could hardly believe that what Aira was saying could be true. "The peace is still brand new..." she said. There was no doubt that the continued existence of the Sith and various other loose ends left over from the last war made the threat of it starting again more likely. The Empire had not been subjugated, it had been rolled into the Galactic Alliance with little oversight into its military budget. If anyone else but Raven had been put in charge, Aelyn would have suspected that the whole peace treaty could have just been orchestrated to give the Remnant time to rebuild their navy. And perhaps it had been that despite Raven's leadership.

 

Suddenly her features hardened. "We can't split up now," she said resolutely. "There's too much we might still be able to accomplish together. I'm the daughter of Ambassador Rasil Talis, you're one of the two fleet captains that called an end to the fighting, and we've both already served as a Jedi envoy to the Remnant. Reactivate your commission if you need to -- it might even help the galaxy remember who you are. Let's go back to Head of State Zinthos, let's talk to the Senate and my father. We can't just let it come to war when there might be a chance we can help prevent it."

 

She took a deep breath. What she was proposing would be a huge undertaking and she would end up totally in over her head if she wasn't careful. But there was no mistaking the fact that circumstances and the Force had put her in a position where she could do something. "I feel the Force," she said, "but I don't stand a chance on my own, and I still need so much training. Will you help me?"

[Aira Cadan]

I couldn't keep a smile from crossing my face at Aelyn's words. I rose and grasped her hands. "Then we'll do it together," I said, stressing the last word. "We will do whatever it takes to prevent war from happening."

 

I took a deep breath, then let go. "No point in sticking around here, then. Let's go see Liv, and then head out."

 

We gathered our things and checked out of the hotel. There were two messages waiting for me at the front desk, both from the hospital regarding the patient. Apparently, I was the emergency contact. I shrugged, and we headed back to the hospital. "Now let's see if we can't figure out what's going on here," I muttered under my breath,

[Liv]

When Aira Cadan and Aelyn arrived at Kimble General, a few – still shaken – orderlies that sat outside the ruin of Liv’s hospital room instructed them to the local CoreSec outpost. If inspected, the hospital room would yield an intriguing but perplexing mess. The room was destroyed: holographic displays were smashed on the floor, glass and pools of dried blood littered the tile, instruments were splayed, the bed was smashed against the south wall, and all the cabinets were caved in. But the destruction fell short of the door. There was a clear line that separated the room from the rest of the hospital. Even the walls showed signs of impact and wear, but the destruction didn’t leave the room. The orderlies were poor witnesses. Their stories were brief and clipped because none of them wished to discuss what went on. And truthfully, none of them saw what happened.

 

The CoreSec building, when Aelyn and Aira arrived, would just be setting in for early afternoon operations. It was a squat one-story building that took up four city blocks and sat a few blocks away from the hospital. The exterior of the building was colored in a simple slate gray and had a few CoreSec emblems emblazoned on the walls. The emblems looked sun dried and the paint on the walls was flaking, badly. The shrubbery on the outside of the building was overgrown and the patrol officers stumbled about in the breaking light. Their eyes were dull, clutching caf in their hands and their wit was not apparent in any capacity. None of them registered the Jedi as they approached. The two ladies were left to find their seats in the lobby and it took ten minutes before a front desk official arrived. Her face was sunken and surly; her expression moreso.

 

When the I.D scan of the women registered on her computer, Barb, the secretary, paged Officer Samuels to come to the lobby.

 

Officer Samuels was low on the list of CoreSec regulars. He was the guy that you drug out of bed when you needed something. The other higher-ups were too important to deal with the druk assignments. He’d been up for the past eighteen hours and he was starting droop in his seat. His eyes were half-lidded and he almost slipped nose-first into his eighth cup of caf when Captain Cadan entered the front lobby. The page alerted him before the boiling hot liquid hit his skin and he slapped himself to try and appear more ‘awake.’ It was a futile exercise, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about presentation even when his thick beard and shaggy hair argued with his decorum.

 

Officer Samuels ambled into the front lobby and took stock of the two Jedi. He tried to slog together a cohesive response. He looked around the room for a second and felt gravity dragging him down. His glazed green eyes blinked a few times and his left hand was struggling to pick words from the blurry air. The spectacle looked a little silly and Officer Samuels was dimly aware of it. The Officer only managed to find his words after imbibing the caf that he still held in his right hand – he wasn’t crazy; most days – and holding his ground, despite all hints at the contrary.

 

“H-Hello again ladies.” Officer Samuels slurred. “Your friend is in the med bay. As I said. At least, I think I did. We moved your friend from Kimble when she had a wacko reaction to whatever. None of us are sure of what happened. All we know is that the crazy managed to stifle itself, which had all of us scratching our heads. Normally psychotic breaks lead to lethal consequences for the patient and others. But this… This was something completely different. We just labeled it psychotic in our records because we have no galactic standard for this behavior.”

 

Samuels slumped into a nearby chair, gravity finally having its way with him. He spilled a little caf on the floor, which earned him a stern look from Barb, but he didn’t notice. When his seat was firmly planted on the cheap flaky cushion, he continued.

 

“We didn’t have a lot of options to call for emergency contacts. Cara Strong, her mother, died a year ago. And her father, Marcus Strong, went AWOL from the Galactic Alliance military in the same time frame.” Samuels cleared his throat a moment and took another swig of his caf. It was getting cold; ugh. “Our only reason for calling you Captain Aira, aside from your presence yesterday, is the fact that the young woman called for you personally. Unconscious on a metal slab, the teenager said, ‘where is Aira, I want to see Aira.’ If you can explain why that is, that would be great, but it’s not important. As an additional perplexity to this weird case, her facial jewelry, the jewelry confiscated from her at the hospital, is glowing red hot. The orderlies tried to remove them and they got seriously burned. We had to remove them with hazmat gear and large metal tongs. The objects in question are locked up in evidence, but just ask and I’ll give you access. You may also have access to the hospital surveillance logs, but you may not want to look at it. It… doesn’t look right. Like a demented yo-yo, she seemed to prevent herself from leaving her room while destroying it all the same.”

 

The Officer reached his left hand up to scratch at his greasy hair. Samuels’ eyes were starting to get heavier and he was once again drawing close to plopping face-first in his caf. He did what he could to prop himself on the bent metal arm of the waiting room chair that he sat in, but it was the pain that kept him from completing his uncomfortable facial.

[Aelyn]

During the trip to the local CoreSec precinct, the subsequent long wait before an officer came out to see them, and the eventual somnolent briefing, Aelyn became increasingly bewildered. The huge building was only a few years old and yet had fallen into partial disarray due apparently to lack of maintenance, its officers morose and unprofessional. She would perhaps have dismissed the behavior if it was the end of a long day or during a lazy afternoon, but it was well before noon, the sun was up, and still the usual efficiency she had come to expect from CoreSec was strangely absent.

 

It was baffling, and Aelyn periodically threw a glance at Aira to confirm her own sanity and make sure that her Master was seeing the same things that she was. They were so at odds with her expectations -- and the officer's account so farfetched -- that she wondered if she was stuck in some dream. Even the way they called Aira "Captain" was bizarre, given that she had been a civilian for years now and was only now looking to rejoin the star fleet.

 

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like this was just a hallucination. She sat and stared at the officer for a moment as she tried to figure out how even to react to all of this. "It sounds like she should be committed," she said after a moment, just a touch of humor in her voice betraying her feelings on how ridiculous it all sounded. Still, she was determined to at least give this a fair shake. "Before she's consigned to an asylum, however, I think we are prepared to at least see her, as per her request. Maybe we can get through to her somehow and speed her recovery."

[Aira Cadan]

Honestly, I thought we might be able to help the exhausted CoreSec officer more than the patient/prisoner. Clearly, things were busy around here--so busy that there wasn't enough staff to fully provide for the planet's needs. I listened to the briefing, making a plan. Once he finished, Aelyn--clearly perplexed--indicated our interest. Before we moved, however, I put a hand on Officer Samuels' shoulder. "Take it easy, Officer." I reached out with the Force, and sent some energy into the man, just enough to wake him up and get him working back at his full ability. Once his eyes had brightened, I removed my hand and motioned to Aelyn. "My Padawan will take a look at the surveillance tapes. She'll see if there is anything that we can learn from them, and then let me know exactly what happened. In the meantime, I'll take a look at her jewelry. We'll meet again to compare notes before we go see her face-to-face. Perhaps having a full picture will help us figure out how to get through to her."

[Liv]

Officer Samuels felt like someone shot him with an arc of electricity; either that or thirty hours of make-up sleep that he sorely needed. He stood ramrod straight, his eyes perked up and his thoughts were pouring in like a crazy out of control waterfall. Immediately, he became aware of the heavy beard that grew on his chin and the array of officers around him that were dragging their feet. He had been one of the zombies creeping through the facility, but now that he could see everything around him, he was uncomfortably aware of how far everything had gone. Barb’s eyes were so sullen that she could give the former Emperor Palpatine a run for his money, which was saying something.

 

“Oh-righ-wai-what?” Officer Samuels tried to say in the slurry of thoughts that assaulted his mind. With a second of time to re-organize his speech and an extra sip of caf for good measure, he tried again. “Of course, Ms. Cadan. Apologies for the disorganization. This facility is rarely used, and CoreSec has suffered major losses recently, so we are all still trying to recoup. Everyone here has worked upwards of eighteen hours and counting. Anyway, Aelyn is it? The surveillance footage is right in that room over there.” Samuels pointed to the second door on the right, down the main hall. “Officer Hopkins, the resident cadet, and the only person that was able to grab some shut-eye will be able to help you with it. Ms. Cadan, follow me to the evidence room and I’ll show you the objects in question.”

 

Before receiving any sort of argument or resistance, the rejuvenated Officer made his way down the main hall and past a few side hallways. When he came to a large metal door on the left, he pulled out a ring of key cards and flipped to a card with a glowing red bar on it. He waved it in front of the door and it opened with a small ding sound.

 

Officer Samuels proceeded through the door and held the door for Ms. Cadan until they were both inside the small room. He then closed the door with a click and approached the window that stood right in the middle of the room. The old Officer that rested on the other side of the window was snoring quite loudly. Samuels was almost jealous, but he didn’t really have time for pleasantries.

 

“HEY WILCOX!!” Officer Samuels yelled. He was kind enough not to do it right next to the man’s ear, but the intensity suggested his urgency.

 

The exhausted officer jolted upward and bonked his head on his desk lamp. He harrumphed and rubbed his right index finger through his thick graying mustache. The milky white film over his eyes subsided temporarily and he looked with some cognition at Officer Samuels. “W—wwhat? What is it, Samuels?”

 

Officer Samuels bent his head in acknowledgment and indicated the door on the other side of the small room. “We need to get into evidence. You should have some documents indicating that this woman is authorized to enter as long as she is escorted by an Officer.”

 

Wilcox looked as if he started sleeping in the middle of their conversation. But, with the barest hesitation, Wilcox shuffled through the papers on his desk. Mumbles and grumbles were the only audible noises from Wilcox for a few minutes. He seemed intent to take as long as possible. Officer Samuels started to tent his fingers a little and crack his knuckles. The energy in his body started to pull his attention around the room and he began to get a little impatient before the door on the other side of the room clicked open. Samuels showed his badge to Wilcox and Wilcox nodded before he plopped his head on the desk and fell to sleep again.

 

Samuels moved toward the door and once again held it open for Ms. Cadan. Together they entered a big room with several racks filled with contraband. A veritable smorgasbord of guns and drugs littered the racks that sat before them. There were a couple racks that were completely empty, but those weren’t important. Samuels avoided the racks altogether and walked to the south side of the room. A large table sat against the wall. A few hazardous canisters sat in a line along the border of the wall and a small pile of jewelry glowed in the center of the table. Some jewelry glowed brighter than the others, but all of them were hot to the touch. Samuels took a position by the table and indicated with his head.

 

The brightest glowing pieces were two silver earrings, a cortosis earring, one white opalescent earring, an obsidian earring, and a jade tongue ring.

[Aelyn]

Having been led over to the security room, Aelyn watched the summary of the recordings that had been taken of Liv's room over the last several hours. Unrestrained, the girl appeared as though one thoroughly possessed, and the officer's description seemed apt.

 

The more she watched, the more out of her element Aelyn felt. She wasn't a psychologist nor a psychiatrist and certainly not an exorcist, if such a thing even existed. She'd never put any stock in the supernatural nor believe in possession up until a few days ago when she had personally encountered the Force for the first time. Until then she'd never really understood that there was a seemingly-metaphysical energy field that could interact with people and objects in a way that defied conventional understanding of the mechanical world. From what she had discovered, the Force interacted with both life and death in a mind-expanding way, and it opened all sorts of questions as to what could be going on with Liv.

 

Objectively, her educated brain was still telling her that this was just mental illness, induced by some combination of drug usage and the fallout of the girl losing her parents. But it seemed that CoreSec had exhausted that possibility already, and it certainly didn't explain glowing red-hot earrings or some of the other effects, which seemed to heavily imply Force influence.

 

But really, this was all just thinking. While thinking could be useful for solving difficult problems, the only thing it was doing here was keeping Aelyn detached from the situation because she was having trouble dealing with it in her normal way. She'd always wanted to help people wherever she could, but that had come with an awareness of her limitations. Aira -- and the Force -- were now challenging those limitations. They'd healed a man of some dark side plague on Carida, after all. Who could just do that? Apparently, Aelyn and her Master could. Would these same powers be sufficient to get Liv on a track that wasn't life in an asylum?

 

Aelyn both hoped so and was determined to find out for sure.

 

She reached out with the Force. The weariness of the CoreSec staff was pervasive and had settled upon the precinct like a fog. But deeper within the facility, Liv stuck out like a sore thumb. Her psyche was chaos and heat, a wildfire prevented by a river from wreaking havoc across the placid grasslands beyond.

 

Aelyn turned to the officer that was escorting her. "Let's find Aira. Gathering information is important, but whatever is going to happen here, it's going to happen in Liv's room."

[Aira Cadan]

The room was full of the junk and detritus one would expect from a contraband collection room. I gave the room a sweep with my senses but didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary--except coming from the long table against the south wall. Samuels motioned to the brightly glowing jewelry sitting on it and stepped aside, looking expectant.

 

First I probed the jewelry with the Force. It was giving off a good deal of heat, and that seemed to be emanating from somewhere...up. I nodded to myself. The girl was clearly tapping into her low level of Force sensitivity. She was doing this, however improbable that was. It was what I expected, but it was good to confirm that there was no outside presence doing this to her.

 

Reaching out, I hovered my gloved hand over the metal pieces, then I sighed and began to remove my gloves. This was going to hurt, probably. Probably a lot. But psychometry could tell me much about the girl who seemed both perpetrator and victim. Samuels realized what I was doing, and moved to stop me, but I held up my other hand. "It's okay. I have to do this."

 

Slowly, I touched my index finger to the cortosis earring, ignoring the pain that I knew would come, and bathed it in the Force, my eyes slipping shut.

[Liv]

Samuels was a little confused by Aira’s display. The middle-aged CoreSec officer hadn’t witnessed much in the way of Jedi tricks, but he knew enough about them to know that when they said they were fine, they were fine. Plus, because of her, he felt like he’d slept three days away. His energy levels had skyrocketed and he only had them to thank. For that, Samuels backed away and let the Captain take as much time as she needed. He kept an eye on her just in case anything happened, but he wouldn’t intercede unless he felt it necessary.

____________________________________

 

Meanwhile, Cadet Hopkins stood nervously shaking next to Aelyn as she observed the surveillance video. The video itself was a bit out of his scope. He’d seen it before and couldn’t piece it together. No. The focal point of his attention was on the young lady’s shining red hair. Her fair skin and freckles lit up with amazing clarity in the low light of the surveillance room and his heart fluttered with a sensation he’d never felt before. She was very pretty. And Hopkins, like most young men that leaned that direction, was caught in a sea of indecision and awkwardness. His tongue was a little inconsistent and he stuttered when he was trying to talk with her. The young cadet knew that it was unprofessional, but he couldn’t help it. Inwardly whacking himself on the head, trying to regain control of his flailing hormones, Cadet Hopkins listened to the young woman’s request.

 

He tightened his posture in a feigned gesture of confidence and took a big deep breath. He stood at attention and held fast as he patiently absorbed the information she requested. But, in the end, he shook his head. Which was difficult, because his skull felt like a three-hundred-pound weight, sagging as it was, refusing to make any negative gesture to a lady. Especially a lady that was as cute as she was.

 

“U-u-unfortunately, Aira is-s in the evidence room and I don’t have clearance there. We c-c-could try to find another officer that does? Or I c-c-can take you straight to Liv’s room? Sh-she’s in the b-back of the b-building where our b-bacta tanks are.” Hopkins stammered. His eyes looked down at the floor with discomfort, but he knew he wanted to help. He just didn’t know how.

 

His eyes glittered a moment and he pushed himself to look at Aelyn again. “If-f what you s-say is true, then your friend will probably go t-to Liv’s room next. If we go, we can meet up with her when she catches up? I will escort you there when you need. But I can’t get you into the evidence room. Sorry…”

 

His failure to adhere to her demands looked as if it physically hurt the officer. But he did what he could to hold to a consistent posture. It was still his first year on the job and he didn’t want to mess anything up.

[Aira Cadan]

(Co-written)

 

With contact, the cortosis ring exploded with action.

 

Dust fills the air. Dirt is upturned and spraying under the pressure of explosive rounds and concussive barrages. Sounds of blaster fire are cascading into view. Verdant green lights and red fire light up the sky. Starfighters scramble and shoot across the heavens with little concern for the battle on the ground. A man of average height and jet black hair bolsters himself against the wall of a trench and tries to take a moment of respite. He looks down in his hand at a small crumpled up picture and a little metal earring. The picture features a small girl with pigtails. The picture has faded with age and wear, but the man smiles despite the obvious damage. He takes a moment to stuff both items into his pocket and pops his head above the trench to begin fire anew.

 

His opponents are obscured, but the white plasteel armor of Imperial stormtroopers is hard to ignore. The man’s leather jacket confers a few pieces of information: His name is M. Strong, the insignia of the Rebel Alliance is on his right sleeve, and another insignia sits on his left sleeve. It resembles a large bird with wings spread wide. The bird looks ordinary except for one thing, its wings curl up into massive red flames. The rest of his jacket is nondescript and aged. And the only other parts of the memory that stand out are the lush green landscapes that surround the battlefield, and an outpost that looks very familiar.

 

I drew back as the memory faded. Psychometry was an unpredictable skill, guided by the will of the Force. Oftentimes, it showed what the owner of the object was doing, and could be used to track a person's movements. But other times, it showed a connection to how they had gotten said object. Or it showed a strong memory associated with it. I hadn't ever experienced a time when it had showed another person's memory, but I didn't put it past the Force. It knew what I needed to see to help Liv, and clearly this memory had a part to play. I assumed the girl in the flimsy photograph had been Liv, which made M. Strong her father. That made sense with what CoreSec had told me. Was that the insignia of Phoenix Squadron on his jacket? I wasn't sure how the memory helped, but I was determined to make sure I remembered every aspect of it.

 

After a moment, I reached out my hand and touched the next piece of jewelry, the pair of silver earrings.

 

When touched, the pair of silver earrings revealed a big sunny open street. Beautiful women arrayed themselves in no particular pattern. They talked amongst themselves in small crowds and busied themselves with idle tasks. Bright colors and a myriad of stalls surrounded the focal point of the memory. A young girl dressed in casual clothes – pants and a T-shirt – with tight curly brown hair, sprinted down the street to a taller woman with short brown hair cut into a bob. The taller woman was dressed in a full ensemble of khaki colors. Her emerald eyes lit up as the younger one approached and a deep sense of love and adulation was shared between the two. Like the light of an amber star, their love shined brighter than anything else in the bazaar and the faded edges of the vision rippled at their touch.

 

A fairy-tale castle perched on a black basalt crag and stood off in the distance, framing the back of the two females as they embraced. The architecture that surrounded the market was superb. It seemed that ideal beauty was praised over practicality. The stalls bustled with activity, yet the bustle of a planet like Coruscant was strangely absent. Lush green landscapes stood out in the background and beautiful mountains rubbed the edge of each horizon.

 

The little girl looked up to the larger women with joy and boundless curiosity in her eyes. The woman handed the girl two little silver earrings and smiled from ear to ear. The little girl squealed with joy and immediately started to show the earrings to all the women that were mingling around them. The taller woman tried to chase after her and catch her, laughing the whole way, but stopped. The taller woman looked off toward where Aira was and stared at her. Her glowing emerald eyes grew gentle and sad. Yet, before either of them could meet, the vision ended.

 

This time the memory seemed to feature Liv's mother. My Force senses had confirmed that the little girl had been Liv. I smiled a little. It was clear they had loved each other. There was little of substance in the memory that could help me now, however, so I moved on, reaching to touch the earring that was shifting and showing many different colors within, bleeding some of my pain from the burns on my fingertips into the Force.

 

She saw Coruscant in glorious form. Buildings bloomed in the upper levels of Coruscant’s busy atmosphere and hundreds of thousands of people pushed their way through the enormous pedways that ran the length of the planet’s illustrious surface. The sprightly little girl from before and the taller woman with her short brown hair cut through the crowd. They held hands to help navigate their way through the throngs of people and squeezed at each other whenever they felt as if they were drawing too far apart.

 

The little girl saw a window display on her left that glittered and sparkled in the artificial sunlight and drew the taller woman in that direction. Something stood out to the little girl and reflected in the window. It wasn’t anything too big, but the quaint shop was filled with remarkable baubles of all shapes and sizes. The little girl’s eyes grew wider than her head and she sprinted inside with the woman closing behind. The little girl reacted as one might think a little child would in a shop filled with strange and amazing things. It was like watching a pinball at high speed as it shot to every single stand. The taller woman seemed to grow exhausted at the sight, but a small smile hung on her weary face and her emerald eyes sparkled in the clear fluorescence of the shop’s illumination.

 

The proprietor, a big Nikto, looked annoyed but stayed relatively to himself. It was only when the little girl accidentally ran roughshod over a delicate vase that he got up and tried to stop her. He lorded over her and almost struck her in his anger. But the taller woman was quick to intercede. She stood between the two of them with anger in her eyes. The fire of her anger reflected in crimson hues that bloomed all around the small store. Loud words were exchanged and irritable impatience drew the owner to strike the woman instead. The woman took it and stared back at him with fire consistent in her glare. She retrieved an ample supply of credits from her bag, picked out a small piece of the glowing merchandise for the little girl, handed the credits to the Nikto and left the shop with the little girl in hand.

 

When they were outside, the taller woman scolded the little girl, but not with the ferocity that the Nikto had. It was clear that she wished the girl to be more careful, but the woman still felt as if the proprietor did not know how to handle children.

 

A small shiver went down the woman’s spine and her expression seemed to exit the reality of the memory again. Her emerald eyes were sad and her expression drawn as if she were near to tears.

 

I began to wonder if Liv's mother had been a Force-user. Force sensitivity often ran in families, although it could manifest in anyone. The way her anger had seemed amplified nagged at me, but then, perhaps it had simply been the effect of this being a memory. I frowned. I was starting to wonder if any of this would help, but my training told me to always follow up every lead, and there were two more pieces of jewelry. One was a regular black ring, and the other was green and--I grimaced--had the look of a tongue ring. My nose wrinkled in distaste at having to touch it, but I psyched myself up and put the sliver of a finger on the tongue ring, which was dancing with blue fire.

 

At her touch, the tongue ring cooled and filled her mind with a lively scene of more vibrant colors. The scenery was bordered by a large ovoid palace and large round structures that implied Nubian influence. Large formations of people gathered around on the stone terrace and goggled at a young Rodian with a huge cart of miscellany. The crowd’s words weren’t audible, but their intentions were clear. Angry faces and wordless phrases were thrown at the young Rodian and some of the crowd were throwing rotten fruit. The little girl with bouncing tight brown curls appeared around the corner. She stood older than she had in previous visions, but not quite as tall as the older woman with emerald eyes. When the little girl’s eyes found the Rodian, she shot toward him with fierce determination in her eyes. Her arms were wide and her expression was aggressive.

 

She took a rotten fruit to the face, but she didn’t back down. The little girl stood between the Rodian and the crowd of angry onlookers. Her arms were wide open and her expression was stony. She said a few words that were also inaudible. The crowd refused to back away. An older woman--Liv's mother--closed the distance with a squad of military personnel. And, although a little slow, the military personnel helped to break up the spectacle.

 

When the concentration of people diminished, the girl turned to look at the Rodian with a big smile and eagerly started to poke through his cart. The Rodian tried to stop her for a moment but retreated when he remembered what she did. When she returned from her search with a familiar bauble, the older woman started to dig for her credits. It was at that point that the Rodian stuck out a hand and did his best to smile. It was hard to tell on his face, but the expression was earnest. The older woman looked at the girl and smiled widely. Pride swelled in that moment; pride for the compassion that her daughter had shown in the face of danger. It was a subtle change, but the sensation exploded with color.

 

A moment followed, that seemed consistent with previous visions, and the older woman looked out to where Aira was. The same face of sadness reflected in those emerald eyes.

 

I shook my head as the memory faded. Something was strange about these scenes. Liv's mother had seemed almost aware of my presence. Could her spirit be tied to these objects, somehow? I didn't sense a presence, but it was difficult through memories to detect things like that. My mind flicked back to the spirits Onderin and I had freed all those years ago. If Liv's mother was Force-sensitive, it could be possible she was trapped. Could Liv's mental instability be related to that? Had she discovered the truth and been driven to despair and madness as a result? It was hard to reconcile that courageous, compassionate young girl with the torturned, murdering drug addict I had met.

 

There was one last piece of jewelry. Hoping it would provide the key, I reached out, both with the Force, and with my hand.

 

The obsidian ring didn’t glow as fiercely as the others. But it called for contact. And it drew her mind through a murky transition. The scene that opened was dark and dirty. The buildings that surrounded her were huge and brightly colored, but they reeked of over-indulgence, while the street she stood on was poorly maintained and covered in detritus. The memory brought her to the door of a shop that was falling apart. And, for a moment, the memory seemed to wilt with little to no activity. But, with a few seconds of time, the familiar form of Liv bounded around the corner. The little girl from before now sported her trademark mohawk and was just as eccentric as ever. Yet, she still bore her compassion in the smile written on her face.

 

The pre-teen was eager to get into the shop but was stopped at the door by a large Weequay. And he didn’t turn to stop her, so much as his bulk was blocking the way. The man was beating a human that she assumed to be the store owner. When she found an opening, she reached into the holster at the Weequay’s hip and came away with a blaster pistol the size of her forearm. It was a bit unwieldy in the girl’s hands, but it was clear that she not only knew how to use it, but that she was a fair shot. Her mouth opened with aggressive phrasing and the Weequay paused in his beating to look her in the eye. Needless to say, he wasn’t intimidated. So, Liv shot him in the foot. Her intention wasn’t to kill. She wanted him to stop. The feeling was strong in the action and reflected outward in the ripples of the memory. The Weequay frothed in anger, but when Liv aimed to shoot the other foot and backed carefully away from his huge paws, the Weequay abandoned his mission and left the shop.

 

Liv held the over-large pistol in her right hand and entered the shop when the Weequay left. Her mother, the taller woman with emerald eyes, was slow to come to her rescue. And despite the finesse that Liv had shown in dealing with the situation, the woman’s concern grew. It was as potent as her other feelings and reflected in her expression. It shook the memory with the integrity of its sensation, but the memory held until Liv came away with an obsidian ring. She paid the human a little extra than he asked to help him with his trouble. Yet, her aggressive action toward the Weequay would have lasting results that the little girl couldn’t understand.

 

Her mother looked out again, staring into Aira’s eyes, attempting to contact her. But, once again, the vision fizzled.

 

Now I was sure. Somehow the spirit of the emerald-eyed woman was attempting to contact me. That was why the Force had guided me here, and it was the woman's direction that had chosen these specific memories. There was something she wanted me to see, to understand.

 

Absently, I turned to Officer Samuels. "Do you have a bacta strip for my fingers?" I asked. They were burned pretty badly. If the officer didn't have any medical aid, I could deal with it myself, but I wanted to be fully focused on the task at hand. And that task was putting together pieces of a puzzle that Liv's mother wanted me to solve. "Take me to Liv," I ordered. "I need to see her."

[Aelyn]

As much as Liv's Force presence was chaos and static electricity, Aira's was determined and analytical. She was clearly using some kind of Force technique with whatever she was doing -- one that seemed to propel her consciousness along an invisible dimension of which Aelyn hadn't before been aware. It was really a puzzling sensation, one that she wasn't equipped to interpret. She would have to ask about it later.

 

Focused on it though she was, she didn't miss that the other person that was broadcasting clearly was the officer in the room with her. Not that she needed the Force to pick up on the man's nervous jittering. Aelyn suppressed a grimace when she realized just what had gotten into him. She'd been called attractive before, and the Force had already revealed to her the idle fancies of strangers on more than one occasion, but while there was always some part of her that got a little validation from such encounters, this was not the time or place for it. What she needed right now was someone who could help her help Liv.

 

"Yes, that will be fine," she said. "Let's go now and Aira will be along."

 

It took a couple minutes to walk over to where Liv was being held, and they waited outside for a few minutes for Aira and Officer Samuels to arrive. Aelyn tried to strike up light conversation with Hopkins, but his nerves made him give short, awkward answers, so she gave up and fiddled with her datapad until her Master arrived. When she did, Aelyn shrugged at her. "Cameras show a lot of pacing and some weird behavior, but nothing too telling," she said. "Did you have any luck? I could feel you doing something in the Force."

[Liv]

At the close of Aira’s last vision, a spark of blue fire bloomed from her fingers and all the jewelry stopped glowing. It was as if the lack of Aira’s touch had turned off the cosmic light switch and the spectral heat vanished without a trace…

 

A moment of silence followed as Samuels looked on. He made to escort her from the evidence room and walked into the antechamber where Wilcox was sleeping again. Before Aira left the evidence room though, a tall blue feminine outline manifested at Aira’s side with her hand on Aira’s shoulder. The emerald eyes from before were now glowing with a blue wispy energy. Her sad expression, her bob cut, and her outfit were all the same as they’d been in the vision. But, when she considered Aira’s deep black eyes, her mouth spread into a gentle smile.

 

Thank you for sharing those moments. They are special to us. My daughter regrets my death. She thinks it’s her fault. Her last words to me were crueler than she intended and she never got a chance to say goodbye or take back the words she said in anger.

 

Her regret and longing took shelter where our love used to be and twisted into the darkness that afflicts her now. Only she can break the hold it has. But she’s weak. With your help, your support and your words, you can convey the strength she needs to let go. I will help, as much as I am able. I don’t have the strength to move beyond objects or to touch corporeal things, but if you could take one of the rings with you, I may follow.

 

With only an echo to her name, the wisp of Cara Strong faded away. Her presence was still in the room but to a much lesser extent…

 

Samuels, who stood gawking in the doorway, shook himself out of his bewildered state and tried to straighten himself. “If you’ll follow me Ms. Cadan, the bacta tanks are in the back of the building. When we get there, I’ll be able to find you a bacta patch for your fingers.”

 

________________________

 

 

Liv’s body floated listlessly in the bacta. Her eyes were closed and her form was still, but her mind was torrential. Storms of chaos spread across her frail thoughts and swept them away. Guilt was all she felt. Cold, slimy, unrelenting guilt worked its way through her gut and into her head. The pain of her body was penance; her punishment for being a terrible daughter; her punishment for being a terrible person.

 

The voice from before was implicit. Her presence sang in the searing pain of Liv’s body. Numbing agents had been applied to help soothe the girl’s pain, but the darkness inside refused to let Liv ignore the pain. It refused to allow her respite and kept pushing her into the torrential waters. But, despite her agony, despite her predicament, Liv had to hold on. No matter what. Every bit of strength was reserved to prevent her mind from getting completely overwhelmed.

[Aira Cadan]

It was with a feeling akin to triumph that as we moved to the door, I sensed another presence in the room. I turned, and there was the woman from the memories, just as I had hoped. I nodded as she spoke. "I will do what I can to help your daughter," I promised. "But she has to be willing to try." I trotted back and grabbed the whole tray of jewelry. Shutting the lid, I slipped it into my pocket. The spirit faded, and the CoreSec officer led the way to the medbay.

 

Aelyn was already there, and she quickly let me know the security cameras hadn't shown much. I nodded. "My investigation turned up a bit more. There is a Force power called psychometry. I'll teach it to you sometime, but it basically allows me to see memories related to objects, particularly possessions." I pulled out the case of jewelry and opened it to show her. Then I quickly filled her in on what I had learned. "So basically," I finished, "guilt drove this girl to the darkness, and now the darkness has a hold on her. Her mother's spirit is nearby and will attempt to help us, but we just need to get through to Liv and help her conquer and move past all of this." My lips twitched. "I've never done anything like this before," I admitted to Aelyn softly. "There are other Jedi who are better at counseling and such. But the Force brought us here for a reason, and I think both of us have a role to play in Liv's recovery. Trust your instincts."

 

Samuels handed me a bacta strip, and I gratefully applied it to my burnt fingers. The soothing gel calmed the pain immediately. I smiled encouragingly at my padawan, then approached Liv's tank. "Liv? Can you hear me?"

[Aelyn]

"Wow, psychometry sounds useful," Aelyn said, trying out the word. She imagined it would make crime scene investigation a breeze if it was as flexible as it was powerful. She wondered if Jedi were ever called in to do forensics, though she hadn't heard of such a case.

 

She looked a little nervous though at the mention of the mother's spirit. Peeling back the veil to spirits and some sort of afterlife sounded like pure fiction. One thing was clear though -- the Force was bigger and more broad that she'd ever thought. Not only was it a guiding will and an agent of balance, not only did it give its followers access to powers ranging from telekinesis to mind influence to psychometry to super speed, but according to what Aira was saying, it also encompassed a spirit realm where the departed continued to exist in some form. She recalled that the final line of the code seemed to imply that the Force precluded any sort of real, permanent death.

 

It was going to take some getting used to, but Aelyn was determined to keep an open mind. Her preconceptions were really just obstacles to finding out the true nature of the galaxy, even if those preconceptions were based on a lifetime of real experiences and formal education.

 

"Okay. Let's do this," she said as she followed Aira into the room. There were no rules here. She reached out with the Force and tried to learn everything she could about the situation while being sensitive to what, if anything, it was trying to tell her.

[Liv]

Alone…

 

So alone…

Livvy, Livvy, Livvy… Feeling desperate again are we?

 

Go away.

 

That strength you keep holding onto won’t last forever. The last brick in your foundation will crack and I will take complete control. You keep holding on to that hope that someone else cares about you. You’re a rotten child and you always will be. You swear, you do drugs, you’re sloppy, and you don’t care about anybody except yourself.

Liv’s voice was hard and emerged from the thick cloud of her mind without her control. A picture of her, rage-filled and obstinate, positioned itself on one side, projecting its voice at the empty air.

 

• 
  Fine! I don’t need to travel anymore! And I don’t kriffing need you!

 

The words dripped of malice. They stuck pins and needles in her arms that burned and threatened to tear her apart from the inside out. But she had to hold on, she had to keep…

 

What are THEY doing here?!

 

Liv’s eyes opened in the translucent liquid. It was hard to make out every form beyond her steel cell and any sounds that made it through were dull imitations of words, but the outlines of Aira and Aelyn were visible. The expression on Liv’s sullen face brightened a little and her pallor lessened. See, someone does care about me.

Your optimism disgusts me. If they knew you, as in actually knew you, do you think they would really care?

 

I don’t know, but any of that is worth fighting you.

 

Liv’s body contorted painfully. A sharp stabbing pain wreaked havoc at her side and stopped the healing that took place. The sensation of sand on the exposed wound started to rankle her brain. Shrieks exploded in her mind and Liv’s eyes closed in exertion. Ghost sensations emerged, simulating explosive dilution of the blood with water from the lungs. This dilution simulated the rapid failure of the blood's ability to carry oxygen, making Liv’s body think that it was deprived oxygen in critical areas and generating similar stimuli to asphyxiation. Liv’s consciousness reached out in vain to try and prevent the sensations from causing any more harm, but she was too weak.

[Aira Cadan]

I took a deep breath as the girl in the tank stirred. With one hand, I reached for Aelyn's hand. "Add your focus and power to mine," I told my apprentice through the Force. Aelyn would be connected to my mind through the whole exchange, serving as my anchor to myself, as well as being able to hopefully observe, learn, and help. Once I felt a flow of Force energy from her, I slipped the obsidian ring onto my finger and placed that hand on the outside of the bacta tank. The Force flowed through me as I lowered myself into its current.

 

The darkness was thick inside Liv's mind. It was guilt, it was doubt, it was regret. But as I searched, I came to the realization that, thankfully, it was not an outside source drilling into her. Rather, she was doing this to herself. That made the situation both easier and harder. I reached out and brushed my mind against hers.

 

"Liv, you need to forgive yourself. There are people who care about you. I have seen your past. I know it's messy. But everyone's is."

 

I channeled some of my energy into her. It was going to be a rough fight, and she'd need every edge she could get. Then I wrapped her in an invisible blanket of the light side of the Force--peace, serenity, harmony, knowledge, and life. The ring on my finger seemed to vibrate, and with a flicker, a blue-outlined ghost appeared on my right side, opposite Aelyn. Liv's mother mimicked my motion, placing a incorporeal hand on the glass of the bacta tank, her expression gentle and riddled with concern.

 

"Liv," her mother called to her. "Whatever of you is left in that shell, you must know that I forgive you. You must know that I don’t hold you accountable for my death. You will always be my little Rominaria Flower. Know that, I missed traveling with you and that I will always love you." The ghost looked deeply into Liv’s eyes, emerald green meeting matching emerald green. "Please, let it go. Just let it all go."

[Aelyn]

Being theoretically prepared for contact with the spectral dead didn't make it less eerie when one showed up in the room. Aelyn struggled for a moment to temper her emotions and remain connected to the Force. Within it, the ghost didn't seem out of place at all. She was tethered to the ring, and she had come from the Force to help her daughter get her life back on track. It was a marvelous thing, to be able to continue helping people after one's own death.

 

Sitting before the vat of bacta, Aelyn tried to feed confidence and hope into the Force. "Liv, it's never too late. There's no point of no return. I'm studying to become a Jedi, and things are changing so fast. Things are becoming commonplace that I thought were impossible, and though part of me is clinging to my old reality, I'm finding out that when life-shaking events happen, we have to adapt, and how we do that reflects our character far more than our history," she explained.

 

"You have a chance now, probably the best chance you'll ever get, to make a positive change. We may not be able to forget the past, but neither does it have to control us forever. Please, try to look for peace. We're all here to help you."

[Liv]

Liv, you need to forgive yourself. There are people who care about you. I have seen your past. I know it's messy. But everyone's is…

 

• • Liv…
     
    Whatever of you is left in that shell, you must know that I forgive you. You must know that I don’t hold you accountable for my death. You will always be my little Rominaria Flower. Know that, I missed traveling with you and that I will always love you.
     
    Please, let it go. Just let it all go…

• 
  Liv, it's never too late. There's no point of no return. I'm studying to become a Jedi, and things are changing so fast. Things are becoming commonplace that I thought were impossible, and though part of me is clinging to my old reality, I'm finding out that when life-shaking events happen, we have to adapt, and how we do that reflects our character far more than our history…
   
  You have a chance now, probably the best chance you'll ever get, to make a positive change. We may not be able to forget the past, but neither does it have to control us forever. Please, try to look for peace. We're all here to help you…

 

Warmth poured through the pores of glass that separated Liv from the rest of the CoreSec outpost. It pulled through the thick bacta fluid that surrounded her and suffused her troubled body with a dizzying brilliance. The teenager’s eyes were clamped shut, but she felt all the figures that stood beyond the glass. Even… Mom? Liv’s flailing body started to intensify. She was gaining strength and the regret that festered inside was trying desperately to hang on. It was afraid of letting go. It didn’t want the girl’s self-loathing to cease and would do whatever it could to maintain the affliction.

 

But…

 

The teenager’s eyes opened; an emerald fire that shined in the depths of healing fluid that surrounded her. Liv’s thrashing stopped and glowing green streaks fell from her face. Tears of luminescent fluid fell upon her pale cheeks and her body rocked with gentle sobs. Mom… You too?

 

A little girl with long curly brown hair ran through tall amber. The sun was setting on the horizon, and it licked the tops of the foliage as it left. A warm breeze brushed across and pushed the grass around like a massive brush, filling the moment with a natural artistic wonder. The little girl flew across it all, defying fear. She was tumbling with glee and celebrating her youth with fits of giggles.

 

A woman stood near, tall and beautiful. Her emerald eyes creased in joyful observation. Her smile was wide and before the little girl could reach the far side of the field, the woman joined the girl. They fell into each other and rolled around in the grass, tickling each other and exploding with happy sounds.

 

Here we are again you little miscreant!

 

Liv shouted from center stage. Her gilded, wicked, dual-necked instrument shined bright in the stage lights that grew brighter as the music continued. Her outfit was just as garish as before and her words were just as vulgar. The music was loud and with passionate fire, she pushed the decibel limit. Words came from the audience that pumped the music even louder and with every moment the concert came closer and closer to blowing the house down. But, Liv wasn’t alone this time. Aira’s mane of dark hair played the drums on stage left, Aelyn’s compassion was playing keyboard on stage right, shadows of two familiar women stood as backup singers, a white-haired shadow stepped in as the second guitarist, and the ghost of Liv’s mother stood beside her daughter on center stage. Her beautiful alto voice, that Liv could recount almost perfectly, carried the cavalcade of colorful characters to the apex of music artistry.

 

Shrieks of shrill fear and regret were drowned out in the crowd. The pain and misery that plagued her body was fleeing with rapid efficiency and Liv’s metaphysical body brightened exponentially. She smiled with euphoric glee and the vision faded out with the drawn-out explosion of the neon stage lights.

 

Liv’s body smiled. The thrashing stopped, her eyes closed and her mind quieted. Her wounds were still in need, but they could finally see the aid that they needed.

 

The outline of Liv’s mother turned to Aira and Aelyn. She smiled and then slowly dissipated, leaving Aira, Aelyn, Samuels and Hopkins alone in the room.

[Aira Cadan]

Between the three of us, Liv suddenly turned a metaphysical corner. I caught a brief glimpse of a band on a stage, each of us at an instrument. But then the image faded. Once I realized that she was going to be alright, I drew back from her mind gently, and then withdrew from Aelyn as well. The Force ghost faded, and I shook my head, dropping my hands. I breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. "She'll be alright now," I told the officer. "She'll heal normally, and her psyche is on the mend. That's about all we can do for her."

 

I turned to Aelyn. "Sometimes all someone needs is to know that someone else believes in them. I'm sure you have a bunch of questions about this," I grinned. "I promise I'll do my best to answer all of them. But for now, I think what Liv needs most is peace and quiet to heal." I turned to Officer Samuels. "Feel free to give Liv my comm number when she wakes. I'd be happy to talk to her if she wants to." Liv was going to have to stand trial for her crime, although I was unsure how the court would plead. Insanity, perhaps? And then she'd have to go through drug rehab...it was a long road ahead, but I felt she was ready now to tackle that challenge. "Oh," I added, slipping the ring off my finger, "I'm sure she'll want this when she wakes."

 

I headed out of the CoreSec headquarters and back into the sunshine, Aelyn tailing me. I smiled at her once we were out. "Well, that was interesting."

[Aelyn]

Aelyn lingered for a moment in front of the bacta tank as Aira departed, giving the girl floating in it one last good look. She doubted she would have any trouble remembering this event, given the otherworldly touch to it, but just the same she wanted to make sure she remembered Liv. She touched the girl's mind in the Force, feeling her newfound acceptance of her situation and resolve to climb her way back on top of things. This kind of thing only happened once a lifetime. She hoped she would cross paths with Liv again during the healing process or after it, depending on how her training went, to see if she had made the most of her opportunity.

 

A moment later Aelyn went out and rejoined Aira. The sunlight felt good, like it dispelled the languid atmosphere of the precinct as well as chasing away the lingering effects of exposure to the spiritual and emotion toil of Liv and her ghostly mother. Aelyn took a deep breath and let it out, enjoying for a moment the warmer outdoor temperatures, as she had found the building's air conditioning had been turned up too high for her tastes.

 

"That it was," she agreed. She paused for a second as they walked, turning concepts over in her mind. When she finally spoke, she kept her eyes on the road ahead of them. "I didn't realize how much unlearning I would have to do, how many walls the Force breaks down. It's a whole new world to explore. And yet, while your use of psychometry helped paint the full picture of what Liv had been through, she didn't really need Jedi to help her, she just needed people to believe in her, to convince her that she wasn't trapped by what had happened."

 

She looked at Aira. "There's a whole lot of technique I want to learn -- anything you'll teach me, really -- but I think this process has helped me understand how the Force interacts with us by directing us to places where we can help."

[Aira Cadan]

I nodded. “One of the most famous Jedi Masters of old is famous for having said many things, but one of them was that to become a Jedi, one must unlearn what you have learned. It requires a paradigm shift, a new way of thinking. I think it's one of the most difficult things about becoming a Jedi. And you're right; it wasn't really us who did anything. We were simply the bridge, the guide, the hands and feet of the work that the Force wanted to do in her life. That's our job. It always will be.”

 

We were hungry, so we stopped for a quick bite to eat at a Twi’lek restaurant. I ordered the special, which turned out to be roast gornt. “Did you ever hear the joke about the Bothan who goes into a cantina with a gornt under his arm?” I remarked jovially.

 

After our meals had been served, I broached a new topic. “Aelyn, I've been meaning to talk to you about the next phase in your training. I think it's time you made your first lightsaber. It's important for you to learn to defend yourself and others. Not only that, but often, the mere sight of even a deactivated lightsaber will stop a dispute before it starts. It is the symbol of the Jedi, and by bearing one, you accept the rights and responsibilities of a Jedi. I think you're ready for that step.”

 

I wasn't sure how she would feel about it. She was very pacifistic, which I wanted to honor, but even the most pacifistic Jedi carried a lightsaber. “Besides, when we go before the Senate, I hate to say it, but you will be treated better if people know immediately you're a Jedi Padawan, and not just a regular young woman.”

 

On top of that, I knew how making a lightsaber changed a person. It was formative for both Jedi and Sith for a reason.

[Aelyn]

Her twisted lip betrayed Aelyn's first reaction to the idea. Becoming a warrior and killing or even hurting people was not a part of what she wanted to do with her life, and the idea of Jedi marching to war -- which she knew happened and not just in the holovids -- had been one of her major reservations about starting down this path. Her experiences with the Force since then, how it interacted with life and how nature was a carefully arranged symphony, had only seemed to reinforce the idea that taking life only contributed to entropy and disorder. Things that shouldn't ever be added to by a Jedi. She understood, of course, that she was still new to this, and that people like Aira and Master Starlisk must have heard something in the Force that caused them to do what they did not out of any wanton desire for violence but as the best path available to arrive at peace.

 

The question was: could Aelyn put herself aside to the point where she would be willing to fight as the Force called upon her to do so? She felt like she wouldn't make a very good Jedi if the answer was "no", but she was afraid of what she might become if the answer was "yes". She supposed... if the Force, an objective agent of peace and rightness, made clear a course of action, it would be downright arrogant to believe her own perceived solution would be better.

 

Moral conundrums aside, of course, Aira made some practical points about why she should carry a weapon so tied to the history and tradition of the Order.

 

Aelyn's shoulders sagged a little bit. "I doubt I will be of much use with it," she said, "but if it can help us get involved in preventing this war in any way, I won't turn it down.

 

"I am grateful that you think I'm ready," she added. "There's just so much that I still have to see before I can understand why so many Jedi do what they do."

[Aira Cadan]

I smiled. "Don't worry. You'll get there. I think you'll make a great Jedi Knight someday." I was pleased with her decision. It meant that she was taking things seriously, and that a new world was opening up in her mind.

 

We made our way back to the hotel to check out, and then to Aelyn's ship. Once there, I let my padawan take us up, while I accessed the Jedi Order archives on my datapad. Once I had the information I wanted, I headed up to the cockpit, stopping only to use the 'fresher--I was paying the price for eating that roast gornt.

 

I slipped into the copilot's chair. "We're heading for Dantooine," I told her. "Every lightsaber is powered by a special crystal, which you can only find in a few places in the galaxy. Dantooine is one of them. And it's much nicer than the other alternative, Ilum."

 

Once we were in hyperspace, I handed her my datapad. "You'll find a diagram on there with instructions about how to build the casing for your lightsaber. It's mostly spare parts," I chuckled. "I'm sure you can find pretty much everything you need here onboard your ship. Anything you're missing we can pick up on Dantooine."