Borleias

[Aelyn]

She smiled when Aira praised her efforts, but Aelyn's expression soon turned to one of slight vexation at the new scenario and subsequent question that were posed. Basically all the things that she was lacked certainty about when she thought about the Jedi Order and what was expected from a Knight. Even the term Knight itself carried a not-so-subtle martial context, and suggested a series of duties that Aelyn wasn't sure she would ever embrace. They couldn't instead be the Jedi Monks or the Jedi Scholars, could they?

 

Still, philosophically Aelyn knew her answer to the immediate inquiry. "No, the ends don't justify the means," she said. "I can't believe that war or violence is ever the only solution to a situation, and I don't believe that anyone has any right to take the life of another sentient."

 

She looked a little bit uncomfortable. "Now, I admit I can't fully say what I might do because, well, I've never been in a real fight," she conceded. She pulled one of her legs up onto the chair and repositioned so she was sitting on it. "But I don't think anything could make me kill, not even in self defense."

 

In fact she was certain of that. She did not value her life over another's. But... if the choice was to kill someone to save the lives of her family? Or of other innocents? She knew that many Jedi had killed in the past and would continue to do so. Some of them were considered war heroes for their ability to cut through stormtroopers and other Imperial defenses in theaters of war all across the known galaxy. But for every field of dead stormtroopers, misguided though their government might have been, there were communities of grieving widows and family members, kids growing up missing parents. It wasn't worth it. Reform had to happen in other ways, through good-faith diplomacy and honest debate.

 

Of course there was some part of her that looked up to those legends. But she looked up to them for their conviction, their strength, and their willingness to risk their lives in the defense of strangers. She just wished sometimes that they'd found a way to do it that didn't leave so many broken homes and embittered children.

[Aira Cadan]

I nodded. I appreciated her feelings, but I wanted her to really think about this. "You wouldn't kill in self-defense. That's a good quality in a Jedi. We must always be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others, even if that means sacrificing our lives. But, let me give you an example perhaps a little closer to home. Imagine that Vladimir Faust was threatening the life of your father, and it was in your power to stop him. You could kill Faust and save your father, along with all the future innocents Faust would harm--or you could not act. Your father would die, and Faust would escape. I know, it may be far-fetched, but think about it. In that situation, what would you do?"

 

Aelyn might not have an answer, and that was alright. But she had to think about these things. It was helpful to know yourself, to know how far you were willing to go. "While you're thinking about that, think about this too: why do you think that Jedi, who value life so much, carry weapons that can kill as easily as lightsabers can? Why don't we carry non-lethal weapons?"

[Aelyn]

Aelyn frowned in thought as she continued to try and work through the problem. "I would try to find a way to stop him without killing him," she said. "I love my father, Aira, but death isn't the answer to the threat of death, even if the law would say the act is justified."

 

She was eager to change the conversation to something less morbid, but there was still the question of lightsabers. "I'm not sure about lightsabers," she admitted. "But in the holos Jedi can deflect incoming blaster fire with them, so they do sort of lend themselves to defense." She paused, thinking a bit more. "Actually they seem less efficient than blasters at taking lives when there are any distances involved.

 

"I don't suppose they have a stun setting?" she asked. "Killing just adds more misery to the galaxy, and that doesn't like a way to bring harmony back to the Force."

[Aira Cadan]

I nodded. Her answer was fine for now. "Not wanting to kill is good, Aelyn. A Jedi puts extreme value on life--all life, no matter what it looks like or where it comes from. And lightsabers are indeed excellent for defense, and good at non-lethal violence too. After all, if you cut a man's hand off, he's quickly too busy worried about his lack of a hand than he is interested in continuing to fight. Anyway, we can drop this subject for now."

 

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ears. "I have another question for you. I'm sure you've heard it said that Jedi are the 'guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy'. What do you think that looks like on a daily basis? What is peace? What is justice? And what does it mean to be a guardian of those things?"

[Aelyn]

Cut a man's hand off!? Aelyn thought. Aira seemed so flippant in the way she mentioned it. Even with the state of prosthetics being what it was, she could only imagine how traumatic and life-altering getting a hand severed would be, and even the idea that she might someday do it to someone else made her queasy. They were talking about hurting people. Even if they were "bad" people who "deserved" it, that seemed a flimsy justification for killing or dismembering them. People were complicated, and it took more than a snap judgment to know what sentence they deserved, if any.

 

She looked at her Master and wondered what was really going on. Most of the time she felt really good about this new road she was traveling. When she touched the Force, it seemed to affirm within her the ideals she thought most noble. But Aira was right -- those were just concepts. She needed to think about what walking the path looked like practically or they would stay that way, and she supposed that's where she had a few misgivings to work through.

 

"I was hoping that you could tell me," Aelyn said, but realized the answer didn't help anything. Aira already knew what that looked like, she wanted to see what Aelyn expected. "I'm sorry. Peace to me is harmony among people and a lack of conflict between them. Justice is treating people fairly. I suppose that being a guardian of those things is resolving conflict and stepping into situations of inequity and setting them right. I guess I would expect to find Jedi heading deliberately towards those situations and acting as mediators, negotiators, and providing counsel when and where they can."

[Aira Cadan]

I nodded. "Those are good definitions, and your definition of what Jedi do is accurate. But you said justice is treating people fairly. What is fair? Who decides? How do you know what is the best, fairest thing to do in the situation?"

 

Suddenly I smiled. "Sorry if this feels like an interrogation. But I want to make sure you have a foundation of philosophy, for we often have to make really difficult moral or ethical decisions. People will also look to us to solve their problems. So how do we know what to say, what to do?"

[Liv]

The cold durasteel floor eked through her cargo pants. The air was stale and smelled of copper. She could feel the corroded metal behind her, pressing against her back. But the rest of the warehouse seemed distant. Her mind wandered frantically, scrambling across the surfaces available to her limited eye-sight. It was hard to determine shapes, but she was dimly aware that there were others surrounding her. She tried to open her right eye, feeling a sharp jolt of pain lingering where her eyelid should have been. Ow…

 

How did you get here Liv? Why?

As if in response to her own negativity, her right arm slid carefully up to her nose, a capsule grasped between her thumb and forefinger. She sniffed at the capsule reflexively and felt the edges of her world melt around her. The abrasion of her nose was a whisper in her mind. Her hands started to twitch, but the side effect was disregarded. Regrets, pain, misery, and everything else didn’t matter. Her consciousness was muddled and she could fly away from everything she had suffered. She embraced the abyssal denial and fell head over heels into a reality without the aching that haunted her every day.

 

Slowly she fell. Deep into the darkness. Into a reality where she could find no conflict.

 

Her brain was active and alert. Her muscles flexed as they had so many times before, and she continued to run from her physical needs.

 

But, another part of her – a deeper part of her mind – rang out. In a desperate plea to regain some semblance of control, her sub consciousness yelled. It screamed out to the far reaches of Laikos in a futile gesture of concern.

Please… Help me.

[Aelyn]

Finally Aelyn shrugged. "I'm certainly not qualified to make that kind of decision," she answered. "There's a reason the law exists, and court cases have juries because determining guilt is often too hard for just one person. In the moment I suppose we need to do what feels right, but if we pass our own judgment then we're some kind of arbiter, and I don't believe..."

 

Her voice trailed off and she turned to look out the window. "Did you feel something just now?"

 

She didn't have enough training or experience to fully pick up on what she had felt, but neither did she want to ignore it if it was important. Even if she had been paying attention, translating a feeling into a place to be seemed like another challenge.

[Aira Cadan]

Aelyn's voice trailed off mid-answer, and my head came up. I reached out with the Force, but didn't feel anything abnormal. I frowned. "No. What did you sense?"

 

All I could tell was that the Force was swirling around my padawan.

[Aelyn]

"I could have sworn..." Aelyn started, beginning to doubt what her still-brand-new senses had told her. But no, she couldn't just play it off -- if she wasn't wrong, it deserved their attention. "I don't mean be be overly alarmist, but it felt almost like a call for help."

 

She began to search the Force for a repeat occurrence, but at the moment she didn't feel anything. "But now I can't feel it anymore," she said. "Laikos is so big, couldn't it have come from anywhere?" Or even beyond the city? The Force filled the universe. Was it a medium through which things had limited range? Did a shout carry farther than a whisper?

 

"Um, how would we go looking?" she asked Aira.

[Liv]

The rust of the crudely constructed steel warehouse, filled the dry air with a musk of decay. The occupants didn't help. Their collective odors added varieties of: mold, mildew and stale hues of copper. It was a managerie of foul smells that built into the overwhelming stench of Laikos' lower class.

 

The warehouse was an old abandoned shipping warehouse, used before the war. It stood at the edge of the waterfront in a neglected part of the harbor. And, on any given day, it boasted the residency of up to fifty vagrants and spice addicts. They fought over what territory they could manage and anyone that made themselves vulnerable, quickly regretted it.

 

Sure, there were times that the masses would sleep. But if you were smart, you always slept with one eye open and one hand on any weapon you had in your possession.

 

Ted Cudgel, or as everyone in the warehouse called him: 'The Shuffler,' made his way to the north corner of the building. A former metalworker, the Shuffler blew out a chunk of his spine while trying to carry thirty pounds worth of scrap. When faced with astronomical hospital bills, he was forced to accept what little they could do for him and move on. Due to his injury, he could no longer perform the duties of his occupation and was left to the streets in order to survive.

 

He started living with money from odd jobs, but in the end, that wasn't enough. He found his way here eventually. And like a black hole of desperation, he felt himself drifting in the muck; flotsam left to gather on the fringe of society.

 

The purple and red-haired girl, that everyone had left well enough alone, was propped up against the corrugated steel wall. The Shuffler, creaking in his approach, living up to his crude moniker, looked down on the girl with desperate eyes.

 

The earrings and jewelry that the addict wore, could give him enough money to pay for his surgery. He was impressed that she held on to them for so long, but the rest of the warehouse, aside from some unwanted advances on her first day, hadn't touched her. That didn't mean she didnt have her share of scars though.

 

The Shuffler stepped closer. He kept his eyes peeled for movement and gauged her condition. It was difficult to ascertain all the damage but: her right eye - the eye that wasn't visibly irritated and bloodshot from extensive spice use - was swollen and purple; her shoulder was roughly bandaged and she had a cut on her right arm. The rest of her exposed skin was covered in dirt and small lacerations. There was a tear in her leather coat, but that was easily remedied with a needle and thread. Her cargo pants looked like they'd been dragged through the mud.

 

All in all, she looked like she'd been through hell, and she was still the best mark in the building.

 

The Shuffler drew even closer. His presence physically assaulted her spiked senses. Everything was magnified: His breath, that stank of stale beer, broke into the smells of rotting hops and mildew. His clothes, that hadn't been washed in months, lit up with virulent aromas of perspiration and excrement.

 

His apprehension grew with every inch he gained. The Shuffler wheezed as he grasped at the cortosis earring in her left ear.

 

The grease on his fingers touched her skin and sent sparks of sensation through her mind. Liv's eye shot to the Shuffler as one hand clasped her ear and the other hand came dangerously close to her thigh. Her arm reflexively shot from where it rest a moment before. A glint of silver followed her arm and dug it's way deep into the Shuffler's chest. Hot streaks of blood ran down her arm. The Shuffler, baffled in his persistence, took a moment to process her attack. He fumbled for a moment, trying to counter, but Liv’s survival instincts were all she had. Her one eye went wide with terror and she screamed.

 

"GET THE KRIFF OFF OF ME!!!"

 

She screamed. An overwhelming and unconscious surge of energy shot through her raw vocal chords. She blanched visibly in response and fought to keep herself conscious. She looked around, straightenimg her back on the metal, and found that the Shuffler flew back a few feet. He landed in a heap of bodies and wasn't moving.

 

Liv looked to her hands. Her mind was still soaring in euphoric glee at the drugs coursing through her veins. But she couldn't wipe the blood from her hands. What have I done?.

[Aira Cadan]

I reached out with my own senses, and got the strangest feeling from the Force. It almost spoke to me in words. It was as if it was saying this is hers... I was astonished. Was this what it was like to be a master? To trust in the Force to guide not only oneself, but also one's padawan? It was beautiful and brilliant and...exactly what I should have expected from the Force.

 

"Listen to the Force, Aelyn. It's speaking to you, drawing you. There is someone it wants you to help. It'll be easy to be distracted, so focus. Follow your gut. Trust your instincts. Let the Force tell you where to go." I smiled a little. "It won't lead you astray."

 

In the meantime, I could guide her and help her. I rose to my feet, holding out a hand to pull her up too. I put my boots back on and slipped my lightsaber into a pouch on my belt. "Lead on, padawan."

[Aelyn]

Aelyn frowned slightly, but headed down to the lobby, expanding her Force awareness again, hoping for some sort of sign. A moment later they walked out of the hotel's front doors and she looked up and down the street. I guess I should just pick a direction? she thought.

 

But then there was another pang in the Force. Horror and disgust with some other complex emotions. Aelyn focused on it even as it faded again into the background noise. She cleared from her mind her uncertainty; reason and intellect seemed to obstruct the way the Force guided her. It was intuition that would see this situation through. So she tugged on the thread that was the emotion outburst she'd sensed, and she felt it tug back. Her feet turned and she started to walk.

 

Suddenly it started to feel easy. She liked walking, especially in a new place. It was a rhythmic, familiar motion that took no concentration. It promised sights yet unseen, people yet to be encountered. It was easy to get lost just in the moment, the feel of the air on her skin, the texture of the earth beneath her feet, the sounds of birds and speeder trucks and conversations between strangers. She didn't think she would ever grow tired of feeling the way the Force interacted with all of it, the life force of the universe, the character of a city. She walked down a meandering city street lined with businesses of every variety, many of which showed signs of early activity as they opened or were readied for opening by their employees. Suppliers in the ecosystem that was civilization.

 

All the while she followed that ethereal silver thread toward something that she needed to see. She didn't know how far it was or how long it would take to get there, only that she was headed in the right direction, and she was more than content with that.

 

"Aira, what drove you to fight in the war?" she suddenly asked. "Would you do it again if another one started?"

[Liv]

She felt the uplift of Carsunum coursing through her veins. But the bloody knife in her hand was unquestionable. She saw the flecks of serrated metal under the fresh kill, but she couldn’t draw herself to feel anything except comfort. Even while her stomach fought to wretch at the sickening display, she couldn’t bring herself to see the macabre consequences of her impulsive action. The dichotomy of her emotion was sobering enough to cause her physical tremors. She couldn’t understand what was going on. Why? Who?

 

He was trying to kill me. He had to be…

 

No! He was trying to take advantage of me. Like he did...

 

No! You killed him! Face your crime! Limp kriffing pile of dwang!

 

None of this matters, why stress? Just sit. Enjoy the comfortable metal underneath you.

 

Different thoughts swarmed her mind. Each one fought and clung to the ineffectual spice that she still held in her hand. But another force kept her from drowning this out with more spice. Her right arm wouldn’t move and the cut she had that ran the width of her forearm, blossomed with searing agony.

 

Liv couldn’t stand the reality. She needed more spice. But she couldn’t move.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of the warehouse awoke at Liv’s exchange. They looked toward Liv and saw that the Shuffler had been offed. A few of them ran to the Shuffler to see what he had on him, but others closed on Liv, hunger in their eyes.

 

The teenager’s one good eye spotted them as her body twitched with unfulfilled need. She swung her combat knife erratically and held to her angriest thoughts, in the hopes that they would help her when they all converged on her.

 

“Go away! I won’t tell you again!” Liv yelled.

[Aira Cadan]

I followed as Aelyn led the way through the early-morning streets. I found it interesting that she chose to walk; clearly wherever the Force was leading her, it was close.

 

Suddenly, she asked me about the war. I sighed. "The war was terrible. Horrendous. And the Republic wasn't innocent. There was a lot of blood on our hands. Hear it from me plainly--there is nothing good in war."

 

I paused. "But Onderin always said that there was good in why wars are fought. And I think he was right. Sometimes you have to take a stand. You have to step forward and say 'no more'. And you have to fight to make the future a better place. That was why I fought. I didn't want to see the galaxy fall into the chaos it would fall into if a Sith-led Empire ruled. That would make so many people miserable, for a long time. I knew the war was terrible, but in the end, I felt that some suffering now was better than lots of suffering in the future."

 

I shrugged. "And despite the state of things now, I think it was worth it. The galaxy is strange and messy and chaotic, but overall, we're at a much higher level of peace than we have been in a while. And that's good."

 

We turned a corner and I saw Aelyn hesitate, then pick a direction and keep going. I had my own senses open, but couldn't pick up on the particular thread she was following. There were many cries for help all around us, but the Force was leading us to one in particular, and we, as it's servants, would answer.

[Aelyn]

Pondering Aira's answer, Aelyn continued to walk. The perspective kind of made it sound like the war against the Empire was unavoidable or necessary, and thus it could be good even if devastation it caused was not. She could understand having to make sacrifices for the greater good -- she constantly challenged herself to put it into practice by giving of her time and efforts to help people. She supposed she could understand why someone might extend that all the way to even fighting in a war if it really was the only way to settle disputes like the one that had existed between the Empire and the Alliance. She just couldn't believe that that was the case, and to her any act of sacrifice ceased to be noble when the result was killing or hurting other people.

 

She was beginning to formulate those thoughts into something she could share with Aira when the feeling she was following in the Force changed and suddenly became much more urgent. "We need to hurry!" she said to her Master, then broke into a jog. They were entering some kind of warehouse district. A poorer part of town, where a fog of desperation seemed to cling to the air. It felt sickly and uncomfortable to Aelyn. The Force was not in balance here.

 

Abruptly she turned and ran towards a door, which slid open at her approach. A horrendous stench seemed to hit her in the face as she entered. There were a group of people inside whose minds felt... addled somehow. They didn't really feel like people to her, and when she came in sight of them she was horrified at the scene before her. A group of gaunt-looking individuals were closing in around what appeared to be a teenage girl who was waving a knife around shouting warnings. There was a trail of red liquid on the ground, but she didn't see the source.

 

Aelyn didn't think, she ran towards the problem. "Hey! Stop! What is happening here!?"

 

Immediately a couple of them scuttled away at the sight of newcomers, but others turned angrily to face her. Aelyn swallowed and backed away a step. "Maybe we can talk about this?"

[Liv]

The sudden light from the open door startled Liv. It magnified in intensity and for a moment she was dazed. A few of the drifters made to take advantage of the distraction, but Liv’s weary subconscious seized control and moved her body out of the way. They ran past, not registering the change, and slammed into the metal wall with meaty thumps. Liv swayed a little. Her body was not accustomed to the sudden movement, and her head was still light and fluffy. But she still clung to herself as best she could. She felt her feet on the ground and clung to the stability in their grip. Her mind was still a crazy cloud of pink confetti. But it was something.

 

"Maybe we can talk about this?"

 

The voice was soft; very indicative of someone new. The others didn’t talk much. They acted. It was a writhing pile of impulse and need and talking would often get you killed. Any distraction, any hesitation, and any misstep, could lead to death. Liv saw it. Liv knew it. And Liv regretted it. Others around the warehouse started to wake. When they saw the newcomers, the unwashed masses milled like rag-covered vagrant zombies toward the open door. Liv couldn’t make them all out. But she was slowly regaining touches of sobriety. Her body shook with every tremor of drug loss. She tried to reach for the spice in her right hand. But her mind still fought for control. She was still in shock.

 

Slowly, as the time grew, Liv’s tremors became more violent. She dodged to avoid another violent transient and shook. Her right hand shifted too much and upended the capsule grasped between her thumb and forefinger, spilling spice all over the floor. Liv’s good eye widened again. Rage and need desperately fought to the surface of her mind. And her thoughts, for what they were, aligned in one single moment of clarity. I could mop it up. I could sniff it on the ground? NO. THEY TOOK THIS FROM ME.

 

She shrieked, sending a wave of energy through the warehouse and straining her vocal chords once more. Vagrants that pursued her were knocked to the ground with a violent push. All the milling zombies were pushed roughly to the warehouse walls. Their weakened bodies groaned under the pressure and a few of them tried to stand again. But they were weary. Any strain caused their bodies to wither back into unconsciousness.

 

Liv struggled too. For all her blustering and knife slashing, she was on her last legs. The pain in her body was catching up to her: memories, wounds, trauma. All of it somehow more painful than it had been before. She couldn’t shake the searing agony deep inside her as it ignited in a beautiful flame.

 

Sorry mom…

 

Then, with a single sigh, Liv fell to the ground. Her body twitched. Extreme exhaustion drug her into an unconscious state. And she lay there, turbulence broiling deep in the riot of her mind.

[Aira Cadan]

Aelyn had already learned one key skill of being a Jedi. She knew how to get into trouble quickly.

 

We jogged around a corner and entered a warehouse. The Force told me clearly that the beings inside were in varying states of awareness, and the smell told me that they were addicts. The scent of spice was heavy on the air, along with fumes of other drugs. They were beings that no longer cared about life, the desperate and downtrodden, the hopeless and helpless. And my heart was flooded with compassion at the sight of them.

 

They were riled up, all focused on one girl in particular--that is, until Aelyn spoke up. Then they were suddenly very interested in us. Aelyn backpedaled, suddenly nervous. "Maybe we can talk about this?" she asked.

 

The girl they had been closing in on suddenly shrieked, sending a wave of raw Force energy through the room. I staggered as it hit me, but kept my feet. The remaining vagrants were angry now, riled beyond sense by the attack, and I knew this was about to get out of hand.

 

So I stepped forward, my hands spread. Gently, I practically oozed the goodness and peace of the Force, causing it to radiate outward in calming waves. It was a peace such as these poor creatures hadn't experienced in a long time. They all stopped advancing immediately. Those holding makeshift weapons dropped them. A few even started to sob. "Peace, my friends," I said quietly.

 

After a moment or two, they dispersed, leaving only two bodies on the ground. One was clearly dead, stabbed to death it seemed by the other one, a teenage girl with red and purple hair who was now slumped unconscious on the ground. "Aelyn, is this who you sensed in the Force?" The girl was clearly Force-sensitive, and just as clearly in a terrible state. I knelt down to check the body, and confirmed he was dead, then placed my hand on the girl's forehead.

[Aelyn]

Aelyn winced and braced herself against the incoming wave of Force energy just before it struck, somehow seeing that it was coming a moment before it did. Then Aira stepped in, showed her experience, and brought her calm to the situation. Her technique had a calming effect on Aelyn, too, but as soon as it passed she saw the crumpled forms of the two people who'd remained and her hand rose to cover her mouth.

 

She rushed over to the body of the man as Aira went to the fallen form of a girl. Even before she got there, the Force was telling her what her eyes had not yet confirmed. "Oh no..." she said. There was a deep wound in the man's chest, the source of the blood that was now smeared across the floor and patterned by footprints on the duracrete.

 

Bile rose in Aelyn's throat and she quickly turned away from the scene, struggling to keep her gag reflex under control. The acrid stench of the warehouse certainly wasn't helping. Meanwhile, the unconscious girl was alive, but the blood on her arm and knife told a story of what had happened.

 

"She... she killed a man," Aelyn managed, the back of her palm still hovering over her mouth. Was this what the Force had led her here to see? "I need to step outside. I should call emergency services."

 

She made her hasty retreat to the door and back out into the outdoor air, then took a few breaths. She had to connect to the local holonet to even find out what number to punch into her commlink to contact first responders in Laikos, but it only took a few seconds. She was instantly connected to the authorities were she reported a body and an unconscious girl who was under the effects of a mind-altering substance. She tried to sound as calm as she could, but she was quite shaken by what she had seen.

 

When the call was placed, she still lingered outside.

[Liv]

Her mind was muddled. She tried to move a hand, a foot, or some other extremity. But access to her body was cut off.

 

It was dark, everything was dark.

 

A little girl with long curly brown hair, ran through tall yellow grass. 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, tickling the world with another 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.

Something stirred underneath the grass. The ground rippled and a palpable hue of discomfort took hold.

 

Before, where the field was filled with yellow vitality, it was replaced by the red of dried blood. The sky filled with darkness and shrieks echoed off in the distance. The little girl cowered with barely contained fear and tried to scramble away from the malaise. Bits of colored dust flew from the ground and obscured the way, but the girl kept running.

 

She cried, Help me Mommy!

 

But no answer came. She fled tirelessly until she tripped over a lump on the ground, a cough catching in her throat. She turned to look at the lump and her peach-white face drained of color. Her mouth hung open and she crumpled to the ground with heaving sobs. She didn't look at the world. She didn't want to.

 

Somebody.... Please, help me.

[Aira Cadan]

I rose and followed Aelyn after a minute. "Do you think the authorities will come?" I asked her. "Look around you. Does it look like they care about these people?" I shrugged. "They might come. But what do you think they will do? Do you think jail time will help that girl?"

 

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Think like a Jedi, Aelyn. What can we do to help? What can we do to fix this situation? How can we bring peace and justice here?"

 

I also had in the back of my mind the fact that the authorities might not be the biggest fan of us. If they did come, I'd make sure we left the scene in time. Kirlocca had said to keep a low profile, and anytime police got involved, it was the opposite of that.

[Aelyn]

Aelyn shrugged Aira's hand off her shoulder and took two steps away from the older woman before spinning around to face her. "I don't know what to do!" she said, her face flushed. "Those people in there? We can't just wave our hands and fix them. They need rehabilitation and support. The girl, too. Someone just died because of this. What else can we do but try to make sure they get the help they need from the people that have the resources to provide it?"

 

She sighed, trying to let some of her agitation drain out of her. It only helped a little. "We should stay here until emergency services arrive and provide our account of what happened," she said. "Maybe we can stay close and try to help them somehow. I wish we could somehow prevent this from happening to more people, but even if we could hunt down and turn in their suppliers, it could just make them suffer even more."

 

The problem was too big. Aelyn was prepared to help in whatever way she could, but Aira seemed to think the situation could just be "fixed" and they could call it a morning.

[Wookiee Jedi]

A recorded holoprojector comm came in for Aira Cadan.

 

 

This is Jedi Master Kirlocca. I have to inform the order of a change that has occurred. Dahar has stepped down as Grandmaster. I want for key members of the Order to report in, only through holoprojector to make their vote on Grandmaster. From there, a Council will be formed. If you are receiving this, you are a key member. I will be moving the Order off Tython and setting up on Ossus. All Jedi can have the old Praxeum here as the main place to go for things, but please stay as active in the galaxy as you can. We need to remain Jedi. If you need me, I will be on Ossus. May the Force be with you.

 

[Aira Cadan]

I shook my head. "Aelyn. You're a Jedi now. Stop thinking and feel. Use the Force. Listen to it. It led you here--it will not just bring you to a place and throw you in the deep end without providing you the wisdom to know how to handle the situation.

 

"You're right. We can't just fix them. There is no quick fix for people like this. So: what are we going to do?"

 

I hoped she would be able to look past her agitation and realize what the Force was saying. It was speaking to me very clearly which path we should take. I knew it would be speaking to her, too, if only she was able to reach out and listen to it. My comm twittered. "Take a moment and see if you can discern what the Force is saying," I said.

 

Stepping away, I activated the comm. It was from Master Kirlocca. His words to stay active in the galaxy came as a surprise, although given Xae-Lin and Jaina's information, I wasn't surprised by Master Raikanda stepping down. I activated the comm link and sent my reply, casting my vote for the new grandmaster.

 

Shutting off the comlink, I returned to Aelyn. "Well?" I asked softly.

[Aelyn]

When Aira returned, Aelyn let out a deep breath, appearing for the most part calm again. "I believe we're supposed to help the girl get back on the right path," she said. "I can sense no clear guidance on how to help the others, but the girl just needs a push in the right direction."

 

By now she could hear sirens approaching as CoreSec arrived on the scene ((yeah, it's actually CoreSec here)). There was an ambulance speeder and another with a few other officers, who quickly got out and approached the two women, who didn't particularly advertise that they were Jedi. A small team of men quickly got out of the ambulance with a hoversled and carted it over to the warehouse entrance. One of the other officers approached the two of them with a datapad. "What happened here? Is the area safe?"

 

"Yes, officer, it's safe now," Aelyn answered. "My friend and I were doing a little bit of urban exploring and didn't realize where we ended up. We heard some noise inside the warehouse and so we went over to check it out. I think we must have startled whoever was in there, because they dispersed, but there was a body and an unconscious young woman."

 

"Did you see anything else? Did you witness the killing?"

 

"No, sir, that was about it," she answered. "The body was already there when we arrived. I think the girl killed him, most likely in self defense."

 

The cop looked grim. Aelyn tested touching him in the Force, trying to get a sense for who he was. He was pretty jaded when it came to things like this. Seeing bodies was almost routine to him by now, but it hadn't always been like that. There was a part of him that still didn't like it. He hadn't lost sight of the fact that these were people, and this kind of situation was a senseless loss of life. But by now he had fully accepted that these things happened and there wasn't really anything he or CoreSec could do about it except clean up the mess. This wasn't a problem that was going to go away. "Okay. Are you willing to come down to the station to answer a few more questions?"

 

Aelyn glanced at Aira. "Yes, and if possible I would like to be kept informed about the girl. Who she is, what hospital she ends up in, that sort of thing," she said.

 

"Have you ever had any previous contact with her?" the cop asked, unsure why this random passerby would take a sustained interest in one of the victims of a drug-related skirmish.

 

She shook her head. "No, but I think she might need someone to help her, and I want to be that person," Aelyn answered. She was still horrified at what the teenager had done, and if she was telling the truth, she was a bit angry about it. Even if she had been in danger, the girl had no right to take a life. But she couldn't change what had happened, and helping the girl find a better future where she was never put back in this position was the right thing to do.

 

The cop gave her a look, but then shrugged. "Okay, sure," he said, before moving to help the medics who were now bringing the unconscious girl out of the warehouse and loading her into the speeder.

 

A few minutes later they were off to the precinct.

[Aira Cadan]

As I had hoped, Aelyn got it once she calmed down enough to let the Force lead her. Once CoreSec arrived, I didn't say anything, letting Aelyn take the lead. I was going to speak up and give a good reason for us to accompany the girl, but the officer didn't have a problem with it, so I didn't need to.

 

It didn't take the cops long to clean up the scene and gather the evidence. The journey to the precinct wasn't long in the officer's speeder. He asked us a few more questions along the way, but I could sense he had long stopped truly caring about figuring out this crime. To him, it was pretty clear that the girl had killed him, and he was all too happy to take Aelyn's word as further confirmation. I could tell he saw this a lot, and it saddened me that he had grown hardened to it. But then, I had seen the same thing with many of the soldiers in the war. Force, I had experienced some of it myself. You almost had to detach a little if you were going to be able to sleep at night. I remembered the first time I had been in a battle. With my natural empathy, I had been almost overwhelmed by the pain and suffering and death around me.

 

For a moment I was disconcerted. What had happened to that girl? Had I lost that sense of the true sanctity of life? Just looking at Aelyn was a reminder of what I used to be. Perhaps it was a hint from the Force. I'd have to meditate on it further.

 

"This way," the officer said after we had arrived at the station. "Just a few questions and we'll have you out of here."

[Aelyn]

When the two Jedi arrived at the precinct, they were separated and asked a few more questions, as they were the closest thing to witnesses in a situation that had resulted in a dead body. The whole process didn't take very long, though, and they were soon equipped with information on where the teenage girl with colorful hair had been taken. They had already identified her as one Olivia Strong, age 17, orphaned by the war. It wasn't clear how Olivia had ended up on Borleias, but it seemed she had fallen in with some bad crowds. Aelyn had to admit that even just hearing that much of the story softened her perception of the girl, especially when combined with the gentle prodding that she seemed to be receiving from the Force.

 

Aelyn and Aira soon journeyed over to the Archiban Kimble General Hospital where Olivia was being treated. When they arrived, Aelyn asked after the girl, introducing herself as a concerned friend, and they were admitted to see her. Olivia would be going through withdrawal symptoms over the next few days and would require some care, but for now she just had an IV while she regained consciousness.

 

A few minutes later, Aelyn was sitting next to the girl even as she started to come around. The Jedi apprentice reached out and touched the Olivia's mind with the Force as it started to transition out of the dream world and into the new hospital environment. The Force was present within the teenager, that much was certain. But there was so much imbalance within her... her chemistry felt so off that to Aelyn's new senses she almost didn't feel like a normal human.

 

"Olivia?" she said as she felt the girl awaken. "It's alright. You're okay now."

[Liv]

Liv's awareness was dim: Muffled sounds pounded the side of her head with terrible raucous music, stabbing tiny needles into the meat of her brain. Pain wracked her lower back when she tried to move, and her stiff muscles were crying with every attempt to sit up. She made to open her eyes, but they recoiled against the bright fluorescent light. It was a chorus of discomfort, accented with occasional tremors.

 

Cold sweat clung to her forehead. Her palms were clammy and she felt a light pressure in the crook of her left arm. She felt her right-hand climb across her body. Small callused fingers poked, prodded, and groped, trying to assess the damage. It was an odd feeling, a spectral hand creeping over her skin, but the calluses were familiar and helped to remove the picture of a spider from her unconscious mind.

 

She found bandages covering her skin. Bandages? Did someone pick me up?

 

She found a needle in her left arm. A needle? Is someone drugging me?

 

She found that her piercings and jacket were missing. OKAY… NOW I’M KRIFFING MAD.

 

Liv strained against her bed. A huge surge of adrenaline made the monitors go crazy and her heartbeat accelerated into rapid fluctuations. Beyond the pain of her injuries, and beyond the hazy delirium of her withdrawals, her mind twisted with agony and loss.

Olivia?

 

It's alright. You're okay now.

 

The words were soft. They were meant to calm. But Liv wasn’t calm. Her pain was back and digging into her mind. Her possessions were gone. And she was in a strange place with someone she didn’t know. Liv figured it was safe to say that things were not fine. Things were not, ‘alright.’

 

Her mouth was one of the only places not crippled by the pain in her body. So, it wasn’t very hard to conjure up an effective response: “Okay?! By who’s kriffing measurement?! … I don’t know where I am. People have taken my things and I am in extreme pain. I would wager that, 'fine,' is a far stretch from whatever THIS is. Also, its Liv. Only my mother called me Olivia.”

[Aira Cadan]

Liv was not happy. I suppose I didn't blame her. "You're at Archiban Kimble General Hospital. You're being treated for severe drug overdose. The pain will pass in time, but the doctors said you can't have a strong dose of painkillers given what you're in here for." I shook my head. "My name is Aira, and this is Aelyn. Do you remember what happened? We found you in a warehouse, surrounded by people, with a knife in your hand and a man dead at your feet. We got you to the hospital, but CoreSec is investigating..."

 

I hoped I wasn't overwhelming her, but she needed to know the reality of the situation.

[Aelyn]

Liv, Aelyn thought. Her name is literally 'Liv Strong'? She was pretty sure that was the catchphrase of a fitness program or something.

 

At any rate, Liv seemed rather distressed by her surroundings and understandably so. Aelyn had thankfully never woken up in a hospital bed herself, but it certainly wouldn't imply that anything good had happened to get her there if she did. On the other hand, if she remembered at all the events that led to her unconsciousness, Liv might find this place a welcome change.

 

"You might have been killed by those men if the situation hadn't changed," she observed, adding to Aira's own statement.

 

According to what Aelyn could sense in the Force, Liv was in an unusual amount of pain, given the meds that the nurses had given to her. She was also particularly upset by the loss of her jacket, despite the fact that it, as well as her other effects, were nearby waiting to be reclaimed.