The Force Always Says Yes [Star Wars]

[SirRolandTheFrank]

I would love to see exploration of the lesser force sects and orders, I think it'd be very interesting - and not oft-used Matukai, but say, the Dai-Bendu Monks or Kro Var (who are Darksiders, technically) who are all but forgotten by the fandom. Perhaps even Sorcerers of Tund (who specialise in illusions), who do not appear wholly unhinged. Or maybe a general tour of worlds important to the history of Force Users, like Lettow and Ossus and Sith Space? I'm very curious especially about the last one, since there's very little written on culture of the worlds which once were important Sith worlds, like Dromund Kaas or Thule. Are the locals revering the Ancient Force Lords of the Sith, raging and bemoaning that they cannot be like them in spite of trying, or have they moved on? Maybe some sort of ancestor worship, mixed with reverence of a central deity and coupled with genuine remorse for said ancestors' evil/misguided deeds, and actually trying to be better? The potential is truly endless!

 

[MemeKing]

I would love to see exploration of the lesser force sects and orders, I think it'd be very interesting - and not oft-used Matukai, but say, the Dai-Bendu Monks or Kro Var (who are Darksiders, technically) who are all but forgotten by the fandom. Perhaps even Sorcerers of Tund (who specialise in illusions), who do not appear wholly unhinged. Or maybe a general tour of worlds important to the history of Force Users, like Lettow and Ossus and Sith Space? I'm very curious especially about the last one, since there's very little written on culture of the worlds which once were important Sith worlds, like Dromund Kaas or Thule. Are the locals revering the Ancient Force Lords of the Sith, raging and bemoaning that they cannot be like them in spite of trying, or have they moved on? Maybe some sort of ancestor worship, mixed with reverence of a central deity and coupled with genuine remorse for said ancestors' evil/misguided deeds, and actually trying to be better? The potential is truly endless!

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They could realistically meet a bunch of these groups on Jedha, where the Convocation of the Force is based out of. This council has members of the Disciples of the Whills, the Fallanassi, the Lonto species, the Matukai, a single non-voting observer from the Jedi Order, The Guardians of the Whills, the Church of the Force, the Sorcerers of Tund, the Order of the Dai Bendu, and a single member to represent the smaller force sects.

Arwain, Nerim, and Tetha could go to the Temple of the Kyber on Jedha to get replacement Kyber crystals because I wouldn't be surprised if Arwain had a friend in the temple that would let them in. They could meet any one of these force sects or others while in the temple city.

 

[SirRolandTheFrank]

Snip

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I've assumed that this fic is happening in the Legends universe, not disney. I've no opinion on all the Disney Force Sects, Jeddha or the Convocation, but in Legends, kyber crystals can also be found on Dantooine and a whole bunch of other worlds (which Sidious looted, leading to NJO being forced to use synthetics for a long time iirc - but that's like 200 years into the future). They can be grown via a special machine called geological compressor when coupled with some ceremony/ritual and meditation; synthetic crystals are no worse that natural ones, and don't always have to be red - it doesn't take much effort to make ones of different colour. Given that Luke was able to grow one himself sometime after ESB(?), I assume that such a device isn't hard to find. A little bit of quasi-Sith alchemy hasn't hurt anyone (just like putting a lightsabre together with the Force probably counts as quasi-mechu deru), and I'd really like to see the synth-crystal forging process in a fanfic.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I really liked Fae Coven having a red lightsabre, Disney got rid of natural red kyber crystals and it's a damn shame. And given that Exar Kun's Sith used their original Jedi blades, I think that it would also make sense if fallen/Dark Jedi didn't uniformly decide to ditch their old crystals and go cook up new ones, for whatever reason; with this in mind, I'm opposed to bled crystals, it's not a bad concept in principle, but it just doesn't fit the rest of legends lore very well.

A neat funfact that I remember: Vader's lightsabre actually had a naturally red crystal too.

 

[MemeKing]

I've assumed that this fic is happening in the Legends universe, not disney. I've no opinion on all the Disney Force Sects, Jeddha or the Convocation, but in Legends, kyber crystals can also be found on Dantooine and a whole bunch of other worlds (which Sidious looted, leading to NJO being forced to use synthetics for a long time iirc - but that's like 200 years into the future). They can be grown via a special machine called geological compressor when coupled with some ceremony/ritual and meditation; synthetic crystals are no worse that natural ones, and don't always have to be red - it doesn't take much effort to make ones of different colour. Given that Luke was able to grow one himself sometime after ESB(?), I assume that such a device isn't hard to find. A little bit of quasi-Sith alchemy hasn't hurt anyone (just like putting a lightsabre together with the Force probably counts as quasi-mechu deru), and I'd really like to see the synth-crystal forging process in a fanfic.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I really liked Fae Coven having a red lightsabre, Disney got rid of natural red kyber crystals and it's a damn shame. And given that Exar Kun's Sith used their original Jedi blades, I think that it would also make sense if fallen/Dark Jedi didn't uniformly decide to ditch their old crystals and go cook up new ones, for whatever reason; with this in mind, I'm opposed to bled crystals, it's not a bad concept in principle, but it just doesn't fit the rest of legends lore very well.

A neat funfact that I remember: Vader's lightsabre actually had a naturally red crystal too.

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The Fallanassi, Dai Bendu, Matukai, and Sorcerers of Tund all existed in legends. Disney basically threw out a bunch of Lore and nit-picked what they wanted, to the point that a lot of stuff is similar in name only.

The neat thing about the Dai Bendu is that they probably know where the Tho Yor that transported force sensitives to the planet Tython where the Jedi Order was started, are currently located in the galaxy.

Or that the Sorcerers of Tund and the people livng on the planet Tund are the last of the Sith species, they are the Kissai priests who got exiled from Korriban for believing going all in on the dark side was a bad idea, plus the various Sith Heretics and refugees from the multiple Sith Empires, all congregating on Tund to form an interesting society.

Or that the Matukai used to be wandering warrior Monks, who through martial arts could increase force sensitivity to a point and constructed Pole Arms as a graduation ritual.

Or the Fallanassi being the premier experts on force illusions, but unable to affect the physical world as a result.

 

[TroubleFait]

It's a bit maddening that Nerim's original grievances with the Order are still true. They stole his life and threw him out.

And now they stole his lightsaber. They really remove it from him knowing he has a spiritual connection with it, just like that as a matter of course.

 

[SirRolandTheFrank]

Yeah, this is probably very, very upsetting to say the least. But making a new lightsabre isn't hard at all if you know what you need - Tetha managed to do it on her own, after all.

 

[Crazy7809]

It'd be interesting if Nerim does learn that immortality technique from his teacher. Just to have him show up around major events or for him to, ironicly, copy the sith and have his own hidden order of Jedi.

 

[Hyenanon]

I would love to see exploration of the lesser force sects and orders, I think it'd be very interesting - and not oft-used Matukai, but say, the Dai-Bendu Monks or Kro Var (who are Darksiders, technically) who are all but forgotten by the fandom. Perhaps even Sorcerers of Tund (who specialise in illusions), who do not appear wholly unhinged. Or maybe a general tour of worlds important to the history of Force Users, like Lettow and Ossus and Sith Space? I'm very curious especially about the last one, since there's very little written on culture of the worlds which once were important Sith worlds, like Dromund Kaas or Thule. Are the locals revering the Ancient Force Lords of the Sith, raging and bemoaning that they cannot be like them in spite of trying, or have they moved on? Maybe some sort of ancestor worship, mixed with reverence of a central deity and coupled with genuine remorse for said ancestors' evil/misguided deeds, and actually trying to be better? The potential is truly endless!

Click to shrink...

The Fallanassi, Dai Bendu, Matukai, and Sorcerers of Tund all existed in legends. Disney basically threw out a bunch of Lore and nit-picked what they wanted, to the point that a lot of stuff is similar in name only.

The neat thing about the Dai Bendu is that they probably know where the Tho Yor that transported force sensitives to the planet Tython where the Jedi Order was started, are currently located in the galaxy.

Or that the Sorcerers of Tund and the people livng on the planet Tund are the last of the Sith species, they are the Kissai priests who got exiled from Korriban for believing going all in on the dark side was a bad idea, plus the various Sith Heretics and refugees from the multiple Sith Empires, all congregating on Tund to form an interesting society.

Or that the Matukai used to be wandering warrior Monks, who through martial arts could increase force sensitivity to a point and constructed Pole Arms as a graduation ritual.

Or the Fallanassi being the premier experts on force illusions, but unable to affect the physical world as a result.

Click to shrink...

This is indeed set in Legends, rather than Mouse Canon (and I consider the 3D Clone Wars and its spinoffs to be Mouse Canon), so none of the Jedha stuff even tangentially exists in this universe. But as I've hinted with Tetha's off-screen experiences, Arwain's areas of expertise, and the as-of-yet unexplained mysteries of the Dark Orders spontaneously found on Saarkane, I am interested in exploring alternative Force User organizations a little more...Some of which are pretty obscure in the lore, others less so, and maybe an original or two in there. I actually planned on including several more plot threads and scenes in Arc 5 than I did, both on this subject and others, but I realized it would have been overstuffed and poorly paced if I did. I planned on moving them to Arc 6, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that will overstuff Arc 6, and then I would have to split it into an Arc 7. Decisions, decisions...

It's a bit maddening that Nerim's original grievances with the Order are still true. They stole his life and threw him out.

And now they stole his lightsaber. They really remove it from him knowing he has a spiritual connection with it, just like that as a matter of course.

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Beyond the emotional abuse my characters have suffered, this part is painful even for me. I liked his old lightsaber...

 

[MemeKing]

Beyond the emotional abuse my characters have suffered, this part is painful even for me. I liked his old lightsaber...

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I wonder if his new lightsaber and crystal will reflect the spiritual journey he will inevitably go through by wandering with his master. I wonder if he will perform the ancient Jedi ritual of Vur Tepe, to create a Force Imbued Weapon. Like what Master Vodo-Siosk Baas did with his quarterstaff.

 

[Multiverse Learner 101]

Okay, I only just found this fic out. Quite interesting. Need to read more. Watched.

 

[TroubleFait]

I can see where "You can have anything you can put down." came from.

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Thinking back on this, I wonder if he could have "put" Tetha "down". Our boy creates attachments easily. The rizz goes both way.

 

[Hyenanon]

Thinking back on this, I wonder if he could have "put" Tetha "down". Our boy creates attachments easily. The rizz goes both way.

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Of course he could have, he is was a Jedi! The fact that his inner monologue kept bringing up how talented and pretty she is and how nice it is to hold her hand in completely unrelated situations during the Cathar Arc was just coincidence...

In all seriousness, one of the few things Nerim is naturally good at as a Jedi is moving on and living in the present. In different circumstances, with different teachers and more persuasive authority figures in the Order, a Master who didn't actively encourage him to get out and be more fun, and if he didn't have an excuse to run into her again, I think he could have put aside his feelings for Tetha and repressed himself into choosing the Jedi over her. But he would've always been in love, and probably always regretted it.

 

[BC1]

For the first time in his life, Darth Tenebrous felt fear. And he wished his Master were alive to teach him what to do about it.

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This is like the third time I've reread this chapter just because it's so cool but this line is so poetic I do believe it's become one of my absolute favorites of any fan fiction I've read.

 

[Hyenanon]

This is like the third time I've reread this chapter just because it's so cool but this line is so poetic I do believe it's become one of my absolute favorites of any fan fiction I've read.

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Thank you, that's really good to hear! One of the most pleasant forms of feedback to hear as an author is to know people are re-reading your work after their first read. It's really validating. One of the most intimidating parts of writing Star Wars is that whenever I write it, I'm comparing my writing to the very best Star Wars stuff out there as if it's the baseline, so for the first half of the story I was quite unsure as to what its quality level was. I still think the first couple chapters are...rough, but as I've settled into my groove and gotten feedback, I feel a bit more confident about being happy with it.

I actually generally am very avoidant to killing my good guy characters. I don't like wholly depressing deaths because they seem like non sequiturs, but bittersweet ones can mean a lot to me. I wanted to hit the reader with a gutpunch that Fae had died, but then write that death as if it was a victorious moment. Of course, she can't win and save the day, but she can make a difference and, maybe more importantly, die happy and with no regrets. Just dark enough. That's also kinda why I chased down Nerim's exile with a heartwarming vignette about Fae and Arwain, on top of it piling into the bittersweet feeling about Fae's death. I'm hoping Arc 6 continues to be emotionally resonant.

 

[MemeKing]

Thank you, that's really good to hear! One of the most pleasant forms of feedback to hear as an author is to know people are re-reading your work after their first read. It's really validating. One of the most intimidating parts of writing Star Wars is that whenever I write it, I'm comparing my writing to the very best Star Wars stuff out there as if it's the baseline, so for the first half of the story I was quite unsure as to what its quality level was. I still think the first couple chapters are...rough, but as I've settled into my groove and gotten feedback, I feel a bit more confident about being happy with it.

I actually generally am very avoidant to killing my good guy characters. I don't like wholly depressing deaths because they seem like non sequiturs, but bittersweet ones can mean a lot to me. I wanted to hit the reader with a gutpunch that Fae had died, but then write that death as if it was a victorious moment. Of course, she can't win and save the day, but she can make a difference and, maybe more importantly, die happy and with no regrets. Just dark enough. That's also kinda why I chased down Nerim's exile with a heartwarming vignette about Fae and Arwain, on top of it piling into the bittersweet feeling about Fae's death. I'm hoping Arc 6 continues to be emotionally resonant.

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I hope you are at least having fun writing this story. Also I hope you are enjoying reading other stories between writing the story arcs.

 

[Hyenanon]

I hope you are at least having fun writing this story. Also I hope you are enjoying reading other stories between writing the story arcs.

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Writing it has been a lot of fun, probably more fun than any other writing I've done in years! Not that it has a lot of strong competition, I haven't been doing any passion projects for a while.

It's been hard to find reading time, life is very busy at the moment. But I'm hoping to squeeze in another fanfiction or two. I'm learning a lot of new terminology lol. My normal reading habits in between projects, perhaps unsurprisingly given the last vignette, are actually primarily centered around yuri light novels. Every romance fanfiction I've read thusfar definitely has a different...energy. That's for sure. I'm also branching out into other genres. I see that "SI" fanfics are still wildly popular, which was always the strereotype I was most familiar with. I was recommended one in the Elder Scrolls setting a while back, and I found it quite fun for the first several thousand words, although it sorta lost me later on. Hoping to put a dent in my list of recommendations and find more of these subgenres.

One of the things I do find interesting about fanfiction is that it primarily is written via the "by the seat of your pants" method, where there is practically no outline at all and it is procedurally written in linear order. In more """professional""" settings there are various methods of writing that involve a lot of different, often complex and nonlinear processes. I find that most of those professional scenes idolize outlines and lengthy editing processes, with a sort of religious adherence to a pre-written plan. I've always been something of an outlier in these spaces because I generally have a much vaguer outline based on thematic goals and rhyming elements rather than plot events, and I write in linear order of events, with minimal editing beyond correcting typos and continuity errors, which has caused some amount of consternation and a lot of unsolicited advice directed my way. Actually peering into fanfiction is interesting because they're generally even more unplanned than my writing, and going by what author notes I've read, they often discover where the plot is going at roughly the same time as the audience. It has its benefits and drawbacks.

The phenomenon of "fixfics" and AUs is particularly interesting to me, because it really highlights the difference between fanfiction and original fiction, which is a sort of meta element that is usually not present in original works, or is sort of blithely hidden behind a veil of plausible deniability, where the author is directly responding to another specific work, often (but not always) with a disagreement in how that work fundamentally functions. In professional circles I believe this is generally referred to as "uncouth" or "rather distasteful" or some other five dollar word, unless the author happens to share a crowdsourced opinion with the critics, in which case they are a "visionary". I enjoy that in fanfiction, this element simply is by nature of it being a fanfic, and then the work has to be evaluated beyond simply stating that there are or are not meta elements and therefore it is or is not revolutionary.

 

[Psyentific]

In professional circles I believe this is generally referred to as "uncouth" or "rather distasteful" or some other five dollar word, unless the author happens to share a crowdsourced opinion with the critics, in which case they are a "visionary". I enjoy that in fanfiction, this element simply is by nature of it being a fanfic, and then the work has to be evaluated beyond simply stating that there are or are not meta elements and therefore it is or is not revolutionary.

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Fanfiction itself, the medium, is uncouth or rather distasteful. Kirk/Spock smutty romance is the starting point and it's only up-or-down (depending on perspective) from there. There's not really any shame left in breaking literary conventions, so you can do whatever you want with the pieces. It's quite liberating really.

 

[BC1]

Fanfiction itself, the medium, is uncouth or rather distasteful. Kirk/Spock smutty romance is the starting point and it's only up-or-down (depending on perspective) from there. There's not really any shame left in breaking literary conventions, so you can do whatever you want with the pieces. It's quite liberating really.

Click to shrink...

The Kirk / Spock phenomenon is really just the beginning of the modern example, and the first to be able to use technology to be easily spread to the masses via mimeograph produced Zines.

This is been going on since time immemorial.

Back when Sherlock Holmes was first being published there was unauthorized spin-offs written, heck even Homer's iliad had its share of derivatives.

 

[Hyenanon]

Spoiler: And I'm back!

I have not actually completed this arc in its entirety! I had several problems with it that I couldn't quite identify until very recently. I believe I've mostly straightened it out now. I realized it's been over a month since I last posted, and I want to have more up now. I feel confident at least posting some of the chapters. I think it will help motivate me, too. It may come out slower than normal, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. I think this arc is going to have a sort of pacing that may come as a sort of surprise to some of you. I ask for your patience; everything that happens here is important! Also, I may have just been in a mood to write romance...

Chapter 46: Leave Everything Else Behind​

Nerim felt his center of gravity shift upwards as the elevator began descending. There was a pillar of fury to his right where Arwain stood, and anxious sorrow to his left where Tetha stood with a hand on his shoulder and an unsure gaze in his direction that he could not meet. Some part of him was still in the Council chamber, where he heard the echoes of their continued arguing.

"I warned you," Said the Sluissi to the others, "Your hassste to confront her resulted in disaster. Now we don't even have her full testimony on Fae's death. We cannot engage in a purge as our first action in the new Order."

"This is no 'new' Order!" Argued Gendi. "We are the same Jedi we have always been. Fae prepared us to take over in her stead."

"And I doubt Arwain's full testimony would have been any more useful than the first half of conjecture and admissions of ignorance," Jahl added.

A Trandoshan Jedi who had remained silent up until now finally spoke up. "And I doubt that this is the course of action Fae would have taken. I've seen her exile at least three dozen Padawans and half as many Knights in my time, and she always allowed them a full defense, without interruptions, first. I have no doubt she would have come to see our point in regards to Nerim, but the way in which—"

"Would she have, though?" Kaad-Ro asked. "Fae is—was, notoriously irrational on the subject of her former Padawan, and this extended to Nerim. There is no guarantee she would have accepted Arwain's failures in teaching."

Iir nodded firmly. "For all her virtues, she was too attached to her Padawans."

"Is that so?" The Trandoshan shook his head slowly. "Fae taught us that every one of the Lost 18 was our fault. That regardless of the circumstances, a Master denouncing the Order always signifies something deeply wrong with the Order."

"Agreed," said Gendi, "And that which was deeply wrong was the Council's decision to raise Arwain to the rank of Master in the first place when she clearly did not deserve it. Something which Fae herself is largely responsible for. If we had stood up to her during the vote on Arwain's Mastery, we would not have suffered this indignity."

"Perhaps you are right," the Sluissi said, leaning forward with a curious narrowing of his eyes. "Perhaps we ssshould stand up to the Master of the Order more often."

Gendi stared back, but did not respond.

Yoda tiredly looked down at the three lightsabers on his chair's armrest, and took a deep breath. "Perfect, she was not. A mistake, Arwain's—"

The doors to the elevator slid open, and Nerim blinked in surprise. Two older Knights stood outside the elevator, waiting for them. The expressions on their faces made it clear they had anticipated the need to escort someone out, although they looked with some trepidation at Arwain.

Arwain glared between them for a moment, her hands curled into fists. "Nerim, Tetha, grab our things from The Wellspring. I have to retrieve a few things from my quarters before we leave."

The Knights shared a glance, and then one of them, a Duros with blue skin and bulging red eyes, nodded. "Master Arwain, shall—"

"Do whatever you want, I have no say in it," Arwain grit her teeth, beginning to walk forward. "Apparently, I never did," she added under her breath.

The two Knights turned as she began walking away, and then looked back to Nerim and Tetha.

"You, uh, probably have to escort her, too," Nerim spoke, his voice sounding metallic and distant to his own ears. "She's resigned from the Order."

The Knights' eyes widened, and then the Duros turned and began quickly walking to try and catch up with her. The remaining Knight, a quite short bat-like Chadra-Fan with graying fur, looked up at the two of them, and clasped his hands together. "Well, that is...unexpected. But..." He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "Regardless, I will take you back to the hangar to retrieve your items."

The Knight turned and began leading them, and Nerim aimlessly shuffled behind him. The grand open halls of the Temple echoed as they moved through them back from where he came, and Tetha cautiously reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it tightly. "I'm so sorry, Nerim," she said softly.

He looked at her for a moment, but didn't respond. He still, on some level, had no idea what was happening. He could feel the rage of his Master, the guilt of Tetha, the anxiety of the Knight leading him, the conflict in the Council, but he couldn't feel whatever his emotions might be. He knew he was mortified. There was fear for what came next. There was sorrow that he was now homeless. There was a great humiliation, that this thing he had just began to accept, this being a Jedi, was taken from him yet again as soon as he started to believe it was possible. But there was something else.

The Knight turned his head back and frowned. "This will be the last time either of you see the inside of this building. You have to leave, but we need not walk so quickly, if you wish to take your time," he said gracefully.

This will be the last time. Nerim blinked and stopped walking, his eyes beginning to focus. This will be the last time he's ever in the Temple. The thought echoed in his head repeatedly as they stood beneath a grand, tall window of the darkening Coruscant sky. He looked out into the distance above them, sparkling stars beginning to fade into view, and he imagined the invisible hyperlanes connecting them all. He would never come back here, he would spend the rest of his life in the kaleidoscope of the Galaxy at large.

He took a breath and started moving again, towards the hangar just as quickly as they were before—if not a step or two faster. The Knight continued to lead him, and once they reached the Wellspring, he asked another Knight on duty to watch over them while he retrieved their belongings. Apparently the two of them were suspicious enough that he didn't want to be in a private, enclosed space with them inside of a starship. Nerim wasn't confused by the distrust; he had been raised to be as distrustful of exiles as any other Jedi.

Eventually the Chadra-Fan returned, and placed Nerim and Arwain's duffel bags on the floor before them. He also held Nerim's folded robe, still glinting slightly with broken glass in it. "Do you wish to retain your outer robe?" He asked.

Nerim looked it over, and shrugged, shaking his head. "It's just linen," he replied.

"Very well," the Knight placed the robe atop a crate, and turned to them. "Before we leave, I need to ensure you are not taking any objects which would be illegal for you to own as a citizen, either weapons or objects of religious significance."

Nerim automatically opened his tunic and retrieved his sleek blaster pistol, handing it over to the surprised Knight. The Knight then opened and picked through Arwain's belongings, and satisfied at their meager nature, turned to Nerim's. He opened the bag and, picking through the clothes, found a datapad and some tools for equipment maintenance.

Then, his hands fell on Nerim's copy of The Jedi Path. The Knight picked it up and looked down at it, frowning. "We don't allow training manuals to..." He trailed off.

Nerim felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes. That was all he had left of Fae, and he had never even bothered to read it. A sudden, deep guilt seeped into his bones.

The Knight looked up at him, and then back down to the book. "This will..." He brushed a hand against the cover of the book, where Fae's name was imprinted beneath the title, and closed his eyes. "...This belongs to you," he said quietly, placing it back into Nerim's bag and zipping it shut.

Nerim blinked, two quick tears falling from the motion and just as quickly wiped away by his sleeve. "Thank you," he said quietly, his voice choked up. He almost wanted to smile. There was something about it—something about getting a second chance, that inflamed that unnameable feeling he couldn't place in his heart, somewhere between guilt and hope.

"I fail to see the danger in leaving you a reminder of the Light," the Knight said solemnly. "Follow me, we'll be going to the South hangar, fifteen floors down, for your transport out."

Nerim picked up his bag, and Tetha picked up Arwain's. They took an elevator down, and he watched Tetha's wide eyes examine the Coruscant skyline and its infinite city lights until he felt a tugging at the corners of his mouth. She was enthralled at the sheer scale of it, the sheer strength in the Living Force from the nearly four trillion sentients inhabiting it and the low orbit above; a constant lively pressure Nerim was all too familiar with, but that he realized she had never experienced.

"We're not exiled from the whole planet, you know," he halfheartedly joked. "We can come back if you really like it. Just, maybe a different hemisphere."

Though it had been a weak attempt to lighten the mood at best, Tetha turned to him with a genuine, enthusiastic smile. "That would be so great. Your homeworld is amazing."

Nerim blinked. "It's...nice, I suppose," he admitted. He had never felt such ownership over it until hearing her say it like that. His homeworld.

The door opened, and they continued walking down another hall, lined in archaic columns and traversed by Jedi of varying ranks the two of them hardly paid attention to. "I wish I could show you Ithor, too. They have these beautiful floating cities, and an incredible jungle below," she said, fondly reminiscing. "Ugh, if only I wasn't exiled...Dorin is beautiful, too, but I wouldn't recommend going there. The breathing mask gets real old."

He almost managed a real smile. "There's a million worlds out there, and every one I've gone to has been beautiful. I'm sure we can find plenty of alternatives."

Tetha looked at him and readjusted the strap of the duffel bag on her shoulder, smiling slightly. "Once we get the Lucky Worm back, I'll take you anywhere," she said, her black eyes sparkling in the soft golden light of the Temple. "Anywhere but here."

He suddenly realized what it was that he was feeling, beneath all those awful emotions. The raising heart rate, the sweat, the twitching in his muscles and the feeling of his entire meticulously set out future being wiped away. He looked up out through another window, to the stars above. He understood it, and a real smile began tugging at his lips, though not fully forming.

He was excited. He was free. He was rudderless, and useless, and without his prized weapon which he had spent his life trying to acquire, and he was without the backing of the Republic or the honor of the Jedi, and everyone he had grown up with had disowned him and the building he grew up in was now inaccessible, but he was free.

Anywhere but here. Half of his soul shriveled as it heard but here. But the other half was celebrating as soon as it heard anywhere.

He couldn't wholly give himself to either. Even attempting to would probably send him over the edge, and he'd just collapse in the hallway and cry. He could only think to maintain his Jedi composure, submerging the emotions in a sea of carefully cultivated tranquility.

Finally, they made it to the hangar, where a much less impressive last-generation transport ship donated by some corporation or another was being fueled. They stood silently next to the Chadra-Fan, while Nerim looked at the floor and tried not to notice the curious stares of the Jedi around him as they went through the motions of their duties, and how they slowly transformed as it became clear what was happening. He felt the lights around him close off one by one, mental shields raising in his presence, as if he were already a stranger.

Although, he supposed, he always sort of was one. A year back he doubted he would have ever noticed the shields in the first place. At least, not through the Force. It wasn't beyond his notice, either, that Tetha did not shy away from sending an aggressive glare at any Jedi that became too interested in the goings on, looking rather out of place in her still-ripped clothing from Sarkane.

He felt as if he should be doing something right now, saying something, thinking something. This was his last moment in the Temple, after all. And yet...just like in the High Council chamber, he couldn't think of anything. This didn't feel real, it didn't feel like closure. That, he thought, was why he couldn't say anything meaningful; anything he could say would be under the false premise that there would be some sort of closure, a poetically appropriate finale. But this moment was discordant, chaotic, and...unbalanced. It wasn't how it was supposed to be.

Nerim raised his head, and a moment later, Arwain moved into the hangar with her stride long and vigorous, in a familiar fast walk that Nerim had always dreaded because it was just fast enough that he had to jog in a rather undignified manner to keep up with her. Two seconds later, the Duros Jedi that had gone to accompany her rushed in behind, obviously having to perform his own undignified chase.

Arwain carried a satchel at her hip, and a small lockbox under her arm, presumably all the belongings she had accrued from their quarters. Nerim had no possessions beyond what was on his person or in his bag—and his lightsaber, which he painfully remembered was still taken from him—but as a much longer lived and more experienced Jedi, she had gathered a relative wealth of unique possessions. More than could fit in a single duffel bag, which was most impressive to a Padawan like him. Even so, she hadn't taken half of them with her. Plenty were probably illegal for a civilian to possess.

The Chadra-Fan Knight spoke up as she approached. "Will you be traveling separately, or together?"

"We're all going back to Saarkane," Arwain said sharply, and then bit the inside of her cheek and silently glanced to Nerim and Tetha, as if worried they might disagree. Nerim just nodded.

The Knights shared their own look, and then looked to Arwain with some concern. "Miss Ash-Kan, I hope you realize that you are no longer assigned to any mission—"

"Tetha has a ship there, sitting in a dock accruing bills as we speak. Nerim is accompanying her, and I have business unrelated to Jedi matters on the world," Arwain quickly headed his speculation off, grabbing her duffel bag from Tetha with an appreciative-if-perfunctory nod.

"I see. Alright, then," the Chadra-Fan sighed. "I will inform a suitable pilot."

He left, and the Duros then took a deep breath, and began to explain to Nerim how his life would work now, legally speaking, taking great care to underline repeatedly that he no longer had the authority of a Jedi, while Nerim vacantly nodded until he was sure the young man had understood it.

He then divulged the details of the stipend Nerim would receive and the preferential government services in education and employment seeking he was to be granted—not nearly as good opportunities as one would have in the Jedi Service Corps, but at least comparable to the welfare granted to many disadvantaged beings in the Republic.

It was given begrudgingly, perhaps, but even the Jedi couldn't deny that sending a Force Sensitive out into the Galaxy with no money and no employable skills beyond a perhaps scary level of overlap with the bounty hunting profession was a recipe for disaster. And besides, it wasn't like this bit into the Jedi Order's budget in any significant manner. There were never that many exiles, and the Jedi could have easily afforded to grant them a hundred times the boons without an accountant in the Galaxy even noticing.

By the time the pilot had arrived the Duros sighed and simply told him that any more relevant information would be sent via his datapad, and it was up to him to figure it out. On one hand, it confused Nerim how willing the Jedi were to kick him out with zero supervision or in-person assistance. On the other, it made sense. One bad apple, after all. And besides, he doubted that he would have zero supervision; there were always Jedi Watchmen rotating throughout the Galaxy, intermittently keeping eyes on failed Jedi, just in case.

The pilot, a Rodian who was himself a member of the Jedi Service Corps, gracefully led them up the loading ramp, into a sterile and somewhat disorganized sitting room.

"Alright folks, settle in," he said, his voice buzzing and trilling in the way that Rodians did. "This baby's hyperdrive isn't as advanced as you're probably used to, but it's still good by Galactic standards. Should only take a day or two," he said, affectionately banging his fist on the wall.

"No need to justify yourself to us," Arwain said lowly, "You're the Jedi here, after all."

"I'm sensing some resentment," the Rodian said in a tone that sounded astonishingly sincere given the circumstances. "But that's okay. I know you've been through a lot. Just remember, you're no less of a person just because you're not a Jedi. Just like I'm no less of a person than you were yesterday, just because I wasn't a Knight and you were."

Arwain froze momentarily, and then nodded deferentially. "Thank you for your wisdom."

The Rodian smiled and gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up, and then moved through a doorway towards the cockpit. The door hissed shut behind him, and Tetha took a deep breath and crossed her arms uncomfortably, while Arwain shifted her weight from one foot to the other, staring aimlessly at the wall.

"So uh..." Nerim began, scratching his head. "...What do we do now, Master?"

He noticed a sudden spike of pain in Arwain's heart, and her eyes hardened again, still not meeting his. She clenched her teeth for a moment, and before she lost her nerve, she spoke. "Nerim, I'm...I'm not your Master anymore," she said hoarsely.

"Why not?" Nerim asked, his tone curious, bordering on challenging.

She looked at him sadly. "We're not Jedi."

"Okay," Nerim nodded, taking a breath. Then he pointed over his shoulder to Tetha, who raised an eyebrow. "Well, she's a Sith. She could ordain us, probably. So you can be my Sith Master now."

Arwain's expression of sorrow cracked for a moment into disbelief, and some amusement, but then she shook her head, and it returned. "Nerim, this has been a...a severe event. I'm not sure—"

"Wait," he interrupted, correcting himself. "Blif Master. I'm not making that mistake."

Her expression cracked again, and she let out a sorrowful laugh, placing a hand to her head and letting it trail down her face. "Pada—" She stopped herself, "...Nerim. You're very funny. But now is not the time to distract or avoid the point we must focus on."

He crossed his arms. "And what would that be?"

Arwain shrugged off her bag and placed the lockbox on the ground, freeing her hands to place on his shoulders as she took one knee and looked up at him. "Nerim, I've failed you. I have failed you," she repeated for emphasis. "I was your Master. I was supposed to provide for you a path to becoming a Jedi Knight, and in following me, you've gone...right over a cliff. I-if you had anybody else..." She closed her eyes, holding a breath. "...Things may have turned out differently."

Nerim frowned, his lips pursing together to keep them from trembling. "What are you saying?"

Her eyes opened again, sparkling with excess, the surface tension just strong enough to stop the moisture from forming into tears. "I'm saying that I've hurt you in a way I can never undo, and I am so sorry for that. Regardless of anything else, regardless of all circumstances, the responsibility stops with me."

His arms tightened across his chest. "That's nonsense. The Council is insane. Fae lead us into this. The Sith acted against us. You can't be held responsible for all of their actions."

"No. But I can be held responsible for you, and you don't need to defend me," she said. I want you to say it was my fault, she meant.

He thought back to what Fae had told him in the gondola, and how this must all seem to her like a nightmarish memory had come back to haunt her. In truth, he felt, she had lost so much more throughout these events than he had. He was her Padawan for a little over a year, and had actually, truly, consciously believed he could be a Jedi for maybe half of that. She had just lost nearly half a century, and her Master, and now, in her eyes, she had lost her Padawan. Because he was no longer her Padawan. He was a Mirialan boy she had mislead—no, forced into thinking he could be a Jedi. And maybe he could have, if it weren't for her. She hadn't just lost him, she had ruined him.

She had ruined the one good thing she had left after Fae died. He couldn't bear it. He had to do something to dispel the notion, something to help her, but he was still so dumbstruck by all the events, still so unable to form meaningful words. Fae, he thought desperately, what should I say?

Arwain shook her head as she sensed his empathy, screwing her eyes shut. "No, Nerim. Don't worry about me. You are under no obligation to take my side in this matter. I want you...I want you to take your side from here on out," she said, looking back up at him.

Nerim's amber eyes stared into her muddy green ones, his arms still tightly crossed and his face stern, to prevent his composure from breaking entirely. "You're my Master. We're always on the same side."

Arwain's eyes widened, and then the dam broke and tears began pouring down. She pulled him close and buried her head in the front of his tunic, sobbing silently. "Nerim...!"

He wrapped his arms around her, and Tetha slowly approached and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

 

[Radiant Knight]

Glad to see this back. Pretty good outcome, all told, and more of the Jedi being ignorant dicks as foretold by the prophecy.

 

[TFTwink]

"You're my Master. We're always on the same side."

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Hyper-son-maxxing Xtreme Platinum Game of the Year Edition

 

[Hyenanon]

Glad to see this back. Pretty good outcome, all told, and more of the Jedi being ignorant dicks as foretold by the prophecy.

Click to shrink...

Thank you! Glad to have it back, too.

Hyper-son-maxxing Xtreme Platinum Game of the Year Edition

Click to shrink...

Hah! It echoes. It's like poetry...it rhymes.

 

[NotIntoFeet]

The first step is always the hardest.

 

[Goudeauboywade]

So what's next now that you no longer have the Jedi and thier rules hmmm? Pull a Jolee or a yoda and find some desolate rock in the middle of nowhere and wait. Maybe go hunt down the Sith remnants you now know are definitely out there? Play bounty hunter? Or maybe just see where the force brings you cause Jedi or not you are still one with the force and it likes to play favorites.

 

[SirRolandTheFrank]

Maybe go hunt down the Sith remnants you now know are definitely out there?

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I'm fairly sure that they don't know that there are Sith remnants left - the Rodent destroyed the station, so they don't know if she did the deed and killed the Sith, or if they managed to evacuate; there's simply no evidence left.

They've got plenty of options though, I suppose. Move around and see the sights/visit other Force sects; form their own little Jedi sect, akin to Altisian Jedi who appeared later; plot revenge against the High Council; launch an anti-Hutt Space/Slavery crusade; ask Green Jedi if they take in strays; and so on.

I'm personally the most partial to forming their own Jedi branch (even if I doubt that the story will go in this direction), mostly because I've always thought it a baller move to start a new Temple somewhere in Sith Space: Korriban itself is actually viable, since it's mostly a hollowed-out husk of a tombworld, where besides the local fauna there's no real danger left - everything got looted many times over in the prior millennia; Dromund Kaas is probably greatly diminished population-wise, but possibly still remains a viable choice if you want some contact with civilisation, although you have to muscle out the Prophets of Dark Side. There's also Ziost, Thule (not sure if that one counts as part of Sith Worlds proper or not), etc, so there's potential either way.

 

[Goudeauboywade]

I've always thought it a baller move to start a new Temple somewhere in Sith Space

Click to shrink...

That's what happens with yavin 4 lol the rebel base was an old Sith temple and it is later converted into the main Jedi temple for Luke's NJO in legends

 

[TroubleFait]

What now, you ask? I know a Mandalorian bounty hunter who was promised assistance in freeing her people from the Hutt.

Extremely touching, as always, I don't know how you do it but I feel so much for those characters.

Once again I feel like the Jedi Order stole Nerim's life from him. Just as he thought in the very beginning, except he can't even benefit from the Jedi Service Corps as he hoped to. But in the meantime, from when Arwain gave him a promise, to now that the Order procedure her to break it, he gained a mom Master, some friends, and some invaluable guidance. It's not all bad. Arwain certainly doesn't have to fear his resentment for her role in this.