Jedi Adept: A Path In The Dark -- Epilogue

Previous Post

---

A lightning bolt of pain slashed across Tahiri's awareness; jerking her from the ritualistic numbness of the Embrace.

She blinked back the sweat from her eyes to find Jacen standing over her. Anger clouded his features, and his eyes seemed to glow yellow in the dim orange lighting.

"You failed me, Tahiri," he snarled at her. "The ferals have been lost as a useful contingency option."

She opened her mouth, and willed words to come from her parched throat. "I… I'm sorry Jace…"

He felt him watching her, felt the first tendrils of his power snake out from his mind and begin to invade hers. Feebly, she attempted to mount a defense, yet pain, exhaustion, hunger and thirst made her too weak, and he smashed them aside.

She felt her back arch as he invaded her mind, plunging through her memories. Every nerve lit on fire as he forced his way through her thoughts and desires. Pain clutched at her side, shards of glass tore at her lungs.

Suddenly, the invasion stopped, and she remembered how to breathe. She gulped at the air as he turned away from her. "I'm not certain if you're worth knowing about Flow Walking…"

Fear rose in her breast, and she once more had to struggle to breath. "No! Please…"

He turned back towards her, his eyes still holding that almost glow. "Then go out and find me the Jedi. If you do that, if you discover where they've hidden themselves, then we might continue. Do you understand?"

She bowed her head and felt a tear trace down her cheek. "Yes…"

He backhanded her hard, and she felt a trickle of blood start pooling at the corner of her mouth.

"From now on, you'll address me as Master or Lord."

Tahiri watched him for a moment, and then bowed her head. "Yes… Master."

"And another thing, bring me Noelani." She lifted her head, and felt her heart freezing in her chest. "Bring me, your daughter."

-------------------------------
Noelani stared at the viewport, watching the blackness of space give way to the bright blue of atmosphere. Her mouth was compressed into a tight line. Pain ate away at her heart. Anger and hurt smoldered in her soul.

The Stolen Star dropped lower, falling into a thunderhead. The black clouds rolled around her, as turbulent as her own emotions. Flickers of lightning played at the edges of her awareness; bright angry flashes of light and sound.

Before long, she had left the storm behind, and she continued to descend. Finally she over flew her destination. A massive ziggurat made of brilliant white Hapan marble. She could still remember the first time she had seen this building; how it gleamed a blinding silver-blue, how it caused her to stare in awe.

Now, blackened, smoldering trees were all that remained of the Temple's courtyards. Even from the cockpit of her ship she could see that the blasted remains of doors, and broken windows.

In the Force she could feel a sense of desolation and abandonment.

She landed the ship within a stone's throw of the scorch fields and then shut down the engines.

For a small eternity she sat there in the ship, listening to the hull and engine ping as they cooled down. Waiting, praying to the Force for some type of guidance; some inkling of what she was supposed to do.

Standing, she went through the ship and found herself at the ventral airlock. With a wave of her hand and a flicker of the Force, the door opened, and Noelani walked out. Smells and sound, and a light wind tugged at her, trying to draw her back through her memories.

She stepped off the gangplank, and could almost imagine Tionne standing there saying "Welcome to Ossus, Noelani."

She wrapped her arms around her own shoulders and dropped to her knees as the first of the tears flowed down her cheek. It splashed against the dusty ground, and she stared at it for a moment.

Then she lifted her face to the sky, just as a break in the clouds allowed a shaft of sunlight to strike her.

"Why?" she screamed at the heavens, her voice roughened with anger and pain.

The only answer was the echoes of her own voice.

Rage gripped her heart again and she struggled to her feet. Reaching out with the Force, she grabbed the closest of the buildings, and pushed. With a thunderous crash it crumpled under the power of her anger.

Then she turned to another building.

Then another.

And finally, yet another.

Exhausted, she once more collapsed to the ground, her body shivering with her tears.

"Why?"

This time it was nothing but a whisper; the weakened cry of her broken heart.

This time though, she was answered. "Why? It is merely because you refuse to take command of the power which the Force provides you."

Noelani rolled to her feet, her saber springing to her hand to find a Yuuzhan Vong warrior standing in the shadows of the Temple itself. The warrior was female, and garbed in what almost appeared to be Jedi robes.

The warrior stepped forward, and Noelani hissed in a breath. She recognized this warrior; having been tortured by her not that long ago.

The warrior smiled; a hideous grin of flayed flesh and missing teeth. "I see you remember me."

Noelani ignited her saber; its throbbing sounded loud in her ear, a noise begging to be used, released; a noise which nearly demanded her to slay the warrior. "Yes. I do. What do you want?"

The warrior's grin turned into a full-fledged smile. "Is it what I want? Or what you need?"

Noelani frowned for a moment. "I… I don't…"

"No? You don't?" The warrior uttered a short bark of a laugh. "Don't you want the power to force your former Jedi compatriots to see the error of their ways? Has Master Skywalker ever bothered to even apologize to you for what he has done?"

She shut down her weapon, allowing her arms to slump to her sides. "I… I... no. No, he hasn't…"

Ulya Tu walked closer to her, placing her hands on Noelani's shoulders. Comforting her. Noelani lifted her head, focusing on those large, grey irises. Ulya's lips twitched in imitation of a human smile. "Let me teach you how to force them to apologize. Let us force them to acknowledge what they have done to you."

Noelani looked up at the warrior as a tear rolled down her cheek. Slowly, she nodded her head, and after a short eternity, she simply said, "Teach me."