Dawn of the Jedi

[Zef Halo]

​

​

OUTER RIM COALITION TERRITORY
LATE MORNING


Sitting peacefully on the flat ground, Ember meditated in harmony with the nature of the small forest around him. Behind him rose the slope leading to the top of a hill hiding the overgrown with flora shipwreck and the long abandoned scientific station which shared the similar of the wreck - it had one with nature.

His inner peace was torn. The Jedi remained conflicted within his soul with the action he had undertaken. Thus, Ember had found himself meditating much more often lately than ever before. Establishments, orders - these words pushed him away ever since he left the New Jedi Order. A roaming Jedi was what he described himself. Unattached to no system but the Jedi Code. Was he brave in sending a call a few people - the pair from Dellalt, whom he had found rather pure in their good intentions and a call to the short-lived members of The Jedi Order, an order which reflected the Jedi Code truer than the NJO or the SJO in Ember's view. A puzzle easily solved by Jedi was presented as his exact coordinates.

Or was he foolish?

Would this all crumble in his feet? Would it send him to his death or lead him astray or would he once more exile himself from the affairs of the galaxy and of the Jedi?

Was he even that mature and wise to begin this?

Baby steps.

An old friend of his in the New Jedi Order had told him that once. Perhaps this was it, slowly but surely. It was his duty as a Jedi to learn and help others learn the way of the Jedi. There was much still ahead of him and only could he stay true to the Jedi Code if he walked this path not alone but together.

Together with the Light.

[member="Anais Auraeli"] | [member="Harper Kade"] | [member="Alden Belmont"]​

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Ember Farseer"] | [member="Harper Kade"] | [member="Alden Belmont"]​

There was a tremor of unease within the force as Anais made her soft, gradual approach on the ancient temple. The serenity it afforded sparking unwanted comparisons to the Temple of Deneba, a place she had called home for several years, and the tragedies she'd witnessed in its sacking. Recounted all too often in vivid, holographic detail on an almost nightly basis.

Her hands gripped the edge of her shawl, amber hued gaze darting back over her shoulder towards the shuttle she'd taken, not for the first time wondering if it wasn't too late to head back. L1-4R had orders to keep the engines ready. It was only a few hundred or so yards, give or take. She could clear that in a matter of heartbeats if she set her mind to it.

And yet...

The girl knew instinctively that her time as a Jedi, as short and bittersweet as it had been, would be over the moment she gave in to that impulse.

She dipped her head, turning to face the temple once more, continuing her journey with a touch more resolve. While neither yet a padawan nor a youngling, it seemed she wasn't ready to end her journey quite yet. Not while there were questions that still required answering. About the force, about the galaxy, and about her place in both.

"I am Anais Auraeli." She announced towards the meditating figure, her voice coming out louder and with more conviction that she necessarily felt. Still a feeble shadow of what it once was. "You sent a message."

It wasn't a question, but her uncertainty bled through that it might as well have been.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Anais Auraeli"] | [member="Harper Kade"] | [member="Ember Farseer"]​

​

Alderaan had been a mess.

But they had gotten out of it... somehow.

Parts of it were still a blur of fighting, bleeding, hurting, people dying and wounds taken. Part of him doubted that he'd have been able to get out of it, if it hadn't been for Harper at his side throughout it all. More than once she had caught him by the shoulder right before his instinct had told him to dive into a situation. More than once he had realized it would have been suicidal.

"Surprised the Jedi still remembers us." Alden murmured softly as they took the high path towards the rendezvous point. They had caught glimpses of the overgrown structures during their descend and had decided to park just a little bit away.

Just to be safe.

The clouds passed, letting a sun ray break through for a moment, and the sudden blinding light made Alden stumble. It send a shudder through his knee, still weak from Alderaan, but Harp steadied him before he could fall on his face. "Thanks," Alden grimaced as they got up the hill and came across two rather than one person. One was the sitting Ember, the other?

A young girl by the looks of it.

"Seems we aren't the only ones invited." It might have been a serious situation for Ember- a crisis of faith, so to speak. But for Alden... it seemed... well, the Jedi could only chuckle a bit as they approached. Very dramatic, every little piece of the scene seemingly set-up to maximize the gravity of the situation. "Farseer- all you miss now is a walking staff and grey in your hair."

They paused before the two, Alden nodding towards the girl.

"What is on your mind?"

Something that apparently couldn't have done over the HoloNet either.

 

[Mariel Dawnrider]

Harper had been quiet since Alderaan. That wasn't that surprising, not really. When she was mulling over something or troubled by something, Alden knew she wasn't much of a talker. She needed to work through the problem in her mind before she could give it voice. And woe to the person who tried to get her to talk about it before she was ready.

Part of it was Dellalt. Part of it was Alderaan. Part of it was still not even knowing if her family was safe or not.

And part of it was the small item in her pocket.

It had arrived the day before they had evacuated Dellalt. A special courier, her mother had signed for it, addressed to the Kade family, but in the hubbub of getting ready to go, the package had been forgotten. Somehow, it had ended up with Harper's things. Shoved unceremoniously into a pack pocket and forgotten about. How it had come through both Dellalt and Alderaan in tact, Harper had no idea. It wasn't until the day after they had gotten away from that last horror show that she had found it again.

And unwrapped it.

She'd kept it from Alden. Not because she was hiding it, but because it was part of what she was still mulling. The holocron was currently in her pocket, and occasionally she'd reach in, just to reassure herself that it was there.

That the small image of the dark haired woman with the kind smile and sad eyes was still there, inside of it.

When she had a problem to work out, she did best by working it out in silence and in physical labor. But there was no farm to work. No animals to tend. No seeds to plant. So she did the next best thing.

Supported Alden.

He'd been hurt worse than she had been (part luck, part that he was prone to rushing in). While Harper could be brash in certain situations, he had been down right reckless at times, and now they moved slowly, at his pace because of his knee.

The guardian of the holocron had told her that the healing skills she might need to help him were within. But Harper had hesitated. Put it off. Thought about it.

She had never wanted to become a Jedi, after all. That was Alden's dream. Not hers. She wanted a quiet life. Good earth. Green and growing things that fed people and nourished life. She didn't want to be a Jedi.

So why was she here now then? Why hadn't she given Alden the holocron as soon as she realized what was on it?

Harper didn't know yet.

She was, after all, still thinking.

Grey eyes cast over the pair as they joined them. Farseer she knew. The girl she didn't, but that was okay.

"This place was a shutta to find," she said bluntly. "But we're here. What's going on?"

[member="Ember Farseer"] | [member="Alden Belmont"] | [member="Anais Auraeli"]​

 

[Zef Halo]

Ember's eyes calmly opened at the first movement ahead of him. While sensing was never his strongest suit, the stillness of the location helped him detect the couple light signatures through the Force. Someone had answered. The Jedi was unsure how to feel, his mind still remained in a state of civil war.

The first to appear was a rather young near-Human girl, perhaps a teenager. Her height did not match her facial features.

Anais Auraeli. He could only guess she had survived the ordeal of the Jedi Order.

"I did." The Jedi Knight stood up and approached the lanky girl. "Ember Farseer." A respectful nod followed. He couldn't help but notice the rather authoritative air around Anais.

"I-"

"Farseer- all you miss now is a walking staff and grey in your hair."

"This place was a shutta to find, but we're here. What's going on?"

The interruptions followed one right after the other and Ember raised his head towards the acquaintances he had made during the evacuation of Dellalt. A soft smile found itself on his face. Alden Belmont and Harper Kade. He hadn't spend enough time with the two to know them but if he had to give epithets - the former had a mouth fitting a polite Outer Rim spacer and the reckless heart of a rebel and the latter - she shared some similarities with Ember. Torn within, but rooted without. Or so Farseer's impressions were.

"I wouldn't mind the walking staff, Belmont, there are some pretty steep slopes in a ravine not far west of here." Ember had tripped and rolled down the slope the other day. It was a comical but also a dangerous situation. The soft smile slowly dissipated bringing the Jedi Knight back to business.

"Anais Auraeli- Harper Kade and Alden Belmont." Ember gestured at the two new arrivals. "Harper Kade, Alden Belmont - Anais Auraeli."

After the pleasantries were over, Ember would lead them up the short hill until the four reached the top from which a divine view could be observed. The overgrown, massive exhaust port of an eon old shipwreck and in its shadow the masonry in which nature had found roots within - the old abandoned scientific facility. Noon was near and the facility would very soon find itself under the complete shade of the shipwreck's engines.

"Surreal, isn't it?" The Jedi commented. The view always seemed to stun him for a bit. From his short research within the shipwreck and the facility, he had found clues that led him to believe the shipwreck and the facility were eras apart. "Sorry." He turned to face them leaving the view behind his back.

"I was vague in my message. Perhaps too vague." The Jedi blamed it on his indecisiveness. He paused for a moment, silence reigning around the four. Ember shoved the conflicted side of his mind to the side and gathered his breath for what he was about to say. "I- No. The Jedi Code compels me to pass on my knowledge to others, to preserve the Jedi Order. I have no choice but to accept." Ember did not elaborate on his views on the contemporary Jedi Orders out there.

"But neither am I ready, nor even near ready to do that specifically." He admitted turning his eyes away from them before turning them back. "But together we can learn the way of the Jedi." Ember went directly to the point. "It is not an easy path, one stripping you of your wants and replacing them with the other's needs." His eyes fell on Belmont, that man was a Jedi already. "You will be often torn within with the very nature of yourself, conflicted with every step you take on your way." His eyes shifted to Kade. "And you will need a lot of patience and humility to overcome the steep slopes of this path." The gaze turned to Auraeli.

Ember looked down at his feet thoughtfully jutting his jaw before raising his head once more to the three before him.

"You are free to refuse, of course, and turn back." The Jedi Knight stated. "But if you believe this is your path - we can travel that path together."

The slight breeze disappeared, as if the wind was holding its breath for their answers.



[member="Anais Auraeli"] [member="Alden Belmont"] [member="Harper Kade"]

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Ember Farseer"] | [member="Alden Belmont"] | [member="Harper Kade"]​

Anais stiffened slightly as another pair of individuals ambled towards the temple, lips tightening into a thin line as she regarded them in turn carefully as the introductions were made. Curiosity momentarily balancing itself against caution as she took in their appearance and the 'shape' they cast in the force. While Ember was more in line with the Jedi she had encountered during her time on Deneba, this strange pair was something of a mystery. Yet she sensed no malice or ulterior motives, however. Simple, honest interest directed towards the man that had summoned them all here so cryptically. Of course, she'd sensed nothing of the sort in Arenais before he'd turned on them, either.

A sobering thought.

She offered them a curt incline of her head before turning her attention back towards Ember.

"Master Farseer, forgive me, but there are several Jedi Orders." One less now, perhaps. Focus on his words, not the past. She straightened her back and fell into the training regimes her mother had tried to instill her on her from an early age, adopting the easy mask of the Alderaanian noble. She tugged on her shawl once more. Letting a formal tongue disguise her earlier apprehension. "The Silver Jedi, the New Jedi, the trade council and even the Republic Remnant are said to have one, too. Many quote the very same philosophy as you just have."

She knew that for a fact, having sojourned to their respective temples and academies in the hopes of finding a home. If Ember was offering an alternative, she was open to listening, but it would take more than a pretty speech to win her over. Hollow answers and pleasantries weren't enough. Not anymore.

"I'm sure they would welcome you and your knowledge with open arms," She tilted her head, "So I have to ask, what makes the path you walk different from theirs?"

What does it mean to be a Jedi?

 

[Zef Halo]

Ember remained stoic and focused on the young Jedi before him, even when she had called him Master. He was far from that title, truly far but interrupting her over that would be a mistake so the man just listened. For her age Anais seemed to demonstrate sharp wit and rather mature questions. Questions he would expect from Belmont, or even Kade.

Perhaps the witness of the demise of the Jedi Order was an experience that aged a person. Taught them caution and inquisitiveness, or perhaps that all laid in whatever upbringing she had come from. The Jedi did not know.

His eyes found the ground once more and his mind plunged into thought. He pursed his lips briefly before lifting his head back up at the teenager.

"This path adheres to the Jedi Code." Ember surprised himself with the directness of his answer. A year back and he would have not opted for such a direct answer, the influence of the blunt and direct to the point Outer Rim natives and their spacefaring protectors was rubbing off on him. He softened his facial features which had instinctively grown sharper at the mention of the Order. It was not a feeling of dislike or distaste but rather disagreement. As a Jedi, Ember preserved himself from emotions to cloud his mind and rules his world.

"I became a Jedi with the New Jedi Order, I was knighted there and for a long time believed it the beacon of hope the galaxy needed." Ember explained softly. No gestures, no movement. "Until I realized the collapse of the Jedi across the galaxy was not the fault of the Sith but our own. We have strayed far from the way of the Jedi to fit, to serve the end no matter what the means. The monster we were fighting slowly became the reflection in our mirrors." He felt his voice lower and speaking become painful. "We talked and preached one thing but we demonstrated something else."

"We were no longer those we claimed we are." Silence befell the group once more before Ember spoke up once more, gathering air in his voice. "But to answer your question, Anais - I am no Master, even if I was one, one could not trigger change. My voice alone would just be an echo in a desert. It would remain unheard. I can only do what my capabilities allow me to and that is just this - embark on a journey to learn together with you the way of the Jedi. What it means to be the protector of the Light, the keeper of the galaxy."

Perhaps maybe then our voices can be heard.

He did not voice that thought but he only hoped he could do his part of being a Jedi right.

"I hope that may have answered your question, Anais."

[member="Anais Auraeli"] | [member="Alden Belmont"] | [member="Harper Kade"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Anais Auraeli"] | [member="Harper Kade"] | [member="Ember Farseer"]

Belmont listened, but he didn't size up Ember with a look.

Instead his glance was reserved for the overrun building of concrete, metal and vine. In some ways that building was a representative of what the Jedi Order had become across the years and even decades (maybe longer than that). Overgrown, outpaced by those around it, bend and slowly being broken across time. It was reduced to a symbol that had been stained across years of neglect.

It had always been Alden's dream to become a Jedi.

Join the order, help people and bring peace to at least a corner of the Galaxy, if not the entirety of it. The Silver Jedi had disappointed him, the Galactic Alliance had horrified him and the lack of action from other had made him stumble in his own convictions for a time.

"Your intentions are good." Alden declared after a moment of silence left in Ember's explanation. "But so were the intentions of the Silver Jedi Order, I am sure. The Alliance too.... and others." One organization after another, declaring for the light, supporting its cause, but every move they made pushed them towards being divided more and more and more.

"Every time the Jedi band together to work on something in unison they have fallen into squabbles, inaction, abandonment." His jaw set at that last word, the memory of Dellalt still fresh in his mind.

Had the Silver Jedi Order not fled like cravens the peace of his village might have been preserved.

Instead Harper had been forced out of her peaceful life, instead his parents were force knew where and equally Kade's parents.

"I want to help people, Farseer, but why do we need a Jedi Order to do that?"

 

[Mariel Dawnrider]

[member="Ember Farseer"] | [member="Anais Auraeli"] | [member="Alden Belmont"]

Harper actually snorted when they mentioned the Silvers. She had little to no opinion of the others beyond 'not impressed' but she specifically had a beef with the Silver Jedi and their abandonment of their territory rather than standing up to the Sith. And when they did stand up to them? It had been an invasion of a world already wrecked, leading to the deaths of too many. Harper hated the Sith without questions, but she didn't think too highly of the Jedi these days either.

It was, in truth, one of the reasons this decision was not a simple one for her.

She wasn't sure it was possible to be a Jedi anymore. Not really.

Her thoughts drifted back to the woman in the holocron.

She'd lived before the Gulag Plague. Before the 400 years of darkness. She was alone, a ghost, an impression.

Nothing, Harper realized, had really changed.

"Because we can either do it together," she said slowly, "or we can fail."

She looked up, her hand in her pocket.

"Don't get me wrong. Can fail together too. But take Alderaan. There was no way two people could stand up against what happened there. We did our best, but we couldn't help everyone. But if there had been three of us? Four of us? We got a lot of people to safety, but what if we could have done more, Alden? One person can't be everywhere at once."

She shrugged, pulling the holocron out.

"A lot of stories of the Jedi as they used to be. But, I don't think they were ever like the stories. Maybe some of them were. Maybe we can do better. Maybe can't. But we can't do it alone."

Her thumb moved over the surface of the device, but didn't activate it.

"Alone doesn't work," she said softly.

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Alden Belmont"] | [member="Ember Farseer"] | [member="Harper Kade"]​

The monster we were fighting slowly became the reflection in our mirrors.

A surprisingly apt description for the fall of the last Jedi Order she countered herself amongst.

His response didn't quite put her mind at ease, however. In fact all it served was to deepen the lines of her frown. If it had been so easy for the current collective array of Jedi Orders throughout the galaxy to diverge from the path, who was to say this would end any different? If thousands of Jedi could fall victim to their own hubris, they own desire for conflict and baser emotions, than what hope did four people have?

"If they can't follow the code, then maybe the problem is in the code itself." The words tumbled forth almost unbidden, lending unintentional voice to the thoughts that had been churning over in her brain for the last few months. "Maybe we're all asking the wrong questions and accepting the wrong answers from the teachings. If the Jedi Orders are doomed to destroy themselves over and over again because of a shared belief, then maybe its time to take a look at what we're believing in."

She yanked hard on her shawl.

"Otherwise what is the point?" She gestured towards the holcoron, "If the Jedi of the past failed, is there anything to be achieved in trying to emulate them? Shouldn't we be seeking out our own answers? Making our own, new path?"

 

[Zef Halo]

Ember watched keenly what everyone put forward. All had, in a way, differently shaped views. Doubts were expected, one can only take a look at what the recent orders of the Jedi had accomplished and the doubts of a Jedi order's purpose would flood one's mind. Alden didn't see the need for a Jedi Order, Harper had given him an example - one that Ember could feel pained the former. The Jedi Knight had only heard about the Sith's incursion into Alderaan, he was glad the two had survived. Anais, on the other hand, critisized the Code itself. She surprised Ember with every other opinion she expressed. He could easily admit that when he was her age, such analytical thinking was far from his mind.

Very far.

Next, Ember's eyes fell upon the holocron that materialized in Harper's hands. A Jedi holocron. The easing feeling of it attracted him. He could only suspect what knowledge the holocron sustained. Perhaps it could be the tool that could help him with the near impossible task burdened on his shoulders right now - the unison of all of them and their different perspectives.

He gave another shot-lived glance at the abandoned building a hundred meters or more away from them before turning to face them again.

"Not a Jedi Order per se, but...." Ember looked for the word he wanted to say, shuffling through his mind. "A praxeum."

"A Jedi Praxeum for us to learn together and act together, as Harper said. You are all right about the other Orders but rather than seeing it in that way, perhaps we could learn from their mistakes.That is my hope." He elaborated and then added. "Do not trust in me. Trust in yourselves to do good. Trust in yourselves that we can teach others to use the Force to do good."

"It may be true what you say, Anais." Ember said cautiously. Out of them four, he seemed to be the most tradionalist. "But rather I would think that it is the misinterpretation of the Code that has led us to the state of the Jedi in the galaxy as it is but I believe." He paused glancing in the skies thoughtfully for a moment before bringing his head back down at the others. "But I believe we can be different, we can change...at least something."

The Jedi Knight took out his backpack and unraveled a piece of clothing to reveal four blue threads. He picked them up and offered them to take one.

"If you think- no, if you believe we can make our own path and learn from the errors of the past - take these." Ember said but would offer elaboration about the threads later.

He had to unite them all.

The Force willed it.



[member="Harper Kade"] [member="Alden Belmont"] [member="Anais Auraeli"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Anais Auraeli"] | [member="Harper Kade"] | [member="Ember Farseer"]

Harp was right, but that didn't make it easy.

Alderaan had been a mess, horror, pain, he wasn't an empath like her and the suffering had been muted to him. But he had still felt it and felt his own failure at not being able to help them all. The sudden reveal of the holocron made Alden blink, glancing at it curiously and then to the woman holding it. Part of him wondered why she had kept it from him, but the larger part understood.

There had barely been a moment of rest for them.

From Dellalt to Alderaan to this, they seemed to be stumbling from one tense (dangerous) situation to the next. "Maybe you are right. Maybe all of you are right." Anais offered her own wisdom and Alden took that in strides.

Young? Maybe, but in a Galaxy like this everyone needed to grow up faster than during times of peace.

"Dellalt, Alderaan- the Sith Empire rises, some try to fight them, most cause more harm than they do good in the pursuit of it." Mirial had been an example of that, but it had hardly been the first nor the last in a long succession of the professed followers of the Light karking everything up. "To be Jedi means defending the innocent, guardians of the Galaxy, yes?"

A look from one to the other and finally ending with Ember.

Seeing if they had additional things they believed. "It means making compromises to keep those around us safe." It didn't mean turning into a righteous crusade and burning everything in their path. "The end does not justify the means." Otherwise they might as well be as bad as the Sith- pursuing supposed law and order through tyranny and terror. This had to be understood between the four of them. They had to see this first, before they could unite... so to speak. This wasn't a holo-movie, not a glorious story where a single speech would make them a force of nature that would sweep away the corruption of the Galaxy.

Because that corruption rested in every person.

If they started to sweep indiscriminately? It would end with the Galaxy on fire.

"If we are agreed on this? I am willing to try." Only then would he take one of those... threads. They felt of the light, there was subtle power in them, but Alden wasn't certain what they would do.

 

[Mariel Dawnrider]

[member="Alden Belmont"] | [member="Anais Auraeli"] | [member="Ember Farseer"]

Her eyes caught Alden's and she felt a twinge of guilt- she hadn't kept it from him as a secret, but she had kept it from him nonetheless. He had as much right to it as she did- more, he was a Jedi and she was....

What was she?

What was Harper Kade?

A farmer without a farm. A daughter without a family. The things that she would have used to describe herself just weeks ago were gone. The framework within which she had built her life had shattered. She could rebuild that frame, if she wanted. Turn away. Find a nice, quiet planet somewhere far away from all of this.

But could she?

It was one thing to think of all of this, everything that had happened, as a distance problem. But it had been made real in a way she couldn't ignore. There was guilt there, a little, that it had taken something happening to those she cared about to lift her head out of her farm and do something. Part of her, desperately, wanted to return to that.

Instead she looked at each of them. For a moment, honestly wondering just what she brought to this that one of them didn't already.

Maybe that was the problem. One of them anyway, she realized slowly. That ego, creeping in, setting up a Jedi to wonder that exactly and to find an answer that put them above someone else, instead of side by side with them.

Harper didn't have any answers.

But she didn't have any other questions either.

Without a word, she stepped up, accepting the thread from Ember's outstretched hand. Her eyes shifted to Anais. Waiting.

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Alden Belmont"] | [member="Ember Farseer"] | [member="Harper Kade"]​

​

Praxeum. A place for the distillation of learning combined with action. Fitting for what Ember seemed to have in mind, yet she still struggled to see how this would shape and mould a different breed of Jedi to stand against the ever enclosing shadows, all too often of their own design and making. But then, she wasn’t a master. She wasn’t a knight. She was barely a padawan, if purely by virtue of no one gainsaying her claim otherwise.

She could only ask questions. The answers themselves, far beyond her years of understanding and wisdom.

As often when faced with indecision, she fell back on the teachings of the temple, trusting in the force to guide her to the right path. Opening up her senses towards the three that stood around her.

Ember with his passion and hope for a brighter future, Alden and Harper with their scars and desire to safeguard those that were all too often caught in the middle of the galaxy’s never ending conflicts. Each subtly different in motives, yet pure in intent. It seemed she was the only one still clouded and conflicted about her role in all of this.

It was a … Shaming realization for the young girl.

Her ears burned, forcing her to dip the lower half of her face into the high folds of her shawl to hide the expression that simmered forth. In her eyes, it seemed that they were putting the needs of others so easily ahead of their own, focusing on the simple need to protect while she ummed and erred over the nuances of a code.

“I…” She began and stalled in the space of a single breath, deciding to simply offer a tight, embarrassed nod by way of her assent. Holding out her hand to accept the token from Ember. Already puzzling over the simplicity of the item.

A thread?

Some sort of symbolic gesture? A part we are but threads, together we could weave something lasting and meaningful? She frowned thinly. No, there was something more to them than some simple, overused cliché. There was a thin connection to the force woven into the strand, so slender and slight that it could be easily overlooked, yet somehow proud and resilient in this hallowed place.

A test, perhaps?

No, yet again, she was overthinking it.

Sometimes a thread was just a thread, force imbued or otherwise.

Maybe it was now was up to them to take such a humble little thing and make something new out of it.

 

[Zef Halo]

Beneath the mixed feelings across them all, Ember was certain there was a glimpse of...hope. Hope. The core ingredient of any recipe about change. Without hope everything would be lost. No wonder it was often said that hope dies last. But upon this hope they had to build a strong foundation with an unshakeable core. A foundation that would keep their good intents in line, protecting them from what Alden and Ember feared the most - the notorious 'end justifies the means' that had become, unfortunately, prevalent among Jedi circles across the galaxy.

"I think we all have agreed on that before meeting here." The Jedi Knight softly said and respectfully nodded at the other man. The last thread waiting on his palm for the other to pick up. "Together we can set up a foundation based on that."

"A core founded not on the goal of destroying evil but on preserving the good." His eyes found themselves on young Anais but his mind wondered of his own choice to do this.

Would he truly succeed in his mission or fail horribly and do the opposite of what he had set out to do?

Only the Force would tell.