Despite his lingering nerves, Cailen pressed on through the trees. Every step brought him closer to what the Force wanted him to find, and though he still had a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach, he knew he wasn’t alone. Valery was right there beside him, her presence cutting through his doubts and giving him the confidence to keep moving.
Cailen led the way in silence for some time, only communicating when the Force tugged him in a new direction. They took several turns that would seem errant to an untrained eye, but to a Jedi as experienced as Valery, it was clear that her Padawan was following a path that only he could see. Cailen was perfectly focused on what he was feeling, though not without a strenuous amount of effort to maintain his connection to the Force.
The exertion had begun to catch up to him when finally, the familiar shape of the boulder from his vision came into view. He turned to his Master with weary eyes, smiling softly through the exhaustion that was coming over him. He’d never felt this drained before, even during the busiest days clambering about the shipyards on Anaxes. It wasn't his muscles that ached, but his mind and heart.
He wanted to rest, but he was so close to the answer.
”This is it, Master,” Cailen said as he stood before the stone, blinking curiously.
His hazel eyes investigated it from a distance, but soon, his reluctant feet found the courage to get closer. The menacing face of the woman flashed across his mind again, sending shivers down his spine. She was here, all right. Even after all this time, the echoes of her hatred and anger still lingered. Cailen wondered how someone could ever grow to be so bitter, so lost.
With cautious steps, Cailen’s boots made their way to the rock. He reached his hand out but froze just inches away from its surface. He cast a nervous glance over his shoulder to Valery before resting his trembling fingers against the stone.
Once again, he was plunged into the burning forest.
Bright orange embers swirled around him as he stood among the trees, his body a displaced figure intruding on a time and place where he'd never been and never was. At least the vile woman was gone, or so it seemed; Her heavy presence was no longer weighing on Cailen's chest. All he could see was smoke, cinder, and the wounded soldier against the obelisk.
The Alliance trooper was still breathing heavily, his close call with death still pumping his body with adrenaline, but his eyes were full of relief.
"You saved my life," he said, his words heavy with gratitude.
The shadowy figure he spoke to was oddly familiar to Cailen, but no matter how hard he stared at its form, he couldn't place who - or what - it was. Only when it spoke to the soldier did Cailen finally recognize it, and when the realization struck him, it felt like ice shooting through his veins.
"Get-- get to safety," Tarus said, stumbling a bit as he approached the trooper with an open hand.
The only one he had, Cailen noticed. The Sith who attacked them on the landing pad had severed his Master's left arm before piercing his chest with her crimson blade; Wounds that would be fatal on their own, let alone together.
Tarus hoisted the soldier to his feet with a groan, clearly struggling to stay conscious. Cailen could feel echoes of the fallen Jedi's pain in the Force. It made him sick to his stomach.
"The woods-- not safe--" his Master said through gritted teeth.
"Come with me. We can still make it to the LZ"
"-- Can't," Tarus said curtly. "My destiny-- is elsewhere--"
The soldier shook his head, but he could see the same resolve in Tarus' eyes that Cailen did whenever his Master had made up his mind.
"You'll need this," he said, handing something Tarus.
"Thank you. But-- It's not for me," Tarus said.
Cailen watched as his Master accepted the soldier's offering, but the vision began to fade. The last thing he saw was Tarus' disfigured body slump against the boulder, sliding down its pocked surface until he met the ground. As Tarus' eyes closed, Cailen's snapped open.
"Master Noble," Cailen said, his palm still flush with the stone.
"I found it."
His eyes were wide, unable to believe what he saw. There, nestled into a small divot at the base of the obelisk, was the rusted hilt of a lightsaber.
Tarus Undara's lightsaber.
