More time in the Temple that unsettles Callera! Thanks as always to
@Warlord01 for the beta pass and EU double checks!
This song was playing in my head the entire time.
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The Younglings had been persistent in their questioning under Master Drallig's guidance and encouragement, they stayed on the weapons themselves and not how she had manifest them. It might not have been an intentional test for her but interacting with a Master of such standing had definitely become one. One that she hoped she passed.
Shortly after Drallig had dismissed his students Callera and Obi-Wan moved on to the kitchens to 'appropriate' a small snack before making their way to a meditation room near the Archives. The chamber had been unoccupied and silent, so the two of them both began their own meditations. Slow and steady breathing filling the room. While Obi-Wan sent his senses outwards, Callera went inwards practicing the very exercise she performed in front of the High Council. No need to make the target on her back even bigger by letting her presence be easily sensed.
Seconds became minutes. Minutes became hours. Even without the Force, Callera hears the approaching footfalls as the door opens.
"Padawan Kenobi, report to your Master that I will be supervising Ms Bladesinger for the time being." The solid voice of the dark-skinned council member calls from the doorway.
"Of course, Master Windu." She hears the rustling of Obi-Wan's robes as he stands, nodding slowly in his direction with her eyes still closed. 'Master Mace Windu, now I have a name to go with the face.'
"Thank you, Obi-Wan, for the spar and escort. I'll see you and Master Qui-Gon later, I hope."
"You will Ms Bladesinger," The formal tones of the Master behind her as he moves around her. Waiting till his robes indicate the master is sitting in front of her and Obi-Wan's footsteps on the tile outside of the room as the door closes, she opens her eyes.
"You have questions Master Windu, are they your questions or the Council's?"
"Both Ms Bladesinger."
"I take it from the title, you do not recognize me as a Jedi?"
"You yourself have indicated that your order is different than ours and that your training and background is vastly different. I recognize you for your talent with the Force, and the help you feel you are providing to us, but we have yet to confirm your Order as truly being of Jedi lineage."
The words cut deep but are on some level expected. "I understand."
"You do?" His tone curious.
"You don't have experience with our Master's and our training, only my words. The fact that we've scrapped together a Jedi Order from memories, holocrons, datatapes and hope; rather than the millennia of traditions you currently posses. You have never dealt with me; never seen me in a crisis where I'm hands deep in someone's belly trying to keep them together, never seen me standing firm in front of a threat to the innocent, never seen me living up to the code, or seen me in the moments I know have I trod upon the code." Looking at Master Windu with tired acceptance, "But as the code says 'There is no ignorance, there is only knowledge.' How may I enlighten you?"
"Master Mundi talked about the images he saw, and I would like you to put them into context for me. Where was that anti-gravity arena?"
"The Shadow Academy, the remnants of the Empire's project to create an order of 'Dark Jedi' to counterbalance the growing Jedi Order of the New Republic. I was a student of one of the two factions of the Academy, one a more 'traditional' approach to the Force and the one I was taught under the Nightsisters of Dathomir."
"Nightsisters?"
"Dathomir has a strong Force culture heritage, fiercely matriarchal, but for the most part the Witches follow the Book of Law passed down from a Jedi exiled there a long time ago. The Nightsisters would be like the Sith for the Witches."
"The image Master Mundi saw was the end of the fight between the protégé's of the two programs; Knight Zekk and Vilas."
"Knight Zekk?"
"Many Shadow Academy students joined the Jedi Order when the Academy was destroyed. Zekk became a Jedi Knight in our order."
"Even with his brush with the Dark side?"
"Our order has a firm belief in forgiveness and redemption Master Windu. The journey back into the Light is a long hard road. Several Master's of our Order have fallen and come back from the Dark."
"And yourself?"
"I know I have had several uncomfortable brushes with the Dark side Master Windu. I am aware of my own flaws and try to keep from letting hate run my life."
"But you have given into it."
"I have." Her solemn straightforward admission stuns the Master with its frankness.
"I hate the Peace Brigade for betraying the galaxy to the Vong, for killing innocent refugees, for trying to capture and kill every Force User they could to appease the invaders! I hate them more than I do the Yuuzahn Vong themselves!" Her vehemence fills the room and then she takes a few deep breaths to settle back down. "I'm sorry Master Windu, four years of war, pain and doubt wear on me. Four years of being hunted because I could touch the Force. Years of doubt and debate of how to confront the Vong. Years of fighting to keep innocents safe as they were forced to flee their homes. It's only been three weeks since that war officially ended for me, Master Windu. No chance to come to terms, no peace."
Master Windu stays silent letting Callera speak.
"Hopefully, the Clone Wars never come to pass now. Three years of the galaxy tearing itself apart. Three years of the Jedi Order being Generals and soldiers, instead of peacekeepers, diplomats and advisors. What few journals and reports we managed to uncover, showed the strain the war put on the Order as you were scattered to fight multiple battles on multiple fronts while Sidious arranged to destroy your image and slowly wear you down and eliminate you."
"How would your Order have handled it?" Non-judgemental steady words leave the Master's lips.
"We'd have ceded all authority for the clone army to the military chain of command and liaise with them, diplomats and intelligence elements. Some of us would integrate partially into various command structures, during the Vong War some of us served as Squadron commanders and others served as coordinators on capital ships. I, myself, worked with commando squads when I wasn't in refugee camps. Some worked with smugglers and some with Republic intelligence. The Council always tried to send us where we could do the most good."
"What if the Supreme Chancellor ordered it?"
"We would help but it would be in our way. We served the Republic and later the Galactic Alliance, not those who hold office in it. At the same time, many politicians wanted nothing to do with us. They remember the problems and myths of the Jedi during the Clone Wars and considered the Jedi Order 'meddlers,'" a wry grin appears on Callera's lips, "a not unwarranted accusation when often the Force brings you into situations they'd like to remain hidden."
A slight twitch to Master Windu's lips reminds Callera that the behavior of politicians is as eternal as the Force. A few minutes of reflective silence before the next question.
"Does your Order use lightsabers on the whole? Master Mundi saw your silver blade and the red blade Zekk had at the Shadow Academy."
"Yes, it is the symbol of a Jedi. I know many of us chose not to carry our lightsaber in certain moments when being 'known' as a Jedi could cause more problems than help."
"What happened to yours?"
"Left in my time on Dagobah along with my jumpsuit, boots, and survival gear. As Master Qui-Gon can attest to, I showed up practically naked on Naboo."
"Where did you get your crystals from?"
"Illum has been practically strip mined of Adgean crystals in my time. So, we use any gem or crystal we felt a connection with. Some created theirs, others traveled to worlds with meaning to them to collect a crystal, I know one Jedi who used the focusing crystal from a communications display!"
Master Windu's eyebrow raises fractionally at that declaration before Callera continues.
"I've been through three blades by now; the one the Shadow Academy gave me with a synthetic mass-produced ruby, the one Master Ti let me make with a Dathomiri diamond, and my last one using a Theferyan Agate that a smuggler who'd been friends with my medic mentor Davos gifted me when my last lightsaber was destroyed by the Vong."
Pausing briefly. "I'm just glad Nejaa Halcyon had the foresight to write down the meditations you used during the Clone Wars to build and attune new lightsabers quickly.
"Nejaa Halcyon?"
"A Corellian Jedi a few years younger than Qui-Gon."
The next words chill Callera to her very bones.
"There is no Jedi by that name Bladesinger."
Callera jumps up at that declaration. "That can't be right Master Windu!"
"I know for a fact there is no Knight of that name."
Knowing the archives are nearby she flees from the room and into the spacious room and dashing for an empty terminal.
Ignoring the chiding rebuke of the Librarian she starts typing as Master Windu arrives behind her.
Query: Jedi Halcyon
Kieran Halcyon was responsible for the settling of a conflict on Selonia in the Corillian System…
Query: Jedi Solusar
No Jedi of such name
Query: Jedi Vergere
No Jedi of such name
"No No No…" Callera's emotions roiling as she keeps searching
Query: Arkanian House Nobrea
No known house in Arkanian society
Query: Jedi Allya exile
File access restricted by order of the High Council.
Looking over her shoulder with wide teary eyes, "Please! Open the file! I need to know!"
Looking straight into her watery eyes with his own for a few moments before leaning over her shoulder to type in a code.
Exiled to Dathomir for……
Callera lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.
Query: Dathomir
A rust-red world appears on the screen. 'Not my Dathomir…'
"Not my Dathomir," The words softly leave Callera's lips, "this isn't my Dathomir. Full of vibrant life and swirling storms." Standing up wearily she bows to who she thinks is the Head Archivist. "I'm sorry for the disruption…I had to know..." Letting the words trail off she stumbles out of the library with Master Windu following behind her.
"What did all of that mean Bladesinger?"
"It means everything and nothing Master Windu. I'm not in my past, but a past. Those names I searched for would have been Jedi in my timeline, potential allies I could have reached out to since I knew a little more of them."
"Does that mean that everything you've told the council is wrong?"
"No, based on everything's that happened there are still similarities. Naboo crisis, the Tatooine detour, Anakin, Maul, Palpatine; there are still many identical actors and actions occurring."
"Then we should take your words as a vision of a future, but not the future."
"I was already pressing for that because I've changed things, Master Windu. The question is, have I changed enough already to make that future impossible or has the Sith plot been so well laid that even the disruptions that have already happened and actions all of us take from here on out are meaningless?"