I assume that's our Jedi Miraluka buddy also known as high inquisitor Indiana jones.
The Abyss Gazes Back - (Star Wars CK2-Style Quest)
- Thread starter Teron
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
Intermission - The Conclave: Invitations
- Location
- At the Edge of Insanity
When Ciaran had dropped that holocomm recording on Riphath and Darra, her agents and contacts had already been hard at work for days reaching out to everyone they could find.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Almas, the Almas Jedi had realized that all three of the other Jedi splinter sects -- Corellia, Tython, Altisian -- were present, and had made noises about arranging a meeting between the leadership of all four groups.
That Ciaran would preempt that idea and send all four sects a boilerplate invitation to a 'Conclave' happening at Ossus… really shouldn't have surprised them, actually. They'd all had experience with just how Ciaran was. But it did surprise them, somehow, as did the news that this 'Conclave' would be far larger than any of them had planned, that Ciaran had invited many non-Jedi groups as well.
The four Jedi sects still planned to attend, of course. They just objected to having their thunder stolen.
The Altisian Jedi were asked to pass along an invitation to the Iron Knights; they agreed, but indicated that they couldn't promise that Master Aquinos would respond in time.
Ciaran did send a personal message to Master Cerulian of the Corellian Jedi, asking for a few minutes of his time before he departed to attend the Conclave.
As for the Witches of Dathomir, that invitation was hand-delivered by Abysswalker Koyi Doroturo, who was warned to be on her guard due to the prickly nature of the clans. Much to her surprise, the Singing Mountain Clan was already expecting her arrival, and had summoned representatives of three nearby clans to attend the Conclave… despite not knowing about the Conclave until now.
"...How?"
Augwynne Djo sighed. "Mother Rell. During one of her… more lucid moments, she told a tribal council that she foresaw that Lady Ciaran would send a messenger and that we should invite the other tribes to send representatives on an errand for several months. Well, actually, she waved her hands a lot, spouted a lot of mystical gibberish, and mentioned that she planned to spend many days surrounded by puppies, but we were able to decipher the gist."
"I can't promise anything about puppies, but she was right about the invitation. We'd like you to join us for what is possibly the greatest gathering of independent Force sects in galactic history."
And so it went.
The Blackguard, the Vianists, the Disciples of Twilight, and the Matukai already had a long-standing presence aboard the Chu'unthor, so their attendance for the Conclave was easy to secure.
The Ysanna were recent additions, and their representative was hesitant to leave Ossus, but as long as the ship remained above his homeworld, he would be present for the Conclave.
Contacting the Jal Shey took a bit more effort, and a lot more luck. Riphath had assigned the newest Abysswalker to the case, and it so happened that Lady Xenthe Rixx's last project as Abyss Agent was overseeing the construction of the new Abyss Watcher base on Estalle Island, the heart of Procopia, capital of the the Tapani Sector.
That base was quite literally just across the canal from Shey Tapani University.
As the daughter of Falleen nobility, Lady Xenthe Rixx was conversant in a number of languages, including Old Corellian, Olys Corellsi, the language of those very Core settlers who first colonized the Tapani sector.
'Jal' means something like 'emissary' in Old Corellian.
It took some digging through the university archives, but Lady Xenthe Rixx had her answer. Jal Shey were the 'emissaries of Shey' Tapani, the legendary founder of the Tapani Empire, who conquered and ruled the Expanse over seven thousand years ago. The same year he moved his government to Procopia, he had founded the University that bore his name… and established an order of secret Force adepts to serve as his agents within and his diplomats without the imperial domain.
When Shey's dynasty fell, the Jal Shey were cashiered from any official role in the Tapani Empire, but they retained their heritage as diplomats and peacemakers. The Jal Shey took to the stars, helping individual worlds outside the Expanse reach out and form alliances with their neighbors. Soon they abandoned their secrecy, acting openly as Force adepts in order to openly seek new knowledge about the Force.
And through millennia of wandering, Shey Tapani University remained their home. Many of the earliest Jal Shey received training there, when their sect was first founded, and even today most neophytes received their diplomatic and philosophical education in its halls.
It was something of an open secret -- prominent Jal Shey mentors were rarely shy about where they'd been matriculated -- but it was not the sort of intel that appeared on official records of the University. It took a bit more digging for Lady Xenthe Rixx to discover that the unofficial Jal Shey recruiter on staff was actually on staff, rather than a professor or the head of some department.
It took only a little more time to make an appointment, learn the name of the highest-ranking Mentor, and issue a direct invitation to Peet Sieben to attend the Conclave as representative of the Jal Shey.
Back on the Chu'unthor, the Luka Sene had already sent a number of Miralukan trainers and trainees to participate in Abyss Agent training onboard. But when the official invitation to the Conclave reached Alpheridies, two of the highest-ranking Scholars of the sect were quickly dispatched to join the other Miraluka onboard.
Riphath couldn't figure out who Eevy Varn reminded him of. Or Jasper Parsa, for that matter. It was infuriating, to know and yet be forced to sit with not knowing.
Master Tholme promised to attend, as did several of his colleagues among the Jedi Sentinels, and promised to reach out to any wandering Jedi considered trustworthy. There turned out to be quite a few more 'roaming knights' than they'd expected. The Wound on Coruscant had unconsciously driven them away from the Temple even more than the schism with the Tython Order had.
A greater challenge had been in contacting the various Service Corps across the galaxy. But a fortuitous meeting between Ciaran and a EduCorps representative on Obroa-skai… and the discovery that the EduCorps rep was in fact an undercover Blackguard… made it a cinch. Word went out through the Blackguard Wilder network, and invitations found their way into the hands of MedCorps, ExplorCorps, and AgriCorps leaders.
The news of a Conclave had passed along the rumor mill to the ExplorCorps team working alongside Jerec, who promptly abandoned his latest dig in the Unknown Regions and returned to the civilized galaxy. His first holocomm on his return was to Ciaran, asking for an invitation of his own. Ciaran was a bit… preoccupied.. so his message was auto-forwarded to Riphath's line, who took care of the matter.
Ciaran had managed to send a personal invitation to Obi-Wan before falling out of contact -- it was important to observe the proprieties, and she never missed an opportunity to flirt with Obi-Wan… especially when Satine or Siri Tachi were nearby. Obi-Wan had long since resigned himself to the fact that the doings of Lady Ciaran were beyond the mortal ken, so he barely batted an eye while batting away her innuendo, and hardly seemed flustered at all when he took his first steps aboard the long-lost Chu'unthor.
Ahsoka received two invitations to the Conclave -- the first from General Kenobi, offering a complimentary room in the starboard wing… the second from Admiral Thrawn, barely an hour later, offering a complimentary room in the port wing. Even now, en route to join the Conclave, she was still trying to make up her mind.
There was also one name on the list that Asajj volunteered to meet personally. She rather insisted on it, actually, as she had a nagging feeling after hearing her name...
Queyta, Danjar Sector, Outer Rim Territories
The lava fjords of Queyta made for a stunning vista, beauty balanced with danger. Even the chemical plant on an island astride the lava flows could not ruin the view. If anything, its squat, solid presence added to the landscape's charm.
No human in their right mind would live on Queyta -- the volcanic atmosphere was toxic with prolonged exposure, and the soil was mixed with all the wrong minerals.
But those same minerals were valuable in their own right, vanishingly rare outside the molten upper core of a select few planets. Uncountable ages ago, one such core had been violently wrenched apart by some cataclysmic subterranean event, and its treasure thrust by inexorable force upward to the surface of Queyta. But not even the discovery of such mineral wealth could have led to industrial development… not unless you happen to be a species that specialized in hermetically sealed pressurized suits.
It was a happy day for Skako and the Techno Union when they successfully outbid the Morseerian Syndicate for rights to Queyta, and they soon established a number of industrial plants on the surface to chemically extract the minerals from the lava flows. Early in the Clone Wars, these plants were briefly suspected by Republic Intelligence as being fronts for bioweapon research, but they were too valuable as sources of income for the Techno Union to risk in that way, so nothing came of it.
Why the elusive Fay would choose to come here, to this Force-forsaken lava world, Asajj could not even hope to guess. But after chasing her halfway across the galaxy, she certainly intended to find out.
"Why?"
Okay, she hadn't intended to be quite so brusque in finding out. The question had erupted almost as soon as she arrived. Fay was kneeling in the gritty soil, one hand oddly outstretched, looking almost as if…
"Ah." The sephi turned. "Welcome, young one. I am glad you are here."
"Why I am here? Why are you here? I've been--"
"Looking for me for a few weeks, yes. Hunting me, you might say."
"So why did you lead me here?" Asajj seethed, struggling to restrain her temper. "It took me some time to realize that you were leading me on a merry chase, but I figured it out after Ruul. You knew I was following you -- you were retracing my own steps, from missions I took from Dooku early in the war. Why didn't you stop? Why did you bring me here?"
"Ah, young one, that is where you are mistaken. I did not bring you here; you brought me."
"...I've never been to this planet in my life." And if I had a choice, I would never visit this hellscape again.
"Ah. That word is interesting, is it not? Choice. The you who led me did not choose; the you who followed, did."
Sithspit. After having her mind and body broken by slavers, by Sith, Asajj had dedicated uncountable hours to reinforcing her mental shields. They were impenetrable; not even Ciaran and her Force Bond could bypass them with Asajj being aware. This Jedi didn't even seem to notice them.
"I noticed, but you are mistaken. I am not reading your mind. Or rather, not the mind you have now." Fay smiled, a trace of melancholy on her features.
Asajj was lost. Finally, she began again. "...Why are you here?"
"Because I wanted to walk the ground where once I died."
"...What?"
"I died here. Like this. Kneeling, reaching… my spark not extinguished, but… given. To another. One you have met before."
Asajj did not have the words to respond.
"You might find it interesting to learn, little one, that you were the one to do it." Fay mentioned carelessly, as if the weight of the words were nothing.
Asajj reeled. "...I? I did… I took your life?"
"Taken, and not taken, yes." She smiled again, more melancholy, as she rose to her feet. "You, poor creature, slave to hate, not a single choice your own… you gave me a choice. And so I chose."
Asajj had never felt so out of her depth.
"But I only see fragments, hear the whispers of a wind from a time and space beyond our own. A different Queyta. A different Asajj… tell me, are you still Asajj Ventress?"
"...Of course? That's my name."
"Is it? Bargained by your mother for the safety of the clan, given by your owner for a warlord to raise. Why are you still Ventress?"
"I… I don't know."
"You know. You just have not thought it yet."
"...Yes. My name is Asajj Ventress, not because the slaver gave it to me, but because I gave it to myself. Because it is the name by which I first knew myself. Became myself," Asajj finished almost as an after-thought.
"Very good." Fay seemed almost proud of her. "It is not the past alone, but past and present that define us. Every memory is recast, like a sword reheated in the forge, reshaped in the image of our present selves. Past, present… and future too. I ask you: as you are a Ventress, what does that name mean for the world you once called 'home'."
Asajj certainly had not expected this conversation when she first arrived. It felt a little like a board exam, but there was only Fay. "Rattatak… I hate it." She tried to seethe, but felt the familiar hate vanish even as she breathed it out. "I lost… I lost Ky, Master Narec. I lost my mother. I lost myself. I… I want to hate it." She looked up, lost. "Why can't I?"
"Because the person you hate most, and the person you love most, both sprang from that soil."
"Who?"
"Yourself."
"Oh." The realization left her breathless. "I hated the person I was. Yes. Every day, I regretted living it. Every step, caught in chains." In victory… "I broke my chains, but I still fear them. Fear losing the person I am now. I would sooner die than lose myself again…" Asajj blinked. "I love myself?"
"And the self you hated, and the self you love, both sprang from the same soil. The same roots of Rattatak, fed and nourished the soul you are. That is why you cannot hate it."
"...How do you see so much? You're right, I can't hate it, though the Force knows I've tried. But how did you see it? How could you possibly know me at a glance, better even than I knew myself?"
Fay smiled. "That is why you are here. Not to deliver some invitation, though that has its time and place. I will be attending this Conclave, though you will not. You have a different errand, perhaps a more important one… one that will test you and your sister as you have never been tested before. You are here, and I am here, to prepare you. Not to triumph in your own power, but merely to say the words at the right time, to know the words that must be said."
Asajj stared at Fay.
In silence, the impossible sephi returned her gaze.
Asajj knelt, bowing her head, tear-tracks already stained with ash. "What must I learn?"
For the first time since the conversation started, Fey approached. "The first lesson." Her hand curled under Asajj's chin, lifting her up. "There is no need to kneel, not now. Humility is not the eradication of pride, but the true knowledge of one's own worth, and the worthiness of others around you. You asked how I knew you, better than you know yourself? The second lesson. The Jedi teach that the Force binds all living things in the galaxy together. You know this?"
Asajj nodded uncertainly. "Yes. That's the Unifying Force."
"The Jedi are right; the Force connects. But they are wrong, for it is not the 'Unifying' Force, but merely the Force. Just as it is not the 'Living' Force that delights in life, that impresses the souls of all living things on the very fabric of reality, for that is the Force too. The same Force that binds life, the same Force that resounds with life, the same Force that cherishes all life, even life that has passed out of life."
"You mean... the dead?"
"I mean those who have fallen asleep, yes. It is a great wrong, that death exists. The Force weeps at each loss, even when the smallest creature falls. Yet even the grave holds no victory, for I have heard the Force rejoice at each new soul that rejoins it."
"But I thought you said the Force weeps."
"Have you ever smiled through tears? Imagine the source of all possible emotions, of personality itself, and then imagine how much stronger, how much more it experiences. I am still a child next to the Force. I sip from the ocean."
Asajj had no answer.
"The Force is more than alive; it is life. The Force does not love; it is love. And this is the wisdom it has taught me, these many years. The third lesson: you have never met a mere mortal. Nations, civilizations, cultures, galaxies: all of these rise and fall, exist... and pass away. But our lives, our souls, our very selves are borne within the Cosmic Force, and will never be extinguished. Do you see? Even the dullest, most uninteresting person you meet -- will live forever, embraced in glory or banished to numbness. There are no ordinary people. It is immortals with whom we laugh, work, marry, insult, enslave, employ."
"That is how I knew you, Asajj Ventress." Fay concluded. "When you see everyone in the Force, knowing that the Force loves them infinitely more than they are capable of perceiving… then you can begin to love them too, even if merely a fraction of the whole. And what is love, but seeing the other truly?"
Asajj rested. Her mind would be whirling with thoughts, but each one was so heavy, that the only option was to pick up each one in turn, weigh and measure it, and set it down again.
An unknowable time later, the comm at Asajj's side chirped, startling her out of her reverie, signaling that a holocomm message from Ciaran awaited her back at her ship.
Asajj looked to Fay.
The sephi nodded to the chirping comlink . "It is time. Come; your ship is far, and mine is near. I will bring you there."
Asajj agreed wordlessly, and began to follow Fay when she turned to walk along the cliffside. A few steps later, and Asajj coughed.
"Also," Fay smirked, "your breath control started to falter near the end. No damage, but best to continue this conversation indoors where there are fewer distractions."
Asajj snorted. "Fourth lesson," she mimicked. "Next time you target some unsuspecting student to saturation-bomb with enlightenment, maybe don't do it on a lava planet with toxic ash."
Fay laughed musically. "Of course!"
"Fifth lesson," mimicked a Miraluka through a Force Bond. "Don't let your mental defenses slip in the middle of a mission, even if you're being saturation-bombed with enlightenment. It makes the lovely Miraluka on the other end nervous."
"Ciaran! How did you hear all that?"
"My methods are beyond mortal ken."
"So… you cheated."
"Yup. And I'll happily continue to do so to watch over my beloved little sister." She mentally frowned. "Especially after Honoghr and Dathomir."
"How lucky for you that I am finding it difficult to complain right now."
"Don't worry, you'll recover soon enough. That was a very impressive speech. Perhaps a bit heavy-handed, but I can only imagine the fireworks when she arrives on the Chu'unthor."
Asajj pictured Fay in conversation with one of the more rigid clans of Dathomir, and smiled. "True, that would be a sight. Though she mentioned… neither of us would be there to see it?"
"Right. We have a mission. The holomessage has the details, but I need you here as fast as your hyperdrive allows. Safe travels."
"May the Force be with you."
Fay paused, and spoke. "Safe travels." She turned to Asajj with a soft smile, "Sister trouble?"
Asajj play-grimaced, but was unable to keep the smirk off her face. "You know. Bothersome as always, but…"
"You love her anyway," Fay interrupted.
"Yes. I owe her my second chance… my me. And every time she goes out of her way to deliberately provoke me… I remember how much she cared. Cares. About so much else, but especially about me."
Fay rested a hand on Asajj's shoulder. "Then let me instruct you in one final lesson, little one. I have lived ages, I have seen many centuries, and witnessed myriads of friends, strangers… loved ones pass on. Cherish the ones you have, and the times you spend with them. The pain of grief passes too, and the memory of joy has borne me through many trials."
A/N: In case you're not familiar with the works of C.S. Lewis, my 'Three Lessons of Fay' is based heavily on his sermon 'The Weight of Glory'. Seriously, go read it. It's life-changing.
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Written by @Publicola
In the aftermath of the Battle of Almas, the Almas Jedi had realized that all three of the other Jedi splinter sects -- Corellia, Tython, Altisian -- were present, and had made noises about arranging a meeting between the leadership of all four groups.
That Ciaran would preempt that idea and send all four sects a boilerplate invitation to a 'Conclave' happening at Ossus… really shouldn't have surprised them, actually. They'd all had experience with just how Ciaran was. But it did surprise them, somehow, as did the news that this 'Conclave' would be far larger than any of them had planned, that Ciaran had invited many non-Jedi groups as well.
The four Jedi sects still planned to attend, of course. They just objected to having their thunder stolen.
The Altisian Jedi were asked to pass along an invitation to the Iron Knights; they agreed, but indicated that they couldn't promise that Master Aquinos would respond in time.
Ciaran did send a personal message to Master Cerulian of the Corellian Jedi, asking for a few minutes of his time before he departed to attend the Conclave.
As for the Witches of Dathomir, that invitation was hand-delivered by Abysswalker Koyi Doroturo, who was warned to be on her guard due to the prickly nature of the clans. Much to her surprise, the Singing Mountain Clan was already expecting her arrival, and had summoned representatives of three nearby clans to attend the Conclave… despite not knowing about the Conclave until now.
"...How?"
Augwynne Djo sighed. "Mother Rell. During one of her… more lucid moments, she told a tribal council that she foresaw that Lady Ciaran would send a messenger and that we should invite the other tribes to send representatives on an errand for several months. Well, actually, she waved her hands a lot, spouted a lot of mystical gibberish, and mentioned that she planned to spend many days surrounded by puppies, but we were able to decipher the gist."
"I can't promise anything about puppies, but she was right about the invitation. We'd like you to join us for what is possibly the greatest gathering of independent Force sects in galactic history."
And so it went.
The Blackguard, the Vianists, the Disciples of Twilight, and the Matukai already had a long-standing presence aboard the Chu'unthor, so their attendance for the Conclave was easy to secure.
The Ysanna were recent additions, and their representative was hesitant to leave Ossus, but as long as the ship remained above his homeworld, he would be present for the Conclave.
Contacting the Jal Shey took a bit more effort, and a lot more luck. Riphath had assigned the newest Abysswalker to the case, and it so happened that Lady Xenthe Rixx's last project as Abyss Agent was overseeing the construction of the new Abyss Watcher base on Estalle Island, the heart of Procopia, capital of the the Tapani Sector.
That base was quite literally just across the canal from Shey Tapani University.
As the daughter of Falleen nobility, Lady Xenthe Rixx was conversant in a number of languages, including Old Corellian, Olys Corellsi, the language of those very Core settlers who first colonized the Tapani sector.
'Jal' means something like 'emissary' in Old Corellian.
It took some digging through the university archives, but Lady Xenthe Rixx had her answer. Jal Shey were the 'emissaries of Shey' Tapani, the legendary founder of the Tapani Empire, who conquered and ruled the Expanse over seven thousand years ago. The same year he moved his government to Procopia, he had founded the University that bore his name… and established an order of secret Force adepts to serve as his agents within and his diplomats without the imperial domain.
When Shey's dynasty fell, the Jal Shey were cashiered from any official role in the Tapani Empire, but they retained their heritage as diplomats and peacemakers. The Jal Shey took to the stars, helping individual worlds outside the Expanse reach out and form alliances with their neighbors. Soon they abandoned their secrecy, acting openly as Force adepts in order to openly seek new knowledge about the Force.
And through millennia of wandering, Shey Tapani University remained their home. Many of the earliest Jal Shey received training there, when their sect was first founded, and even today most neophytes received their diplomatic and philosophical education in its halls.
It was something of an open secret -- prominent Jal Shey mentors were rarely shy about where they'd been matriculated -- but it was not the sort of intel that appeared on official records of the University. It took a bit more digging for Lady Xenthe Rixx to discover that the unofficial Jal Shey recruiter on staff was actually on staff, rather than a professor or the head of some department.
It took only a little more time to make an appointment, learn the name of the highest-ranking Mentor, and issue a direct invitation to Peet Sieben to attend the Conclave as representative of the Jal Shey.
Back on the Chu'unthor, the Luka Sene had already sent a number of Miralukan trainers and trainees to participate in Abyss Agent training onboard. But when the official invitation to the Conclave reached Alpheridies, two of the highest-ranking Scholars of the sect were quickly dispatched to join the other Miraluka onboard.
Riphath couldn't figure out who Eevy Varn reminded him of. Or Jasper Parsa, for that matter. It was infuriating, to know and yet be forced to sit with not knowing.
Master Tholme promised to attend, as did several of his colleagues among the Jedi Sentinels, and promised to reach out to any wandering Jedi considered trustworthy. There turned out to be quite a few more 'roaming knights' than they'd expected. The Wound on Coruscant had unconsciously driven them away from the Temple even more than the schism with the Tython Order had.
A greater challenge had been in contacting the various Service Corps across the galaxy. But a fortuitous meeting between Ciaran and a EduCorps representative on Obroa-skai… and the discovery that the EduCorps rep was in fact an undercover Blackguard… made it a cinch. Word went out through the Blackguard Wilder network, and invitations found their way into the hands of MedCorps, ExplorCorps, and AgriCorps leaders.
The news of a Conclave had passed along the rumor mill to the ExplorCorps team working alongside Jerec, who promptly abandoned his latest dig in the Unknown Regions and returned to the civilized galaxy. His first holocomm on his return was to Ciaran, asking for an invitation of his own. Ciaran was a bit… preoccupied.. so his message was auto-forwarded to Riphath's line, who took care of the matter.
Ciaran had managed to send a personal invitation to Obi-Wan before falling out of contact -- it was important to observe the proprieties, and she never missed an opportunity to flirt with Obi-Wan… especially when Satine or Siri Tachi were nearby. Obi-Wan had long since resigned himself to the fact that the doings of Lady Ciaran were beyond the mortal ken, so he barely batted an eye while batting away her innuendo, and hardly seemed flustered at all when he took his first steps aboard the long-lost Chu'unthor.
Ahsoka received two invitations to the Conclave -- the first from General Kenobi, offering a complimentary room in the starboard wing… the second from Admiral Thrawn, barely an hour later, offering a complimentary room in the port wing. Even now, en route to join the Conclave, she was still trying to make up her mind.
There was also one name on the list that Asajj volunteered to meet personally. She rather insisted on it, actually, as she had a nagging feeling after hearing her name...
Queyta, Danjar Sector, Outer Rim Territories
The lava fjords of Queyta made for a stunning vista, beauty balanced with danger. Even the chemical plant on an island astride the lava flows could not ruin the view. If anything, its squat, solid presence added to the landscape's charm.
No human in their right mind would live on Queyta -- the volcanic atmosphere was toxic with prolonged exposure, and the soil was mixed with all the wrong minerals.
But those same minerals were valuable in their own right, vanishingly rare outside the molten upper core of a select few planets. Uncountable ages ago, one such core had been violently wrenched apart by some cataclysmic subterranean event, and its treasure thrust by inexorable force upward to the surface of Queyta. But not even the discovery of such mineral wealth could have led to industrial development… not unless you happen to be a species that specialized in hermetically sealed pressurized suits.
It was a happy day for Skako and the Techno Union when they successfully outbid the Morseerian Syndicate for rights to Queyta, and they soon established a number of industrial plants on the surface to chemically extract the minerals from the lava flows. Early in the Clone Wars, these plants were briefly suspected by Republic Intelligence as being fronts for bioweapon research, but they were too valuable as sources of income for the Techno Union to risk in that way, so nothing came of it.
Why the elusive Fay would choose to come here, to this Force-forsaken lava world, Asajj could not even hope to guess. But after chasing her halfway across the galaxy, she certainly intended to find out.
"Why?"
Okay, she hadn't intended to be quite so brusque in finding out. The question had erupted almost as soon as she arrived. Fay was kneeling in the gritty soil, one hand oddly outstretched, looking almost as if…
"Ah." The sephi turned. "Welcome, young one. I am glad you are here."
"Why I am here? Why are you here? I've been--"
"Looking for me for a few weeks, yes. Hunting me, you might say."
"So why did you lead me here?" Asajj seethed, struggling to restrain her temper. "It took me some time to realize that you were leading me on a merry chase, but I figured it out after Ruul. You knew I was following you -- you were retracing my own steps, from missions I took from Dooku early in the war. Why didn't you stop? Why did you bring me here?"
"Ah, young one, that is where you are mistaken. I did not bring you here; you brought me."
"...I've never been to this planet in my life." And if I had a choice, I would never visit this hellscape again.
"Ah. That word is interesting, is it not? Choice. The you who led me did not choose; the you who followed, did."
Sithspit. After having her mind and body broken by slavers, by Sith, Asajj had dedicated uncountable hours to reinforcing her mental shields. They were impenetrable; not even Ciaran and her Force Bond could bypass them with Asajj being aware. This Jedi didn't even seem to notice them.
"I noticed, but you are mistaken. I am not reading your mind. Or rather, not the mind you have now." Fay smiled, a trace of melancholy on her features.
Asajj was lost. Finally, she began again. "...Why are you here?"
"Because I wanted to walk the ground where once I died."
"...What?"
"I died here. Like this. Kneeling, reaching… my spark not extinguished, but… given. To another. One you have met before."
Asajj did not have the words to respond.
"You might find it interesting to learn, little one, that you were the one to do it." Fay mentioned carelessly, as if the weight of the words were nothing.
Asajj reeled. "...I? I did… I took your life?"
"Taken, and not taken, yes." She smiled again, more melancholy, as she rose to her feet. "You, poor creature, slave to hate, not a single choice your own… you gave me a choice. And so I chose."
Asajj had never felt so out of her depth.
"But I only see fragments, hear the whispers of a wind from a time and space beyond our own. A different Queyta. A different Asajj… tell me, are you still Asajj Ventress?"
"...Of course? That's my name."
"Is it? Bargained by your mother for the safety of the clan, given by your owner for a warlord to raise. Why are you still Ventress?"
"I… I don't know."
"You know. You just have not thought it yet."
"...Yes. My name is Asajj Ventress, not because the slaver gave it to me, but because I gave it to myself. Because it is the name by which I first knew myself. Became myself," Asajj finished almost as an after-thought.
"Very good." Fay seemed almost proud of her. "It is not the past alone, but past and present that define us. Every memory is recast, like a sword reheated in the forge, reshaped in the image of our present selves. Past, present… and future too. I ask you: as you are a Ventress, what does that name mean for the world you once called 'home'."
Asajj certainly had not expected this conversation when she first arrived. It felt a little like a board exam, but there was only Fay. "Rattatak… I hate it." She tried to seethe, but felt the familiar hate vanish even as she breathed it out. "I lost… I lost Ky, Master Narec. I lost my mother. I lost myself. I… I want to hate it." She looked up, lost. "Why can't I?"
"Because the person you hate most, and the person you love most, both sprang from that soil."
"Who?"
"Yourself."
"Oh." The realization left her breathless. "I hated the person I was. Yes. Every day, I regretted living it. Every step, caught in chains." In victory… "I broke my chains, but I still fear them. Fear losing the person I am now. I would sooner die than lose myself again…" Asajj blinked. "I love myself?"
"And the self you hated, and the self you love, both sprang from the same soil. The same roots of Rattatak, fed and nourished the soul you are. That is why you cannot hate it."
"...How do you see so much? You're right, I can't hate it, though the Force knows I've tried. But how did you see it? How could you possibly know me at a glance, better even than I knew myself?"
Fay smiled. "That is why you are here. Not to deliver some invitation, though that has its time and place. I will be attending this Conclave, though you will not. You have a different errand, perhaps a more important one… one that will test you and your sister as you have never been tested before. You are here, and I am here, to prepare you. Not to triumph in your own power, but merely to say the words at the right time, to know the words that must be said."
Asajj stared at Fay.
In silence, the impossible sephi returned her gaze.
Asajj knelt, bowing her head, tear-tracks already stained with ash. "What must I learn?"
For the first time since the conversation started, Fey approached. "The first lesson." Her hand curled under Asajj's chin, lifting her up. "There is no need to kneel, not now. Humility is not the eradication of pride, but the true knowledge of one's own worth, and the worthiness of others around you. You asked how I knew you, better than you know yourself? The second lesson. The Jedi teach that the Force binds all living things in the galaxy together. You know this?"
Asajj nodded uncertainly. "Yes. That's the Unifying Force."
"The Jedi are right; the Force connects. But they are wrong, for it is not the 'Unifying' Force, but merely the Force. Just as it is not the 'Living' Force that delights in life, that impresses the souls of all living things on the very fabric of reality, for that is the Force too. The same Force that binds life, the same Force that resounds with life, the same Force that cherishes all life, even life that has passed out of life."
"You mean... the dead?"
"I mean those who have fallen asleep, yes. It is a great wrong, that death exists. The Force weeps at each loss, even when the smallest creature falls. Yet even the grave holds no victory, for I have heard the Force rejoice at each new soul that rejoins it."
"But I thought you said the Force weeps."
"Have you ever smiled through tears? Imagine the source of all possible emotions, of personality itself, and then imagine how much stronger, how much more it experiences. I am still a child next to the Force. I sip from the ocean."
Asajj had no answer.
"The Force is more than alive; it is life. The Force does not love; it is love. And this is the wisdom it has taught me, these many years. The third lesson: you have never met a mere mortal. Nations, civilizations, cultures, galaxies: all of these rise and fall, exist... and pass away. But our lives, our souls, our very selves are borne within the Cosmic Force, and will never be extinguished. Do you see? Even the dullest, most uninteresting person you meet -- will live forever, embraced in glory or banished to numbness. There are no ordinary people. It is immortals with whom we laugh, work, marry, insult, enslave, employ."
"That is how I knew you, Asajj Ventress." Fay concluded. "When you see everyone in the Force, knowing that the Force loves them infinitely more than they are capable of perceiving… then you can begin to love them too, even if merely a fraction of the whole. And what is love, but seeing the other truly?"
Asajj rested. Her mind would be whirling with thoughts, but each one was so heavy, that the only option was to pick up each one in turn, weigh and measure it, and set it down again.
An unknowable time later, the comm at Asajj's side chirped, startling her out of her reverie, signaling that a holocomm message from Ciaran awaited her back at her ship.
Asajj looked to Fay.
The sephi nodded to the chirping comlink . "It is time. Come; your ship is far, and mine is near. I will bring you there."
Asajj agreed wordlessly, and began to follow Fay when she turned to walk along the cliffside. A few steps later, and Asajj coughed.
"Also," Fay smirked, "your breath control started to falter near the end. No damage, but best to continue this conversation indoors where there are fewer distractions."
Asajj snorted. "Fourth lesson," she mimicked. "Next time you target some unsuspecting student to saturation-bomb with enlightenment, maybe don't do it on a lava planet with toxic ash."
Fay laughed musically. "Of course!"
"Fifth lesson," mimicked a Miraluka through a Force Bond. "Don't let your mental defenses slip in the middle of a mission, even if you're being saturation-bombed with enlightenment. It makes the lovely Miraluka on the other end nervous."
"Ciaran! How did you hear all that?"
"My methods are beyond mortal ken."
"So… you cheated."
"Yup. And I'll happily continue to do so to watch over my beloved little sister." She mentally frowned. "Especially after Honoghr and Dathomir."
"How lucky for you that I am finding it difficult to complain right now."
"Don't worry, you'll recover soon enough. That was a very impressive speech. Perhaps a bit heavy-handed, but I can only imagine the fireworks when she arrives on the Chu'unthor."
Asajj pictured Fay in conversation with one of the more rigid clans of Dathomir, and smiled. "True, that would be a sight. Though she mentioned… neither of us would be there to see it?"
"Right. We have a mission. The holomessage has the details, but I need you here as fast as your hyperdrive allows. Safe travels."
"May the Force be with you."
Fay paused, and spoke. "Safe travels." She turned to Asajj with a soft smile, "Sister trouble?"
Asajj play-grimaced, but was unable to keep the smirk off her face. "You know. Bothersome as always, but…"
"You love her anyway," Fay interrupted.
"Yes. I owe her my second chance… my me. And every time she goes out of her way to deliberately provoke me… I remember how much she cared. Cares. About so much else, but especially about me."
Fay rested a hand on Asajj's shoulder. "Then let me instruct you in one final lesson, little one. I have lived ages, I have seen many centuries, and witnessed myriads of friends, strangers… loved ones pass on. Cherish the ones you have, and the times you spend with them. The pain of grief passes too, and the memory of joy has borne me through many trials."
A/N: In case you're not familiar with the works of C.S. Lewis, my 'Three Lessons of Fay' is based heavily on his sermon 'The Weight of Glory'. Seriously, go read it. It's life-changing.
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Written by @Publicola
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Red_Faux
私を終わらせる
- Location
- 'Straya M8
I would but I happen to not at all be Christian. Thinking on philosophies not your own is good for ones own philosophy so to speak, but I do not think it will necessarily change my life.
- Location
- At the Edge of Insanity
Just to be clear. Blame Publicola. I have nearly nothing to do with the intermission.
Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
This is completely fair. If you know what you believe and you know why you believe it, considering other points of view and how people get there probably helps you understand people better and (hopefully) treat them better, whatever you should happen to believe.
I'm going to ask that this not turn this into a religion discussion.
Fair enough, it is very heavily based on Christian teachings. OTOH, it's one of the more profoundly humanistic texts I've ever read, and its emphasis is very much on how we should love our neighbor. (And as you say, it is beneficial to think on philosophies other than your own. Plenty of Christians and Confucians and atheists have found meaning in the Bhagavad Gita, for instance).
But this is touching a topic (Christian faith) in a place (the internet) that has a history of exploding into infernos of rage. So maybe this is the point at which we back away slowly and say 'nice doggie.'
Ah yes, 'nearly' nothing... just the basic idea, most of the rough draft, the inspiration to have Asajj meet Fay (and to meet on Queyta), and the entire 'Ciaran using the Force Bond to troll Asajj, because of course' at the end.
(Seriously, Teron, I'll take the blame if this turns into a religious flamewar, but you certainly deserve at least co-author credit there).
Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
Seconded. Also managing the thread itself, maintaining the frontpage (I'm still curious what Darra's new attitude shift is going to be
) and helping keep this thing moving forward. It's a lot, and it's great to have it off my plate so I can just Write and not need to Manage all this stuff.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
On the other hand, sending an invite to her parents and then immediately being like "whoop I coincidentally gotta go halfway across the galaxy with my life partner, kthxbyeeeee" is about as Ciaran as it gets.I'm disappointed that Ciaran seems like she's going to miss the Conclave. Star Wars--a Space Opera--without a melodramatic confrontation with family (especially parents)?
This is the height of Star Wars Sacrilege.
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- At the Edge of Insanity
Oh, no worries.
Ciaran WILL show up to the Conclave. Late due to shenanigans elsewhere in the galaxy, but still.
I just have NO IDEA how her meeting her parents will work out. In discussion with Barondoctor and Publicola I already decided to retcon them far, FAR away from being loathsome people into largely the opposite, so at least it wouldn't be a total disaster. I think. Maybe. I don't know.
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Vicjer
The One Who Knows Less Than Nothing
- Location
- The Space Between Spaces
While true, it loses a lot of its impact if the target(s) she's trolling doesn't understand they're being trolled. I can't remember exactly where or when, but I believe it was mentioned that they don't know who Ciaran is (or at least not anymore than the average person). She did, after all, run away from home and change her name several years before she became super famous, so any resemblance would likely be attributed to coincidence--especially when Ciaran's reputation is so different from what they knew their daughter to be like since she took more after Silas than either of them, so they'd be expecting a scoundrel instead of a philanthropist (and to be fair to them, they're correct, but that's not the image Ciaran projects to the public).
Oh, good! I was worried for a moment. In fact, this is actually better because showing up late is even more dramatic.😌
And when in doubt on dramatic family confrontations, you could always fall back on the old Star Wars standby of someone getting maimed by a lightsaber and/or someone falling into a pit. That's fairly typical in this universe.
You mean you didn't read the definitive WOG from Dr. Snark where he said in a single line on the two-hundred forty-sixth page of the last thread that Fay was definitely alive?
- Location
- In a tower. In the plane of Chaos.
dude I can't keep track of which Star Wars fan fiction even mentions Fay much less remember every post in a thread by the OP. Also I have not reread this story in a while so my memory is fuzzyYou mean you didn't read the definitive WOG from Dr. Snark where he said on pg. 246 of the last thread that Fay was definitely alive?
'Tis the joke.
(I realized that sarcasm doesn't always come across in text, so I edited the line to try to make it more obvious that it was a ludicrously obscure point that we weren't expecting anyone to already know).
- Location
- Leeds
As a guess, she sounds like a minor char that Asajj killed, presumably a Green Jedi since that was the action Asajj was commited to:
But apart from that educated guess, no clue.
In other news I was today years old when I discovered I'd been mis reading Asajj as Asaji this whole time. Thats what you get when you don't actually watch anything where its spoken I guess.
- Location
- Exploring the Milky Way in my Krait Phantom
He's still a tree on Ossus since in the canon timeline he was reawaken by Luke in 10 ABY.
Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
Fay is a borderline-immortal Jedi Master who has traveled the stars for quite possibly thousands of years. Perceptive, insightful, and adept in all manner of Jedi skills except combat. She reportedly hasn't carried a weapon in those thousands of years.
During a clone wars mission in OTL involving a bioweapon, the combination of Asajj wounding both Obi Wan and Fay led to Fay making the decision to sacrifice her remaining strength to ensure Kenobi's survival.
However, due to said weapon being butterfly'd (and then never mentioned again), the conflict never happened and all involved have survived.
Look, we didn't even know until we double checked the quest history. It does create a more interesting tale with her alive though.
During a clone wars mission in OTL involving a bioweapon, the combination of Asajj wounding both Obi Wan and Fay led to Fay making the decision to sacrifice her remaining strength to ensure Kenobi's survival.
However, due to said weapon being butterfly'd (and then never mentioned again), the conflict never happened and all involved have survived.
Look, we didn't even know until we double checked the quest history. It does create a more interesting tale with her alive though.
- Location
- Leeds
Thanks.
Just out of interest, her star wars wiki page only lists one appearance. Fay being Republic 53: Blast Radius Is this correct?
If so, for future reference it could have been helpful to include some of that in the update rather than this:
Because for those of us who don't do deep dives (or admittedly often even short ones in my case) it seems unreasonable to expect us to know anything about who this newly introduced character is from a single appearance in one 18 year old comic.
That she's 'elusive' doesn't tell us who she is or why we or Asajj care.
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- Location
- India
That sounds like philosophy of upanishads particularly nondual vedanta. Certainly sounds like it.
Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
Every writer has their habits, so to speak. Hemingway is terse, Dickens is long-winded, I use lots of ellipses and parentheses, and Publicola tends towards "what is this and why do I care?" *keeps reading* "Oh that's what's going on. Cool."