A few weeks later.

Shadie stood in the centre of the Jedi Council chamber, alone, among all the Masters who sat around her in the circular room. It had been some time longer than she thought before they summoned her. They had let her mourn the loss of Kromus; thinking about how he would not turn to the light pained her. The light side would have kept him alive. She felt a pang in her heart for this loss. She could not deny she had never stopped caring or hoping he’d turn from his evil ways. Those around her had understood that, Knarf especially, and had respected her ever changing mood since their return.
There had been a ceremony for Master Juun Kloh in the Great Hall of the Jedi Temple. There weren’t many who bore ill feelings towards Fane for his death. Most of the older Jedi saw it as the act that opened Fane’s eyes of the cruelty of the dark side, thus returning him towards the path of the light. They said that perhaps Master Juun Kloh knew this would happen and sacrificed himself for Fane’s sake. Others were more wary, but knew how Shadie had embraced the light after so many years in darkness, and they had faith that Fane had simply slipped. But there were those who argued that Shadie had been Sith, had known nothing else but darkness until she discovered the light, and that Fane had known the light before and had turned away from it; Shadie had never turned away from the light once she had found it. They would watch him carefully until he had redeemed himself completely. Not paid for his crime, she hoped, but proven his heart.
Shadie had somewhat already begun to apprentice him in healing from his brief yet intense glimpse into the dark side. Strangely enough, in return, he seemed to be helping her heal as well. Master Juun Kloh had always said that the student teaches the master as much as the master teaches the student, and many times in ways the master could not imagine.
She remembered walking in the Jedi Temple gardens with Fane, noticing how his unruly hair had a certain style to it, and how when the light shone on it, it was much lighter than Lahnius’s had been. His smile and his eyes showed a kindsness and softness that proved the true nature of his heart, led by the light side.
He had said to her: ‘All my life, even though Lahnius was a Sith, while he lived, I felt comforted. I had hoped that he would some day turn from the dark side. Perhaps I would be the one to help him turn to the light. When you killed him, that hope was gone, but sometimes, I now realise, a Sith cannot turn, will not turn, no matter how much of the beautiful light you show them, and if you want to put an end to the destruction they cause and save all that you hold dear, all those whom you love and care for, sometimes, to save them as well, save them from themselves, there is no other way than through death. Sometimes it is the death of a Jedi Master that will let one see how their soul was corrupted, let him see how it does not bring him comfort to have killed him and make him regret so much that at the moment of truth, he decides to save one who’s been a friend in the past.
‘And sometimes one must kill the Sith himself because she has done everything with love for him to save him and he will not save himself. Kromus may not have been your brother by blood, as Lahnius was mine, but your brother he was, a brother by love, and in the end, you killed him to save the galaxy and to save him from falling furthermore into the darkness to which he had dictated his life. Even if one has mastered the dark side, he keeps falling forever if he chooses to. You did not kill Lahnius to hurt me, you didn’t even know of my hopes and dreams for him. I understand that now. But you had those same hopes for Kromus and you gave him that chance, many chances, for those hopes to become reality. He chose the dark side. Death was imminent. But then again, there is no death, there is the Force.’
They had both grieved and cried that day, together mourning a loss of a Sith brother, now able to understand each other in ways no one else, even Knarf, could ever understand them, in a way only master and apprentice could. Master and apprentice often formed a whole in the Force. Fane understood why it had been necessary and primordial for Lahnius to die. And Shadie understood why Fane had been so hurt about his brother’s death. She hurt for Kromus’s death in that same way, but differently, for she had been the one to kill him in the end.
Shadie turned her attention back to the masters in the circular room. They had been quiet and pensive for quite some time now. She had already given a full account of the events that had taken place aboard Kromus’s dreadnought, including the destruction of the holocron, the revelations about Darth Gourd and the warning Kromus seemed to have given her before his death. There was something to do with immense power connected to Gourd and it was quite possible that Kromus thought only the dark side could achieve the great power necessary to defeat it, whatever it was. Shadie had also told the masters of Gourd’s escape and disappearance, and all the arguments of why she believes she is ready to be a master.
‘You may choose to be Eidahs or Shadie, that is your choice,’ Master Herl’unik said at last, ‘but your actions prove the Jedi you are, prove the mastery of the Force that you possess. The combination of light side and dark side powers to create more light side powers is a feat very few have accomplished since the beginning of the Jedi Order.’ He paused. His Zabrak cheaks flushed as he smiled. ‘You have shown wisdom and the capability to guide Fane towards the path of the light in ways none of us imagined were possible.’ There was reverence and pride in his voice. ‘Master Juun Kloh always had great faith in you, from the moment you sought to turn away from the dark side. ”Teach me then the ways of the light side and help me understand this grief and anger I bear.” Those were your precise words to me in this very chamber, many years ago. Master Juun Kloh had been present among us. As you tell me, Fane pretty much said the same thing you did back then, albeit in his words.’ He paused, his tone became grave.
‘Killing a Jedi Master is a crime that cannot go unpunished. Killing your own master is very severe. And very sad for one such as Fane, a young Jedi Knight with great potential to do good for the galaxy. But you have faith in him, as your master had in you.’ Master Herl’unik looked at some of the other masters who nodded in unison. ‘I will ask this of you, Shadie, to continue Master Juun Kloh’s legacy in training.’
‘I will do my best, Master Herl’unik, to use my skills and abilities, and to show any apprentice of mine my light, and guide them in the same manner Master Juun Kloh guided all his pupils. Using my own techniques, of course.’
Master Herl’unik laughed. ‘Of course. You are your own person. It is with great pride that I grant you the title of Jedi Master.’
‘Thank you.’ Shadie bowed curtly, bending her upper body forward.
‘As for Fane, he must prove to us he has returned fully to the light, but first he must pay for his crime.’ Shadie braced herself; she hoped it would not be too severe.

Continue reading the Epilogue.

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Prompted by a cryptic message, five polcs secretly leave Teloria to embark on a journey to discover many truths. It is dangerous, in this time of war, and soon, our five heroes find themselves travelling to farther lands than they had anticipated, where they discover their Stardust Destinies.

‘…As a Lady of the light side, a master of pure light, I’m not going until you come with me.’
‘Then we both die here, now.’
Kromus came at her. Perhaps he thought it would make her leave, but he was wrong.  Shadie needed to understand him some more. How the dark side was corrupting him was unimaginable to her, but her light had touched him momentarily. She could not, and would not, leave him behind.
Kromus struck her hard at the mid. She blocked, but the blow had too much force. She let herself fall to the side and rolled, then came back up, spinning around and used the momentum to swipe at Kromus at a low right, then arced her blade upwards to strike low left, and then back again. The movement was so fast that the green of her blade formed a half circle blur. Then, with a two handed grip, she activated the other half of her blade and used both sides of the staff to continue the motion, using one side to simultaneously strike high right, whilst the other side struck low left, and back up to high left and low right, the motion blur of her staff creating a triangular eight in the air, each time advancing on Kromus.
Kromus ducked suddenly, bending low, and sent his staff lightsaber spinning towards Shadie. She leapt up high and came back down sending lightning at Kromus.
‘Can’t you see how this is corrupt? You’re using the dark side against me because I refuse to save myself, because I wish to save your life, and because you want me to live. You let your anger fuel you, you are in a frenzy. You are not in control of your actions, can’t you see?’
‘Oh, I can see, all right. I see your stupidity and foolishness. You fail to grasp at the bigger picture. There can be no redemption for me, not in the eyes of the Jedi Council and their petty rules.’
Kromus sent Shadie some dark energy; she quickly absorbed it and let the orb linger there as she spoke, as he kept sending the dark energy.
‘There was for Fane!’
‘So he has returned to the light. The boy is brave and has a lot of power within. Whichever path he chooses in the end, he will become very powerful.’
Kromus paused. Shadie held the orb of energy, though it was becoming a struggle. She could absorb it, but she did not know how to consume it to fuel herself with it as many Sith did, as Lahnius especially had known how to do. She tried to consume it, but it felt as though she were choking on some pipe weed, so she simply concentrated on holding the orb of dark energy in place.
Kromus smiled. ‘You are hesitant to send that back towards me, aren’t you?  But if you send it anywhere else,’ he looked around, motioning, ‘you’ll damage the integrity of this ship and perhaps destroy it and most certainly destroy us both. Not to mention the transparisteel viewport over there that could cause a vacuum and send us floating into space if that orb fails to destroy the ship itself.’
Kromus sent more energy. Shadie did not want to send it back, it was true, even if Kromus might want her to kill them both, but there was so much energy now, sent anywhere else it would destroy the ship from within the cargo hold.
Kromus powered off his lightsaber and extended both hands. Crates came flying Shadie’s way. One hit her, she ducked another. A third, she used the Force to send back. Kromus wanted her to act quickly and she suspected he desired that her concentration would fail.
With everything flying her way, she could no longer hold the orb of energy. She sent it back towards Kromus. It hit him right in the gut and he cried out as he went flying across the room, hitting the wall hard. He fell to the ground, flat on his back.
‘Kromus!’
Shadie ran to him.  He lay motionless on the permacrete floor, one arm bent awkwardly under his back.
‘Oh,’ she sighed. ‘Forgive me, brother,’ she said low.
Then, his lightsaber came ablaze and Shadie instinctively blocked the blow her senses told her was coming, blocking low, as his blade came up high-mid from his lying position.
‘So weak!’ said Kromus to her, his tone indicating disparagement of the emotions that she felt.
He stood. He looked stronger. But the force of that dark energy should have knocked him unconscious, at least, if not killed him. She gaped at him. She had not realised the extent of his new abilities. The absorption and consumption of such power as that which she sent back towards him was impossible and had never been achieved by any Sith or Jedi before.

Continue reading Chapter Ten.