CHAPTER TWO
Tython
Today was the brightest day the Jedi Order had seen in many years.
Since its restoration some thirty years ago, the Jedi had gone through many trials and tribulations, from Imperial warlords to the Sith to Glorian invaders. A year ago, they had suffered many losses at the hands of the resurgent Sith, forcing them to relocate from Ossus to the Order’s ancestral world of Tython, isolating itself from the increasingly corrupt Galactic Alliance while providing aid to the Resistance when it could. It had become a dark time for the Jedi Order… but a light had now been lit in the increasing darkness.
Luke Skywalker had returned.
No one understood how it had happened, of course; not even Skywalker himself. Sixteen years ago, he had seemingly perished in a fight against the Dark Lord Darth Vorath, moments before the Sith was destroyed by Skywalker’s former apprentice Toah Jarsan. Until now, there was no recorded precedent for a Jedi to return from the dead outside of returning as a spirit projected by the Force. It was possible, albeit incredibly rare, for Force users to resurface in clone bodies, but many doubted this was the case here. How Luke Skywalker could have possibly been brought back by the dead was a question that was on many Jedi’s minds, and would perhaps take a long time to learn the answer to.
But now was not the time for such questions. Rather, it was a time to celebrate.
Jacen Solo had insisted on gathering the entirety of the Order—at least those that were present on Tython—in the halls of the Jedi Temple to provide his uncle with a formal welcome and to restore the title of Grand Master to his name. Skywalker, humble as ever, naturally balked at the entire occasion.
“I’ve been dead for sixteen years,” he had said in protest to the promotion. “I still have much to learn on what’s happened since then. So many old faces are gone, so many new faces to become familiar with….”
“Historically, the title of Grand Master has been an honorary one rather than an official rank,” said Tionne Solusar, chief Jedi historian. “You won’t need to burden yourself with the responsibility of leadership until you are ready.”
Luke had smiled ruefully. “Are we ever ready for such a burden? Still, I’m not sure how much wisdom I can offer in these times.”
“Wisdom is timeless,” said Kyle Katarn. “At least, that’s what a certain someone always told me.”
Luke chuckled, shaking his head. “I suppose there’s not much point in protesting any further. Besides, who am I to argue with the wisdom of the Jedi Council?”
Following the ceremonial event, the Jedi Council and Master Skywalker had retired to the Council Chambers to discuss matters in private, leaving the rest of the Jedi to return to their lives, their day having become considerably brighter.
It was not a unanimous feeling, however. There was one Jedi out of the many who, while elated that Skywalker had returned, could not help but feel uneasy about the circumstances surrounding this miracle.
His mind had become plagued by dreams in recent times; dark, twisted dreams. In those dreams, he had seen faces, both living and not, staring at him from a nebulous void, their eyes glowing with the white hot intensity of stars, as they chanted a single word.
“Mine.”
Skywalker’s face had been among them, as had those of his former master Kyle Katarn, Skywalker’s extended family, and his fellow Jedi Toah Jarsan. And at the center of them all was a face that he had only recently become acquainted with; that of the scavenger girl he had met on Jakku; that he had been sent to find by the entity known as Abeloth. He had hoped after that day, the day he had met Rey and saw to Atha Prime’s defeat, that the dreams would finally stop. But they had only gotten worse.
And now that Luke Skywalker had returned to the world of living, Jaden Korr could not help but fear that they were coming even closer to becoming reality.
* * *
“Hey, cousin.”
Owen Skywalker looked up from the piece of fruit he had been biting into, freshly picked from the trees in the Jedi Temple’s courtyard. Standing in front of him was a woman with long dark hair and a man of similar age with short sandy brown hair. Both of them wore the apparels of Jedi Knights, yet Owen could not help but pick up on a deeper connection than the one they shared over the Force. Once he had processed the words the woman had just spoken to him, Owen smiled as he realized what that connection was.
“Jaina and Anakin Solo, I presume,” he said, getting up from his cross-legged position and setting his meal down. After dusting off his hands, he extended one to each of his cousins. “Owen Skywalker. Pleased to meet you.”
“Same,” Jaina said as she shook his right hand while Anakin awkwardly shook his left one. “So, how come we’re only just now learning of your existence?”
Owen chuckled. “I’ve been wondering the same thing for pretty much my whole life. My mother can probably explain it better than me.”
“We’d like to hear it from you,” said Anakin. “You know, just to establish common ground between family.”
“Fair enough,” Owen said. “Well, from what my mother has told me, a year after my father’s death she went into hiding and took me with her. Apparently, even though the Sith had been defeated, there was still the fear that my safety—specifically mine—was in question. I understand that, years before my birth, I had another relative who got abducted.”
Both Jaina and Anakin’s expressions darkened at this. “Yes,” Jaina said quietly. “We had a brother named Ben who went missing before either of us was born.”
“He wasn’t the only one either,” Anakin murmured. “Our father’s friend Lando also had a daughter who got abducted. He’s spent the two decades looking for her but to no avail….”
Owen nodded solemnly. “Since no one knew if the Sith truly were behind the abductions or not, it was decided it would be best to keep my existence a secret. So my mother and I went far out beyond the Outer Rim, crossing into Wild Space and even the Unknown Regions, until we found a world that was secluded and isolated enough for us to live safely. She trained me as a Jedi there and told me as much as she could about what the rest of the galaxy was like, even if I could never visit it at the time. Naturally, when we finally returned to the known galaxy, we both had a lot to catch up on.”
“When did you return?” Jaina asked. “And why?”
“Less than a year ago, when we were drawn to Lothal to find something that we thought could bring back my father, although I’m not exactly sure what we were hoping to find. It was while we were on Lothal that we got caught up on the last fifteen years of events, and we had just established contact with Aunt Leia when her Resistance people found us.”
“You know our mother?” Anakin asked, surprised.
“I mean, I haven’t met her yet, but I know her name.”
“Did you… did you feel the disturbance that happened on Naboo a few days ago?” Jaina asked tentatively. “When they were in—”
“Yes,” Owen said. “I felt it. We both did. Unfortunately, we were preoccupied with something else at the time and wouldn’t have been able to reach Naboo in time.”
“What were you preoccupied with?”
Owen glanced around the courtyard, even though it was empty besides the three of them. “I’m not sure I can say….”
“Don’t want to let out all of your secrets, huh?” Jaina said with a smirk.
“Believe me, I want to. More than anything. I just… I just don’t know if I should yet.”
“Relax,” Anakin said. “You can tell us when you’re good and ready.”
Jaina, on the other hand, frowned. “I just don’t see how anything can be so important that you couldn’t be bothered to help your own father—”
“Jaina!” Anakin exclaimed while Owen held up his hands defensively.
“We wanted to!” he protested. “We would have left if we had been able to. But we weren’t, and by the time we were able, we had already sensed that everything had been set right.”
“Thank stars for that,” Jaina muttered as she folded her arms.
Anakin shook his head and gave Owen an apologetic look. “I’m sorry for my sister’s behavior. This has been a lot for us to process. First our brother comes back after having been missing for over thirty years, then our uncle comes back from the dead….”
“Wait,” Owen said. “You’ve found your brother?”
This time, it was Jaina’s turn to shook her head while Anakin looked like he regretted having said anything. “He’s not our brother anymore,” she said bitterly. “Let’s put it that way.”
Owen could see it was a sensitive subject and decided to let the matter rest. “Well, I can see why all this can put someone on edge,” he admitted. “Believe me, it’s been a lot for me to process as well. The best we can do is trust in the Force and hope that we all come out the other end of this for the better.”
Anakin chuckled. “Ah, yes, I remember when I was sixteen as well. Bright eyed and optimistic. I miss those days. Well, maybe not every aspect of them.”
“At least you finally got over your girl problems,” Jaina said with a wry smirk.
“True, there is that. Owen here still has a ways to go.” Anakin shuddered. “I can hear the fawning and swooning of many female Padawans from here.”
Owen frowned in mock disapproval at his older cousin. “You guys sure do know how to make someone feel welcome.”
* * *
While most of the Order had answered the summons to the Jedi Temple to observe Skywalker’s return and reinstatement as Grand Master, Toah Jarsan had elected to abstain from attending. He had already had his reunion with his former master, and he knew Luke well enough to know that he was not exactly one for grandiose ceremonies. As such, Toah did not want to be complicit in anything that would give the elder Jedi discomfort, serious or otherwise.
He knew the ceremony had ended when Jedi Knights began walking out of the temple, a spring in their steps and hopeful looks on their faces. He spotted one Jedi out of the many who did not seem to share this enthusiasm, and he could tell she was walking towards him even before they had made eye contact with each other.
Walking briskly over to him, Rey said, “Master, I need to speak with you about something.”
“I could tell all the way from over here,” Toah dryly replied. “I hope Master Katarn didn’t tell any embarrassing stories about my adventures with Master Skywalker.”
“It’s not about that,” Rey replied. “It’s about something Finn and I found on Naboo.”
Toah raised an eyebrow. He recalled Rey expressing disappointment when she learned that the two of them were making a stop at Tython before rejoining the Resistance at D’Qar; perhaps this was the reason why. “And what is that?”
“We found that droid you and I spotted wandering around Theed Palace,” Rey explained. “It somehow knew my name and poked me with some of its needles before telling me….”
She trailed off and her hazel eyes seemed to stare off into the distance, her expression a mixture of emotions.
“Telling you what?” Toah asked gently, patiently.
“It says it knows where to find my parents,” Rey finally said, swallowing hard.
Toah nodded in understanding. He was well aware of the fact that Rey had grown up on Jakku without her parents, having been raised most of her life by junk bosses like Unkar Plutt. It had been a topic that she had rarely broached with him, no doubt because of how Jedi teachings often encouraged one to focus on the present rather than the past.
“Where is the droid now?” he asked after a moment.
“On D’Qar. Finn found a way to shut him down and took him onto General Organa’s ship. I don’t know what story he gave her, if he told her about the droid at all.”
“Then let’s go to D’Qar and find out for ourselves,” Toah said.
“Are you sure you want to leave already?” Rey looked back towards the Temple. “I would have thought you’d want to speak with Master Skywalker a bit more.”
“I’ll have a chance to speak with him another time. Besides, I’m sure the Council is keeping him preoccupied.”
He caught a doubtful look cross Rey’s face as he turned away from her but she said nothing as they walked away from the Jedi Temple.
* * *
Jaden Korr watched from afar as Toah Jarsan and Rey headed for their waiting transport. Standing by his own Z-94 Headhunter, he looked up at the R6 astromech droid occupying the ship’s modified droid socket.
“Are you about ready, Arsix?”
The astromech warbled at him in response.
“Good. You still remember how to get to Fhost, don’t you?”
Arsix answered him in an affirmative yet questioning tone.
“I have some friends there I want to catch up on. And to see if they can help me out with some things.”
Arsix let out a low, whiny tone and Jaden couldn’t help but laugh as he climbed up into the starfighter’s cockpit.
“You always feel that way. Nothing is ever going to change that.”
Ignoring the astromech’s protesting chirps, Jaden lowered the cockpit shield over his head and switched the Headhunter’s systems online. As he went through the routine checkup, Jaden could only imagine what his former master would be saying to him if he knew where he was headed and why. Which was precisely why he was leaving Tython without telling anyone. This journey was for him, and him alone, and he was not going to let anyone or anything dissuade him from taking it. Even if it meant peering into the darkness….
“There be dragons…” The words continued to echo in his head even after he had uttered them to himself, and the echoes only persisted as the Far Wanderer took off into the Tythan sky.
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