Chapter 96: 96. Chapter

-From the perspective of Nizzal-

Two days later. Inside the Jedi temple.  

The ship of the Grey Order arrived as scheduled about two days ago. A few of our representatives came on board the ship with the intention of clearing up any still lingering doubt about the existence of the Grey Order. These representatives were welcomed inside the Jedi temple as guests of a different school teaching the mysterious ways of the all powerful force. The last two days have been filled with endless agreements and disagreements between the two groups of people, and they don’t seem to have come to an end even now.

The damaged Jedi Temple, the place of peace and worship of all those things which belong to the light. Now days after the bloody battle occurring here seemed to come to life once again. The Jedi who were buried under their suppressed emotions, sadness, grief for their lost comrades have found a way to distract themselves from such depressing thoughts. The solution seemed to offer itself on a silver plate.

They simply had to argue with newly arrived guests, from the early hours of the day to late at night. Members of the Grey Order were also elated to meet with people of a different set of views and beliefs and for that reason they happily entertained the Jedi, often ending up in heated discussions.

Inside the master’s meditation quarters.

I was sitting comfortably in a crossed legged position inside the chamber. In front of me, a small form, which felt diminutive even compared to my childish body, was sitting with a similar poise. Thoughtful silence filled the surroundings as we watched the sun slowly sink behind the horizon, shadows growing longer and thicker inside the room.

I felt the soft touch of the gray robe hugging and flowing around my body, forming a sensation reminiscent of the touch of natural water. The darker and lighter shades of gray closing around me like a blanket of satin. These two days have gone by like a dream. After so many years of hiding, it felt surreal to be here in front of the Jedi Grandmaster while taking on the role of my true self in my correct position. 

It was hard to believe, but it was still true. I knew that things were heading in this direction, but the shock that it actually happened was something different to undertake. 

While thinking about such things, the sun has completely sunk behind the tall tower of a skyscraper. The horizon on Coruscant was different from other planets. Here it was made out of an endless forest of skyscrapers that slowly turned into a single blurry line. In a sense, it was an artificial horizon. One created by the endless expansion of Coruscant populations. If there was no more room on the ground, you either go up or go downwards. Here the rich, those who had a choice, went towards the sky, while does who were not as lucky, were left behind covering in the darkness, and the dust of lower levels. Hidden and forgotten in places where not even the sun could reach them ever again. 

In my current state of wandering the realms of my thoughts, a few words seemed to leave my throat almost unconsciously. As my pink eyes stared out the windows of the Jedi Temple, my gaze lost in the endless jungle of buildings.

-A forest of steel and glass. 

I saw from the edge of my eyes that the small form of the silent being adjusted itself. I turned towards it and met its now open eyes. The large elf like ears stayed at a neutral height while the small being chose to look out the windows as well.

After about two minutes of silence, he spoke up. 

-It was not always like this. Back in my younger days, there were still small natural forest areas inside specially guarded preservation areas. They were eventually used up as the need for new building sites only grew further. Nowadays, its mostly private gardens, even the air is cycled by machinery, there is no need for plants to make oxygen anymore. Still, I think the difference between natural air and the one here is quite obvious. That is part of the reason why I tend to stay a bit longer on Kashyyyk, at least when I have the appropriate excuse to go there in the first place.

Our eyes met again, as I was looking at the Grandmaster with a mischievous smile.

Seeing my meaningful expression, he made a funny face, then he stated reluctantly.

-Ah, yes, forgive me, but your young form tends to make me forget about the true nature of you... A truth of which I have been postponing to accept long enough already.

He looked into my eyes deeply while I let him see me as I was now.

The grandmaster watched me carefully, taking in my poise and my calm and aloof demeanor. Then he nodded and closed his eyes.

-Truly blind we have been.

He stated while shaking his head with a little frustration seeping into his voice and otherwise calm expression.

I smiled and spoke to him sarcastically.

-Was that a statement regarding your absolute worship towards the light? 

He snorted aloud, while reopening his unproportionately large eyes. He pointed out his walking stick in my general direction while saying, almost smugly. 

-Do not judge a book by its cover, was what you said to me merely a day ago. 

I nodded silently, while curiously waiting for his following words. 

-Now I see that you didn’t only mean your age and knowledge by those words. A bright young girl with an innocent smile, hiding the snark of a great elder. A truly deadly combination, this is. Hmm!

I stared at the gnome with a shocked expression. He just scolded me like that. How shameless. Since Yoda was literally forced to accept the information that I am almost five times older than he is, which was by the way only achieved after I shared some of my memories, regarding known or unknown historic moments throughout the four thousand and five hundred plus years I had access to... well what I wanted to say, that he seemed to have a hard time how to treat or speak with me after that. It was an awkward scenario that only started to change today.

Until now, we just meditated here in silence, sensing our followers’ arguments and flickering force presences throughout the temple. Yoda must have come to accept the truth that was revealed in front of him. He even seemed to become quite relaxed in my presence, which was something unthinkable until now. I understand the weight of being the oldest and most respected member of an order. That was the reason why I tried to spend so little time around Unity in the first place... The absolute respect and god like worship some of the people showed towards me was forcing me to subconsciously try and meet their expectations. 

It only made it worse, that some of the population downright ignored the mysterious nature of the apostles and thought of them as simply force users, which was mostly true to begin with… but with that thought process they lost the sense of worship towards us. They only respected us as political figures. I personally would be happy with this outcome…

However, the problem was there, when some of the people who treated me normally met with the ones who were literally worshiping the ground I walked on ended up crossing each other’s path. Damn, my ear still rings from the endless arguments… I can’t even go out of the temple without ending up in a dogfight as a substitute for the bone.

It was rare to find someone who had never experienced such a situation on their own skin and could still understand it. If you would complain about it, most people would simply give you nasty glances. Thinking of you as someone way too greedy, who can’t even be satisfied by the position of grandmaster. Alas, the position was not only fun and game; it was most of the times just annoying and bothersome. It makes me feel completely ridiculous, when the elders of the temple are literally worshiping me... me who is currently locked inside a fourteen-year-old girl’s body...

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Not gonna lie… They look like a bunch of pedophiles following me around everywhere I go… of course when I got fed up with it and told them, they had the face to be enraged and scolded me even asking the Immortal Council to punish me for saying such things, and being uncooperative, refusing to act as a grandmaster. The bastards actually did punish me, which makes it even worse. That’s just. Sigh… I would have been happy if they just waited until my body grows up and stuff... alas, the choosing of a grandmaster is not based on physical age nor power... 

In fact... in my current form, I am one of the weakest of the apostles... I have become something similar to a child of the force when I was accepted as the grandmaster by the force itself. However, a child’s body could only endure so much, until I grow up I will be still relatively weak. The only weaker apostle is probably Rika, but, her natural midichlorian numbers are three times of my original, but that doesn’t matter anymore, as being accepted by the force itself means that you don’t have to only rely on your internal midichlorians to control the force anymore, it will come to your help on its own accord. However, your body is still the anchor to which it is drawn to. It will flow through you and because of that, your body needs to bear the brunt of it.

That is why, even when Anakin had such incredible midichlorian numbers, he couldn’t use much of his power as a child, and that wasn’t only because of the lack of training. The force is a living entity in a way... it has consciousness, more than one, in fact. This consciousness understands what its use in an unmatured body could cause, and therefore, without extreme intent fueled with the presence of danger, it would simply not act around a wielder whose body is not mature enough. Or only do so with reservation. Yes, this means the darkside as well, however humorous that might sound. At the same time, it is logical, as the darkside wants its own worshippers, and if it kills them too early, then it would be bored.

I shook my head lightly, realizing that I had wandered off track... Thinking back to our conversation, I smiled at Yoda defensively as I said with an innocent expression. 

-Grandmaster Yoda... stop being so mean to me. I am not that bad... 

Yoda shook his head with annoyance.

-You are everything and more that the word “bad” could entail. You placed me in a position where I am not even sure how to speak to you properly without it feeling wrong from a certain point of view or another. That did not happen in hundreds of years...

I let go of my slightly teasing smile, sensing the honest depression of the Jedi grandmaster.

-For that, I might have a simple solution to offer, master Yoda. If you would agree, please, as a fellow grandmaster at least... Speak to me as a normal person, without special honorifics and stuff like that. After so many years, I have grown bored with honorifics and honeyed words... To be honest... nowadays I find the company of children surprisingly enjoyable. The curiosity of young kids, I find to be very similar to my own. They had yet to be touched by the ignorance of adulthood, and I find myself grown out of it.

Master Yoda's ears raised high, hearing my comment with a slightly humorous edge. The next thing I knew was the withered grandmaster’s genuine smile, one that seemed to ease my mind.

The peaceful words of the old master followed the earlier smile.

-Closer we are, to each-other, than either of us could originally guess. It seems the force still holds many surprises. 

I nodded, finding myself agreeing with the words. 

-It does indeed, master Yoda. Four thousand and five hundred years, and I could still gaze at it with a childlike wonder filling my eyes. Nor does it ever stop shocking me with the cruelty hidden in the darker corners of this universe.

Yoda thought for a while, listening to my words, then asked with a bit of hesitation.

-Would you share some of your insights about this war we have been enduring? I am ashamed to say, but I never expected it to go to such lengths... The suffering is simply terrible; the people are tired, but the war is far from its end. We have been fighting against the wrong enemy to begin with, and the darkness is yet to be parted. I fear more suffering is about to be unleashed soon.

I thought for a while. The grandmaster was asking a genuine question, showing me his worries, and what he managed to gather by gazing at the surface of the marshland called the future.

I shouldn’t take this question halfheartedly, as it was clearly an offer to build mutual trust among us, both as individuals and as leaders.

I closed my eyes, choosing my words carefully... 

Suddenly, a wave of discomfort hit me like a brick. My chest felt heavy under the assault of foreshadowing. I focused my mind and gazed into it, but I couldn’t see anything. I decided to push further and plunged deeper into the darkness, searching for hidden intentions, redundant thoughts and such... I was surrounded by an icy dread, a suffocating hatred that was channeled towards me...

I was forced to leave the darkness, swam back to the surface with a heavy heart. I couldn’t stay in such coldness any longer. It was too risky. I was back in the Jedi temple, perspiration starting to form on my forehead. Yoda clearly caught on to the obvious change in my demeanor.

I breathed a few times before I could speak again. Pushing the coldness away, somewhat...

I opened my lips and told him at last, feeling exhausted from the strain.

-They are here… The war has come to Coruscant once again...

I stood up and walked to the vast windows, staring out into the orange sky covered with small patches of stars appearing in the darkening sky.

Among the distant stars were flickering small singular lights. The signs of ships exiting hyperspace travel... but the number was just wrong... the entire sky seemed to be covered by them. Ships numbered in the hundreds or thousands... 

I reached out to the sky, sensing the nature of the incoming troops. 

-Droids?

I was confused... I was expecting clones, but the arriving forces seemed to be made of ninety-five percent droids. I reached out even further, finding something strange... it was a droid, but not entirely? 

A short vision assaulted me in the process as a few words spoken with disdain echoed through the space between us.

-Kill them! Make them suffer! Cough, cough- haha! Coruscant shall be ours!

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