Inside of an aquatic dome, Rey is flicking through the Jedi texts. She whispers to herself, “Could it really be? This can’t be a coincidence...”
Elsewhere, in the room of another aquatic dome, Luke is meditating. Rey interrupts him.
“I found it,” she says, “The next soul object.”
Luke leaves his trance, and stands up to face her. “Where?” he asks.
“On Inimoni. That’s also where the other twin kyber crystal is.”
Luke freezes. Something about the planet’s name makes him tense up. After a moment, he says, “They’re on the same planet?”
“I couldn’t believe it either. But I figured out from the texts that this twin kyber crystal, whatever it is, was born on the same planet as the next soul object we need.”
“That’s good news. So you also figured out where they are from the texts?”
“I-” Rey suddenly stops herself. I can’t tell him, she thinks. She tells Luke, “I did.”
“You seem like you’re having a hard time believing that. But I’m surprised about this whole thing, too.” He pauses. “I’ve been to Inimoni before.”
“You have? Every planet with a soul object that we’ve visited... you’ve been to all of them before?”
“Each of those planets was having its own problems. The New Republic sent me to them to sort them out.”
“So Inimoni was another planet you saved?”
Luke doesn’t immediately answer. After a moment, he says, “I made many mistakes on Inimoni.”
“M-mistakes?” Rey asks, surprised.
“I’ll tell you about them on our way there. You need to be prepared to know what happened.”
Rey shakes her head. “No. I don’t need you telling me. I’ll see it myself and make up my own mind.”
Luke sighs. “I wouldn’t recommend that. But if that’s what you want, then have at it.” He heads towards another room, getting supplies ready. Rey puts a hand to her lips. She can’t believe she just lied to Luke. But more so, she had heard something she did not want to hear: Luke had made mistakes. She remembers what the Watchers said. Were they telling the truth? She doesn’t want to believe it. It can’t be, she thinks to herself. It must only be true from a certain point of view.
LUKE’S X-wing and the Myrioi Osprey approach a planet, one hemisphere which is covered in roaring, dark red storms, and the other which emits an incredible blue light. In between them, there lies a vertical stripe, but Rey has a hard time seeing it. Thinking that she’s too tired, she shuts her eyes and opens them again to try to re-focus on the stripe, but something about it is too hazy, as if it was shifting in and out of her view. She can’t comprehend it. And then she realizes what’s happening: seeing the vertical stripe is like seeing a black hole.
From the cockpit of her ship, Rey gapes at the planet and can’t believe what she’s looking at. Then she snaps back into reality, and through a soul instrument, she asks Luke, “Which side do we land on?”
Luke replies, “The light side.”
The ships penetrate through the blinding light, and enter into a world of endless silver and glass-like skies. As they descend down towards its floating surfaces, the gray silvers transcend into whiter and whiter illuminations, until they reveal a world with sapphire palaces and cities. They land on a liquid silver platform, which forms into a solid just as the ship hovers above it. Before them is a gigantic palace with an imposing dome on top.
They depart from their crafts, and are greeted by tall creatures with blue skin and wings. “Luke Skywalker,” one of them gently speaks. Luke greets the creature, and the others start greeting him too. Rey smiles, reassured that the Watchers are wrong, and that Luke is beloved. But then she notices that although there is a peaceful expression on their faces, at the same time, there is a hidden unease.
The creatures speak again, “Welcome back to the city of Prim. We, the Tau, are devoted to the Jedi. Since the dawn of our civilization, we have sworn to our ancestors to worship the Jedi. We are grateful for your past efforts in aiding our planet.”
Luke nods, but does not smile. He tells them, “We’re here to deal with the recent disturbances in the Force. We think that we can stop them through a ‘soul guardian’. We are also in search of twin kyber crystals; we already have one of them. Can you help us?”
“Certainly. But first, let us show you how we have been doing. We will get to that matter very soon.” The Tau gesture Luke to follow them, and they walk towards the palace that lies before them, ignoring Rey. Rey shoots a confused look towards Luke, who motions with a hand for Rey to follow him. He tells the Tau, “My apprentice, Rey, is here with me, too.”
They take one glance at her, and one of them says, “Ah, yes. Well then.” They continue to walk away and ignore her. Rey gets irritated, and treads along behind them. In the sky, she notices caravan ships, transporting and storing supplies, moving along. There is something dubious about them, but she can’t quite put her finger on what it is. Seeing that she’s being left behind by the crowd, she drops the thought and hurries along.
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The interior is drooped by a colossal curtain, letting in the light, but shrouding the windows. The Tau guide Luke around the palace, and show off their rich jewelry and ornaments. “This is a very fine piece, right here. Without your help, we would never have been able to find it.”
Luke tries to change the subject, “And how are the people doing?”
One Tau replies, “Mostly no troubles. Ever since you aided us, we have been much better off. Now, this piece here is a recently acquired beauty...”
Luke asks again, “No more poverty?”
The Tau answers, “Far fewer. To continue, this was acquired through a recent celebration...”
Rey interrupts him, “What does any of this have to do with the kyber crystals?”
The Tau stop, and stare at her. Luke steps in for her, “She’s right. I appreciate your compliments, but we’ve got bigger things to deal with. Drop the facade and show us what’s really going on.”
One of the Tau, with a strange hat, sighs, and wipes his hand above him; the colossal curtain swoops away, revealing swarms upon swarms of distorted buildings slowly bending around in the sky, as if a flock of demened, abstract sculptures was living above the palace. Rey gasps.
A Tau with the hat continues, “Our government has confined these abominations away from the city. Whenever one is found, it is placed within the roofs above this palace. We... do not believe this has anything to do with you.”
Luke tells him, “No, it does. It’s not just Inimoni; we’ve seen anomalies from many parts of the galaxy. The Force is being disturbed, and somehow, I’m connected to all this.”
The Tau with the hat says, “These anomalies are here because the Skor continue to upset the natural ways of the light side. They continue to terrorize our people. The Skor have taken advantage of our generosity and have tried to conquer our lands for themselves. As negotiators, we are left with a difficult task.”
Luke asks, “And the crystal?”
“We did not inform you of such a thing last time because it is unimportant. It is a relic from long ago, entrapped somewhere in the Nissidha, where the Resepi lie. Now, we have far better technologies to keep the Resepi away.”
Rey, annoyed at the Tau’s avoidance of the subject, defiantly says, “Do you even know where the crystal is? You’re wasting our time!”
The Tau all glare at her at once. Rey glares at them back. Luke steps in between them, his back facing Rey, and he asks the Tau, “Everyone here wants to stop these Force disruptions. She’s brash, but I trust her. All she wants to do is help the planet.”
The hatted Tau huffs with indignation. “She? Help us? We sensed it when she landed. There is far too much darkness in her to do good.”
Rey tenses up and is ready to grab the hatted Tau by his fancy collar, but Luke puts his hand on her shoulder and calms her down. Then he faces the Tau again, “Don’t speak to her like that. Do you have any idea about all the good things she’s done so far?”
The Tau realize what they’ve just did, and bow down to Luke. The hatted Tau speaks again, “We apologize for our insolence, Master Luke. Please let us continue our talks.”
Rey scoffs at him. She says sarcastically, “So that ‘darkness’ in me just suddenly went away? I’m sure you will all treat me with the greatest respect now. All these talks are just a waste of time.” She turns around and leaves. Luke follows and as they’re walking, he tells her, “These guys are total jerks. Remember to not let them get to you. Just breathe. Meditate. I’ll deal with them from here.”
Luke stays in the palace, and Rey walks out. She stomps her foot in anger, and starts strolling through the silver plains of the floating city. There is no one else on the path but her. As she takes time to cool off, she starts to notice the serene wisps floating through the lampshades on the paths. And then, the soft, ocean-like ground that she treads upon. It’s nothing like she’s seen before. She takes a deep breath, and begins to forget the Tau.
As she’s walking, she suddenly hears a familiar sound. The turn of a rusty gear. A rusty tool. Nothing like this should be in this lofty city. She turns towards it and sees a young human girl, no older than 11, with long blonde hair and a dirty, ashy face. She is wearing rags, and is crouched down over a mechanical device, trying to twist its gears inside.
Curious, Rey walks over to the girl. “Hey,” she whispers. The girl looks at Rey, but doesn’t say a word. She goes back to twisting the gears on the device. Rey tries to talk to her again, “My name is Rey. What’s yours?” The girl, without looking at Rey, says, “Litha.”
“Where are your parents?” The girl doesn’t respond. Rey tries to change the topic, “I haven’t seen another human around here, we’re the only ones. Are you from here?”
The girl shakes her head. She’s silent now. But she doesn’t try to push Rey away. Rey watches her fiddle with the device, her hands moving in a sophisticated pattern, her eyes gazed into a calm trance. Rey knows what’s she’s doing; it’s all very familiar to her. She tries to talk to Litha again: “That’s a KJ-38. I’ve worked with a few before.”
Now the girl glances up, and replies, “It’s different from the other parts here. I like it.”
Rey smiles, and the girl mirrors her with a slight smile too, but it quickly dies off. Her eyes move past Rey, looking behind her into the distance. They’re now struck with fear.
Rey turns around and for the first time, sees three Tau standing on the paths of the city. They seem to have come out of their homes. They stare at the two with suspicion. Unrest permeates throughout the atmosphere.
“What are you staring at?” Rey asks them, irritated.
One of the Tau replies, “You’re not Tau. You’re spies for the Skor, aren’t you?”
“What? Who are the Skor?”
“Don’t play dumb. The Skor have attacked us our entire lives.” The Tau raises his hand, and Rey sees that it’s a fake one. She looks down and sees the Tau has a prosthetic leg too; she looks around, and the 2 other Tau all have prosthetics.
“What happened?” she asks them.
The Tau sighs. “So she’s an outsider.” Another Tau answers, “If only the Skor stayed where they deserved to stay, none of this would have happened. They wouldn’t be able to attack us.”
“Stayed where?” Rey asks. But then, she senses something is off. She looks back towards Litha, and realizes she’s gone. “Litha!” she shouts. She runs through the city, looking for her. “Someone come out, there’s a girl who’s by herself, without her parents! Has anyone seen her?” But no one responds. The homes around her remain silent; she knows there are Tau inside, but they choose to shut themselves in.
Then, as she heads into a narrower and narrower alleyway, emerging in a less affluent region of the city, she notices a change in energy. “She’s here,” Rey whispers. She starts to walk towards a broken down home, seemingly abandoned. She touches the metal, round door on the outside. There is a button for a transmitter, and she presses it. “I’m looking for Litha,” she speaks into the microphone. There is a long pause, and suddenly, the door opens.