‘I was led by my arm to the council room all while the entire temple seemed to have sunk into a judgemental silence around us. The sense of frustration and injustice I had to go through since coming here boiling inside me. The hot bubbles of impotent rage slowly simmering to the surface of my subconscious.’
‘I was annoyed by the occasional stares and whispering that followed my dejected steps across the corridors. I tried my best to run away, and I failed. What is going to happen with a fugitive who tries to slip away? Surely nothing good.’
‘As I limped along, led by Kenobi, I kept up my stoic facade, but that was it, unfortunately. My calmness was, but a carefully created act.’
‘From now on, I will be taken much more seriously by the jedi. There will be no leeways to use. I looked up at my substitute master. He looked pretty disappointed and angry... I... I hoped that they weren’t going to actually torture me... That would be...’
‘Fear settled in my stomach like a big cold stone as the dire thoughts continued to haunt me. I unconsciously squeezed tighter Obi’Wan’s hand that was grabbing my wrist since our little walk of shame began.’
‘Until now, I was holding back my powers. The reason for that was pretty obvious. I have never killed anyone before, nor did I hurt anyone seriously. I might have experienced it through my master’s memories, but I wasn’t as foolish as to assume it wouldn't affect me. Yet, if they actually tried to torture me... I... I would have to, at least die as a warrior... and not be tortured to death... I didn’t want to die yet, nor did I want to be tortured. I hated pain as much as the next person. Don’t hold it against me.’
‘Then an even more dreadful weight settled on my shoulders... The thought of losing the memories was simply unbearable. I can’t let that happen to me... Those thoughts bounced around wildly in my head, unable to find any type of reassurance.’
‘The remorse which I felt was real and powerful. It was eating me from the inside out. I was risking so much here… Why am I even in this damnable situation? Where did it go wrong? The answer came immediately. That curse of a crazy droid is the reason for everything! If I ever find you, I will throw you into the lava pits of Mustafar. You should pray that I never get away from here, because if I do, you are done for!’
While Nizzal was distracted from her various injuries that continued to ache through her body, and her thoughts which were submerged in a personal revenge on that particularly ugly droid.
The internal anger and desire for revenge caused an unfortunate side effect. Her light yellow eyes, whose yellowish color somewhat dimmed since the time of her forced dark side presentation… Well, suffice it to say that they took upon a more ominous shade once again and began to radiate with an unusual intensity of that baleful yellow hue.
~oOo~
Unknown to Nizzal, Obi-Wan, being the Jedi Master who prides himself on his constant awareness, immediately realized this not-so-subtle change. After all, he was observing his new padawan’s every move.
‘Luckily, she seemed to be quite distracted.’ — Obi’Wan noted to himself. He didn’t really expect that the girl would really follow him to the council hall so easily. Especially not after such an act of defiance that she showed towards the shadows… Still, maybe he couldn’t really fault the girl for that. He swallowed back a sour sigh.
‘One of our shadows has irrevocably overstepped his boundaries. It is a shame… but at least the mistake didn’t result in dead bodies. The man will surely be expelled from the ranks of shadows, put back to more mundane jedi tasks.’ — That fact, aside from his intuition, were the main reasons Kenobi didn’t raise his sword at the girl.
‘There was a lot of hesitance in this child. She definitely had the capacity to maim or even kill the first shadow, but she choose not to.’ — Obi’Wan thought carefully.
‘She was about to be judged by the grandmaster, yet she seems to be more interested in fantasizing over something predictably gruesome, at least from the expression she is currently making.’ — Obi’Wan could only hope that the fore-mentioned gruesome fantasy didn’t include his person and the Jedi Council at large.
‘Does her sect really teach both the use of the dark side and the light side?’ — The idea in itself seemed so unorthodox he couldn’t quite believe it, even with the living proof reluctantly trudging along by his side.
He unexpectedly felt the girl’s small hand anxiously closing around his wrist. Obi’Wan glanced in her direction inquisitively, only to realize with a small deal of surprise that the girl didn’t even seem to realize her own action. She was lost in her own thoughts, notedly chewing on the side of her lips.
‘There were precious few jedi, who actually could use force lightning as a technique. It was rare among light side wielders to pull off the infamous ability. Because it required an uncanny level of control over one’s emotions aside from a great deal of raw force power.’
‘In the current order, I wouldn’t be able to name a single jedi, who actually uses it in battle.’
‘Some, like Master Windu, could do it on the practice field, but he never used it in an actual duel or a battle scenario, as far as I am aware of it. He deemed it too risky, something that could potentially disturb his focus, that could result in a careless mistake leading to an immature death.’
‘All in all, light siders were simply not comfortable enough with the technique to even rely on it in low-risk environments. Not even speaking of actual battles’
‘What a strange sect this must be. How did they even manage to not turn to the dark side?’ — He looked at the girl beside him. She was looking like a Sith with all the stereotypical features. Then Obi’Wan realized something that he wasn’t really willing to, not until now. The answer was predictably simple, if a bit hard to accept.
‘They don’t.’ — With that thought in mind, he couldn’t help but steel himself for what was incoming. He just knew too well that the council would not see reason for this. That they would not entertain the idea of someone so in line with the dark side and not being evil at the core. — ‘That would question all our beliefs, the very foundation of the teachings of which our temples were built upon.’
He glanced at the girl once again. A foreboding sense of impending doom hovering in the surrounding air.
‘Such a small child holding so much mysteries and secrets. We must have won the celestial lottery to catch her in such a ludicrous way… In an attempt to buy an antique ship of all possibilities… The force indeed works in mysterious ways.’ — Obi’Wan noted, while shaking his head, a sparkle of amusement sneaking into his dire thoughts.
They finally reached the council hall. There were only two masters present at the moment. One of them was Grandmaster Yoda, just as Kenobi expected, while the other was a bit of a surprise.
“It is good to see you, Master Aayla Secura. I must have missed the news of your arrival back to the temple. Never mind that. Allow me to welcome you once again in our circles.” — He bowed lightly towards the blue twi’lek woman who was sitting in one of the empty seats.
“It is a pleasure to see you too, Master Obi-Wan. I see that trouble once again has found you, but this time it is in an unusually strange form, if I may add.” — The woman reacted serenely, returning his polite bow while openly staring at the gray-skinned twi’lek girl limping along Kenobi.
As she took in her features, Aayla’s expressions darkened with every passing second. The girl was clearly tugged along against her will. She looked very dejected, and above all injured if the blue lines of recently leaked blood traces around the edges of her orifices were anything to go by.
Naturally Master Secura wisely noted the telltale signs of heavy dark-side exposure screaming from the girl, most notably the blazing golden eyes staring ominously right back at her.
Yoda looked up from his light meditation as Obi-Wan and his newly assigned padawan marched into the room. He was eyeing them at this very second, his wizened features thoughtful, conscious of the importance of this predicament.
“Fear, distrust and confusion, I sense, surrounding both of you. What trouble has befallen you, Master Kenobi, I wonder?”
Kenobi’s already strained expression seemed to worsen after hearing the Grandmaster’s words.
“Did the other shadows perhaps forget to tell you what exactly has befallen on me?” — He asked, clearly annoyed by this outcome.
Yoda thought about this for a while, then he looked to Secura, who was similarly meditating until this recent interruption. Eventually, he decided to explain.
“When we meditate, we close off the distractions of the mundane world. Master Kenobi, forgive us, but we do not know what you are talking of.” — Yoda stated, with the calmness and serenity worthy of his age and position.
“Well, I guess that the honour shall be mine to retell the story then.”
Secura looked at Kenobi, and before he could start his obviously long-winded monologue, she decided to gently interrupt him.
“Forgive my interruption, Obi-Wan, but I am not a member of the council, as you are no doubt familiar with. I was merely here to meditate. If this is something that could only be heard by official council members, then I shall take my leave.”
“Ah, don’t fret, Aayla. I guess you will probably hear about this soon, one way or the other... Might as well be coming from me then.” — Obi’Wan stated with a wry smile.
“Go on then, if you please.” — Yoda, urged him. No doubt eager to get to the bottom of this.
Obi-Wan nodded with finality, then began to retell the happenings until the moment he reached the council room.
~oOo~
“So, that was it.” — Kenobi finished his speech. It took quite a lot of time to retell this, especially with all the details.
There was solemn silence in the room. Yoda seemed as if he had aged ten years in the last fifteen minutes.
Aayla Secura was looking left and right with a complicated expression, trying to judge if this whole facade was some kind of poor joke. Her worried look kept hovering over the obviously uncomfortable girl. Who was standing rigidly, slightly fidgeting from time to time. She was clearly unsure of what was going to happen to her next.
Aayla decided to ask, unable to watch the girl’s silent struggle any longer.
“Are you telling me that this girl is equally trained in the use of the light side and the dark side at the level of a master? For real? When I was her age, I could barely hold a lightsaber properly...”
“Well, yes.” — Answered Obi-Wan. — “But are you sure about the last part? I seem to remember quite differently...”
“Hush, Obi’Wan, your flattery is wasted on me.” — Aayla chided.
Nizzal, could have sworn that she heard Obi-Wan murmuring under his breath, something along the lines of: flattery my ass, you always kicked me out of the dueling ring. Yet she didn’t have enough time to consider the possible meanings of that sentence, since Yoda chose that moment to speak up.
“Hmmm... So a master you are, at least that is what you claim to be. Atop of that already questionable feet. You say that you have managed to reach a mastery with both sides of the force? Something that was believed to be impossible, or near impossible?”
For the first time since she came to this temple, Nizzal decided to drop every facade.
She was already tired of this conversation. She just wanted to get over the humiliation of having to be present at the retelling of the exact way she was thrown across a corridor with a plethora of random junk traveling along only to be knocked out by a heavy vase hitting her on the head mid air. Then crash into an annoyingly good looking council member at the end.
There was truly no more reason to lie. The loth-cat was already out of the bag. Of course, that doesn’t mean that she will tell them more than she must. Secrets were supposed to be closely guarded after all.
She felt her heart throbbing in her throat as she began to talk. Her voice sounded annoyingly hesitant right now.
‘Am I really intimidated by them? It must be because of my childish body... Damn it!’ — She scolded herself wordlessly.
“...Yes, that is correct…” — Was her eventual answer. She bit her lips, after realizing how stupid that sounded... She was a young girl… Stating that she has some knowledge about the dark side is completely different than saying that she has a mastery over it. Nobody will believe her…” — That was what she expected, but to her surprise, a different reaction occurred.
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“Hmm... Show us then. Your power. Master Nizzal.” — Came the infuriatingly calm reaction from the grandmaster.
“Wh-what!?” — Sounded the disbelieving question from Nizzal and everyone else present in the room.
“Master Yoda, forgive me for my interruption, but we shouldn’t let her...” — Obi’Wan began to persuade the grandmaster that it wouldn’t be a wise decision to urge the girl for further presentation after what happened in the corridors and the hall of fountains.
He was soundly interrupted by the grandmaster's voice.
“No, Master Kenobi, we must know if she is really what she states herself to be. Allow her to prove the true worth of her claims. We must.” — The grandmaster skillfully closed the discourse before it could truly begin.
Nizzal, was taken aback by this. — ‘What would they achieve by seeing her powers? What does the grandmaster want to achieve by this?’ — Were her thoughts, but she had no answer to those worries, and that was even more annoying.
Kenobi bowed to the grandmaster, then stepped back from Nizzal, giving her space to do what she wished.
Aayla Secura also decided to stand up and walk to the other side of the room. She was observing the girl’s every move, just like Obi-Wan did.
In the meantime, Nizzal forced her body to relax, while mustering up her courage to ask a question that was bothering her.
“What would I achieve by proving my knowledge to you? I know my own abilities quite well. I don’t see a reason to advertise them.”
“Hmm... Not eager to showcase your knowledge, you are... An excellent trait that is valuable for someone who pretends to be a master.” — Yoda added, snidely. Something that clearly irked the girl to no end.
“I know what I am capable of.” — Nizzal stated, signs of frustration leaking into her childish voice. Then she blinked, realizing the grandmaster’s intentions. A cunning smirk was spreading across her face.
“For a sufficient price, however… I might be inclined to make an exception with you.” — Yoda, smiled back at the girl, with all the patience and fake politeness in the galaxy. — “And pray tell, what would serve as a sufficient price?”
The girl snorted. As if her desire could be anything else in this unfortunate situation. — “Let me go free, and I will show you my abilities. I promise that you will never hear of me again.”
“Unfortunately, that I cannot accept, but I will take it into consideration in my final judgement.” — Stated the grandmaster.
“It’s unfortunate indeed… since in this case, I have no desire to showcase any of my abilities to you, either.” — Nizzal said stubbornly.
There was an uncomfortable silence hovering in the air of the council hall. It was broken by Yoda’s commanding tone. — “Take her to the dungeons then. A few weeks of solitary containment might prove enough to loosen her tongue.”
Nizzal, shuddered from the thought. She was not used to being alone by any means… such punishment was the worst she could have envisioned aside from down right torture… No… this… this was torture. Just not physical, but mental torture.
It seemed that even the two other masters were shaken by the coldhearted decision. Still, they hid their shock well enough that the terrified girl didn’t notice it.
Nizzal was unable to hide her fear. Overcome by emotions, pain, and the general tiredness of her injured body. She eventually gritted out the words.
“…Fine… What do you want me to do?… You bastards…”
“Kenobi reported that you have spoken of a curse surrounding our temple. Break the curse, and I will believe that you are indeed worthy of the rank of master. This shall prove to us that you are more than a willful child who drifted far from her home.” — The grandmaster demanded.
The infuriated girl hardly batted an eye at the request, as if she was expecting it.
“Then allow me, grandmaster.” — The girl gritted out the last word, dripping with venom and distrust.
She suddenly reached out through the force, her awareness expanding rapidly in every direction.
What felt like a fickle force presence, barely noticeable before. Pulsed with a new life, its previous form overtaken by a refined and solid tower, one that has witnessed uncountable numbers of storms and still stood proudly, watching over the flow of time.
Her tense force presence coiled wildly like a snake, unveiling itself with wild inelegant motions.
It eventually came loose as her unmasked force presence radiated through the room with the same intensity as any Jedi Master’s. The only difference was the pillar’s size. It might have been refined beyond belief, yet it was much smaller and thinner in raw potential.
The girl was no powerhouse like Anakin or most members of the Jedi Council. She will never be, with her average midi-chlorian count.
Still, her skills in hiding her true abilities all this time, right in front of the Jedi Council, proved that she was nothing to scoff at. Above all, she was still a child, meaning that her abilities would keep growing in the following years.
The dark side stigma like signs over her body slowly began to withdraw as she kept drawing in the lingering light side energies of the temple. The bruises and minor cuts visible to everyone slowly retreated as well and soon enough, completely disappeared from sight.
Then the presence suddenly pulled back, and they couldn’t sense it anymore. As if everything that had happened previously was nothing but an act of their imagination. Except that the girl’s wounds were nowhere to be found.
The present masters watched this phenomenon with fascination in their eyes.
Obi-Wan noted to himself that in case of Master Yoda, there was a familiar glint present in his crooked eyes.
‘The grandmaster has definitely cooked up some sinister plot, like when he dropped the twi’lek menace in my lap.’ — Kenobi thought to himself.
Meanwhile, after carefully observing everything that the girl did, Master Yoda nodded with a solemn expression, then said.
“I see that you did not lie about your familiarity with the light.” — He stated with a playful smile.
Aayla spoke up as well, after Master Yoda finished his sentence. — “That was a textbook example of a perfectly applied force heal if I ever saw one.” — The woman praised.
The girl looked at this strange act with confusion.
‘What is his deal...’ — She wondered silently. — ‘Anyway, I will know it soon enough. The only thing that remains is to break that curse. It will take considerably more effort, especially after using force heal two times. Changing to a dark side technique after pulling so much light side energies into my body will put a ridiculous strain over it. That was why I choose to heal my less important injuries just now.’
To the surprise of the onlookers, Nizzal, sat down on the floor in a meditative position.
The three masters exchanged a few curious glances above Nizzal’s head while she was too occupied searching for the core of that dark whirlpool that surrounded the temple.
‘There!’ — She thought, finding the strange accumulation of negative energy gathered above the Hall of Thousand Fountains. — ‘No surprise that we got drawn into that mess earlier.’ — Nizzal’s brows creased in frustration.
‘The whole incident was caused by my lack of awareness. Not like I would expect to find anything like that in a Jedi Temple… If this was a sith ruin, I would never fall for such an obvious… Ah… so that was it… the surreality of the situation caused me to overlook the signs. It’s a calculated effect.’ — Nizzal shook her head as light goosebumps appeared all over her skin.
‘Such an insidious trap, it’s worthy of a Sith Master.’ — She thought.
‘The dark side technique must have reacted to my presence when I meditated there, acknowledging me as its master. The sith no more guarded against one another with the same effectiveness. Not since Darth Bane created the rule of two. Placing the core of such an ominous technique right above a location most frequented for meditation is just basic sith efficiency and arrogance. Anybody who would start looking for it would start at those locations, just as I did, but they never expected anyone to do that to begin with.’
‘Whatever, I will break this barrier then figure out how to get away from these pestering jedi.’
She made up her mind and concentrated on the task at hand.
In a matter of seconds, thin tendrils of dark miasma started to be drawn towards her. The ominously wriggling tendrils came from every direction, manifesting through the walls, ceiling, and even the floor.
They only became concentrated enough to be seen by the naked eye when they reached her proximity. The dark tendrils then started to circle around her like bees drawn to a particularly enticing flower.
She was too focused on the technique to notice any of this, or the pale expressions of the masters watching her with abated breath.
As the dark miasma kept accumulating, it also began to circle around her at a faster and faster pace. When no more darkness was left to be drawn towards her. The miasma suddenly launched itself towards Nizzal’s body, which seemed to greedily absorb it. In a few seconds no sign of the all contaminating miasma was left in the eerily silent temple.
The three masters were staring at all of this, with complicated expressions and a spiking worry. Especially after seeing that the girl’s features, reacting to the absorption of that dense dark side miasma reacted quite radically.
Her skin became ghostly pale and brittle, with the occasional wrinkles running along her face. Underneath the surface, dark corrupted veins covered every part of her uncovered skin, suggesting that the same was happening with the entire surface of her body. Unhealthy splotches of darkened skin appeared in seemingly random places. Her eyes were surrounded by deep dark creased circles as if she hadn’t slept for a week straight.
The girl wobbled in her place, being so tired that she seemed to have difficulty remaining in a seated posture. She opened her eyes and, as expected, they once again glowed with a bright yellow color.
Yoda observed the changes in a silent contemplation, trying to figure out what exactly had happened. Then his ears suddenly raised, his eyes opened wide as he looked at the weakly smiling girl with shock.
Obi-Wan, lagging a step behind Master Yoda, also felt the ongoing changes.
A powerful resonance emerged through the force around the entirety of the temple. Followed by a wave of relieved sighs, as if every soul inside could finally be able to breathe clean air for the first time in many years. A weight was lifted from their shoulders. A weight that they didn’t even know was there.
The three masters present in the hall felt as a large amount of the coiled up tension in their bodies slowly loosened up, their thoughts became clearer and more positive in regards to the future.
Yoda was the first to compose himself. His visibly surprised expression morphed back to a more neutral one.
“Hmm, so that was the dark barrier that you spoke of Ahsoka?” — Yoda questioned with a knowing smile.
Nizzal was too tired at the time to think clearly, the recently absorbed negative energy creating small quivers throughout her body. As it violently clashed with the remaining light side energies. It was a known side effect to her sect, though, so she wasn’t too worried about it.
For gray lords or gray jedis, even if they were capable of using both sides of the force comfortably. Switching between one and the other without allowing time for the body to adjust was a reckless action. Resulting in the current side effects.
They were usually harmless, and they tended to pass over in an hour or so. Alas, if it happened in the middle of a conflict, they would likely prove fatal. As the slightest distraction tends to do in life and death situations. Especially since the side effects included a sense of dizziness, confusion and general weakness.
That was why masters of the gray were separated into two large factions. Grey jedi and grey lord. The first favored to only lean on the light side in conflicts, while the other wielded the dark side. It was not an ideological split, but a practical one.
While Nizzal was lost in her thoughts, fighting back the uncomfortable symptoms of her overstrained body. She barely noticed a blue hologram appearing by her side. The figure in the projection was throwing worried glances in her direction.
“Yes, Master Yoda.” — Sounded the familiar voice. It belonged to Ahsoka. With that blurry realization, Nizzal felt as if a cold and heavy stone had just dropped to the bottom of her stomach.
She shouldn’t see me like this… I-I most definitely look terrifying now… after directly absorbing so much negative energy.
While she was worried about those things, Ahsoka continued with her words. — “I couldn’t sense it anymore, the barrier, it suddenly disappeared.” — She finished her words solemnly, through the holo-communicator device placed in the room.
Aayla showed a relieved smile while Obi-Wan also realized what must have happened. He shook his head weakly as he tried to foresee what possible and most likely negative effects this situation would have on his mental health. The chances weren’t in his favor, sadly.
Under the combined siege of the side effects and her mounting tiredness, Nizzal’s consciousness was threatening to slip away. Her thoughts were swimming in a more comfortable direction for once as she wondered.
‘Was that truly Ahsoka’s voice? She didn’t sound angry anymore, but I thought that she would hate me... after that…’
Beyond the loud waterfall consisting of her immediate thoughts, a distant resonating speech seemed to find its way to her mind.
“Nizzal Grey from the Grey Order. As acting Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. I hereby find you guilty in the crime of unnecessarily attacking and heavily injuring a Jedi Shadow inside the Jedi Temple of Coruscant. It is true that the attack only happened after provocation, but it could have been solved without further injury. The Jedi Shadow himself will have his own trial and his own punishment for his rash actions, but that did not erase your own crime.”
Nizzal’s eyelids suddenly felt incredibly heavy... She forced her eyes open with sheer willpower. She wanted to hear about her punishment, at least...
“As a legitimate master of your order, which you have proved to be in front of at least two active members of the Jedi Highcouncil and an additional impartial witness of your race. You will be judged as an adult who is in a complete understanding of the consequences of her actions and potential repercussions.”
“Therefore, as per current republican law, your punishment is five years of mining labour in one of the meteorite mining camps in the possession of the republican state. Which, added to the previous suspicions regarding your person, adds up to a complete twenty years of forced labour.”
Nizzal blinked after hearing the outrageous statement, but she was too drained for the time to argue back… One thing she definitely knew she was not going to fricking mine rocks for twenty fucking years straight… It was more likely that an escaped from jail tag will be added to her fastly accumulating titles soon enough, if that truly came to pass.
“In light of the potential service you can provide and your special circumstances. Your forced labour can be replaced by five years of military service in the army of the Galactic Republic.”
“As a trained force wielder, you would immediately receive the rank of squad commander, especially with the backing of the Jedi Order, which I will gladly provide if you chose to accept.”
“As a sign of goodwill and trust in exchange for destroying the dark side barrier surrounding our temple, you will not receive the otherwise mandatory ankle tracker that would normally provide us with your current location, in case of an attempted desertion.”
Nizzal, finally realized with a weak smile what the grandmaster’s scheme was. — ‘This green guy was a truly terrifying entity. I have vastly underestimated him. He knew that there was no way I would choose to go to a prisoner labour camp on some meteorite field for twenty years. Just as much as I knew it.’
‘And the other part… if I follow the military route, without the tracker… That means I can basically run away anytime I choose to. What the green guy… no, what Master Yoda wants to say… Is that he can’t just let me go after the commotion I caused, even if he wanted to.’
‘Instead of that, he gives me a choice. I can honestly do the military service, and prove myself innocent, or simply find an ideal moment to steal a fighter ship and escape. With the future consequences being that I will be a wanted criminal throughout the systems of the Galactic Republic.’
‘What a shrewd bastard… He is worthy to be called a grandmaster, too. I guess…’
In the end, Nizzal said with her last bit of energy before she lost consciousness.
“... Give me… that squad...”
Yoda smiled and nodded with unexpected warmth.
“Your squad will be a newly trained clone strike team. You and your squad will serve under the leadership of General Kenobi, who you already knew.”
In the background, Kenobi’s shoulders dropped dejectedly.
“I knew it...” — He stated, in a low whisper, no doubt expecting something similar to happen since he caught that baleful glint crossing the grandmaster’s eyes.
Next to him, Aayla snorted aloud, no doubt catching the gist of his whisper.
There were other things that were spoken in the council hall after that, but Nizzal, was not aware of them anymore, as she lost her consciousness.