Coruscant: There Goes My Hero

[Cade Mercer]

19 Years Before the Battle of Yavin...

"Please, don't go! Don't leave me behind, Master Cloak. I can go with you, I'll be alright, I promise! Just please, let me go with you!"

The young Cade Mercer pleaded with her jedi master. Her master, Jeseth Cloak, had just recieved his mission with the clone troops from the Jedi Council. The two stood out on the landing platform of the Jedi Temple, waiting for his ship to come and take him away. Looking to be no more then a ten year old human, the young girl's eyes welled up with tears as she begged her master to not leave her.

"Please. I'll be alright."

She quickly wraps her arms around his midsection, as that was the highest point on him that she could grab with her small form. She closed her blue eyes to try to keep from crying. She knew that as a jedi, she shouldn't let her emotions get the better of her, but she was still young in mind and couldn't understand why he had to leave her behind on this mission.

To add to her distress, she had been having horrible feelings that something terrible was going to happen to one of them if they split up like this. She half opened her eyes at the sound of a ship's engine approaching the platform. She just didn't get it. After all they had been through together, why now does he have to leave her behind. Hadn't she proven that she was good with a light saber and with the force? Why couldn't she go with him this time?

"Master Cloak, please don't leave..."

She tenativly reached a hand out and touched his feathered wings. Her Guardian Angel. He would keep her safe. Only through their separation would she be in danger. Thinking back through the training that they have had, there were many times she wished that she was like him. An angel to protect. But there were other times... times she told no one about, times that he probobly didn't know she knew about, that he had not been an angel. But she didn't care about those times. In her eyes, he was her angel and that was all that mattered.

She burries her head in his stomach again as tears begin to well up again.

"Please..."

[Jeseth Cloak]

"I said no," Jeseth snapped, his wings drawing tight against his back and away from the young girl's fingertips. One of his hands gripped her shoulder, and she felt a powerful shove. "Cade," his eyes narrowed at her, "you're not ready. You're staying." He caught a glimpse of the tears ready to pour forth from her big eyes. "I'm sorry."

He sighed and shook his head, his hands coming out as if he were making a barrier between them. "Cade, you're a promising Padawan. You've proven yourself time and time again... but you're not ready for this." His mind raced back to a mission they had been on just a year earlier. "You haven't killed. You were afraid to do it then; how do you know you won't be afraid to do it now?" His hands gripped both of her small shoulders, and he stepped closer to her. "I'll come back."

A feeling of dread washed over him. Am I lying to her, he thought, without even intending to? The sound of a ship's approach caught his attention, pulling him back into the moment. "They'll be here soon..."

[Cade Mercer]

"I..." She felt the words she desperately wanted to say catch in her throat. She, like he did, thought back to a year ago, on a mission that they had gone on together. Back then, she couldn't kill. It had only been a year and not much had changed about her physicaly. Had much changed mentally? "I... could.. try.."

She looks up at the lowering space craft then back to the face of her master, her lip trembling.

"Please take me with you... What if you don't come back? You wont come back... I know it..."

She looks away. Every action he had made today had been to push her away, mentally, physicaly and emotionally. It was as if he was preparing her for not seeing him again for a long time, if ever. She quickly pulls the hood of her cloak up over her head to hide her face from him. She pulls her lightsaber off of her belt and holds it in her hands infront of her, looking over the intricate designs that he had helped her create on the hilt.

[Jeseth Cloak]

"I can't bring you with me," he replied. "This is war, not training, and you have to understand that." He looked at her holding that lightsaber. She was almost ready to be knighted. It would have to wait until he returned - if he returned. "Your emotions have always served you well, Cade... but remember, you're a Jedi." He reached one of his pale hands underneath her hood and wiped some of her tears off her cheek. "I'll see you again. You have my word."

The ship had set down on the landing platform, sitrring up a violent wind. Clone troopers were amassed inside of it, weapons gripped against their chests. "Master Cloak," one of them called out in a filtered voice, "we're ready to depart."

Jeseth pulled his hood up over his head, masking his face. His crimson eyes were swallowed by the darkness. "Goodbye, Cade." He turned and boarded the ship, settling in with clone troopers that stood to either side of him. I have a bad feeling about this, he thought to himself.

[Cade Mercer]

She let go of him as he pulled away. She watched his winged form walk away from her, for what she didnt know to be the last time in several decades. Her blue eyes well up again as he climbed into the space craft. At that moment, several un-jedi thoughts ran through her head. All things that even a ten year old shouldn't think. Doubt, regret, sorrow, longing... She watched as the ship began to take off. She battled herself over running after it, staying put or going back inside. Finally, one chose itself.

She quickly ran into the winds that the ship was creating. She ran to the edge of the platform and shouted over the engine turbine to him, using the force to let her voice carry into his ears.

"Please dont forget about me!"

[Jeseth Cloak]

Something was overwhelming him. His world, though he could see it clearly, became silence. He watched his apprentice's lips moving. She was mouthing something to him, and yet he couldn't make it out. The wind whipped up inside the cabin of the ship as the hatch began to close. One of the long white feathers from his wings came loose and was carried away with the flow of air, flying clear from the ship and drifting its way just over the landing platform. In that moment of absolute quiet, Jeseth watched the feather float down and fall before Cade's feat. Then the hatch closed.

[Cade Mercer]

Cade picked up the fallen feather in her small hands. The last token she received from her master, as unintentional as it was. Her eyes lifted back towards the ship as it took off and joined with the other line of ships preparing to leave the atmosphere. There, she lost sight of it. With one final and desperate attempt, she reached out with the force and barely touched the mind of her master, just so she could feel his presence one last time before he left. Little did she know that it was for good?

* * *

Three Years Later

Anakin, now the feared Darth Vader, had begun to storm the Jedi temple with a legion of Clone Troops. Execution Order 66 had gone through. The Jedi of the universe were being betrayed by their protectors. Many had already been slaughtered. Within the temple, signs of assistance from the great Jedi Masters and Knights of the order were hopeless. Bodies of the fallen were everywhere.

Up on one of the higher stories, a small group of padawans and apprentices that had been left behind were fighting to protect those younger then they. Within this group were two young Jedi, Cade Mercer and her masters younger sister, Eve Cloak. The two girls fought side by side to protect the smaller padawans of the temple. The feather that had fallen from her master’s wing was tied tightly into Cade’s hair. The two girls’ flew through the air simultaneously, attacking the clone troops that were threatening their temple mate’s lives.

Anakin showed up at that point, alerted of the small band of survivors on this floor. He flew through the small pack of children, cutting them down like wheat. He came to the two girls, a golden gleam to his eyes. He toyed with the two youngsters for a short time, injuring and maiming them both. After he was done toying with them, the two girls lay their, bloody and beaten. Eve was much worse off then Cade, but both girls had their share of wounds. Anakin left the girls to die, leaving a frag grenade behind to finish off the job.

As the explosion flew off, Eve had only barely managed to get behind a wall to protect what little she had of herself left from the explosion. Cade, though, had nowhere to run. The explosion had knocked her backwards, out a window to fall to her doom. The only thing Eve found of her companion was her light saber, which she kept with her until her dieing breath.

[Jeseth Cloak]

22 Years Before the Battle of Yavin...



On a beautiful forest world, not more than a few hours hyperspace travel from Coruscant, Jeseth waited amidst a field of towering ferns. The horizon was alive with arcs of blue light, wave after wave coalescing in the distance, bright enough to rival the planet's small moon. The air was rich with gas and water vapors, the result of a millennium of decay. Jeseth labored to take another breath - something was terribly wrong. His heart pounded, and his rib cage flexed to it's limits. He felt a hot flash come over him. Had he been poisoned by one of the ferns? No, this feeling was... purely emotion. Betrayal. Terror. His large wings twitched nervously.

He reached out to the thoughts of the clone troopers behind him and felt... nothing? The armored soldiers raised their blasters, level with his back. His eyes went wide for a moment as a sudden realization came over him. Without a second thought, he leaped into the trees high above. Only the faintest sound of his robes breaking against the wind was heard. The troopers lowered their weapons, not having had a chance to fire a single shot. "He's gone," cried out one of the troopers, "find him!"

Jeseth closed his eyes, sweat dripping down his hairline, jaw and chin. The drops of moisture fell to the clearing directly below his safe-haven (a gnarled mossy tree-limb). He would not die here. He could not die here.

His pulse had quickened, and his blood now burned as if it were fire flowing freely through his veins. How, thought Jeseth, how could I have been so blind? His faith in the Jedi Council had been his weakness, and possibly his undoing. The branch below him creaked as he shifted his weight. A barrage of blaster fire lit the sky, drawn upon the sound. Leaves charred instantly, smoke filling the air as Jeseth leaped to another branch. The tree he had perched upon was laid to waste almost instantly. His eyes flashed with the after-images of blaster trails.

All of his muscles tensed as he balanced himself, trying to avoid flexing the weak branch on which he stood. Reaching down to his lightsaber, he drew another painful breath. His heart was wrought with conflict. He doubted his ability to fight through the hundred troopers waiting below. Skilled as he was with a lightsaber, there were limits even to a Jedi's powers.

He could make out the hard-plastic clicking of armor just below him, and knew his time had run out. With one fateful hiss, his brilliant blue saber burst to life; second later, the forest lit up a vibrant shade of red, smoke filling the air.

Jeseth had never seen the sort of carnage that was flashing before his eyes between the swings of his saber and bursts of blaster fire. With every violent pulse of light, vaporized blood sprayed across his body. The smell of crisp flesh and burning armor snaked up his nostrils. He would have choked on it, if only he could have afforded himself the moment. If he was to die… he would do so valiantly.


-


"Praklatya," Jeseth cursed in his native tongue, falling back against a singed and splintered tree. His back throbbed and ached in some areas, but seemed to have gone numb in others. Both of his wings were mangled, bloody and burned. This had been a bitter end to three years of fighting. Soon, he would bleed to death and go the way of many other Jedi before him... except that he would not be remembered as a hero; his legacy was forever tainted.

Eve.

His eyes opened wider, fighting back the darkness. He had to go back to Coruscant - he had to know that his sister and his apprentice were safe. He grabbed hold of lightsaber and brought it to life again, leaning forward and bending back his arm so as to position the blue beam below his bloody wings. His eyes closed tightly as he twisted his wrist and separated his wings from his body in a quick slice.

[Cade Mercer]

The fall through the air had felt like it took hours. Everything seemed to be nothing but a dream to her. Falling in slow motion, half awake because of the explosion from the temple. Her blue eyes raised upwards to look at the sky, filled with the lights of spacecraft and hovercraft alike. Even the pain didn’t feel real any more. Just the falling. Even that felt like it was a dream. It was at that moment that she knew she was going to die. She would never see her master again, or anyone else from the temple.

Everything was over.

* * *

Half A Second Later

BAM!

A small body hit the hood of the man’s speeder. He yelped in surprise and swerved off the lane. He quickly pulled over into an empty parking lot, still in complete shock of what had just happened. He looked up at the spires of the Jedi Temple then down to the small form sitting just in front of him on his hood. Blood had splattered across the windshield and even a bit onto his face because of his open-air speeder.

The shock finally subsided and he quickly climbed out of the car. The young form he saw there was still breathing, but barely. He could still feel a heart beat, but it wouldn’t last long. In addition, here he was, on his way off the planet. He didn’t have time to take her to the hospital…

Moments later, he and his crew were within his ship and taking off out of the planet. The medic of the ship had taken the young girl into the medical lab and had hooked her into a bacta tank. The younger sister of the medical officer sat, watching the girl in the bacta tank. No limbs had been lost off the girl, but large gashes and light saber wounds, along with a large burn across her chest were hardly anything to scoff at, especially on someone that only looked to be around eleven years old. Even if she survived, no amount of healing, supernatural or technological, will heal the scar in the center of her back from the blade of Anakin’s light saber.

* * *

27 Years Later

Cade sat up straight in bed, gasping. She looked as though she had only aged a max of ten years. Her eyes darted around the small, sparse room she was laying in. She grunted slightly, her scar on her back hurting her. The last remains of the strange dream began to fade from her memory. Three light sabers flying, two against one. She shook her head, trying to get the thoughts out of her mind. What was it about these dreams? They kept haunting her. Were they the distant echoes of her memories of before the monastery?

Lya, a fellow member of the monastery, came rushing into her room. She spoke quickly in the native tongue of the planet. “Cae, are you alright? I heard you yell from the next room. Was it the dreams again? Your back?”

She just nodded at her friend. Her hand half reached for the lamp and flicked it on with the force, not even paying attention to the fact that she had used it. She looks back up to her friend with her blue eyes. “Its alright, Lya. I’m ok.”

“You sure, Cae?” Cade smiles at the sound of her name. Cae was the name that she went by here. She could barely remember her true name after the accident. She could remember nothing of the accident. All those that had nursed her back to health at the monastery had told her was that she had been brought too them after falling out of the sky onto some pilot’s speeder.

She looked up at the small window. The sky was just starting to lighten. Today was the day she was to leave the monastery to try to find her past. These dreams had become too much and she couldn’t live by the ways of the monks here without figuring them out. She climbed out of bed and quickly got dressed into clothing a bit more productive for outside the monastery life.

Moments later, she was bidding farewell to those that had nursed her back to health, housed her and taught her their martial arts. With one last longing look behind her, she turned and set out towards the Capital City of Naboo on the her Tusk Cat.

[Jeseth Cloak]

2 Years and 8 Months After the Battle of Endor...



A lone Theta-class shuttle held its orbit purposefully over Naboo, poised to land on the capital city of Theed. Inside of the shuttle, Jeseth could be found meditating quietly, waiting for his clearance to land. His attire (a traditional Jedi robe) was scuffed and discolored; it - like the Theta-class shuttle - was one of many relics that had been in Jeseth's possession since the fall of the Republic.

“Shuttle Penance,” came an operators voice over the comm unit, “please restate the nature of your visit.”

Jeseth let out a sigh of irritation as he abandoned his meditation. He pressed at the comm controls and responded in a snippety tone. “My name is Jedi Master Jeseth Cloak. I am requesting clearance to land, and an audience with Queen Kylantha.” In truth, that was only part of Jeseth’s reason for coming to Naboo; He was privy to a wealth of information about former Jedi of the Republic… and all of that information told him that his former apprentice, Cade Mercer, was somewhere on the planet.

I wonder if I’ve come all this way, Jeseth thought in silence, only to find her grave.

“Shuttle Penance,” came the comm operators voice for the second time, “you are cleared to land.”

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth's shuttle hissed as it set down and sent a cloud of steam billowing across the landing pad. Several of Queen Kylantha's Royal Guard, having gathered there in order to provide the "Jedi Master" with a proper reception, felt themselves get licked by the hot mist. Their discipline however, won over their instincts, and not a one of them flinched or moved to shield their eyes. The atmosphere in Theed city proper was one of apprehension and anxiety; a Jedi Master's presence on Naboo could only be an omen of dark times to come, and would surely draw unwanted attention from the Galactic Empire.

Hiss.

The ship's boarding ramp touched down, clicking into place. Jeseth emerged from the shuttle's dark interior, the hood of his aged Jedi robe pulled over his head so as to obscure any view of his crimson, inhuman eyes. Only the lower portion of his face could be discerned: the symmetrical bridge of his nose, his pale thin lips and distinct jawline. By Human standards, he was very attractive.

The Royal Guards turned on their heels, moving to face away from the shuttle and towards the archway that lead out and into the city. A lone, silver protocol droid waited by the edge of the landing platform to greet the honored guest. "Jedi Master Jeseth," he said as he closed the distance between himself and the hooded figure, "This is most unexpected. We were under the impression that all of your kind had been... executed!"

"Not all of us," Jeseth responded, and continued walking as he spoke, bringing his hands out in front of himself and tucking them into opposite sleeves. "Emperor Palpatine is dead, and his apprentice with him; the Galactic Empire no longer has the will to pursue us to the ends of the galaxy; as you're queen is well aware, their power is weakening." His tone carried an air of confidence.

"And, what brings you to Naboo?" The droid's tone was one of curiosity.

Jeseth's lips moved fluidly to form a gentle smile. "I wish an audience with Queen Kylantha. The matter - I'm afraid - is quite confidential and I'm unable to discuss it with you any further. Please notify her of my arrival."

"I understand. She'll be notified at once, sir."

"Thank you," nodded the Dark Jedi, coming to an abrupt stop. Two lightsabers swayed at his belt, unable to overcome their own momentum. Only one of them belonged to him. "There is one other matter, of a personal nature, that I would like to see attended to."

"Of course, sir. We would be happy to help," the droid stated, moving his arms in a Human-mimicking manner.

"I need all the information that you have on this woman," Jeseth said, handing a datapad over to the droid. "She was my apprentice before the the Jedi Purge, and I have reason to believe she may still be alive, and here on Naboo."

"As you wish, sir." The droid did its best to bow to Jeseth, though its movements were somewhat restricted by the inflexibility of its design. Jeseth bowed in turn - a most uncommon courtesy for anyone to extend to a droid - and parted ways with the macine.

[Jeseth Cloak]

In the hours before the silver protocol droid returned, Jeseth found himself scavenging through the costly wares of various vendors, carefully selecting a handful of device components from each. In time, those pieces would be used in the construction of lightsabers.

"Master Jeseth," the protocol droid called out as it approached, moving at a fairly brisk pace, "Queen Kylantha has agreed to meet with you! You are cordially invited to the her highness' palace, two months from today."

"And what of the Jedi? Have you found her?"

"We've not, sir. This is all the information that we've been able to gather," responded the droid, handing Jeseth a new datapad. "The child in question was transfered out of our care a just few days after her arrival, and unfortunately, no other official records exist."

"I see." Jeseth's crimson eyes scanned the lines of information he had been given. According to the incomplete records, Cade - if this child was Cade - could have been transfered to any of several monasteries outside of Theed. "That will be all for today," he said, dismissing the droid. It seemed that he would have to move quickly if he had any intention of finding Cade before nightfall. "Wait!"

The protocol droid stopped in its tracked, turning quickly to face the Dark Jedi. "Yes, sir?"

"I'm in need of a speeder."



One Hour Later...



Whooooom!

It's fast, Jeseth thought, gripping the handles of a speeder bike, flying quickly over kilometers of tall grass. At times, the pull of gravity threatened to snatch him right off the bike. Queen Kylana had been quite generous when she honored his request for a vehicle. There was no doubt in his mind that she desperately wanted to find herself in his good graces.

Zoooooom!

Off in the distance, he could see the misty silhouette of the first monastery he intended to visit. It was just beyond a large expanse of forest.

[Cade Mercer]

Cade brought her tusk cat to a halt. The large predator sniffed the air a bit as its rider looked around. The ride thus far had been uneventful. She was a few hours out from the monastery when suddenly something didn’t feel right. She looks back over her shoulder in the direction she had come. It had been all fields so far but she was less then a hundred meters away from one of Naboo’s thick forests. She knew that in there, she would have to be on her toes. The gungans that lived within the swamps of the forests were known for attacking some people. She shook her head and dismounted from the tusk cat.

She began to lead her mount towards a small stream that flowed into the forest so that it could drink. She didn’t want to stop while within the forest. As the cat lowered its head to drink, she looked around again. Something was strange. A feeling she hadn’t had in a long time, sense before she could really remember. Her eyes strained against the bright sun, looking over the fields she had been traveling across.

Pain suddenly struck her mind. She grabbed her head and dropped to her knees as faded memories pierced her brain. Some winged figure dominated the images, but she could not make out the face. The visions kept pounding into her. The tusk cat raised its head from its drinking and nudged her shoulder with it’s snout. She pushed it away. Visions of the only being she remembered from her past, her Guardian Angel as she called him, kept surfacing in her mind. None of the visions were truly coherent, but shadows and faded figures moved about in them.

Finally, she managed to push the visions aside. She broke through them using the force that she still was unsure of how she knew how to use. Her mind cleared as if a fog lifted. She opens her eyes and looks around. The tusk cat stood a couple feet away, watching her curiously. When it was sure that she was all right, it came over and nudged her shoulder. She patted the side of its neck and used its offered facial tusks as support as she stood.

The overlying strange feeling hadn’t yet lifted, but at least the visions had cleared. She managed to climb back into the saddle of the cat and took one last look around. Investigating the visions would have to wait. In the mean time, she had to make it to Theed in another few days. Her focus now was to get through this forest. A lesson someone had taught her long ago came to mind.

“Focus on the here and now. Be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the present.”

From out of a saddle pack, she pulls out a single, rather dishelved white feather. She looks it over, smoothing it out before tieing it into her hair. She takes a deep breath then looks towards the line of trees before steering her cat into a loping gaunt into the forest.

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth slowed his speeder bike down, bring it to rest at the outskirts of a dark, silent forest. He shut off its engine and scanned the horizon in silence, his dark pupils expanding to take in greater amounts of light and peer through the trees. From where he stood, he could see a woman riding atop a beast, making her way through the forest. It was doubtful that she could see him. Something about her felt familiar - as if... No, I can't be sure yet, he thought, pushing the notion out of his mind. He began a quiet trek into the forest, bending tall grass under his feet as he went. Thorns snagged onto the hem of his robe.

He pulled his hood up and over his head, shading his eyes. His fingers wrapped around one of the lightsabers that were clipped to his belt; a lightsaber that had once belonged to his apprentice, Cade Mercer.

[Cade Mercer]

About an hour into her journey through the forest, she pulls the tusk cat to a halt. Both the rider and the mount pause, the cat’s ears swiveling this way and that. Both were straining to hear something that they could have sworn they heard only seconds before. The sound of an approaching being. Cade slowly and quietly slips off the cat and leads it silently behind a large tree. She presses herself up against the tree and focuses on the force, spreading her awareness out in the nearby vicinity.

There it was. The being she had heard. Its signature in the force seemed oddly familiar to her. Like someone you come across but cant quite put your finger on how you know them. Her ears strain to hear the sound of the beings foot steps approaching. They were good, very good at keeping their movement as silent as possible. Nevertheless, as it drew closer, she could barely make out the slight disturbance of the ground at their feet.

She crouches down beside the tree and waits the few seconds longer it takes for the being to come to the opposite side of the tree. At the last second, she suddenly springs out, round house kicking the person in the stomach and shoving them against the tree. The tusk cat comes up behind her, glaring at the hooded figure. Cade’s eyes glare along with the cat and a small growl escapes her throat.

“Who are you? Why are you following me?”

[Jeseth Cloak]

As the woman's foot quickly shot out towards Jeseth's stomach, his hands came out to meet it, and managed to absorb the wrost of the blow. She shoved him forcefully against the bark of a moist tree and stood there, glaring at him. His eyes fixed upon hers. The lines of her face, the shape of her lips, the intensity of her eyes - it all confirmed what he felt; she was Cade Mercer.

Cade had grown into a beautiful woman. Jeseth could hardly picture her as the same gangly, fragile child that she had once been. He raised a hand in her direction slowly... and used the Force to violently throw her back against a settled boulder. The tusk cat found itself unglued as well, and tumbled back, meeting with the thick bark of an immovable tree. It let out a pitiful wince, then sank its head into the foliage that lined the forest floor.

"Cade Mercer," the man in the Jedi robe boomed, "you are my apprentice." He lowered his hood, allowing her to see his face quite clearly.

[Cade Mercer]

Cade grunted as her back hit the boulder, forcefully. She sank to the ground as the air was knocked out of her, her eyes clenched shut, trying to fight through the pain. Her hands gripped the ground as visions flashed through her mind at a confusing rate again. She finally gains her breath back, the visions subsideing. Her eyes open in a glare at the man before her.

Slowly, she stands, her eyes dodgeing over to her fallen mount. Then she hears the man speak her full name, something she hasn't heard in 27 years. Her eyes widen as her head turns back to look at him, her mouth open in shock. His next words don't even register in her mind, the fact that he knew her real name was already a bit much.

Finally, she found her voice.

"Who.. are you?"

[Jeseth Cloak]

"Jeseth Cloak," he said, dettaching her old lightsaber from his belt. He tossed it to her, and it landed at her feet with a soft rustle. "Don't you remember me, Cade?" He came closer to her, letting her get a better look at him. That's when he noticed the feather that was tied into her hair.

[Cade Mercer]

Her eyes follow the arch of the lightsaber as it falls to her feet. She crouches down and picks up the lightsaber. She remains crouched there for a few moments, looking over the carvings well worn into the metal of the lightsaber. Her fingers run over them as they had years ago. It was obvious that, in recent years, it was rare for her to actively use the force at all.

Her eyes raise and look up at Jeseth after a moment of silence between them. They scan over the features of his face, her mind trying to break through the clouds that have filled her memories for years. His face did seem.. familier. And the name, now she knew the name. It was the name of her guardian-

"-angel...."

[Jeseth Cloak]

"That's what you called me then." He crouched down in front of her, looking deeper into her eyes. She was struggling to remember, and Jeseth could see that. "Use the Force, Cade. You're still the Jedi I taught you to be." He closed his eyes and - through the Force - gave her the clarity of mind she lacked. Together, they waited in silence for her memories to surface.

"It's alright," said Jeseth, taking a young Cade's hand and helping her up off of the ground. A remote hovered in the air just in front of her, hissing as it moved purposefully from side to side. It had struck her down effortlessly during her first attempt at weapon fire deflection, and sent her lightsaber rolling across the ground. As soon as she was on her feet, she moved to fetch it. Jeseth gripped her shoulder and shook his head disapprovingly, keeping her in place. "No," he said, looking over at the weapon. "Remember what you've learned."

The small girl's hand reached out towards the weapon timidly, trembling as it went. Her master, Jedi Master Jeseth Cloak, watched her with anticipation. The weapon on the floor began to shake, rattling softly upon the smooth floor of the Jedi Temple, dragging along the ground as if tethered to some unseen wire. The other Padawans, who before then had been consumed with focusing on their own training, came nearer to watch what Cade was doing. None of them had been able to mastering drawing objects towards themselves.

Snap!

The lightsaber sprung up off the ground and into Cade's hand, smacking against her palm loudly. She felt her master's hand squeeze her shoulder encouragingly.

[Cade Mercer]

Her eyes unfocus as she falls into a bit of a reverie, leaning back against the boulder. Memories flood her mind. Training as a child with the rest of the class. The moment Jeseth chose her to be his apprentice. The day he left her at the Academy. The moment that she refused to kill someone at his command, and the moments, four years later, that she had taken the life of those that had attacked the Academy.

Her eyes raise and meet his. She saw hatred... and fear. Not his fear. Her own.

"I... killed them. I did as you wanted.. When they attacked, I killed them..."

[Jeseth Cloak]

"I know," he said, standing up and reaching for his lightsaber. "I saw the bodies... when I came back to Coruscant." For too long, Jeseth had put off doing what in his heart he knew that he must.

Snap-hiss!

The lightsaber's crimson beam errupted into view, trailing through the air. He brought it up above her head, and with a flick of his wrist, brought it down upon both of her shoulders in turn, singing her garment. "When we last met, you were but a learner; now, you are a Jedi Knight." The lightsaber faded away in a whisper, and Jeseth clipped it back onto his belt. His hand reached down and gripped her armed, pulling her to her feet. "You completed your training that night." He smiled and gave her a hug. He knew that she would feel the absence of his wings. "In time, I will teach you a great deal more..."

That night when they left Naboo, Jeseth only told her that they were headed for Rodia (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?p=254917#post254917).