The cool of the morning (Complete)

[Rev Solomon]

With the ranks of the Jedi Enclave swelling more and more every time Solomon returned to the Wheel, it was getting difficult to find solitude on the Whaladon. If it kept up, they were going to have to go to an all-shifts training schedule so the students didn't overcrowd the cargo bays. Fortunately, most of the Jedi were still on a standard sleep schedule, which meant that Solomon, who rose early even by Jedi standards, had the observation lounge all to himself.

Time was meaningless in space, but the angle of the nearby sun in the large forward viewports made a decent proxy for a real sunrise. Solomon walked quietly through the broken shafts of light, clutching a beaten old Book to his chest. He'd left his long nerfhide coat in the cabin of the medical shuttle Exodus and was clad simply in a black shirt with a white collar and a pair of weathered gray trousers. He stepped up to one of the viewports and stared seachingly into the void of space.

"Good morning, Lord," he said. "Well, you know why I'm here. I'm at a crossroads. I believe I'm doing a good work for the Jedi here. I'm just not sure it's the right work for me to be doing."

He sighed, steaming up the transparisteel with his warm breath. Idly, he wiped it away with his sleeve.

"You gave me a flock to shepherd on Dantooine, and I tried my best to do right by them. Now you've brought me here. Do you want me to be a shepherd? A seeker to the lost? A soldier? Is there something I'm supposed to learn here? I don't think I'm particularly wise or powerful, not compared to some of the Jedi here--"

The preacher stopped himself and shook his head as if he'd just been chided.

"There I go again, worrying about my own strength. If you've got something for me to do here, I know you'll provide a way. I just... I wish to heaven you'd make it plain to me."

The Whaladon rolled gently into a course change, and the sun disappeared for a moment from the viewports. Solomon saw his own reflection, and, behind him, the reflection of someone standing near the doorway of the lounge. He turned around with a look of surprise.

[Abarai Loki]

There was a long silence which occupied the space between them, in which the boy folded his arms and indulged himself a series of measured glances around the room, as if in search of something. Finally, his gaze returned to the man standing across from him, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Are you quite well?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon mirrored the boy's bemused expression, wondering how long he'd been standing back there.

"I'm just fine," the preacher said, giving a wry smile. "How are you?"

The boy didn't seem convinced. "I was just praying," Solomon clarified. "You know. Talking to God."

[Abarai Loki]

"Talking... to God."

The tone of his voice betrayed every inch of his doubt, an eyebrow raised in assessment of the man, and his civillian attire. He decide to investigate, and something very close to a sigh escaped his lips as he pressed forward. This person was no stranger, not to the Rebellion and certainly not to the Whaladon, often he ferried fledgling Jedi young and old to their new home here, but never did he stay very long. There was an element of mystery about him, as there was with many old people, and the boy was intrigued.

"You are a Jedi, are you not?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon had encountered all manner of skeptics, from the polite to the condescending to the downright hostile. He was long beyond taking personal offense. He smiled back at the boy's openly dubious reception.

"Yes, I am," he said, moving the Book to the crook of his arm. "I was training as a Jedi warrior before the Purge. I'm not sure we've met. My name's Solomon."

He extended a hand in friendship.

[Abarai Loki]

It was after a brief spell of hesitation that Loki took his hand. He found the handshake a crude and excessively close gesture at the best of times, let alone when used between strangers.

"My name is Abarai Loki," he offered, and processing Solomon's words, asked, "Do you no longer consider yourself a warrior?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon watched the boy carefully, fascinated by his formal mannerisms. Loki's reputation had preceded him, though the preacher had taken what he'd heard about the young knight with a grain of salt.

"Oh, I haven't fought since the Clone Wars," he replied. "I haven't had cause to knock the rust off my lightsaber until just recently. I thought my Jedi days were far behind me, but the Lord had other ideas, I suppose."

[Abarai Loki]

"Who is this Lord?"

He asked the question with what could only be described as irritable curiosity; it was an affront to his nature when he heard the Jedi life referred to as something temporary, like a job, and it was an attitude he was regularly coming across aboard the Whaladon. On the other hand, his talk of a Jedi superior had his interest piqued.

"And did he order you to join us?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon had a feeling Loki wouldn't stand still for a sermon, or even a well-rehearsed summary of the articles of the Faith, but an invitation like that was too much for a preacher to resist.

He moved to one of the padded chairs arranged for taking in the view and sat down, and it seemed like a long way down for someone of his height. "The Lord is one of the names of God," he said. "You see, he created everything we see. And his power still permeates the universe and binds it together. The Force. It's the manifestation of God acting in creation. Another Jedi probably would say he was led here by the Force. But I believe that the will of the Force and the hand of God are one and the same."

[Abarai Loki]

"A superstition," said Loki, with grim recognition, "It is tragic when a sentient species worships suns and dances to the tunes of mythical beings. But for a Jedi to fall victim to such nonsense is truly an abomination."

It disappointed him greatly to think such a wise and enlightened being could reduce himself to wasteful idol worship. He had fought in the Clone Wars. And it was not unheard of for even the most battle-hardened warriors to lose spirit, war taking its toll on their minds, making them fragile. He tore his gaze from the golden panorama beyond the viewport and looked once again upon this man, Solomon, seeing him in a new light.

"Is it not enough to believe you are in control of your own destiny?"

[Rev Solomon]

"Oh, I used to," Solomon admitted. "Wanted to control my own destiny, to discover my own truth. What I discovered was that that kind of philosophy is ultimately self-serving and self-defeating. We are finite beings. We can only look inward so far before we shrink into nothing at all. But the universe is vast."

He turned his eyes toward the glory of the heavens outside the viewport. "Our souls were meant to look outward and expand, not turn inward and collapse."

[Abarai Loki]

"You are assuming a man in control of his own life seeks only to help himself. I have no petty needs or selfish desires and yet I do not seek justification in the will of an invisible man."

It was disconcerting. Solomon seemed so at ease with his madness, so confident in the existance of his god that he would willingly twist reason and bend logic to serve his argument. No doubt, Loki thought, the man is a shadow of his former self: the noble warrior. His expression became quizzical.

"This notion of predetermination is baffling. Do you not trust your own judgement, Solomon?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon laughed. "I don't wait for the word of God to speak from a burning bush, if that's what you mean. I could tell you every decision I've made that's brought me from circuit-riding on Dantooine to sitting before you right now, but I never would have guessed the end from the beginning. Just look at this place. Almost thirty years since the Temple was destroyed, and by rights none of us should be alive. But we are, and we're growing and gathering when most of the galaxy wants us wiped out. Now, I've spoken to enough of the Jedi here to know they didn't plan this out. So who did?"

[Abarai Loki]

"My finding you in this room today wasn't planned, but it happened. Survival is in the nature of all living things. My master trained me so that I would pass on his knowledge and preserve the Jedi legacy. In seeking out others like myself I came across the Wheel. There was no divine power influencing my actions, I assure you."

Quite content with his reasoning, Loki sat opposite the preacher, waiting for him to concede to his clearly superior powers of logic.

[Rev Solomon]

"I'm not saying we don't have our reasons," Solomon replied. "Just that there's a reason higher than ours. The Jedi teach that much."

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "I don't mean to make you come around to my way of thinking. But there is a danger in wanting to control too much. After all, helping another person means giving up some of that control. Otherwise, you're just using them for your own goals."

[Abarai Loki]

"The Will of the Force," he said, it was not a concept alien to him for it had been discussed in his years as a padawan, "I do not believe the Force has a will of its own, and certainly not one it inflicts upon others, for if it did then the source of all our power would be an extremely self-destructive thing indeed."

Every man, woman, and child who sought the Jedi hoped to glean wisdom from their teachings. If this new breed were instructed to set aside their ability to think and instead act on the whims of a mystical energy field then Loki feared for their future. Drawing on memory, his countenance became grave, and he continued:

"Darkness falls through the acts of wicked men. Men without control. And it is through discipline and control of the self that a Jedi influences his environment and the people around him for the greater good."

[Rev Solomon]

"Do you think Emperor Palpatine lacked control?"

Solomon let the question hang on the air for a moment. His face open and frank compared to Loki's grave frown.

"There are two ways a man can fall: by weakness and by strength. Our best efforts will turn to ruin if they are not guided by a higher ideal. What is the ideal that guides you, Abarai Loki?"

[Abarai Loki]

"Preservation," he answered immediately, "My master honoured me with his teachings and it is my duty to preserve his legacy; a legacy that was almost lost to history. I will pass on my knowledge in the hope that one day the light of the Jedi will be rekindled throughout the galaxy."

Loki was nothing without a sense of purpose and from a very young age he'd understood the part he had to play, now it was much a part of who he was as it was what he was...

"And you, old warrior Solomon, what does this Lord tell you to do?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon smiled and patted the old leatherbound Book in his hand.

"To act justly, love mercy, and walk in humility. And isn't that the heart of the Jedi code?"

[Abarai Loki]

Considering his words at length, Loki finally spoke, "It is."

While it didn't sit well with him that this disillusioned, once great, Jedi warrior may find some degree of reassurance in his concession, he couldn't honestly dispute his point, even if his choice of words had been a little soft. He leaned forward, intrigued.

"So, in principle the Jedi code and your superstitions are aligned, are you then implying the Jedi way is not enough? Why turn to prayer?"

[Rev Solomon]

"Because the power of God pulled me back from the Dark Side."

It was something he'd never told a soul. Funny how easily it came out now. His face darkened under a cloud of bad memories.

"I was fighting on Geonosis with Master Soren Tau when Order 66 was issued. I was in a command bunker when an AT-TE opened fire on his position - just melted the rock underneath him. Then it turned toward me. Brought the mesa down on top of me.

"Somehow I survived. I crawled out of the rubble, a mass of burns and broken bones, and I healed myself with what little skill I possessed. The battle was long over, and the clones had withdrawn, but the worst injury came when I learned what had happened to the Jedi all over the galaxy. It was like my soul had torn in two. I wanted revenge for my master, my friends, for the pain of my own heart.

"I don't like to think back on what I did in those days. The Dark Side is a fire that demands to be fed. You start with your enemies. And then your friends. Then your peace, and your compassion, and your love. And bit by bit, you feed it until it consumes you. And everything I did, I believed it was a calculated sacrifice. An act of self-control for a higher purpose."

[Abarai Loki]

"You-"

Loki hesitated, words failing him at first as he fixed Solomon with a wide-eyed stare. And behind those bright cyan eyes an ocean of feeling bubbled and frothed. The preacher's tale had him transfixed, and the first pressing question tumbled from his lips, when the astonishing truth stared him plainly in the face.

"There is redemption... from the Dark Side?"

[Rev Solomon]

To see this stoic young man transform from doubt to wide-eyed wonder was incredible. Solomon sensed they were approaching a very delicate moment.

"Yes," he said, plainly. "For a time, I didn't believe it myself. I thought I was beyond reclamation. And then I was shot down by Imperial forces over Generis. I crashed near a temple that a small group of believers had made into a monastery. Beings from a dozen different worlds, some of them deserters from the Clone Army. They tended my injuries, and they taught me about the Faith. It took a long time. But eventually I found solace, and I found forgiveness."

[Abarai Loki]

His eyes roamed the face of the man sat in front of him, searching for a clue, any hint that he had once been plagued by the Dark Side. There was nothing to be seen in those soft features of his, and Loki wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for; evidence of scarring perhaps, or some hideous deformity. His gaze fell at last to the leatherbound tome cradled in the preacher's hands.

"But how?" he asked, looking up to Solomon, "How did you purge yourself of all that hate? The... believers at the monastery, what did they do to you?"

[Rev Solomon]

"They showed me love," Solomon replied.

[Abarai Loki]

"No," he said instantly, then with growing frustration, "No, Solomon, you do not understand."

He stood suddenly, and raised his hands as if trying to grasp something invisible in the air, he continued:

"The believers did something to you. They changed you in a way which is both tangible and real. You had fallen, Solomon, and they saved you from madness. What power did they possess?"

[Rev Solomon]

"I understand, Loki. I understand exactly where I was."

Solomon took a deep breath and, silently, said a prayer for insight.

"It wasn't the power of the monks that pulled me out of darkness," he said. "They only showed me it could be done. The saving was up to the power of God. I could not atone for what I had done. I needed forgiveness, but the people I had wronged were not there to forgive me. So God did it in their place."

[Abarai Loki]

"God... forgave you," he uttered, any semblance of emotion suddenly gone from his voice, and he was once again held in the vice-grip of hard logic. His gaze fell upon Solomon like a hammer.

"You created a thing of fiction to relieve you the burden of your transgressions. The last desperate bid of a man with nothing left to lose. And you claim this is the path to salvation?"

[Rev Solomon]

The surging hope that had brought a sparkle to Solomon's eyes faded. Not because Loki was rejecting him, but because the connection they had held, that electric attraction between two souls, had just been broken.

"You said yourself that I was changed in a real and tangible way," the preacher said. "Now, you can believe that what I said is untrue. Or you can believe that I did stumble on some great power, only I didn't have a name for it and called it something else. But there is a power that is greater than the Dark Side. A power that is not limited to the Force-adept, but is open to everyone. What you do with that power, Abarai Loki, is up to you."

[Abarai Loki]

It was difficult for Loki to remain and humour the words of this preacher any longer. A man cannot forgive himself for the wrongs of the past, much less accept redemption from some kind of false idol, a superstition. He had been taught to bear the weight of his actions through life, the good and the bad, and in turn grow stronger, forging his burdens into a will of steel. And now he looked upon Solomon, a saved man, and found himself conflicted.

"If you were indeed once tainted by the Dark Side you have found a way to overcome its corruption. You have deluded yourself with prayer," here he shot a condemning glance at Solomon's book, "And credit gods with your achievements. Once you were lost in the dark but you are now blinded by the light."

[Rev Solomon]

"I don't suppose I'll be able to change your mind," Solomon said. "All I can give you is my testimony of what I have come to believe is true. The Dark Side can be purged from man's heart. Believe that, if you believe nothing else I've told you."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"Can, but beyond any certainty, and certainly redemption is as rare an act as to warrant Loki's surprise."

It was unbecoming for Anbira to eavesdrop, but his own solace had been interrupted by the nearby heated conversation between the two. He walked over to join the conversation.

"Redemption isn't without precedent. I would hardly consider it license to teeter to the edge and back, however."

[Abarai Loki]

"The edge of what?" Loki snapped irritably, wheeling on Anbira, "There is no talk of flirting with evil here."

Offended by the implication, he glanced back to Solomon to reinforce his point, adding: "I want to know what changes within a man who is saved from darkness."

[Rev Solomon]

Anbira's intrusion was unexpected but not unwelcome. Solomon had yet to do more than pass the man in the corridor, and he was eager to hear what he had to say.

"I'd like to hear your story myself," he said. "Have you seen the power of God as well?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

That elicited a curious expression.

"If one exists, I've not yet met him, or her perhaps."

Anbira thought about that some more.

"I can, however, understand applying personification to the perception of the Force's will."

He glanced to Loki with a knowing nod.

"If, that is, one is inclined to believe such a thing exists."

Curious as to how he would even broach that topic, Anbira rubbed at his beard a little.

"The force exists in us all, and every being aware of that has will of their own. If there's a will involved, I think it would be the collective sum of our character. Whether you interpret that as one voice, I think would depend on what you wish to hear."

He looked to Loki with a deeper nodding of his head.

"No offense intended. Talk of the dark side and the return from the abyss is a topic I'm familiar with."

[Abarai Loki]

"How?"

His voice carried an abbraisive edge, betraying every inch of his impatience and his hunger for fact. But despite his frosty demeanor, the young Jedi now had eyes only for Anbira and listened intently.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"My time in seclusion on Felucia brought me across a great many spirits in the force. One of which was that of Anakin Skywalker. The fall of Skywalker is a topic we know much about, but his final act was redemption."

He was sure there were doubts. He'd shared in them too. But he would do a disservice by lying or remaining silent on the issue.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon took in a long, trembling breath. "Skywalker turned back?"

The shock on the preacher's face was every bit as profound as Loki's had been just a few moments ago - the thought that the man who had betrayed the Jedi Order, who had butchered younglings in their beds, who had launched a campaign of terror and genocide at the command of the most evil man known to history - the very idea that Darth Vader himself could have found absolution for his sins was a test even for a man of faith, even though he could see the poison of hypocrisy in his doubt, in the outrage that threatened to boil up into a storm of emotions he thought he'd long put to rest.

Solomon bowed his head and pushed a hand through his short, wiry hair, then lifted his eyes toward the younger Jedi, fighting to keep the accusation from burning through. "How do you know?"

[Abarai Loki]

Anakin Skywalker. His entire life up until this point had been spent in seclusion away from the rest of the galaxy, untouched by matters of politics or war. And yet even Abarai Loki recognised that name: Anakin Skywalker, the betrayer. The implications in Anbira's words supported the claims of Solomon but Loki was far from becoming a believer. First, God, and now spirits of the Force? His eyes narrowed in doubt but he was once again seated, content to listen while his elders discussed things of which he had little knowledge or, it seemed much to his concern, no understanding.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira looked a bit sheepish, completely understanding how absurd his explanation would fall on other ears. Still, he stuck to it.

"I can only say by my own experience. If Skywalker's ghost is a liar, no other spirit called him into account for his misdeed."

Continuing, Anbira looked out of a viewport to recall the tale.

"The way it was told to me, the events on the Death Star unfolded in a protracted duel between father and son. Between Luke and Darth Vader, with the Emperor eager to claim the victor as his own. Luke teetered dangerously toward the dark side during the fight, and dismembered Vader's right hand. Only then did he realize his folly, and refused to commit to the coup de grace.

The Emperor, furious, set about to destroy Luke, unleashing lighting upon him that he was unable to defend against. With the life of his son in the balance, Anakin at last cast off his yoke of oppression, rising against the Emperor. He cast Palpatine down a shaft in his throne room, killing him."

He turned again to look at the others.

"It may very well be a fiction. I choose to believe it. I leave that choice to each of you in turn."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon's heart shuddered in his chest. It was a stunning tale, like so many that were told in his Book. So why was it that he didn't want to believe it?

"One can strike down an old tormentor out of anger," he said. "Or guilt. Did... did he say why he did it? Did he say what changed him?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira looked down slightly.

"Out of love."

He attempted to clarify himself.

"Luke knew there was good still in his heart. Vader tried repeatedly to deny this, but once Anakin overthrew the darkness that had enslaved him, he could not see his son destroyed. He didn't enter the fray out of his own preservation. It was to save Luke. That decision cost him his life. He spent his last moments validating his son's faith in him."

With a sigh, Anbira looked at both of them.

"Or so it is said. I admit, I have little but the ability to hear oral histories of those who are no longer with us."

[Rev Solomon]

The preacher gasped as if he'd touched something hot, and his eyes glittered with tears. At that moment, he knew, and as much as he wanted to deny it, the testimony had been made plain for all who had ears to hear.

"It's true," he said, almost in a whisper. "Bless my soul, it's true. 'Greater love hath no man than this: that he lays down his life for his friend.'"

Large tears spilled over and left dark lines on Solomon's cheeks, but he made no move to wipe them away.

"Brother, you have been given a wondrous gift."

[Abarai Loki]

In his seat Loki was bent double, head bowed, hands clasped; the uneducated observer might be forgiven for thinking him in prayer, but he was lost in memory. Anbira's words struck a resonance with him, throbbing like musical chords, shaking him to the core. His tale, the story of father and son exchanging death blows, dancing on the precipice of darkness, to be saved by their... love, finding salvation through sacrifice...

His jaw clenched and hands squeezed, holding all feeling at bay, for Solomon had put on a display for a dozen men. The fluttering in his stomach subsided and the questions he wanted to ask were pushed aside for something which was, to the organised mind, more pertinent. He lifted his head and found Anbira's gaze.

"These spirits," he began softly, "Are they real?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira opened his mouth to speak, not sure how to answer that. Real to whom? By what criteria. Real if you believe, or real if you can hear?

"What is real? A perception of your mind, it is."

A faint blue figure cut through the thin air before the three Jedi. He wore a face of serene understanding and infinite patience.

Anbira closed his eyes, always in reverence to those who visited him. This was the first time they'd chosen to do so among others.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon's mouth fell open at the apparition before them, his face still wet with tears. The only one of the three who had seen Master Yoda in life, in his heart and mind there could be no mistaking that he was looking at the greatest and wisest Jedi who had ever lived.

"Master Yoda," he said, his face shining. "You honor us with your presence."

[Abarai Loki]

On his feet in an instant, Loki gaped at the miniscule apparation occupying the space next to Anbira. His gaze then cut from one Jedi to the other, looking for a clue - some hint of foul play. He sensed nothing from either of them, and with narrowed eyes, returned his scrutiny to the hazy phantom stood before them. Cautiously he approached, hesitated, then poked a probing finger through its forehead.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"HRRRMMM!!"

Putting on a face of annoyance at Loki's attempt to divine something of the spirit by touching it (and causing a corona of blue light around the boy's finger as it 'punched through' his head), Yoda reciprocated, reaching forward with an etheral claw to bore into Loki's own forehead.

"My head, this is! Find something you need in there, did you?"

Anbira spoke to break the ice a bit.

"No more skeptical than I was, for many years."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon covered his mouth with his hand - partly out of awe, partly to stifle the quiet laughter shaking his shoulders. A part of him was in a holy terror at the prospect of letting Master Yoda see him in such a state, tears still wet on his cheeks, laughing like a schoolboy at Loki's brazen curiosity - he must have looked like a mess. But then, what did it matter? Yoda hadn't revealed himself to critique their manners.

The preacher wiped his face with his hands and looked deeply into the apparition. There was a time he'd thought that, given the chance, he'd have a million questions for the ancient master. But his mind seemed to have dried up.

"Master, I... I don't know where to begin."

[Abarai Loki]

Loki hopped defensively from the spirit's reach, eyeing it with fierce suspicion. But there could be no denying what stood in plain sight, despite the protestations of the logical mind, instinct granted clarity. His training kept him focused and while Solomon appeared overwhelmed, Loki adamantly was not. Awe could wait. He wanted answers.

"Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi's bane, walks as a spirit like you. And he has found redemption?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Yoda regarded his student of long ago with a look of wistful, yet serene understanding, dipping his head just barely in empathy to the emotion their reunion stirred.

"Solomon, a long time, it has been. Much wisdom do I see in your eyes."

The little one's curiosity was boiling over, so Yoda addressed him in turn.


"Yesss...strange this must seem, and strange it is. Though returned Skywalker did, narrow the road to redemption still is.

Be claimed by death, life cannot. Be defeated by the dark, the light cannot. Though troubles great may be, and losses many, the way of all things, this is."

He looked again to Solomon, a smile as tribute to the ember of faith he felt in him.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon wasn't certain if he deserved Yoda's praise, but it lifted his spirits nonetheless. Every Jedi who had known the old master had been molded by the experience.

"This is a sign from the Force to all of us," the preacher said. "Light from the darkness, life from death. A new Jedi Order gathered from exile. The Force is returning to balance once more. But what are we to do? How are we to serve the will of the Force? Our remnant is still small, and fragile, and vulnerable. There are so few who even remember the Temple anymore."

[Abarai Loki]

"Yes," Loki found himself uttering in agreement with the talking apparition.

It made perfect sense to him that a fallen Jedi seeking redemption would have to walk a long and difficult path. He glanced briefly at Solomon, a beacon of serenity, and wondered of his past tribulations. Then he broke away to slowly circle Anbira and his ghostly companion. What was it about this grizzly ex-soldier that had him operating as some sort of spiritual transceiver?

"And other Jedi... are they all capable of such... unnatural manifestation?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"Not all, my young friend."

A second apparition appeared at Yoda's side. This man was humanoid, with a close-cropped grey beard, long hair, and a deep, confident voice.

"Master Qui Gonn."

Anbira's head dipped in respect to the Jedi Master.

"Our spirits, as you see them before you, are here at the result of nearly forgotten training, kept by an ancient sect known as the Order of the Whills. I taught this to Master Yoda and to my own padawan, and they in turn imparted the wisdom in their own way."

Qui Gonn's spirit looked to Yoda, and back to the living Jedi.

"It is an old power from a time long ago, brought into use in a desperate time, when we all sensed a great change in the Force."

Yoda nodded, and continued.

"Knew, did we, that a time to teach would come. Come before you, others have, and left from us as well have they. Know well of Luke Skywalker, you do."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon's mind was fired with the possibilities - the Jedi masters of old, manifested again to teach the new, to guide this remnant until they could stand on their own and find their own way. He wondered for a moment if he might be able to see Master Tau again.

"Vader's son," he said, forcing himself back into the present. "I've heard the stories. How he brought back hope to the Rebellion. And now, that he found a way to bring his father back to the light."

He grew somber again. "We could use a Jedi with that kind of spirit now."

[Abarai Loki]

When a second spirit appeared Loki sprung back, his hand reaching instinctively for his lightsaber. Fortunately, in circling the group he'd found himself behind them and the momentary departure of his senses went mercifully unnoticed. He listened to the ghostly figures, lines of disbelief etched deeply into his youthful face. The Order of the Whills. Life after death. All logic and reason buried under the weight of strange truths.

He was silent at first, scrabbling for something tangible for him to wrap his mind around. Then it came to him in Solomon's words, and his defeatist tone. The fire in his belly rekindled and concepts of immortality and fate where swept aside as he turned his eyes on him.

"So preacher, is it in God alone you place your faith? Your words do your brothers a disservice! Surely you realise we are gathered here with a common purpose or is it simply that you lack the courage of your convictions?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Yoda nodded with vigor.

"To the young one, you must listen! Believe you must, if you wish to prevail."

Qui Gon added to Yoda's admonition.


"Even as spirits in the ether, our time in the Force without limit. We come to you, to bolster your resolve, and to give strength to those who persevere. This is our last remaining duty as Jedi. Our time among you is limited."

Anbira looked to Qui Gon's apparition with a troubled expression.

"You're leaving?"

He wasn't prepared to hear that.

[Rev Solomon]

Abashed, Solomon bowed his head. He realized how he'd sounded - he'd taken the wrong lesson out of this experience. Loki's indignant rebuke and the past masters' farewell carried the same meaning.

"We should listen to the wisdom of the young, Anbira," the preacher said. "The time for spirits and visions from the past is over. Skywalker built a bridge from the Old Order to the New, and now it's up to us to keep building."

He found Yoda's ethereal eyes with new understanding. "They came to give us their blessing. If the Force is with us, who can stand against us?"

[Abarai Loki]

"Well spoken, old warrior Solomon!"

There was steel in his voice and his eyes burned with intensity as he set his gaze on the wizened preacher, he gave him a satisfied nod. Solomon's fighting words appealed to Loki's on every level, and renewed, he fell into rank alongside him. In the small gloomy room they stood, the future facing the past, an infinity of possiblity hung in the space between them. He bowed deeply before the spirits.

"Masters of old, you honour us with your wisdom," he rose again, a characteristic curiosity perched on his parted lips, "Forgive me, but it is that wisdom I must question..."

They were the spirits of great Jedi, at one with the Force even in death, and in accepting this it pained him to show his superiors such disrespect. It went against everything he was taught but, recalling his master's old tales, there was one question which had haunted him since he was old enough to think. He bowed his head.

"How did you fail?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

A third apparition, and then a fourth appeared. One appeared as an older man, with thinning hair, a beard, and eyes tinged with something wistful. Another had youth to his appearance, a confident look to him with hair nearly at his shoulders.

"You speak of the Purge, young Loki. Of the dark times."

Obi Wan Kenobi looked to his student, Anakin Skywalker.

"For over a thousand years, the Jedi Order had known nothing but peace and tranquility. The Sith had not been seen for lifetimes, and this led to complacency, even in the best of us."

Obi Wan looked to Solomon, who he knew held an inkling of that sort of understanding.

"The Dark Side of the Force, well applied, can cloud the vision of even those best suited to see. By the time even this could not be hidden, the machinations of evil were already set into motion.

Our lack of vision was a mistake. We are here, with you now, to ensure it is not a failure."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon folded his hands beneath his chin, eyes fixed on the elder masters in a faraway stare. It was painful to look back on those days and to remember what evil had grown unattended in their midst. What Master Kenobi had said was true, from a certain point of view, but he didn't feel it was the whole truth.

"I'd often wondered," he said, "how one man armed with the Dark Side could've brought down the whole Jedi Order, and the Republic with it. For a time I thought it was because the Dark Side was stronger, that its practitioners were freer to act, while the Light Side was inherently passive. But I was wrong.

"It was in the monastery on Generis that I realized the truth. The Dark Side feeds on strife and discord, on fear, hate, and despair. The Republic had become a seething heap of corruption, made up of politicians and warlords who gnawed on the bones of their people, who built their kingdoms on the backs of the defenseless. We were meant to be their defenders, their advocates, the light of the galaxy. But we had become enamored with our own glory, our own traditions, and had forgotten our way. In a galaxy full of pain, we had become irrelevant. And the Sith used that pain to expose our decadence and destroy us."

It was hard to speak such a damning eulogy, especially in the hearing of the great Jedi whom he had grown up admiring and emulating. But then, in defiance to his wildest imaginations, he lifted his face to look into the eyes of Anakin Skywalker, and he smiled.

"But your son, Anakin. Your son gave us a power that is greater than anything the Emperor could wield. He gave us new hope."

[Abarai Loki]

"Failure is not an option," Loki said defiantly, inspired by Solomon's hard words. He folded his arms and continued:

"We face the future armed with both hope and the lessons of the past. Your teachings will be remembered. The Jedi way, preserved. We will rise and we will not lose our way, after all, who could ever forget such..."

He hesitated, and assessed his immediate surroundings with palpable distaste, "...frugal roots."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

The last spirit to appear was that of Luke Skywalker.

"Carry on where we left off. There are those you protect in the galaxy that will never know, understand, or appreciate the burden you choose to carry. Even if they never can, you are the guardians of light, justice, and peace in the galaxy. Your task may never become easy, but it must be done."

Nodding to the living Jedi with understanding, Luke continued.

"May the Force be with you all."

And with that, the spirits at last departed, leaving Anbira to think about one thing they said above all others. Their time among the living was nearing an end. Why?

[Rev Solomon]

Just that quickly, the living representatives of the Jedi Order were alone once more to contemplate the things they had just seen and heard. They kept the silence for several more pensive moments, each lost in their own thoughts, until finally Solomon spoke.

"Gentlemen, we have been given a mighty responsibility. For my part, I came here this morning looking for purpose. I can't say I know what the future holds any more than you do, but I think our purpose has been confirmed."

He smiled broadly at his two companions. "If Luke Skywalker saw the way to Darth Vader's redemption, there is hope for the rest of the galaxy. It's time for us to spread the word."