Author's Note:
I noticed from the public comments to my last chapter, posted many months ago, that an RPG has been started in the forums picking up where Ch. 14 left off. By all means, don't let this latest posting interfere with wherever your RPG has gone. It was never my intention to leave everyone hanging for so long, but a variety of factors in life (moving across country, starting law school, etc.) conspired to keep me from continuing as quickly as I would've liked. It is still my intention to finish this story as I've imagined it in my head - the hard part is just getting it all down in type. I appreciate the comments everyone has sent, especially those from people who have waited several months for me to post new installments. I hope there are some of you still around to read this one! I've taken the liberty of throwing in a side adventure involving some characters from Knights of the Old Republic II. Hopefully more people will enjoy it rather than hate it.
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Chapter 15 – Flames
The sun was slowly setting behind the hills, illuminating the Dantooinian plains with golden rays of light. Eryn sat at the banks of a babbling brook, where she and her mentor methodically cleansed their bodies with rags, wet from the crystal clear waters. The two women were stripped to their undergarments, each focused mainly on their own bodies as they washed away a day's worth of grit and dust. The setting sun cast is last beams of light upon them, giving their toned bodies a majestic bronze glow. They had just finished helping out a family of settlers who had become the unfortunate victims of a Kath hound attack after the power supply to the perimeter fence around their home suffered a malfunction. Fortunately, nobody had been injured.
"You did well back there," Eryn's instructor, a red-haired woman not more than ten years older than her, commented. "Your skills are improving very rapidly."
"Thank you," Eryn replied, running her washcloth over her shoulders and her collarbone. "I'm just glad we got there in time. That family was just moments from disaster."
"It seems like they've had plenty of that – the mother explained to me that her husband died a few years ago, also attacked by Kath hounds. It's why they put up that fence in the first place."
"How awful!" Eryn commented, feeling a twinge of pain for the family's loss. "I'm really glad we were able to help them get the fence back online."
"They were very grateful for our help," her instructor replied. "We should keep an eye on them while we're here, though."
"Her son mentioned that their power converters have been acting up," Eryn added, sitting down on a rock and washing her feet in the brook. "If we have time, I'd like to take a look at them."
"That's definitely a good idea – it might prevent the fence from acting up as much as it does."
"He also mentioned something about another Jedi, here on Dantooine."
This caught her instructor's attention.
"Another Jedi?" she asked. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," Eryn replied. "I was confused too, since I didn't think the Academy had assigned another student to Dantooine for training. But he was insistent – said the man had a lightsaber and everything."
Eryn's instructor was silent, looking off in the direction of the setting sun.
"Do you know anything about this?" Eryn prodded.
"I... well... no, it could be anything really," her mentor finally replied. "A lot of mercenaries looted the remnants of the Jedi Enclave here after Malak bombed the surface. I wouldn't be surprised if some are still around here, toting lightsabers they stole from the ruins. I'll look into it some more if we have the time – you shouldn't trouble yourself with rumors."
"Are you sure everything is all right?" Eryn asked, sensing some hesitation on her master's part.
"Yeah, everything is fine," the woman replied, shaking droplets of water from her cropped red hair. "I'm going to go over the hills and make sure no more Kath hounds are lingering around the area – once you're done here, go ahead and call it a night."
The redheaded woman left her student hurriedly, returning to her tent to dress. She quickly threw on her clothes of choice, slipping back out the tent and then walking briskly up the nearby hills. She stopped at a distance, looking back at the stream to make certain that her student was all right on her own. Already the lithe brunette had resumed her bathing. Normally she would not leave a student alone on a training venture, but the rumors of a Jedi in the area had captured her attention. She picked up her pace, racing over the hills and plains in the direction of the abandoned Jedi enclave. The structure had been obliterated, along with much of the surface of Dantooine, during Malak's bombardment of the planet during the Jedi Civil War. Although the Jedi Order had recovered rather healthily, following a period of darkness and devastation, Dantooine was still a work in progress. Many of the settlers who fled the planet never returned. The ruins of old farms and settlements dotted the landscape, warding away many newcomers. Mercenaries and wild animals still roamed the plains at will, although efforts by the fledgling administration had reduced the presence of both. The area surrounding the enclave ruins was by far the least populated. Although the population of predatory laigreks in the area had dropped significantly, superstition and mistrust of the Jedi ways kept many from settling in the region. The enclave itself was the only mark of civilization visible in the area. Malak's orbital bombardment had destroyed the entire structure, but it later had been mysteriously rebuilt – whether it was by the will of the Force itself or by the efforts of the last few Jedi in hiding before they were killed was a matter of hushed speculation amongst even the most knowledgeable of Jedi scholars.
As she approached the enclave, the woman noticed a few insectoid corpses littering the path – laigreks. One of the deceased creatures' legs was still twitching, nerves still reacting to the sudden loss of communication with the creature's mind, indicating a recent kill. And from the looks of the creatures' injuries, they were recent kills by a lightsaber. The woman took pause, closing her eyes and reaching out with the Force, while simultaneously reaching for her lightsaber with her right hand. While her hand found the familiar hilt hanging from her belt all too easily, she found nothing of what she sought through the Force – no indication of a Force-adept, whether Jedi, outcast, or Sith. In fact, she sensed little at all – as if the enclave itself were surrounded by some element of the Force, shielding it from her mind's eye. She reached over to a small datapad embedded in the arm plating of the scout armor she wore and activated it. She doubted the traditional tracking sensors built into her armor would aide her where the Force could not, but she didn't want to take any chances. As she approached the entrance to the enclave's courtyard level, she saw that a wall panel had recently been cut out in order to access the controls of the door. Apparently whoever did it had reactivated the door's proximity sensor, as it opened readily before her. She glanced quickly at the sensor display on her arm. Nothing. The readout was corroborated by the emptiness she felt in the Force. She lifted her lightsaber from her belt but left it inactive, walking cautiously around the blossoming tree that stood in the middle of the junction before her. As she passed, she briefly contemplated that this very junction had once been full of activity, occupied by Jedi and students as they went about their business. Now the only sound came from her footsteps and the sporadic chirps of a few birds that nested in the tree's branches.
She walked down the corridor immediately opposite that of her entry, a corridor leading to what used to be the chambers of the Academy's leading council. The enclave's mysterious reconstruction had altered the chamber's architecture somewhat, leaving it without a roof and with a floor of soft, green grass instead of polished stone. The echoes of her footsteps faded as she entered the circular area, and simultaneously the Force began to speak to her. Her senses were barraged with an overwhelming presence of one very strong in the Force, a presence she would have recognized even years in the future on her deathbed. A single figure sat with his back to her, in the middle of the circle, in a meditative position. He was dressed in a Jedi outfit that had clearly seen some wear, consisting of only an inner tunic with the sleeves torn off, pants, and a belt.
