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Chapter Sixty Seven After
walking Xana back to her chambers, Jae finds himself wandering through the halls
of Sanctuary. Around every turn and through every entryway he imagines what it
must have been like for his father to have walked these same paths, and for the
first time since learning of his past, Jae smiles at the thought of his father. Aimlessly
meandering down hall and corridor, Jae feels himself being drawn to a single
place. Deciding to follow the urgings, he soon finds that he has arrived at a
courtyard, somewhere deep within Sanctuary. Looking up, he can only barely make
out the night sky above him, but this small patch of earth seems to be lit in
some way. As he searches out the source of the light, he discovers that it is
lit by a single balcony light, high above him on the left side of this manmade
crevasse. Finding a bench to rest upon, he takes a seat and surveys his
surroundings. Unlike
many of the courtyards he has found in Sanctuary, this one is without plant
life, or a view. It is just a patch of earth amidst all the rock and stone, with
towers reaching for the sky around him. Sizing up the tiny retreat from the
ornate and elaborate surroundings of Sanctuary, Jae feels oddly at peace in this
place. He also notices that is the perfect size for one of his exercises, so he
withdraws the saber from his front in his right hand, stands, and ignites the
blade. As the blade comes to life, so too, does this tiny courtyard. He can now
sense life beneath his feet and finds that there is a short but dense form of
grass lying there, and seems to be humming with life much the same as his blade.
He makes a few passes of the blade across the grasses and he feels like they are
singing to him now and this fills him with such wonder that he cannot help but
continue his exercise and relish in the feelings that are now surrounding him. Nearing
the end of his routine, with a trickle of sweat running down his face, Jae is
suddenly aware of another presence and stops dead in his tracks. “Master
Mussiri?!” Bowing
his head as he ignites his lantern, Master Falion Mussiri steps into the
courtyard, “I apologize, but when you had failed to return to our chamber, I
sought you out.” Shutting
down his saber, and bowing to the old man, his Great Uncle, Jae shows the man
his due respecet, “That’s okay, Master, I was just startled that anyone
would find me here.” Master
Falion holds up his lantern and places on the rod just beside the bench, the one
Jae has only now seen. He then sits down, carefully, chuckling to himself. “It
was many a time I should find your father in this place, doing just as you are
doing… It was his touchstone at Sanctuary.” Jae
looks with shock at his surroundings now, and once again he finds that his
father is in everything he touches in this place. “I guess I should have
figured that one out on my own, huh?” Master
Falion just nods as Jae finds himself leaning against the wall opposite the old
man. “He is always with you, young one. Of that I am certain.” Jae
finds comfort in the old man’s statement. Comfortable enough to begin asking
questions, “So, what did he like about this place, afterall?” “Ahhh,
there were many reasons for his love of this particular courtyard. The fact that
it contained no shrubbery, made him feel more at home. He too was a street
vrelt, much like yourself, growing up in a port city of Jae
took in a breath, “They died?” Jae
looks somewhat troubled by this answer, “What do you mean, Master?” “Your
father was a restless man, struggling to fight those demons in his heart. He was
not a popular young man at Sanctuary when he arrived, but he found calm, he
found peace with your mother,” Master Falion winces with the mention of
Jae’s mother once more, “and with you… He finally found his center.” Sliding
down the wall to rest on the soft ground with his knees pressed into his chest,
Jae thinks about this new information, “So, what you’re saying is… I am
very much like my father.” Chuckling
a bit to himself, Master Falion answers, “Oh yes, indeed you are, young one;
in many ways.” Jae
questions himself as to whether or not he wants to hear these answers before he
asks the questions, “You said my father was a sabermaster… How could he have
been so restless and be considered a master?” Master
Falion draws in a deep breath before speaking, preparing himself for the
explanation. “Already very strong with the Will of the Force, when he arrived
at Sanctuary he was only in need of guidance as to how to use those
strengths.” Jae absented-mindedly withdraws the medallion that now hangs
around his neck from his tunic, and holds it in his hand. “After going through
several other Masters because of his restless nature and his stubborn Will, my
grand-niece, taken with the striking young man displayed in that medallion you
hold, asked of me to take him as my Padawan. Which I did, and was delighted to
do, as well. Your father was, as I said, a great sabermaster, and he was also an
adept pupil. He learned very quickly the things I taught him, and mastered every
skill required to receive advancement at an exponential rate. He achieved his
rank far ahead of my own grand-niece, much to her consternation.” Jae laughs
at this revelation of his mother. “But I soon found that she was not the only
person taken between the two, and I watched as their relationship grew.” He
gestures to encompass the entire courtyard where they are now sitting, “It was
here, that I learned just how deeply their emotions ran for one another.” Jae
looks around and can see nothing that would have attracted a young couple to
this spot. That is when Master Mussiri points up at that lone balcony, “Up
there, the balcony which sits off of what once was her chambers; that is what
drew him to this place night after night. He was a stubborn boy, and not one to
follow the pack, so her father, my nephew, saw him as an undesirable mate for
his only daughter, his only living child.” Jae
is shocked by this news,
Living Child? “Does that mean there was
another?” Master
Falion nods his head solemnly, “Yes, there was another, as your mother was a
twin, but her brother was killed during a melee while he was on a mission for
the council. Shortly before your father achieved his rank among those of
Sanctuary, so a grieving father’s heart was as much to blame for their
difficulties as anything else may have been.” It is now Jae’s turn to simply
nod his head, and so Master Falion continues his tale, “Your father was
perhaps my greatest pupil, yet I cannot take much credit for his training, as he
came to us with many of the necessary skills already. The Corellian mystics,
though isolationists, have adopted many of the same training techniques that
have been developed here at Sanctuary. It is just another sign that the Will of
the Force guides us all on much the same path. It has been foreseen that someday
there will be a great convergence in the Force, and it saddens me that I shall
not live to see it.” Jae
looks up, puzzled at the man’s statement, “But if you live for so long, how
can you know that?” Falion
laughs at the young man’s question, “My dear boy, I shall not live forever,
just a long time, which I have already done, young one.” He takes a deep
breath, “Soon I must give up my quests and my wanderings and leave the work to
the younger of us, entrusting that I have provided them with the skills needed
to bring about the order that is so desperately needed in this galaxy.” Jae
just sits there, nodding his head. Standing
up from the cold, hard bench, Master Falion slowly turns to gather up his
lantern, and then offers a hand to the young man resting on the ground, “But
that is a conversation for another time…” Pulling Jae up from the ground,
“Now, we must rest, for this has been a most trying day… For us all.”
Creator: PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
*SPECIAL NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, the rest of the story will be written by PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
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