Portraits of a Jedi's Life (Teer Ka)

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

This thread is a compilation of character stories pertaining to my Jedi Master, Teer Ka. Should be interesting, I hope you enjoy.

“Forgive me My Transgressions”
Space, 3636 BBY

Ryloth was home to one of the most contentious products in the galaxy. Ryll. The quintessential ‘Spice’ to most of the galaxy. Used medicinally by some, but far more commonly as a recreational drug for the lost souls of the galaxy. When refined sufficiently and powdered, it could be sent out in small packages and then ‘cut’ with other materials. A few kilos of that highly refined spice could take someone from poverty to luxury. And when it was cut it could keep an entire underworld addicted for months.

All in all, it was a serious source of wealth. And those who controlled it had a hefty chunk of power to wield. For the most part Ryll was equitably exported from Ryloth. The Twi’leks had essentially no users, which meant it was strictly business. And they handled business fairly.

Or so they always had, but increasingly it appeared there was some new corruption at play. And for now, quietly, two Jedi had been dispatched. Both were young, fresh faces that couldn’t be easily identified with the Order. And both were talented. They were hand-selected for two reasons. They were the among the best young Guardians and the best young Investigators, and they already knew each other.

Teer Ka sat in the small but comfortable cabin on board the shuttle that was assigned courtesy of the Jedi Order. It was piloted by a droid, which conveniently meant she didn’t have to operate any of the equipment she disliked dealing with. It also gave her more time to spend with Reem Krotan.

The fellow Knight was an old friend, whose path she kept crossing. They’d been Younglings together, ‘partners in crime’ as they’d frequently dubbed. And from time to time she’d seen him on Coruscant or Dantooine as a Padawan, marveling at how much he’d grown.

Both of them had grown quiet a lot. He was 24. She was 23. Both were Knights, fresh from their trials and ready to face anything the galaxy held in store. She was a Guardian ready to battle any foe zealously, and he was a Sentinel who could root out any kind of wrongdoing and bring it to light. Between her power and his street smarts, the rumors from Ryloth would be cleared up and dealt with.

Her confidence was contagious, and they were both simply sitting and talking instead of training or planning out their next move. Catching up on old times.

“Your scar is new Teer, your Trial of the Flesh?” Krotan asked, eyeing it without any of the apprehension most seemed to show.

“Yes,” the Togruta confirmed, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She wasn’t meek at all, but when it came to the scar she tended to clam up. It was large, and the white of the scar tissue stuck out glaringly from her red skin. It was impossible to hide. And being ‘ugly’ wasn’t something she liked at all.

“Oh, you’re not ugly at all. Don’t ever think that.” Reem smiled at her. “In fact, you’re really quite lovely. Always have been in fact.”

Teer Ka’s eyes widened slightly, but other than that she remained silent. She was astonished that anyone could look at her now and still say she was attractive. And it was equally surprising that it was Reem telling her. He’d always been the boy at her side, the one… the one smiling. The one getting the door. The one who would brush past her to reach pile of datapads.

“It’s funny, I never thought I’d be sitting here with you face to face and saying this. I was always so scared to admit it, but I find you to be as beautiful as you are strong.”

Teer found her throat to be a little tight when she tried to speak. “I- thank you…”

Internally she searched her feelings. How did she feel about this? Simultaneously she was afraid and she was excited. It was a breathless apprehension that enthralled her. She was a captive to the moment, trying to learn how she felt. Wondering, wishing there was someone to tell her what to do and what to feel. But there was only her, and him.

“I adored you, you know. I’d always catch myself staring at you across a crowded room each time we met again. Those scars you have aren’t something that mars your beauty Teer, they just show your strength as well. In fact, they’re beautiful.”

Reem reached up with his hand and extended a single finger. He traced it along her scar and she trembled at the touch. It was electric.

Her lips quivered slightly and she tried to find the words, torn between a feeling that somehow she loved him and that this was all wrong. She remained petrified, a spectator to events.

Slowly and gently Reem drew closer. Teer closed her jet black eyes, and she felt the touch of his lips against hers. There was something magic in the touch, and a hot fire rose up inside her. She realized this was what she’d wanted all along, and her questions vanished.

With an animal passion she didn’t know she had, the Togruta kissed Reem Krotan back wildly. Her arms wrapped around him and she melted into his embrace. They pressed together and their robes came off…

The Next Morning…

Teer Ka woke up with her head resting on something soft and warm, a smile appeared on her face involuntarily as a hand stroked her montrals lovingly. For a few drowsy moments before she registered everything that happened the night before, she simply basked in the warmth and enjoyed the gentle touch against her body.

But as she woke up fully, the memories flowed into her mind and she sprang out of bed in a rush. She was wide-eyed and panicking.

She wrapped the sheet around her blushed wildly. Her crimson cheeks turned orange and the dark striping on her montrals flared into a lighter shade of blue. The Togruta was mortified.

She’d just slept with her friend. She’d violated the rules she held so dear, and she’d completely wrecked a relationship by getting physical. By getting attached. By having sex with a childhood friend.

Teer Ka was mortified. She tried to say something, but merely stammered before dashing out of the crew quarters still wrapped in a sheet, moving so fast her lekku practically trailed behind her.

Her bare feet carried the chill of the deck into her as she swiftly sprinted into the main room of the ship. And there she sank into a seat dejectedly. The Jedi cradled her face in her hands and started to cry.

How had she failed so utterly? Was she really so lacking in self-control and discipline that she’d failed the Order in one moment of weakness? Everything she worked for was embodied in the rules of the Jedi Order. The rules she’d so frivolously cast aside in her passion.

There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no emotion…

She repeated the mantra until the words were almost meaningless, so intent on them that she didn’t notice a now-clothed Reem Krotan sit by her and drape his arm around her.

“I’m sorry Teer… I am so, so sorry…”

The Togruta fixed her jet black eyes on him. “I should have known better. We never should- I- I…” She looked away, unable to say the words to his face. For the first time in her life, she was meek. “I should have pulled away the moment you kissed me. This is all my fault…”

“No, its my fault. You never asked for any of this.”

“You’re damn right its your fault!” Teer Ka shoved him away forcefully. “Damn you for making me care about you!” She shouted with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her meekness was gone now, replaced by the desire to lash out and to do something. To do anything. To lay blame.

Reem knew his lover for one-night was in desperate straits, and the guilt was gnawing at his mind. He ignored the push and slowly reached out and pulled her head to his chest. He held her close and whispered. It’s okay… It’s okay…

The Togruta’s tears stained the human’s robes as she sobbed freely.

Finally after long minutes without words, she was spent. Her tears dried simply because she couldn’t cry any more. Physically she could have fought a pair of Dark Jedi, but emotionally she was drained.

“Just hold me for a moment…” She whispered hoarsely, unsure of what to feel but craving some sort of reassuring contact.

Reem Krotan obliged and kept her close for another few moments while Teer Ka gathered her composure.

When she pulled away from him again and swaddled herself more thoroughly in the sheet, her face was taut but showed she was in control of herself.

“Last night was a mistake Reem. We never should have done that, it wasn’t the Jedi way.” Teer had succeeded in returning herself to her own firm grounding in the ways of the Order. Her mistake hadn’t torn her away from it on anything more than a transient basis. Her loyalty couldn’t be broken that easily. Her will was too strong for that, though in one area at least it had a massive gap.

She wanted to be loved. She hadn’t ever experienced it before, and that had made her vulnerable. But now that she’d been hurt she could develop a defense. She would develop a defense for her heart.

“I know, I know…” Reem Krotan sighed. “I’m sorry Teer, I’m really sorry.”

“Not sorry enough. We could be expelled from the Order for that. This is my life. Its your life on the line too.” Teer Ka’s voice was as grim as her face.

“Well, what do you propose? We can’t simply pretend nothing happened between us. I’m not made of marble Teer, I can’t deny what I feel for you.”

“Neither can I. Which is why once the mission is over we must never see each other again. We’re liabilities to each other now. Every time we’re together there’s a potential for this to happen again.”

“But… I can’t bear the thought of just pretending none of this ever happened…”

The Togruta looked him in the eye. “We can never undo what happened. And we can never pretend it didn’t happen. But we can’t let it happen again. And we can never talk about it. In fact, it’s best if we don’t even talk at all after this.”

Teer Ka rose with the sheet still wrapped around her, and headed back into the room in search of her clothes. She ignored the calls of her one and only lover to please reconsider. She was never going to say another word to him outside of business.

Ten Years Later

Teer Ka ran her fingers across the datapad in front of her. Her face bore an expression that was inscrutable, but her entire body was tense. Telepathically she wasn’t gifted. But she still had enough of an ability to keep her mind shut tight. To her Padawan sitting nearvy she was totally unreadable and enigmatic. More so than usual even.

Reem Krotan, her childhood friend and one-time lover was dead. Cut down by a Dark Jedi on Balosar who was now running like a coward.

Well she’d make his fears well-founded. There was no one better suited to the task of hunting down and dealing with that Dark Jedi, and there was certainly no one better motivated than her. She’d lobby relentlessly to go after him until she got permission. And she’d get it too. She could cover the steel in her voice with silver when she had to.

Reem. Gone. Dead.

It seemed like just yesterday when she’d woken up lying against him, absolutely content for a few moments. And then afterwards the guilt. The shame.

And more guilt now. If she hadn’t shunned him, if she’d stayed by the side of her lover faithfully then he’d be alive. She could have sawed through the Dark Jedi like a hot knife through butter. He wouldn’t have stood a chance and Reem Krotan would be alive.

But he was dead. The one man who loved her, and who she knew she’d loved in return for at least one night, was gone because she held it against him.

Her eyes were dry. She wasn’t crying. Her hands were still. She wasn’t shaking. The Togruta Jedi wasn’t even out for revenge. She was calm, she was collected. But she also felt guilty as hell. Teer knew what her lover would have said though. He would have agreed their response was the only wise one. Both were still devoted to the Order, and clinging to each other would only have resulted in them being cast out together. Even if they had escaped detection, repeated passionate encounters would have taken them down a perilous path without self-control or restraint. If you broke one rule you could break any rule. And the more you broke the easier it became to break them. Neither Jedi was willing to reach that point.

And the very fact she felt something more than she would if any other Jedi were killed meant she still wasn’t over him. It would have been much worse if she’d repeated that night of passion for ten years.

“What is it master Ka?”

The Togruta looked at her Padawan who’d been scrutinizing her. Keln was a smart and perceptive young man. Much smarter than her last Padawan. It was tempting to simply level with him, but he couldn’t ever be allowed to see that side of his master. It was her job to be perfection. And that meant no mistakes. Her own cracks couldn’t be allowed to show and hurt his faith in her.

“A Jedi I knew was killed on Balosar yesterday. A Dark Jedi is responsible.”

“And we’re going to go catch him.”

A thin smile appeared on Teer Ka’s face as she replied. “Yes we are my young Padawan. Yes we are…”

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"This is How it Ends"
Shili, 3633 BBY

Teer Ka rolled over in her sleep, something clearly troubling her. She opened her eyes and surveyed the simple room she was in. Nothing was out of place in it. Her clothes were still piled exactly as they had been left on the small bench in the room, and her lightsaber was right next to her pillow. No one else was in the room. All was still. The sounds of various insects carried through the half-open shutters of the room, and the cool, humid night air helped the Jedi wake up fully.

The Togruta reached out with her senses, searching for the cause of her awakening. The village they were in was perfectly normal. A few waking presences, and far more sleeping ones. The standard lull of a Togruta village, though Teer only half-remembered what it was like as a child before the Order became her life.

What struck her finally wasn’t the presence of anything there shouldn’t be, but the absence of something there should be. Her Padawan, Oresa Dejar, was gone.

The Zabrak girl was headstrong, and brash. Teer had been working to bring her in line and promote obedience since day one. And it was an uphill battle. Sometimes her Padawan seemed willfully defiant, deliberately doing exactly the opposite of what her master told her just to prove she could. It was dangerous, and Teer had been obliged to rescue her twice before. She hoped it wouldn’t be a third time.

Teer directed her thoughts back to her conversation earlier in the day, hoping to find some contextual clue as to where her Padawan had gone. They’d been discussing Shili, after all it was only their third day on the planet. Oresa had been surprised there were under a hundred million Togruta on the planet, and Teer had tried to explain the limitations. Most of the planet was undeveloped, with only two cities in existence that housed the government complexes. The majority of the Togrutas in the galaxy were on Shili and in the Jedi Order. And on Shili, the majority lived in small villages all across the planet, only loosely grouped into regions with small towns serving as capitals. She’d explained that the topography and Togruta naturalistic values meant living in an undeveloped way was simply more intuitive. Oresa had asked if it was hard, and then- then she’d discussed the predators, she’d talked about the akul. The feared apex predator hunted for its teeth, which were turned into necklaces and headdresses.

The Togruta’s eyes widened as she realized what her Padawan was likely attempting to do right now. Kill the most dangerous animal on Shili by herself in order to impress her master.

Teer Ka grabbed her saber, pushed through the curtain dividing her room from the main room, and sprinted out of the small dwelling the duo were residing in without so much as putting on her proper attire. Her only concern was reaching Oresa in time. Her senses were fully alert, and she was letting the Force flow through her, guiding her to her Padawan. Her legs moved far faster than they ever could normally as the Force enhanced her abilities. She vaulted over fallen logs as she made her way down the sloping hillside, following the path her Padawan had taken. Overhead the multiple moons of Shili cast a silvery sheen on everything, cutting through gaps in the foliage and illuminating the undergrowth.

Far ahead of her, Teer could sense something was happening. She doubled her pace, a dark blur in the dark of the night underneath the forest canopy. Her feet were barely touching the ground now, but she didn’t notice. Every fiber of her being was trained on her destination.

She felt a sudden sensation, and she realized she was late in arriving.

But before she even had a chance to think, the double blades of her saber were lit and she vaulted down into the den of an akul. She lashed out at the beast with her entire strength, striking a powerful blow and then leaping away from its snapping jaws and flailing limbs.

It was a battle of wills. Teer Ka had the single-minded desire to kill the beast, and it had the same desire to kill her. It had power, she had speed and acrobatics. Both had stamina and endurance.

The Togruta’s fevered Ataru kept her continually away from the worst danger in the fight, and she jabbed the blade into the creature again and again. It was slowing, and as its life was fading she felt a new strength in her limbs knowing the fight was almost over. With a leap, she landed on its back and spun her double-bladed saber, ‘walking’ it down the length of the akul’s back. At the very end she jabbed her blade through the top of the beast’s skull and out into its mouth. It fell to the floor dead, and Teer rushed to her fallen Padawan.

Or what was left of her Padawan. Oresa was tattered and almost severed into thirds from the vicious predator’s jaws. She was dead, without even the chance for Teer to say goodbye.

But as she’d been taught as a little girl; there is no death, there is the Force.

She turned her attention to the akul and started to remove its teeth. Oresa had died for them, and Teer wouldn’t let them go to waste. She’d craft a headdress from them in the traditions of her people, and it would help her remember her first Padawan. Each tooth that was removed solidified the sense of loss she felt. And by the time all were collected, she realized truly that her Padawan and close companion was gone.

The corpse she carried to a clearing and set alight on a funeral pyre wasn’t her Padawan. It was an empty shell.

She returned to the village with a heavy heart. Just because she accepted her Padawan was dead and gone didn’t mean she had closure. It wasn’t so simple as that. The dead were dead, but the living had to endure that knowledge. And it wasn’t something that went away. It lingered.

She couldn't help but wonder for years afterwards, if she'd shown more love for Oresa, if she'd told her 'well-done' and taken pride in her achievements, then maybe she wouldn't have tried to prove herself to her master.

Teer Ka would live with that nagging doubt until her dying day.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Battle
Toprawa, 3611 BBY

Teer Ka paced slowly in a circular motion, taking measured steps that showed a calm and cool ease at the situation she was now in. A Dark Jedi was standing still across from her in the center of the forest clearing and her double-bladed lightsaber was in her hand, a reassuring presence.

Neither one of them had a lit blade. They were simply facing off, in the period of calm before the inevitable storm. The birds could be heard singing their songs in the trees, completely unaware of what was about to take place.

“If you expect me to give a long speech, then you’d best give up your dreams child. I’ll only give you one chance to renounce the Dark Side, and this is it.” The Togruta Jedi Master’s voice was slightly gruff and hard. But it was also incredibly confident and didn’t have the slightest trace of anger.

The Dark Jedi across from standing as if rooted to the ground was a yellow and black Zabrak, his eyes following the Jedi Master quietly with hatred. After a long moment he spoke, his voice matching his dark appearance. “You aren’t the first Jedi I’ve faced. He talked too. So much overconfidence and so little power. You’re no different. I laugh at your pathetic abilities.”

Teer Ka was unfazed. “My confidence is at least justified. Yours is all the product of your mind. You think that dark power you’ve found is limitless. All your inhibitions are cast off and you feel so much more free. But what are you? You’re a slave. You chain yourself to your emotions. You shackle yourself to the dark side, you cease to control it and it starts to control you. Applaud yourself for killing a Jedi. Go ahead. What did it prove? Do you somehow feel stronger for killing an instructor of children, or perhaps you deceived yourself into thinking that was a great Jedi warrior. Well now you’re facing a great Jedi warrior. Surrender or face your own mortality.”

The Zabrak almost seemed rattled enough by the Jedi’s demeanor to yield, but something reasserted itself in his eyes and he ignited his lightsaber. The red blade cut through the air with a crackle and a low humming filled the air.

Teer Ka looked him in the eye unflinchingly. “Poor child, you just sealed your fate.”

She activated her own saber, two sky blue blades flashing to life on either side of the wide hilt. The Togruta spun it in a quick twirl then sprang into an Ataru leap that carried her over the Zabrak’s horned head and onto the ground behind him. She swung one blade of her saber, which the Dark Jedi caught on his own. The Jedi yielded as the Dark Jedi pushed back, and took the opportunity to land a kick to his chest that sent him reeling.

The Togruta Master didn’t wait for him to regain his footing and counterattack, instead she followed through on the assault and pressed the attack. She wasn’t a Soresu practitioner operating inside a defensive circle. She wasn’t an expert with Makashi, using tiny and precise strokes to her foes vulnerabilities. And she didn’t practice Niman, the fusion of numerous styles with, to her mind, the result of being mediocre at all of them. She practiced Ataru, Shien/Djem So, and Juyo. Aggressive styles geared towards the offensive.

Teer darted forward and unleashed a rapid barrage of strokes, each blade alternating and striking towards a different target zone. Head, arms, neck, legs, torso. All in rapid succession and with a random and unstructured attack profile that was hard to cope with. It threw the Zabrak off balance, which meant he made a mistake. A lethal mistake under one minute into the fight.

He swung a powerful blow against one blade of her saber trying to gain the initiative. But the Jedi responded simply by loosening one foot and locking her arms. She let the impact spin her, which took the opposite blade of her saber directly into the Zabrak Dark Jedi’s rib cage. A quick slash to develop the cut and he fell to the ground.

Teer Ka stood over him now, simply staring wordlessly and watching the life fade from the Dark Jedi’s eyes. The strange sadness she always felt upon taking a life blended with her adrenaline to produce a state that defied description. A state that she enjoyed in her own way. At that moment she was both everything and nothing. But what could she have done differently?

Nothing. He’d made his choice. She’d made his options clear and he’d elected to face his mortality.

Her eyes stared through him as she lost herself in thought. By the time her thoughts strayed back to the present, her fallen foe was completely gone. She deactivated her lightsaber and attached it to her belt again, walking off and leaving behind the corpse staring lifelessly up at the green trees and the sky.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"The Perils of Mercy"
Felucia, 3635 BBY

It was a year after Teer Ka faced her own disobedience, and she’d learned much. Her Padawan was brand new and settling in with her quite nicely. The Zabrak girl had spirit, perhaps a little too much of it in fact. And that was why she was waiting in the shuttle while her master did what had to be done.

And that was face a Dark Jedi who’d been traced to Felucia. They both accepted that fact as destiny or fate. The two could sense each other, and they felt the meeting was fate. The planet of jungles and fungi was strong in the force, bearing a deep connection. A wild connection that had all the light and darkness of both sides of the force. It was clearly a place of life and of death, home to turning points and endings.

Teer Ka wasn’t sure which it would be for her. She had confidence in her abilities, but she was still a young knight. An impressionable one. There was no question though, Felucia would be her end or a turning point.

Her journey through the dense foliage and fungi of the world took a solid hour. But after two miles of hiking she met her foe.

The other force user was slender, aristocratic and poised. They both had a calm manner, though the Dark Jedi’s was more complete. Teer Ka still had a deal of uncertainty to cope with. By all accounts this Dark Jedi was especially dangerous, the only reason she was the one doing battle was her proximity and status as a Guardian.

They stood simply looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. The preludes to battle always included summing up your opponent, estimating their strength, their speed, and their reach. Gauging force mastery was difficult as well.

At last in silence they both activated their sabers and sprang forward to the attack. Teer started with her Djem So, using only a single blade on her saber so she could execute a perfect falling avalanche… only to find that the defensive Soresu was stopping short her blows. It was an unusual style for a Dark Jedi, and it suggested she was an interesting opponent worthy of study.

The Togruta let her attack wane off and switched into a more defensive stance of her own, waiting to see how her enemy would take to the offensive. The result was a series of precise, elegant strokes towards her flanks. Makashi.

Soresu and Makashi was an interesting combination, one that was going to make her foe a tough nut to crack. She could counter the offense, but penetrating properly done Soresu was going to be a challenge.

Teer Ka kicked her foe in the stomach and used the lull she bought as time to activate the second blade on her saber. The double blade gave her twice as many opportunities to strike and made it twice as easy to parry. She’d gotten the hang of not cutting herself in half quite a while ago.

They circled each other now, both looking for a chance to strike. Teer saw an opening and lunged forward, swing first one end of her saber and then the other. Both cuts were blocked, and she ducked under a counterstrike from the Dark Jedi’s blade.

The series of strikes, dodges, parries, and thrusts extended for a rather lengthy period of time. It was a tough fight, but so much of a duel was simply knowing which flaws to exploit as they came up. And no one was perfect. Everyone made mistakes. Some were just bigger than others.

The Dark Jedi made a mistake. She thrust her saber a little more than she should have and her arm was exposed. Teer Swung her own saber and her blade impacted the hilt of her enemy’s saber. It was sheared apart and the Dark Jedi stumbled and fell trying to back up suddenly unarmed.

Makashi emphasized not allowing oneself to be disarmed, but she had more important things on her mind. Like not dying.

She lay there on the ground holding her hands up as if they could save her. And for the first time she spoke. “Please don’t hurt me! Mercy!”

Teer held her saber in her hand, unwilling to use it, but at the same time unsure of what to do. She’d never been in a situation like this. So far in her life she’d fought a single Dark Jedi, and she’d killed him. She wasn’t expecting a plea for mercy. But she couldn’t simply kill her. She lowered her saber to her side and started to speak.

Before a word could pass her lips, she was betrayed. The Dark Jedi’s hands rose and lightning sprang from her fingers to ravage Teer Ka’s body. She screamed in agony at the burning sensation in her skin. It was like she was on fire, and despite her best efforts she fell to the ground and writhed there.

Time was frozen for her, and apart from the pain a part of her mind still functioned on a normal level. She knew her saber was in her hand, her foe was standing over her, and if she didn’t act fast she was going to die.

Teer Ka swung her saber with the last bit of her strength forcing herself to her feet again and pushing forward. The blade wedged into the Dark Jedi’s stomach, and a twist succeeded in dispatching her.

But the Togruta was weakened by her duel. The lightning had truly ravaged her body and sapped her strength. She fell backwards to the ground and lost consciousness.

When she awoke, it was with the face of her Padawan looking over her in the ship they’d flown in on. The disobedient and tenacious Padawan had sensed a disturbance in the force and hiked the whole distance to the site of the duel and dragged her master’s body back to the ship, applied first aid, and flown the ship towards the nearest medical facility all the while using her own healing skills to the best of her ability.

The Togruta Jedi was amazed. Her life had been saved.

But it did prove to be a turning point. Her future desires for mercy were tempered by the knowledge of what could happen when you grant it. She knew from first-hand experience.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"Drinking a Bitter Cup"
Coruscant, Vendaxa, 3612 BBY

Teer Ka sat cross-legged on a round cushion in her rather Spartan quarters, deep in meditation. It was a daily activity for her, and had been ever since her Trial of the Spirit. She knew there was a darkness inside her that had to be kept in check. And the best way to do that was to face it head-on daily, without fear. It was always a gripping experience at its peak, but one that gently transitioned into a state of calm peace that she operated in fairly comfortably throughout the day. She was not quite to that state when she felt a tingling in her lekku.

Her eyelids fluttered open and her jet black eyes stared at the door. Even before the visitor pressed the call button on her door, she bade him enter. The door hissed open promptly and she analyzed the other Jedi before her, her gaze as impassive as her face. She could tell right away that something was wrong. She could sense it, bad news hanging around the man before her like a storm cloud. Yes, something was wrong. Something that concerned her.

“Knight Ka, may I have a moment of your time?” The other Jedi asked from just outside the doorway.

Teer motioned him to a second cushion, and he sat on it. The Togruta continued to stare in complete silence, a sense of expectation hanging in the air.

“Its about your former Padawan. There’s been an incident.”

Teer frowned. “Keln? What kind of incident? Has he been injured? Killed?” She queried, trying to sound out what bid of bad news awaited her. She hated surprises of any variety.

“He’s gone missing on assignment. He missed his regular report twice, so we had the local law enforcement check up on him. They found his shuttle ransacked. And his Padawan was in the middle of it, killed with a lightsaber.” The other Jedi told her grimly.

Teer shook her head slowly. “This is terrible news.” She thought back to Keln Frand’s Padawan, a little boy from some planet on the Outer Rim she could never remember. One who always had a big smile and liked to hug other Jedi every chance he got. Cut down by a saber. Tragic. “We have to hunt down the Dark Jedi responsible for this. Keln may still be alive but held captive. And we can’t simply leave him. This enemy has killed once, there’s nothing to stop him from killing again.”

“The Council agrees Teer. They knew you would feel strongly about this as well. We have skilled investigators tracing this attacker’s path. But it may take some time, and you are a Guardian. Not a sentinel. Your place isn’t piecing together clues. Your place is training with a saber.”

Something flashed in Teer’s eyes. “You’re wrong. My place is finding my Padawan and rescuing him.” A streak of indignation was obvious in the Togruta.

“Rescue, yes. Once we trace this Dark Jedi I promise you will be the one to confront him. We need your skill then, but right now you need to stay here at the Temple and calm yourself.”

“I am calm.” Teer said snappishly, undermining her own point. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then when they opened again they looked much calmer, like black pools of water lazily reflecting sunlight. “I am calm.”

“I believe you Knight Ka, but the point still stands. You need to wait here and be patient. I’m sure some of the younger knights could use practice with their sabers…” He hinted at the possibility of Teer providing instruction. He wisely realized she needed to be doing something. Sitting in the Temple and simply waiting would have her pacing like a caged animal. She needed a channel for her energy.

“I will wait here.” But I won’t like it. Teer sighed deeply. Her mind was filled with worries. And she was perilously close to anger at the situation. “Please leave me now.”

The other Jedi rose as requested, and hovered in the doorway briefly. “May the Force be with you Teer Ka.”

He left and the door slid shut, leaving the Togruta Jedi alone with her feelings.

There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.

She repeated the code as a mantra several times, calming her nerves. She could feel the tension in the back of her neck slipping away as she repeated the words in her mind.

They were right. She would wait, and bide her time until the moment came for her to bring the Dark Jedi to justice. Even if it took a decade, she would remain patient.

Slightly Under One Year Later

Teer Ka stepped out of the shuttle and onto the rather soggy ground of Vendaxa. She’d come alone to the planet. It was something she had to face alone, and something she was qualified to face alone.

Vendaxa had a lethal ecology that far surpassed that of Shili. Which was why it had no population. That and the uncomfortable light of the world, which hurt the eyes of non-native species. But at night as it was now, the sun was down and the painful light was replaced by nocturnal predators. Predators that were conspicuously absent, as if they knew what was destined to take place and wanted no part in it.

She was going to face off with the Dark Jedi and demand to know where Keln was. And if he didn’t tell her, she’d fight him. But she wouldn’t kill him. She’d get an answer from him. At the end of a lightsaber if need be.

It reminded her vaguely of Felucia, only without the giant fungi. Her memories of Felucia weren’t pleasant. She’d been ravaged by force lightning from a Dark Jedi for lowering her guard. Since then she gave no quarter.

There was a small freighter nearby the Dark Jedi had arrived on, and she could sense the other Force-user’s presence nearby, coming from a hilltop. As she drew closer, she could see his silhouette against the massive and close moon currently rising. He wasn’t trying to run. He knew, as she did, that this was the moment of confrontation.

She reached the hilltop as well and approached the Dark Jedi. Her senses were tingling, and something about him seemed familiar. His back was to her, but she could see he was wearing dark robes and holding a saber in his hand. Then suddenly he turned to face her.

“Hello master,” Keln Frand said. “I knew you’d come for me.”

An astonished look appeared on Teer’s red face, and her jaw hung open. For a few moments she was speechless. But she managed to make her mouth form a single word. “Keln…”

“Yes master, it’s me. I’m the Dark Jedi. I think we need to talk.”

Teer Ka shook her head. “No, there’s nothing to talk about. I command you to stop this foolishness and come with me back to Coruscant.” Her voice was authoritative. The same one she’d always used with her Padawan when laying out the law.

“No.” Keln said.

Teer’s jaw dropped again. “Keln… are you defying me?” She was doubly shocked. Keln had joined the dark side AND he was disobeying her.

“Yes master. And I really do regret it. You know I’m loyal to you, but the Jedi are squandering your talent. You could be so much more if you gave in to your hate and your anger. I know you have them. But you don’t use them. They could give you power the likes of which you never dreamed of. Power you deserve. You taught me well master, you taught me to-”

“I taught you to follow the rules. I taught you loyalty.” Teer’s fingers were clutching her double-bladed saber tightly as she suppressed her anger.

“Master, I am loyal. To you, and to myself. That’s why I let you follow me here. So I could show you the power I found, so you could join me. I’m the master now, let me teach you what I learned. If you knew the kind of power-“

“I’m not interested in power Keln. We spent a decade together and I see you still don’t know me. I will ask you one last time. End this foolishness now and come with me quietly.” Teer stared at Keln with the full force of her will. She wasn’t used to being defied.

“I know you well master. I know you meditate every day to suppress the dark seed within you. I know you follow the rules so closely because you want to break them and you worry about fulfilling your desires. I know you value loyalty. Personal loyalty. I followed you to the ends of the galaxy, and now you can follow me. Together we can have true power, side by side just like old times. Join me master.”

Teer Ka activated her lightsaber, the dual blades shimmering into existence with a hiss and a crackle as the air was displaced. A look of grim determination appeared on her face, now lit in the light blue glow from her saber. “You are dead to me Keln. I’d rather lay down my life than fall from the light.”

“I should have known you’d never realize you’re wrong. Stubborn to the last. I won’t enjoy ending your life master.” Two sabers activated, each blood-red. They were held in a typical Jar-kai stance.

For a few long seconds there was stillness punctuated only by the humming of the saber blades. The large white moon cast its light on the two shadowy figures and the four glowing blades between them.

Then in a sudden flurry of movement by both, they attacked at the same time. Teer started conservatively, with a quick strike by her left blade that was deflected even as a crimson blade went towards her. The Togruta spun her saber staff and deftly blocked the strike.

The two circled now.

“You taught me too well master, I know your tactics. I remember every sparring match. And I remember every move you made.” Keln’s voice was arrogant, yet possibly in a justified way.

But it was a double-edged sword. His master knew his form well, and his weaknesses. The ones she’d spent correcting painstakingly over years, and which she was now going to exploit. No quarter. He’d chosen his fate, and she couldn’t change that. It was beyond her power.

Keln Frand’s chief weakness in a fight was his tendency to be flustered when he lost the initiative. He needed to be the one setting the pace of the fight to dominate. He also lacked power to his strokes, the chief reason she’d tried to dissuade him from Jar-kai. Two sabers meant less powerful strokes. And it also made it hard to counter her own saber’s double blades as they moved in tandem.

Teer Ka battered away at her former Padawan’s defensive perimeter with a ferocious Juyo assault, the seeming randomness of the style outpacing Keln’s ability to plan his strategy. He was reacting rather than acting. His biggest weakness. He’d never learned to counter Juyo, though in his defense that was a difficult prospect for any Jedi.

Keln backed away from her, and in a dramatic leap moved away from her. He reattached a saber to his belt and let out a blast of lightning from his left hand. It was caught and dissipated on his former master’s blade.

She’d been a victim of the dark side’s blue lightning once before. It had almost killed her, and she was very careful never to let it happen to her again. It crackled as her blade countered it, even the very same shade of blue.

Keln had made an error. He’d assumed his force powers could win him the fight, and he’d put away his second saber. That made him especially vulnerable for attack. Teer seized the opportunity.

In an expert Ataru leap, Teer flipped end over end, gauging the aerobatic maneuver with extreme precision. She dipped one blade of her saber at just the right moment. As she landed safely on the other side, her boots impacting the soft soil, a thud was heard behind her.

She turned and stared at the body of her former Padawan, lying headless on the ground. A step away was his head, eyes staring up at the stars. Teer walked over and gently closed them.

She deactivated her saber and sat on a fallen tree, staring at what had been Keln. Her second Padawan. Her second dead Padawan. How did it come to this? Where did I go wrong?

Teer Ka felt like a mother who’d just killed her child. She’d known him since he was 12. Taught him discipline, loyalty. But somehow she hadn’t taught him well enough to prevent this moment. It was her failure even more than it was his. If she’d taught him better or watched him like a hawk… But she hadn’t. And as a result Keln’s Padawan and Keln himself had both lost their lives. It was a waste. A tragic waste. And she felt personally responsible for it.

There is no death, there is the Force.

The task of assembling enough dry fuel was challenging, but Teer was very much a Togruta. She was at home surviving in nature, and building fires out of nothing was an art form she’d mastered long ago.

When the pyre was prepared, she placed the two parts of Keln’s body on it and started the flames at even intervals around the base. The fire caught.

In between the smoke and the dancing flames she could see her former Padawan’s body being consumed and turned into ash. Purifying flame, the symbol of death and of rebirth. The site of the pyre would be green again, greener than before. But the hole in Teer Ka’s heart would never repair itself.

Coruscant, One Week Later

Teer Ka stood before the High Council, as straight and stiff as a soldier at attention. Her voice was resigned and her face taut as she spoke.

“-and he was killed in the fight. I accept full responsibility for this incident. It was my training of him that was inadequate. If I’d taught him differently none of this would have happened. I- I…” the Togruta choked up slightly forming her next words. “I am prepared to offer you my resignation from the Order if you wish it. I failed you.”

The Jedi Knight stood stock still in the center of the Council Chamber, her rigid posture not concealing the sense of utter failure and dejection she exuded.

“Knight Ka, this Council has no interest in asking for a resignation. You trained your Padawan properly. His decisions remain his. You are not accountable for him. But you are accountable for your own actions.”

Teer bowed her head. “I know Councilor, and I am prepared to resign for those as well. I should have taken him alive, or I should have remained uninvolved in this entire incident. I accept any judgment you make.”

“Very well then. It is the judgment of this Council that you be raised to the rank of Master.”

If not for her practically infallible sense of hearing, Teer would have thought she’d heard wrong. As it was, she was wondering if this was some kind of sick joke. She left the thought unsaid. It wasn’t something appropriate to say. Instead she fixed the Councilor with a blank stare and a questioning expression.

“Master Ka, you’ve shown a great skill over your years of service. But most astonishingly, you have survived the loss of two Padawans without once giving in to hatred, anger, or despair. Your loyalty to the Jedi Order was strong enough for you to overcome your personal attachments. You’ve earned this title Master. But if you feel something more must be done to earn it, take another Padawan. Challenge yourself to face what it is you fear.”

Master… Teer stared down at the patterned floor below her, unsure what to think. Never before had something so prestigious felt so mundane for her. She’d have traded away the title for a chance to change the past in a heartbeat.

But the past was set in stone. And nothing would ever change it. Nothing could ever change it.