FicWad

I admit that I never thought I would see her again . . . the Exile. When she went to war, I thought our paths had separated and would never join again. It saddened me, but at the same time, I knew that she was doing what she believed in. Through her, I found my path as a historian. I am glad our paths met again.

In the Jedi Archives on Dantooine, I had been sifting through what remained of the Jedi records. I had seen that many of the holocrons had been taken, and I knew that they had been taken by the Jedi in order to preserve their histories. I thought that perhaps somewhere within the archives, I might find some reason why the Jedi seemed to all but disappear.

I thought someday a Jedi might return, but never in my wildest hopes or dreams did I expect it to be her! She stood before me, looking even more radiant than I had remembered. She was with two companions, a Zabarak and a human male. I knew that this was my chance to follow her where before, her path was closed to me.

At first, I didn't tell her why I seemed familiar to her, not until we talked more. Then I revealed that I had been an apprentice at the Dantooine Academy when she was a Jedi Knight. She had been my teacher at one time. She taught us how to feel the Force through the motion of our lightsabers. She was a great Jedi Guardian. I think had she not been exiled, she would have been just as legendary as Master Kavar.

I remembered her words as I held my lightsaber and moved with it. She told us to feel the Force flowing through us, to feel our lightsabers becoming an extension of ourselves, and an extension of the Force. She taught us to join ourselves with the Force through motion. It was an incredible lesson, and I knew at that time that was I to be trained as a Jedi, I would want her to be my master.

I know that they say the apprentice does not choose the master, the master chooses the apprentice, but there is something I felt within her. It didn't matter at any rate. When Revan and Malak joined the Mandelorian wars, they rallied many young Jedi Knights to their cause, including the Exile. Even had I wanted to be trained by anyone else, that path had been denied to me.

As I travelled with the Exile, I admired her from afar. I admired her as a teacher. And she helped me to feel the Force again, and at last, I gained my master. The one who was meant for me. She taught me by example. She taught me that to help another was not weakness on their part, but strength on both their part, and the part of the one who was helping them.

It amazed me that while she was my master, she still had a teacher in Kreia. In the Exile, I think Kreia had hoped to restore the Jedi of old. The Jedi of Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun's time. When she was far enough in her training, she was told that the time to hide her presence was coming to an end and that it was time to reveal herself and take on a higher tier of learning.

The Exile taught me many things, and it saddened me when our time together came to a close. When we prepared to leave from our meeting with the Jedi Masters on Dantooine, I could tell something had happened to her. She carried a haunted look. She stood in the communal area in front of the holoprojector, hands on it's surface as though she was leaning against it for support.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, immerging from my place within the medbay. She looked back at me. There was turmoil within her. I could feel it.

"Mical, the time for training has come to an end," she told me. She straightened and approached me. "You have learned well, and I am most impressed with your progress. Now it is time for you to go out into the galaxy and allow the Force to be your teacher. I know you can feel it strongly now, more than ever before."

"Yes, I feel the Force flowing through me, just as you have taught me. However, you have not answered my question." She turned her back to me. The ship was oddly quiet. I could not hear T3 moving about the holds, nor could I hear the tapping of buttons issuing from the cockpit. It was as though she and I were the only ones on the ship.

"They're dead. All the Masters are dead. When I came to them, they pronounced judgement upon me. I couldn't believe it. I had gone to all this trouble to bring them together so we might unite against the Sith threat, and they wanted to cut me off from the Force again. They said I was a wound in the Force born of hunger, and that should I be allowed to live, the Force would see its death."

I didn't understand. "How did they die? What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I fell unconscious. I think-I think Kreia killed them. Atton told me the Handmaidens came for her. We're on course for Telos." She shook her head. "I don't understand, Mical. I came back to put things right. I rebuilt my connection to the Force from a tiny glimmer to a bright flame. I'm more firmly set upon the path of the light side than I have ever been, but the Masters saw me as a threat."

"Then they do not know you," I told her. "I have seen the good you have done. You have used your powers to help others. If you take at all, you more than give back. I would like to know what they would have done. They had chosen exile when the Republic needed them most. They feared the Sith attackers that were hunting them, but you walked in all the places where they might find you and did good for the galaxy. You made sure Telos had another fuel source. You stabilized the situations on Onderon and Dantooine. You helped the people of Nar Shaddaa. Even the Jedi Masters who had gone to these places could not do what you have done."

"It's time to end this," she said. She sat wearily. "I only hope I have the strength. I believe I am the only one who can strike at these Sith who are attacking the Jedi from the shadows. Kreia told me about Visas' master. From what I learned from the Jedi Masters, we are alike, and I believe that means I am the only Jedi who can defeat him."

"I see. What would you ask of me?"

"You must live on. You must find apprentices and teach them the ways of the Force. I ask this of you. You, Atton, Bao-Dur, Mira, all of you. You are the future of the Jedi."

I nodded. "Then I will do as you ask."

I do not know where the Exile walks now. Perhaps she has joined Revan. I have not seen her since our last conversation. My only hope is that she will be able to accomplish what she has set out to do, and I hope she knows that we love her. All of us. We love her like we love few others, for she is the one who awakened us to the Force. She changed the course of our lives and although she is gone, we carry her with us in our hearts.