Curiosity: Not the Best of Jedi Traits

[GABA]

Empress Teta, the Tetan Jedi Temple

It was a cool evening at the Empress Teta temple, Ebberla had spent most of the day meditating, feeling the pushes and the pulls of the Force as the shroud of darkness seemed to draw nearer in time. However, for the Jedi Master, something else lingered, but she didn't feel the need to continue to explore further, not today at least. The previous evening, which was an adventurous one, Ebberla learned a lot of things from Della that she would have never have guessed lingered in the rabbit's mind.

It eventually lead to Della wanting to engage in some reckless behavior to which the Corellian knew best not to engage in, even though she knew given a few years prior she would have been more inclined to do so. Though Della was quite drunk, Ebberla was curious to know if the Knight even remembered what was said last night. She of course would find out.

Approaching the Jedi's quarters, the Corellian smoothed out her fatigues, her lightsabers bouncing on her belt as they hit her thighs and hip as she walked. She pushed back a lock of hair behind her ear and hit the call button on Della's door. Placing her fists on her hips, the woman hoped Della had some sense of remembering why she was there. Having suggested to sneak in the heaviest locked area of the temple, Ebberla had suggested they would just visit, she had accessed and she didn't need the trouble if somehow they did get caught.

"Della, its me, Ebberla!" she called out waiting for the Knight to answer the door.

 

[TweedPawn]

It was Erica who answered. It was also Erica who slammed the door in Ebberla's face. A moment later, the child opened the door again and pouted.

"She's in the livingroom. She has a headache, so make it quick. I can't have Jedi bothering her all day. It'll stress her out." The imperial was quite proud of the role she assumed as Della's bouncer. She lead Ebberla to the humble living space where Della was sprawled out on the sofa, trying to be a good hostess while the throbbing in her head could be sensed by any Force User.

"Oh Ebberla, how good it is to see you. Erica, what should we say?" Della tried to encourage the child to act a little nicer.

"Hi." said Erica. She judged the jedi with a sour face and crossed arms. The child was still of the opinion that Della should have never left Xaden. Erica felt that Della should certainly have not gone back to the Jedi. Della gave a harsh stare at Erica. Erica knew that look. She fidgeted for a moment.

" I'm gonna go to my room." she said. Della seemed relieved

"I'm sorry about that. Erica still thinks I should have married her cousin and stayed in that cage for the rest of my life." Della was obviously in little spirits for dealing with the antics of a passive-aggressive child.

"I am glad to see you. What brings you here?"

 

[GABA]

The door slid open revealing Erica and then slammed shut again. Ebberla rolled her eyes and let out a curse about bad children, but the door opened again, a perturbed expression on her face, but this time, she let Ebberla in. She could sense the Knight was alert as she lead into the living quarters of Della's home, Erica directing her orders to Ebberla in a matter-of-fact fashion, giving the impression of bossiness to the Jedi Master.

"Every time I come Erica, I seem to underestimate you apathy." Ebberla responded to the girl's forced greeting as Ebberla took a seat on the couch beside Della, who apologized for Erica's behavior. Her voice sounded strained, and her face a little pale. Ebberla could tell Della wasn't feeling good and with her question, Ebb made a safe bet the Knight didn't remember what happened last night. She gave her friend a wry grin.

"We were going to visit the archives; in your scheme of drunk great ideas last night, you wanted to break into the toughest place of the temple." Ebb quirked and eyebrow in her direction, "I told you, I could just let you in if you wanted to explore some of the artifacts in the Forbidden Archives, but not steal or break in Della Frey." smiled the Jedi.

 

[TweedPawn]

"I-what? That doesn't quite sound like me." Though Della couldn't deny she found the idea of breaking and entering into a forbidden area purely for the challenge to be an invigorating thought. It was her people's idea of a game. It was fun to see what could be pocketed. The object was always returned, and it was never anything serious. The object was usually just a cheap trinket or a toy. The challenge wasn't the object, it was the thrill of simply showing off one's stealth.

But, even if there wasn't anything to break into and take, Della supposed she should act like a Jedi. The Jedi were said to be owners of a history that was longer and more documented than Sacul's. Sebastian spoke of many stories. Della remembered a few. But, she knew she could always pull them from her memory if she had to.

"Master Sebastian told me of many stories. Will the archives we look at have stories like those?" Della gently stroked the lightsaber that she wore at her side. She could sense her master's light within The Phoenix. Della could feel its heat, even after insulating the core. It was always hot. Della remembered when she would look at Sebastian's hands and see how rough they were.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla smirked at Della's reaction, she easily concluded the Knight didn't remember much of what she said to her the previous evening. She thought maybe it was better that way, she was sure if Della ever realized what she had told Ebberla, it would be a hard evening of trying to calm the Snamreg and easing her worries.

The Jedi stood up as Della continued to speak, her thoughts running into Sebastian. "They say the archives have everything, I don't know what his stories were, but I'm sure you can find some that can compete with the ones he told you." Ebberla said holding out her hand to help up the Knight.

"Lets go before I get called to do something, free time is a rare commodity for me these days."

 

[TweedPawn]

Della accepted Ebberla's help. Her mind was buzzing. She loved stories. They had all sorts of tricks and warnings. She had a good smile on her face, she was almost beaming.

"It's funny. You say my stories are just stories, but you keep yours well protected under lock and key. Howcome?" Della asked. It was an innocent question, the kind a curious child would ask. She even tilted her head in a child-like manner. There was a tiny bit of teasing in her tone. It felt nice to be upbeat. She was viewing Ebberla as a good influence. Maybe Della would adopt some of Ebberla's tricks. She was a cunning lass.

 

[GABA]

The Jedi pulled up Della from her seat and lead the way out of the Knight's living quarters and into the halls. She rolled her head glancing at Della as she gained a perk in her step, though she didn't believe Della knew exactly what the archives contained, especially the Forbidden Archives.

"Your stories have only been stories, tales passed on by word of mouth, however, we have some like that, not locked away. Ones that are locked away are too valuable for just any Jedi to handle or too dangerous for inexperienced Jedi may find themselves trapped into their tales. We hold many secrets, some even I would consider dangerous if I am not careful." Ebb explained as she lead Della into the Archives.

The Tetan archives shared many of the data files from the Tython Archives, the system linked to continuously pass information from one temple to the other as archivists and researchers studied. Not nearly as impressive as the Tython Archives, but for anyone not familiar, it still was a stunning sight. Ebberla grinned at the first time she had witnessed the archives on Empress Teta, when she first arrived at the temple, she could read all the star maps she wanted and never be done; she only regretted not arriving to the temples sooner to experience it.

Ebberla lead Della through the mazes of shelves of datacrons and databases, nearing the back of the archives. She approached a door, locked in its own rite with the secrets it held. The Jedi Master rested her palm against the scanner as it read her print, then asked for her identification code. Ebb entered the code and the door unlocked allowing the two Jedi inside.

Stepping foot inside, the illuminating panels turned on, giving the room a soft glow as it revealed the walls of artifacts and holocrons. Some rested freely on their stands, others were however, behind lock and key that not even Ebberla knew where to access. She was certain Dal would know, but she was unsure of the trouble that would follow.

"While I was captured, I heard the Sage Master, Skhai, brought back countless relics and artifacts buried beneath the temple on Coruscant. Some of the items in here are ageless." Ebberla said looking around.

 

[TweedPawn]

"We have historians too! Johen Meadowheart was the first! He even knew Gaunerei! And, our archeologists study things all the time."

Della looked around. She mostly admired the architecture of the records, as opposed to the objects they held. To Della, all of it looked as modern to her as a speeder bike just off of a lot. It numbed her sense of understanding the way objects aged around her. All of it was foreign. All of it as new. Still, Della could understand the amount of these objects.

Della was very impressed. She then gave a chuckle.

"It's funny. I was expecting parchment and paper. Maybe even leather and wood. To see you consider all this machinery to be ancient, well, it's odd. Makes me wonder how long it will be before you and I have objects in these vaults." Della began to poke and nudge around. She was sniffing around for some thing she could easily investigate.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla ran her hand over the holocrons at their station, the geometric information keepers glowed slightly to light brushing by her finger tips. The room was overwhelming, a sensory overload as Della seemed to be in just as much awe as her. The Jedi Master couldn’t help but to smirk about future Jedi finding their own items in this room some day; she didn’t believe she had anything of value, but then again, perhaps some of the artifacts in here, those Jedi and Sith thought the same also.

The Knight mentioned parchement and leather and Ebberla’s eyes caught a series of books, she knew not all of the archives were in the form of crystals of holocrons or rerecorded in datacrons. Ebberla picked up a book and handed it to Della, “See parchment and leather.” She said turning around to pick up another book from the series. The Jedi opened it up gently, easily discovering the ruins written had belonged to Sith origin.

“Huh, these must have-“ Ebberla turned back around to speak to Della, but discovered she now stood alone in the room, “…have been a Sith artifact…” she finished looking around for her friend, “Della?” she questioned, closing the book and setting it back with the others, “Della?” she called out a little louder, reaching into the Force, but she couldn’t detect Della’s presence anywhere. Her eyes narrowed, and her face scrunched with confusion as she reached the back of the forbidden archive hall and no sign of Della.

Ebberla made her way back to the front, suspecting perhaps Della left to attend her children; placing her palm on the scanner, she felt a sudden tug of the back of her belt and heard the familiar sound of the snap hiss of a lightsaber. The door opened and Ebberla leapt out, the red beam cutting the air at which she stood. Her own lightsaber snapped to her palm, igniting and ready to defend as her cloaked attacker went for another strike. Their blades clashed, the strength of the attacker was great, it reminded Ebberla much of her own style of combating and utilizing her strength.

They were using Thaed’s blade, the one she carried with her; she could hear the Dark Side roar within her attacker, their speed and technique mirrored until they pulled a maneuver that strictly reminded the Jedi of her Sith Keeper, Darth Silentius.

“Thaed?!” Ebberla cried out taking large steps backwards, creating a distance between the two of them. The cloaked figure raised their blade, but paused, and instead begun to laugh. Ebberla’s brow furrowed with thought as to she knew that laugh, but it was strange it wasn’t coming from herself. Her attacker lowered their blade and removed their hood; Ebberla nearly fell over as she stared right back at herself.

“If only Thaed could see your face now…”

__________​

The book in Della’s hands was old and worn, preserved by the careful techniques practiced by archivists through the ages. However, the writings in the book were still legible, clear to read as if they were just written recently. The pages were speckled with images and writings of a Sith alchemist and scientist, each page filled with every detail one could fit in order to explain their findings and results.

While Della looked through the book, she would feel a slight chill, if she looked to address Ebberla, the Jedi Master was no longer standing in the room with her, her presence momentarily gone from the forbidden archive itself. There wasn’t a sense of urgency or danger in the air, but certainly to anyone attuned to the Force would feel something was amiss. The Force stirred as a presence approached, the quiet hiss of the archive door opening and then shutting.

“/H-he-hello?/”a girl’s voice called out meekly in Snamreg, their steps echoing in the archive chamber as she got closer, “/Della? They said I could find you here./” she asked aloud as she ventured further into the archive room before her presence was fully revealed to the Knight, her features where that as Della would have last seen her, however, her eyes look worn and hallow, so much pain was coursing throw her body.

“/Della, do you remember me? It’s me, Anne Marie./” she said approaching her fellow Snamreg, trying to force a smile on her own face before her emotions bubbled over into tears.

 

[TweedPawn]

thump...thump. Della's foot had responded so intuitively, that she had little time to be aware of a possible danger nearby. Della had bee excited when she saw the leather bound book, something she could relate to. It was like finding a tome from her own people. She barely had a chance to go over the writings when she froze and her foot hit the ground.

Her eyes darted. She dropped the book and searched around for Ebberla. How did they get separated? Della felt cold. No. Something not right.

Run...must run. Run from that feeling.

She appeared as any other rabbit, her head search for answers, her body twitching in various ways. The only thing that made her still, was the sound of a door opening. Della felt blood drain from her face. She was motionless, paralyzed by shock.

"/Goddess of all that has been created. What is this I see?/" Della gasped. Ann Marie. She had been ten years old when she was rounded up with Della and the other children and taken from Sacul. Della and Ann Marie were the only two girls, so Della thought it was appropriate to look after her, try to be a mother figure. Then, Geist Weiss started his tests.

They had been brutal, cold. Della remembered the first time she sensed the chill in the air. How little she understood. Yet, Della was the oldest and felt herself to take on the burden of keeping to the youngers.

"/Ann Marie...how? Did you escape? But, you haven't changed...you...haven't changed/" Della suddenly recalled Geist Weiss's illusion. Oh divines! Was he here? Her heart pounded. If he was here, why couldn't Della sense him? They had met three times before, each time taking in and studying the other. But, who else would have known of Ann-Marie.

"EBBERLA!" Della screamed. The Phoenix fluttered, reminding Dela of its presence. Della had to remain calm. Now was not the time to be charged with emotion. Remember how he taught you to recall a happy memory, focus. She wanted to run so much.

"/how did you escape? I thought I was the only one./" Della whispered, trying to keep her fear in check. But Ann Marie had an expression of pain, suffering. She was weeping. Della felt her intuition kick in again. No, Ann Marie was no longer alive. Ann Marie was dead...

"/what...is going on?/" Panic was rising.

 

[GABA]

“/I-I couldn’t escape Della./” cried Ann Marie in between her sniffles as she tried to calm herself down. She took a few deep breathes, wiping the tears from her eyes. “/Don’t you remember us on that ship? Those tests they did, they hurt so much. I just wanted them to stop. I just wanted to go home./” she said approaching closer to Della.

“/I can see you’re scared, just as scared as I was. I’m still scared Della, why didn’t you go back for the rest of us?/” she asked, “/You could have, you did something that scared them./” Ann Marie’s fingers touched the tables and artifact fact stands, her tears quickly drying as a sense of curiosity perked the girl’s interests in her new location.

“/Why didn’t you do more, maybe they could have let us all go, we could be all home, on Sacul./”

__________
​

Ebberla stared at herself, refusing to believe what she was seeing. She reached into the Force looking to dissipate the illusion, but nothing was working.

“Stop that, I’m as real as it gets, Ebberla.” She said approaching closer to the Jedi Master.

“No, you’re not, this is a trick, you’re not me and I am not you.” She said standing her ground, allowing for the woman to approach her.

“It’s not a trick, I am as much as you, as you are me. “ she said grinning, “Oh Ebberla, so youthful and naïve in your thoughts, it’s probably why the other Masters in the Order don’t look to respect you, they look down upon your ideas and suggestions; your maverick behavior is not very becoming of a Jedi of the Order.” The woman raised Thaed’s blade to Ebberla’s chin, she could feel the heat radiate from the red plasma beam, the burning air stinging her nostrils.

“You’re not welcomed here, Sith.” Ebberla stated, quickly glancing at the tip of the blade. The dark woman jabbed her lightsaber forward, cutting air again as Ebberla’s swift jerk left her still with her head. The dark Ebberla laughed, enjoying her game.

“Not welcomed here? Tsk, that’s a silly thing to say when I am inside you. Remember when you thought about leaving the Jedi?” she pointed to herself, “That was me, you had just returned here, Skhai helped to return the Force, but something still didn’t feel right. You thought it was your feelings to Thaed, but that only made things worse.”

The Jedi backed away, distancing herself from her doppelganger through the aisles of the archives, though she knew what she was talking about, she certainly knew her own private thoughts. The woman could judge Ebberla’s silence and smiled.

“You do know what I’m talking about. What did I tell you, I’m you and that feeling you had, it was hate. Ebberla, why do you deny it? You hate the Jedi so much.”

 

[TweedPawn]

Della's body shook. She never took her eyes off from Ann Marie. Della's connection with The Phoenix was strong, to the point where Della could feel it cry out to her to snap her out of her tharn frozen madness.

"/How did you get here, then?/" Della whispered. She swallowed back tears that wanted to escape. Her memories of that terrible time came back. She remembered having to run on the treadmills at dangerous speeds until she was gasping for air. She remembered being lined up and measured like cattle.

In the beginning, Della had actively resisted. She shoved her captors when they were too rough. She bit when they grabbed her. It lasted for a week, until they started to make her run on the treadmill. After every session, she would be thrown back in with the other Snamreg, too exhausted to even resist. Then, more tests.

They had been forced to compete for food. Della naturally won the contests that used her speed. She would stash away her food, only taking a few bites. Then then gave the rest to the younger children like Ann Marie to keep their strength up.

Della also remembered when the with separated her from the others. She remembered that horrible pain of lightning burning through her body. She thought she was going to die. The red-skinned Sith had only stopped when commanded to. It was then that Della was so full of panic and desperation that she delivered her own painful shock right into the Sith's kneecap.

Della had been too shocked by what she had done to run. She stared at her hands, seeing blood coming from her finger tips. The other Sith grabbed her by the arms and threw her into an isolated room.

Geist Weiss was the only one who entered the room. He came with a plate of food, and some sort of puzzle device. Della had to solve the puzzle to be fed. It took some time, but she somehow managed. He would say nothing, only wrote down notes.

"/they weren't afraid of me…they just kept me separated for more observation. I couldn't have done anything. There were too many, they were too strong. Ann Marie…I didn't know what to do. I…still haven't even found Sacul. I had know idea how to even find you. I asked everyone to help me. The Jedi, The Chiss, even a mandalorian and a Sith. None of them knew. Geist Weiss…"/

 

[GABA]

Ebberla’s stomach dropped to the dark woman’s words, she knew exactly what she was talking about, the feeling of betrayal when she had yet to understand why everything occurred the way it did. The dark Ebberla smiled reading the looking on the Jedi’s face, her hazel eyes flickered red.

“It wasn’t just the war Ebberla, don’t you remember when you first learned about the Jedi from that old man?” she asked slowly closing the distance between them, “How he promised to take you to the Jedi Temples, to become something more than a urchin of the streets? He built up all that hope and excitement and that day when he didn’t show up, oh the trouble you found yourself in.”

The Jedi’s eyes narrowed and she felt herself gripping her lightsaber a little more tighter with every word her darker self spoke. Her words weren’t unfamiliar, she knew these thoughts, she had gone over them time and time again looking for reason in her actions and why they had come to past. “And when you did finally arrive, guilty of your past actions, the council believing you were unstable, they suggested to take a calmer path, and how did that go again?” she questioned, quirking an eyebrow, “The fights you and your Master would get into, so you wanted to prove you didn’t need her to gain your Knighthood correct?”

Now Ebberla’s pulse raced, her heart thumping through her chest as her anger bubbled. She wanted nothing more now to make her quiet, her words stung, venomous to her well being.

“Aw, I seem to be making you quite upset, so let’s focus on something happy? How is Tristian?” she asked and Ebberla lashed out, the Force gathered behind the swing of her blade forcing the doppelganger to stumble backwards. She didn’t stop; the strikes of her blade were armed with her anger feeding her darker self with every swing she took.

__________​

Ann Marie stood in front of Della, her fingers reaching up to touch her cheeks as she looked deep into her eyes. “/Maybe if you were stronger, you could have helped us all./” she whispered and then took a step back, feeding off of Della’s thoughts and emotions. She could feel the fear as she still studied the confusion of the situation in Della’s face.

“/If you were stronger, you could have stopped them, if you were stronger, you could have found Sacul by now./” she said, her tone sharp. Ann Marie then shook her head, “/Maybe you’re not meant to go back to Sacul. Maybe the rest of us were supposed to. It’s not fair that you got to live and we had to die. All for what? So you can become a pet for them? How are you not a pet to the rest of these people? You said you tried, but maybe you didn’t try hard enough. You may have been fast, but never sharp. Arn would have brought us home, he was sharp./” the small girl protested, lines of tears streamed down her eyes.

“/I could be home with Mama and Papa. We all could be home./” she pointed her finger sharply at Della, her cheeks reddening with anger and sadness that things could not be different. She found much comfort in blaming Della for their turmoil.

 

[TweedPawn]

Della was mesmerized by the apparition before her. Her eyes transfixed by Ann Marie's. The child was right, Arn would have figured it out. What could Della have done? Could she have truly fought off three Sith? She barely survived being electrocuted by the red-skinned one. Knowing what Della knew now. There was no way she could have survived taking on Geist Weiss either.

Della felt sadness and loss, the old wounds of her past opening up. Her desire to hide and drown in her sorrow was great. But, Della somehow knew that this was not right. Ann Marie should not be in front of her. There had to be a trick. Sometime in Della's childhood that could help with this. Della fidgeted in her mind though every nursery rhyme, fairy tale, and folk story she could recall. But only one returned to her a solution.

"Ann Marie, do you remember the Belle Dame of the North?" Della asked. She looked at the child in front of her very gently.

"I remember a verse. Maybe you can sing it with me, Ann marie"

"Lanterns, carry your lanterns.
Keep the oil full and the wicks long.
Children of the mountain song,
beware the Belle Dame of the North."

"Do not let the lanterns go out. Do not let the lanterns go out.." Della whispered the last stanzas of that song to herself. The lanterns were the light source that kept the Belle Dame at bay. It was similar to the story of a girl who had gotten lost.

"and the story of the Mountain Witch. Do you remember that one Ann Marie? There was a little girl on that mountain who got lost. A woman told her that she could keep her safe with treats and a new family. But the girl saw past those things and saw the red beating of the stone that should have been her heart. REmember what the girl did, Ann Marie?" Della began to remember the happy memories of Ann Marie. The sound of her laughter. She remember sleeping with her and the others in the warmth of a burrow on a chilly night. Della remembered holding Ann Marie's hand while walking her to school.

"She lit a lantern. " Tears fell down Della's face. She had sadness but the thoughts of home, brought her hope. If Ann Marie was dead, and the Jedi were correct, than Ann Marie still lived on through the Force. Whereever it was that the souls of the departed went, Della would find a way for Ann Marie to reach that place.

Golden Fields. Just like the ones she lived on and where Della last saw Sebastian Solborne. That beautiful place where Della saw the Light of the Force within the glory of a man that finally shed the burdens of mortality.

"That lantern guided her home, Ann Marie. " Della's eyes flashed blue as she also began to draw The Light within her.

"I miss you. I am so sorry for what happened. But you will never be forgotten. I will guide you home, my friend." Della focused on the twilight skies and the gold dusty air of those fields Sebastian Solborne now roamed. The winds were faster than Della ever could be. The Light grew like a nova within Della and towards Ann Marie.

"Go Home. You can find it." Della said, tears streaking down her face.

 

[GABA]

The apparition lowered her finger as Della begun to sing. She stared at her transfixed on the Jedi’s tale, one certainly she could have recalled from her days on Sacul. There was the burning light of hope that graced the features of the young Knight, warming everything inside the room including Ann Marie.

The young girl smiled as she too begun to hum the tune and wipe the tears from her cheeks with her shirt sleeve. She walked closer to Della and shook her head, pain seemed to strike her for a moment, refusing to believe her tale. She looked to feed off any hopelessness the Jedi could hold about her Snamreg brethren, but couldn’t find any for fuel her despair.

The girl seemed to fad before Della, becoming transparent as she took a final moment to give Della a look of uncertainty and cautiousness as to where she should go next. However, she looked away, seeing something beyond what Della could see with her own eyes and nodded. Ann Marie nodded, taking a few steps backwards before finally disappearing.

Della would find herself back where she first stood with the book, open and exposed. The air somewhat calm around the Jedi Knight, but as she explored her senses she would feel something still amiss, a more turbulent storm of emotions raging within her fellow Jedi friend. Ebberla stood as she did only moments earlier as she had picked up a book herself to explore its inner contents; her eyes were transfixed on some distant plan, her body frozen until Sable’s spell had worked itself on the Jedi Master.

__________
​

Their blades clashed with power and emotion, Dark Ebberla was eating up the Jedi Master’s anger, their skills mirrored off one another. Sparks rained down on them both as they fought through the aisles of shelves and datacrons within the archives, destroying and damaging all that they passed.

“I’ve seemed to upset the little Jedi princess.” She mocked Ebberla as they broke away their blades.

“Shut. Up!” Ebberla snarled releasing a Force push into her opposite self and then leaping after her.

“No need to, it’s already brewing in your head Ebberla!” she cried out, rolling out of the way of Ebberla’s blade as it cut into the marble floor. Dark Ebberla caught the Jedi in a telekinetic grip and threw her into a wall, pinning her well against her own strength. “It’s there, just like I am, you can’t escape it Jedi. Why do you keep fooling yourself? I can keep going you know, we can look at all the times you encountered the Sith and came back to the Jedi? Why? Why do you let their teachings fool you, or how does Thaed say it…chain you?”

Ebberla screamed with all her hate and frustration as soon as the woman mentioned Thaed, her body still pinned against the way at the very will of her darkness. She smiled at Ebberla’s yell, “You follow the wills of everyone else Ebberla Daw, but never your own. All those people who laid down their lives, to sacrifice in something as silly as hope, a burden of man, how do you live with yourself Jedi? The galaxy would continue on without hope, it could you know. You wouldn’t have to worry about Jedi, Sith, you could be alone, just how you like it. No one to worry about, no one you need to sacrifice themselves for you, no one to burden yourself with your love for them.”

Ebberla stopped struggling; she felt her body relax for a moment as she thought about the words of her dark self, the words that to a degree that offered truth and explanation to how she truly felt. However, she wanted to know why; why did she carry such burdens, why has she gone through what she’s gone through, there was an explanation somewhere, but just what it was or where it laid was a mystery to the young Master.

Dark Ebberla leaned closely to Ebb’s ear, whispering lightly, beckoning her to accept her as the answer. She didn’t need to wait, she could have her answer now, be satisfied until someone challenged her and that case she would find she could prove them wrong. The Jedi Master closed her eyes, she listened carefully before she spoke.

“No.”

 

[TweedPawn]

Della watched her childhood friend vanish. Her curiosity wondered how Ann Marie managed to ever have appeared before Della. Where ever she was going, Della couldn't hope but wish for the child to find someone there to bring comfort.

"If you're out there, Sebastian, please greet her and offer her peace." Della whispered. Her eye were aware of the book in front of her. Then, in Della's tranquility, she felt a maelstrom of rage next to her. Ebberla stood with her own transfixed gaze. Della tried to call out to her friend and shake her out of the trance, but to no avail. Della then looked at the book. She turned her attention to the book.

Della closed the book. The spell was coming from the book. If she tried to use the Light on Ebberla, it would have little effect. The book was the source. Della placed both of her hands on it, and tried to affect the book somehow through the will of the Force.

"EBBERLA! LISTEN TO ME! It is trickery! REMEMBER YOUR LIGHT! USE IT!" Della yelled.

 

[GABA]

Closing the book in Ebberla’s hands had no effect on the Jedi; Ebberla still stood, her eyes transfixed on a distant plane, her senses clearly not in the reality in which she stood in. Sable’s book held Ebbela in its spell as she was tormented with her darker half; the book rejected Della’s presences, reflecting the Jedi with a burst of energy in order to ward her away.

Both of the Ebberlas looked up as though they had heard some distant calling, but their emotions were still clashing within like waves from a violent storm, the darker half of Ebberla was winning and the Jedi knew this. She was in so much pain, she was suffering so much, she wasn’t sure what her next steps should be. The dark woman whispered quietly repeating Ebb’s reply.

“No? You don’t sound so sure.”

No, Ebberla was not sure as she struggled to free herself from the telekinetic grip, everything hurt, right down to the beats of her heart, every emotion, every feeling, she constantly questioned it, constantly questioning her place within the Jedi. Why did she come back, what made her believe things would be better? She remembered her meeting with Jhon in the alley and though she couldn’t feel him in the Force, she could see in his face he was suffering too, and all she wanted to do was to make it stop.

Ebberla looked back at herself and she saw the same thing within herself now, it was still there, she was still healing. The dark woman seemed to catch a change in the Jedi’s thoughts and she glared dangerously at her, her smile gone. Ebb released her lightsaber, the metal hilt hitting the floor, echoing in the sudden stillness of the archives.

“No, I am sure.” She said, the grip around her suddenly tightened, “I’m so sure. We’re in so much pain, I know this. We’ve been broken and remolded so many times we haven’t felt ourselves, we lost ourselves. You and I have been through so much, we were thrown to the bottom and now we must climb back to the top.” The Jedi spoke, her words quiet but strong.

The doppelganger released the Jedi, “Everything has happened with the Jedi, they’re responsible in one way or another.” She spat, but her words were lined with hesitation.

“But we seem to find ourselves returning to them while others would have given up and left completely. Why?” Ebb questioned, “Why have we gone through what we did if there wasn’t a reason for them.” Dark Ebberla opened her mouth to reply, but couldn’t find any words. The Jedi walked slowly toward her, her hand extended; the woman raised her blade, but seeing the Jedi not steer away she lowered it and released it also.

“Passion.”

“Yet Serenity.” She replied as Ebb cupped her face, pulling her gently to rest their foreheads against one another.

The storm within them seemed to calm, the visage of the archives fading behind them. “You and I, we are one. We need each other to get through this.” Ebberla closed her eyes, the waves of the Force washed over the Jedi Master and she opened them again, expecting to see herself but instead saw Della.

She blinked a few more times, slightly confused about where she stood back in the forbidden archive chamber before finally regaining full control of her senses. The book stirred in her grasp and realizing what was occurring she quickly dropped it. The book landed with a thud and realizing she just dropped a priceless artifact, Ebb quickly snatched it back up and replaced it with the others.

Ebb spun on her heel, finally addressing the Della, she could sense Della concern, “I-I uh, I’m so sorry Della!” She apologized.

 

[TweedPawn]

Della was relieved to see her friend snap from her trance, but she was not completely alleviated. Tears still stained her face. Della took out a piece of paper from her pocket and began to write as she spoke out loud.

There was a girl in the mountains. She wandered its forests everyday, always carrying a lantern with her. One day, she became lost in a forest. It was so dark, that stars would shine during the day. There was no moon that could light it, no sun. The trees of this forest are covered in a slippery red moss that smells like blood. They say that this forest actually moved, for it was the same forest that a great sage wandered in, but in a different place. It was very likely that you could fall asleep in a field, and then wake up to be surrounded by the dark trees and bloodmoss.

It was this way that the girl found herself lost. She was frightened, for she could barely see through the black fog that hung through the trees. She must have wandered for hours before finally stopping to rest. She began to cry, frightened that she would never find her way home. She heard a little voice.

"Why are you sad?" it asked.

"I'm lost and can't find my way." The girl replied.

"You don't need to go home. You can stay with me. I have treats and a warm burrow. You don't have to be scared." the voice replied. And certainly, the girl suddenly saw a pile of sweets in front of her, but she was uncertain about the treats. Like all good Snamreg, she knew better than to accept gifts from such dark places.

"I need to go home." she said.

"No, you don't." and the girl saw a woman in front of her, with dark hair and pale eyes. She floated above the ground, her feet fading into mist. The girl could see inside the woman's chest, for the lady had cut it out and replaced it with a red stone. It beat just as a heart would, a red light came from the stone. The girl gasped at what she saw.

"You will stay here with me. You will be my child, as the hound promised. I will have many children. Here, I made you a doll. Please take it. It's my gift to you." The woman showed the girl a doll. It had been made with the hair of children, and from their flesh came the leather to make the clothing for it. The buttons and eyes were made from the bones of the Belle Dame's children. The girl screamed and tried to run.

"How dare you run from me!" The woman screamed. Her eyes became hollow, and her teeth became sharp like the fangs of a snake. Her limbs grew long and grotesque, sharpening into branches that tried to snare the girl. The Belle Dame screeched more loudly than any machine.

The girl kept running until she tripped. Horified, she could only think of one thing to do. She prayed to the Goddess and the Trickster, desperate for a Light. She prayed loud and strongly, believing in the hope that she would make it out alive. As she did, her lantern became brighter than the sun, it illuminated the forest and burned the Belle Dame. The light became to strong that it showed her the way back home.

The Girl never again allowed the lantern to go out. She always remembered her Light. Don't let the lantern go out. "

Della paused. Then, she took the scraps of paper and reached for the very book that just hypnotized her. Della removed it from the shelf and searched for anything that could be used as string. When that failed, Della ripped a long strip of fabric from her clothing and tied her story to the book and shelved it.

"I rarely tell stories from the north. They are filled with terrible things and horrors. There are things up there that should never be found." Della still seemed distant. Her eyes and her face revealed easily that she was reflecting on many things at once. Her lip started to quiver.

"She was just a little girl, Ebberla. She was just a little girl and the Sith tormented her and killed her. Just like the others. Why? To satisfy some curiosity. Ge- Geist...If he had never found us...Ann Marie would be alive. She would be alive." Della's tears fell again.

 

[GABA]

The Knight was terribly upset, Ebberla was uncertain what Della had faced as she begun to recite one of her Sacul stories. She was never one to believe stories, legends and tales fabricated to teach a lesson or make their listeners believe in the impossible. Ebberla felt suddenly baffled by the girl's behavior as she now scrambled in a hunt, eventually replacing fabric and paper inside one of the Sith books.

Della's lip quivered as she spoke of a girl. Ebb instantly guessed that was who Della encountered, much different from encountering one's own self. She wasn't sure what to say as she pressed her finger tips together against her lips. However, she did know sometimes there were never the right words on what to say and the Jedi Master pulled Della to her, embracing the Knight against her body. Her warmth and kindness flowed into Della as she held her.

"What has happened has happened, there is nothing you cannot do to change the past. You once did everything you knew you could at the time and there is nothing you can't do to change that except to learn and to grow." Ebb paused, searching her words, "Those books were Sith, they were meant to question yourself and your standing."

 

[TweedPawn]

Della easily allowed the warmth and brightness from Ebberla to flow into her. Della returned the embrace, burying her face into Ebberla's shoulder. Della accepted what had happened to her. She knew that she had been lucky, or that the Force had guided her.

"The day I escaped. It was the second time I had attempted it. I knew that if I had tried again, I would be killed. I also knew it was the best chance I had to save myself and the others. Or at least get the help that would be needed to find the meaning behind why we were taken. I was sitting in a room by myself with nothing more than a blanket. Then, the door opened up but there was no one on the other side. I ran. I ran so fast that they couldn't catch me. When they couldn't catch me, they tried to kill me."

"I remember leaping from the amp that went into the ship and landing in the middle of a firefight between the sith and the men who would take me to the Jedi. I don't know how I wasn't killed by the crossfire, the Force I suppose. But I ran right into the group of men and thy tackled me to restrain me and take me away from the fight."

"I had no idea at the time, but my actions made it possible for anyone to even know what Sacul was. Escaping was the best thing I could have done, even if I didn't save the lives of the others. The Jedi know of Sacul, they know of what Geist has done, and they taught me what I needed to know to find my home and free my people. You're right, I have done everything that I possibly could. But, my task isn't over yet." Della stepped back from Ebberla.

"I have so much gratitude to the Jedi. They saved my life, taught me Basic, and taught me not to be afraid of my potential. Geist Weiss once said that I was a subject of marvelous potential, I don't think he ever foresaw my true potential. I don't think I have a grasp on it myself. You know what? I am okay with that."

Della looked at the sith books, but did not touch them. It was funny that the Jedi kept these. especially under lock and key. Della smirked. These archives were like the northern country of Whitestone. Hardly anyone went in or out, it is carefully guarded, full of the oldest secrets, and has dark magic as well. So the rumor went. Della knew Ebberla would scoff at this, so Della said nothing.

She guided Ebberla towards the exit.

"You know, you're a good friend." Della said. A lump instantly went into her throat. There were many she said that to that were no longer around. They were the ones who needed friendship the most.