Requiem (Open only to the Jedi, pre-Onderon 'flashback')

[Elijah Brockway]

The temple on Tython, previously standing so tall and proud, had been reduced to naught but a crater in the ground, a pile of unrecognizeable rubble sitting in the center of it. The courtyard was undamaged, for the most part, but was covered in a layer of dust that blanketed the surroundings like a nearly-incorporeal death shroud. As a cold breeze blew through the courtyard, it waved the last living creation in what had been the temple complex: a single flower, miraculously untouched by the destruction.

Sihkar stood alone for the moment, looking at the destruction; other Jedi, those able to travel, would be joining him from Ilum; the younglings were still there, moved to Ilum rather than Tython. The Crucible was just docked for the time, and wasn't being used at all, because there was no need, given that the younglings were already in place. They wouldn't be coming...but those fellows who had joined Sihkar, Marcus, and Bau at the beginning would hopefully be coming soon, if they were healed enough. None of them had really been there to see what had been left after the bombing, but they need to see it.

They needed to come and witness what had happened, just why they were fighting...and just why they shouldn't stoop to the same levels as the Sith they were fighting.

Sihkar turned to where Lael was standing behind him, motioning her forwards. She'd been healing from the wound she took from her fight here on Tython, trying to defend the temple. It was important she was here as a part of it, too. Not just as a Jedi, but as a defender. Nearly as a Knight, if Sihkar was concerned.

"How long do you think before the others start to show up?"

 

[Lucy Lou]

It was soon after Tython, almost too soon for the young girl to be back. Staring at the ruins in front of her, the child could feel the death that clung to this once beautiful place. The willow garden, the archives, the temple roof, all the places that she'd spend her time here, just gone. The only thing that remained was the courtyard and it's broken fountain. Lael didn't even want to look at it. Didn't want the dark reminder of her failure, not that she could escape it. Sihkar's voice cut through her thoughts and she welcomed the distraction as she moved to join him, her limp quite pronounced as she favored her right side. The medical team on Ilum had taken care of the deep cut, but the bone still ached from the procedure used to reinforced the weakened area.

"Not long I hope." Said Lael's voice softly, almost like if she were to talk too loud she'd disturb the ghosts that haunted here. "I'm sorry Master Sihkar." She said finally giving voice to some of her thoughts. There were so many lost. So many gone. Probably some that they wouldn't never even realize what had happened to them. Had they been in the Temple? Was it the bombs that had killed them or the attackers? They'd never know. Lael hadn't seen Karma since the attack and there was just this sinking feeling, she'd never see the young boy again. She stopped and stood next to the General, "Why are we here Master?" She finally asked as she looked out over the destruction again.

 

[Korvo]

Tython was not a world frequented by many Jedi among the Crusaders. In fact, he'd only been able to grace the gentle homeworld and heart of the Jedi Order once before, not several months ago. But it was rare for him to ever be among the Republic worlds; he was, after all, a Knight-Crusader. Their place was on the battlefront, from the frontier worlds of the galaxy to the borders of the Sith's fallen empire, far from the relative safety of the Core Worlds. Or at least, so many had once thought.

What had once been such a grand center for spirituality and meditation, for teaching and for learning was now a place of ashen dust and the cooled remains of smoldering ruins. An empty void was in the wake of Jedi Temple, both literally and symbolically. What had once been a place of such solace and serenity was now rife with a sense of conflict and unrest. The Order, torn asunder on Tython at its very foundation, and Taox was off on the other side of the galaxy. He should have been here. Could he have made a difference if he had? Would it have mattered? Perhaps not. Probably not. Could he have even fought to the best of his ability? Those were Jedi, his former family. He even knew and fought beside some of those that had rebelled, a time ago.

It was a terrible situation all-around, but the dead and the fallen deserved to be remembered. No one should be left and forgotten as a footnote in the galaxy's history of blood and war. And there were others there, as well. The first was a man, dark of hair. But even from behind, Taox recognized who he was; the Lord-Crusader. The young girl, on the other hand, he did not know either her face or her name. All the same, he smiled as she asked a question, one that had more importance and meaning than perhaps she even realized.

"To remember, perhaps?", Taox began, approaching the two before stopping short to again look at the rubble that was once the Tythonian Temple. Everyone would have a reason of their own. What was theirs? What was his? "To commemorate... to pledge..."

 

[Gaiaverse]

To say the destruction of the temple had as great an impact on Emil as the other Jedi was....a lie. She was raised in the temple, did not explore every nook and cranny before finally being of age to start her trials. She did not spend countless hours in it's gardens, sleeping among it's plants. Nor did she watch the white moon rise and fall from it's roofs. In fact, she almost didn't want to come to this meeting, feeling she could understand the pain her fellows felt tearing at their hearts, threatening to leave nothing but a black void.

But she did. Perhaps it was do to not wanting to seem uncaring, too stoic even for the Jedi. Or maybe it was a want to provide consul to those that were meant to do so to her. She felt at home among the Jedi, they provided a place to finally settle down, to be herself. To be...normal. That and the many Jedi killed by....were two things that caused her to grieve.

She arrived after Taox, nodding to those that had already arrived. Despite her familiarity among the Jedi, she was still a loner at heart. To pass the time she got out her notebook, drawing an unfinished work-One that showed a black haired girl starring at the former temple through the oak trees that surrounded it.

 

[Vosrik]

"To move forward," the voice of General Vosrik added as he strode next to Taox. "To acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them. The actions of the Jedi, regardless of whether we personally committed them, have stained us all." The General, although having had his foot replaced by a cybernetic one a week or so earlier, still walked awkwardly with a pronounced limp.

He placed a hand on Taox' shoulder. In a quieter voice, he smiled and said, "It's been too long, my friend. I'm glad to see you, even under these dark times." Vosrik gazed with remorse on the obliterated remains of the magnificent temple. This was where he grew up, him and his brother. This is where his faithful and dear Master Corlas Anval had taught him the ways of the Force and how to wield a lightsaber with a true heart and pure intentions. Word had reached Vosrik's ears that this was now Anval's resting place, where he died defending his fellow Jedi.

The General remembered embroidering gold into his new green cloak in the courtyard of the Temple. None could have anticipated what happened that day; even now, the fires and cries of battle still echoed in the back of Vosrik's mind. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and let the living energies of the Force flow through him once more.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

This place was a temple, but it had been so much more to Djura. To Djura Volfe, this place was home. His personal quarters had been here, all of his earthly possessions had been here. Beyond the material however, was the sentimental, for this is where a young half-starved orphan, hands nicked and cut from digging through scrap and climbing wrecks, his ribs pressed against his skin, and hair matted and unwashed, had been brought by his master, Ser Karlo Volfe, the Sephi jedi and his father. The man had adopted him on Taris, brought here him, cared for him and nurtured his skills, advised his combat style, instilled within him his sense of ethics, morals, and what was right and wrong.

The halls were ones he remembered fondly, and he found himself tracing them with his minds eyes as he stared into the crater that now lay in the earth, peppered with half-submerged rubble. Silently, Djura closed his eye as he walked along the edge, imagining the temple as it had once been, seeing its tall stone ceilings and vast windows, it's towering pillars and stretching halls. It was hard to distinguish what was rubble and what was debris from the walls and ceiling anymore, but for Djura it was as if the temple were frozen in his memory. His metal legs clanking slightly as they walked the uneven terrain distracted Djura from his memory, Djura now only getting used to keeping himself upright and walking properly with them. He even still bore a few of the bruises from his falls with the crutches that he ignored beneath his robes.

He kept walking however as he kept up his envisioning of the temple, slowly at first, but at a more and more as he finally came to a halt, knowing by heart where his quarters would have stood, and what lay inside of them. Djura weighed his options as he looked down towards the massive hole in the ground, taking a few moments to consider what he would do before he made up his mind. He took the leap, and jumped into the crater as he slide along the wall, heading down towards where his former quarters had been. The ground was cold, as was the air, and there was a heaviness as Djura came to a stop. He looked around, trying to find the remains of his quarters as he closed his eyes. The answer came shortly, and Djura ran and fell to his knees onto the dirt as he began to move stones and shovel soil with his hands.

He started to dig, slowly at first, but at a more and more frantic pace as he worked to pry his way through the rubble, finally pulling aside a large chunk of stone as he saw what he'd been looking forward. Smashed to pieces, was a holoprojector, a simple one used to store single frame pictures. Besides it, lay a now twisted and dented shield, the metal warped to nearly beyond recognition, and emblazoned upon it, was the symbol of the jedi order. Djura stared at the shield as he brought a hand up towards his face.

"I failed you....I failed her...all of you. Please...wherever you are in the force...forgive me." He spoke in a near whisper as he rose up from where he had knelled at his masters memorial and wiped away the newly acquired moisture from his good eye. When he finally brought his hand aside, and opened his eye once more, an intense anger burned within them as he clenched his fists, "They'll pay...they will all pay for this...one way or another. On this, father...I swear." He said, before turning around to go and rejoin the others.

As djura began to pull himself back to his feet and make his way towards the craters walls, he found himself wondering how this could happen. How could some of their own have done something like this? To disagree with the army, to demand it be changed, and to turn against it were things he was bitterly familiar with. His own master had turned traitor from the jedi when he claimed they were losing their way. But Ser Volfe had chosen to leave, to go off to a far off world, and to direct his anger and desire for change towards those who led the war. Even when Djura had found his master, he was the same honorable man who worked to protect the innocent, and his fight to the death had been a duel of honor, between two combatants alone, with no one else as a potential casualty in a jedi schism.

'To disregard all the lives here, and for what? A philosophical point? A political and ideological statement? Were the lives of their friends so meaningless as to toss them aside for a message!? Such people...' Djura thought as he reached out and grabbed one of the sticking out pieces of debris, pulling himself upwards as he made his way towards the top, 'They don't deserve mercy...not if life means so little that a statement is weighed to be worth more...' he scowled as he reached up and wrapped his hand around something, trying to pull himself upwards before it gave way and Djura found himself falling on his back into the crater.

Djura winced as he impacted the ground, head ringing a bit as he tried to sit up and look at what had appeared to be a piece of re-bar. His eye passed along its shape, and as it did his blood ran cold in his veins. The blade emitter was destroyed, the shaft bent, and the whole thing burned, but he knew in his gut what he held was a lightsaber pike. Djura felt a pulling sensation, as he saw flashes of the battle, the emotions of the cathar who weilded this weapon, his sudden empathy pulling upon the force to trigger within him psychometry. He dropped the weapon, his eye wide with surprise and shock as he scrambled back. It was her weapon, there was no mistake. The jedi whose name he hadn't even known, who died fight by his side. His eyes were wide as he began to feel the cold creeping around himself, like someone had plunged him into a sudden lake of ice water. His own experiences and emotions from that day came back to him, and with them, so much more then what he alone had experienced.

The jedi felt it all crashing back as he lay among the rubble, his breathing quickening, his eye almost glazed over as he felt the great loss here, of the lives ended. Every time djura set a hand on the ground, he felt alone burst of emotion, seeing the last moments play out in his head as the force showed him sights of what happened, of the people who couldn't get out in time, dying from being crushed as the walls came crashing down around them. They mixed with his own memories, flooding his mind with the tython temple's last moments. He could hear it, he could smell it, he could almost feel it, and every time it passed made his heart race more as he shut his eye shut, hands going up towards his head as he began to physically tremble, rocking back and forth to try and force himself back to the present, and stop the thoughts from cascading against his psyche over and over.

 

[Talon maara]

Kips eyes finally lay upon the surface of tython, his feet pressing his weight upon the ground as he stepped off of the ship. Kip had been gone TOO long. Leaving once a beautiful temple to peacefully train, only to return to witness the result of hate and destruction.

The old Neti's eyes slowly began to fill with tears, as his eyes peered across the yard, looking the grounds over....picturing where everything once stood...

Kip stepping forward began to walk amidst the temples grounds, passing his fellow jedi who too looked on into the ash and rubble.

"Why have i been gone so long?" ​

Kip muttered to himself as he approached where the library once stood.

'All the knowledge....the wisdom....gone to waist' ​

He thought to himself as he knelt down towards some rubble, pulling out only fragments and debris of former books and holocrons. The old knights heart melted to the thought of his fellow jedi being harmed....his..home...his....family....

 

[Jessica Cloud]

Cloud stood a ways off from the rest. Still as stone and tall as a statue. A still silent woman amongst the remains of the temple. Petra was at her side. Always, at her side. Two ashen faces, human and non, mourning the ruins of Tython's most recent and surprising loss. Beautiful faces. Now sad and astray. Lost in thought and in passion. Each in their own way. Two Jedi women garbed in their dark blue trenchcoats. The symbol of their position and outerwear of two stoic Sentinels who lived and worked on far far away Chandrila. Always far away now. Always gone too long on some other adventure. Some recent investigation or some dutiful police assignment. How long, long they both had missed this place. The Core just wasn't the same.

Jess turned to Petra and gave her a nod and a squeeze. Letting her blonde Zeltron companion know through the Force that it was time to take their leave. Through the Bond they shared no words need be said. No wind nor echo need ever be disturbed. They just knew. They were awake. Together. So they could feel each other perfectly inside and out, always in the Force. So bruised, bonded, and together again; the two somber women walked softly over the gentle grass, and towards the always awaiting others. Taking a moment to mourn not just as strangers.

But as Jedi too.

 

[Bigfatpenn]

*Letto had requested a Jedi shuttle to take him to Tython and thus it did, Letto slowly made his way down the ramp of the ship he could see a handful of other Jedi standing about, mourning, Letto peacefully walked towards the others keeping a level head, Letto could just barely feel his eyes a bit misty. Letto looked about, there were a handful of familiar faces but the one he knew the best that he could currently see was Taox, he made his way over to him standing beside him. Letto then saw Lael, an old clan mate and Grand Master Sihkar, a unlikely friend he made on a mission to Stewjon. Letto looked down his visage hidden by his hat.* “Y.. You know, I always hated this temple.” *Letto was on the verge of tears.* “but, now that it’s gone, and it took so many people, so many friends with it. I can’t help but miss it, miss… them…” *After this Letto stood in complete silence merely overlooking the scenery around him scanning the small party of Jedi who had arrived.*

*When Letto was younger, when he was with his old Master, Ping, he came here rarely they lived out on the road in the Outer Rim living day by day, rarely stopping at any temple but since her pass he had to come here much more frequently it drove him crazy, he hated being here, having a home base, it felt so constraining and claustrophobic, but now, like some perverse Stockholm Syndrome, his leash to this place had been broken he could leave and never come back and yet he didn't want to leave.*

 

[Cheshire]

Levi didnt really want to return to Tython, especially under these circumstances. The Tython battle was horrific and terrifying, watching the traitors killing younglings and causing terror among the Jedi. He had left the temple to help evacuate Padawan's and fly them over to Illum, a temple that would definitely hold the padawan's and shield them from the dangers of the outside world. Of course they would have to venture outside with their master's and then eventually on their own at some point on their own, maybe with their own padawan's then the vicious circle would continue. However the Sith were deadly close to breaking that circle due to the sheer amount of murder and atrocities they had committed.

When Levi neared the temple, he felt like his heart had been shattered into tiny pieces as he landed and saw the full extent of the misery and death the Sith had caused. He felt like he wanted to cry as he saw the crater that was the previous Jedi Temple. The only thing left was the courtyard which a congregation of Jedi were gathered in. He landed and quickly walked outside to meet with the congregation. He wasn't wearing his tradition jedi gear, instead opting for more casual clothingwhich almost made him seem offensive but he didn't have anything to change into. He gave a short nod to General Sihkar and General Vosrik before moving over to the crying Padawan. He gave the younger one, a child who shouldnt be dealing with such a tragic issue short hug.

"I understand how you feel kid. I understand." The kids verge of tears action only made Levi feel even worse as he fought to work off the tears as well.

 

[Prudence]

Kira stood in the courtyard and allowed her eyes to settle on the crater where the temple had been. She thought, for a moment, about all the memories that she had made in that temple, and she felt her heart tearing in half.

She could still remember it, all of it, though not as vividly as she had been able to at one point. She remembered the ship breaking atmosphere and nearing Tython, and she remembered feeling the hope and new beginning in the Force. A life of abuse and neglect had finally come to an end when she had been brought to the world. She remembered how beautiful the temple had been, as she had been lead through its towering and glistening halls, and had been given her own room. She remembered her best friend, Malinia, the friend that had gotten her to branch out as a child. She remembered spending hours up at night exploring the temple with her, or leaving Tython together. She remembered waiting together as they were both assigned masters and then freaked out together, and she felt a cold pit welling up in her stomach. She hadn't talked to Malinia for a few days before the bombing, but she had seen the casualty report and knew the girl had died trying to defend the temple.

She knelt, picking up a small palm sized piece of debris from the largely debris free courtyard, and pocketed it. It was a piece of her temple, a temple she would always cherish.

And then she heard him.

Kira turned her head sharply to look at him, "Padawan Letto, some of us actually enjoyed our time here. I'm sorry if you weren't able to properly appreciate what was handed to you on a silver platter with the Temple."

She knew what the kid meant, and his sentiment was one she could sympathize with, but right now, she wasn't having any of it. All she heard was I hated this temple and it swirled around in her head. She had loved this temple, and she had loved her friends, and nothing, including yelling at padawans, could get that back for her. She felt hot tears beginning to work their way out of her eyes and falling down her cheeks, smearing the makeup she had chosen to wear for the gathering.

She turned away from the padawans gathered together and just looked around for a moment, realizing this very well may the last time she saw any of it.

"Hey Kira it's me! Malinia! I'm getting my frist padawan tonight! Can you believe how much we grew up?! WE are the ones taking padawans now! It's so crazy! Anyways, I know you're on your way to Bilbringi for a mission right now and on comms silence, but I wanted to be the first one to let you know! I love you girl! I can't wait to see you again!"
​

After that the bubbly girl had signed off the comm message, and it was the last time that Kira would ever hear from her friend. At night, when her own padawan, that she had taken in honor of Malinia, wasn't listening, and no one was around, she would play the message and weep at the loss of her friend. She drug her sleeve over her eyes, sopping up the tears, and tried to reign in her force presence and appearance. Her own padawan, no doubt, would be appearing soon and she didn't want to be a mess.

 

[Darkling]

Solaris slowly walked down the path toward the ruin of the Jedi Temple. It was a familiar path that she had walked many times when she lived and learned her with her Master. She recalled the very first time she was brought here all those years ago. Her little hand in his strong but gentle one as he explained she would be safe here; That no one would come to take her away or harm her. She believed him then, but now that belief had been shattered. A million questions raced in her mind with each step forward not one of them would be answered. The same one kept coming to the forefront of her mind. How could it have happened?

The Temple was filled with so many experienced Jedi that should have foresaw the tragedy before it happened and acted to save the the younglings and the younger initiates. It was hard for her to fathom that the traitors moved among them with no one knowing their true intentions. What technique of the Darkside would allow them to do that? Could it be countered? even more questions ran through her mind. Again the one that kept rushing to the forefront of her mind was ... How?

She stopped in sickened awe of the devastation. The level of which she could not even reference in her mind to anything she had seen over the past four years of being a Jedi Knight. She had seen villages burned, battlefields of dead soldiers with machines of war destroyed, and other war related atrocities; none of that even compared to this grim visage. Why? Now replaced the repeated question that tried to take dominance in her mind. Why was this more horrendous than all the things she had seen thus far.

This was home. The answer materialized from the chaotic barrage of questions . Yes this was her home, it had been for quite a number of years. This is where she grew up, learned to harness the power of the Force inside her, learned to be a defender of the innocent , caretaker of the weak, and tried to become whole again. This was home for Solaris Zae and it had been taken from her in violence like her parent were taken from her all those years ago. It had been taken from her by people who she was told she could trust. Fellow Jedi.

Solaris' warm brown eyes gleamed with tears she fought not to shed. She needed to be strong for the others who were here. They had lost more than she had. They had lost friends ... no... more than that. They had lost family. For all his lectures and posturing about how she needed to make friends within the Order; Master Neramandi probably never saw this coming. Right now all she lost was her home but that could be rebuilt. Better. Stronger. More secure, but at this moment the others here had lost essentially family. That pain strikes at the very heart and soul with a viscous cold precision that takes a long time to stop hurting. Solaris knew that pain all too well.

She would say she was heartless to think the way she does about attachments to people, but life taught her a very cold hard fact very early on. Friends are only friends until they get what they want. She respected every Jedi here. She was loyal to the Jedi Order as a whole. Solaris even trusted a few of them, but she would never get close or let them get close enough to her to ever hurt her like they are hurting right now, ever again.

She walked toward where her old room was; slowly as memories of her Master teaching her how to use her Telekinesis to levitate a medium sized stone in the small garden just outside her window filled her mind. The thought brought a small weak smile to her face. The area where the garden was was strewn with debris of the structure that used to be the side of the temple. To be honest with herself; she didn't just come to see the devastation and pay respects to those who had lost their lives here. She came to retrieve something if it had still survived.

Slowly She connected to the Force and started moving the bigger pieces of stone away using her Telekinesis. As the power flow through her body she motioned her hands to lift then push the fragments of stone wall away. Slowly one by one she move at least five fragments away to reveal the medium sized stone that she used to practice with. She knelt down beside it a little weary of from the task before. She almost lovingly wiped the rubble and dust off. She closed her brown eyes and meditated for a few silent moments before digging under the stone with her hands enough to flip it over.

There it was in the little rectangle sized hole just big and deep enough to place the small metal box in. She retrieved the box from the hole reverently and placed it in her lap. She slowly opened it to look at the two most sacred possessions she had. Her mother's necklace that her father gave her the day Solaris was born and her Padawan braid that she attempted to give her Master, but then he gave back to her when she presented it to him the day of her knighting ceremony.

Solaris thought it was an odd gesture as she gave it to him as a reverent gift to him. As always her Master confounded her by saying he had stopped being her Master the day he thought of them as equals. Which was the day she acknowledged that she trusted him. He told her to hold on to it and to give it to the next person she would trust completely with everything she was. She snickered softly at the notion then as she did now. After this atrocity she did not think that was ever going to happen. Though it pained her to see this reverent place that was here home destroyed. Her distrust of making friends had saved her the pain that so many of the Jedi who had come were feeling.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Djura had been down in the pit for what felt like hours as he struggled to overcome the flood of information from the force. He'd tried vainly to reach for his saber, only to recoil the instant he grabbed it, feeling surges of visions and glimpses of its former users use of it, seeing the man he'd murdered. The memories of this place were fresh, and they played out for him as he touched any bit of stone. It was only by the luck of reaching out, and grasping at anything, finding it in the shield of his former master, that a memory snapped him out of it.

It was simple. A memory of him training with his master, one where he talked on the force. On honor, on valor, and on what a person fought for when they needed to take up the sword. It was about balance, clarity, and a certainty that what one was doing was the right thing to do. It had been so simple, but amidsts the surges of fear of panic, anger, and loss, it shot through his mindscape like a bullet. Djura focused on that, on the joy, on the warmth, on the light, that these objects held. He drew forth the memories he had in this place, of growing up and learning in these walls of stone. He felt the joy that the jedi nirn had felt when she first made her saber, and the pride that the sith arno had in his creation. Like the sun rising, Djura suddenly found himself able to see clearly once more, the storm quieting and calming as he stood up from the ground, taking a deep breath as he began to make his way out of this place.

It took some time, but soon Djura was back up on the surface of Tython. He looked back, the crater seeming like a distant nightmare now, but he knew it wouldn't be so simple of a fix. The pain here would need time to mend and heal, and Djura didn't fancy another encounter with it like he had just managed to overcome. He went to rejoin the others, a new perspecitve on things as he did so.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

(OOC: Looks like I'm a bit late in replying to this, huh? That's what starting up at college again will do to you I guess. Hi fam. I'm back. If you're still able to post in this thread feel free. If you're a dirty traitor like @Prudence, then...uggh. <3)

Sihkar listened quietly as the others arriving began to speak up, the ruins of the temple lying before him a somber sight. Some joined him in the still-intact courtyard, while others walked among the nearby rubble, tracing the paths of the halls they had once walked...as best as they could, when the walls were nothing but dust and rubble. He walked forwards a little bit, stepping near Kira Elan and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Be at peace," he murmured, loud enough for her to hear befoe stepping away; from the corner of his eye he saw her do the same, walking elsewhere, following her own path.

"You're all correct," he said louder, to everybody who was in the crowd, especially to those who had spoken up as to the purpose of the gathering. "We are here to remember, to move forwards..." he stopped for a moment, reaching a hand outwards; a piece of rubble from the crater where the temple once stood jumped into his hand, scarred by the explosion but still recognizeable as a remnant of the stonework of the temple's main hall. "But most importantly, I feel, we are here to simply say goodbye."

He turned back to the others, still holding up the stone. "These were our friends, and our family, who no longer stand with us in flesh. Their lives were taken by those they once named brothers and sisters, swept into the Force earlier than would be expected. It's only fitting that we stand together like the family we are, and acknowledge the loss we've come to suffer...And to remember, too, those others who have strayed from their path." He hated talking in front of people. He always ended up thinking he sounded ridiculously grandiose and pompous and overbearing, and that was exactly the opposite of how he wanted to sound in that moment.

"Many of our own are gone, either lost to death or gone astray. Our home has been reduced to rubble, much as the Sith's temple had been just before; Bau Zo is gone, and we've all seen the crop of our actions. We reap what we sow, and where we have sown violence and death we come to find more of it. We needed to come together, to say our goodbyes, and to reorient ourselves along a path more fitting for who we are." He turned away from the group, tossing the piece of broken stone back into the crater.

"That is why we are here. To move forward from the situation we've dug ourselves into, to remember that we are Jedi and to pledge ourselves to a course more fitting for our type...and to say goodbye to those we have lost in the process of all of this."

 

[Reem Va]

Silence reigned undisturbed amongst the awful ruins, and nothing moved, save the weeds and grasses which skirted the walls and trembled with the faintest breeze. The pain of this place was an icy wind choking breath from lungs and forming a noose around necks. It did not dull, nor did it increase in severity. These were the ruins of a once-mighty temple, now devastated by those who once called it their own. The destruction of this venerated place came like a sudden squall out at sea. It was not expected, nor should it have been. They were betrayed by those who they held dearest; their comrades - his comrades - danced about like marionettes, the wood riddled with rot and the strings controlled by their own corrupt souls.

Reem stood vigil over the ruins, hands clasped firmly behind his back. He simply stared, his expression stoic as those gathered spoke of the atrocity. On and on they went, blaming themselves, justifying the reasons behind their presence and the attack. Reem remained silent, listening to each Jedi's rhetoric. His brows furrowed as he continued to observe what was once the Tython temple of the Jedi.

He rarely visited this place after being knighted. There was a tournament fought here, once, in a time long-gone, in which he systematically climbed to the final bout. Aside from this showing of martial might, Reem did not prefer the peaceful nature of the temple. He, much like Taox and other Crusaders, belonged in the forefront of the war, bringing his fury and prowess in arms against the ancient enemy of the Jedi. He did not concern himself with the safety of the meditation grounds here, now covered in soot, scarred forever by the actions of the Fallen. The temple contained a taint, malevolent and dark. It was an unsettling feeling, remaining in an area so deeply wounded, both physically and spiritually. He did not weep; he mourned the loss of his brethren, their wisdom and guidance forever silenced. He mourned the loss of the ancient holocrons, whose teachings once guided Reem, many decades ago.

After some time, Reem would speak up, his voice thunderous in comparison to those gathered. The silence was broken once more and his words carried on the whistling wind. "So long as we remain, those wretched souls will not claim victory over the Jedi." he spoke slowly, "Heresy claws at their hearts, their souls tainted by sin. Judgment will be brought upon them. We are here as a testament to the glory of the Light, standing tall as paragons of the galaxy. So long as we live, so long as we fight back against our ancient foe, we can never be defeated. Falter not in our duties unto the Light, for it is now more than ever we must prove to these 'Sith' and their misguided allies that the Jedi are the defenders of the galaxy." His words rumbled forth, his scowl deepening as he went on.

"Those who have fallen in their service have done so because it was their sublime privilege to die for their cause. In our hearts we shall not know fear, for the only fear is of dying with your duty not done. Our advance must not halt. We must not allow the enemy to press the advantage. While we rest and question our role in this conflict our great enemy whittles us down, piece by piece. We owe our services to more than just our comrades. Untold billions of lives depend on us to be a light in the darkness, a bulwark against which the blade of the enemy shatters."

Reem turned now to his allies. He stood tall and proud, clad in his Praesidium Protectiva, the black-and-gold hilt of Poenitentiam clasped firmly at his side. He looked them all over, studied their distraught faces, and spoke up one final time, addressing them much like the Lord moments prior,

"Though we find ourselves in shadow, no blackness may enter our hearts. No treachery shall touch our souls; no pride will sully our thoughts. We shall be pure amongst impurity; we shall be innocence among guilt. Let them try to stand before us; our might will sweep them aside like dust in a hurricane."

 

[Jade the Protector]

During this time, Jade stood silent, listening. She nodded in agreement to what Reem Va said. "As we stand, let us be free in the light." Jade agreed. "I have felt the darkness creeping on us. I think we need to show it who's stronger." She smirked.