War... War Never Changes

[Solaris]

"It was the war," Char observed as the two men surveyed the desolation below them. Char wore his broad-brimmed hat pulled low over his eyes, his knee-length sand-grey leather duster flapping in the ever-present breeze. The big man stood with his arms folded across his barrel chest, his speeder bike behind him thrumming pleasantly to itself while his Dark Eye probe droid flitted about on its own explorations of the new place. He glanced to the older Jedi, then looked back at the farm. "Growin' up on Tatooine, ya get a special appreciation fer war. Not only does it never really quit out 'round these parts, an' everyone suffers for it, but it's out here on th' fringe of things that peopler's hurtin' for somewhat they never wanted a part of. These folks, they was decent folks. Their boy, he was a good kid. The kinda kid everyone knew we'd never see again, y'know? The kind of kid who was going t' go places an' make somethin' a' hisself.

"He died on Saleucami, an' they gave the idiot Jedi playin' at bein' a general, they gave 'er a medal. Gave the kid's parents a medal, too. Said a lot a' nice words, but that weren't gonna bring 'im back. The Alliance ate 'im up, and weren't a thing they cared to do about it. He sent 'is pay back here, kept their farm afloat. Th' Hutts came a-collectin' soon after, sold 'em off at auction. I hear tell the wife's dead, an' so's the father. Ain't yet been able t' run down what happened to their brood, but it won't be good. The daughter, she was a pretty li'l thing. They was good folk, decent folk, but th' war kept drivin' up the price of everything but water."

Char's eyes hardened. The recrimination was as much at himself as it was at the New Jedi Order - but where he'd realized the error of his ways, they stubbornly clung to fighting as the only way to do any good in the 'verse. That still didn't make it right, still didn't bring the dead back or undo their families' suffering. "Including, it seems, Jedi's time. I shoulda. . . Hell. Woulda been nothin' but a thing for to be helpin' set this right. We been so focused on th' war an' so hidden in our temples that we've forgotten what it is to be a Jedi. Forgot the Code, forgot the hard an' right path for new, easier, quicker ideas an' secular entanglements."

 

[Django]

Elijah cracked a smile as Char spoke, doing his best to hide it using the old rice hat he always wore. Char's words made sense to the old Knight, who was glad such a sensible man was the one leading the Jedi separatist. Elijah had watched the galaxy fall into chaos from a distance. The return of the Sith, war between Empire and Alliance, the Jedi fighting for something other than peace. All observed from Elijah's plowed fields, as was everything that happened since his self-exile.

The sound of Mooshka's purr reached Elijah's ears, reminding her caretaker of her existence. Kneeling he poured water from his canteen into her palm, inviting his cat to drink it. Staring past Tatooine's twin suns the old Knight thought of the wars he had seen come and go. Of birth and death; of good and evil. Often one paved way for the other. Such was life as Elijah understood it. Rubbing behind Mooshka's ears he raised from his kneeling position, doing his best to shake his tightened muscles awake. Admittedly he was getting old, but not old enough where he could go to a kneeling position with ease.

"We could speak of war," finally speaking Elijah continued. "Or we could speak of us. Of the reason why we are here at all. Was it me; was it you? Who knows. Nor does it ultimately matter. I understand you and other Jedi have separated from the Order. I've been down that road, it leading into darkness. I do not wish to see you make the same mistake. I come here to offer myself to you and your cause." Pausing the old Knight allowed Char to think, finishing up by avoiding the use of his vocal cords.

"Do you know who I am?"

 

[Solaris]

"Ain't much t' go by," Char replied, still surveying the farm while the Dark Eye turned its photoreceptors on Elijah. He couldn't decide if the old man was being cryptic or simply crazy. "All's I know is you're offerin' t' help, an' ya didn't open up with wavin' a 'saber 'bout or aspersions against my character for thinkin' differently than you do." He shrugged. "T' my mind, that puts ya at bein' at least wiser than most them what showed up t' the Convocation."

 

[Django]

Elijah shut his eyes, and allowed the Force to flow through him. He searched for an answer, not quite sure of himself. He had been a recluse for decades, sticking to his thoughts and his plow. Joining Char's collection of renegade Jedi was a bigger choice to Elijah than it would be for most. They had their codes, robes, and goodwill and Elijah had himself and his self-made constraints of pain and lose.

Outside of the spaceport cities and shanty towns of Tatooine, in places like the abandoned moisture farm Elijah and Char were resting, people can feel very alone. Amid the isolation, with the Force flowing through him, Elijah felt connected to something higher like hadn't since he left the Jedi. His eyes twinkled a clearness, and he smiled, casting his eyes out on the sandy horizon.

"What's your next step," Elijah finally asked.

 

[Solaris]

"We wage peace," Char said. "Th' Jedi been focused on the war an' the Core so long they forgot the Rim was there. Seems as good a place as any t' start, an' better'n most I imagine. We go back t' the Code, we drop all these trappin's an' temples an' quit holdin' ourselves apart from an' above the common folk. If'n the Jedi is t' serve the Force, then we ought to start doin' that."