Dojo of Exiles

Posted on Wed May 25th, 2022 @ 1:54am by Rusasha Djehuti-Lahan & Zenarrah Sozo

2,671 words; about a 13 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VI: The Last Bastion
Location: Training dojo below the Room of a Thousand Fountains - Reborn Jedi Temple
Timeline: Follows "No Country for Failed Knights"

OLD

Another guard stepped out of the shadows and appeared where the first one stood, this one shorter and slighter in frame, very much resembling that of a female, but there was something…off about her, something that Ru’s senses in the Force couldn’t quite place, as if she were somehow being blocked from gleaning the truth. This new guardsman caught the first one’s attention, and they silently nodded to each other.

The first guard then turned back to Ru and he said through his mask’s voice modulator, “Come with us. Before you meet the Council one last time, there is someone who wishes to speak with you first.”

NEW

A soothing intermixed aroma of sage and mint blanketed the room that served as a place for training and meditation for the dedicated guardians of the Reborn Jedi Temple. As she sat on her knees in meditation in front of the pair of masked Temple Guards, Rusasha found herself feeling all too familiar with the training halls and sparring dojos of the Jedi, only this one had a wall-mounted display not of basic training lightsabers, but of fully functional standard and exotic double-bladed lightsaber hilts each made of rare distinctive materials and adorned with personalized embellishments, like trophies of past hunts. She found it rather intriguing that such weapons would be kept in full view in an otherwise humble dojo.

One of the guards she spoke to, the one whose slim form resembled that of a female, was seated on her knees a few paces away, and behind her the other, a taller and broader male, was preparing a fragrant honey-laced pot of mint tea. The female kept staring in Ru’s direction behind her expressionless white and gold full mask, unmoving, almost like a mannequin garbed in an ornamental costume. Unlike the male, however, the female guard seemed to be trying to keep her lightsaber concealed which Ru found to be rather odd. It wasn’t like them to hide their weapons since being openly armed was their way for countless generations.

Ru’s eyes were closed as she tried to empty her mind and focus on the ebb and flow of the Force surrounding and subtly infusing her spirit with its unfathomable power, but her discipline faltered under her mental trauma, the betrayal of her trust in her father so crushing that she couldn’t maintain the balance and serenity so sought to achieve. The tears slipped and she quietly sobbed and tried her best to quickly wipe her eyes, breathe deeply, and try to pretend that her moment of weakness didn’t happen.

“Don’t deny your feelings,” the female finally said. “We witnessed what Councilman Lahan did to you. His actions were not the Jedi way.”

Ru’s pointed ears perked up upon hearing the guard speak for the first time, but she found herself unprepared by how she found it difficult to get used to Temple Guards speaking to her in any capacity. In all her years growing up and maturing through the Jedi culture, she had never once heard one of them speaking to anyone. She turned to the male who was bringing the tea upon a miniature table which was placed in front of Ru.

She asked him as he poured tea into her cup, “You said someone wanted to speak to me. May I ask who?”

“She speaks to you now,” the female guard said.

“I don’t understand,” Ru said with an effort to conceal her genuine surprise. “Why would any guard want to speak to me other than for breaking one of our laws? I’m going to face a punishment worse than death soon. Isn’t that enough?”

“’Worse than death’?” the femme guard countered with a chuckle as the male guard finished decanting to Ru’s teacup and moved to produce another tiny table for himself and his colleague for them to partake in the piping hot beverage fit for lords and ladies. “You certainly have a gift for melodrama. To live as trillions of others do is no punishment at all. Try being a mother, then losing two sons, and being forced to give up your only surviving daughter to protect her from the dangerous life you are living. That is punishment.”

Ru’s eyes widened at the volunteered admission. Was the guard referring to herself, or someone else? A Temple Guard…a mother? Such a deep level of attachment was unthinkable for any of them, but then again…she herself was the daughter of a Jedi Master. Rusasha knew she was the product of a man who broke the rules, and yet still became a member of the Jedi Council in his middle age. Still, the discipline and abstinence of the Temple Guard was supposed to be unparalleled. Apparently, there was much more to them than she ever thought possible.

“You fear losing your powers, Rusasha,” the female guard continued, “yet you fail to explore the possibilities of what that new life could offer. Coruscant is filled with endless career opportunities. You are a skilled starship pilot which is always in demand and can be quite lucrative if you work for the right people. You could even go home to Cathar, wed yourself to a kind and strong mate, raise your own brood in safety and comfort, teach them the ways of your native tribe, and impart to them your wisdom and love. You could live free of your obligations to the Force. You could be just a woman, a mother. You could live and die happy knowing all the good you achieved for the Republic as a Jedi, and that you never once compromised your principles, even when Waayist doctrine tried to warp you into someone you were not meant to be.”

Ru slowly shook her head, pondering the guard’s advice, but she couldn’t help but sate her curiosity. “I know it is against your oaths to the Temple,” she began to ask, “and I’ll understand if you cannot answer, but please, I have to know: Who are you?”

The female remained unmoving for a moment, then turned to the male who nodded once in reply. The male reached a gloved hand behind his back and produced a trusty old friend of Ru’s. He held the gold-embossed lightsaber out to Ru and, with the influence of the Force, telekinetically lifted it from his palm and gently pushed it through the air to her. Ru instinctively reached out with her own power and gingerly guided to her own palm.

“The weapon of a Jedi is the first half of my answer,” the female guard said. “Mind the emitter if you choose to use it. Your thrust into that old rock caused the more sensitive parts some damage. My friend here tried his best to fix it with what little tools we have outside the main workshops, but it will be unstable until you can find suitable parts. Use it sparingly until then.”

“This is most gracious of you,” Ru said, her hands cradling the ornate hilt she crafted lovingly years ago. It was much more than a weapon to her; it was an artistic expression, a sign of praise for the Order and her love of beauty in all things; qualities that all except perhaps her master Loren seemed to frown upon. “But I’m not a Jedi anymore, and we’ll all be in big trouble if Master Lahan finds it’s back in my possession.”

“Just because a militant old fool thinks you’ve ceased to be a Jedi does not make it so,” the female said as she removed her gauntlets to reveal lithe calloused blue hands, thinning skin over the carpal bones. She reached up to both sides of her mask, triggered a mechanism that faintly sounded like air depressurization, and removed it and the concealment of her robe’s hood and linen head scarf to expose the truth of the Nautolan beneath the disguise. “If there’s an outcast in this room, then consider me guilty as charged.”

Ru’s mouth hung open for a moment, her eyes locked with the dark orbs on the older female’s face.

“Zenarrah?” She asked with barely contained shock after the moment passed.

“It’s me,” Zen affirmed with a curt nod and a warm smile. “If you’re still feeling raw about leaving you behind so I could go off with Rynseh on his little quest, feel free to take a few swings at me. Just give me a moment to limber up first, okay? I’m not as spry as I used to be, especially in this armour.”

“I can’t believe that you would come back here,” Ru remarked. “Did my father reinstate your knighthood?”

“Definitely not,” Zen replied with short-lived grin that faded under the weight of guilt and shame. “He and I are not on speaking terms anymore. Let’s leave it at that for now. What’s important is that you’re here. You’re the reason I’ve taken the risk to return to this place.”

“I remember when we first met you mentioned wanting to create a new sisterhood of the Force,” Ru recalled.

“So you remember that,” Zen said. “I’m afraid things have become very complicated since we first talked about it. My daughter, Zaracoda, is very much alive, but…she’s no longer suited for such a life.” She began to indulge in her tea. “As for you and I…”

“I have prepared the way,” the male guard said before he partially lifted the lower part of his mask to drink his tea but took care to lower his head enough so that Ru could not see even his mouth.

Ru arched an eyebrow at him and turned to Zen seeking clarity.

“Try not to savor the tea too much,” Zen warned her. “Time is not on our side.”

A few minutes later, the trio were in a small maintenance room looking at a bench with a gunmetal case on it. Zen opened it up to reveal a navy blue coloured diving suit with red accents. On the chest section of each suit was stamped prominently in yellow with the most ubiquitous corporate logo in the entire galaxy belonging to none other than GalactaWerks. Next to it was a sleeveless olive green full-body competition suit.

“We pulled your measurements from the temple records,” Zen said. “It should fit. Might be a bit snug. Hope you remember how to swim.”

“Swim?” Ru gawked at her confused. “I still haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

“You have, and you will,” Zen countered as she pressed the diving suit against Ru’s chest. “Unless you’ve suddenly lost your faculties and decided on that simple life without the Force that I talked about.”

“Your words were tempting, I’ll admit,” Ru confessed, “but I’m old enough to know nothing is that easy or simple. Loren would never want me to give up, but you want me to just walk away, to go off on some adventure and live as a fugitive. I’m not some criminal. I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“We know that, and keep your voice down,” Zen said with a stern tone point blank in Ru’s face. She turned and began to shed her armor and underrobe. “This is not some ‘adventure’. This is a rescue mission. I’m saving you from the Council, from their zealots, and most of all, from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? ‘From me’?” Ru asked, keeping her protesting tone hushed as ordered.

Zen let her robe fall to the floor which left behind nothing to Rusasha’s imagination. In full confidence, without shame, Zen replied, “You’re stubborn like your father, your head full of honor and loyalty. Good traits to have, but unlike him, you have a capacity to open your eyes and your mind to the mysteries of the Force, and you know as well as I do there is something horribly wrong with the Reborn Jedi, and the Republic itself.”

Ru quickly averted her eyes with embarrassment after staring at Zen’s body for a couple of seconds, but Zen reached a hand to Ru’s chin and gently guided her gaze back towards eye contact.

“I’m offering you a way to see the Force in a whole new light,” Zen continued, her voice softer and seasoned with a hint of warm compassion as she placed a hand on Ru’s shoulder. “There are secrets of the Force out there that I have hidden away on a world far from here, secrets that I cannot uncover on my own. And there are people out there who are helping me guard those secrets. Good people who walk the thin line between the Ashla and the Bogan…the Light and the Dark. I need your help…as does my daughter. She needs your wisdom and friendship, someone who understands pain and loss like you do. Please, Rusasha, don’t make an old woman beg.”

Ru hesitated and wasn’t sure how to answer just as a series of four precise knocks on the maintenance room door were heard.

“That is our mutual friend,” Zen assured her. “Go answer while I get equipped.”

Ru nodded and walked around her to open the door partially. “Yes?” she asked the guard.

“Company is heading down to this level,” he said. “Three knights. A trusted friend tells me they were last seen speaking to Rynseh. They are each wearing insignia pins I have never seen before. One is wearing a guard’s mask similar to one of ours, but different. If you are both departing, then do it now. I will stall them as best I can. Hurry!”

He turned and went back into the hall to stand watch in order to cover the ladies’ escape.

By the time Ru turned around, Zen was already in her suit and was clipping her lightsaber to a white and black GalactaWerks utility belt with pouches attached to it and a few metal orbs that were unmistakably familiar to the trained eye.

“Thermal detonators?” Ru asked.

“To cover our exit,” Zen explained. “Not to kill to or maim…at least I hope so. So, you heard the man. He is prepared to put his neck on the line for us. He believes in me and in you. He is also a friend of Master Sotah, so it would do no good for you to let him down. The time is now, Rusasha. Time for you to decide your fate. I’m leaving with or without you.”

“Master Sotah…” Ru echoed as she looked down at the bundled suit in her hands.

Moments later, the male guard met the three knights in front of the entrance to the vault-like reinforced access gate to the restricted water pumping and treatment station where Ru and Zen were. He silently held his open palm out to them as a sign for them to stop.

“We know this is a restricted area, guardsman,” said the masked Jedi Knight, “but we have authority from Master Lahan to search this area for suspected intruders that have stolen priceless artifacts from the Temple. Let us pass.”

The guard did not budge, nor did he speak.

“If you deny us access, you will be violating the will of the High Council,” the masked one calmly warned him.

“Access requires written authorization from the Grand Master himself,” the guard reminded them. “It has been so since the founding of our sacred Order.”

“Grand Master Quellus has given his blessing for this search,” the masked one claimed.

“I will need to hear this blessing from him, personally,” the guard firmly stood his ground.

The masked knight slowly nodded, “I see…then…” With the flash of an indigo lightsaber blade, he added with a shout, “YOU SHALL HAVE IT!”

TBC

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