Six months have passed since Anakin had walked through the temple doors, wide-eyed and terrified and burning with a light that put stars to shame. Half a year since I'd warned Qui-Gon Jinn of his death and watched him accept it with the kind of grace I could only aspire to.
Six months since the five of us, Seris, Derren, Barriss, Anakin, and I had begun training together in earnest.
And in that time, something extraordinary had happened. We'd become one.
Not in the sense of losing our individuality, we were still ourselves, still distinct voices and personalities and Force signatures. But when we moved together, when we trained together, when we reached for the Force as a unified whole...
It was like watching a single organism with five bodies.
I stood in our private training chamber, the same one we'd claimed years ago, now worn smooth by countless hours of practice, and watched the others warm up. The morning light filtered through the high windows, casting long shadows across the polished floor.
Seris moved through a Jar'kai sequence, her twin training sabers humming in perfect harmony. She'd grown taller over the past six months, her platinum hair now reaching past her shoulders, usually tied back in a practical braid. Her movements had evolved from aggressive precision to something more fluid, more alive. She didn't just fight anymore, she danced.
"You're telegraphing your transitions again," I called out.
She didn't break stride, but I saw her ears twitch, that tell she'd never quite managed to suppress. "I know. I'm working on it."
"Work harder," I said, but there was warmth in my voice.
She shot me a look over her shoulder, silver eyes sparkling with challenge and something else, something that made my chest tighten in ways I was still learning to understand. "Maybe if you stopped watching and actually helped, I'd improve faster."
"Maybe if you asked nicely."
"Maybe if you weren't so insufferable."
Derren laughed from across the room, where he was practicing defensive forms with Anakin. "You two sound like an old married couple."
Seris's face flushed, her ears going flat against her head. "We do not...."
"You really do," Barriss said mildly from her meditation perch near the wall. She sat cross-legged, eyes closed, but I could feel her awareness extending through the room like a gentle current. "It's actually quite endearing."
"I'm not endearing," Seris muttered, but the protest lacked conviction.
I crossed the room to her, igniting my own training sabers. Getting into Jar'kai dueling stance. "Again. But this time, let me feel your rhythm. Don't think about the next move, just be in this one."
She nodded, resetting her stance. We'd done this hundreds of times over the past months, but it never got old. There was something meditative about it, something that went beyond simple combat training.
We began.
Our sabers met in a cascade of blue and green light, the familiar snap-hiss of contact echoing through the chamber. Seris moved with her characteristic speed, her twin blades weaving patterns that would have overwhelmed most opponents.
But I wasn't most opponents.
I could feel her through the Force, not just her physical movements, but her intent. The subtle shift in her weight before a strike, the momentary tension in her shoulders before a feint, the way her breathing changed when she prepared for a particularly aggressive combination.
And she could feel me too.
Our connection had deepened over the months, becoming something almost telepathic. When we sparred like this, it was less about winning and more about understanding, learning to read each other so completely that words became unnecessary.
"Better," I said as she flowed through a particularly complex sequence. "Your footwork is smoother. You're not fighting the momentum anymore."
"Master Fay's been working with me," Seris said, not breaking rhythm. "She says I was trying to control the Force instead of flowing with it."
"She's right."
"I know she's right," Seris said, and there was no arrogance in her voice, just acknowledgment. "I'm just... it's hard to let go. To trust that the Force will catch me."
"That's why you have us," I said, pressing her harder, forcing her to adapt. "We'll always catch you."
Something flickered in her eyes, vulnerability, gratitude, something deeper that neither of us was quite ready to name. Then she grinned, fierce and bright, and redoubled her assault and we danced.
Across the room, Anakin and Derren had paused their own practice to watch.
Anakin had changed dramatically over the past six months. The frightened boy who'd arrived at the temple had begun to transform into something else, something powerful and focused and still struggling with the weight of his own potential. Even with the loss of Jin.
He was still a nine years old, small for his age, with sandy blond hair that refused to stay flat and blue eyes that seemed to hold entire galaxies. When he moved, the Force moved with him, not always smoothly, not always controlled, but with a raw intensity that took my breath away.
"They're incredible," Anakin murmured, watching Seris and me spar. "How do they do that? It's like they're reading each other's minds."
"They kind of are," Derren said, his deep blue eyes thoughtful. "Through the Force. It's not telepathy exactly, but... close. You can feel it when you're connected to someone deeply enough."
"Have you felt it?" Anakin asked.
Derren smiled, warm and genuine. "With all of you. Especially during group meditation. It's like... like being part of something bigger than yourself, but still being you. Does that make sense?"
Anakin nodded slowly. "I think so. Sometimes when we're training together, I can feel where you're going to move before you do it. Like the Force is showing me."
"That's exactly it," Derren said. "And the more we train together, the stronger that connection gets."
"Is that normal?" Anakin asked, and there was uncertainty in his voice. "Master Qui-Gon said I was strong in the Force, but he also said I need to learn control. That I rely too much on instinct."
" I don't think instincts are bad," Derren said carefully. "But it needs to be balanced with discipline. That's what Cain's been teaching us, how to trust our instincts while still maintaining control."
Anakin was quiet for a moment, watching as Seris and I continued our intricate dance of light and shadow. "He's different from the other Jedi, isn't he? Cain, I mean."
"Very different," Derren agreed. "But that's not a bad thing. The Order needs people who think differently, who question the old ways. Otherwise, we just keep making the same mistakes."
"What mistakes?" Anakin asked.
Derren's expression grew serious. "That's something you should ask Cain about. He sees things the rest of us don't. Things about the future, about what's coming." He paused. "But Anakin, whatever he tells you, whatever he shows you, remember that you're not alone. We're all in this together."
Anakin looked at him, and something in his expression softened. "Thank you. For being my friend. For not... for not treating me like I'm weird or broken or...."
"You're not broken," Derren said firmly. "You're just carrying a lot. We all are. But that's why we have each other."
From her meditation perch, Barriss spoke without opening her eyes. "The five of us are connected in ways the Masters don't fully understand yet. We're stronger together than we could ever be apart. That's not weakness, Anakin, that's wisdom."
Anakin turned to look at her, and I felt his Force presence shift, uncertainty giving way to something like hope. "You really believe that?"
"I know it," Barriss said, and her voice carried the weight of absolute conviction. "I've seen it in my meditations. The five of us, we're meant to be together. We're meant to change things."
"Change what?" Anakin asked.
Barriss finally opened her eyes, and they were dark and ancient and knowing. "Everything."
The weeks that followed blurred together in a haze of training, meditation, and growth. We pushed each other relentlessly.
Seris worked on her Jar'kai mastery until her hands bled, then worked some more. She incorporated elements of Ataru, the acrobatic leaps and spins, but tempered them with the precision of Makashi. When she moved now, it was like watching lightning given form.
Derren improved his defensive forms, his Soresu becoming so refined that even Master Cin Drallig had taken notice. But more than that, his emotional intelligence deepened. He became our anchor, the one who could sense when someone was struggling, when the weight was becoming too much, when we needed to step back and breathe.
Barriss's connection to the living Force grew stronger with each passing day. She could sense disturbances before they happened, could read the emotional currents of the temple like a book. Her presence during our group meditations became essential, she was the calm center around which the rest of us orbited.
Anakin was learning to channel his raw power and emotion with precision in everything he did. I worked with him every day, teaching him techniques that the other Masters wouldn't, how to acknowledge his anger without being consumed by it, how to use his fear as fuel rather than letting it control him, how to love fiercely without becoming possessive.
From how the difference of love and lust. Confidence and pride. Telling him how to feel without being ruled by his emotions. Telling him he is not perfect, but he has a responsibility to learn control since we have the ability to touch the Force. Him better then others.
It was dangerous teaching, I knew. The kind that would make the Council nervous if they knew the full extent of it. But I'd seen what happened when emotions were suppressed rather than understood. I'd seen what Vader was capable of.
I wouldn't let that happen if I can do something about it..
And me? I refined my understanding of the Force itself. To the point I discovered I Shatterpoint vision. The very same ability Mace Windu has, the ability to see the critical junctures where destiny could be altered.
I barely been able to use this ability, but my understanding grew sharper with each meditation. I could see the threads now, the connections between people and events, the places where a single choice could cascade into galactic change.
It was terrifying, this was what Mace see's all the time. I can see how someone like Darth Traya was able to make her plans to destroy the Force. With something like this, it will be some much easier to find powerful or talented individuals to help with my future plans.
Our group trained in synchronized drills, three-way, four-way, sometimes all five of us moving as a single unit. Our voices became almost telepathic during these sessions. It felt like we learn Force Meld without actually learning about it.
Left, Seris would think, and I'd shift without conscious thought. High, I'd project, and Derren would raise his guard. Now, Barriss would whisper through the Force, and we'd all move in perfect unison.
It was beautiful and unprecedented, and it felt like we were about to become something more. Then it happened.
The day it happened started like any other. We gathered in our training chamber just after dawn, the morning light painting everything in shades of gold and amber. The air was cool, crisp, carrying the faint scent of ozone from the city below.
"Four-way drill today," I said, stretching my shoulders. "Barriss, you'll anchor from meditation. The rest of us will spar."
"Full contact?" Seris asked, and there was eagerness in her voice.
"Full contact," I confirmed. "But we're not trying to win. We're trying to find our natural flow state. To move as one organism with the Force guiding us. Understood?"
Everyone nodded.
Barriss then settled into her meditation perch, crossing her legs and closing her eyes. Almost immediately, I felt her presence expanding through the room, a gentle, grounding current that seemed to slow time itself.
The rest of us took our positions, forming a loose square in the center of the chamber.
"Everyone ready?" I asked.
Three nods.
I ignited my training sabers, and the others followed suit. Blue, and green blades hummed in harmony, creating a chord that resonated through the Force.
"Begin." And we moved.
At first, it was controlled, measured strikes, careful footwork, the kind of disciplined practice we'd done a thousand times before. Seris attacked from my left, her twin blades weaving patterns of light. Derren defended from the right, his Soresu form was strong and fluid. Anakin circled, looking for openings, his raw power barely contained as he was itching to cut lose.
But then something shifted. I'm not sure who felt it first, maybe Barriss, anchoring us from her meditation. Maybe it was all of us at once.
The Force opened. like a veil being pulled back, revealing something vast and infinite and alive beneath the surface of reality.
And we fell into it as time distorted.
My perception expanded, and suddenly I wasn't just seeing my own perspective, I was seeing through all of our eyes simultaneously. I felt Seris's fierce joy as she spun and struck. I felt Derren's calm focus as he redirected and flowed with the strikes. I felt Anakin's burning intensity as he channeled his power into every direction.
And they felt me.
Our movements, our senses', were all synchronized.
Not consciously, there was no thought involved, no deliberate coordination. We simply moved, and the Force moved through us, as we became something greater than the sum of our parts.
Seris's twin blades became extensions of my own awareness. When she struck high, I knew it before the movement completed, and I was already adjusting, already flowing into the space she created.
Derren's defensive forms became a shield we all shared. When he redirected an attack, the momentum flowed through all of us, became part of our collective rhythm.
Anakin's raw power became fuel for our synchronization. His intensity didn't disrupt, it amplified, pushing us faster, harder, deeper into the flow state.
And Barriss, Barriss was the foundation. Her presence in the Force was the calm center around which we orbited, the anchor that kept us from losing ourselves completely in this transcendent like unity.
We danced.
Our sabers became blurs of light, of green and blue, weaving patterns so complex they seemed to exist in multiple places at once. The snap-hiss of contact created a rhythm, a heartbeat, a song that resonated through the Force itself.
We lost track of time.
Minutes became hours, hours became eternities, and eternities became single heartbeats. We moved through forms I'd never learned but remembered from my past life. Combinations that shouldn't have been possible, sequences that required a level of coordination that defied explanation.
We were like one soul with four bodies. We were separate but unified. We were in a transcendent resonance.
Somewhere in the back of my awareness, I felt other presences entering the chamber. Masters, drawn by the disturbance in the Force. But they were distant, irrelevant, outside the bubble of perfect synchronization we'd created.
We kept dan.
I heard Seris laugh, a pure, joyous, free laugh, the sound rippled through all of us. Derren's calm deepened, became an ocean of peace. Anakin's intensity refined itself, became a laser of precision.
And I, I saw the shatterpoints.
They appeared like cracks of glass in reality, glowing lines of possibility where the future could be altered. I saw them in our movements, in the spaces between our strikes, in the moments where choice could become destiny.
I saw how this moment, this perfect, transcendent moment of resonance. It was a shatterpoint itself. A junction where five paths in the Force converged and became one, where the future branched into infinite possibilities.
I began to see how we could change everything, with all of us together.
The realization hit me like a physical blow, and for just an instant, my focus wavered.
That was all it took. The synchronization shattered like glass, and suddenly we were four separate people again, gasping and stumbling and trying to remember how to exist as individuals.
I fell to my knees, my training sabers clattering to the floor. My body was drenched in sweat, my muscles screaming, my lungs burning. Around me, the others collapsed in similar states of exhaustion.
"How long were we like that?" Seris gasped, her voice hoarse.
I looked up at the windows. The morning light had shifted dramatically, the sun was high now, past its zenith, beginning its descent toward evening. " I think three hours," I whispered. "We've been sparring for at least three hours."
The silence that followed was absolute. Three hours of continuous, synchronized combat. Three hours of moving as a one. Three hours of transcendent resonance. Something like this should have been impossible.
But we'd done it. Was it because of Anakin being here?
"That was..." Derren started, then stopped, unable to find words.
"Incredible," Anakin finished, his blue eyes wide with awe. "I've never felt anything like that. It was like... like I could feel all of you inside my head, but it wasn't crowded or confusing. It felt... right."
"We were one," Barriss said softly. She'd opened her eyes now, and they were shining with tears. "I felt it. I held the center, and you four moved around me, and we were one consciousness in five bodies."
"That can't be normal.?" Seris asked, looking at me. "Can other Jedi do something like that?"
I shook my head slowly. "I don't know. I've read about something like this in the restricted section of the archives. Force Meld. It's a technique where a Force-sensitive join with others in their minds together, drawing strength from each other. A refinement of battle meditation, but it felt more then that"
"Force Meld. Wait.The restricted...." Seris started, then stopped. "You sliced the archives?"
I chuckled. " A few months ago," I admitted. "I wanted to know if I could. Plus I wanted to see to help us improve."
"Cain you could be kicked out of the order for that. That knowledge is dangerous."
I shrugged. " Maybe they will maybe they won't. The Jedi don't control the Force, and who learns it."
"So what did you learn?" Anakin trailed off.
"So much," I finished. "We're going to become something the Order has never seen before."
"Is that good or bad?" Derren asked quietly.
Before I could answer, a voice spoke from the doorway.
"That remains to be seen."
We all turned to find three Masters standing at the entrance to the chamber.
Master Plo Koon stood in the center, his masked face unreadable but his presence in the Force radiating calm approval. To his left was Master Fay, her ancient beauty somehow enhanced by the wonder in her expression. And to his right.
Mace Windu.
The Jedi Master's dark eyes swept across the chamber, taking in our exhausted forms, the scorch marks on the floor from three hours of continuous combat, the lingering resonance in the Force that even now hadn't fully dissipated.
"How long were you watching?" I asked, climbing slowly to my feet.
"Long enough," Mace said, his voice measured. "We felt the disturbance in the Force from three levels away. By the time we arrived, you were already..." He paused, searching for words. "Already in your trance."
"It was extraordinary," Master Fay said, and her voice was soft with emotion. "I've seen and trained countless Jedi for over seven hundred years, and I've never witnessed anything like what you five just accomplished. Your resonance in the Force was so beautiful,"
Plo Koon added, his mechanical voice somehow conveying warmth. "Not just in your movements, but in your Force signatures. For those three hours, you weren't four separate beings, you were a single entity."
"Five," I corrected gently. " Barriss was part of it too. She held the center."
"Yes," Plo Koon said, nodding. " She was like the anchor. Without her, you all could have been lost resonance of the Force."
Mace Windu stepped forward, his gaze fixed on me. "Cain. A word. Privately."
My stomach tightened, but I nodded. "Of course, Master Windu."
I followed him out of the chamber, leaving the others with Plo Koon and Fay. We walked in silence through the temple corridors until we reached a small meditation room overlooking the city.
I knew he was gonna bring up me slicing into the archives. So I need to be ready to leave the order. I have enough money to retire for the rest of my life, and I bought a apartment on the upper level, so I will be good either way.
Mace closed the door and turned to face me. "You have the sight," he said without preamble.
I blinked. "The sight?"
"Shatterpoint," Mace said, and his voice was grave. "The ability to perceive the critical junctures in the Force where destiny can be altered. I saw it in your eyes during several sparring session, you weren't just moving, you were seeing. Seeing the possibilities, the branching paths, the moments where choice becomes fate."
I couldn't deny it. "Yes. I have it."
"How long?"
"I can't say master. I have had this strange sight since I woke up in the temple. It came to me in moment's and the more I understood in the Force. The more it appeared but strengthened."
Mace studied me for a long moment. "Shatterpoint is a rare gift, and a dangerous one. It can show stop an enemy before they attack or break a weapon. You could also see how to change the future, but it can also drive you mad trying to alter every possible tragedy you perceive. As well as seeing how to break things around you."
"Yes Master Windu," I said quietly. "I understand what you mean."
"Do you?" Mace asked, and there was something almost gentle in his tone. "You're nine years old, Cain. You show so much progress, chosen one or not. But a gift like this could lead you down the wrong path if not properly nurtured."
"Nurtured?" I said, somewhat confused.
Mace's expression shifted, understanding, and something else I couldn't quite read. " Yes. I will be keeping a eye on you Cain. From time to time I will help you learn to control your sight."
We stood in silence for a moment, watching the speeders flow through the twilight sky. I didn't know what to say. Thee Mace Windu, was going to teach me how to use Shatterpoint. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited from hearing that.
"What your doing with the other younglings is amazing. Never before has the order seen so many powerful younglings all in one group."
Then Mace finally said, " Things might change very soon for you all, just make sure your not bending the rules to much. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Master" I said. "I'm surprised Master Windu, I thought you would be mad I was in the restricted section."
Mace then raised an eyebrow. "You are still in trouble Cain, and you will be punished. First your gonna show us how you sliced through the protocols and defense in the library. Then you will be restricted from going to the Library without the permission of Chief Librarian Jocasta Nu or myself. You will also be spending time helping the masters with the new initiates."
"Yes Master Windu, I understand " I said simply. Considering what punishments I could be receiving, this is actually really light considering everything.
Mace was quiet for a long time. Then: "The Council will want to discuss this. Your group's abilities, your training methods, your... unorthodox approach to the Force."
"Will they try to separate us?" I asked, and I couldn't keep the edge out of my voice.
"Some will argue for it," Mace admitted. "They'll say that such deep attachments are dangerous, that they could lead to the dark side."
"And what do you think Master?"
Mace met my eyes, and for the first time, I saw something like respect in his gaze. "I have heard over the years a Jedi say the Order has become rigid and lost it's way. That we've forgotten to serve the Force, and not the that it flows and changes and grows. I think that what you are doing might be exactly what we need."
Relief flooded through me. "Thank you, Master Windu."
"Don't thank me yet," he said. " You have alot of work to do and it won't be easy."
"Nothing worth doing ever is Master," I said.
Mace almost smiled. "Wise words for one so young." He paused. "There's something else. Your warning to Master Qui-Gon. About Naboo."
My blood ran cold. "He told you?"
"He told the Council," Mace said. "Not the specifics, he respected your words. But he made it clear that you'd foreseen danger. That we should listen to your words, and believe in you and young Skywalker."
"And?"
"And we will take it on a case by case basis ," Mace said. "Master Qui-Gon was one of our finest Jedi. If he believed your visions and words had merit, then the least we can do is listen."
"That won't be enough," I said quietly. "What's coming, it's bigger than one battle or mission. It's going to reshape the galaxy and the Force ."
"Then we'll face it, the Jedi, the republic" Mace said firmly. "Together. As we always have."
I wanted to tell him everything. About Palpatine, about Order 66, about the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire. About the decades of darkness that were coming. How the order needs to sperate from the Republic and focus on the living Force, and the people of the galaxy itself.
But I couldn't. Not yet. Some truths were too heavy to share all at once. And Mace Windu is deeply devoted to the Galactic Republic, viewing it as a essential civilization worth defending, even at the cost of his own life. Even if he is putting above the will of the Force.
"I understand Master Windu," I said instead.
Mace placed a hand on my shoulder. "I see great things in your future Cain."
That evening, After going through the first rounds of my punishment, I sat on my bed a datapad hidden beneath my pillow. The others had gone to the dining hall, exhausted and exhilarated from the day's events. But I'd begged off, claiming I needed rest.
I did need rest. But I also needed to work.
I pulled out the datapad and activated the encryption protocols I'd spent months perfecting. The screen flickered to life, showing a secure communications interface that would have made even the best Republic Intelligence slicers weep with frustration.
I'd been building this network for over a year now, carefully and methodically. Shell corporations within shell corporations, anonymous accounts scattered across a dozen systems, encryption algorithms that would take decades to crack.
All of it leading back to a single pseudonym: Noctics.
The name meant "of the night" in an ancient language. Appropriate, given that most of my work happened in darkness, in secret, in the spaces between official channels.
I opened my message queue and began composing.
TO: Senator Mon Mothma (Secure Channel Alpha-7)
FROM: Noctics
RE: Intelligence Briefing - Sheev Palpatine
Senator,
I hope this message finds you well. I'm writing to share intelligence regarding a matter of grave concern to the Republic.
There are certain movements being made by Sheev Palpatine. Several projects commissioned with aligned interests with the growing Separatist movement. He has plans for the republic where he is the sole controller of it and the galaxy as a whole.
A conflict will come in the coming years. Someone will be playing both sides, funding the Separatists while simultaneously creating an army for the Republic and putting the Jedi in the front lines as the scapegoats. When the time comes, this army will be offered as a solution to the coming crisis. The Senate will accept it because they'll have no choice.
But Senator, this army is created in secret, funded by shadowy interests, and offered at the perfect moment to solve a manufactured crisis, this is not salvation. This is a trap.
I cannot yet prove who is behind this. But I urge you to investigate Kamino, to question the origins of this army, and to be wary of any solution that seems too convenient. Build alliances and keep what you know as a secret until I say otherwise, for the sake you and your family.
The Republic is being maneuvered into a war. And wars, as you know, have a way of changing governments.
Stay vigilant.
- A friend from the shadows, Noctics
I encrypted the message and sent it through seven different relay points before it would finally reach Mon Mothma's private terminal. Even if someone intercepted it, they'd never trace it back to me.
Next message.
TO: Senator Bail Organa (Secure Channel Beta-3)
FROM: Noctics
RE: Intelligence Briefing - Mandalore Situation
Senator Organa,
I'm writing to warn you about developing instability on Mandalore. Duchess Satine Kryze's pacifist government is facing increasing pressure from traditionalist factions who believe the warrior culture should be restored.
This conflict will escalate. Within the next few years, there will be an attempt to overthrow the Duchess. The group behind it calls themselves Death Watch, and they're being funded by external interests who want to destabilize the sector.
Mandalore's location makes it strategically vital. If it falls into chaos, the entire sector could ignite.
I recommend that you begin building relationships with moderate Mandalorian leaders now, before the crisis hits. When the time comes, the Republic will need allies who can bridge the gap between pacifism and tradition.
The Duchess is a good leader, but she's idealistic. She'll need pragmatic friends when the shadows close in.
- A friend from the shadows, Noctics
Now one more.
TO: Senator Padmé Amidala (Secure Channel Gamma-9)
FROM: Noctics
RE: Personal Security Advisory
Senator Amidala,
I'm writing to warn you that you will soon become a target.
Your continuous opposition to the Military Creation Act will make you enemies among those who profit from war. Within the next few years, there will be attempts on your life. Some will be crude, bounty hunters, assassins. Others will be more subtle, political maneuvering, character assassination, attempts to discredit you.
I cannot prevent these attacks. But I can advise you to be cautious, to trust your instincts, and to surround yourself with people whose loyalty is beyond question.
You have a role to play in the coming darkness, Senator. A vital one. But you must survive long enough to play it.
One more thing: when the time comes, trust the Jedi. Not the Council necessarily, but individual Jedi who show you compassion and understanding. They will be your greatest allies.
Stay safe.
- Noctics
I stared at that last message for a long time before encrypting it.
Padmé Amidala. I know she's meant to be Anakin's future wife. The woman whose death would be the final push that sent him over the edge into darkness.
I have to keep her alive and safe and to make sure that when Anakin meets her again, and he would. That Anakin is more emotionally mature and strong in the Force to see past Palpatine's manipulations.
This was a delicate game of chess. One wrong move, and Palpatine will notice my interfering and that's the last thing I want. But I doubt he doesn't already know about me considering my reputation in the order.
But still, doing nothing wasn't an option.
I encrypted the message and sent them all. Then I sat back, staring at the blank screen, feeling the weight of what I'd just done.
I was really trying to reshape the political landscape of the galaxy from my quarters in the Jedi Temple. I would have never done this in my old life.
This was insane but it was necessary. Though it didn't stop me from being terrified. Something tells me I will have to do alot more then just juggling galactic politics, and trying and change the Jedi order from within.
This was a long game. One that would take years to play out. If I had that long anyway.
I deleted the message logs, wiped the datapad's memory, and hid it back beneath my pillow. Then I lay back on my bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling the exhaustion from three hours of transcendent combat finally catching up with me.
My body ached. My mind was spinning. My heart was full of hope and fear in equal measure. But I could feel I wasn't alone.
I could feel them through the Force, Seris's fierce warmth, Derren's steady calm, Barriss's charming wisdom, Anakin's bright attitude. Even from across the temple, even in the quiet of my own quarters, I could feel them.
We were connected. And together, I knew we were going to change everything.
Mace Windu and Plo Koon stood in a meditation chamber. The two were reflecting after their interaction with Cain and the others.
"I still cannot believe what I saw and what I felt in the Force. Were you able to feel Maser Windu? Plo asked.
Windu nodded. "I did more than feel it, I saw it. The five of them were in such a powerful resonance in the Force and with each other. But at the center of the resonance wasn't Barriss. It was Skywalker and Cain."
"Indeed. It was like I was look at the birth of several stars."
Mace nodded. " It all led back to Cain. The boy even has the sight of shatterpoints."
Are you gonna teach him about it?" Plo asked Mace.
"Not just yet, he is too young, he isn't ready, But he will be soon." Mace responded.
"I see." Plo said, "Well, I will continue to monitor the boy. He shows great potential."
Mace then nodded. "Yes, he does, and the way he brought Skywalker into his group is interesting. They are all growing so well and quickly. Not like anything the order has seen before. I just hope the Force guides them well."
Plo stood next to Mace, as he was looking as the dark Coruscant city. "That is also why we are hear Master Windu. To help guide them down the right path. We should help them like any other youngling to shine as bright as they can without restricting them. Cain and Skywalker have helped improve those around them. We should be happy for them. Our main concern is to help guide them down the proper path.
Mace paused for a moment, taking in Plo's words to heart. "I see, Master Koon. Thank you for the words of wisdom master. I will keep them in mind."
"Of course my old friend," Plo said, placing a hand on Windu's shoulder.