**Chapter 393: Echoes and Lessons**
**Dagon's POV**
I stood on the landing platform and watched Senator Riyo Chuchi's transport lift off, heading back toward the Senate district. The elegant Pantoran vessel rose smoothly into Coruscant's busy skies, its running lights flashing once in farewell before disappearing into the traffic lanes.
Part of me still wondered what had just happened.
Riyo had poured her heart out in the healing gardens — her long-held feelings, her frustration at my repeated near-deaths, her anger that I hadn't reached out even once. She had cried in my arms, and I had held her, apologized, and promised to do better. It felt… complicated. More complicated than I had expected.
I closed my eyes for a moment and let my mind drift back to that strange vision I had experienced during the first attempted possession on Randon — when Darth Vitiate's ghost had tried to take control of me.
Various girls in white wedding dresses, covered in flower petals and blood.
One had been Riyo. One had been Ahsoka. One had been Visenya. The others… the memory was hazy, troubled, as if the Force itself was shielding the full picture from me.
*Damn those girls,* I thought. *One was Riyo, one was Ahsoka, one was Visenya… but the others… memory is giving me trouble.*
"Uh… Master Dagon?"
I nearly jumped. Obi-Wan Kenobi had approached without me noticing — a rare feat these days.
"Dang, Obi-Wan, don't sneak up on people who have had many near-death experiences," I muttered, turning to face him.
"Right, sorry," Obi-Wan said, looking slightly sheepish. "It's just that… a crying senator? I saw her leave the gardens. Is everything alright?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "It's… complicated. She needed to talk. She's been worried. About me. About the war. About a lot of things."
Obi-Wan studied me for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Well, Master Yoda requests your presence in the training room. He said it was important."
I sighed. "Of course he did. Lead the way."
**Scene 2 – Jedi Temple Training Room**
The training room was quiet when I arrived. Only Yoda waited for me, leaning on his gimer stick in the center of the polished floor. The old Master looked smaller than usual in the vast space, but his presence in the Force was as deep and ancient as ever.
"Greetings, apprentice," Yoda said, a faint smile on his wrinkled face. "Forgive me for not being able to teach you much."
I bowed respectfully. "Well, to be honest, I thought the 'apprentice' title was just a way for me to end the war quickly without the rest of the Council complaining too loudly."
Yoda's ears twitched with amusement. "Hmm. A wise move, you saw through. Do or do not, there is no try, right, Master?"
I couldn't help but smile. "Some, not all. Find balance. The Force exists everywhere and nowhere — the basics."
"Hmm. Knowledgeable you have become," Yoda said, tapping his stick once on the floor. "What would be an appropriate task for training, then?"
I looked around the room, then focused on a large empty bucket sitting near the far wall. With a casual wave of my hand, I used the Force to draw water particles directly from the air, condensing them into a steady stream that flowed perfectly into the bucket without a single drop spilling.
The younglings watching from the observation gallery gasped in shock.
"Size matters not," I said quietly. "So Sith Lords were capable of destroying planets, and very weak Jedi were capable of defeating them."
Yoda watched the water flow with half-lidded eyes, then nodded slowly. "Impressive, this is. Control, you have. Balance, you seek. But danger there is in too much power without wisdom."
He tapped his stick again. The stream of water stopped mid-air, then reversed, flowing back into the air and dissipating.
"Teach you more, I cannot," Yoda said. "But guide you, perhaps. The path you walk is narrow. Light and dark in harmony. Many have tried. Few have succeeded. Careful, you must be."
I bowed again. "I understand, Master. Thank you."
Yoda's eyes twinkled. "Hmm. A strange apprentice you are. But useful, you have been. May the Force be with you, Dagon Marek."
"And with you, Master Yoda."
As I left the training room, I felt the weight of the Council's eyes — and the galaxy's expectations — heavier than ever.
The war was far from over.
And somewhere out there, the next crisis was already waiting.