The Force Always Says Yes [Star Wars]

[Hyenanon]

Yes

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Boy I walked right the fuck into that one didn't I

 

[jason1stlegion]

Star Wars isn't one of my fandoms, but I can safely say this is one of my favorite stories on QQ, period. It's rare to come across a good enough grasp of unusual mindsets to learn something from the experience!

I'm feeling a lot of Daoist influence in your conception of the Force, as well; is that coincidence or intentional?

 

[Hyenanon]

Star Wars isn't one of my fandoms, but I can safely say this is one of my favorite stories on QQ, period. It's rare to come across a good enough grasp of unusual mindsets to learn something from the experience!

I'm feeling a lot of Daoist influence in your conception of the Force, as well; is that coincidence or intentional?

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It's super gratifying to hear that, thank you!

Most certainly intentional. I think George Lucas got a lot of his ideas in regards to the Force from new-age movements, along with more traditional readings of the eastern religions like Buddhism and Daoism that inspired them. I was raised in close proximity to a lot of eastern religions myself, since I grew up with Jain friends and bizarrely enough had the luck to randomly end up living in the same neighborhood as a Buddhist temple multiple times in my life. In my reading of the movies, there's a lot of parallels between the Force and the 'Way', along with parallels between sangha and the Jedi Order and so on. With some very key differences, of course. But that key idea of going with the flow is strongly echoed between them.

 

[Natelord28]

Just binged, I can definitely say that this is very well made

Nerim is such a goober!

 

[Hyenanon]

Just binged, I can definitely say that this is very well made

Nerim is such a goober!

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Thank you so much! I always really like it when people binge my works lol

Nerim is a lovable kind of dopey. I've really enjoyed writing how he, his Momster, and his Grand Momster interact. The duo dynamic is great to work with but the trio dynamic really helps brings out their best banter

 

[shargle]

Spoiler: image

Fae is great and I love the force omniglot power

 

[Hyenanon]

Chapter 40: Defiance I Sense In You​

Fae had rather swiftly taken charge, leading Nerim instead of the other way around. As they walked, she made a quick call to the local security officials Vseyav had acquainted them with, requesting information on the whereabouts of Czerka employees, while Nerim took the opportunity to observe the locals as they passed.

The population was overwhelmingly Saarkanian, with only a handful of other species here and there. The early morning was in the midst of transition from neon glow to an overcast silvery sheen, the last few sad remaining lights sticking out like sore thumbs. The streets were mostly dominated by business men and women on their way to work, with a not inconsiderable amount of lower class workers flitting between the crowds. Retirees and the occasional unemployed haunted the edges, leaning on balconies and squatting in the entrances to alleyways, smoking and watching the aliens go by.

A gaggle of children loudly laughed and argued among themselves as they passed by dressed in uniform, with the boys wearing charcoal gray button-up coats and trousers with boots that gave it all a remarkable and somewhat silly military flair, and the girls wearing black dresses with pinstriped aprons and red neckerchiefs. It was enough to make Nerim wonder how they could endure it all. Sure, the Jedi had uniforms for younglings, but they were all unisex and rather simple. Boring, even. He had more than once borrowed uniforms from younglings of different age, sex, and near-Human species.

It suddenly occurred to him that, as a Padawan, he was only subject to his Master's rules, and he doubted very much that Arwain would stop him from wearing whatever he wanted. She herself wore slightly nontraditional white robes half the time—except for when she forgot to do laundry and had to switch to normal robes, which was about the other half of the time.

He noticed they had stopped walking, and Fae was staring at him expectantly. He held her gaze for a moment and then looked aside. "Um, I'm going to be honest. I wasn't listening."

Fae slowly smiled. "At least you're honest."

"It's one of the only things I can be," Nerim shrugged.

"Hm. Well, all I had said was to be alert. I imagine we will catch our suspect either within minutes of entering the hotel, or not at all," she said, leading him into a different building. "Come, we'll be taking a circuitous path."

Nerim retracted his umbrella and tilted his head up at the truly gigantic distance between the roof and himself, a hollow shaft running all the way to a glass dome at the top, which poked up into blue sky above the clouds. "Grand Master, why does Arwain wear white?"

"Hm?" Fae raised an eyebrow as they entered an elevator, and began rocketing up at a pace that Nerim noted was significantly faster than the High Council Chamber elevator. "Well, I've never actually asked her. You aren't the first person to ask me instead of her, though."

He tilted his head. "You've never been curious? She's breaking the dress code, after all."

"The dress code has always been more of a dress suggestion," Fae chuckled. "I hope you don't think me that kind of petty tyrant."

"But she's your former Padawan! Did she start when she was under your tutelage?"

She thought for a moment. "Oh, not at all. She wore many different things as a Padawan, but never white robes. She only started that about three or four years before we conferred on her the rank of Master."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I think she started wearing it around the time she became a Master," Fae said wistfully as the elevator came to a stop about halfway up the building. They walked forwards until they came to a gondola station. To his surprise, they were not repulsorlift craft, but rather suspended on large durasteel cables that stretched from this building into the impenetrable fog. He couldn't see the destination, but at his height, he could see several other cables criss-crossing from one indistinct wall of fog to the next.

The station was surprisingly nearly empty, and none of the Saarkanians seemed that enthused to board with the aliens, and so the two Jedi entered the gondola and heard the metal groan and the strange creaking noise of cables at tension as it began to slowly move. The fog around them encased the vehicle until the building they had just left started to become hazy. Then there was nothing but the sound of creaking, wind, and small splatters of raindrops.

Nerim turned to Fae, her form haloed by the white light entering through the window behind her. "Why did you take Arwain as a Padawan?"

"That is another question that many people other than Arwain have asked me," she chuckled. "Even one that I have asked myself from time to time."

"She never asked?" Nerim leaned against the cool metal behind him. He asked Arwain that question frequently.

"No. I don't think she cared, for a long time," Fae said, closing her eyes and reminiscing. "By the time she cared, she understood. Better than I, maybe. I think I took her on because I was angry."

Nerim's jaw dropped. "You? You were angry?"

She tilted her head back and laughed. He could scarcely imagine what she would look like angry. "Yes, I believe I was. I didn't know it at the time. The Council of Reconciliation had just voted to exile her from the Order. For me, it was like...watching a long string of your own mistakes lead to another's suffering. And having them be blamed for it. It caused what you might call a...crisis of faith."

Nerim was struck speechless, as the gondola slowly swayed in the wind. "Arwain was...exiled?"

"Hm," Fae hummed with amusement, "I'm surprised she hasn't told you the story."

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "She's, uh, rather evasive..."

"Ah, yes, that would explain it. Well, suffice to say, she had a troubled youth," Fae said softly. "I would rather let her divulge her story on her own terms, but I don't wish to leave you subject to rumors and doubt. When Arwain was your age, she killed her Master, along with a number of Mandalorians."

He balked. "Her own Master? I had suspected the Mandalorians, but..."

Fae nodded slowly. "You see, her Master, the Knight Kos-Ran Gohda, was a...tempestuous man. A Guardian, drawn too quickly to battle. This was known, but the Council was ignorant of the full extent of it. During a heated conflict with Mandalorians, who had killed a number of civilians that he and Arwain were in charge of protecting, he was overcome with rage and fell to the Dark Side. He took actions which lead to the death of many Mandalorians, including their children, by overloading the reactor core in their base."

Nerim's face paled and he looked down at the floor. "By the Force..."

She placed a hand on the cold window. "When Arwain figured out what he had done, she followed her conscience, and attempted to disarm him. He died in the struggle. Then, the remaining Mandalorians came upon her, and attempted to kill her."

Nerim suddenly raised his head. "Wait, after she had taken their side?"

Fae shook her head. "They didn't care. They were mothers and fathers who had just lost their children to the Jedi, and they were ruled by their pain and hatred. I can only imagine what she must have felt, at that time. Betrayed by her Master, betrayed by the people she had acted in defense of. In that moment, she also called upon the Dark Side, and she killed the remaining Kreyn Mandalorians. After that, she returned before the Council of Reconciliation for judgment. The judgment was exile. Unanimous."

"That's...horrible." Nerim shuddered. "But...Why did you overturn her exile? How, even?"

Fae stared out the window, taking a deep breath. "Because in her, I sensed fear, and hatred, and fury. She had a greater capacity for fury than any Padawan I had known in that century. She would have made a good Sith."

Nerim's blood ran cold.

"And yet," Fae closed her weathered eyes, "She stood before the Council. She didn't have to. She knew what the verdict would be, she could have simply run away, or resigned, or embraced the Dark. But she gave us a chance. And they used it to castigate her and throw her away. Because they were afraid. Because they were angry. She was just as angry and afraid, but she gave us a chance, and every Master failed to do the same. A third betrayal of her trust. I have never been more ashamed of my Order."

She opened her eyes, and turned to him. "Nerim, sometimes people fall because they are malicious to the core, or because they are weak and easily led astray. But sometimes—often times—people can be incredibly resilient, and the Galaxy just fails to provide them with a single good reason not to fall. Sometimes, all it takes is a single good thing to happen in a person's life to change the trajectory of things entirely. I realized at that moment, that if I did nothing, she would fall to the Dark. But she was strong, and she came back to us because she was looking for that one good thing."

Nerim ran a hand through his hair. "So you became that one good thing."

She smiled. "Correct. I said, to hell with tradition, I am taking her as my Padawan."

"Did the Councils object?" He asked.

"Oh, yes," she said, "I recall Yoda made quite the resounding argument that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and damage them so thoroughly they cannot hold power anymore, and that it is wise to understand that and resign them to a life of healing and rest. 'Miss them, do not', he said, as if she were already dead. Pfeh."

"What did you say?"

"I said that I wouldn't use my power as the Master of the Order to overrule them, of course. That would be improper. Instead, I would take his advice. If the Order were really going to wound me in such a way, I would have to resign too," she nodded.

For the second time, Nerim's jaw dropped. "You threatened to...?!"

"To become the Lost 19th, yes," she grinned widely at him. The Lost were a historical collection of Jedi, the only ones known to the history of the modern Order to have achieved the rank of Jedi Master and voluntarily resigned from the Order. Some even became Sith Lords. The 18 figures were mourned with statues in the Temple Archives, as symbols of the greatest failures of the Order. Everyone dreaded the thought of adding another.

But the Grand Master herself? That would be an event of political proportions. The Senate itself would burst down the Temple doors and demand answers.

The endless fog began to break around the hotel as they slowly approached it. Nerim shook his head in disbelief. "What'd Arwain say when you told her she would be your Padawan?"

Fae stroked her whiskers, approaching the door in anticipation of disembarking. "I believe the exact word she used was No."

________________________________________________________________

Spoiler: A/N

So remember when I said if I messed up, I would leave you guys on a cliffhanger? Turns out, I had less time to write and edit than I thought...

For the next two weeks I'm going to be super busy IRL. I might have the time to get the next chapter to a postable state, but that's a big maybe. Oopsies! Well, I hope the big Arwain Reveal is good enough to carry that delay.

 

[TFTwink]

"What'd Arwain say when you told her she would be your Padawan?"

Fae stroked her whiskers, approaching the door in anticipation of disembarking. "I believe the exact word she used was No."

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Dang, he really is sonmaxxing without knowing it

 

[BC1]

Awesome chapter and great reveal. You subverted my expectations, I really expected you to use the old someone cuts the cable car cable mid-ride and the grandmaster would have to heroically sacrifice her life to save the young Padawan trope.