Private Lost Legacy

[Takui]

Caden Evesa Coren Starchaser
​

The Halls of Silver Rest were emptied out as Initiates and Padawans rushed to their designated classes. Masters tended to their daily duties, and the Droids that kept the grounds were hard at work keeping the gardens neat and tidy. Kashyyyk was a marvel that Taku had yet to fully grow accustomed to. His homeworld was much less impressive, full of modern technologies and streets flooded with people. It was nothing like the lush, thriving Jedi world.

The Wroshyr trees were in full bloom, the pungent scent of their fruit filling the air and permeating the Temple. It was less sterile and far more temperate, full of life and almost relaxing.

Almost.

He got the call early, much earlier than the time he normally awoke at home. Taku was the sort of man who fell asleep far too late and woke up much later than noon. That was not an ideal trait for someone expected to thrive during daylight hours. The food they served was carefully prepared around a specific nutritional content, and it tasted bland in comparison with the sweets and rich tasting, savory meals he had grown up with.

In an upper middle class family, the ability to live lavishly set them apart from their peers. With a merchant for a Father, Taku had enjoyed luxury where many of his friends did not. He took for granted that what he had, he might one day lose.

Now, for lack of those nice things, he found himself dissatisfied and wanting. He had adapted to some degree. Knowing full well he could not provide for that lifestyle, he weaned himself off finer foods. The difference between adequate and sub-par however, turned his stomach.

For several days, Taku had not eaten. Today he made the exception because he was miserable. His stomach voiced its malcontent loudly as he crept toward his destination.

The Hangar bay was plain and full of transports, set apart from the more militarised bunkers that were strewn strategically across the world. This was a place that could hold during a siege, but was intended to be peaceful. He entered and sought out the Jedi Padawan, Caden Evesa, who would purportedly be overseeing his initial assessments and the Padawan level entry examination- provided he was fit for it.

Silently, he hoped it would not be too much of a chore. If they were starting off in the Hangar, they would likely be leaving the planet. His eyes moved over the transport ships, largely well kept on the whole. At least the flight would be safe.

...hopefully.

 

[Caden Evesa]

Annoying he didn't have much information.

Caden was aware he was meeting a young Padawan. He was aware that they would be leaving the planet, aware that they would be heading north through Silver Jedi space. It was part of the reason he had spent so long getting his ship ready, getting all the supplies together.

All the documents had been given for the mission said that the task was to try and procure some sort of Jedi text from the library on Ossus. Caden had never been to Ossus, never had any interaction with the planet. He'd heard a rumor that Mathieu Brion had interaction with the planet and any normal person would have reached out for advice.

Yet Caden still wasn't ready to have a true conversation with Mathieu yet. Still felt too guilty.

The LL-1210 Light Freighter that Caden called his own sat in the corner of the hanger bay, pretty well hidden from view but with a clear path to leave. As ships went, it was safe enough. It had it's own little personal flair that came from owning it for a few years but it was in one peace.

Everything had changed for Caden over the years since he was rescued and taken to safety by The Silver Jedi. He had been young at the time, six or seven. He honestly couldn't remember. Since then he'd served the order dutifully, had a master and lost a master and trained along the Mandalorian soldiers.

From wealth and luxury to war and chaos.

It seemed to be the normal in the galaxy. Caden's parents hadn't exactly been poor, the estate he had access to on Corellia was proof of that. Caden had given the majority of the luxuries up though and instead joined the Jedi, fought the Bryn twice and taken part in god knows how many other battles.

He had changed himself over the years. For example, he'd gone from waking up in the mid afternoon to being up at five in the morning and going for a run. A lot of the changes had happened after Mygeeto, after he had left the order and gone to Myrkr. After he had become a soldier.

In the distance he felt a presence getting closer. He felt the presence in the force long before he saw who it belonged to. He was certain it was getting closer however and he was certain that it was his passenger for the journey to Ossus.

When the boy got close, Caden was one hundred percent certain that it was the Jedi Padawan who would be joining him. The uncertainty of the boy just added to that, clearly new to the order and the Jedi way of life. Clearly new to all of it.

Caden was almost certain that how he was dressed wasn't helping ease any uncertainty. If the Padawan was expecting to see a man in Jedi robes, he was surely mistaken. He'd ditched the professional and traditional Jedi robes (they were getting repaired anyway after he had abused them over about a three week period) and instead gone for his Chase Edgewear T-Shirt and Chase Racewear Jacket.

"You must be Takui. Name's Caden, welcome to the adventure of a lifetime. I take it, since you're here, you have no-one you want to say goodbye to so let's get aboard, get you set up a place to sleep and be on our way. Any questions, ask me or the astromech that's floating about on board. I assume you speak Binary? I ask cause Chirp definitely doesn't speak Basic."

Takui | Coren Starchaser

 

[Takui]

This was the man who he was supposed to meet, alright. When he introduced himself, the man was quick with his words and seemed ready to move out. He had not anticipated someone so quick to move. Taku's only experience thus far was with a handful of Jedi initiates and Padawans who's finest skills were in lunchroom antics, so he certainly did not expect patience. "Oh, ah, uhm, no," he stammered, unsure of himself. There was no one here who he knew or had any lingering attachments to, so he felt no need to say any farewells. Back home, his sisters perhaps may have appreciated a notice, but he had already told them where he was bound.

Truthfully, they had not expected him to be gone long. Takui had never committed to anything of substance in his life. The undertaking of a Jedi lifestyle was more than they believed he was capable of. He knew that, too. In many ways, he agreed with them.

He had been instructed to travel light, so boarding was simple enough. A plain bag filled with his effects. Enough clothing for several days, some items for hygiene, and some light reading. At least, he had intended it to be light- the Jedi left him with several manuscripts to review about safety and what to do in case of an emergency that looked more like a tome than a pamphlet. He begrudgingly dragged it along with him as he boarded Caden's ship and found his way toward the crew's quarters. It wasn't a lengthy trip across the backwater to Ossus, but there was a probability that they would be living out of the ship for several days, maybe even a week.

At least, if the trip didn't prove to be more dangerous than believed.

"No, I've never had to learn," he said in reference to the other man's question about whether or not he could understand Binary. "Sorry, buddy," he directed the apology to the droid in a softer voice, in earnest. "My dad was a merchant, so we never needed any protocol Droids for his work. He spoke a lot of languages. Said he saved a lot of money that way."

For a time, Taku had tried to learn, too. He got a fair bit of Huttese under his belt before his Father decided to abandon the family; but after that, Taku's desire to be anything like the man rapidly dimished. He wanted nothing to do with merchant life, or foreign languages. He barely wanted anything to do with the so-called Force, let alone a life dedicated to it. Those feelings were pinpricked as he spoke about the man at all, and he quickly changed the subject. It was better not to get angry and show any ugliness in front of a Jedi.

"So, uh, Ossus huh? I've heard there's been a lot of fighting there. Lots of back and forth wars, land changing hands, sacred places rising and falling... nothing seems to stick. Why there?" he asked. It seemed a fair enough question, especially to someone who knew next to nothing about the Jedi or their history.

 

[Caden Evesa]

Chirp let out a knowing beep.

It was odd to Caden how few people in the galaxy understood Binary. Droid talk (commonly known as Binary) was second nature to Caden, it was what he knew. He'd been taught it at a young age by his father, the older Evesa gentleman spending days dealing with all types of droids.

Caden was willing to translate the little droid however, willing to translate what was his only friend. Chirp had been his only company after leaving The Silver Jedi originally, had been his only friend during his time spent on Myrkr, his time spent along the Mandalorians.

Binary and Mando'a, two languages his parents had drilled into him, especially after all of the family encounters with Mandalorians when Caden was a child. A lot of it Caden didn't remember, he was too young to remember most of the family encounters.

Those were the encounters he was glad he wasn't old enough to remember. The bits of it that he did remember were scary enough. The bits he did remember scared him and the bits he did remember were the reason he went seeking out the Mandalorians after he had left the Silver Jedi.

After his adventures with Teyla Sal-Soren as well. He couldn't forget those.

At that moment Caden realized it had been nearly two months since he had returned to Silver Jedi space. It had been nearly two months since all of the fighting and the violence. It had been two months since he had last had to be a Mandalorian, since he had last had to be a soldier.

Now he was a protector, a seeker. His job was to find old Jedi texts and return them to The Silver Rest on Kashyyyk. His job was to protect the young Padawan who had been assigned to join him on the quest to collect the Jedi texts from Ossus.

He was glad that whoever had given Takui the information had told him to pack light. Caden didn't expect that they would need lots of things, he was just expecting that they would be living out of the ship for a while. For Caden that was fine, he was used to it, yet he wasn't sure how used to living out of a ship Takui was.

Slowly, Caden followed the young boy onto the ship.

While the boy got himself set up in his quarters, Caden took himself off to the cockpit to ready the ship for the journey. Most of the grunt work was done, he just needed to get the engines primed and ready to leave and he needed to get the navicomputer ready.

Takui walked back into the cockpit as Caden was messing about with buttons. Caden felt the presence of the young Padawan before he even began to speak. Eventually, Caden would become used to sensing the boys presence without having to focus on it.

When the Padawan did speak however, he asked a pretty fair question. He asked why Ossus specifically.

"I can't say I've ever been to Ossus myself, but I have a little information. As far as I can tell, Ossus is home to a great library. Inside there's said to be numerous texts, Jedi and Sith alike. We simply need to access the library, find the text in question and get out without too much fuss"

He smiled towards Takui.

Then his hands slid across the controls and fired up the engines. It was a noise that Caden was used to, a noise that he had heard numerous times. It was a noise that meant he was off to explore a new part of the galaxy, a new place he had never been.

Caden gave Takui one more look and the ship left The Silver Landing. They were off.

Takui | Coren Starchaser

 

[Takui]

Tales of the Great Library, an ancient repository of knowledge, were far more commonplace than most Jedi tales. His father often spoke of places where old knowledge and vast groves of wealth like a money grabbing merchant might. When he told the tales though, they were of a ruin. Even had the Jedi restored the Library, there would be great losses from the epochs of the Old Republic.

"Can we be certain the text we're looking for is intact?" he asked. "From what little I've heard of the Library, it was raided many times and reduced to rubble on at least one occasion. And in recent history, its been in the hands of the Sith Empire. They're notorious for hoarding knowledge."

The dangers of the Sith were one of the few things in the Galaxy Taku was genuinely wary of. That they would go near it at all sent unpleasant feelings through him, and a chill that crept across his spine told an unspoken tale of danger. He marked it off as his predisposition toward the Dark side of the Force, however.

If the Jedi were sending them to Ossus, they were probably certain of their safety. Or at least, they believed that with Caden along, it would be within the realm of his abilities to keep Taku safe. The final possibility, which the youth did not give voice to, was that the Jedi had confirmed nothing at all and they had sent the two on a suicide mission. They weren't that negligent though.

...were they?

He glanced toward their Droid companion and tilted his head. "Not like they'd knowingly send us headlong into certain danger, I suppose," he murmured for Chirp's benefit. Taku gave a small smile and turned to glance out from the cockpit as Kashyyyk's skies faded into oblivion around them and the stars replaced sunlight. It was to be his first experience among the Jedi, even though he had no Jedi skills to speak of.

He didn't know what to make of any of it.

 

[Caden Evesa]

Were they certain the text they were looking for was intact.

There were two answers to the question, the diplomatic answer where no-one panicked and didn't feel like everything they were doing was a waste of time and the answer that involved a little white lie to keep morale up and positive vibes going.

Or the truth. The truth that would potentially cause morale to collapse and make them think that everything they were doing was a complete and utter waste of time. The truth was always preferable but sometimes a little white lie kept morale up.

Because honestly, Caden didn't know what condition the book would be in. He knew the stories of the library well enough to know everything that Takui was saying was true. He knew the stories of how the library had been raided, turned to rubble, rebuilt and then captured by The Sith Empire.

Within seconds the stars around the ship became streaks of white as Caden sent the ship into hyperspace, all while pondering the question posed and the answer he should give back. The silence was almost awkward and Caden still couldn't decide on the answer to provide, the answer he should go with.

Slowly the young Jedi turned to his companion slowly as Chirp let out a slight beep.

"The lie I could tell is that yeah, the book is entirely in perfect condition and we'll bring it home fine yet the honest answer is that I don't know. I've heard the stories just like you, the stories of how the library has been raided, turned to rubble, rebuilt and then captured by The Sith Empire"

He turned his eyes back to the unknowns of space in front of him. His task was much like space, find the unknown. In space it was find the unknown species, the unknown planets while his task was find the unknown book, find out if it was still in usable condition.

Caden zoned out at that point.

Takui may have been talking but Caden wasn't entirely listening. His hands were just mindlessly controlling the ship while his brain kept thinking about every possibility. What if they got there and the book wasn't there, or if they got there and the book was ruined.

Or worse.

He knew the Silver Jedi Order wouldn't intentionally throw the duo into danger but he had been on enough missions to know that danger tended to follow the Jedi mo matter what happened. They were like magnets and couldn't avoid the danger no matter how hard they tried.

It was only the beeping a few hours later that brought the young solider out of his own head and back into reality. The beeping was the signal that Ossus was dead ahead and that if Caden didn't do the piloting thing soon they'd end up nothing more than a crater on it's surface.

Piloting was one of Caden's strong suits, he'd flown and landed enough ships to be classed a successful pilot. He'd only ever crashed one ship and that was the cruiser that had been disabled during the conflict with the Bryn, the cruiser that had torn through a city.

So it was no surprise when he brought the ship down with little fuss. Takui might have expected a big drama but there honestly wasn't one. He just gently touched the ship down a short walk from the co-ordinates that The Silver Jedi had supplied him with.

"You ready, kid?"

Takui | Coren Starchaser

 

[Takui]

Taku knew that the likelihood he would receive a grim answer was high, somehow. He braced himself for it long before Caden uttered the words. Somehow when bad news hit, you could never be fully prepared to cope with it. Despite all the preparation he could muster, when the senior Padawan confirmed his suspicions the silver haired youth felt his stomach plummet.

At first he thought he might need to run to the refresher, but he quickly recovered from the wave of nausea that had washed over. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he murmured, unaware of any irony surrounding the phrase. It was the honest truth. A very bad feeling twisted his gut and churned like a vice around an orange.

If Caden knew there was a probability that their mission was for not, it was entirely likely that other Jedi knew as well. They would only know if it were a fool's errand once they landed and had thoroughly investigated the Library.

Hours elapsed as the stars folded and collapsed behind them. When the world came into view ahead of them and the younger man took the helm, Taku strapped himself into the copilot seat to run the landing cycle.

The problem he had now was the abundance of unknown variables. The enemy had only recently relinquished control of Ossus. They might have some lingering presence. They may have stripped it bare of resources or even razed the Library in their hurry to deny the Jedi any assets at all. Taku disliked going into a situation without enough reconnaissance.

What he liked even less was that he had practically zero training at all. "I've got to level with you, Caden," he said, possibly too informally. "I'm almost no good to you if it comes to a fight. I'm more of a sit and home and do crossword puzzles type of guy. So if we run into some type of code breaking type deal, or you need some numbers for sudoku, I'm your guy-"

He glanced over with an awkward half smile, half expression of apology. "But the only fighting I've ever done was in a schoolyard. And when I say fighting, I mean giving my lunch money to a much bigger kid so he would leave me alone."

 

[Caden Evesa]

Rolling his eyes, he allowed them to settle on the Jedi Padawan accompanying him.

Surprisingly, the man was brutally honest about his capacities as a fighter, or lack thereof. The young silver haired boy made it clear that in a fight he was entirely useless. He made it clear that the only fighting he had ever done was in a schoolyard and that was mostly being forced to hand over his lunch money.

Caden almost felt sorry for the boy. He knew bullying well, he'd been bullied in the temple as a child by the other Padawan's that surrounded him and spent time in classrooms with him. It was only when he'd partnered with Okkeus that the bullying really stopped.

There were a number of unknowns, uncertainty. While he couldn't sense the presence of any Sith nearby, he had to remember that Ossus was a Sith territory until recently and that there could still be Sith about. He also had to think about the potential that the Sith had taken everything from the library.

Somewhere, he could still sense a presence that he recognized, but he couldn't place it.

Keeping in with his training, his fingers closed around his lightsaber as he clipped it to his waist. He debated collecting his blaster and taking that with him but decided against it soon after. He didn't believe there would be much violence and fighting.

His tongue glided across the back of his teeth as he opened the boarding ramp to the ship. He took one look at the companion and began his slow walk down the boarding ramp and towards the fabled great library that was just a short walk away.

It was a walk in mostly silence, again Caden lost in his own head.

The steps up to the great library were steep and tall. Caden hadn't expected quite as many steps, but he got on with them. He stopped occasionally to make sure that Takui was following behind and was okay, to make sure that he was surviving.

Annoyingly, the door in was shut solid and there was no obvious switch.

"Any idea how we get in?"

Takui | Coren Starchaser

 

[Takui]

He knew perhaps better than anyone that standing up to his bullies might well have ended in their leaving him be. If he had thrown a punch, it might have put a stop to one thing, but something more would have come of it. Violence bred expectation, he had learned. If one bully fell from the top of the totem pole, he would be expected to rise up and take the place of him as some sort of schoolyard hero. Taku never had the time or the capacity for that kind of pressure.

It was easier to hand over a few credits, go without eating until he got home, and then just laze around the house. The young man would have done anything for the sake of his comfort, even compromise on his public image. That was one reason his father had never put much hope in the boy ever becoming a reputable merchant. It was why his Brothers received his time and affection, but Taku never did.

For a long time, he felt slighted. Now in that massive hole that was torn out when his family fell apart, there was nothing at all. Taku only remembered bits and pieces of his childhood, and the parts he did remember were lackluster at best.

He watched Caden take his lightsaber in hand, curious. Taku had seen one before that he could recall offhand, and the tool fascinated him. It was both weapon and precision torch, and under normal circumstances could prove invaluable to someone wielding it. The circumstances they found themselves in took exception to that rule.

Taku didn't bother the other man with the details of his thoughts as he observed in silence the massive Library of the Jedi, an ancient repository of knowledge that transcended time. Though its walls were rebuilt and its interior most likely refurbished, History had happened here. He could feel something ancient, swirling around him, though if he lifted his hand he could not grasp it.

It felt similar to that distant sensation he always had. Unknown, yet familiar, as though he had known it since he was born. It was in the comfort of that familiarity that Taku often felt the most at ease. If he closed his eyes, he could hear a soundless voice whispering words that brought him to ease.

So, when Caden asked him how they might find entry to the Library, the elder boy took a step forward and bravely placed his fingers on the door. He traced the timeless pattern, felt the way it moved along the surface, and syncopated the ridges to the beating of his heart that now reverberated in his ears.

This was so much bigger than him- than both of them. It was vast like an ocean, and just as old. Perhaps even older. He did not see memory, but he felt it, like this place wanted desperately for him to understand.

"I've never seen anything like this," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "Give me a minute, maybe there's something we're not seeing."

 

[Caden Evesa]

The young man thought.

He watched Takui and thought of his own experiences with bullies, thought of how he'd been teased and bullied just for having a natural gift in the force. He'd been shunned just for being a faster learner and having the ability to manipulate the force better than anyone else in his class.

In hindsight he was glad he'd never shared his gift of Psychometry with the class, he would have been abused and ridiculed for that and he was certain it wouldn't have been pretty. He was unique enough without a unique power as well as the potential in the force.

His young friend had seemed quiet on the walk to the library, just as quiet as he himself was. Caden assumed they were both just lost in their thoughts but watching his almost uncertainty when they approached the door of the library left the young soldier on edge.

Caden looked at the door briefly.

Takui had mentioned that he was the puzzle expert and so Caden had really hoped that he would be able to figure out how to access the door. The fact that neither of them had ever seen anything like the door of the great library on Ossus was concerning.

Research was starting to look like it would have been a really good idea and Caden regretted doing absolutely no research in the slightest. Maybe some sort of research on how to access the library would have been a reasonably good idea in hindsight.

He watched as his companion stepped forward, fingers tracing the door and the timeless pattern. He watched as the young boy traced the way it moved along the surface. It was so much bigger than both of them and it was honestly quite scary how old it was.

"Tell me you have a plan kid, or you're about to get a lesson in how to brute force a door of an ancient library down. I'm about ninety percent sure I'm gonna loose a few brownie points if we have to do that so please tell me you got something"

Takui

 

[Takui]

His fingers traced the architecture. Taku was mesmerized by the intricacies of the stonework, almost identical to ancient styles and patterns he had only read about in books. The carvings were too new to be original, yet someone had gone to painstaking lengths to replicate the genuine article. Anyone who knew anything about architecture could spot the difference from the lack of discoloration or decay.

To the laymen however, it might seem that some otherworldly power had sustained the building since ancient times. History already dictated that the building had been razed at the very least once. Because of that, Taku determined that it was not some ancient, unmoving mechanism that they would have to uncover and grease down.

"Whoever rebuilt it was clever, because it appears at first glance to be the genuine, original article. If that were the case, we would be here for a pretty long time- and you'd probably break a toe trying to kick down the door," Taku told Caden with an apologetic look. He didn't want to discourage the man or seem pedantic. "The good news is that its a more modern locking mechanism, and with stonework, it can't be wired to any electronics. So, we're looking for some kind of switch."

In turn, the bad news was that the switch might not necessarily be in plain view. It could be on the far side of the Library for all they knew. What struck Taku odd was how the building seemed to come together almost naturally, like the flow of a river. It felt like he was surrounded by something vast and welcoming, and if he listened closely enough...

"...do you hear something?" the slightly older man asked suddenly. "It sounds like running water," he added after a moment.

While there were no springs in sight, and nowhere apparent for water to flow, Taku was certain.

Caden Evesa

 

[Caden Evesa]

The young Jedi seemed mesmerized by the intricacies of the stonework.

Caden himself was quite taken aback, it was something he'd never seen before, a type of architecture that he had never come across on his adventures across the galaxy. It was a type of architecture that seemed unique to the great library building itself.

He listened to Taku as he spoke, listened as he complimented whoever had rebuilt the library. The Padawan was right, it looked seriously genuine and like it had been standing for hundreds upon hundreds of years, if not even longer than that.

"I never suggested kicking it down. The force can grant it's wielder one hell of a powerful push"

Casually he laughed, looking at the Padawan. He knew that his companion was new to the order but he hadn't expected him to have such a limited understanding of the force and how it worked. Caden couldn't fault him though, he'd been in that position before.

He'd been a lot younger, six. He'd been sat in a classroom full of other orphans (he assumed) learning about the magical power that he could apparently access. At the time he hadn't believed it, he'd called the teacher mental. As he had grown older though, and been taught more about the force and how it worked it became a lot easier to understand.

"Anyway. Modern mechanism, I can work with that"

Which was true, he could work with modern mechanisms. He was a Corellian, he was used to tearing things down and rebuilding them. If he needed to tear the door down to get access to the mechanism he was more than willing to do so, gave him an excuse to rebuild the door.

Then Taku mentioned the running water, mentioned the sound. Caden looked at the Padawan for a second before closing his eyes. He had a point, Caden could feel a running stream somewhere close by, the calming noise of water filling his ears.

It was in the door.

"We're dealing with some sort of locking mechanism using water, we have to be. Why else would the sound of water be coming from inside a heavy stonework door. That begs the question though, where's the switch itself? In the door as well?"

Without even thinking about it he pushed a stone in the door, feeling it turn under the pressure he was applying. He felt it turn and eventually fall to the floor, revealing the switch behind it. It was untouchable, out of reach but it was there.

The water needed to be manipulated to get the switch to turn.

Caden thought for a moment about using the force to turn the switch, but he assumed there would have been some sort of safeguard in place to prevent that. He didn't want to do the wrong thing and accidentally doom them to death or something, that wouldn't be fun to write up in the report.

The trained soldier sat down, legs crossed. His eyes fluttered shut, allowing the force to flow through him. He had always been taught to imagine the force as a bubble that you could push out, yourself as the epicenter, anything in that bubble was manipulable.

He could feel different pipes that were able to be turned.

The logical thing to do was to use the pipes to redirect the flow of water to the switch, to turn the switch. That's what he did, taking his time and using the force to manipulate each pipe (and in turn the flow of water) down through the door towards the location of the switch.

Caden wished he would say how long he was working on the puzzle, it felt a lot shorter than it probably was. It was a task that he hadn't expected, one that required him to use everything he had learnt to manipulate the pipes in the correct way.

Eventually he both heard and felt the water hit the switch.

And door the swung open.

Takui | Coren Starchaser

 

[Takui]

When people told stories of the Jedi, they mentioned strange phenomena, unexplainable miracles that seemed utterly impossible. He had heard it said that the crux of a Jedi Knight was to make the impossible, possible. When he saw Caden start to move stone with his kriffing mind, Taku almost fainted outright.

His composure was all but shattered in that instant. There were many things in the Galaxy he had never even or experienced, but he had never heard of actual magical powers. It seemed so casual and normal to Caden, but to someone who grew up far from large city planets and deep in the proverbial backwater he could not begin to stumble over the words he wanted.

"Wh-what the hell was that!?" he barked.

When they told him Sith were pure evil, he never thought he would be dealing with literal devils. If Jedi could pick things up with their thoughts, what could dark sorcerors do? He felt himself panicking, looking from Caden to the rock and back again.

"You act like this kind of thing happens every day for you!" he huffed, breathless. "Rocks don't just fly, man- Gillad Pellaeon's hairy ballsack, what have I gotten myself into?" he cursed, descending quickly into disbelief and horror. There was no way-

"No way," he voiced his thoughts aloud, "I know I said I'd try mom, and I made it this far, but this, I know even you never would have expected this. You can't blame me for-"

Caden was deep in thought while Taku came apart at the seams. He didn't even seem to hear the Learner's depraved thoughts as he ran tangential into how he was going to die if he stayed on the path he was on. The Senior Padawan finally unlocked the puzzle, and as the water flowed through the mechanism the door began to creep slowly open.

"Absolutely sodding not."

The way was open, but despite the fact that he had seen it for himself Taku felt his skin crawl. Power like that- so unnatural, so incomprehensible, so terrifying...

Mankind should never have been given a power like that.

He looked to Caden after staring through the newly open doors in mute awe for far longer than he should have. "Magic," he rasped, clutching at his temple and kneading it with a thumb. "I suppose you expect me to go first," he resigned himself to fate.