What Do I Believe?

[Darth Metus]

There was no reason in particular that the Jedi Master had found himself on the forest moon. In fact, some would challenge his intelligence in light of making the journey into Fringe territory. However, Josiah Denko was always a man guided by what he interpreted as the Will of the Force. Like a leaf caught in the midst of a gale, he would go wherever the enigmatic entity demanded...and this day, it guided him west. From the temple of the Reformation to the woods of Endor, he traveled until finally he felt that this was where he was supposed to be.

Upon landing his modest vessel, the Jedi promptly disembarked and set about wandering the woods. He attempted to keep his arrival as conservative as possible, opting to land in a quiet clearing over other options. From there, Josiah began to walk in no particular direction. As he strolled about, the oddest thing occurred...the Jedi began to feel relaxed. Perhaps it was the harmony of underbrush crunching underneath his boots or the light symphony of chirping birds above. Maybe it was the fact that here, there were no pointless wars and no Sith rampaging over innocent lives.

Oh how the Light had failed...

To say the least, Josiah felt utterly lost...and not due to his wanderings between the trees. These days, the convictions he once had were shaken. He believed that the Light existed to destroy the Darkness, and that it could not fail in this task...Yet it seemed as though each day brought more triumph for the Darkness. What was a warrior of the Light supposed to think...Or to do...when all that he believed was collapsing around him?

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Josiah Denko"]

The will of the Force, or Endor's lack of interesting places, would lead him to a forest clearing that had been burned centuries ago and never grown back. The black ash was long gone; the grass just looked unhealthy, and even scrub pines didn't want to encroach on the place. Ashin liked to come here on occasion and think about pride.

Her eyebrows rose as she sensed a familiar mind. Her cousin had little in the way of a Force-bond with her, and she wasn't especially good at sensing things in general, so the surprise, she was sure, was still evident on her face when she turned to face Josiah. She was wearing the black uniform of a Fringe Grand Admiral, with decorations from dozens of campaigns, a decidedly nasty-feeling sword at her hip.

"Welcome to the Fringe, Josiah."

 

[Darth Metus]

Witnessing a stark contrast to the vibrance of Endor came as a slight surprise to the Jedi. As he continued to stride along, the lush underbrush turned sour; as if the very earth had been scarred long ago. Attempts at restoring what once was had failed, leading to a clearing that looked...sick. While Josiah would have, usually, given pause to contemplate what could have brought about this ruination, he soon found that he was not alone. There was a woman standing at the far side of the clearing...and the Force both informed and confused him about her.

At a glance, he did not know this woman from creation...but he somewhat recognized her presence in the Force. What confused him all the more was that she addressed him...by name. Who did he know in the Fringe? Coming to a halt, Josiah took a moment to search his mind before coming up with an answer. Ashin. Ashin was the only person he knew from this territory...and she had enough power in his opinion that a cosmetic change was within the realm of possibility. Yet, before he stayed with that conclusion, he had to ask.

"Ashin? Is that you?" he said, confusion evident in his tone. As the words escaped his lips, Josiah recalled the last times he had seen his cousin. They had met on the field of battle and were pitted against each other. On Barab I, he dueled her directly. On O'reen, he felt her presence more than anyone else. To say the least, fate had seen them on opposing sides for quite some time. With hesitance, the Jedi moved his hand and reached for his lightsaber. An effortless tug wrenched it from his belt before he casually tossed it aside.

"I...Thank you for the welcome..." he began, adjusting his stance to a much more casual one. "I'm not here to fight you Ashin. I...I don't even know why I'm here...or what I'm doing anymore."

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Josiah Denko"]

"Then I've got no reason to draw on you," she said, hand easing off Ravening's hilt. She approached him, crossing the site of Vader's pyre. "Or to turn you away from Fringer territory. You were close with Darron and Rekali, weren't you. Darron's death hit us all hard, and with Rekali retiring...I'd imagine in your shoes I'd feel a little lost, too."

She drew to a stop opposite her cousin and folded her arms. "If I didn't have this job, anyway. I've been cutting down Ssi-Ruuk, Klaxxi, Sithspawn and Sorcerers of Rhand for a long, long time. The Unknown Regions are never short of planets that need protecting and things that need killing." A veiled reference to O'reen, but not primarily.

 

[Darth Metus]

A Jedi Does Not Mourn.

Over the course of his years walking in the light, this was the single tenet that Josiah had the most difficulty adhering to. He, unlike those fortunate enough to begin as younglings, found the Order as a young adult. He clung fast to what it meant to be a Jedi...Yet when death claimed those he loved, it always rent a hole in his very soul. Darron Wraith was more than a mentor, he was a dearly cherished friend...a friend that Josiah did not know was gone. He had been in a hole, more or less. Self-imposed exile on Manaan for many months to learn from the remnants of what was.

And now, the very wind was stolen from Josiah's lungs. He thought back to his meditations on Manaan and hearkened to the day when he felt the Darkness grow ever stronger than before...as if a beacon of Light had been extinguished. He hoped, nay prayed that this loss was not one close to him...but his cousin had no reason to cloud his mind with lies. Darron was gone, and in that moment the Jedi felt all the more lost.

"I didn't know that Master Wraith had fallen. I was away for so long, trying to find some direction in the Force." he said, attempting to stave off the sting in his eyes. "Is that how you move forward? By having a clear enemy to cut down?" Taking a moment, Josiah ran a hand through his hair in an effort to compose himself. "If so, that was the path I walked for so long. In my youth, I saw the Darkness as my enemy and set out to fight it. That was it. I existed as a sword to cut down the Dark."

"Yet, as I grew older, I saw things that destroyed that path. I saw you, the former Empress of the Sith Empire, champion a nation that is, and pardon the wording, more Republic than the Republic. I thought I existed to fight the Darkness, but when the Warriors of Light march on innocent lands...Where is the right in that? After O'reen I just...I didn't know what I was doing any longer. I know that the Sith are the enemy, but what about the Republic? The Jedi who slayed thousands and marched on innocents? How can I serve that Ashin? How?"

"I don't know what Path to walk. The Force has brought me up and down the Galaxy, but I still see no sense in it all. So tell me, cousin. You are more wise than I...what should I do?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Josiah Denko"]

"People will always disappoint -- governments, religions. It's the principles that matter, and how hard those governments, religions and people strive to follow those principles. The Republic is a shambling, headless monolith; the Jedi speak with ten voices from ten heads, like some kind of shattersouled hydra. The Fringe isn't a perfect voice, but we try not to let the perfect be the enemy of the worthwhile. And that's why we've stopped five separate galactic-scale crusades in their tracks, without bothering to let the galaxy know." She smiled faintly. "For the most part.

"Let me tell you something useful about the Sith, something that'll help you kill them more effectively if nothing else. The one thing that defines a true Sith is that he, she or it is willing to do whatever it takes, make any kind of sacrifice, in order to achieve whatever he, she or it wants most. Maybe that's power, maybe that's revenge, maybe that's safety, maybe that's justice. Yes, by that standard there are and always have been Jedi who haven't realized they're Sith. The Dark Side isn't some miasmic presence with an on-switch or off-switch; the Dark Side is people, the choices they make, and whether nor not they keep their sense of proportion. This is why there are Jedi I'd never work with, and Sith I consider valuable allies, just as there are many Sith I'd happily kill and many Jedi I've happily worked with -- Darron Wraith among them. So insofar as I can give you any guidance, Josiah, it's this: You're responsible for your own choices. Nobody can make them for you, though plenty of people and causes will try. Just be sure to surround yourself with people willing to make sensible sacrifices for the right cause. In a very real sense, we are who we associate with."