What Does the Fox Say?

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Vulpesen"]

"Master Vulpesen."

Sitting there, looking off into the distance with his back to him, Dune was sure the man had sensed him coming. He was a Master and a Padawan simply didn't surprise one. He'd heard of Vulpesen and his reputation. A being so disenchanted with the status quo that he'd left the Republic. He'd touched the Dark Side too, it was whispered.

He didn't feel any menace from this stranger rather unassuming as he appeared. Instead, deep thoughts and reflection. Corvus wouldn't allow a threat to simply walk around. Even a powerful Master couldn't deceive her and so he trusted her implicitly.

 

[Vulpesen]

When he had joined the sith, Vulpesen had simply vanished from the jedi. Sure, some had seen him, but it wasn't until he left the sith that he was open to disclosing the identity of Darth Tsolan. As such, the jedi would not have kept records of his appearance during that time frame, at least, none that would be connected to him until someone in their ranks managed to track him down in the vitae. Because of this, the jedi the order knew, and the man that now stood in their halls were far different from each other. Once an assumed human, Vulpesen now held the tail, claws, and glowing golden eyes of a Zorren. As he stood in thought, he couldn't help but smile at the style of it all. Changed as much in body as he had in the force. While he had never been a true sith, he couldn't deny that their ways had somehow tainted him. That much could be felt in his presence, the once shining light of a jedi paragon, now tainted by the death and destruction he had faced among the sith. Even if he had tried to maintain his own virtues, there were still times when choosing the greater good, simply meant choosing the lesser evil.

Feeling a the presence of another though the force, Vulpesen's ears flicked. Or rather, his 'ear'. He'd meant to get some sort of replacement, but he'd always forgotten to get around to it. After all, he could hear just fine, and most of the damage was indeed cosmetic. From the hood of his coat, an astral blue head popped up, Ace as always, looking to see who was approaching his bondmate, though the ashlan would have to turn in the hood as the master turned to face the bith. Offering a smile, he fixed [member="Dune Rhur"] with a pair of glowing golden eyes while the black vulpine tail swayed amiably behind him. Even if his force signature bore the stains of the darkside, the fact remained that Vulpesen was still himself. "And you are?"

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Vulpesen"]

He saw the ashlan pop up, curious to see the newcomer. Dune felt the same curiosity towards the blue creature. Only in zoology reports had be heard of them. As the Master himself turned to face him, he took in the vulpine features and glowing eyes.

Some apprentices would feel intimidated by his reputation. But there wasn't a feeling of violence or aggression. He was very much at his ease, both with his surroundings and himself. Dune wanted to ask about the latter.

"Dune Rhur," he bowed his head "I wanted to speak to you, Master."

He wasn't one to shy away from asking questions, but he also had no desire to be insulting.

"How did you not become consumed by the violence and the darkness?"

"If my question is too intrusive, I apologise and will withdrawal it."

 

[Vulpesen]

Ace tilted his head for a moment before scurrying back into Vulpesen's robes to rest. "A pleasure to meet you [member="Dune Rhur"]." As the bith continued, Vulpesen couldn't help but let out a small laugh. He'd been in the political games of a king for so long, that finally, a young padawan with a blunt question was light a splash of fresh water. Smiling away his amusement, he opened his mouth to answer. "Honestly, I wish you jedi would ask more questions. Maybe then I wouldn't have left." He grinned, displaying a set of fangs. "To start answering your question, sometimes the best way to avoid the claws of a rancor, is to stand directly under it. Though, before I continue, I have a question for you. Are you sure you're quite ready to hear these words? There's a reason I am not a jedi Mr. Rhur. And I'm sure my beliefs may be quite frowned upon by your masters."

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Vulpesen"]

"I don't expect easy answers to hard questions, Master."

The Bith believed in peace and diplomacy but too often ceremony got in the way. Sometimes a question could offend even though it wasn't meant to. He wished beings could see beyond petty things like perceived insults. That's why he'd asked Vulpesen, mainly because he wasn't a Jedi.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen leaned back against the window he had just been looking out of and took a deep breath. "The jedi believe in locking their emotions in a box. Or pouring it out of themselves in a controlled manner, like water from a cup. While the second holds promise, to cling to either of those methods in my situation would have spelled any hope I had of coming out of the darkness. When you bathe in such hatred, no mater how much you deny it, it sticks to you. Clings to your mind and fills your soul, and no matter how much you might try to trap it. Or ease it out, you will eventually be overwhelmed. I saw it happen so many times. People I knew as warriors of light drowned out by their hubris. Clinging to the notion of 'light'."

Another deep breath and his eyes closed. "For millenia, Jedi and sith have argued which was stronger. The Dark or the Light. The truth is, neither hold the advantage. They are equals. To cling to a shred of light while in an ocean of darkness is follow, just as a shred of darkness may be blinded or burned away by the light. Thus, I didn't try to refuse the darkness. Instead, I displayed it and used that display to hide myself from it." He had a feeling that what he would do next would alert every nearby jedi within the temple and every master in the surrounding areas. Maybe it was a bit much to make a point, but still, this padawan had asked and he was eager to answer his questions, especially when no one else had bothered to pose them.

In a moment, his presence in the force was gone, drowned out by something as if a black cloak had covered him in the force. To any miralukan, it would seem as though Vulpesen had vanished, replaced by a large black form. "More accurately, I took my darkness, my anger, my pain and I showed it to the world, laying it bare so that the sith could not see what lay under it. I hid from evil by hiding in darkness. To cling to the light would be folly. But to cling to what is good, Life, Freedom, And Unity, that is why this darkness did not consume me." As he finished speaking, he would expel a breath, allowing the dark cloak of the force to leave him. "I hid among the sith, telling noone who I was and using that ability day and night to hide it from prying senses."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Vulpesen"]

Dune listened and part of him recoiled. Vulpesen was right, Dune decided, the Masters wouldn't like the answer. He didn't either but that didn't mean he'd stop listening. The Master then began to...shift in the Force.

The surge of negative emotion caused the Bith to take an involuntary step back. His own darkness in that box, to feel it in such a way shocked him. Darkness and suffering swirled around him and the Padawan shook his head slowly as if to deny it. It was there, though, and it disturbed him.

He drew in a breath, calming himself before he spoke again.

"I don't want to kill. I'm afraid I will have to with the Dark Side spreading. I don't want to be like them."

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen smiled and once more with that kind gaze, belying the earlier darkness he'd just shown. "Cling to that. With all that you are, cling to that." His tail flicked behind him. "But know that death is an inevitability. Especially for people like us. Those who rise up to stop the waves of darkness will always be touched by it for even with all the protection we offer, we will at times need to destroy the enemy. And even if they are evil, destruction is still destruction and that will always be the path to the darkside." He lifted away from the window. "But now you see, and I pray you understand. I hid among the sith for several years with the intention of leaving with knowledge of how to destroy them. During all that time, I hid, day and night in that cloak of shadows. And while I may not have come out clean, I can still say this. A jedi who ignores his emotions is a fool. But he who learns to work through them, or even with them, will find himself a new armor against the pull of the sith."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Vulpesen"]

The Bith apprentice digested his words in silence. It was several long moments before he spoke again. All the while, Vulpesen simply watched impassively. It wasn't that he didn't care so much as that he wouldn't be swept up. That trait was admirable, Dune decided.

"Master Yoda," he began "Even in the Dark Times, he never broke faith. But Anakin Skywalker did; why was there this difference?"

Both faced different crises but only one succumbed. Dune sought the answers so that he might not himself fall. That was his greatest fear, becoming a butcher and failing the path of the Light Side.

 

[Vulpesen]

He smiled a bit at the reminder. So few looked to the past these days for answers. "Because master Yoda kept sight of what he believed. True, compromised for Luke, but during his struggles, master Yoda remembered why he was a jedi and what that meant. Anakin however, let his passions throw him aside. He forgot his purpose. To protect those he loved, and the republic he served. Sideous sued his desires and turned them against him until he forgot the details of his actions also mattered. Of course, there was also the mistrust he gained from the council as he hid himself from them. In a way, I am only separated from Anakin in that I managed to cling to what I know is right, rather than what I wish to be true."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Vulpesen"]

"You say you aren't a Jedi, Master Vulpesen, but you couldn't be further from the truth."

The Bith smiled, though many species had difficulty reading the facial expressions of his species.

"I'm simply a Padawan learner, but I've been around Jedi virtually all of my life. I know what the Masters stand for is what you stand for, politics aside."

Dune knew he wouldn't talk the visiting Master into rejoining the Order. He only hoped there could be a reconciliation between all those involved. His expression became serious again.

"How do you know when it's time to end a life? Is it ever truly justified?"

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen smiled a bit at the bith's words. How often he had been told that. Or rather a variation. The last jedi he'd talked to had called him a piss-poor example. Of course, he'd countered by accusing the man of the same and saying he was no jedi. But to stand here with someone calling him a true jedi again. It was a feeling he hadn't had in years. And even if he denied, it, it did lift his spirits. "The jedi and I both serve the same thing. We want freedom and peace. Our difference is that I understand that peace is an impossibility, and that our mission, is overall, futile." It was a sobering revelation to be made, and one that he hated to realize. "But that's why we work. Because even though complete peace is impossible, just as the sith are what keep away the good we are what keeps away the overwhelming evil."

The next question was one that he had thought of so many times. And he'd always answered it a different way, even in his own thoughts. "Taking a life is never a light matter. Every life is connected to another, and to wink out that light is to darken possibly hundreds of others. Even the most vile of hutts has a friend somewhere, or someone that looks up to him. Your masters may differ in opinion, but despite my code's first tenet being life, I do believe that killing is often necessary. What you have to ask yourself is why. If you can take a prisoner, then do so. But if that is not an option and they are too dangerous to go free. If letting them live means the lives of so many others, then that is when I am willing to take their life. As for others such as yourself, when the moment comes to decide, know that your judgement should be swift and absolute. Otherwise, no mater your choice, guilt will haunt you. And if you cannot make the decision quickly, then you endanger those your enemy can reach in the time it takes for you to decide, or get to after escaping while you're in your thoughts."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

The Bith let out a long sigh, tilting his head up to look at nothing in particular. Only a moment, then he looked back down.

"I don't know if I will ever be able to cope with responsibilities of Knighthood."

Dune knew it was illogical to say that in front of Vulpesen, that maybe he should talk to his own mentor. He still did.

"To be, in some cases, the final arbiter of justice. It feels in some ways too much like being a Sith. The believe themselves omnipotent by many accounts, but I know I'm not."

"I know what we stand for, peace and life, are right. Just how we go about it...."

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen leaned back against the wall, his tail swishing behind him. "When I was a jedi, all I ever did was fight. I never trained an apprentice to knighthood. I never stood around to build shelters for people. I was a warrior of the order, fighting and destroying the darkside wherever I went. The way of the jedi is that you sacrifice yourselves for others. I sacrificed my peace so others could have it for themselves. Of course, there are alternatives to serving in battle. As for being like the sith. Never lose sight of why you take your actions. The sith do it to further their own goals. I know first hand what this is like. As a jedi, you take lives and actions for the good of others. That is how you stand for peace and life. You prepare yourself to sacrifice your own as well as anything else for the greater good of the galaxy. Because when it all falls apart, the jedi order is to be around to put the pieces back together."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Vulpesen"]

"Thank you for your time, Master."

He finished with a bow.

"If you'll excuse me, I have much to think on."

He did indeed need time to digest what he'd been told. It, after all was said and done, didn't diminish his desire to bring peace. Instead it made him truly realise that there were hard times ahead. At the same time it brought a feeling of hope that these times could be endured if he could be strong enough.

He took a few steps away before turning and saying "I hope to see you again."

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen returned the bow, his hand moving up during the action to form a sort of a claw over his heart. "Most welcome." Watching the padawan for a moment, he then turned back to his window, turning back only for a last response. "I've no doubt that you will." He grinned and returned his gaze to landscape. He had a feeling that he might be keeping an eye on this particular jedi.

[member="Dune Rhur"]