What makes a good man?

[Kana Truden]

Life on Ruusan was simple. You woke up, you practiced and you went back to bed. Life of a jedi was simple by definition but difficult in practice. It wasn’t comfortable, it was long days filled with practice and quiet meditation. The latter which Kana had spent more than enough time with to last a lifetime, seemingly. Perhaps it brought something, it was certainly calming but even then it felt like a whole lot of just sitting around.

The people were friendly, it came with being a jedi or perhaps it was the small size of the enclave itself. It was her and a handful of others. The grand master had issued a statement about transferring to the Academy but few had picked up on it preferring to stick to Ossus or even venture as far as to set up shop in the old-new Yavin IV temple. Not that Kana was saddened by it, the small size was half the comfort.

Besides, somebody had to fangirl over the Valley.

“Afternoon, Truden.” A man in his fifties passed her by in a jog.

“Afternoon, Master Rekyl.” Kana turned around to look at the oddly hilarious sight. “Don’t forget our saber practice tomorrow!”

“Of course not!”

Smiling she made way across the temple grounds. She had no specific destination in mind. The clinic had been quiet for days as for the first time in a very long month it would seem the rest of the academy had begun exercising caution in their duties. Either that or her or there was a second infirmary somewhere around the camp that she wasn’t aware of. Both of them sounded like perfectly good and reasonable ideas.

With a sigh she placed herself on a bench in the grand courtyard. It felt weird to just sit still and enjoy the calm. To enjoy the silence.

Leaning back into her seat she closed her eyes and turned to face the sky. It felt good to just... Let it seep in, take a moment to herself.

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

Ruusan.

It was a name that brought memories back to him, memories of glory. Glory old when he had been a different man, a boy not yet grown out of his little breachers. The boy had thought that taking up a lightsaber, putting a cloak around his shoulders and speak loudly enough would make him a hero, that it would make him untouchable to the darkness that creeped.

The older he became, the more battles fought and won, the many people lost along the way had been slowly changing the former Battlemaster of the Order. During the first war against the Sith he had been optimistic, holding together the Army of Light by sheer personality and charisma, his voice had given them the energy to press on.

When the One Sith had emerged from hiding… he had found himself defeated in a spiritual sense, so many friends dead, so many ruins left behind and yet the battle had simply shifted to a different front.

It had made him doubt everything.

Then Kiskla had pulled him out of his nostalgia and misery, after he had mercy killed his last living friend gone Sith, she had convinced him to return and become her Battlemaster. Be the General to help lead the war efforts.

Captured on the battlefield.

Flames, the shaping of his flesh into something that-

The veiled man blinked and the visions disappeared again, it mattered not. He had lived long and would live for many years to come, if the Force granted him this. But there was so much more to do, he had saved Kay from the Black Iron Tyrant together with Marcello and his Slayers.

Now? Now he did not now what his path would mean to him.

But as he emerged from the forest, a tattered old robe and an even older lightsaber attached to his belt, Michael Sardun knew that the time of hiding was over. The old Jedi Master took his time, and not soon before long as he purposely walked towards the Temple Entrance, men, women and children were noticing him.

But they were all children, weren’t they?

Eventually Sardun halted, guards approached and they knew him not. The High General of the Republic Armies had been a handsome young man in his prime. This old man was none of that, bearded, skin worn and at places mutated, tall and stocky… no, this was not Sardun.

They do not remember, me.

“My name… is Michael Sardun.” the warrior finally announced, voice cracking because of disuse and neglect. He hadn’t deemed it worthy to speak for a long time.

Then he waited, for whatever would come.

 

[Kana Truden]

The sun burned it’s love into the skin of every apprentice, knight and master that remained out in the open. As much as the Jedi Healer would have liked to just proceed and lie down in the grass she was left with no option but to get off her butt and continue her wandering around the grounds. The clash of lightsabers clashing seemed to call out around ever corner yet whenever she poked her head in to see if anyone needed anything cured or help with just about anything she was shot down.

“No, we’re good, Master Truden.” Said one.

“We’re wrapping up anyway, doc.” Said another.

“Thank you for the offer, but I am in no need.” Said the last.

It would seem no matter where she went the fact would seem to remain that Kana simply wasn’t needed today. She didn’t know quite know what to make of that. Especially when her office tended to form a queue on the most busiest of days, but not today. It was as if people suddenly didn’t get hurt.

She needed her work, damnit!

Sighing once more she passed by the gates when a small ‘conversation’ caught her attention.

“My name... is Michael Sardun.”

Wait, the [member="Michael Sardun"]? Kana stopped dead in her tracks. Surely...

“Master Sardun?” Kana’s eyebrow perked up. “Of the Army of Light?”

She approached him. What was she supposed to say? A man they all believed to be dead and gone had stepped onto her front porch. She settled for leaving her eyebrow perked at the man as she approached him.

First the lack of patients, now this? This day just kept on getting weirder.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

A slow blink as the man’s head turned away from the guards and up to meet the gaze of [member=”Kana Truden”]. It went up and down, sizing up the girl who was apparently a voice of high-standing here, considering the berth she got from the other people around her. Which Sardun found amusing, in some ways she made him think of himself at that age.

So concerned with how I look, thrusted up in a position of authority. Afraid to fail, but not able to give up that easily.

Moments passed and Michael simply nodded.

‘The same.’ he would reply and continue to wait with what would happen next. They wouldn’t have known about Nui Akona, about what he had done, but they would know that he had fallen in battle. Considered either dead or imprisoned- which would surely precede death anyway.

Officially I was executed, they had simply slaughtered someone else and burned their remains.

But they would see the signs of imprisonment, the wounds and the mutations. The weariness in his posture, perhaps even a shadow over his eyes. This wasn’t the same Sardun as from the stories.

 

[Kana Truden]

There were apprehension at the man’s words. Kana had fallen for her own hype once and it hadn’t exactly ended well for her. In fact it ended in a mess, just a damn mess that she tried to forget, but this man felt different but how? She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Perhaps he felt different to what she expected, or perhaps he just felt different because for all she knew he wasn’t a ‘Sith’ looking to atone.

“Hm.” She beckoned at him to follow her. “I am Kana Truden. You will have to forgive the others if they act strange around you. Ironic as it is the Army of Light isn’t as big of a topic on Ruusan as you’d believe anymore.”

She lead the man into one of the lush gardens. Reactions varied as they passed the occasional student. Curious staring, friendly smiles and indifferent head mods as students focused on giving and taking a beating from their friends be it by saber or the force. It was the way things worked around the academy. The occasional bouts of dry air left their chambers unbearable, anyone who had lived at the temple had come to appreciate the value of being outside in the fresh wind.

“I would ask why you’re here, but previous ties make that one sort of obvious.” She brought their stroll to a halt. While she had no reason to doubt him she still very much was as curious as the rest of them. “Excuse me for being blunt, but we all thought you were dead. What have you been doing all these years?”

“The council labeled you KIA years ago.”

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

Brow furrowed in thought at that question, how much to tell, how much to keep away. He had atoned for some of his sins when he had participated in the rescue of Kiskla, but that was his personal opinion on the matter. The Jedi might have other views on the matter.

Did one good deed wash away half a life of destruction and death?

They would have to find out, Sardun supposed. In the grand scheme of things he had never been much of a guy who got hinged up when it came to moral clauses, he had left the Order and made an army to fight the Sith when it had been necessary, didn’t really get more rogue than that.

She had seen something in you though, enough to travel to Hoth to find you.

“Fleeing, I suppose.” Michael replied, the corner of his mouth turning down as he pondered those memories that would never leave him. “Traveled for a while.” escaped a prison or two. “Killed some monsters in the Unknown Regions.”

“I was tired of fighting the eternal cycle.”

They keep popping back up again, what's the point?

 

[Kana Truden]

Fleeing, but from what. Traveled where? Killed what kind of monsters? What eternal cycle? The question was answered but in it’s wake came only more questions. ‘All in good time.’ The jedi healer thought to herself as she gave the man a more thorough inspection while up-close. He looked rugged, worn and torn, he looked like a man who had gone through hell and lived to tell about it. She didn’t know whether try to heal it right away or if such a feat was even possible.

One thing was for certain. He didn’t look the same as in the pictures anymore.

“You were a battlemaster, a general of the Republic and a former jedi councilor.” Stated with as much respect as she could muster. “It’s quite the record.”

Yes Kana had read up on her history lessons. The Army of Light was an important part of who they were just as they were important to Ruusan. Or well, at least Ruusan was important to them. [member="Michael Sardun"] was the face of that perhaps they both shared something of importance with one another.

The Valley of the Jedi.

“Have you come to see the valley?” She kept up the trend of being rather blunt. “I oversaw the move after the Netherworld Crisis. The Valley was my top priority, this very enclave is dedicated to it’s defense.”

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

The old man turned his head at the mention of the Valley, those eyes tracked the landscape until they settled into the vague direction of where the Valley should be. He couldn’t see it of course, but he could feel it. The light radiating even from all the way there to here, filling him with a sense of peace that had been quite rare to him for the past few years.

It was this notion that made him decide he had made a good decision coming here afteral.

“I have come…” had he been younger, he would have said: “to turn the tide and win the war.” “To help in any way I can.”

Was what he really said, because the man wasn’t a little boy anymore. The fancy ideas of war were already enlightened to their basic proportions, and Sardun knew that in reality? It would take a miracle for the Republic to win.

He had come to die.

But Michael would never say that outloud, that portion would stay with him, until the fateful day would finally come.

Hesitation, before he finally dared to ask. “Can we visit it?”

His eyes hadn’t witnessed the glory of the Valley for a long time now.

 

[Kana Truden]

Protocol probably said something about trusting recently dead Jedi Masters with access to the Valley. Heck, logic probably went against it too but Kana wasn’t exactly known for her ways of following the code or protocol anymore than an unruly Padawan at times. Sith lords on probation, amongst said Padawans no less. Hell, she even forgot her place during interrogations with the Sith at times. No, she was not a woman of rules as much as a person who acted on impulse or emotion.

In this moment she felt the apprehension as it crept up on her. She had offered the chance to see the valley and he had taken it. A careful look shot out at the surrounding students and their masters. There were nets to fall back into in case the man got any funny ideas.

“Sure.” She nodded. “It’s not usually what we do, but... Call it in good faith.”

More like good idiocracy, perhaps it was for the best that she turned down the headmaster position after all. Their walk carried them around seemingly all nooks and corners on Ruusan as she let the silence just linger between the two.

As they finally rounded the last corner the greatness of the great mausoleum dawned upon them. Great statues adorned the walkway. The greatest one of Lord Hoth himself towering well above the two Jedi Masters making way for the Valley.

“We’ve been meaning to implement more safety measures for the protection of the valley but the proposal keeps getting rejected in the senate.” Kana shook her head. “They seem to have more of a focus on the war.”

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

The man was no longer listening, his eyes closed and breathless in the moment, Sardun approached the statue of Hoth carefully. Hand slightly extended, he gasped as his skin touched the hardy texture of the rock from which the statue had been cast and molded. Even now Sardun could sense the softest pings of Light radiating from it, the Force was strong here and the Light side all prevalent.

During all his travels, most of his days were stuck in the darkness, the shadows beneath and he had immersed himself into it. Blind for the dangers or perhaps no longer caring, perhaps hoping that someone would arrive to strike him down.

It had never happened, and here we are.

“Thank you, Master Truden.” Sardun whispered softly, his voice gaining a strength that it had not had only minutes ago, it would not last for always of course. Cracks would appear soon enough, but for the moment being?

As Michael turned around there was a strength of character, a posture raised and gaze bright, for a moment she would just see the battlemaster of old, the renowned Jedi Master, he had been in the past.

Didn’t last so long when he scratched his beard, those eyes blinked out again and gave a rueful smile.

Not everything can be fixed by one introspection.

 

[Kana Truden]

Words were no longer of any use, the man wasn’t listening. In a moment of what seemed to be brief joy Kana couldn’t help but smile herself as she saw the man touch the base of the grand statue of Lord Hoth. He turned to her, thanked her.

“You are welcome, Master Sardun.” Kana bowed. “Do you want to go inside?”

He seemed so happy before, it couldn’t hurt. The safety net was there, she just needed to say the word and the whole place would be swarming like a hornet’s nest. Besides, what was she supposed to do? Turn him away? Didn’t work like that. You didn’t just turn a man away from what few happy memories he might’ve had.

“Come on.” She beckoned at him to follow. “This way.”

Which he most likely knew better than her. Still, if she could help spread some joy to that defeated look of his? Well, she might just feel a little bit better for him. Even if it was for the wrong reasons.

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

It had never been a question of want, it had been a question of possibility. But it seemed that the Jedi Order of now was still an Order that was governed by the Light, acceptance, humility and a vague notion of honor.

Of course abusing her trust didn’t even pop into Sardun’s mind, but he noticed the look she gave him and then the solidification of her shoulders at the thought of support. It seemed she strengthened herself with the idea that there would be other people who could ‘handle’ him, if anything went all too wrong.

“I would like that.” the Jedi Master simply replied. The childish part of him wished to point out the realization, but he resisted it, too old for that nonsense.

Then he would simply follow her, Sardun knew where they were going of course. He had been a Master, before she had even been inducted in the Order, but there was protocol to adhere to and Michael didn’t want to insult her in some way.

 

[Kana Truden]

She happily lead the man inside the mausoleum itself. Was it selfish of her to feel overjoyed that she was getting something out of this? It felt likely, but in the moment she didn't care. She wanted the man to be happy. He had the markings of battle as a battlemaster would, he had the broken emotionless stare that she had only started to experience herself.

Memories weighed heavy on him and she was not about to deny him a few moments of happiness.

“We’ve left it untouched except for a few touch ups here and there to preserve the ancient facade. It’s just the way it was when we got here during the Netherworld Crisis.”

She stared at the font of energy in the very middle of the room, the nexus and it’s calming aura.

She looked to her guest once more. “I rarely go inside without reason myself. Healer duty keeps me far too busy for that.”

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

Sardun simply nodded once, listening quietly to what she had to say, while studying the room in his own little way. The flows of the Force was strong here, the light radiating and granting him even more peace and clarity than outside, it filled him with just a little bit of happiness. But something flashed through his mind, a memory of himself wandering through exactly this room.

“Hmm.” he would murmur more to himself than anything else, before wandering further into the room and finally finding a stone. It was a regular stone, nothing too special about it, and yet… he reached out and pulled it out without breaking a sweat.

Within it was a piece of paper with things written on it, written by me? Sardun readed it slowly and then shook his head.

Now ain’t that funny.

“Think you might want to take a look, Truden.” gruff voice back, no Master suffix, something had rattled the old Master.

He would extend the piece of paper to her and it would read thusly.

You ain’t yourself anymore, Sardun. It is hidden in the last spot you might look for. You will know when you get a grip over yourself.

- S

 

[Kana Truden]

The lack of master title didn’t really bother her, frankly it just felt a hell of a lot nicer. It certainly didn’t force her to face reality in the same way as the title always seemed to do. She grabbed the note and read it out loud.

“You ain’t yourself anymore, Sardun. It is hidden in the last spot you might look for. You will know when you get a grip over yourself.” She paused for a second. “Signed, S.”

Kana lowered the note and looked at the old battlemaster. Her head shook and she shrugged. Perhaps it would have made some sort of sense to him but not to her, as much as she may have seen his face in the archives it was still just that. Even then it wasn’t the same face anymore.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really understand it, Sardun.”

She handed the note back. “Is this a note from an old friend?”

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kana Truden"]

Rueful smile was flashed at the question if it had been an old friend giving him the message, but Sardun knew the truth of the letter- even if he couldn’t remember the writing of it. It had been him who had written down that message to himself, back in the day the Jedi Master had been quite high-up in the ranks of the Jedi.

You secured Tython, sought new avenues for protection with Merrill.

The mighty have fallen?

And through that Michael had known quite a bit, enough that when he had regained some semblance of himself and left the One Sith to travel, that he apparently had done something to his own mind. Perhaps to hide valuable artifacts from his time with the Army of Light.

It was there, the memories, waking up again. The smell of the room, the light touching his skin softly and the presence of a young Master who seemed to be… acceptive of the old values.

“You could say that.” the old Master replied, scratching his bearded chin. “It’s my handwriting, I have a feeling… I didn’t trust myself back in the old days.”

Memories slowly fading back into existence.

Michael nodded, more to himself than anyone else.

“I think I have hidden things from myself, so I wouldn’t become tempted to misuse them in my… old state.”