The Ties That Bind (Jedi Knight)

[proudofthefish]

A/N This story may contain spoilers through the Boss fight with Valis. It began as my attempt to reconcile my cannon with the cut scenes as I ended up using a different companion in the fight than they suggest. It ended up fleshing out my character more than I expected. Enjoy!

 

The Ties That Bind

 

Saralon may have had her own Padawan. She may have been a Jedi Knight and the Hero of Tython, she may have been more comfortable relying on the Force then most with the same training, but she still struggled to push down the fear.

 

For a moment she focused inward, calming her breathing and tapping into the Force to block out the memories. Her eyes may be sightless, but her memories were strong of those she hadcalled brother and sister before the Jedi had found her at the orphanage. She was not supposed to have the attachment but the Miraluka’s understanding of the Force differed slightly from that of the Jedi Council.

 

She had heard rumors of one of the boys she considered as close as a brother. Rumors that he was serving the Sith as an Imperial Agent. The Force blast caught her unaware, but it was enough to shake her out of the memories. She leapt back into the fight and threw her offhand saber towards Valis’ head in an attempt to turn his attention from Kira. The girl was not dead, Saralon could still feel her through the Force, but she was crumpled on the ground and not moving.

 

Valis turned his attention towards her and she jumped up to kick him. As her foot made contact with his chest she heard a loud metallic thump from behind them and an indigent series of beeps which seemed to say: Jedi+Kira-T7=disaster.

 

Vilas was distracted for only a fraction of a second but it was enough for her to use Force Stasis. As she held him in place it was almost as if the Force was battling itself—his dark side power versus her light. With the man Immobilized T7 was able to hold him with his electric blast. Finally with one last strike from each of her sabers his own disengaged and clattered to the ground, the sound echoing around the cavernous abandoned room.

 

T-7 beeped triumphantly, but Saralon knelt tiredly by her unconscious Padawan. Drawing on the Force to heal her own wounds she heard a medical droid come clanking in to tend to the girl. She nodded her thanks and rose wearily.

 

“Thanks for the help T7,” she spoke quietly, “but remember all victory that comes at the cost of human life can never be truly sweet, even if that life is a Sith. If we glory in the victory— even if it is for the greater good— without regard for or pausing to think of the life we have taken we begin down the path of the Dark Side.

 

T7 let out a series of beeps that sounded like one of the petulant younglings back at the Temple when they have been reprimanded, and headed back to the ship. Saralon extended a hand Kira and helped her to her feet. Taping into the Force she covered her impatience for answers and held her silence as they boarded the ship.

 

She believed as did most of her kind— that attachments were not dangerous if one examined them honestly, and if one did not get their identity from them. Miraluka got their identity from the Force. She remembered the Elder at the orphanage telling her before she left with the Jedi. To get it from anywhere else—a person, a group, or an achievement only left one open to disappointment and bitterness. It was a hard lesson to learn, but it was one she would attempt to pass on to her Padawan as it had been passed on to her.

Edited April 17, 2012 by proudofthefish