‘As the nurse walked out of the room, we found ourselves in sitting in awkward sileo be more precise, I would say that it was not awkward for me; I like silence; if there wasn’t a good reason to talk, I rarely talk.’

  ‘Talking to myself when I am alone didn’t t, as it is basically one of the many newly gained habits of mine. I ’t really do anything against it, and I didn’t care enough to force myself to stop those activities. Well, the point was that I am just fih sitting here and rexing silently in the pany of Tano.’

  ‘I decided to take off my boots and sit on the bed beside her in a crossed-legged position. I don’t want to steal her bed, after all, so I better take up as little space as possible. She was already flustered from the sudden silence, and I could see that she was not aced to it.’

  ‘She watched me curiously while I took off my boots and sat dowo her on the bed. I was still caressing my now bandaged right lekku, pulling it over my shoulder, in this way my lekku was resting on my chest; its tip was even reag my p.’

  ‘I did the same with the other uninjured ohis was about fifteeimeters shorter than the right o was a natural thing in my race. Some twi’leks leks were simply not identical.’

  ‘By the way, y pert of a twi’lek lekku is basically fat ste. While the closest parts to the head are much more important; it tains some of the twi’lek brain, my brain. That is why some particurly rude individuals tend to call leks as brain tails.’

  ‘I didn’t hurt that part, mind you, so no worries. On a side wi’leks, if they get fast medical attention, live through losing most of their leks. Sadly, a cut-off lekku will never grow ba its own, but the force make it happen, and I know of a few rituals that achieve that result.’

  ‘Tano was getting antsier with every passing sed; she looked at my bandaged lekku one more time and began to speak in a solemn aed way.’

  “Sorry for that one more time... I shouldn’t have forced you to duel with me in the first pce.” — ‘She said to me in a guilty tone.’

  “I could see that you didn’t want to, but I was too excited to fight with a trained force sensitive that is not a jedi. With the sith reappearing in the gaxy and all that, I wao knoell I would fare against an unknown oppo. I guess I was lucky that it was only you, otherwise I would either bee captured or ht killed.” — ‘She stated with a small voice, clearly ashamed by the cold reality.’

  ‘I looked at her thoughtfully, surprised by such self awareness. Where was the bubbly girl that I met in the cil room? Did she have a twin sister or something? No, the force presence is the same...’

  ‘Was she really that excited about the opportunity of fighting with me? I knew a few other s of force sensitives like the Nightsisters and even a few orders of not-so-radical dark side users.’

  ‘They were using the force to see into the future and gaih and power through it. I mean, they are certainly dangerous. They wouldn’t have sed thoughts about killing you on the first opportunity in case if you got in their way, but still far from the level of a true sith.’

  ‘If the real deal is back, then they are most likely trolling this war from the shadows. At least if they are worth their salt.’

  ‘Hmm... That is troublesome. If there is really a fully trained sith behind the war, it will not stop until the entire gaxy is us trol. I am absolutely certain about this, since Revan was a true Darth at oime, he was like that too.’

  ‘Ohing is the same with every true sith and that is the never-ending greed and thirst for power. Only the jedi manipution over his memories and mind could lift the veil of unending thirst from his eyes and it lead him to the path of creating our order, but that is a story for aime. Let’s ask a few questions about this supposed sith first.‘

  “Is there really a true sith here? How do you know this?”

  ‘She bli me, surprised.’

  “You didn’t know about this?” — ‘She asked.’

  “Well, you see, being a member of a secretive, and therefore reclusive force sect, means that you don’t really have any e with actual political and worldly affairs.”

  “...I see... Anyway, my master told me that about ten years in the past, Master Obi-Wan and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn, run into a sith on Naboo.”

  “Iing. I could imagihat didn’t go well.”

  ‘Tano nodded.’

  “No, Master Qui-Gon Jinn, died itle, but in the end, master Obi-Wan was able to destroy the sith.”

  “Hmmm... it must be true. Then, if he could kill a Jedi Master in a two against otle, this is indeed very troublesome.” — ‘Jedi tend to have extremely good teamwork, especially between master and padawan. If you have to fight with them in groups, their threat level multiplies expoially.’

  “Why do I feel as if you are praising the skills of that sith?..” — ‘Ahsoka questioned.’

  “Oh, in my uanding, skill is praiseworthy in itself. We must appreciate our enemies’ abilities to not fall into the mistake of uimating them.” — ‘I lectured her, earning a small pout.’

  ‘Still, she seemed to uand and accept my point easily enough.’

  “You sounded like master Yoda… for a sed.”

  ‘Is that so?’ — “Uhm, thank you for the praise, I guess.”

  “No biggie.” — ‘The girl patted my head, putting herself into a big sisterly position for a ge.’

  “Youngsters...” — ‘I said, amused by her as…’

  “Hey!” — ‘Came the annoyed shout following my unwise ent.’ — “You are even youhaop ag like an old dy...”

  ‘She’s still giggling in the background, though.’

  ‘Huh, she thinks that I am ag like this on purpose. Maybe that is the most logical assessment. Children of this age tend to act all grown up to showcase their reliability.’

  ‘Thankfully, the pain in my lekku is already numbed, so I am no lohat easily distracted. The sith is not that big of a problem for me right now. I am currently not in my best shape for battle, and fighting with a Darth is not something you do halfheartedly; I mean, you do that, but you will die.’

  ‘Let the jedi deal with the sith. I ’t really see how they could lose with these numerical advantages and with the support of that e army they always talk about.’

  ‘Droids are brutal killing maes, and they are not to be uimated, yet they are only as good as their battle programs, which means they are predictable and they ck imagination and iy, which is a crucial skill otlefield.’

  ‘This is why droids never win a battle against trained humanoids without a rge teological and numerical advahere are special droids, like HK-47 though, droids that have enough experiend memories to bee something more.’

  ‘They bee individuals. Those kinds of droids are incredibly rare and generally frowned upon. People usually don’t want their droids to have personalities, because a droid with a personality is not really a droid anymore.’

  ‘Therefore, it loses its purpose; it will argue with you left and right, even calling you names, and that, in many owners’ case, is not acceptable. I wouldn’t want to be lectured by my rice cooker at every m about my life choices either.’

  “So, is your master famous or what?”

  ‘I asked on a whim to tihe versation.’

  ‘She turo me with the look that you give to a try bumpkin after asking a very stupid question. Then she shook her head with a helpless smile on her face.’

  “My master, Anakin Skywalker, is a very skilled and aplished Jedi Master. He is also kind, maybe not the best teacher, but at least has a good humour. He is regarded as the you knight appoio the master’s rank i years. He is a well-experienced jedi guardian, with many successful and very dangerous missions behind his back. I think you think of him as a kind of celebrity in the order, someone you generally look up to, as an example.”

  ‘I couldn’t suppress my sudden smirk as a sinful thought resurfaced in my mind. You didn’t mention one of his most important titles.’

  ‘Tano was looking at me somewhat haughtily as she obviously misuood my smirk. I should distract her before she bees angry at me.’

  “Oho, so that is why everyone was looking at us in the tina and on the practice field, too.”

  ‘I was already suspeg this, but it is good to know with certainty. I thought about that, while telling a few carefully chosen words.’

  “It seems that even I have to aowledge this. Your master's intuitive fighting style is endable. Still, I was able to nd a few blows on him here and there and I didn’t even take it that seriously.” — ‘Otherwise he would have beerocuted in the first three seds.’

  ‘Another wave of untrolled fits of giggling ter. Ahsoka suddenly stopped ughing and sobered up.’

  “Wait, are you serious? How did you do it!? You MUST teach me! I want to make his infuriating grin disappear. That would be so fun!” — ‘The girl practically jumped into my neck. Screaming into my ear protrusions.’

  ‘In the meantime, she grabbed my shoulders and started to shake me. In the middle of this assault. I was w if I once again mao step on a ndmine.’

  While Nizzal was giving a detailed report of her and Anakins duel to a certain togruta girl. Oher side of the temple, Anakin was just finishing his own version of both his and her padawans duel with the so-called exge student.

  He, of course, had no iion of sharing the genuine reasons behind their duel.

  The cil room was silent, especially after the loelling of su ii. Even Master Windu’s angry gaze became somewhat milder after hearing Anakins evaluation of this so-called Grey Lord apprentice.

  Today’s meeting was substantially more important tha one, and therefore more masters appeared, even if they were only present through holograms.

  In today’s High cil meeting in a physical form were present Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Grandmaster of the Order, Master Yoda.

  As holograms, there were also present Master Windu, Master Shaak Ti, a togruta woman currently residing in Kamino. She was the one who was assigo monitor the e’s development.

  There was also Ki-Adi-Mundi, a cerean who was currently on a patrol mission with a small starfleet around the core worlds. The st one present was her than Kit Fisto, a nauton Jedi Master who was known for his outstanding battle focus.

  The silence was eventually broken by Master Windu’s question.

  “You said that she could fight with you as an equal in teique; may that be with the lightsaber, or in the case of force abilities? That she only cked the raw strength and power, those that will e with age naturally. Do you uand the weight of those words?”

  Anakin thought over the duel he experienced against that little gray devil.

  He didn’t want to say this out loud, but in his heart he khat this twi’lek girl was not just equal to him in teique, but most likely a few levels above him.

  He never saw such a fine and fluid trol over a thrown lightsaber in his life. That teique was very outndish. The smallest mistake will lead to your immi death. Throwing away your on was generally sidered as the supreme level of fiden your skill or the greatest level of stupidity.

  Damn, he had fidence, but even he would hrow away his on in the middle of a battle or a duel. Now at least he khat this skill was actually a real threat; he almost got hit by it two times in a few seds.

  “I am sure of this master, if I may suggest, watch the recs of the duel from the security system. All of her teiques were smooth, perfected to the extreme, well-coordinated, some might say calcuted, and her adaptability to new situations ar with my own. However frustrating that is to admit.”

  Then he tinued.

  “The only reason I won was my physical power advantage, my longer reach, and my much greater level of raw force ability. This way, I could eventually overpower and break through her shields. I do not believe that she has an outstanding amount of midi-chlorian t either. It’s just that she has an incredibly fine trol over it. Something that a child of her age should not possess in any circumstances.”

  There was a unique silen the room of the High cil. The masters who only joined and were not preseerday seemed even more fused thahers. Kit Fisto soon took the opportunity to ask the question, which almost everyone in the room was waiting for.

  “Allow me to ask Master Yoda, but when did we discuss an exge student program with a force-sensitive order called the Order of the Grey? I am afraid that I slept in on that particur day...”

  As the witty nauton master broke the heavy sileh his easy-goi well-mayle, a few hesitating smiles began to appear on some of the members of the cil.

  Oher hand, Yoda and Obi-Wan, along with Windu, were unnaturally silent.

  Shaak Ti, the highly aplished togruta master, looked at Yoda and Kenobi just like the others did.

  Her proje was o Kenobi, so she turowards him with a curious expression. To her utmost surprise, Kenobi, instead of looking at her with a half smile as he usually does, seemed to iionally ignore her.

  Well, he eventually nodded halfheartedly with a somewhat strained smile, but that was it. He was clearly avoiding eye tact. Was that embarrassment on his face? She wondered.

  The strained silence was broken by Yoda’s statement.

  “The reason for that, Master Kit Fisto, is simple.”

  The grandmaster’s eyelids were still closed. He looked and acted just as always, with the most natural and fortable fidence. Shaak Ti couldn’t wait for the grandmaster’s antid she silently asked.

  “And that is?”

  Yoda finally opened his eyes as he serenely looked around the masters in the cil room. His eyes wao the still form of Master Windu. The moment their gazes met, the man’s holographi sizzled out, and he disappeared uncharacteristically.

  Yoda shook his head, slowly, then his gaze focused on the irritated form of Obi-Wan, who was sitting with an unnaturally straightened spine while stantly trying to escape the searg eyes of Shaak Ti. Yoda and Kenobi’s eyes met.

  Then Yoda said with the same fidence he always used.

  “In much trouble, we are.”

  This single sentence was followed by an unfortably long silence, ohat not even the masters were ready to handle. After a few minutes of this stant silence, everyone currently present silently agreed to never mention up this situation again. From then onwards, the meeting tinued with its normal schedule.