The scream startled Tobal, and he turned hurridly. There sat Master Jade, on the ground. Her saber fell from her hand, deactivating as it did so. Jade grabbed at her left ankle, and bit back a slight cry as she checked it.

“Are you hurt badly Jade...Master Jade?”

Tobal looked anxiously at her ankle, hoping he had not lamed her.

Jadey looks up at her apprentice and shakes her head, standing up slowly, favoring her left foot.

"Ah, dont worry about it, Tobal. Ive been through worse in my time. See this?" pulls up her right pant leg to show him another saber scar on her right leg.

He nods.

"When I was a Sith Apprentice, my Master did this during my very first training session, with my own saber." she shrugs.

"She told me if I wanted my saber back, I had to get it from her. Then she cut my leg.

So you see, as long as your not severly hurt, youre fine.

Understand?"

Relieved as he was to see that Master Jade was all right, Tobal felt a slight withdrawal at her mention of the word Sith. The Sith, or Dark Jedi, had been the only Tobal’s people had known about for centuries. When the empire landed on their planet, they had learned a new respect for what had become a semi-myth. The few Dark Jedi the empire had stationed on his world had, in the short time they were there, spread fear and trepidation.

“You, were a Sith?”

The hesitation in his voice was plain.

Jadey sighs and finally puts weight on her bad foot, not caring about the pain that follows.

"Aye, I was. But I felt the Darkside slipping away from me, and I came here to find myself. I met a man and fell in love with him, changing into a Shadow Jedi, becoming his apprentice as well as his fiancee.

He promoted me to Knight, and he went on a mission. I recently recieved a letter saying he has been found dead.

But way before that, when I was younger, I was also a Jedi Master.

So you see, the Force works in mysterious ways, wouldnt you say, my dear apprentice?"

“It is Master Fearsons you speak of, is it not?”


Tobal grimaced inside, to himself. If Master Jade were a Sith, she would have killed him long ago. When she spoke of being a Jedi Master when she was younger, He began to get a slight glimpse of how experienced Jade was. It is good to be learning from someone who knows what they are teaching.

She looks up in surprise for a moment, then nods slowly, looking out at the now rising sun, watching the sunrise for the first time in many years.

"Aye, it is he that I am speaking of. But I have moved on with my life. But enough of that, for now. Back to my past.

As Ive said, I was a Jedi Master. Just as I was a Sith Disciple. What I didnt say was that Master Sorsha had promoted me to Sith Warrior. So you see, 3 levels of promotion during my years with the Force. Jedi Master, Sith Warrior, and now Shadow Jedi Knight. And just like them all, I vow to become Master.

Anyways, do you have any questions as of now?"

Tobal paused, his mind still moving a little slow from the revelation that his new Master had once been a Sith – the most hated of his people. A question that had almost made it off of his tongue earlier struggled through his brain.

“You are standing upon your injured foot. Do the Jedi receive pain ignoring training? Every male in our village practices his skills at ignoring pain, it is required. I was good at it, sometimes.”

A soft chuckle is heard from Jadey, who rubs her ankle for a moment, then puts it down.

"As a Jedi, it is one's choice to stop training if injury occurs. But as a Sith, you are forced to keep going until your Master lets you stop.

During my training with Master Sorsha, I had plenty of practice to ignore my wounds, for I could not tend to them until she allowed me to."

Tobal nodded. “I see.” It was now that he noticed the sunrise. At first nothing unusual occurred to him, as he watched, it was just another sunrise. But slowly, and surly, the realization that it had been midnight just a few short minutes ago dawned upon him. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. Too many questions could make you look slow, or stupid. Then the words of his father came to him. ”The only way to learn is to ask questions”.

“How... How long was I meditating?” Tobal asked hesitantly.

Shaking her head, Jadey cannot say for sure how long that was.

"I...I am not sure. I was not keeping time, sorry."

She notices him want to say something else, than close his mouth again, deciding against it.

"If you have more questions, or want to say anything else, please do. You only learn by asking questions."