Aleister looked at Dolash.

"I did hear a voice. It was as if the mountains themselves spoke to me, and expressed their displeasure. I didn't mean to upset them, I was only trying to help. I told them thus, and, they said "My appology wouldbe "considered."

"To be truthful, Master, I have no idea what that means. I didn't mean any harm by removing the objects, they were loose already. I only wanted to help."

He sat again, eyes closed, breathing normally, and awaited a response.

If Dolash had a response, it was not forthcoming. He simply meditated - with perhaps the slightest hint of brooding - on what Aleister had said and whatever else he had heard. With the day dwindling, there was little left to do but more meditation and sleep before the bone-chilling cold of night descended on Ilum.

Two more days followed where nothing especially notable happened. Dolash and Aleister did become more active, however, with the large Jedi Master leading the winged boy along winding tunnels and over narrow mountain trails. Exactly what their purpose in this exploration was unclear, and Dolash didn't deign to say, except that it was exacting for the body to travel so far and so fast. At times he stopped to briefly meditate, although when Aleister did likewise there was nothing to hear or feel.

At last on the third day, after their morning meal, Dolash turned to Aleister. His thoughts filtered into the younger being's mind, saying There is a hidden chamber accessed via an old tunnel near the back of the temple. In this chamber, on an ancient stone dias, rests a crystal. Go there, and retrieve it.

After this, he said no more, sinking quickly into meditative trance.

Aleister paused. He was certainly conflicted.

The Force had spoken to him. It was clearly displeased that he had taken the crystal. He would have to find a way to assuage the Force when it came to getting this new crystal, some way to be sure that it would allow him to have it, without angering it again.

He stood up and stretched, his wings fluttering a little bit.

He had no idea what he was going to do, but it was time.

Looking deeper into the cavern, he saw a tunnel, lit by torches. He took one from its cairn, and lit it against a small fire, and carried it with him to ensure visibility.


He walked deeper into the cavern, eyeing its construction, and the formations that the rock had created within hte temple. He noticed lightly colored crystals that dotted all throughout the temple area, but, this was not what he searched for.

He continued forward, until he reached the secret passageway, which he studied for a short period before opening. He stepped through.

The passage was short, and roughly cut. It looked almost like a natural stone cavern that extended a few meters further down than the temple grounds. At its end sat a small chamber with a high, stalactite-strewn ceiling. Natural light filtered through a few cracks near the top that must run all the way to the surface.

In the centre sat the only object of finished stone in the chamber, a tall and narrow pedestal upon whose worn surface there was a slot within which a gem might have rested. No such gem or crystal remained, however, and a brief glance around the room revealed nothing hidden in any gap or crevice.

Just when it seemed there might be nothing of interest to the little hidden chamber, an echoing laughter began to kick up. The voice was dark and mocking and the sound was quite real - a part of the physical world, not some Force-borne premonition.

Over the stone pedestal began to form a ghostly image. It was a faint, sickly green colour and quite transparent. Formless, too, beyond the barest nod to the humanoid shape. Nevertheless it had a face of sorts, which it turned towards Aleister.

"Who are you?" demanded the apparition. "Who are you, and what do you want? Why do you disturb my rest?"

Aleister held his ground, though his wings twitched slightly at the laughter.

He kept his position, without appearing to be a foe of whatever this was, as he was certainly curious.

"My name, is Aleister Mianar. I am a student of Dolash, the Great Jedi Master. He instructed me to enter into this cavern and retrieve a crystal which should be right where you have emerged from. I come in peace, with no ill will."

The ghostly phantasm seemed to look Aleister up and down. "You? A student of a 'Great' Jedi Master?" Snorted the spirit. "Hah! Oh how I laugh - both at your presumption and the presumption of your so-called master. What makes one great? I know your answer already - power! Leverage! And as I have the leverage, I am the great one around here."

With this, the ghost passed through the stone edifice that should have held the crystal Aleister was looking for. "Yes, I know where the crystal is - and yes, I could tell you, but I'd much rather not. So long as I have the knowledge and you do not, it makes me great and you and your master small!"

The spirit began to laugh again, great echoing bellows that bounced around the room. The ghost dissipated, but the laughter continued for several more moments.

From the roof of the chamber the voice echoed back down. "I could disappear right now and leave you with nothing! Nothing at all to return to your master! But I am merciful and kind - tell me why I should help you, and if you are persuasive, perhaps I shall?"

Aleister nodded in his head for the moment. The being did have a point.


"Great is a relative term, oh spirit. In this case, would it not be possible for me to believe that you both be great?"

He paused before speaking a second time and inquired again.

"Power doth not make one great sir, but the ability to harness it, and NOT use it, and understand why, that makes one great."

The mocking laughter once more echoed through the little chamber. The ghost reformed its green head on the ceiling and gazed down scornfully at Aleister. "What a lot of rot you Jedi speak! Or... whatever you style yourself, I suppose. Anyone with power who doesn't use it is no better than someone who doesn't have it! Power unexercised is simply weakness. Besides..."

At this, the ghost slithered out of the walls, extending from an ethereal strand until his upside-down face was just across from Aleister's. "Don't pretend the Jedi know anything about 'not using power'. They've use their power to enforce their will and judgement on the galaxy for tens of thousands of years. Even when they didn't wield it directly, its indirect threat and suggestion would be used even as they parroted on about how restrained and grand they were."

With this, the spirit slingshotted back up into the stone. "You'll have to do better than moralizing if you expect me to give up my prize. Why not tell me what you have in trade? Or how about some threats? I want you to try and claim you'll hurt me for the information. Just try."

Aleister marvelled at this. To gain the stone, all he would have to do, was give up his moral ground, a thing that the Jedi did covet. This was, inherently, an obvious test.

He could not see himself doing so.

"Why sir, Why would I threatnen that which i cannot touch? To do so would be obvious lunacy. Perhaps we must think of another solution? Surely the crystal is but a trinket to you, and there are many others which are larger, shinier, and more valuable to you?"

He paused and he watched the ghost peek out of the stone momentarily.

"Not to mention, being that you are incorporeal, do you really have use for such a crystal, when you yourself cannot even hold it?"

"May I ask, Sir, what you are? Or, used to be, as the case may be? Obviously, either you are a fallen Jedi, or no jedi at all, which leads me to wonder why you choose to inhabit this place, and spend time in an area so connected to Master Dolash? If you truly despise the Jedi and what they stand for, wouldn't you rather inhabit a place that was for the most part, free of them? I'm certain there are worlds out there that you would thrive on without any presence that you truly despise. hrm? You speak of trade. What could i offer you, that would make you want to part with the crystal i wish to retrieve for my Master?"

"Your master," the spirit spat, his scorn echoing long before he again spoke. "What I want is to inflict misery upon both him and you, and this being the only avenue open to me, I find it greatly to my pleasure to deny you this information!

"I could leave if I wanted," said the ghost, who appeared whole again in the passage leading out of the chamber. "My motives for staying are quite my own. As is my identity. They are as much my secrets as the location of the crystal - which, although practically useless to me, is worth a great deal to me simply to keep out of your hands, so that I might enjoy your frustration.

"What do I want in trade? Only what you would never give - even greater control over you, an even greater opportunity to cause you misery. Tell me what I might do that would irk you even more greatly, and I shall accept it in trade for the crystal so long as you create an exchange where I might not get away with not telling you the crystal's location. Oh, I would truly savour the agony you would suffer to trade me such a secret for nothing! But if you *have* no such secret to trade, then there is nothing you can offer me, and so you may as well go crawling back to your... 'master'."