So the time had finally come where The Jedi Order that she had once known as part of her own had decided to disperse.

Bella could not mourn, for there was no loss in the event, only preservation for a new evolution.

The vision, only one of countless others, had come to her in a dream. A place where a vivid imagination could roam free. On the surface, every fragment of picture spoke of disarray. It were in those moments, as yet untold futures called for invisibility, the force wielder did reach for disbelief.

Now in the wake of retribution time, Bella held firm to the belief that the future would be just as promising as the past, despite the invisible cloak that showered down upon her.

Nothing is for certain.

Let be what will be.



Theed, Naboo...

Standing atop one of the more higher ridges found on Theed, the overflowing mass of waterfall just below her, Bella looked down at her home with silent reverence. This was her land, as much as it was for any of the other occupants that invaded its territory.

So why had she not made herself at home here for the last several years?

It was a question the force user continuously had been asking herself, day in and day out, ever since her return to the planet of lush green environment. A land so full of tremendous beauty. A place so full of familiarity, that comfort always existed to her with each proud step she took upon its soil.

Her heart, her soul, her aura... longed to be anywhere but here. Today. Tomorrow.

Why?

The auburn beauty's mind knew exactly why, but it would take the entity that was Bella, just a bit longer to piece the truth together.

The truth would set her free, along with everyone else who had yet to expose it...

The Jedi Order was lost, and he wasn't only referring to the tall predominately marble and duraglass structure perched in the center of Theed that was now sealed away from the rest of the galaxy by the revered Masters. He was speaking of the Jedi identity. It was lost, and had been the moment they were told that they weren't to step within the walls of the Academy ever again. The Order had been inactive for so long that the only thing holding the Jedi identity together, the only indication of being a Jedi, was one's residence in the Temple.

The moment the Jedi stepped outside of the Academy's gates, they had to find other ways to define themselves. Immediately they turned to the streets and sought to aid the city of Theed as best as they could despite their lack of experience. And their deeds made him proud. However, having spent a good portion of his Jedi career outside of the Temple, his identity crisis was of a different sort. He never forgot what it meant to be a Jedi, he lived and breathed his duty.

What he needed was a reminder of his humanity.

The Jedi phenomenon is kind of a paradox. Trained in the use of the Force, a person is capable of incredible feats of strength, speed, and endurance. Trained in the philosophies of a Jedi, a person gains uncanny self discipline. A normal human being with either Force control or self discipline would be considered a extraordinary person. To have both would be as if you weren't human at all. And because the Jedi weren't held to the same standards of normal people, they were considered super human, they were gradually losing a very important trait: empathy.

He had learned throughout his years as a Jedi that empathy was extremely important. People didn't only want you to save them from suffering, they wanted you to understand why they suffered as well. It is conflict that fosters identity and not to have the story preserved along with the body could be considered by some to be just as bad, if not worse, than total obliteration. But to possess empathy meant a balancing act. Jedi were trained to squash emotions. The prerequiste for empathy was an experience of emotions.

And so here he was doing the one thing he knew to do when he needed to find himself. He was wandering, for it was in his wanderings that he encountered the best conflicts and if he overcame these conflicts, then he would be a better person. If he could remember how to be a person then he would be able to be a better Jedi. Or so that was the idea anyway. Sometimes things just didn't work out they way they were planned. He was at least guranteed a story to tell at the end though.

Washburne Estate, Dantooine...

The blaster in his hand screeched twice and immediately the kinrath rebuked with a ear piercing scream of its own as it crumpled into a ball at his feet, the quivers of death possessing its body for a moment before passing on. He scanned the horizon for any sort of movement and satisfied that there was none, he holstered the weapon. His gaze turning down to the corpse once again, a slight frown appeared on his face.

Removing the rag tucked at his belt, he leaned his foot against the hood of the landspeeder and wiped the kinrath guts from this boot. Ian would not be pleased to hear that the attacks were becoming more frequent now. Climbing behind the driver's wheel, he gunned the engine and sped off in the direction of the far field. Kath hounds would soon catch wind of fresh meat and he didn't want to be around to deal with more hungry predators.

They would have to move the herd of iriaz to the eastern valley to avoid the kinrath. And they had just moved them here too. Why did Ian even bother to raise these flighty creatures? Who had ever heard of a farmer trying to domesticize them anyway? But he knew the man's mindset, always wanting to try something that had never been tried before. And iriaz was pretty good meat. He just wasn't sure there was a market big enough for it out there.

With a long sigh, he busied himself with steering the landspeeder through the chain of fields. The sea of gold rushing past him was calming, as was the wind that blew through his hair. A slight smile managed to creep onto his face as he drove. He would think of a plan with Ian later after supper. With that thought, his foot eased a bit from the gas pedal. Until he got back to the manor, it would just be him, the hovercar, and the entire expanse of grassland before him.

The vast and robust piece of land became so incisive on the high crest that Bella stood on. It was for that very reason that inspiration ensued for her.

The big picture window into her world, her life, as it were.

Something within the air seemed to whisper to Bella. A ambiance that felt strangely amiss.

She had found her master and friend, Leia, a brief few moments ago. Leia had been drowning her sorrows away, which left Bella with a pressing situation from the secret encounter. The visual weighed heavily on her mind now.

The non-affiliated force user had every intention of finding Leia, to seek her out and aid in quenching the woman's inner demons.

However, with the inspiration that was plummeted many miles below her; the wind crying out to her, Bella knew that her intentions would not follow through as easily as planned for.

A mass cloud of unsettling doom waited just around the bend, Bella's visions having warned her many months ago.

She was no better prepared for it now, verses months before. The only difference now was her sense of outlook. There was no looking too deeply into the serious consequences that would come to escalate into unrestful chain reactions.

There was only afterglow. The moment of victory. The moment of rejoice. It was the only way of getting through the times.

There had to be light at the end of the tunnel. There just had to be.

Six months ago...

"So where you headed to now?" The pilot asked good naturedly as he watched Kenshin strap onto his speeder bike the lone crate of personal belongings he had decided to bring with him on this round of wanderings. The dark haired young man smiled. "To a sense of home, way out on those grasslands."

Perched upon the worn seat of an old 74-Y, the tall sun bleached stalks of Dantooine's finest fields were barely able to brush against his bootsoles. He cut through the vast expanse of open land like a kath hound on the hunt and for the first time, in a long time, he felt like he was flying. If he remembered correctly, it would took a full half day to get to the Washburne estate from town and if he was heading in the right direction, it would only be another half hour before he arrived.

Turning his gaze upward, he had decided by the position of the sun that he would arrive just in time to join the family for supper. However, his estimate was a bit off.

Pulling up to the Washburne manor, he could hear the sounds of laughter echo from within accompanied by the clinking of silverware. Killing the engine, he climbed off his speeder and sauntered around the back of the property where he knew there would be at least be an open window or something on such a beautiful warm day as this. What he found was even better.

They had built a deck out back since he was last here and upon that fine platform three people sat around a table in the middle of a meal. At the sound of his bootsteps against the stained wood, the heads turned. There was a moment before his face registered among the trio but when it did, the girl was the first to react. She leapt at the sight of him and rushed to throw her arms around his neck, a foolish grin plastered on the girl, no, young woman's face.

"Geez, you've grown." He said, greeting her with a grin of his own. "I'd ask you how old you are now, but that would be insulting to a lady."

"She's old enough to take some of the responsiblity to run this place." Lugh's gruff voice floated towards them. A smile was on his face as well but there was also something else in his tone. There was a sense of pain. Something big had happened while he was gone and he could tell that for some reason his arrival had triggered a sad memory.

Adara grimaced at her father's comment but seeing the look Kenshin was giving her, she held back her retort. The dark haired young man then turned to the sight of the third person present. He had expected to see her older brother but instead, he didn't recognize this man. "And who do I have the pleasure of meeting today?" He said, offering the unknown man a nod in acknowledgement.

"That is Ian. He's been a big help ever since Mark died." Lugh stated somewhat emotionlessly.

So that was it, what was bothering him. Mark had died somehow. Kenshin was speechless as he recalled the mock lightsaber fights he had had with the boy a decade and a half ago. He had been in excellent health, brash like most boys his age. He turned to Adara for confirmation and he got it when she wouldn't look him in the eyes, herself pained by the loss now on all their minds.

"I want to pay my respects." The wandering Jedi said finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had grown between them. Lugh motioned to Ian and the young man simply nodded before getting up and signalling for Kenshin to follow him into the sunkissed sea of tall grass.