"Agreed. Hopefully we'll all have fresh minds in the morning, especially Ava. All the responsibility of leadership is weighing so heavily on her these days. She deserves to take a break... though I don't think she's going to get it any time soon."



Downstairs, the doors to the medical bay open and I step out to speak with Jerus. "Where is Satele Shan's room? I must speak with her."

"Third room straight ahead of me. But she's in pretty rough shape herself. What's up?"

"I... I must know why she saved my father. Cosen believes that there is still a chance he can be brought back to his sense. Despite the injuries he gave her, how he nearly killed her, she latches onto a moment where he hesitated, and things that he somehow recognized her briefly before losing himself again. Perhaps Satele knows more... or at least I hope she does."

Standing with a sigh, I nod. "Can't hurt to ask. Come on." Three doors down, and a brief discussion with the medical droid coming out and the two of us enter the room, though I stay by the door, out of the way. "Satele, we've some questions if you're up to it."

Against the medical droids wishes, I am not in bed. Instead, I sit cross legged on the window sill. My eyes are closed, and my back is to Jerus and Gavin. "A Jedi Grand Master must always up for questions." Looking over my shoulder, I smile at Gavin. " I had a feeling I'd be seeing you again soon."



"Right." I say awkwardly, shuffling my feet. For some reason, I felt incredibly vulnerable standing before this woman. I'd heard many stories about her, mostly skewed to reflect a Sith's opinion of the Grand Master. But standing ehre now, it was impossible to ignore the power that radiated off of her. If she's as weakened as Jerus said, I couldn't imagine how powerful she was at full strength.

Stepping forward, I clear my throat and ask the question that has been bouncing around my head; "Why did you save my father?"



"Because he needed to live." I say simply. "It is the only way to restore balance to the Force."



I'm surprised by her casual tone. "You... you really think that?"



"I know it." Rising to my feet, I turn fully to face the two. "I saw it in a vision. During my exile on Voss."

I groan before I know what my voice is doing, but I continue the thought anyways. "Again with those blasted mystics. You know how many times their visions damn near killed me?"

“Was it the vision that was truly life threatening, or the dangerous nature of your job that set the events of the vision in motion?”



“Philosophy aside, these visions always come true? What exactly did you see?”



“Oh, that I would rather not say. The details are not as crystal clear was you might hope, as is usual with all Voss visions. Hundreds of lightsaber spread across a barren field, A lighting storm in space, thousands of voices speaking from one mouth... That is only a few examples of what my time with the mystics has allowed me to see. None of it should be taken at face value. Some of it may be metaphorical. The only detail that matters is that I saw Salazar Greshh in one of those vision, and that the role he has yet to play is a crucial one.”

"To be frank, Gavin, is she can't tell you the exact context of what you're looking for. Satele, is there any chance you saved him because you saw some sliver of who he was in him? Cause right now, he's tried more than once to bash our heads in."

“He is still in there, buried deep. The ritual that brought him back from the brink of death, though well intended, was incorrectly done. Rather than revive your father, you channeled the concentrated darkness of Freedon Nadd’s tomb into him. Now, he is submerged beyond recognition in his need for vengeance.”



“But there IS a way to fix that, right? He isn’t totally lost?”



I give him another pleasant smile. “I don’t believe anyone is ever totally lost. There is a way to bring him back to his senses, but it will take time. Unfortunately, it may also extract a heavy toll from you and to sister. Are you prepared for that.”



“Yes, of course.” I say without hesitation. “We nearly died to bring him back last time. We’ll do it again to make it right.”



“You won’t nearly die this time, I promise. But your senses will be dulled. You may find it difficult to call on the Force as easily as before. But that is only temporary. With time and meditation, you will be good as new.”

"Before anyone goes through with anything, just to clarify, we're highly likely to have to fight Dark Side vision monsters of some kind during the ritual, aren't we?"

I look slightly taken aback. "Not... necessarily."



"Even if there is some dark vision beast, it will be Cosen and I facing it. You will not have to worry." I turn to Jerus, looking a bit surprised. "Unless... Are you offering to help us?"

"Not necessarily. I've just...had more than my share of rough encounters with Sith and their rituals and there's almost ALWAYS some vision Shadow beast thing involved, nevermind the negative energy spill over." I sigh. "And I'm willing to be on standby if you DO need help."

"It should all be straight forward. No vision quests, no fighting, nothing fancy. Just a simple transference of energy. If all goes as planned, the darkness inside Salazar will be filtered away and his true self will be allowed to reawaken. It is very similar to when the Barsen'thor stopped Lord Vivicar's plague."



"If it's so simple, then legs get it over with then. The sooner we bring my father back, the sooner we can bring balance to the Force, as your vision so claimed."



"As I said, it will take a lot of energy to preform. The Healing Ritual nearly killed the Barsen'thor. This ritual is arguably even more taxing on the body and mind. You may wish to gather your strength..."



"My strength is as gathered as it will ever be. I'm ready to do this as soon as possible."

"And your sister? Is she after tonight's party with your father earlier?"

I look away. "I'll talk to her. Worse case scenario, I do it alone."



"That would be extremely dangerous. The more people involved in the ritual, the more spread out the drain will be."



"Then I will hope that she doesn't say no." I stalk off back towards the room where my father is being kept.

"You've given the boy a dangerous glimmer of hope, Satele. You know that right?" I turn to face the former Grand Master. "We both know the darkness that was in that tomb."

"Yes. It is unfortunate that he chose to go there. But, I have come to realize that this was all part of the Will of the Force." I step closer to Jerus. "There is... one more detail of my visions that I did not want to mention in front of Gavin. I trust that you will understand the implication far greater than him." I lean in close to that only Jerus can hear. "In one of my visions... I saw how we die. Each of us; You, Gavin, Cosen, Becca, Jakito, Zar'kun... even myself. That is why I am so sure these events need to play out exactly as I saw them."

I sigh and shake my head. "And so the great big old wheel of fate keeps going. All we wanted to do was retire too..." I glance at Satele. "You know I won't mess with things, but let's agree to keep as many of us alive as we can, huh?"

I nod. "As many as possible, I promise. That is what I have been trying to do." I lower my head. "I'm sorry. My spiritual journey across the unknown regions has given me an entirely new perspective on things. I apologize if I am not making complete sense, or if I say or do something that you disagree with. Understand that I am only doing what I believe to be right to bring about a better future."

"Jedi, Sith, Mystic, magic cow worshipper, I don't care. I trust that you know what you're doing and I'll take what you say at face value."