The Legend of the Jedi Queen

62. The First Jedi Temple

The twin suns were setting over the densely-packed sands of Tatooine, the sky an eerie yet enchanting red and golden-orange. As she exited the Kenobi household, her fingers lingered on the dingy threshold as she stood in the doorway, her eyes fixed by a dark shadow approaching. Her fingers twitched for a blaster or a lightsaber— but she had neither hanging off of her belt.

All she had was herself and the Force.

She closed her eyes and breathed in sharply through her nose. She exhaled, and opened her eyes once more. The shadow now had a face. He wore the dark robes that once had blood dripping over them in visions she' d seen in the past. At least now the robes were clean. At least he wasn't wearing a spiky crown yet.

But as she took a second look, a second sight kicked in. She could see his aura flickering around him in the Force. He was unstable, like a rainstorm turned to thunder and lightning and threatening to build to a tornado.

"This isn't you." She hated how vulnerable her voice sounded.

"I'm still me, beneath all of this," he said, stepping closer. "I had to fool Abeloth. I had to make her believe I was trustworthy. Besides, who cares? The Jedi, the Sith?"

He was in front of her, the tips of their boots touching. He reached a hand out to her face, brushing a strand of golden blond hair behind her ear. "After what they did to you, I know only one truth— they're all the same. Idiots who don't care about the rest of the galaxy, only if they're dark or light. Kriff that. Damn the dark, damn the light."

"I can't." Nellith shut her eyes and stepped back. "I still care. And it's not true."

"Think about it." Tallis didn't advance any further, respecting her wish for distance. "If the Jedi are supposed to be better than the Sith, why did they torture you? And why is it so easy for the Jedi to fall?"

"Because we all have the light and the dark inside of us, and sometimes we forget which is which," Nellith said. She looked upon him sadly. "There was a time when you wanted to be a Jedi, more than anything."

"I only wanted that because my mother foresaw it, and I didn't know yet what fools we were," he scoffed. "We were just hoping for a miracle, since Galen abandoned us."

"Tallis!" Nellith cried. "He didn't abandon you! Remember what he told us, in the Artorian palace?"

"I've seen the truth," he said, his voice as cold as Uphatu's night winds. "He lied."

"That's not true," Nellith protested. "Tallis, I was there. I couldn't sense any deception from Galen. Do you know where he's been, all this time?"

He curled his fingerlessly-gloved hands into fists. "Most likely forgetting me all over again."

"No, he's been part of the search effort," Nellith said. "He's been trying to find you for days."

His expression faltered for a moment before he controlled the lapse. "Then why haven't you found me? Why hasn't anyone come to save me?"

"Because we've been locked in a Jedi Civil War!" Nellith cried, throwing her hands out to her sides in frustration. "If you waited—"

"If you'd waited, we would've gotten you out!" Tallis jabbed a finger towards her.

Nellith scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. "I wouldn't have come with you. Not like this."

He appeared even angrier. "Then I mean nothing to you?"

"That's not what I said!" Nellith shouted. "You're not listening!"

Tallis blinked, looking as if he had been slapped. "Wait. . . What am I saying?"

"I don't follow." Nellith refused to uncross her arms, afraid of this sudden change, as if someone had flipped a switch in Tallis. He reached a hand to his now almost completely white hair. His lilac-gray eyes widened in an expression of sudden horror.

"No, no, no, she's getting inside my head, I've gotta get her out—" the surroundings of the dream began to fade away. "You have to come back for me—"

In a flash, Nellith awoke. She was lying on the floor of the Suncrusher. She looked over her shoulder to see Miri standing over her.

"We've landed on Anch-To," Miri said.

"Right near the First Jedi Temple," Jaina said as she pounded the button that opened the side door. "I hope you have good shoes, kid, because we're walking up a kriff-ton of steps."

Nellith nodded, shedding her cloak and leaving it on the chair. Already the sunlight was filtering through the opening, kissing her skin and reminding her of those nights she spent with her parents, the one time she ever saw her father.

A smile dawned on her face as she recognized the remote auras of her parents in the Force. The river and the tide were mixing together, threatening to remind the galaxy of the dangers of the deep— but light filtered through the surface still. Hope had not died yet.

Nellith scrambled to her feet and began the hike.

She stopped at the final step. In her hurry to see her parents, she had outpaced the others. As she took several gulping breaths and her body began to ache, she realized that she must've tapped into the Force to achieve it.

Then she sensed it, a small shift in the Force. She looked up to see a cloud obscuring the sun, about to begin its descent into the ocean.

Something had changed.

Nellith got up, and ran as fast as she could manage to where she knew her parents were, praying that it wasn't too late to change their minds. She burst into the old cave-temple, where her parents sat at the edges of a pool with the design of Rose's necklace in the bottom.

At the same time, Rey and Ben looked up to see their daughter, panting for breath and standing in the threshold.

"Nellith?"