Sparks

A city of tears

Coruscant, a once bright booming planet that Orla called home had been stripped of its beauty; taken over by the Empire. The streets were left with a cavernous amount of people surrounded by troopers all gazes locked up towards a hologram of Palpatine.

Orla returned to Coroscount after feeling a connection with the dark side of the force. In the Jedi temple, this sense was rare, Sith would rarely make a connection with a Jedi sentinel or guard; not wanting the reveal itself. Without the wisdom of her master, she sought out answers herself starting with the most obvious place a Sith would be. The one standing over her was a pretty clear sign that another would be close by as assumed by the rule of two.

It had been several weeks, almost a month, after leaving the Bad Batch in search of answers. But she was starting to feel lost. She had made no progress. No sith. Not even a trace of one. In fear of endangering the batch, she didn't plan on leaving until she had dealt with it. But there was no one to go to. The Jedi were dead. Gone. All of them. Not necessarily the bodies but their essence. Any living Jedi would be hiding their presence from their enemies so trying to sense a connection with them could put them in danger for other sith to sense them too. The very mention of a Jedi was forbidden. Palpatine managed to brainwash the whole galaxy to believe that the Jedi were the bad guys, that they had done the unforgivable—anyone who didn't believe that crap was too afraid to speak up.

Looking up, she let raindrops fall to her eyelids, then down her cheek to her neck. Maybe if she let them fall for long enough they would drown her into a puddle and take her away where she couldn't harm anyone. Gazing back to the hologram she pulled her black scarf tighter around her which wrapped around her face, neck and mouth, where her eyes were the only part of her visible.

As Palpatine's dark, harsh voice pierced throughout the city a couple spoke behind her,

"This is all the Jedi's fault, if they hadn't tried to take over Palpatine wouldn't have had to take control and set up this empire."

"This war was supposed to be over," a female Keshiri added.

Orla wanted to be angry, yet she felt couldn't bring herself to argue. She could dwell on the Jedi no longer, or on the past, only the enemy in front of her who had taken her home and her family in one command.

Then from a distance, a small white bird approached her. As she reached up it perched on her finger, its body only the size of her palm. It lowered its beak to her fingertip like it was bowing. A Phoenix, before its resurrection

Phoenixes we're rare mythical creatures, with only a few existing in the entire galaxy. In ancient books, Orla had seen a few of these birds around Jedi. But the idea that someone could figure out her identity from a bird, would be a possibility she would like to avoid. One day its feathers will fall and it will burn to ashes and be reborn as a beautiful fiery bird, but she didn't know why.

Great first a cat now a bird, I'm just attracting these guys from all over the galaxy

"The Jedi were once respected warriors that protected our galaxy with their life. Until their greed betrayed them and they took an attempt on my life. Every single Jedi you see here is alive and a traitor. As your emperor, it is my greatest duty to keep you safe from these threats. The Jedi will be hunted down and destroyed." Palpatine announced to his subjects.

Cheers from the crowds pierced Orla's ears. It wasn't fair. It was all lies. Palpatine presented a screen of all the remaining Jedi that hadn't been found. Her eyes scanned from the bottom to the top: Luminara Unduli, Cal Kestis, Gungi, her brother, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-wan, and some other Jedi she didn't know. Then her eyes scanned back to the top. She wasn't sure she was reading it right.