Encroaching Darkness

The good life

  Most people would get thoroughly annoyed by a crying infant that seems to make a sport out of getting attention at three-thirty three AM every morning. Did Ezra get annoyed? No, he got worried, worried that something was wrong and would rush to Aiden's room the second he felt his discomfort through their bond in the force.

  These days Ezra dived up his time with, training, doing stuff with Sabine, looking after Aiden and training his mother and younger sister. Today, he's doing just that. 'Emilia needs a lot of work when it comes to actually using the force. Her lightsaber skills? Eh, there adequate for now, but later she'll need to improve more. Mother is the exact opposite, she's terrible with a lightsaber. But yet somehow she found the light side again after just three months.'

  'Training Emilia to better use the force isn't that hard. But damn it, it's time-consuming! At least I get to go over the fundamentals of saber combat with Mira.'

   Sidestepping her wild swing, he sticks his leg between hers, tripping her. When she lands on her hands and knees he kicks her in the stomach forcing her to roll over. Taking one step forward he pulls her saber to his other hand. Firmly planting his right foot on her chest he declares victory.

   "I've won the dual. You still need a lot of improvement in every facet of lightsaber combat. We'll be training for two extra hours from now on. One hour earlier and one hour later. Dismissed." Looking towards his sister he shouts across the room. "Emilia, you stay there and keep practicing!"

  Walking across the room he watches her try and lift the heavy speeder parts off of the floor. 'Well, she may be failing at this, but it's certainly not for lack of effort.' Reaching out with the force he can better understand her failings. 'Oh, I see now. It's not that she's failing to gather the force but she's failing to give it drive.'

  "It's not about how much force energy you gather. It's about how you use it. Be calm and allow it to happen with the light side. Or use your frustration and force it to happen with the dark side."

  "Don't you want me to be a Jedi, like mom?" Her question was a well-founded one. Mira had thrown the dark side aside in record time. "No, I don't care if you're a Jedi or not. I'm just fine being both a Jedi Master and a Sith Lord. Why would I want you to pick a side when I choose not to?"

  "You don't care? What if I go mad with power and try to kill everyone?" He couldn't help the smile that came over him.

   "Emilia, someone can only improve so much before they're met with a natural barrier. I was only able to overcome those limitations due to certain circumstances. My blindness, for example, allowed me a new level of control and understanding of the force. That was the first natural obstacle that I overcame."

   "Unfortunately, I had unwittingly formed the bond of master and apprentice with Maul. Just as he wanted. So when I killed him and completed the rule of two, I gained a large some of power from his death. The shame I feel when I reflect on those actions that I took that day drove me to have a better understanding of the light.

  Then I learned from four different holocrons. Four different Masters, four different points in history. Four different skill sets. The varying points of view allowed me a more understanding mindset when it comes to learning, understanding and using not just the force but my own force."

  "Your own force? What's that even mean?" 'Should I? no, it's too soon. She would fail to understand.' "I'll tell you what that means in time. But for now, let's focus on your struggle to lift the parts. Think about it like this.

   The speeder can't move if it doesn't have fuel. It won't move if it doesn't have a driver. The force is the speeder, whatever emotion you use is the fuel and your the driver." Standing back up and taking a few steps to get out of the way. He watches her try to lift the parts and fail again. "Don't think of it as one motion, but one of many."

  Sabine sat in the nursery. She wasn't doing anything in particular, simply sitting there. She was just watching and waiting for her son to wake up. Her mother said she was spoiling him with all the attention. She just couldn't help but spoil him. "Ezra lost everything from his seven birthday on. And I was banished for four and a half years. If something like that happens I want him to know we care about him, no matter what. So I'll spoil him as much as I want." She justified to herself, seeing as she's the only one in the room. Excluding the baby of course.

  Ezra was making his way towards the nursery when he felt it. "So, it's time." Changing direction and making way for the hangar he hops on a speeder bike and heads for the same mountain he fought the inquisitors on. "As fitting a place as any I suppose."

  Darth Vader stood proudly on the deck of the Devastator, his personal star destroyer. "Captain, ready a shuttle to take me to the surface. The mountain behind the Wren stronghold." His voice as mechanized, imposing and threatening as ever rung out throughout the command deck. "Yes, milord! Send word down to hangar one immediately!"

  Arriving at the mountains plateau just as the shuttle lands. Ezra now knows without a shadow of a doubt, that this battle is completely unavoidable. Disembarking the speeder he takes several steps to stand out in the open as Vader stomps down the ramp and towards him. He stopped when he stood about four meters from him. Vader spoke up first. "Give me the boy and I will make not just your death, but the death of the Wrens swift."

  "You want my son. And to kill my entire family. Do you really think your mere presence is imposing enough to strike fear into me? It is not, I have felt true Sith Lords in the force. Your sadness and instability do not impress me, Anakin, you do not compare to them or to myself. You know I surpass you in power. You know I know the style of vaapad, I'm sure. If not, now you do. So you know I can turn your power against you. If this is a battle you insist on having, then I will try to make your death a quick one."