[Solved] NJO Book II | Chapter IV - The Chosen Few (LTC)

Part I

The time for the ceremony had come. The Ossari, the warrior caste of Ossar Kolv, gathered the townspeople—willing or unwilling—into the square outside the Longhouse. They packed in across the cobblestones, murmurs buzzing between them as they exchanged rumors, discontent, fear, and awe. The Jedi stepped out with Oku and the town's Elders and officials, wincing as they left the warm meeting halls and exited out into the cold, gray day, where a light rain fell.

Jun caught Nokori's eye.

"I'll find the students."

He disappeared into the crowd.

Nokori was startled as Oku turned to address her. There was a penetrating look in his eye as he spoke, his voice low so that only she could hear.

"Master Jedi, a thought came to me before," he began. "I thought it might do your reputation good if you joined the Elders and I at the front of the ceremony. Yes, at the front."

She began her response, and he cut her off.

"I would be so very pleased to be seen as among your friends."

Nokori met his gaze directly, while her mind worked out the possibilities of this moment, and what was about to occur. She felt sure she failed to stop her eyebrow from furrowing.

Though her senses were clouded, she saw the situation with rare clarity. She saw how he asked the question, how he seemed to value her counsel, how she felt truly flattered. She saw the dangers of this choice, the forking paths ahead. One of them was very foolish.

She forced a smile.

"Thank you for the offer, Oku. But no, I will be fine among the people."

His voice was deep, persuasive, friendly. He smiled beneath his beard. "Please, I insist."

"No," she said again, shaking her head without breaking eye contact. "The Jedi prefer to reserve our endorsement only for that which we fully understand."

All at once, the warmth in his expression was gone. It was subtle, enough so that she might not have seen it were she less practiced in the art. But his voice was harder and his eyes less welcoming.

"It's good to have friends, Jedi. Good to have friends."

Suddenly, he smiled at her, and then turned away to speak to the Elders.

Nokori stared at him, and as she descended the steps to enter the crowd, she searched the interaction in her mind, fearful she had made a mistake. Her resolve returned soon. She had chosen her path, and she believed it right.

She looked across the square, and soon found the other Jedi in the distance.

The ceremony was beginning soon, the anticipation and stress were in the air.

The initiates and Wint were squeezing into the square and making their way through the crowd, scanning for any sight of their comrades.

"There's Master Jin-Wa," Lyra announced, and pointed him out to the others. He saw them too, and they pushed their way towards each other. The initiates told him everything they'd seen and heard, leaving Jun in deep thought. He frowned and scratched at his beard, watching the boy called Wint.  

"Aren't we going to do something?" Druffin asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Jun perked up his head. As bothered as he was, he saw the initiates looking to him for guidance, and slowly the answer bubbled up to the front of his mind.

"None of this is on the level, I think that's pretty obvious. Still, we don't understand everything that's going on. We can't just jump in and mess around in things we don't understand."

Lyra shot him a glare. "Look who's talking."

Jun fixed her with such a stare that she immediately took a reflexive step away.

"...Apologies, master."

"Learn from my mistakes, kid. We need to be on good terms with these people, if we can. This is a sacred day for them, and we don't understand all the dynamics here. There's a lot at stake," Jun grunted. "Focus on the now. Our insight is clouded, we need to work together. See what you can learn. "

Jun folded his hands under his robes and tuned his senses to the crowd. For years he used his intuition to track targets as a bounty hunter, and now his perception was enhanced by his practice with the Force. Even still, he found it difficult, like a migraine, or a cloud, kept obscuring his sight. Like he'd had way too much to drink. Things onto which he would normally latch seemed to roll off the surface of his mind without sticking.

Unease hovered over everyone in the square. For as much as Jun felt many of the people's faithful devotion, awe, and worship, he felt others' desperation, anger, hurt, sorrow. He saw the clear resentment in the faces of some standing close by. He thought about the words of the father in the crowd, and what the initiates had passed on from Wint. There was a wounded, fierce look in the eyes of the men and women around him while they watched in silence. Jun had seen people like this before, people who had been trampled and bruised for far too long.

If you asked him, they were just a bad day away from letting all that anger out. Their capacity for enduring the Ossari's rule might be coming to an end.

This town was a powder keg.

The crowd lined both sides of the street, leaving the aisle in the middle clear. Ossari warriors stood guard at the edges of the throng, while people watched expectantly for the young Chosen to appear. Banners hung on poles, whipping in the wind above the crowd.

Wint pushed his way to the front of a cluster of villagers, peering out for any glimpse of Sasil, wiping tears from his face.

On the steps of the longhouse, flanked by Ossari guards, town officials, and the red-robed Elders, Oku waited.

And then, there was a change in the air, felt at once by all. A blanket of complete silence fell over everything. The only sound was the rain pattering against the flagstones.

Framed by the watching crowd, small, young Sasil appeared at the far end of the square, draped in ceremonial red and crowned with a headdress shaped like a resplendent sun. She looked nervous, but determined, as she slowly descended the aisle alone.

Suddenly, a man in the crowd broke from the aisle and shouted something. An Ossari knocked him to the ground, while two more hauled him out of sight. The people barely glanced over as it happened. It was soon forgotten.

Oku smiled kindly from the steps of the Longhouse.

Sasil continued her path with graceful strides. She passed by where the Jedi stood, and Jun put a hand on Druffin's shoulder, to try and ease his nerves.

Wint hoped he could catch her eye. He did his best, but no matter what, Sasil didn't look away from the path ahead of her. She passed by him, leaving him watching helplessly, tears welling up in his eyes.

She went on, head held high, back straight, a picture of nobility and purpose. Soon she would be at the Longhouse, and she would take her first steps into a new life.

But then something happened. The Jedi felt a strange ripple in the Force, unlike anything they'd experienced before. It was like the breaking of the waters' surface by a movement, when it is displaced by a presence.

By something traveling through.

A massive shape appeared in the middle of the square. Head, body, and limbs stepped out of the Force into the dull light of day with such utter instancy that the crowd was stunned into silence, unsure what they were seeing was even real, or if anyone saw it but them.

The thing was huge, grotesque, twisted by evil. Its face was swollen and unrecognizable as a living thing, made up only of raw flesh, with a half-dozen red tentacles twitching before its snout. Long, powerful limbs supported its weight unevenly, misgrown and misshaped.

The Jedi had met creatures like this once before, in the deep forests. But this was the first time they had seen one in the light of day. Lynus had called them "Blinded". He never managed to say much more.

Heaving with every putrid, labored breath, the monster stared down at Sasil.

Wint was the first to move. He leapt out of the crowd toward Sasil and stood protectively in front of her, waving a stick in the air and shouting to fend the monster off.

The creature was not deterred. After a moment of regarding him, it straightened and roared. The sound it created was horrifying; a withered, guttural shriek rising up out of blubbery lungs. The kind of sound that forced unnatural dread into the heart of any who heard. The kind of voice that breathed out death.

Wint's bravery disappeared in an instant.

With that, the spell over the crowd was broken, and the screaming began. Complete pandemonium ruled the square. The walls were breached. Nothing was safe. Everyone fled for their lives, the ceremony and their fellow citizens forgotten.

People began to flee in any direction they could, not only the Kavat, but the Ossari too. They threw down their weapons and melted into the panicked crowds. The Elders scrambled for safety.

Oku stood watching, unnaturally calm amidst the chaos.

Nokori, fighting against the backwards surge of the crowd, went for her lightsaber. If she ignited it now, she might kill someone in the panic.

The beast seemed to forget Sasil and Wint, and turned on the spot. It roared again, agitated by the movement and cacophony. While people rushed away, it stood heaving in the middle of the street, jutting around its head as its tentacles whipped and searched the air.

Sasil's voice quavered. "What's going on? Wint?"

"We've got to go, come on!" Wint desperately tried to hurry her away, but she was stubborn.

"I can't go! The Ceremony!"

"Sasil, please!"

She finally nodded, and they ran for shelter together.

The Blinded caught the scent it was looking for. It jerked its head towards the Prophet, standing hunched on the steps of the longhouse.

The monster's body shook with rage. The Prophet turned to run as it launched itself towards him, snuffling and gasping and moving on its claws like a wounded dog, hungry to unleash its fury.

When it stopped, just before it reached him and crushed him with its limbs, it stopped not because of an ignited lightsaber, but because of the Force. And not the physical power of the Force, but a gentle, calming whisper. And it did not come from Nokori, but from Jun.

His fingers outstretched and grasping, sweat forming on his forehead, Jun spoke into the creature's mind with a quiet word, just a warning from a friend.

As they saw Jun act, the initiates followed. They each extended their arms, closed their eyes, and reached out with the Force.

Slowly, the Blinded’s head fell to the side as it listened to this new voice, this kind voice, flowing through its brain.  It stopped its attack. Perhaps it sensed new allies, and was too shocked by the discovery to follow through on its assault. Perhaps it had not heard a voice of kindness in far too long.

Oku took advantage of the opening and retreated to safety, huddling close to Nokori where the crowd had fled.

The Blinded turned and stomped ponderously towards the group of Jedi.

It stopped just meters away, its tentacles calming and receding, its breath shallow. The Jedi sensed that the creature felt, almost, safe. Perhaps this was the first time in its life.

Their influence over the Blinded through the Force should have existed exclusively as a transfer of feelings, nothing more, merely calming their subjects' rage by extending to them some measure of the peace on which the Jedi themselves were able to draw. But it was like the creature understood the new connection, sensed their motives, and opened up a new line of communication itself.

A flood of images and feelings ran through Jun and the initiate's minds. Only moments of this onslaught passed before they realized what they were seeing were memories, fragmented and half-remembered though they were, veiled in emotion. They saw a war, dark and horrifying. The death of thousands, all in one moment. The twisting of something good. The loss of something precious. The commission of evil acts.

And then they heard a voice, a clear voice, from somewhere deep, deep inside the monster standing before them, clawing its way out through the peace they had temporarily given, as though it had been trapped for decades and only now seen the light of day.

"I am One sent by Many Minds, Together."

The ethereal voice sang in their minds, over images of whatever past horrors it had endured.

"Join Song, Jedi Knights. End the Liar, cruelest Liar, Servant of Our Foe. Alone, never Won. Together, gain the sweetest Colors and—"

Blaster fire ripped apart the creature's head, spilling gore and smoke across the pavement.

Jun heard himself shout, "No!" and looked to see Gonng Zall, weapon in hand, primed for a second shot. Before he could do anything, the Ossari captain pressed his blaster against the thing's head. As it struggled to get on its feet, head lolling underneath it, Zall pulled the trigger. Red light flashed at the muzzle of his gun. The Blinded fell dead on the ground.

Maybe Zall was still angry at his earlier emasculation in front of his men. Maybe he wanted to defy the Jedi and prove who was in charge. Or maybe he just thought he should do his job.

He fired again. The corpse jolted, but there was nothing left to kill. He fired twice more, regardless, working out his adrenaline and anger on the giant's limp body. There was something profane about the action.

Jun's hands dropped helplessly to his side, and he let out a long sigh. He seemed moments away from taking out his nerves on Zall, but thought better of it at the last moment. There was an audience, and giving vent to his anger is part of the reason they had to come in the first place. He turned to keep the Initiates back, lest they make the mistake he avoided.

He looked down at the dead thing, its swollen head fallen back, several blaster wounds adding to the grotesque mass of flesh. If it was shapeless and disfigured before, all the more now.

The panic in the square began to quiet as people realized the monster was dead. Many crept forward for a closer look.

Jun couldn't believe it. He swore and punched the air.

It had spoken, just moments ago. He thought about how it had targeted the Prophet, and ignored the rest of the crowd. A normal beast would have ripped them apart to defend itself, but this thing was here for a reason, he thought. This was a thing worth mourning.

Oku stood nearby. His eyes never strayed far from the slain monster still lying on the cobblestones. The crowd still buzzed with barely restrained terror, but Oku's reaction was different; perhaps what shook him was not the sight of the creature, or even what it had tried to do, but how close it gotten to its goal. How much it had hated him.

The Elders rushed out with the mystics and officials, swinging herbs and incense around the square. More of the townspeople began to trickle in with them. They all regarded the dead creature with disgust, and fear.

"The Makoy Vangal is dead! How did it come? Speak, seers," ordered Elder Jintos of the gaggle of mystics, desperation in his voice. "On this of all days! What does it mean?"

"Darkness visits us on this holy day!" intoned one of them, with the rapt attention of the townspeople. "The omens are wrong. All wrong. The Ceremony cannot continue."

One of the Elders groaned with fear. Oku looked sharply in their direction.

"The Ceremony must continue," he said stiffly. "For the good of the planet. Good of the planet."

The Elders looked at him, then at the Seers, who seemed afraid to speak. One of the oldest, emboldened by his conviction, cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"An appearance by a demon like this, on the holy day? Omens such as this have never plagued us before! This monstrousness—we cannot ignore such a thing. The Ceremony must be postponed," he said, then looked around to see the other Seers nodding. He continued, "It must be postponed, to the next moon's fulling."

The Elders saw that as settling the matter, decision made, but they looked to the Prophet with fear on their faces. They began to grovel and persuade, voices hushed, while Oku stood strangely still.

"You must understand, Prophet."

"The people, the people, Prophet. They could not endure it! We must listen to the signs!"

"Please, please forgive us. We will accommodate your travel, give you a place to rest after so long a journey. Anything we can do!"

Oku made up his mind.

"I will return in a month's time. Yes," said the Prophet, his voice less certain than before. "The rites must continue, lest it be the death of us all. The death of us all."

He turned to the diminshed crowd, raising his voice to address them. 

"But this thing, this demon, as the elders say, has desecrated what is sacred to us all. In one month, at the moon's next fulling, I will return, and the ceremony will go on, and the child's sacrifice will be fulfilled. Her power will serve us all."

The girl's eyes were wide, as stunned by the Blinded's rampage as the sudden delay. She had spent a great deal of time and energy preparing herself for this day, the thought of forty more days and nights was nearly too much to take. Her brother and friends felt only relief; they rushed to her from out of the crowd, holding their shellshocked friend as they wept.

Oku turned to give the Blinded's corpse a final, distasteful glance. Nokori stood close by. In the torchlight she watched the Prophet. She thought she saw, deep in the recesses of his eyes, a sudden, powerful, existential fear.

"Burn this beast," Oku ordered, and three warriors broke from the crowd to carry out the task. Gonng Zall stopped them, seized one of their torches, and set to do the job himself. He roughly pushed away two of the Jedi, Druffin and Lyra, that had crouched to examine the beast, and thrust the torch into the creature’s head. 

As fire engulfed its corpse, the Jedi looked on. As corrupt as the creature had been, they quietly mourned the end of the thing. Like all living creatures, it was worthy of respect, and its death was a sorrow. They were uniquely quiet among the now raucous crowd.

Oku had finally seen enough to be satisfied. He turned and passed the Elders and their mystics, and walked toward the crowd while they watched and cheered and cried, and when it seemed no one was watching him, he vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but a ripple in the Force.

Part II

"We ought to burn them all to the ground."

"Zall-"

"Why shouldn't we? They'll kill every last one of us if we leave them be. We burn the forests back, we give them no quarter, no rest."

"You dare interrupt your Elder?"

"I think he is right," squawked another Elder. "We have shown too much restraint with our fires at the treeline. We can show no such restraint in the future! It has only put us in danger."

"And our people, yes? Elder Jinto?" asked Elder Ademora.

"And the people, yes, yes."

Seven Elders sat in a semi-circle on raised platforms within their gathering chambers. Gonng Zall, a number of the Jedi, and several officials stood in the midst of the room. A bright-red droid, a rare sight in Ossar Kolv, saw to each of the Elders' individual needs, which largely meant bringing them platters of food. Rain pelted against the shutters above them, but the room was dark and warm, lit only by firelight and a single hololamp by each of the Elders. The Jedi nearly blended into the walls, wrapped in their cloaks and standing at the edge of the shadows.

The conversation had been going for some time, with little positive result.

One Elder, an elderly Weequay, nearly rose to his feet in anger. "The crucial question hasn't been asked—how did the beast breach the wall? Gonng Zall!"

The shout pierced Zall's anger, and a flash of fear passed over his proud face. All the Elders turned their eyes toward him. It was a crucial moment, and he knew it. His reputation was at stake.

He stiffened.

"The men responsible will be executed, my Elder."

The Elder dismissed this with a wave. "Foolishness. We clearly cannot afford to lose men, incompetent or not. Fortunately for you, Zall."

"Gonng Zall distinguished himself today," scoffed Elder Xethia. "He dealt the final blow."

"After his men allowed the creature to scale the walls."

"The Beast appeared from nowhere, as if by sorcery! Did we not all see this? Perhaps these Jedi have something to do with it," Zall scowled. "Perhaps they led the Beast here. Used their magic to help it enter the town. It is a travesty that they are allowed into this council!"

"Perhaps," rumbled Elder Qutan. "But the Prophet vouches for them, and this council does not take his sacred word lightly. Be slow to accusation—it is a day of many omens, strange and mysterious. The arrival of the beast, the arrival of these Jedi . . . We will devote time to interpreting these signs."

"First the tainting of the soil and the death of the crops, then this," groaned one of them. "We are cursed. We cannot trust outsiders."

"We must act to prevent this from ever happening again," said Elder Torpin. "Zall, you have failed to train your men properly. We expect better in the future. And we will need a hunting party to track the beasts to their lair."

"The Jedi wish to help, send them."

"Yes, put forward the task to the Jedi. If they desire to win the trust of the town, let them earn it."

Nokori stepped forward, while Jun watched. He was content to let her run this kind of thing.

"Is it possible the creature was somehow provoked?"

There was a collective noise of disgust from the gathered Elders. Gonng Zall laughed.

"So what if it was?" he mocked.

"It matters not if it was provoked. It means us harm. Our safety is paramount. Our good is paramount. That thing's good is of no consequence."

"We do not appease monsters," declared Elder Torpin, and she glanced aside to Elder Ademora.

"The Makoy Vangal, the monsters you called the Blinded, are hateful beasts, murderers from the woods who take our scouts, our children. They are not creatures to entice or entreat, or subdue. Destroy them."

Nokori stood her ground. She tried to dwell in the Force, to remain at peace. She was finding it harder the longer she listened.

"We are not assassins or exterminators. We defend, we do not attack. We would—"

"Then what good are you? I thought you wanted our trust?" An Elder waved a roast leg dismissively. "We have defenders, we have Gonng Zall and his, admittedly incompetent, Ossari. But that issue of competence will be solved, we trust. You, Jedi, are irrelevant."

"We are not killers. We are servants, not destroyers."

"Then serve Ossar Kolv. Destroy those filthy creatures. We will burn the woods to draw them out. Or you can slay them in their dens. We leave the task to you, if you can summon the bravery to rise to it."

Nokori bit down the response that jumped into her mind, instead trying to propose an alternative. "You mentioned your soil is tainted. We would be glad to assist your people with the crops. We have able farmers who know the planet well."

While Elder Ademora raised an eyebrow, he was quickly cut off by Elder Torpin.

"If you want this town's trust, you'll go and deal with the Makoy Vangal, Jedi. This is the word of the Elders, it is the only word there is. Go and wipe out that filth, and return here with the proof."

Nokori's face flushed red. She watched the Elders, with their plattered feasts. Anger was surging in her gut and turning in her belly. She thought of the people of this town, suffering and with nowhere to turn. People they might be of service to. There could be no burned bridges here.

She waited several moments before replying, to stop herself from saying something she might truly regret. A brief moment of strong sympathy for Jun suddenly hit her. She knew how he often felt, how hard it was to fight for peace within oneself. She was fighting that battle now.

"Well?" demanded Elder Qutan.

She took a deep breath, and her lips quirked into an ironic smile. It quickly disappeared.

"We will go in search of the creatures. We will seek a solution to these troubles."

"Good!" Elder Jinto clapped. "Perhaps you're good for more than you seem. Now," he looked away, and drank deep from a chalice. "Take your 'wise words' and your righteous demeanor and leave our town, until you have something to show for yourselves."

She looked back to Jun, who seemed to be taking this a lot better than she. The Initiates - those that were able to squeeze inside -  had all kinds of looks on their faces. She motioned that it was time to go.

They left the inner chambers and exited into the atrium, where attendants and guards bustled about. Collecting the Initiates that had waited outside, they made to leave when a shout from behind them made them turn.

Elder Ademora caught up to them, hurrying in his robes. He smiled.

"Apologies, honored Jedi."

"Elder. Was there something wrong?"

"No, no. I want to express my gratitude. Gonng Zall is a troublemaker. I knew from the start of this that he was telling lies. Your Monastery is no more sacred to him than the latrine. It sounds as though the first contact between our tribes was unfortunately through our warriors, not our peace-talkers."

Nokori glanced to Jun, then back to the Elder. Her weariness was evident.

"Thank you, Elder Ademora. You seem to be less suspicious of us than your people. Even trusting. May I ask why?"

The elder chuckled. "Trust you, I don't. But you are desperate to earn it; we would be fools not to squeeze work out of you while we can.

Go, deal with the Blinded. But send your people, too, to help us replant. The others may be too prideful to recognize need, but the Kavat suffer lately. Your presence would do much to soothe them, I think. All a part of keeping peace around here."

"We'll discuss it. Farewell, Elder."

Smiling, he bowed, and returned to the inner chambers.

The Initiates turned and looked at Nokori expectantly. She took another deep breath, but her irritation was obvious. Still, looking into their familiar faces, she felt some measure of comfort. This day had been an ordeal. The Monastery seemed a lovely place now, and she looked forward to returning.

For the moment, she pushed through her frustration, trying for something approaching pleasant and peaceful. She knew the Initiates could tell exactly how she felt. They felt the same. And their accepting, sympathetic looks meant the world to her in that moment, tired as she was. More than ever, she felt that these people were—had become—her family.

"I'm proud of you all. We'll be back before long. But for now, it's time to go home."